Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

"Oh Stoick just look at them. Aren't they so dear?" Valka cooed as she looked down at her newborn children.

"Indeed they are Valka. They take after you especially the girl." Stoick replied and smiled down at them.

One of the twins, the boy, squirmed in his blankets and cried while his sister was snuggled down in her blankets asleep. She gave a little yawn and looked up at her parents with sleepy green eyes.

"Aww, look who's awake thanks to her baby brother!" Valka chuckled as she tried bouncing the boy to calm him down.

Stoick laughed gently and took the girl from his wife's arms. The baby yawned again and stretched her tiny hands out to her father, earning a smile from him and let her hold his pinkie in her tiny hand. "She's so beautiful Valka, just like you. So tiny and pure."

Valka smiled and smoothed a lock of auburn hair from her daughter's face. "Then that's what her name shall be, Kari. But what about the boy?"

"I suppose...Hiccup will be his name."

Valka frowned. "Is it because he's so small?"

"Well he is, and normally the smallest of children are often called Hiccup." Stoick pointed out. "One of my ancestors was a Hiccup, but look how he turned out. Maybe our little Hiccup will be like that. I know someday he and his sister will do great things. Just look at them!"

Hiccup stopped crying for a moment and began to cry again and reach out towards his father. Stoick gave a small laugh as he took his son into his free arm and the little babe stopped crying. Kari stretched her little hand out towards her baby brother and he did likewise. Their little hands intertwined, earning soft gasps from their parents, before Stoick shifts one of them to his other arm so both twins were together. Kari let out a small babble as her little hand enclosed around her brother's hand and snuggled close to him. Hiccup let's out a yawn and does the same, their hands still held together as they fall back asleep.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

"Dragons are here!" A Viking yelled as a plume of fire came down from the sky.

"Quick take them all down before they burn down the village!" Another yelled as villagers ran from house to house in attempt to put out the fires.

Dragons of ever breed and size were swooping down and attacking anything that moved and snatching livestock from their pens. Inside the chief's home, the twins had awoke to the loud noises from outside, the smell of smoke and the sound of something large breaking into their room. Hiccup began to cry in fear but Kari didn't make a sound. Her little green eyes were fixated on the dragon that had broken into the room and was slowly making its way towards the cradle she and her twin shared. It was a female Monstrous Nightmare with soft blue scales and darker blue scales on top that made a flame pattern, her bright yellow eyes watched the two small humans in curiosity as she made her way towards the twins crib.

She peered inside to see the two tiny children, one looking at her in awe while the other cried loudly. Then Kari giggled and reached a little chubby hand out towards the dragon. The Nightmare cautiously stuck a claw inside and felt her hand wrap around her it with a little coo and a giggle. Hiccup then stopped crying and grabbed the claw as well, much to the dragon's surprise. She gave them a toothy grin and made gentle purring sounds at the infants as they now stare up at her in adoration. She didn't hear the sound of footsteps coming up the stairs until she heard the door burst open and looked up to see Stoick with his ax in hand.

"Get away from my children you devil!" He roared as he charged at the startled dragon. The Monstrous Nightmare panicked and quickly yanked her claw out from the children's grasps, accidentally scratching Kari's tiny hand in the process. She roared at Stoick and he rushed at her to defend his children when Valka burst into the room.

"Stoick no! Don't hurt it, please!" She begged as she tried pulling the ax from her husband's grip. "Not in front of the children, I beg you!"

When Stoick turned to say something to Valka, the Monstrous Nightmare leapt towards the cradle and snatched one of the crying children out of it before rushing to escape out of the hole she made, flying off with the child still in her mouth.

"No!" Stoick roared angrily and threw his ax at the dragon but she was too far to be hit. The Berkian chief yelled in frustration, cursing himself for not reacting fast enough when he heard his wife crying. He turns to find Valka kneeling next to the cradle and sobbing loudly. Hiccup was in his mother's crying and waving his little arms around, his sister nowhere to be seen. Stoick felt a lump rise in his throat and reached into the cradle to picked it up and kneels to hold his wife tightly.

"I'm so sorry Valka, I'll hunt down that dragon and make sure that Kari comes home safe and sound." He said softly. "I...gods, why us? Why?"

"My baby...this is all my fault!" Valka sobbed as she clung to her husband. "My baby is gone!"

"You still have one left." Stoick murmured, looking back at their wailing son. "We must be strong for him. But I promise that I will find our daughter, and I’ll bring her back. I swear on it."

Chapter Text

“WHOOHOO!" Lei whooped as she swung through the air on a vine and let go to leap to the next one. Her auburn hair had broken loose from it's braid and was now flowing wildly around her face, but she didn't care. She felt free flying through the air as the rush of excitement and fear coursed through her veins whenever she let go of the vine to leap and catch the next one. She gave a whoop and continued swinging through the air from tree to tree like a madwoman, until-

The next vine Lei attempted to grab slipped from her grasp, causing her to hurtle towards the ground. She gave a loud yell as she tumbled through the air, now feeling terrified, at least until she hears the familar roar of a dragon and felt something grab her by the ankles, haulting her fall.

"WHOA!" The teen yells as she is suddenly tossed upwards and falls, landing painfully on something hard. "Owww...thanks Brightclaw."

"You could have killed yourself Lei! You know how your mother hates it whenever you get hurt and almost die like that!" Brightclaw, scolds as she flies to land on a thick branch, her acid green eyes narrowed in annoyance. "And your father has told you dozens of times to not use those vines!"

"Sorry but accidents are bound to happen." Lei replied with a shrug. The Razorwhip sent a glare at the teen, but it faded away when they heard the sound of another dragon approaching them. A few seconds later a blue and red Rumblehorn flew out from the trees past them, motioning for Brightclaw to follow. The Razorwhip nods in acknowledgement before taking off after the other dragon, Lei still holding on. Both dragons flew towards another set of trees before landing on one with a thicker branch.

"Are you alright? Did you break anything? Lei, my dear, you know how I feel about you swinging on vines do you?" The Rumblehorn asked the girl with a concerned look.

"I'm fine Knockout really! I just need to be more quicker and be more careful." Lei said with an assuring smile. “My hand just slipped.”

"Lei, I had been raising you for over eighteen years and I know one of these days you are going to get yourself killed because you aren't careful. Please just be more cautious from now on alright?"

"Alright I'll be more careful, but no promises."

"Ancestors help me." Brightclaw mutters. "You are going to be the death of some of us one of these days."

"Oh shush, don't exaggerate." Knockout scolds as Lei climbed off Brightclaw and clamored onto her, seating herself on her neck and holding onto her horns. "She worries for you too dear, more than she wants to admit. Now let's head back to the nests, I think you've spent enough time out here alone, and it's almost mealtime anyways."

Both dragons took off and flew through the trees till they reached a large cove protected by various plants and trees. Inside was a giant pool and several dragons surrounding it with their nests strewn all around, the adults mingling with each other while hatchlings ran about playing with each other. The two dragons and the girl walked towards a large moss covered rock where an enormous red Monstrous Nightmare sat, a smaller blue one seated nearby. The three of them lowered their heads in respect to the two dragons before lifting them.

"Someone looks like they had a rough day and it isn't even sunset." The red Nightmare comments, raising a brow as he looks at the girl.

"Just took a tumble Flaresight, no need to worry." Lei responds and glances at the blue Nightmare, who was squinting at her. "Uh...Sapphire-"

"You're bleeding!" The blue Nightmare cried out in horror and quickly climbed down from her spot on the rock. Lei looked down at her body in confusion and saw blood starting to seep down her legs

"I think my legs rubbed against Brightclaw's scales." She said nervously.

Sapphire sniffed the blood that was slowly trickling down to her ankle and sighs in relief. "Smells like it. Come, lets go clean your legs off, I'll help you look for some leaves to wrap around those wounds. Dear? I'm leaving with Lei, don't be worried."

Flaresight let's out a tired sigh as watched Sapphire guide the girl towards the pool to clean herself off. "It's hard to believe she was the same crying whelp from eighteen years ago." He said to Knockout and Brightclaw as he climbs down from his perch. "Who would have thought my mate bringing her would change things around here for most of us?"

"She's getting restless, I've caught her a few times swimming out too far before the Scauldrons and Thunderdrums round her back to shore." Brightclaw mutters. "And not to mention she's been babbling a little too loudly to that Skrill orphan we took in some years back about wanting to leave the island. Is it necessary for us to keep her from leaving?"

"Yes it is." Flaresight grumbles.

"She's at that age where she will long for a mate of her own." Knockout sighs, watching Lei climb carefully into the water with the help of Sapphire. "So many her age already have mates or are looking for one."

"I know but what human male would want a female who acts like a dragon?" Flaresight sighs. "Besides, she can't even speak their language, much less act like them. Aside from making weapons like one."

"She has not been corrupted by the ways of humans for many years, and we all know how cruel man can be." Brightclaw mutters as she examines her claws in disinterest. "Perhaps it's for the best if we don't let her leave. Or we can and let her see for herself how they are."

Just then, Speedwings, a Night Terror, came zooming down from the trees and crashed onto Flaresight's chest and fall right onto the ground. The Monstrous Nightmare was caught by surprise and relaxed when he saw it was one of the scouts.

"Ah Speedwings what brings you here? Anything serious to report?" He asked picking the tiny dragon up by the tail and setting him down gently. The Night Terror shook himself quickly and hastily bowed.

"Alpha Flaresight! There's a human ship off the coast of the island and it's making its way here!" He shrieked.

"Oh no...wait where's Lei?" Knockout asked looking towards the pool. The other three dragons turned and saw she wasn't there and neither was Sapphire.

"They must have left to go get fix her leg cuts!" Brightclaw groaned. "What do we do?!"

"Knockout, gather some dragons to go search for Lei. We must not let those humans find her, or let her cross paths with them." Flaresight said, rising up. "Ancestors help us if either happen."

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

"Land ho!" One of the Berserker soldiers yelled from the top of the mast.

"Good we make camp there for the night and restock on any supplies we can find in there." Dagur grunts, rubbing at the nasty rash that had started to develop on his neck. It had been bothering him for a while, and since they haven't been able to reach a port for the past few days, he hoped to find some plants that could sooth it, assuming he found the right ones.

As the fleet docked their boats close to the shore and began to unload some things, Dagur tried to resist the urge to start scratching the damn rash again, but knew that wasn't a good idea. Savage seemed to have noticed his discomfort as he approached the young chief nervously.

"How long are we even going to be here sir?" He asked, surveying the foliage that laid ahead of them. "This is unlike most islands we've been to. What did Johann call them again? Jungles? The ones with tons of odd trees and whatnot?"

"Don't care, and until I say so. If this place hasn't been mapped by Hiccup and his dragon riders, then we'll come here frequently to rest." Dagur snapped and started to rub the rash quickly to ease the pain.

"Might I suggest a helpful remedy that we used back on Outcast Island sir? I've seen rashes like that and we have a concoction that should sooth just about anything including rashes." Savage offers nervously. Dagur gave a grunt in response.

"Whatever it is it better be helpful because I want to be rid of this stupid thing as soon as possible."

"If I remember right, there is this plant that when you mix it with salt water and some yak milk it will make a cream to slather on wherever you please to ease any itching or irritation on the skin."

"What does it look like?"

"Well it's in shape of an ivy leaf but it has yellow spots on it."

"Alright, I'm going in there to find it." Dagur sighs, scooping up a satchel, his axe and sticking a small knife into it as well.

"In there? Alone? You have no clue what is in there!" Savage gasped, his eyes widening in horror.

"I'll be fine you idiot, it's not like I'm going in there to hunt." Dagur snapped, rolling his eyes.

Despite some of the crew's protests, he headed into the island to look for the plant to relieve him of the itching. As he made his way through the foliage, Dagur managed to find the plant. Eagerly, he began to carefully cut the leaves and place them into the bag when he heard something fall. He stopped what he was doing and looked around, searching for the source. He heard something rustling in the bushes, immediately went for his axe and stepped towards the sound.

But before he could do anything, something stopped him. And it wasn't the sharp stick that was being aimed for his heart, it was the set of green eyes that were focused on him in the shadows.

[Several minutes earlier]

"Here, place these leaves on your cuts. Thank goodness it wasn't what I thought it was." Sapphire said, spitting several chewed up leaves onto Lei's hands. Lei gags a bit but gave a sigh of relief as she rubbed the leaves onto her cuts to let the the juices seeped into them.

"That feels good Sapphire." She groans.

"Good thing these are growing again. Otherwise we would have to use just saliva to clean them." The Nightmare chuckles.

"Eww no not that again. It's gross."

"We do what we have to do dear. And so far it's what's kept you alive all these years."

"Why am I named Lei again?" Lei suddenly asked as she picked up a long stick from the floor.

"What brought this on?" Sapphire responds.

"Just...curious. Everyone else has such cool unique names, mine sounds so plain."

"Well, when you were a wee little whelp, there was a thunderstorm happening and lightning struck the ground, a little too close for comfort. It nearly struck you, but by some miracle it barely missed you. It was Flaresight who named you Lei. He once heard in the language of the humans it means lightning."

"Is that why I also have this mark?" Lei asks as she hastily braided her hair and pulled it over her shoulder to show Sapphire the weird purple mark on the right side her back. "The one that looks like a Skrill?"

Sapphire studied it for a bit and shook her head. "No, when you were a whelp that mark looked like a bruise that wasn't healing. I actually thought I hurt you till I realized it was a birthmark of some sort."

"Oh," Lei said trying to hide the disappointment from her voice.

"Don't be sad dear, it's a nice mark. All dragons have unique marks on their scales, you happen to have one on that pale skin of yours, along with those funny little ones."

They suddenly heard something snap and whipped their heads in the direction of the sound. Sapphire sniffed the air and Lei saw the slits of her eyes go thin in alarm.

"Run!" She whispered. "Quick, come Lei, before they see us!"

The Monstrous Nightmare quickly scurried off as Lei tried to run after her but her foot got caught on a root and she falls to the ground with a crash.

"Owww." She muttered to herself. She then hears the rustling noise again and quickly gets up, grabbing the stick from earlier. There was an unfamiliar scent in the air, and it certainly was not that of a dragon, or at least of one she was familiar with.

What in the world is that? Lei wonders as she inches towards the noise outside of the bush. She kept her weapon drawn and quickly shoves it forward towards the noise. The stick bumps against something solid, indicating there was someone or something there.

Nervously, she keeps moving forward, whatever she touched moving away from her stick before she was out of the bushes and bit back a gasp. What she thought could have been an unfamiliar dragon in front of her, was instead a human.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Okay, Dagur was certainly not expecting to find any humans on this island. Dragons? Possibly. Any wild game? Big maybe. But a human? That chance was low. The girl in front of him had long but dirty looking auburn hair that was braided over one shoulder, her skin covered in smudges of dirt and the only thing she wore was a dark grey strip of cloth that covered most of her chest and ribs, and tied around her waist was some sort of brown cloth that looked like it was a skirt. Around one arm was a strip of leather and wrapped around the upper parts of her legs was somw sort of green paint or ooze that looked quite fresh. She had a crudely made spear pointed at Dagur's chest and it was aimed at his heart but she didn't move or say anything, her bright green eyes never leaving him. Dagur didn't dare to move or say anything either, unsure what to do. The girl slowly lowered her weapon and slowly backed away from him. He cautiously took a step forward towards her and she suddenly darted away.

"W-wait! Hold on!" He yelled running after her.

The girl ran with surprising speed over the ground with her hair flying behind her, leaping over large roots and even scaled a fallen log as if it was nothing. Dagur noticed that she was suddenly slowing down and took the opportunity to dart forward and grab her arm. The girl gave a loud shrieking noise and tried to yank it away but he held firm. Then he released her arm and she fell backwards onto the floor with a loud yelp before scuttling backwards towards a tree.

"Hey don't worry I won't hurt you I promise." Dagur said edging slowly towards the girl as she pressed herself close to the tree.

Then a loud suddenly roar pierced the air, startling them both. A Rumblehorn, a Whispering Death, a Changewing, a Monstrous Nightmare and a Deadly Nadder landed near them, growling loudly. The Rumblehorn roared angrily and the girl quickly scurried to the dragons before throwing her arms around the Rumblehorn. The dragons surrounded her and began to sniff her, crooning softly and nuzzling her. After a few moments, they turned back to Dagur with a murderous look. One dragon, the Whispering Death, lets out a hiss and starts advancing towards Dagur as he fumbles for his weapon. Before any of the dragons could step forward, something jumped between them and him.

The girl now stood between Dagur and the dragons, held her arms and waving them frantically The Whispering Death hissed at her angrily and she surprisingly hissed back at it. The dragons roared something at her and she responded with a shake of her head and a loud screech. Were they...communicating? How was that possible?

Before Dagur could say anything, an arrow struck a tree near the dragons and he hears the loud yell of his men approaching. The Changewing screeched in alarm and the Monstrous Nightmare snatched up the girl in its mouth before flying off into the forest with the other dragons, leaving the Berserker alone with his approaching men.

"Do we go after them sir?" One of the men asked, pointing a spear in the direction of the dragons.

"No," Dagur said suddenly. "Let them go. They didn't hurt me. I got what I needed and that's all. Let's head back."

Chapter Text

"Everyone, humans have come to our island. You are to stay away from them and not engage in any way." Flaresight said as everyone gathered around him. “You all know how dangerous they are, and what they do to dragons.”

"But what if they don't hurt us? What if they are here for the reasons that aren't bad?" Lei asked, stepping forward.

"They smell of dragons blood, and only humans that kill smell like blood of the creatures they slaughter." Flaresight growled angrily causing the dragons around him to back away. But this only infuriated Lei.

"Why are you threatened by someone different than you?" She snarls back. "I'm human, does that make me as bad as them? Way to make me feel great!"

Several dragons murmured in agreement and fell silent when their alpha glared at them before he crawled off his rock and walked to the young human. When his face was several inches from hers, he hissed, "Stay away from those humans. That is my final word." Then he turned away, but then stopped. "But if you cross paths with any of them, kill them. Protect your family. I've already lost too many to them." He called over his shoulder. Lei straightened her back and turned away from the crowd before she headed in the direction of the exit and entrance of the cove.

"Lei whatever you are going to do, don't do it." Knockout hissed, stepping in her path.

"I've only crossed paths with a human this once and you all lose your minds over it! Is it so bad that I want to see them?" The girl retorts. "You've always told me "humans are evil, they kill us and their own kind" while telling me at the same time "oh but you aren't like them!"! It's infuriating! Why can't I make that judgement for myself?" And with that, she brushes past the Rumblehorn and rushed away into the woods, leaving her speechless.

“It's alright, she's just upset.” Sapphire murmured as she approached the upset dragon and put a wing around her. “She'll be back."

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Dagur treaded carefully over the twigs and fallen branches of the jungle with his hunting gear. The men were hungry and wanted fresh meat so after returning to the ship, he and several of them returned to hunt. He had already strayed away from them in hopes of having better chances of catching something to eat, but so far found nothing. It's had been maybe a day since he crossed paths with the feral girl who saved his life, and for some reason she was still on his mind. How did she even come to the island, and how she could even talk to the dragons? At least it seemed like she was talking to them. Up ahead he saw a Gronckle sitting a few yards away next to a pile of rocks and not noticing anything going on around it, oblivious to his presence.

"Perfect." Dagur murmured softly to himself as he aimed his crossbow at the unsuspecting dragon and prepared to fire. Before he could release the bolt, he heard a screech and felt something crash on top of him, knocking him to the floor and causing the bolt to miss the Gronckle completely. The dragon felt the weapon whiz by it's head and with a startled yelp, it immediately scurried off into the trees.

"I'll kill you!" Dagur roared as he tried to fight whatever was trying to pin him down. A knife was suddenly pressed against his throat and a hand closed over his mouth. He heard a soft growl near his ear before whatever was holding him down got off his back and hauled him to his feet.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw that it was the girl from earlier, her green eyes were blazing with anger and her mouth was pressed in a firm line. They stood there for what felt like hours before she removed her hand from his mouth and began making a series of growls and hisses before she realized that he wouldn't be able to understand her.

"You do realize that I could easily kill you right?" Dagur asked slowly. “It'd be best if you'd leave me alone.”

The girl glared at him and pressed the knife closer to his throat. She started making weird noises again before he realized she was trying to say something in halting Norse.

"Leave...alone..." She said. Dagur's eyes widened in surprise. Her eyes widened in shock as well and she began to repeat the sentence over and over and each time it got louder. "Leave alone! Leave alone! Leave alone!"

"Okay I'll leave you alone!" The Berserker yells. "Wasn't even looking for you anyways!"

"Leave alone...family!" The girl shrieks (in his ear, annoyingly) and released him. Before Dagur could even move, he felt his legs suddenly get kicked out from under him and he falls hard onto his back before he sees the girl standing over him.

"Family? What family?" Dagur asked with a groan as the strange girl placed a foot on his chest to keep him down. She looked at him in confusion and made a weird noise, a bit similar to what Dagur guessed was a confused sound. "That's right she can't speak that well." He muttered before speaking up. "I won't hurt your family." He said loudly and slowly and gestured to himself and to her. "Whoever they are."

"I...wuuun't...hurt you...family." The girl said slowly, mimicking his movements and her face lit up.

"Can you understand me?" Dagur asked again slowly and gesturing to himself and to her and pointed to his mouth and ear. She pointed her finger to his lips and pointed it to her ears and made another noise.

"Unnnnndeeeeeeerstaaaaaaaaaaaaand!" The girl yelled looking quite pleased with herself and moved her foot off his chest. "Staaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand!"

"Why are people outside of the Archipelago so weird?" Dagur mutters as he sits up, examining himself for any injuries. Finding none, he gets up and stretches before pointing at himself. "Fine, I suppose since you can somewhat understand me, I am Dagur. And who are you."

The girl studies him, a curious glint in her eyes as she gets close, her nose twitching and she sniffs him a bit before gagging and pushes him away a bit.

"Thats rude, I hope you know." Dagur mutters. "So, are you gonna tell me who you are, or are you gonna keep sniffing me like a bear?"

The girl was silent for a moment before placing her hand on his head. "D-aaaa-geeer." She said loudly, drawing out his name. Okay that was kind of amusing, he had to admit. Dagur just smiles and nods before pointing at her. It was kind of like listening to a toddler try to talk properly. The girl looked at him in confusion before pointing to herself. "Leeeeeei."

"Yes very nice name." Dagur said suppressing his laughter. "Lei."

