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❛ ᴋʜᴀʟᴇᴇsɪ​​​​​​​​​​. ❜ ° . ༄
- ͙۪۪˚   ▎❛ 𝐓𝐄𝐍 ❜   ▎˚ ͙۪۪̥◌
»»————- ꒰ᴘᴇʀғᴇᴄᴛ sᴛᴏʀᴍ꒱


❝ NOT TO MENTION THE FACT
[ THE SKRILL ] IS [ THE
BERSERKER'S ] SYMBOL 
REALLY CEMENTS THE
FACT HIS PEOPLE ARE INSANE ❞

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It was freezing in a way that not even Daenerys' natural warmth could combat. She shivered on Drogon's back as they flew through the icy air. Not far away, Astrid was feeling similarly uncomfortable, though maybe she was handling it better than Dany's numb fingers could attest to. The Hofferson rubbed her arms in the hopes of fending off the chill (in reality, it did little to help.) Raising her voice to be heard over the wind, she called out to Hiccup: "we're getting pretty far north."

Unfortunately for the girls, he didn't seem much perturbed by the cold. He stayed focused on the mission as he responded, "Bucket and Mulch are two days overdue. We need to keep searching."

"You don't really think they're up here, do you?" she wondered.

Snotlout scoffed at her question. "Can't take the cold, huh, Astrid? Or you, Daenerys?"

"No. I just don't have a heated seat like you do," she snapped.

Dany shook her head, responding to his taunt much more calmly by explaining, "my warmer body temperature doesn't adapt well to the cold. Probably because I don't have dragon scales."

"Well, you girls can feel free to share my ride any time," the Jorgenson told them, smirking. He snapped his fingers and Hookfang lit his underbelly for his rider. "Ahh, toasty."

The Targaryen shuddered at the thought, suddenly much more willing to face the cold to avoid having to be anywhere close to Snotlout. Before Astrid could make another retort, shouts from below drew their attention to a nearby iceberg. Hiccup leaned forward to observe the scene better. "It looks like they're in trouble. Come on, bud!"

Astrid came down low first, firing a series of spine shots at the archers who threatened Bucket and Mulch. The opposing Vikings ducked as they looked around in confusion for where the dragons had come from. The chief's son nodded approvingly. "Nice shooting, Astrid. Snotlout, light 'em up!"

Snotlout let out a triumphant whoop! as he sailed between the two boats, using Hookfang to break the gangplank and light it in flames. While her friends focused on separating the ships, Dany pulled two arrows from her quiver and nocked them to her bow. She took aim at the Outcasts and let loose, targeting their exposed limbs to make the sail home all that much more unpleasant. She smiled when she heard shouts of pain as her arrows hit their mark.

"You never miss, do you?" Astrid teased her.

"Not once!" Dany replied, entirely serious despite the faint quirk of her lips at her friend's lighthearted tone.

"Okay, bud. It's our turn." Hiccup guided Toothless between the boats and used his dragon's plasma blast to separate them. Personally, Daenerys would have preferred to engulf the Outcast boat in flames, but she knew Hiccup would take a tamer approach.

Deciding that it wasn't worth their time to fight four dragons (one being a Night Fury and the other being a very large dragon of no known species), the commander ordered: "retreat! Retreat!"

The teens' dragons treated themselves to a few victory loops at those words, all to the accompaniment of Toothless' sonic airwaves. After they celebrated their win, they met Bucket and Mulch on the nearby island. Since there didn't seem to be anything of note except for the hunk of ice they were standing on, Hiccup asked, "what happened here?"

"Well, we thought the Berserkers had hit an iceberg," Mulch explained, "and so we came in to help. But, they attacked us because we saw. . . it."

Astrid, Dany and Hiccup glanced at each other in confusion before they echoed, "it?"

The older Vikings led them over to the side of the iceberg. But, instead of solid ice like the rest of the island, there was dark shape embedded in the glacier.

"It," Mulch enunciated, gesturing to it with his hook.

