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❛ ᴋʜᴀʟᴇᴇsɪ​​​​​​​​​​. ❜ ° . ༄
- ͙۪۪˚   ▎❛ 𝐓𝐇𝐑𝐄𝐄 ❜   ▎˚ ͙۪۪̥◌
»»————- ꒰ ғᴜʀ, ғᴇᴀᴛʜᴇʀs &
sᴄᴀʟᴇs ꒱


❝ I'M NOT MAKING
THINGS ANY BETTER, AM I? ❞

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Hiccup had not been intending to make a stop on his way to snow-sliding with Toothless, but here he was, landing in the middle of the clearing that had caught his eye. He'd seen it from the sky; the lack of trees in an otherwise forested area had caught his attention, and the smoke rising from the chimney of the lone house had made him curious enough to land. He didn't usually travel this far from Berk and he supposed that the summer months provided enough leaf coverage so the lack of trees was far less noticeable. Now, as they headed full-tilt towards the 'devastating winter' time period, the stark branches allowed a birds' eye view to the cottage below.

He knew that Dany lived far from the village proper and that her home was in a forest, but other than that he had no landmarks to find out where she lived. Considering that the archipelago wasn't that big, he had a decent hunch that this was where she went at the end of the day. Toothless circled the clearing a few times as he came to this conclusion, and suddenly the thought of snow-sliding with someone else— specifically a certain blonde-haired Targaryen— made the prospect even more enjoyable. So, he guided his Night Fury to the open ground below.

Here, the snow was trampled and a bit muddy underfoot from the three dragons who inhabited the outdoor space. At his arrival, the two he didn't recognize stopped their playfighting to stare at him, while Drogon only lifted his head to blink at him slowly, clearly recognizing him. He went over to the large dragon and, after extending his hand to let Drogon bump his snout against it, gave Dany's dragon a few pats.

The unfamiliar dragons pinned him with equally curious stares as the smaller of the two moved closer and sniffed at him. He knew that the green-and-bronze dragon was Rhaegal, from Dany's description, and the other was Viserion. He greeted them in the same way, though the gold-and-white dragon was more receptive than his brother. Toothless hung back cautiously, but he gave Drogon a welcoming rumble in the back of his throat. When the dragon dipped his head in acknowledgement, the Night Fury came up to bounce around him, annoying him in a way reminiscent of a younger brother to his older sibling.

Seeing that his dragon was welcome, Hiccup turned his attention to the cottage before him. It was a very modest, rectangle-shaped building with a thatched roof. The outside was undecorated as far as he could tell, though it was impossible to tell what the yard in front looked like underneath all the snow. Nearby, there was a setup of a firepit with a pot hanging over it, propped up by sturdy branches.

He felt the stares of Rhaegal and Viserion still on him as he knocked on the door, though they didn't feel threatening, merely curious. He was relieved when it was Dany who opened it and felt rather pleased by the look of surprise on her face. "Hiccup? What. . . How did you find me?"

"Oh. Well, you know. . . I was just flying overhead when I saw the house. I, uh, remembered that you lived in the woods and the three big dragons kind of give you away," he explained, stumbling a bit over his words.

She glanced over at them as if she'd forgotten that they were there. "Oh. Right. Um, do you want to come in? It's freezing out here."

Hiccup shook his head. "No thanks. I was— I actually was going to ask if you wanted to come snow-sliding with Toothless and me."

"Snow-sliding?" she repeated with interest. "What's that?"

"Well, mostly just how it sounds, while we ride our dragons. It's more fun if we race," he added with a grin.

He couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed when Dany didn't seem to be too keen on the idea. "I don't know. . . Drogon's not very fast and the cold doesn't agree with me much. You know. . . because of the walking-through-fire thing."

Having been looking forward to the idea of her joining them, Hiccup refused to give up so easily. "Well, we could ride Toothless together, if you want. Like old times."

