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❛ ᴋʜᴀʟᴇᴇsɪ​​​​​​​​​​. ❜ ° . ༄
- ͙۪۪˚  ▎❛ 𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐄𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐍 ❜   ▎˚ ͙۪۪̥◌
»»————- ꒰ᴀʟʟ ɪɴ ᴛʜᴇ ғᴀᴍɪʟʏ ꒱


❝ WOW, YOU AND DROGON
REALLY DID 'GOT THIS' ❞

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For someone who hadn't always had that much of a community, Dany was especially looking forward to celebrating Bork Week with her friends; she had never given it much thought before since it had always just been her parents and her dragons. It was especially noteworthy this year as it was the first celebration where dragons weren't the Vikings' mortal enemies. If it hadn't been for Bork, the Book of Dragons would never have existed, so there was an extra-special meaning to the day this time. Because of this, Stoick wanted to showcase the dragons in a parade that the teens would organize which was. . . going about as well as expected when having to work with Snotlout and the twins. (That is to say, it surprisingly wasn't an immediate disaster.)

After much thought, Hiccup decided that the best way to communicate to the dragons for them to put on a show was through mimicking their calls. He had remembered Dany's dragon-whistle that summoned Drogon when he was too far away for a human voice to reach; if the dragons were within earshot, he wanted to see if they could also use a specific sound to be called. They were all gathered at the edge of a lake in the cove where he'd first found Toothless. As usual, the only ones genuinely paying attention were Dany, Astrid and Fishlegs. The twins' eyes were glazed over as they watched the water lap at the shore and Snotlout picked at his nails lazily.

Cupping his hands around his mouth, the brunet copied the Night Fury's roar, which echoed around the cliff face. When it faded, they were met with silence— at least until Snotlout started complaining (again.) "That's why you brought us out here? To honk into the wind?"

"Just wait, Snotlout," Fishlegs admonished him.

The shorter Viking rolled his eyes and scoffed. "'Dragon calls.' Pfft. Whatever."

Obviously bored, he took out a medal from his pocket and shone the reflective light against a nearby rock. It caught the twins' attention immediately and they zeroed in on the beam. Noticing their suddenly attentive expression, Hiccup arched a brow. "Uh, guys?"

Snotlout laughed to himself as he watched their eyes dart back and forth. "Idiots."

Dany glanced over from where she was leaning against the rock that Astrid was sitting on, a block of willow wood in one hand and her carving knife in the other. A Changewing was slowly taking shape in her hands as she whittled out its slender body from the rest of the base. She was kind of reminded of Toothless in that moment— though the dragon was much smarter than either of the Thorstons— as he also liked to follow the light around.

"Snotlout," Hiccup scolded him.

He only continued to chuckle as he added, "so stupid."

"Seriously?"

"What? It's fun." Hiccup glared at him until he caved, putting the medallion back in his pocket. "Fine."

As if startled out of a trance, the siblings gasped when the light disappeared. Tuffnut let out a sound of frustration. "Ugh! Gone again!"

The Targaryen wondered how they could still manage to function on such few (if any) braincells— surely all life would have ceased to exist with the amount of intelligence that resided in both of them combined? But they still proved to be a miracle each day they showed up at the Academy. (Now, it wasn't that she didn't like the twins; she did, to the extent that anyone could, but she had no reservations about how stupid they could be, either.)

Hiccup knew a lost cause when he saw one, so he didn't bother trying to explain to the twins about Snotlout's medallion. He returned to his previous endeavor of calling Toothless back from where he'd wandered off to. Everyone who was invested in the practice looked up hopefully, only to be met with empty air. Snotlout groaned again. "And, nothing! Can we go now?"

This time, though, another roar responded— and not the echo of the brunet's call, either. Astrid smirked at him triumphantly. "You were saying?"

Toothless landed in front of them with his wings outstretched. He gave them a dragon-y smile, proud of his accomplishment. Snotlout glared at her before he relented, throwing up his arms in exasperation. "Fine. I hate to admit it, but that was pretty cool."

"Not as cool as that disappearing, shiny thing. You can never catch it," Tuffnut said, leaning back against the log he was resting on when he realized the light wouldn't be coming back.

"Fishlegs," Hiccup began, giving his friend an encouraging smile, "want to show us your dragon call?"

"I thought you'd never ask," he replied, always ready to show off in an area he was confident in. "You see, the call of the Gronckle is as unique as the dragon itself: raw, guttural, intense, but with a subtle lilt."

"Blah, blah, blah— just do it already!" Snotlout cut him off impatiently.