Intrigued, Dany followed the brunet over to the object. Hiccup rubbed his sleeve against the ice to clear the fog away while the Targaryen— forgoing her discomfort with the chill— pressed her face against the frost and cupped her hands around her eyes to block out the glare. She could see yellow eyes and sharp teeth that were part of a dragon's head. Hiccup had come to the same conclusion as he breathed out, "that looks like a. . . dragon."

As they stepped back to take in the full shape once more, Dany wiped her damp hands against the fur of her vest. Astrid frowned at the left-behind tools that surrounded the dragon. "Why would Berserkers be trying to dig it out?"

"No idea." Hiccup reached out to grab one of the hammers and turned it over in his hands. "But I'm going to find out."

"Oh, great," Snotlout scoffed. "Now we have to dig it out?"

"Actually, I have a much better idea." His gaze fell on Toothless, who was rolling around and enjoying the snow. As if sensing his rider's attention, he stopped and looked at the brunet upside down, his tongue lolling out.

It didn't take long for them to extract the dragon in its own, personal ice cube. With some borrowed ropes from Bucket and Mulch, it was easy for the four dragons to carry it between themselves. (Although Dany had insisted that Drogon could carry it by himself, Hiccup had dismissed the idea in favor of teamwork.)

🏹🏹🏹

Daenerys was glad to return to the relative warmth of Berk, which felt positively tropical after their chilly northern mission. The icicle-dragon had been placed in the center of the training arena for all the teens to take a good look at it. Toothless sniffed at the ice curiously while the other dragons regarded it more warily. Drogon gave it a slanted glance, then decided it wasn't worth the excitement. He went over to an empty corner of the academy, turned around a few times, and curled up for a nap. The ground shook slightly as he laid down and a gust of hot steam rolled over the teens as he let out a contented breath.

Snotlout grinned eagerly at their discovery. As he pounded his fist into his other palm, he declared, "I say we smash it."

"I say we blast it," Tuffnut offered as he climbed on top of the ice block with his sister.

"I say we blast it and then smash it. . . and then blast it again!" Ruffnut cheered. Then, at the same time as her brother, added, ". . .blast it again!"

Tuffnut huffed at their tandem speech. "Stop saying what I'm saying now!"

Hiccup crossed his arms against his chest, regarding the twins with an 'are you done now' look. "Yeah, that's certainly. . . one approach."

Tuffnut coughed professionally as he corrected the brunet, "good sir, I believe it is actually three approaches, my fine fellow."

The twins jumped off the ice block as Hiccup approached it, choosing to ignore the other boy's comment. "Let's just get a better look at this thing. Fishlegs, give me a slow burn."

"With pleasure. Meatlug?" He whistled to get her attention. "Lava blast."

There was a burst of steam as the Gronckle's fireball made contact with the ice. After it cleared, the boys plus Dany went over to investigate. The ice was less cold now that heat from Meatlug's blast had made contact with it, so she had no problem pressing her face to it once more. The dragon's scales were dark gray with purple accents. It had a multitude of spikes, sharp talons and teeth. Its eyes looked deadly, even from the safety of the ice barrier. They were frozen in a furious glare, as if it were the teens' fault that it had become surrounded in ice.

Despite its rather evil appearance, however, the boys were thrilled by the discovery. Hiccup's eyes widened as he stared at the dragon. "Oh, man. . . is that. . . what I think it is?"

Fishlegs nodded, unable to believe the conclusion he'd come to. "I think so, but I've only seen pictures."

"Do you realize how huge this could be, Fishlegs?"

"The word 'epic' comes to mind."

Dany gave the boys a bemused look, appreciating their enthusiasm in spite of not knowing what they were discussing. Contrary to popular belief, she did not know everything about dragons. She'd only read the Book of Dragons once and gone over the Bork Papers multiple times, but this particular dragon wasn't ringing any bells for her. She preferred to have firsthand experience rather than information learned from a piece of paper. So, she backed away to let them have their nerd-out session, just in time to hear Astrid complain:

"I hate it when they get like this."

Dany disagreed with her, thinking that their enthusiasm was endearing, even cute— at least in regards to Hiccup. But if she had given even an inkling of her thoughts, she'd be subjected to copious amounts of teasing and embarrassment. Plus, she refused to acknowledge that her feelings towards Hiccup had changed in any way, and voicing that she thought he was cute would certainly be the opposite of her goal.