After another moment of consideration, the blonde gave in. She turned away from the door to call into the house: "Mom! I'm going snow-sliding with Hiccup!"

"Hiccup?" a voice echoed from inside. The door opened wider to reveal a woman who looked so similar to Dany that she could have been her older sister. They had the same silvery-blonde hair, the same violet eyes and the same full, pink lips (not that Hiccup spent a lot of time looking at Dany's lips, that is.) A friendly smile appeared on her face as she laid eyes on him. "So you're Hiccup. I feel as if I know you already from how often Dany's talked about you."

He felt his cheeks heat up at the idea of Dany even thinking about him when they weren't together. "Really?"

"Oh, yes," her mother said as a mischievous twinkle entered her eyes. "You and dragons are her two favorite subjects to talk about. I'm Ingrid, by the way. It's nice to finally meet you. Randolf— my husband— had his doubts about your existence, but now I can finally put them to rest."

Dany's gaze was focused firmly on her boots, though she made no effort to refute her mother's words— they were true, after all, and although she was embarrassed that Hiccup found out, she saw no reason to deny them. Hiccup's face warmed further at the older woman's words. He fidgeted on the threshold, glancing back at where Toothless was watching them.

His dragon was sitting perfectly upright, with his ears perked towards the sky and his emerald eyes focused on him, though he knew that smug look in the Night Fury's gaze. (Toothless had been privy to more than few of his rants about how much he liked Dany; he was just grateful that dragons couldn't talk.) He quickly turned back to the two women, but that scene was no less awkward; Ingrid wore an expression so similar to his dragon's that it was almost eerie, while Dany still couldn't look at him. Her only movement was her fingers knotting the end of her fur vest as an outlet for the obvious discomfort she felt.

Feeling trapped, Hiccup decided that the situation was dire enough that Dany wouldn't mind the broach of her personal space, so he reached for her wrist and began to step away from the door. "O-Okay! We have to get going now! It was nice to meet you!"

He pulled her quickly towards where Toothless was waiting for them, and he staunchly ignored his dragon's downright amused expression as he climbed on. Dany paused to pat Drogon and apologize for not taking him with them before she got on behind him. They couldn't quite escape fast enough as Ingrid called after them: "have fun! Be safe!"

🏹🏹🏹

Her burning embarrassment eased as they lifted into the air as the breeze helped to cool her heated face. The frosty wind whipped around them, causing her to wrap her arms around the boy in front of her tightly. Although a part of her reasoning for her reluctance to be out in the cold was true, she hadn't told Hiccup the whole story; being alone with him made her. . . uncomfortable, and not in the way that she was familiar with. This discomfort didn't come with the skin-crawling sensation close proximity or the unease of meeting someone's eyes; no— instead, it caused her stomach to flutter when he smiled and the inexplicable desire to try and impress him, because Hiccup's opinion suddenly mattered more than anyone else's. So, she decided to actively avoid being alone with him.

Now, here she was, with just the Toothless and the brunet for company— the very one she was trying to evade. It was just that he'd looked so disappointed when she'd tried to get out of going snow-sliding (even though it had sounded fun) that it had made her cave in spite of herself. But, any nervousness that she did feel was mostly worth it after being cooped up in the house all day. Although a little too cold for comfort, the fresh air against her face and the rush of adrenaline that always came from soaring in the sky was a welcome change from her otherwise boring day.

And then there was the special treat of riding a Night Fury, because while her dragon had his own rapid speeds, there was Drogon fast, and then there was Toothless fast— and they certainly weren't the same. Riding Hiccup's dragon made her feel like she'd harnessed a lightning bolt; even his leisurely pace as they made their way to their destination was like a bolt from the blue. Don't get her wrong; she loved Drogon— she always would, and she would never trade him for the world— but she did have to admit that she was slightly jealous of her best friend's impressive dragon.

When they got to the top of the Highest Point, Hiccup twisted around to grin at her. "Ready?"

