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❛ ᴋʜᴀʟᴇᴇsɪ​​​​​​​​​​. ❜ ° . ༄
- ͙۪۪˚  ▎❛ 𝐅𝐎𝐔𝐑 ❜   ▎˚ ͙۪۪̥◌
»»————- ꒰ᴡᴇʟʟ, ᴡᴇʟʟ, ᴡᴇʟʟ꒱


❝ MY FAMILY WROTE THE
BOOK ON 'CRAZY,' SO I
HAVE IT ON GOOD
AUTHORITY THAT TAKING
ON THAT DRAGON BY
YOURSELF IS INSANE ❞

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"Cut him off!" Stoick ordered as the teens chased a stinky Gobber through Berk's streets. "Make sure he doesn't escape."

Dany watched from her aloft position in the sky as Toothless scrambled down the wooden steps to close the distance between them. Then he launched himself forward, followed by a tight turn around the nearest buildings. Drogon was only a hinderance in this case as his large wingspan kept him from flying well through the narrow alleyways of town, but the Targaryen had a front-row seat to the chaos below. (Otherwise, she would have helped— she'd had the misfortune of smelling Gobber earlier and his scent had made her gag.)

"Astrid!" Hiccup called up to the girl riding the Deadly Nadder. "He's headed your way!"

"On it!" she replied, then pointed in the direction of the fleeing man. "Stormfly, spine shot!"

Her dragon whipped her tail forwards to cut the blacksmith off in one of the village's open spaces. He stumbled to a halt to avoid the pointed spikes. He turned to face his chief defiantly. "I won't do it, Stoick," Gobber protested. "And you can't make me!" Toothless and Stormfly landed on either side of the chief to back him towards the tub. "None of you can make me!"

"Keep him surrounded!" Stoick said, ignoring the man's complaints.

Daenerys closed in from above, letting Drogon cast a threatening shadow over the man in the hopes of at least alarming him into submission. Gobber glared at them and stamped his peg leg in defiance. "A Viking is supposed to smell this way. It's a badge of honor!"

One of Berk's many Terrible Terrors popped its head over his shoulder playfully, ready to cause some mischief, but one whiff of the blacksmith's scent had it reeling away. It flew dizzily as it put as much space between them as it could, but was so disoriented that it bonked its head into a pole and collapsed in the dirt with its tongue out.

"It's for your own good, Gobber," Stoick tried to reason with him.

Hiccup didn't hesitate to add: "actually, it's for the good of the town."

"Get— in— the tub," his father demanded, pointing to it sternly.

Gobber's scowl only deepened as he refused to move. That prompted more forceful action from Snotlout, who landed behind him on his Monstrous Nightmare. In an authoritative voice, he instructed: "Hookfang, toss him in the tub!"

But he should have been more specific as to which 'him' he meant, for Hookfang took his rider's command literally. The dragon's eyes widened with glee as he flicked his neck to send the boy spiraling into the air. Snotlout yelled in shock as he came down, landing with a loud clatter right in the trough. He glowered first at his dragon. "Every. . . single. . . time! Doesn't this get old for you?" Then he turned his attention to the blonde who was still hovering over them. "You could have caught me!"

"Oops," the Targaryen replied insincerely. Not that he could see around Drogon's bulk (and that was mostly why she felt brave enough to do it), she shrugged and gave him a sarcastic smile.

Hookfang was no more sympathetic and responded to the teen's question with a bored eyeroll. Seeing how this was getting them nowhere, Hiccup took charge by directing Toothless towards Gobber, who was currently distracted by Snotlout's unexpected flight. The Night Fury crept around him as the blacksmith resumed his complaints. "I won't do it, Stoick!"

"Now, Astrid!" the brunet exclaimed.

Stormfly went to hover in the air, causing Gobber to look up at her in confusion. Toothless took the window of opportunity and used his snout to lift the man off the ground. With a startled yell, he was flung backwards into the tub. Stoick ran to use his weight so that his best friend couldn't get away. "Fishlegs, soap and water!"

He came over on Meatlug's back with a bucket clutched in his arms. Tensing in preparation for the apparently unpleasant sensation of being clean, Gobber closed his eyes and expected the worst. The blond tossed the contents of his bucket over the man, but instead of the deluge he was anticipating, it was no more than a light splash.

Stoick frowned at this development. "You're gonna have to do better than that, son."

Fishlegs looked into the bucket just to make sure that more water hadn't magically appeared as he shook his head. "I can't, sir. The well. . . it's run dry."

The group shared an uneasy glance before they went over to check it out themselves. Instead of wasting time trying to land Drogon in such a tight space to see for herself, Dany let them go, knowing that whatever was discovered would be shared at the Academy.

