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❛ sᴛᴏʀᴍʙᴏʀɴ​​​​​​​​​​. ❜ ° . ༄
- ͙۪۪˚  ▎❛ 𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐄 ❜  ▎˚ ͙۪۪̥◌
»»————- ꒰ ᴛʜᴇ ʙᴀᴛᴛʟᴇ ɪs ʜᴇʀᴇ ꒱


❝ IF YOU'RE MAD,
THEN CALL ME CRAZY ❞

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The sound of gasps announced the arrival of the rest of the teens. Hiccup and Dany had run into Astrid on their way down the hill and she'd gathered the rest of the dragon trainees. Now that they were in the ring, all four pairs of eyes were fixed on Drogon. Sure, they had seen him earlier that day, but his grandeur had been overshadowed by fear. Drogon had taken up a similar place as they had upon their first landing but now that tensions weren't running as high, his true, impressive size was something that the teens gawked at. As their gazes dropped from the dragon to the girl, they eyed her warily and she, them.

Fishlegs was the first to break the silence, though his eyes kept darting up to the dragon above him in terrified awe. "If you're planning on getting eaten, I'd definitely go with the Gronckle."

Hiccup seemed surprised by everyone's presence, but he wasn't given time to say anything as Tuffnut pushed his way to the front. "You were wise to seek help from the world's most deadly weapon."

"Um—"

"It's me." He turned to the girl and looked her up and down. "Ghost-hair, demon eyes— yep, yep, definitely a Targaryen." He peered closely at her neck, even going so far as to push aside some of her hair. He almost sounded disappointed as he said, "I don't see a necklace of human teeth. I thought that was a Targaryen staple! Is it no longer in vogue?"

Seeing Dany's extreme discomfort, Astrid stepped forward and grasped one of the horns on the boy's helmet to pull him away. "Ignore him. Some people don't understand the meaning of personal space."

Her relief was short-lived as a shorter Viking took his place. He gave her what was his attempt at a charming smile and stuck out his hand. "If you're mad, then call me crazy. I'm Snotlout— that's a name you're gonna want to remember."

She merely stared at his hand with wide eyes and shrank against Hiccup, uneasy with meeting so many. . . eccentric people for the first time. She missed the brunet's narrowed gaze at Snotlout's introduction, so subtle that she probably wouldn't have seen it even if she had been watching closely. Snotlout was pushed out of the way by Ruffnut, who leaned in close to her face. "I've heard that you're crazy. I like that."

Astrid was once again in charge of pulling a Thorston out of Dany's way. She was the last to approach the pair and the blonde was grateful to see a familiar face, even if it was one she didn't really like all that much. "So, what is the plan?"

🏹🏹🏹

Hiccup walked backwards with his hand outstretched against a Monstrous Nightmare's snout. The fierce dragon remained calm under his guidance as he was led towards the teens. Snotlout's nerves got the better of him and he picked up a spear point that had been left by his feet. Just as he straightened with the weapon in hand, Astrid hit him lightly on the arm. "Uh-uh."

He put it back down, his face showing his distress as the dragon drew closer. When Hiccup stood next to the boy, he reached out for Snotlout's hand to replace his own. "Wait! What are you—?"

"Shh," the boy reassured him. "Relax. It's okay. It's okay."

The brunet took his hand away, leaving just Snotlout's against the dragon's snout. The dragon purred comfortingly, easing the boy's worries— though Snotlout's gaze remained fixed on the Monstrous Nightmare's. The boy gave the dragon a tentative smile when he realized that he wasn't in immediate danger, even letting out a shocked laugh. It quickly faded as Hiccup began to walk away. "Where are you going?"

Hiccup went over to the weapons box and found a coiled length of rope. "You're gonna need something to hold on."

🏹🏹🏹

Dany could hear the sounds of the battle before it was even visible through the fog that shrouded the volcano. The roars of the Red Death and shouts of the Vikings made her want to clamp her hands over her ears, but the other teens showed no fear as they flew towards the fight, so she wouldn't either. She took small comfort in Hiccup's presence behind her, his arms wrapped around her waist more comfortably than their first flight together. This time, she'd shifted her sheath of arrows to her front to make the position easier for him. (The twins had complained loudly about Hiccup being able to fly on Drogon— 'no fair! How come he gets the deadly dragon?')