Caught off-guard by how close the position made their faces, Dany's gaze darted away from his and towards the slopes in front of them. She tightened her grip around his middle and nodded. "Yeah, let's go."

Used to her reserved personality, the boy faced forward again. When he was certain that she couldn't see his expression, he allowed a shy but bright smile to appear on his face at her willingness to be so close to him despite her general reluctance. He urged his dragon forward to tilt off the flat rock to begin their descent.

The change from stillness to a rush of speed was immediate.

Although she'd been hesitant about facing the cold, the sting of the bitter chill that seeped into her silver dress only enhanced Dany's excitement as they went barreling down the slope. Trees whizzed past them in a blur of green and brown while the rest of the landscape became an indiscernible white. The wide, clear area that they were sliding down allowed them to reach max speeds without having to worry about crashing into anything, so they were able to just enjoy the thrill of the moment.

Hiccup let out an instinctive, excited whoop! that made the Targaryen grin. She let go of his waist to stick her hands in the air, wanting to feel the rush of wind against her palms as she would on Drogon. Unused to the Night Fury's speed, she instantly wrapped her arms around the boy again as her heart pounded in her chest, though even the unexpected startle wasn't enough to wipe the smile from her face.

When Toothless lifted into the air on a particularly steep outcropping of rock, Dany finally let out an enthusiastic shout of her own, taking Hiccup by surprise. The sound only encouraged him to guide his dragon on a more daring course with the hope that the girl would allow herself to enjoy the ride a little more. Even Toothless seemed to delight in their immense speed; as they came up on a snowdrift, he let out a plasma blast that made it explode over them in a flurry of white flakes.

They continued their descent downwards, shaking the snow out of their hair. Their joy was short-lived, however, when not long after, a rumbling noise sounded from behind them. Dany turned around to look and the wall of white made her eyes widen with panic. "Hiccup!"

When she caught his attention, he followed the direction of her pointing finger and felt a similar sense of dawning dread. He tried to veer Toothless out of the way of the oncoming avalanche, but it was too big to escape. His metal foot worked on the stirrup of his saddle to try and launch them into the air, but the mechanism refused to budge. A glance backwards confirmed his fear. "His tail's frozen!"

Thinking fast, the blonde struggled to get to the end of the Night Fury's tail. She yanked on the fabric of the prosthetic to try and free it from the ice that coated it, but it was no use. The wall of snow was almost on top of them, thundering downwards towards them unimpeded.

Hiccup, who was trying to guide his dragon to safety, was the one to notice the cliff that they were rapidly approaching. His heart jumped into his throat as he realized that the girl was still clinging to Toothless' tail. "Dany! Let it go! You'll never—"

His words were cut off as the avalanche slammed into them. They were sent tumbling into the ravine in a tangle of rider, dragon and snow. They both grunted as they hit the ground, hard enough to knock the wind out of them. It was completely dark; even when she put a hand to her face, Dany couldn't see anything. Nervously, she called out: "Hiccup?"

"Over here," he said, and she felt reassured that at least she wasn't alone. "Are you okay?"

"Just cold," she replied. "Freezing, actually."

Since there was no point in trying to make out anything, she wrapped her arms around herself to try and reduce her shivering.

"Come here," Hiccup invited her.

Using the sound of his voice, she was able to guess where he was, and she felt around the area until she found him. Her hand landed on his arm, which she gripped tightly so she wouldn't lose him in the dark. Although she normally didn't want anyone to. . . encroach this much on her personal space, she curled up willingly next to the boy.

He jerked a bit in shock as she pressed close to him for the first time. "Oh! You're hot!" He was immediately grateful for the fact that she couldn't see how red his face became as he blushed furiously. "I-I didn't mean— Well, you are— but not like that— I swear—" His words trailed off in a groan of embarrassment. "I'm not making things any better, am I?"