The blond ignored the other boy's tone, but did as he suggested. Rolling his shoulders to prepare himself, he reached deep into his chest to produce as growl that sounded like sandpaper on stone. Dany winced at what that had probably done to his vocal cords, and she was very glad that she had whistle instead. But, it worked, and Meatlug came fluttering down to stand beside him.

"Well done, Fishlegs," the chief's son told him.

"Oh, I'm not done. Watch this." He roared again, this time even louder and rougher sound.

Tuffnut made a disturbed face. "I don't want to know what part of his body that came from." He paused, rethinking his comment to add, "or do I. . .?"

Winded, Fishlegs knelt for a moment until the world stopped swaying around him. "I gotta take a knee."

An answering roar came, but not just from one Gronckle— a whole, small herd of dragons soared above them. As Meatlug buzzed off to join her compatriots, her rider called after her: "be home for dinner! You're having granite!" He turned to the teens with a sheepish grin to explain, "that's her favorite."

"Okay, anybody think they can beat that?" Hiccup asked, addressing the group.

Astrid jumped down from the boulder and stepped forward assertively. "I'll give it a shot. Watch this."

She leapt onto a fallen tree and cupped her hands around her mouth. Instead of the rougher sounds the boys had used, her call was smoother, more of a howl than a growl. Stormfly lead her Nadders in a perfectly-executed formation across the cove. "Good job, Astrid. First try. Dany?"

The blonde stowed away her project and brushed her hands free of sawdust, then pulled out her whistle. She gave it a single blow before returning it to her pocket and waited patiently. Of course, Snotlout wasn't patient. "What was that supposed to do? The stupid whistle didn't even work."

Dany only gave him a serene smile in response. "Just because you didn't hear it doesn't mean that Drogon didn't."

There was a heartbeat where nothing happened— and then a massive black shadow sailed above them. Drogon's wings were completely outstretched, throwing the cove into shade as they blocked out the sun. He let out a resounding roar that reverberated the ground they were standing on (as it happened, one of the only loud noises Dany could tolerate.)

She watched fondly as he circled the cove, folding in on himself as he spiraled down towards them to land with a heavy thump next to her. She pushed off the boulder to throw her arms around his neck as best she could, closing her eyes at the solid warmth of his scales.

Hiccup nodded approvingly at the pair; he had already known Drogon would respond to his mother's call and that practice wasn't really necessary. But seeing the bond between them never failed to impress him. It was something he hoped to have with Toothless one day, once they had known each other as long as Dany and Drogon had. "You two did great, as always."

The blonde beamed at the compliment, feeling a rush of warmth at his praise. Astrid huffed teasingly next to her. "You get 'great.' I just get 'good.' I think it's obvious who's the favorite here."

Dany's face turned a little pink and she elbowed the Hofferson lightly. "That's not even what this is about."

"It's always what this is about," she replied, her blue eyes glinting mischievously at her. Daenerys was just glad that Hiccup had turned away to answer Tuffnut's 'question' and didn't hear the other girl's comment.

"You're seeing things, as usual— although I suppose you're hearing them, this time. It's just a compliment."

She was saved from further embarrassment by Fishlegs' sudden interjection in defense of Bork. "Hey! Bork only killed dragons to protect himself. He studied them, wrote about them, lived and breathed them."

"Without him, there would be no Book of Dragons," Hiccup continued.

"And without the Book of Dragons," Fishlegs added importantly, "there would be no—"

"—reason for you to live?" Snotlout taunted him.

"Dragon Academy, actually," the brunet answered over the twins' laughter, annoyed. "And there would be no really cool Dragon Air Show."

"So when we do this 'really cool Dragon Air Show,'" Snotlout echoed mockingly, then gestured to the Night Fury, "who's he going to fly with?"

Hiccup glanced over at Toothless, who let out a reassuring warble. His expression softened regretfully at the reminder. "I'm working on that." Then, he forced brightness into his tone to conclude, "that's it for today. You can all go home."

🏹🏹🏹

Meatlug and her friends were buzzing overhead when Dany and Drogon landed next to Hiccup. He and Toothless were standing on the cliff watching the group of dragon, and it was all too easy to tell that the brunet was still thinking about Snotlout's words.

She slid down Drogon's wing when he extended it for her and hopped neatly to the ground beside the other pair. "You know. . ." she began without bothering with a greeting. He turned his gaze away from the Gronckles to listen, his brows furrowed as he anticipated her suggestion. "Drogon doesn't have anyone to fly with at the parade. He could use some company."

"He's not going to fly with Rhaegal and Viserion?" Hiccup asked.

"They're my parents' dragons, and you know how they feel about the village. It'll just be him."

