Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Warm.

That’s the first thing he noticed upon waking up. It was very warm.

Too warm.

Dangerously warm.

Insanely, insurmountably, ridiculously warm.

And that’s when he realized he was on fire.

His eyes shot open. His body forcing harsh, panicked breaths into his lungs.

There was no time for an adjustment period, between complete sleep and full awareness. No time to wipe the grogginess off his face.

He was lying face down in the middle of a burning building, one that was rapidly being turned to ashes. And if he didn’t move, he’d go down with it.

With a terrified shout, he rose to his feet.

Or at least, he tried to.

In his scramble to escape, he attempted to use his left hand to push himself up. But there was no limb to move.

His left arm was completely severed, all the way up to bleeding remains of his shoulder.

Even though the world around him was quickly deteriorating, crumpling into voracious flames, he still had to stop.

Stop and stare.

Stop and stare and scream.

Scream at the arm that was missing. Scream at the pain he now felt. Scream at the terrifying memory of what had transpired just moments ago.

He had been hiding. Cowering in his bed, under his covers. Shivering like a baby.

Because they were under attack.

A surge of demons had descended from the sky, raining fire and death upon his village.

Unfortunately this wasn’t an uncommon occurrence.

He was still too young to fight dragons, and as such was told to hide in his home. Waiting for it all to be over, waiting for his parents to return after the battle.

But then a Monstrous Nightmare exploded through his ceiling.

Gnashing with its ferocious teeth, slashing with its beastly claws, and wearing a coat of flame, the demon immediately locked its eyes onto him. And it must’ve decided that he deserved death.

Tears of terror springing to his eyes, he tumbled out of bed. He scampered to his feet, crashing through the doorway and down the stairs in a desperate bid to save his life. The monster hot on his trail.

With every movement it made, his home was engulfed in more flame. His bedroom was unrecognizable at this point, and the stairs were quickly becoming scorched as it slithered down to catch its prey.

It was right behind him. Its hot breath was baking the back of his neck, its bestial snarls assaulted his ears.

In his panic, he tripped on the last few stairs. Launching himself forwards until he hit the ground hard. Seeing an opportunity, his pursuer lunged at him with wide open jaws. Itching to rip and tear into flesh.

He managed to roll out of the way just in time, settling onto his front.

But before he could do anything else, his movement was suddenly impeded by a heavy weight being placed on his back. The Nightmare had pinned him down with its talons, keeping its prey from escaping.

He tried to fight. He tried to flee. He had even tried to beg, knowing full well that the dragon had no sense of reasoning or logic.

But his efforts were useless.

A moment later, his struggles were put to an end. As a tremendous pain shot through his left shoulder.

The Nightmare had clamped his left arm in its jaws, piercing his skin with its horrendous fangs.

And it tugged.

It tugged and tugged and tugged, inflicting more agony with each pull...

Until it ripped the arm off in one last savage wrench.

All he could do was wail. Wail and cry and writhe with agony, still in the hold of this demon.

With his severed arm in its grasp, it seemed the dragon was satisfied. It released him, and broke through the frail walls of his home. Flying into the night, still holding the extremity that was brutally stolen from him.

It was the last time he’d ever see his own arm.

Lying on his face, a pool of red liquid starting to spread from his fresh wound, he couldn’t help it. His body had been through too much, too fast.

He passed out.

…

And woke up to an oppressively blazing inferno, and the shouts from the chaos outside.

Now he remembered.

And now that he was awake, he realized that he had only a few minutes to escape.

The building was coming down fast, he needed to get out of here.

Using his remaining arm, he rose to his feet. Immediately staggering to the side, and being forced to lean on a wall. He wasn’t used to this unbalance, and the blood loss had left him severely weakened. Even walking was a challenge right now.

But he had to. He had to or else he would die.

He tried as hard as he could. He pushed his body to its absolute limits, all while ignoring the stray embers that hung onto his torn clothing.

He used every last drop of adrenaline his system could spare to push himself towards that front door. All while trying to dodge falling, burning debris with a body that wouldn’t quite cooperate.

He was almost there. The front door was right there. The outside was calling to him.

But before he could make it, a support beam toppled in front of him. Crashing through the floor.

He managed to jolt backwards, just in time. But the sudden movement left his already feeble body drained of all its energy.

He tried so hard to move. He tried so hard to reach for the freedom that was just outside his grasp.

But he couldn’t.

He was too small. Too weak.

And he would die here.

Without ever seeing his mother or father again. Without ever playing with his friends again. With his last experience being the horror of having a limb mutilated by a dragon.

He would die here.

His vision was getting blurry. The smoke was invading his lungs. His shoulder throbbed and gushed, with increasingly smaller amounts of liquid.

He just couldn’t take anymore.

With fluttering eyelids, it all faded to black.

…

And suddenly, he was being carried.

He was outside, being rushed away from the wreckage of his home.

And he was in his mother’s arms.

He looked up through bleary eyes, trying to get a look at her.

Her skin was scratched up and covered in ash, her clothes had been ripped to pieces, her hair was singed at the edges. But what was most disheartening was the sheer terror on her face, as she ran for both her and her child’s lives.

She wasn’t alone. Everyone left in his village was fleeing. Fleeing what had been their home for seven generations, now nothing but a pile of burnt wood and ashen trees.

Limply hanging in his mother’s hold, he managed to push his head up. Looking over her shoulder.

He saw the few remaining strongest of his tribe, battling against the horde of dragons with ferocity. Hoping to buy time for the rest of them.

He saw them swing their swords and bash with hammers. He saw them deflect blasts of flame and swipes of talons with their shields. He felt like cheering, every time one of those ghastly creatures had their head cut off.

Especially because his father was among them. Fighting for their survival with every ounce of bravery he had.

But bravery just wasn’t enough.

As his mother continued to dash to safety, holding him closely lest she drop him, he watched.

He watched as his father was murdered by a dragon.

He couldn’t shout, or cry, or anything. His throat was too dry, his lungs too haggard, his mind too frozen with shock.

So he said nothing. He did nothing.

He did nothing as his own father, who he respected like no other, was killed at the claws of a foul beast.

He didn’t even remember the last thing he said to him. But he’d remember this moment for the rest of his life.

As the survivors ran, more and more were picked off. Bitten and burned and carried off into the skies, all by fiendish dragons.

Women, children, the sick or elderly, none were spared. Dragons were indiscriminate in their hatred, their malice. Encompassed solely by their desire to see everything burn.

The last survivors of his enter tribe made it to the boats. Many of them were on fire as well, reduced to burning pieces of driftwood. There was only one ship still intact.

And there were so few of them, they all fit on it.

So they sailed.

They began their trek, sailing far, far away from the island they’d spent their whole lives on.

Because it wasn’t the same island anymore.

Their home, with the evergreen trees gently swaying in the breeze. The rocky beaches, perfect for spending an afternoon relaxing or splashing in the sea. The fluffy snow caking their village in pristine white, on the most pleasant of winter days…

It was gone.

Reduced to a charred corpse of an island. Littered with their scorched memories, and the burning bodies of their loved ones.

Luckily, they weren’t followed. The dragons were content to continue stealing livestock and razing all that remained of their village.

They had to go.

The few of them that remained would have to find a new home, and keep the spirit of their people alive.

So they sailed.

They sailed in search of a brighter tomorrow. Of a future for their children. Of a life without constant fear of dragons.

Leaving their old lives to burn.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After only a few days of sailing, it seemed their luck had turned.

Their supplies were limited, as in they had no supplies. They had barely managed to escape with the clothes on their backs, having no time to gather food or materials.

It quickly became apparent, after only two days, that they needed food and water. But unfortunately islands were scarce in these parts, and there weren’t any landmasses where they could gather some necessities. Even uninhabited ones.

Not only were they afraid, wounded, and traumatized. They were also starving. And they had no idea how they were going to get food.

His mother had always been an optimist, trying to get him to look on the bright side. In the mornings, when his tummy would ache and his throat would cry out for water, she’d try to take his mind off these things.

But during the nights, when she thought he was asleep and wasn’t listening, he’d hear her crying. Asking any god who would listen a simple question.

Why?

Why kill my husband? Why burn down my village, my friends and family? Why leave my son to waste away?

If he was being honest, he wanted to know the answers as well.

But one fateful night, the seventh of starvation and thirst, it seemed like their troubles were over.

They came across a ship. A big one. Filled with people, with big bellies and merry smiles. Singing shanties under the stars.

His people had nothing to trade, nothing to offer. But they still hoped that perhaps these travelers they’d run into would be so kind as to spare them the slightest bits of food, and the most meager drops of water.

So they asked. Begged, more like. Desperately pleading for even a smidgen of assistance.

The price they paid for this was a steep one.

The men they ran into were pirates. Scouring the seas for plunder, and anything else that could fill their pockets. But his people had nothing valuable to steal.

Angered by their misfortune, they raided the tribe’s ship, which was much smaller in comparison. And demanded loot.

Once again, the pirates were told that they had nothing to give.

And the pirates decided that for this, they deserved death.

All at once, they brandished their weapons. Swords and daggers and spears, anything that could take a life.

Just like those beasts, none were spared from their hatred. From their malice. Even a newborn was met with the blade.

His people were too frail, too weakened to defend themselves. They were helpless to stop their murderers.

And he didn’t make a sound.

He just watched.

Watched as his people were slaughtered.

Watched as his mother, whom he adored, was ran through with a cutlass. Piercing her stomach, staining her ragged clothing with red, all for trying to protect him.

The woman who gave him life. Who gave the best hugs, and made the best meals, and told the best stories. His only living family.

Gone.

Killed.

Right in front of him.

Her body crumpled to the floor right in front of him.

He would never forget her eyes. Locked solely on him, the life behind them rapidly draining.

He still saw them in his sleep, sometimes.

And even in her dying moments, seconds away from being reunited with her husband, she used her last breaths on this earth to protect him.

A desperate whisper. To tell him what he needed to do, to make it out alive.

“...Hide…”

Hide.

Pretend. Act.

Play dead.

And he did.

He lied down, shut his eyes, and tried not to even breathe.

It worked.

Thanks to his injury, the pirates assumed they must’ve already got him. Simply forgetting this specific interaction in a whirlwind of blood and steel.

And they left him.

They left him to lie there, surrounded by the corpses of people he knew. People he loved.

They got right back onto their ship, and sailed away. Laughing and cheering as if they’d done something admirable. Something worth celebrating.

They had nothing, and they weren’t even asking for much. They would’ve eaten scraps, at this point. And they’d do so gladly.

They had nothing to give, and yet everything they had was taken.

And the pirates were proud of themselves.

They just slaughtered innocents, for daring to ask their fellow man for help, and they were happy about it.

Dragons were heartless, mindless monsters. Incapable of a single thought outside of destruction.

But humans were different. They were capable of thought, logic, compassion.

And yet, these people still chose to be just as heartless. Just as mindless. Just as monstrous in their lust for death.

You couldn’t even trust your own kind to treat you better than demons.

Everything he knew, taken by dragons. Everything he had left, taken by humans.

Leaving him with nothing.

Nothing. Nowhere. And no one.

And he asked the same question his mother did.

Why?

What did he do to deserve this suffering? Who had he wronged, to warrant being wronged so heavily in return?

What did any of them do?

Why do dragons seek to destroy all that is good?

Why do humans, who can exhibit kindness, choose to embody all that is evil?

Why are any of us here, if we are only to feel pain?

Why is the world like this?

Why?

WHY!?

…

No one answered.

No one had any answers.

…

…

…

But he did.

In that moment, something from within him changed. Changed forever.

He knew what he had to do.

And he made a vow. To everyone and everything.

He would rise above the tyranny of dragons, and create a world where no one had to be afraid of them.

He would ensure that human beings forsook their tendencies of violence and hatred. That they lived up to their full potential, as compassionate creatures.

He would set things right.

He would fix this world.

Somehow, someway…

He would take on the role of the Gods.

He would do the job they should've been doing.

He would find a way to assume direct control over this world, and personally make sure that there was no more suffering.

No more pain.

No more death.

No one would feel what he felt. What he was feeling right now. What he would feel for the rest of his life.

It was too late for him.

But he wasn’t doing this for himself. He was doing this for the people.

He had to be a man, now.

A man of the people.

He didn’t know how, he just knew it had to be done.

For the benefit of mankind, he would take command of this world. And instill a mindset of peace and harmony within all its inhabitants.

Anyone who refused, anyone who insisted on hanging onto their violent ways, would be dealt with accordingly.

He would fix this world.

For his mother, his father, his people, all people…

Drago Bludvist would save the world.

Chapter Text

It was surreal.

Even after all this time, it was still so strange.

It was one of those things where, if you thought about it for more than a second, it would feel positively bonkers.

It was so very weird, just how different their lives were.

Once upon a time, he was nothing more than a weakling. A scrawny excuse for a Viking who couldn’t do anything right.

Once upon a time, she was a magical mishap. The only Madrigal grandchild without a gift, and the only one not worth bothering with.

They were freaks. Outcasts. Aberrations amongst their peers. Disgraces to their families.

Just a boy, desperate to show his father that he was a Viking.

Just a girl, desperate to show her abuela that she was just as special as the rest of her family.

Desperate to prove to everyone that they were more than what was thought of them.

But that was now over ten years ago.

So much was different. So much had changed.

They were no longer awkward, insecure teenagers. Struggling under the weight of expectations they just couldn’t meet.

They were adults, well into their twenties. Far more confident in themselves than they could’ve imagined possible.

They were the leaders of their community, the heads of their family.

She saved the magic, ensuring her loved ones would no longer have to silently suffer in the pursuit of toxic perfectionism.

He ended centuries of war, stopping the slaughter of enslaved dragons, and Vikings who just wanted to defend themselves.

They were heroes! Though they tried not to get a big head about it.

And ever since that day, when he tumbled out of the sky on the back of a Night Fury. That chaotic day where they met for the first time…

They were hopelessly in love.

Even before they knew it, something was there.

They’ve been married for seven blissful years, and they’ve been parents for six of them.

Parents to three children, all of them born at once. Triplets, two with magical gifts, and one destined to lead the family herself when she was of age.

They were certainly a handful, describing them as anything less would be wildly inaccurate. But all three of them had good hearts, and they were dearly loved by their parents.

It was just so strange.

They lived in a living house, with their magical family, in a village hidden away in the mountains of Colombia, that was populated by dragons.

To any outsiders, their reality must’ve sounded like the most fantastical of fairy tales.

It was like a dream.

But they were so happy, so head over heels with the lives that they’ve made for themselves, the lives they fought for, that if this truly was a dream…

They didn’t want to-

“WAKE UP!”

That loud and exuberant cry, hollered at the top of a young girl’s lungs, shocked a pair of adults straight out of dreamland.

Though a certain mess of dark curls, plopped against her pillow and jolted out of slumber, wasn’t so enthusiastic.

“Your daughter’s calling you…” She mumbled to her partner, while fighting to keep her eyes closed.

Lying beside her, a mop of auburn hair was just as tired. And just as resistant to the idea of waking.

“My daughter?” He groggily asked, blinking as he adjusted to the daylight. “You’re the one who pushed her out!”

Mirabel finally opened her eyes, to regard her husband with an unamused stare.

“And who put her there?”

Hiccup could only laugh in response, and she managed a giggle too.

Though their titters quickly turned into yelps of surprise, when a ball of energy joined them on the bed. By crashing into them.

The electrical energy dissipated, revealing a six-year-old girl. With an untamable mane of red hair, a pale face as freckled as her father’s, excitable brown eyes, and a wild grin.

Karla Haddock Madrigal, their oldest daughter. Blessed with super speed.

And a complete lack of patience.

“COME ON!” She squealed, pulling at her mother’s arm. “LET’S GO!”

She then resorted to zipping behind her dad, and trying to push him forwards.

“Get a move on, already!” “Demanded the girl. “We’re wasting so much time!”

Mirabel put on her glasses, and checked the clock on her dresser.

“It’s only a minute after seven!” She said, not quite seeing the problem.

Her eldest faced her with an exasperated expression, as she felt this was precisely the problem.

“Exactly!”

Rolling both their eyes, Mirabel and Hiccup complied. Shifting into upright positions, while Karla victoriously jumped up and down behind them. Celebrating in her blue nightgown.

Though firstly, Hiccup had to equip his prosthetic leg. The real one being lost in a harrowing battle against a ferocious monster.

It made for a fun story, though.

Now with all limbs ready to go, the couple sat at the edge of their bed. Moments away from rising.

But as they moved their feet to touch the ground, searching for their slippers, something odd happened.

Hiccup’s metal leg was placed on something soft and fluffy. Which didn’t make sense, because he didn’t wear a slipper on this leg.

It also felt squishy, and furry, and made a surprised squeak when the cold steel squashed it onto the floor.

Overcome with confusion, both he and his wife looked down to see what he was stepping on.

His foot was currently pressed down on a creature, that appeared to be a cross between a rabbit and a marshmallow. With button eyes, a cotton tail, long ears, and an oddly scribble-like quality to its squishy form. Struggling for escape under his weight.

And now that they were looking, they could see that there wasn’t just one of them. Their entire bedroom was overrun by the rabbits. All a multitude of bright colors, hopping and wiggling on anything they could find.

Including their dragons.

The side-area of their room, devoted to hosting reptiles, was also being invaded by these fluffy pests.

A dragon with pitch black scales, powerful green eyes, and an assortment of distinctive extremities on his head glared at the things with annoyance. Toothless felt it was far too early in the morning for this.

But his friend, a dragon with a regal head crest, four wings, and golden scales found them quite interesting. Mariposa’s curiosity knew no bounds.

As Hiccup lifted his foot, finally freeing the struggling rabbit, he shared a knowing look with his wife. There was no mystery as to the origins of these creatures, there could only be one culprit. And they both called his name at once.

“Pedro!”

From within a pile of bunnies, a head poked out of the wiggling mass.

A six-year-old boy, his dark hair as curly as his mother’s. With imaginative brown eyes, a laidback smile, and bronze skin. His cheeks were always splattered with droplets of colorful paint.

Pedro Haddock Madrigal, their middle child. Blessed with the power to bring his drawings to life.

And the inability to focus on anything for more than three seconds.

“Woops, sorry guys!” Said the boy, rising out of the rabbit pile. “I got this!”

He stuck his hand into the squirming pile, and fished out an oversized paint brush. It’s tip dripping with paint that seemed almost otherworldly.

With a wave of his brush, and a flash of golden particles, the rabbits dissipated.

“I dunno where they all came from.” He muttered, shrugging in his pale blue pajamas. “I totally thought I only drew two bunnies…”

Both his parents shared another look, hoping they wouldn’t need to have a certain talk soon.

Their room now cleared of lagomorphs, Mirabel and Hiccup finally rose out of bed. After placing their slippers on their feet, they took a single step-

And were stopped by the shrill, piercing cry of a whistle being blown.

FWEEEEET

Rushing in front of them, with the determination of someone on a life-threatening mission, was a six-year-old girl.

With dark skin, silky black hair, anxious eyes as green as her dad’s, and a resolute glower.

Peep Haddock Madrigal, their youngest child. Destined to one day be the next Candle Holder.

And imbued with an ever-present paranoia.

She took her new role as successor very seriously, and has devoted herself to protecting her family and the Encanto as a whole from any and all threats. Using her trusty new whistle to warn against dangers.

The only problem was that to Peep, everything was a danger.

The girl stood defensively in front of her parents, her arms spread out wide in her turquoise nightgown.

“HOLD IT!” She commanded.

She then began to scour the room for…anything. Anything that could possibly be perceived as a threat.

She did this every day. For everyone in the house.

It stopped being cute a month ago.

“Peep…” Began Mirabel, with the patient smile of a mother. “Do you think we can skip the safety-check today?”

The girl looked at her mom as if she’d said something scandalous. Peeking up from checking under their bed with a shocked gasp.

“No way!” She exclaimed. “If I miss even one day, everyone could DIE!”

Both her parents felt that was quite the jump.

“I dunno…” Said Hiccup, patting a nearby wall appreciatively. “Casita’s pretty safe.”

The floor tiles rumbled under him, gratefully. The house was happy for the compliment.

Peep looked conflicted for a second, before she regained her resolve.

“It’s not that I don’t trust Casita…but you can never be too careful!” She stated, nodding decisively. Before getting back to business.

With the room now carefully examined, the girl was confident that all was well. With another blow of her whistle, she gave her parents the go-ahead. Showing them both an approving thumbs up.

Sick of standing in place for upwards of five minutes, the two began move forward.

Only to have to stop again, as all three of their kids rushed ahead. Surging past their legs, all while giggling like the bundles of hyperactivity they were.

Hiccup and Mirabel just stood there, and shared a tired exhale. But it was also a contented sigh, one of parents who loved their children to pieces. Including all the minor nuisances that came with them.

Their tired dragons meandered over to their sides, eager for some morning scratches. To which their riders happily obliged.

“Good morning, girl!” Mirabel said, caressing the array of frills on her dragon’s head. Making the Stormcutter trill with pleasure.

“Ready to start the day, bud?” Asked Hiccup, scratching the Night Fury’s neck. The dragon responded with an enthusiastic, though still sleepy warble.

From beneath their feet, the floorboards jolted once more. Shoving them slightly forwards.

“Alright, alright!” Mirabel laughed, amused at Casita’s insistence.

The whole family got up early, but they usually awoke the earliest. Mirabel was the matriarch now, and Hiccup was her husband and right-hand man. They had an example to set.

Hiccup looked to his wife, and made a grandiose gesture towards the door.

“After you, milady!” He said, with a grin far too dorky for a grown man.

She chuckled, and pecked his lips with her own. Before moving ahead, Mariposa close behind.

Before following her, Hiccup simply watched her go. Taking a moment to revel in the fact that he was married to her. She was his wife. This was their life.

Of all the villages in the world he could’ve crashed into, he was so glad it was this one. He was so glad he met her.

He sighed, heart bursting with adoration. Before glancing to Toothless.

“I really lucked out, bud…”

The dragon chuffed his agreement, he was pretty fond of her too.

The man and his dragon finally began moving as well, and they exited their shared bedroom.

Now that both husband and wife were in the hallway, they could see that their children were hard at work.

Karla and Pedro were busy waking everyone up.

Karla by zipping by, crashing through the door, and shouting “MORNING!” before running somewhere else. Barely giving her targets a chance to register what had happened.

Pedro by thinking up a slew of noise-producing doodles. Including a boisterous rooster, a blasting bullhorn, and a monkey who insisted on banging its cymbals as loudly as possible.

With groggy eyes and ringing ears, the others soon joined Hiccup and Mirabel out in the hallway.

Mirabel’s parents, who’d basically adopted Hiccup as their own after they started dating, Julieta and Augustin. As well as their sisters, Isabela and Luisa.

And then there was their aunts, uncles, and cousins.

Pepa’s side, which also featured Felix, Camilo, Antonio, Dolores, her husband Mariano, and their daughter Sofia.

There was also Bruno’s side, who included his wife Valentina. And their sons, Manuel and Diego.

And of course there was their abuela, Alma. Even after all this time, Hiccup still addressed her as respectfully as possible.

This was their beloved family, the amazing Madrigals. A shining constellation of varied personalities, sprinkled with just a bit of magic.

They were all awake, though just barely. Tired, hungry, and all ready to begin their day.

A day that was put on hold by Peep, who was hogging the bathroom.

Not to use it herself, but to thoroughly inspect the facilities. Ensuring it was safe for her family to use.

Technically there was a second bathroom now, but it was currently undergoing repairs. The result of one of Diego’s more disastrous pranks.

Meaning everyone was waiting in a closely packed line, feeling like dams about to burst.

“Don’t worry, everyone!” Peep shouted, calling out from behind the locked door. “I’ll make sure this bathroom is as safe as can be!”

