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❛ ᴋʜᴀʟᴇᴇsɪ​​​​​​​​​​. ❜ ° . ༄
- ͙۪۪˚   ▎❛ 𝐎𝐍𝐄 ❜   ▎˚ ͙۪۪̥◌
»»————- ꒰ ʜᴏᴡ ᴛᴏ (ʀᴇ)ᴛʀᴀɪɴ
ʏᴏᴜʀ ᴅʀᴀɢᴏɴ ꒱


❝ WE'RE JUST FRIENDS ❞

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The island of Berk hadn't changed much— physically, at least— in the last couple of months. It was still an old town with lots of new buildings, filled with stubborn Vikings and with a wonderfully balmy climate. The most noticeable change was its new lack of ferocious battles between Vikings and dragons. Three hundred years of history had gone down the drain in a matter of days and now, instead of fighting dragons, Berkians spend their time riding them. This was all due to the efforts of one boy, a girl, and their dragons. Together, they were able to show their friends and family that they can befriend them, live with them, and even train them.

That last one was the best part— dragon were amazingly receptive to being taught new tricks, which was the Viking teenagers' favorite pastime. Although the days of training to hunt dragons were long gone, the competitive spirit was still strong in this particular group of friends. Their different personalities often led to clashes and bickering in the group as it was difficult for such opinionated people to agree on anything. Snotlout was known for his obnoxiousness, the twins were always eager to cause trouble, Astrid had her. . . anger problems (don't let her hear that), Fishlegs was working on advocating for himself and Dany's firm belief in right and wrong meant that each day presented new challenges. However, no matter what, they would always have each other's backs.

As usual, the group was positioned on the edge of a cliff, faced out at the sea. Below them was a cluster of sea-stacks that they used to show off their skills. Hiccup landed next to Dany and faced the group. "Okay, guys. Best trick competition. Who's up first?"

"Uh—" Fishlegs began, but he was cut off by Snotlout. (He did say that his confidence was a work-in-progress, right?)

"Me!"

"Actually, I think it's—"

The boy turned and pointed at himself. "Me!"

Astrid, ever the impatient one, rolled her eyes. "Sweet baby Thor in a thunderstorm! Go!"

"Oh don't worry, we'll go. And when we go, Hookfang and I are gonna light the sky on—FIRE!" Before he could finish, Snotlout's Monstrous Nightmare shot from the cliff in a steep nosedive towards the ocean.

Dany grinned at the dragon's response to his rider's boasting. Snotlout was probably her least favorite person out of the entire group as not a day went by that he didn't try to flirt with her (which always made her intensely uncomfortable.) She didn't know much about him besides the fact that he was an annoying, cocky bastard and she didn't feel like she needed to get to know him anymore than that.

The teenaged Viking didn't stop yelling throughout the whole course. Hookfang headed straight for the sea-stacks and wove in a complicated pattern through the rocky pillars. His relationship with Snotlout was. . . interesting, but dragons often behaved like their owners. Hookfang hardly ever listened to his rider and usually took off before anyone could say anything.

Their ride didn't look much like tricks of any kind (except maybe for Snotlout struggling to stay alive) as the dragon shot towards the water with a quick spin. When they shot out of the waves, Hookfang arced above them and returned to his place in the middle of the group. Snotlout gasped and fell forward with relief as he patted himself frantically.

"I'm alive? I'm alive!" When the rest of the group appeared unimpressed, he collected himself. "I mean, of course I am."

"It's my turn!" Fishlegs exclaimed happily. "Ready Meatlug? Here we go!" She gently lifted off the ground and circled once, then landed on the overlook. "Yes! New personal best."

The Targaryen had a much improved opinion of Fishlegs than Snotlout; the chubby boy was smarter than most people gave him credit for and knew quite a bit about dragons. Along with Hiccup, he was the only other person who would willingly listen to her 'dragon-talk' without growing bored or complaining. Dany tried to help encourage him as much as she could— since she also had confidence issues, but in a different sense— and leaned forward on Drogon to catch the boy's attention. When he looked over at her, she gave him a small smile and a thumbs-up. He seemed to sit up a bit straighter on Meatlug after that.

"My turn!" Ruffnut announced.

"No, my turn!" Tuffnut shot back.

Hiccup sighed. "Guys? Same dragon."

"Oh, right."

