Chapter Text
"Here they come!" Astrid called as Hiccup and Toothless rounded the flag marker.
Dany used her hand to shield her eyes against the sun as she looked up to where the pair whizzed past above them. As usual, Fishlegs stood at the sundial to keep their time.
"Yep, that's a new course record!" he announced.
When they landed, Hiccup hopped out of Toothless' saddle, looking at their timekeeper hopefully. "So, how'd we do?"
"Technically, you're still the fastest," Fishlegs said. "But someone— and I won't mention who— is gaining significant ground."
The brunet looked around in confusion, first to the twins, who'd gotten bored and were banging their helmets together. "Don't look at us!"
He then (almost habitually) glanced at Dany, who smiled in a flattered sort of way. "I wish, but it's not us, either. You know Drogon's not built for speed."
The large dragon lowered his head to let out a puff of warm air next to her ear in an affectionate gesture, grateful that his mother understood him for who he was. The boy's gaze then slid to the only remaining candidate— Astrid. She reached up and scratched Stormfly under the chin with a sidelong glance in his direction. Out of options, he turned back to Fishlegs. "How can that be? How can Toothless be getting slower?"
"He's not," the other boy told him. "Stormfly's getting faster."
"Oh really?" he asked the blonde as casually as he could. "Is that so? Anything you'd like to share, Astrid?"
"Let's just say I'm taking some of Dany's advice to experiment with what she eats," she answered smoothly, placing her hands on her hips defiantly. "Apparently, it's working. . . and making you mad."
Hiccup's gaze returned to the other girl, his tone taking on a lilting, teasing note. "Astrid's the one getting free advice? And what about me, milady? Are you trying to make me lose?"
Dany quickly became flustered as all of the attention was suddenly turned on her, and she ducked her head to stare at her bare feet. "I— well, Astrid just asked what was the best way to increase speed naturally, so. . . I told her?" Her reply turned upward at the end, as if she wasn't really sure she had been supposed to (as she wasn't entirely sure if he was joking or not.) "I mean, if I'm not going to win, I might do everything I can in support of girl power."
"That's what I'm talking about!" Astrid cheered, moving closer to the blonde with her palm outstretched for a high-five. Daenerys lightly tapped her hand in response, with far less force than what accompanied the usual gesture.
"Oh, I see how it is," Hiccup continued in the same tone, a faint smile turning his lips upward. "What do I have to do to get you on my side again?"
The Targaryen still refused to look anywhere in his direction, though the telltale sign of her face turning pink was enough to show how pleased she was by his question. "Um. . ." Uncertain as to whether he actually meant to get an answer, she hesitated a second too long before the moment was lost.
His usual obnoxious laugh preceded him as the remaining member of the Dragon Academy came soaring into the arena. Snotlout greeted them all with: "you will not believe what I just found."
"A severed head?" Tuffnut guessed hopefully.
His sister was quick to chime in with, "our cousin, Lars?"
"Our cousin Lars' severed head?"
"Lars died?" Fishlegs gasped.
Tuffnut looked around in confusion. "Who said that?"
Dany could only sigh and bury her face in her hand for a minute. Sometimes she didn't understand how the twins hadn't fallen off the side of a cliff or something. The singular braincell they shared seemed to be running on fumes as it died a slow and painful death inside their heads. Luckily she wasn't given long to ponder on their stupidity (which would have given her a headache) as Snotlout grew impatient with their back-and-forth questioning.
"Ex-cuse me. Do you want to see this or not?"
--
Snotlout's "surprise" turned out to be on a beachy island not far away from Berk's shores. Tuffnut was the most disappointed out of all of them at the apparently uninteresting find. (Dany was just relieved that— this time, at least— Snotlout's "surprise" didn't include (again, at least) one of them risking death or dismemberment.)
"Heh. A wrecked boat on Berk? There's something new," Tuffnut mocked.
The shorter boy's enthusiasm wouldn't be dampened as he approached the pile of splintered wood. He turned to call over his shoulder: "just remember I saw it first, so it's mine."
He ducked underneath the sail and gestured for them to come forward. As the group moved towards the boat, Dany lingered in the back, both to keep herself from being surrounded by too many people and to avoid looking at. . . whatever he'd found, since it was probably something disgusting if he was so excited about it. She did hear Tuffnut's suddenly interested, "whoa. Now I like the boat."
"Remember, I get to keep her."
She made a face at Snotlout's comment (as she initially thought he might have found an animal— and she felt sorry for the poor thing, to suddenly be sentenced to Snotlout's care), which turned into a grimace of disgust when Astrid's retribution followed: "Snotlout, it's a person."
Dany took a careful step away from the teen in question, eyeing him warily as he exclaimed, "right? How lucky is that?"
There was some commotion after that as the girl woke, though the blonde wasn't too keen on getting any closer to a stranger. Toothless got a little eager and tried to run forward to sniff at the entrance. Hiccup gently pushed his friend away while reassuring the girl, "oh, d-don't be afraid. He won't hurt you. Come out. It's okay. Easy, bud."
The brunet held out his hands to carefully guide Toothless away from the opening. It was then that Dany saw the girl for the first time: she had long, dark hair that was braided over one shoulder and bright green eyes. She took in her surroundings warily, clearly (and understandably) uncertain about the Viking teens who'd found her. The Targaryen's eyes narrowed slightly as she took in the stranger who, despite being found in a shipwreck, showed no visible signs of injury except for possible dehydration.