“The only thing I’m worried about is not being able to hold it anymore…” Pepa grumbled under her breath, an agitated dark cloud rumbling over her head.

Arms tightly crossed, Isabela shot an annoyed glance to her youngest siblings.

“Can’t you do something?” She asked, before gesturing behind her. “Milo’s about to piss his pants!”

“AM NOT!” Argued the shifter. But from the way he was squirming around, his words may not have been entirely truthful.

Rolling her eyes, Isabela addressed her siblings again.

“Seriously, you’re her parents! Shouldn’t you be, I dunno…parenting?”

As a dozen sets of irritated eyes all fell onto them, Hiccup and Mirabel could only bashfully smile.

“W-We’ll talk to her.” Promised the bespectacled woman.

As they moved on ahead, Isabela heaved a sigh. She loved her nieces and nephew, but their antics could get very grating.

“This is why I’m not having any kids…”

Despite his extraordinary discomfort, Camilo still managed a wry grin.

“You sure it’s not because the whole five babies thing scared the hell outta you?” He smugly asked.

Instead of looking angered, like he expected, she instead faced him with a serene smile. One that hid her sinister intentions, as she began to calmly speak.

“Running water. A flowing stream. Droplets of rain…”

Each word she spoke made the urge stronger and stronger, and Camilo had to fight to hold it in.

“Okay, OKAY! I TAKE IT BACK! HAVE MERCY!” He begged, clenching his legs so tight he nearly fell to his knees. Making his cousin laugh triumphantly.

Now standing in front of the bathroom, Hiccup and Mirabel tried to coerce their daughter out.

Hiccup gently knocked on the door. “You think we can cut this short, kiddo? There’s a lot of people waiting out here…”

Feeling all the eyes burning into his back, he couldn’t help but slouch down a little with an awkward grimace.

“A lot of tired, aggravated people…”

The door was then abruptly shoved open, forcing Hiccup against the adjacent wall. Punctuated by a certain sound.

FWEEEEET

The whistle’s sharp cry caused everyone present to cover their ears, Dolores most of all.

“The bathroom is safe!” Announced Peep, with a wide smile. Satisfied with a job well done.

She stepped aside, and allowed entry. Resulting in a chorus of relieved sighs.

Finally, they could handle their business.

Or so they thought.

Just as the family began to shuffle forwards, a bolt of energy zapped ahead of the crowd. Dashing into the bathroom, and slamming the door shut in the second it took to blink an eye.

“What the-Karla!?” Sputtered Mirabel, surprised by the sudden action.

Mischievous laughter could be heard, slightly muffled by the closed door. Upon hearing all the gripes and complaints she’d earned, the speedster responded with-

“YOU’RE TOO SLOW!”

And so the waiting continued, everyone looking significantly more haggard than before.

But Pedro had an idea that would surely lift their spirits.

“Hey, dudes! Check this out!”

Everyone turned to where he stood, just at the tip of the staircase. The boy whipped out his brush, and with an easygoing smile, began to draw.

His brush painted glowing lines on the very air itself, a new image taking shape.

And moments later, they saw the most horrifying thing.

A waterfall.

A tower of rushing wetness, pooling into whirling waves. Settling into a shimmering lake, a few fish idling around within.

Pedro smiled proudly, with complete obliviousness.

“I finally learned how to draw one of these! Cool, right?”

Nearly everyone present released anguished groans of frustration, as their bodies struggled to contain themselves. This was the one thing that none of them needed.

Pedro had no idea what was wrong. Tilting his head with a lazy curiosity.

Mirabel and Hiccup both winced, cringing at all three of their young ones’ behavior. But it wasn’t like they were surprised.

Things like this had become a bit common, recently.

In the year since their children’s gift ceremony, the triplets have definitely grown.

In positive ways, such as Karla’s continued proficiency in sports. Pedro’s artistic endeavors becoming more whimsical than ever. And Peep learning to face her fears, as opposed to hiding from them.

But also in ways that could be described as…less than ideal. Which seemed to be on full display recently.

Karla’s new speed came equipped with an exaggerated cockiness, and the girl was already boastful before. She barely thought about what she was doing, rushing from one thing to the next solely in accordance to her own whims. With a complete disregard for the consequences, and a slight arrogance towards anyone she deemed slower than her. Which was pretty much everyone.

Pedro’s lackadaisical nature had only increased. He usually spent his time daydreaming, and now those daydreams could be brought to life. Leading him to often forget about reality as a whole, including the people around him. This also came with an unawareness as to how his actions could affect others, though it wasn’t malevolent. He simply didn’t think in terms of the real world.

And Peep’s danger-prepping has become a bit of a nuisance for the town folk, who’ve found their every action needing to be examined by the girl before they could proceed. They knew she just wanted to help, but her list of fears were vast, and her methods were bothersome to say the least. The sound of her whistle has become a dreaded one, in the Encanto.

They weren’t bad kids. Nothing they did was ever out of malice, often times it was just the opposite. But they were still so young, and had little sense of boundaries, or the weight of their actions.

As their parents, it was Hiccup and Mirabel’s job to try and teach them these things. And they’ve certainly tried.

But when your children had superpowers and were friends with dragons, that task became a whole lot trickier.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Despite the general grouchiness that pervaded throughout the bathroom fiasco, once breakfast time arrived everyone was in a much more pleasant mood. Thanks in no small part to the upcoming festivities.

Today marked the ten-year anniversary of the day the dragons arrived in the Encanto. Following Hiccup, Mirabel, and their relatives home after their excursion to Berk.

Things were rocky at first, no doubt about that. But the creatures have become an indispensable part of this community, and the people’s lives. It only made sense to commemorate a decade of their residence.

There was a party to be held tonight, right in the middle of the town. A lively celebration, in honor of their reptilian neighbors.

There would be food and music and dancing, and even a play. Depicting their triumph over the Red Death, written and directed by Bruno.

And as the pillars of their community, it fell onto the Madrigals to set the party up. Though not without assistance from the people.

Sat at the head of the table, looking prim, proper, and sufficiently quirky, Mirabel addressed her family.

“I know we’re all excited about tonight!” She said, now dressed in her day-to-day attire. A flowing, indigo dress that could almost be described as regal. Trimmed with gold, and still marked with various embroidered details. It just wouldn’t be hers without them.

“But for as fun as it’s going to be, there’s still some work to be done before the party.”

A small hand raised from further down the table, in between Dolores and Mariano. Demanding her attention.

“I wrote a new song, just for tonight!” Said the melodic voice of Sofia, with a gentle smile.

Before Mirabel could respond, another voice butt in.

“No way, José!” Interrupted Diego, as frenetic as ever. “The only ones who’re gonna be singing tonight are me and my band!”

From his right, his older brother regarded him with a quirked eyebrow.

“You have a band?” Asked Manny. This was news to him.

To respond, the smaller boy hopped of his chair. And spawned three more clones, each one wearing identical grins.

“Presenting…Diego and the Diegos!” Announced the real Diego, standing up front.

“What an original name…” Mumbled Manny, just quietly enough that no one would hear. Besides Dolores of course.

They all struck dynamic and exaggerated poses, which they clearly thought looked cool.

“We’re gonna rock this party!” Proclaimed one of the clones.

“We’re gonna blow some minds!” Declared another.

The final duplicate’s grin turned very sly. “And the chicks will be going crazy!”

Valentina leaned back in her chair, smirking down at her son. As much as she adored her boy, she couldn’t resist the urge to mess with him sometimes.

“Y’know…first you gotta have some kind of musical talent, Hombrecito.”

The four offended reactions she got were enough to make her crack up, and they even earned a rare chuckle out of Manuel.

Meanwhile, Bruno was rambling about his upcoming production.

“Those kids are great actors! Honestly, you’d think they were trained professionals!”

“Considering I trained them…they basically are!” Camilo boasted, mouth full of food.

“And the stage! Oh, the STAGE!” Gushed the overly theatric seer. “You guys should see it…w-well you’re gonna see it…”

Pepa looked to her brother with dubious intent, a teasing spark in her eyes.

“Let’s just hope it turns out better than the last one!” She commented.

Bruno immediately deflated, dark memories bubbling up from within. She was referring to his last play, based on the trials and tribulations of his fearless alter-ego Hernando.

The stage was outfitted with a mechanism that would’ve allowed Bruno to “fly” across the set, for what was supposed to make a remarkable climax. Unfortunately, the machine went haywire. Sending him launching halfway across the village, ending with a very undignified crash.

It was a while ago now, but he still shuddered at the thought of it.

With crossed arms and a pout, he sunk into his seat and glowered at his snickering sister.

“We don’t talk about Hernando…”

Breakfast continued as normal, interspliced with light conversation and plenty of teasing. All the while Mirabel doled out their duties for the day, most of them in regards to the upcoming event.

Though she made sure everyone that knew their jobs were totally optional, and if anyone wasn’t feeling up to it that was completely fine.

She did this a lot.

Julieta had already cooked up a feast’s worth of food. Including heaps of seafood dishes for their reptilian friends.

Luisa and Manuel were to handle any heavy lifting, their combined super strength and telekinesis making the task trivial. Though they were also heavily encouraged to not try and carry more than they could handle, and asking for help or taking a break was always accepted.

Isabela was given the job of decoration, being asked to adorn the plaza with whatever plants she saw fit. The woman had an eye for detail, so Mirabel was confident that whatever she made would look amazing. Though she was also handed a list of flora that dragons didn’t take kindly to.

Bruno and Camilo were to use the hours they had left to ensure their band of young performers were ready for the play tonight. Augustin would assist them with musical accompaniment.

And in regards to music, Sofia would get to perform for the whole village. As she loved to do. After much insistence from four identical boys, Diego’s band would get to play as well.

The night would be capped off by an aerial performance, a show of synchronized and skillful dragon flying, led by Hiccup and Toothless. With assistance from Antonio.

As for everyone else, they could help wherever they wanted to. Or they could just enjoy the day. It was up to them.

But whatever they chose, one thing was for certain.

Tonight was going to be a good night.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was a little disconcerting.

But she also understood it entirely.

Ever since it became apparent that Peep was next in line for the position of Candle Holder, there would be times when Mirabel would catch her just…

Staring.

Standing in the middle of the courtyard, just staring up at the candle.

Watching the eternal flame flicker and dance, ogling it with an indiscernible expression. Holding onto the lanyard of her whistle tightly, as if she needed it for support.

Mirabel knew what she was feeling.

The self-doubt. The questions of if she could lead this family. If she could keep the miracle burning.

She’d felt that way herself, when it was she who was next in line.

And so, when she caught her staring again today, Mirabel decided it’d do her daughter good if she talked to her about it.

The woman walked up to the small girl, settling beside her. And looked up at the candle herself.

After a moment of silence, she spoke.

“It’s weird, isn’t it?”

She didn’t receive a response, but she could tell from the subtle movements that her daughter was listening. So she continued.

“Our home, the magic itself…it’s all held together by a little candle.”

“It looks so…tiny!” She chuckled. “Like you could breathe on it, and it’d go out. And then everything would be lost!”

Peep clutched her whistle tighter, shrinking down with a panicked yelp.

Mirabel crouched down, a reassuring hand on the girl’s back.

“But that won’t happen.” She said, soothingly. “As long as we love each other, and support each other, everything will be okay!”

“As long as we’re all together…nothing can blow that candle out!”

Casita rattled it’s tiles peppily in agreement, making both mother and daughter laugh.

Though when her giggling died, Peep still looked very unsure. Averting her eyes, while toying with her whistle anxiously.

“S-Sometimes I feel like…when I’m in charge, I’ll make bad choices…a-and ruin the family…”

Mirabel reached a hand out, gently turning the girl’s face back to her.

“First of all, you’re six.” She stated. “You won’t have to worry about leadership for a long time.”

“And second of all…being a leader isn’t about making the right choice every time. You do the best you can with what you have, and try your hardest to make sure it all works out.”

She put a finger under her daughter’s chin, pushing her head up so she could look into her eyes.

“Peep, as long as you have our best interests at heart…you will never ruin this family. Understand?”

While she still didn’t look entirely confident, Peep managed a small smile. And a nod.

“Good!” Said Mirabel, now smiling warmly herself.

She then gently shoved her daughter forwards, chuckling as she stumbled.

“Now go! Have some fun!” She playfully ordered. “Your hermano y hermana are probably waiting for you, not to mention your dragons!”

Heeding her commands, Peep began to run to the back yard. Though right before she exited the courtyard, she stopped again. And turned around.

“U-Uh…Mamá?” She prepared a question, knowing it probably sounded really weird.

“Does the candle ever…talk to you?”

Mirabel perked up with surprise, not expecting such an inquiry.

“What?” She honestly asked.

Peep scrambled to explain her question in a way that made sense.

“Y’know, d-do you ever look at it and get an idea…or hear an idea…or something?”

Still quite shocked, Mirabel barely managed to shake her head.

“No…” She answered. “I’ve never experienced…anything like that…”

Her eyes met her daughter’s, a baffled sense of curiosity radiating from them.

“Have you?”

Before the paranoid girl could answer, a surge of energy blasted into the area.

“Geez, what’s taking you so long!?” Asked a very impatient Karla.

Startled by her sudden appearance, Peep stumbled through an explanation.

“I-I was just-we were-I was telling-she was- “

Karla groaned, feeling like her time was being wasted. One of the things she hated most.

She grabbed her sister’s hand, and decided they were going to the backyard sooner rather than later.

“C’mon, already! Vamos!”

And before Peep could protest, she was whisked away to the sunny outdoors.

Leaving behind their very concerned mother.

What was that about? The candle? Talking?

Such a thing sounded nonsensical, and could probably be written off as a product of her child’s overactive imagination.

But Peep seemed to believe what she was saying. She seemed to believe that the candle did speak to her, somehow.

But that was preposterous.

Wasn’t it?

Mirabel decided to get started with her day, and keep this odd little incident at the back of her mind for later. In case it ever came up again.

She hoped she didn’t have to be concerned.

Chapter Text

Preparations for the party were in full swing.

Under Mirabel’s direction, everything necessary for the upcoming celebration was put into place.

An assortment of banners and streamers and lanterns crisscrossed overhead, contributing to the festive atmosphere.

Isabela draped the walls with multicolored flowers, arranged to form the familiar shapes of dragons.

Tables were laid out, ready to carry food for the humans in attendance. For the dragons, large troughs with vibrant designs were scattered about the plaza. Hours away from being filled with fish of all sorts.

A large stage had been set up, littered with a menagerie of props and costumes and colorful backdrops. All awaiting the performance tonight.

The young actors were rehearsing their lines, under Camilo’s direction. While Bruno made last minute alterations to the script.

Though they weren’t the only ones rehearsing.

Sofia busied herself by readying her new song for the night, undergoing an extensive amount of vocal exercises. In a similar vein, Diego and his band were getting in some practice with their instruments.

Results were mixed.

Even those without specific duties tried to help where they could. Bringing chairs or food or baskets of goodies.

The whole town was bustling with excitement, eagerly anticipating the moment when the sun went down. That’s when the fun would truly begin.

All they had to do was wait.

But waiting was not Karla’s forte.

It was still a few hours before the party, and she was already bored out of her mind.

That was one of the downsides that came with her gift. When you could run at the speed of sound, you quickly ran out of things to do.

She’d already gone out for a run, several times. Treating the surrounding rainforests as nothing more than an obstacle course, leaping and ducking and diving to navigate rocks and stumps.

She’d even gone for a flight. The Night Lights, children of Toothless and his lighter scaled mate, were close friends with the triplets. And now that they were big enough, they could be ridden on by their young companions. At least for short periods of time.

Her Night Light in particular, with dark scales, a white underbelly, and green eyes that she’d named Dash, was eager to fly as fast as she wanted to go. But his small body just couldn’t comply with that demand yet.

Now that she was back on the surface, Karla was desperate for some type of entertainment.

And when she needed entertainment, she usually sought out her siblings.

Dress in her white shirt and a cobalt blue skirt that was fit for running, all marked with lightning inspired designs, she darted into town. Bobbing and weaving to avoid busy villagers. Moving slower than she usually would, for her dragon’s sake.

And when she slammed into a wall of purple fur, falling backwards onto her rump, she knew she’d found her brother.

“Oh! Excuse me, little missy!”

A gruff, yet timid voice spoke out, and a hooved hand reached down to help her up. Both belonging to the strangest of creatures.

He was a large, fuzzy beast. Resembling a bipedal moose. Covered in violet fur, topped with imposing antlers, and a prominent set of buck teeth.

He looked like something out of pure fantasy. Because that’s exactly what he was.

Recently, Pedro had started up a service for his fellow children. Bringing their imaginary friends to life, so they could finally play in reality. This purple creature was clearly one of them.

It brought the kids so much joy, that he couldn’t help but feel elated himself. Happy to know his gift was eliciting such happiness, instead of just being told to focus.

The boy himself noticed his sister’s arrival, he must’ve heard the audible THUMP she made when she collided with the made-up creature.

Finishing up his latest request, a bizarrely smug blue blob, he went to meet her.

Wearing his pale blue smock and beige pants, both splattered with paint. And trailed by his Night Light, with black scales, white spots, and blue eyes, who he called Dot.

“Oh hey, sis!” He greeted, as laidback as ever. “Gettin’ friendly with Loose-Moose?”

“Getting friendly with his back hair, more like…” Grumbled the speedster, taking his hoof and rising to her feet.

As the mighty beast tromped off to play with some other kids, she had to spit out a few purple hairs.

“So what’s up?” Asked Pedro, ducking under the legs of a very tall dinosaur-like creature. “Here to make a friend?”

He then chuckled, clearly amused by his little pun.

“Get it? Because it’s like make a friend, but I’m literally- “

“I get it.” Karla curtly interrupted him, before regaining her cool.

“I was just thinking…we got some time before the party…”

She leaned against a wall, flippantly toying with her lightning bolt shaped earring. “And yeah, making imaginary friends is cool and all…”

A wicked grin spread on her face, directed towards her baby brother.

“But how about we have some real fun?” She asked, a thrill-seeking edge in her voice.

Pedro’s curiosity was peaked, and he’d certainly made enough friends to entertain everybody for a decent amount of time.

Besides, he couldn’t just say no to his big sister.

“What do you mean, real fun?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To anyone else, the party prepping was going smoothly.

To Peep, it was a nightmare.

There were safety hazards everywhere! How did these people not see them?

But luckily for them, she was here to point them out.

She was wearing her usual turquoise dress, embroidered exclamation points lining the skirt. With her trusty whistle in her hand, and her Night Light at her side. A white scaled dragon, with dark spots and green eyes. She named him Ghost.

Together, they got to work. Making the Encanto a safer place.

FWEEEEET

“Don’t hammer so hard, you’ll smash your hand!”

FWEEEEET

“I’m gonna need you to stand at least twelve-inches apart from that Gronckle.”

FWEEEEET

“Are you sure you should be carrying that many donkeys, Tía?”

FWEEEEET

FWEEEEET

FWEEEEEEEEEET

The little girl was diligent in her party planning supervision. Nobody was getting hurt on her watch.

And everybody under her watch was slowly going insane.

“Nosiest child I’ve ever seen!” “If I hear that whistle one more time…” “I’d rather be deaf at this point!”

All these complaints and more were sent Mirabel’s way. And while she understood that it was quite irritating to try and get work done while your ears were being constantly assaulted, the mother in her wanted to tell the townsfolk off for grumbling about her daughter.

But she had to admit, despite the child’s efforts, her youngest really wasn’t being very helpful. She already had a lot to do, the addition of having to constantly looking out for whatever “threats” that girl was addressing proved to be a grating endeavor.

The village leader her composure all throughout the long list of grievances. And when they were done, she made her people a promise.

One she’d made a lot recently.

“I’ll talk to her.”

It wasn’t very hard to find her. All she had to do was listen for that whistle.

FWEEEEET

Peep was glancing up to a visibly irritated man, in the middle of hanging up some lanterns.

He was using the most meager of stools to do so, and she clearly thought that was far too dangerous.

“What are you, nuts? You really shouldn’t- “

Gentle hands found their way to the girl’s shoulder, shuffling her away. While Mirabel sent the man an apologetic smile.

“You’ll have to excuse her, Señor!” She chuckled, rather stiltedly. “She’s very…eager!”

The portly man crossed his arms, huffing with discontent.

“Honestly, can you imagine getting up in people’s faces and just saying whatever? Regardless of their feelings?” Asked Osvaldo. “Because I sure can’t!”

Mirabel had to fight to keep her comments inside.

She ferried her daughter elsewhere, Mariposa nudging her little Fury forwards as well. All the while Peep voiced her disapproval.

“W-Wait, mom!” She cried, struggling against her parent’s hold. “Stop! He could be in danger! “

Meanwhile, Ghost yapped and yapped at her. Interpreting her dragging his friend away as some sort of altercation.

The stress of fighting to pull her child along mixed with the unending noise from a very vocal baby dragon. Building and building until all Mirabel could hear was a cacophony of madness.

“Mom, seriously! He could fall a-and get a concussion or something, we have to- “

Mirabel tried. She tried so very hard to be patient with her kids, and she thought she was pretty good at it.

But everyone has their lapses.

“Peep, PLEASE!”

She hadn’t meant to shout. And the moment she saw her daughter freeze up and flinch away from her, an immense regret overtook every part of her soul.

With a heavy sigh, she led the child to a nearby bench. As gently as possible.

Now that they were both sitting, their dragons awkwardly settling beside them, her first move was to make things right.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have raised my voice at you.”

Peep said nothing in return, her head held low. Eyes hidden behind her bangs.

Everything about her body language spoke of dejection, and shame. Feelings Mirabel never wanted her child to experience.

But…she was being disruptive. While good intentioned, she was making things harder for a lot of people. And being awfully loud in the process. That needed to be addressed, didn’t it?

When did parenting get so tricky…

Nonetheless, Mirabel tried to get through to her child.

“Listen, I know you want to help in your own special way. And that’s great!”

“But…” She really fought to choose the right words here. “You’re just…doing too much.”

The girl seemed to slump down even further.

“I’m telling you, the Encanto was made to be safe! We don’t need someone double-checking everything.”

At this, Peep finally spoke up, to state her case.

“B-But accidents can happen!” She argued.

“They can.” Nodded her mother. “And for that, we have your abuela’s cooking.”

“And y’know, it sounds weird, but sometimes people need to get hurt. That’s how they learn.”

That was, by far, the stupidest thing Peep had ever heard.

Mirabel caught the disbelieving look she was being given, and sighed again.

“Look, I just want you to…take it down a notch. Okay?” She suggested. “Find some other, quieter, less intrusive ways to help.”

Even when flashing her most encouraging smile, Peep still looked dreadfully uncertain. Clutching her whistle with everything she had.

“I-I…I just- “

Their conversation would’ve continued, if it wasn’t for the shouting that suddenly filled the air.

“YEAH BABY!”

Mirabel, Peep, and both their dragons perked their heads up. Looking left and right, searching for the source of the sound.

They found it on the rooftops.

Karla was running on the buildings, skillfully leaping from house to house with style and ease. Though occasionally she’d trip, stumbling through the gaps in the structures. Luckily, Dash was tailing her. And was always there to fly her out of pits.

She wasn’t alone in this endeavor, either.

Flying above her on Dot’s back, Pedro used his brush to create a variety of obstacles for her to overcome.

Giant wasps, ravenous piranhas, oversized crabs, and a slew of other nefarious baddies.

With her electrifying speed, she blew through them all. Bouncing on their heads, kicking with her powerful legs, or simply leaving them spinning from her swiftness.

And from the way she was hooting and hollering up there, she was clearly having a blast.

Watching her older sister leap and bound over the very village, Peep couldn’t help but feel incredibly nervous for her health.

