Music: "One Day" by Hans Zimmer (Pirates of the Caribbean)

Epilogue: One Day

Deep underground, in a dark, damp cavern, shadowed figures were gathered together in a large open space, spiked iron cages hanging from the roof by dark chains above their heads, ancient stone ruins beneath their feet. Their voices were dark and angry mutterings that echoed indistinctly off of the walls, but all was hushed as Pitch Black stormed into the room with two shadow stallions flanking him while the Monkey King followed behind him.

"What does the prophecy of an old and crazy pirate even matter? We should keep our efforts focused toward our battle plans for the coming war!" The Monkey King insisted.

"Though Grimbeard wasn't the most mentally sound, there is still the fact that he is the ancestor of my dragon child!" Pitch growled at the Monkey, making him shy away slightly as the stallions pranced anxiously. "That prophecy very well may have contained the information I would need to convince the boy to join me!"

"Oh, what does he even matter?!" Gothel shouted, throwing her arms down as she glared at Pitch, her old and wrinkly appearance making her more horrifying than usual. "He's rejected you! You can't even sense him anymore! His magic protects him from you! What good will a sniveling brat do you?! We have been by you side! I have given my life in dedication to you! But still you chase this -this Boy!"

"This boy could very well decide the course of this War," Pitch's voice was deadly low, snarling through gritted teeth. "And I seek him for the very same reason the Guardians have chosen to train those three nuisances: a student. An apprentice to follow me and be devoted to my ideals. To grant my vision immortality! So that even though I may pass, my presence will not be forgotten in this world, but feared for all eternity!"

"What good is a future line if you have nothing but a broken army to pass on?" Eris hissed from a dark corner of the room as her amber eyes flashed furiously.

"You dare question me?" Pitch snapped back whirling on his generals and finding satisfaction in their flinches and wary expression. "Perhaps one of you would like to try a take my place? To prove your superiority over me..." Pitch's voice was as dark as the growing shadows around him, black tendrils reaching out to curl around and squeeze the life out of something.

"No! No, Sir! We wouldn't dream of betraying you!" The Monkey King cried, backing down as the shadows cooled toward him.

"Please, my lord! Have mercy!" Scroop, the spider-crab creature who served him during their raid of the Ministry begged.

Not nearly satisfied by their fear, but growing bored of their sniveling, Pitch reigned in his magic and the shadows fell still once again. It was enough to prove to them that he was still in charge, he made the decisions, and he had the ultimate power. They served him.

"I don't care what your plans are, Sorcerer. My only concern is you keeping your end of our agreement." Bular rumbled, glowering at the Dark Sorcerer who turned to face him.

"You will get the Eye Stone, but only if you do as you're told." Pitch snarled back. "As for the battle with the Guardians, I have already calculated our next move. One that will begin an era even more deadly than the Dark Ages. One that will throw the entire world into chaos and fear. Our next move will begin a new War." Pitch's low chuckles began to build until his cackling filled the entire cavern, slowly followed by his generals and a satisfied smirk from Bular...

The sky was a pale blue with brilliant shades of yellow, orange, and pink painting the sky as the sun kissed the horizon, beginning its decent from the heavens. Hiccup stood at the edge of the short dock they had constructed during their stay on the island for fishing, but he often considered the benefits of extending it for an anchoring place for the BlueBlazer rather than leaving her beached on the sand a little ways down the coast.

Hiccup was dressed simply with only his green shirt and pants he'd worn when he first came to Dragon's Edge as well as the worn bandages that covered his left hand. In the back of his mind he noted how his clothing was well-worn and a bit tattered. Very much the clothes of a feral Dragon Boy. But his mind didn't linger on it because his fingers fidgeted with his wand, the familiar feel of the smooth, twisted wood was comforting and also gut-wrenching at the same time.

He looked at it with a heavy heart, and then lifted his head to the fiery sky. He knew what he had to do. This was what was best for everyone. But that didn't make it any easier.

Toothless quietly walked up to his side, letting his wing fall across Hiccup's shoulders in a comforting gesture, and the boy looked up at the dragon. It wasn't so much the uncertainty that bothered him, in fact he was actually getting quite used to that feeling in particular, no, it was the hope. All of the 'what if's' that had kept him holding on so tight for so long already.