While the group had its arguments, the twins were known for never agreeing on anything. When one said left, the other said right. This became problematic when they flew on their Zippleback as their dragon's long necks frequently got tangled as they gave contradictory orders. In this case, they wound up slamming against one of the spires before they could even get started. It only went downhill from there as the twins barely managed to stay on their dragon throughout their flight.

Dany shook her head at their uncoordinated maneuvers; she was certain that they could pull off neat tricks if only they learned how to work together. On the whole, though, she remained wary of them as, when they did come up with a scheme that they both took part in, it tended to have catastrophic consequences. She still found them less annoying than Snotlout since some of their pranks could be funny— when she wasn't caught in the crosshairs, that is.

"We almost died," Ruffnut said elatedly when they landed.

"I know. . ." her brother agreed, awed. "Go again?"

"Hey, it's my turn," Astrid announced, clearly ready for a chance to prove herself as more competent than the previous riders. She turned to Hiccup and smirked. "You might want to take notes. Let's go."

Like the others, she shot off the cliff, but much more purposefully. Stormfly circled down to the water and dragged her tail through the waves, sending up a light spray. They then wove around the sea-stacks in an neat pattern that finished with an upwards spiral. When she returned, the group— minus Snotlout— applauded.

The dark-haired boy crossed his arms and muttered, "yeah, but can you do that without the dragon?" (This earned him a punch on the shoulder.)

Hiccup glanced at the girl with silvery-blonde hair, who had waited patiently next to him. "Dany, your go."

Her violet eyes narrowed in determination as Drogon ran forward to launch himself off the cliff. His great wings spread out and cast a shadow over the water below. But, unlike their friends, they didn't bother with the sea-stacks; Drogon was far too big a dragon to do the complicated turns that the others could do. Instead, they shot upwards, high into the sky until the other Vikings were mere specks on the grassy green cliff.

The spiked dragon leveled out, hovering in the air just below the clouds. Dany took her bow from where it was slung across her shoulders and pulled her first arrow out of her sheath. Since she'd known about the trick competition beforehand, she'd had time to coat them in Hookfang's green gel. (And she'd only sacrificed a little of her dignity to get it.)

Although she rarely used her bow and arrows for anything but practice, she enjoyed the art of perfecting her shot. There was a certain stillness, a calm that settled over her as she drew her arrow. She could feel the tension on the string beneath her fingers, the way the shaft settled on the wood, the brush of the feathers against her cheek. And then there was the satisfaction of watching her arrow go exactly where she intended it, which felt almost as good as the adrenaline rush that she got from flying.

Dany released two, three, four arrows in a row, waiting only a couple of seconds between each. Then, she patted Drogon between the shoulder blades and announced: "Drogon, aldrnari."

Her dragon opened his mouth to let out a stream of orange fire, which he breathed in the direction of her arrows. As the flames hit each one, there was a loud bang! of an explosion. The smoke began to clear, leaving four mostly perfect circles behind. The large dragon folded his leathery wings and fell into a controlled dive, angling his body to fall easily through the smoke rings, adding a spin for extra flair.

They continued their descent, heading straight for the water unflinchingly. Just as it looked like they were about to go for an unintended swim, Drogon spread out his wings to level off his dive. His claws only barely touched the waves as they sailed parallel to the base of the cliff. Still preening from her successful stunt, they landed in between Astrid and Hiccup, the latter of whom gave her a bright smile. "Not bad. It looks like we've got our work cut out for us, bud"

The Night Fury shot off the platform without further ado and dove towards the sea below. Similarly to Dany and Drogon, they pulled up and flew straight at the last moment. Then, they wove in and out of spires with graceful ease before it was time for the grand finale. Hiccup jumped off Toothless and ran along a small land bridge before he jumped back onto his dragon. Toothless shot off four plasma blasts in celebration, leaving the rest of the group to cheer them on.

"They're still the best," Astrid admitted.

🏹🏹🏹

Dany was proud of the changes that Berk had made to accommodate their new friends. In fact, many of the townspeople would agree that life was better than it had ever been. Unfortunately, every good thing had its ups and downs, as often happened whenever there was an adjustment to get used to. No matter how much the Vikings cared for the dragons, they still had their. . . animal instincts.

Drogon, Viserion and Rhaegal were the only dragons that Dany had been around for a long period of time and they were usually well-behaved, save for the odd fight over food. This many dragons, however, certainly had its consequences. They chased cattle through town, ate more than their fair share, accidentally damaged houses and— their worst offence— pooped. Every. Single. Day. (At least it helped Vikings tell time, right?)

