Chapter Three:
Stranger

Disclaimer: Hahaha—no. I do not, nor will I ever, own any media showcased in this piece of fanfiction. They all belong to their respective creators and owners. The only thing I (barely) own is this piece are the written works and the original characters within it.

Warnings: There will be cursing, violence, mild nudity, blood, gore, and a few other minor things under the rainbow with this fic.

Note: Happy Holidays to all and to all a good night...here's an update! An early Christmas present for y'all. :P

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"You can love somebody without it being like that. You keep them a stranger, a stranger who's a friend."
-Truman Capote

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Berk was the same as when they had left it; uninhabited by its human occupants, but its dragon population was just fine. In fact, nearly the entire flock rose to the skies to meet them as they came sweeping into the village, a colourful plethora of spines, spikes, and scales.

Lupin wobbled a little on the backside of the dragon that was many times smaller than Cloudjumper.

A Night Fury, Valka had called it, and there was such a reverence in her voice when she named it three days prior. Scribe and Scribble had released seven of them to hers and Valka's custody. A warehouse at the docks had hidden the dragons for the duration of the meeting and after gathering them up and flying out to rejoin Cloudjumper, they were off, back to Berk. They couldn't have stayed, even for the rest of the night, in Scotland.

The little Night Fury dove sharply and Lupin yanked hard at the makeshift rope saddle, holding it so tightly her knuckles turned bone-white.

"Hey, hey, HEY! Slow down, or I'm gonna get knocked off!"

Jesus fucking Christ, what the fuck did I agree to?

Oh, that's right. She had agreed to work for the very company that had planned, paid for, and executed a mission to fake her death.

Christ. All she could think about was how hard this was for her parents for the last three days before it hit her suddenly.

They wouldn't care. They've always been afraid of me. Afraid of what I can do. I could kill people with my brain if I wanted. Set them on fire, boil their blood, roast them from the inside out. And my brother…

Jared Ferus hasn't given a rat's ass for her in years. Not since he left for the army when she was a freshman in high school. The only person that had truly cared about her in recent years had been her fiancé, James Foster.

And now he's dead. Did Chimera Dynamics kill him to get to me, just to lure me out of that deployment?

She wished she had thought of that. If the company was moonlighting in killing people outside of the public eye, she wondered just how far they really were willing to go to get her to work for them.

Her stomach felt hard and heavy like a ball of iron was sitting in it, making her feel sick and she wanted to do nothing but curl up in a corner and never get up. Instead, she forced herself to focus on getting her feet back on the ground. After that, maybe she could find some dark corner to go sulk in.

Before she knew it, the flock had settled, she and Valka had landed, and in tow, they had brought back seven more occupants to live in the empty village. Valka hadn't spoken much on the trip back. To be fair, Lupin hadn't either. She had been focused on her own internal dilemma, and hadn't even checked in with the older woman, to make sure she was all right. She put up a strong front, but the slump in her shoulders and the exhaustion lining her face suggested otherwise.

Valka wordlessly motioned for Lupin to follow and the werewolf did as she was bid, falling into step behind her.

"What did they talk to you about?"

Valka cast a briefly surprised look over her shoulder at Lupin. She turned away, continuing on.

"I'm sure it was much the same as what they told you, I suppose."

"That…you're not in your time period. Or your own world."

Lupin was sure Valka had nodded. She took that as a cue to press on.

"I'm sorry."

"For what? It isn't your fault I'm here, alone. Again." Valka shook her head this time. "I had just found out my son was alive. I was welcomed back to Berk—a village that I hadn't seen in over twenty years prior, after I began living with dragons, and it had changed so much! We used to fight dragons when my son was born, and now…now look at it."

The Viking woman paused to sweep her crook, pointing it all over the village and Lupin gazed around. Dragons freely milled around the village grounds, some perched on houses, others napping on the ground, and more still flying about in the air, looking for a place to roost. Lupin's attention was drawn back to Valka when she began speaking again.