"You know," Toothless murmured as Hiccup's eyes fell back to his wand again, his voice very quiet and very soft. "Growth is Painful. Change is Painful. But nothing is as Painful as staying stuck somewhere you don't belong." The Night Fury's gaze was steady as the boy looked up at him once again with a heavy intake of breath. "...Sometimes you have to accept the fact that certain things will never go back to how they used to be."

Hiccup slowly and purposefully exhaled, trying to steady himself with the sound of Toothless's calm heartbeat. The two leaned forward and pressed their foreheads together, their magics naturally reaching for each other.

Toothless was right of course, and Hiccup already knew this, though he couldn't seem to bring himself to say it out loud. As much as he wanted to fit into that world, as much as he wanted to be with the people who had raised him in the place of his birth, as much as he wanted to stand side-by-side with his friends; he simply did not belong. His place, his people, was with dragons. With Toothless, his Twin-Flame. Two halves of One-Soul. They needed each other for their survival.

He was pulled from his thoughts be heavy, yet quiet steps on the dock. He knew that it was Eret long before the older man had stopped beside him simply from the sound and the scent that reached his nostrils. The Captain settled on his right side, opposite Toothless, with his arms crossed over his broad chest and his eyes gazing out at the sea and sky. He inhaled deeply and let it out on a content hum of a sigh, though Hiccup could tell he was more thoughtful than content.

"Beautiful sunset, isn't it?" He asked lightly, his voice gruff but soft in volume.

"Yeah," Hiccup breathed out on something a little louder than a murmur, his voice almost jumping into yelp or cracking territory from going so long without use.

"They've got everything ready up there," Eret informed him after turning his head to look at the young boy who kept his gaze fixed on the horizon. Eret glanced down at his hands, noticing the wand. "Talia's already started, so whenever you're ready..." Eret tried again, not quite prying but hoping to get some kind of read on the boy.

"Okay." Hiccup nodded, but kept his eyes forward and his grip unconsciously tightened around the wand. Understanding dawned on Eret with that small action, and after taking a small moment to collect himself, he smiled and looked out at the sea again.

"I don't know much about who you were before or what you left behind... Or should I say who you left behind?" Eret paused to see if the younger pirate would respond, but he said nothing. "Considering what you were willing to go through for them, well, you must care about them very much..."

Hiccup nodded, sparing a glance at Eret, which if the Captain noticed the shadows of fear and sadness in his eyes, he chose to say nothing about them. "And that's why I have to do this." Hiccup muttered determinedly, but it sounded as though he was trying to convince himself more so then Eret.

The pirate placed his hand on the Dragon Boy's shoulder, large and calloused, but a firm hold that helped to ground the young boy. "But it's still not an easy thing to do." Eret murmured sympathetically and Hiccup looked up at him in surprise. Eret offered him a gentle smile. "We pirates are often faced with change and the need to adapt, which unfortunately means being able to let go of what you care about when there's no other way to hold on. When those times come there's this old saying we like to remember; If you love something, set it free. If it comes back, then it's yours. If it doesn't, it was never yours to have."

Hiccup stayed silent as the words sunk into his mind and his heart, and he found it a little strange when his thoughts went back to the Cove on Berk and the time when he'd given Toothless the tail that would allow him to fly on his own. He had thought it the end of their friendship. He had believed he'd never see the dragon again.

Looking up at Toothless now, Hiccup found a renewed sense of comfort and Hope. Not the hope of a 'what if', but the Hope that one day things would be Different. And it made him smile as music brushed his ears, offering him comfort in the from of song as he blew up in the breeze with the ocean mist.

And if this prophecy the Guardians believed in turned out to be true, then Hiccup would make sure to stay far, far away from Rapunzel, Merida, and Jack. Because his instinct to protect his pack was as strong as any other dragons'. So he would do everything within his power to ensure he would never hurt them, or any of their other friends. At least... Not anymore than he already had. He would take comfort in knowing that, even though he couldn't fight beside them, he could protect them from afar.

Eret and Toothless moved back down the dock to offer the boy some space as he took a small step forward, shifting the weight of the wand into his left hand, his good hand, and as the sky burned in brilliant color with the setting sun, the Dragon Boy took a few running steps, raised his arm up, and Threw the wand. The wand hit the ocean water a few yards out to sea with a small splash and the boy's chest expanded with a sudden ability to breathe, his shoulders feeling a little lighter.

After looking out at the water for a few moments, he straightened his back to stand tall and lifted his chin. The former Ravenclaw turned away from the water and began making his way out of the light of the setting sun and into the waiting shadow of his dragon's wings as he, Toothless, and Eret started towards the makeshift huts farther up the cliff-face.