🏹🏹🏹

Sure enough, everyone gathered at the arena not long after. Hiccup paced in front of them, his brows furrowed as he tried to think of a solution to yet another problem. "Okay. We need to find a way to keep Berk supplied with water until a new well can be dug." He uncrossed his arms and pointed at the twins. "Ruff, Tuff, strap on the washtub and head to Lars Lake to fill it."

The older sibling let out a light scoff. "Okay, but that thing's pretty big. I mean, it's bigger than Ruff's butt." At the insult, his sister checked her backside with an uncharacteristic amount of self-consciousness. "That might take a while. Like, a week or two."

It didn't take long for her to realize the comment was just one of their usual jabs. She glowered at her brother and punched him in the arm, hard, without hesitation. He flailed as he was off balanced by her hit and fell onto the stony ground with a grunt. Used to their antics, Hiccup merely waited for the majority of the noise to be finished before he pointed out: "well, I was assuming you would use your dragon."

Tuffnut jumped to his feet easily, fixing his helmet back in place as he asked with genuine confusion, "why would you think that?"

"Because I—" But the brunet decided it wasn't worth the explanation and cut off his sentence to return to the original topic (though not without an exasperated face-palm.) "Okay, moving on. Astrid, Dany, Snotlout, head to the mountain streams and fill as many canteens as you can."

Daenerys frowned at this grouping. She didn't have a problem with Astrid, of course, but the way Snotlout was smirking surely promised more unwanted attempts at flirting. He wasted no time in trying to put his arm around the Hofferson's shoulders as he said thoughtfully, "the mountain streams. . ."

His effort was met with Astrid violently wrenching his arm behind his back, making him gasp out the lest of his sentence: "romantic."

She threw him to the ground mercilessly, where he landed with a loud 'ow!' Once again, Hiccup was used to their antics and carried on as if nothing had happened. "Fishlegs, Meatlug, you're going to help me figure out what happened inside that well."

This is the part where you stand up for yourself, Dany reminded herself firmly. She had promised herself that she wouldn't take things (most Snotlout-related-things) lying down— this was as good of a time to start as any. Her heart gave a little extra thump as adrenaline began to thrum through her. Not quite sure how to disagree without seeming like a jerk (because she didn't mind being a team player, she just wanted a different position), she decided the best course of action was a very Fishlegs-like-move: she raised her hand so that it hovered next to her head.

Hiccup had been about to go on and wrap up their meeting when he noticed two hands in the air. Caught off guard a bit, his gaze first fell on the blonde as he prompted her, "yes, Dany?"

She dropped her hand and clasped both of them together in front of her, her fingers twisting together nervously. "I, uh," she began, her voice a little quiet so that he had to strain to hear her as her gaze remained on her bare toes. "I'd like to take a look at the well with you instead."

"That's a good idea," Fishlegs chimed in, his hand still raised as Hiccup hadn't called on him. "I was just about to say that Meatlug and I don't do well in tight spaces, but you and Dany definitely can."

The chief's son took this into consideration and nodded. "Okay, then Dany can come with us—"

"Aw, babe," Snotlout whined as he came over to stand next to the blonde. He tried to put an arm around her as he continued, "you don't want to go to a romantic mountain stream—"

Daenerys stepped out of his reach and steeled herself to look him in the eyes. Even just that was enough to startle him into silence (since she had never done it before; she was only comfortable enough to do eye contact with two people: Hiccup and sometimes Astrid.) Her voice was still quiet, but she spoke as definitively as she could manage: "please don't touch me."

A moment of stunned silence rang over the group as they weren't used to her standing up for herself. Her stomach twisted a little as she wondered whether she'd taken it too far— would they all hate her now? But she took a chance and glanced over at Astrid, and the look of pride on the other girl's face made her straighten with a little more confidence. 

"O-okay," Snotlout said, making an effort to laugh off the rejection. "No one saw that coming. C'mon, Astrid. Let's go get that water."

🏹🏹🏹

This time, Dany did land Drogon in the small square; from head to tail, he stretched through the entire open clearing and then some. He wasn't terribly happy with the lack of space and even less so when the teens looked down into the dark well. He huffed nervously as he tried to tell his mother to stay away from the well— she didn't listen, much to his chagrin.

"Who gets to go down first?" the Targaryen asked as she pulled away from the opening and glanced at the rope they were going to use. It was the same one that held the bucket to pull up the water, so it was quite long.

"Well, I've only got one boot to get wet if the water's just further down than we thought," Hiccup reasoned.

She gave him a deadpan look. "I'm not wearing any boots."

"Ah," he realized, his eyes dropping down to her feet. "Right. So. . ."

"I'll go first," she volunteered. The brunet opened his mouth to protest, but she'd already turned away to start tying the rope around Meatlug. He sighed in defeat and half-wished that he'd still sent her with Astrid instead.