Thankfully, her life away from the disasters in town allowed her a respite from the fray. Her parents still lived in their cottage in the woods on the other side of the archipelago. Although she'd told them of how different Berk was, they were wary of the Vikings that they'd once called friends— and, well, she couldn't blame them; she just hoped that one day, they'd be able to see the new way of life for themselves.

Dany had always been an early riser, so her day began with the sun. Her parents also woke up with her and they took a morning ride together— she preferred to fly in the evening (it brought back happy memories of the time when it had just been her and Hiccup.) Being the youngest of the dragons, Viserion and Rhaegal were more prone to antics then Drogon. The two brothers were currently involved in a tug-of-war between a yak, causing the girl to roll her eyes. She had long ago learned to not get in between fighting dragons (thanks to Drogon snapping at her when she was little) and let them be.

Instead, she busied herself with getting breakfast together. Her mother stood next to her at the table, already working on the stew for the day. "So, Dany, anything new in town?"

The girl shook her head. "Not really. The Vikings still don't know how to live with dragons and Hiccup won the trick competition again."

Ingrid smiled at the mention of the boy; she had a better opinion of him now than when Dany had first met him. "And how are things with Hiccup?"

She busied herself by stirring the pot of porridge that sat cooking over the hearth, grateful that the heat of the flame could be the cause of her pink face. "Mom," she groaned, embarrassed. "We're just friends— seriously. You know that I like dragons more than people."

"That's true," her mother agreed— a little too easily. "But you once said that you liked Hiccup as much as you liked dragons."

The blonde sighed, regretting her moment of weakness in which she'd admitted that after he'd kissed her on the cheek at Snoggletog. "I like Hiccup as much as any of my other friends, okay? Besides, we're too young for that sort of thing. There's too much going on, anyway."

"Uh-uh," the older woman said, before she added teasingly: "you know, I was about your age when I realized that I liked your father. It wouldn't be too far-fetched—"

"Mom!" Dany protested. "Can we please talk about something else? Anything else?"

Ingrid chuckled. "Alright, alright. Are we ever going to meet him? It's almost been a year and you know your father thinks that you've made him up."

"Not if you keep saying things like that," she grumbled.

🏹🏹🏹

There was one person in town who was even less popular than the Targaryens used to be: Mildew. He certainly lived up to his name with his decrepit appearance and terrible stench. Luckily, he only visited town when he was bothered by something. . . which was more often than anyone would like. Drogon especially didn't like him and bared his teeth at the sight of the old man. Dany placed a reassuring hand on his neck as she watched him approach Stoick and Gobber at the storehouse.

"Ah, here's Mildew with the complaint of the day," Gobber sighed, commenting loudly enough for most people to hear him.

"You picked a bad time, Mildew," Chief Stock snapped, barely offering Mildew his attention. "I'm in the middle of storing food. The freeze is coming."

The old man scoffed. "It's the dragons again. Those demons are not fit to live amongst civilized men."

Dany didn't bother to hide her eye-roll; it was always the dragons. Drogon bared his teeth in a snarl, but seemed slightly appeased when Hiccup and Toothless appeared. They moved closer to the chief as they sensed the impending argument.

"Neither are you, Mildew," Gobber shot back, causing the girl to nod in agreement. "Why do you think we built your house so far outside of town?"

He clearly didn't appreciate being talked down to as his eyes narrowed in response. "Oh, very well, make your jokes. Meanwhile, these dragons upend our village carts, turn peoples' houses into piles of rubble."

"Aye, Mildew's right," someone called out.

The blonde whipped around to see who it was, but the crowd that had gathered appeared to share the same view. Mildew, however, wasn't finished. "They even disturb an old man's rest! Can't you see these bags under me eyes?"

As usual, the blacksmith remained unperturbed. "He's right. He's hideous."

Villagers added their voices to the Viking's complaints, giving him a surprising amount of support despite their great dislike of him.

"These are wild and unpredictable beasts!"

"Right you are!"

"They even cracked this man's skull." Mildew hit is cane against Bucket's helmet. "Like an egg."

"Eggs? I like eggs. Scrambled, over-easy, poached. . ." Bucket added in his trademark off-topic opinion.

As the Vikings' voices grew louder, Hiccup stepped forward to try and calm them "They don't mean any harm; they're just dragons being dragons."

Stoick put a reassuring hand on his son's shoulder as he addressed the crowd— and the old man in particular. "Look, Mildew, if there's a problem, I'll deal with it."