"Don't you just?" Snotlout asked, taking advantage of their shared dislike. He leaned an arm on Astrid's shoulder suggestively. She gave him a look of great disgust, then grabbed his fingers and twisted his arm behind his back.

As the Jorgenson let out whimpers of pain, Hiccup and Fishlegs made their way out of the academy, the latter suggesting, "I should check the Book of Dragons to be sure about this."

"Good idea. If we're right, this could be big trouble."

Releasing Snotlout's hand, Astrid grabbed Daenerys' wrist to tug her along after the boys, scowling at their backs as she grumbled, "if someone doesn't start filling me in, I'm getting my axe!"

Luckily, Hiccup wasn't so deep in his dragon enthusiasm that he forgot proper safety precautions. He quickly hurried back to the academy entrance and told the remaining trio (Snotlout and the twins) sternly: "no one touches that block of ice while we're gone!"

They quickly adopted expressions of innocence as if they hadn't just been planning to mess with their newest find.

🏹🏹🏹

After they referenced the Book of Dragons, they left Fishlegs to his musings while Astrid, Hiccup and Dany burst into the Great Hall. There was already a council meeting going on and the room was crowded with male Vikings. Their voices shouted over each other to be heard, the general hubbub enough to leave anyone's ears ringing. Daenerys hastily placed her hands over her ears and took a few steps back to get away from the crowd, casting them an uncomfortable look as she remembered the mob that had swarmed Fishlegs upon the discovery of a Stone of Good Fortune. Once again, she wished that she had brought Hiccup's earmuffs with her and made a mental note to start carrying them around at all times.

Noticing the blonde's hesitation, the chief's son glanced back at her, an expression of concern taking over his features. Of course, he knew of her general dislike for noise so he wasn't surprised, but he wished there was something he could do to make it more comfortable for her (besides invent a dampener. Maybe something smaller and easier to carry around? He'd have to start brainstorming. . .) Deciding that the best course of action was to get everyone to quiet down, he raised his voice to be heard over the others, regardless of the conversations that were going on: "I think I know why Dagur and his men attacked Bucket and Mulch."

Just as he'd hoped, the Vikings all turned to them, their discussions ceasing so they could pay attention to what he had to say. For a moment, Hiccup marveled at the change just a few years could bring: before the Red Death, he had been worse than nothing to these villagers, his opinions ignored and dismissed. But now they were willing to hear him out, even in matters as important as a potential war. Had he been anyone else, this newfound power that respect brought might have gone to his head, but he was just grateful that they were taking him seriously now. He was willing to admit, however, that it never failed to please him when his father addressed him in front of the entire council to listen to his thoughts.

Stoick did so now, standing at the head of the gathered Vikings. "Go on, son."

Behind him, Dany cautiously dropped her hands from her ears now that the din had quieted. Hiccup noticed her movement out of the corner of his eye and smiled, glad that she was feeling more at ease. He continued: "we got a better look at the dragon that Bucket and Mulch found in the ice—"

"We found a dragon?" Bucket asked, shocked. "Oh, can we keep it? I've always wanted my own dragon, Mulch."

The brunet winced, wishing he didn't have to put a dash the man's hopes (or deliver the bad news.) "Uh. . . it's a Skrill."

The council was so silent now that they could've heard a pin drop (save for a few shocked gasps.) Bucket slumped with disappointment. "Oh. . . I don't want one of those."

Mulch elbowed him harshly in the stomach to get him to be quiet. Stoick froze at this information. He knew that if word got out, it would cause mass panic. Before he could let it get that far, he asked Hiccup urgently, "are you sure about this, son?"

"Oh, we are sure!" Fishlegs cried, running into the room with the Book of Dragons in his hand. Dany sensed what was going to happen next and swiftly stepped to the side, letting him throw his arms around Astrid and Hiccup instead. "Whoo! Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah, Fishlegs!" Everyone stared at him, waiting for him to calm down. He apologized sheepishly, "heh, heh. Sorry, Chief. That happens sometimes when we discover a new dragon; I-I get a little—"

Hiccup cut the other boy off to get the conversation back on track. He took the Book with him and turned to the correct page. "Look, it's right here. That is definitely a Skrill."

