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❛ ғɪʀᴇ & ʙʟᴏᴏᴅ​​​​​​​​​​. ❜ ° . ༄
- ͙۪۪˚   ▎❛ 𝐒𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐍 ❜   ▎˚ ͙۪۪̥◌
»»————- ꒰ ᴛʜᴇ ɢʀᴇᴀᴛ
ᴍɪɢʀᴀᴛɪᴏɴ ꒱


❝ SOMEONE'S GOT A THING
FOR THE STABLE BOY!  ❞

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Hiccup had sent Dany and Fishlegs out on a dragon-counting mission to so they would know exactly how many species they were working with on their island. It was an amusing sight to see the riders' smallest dragon flying alongside their largest, especially when the Gronckle was still somewhat skittish around the bigger dragon. Fishlegs made sure to keep a respectful distance from Drogon's wings, talons— and any other part of him, really, which made conversation a little harder than it needed to be. But, at least they didn't need to do much talking except to keep track of numbers.

The Ingerman was currently adding up all of the Night Terrors they came across while Dany looked for Deadly Nadders. Their numbers were vastly different, with Fishlegs being in the five hundreds and Daenerys only in the twenties.

"There's a big flock down there," the larger man told her, pointing in the direction of the gathered Night Terrors. He murmured to himself, "five seventy-four, five-seventy four, five seventy-four. . ." all the way down to the ground so he wouldn't forget the number he was on.

Their landing startled a few of Smidvarg's gang since they had to fly out of the way or else get crushed by Drogon's size. Fishlegs complained, "watch it! Some of us are counting here."

"Sorry," the Targaryen apologized as they dismounted their dragons. "he can't exactly help who's underfoot."

He just shook his head, then pointed to each one he added to his tally. "Five seventy-five. Five seventy-six. . ."

A spot of orange fell out of the sky and landed on the map he was holding. He squinted at it at first as he tried to figure out what it was, then his eyes widened once he had. "Oh, hel-lo. . ."

The Fireworm glowed brightly and then burst into flames, igniting the parchment in his hands. Fishlegs let out a startled scream and dropped the paper, falling over in his fright. Drogon let out a puff of steam, which could mean either he was annoyed or amused, and Dany knew her dragon well enough to interpret that it was the latter. She shot him a scolding look as she reached out to scoop the flaming dragon into her hands. "Be nice, mister."

Her expression softened as she cradled the little dragon in her palms, not at all minding the flames that licked at her skin. She'd always had a soft spot for Fireworms; they were beings of unnatural heat— just like her— and they were so cute. There weren't many species she could hold in her hands or put in her pocket.

Fishlegs picked himself off the ground and gave the tiny animal a curious look. "What are Fireworms doing so far out here? They're not supposed to be anywhere near our island."

"I don't know, but I'm glad this guy came for a visit," she replied, cooing at it. Then, she frowned worriedly. "Or maybe it got lost."

"Well, as long as you keep it away from our records, that's what matters," the blond said dismissively. He took out a second map to consult it. "Now, where were we? Was it five hundred seventy-six or was it six hundred and seventy-five?"

"The first one," Dany reminded him. "You said five hundred seventy-four enough times that now it's stuck in my head."

He nodded gratefully. "Ah, that's right. Okay, so then—"

But they didn't get to five hundred seventy-seven. Dany let out a yelp as the small dragon leapt from her hands to land on the bush to their left. It promptly burst into flames so that Fishlegs scrambled over to beat it out. Only, he reacted so quickly that he used his other map, which did nothing to ease his nerves as that burst into flame as well.

"Uh, Fishlegs," Daenerys spoke up, now unable to hold in her amusement as well. "You do know that you have a dragon fire-retardant person with you, right? There's no need to let our records suffer like this."

He huffed and glared at her, though it lacked the spite that Snotlout's or the twins' similar expressions would've had. "Yeah, I get it, you're every dragon's favorite. Maybe you should've said something sooner. Ever think about that, huh?"

She just shook her head as she went over to her dragon. "Not every dragon's favorite," she corrected him, then decided, "we should probably tell Hiccup. As much as I love these little guys, you were right to say that it's strange this one's here, now."

🏹🏹🏹

"It began with one Fireworm, and as we were flying back, we kept seeing more and more," Fishlegs explained a short while later. They had gathered all the riders and were taking them on the same path they'd gone, only this time there were even more Fireworms.

Astrid squinted against the gathering smoke, trying to ignore the stinging sensation that was slowly being burned into her eyes and nose. "Do you think they're migrating?"

Hiccup scanned the ground below them with a serious expression on his face. He definitely wasn't liking the look of so many fires springing up suddenly, or the density of them. He thought about what he knew of Fireworms and tried to find a reasonable excuse for a more optimistic outlook. "If they were migrating, the whole island would be on fire."

"A lot of the island's on fire now," the Targaryen pointed out.

"Not helping, Dany," Astrid scolded her.

The blonde frowned. "But it's true."

"You're not wrong," Fishlegs agreed. "But it could get worse. Fireworms send out scouts to see if their migration route is safe. If this is a stop along that route—"

"An entire flock of Fireworms could be coming through here," Astrid finished somberly.

"Well, I say bring 'em on!" Tuffnut cheered, pumping his fist in the air. "I love those little scorchers."

Dany smiled, for once in agreement with the twins. "Me too." Then she caught the distressed look on Hiccup's face and amended hastily: "but maybe not in a vast horde."

The brunet shook his head in half-exasperation and half-fondness at her enthusiasm. "Are you still gonna love them when they all land here and burn our entire island to the ground?"

"Yes!" Tuffnut paused as he reconsidered Hiccup's question. "Wait, no. Wait, is that a trick question? Because it's pretty tricky."

"The answer is yes," Dany stated firmly, causing both of them to look at her in surprise (though for very different reasons) until she explained, "I'm still gonna love them, but not the fact that they're destroying our home."

Tuffnut opened his mouth to argue with her (because destruction was awesome), but Astrid cut across him before he could derail the conversation further. "Fishlegs, how much time to do we have?"

"Uh, it's hard to say," he mused. "If it's a full migration, the rest of them could be here as soon as next week."

