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❛ ᴋʜᴀʟᴇᴇsɪ​​​​​​​​​​. ❜ ° . ༄
- ͙۪۪˚   ▎❛ 𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐍 ❜   ▎˚ ͙۪۪̥◌
»»————- ꒰ᴛʜᴇ ᴅʀᴀɢᴏɴ ʀɪᴅᴇʀ's
ᴀᴘᴘʀᴇɴᴛɪᴄᴇ꒱


❝ IT CONFUSES ME
WHEN YOU'RE MEAN AND
NICE AT THE SAME TIME ❞

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"Have you ever thought about having an apprentice?" Dany wondered as she ducked underneath the punch Hiccup had thrown. They were sparring again in the clearing outside of her house, like they usually did in the morning ever since she'd asked for his help in hand-to-hand combat.

The question seemed to startle him and he was slow in recovering from his attack, allowing her to tap her knuckles lightly to his shoulder. Their training sessions almost never resulted in injury (especially because Drogon would kill him if he hurt Dany— not that he ever wanted to) and consisted of mock bouts. "Me? Do you think I should?"

"Not you specifically," the Targaryen amended, lunging for his shoulders but he sidestepped her and sent her stumbling. "Just the academy in general. I mean, what happened to Drogon could happen to any of us: we could get hurt— or heaven forbid, worse— and we'd be out of commission, leaving a gap in the team."

As she stabilized from her wrong footedness, Hiccup reached out and grasped one of her flailing wrists. He pulled on her arm gently, spinning her back around to face him. Her silvery-blonde hair flared out as it followed her motion, loose in its unkempt curls as always. She brushed it out of her face with her free hand as he responded, "you're right— we should have a backup team, but there aren't exactly more teens in Berk. Everyone who might be eligible is either too old or too young to even try getting on a dragon, let alone fly one. As nice as it would be, I just don't think it's exactly feasible right now. With the war with Dagur, who would have time to train recruits?"

While he'd been talking, Hiccup had used his grip on the girl's arm to bring her nearly against her chest. Little did he know that the action had caused her to completely stop listening to him as she stared up at the brunet with wide, startled eyes and slightly parted lips. Too caught up in their activity, he didn't notice her expression, simply using her momentary shack to sweep his foot underneath hers to bring her to the ground. The hold he had on her wrist helped him to lower her more gently than a real fall, though that didn't stop him from dropping on top of her to gain the upper hand.

It was one of his favorite times of the day; he got Dany all to himself (barring the watchful eyes of Drogon, of course) and he got to be close to her without worrying about whether she was uncomfortable or not. He grinned down at her, subtly admiring the way her cheeks were flushed pink from exertion (or so he thought) and the bright shine to her violet eyes. "I win this one, I think."

He stood and offered her a hand to help her up, which she took. Once he'd let go, Dany did her best to shake off the sparks that seemed to fly over her skin wherever Hiccup had touched her. He was supposed to touch you. It was just a practice fight! Stop being so pathetic, she chided herself. But it was hard to concentrate when he smiled at her like that, in a way that made his green eyes rival the color of spring grass— and it was so rare to see him truly happy these days that it made the traitorous butterflies (or dragons) in her stomach wake up. So, she focused on pushing all those mushy feelings aside and occupied herself with answering his question.

"I could find someone to train," she offered, glancing at her dragon, who watched them from where he lay just outside the clearing. He almost blended in with the shadows of the forest, except for his orange eyes. "With Drogon still recovering I don't want to just sit around doing nothing."

It was true; while Drogon had woken up from being electrocuted a few days later, she had ordered him on bed rest, much to his chagrin. His muscles still occasionally rippled from uncontrollable convulsions, after all, and it made him an unsteady flier. While her reasoning was sound, Hiccup shook his head. "You do have something to do. I need your help with planning strategy for Dagur. Plus you can always ride Toothless with me if we go somewhere. You're too important to leave behind."

Dany blushed at his words despite knowing he meant them in a completely logical sense (he didn't— what he really wanted to say was 'you're too important to me to leave behind,' but he wasn't quite brave enough for that. Sure, he could face Dagur in a one-to-one dragon fight and feel very little fear, but talking to the girl he liked was an entirely different story.) They both knew that she wasn't the best strategist, but she was pleased that he thought so highly of her.