Despite their situation, Dany giggled at his awkwardness, relieved that she wasn't the only one who felt so off-put by their being alone together. "It's okay, I get it. I've always run hot; my mother says it's because I have the blood of the dragon— why fire doesn't hurt me."

The brunet relaxed, glad that she understood what he'd meant. In fact, the warmth that seeped off her and sank into him was comforting and eased the stiffness that the icy air had caused. Even if the girl herself felt colder more quickly because of her warm temperature, the heat that she shared allowed him to think straight. "Where's Toothless?"

A plasma blast lit up above them, revealing that they were trapped under a thick layer of ice and snow. The Night Fury continued to blast at the ice until a hole melted through the top. The darkness receded around them, allowing them to see that Toothless was standing over the pair protectively, with his wings outstretched as he freed them from the ravine.

"I see daylight!" the boy exclaimed.

"We're gonna get out of here," Dany added happily.

Hiccup glanced proudly at his dragon. "Look at what he did!"

"He saved our lives," she agreed breathlessly. They turned to face each other at the same moment. For a brief second, Hiccup was staring directly into Dany's violet eyes— an action that was so rare that he found himself mesmerized by the unusual color of her deep purple irises. The Targaryen felt her face heat up as she realized their faces were even nearer than when he'd turned around on Toothless' back an hour ago; the tip of his nose brushed against hers as his emerald eyes stayed trained on her face unblinkingly.

She yanked herself away from him as soon as she realized this and put a few feet between them. "Too close!"

"S-sorry," the brunet apologized, fuzzily remembering how she didn't like to be touched. He cleared his throat as the awkward tension rose between them. "Uh— um— that was. . . so— um. . ."

Dany refused to look at him anymore. She brought her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around her legs so that she could keep her gaze on her booted feet, where inside her shoes, she wriggled her toes out of habit even though she couldn't see them. Her voice was quiet as she asked, "so. . . we're good now?"

"Good as new." He paused as he thought of a way to ease their awkwardness— and then he sent her an almost Snotlout smile. "Hey— do you really talk about me that much?"

Although Dany didn't look up from her boots, she punched him in the shoulder with surprising accuracy. Thankfully, the strength of her hit was far gentler than Astrid's had ever been, though he still pretended like it hurt as he exaggeratedly clutched his arm. 

🏹🏹🏹

Although she dreaded the trip back— being in such close proximity with Hiccup again made her feel that same weird, nervous fluttering in her stomach— Daenerys was glad to return to their friends; at least then there would be other people around. The group sat on top of the watchtower, which had become their usual hangout spot. The Targaryen sat next to the boy as he filled the other teens on what had just happened.

She remained quiet as she took out a block of wood from her vest pocket and her whittling knife. Averting her eyes from the group, she focused on shaving long, even strands of wood with practiced motions. With pieces that were of less quality— such as this one— she didn't bother to make anything with them. Instead, she found satisfaction in watching the wood shrink in her palm as she took layers off one by one, something that she did when her nerves were particularly jumbled.

". . .and then Toothless used his wings to block the snow," Hiccup finished. He'd jumped to his feet due to his excitement of telling the story and, as he typically did, had moved his hands around while he talked to better demonstrate what he was saying.

"I've never heard of anything like that," Fishlegs commented with awe. "Not even in the Book of Dragons!"

"It was incredible," the brunet agreed brightly. "It's as if his protective instincts just kicked in. Who'd believe it? The dragons we'd fought for years came to our rescue."

Dany spoke up in a soft voice as she added, "if it wasn't for Toothless, we would have frozen to death."

"You know what? You could've used your own bodies to keep each other warm," Fishlegs pointed out.

The pair instantly became uncomfortable as they stumbled over their responses, jumping away from each other as if someone had set the place between them on fire. "Um. . ."

"Who would do that?" Hiccup chuckled nervously.

Dany shifted in her seat as she drew her boot through the golden shavings at her feet. "You guys know I don't like to be close to people."