The Targaryen shuffled over now that Fishlegs had become more subdued. She peered over Hiccup's shoulder to look at the picture he was showing them. On the left page was a drawing of a spiked dragon with huge, pointed wings. Lighting strikes were depicted coming from its mouth, clueing them in on what sort of power it possessed. Although she had yet to see the full dragon in real life, even just the image was enough to make her hands itch to first draw it herself, then create its likeness from wood. Since it was such a dark-colored dragon, she thought that she might use ebony, or even a dark walnut.

While Dany was daydreaming about her next project, Astrid came to an unfortunate conclusion: "and the Skrill is the symbol of. . . the Berserkers."

🏹🏹🏹

After Astrid's revelation, the Vikings' discussion broke up as they began to talk amongst themselves. Stoick, Gobber and the teens left them to it and exited the Great Hall.

"Legend has it the lightning comes from the Skrill's mouth!" the blacksmith exclaimed brightly. "And Thunder from its. . . well, you know."

"Remind me never to get behind one," Astrid muttered.

"Or in front of one," Daenerys agreed. "I don't think an electric shock is all that pleasant, either."

Fishlegs was quick to correct the older man: "that's actually inaccurate. According to the Book of Dragons, the Skrill drew lightning from the clouds and re-directed it."

Now that they were away from the judgmental gazes of the Berk council, Hiccup allowed himself to be caught up in his friend's delight and added, "and could use that lightning to hit several targets at once, which is why it was such a feared dragon."

Fishlegs nodded happily. "And it could also store the lightning in its body and use it later."

Dany smiled at the boys'— particularly Hiccup's (but once again she ignored that)— awe. She filed the facts they shared away in case she needed to use them later. She wished that they had found a less threatening dragon so they could enthuse over it as much as they wanted to.

Stoick had been listening to the teens' exchange with growing concern over how these skills would affect Berk's people. Knowing time was of the essence, he put a hand out to silence the boys. "I've heard enough. We need to get rid of that Skrill. It's just the excuse Dagur needs to go to war. Not to mention the fact this dragon is his clan's symbol really cements the fact his people are insane."

 At the mention of Berserkers being insane, Hiccup glanced at the Targaryen worriedly, hoping that she wouldn't take the chief's stereotyping to heart. While she was only part Berserker, that was the part she was most sensitive about. She stiffened a little at the declaration and lowered her head, her already downturned eyes dropping further to the ground. Frowning at his father's insinuation, he moved closer to the blonde, even more than his usual respect for her personal space allowed. While Gobber went on about fighting, he hesitantly brushed his fingers against hers in an act of reassurance— you're not like them.

Dany's eyes flashed wide with surprise as her head jerked a bit to look towards him. He felt a spark of triumph at the pink flush on her cheeks that was a result of his action. It only burned brighter when she didn't pull her hand away, and she gave him a small, bashful smile in return. Awkwardness probably would've befallen them shortly after this exchange had Fishlegs not helpfully spoken up to counter the blacksmith's words. Holding the Book tightly to his chest, he interjected, "actually, because of their internal body temperature, Skrill's can stay safely frozen for decades."

Hiccup stepped away from Dany (which was somewhat of a disappointment, though she quickly shut that train of thought down) and suggested that they show the frozen Skrill to his father, to which Stoick agreed. On their way to the academy, the chief was very perturbed to learn who they had left the guard new dragon. "So, let me be clear: this dragon may still be alive, and you left Ruffnut, Tuffnut, and Snotlout to guard it."

"It's not as bad as it sounds," Dany chimed in. "We left Drogon to babysit them and he would never let them get near enough to cause any trouble." To his credit, Stoick did appear to be slightly relieved by this. But then they froze at the sound of an explosion and an earth-shattering roar. The academy lit up in orange some distance away, the light illuminating their stunned faces for a moment. Then, Daenerys recognized the dragon's call and alarm shot through her. "Drogon!"