"Okay" she agreed shyly, not quite able to look him in the eyes. Wanting to change the subject (because if he said any more nice things about her, or kept looking at her like that, she wouldn't be able to deny the existence of those butterflies for much longer), she readied herself into a fighting stance. "Shall we go again?"

🏹🏹🏹

Later that day, Dany stood in front of the pinned-up map of Outcast Island with Hiccup, Astrid, Fishlegs and the twins. She had a piece of dark, nearly black wood in one of her hands, the other holding her carving knife. Rhaenys sat curled around her shoulders, the dragon's yellow eyes watching her hand movements with great interest. Ever since Drogon had returned home from being injured, the Terror had resumed her job of being stuck to Daenerys like glue. It seemed that any training the Targaryen had given her to stay put evaporated as she insisted on being a comforting— if not pesky— dragon shawl.

Now that her worry for Drogon had somewhat faded, she could appreciate the excitement of the Skrill. Using the Book of Dragons image and her own memory, she had begun to carve her newest dragon figurine out of the black walnut wood she'd found (ebony was a little too rare to use for a project that wouldn't be profitable.) Having busy hands helped her stay focused on the strategy Hiccup was offering— normally a topic that she found too boring to pay much attention to, even with the brunet taking charge.

Although she was an extremely experienced carver and only hurt herself occasionally, she almost stabbed the small knife she was wielding against her opposite palm when Snotlout came running into the academy, shouting: "I'm gonna kick the bucket!"

They turned to glare at him, tired of his dramatics. Dany scowled at the boy before she checked her project for any damage caused by her loss of control. Luckily, there was nothing. Hiccup, too, was at his wits' end with the Jorgenson's antics. He arched a brow at the interruption. "Snotlout, do you mind? We're having a Dagur meeting."

Tuffnut's eyes widened as he looked around, suddenly suspicious. "Dagur's here?"

"No, Tuffnut, he's not," Daenerys told him, sighing. While she was usually the first to ignore the twins' stupid questions, she'd made a pact with herself to try and be nicer to them after the almost-killing-Tuffnut incident. She wanted to attempt to accept them just as they had her.

He didn't quite seem to believe her, though, and peered behind the board holding up the map just to be sure. Snotlout was still focused on his apparent near-death experiences, explaining urgently, "in the last week, I've seen three of the five signposts of Valhalla."

Since they'd heard all about the first two, the teens exclaimed in exasperated unison: "we know!"

"You know?" he echoed, acting as if he hadn't told anyone who would listen. "And you're just standing there, talking about stupid Dagur?" Snotlout turned away from them, beginning to pace as his voice took on a more passionate tone. "One of your bravest and most treasured warriors is about to leave this world forever!"

Tuffnut shrugged, unaffected. "Look on the bright side: at least you'll be in eternal paradise."

"So will we," Astrid commented. Dany bent her head over her carving to hide her amused smile.

Snotlout looked extremely displeased by their lack of empathy. "Joke all you want about me. But what about Hookfang?" The Monstrous Nightmare faced away from them and curled his tail over his eyes, as if he couldn't bear to see his rider's cringey-ness. "The thought of him without me for the rest of his life. . . it's just. . ." He sniffled and turned away from them, his shoulders slouching with apparent sadness.

The chief's son watched him apathetically. "Are you done?"

Annoyed, the Jorgenson spun around, snapping, "No. Not even close. Though devastated, and still in pre-mourning—" He pulled a smaller boy out from behind one of the targets. "—Gustav has volunteered to carry on the Snotlout legacy."

The boy, Gustav— Dany vaguely recalled him from the Stone-of-Good-Fortune incident— straightened his helmet. He raised his fist to his chest, tapping it just above his heart. "It's an honor."

"Please tell me he's not gonna fly around saying 'oy, oy, oy,'" Astrid groaned, crossing her arms as she pinned the kid with an annoyed glare.

"That's a good idea." Snotlout patted his mini-me's helmet. "Gustav, make a note of that."

Hiccup sighed at the continued theatrics. All he wanted to do was get back to the Outcast map, do what they had to do, and maybe— if he was lucky— there'd be time at the end of the day for him and Dany to have an art session; she'd finish her Skrill carving and be distracted enough that he could draw her. Trying to cut to the chase, he insisted, "Snotlout, the five signposts of Valhalla is nothing but an old wives' tale."

Snotlout was not one to be denied the attention he felt he was due, however, and he put one hand on his hip as the other began to tick off the items on his list. "Oh yeah? Then why have I seen the Flying Fish, the Weeping Rock, and the Singing Trees?"