Snotlout seemed to not have heard her as he extended his arms and blew her a kiss. "Hey, Daenerys, if you're still cold. . ."

She sent him an uneasy look and tightened her grip on the hilt of her blade. Although there was no aggression in her tone, it was still vaguely threatening as she replied mildly, "you do know that I'm holding a knife, right?"

The other Viking was not intimidated in the least as he scoffed, "what, that old butter knife?"

Astrid came to her aid and knocked her elbow into the pillar that she was standing next to. The snow fell from the catapult and covered Snotlout completely, causing him to let out an irritated, "hey!"

Too focused on carving her wood to a stub, Dany missed Hiccup's relieved look as she— once again— denied Snotlout's advances. Although she'd made it abundantly clear over the months that he was the last person she'd ever spend time with, it was reassuring to hear her actually deny him. Hiccup himself wasn't certain of what his feelings were for the blonde-haired Targaryen (they definitely leaned towards fond— he could admit that much, at least), but he knew that it would suck if she'd suddenly stopped hanging out with him in favor of Snotlout.

The twins made an unusually well-timed appearance to shake him from that particularly disturbing train of thought. "Hey, Hiccup. Your father's looking for you."

"He looked angry," Ruffnut added.

"He's looked angry since the day I was born— but I'm sure there's no connection." Hiccup climbed onto Toothless and flew back toward his home.

As the group broke up for the time being, Astrid pulled Dany aside. She didn't like the smirk that her friend was wearing, which was only proven true as the Hofferson asked (more like demanded), "so. . . what was all that about?"

"Nothing," she replied immediately, though she knew that wouldn't appease her friend.

"Right. I'm not a muttonhead like Snotlout, you know. I saw how you and Hiccup reacted at Fishlegs' question."

Daenerys felt her face flush against her will as she kept her gaze on Stormfly, who shifted impatiently, ready to take off. "I don't like being close to people, Astrid. Why would Hiccup be any different?"

"Yeah, that's the response you gave to the guys," the blonde said as she crossed her arms. "I'm your best girl-friend; aren't you going to tell me the truth? I could help, you know."

"There's nothing to help with. Hiccup and I are just friends, I swear. How about this: if anything does change between us, you'll be the first to know."

Astrid considered her offer before she relented with a sigh. "Alright. You promise?"

The Targaryen gave her a small smile. "I promise."

🏹🏹🏹

They regrouped in the dragon training ring with the villages' livestock. Their next problem to deal with was figuring out how the farm animals could live comfortably with the dragons— but the catch was that they only had so many hours to do so before the winter storm set in. Not only that, but the animals seemed to be unaware of the time constraint and refused to cooperate with the Vikings. Hiccup was currently trying to encourage a yak to get closer to the dragon, but the creature was having none of it.

"Come on, big boy. You can do it," the brunet persuaded him. "Ah, come on," he continued when the animal didn't move. "You'll really like them if you get to know them."

Astrid, who was pushing the yak from behind, added her own support. "The dragons look scary, but they're just big, scaly reptiles."

"Just like Snotlout," Tuffnut quipped. Snotlout grabbed his shirt and readied a fist, then hesitated.

"You're the guy, right?" he asked.

The other Viking froze. When he spoke next, he pitched his voice higher in the hopes of sounding like his sister. "No."

The Monstrous Nightmare snapped impatiently at the Deadly Nadder, who were both growing tired of this exercise. The yak let out a bellow of fear and all of the progress that Hiccup and Astrid had been making (which wasn't much) reversed as the animal ran away from the dragons. This resulted in the chicken and sheep to scatter as well, leaving the teens to gather them up again.