"Still," he said with a slight frown, "he's used to being on his own— he's not even in the Book of Dragons. Toothless and the others are, but what sets him apart is that Stormfly has other Nadders, Hookfang has a whole herd of Monstrous Nightmares, and Toothless has. . . Toothless has no one."

The blonde's expression softened at the sadness in his tone. "You don't really believe that, do you? He has you, after all, and all of the dragons that we ride. He looks pretty happy if you ask me."

They looked over to where the black dragon had rolled on his back with his paws stuck up in the air. Drogon cast a large shadow over him as he bent over the Night Fury while the smaller dragon made a valiant attempt to fend him off as he batted Drogon's snout with his paws. Dany's dragon pretended to be knocked backward every time Toothless landed a 'hit' on him until Drogon grew tired of their game and used his snout to roll him back on his feet.

"You know what I mean," he sighed.

She let out a sigh of her own, knowing how stubborn he could be about the things he believed in. "I know," she agreed. "And I also know you won't let this go, so when you do eventually need help you'll ask, right?"

Hiccup gave her a small smile. "Of course. If nothing else, because you would never forgive me if you missed out on seeing a whole herd of Night Furies."

"Good, so you do know me," Dany teased him.

A Nadder's squawk broke into their conversation, alerting them to Astrid's presence. She stayed perched on Stormfly's back to rely the message she had been given by Stoick, not intending to stay long: "oh, great, you're both here. Dany, Hiccup, the chief and Gobber were looking for you. They wanna see you in the Great Hall. They looked serious."

"Yeah, great. Happy Bork Week to me," Hiccup grumbled before he called for Toothless so they could take off back to town.

🏹🏹🏹

Daenerys wondered what the chief could possibly want with her. Their interactions had been lukewarm at best, so being called specifically to the Great Hall didn't bode well for her, she thought. At least Hiccup was there, so his father probably wouldn't try and banish her again or anything. The creak of the Great Hall's doors only added to the suspense as the teens entered the dimly-lit space to find a group of Vikings gathered there, waiting for them. They glanced at each other with some apprehension and approached the grim-looking assembly.

"Okay. . . this is weird. . ."

"Hiccup, Daenerys, come forward." Stoick's voice boomed in the cavernous space, filled with authority and purpose. Dany wanted to shrink from his penetrating gaze, but she forced herself to stand tall against their scrutinizing gazes. "And hold out your hands."

They both did as they were told, but years of being friends with the twins and Snotlout had conditioned them to being cautious of what 'gifts' might land there. Hiccup quickly tucked his hands behind his back while Dany's busied themselves with twisting the fur on her vest while she studied the chief's boots.

Hastily, half-afraid they were in trouble, the chief's soon added, "uh, Dad, Gobber, other scary-looking Vikings. I'd just like to say, in my own defense, that I cannot control Snotlout or the twins twenty-four hours a day."

"Yeah," the blonde agreed, her words several times softer than Stoick's had been, causing some of the Vikings to strain to hear her. "And it's not Drogon's fault that he's too big for the usual dragon-landing places in town— he's just going through a growth spurt!"

"This isn't about those jokers, Hiccup," Gobber assured him. "And there hasn't been any more destruction than the usual dragon damage, Daenerys. This is about something really good."

She relaxed now that she knew her dragon wasn't under fire for something he had difficulty controlling at the best of times; Drogon often forgot how big he was, especially after spending time with smaller dragons like Toothless.

Stoick glared at the blacksmith to keep him from spilling the surprise like he usually did, and Gobber quickly quieted. "Now then. . . Hiccup, as you know, Bork Week has begun; the first one since we made peace with the dragons. So it has been decided, that from this moment forward, all things dragon related— including Bork's life's work— will be entrusted to you, Daenerys, and the academy.

"The Targaryens have suffered far too long under the misunderstandings of the past. It is our hope that, with this gesture of goodwill, we can begin rebuilding these bridges. It's Bork Week, and nothing says community like making amends from our mistakes. As you will probably be my future daughter-in-law—" Here, Gobber coughed, while Dany's face turned a bright red. Hiccup looked everywhere but at the blonde next to him. The chief hurriedly changed to, "ahem, I mean, as you are a valued member of our village, we would like to formally apologize for the wrongs that have been done to your family and wish to make things right."

Despite the still-present embarrassment, Dany was touched by the sentiment. While she would have liked it to happen a lot sooner, it was better late than never. She gave him a hesitant smile. "Thank you."

"Well, now that that's settled," Gobber began excitedly. He stepped forward again to show them the chest and opened it eagerly with his real hand. "This is where the Book of Dragons started. Everything he ever wrote on the subject is in these notes. Personal thoughts, feelings, fears. Even some delicious recipes."