"Very nice." The girl, Lei, mimicked and he lets out a small chuckle. Then she picks up the knife from the ground she had possibly stolen from his belt and showed it to him. "Kill." She said pointing to the weapon and pointing to him. Shit.

"No, no kill Dagur." Dagur said pushing it down. "Dagur...friend."

"Friend?"

"Yes friend, friends don't kill friends."

Lei seemed to be absorbing what he said before pulling him close so their eyes were even with each other. "Dagur...no kill...Lei. Dagur...no kill...family." She said firmly before releasing him and running to a tree to point to a small flock of Terrible Terrors. "Family!" She yelled pointing to them then she pointed to the Gronckle who came back to finish eating it's rocks. "Family!"

It took Dagur a few moments to realize that she meant the dragons were her family. "Wait, the dragons? How is it possible that-" he turned to look at Lei, only to see that she wasn't there anymore. “Well that was rude.”

She said that those dragons were her family, okay now what happened yesterday made sense. He saw how several of them came to protect her when she was in danger, recalled his nemesis Hiccup saying that dragons always protected their own kind and those who they were loyal to. Then, an idea started to form in his mind, one that could help him defeat Hiccup and his riders, one to get revenge on everyone who wronged him. And Lei was going to help him with it, she was the key to his plan.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

"I'm telling you Savage, she could be our link to getting revenge." Dagur says, after explaining his plan to his new second-in-command.

"Sir, as much as I respect and fear you, I think you had finally cracked. No Vikings could ever live with dragons, much less learn their language or ways." Savage scoffed. “Some dragons hate or dislike humans too much to ever let them live with them, no girl like that could possibly exist!”

"But this had happened, I'm telling you Savage she is-" out of nowhere, a screech pierced the air and a figure landed on the boat between the two men. "Real." Dagur finished with a smug expression.

It was Lei, and above her on top of the mast was a Razorwhip that was studying them from above with curious violet eyes. The silver dragon screeched loudly and snarled before it dropped down onto the deck with a huff.

Lei stood up from the floor and dusted herself off before she turned to Dagur and pointed at him with a big grin "Dagur!”

"Yes, I am Dagur." Dagur said pointing to himself with a smile.

Lei then pointed at Savage. "Human."

"Yes that's a human."

Savage looked at them baffled. "What is she-"

Lei suddenly let's out a screech noise and pointed the symbol on the sail excitedly

"Yes Lei, that's a Skrill." Dagur replied and then she yanked her hair back to pointed to the right side of her back. "Uh..."

Dagur saw a weird looking mark the color of a forming bruise, only to see that it seemed to take the shape of a Skrill. How strange. Lei dropped her hair to cover her back and pointed to the blue markings that were over the Berserker chief's left eye and pointed to her neck.

"No, it's a tattoo. T-aaaaa-tt-oooooo." Dagur said gesturing to his tattoo markings. “Not... whatever that is you have.”

"Taaaaaattooooooooo." Lei repeated pointing to his marks. Then she pointed to her back. "No tattoo."

"This is getting ridiculous sir." Savage muttered and several men muttered in agreement. “So...what are you even doing?”

"I'm going to be teaching her to speak clearly, it's obvious that she wants to learn to talk like us so be careful what you say.” Dagur responded with a shrug. “Plus I may have to teach her other things, like Viking manners and stuff.”

"And how is teaching her all going to help us get revenge on the dragon riders and Berk?" Savage asked with a small frown. “I highly doubt manners will help.”

Dagur gave Savage a nasty smile. "By earning her trust, she could teach me how I could earn the trust of the dragons that raised her. And with those dragons..." he paused so Savage could get the idea.

"We...can finally strike back at them with beasts far more aggressive!" The ex Outcast finished and Dagur nodded.

"Exactly. I need to earn her trust. So no one is to bother me while I am teaching her unless it's important."

"Yes sir." Savage said with a grin and turned to the other Berserkers. “You heard him men! No bothering the chief while he's with the girl!”

Dagur turned his attention to Lei, only to find her trying to keep her dragon from poking it's heads into baskets and crates. She was making screeching sounds and yanking on it's neck when she finally managed to pull it's head out of a basket and it had one of the dragon-proof hooks in it's mouth. It gave Dagur a strange look before placing the object in Lei's hand with a disgusted grunt.

"What this?" Lei asked in curiosity, examining the weapon with interest.

"That would be a hook." he said taking it from her hand and placing it back in the basket.

"What that do?" Lei asked, clearly interested in the weapon.

"It's used to...poke things." Dagur explained and took it out to poke his hand. “Or catch something.”

He put it away and went into his cabin to grab some paper, a quill and some ink. Once he returned, he handed Lei the materials before pushing several crates together to make a table and instructed her to kneel in front of them. Once she was seated, Dagur took back the paper, ink and quill to sit down beside her and began to write something on the paper. Lei kept trying to see what it was but Dagur kept hiding it with his arm, chuckling slightly and gently scolding her. After a while he finished with his word and shoved the paper in front of her.

"These are letters." Dagur explained and pointed at the page with the alphabet he had just written. Lei bent forward to sniff the paper cautiously and traced the letters with her fingers. Dagur pointed to each letter and had her pronounce each letter slowly several times, correcting her when she made a mistake. Then he handed her the quill and took her hand to show her how to write the letters out several times, although she eventually ended up doodling random things on the paper like scribbles and what looked like a dragon instead afterwards.

Of course, this went on for several days. He'd teach her letters, how to form and pronounce words to make sentences, and in return Lei brought Dagur food like fish, fresh fruits, once even a freshly killed deer so he and his crew wouldn't starve. She even took him into the jungle a few times and showed him the plants that grew there that he later discovered thanks to a book he got could be used as spices, tea and medicine.

All that in a span of a few days and Dagur felt himself starting to grow fond of the wild girl, and she was growing for of him as well, though neither of them were going to admit it to the other.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

"Lei why have you been disappearing for hours at a time with Brightclaw?" Asked Striker, a young male Skrill who had grown up with Lei, one afternoon after she had snuck away from the other dragons to attend her lessons.

"Because I don't want to sit around on my butt all day doing nothing, and I am busy." Lei responded with a shrug.

"But you don't spend as much time with me as you used to." Striker complained and made a sad face. “It gets boring out here without you, and you've been spending a lot of time with Silverleg too.”

"Well I haven't seen you around lately."

"I happen to be now part of the scouts. And what are you 'busy' doing?"

"Stuff."

Striker perked up, now feeling curious and a bit nosy. "What kind of stuff?"

"Oh will you quit being so noisy?" Lei snapped and Striker flinched. She realized what she done and quickly apologized. "I'm sorry Striker I really am, but I'm afraid I can't tell you. Honestly I would but if I did-"

"Lei?" She cursed under her breath when she heard Dagur's voice.

"Human!" Striker squealed but before he could run, Dagur emerged from the bushes with something under his arm.

"There you are, I was looking for- is that a Skrill?" Striker hissed in alarm and let electricity consume his body, a bright light appeared in his mouth and prepared to fire.

"Striker no!" Lei yelled in alarm and leapt between him and Dagur. The Skrill gave a squeak and quickly closed his mouth to let the electricity extinguish itself as smoke came out from his nostrils. "Idiot! What did I tell you?!"

"Ummm I'm going to head off in the other direction okay?" Dagur mumbled glancing from her to the Skrill and walked away. “I...will see you at the beach.”

Once he was gone, Lei grabbed Striker by one of his spikes and dragged him away.

"Ow ow ow! That hurts! Lemme go!" The Skrill squealed in alarm and tried shaking his head out of her grip. Sadly Lei was stronger than him and she shoved his face to the ground.

"We keep this secret between us alright? Tell anyone and I will feed you poisonous frogs!" Lei hissed.

Striker whimpered and nodded violently before looking at her nervously. "Lei?"

"Yes?"

"Will that human boy ever hurt us? Flaresight said bad humans smell of dragon's blood, and this one really smelled badly of it!”

Lei was silent for a while before she answered "I pray he won't ever hurt our family, but if he does I will kill him. For now, he's not a threat.”

Striker lifted his head off the ground to look at his friend in worry. “I sure hope not.”

Chapter Text

It had now been several months since Lei had been learning how to speak Norse and how to act like a human thanks to Dagur. She had been so eager to learn the ways of humans so she could be part of them someday, if she ever left the island of course. Some days Dagur would bring her something she had never seen before and would take it apart just to see how it worked before putting it back together. He was always impressed with how quickly she put the device together, his praises made her smile. Every day she looked forward to her lessons with him and when he was gone, she would spend days waiting for him to come back, often practicing things she had learned from him so she could show how much better she was getting.

Lei often wondered if it was the lessons she looked forward to or just Dagur in general. She noticed a lot of the time when his hand or arm would brush against hers she would feel a fluttering sensation in the pit of her stomach or chest, and often found herself just staring at his face. It took her awhile to realize one day that perhaps she was starting to fall in love with the human and wondered if he would ever love her back. It was a rather silly idea, he never seemed to be interested in her that way, and she figured it was best not to dwell on it.

When Flaresight found out what Lei was doing, he became infuriated. He would forbid her from ever leaving the cove, but she'd find ways to sneak out past the Rumblehorns and Deadly Nadders guarding the exits and go have her lessons with Dagur. As much as he wanted to, the old dragon never dared to follow her but knew something bad was about to come out from it. Numerous times he tried to convince her to stop but Lei would ignore him and keep on going.

"Lei it's not that I hate or have anything against you learning to act like a human, but what if they don't accept you? What if one day you do go back to your village and they reject you? I saw it all!" Sapphire pleaded to Lei at one afternoon when she tried to stop her from leaving the cove. "They were so cruel towards dragons, how would they treat a human who was raised by them?"

"Well if they don't accept me, then who cares? At least I learned what I really am, right?" Lei scoffed as she tried to slip past her adoptive mother. "One human has accepted me for what I am, and that's just fine with me!"

"You're practically dressing like one! It's not a bad thing, it's just that you're drifting away from us." Sapphire pointed out, gesturing to the new clothes Lei had been wearing that were very different from her normal attire.

"I'm not drifting away from you! I'm just trying to fit in with the humans!" Lei snapped angrily, causing her mother to flinch.

"Well...you certainly have gained the attitude of one." Sapphire murmured sadly before walking off.

Lei felt guilty for yelling at her adoptive mother, she never yelled at her like that before and it made her feel awful. She looked down at her reflection in a pool and knelt down to get a better look. She saw a young green eyed woman with neatly brushed dark brown hair that was tied in a braid over one shoulder, wearing a deep blue top with no sleeves and a leather skirt with slits on the side to allow her to move more easily that Dagur had given to her as a gift.

Is this really me? Lei thought to herself as she studied the reflection. Is this actually the girl who was raised by dragons? Or is this another person?

"Who am I kidding, I look human, but can I even pass for a normal one? Probably not.” Lei said to herself softly and touched the water to cause her reflection to be disturbed. “Maybe they are right, I'm never going to be a part of their world no matter what I do.”

Lei was pulled from her sad thoughts when she heard the shriek of a dragon calling for help. She swiftly leapt to her feet and whistled loudly for Striker. The Skrill came racing from the large pond of the the cove and landed a few feet from his friend with a look of panic.

"What happened?" He asked Lei as ran to his side and climbed onto his back.

"I don't know! Someone is hurt!" Lei responded and pointed to the sky. “I think it's from the beach, we have to hurry!”

They followed the direction of where the roars of distress were coming from until they found the dragon crying out for help. It was a young bright green Thunderdrum roaring out to them, standing over something on the beach and sounding very distressed.

"What's a Thunderdrum doing all the way out here?" Lei asked and Striker shrugged. They landed and advanced slowly slowly towards the dragon to not startle it. "Easy boy I won't hurt you." She says in a soothing voice and held her hand out to the youngster.

"Please help him! He's badly hurt!" The Thunderdrum cried and stepped to the side to reveal what looked like a human laying on the sand where he was standing before. Lei took a step closer to the dragon to get a better look and gasped.

"Dagur?" She whispered in horror as she knelt down next to the body. "Dagur! Dagur can you hear me?

The human let out a small moan of pain. “Lei…”

"Oh thank the gods!" Lei shrieked as she hastily sat him up and hugged him tightly.

"Oww that hurts!!!!!" He yelled trying to shove her away with one arm and clutching his side.

Lei saw a large red stain on his shirt that seemed to be getting bigger and bigger. "What happened to you?" She whispered and tried her best not to panic.

"Someone...almost...killed me...." Dagur gasped, clutching his wound. She quickly helped him to his feet and led him towards a tree to lean against.

"Who hurt you?" Lei1 asked yanking his shirt up to see a nasty gash on his side.

"A man called Drago." Dagur whispered as she slowly helped him sit on the floor. Lei grabbed her water sack that Dagur had given to her a few weeks ago that hung around her waist and grabbed a handful of leaves growing on a bush nearby to stuffed several of into her mouth before she squirted some water in and began to chew them.
After chewing for about a minute, she spat the leaves onto her hands before gently pressing them to Dagur's wound. He started screaming in pain as the juices dripped into his wound and began to thrash and flail his arms like crazy.

"Hey hold still! It's only gonna get worse if you move like that!" Lei yelled trying to pin him down. Several dragons that heard the screams of pain came out to investigate what was making the noise. "Don't just stand there, help me!" She yelled as a Deadly Nadders rushed over to pin his arms to the floor.

"He's not calming down!" Striker screamed.

"I didn't want to do this but I'm sorry!" Lei drew her arm back and socked Dagur hard enough in the face to make him go still. "Oh shit did I kill him?!"

"It doesn't look like it." Knockout said suddenly appearing beside her. She sniffed the human carefully and gently probed the body with one talon. "Not dead, just unconscious."

"I was just trying to keep him still." Lei whispered covering her mouth.

"Don't worry, now finish what you need to do and find someplace to let him sleep for a while. Flaresight won't let him anywhere near the nests."

"He can stay?" Lei asks in surprise.

"Just as long as he doesn't try and kill us. But if he so much as bruises one of us, I'll kill him myself." Lei turned to see the elder Monstrous Nightmare land near them, eying Dagur in disgust and in a wary fashion.

"But I thought-"

"Don't question why I am allowing him to live. Just don't let him anywhere near our cove."

🔆☀️🔆☀️🔆☀️

"...can you hear me? Dagur are you okay?" Dagur opened his eyes to see Lei kneeling over him with a concerned look on her face.

"Lei...why...where...what..."

"A Thunderdrum named Screech said he found you abandoned on your boat with a spear embedded in you but the wound wasn't as deep as we thought it was.” Lei explained as Dagur tried to sit up and winced at the pain before deciding to lay back down.

"Why would a dragon help me again?" Dagur asked quietly. “You said no one ever want to go near one that smelled like dragon blood.

"Because they do care about humans Dagur. After he brought you here I tried to clean the wound to see how deep it was but you were in so much pain that you were making the wound get worse." Lei said leaning back on her heels.

"I'm sorry...but I remember a fist coming down on me and everything went dark. Did you punch me in the face?" He asked having a vague memory of a fist coming down on him.

"Uh...yeah..." A small blush appeared on her cheeks. "I didn't know how to make you calm down or shut up...so I had to...knock you out."

"Oh..."

They both let the silence pass through them for what felt like hours before Dagur decided to try to sit up again
"No! You need to rest!" Lei protested as she tried to gently pushing him back to lay on the soft grass.
"I at least want to sit up!" Dagur complained.
"Fine I'll help you sit up." Lei sighed and carefully propped him up against a nearby tree.
After sitting him up, Lei carefully checked on the wound. Luckily, the wound was not bleeding anymore thanks to the paste and the makeshift bandages she made with Dagur's shirt. Hopefully it would scar over in time and it wouldn't look so bad afterwards.
"It's not that deep really. Either the guy just assumed you would lose a ton of blood or he was merciful."
"Drago Bludvist has no mercy for anyone, not even his trappers." Dagur responded with a shudder. “I'm just very lucky you managed to save me.”
"Well at least you survived and it isn't serious." Lei said leaning against the tree with only two feet of space between them like she'd normally do.
"Could you sit close to me?" Dagur asked suddenly. “Like a bit closer?”
Lei over at Dagur in surprise. "Huh?"
"Could you sit close to me?"
"Uh...sure?" Lei scooted closer till they were barely six inches apart.
"A bit closer?" Dagur asked again and Lei raised an eyebrow in suspicion but did what he asked till they were only a few inches apart.
"This kind of feels uncomfortable and I'm feeling really nervous." Lei mumbled, feeling sweat form on her forehead.
"Why're you feeling nervous?" Dagur asked her softly, placing his hand on hers.
Lei felt even more sweat form and she could feel it dripping down her face. She could feel the heat rise in her face and she prayed silently that he couldn't see how red her face was as her heart pounded in her chest. "Its umm...well...I..."
"What you don't like being near me?"
"No it's not that! It's just that I am-"
"Lei, I know how you feel about me." Dagur interrupted.
Oh human gods he knows! He's not going to look at me the same after this! Ugh can't the ground just swallow me up right now and-
"Thing is...I feel the same way."
Please let him think I love him as a friend! She prayed silently. Then everything seemed to happen so quickly.
The next thing Lei knew, she was in Dagur's arms and his lips were against hers. She stiffened for a bit before she felt herself lean into his embrace and kiss him back. The kiss made her feel warm and felt ripples of electricity run through her until they pulled away to breath.
"Why me?" Lei asked softly before Dagur kissed her again.
"Why not you? No one had ever looked at me or treated me the way you have." Dagur replied before he stopped kissing her and gently pressed his forehead against hers. "You're different, and I actually like you for that."
He actually loves me? Is he serious? Lei wondered before asking, "Are you serious? You hardly know me."
"I know you just enough to love you for what you are." Dagur assured her. “Long before I met you I never felt this way about anyone until I got the chance to work with you. After weeks of being at your side I had come to realize how much you mean to me, and I've seen that you were in love with me.”

“Oh...I thought it wasn't that obvious.” Lei admitted, feeling her cheeks heat up again. “But are you sure you actually like me that way? I'm very different than all the other girls you've probably met over the years, I was practically raised by dragons!”

“Well you're different,and I actually like girls who are different.” Dagur responded with a small laugh and took one of her hands in his. “How many girls saved my life twice in the span of the time that I've known them?”

“I guess not that many. Oh and my dad- his name is Flaresight and he's a dragon- says you can stay with us on the island, but you can't be near the nests."
Dagur gave another small laugh and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "Fair enough."

Chapter Text

It was just one trapper fort that Lei had stumbled upon about a few weeks after Dagur became a part of her family. Hearing all those young dragons crying for their parents, adult dragons crying for their hatchlings or their mates and hearing others cry for help or in pain really hurt her heart. Ignoring Dagur and Flaresight’s warnings, she snuck off in the middle of the night and liberated them all with the help of some dragons from her island who were more than happy to help. Both her lover and her adoptive father were not happy when she returned covered in soot and shivering from the cold, but their anger turned to joy when they saw how many dragons she helped liberate. Once Dagur was feeling a lot better, he accompanied Lei on her little night raids, stealing maps from the captain of the fort’s quarters to find more forts to raid. After nearly two years they had freed several dragons and destroyed countless forts to bring them back to their island or relocate them to their old homes to be reunited with their families.

At one point Lei had suggested they raid the biggest fort, one belonging to Drago, in hopes of bringing down all the other forts she and Dagur hadn’t reached yet and finding new ones. Dagur of course, did not want to do that, pointing out the last time he crossed paths with the warlord he was nearly killed. Lei simply pointed out that if they were careful enough, they would not have to worry about being caught and killed.

"Are you sure we should be doing this?" Dagur asked Lei as they were gearing up to go raid Drago's boat. "It's pretty risky."

"You've done some pretty risky things too." Lei replied as she pulled the hood Dagur had attached to the dark shirt he snagged for her during one of their raids at the trapper forts. “Like I said, we can’t get caught if we’re careful.”

"Yeah but we were attacking trappers. This is Drago we're talking about, the man who almost killed me."

"Exactly why we are gonna go and sneak on there. We'll avoid all guards and make sure not to get caught."

"You aren't gonna listen to me aren't you?" Dagur asked with a frown.

"You should know by now that once I set my mind to something I never give up." Lei said giving a small laugh and gave him a peck on the cheek. “Come on, I know you love the excitement these little raids bring.”

"Don’t try and butter me up.” Dagur snorted as Lei gave him another peck on the cheek before her hands darted to his stomach and began to attempt to tickle him. “Hey stop!”

“Come on, admit if you old rascal, you love these raids!” Lei laughed as she continued to tickle Dagur before he grabbed her wrists and pinned them to her side. “Cheat.”

“Only because you’re cheating by tickling me.” Dagur retorted with a small laugh before releasing her hands and wrapped his arms around her waist. “And these are only fun and exciting because you’re with me to save my sorry and slow butt. And I get to save you as many times as I want.”

"Aww you do care." Lei teased before giving him a peck on the lips. “Now let’s go before Drago decides to move his fort somewhere else and we have to try and find him.”

They left their warm and safe island, venturing North where the the winds were harsher and colder towards the icy terrain in search of Drago. Within a few days, a massive fleet of boats appeared in their sights.

"Whoa...that's gonna be worth a whole island of dragons, maybe two or three down there." Dagur muttered to himself.

“This is going to be our biggest raid yet, and if we can’t free them all today, we’ll come back another time to try and free the rest.” Lei said with a nod. “Get ready to dive.”

When they were low enough near the water, they both leapt off their dragons and and landed into the icy waters. A Seashocker that was helping them swam up to meet the duo and took them straight to the side of one of the boats. Two Razorwhips, Sharpsteel and Slicer, were waiting to help them up.

"Last time anyone snuck up on a boat like this was my sister and her friend and I was the one they were attacking." Dagur muttered as he grabbed Sharpsteel’s tail and climbed up onto her back.

"We aren't attacking anyone. We'll just release as many dragons as we can before anyone sees us. Hopefully we'll release enough." Lei hissed and she quickly started to climb upwards towards Slicer.

Once they were on the dragons, they quickly boarded the boat and split up to release as many dragons as they could. Several guards nearly caught them but the Razorwhips took care of them and discarded the guards over the side of the boat as quietly as they could. Cage after cage they opened with keys they stole from the guards and released as many dragons as they could. Some dragons were reluctant to leave their cages in fear of being caught again, while others took the chance to escape as quietly as they could.

As Lei was working on a rather tricky lock with the armored dragons, a loud bell began clanging nearby.