"Oh, there is a problem, Stoick. And I think I speak for everyone when I say you better do something about it." With that, Mildew hobbled away.

🏹🏹🏹

Dany paced around the watchtower agitatedly in front of the group (minus Hiccup.) Her gaze was focused on the ground in front of her and her hands were balled into fists. "We have to do something about the dragons— and not what Mildew's proposing. The Vikings were all gung-ho about dragons living with them at Snoggletog, why is now any different? Sure, things are a bit chaotic, but that just comes with the territory! Nothing is gonna be solved if we. . . get rid of the dragons. People like him will just find something else to complain about."

"Well. . . we could always get rid of people like him," Snotlout suggested. "Then there wouldn't be anyone to complain."

For once, she didn't completely disagree with something he said. "I'm not totally against that," she admitted. "But I don't think Hiccup would like it. You know how diplomatic he tries to be."

The dark-haired Viking grinned at her. "Now you're speaking my language, babe."

She grimaced at him, instantly regretting her previous words. "There's got to be a way for dragons and Vikings to coexist. I mean, I've lived with Drogon my entire life and I've never had a problem with. . . well, his instincts, I suppose."

Astrid, at least, had a voice of reason. "Dany, that's one— er, three— dragons, not hundreds."

Movement from below caught the boys' attention and Snotlout turned to look at what was going on. Hiccup seemed to be caught in the middle of the commotion as he turned around helplessly. "What is he doing?"

The brunet only seemed to be making things worse as he ran after a blazing sheep. Vikings shouted angrily at him as he toppled their barrels and overturned their carts. Tuffnut leaned forward curiously. "Uh, I think he's helping the dragons break stuff."

His sister grinned excitedly. "Cool."

As Hiccup got knocked out by the flaming sheep, Dany felt guilty about their safe place above the turmoil. "I think. . . we should go help him."

The twins, however, were in no hurry. "We'll get to it."

"In a minute."

🏹🏹🏹

After seeing the boy's disastrous first attempt at regaining control of the town, Dany felt the need to go cheer him up. She felt the closest to him out of all their friends and she wanted to make sure that he was okay even if being alone with him made her stomach do somersaults. It was a little easier than it had been before she'd given him the carving, but not as natural as it had been in the cove. As she approached the house, she put one hand in the pocket of her fur vest where her latest rock sat, waiting to be presented to her best friend.

She was relieved that Stoick didn't seem to be home; although he wasn't as suspicious of Targaryens as he used to be, she didn't think he'd ever like her. The first floor was dark, but the loft above glowed with a soft light. "Hiccup?"

As she climbed up the last few steps, he spun around as if she'd caught him doing something that he wasn't supposed to. "Hey, Dany! What a nice surprise!"

"Uh, yeah," she replied, her gaze falling to the floor. "I. . . thought I'd come by and see how you were feeling."

"I'm great!" he said quickly. "Why wouldn't I be? I had a perfectly normal day, nothing strange happened, just hung around the plaza. . ."

She gave him a wry smile. "We saw you out there, you know. It looked awful."

Trust Dany to give her honest opinion, he thought, embarrassed that she'd seen that disaster. Seeing as how he couldn't hide it from her, he slumped with defeat and fell back on his bed. "I'm gonna be seeing flaming sheep for the next month!"

"Hiccup! Hiccup, what's going on out there?" Chief Stoick burst into the room. The girl drew closer to the wall as his angry gaze landed on his son. "The plaza looks like a war zone."

"I know it looks bad—"

"Really bad," she couldn't help but add.

"—but this is only, uh, phase one of my master plan." He smiled nervously in the hope of convincing his father, but Stoick wasn't easily appeased.

"Oh, so you do have a plan?" His father challenged.

"I do. Of course I do. It's very complex, lots of drawings, several moving parts. Yeah, it's pretty wild."

"Uh-huh. Well, this better be real, because Mildew stirred up the whole island. And if you don't get those dragons under control, they'll be calling for their heads."

The chief barely glanced in her direction as he stormed out. Hiccup released the breath he'd been holding and reached over to his dragon. "Don't worry, bud." He scratched Toothless' ear. "Your head's not going anywhere."

Dany frowned, thinking that maybe her parents were right to stay out of the village. Maybe things in Berk weren't as improved as she'd thought. Shaking her head, she pulled out the rock from her pocket and played with it as she spoke. "So, uh, you know there's, like, a bazillion dragons out there, right? But. . . you're not alone, you know. I'm-I'm here to help, if you want me to."

