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Chapter Text

Vikings. They're powerful, fierce and strong. It's said that they could level mountains and tame seas while hoarding off the most dangerous beasts. Their greatest foe? Dragons. 

Berk was a small village on a small island and the people that lived there were rather small minded. Much to be expected from people who spend their lives keeping their sheep from huge flying lizards. The vikings that lived inside were as fierce as the stories say, dampened only by an all-round sour mood. Well, most of the vikings were as the stories told.

Akko wasn't.

She was small, not very strong at all. She could barely lift an axe and she was more clumsy than a new-born calf, she was constantly tripping over or breaking things. No matter how hard she tried, she was the clumsiest viking on Berk. As such, when the dragons attacked, she would always be locked inside her hut or at the forge - courtesy of her father, Stoic the Vast. It would be lying to say that Stoic often wished that Akko were stronger, braver and - well - less of a klutz. But he would be damned if he let his only daughter become a dragon's barbecue under his watch. 

Tonight would be no different. 

The sun had almost set over the horizon when the villagers heard the roar of the beasts. Swooping down in a cluster to take as many of the sheep and cattle as possible, using their fire to eradicate those who got in the way. As usual the vikings roared right back, lifting their weapons and striking the mighty beasts down; another mighty battle beginning. 

Ruby red eyes glimmered at the sight, to fight a dragon was to show courage. To kill a dragon, however, it was a feat only the mightiest could pull off. Akko was going to be one of the mightiest vikings, then the village would actually see her. For more than her mistakes. Embers danced around the forge while silhouettes of viking versus dragon danced with it, almost like a performance. The sounds of swords against scales and the mighty roar and hiss of fire-breath, to Akko it was the music of battle. It was a battle she longed to join. The beautiful performance was cut off by a flick to her head, eyes shooting up to a bemused blacksmith. 

Croix had taken Akko as her apprentice to keep her away from battle, and for all the younger girl's faults, the blacksmith couldn't deny that Akko had a talent for forging. With some practice and patience, Croix could turn the brunette into a truly wonderful blacksmith. If only she would pay attention to anything other than fighting.

She was aware that Akko had some shortcomings with the other inhabitants of Berk, especially the other young vikings. Too often had Croix caught the girl trying to show off only to come crashing to the ground. Or off of a cliff - it took Croix three months to convince Stoic to let his daughter out and about again. It was around the same time the Chief had asked her to teach Akko how to smith. Keep her out of trouble and out of harm, of course she agreed. 

Looking at the girl now, she could see so much of her mother in her. Minus the fiery red hair, but the eyes were as beautiful. Croix also saw Chariot's determination - and stubbornness - it would only be a matter of time before Akko would sneak out and do something hopelessly reckless again. Yet the older woman saw the charm in that too, Akko took way to much after her mother it seemed.

"Enough dawdling. Look, you have customers!" Croix tried to berate the girl, but Akko was pouting and she couldn't help but choke out a chuckle at the display. Her hands moving off of her hips as a dejected Akko turned to the man at the counter, who was desperately in need of a new weapon. He had also been standing there shouting at the girl for the last five minutes while she daydreamed about fighting. 

With a huff, Akko went about forging a new axe for the disgruntled customer, eyes glancing at the battle every so often. An explosion near the forge caught her off guard however, and she turned her whole body towards it - forgetting the axe. A hut was aflame, the crest on the door breaking away with the rest of it, glowing a bright orange. She then caught sight of four vikings working to put the flame out, none of them older than herself. The scurried around the hut with coordinated grace, sending buckets of water flying over the ravaging flames. Leaving behind a black-ish, charred hunk of wood where the fire had reaped. Squinting, Akko got a closer look at the four.

The tallest had fiery two-toned red hair, flattened by a rather big helmet. The helmet had beautifully curved, sharp horns that were tinged yellow from obvious use. She was grinning like an idiot while hauling a rather sizable battleaxe over her shoulder. Her piercing green eyes scanning the charred hut proudly. She wore a green tunic tucked into a thick, dark belt with a family crest carved on the front. With what looked like woolen leggings and big, heavy boots. Over her tunic she seemed to have a fluffy, woolen coat that was matted and marked with use. To each side of her stood two very similar looking people, the only real difference being their hair colour (one had auburn hair while the other had black). They both wore similar outfits to the fiery-headed girl, but with longer tunics and fluffier boots. Their helmets had four horns rather than two and they twisted more erratically too. They were much lankier than the taller girl but - wait were they headbutting each other? Akko shook her head and turned her attention to a timid looking girl with ginger hair. The small girl wore a simple tunic and a very small helmet, her boots modest and lightweight. She seemed far more interested in writing something down on some kind of cards than interacting with the rest of her group. Akko recognised them, and a certain cliff.. 

She knew the tallest girl was Amanda, she would recognise that cocky smirk from across the archipelago, the girl loved to mess with Akko. Giving her stupid dares and challenging her to fight that Akko had literally no chance of winning. The two girls that were still headbutting each other were Hannah and Barbara, they sure had some super snide comments under those thick skulls of theirs. Akko wasn't one to use the word 'hate' but, she really did hate those two, Amanda's stupid dares were more appealing than spending two minutes near them. The shortest girl, well, Akko didn't know her name. She never actually talked to her, but she heard from other villagers that she knows a lot about dragons. She seemed nice enough, but if she was around Amanda and the twins, she couldn't be that nice. 