“That’s gotta be a safety violation…”

For once, Mirabel agreed.

In the midst of her boosting, sprinting through a dispersing flock of nesting Terrors, Karla looked up to her brother. Grinning wildly as always.

This was fun, but she wanted more.

“C’mon, step it up!” She shouted, a hand held to her mouth. “Gimme a real challenge!”

Pedro did so without question, laxly waving his brush about with an absent-minded smile.

Lines of pure gold looped and swirled from the tip of his brush, forming an image in the air. A very large image.

Moments later, a giant, flying Orca materialized behind Karla. And it looked very hungry.

“Now we’re talking!” Cheered the girl, energy crackling over her body.

The killer whale hounded after her with a ferocious bellow, trying to bite her with its jaws or blast her with spurts of water from its blowhole. She deftly dodged its many attacks with a bright smile on her face.

The wind in her hair, the thrill of the chase, running as fast as she could, avoiding danger and busting up anyone who stood in her way…

God, this was radical!

The townspeople below all ceased what they were doing to stare at the sky, gawking at the sight of a flying whale chasing after a lightning-fast child.

They supposed that was just life in the Encanto.

Karla quickly stepped to the left, avoiding it’s crushing teeth.

“I- “

She then slid to the left, just before a blast of water hit.

“AM- “

The thrill, the pure adrenaline pumping through her system compelled her to leap high into the air. Striking a dynamic pose, while vocalizing her excitement.

“AWESOME!”

But her gloating would prove to be her downfall.

In the moment it took her to show off like she did, the whale saw an opportunity. And took it.

Orcas were awfully smart animals.

Spinning in the air, the whale slapped her with its hefty tail flukes. Whacking her down towards the surface.

Just before it dissipated, it wore the smuggest expression a whale has ever donned.

Karla was sent hurtling to the streets below at a rapid pace. Both her dragon and her brother dived after her, but the little Furies weren’t fast enough yet.

She’d have to do this herself.

Twisting around in the air, Karla quickly grabbed the first thing she could find. A string of lanterns.

One end of the string snapped under her weight, causing her to swing on it like a vine.

At the apex of the swing, the other end snapped as well. Sending her flailing through the air.

Once she hit the ground, she was sent rolling for a bit. Crashing through flower pots and wagons on the way.

She launched into one of the oversized dragon bowls, knocking it off its pedestal. Her momentum causing it to tip to its side and roll, while she was dragged along for the ride.

The bowl spun right into a nearby table, being set up with food. Toppling it, and its contents, all over the place. Including the people who were unfortunate enough to be standing near it.

Karla’s head was spinning, her vision was swirling, and she smelled strangely of fish…

But that wild grin stayed locked on her face.

“Man, what a rush!” She said, climbing out of the bowl on unsteady legs.

Wobbling about to find her balance, her disoriented eyes locked onto a form. Looming above her.

As her vision slowly began to settle, she made out more of its features. Like the indigo dress, with tons of embroidered patterns. The curly dark hair. The green glasses. And most importantly, the stern frown she was wearing.

Despite her persistent cockiness, even Karla was humbled under the power of her mother’s stare.

“Hi Mom, heh…” She chuckled, tensely.

Flanked by a nervous Pedro and a shivering Peep, Mirabel was not amused.

She surveyed the damage with a cool, but firm expression.

Luckily, it was only a minor mishap. A displaced bowl here, some wrecked decorations there, and some plates of wasted food. Most of it on some very displeased people, glaring daggers at a certain redhead.

All in all, it was nothing serious.

But it could’ve been.

“You wanna explain why you were jumping on buildings?”

Karla’s temporary meekness was washed out by her usual self-confidence.

“Because I can!” She argued. “Because it was awesome!”

“And because I was bored.” She said with a shrug, as if it were an obvious conclusion to make.

Not exactly liking this answer, Mirabel then looked to her son.

“And you didn’t think this was a bad idea because…?”

Pedro didn’t respond at first, stuck in his own head. Until a soft bite from Dot snapped him out of it.

However, now that he was back in reality…he still didn’t have much of an answer.

“She told me to…” He muttered, gesturing to his older sister. While she glared in return.

Once again, an unsatisfactory response.

First Peep’s security shenanigans, and now this. It seemed as if her niños were intent on being a handful today.

They were young, and full of energy, and magic, she knew all of this.

But they were really interfering with…well, everything. All three of them.

If the celebration was to be held tonight, she needed to ensure that the preparations wouldn’t be impeded any further.

She thought she could trust them enough to not have to watch over them 24/7, but clearly that wasn’t the case on this particular afternoon.

Which meant she needed to find somewhere for them to stay, while they finished things up here.

The triplets squirmed about on their feet in unison, lined up in a row. Not liking just how quiet their mother was being, as she tried to figure out what to do with them.

And when her eyes looked to the distance, towards one of the tall, treehouse like structures built high into the air…

She knew where they were going.

“Hey, you guys wanna see what your dad’s up to?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Up in the Encanto’s dragon stable, large, treetop enclosures where most of their reptilian neighbors resided, the triplets were brought in to spend some time with their father. Mostly so they could stay out of trouble.

Or Baby Jail, as Karla so eloquently put it.

Soaring in on all their dragons, the four found Hiccup in the middle of doing something quite ridiculous.

Amongst all the dragons roaming around the enclosure, there was a very large and rounded one that was lying on its side. With dark brown scales, a body covered in spikes, and a triple-split jaw. The Catastrophic Quaken.

As it dozed on the floor, tongue lolling out of its mouth, Hiccup was hard at work. Using his whole body to massage to bigger creature’s belly.

In his sky-blue button-up, beige khakis, single dress shoe, and classic red bandanna tied around his half-bitten leg, he pushed and pushed up against the Quaken’s gut. Using his elbows to knead and squeeze the tissue.

All while his family watched in pure bafflement.

“Our dad’s such a weirdo…” Karla whispered to her siblings, suddenly ashamed of her heritage.

Hearing her mumblings, Hiccup laughed a bit. Recognizing the oddness of his situation.

“We look after our dragons, even if it gets embarrassing sometimes!”

“This guy’s a Boulder Class dragon, meaning he eats rocks.” He said. “He ate a lot of pumice for lunch.”

A slight grimace crossed the man’s features.

“And pumice makes Boulder Class dragons really, really gassy…”

To emphasize his point, the dragons belly released a wicked rumble. So hard, that Hiccup was shaken from his position against its stomach.

Catching himself from stumbling, he figured now was the time to properly greet his family.

“And what have my favorite kids been up to today?”

He ceased his shoving to join them, leaving the Quaken un-massaged. Much to its displeasure.

“We’re your only kids.” Pedro bluntly pointed out, earning him a hair ruffle from his father.

“You better be!” He chuckled. “Your mom would kill me!”

Mirabel tried to fight her own smile from growing. She was in “parenting” mode right now, and she needed her husband to be as well.

“Your favorite kids have been causing quite the commotion in the village.” She said, not missing the winces all three children gave.

“Is that so?” Asked Hiccup, smile slightly fading.

She filled him in on all the mayhem they’d been causing recently. And when she was done, Hiccup gave all three of them a stern look.

But not too stern.

“Guys, you gotta think about how your actions can affect others.”

He looked to Karla and Pedro. “I get that you were just messing around- “And then to Peep. “And you were trying to help…”

“But you took it too far, all of you. And you need to consider the impact that has on other people.”

Pedro and Peep looked timid, ashamed even. But Karla crossed her arms with a defiant glare. Frowning up at her parents.

Every time she tried to enjoy herself, enjoy her gift, she seemed to get a talk just like this one.

About how she was making the people feel. How she was being too rowdy. How she needed to slow down.

“So what?” She hotly asked. “Why do I gotta stop having fun because other people can’t handle my speed?”

Both Mirabel and Hiccup were honestly taken aback by her reaction. Unused to their kids talking back in such a way.

“Because you’re the one with the power, Hija.” Said Mirabel. “And that comes with a lot of responsibility.”

“And who says you can’t have fun?” Hiccup asked. “There’s plenty of ways to have fun, without being destructive!”

Neither of their responses seemed to satisfy the girl, who only grew more agitated. Looking away with a scowl.

“You think everything I do is destructive…” She mumbled, so quietly that no one heard.

The air was growing tense, tenser than it needed to be.

“Look…” Hiccup sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. “You’re not in trouble.”

Mirabel nodded in agreement. “We just need you all to be more careful…please.”

The children muttered various words of agreement, none of them sounding too cheery.

With that settled, the triplets sulked further into the building. Each set of eyes on the ground.

Hiccup and Mirabel watched them go, conflict broiling in their guts.

They hadn’t done anything they shouldn’t have. It was their job to try and teach their children right from wrong.

But sometimes those big, sad eyes made them question everything. Even a scolding as light as this one.

“When did parenting get so tricky?” Hiccup asked, with a sigh.

Mirabel, having asked herself the exact same question, was spirited in her agreement.

“I know, right!?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As much as the triplets wanted to mope around, they were in an enclosure full of flying reptiles. Just like their parents, they loved dragons. And simply being around them sparked joy in their hearts.

Whether it be running under a Nadder’s legs, sliding down a Nightmare’s back, or just lounging in a pile of Gronckles. Their earlier woes were completely forgotten, in the presence of such wonderful creatures.

Though soon enough, a resounding shriek from outside alerted their playmates that it was time to go. The party was starting.

Karla, Pedro, and Peep followed a group of dragons outside, particularly the ones who’d participate in the upcoming show. Out front, Hiccup and Toothless were waiting. Along with the Light Fury, and the Night Lights.

“Perfect timing!” Said Hiccup. “Just let me make sure everyone’s here, and we’ll be on our way!”

The man pulled out a checklist of sorts, and began to look over it. To see if every one of his draconic performers was ready.

As he did so, Karla couldn’t help but notice that there was another dragon in the hangar with them. Sleeping on its side.

“What about him?”

Her dad looked up from his list, his eyes following her pointing. Where he spotted the Catastrophic Quaken, snoring the evening away.

“Oh no, not him.” He quickly answered, shaking his head. “I dunno if he could handle the party.”

“When Quakens get excited, things get very…” He trailed off, searching for the right description. “…Wild…”

The very prospect of possible damage had Peep nervously fidgeting, and Pedro was wondering if wiener dogs were actual sausages that came to life.

But Karla…

Karla liked wild.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If there was one thing the Encanto knew how to do, it was throw a party.

Under the waning light of the hot sun, just barely beginning its descent, the plaza was bursting with life.

Bustling with humans, their dances lit by lanterns and their music carrying through the cool evening air. And dragons, stomping and hissing in time with the beat, and partaking in the generous amounts of fish present.

The children ran and skipped and played through the streets, being followed by energetic young lizards. While older individuals were content to take a quiet seat, enjoying the atmosphere alongside elderly reptiles. Too tired to keep up with the youngsters.

Of course, the mood was enhanced by the band and Sofia’s magical singing. A gentle, captivating tune that she wrote just for this occasion. To celebrate their dragon friends.

“Eyes open wide, blinded by the sun now. Orange and white, dark red, green, and yellow. Rainbow colors! Do not hide, see the view! Step aside, go through!”

Golden lights and lanterns illuminated the dusky blue sky, and fireflies flittered about here and there. Not to mention the occasional spurts of dragon fire, accidentally or otherwise.

All these elements added up to make this night feel positively magical. But perhaps the most contributing factor was the people’s enthusiasm.

Everyone was enjoying themselves. Enjoying this joyous time with the dragons. Their neighbors, their friends.

And the lizards were certainly getting more than their fair share of affection. The record for amount of belly rubs in one night must’ve been broken several times over.

Ten years ago, something like this would’ve seemed impossible. In the Encanto, on Berk, or anywhere else.

But Hiccup and Mirabel had a habit of making the impossible possible.

The Madrigals were also having fun.

Some were dancing with the crowd, like Pepa and Felix. Though Pepa’s Skrill, Moody, didn’t like them dancing so close. Glaring at Felix like a father would to his daughter’s first boyfriend.

Some found others ways to enjoy the party. Like Camilo using a cloak made of Changewing scales, from his own Tonta, to appear invisible. Add in a bit of shapeshifting mischief, and a decent number of guests ended up spooked.

Others weren’t even partying at all. Bruno was still hard at work, as his play was so very close to starting. Though he promised his concerned family that he’d join in the fun as soon as the show was over.

Standing near the tables of food, and filling their glasses with drinks, a trio of sisters watched as Hiccup dorkily danced with his triplets. All three releasing squeals at the sight.

“That’s adorable!” Cooed Luisa. Her bulky Crimson Goregutter, Hercules, released a content rumble.

“It’s almost enough to touch my cold, dead heart!” Isabela grinned, the four heads of her Snaptrapper hissing their laughter.

After being called a witch so many times over the years, she’d started to lean into the joke.

Mirabel nodded, adoration flowing throughout her entire being. Delicately leaning into Mariposa’s side as she watched.

That was her husband. Those were her children. This was her home. This was her life.

And she was endlessly thankful for it.

“I really lucked out, girl.” She sighed. The Stormcutter seemed to agree, trilling merrily.

They continued to watch in amusement as the man tried his best not to fall over with Karla on his shoulders, Peep in his arms, and Pedro hanging onto his leg. It was a struggle for the ages, one Toothless wasn’t afraid to snicker at.

Though as two of the sisters giggled, chuckling as he nearly toppled over, one of them just couldn’t find the humor within herself. Too overcome with a sense of longing.

“It must be nice…” Luisa softly said, sounding a tad forlorn. “Y’know, starting a family…”

While she tried not to dwell on it, she’d always desired to settle down with a nice guy and have kids of her own someday. Though it seemed someday was still a ways off.

“Speak for yourself…” Isabela murmured, having sworn off children a long time ago.

Mirabel on the other hand, felt the slightest bit concerned. She never liked seeing anyone in her family unhappy.

And when that happened, she tended to start brainstorming.

“You know…” She started, that usual peppiness in her voice. “Whenever I pick up the kids from kindergarten, their teacher sometimes asks about you!”

Luisa perked up, surprised.

“Señor Marquez?” She asked.

“The guy who’s so skinny he makes Hiccup looked ripped?” Isabela questioned as well.

“Sí, Señor Marquez!” Confirmed the bespectacled woman. “He wonders how you’re doing, if you’re taking enough breaks, he even asked what kind of flowers you like!”

She put a hand to her chin, in a showy display of mock thought.

“It’s weird though, he never asks about anyone else…”

The sisters finally looked away from Hiccup’s fumbling, to spot a gangly face in the crowd. A bronze-skinned man with fluffy curls, nerdy glasses, and a carefree grin. Mingling with some other villagers.

By chance, his gaze met theirs. Luisa’s in particular. His smile widened, and he sent them a little wave.

That was all the confirmation they needed.

“I bet he’d love to dance!” Mirabel urged, nudging her older sister’s mighty arm with an elbow.

Isabela found the idea odd at first, but soon she just had to shrug.

“Tiny guys like giant women.” She figured. “Makes sense.”

At first, Luisa seemed a bit unsure. But after taking a moment to think about it, she steeled her nerves, finished her entire drink in one gulp, and marched over with a palpable determination. All while her sisters cheered her on.

And as they observed the mismatched pair tear up the dancefloor, Isabela found herself wondering something.

“How do you think the triplets are gonna feel? If their teacher becomes their tío?”

…Mirabel hadn’t considered that.

“We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it…”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The music was brought down. The people and dragons in attendance gathered closely, as a stage was levitated into the area.

The play was about to start.

Already, Karla’s impatience was showing.

“How long is this thing?” She asked, tapping her foot with mild irritation.

For her efforts, she was shushed by her sibling. Only annoying her more.

Shuffling could be heard from behind the curtain, as Bruno himself stepped out. Looking deadly serious.

He always took his theatrics a bit too seriously.

“Ladies, gentlemen, dragons! It is our honor to present to you our latest production!”

“A tale of friendship, and adventure…of families, broken apart and put back together…and just maybe, a tale of love…”

“Criminy, this is gonna be cheesy…” Karla thought, rolling her eyes.

“Without further ado, I give you…La Reina de los Dragones…”

Bruno hurried himself off stage, as the curtains pulled open. Revealing a backdrop designed to resemble the charming sunsets of a certain island.

Augustin, joined by some other musicians, set the scene with an almost medieval melody. While a rather scraggly boy shuffled into the spotlight.

With scruffy red hair, a freckled face, a horned helmet, and a hand-knit fur vest that was clearly made just for tonight, this little boy was obviously their stand-in for Hiccup.

Mirabel was already laughing.

“He looks just like you!” She chortled, as quietly as possible. Masking her laughter by shoving her face into her husband’s shoulder.

Hiccup said nothing, because he knew if they pulled out a picture of a younger him the resemblance would be indisputable.

The music played on, as the first lines were spoken.

“T-This is B-Berk!”

The child was clearly nervous, as evident by the slight stutter in his small voice. But ironically, his awkwardness made his Hiccup portrayal more accurate.

The show depicted a heart-pounding dragon raid, with cardboard cutouts standing in for the beasts. Red streamers simulated a village engulfed in flame.

But this wasn’t just any dragon raid, it was the life-changing night where Hiccup shot down Toothless. A rather violent start to what would prove to be a powerful friendship.

The part of Toothless was played by a Terrible Terror, the darkest shade of blue they could find.

The real Toothless wasn’t exactly thrilled by this portrayal, and his visible annoyance made Nubless warble with laughter. As well as their pups.

The play chronicled Hiccup’s daring escape from Berk, before being swept to the Encanto in a magical storm. Where he would be involved in a major misunderstanding.

Being reminded of when the townspeople believed a young boy’s life was being threatened a monstrous demon, when in reality they were just playing, Toothless and Antonio shared a bashful look.

But through these mishaps, the scraggly, red-haired boy would meet a certain not-so special girl. With dark curls, a colorful dress, and chunky green glasses.

“My name’s Mirabel, and you’re my best friend now!”

Before the boy could even respond, she crushed him into a hug. Making the audience laugh at her forwardness.

“That’s pretty much how it went down…” Hiccup noted, with a nostalgic chuckle.

The actual Mirabel had to suppress the urge to clap, upon seeing the child who was playing her. She was just the cutest thing!

“Something’s wrong with the magic! And I’m gonna fix it!” Proclaimed the young actress, her performance far bolder than her co-star’s.

As she set out on her quest, the audience was enamored by the little starlet. She perfectly embodied Mirabel’s optimism and determination, though she was a fair bit more blunt than the person she was emulating.

However, among those watching, one felt her mood dampening.

Peep looked at this girl, pretending to be her mother. She was so self-assured, not an ounce of doubt or worry.

It made her think…

Why couldn’t she be like this?

Why did she have to be so afraid?

Why couldn’t she have this confidence?

Her mother was right, the Encanto didn’t need someone constantly checking over everything. It needed someone like this.

Someone strong. Someone brave. Someone who laughed in the face of danger.

Someone fearless.

Unfortunately, that wasn’t her.

But…what if it could be?

As she thought on this, the Hiccup and Mirabel on stage began their climb up Bruno’s old tower.

And that’s when Karla realized they were only ten minutes in, and not even halfway done.

Her hand slapped onto her face, while she groaned with absolute impatience. Leading to her being hushed by her mother.

Was she seriously supposed to just stand here? Stand here and watch some kids trip around the stage?

Standing? In one place? For an extended period of time?

Karla hated that.

She could feel it, the boredom working its way through her system. It was unbearable.

She needed some action. Some excitement. Something wild.

…And she remembered something.

Earlier, her dad has said something about the Catastrophic Quaken. When they get excited, things got wild.

She didn’t really know what that meant…

But she was willing to find out.

Anything that could shake this show up was welcomed, because she could already feel her brain cells fizzling away.

With a slowly growing grin of pure mischief, energy crackling over her form, she was seconds away from bolting right then and there. Though she realized that her abrupt exit would certainly turn some heads. She needed a good excuse.

And she found one in her siblings.

“Hey, bro…” She whispered, bumping her brother with an elbow. “You gotta tinkle?”

Pedro pondered her question, wearing a dazed expression.

“Uh…..”

“You gotta tinkle.” Karla decided for him, wanting to waste as little time as possible.

“What about you, sis?” She then asked Peep. “You gotta go?”

“I-I dunno.” Shakily responded the paranoid girl.

She didn’t feel like she had to pee, but maybe she did and she didn’t know it. She had been drinking water earlier, at least an hour ago. What if she didn’t catch the sensation in time and she ended up-

“Yeah, you’re coming with us.” Said Karla, seeing her sibling quickly work herself into an impossible scenario.

With their mission set, the speedster made the news known. Tugging on her mother’s sleeve.

“We’re gonna go use the bathroom.” She said, smiling as innocently as possible. “Be right back!”

Before Mirabel could say anything, the speedster grabbed her siblings’ hands. And zipped out of the plaza, leaving a trail of energy in her wake.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

There he was.

The Catastrophic Quaken, just as they left him. Sleeping right near the entrance of the stable.

Karla felt a shiver of giddiness, an excited spring in her step as she crept closer to the slumbering beast.

She didn’t know just what it would do, but she knew it had to be awesome.

Her siblings on the other hand were quite confused.

“This totally isn’t the bathroom…” Pedro noted.

“No duh.” Karla snarked, continuing to approach the dragon.

“W-What are we doing here?” Asked Peep, the uncertainty beginning to bother her.

The eldest sister didn’t stop at all, talking as she kept moving.

“That play was a total drag!” She griped. “So I’m gonna bring fatso over here to the party, and liven things up!”

She went on to poke and push and shove against the dragon’s back, trying to rouse it from rest. But she was far smaller and weaker than the beast, and its hide was quite thick, so her efforts weren’t proving very fruitful.

As she did so, Peep’s anxiousness was in full throttle.

“Wait! Didn’t Dad say it could be dangerous?”

“No, Dad said it would be wild.” Karla clarified, groaning and grumbling with exertion. “And I like the sound of that!”

Realizing she wasn’t making any progress, she ceased her shoving. Before snapping her fingers to get her brother’s attention.

“Yo, bro!” She called, pointing to the dragon. “Doodle something to wake him up!”

“Okay.” Pedro shrugged.

Just as he was about to wave his brush, Peep rushed in front of him.

“Stop!” She pleaded, nearly sweating from the fright.

“Okay.” Pedro shrugged.

Bristling with impatience, Karla stomped her foot onto the ground.

“Do it!” She commanded.

“Okay.” Pedro shrugged.

He lifted his brush again, and Peep intercepted him again.

“We can’t!” She cried, almost trembling now.

“Okay.” Pedro shrugged.

He didn’t really know what was going on anymore.

Karla groaned, glaring at her sister with agitation.

She was just trying to have some fun. Why was she trying to stop her?

Why was everyone trying to stop her?

“What’s your deal?” She asked. “Why are you being such a dweeb?”

She slowly stalked closer, while the younger girl backed away.

“Nobody wants you freaking out over every little thing! Nobody wants a whistle blasting in their ears all day!”

Quivering under her older sister’s glower, Peep tried to defend herself.

“I-I just wanted to help- “

“Well you’re not helping!” Karla snapped. “You’re annoying!”

Peep wasn’t an idiot. She knew what people said about her. She’d heard them talking.

But, perhaps foolishly, she thought their minds would be changed. Maybe after she and her cautiousness proved useful, they’d come to appreciate what she’d done for them. Take her many warnings seriously.

But tonight, she finally realized that no one wanted her to do this. There was no reason to do this. She was just being paranoid.

They saw her as a nuisance. An aggravation. A pest.

That was all she was.

Karla saw it, the turmoil in her sister’s eyes. And actually felt kind of bad.