Gustav copied his older counterpart in both gestures and posture, but Dany had to give him credit for being smarter than the teen. As Snotlout lifted his fingers, he miscounted and held up four; the boy quickly leapt up to reach his hand and changed the count back to three. Fishlegs remained unconvinced. "You probably saw a Salmon spawning, wet rocks on the beach and a gust of wind."

"Besides," Astrid added pointedly, "the five signposts of Valhalla are only supposed to happen to great warriors."

He rolled his eyes. "Obviously. What's your point?"

The brunet was quickly growing tired of his friend's insistence. "Even if it were true— which it is not— you can't just pick someone to replace you."

At this, Dany was reminded of her suggestion earlier that morning. Gustav was by far too young for the academy, but it wouldn't hurt to have the younger generation become interested in riding dragons, would it? Then when they were old enough, they could become full-fledged members. The seven of them probably wouldn't remain on Berk forever; it would be good to have a backup team in the works. Besides, it looked like Gustav was really excited to learn about dragons, and she would happily share her knowledge of them with anyone who would listen.

"Well, you guys threw out my original plan!"

"To bury Hookfang alive beside you?" Astrid scoffed.

"He would gladly sacrifice himself for his beloved master," Snotlout insisted, walking over to place a commanding hand on his dragon's snout. "Trust me."

Just as he got finished speaking, Hookfang immediately proved him wrong. He shook off his rider's hand, stood, and smacked him with his tail as he moved to sit somewhere else. Snotlout went flying with a screech and landed face-first before them.

Unphased, Hiccup observed the boy on the ground passively. "Okay. Let's just say, for argument's sake, you have seen three of the five signposts. It doesn't mean anything. There are still two left."

Something thudded down in front of him. The Jorgenson yelped at the sight of the dead chicken. He scrambled away from it. "Oh, no! No, no! The fourth Signpost! The Bird of Death!"

Since no one was looking, Daenerys rolled her eyes as he freaked out. She snapped her fingers in the bird's direction and Rhaenys let out a happy chirp. She fluttered down from her mother's shoulders to sink her claws into the fowl, tearing at it enthusiastically. Feathers flew everywhere and Hiccup picked up one to study it. He tossed it aside as he declared, "it's not the Bird of Death! It's just a dead chicken. Not the same thing, right, guys?"

"Right," Dany agreed, observing her dragon with a fond smile. "If it were a godly sign, Rhaenys definitely wouldn't be eating it right now. Dragons are sensitive to strange occurrences."

The twins, however, chimed in their own opinion together: "Oh, sure it is. Definitely. Bird of Death."

"You're on the clock, little man." He tapped Gustav's helmet. "We're starting your training immediately."

The Targaryen caught Hiccup's grateful glance at her support for shutting Snotlout's dramatics down as he slid into position onto Toothless' back. She snapped her fingers once more and Rhaenys— who was licking her lips (and consequently her eyeballs)— abandoned the remains of her chicken to fly over to her mother. Once she was in place again, Dany joined Hiccup on the Night Furies' back.

While she'd sat behind him probably a hundred times by now, it was harder to do than ever. Her face turned a bit pink as she wrapped her arms around his waist, both enjoying and uncomfortable from their closeness. Once she as settled, the brunet gave Snotlout a final warning before they took off: "the rest of us have to keep an eye on Outcast Island. While we're gone, try not to bring anyone else with you to eternal paradise."

"I make no promises."

🏹🏹🏹

They flew steadily over the sharp rocks that jutted up from the dark water, landing on one of the many sea-stacks in the area. As much as Daenerys loved her dragon, she had to admit there were some maneuverability advantages when he wasn't with them; they all fit on the ledge comfortably without having to try and fit his bulk on there, too. Hiccup and Astrid pulled out their spyglasses, leaving her to feel rather careless that she hadn't brought hers. Instead, Dany's pockets were full of carving tools as she had been intent on making her Skrill figurine.

Seeming to notice that she hadn't brought one, Hiccup paused in raising the glass to his eye. "Left yours at home, did you?" he asked teasingly, his tone taking a one-eighty from how he'd addressed Snotlout.

She grimaced guiltily in response, looking apologetic. Fortunately, he was well aware of her one-track mind and had taken matters into his own hands. He pulled out a second spyglass from his other pocket and handed it to her with a grin. "Good thing I have about a hundred of these," the brunet joked, and her sheepish smile faded as she let out a soft laugh.