The girl's interest, of course, was taken by Hiccup's interaction with the Night Fury. "How did you do that?" she asked softly.
Dany scoffed a little, earning the newcomer's attention. "That? That's nothing. He learned everything he knows from me." (Which, okay, wasn't the whole truth, but there was something. . . off about this girl and it was setting her on edge.)
The brunette's eyes widened with curiosity. "You can do that to?"
"I did it first," the blonde corrected her haughtily.
"Hey!" Snotlout cut in, "be nice to the new girl, Dany." He turned to the brunette as the Targaryen made another face at him, this time for using the nickname that he wasn't allowed to use. "Watch this. Hookfang, get your butt over here!" His Monstrous Nightmare looked up at him for a moment before he turned around and flew away. "Heh heh heh. He'll be back. Jokester. Oh! Just so you know, I'm the one who rescued you."
Hiccup shot the blonde a 'what are you doing?' look as he quickly changed the subject to introduce himself. "And I would be Hiccup."
"Heather," she answered in a small voice.
Ignoring the boy's reproachful glance, Daenerys crossed her arms against her chest as she glared at the so-called Heather. Thankfully, Astrid seemed to be on her side as she questioned the girl shortly: "so, Heather, what happened to you?"
"Yeah," Dany agreed in a similar tone. "Why did we find you at a shipwreck site but you aren't even hurt? And why are you alone? Where are your parents?"
Heather's expression became downcast and her grip tightened on the clay drinking cup she held. "My family and I were on our way home to our island, but our boat was attacked by pirates."
"I wanna be a pirate," Tuffnut interjected. Everyone turned to stare at him as he continued his usual off-topic opinion. "Or a fish cleaner. I'm still on the fence."
Astrid cleared her throat and gestured for the girl to keep going. "You were saying?"
She sniffled a little. "They attacked our boat and took us back to our island, laying siege to it. I was able to escape, but my mother and father. . . they weren't so lucky."
Now, normally Dany would have felt like a jerk (or at least as inconsiderate as Snotlout) after having questioned someone so callously about their deceased parents, but she couldn't bring herself to feel bad or even apologize. Her features remained as stony as ever as she stared at the girl impassively. Her frown only deepened as the girl's sob-story seemed to touch on the hearts of the surrounding boys.
Even Tuffnut became more sensitive as he burst out: "stupid pirates. I'm definitely gonna be a fish cleaner."
Hiccup reached out to place a comforting hand on Heather's shoulder while he shot Dany a 'why would you say something like that, you should apologize' look. "Hey, everything's gonna be okay. My dad's the chief. We'll figure something out."
In return, the Targaryen squared her shoulders as her violet eyes flashed defiantly, answering him with a clear, 'I WON'T!'
As everyone headed back to their dragons (Dany was gratified to see Heather give Drogon a nervous once-over), the two suspicious blondes checked the wreck site more thoroughly for any clues, but there was nothing to be found. They shared a skeptical look before following the others to their own dragons.
Heather looked surprisingly comfortable on the back of a Night Fury— a little too comfortable as she had her arms wrapped lightly around Hiccup's waist. Dany shot her another irritated glare, suddenly feeling the need to reassert her position in the group. Before she took off, she called over to the brunet: "hey, Hiccup, do you want me to give you tips on how you and Toothless can get through the course faster?"
He looked over at her, a little surprised. "I thought that was a girls' secret sort of thing?"
She shrugged. "I changed my mind. Meet me tomorrow morning?"
"We'll be there," he assured her, which made warmth burst in her stomach.
Wanting to show off (now mostly for Hiccup rather than Heather), she leaned forward on Drogon's back. The shift in her weight signaled to him that she was ready to fly, so he launched into motion. The large dragon took several thundering bounds, and just before they would splash into the sea, he spread his wings wide to let the updraft send them soaring into the sky.
The Targaryen smirked a little as Heather's "whoa!" reached her ears.
--
Later that night, after Stoick had agreed to house Heather for the time being, Hiccup showed the girl up to his room, which was where she'd be staying. "Alright, just this way, watch your step. And, here we are."
She looked around the room gratefully, as if it had been a long time since she'd been able to sleep somewhere safe. It made him feel a bit sorry for her and he wished that he could do more to help. This seemed to be enough for her, as she said, "it was nice of your father to let me stay here."
"Until we can find you a safe place to go, consider Berk your home."
"Wow." She moved over to his desk and stared at the blueprints he had pinned up there. "What are these? They're really cool."
"A new saddle for Toothless," he explained. "We're trying to get some extra speed so we can stay on top of Astrid and Stormfly. Astrid's very competitive."
Her gaze moved up and little to the left of the drawings, to the shelf above his bed. "You collect rocks?"
"No!" he answered, perhaps a little too quickly, and he blushed. "I— well, I don't. Um, they're. . . presents. From Dany," he finished awkwardly. "The blonde girl with the big dragon."
"Oh," Heather replied in her soft voice, her expression becoming a little downcast. "The one who doesn't like me."
"Don't worry about her," Hiccup told her reassuringly. "Dany's suspicious of everyone new that she meets. She almost killed me when we first met, you know?"
The brunette looked a bit startled (and nervous— not that he blamed her.) "Really?"
