Hiya! This is my first fic, so please don't flame or anything! I saw How To Train Your Dragon, and absolutely loved it! So my brain's been stewing this baby up for quite some time! Hope you like it!

Oh, and since my sister's on here as well, she told me to add this before the story: Contains OCs and OCxCanon pairings. Don't like, don't read.

"What is it?"

Old Bjork couldn't believe his luck today! His 17 year old was finally married off, leaving him with his house to himself again, he'd located his best pair of boots, which had been lost for the longest time, and now this?

The girl couldn't have been older than his daughter. She was pretty average; the only thing standing out about her being her eyes. Such a brilliant amber color; Bjork had never known anyone with eyes that color. But thank the Gods she didn't seem to have much of a brain. Two or three words to her about one of the useless crystals he had sitting on a shelf in the back corner of his shop, and she was completely hooked.

"This one," he said with a sly smile, picking up a light purple crystal, "Is a favorite among buyers. It'll make any man fall in love with you; all you have to do is hide it somewhere in his house." The girl examined the crystal, weighing it in her hands, before handing it back to him.

"I'm not really interested in that. Too messy to deal with love when my Dad's already got some guy in mind." She waved it away but continued to ask about the other crystals. "What's this one do?" She pointed to a bright yellow one, and Bjork chuckled to himself as he made up yet another use for these useless crystals.

"Ah, you have some eye! This one, my dear, will grant you the power of unlimited strength in battle! All you have to do is grind it up and eat it before a fight, and you're sure to win!"

"I'm a merchant's daughter, why would I have any reason to fight?" she asked, shoving this crystal away, too. Bjork wanted to make a sale, but could see this girl wasn't like other women he'd sold to before; she wasn't all that bright, but she knew what she wanted.

"Well then, why don't you tell me what you ARE interested in, and I'll see if I have something that would suit you?" he asked, leaning on the counter. The girl scrunched up her nose and stared off into the distance for a moment, deep in thought, before snapping her fingers and smiling.

"I know! Ever since I was little, my Dad always told me about the Nightfury!" Bjork knew this story well; he'd been told about the Nightfury many times, before and after the Great Peace with the brutes. There were even rumors of a tamed Nightfury off in some foreign Tribe, though Bjork didn't necessarily believe it. Nightfuries never attacked, but they weren't tamable. They just weren't. "I've never seen one; do you have something that will make me see in the dark? If I could see in the dark, maybe I'd see one flying around!" Her smile was really wide now, and she sported a chipped-front-tooth. Bjork obviously didn't have anything with any magical properties, but this girl didn't know that. So after digging around a bit in the back of the store and over-turning a few boxes, covered in dust since the last time they'd been opened, he finally returned to the front counter with a small black bead in the palm of his hand.

It was just an ordinary glass bead, found on the shores of a beach, stained black from the ash of some volcanic island somewhere, but it was marbled with white here and there, and Bjork inwardly congratulated himself for finding it as the girl stared at it with intense curiosity.

"This here is the rarest and most valuable thing in the entire shop. Do you know what it is?" he asked, and was amused when the girl shook her head no. "It's a magical pearl, from the belly of a Nightfury. If you melt it in a fire at a forge and breathe in the smoke, you'll be able to attract any sort of dragon you wish, even Nightfuries. They'll just be drawn to you, like fish to the sea!" he said, waving his arms around for emphasis.

The girl's eyes were as wide as dinner plates, and as soon as Bjork was done talking, she was reaching for the bead. "I'll take it," she breathed, but Bjork snatched it away just before she grabbed it.

"Hold up. Magical Nightfury pearls don't come cheap. What are you willing to pay for such an item?"

"I told you, I'm the daughter of a merchant. We've got money to spare! What're you asking?"

"Do we have a deal at 200 Gold pieces?" Bjork offered, and to his great surprise, the girl pulled a coin purse off of her belt and dumped out its contents onto the counter.

"Here's three-forty. You can keep it all if you throw in that necklace over there. It's been catching my eye this whole time!" she laughed, eyeing that pretty emerald pendant swinging from the silver chain. Bjork gaped, open-mouthed at this girl, before sweeping all the change into his apron and depositing it into a bin behind the counter.

"What's your name?" he asked after a few seconds of stunned silence. The girl threw a dazzling smile as she collected her bead and her necklace, and winked.

"Vertigo." She said, and with that, she was gone.

"Please, Daddy?"

"I can't believe you're THIS irresponsible with money!"

"I'm NOT irresponsible!"

"Maybe I should have put you in dragon training with your sister,"

"DADDY!"