"Wait, what if we looked at this from an animal's perspective?" Fishlegs got down on all fours and began to crawl around on the floor. "Oh hello, Mr. Dragon. I'm just a little sheep here, walking, doing sheep things. Baa, baa." Fishlegs turned to look back at them. "You know, he doesn't really seem so big and—" He faced the Nightmare again, who roared in his face. Fishlegs scrambled underneath Meatlug in terror. "Sorry, but I'm siding with the sheep on this one."

"What about you?" Tuffnut demanded as he turned to Daenerys. "You're supposed to be even better with dragons than Hiccup is! You could. . . use your Targaryen voodoo magic to make them less scary?"

The girl sighed; she'd had more than a dozen conversations with the twins to convince them that she wasn't magical, and they seemed to forget that every single day. "It's not magic! And the only animal that does listen to me are dragons, and they don't have any problem with the livestock— it's the other way around."

He threw up his arms with mock exasperation. His tone was lighthearted as he replied, "well, you're just useless then, aren't you?"

Dany rolled her eyes as Hiccup brainstormed another idea in the hopes of keeping the group on track. "Look, I've learned that once you've had a positive experience with something you're afraid of, it isn't so scary anymore."

Hiccup picked up one of the younger sheep and put it back with the others. "Okay, there you go, boys. Over here." He herded them right in front of the dragons. "And that's what we have to do with these sheep. We gotta prove to them that they have nothing to fear."

Unfortunately, while sound reasoning, his proposal wasn't well-received as the Monstrous Nightmare accidently set the sheep's wool aflame. Astrid reacted quickly and put out the fire. The brunet slumped with defeat as nothing seemed to work. "And at this rate we'll never get any milk or eggs."

🏹🏹🏹

The dark clouds rolled closer Berk and the wind picked up, whipping around in the small, sort-of enclosed space. The dragons became even more antsy, which was certainly not helping their efforts. Dany made the most of her gift as she tried to keep them calm with soothing words and an endless number of pats. However, she couldn't do anything for the terrified animals, who kept running around the arena to try and get away from the dragons.

At this point, they had tried several more of Hiccup's idea, but had made no progress. They were clearly losing time as the sky darkened steadily; snowflakes were starting to fall, though few noticed as they were too busy trying to corral the livestock. Dany wrapped her arms around herself as she stood next to the Monstrous Nightmare, grateful for the heat of its warm scales against the bitter chill.

Their efforts were finally put to a stop by Gobber's arrival. "Everybody out! The storm is here!

"Ah— wait! We haven't made any progress with the animals," Hiccup insisted.

The blacksmith remained unmoved as he pushed a yak towards the entrance. "Your father wants everyone in the Great Hall."

The boy shook his head and stood his ground. "Take the others. I need to stay and keep working with the animals. They're still afraid."

"That's crazy!" Dany couldn't help but exclaim. The thought of Hiccup staying out in this weather sent a chill down her spine that had nothing to do with the cold air. "What do you expect to change between now and when you've frozen to death?"

Thankfully, Gobber agreed with her as he demanded, "ya can't get eggs from a frozen chicken! We've got to get the animals in the barn."

🏹🏹🏹

The barn, however, did not seem to be brought up to speed on this plan and its entrance had been blocked by a large, impassable snowdrift. Daenerys wrapped her arms around herself as the chill sank into her fingers and crept through the toes of her boots. As they stood amidst the howling wind, she found herself longing for her cottage, far away in the forest. Her parents must be worried sick about her, but there was would be no way for her to reach them until the storm had passed. At least they knew that she wasn't completely alone, so she hoped that would ease some of their concern.

"So much for the barn. . ."

"There's no other place to hold them!" Mulch exclaimed.

The Targaryen pressed closer to the Monstrous Nightmare, whose ability to set its full body on fire allowed it to give off more heat than a Deadly Nadder's. As if sensing her discomfort, the dragon stretched out a wing to help block some of the wind from cutting through her clothes. It sank to a crouching position to keep the cold from circling her legs to become a wall of scales and warmth. Despite this kindness, the Monstrous Nightmare wasn't her dragon; she still found herself wishing for Drogon, who was probably huddled with his brothers back home. She longed for his familiar, quiet strength and ability to guess what she needed most.