Their fingers brushed as the spyglass exchanged holders, leaving them to hastily yank their hands away. Hiccup quickly faced forward, his cheeks red. Clearing his throat, he refocused on the mission, hoping that no one had noticed the interaction. He was not so lucky— Astrid smirked at the awkward swap and filed it away for future blackmail purposes. Then she returned her attention to the Outcast base and studied it with her own spyglass.

As the three of them observed the new structure on the far side of the waterway, Hiccup sighed. "Ugh. I can't get a good look."

"Well, they're building something and I'm guessing it's not good," Astrid remarked.

"All right. I say we blow it up," Ruffnut cheered.

"I say that's the best idea I've heard all week." The twins slammed their helmets against each other's helmets in celebration.

Dany perked up at the mention of action; stakeout missions were hardly fun. She wiggled a bit on Toothless' back, as if urging him into flight so they could soar over and destroy the structure. "For the first time in my entire life, I agree with the twins."

Tuffnut grinned at that; he seemed to have become more appreciative of her underlying violent tendencies, always willing to help her express them. "Now you're talkin' my language, sister."

"Hey! I'm your sister," Ruffnut protested, punching him in the arm (he lout a whiny 'ow!' in response.) "Unfortunately."

"Sister of destruction-hood," he explained. "I'm thinking of starting a cult. Or maybe creating a system of devotion towards a particular goal. But that also sounds like a lot of work, so maybe not."

Ruffnut nodded, appeased. Hiccup shook his head at their antics, amused only by Dany's involvement (He sincerely hoped that they did not start a cult— he had enough to worry about as it was.) "Tuff, we've been over this: we don't shoot first and ask questions later."

"Of course," the older twin scoffed. "we never ask questions."

Behind him, Daenerys let out a quiet, disappointed, "aw, man."

"We'll keep an eye on it," the brunet decided. "If it turns out to be something we have to worry about, then—"

"—we blow it up?" Tuffnut repeated hopefully, moving Blech's head over so he could lean into Hiccup's personal space. The boy only sighed in response.

🏹🏹🏹

When they got back, Snotlout was still training Gustav using Hookfang as a practice dragon. If she were honest, Dany was surprised that he'd kept at it this long; Snotlout wasn't known for his perseverance. He didn't seem to be a very good teacher, either, but she had to admit that Hookfang was handling himself well around the smaller boy. It was almost cute when the Monstrous Nightmare picked the child up by the back of his tunic to set him in the proper riding position. (Of course, all the while giving his actual rider the usual hard time.)

She sat between Hiccup and Astrid, who had Fishlegs sitting on her other side, to watch the rest of their training session. The dark block of wood was still in her hands, looking more like a Skrill than it had this morning. She was currently carving out its spikes and had her left thumb wrapped in a strip of cloth to protect it from accidentally being bit by the blade. Rhaenys sat in her lap, curled up like a cat. Whenever particles of sawdust fell on her head, she would let out tiny, squawk-like sneezes of irritation.

Right now, the Jorgenson was pacing in front of Gustav with his hands behind his back as his trainee sat on his dragon's back. "Eyes front, recruit! Now pay attention to everything I say."

The boy straightened. "Sir, yes, sir!"

"This should go well," Fishlegs commented to the trio.

"We're not too late, are we?" Tuffnut asked as the twins swung through the bars of the roof to take a seat next to them.

Astrid grinned, her gaze focused on the pair below. "Nope. Just about to get interesting."

Dany hardly paid the scene before her any mind, too intent on working on her project. After carving out a few spikes, she held it out critically. Then she silently passed the figurine over to Fishlegs, who understood her request and examined it studiously. "The spikes on its head ore a little thinner than the rest of its body," he provided, passing it back to her. "And the first spike at the top of its spine is thicker than the others; they get smaller as they go down its back."

She nodded appreciatively and began to shave off some wood to adjust the size of her spikes. Below them, Snotlout was saying to Gustav: "a Monstrous Nightmare, in the hands of a capable rider, a la me, is a weapon of unmatched firepower. It must be treated with the utmost respe—"

Just as he was finishing his sentence, Hookfang opened his mouth and let out a blaze of flame right in his rider's face. The teen hastily dropped to the ground to avoid it, covering his face with his arms to keep from getting burned. Then Hookfang let out another blast, this time aimed upwards towards the other teens. Everyone except Dany ducked; she merely lifted her figurine above her head so that it wouldn't catch fire while Rhaenys gave a screech of protest. The Terror stood up in her lap and flapped her wings irritably before she turned around three times to settle back down.