"I don't think she would have now," he added, "but I wasn't so sure back then."
The dark-haired girl reached to gently pick up the one non-rock thing that was on the shelf, which was the carving that Dany had made for him last Snoggletog. He hastily cupped his hands underneath hers as she held the small statue, half-afraid that Heather might accidentally drop it. "Be careful with that one," he requested, a bit desperately.
She glanced at him curiously. "Another gift from Dany?"
"I— yeah," he admitted, now blushing for a different reason as he recalled how some sort of strange, wild courage had taken hold of him that had allowed him to kiss her on the cheek. (He still didn't know where it had come from, or if it would ever reappear again.) "She worked so hard on it. I didn't even know that she was making it for me."
Still feeling worried about Heather's hold on his most prized possession, he gently freed it from her fingers to return it to its place. "It's my favorite thing that I own."
"I guess I just don't know what you see in her. Isn't she. . . strange?"
"Dany isn't strange!" Hiccup replied, immediately defensive. He shook his head, his tone softening slightly at the girl's wide-eyed look. "At least, don't call her that. There's a lot of good things about her. She's loyal, and she likes dragons more than anyone I know; she's very protective of them. She's. . . sweet— well, sometimes. A lot of the time— and. . . she's Dany," he finished with a shrug, feeling extremely awkward at having to describe his best friend.
The brunette frowned a bit, causing him to study her expression with confusion as she asked hesitantly, "you speak very fondly of her. Is she. . . are you two. . . you know. . . together?"
His face felt even hotter than before. "Oh, no," he (again) said too quickly. "She's just a very good friend." He cleared his throat, suddenly desperate to change the subject. "Uhh. . . Do you need anything? Some warm yak milk, a nice fish stew. . .?"
Her features cleared and she chuckled. "No. Thank you, Hiccup. I'm-I'm really tired. It's been a long day."
"Right." He stood there for a moment, not quite sure what to do. "Okay, come on, Toothless. We're sleeping downstairs." He had started to make my way down, when Heather called out to him.
"Hey, Hiccup?"
"Yes?"
"Thanks."
He smiled, feeling some of the flush returning to his cheeks. "Sleep well, Heather."
--
That night, Dany decided to stay with Astrid as she felt the need to rant to someone about how irritating Heather's soft voice was, how infuriating her innocent act had caused so many of the boys (Hiccup included) fall at her feet, how annoying it was that she still looked beautiful even after being shipwrecked. She kept up a nonstop stream of hate towards the brunette as she followed Astrid around while her friend did her chores.
"I just don't get why Hiccup is being so nice to her. We don't know anything about her! She could be a spy, or a-a secret agent, or—"
"Wouldn't a spy and a secret agent be the same thing?" Astrid commented mildly as she prepared the chicken for Stormfly's dinner.
Dany shot her an aggravated look. She crossed her arms and leaned against the doorframe as she glared into the shadowy recess of the Hofferson's barn, imaging the expression being directed at Heather. "That's not even the point! We just found her in the middle of nowhere—"
"Off of Berk's shores isn't really the middle of nowhere," the blonde cut in again, earning herself another scowl.
"Whatever. I'm just saying that we shouldn't be so gung-ho about inviting a new person into our group when we don't know anything about them. What about the dragons? They've already been targets before. Introducing Heather to them might put them more at risk! Is Hiccup even thinking about that?" She carried on without waiting for her friend to answer, her tone becoming even more sarcastic, "no, of course not, since he drops logic and reasoning at the sight of the first pretty face he sees! Just because Heather looks innocent doesn't mean—"
"—she is," Astrid finished, rolling her eyes as she hefted the chicken bucket onto her hip. "I know, you've said. Are you going to complain the whole evening or do we get to talk about something else?"
The Targaryen huffed and crossed her arms more tightly against her chest as she followed the other girl over to the Deadly Nadder. Drogon was resting outside since the barn would be too confining for him (besides, it was too small, but that was besides the fact.) "Fine. If you have anything interesting to talk about, I'm all ears."
"Eat up, girl," the other teen said to her dragon instead. "When Hiccup realizes that this is Dany's improved dinner, he'll be eating our dust."
Slightly mollified by the fact that Astrid wasn't nearly as taken with the new girl as everyone else was, Dany allowed a small smile to form on her face as she watched Stormfly eat. The companionable silence that followed, broken only by the dragon's chewing, was disturbed by a sudden, loud thud!
Stormfly startled, her pupils narrowing as she looked around with alarm. Drogon raised his head and turning it towards the noise, his flame-orange eyes contracting as he focused on the direction of where the sound came from. Both of the girls stilled for a moment before Astrid murmured, "what is it?" Then, she turned to her dragon to whisper, "you stay here." She gestured for the other girl to follow her.
Dany wasted no time in doing so, keeping close to the other blonde as the Deadly Nadder went back to eating her dinner. They peered around the corner of the building, straining to see anything in the darkness. The outline of a lithe shape moving quickly against the homes across the way caught their attention, and the Hofferson let out a sharp, "hey!"
Although the figure didn't stop, Daenerys squinted at movement of the light brown clothes. With complete certainty, she breathed out, "Heather."
--
The next morning, Dany waited on the shore for Hiccup to arrive. She could feel the different textures of stones underneath her bare feet as the water lapped at her toes, chilling them only slightly. Drogon shifted next to her, his breath steaming in the morning air. After what felt like hours, the sound of someone flying caught her attention— but not in the way she'd hoped.