The boy's nervous demeanor relaxed at her offer. "Thanks, Dany. I'll definitely take you up on that."

She gave him a shy smile as she reached forward to grasp his wrist. Pointedly oblivious to his confused look, she turned his hand over so that it was palm-side up before she dropped the rock in it, saying simply: "for you."

Hiccup's expression brightened at the gesture. Although he'd never been a collector, his rock assortment had started during his recovery post the battle with the Red Death. He'd woken to his once-bare shelf now a home to interesting stones. Since then, whenever Dany could tell that he needed to be cheered up or for no reason at all, she would find the brunet and give him a rock in the same way every time. It was something he'd grown to associate their friendship with and it made his heart skip a beat in his chest. (After all, she never gave the other teens rocks, at least to his knowledge.)

Although she left quickly after that, refusing to look him in the eye even more so than usual, he smiled dopily at the striated rock in his hand. Toothless let out a rumbling chuckle at his friend's expression, causing the boy to pull his gaze from the gift to glare at him. "Stop it. She's just a friend, bud. You know that."

🏹🏹🏹

"That's your master plan? Train dragons?" Ruffnut's loud voice was full of disbelief when the teens met in the dragon training ring the next day.

"Here? Where we used to kill them?" her brother added incredulously.

"Right," Hiccup said as he lugged over a basket of fish to where Toothless was watching them curiously. "Because we don't do that anymore. That's why it's available."

"Actually, the dragons do seem a little nervous," Astrid chimed in.

She wasn't wrong; with the exception of Toothless and Drogon— neither of whom had been subjected to the Vikings' rigorous training program— they shifted uncomfortably due to their surroundings. Their pupils were narrow slits and their wings fluttered with anxiety.

"That's because they're very sensitive," Fishlegs stated. "Meatlug especially." His voice dropped and he whispered: "she lost a cousin here. We try not to talk about it."

Dany looked around at the foreboding stone enclosure. She could see why the dragons wouldn't want to return to a place that held such bad memories, even if she'd only been there once— that had been enough for her. She leaned against Drogon's spiked neck and took comfort in his strong, reassuring presence. The big dragon let out a deep sigh that fluttered the ends of her silvery-blonde hair as his head dipped towards the ground.

"I can't believe you used to train here," she admitted. "It seems kind of. . . depressing. And your dad is letting you use it?" The blonde directed her question to Hiccup, as Stoick had always seemed rather stern and unforgiving to her.

The boy shifted in a similar nervous manner to the dragons as he avoided the groups' eyes. "Well. . . it would be if he did, yeah. But he didn't so that's another thing we should try not to talk about."

Astrid's eyes narrowed. "Wait, so we're going behind your father's back?"

"There you go, talking about it." He quickly changed the subject. "Uh, alright. Everybody, here's the thing. The dragons are out of control, we want them to live in our world without destroying it, but they can't without our help. They've been blowing things up in the village. We've gotta do something about that."

As usual, the result was not quite unanimous agreement, even if everyone shared Hiccup's spirit. The twins were prone to putting their own spin on things, as evidenced by Tuffnut's reply: "Got it. Help dragons blow things up. We can totally do that."

"No, I believe I said—"

They began to speak over each other as they cottoned on to the idea: "here's how we're gonna do it. First, we make them really, really angry."

"— no problem. We anger everybody—"

"Guys!" Dany's abnormally loud interruption caught their attention for the moment. On the whole, she tended to be quiet and indifferent compared to the rest of the group; when dragons were involved, however, she was always ready to be the leader. Her hands were curled into fists as her violet eyes blazed with determination. "This is serious. We can't let someone like Mildew win— he won't just stop at putting our dragons in cages; he'll want them shipped off the island entirely! And I don't know about you, but I'm not going to give up my dragon that easily; we have to work together and fight back."

For once, the twins seemed subdued at the thought. There was a pause, and then Tuffnut finally said: "you're right. She's sorry." His sister shoved him in response.

Hiccup gave the Targaryen an appreciative nod for her attempt at corralling the siblings before he moved on. "Okay, then, next problem. The dragons are eating everything in sight." The boy pulled some bread from the basket, causing Toothless to lick his lips at the sight of it. "Now, when a dragon grabs something it's not supposed to have, you can get him to drop it by giving him a little scratch just below the chin."

