Chapter 1

Dragons & Heroes

Welcome to the first chapter of my HTTYD + MHA fanfiction! I think this will be a really fun story to both write and read but feel free to comment or dm me to let me know if I am doing something that you would like to have fixed! I will warn you that this story will be pretty violent and a little graphic. It probably won't be too bad for most of you but I know that some readers are sensitive to that so I thought I'd just put it out there. I don't own any of the MHA or HTTYD characters but the original character in this story, although based off of Toothless, has a unique personality and a set of character traits that I developed myself. Thank you so much for reading, I hope you enjoy!

Dragons were rare. Or at least, dragons seemed rare since they did not reveal themselves too often. They were dangerous, vicious and bloodthirsty creatures that preyed on those who did not pay attention, the innocent who did not look above them when going for a walk. Deaths caused by dragons did not happen too often in the city anymore because of the large number of dragon hunters who protected the cities from the blazing fire and sharp talons of the beasts but they did happen every once in a while when a dragon escaped from behind bars or managed to pick off a person from the edge of a town or city. Despite the significant research done and the statistics to support that information, Izuku Midoriya had never seen a dragon in his life, only pictures. All dragon attacks were nullified in the media so as to avoid any panic within large cities, and so he had not even seen a dragon on video. That was why he had absolutely no clue what to do when he found himself staring into the intense depths of a dragon's eyes.

Izuku's head hurt and his arms were sore from the rigorous training he had just done with All Might. Ever since he had gotten into UA, Izuku had done daily training sessions with All Might so as to improve his use with One for All, going to either Dagoba Beach where he had cleaned all of the trash, or moving to a peaceful clearing in the woods on the other side of town to spar with the great Symbol of Peace. He had been getting better, using his new physical strength from their pre-spar exercise routine, but he was still no match for All Might. He sighed to himself and wiped his brow with the back of his hand. All Might had offered him a ride home after their harsh training session but Izuku figured that walking would do him good and had taken the scenic route back towards his home. The trees around him swayed in the breeze and the birds chirped over his head merrily. Izuku paused in a clearing and took a deep breath, inhaling the sweet smell of the late spring air. He smelled the slight watery smell of the creek that lay nearby. He smelled the sweet scent of flowers and relished in the feeling of the sun on his face. He took one last deep breath before he started to walk again. The smells were pleasant, the flowers, the creek, the sun, the grass, the blood…

Izuku jolted to a halt, his step faltering to the point of almost making him fall over. He sniffed the air again, unsure if he smelled it correctly. Fear crept up his spine as he took in that metallic scent once again. That was definitely blood, and it was strong wherever it was. Izuku wanted to keep walking down the pretty pathway through the woods. He wanted to make it home before dinner so that he would not worry his mother. He wanted to do anything but investigate, but his legs were plotting against him. He felt as if he could no longer control his body as it turned him and forced him to pad through the tall grasses, straying away from the path, to see what was going on. He walked for a little while, the trees around him closing in on him, forming narrow lines. The grass was shorter here and the sun was beginning to become blotted out by the thick canopy of trees above him. He shivered as a chill set in, and he wanted nothing more than to turn back, to find the sun and the safety of the path, but his legs once again ignored his brain and continued to trek deep into the woods. The smell of blood was really strong now, he placed the hem of his shirt over his nose and mouth to avoid choking on the stench. Finally, he broke through the last row of trees and peered into a large clearing. The clearing normally would have been beautiful, short grass that was dappled with shadows on the corners but bright and sunny in the center with a glittering creek running through the center, gleaming in the lowering sun. Izuku may have even admired its natural perfection had the situation been different. But it wasn't. The clearing was covered in blood, the grass was soaked with it, stained a deep red. There were no bodies but Izuku noticed some of the blood that dripped slowly from the branch of a nearby tree. But that was not even the worst part.

In the center of the clearing was a dragon.

Izuku sucked in a terrified breath and fumbled to reach for the knife that he kept at his hip. He was not normally one to carry a knife, but his mother had been worried about him wandering around on his own now that he was going UA and had given him a pocket knife for his birthday. It wasn't much and he was worried that it wouldn't even penetrate the pelt of a dragon, but it was all that he had. His hand shook as he held the knife aloft, his whole body tense and waiting for the creature to pounce on him and add him to the bloody stew in the clearing. He could see the creature looking at him, its eyes wide and its cat-like pupils narrowed into slits. Izuku tried to calm his breathing, he was probably with the most dangerous animal on the planet, if he panicked, he was dead.