The shout of her customer brought Akko out of her stupor.. again. 

Ugh, this was gonna be a long night. 

Another explosion distracted the young brunette from her work, leaving her staring at another young viking that seemed to draw the audience of the group from earlier. Blond hair, tied back with highlights of.. mint green? Blue outfit, metal shoulder pads, heavy boots. Akko studied the girl closely, unable to shake the growing feeling of familiarity, oh right Diana Cavendish. While Akko hated Amanda, she absolutely hated hated Diana (somehow Akko couldn't come up with a stronger word than hated). She remembered being somewhat friends with the girl, the Cavendish house having close relations to that of the chief. However after Diana's mother died they grew apart, as Akko's behaviour slipped more and more into chaotic, Diana stopped looking at her the same. The Cavendish girl had told her several times that she is undeserving of her place as heiress to the village, next chief in-line. Akko took it on the chin, until Diana went out of the way to prove her claims, showing herself off in front of people when Akko screwed up. She would also point out Akko's many mistakes when one of her ventures went wrong - in front of the whole village - just to make herself look better. At least, that's how Akko saw it. Either way, whatever she was doing she managed to succeed in making the brunette feel smaller than the scales on a dragon. 

New anger coursing through her system, Akko decided that she would prove her worth to everyone. She wasn't some no good weakling. she was a viking. She was going to be the greatest chief one day, surpass Stoic himself. Glancing at Croix, who was shamelessly flirting with one of the women at the counter, Akko sneaked to the back of the forge. She had constructed a kind-of slingshot, a tool she would use to ground a dragon. A grounded dragon, was a dead dragon. Her mind raced as she wheeled her contraption to the exit,

"Maybe I'll catch a Gronkle! Or a Timberjack.. A Monstrous Nightmare maybe? Or even a Skrill!- umph!"

Croix glared down at her apprentice, who had just mindlessly walked into her chest.

"And where're you off to Akko?"

"Um.." Akko was bad at a fair few things, lying being one of the worst, "testing an invention?" She chimed while carelessly patting the top of the slingshot. At her pat, it shot a bolas spinning off out past the counter. Hitting an unsuspecting viking right in the head.

Croix watched, and then glared, at her apprentice, "see, this is why you can't go out!"

Akko put her finger up to interject - 

"No! You need to stop all - " Croix gestured aimlessly toward Akko " - this."

Akko stared incredulously, "You just gestured through all of me!"

"Yes! Stop being all of you!" Croix couldn't help but smirk at the back-and-forth between her an Akko. Who was puffing her cheeks out at the older woman and glancing at the door behind her. The brunette glanced back at the counter and pointed at the man she hit with her bolas,

"Quick! His head is bleeding!" she shouted, struggling to keep her makeshift composure at the man's widening eyes - like a deer caught in headlights. Croix immediately shifted her weight to look past Akko, concern evident in her stance, while Akko slipped herself and her contraption past her and through the door. 

She weaved through the fighting vikings and past the charred huts, ignoring Croix shouting after her. She would face the consequences after she caught her dragon. The village would be bowing at her feet in no time!

Yeah, so the village wasn't bowing at her feet. In fact one would dare say they were rather angry at the brunette. Akko had seen a dragon - sort of - and she had hit it down - she thinks? - but failed to notice the monstrous nightmare lurking just behind her. It was at least polite enough to wait for Akko to turn and see it before it chased her around Berk. Luckily Stoic had seen his daughters antics, and with a sigh,  rushed to save her. He fought off the dangerous beast before it could turn his daughter into charcoal, sadly not before it knocked down one of the pyres and set the sheep free - into the other dragons' claws.. By daybreak the dragons had made off with more than half Berk's population of sheep, leaving behind more charred huts than not. 

Now Akko was standing in front of her and her father's hut, eyes trained on the ground, while the various inhabitants of Berk gave her a piece of their mind. In her defence, she had testified to capturing a dragon. A nightfury no less! But apparently a shortage in sheep and huts were more important than her apparent achievement.

"C'mon guys calm down!" Came the deep voice of Amanda O'Neill, "Akko here caught a nightfury remember!"

Akko frowned at the obvious sarcasm dripping from the taller girl's words. Said frown deepened at the twins snickering. Her mood completely drowned when Diana didn't even offer so much as a remark, but just looked away in deep disappointment. Why did that hurt so much?

Sighing, Croix waved everyone away from Akko, promising that the village would be up-and-running again in no time. Stoic was now berating Akko, Croix wasn't going to intervene there, deciding to lead the girl to the door afterwards instead. She had some pity for the girl, Akko always had good intentions, it was a shame that chaos followed her like a bad smell. 

"I'm telling you I shot down a dragon! Don't you at least believe me Croix?"

With a sigh, she shot her apprentice a smile, "That contraption was rather well-built.."

"Right!-"

"But that doesn't mean you can go around recklessly to prove yourself, Akko. You coulda gotten seriously hurt if it weren't for your father.. I swear you're too much like your mother sometimes.."