She raced off before anyone could stop her. Hiccup made a half-hearted attempt to call her back, shouting her name and reaching for her arm to stop her— but she was long gone, her bare feet flying over the rocks and steps to get to her dragon. Toothless followed her in hot pursuit and the rest of the group brought up the rear.

When she reached the arena, the scene she found was utter chaos. Smoke still lingered in the air, making it hard to see. The twins were on their dragons with Snotlout and Hookfang standing next to them in the small alcove of their entrance. All three of their eyes were wide and even the twins seemed to be mildly frightened as they stared at Drogon.

Drogon. Dany's gaze fell on her dragon. His back was to them now, but presumably he had been facing the entrance before it all went to Hel. Although his bulk blocked most whatever he was growling at, she assumed that the Skrill had been freed from its ice prison. His muscled rippled under his scaly hide and his tail lashed behind him, banging into the academy walls hard enough to crack the stone with each impact.

"Can't you do something?" Snotlout snapped, sounding breathlessly afraid— he didn't even try to hide it. "Your dragon just went crazy for no reason!"

The Targaryen levelled him with a flat stare. "I highly doubt that. I'm sure whatever he did was entirely called for. What happened before 'he went crazy?'" she asked, mocking the boy's words as she echoed them. "And tell me the truth."

He shifted under her intense stare, not quite used to having her look at him. Her violet eyes were extremely disconcerting, especially when there was a blaze of fire in them as her anger was stoked. Instinctively, he pointed at the twins. "Their fault!"

Dany's head whipped around to glare at the siblings. Through gritted teeth, she forced out: "get. Down."

"Uh. . . I'd much prefer to stay up here, thanks," Tuffnut replied, watching the fury flashing in her eyes warily. (He did have at least a shred of self-preservation, after all.)

Before she could unseat either twin (which she had been fully intending to do), the sky lit up in brilliant white as the Skrill called upon its powers, but it only flopped back to the ground as the metal roof of the academy caged it in. Drogon bared his teeth at the newly-freed dragon and blocked its escape rout with his body. The other academy dragons closed in on it, to which it responded by growling and flaring its wings.

Since he was more helpful than the Zippleback who had threatened to free the Skrill, Drogon charged right at the opposing dragon. He easily bowled it over with his muscular body and pinned the Skrill to the ground, his sharp talons sinking into the rocky floor of the training arena. It writhed underneath him, letting out furious roars as it fought his hold. Drogon lowered his head so that it was right above the Skrill's face and roared in response, ordering the dark gray dragon to stand down.

Unfortunately, the Skrill had a lot more fight in it than other dragons. In retaliation, the sky blazed white again. Electricity crackled from the clouds, streaking towards the arena. Dany's eyes widened as she tracked its path, landing on her dragon's unsuspecting form. Her voice ripped from her throat with how loud she shouted to get his attention: "DROGON, RELEASE HIM NOW!"

Her dragon's head swung in her direction, his teeth bared at the audacity she had to interfere with his fight. Too late, and the lightening hit its mark. It tore through him, lighting the outline of his wings from the force of the bolts. He bellowed in pain as it coursed through him.

"NO!" Daenerys' cry was loud and terrible as they watched the huge dragon fall to the ground limply. The impact caused the ground around them to shake like a low-grade earthquake, causing some dust from the entrance's ceiling to skitter down the walls.

Ignoring the Skrill— who now made the most of its freedom and raced for the entrance, shoving its way past the riders— Dany rushed to her dragon. There was nothing more important in the world right now than making sure he would be okay. He had to be okay; she didn't know what she'd do without him. He was her dragon— there would be no others after him. She had birthed him, raised him, cared for him; she saw him as any mother would their own child.

The other dragons stood back respectfully— something she hated, because Drogon wasn't dead. A few bolts of electricity couldn't kill anyone! Especially not a creature with as much strength as he had.

She finally made it around to his head and took in his still face: his eyes closed and expression slack. She tried not to take the sight to heart and focused on his nostrils. Dany put her hand almost flat to the opening and held her breath as she waited for his. One. . . two. . . three. . . wait— was that it? She hoped she wasn't just imaging what she wished was there. Her heart leapt in her chest when it came again: a very faint but very hot puff of air.