Once everything was sorted, the two teens hung on the line with Dany first and then Hiccup. The Gronckle began to lower them into the deep pit as Fishlegs, Toothless and Drogon watched on. "That's it, girl! Just keep it steady."

The glow of Hiccup's lantern was the only light they had. It cast shadows on the cool stone as it flickered from their movement. "Lower— keep going. Just a little more."

Daenerys was the first one to see the change in color where the waterline had sat during the well's existence. She let the rope go a little lower so it was in Hiccup's line of sight before she called up, "okay! That's good!"

They stopped moving and the brunet switched the lantern to his other hand so he could reach out and touch the rocks. He spoke his observations aloud for Dany:
"The water level was way up here. . . and it's still wet."

Wanting to put in her own help, the blonde tugged a loose stone free and let it drop from her hands. It fell. . . and fell. . . and fell until they heard a dull thunk. There was definitely no water below them. When they established that there was dry ground below them, Hiccup addressed the larger boy: "Fishlegs, get us all the way down!"

"Are you sure? It looks awfully dark and scary down there," he replied, his face and Toothless' visible from the small circle of sky above them.

"Fishlegs!"

"Okay! Take them down, girl."

As they resumed their path downwards, Dany wondered what could cause all of the water to disappear. It would have to be rerouted somehow, have another opening that changed its flow. But a person couldn't make such a big change, especially not this far down. Maybe a lot of people, but surely they'd see a such a large group? Besides, the only large group of people who wished them harm were. . . Outcasts. Her eyes widened as the rope swung; they'd seen a lot of their ships coming and going but had been unable to track any of them for long.

The stone wall suddenly bumped into her, breaking her from her thoughts. She looked up but couldn't see much except for Hiccup's feet (both the real and metal one.) They'd been in the middle of the well so far, which had just been wide enough for their fingertips to brush on either side. Now they were listing towards the right and wavering more wildly than before; something wasn't right. "Hiccup?"

"I think we're caught on something!" he replied, raising his voice to shout: "Fishlegs, wait!"

"Steady, Meatlug!"

But the warning was for naught as the Gronckle was determined to get the snack of rocks she had glimpsed from a nearby wagon. With another pull on the rope, she was free— but so were the teens, who were suddenly falling through the air. Their yells distressed their respective dragons; Toothless let out concerned growl and changed his angle so he could dive straight into the opening. Drogon roared too, but there was little he could do with how big he was.

Daenerys had the misfortune of hitting the ground first. She quickly rolled out of the way as Hiccup came down after her. He'd barely gotten to his feet when a black, missile-like force launched into him and knocked him down again. Once he'd found his footing, he turned first to the girl and checked her over for any visible signs of injury. "Dany, are you okay?"

"Yeah. You?"

He nodded and then asked his dragon the same question. The Night Fury responded by licking him affectionately, showing that he was fine. Stoick's voice echoed down the long tunnel: "Hiccup! Hiccup!"

"We're okay, Dad!"

"Are you flying back up?"

The well had been big enough for Toothless to fly down, obviously, but Hiccup didn't think he'd fit with two riders on his back. "No! It's too narrow!"

"Somebody get me a rope!" the chief ordered, his voice a bit fainter as he turned away to give the command. It returned to normal volume as he told them, "I'm coming down after you two!"

The brunet put his hands up as if that would stop his father. "Dad, don't! Then all four of us will be stuck down here."

"Well, just stay right there until I can think a way to bring you both up."

That certainly didn't sound promising in Dany's opinion. Hiccup was clearly the brains of the Haddocks and he was down here with her, so they'd probably stay in this well unless they found a way out themselves. Luckily he seemed to be on the same page as he decided, "we're fine! The water had to go somewhere. Besides, we have Toothless with us. We'll find a way out."

"Just try to keep Drogon from destroying the well!" Dany added, knowing that her dragon would probably be desperate enough to make the hole bigger himself at this point.

"That'll go well," the brunet muttered, thinking about how big the dragon was compared to his father.

She gave him a slightly insulted look on Drogon's behalf. "I don't expect them to succeed— it'll just keep them from worrying about us for a few hours."

"Oh— that's not a bad idea, actually," he said. They'd explored a bit further into the cavern and came across a tunnel, which they relayed up to the pair waiting above. Hiccup then asked the other two members of his group: "why don't we find out where this leads?" 

🏹🏹🏹

They hadn't been walking in the semi-darkness for long when Hiccup broke their comfortable silence, his tone a little more self-deprecating than usual. "I bet you wish you'd gone with Snotlout to the romantic mountain stream, huh?" he asked, mimicking the Jorgenson's voice as he said the 'romantic mountain stream' part.