"Time to go Slice!" She muttered as her dragon gave the lock a quick swipe of her tail and it broke off to release a rather slow Gronckle that collapsed on top of Lei. "Aww come on!" She groaned and tried shoving it off of her and gripping onto the tail of her Razorwhip. She heard yells and more alarms and she began to panic. She managed to wiggle out from under the dragon and she yanked the armor off of it that seemed to be weighing it down.

"Lei time to go now!" Dagur yelled landing near her.

"I know! Just help me get this poor guy airborne!" She yelled back and hoisted the dragon's tail up. "I think he's too old or injured!"

Dagur gave a frustrated groan and rushed over to help her. The Gronckle began flapping its wings wildly and soon both Lei and Dagur were dangling several feet from the ground. They let go and dropped to the floor but landed near a group of unsuspecting guards.

"Get 'em!" One yelled as the group rushed towards the couple.

"Holy Thor that was surprising." Lei said and socked one of them in the face.

"Can we just go before it's too late?" Dagur asked as he punched another who tried to grab the back of his hood.

“Sure thing!”

They managed to get rid of their attackers and mounted their Razorwhips before taking off. But as they were flying, Slice began to screech and thrash around like crazy, crying out in terror.

"Easy girl! Calm down!" Lei yelled as she held on tightly to her dragon. “What’s gotten into you?” But she started to hear something too. It was something powerful enough to shake her to her core.

"Submit to me." It whispered and Lei went rigid. She suddenly slipped off her dragon and plummeted towards the icy cold water.

“Lei!” Striker screeched when he saw his friend slip off Slice and dove right after her.

Dagur meanwhile thought that she was right behind him till he and some dragons were half ways to the island.

"Wait where did she-" something flew right past them screaming like crazy but then flew back to him. It was Slice, the Razorwhip that Lei had been using and something was in it's mouth. "What's that?" He took it from her mouth and saw it was a torn and wet cloth that looked like a hood- Lei's hood to be exact.

"No...it can't be..." he whispered and looked out to the direction from where they came from. Slice crooned softly and hung her head in shame. Dagur didn't know what she was saying, since since he was still getting the hand of knowing the dragon language, but knew the poor dragon was upset. The one thing on his mind now was what to do now.

<><><><><><><><>

"Looks refreshing..." Eret murmured to himself as he looked over the side of the boat where they were going to drown. He turned to Astrid, who stood behind him, and gave her a smile. "Please, ladies first."

Astrid made a disgusted face as her guards shoved her forward. "You are a steaming pile of dragon-"

"Duck!" Eret hissed, dropping his smile and attacking her guards.

He managed to snatch one of their spears and he used it to cut his ropes and began to fight them all with the help of Fishlegs, Snotlout and Tuffnut. One tried to escape but Eret shot him down with a dart.

"Okay I love you again." Ruffnut said with a smile.

"Shall we go grab your dragons?" Eret asked Astrid, ignoring the other girl's comment.

"Best thing I've heard from you since we've kidnapped you." Astrid laughed as followed him.

"Check these cages for your dragons. Whichever ones you find try to quietly get that dragons rider. Got it?" Eret said as he and the dragon riders snuck over to the giant cages where their dragons were.

"Guys there's another prisoner!" Fishlegs hissed. “Look!”

The group saw a small band of what looked like seven guards leading a woman with heavy chains tied to her ankles, around her torso with her hands tied behind her back  and a sack over her head walking in the direction of the edge of the boat where they were supposed to be thrown off.

"Oh gods there's no way she's gonna survive that!" Astrid gasped. “She’ll drown for sure!”

"Well someone better save her then." Eret commented and hurried off after them with Astrid and the others right behind him.

“Wait what about the dragons?” Snoutlout whispered frantically as they raced after the guards.

“They can wait! This girl needs our help!” Eret whispered back.

They all stopped behind some cages and watched as one of the men shoved the girl forward roughly with a muffled yelp onto her knees before one of the guards yanked her up with no gentleness.

"This'll teach you to be poking in places where you don't belong, dragon loving brat." One of the guards growled and rammed the girl's side with the butt of his spear. The girl gave another muffled yell and stumbled forward, hunched over in pain.

“Oi, you think this was that masked dragon rider who has been ransacking some of the forts?” Another guards asked as he yanked the girl to her feet.

“Nah, this one didn’t come with an ice spitter, just another human and four dragons, one who we managed to catch while the others flew off.” Another guard replied before snickering to himself. “Perhaps we should have a bit of fun with this one before we dump her off the boat for her partner to find.”

That was it. Eret was about to leap forward and strangle the guard when the girl began to throw herself around and slammed into her jailers with enough force to knock them over. The one who had hurt her ribs earlier yanked his sword out but she had other ideas. The girl’s foot flew up to kick him between the legs, causing him to fall forward. Her knee flew up and rammed against the man’s face hard, causing him to fall back with a loud groan.

"Oof, no wonder he told me not to do that." The girl groaned as the two Vikings hurried over. She whirled around to face Eret and braced herself to fight. Eret quickly held his hands out to show he held no weapons, though now he felt stupid doing so since she couldn't see him.

"Relax we won't hurt you." Astrid told her gently, stepping towards the girl cautiously. "We don't like Drago either." The girls body relaxed and she took a few steps towards them. Astrid stepped forward and yanked the sack off her head. Both Vikings gasped when they saw the bruises and cuts marking the girl’s face. Her cheeks were sunken as if she hadn't eaten for days and her dull green eyes had the look of a hungry and cornered dragon.

"So are you gonna untie me or what?" She asked in a hoarse voice.

"Keys." Astrid said dumping them in Eret's hands. He looked at her in confusion and looked at the chained up girl.

"Well what are you waiting for? An invitation?" The girl asked, snapping Eret back to reality.

"Hmm? Oh right!" He quickly walked behind her cautiously and began to unlock to chains. He could feel the sweat coming on despite the cold.

"Relax I won't kick you if you stand behind me." The girl said gently, making him jump.

"I'm not scared of you!" He responded quickly, sweating nervously.

"Yeah that's what they all say." The girl replied with a small smirk.

"What?"

"Are you having trouble finding the right key?" Astrid asked.

"N-no! I think it's this one!" Eret said trying another key.

"It's the one with a dragon head." The girl commented in a bored voice.

"Why didn't you say so earlier?" Eret asked, trying not to sound so nervous. Any minute these guards could wake up and attack them, and they all had no weapons to arm themselves.

"You didn't ask." She replied giving him a look.

"Gimme those keys!" Astrid groaned and took them from Eret before she found the key with the dragon head. “Geez relax Eret.”

"Thanks." The girl said shaking off the chains and kicking them over the edge of the boat. "Now I need to find Striker and get out of here."

"Wait why don't you stay here come with us?" Astrid asked.

"Why do I wanna stay here?" The girl asked looking confused.

"Well we could help you. We're gonna fight Drago anyways."

The girl was quiet and seemed to be weighing her options when the rest of the gang came running over to them.

"Oh that’s bad. Anyways, who is this?" Snotlout asked surveying the girl. She shot him a disgusted look and walked up to Astrid.

"Alright then, I'll stay with you guys. But only on one condition." She stated and put her hands on her hips.

"Name it." Astrid replied.

"When this fight is over, you are not to follow me."

"Why would-" Fishlegs started but Astrid cut him off.

"Okay we'll accept that." She said hold her arm out. The girl took it and shook it. Then she yanked Astrid close and whispered something in her ear. Astrid nodded and hurried off to go find her dragon.

"What did you tell her that was so secret?" Eret asked walking up to her.

"Oh nothing you need to know." The girl replied with a shrug as the other riders hurried off after Astrid and they followed.

"You have a name at least that you can give us?" He asked.

"That's for me to know, and for you to find out." The girl responded, giving him a coy smile and walking off.

"Who is she again?" Snotlout asked as the girl cranked open one of the cages and poked her head in.

"Uh...I...didn't get an answer." Eret replied. Snotlout examined Eret's face and his eyes widened before he gave the trapper a grin.

"Oh I see where this is going."

"What?"

"You like this chick."

"No I don't! I'm not attracted her!"

"Yeah right. Like we didn't see the starlight in your eyes." Tuffnut snorted as he walked over to them. “I may be dumb, but I know a man in love when I see one. Especially after he witnessed a strange girl take on a bunch of armed guards with her hands tied behind her back.”

"Don't deny it, we saw it all." Fishlegs added, grinning widely. Eret simply glared at them and hurried off to help them find their dragons.

Chapter Text

Eret watched as the doors of the cage Stormfly was being contained in open slowly. The Nadder squawked anxiously as they waited for the cage to be opened wide enough to be able to fly out but she stayed still, waiting for Eret's command. Outside he could hear the other trappers and soldiers yelling and the screeches and roars of other dragons.

"Easy, easy, just wait." Eret murmured soothingly as he ran a hand over the agitated dragon's side to calm her. "Just wait."

Stormfly growled and flicked her tail slightly when they felt the enclosed cage start to move, signaling that the soldiers were going to open it in hopes of luring the wild dragons.

"Now!" Eret yelled when he heard the sound of the cage's doors opening and climbed onto the saddle. As soon as the doors were wide enough for her, Stormfly gave a squawk as she pushed off the ground and pumped her wings to get higher into the air. Eret gave a loud yell, almost falling out of the saddle in the process but he managed to grab onto the saddle and hoisted himself back on. He heard a roar and saw something purple and grey fly past them, causing Stormfly to swerve to avoid it. A large dragon that was almost the size of a Nadder was flying around screeching and shooting what looked like lightning from its mouth, blasting the cages, ballistas and anything that stood in its path that wasn't a dragon.

"What in Thor's name?" Eret muttered to himself in surprise.

"Whoa is that a Skrill? Haven't seen one of those in years!" Snotlout yelled as he and the other dragon riders flew past Eret.

"Probably one of the cages dragons!" Fishlegs yelled pointing to the dragon. "Looks like it's looking for someone or something!"

The dragon did seem like it was looking for something, or someone. It kept flying over the destroyed cages, keeping out of range of the trappers and kept screeching loudly in distress.

"Who do you think it's looking for?" Astrid asked.

"Hey has anyone seen that girl who kicked butt on the boat earlier?" Fishlegs asked looking around the battle. "I don't see her anywhere!"

"There!" Astrid yelled, pointing down. They all looked down to see the girl from earlier fighting several of Drago's warriors on the ground.

"Well shall we go help her?" Eret asked looking at Astrid.

"We probably should, she looks like any second she's gonna be overwhelmed." The shield maiden replied with a shrug before leaping off Meatlug to sit behind Eret. "Let's go!"

"On it!" Eret steered Stormfly down towards the battle, dodging the arrows shot in their direction.

"Stormfly grab her!" Astrid yelled. Stormfly opened her talons and swooped down to snatch the girl right off the ground. She gave a startled scream and clung to Stormfly's leg.

"What is this?" The girl yelled looking terrified.

"A rescue!" Astrid yelled back with a grin.

"Need a lift?" Eret asked. The girl looked up at them and scowled at the two.

"Oh very funny! Now let me go!"

"I don't think that would be such a good idea. You really want me to drop you and let you get killed?"

"I can handle this!" The girl turned to Stormfly and started making noises like a Deadly Nadder. Stormfly squawked and released her immediately.

"Stormfly no!" Astrid yelled frantically. "Fetch!"

"Nevermind she's okay!" Eret said as the Skrill from earlier flew right towards them and and caught the girl on it's back before flying off somewhere else on the battlefield.

"Nice of you to join us!" Hiccup called as he flew over to them.

"Where have you been?" Astrid asked.

"Oh just catching up with mom." Hiccup said gesturing to the masked figure on a Stormcutter swinging a staff and calling out several dragons.

"That's your mother?" Astrid exclaimed in surprise.

"Well now you know where I get my dramatic flare." He chuckled and gestured to the Skrill. "Say who's that driving the Skrill?"

"A new recruit named Lei." Astrid responded as the duo flew towards them.

"Well I got to admit she has some spunk! Haven't seen anyone try to ride one since...five years ago!"

"So you thought I was gonna die huh?" The girl, Lei, said as she and her dragon drifted closer to them. The Skrill screeched at Toothless and Stormfly as if to say hello and received looks of surprise from the dragons.

"Well nice to see you join us." Hiccup said giving her a grin. "So you're helping us fight?"

"Drago hurt these dragons, this is my way of helping them." Lei responded and patted her dragon's neck. "Now let's go kick Drago's butt!"

"Yeah!"

The three dragons broke off to fight the other hunters. Lei would leap off Striker and hold onto other dragons as he blasted electricity at the enemy. She kept glancing at the two large Bewilderbeasts fighting, one that was a soft white that had emerged from the ice fortress and a dirty grey one that was enslaved by Drago.

"I really hope the real alpha wins." Striker commented as Lei leapt back onto his back. "I'm running out of electricity and there is no storms nearby for me to get some energy from."

"Don't worry." Lei assured him. "I'm sure the good alpha will-"

"AAAAAAAH!" Lei and Striker whirled around to see the white Bewilderbeast fall into his side and the grey one thrust his tusks into the fallen one's gut.

"No!" Lei screamed in alarm as the grey Bewilderbeast roared in triumph as the wild dragons of the ice fortress began to drop to the ground to bow down to the new alpha.

"What's that fishbone doing?!" Striker exclaimed in horror. Lei looked over to where he was looking at and gasped when she saw the boy from earlier with the Night Fury approaching Drago. "Lei we have to do something!"

"We have to stop him, that's what we're doing!" Lei steered Striker towards the ground near the small group and leapt off her dragon. "Drago!"

The hunter stopped and looked over at the girl and his eyes narrowed. "Well well, if it isn't the little prisoner who has been giving my men hell for the last few months. You should be dead and at the bottom of the ocean by now." He sneered and looked to Hiccup. "Looks like you both are too stubborn to know when to give up."

“And you’re too stubborn to know when to quit.” Lei retorted.

"Dragons are kind and amazing creatures that can bring people together.” HIccup said, carefully pulling Lei behind him. “Just let me talk to him, I know what I’m doing.” Drago sneered at them and shoved his bullhook into the snow before removing his left arm to reveal a large scarred stump.

“Or tear them apart.” The hunter stated and placed his prosthetic back on and began to walk around them, Hiccup trying to keep Lei behind him in an attempt to protect her. “You see, I know what it is to live in fear, to see my village burned, my family taken. But even as a boy left with nothing, vowed to rise above the fear of dragons! And liberate the people of this world!”

“Then why a dragon army? Hiccup asked.

“Yeah, why a dragon army?” Lei said with a nod. “Why take your anger and grief out on innocent dragons who have done nothing to you?”

“Well you need dragons to conquer other dragons.” Drago replied with a smirk, as if it was the most obvious answer.

“Or you need dragons to conquer people.” Lei retorted and stepped in front of Hiccup. “To control those who oppose you and stand in the way.”

Drago gave a small laugh. “Clever children, especially for one who hasn’t been around humans that much.”

“The world wants peace, and we have the answer back on Berk.” Hiccup said as Toothless walked to him and gently nudged his hand.

“Lei, I don’t like where this is going.” Striker whimpered as he walked up to her.

“Don’t worry, he can’t hurt us.” Lei assured him softly. “I’m not going to let him hurt you.”

“Just, let me show you.” Hiccup said reaching forward.

“NO! Let me show you!” Drago snapped and proceeded to yell and wave his bullhook around wildly.

Lei and Hiccup turned to see the Bewilderbeast, who was growling at something near the old ice fortress, move towards them. Striker gave another cry of fear and cowered behind his rider, trembling and attempting to look smaller. Toothless growled as the new alpha came close to them.

“No dragon can resist the alpha’s command.” Drago sneered as the great ice spitting dragon loomed over them. “So he who controls the dragons,” he pointed the bullhook at the alpha and then pointed it at Toothless, “controls them all.”

Submit to my will the alpha growled as Toothless began to scream and thrash. Shaking his head wildly in an attempt to block out the command. Submit!

“What’s going on?!” Hiccup asked frantically as his dragon continued to scream and thrash.

“He’s taking control of him!” Lei yelled as Striker began to shake and thrash as well. “No not you too!”

“Lei! Lei help me! He’s in  my head!” Striker cried out frantically. “Please help! Make it stop! Make him stop!”

“Striker!”

“Lei! Lei help-” Both dragons stopped thrashing to raise their heads, their pupils now in very thin slits and a stone blank expression on their faces.

“Witness true strength over others.” Drago sneered as he pointed his weapon at the two humans. “And in the face of it, you are nothing.”

“Both dragons turned their heads towards the humans, their expressions remaining blank as they began to advance towards them.

“Toothless snap out of it bud!” Hiccup yelled as he began to try and back away from his dragon, while Lei did the same.

“Striker stop it! Stop!” Lei yelled as she grabbed a chunk of ice off the floor and chucked it at her friend’s head. “Snap out of it this instant, you’re not being yourself!”

“Toothless no! Stop!” Hiccup yelled as he and Lei were soon backed near a wall of ice.

“Stop it! Stop this!” Lei screamed as both dragons opened their jaws and she saw the light building up in their throats.

“Hiccup!” The two heard someone shout as the dragons grew closer. For a moment Lei thought she heard another name get called out and turned to see a man running towards them with a panicked expression on his face.

“Dad!” Hiccup yelled when he saw his father running towards him and Lei. “NO!”

Lei panicked and grabbed onto Hiccup, prepared to shove him out of the way of the blast when she felt something slam into the both of them and heard a loud blast of fire and electricity being released. They hit the floor hard and Lei felt pain shoot up her hip when she fell on Hiccup, letting out a groan and tried to roll off him.

"Dad…" she heard Hiccup groan as he sat up and looked to her. "Wait did you…"

"The dragons...what did they hit?" Lei responded when she looked over at the two dragons that had smoke coming out of their mouths. "They didn't hit us…"

"Dad!" Hiccup gasped and scrambled to his feet to run over to a large pile of broken ice. Lei sat up and got to her feet to see someone under it and gasped. Under the ice was the man she saw moments before the dragons blasted at them, now lying still while Hiccup and a dark haired woman were trying to push the ice off the body.

Unsure of what to do, Lei slowly made her way over to them as more people gathered. The other riders, the man with the fur vest who had tried to help her earlier, a large beefy man with a stained shirt and missing an arm and leg were now standing around the body with the dragons hanging back.

"He's gone, my rider is gone." Lei heard someone murmur and saw a large red and green male Rumblehorn with his head lowered to the ground. "Stoick is gone…"

"Hiccup? Hiccup what's the matter?" Lei heard the Night Fury said as he tried to approach his rider and nudged the dead man's limp hand. "Stoick? Why aren't you moving-"

"Go away! Get out of here!" Hiccup screamed shoving his dragon away. "Go away!"

"Lei? Why is that human yelling?" Striker asked meekly as he approached her. "What happened?"

"You two...you two were under control and…" Lei hesitated,unsure if she should tell him.

"Lei?"

Before Lei could even say anything, she heard the Bewilderbeast roar loudly. All the dragons roared in response and began to fly towards it, including the dragons of the riders.

"No! No Striker! Come back!" Lei yelled as she tried running after the Skrill. She managed to grab hold of his tail and tried to weigh him down, yelling and begging for him to snap out of the alpha's grasp, but he simply shook her off and sent her falling into the snow.

"Here, let me help." Lei felt strong hands carefully grab her arms and hoist her back onto her feet. Glancing back, she saw it was the dragon trapper who was flying the blue Nadder with Astrid, a sorrowful look on his face. "You alright?"

"I'm fine, just peachy." Lei replied and quickly pulled herself out of her grasp. "I just... gods someone I didn't know died trying to save me."

"Well you were standing next to his son."

"I should have moved faster, I should have moved that fishbone out of the way and this wouldn't have happened! It's all my fault!"

Eret wasn't sure what to do when the poor girl burst into tears. At least when Astrid and the other riders approached them, along with a woman who looked a bit similar to the poor girl and that man who had crushed him earlier with the Hotburple.

"I am so sorry, this is all my fault!" Lei cried and looked to Hiccup. "I should have pushed you out of the way before your father pushed us, it's my fault he's dead!"

"Lei, no one is blaming you. Drago is the one to blame." Astrid said gently, trying to reassure the poor girl. "Look, what's done is done. We're going to be doing a small funeral for Stoick, can you help us at least?" Lei nodded quietly, let Astrid take her hands and followed her to help her and the others find a ship that was still intact.

"There's something familiar about that girl." Valka said to Gobber as they were gathering some broken pieces of wood for the pyre. "But I can't quite put my finger on it."

"I know what you mean Val, something is a bit...off? No that's not right. But there is something familiar about her." The old Smith said with a nod. "Have we ever met her before?"

"I'm not sure, but she seems to know the riders."

"Well, whatever it is, I'm sure we can ask her later. Right now we have a funeral to prepare for."

Chapter Text

Hiccup watched as the boat that had his father's body sail off into the distance as it burned. He looked over at his crying friends and saw the girl Lei sitting on the ground near the edge of the water slowly throwing rocks into the water.

"Hey," he said sitting down next to her. She glanced over at him and picked up another stone.

"All my life I had been tucked away from the cruelty of humans, twenty years to be exact." She said palming the stone. "And I never thought any of them would be this ruthless to kill their own kind for...power. My father was right, humans are just greedy creatures."

"I've met people who have done terrible things but they aren't as bad as Drago. Compared to him, they are just as bad as naughty kids." Hiccup said, bending down and picking up a rock.

"They told me humans were cruel and often slaughtered their own kind, I didn't believe it until I saw it myself with your father."

Hiccup wondered who she was referring to. Whoever told her that humans usually slaughtered their own kind without mercy must not have been human at all or they didn't consider themselves to be on the same level as other humans.

"Why did you try to save me?" Hiccup asked. "You barely know me, but you were ready to shove me out of the way to save my life.

Lei gave a small shrug. "I don't know, maybe it was just Instinct? I grew up with dragons, and I always tried to protect the weaker, older or younger ones that couldn't fight when a stronger dragon tried to fight them. I got scolded for it sometimes."

"Wait you grew up with dragons?" Hiccup asked in surprise.

"You think I'd make this up just to make you feel better? Of course I grew up with them, I even speak dragon!"

"Wait so you can communicate with dragons? Can you communicate or understand a Bewilderbeast?"

"This was my first time seeing one Hiccup, and hearing the bad one's voice in my head gave me chills!" Lei shuddered and rubbed her arms. "I could barely understand the Bewilderbeast, but just enough to hear him tell our dragons to attack you. I couldn't even understand them when they were under its command."