Relief crashed over her, almost threatening to make her cry, but she reached for anger instead. As she turned towards the rest of the teens, she dimly noted that the other riders' dragons seemed to pick up on the fact that the danger had passed and were going about their business as usual. Hiccup was berating the twins for being careless (a fact which she distantly appreciated but was too angry to recognize right then.) Tuffnut chuckled a little nervously before he answered whatever had been said with, "eh. . . very sneaky dragon."

Gods, just the sound of his voice was enough to make her rage double. And they were acting so blasé about it, too! As if they hadn't been the reason why her dragon almost. . . The twins were off their dragons now, much to their loss. Her eyes narrowed on them. She was going to kill them. They deserved to feel as much pain as she did— as she nearly had.

Without thinking about it any further, Dany rushed whom she viewed as the weaker twin: Tuffnut. He didn't see her coming, too focused on getting out of trouble. Her body hit with his and the collision sent them stumbling forward. Shouts met her actions, which she dismissed. Her hands latched around the boy's throat as her vision turned first red, then black as she let the rage consume her.

Somewhere in their tussle, Tuffnut's helmet had fallen off and rolled to the side, so his unprotected head connected with the stone. Ruffnut was shouting, too; for all her abuse of her brother, she most certainly didn't want him dead by someone else's hands. She ran forward to try and pry Dany off him, chanting, "let him go! Let him go!"

Snotlout was no help at all, of course, misreading the deadly intent in the Targaryen's expression as he eagerly chanted, "fight, fight, fight!"

Daenerys smacked her fist halfheartedly in Ruffnut's direction to get her to stop. "You and your stupidity almost killed my dragon," she seethed. "You're going to pay for that."

"She's gone crazy!" Fishlegs whimpered, his back pressed against the far wall to get as much distance between him and the wrathful girl as possible. He clutched the Book of Dragons protectively against his chest as if it were a safety blanket.

Both Hiccup and his father had frozen in shock at Dany's aggression. The former because, although he did know about it, he'd never truly seen it in action; it had just been words before. The chief was completely blindsided, having thought that the rumors of the Targaryen madness were exactly that. But Hiccup recovered first as he'd at least been prepared. He got his father's attention and gestured to his other friends. "Dad, could you distract them?"

Stoick came to his senses and nodded, noting how frightened Fishlegs looked and took action. He placed a comforting hand on the boy's shoulder to lead him over towards Snotlout, where they all went to stand some distance away. "When I was a lad, my father's father would sit me on his knee and tell me stories. . ." he began, knowing that the Ingerman would be heartened by dragon-talk.

With that situation under control, Hiccup turned to Astrid, who looked like she didn't know what to do. (After all, she'd had moments where she wanted to kill Tuffnut, too, so it would be hypocritical to stop her best friend from doing so. . .) But after the chief's son called her name to get her attention, she leapt into motion. Together, they pulled Dany off the older twin, with Hiccup saying firmly, "Dany, no."

She fought them a bit to be released, but they held fast. Ruffnut made sure her brother was okay (and once she had, she punched him on the shoulder for letting her get scared like that.) Daenerys was still breathing heavily from her altercation, but other voices soon made it past the wall of rage— most notably Hiccup's. She felt a renewed spark of anger in defiance of him calming her down, but it flickered out quickly. Instead, the anguish she felt from Drogon's injury replaced her anger now that she'd been able to express it.

The blonde sank to the ground, taking Hiccup and Astrid with her. Their arms were wrapped around her— previously from restraint, but now became looser as it turned into a hug. She didn't even protest about personal space, her words blocked by the lump in her throat as her tears finally came. They spilled over her cheeks as she cried, her breath coming in great, gasping sobs. She'd almost lost her dragon.

A little caught off guard from the unexpected display of grief, Astrid exchanged an uncomfortable glance with Hiccup as emotions weren't her strong suit. Luckily, Dany had leaned more towards the boy to let her weight sink against him as he held her, her face pressed against the soft fur of his vest. If it had been any other circumstance, he would have thought about the moment for weeks to come. But the sight of her tears made his heart twist in his chest and he wished there was something he could do. Holding her seemed to help, and she clung to him even as some of her sorrow subsided.