“Hey, come on…” She softly uttered, placing an arm around the smaller girl’s shoulder. “It’s not so bad!”

“A little sisterly advice?” She offered, with a cheeky smirk. “People would like you way more if you just loosened up a little!”

Peep considered this.

Loosen up a little. Stop being so afraid.

Be strong. Be brave. Laugh in the face of danger.

Be fearless.

Determination burning from within, Peep slipped out of her sister’s hold.

She faced the Catastrophic Quaken, clutched her whistle, took a deep breath, and-

FWEEEEET

The Quaken jolted awake, scampering to its mighty feet with a shocked expression on its maw.

Letting out a stunned bellow, it curled its body inwards. Until it resembled a large, spikey ball.

And it rolled.

The curled-up dragon began rotating rapidly, until it rolled straight out of the stable. Barreling down the hill under the dusky skies, heading towards the loudest source of vibration.

The party.

The triplets watched it go in varying states of surprise, one with a little regret.

“Uh…what happened?” Asked Pedro, completely lost.

And Karla grinned. Knowing that whatever happened next, her boredom would be rectified.

“Things just got wild!”

But what she couldn’t predict was what actually happened next.

Well…she could’ve. She just didn’t.

Foresight was a foreign concept to Karla.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The play had moved on to its climax. A slew of children, dressed as Dragon Riders from both Berk and the Encanto, facing off against the Red Death. A very large and surprisingly detailed puppet, though it was only the beast’s head.

“People and dragons will fight no more!” Proclaimed the young Hiccup, in perhaps his most confident line reading yet.

He held up his Terrible Terror, pointing it right towards the puppet queen. It’s toothy maw opened wide, courtesy of the kids who were controlling it, as one of them tried his best to simulate a ghastly roar.

Boy and dragon both wore resolute glares, as they prepared themselves for the final blow.

But not without a proper sendoff.

“Hasta la vista, baby!”

“…I didn’t say that…” Mumbled the real Hiccup.

“Tío Bruno calls it an artistic liberty.” Mirabel said in return.

The Terror in the scraggly boys arms shot out a puff of smoke, a far cry from a Night Fury’s mighty plasma blast. But it still seemed to do the trick.

The Red Death puppet let out an agonized wail, while flashy effects made its demise appear far more dramatic than it truly was. With clouds of steam and simulated flames.

Even though this reproduction of the real event was quite silly, watching it still sent a twinge of decade-old pain to Hiccup’s leg and Mirabel’s scarred arm. They’d both been irreversibly changed that day, but they came out of it ever stronger.

But that slight bit of uncomfortableness aside, the end of the final battle was a triumphant affair. They’d even skipped over Hiccup’s bout of unconsciousness, so he could celebrate with all the other children.

There was cheering and laughter and upbeat music, all the kids seemed to really be having fun.

And the triplets were missing all of it.

They’ve been gone for a while, the play was already at its end. Surely it didn’t take that long for them to use the bathroom, did it?

The couple shared a slightly concerned glance with each other, and they were just about to start looking. But luckily for them, they didn’t have to find their kids.

Their kids found them.

“MOM! DAD!”

A small redhead pushed through the crowd, calling for her parents in an octave somewhere between whispering and shouting. She was closely followed by dark curls, and silky black locks.

All three of their triplets were accounted for. And for some reason, they all looked quite panicked.

While the play’s Hiccup and Mirabel launched into a sappy ending speech about friendship, the real ones tried to figure out what was happening with their kids.

“Woah, guys! What happened?” Asked Hiccup.

Huffing for breath and trembling with fright, the three all looked to each other. Each one hoping the other knew what to say.

“Bad! I-It’s bad! Very bad!” Peep squealed.

“We, like, totally messed up…” Pedro mumbled.

Their parents did not like where this was going.

“What did you do?” Mirabel sternly questioned, already sensing trouble.

Karla stuck her hands in her pockets, averting her eyes. Tracing self-conscious circles in the dirt with her foot. Before shooting her father an awkward grin.

“Y-You remember how you said we shouldn’t bring the Quaken to the party?”

Just as she finished her rhetorical question, the ground beneath them began to shake.

The audience wobbled on unsteady feet, and several dragons took to the air. Disturbed by the tremors.

And that’s when they heard it. A rumbling, crackling noise. The sound of something large and round rolling across the cobblestone streets.

It was coming from behind the stage. And it sounded like it was coming fast.

Guests began to clear the immediate area. Not quite knowing what was coming, but knowing it couldn’t be good.

Diego and his clones, however, were now up on the stage. Despite Valentina's protests.

They said they wanted to perform, and that's exactly what they were going to do.

The show must go on, as they say.

The real Diego, holding a guitar, tried to speak over the commotion.

"You losers ready to have your minds blown?" He asked, brimming with confidence in his musical skill.

To begin, he gave his instrument a few experimental strums.

And after that, he was ready to sing.

"SOME- "

Before he could finish, he was suddenly whisked away from the stage. Along with all the other duplicates.

This was done by Karla, moving at the speed of sound to get them all to safety.

And not a moment too soon.

A second later, a ball of scales and spikes burst through the stage. Shattering it into shreds of wood and cardboard.

But this obstacle did nothing to stop the Quaken’s momentum.

It continued to roll throughout the plaza, aimlessly tearing apart anything in its path. Snack tables, feeding troughs, decorations, anything.

In the process, it even managed to smash into the sides of buildings. Trashing shops, and decimating homes.

Those with dragons nearby rapidly ascended, using the skies to create a safe distance from this living wrecking ball. Those who didn’t simply ran as far as they could from the destruction.

This dragon needed to be stopped.

And as luck would have it, the alpha of the Encanto flock was nearby.

A shot of plasma exploded right in the Quaken’s path, stopping its rolling. It then uncurled, looking to see just who had fired at it.

Though the scowl on its muzzle slipped away when it saw is adversary.

Toothless snarled at the much larger dragon, glowing with a powerful blue energy. Before the other dragon could do anything else, he released a mighty, domineering shriek. Letting it know that this was not allowed.

The Quaken got the message. Bowing its head in a show of submission, before obediently waddling off somewhere else.

Toothless snorted while he cooled down, and Hiccup placed an appreciate hand on his head.

“Nice work, bud.”

And now that the shenanigans were over, it was time to assess the damage.

The plaza was an absolute mess. Several stores and houses were totally wrecked, and the very streets were torn up into scattered pebbles.

Not to mention that the party was completely ruined. Even if the festive atmosphere was still intact, there was nowhere to actually party. The air show would have to be called off, much to the people’s disappointment.

And speaking of the villagers, they were alright. There were no injuries. But they were caked in dust and dirt, and they certainly weren’t in high spirits.

The children were devastated at their play being spoiled. And even as he tried his best to console then, Bruno was awfully disheartened as well.

Antonio had out so much work into readying the dragons for their aerial performance, one that would go unused. Leading to a very disappointed teenager. The flock of Terrible Terrors that flapped around him weren't too pleased either.

Isabela couldn’t help but grumble, after seeing how her meticulously crafted decorations were annihilated.

Even if she wasn’t in charge anymore, seeing the plaza in such a state still sent a wave of dismay over Alma. She tried to soothe herself by placing a disheartened hand on her lazy Hotburple.

And poor Diego didn’t get to play with his band of duplicates. He stomped around in enraged little circles, swearing revenge on whoever was responsible.

And Hiccup and Mirabel knew exactly who was responsible.

After taking a moment to examine the destruction, two sets of very displeased glowers settled on three children in particular.

Karla, Pedro, and Peep, knowing full well that they had caused all of this, began to shiver with shame and fright. Cowering under the legion of scowls they were receiving.

They knew it. There was no denying it.

They were in so much trouble.

Chapter Text

Hiccup and Mirabel were huffing and fuming and steaming so much, they looked more dragon-like than the reptiles they rode on.

But they didn’t even notice how red their faces were getting, or how tightly their fists were clenched. They were just so insurmountably frustrated with their children, and it was all they could think about.

Several times.

Several times they had told the triplets to be careful. To think about what they did before they did it. To consider how their actions might affect others.

Several times, all in the last day. That wasn’t even counting all the talks they’d had over the last few months.

And yet, despite the two hammering in that point over and over again, their kids saw fit to completely wreck the town square with their antics.

Not only had they ruined the party, but so many livelihoods had been put in peril as well.

And they wouldn’t even be the ones to fix it.

Who had to assess the damages? Who had to get the people together to spend who knows how long repairing the plaza? Who had to reimburse businesses and replace furniture and belongings, out of their own pocket? Who had to personally apologize to those who were most affected by this?

Who had to clean up the disaster they had made?

It certainly wouldn’t be a trio of six-year-olds.

Yes, they were only six. But that didn’t completely excuse them. They should certainly know better than to let an unpredictable dragon loose into a crowd of bystanders.

They should’ve known better. And that’s what made it so frustrating.

While the rest of the Madrigals began to assist anyone in need, Mirabel and Hiccup took a moment to drag their kids back to Casita. Without so much as a word, only the most scathing of glares.

Under the climbing moon and the swaying palm trees they marched onwards. With heavy steps, and a child’s wrist in each hand. None of the three tried to fight or struggle, even the often-defiant Karla. They all looked mortified.

When they arrived on the hill, the house could clearly see that they were in a mood. And opened the doors for them. Allowing them to continue storming inside without obstruction.

And once in the courtyard, they finally relinquished their hold on the triplets. So they could glare down at them with glowers that almost seemed to have quadrupled in intensity.

There would be no talking-to tonight. No lecture, no reprimanding. Hiccup and Mirabel were far too heated, and they didn’t want to risk blowing their tops in front of the kids.

Instead, they sharply pointed upstairs. To a set of three doors, all bearing the triplets’ likeness. And issued a command that no child wanted to hear.

“Go to your rooms!”

Without question, the three began to do just that. Dragging their feet up the stairs.

But then Hiccup remembered that Karla’s bedroom was a field of dynamic loops and curves and green hills, made just for her to run on.

And Mirabel remembered that Pedro’s bedroom was an art studio that doubled as a dreamscape, one that shifted with his very imagination.

And they both remembered that Peep’s bedroom, while comparatively less flashy, was incredibly plush and comfy. It was built to be a place where the girl could feel safe, no matter what.

Their rooms were too fun. Not suited for a proper punishment at all.

So instead, the three were made to sleep in the nursery that night. They wouldn’t even be allowed to come out for dinner, it’d be brought to them. Their only excuse for leaving that room should be if they needed to use the facilities.

And that’s where they stayed. Sniffling, moping, and grumbling into the night.

Once the state of the plaza was deemed acceptable, not fixed, but just cleaned up enough that they could leave it until morning, everyone else returned home. They ate a well-earned meal, and got some well-earned sleep.

Though all throughout dinner, the couple’s displeasure was plain on their faces. Making things rather awkward, even though that wasn’t their intention.

And now Hiccup and Mirabel were alone in their room. Even their dragons opted to sleep out in the back tonight, with the other Madrigal dragons. Feeling awkward around their upset friends.

Dressed in night clothes and too riled up to drift into slumber, they finally let their feelings out.

Their very angry feelings.

“What were they thinking!?” Hiccup asked, pacing back and forth and throwing his hands up with irritation. With each harsh step he took, his metal leg clank-clank-clanked against the wooden floors.

“They weren’t.” Mirabel huffed, crossing her arms while sitting on their bed. “That’s the problem!”

Hiccup ceased his pacing, frowning towards a wall in the general direction of where the nursery resided.

“We should’ve seen this coming…” He groaned. “Every day it was something new with them, we should’ve known it was only gonna escalate until we got to something like…this.”

Mirabel deeply sighed, slouching over with her cheek resting against her hand. “Peep’s making the town lose their minds…”

“First she hides from everything, now she’s micromanaging everything!” She said.

“I mean, ever since she could crawl we’ve known she was…different. But why can’t she just chill out for like…five minutes?”

Her equally aggravated husband nodded in agreement, before voicing his own gripes.

“And Pedro can’t pay attention to anything! He’s got the attention span of a…” He hesitated, looking for an adequate analogy. “O-Of a sparrow!”

“And he’ll do whatever anyone tells him, without even thinking about it…” His wife added in a mumble.

Their grievances then turned to the oldest of their children.

“And Karla…” Hiccup began, dragging a hand down his face. “She won’t sit still, she does whatever she wants, she won’t listen to anyone who’s slower than she is- “

“Which is everybody!” Mirabel butt in.

“Exactly!” Agreed her husband, his movements becoming spirited. “But the worst part is she always makes a huge mess, and then runs away! Leaving us to clean it up!”

“You remember when we thought she could help with the dishes, and it looked like a hurricane ran through the kitchen?”

Mirabel nodded, before bringing up her own memory. “Or when she was trying to show off at kindergarten, and trashed the schoolhouse?”

Hiccup remembered that far too clearly. “And what about the time when she was running by a birthday party, decided she was hungry, and ate that poor kid’s whole cake in a second?”

That incident in particular was very grating for them. The child’s mother had given them an absolute earful.

And yet, Karla had seemed unbothered. As if her speed gave her the right to do whatever she pleased, and she didn’t understand why others disagreed with that notion.

Hiccup sat next to Mirabel on the bed, the both of them still frustrated with all three of their children.

They used to be these chubby little things, who slept most of the day away. And now they were such handfuls.

“I swear…” He sighed. “It’s like every time they step outside, some type of disaster follows…”

“We have a whole town to run, and they’re not making the job any easier…” She uttered. “Sometimes I wish they’d just…step aside. At least until they can get their acts together.”

The two sat in an agitated silence for a moment, just stewing in their emotions.

But then, they felt the strangest sensation.

A twinge of familiarity. An irritating itch, that told them that they’ve heard these things said before. In regards to certain other kids.

In a different time. One so far in the past that it was no longer very relevant to their daily lives. Yet it was still so formative to their development. There was a period where they couldn’t imagine their lives as anything different.

His life as a scrawny, useless Viking. Constantly being told by his village and his own father that he was a walking disaster.

Her life as the gift-less blunder. Constantly being asked by her abuela to step aside, with the implication that she wasn’t as important as the rest of her family ringing loud and clear.

Every day, for years, they’d heard these things. Felt these things.

And they’d just said them about their own children.

The realization hit like a blow to the stomach. The couple felt winded by the very thought.

“I sound just like my dad…” Hiccup gasped, suddenly out of breath.

A nearly voiceless Mirabel agreed. “I sound just like Abuela used to…”

In the dim candlelight, two pairs of wide eyes met each other. Sharing the same sense of terror.

They both had the same question on their minds, but they were both too afraid to voice it. Eventually one of them found the courage necessary.

“Are we…” Mirabel began, deathly quiet. “Are we bad parents?”

The idea sent a shockwave of anxiety through Hiccup, as he scrambled to respond.

“N-No, no, no…we can’t be!” He reasoned. “I mean, we’re patient with them, we listen to them, we never let them feel left out- “

“None of that matters if we’re bad parents!” She shot back, suddenly feeling very distraught.

Way, way back, when they first discovered that they were having babies, they made a vow.

Their children would never, ever, feel the way they had felt growing up. Isolated, unwanted, scorned. Not good enough for their own families.

Had they truly broken it? They couldn’t have…

Right?

Decade-old pains welled up in their hearts, and the thought of their children feeling the same was a dreadful one. Especially if they had been the cause of it.

“We can’t be.” Hiccup said, sounding less sure than he wanted to. “We can’t be bad parents.”

“I mean…they’re causing problems! And we’re rightfully annoyed by that! That’s not-we’re not…”

His attempts to rationalize their thought process fizzled out, ending in a disbelieving sigh.

He placed his hand over his wife’s, gently grasping it. And looked over to her.

“We’re not…we’re not treating them like we were treated.” He said. “We don’t see them as disappointments. We don’t see them as…lesser…”

Slowly, she met his gaze. Deep brown eyes overflowing with dismay.

“Do they know that?”

Maybe they were just being paranoid. Maybe this reaction was overblown.

But in their pursuit to ensure their children had all the things they lacked at their age, one could never be too careful.

“Tomorrow.” Mirabel decided, bursting with a new determination.

“Tomorrow we’re gonna talk to them. Really talk, one-on-one. Find out what they’re thinking, what they’re feeling, and work from there.”

Hiccup agreed, and grew the slightest of smirks.

“We’ll have to figure out which parent talks to which triplet, though.” He grinned. “That’s usually why we talk to them all at once!”

Mirabel chuckled, the first levity she’d felt in hours.

With their mission set, the lights were finally turned out. Though sleep didn’t come easy to the couple.

They were too overcome with worry. Too restless about the coming day.

Tomorrow.

Tomorrow they’d have heart-to-hearts with all three of their kids.

Surely, there was a source for their troublesome behavior. And they’d get to the bottom of it.

Assess their problems, find some solutions.

And do the one thing for their children that they so desperately needed from their elders, all those years ago.

Show them that they cared.

Chapter Text

“You guys are in so much trouble!”

“Shut up.”

“You’re gonna be grounded for life!”

“Shut up…”

“Seriously, I’ve done a lot of stuff but I’ve never messed up this bad- “

“SHUT UP, DIEGO!”

Karla’s infuriated shout roared out of the nursery, sent towards the boy standing just outside the doorway.

Diego took her anger in stride, smugly gesturing to himself from where he stood in the hallway.

With the smuggest of tooth-gapped grins, a glint of mischief in his brown eyes, he issued an invitation.

“Make me!”

With her arms crossed and her legs folded, Karla glared at him from the small bed she sat upon.

He was just outside the nursery. Where she was forbidden from leaving.

Out of bounds.

“I can’t.” She grunted, through grit teeth.

And he knew it.

Diego’s immunity granted him an increased confidence, one he used to taunt his opponent.

“Y’know…” He began, smugly leaning in the doorframe. “I didn’t know you three hated us so much.”

Karla, along with the two other kids in the room, all gasped at his words. Appalled by such a statement.

Diego played it causal, and if he was just making a simple observation.

“I mean, you gotta have something against us to ruin the party we all worked so hard on…”

“T-That’s not true!” Peep mewled.

“It was totally an accident!” Pedro cried.

But Diego scoffed at all their protests.

“Excuses!”

Karla hopped off the bed and marched right up to the edge of the nursery. Getting as close as she could to the door without actually leaving, scowling at her second-cousin the whole time.

“Look, we didn’t want to wreck the party!” She said, fighting the urge to poke him in his puffed-out chest.

Diego looked thoughtful. Thoughtful and devious.

“Hmm…that’s not what it looked like!” He said. “It looked like you guys set that dragon loose on purpose!”

His smirk grew wider with each word he spoke.

“Maybe that wasn’t even it! Maybe you actually wanted to destroy the town! Maybe this is all part of your plot, and you- “

The strangely dark turn he was taking was cut off by a startled yelp, as he found himself being lifted into the air by a mystical green aura.

His older brother, Manny, levitated the boy closer. Regarding him with glowing, unamused eyes.

He shifted his gaze to look at the triplets, taking note of how horrified they appeared. When he looked back to his little brother, his frown only deepened.

“Knock it off, you’re scaring them!” Snapped the eleven-year-old. “What’d I tell you about messing with people’s heads?”

Still floating in jade-colored energy, Diego waved his arms with a pout.

“But I like messing with people’s heads!”

Manny scoffed, and turned around. Walking through the hallway and down the stairs, likely to dump his brother somewhere outside.

As he did so, two pairs of footsteps began to approach the nursery.

The triplets all froze with fear as they watched their parents arrive.

This was it. The scolding of a lifetime.

Somehow they’d managed to avoid it last night, but there was no hiding now. It was time.

Karla braced herself for impact. Pedro for once seemed to recognize reality, specifically the reality of his impending punishment. Peep was shaking like a leaf in a tornado.

They may not survive.

But strangely enough, when their parents were finally in the doorframe, they didn’t seem angry.

There was no trace in burning rage in their eyes, their mouths weren’t fixed into furious scowls, they weren’t oozing with a desire to ground them for eternity.

They seemed…calm. Gentle, even.

It was quite different than what the kids were expecting. And the uncertainty only made them feel more uneasy.

Hiccup and Mirabel shared a glance. They gave the faintest of exhales, and the slightest of nods.

It was go time.

Hiccup spoke first.

“Karla? You mind joining me out back?”

He was already moving before she could respond, making his way towards the stairs. The little redhead looked back to her siblings, confusion apparent, before jogging up to join her father.

“Pedro? I could use your help in the kitchen!” Mirabel said next.

The boy did as requested. Stepping forth while holding his brush close, as if he needed the protection.

After watching her son move ahead, Mirabel quickly looked back to her youngest child with a small smile.

“When your father and I are done with these two, we’re gonna have a little chat!”

The sentence was spoken jovially, but it still carried a foreboding undercurrent to Peep.

Nevertheless, she was left to wait in the nursery. Occupying her time by reading some of the books the room had to offer, though they were awfully simple.

Hiccup was with Karla, Mirabel was with Pedro, and they’d both be talking to Peep soon enough.

It was time to get to the bottom of things.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The cool breeze worked in tandem with the hot sun, to make the weather outside incredibly pleasant.

Standing in the swaying grass, Karla followed her father over to where a big black lump was snoozing under a palm tree.

“Come on, bud.” Urged Hiccup, prodding the snoring mass. “I’m gonna need your help here!”

Grumbling with discontent, Toothless began to rise. And while he yawned, his rider took a big, deep breath of the clear air.

“It’s beautiful out here, huh kiddo?” He asked upon exhaling.

Karla, baffled, managed a shaky nod.

“Y-Yeah…”

They stood in silence for a bit. One content man, one drowsy dragon, and one very puzzled girl.

“Are you…not gonna yell at me?” The redhead eventually asked.

This day wasn’t going how she expected it to.

Hiccup chuckled, shaking his head a bit. But he still didn’t answer her question.

Instead, he looked into the distance. Towards the peak of one of the towering mountains that surrounded their home.

“Y’know, Night Furies are pretty fast…” He ominously stated.

Running a hand down his dragon’s back, he looked to his daughter. An eager smile spreading.

“I bet me and Toothless could reach the top of that mountain before you!”

Despite the oddness of the situation she was presented with, Karla’s lips curled into a grin of her own. Energy arcing across her body.

She knew a challenge when she heard one.

And she loved a challenge.

“You’re on!”

Hiccup hopped onto his dragon, while Karla performed a few quick stretches. The both of them readying themselves for the upcoming race.

They settled into their starting positions, and began the countdown.

3…

2…

…1.

And they were off.

Toothless rocketed into the air, and Karla blasted forth. The both of them headed in the same direction.

While the dragon soared over the rainforest, the girl ran straight into them. Using her quick reflexes to dodge anything that came her way.

She dashed through the underbrush, leaving scorch marks in her turbo-charged wake. Quickly sidestepping left and right to avoid thick trees, and leaping over boulders and stumps. While terribly frightening the poor animals she zoomed past.

Occasionally she’d glance upwards to the sky, catching a glimpse of a black dragon through the green canopy. She was honestly surprised, they seemed to be keeping up with her.

And when she suddenly had to stop, they started to get ahead of her.

Karla skidded to a halt, when she came across a river.

A deep one. A wide one. One she immediately knew she couldn’t jump.

And she couldn’t swim across it, either. She didn’t know how.

Karla and water did not mix. Never have, never will.

Looking up again, she saw that her father was gaining speed. It’d only be moments before he was just a speck in the sky.

Making her the loser of this race.

Not on her watch.

In an instant she was sprinting to her right, running along the length of the water. Looking for any way over it.

She spotted a palm tree, one that had grown in the strangest manner. It was lanky, and winding, and it somehow managed to form a loop.

And its trunk just so happened to bend all the way over to the other side.

Perfect.

Karla hopped onto the tree as soon as she reached it, which only took about a second. She ran along the length of it, even completing the loop, just because she could.