"You knew, but you couldn't even stop them."

Lei lowered her head in shame. "I'm so sorry for your lost Hiccup, I would have given my life to save his. I should have tried harder to stop my friend and yours from firing at you, if I did your father wouldn't have died."

 Hiccup glanced down at the stone in his hand and he saw Lei's hand cover his own hand. It felt just as rough as his own, though he doubted those calluses were from working in a forge.

"You're not to blame, it's my fault." He said softly. "I shouldn't have tried to talk to Drago. I thought I could because it worked in the past but...there was no way I could have done it this time."

"Your father wouldn't have wanted you to blame yourself, and he probably wouldn't have wanted you to be kneeling here on the beach mourning for him for too long." Lei said as she removed her hand from his and rose to her feet. "Astrid said she heard Drago say they were going to Berk, your home island. We have to stop him- all of us."

Hiccup nodded and rose to his feet. "You're right, we have to stop him. It's what my dad would have wanted. A chief protects his own." He turned to the other riders who gathered behind them. "We need to head back to Berk and fight Drago."

"Uh...but he took all the dragons." Ruffnut pointed out.

"Not all of them." Hiccup said with a grin. "Lei has lived among the dragons her whole life, she and my mom probably know a species in the ice fortress that isn't affected by a Bewilderbeast's command."

"I've been exposed to a lot of dragons, but I don't know any that are big enough for us to ride that can't be affected by an alpha's command." Lei admitted. "The only dragons I know that won't listen to anyone are baby dragons."

"Baby dragons...baby dragons big enough to ride- oh I have an idea!" Valka exclaimed excitedly. "We have several broods of these baby dragons that are almost as big as a full grown dragon and they are strong enough to fly and carry someone on their backs!"

"Lead the way then mom!" Hiccup chuckled.

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So Hiccup's idea of using young dragons that were big enough to ride and to fly back to Berk went well. They managed to find some baby Scuttleclaws in the fortress, crying for their parents and asking where the alpha was, and being a bit of a nuisance when Eret tried to wrangle a few for them to ride.

"Here, allow me." Lei groaned as she pushed the ex trapper to the side and walked to one of the babies that had successfully avoided getting caught. "Hi little buddy! Can you give us a hand?"

"What's a hand? Oh I know a hand! Hands belong to humans who feed!" The Scuttleclaw babbled as it ran in circles around her. "I'm hungry! Where's mama? Where's the alpha? Is it feeding time yet? I'm super hungry- oh tail!"

"Well this is certainly going to be harder than I thought." Lei muttered as she followed the dragon to where it's broodmates were playing with twigs and play fighting each other. "Hey! If you help me out you'll get some fish!"

All the little heads turned in her direction at the mention of fish.

"Now, come with me and behave yourselves. You'll get some food when you do as you're told." Lei instructed. "Your…mothers...need help. Can you help us?"

"Where is mama?" One Scuttleclaw asked. "Where did mama go?"

"She...she and all the other mamas and papas left. A bad dragon took them away, and we want to help them." Lei explained as she knelt in front of the baby dragons, who now focused their attention on her. "They need our help, you all are big and strong enough to carry us to where your parents and the parents of the other baby dragons are at. Can you help us?"

The baby dragons looked at each other with confused expressions before one of them asked, "A bad dragon took mama away? Can you get our mamas back?"

"I can if you help us."

"We'll help!" One of the other Scuttleclaws exclaimed loudly. "For our mamas and papas!"

"Huh, so she can actually talk to dragons." Snotlout commented as Lei walked back to them with several baby Scuttleclaws behind her, either tripping over their feet or tackling each other playfully.

"Don't doubt me, I never lie about talking to wild dragons." Lei stated as one of the Scuttleclaws scrambled over to the group and started trying to headbutt one of the twins. "Now remember, they're babies so they don't always listen."

"But didn't they listen to you right now?" Fishlegs asked.

"Because I told them their parents need help, and they really want them back." Lei replied as she walked to one of the more calm of the bunch and climbed onto it's back. "Come on, no time for questions. Your island needs help."

After about a half an hour of the group trying to get onto the baby dragons and getting them off the ground, they were soon on their way to Berk.

"I don't wanna die!" Fishlegs screamed as he held on tightly to his dragon.

"Me neither but we have to use them!" Ruffnut yelled back at him as she managed to get her dragon to not crash into anyone or anything.

"We can't fly these thing!" Tuffnut yelled as he clung onto his own dragon.

"They're babies! They don't listen to anyone!" Hiccup yelled back.

"Who's idea was it to agree to your plan?" Eret yelled as his dragon slammed itself repeatedly into the snow.

"Well let's see you were the first to agree!" Lei yelled back and her dragon decided to slam itself into Eret's. For a moment, Lei felt something when their shoulders touched, and the second they pulled away it disappeared just as soon as it came. What was that?

"So what's your plan?" Gobber asked the two riders as they avoided more icy obstacles.

"We get the dragons back, take down the alpha and kick Drago's-"

"Look out!" Both Snotlout and Astrid screamed as a large chunk of ice came to view. All the dragons ducked under or flew over but Gobber's slammed straight into it.

"Well that's gonna hurt and leave him bruised not only all over his body but his pride too." Lei said to Hiccup and Valka, making them laugh.

<><><><><><><><><>

"There it is!" Astrid yelled as a giant island came into view.

Lei could see a large island coming into view through the thick fog that looked a lot bigger than her home island. Next to it stood the Bewilderbeast and thousands of dragons were flying around it's head.

"It's taken control of all the dragons on the island!" Fishlegs gasped as they were getting close.

"Okay we need to distract the alpha and I have to get Toothless." Hiccup said and flew off. "Figure something out!"

Lei looked down and saw a large contraption and saw several sheep hiding in a corner looking terrified. "Hey what's that contraption over there?" She asked Snotlout and pointed at it.

"That launches sheep during the dragon races. I made it myself." Snotlout said proudly. Then his eyes widened. "Are you thinking what I am thinking?"

"If it's planning on using the sheep to distract the Bewilderbeast then yes that's what I am thinking of." Lei sighed rolling her eyes.

"Well I was thinking of launching Eret at it but sheep would work better since I never used humans." Snotlout said and flew off to get the sheep. Lei turned to follow the others but turned her dragon to go towards the flock of controlled dragons.

"Wait where you going?" Eret called, flying his dragon out in front of her.

"To find my dragon!" She said and tried to go around him but Eret moved to stay in front of her.

"No we have to wait for Hiccup to get his dragon and then maybe we can all figure out a way to save the rest."

"You don't understand! Striker needs me! I have to get him out of that trance myself. Last time that dragon took control of us I had to shake him out of the trance."

"If you go out there and that dragon sees you trying to save your dragon, it will try and kill you using him."

"Then I'll have to take my chances." Lei then urged her dragon to fly on under his and flew towards the flock of dragons.

She flew around the flock, screeching Striker's name and not caring if the Bewilderbeast saw her. Luckily it seemed to be preoccupied with the sheep that was getting thrown at its face.

Oh where is that dragon? As Lei flew her dragon around, she spotted what looked like a Skrill on one of the numerous ice spikes that were sprouting out of the ground. Upon closer look, she recognized the bright purple markings.

"Striker!" She cried out when she saw her friend and urged her Scuttleclaw to fly down towards him. When they got close, Lei could see a hooded figure seated Striker- who was still possessed. When they landed near them on the ice spikes,the hooded rider turned the Skrill to face them.

"Striker! Striker it's me!" Lei called out as she edged near her friend, holding her hand out towards him.

"He can't hear you right now, he's under the alpha's control." The hooded figure said in a muffled voice, ask if something was covering their mouth.

"Who are you?"

"No one you need to worry about at the moment. You can try and take your dragon if you want, but I assure you he may not be able to break out of the trance as easily as you done it last time." The hooded person climbed off the Skrilland stepped away from him. "If the alpha shifts his attention here, it won't hesitate to command your friend to kill you- and this time he won't miss."

Lei edged towards Striker in a crouched position with her hand out, just the way she would with a scared or angry dragon. "Hey Striker it's me buddy, your friend Lei." Striker snorted at her but made no move to attack, letting her get a little closer to him. "You would never hurt me or anyone else, I know you never meant to kill someone else either. You can fight the command just like last time, I know you can!"

Lei was now close enough to the dragon that she could practically touch his wings. She slowly stood up and placed her hand on his snout. "Please come back to me Striker, please. You are my best friend, the sibling I always wish I had in the times I was lonely." Deciding to be a little bolder, Lei placed a hand under his chin and pressed her head gently against his before closing her eyes. "Come back to me little brother, I need you."

Tears were now rolling down the feral girl's cheeks as she softly whispered to the Skrill, hoping she could somehow break the trance of the alpha and bring him back. She heard a soft growl and opened her eyes to find Striker's looking right back at her. She gave a soft gasp as he crooned softly and lifted his head to lick the tears off her cheek.

"Striker! You're okay!" She squealed and hugged him tightly.

"I'm free Lei! I'm free!" Striker yelled excitedly and wrapped his wings around her in a hug. "You saved me! You saved me from the bad alpha!"

Before Lei could say anything, they heard a roar and saw Toothless and Hiccup fly past them. Striker screeched at the duo and Toothless roared back at them.

"What are they doing?" Lei asked as the dragon and his rider flew towards the roaring Bewilderbeast.

"Fighting the evil alpha!" Striker responded and looked to her with excitement in his eyes. "Ooh can we join them?"

"No, this is a battle meant to be fought by them, it's their battle not ours."

"But the pretty blue Nadder said that you promised you'd help them fight the evil alpha!"

Lei was quiet for a moment before nodding. "Okay you're right, I should at least help the fishbone boy out. I'm the only one out of the group aside from him who got their dragon back. But after this fight we are going straight back home, okay? No sticking around to say goodbye or anything like that. Everyone at home probably think we're dead, and I really want to get back to let them know whether or not Drago was stopped."

"Alright!" Striker cheered and stretched his wings before taking off into the air.

"Oh hey, nice of you to join the fight again!" Hiccup yelled when they caught up to him and Toothless.

"Please tell me you at least have a plan, because I don't have one!" Lei yelled back.

"Separate Drago from the alpha and figure out a way to break it's hold on the other dragons before Drago makes it command them to fire on Berk! Any ideas you'd like to add to it?"

"No! Unless you think me trying to talk to the alpha would work- which it won't because big dragons like that don't listen to me!"

Hiccup gave a small laugh."Alright then, my plan it is! Let's just try not to die in the process, okay?"

"Fine by me!"

🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹

"It's all over Drago, you lost!" Hiccup said as he dropped to the ground and began to tuck the wings of his flight suit back into place as Lei's dragon landed near him. "This ends now for you."

"Your reign of terror is over. No more separating dragons from their families, no more killing people who stand in your way, end this now and maybe we'll show you some mercy." Lei added as she hopped off Striker and walked towards her enemy. "You are going to pay for what you have done to-"

"Look out!" Hiccup yelled as the Bewilderbeast rose from behind the buildings and spikes of ice and opened its mouth to spray ice at them.

Before either of the humans could try to run, both their dragons leapt forward to cover their riders from the blast of ice with their bodies. Drago laughed loudly when he saw them encased in the ice, pleased to see his enemies and their pesky dragons now dead.

"No!" Valka yelled as she ran towards the ice and began to pound on it with her fists. She couldn't lose Hiccup like this, not after losing his father so soon either. She didn't want to believe he was gone, she already lost his twin sister weeks after their birth and she didn't think she could handle the heartbreak of losing another child when she noticed the ice was glowing.

Valka gasped as she backed away from it as two different colored lights began to shine through. Everyone who was watching jumped back as the ice block exploded to reveal the two dragons alive and glowing brightly. Toothless' spikes and his nose were glowing a bright blue and the spikes on Striker's body were a bright purple. Both Strike class dragons raised their wings to reveal their stunned riders and lifted their heads to roar loudly at the startled Bewilderbeast.

"You two okay?" Toothless asked as he glanced down at his rider and the other human. Lei nodded before Striker shifted away to let her grab Hiccup by the hand and help him off the ground.

"You two stay back, we got this!" Striker declared as he flared his wings and leapt towards an ice spike with Toothless behind him and snarled at the alpha. "You messed with the wrong dragons!"

"They're challenging the alpha." Hiccup said in amazement as both dragons roared loudly at the Bewilderbeast.

"To protect you both!" Valka added with a grin.

The now angered Bewilder beast roared in challenge and Striker and Toothless roared back before they began firing lightning and plasma blasts at the ice dragon. The Bewilderbeast shook its head as it tried to dodge the blasts, causing it to lose control of all the dragons. The dragons roared and flew over to Berk but didn't attack any of the humans. They all flocked behind Toothless and Striker, as if they were waiting for them to command them. Both Hiccup and Lei took this as a cue to rush over to the spike and leapt onto their dragons.

"This is what it is to earn a dragon's loyalty!" Hiccup yelled at Drago. "Not brute force, that's not loyalty!"

"And trust is what you really need to learn about!" Lei added as Striker and Toothless snarled as if to emphasize her point.

Both dragons roared and all the dragons behind them began to blast their fire at the Bewilderbeast, causing it to stumble back from the island. The two humans could see Drago screaming as he climbed up the ice spitter, attempting to hide from the dragon fire as his dragon took more and more damage from the blasts.

"This ends now!" Hiccup and Lei yelled loudly. At those words, Toothless and Striker released a final blast of lightning and fire at the Bewilderbeast and it struck it's tusk.

The tusk broke off and fell to the ocean the Bewilderbeast drew away from the island with a look of fear in its eyes. Then it turned tail and dove into the ocean with Drago on its back never to be seen again. The Berkians cheered wildly as the dragon dove into the sea and as their new chief and his dragon flew back to them. The old Berkian dragons flew back to their riders, reuniting with them and feeling grateful to have not lost them.

“Hey, what’s the matter bud?” Hiccup asked Toothless when he let out a distressed noise. He looked back to the ice spike he was on earlier with Lei, only to find it empty. He looked around, hoping to see her and her dragon to thank her for their help, but they were nowhere to be found.

“Hiccup, who are you looking for?” Valka asked as she approached her son.

“That girl we met when battling Drago earlier, the one who dad saved.” He responded and shook his head. “But she and her dragon are gone. How can you lose a Skrill like that so quickly?”

“Astrid told me they are feral, not really used to being around so many humans. Perhaps being around so many of them just spooked them away. But don’t worry, I’m sure you’ll cross paths again at some point.”

Hiccup nodded. “I...I sure hope we do.”

Chapter Text

"All my fault, my fault…" Dagur muttered to himself Ashe dug another small rock out of the ground and flung it at the tree in front of him.

Shattermaster, a young Gronckle who Dagur quickly befriended during his first weeks living on the island, watched the depressed human continue to mutter nonsense to himself and fling rocks at trees (especially the tasty ones he could have been throwing to him as a snack) and grunted to let him know he still had him for company.

"I literally lost her, I'm a bad boyfriend!" Dagur groaned to himself as he flopped down on top of the green dragon's side. "I was so sure Flaresight was gonna kill me when I came back alone! But book, the silent treatment is way worse than getting set on fire and torn to shreds!"

"I miss her too ya know, all of us do." Shattermaster commented, even though he knew the human wasn't going to be able to understand him anyway. Poor boy was still having trouble speaking dragon, at one point accidentally insulting an annoyed Changewing and upsetting a sensitive Raincutter.

"I really should have stayed with her,I should have!" Dagur groaned again and stood up. "That's it! I'm going back to that damn fort and getting her back myself! Whether she's dead or alive I am bringing her back home!"

"Shatty!" Shattermaster's ears perked up at the familiar voice as a loud screech sounded through the jungle and a familiar grey and purple dragon came flying out of the trees with-

"Lei!" Dagur screamed in joy as the feral girl leapt off Striker and fell right on top of him, knocking the two of them onto the ground as Striker tackled Shattermaster.

"Still alive!" Lei yelled as she jumped to her feet.

"Oh thank Odin! You had me so worried!" Dagur cried as he got to his feet and flung his arms around her. "I was so worried! When I looked behind me to see if you caught up,you weren't there, the alpha was sooooo mad when he saw I didn't bring you back and I thought he was gonna kill me-"

"He wouldn't do that because Sapphire would kill him herself." Lei interrupted and gave a small laugh. "Oh by your gods I've missed you so much! You wouldn't believe how many humans I've seen when I got caught! So many smells, and noises and so many different looking humans too!"

"Are you hurt? Did any of those humans hurt you?" Dagur asked quickly. Lei lifted up a corner of her shirt to show him a large bruise that she had received a few days ago during her imprisonment and saw his dark green eyes flare with anger. "I'm going to kill those bastards myself!"

"No need to, they won't be a problem anymore." Lei assured him quickly. "Because Drago is gone!"

Dagur looked at Lei in surprise. "Gone? Like, gone gone? Like he's actually dead or something?"

"I helped defeat that mean alpha!" Striker added excitedly as he jumped behind Lei and placed his head on top of hers. "It was so cool! I glowed like a Night Fury!"

"And you wouldn't believe who helped us out, a tame human and a Night Fury!" Lei added with a grin. "I've never seen a Night Fury before, Sapphire told me they were almost extinct! It was such an honor to fight side-by-side with such a powerful dragon!"

"A Night Fury and a tame human?" Dagur asked, his stomach twisting nervously. There had to be a mistake, it couldn't be the human he was thinking of (the only one he knew who tamed and rode a Night Fury).

"Yeah he was a funny looking guy too, pretty skinny like a fishbone, fluffy brown hair that had tiny little braids in it, talked kind of funny too." Lei replied with a nod. "And he had a lot of other humans with him too, I've never knew humans could have hair as yellow as the sun or dark as a shadow! I just thought all humans had red, brown or auburn hair like us!" 

"Haha...yeah...there are more than just redheads and auburn haired people." Dagur said laughing awkwardly. "Uh so...how did you like being around other humans? A lot different than me, right?"

Lei nodded excitedly. "Oh yes! There were nice humans like the tame dragon riders, very friendly to dragons! And then the very mean ones who smell the way you used to before you became one of us!"

Dagur gave another nervous laugh before taking her to a fallen log to sit down on. She told him more about the humans she had seen, which ones she seemed to like, like dragon riders, this feral woman who was Hiccup's mother (this kind of made him smile seeing how Lei gushed about how amazing this woman was in the short time she knew her), and this dragon trapper who was on the Berkian's side who was very kind to her. Though Dagur felt a small pang of jealousy at the mention of this man, he decided not to stew over it. Lei was his, she'd never fling herself at human man she was unfamiliar with like other women.

"You know, if you're up for it, maybe one day we can go to a market so you can get used to being around other people." Dagur suggests when Lei finished talking. "You can meet more humans, they might not be as interesting as the dragon riders you met, but they'll be quite interesting to study."

"I've had enough of being around humans to last me a lifespan of Gronckle. I just wanna be around dragons again." Lei sighed and leaned against him. "As fun as it was to be right in the middle of a village full of humans and dragons, it felt a bit overwhelming. I didn't stay long because I already made a deal with one of the humans that they were to not follow me back when we defeated Drago. And I just couldn't deal with being around too many humans, being around you is enough."

Dagur smiled and raised his hand to run it through her tangled hair. "I know what you mean, being around so many humans is exhausting- and this is coming from someone who grew up around humans. But one of these days, sooner or later, we will have to confront other humans. They may not be as nice as me, every human is different,and I want you to get used to them at least. So maybe one day we could find your human family and you can see them again."

"I don't think I want to. Sapphire said that when she met me, this man who she guessed was my father tried to kill her when she was near me and my brood brother. My family probably kills dragons, they wouldn't want a daughter who was raised by the creatures they kill for who knows what reason."

"Some islands only killed dragons to defend their livestock. Back on my home island my people used to kill dragons for that reason, but also just for sport to show who was stronger." Dagur admitted. "I...I was one of those people, and I regret everything I've done to those dragons before I met you. You changed my mind about dragons, maybe you could do the same with your family."

Lei knew much of his past, she knew he killed dragons because he smelled like he practically bathed in dragon blood when they barely knew each other. It was hard to imagine a younger version of him cackling madly and murdering dragons left and right, but he assured her he was always crazy and bloodthirsty to kill dragons when he was younger. The idea of coming from a family of dragon haters made her shudder, and she hated the idea of having a family like that. If they were anything like that, she was glad they never found her, and she was grateful for the family she had now.

Sapphire, Knock Out and Brightclaw were the best mothers she could ever have. They taught her how to fight, how to defend herself against males, how to care for baby dragons. They and the other dragons practically showered her with love and affection since she was brought to them, and she loved them back as much as they loved her. Flaresight may have been a grumpy father to her, but he was still a better father than the human one who tried to kill Sapphire. He was quite protective of her and the dragons he ruled, as an alpha should be. Her dragon family was perfect, and with Dagur now a part of their family it was even more so.

But there was the thought of her brood brother, the one Sapphire never took with her. What was he like? Was he like their father? Or was he like their mother, the human woman Sapphire saw attempt to defend her and gave her enough time to escape. And what did he even look like?

"Maybe someday I'll try and surround myself with humans, but today I just want to be with the one who I'm most comfortable with." She said and felt Dagur place a small kiss on her forehead.

"If that's what you want, I'm fine with that." He assured her. "Let's just enjoy the peace and quiet the island gives us."

<><><><><><><><><><><><>

I said I wasn't going near any humans, yet look where I'm at. Lei thought to herself.

Today she and Striker were back on Berk, but on a rather secluded spot. Dagur had suggested a few days after her return that if she didn't feel comfortable being around humans, they could observe them from a distance- a preferably far distance. She liked the idea of studying how different humans acted from a distance, and decided to take Striker with her to do it on Berk.

From the looks of it, the island was still under construction after the Bewilderbeast's attack, some humans repairing the tops of strange structures Dagur called houses, others trying to remove huge chunks of ice by having Nadders and Nightmares and other dragons known for having powerful fire blasts to melt it down without causing a mess. She had seen humans of varying ages and sizes, from old bent over ones with grey hair and faces as wrinkled as spoiled fruit, young humans no bigger than some young dragons helping out in the cleanup of the island.

"This place seems like a nice place to live, imagine growing up on an island like this." Striker commented as he snuggled next to his friend to watch the humans at work. "It's kind of like our island, but with more humans."

"And the dragons seem to be like pets to them." Lei added and scratched the top of his head. "I guess dragons here are treated a lot better than on other islands. At least they're not being treated like mindless beasts."