Dany made a face and shook her head. "No way. I would so rather walk through this dark, musty tunnel with you than do anything remotely romantic with Snotlout."

Although it hadn't been a very high bar to beat, Hiccup brightened at her adamant refusal. He couldn't help but feel a bit smug over the fact that Daenerys would choose to spend time with him rather than Snotlout, especially because there had been a point in his life (before that fateful day he'd shot Toothless down) where he'd been everybody's last choice. He still wasn't quite used to the fact that people wanted him around.

Witnessing Snotlout's flirtatious attempts had always soured his mood because that image (Dany-and-Snotlout) was so horrible it kind of did make him have unusually violent daydreams of punching the Jorgenson in the face. Since the blonde had never out rightly rejected Snotlout, there had always been a little misgiving over what direction their relationship was headed. (And no, he didn't care. Not one bit. Dany was just his best friend and he was looking out for her; he just didn't think they were. . . right for each other.)

"Yeah?" he asked with a grin, it faded only slightly as he added, "I mean, you've never really told him off before, so. . ."

"Really?" the Targaryen demanded, a little disgusted. "I thought you knew me better than that. Ugh, gross," she complained, shuddering at the thought of Snotlout touching her.

Hiccup's smile became even more genuine as relief swamped him (just because he'd been worried about her— nothing to do with him at all!!), reassured now that Dany-and-Snotlout would never happen. But then a sobering thought occurred to him, and he was glad that for the darkness of the tunnel so that it would cover up the awkwardness of his question. "Do you mind it when. . . I touch you?"

She gave him a patient look (since they'd been over this before; she knew he only wanted to make sure she was comfortable.) "Hiccup, I would tell you if I did."

"Would you?" he wondered, arching a brow at her.

"Yes," the blonde replied a bit defensively (because okay, maybe he did know her too well.) Under his continued disbelieving stare, she faltered and admitted more sheepishly with each word: "maybe. . . probably. . . not."

Not wanting him to get the wrong idea, she quickly reached forward without thinking about it much and grasped his hand with hers. She held up their joined hands as proof. "See?"

"I— uh— yeah," Hiccup stuttered, feeling his face heat up in response to her unexpected action. (Just because it was a surprise— really!) Desperately wanting to change the subject now that he'd been caught off guard, he began to pay extra attention to their surroundings. Clearing his throat, he commented (in what he hoped was a nonchalant observation), "these caverns must run right under the town."

Suddenly, their feet crunched on something that was very much not rock-like, which successfully drew their attention from their very teenage conversation. The blonde bent (notably still keeping a hold on the boy's hand) and shifted the fragments around with her free one. "Dragon eggs?"

Toothless crowded in next to her to sniff at them and a low growl began to emit from his throat. Hiccup held the lantern higher to shine the light further down the tunnel, illuminating far more than one dragon egg. "Look at these."

The light fell on a nearby crate and the trio went over to check it out. Dany recognized the crest instantly, as did the brunet. She remembered her earlier musings as she announced, "that's the Outcast crest."

She wished that she hadn't been right.

A roar sounded down one of the tunnels and both teens whipped around to stare at the darkness. Hiccup glanced at his dragon as he pointed towards the sound. "Toothless, light up the cave down that way."

The Night Fury shot a plasma blast in the indicated direction, throwing purple light over the rocks as it went. They had begun to carefully walk forward when shadows above them caught their attention. All-too-familiar holes littered the ceiling. Daenerys' stomach sank at the realization of exactly which dragons those belonged to. "Those are Whispering Death tunnels."

Toothless growled again, this time in agitation at the mention of the species. Hiccup had to agree with him. "I know. Not my favorite dragon either, bud." When Dany gave him a reproachful look, he protested, "you can't like all dragons!"

Then, she sighed and admitted, "yeah, I'd be happy if I never saw another one."

"Unfortunately I don 't think you're going to get that wish from the looks of all these holes," he remarked, letting the lantern fall on as many as it could. A particularly large one caught their attention. "I don't even want to know who made that." He tugged on her hand (which, to his delight, she hadn't removed from his.) "Come on, we should keep moving."

Eventually, the route they had taken reached a dead end. A pile of boulders sat in their way, too big for either of them too move. They could have Toothless blast it, but that might cause the whole network to collapse. Besides, there might not even be another side to come out to. They would simply have to retrace their steps. The thought made both of them sigh, the brunet groaning, "oh, great."

Just as they were about to go back the way they came, a stale wind blew against them and caused their lantern to extinguish. "Oh, even greater. Toothless, would you mind?"

The black dragon let out a small burst of fire to re-light their candle. At least they wouldn't be stuck down here in the dark, Dany thought with some comfort. Sure, she wasn't petrified of the darkness like Fishlegs was, but the idea of trying to find their way out in it? They'd be lost for who knew how long.