Though in the process, she tripped over herself just before she made it to the other end. Falling forward, she quickly wrapped her arms and legs around the trunk. Holding onto it for dear life as her weight made it dip towards the flowing waters.

The tip of one of her red hairs barely touched the surface, forming the faintest of little ripples…

Before the palm tree bent back to it’s original position, sending her flying backwards.

Flailing through the air, she tumbled to the ground. Getting up just to see Toothless rapidly getting farther and farther away.

And with him, went her victory.

She couldn’t let the race end like this! There had to be another way!

And luckily for her, there was.

Looking around, she saw that behind her stood two trees. A thick vine hanging between them.

Thinking quickly, she sprinted towards the vine. Positioning herself in the middle, gripping both sides, and using her speed to swiftly zip backwards. Until the vine was stretched as far as it could possibly go.

She squinted her eyes, looking for the perfect shot. Aiming for the mountain.

She took a breath-

And she let go, using the trees and the vine as an oversized slingshot. Catapulting towards her destination.

Easily clearing the river, She hit the ground running at the base of the mountain. And began to ascend.

Entirely focused on just coming in first, and avoiding any obstacles, she didn’t notice when a large and dark-scaled figure appeared only slightly above her. Flying in the same direction she was running.

“You’re pretty good down there, kiddo!” Hiccup said, grinning proudly.

Karla met his smile with her own. “You’re pretty good too…for an old man!”

Her taunting didn’t work as intended. Instead of looking insulted, his grin turned incredibly smug.

“Do you know the difference between you and us?” He asked, Toothless looking just as cocky.

“We don’t have to worry about trees!”

Hiccup urged his companion to soar onwards and upwards. Flapping up the mountain, unimpeded by any hindrances. The both of them laughing triumphantly.

Karla had never felt so offended in her entire life.

“Hey!” She shouted, only increasing the distant laughter.

She couldn’t just let them get away with this! Now more than ever, she had to win!

Karla tried to run even faster, but it just wasn’t enough.

Hiccup and Toothless were almost at the peak. She was going to lose.

But then…

The drive to come out on top, the strain of pushing herself to her limit, and her shock at the sheer audacity of her father…

It all manifested into pure power.

The power needed to succeed.

Electricity crackled all over her body at a rapid pace, tracing through every individual strand of hair and every inch of her skin. Her brown eyes began to glow a golden-yellow.

She took one more step-

And an explosion of energy boosted her up the remainder of the mountainside. Complete with a small shockwave that even knocked Toothless back a bit.

A second later, and she was at the top of the mountain.

She won.

With a victorious holler, she leaped into the air. Making a show out of celebrating her triumph. And the sounds of clapping filled the air soon after.

Hiccup stood next to his dragon, clapping for his daughter. Looking proud, and just a bit disheveled.

He'd never seen her do that before.

“Nice work, kid!”

The excess energy dissipating, Karla formed a genuine smile at the compliment. Before quickly saving face by shifting into her usual arrogance.

“You guys are fast, but you ain’t the fastest thing alive!”

And now that they were at the top of the mountain, overlooking the lush jungles and seeing the colorful speck that was their hometown in the distance, Hiccup got down to business.

He took a seat on the grass, and patted the spot next to him. Karla went over to him, but didn’t sit. Observing the horizon with her hands on her hips.

After a short silence, the Viking spoke.

“So…what’s the deal?”

His daughter looked to him, perplexed.

“Whaddaya mean, what’s the deal?” She asked in return.

He clarified. Bluntly. “I mean why have you been getting into so much trouble recently?”

“You’re always running into something, making a huge mess, and then running to the next thing to repeat the process. What’s up with that?”

His directness was unexpected, and it took Karla a second to figure out how to respond.

Eventually, she shrugged.

“I get bored.”

Her father was rather unimpressed with her answer.

“Bored.” He repeated, an eyebrow raised. “You live a magical village, filled with dragons, and you’re bored?”

His assertion that she should be entertained sparked an indignance from within the girl.

“I’ve seen it all!” She exclaimed, suddenly very animated.

“I’ve ran laps through the whole village! Several times! There ain’t an inch of this place I haven’t seen!”

Hiccup was honestly surprised by this.

“…Six is a little young to be having a mid-life crisis, don’t you think?” He wondered.

Karla didn’t know what that was, but she did know one thing.

“I just want…more…”

She looked into the distance, but not at anything in specific. She was looking at a vague concept, so close that she felt she could reach it, but it was just outside her grasp.

“I want something big! Something new! Something exciting!”

“I want…I want…”

She worked her brain into overdrive, trying to bring form and substance to her ambiguous concept. Trying to solidify it into something tangible, something she could use.

And then her mind slipped to last night. To the play.

The show itself was hokey, but the events it portrayed were real. These things truly happened, her parents truly did these things.

And she knew what she wanted.

“I want an adventure!”

“An adventure?” Parroted Hiccup, unsure of what exactly she meant. “Kid, there’s more adventure in your backyard than anywhere else in the world!”

Figuring out what she desired instilled a brightness to the girl, as she energetically tried to make her point.

“No, a real adventure!” She said. “With action, and danger, and cool catchphrases!”

She began to move around the area, performing flashy and overdramatic poses to get her point across.

“I wanna go somewhere crazy! Do something crazy! Bust up some bad guys! Save the day!”

She looked back to her dad, smiling eagerly. “Y’know, like you and mom did!”

Hiccup and Toothless shared a glance, a paternal concern emanating from both of them.

“The type of adventure you’re looking for comes with consequences, y’know…” He mumbled, gesturing to his prosthetic leg.

“Pfft, that won’t happen to me!” She scoffed. “I’m too fast!”

As unsettled he was by the way she just brushed his injury aside, he was glad that she gave him the perfect ammunition for another fatherly speech.

“Exactly, you’re too fast.” He said, getting up and walking over to her. “You’re trying to grow up too fast.”

Placing a hand on her shoulder, he crouched down. Locking eyes with his child.

“I have no doubt that, one day, the adventure you’re looking for will find you…” He then gave a slight chuckle. “It’s kind of unavoidable in this family!”

“But that’s the thing, kiddo. It has to find you. You can’t force it.”

“And it’s not all fun and games!” His voice took on a warning tone, memories of life-threatening situations coming to his mind.

“You’re fighting for your life out there, kid. One wrong move and you’re dead, along with everyone you love. And I just don’t think you’re old enough for that.”

Being told once again that she couldn’t have what she wanted deflated Karla’s mood considerably, making her cross her arms and look away.

Hiccup tried to lift her spirits, by having her look on the bright side.

“Besides, I think you’re selling us a bit short!” He grinned, encouragingly. “Can you really say you’ve done everything there is to do in the village?”

“I’ve lived here for a decade, and I’m still finding new things every day!”

He gently touched her cheek, returning her gaze back to him.

“Honestly kid, no dragon fight or dying miracle can compare to this. This life we have.”

“Each new day is the adventure!” He said. “That’s why it’s called the present. It’s a gift!”

“…When’d you get all filly-softy-cull?” Karla asked, fumbling the pronunciation.

“You mean philosophical.” A chuckling Hiccup corrected.

With his little speech done, he stood to his full height. Looking over the town once more.

“I just want you to…think about what I told you.” He requested. “And take it a day at a time. There’s no rush.”

“Can you do that?”

Being told there was no need for rushing was antithetical to Karla’s very being, but she nodded anyway.

“Good.” Hiccup smiled.

Once more, they stood in relative silence. Both ruminating about what they’d discussed.

But they had to go back to Casita sometime.

And they’d do it quickly.

“Bet you can’t make it home before I do!” Said the Viking, with the energy of a child.

Karla was startled by the sudden offer, but she accepted it with glee.

“If you wanna lose twice in one day, that’s fine by me!” She grinned, electricity coursing through her hair.

Their serious talk was temporarily forgotten. All that mattered was being first.

And Hiccup was glad.

Even if she didn’t show it much, he really felt like he made some headway with his daughter.

But that didn’t alleviate all his concerns.

She was far too small to be acting disillusioned like this, super speed or not.

She needed something…fresh. A change of pace.

But he would figure it out later.

The racers readied themselves to go all out.

…3

…2

…1.

And they were off.

Chapter Text

While Hiccup and Karla headed towards the backyard, Mirabel led Pedro into the kitchen.

The boy’s usually flighty mind was more aware than normal, today. Aware and afraid. Dreading the inevitable verbal lashing that was sure to come as soon as they’d reached their destination.

Now if he was being fair, he’d admit that his mother had never yelled at him. Not even once. But he’d never screwed up this bad before, and there was a first time for everything.

But for as much as he feared his impending doom, he still followed her obediently. He didn’t want to risk disobeying her, even accidentally.

And once they were in the kitchen, the boy lingering awkwardly in the doorframe, he dared to ask a question.

“So uh…you said you needed help?” He wondered, sounding meeker than normal. “With what?”

“Oh yes, it’s very important…” Said Mirabel, cryptically. A knowing smile on her face.

She moved to the cabinets, and began to pull out ingredients. Casita assisted with the harder to reach ones.

“You see, I want some hot cocoa!” She grinned, retrieving two mugs. “And you, Corazón, are the best man for the job!”

Pedro was incredibly confused.

Here he thought he was being grounded for eternity, but he was actually getting sweets?

Though for as confounded as he was, he wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth. He was happy to help, either way.

His laidback smile returning for the first time that day, he fully entered the kitchen to assist his mother.

The first step was to warm up the milk. But unfortunately, a problem quickly arose.

When Mirabel placed the pan of milk on the stove, she soon discovered that something wasn’t quite right.

“Oh no!” She cried, perhaps a bit too dramatic. “The stove isn’t working!”

The knobs on the stove waggled with indignance. Casita was working just fine!

In an attempt to prove this, the house nearly made the fires spring to life. Though Mirabel was faster, adjusting all the knobs so not a single flare could get out.

“The stove isn’t working!” Reiterated the woman, more firmly this time. Side-eyeing the wall intensely.

That’s when Casita got the memo.

The house made a show of the stove being dysfunctional, moving the knobs about wildly. While pitiful puffs of smoke rose pathetically from the burners.

Satisfied that the building understood the assignment, Mirabel placed a hand to her chin.

“If only there was some other way to heat up the milk!”

And that gave Pedro an idea.

“Hold on, I got it!”

Mirabel eagerly watched as her son brandished his brush, drawing an assortment of small forms into existence.

In a flash, a troop of fire ants now stood proudly. All decked out in army gear.

“TEEEN-HUT!”

The fire ants snapped to attention, while the bug who was clearly in charge stiffly turned to face his men.

“Listen up, you maggots!” He shouted, in an amusingly squeaky voice. “We’ve got some milk that needs warming up, pronto!”

“And by God, we’re gonna be the ones to do it or I’m feeding your sorry butts to the anteaters! Am I clear?”

His squadron all flicked their arms to their antennae in a salute. “SIR YES SIR!”

In a single file they marched, from the floor and up the counter. Until they reached the stovetop.

“Fire in the milk!” Shouted the ant commander.

At his word, the insects all took deep breaths. Before breathing a surprisingly large blast of fire over the milk.

Mirabel had to move Pedro a step back or two, before his eyebrows were singed.

After a few seconds, the milk was deemed sufficiently warm. Just the slightest bit bubbly.

Ceasing their fire, the ants all turned to regard Pedro and Mirabel. Each one of them saluting.

“Mission accomplished!” Announced the commander. And after that, he and his platoon vanished into golden particles.

Mirabel stepped forth, dipping a finger into the pan before putting in her mouth for a taste test.

And to her delight, it was the perfect temperature for hot cocoa.

“Excellent work, Mijo!”

She used her dry hand to ruffle her son’s hair, appreciating the giggling she received.

Though what she loved most was the spark of accomplishment she saw in his eyes.

“Alright…” She held up a bowl of chocolate chips, a bag of marshmallows, a tub of whipped cream, and anything else that could satiate a sweet tooth.

“Now’s the fun part!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mother and son both sat on the kitchen counter, dangling their feet above the ground. Enjoying two nice and warm cups of sweet, sweet cocoa.

“This is, like, really good!” Said Pedro, revealing that a line of whipped cream had settled over his lip. Giving him the appearance of a having a frosty white mustache.

Mirabel saw this, and of course she started snickering.

“What’s so funny?” Asked the painter, completely oblivious.

The woman struggled to suppress her laughter. “N-Nothing!”

She didn’t want him to catch on. She wanted to see just how long it’d take before he realized.

But to her eternal disappointment, he did realize soon after. Wiping it off with his sleeve.

They sat in silence for a bit, distant sounds from elsewhere in the house occasionally filling their ears. And out in the yard, they could swear they heard a Night Fury’s cry, and a burst of lightning-like energy.

But the quiet couldn’t go on forever. Mirabel had brought her son here for a reason.

“Can I ask you something?”

Pedro looked up from his sipping, his lackadaisical eyes briefly focusing on her.

“You just did.”

The wall tiles clattered with what seemed to be laughter, while Mirabel rolled her eyes.

“Alright, wise guy…” She mumbled, even though she was smiling.

Pedro didn’t know what she was talking about. He made that statement in complete sincerity.

Regardless, Mirabel made her inquiry anyway.

“Recently I’ve noticed that, whenever someone tells you to do something, you just…do it. Without even thinking about it. Even if it’s a bad idea.”

She placed her mug down beside her, her full attention on him now.

“Why is that?”

She didn’t receive a proper answer. Her son was just staring off into space again.

“…How’d they get all that cheese on the moon?”

Mirabel sighed, but she was used to this by now.

“Pedro!”

This brought him back down to earth, but it still didn’t cause him to respond.

The boy glanced downwards, towards the cup in his hands. Observing the marshmallows float in the dark, chocolatey liquid.

Mirabel couldn’t help but notice that he looked…saddened.

“…The other kids didn’t really like me…” He finally said, softly.

This was quite the shock to his mother.

“W-What?” She asked, taken aback.

Pedro nodded. “They liked Karla, ‘cause she’s super cool. And Peep never went outside much before now…”

“But I was always…the weird kid…”

The boy’s usually relaxed eyes were overtaken with a sadness, and perhaps even a bit of shame.

“I’d just stay in the corner and draw, while everyone else played tag or something.” He muttered. “Whenever someone tried to talk to me, I’d say something stupid like I always do, and they’d go away. Eventually they stopped trying.”

Mirabel’s disbelief only intensified. It was so unusual to hear her son talk about himself in this way. But she didn’t say anything, allowing him to continue.

“They think I didn’t hear what they said about me, but I did.” The boy heaved a sigh. “No one wanted to play with me ‘cause I had weird eyes and said weird things and my ideas were weird…”

A self-reflective melancholy creeped into his voice. “I dunno why I think different than everyone else, but I do, so…”

The sudden shift in mood was unnerving, to say the least.

“W-Well, what about your sister?” Asked his mother, more than a bit unnerved. “You two usually went out at the same time.”

“Karla would stay with me sometimes, but she liked running with the other kids better. I didn't wanna keep her from that.” He answered. “No one talked to her about me…she’d probably beat them up if they did.”

“Sometimes she tried to make them play with me, but I could tell they didn’t want to. So I asked her to stop. I don’t wanna make anyone mad.”

“So I just…stayed in the corner. That’s where the weird kid belongs…”

“It was different in my head, though.” He noted. “I could do whatever I wanted to do, be whatever I wanted to be, and no one made fun of me!”

“Is…is that why you started to daydream so much?” His mom questioned.

She used to daydream herself. Imagining scenarios where, somehow, she managed to get a gift after all. And her family would accept her, and all would be well.

“…I always daydreamed. It just got…easier…” Pedro averted his eyes, speaking barely above a whisper. “I started to like myself better in there than out here…”

Mirabel knew that feeling all too well, and she hated that he did too.

His energy returned soon after. “But sometimes I’m working out some totally serious questions.”

“Like, what the heck is a platypus?” Questioned the suddenly skeptical boy. “That’s gotta be made up!”

There was the zany boy she knew and loved.

But while the child continued to rant about monotremes for a bit, but his mother wasn’t focused on this at the moment.

It nearly broke Mirabel’s heart to hear these things. But what finished the job was the fact that she hadn’t known in the first place.

She’d always made it abundantly clear to all three of her children that they could come to her about anything. Anything at all.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” She asked, trying to mask how disheartened she was.

What he said next was surprising.

“I tried to.” He shrugged.

He reached for his brush, lying beside him on the counter.

With a few brush strokes here and there, he conjured up a sheet of paper. A drawing already present on the page.

He handed to paper to his mom. “I’m not good with words, So I thought I’d show you.”

As soon as she laid eyes on the drawing, she was hit with a rush of recognition.

She remembered him giving this drawing to her, a few years ago. Before the triplets’ fifth birthday.

He hadn’t said a word, just placing it in her hands out of nowhere. With an oddly expectant look.

It was an image of an apple tree. Each apple a bright red or vibrant green, clustered close together. Smiling happily.

But at the base of the tree sat an orange, far away from the other fruits. Looking sad and lonely.

At the time, she’d thought this was just another of his drawings. Of course she complimented it, but that was all she did. And she missed the disappointment in his eyes when she didn’t say anything else.

But now, with the knowledge she’d just been given…

The message was all too clear.

“You didn’t get it…” Said the Pedro of the present. “And I didn’t wanna bother you…”

How had she missed this?

Her baby boy, her only son, had felt so alone. Isolated. Ostracized.

And she had no clue.

Before she could say anything, Pedro spoke again. And this time his mood was slightly more positive.

“But everything’s totally fine now!” He said, his smile returning.

He picked up his brush again, holding it with great joy. “Once I got my gift, everyone started to like me!”

“They ask me to draw for them, and they say my ideas are cool! That I’m cool!”

“Now everyone sits with me in the corner! And they don’t mind when I zone out, or say weird stuff!” He excitedly spoke. “And I draw whatever they want!”

“And Karla’s there, and Peep actually comes outside now, and we’re all together, and it’s…it’s really nice!”

While his mother was glad to see him out of that funk, she also felt that something wasn’t quite as it should be.

The painter’s good mood then dampened, just a bit.

“I Just go with the flow, a-and try not to question things. It’s easier that way.”

A self-deprecating smirk found its way onto his face.

“It’s probably better if I let others do the thinking for me, anyway.” He chuckled. “My head’s too…different…”

In that moment, Mirabel thought that Pedro looked just like his father. When he was still a twiggy teenage boy, using sarcasm to express his deepest insecurities.

Honestly, she felt terrible.

How hadn’t she noticed this, when it was happening? Sure, the kid was a bit hard to read at times. But as his mother she should be able to tell when her child is troubled.

Here they all thought his only issue was a lack of awareness. In truth, there was much more turmoil bubbling under his absent-minded surface. And she’d completely missed it.

Well that ended today.

Mirabel put her mug down, and hopped off the counter. Walking up to her son and bringing him into a hug. One he wasn’t expecting.

She lightly caressed his hair as she spoke into his ear. “Pedro, you have the most incredible mind…anyone who can’t see that is wrong, including you.”

“And I’m sorry. I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you when you needed it…”

Pedro squirmed in her hold, uncomfortable at the pain he could hear in her voice.

“I-It’s okay, Mami- “

Mirabel wasn’t having it. She made a mistake, and she needed to apologize for it.

She shook her head. “No, it isn’t.”

She backed off just a tad, using a finger to push up his chin so he was looking at her.

“There’s no one else who thinks the way you do!” She smiled, encouragingly. “The things you imagine, they’re amazing! I couldn’t even dream of half this stuff!”

She spoke these next words as resolutely as possible, leaving no room for debate. Not for herself, but in hopes that her child would take them to heart.

“You’re not weird, you’re unique. Never let anyone tell you otherwise, okay?”

The boy was at a loss for words, deciding to just nod.

Mirabel nodded herself, satisfied with his response. Though she wasn’t quite done.

“And I want you to start thinking for yourself more often!” She requested. “You can’t live your life just doing what everyone tells you, you have to stand up for yourself!”

Again the boy nodded, and she just had one more thing to say.

“And please, could you try to focus just a little more?” Asked the matriarch.

“I don’t want you off in Wonderland all the time! I want you right here, with the rest of us!”

A twinge of doubt, that looked so unfamiliar but had apparently been there for years, crept onto his face.

“E-Even if I say weird stuff?” He mumbled.

His downtrodden expression changed into a surprised fit of giggles, after his mother planted a big and overly dramatic kiss on his cheek.

“Especially when you say weird stuff!” She answered, in between kisses.

Her affectionate onslaught over, she tried to drive her point home.

“I love you for exactly who you are, and every time you ask something like if butterflies are really made of butter? It only makes that love stronger!”

Pedro gave her the widest, brightest smile she’d seen from him today. And bumped his noggin against hers, sighing contently.

“Te amo, Mami…”

Mirabel’s poor heart couldn’t take it.

Where did these kids get off, being so cute?

“Te amo, mi pequeño soñador…”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A few minutes later, their cups of cocoa now empty, Karla dashed into the kitchen. Covered in grass and dirt, and looking more excited than normal.

She zipped right up to Pedro, hopping on her feet as she spoke.

“Bro! Me and dad were racing and he was gonna win I mean not by much I’m still faster but he was gonna win but then I did this super crazy awesome move and it was super and crazy and awesome YOU WANNA SEE!?”

She was talking so quickly, it was nearly impossible to understand what she was saying. But Pedro deciphered that she’d done something impressive, and now wanted to show off.

And he was down with that.

“Okay!” He answered, hoping he’d understood right.

Apparently he did, judging by the grin he got. The girl energetically grabbed his hand, and escorted him elsewhere at lightning speed.

They passed Hiccup on the way, who was now entering.

“Hey.” Mirabel greeted, sounding slightly weary. “How’d it go?”

Her husband took up Pedro’s old spot, sitting next to her on the counter. If Alma saw them, she’d surely chastise them for acting so childish. And they’d laugh, and she’d laugh too. Though she’d try to hide it.

“Well…” Hiccup began. “Karla’s acting out because she’s going stir crazy. She’s wants adventure in the great, wide…somewhere, and is probably gonna drive us nuts until she gets it.”

Casita rolled a tray of cookies down the counter, and Hiccup eagerly took one. Munching down on it while he looked to his wife.

“What about you?” He asked, mouth full of food. “How it’d go?”

Taking a cookie herself, Mirabel answered.

“Turns out Pedro used to get picked on, and it gave him self-confidence issues. Now he’s checking himself out of reality half the time, and relegating himself to being a doormat the other half.”

Hiccup nearly choked on his cookie from the surprise.

“What? Really!?” He questioned through coughs. “How did we miss that?”

“I dunno.” She responded, slightly sullen. “But we did.”

This did nothing to quell their fears from the night before. The anxiety that they may not have been the best of parents after all.

And the worst part? They weren’t even done.

They were two children down, the both of them having a slew of issues they needed to help them through.

And there was still one to go.

As they finished off the tray of cookies, using the baked goods as a form of stress-relief, they couldn’t help but feel a sense of dread.

Because they were both asking the same question.

When they went to talk to Peep…

What was she going to say?

Chapter Text

They’d talked to Karla, they’d talked to Pedro, all that was left was to talk to Peep.

A prospect that really shouldn’t have been as scary as Hiccup and Mirabel felt it was.

And yet, after the discussions they’d had with their first two children, the idea of their youngest having some emotional issue that’d managed to slip under their radar was a frightfully realistic one.

Though then again, Peep had always been rather blatant with her problems. Whether she was hiding from everything or misguidedly trying to protect everyone from everything, her intense paranoia was front and center at all times.

It was the uncertainty that was eating at them. And no matter how it turned out, they’d still be left with a set of triplets who needed a lot of help.

At age six.

The teen years were probably going to give them both a heart attack.