"Ha! Good to know." Snotlout directed Hookfang to flare out his wings, slowing them down so that the rest of the group pulled ahead. "It's been nice knowing you, island. Snotlout is outlout!"

As he turned to flee, Hiccup scolded him, "we're not abandoning the island, Snotlout."

He guided Toothless so that they were in front of Hookfang and his rider, preventing them from going anywhere. That didn't stop the Jorgenson from scoffing, "uh, yeah, we are. Watch."

Snotlout tried to pull his Monstrous Nightmare up and dart over Toothless' head, but Hiccup was faster and blocked him once more. "Guys, we put too much hard work into this place to just leave. Snotlout is not 'outlout.' We're staying. Now, let's get to work."

"Fine!" Snotlout relented, though not without much whining as he threw up his arms in protest. "But I still like my plan better."

🏹🏹🏹

With that, Hiccup broke up the group into important, fire-repelling jobs. He'd split them up in their usual pairs: Astrid and Fishlegs, the twins, and then himself and Dany. Although she was still reluctant to spend so much time alone with her best friend (what with her unrequited feelings and all), she couldn't deny how nice it was to be around him. If she focused solely on the present and not anything that she was feeling, then it was almost like their early academy days before everything got so complicated.

He'd assigned them to creating a fire break which wasn't the hardest job in the world, thanks to their dragons. Toothless and Drogon scorched lines in the earth while they followed on foot to assess the damage up close. Naturally, Dany's attention wandered with so many distractions available: rushing off to catch one of the Fireworms to hold it in her hands, trying to snuff out a fire she thus created when it hopped out of her grasp, and— most often— picking every flower in sight to weave it into her braids. Hiccup didn't notice most of her activities as preoccupied as he was with saving the Edge, but he did, eventually catch on when she suddenly wasn't by his side as he was trying to consult with her.

"So I was thinking that we should make the fire break wider just in case the winds pick up— Dany?"

Hiccup turned, expecting to find her right next to him, only to spot her crouched a few feet away with by a cluster of wildflowers. She plucked one— violet petals and a golden center— before tucking it into her already elaborate braids, which seemed to be slowly accumulating the entire island's flora.

With an exasperated sigh, he went over to her with his arms crossed. "Dany, what are you doing?"

"Helping," she answered breezily, reaching for another flower.

"Helping," he repeated, unimpressed, though his tone lacked the usual scolding edge it took on when he was dealing with the more. . . wayward members of their group. Even in her least helpful moments, he found it extraordinarily difficult to be truly mad at her. "We're supposed to be protecting the Edge, remember?"

Dany barely glanced up at him, her fingers deftly braiding the latest addition into her blonde strands. "The flowers are all going to die anyway if the Fireworms burn the island down," she reasoned. "At least this way, they have a purpose."

Hiccup opened his mouth, then closed it, staring at her. It wasn't the most practical reasoning, but— gods, sometimes he forgot how her mind worked.

"You're impossible," he muttered, shaking his head.

Dany only grinned, continuing to weave another bloom into her hair. "And yet, you still put me on your team."

"Well, it was either you or Snotlout," he countered teasingly.

She let out a dramatic gasp. "Oh! Low blow!"

The brunet smirked at her reaction. "Come on. At least try to stay on task for five minutes?"

"Fine, fine," she relented. "But I reserve the right to collect more flowers if the opportunity arises."

"Dany—"

"Toothless agrees with me," she added, cutting him off. "And so does Drogon. That's three against one. I win."

Hiccup blinked, turning to find Toothless sitting a few feet away, watching the exchange with his usual, knowing expression. The Night Fury let out a short huff, tilting his head at Hiccup before flicking his tail in Dany's direction— a clear indication of whose side he was on. Drogon was the only one still on task, flying above the tree line with a stream of fire blazing a trail along the cliff.

"Oh, come on," the chief's son groaned. "Not you too."

Dany beamed, scratching under Toothless's chin to reward him. "See? He gets it."

Toothless purred, then shot Hiccup a pointed look, blinking at him slowly before flicking his tail again. It was that same silent, teasing expression he always got whenever Hiccup got too caught up in watching Dany. I was not staring, he tried to argue with his dragon silently. Toothless huffed out a sharp breath, his eyes narrowing just slightly in knowing amusement.

Dany, entirely unaware of their exchange, stood up, brushing the dirt from her hands. "Alright, now that we've established what my invaluable contributions are to the cause, let's finish this fire break before the island actually does burn down."

Hiccup shot one last glare at Toothless, who merely looked smug. Then, shaking his head, he sighed. "Yeah. Let's do that."

And if he found himself sneaking glances at Dany again— watching the way the sunlight caught in her braided hair, lighting up the soft petals tucked between the strands— well. Toothless didn't need to know.

🏹🏹🏹

They regrouped a few hours later to check in on the progress everyone had made. Hiccup sat on the edge of the firepit in the clubhouse with Astrid, Fishlegs, Snotlout and Dany gathered around him. The girls were the only ones standing; Fishlegs sat up properly in his chair while Snotlout decided he had to relax after 'doing so much hard work' and kicked his feet up on the table.

"Okay, Astrid, you and Fishlegs filled the watering troughs, right?"

"Yep!" Astrid nodded. "Topped off all the barrels too."

Dany's gaze was more focused on Toothless, who bounced in enthusiastic circles. She smiled at his antics, remembering back to when Drogon had been small enough to whisk himself around so freely. Now that he was bigger, he moved majestically— something that suited his personality quite well as she would argue that he was the most serious dragon out of the group— but she missed when he participated more frequently in his brothers' play-fighting.

"Ooh," the Ingerman lifted a finger as he chimed in, "I found a perfect cave for the Night Terrors. High enough and desolate enough so the flames won't get near them."

"Good job, guys," Hiccup told them. He lifted the parchment he'd written their to-do list on to refer to it. "Now if the twins would finally get back, we could find out what they've done."

"Oh, I can tell you what they've done," Snotlout informed them confidently. "Zero, zip, zilch. I'm forgetting something. Oh, yeah, goose egg!"

"Oh contrary, my fine fellow." Snotlout jumped and quickly turned around to see that the twins had just appeared in the doorway. Ruffnut smirked at them as she leaned against the frame. "We have done quite a lot, actually."