The noise of the storm almost whipped away Hiccup's response, which he called loudly over the gale: "the Great Hall!"

"So, we're gonna have the dragons and the animals under the same roof. . ." Mulch chuckled nervously. "We know that won't work."

"We have no choice. Let's go."

The Monstrous Nightmare continued to shield her from the worst of the wind as they turned back down the mountain. It became too hard to see as the storm worsened, so Dany focused her gaze on her boots, not even bothering to look where she was going. Watching one foot move in front of the other helped her stay alert and she tightened her hands in the tucked position underneath her arms. Her hair tangled in long strands and occasionally got in her face, causing her to spit out the ones that landed in her mouth. This became harder as the strands dampened, though her hair was so light that the snowflakes that landed on her were impossible to see. 

Their surroundings were suddenly lit up as lighting struck a nearby tree. The dragons startled and Dany squinted against the brightness as the Monstrous Nightmare beside her ignited its body. It reared back with its wings spread, spooked from the unexpected event. The bolt of flame that shot out of its mouth caused the animals to scatter and they— especially the sheep— soon became lost in the world of white.

Snotlout was the unfortunate victim of their panicked scramble as he became trampled by the yaks. "Ow! Okay, everything hurts!"

Fishlegs became unbalanced as the sheep ran around his legs and he fell face first into the snow. Ruffnut, too focused on the animals, didn't see him until it was too late and she ran right over the other Viking— only to get a chicken to the face. Seeing the resulting chaos, Hiccup ran back to Toothless, which prompted Gobber's irritated question of, "where are you going?"

He wasted no time as he climbed onto the Night Fury's back. "I'm going after them!"

"Forget it, Hiccup! You'll never get them rounded up in this storm!" the blacksmith shouted.

"With Toothless, we can. I have to try. If I don't, we starve to death."

"No! Your father would kill me if I left you out here!"

He ignored Gobber's warning and took off with a barely-heard, "sorry, Gobber!"

"Hiccup, come back here!" the older Viking yelled. Aware of the other teens behind him, he first went with the Targaryen as he pleaded, "Daenerys, can you—"

But the girl didn't wait for him to finish; she climbed easily onto the Monstrous Nightmare who'd helped her out and took off after the brunet. Gobber continued to be ignored as the other teens got on their dragons, who had joined them in their efforts to round up the livestock. "Hey! You— get back here! All of you! Get back here!"

🏹🏹🏹

If she thought that walking through the snow had been hard, than flying was even more difficult. The flakes obscured her vision until she could barely see the other riders; she had to trust that her borrowed Monstrous Nightmare would know what he was doing. Dany never thought that she'd say this, but she wished that she had a saddle; holding onto a dragon's scales in the bitter cold with frozen fingers was not ideal.

Toothless lit up their surroundings with a plasma blast, allowing them to see past the flurries for a few, brief seconds. Unfortunately they couldn't have him continuously shoot light into the sky since they had to keep his shot limit in mind. None of the other dragon's fire-breathing abilities would be similarly helpful, so it was all on the Night Fury to keep their vision clear.

Hiccup called back to the group: "find as many as you can! We'll herd them back to the Great Hall."

"Can we swing by my house?" Fishlegs yelled. "I'd like to get my heavy coat."

The twins, as usual, found a unique take on their situation. Tuffnut turned to his sister. "Check this out!" He punched himself across the face, and laughed. "I'm so cold I can't feel my face!"

Ruffnut took this as an invitation to repeat his action, only for him to grin at her triumphantly. "Didn't feel it!"

She crossed her arms with annoyance. "That takes all the fun out of it!"

Dany shivered even more as they broke free from the protective surrounding of the forest. Although the trees had been bare, they'd at least provided some shelter; now the open, rolling hills allowed the wind to blast across the snow unimpeded. But, on the plus side, it was easier to see where the cattle might be, which Hiccup noticed a short while later.