"'Sure wish I could agree with you." Akko bit back, people loved to talk about her mother. How brave she was, how sad that she died the way she did. No one felt keen enough to offer Akko some real insight as to what happened. All she knows is that she's kind of like her - which wasn't exactly helping her. All she really had was a name, Chariot. Other than that all people wanted to talk about was how much they missed her and how Stoic had never been the same since she went. She felt Croix looking at her, glancing up she could see the apology in the blacksmith's eyes. At that, she sighed out a "sorry.."

Croix only hummed as her and Akko stopped at the door. Akko huffed and unlocked the door, moving to go inside when she was stopped by her mentor. 

"You'll prove yourself yet Akko, just stop trying so hard to get it done. The best things happen to those who wait."

She only got a huff in response from the brunette and the door was slammed behind her. Letting out her hundredth sigh, Croix trudged back to the forge. Had the smith stayed a while longer, she would've seen Akko escape from out the back of the hut.

Akko was lost. She honestly thought she saw which way that dragon fell - well she was wrong. In fact she was beginning to question whether she actually hit anything, which only gave rise to her already bubbling anger. The woods were thick, trees like soldiers stood all around her offering no discernible path for her to follow. With a frustrated shout, Akko slapped one of the branches.

For it to hit her right back on the face.

"Argh! Is everything against- "

Moving forward, Akko noted that the trees here were splintered. It was like something very heavy had smashed right into them, perhaps a dragon?

"me..." 

A big black lump lay at the bottom of the slope of splintered trees and, in her excited trance, Akko charged at it. Then she slid at it. Tripping over things as insignificant as stones is well within her expertise after all. Heck, she bumped right into it, causing it to jolt. The beast was a rich black in colour, its chest heaving with every breath. Emerald green eyes pierced into red, its pupils slits and soaking with a deep-seated fear. 

With a burst of confidence Akko shot up to her feet, planting one of them on the beast, chanting victoriously at bringing it down. Said beast, who clearly wasn't in the mood for stupid shenanigans, promptly shoved her off with its leg. 

"Ow.." Akko moaned while rubbing the back of her head, oh Amanda won't believe her eyes when she brings back its heart. Maybe Diana will finally acknowledge her - wait what? No - grovel at her feet and apologise for being so pompous for the last few years. She cannot wait to be the one teasing the twins. She wanted to finally be the pride of Berk, brave daughter of the great Stoic the Vast. Akko got to her feet, slowly pulling the hunting knife from out of her boot and lifting it over the mighty beast beneath her. Akko lifted the blade, accidentally catching the look of defeat in its eyes and allowing its head to fall. She faltered. No, she couldn't start feeling for it, it's a dragon for Thor's sake! Given the choice, it would most definitely kill Akko. So why couldn't she do the same? 

The dragon was still a living thing, Akko shot it out of the sky for purely selfish reasons. It hadn't attacked her - or anyone for that matter - yet here she was, threatening to kill it just to gain some fame in her village. Thinking about it further, Akko felt a little ill. With a heavy sigh, she brought the knife down. 

The dragon's eyes snapped open to the sound of ropes being cut, slowly but surely loosening its limbs. The girl concentrating hard on not accidentally cutting flesh. 

As the last of the ropes fell, Akko shuffled back against a large rock. Watching with a slight tremble as the beast hoisted itself up, appearing bigger and bigger. It's wide eyes staring into her own again, silently judging her.

"Oh dear Thor why did I free it! It's a freaking dragon!"

Any further thoughts were drowned out by a thundering roar from the dragon, it's huge on her chest, as if trying to instill a message into the trembling girl. With a final huff, the dragon stumbled further into the woods, trying - and failing - to fly away. Leaving a shivering, wide eyed Akko behind. She too stumbled to her feet and turned to the direction of where she came from.

Then fell right back down.

Chapter Text

So apparently Akko likes to dream about witches going to school when she passes out from freeing dangerous beasts - instead of killing them. What even is a witch? She mused as she made her way back - she thought - to Berk. 

After finding her way through the think woods, she was met with vikings darting left, right and centre with all sorts of weapons and barrels. Looks like they were headed off to sea - again. Trying to pay it no mind, Akko made her way to her own hut - she knew that no one was stupid enough to ask the village idiot to help with something like transporting goods onto the ships. The thought of being the village idiot giving rise to a certain discomfort in her stomach. 

Upon entering the hut, which was significantly larger than many of the others in the village (not that it could be fairly compared as most of the other huts had been turned into large lumps of charcoal), Akko's ruby eyes fell on her father. Stoick was sitting by the fire, absentmindedly messing with it, his eyes far away in thought. Not wanting to disturb the burly man, Akko slowly tip-toed to the steps and moved to climb up them. 

"Akko, we need to talk.."

The girl in question visibly cringed at her father's words, did they really have to? Right now?

"I've decided.." Stoick hesitated, "that it's time for you to learn how to fight dragons." The chieftain's tone turning more absolute by the end. 

Oh no, no, no. She had literally just failed at killing a dragon, not just that, she let the damn lizard go! Gritting her teeth, Akko slid back down the steps and inched over to her father, whose gaze was still far away. 