Hiccup gave them a disbelieving look, knowing the twins' habits. "Did you clear the brush?"

"Uh, no," Tuffnut denied.

"Build a fire break?"

Ruffnut shook her head. "Nope, not that."

Astrid crossed her arms and glared at them, not in the mood for their antics. "How about water?" she snapped. "Did you bring any back?"

"Couldn't," Tuffnut declared, waving an airy hand to dismiss her suggestion. "Too busy."

"Busy with what?" Hiccup exclaimed.

"Finding something awesome," Ruffnut shared, her sly expression turning into an excited grin.

The other riders were immediately wary; the twins' definition of 'awesome' tended to. . . not be so much for everyone else. Dany just hoped that it wouldn't try and kill them, which was a really, really low bar when it came to Thorston discoveries. 

🏹🏹🏹

"Behold!" The siblings waved their arms proudly towards the boulder to introduce their finding. "We call it the Namey Rock."

The others stared at it, unimpressed. Sure, there were words all over it, but that was about as interesting as it got. Even Dany— who loved all kinds of rocks— thought it was one of the less remarkable ones that she'd seen; it was just a monochrome gray with a slightly jagged peak. Astrid gave it an expressionless once-over before she asked, "and why is that?"

"Duh," Tuffnut replied. "'Cause it has our name all over it. Cool, huh?"

"Oh, yeah," Snotlout conceded with over-the-top enthusiasm. Then, his face dropped and he retorted, "I mean, no. Man, you two are completely ridiculous."

He slapped his hand to his forehead in annoyance. Ruffnut simply responded by putting her hands on her hips as she challenged him, "ridiculous, perhaps. But answer me this— where's your namey rock?"

She made a big show of waiting for his answer. When none came, the twins grinned at each other triumphantly, which was followed by a metallic clang! as they banged their heads together in celebration. They chuckled mischievously as Fishlegs went to take a closer look. He soon wished he hadn't since his study did not result in good news.

"Uh, Hiccup," he began hesitantly, "you might want to come take a closer look at this. I think it's a claim stone."

The chief's son approached the rock and squinted at the writing, which he read aloud: "'I, Magmar Thorston, hereby claim this island in my name and the name of all my family present and future, forever and ever.'"

Tuffnut sidled up to him, beaming smugly. He rested an arm on Hiccup's shoulder, much to the brunet's distaste. "And what else?"

"'And ever,' apparently," he finished begrudgingly.

"Ha!" Tuffnut cheered, waving his arms enthusiastically. "Long-lost Great Uncle Magmar!" His hands grasped his helmet, hardly able to contain his excitement. "Oh, my Thor! Wasn't he the one who could pass an entire cod through one nostril?"

Ruffnut nodded eagerly, hardly able to wait for him to finish before she continued, "and debone it at the same time? It's a lost art."

Her brother lowered his head in apparent sorrow. "People just don't appreciate the craftsmanship."

"Oh, come on!" Snotlout cut in, exasperated. "That stone is a fake. It's so obvious that these two made it up."

"I don't think so," Fishlegs disagreed, bent over so he could take a closer look at the declaration. "For one thing, everything is spelled correctly."

The Jorgenson's shoulders slumped at that logic. "Okay, you may have a point."

Astrid's eyes narrowed, clearly displeased with the way the situation was turning out. "Let me get this straight." She pointed to the twins. "These two own this island?"

Fishlegs played with his fingers as he admitted nervously, "it would appear that way."

Dany felt her stomach churn at the news. Out of all the riders, the twins were her least favorite— even less than Snotlout— and she had the hardest time letting their shenanigans roll off her back. She didn't understand most of their jokes (taking them far more literally than she was supposed to) and found their energy draining. A whole island under their rule? She didn't know how she was going to survive.

"I'm in Hel," she stated simply, looking at the twins with mistrustful violet eyes. "That's it, I'm here, I've arrived. You know, I thought it would be hotter than this."

She startled as she felt an unexpected weight wrap around her shoulders. Her head immediately turned to find out who it was and she tensed, ready to pull away from whoever had dared invade her personal space. Instead, she felt her face heat up when she realized that it was Hiccup who was standing far closer to her than he usually did of his own accord, especially in front of others. He was laughing tensely and she began to understand that his arm was there to keep her from running off.

"No, no, no," he reassured her as the twins started to brag about their ownership. "I'm sure it won't be that bad. C'mon, let's all just take a breath and calm down." He released her after making sure she wouldn't abandon him to the terrible fate of dealing with the twins alone. He gave her a pointed look. "Before we make any assumptions, we need to get this claim stone authenticated. Then— and only then— will any changes be made to the current arrangements. Got it?"

🏹🏹🏹

Gobber and Stoick arrived the next day. Dany had pleaded with Hiccup to fly as slowly as possible— and thus put off the twins' ascension to power for as long as they could— but a Night Fury could only slow down so much. Now, they stood in front of the rock with the two older men. The blacksmith peered at it with a professional eye, even bringing out a spyglass to inspect it.

"Well, Gobber?" the chief prompted him.

"Give me a minute." He used his hook's hammer attachment to chip away a tiny piece of the stone, sniffing it before he popped it into his mouth and chewed thoughtfully. "Mm-hmm. Very interesting. Tastes right to me, Stoick. This claim stone is one-hundred percent authentic."

"Aw, yeah!" Ruffnut cheered, throwing her arms into the air.

"Authentic!" her brother added triumphantly.

"One hundred percent! No more percents to be had, folks."

Confused, Tuffnut leaned over to his sister and murmured, "that's good, right?"

The riders, however, were far less ecstatic.

"Uh-uh, no!" Astrid objected vehemently.

Snotlout scowled as he burst out, "no!"

Even Fishlegs was distressed by this announcement as he whined, "what? No! No way!"

"You said it wouldn't be that bad," Daenerys reminded Hiccup. "This is pretty bad. Like, Ragnarök-level bad. Is there anything worse than Ragnarök? If there is, then I'm pretty sure this is it."

Stoick pinched the bridge of his nose as their loud complaints rang in his ears. "Alright, that's enough. It looks like this island officially belongs. . . to the twins."