While she was obviously concerned about her best friend, Astrid was also aware of the damage that the escaped Skrill could do. She scanned the skies for a glimpse of it, though it was long gone by now. In a low voice so that Dany wouldn't hear, she murmured, "we really should go after it before it's lost for good."

Hiccup didn't need her to clarify what she was talking about. He glanced at the girl in his arms, then up just as the Hofferson had done. "We can't leave her like this," he replied in an equally quiet tone. "And she can't come with us—"

"Which is why you're staying here," Astrid said firmly. When the boy's eyes widened and he opened his mouth to protest, she arched a brow. "What, you don't trust me?"

"No, of course not— that's not what I meant," he amended hastily. "I just. . . the twins—"

"I can handle them," the Hofferson replied. "But she needs you right now. And when I get back, I expect an explanation on all of. . . that." She waved a hand towards Tuffnut.

The brunet relented, knowing she was right. It wasn't because he didn't want to stay with Dany (quite the opposite, really; he would've agreed to that in a heartbeat), but there were certain responsibilities that came with being the chief's son, and that including leading Berk's dragon academy. "Take Toothless with you," he said, deciding that was a decent compromise. "You'll need him if you want to catch the Skrill. Stormfly can fly alongside you."

Astrid nodded and thankfully didn't find a reason to argue further. 

🏹🏹🏹

Once her emotions had settled to a more stable place, Dany dreaded Tuffnut's return. Would she have to apologize to him? She didn't feel sorry for attacking him; he'd been a contributing factor to Drogon's injuries. But still, the part of her that always wanted to be accepted— no matter the cost— out of fear of losing her friends thought otherwise. Would all of her friends hate her for almost killing one of their peers? Would they fear her if she didn't apologize?

At least she knew that Hiccup wasn't afraid of her, he was afraid for her— and he'd said as much when he stayed behind to comfort her. He hadn't looked at her with revulsion or wariness after seeing a hint of the madness that plagued her family; he'd stayed with her, even held her. Or, at least, he'd kept her company for as long as possible until Astrid, Fishlegs and Snotlout had returned, sans the twins and the Skrill. Then they'd learned that their mission hadn't been a success and the Thorstons were missing. That was when Hiccup had taken Astrid's place and headed the search party while the Hofferson settled into a spot next to Dany, who hadn't moved from Drogon's side.

The Targaryen didn't look at her, too nervous to see the hate and disgust on her best friend's face. Her gaze stayed focused on her hands which were— in a rare occasion— lying still in her lap, her fingers splayed wide as she rubbed her palms uneasily on the fabric of her dress. Astrid didn't sit as close to her as Hiccup had, keeping quite a few inches between them with her axe resting against her legs. (A part of Daenerys' anxious thoughts noticed the difference and wondered if the blonde was keeping her distance on purpose, or if she was just being respectful of Dany's space. It was the latter, of course.)

"So," Astrid began, knowing the other girl wouldn't start talking until she asked a pointed question, "want to tell me what all that was about?"

"Not really," Dany mumbled, expectedly. She appreciated Astrid's toughness and how she didn't treat her friends like they were made of glass; she expected the best because she was the best. She didn't want Astrid's view of her to change if her mental state proved easily unbalanced. But she also knew that Astrid would be the second best person to tell, after Hiccup. She had always been planning on sharing her family history with her best friend (though it had come sooner than she thought); the others (Fishlegs, Snotlout and the twins) were an entirely different story: they would never find out if she could help it. She sighed, knowing that it was better to do it now while the rest of their friends were occupied. "But I will. You know the rumor about the Targaryen madness?"

"Yeah?" Daenerys waited a moment until realization flashed across Astrid's face once she put the pieces together. "But-but you're not mad! Snotlout's always going on about my 'anger issues—'" (Here she used air quotes) "—which I don't have. But if I did, then you'd be like me. That's all."

The Targaryen shook her head, even more determinedly avoiding the other girl's gaze now. "You've never tried to kill anyone because they hurt your dragon," she countered bitterly.