Since they were flying in front of the group, Drogon was the first to catch the queen's attention as he fired a blast straight at the back of her head. They sailed into view of the Vikings, who stared at them wide-eyed in shock. They were too focused on the danger at hand to notice the warriors' reactions, though. Hiccup called out a warning as they flew in biting distance: "Ruff, Tuff! Watch your backs! Move, Fishlegs!" he added hastily.

"Look at us! We're on a dragon!" Tuffnut cheered. "We're on dragons! All of us!"

The new riders were understandably still shaky, but were holding on quite well for beginners. They did an about-turn over the burning ships to regroup and hit at a new angle.

"Up!" Hiccup ordered, his voice even louder than the battle. Dany's hands tightened on the spike she was holding to resist the urge to plug her ears. "Let's move it!" When they got to the apex of their ascent, the boy called out: "Fishlegs, break it down!"

"Okay. Heavily armored skull and tail made for bashing and crushing! Steer clear of both. Small eyes, large nostrils! Relies on hearing and smell!"

Although it may not seem like it, all dragons had at least one weakness. The blonde appreciated Fishlegs' ability to read dragons, especially without the experience that she had. The lack of senses would make it easier to distract the dragon— long enough to find Toothless, at least.

"Okay, 'Lout, 'Legs! Hang in its blind spot, make noise, keep it confused!" Hiccup decided. "Ruff, Tuff, Astrid, find out if it has a shot limit! Make it mad!"

Ruffnut grinned eagerly. "That's my specialty."

"Since when?" her brother demanded. "Everyone knows I'm more irritating!" He spun upside down on his Zippleback head and made a face. "See?"

"Just do what I told you!" the brunet ordered exasperatedly. "We'll be back as soon as we can!"

With that, Dany gratefully turned away from the source of the noise and flew to the burning ships. The water was littered with broken and splintered pieces of wood, both from the catapults and the ships themselves. Dany could feel that time was running out to find the Night Fury as the flames ate at more of the ships. Her eyes stung with smoke and it was hard to breathe, but she kept her gaze focused on the decks below in the hopes of seeing a lone black spot.

Hiccup was the one to catch sight of his friend just as Drogon was turning in the air. He pointed towards one of the ships. "There!"

A figure writhed on the rapidly crumbling remains of a boat, attempting to break away from the restraints. Dany circled around and aimed for the Night Fury despite the heat. Hiccup carefully stood up on Drogon's back, using the girl's shoulders to keep his balance until they were just close enough for him to jump down onto the last few planks of the ship. He landed on the deck with a grunt as Drogon's large wings unintentionally fanned the flames around them. Seeing as this was more of a hindrance, he waved to the girl. "Go help the others!"

Dany wasn't sure which area of the battle was easier to stand, but she knew that she couldn't be of help to him. She gave him a reluctant nod before she turned her dragon back towards the queen. While they'd been gone, Snotlout and Fishlegs had gotten busy with their shields and had been making noise to distract her. The Red Death was getting disoriented, but it was also affecting their dragons.

The Monstrous Nightmare had had enough of his rider's antics and threw him bodily onto the queen. His shield slid off her smooth scales and broke into pieces on the ground below. The boy himself only barely managed to grab one of the queen's spikes to keep himself from following the same fate. Fishlegs' dragon buzzed around in confused circles, completely out of his control.

"I've lost power on the Gronckle!" He tossed the other boy his mallet. "Snotlout, do something!" He finished his words with a scream at his uncontrolled descent until he crashed into the rocky ground moments later. "I'm okay!" The Gronckle followed seconds after his crash and flipped over, landing on top of him. "Less okay!"

Agitated by their continued attacks, the Red Death took a step forward in Fishlegs' direction, placing her large, clawed foot dangerously close to him. Snotlout came in to save his friend by hitting the each of the queen's eyes. "I can't miss! What's wrong, buddy? Got something in your eye?"

The Red Death let out a furious roar— one that Dany couldn't help but cover her ears for. Astrid flew towards Snotlout's side to cheer him on. "Yeah! You're the Viking!"

The boy heard her praise and paused in his task to grin at her stupidly. The lack of focus cost him as the queen tilted her head and his loose grip caused him to fall. Dany saw her chance then, and swooped in as she returned her hands to the spike in front of her. Snotlout once again only barely managed to catch the edge of the queen's spike as he dangled hundreds of feet in the air. Drogon flapped right underneath him, the tip of his wings scraping against the queen's face.

"Jump!" Dany called up to him.

"You're crazy!"

She shrugged. "Apparently that's what my family's known for! But I will catch you— I promise!"