As the other riders tried to come to terms with this, the twins leapt to their feet and linked arms. As they danced in a circle, they chanted, "it's our island now! We got the island and you can't have it. This island is ours! We don't have to do anything or take any showers!"

"Well, I suppose I have to make this official, then." Stoick removed his sword from his sheath and gestured to the siblings. "Ruffnut, Tuffnut, get down on one knee and remove your helmets."

He cleared his throat before he stated formally, "as Chief of Berk, I hereby declare under Viking law, the living heirs to Magmar Thorston are indeed entitled to full ownership of this island with all the benefits that comes with it."

The chief placed his sword on their shoulders and then returned it to its scabbard. Now that the pomp and circumstance was over, the twins exchanged a look before meeting their chief's eyes cluelessly. "Now what?"

Stoick shrugged. "Don't ask me. It's your island."

Gobber chuckled rather vindictively at the fates they'd sealed them to as the two men returned to their dragons. The twins resumed their (terrible) singing and dancing while Hiccup rushed after his father. "No— dad, dad, dad; you can't be serious! Y-you're not leaving me with this?"

Stoick's large beard hid his amused smile. He placed his hands on his son's shoulders reassuringly. "Uh, yes. Yes I am. Welcome to my world." He patted the teen in apparent sympathy (but it was really too condescending to be genuine.) "Only now, it's your world."

Toothless went to his riders' side, sensing his distress. He purred comfortingly and Hiccup put a hand on his dragon's head. The other teens circled around him, unsure what to do next.

"Any ideas?" Fishlegs wondered.

"Oh, we could always. . ." Snotlout drew a thumb across his neck as he made a slicing sound. "You know."

"I could get behind that," Dany agreed seriously.

The Jorgenson held up his hand for a high-five, which she steadfastly ignored. "Al-right! I was thinking poison. Its deadly, silent—"

"No one is killing the twins," Hiccup interrupted him loudly, giving them a stern look. And, once again, Daenerys was on the receiving end of his disappointed frown. He was worried about her; this was the second time she'd jumped on board for murder. If it had been anyone else, he probably wouldn't be concerned— joking about death was part of Viking culture; they were around it a lot— but this was Dany. Dany, who was a very literal person and didn't usually pick up on the sarcastic undertones.

He'd been watching her carefully (not in a creepy way!) ever since she'd returned from her latest mission and had begun spending more time around them again. While everything seemed perfectly normal on the surface, that didn't stop him from feeling that something was. . . off— something she was hiding. He had a suspicion that her Berserker blood might be stronger than she was willing to admit, but he didn't want a confrontation. He was still waiting for her to come to him and talk about it. But, if things got significantly worse or she noticeably started acting more unhinged. . . he wouldn't have a choice. He cared too much about her to let her sanity slip beyond repair. (And sure, that was probably a long, long way off but, come on, he was the kind of person whose plans had plans.)

"Killjoy," the Jorgenson mumbled, drawing him from his thoughts.

Astrid placed her hands on her hips. "Please tell me we're not giving them the island."

"Actually, we are," he replied confidently. "We are giving them the island."

Snotlout laughed in disbelief at first but when no one joined him, his expression fell. "What?"

"First of all, we don't really have a choice," Hiccup pointed out. "And second, once they find out being in charge isn't everything it's cracked up to be and they have to deal with the Fireworm problem on their own, they will beg us to take the island back."

"Uh, have you met the twins?" Dany questioned him. "They live for chaos! Fireworms will just be, I don't know, a sign to them that their rule is sanctioned by the gods!"

He made his best attempt at giving her a reassuring smile. "I'm. . . pretty sure that there's a limit to how much chaos even the twins can take. After all, there's only one person here who is immune to dragon fire and it's not them."

🏹🏹🏹

Seeing as there was nothing they could do, Dany went back to her hut to wait for the next disaster. It really did feel like the end of the world; the sky glowed orange from the spreading fires and charlatans were in charge. She tried to find comfort in her woodwork but found it extraordinarily hard to concentrate. She eventually chucked her block of wood somewhere in her room where it fell with a clatter.

Deciding she didn't want to be alone with her thoughts, she wandered around the Edge until her feet took her to the training arena where she knew Astrid would be venting her feelings. And she was, hacking away at a straw dummy with enough force to take its head clean off. Every swing of her axe was sharp, decisive— each blow landing with a loud thwack that echoed through the otherwise quiet Edge.

"That bad, huh?" the Targaryen commented as she leaned against the fence.

Astrid huffed, wiping sweat from her brow. "They're insufferable. I tried to convince Hiccup again that someone needs to revoke their so-called leadership before they get us all killed."

Dany snorted. "And let me guess— he gave you that 'we should at least try to work with them' speech?"

Astrid rolled her eyes. "Verbatim. You probably would've had more luck convincing him otherwise."

"Yeah, probably," the blonde admitted. The Hofferson turned away from the practice targets abruptly to stare at her best friend in shock. Dany frowned. "What?"

"Well. . . it's just that usually you'd deny that sort of thing," Astrid reasoned.

Daenerys blushed and dropped her gaze to avoid the other woman's eyes. "Yeah. . . well, it's recently come to my attention that I may have some sway over our leader."

The blue-eyed teen smirked at her confession. "I'd say more than some."

Dany sighed as she played with the end of one of her long braids to avoid meeting her best friend's gaze. "Isn't it enough that I even just acknowledged that? You could spare me the teasing at least once. I'd like to go back to our original subject now, thank you." Her eyes flicked up to the glowing, smoke-filled sky. "We're going to lose the Edge if this keeps up."

Astrid nodded grimly, her humor dissipating quickly. "And our so-called rulers think the best course of action is. . . what was it again? Oh yeah, 'coming up with a new name for their island.'"

She groaned. "We're so doomed."

A loud, self-important ahem cut through the air. "Ah, my good ladies! So kind of you to be present at this most urgent hour," Ruffnut said, dramatically clasping her hands together.

When the two women turned to take in the twins, they saw their 'leaders' standing on their dragons' heads in a 'regal' stance. Tuffnut gave them a formal bow. "Yes, yes, we bequeath— wait, no, bequest— no, wait, it is bequeath— your presence immediately to discuss pressing affairs."