The brunet demonstrated with his Night Fury, and Snotlout approached, snatching the bread from him.

"Maybe that works with you and Toothless, but Hookfang and me, we do things a little different." Snotlout tossed the bread into his dragon's mouth and prepared to demonstrate. "When I want this big boy to do something I just get right in his face and— drop that right now!" he yelled. "You hear me?" Hookfang did as told, but picked up Snotlout instead. The short Viking let out a muffled: "See? He dropped it."

Dany's lips curled up slightly at the teen's misfortune and she felt no inclination to go help him.

"All right, we've got a lot of training to do, but together, we can keep these dragons under control." Hiccup handed loaves of bread to the others for their dragons.

When he got to the blonde, she shook her head. "We have our own methods, thanks."

He couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed that he couldn't teach her something after everything she'd taught him. He held out the bread again. "Maybe you want to try on another dragon?"

"I'm good," Daenerys said, although she still accepted it from him. "But I am hungry, so I'll take it."

Hiccup shook his head with fond exasperation as Snotlout's voice echoed from inside his dragon: "Uh, can somebody do that chin-scratchy thing?" Snotlout called. "Hello? You guys still there?"

🏹🏹🏹

The village was unusually silent when they arrived later that day. The sun was shining in the sky, a cool breeze swept through the plaza and it was so still that they could hear birds chirping nearby for the first time since the dragons had arrived. Each member of the group wore their own variation of a confused or concerned expression as they surveyed the area.

"Huh. No dragons," Fishlegs observed.

"Well that was easy."

"Lunch?" Snotlout suggested.

"That's weird," Hiccup murmured as he scanned the village. "If the dragons aren't here, where are they?"

Boom!

A woman's scream followed the sound of the explosion. A plume of smoke burst into the air. Astrid put her hands on her hips as the group turned their attention in that direction. "Something tells me that way."

As they ran towards the commotion, Dany couldn't help but worry that whatever they would find would prove Mildew's fears true. The town would be up in arms, no matter how much damage the dragons caused this time. She tried to reassure herself that they would find a way— that by working together, a solution would present itself, but she could feel that their time was running out. Stoick was not exactly known for his patience, after all. The small comfort that she did have was that Drogon would never be the cause of the Vikings' difficulties; he was trained to hunt away from Berk and knew how to survive without human aid.

"Stormfly?" was the horrified gasp that came out of the Hofferson's mouth when they arrived on the scene. Her Deadly Nadder barely glanced up from where she was eating from a crate of spilled food.

"Hookfang!"

Since she didn't have a dragon to scold, the blonde followed Hiccup into the dark storehouse. Crates and baskets were toppled over and small fires blazed on the floor. The chief stood in the middle of the mess with a pillar in his hands, which he threw bodily to the side.

He walked over to the pair when he caught sight of them. "They've eaten everything. We've got nothing left for the freeze."

"I warned you, Stoick." The girl's eyes narrowed with dislike at the decrepit old man, but he was too proud of himself to notice her. "But did you listen to me? No. You put a bunch of teenagers—" He gestured to Hiccup and Dany with his staff. "—in charge. Now look what the dragons have done. Caging is too good for those beasts."

She bared her teeth in the same feral smile that she'd once given Astrid. One of her hands grasped the front of her bow as she fought the urge to strike Mildew right in the heart, because how dare he threaten her dragons?

Dany startled out of her hate-filled thoughts when she felt a hand tighten firmly on her shoulder. She glanced back and Hiccup shook his head, albeit a bit regretfully. The blonde allowed her hand to drop back to her side in defeat.

"Dad, I swear I can fix this. We- we were just starting to—"

"Enough, Hiccup," Stoick snapped, his rage visible to all those around him. "How can I trust you to control all the dragons, when you couldn't even control your own?" He gestured to the Night Fury, who was eating a fish from a barrel.

The boy's expression faltered at the sight of his dragon. "Oh, Toothless. . ."

"Bucket, Mulch, man the boats. We need another catch."

"It's too late, Stoick," Bucket sighed. "It took us six months to catch all that fish."

"Don't tell me it's too late! You've got to try!"

"Of course we do. Don't tell the chief it's too late," Mulch scolded as he turned to Bucket, acting as if the taller man had said so. "You're always so negative."

"I don't know what it is with me." Stoick rolled his eyes and carried a barrel out to put in the waiting wagon .