Instead of the usual whoosh of the Night Fury's sonic blast, a girl's laugh giggled out from above her. She shielded her gaze with her hand against the rising sun only to see a sight that made her stomach drop. Heather. Of course it was Heather. Stupid Heather, who'd taken her place by Hiccup's side. Heather, who was now riding Toothless like she'd been the first one to meet him, the first get him on the road to recovery. Heather, whose arms were wrapped around the brunet's waist as they spun loop-the-loops in the sky in what should've been Dany's position.
Daenerys had never, ever wished to be someone else but for the first time in her entire life, she wished that she was Heather.
"You have got to be kidding me," she grumbled. Her stomach both felt nauseous at the sight of Hiccup-and-Heather and tangled up in knots at the same time.
Angrily, she chose a large stone at random and hurled it as hard as she could into the water. Even its loud kur-plunk! wasn't enough to cheer her up.
--
Forgoing her morning with Hiccup, she decided to arrive at the Academy early, though her mood hadn't improved despite her flight there. While she wasn't typically a grumpy person and she didn't like being angry, there was something about Hiccup-and-Heather (maybe it was the way their names sounded together?) that made her infuriated. Her annoyance was so palpable that even the twins picked up on her feelings.
Astrid, who'd been sharpening her axe, looked up at the girl's arrival. Her cheerful greeting died on her lips at the sight of the blonde's expression. "Heather again?"
"Of course it's Heather again!" Dany exclaimed. "Hiccup was supposed to meet me this morning and he completely bailed to fly Heather around the island!"
"Dany, he's just showing her around—" the Hofferson began, a note of impatience in her tone.
"What, so she can do some more sneaking around? Yeah, that's right," she added as her words caught the others' attention. "We saw her sneaking around the Hofferson's last night! She's up to something."
Astrid sighed. "Not this again. It's all you could talk about before bed yesterday. She probably just couldn't sleep."
"So then why did she run off when we called out to her?" Dany challenged.
"Maybe because you were being aggressive," Snotlout put in. "After all, someone as beautiful as she is needs a gentleman's touch."
The blonde stopped sharpening her axe to grimace at him. "I hope you don't mean yourself."
"I can be gentlemanly! Gentleman-like. Whatever. Are we going to train or not?" he asked impatiently.
"Yeah," Fishlegs agreed from where he was giving Meatlug affection. "Where's Hiccup?"
Dany scoffed, a very un-Dany-like sound that caused everyone to turn to her in surprise. She pointed upwards. "Giving a private lesson."
The boy gasped hopefully. "I didn't know he gave private lessons! Can. . . anybody get in on that?"
The Targaryen's voice was flat as she replied, "apparently, just her."
Astrid glanced at the girl with silvery-blonde hair, a knowing look in her eyes. Although Dany had made her promise not to say anything, she was more tempted than ever to point out how jealous her friend was over Hiccup's change in riding partners. She'd never seen the other girl so openly envious of someone, though to be fair, there wasn't much competition in the village. Ruffnut wasn't exactly. . . interested in romance right now and Astrid, well. . . boys weren't really her preference. So, Heather was the first person their age to be. . . extremely friendly with Hiccup, besides Dany herself. It was definitely interesting to see how her best friend reacted to what was going on.
Ruffnut, unusually for her personality, seemed to pick up on this as well. She gave the other girl a similarly interested look. Having made no such promises to Dany, she taunted the blonde, "uh-oh. Looks like there's a hen in the rooster house."
"Uh-oh," her brother echoed from his position, where he was lying on his back on Belch's neck. "Yeah. Another rooster in the hen house— wait, what?" He sat up, confused.
"Nothing," Dany said quickly, feeling her face flame at Ruffnut's words. She quieted as others became involved in the conversation. "Ruffnut— and I know Astrid agrees with her— thinks I'm jealous, which I'm not. There's nothing to be jealous of. Hiccup and I are just friends."
"Oh," the other teen nodded in agreement, though his next words showed how off-base he really was: "wait, of who? Of me? Wait. . . am I the rooster? Or the hen?"
The Targaryen merely sighed, not wanting to get into a discussion that was totally not worth it. There wasn't even a point to this conversation; she wasn't jealous and the girls were completely wrong. She ignored Astrid's slightly smug look and Ruffnut's mocking one. Thankfully, Hiccup finally decided to grace them with his presence as he landed Toothless neatly in the ring. Dany turned her back on him— literally— and turned to face her dragon. Drogon lowered his great head so she could reach his snout, where she gently scratched at the scales around his nose.
"Top of the morning, class," he greeted them as he and Heather got off Toothless. "How's everyone doing today?"
"Oh, nice of you to show up," Astrid replied dryly. Knowing her best friend's tendency to stew about things but not bring them up to defend herself, she jabbed a finger in the girl's direction. "You know, you were supposed to meet Dany this morning." She ignored the blonde's embarrassed hiss of 'Astrid!'
Hiccup smacked his hand to his forehead at the realization. "Oh! We were supposed to meet up!" He winced, eyeing the girl who had yet to turn back around. "Dany. . . I am so sorry."
Dany's focus remained on Drogon, who chuffed slightly at the attention she was giving him. He nudged her hand as if to say you should forgive him. She narrowed her eyes at him in response. As if!