"We'll work on that, recruit." He glared at Hookfang. "Was that fun for you?"

The Monstrous Nightmare looked pleased with himself and even let out another stream of fire. Snotlout yelped in alarm, then glared at his dragon. The rest of their practice went much the same way. Finally, they got to 'feeding and bonding' as Snotlout called it, though no one thought it would go any differently than the hour before. The older boy tossed a fish in one hand as Gustav trailed behind him, holding his own. "Okay, Gustav. Feeding time is bonding time for a dragon and its rider. This is how we bond."

He threw the fish in an arc so that it sailed high above the dragon's head, shouting, "Hookfang, eat!"

Hookfang snatched the food out of the air and ate it with a satisfied belch. Snotlout turned to Gustav smugly, only to be hit in the face with the remains of the fish that his dragon had spit up. He shook it off, patting the boy on his helmet. "You're up, kid! Bring the heat!"

Gustav did his best to copy his teacher, but the fish was nearly as big as he was. As he launched into the air yelling the phrase, he tripped over his own feet and fell face-first onto the ground. It didn't arc correctly and it instead landed on Snotlout's helmet. Unbothered, Hookfang closed his teeth (gently) around his rider's middle. The Jorgenson's voice came out slightly muffled as he announced, "we'll work on that!"

By the time night had nearly fallen, they were all ready to go home. Snotlout had failed again and again with Gustav, but to his credit, he'd never given up. Now they were caring for their dragons before they retired for the day. Dany took out a sphere of wood that she'd shaped and smoothed especially for Rhaenys.

Catching the Terror's attention, she tossed it towards one side of the academy. The purple dragon let out an excited shriek and scrabbled after it, her claws clicking on the stone floor. It didn't take long for Rhaenys to bring it back in her mouth and she dropped it in front of her mother to go again. They occupied themselves with that while they waited for Hiccup to finish up with Toothless, as he was their ride home with Drogon out of commission for the time being.

As the blonde tossed the ball, Snotlout (unfortunately) started back up on his whole 'I'm-going-to-die' shtick. "I know it's going to be hard on you all when I'm no longer here— especially you two, Astrid and Daenerys."

Both girls rolled their eyes. The Targaryen all but ignored him as she bent to pick up the sphere and threw it once more. Rhaenys charged after it with another series of squawks, forcing Snotlout to raise his voice to be heard. "But I don't want any tears. I want you to remember me with joy in your hearts." His voice began to break, as though he were actually getting choked up. "So, think of the good times we all had together."

Some of the sentiment was ruined by his hand going to his behind, which was apparently itching. He continued: "it is by the power vested in me that I hereby pass the Hookfang horns to Gustav. Go with Thor, little man. For he will watch over you. . . with lightning bolts and a giant hammer."

The boy ran over to the Monstrous Nightmare excitedly, entirely unmoved by Snotlout's speech. Hiccup— whom Fishlegs had called over to look at the Skrill's picture in the Book of Dragons to help Dany with realism— turned away from the barrel he'd been leaning on, fed up with how the teen was carrying on. "Okay, this has gone on long enough. First of all, you are not dying!"

Snotlout held out a pacifying hand. "Shh, shh, shh. Hiccup, it's okay. Denial is part of the grieving process."

"Second of all, no one vested you with any power."

"No one," Tuffnut added helpfully.

"And even if they did—"

"—which they didn't—"

"—Gustav is in no way ready to be a member of this academy."

Tuffnut gave a single, firm nod. "No way."

"That's correct, Hiccup," Fishlegs agreed, looking up from the page he'd been reading. "There's way more to being a dragon rider than feeding it and getting on its back."

Astrid pinned the boy with a stern gaze. "Neither of which he can do very well anyway."

"None of us are perfect," the Jorgenson argued, though the biting tone was softened by heaping amounts of faux-sorrow, "except for me. Fishlegs is afraid of heights, the twins can't count past nine—" Tuffnut held up his hands in confusion as he tried to prove his friend wrong. "—Daenerys is. . . well, a Targaryen. Astrid has obvious anger issues, and—" He turned to look the chief's son with narrowed eyes, scanning the brunet up and down before he shrugged, deciding he didn't have anything worth the time to critique. "Well, enough said."