Stunned by the dragon history before them, the teens shared an awed glance as Hiccup breathed out, "whoa. . ." He removed one of the scrolls from the bundle and looked at it in admiration for a moment, before setting it back down. "I-I don't know what to say. Thank you, Dad. This is—"

"Son, this is a big part of our history. You, and Daenerys, and the dragons are a big part of our future." Stoick put a supportive hand on the boy's shoulder. "It's now up to you to take care of both."

The blacksmith put the notes away and closed the lid of the chest to give it to the pair, but as it was related to his great-great-great grandfather, he was sentimental over parting with it. When Hiccup tried to tug it out of his grasp, he held on to it tightly for a moment until a warning call of his name from the chief prompted him to let go. "Right. They're yours now. . ."

🏹🏹🏹

They went back to Hiccup's room to study the new information as both teens were excited to get started. By the time they were knee-deep in Bork's notes, night had fallen and they were reading by candlelight. Since they had been working for so long, Dany had moved off the floor— which had been her original spot, by Hiccup's legs as he sat at his desk— to the bed for a softer seat. The brunet came over to join her despite it being harder to read the pages in the more dimly-lit part of his room.

As the hours wore on, Dany became even more comfortable in his presence than she usually was, helped by their solitude and Toothless' gentle rumble as he napped nearby. Once, when she had been particularly curious about one of Bork's dragon diagrams, she leaned in close enough that her shoulder pressed against Hiccup's and her silvery-blonde hair tickled his face. She was so close, in fact, that he could smell the outdoors on her: sunshine and wind and the salty sea. He was only a little ashamed to admit that he really did hold his breath when she neared, both out of fear of startling her and the wish to prolong the contact. To his surprise, when she was finished looking at the diagram, she didn't move as far away as he thought she would. Instead, she curled up contentedly against his side, tucking her bare feet under the folds of her dress.

She seemed to sense his shocked stare as she tilted her head up to look at him, asking a confused, "what?"

"I— uh, i-it's nothing," Hiccup answered quickly— too quickly, perhaps, because she continued to look at him questioningly. He sighed and readied himself for the embarrassment of explaining it. With his cheeks flushing a bit pink, he gestured between them. "You're, uh, closer than I'm used to."

As someone who valued her personal space, Daenerys was always hyper aware of how her presence affected others in return, and would never want to make them feel ill at ease because of something she did unknowingly. She hastily began to pull away, immediately apologizing, "oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable—"

But before she could put too much space between them, the brunet caught her arm to stop her. "No— not like that. I just meant that it was very uncharacteristic of you. I, um, didn't mind, actually."

"Oh," the Targaryen said, suddenly feeling the embarrassment herself as that was a very different response than what she'd anticipated. She returned to her position against him, though more gingerly now that she'd been disturbed. A little self-consciously, she explained, "I know I'm not one much for contact but I do still want it, at least sometimes. From certain people. Rarely."

He smiled a bit then, relieved that he wasn't the only awkward one. In any case, he was glad that the 'certain people, rarely' somehow, amazingly, included him. He wasn't sure if even Astrid, Dany's other best friend, got to see this side of her. (If Daenerys had known he was wondering about this, she would have told him that Astrid didn't— the Hofferson was even less touchy-feely than her, which was saying something.) With the matter resolved, they turned back to Bork's notes— and subsequently turned the page— only for the brunet to let out an awed breath. "Whoa. Toothless, look at all of this, bud. It's amazing."

The Night Fury only let out a bored yawn and shifted on his warmed slab of stone. Dany gave him an amused look. "I guess someone's not too excited to learn about more about dragons— considering he is one."

Hiccup set aside the papers and picked up his journal next. "These are his personal notes. Everything he observed about dragons is right here." He flipped to the next page and made a face. Almost instinctively, his hand not holding the book came up to cover the blonde's eyes. "Along with some. . . rather interesting drawings of his neighbors." He slammed it shut and put it aside. "Can't un-see that."

"Thank you," the Targaryen replied appreciatively, grimacing at the thought.

When he tossed the book aside in disgust, it landed with a heavy thud that made it open to the last page. There, instead of the leather from the book jacket, there was another piece of paper— but it looked glued on rather than being a part of the original book. They shared a curious glance and the boy tugged it back towards them. He peeled away the layer to reveal a folded-up square underneath. Expanding it to make it a full page, they scanned it with interest. Hiccup's eyes widened as he took in the words. "This. . . is all on the Night Fury! It's all about you, bud."