Mirabel led the way up the stairs, Hiccup closely behind her. Until they reached the nursery. Though to their surprise, Peep wasn’t where they left her.

Instead, a shuffling could be heard from above. After climbing the second, shorter staircase. They saw that the door to their youngest daughter’s bedroom was wide open. And a certain someone was inside.

Peep herself stepped out of her room, very carefully. She couldn’t actually see where she was going, the ridiculously large stack of papers she was holding blocked her view.

With calculated steps she inched ahead, trying her best not to let anything drop. Though a few of them did anyway.

It was an amusing sight, such a small girl carrying such a big stack. Especially because her lack of vision was obvious in just how stiltedly she was moving.

“Uh…what ’cha up to, kid?” Asked Hiccup, watching her struggle to maintain balance.

The girl hadn’t even known her parents were here, jolting with a startled yelp at the sound of her father’s voice. Dropping all her pages in the process.

She sighed, before getting to work on cleaning up the mess.

“I-I’m getting rid of all my charts.” She answered, slightly jittery. “And maps, and plans, and graphs, and…y’know…”

Being a doomsday prepper for as long as long as she could walk, the child had spent most of her time devising strategies to keep track of and avoid the dangers she swore were everywhere.

While other children were playing, she was planning.

Peep bent down to pick up her dropped papers, trying to calm her shaking from the small shock. “From here on out, I won’t be afraid of anything anymore!”

It was a bold declaration. Especially for someone as fearful as her.

Her parents helped her tidy up, and while doing so they discovered a few interesting things.

One of the stray pages drifted towards Mirabel’s foot, and she bent down to pick it up. Seeing what looked like a map of their town, a slew of red X’s marking several areas.

“What’s this?” She wondered.

Peep looked over to it, recognizing her own handiwork.

“It’s a chart of every oversized chunk of cobblestone on every road in the village.” Revealed the girl, matter-of-factly. “Someone could trip!”

Every single road the village had to offer was present here. And considering just how many X’s there were, it was clearly a very thorough chart. It looked quite professional, for one as young as her.

“And what about this?” Questioned Hiccup, now holding what appeared to be a list of names.

“It’s a list of everyone in town who knows the Heimlich maneuver.” Stated their daughter, before a disappointed look crossed her face.

“It’s not as long as I’d like it to be…”

Both adults were actually very impressed.

Each chart, graph, or schematic was detailed and comprehensive. And far too legible for a child only a few years out of diapers.

The topics that were covered were very extensive as well. From paper-cut wounds to zombie outbreaks. She really had tried to cover any possible (or impossible) scenario.

It was perhaps more than necessary, and some of it was more than a little silly. But her devotion and tenacity were admirable.

“These are really well done!” Complimented Mirabel, looking over a list of all the places one was most likely to stub their toe.

It was surprisingly lengthy.

Peep slightly smiled at the kind words, a bashful blush springing to her dark face.

“T-Thanks…” She mumbled, toying with her hands.

She then shook her head, regaining her determination. “But I don’t need them anymore.”

She swiped the pages from her parents’ hands, adding them to her newly reconstructed stack.

“I made all these things because I was afraid!” She picked up the stack, once more obscuring her vision. “And starting today, I fear nothing!”

“That’s a big claim, kiddo…” Said Hiccup, smirking. “I mean, nothing? Really? Not even spiders, or snakes, or pickles?”

“Nope, nope, and…” Peep hesitated, trying to figure out if she could truly dispel her fear of the green menace.

Evidently, she thought she could. “…And nope!”

She peeked out from behind her massive paper pile, smiling up at her mother.

“It’s like you said! The Encanto doesn’t need a successor who’s afraid!”

Mirabel wasn’t exactly in agreement with that statement.

“I don’t know about all that, Chiquita…” She muttered. “Sometimes it’s good to be afraid.”

This sparked something from within Peep. A seldom seen fury, so very uncharacteristic for such a usually meek child.

She threw her arms up in frustration, dropping all her papers again and not even caring.

Her question was more important.

“WHAT DO YOU PEOPLE WANT FROM ME!?”

Hiccup and Mirabel were very stunned by this. The only times Peep shouted was when something scared her, she had never raised her voice like this before.

The small girl ranted and raved, pacing in tight circles while she let her irritation be known.

“You tell to me to stop being scared, so I try to stop being scared! But now you’re telling me that I should be?” She heatedly questioned. “I’m getting very different messages here!”

Both her parents were quite rattled by the girl’s anger, trying to fumble out remarks that just wouldn’t come.

Hiccup managed a response. “W-Well, there’s a balance- “

“Balance Shmalance!” Peep contended, not in the mood for another talk.

But just as quickly as her anger came, it faded into an insecure sadness.

“I’m trying, okay?” She sniffled. “I’m trying to be the best successor I can, but I don’t know what to do! I don’t know what to be!”

The child stood there, trying to be strong but knowing that tears were threatening to fall at any moment.

Both her parents recognized exactly what she was struggling with.

“Look, kid.” Hiccup began. “I was the heir to Berk for years, I know what you’re feeling.”

“So do I.” Said Mirabel “But I keep telling you, you won’t have to worry about this for a long time!”

This answer didn’t satisfy the sniffling girl. If anything, it made her more frustrated.

“But it’s coming!” She shot back. “It’s coming and I have to be ready for it! I need to know what I have to be before it does!”

Once more, she gathered her scattered plans in her arms. Sending her parents one last disgruntled glare.

“If you figure it out before I do, let me know.”

After that, she began to trudge down the stairs. Ignoring both her mother and father calling to her.

Though she did stop for a second. Looking behind her and upwards to the candle, shining as brightly as ever.

She looked at it intently, eyes sparkling with an emotion that couldn’t quite be placed, and she almost seemed to be…listening.

Hiccup and Mirabel followed her gaze, though they saw nothing strange about the candle. Only adding to their confusion.

After a few seconds, Peep groaned. And continued on her way.

Leaving her parents standing there, slack jawed and wide eyed.

Apparently, that girl could be fierce when she wanted to be.

“…That went well…” Hiccup eventually said, trademark sarcasm in full force.

Mirabel groaned herself, pinching the bridge of her nose.

“I think…” She sighed, heavily. “I think telling her she’s the next Candle Holder this early was a bad idea…”

This was surprising to her husband, turning his wide eyes straight to her.

“Well what were we supposed to do?” He then asked. “Just leave her wondering why she didn’t get a gift, even if we knew the answer?”

Mirabel had to admit, that was a good point. But she wouldn’t be deterred.

“But have you seen her recently?” She rhetorically questioned. “The pressure is clearly getting to her, and it’s only been a year!”

“What’ll she be like in ten years? Or fifteen?”

Hiccup also felt that she made a decent point. But he also knew that there wasn’t much to be done.

“It’s not like we can take it back.”

His wife sighed again. “I know. We just have to…help her through it.”

Hiccup nodded, tiredly. “All three of them…”

All three of their kids had significant problems that needed working on.

And after talking to all three of them, Hiccup and Mirabel were now very tired.

They needed to think. They needed to brainstorm ways to help their children.

And most of all, right now…

They needed a drink.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“It used to be so easy…” Hiccup wearily sighed.

“Mm-Hm.” Mirabel hummed, nostalgic memories of chubby little infants coming to mind.

Alone at the dining table, the two were trying to unwind with a few cups of tea. Though they weren’t as relaxed as they wanted to be, too much was on their minds.

Hiccup took a sip. “All we had to do was feed them, burp them, change their diapers…”

“And now they’re…big.” Said Mirabel. “They’re walking and talking and they’ve got issues that need to be addressed, before they can get any worse.”

Her husband nodded. “We’ve gotta try and raise them into smart, responsible adults. We gotta try to give them…values and morals, stuff like that…”

The older set of Madrigal triplets, who coincidentally happened to be passing through, all found their fatigue rather amusing. And decided to add their own comments.

“Welcome to parenthood!” Smirked Julieta.

“It only gets harder!” Laughed Pepa. “Just wait until they hit puberty!”

Bruno shivered with fright. “Yeesh, I haven’t gotten to that part yet…”

Neither Mirabel were Hiccup were amused.

“Thanks…” Groaned the matriarch. “Just what we needed.”

“Really helpful guys…” Mumbled the Viking.

Their displeasure only served to make the triplets laugh even harder.

The three continued on their way, with Bruno still having a few questions about certain things.

“I-Is it really that bad?” He quietly wondered, thinking about his two boys who’ve yet to reach the teen ages.

“No.” Pepa darkly replied. “It’s worse.”

Now on their own again, Hiccup and Mirabel tried to figure out just what they were going to do about their kids.

They all needed a change.

Karla needed a change of scenery, before her boredom tore the town apart.

Pedro needed a change of heart, specifically in regards to himself.

And Peep needed a change of perspective, shifting her thought process away from hyper-fixating on her status as successor.

They all needed a change. But what change, exactly?

“…Any ideas?” Mirabel asked, after an extended silence.

“Not a one…” Her husband responded.

He began to think back to his own childhood. As a kid, he certainly went through his own array of issues.

His father also had his ways of trying to deal with them.

This was of course before Stoick completely gave up on trying to relate to him.

But for a time, his father had a simple solution.

Camping.

He’d take his son, and together they’d go into the woods. Sometimes for a few hours, sometimes a few days.

Just two guys against the wilderness. Hunting, fishing, and telling stories around the fire.

Hiccup never liked camping much. He was pitiful at hunting, fishing was boring, the mosquitos saw him as a full-course meal, and he never found the trolls he was looking for.

But he had to admit. Sometimes, when he was out there sleeping under the stars, he’d forget all about it.

Being relentlessly bullied for being so scrawny. Not even being able to kill a Terrible Terror. Being seen as an utter failure by every Viking on Berk…

None of that mattered in the cool breeze, warmed by the campfire, under the cosmic canvas.

At least for a day or two, amidst all the annoyances that the wilderness brought, he could just…let it go.

And sometimes that little bit really counted.

Now perhaps camping here wouldn’t quite work. Karla has definitely run through these rainforests a multitude of times, and it wouldn’t suit her desire for new frontiers.

They needed somewhere new. Somewhere to just enjoy nature, and not have to worry about anything but insects and smores. At least for a few days.

They needed a change of pace.

And he may have had an inkling as to a solution that would suit all their needs.

Mirabel saw the look on his face. The look that meant he was solidifying an idea in his mind.

“What are you thinking?”

Taken out of his contemplation, he faced his wife with a growing grin.

“You remember when Fishlegs said he was starting a camp?”

Chapter Text

Things just kept getting weirder and weirder.

The triplets awoke yesterday expecting to be issued the most extreme of punishments. Instead they had raced and drank hot cocoa.

And now they were packing?

Because they were going camping?

Nothing made sense anymore.

The announcement had been rather abrupt. Their parents woke them up, and told them that they’d be spending the weekend in the wild. At a camp run by their uncle Fishlegs.

None of them were entirely sold on the idea.

While running around a new location was always fun, Karla knew that a camp meant there’d be rules. Usually enforced by a stuffy grown-up who’d be watching over her all the time.

Secretly Pedro was afraid that if he spent too long away from the other children, drawing whatever they pleased, they’d lose interest in him by the time he got back. And he’d be relegated to sitting on his own once more.

And Peep of course had concerns about everything. Anything that could possibly go wrong in the outdoors was running through her mind all at once, no scenario was discarded. No matter how improbable.

But despite their worries, their parents reassured them that a weekend away from home would be nothing but fun.

The three were only convinced once they were promised roasted marshmallows.

And so, they packed.

Karla dashed throughout the green hills that made up her room, looking for anything she’d need for the coming trip. Despite it being an expansive field, she somehow still managed to make her room a disorganized mess. Making the search rather difficult.

Pedro often got sidetracked in the middle of his packing, his room was filled with too many distractions. The environment morphing from the deep sea, to the outer reaches of space, to a prehistoric landscape. Fortunately, a passing Stegosaurus reminded him of what he was supposed to be doing.

And Peep was perhaps packing too much. Trying to account for absolutely anything that could go wrong in the wilderness, from bug bites to unforeseen bear encounters. Karla had to drag her out of her room, knowing her sister would be there for hours if left unchecked. Though she didn’t leave without her trusty whistle.

And now that they were all armed with backpacks that were far too heavy, they were ready to go.

They stood side-by-side in front of their doors, each pair of hands on the straps of their bags.

“S-So…” Peep unenthusiastically mumbled. “Camping…”

In regards to her opinions on the great outdoors, she took after her father.

Though her older brother was more optimistic.

“It’ll totally be fun!” Pedro replied, before his smile fell a tad. “…I think.”

Karla faced the situation with a palpable nonchalance, eyes half-lidded and hands in her skirt pockets.

“Whatever. As long as nothing slows me down.” She flippantly said, blowing red curls out of her eyes.

The triplets stood in silence for a time, even the impossibly impatient Karla. They all knew that, as soon as they’d left the house, the weekend of fun would begin.

Fun they weren’t very excited for.

But they couldn’t stand around forever.

The three began to descend the staircase, onto the first hallway. Though before they could reach the next set of stairs, they found themselves suddenly lifted into the air by a beefy pair of arms.

Luisa had plucked her nieces and nephew from the ground, squeezing them tight in one of her amazing hugs.

“You guys didn’t think you could leave without getting one of these, did ya?” She asked, with a loving grin.

Feeling her spine popping, Karla managed a shaky smile. “W-Wouldn’t dream of it, Tía!”

Isabela appeared beside her sister, chuckling at the sight of the three children being squashed.

“Spending the weekend camping, huh? Exciting!” She said to her sobrinas and sobrino.

Pedro tried to mimic her enthusiasm, with a forced smile. “Yeah…exciting…”

Isabela then leaned in, as if sharing a secret. “Watch out for bears, though. Your dad almost got killed by one once!”

Peep tried her best to shrink within her aunt’s hold, memorizing all her ursine-evasive maneuvers. “R-Really?”

The flowery woman smirked, leaping at any opportunity to mock her brother-in-law.

With love, of course.

“Oh yeah, your papá’s pretty dumb!”

“Isa, quit insulting your hermano!” Came Augustin’s lightly chiding voice. “Especially in front of the niños!”

He, along with Julieta, joined the quintet in the hallway. The healer having three bags in her hands, each one producing a delectable aroma.

“I made you all lunches!” The grandmother kindly smiled. “One for each day!”

They would only be gone for three days. They appreciated the gesture though.

“Gracias, Abuela!” They all said at once, as Luisa finally out them down.

“You know there’s gonna be food there, right?” Isabela asked, an eyebrow raised.

Her mother handed the bags to the kids, while looking at her daughter like she was crazy.

“Yes, Viking food.” She replied, horrifying memories of Berkian cuisine filling her mind. “They’re lovely people, but they can’t cook to save their lives…”

The phantom of a smell appeared in her nose, and she couldn’t fight the chill that raced down her spine. Causing her to shudder.

“Alright, alright!” Chuckled Augustin, pushing his grandchildren along. “Get a move on!”

The triplets began their descent down the stairs, before a shout stopped them in their tracks.

“Wait, wait, wait!” Urgently yelped their grandfather, suddenly looking panicked. “One more thing!”

They all turned around, looking to him with fear and confusion. Whatever this was, it must’ve been important.

His strangely dire behavior evaporated into a dorky smile, complete with a big thumbs-up.

“Remember to have fun!”

He seemed rather satisfied with himself. Nodding contently, oblivious to the odd looks his wife and daughters were giving him.

Thoroughly weirded out, but appreciating the sentiment, the triplets gave their own thumbs-ups in return. And continued on their way.

“Our mom’s a dork, our dad’s a dork, our abuelo’s a dork…” Karla grumbled, mortified by the sheer un-coolness. “If it wasn’t for Gramps, we’d be doomed.”

Just then, the ground beneath them rumbled. Causing them to hold onto the banister for balance.

“You called?”

The three looked up, finding themselves standing in the shadow of a massive Viking. With a fiery beard they’d recognize anywhere.

They all knew who he was, but it was Pedro who voiced the question.

“Grandpa?”

Looking as mighty as ever, it seemed their paternal grandfather was present. Karla especially was happy about this.

“Gramps!” She exclaimed, hopping on her feet with elation. Ever since she was tiny, she’d idolized the man.

But to her dismay, things weren’t as they seemed.

A dark hand rose from behind the giant barbarian, and playfully smacked the side of his head. In a second, the valiant warrior shrunk into a mischievous man in his mid-twenties.

“What was that for?” Camilo yelped, now in his normal form. It hadn’t hurt at all, but it was the principle of the thing.

Felix, who was the one who did the smacking, laughed at his son’s displeasure.

“You’re already taller than me, Chico! Now you’re just rubbing salt in the wound!”

The shifter mumbled and grumbled, glaring daggers at his father.

“It’s not my fault you’re a dwarf…” He quietly groaned.

Pepa was nearby, and she quickly placed a hand on both sets of shoulders. Shepherding the men out of the way.

“Come on!” She snapped. “Just standing in front of the stairs like that…you’re holding the kids up!”

She glanced back to the children in question with a smile.

“See you later!” She cheered, before it looked like she remembered something imperative. “Oh, and don’t swim with your pants off!”

The question was rather nonsensical to the trio.

“Uh…why?” Pedro wondered.

Pepa was already halfway across the courtyard, shouting her reply over her shoulders.

“DON’T ASK, JUST TRUST ME!”

Peep made a mental note to add swimming with your pants off to her ever-growing list of things to avoid.

Now at the bottom of the stairs, it wasn’t very long before they were stopped again. This time by a shower of salt, pelting their heads like hardened snow.

“Oh!” Cried a surprised Bruno, looking behind himself and grinning nervously. “I-I didn’t see you guys there!”

“Here, let me get that for you …”

He tried to wipe the salt off their foreheads and out of their hair, though he didn’t quite get all of it.

No longer knowing what to do with his hands, he settled on holding his arms behind his back. “I-It’ll wash out…”

Their great uncle was a man of many quirks, and the triplets were used to them by now.

“So what’s the salt for this time?” Karla asked, mildly curious.

The man’s nervous smile became a bit more positive. “It’s for you, actually!”

“J-Just trying to make sure nothing bad happens on your trip! Not to say something bad will happen, but you can never be too careful, heh…”

Peep took his awkward chuckling very seriously, repeating his words solemnly.

“You can never be too careful!” She declared, causing her sister to roll her eyes.

“E-Exactly!” The seer replied. “So lemme just…”

With surprisingly quick movements, her performed a variety of superstitious actions that were supposed to bring about good luck.

He burned sage, crossed his fingers, counted to seven, pulled out four-leaf clovers and horseshoes and a rabbit’s foot, muttered a few chants that almost sounded like spells, and of course the ritual wouldn’t be complete without his trademark.

“Knock, knock, knock, knock on wood!”

“There…” He sighed, slouching a bit. “Now everything should be fine.”

“YO!”

They all turned to face the source of the boisterous shout, coming from no other than Bruno’s boisterous wife.

Valentina entered the courtyard from outside, flanked by Manuel and Diego.

She pointed behind herself, to the doors. “Hic and Mira are waiting out there, you kids better get moving!”

They did as told, waving goodbye on their way out.

“Safe travels.” Manny nodded, cordially.

His little brother was far less polite.

“Try not to wreck anything over there!” Diego smirked. "But who am I kidding? That's all you do- "

His taunting ended when he was lifted into the air by his sibling, once again. Manny was getting pretty tired of having to regulate his brothers chaos.

He floated him away, heading for the stairs and eventually the boy’s room. All while frowning at him.

“You’ve lost speaking privileges...”

The trio kept moving through the courtyard.

But right before the three were about to open the doors, Peep stopped.

She could swear there was…something. Whispering not into her ears, but directly into her soul.

The girl looked back, up towards the candle. And the words became slightly clearer.

Only slightly.

“…D…no…g…”

She squinted her eyes, trying to focus her hearing.

“…Yo…c…nn…t…g…”

But try as she might, she still couldn’t understand. And her siblings were giving her weird looks. So she just left.

It probably wasn’t important.

Now outside, the triplets spotted their parents further down. Waiting at the bottom of the hill along with their dragons.

The remaining members of their family were outside as well, enjoying the sun and the shade.

They waved to Dolores, Mariano, and Sofia on the way down. The three sometimes liked to come out and share new poems or songs with each other.

They also passed Antonio, relaxing in a pile of dragons and other animals, who waved cheerfully to them when he saw them.

Alma was the one who approached them, right before they made it to their parents.

“Be careful, you three.” She smiled, softly.

Even after a decade, she wasn’t entirely comfortable with Berk. Viking culture was far too crude, violent, and outrageous for her tastes. But she’d accepted that it’d somehow become a part of her family’s life, and she knew that’s how it would remain.

With no more distractions or obstructions, the triplets were nearly to their destination. Though they took one last moment to say goodbye to one more being.

They turned around, waving and shouting simultaneously.

“ADIOS, CASITA!”

The house played a peppy tune with its roof tiles and waved some windows, to return to sendoff.

With that done, they finally reach their parents at the bottom of the hill. And saw that, along with Toothless and Mariposa, the Night Lights were present as well.

It was time to go.

But just as Hiccup and Mirabel were about to warp themselves to the archipelago, Karla had her own idea.

“LEMME TRY!”

The redhead has been insistent on the idea that she and her siblings could activate the teleportation magic, just like their parents. And from the puffs of golden smoke she’d barely been able to conjure during a flight, it seemed her theory had some merit.

But she’d never performed a full warp, and that made her parents quite uncertain.

Hiccup rubbed the back of his neck. “I dunno, kid…”

“Aw come on!” Groaned the girl. “I’ve been practicing!”

And then she gave him the eyes. Those big, pleading eyes that no parent could resist.

So of course he said yes.

“Just…try to be gentle.”

She didn’t even hear him over her victorious hollering.

The five of them all mounted their various dragons, and took off into the sky. Karla leading the charge.

And she closed her eyes.

She thought as hard as she possibly could of the island chain where her father hailed from, the birthplace of her Viking heritage, the land from which half her blood spawned.

And thunder cracked throughout the sky.

She didn’t see it, not with her eyes shut tight. But a mess of golden clouds soon appeared in the air. Disjointed and disorganized, and more stormy than usual, but they were here nonetheless.

“I-It worked?” Peep questioned, too astounded to mind the rain hitting her face.

“Woah…” Pedro whispered, wide eyed.

Hearing these reactions, Karla opened an eye. Before they both shot open with surprise, accompanied by triumphant laughter.

“I did it!” She hooted, fists raised into the air. Her dragon releasing a celebratory chirp. “I knew we could warp!”

The triplets all flapped closer together, giggling and cheering as they approached the magical clouds.

And behind them, Mirabel and Hiccup were beaming with pride.

It was moments like this that made all the little annoyances worth it.

They all soared onwards, dashing straight for the golden storm. Not minding the wind or rain.

And in a flash, they were teleported across space and time to the other side of the world.

Though in this family, such a feat was as mundane as a trip to the store.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Many names were suggested for their settlement on this particular island, upon its discovery.

Snotlout had proposed it be called Snotland. Ruffnut and Tuffnut posited it’s name should be Thorstonton. Astrid, ever practical, thought their island outpost should simply be dubbed Outpost.

After much deliberation, and a fistfight or two, it was decided that the base would be named Dragon’s Edge. Or just The Edge, for short.

But recently, during the summers it went by a different moniker.

Camp Ingerman.

When the weather turned warm, by archipelago standards, the island served as a place where Berk’s children could spend a few carefree weeks in the wild. Under the watchful and geeky eye of their camp counselor.

And for the weekend, Karla, Pedro, and Peep would be among those children.

The five popped out of the golden storm. Descending towards the island. While nowhere near as tropical as their home, the climate was more tolerable than the perennial bitter cold of Berk.