"Well there's a familiar pair I didn't think I'd see again." Lei gave a loud hiss of surprise and leapt around to face whoever had approached her, already in her defensive stance. Striker did so as well, sparks leaping across his body as he growled loudly at the big red and green Rumblehorn they hadn’t seen since the battle.

“You scared the cuss out of us!” Lei snarled as she relaxed a bit. Eret, the rider who she never thought she’d see again, held his hands up in defense.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to sneak up on you two. By the way, what are you two even doing here?”

“Nothing that...concerns you.” Lei responded as Striker lowered his defensive stance and crouched behind her, eyeing the Rumblehorn nervously.

“Enjoying the sights of Berk then?” Eret suggests as he lowers his hands. “Believe me, the sunsets here are beautiful. You ought to stick around until nightfall to see them.”

“Lei I think he’s flirting.” Striker whispered and the Rumblehorn scoffed loudly.

“I don’t think my rider has any time to be “flirting” with females who smell like they are already taken by someone.” The old tracker dragon commented, to which Lei rolled her eyes.

“Geez Knock Out would like him.” She muttered before turning her attention to Eret. “Look, I don’t want any problems. I just came here to...study.”

“Study what? Humans? Dragons living side by side with humans?”

“Eh...something like that.”

Eret gave a small chuckle are walked forward to stand near the edge of the cliff next to her. “It’s honestly a nice place to live, a lot better than where I was living. And the people are treating me a lot better too now.”

“Why would they not be treating you better?” Lei asks as Eret carefully seats himself down to dangle his legs off the ledge of the cliff.

“I’m an outsider, and according to some of my new friends, outsiders have brought nothing but trouble to this poor island and its people.” The ex trapper explained as the feral girl sat down next to him. “A man like Drago can really hurt people doing what he had been doing for years. And even if the people who work for him aren’t essentially bad people, like me for example, we’re still viewed badly. On my first hours of Berk some idiots got in a bit of a scuffle with me because I was defending Hiccup, who I happily accepted as a new chief.”

“What?! That’s so rude!”

“Yeah, but it was nothing I couldn’t handle. Four men versus one big man like me who’s been wrangling dragons as big as the dragon Hiccup’s mother rides since I was fifteen!”

Lei gave loud laugh and flexed her arm. “Oh so you’re that strong? I’ve been wrestling with dragons twice my weight since I was ten! I bet you I can kick your ass in a feat of strength!”

“Oh am I being challenged?”

“You are indeed!”

“You’re both being childish.” Skullcrusher mutters and shakes his head. “And you, stop cowering all the time. I’m not going to kick you off the cliff, you can stand up to a big scary dragon like a Bewilderbeat but you’re cowering at the sight of an old dragon like me?”

“That was an adrenaline rush! And I was protecting my sister!” Striker retorts, puffing his chest out angrily. “Also I have a respectful fear of Rumblehorns, one of my foster mothers is one.”

Skullcrusher rolled his eyes before going stiff. “Well they found us.”

“Lei! Move!” Striker yelled, grabbing his sister by the back of her shirt and yanked her back from the edge of the cliff.

“Wha- WHOA!” Lei was grateful that Striker pulled her back in time as a large Monstrous Nightmare that was on fire flew up and landed right on the edge of the cliff.

Eret barely had enough time to roll out of the way to avoid getting burned and glared at the flaming beast. “What the Hel, Snotlout?!”

Snotlout gave him a grin. “Whoops! Soooo sorry for interrupting your little date with- hey isn’t that the feral girl with the Skrill?”

“Rude!” Lei gasped and Striker rolled his eyes.

“Sorry, he’s a little dramatic and suffers from small dragon syndrome when he’s near that man.” The Nightmare said apologetically to her.

“I can tell.” Lei mutters as she gets to her feet and tries to brush the dirt off the back of her skirt. “Well we have to go, I think Striker and I have had enough observing for today.”
“Aw really? The rest of the riders were gonna come up here because the twins spotted your Skrill earlier and saw Eret fly after you, and they just wanted to talk a bit!” Snotlout commented as other dragons started to arrive, and much to Lei’s dismay they had their riders.

“Oh hey! You’re back already?” Hiccup greeted as he landed his dragon and quickly dismounted. “It’s been like, what, two weeks since you left?”

“So why are you back so soon?" One of the riders asked, a lanky blonde male who sat on the head of a Zippleback while a female human who looked like him sat on the other head. "Did ya miss us?"

"Hardly." Lei deadpanned. "And now if you excuse me, I'd like to get home before my alpha gets worried and the rest of my family thinks Striker and I got captured again."

"Aww but we just got here!" The Night Fury said as some of the other dragons surrounded her and Striker. "At least stay to eat, we've got great fish here!"

"I can't stay, I was just here to do some observing." Lei said to him and gave the dragon a gentle scratch under the chin. "But thanks for the offer, maybe another time."

"I still can't get over the fact that you can actually speak dragon, it's incredible!" The rider of the Gronckle, a large blonde man with what looked like a sorry excuse of a beard, stated in a giddy tone. "And you talk back to them in the noises they make too! How'd you learn all this?"

"Can't really explain it, it was just so natural for me." Lei replied as she climbed onto Striker's back. "Now please, no following me. My alpha would flip if any new humans followed us back to our island,we already have another human living with us and I've already been trying to keep the other dragons from attacking him ever since he was allowed to live among us."

"Now hold on, at least let us give you something to eat or stay for the night. You and your dragon must be tired." Hiccup said quickly.

"I am hungry Lei, and tired." Striker admitted and looked over at his sister. "Maybe we could stay for a bit longer?"

"I am not going into that village! Way too many humans, and Flaresight will murder Dagur for even suggesting I go near humans again!” Lei hissed quickly. “We have to GO now!”

The Skrill frowned before pushing past the dragons and took off into the air. Lei gave a sigh of relief as they flew from Berk and rubbed the top of Striker’s head.

“Sorry little brother, but you know how Flaresight feels about us being around other humans. Even after I told him it was a good human who helped us fight Drago, he doesn’t want us to get so close to any humans who may follow us.”

“And here I thought you were little miss rule breaker.” Striker muttered. “You used to be so rebellious, what happened to that?”

“I’m wondering the same about you, mister “I will take on any dragon when I go titan mode”.”

Striker stuck his tongue out in annoyance. “By the way, a lot of the dragons looked panicked when you mentioned Dagur. What was up with that?”

“Beats me, but it sounds like they possibly knew him. I would ask the humans but…”

“Uh Lei? I think someone is following us.”

“What?!” Lei turned to see the faint outline of a pair of dragons, but they were too far away for her to see what they were (or if anyone was riding them). She gave a frustrated growl and urged Striker to take to the clouds in hopes of hiding in them. They weren’t storm clouds, but they would have to do for now. There was no way she was going to risk having strange dragons follow her home, and if her hunch was correct, they most definitely had riders with them.

Chapter Text

“I just don’t get it, I can’t get what is so familiar about that girl!” Valka muttered to herself in frustration as she tossed Cloudjumper another fish. Ever since the battle, Valka couldn’t shake the feeling that she had seen that girl before, but where?

She hadn’t been anywhere that far from the sanctuary to have crossed paths with any other feral humans, and she never went near any villages during her twenty years away from Berk.

Cloudjumper, sensing his friend’s frustration, gave a small purr and gently nudged her. Valka smiled a bit and turned to him.

“I know, I know, but I just can’t shake that feeling that I met that girl. She is just so familiar.”

“Mom! Mom you would not believe who came to the island!” Hiccup yelled as he burst into the stables with his dragon and the other dragon riders. “The feral girl and her Skrill!”

“What was she doing here?” Valka asked in surprise as CLoudjumper perked up a bit.

“She claimed to be observing.” Snotlout replied quickly. “But we found her on the cliff overlooking the village and found her getting a little cozy with Eret!”

“Was not! I was just talking to her!” Eret retorted in annoyance. “Honestly, all we did was talk and joke around!”

“That’s not what I saw! I bet you were going to kiss her!”

“If you don’t stop making false statements I will happily chuck you off the highest cliff of the island and let your dragon watch in amusement!”

“Enough arguing!” Hiccup yelled as the men stopped bickering. “Eret, what was she here for?”

“I told you chief, she was just here to observe the village.” Eret responded and cast a glare at Snotlout. “That was all. We started talking, then joking around a bit before Snotlout came flying out of nowhere and the rest of you crowded her and scared her off.”

“She did seem a bit uncomfortable.” Fishlegs said with a nod. “I guess she’s not really used to being around so many humans who have their attention on her?”

“But she seemed fine when we were on Drago’s ship, and when we were stranded on the island where the sanctuary was.” Astrid pointed out. “But then again, Valka was kind of acting the same way a few days ago when a lot of the villagers were crowding her.”

“She is right, you all should not have been crowding her like that.” Valka scolded. “Do any of you do that with a frightened or injured dragon?”

“No.” All the riders responded.

“Exactly. Hiccup, do you know which way she went?”

“Uh…” Hiccup tapped his chin. “I think in the direction of Dragon Island, where this old volcano is at that used to have a Red Death living on it. It’s a good place for a dragon to rest and live on.”

“Well what are we waiting for?”

<><><><><><><><><><>

“Hey mom, can you at least explain why we’re following her?” Hiccup asked his mother as they flew in the direction the riders had seen Lei and her Skrill fly off.

“I’ll explain when we find her!” Valka responded as she caught sight of something in the distance. “Son, hand me that thing you use to look at things far away!”

Hiccup quickly tossed the small device to his mother and moments later she threw it back at him. “See anything?” He asked her and she nodded.

“She looks like she’s trying to lose us in the clouds, perfect cover to avoid being found by anyone. You and Toothless try to drive them out of the clouds, I’ll try and block an escape route!”

Hiccup nudges Toothless to fly faster to get closer to Lei, quite glad that it was him and his dragon flying after her and not anyone else. Everyone knew they Skrills were quite fast, especially when they would ride bolts of lightning and use the fierce winds from storms to make them fly faster, and the only dragon that can rival it’s speed were Night Furies.

“Come on bud, let’s get them!” Hiccup yelled as Toothless gave a burst of speed and took off into the clouds.

So far he couldn't see anything, but he was quite sure he kept hearing Lei and Striker zipping around in the clouds near them. As they were flying, trying to locate them with Toothless' echolocation, Hiccup heard a loud screech from behind and ducked down just in time before looking up to see a familiar Skrill flying over them.

"There! Drive them up Toothless!" The Night Fury roared and took off after the Skrill.

"I told you not to follow me!" Hiccup heard Lei yell.

"You told Astrid and my friends not to follow, you never made me promise!" Hiccup yelled back as they chased Striker upwards. "My mom just wants to probably talk!"

"What mother?!"

The two dragons burst out from the clouds, facing each other as the two humans held on tightly to them.

"Please Lei, we're not trying to follow you to your island!" Hiccup yelled as both dragons flapped their wings to stay airborne above the clouds. "My mom for some reason just really needs to talk with you, or something, I don't know! For weeks she's been trying to figure out what was so familiar about you!"

"I never even met your mother until the battle!" Lei pointed out. "I heard of her from the hunters I attacked, but that was just about it! What does she even want from me?"

A loud roar sounded from below and Cloudjumper erupted from the clouds near them withValka clinging onto him.

"To the island below, now!" Cloudjumper snarled as he and his rider dove back below the clouds.

"He seems quite angry." Striker muttered as he dove after the Stormcutter with Toothless and Hiccup behind him.

Below was a large island, which all three of the dragons landed on. Valka quickly dismounted her dragon and hurried over to his son and the feral girl as they were dismounting their own dragons.

"Hold still, the both of you." Valka ordered as she pushed them both together.

"Mom! What's going on?" Hiccup asked as Valka started inspecting them.

"Ma'am this feels very weird!" Lei commented as Valka grabbed a strand of her auburn hair and held it next to Hiccup's.

"Very close, mm...the shade of green is very similar as well, but her nose is just a bit smaller…" Valka muttered before releasing them. "Just stand still, shoulder to shoulder."

The two did as they were asked, holding still as she examined them some more. Upon closer inspection, Valka could see how similar Lei looked to Hiccup, from those wide green eyes, the round nose, the shape of her chin, it was almost like they were close to being identical if Lei was a boy.

"Of course...how could I have been so blind?" Valka murmured as she reached forward, placing a hand on Lei's cheek. "I should have seen it when you two stood together the first time I saw you. After all these years...it really is you."

"Wait what are you talking about?" Lei asked, glancing at Hiccup, who shrugged and gave her a confused look.

"Lei, years ago Hiccup once had an older sister- a twin to be exact. She was born with a strange marking on her back, one that looked a lot like a-"

"A Skrill?"

Valka looked surprised. "Yes, but how…"

Lei quickly pulled her tunic over her head, pulled her hair up and turned to show them her back. A large purple marking that seemed to take space on her whole back, looking a lot like a Skrill in flight.

"One of my mother's thought she had hurt me when she saw a part of the mark, but when it didn't fade away like a normal bruise she realized it was some sort of birthmark." Lei explained as she dropped her hair so it was covering her back again. "And the one who took me was a blue female Monstrous Nightmare, and she told me I had a brother when she first saw me, a baby boy who looked a lot like me."

"Blue Monstrous Nightmare...oh my Thor." Valka gasped as her hands touched Lei's face again. "Oh my Thor...it really... it's really you!"

"Wait mom, are you saying what I think you're saying?" Hiccup asked, looking between his mother and Lei. "Are you absolutely sure she's...you know!"

"Hiccup, the marking, her appearance, she even told us a blue Nightmare took her- that's the exact dragon that took your sister." Valka replied and looked to Lei. "My gods I never thought I'd see you again, like this especially!"

"You... Sapphire said she tried to stop my father from killing her." Lei said softly as tears began to form in her eyes. "All my life I didn't think I needed to find my family...but I think…"

"Kari...Kari my baby girl!" Valka cried as she pulled the girl into a hug. "Oh my baby! I thought I lost you forever!"

"Mom... you're my mom." Lei murmured as her hands moved to hug Valka. "So...that means…" she looked to Hiccup, her eyes wide in shock. "You're my brother…and the man who saved me…"

"Stoick, he was your father." Valka murmured. "Your father unknowingly saved you."

"No...oh gods…" Lei whispered and buried her face into Valka's shoulder.

Hiccup could hardly believe it, but he couldn't deny it either. Kari looked so similar to him, and seeing her next to his mother he could now see similarities between them. His older twin sister, the one he never knew, the one his father would cry about when he was little and probably never stopped crying about. She wasn't dead at all like they thought, she was right here and alive.

"I...I have to go home, I have to tell my family." Lei said raising her head and releasing Valka. "I-I have to tell them this! Oh my gosh Flaresight is going to go nuts when he finds out I went to a human village!"

"Go, just come back when you have the chance." Valka urged and gave her a quick hug. "Just remember, Berk is open to you- always."

"Do you have to go? And so soon?" Hiccup asked. "We just found you!"

"I'll come back when I can, I just need to tell my family this." Lei assured him. "And I have to make sure my...I don't even know what to call him... doesn't get killed because he suggested I go observe a human village. Maybe I should bring him to Berk, he'll be safe there."

"Just come back. And be safe." Valka said and pulled her into a hug. "Please, just be careful."

"I'll try too. And I'll try to wrap my head around this whole...thing." Lei promised and hugged her back. "You both be careful too."

Chapter Text

"I'm telling you Sapphire, I really found my human family! And they really like dragons!"

"But are you absolutely sure, Lei? Are you absolutely sure these humans are really your family?"

"I am absolutely, and positively sure!"

Dagur watched Lei as she seemed to argue back and forth with the blue Monstrous Nightmare in the dragon language he still couldn't understand while her mate, who occasionally glanced over at Dagur and glared at him. Whatever they were arguing about seemed pretty heated, and he wished he could understand what they were saying.
Earlier Lei had came back to the island with Striker out of breath and too tired to even go back to his nest to sleep, she didn't even tell him anything, and dragged him to Sapphire and Flaresight to tell them something.

"No, you are not going back, I don't care if you found a bunch of humans who are friendly towards dragons." Flaresight stated and cast a scowl in Dagur's direction. "I should have kicked him off the island the day he got better, that human has done nothing but-"

"He taught me how to behave correctly around humans!" Lei interrupted, fury in her eyes. "If it wasn't for him, I would never have tried to stop Drago, and if I hadn't done that I would never have found my human family who want me back in their lives!"

"And how do you even know if they're telling the truth about being your real family? They could either be lying or have mistaken you for another human who looks similar to you."

Lei placed a hand on her chest. "I can't properly explain it, but I just know they're my family. The woman's story matches mine, she even remembers Sapphire! Please, you have to at least meet them and see for yourself- all of you."

Sapphire gave her mate an angry look before turning back to her daughter with a concerned expression. "Lei, are you sure you want to do this? You told me the last time you were surrounded by so many humans you felt overwhelmed being around them."

"I'll be fine Sapphire, it's just going to be my brother, mother and their dragons." Lei assured her. "And I want them to meet Dagur too, it's fair they got to meet the man who taught me so much."

Sapphire nodded and looked to Flaresight, who gave a frustrated sigh. "Fine, you can go see them, take Sapphire and anyone else with you. And take the human as well, just be careful."

"Yes! You're the best!" Lei cheered and threw her arms around him in a hug, earning a surprised "oof!" from the Nightmare before she released him and ran to Dagur with a big grin on her face.

"I take it your little talk went well?" Dagur asked when Lei approached him.

"Yep! And Flaresight said I can take you, Sapphire and anyone else to meet my family!" Lei replied in a giddy tone as she pulled him towards the nests where Striker was asleep with Shattermaster and several Terrible Terrors watching over them.

"Uh actually...I don't think it'd be such a good idea for me to come. This is a private moment I don't want to interrupt it with my presence."

Lei cocked her head to the side. "Uh, why wouldn't it be a good idea? You are a part of the family, in a way."

"Well it's just that... it's you, your mom and brother getting to meet your dragon family, I'm not a part of that family."

"Dagur, you're a part of my family. You live here with us in the nests now, that means you are a part of the family." Lei took his hands in hers. "To me, you are family. You're my...sort-of-mate?"

Dagur laughs. "Not sure what the proper word is, but I'm sure we'll find a proper word for what we are."

"So will you come?"

"No, but I'll stay here and make sure no one murdered anyone."

🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹

"What's with all this fish?" Hiccup asked his mother as she was placing down another basket of fish on the ground.

"I wasn't sure what kind of dragons your sister was bringing or how many, I had to practically beg Bucket and Mulch for all these fish!" Valka explained as she opened one basket up and held it out to her son. "And I wasn't sure what kind of fish they ate so I had to go fishing myself with some sea dragons to get the rest of these. Do you think she'll like this?"