"Dad, please, you've got to listen to me. I know dragons better than—"

"Not now, Hiccup. I have a village to feed. The dragons have done enough damage. By tonight, I want every one of them caged. Understand?"

Mildew, as always, was determined to have the last word. He hobbled along to catch up with his chief. "Bah! You can't just cage these dragons. You need to send them away now!"

The words I told you so didn't even cross Dany's mind as the surrounding Vikings gave a roar of approval. She whirled around to glare at crowd, wishing that Hiccup would just let her set Drogon them. The didn't deserve the dragons' companionship if they were going to be such fair-weather friends. It had only been months ago that Toothless had saved their heir from certain death and this was how they repaid them?

It only got worse as the chief caved. "You're right, Mildew. We'll cage them tonight, and in the morning, Hiccup will send them off the island." He sighed. "I'm sorry, son."

🏹🏹🏹

Daenerys' parents noticed her somber mood and lack of appetite at dinner that night. They exchanged worried glances as they watched her push her stew around with a spoon, but she stayed quiet. Finally, Randolf broke the pressing silence. "What's wrong, my little dragon?"

Although the nickname was usually used teasingly to make her feel better, she slumped as it only made her guilt worse. "I— nothing."

As much as she wanted to confide in her parents, she would certainly disappoint them with her inability to carry on with their mission. She'd made Berk out to be a haven for dragons, after all, and she didn't want to tell them how far from the truth that was.

Ingrid set her own spoon down to watch her daughter with soft eyes. "Dany, you know you can tell us about whatever's bothering you. We can help, you know."

"I don't know if you can," she said miserably as she kept her gaze on her soup. "I just. . . How can I protect dragons when I'm only a teenager? How can I protect them from a whole village?"

The adults shared another look, this time filled with concern. Her father reached out a hand to place it on the table before her. "Dany, we never intended to burden you with such a task. While we love that you care about dragons as much as we do, this isn't something that you should carry alone, especially this young. But, you have been learning about them and their ways since you were little. You understand them better than anyone else in the village.

Think about Drogon, for example. He's a wild dragon— you've never really trained him, but he's also never caused the same problems that Berk is experiencing right now. Why do you think that is?"

The girl frowned thoughtfully, some of her gloomy mood lifting as she recalled some of the times that Drogon had helped her, like when she'd used his long neck to lift her high enough to decorate the house for Snoggletog. Or during the long, cold nights of Berk's winters that the dragons had kept them warm. Or even the rare days that her father had gone out fishing, using the dragons to scare them up to the net.

Her expression brightened. "Because we work with them, not against them!" Dany jumped up from her chair and raced for the door. "Thanks, dad!"

🏹🏹🏹

She met Hiccup in the sky as they flew in the same direction towards the dragon training ring. Raising her voice above the wind, she called over to him: "we have to stop them! I know what we have to do!"

"Really? So do I!" he answered back.

"Work with them!" they said at the same time, causing them to share a smile.

Dany felt her heart skip a beat at the fact that they'd come to the same conclusion. If she was someone who believed in fate (she wasn't), this would have definitely meant more to her than it did. (Really, it was just a coincidence!) "Great minds think alike, you know!"

"Don't close it!" the boy yelled as soon as they could reasonably be heard. The cranking of the gates continued, causing him to jump off the Night Fury as soon as they landed to prop the doors open in time.

The Targaryen landed quickly after and she climbed down her dragon to join the group. She stood in front of the gates with her arms crossed. "We are not locking them up."

Astrid stepped forward with a hopeful expression. "What happened? Did you change the chief's mind? Or are we going behind his back again?"

Hiccup came to stand next to her as he admitted sheepishly, "uh, one of those. Look, the dragons are gonna do what they're gonna do. It's in their nature. We just need to learn how to use it!"

Certain that they were of the same mind, Dany nodded in agreement. "Yes, and I already have a few ideas of what we could do. . ."

🏹🏹🏹

The next morning, the gang divided and conquered. Snotlout and Hookfang dive-bombed the fish to bring the catch up to the surface. Astrid used Stormfly's spiked tail to till Mildew's ground in time for the three o'clock flyover— natural fertilizer— which was led by Fishlegs and Meatlug. Drogon and Daenerys lifted heavy planks onto the storehouse roof to help the villagers repair it from the damage that the dragons had done. The twins on Barf and Belch chased the boars out of the forest and into the town— but in a controlled way, rather than a disruptive one. The plan seemed to be working and the Vikings became more receptive to the dragons' presence. At least, that was true until Mildew's complaints (as the man could always find fault with something) brought Stoick to them.