"That's uh- I don't really- I.. I can't fight dragons" Akko stumbled over her words, whilst simultaneously feeling Odin's wrath on her shoulders. A viking who can't kill dragons, what a joke. As if to prove the idiocy in her statement, her father met his daughter's eyes with a condescending glare.

"'course you can!" His smile making the 'can' feel more like a 'will'. "It's what y'always wanted!" 

It was what she wanted. Until she found out she shared the same genetic code as a chicken - not that she knew what a genetic code was, I mean, she was still a viking; if a failed one. She also knew that she would likely lose the argument she could sense brewing. Didn't stop her trying though.

"Well, I was thinking.." Akko audibly gulped, "does the village have enough helmet shining vikings or dragon watching vikings? Or - uh - farm.. hands?" Where on earth was she going with this? Stoick's smile all but disappeared.

"This isn't a game, Akko!" 

Ouch.

"You need to grow up, stop all -" he gestured, "this."

Really? Akko glared incredulously, "You!- You just gestured through all of me!" Seriously, it was growing old already. 

Instead of answering, her father merely grunted, making his position clear with an unsaid command. "You will fight dragons."

The brunette supposed that was the end of that one-sided conversation. Actually most of her conversations with adults were one sided - no wait - no they all were. She'd honestly laugh if it wasn't so frustrating. She watched as Stoick stormed out of the hut, making sure to slam the door behind him. It was final, the girl who couldn't fight dragons, was going to fight dragons. 

Turns out, a large majority of the vikings were going on a trip across the archipelago. Some new lead on a dragon's nest, Akko didn't really care, she was too busy worrying about all the ways she would die when her training started. Even Croix seemed to pick up on the younger girl's discomfort, offering some joke about catching fire.

Yeah, it wasn't funny. 

Akko had taken refuge at the forge, maybe she could skip dragon training. The other Berkians didn't like her anyway, she couldn't make life that much worse for herself. It worked pretty well for a while, there weren't many people around and the class had started. She reckoned that maybe she could sharpen some of the old blades, at least be somewhat useful to Croix - also to apologise for skipping her lesson. 

A call to her name caused Akko to almost sharpen her own finger. She scowled, looking to find the owner of the voice and give them a piece of her- 

Oh.

At the customer window, stood a very irritated Diana. Her arms crossed and impatiently shifting her weight from one leg to the other. Honestly at this point she'd rather be the nightfury she shot down, or maybe the tree that Stoick liked to swing his axe at...

"You failed to show up to our first session with Croix." Akko flinched, choosing not to meet Diana's eyes, or register her words, "I've been sent to retrieve you. Honestly, who's bright idea was it to allow you into a training session for real vikings." 

See now that, coupled with the fact that Diana had startled her, got the brunette's blood boiling. Akko knew she wasn't the best, but who gave Diana the right to judge her? Diana seemed to pick up on Akko's frustration, "It doesn't surprise me that you decided to hide here, you were always a bit of a coward-"

"Would you can it!?" Shoving the blade on the rack, Akko stormed out of the forge and past Diana. Why did she have to provoke her like that? By Thor, now all she wanted to do is prove her wrong. She would be a viking. The next chief of Berk.

She didn't see the look of satisfaction that flashed on the Diana's face as she stormed past. 

After several attempts on her life (whether that be by gronkle or Amanda), Akko stumbled back to her hut. She had honestly tried really hard to follow the instructions, slamming her mallet against her shield to confuse the beast; she didn't realise the thing would crash land right into her before regaining its senses.

Luckily, nothing was broken and Croix had managed to hault it off of her before it turned her into dinner - apparently everyone else thought it rather funny to sit and laugh and the girl.

With that disaster in mind, Croix just decided to end the practise early and send everyone on their way. The young Vikings all went of to do their own thing, apart from Akko and Diana. The latter had thought it appropriate to berate Akko for her actions before making her own way, leaving a very downtrodden girl with her mentor.

"Don't worry about it too much, kiddo, you'll get the hang of it eventually."

Akko glanced up at the woman, "will I, though?"

Not really wanting to hear an answer, Akko made her way to the spot where she freed the dragon. Quite honestly, she sucked at fighting dragons and she couldn't kill a downed one - perhaps sticking to making weapons wasn't a bad idea.

Carefully, she ran her fingers over the tracks the nightfury left in the soil and the trees, silently wondering why it hadn't just flown away. She followed the tracks from the spot it was trapped, carefully looking out for splintered trees and small dragon scales until she came to a clearing protected by a cliff. Careful not to fall over the edge, Akko peered down into it, only to jolt back as a flash of black flew past her.

The beast was desperately flapping its wings, clawing at the cliff-face in an effort to get back in the sky. Every time, however, it would plummet back down on to the ground or into the lake. The viking watched with interest as each attempt left it more tired and less able to fly.

"What's wrong with you?"

Only when it stopped to catch its breath did she notice a fin missing from its tail, meaning it couldn't balance itself properly in the air - leaving the beast to plummet every time it tried to fly. Akko's bolas must've severed the fin when it caught the beast, so not only did she down a dragon, she completely doomed it.