Sensing the tension, Snotlout couldn't help but chime in with, "awk-ward!"
Then, of course, Tuffnut finally had to have epiphany, where he exclaimed, "oh! Dany is jealous of the pretty one, right? Why talk about hens and roosters?"
The Targaryen stiffened at his comparison of her to Heather. While she had never cared much for Tuffnut's opinion of her, it was kind of a smack in the face that even he preferred the new girl over her.
Tuffnut's comment certainly didn't help the situation, so Astrid changed the subject, asking the brunette pointedly, "so, Heather, sleep well?"
Heather only smiled sweetly, not giving anything away about her evening activities. "Very well. Thank you, Astrid." She turned to stare in awe at the arena. "So, this is it? Your dragon training academy?"
"No, our dragon training academy," Tuffnut corrected her. "Remember, I called you the pretty one."
Ruffnut gave her twin a grossed-out look at his attempt to impress Heather. Dany made a face as well, frustrated by the fact that even someone like Tuffnut wanted Heather to like him. Why were all of her friends suddenly so obsessed with the new girl?
"We've been training the dragons to become part of our everyday lives," Hiccup explained, choosing to ignore the other boy's comment.
"And it all goes right in here." Fishlegs held up the Book of Dragons in front of Heather, trying to show it off as well.
Dany frowned at his efforts, too. When she'd been new, none of them had particularly tried to impress her. In fact, all she'd gotten was an invasion of personal space! They were even affording Heather more respect than they had when they'd met her! Snotlout and Ruffnut had both called her crazy, and certainly no one had called her pretty. The contrast between then and now was so different it was hard to believe that the reactions came from the same group of friends. Feeling peeved by this realization, Dany crossed her arms and glared at her bare toes.
"Really? Everything?"
"Mmm, yep," Fishlegs confirmed. "I'm kind of the Log Keeper. Log Master, really."
"He writes down what Hiccup tells them, too," Snotlout interjected, not wanting to be shown up.
"I add my own spin, thank you."
Obviously interested by this, Heather reached forward eagerly. "Can I see it?"
Dany jerked at the question as she felt the now-familiar white-hot anger flare up within her whenever Heather did something especially annoying. She whirled away from Drogon and strode over to yank the book from Fishlegs' arms. What right did Heather have to see all of their dragon secrets? She knew nothing about them, and could even use the information against them! Over Dany's dead body would she bring harm to any of the dragons that lived on Berk, especially after fighting so hard for peace.
"I'll take that, thank you." She nodded sharply in the direction of one of the old stalls. "Hiccup, a word?" she asked, though it was more of a command as she stalked off.
She clutched the book protectively to her chest as she faced him, her tone urgent but less harsh as she spoke again: "Hiccup, I don't think we should be showing her all our dragon secrets."
He seemed to suddenly understand her wariness about the other girl and gave her a smile that was supposed to be encouraging, but really just angered her more. "Dany, it's fine."
"It's not 'fine!'" she insisted, her fingers curling around the book's edges. "You don't know anything about her! She could put the dragons in danger. Why can't you trust me on this?"
The brunet reached out a hand as if to place it on her arm reassuringly before he decided against it, letting it drop back down by his side. "Dany, you know I would never let anyone hurt our dragons. And I do trust her, so you should trust me."
With that, he turned away to walk back into the ring, leaving the blonde to stare after him, dumbfounded. It was only a few weeks ago that he'd taken her side on the dragon flower without so much as a speck of proof. Now, though, hurt churned through her as he doubted her suspicions, as if her dragon knowledge meant nothing. She'd gotten so used to him taking her side without question that this sudden change was more deeply wounding than she had anticipated.
--
"Where is it? Where is it?" Heather was muttering as Dany made her way up the ladder up to the loft.
She stepped off the rungs as quietly as she could to catch the brunette unawares. "Looking for something in particular?" she asked coolly.
Heather's green eyes widened and she whipped around, startled. Daenerys stood in the entrance of the loft, framed against the darkness of the quiet house behind her. The girl's arms were crossed against her chest and there was a sharp glint in her violet eyes. Her silvery-blonde hair tumbled wildly down her back in untamed curls, though instead of making her look unkempt, it only added to her fierce appearance. The ringlet of violet flowers that decorated the crown of her head did nothing to soften her features, instead helping her to look like an avenging queen. Even her dirt-caked bare feet showed how angry she was as they were spaced shoulder-width apart in an unwavering stance.
When she caught sight of the brunette with the Book of Dragons, her voice held took on an unusually contemptuous tone as she added, "what do you think you're doing?"
Hiccup was called up not long after to keep the peace between the two girls. He gave Dany a what are you doing sort of look (again), which she ignored. "Well, are you gonna say something?"
Heather only hesitated for a moment before she came up with a quick excuse. Her voice was drastically softer than the Targaryen's as she said, "I am so, so sorry, Hiccup. I was cleaning up your room, and I found the book. I couldn't help myself."
"It's okay, Heather."
The brunet's easy allowance of the girl's actions made Dany whirl on him. "It's okay? No it isn't! I caught her with the Book of Dragons! If she wanted to read it so badly, why didn't she just come ask you?"
