Summary: {Set after HTTYD3} Hiccup is an old, old man and now that he's lost most of his friends (and feeling the end is near), he wishes he could see his best friend one last time. One-Shot.

So I had this idea after watching the movie and I just had to write it down... It's kinda sad and all, it'll probably make you cry or tear up (if you haven't done it during the movie, already), but I think it's quite nice and I really liked to imagine older Zephyr and Nuffink.

Last Farewell

There were dragons when my father was a boy. I've seen them, too. I rode them, too. I was only four – almost five – when I saw them for the first time. Mom and dad used to tell stories about dragons in their youth, my sister and I loved these tales and we asked to see the dragons… My parents missed them dearly, so we took a small boat and sailed to the edge of the world.

Of course I don't remember everything; I was too little. But I could never forget the sight of the great scary Night Fury as he approached. I thought for sure he'd kill dad until he started playing with him. I was still scared until the moment his snout touched my hand. And then we flew. It didn't last long, but I could never forget the thrill of flight. My father threw me up and caught me many times, but I wasn't scared. Now, thinking back, I wonder if I could have fallen, it could be dangerous, but was it really? Toothless would catch me, I'm sure of it.

It was a magical day. And it happened a few more times, though not as much as my dad would want to. I know this because I remember a night, a few days after we came back from this first journey to the Hidden World. That night, I woke up in the middle of the night and I was hungry, so I grabbed the dragon plushy dad made me and I went downstairs.

Dad was there, in his pajamas by the fire. He was alone, looking at the flames. He sighed deeply; then, I heard him sniff. I must have made some noise, because he turned to face me. He was crying, I knew it when he started wiping his cheeks.

"Son… You should be in bed." He told me.

"I was hungry… Dad… Are you okay?"

Dad smiled and gestured me to come closer. I think I left the plushy behind or on the way, it wasn't important because all I wanted to do was run to embrace him, hoping I could make him feel better. He put his arms around me and made me sit on his lap.

"I'm fine, Nuffink." He said. "It's just… I miss my friend. I miss Toothless so much it hurts."

"I'm sorry…" I mumbled. "Daddy… why he had to go?"

"Because humans don't deserve dragons… One day you'll understand." He laughed, but it was a meek laugh. "You know, flying became second nature to me to a point I thought I'd live the rest of my life on the air…"

I could feel the sadness in his voice. "It's not fair. I want you to be happy."

"I am happy, Nuffink. I love Berk, I love the people, I love my job; I love inventing… I love my friends, but above all, I love you, your mom and your sister… But I love Toothless, too. I'll always love my best friend. Unfortunately, he's safer there, away from me. And it's okay. Being apart is what's best for Toothless and all the dragons. They deserve to be free. They need it… That's when I learned that love is the best thing in the world, but it comes with a price, and that price is loss. One day, all we love must go. Some days are harder, some aren't. I miss Toothless; I miss my dad… I miss old Berk… I loved them all and I miss them. But now, they must stay only in my heart. And although it hurts missing them, I don't regret loving them."

"Because it was good?"

"It was the best thing in the world." He hugged me tighter. "Love is always worth it."

I was too little to understand then. Now, I do. Now I see my grown children falling in love and starting to work… And I get it. Love hurts, but it is always worth it. That was why I knew I had to do something when my father was in bed-rest, wishing he could see his old best friend one last time. He didn't voice it, though. But I knew what was in his mind when his eyes were lost on the blue sky through the window.

"Zephyr… We need to talk." I followed her through Berk. As the chief, she had many things to do, so it was hard to find time to speak to her.

"About…?"

"Dad."

She finally stopped to look at me. "Wait, I thought the healer said he was stable. Is he okay?"

"As fine as he can be, I guess… He's… lonely. Ever since mom passed away, he's been…"

"A little delusional, I know." She turned and continued to walk.

"Yes. Half the time he's awake, nothing he speaks make sense and the other half he's silent, looking at the sky… I…" I sighed. "He wants to see Toothless again."

"What? Are you crazy? You know what the healer said. He can't go sailing. He needs rest, he's barely been out of yet another terrible flu."

"Yes, but he wants it. He's not asking because he doesn't want to bother us, but he wants to. You know he had a connection with Toothless. And he's the only friend left alive from his time…" My voice trailed off.

Every time he lost someone it took its tool on him. First it was Gobber, his old mentor and a second father. He couldn't smile for weeks, then. A few years later, it was grandma Valka. Wars reached us, Snotlout died protecting Berk some years later. Tuffnut sailed to Valhalla only one year later. It took a long while before Fishlegs parted, too. He was dad's best human friend after my mother, so once again I had to se him go through a huge grief period. Fishlegs's wife, Ruffnut, died a few years ago. She lived a long life, compared to most people. Just not as long as my mom, who left us a few months ago. This death obviously affected us all, especially my dad.

"Nuffink, you know it won't be good for him. He might not be able to take a trip like this. And then he'll want to fly him. What if he gets sick again? What if he doesn't come back?"