The blondes exchanged an exasperated glance at the Thorstons' 'posh' tone— the one they used when they were trying to be serious. But, even then, their earnestness was all in jest (hence the fake accent.) Astrid merely arched an unimpressed brow and crossed her arms. "Yeah, I don't think so. We're pretty busy here doing, you know, important things, so. . ."

She made a 'shooing' gesture with her hands. Tuffnut gasped at her refusal. "Mutiny!" He turned to his sister. "And you know what we do with mutineers."

Ruffnut grinned, lifting a finger in the air as she declared, "straight to the dungeon."

Astrid crossed her arms again. "There is no dungeon."

"Not yet," she agreed ominously. "But just wait until you hear our job descriptions."

Dany sighed, already regretting this. "Fine. Lead the way."

🏹🏹🏹

They met up at the arena. It was obvious that no one wanted to be there but the twins didn't care. They stood importantly on their dragons' heads and Tuffnut pulled a scroll out of his vest pocket, which he unfurled with a flourish.

"Alright, Fishlegs," Tuffnut began loudly. He turned the paper this way and that as if it would help him read better. "Says here you are now the official Poet Laureate of Thorstonton."

Fishlegs' brows furrowed at the ostentatious title. "Do you even know what that means?"

"We were hoping you would," Ruff answered, pointing at him. "It's your job, after all."

The blond blinked up at the twins, perplexed. They carried on without addressing the issue further: "Astrid, you are the official royal brush clearer. We don't want Thorstonton burning down, after all."

"Or do we?" Ruffnut mused mischievously. Her brother let out a thoughtful hum and pointed at her approvingly.

"I'm not clearing brush for you two!" Astrid countered, waving her arms agitatedly. "I'm not clearing anything for you two!"

"You'll do it. And you'll like it, little missy," Tuffnut commanded, unphased by her anger. "Now, as for our other fine lady, we have a very special job for you. Daenerys, you are our loyal footservant. We need someone to do our bidding, obviously."

"What?" she demanded, feeling her stomach curdle at the thought of being at the beck and call of the twins. She could only imagine the horrible things they would make her do. "I am not your servant! I'm with Astrid— I'm not anything to you two! In fact, pretend like I don't exist!"

"Dany, Dany," Hiccup murmured to her soothingly, placing his hands on her shoulders. He'd stepped in front of her, cutting off her view of the twins in the hopes of getting her to calm down. "Come on. You don't have to do the really terrible stuff, just humor them for a bit. Please?"

He could feel how tense she was as he held her. Her violet eyes flashed and her nose flared, just like when she'd been incensed by Gustav. Then, she grit her teeth and deflated, the spark going out as she conceded, "fine."

She crossed her arms and glared, which was honestly worse than her fire-y anger. He felt guilty for asking her to do something he knew she hated, but he reminded himself that this was only for a few days and he could make it up to her later. Tuffnut, mostly oblivious to her reaction, wagged his finger at her. "Ah, ah, ah. This is not a negation trial, missy. We can make you do your job the easy way or. . . the hard way."

Ruffnut cackled evilly. "And we're not picky about either."

"Moving right along," her brother continued, referencing his parchment. "Snotlout. You, my friend, have an excellent job. You, sir, are our new sergeant at arms."

"Mm," he mused, tapping his chin thoughtfully. "I like the sound of that— 'arms.'"

Tuffnut snapped his fingers at him encouragingly. "Knew you would. Alright, Hiccup. Oh, Hiccup, you are our new stable boy."

The brunet's eyes widened in dismay as he exclaimed, "stable boy?!"

Astrid chuckled at his misfortune and she elbowed him teasingly. "Come on, Hiccup. Just humor them for a bit."

He couldn't keep the scowl off his face, though he still glanced at Dany out of the corner of his eye. He had hoped she'd make a similar joke and made fun of his new position, but her expression stayed mutinous as she glowered at some unknown point in the distance. He was really going to have to make it up to her.

Snotlout stepped forward, gaining the twins' attention. "So, uh, here's a question: what's a sergeant at arms do anyway?"

"You enforce the rules," Tuffnut declared impressively. "If someone doesn't follow them, you make sure they do. And if things get really nasty, you show them to the fancy new dungeon and give them some yak dung tea. Got it?"

The Jorgenson finger-gunned at them. "Dungeon! I like it. Better than 'stable boy,'" he taunted Hiccup.

Tuffnut tossed aside his parchment without warning. "Okay, and speaking of new rules, without further 'adieu'. . ."

His sister snatched the scroll from him. "Yeah, no more further 'adieus'. Anyway. . ." She unrolled the second parchment to inform them, "rule number one: everyone must bow to your rulers when they enter the room."

"Rule number two." Tuffnut went to the next one, grabbing the paper back from her. "Everyone must also bow to your rulers when they exit the room."

Ruffnut swiped it from him again. "Everyone must bow to their rulers when they are in the room."

"So, basically, we just bow all the time?" the chief's son snarked.

Tuffnut gave him a thumbs-up. "Ooh, stable boy, coming in for the big win. That deserves a bow. . . from you. I'm not doing any bowing."

Hiccup's jaw clenched at the unpleasantness of the request. It was a bruise to his pride— not that he had a massively enormous ego like Snotlout but come on; it was the twins!— but he forced himself to do it, grunting in annoyance as he did so. He made it as shallow as possible so no one would think he actually respected their leadership.

"Next," Ruffnut resumed speaking as he stood, "there will be a small fee for landing your dragons on the island."

"And another small fee for taking off," her brother put in.

They went back and forth on the next few items, taking turns announcing each one:

"There will be a fee for sleeping."

"A fee for waking up."

"A fee for eating."

"And a small fee for drinking."

"How about breathing?" Astrid challenged.

"Good idea! Mark that down."

Ruffnut grinned, a quill already in hand as she made the addendum. "Way ahead of you."

"And finally, the letter S has been officially removed from the alphabet," Tuffnut informed the riders solemnly. "So you're going to want to avoid words like sword. . ."

"Severed leg. . ."

"Severed head. . ."

"Cyclone. . ."

"That's actually a C," Fishlegs corrected them.

Tuffnut gasped and pointed an accusing finger at the blond. "Uh-uh. Notlout, quiet him!"