He then went over to Dany, who had just picked up Rhaenys' toy. The dragon looked up at her eagerly, her tail swishing back and forth as her tongue flashed out, swiping at her eye. She stayed in that position as her mother had yet to throw the ball, suddenly startled by Snotlout's unexpected closeness. She tensed, waiting for the unwelcome invasion of her personal space as he'd done so many times before. Maybe standing up for myself isn't worth it, she thought defeatedly.

Just like before, his hand came up as if to cup her face. It was inches away and she could feel the heat from his palm against her cheek. (A part of her wondered what it would be like for Hiccup to be in his place— she didn't think she'd want to shove him away.) But, to her astonishment, that was all he did. He never touched her; his hand stayed hovering right over her skin and his respect of her boundaries made her eyes widen in surprise. That was why she didn't immediately step away from him as he began, "oh, Daenerys, what might have been—"

It was Rhaenys who saved the Targaryen this time, having grown impatient with how long it was taking her to throw the ball. Since she saw Snotlout as the reason for the delay, she wasted no time in making her opinion known: her teeth clamped firmly around his leg, causing the boy to jerk away with a yelp of pain. He hopped on one foot, crying out: "I won't feel pain in Valhalla!"

"Rhaenys, no!" Dany exclaimed, leaping forward to try and dislodge her dragon.

At the same time, Hiccup— who had bristled at the Jorgenson's flirtations with Dany (and had only become more sore about it when she didn't immediately push him away) — snapped, "Snotlout, for the last time, you are not going to Valhalla!"

"Runaway sheep!" came a shout from just outside the academy. Sure enough, a flock was charging through the entrance— straight towards Snotlout. He froze at the sight of them and they quickly bowled him over.

Fishlegs gasped. "The Shepherd's Curse. That's. . ."

"The fifth signpost!" Astrid breathed out.

"Oh, this cannot be happening," Hiccup groaned. He would give just about anything to get Snotlout to stop his 'I'm-going-to-die' dramatics.

🏹🏹🏹

They all decided to call it a night after Snotlout recovered from his fainting episode. Dany sat behind Hiccup as he flew her home. She had her arms wrapped around his waist like always, and it was because of this that she could feel how tense he was. She probably wouldn't have noticed it any other way since reading facial expressions wasn't her strong suit. At first she thought it was just because of how annoying Snotlout had been all day, but his feelings persisted even after they'd put space between themselves and the arena.

When they landed outside her home, Daenerys slid off Toothless' back, then turned to look at the brunet. His gaze was lowered, preferring to stare at his hands rather than meet her eyes. She frowned and stepped closer to the Night Fury. "Hiccup, are you okay?"

He seemed caught off guard that she'd noticed— which she couldn't blame him for; it was very out of character for her to pick up on such things. But then his features smoothed over and he shook his head. "I'm fine. See you tomorrow?"

She didn't want to let him go that easily, though; not when something was clearly bothering him. She took another step forward, this time reaching out to place her hand on top of his, stilling their movement. His head jerked up to finally look at her, his mouth parting slightly in shock at the unexpected action. "What's wrong?" she pressed.

Dany felt his hands flex underneath her as he looked away again, as if debating whether he should tell her or not. Eventually, he sighed, allowing his shoulders to slump. "It's stupid."

"Tell me anyway," came her immediate insistence. It wasn't that she was trying to be nosy or anything, she just wanted to help her best friend feel better.

After a moment, he grumbled out, "that thing with Snotlout back there. When he touched your face. You didn't—"

"Oh!" Her expression relaxed and she smiled up at him, relieved that it was just a misunderstanding (and that he wasn't mad at her.) "He didn't actually touch me. It looked like he did, but he just did this."

Without thinking much about it, she lifted her own hand (the other one, not the one holding his) and copied the Jorgenson's gesture from earlier. Her palm hovered inches from Hiccup's face, causing the boy's previous tenseness to disappear as he stared at her with wide, startled eyes.

"Is that what you're all worked up about?" she wondered, confused as to why it would bother him so much but pleased she could reassure him.

"I just—" Hiccup cleared his throat as his voice (embarrassingly) cracked. "I just wanted to make sure he was respecting your personal space. I know how you usually don't saying anything, so. . ."

She smiled sheepishly. "I have been trying to get better about that, but what Snotlout did earlier was fine. I mean, I still didn't really like him being that close—" (Here, her nose wrinkled (cutely, in Hiccup's opinion) in distaste.) "—but it was better than it was before so I didn't bother to say anything."