Snotlout looked between the Red Death's rolling, furious eyes and gnashing teeth and Drogon's calm presence underneath him. He met the blonde's eyes and saw her sincerity; she had every intention of saving him. So, he let go.

The fall was brief and he landed with a grunt on Drogon's back, which was much spikier than he'd been expecting. The blonde steered her dragon away from the queen and towards safer ground. Snotlout had to admit that he admired Drogon's quiet strength, which was so different compared to the Monstrous Nightmare's flashy power.

Dany made the mistake of looking in the direction of the boats just as the queen's clubbed tail crashed through them. Her stomach dropped as her heart leapt into her throat. She tried to peer through the gloom of the smoke for her friends. "No!"

She landed Drogon on the rocky ground and kept her gaze fixed on the fleet. Stoick dove into the water after his son and his dragon, but the seconds seemed to stretch out as she waited for them to resurface. Behind her, Snotlout raised his voice above the battle as he tried to be reassuring: "Don't worry! I'm sure they're fine!"

The girl refused to take flight again until she was sure that Hiccup and Toothless were okay— and she supposed the chief, too. Finally, finally, Stoick burst from the water with a very limp Hiccup, who coughed as he lay on the rocks. His father dove back in once more only this time, Toothless shot out of the water holding the chief, who landed next to his son. The weight in her chest lifted and, despite the chaos around her, she smiled with relief.

"Hey, how do I get off this thing?" Snotlout called out. To be honest, she'd completely forgotten that he was there.

"Use his spikes," the blonde explained as she pointed to her usual footholds.

The boy climbed down much more clumsily than she did, but soon he was on solid ground. He sent her his version of what he thought was a charming grin once again and gave her a two-fingered salute. "Thanks for the save. I owe you one."

"Don't mention it!" she shouted in reply as Drogon took off.

Astrid was the first to notice their return, though Hiccup's was far more notable. "He's up!"

As they regrouped, the dragon opened its mouth and began an impossibly long inhale, as if she was determined to fill her large lungs completely with air. Astrid was caught in the draft and her Deadly Nadder flapped desperately to keep them from being swallowed by the queen's long, gummy throat. Astrid let out a terrified yell as she struggled to hold on to her dragon. Just as she neared the Red Death's pointy teeth, there was the familiar whistle of rising air pressure.

"Night Fury! Get down!" Gobber shouted— out of habit— from below.

Toothless and Hiccup came at bullet speed towards the dragon and let out a violet blast. Astrid and the Deadly Nadder were freed from the current of stinky breath, but the girl had lost her grip and fell through the air. Once again, Dany was happy to be on rescue patrol as Drogon sailed right underneath the falling girl to catch her on his back. (Although she didn't particularly like Astrid, Dany was also not about to be responsible for the death of one of Hiccup's friends.)

Drogon's claws slid against the smooth pebbles at their abrupt landing. Astrid climbed down more easily than Snotlout had and nodded to her in appreciation. That left only Dany and Hiccup on their dragons, which the pair quickly realized as they met up in the sky.

"What's the plan now?" the girl asked, willing to go along with anything he had as the overwhelming noise made it too hard for her to think.

Hiccup studied the queen for a moment. "That thing has wings! Do you think it can use them?" He glanced at the blonde with an uncharacteristically mischievous look on his face. "Care to do the honors?"

Dany patted her dragon's scales and firmly commanded: "Drogon, aldrnari."*

Drogon let out a long blast of flame at the queen's face, which did nothing but draw her attention to them. Together, the two dragon riders aimed for the sky. They flew higher, at first just out of reach of the queen's teeth, and then completely above her, causing her mouth to snap closed on nothing but air. Irritated, the Red Death stretched her neck upwards as she tried to grab at them, coming up empty each time.

The girl turned her dragon's great body around to face the queen once more and repeated the order. The second blast caused the other dragon to stumble backwards. She roared with frustration as they continued to play cat-and-mouse. It took her a few rounds, but eventually she realized that they weren't going to let her go easily. In response, she opened her great, leathery wings, which were frayed on the edges due to age.

As Daenerys returned to where Hiccup was waiting, she didn't dare look back in case the queen was right on the tail. "Did that do it?"

The boy's eyes widened as its monstrous shape emerged in the clouds. The pair allowed the dragon to give chase as he responded, "well, she can fly!"

The dragon behind them roared angrily as it followed them between the sea-stacks. While Toothless navigated between them, Drogon flew up and over each one. Dany only just barely managed to pull him out of the way of falling rocks as the Red Death's body crashed against the pillars. The Vikings on the shore cheered them on as they flew around the harbor, though their encouraging shouts were lost amongst the queen's roars.