Snotlout's brows scrunched together in confusion. "Notlout? Who's Notlout?"

"This s rule is the only one that is remotely interesting," Dany muttered to Astrid. "At least if I use my nickname, I don't have to sound like I'm stupid. But I guess I could be a singular Daenery."

"That sounds like a form of currency," the Hofferson noted, not bothering to lower her voice.

Tuffnut snapped his fingers again at the point she'd brought up. "And, speaking of currency, we are still developing the accepted form of coinage for all these fees. We don't have shape, size, quantity, color, system or manufacturer yet, but we do know they're going to have our faces on them!"

Snotlout scoffed at their decision. "Then they're going to be the ugliest coins in the entire world."

Instead of being mad at him for insulting them, Ruffnut merely chuckled and finger-gunned at her brother. "Ugly!"

"Any other rules?" Hiccup asked, trying to get them to finish so they could go about their duties.

Tuffnut held up a 'wait a minute' finger and reached behind him to pull yet another scroll from his boot. As he unrolled it, a small, fire-y missile launched itself through the air and straight through the parchment. Dany had never loved Fireworms more than she had in that moment as the paper burned in a perfect circle, obscuring any more decrees the twins had come up with.

"Table boy, clean that up," Tuffnut instructed the brunet.

But Dany acted faster, leaping forward to scoop the little guy up in her hands. She cupped him protectively in her palms as the small creature gazed up at her with bright orange eyes.

"You guys need to stay on top of this Fireworm thing," Hiccup told the twins, his gaze focused on the dragon in his best friend's hands. "It's starting to get pretty real."

The siblings, of course, ignored this warning. Tuffnut swirled his finger in the air and pointed towards the exit. "Come along, footservant! It's time for you to begin your humble service to us."

Ruffnut copied his gesture. "Yes, let us go, footservant! There is much that needs doing!"

Dany scowled and sulked after the twins.

🏹🏹🏹

The next day was probably the worst day of Dany's life. Every waking moment was filled with some ridiculous errand or humiliating request and the twins made sure she was constantly reminded of her lowly status. If they weren't forcing her to bow every time they walked by they were making her chase after Chicken, fetch their meals, or stand by idly in case they came up with some new absurd demand.

"Footservant, our helmets must shine enough so we can see our reflections!" Ruffnut commanded, tossing hers at Dany without warning. She barely managed to catch it before it hit her in the face.

"Oh, and get us some yak milk," Tuffnut chimed in, waving a hand dismissively. "Room temperature. Not too cold, not too hot, just. . . weirdly warm."

Dany clenched her jaw so hard it hurt. She had thought of a hundred and one ways to commit regicide before breakfast. All of them were perfectly feasible and most couldn't be traced back to her. The only bright spot was when they stopped by the stables to check on Hiccup, who'd been given the task of cleaning Barf and Belch. Although she was still kind of mad at him for making her fulfill this degrading position, the twins hadn't allowed her to be around anyone all day except for them ("footservants should live only for their masters.") She had never been happier to see him.

Tuffnut, however, was less than impressed. He placed his hands on his hips as he arched a brow. "Uh, aren't you forgetting something?"

"What?" the brunet realized who was addressing him and he stood. "Oh, right. Sorry." He used his bow to hide his eyeroll.

"That's better," Ruffnut approved.

Her brother clasped his hands behind his back as he walked around his dragon. "Now let's have a look at your work table boy."

Toothless growled at their use of the title, but they paid him no mind. Tuffnut picked up one of the Zippleback's feet and examined it closely. "Hmm. Good. Nice attention to detail."

Ruffnut was not so pleased. "Uh, we have a problem."

"What? What's the problem?" Hiccup wondered.

Tuffnut waved a hand in Daenerys' direction. "Foot-ervant, check the temperature of the water."

"Don't forget to bow!" Ruffnut reminded her, chuckling.

Dany grumbled and jerked her body in what could've passed for a bow, then went over to the water bucket. She stuck her finger in it, then in the driest voice she could muster, announced, "ouch. Hot."

Ruffnut gave Hiccup a disappointed look. "Pa-thetic. Disgraceful."

"Unacceptable," her brother agreed.

"What is it?" the brunet demanded.

"The water must be piping hot," Tuffnut ordered. "If Daenery can put her finger in it and the kin doesn't peel off, it's not hot enough."

"Ooh, I wanna see the kin peeling off!" his sister remarked eagerly. "Foot-ervant—"

"Fine!" the chief's son cut in quickly before the teen could finish her order. "Scalding— Calding water it is! Toothles— Toothle pla-ma blat!"

The Night Fury shot a burst of purple light right at the bucket (after Dany had scrambled out of the way) and a cloud of black smoke appeared in its wake. It cleared to reveal the twins with soot-stained faces and bubbling water. Toothless warbled a laugh at their disgruntled looks.

"I'm keeping an eye on you Mr. Night Fury," Tuffnut warned him. "My good eye."

Hiccup's brows furrowed. "Wait, are you telling me you have a bad eye?"

Ruffnut smirked at him. "Wait, are you telling me you have a bad leg? Come along, Foot-ervant! You must fetch us something to clean off our faces!"

Dany didn't follow their command right away, instead gazing longingly at Hiccup, whom she would much rather spend the day around. He'd gone back to cleaning Barf and Belch so he didn't notice her lingering nearby until Ruffnut barked, "foot-ervant! Top taring at the table boy and follow us!"

Daenerys startled, her face turning pink at being caught (and having it be publicly recognized) before she rushed after the twins, leaving a surprised Hiccup in her wake. The day carried on in the same vein. The twins made her run meaningless errands, such as counting every fish in the storage shed ("for tax purposes!"), singing an ode to Thor whenever they entered a building and even pretending to be their personal herald by announcing their presence whenever they walked into a room. By the time dinner rolled around, she was so done with them. They made her stand off to the side and watch them eat as Fishlegs prepared the poem he'd made.

They ended up not liking his efforts. He followed Astrid's footsteps from earlier in the day and was sent off to the dungeon.