His eyes darted around the clearing as he tried to piece together a plan, anything to help him in this situation. He did not know why the dragon had not attacked him yet, but he could not assume that he was safe just because the creature was lying on its side. He had no idea what species of a dragon it was and he could not judge whether it was a hunting tactic or whether it was just tired and full. His fingers tightened on the knife and Izuku locked eyes with the beast. He would fight. He knew he couldn't win but he just had to try, for the sake of the people who he assumed did not leave this clearing and for the sake of those who had helped him to become who he was now. He stood up straighter and took one shaky step into the clearing. The dragon lifted the corner of its lip in a half snarl and let out a cross between a growl and a pained groan. Izuku froze, the knife shaking so badly in his hand that he could barely keep ahold of it, and waited in a half-crouched position for the beast to leap out at him with its claws outstretched and flames billowing out of its mouth. The dragon lifted its head slightly, watching him with wide eyes before letting its head fall back to the ground with a muffled thump.

Izuku let out a breath he didn't even know he had been holding. His legs felt like jello but he forced himself to take another step, and then another. The dragon did not even react this time, its head remaining on the ground and its eyes closing. The dragon did nothing. Even though most of its body was obscured by a large boulder, Izuku could tell that its whole body was limp. It was vulnerable, maybe it was exhausted from killing the people in the clearing. Izuku decided that this was his chance to kill the beast and escape with his life and the justice of the dead who did not manage to kill the dragon. With a loud battle cry, Izuku launched forward, the knife thrust in front of him, running at the dragon with all of the strength he could muster. The dragon again did not react and merely turned its head away with a sigh. Izuku rounded the boulder and raised his arm to bring down the knife when the sight of the creature's body caused him to freeze in place.

The dragon was lying on its side with its legs, tail, and wings bound by firm ropes with hooks on the ends that sank into its flesh on its chest and lower back. Its back leg was twisted horribly in the wrong direction and one of its wings was obviously broken at the curve, a shiny white bone sticking out of the top like a white knife. Scars and open wounds crisscrossed over the dragon's body like a grotesque map, including an enormous gash that was leaking blood all over the meadow ground, and one of the dragon's eyes was swollen shut with three long claw marks that started a little bit above the eyelid, went over the eyelid and ended a few centimeters below the eye. Izuku stood with his mouth agape, the knife held aloft in a shaking hand as he took in the sight of the dragon. He tried to tell himself that the dragon deserved this, that the beast was a killer and it had been restrained to avoid any more bloodshed. But when looking at the sad creature before him, something that was probably gorgeous and proud once, he couldn't bring himself to blame it. If it had killed the people, Izuku reasoned that it must have either been following its instinct to eat when hungry or it was trying to protect itself. He realized that he had allowed his hands to bring the knife down to his head, resting it there as he stood over the beast, thinking. He shook his head and raised the knife again, closing his eyes and leaning back to fling the knife down.

The dragon suddenly let out a pained whine. Izuku's eyes flew open and he looked down at the dragon in shock. It sounded exactly like an injured puppy. His breathing sped up and he tried to raise the knife again, but he suddenly dropped it. He heard it clang against the stone behind him and Izuku had to force himself to keep from running away as fast as possible. He ran his hands through his hair and looked at the dragon in the eye once more. His hand flew up to his mouth and he couldn't stop himself from falling backward a few steps as he looked into the creature's eyes. The pupils were wide now so that the dragon looked almost cute and a single tear was trailing down its face. Conflicted feelings coursed through Izuku as he looked at the pitiful beast, he wanted to kill it or run away but the hero side of him also wanted to stay and help it. He stood and stared for a little while, allowing his eyes to rove over the dragon's wounds before he finally made a decision. A decision, that he did not know would change his life forever.

Trying and failing to keep his hands steady, Izuku leaned down with the pocket knife and pressed it to the dragon's side. The dragon let out another agonized whine before closing its eyes and tilting its head to a more comfortable position on the grass. Izuku took a deep breath and whispered to the dragon.

"Please don't kill me."