The beast was paying for her recklessness, had she killed it, it wouldn't be struggling now. Had she just left it alone, it would not be maimed now. The pit in her stomach grew, regret weighing her down. She would make this right, help this dragon back into the air. She had already failed as a viking, how much worse could it get?

Diana was sitting in her family hut, busy sharpening her many weapons and tools. Blunt weapons were useless, as were blunt minds. Becoming a strong viking is her ambition, as is to free Berk from the dragons' tyranny. No one else understands how serious their dragon problem is, selfish ambitions of glory are all anyone else can think about. Especially a certain brunette. 

The girl was clumsy and scatter brained, how she thinks she can ever be a viking is honestly baffling. Yet, at the same time, it's almost saddening to watch Akko fail or give up. Whenever the other youths tease her, she merely takes it, it's very rare for her to argue back or stand up for herself. A part of Diana wishes that Akko would grow a backbone, not allow herself to be what everyone sees her to be. 

With a short hum, Diana finishes her last weapon and glances out of a window. The sky is dark and still, no dragon attacks tonight it seems - for the better too as the village is under manned. The only sounds she could hear were the whistles of the wind, the soft crackle of the fire and.. padding of running footsteps?

Diana shot up, moving swiftly to the window to find the source of the noise. The silhouette of a small viking girl rushed past her hut, making for the forge.

What on earth was the girl up to now?

Chapter Text

Training for Akko never really improved. Most days, she's hide out at the forge and brush up on the techniques Croix had been instilling in her for so long - perhaps that would give her mentor something to praise her for - before heading to the forest to check on the dragon she maimed. The dragon itself was passive toward her, since she made no move to go near it, it made no attempt to harm her; whether it was waiting for her to fall and end up its meal was down to how one perceived its body language. Akko perceived it as passive. 

Akko would perceive a rabid dog as passive. 

Plans for a replacement

tail fin had also been drawn during her time at the forge, plans with no measurements. Akko needed those. It was the fifth night since Stoick had left for the latest search for a dragons nest, so sneaking out should've been easy.

Dragons have terrible timing. 

An attack on Berk was hard to handle under normal circumstances, however an undermanned Berk called for desperate measures. In other words, people were actually looking to Akko for help with the actual fighting - never mind the fact that attending her classes was as rare as the nightfury she'd been watching. She had been preparing to sneak off amid the chaos when an axe was thrown to her by Amanda with the (very useful) warning of "don't croak." The taller girl had then run off to join the twins while a zippleback crept up behind Akko; one head sparking, one head leaking an awful smelling gas. Akko attempted to maker herself bigger by squaring her shoulders and lifting the axe with a battle cry -the axe itself not reaching the height of even the lower head on the dragon - while the dragon eyed her curiously. The heads seemed to silently discuss how to deal with the child-sized human in their way before mixing their gas and spark on the girl, scorching the tips of her hair and blasting her back against the hut. 

With a grunt, Akko attempted to lift herself back up and reached out for the axe which lay a couple metres away. Upon further inspection, she noticed that the bit was almost rounded rather than sharp and the handle was far too short to reach a dragon of a zippleback size. The axe wouldn't cut through an apple, let alone the thick scales of a dragon. It was as if Amanda gave her a shitty weapon to see how long she'd last with her subpar fighting ability. A glance toward the sounds of laughter instantly confirmed that suspicion.

"Great fighting, Akko! At this rate you might even be able to hit something without stacking it!"

The twins' laughter followed in a mocking echo to Amanda. 

The brunette didn't know whether to be hurt or angry and she didn't have the time to think about it, the zippleback took notice of Akko's alive state (and grip on her defective axe) and stomped its way over to her to finish the job. With nothing else to defend herself with, Akko brought herself to her feet and held the axe in a defensive stance with her feet angled in a way that she might be able to make a quick escape. From their position, Amanda and the twins cheered her on with mocking camaraderie. Akko swung her weapon at the beast, the blunt force jolting the dragon rather than harming it. The handle itself must've been rotting as it cracked on impact, leaving the top half of the weapon hanging limp for a moment before dropping off completely. With a gulp, Akko slowly moved backwards, eyes trained on the dragons while it stalks towards her, both mouths open for a final attack. 

A trip on a rock left Akko on the floor, eyes darting between the broken weapon and the looming dragon. Rather than wait to die, however, she brought herself back to her feet and picked up the top half of the defective axe and the rock she tripped on. With a final, defiant glare at the beast, she began to smash the rock against the cheek of her axe while stomping her feet as hard as possible. The zippleback paused, unable to focus on its target as its vision became blurry and distorted. It stumbled around and shook its heads in attempt to block out the piercing sounds. Akko's arms were sore and her feet were pulsing, but she continued to make noise and moved forward as the dragon began to back up. 

She couldn't - wouldn't - kill dragons. That didn't mean she wouldn't defend herself from one, defective weapon or not. 

With a whine of protest, the zippleback fled in order to regain its senses. It flapped its wings erratically and flew into several obstacles during its escape, only when Akko couldn't see it did she stop. Sighing, Akko fell back to the floor, letting her sore limbs relax. It seemed that the other vikings had dealt with the rest of the attack, the other dragons had made off with some sheep while some lay dead with Vikings cheering around them. Akko grimaced, it wasn't a pleasant sight - this wasn't a pleasant reality - this can't be the only way to live, surely?