Toothless let out an acknowledging rumble but remained curled up on his bed as his rider continued excitedly, "Bork didn't put any of this in the Book of Dragons. 'My studies lead me to conclude that an entire exists, teeming with mysterious Night Furies. I call this land the Isle of Night.' An island. . . filled with Night Furies!"

Personally, Dany thought it was a little too good to be true but she knew how much Hiccup wanted there to be more Night Furies, so she tried to voice her doubts lightly. "Hiccup. . . Bork's notes are centuries old. Who knows if the island still even exists?"

She winced, thinking that her attempt at softening the blow didn't really work once she spoke the words aloud. But the chief's son didn't look any less disheartened than before; he looked more determined, if anything. "We still have to try! Imagine it, Dany— a whole island." He glanced over at Toothless, who had risen to his feet to pad over to them. "We could find his family!"

The Night Fury warbled supportively, but nudged the notes out of the boy's hands to get his attention. Hiccup held the dragon's face in his hands affectionately. The Targaryen stood and stretched, half-dreading leaving the warm comfort of Hiccup's room to face a cold, dark ride home alone. She decided that she would have an impromptu sleepover at Astrid's since her house was much closer. "Well, I guess I better get going if we're gonna be hunting for answers tomorrow."

Hiccup was almost tempted to insist that she stay the night— for the ease of starting out early in the morning, of course— but he didn't want to press his luck. Quelling the thought, he merely wished her 'good night' instead.

🏹🏹🏹

"So, let me get this straight: to find this island, we have to find Bork's cave?" Snotlout shouted above the wind as they set out the next day. Hiccup was in the lead, his anticipation spurring him on even more so than the Night Fury's usual speed.

"It's his last known place of residence," Fishlegs informed him.

Astrid made a face at the thought. "Who would live in a cave?"

Tuffnut, of course, found no problems with this. "Who wouldn't?"

"There must be something in there about the Isle of Night and where we can find it," Hiccup reasoned.

"Bork's notes said his cave was cut into the mountains right above Odin's shield," Fishlegs offered as they navigated through a series of sea-stacks. With Drogon's larger wingspan, Dany flew above them and could barely hear their conversation— a blessing, in terms of some of their friends.

A great wall of rock loomed in front of them, giving the group plenty of places to look for where Bork's hiding spot might be. The brunet pointed towards it so they could aim their dragons in that direction. "Right there! That must be it!"

Most of the group landed, except for Drogon who hovered right in front of the cliff as he was too big for such a small ledge. Taking everything in, Tuffnut frowned in confusion. "Um, so, wait. So how do we know what we're looking for?"

Astrid sighed at his ignorance and turned back to give him a sharp glare. "It's a cave! Look for a big hole in the side of a mountain."

The twins answered with their usual misplaced enthusiasm: "hole. Check."

"—mountain. On it."

The Hofferson shook her head, losing her patience with having to explain everything to them. She pinned Hiccup with a 'this is on you' look. "You know, we don't have to bring them every time."

Before he could say anything to explain his life choices that had gotten them to this point— that is, having to put up with the twins on a daily basis— a loud roar made them cover their ears.

"What in the world was that?" Fishlegs asked, hovering close to Snotlout. The shorter Viking lowered his hands, which had been cupped around his mouth to amplify the growl.

He puffed out his chest, obviously proud at his attempt. "That is a Changewing call, my friend. Surprised you didn't know that one."

"I would've if it sounded like one," Fishlegs shot back. "This is a Changewing."

He made a similar sound, only even more terrifying as it bounced off the rocks. Dany clamped her hands more tightly over her ears in the hopes of blocking it out. Snotlout saw this as a challenge since he couldn't stand to be shown up. Grouchily, he muttered, "bet you can't do a Thunderdrum."

"Puh-lease," the blond scoffed, holding up a finger to make his point. "At least challenge me."

He gave a throat-clearing cough, set his hands on his hips, and let out an even rougher roar than before. Dany had had enough, and she was surprised that one of the smarter members of their group would stoop low enough to Snotlout's competitiveness. Her voice came out sharply, cracking like a whip across the silence that had settled after the noise. "Hey! If you two don't cut it out, you're going to call every wild dragon to us, and I don't think you want that."

"Someone's not in a very Bork Week festive mood," Snotlout grumbled.

On the other hand, Fishlegs' expression lit up with pride. "So you're saying the calls actually sounded real? Coming from a dragon master, that's very high praise."

The Targaryen allowed herself a momentary break in her composure to bury her face in her hands in complete frustration. Thankfully, Hiccup was on her side. "Okay, okay, enough, Fishlegs. Dany's right."