"Dany, come on. It's not that big a deal," he told her with a sigh. He made the mistake of glancing in her direction, though, just in time to see the hurt on her face. Although it made him feel a bit bad, he was mostly confused; why would she look like that? Had he said something wrong? (He didn't think so.)
"Really? She's been sneaking around! The book's not even the first thing I've caught her doing! Last night Astrid and I saw her sneaking around the Hofferson's."
"That was me," Heather admitted. "I couldn't sleep, so I went for a walk. I've been having terrible nightmares."
Oh, boo-hoo, Daenerys wanted to say, but didn't. Hiccup sent the girl a sympathetic look. "I can imagine."
The blonde glanced between them once before all of the fight seemed to drain right out of her. Her shoulders slumped and she nodded, as if in defeat. "Fine," she said wearily. "Fine. Whatever."
She turned and clambered back down the ladder, feeling the sting of something like rejection burning within her. (After everything. After the Red Death, and the Outcasts, and the formation of the Academy, why was the Targaryen name still on the outs? She'd tried so hard to prove her worth and for what? For it to go up in smoke for the first pretty girl with dark hair and green eyes to show that she was better than Dany in every way?)
--
Later that night, Heather put her plan into action. She slipped out the back of the chief's house and skirted around the main pathways where she might run into people. Using the darkness of the night as her cover, she made her way to the Hofferson's barn. Just like the night before, the dragons who belonged to the two blondes were resting near each other. The larger one, Drogon was stretched out so that the entire ground looked like it was just made up of scales and bulky muscle. The Deadly Nadder was just inside the barn's open doors, its eyes flickering about with apparent unease while the larger dragon slept.
The brunette approached both of them nervously, recalling what she had been able to read in the Book of Dragons before the strange girl had caught her. The Targaryen's dragon hadn't been in the Book at all; the Night Fury was the last recorded species. After that, there was nothing but blank pages. Testing the waters to find out the unknown first, Heather moved slowly towards Drogon.
He seemed largely unconcerned by her approach, but his size made her wary; his entire head was bigger than her body, let alone the rest of him. And that wasn't to mention the sharp, saliva-dripping teeth that flashed in the darkness or his great, huffing breaths of hot air. She didn't know how the Targaryen tamed him, let alone got along so well that they seemed to share the same mind and soul— but however it had happened, Heather was determined to override that connection (or, at least, make sure Drogon wouldn't attack her while she was dragon-napping Stormfly. But still— imagine if she showed up to the Outcast camp on the biggest dragon any of them had ever seen!)
She was still several feet away from the Targaryen's dragon, who apparently didn't consider her a threat as he had yet to wake from his slumber. Satisfied that he would stay that way, she turned her attention to the other dragon. She murmured the facts she'd memorized under her breath: "approach the Deadly Nadder slowly. . ."
Unfortunately, it wasn't slow enough as Stormfly reacted aggressively, swinging her tail out to show Heather her spikes. The brunette flinched at the reaction. "Spines! Just like the book said. Stay in the blind spot. . ." She reached into her bag to pull out a chicken drumstick, which she offered to the dragon.
She sniffed at it with interest, her nostrils flaring as she took in the scent. Unbeknownst to Heather, Drogon had sensed the chicken as well, but instead of being enticed by it, he opened one, suspicious flame-orange eye to watch the proceedings skeptically. His head lifted slightly from the ground, though not enough to catch the girl's attention.
"I hear you like that," the brunette said encouragingly to Astrid's dragon. Stormfly made a squawking noise as she retracted her tail spikes.
She took the food eagerly, her teeth crunching loudly on the bones. Trusting that the treat would work, Heather tentatively reached up to pet the Deadly Nadder on the snout. But, she'd forgotten one thing: the ever-watchful presence of a much larger, much more dangerous dragon.
Her palm rose, completely flat, as she went to rest it on between the dragon's nostrils— but that was the last mistake she would make.
Faster than she could have ever guessed, Drogon shot awake to full alertness. He lunged forward, towards her, and his sharp teeth snapped at her outstretched hand.
Heather let out a shriek and jumped back, snatching her hand away as her heart pounded harshly in her chest. The larger dragon growled, a deep, low sound that seemed to shake her right to her bones.
The brunette had never been so terrified in her life. His front fangs glinted in the moonlight. The great bulk of him seemed to grow, taller than the surrounding houses, taller than the trees, taller than a mountain, until the sky and stars were swallowed by red-black scales. Stormfly was merely a speck of blue against a never-ending shadow.
At first Heather thought that maybe Drogon wasn't so vastly frightening— were those the evening stars she was seeing again?
But no— it was his eyes, two pinpricks of bright orange that glared menacingly down at her as his snarl rumbled through the night air.
The Deadly Nadder squawked in protest— probably because she wanted more chicken— but that was the last of Heather's concerns. After all, when she jumped away to avoid losing her hand, something hard and pointy prodded at her back.
"Just what do you think you're doing?" a girl's voice asked, matching her dragon's growl with a different sort of menace in her tone.
Smartly, Heather put her hands up where the Targaryen could see them. "I'm. . . making friends with the dragons." She hated how breathlessly scared she sounded, but perhaps that could aid her in garnering some sympathy from the blonde. (Not likely, but if Hiccup were here. . .)
"At night? Do you have a habit of sneaking around or is that special just for us?"
"You're one to talk," the brunette retorted, still terrified but relieved to have some bite back in her words.