But maybe the darkness would have been better, since it would've hidden the unexpected intruder that now loomed behind them. It roared furiously (since, okay, technically they were the intruders), startling both teens badly. Toothless was quick to react and aimed a plasma blast in its direction, forcing the Whispering Death back against the wall.

Hiccup scrambled to get on his dragon's back, pulling Dany with him as she slipped into place behind. "Let's get out of here, bud!"

She hastily wrapped her arms around the boy's waist as they took off; she'd never been more grateful that Drogon was still above ground— he would have never been good in a chase like this.

They soared around the sharp bends of the tunnels, carefully flying between them to avoid both the stalactites and stalagmites that jutted up like teeth around them. The Whispering Death was hot on their tail since it knew the tunnels better than they did, its many-toothed mouth only ever inches from them.

Another came at the from the opposite direction, forcing them to barrel roll to avoid it. Dany clung tighter to the brunet as her heart thudded in her chest. Normally, she would have enjoyed the chase, but they didn't even have a way out— there was no escape unless they went back up through the well.

A third dragon shot up from a cavern in the floor and Toothless reeled back to avoid it. The first appeared behind them until they seemed to come from everywhere at once. Hiccup rather unhelpfully (in the Targaryen's opinion) counted each arrival. She would prefer to not know how many dragons wanted to kill her, thank you very much.

The Night Fury ducked under their snapping mouths to race back the way they'd come. The other dragons, however, wouldn't give up on their prey so easily and were back on their tail in seconds. "Oh, come on!" 

There was an unsettling silence not long after, causing them to glance over their shoulders in confusion. When they realized that the dragons had disappeared, Toothless stopped flying and hovered in place as they faced the tunnel. "Uh, that's weird."

"I don't like it," the blonde muttered, glancing behind herself once more. "Why would they just. . . stop?"

Since Hiccup didn't have an answer for her, he guided Toothless forward to see where the Whispering Deaths had gotten off to. A cascade of rocks tumbled down from one of the tunnels overhead, hitting Toothless on the snout and showering the teens with dirt. A light, fresh breeze blew towards them, which could only mean one thing: "they're heading up to the town! We have to stop them!"

The Night Fury folded in his wings and shot upward. The tunnel was dark and twisty so they relied on Toothless' ability to see in the dark as he sent out a signal ahead of them. Not even the light of Hiccup's lantern could penetrate the thick blackness. As they sped along, Dany only got glimpses of the rock walls that they passed.

Finally, there was a patch of natural light up ahead and they burst through the opening into the center of Berk. Even with the overcast clouds, the light was still bright enough to make her eyes hurt after being used to the darkness. The blonde blinked quickly to refocus her gaze as Toothless levelled out above the town. They could see the destruction that the Whispering Deaths had already caused, from the overturned earth to collapsed buildings.

"Hiccup, get me to Drogon," the Targaryen instructed the boy in front of her. She wanted to help and it would do no good to have both of them on the same dragon.

He eyed the Whispering Deaths that whipped their way through town. "How are you gonna do that?"

"Just get me above him, okay?"

Hiccup looked over his shoulder to send her a faintly worried look, but she merely pointed towards the large shape of her dragon. He sighed and acquiesced. Drogon, who had launched into flight to avoid the new tunnels being made by the intruders, saw them coming and levelled out steadily underneath them. Once Toothless was parallel to her dragon, Dany stood cautiously on the Night Fury's back, placing her hands on the brunet's shoulders to steady herself.

Feeling her weight shift behind him, he started to ask, "Dany, what—"

"Shush, I'm concentrating," she interrupted him, and he fell silent as her weight suddenly vanished altogether.

Drogon was a large dragon, so in theory her idea would work. In practice, it also worked, but not quite as well as she'd hoped. Dany aimed her jump very carefully to land between the spikes on her dragon's back— one misstep would send her freefalling (though she had no doubt that Hiccup would have Toothless catch her, but wouldn't that be embarrassing?) She had intended to land near her usual spot on the curve of Drogon's neck but hadn't accounted for the wind resistance.

That placed her closer to his wings as her feet made contact with his scales. She landed hard and started to slip sideways in a way that made her heartrate spike in her chest as adrenaline rushed through her. Her hand flashed out to grab onto one of his spikes and she righted herself just in time. It wasn't as comfortable a position as she was used to since she could feel every movement of Drogon's wing-joints, but at least she hadn't fallen.

After he'd taken a moment to recover from the unexpectedness of her actions, Hiccup nodded to her. "See you out there."