"I know the risk."

"And you still want to take him there?"

"Yes." I said seriously and pushed her away from the city and the people's curious eyes. "Zephyr, you know as much as I do that he's just waiting to sail to Valhalla now."

"And you want to speed up the process? Are you crazy?"

"I just want to grant him his last wish. He's ready to go. And we need to be ready to say goodbye as well."

"No. Not at all. We need him. I need him and his advices."

"We don't. Zephyr, you're already teaching your son to be a chief. You could retire in a few years. I'm already training the next commander of the Berk Guard." I shrugged. Of course I didn't want him to go, but it hurt to see him so miserable. We were fine now and the natural course of life would just keep going even though we didn't want to. Heck, it could have happened before, when we would still need him. We've been lucky to have him around for so long. Which then led me to believe… "In fact, I think the only thing that has helped him come this far was the hope of seeing Toothless again."

Zephyr sighed heavily. Her blue eyes were filled with tears as she reached to the same conclusion as I did. If Hiccup were to die before he could see Toothless one more time, he'd be devastated until his last breath.

"You go talk to him. I'll have the Hopeful Puffin ready in the morning and tell my son to stay in charge. We'll leave just the three of us."

I nodded and then went back home. I found my father in his bed, as always, after all, he barely had energy or strength to stand up anymore.

"Hey, dad."

His eyes left the sky to face me. A small smile formed under the white beard. I sat next to him and grabbed his bony hand. It was a little harder to speak than I had anticipated, but alas, I was able to ask him. "Would you like to see your best friend again?"

His eyes gleamed in way I hadn't seen in a long time. His broader smile answered me what he wanted, but he nodded nonetheless.

It was hard to take my father to the Hopeful Puffin the next day. He wanted to look his best and put on his best clothes to see Toothless, even though I was sure the Night Fury couldn't care less for something like that. But dad was happy, so full of joy he managed to walk by himself around the house, using the walls to keep his balance. All his old muscles and bones hurt due the age, so his movements were very slow and stiff.

I took many tools with us just in case Toothless's tailfin needed repair, even a new one ready to be painted with dragon scales.

It took us a few days to reach the great waterfall, a distance that could be crossed in only a few hours on wings. During this time, dad was already coughing again, even though he was protected with layers of fur, maybe he wasn't completely out of that flu, yet…

The fog was thick and cold, I couldn't see anything in front of us, but we could hear the water falling. We stopped the boat and I looked at dad's sleeping form, sitting at the stern.

Zephyr gasped by my side and I turned just in time to see a black dragon land on the front part of the boat. His slit eyes made my sister and I gulp.

"Hey, Toothless." I started.

"It's been a while. Do you remember us?"

We both raised out hands at the same time, just as we once did with dad's guidance. The Night Fury sniffed and recognized us, his pupils went wide and he toothlessly smiled at us, then he started with the licking.

"I knew you'd remember us… But we're here because of him." I stepped to the side so he'd be able to see the old man siting near the taffrail.

Toothless recognized his best friend and was struck with a wave of energy, he nearly jumped on him, but I as quick to ask him to stop.

"Be careful." Zephyr completed. "He's frail now… Be very gentle."

Toothless cooed. I'd never know how he could understand us, but somehow he did, because he then walked slowly to my father's sleeping form and nudged him softly.

Hiccup's eyes fluttered open and as soon as he saw his best friend's face in front of him, his face lit up in joy and he hugged the black dragon.

"Toothless!" He said, leaving his fur covers behind. "I missed you, Bud!" The dragon cooed in reply. He's missed Hiccup as well. Hiccup closed his eyes and leaned in to touch his friend's head. His voice came in a sad whisper. "Astrid's gone, Toothless…" He told the news with tears in his eyes, the dragon growled sadly. Dad sighed and tried to smile as he backed away to look at the dragon. "Now, let me take a look on that tail of yours."

As I had expected, the tail needed to be changed. I helped my father paint the new one and then we tested it. Father didn't have strength enough to attach it, so I helped him do so before I helped him stand up. Hiccup hissed in pain, barely able to support his weight on his left leg.

Toothless nudged him, still softly and gently; he had realized his friend wasn't as he used to be. Dad coughed a few times, but kept caressing the dragon's head with his free hand.

"What do you say, Bud? Ready for one last flight with your old pal?"

Toothless grumbled in happiness and showed his back, ready to take his friend to the skies. Before he could mount, though, Zephyr hugged him tightly and put a fur cloak over his shoulders.

"Be careful up there. It's cold."

"No need to tell me that." And so he kissed her forehead. He then gestured me to come closer, so I complied and hugged him. "Thank you both to bring me to see my best friend again. I'll be back soon, so don't worry."

"You can take your time, dad." I looked at Toothless. "You both miss each other. We'll be here, playing card games." It wasn't the truth, though. We weren't in the mood, but I didn't want him to worry.

He laughed before he finally mounted Toothless with some difficulty. We tried to help him, but he insisted on doing it by himself. Once he was ready, Toothless took off.