"There they are! Come on!" Everyone dove and began to chase the animals, but their advances only made them run faster.

"Yaks on the left!" Fishlegs called out to them.

Snotlout— always wanting to add his opinion— quickly followed with, "chickens to the right!" The larger Viking spun around on his Gronckle as the other boy barreled past him. "Hey! I'm flyin' here!"

Not wanting to get in between the two boys, Dany turned her attention to the yaks, whom everyone seemed to have forgotten about in the chaos. They lumbered along the mountain at the fastest pace they could go, which luckily wasn't very fast. The girl leaned over the neck of her Monstrous Nightmare as she tried to ignore the settling cold. "Come on, boy! Ald—" She realized that she couldn't use her word to ignite Drogon's fire, so instead she simply shouted, "now!"

The dragon veered towards the ground and let out a stream of fire, which herded the stray yak closer to the others. Dany planned the dragon's shots carefully so that she could keep the yaks together while guiding them to where the other riders were wrestling with the sheep. The fire was startling enough for the large animals to move, but she only aimed for the snow so that they wouldn't be hurt.

Somehow, she heard Hiccup's shout over the wind: "stray yaks, twelve o'clock!"

More? She thought, having been certain that she'd rounded up all the ones that had scattered.

The twins were closer and flew in the direction of the bulky shapes. "I see them, and they are huge!"

Their dragon caught a 'yak' in each claw as their riders cheered with their success. However, their happiness was short lived as they realized that they'd actually picked up their chief and the blacksmith. "Put me down! Right now!"

The teens landed their dragons to approach the two men. Stoick frowned at his son, who mistook his expression as disappointment. "You shouldn't be out here, Hiccup!"

Hiccup lowered his head guiltily at the look on his father's face. "Dad. . . I'm sorry I let you down."

"It's not your fault, son. I'm taking you back."

Gobber looked around at the whirling white with obvious confusion. "Which way?"

"Follow our tracks." Chief Stoick pointed in the direction they'd come from, but there were none to be found. They'd already been covered by fresh snow.

His friend was not impressed. "So much for that idea."

"Sir? What are we gonna do now?" Fishlegs asked timidly.

Stoick looked around at the group, who, except for him and Gobber, were only teens. Even the twins, who could be counted on for finding the humor in the worst of situations, seemed subdued because of the cold. If he and Gobber had been mistaken for yaks, then their shivering, scared faces made them appear like lost sheep. Even his son, who was always stubborn, and the Targaryen girl, who had made quite the first impression on him, didn't seem to know what to do. She merely stood in the freezing wind with her head bent and her arms wrapped around herself.

Being the chief, he took control of the situation as best he could and extended his arms out to them. "Everyone, come together."

Although Dany felt trepidation at the thought of so many people crowding close to her, the desire for warmth was stronger than her discomfort. She made sure to get a spot close to Hiccup, though, since she felt most at ease with him. Astrid crowded in on her other side, making the tight space even more tolerable. Soon, they formed a small circle with their backs against the cold, which helped.

Seeing their discomfort, the dragons took action as well. It wasn't long before they made a larger ring around the humans with their wings spread out to block the wind. Their warm breath began to heat them up and Stoick looked around at them with awe. "What are they doing?"

"They're protecting us," Hiccup explained with a proud smile.

"It's their natural instinct," Astrid added.

The dragons let out bursts of fire around the group to keep the heat trapped inside. The distressed sounds of animals prompted the Vikings to bring their livestock into the circle despite the animals' misgivings. They spent the night encircled by their dragons, and were able to survive because of the warmth that they provided. It seemed that Hiccup had been right: one positive experience was enough to change their minds about dragons, once and for all.

A/n: merry Christmas! (Or happy non-denominational holiday if you celebrate something else :) )