Daenerys sniffed haughtily. "It's not sneaking around when you're trying to protect your yak-dung-for-brains friends from a stranger."
"That's not a very nice way to talk about people that you care about," the other girl commented. Her green eyes stayed trained on Drogon, who had turned into a statue at the sight of his rider. She was still on the alert for any sudden movements, not trusting his stillness after she'd seen him move so quickly.
"Then it's a good thing they're not here— though I would still say it to their faces if I got the chance. Now, turn around, nice and slowly."
Heather did as she said, facing the blonde to find an arrow tip pointed straight at her chest. She smirked slightly. "Is this how you make all your friends?"
Daenerys scowled in response. "This is also how I make enemies. Answer my question. Honestly." She poked the point of her weapon at the brunette's chest, causing her to flinch at its sharpness. "Don't give me any of your 'innocent act,' either."
The brunette smiled sweetly at her, though she was still acutely aware of Drogon breathing down her neck— literally; she could feel his hot gusts of breath on her skin, which made her flesh prickle with unease. "I wouldn't dare it. You're way too smart for that."
The Targaryen's expression didn't change, and she certainly wasn't any more flattered because of the other girl's words. "If you start talking, I might not skewer you with my arrow— but that's a pretty big if. I'm considering doing it just for fun."
To her credit, Heather seemed unphased by her threat and kept that stupid, syrupy-sweet smile on her face. "I don't think Hiccup would like that very much if you murdered one of his guests. And besides, what crime can you convict me of besides making friends with your friends' dragons? I live here now, so I should understand your way of life, right?"
With those words, the girl skirted around Daenerys' arrow and stalked off into the night. Dany frowned after her at Hiccup's name-drop, realizing Heather had found her one weakness. As wild and temerarious as she was, she would never do anything that would put her friendship with the chief's son at risk.
Her bow lowered until her arrow point dragged in the dirt by her bare feet. Her gaze stayed trained on the departing path that brunette took, long after the girl herself was out of sight. There was a shift of movement next to her, reminding her of Drogon's presence. Her dragon lowered his head until his neck curled around her in a dragon-y sort of hug. She leaned against his warm scales and closed her eyes for a moment, taking comfort in her best friend's company. Because, even if the whole world turned their backs on her, even if her human friends abandoned her for a pretty, mysterious brunette, Drogon would always be there for her.
There was nothing in the world that could turn him against his mother— not bribes, or harsh actions, or interloper girls, or even an Alpha's fury, because sometimes, there were bonds that were stronger than any of those things when dragon and rider were One.
--
Dany decided not to stay at Astrid's for the remainder of the night. Instead, Drogon flew her to the forest that was in between her home and the village. There, he curled up around the edge of the clearing, so long that his entire body almost made a complete circle. The blonde sat safe and protected in the shadow of her dragon, in a pool of moonlight that shown between a break in the trees.
Her blonde hair turned even more silvery in the pale light and her skin took on the glow from the moon. She crossed her feet under her dress to keep her toes warm as she sat on the dew-damp earth. Reaching out as far as her position would allow her, she began to pluck flowers to start forming a flower crown. As she wove the stalks between her fingers, she took deep, even breaths to calm the anger that boiled inside of her.
Although she detested it, there was some truth to the myths that 'all Targaryens are mad.' After all, the rumor had to start from somewhere. She did her best to not let her anger rule over her and give in to the stereotype that tainted her family name. Her mother was, in fact, quite level-headed, except for where the protection of dragons was concerned. Dany did her best to emulate her, but that protection now also included her human friends. Her dimwitted, easily swayed human friends— but her friends nonetheless.
If things were to keep up with this pattern, she'd have to figure out other ways to outsource her frustration; flower weaving wouldn't cut it if they kept doing stupid things like showing a stranger the Book of Dragons.
She was putting the finishing touches on her flower crown— whose color remained a mystery thanks to the moonlight that washed everything in the same, pale light— when a twig snapped in the woods.
Immediately, both the girl and her dragon lifted their heads. They stayed motionless otherwise as their breathing slowed to take in the sounds around them.
A faint rustle of branches.
A flicker of a shadow across the moonlit floor.
And, for Drogon, the shift in smell; Dany, as the only human in the vicinity, blended in with their surroundings. Her scent was of the dirt and wind and salty sea. This intruder, he could sense, smelled of secrets and fear.
The Targaryen rose to her feet and motioned for her dragon to stay put, much to his chagrin— though he understood he wasn't necessarily made for flitting through the forest unobserved.
Dany followed the noises of someone unfamiliar with their surroundings, keeping to the shadows and trunks of trees she had grown up with. When the forest began to clear out, she stopped just before the edge where the land sloped to the water. She was hardly surprised to see Heather sitting on a log as she waited for men in a boat to row to shore.
The blonde quickly strung her bow and arrow as the strange men stepped onto the land. While she would never like Heather, the brunette was right; Hiccup wouldn't appreciate it if his guest was murdered and since Dany was the only spectator, it would fall on her to protect her sworn enemy.
She settled comfortably against the fallen trunk and rested her bow against its bark, taking aim at the man who appeared to be the leader. He spoke in a gruff voice as he questioned the girl, "what have you learned about the dragons?"
"I've learned a lot, Savage," the brunette replied quickly. Dany scoffed under her breath and lowered her weapon. Of course Heather was working with them! "But there's something else—" She leaned closer to the man to add conspiratorially, "something that's going to make Alvin very happy."