They went their separate ways: him, to the forge to collect his Gronckle Iron shield, while she directed Drogon towards the Whispering Deaths themselves. She saw Ruffnut and Tuffnut hovering in the air as they watched the chaos below, probably moved by so much devastation, if she knew the twins. Astrid flew up in front of them (probably to scold them), but that wasn't the important part— unbeknownst to the trio (though the Hofferson would take notice first) a Whispering Death was fast approaching the stationary siblings.

"Come on, buddy," Dany said. "Let's get some action."

Her dragon beat his powerful wings to shoot them forward just as the Whispering Death opened its many-toothed mouth at the vulnerable trio. Barf let out a stream of thick, green gas and the other dragon reeled away to avoid it— right into Drogon's waiting talons. Its razor-like tail whipped furiously as it tried to free itself, but her dragon's scales were nearly impenetrable. Drogon held on to the other dragon fiercely as it writhed in his grip. To her disappointment, it wasn't much of a fight; mostly just Drogon easily subduing the threat.

Seeing the danger its companion was in, the second Whispering Death quickly dove underground again to avoid meeting the same fate. Fishlegs brought Meatlug to hover over the hole. "We need to flush it out, Snotlout."

"Yeah we do!" he agreed enthusiastically. "That's the one who took my water!"

"I'll just hold this one here while we wait. How does that sound?" Daenerys wondered snarkily.

"That would be great, thanks!" Astrid called back in a similar tone as Hookfang blasted fire in one hole, causing the Whispering Death that occupied it to fly out the other side, partly on fire.

Drogon released the dragon he was holding, which was worse for wear as it followed after its partner crookedly. He chased after them in hot pursuit as the rest of the riders followed them. Hiccup rejoined the group, coming up to fly alongside Astrid as he informed her, "the Whispering Death tunnels drained our water supply."

"Yeah, kind of figured that," she replied sarcastically. "We need to keep them in the sunlight."

"That's why I have this." He showed her the shield.

Using the reflective iron to their advantage, Hiccup shined it in the direction they wanted to corral the Whispering Deaths, getting them out of the village more easily than if they had just used their dragons. Fire quickly trailed in their wake as the Berkian riders pursued them to make sure they stayed away. Feeling emboldened by their seemingly easy success, Snotlout shouted towards their departing figures: "yeah, that's right! You better run!"

Predictably, only the twins were sad to see them go as Tuffnut lamented, "I'm gonna miss those guys. They were dangerous, but cool at the same time. Kind of like me."

They ignored that outrageous comparison. Hiccup frowned as he watched them leave. "I don't think this is over yet. Not by a long shot."

"It was too easy," the Targaryen agreed, recalling how many broken Whispering Death eggs there had been underneath the well. Certainly more than three. Not to mention the giant hole they'd found, bigger than all the others.

Snotlout rolled his eyes at their serious tones. "Stop being so negative! Enjoy the moment. Buy some water."

He wasn't deigned a response; at that moment, the entire earth shuddered below them. It kept shaking without showing signs of stopping as the smaller dragons began to growl nervously. Fishlegs  looked at the ground anxiously as if he expected it to open up and swallow them whole. "What. . . is. . . that?"

It did, in a way. A shower of rock and dirt exploded upwards, forcing them to careen out of the way to avoid being hit. Dany's eyes went wide at the dragon they were now facing down. It was huge— and that was saying something, considering Drogon's size. This was the queen of the Whispering Deaths: pure white, with haunting red eyes. It had matching red-tipped spikes that covered most of its body and a thicker, stronger tail than the hatchlings they'd fought off. The Whispering Death bared down on them with giant fangs, snarling and ready for battle.

"Uh, so that's what I was afraid of!" Hiccup commented weakly. It looked back and forth between the riders and the village as if deciding what would be easier prey. They regrouped, surrounding it in a half circle— not that it did much; they looked like ants against the Whispering Death's size. They were all still staring at it in shock as the brunet prompted them hopefully, "uh, suggestions, anyone?"

"Hide?" Fishlegs offered.

"Run," Snotlout suggested. Even the twins didn't seem keen on facing down the beast.

There was only one rider whose violet eyes gleamed at the sight of this new foe. She straightened on the back of her dragon as determination settled on her features. Her hands tightened around the spine in front of her as she leaned forward, intent on protecting her friends.

"No," the Targaryen corrected them, a hint of eagerness in her tone. "Fight."

Alarmed, the brunet jerked towards her, holding a hand out in the air as if to stop her. "No, Dany, wait—"

But Daenerys didn't wait.

She urged Drogon to charge towards the furious dragon. He let out a stream of fire as close to its eyes as they could get. It jerked away from the wall of heat with a screech but was otherwise unharmed. Once the flames were gone, though, it lunged forward— undeterred by the light, unlike the smaller versions of the species. Its massive jaws came snapping towards Drogon and they wheeled out of reach.