🏹🏹🏹

Later that evening, Dany found herself in the same position as her other friends: being carted off to the 'dungeons' by Snotlout after refusing the twins. She yanked her arm free of the teen's hold as soon as she could, walking herself the rest of the way into the cell as he closed it, obviously gloating in the others' disgruntlement. The blonde crossed her arms and glowered silently at the padlock. It wasn't exactly the roomiest of places, what with Meatlug and Stormfly crowded in there with them. At least Drogon was far too big— and dangerous— for the twins to ever try locking him up.

Hiccup watched the whole thing from where he stood off to the side, paused in his sweeping the moment they'd entered. He knew the twins had treated her poorly— the fact that he'd barely seen her all day attested to that— and he decided he would try and cheer her up. After Snotlout left, he leaned on the door to the cell and smirked at her. "What are you in for?"

His joking tone, of course, went straight over Dany's head. He was met with a flat glare as she responded seriously, "regicide."

The brunet's eyes widened, knowing that she really had made the attempt. "Dany! I said killing the twins wasn't the answer."

"You're right," she conceded. "Killing the twins is a question, and the answer is yes." She received uneasy looks from her friends as they glanced at each other, unsure whether she was kidding or not. Then, she finally let a small smile break through. "I'm joking. Well, not about the attempted regicide, but the second one, yes."

Hiccup let out a quiet breath of relief. Astrid brushed off her best friend's comment now that she knew it wasn't anything to be worried about and went back to the matter at hand. "How long are you gonna let this go on? Have you seen all those Fireworms?"

"Yeah, Hiccup, the migration is picking up steam," Fishlegs agreed. Before anyone could say anything else, there was a very noticeable sound that interrupted their conversation. All of them covered their noses from the stench that Meatlug produced and backed as far away from her as possible. "Ho ho ho! She does not deal well with prison food."

"Alright, alright," the chief's son promised. "I'll talk to them. I'm sure I can get this all straightened out."

As he left, Astrid grinned at Dany, whose gaze she noticed stayed trained on their leader even as he took flight. In a not very quiet whisper, she sing-songed, "someone's got a thing for the stable boy!"

The Targaryen blushed and cast an anxious glance at Fishlegs, who could hear everything they were saying. "Astrid, please! I do not."

Fishlegs, however, merely chuckled, shaking his head. "Dany, everyone knows you have a crush on Hiccup."

Her head whipped toward him, eyes wide. "Everyone?" she echoed, horrified. "As in—?"

Fishlegs caught on immediately and waved his hands reassuringly. "Oh, no, no—Hiccup doesn't know. For someone so smart, he's also the most dense, stubborn person in the world— you both are, actually. He has absolutely no idea." He put a hand over his chest as if making an oath. "Your secret is safe with me."

Dany exhaled in relief, but then his words registered. Her brows furrowed. "Wait, what do you mean you both are?"

Fishlegs immediately clammed up, eyes darting around as if searching for an escape route. "And. . . I've said too much." He slapped his hands over his mouth and huddled beside Meatlug as if being closer to her would hide him from the two women.

Dany blinked, trying to process what he meant, but Astrid was already leaning in, her smile positively devilish. "You know, you're making this way too easy for me, Dany."

The blonde groaned. "Astrid—"

The warrior girl held up her hands innocently. "Hey, what else am I supposed to do for entertainment while we wait? Snotlout took my axe."

Daenerys scowled, crossing her arms and trying to ignore the heat in her face. "You could try shutting up," she complained.

Astrid only grinned wider. "Oh, definitely not."

🏹🏹🏹

The Hofferson was still delighting in her mission to turn her friend's face as red as an apple when Snotlout dragged Hiccup into the 'dungeon' with them. (Fishlegs, bless him, did not participate, though he did have a knowing smile on his face the whole time— but Dany found that a lot more tolerable than Astrid's goal of making her actually combust from embarrassment.) Thankful to have something else to do besides listen to her best friend's good-natured ribbing, the Targaryen waved enthusiastically at the brunet— also effectively keeping him from hearing anything Astrid was saying. "Hi, Hiccup!"

Astrid smirked at her over-excited greeting, which made her look incredibly dorky. Trying to help the other woman out, she whispered, "hand."

Dany dropped her hand, her smile still slightly too wide as Snotlout opened the cell door with a clang. She tried again, her words coming out a bit higher than usual: "hi, Hiccup!"

"Grown-up voice," Astrid coached her.

The blonde leaned against the side of the cell just as Hiccup had done earlier that day. In a deeper tone than her natural speech, she attempted to smoothly greet him, "Hiccup, hello."

He gave her a bemused look for her multiple attempted greetings (he'd personally thought the first one was the cutest, having liked that she'd been so excited to see him) and confusedly responded, "hi, Dany."

"So. . ." she began, still aiming to sound suave, "what are you in for?"

Hiccup's lips quirked in amusement at her use of his joke and he was glad that she was trying to be funny— and mimicking his humor, which meant that she thought he was funny! "Oh, you know, the usual." He ticked them off on his fingers: "arson, theft, aggravated assault, fraud."

"Whew, you need your own cell! I don't feel safe sharing mine with a criminal like you," she teased him.

He chuckled, feeling marginally better about the crummy day he'd had. Before he could come up with a clever retort, odd grunting made them turn their heads in the direction of the entrance. There, they saw Snotlout holding himself by the scruff of his neck and limping forward with Hookfang trailing behind him. He opened the door and threw himself inside.

"I was framed," he mumbled miserably.

Astrid protested when Hookfang squeezed himself in next to them, his tail slapping her in the process. "Alright, that's it. We're breaking out of here."

"Great. Then we're going back to my plan." Snotlout sliced his thumb across his throat again.

"No, no, we've already tried that and it didn't work," Hiccup objected quickly.

The Jorgenson's face took on a look of betrayal. "You tried to kill the twins without me? How could you?"

"Trust me, it wasn't that great," Dany grumbled. "They thought it was a game."

"Of course they did," the brunet muttered. In a louder voice, he reassured them, "Guys, there's nothing to worry about. I mean, the twins can't be that oblivious!"

"Uh, have you met the twins?" Astrid demanded, putting her hands on her hips.