The brunet nodded, the bitterness he'd felt earlier (entirely directed at Snotlout, not Dany) fading. "Um, okay. Yeah. That's-that's great." He flushed as she giggled at his awkwardness. "I mean, goodnight."

"Goodnight," she replied softly, dropping both of her hands, much to his disappointment. He seemed to be feeling better, though, so she willingly let him take to the skies. (A small part of her— a very small part, mind you. One that barely even existed— wished that she could've kissed him 'goodnight' on the cheek.)

🏹🏹🏹

They next day, they were greeted by a steadily-growing hole in the middle of the arena, courtesy of the twins. Rhaenys, who had been scampering along beside her mother, didn't see it and fell in with a startled squawk. This prompted Tuffnut to yelp as the small weight of the dragon landed on his head. He huffed at her accident and plucked her from his helmet, giving her a boost so she could flap her wings to return to the regular ground.

"This hole is not for you, little dragon," he told her sternly, popping his head out to give her a firm look. "It's much too big. If you want us to dig you a smaller one, sign up on our waiting list."

"We have a waiting list?" Ruffnut asked, her voice slightly echo-y from being inside the pit.

"Now we do. Who knew that digging holes for dragons would be such a profitable venture?" her brother wondered, dropping back inside the opening to resume helping her.

Dany shook her head at their antics, bending down to make sure Rhaenys was alright. Once she confirmed that the Terror was only mildly annoyed, she went over to the still-pinned-up map that the others had gathered in front of. Hiccup pointed to the spot where they'd done their stakeout yesterday. "Okay. We're gonna need a diversion to get a closer look at whatever Dagur's building."

Snotlout puffed out his chest importantly. "The flaming funeral pyre on my Flaming Funeral Pyre ship should do the trick."

They all shot him annoyed looks, tired of his insistence that he was destined for Valhalla. Hearing this, the twins popped their heads up in protest. "Whoa, hold on, hold on. I thought we were burying the two of you alive." He scoffed and set the shovel down. "Fine. I guess I'll start gathering wood."

"Yeah, and I'll start gathering pyres," Ruffnut grumbled, tossing her shovel aside, too.

A roar made everyone turn to face the entrance. Seconds later, a purple Monstrous Nightmare flew into the arena with an uncoordinated landing. They startled as Gustav was flung bodily from the dragon's neck in a heap by their feet. He jumped to his own feet immediately, playing it off. "I, uh— I meant to do that."

Tuffnut watched the new dragon pace, its nose pressed to the ground as it sniffed out its new surroundings. "Is it me, or did a tiny little Snotlout and Hookfang just fly in?"

His words caught the Monstrous Nightmare's attention and it whipped around, jabbing its snout at the twins to knock them into the pit. Toothless let out a protesting roar, which Rhaenys copied as she stood under his shadow. She stretched out her smaller wings, trying to look intimidating. She looked up at him, hoping for his approval, but he didn't appear to notice the Terror's efforts. The other dragons observed with mostly bored gazes.

"Uh, Gustav?" Hiccup started cautiously, "what are you doing here?"

The boy crossed his arms against his chest proudly. "Well, you said you didn't have time to train me, so I found my own dragon and trained myself."

Hiccup glanced at the wild dragon as he stepped forward, not at all convinced by the kid's words. "Gustav, I'm not so sure we have the same definition of 'trained.'"

Snotlout beamed at his trainee. "Look how he defies authority. I've taught him well. Now I can go in peace."

"Quit getting my hopes up," Astrid complained.

Gustav turned in a circle to address all of them. "Fellow Dragon Riders, I'd like you all to meet my dragon, Fanghook."

His dragon approached Hookfang and roared in his face to assert dominance. Snotlout's dragon snarled in response, standing on his wing talons to tower over him. Fanghook dipped his head in acquiescence. Dany watched the exchange with amusement, half-wishing Drogon were there as she wondered how the new dragon would react to him.

Snotlout was less than pleased. "Wait. . . Fanghook? Are you serious?" He was suddenly singing a different tune. "Don't you have any respect for authority?"

"Gustav, we told you," Hiccup started, with an admirable amount of patience. (Dany probably would have had Drogon torch the kid by now, having little tolerance for human children herself.) "There's more to being a dragon rider than just riding a dragon. You have to. . . form a bond, a friendship."