Dany felt Drogon's muscles tense beneath her as they dodged the snapping mouth of the Whispering Death. She could hear the roar of the beast reverberating through the air, its red eyes fixed on them with a deadly resolve. Without hesitation, she urged Drogon on, leading him into a spiral ascent as they sought higher ground. The Whispering Death, however, was not to be outmaneuvered so easily.

Well, at least it's not going after the town, was all she had time to think as they swiftly dodged another lethal attack.

Not far below, the riders kept their eyes on the pair as they tried to figure out how to help the blonde, who was clearly out of her area of expertise even with being the 'Mother of Dragons.' At least, this time, Hiccup would get to scold her for acting so recklessly (rather than with her chiding him, which was usually what happened.) He itched to jump to her aid but he wasn't about to go into a fight without knowing everything he could, so he checked with Fishlegs: "uh, Fishlegs? Is that in the Book of Dragons?" When all he received was incoherent babbling, he couldn't help but snap as he repeated, "is that thing in the Book of Dragons?"

"Uh. . . definitely not," he replied shakily.

"Are you sure?"

"Hiccup, I'm certain I would've remembered an all-white, boulder class, titan wing Whispering Death with bright red eyes that bore a hole right through your very soul," the blond exclaimed.

Since there was nothing that would immediately help him, he let Toothless zip after Drogon to get closer to the pair. The larger dragon wasn't used to being pursued and, knowing his limits, probably couldn't keep up his speed for much longer. Pointing towards the white dragon, he ordered, "Toothless, plasma blast!"

(The carefully was implied. Besides, the Night Fury had impeccable aim.) It hit the intended target and the Whispering Death whipped around to face its assailant. Immediate regret followed as the dragon let out one of the loudest screeches they'd ever heard. Even Drogon shuddered against Dany's legs and she turned to see what caused it. Huffing in annoyance that Hiccup had put himself in danger (which was what she'd been trying to avoid), she clamped her hands over her ears to block out the sound.

For once, the other riders experienced similar discomfort at the noise. Shouting over her covered ears, Astrid pointed out: "it's-it's affecting our dragons!"

"I know," Hiccup remarked. His gaze fell on Drogon, who was still above them some distance away; he could see that not even the large dragon had escaped the effects. "That scream. . . it's disorienting them!"

Despite the situation, Tuffnut brightened at his words. "Screaming Death. . . I love it!" The three Whispering Deaths from earlier returned, passing so closely above them that their tails flicked against his helmet. Straightening, he amended, "okay, maybe love is too strong a word."

"Hiccup, what are we gonna do?" Astrid asked as all four dragons headed for Berk. By this point, Dany had returned to the group, looking a little disgruntled at their interrupted battle (she totally had it under control!)

"You guys focus on the Whispering Death. I'll try to keep the Screaming Death busy."

At this, she felt apprehension shoot through her at the thought of Hiccup facing down that dragon by himself. (Sure, she had just done it, but Drogon was more than it's equal, especially in size.) "Hiccup, my family wrote the book on 'crazy,' so I have it in good authority to say that taking on that dragon by yourself is insane."

He gave her a flat look. "You just did."

The blonde pointed at herself. "Targaryen, remember? Besides, those hatchlings don't need all five of us. I'm coming with you."

Hiccup opened his mouth to argue only to have Snotlout cut in, more than willing to send the two of them off on the more dangerous mission. "Okay, have fun. See ya!"

Sighing, he waved the rest of the riders off with on the tip of, "remember your Flight Club training!"

🏹🏹🏹

They followed the Whispering Death back to the village where it burst up through the ground near an unsuspecting woman. She tripped on a rock in her haste to get away, leaving her vulnerable as the dragon bared its teeth at her, its red eyes narrowed on its target.

"Drogon, aldrnari!" Dany commanded her dragon, who let out a gust of his white-hot flame. It certainly got the Whispering Death's attention as it whirled to face them. In response, it shot— the blonde's eyes widened as she quickly backpaddled to a safer distance. "Oh Hel it's got fire too? How is that fair?"

A purple plasma blast came soaring in from her left and distracted the white dragon. Its attention went to Toothless, who was much better at speedy evasions. The Night Fury dodged another explosion as the Whispering Death's attack hit one of Berk's catapults instead. He came back around to hit the dragon in the face, but this time they weren't able to avoid the counterattack as easily. The white dragon's tail came sailing out of nowhere and sent Hiccup and Toothless reeling across the roofs of the nearby houses.

Drogon followed immediately with more fire so that the Whispering Death's focus switched back to them while the pair recovered. It whirled on them, snapping its teeth uncomfortably close to Drogon's wings as they tried to encourage it to chase them.

