Chapter Text
Tungl could feel himself slowly easing into consciousness. The smell of old wood and cinnamon filled his nose, and he could hear a small fire crackling nearby.
Astrid must have stopped by with some dinner. That would explain the fire. Although the scent of wood wasn’t what he was used to - it smelled dry, very unlike the fresh dewy scent he was used to from the trees around the cove. And what kind of ground was he on? He supposed he had probably heated the ground before sleeping, but how was it so soft? Usually the charred ground had a bit of flakiness to it alongside the soft dirt. Something wasn’t quite right.
He carefully opened his eyes, hoping waking up more would jog his memory. As he looked around, he was entranced by his surroundings.
I’m in a human den.
“I’m in a human den!?”
Tungl found himself wide awake now, wide awake and panicking. When did he get here? How did he get here? Where was the black beach? How did he get here of all places?
Think, Tungl. You have a brain, use it!
“Hello, son.”
That was the last thing Tungl remembered. He couldn’t remember who said it or where he was when it was said, and the entire memory was vague and felt far away, but he knew it was important.
He tried to walk, but tripped over a pile of furs. That explains the ground, Tungl thought. He carefully stepped out of the makeshift nest, careful to take it slow. His body was aching all over, and he assumed he had been out for a few days.
“Easy now, lad, no need to be in such a rush.”
Tungl jumped at the voice, almost falling over again and searching for its source. By the Spirits, I’m less graceful than a newborn hatchling. Again he looked around, and his eyes landed on the human king sitting by the fire and carefully carving away at a piece of wood.
“I- you- how-??”
“Steady - I can’t understand you quite yet, but I can still tell you’re panicked. You can rest easy, I’m not going to hurt you.”
Not going to hurt me, eh? “Tell that to my tail,” Tungl retorted.
“I know who you are, lad,” the human said. Tungl froze. He saw the red-furred human get up, carefully walk over, and cradle Tungl’s face in his large, scabbed hands. “Not a day has gone by where I haven’t missed you, son.”
Typically, dragons weren’t known for crying. It has even been assumed that they are unable to cry altogether. But right here, in this moment, Tungl could feel his eyes welling up, and he didn’t care that the scales on his face felt wet. All he cared about was the human, this Viking in front of him, his father who had done everything for fifteen years in Tungl’s own name.
“I’ve missed you too,” Tungl purred, resting his head on the Viking’s shoulder to resemble a human hug.
“Come, I want to show you something.”
The Viking chief led Tungl to the entrance (he believed it was called a “door”) and carefully opened the door to reveal the human nest, up close, lively, and full of dragons. A Monstrous Nightmare, one he recognized as the Nightmare Snotlout had rode into battle, was leading several other dragons with more humans upon their own backs.
While Tungl was gazing upon the wondrous scene, Astrid appeared over the hill, followed shortly by Fishlegs, Snotlout, and the twins. They looked as excited as ever, especially now that they were seeing Tungl, awake and alright, with their own eyes. Tungl stepped forward to greet his friends, but they clearly had different ideas of how to say hello as Astrid punched him right in the shoulder.
“That’s for scaring me,” she said, then grinned. “But I’m glad you’re ok - all six of us.”
“That’s really nice A- wait, did you say six of-”
“-Moony!!”
Tungl felt something big crash into his side and was thrown to the edge of the grassy hill. He laughed as he righted himself and crouched into a playful gesture to match Comet. He chased her back across the hill and stopped once he reached the rest of the group again. He saw Gobber had also found his way to the top as well, and he had something tucked underneath one of his arms. The big human (who still didn’t have the greatest smell in the world) placed a large red fin on the ground, very much like his old one, only this time it had a strange skull-like symbol painted onto the red material. Tungl gave it a good sniff and hummed his approval.
“Welcome home,” Gobber said. Tungl gave him a smile to let him know he appreciated the gesture. Then something else crossed his mind.
“Comet, what are you going to do? Don’t you want to go home?”
Comet answered quicker than Tungl expected. “Actually, I was thinking I’d stay awhile. It’s nice here, and I’ve already had quite a bit of fun.”
“But Toothless-”
“Won’t suspect a thing,” she reassured. “I found him a few days ago and said you weren’t anywhere near this side of the sea. And once he heard there were several islands full of humans in the area, he flew off in the opposite direction.” Comet thought for a minute, then said, “He’ll probably be fine.”
Good enough. At least Comet had respected the fact that Tungl wasn’t ready for his brother to find him. It would be hard, but it had to be done.
“Well, what are you waiting for?” Snotlout said from behind Tungl as he mounted his Monstrous Nightmare. “Are you gonna try out the new tail or what?”
It felt good to flex his fins and stretch his wings. Tungl looked to his right and saw Astrid aboard her Deadly Nadder whom she had dubbed “Stormfly.” Apparently, the dragons from the human arena had been in captivity so long they had forgotten their names. However, after they had made a bond with their humans, they were proud to wear their new titles.
Astrid and Stormfly kicked off into the air, and Tungl followed shortly after. They weaved between dens and pillars, slipping through the small stone ledges scattered across the nest’s layout. Tungl roared his delight as he dove and glided over the human’s “ships,” and tagged Fishlegs and his Gronkle into the game. He straightened himself out after dodging more wooden pillars and saw his friends and cousin lined up behind him just on either side of his flank. He tilted up, flapping and spinning high into the clouds and into the clear blue sky.
He was home.