Arriving at the huts, Eret lifted the cloth flap that had been hung in the door way, allowing the boy to step through with his Night Fury right behind him. As Eret had said, Talia was already sitting down near the center of the room and No-Name carefully sketched out a sparrow tattoo on the back of her neck. Tiny rubies caught and glittered with sunlight from their black-metal frames that formed the studs in Talia's ears.

Eret gestured a little off to the side to where Tiny and Ug stood, waiting. A second stool was set up along with a small table with all of the tools for they would need for the tattoos and piercings. They moved over to the pair, and Talia shot him a bright smile as he sat down, which he returned with a half-smile of his own. The boy bent forward slightly as he pulled off his shirt, nodding to Tiny as the large man set about getting the needles and ink while Ug was already approaching with the small golden hoops.

Eret set a heavy hand back on his shoulder, comforting and also checking to make sure this was what he wanted, and he smiled at the older man, nodding a reassurance.

After all, what was a pirate without his piercings and tattoos?

The night air was cool and refreshing, smelling of the salty waters that gently rocked the ship on that peaceful night. Papers and empty cups and bottles littered the deck of the ship. Ug was passed out on a crate near the door to the Captain's quarters, snoring. The sound, though loud, didn't travel well with the breeze and ocean waves drowning it out, leaving the night peaceful under the light of a thin crescent moon and more stars then could ever be counted.

His metal prosthetic clinked quietly against the wooden deck with every other step as he slipped out of the belly of the ship where the rest of the crew was resting. His back and ears were still sore and inflamed, leaving him feeling achy, but he didn't mind it too much. No, the real pain came more from his prosthetic, which was much harder to get used to than the tiny hoops pierced into the helix of his ears. He had no doubt that the pain of his leg would also linger for much longer.

They were on the move again, they were pirates after all, and after giving Talia and him a day to heal they'd all packed up and set sail, the crew quickly pulling out the small reserves of alcohol to celebrate their two newly officiated crew-mates. He and Talia were still sour toward Eret for not letting them have any because apparently they'd joined the only pirate crew with a Captain who worried about younglings drinking.

He slowly climbs the steps to the bridge, his foot brushing passed a newspaper they managed to pick up from a trader earlier that day. One of the pages announced Dagur the Deranged as the new Chief of the Berserker Tribe and discussed how that might effect the politics of the Archipelago. It had worried him for a little while after he'd woken up that Dagur might spread the news of everything he'd seen and heard, but according to some contacts of Eret's the Berserker Chief had no way of presenting proof without condemning himself... And he had a sneaking suspicion that Dagur might hold onto this as a grudge, wanting to take him in himself.

But for now he chose not to worry about such things.

The front page of the paper held a picture of much greater interest anyways, depicting the Guardians standing in the Great Hall of Hogwarts as they honored their three newest members. The bestowed titles are fitting, he thinks, and it hurts as much as it makes him smile because he simply couldn't stop the feeling of pride from clenching in his chest. He wouldn't dwell on it though, he'd done enough of that. He'd use that feeling for something productive.

He stopped by the railing of the ship, looking out over the sea that reflected the sky. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, letting it out in a soft sigh. A small, breezy mew made him smile, and his long, cat-like pupils were surrounded with a bright green glow. Three little furies floated into his view before him, Blue, Yellow, and Red. Like little spirits they flew about him, whispering delight in their soft mews and gentle coos. He held out his hand, palm open to the sky, and the little Night Furies settled before him with curious looks and tilting their heads.

"Go," He told them. "Protect them."

The Furies perked at his command, seeming to understand it instantly, and they flew upwards a little before their glowing burned brighter, like miniature stars right before his eyes. They circled around him once more, and then the lights shot off into the night. As quick as shooting stars, they disappeared, leaving behind only a soft breeze that pulled him in the direction they had gone, but he remained. He stood firm in his place with his eyes shut and a fist over his heart. When he opened his eyes they were filled with sadness, but he smiled.

And in a distant land, as the people lay sleeping, three spirits found three new hearts to settle in, glowing faintly and then disappearing from sight as unseen and unheard protectors.

Lights to protect them from the Darkness.

Rapunzel, Merida, Jack, Hiccup, Toothless, and Their Friends will all return in...

Lights In Darkness - May 4, 2019