The island was large, home to dense forests and mountainous ranges. On the edge of the cliffside, several buildings had been constructed. From huts for habitation, an area for dragon research and training, among other things.

Including a pit that had been specifically designed to fit several boars.

For some reason.

The family made it to the surface. Resulting in two graceful landings, and three smaller, very awkward ones.

It took a while before the warping process became comfortable.

The triplets and their triplet dragons crashed into a pile, right at the island’s docks.

And right at the feet of a very rotund, very enthusiastic man. With a freshly braided mustache.

Fishlegs Ingerman, dragon nerd extraordinaire, welcomed the arrival of his friends with open arms.

“Hiccup! Mirabel!” Taking care not to step on the children, he quickly made it over to where they stood. Wrapping them into a big bear hug.

“G-Good to see you, Fishlegs!” Mirabel tried to smile, her words strained.

“Thanks, I-I hadn’t had my spine cracked today…” Hiccup snarked as best he could, while being squeezed.

His Gronckle, Meatlug, gently nudged the fallen youngsters to their feet. While her rider finally let his winded friends go.

“So, what brings you all here?” He asked, oblivious to the pain he’d accidentally caused.

The both of their backs aching from the tight embrace, Hiccup and Mirabel stood behind the triplets.

Their mother grinned. “We were wondering if you had room for three more happy campers?”

From their grumpy frowns or anxious jitters, the campers didn’t look very happy.

But Fishlegs was unbothered, his enthusiasm only intensifying.

“There’s always space for more junior Dragon Riders here at Camp Ingerman!”

It was settled. Meaning that out of the five Madrigals present, only three would be remaining here.

And that meant a goodbye was in order.

Toothless nuzzled the three Night Lights, as well as Mariposa. She was sort of their aunt, if dragons had such things.

Meanwhile, Mirabel and Hiccup crouched down to be on eye-level with their kids.

“Alright, guys…” Hiccup began. “I don’t want you to think about any problems you may have back home. Just focus on having fun!”

“We’ll pick you up Monday morning.” Said Mirabel, before holding her arms out. “Now come here!”

She didn’t wait for any of them to move, enveloping them into a loving embrace herself.

“Moooom!” Karla whined, hoping no other kids saw this humiliating display.

But Mirabel was unrelenting.

“I don’t care how big you get, you’re never too old to hug your mamá!”

Finally, she let them go. Standing to her full height alongside her husband.

“We love you!” She said, hoping they understood that with every piece of their beings.

Hiccup agreed. “And don’t you dare forget it!”

Fishlegs stepped forward. “Alright, guys! Let’s get you settled in!”

Karla, Pedro, and Peep sent one last wave to their parents. Before heading down the dock, alongside their dragons.

Fishlegs faced his friends with what he hoped was a reassuring smile.

“Don’t worry, they’re in good hands!” He promised. “Camp Ingerman is devoted to the safety of all our campers. They won’t get a single scratch!”

“I dunno…” Mirabel thought. “Maybe they need a couple scratches. I want them to let loose, get wild! And just…be kids!”

Her portly friend considered her words.

“Hmm…perhaps a few scratches.” He decided. “But nowhere near any vital organs!”

Both his friends chuckled, but he knew this was no laughing matter.

He and Meatlug then followed in the triplets’ footsteps, exiting the dock themselves. Leaving just Hiccup and Mirabel, watching the forms of their children get smaller and smaller.

Hiccup placed an arm around his wife’s shoulder rubbing her arm slightly.

“This’ll be good for them.” He nodded, decisively. “They’ll run around, burn some of that energy…”

Mirabel picked up where he left off. “They won’t have to think about self-esteem issues or being the successor…”

At the same time, they both released a deep exhale.

Coming to the same conclusion, that was more of a wish than anything else.

The wish that this weekend away would be good for them.

And when the kids got back, just a few days from now, they’d tackle their problems with fresh perspectives. And hopefully get to a point where they wouldn’t be issues at all.

But that was for Monday.

Now was the time to enjoy themselves.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The triplets followed Fishlegs from the docks and into the air, on the backs of their dragons. Until he brought them to a cleared-out space in the middle of the outpost.

When they arrived, they saw that it was chock full of kids and younger dragons, sitting in benches that had been set up.

He directed them to take a seat within the crowd, and took his own position in front of them all. Meatlug panting at his side.

He had an announcement to make.

“Welcome all junior Dragon Riders…to your summer at Camp Ingerman!”

The natural chatter of children, and the squawking and squeaking of small dragons, began to simmer down. As their new counselor starters to speak.

“During your stay here, I promise two things. Education, and entertainment.” A dorky giggle overtook his previously authoritative visage.

“Or as I like to call it…Edutainment!”

That pun sent a shockwave of embarrassment through Karla’s bones. And it told her all she needed to know.

These next three days were going to suck.

“Ay Dios Mio…” She groaned, slumping in her seat. “Odin help me…”

Chapter Text

The opening ceremony had concluded, with only five more excruciating puns.

Far less than Karla was anticipating.

After that, Fishlegs took the kids on a brief tour of the camp. Showing them all Dragon’s Edge had to offer.

From the natural wonders, like flowing rivers and mountainous paths. Perfect for kayaking or hiking.

And places like a Zen garden, for relaxation or meditation. An arena for dragon training, or practicing with age-appropriate weapons. The lunch hall, the infirmary, a lake that was ideal for a swim…

And the boar pit.

He didn’t have much to say on the Boar Pit.

The tour concluded with the cabins, where the children would reside for the duration of their stay.

And that’s where Karla, Pedro, and Peep found themselves.

A rustic building, filled with bunk-beds. The walls were lined with shields, detailed with childish decorations.

The triplets entered the space. Alone, aside from their dragons. And began to investigate.

“I guess this is where we sleep.” Pedro said, examining the shields with intrigue.

Peep noticed what was very clearly a wasp’s nest high up in the corner, and started to quiver.

“I-I don’t think I’ll be doing much sleeping…”

Karla was unimpressed, her bag slung over he shoulders as she glanced around the room.

“Even our bathroom’s cooler than this.” She huffed. “How am I supposed to run in here?”

“Uh…bedrooms aren’t usually meant for running.” Her sister pointed out.

To which she scoffed. “Lame bedrooms, maybe…”

The three placed their backpacks on a bed. Strangely enough, there was a single bunk bed that was built for three inhabitants. As opposed to the usual two.

An odd coincidence, but they weren’t complaining.

In fact, Pedro was pretty happy about it. “Hey, we’ll be sleeping in the same room again!”

Karla faced him with a teasing grin. “I hope you don’t still snore!”

His unamused frown made her laugh even harder.

And speaking of snoring, it seemed the Night Lights had decided that a nap was in order. Settling into a slumbering pile beside their bunk beds.

The trio opted to let them sleep, knowing that flying with passengers still took a lot of energy for them at their size.

And now, with their bags put away, they were left with one question.

What were they going to do today?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

With the whole day ahead of them, the triplets decided to split up. Roaming the campground to find anything that interested them.

Naturally, Pedro drifted towards anything artistic. Finding himself near a bench where several Viking children were scribbling away on pieces of paper.

Quietly, he took a seat on the far end of the table. Under a shady pine tree. He grabbed a page and a pencil, and did what he did best.

The other kids would frequently talk, conversing or joking with each other in the loud manner children were known for. But Pedro remained hushed, focused solely on his sketching.

And his silence was noticed.

The girl sitting beside him, her dress a soft lilac, took a moment to lean over. Trying to sneak a peek at what he was doodling.

“What ’cha got there?” She asked, her blonde hair longer than what most would consider normal.

With surprisingly quick reflexes, Pedro flipped the page around and slammed it onto the table. Making sure she could only see its blank side.

After that, he tried to deny that she’d seen anything. “I-It’s nothing…”

The girl clearly didn’t buy it.

“Didn’t look like nothing to me…” She skeptically said, blowing her blonde locks out of her eyes.

She questioned what he was being so cagey for. And she thought, maybe if she showed him her own drawing, he’d be more inclined to share his.

Her disbelieving expression quickly changed into a wide smile, the gap from a recently lost tooth on full display, as she proudly presented her own page.

“I call it…Unicornucopia!”

The page was marked with colorful drawings, depicting a rainbow-hued kingdom inhabited by unicorns and fairies and various woodland critters. And there was one familiar looking girl, standing tall amongst her fictional friends.

“I’m the princess, obviously!” Stated the child. “And every day me and the unicorns have tea parties, and brush each other’s hair, and spill the blood of our enemies!”

It was then that Pedro noticed that some of the cutesy creatures were wielding battle axes and maces.

Considering this was Berk, he didn’t know why he was surprised.

The long-haired girl turned the page back to herself, so she could look at it. And she sighed, almost wistfully.

“I know it’s all make-believe, but…sometimes I wish I could really meet them…”

And that gave Pedro an idea.

He gingerly held his hand out, requesting she hand her drawing to him. She looked doubtful, but did so anyway.

The boy examined the page, making sure he knew every single detail. Every rainbow, every sparkle, every rusty blade.

And then he smiled to the girl.

“You wanna see something cool?”

He picked up his brush and stood from the bench, walking a bit away from it. All the children watched with mild curiosity, wondering what the new kid was up to.

Though when he got to work, their wondering transformed into pure wonder.

With a flick and a swish of a brush, the clearing was now home to a group of overly colorful unicorns and fairies, among other whimsical creations. As if they’d leapt off the page and into reality.

The girl who’d thought them up fell out of her seat with amazement, scampering over to Pedro’s side to get a better look at the creatures. Bright green eyes as wide as could be.

“No way!” She gasped.

She knew them all. Of course she did, she was their creator. Shouting their names as she spotted each one.

“Glitter Dancer! Twinkly Muncher! Duchess Dreambottom! Fred!”

The last one earned her a few looks from the other children, to which she shrugged.

“There’s always room for a Fred.”

Pedro nodded sagely. He was well versed on the Fred-Principle.

The fantasy beasts pranced up to the girl, and bowed. Showing their princess the respect she deserved.

One of the unicorns stood back up, and allowed the girl to caress her pink snout. While some smaller critters clambered up her shoulders.

The feeling of the animal’s fur on her palm, it’s hot breath on her hand, it made her laugh with glee.

It was astounding!

They were real! They were really real!

“This is…this is…” The words were failing her, she could only look to the one responsible with a slack jaw. Barely managing to ask her question.

“H-How?”

Pedro shrugged, smiling as lazily as ever.

He held up his brush, the paint on the tip glowing with an ethereal power. And he gave her an answer.

“Magic!”

Berkians knew that magic was real. They knew that, somewhere in the great big world, there was a fantastical village where their allies lived. But they didn’t experience it on a daily basis.

And this?

This was blowing the children’s’ little minds.

In an instant Pedro was swarmed by every other kid present. All of them shoving their drawings in his face, begging him to make their fantasies real.

“ME NEXT!” “NO, ME!” “PICK ME!”

Despite the fact that he was being severely crowded, the boy was happy to oblige.

This is what he loved to do. Using his gift to make other people happy.

He was moments away from fulfilling the first of what was sure to be many requests. But before he could, another voice spoke out. Managing to be heard amongst all the shouting.

“What about you?”

It was the long-haired girl again, now riding atop one of her unicorns. Looking down on Pedro with inquisitive eyes.

He met her gaze with his own confused one, puzzled as to what she meant.

She elaborated. “You still haven’t shown me your drawing.”

Pedro was not expecting that.

People were usually interested in what he could draw for them, not what he was thinking himself. And in a way, he preferred it like that.

Back before he got his gift, his unorthodox train of thought was usually met with confusion or mockery. He’d rather avoid that, and just draw for other people. It was better that way.

So he tried to dodge her inquiry.

“I-It’s, like, totally nothing special- “

But the girl wasn’t going to let him off that easy. “Nuh-uh, I wanna see it!”

The doodled chameleon that was sitting on her shoulder scampered over to the table, retrieving the page and holding it up for everyone to see.

The blonde girl jumped off the horse’s back, and stood with the other kids. All of them vying for a look at it.

It was a drawing of several ferrets, dressed in rather professional attire. Suits and ties all ironed to perfection.

The kids didn’t really get it. Every head titled, an eyebrow raised each.

Pedro felt this insides start to churn with embarrassment. Now came the part where they’d call his work stupid, he knew it.

But still, he felt the need to explain.

“You see, a group of ferrets is called a business.” He explained, with an awkward chuckle. “A-And I thought it’d be funny if, y’know, there were actually business ferrets.”

The area was silent. And each second of quiet only served to make the boy more ashamed of himself, of the way he saw things. The way his mind worked.

This is why he spent so long sitting alone. This is why he should just keep his thoughts to himself.

But then, finally, there was noise.

Giggling.

The rather talkative girl standing beside him was now laughing. And it wasn’t in a mocking manner.

“That’s hilarious!” She snickered.

It was Pedro’s turn to be surprised, his brown eyes shooting open.

“R-Really?”

She nodded cheerfully.

“Yes, really! They’re ferrets in suits, how is that not funny?”

The other kids seemed to agree. Now that they understood the joke, they all shared a good chuckle over it.

They liked it.

They really liked it.

Pedro, who’d decided that sharing his zany thought-process with anyone outside of his family was probably a bad idea, was now surrounding by people who enjoyed something that came straight from his mind.

His unique sense of creativity was being appreciated. And while he didn’t actively notice it, he began to feel just a little bit better about himself as well.

The young Madrigal continued to draw for the other children. But this time, they also wanted to see what else he could come up with. They were interested in his ideas.

And Pedro was happy.

He was really happy that they were sent off to camp.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Peep was always on high alert, but being alone only intensified these feelings.

With her dragon sleeping, and her siblings off exploring, she was left to wander the campground by herself.

What would’ve been a relaxing stroll through the woodland for anyone else was a perilous journey to her. Every distant bird call or scurrying squirrel was cause for alarm.

But for as nervous as she was, she fought the urge to dig an emergency burrow for hiding. Continuing her walk with tense steps and jittering nerves.

Though for once, her intensified paranoia came in handy.

She heard the THWACK from afar and immediately froze. She then heard the steadily increasing WHOOSH of an airborne object, one that was approaching very fast.

The girl tilted her head left and right, trying to determine where the noise was coming from.

And where it would strike.

As she was looking around, she noticed a shape in the sky. A small, cylindrical object. One that was coming her way at rapid speeds.

With a yelp, she jolted forwards. And ended up tumbling down a small hill.

Slightly panting, she looked to where she was just standing. And saw an arrow hit a tree trunk, exactly where her head was positioned moments ago.

And she felt very vindicated.

Sometimes it paid off to be paranoid!

The next things she heard were footsteps.

Large, reptilian feet approached the girl. Covered in grey metallic looking scales.

Before she could scramble away, the razor-sharp dragon grabbed the back of her shirt with its jaws. Trotting down the path with the girl in its hold.

She was brought around the bend, to the training grounds. Where a group of young Vikings were practicing their archery.

To mixed results.

Their instructor, a slender woman with pale skin, raven black hair, and wearing armor made of the same scales as the metallic dragon, slapped a hand onto her face.

“Toejam, what’d I tell you about firing backwards?”

Her student, A small, rounded boy with a finger jammed up his bulbous nose, took a second to answer.

“Uh…to not?”

“Exactly!” Said the woman. She crouched down, and adjusted to boy’s hold on the weapon. Making sure he held it correctly.

“Let’s try firing normally this time, okay?” She then smiled, as patiently as possible.

While he got into position, she finally noticed the approaching dragon. As well as what it was holding.

“Uh, Windshear?” She asked. “What are you doing?”

Dangling from a lizard’s mouth, Peep could only shrug.

“Kidnapping me…”

The dragon’s rider chuckled, and whistled to coax the beast into releasing the girl. Where she fell onto the stone floor on her hands and knees.

Peep climbed onto her feet, sighing while dusting off her turquoise skirt. “Thanks, Aunt Heather.”

Heather Ingerman, Fishlegs’ wife of just a few years, had volunteered to assist him when it came to running the camp. Alongside her companion dragon, a Razorwhip named Windshear.

She could be hardcore, and even cold at times, but she had a big heart. And a surprising soft spot for children.

Heather turned her focus back to the kids who’re holding weapons, though she kept Peep in the corner of her eye.

“So what’re you up to?” She asked.

Peep looked back to the tree that had been struck. “Oh, y’know…seeing the sights, smelling the flowers…being shot at.”

Heather snorted out a laugh. Such sarcasm from the small girl was a shock, and yet it sounded so similar to someone else she knew.

“You really are your father’s child…”

Peep didn’t quite know where to go, so she stuck around. Watching the other children fire their arrows towards far off targets.

The whole process seemed dreadfully dangerous to her, as did handling anything remotely sharp.

And yet…something about it also fascinated her.

There was one child in particular that she was watching. A girl, a few years older than the other kids. Dressed in greenish-blue leather armor, and with red hair that was somehow even wilder than her older sister’s.

Unlike her peers, she was clearly more experienced with a bow. She handled it with confidence as she took position, her blue eyes narrowed in concentration.

The power and precision on display, even as she stood perfectly still. Not even breathing as the arrow was pulled all the way back, just barely quivering in her hand.

Peep didn’t blink. She couldn’t. She didn’t wanna risk missing what came next.

After standing as still as a statue for what felt like an eternity, the girl sprung to life in a millisecond. Letting go of the arrow, and letting it fly at breakneck speeds. Where it pierced the big red center of the distant target.

Bullseye.

The other kids cheered, while the girl finally allowed herself to breathe. Slumping over with a tired, but confident smile.

Heather clapped, brimming with pride for her pupil.

“Nice work, Meri!”

The small crowd dispersed, getting back to their own individual practicing. But their instructor didn’t miss the way Peep was staring so intensely.

She picked up one of the bows they had lying around, and offered it to the girl.

“You wanna try?”

Peep vehemently denied the offer, backing away while shaking her head as swiftly as she could.

“No, no, no, no, NO! That’s way too dangerous!” She squealed. “It violates fourteen of my- “

“You’re scared, huh?”

Her aunt’s question took Pep out of her rambling, and it took her a second to answer.

She shakily nodded. “Um…y-yeah?”

The raven-haired woman nodded herself, her green eyes taking on a nostalgic quality.

“Yeah, I used to get scared too.” She sighed. “I grew up in an orphanage, y’know? And it could get kinda freaky…”

She crouched down, her dark green eyes meeting the girl’s pine green ones.

“Do you wanna know what helped me not be so afraid?”

Peep desperately wanted to know.

After receiving an affirmative, Heather continued. “I stopped worrying about the future.”

She kept talking as she moved, gently placing the bow into Peep’s hands and moving her arms so they were in position.

“I mean, yeah the future’s important…but what matters most is the here and now.”

An arrow was put into the girl’s grasp, and placed against the bowstring. The woman then drew the child’s hand back, until the bow and arrow were in prime firing position.

Peep, suddenly finding herself holding a weapon, was trembling with panic. “W-Wait, what are you doing- “

Heather cut her off, speaking gently into her ear.

“Don’t think about it.” She whispered. “Don’t think about anything.”

“All that matters, is here…and now…”

The paranoid girl felt as if she was about to faint, even as she received instruction from the instructor.

“Gather your courage!” “I- I don’t have any courage!” “Focus on your target!” “I’m s-seeing three of them!”

She was sweating, her teeth were chattering, her vision was blurring, she could feel every pair of eyes watching her…

But for whatever reason, Heather had faith in her.

“Now fire!”

The young Madrigal was terrified. That much was obvious.

There were so many things that could go wrong.

She could misfire and hit herself, or somebody else. The arrow could ricochet off the target, and fly backwards, piercing some poor bystander in the heart. She could hit another arrow, and the sparks from the metal could start a forest fire, the glint of the steel in the sunlight could blind her, and then-

But before another doomsday scenario ran through her mind, Peep tried her best to shut down those thoughts.

She felt her breathing still.

She felt her body tense up, until she was as still as a statue.

Her eyes narrowed in concentration, focused only on her target.

She didn’t think about all the bad things that could happen, in some hypothetical instance…

She focused on the here and now.

And she let the arrow fly.

The recoil sent her tripping backwards, falling onto her bum.

She didn’t see where the arrow landed.

But she did hear the cheering.

The kids around her exploded into celebration, and Heather sounded insurmountably proud.

“Peep, you did it!”

But the girl was confused. What did she do?

She sat up, rubbing her head slightly. And looked for where her arrow had settled.

And she saw it was a few inches outside the bullseye.

Not perfect, but pretty darn good for a first timer.

Her jaw was in the figurative floor. She couldn’t believe what she was seeing. Even with everyone else’s reactions verifying that this was real, it just didn’t feel real.

A hand was extended out to her, and she looked up to see Heather grinning down at her.

“You, my little friend, have a bright future in archery!”

Peep was still in a state of shock. But as she accepted the helping hand, her dropped jaw lifted into a nervous, but proud smile.

It felt good to accomplish something.

Her smile was replaced with a panicked expression, though. When some of the bigger children dragged her into their number and started lifting her into the air to celebrate her victory.

Heather could only laugh at the sight of the small girl flailing in their hold.

“I-I appreciate the thought, but you’re really messing with my fear of heights!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Karla raced around the campsite, looking for anything that seemed remotely interesting.

She didn’t find anything.

The lake? Swimming meant water, and she was no fan of water.

Meditation? That required slowing down, which is something Karla just did not do.

An extended lesson on dragon cuddling?

No way.

It was frustrating. Here she was, in a place where she was meant to have fun, and she couldn’t find anything fun to do.

She sprinted until she reached one of the island’s sandy shores, located far below the mountainous campgrounds. She took a second to just look at the billowing waves, wondering how she was going to survive the next few days on a diet of zero entertainment.

What she didn’t know, is that she wasn’t alone on the beach.

“Hey, you!”

The girl turned, and saw a gaggle of other kids staring her down. Specifically the boy dressed in a blue tunic, who seemed to be their leader.

His hair was so platinum blonde, it almost seemed white. His icy blue eyes locked onto hers, and his smirk grew even more cocky.

Karla looked left and right, realizing there was no one else present for him to be addressing.

“You talking to me?” She bluntly asked, hands in her skirt pockets.

The boy didn’t answer her question directly. He pointed to himself with an arrogant thumb, his smug aura overwhelming.

“The name’s Jack! Jack of all trades!”

Karla thought his full name was ridiculous, and she was quite accustomed to oddball names.

“…Yeah, you should just stick with Jack.” She snarked.

The indirect insult put a dent in the child’s confidence, though only slightly.

“My parent’s named me that because they knew, from day one, that I would be awesome at anything!” He said, a bit too defensively.

“Whatever helps you sleep at night…” Thought the girl.

He regained his cool, sauntering closer to the redhead.

“I couldn’t help but notice…you’re pretty fast!”

“But no matter how fast you are, I’m the fastest kid on Berk!” He declared.

And this made Karla laugh.

Hard.

She was on her knees, holding onto her gut. She was tearing up, she was laughing so hard.

All the while Jack’s smirk fell into a sneer, one that only got harsher when he heard his friends start to mutter amongst themselves.

He stomped his foot with agitation, spraying sand everywhere, and glared at Karla.

“What? You think you’re faster than me!?”

Wheezing away the last bits of laughter, the girl got back onto her feet.

“Buddy, I know I am.” She said, wiping a tear from her eye.

Jack wasn’t satisfied with that answer. Not one bit.

“Then prove it!” He shouted.

He sharply pointed in the direction of a distant boulder, his icy blue eyes intense.

“We’ll race to that boulder and back!” The boy arrogant boy traced a foot through the sand, making a line. “First one back wins!”

Karla was stupefied. Did he have any idea who he was talking to?

“…You really don’t know who I am, do you?” She quietly asked.