Astrid shrugged and flipped her axe in her hands. "I'm sure if someone did try to hurt Stormfly, I'd want to kill them too. I know it's a bit different for you with the Mother-of-Dragons thing and being there for Drogon's birth, but that's it. Otherwise it's exactly the same. We're Vikings, Dany. Violence is in our blood."

"Some more than others," she muttered, before launching into the same explanation that she'd given Hiccup about how her grandparents had met. ". . . so there is some Berserker in me, though now it's a bit diluted. I don't know how my mom handles all that rage; I've never seen her lash out like I do."

"That doesn't mean she doesn't," the Hofferson pointed out with uncharacteristic gentleness. "She is older than you; maybe she's figured out a way to control it, or at least let it out when no one else is around. Have you asked her for help?"

Instead of answering the blonde's question, Dany gathered enough courage to glance over at her best friend. There was only concern on the other girl's face. "You're taking this a lot better than I thought you would," she commented, her voice still quiet. "After everything you said about Dagur, I wasn't sure. . ."

"What did I say about Dagur?" Astrid wondered, frowning slightly as she furrowed her brows, trying to remember.

"You said that he should be locked in a cage," Daenerys told her, the words still clear in her mind. She didn't think that she could ever forget them. "And since we're both Berserkers in some way, I just thought. . . " she trailed off, the rest of the words too awful to say aloud.

Astrid's eyes widened at the implication. She dropped her axe and reached for the other girl's hands, taking them with both of hers (and ignoring Dany's preference for space for the time being.) "Oh, Dany, no. Dagur's proved just how much he's earned the title of deranged. You are nothing like him, okay? I'm sorry that I ever made you feel like you were. Honestly, I think Dagur's worse off because he doesn't have any friends to keep him from tipping over the edge— that's how he ended up like he is. You do. We will always be there to support you and keep you from doing something you'll regret."

Dany finally gave her friend a small smile now that most of her reservations had been assuaged. "You know, that's almost the same thing that Hiccup said to me when I told him."

Amused, Astrid gave her a pointed look. "So maybe you'll believe it now that two of us have said it?"

"I'll try," she promised, more sincerely than the Hofferson's joking tone called for. 

"And you don't have to worry about Tuffnut," the other girl added, almost as an afterthought. "He didn't seem to bear any ill will towards you during our mission. You know the twins— nothing ever keeps them down for long."

🏹🏹🏹

Astrid was right, of course. Once Dagur, the Skrill, and apparently Alvin, too, had been taken care of, the gang returned. Tuffnut threw an arm around Dany's shoulders without regard for her personal space as he always had, and she grimaced at the smell that emanated from him— but for once didn't comment. "Hey, I just wanted to say thanks."

She stayed perfectly still, stiff against the boy's hold as her lips tugged downward in a confused frown. ". . . What? Why?"

"Choking's a new one," the older twin said brightly, as if his life hadn't been in danger. "Ruffnut's go-to method was suffocating me in a headlock but she never put her hands around my neck like that. It's much more effective. Plus I get to stay standing the whole time. If you want to do it again, just give me a bit of warning." He paused to reconsider his words. "Actually, don't give me any warning— it takes away the thrill of it. Surprise attack me whenever you want."

Although she would never actually take him up on the offer— she wasn't prone to violence like Ruffnut was, unless the Targaryen-rage struck— she appreciated his words more than he could know. He clearly wasn't expecting an apology; he wasn't even mad at her— while a roundabout way of expressing his feelings, the sentiment, at its core, meant that he accepted her exactly the way she was. While the twins would always be nuisances, maybe she had written them off as merely tolerable allies too soon.

She was grateful when Tuffnut released her and made a mental note to take a bath as soon as she got home. She caught Hiccup's eye after the exchange and the expression on his face read: 'see? I told you everything would be alright.'

And it was.

A/n: I decided to skip the second half of the Skrill episode since I was rushed for time (I wanted to finish this book before leaving for vacation) and it wasn't that interesting. As for Dany's 'Targaryen-madness' I wanted to explore it a bit more. While she'll never be like GOT s8 Dany, I thought it would be an interesting part of her character to have her have spurts of extreme aggression that she'll later regret (or, not so much— just in terms of how it would affect her friendships.)