The joy on both faces was indescribable. And they stayed up there for hours. The Gods only knew what they did or where they went… But then, Toothless finally showed up again, landing on deck and grumbling worriedly. Father was lying down on Toothless's back, seemingly asleep and so the dragon had to keep his wings up so he wouldn't slide and fall.

Zephyr and I took him from the dragon and put him down on the deck. He wasn't moving; soon we noticed he wasn't even breathing. I leaned closer. His heart wasn't beating.

I exchanged looks with Zephyr. We knew it could happen, but it was still a surprise somehow. We hoped we'd be able to take him back to Berk alive.

We let him down and then I noticed he was clenching something before he was gone and his cold fingers remained around the object. It was the hilt of a dagger attached to his belt. It was the dagger he took to kill a Night Fury when he left the village and headed to the forest at age 15. He'd shown us before, it was one of the last things he still had from that time. And as a true Viking he parted with a weapon in hand. I guess he knew his time was coming.

Zephyr turned to face Toothless, caressing his snout.

"He's gone…" She sniffed. "But you can come to us whenever you need. We know how to repair your tail…"

As I observed the cold body on the deck, I couldn't help but let out a sad laugh. Zephyr and Toothless looked at me, both puzzled.

"What?"

"I just thought it was rather fitting… You know, the way he died. The first Viking to ride a dragon couldn't have a regular death on the ground, don't you think?"

"Well, technically he wasn't the first..."

"Yeah, that was grandma, but he was the first publicly and the one that, doing so, ended a 300 year war."

"A wonderful chief, indeed… It's hard to follow his steps after that, you know."

"You're doing fine. And you should be glad you didn't have that war to worry about."

"Yes. I guess." She sighed, eyes still wet. "I'll miss him so much…"

"That's part of loving." I put a hand over her shoulder, on the white fur cloak she's used since she became a chief. "But don't worry. You still got me."

She forced a smile and put a hand on his clenched fist. "We need to sail back."

Toothless cooed sadly and lay down besides his best friend's body.

"You can say goodbye, Toothless. But we need to head back soon." I told him.

"Hiccup is sailing for the last time, now. He's going to Valhalla. He'll be waiting for you, too, when your time comes. He'll be waiting for us as well."

"He's smart, but I don't think dragons can understand anything about Viking's beliefs."

"He'll understand what he needs to." She stood up, wiping away the tears. She started preparing the boat to sail back and I helped her.

Toothless stayed with us for a few hours, lying down without any movement; only looking at his best friend. When he was ready, he stood up and nudged him a couple of times before he took off.

When we arrived back on Berk, Zephyr ordered that the Hopeful Puffin should be prepared to sail to Valhalla.

As the small boat drifted away, we readied the bows and flaming arrows. The boat was lit up, as it should be, drifting further away.

Zephyr and I stayed there a little longer, watching from the tall cliff.

The silence was broken when a whistling sound came crossing the skies. The Berkians closest to us screamed and grabbed their weapons. Most didn't know what that sound was, but I knew.

"Hold your fire!" I screamed and they all stopped in time to see a black dragon in the distance, so far away he wouldn't be in arrow range anyway.

Toothless let out a plasma blast at the boat, making its flames go higher and more intense. He flew in circles over it until it sank and so he flew back to the Hidden World.

That was the last time I saw Toothless. I don't know what happened to him, but he never turned to us for help. I believe once his tail was too worn out, he just didn't want to fly anymore, knowing Hiccup was gone. Or maybe something happened to him and he found Hiccup in Valhalla. Or perhaps the dragons decided to really seal themselves in the Hidden World, only to leave when humanity would be ready, maybe they were just waiting Hiccup to die to do so, after all, Toothless would never leave his best friend for good.

Years later, I told my parent's stories to my grandchildren. They loved the tales and although they pretended to believe them, I knew they didn't. How could they believe such amazing, wonderful creatures had gone away just because of human's greed? How could people give them up like that?

But I understand now. And it is a good thing people are growing up to believe dragons were only myths. The books my father left with all of his youth's stories will be believed to be only make-believe tales… Even for the descendants of those who used to ride them. It is okay, though. Dragons will be safe there, until humans are ready for them to return in peace. My dad did a good job and he tried to create a better world, even if he could only do this in one single island. But of course, human's flaws could never be fixed in one generation, maybe not even in a thousand. Years later, as an old, old man, I'm still optimistic, and I hope humanity will come around so we can all ride dragons again.

I hope you guys liked that, it was just something that stuck k in my mind for days (here the movie was released on January 17th), so I couldnt help but write it down. Although it's kinda sad, I kinda liked that in this fic, Hiccup got to see his best friend again.

In this fic, Hiccup would be between his 65s, which is quite a lot for Viking life-span standards, so I think it'd be a nice number for him to die of old age (I've done a quick research and apparently, few lived up to 50s, so I think he has lived long enough for that time period...)

Please don't forget to leave me a review! :D