Footsteps drew her attention away from the casualties and toward an irritated Diana and Croix. 

"Akko, you need to be able to help with more than one dragon if you want to be a warrior some day.." Croix started with a level voice but an undertone of disappointment. 

"Honestly, Akko. You can't be this useless." Diana finished. 

Honestly, she'd had enough. 

"What the hell was I meant to do?" She all but growled.

"Oh, I don't know. Have a weapon that works? Maybe then you won't end up dead!"

"Girls-"

"Tell that to Amanda! She threw this stupid thing to me! I was training to be a smith, why would I choose to use a defective weapon?!"

"What?-"

"Girls!" Croix finally managed to cut through, glaring down at the two of them, "Enough with the bickering, if you don't mind. Akko, you were given that old thing?"

The girl in question nodded before she was shoved out of the way by the redhead who doomed her, "Aw c'mon we were only playing! I wouldn't have actually let her die, it's a perk of being a real viking."

Akko saw red, if the snickering and chanting were anything to go by, Amanda wouldn't have stepped in until Akko at least unconscious - if at all. However, before her or Croix could give the tall girl a piece of their mind, they were cut off. 

"You endangered a fellow viking for your own selfish gain? How is that 'okay'?! We are all supposed to be on the same team yet Akko seems to be more akin to a toy for you to mess with when you're bored! What if she was injured - or worse - what if she died? Hm?" She was the last person Akko expected to defend her, Diana's cheeks were completely flushed and her eyes blazed with the fury of the beasts they had just been fighting. If looks could kill...

However the anger was soon redirected, "And you, Akko! If you had been more prepared, you would've had more than a moldy old axe to defend yourself with. You said yourself that you were training to be a smith, so you should have plenty of weapons at your disposal." Granted, it was sobered but the overall disappointment in her tone bit harder than any creature. Even Croix was shuffling her weight from side-to-side, unable to find an input to sober the overall situation. Akko averted her eyes from the group. Diana was right, obviously, but she couldn't stands the looks from her and Amanda and the twins. No one could back her up with out embarrassing her to balance it all out. So she took the easy way out.

She ran towards the forest. Croix was probably calling for her to stop, but the night was repeating itself in her ears. So she ran until she reached the clearing where the nightfury lay. She must've been noisy since the beast looked up at her from it's spot near the lake. It was curled up on some scorched ground, she must've woken it. With a muttered apology to it, she sat with her legs dangling over the rocks to the clearing. However she didn't balance her weight properly as she sat and ended up falling down to the level of the dragon. This time she had nothing but her coal pencil to protect herself. The dragon eyed her, opting to stay in its place and wait for Akko to attack it (Akko assumed it was a he). Its lack of movement allowed Akko to breathe and calm herself, then take a moment to check herself for wounds. She knew she had tears streaming from her eyes - the stress of the night had obviously taken its toll. The nightfury seemed to acknowledge that. 

He (Akko was going with it being a 'he') lifted himself off of the ground to investigate the human that fell into his temporary territory (the human that also grounded it). Keeping a distance he sniffed the air around her, eyeing her as she checked herself over and muttered to herself like terrors often chirp at eachother. The human finally took notice of him and curled into herself, making herself small to appear docile. She smelled like charcoal and burnt hair. The nightfury chose to make himself comfortable closer to Akko, tail swaying  slowly and lifting dust from the ground.

"So why don't you attack me then?" Akko pondered, gaining the courage to shuffle towards the beast. The lack of a weapon or helmet might help her look harmless, but she downed him, so it would be natural for him to attack. The fact that no attack came was more suspicious than calming. 

Soon, however, her body moved on its own; curiosity won over and she scooted closer to the dragon's position. With a single eye it watched her, tensed as she reached out and relaxed into the soft touch. If she had wanted to, she would've harmed him by now and vice versa. The lack of negative reaction allowed Akko to keep petting the beast - it's not as if she wasn't almost killed by one earlier or anything - and she felt a smile tug at her cheeks. 

"You're not nearly as bad as we're lead to believe are you?"

After petting him idly for half an hour, she figured it would be okay to take his tail and roughly measure the fin. The dragon tensed under the change of touch and growled as she trailed the scar, baring his teeth at the girl until she stopped, but ultimately did nothing. It was a fairly friendly interaction despite the circumstance of their first meeting, Akko even found herself getting attached to him. Running her hand over his scales, Akko noticed how some of them twinkled like the stars in the sky - she thought idly about how that must be why nightfuries camouflage so well with the night sky. Eventually, exhaustion crept up on her and she found herself lying on the soft grass floor. She was already unconscious when a wing covered her form, almost like a blanket. 

When she awoke, the sun was high in the sky. It must've been close enough to noon, Croix would be worried sick, the nightfury was also absent. He was busy fishing in the lake. Akko took the opportunity to clamber up the steep rocks to escape the clearing, ignoring the somewhat perplexed looks she received from the dragon (who had a fish balanced on his head from taking his face out of the water so suddenly, which then slipped back into the water).