They had set up a large campfire in the old cove where Hiccup used to hide Toothless, a perfect and secluded place where no one could disturb them or startle Lei and her dragon's either. The other dragon riders were invited to come along and join the chief and his mother properly welcome the lost Berkian heir and her adoptive family, but Hiccup had them wait outside the cove with their dragons just in case Lei's dragon family got nervous around humans they were not familiar with.
"I should go meet them at the cliffs, Lei said she'd meet us there." Hiccup said as he whistled for Toothless, who was busy sniffing at one of the food baskets and licking his lips eagerly. "Come on bud, no eating the food yet, it's for our guests."
"But I'm starving…" Toothless muttered as she reluctantly walked back to his rider and let him climb on.
"Relax, if they don't want the fish Lei will let you have it."
The two flew out of the cove and out of the woods towards the cliffs. Much to their relief, Lei was waiting there with a group of seven unfamiliar dragons, surrounding her. Lei had seen them and clambered onto the back of one of the larger dragons to wave them down.
"Where have you been?" She asked when they landed. "I've been waiting for ages!"
"Ten minutes to be exact." Striker muttered to Toothless. "She wouldn't stop pacing."
"Oh hush you!" Lei scolded as she jumped down and hurried over to Hiccup gave her human brother a hug. "Where's our mother?"
"In a cove, just follow us." Hiccup replied. He watched as his sister spoke to each of the dragons in various dragon noises before she climbed onto Striker and followed him and Toothless with the other dragons behind them.
"He looks just like her but with shorter hair!" Lei heard Knock Out comment loudly from behind. "And he really is like a talking fishbone!"
"Don't be rude!" Sapphire scolded. "You're talking about the human who rides an alpha!"
"Well he is a fishbone." Lei said with a laugh.
"Yeah and that ain't changing!" Toothless yelled from the front of the group. "Now dive!"
🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹
"Can we go in now? We've been waiting for hours!" Snotlout groaned impatiently. "I'm starving!"
"Hiccup told us to wait, we don't want to spoil the wild dragons with our presence." Fishlegs' scolded and tossed his dragon another small rock into her open mouth. "He didn't have to invite us to meet Lei's wild dragon family, but he did and we have to respect that they're antsy around humans."
"And we know freaked out wild dragons are not fun to deal with." Astrid adds.
"Okay but I'm sure they'll be more antsy around him because he probably still reeks of dragon trapping." Snotlout said jerking his thumb at Eret, who just gave him an unamused look.
"They probably wouldn't like you because you're too loud and stink." He shot back and the twins laughed.
"I had a bath last week!"
"Exactly! Lei lives with dragons and all the times we've met her she's practically cleaner than you!"
"Someone call my name?" The riders looked up to see Lei perched atop some rocks with an apple in her hand and took a bite into it.
"Hey should we keep calling you Lei or are we allowed to call you Kari?" Ruffnut asked.
"Y'all can call me whatever you want as long as it's not offensive." Lei responds as she tossed the rest of her apple to Hookfang, who eagerly snapped it up. "Hiccup said you can join in now, but one at a time. Eret gets to go first with his dragon.
"No fair!" Snotlout yelled in protest.
Eret just laughed and followed Lei with Skullcrusher at his heels.
"So how are they liking your brother and mother?" The ex trapper asked as Lei led him through the forest towards the cove.
"Oh they loved my mother, Sapphire loved her so much she flew off and came back with a shark to give her as an apology gift for taking me." Lei laughed. "The others seem to like Hiccup, especially when he showed them his fire blade. They all wouldn't stop bowing to Toothless and giving him their fish as tribute. He's going to be fat by the time this is over."
"Not unless Hiccup keeps tossing them back their fish and scolding Toothless." Eret chuckles as they reach the entrance of the cove. "So...what do I do before entering?"
"When you get to the part where the cove is, walk in on your hands and knees with your head down, show them you're no threat."
"Really?"
"Yes, really! I had my sort-of-mate do it when I first brought him to the nests and no one killed him."
"Sort-of...mate?"
"I'll explain later, just do what I say."
Eret followed her into the tunnel leading into the cove, Skullcrusher flying overhead to introduce himself to the dragons. When they reached the end where the cove was, Eret got down on his hands and knees to follow Lei, who was also crouched in the same position. There were seven dragons, a blue Monstrous Nightmare, a Rumblehorn, two Razorwhips, a large brown and orange dragon with very large horns, two Hobblegrunts and a small black dragon perched on Valka's arm like a hunting bird.
Upon hearing them, the bigger dragon slowly walked towards them, snorting and glaring at Eret until Lei crawled over to it making soft snorting noises and it's expression softened. Moving back to him, Lei took Eret's hand and brought it towards the wild dragon's snout, and he carefully placed his hand there. The dragon made a soft cooing noise before moving it's snout hand away and moved back to the other dragons.
"What dragon was that?" Eret asked as he got to his feet.
"She's a Crimson Goregutter, her name is Stonebreaker." Lei replied softly. "Aside from Sapphire, the Monstrous Nightmare, she cared for me the majority of my childhood until I was old enough to defend myself. She's kind of like…the elder of the dragons?"
"So a grandmother?" Eret suggests. "That's basically the head female of a human family, the mother of one's mother or father."
"I suppose, in a way. Come, meet the other dragons."
One by one Lei introduced Eret to the other six dragons, each one just nodding in approval or gently headbutting him with their snouts before turning their attention back to their food. Eventually the rest of the riders and their dragons were allowed into the cove and introduced to the wild dragons, repeating what Eret had done to not seem threatening.
"A Crimson Goregutter! I've never seen one in person, just from old stories and pictures!" Fishlegs' squealed excitedly as Stonebreaker was munching on a piece of shark Striker had brought back for her to snack on. "Lei you were practically raised by one!"
"Not really, the other females helped raised me along with some males." Lei said with a small laugh. "But she did care for me the majority of my childhood, and always made sure I was safe. I'm surprised she liked Eret so quickly, she's barely getting used to my sort-of-mate."
"A sort-of what now?" Snotlout asked with a confused face.
"It's...how do I explain this…" Lei tapped her chin in thought. "Mates are someone you have children with, someone you normally spend your life with. He and I...are not mates but we sleep in the same nest together and squish faces to show affection."
"That's the weirdest way to say that, but I think I know what you're talking about." Tuffnut said quickly.
"Oh you're already courting someone?" Valka asked, perking up. "Who is it?"
Lei felt her cheeks grow warm. "Well...he used to be a bad guy, like he would ensnare dragons and sell them but he doesn't anymore ever since he started living on my island. He's the one who taught me a lot about human culture and how to speak Norse."
"What's his name?"
"It's...Dagur."
"WHAT?!" The riders exclaimed in horror. Eret looked to Valka, who was now wearing a small frown on her face.
"Dagur... Oswald's son?" She asked turning to Hiccup.
"Sounds like it, but mom this guy is crazy!" Hiccup exclaimed. "He's tried to kill me so many times as a kid and as a teenager, even when he escaped he became more deranged and he hates dragons!"
"Uh...my Dagur is nothing like that, he's a nice guy." Lei pointed out. "He's sweet and caring, he even has a dragon of his own named Shattermaster."
"He's tried to kill Hiccup too many times, even tried to kill me!" Toothless said and growled. "Should have blasted him to bits when I had the chance!"
"Are we even talking about the same Dagur?" Striker asked. "Because her guy is actually very nice."
"Lei, does he have red hair, a scar on the right side of his face and blue tattoos over his left eye?" Hiccup asked turning to his sister, praying and hoping the man she was talking about wasn't the one he was dreading about.
"Yeah he does, and this really scratchy face hair he has the tendency to rub on my face just to annoy me." Lei replied and frowned. "Hiccup, he's a good man, are you sure we're talking about the same Dagur?"
"Lei you just described the most insane man in the Archipelago, he's tried to kill us, he even tried to kill our father!" Hiccup said as he grabbed his sister by the shoulders. "He could be lying to you, manipulating you to use you for who knows what bad plans-"
"No- no you're lying!" Lei snapped, shoving her brother away. "Dagur would never do that to me, he loves me, he changed because of me! You're lying!"
"Lei I'm not- Lei!" Hiccup tried to stop his sister as she leapt onto Striker and took off into the sky.
"Well that went well." Snotlout muttered, earning a slap to the back of the head from Astrid.

"And where are you going?" Valka asked as Hiccup mounted his own dragon.

"To find my sister, we need to have a serious talk!" Hiccup yelled before Toothless took off after the Skrill.

"Is Dagur really that bad?" Eret asked Astrid as they watched their friends take off.

"They don't call him Dagur the Deranged for nothing Eret." She said with a shake of her head. "But Hiccup is right, he could be manipulating Lei to have access to her dragons. But for all we know Lei could be right and Dagur had changed to be a better person. There's only one way to find out."

Chapter Text

She didn't want to believe him, her brother had to be lying. Dagur was not manipulating her in any way, that was not true! Lei gave out a frustrated scream of anger, causing poor Striker to cringe.

"He doesn't know him like I do, he's changed so much since I met him!" Lei muttered angrily to herself. "And I’m going to prove it to him!”

“All the other dragons seemed upset last time when they heard Dagur’s name, like Meatlug looked downright terrified, Hookfang looked sick to his stomach, what if Hiccup is right?” Striker pointed out. “I mean he was pretty scary back then, even our most fearsome dragons were nervous around him.”

“That was then, this is now. The old Dagur died back on Drago’s boat, the one I know would never betray me.” Lei retorted and looked down at her dragon. “He’s changed, they have to see that. And I want to prove it to them, I want them to see him for what he’s become.”

“But will they accept the new him?”

“They’ll have to.”

Glancing behind her, Lei caught sight of a familiar dragon coming close to them, but made no move to urge Striker to lose them.

“Lei we need to talk!” Hiccup yelled as he and Toothless reached the duo. “Please?”

“About what? That you called my sort-of-mate manipulative and that he’s using me?” Lei asked, casting her twin a glare. “He’s not like that Hiccup, trust me on this.”

“Okay okay I see your point, but Dagur can be manipulative. He’s very cunning and will do anything to get what he wants no matter what, I’m just warning you because I don’t want you to get hurt or be used by him.” Hiccup tried explaining as he flew Toothless to be close to Striker and reached out towards his sister. “I just want to keep you safe, I never got to do it back then and I want to make up for it. It’s what good brothers do, we’re supposed to protect our siblings no matter what.”

“I appreciate the sentiment Hiccup, but I can take care of myself, it’s what I’ve been raised to do.” Lei said and pointed ahead. “There’s my home, and since you are with me I’m going to prove to you that Dagur is not bad anymore. In fact once I do, you have to tell the others.”

“I smell something!” Toothless suddenly shouted, his pupils turning to slits. Striker’s pupils slitted as well as both dragons roared in panic.

“Whoa what’s going on?!” Hiccup yelped as the dragons drove straight for the island.

"I don't know, but hang on!" Lei yelled as the dragons took a nosedive.

Toothless followed Striker through the canopy of trees as the Skrill screeched in panic. They landed on a tree as Striker began to scream and cry out for the other dragons in panic that Lei realized what was wrong. The whole island was quiet, too quiet and void of dragons. Normally she would have seen a Terror or two napping in the branches above or heard the screeching or roaring of other dragons.

“The dragons...I think they’re gone.” Lei stated as she looked to Hiccup with worry. “This whole island is brimming with dragons, but I don’t see any.”

“Maybe they’re in hiding?” Hiccup suggests. 

“No, and we would have seen some flying around the island as patrol. Something is very wrong.”

“Lei, I’m getting the faint whiff of blood- dragon’s blood.” Toothless said and pointed in the direction of the nesting grounds. “From over there.”

“The nests!” Striker screeched as Lei immediately leapt onto his back. Hiccup followed as they arrived at a large clearing with several different nests spread about but they were all empty..and surrounded by bodies.

“No...no no no no!” Lei gasped as she ran amongst the nests and bodies of both humans and dragons. "Flaresight! Flaresight! Dad!" Lei yelled as she ran through the nesting area.

HIccup ran after his sister, maneuvering past the decomposing bodies of dragons and hunters before he heard her give a loud scream. He ran faster before arriving at a large rock and found Lei kneeling in front of a large Monstrous NIghtmare and sobbing loudly. The dragon was still breathing, but even he could see that it’s life was slowly fading away.

“Come on, come on stay wake Flaresight, please don’t leave!” Lei sobbed as she hugged the dragon’s head tightly, tears spilling from her eyes. “You have to tell me what happened, I have to know what happened here! Where’s Dagur, where are the other dragons?”

“Gone...far away…” The old NIghtmare croaked softly and grunted in pain. “They came so quickly...I couldn’t even save them…”

“The hunters took them? How did they find us?” Lei asked. “Only Dagur and his crew knew of this place but they were all killed except for-”

“He did it…”

“What?”

“He...he betrayed us...I was so foolish to have let him stay…” Flaresight wheezed and looked up at Lei sadly. “I shouldn’t have...I tried so hard to protect you and the other dragons...I didn’t know I had let our enemy wander into our midst…”

“No...no Dagur would never have done this, he’s not bad!” Lei tried to argue, but she could see the serious look in Flaresight’s eyes. “Flaresight, this can’t be true!”

“I’d never lie to you, never in my life had I ever lied to you-” The dragon began to cough violently before trying to catch his breath. “Sapphire, the others you took, keep them safe for me, find the others.”

“No, I can’t do this alone, I need you!” Lei cried as she tried to lift his head. “I’m not an alpha like you, I can’t protect them as well as you!”

“Nonsense, you can save them. You don’t need to be an alpha to save them Lei, but you have the heart of one.” Flaresight lifted his head as high as he could and Lei leaned her head down to touch her forehead against his. “You have the heart of an alpha and the soul of a dragon, I trust you to keep your mothers and family safe for me. Don’t forget who you are Lei, never forget...my daughter…” and with those last words, the Monstrous Nightmare drew his last breath and released it, dropping his head back onto the ground.

“D-dad? Dad! Dad no!” Lei cried as she tried to lift the dragon’s head off the ground. “No no please wake up, wake up! Please wake up!”

Hiccup and Toothless could only watch as the girl clung to the old dragon’s head, screaming and begging him to wake up while Striker walked up to her and wrapped his tail around her in comfort.

“Lei...I’m sorry.” Hiccup said as he walked up to his sister and laid a hand on her shaking shoulder.

“He betrayed us...you...you were right.” Lei looked up at him and quickly wiped the tears from her face. “You were right, he tricked me! How could I have been so stupid?!”

“Don’t blame yourself, you did nothing wrong.” Hiccup assured her as he tried to get her to her feet. “What did he say?”

“Dagur...he led the hunters here. They took the other dragons, I guessed they killed the ones who struggled too much or fought back.” Lei admitted. “Flaresight told me to find the taken dragons and keep them safe along with the ones I brought to Berk...but…”
“But what?”

“I just...I can’t...I can’t do this alone Hiccup, Striker and I aren’t strong enough to do this on our own.”

“She’s right.” Striker adds softly. “We’re just a simple Skrill and feral human, we’re not like you and Toothless.”

“Hey, hey! Hiccup and I took down a Red Death before we became what we are now!” Toothless pointed out. “You and Lei have been freeing wild dragons for months, you two fought Drago and his Bewilderbeast with us! Striker you actually got all supercharged when we were protecting our riders from the ice!”

“Uh...what’s he saying?” Hiccup asked as his dragon continued to screech and shout.

“Motivating you two! Toothless shouted. “You’re Skrills, you’re supposed to be powerful and badass! Don’t just stand there and let some idiot mess with your feelings while he takes your family! Those dragons need you, Flaresight may be gone but you’re their alpha now! And the alpha protects all dragons no matter what the cost!”

That last sentence really struck a chord within Lei. Toothless was right, she shouldn’t just stand here mourning for her dead family while the others were alive and in need of her help. Anger churrned through her at the thought of Dagur hurting them, dragons he had swore to protect and be kind to. This anger felt like a storm buliding up within her, one that she was going to unleash upon those hunters and the man she thought who would never do anything to hurt her family.

"He will pay…" Lei hissed as her voice began to grow raspy. "He is going pay with his pathetic human life, I’ll show him not to mess with my family!"

“L-lei what are you- oh my Thor!” Hiccup gasped when his sister turned to look at her.

Blue and grey scales were now growing across her face and large black spukes were now starting to poke out of her hair. Lei gave a loud scream as she fell to her knees as bigger spikes erupted from her back and tore at her tunic while a tail sprouted out from behind her. Hiccup and Toothless could only watch in horror as Lei changed right in front of them before she fell to the ground with a groan.

“Wow...and I thought you were gonna go full on Skrill.” Striker muttered as he tried to help her up.

“Holy...Lei?” Hiccup wanted to get close to his sister but was too afraid to. She raised her head to look at him, her green eyes now a pale yellow with thin slits, sharp teeth poking out of her mouth. “Uh...what just happened?”

“Strange...this normally happens when I’m on my moonsblood.” Lei muttered in that raspy voice as she examined her new transformation before kicking her boots off. “Well, I’m off. You and Toothless go home, I have some unfinished business to attend to. Don’t try and stop us.”

Chapter Text

“Ah, isn’t this magnificent? Look at all these dragons!” Anneke cackled as she walked between the cages of the confined dragons. "Oh Dagur, you've really outdone yourself this time!"

The Berserker grimaced and nodded quietly as he placed his hand on the bars of one of the cages containing an agitated Nadder as she kept trying to reach through the bars to get to a smaller cage full of baby Nadders. He still couldn’t believe he had done this, the one thing he swore never to do, and yet here he was: aboard a dragon hunter ship with dozens of dragons he had been around for two years and on their way to gods know where. Anneke was a young dragon hunter, but a high ranking one at that. Dagur had never met her before, but during his time among the hunters he had heard fearsome tales of the young hunter about how ruthless she was with both dragons and humans that stood in her way.

"She's going to be so pissed when she finds out, this was a huge mistake." He murmured as he tried to comfort the Nadder, only for her to snap at his hands, snarling wildly.

"Who, the bitch you've been obsessed with these past two years?" Anneke scoffed as she walked over to Dagur and grabbed his chin to face her. "You were the one who suggested wanting to win her over, distract her so you could take her dragons for Drago's army."

"And I changed my mind, that's what got me almost killed." Dagur retorts as he yanks himself from her grasp. "I wanted out, and yet you drag me back. I was perfectly content living the new life I had with that girl, and her name is Lei ."

"Oh but don't you remember our deal? You do as we say, and we'll give you what was so dear to you, otherwise it's feeding time for the sharks and Scauldrons."

Dagur grimaced at her last part of the statement and Anneke smirked.

"Smart boy. Now wipe that frown off your face, the warlords are coming and I don't want you to embarrass me in front of them."

"Storm's a coming!" One of the crewmen shouted.

Dagur glanced up to see the clouds ahead of them were a dark grey, and even from here he could hear the rumble of thunder. Clouds like that were Lei's favorite to ride through when she rode Striker, dodging the lighting and coming back soaked from the rain that made her feel more alive than ever. Great, now he was going to feel guilty every time he saw a storm cloud.

"Dragons approaching!" Another crewman shouted.

"Don't just stand there you idiots, catch them!" Anneke shouted from the top part of the ship. "Might be some rare dragons!"

Dagur then noticed all the cashed dragons from Lei's island were silent, even the infant ones before they all suddenly started screeching or growling wildly and throwing themselves at the bars of their cages.

"What the hell?" Dagur murmured as some crewmen of the ship tried to shut the dragons up. He had never seen them get riled up like this, not since the time Flaresight left the island in search of Lei and returned several hours later- wait a minute. The BErserker looked to the sky and shaded his eyes to look at the two dark shapes flying in their direction. “Shit! Anneke, she’s here!”

“Who?!” Anneke yelled loudly as she stormed over to Dagur. “Wait don’t tell me, the dragon bitch who these dragons are “family” to.” A loud familiar screech from overhead confirmed that.

“Man the bolas! Get the nets!” One hunter yelled as the other hunters and trappers pointed their weapons in the direction of the two oncoming dragons. Much to their surprise though, the two dragons flew off into the clouds above and disappeared.

“Strange…” Anneke muttered. “Why would they-”

“HIT THE DECK!” Dagur screamed as he dove to the floor as he caught sight of a dark shape dive out from the clouds and fly towards the ship. He heard men scream and the sound of lightning hitting the ship along with an all too familiar dragon screech. He lifted his head and caught sight of a familiar purple and grey dragon hovering above the ship, just barely out of range of the bolas and nets- but with no rider.

“Take it down!” Anneke screamed as she got off the floor and jumped to her feet, her pale blue eyes flashing with anger. “I want that dragon in a cage- preferably alive!”

"No stop!" Dagur yelled as the men began firing at the dragon as it dodged every bola, net and arrow shot in it's direction. "It's-"

Before he could even finish his sentence, Dagur heard a loud screech and felt something very heavy landed on his back. He tried to throw it off before something that felt like sharp talons were pressed to his neck.

"Well isn't this a familiar sight." A raspy but familiar voice hissed as the talons pressed harder against his neck. "Only this time, I'm really going to kill you."

"What the fuck is that?" Anneke asked in horror. From his spot on the floor Dagur could see the terrified look on her face as she and the other hunters and trappers pointed their weapons at whatever was pinning him down.

"The stuff of nightmares I'm sure. But I won't go into detail on that, I have a traitor to kill, one who left my father to bleed out in his own home." The voice hissed as Dagur felt a set of what felt like a hand grab him by the back of his hair and painfully pulled him to his feet. "You've betrayed us Dagur, we've accepted you into our family, and you repay us like this?"

"L-lei?" Dagur felt himself get turned around and gasped when he saw his liver standing in front of him, her eyes looking very much like a Skrill with dark grey spikes poking out of her auburn hair, sharp teeth poking out of her mouth with dark grey and blue scales patching her face and neck. Her arms merged into what looked like large wings and her hands were now a mix of fingers and talons with a long thick tail to that lashed around.

"Hello dear." His lover snarled, her lips pulled back to show more sharp teeth. "Missed me? Because I sure missed you, and I can hardly wait to return home with you to punish you properly."

"Oh my Odin, what the hell is she?" Dagur heard Anneke ask in horror and Lei let out a laugh.

"Oh so this is why you decided to betray us all? Hiccup and his friends were right, you really were not meant to be trusted."

"You don't understand! I-" Dagur tried to protest but she shoved her talons closer to his throat to cut him off.

"Shut up! I don't want to hear excuses!" Lei snarled as Striker landed on the top of one of the cages, his spikes glowing purple as he snarled at the other humans. "Now you will pay for what you've done, and I will make sure of it."

"Someone shoot her!" Anneke screamed angrily, but none of the crew made any move to step forward. "Oh for Odin's sake! Give me that!"

The hunter snatched a crossbow from one of the crew and took aim at Lei, causing the other dragons to panic and shake in their cages.

"Shoot me and I slit his throat!"

"With pleasure, scumb!"

"Stoooooop!" Everyone looked up to see something fly into the mast of the ship and snag the ropes of the sails.

"I told you, don't try and stop us!" Lei yelled when she saw it was her brother as he slid down the ropes to land near her.

"Bloodshed isn't the answer and you know it!" Hiccup retorts, his voice muffled by his helmet as Toothless lands on one of the other cages across from Striker. "Look I get it, you're suffering from losing a father again, but killing Dagur isn't going to bring Flaresight back!"

"No, you don't understand! Our father wasn't even killed by someone you trusted and loved dearly, someone you thought you were going to spend the rest of your life with. And he watched as the rest of my family was slaughtered or enslaved and did nothing to save them!" Lei yelled as she drops Dagur to the floor and placed a foot on his back as her tail coiled around his legs to keep him from moving. "You don't understand why I have to kill him for this!"

"Anyone else concerned about the human with the crossbow?" Toothless asked pointing to Anneke with one talon. "Like seriously, is anyone going to stop her? No?"

Anneke gave a started yelp as the weapon was blasted out of her hands and glared at Striker, who stuck his tongue out at her.

"Kari I know what you mean, I know what it feels like to lose a father. I wanted to kill Drago for what he did, but I knew that wouldn't bring him back." Hiccup said as he removed his helmet and tossed it to the floor. "Whatever Flaresight told you, I'm sure it had nothing to do with killing Dagur."

"He told me to keep my family safe, killing him keeps my family from being sold off and enslaved like all those other dragons!" Lei retorts angrily as she grabbed Dagur and yanked him painfully to his feet. "He has caused our families enough pain Hiccup, enslaving mine like this was the last straw!"

"If you're going to kill me, do it now!" Dagur snapped. "Otherwise let me go and I'll try to-"

"Shut up Dagur!" Both Haddocks yelled at the same time.

"Alright, enough of this, kill them!" Anneke yelled as both Toothless and Striker jumped to the floor to get between their humans and the hunters. "But keep the dragons alive! And keep that Berserker alive!"

"Hey we're about to get killed, you can have your vengeance on Dagur later." Hiccup said as he removed his sword strapped to his leg and ignited it. "There will always be another time!"

Lei growled angrily, glancing at the other humans pointing their weapons at them and their dragons. "No." She said,her eyes narrowed. "Not until they release my family from their cages."

"Seriously, you're going to trade your traitor of a lover for a bunch of dragons?" Anneke laughed as one hunter handed her a spear. "He's worth less than that."

"Take it or leave it, otherwise I'll start frying bodies." Lei warned as Striker let sparks fly from his mouth. "You have until the count of five."

"Anneke do as she says, she's serious!" Dagur yelled frantically. "I've seen her and the Skrill fry hunters and trappers with no hesitation!"

"She's bluffing!" Anneke yelled back as she shifted her spear into a fighting position. "I'm not giving up these dragons!"

"Time's up!" Lei yelled, grabbing Dagur by his tunic.

Before she could even do anything, there was a loud screech and several familiar blue and yellow spikes hit the deck in front of the hunters, one almost hitting Anneke in the boot.

“Cross that line and harm my children in any way and I will show you what an angry human mother and an angry dragon mother looks like!”

“Mom?!” Hiccup exclaimed in surprise as Sapphire descended from the sky with Valka on her back. “Oh hey sis, mom’s getting along with Sapphire!”