The blonde could feel that her dragon was tiring much faster than the Night Fury due to their different endurances. Drogon was falling behind as Toothless kept pace, causing them to be closer to the queen's mouth. She knew that, as great and powerful as he was, Drogon was not built for speed. She raised her voice over the wind: "Hiccup! We can't keep this up! We have to go higher!"

"Higher?" he repeated, too focused on steering his dragon to follow.

"The clouds!" she elaborated. "We need to get lost in them!"

He nodded in response and they shot upwards towards the sky. The Red Death followed them right on their heels. It opened its great mouth in preparation for a blast. "Here it comes!"

Toothless and Drogon veered out of the way just in time, heat skimming against them as the fire shot towards the clouds. Both dragon's wings flapped fiercely to keep the gap between them and the Red Death comfortably wide. The dark clouds helped their dragons blend in and soon the mist covered them entirely. The queen looked around in confusion at the loss of her prey, but the Vikings on the beach could still hear her roars.

Just as she began to give up, the Night Fury whistled by in a blur of black before a violet plasma blast caught her attention. The hit landed on her wing, which caught fire. A second blast, this time a brilliant orange-yellow, aimed for her other side. Hiccup and Dany worked together and repeated the shots without giving their enemy time to think. The Red Death shot more fire at them, which they had to navigate through to keep up their attacks.

Drogon held up well against the queen, but Toothless' weakness was visible: Hiccup flew too close to the flame and his prosthetic tail caught on fire. "Okay, time's up!"

They wheeled around and flew parallel to the queen's back. "Come on! Is that the best you can do?"

This time on their way back down, Dany flew in front of Toothless in the hopes of catching him if he faltered. The Red Death's teeth snapped behind only mere feet away. Toothless' quickly destabilizing tail made him falter. Hiccup gripped the front of his saddle tighter, the sight of Drogon in front of them giving him a last boost of confidence. "Stay with me, buddy. Just a bit longer."

Their descent continued as they went down, down, down. He could barely see Dany in front of them, but her silvery-blonde hair was still visible amongst the dark clouds. Her flower crown was long gone, but her hair streamed out from behind her as she leaned close on Drogon's back. Digging in for any remaining strength, he tried to encourage his dragon: "hold, Toothless."

As the Red Death opened her mouth and orange light began to glow inside, he shouted: "now!"

They whirled around to face her and made her swallow a plasma blast. It lit her up from the inside and burned her throat on its way down. The memory of the Terrible Terror puffing out due to Toothless' retaliation was they key aspect of his plan.

The ground neared faster than he would have liked it to, but it was satisfying to watch the fire burn the queen from inside out. She landed nose-first onto the pebbled ground in a great explosion of smoke and fire. The Vikings that were too close to the blast covered their eyes as they got blown backwards.

Dany pulled Drogon up short as she watched the eruption in horror. Toothless raced to outpace the flames as they chased him down the dragon's back, but his flying wasn't as controlled due to his missing prosthetic. The girl felt her blood pulse in her ears and in this moment, she was more afraid than she had been during the entire battle. It wasn't even so much about the noise anymore; the terror she felt at the thought of losing Hiccup— her first and only friend— cut through her.

She saw it before it happened: just as he and Toothless rose up high enough to be safe, the Red Death's clubbed tail swung back around to knock them apart. Drogon flapped just above the flames, close enough the he could catch the Night Fury if she acted now— but she knew Toothless wouldn't forgive her if she prevented him from saving Hiccup. Dragons were fireproof, after all.

Scratch that, she wouldn't forgive herself. It only took her a second to come to the conclusion, but she'd survived a burning house when she was a baby. She was the blood of the dragon— and she was strong. Without another thought, she stood on Drogon's back and leapt into the flames.

Her fingers stretched out to catch Hiccup before he fell too far. She felt the heat against her skin and the burn of smoke in her eyes and lungs, but she refused to give up. Miraculously, she was able to grasp his wrist and pull the boy to her. Dany struggled to turn them in the air so that she hit the flames first, buying Toothless time to get to them. The Night Fury folded in his wings to reach them, seeming to understand her thought process. Drogon circled the explosion anxiously, letting out frustrated roars as he was prevented from getting to his mother.

*Aldrnari - old Norse word for fire. My take on Dany's 'dracarys' in GOT.