"I'm listening. . ."
"They have a book," she explained. "A book of dragons! It's got everything in it! Everything Alvin could ever hope to learn about controlling dragons."
This piqued Savage's interest. "Where is this book?"
"I don't have it," she admitted. "B-but I will! I promise! I just— I just need a little more time."
"Alvin isn't known for his patience," Savage warned her, moving closer to intimidate the girl with his size.
Heather stumbled backwards as she pleaded, "please. You have to trust me! When I get back to Outcast Island with that book, the wait will be worth it."
Dany didn't stick around to hear the rest as she turned around to run back to Drogon, and then to find Hiccup.
--
She wasn't exactly in the mood to be kind when she opened the door to the chief's house, so she prodded Hiccup in the side with the butt of her arrow. He woke up with a startled grunt and a protest of, "ow! What— Why would you do that? What are you doing?"
Toothless, whose head had risen at her entry, went back to sleep when he realized that he recognized the intruder. Dany stood above the brunet with her arms crossed, her flower crown slightly askew from her flight. "I'm getting proof so you'll believe me when I say we can't trust Heather. I've totally got her now," she finished smugly.
"Dany, it's the middle of the night—!"
The blonde didn't wait for him to get his complaint out and interrupted his words with: "I saw her. In the forest— she was talking with Savage! She's working with the Outcasts, Hiccup."
The boy frowned, clearly not trusting her story. "What? She's upstairs sleeping."
"Oh, yeah? Let's go find out." She heard him groan behind her, but smiled in a self-satisfied way when his footsteps sounded moments later.
Unfortunately, Dany's claim fell short as, once they stepped into the loft, Heather rolled over in Hiccup's bed and blinked up at them with sleepy eyes. "Oh, hey, guys. Is everything okay?"
The Targaryen scowled at her, furious that somehow, despite being a stranger, she'd beat Dany back to the chief's house. Now the blonde looked like a fool and Hiccup would side with the other girl once again.
"Yes, Heather," he answered quickly. "Everything's fine."
Daenerys turned and clambered back down the ladder before Hiccup could reason with her any more. She wasn't quite fast enough, though, and he caught her just as she got to the door. "Dany, don't you think it's possible you saw something else? I mean, it's pretty dark out there."
"I know what I saw," the blonde retorted fiercely. "Why won't you just believe me?"
"Fine," Hiccup replied. "Then tell me who you think she is. A spy?"
She hated how condescending he sounded, as if he were mocking her suspicions. Still, she refused to back down and agreed vehemently, "yes! A spy for the Outcasts! Why else do you think she wanted to know so much about our dragons?"
"Uh, because we're the only Viking clan who's been able to coexist with them? Or maybe just because they're interesting?"
Dany glared at him. "So, what, you're just going to automatically trust every strange, mysterious girl that shows up on Berk?"
While the girl's voice had gotten angrier with every sentence, the brunet had stayed frustratingly calm. He shrugged, his tone remaining even as he replied, "that's what I did with you, isn't it? And look where we are now."
Rather than feeling reassured by his words, she flinched instead. Her fierce expression faded into shock and hurt and her eyes dropped to the ground. Hiccup wasn't sure what the reason was for her sudden change in demeanor; after all, he'd meant his words in the best way possible— because he'd trusted Dany, he'd gained a best friend (and perhaps, eventually, even more.)
However, Daenerys had been on the receiving end of being called strange— or worse— her whole life. It had never meant anything good; the villagers had used the insults to keep her family on the outskirts of town. She'd never, ever thought that Hiccup would believe what they did. Had he thought she was strange (and not in the mysterious way, like Heather, but in the bad, unsettling way Targaryens were always described) from the beginning?
Hearing those words now, coming from him, was like handing him one of her arrows and allowing him to stab her in the back with its sharp point. She shook her head, defeated, now that she knew the boy she'd thought was her best friend would view her as an outsider like everyone else. "Forget it. Just forget it."
Dany turned away from the brunet and made her way to Drogon, who had been waiting patiently outside the chief's house. He shifted as he sensed his mother's unhappiness, baring his teeth slightly in the direction of the boy. The blonde shook her head again as she climbed onto his back. "It's not worth it, Drogon."
--
The next morning, the door to the chief's house flew open to reveal a fuming Astrid. "She's gone!"
Alarmed, Hiccup asked, "Heather?"
"No, Stormfly! Little Miss Innocent stole my dragon!"
That was all he needed to hear to summon the rest of the gang. They met at the cliffside to group up before they took off after the brunette. As usual, Fishlegs was panicking about the situation, muttering "this is bad, this is bad" under his breath. However, Astrid was the one to notice they were missing the second blonde.
"Where's Dany?" she asked as she settled behind Hiccup.
"Yeah," Snotlout piped up, "where is my favorite blonde? Don't worry, Astrid— I can have more than one favorite."
She grimaced in reply. "Yeah, I wasn't worried."
The boy stiffened at the question, pausing in his take off as guilt settled over him. "I don't think she'll be coming with us."
"Why?"
"We. . . had an argument. I'll tell you later," he explained, choosing to focus on the present issue.
Thankfully, she accepted that as a response and, after a bit more bantering, they took off in pursuit of Heather and the stolen book.