“And the other riders are here.” Valka adds, gesturing above to where the other dragons were circling above and pointed her staff at the hunters. “Now are you going to listen to my daughter or are you going to have a dead Berserker chief on your hands? Kari, put that boy down this instant.”

“Where the hell are all these insane people coming from, I thought you said we only had to worry about one!” Anneke screamed, glaring at Dagur.

“Hey I didn’t think her brother, or their obviously not dead mother, or their friends would get involved!” Dagur protests as Lei lowers him slightly. “Also who’s Kari.”

“Uh...her.” Hiccup says pointing to his sister, who shot him a look. “Oh come on it’s a nice name! Also you...whoever you are...just hand us over the keys, we’ll take the dragons and leave you and your crew alive.”

“You think I’m that stupid?” Anneke asked with a harsh laugh. “How about this, I’ll give you the dragons if your hideous looking sibling agrees to be imprisoned and work for us.”

“Mom hold him, I have a bitch to kill!” Lei snarled, throwing Dagur back towards Sapphire and launched herself at Anneke with a loud roar.

The hunter laughed as she charged towards the half dragon girl with her spear ready, prepared to plunge it into her chest. Lei dove for the floor to avoid the spear tip as the other hunters moved right out of the way as the two women began to fight. Caged dragons roared in alarm as their alpha fought, dodging her opponent’s weapon as she pounced and swiped her talons at her face and chest.

“Nice try girl, but I’ve learned to fight all kinds of dragons to take them down.” Anneke sneered as Lei lashed out at her again with her talons. “And I’ve killed many of these said dragons with this spear when they were being a bit...difficult. And you wanna know what was the last dragon I killed with this exact weapon?”

“I swear when I get my talons on you I’ll kill you!” Lei screamed as she lashed out at her again.

"A big Monstrous Nightmare with dark green scales, put up a huge fight when we tried to chain it up and killed some of my men, sadly I had to take it down. A shame, because it would have made a perfect part of our army."

Lei's eyes widened in horror before they narrowed again. "You...you-!"

Anneke smirked as she took the opportunity to lunge, aiming her spear right at Lei’s face. And she would have taken her eye out if something (or someone) decided to interfere.

“Well well, if it isn’t the biggest traitor of Drago’s army!” Anneke sneered as she struggled against Eret’s swordt. “How cute, you went from trapping dragons to defending one!”

“It’s my duty to protect and defend Berk’s chief, so you can bet I’m planning on extending that to his sister.” Eret retorts as he grips his sword tightly. “I see no one has decided to try and kill you off yet, Anneke Ragnarsdotter.”

“This is my fight Eret, stay out of it!” Lei yelled as Skullcrusher tried to move her back towards her brother and mother.

“I have unfinished business with this backstabbing bitch, you start busting these dragon hunters heads!” Eret yelled back as he quickly jumped back as Anneke tried kneeing him in the groin.

“But-”

“No buts!”

With a frustrated groan, Lei turned to the startled dragon hunters and bared her teeth at them. “So who wants to know what electrified flesh smells like?” She asked.

The second she took one step towards the hunters, Lei heard the sound of the dragon riders swooping towards them as their dragons fired at the hunters. She hadn’t fought at their side since the battle to defend Valka’s old nest, and it almost made her smile. As they knocked hunters overboard, Hiccup, the twins and Valka had set about unlocking cages and freeing the other dragons, who also joined in the fight. Lei had even caught sight of Striker attacking and knocking down hunters, looking as fearsome and dangerous as a Skrill should be, and she felt a pang of pride for her little brother.

“Come on, let’s get these dragons to safety, they won’t leave without you!” Hiccup yelled as he knocked over another hunter off the ship.

“Wait where’s Dagur?” Lei asked, looking to Striker. “He was right under my dragon!”

“Forget about him, we’ll find him another day!” Hiccup responded and rushed over to her. “Please Lei, your revenge can wait!”

“Ugh fine! But I’m rescuing Eret first!”

Lei rushed over to where Eret was still fighting Anneke, but he was already starting to look worn out.

“Striker, fetch!” Lei shouted, pointing to Eret. Striker immediately dropped the hunter he was holding onto to swoop down and snag Eret by the vest, earning a loud yelp from the poor man.

“Another time you stupid braggart!” Lei yelled as she took off into the air. She couldn’t even see Shattermaster anywhere among the flock of dragons, which meant Dagur had taken him. Oh well, at least the traitor had the sense to free one dragon. But this was far from over and Lei knew it.

Next time, next time for sure I’ll really kill him.

Chapter Text

The flight back home was unbearably quiet. Hiccup kept glancing at his sister as she flew alongside her dragon family. Some of the other riders had attempted to talk to her, only to receive a grunt in response or for Lei to fly off to another part of her flock to avoid them completely.

“Is she mad that I didn’t let her kill Dagur?” Hiccup asked his mother as he moved Toothless to fly next to Cloudjumper.

“No, I don’t think so dear.” Valka assured him, glancing at her daughter’s direction. “But I do think she’s still processing over the fact that a huge chunk of her family is gone, and I don’t think they’ll be returning to their home island soon either.”

“Yeah, I don’t think it’s safe for them to return.” Hiccup agreed and glanced over at his sister. “You know, we do have room on Berk for a few more dragons, I’m sure she wouldn’t mind staying with us for a while.”

“You’d have to ask her yourself when we rest, let's do that at the next island we come across."

They stopped to rest at one island that had a large lake teeming with enough fish to satisfy the dragons, Lei planting herself on a rock that stood out in the middle of the lake and not even bothering to get herself any food or water.

"What's she doing?" Snotlout asks pointing to where his cousin stood, now in her normal human form and trying to shed her ruined shirt that had gotten torn earlier.

"Being on the lookout, alpha dragons who move their flocks hardly ever rest to make sure they're not in any danger." Eret explains as some of the dragons fly over to the rock and drop some fish. "Other dragons in the flock will often bring them food so they will have energy to keep protecting them or a beta rank dragon will switch places to let them rest. Kind of what Sapphire is doing right now."

Indeed the female Monstrous Nightmare had perched herself on the rock to take Lei's place, though the human refused to leave until she was knocked into the water with a flick of her mother's tail and a growl. Defeated, Lei swam back to the shore where Ruffnut yanked off her vest and handed it to her to cover her.

"My favorite shirt got ruined." Lei muttered as she approached Hiccup and the others. "Might as well destroy the rest of my clothes while I'm at it, I don't want anything that has to do with that pathetic excuse of a human who calls himself a man."

"Okay but you can do that when we get to Berk, we don't have any spare clothes for you." Hiccup said as Snotlout pulled off his fur cape and held it out to his cousin. "Uh what are you doing?"

"Giving her something else to cover herself with, duh." Snotlout responds with a roll of his eyes. "We can't let her stroll into Berk naked like this." 

"I'm not going to Berk, I have to find a new island to relocate what's left of my family." Lei points out, gesturing to the wild dragons nearby as they were pacing around nervously. "They just got caught by humans, I don't think putting them on an island full of humans is gonna help their uneasiness."

"Oh but we have some parts of Berk that don't have humans living in it, they don't have to stay in the village with us." Astrid points out as Lei wraps the fur over her shoulders. "Yeah that won't fit, Snotlout's shoulders are too small."

"They're not!" Snotlout protests as his cousin throws back the cloak at him.

"Here, just take this. I can handle the cold." Eret says as he swiftly removes his fur vest and hands it to Lei. "Big enough to cover yourself. And there are areas on Berk the dragons could stay, like the cove where we had that little party earlier to introduce ourselves to your family."

"And while they stay on Berk I could help you find another island." Hiccup suggests before Valka shakes her head.

"Oh no, you have chief duties to fulfill, if your sister agrees to staying on Berk temporarily someone else has to help."

"I... suppose it wouldn't be a bad idea to stay there for a while." Lei said as she slips the vest over her head and tugs it down to cover her chest. "I'd have to consult with the other dragons about this."

"Why, aren't you the alpha?" Snotlout asks. "They're supposed to listen to you."

"Well maybe in her flock things work differently." Fishlegs suggests. "Rather than letting the alpha decide everything, they sort of have a vote of some sort?"

"I consult the more elder dragons actually, but since a lot of them save for a few are dead I'm going to discuss this with the dragons that are still alive."

🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹

The wild dragons had agreed that moving to Berk temporarily would be a good idea until they found a new and more secure island away from the hunter humans, much to Lei's relief. While many had protested against the idea of sharing an island with humans, Stone breaker pointed out that they'd have more protection from the hunters and that the humans and dragons of Berk hated the hunters and anything and anyone who was affiliated with those people. Thus, the flock agreed to stay on Berk temporarily until Lei and Valka could find a new island for them.

Hiccup was rather relieved that his sister was going to be staying on the island with them and that his mother was eager to help her relocate them somewhere better. And on top of that the others seemed pretty happy to hear the news and offered to help Lei, since they once worked on relocating dragons before in the past.

"You know, you can sleep in the house with us if you want, we can build a new area in the stables for your flock so they won't be out in the cold so much." Hiccup offered to his sister as they were preparing to leave back for Berk. “We’re expecting some snow soon this week and I wasn’t sure if your family was used to the cold.”

“Our island was located in a warm place, so I guess I could convince them to sleep in an indoor area as long as no humans except for me, mom and maybe you and your friends go in to check on them from time to time.” Lei said as she climbed onto Striker’s back. “Two alphas living on one island, that’s gonna cause some tensions to rise.”

“It won’t I promise. In the meantime they can all stay in the cove until we have those new stables set up for them.” Hiccup assures her. “And I’m sure once you’re all settled in we can help you out with any human things you still don’t understand.”

“Like…”

“Uh...maybe courting, Viking holidays like Snoggletog and Freyfest, maybe introduce you to more Vikings that are more open minded like us about dragons. We’ve met some along the way and I think you’d like them.”

“Sounds like fun.” Striker comments and looks to Lei. “Right? Maybe you’ll have a much better sense of dressing after living with proper Vikings.”

“I’m dressed fine you sparky salamander!” Lei snaps, earning a laugh from Toothless. “I just need a new shirt and new clothes, everything I’m wearing was given to me by Dagur!”

“You know, maybe in return you can teach me to speak dragon.” Hiccup jokes as he mounts Toothless. “Because half the time I don’t even understand my own dragon.”

“It’s not that hard, you just gotta know when to growl or snarl properly. Different noises mean different things.” Lei says with a shrug. “Also you might have a heavy human accent too.”

“Human accent? How can anyone have a human accent?”

“That’s what Dagur had, and hardly anyone could understand him so I hope you’re better at speaking dragon than him little brother.”

🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹

Lei honestly wasn’t expecting so many people to be waiting for them when the group returned. The second they came to view of the island and got close, she could hear people and dragons shouting loudly, and she could sense her dragons getting agitated at the noise. After telling Valka they were going to move to the cove to avoid having the more antsy dragons panic, they were soon on their way to the cove with Eret following close behind. Surprisingly, a lot of the dragons didn’t seem bothered about having the ex trapper come along, probably because every time one dragon started complaining, Stonemover would glare at the said dragon and they’d shut up.

“Hey Lei, why this human coming with us?” Juji, a young orphaned Thunderdrum whose parents and older brother had been part of the massacre of their island, asked as he flew at her side. “He smells kinda funny.”

“He’s a good guy Juji, trust me.” Lei assured the dragonet. “Unlike Dagur, my brother and his friends trust him.”

“You mean the one with the Night Fury alpha?”

“Yeah that’s the one.”

“Then...one who rides with the alpha is to be trusted then.”

Lei chuckled at the dragonet’s words. “I suppose there’s one way to look at it like that. And Stonemover seems to like him too so he’s alright for sure.”

“I’m surprised the family who hasn’t met me actually isn’t being so hostile around me.” Eret says as he and Skullcrusher fly close to her and Striker. “Almost expected some of them to try and drive me off.”

“Relax, Stonemover likes you well enough to trust you, so that means something to them.” Lei said and pointed ahead. “That’s the place right?”

“Oh yeah, that’s the cove we held the party at.”

They landed, the sea dragons leaping into the pond to resoak their fins while several parent dragons began burning the ground to make a warm spot for their tired and cranky brood, several other dragons just moved themselves to various spots of the cove to rest.

“Wow, they got settled in quickly.” Eret comments as he watched the dragons settle themselves in for the night.

“They’re tired, you should get some rest too.” Lei said gently pushing him towards Skullcrusher.

“Actually I don’t think I’m going anywhere if he’s gonna get cozy with that female.” Eret chuckles as he pointed at Knock Out, who was happily snuggled against the other Rumblehorn and both seemed quite content. “Why do I have a feeling I’m going to have some babies running around my hut this upcoming winter?”

“It’s nice honestly, she hasn’t had a mate or a brood of her own for as long as I could remember. I guess...she always saw me as the only baby she needed to care for, and she still does to this day.” Lei admits as she watched the two dragons snuggle in their sleep. “Guess you get to stay here and watch me care for the dragons for the night, unless you want me to give you a ride home?”

“Nah, I could deal with this, plus you look like you could use the company, especially after all what happened today.”

When was the last time Dagur ever looked at me like that? Lei wondered to herself as she and Eret sat themselves on Stonemover’s antlers to watch over the dragons. That genuine look of pity, I don’t think I ever saw him with it before.

“Do you think...the people of Berk will be happy to have me back?” Lei asks quietly. “Especially after they see what I really am?”

“You mean when they see that strange form of yours?” Eret asks and she nods. “Well...I’m sure they’d be a bit terrified, because I’m not even sure what that was. But after a while they wouldn’t bat an eye afterwards.”

“You’re not saying that just to make me feel better, are you?” Lei asks, raising a brow in suspicion.

"I swear I'm not! But what exactly is it anyways? I've never seen that before."

Lei bites her lip, unsure if she should tell him. She's never told anyone aside from the dragons about this, not even Dagur knew about it. But then again, he was being polite in asking about it.

"I...I can't explain exactly what it is, but it's sort of like some kind of curse." She admits quietly. "It kind of started when I was twelve or thirteen, after I was going through that thing women went through. During the day I was in pain just bleeding from between my legs and a feeling like my insides were moving around, but at night the pain became different."

"That transforming thing?" Eret asks and she nods.

"My head would hurt because spikes were growing out of it, I could feel my bones and organs rearranging and growing while a tail grew out behind my back. Most nights I wouldn't even turn into a full dragon, sometimes it happened partially." Lei shudders. "The first time this happened I thought I was going to die Eret, I thought it was some god's way of punishing me for who knows what reason. Even now I don't know why I have this, and I'm scared about hurting someone when I'm like this."

"You never hurt anyone, the only ones you hurt were the ones hurting you." Eret says as Lei looked ready to burst into tears. "Shit...uh...do...do you need a hug?”

“No…" Lei mumbles. She was quiet for a moment before signing in frustration. "Okay maybe I do, that's what Dagur used to do to make me feel better if I was upset."

"All humans do it to make others feel better, it's a way to comfort others who are sad." Eret says as he held his arms out to her. "You don't have to if you don't- oof!"

Eret was almost knocked off Stonemover when Lei cut him off with a hug, burying her face into his shoulder as she clung to him tightly and as her shoulders shook.

"I want to forget him, after his betrayal to my family, I just want to forget his stupid face!" Lei sobbed as she clung to Eret tightly. "He fucked with the wrong family, and now he's who knows where and half of my flock is dead! I should have killed him the first time I saw him!"

"Hey hey, it's alright." Eret said gently as he wrapped his arms around her in a hug. "And I get where your anger is coming from. But your brother is right, save this revenge for another day, focus on what's left of your family and work to keep them safe."

"I think this one is a definite keeper little one." Stonemover comments to Lei as Eret climbed down to check on his dragon. "In the future of course."

"What are you saying?" Lei asks as she climbs down from the Gorecutter's antlers to lay on her head.

"For now, you need a friend like him. I never really liked Dagur, always so secretive even after we welcomed him into our family. This male here, he's at least open with you and did what he could to protect you from that murdering female."

"I suppose...I could use a friend at this time."

"Perhaps in the future you'll find a better male than Dagur to give your heart to, and who knows it could be this boy or one of those two other males who care for dragons."

"Fishlegs or Tuffnut? Unlikely, but who knows." Lei shrugs and buried her face into her arms. "For now, I'm not looking for anyone to give my heart to after all this. But you are right, for now I need a friend."

Chapter Text

"This here is a spoon. Ye use it ta eat liquid foods."

"Why do you need to eat liquids, isn't water enough?"

Gobber gave a frustrated sigh as he set the wooden spoon down in front of the chief's sister. "Certain liquid foods have solids, like soup, that need this. Think of it as...a tiny bowl on a stick."

"And...what is soup?" Lei asks picking the spoon up to examine it.

"Ye have been around a human for two years and not once has he ever mentioned soup?!" The old smith exclaims. "Odin's kneecaps what has he been teachin' ye lass?"

"How to talk properly, how to write but it looks like scribbling."

"Hiccup! Ye hear that? She writes like a toddler!" Gobber yelled as Hiccup was approaching the saddle shop with Toothless at his side.

"It can't be that bad, I'm sure she's had practice." Hiccup assured him and turned to his sister. "Okay so Fishlegs mentioned an island north of Berk that looks nice enough for your dragons, if you want and when mom and I are not busy, we can check it out later."

"Or you can show her how we make saddles, she might as well learn somethin'." Gobber scoffs gesturing to the inside of the shop. "Now if ye two excuse me, I have some dragon teeth te remove and replace unless we want an agitated Gronckle with a bad toothache runnin' around the barely repaired village- again ."

"It's not Bulk's fault, he got spooked by Snotlout." Lei mutters as the smith walks back into the shop to deal with customers.

"So what's with the dinnerware?" Hiccup asks gesturing to the plate, spoon, fork, bowl, tankard, a small cup and knife in front of his sister. "Gobber is not exactly one to teach proper manners."

"Just showing me how to use these, since last night I embarrassed our tribe with my terrible manners of eating my food with my hands in front of a bunch of Meatheads."

Hiccup grimaced at the memory, the grossed out looks the chief of the Meatheads and his wife were giving while their younger children giggled at the odd sight of Lei violently tearing into her food like a dragon.

"Dagur never taught you proper manners did he?"

"Guess he never thought it was necessary." Lei shrugs as she picks up the fork and twirls it between her fingers. "At least mom is adjusting to being away from the feral life better than me."

"She still prefers to sleep outside or with the dragons instead of in her and dad's old room, though if it were up to her she'd probably be sleeping in the cove with you and the wild dragons." Hiccup said as his twin places the fork back on the table. "I know it's gonna take some time getting used to all this, and I know it's gonna be no use for you when you leave to your new home. But eventually you'll get used to it and not have to have anyone look at you funny every time you do something…"

"Unhuman?" Lei finishes and shrugs. "I don't care what tame humans think of me, I'll learn their boring manners and proper speech, but I draw the line at dressing to proper."

"You still haven't given Eret back his vest." Hiccup notes, nodding at the fur wrapped around his sister's shoulders.

"He said to keep it, got himself a new one but I gave him back his pin. Even have me one to keep it pinned." Lei said showing her brother the simple pin on the vest. "Honestly why don't people like him? He's really nice, but I've noticed some people still giving him a hard time."

"Berk's still a little wary, and I don't blame them. Ever since dragons started living in peace with us, we're still adjusting to anything new that came afterwards." Hiccup explains gesturing to the villagers. "So far we've only got one guy who still hates the idea of living with dragons and he lives all the way near the cliffs to be away from them."

"I think I've seen him, that creepy old man that smells like wet wool and carries a sheep around." Lei gags. "Mildew, if I'm not mistaken. He seemed pretty adamant to voice his opinions of letting more wild dragons live on the island, practically walked all the way to the cove to scream at me and my flock."

"Please tell me none of your dragons tried to kill him."

"Nah, Knock Out spooked him quite well, because he interrupted her cuddling time with Skullcrusher."

Lately Hiccup had noticed Eret walking around Berk without his dragon, and now he knew why, which was rather funny. Never thought he'd ever seen the old boar headed dragon get so attached to a female in all the years he had known him.

"Guess Berk will have a small herd of Rumblehorns this year, better prepare the village for that." The chief laughed as his friends and their dragons landed nearby. "Oh hey gang, what's going on?"

"Meatheads have been sent off with no problem." Astrid replies as she dismounted Stormfly. "Mildew, as usual is complaining about dragons going for his cabbages."

"I'm pretty sure that stuff is going to take a few years off their lifespan." Lei mutters as the others dismount their respective dragons and approach. "Any news on you know who?"

"No sign of him, we even checked Berserk island to see if he tried to hide there but their new chief says they haven't seen him since he broke out of prison to gather an army." Snotlout replies with a frown. "Buuut I suspect they're hiding him just to keep their heads attached so he won't kill them with his new dragon."

"Could be hiding in a port under a new name and changed his appearance." Ruffnut suggests. "But then again it's hard to get rid of tattoos and a scar like that on your face when you're on the run from your ex's friends."

"And no news on that Anneke girl or her people either." Tuffnut adds. "Though at the Port we were at we heard rumors of the war lords working with Drago who haven't disbanded yet and are still capturing dragons for their armies."

That bit of news made Lei's blood boil. She hadn't been aware of other people like Drago trying to continue his work until recently, and this made her more reluctant to leave Berk to find a new island. What if these people found her flock and tried to enslave them again like Anneke and Dagur had? What other poor dragons had died fighting for their lives and their families only to be brutally slaughtered or broken beyond repair?

"How far are these enslavers?" She asks Tuffnut. "We can't just sit here and do nothing about it, just because Dragons dead doesn't mean their plan to take over with dragons isn't over. I won't let another dragon die like the ones on my family for this pointless war."

"She's right, we can't just sit back and watch this, we've got to free them at least." Hiccup agrees. "Those dragons need us, and we need to save them the way we helped save Lei's family. And if we can't relocate them, we can let them live here on Berk."

"Then where do we start?" Fishlegs asks. "We need to know where their bases are located so we can formulate proper rescue missions, and avoid getting someone killed."

"Well then why not ask Eret?" Astrid suggests. "He was a high ranking trapper, he probably knows where the war lords keep their ships docked and where other trapper and hunter bases are located."

"We don't need Eret for this!" Snotlout scoffs angrily. "We can do this without him! Also even if he did help his dragon no longer hangs out with him because he's now attached to another Rumblehorn!"

"On the contrary, my short cousin, we do need his help." Lei said as she moves from behind the counter. "Whether you like it or not, he is a part of your team."