“Should I?” Jack huffed.

The young Madrigal thought about this for a second, and then…

“Nope!” She grinned, as innocently as she could manage.

She walked over to the line, waiting patiently for him to join her.

The boy snickered to his companions as he made his way over.

“I bet she’s gonna cry!”

The racers stood side-by-side, crouching down, readying themselves for the run ahead.

Jack glanced to his opponent, smugness in full force.

“Just because I’m in a good mood, I’ll give you a head start- “

A blast of energy rocketed past him, shooting towards the boulder, before returning to where it started.

And when the energy dissipated, there stood Karla. Looking just as smug, if not even more so.

“Thanks for the head start!” She grinned.

Jack was flabbergasted, and so were his friends. They had no idea what they had just seen.

Jack was compelled to yell. “W-WHAT WAS THAT!?”

“It’s called being way past cool.” Karla casually replied, shaking sand out of her shoe. “You should try it sometime…”

Jack still wasn’t sure as to what had happened, but he did know one thing.

He lost.

And he didn’t like that.

“Rematch!” He demanded. “Right now!”

Karla willingly accepted. This time, she even gave him a head start. Letting him get about halfway to the boulder.

Of course, as soon as she moved, the race was over in a second.

“Sorry, pal!” Said Karla, not feeling apologetic at all. “You’re just too slow!”

Jack was seething.

“It just doesn’t make sense!” He fumed, his pale face looking red more than anything.

One of his friends had a valid point to raise.

“Uh, Jack? I think she’s magic.”

Another boy agreed with that theory.

“Yeah, she’s gotta be one of the Madrigals!”

His blue eyes widened as it all clicked.

And suddenly, Jack was the one laughing.

“You’re not fast!” He cackled. “You need magic to beat me!”

The grin was wiped right off the speedsters face.

She zipped over to her adversary, scowling straight into his eyes.

“I could beat you with both my legs tied behind my back!”

Jack met her scowl with a competitive glower.

“One more race. No magic, only skill.”

The terms were accepted.

“You’re on!”

For the third and final time, the racers took their places. And they dashed alongside the waves, in search of a boulder.

Karla started off strong, running ahead of Jack at a decent pace. But the boy was quickly catching up.

In fact, once they reached the boulder and began to run back, he was now ahead of her.

And she could swear, as he passed her, he was sticking his tongue out at her.

She couldn’t just let that slide.

Grunting with exertion, the speedster used all her might to accelerate. Until she was ahead of him once more, and by a good margin.

The finish line was in sight. Just a few more seconds and she’d prove she was the fastest, magic or no magic.

At this point, it was Karla’s game.

And Jack didn’t like that.

Throwing all pretense of fairness to the wind, the boy lunged at her. He didn’t really have a plan, he just wanted to stop her from winning.

But unfortunately for him, Karla noticed him. And ducked out of the way just in time.

And just in time for her to reach the finish, as well.

“BOOYAH!” She hollered after crossing the line. “WHO’S THE FASTEST NOW!?”

While she achieved victory, Jack flopped onto the sand. Rolling on his side until he collided with a rock.

The back of his head crashed into the stone. And when he dizzily sat up, reaching a hand behind his ears, he found that he was bleeding.

"Woah!" Karla immediately forgot about the race, dashing over to him with a shocked expression.

“Are you okay?” She urgently questioned. “You need me to get somebody?”

But Jack wasn’t thinking about any of that.

All he knew, was that he’d found a way to get back at his opponent.

“I’M TELLING!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jack went on to tell Fishlegs that Karla pushed him while they were racing, causing his accident. After a pointed look, all his friends backed him up.

The speedster tried to tell him the truth, but it was her word against five other kids. And her parents had told Fishlegs that she’d been being very reckless recently.

And so, she was subject to punishment.

Though punishment at Camp Ingerman was quite different from what one would expect.

No time-outs, or cleaning up dragon poop, or any other degrading activity.

However, what Karla got instead was just as excruciating in her opinion.

Yoga.

Fishlegs stretched himself out on a mat, placed by a serene river. He was surprisingly limber for a man of his size.

“I believe that yoga cleanses the mind, purifies the soul, and gets rid of all the negative energies in one’s being…isn’t that right, Meatlug?”

Meatlug was sleeping. But Fishlegs didn’t mind.

“Yep, one hour of this and you wont feel the need to push anyone ever again!”

Karla groaned, trying to twist her body into a position it just wasn’t made for.

“I’m tellin’ ya, I didn’t push him- “

The Camp Counselor cut her off. “Less talking, more stretching!”

Here in this idyllic little pond, Karla felt as if she was losing her marbles.

Forced to do the most boring of all exercises, for a crime she didn’t even commit.

The race wasn’t even worth it. Beating Jack was only the slightest amount of fun, and most of her enjoyment came from destroying his ego. The races themselves were largely forgettable.

And now she had to pay the price.

The mind-numbing price.

Sixty agonizing minutes of this yoga nonsense, to clear her of her negative energies. Or some mumbo jumbo like that.

Just sitting here, she felt more negative energy than she’d every felt in her life.

“Take deep breaths…” Instructed Fishlegs. “In…and out…in…and out…”

Karla grumbled and mumbled as she reluctantly performed the steps.

She gets sent here, just for trying to have some fun. And now she gets blamed for things she didn’t do.

It was stupid.

Stupid yoga…stupid Jack…stupid camp…

It was all so stupid!

And she was sick of it.

She wanted out. She needed an out. Something to end this torture!

How long had she been at this for, anyway?

Fishlegs had the answer.

“Five minutes down, fifty-five to go!”

Karla felt the overbearing urge to scream.

But before she could blow a fuse, another dragon landed in the pond. Splashing the two in the process.

“Fishlegs!” Cried Heather, sitting on Windshear’s back. “Toejam shoved a whole salmon up his nose, and he can’t get it out!”

“…Again…”

Her husband ceased his stretching, a shocked and disturbed expression on his pudgy face.

“Oh dear…”

Fishlegs hurried to his feet, nudging Meatlug awake.

Once she was up, Heather flew off in the direction of the mishap. Fishlegs was quick to follow her, though he made sure to turn around before he did.

“I’ll be right back!” He said to Karla. “Stay put!”

And then he was off.

Leaving Karla on her own.

Unsupervised.

He trusted her to stay in one place. On her own.

As one would expect, she was out of there within seconds.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Karla was over the whole camping thing.

She was done. Finished. Finito.

And now that she knew she could warp, she could hypothetically hop onto her dragon and just head home.

But then her parents would wonder why she was here, and they’d probably ask Fishlegs about it, and the she was right back to square one.

She thought that maybe she could fly to Berk, and hang out with her paternal grandparents for the weekend. Gramps was awesome!

…But he’d probably get her parents involved as well.

That left option three.

But before that, she needed her dragon.

She dashed into their cabin, careful to avoid the detection of a particular pair of counselors. And urged the Night Lights awake with a few chicken legs she’d nabbed from some unsuspecting kids lunch.

Once the trio of dragons were up, she got them to follow her to their next destination. Her siblings.

Pedro and Peep were sharing a table in the camp’s cozy lunch hall, eating the food their abuela had made for them. It smelled better than anything else in the building.

“There you guys are!” Said Karla, approaching the table.

Dot made her way over to Pedro, and Ghost to Peep. While Dash stayed at the redhead’s side.

“So…” Began the biggest sister. “How were your days?”

Pedro swallowed his mouthful of food, and started to speak. “Well- “

“GREAT!”

The formalities aside, Karla got to her point.

“So…camp, right?” She sighed, overdramatically melancholy. Leaning on her dragon’s head. “It awful, isn’t it?”

Neither of her younger siblings seemed to share in that opinion.

“I-I’ve actually been having a good time!” Peep remarked, honestly surprised.

Pedro agreed, smiling giddily. “Yeah, it’s been totally rad!”

Karla was befuddled.

“What? You gotta be kidding me!” She shouted. “This place sucks!”

Peep knew her sister. She knew she wasn’t one to just take things in, and she knew she’d made her assessment far too early.

“I really think you haven’t given it a chance- “

“Nah, it sucks.” Karla had made up her mind, and she wasn’t changing it.

And then she grew a grin, one that screamed trouble.

“And that’s why we’re ditching it!”

Both her brother and her sister were surprised at this statement, sharing a startled look.

Pedro turned his doubtful eyes back to her. “What do you mean, we’re ditching it?”

Karla didn’t answer, not at first.

She grabbed her siblings’ hands, and yanked them out of their seats. Before dashing out of the room.

Though not at supersonic speed, just at above average speed. So their dragons could follow.

She lead them all through the forest, until they arrived at the edge of Dragon’s Edge. One of the island’s grassy cliffsides, specifically. Far from the outpost.

On this cliff, overlooking the seemingly endless sea, under the violet sky and the setting sun, Karla asked a question.

“Look out there, guys…tell me what you see…”

Both he siblings stared long and hard over the cliff’s edge.

“…Water.” Said Pedro.

“At least twelve safety hazards.” Muttered Peep.

Their sister could only shake her head. Her siblings could be such dweebs, sometimes.

“Wrong and wrong!”

She moved behind them, placing an arm around each shoulder.

“What I see…is adventure!”

Two thirds of the triplets gave her weird looks, but her enthusiasm was in full force.

“Think about it!” She ran further down the cliff, looking out into the horizon.

“Who knows what’s out there? New lands, new dragons, the great unknown!”

Peep was already starting to tremble. “I don’t really like the unknown…”

“What if we found something big?” Karla wondered, her mind running wild. “We could be legends! Get our names in the history books!”

“My name’s already in a book!” Pedro stated, cheerily.

Sadly, Karla had to rain on his parade. “That was a book of baby names, bro.”

The disappointment that boy felt was immeasurable.

The Night Lights were having their own similar debate.

Dash wanted to fly out with his friend, no matter what. While Dot and Ghost were terribly unsure.

They weren’t tough, like their parents or the other dragons in their family. How could they protect themselves, or their friends, if the situation called for it?

Karla could see that her brother and sister weren’t too hot on the idea, so she tried another angle.

“Seriously, do you have anything better to do?”

To her surprise, they did.

“I’m having fun here!” Peep emphatically said. “Aunt Heather’s gonna teach me more archery stuff tomorrow!”

Pedro fervently nodded. “Yeah, me and Punzie were gonna take the unicorns- “

“WHO CARES!?”

Karla was getting very annoyed.

What was with these two? Why were they making things so difficult?

This was their chance for a real adventure, and they were just throwing it away!?

“I don’t know why this is so hard for you to understand!” Snapped the girl.

She pointed back, towards the camp. “That is lame!”

And then outwards to the sea. “This is fun!”

Finally she crossed her arms, tapping her foot impatiently. “It’s that simple!”

Despite how taken aback she was, when Peep regained her composure she did so with a disapproving frown.

“Simple for you, maybe.”

Pedro tried to be reasonable. “I just don’t think this is a very smart idea…”

His big sister scoffed at him. “And when’s the last time you had a bright idea, genius?”

That stung, it really did. The painter held his brush closer to his body, staring at his feet.

Peep tried to be logical. “Karla, we don’t know what’s out there! It could be dangerous!”

The eldest triplet rolled her eyes and dismissed the youngest’s concerns. “You think everything is dangerous! Why would I listen to you?”

Peep froze up, her fists clenched.

Karla was done. If they wanted to stay here and be dorks, then that was their choice.

“Look, I’m going!” She said, hopping onto her dragon’s back. “I was just asking if you’d like to come with me! Stay here if you want!”

They looked like they were ready for take-off. But before they did, Karla looked back one more time. Regarding her siblings with half-lidded, disinterested eyes.

“Have fun with your mosquito bites. I’ll bring you back some souvenirs from my adventure.”

Dash flapped his small, but mighty wings. And soon they were soaring away from the cliffside.

Pedro and Peep watched their figures get smaller in the distance, an uncomfortable feeling rising in both their guts.

They shared a look. One that said they really didn’t want to do what they were about to do…

But they couldn't just leaver her out there alone...

Could they?

Karla smirked victoriously, as soon as she heard the wingbeats of two more dragons join her in the skies.

Just as she’d predicted.

“I knew you guys would follow me!” She laughed, haughtily. “After all, where would you be without your big sis?”

Peep suppressed the urge to groan, while Pedro wondered if this was a good idea.

“Look, we’ll explore for a little and then come right back!”  Shouted the paranoid girl shouted, over the winds.

“Yeah, yeah, sure, sure, whatever!” Karla was too wrapped up in her excitement to listen.

Finally.

Finally!

She was getting her adventure!

As the three Night Lights soared further and further away from Dragon’s Edge, casting shadows over the shimmering waters while they flew underneath the falling sun, Karla couldn’t help but give a shout.

“THIS IS GONNA BE GREAT!”

But her siblings thought something different.

The both of them had a very bad feeling about this…

Chapter Text

The triplets may have picked the wrong direction.

Because they’ve been flying for hours, soaring over the endless sea, and only occasionally stopping to take a breather on sea stacks. And so far they haven’t found anything.

No new lands, no new dragons, nothing.

Just a whole lot of water.

The salty air billowed through their hair, while they took their fourth break in the last hour alone. Sitting atop a large rock formation that was also home to a flock of flighty seagulls.

The Night Lights were willing, but not exactly able. Flying long distances without stopping just wasn’t in the cards. They needed to rest their wings.

In the meantime, Pedro laid flat on his back. Staring up at the white clouds floating in the pink evening sky. His vibes were so chill, one seagull opted to sit on his belly. The boy wasn’t complaining.

Karla busied herself by glaring determinedly out into the horizon, looking for even a glimpse of something new and exciting. A leg was raised on a nearby stone, her forearm lying on it, in a pose that she hoped made her look daring and bold.

And Peep was pondering a serious question.

She walked up to where her sister was standing, clutching her whistle’s lanyard and shuffling her feet nervously. “What are we even looking for?”

Karla didn’t turn her head, she kept her gaze locked on the sunset.

“Adventure.” Was all she said, as if that was a sufficient answer.

Pedro propped himself up a bit, glancing in their direction. The gull on his tummy being jostled from its seated position.

“Okay…and how do we find adventure?” He wondered.

His elder sister turned around with a sparkle in her eyes.

“That’s the thing! You don’t find adventure, adventure finds you!”

Both her siblings looked at her as if she was mad, but she took in as a compliment. Puffing out her chest with a self-satisfied smirk.

“Yeah, I’m pretty filly-softy-cull!”

Even the seagulls seemed to doubt that statement.

Peep’s apprehension turned into a slight agitation. Her sister clearly had no idea what they were doing here, and lacked the self-awareness to realize that.

“Can we at least go back and get our bags?” She questioned, gesturing in the direction they’d come from. “We didn’t bring any food, or water, or- “

As usual, Karla brushed aside her concerns. Walking past with a carefree grin.

“We can eat when we get back!”

Peep was getting really sick of her sister’s blatant disregard for common sense.

She strutted over to their dragons, nudging the reptiles with a foot. “Come on, guys! Break time’s over!”

The Night Lights reluctantly rose to their paws, their wings already dreadfully sore. But they still allowed their friends to sit on their backs regardless.

They better get some serious treats, after this.

Karla led the way, as was expected. Dynamically pointing onwards.

“Tally-Ho! Sally Forth!...” The girl realized that she’d run out of adventuring phrases.

“…S-Some other third thing…”

With that said, the three dragons took off into the evening sky. Soaring over the seas once more.

And they flew.

They flew and flew and flew.

Sometimes making idle conversation, sometimes just flying in silence.

Sometimes the boredom would cause one of them to nod off, only for their respective dragon to wake them up. Sometimes the reverse happened.

The reverse was far scarier. Suddenly finding yourself plummeting to the ocean atop a dozing dragon was not a pleasant experience.

But through it all, there was nothing to be found. The sea was as clear as it was vast.

And Peep felt that this had been a massive waste of time.

“Can we please just turn around?” Begged the girl, feeling as if she was at the end of her rope. “There’s nothing for us out here!”

Karla looked back at her with displeasure.

“That’s quitter talk, sis…” She scolded. “Are you a quitter?”

The youngest sister met her frown with a glower.

“Right now? I’d very much like to be.”

This caused the redhead to roll her eyes, and mutter to herself. “There’s always something…”

The paranoid girl didn’t miss this, and it only fueled her irritation.

“And what’s that supposed to mean?” She sharply inquired.

Bristling with annoyance, Karla swiveled around on he dragon. Now sitting backwards so she could look straight at her sister.

“It means exactly what I said!” She exclaimed.

“With you, there’s always some stupid concern or safety hazard…” She made sure to employ air quotes on certain words, and spoke in a mocking tone.

Peep was now feeling very insulted, letting out an affronted scoff.

Amidst the bickering, Pedro noticed something. And he tried to get his sisters’ attention.

“Uh…dudes?”

His voice went unheard.

“Maybe you should try thinking for once!” Peep hissed.

“Dudes…?” Pedro uttered.

“Maybe you should get off my back!” Karla shouted.

The artist tried again. “Dudes!”

Peep readied another retort. “Maybe you should- “

But Pedro wouldn’t let her.

“DUDES!”

Shocked out of their argument, the sisters turned their frustrated faces towards their third.

“WHAT!?”

Having earned their undivided focus, Pedro casually pointed downwards.

“Island.”

Their eyes followed his gesture, and to their surprise, it was just as he said. They were steadily approaching a sizeable landmass, floating on the waters.

Karla pumped a fist in the air, wearing a triumphant smile.

This is where her adventure would begin!

Though of course, a little gloating was necessary.

Her smile turned very smug, as she regarded her younger sister once again.

“And you said there wasn’t anything out here-WOAH!”

The Night Lights didn’t give her a chance to finish. All three of them suddenly dropped into speedy dives, causing their riders to hold on for dear life.

That was an island. An actual island they could explore.

Without flying.

The promise of an extended break was an enticing one, so the little Furies made sure to get down there as soon as possible.

And once they descended through the rocky peaks, gliding through the treetops and landing on solid ground…

Nothing would ever be the same.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Karla was the first triplet to set foot on the island. Purely because she believed that whoever touched it first had the right to name it.

She sat atop a boulder, her legs crossed. And examined the land around her.

She took in everything. From the expansive field, the swaying trees, their leaves verdant green or bright orange, to the pleasantly flowing lake.

From the tallest of the towering mountains that surrounded them, patched with growth and moss. To the littlest of mushrooms, sprouting in the shade. The same shade the Night Lights were using to take a well-deserved nap.

And she came to a decision.

There was only one name that befit this new island she’d discovered. Only one that properly described its natural majesty, that perfectly embodied the land.

She stood atop her boulder, tall and proud, and made her decision known.

“We’ll call it…Karla Island!”

Standing just a bit behind her rock, her siblings were less than enthused.

“…You can’t be serious…” Peep mumbled, an eyebrow quirked in disbelief.

The eponymous girl leaped off the boulder, sticking the landing with ease.

“Of course I am!” She grinned. “It’s a radical name for my radical island!”

Five minutes in, and she’d already claimed ownership of an entire landmass.

This was going to be one of those days, Peep could tell.

Karla wasted no time in making her island truly hers, getting Pedro to help her renovate the place. She eagerly flitted here and there, rattling off any ideas that came to mind.

“Okay, we put the racetrack here! Ooh! And the trampoline there! And here’s where we put the chili dog stand!”

Her brother struggled to keep up with her requests, drawing as fast as he could. Soon, the field was filled with an assortment of games and toys and anything else that struck the speedy girl’s interest.

It almost resembled a playground, or even an amusement park. One made specifically for a single child.

But while he was in the middle of drawing a roller coaster so fast it’d make your bones quake, Pedro was hit with an idea.

“Hey, could I add something?”

Peep seconded that notion. “Yeah, why don’t we all get to decide what goes here?”

Karla was just about to hop onto the trampoline, and she scoffed as she turned around. “Uh, because it’s my island!”

Her irritation fizzled away when she saw the disheartened looks on both her siblings’ faces.

Wracked with guilt, she fumbled for a solution. “But, um, I guess we could-uh…”

In a flash, she’d darted over to one side of the field. Near a pile of fallen leaves, nestled between two trees.

As quickly as possible, she cleared the leaves from the area. And proudly presented her work to her brother and sister.

“Here you go!” She cheered. “It’s the Sibling Corner! Go crazy!”

Satisfied with herself, she ran off to resume what she was doing. Leaving Pedro and Peep to gawk at the pitiful space they’d been provided.

“Welp…” Pedro sighed. “That’s how it is…”

He being to move his brush around, ready to make use of the tiny area to the best of his ability. But his little sister stopped him, holding his wrist in place.

He looked over to her, and was honestly shocked at just how unhappy she looked.

“No!” She huffed, unwilling to accept this. “That’s not how it is!”

Her wrist still in his hand, she marched over to their sister. She was in the middle of trying a doodled chili dog.

“Karla!” Snapped the small girl, her glower intense. “You’re not being fair at all!”

The redhead groaned, tossing the food aside. And glared herself.

“I gave you a corner! What do you want from me?”

“I want you to start treating us with respect!” Peep cried. “We’re your triplets, not your minions!”

Electricity began to crackle through Karla’s body, a sign of her growing exasperation.

“Yeah, you’re my triplets.” Said the speedster. “And I’m the oldest! That means you gotta do what I tell you!”

She pushed her face right into her sister’s, her freckled face red with anger.

“And I’m telling you to step off!”

The two glared into each other’s eyes, with Pedro a bit to the side. Nervously looking left and right, to either of his sisters. He really wasn’t a fan of confrontation.

The stare down looked like it’d continue indefinitely. Neither participant willing to back down.

But just before things could get any more heated, their attentions were diverted to a noise from above. A peculiar squawking.

They all looked up to see a Deadly Nadder, flying overhead. It seemed to be in a hurry.

“Woah! There are dragons here?” Karla gasped, the previous squabbling forgotten.

Yes, there were in fact dragons here.

A lot of them.

The Nadder wasn’t alone. It was followed by a number of other dragons. Gronckles and Nightmares and Zipplebacks, all of them flying in the same direction.

Maybe it was just her neurosis, but Peep thought that they almost looked…afraid. As if they were fleeing from something.

And then, as if things couldn’t get any stranger, they heard more noises.

The three turned their heads to the trees, listening for rumblings coming from beyond the forest. Loud, rough clanging. Followed by screeches and roars, and what sounded like the shouting of men.

It was then that the triplets came to a very important realization. They weren’t alone on this island.

Peep felt a jolt of fear clutch at her heart. Real fear, not an aversion to a hypothetical drastic scenario.

Something sketchy was going on here, and she didn’t want to stick around to find out what it was.

“We need to go!” She yelped. “Now!”

She began to run towards their Night Lights, who’d been shocked awake from the strange sounds. Her urgency willed Pedro into action, who quickly followed her. Getting rid of all his drawings in the process.

Karla ran too. In the opposite direction.

Peep noticed that they weren’t being joined by their sister, and was very flustered by this fact.

“W-Where are you going?” She called out.

Karla didn’t stop, she just kept on recklessly running into the woodland. Towards those bizarre, unnerving noises.

Pedro and Peep watched her go, immobile in their indecisiveness.

Every instinct they had was telling them to run, but they couldn’t leave their sister to face this alone. Whatever it was.

Her Night Light certainly wasn’t waiting. Dash ran ahead of the group, not even waiting up for the others.

The two other dragons were compelled to go after him, and Pedro after them, leaving Peep alone.

She knew there was no fighting it now. They were heading straight towards the danger, and she’d have to follow them.

She knew this.

But she definitely didn’t like it.

She let out a mumbled groan, before scurrying after the others. “Son a of a half-troll…”

Her mamá would've been aghast, after hearing her say that. Her dad would probably laugh.