Vertigo balled up her fists and started throwing punches at her Father's belly, which didn't do much, except make his belly fat ripple like waves in the ocean. Harrikson didn't pay any mind, he was still wondering if it was too late to acquaint his youngest daughter with dragons. All three of his older daughters, not being all that pretty and rather stout, were fine dragon riders by this point, but Vertigo had been so small, so frail when she was younger, Harrikson never could imagine her taming one of those flame-happy beasts. And that child just had the face for trading, just like her mother; could get anyone to buy anything at any price from her. But Vertigo wasn't….sharp like her Mother had been. She didn't have the head for trading; it was always up in the clouds.

"Vertigo, why in Thor's name would you pay 340 Gold Pieces for a glass bead?" he asked, yet again. Vertigo crinkled her nose at him and pouted.

"I TOLD you, it's NOT a bead, it's a pearl! From the belly of a Nightfury! And it has magical properties; if I melt it and-"

"Yes, yes, breathe in the smoke, you'll sprout wings and fly up to Valhalla! You've told me already!"

"That's not what I said and you know it!" Vertigo was getting tired of her Father always looking down on her. Why couldn't he just believe her? He'd spent the entire trip back home chewing her out for it, and now, she'd been forbidden to leave the house with any money.

"You probably would've sold your own soul for this glass bead if you hadn't had the money!" he sighed, sinking down into his chair. "Verty, I just don't know what to do with you anymore." To this, Vertigo puffed up her cheeks and folded her arms across her chest.

"You're so mean! You'll see, when I catch a Nightfury, you'll see this pearl is real!" she glared at her Father long and hard, before she stormed out of the house and down the road, towards the forge.

Roan was leaning against the forge's door frame when Vertigo approached, digging dirt out from under his nails with the point of his pocket knife. Roan was a bit of an egotist around Vertigo's village, to say the least, and Vertigo didn't like hanging around him much, but she knew he was the only one who didn't think she was completely crazy, and therefore the only one who would melt this pearl for her. So, heaving a sigh and stepping forward, she switched her full-flirt mode on.

"Hey, Roan," she said, putting a little extra bounce in her step as she approached. "Working hard, or hardly working?" she grinned at him; she knew he liked her smile. Roan though, was used to a rather different Vertigo, one who was constantly rejecting him and/or shunning him, so he was slightly suspicious when she started acting so friendly.

"Heh, hey Vert. Why's your pretty face down on the south side on such a nice day?" he asked, keeping his guard up, just in case she changed her mind about all this and threw a punch. But Vertigo just laughed and leaned in close.

"Oh, you know, just wanted to see my favorite blacksmith." She batted her eyelashes, hoping it was having the desired effect.

"Well, Krawl is out back, you know." Roan said, jokingly.

"No, silly! I'm talking about you!" Vertigo was practically sick to her stomach, but if she quite the act now, Roan wouldn't do what she wanted. "Hey, I was wondering, could you do me this itsy bitsy little favor?" She asked.

"And that would be…?" Vertigo held up the pearl for Roan to see and pushed it into his hands.

"Can you melt this for me?" She said, tipping her head to one side and smiling again. "Pleeease?" Roan was sort of confused, but quite honestly, he would have done almost anything for Vertigo.

"Sure thing. But you'll need to do me a favor, also." He raised his eyebrows slightly and grinned. Vertigo almost gagged out the words: "Of course, what's that?" but managed to keep a straight face. "Oh, just a little kiss should do it. One kiss and I'll melt all the glass beads you want!"

"It's a pearl." Vertigo said calmly, shoving Roan into the forge. "And you'll get your kiss when I see some smoke."

Vertigo ran out of the forge, half choking, half gagging. If that rancid smoke didn't kill her, having Roan kiss her sure would! She'd been planning to run out of the forge while it was filled with smoke before Roan's lips could get anywhere near her, but breathing in that toxic stuff disoriented her, and then, out of nowhere, there he was! Ug! She didn't know whether to hack up a lung or puke, but either way she was dry retching all the way home.

But the worst part was, no matter how hard Vertigo tried, she couldn't even get a Gronkle to fly to her! She was starting to believe what her Father had said about the pearl being a sham was true.

Loki watched the girl with keen interest.

"Such a nice girl." he smiled, running his fingers through his craggily beard. "It's a shame she was swindled by that con man. Got her hopes up, and now what? Bitter disappointment." He chuckled and glided soundlessly through the trees at the edge of the village.

The mischievous God was bored. There was no lying about it; sitting in Asgard, following the rules, it was boring. He'd gone a good long time being good, and he deserved a night out to cause trouble! And what better way than to mess with the lives of the mortals?

"Maybe I CAN do something for that slip of a girl," he said, eyes narrowing to slits. "Wants to see a Nightfury so bad. Well old Loki, you can definitely make sure she sees a Nightfury." He stretched out his arms in front of him, cracking his fingers and smiled. "Yes, she'll see a Nightfury all right. Every time she looks in the mirror."

Chapter One