On her trek back through the forest, Akko pondered on the dragon and his odd mannerisms. If she was going to help him, surely she should have an easier name for him.

"Well then, I guess it was nice to meet you Noctu.."

As Akko approached Berk, she noticed how it wasn't Croix who was waiting for her back at the village, rather a very worried Diana.

Chapter Text

"Where in Thor's name have you been all night!" Diana shouted as Akko came into view. Akko had honestly been expecting Croix to be out here - though a nightly excursion wasn't exactly out of character for her. What the heck did Diana want anyway?

"Out." She responded flatly, taking some satisfaction from how Diana's face soured - as if she had just bitten through a lemon. Clearly, the answer wasn't enough for her. Good, she isn't my mum, anyway. Anyway, how would it look if she had explained that she had made friends(?) with a dragon of all things. She didn't want to be known as the traitor of Berk - it didn't suit her well anyways. Plus, Noctu could get hurt... More.

The two glared at each other for a few minutes, waiting for one of them to say anything - do anything. But, neither did and Akko was getting particularly tired. She just wanted to go back to her hut so she could start planning on fixing the dragon's tail. Maybe get something to eat while she's there. But no, Diana had to stick her pompous nose into her business, making her late - though, tardiness was a habit anyway - for her plans. 

"I'm going to need a little more than that, Akko," Diana said, voice laced with hidden venom. How dare Akko saunter back after being away for a whole night! She could've gotten hurt, or killed. Maybe kidnapped by bandits (what?). She huffed, Akko's internet ability to be utterly incorrigible was becoming a pain. The girl who wanted to be acknowledged but spends her time slacking off and sneaking out. What a role model, indeed. Tired of waiting for the brunette to offer any kind of explanation, Diana turned on her heel and left Akko to her lonesome. She could be difficult, it's not like Diana cared, anyway. 

Akko headed back to her hut, there was no use wasting time. A downed dragon is a dead dragon - she didn't want to be the reason Noctu met his maker. It still shook her, how little they knew of the beasts, Noctu should've killed her while she was vulnerable - but he didn't. Even though she shot him down, toyed with the idea of killing him - left him permanently unable to fly. Akko shook her head, no use in spiralling either. Turning her attention back to Diana, Akko noted that the girl had been waiting for an actual answer for the last few moments - couldn't she just let it go? One minute she's defending her against Amanda, the next she's lecturing her about staying out. Her dad wasn't around and Croix seemed pretty confident to not wait up. So what gives?

"I went for a walk - fell asleep in a tree." She grumbled, knowing exactly how this was going to turn into a discussion about last night. Diana seemed to nod, whether out of understanding or exasperation was to be seen. She tapped her finger on her axe, the one she carried on her back, and stared through Akko for a few moments before grasping her by the wrist and dragging her through the village to the training grounds. 

Without speaking, she then threw her axe at a target and let out a war cry - the axe split the wood, almost breaking the entire target. 

"What in Odin's beard 'you doing?" Akko asked, flinching back at the sounds of wood splitting. 

"Letting off steam." She replied simply. 

"Why do I need to be here?"

Diana shot her a look, one that told her she was being stupid and that she needed to shut up and follow her; it was a lot to say in a single look, but hey, they were friends once. Diana wordlessly shoved another axe into Akko's arms, pointing at the next target. "Go ahead." 

The axe was certainly different to Amanda's, the handle was firm and made of some dark wood - perhaps stained with wild berries - and the blade was shiny and bright. The bit was sharpened perfectly into a thin, sharp beard. It was also more rounded, less like a woodcutting axe and kind of like a battleaxe - but also not quite. Akko was fond of its peculiarity, the familiarity of the handle to the blade. It looked almost like Croix's work - perhaps even her own someday. Diana marked Akko's fascination with the weapon's structure but urged her to move on. She had never seen someone so invested in the quality of a weapon, not even Croix, who Diana had to admit was a master of her craft - if a little unorthodox. 

Before she could mention where it came from, Diana watched the weapon fly through the air and bury itself right into the target. A clumsy throw, at best - nowhere near as elegant as her, but a powerful one. What Akko seemed to lack in finesse and discipline, she made up in raw power. The wood was still chipping and flaking moments after the axe had hit. "So, you are capable." She muttered, walking to the targets and retrieving her axe, taking a moment to examine the second one. The bit was completely buried in the wood. It was devastating, yes, but if Akko wanted to be proficient, she couldn't just bury axe heads in people. It would take her far too long to retrieve it, thus leaving her open to attack. If she could just get the axe to penetrate enough to be critical - even fatal - but not let it bury past the beard, she would be able to rival some of the greatest fighters in Berk. Diana glanced back at the girl, who had taken to drawing shaped in the floor with a rusty sword. If only she wasn't so scatter-brained. 

There was only one way to correct this, Akko needed to be a good leader one day. She couldn't be if she couldn't fight. Steeling herself, Diana made her way back to the girl, "I'm going to teach you."

The brunette shot up, "Uh- what?"

"Ugh, keep up, I'm going to teach you." She said, taking the rusty sword and throwing it to the far end of the arena, "You're actually not completely useless, if only you would apply yourself."