They thought in silence for a while to try and come up with a solution to their problem. Their gazes flicked to what they could see of the sky, which became more orange by the minute. They could practically see each individual Fireworm now as the massive cloud flew even closer to the Edge. Astrid watched the flock worriedly, announcing to the group: "that smoke's getting close. And where there's smoke—"

"—there's Fireworms," Fishlegs finished, petting his nervous dragon to try and calm her down.

"Alright, you know what? Experiment over," Hiccup decided. "We are getting out there and stopping them before there's nothing left of this island."

"Finally," the Hofferson exclaimed.

They cleared the area of the door and Hiccup pointed towards it to direct his dragon. "Toothless, plasma blast."

"Why didn't we start with that?" Daenerys wondered.

Just as the Night Fury opened his mouth to gear up for the blow, the twins came bursting into the 'dungeon.' Toothless closed his mouth abruptly, blinking as the fire died in his throat. Smoke expelled from his nostrils as it went out.

"Hey, guys?" Tuffnut addressed them.

"Now's our chance." Snotlout looked up at his Monstrous Nightmare. "Hookfang, destroy!"

Hiccup rushed to get between them before Hookfang could actually do anything. "Oh, hey, rulers." Hookfang squawked, displeased by the order being interrupted. "How's stuff in the old kingdom?"

"Having lots of fun with all the smoke and fire?" Astrid inquired lightly.

"Yes," Tuffnut said at first. Then, he frowned as he remembered the Fireworms knocking off his helmet and setting the sheep on fire. "No. Okay, fine. As it turns out, we can't save Thorstonton by ourselves. So we talked about it, and we hereby decree that you can all come and help us put out the fires."

The chief's son let out an exaggerated sigh. He leaned against Toothles, affecting a casual air. "Ah, that's a shame. 'cause from where I sit, you guys are on your own. I mean, rules are rules, right?"

Toothless made a sound of agreement, backing his rider up. Ruffnut clutched at the bars desperately. "You have to help us save our island! It's all we've got!"

"I don't know." Hiccup shrugged as he brushed imaginary dust off his fingers. "Guys?"

"I think you've got to stick to your guns," Astrid answered. "You make a rule, you follow it through. Otherwise it's. . . you know."

"Anarchy," Fishlegs chimed in. "I'm with them."

"Everyone for themselves," Dany conceded.

"Come on, you guys," Tuffnut pleaded. "Is there anything I can do? Name it, we'll do anything."

"Well, now that you mention it. . ." Hiccup pretended to think things over. "I suppose we could consider one possibility."

Screeching filled the air, indicating that the Fireworms had now reached them. The tiny dragons were like fire-y missiles, shooting down from the sky and alighting anywhere they landed. The twins turned away from the sight to shriek in unison: anything!"

"I'll make you assistant ruler," Tuffnut offered. When Hiccup didn't respond, he continued frantically: "ruler's best pal? Second string ruler?"

"No, I have a better idea, actually," Hiccup finally interrupted him, all indifference gone from his voice. "We divide the island up amongst all of us. We all own it. There's no ruler, no sister of the ruler." Ruffnut gasped, offended. "We're all rulers."

"What?" Tuffnut jumped back from the door, pointing at the chief's son accusingly. "That's blasphemous! You can't do that to the ruler."

He quickly changed his vehement objection once he was personally 'attacked' by one of the tiny, projectile-like dragons.

🏹🏹🏹

Thankfully, the twins asked for their help in just enough time. Working together, they broke up the cluster of Fireworms to keep as many as possible from landing. Unfortunately, there were just too many of them to redirect alone. They tried to make a firebreak to at least save the Edge but it wasn't as effective as they'd hoped it would be. The biggest heroes of the day turned out to be the Night Terrors. Smidvarg and the Gang banded together to form the Fireworm Queen. With Hiccup's help, they redirected the Fireworms to the next island, which was all rock and dirt— perfect for the fire-y dragons.

Dragon's Edge definitely showed signs of the Fireworms' attempted migration. Most of the vegetation had been burned to a crisp. Blackened trees stood out starkly against the sky while dry grass crunched underfoot. But, on the whole, it was still intact— and, most importantly, so was their base.

After everyone got some rest, the group went to the claim stone so the twins could formally renounce their leadership. They stood before the rock with their helmets off and heads bowed, looking uncharacteristically somber. Hiccup went over and tried to comfort them, though they hardly deserved it with how they'd treated everyone. Still, he was their leader and it was his duty to make sure everyone felt heard.

"Ruff, Tuff, you guys did the right thing," he reassured them. "I just hope you guys learned something in all of this."

"Yeah, we sure did. Leading blow." He perked up as he realized, "oh, we don't have to do the S thing anymore. Leading blows."

He slammed his helmet back on his head definitively. Ruffnut nodded. "Seriously blows."

"You know what, though? At least we have this cool claim stone to remember our glorious reign." Tuffnut put his hands on his hips in a 'regal' pose before he patted the rock affectionately.

Regrettably for the twins, they wouldn't even be allowed to keep their commemorative stone. Meatlug ambled towards the boulder with her tongue out, sniffing it eagerly. She opened her mouth and chomped down, swallowing the entire thing in one bite.

"No respect." Tuffnut shook his head.

She chewed happily, then spit out the pieces as glowing embers right near Tuffnut's boots.

"No respect at all," his sister agreed.

Snotlout laughed victoriously at the twins' defeat. Remembering their song from a few days ago, he began to taunt them by singing, "it's everyone's island!"

Feeling the happiness at having overcome their most recent obstacle, most of the others joined in. They linked arms and spun in circles, adding their voices to the next lyrics:

"This is our island! This is our island! It is not yours! We can do what we want, go where we want and not take any showers!"

Dany stood off to the side, not quite confident enough to join in— nor willing enough to touch someone else to dance with them— but she wrapped her arms around her middle and smiled contentedly at her friends.

A/n: man, s1 really is the most boring part of the series to write. At least there's only 6 episodes left!

And, speaking of boring, I hope I'm not being too redundant in having Astrid continuously tease Dany about her crush on Hiccup. I'm pretty sure I add something about it every chapter but there's not much to do ship-wise until later on. Besides (and this could just be my own bias), I think that Astrid would joke around with her friend about having feelings for one of her other friends. I don't remember how she reacted to Heather/Fishlegs so this is my interpretation 🤷‍♀️