"We have it!" Gustav insisted. "Test us, I'll prove it!"

The twins stuck their arms out of the pit and waved them in the air as they chanted, "test him! Test him!"

The boy ran over to his dragon and climbed on. Fanghook took off, forcing his rider to cling to his leg. With the kid distracted, Fishlegs murmured to the rest of them, "you know, it might not be the worst idea."

"No, I'm pretty sure it is the worst idea."

Fishlegs gestured to the Jorgenson, who'd stomped off to fume about how 'kids no longer respected authority.' "Think about it— look at Snotlout. Maybe he needs to see how easily he can be replaced."

"Enough said," Astrid said with a grin. "I'm in."

Hiccup turned to Dany to see how she felt about the suggestion. The blonde shrugged. "Either way I'm not participating since I don't have a dragon, so I'm not sure my vote counts." Rhaenys squawked her objections at their feet. "Sorry, a rideable dragon."

He nodded as he started to see the benefits of the plan. Since he now agreed, he went over to where the boy was trying to climb back onto his dragon while Snotlout watched on. "You know what, Gustav? You're absolutely right."

The Jorgenson lifted his hands in protest. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. He is?"

"Yes, he is." The brunet waited for Toothless to stand next to him, then gestured to the ground. His dragon let out a single plasma blast to char the stone black. Then he drew his boot through it in the shape of a 'x.' "Let's see you do a lap around the arena, and land on this mark."

Gustav beamed, still hanging from his dragon's neck. "All right, Fanghook. Fire it up!"

As the other teens gathered off to one side to give the boy space, Fishlegs made a sound of approval. "Hmm. Quite the stirring battle cry."

Snotlout shrugged, unimpressed. "Eh, it's all right."

While Gustav completed the task with great enthusiasm, he failed miserably in the execution. He couldn't control his dragon so Fanghook slammed into the stone walls as he tried to maneuver the tight turn, only to end up sliding past the designated target in a defeated heap. To his credit, the boy was hardly deterred as he let out an ecstatic laugh. He jumped to his feet and threw his hands up in the air triumphantly. "Dragon Rider!"

In a voice so disingenuous that even Dany could tell he didn't mean his words, Hiccup commented, "wow, that was pretty good!"

Snotlout started at him, both offended and horrified. "Pretty good? Are you kidding me?"

Tuffnut— who had climbed out of the hole— approached with Ruffnut by his side. "Is anyone else tired of listening to Snotlout's ghost?"

"Hey! I'm not dead yet," the Jorgenson snapped.

Ruffnut didn't hesitate as she responded, "you're dead to us."

The teens continued to hold up the ruse that they really were replacing Snotlout, much to the boy's frustration. Everyone who was in on the joke was enjoying themselves until he challenged his trainee to a run on their obstacle course. Before they left for the forest, Dany called the shorter Viking to a halt, hurrying over to him before he left.

"What?" he asked shortly. "I'm kind of in the middle of something here."

"It won't take long," she promised, brushing off his annoyed tone. "About yesterday— I wanted to ask, why didn't you touch me?"

His brows knit slightly as he tried to understand what she was talking about. When he realized what she meant, he smirked. "Why, did you want me to?"

Daenerys shook her head. "Well, no, but you've never respected my personal space before."

Snotlout shrugged before he swung himself over Hookfang's neck to sit on his saddle. "Hey, I'm a misogynist womanizer, not a jerk. You asked me not to, so I didn't."

It was the Targaryen's turn to be bewildered as she stared up at him with a frown. "But you still flirt with Astrid—"

"Ah." He held up a finger, cutting her off. "That's because she never told me not to, she just breaks my fingers. Or my hand. Or my arm. But she's never asked me like you did."

Her brows furrowed further, still not quite getting it. "It confuses me when you're mean and nice at the same time."

The Jorgenson studied her for a moment, then sneered at her. "How's this? I didn't touch you because I didn't want to get your filthy Targaryen madness on me."

Despite his words, Dany grinned. "Much better, thank you. Hey— good luck on the obstacle course."

He scoffed. "I don't need luck. I own this academy. You can't replace me!"

Snotlout and Hookfang took off in a rush of wind that ruffled her hair. She smiled as she watched her friends follow them, not minding at all that she would be left behind. Once she could no longer see them, she turned to her Terror and withdrew the wooden sphere from her pocket. "Ready for this, Rhaenys?"