Akko mulled it over, she needed the afternoons and evenings to herself and some time to help Croix in the forge. How would she make time for this? "When?"

"Every morning at dawn until the Chief comes back - then I shall discuss a formal training plan with him."

Great, so now Diana would become her chauffeur full-time whether she said yes or no. Akko grimaced, it was like Diana was years older than she actually was, who even needed all that responsibility - who would take it willingly? They were kids. Sure, Akko was adamant about being the best chief, but her father wouldn't die yet. She had a while to go before she needed to be thinking about that. Still, she didn't need to further make an enemy of Diana, "Fine."

"Great," She clapped her hands together, eyes half-lidded and fighting the urge to roll, clearly she wasn't expecting a 'yes'.

Odin, this would come to bite her in the ass later, wouldn't it.

As promised, Diana was ready to start training at dawn. She made her way to the training grounds early to prepare. Then she waited for Akko. Waited and waited and waited. Why would Akko be early to anything? Hell, why would the girl even get there on time. Odds were that she was still asleep. So, Diana stormed to the Chief's hut and banged on the door. She dare not enter out of respect for the tradition of the land, but boy did she want to. 

Eventually, Akko appeared at the doorway, clothes scruffy and a head full of leaves. What on earth had she been doing last night? Diana left her in a reasonable state, did she really feel the need to go out and act like a ruffian? Sure, they're Vikings but she is the daughter of the Chief, she should have a little more pride in how she carries herself. Not feeling the need to question something that would never be answered straight, Diana just gestured for Akko to follow her to the training grounds so they could begin their training. 

Seeing as Akko wasn't fond of listening to people for long periods of time - Diana caught herself wondering if she used those ears for anything at all - it would be wise to instigate with actions, instead. So, after handing the brunette a sword, Diana wasted no time in swinging at her - pulling back at the end when Akko was slow to react. "Pay attention." She stated simply, before bringing the sword back and taking another swing. This time, she didn't hold back, and was relieved to see that Akko had pulled herself into a defensive stance to parry against the attack. For a while, they went on the same, Diana swinging in different patterns while Akko struggled to change her stance to accommodate her parry. It was dull and repetitive - useful, as Diana would see it, but getting rather old to Akko. It showed when Akko broke her stance,  while Diana was in mid-swing, to launch a counter-attack. She brought her whole body down, using her weight to propel forwards into a slide and cut the side of Diana's leg.

Successful as it was, Akko left herself open to attack. The slide meant that she had her back to the enemy, her being on the floor meant she would be slow to get up. Sure enough, by the time Akko got up and turned, Diana already had her sword pointing at her neck. To emphasise the loss, Diana pushed and let the tip touch her throat - surprising Akko enough to make her fall back. "Too over-confident." Diana said, looking down at her, "As usual."

"Shut up, I tried!" Diana scoffed at her, Akko had certainly tried at the beginning. She'd go as far to say that her stances and parries were pretty good. However, she got bored and forced an attack that lost her the battle - no thought to how the attack would effect her stance and ability to defend, she got a small victory but lost the battle. Diana picked up Akko's sword and planted it blade-down in the ground. Ignoring the look Akko gave her at the action, she offered her hand, which Akko begrudgingly took. "Don't do that, by the way." She grumbled.

"What?"

Akko grabbed the sword and pulled it out of the ground, showing her the blade, "This!" She gestured along the edges of the blade, "Sticking them in the ground looks cool 'n all, but you're gonna ruin the blade!" She explained, placing the sword back on one of the holders, "Why do you think we have these? If that's how you treat your weapons, don't come cryin' to me when it fails you mid-battle." Diana huffed in response, she didn't need Akko to tell her how to treat things, Akko doesn't even know how to treat things. "Anyway, we done?"

Diana sighed, "Yes. You can go." She would try actually teaching tomorrow, seeing as they just disagreed this time. Before Akko left, however, she ripped some cloth off of her tunic and handed it to the other girl. 

"For your leg." She said, before running off toward the forge. 

Diana huffed but wrapped her leg anyway. That girl was a nightmare, she was clearly capable but she just didn't care to try. How could anyone with so much potential be so useless, she'd be the first to die in battle - some Chief. 

Akko spent the rest of the day at the forge, catching up on some repair orders for Croix and working on new weapons if any couldn't be fixed up - she was getting better, especially with manipulating the blade after blast-heating it. Sure, some swords lost shape or ended up not looking like swords at all, but there was more good than bad so she reckoned that was an improvement. Once that was all done, she went about creating the final blueprints for Noctu's new tail fin - she wanted to find a way to make it behave like a natural fin, but after a few tries she found that she wasn't quite able to make it sleek enough for the dragon to wear comfortably.

Which meant she would just have to keep it simple. She ended up with a simple design, the fin was held open by rods that attached to the main hook. It would strap to the tail with a leather belt and buckle to keep it as comfortable as possible for Noctu. It was around midnight when she finished and she was itching to try it - she took the fin and rushed out, making her way to the forest clearing - stopping by a storehouse for some fish while she was there. 

She didn't notice the figure lingering by the forge, peering into the workspace.