Then, with a swift jerk of his arm, Izuku sliced his knife through the thinner threads of the rope. The dragon's eyes snapped open and it took everything in Izuku's power to remain by its side and continue to cut the rope that was looped over its midnight black scales. He placed the knife against another rope and jerked his arm again, fighting against the tough material until it gave way to his actions. Finally, the last rope was cut and everything fell loose, slipping down the dragon's legs and pooling on the meadow floor. Izuku put his hands up and flinched, his eyes closed as he waited for the dragon to pounce on him now that it was free. His whole body was shaking and his breathing was so fast paced that he thought he might pass out. He waited, but no attack came. He opened his eyes just a crack to see that the dragon had shuffled its legs around so that it was able to tuck them underneath its chest but it had made no move to actually stand. Its back leg was still horribly twisted and the hooks from the rope were still lodged in the dragon's chest and back. Izuku lowered his hands slowly and peered at the dragon. The dragon watched him as well with its lips pulled back into a slight snarl. Neither moved.

That was when the voice echoed loudly throughout the woods. The dragon sat up as high as it could without standing to peer over Izuku's shoulder and Izuku jumped in surprise at the noise.

"Oh yes sir, it is over here!"

"You don't think it is already gone?"

"It may have injured a lot of our men, but it was pretty tied up and it was wounded to the point of barely remaining conscious. I wouldn't be surprised if it was out cold."

"Let's hope so, that would make things so much easier."

The voices started to get louder as their owners got closer to the clearing. They were laughing and joking loudly as they walked. Izuku wanted to be excited that help was on the way, but he couldn't help feeling as if these people were not the right kind of help. The dragon beside him started trying to move, lifting its wings with a grimace and scrambling to get its legs underneath it. It only took a few more minutes for the men to break through the ring of trees and enter the clearing. Almost as if the men were poisonous, the dragon who had been struggling just moments before, landed on the ground with a sickening crunch. The beast just allowed itself to crash to the forest floor and laid there limply, like a dead dog.

The men stopped laughing and looked at Izuku, their smiles fading as they eyed him and the limp dragon beside him. Nobody spoke. Izuku wanted to stand or walk or at least move but his body refused to cooperate. He sat still, his knife hovering in the air over his leg, dripping with dragon's blood onto his pant leg. The men looked from Izuku's face to the bloody knife, their eyes widening and smoldering. Finally, one of the men took a step closer and cleared his throat.

"What is your name, boy?"

Izuku knew better than to answer with his real name and forced himself to quickly throw back the first name that came to mind.

"Tamaki Atari."

"What are you doing here, Atari?"

Izuku gulped and slowly wiped the dragon's blood from his knife onto his pant leg.

"I smelled a strong tang of blood and came to see if everyone was okay." Izuku glanced around nervously. "I was shocked by what I found."

The man looked back to his friend and dipped his head in a slight curt nod that Izuku almost missed.

"Of course you were, I am so sorry for what you have found here, that feral beast came and attacked our men out of the blue when we were camping. You must be troubled and scared, come on we can take you home." The man held out his hand and smiled warmly at Izuku, so warmly that it was almost convincing enough to make him go to the man. Almost.

"It's alright, I can walk home myself," Izuku said, forcing himself to his wobbly feet. He managed to steady himself and face the men but he never dropped the knife.

"No really, boy. We don't want you getting hurt, do we?"

"I'm alright, I know my way home." Izuku tried to steady his shaking hand but he couldn't stop the little tremors from trailing up and down his arms.

"You need to come with us." The man said, now dropping his warm persona to replace it with a cold demeanor, topped with a venomous grin.

"No, I can't do that," Izuku said, shaking his head.

"If you can kill a Night Fury then you can walk a little way with us."

Izuku felt his jaw drop but he didn't care. He could understand how they assessed the situation and connected the dots so that he seemed like a dragon killer but it surprised him nonetheless. He just couldn't see how he, Izuku Midoriya, could be seen as someone to kill something as strong, powerful, and dangerous as a dragon. Even though he had buffed up a little bit with the training from All Might, he just couldn't see himself as a dragon hunter.

"No, no, no, it's not what you think! I didn't kill this dragon! I found it like this!"

"Why is your knife covered in blood then?"

"I used it to cut off the ropes."