They relented, allowing the group to return to their search. It didn't take them long to spot an opening on the cliffside across the canyon. The cave was high up, away from the spray of the water below. Noticing the distance from the ground, Snotlout had to admit, "that Bork was a dweeb, but boy, he could climb like a mountain goat."

The teens made to head towards the crevice, but were stopped in their tracks by another ear-splitting roar. Annoyed, Hiccup turned around to scold the culprit from earlier. "Fishlegs, I thought we agreed to ease up on the dragon calls."

Fishlegs shrank a little in his saddle, his voice coming out as more of a squeak as he replied, "Actually, that wasn't me. Mine's far more authentic."

A purple Thunderdrum came soaring around the other side of the rocky spire behind them, its mouth open enough to show off its rows of tiny, sharp teeth. Astrid glared at the blond. "Wanna tell that to him?"

"Head for the cave!" Hiccup told them.

Dany knew that Drogon would never fit inside the opening; there was no use pretending otherwise. Instead, she tried to think of a plan while the others headed for safety— except, it was gone. Ruffnut pulled up short as she stared at the expanse of solid rock. "Wait, what cave?"

"We just saw it! There was a hole!" Astrid exclaimed in disbelief.

"Yeah. And now the hole's gone," Tuffnut said, pointing out the obvious.

They were forced to duck as the Thunderdrum swooped down to strike again. It roared just over their heads as it sped up the cliffside. "Snotlout, Ruff, and Tuff, you guys look for the cave opening. We'll lure the Thunderdrum away." As the quartet took off, Hiccup added, "Fishlegs, Thunderdrum call!"

"I wish you'd make up your mind!" he complained, but started clearing his throat anyway. It took longer this time, hoarse from all the practicing he'd been doing.

"Fishlegs!" the chief's son called out warningly.

Finally, the bellow came out and distracted the Thunderdrum. It turned in mid-air to chase them. The blond squealed in fright at the sudden change and urged Meatlug faster to avoid the oncoming blow.

Meanwhile, Snotlout had found himself in a very tight spot. After the twins'. . . unique attempts at finding the cave (which consisted of them running at the rock headfirst), the Jorgenson had gotten frustrated and pounded the stone with his fist. But, as he punched the rock, something shimmered into view next to him. He froze at the unfortunately familiar sight of a slender, bright red body and narrow snout that dripped acid.

While he would never admit it, he did let out a scream as he started to run, shouting, "oh no!" as he went. But, he didn't get very far and the Changewing snatched him up as it caught its teeth on the back of his pants. It flew up higher once it got its prize and settled contentedly on its hind legs while Snotlout dangled over the ocean.

"Hey! HEY! Put me down! Hookfang!" he cried out, panicked.

For once, the Monstrous Nightmare immediately came to his aid and launched himself off the rocky pedestal he'd been resting on. He landed in front of the Changewing and engulfed himself in flame to scare it, which only resulted in the dragon stepping backwards with Snotlout still in its grasp. He shot a column of flame at it that narrowly missed his rider, causing the boy to change his approval into a scolding: "ahhh! No! Go away, Hookfang!"

Unbothered, his dragon gave what would have counted for a shrug and flew off once more.

The other riders were still being chased by the Thunderdrum, who was currently hot on Fishlegs' tail. The boy continued to scream as he dodged around sea-stacks, each turn saving him by mere inches. "A little help here!"

Hiccup, Astrid and Dany had drawn away from the dragon to reassess their attack but at their friend's call, the Hofferson waved Hiccup off. "Go see what you can find. We'll keep this guy busy."

"Drogon and I've got this," Daenerys said confidently. She lifted her weight off her dragon so that she was holding on by her toes in the groves of his scales while her hands were still wrapped around one of his spikes. Feeling the shift in her weight, Drogon coiled his muscles to propel them powerfully forward in a gigantic thrust that would catch the Thunderdrum's attention.

"Dany, wait—" Astrid started, intending to plan their attack together, but the Targaryen didn't wait. The gust of wind buffeted the teens as Drogon took off, nearly unseating them from the power of it. Astrid sighed exasperatedly. ". . . aaand she's gone."

"What about Snotlout?" Hiccup asked, looking over at where the boy struggled with the Changewing.

"I guess that's me," the blonde replied, not without some disappointment. They went their separate ways, with the Night Fury's black scales vanishing against the darkness of the cave.

Meanwhile, Drogon and Dany raced after the Thunderdrum. It was now driving Meatlug through the sea-stacks, less avoiding them than simply crashing into them. At least it made their job easier, she thought as they flew over the rubble; it saved them from having to attack from above— or worse, weave around them and slow them down. Drogon already wasn't a fast dragon, but that would make it much harder to catch up.