"As much as she is a part of it." Hiccup adds, casting his twin a smile before turning to the others. "So if anyone does not want to join in these dangerous rescue missions, feel free to to hang back and go on with your lives."

When no one said anything, Lei nods quietly to herself. "Then it's settled, I'll go talk to Eret and tell him what we're planning to do."

"Oh sure you're gonna convince him to partake in this." Snotlout mutters to himself.

"I think he's jealous." Toothless comments as Lei approaches him to pet his head. "Tiny dragon syndrome."

"Yeah, that's probably what he has." Lei chuckles as she scratched him behind one ear.

"Hey where is mom?" Hiccup asks as the other riders and their dragons walk off. "I wanna run this plan by her, see if she can help us out in being stealthy on these missions."

"Haven't seen her since...this morning...I think? Probably bonding with my flock so they won't be so antsy every time an unknown dragon enters the cove." Lei replies. "I've done some stealth missions myself in the past, but she's more skilled in that area than I am."

"Well then, I'll go find mom and you go find Eret so we can tell them-"

Hiccup was caught off by a loud roar and both twin's heads snapped up to see a dragon flying overhead of the village.

"Typhoomerang?" Lei questioned as the dragon began to descend on the village.

"Looks like it, and it looks pretty angry." Hiccup responds as he removed Inferno from his hip. "Let's try and calm it down, shall we?"

"This one sounds angry." Toothless comments as they approach the enraged dragon that landed in the village square and was now being surrounded by the other dragon riders.

"I see someone on it's back, be on guard." Hiccup says as they get close. "Could be Dagur, or someone new he teamed up with."

"Hey, what's made you so angry?" Lei asks gently as she approaches the dragon. "Is it that human on your back?"

"She has nothing to do with my bad mood, you are the ones who have invoked my rage!" The dragon snarled as Lei jumped back in alarm when it shot its head down to snap at her.

“Angry dragon! Back away!” Snotlout yelled as Hookfang grabbed her by the back of her vest to pull her away from the angry dragon.

“Hey! Whoever you are up there, state your name and business!” Hiccup yelled. “We don’t want any problems and we do not want to hurt you or your dragon!”

Lei couldn’t see whoever was on the back of the Typhoomerang, but she could hear them quite well from the ground and shout loudly: "My name is Bella Haddock, and I'm looking for whoever is responsible for stealing my mother and destroying our home! Give me back my mother you thieves!"

Chapter Text

“Did I hear that kid right?” Astrid asked Hiccup as the Typhoomerang lowered itself to the ground to let a young girl dressed in ragged looking clothing jump off with a large spear in hand. “She said her last name was Haddock...the same as yours and your twin.”

“I was sure I misheard her too, possibly a coincidence.” Hiccup muttered as he slowly walked forward towards the girl. “Look I do not know where your mother is, but maybe we could help you-”

“No maybes, I want to know where you are hiding my mother!” The girl yelled, shoving her spear in his direction. Toothless snarled loudly at her but she snarled right back at him, catching the Night Fury by surprise.

“Hey calm down!” Lei yelled, rushing over and grabbing the girl’s spear. “Look I don’t know who you are, but you don’t just show up places shoving spears in the chief’s face and demand to know things, have some manners!”

“Lei!" Hiccup shouted before his twin shoved her finger against his lips.

"Shush, let me do this." She said, keeping her eyes on the girl while keeping her grip on the spear. "Okay kid, explain something for us: why do you think your mom is on this island? What makes you so sure she's here?"

"Rumors, rumors I heard of a woman fitting her description flying with dragon riders from Berk." The girl responds, her eyes narrowed. "My mom never wanted to come back here, but I bet you all forced her to come here to make her-"

"Make her do what? This is Berk, not Outcast island or Berserker island where we kidnap and enslave people." Lei snaps as she pushed Hiccup back and wrenches the spear from the girl's hand. "Lesson one kid, don't pick fights with someone who has alpha dragons on their side and someone who can talk to and control dragons. And don't follow rumors."

"Oh look it's Cloudjumper and Valka with Striker and Sapphire!" Toothless yells as the said dragons land near them, Striker rushing towards Lei to get between her and the girl.

"Hiccup! Lei! What in the world is going on?" Valka yelled as she dismounted Cloudjumper and hurried towards them. "I heard and unfamiliar dragon roar and got so worried!"

"We're fine mom." Lei assures her. "Just dealing with some kid accusing us of-"

"Mom!" The girl screamed as she ran towards Valka and flung her arms around her. "You're alive! Oh thank Freya you're alive!"

"Bella? Oh my Thor where have you been?!" Valka gasped as she hugged the girl back as Hiccup and Lei looked at each other in confusion. "You disappeared with Sunshine weeks ago and you had me so worried!"

"Hiccup I don't think mom ever told us we had a triplet." Lei whispered nervously.

"Yeah and dad totally failed to mention it to me too." Hiccup whispered back. "Unless...mom was pregnant after having us or something?"

"Hiccup, Lei, come here and meet your baby sister!" They heard Valka yell.

"I suppose she has some questions from us to answer."

🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹

"So you got pregnant a while after having us, and you didn't know until after Cloudjumper took you to the sanctuary?" Lei asks her mother as the four of them along with Gobber and their dragons sat at the kitchen table. "Why didn't you tell us sooner?"

"It somewhat slipped my mind, I know I should have told you two long before." Valka said with a nod. "I was so torn when I realized I was pregnant with Bella between returning home to grow up with her big brother and a loving father who would have done everything to protect her especially after her older sister was taken or raise her myself where she would learn dragons were not evil like everyone else on Berk thought despite my protests."

"You look a lot like me." Bella comments, pointing at Lei. "But with more freckles and green eyes."

"Yeah… you've been saying that...like a lot." Lei said flatly and glanced over at Gobber. "Gobber please say something."

"Sorry, I just...I just can't believe it!" Gobber said wiping his eye with his good hand. "Val's alive, you're alive, an' then I find out Stoick had a wee lass he didn't know about, and he's not here to see it!"

"I'm sure in Valhalla he found out." Hiccup said quickly as Gobber pulled a kerchief out from his shirt to blow his nose into it loudly. "So...Bella…"

"Yes?" Bella asks, sitting up attentively.

"Oh mom, before we forget, we need your help with something we want to do." Lei interrupts, ignoring the look Hiccup was giving her. "We need your help in planning a rescue mission."

"Who's imprisoned?" Bella asks.

"Oh just a few dragons being shipped off to some warlords Dragon was working with to take over the world."

"Lei!" Hiccup shouts, causing Toothless and Striker to flinch.

"What?"

"You don't just drop this all of a sudden on her!"

"Ooh! Let's do it!" Bella yells, jumping out of her seat. "We can do it as a family!"

"First off I'm grounding you for disappearing on me like that!" Valka says grabbing her arm and gently pulls her back down into the seat before turning to her two older children. "And second of all, are you sure this all real?"

"Yeah you told me off earlier for following rumors." Bella adds.

"The twins confirmed this, and you saw what happened a few weeks ago mom! Someone is still out there trapping dragons for an army, even though Drago is dead!" Lei points out. "I refuse to let anymore dragons die while we just sit back twiddling our thumbs!"

Valka sighed and rubbed her forehead. "Alright I see your point, but we should talk to Eret about this to confirm if there are more warlords like Drago out there."

🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹

"There are more war lords, about three to be exact." Eret said as he was carefully drawing out the outline of a saddle on a large blanket of leather. "That girl Anneke, she's the daughter of one, and there is another but he's not as psycho or violent as her."

"Do you know where they're stationed?" Lei asks as Hiccup places a rolled up map on the table in front of Eret and unrolls it. "We need to know their locations to plan a rescue mission."

Eret puts his coal pencil down to examine the map, his brows furrowed in thought before he grabs the charcoal and starts marking off areas of the map. "There are certain places they would gather to meet with Drago when he was still alive, a fort of some kind where they cage up whatever dragons their trappers and hunters caught or traded. I've only been to about three of these places." He turns the map around to face the twins and pushes it towards them. "Heavily armed, hard to infiltrate."

"If we infiltrate one of them it's possible to get information on their other forts, right?" Hiccup asks and Eret nods. "Alright, we need to have a plan on infiltrating these places, work on our stealth skills, and figure out when they're going to be occupied."

"We should start by surveying from a distance, at least to get some decent information." Lei suggests.

"Actually, that's also a good idea. I'll have mom and Astrid head out to one of these forts to do some surveying."

"Heard a bunch of commotion earlier, what was all that about?" Eret asks Lei as Hiccup takes the map and hurries off, probably to gather the rest of the gang and tell them what they were going to do.

"Turns out we have a baby sister we never knew about." Lei replies as she seats herself on the edge of the table. "Mom raised her in that sanctuary so she wouldn't have to grow up in a village where they hated dragons and never listened to her when she tries to prove dragons weren't evil." 

"Guess you all got your love of dragons from your mum." Eret jokes as he turns his attention back to the saddle. "If you three had any children I bet they're going to love dragons too." 

"Eh, Hiccup might have kids, I'm not ready to settle down with anyone after what happened." Lei said with a shrug. "Who'd want a girl who still acts like a dragon half of the time?"

“Someone who doesn’t mind?” Eret suggests. “You don’t act like a dragon that much now, and you even started sleeping in an actual bed.”

“I got tired of it last week and went back to sleeping in the stables with the other dragons, at least I’m sleeping under an actual roof.”

“Still, that’s progress.”

“KARIIIIIIII!” Lei felt something slam into her, nearly knocking her right off the table.

“Oh so that’s Bella.” She hears Eret chuckle.

“Don’t call me Kari, that’s not my name.” Lei mutters as she tries to pry her little sister off.

“But ma calls ya that!” Bella points out, refusing to release her sister. “It’s such a pretty name too!”

“Yeah well I go by Lei, not Kari.”

Bella pouts. “I’m still calling ya Kari though.”

"What do you want?" Lei asks as she manages to pry her arm out of her little sister's grip.

"You speak dragon, right?" Bella asks excitedly. "I was thinking, it'd be a great idea to teach the other riders including ma, Hiccup and I how to speak to dragons in order to calm them down! Like even be able to give them basic commands like "follow the Nadder out the fort" or something!"

"That's actually not a bad idea." Eret states and Bella beamed proudly. "Though I feel like this would take a while."

"My ex once accidentally insulted a very sensitive dragon, nearly lost and arm for that." Lei chuckles. "Too bad she didn't eat him after I freed her, would have saved me the heartache."

"C'mon let's go tell ma and Hiccup my idea!" Bella begged, grabbing her sister by the arm and tugging her away from the saddle shop.

"Okay fine, you're so persistent!" Lei groaned as she followed her sister and turned to wave at Eret.

"He's kinda cute, you like him don't you?" Bella asks and Lei looked at her in surprise. "I'm not wrong, right?"

"First off, he's a friend so nothing is going to happen between us- at all." Lei states in annoyance. "Also, don't ever say this when mom is around, she'll get the wrong idea. Plus I'm not looking into getting into a relationship with anyone."

"Your loss big sis, but you are gonna take everything you just said back when you realize you're in love with him."

Chapter Text

"I'm feeling overwhelmed right now mom." Lei mumbles as she presses a hand against her forehead. The loud noises of the Mead Hall today were really starting to bother her more than usual. "Why is everything so loud?"

"Go outside then, I'll brief you up on the meeting later." Valka whispered as she gently placed a hand on her back. "If you're still not feeling well, go home and rest or take a walk by the cliffs."

With a nod, Lei quietly gets up from her seat and hurries out of the hall, Toothless following close behind. Once the two were outside, Lei gave a sigh of relief and leaned against the door of the hall.

"You'll get used to it after a while, I know I did." Toothless assured her as he stepped away from the doors to lay himself on the stairs. "Took me a few weeks of course, but after a while I could stand to be in that noisy room for an hour or two."

"I'm still not really used to loud and crowded places like that, especially with all the shouting." Lei agrees with a tired nod before she starts to head to the stairs. "You should head back in before Hiccup notices and worries."

"It's fine, he'll manage the meeting without me and he knows I'll stay by you."

Since late morning nearly the entire village had been packed in the Mead Hall to hear the plan Hiccup had come up with about bringing more dragons to Berk, creating a peaceful utopia with them and his plans on how to do so. As nice as it sounded, Lei wasn't sure if a tiny island crowded with humans and dragons was such a good idea. She had offered to take the trapped dragons they rescued once they found a new island for her and her dragons, but Hiccup insisted they'd be safer on Berk with him and Toothless protecting them. 

"Wanna go down to the beach?" Toothless suggests as he follows her down the stairs. "Striker mentioned you liked playing near the water and hunting for shells on your old island."

"Yeah, a walk on the beach would be nice."

Getting onto Toothless, the two soon found themselves at the shoreline of one of Berk’s beaches. Lei removed her boots and socks to roll up her leggings and proceeded to walk into the water, letting out a small sigh of relief at the feel of the cool water.

“So, what did you think of your brother’s big plan?” Toothless asks as he joins her. “Stacking human houses on top of each other just to make room and crowding the whole place until you humans are neck deep in dragons.”

"As much as I find the idea of a human-dragon utopia, I feel like this will be a bad idea." Lei states with a frown and kicks at the water. "Stacking houses on top of each other? Disastrous! The stables are already going to be overcrowded, and think of how many nervous dragons we'd have on our hands who are shy around loud humans!"

"Well we still haven't found an island for you and your flock yet, maybe once we do, you can convince Hiccup to let you take some dragons to keep Berk from overflowing?" Toothless suggests. "As nice as the utopia sounds, I do agree it might be a bit hard to manage. We've already had problems in the past when dragons first started living on Berk and I don't want that to arise again."

“My brother has his heart in the right place, but he needs to understand that this plan of his might not go as well as he expects. I just hope my mother and sister can talk some sense into him if I can’t, or maybe Astrid or one of the other riders.”

“And speaking of the human riders...you’ve been getting a bit cozy with Eret.” Toothless says with a sly grin and Lei looked at him in horror. “Aha! I knew it!”

“If you don’t shut up I will electrocute you!” She hissed and the Night Fury grin only grows wider when he sees her cheeks bloom pink.

“I’ve seen how you two are, as awkward as juvenile dragonets! Come on, I know you’re still a bit upset over the thing with Dagur, but I’ve heard the best way to move on from awful relationships like that is to-”

“If you say “get with someone better than the last one you were with” I will smack you.” Lei hisses and looks away. “I don’t think I can trust myself to fall for someone so easily after what happened with Dagur, I’m just...scared that I’ll find someone who turns out to be worse than him, you know?”

“Trust me, Eret’s waaaaaay better than Dagur.” Toothless assures her. “He’s severed all his ties with anything involving the dragon trappers and hunters, he certainly smells better, Stormfly adores him, and I think he likes you too. Only problem is, he probably won’t make a move because you are the chief’s sister.”

Lei gives a small laugh and shakes her head. “I’m probably not the kind of girl he’s looking to have a relationship or settle down with, if anything we’ll probably stay as friends and- what the Thor is that?”

Toothless turns to where Lei was looking to see a large basket floating towards them and could hear something that sounded like muffled crying from inside. The two hurry to it, Lei grabbing it to pull it into the sand with Toothless helping her before prying the top of it off. Inside amid the blankets was a small infant, fair skinned with soft curls of dark hair framing it’s face and wailing loudly, waving and kicking it’s little arms and legs.

“What...what is a human baby doing all the way out here in a basket?” Toothless asked as Lei reached in to pick up the crying infant.

“I...I don’t know, was it abandoned?” Lei responds as she cradled the baby as gently as she could, trying to mimic what she had seen some of the women in the village do to their own infants. “Shhh, it’s okay little one, you’re safe now. You’re safe.”

The infant’s cries ceased as it blinked open its little eyes to look up at Lei, before it let out a soft gurgle and made what she guessed was a smile at her.

“Aww, it likes you.” Toothless laughs before turning serious. “We should get this baby to someone, make sure it’s okay.”

Lei nods. “I think I know who to go to.”

Chapter Text

"What do I do with a baby I just found?"

"Wait what?!"

Eret nearly groaned when he saw Lei uncover a bundle she was holding to reveal a tiny dark haired infant that was sound asleep in her arms.

"Lei please tell me you didn't-"

"I didn't steal it, I swear! Found it floating in some basket and it was crying!" She interrupted frantically. “Toothless said we should bring it to someone!”

"You sure the infant was alone?" Eret asks as he hurried out from behind the counter of the forge to walk over to her. Lei nods frantically as the baby gives a little yawn.

"It stopped crying earlier when I rocked it in my arms, but I don't know what to do with a human baby!" Lei explains as she passed the baby over to Eret. "This isn't a baby dragon! And I know human babies are very different from baby dragons!"

"Alright calm down, let's just take the baby to Gothi so we can make sure it's not going to get sick on us." He told her as the baby began to stir. "No no no, go back to sleep."

"You certainly know how to care for babies." Lei comments as Eret gently bounced the infant.

“Big family, kind of had a lot of younger cousins or nieces and nephews so I learned to care for infants when I wasn’t training to be a trapper.” He responds as the baby falls back asleep in his arms. "Let's just get to Gothi."

The baby was alright thankfully, a surprisingly healthy baby girl who didn't seem to like being poked and prodded by the wise woman and not being wrapped up in her blankets.

"So what are we going to do with her now?" Eret asks when Gothi hands Lei back the wailing infant, who was shoving her little fist into her mouth.

"Feed her, obviously. What do babies with no mother normally eat?" Lei responds as she gently stuck her pinky into the baby's mouth to suck on. She feels a tap on her shoulder and turns to see Gothi with a small rock board with something written on it.

Yak or sheep milk if we can't find a wet nurse. The board reads.

"Okay that solves the feeding problem at least." Eret says as he heads to the door. "I'll go find something for her to nurse from, like maybe a waterskin and fill it with milk. I'll meet you at the hall."

"Still so noisy." Lei mutters to herself as she hears the sound of wingbeats approaching the hut, and a moment later Hiccup appears in the doorway.

"Hey you okay? Astrid saw you leaving the hall with Toothless earlier and we couldn't find you anywhere." Her brother says as he enters and notices the baby in her arms. "Wait, where did you get a baby?"

"I didn't steal her, I found her by the sea." Lei responds defensively and hugs the baby to her chest. "And I'm keeping her."

"And the motherly instincts kicked in. Look, I'm not accusing you of anything, I’m honestly a bit...surprised.” Her twin admits. “I mean I could totally see you adopting an orphaned baby, just not...a human.”

“Well that’s about to change, I’m going to be her mother from now on.”

“Good luck with that.” Eret comments as the baby suddenly starts to cry loudly. “Oh gods not again, why is she so fussy?”

“I guess she wants her “daddy” right now.” Lei laughs as she walks over to him and holds the infant out to him. “Go on, she wants you.”

“Fussy one aren’t you?” Eret says as he takes the baby and adjusts her in his arms, where she goes silent. “Odin help me, she really is spoiled and we haven’t had her for more than two hours.”

Lei gives a laugh. “Maybe you should be the one caring for her.”

“Oooh no, you found her, and you have stated you are keeping her.” Eret states and holds the infant out. “I have work to do at the forge, I can’t keep a baby on hand if I’m working there.”

“I mean he has a point, Gobber and dad wouldn’t let me be in the forge until I was about five.” Hiccup says with a shrug. “And even then they wouldn’t let me near the hot coals, I just handed Gobber tools and swept the place up.”

“I was kidding, couldn’t you tell?” Lei asks with a roll of her eyes as she takes the baby back. “Don’t worry little one, your new mommy is gonna give you the best life you’ve ever had. And we’re gonna take you to meet your grandma and auntie right now!”

“Ooh mom is going to flip when she sees this.”

---

“Oh aren’t you a sweet little darling?” Valka coos as she cradles the baby. “And a cute one at that, just like your adopted mother!”

“She’s going to flip, huh?” Lei laughs as she gives her brother a smug grin. “Yeah she’s flipping out, in a good way.”

“Does she have a name?” Bella asks as she walks up to their mother to get a look at the baby.

“Uh…”

“Ma she doesn’t have a name! Can I name her?”

“She’s your sister’s daughter, she can come up with a name for her.” Valka states as she walks back to her two children and hand Lei back the child. “If you need help naming her, we can help.”

“Something that doesn’t sound like a dragon name?” Lei suggests, earning a laugh from her family. “Hey I’m not naming her something like “Toothless” or anything along those lines!”

“Hey Toothless is a great name!” Hiccup snorts, gesturing to his dragon, who was asleep by the fireplace with Cloudjumper and Striker. “I’m sure you could come up with a decent name, your dragon mother gave you a good human sounding name.”

“Why don’t we give her the human name mom gave you?” Bella suggests. “Or would that be weird?”

“Kari doesn’t seem too fitting for her.” Lei admits with a frown as her daughter reaches up to try and grab a strand of her hair that had fallen loose from her braid. “She seemed to like this lullaby Eret was singing to her earlier, something about an evening star.”

“Star seems too plain for her, what about Vespera?” Hiccup suggests. “It means evening star.”

“You like that, Vespera?” Lei asks, looking down at the infant. The baby gave a babble before shoving her hand into her mouth. “I think she actually likes it.”

“Seems it.” Valka chuckles. “Vespera Haddock, a fitting name for a Viking and maybe a future dragon rider.”

---

“So, how is the little one doing?” Eret asks as he approaches Lei while she was examining some apples from a merchant cart. “Did she fuss because I wasn’t there?”

“Oh she’s doing just fine, she seems to like my mother more than you.” Lei says with a laugh, patting Vespera, who was asleep in a sling she had hanging against her chest. “And she really likes Bella too, I think she’s adjusting quite well to the family. Oh and she has a name now.”

“Oh does she? What is her name?”

“Vespera, since she seemed to like the lullaby you sang to calm her down yesterday. Hiccup suggested it.”

“Ah, an evening star, that’s fitting for a pretty little one like her.” Eret chuckles as the infant yawns and looks up at him with sleepy eyes. “You were behaving for your mama, uncle, aunt and grandma while I was away? I hope you were.”

“She’s been on her best behavior since she discovered her grandma Valka, don’t worry.” Lei laughs. “And she really likes the dragons too, Hiccup laid her near Toothless and she didn’t even cry or fuss when he tried licking her hair.”

“Guess it’s a Haddock thing then.” Eret jokes. “Well, I best be heading back to the forge to give Gobber a hand. Someone has to help him out with those saddles and weapons.”

“You got yourself a good daddy, little evening star.” Lei says with a chuckle once Eret had walked away. “I have a feeling he’s going to be quite active in your life.”