Luckily, a ripple of soundwaves distracted it and the Targaryen nodded appreciatively. "Thanks, chief."

Stoick had joined the battle on Thornado and it seemed like the detonation was enough to ward off the Whispering Death for now. "I don't think I want to know what that thing is, but we need to get it out of here."

"Way ahead of you! We'll try and lead it out of the village," Hiccup said as he returned to Toothless' back with his shield in hand.

They let Stoick take the lead as his sonic blasts in addition to theirs to get the Whispering Death to chase them. It tried to shoot its own fire but they darted out of the way— though Drogon mostly just stayed out of target range— to force it to follow. To further incentivize it to leave, Hiccup employed the tactic he'd used on the other Whispering Deaths by aiming his shield in its direction. "Okay. Let's see how it likes this."

It roared in apparent discomfort before it darted back underground. Figuring it had been affected in the same way, the brunet commented, "just what I thought."

But he soon had to take back his words as the white dragon launched out of the dirt, completely unaffected by the sunlight in its eyes. The three of them split hastily to get out of its way as it charged directly for them. The chief glanced at his son. "Apparently, it doesn't mind."

"It must not have that weakness."

Dany thought of its bright red eyes, which were a more intense version of the smaller species' red-veined white ones. "It's got to be something with sunlight, though."

"Well, we better figure out what it is, and quick," Stoick said. It started the loud screeching sound again, causing their dragons to shudder in response. "What's happening?"

"It's the scream! It affects the dragons' flight."

Toothless fought against the disorientation long enough to shoot a plasma blast at the white dragon. The impact disrupted the noise as the Whispering Death shook its head to clear it. It shot after the Night Fury with renewed vigor while Hiccup did his best to dissuade it with the light from his shield. Except— it's got to be something with light! Dany's words repeated themselves in his mind as the reflection only spurred the white dragon on.

Since they were flying a ways behind Toothless, Drogon and Thornado were caught by one of the smaller Whispering Deaths as it intercepted them. Not wanting to hurt the hatchling (even if it had no regard for them), Daenerys let Stoick take care of it with a sonic blast. The forced caused its lighter body to curve in a graceful arc. It had barely recovered when the twins appeared to give it a taste of their Zippleback's gas.

"I've got this! You go help Hiccup," the chief directed them.

"Where is he?"

"Look for a giant, white, red-eyed beast. That'll be your first clue."

"Okay," Tuffnut agreed. "What's the second clue?"

"Trust me, you won't need one," Dany replied. "Just go!"

As they flew off, Stoick waved a hand in her direction. "That includes you, lass."

She shook her head. "Drogon's not made for sea-stacks or high speeds; he'll just get in the way." She patted her dragon comfortingly so he would know that she didn't mean her words as an insult or criticism.

They kept the trio of smaller Whispering Deaths busy until a roar— even louder than any they'd heard before— redirected their attention. They went to it as if summoned and, as she flew closer, Dany could see that the teens had managed to trap the white dragon's wings under a pile of rocks. While it could still break free, it couldn't fly very well and was in no condition to fight. It couldn't even maintain its flight and landed heavily against a sea-stack, lying limply on the pillar.

The three smaller Whispering Deaths surrounded it. Two went under its wings while the third held up its tail, enabling it to leave for safety— at least for now. But any 'dragon master' worth their salt knew that Whispering Deaths returned to their hatching ground; this wouldn't be the last time the riders would have to chase them out of Berk.

A/n: here's the surprise I mentioned yesterday! I finished writing all of DOB so I decided to publish it all at once :) I don't like to let books linger once I have all the chapters ready to go. Plus I wanted to finish this book before the trip I'm taking tomorrow so you guys wouldn't have to wait for updates. 

In other news, my therapist recommended that I see a neuropsychologist awhile back and I had the appointment earlier this week. She called with the results and— you'll never believe this (sarcasm)— I'm AuDHD!! I always had a feeling that I was but never got it tested until recently. If you'll remember, that's kind of what I modeled Dany after (what I've felt— not liking people touching me, having a special interest (writing— or in Dany's case, wood carving and dragons), being particular about the way things are done, noise sensitivity, etc.) So it's nice to know that I guessed correctly what I thought I had and gave Dany the proper symptoms (even if Vikings didn't have the term 'AuDHD.')

 It's kind of funny because my mom was so shocked when we found out and I was the opposite of surprised. I just kind of stared at her with a deadpan expression, like 'I've been telling you this for years but you've never believed me.' (She's the kind of person who says 'everyone has a little ADHD' and thought that what I was doing was just "unique/quirky.")

That's all the news from me— I hope you enjoy the rest of the chapters! (The RTTE sequel won't be up for a little while since I'll be switching gears to focus on TUA soon; hopefully this will tide you guys over until then!)