She took advantage of the new clearing and headed directly after it. Panicked, Fishlegs had forgotten to watch where he was going in favor of just getting away. He ended up being trapped against the cliff face with nowhere left to go and the Thunderdrum bearing down on him. But little did the purple dragon know, he was the prey, being hunted after by a much bigger opponent.

Just as Fishlegs closed his eyes to prepare for the worst, the anticipated hit never came: Drogon adjusted his wings so they acted like breaks, bringing them to nearly a complete stop in midair as he angled his claws towards the wild dragon. His large, sharp talons secured around the Thunderdrum's middle. Now with his opponent in his grasp, he resumed flapping his wings to get away from the rocks.

"YES!" Dany shouted victoriously as adrenaline surged through her. "Good job, buddy!"

The Thunderdrum was helpless in Drogon's claws but still roared, though the sound came out more piteously now. Much like his mother, Drogon was not one for mercy and did not feel sympathy towards the enemy dragon who had come after his pack. He ruthlessly tossed the Thunderdrum against the side of the cliff, almost playing with his quarry. The wild dragon hit the rocks with a thump. Dizzily, it tried to get away only to be found back in Drogon's grasp to repeat the process again.

Little did Dany know, her dragon's repeated forceful throws was causing the cave to become unstable. The map that Hiccup had found began to crumble under the recurring blows. He hastened to copy it all down in his notebook before the entrance collapsed, but to no avail— the rocks were less stable than he'd hoped and cut off his exit.

Outside of the cave, Astrid left the twins to try and save Snotlout while she got the Targaryen's attention. "Dany, make him stop! It's going to trap Hiccup!"

Startled, Daenerys looked over at the cave opening and found that the rocks had indeed loosened over time. Her eyes went wide with alarm and she immediately tried to redirect her dragon. "Drogon, no— stop!"

But Drogon was also a wild dragon; not quite as wild as the one in his claws, but wild nonetheless, and he did not heed his mother's warning. She had never been with him when he hunted for food, after all, and did not know how deep his cruel streak went. He ignored her and threw the purple dragon again. This time, much to her horror, the rocks slid down to close the entrance.

Although the damage had already been done, the blonde thrust her hand into her vest pocket to pull out the dragon whistle, hoping that would be enough to get his attention. She blew on it, hard. Sure enough, it snapped Drogon out of his wrathful attack and on his next throw, he let the Thunderdrum fly unsteadily away. The Targaryen gave her dragon an uneasy glance that he didn't see, but she gently patted him between the shoulder blades as she always did.

"Good boy," she praised him, relieved that he had listened in the end.

Not too long after, the welcome sound of Hiccup's voice reached their ears as he reappeared with Toothless. He looked mildly surprised at the obvious lack of Thunderdrum in their presence. "Wow, you and Drogon really did 'got this.'"

Dany twisted around to look at him and she relaxed now that she knew there was no permanent damage done. "Hiccup! You made it!"

"Please don't ask me how, because I have no idea. Let's go help Snotlout."

🏹🏹🏹

As it turned out, their hunch had been right and there was a map to the Isle of Night in Bork's cave. Dany still didn't trust the ease with which they had found what was believed to be centuries-old information, so instead of going back home to her parents like she was supposed to (by now, they were used to her being gone for days at a time when events around Berk kept her busy), she watched the Haddock's house like a hawk. Was it a little creepy? Okay, yes, admittedly so— but it wasn't without reason. Hiccup had a history of trying to do things on his own when he forgot there were people who wanted to support him.

It looked like her guess had been right, too, since she saw him and Toothless leave the house in the middle of the night. They didn't get very far, though, since she and Drogon stepped into their path. Hiccup had been busy thinking about the Isle of Night and hadn't noticed the blonde until he'd nearly run into her. "Ah! Dany, what-what are you doing?"

"I should be asking you that," she replied archly, pointedly glancing at his satchel and the notebook clutched in his hand. "Going somewhere?"

He stammered an excuse for a moment, looking everywhere but at her. "Oh, uh. . . we're just, uh, going for a late-night ride."

"Right. . ." Her tone was so dry it would have made a desert seem like a rainforest. She crossed her arms stubbornly. "So you're not going to the Isle of Night— an island full of potentially wild, hostile Night Furies— by yourself like an idiot, right?"

"No! No, of course not," Hiccup protested, but under her steely, violet-eyed stare, he caved, his shoulders slumping. ". . .Yes?"

She let out a long-suffering sigh. "Well, you're not going without me."