"There they are, Chief Stoick." Mildew pointed an accusatory finger in the group's direction. "Those dragons don't look like they're in cages to me."

The chief's bushy brows furrowed with disapproval. "No. This is not what I asked for."

While the unbridled anger that she felt at the sight of the decrepit man couldn't be hidden, Dany swallowed her unease at standing up to Stoick— a reaction she knew she'd always have after the way he'd let the town treat her parents. Still, she didn't think that the group should take the fall for what was essentially her idea, and she would be the one least affected by whatever punishment he came up with. So, she stepped forward, her hands curled into fists by her side to keep herself from fidgeting.

"This was my idea," she began firmly, her eyes lowered to the ground. "I'm the one to blame for going against what you said."

She vaguely heard Hiccup hiss: "Dany, no!" but she ignored his protest.

Since the blonde avoided the chief's gaze, she missed the look he cast between them before he spoke again. "Even if that is true, you worked together with this plan. All of you to the arena. Now."

🏹🏹🏹

They reconvened in the dragon-training ring shortly after. Dany coiled a piece of her silvery-blonde hair around her finger again and again as they waited for the chief's decision. Astrid looked completely unbothered— maybe even a little angry. The twins were frowning— an unusual expression for them, but it was due to their concern for their dragon. Fishlegs trembled in the back, his worry clear in his voice as he wondered, "what's Stoick gonna do to us?"

"I'm too pretty for jail," Ruffnut complained.

Her brother scoffed. "Heh. Where'd you hear that?"

"You all disobeyed my orders, and there will be consequences," the chief barked as he entered the ring, his steely glare pinning them all in place. Gobber followed close behind him.

"I told you we were gonna get in trouble," Astrid murmured as she sighed with annoyance. "You never listen to me."

Before the Targaryen could come to their defense again, Hiccup stepped forward. "Dad, if anyone's going to get in trouble, it should be me— Dany only came up with the same idea after I did."

The girl in question let out a disgruntled huff at his stubbornness to take the fall for himself, but she didn't let that deter her from joining him. "Fine. If you're going to be such a knucklehead about it, it was our idea, then. But we convinced the others—"

"Nope," the chief cut her off without hesitation. "You all had a hand in this. You took over this place without permission, you released the dragons against my wishes. Things are going to change around here. That's why—"

"We're getting a Dragon Training Academy," Gobber interrupted his friend. A grin formed on his face, erasing his previously stern expression.

The watching Vikings gasped at the unexpected news. Dany startled, certain that they'd get at least a month-long punishment, and shared a wide-eyed, excited look with the boy next to her.

"Gobber! I wanted to tell them!" Stoick complained.

"I'm sorry. You're right, go ahead."

"Well, you told most of it."

"You can tell them the part about how proud you are of them."

"Gobber!" Chief Stoick groaned before he turned back to the group. "Hiccup, well, what he said. You've all made me proud. This dragon training academy is for you." Chief Stoick flipped the switch that released the dragons from the cage they had just been put in.

"Hookfang!"

"Hey, Stormfly!"

"Hey, bud."

Each dragon rider greeted their friend happily as they were reunited. Dany had sent Drogon home, not wanting to rub it in her friends' faces that her dragon was the only one to roam free, so she watched the scene with a happy smile. Stoick walked over to his son and placed a warm hand on his shoulder. "Now all you have to do is train them."

"Not a problem, dad," Hiccup said easily. "After all, I have him."

"Ahem," Daenerys coughed pointedly.

"And Dany," he corrected himself quickly, only to add, "and them, too."

A/n: phew, finally got the first chapter out! I'm sorry it took me so long; I've been really busy and these chapters take awhile to write (since they're 6k+ words!) That being said, this book will have an every-other week (or more) update schedule, unlike Stormborn since I'm trying to fit each episode into one chapter. I've written a bit ahead (I'm at Heather Report —  which was one of the chapters I'm excited to write!) but I don't want to run through the prewritten stuff without backup, since that would mean an even longer wait.

Also, here's an incorrect quote sort of thing that I think really fits the Dany/Hiccup dynamic (especially when they get older):

Dany: *wants to do something unnecessarily violent*

Fishlegs/Snotlout/twins: Dany, no!

Dany: Dany yes

Astrid: Dany, no!

Dany: Dany maybe?

Hiccup: Dany, no!

Dany: Dany no 😔