The men both sighed and looked at each other in furious annoyance.

"So you are one of those people, huh?"

"Those people?"

"The people who think that killing dragons is wrong and inhumane. The people who think that we should treat dragons like dogs and take care of them. Make a sanctuary for them." The man's face scrunched up with disgust. "It's completely delusional."

"I know nothing about dragons, I do not have an opinion," Izuku said quickly. "I just saw a dragon that was mostly dead and I thought that I could do it a final service by just releasing its bonds. It was too weak to do anything but lay on the grass and bleed."

The men looked at each other once more before turning back to Izuku, their eyes lit with a furious flame.

"First, you kill the one thing that would have made us the richest men on Earth, and then you lie to us with this dragon wellness bullshit." The man speaking pulled out a long sword that Izuku had not noticed had been strapped on his back and hidden beneath his shabby cloak.

"DO YOU REALIZE HOW MUCH YOU HAVE COST US, BOY!?" The man suddenly screamed, running at Izuku with the sword held aloft.

"YOU THINK YOU ARE SUCH A HERO DON'T YOU? YOU'VE RUINED EVERYTHING!"

Izuku covered his face with his hands and flinched as the man bolted at him with a shocking speed that rivaled that of Iida's speed. Izuku guessed that the man's quirk was at work. Even if he had had full control of One for All there was no way he would have been able to dodge him. That is why when Izuku did not feel the sudden burn of the sword thrusting through him, he felt confused. He opened one eye tentatively and peered through his fingers, almost afraid of what he would see. His eyes widened in shock and it took everything he had to avoid tripping backward in surprise. Standing in front of him, holding the sword in its teeth was the dragon. Izuku was sure that the beast had been barely able to even lift its head let alone jump up and run in front of a flying sword. But here it was, snarling at the men while holding the sword in its mouth, the man's arm still holding onto the hilt. He released the hilt of the sword with a choked gasp and scrambled away from the dragon with a laugh that sounded almost hysterical.

"So you are alive," The man said with a smile that stretched from ear to ear. "I am so happy to see that."

The dragon dropped the sword where it hit the soft earth with a wet squelch, landing in the mud and the blood that soaked the clearing. Everything was silent. Even the birds had gone quiet as the dragon and the men stared at each other. Then, quick as lightning, one of the men swung around and snatched a long iron whip from out of his bag. He held it aloft and allowed it to uncoil, pooling on the forest floor with a sound like pebbles rolling down a cliffside. The dragon let out a vicious snarl that seemed to shake the forest to its core and raised its broken wings, its teeth bared. Despite having his vision partly obscured by the large black wings of the dragon, he could still see the man with the whip. The man rattled the chain twice and clucked with his tongue.

At first, Izuku thought that the man was trying to subdue the dragon with those actions and noises but suddenly, about twenty men broke through the tree line and rushed into the clearing, weapons raised. A group of the men even brought out a large metal cage that was filled with spikes on all of the sides both inside and outside. Izuku froze, he didn't know what to do. He didn't understand why this dragon was so valuable and yet so tortured. He didn't understand why the most deadly creature on the planet was fighting to protect him. And he didn't understand why he got involved. The only thing he did understand was his sense of justice as all of the hero lessons from All Might came flooding into his brain all at once. Izuku did not even think before pushing the dragon's wing back and ducking underneath it. He did not think as he ignored the dragon's warning growl at him and he did not think when he used his own body to cover the dragon. He faced away from the dragon and hovered his right hand over its panther-like head while his left hand hovered over its side, palms down. He held his head high and did not think as the quarry of men rushed both him and the dragon.

As the men got closer, Izuku leaned back so as to provide even more of his minimal protection, placing his right hand right on the dragon's head above the eyes but below the ears. He felt the dragon's surprisingly soft scales despite their strength and felt the little fin like scales that ran up the length of the dragon's face from just above the nostrils to a little way before the base of the ears. He felt the dragon's mix of warm and cool scales, the strange mix of temperatures flooding into his fingertips like touching an ice cube doused in salt. That was when his hand suddenly flared with heat and pain. Izuku could not contain the scream that managed to rise out of his throat. He heard the dragon roar in pain and even though his brain started to go hazy with a mess of thoughts, one thing was clear:

He had done the right thing.