Although he relaxed when she didn't try to stop him, he still shook his head. "No, Dany. I have to do this alone. The map we found said that herds of Night Furies could be hostile towards other dragon species. And Drogon. . ." He watched the dragon for a second, who met his gaze with a 'watch your next words carefully' sort of look. "Isn't exactly welcoming."

"Fair enough," she allowed, and the brunet was instantly suspicious of her easy agreement. She waved Drogon off. "Drogon, go home and rest. You've definitely earned it."

The big dragon clearly wasn't happy, but he was dealing with two of the most stubborn Vikings in Berk, so he knew it would a lost cause to insist on staying by his mother's side. He blew a breath of hot air in her face as retribution. Then he pinned Toothless with a glare that said 'protect her, or else' in a language that both human and dragon could understand. A great gust of wind later and his large form slowly receded into the night.

"Dany—" the chief's son began to argue, still obstinately stuck on going alone.

She didn't let him finish as she climbed on Toothless' back (so much easier than the hike up to Drogon's.) "The map only said they were hostile to other dragons. Do I look like a dragon to you?"

Hiccup let out a reluctant breath, though he really was glad that Dany was going with him; he just didn't want to put her in unnecessary danger. But he knew that she could also protect herself— protect them, even— so he merely gestured for her to scoot up. This, of course, was met with a confused look as she had been prepared to be the passenger. He shrugged. "You want to drive, don't you?"

Her eyes lit up at the unexpected offer and she slid forward. Toothless warbled happily under the change in rider as he enjoyed being under Dany's guidance; while Hiccup liked going fast, the Targaryen's preferred speed was on a whole different level.

🏹🏹🏹

They made it to the Isle of Night in record time as Toothless had anticipated from Dany's zippy hand. Both riders dismounted appearing a little windswept, with pink cheeks and mussed hair but in good spirits. But their cheerful attitudes didn't last long; as the Targaryen had suspected, there were no Night Furies just as there were no maps to the Isle of Night. The rocky island they landed on was a trap set by the Outcasts and— she was, sadly, not surprised— Mildew.

The teens glared up at the older Vikings as they were forced onto the ground, one man holding each of them down. Two soldiers wheeled over the fake Night Fury that had lured Toothless away from them, causing Alvin to smirk down at them proudly. "Amazingly realistic, wouldn't you say?"

Nearby, Toothless was being quickly subdued as other soldiers wrapped him in chains. Hiccup glared at the bearded man who bent before them tauntingly. "Let go of him! What do you want?"

"I want me own dragon trainer. And by the looks of it, I've got 'im." Alvin smiled nastily at the blonde. "In fact, I've got two of 'em. Looks like it's me lucky day."

Daenerys spit at his shoes in response, which only prompted rough laughter from him. While Hiccup shared her sentiment, he used his words to grit out, "we're not going to train your dragons, Alvin."

"Oh, ho, ho, I think you will. And once you 'ave, I'll use 'em to destroy Berk. Take them!"

The men holding the teens lifted them harshly to their feet to guide them towards the waiting boat. "I don't understand. How did you do this?"

They didn't an answer right away as the soldiers forced them into the boat, shoving both of them viciously in. Savage jumped in after them and the motion revealed the person they should've suspected all along: Mildew.

"What are you doing here?" Hiccup asked.

"Aw, look at'cha." He jumped down onto the boat. "The brightest boy on the island and the Mother of Dragons herself, and yet, there you are, trapped by a silly old man and his sheep."

"How could you do this?"

Dany glared at him with nothing but disdain in her violet eyes. "Why am I not surprised? Dragon hater." She spat out the last two words as an insult.

"You did it, Hiccup. You believed the Bork notes, you followed the map we drew, you walked right into our trap. And you, girl, you were mad enough to follow him, though I suppose we should have predicted that from you," he mocked them. "Maybe you'll think twice next time about where you place your loyalties."

Alvin cackled— literally cackled, the rough sound grating on Dany's ears— as he pushed the old man aside. "There won't be a next time. Raise the sails! We're headed home. . . to Outcast Island!"

A/n: I've got both good news and bad news. The good news: a) one more chapter until Riders of Berk is done! (And it will be out next week!) b) I plan (fingers crossed) to finish writing this book (not necessarily have it entirely published) by early August— hopefully before the TUA s4 premier. 

That brings me to the bit of bad news: I'd hoped to be done with this book much faster than it will be; the original plan was to start the RTTE sequel immediately after this one was done. But TUA takes priority over all my other WIPs, so I definitely won't publish it until after that. I also want to focus on my other sequel, Leather and Lace (which takes place in the GMW universe), so there will be a bit of a waiting time before the next book in this series comes out. I will probably cave and work on both of them at the same time, though, since I am very excited to write for RTTE!