"They began living side by side with dragons, all thanks to Hiccup. He showed them that there was another way. A peaceful way. Dragons and Vikings didn't have to fight and kill one another anymore. He broke a vicious and bloody cycle that's been going on for hundreds of years. And now…I've lost him again."

"I'm sorry," Lupin repeated lamely, more quietly this time. "I…I know how it feels to lose someone you love."

She clenched a fist at her side, remembering James' face. She pushed down the lump in her throat forcefully, keeping a stoic look plastered on her face when Valka turned around to gaze at Lupin with watery eyes.

"Oh, look at me. I'm sure you don't want to see an old woman cry."

"If it's any consolation, you look pretty good. You look like you're in your twenties."

Laughter bubbled out from Valka and she wiped at her eyes. "Now you're just being silly. Flattering, but silly."

Lupin offered a tentative smile in return as Valka motioned for them to continue. Something bumped Lupin and stepped on her feet from behind. She glared over her shoulder at the broad face of the Night Fury she had flown in on. The other six were nowhere to be seen.

"Oi. Watch where you're stepping. Shoo. Go. Go away."

"I think he likes you."

"Well, that's fine and dandy, but I don't plan on becoming a dragon whisperer. My job, apparently, is to be babysit anyone else like you who ends up here."

"Is that what they're having you do?"

"Yeah."

"You don't sound happy about it."

"It's complicated."

Valka hummed. The Night Fury bumped Lupin again. She whirled on the dragon and he retreated, arching his back and spreading his wings in response, mouth gaping to reveal conical teeth in his broad skull.

"Valka—can't you tell him to back off? He isn't listening to me."

"Night Furies are curious. I can't stop him from indulging in his nature."

"Well, can you tell him to stop following me?"

"I told you, I think he likes you."

"Just my luck."

Valka frowned over her shoulder as they paused at a flight of steps leading to what Lupin now recognized as her home.

"My son is the only one to have a Night Fury as his dragon companion. He's been looking for more for years. Now we have seven in the village."

"You're point?"

"My point, Lupin, is that you have a Night Fury trailing after you like a pup." She was staring at the werewolf expectantly, waiting for her to fill in the blanks. Lupin saw what it was and didn't like it, not one bit.

"Valka…I can see where you're going with this. But I don't want a 'dragon companion'. What happens when you and this entire island goes back home, where it belongs? The Night Furies will most likely go back with you as well, and…I'll go back home. I can't afford to build ties with any of them. I can't just keep them here, either. Neither of those are options for me."

The older woman stared in dismay between Lupin and the miniscule Night Fury lingering behind her, and at Cloudjumper, who was bringing up the rear behind them all. The Stormcutter blinked owlishly down at the Night Fury before him, tilting his head.

"How could you not want a bond with a dragon? I thought you told me there were no dragons in this world of yours?"

"There aren't, as far as I know. And right now, I'm still processing things. I don't have time to go prancing around with dragons. Yeah, it's cool and all, but…I just don't see how it'll be easier when the time comes to say goodbye and one of us can't go anywhere and the other has to. I…I can't do it. I just can't."

Despite how apologetic Lupin sounded, she could see it wasn't completely reaching Valka. The older woman was watching at her in open disappointment. Wordlessly, she turned to the flight of stairs leading to her home. Cloudjumper slunk up the hill after her, leaving the werewolf behind. When Lupin looked back over her shoulder, the Night Fury was gone.

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The sun was finally setting. The sky was painted a deep bruised colour, and the clouds were bathed in the same purple hues as the sun dipped behind them. It cast the island in cool shadows and many of the dragons were finding places to bed down for the night. Lupin watched as two dragons that were sharing the rooftop with her flutter away to glide down to the ground, leaving her alone. She couldn't say she was entirely surprised when Valka came slinking up to join her, her steps emitting nearly no noise as she did.

"I'm sorry," Lupin said after a few minutes of silence passed between them. Valka said nothing, her gaze locked on the distant horizon.

"I…I know I was probably sounding pretty insensitive earlier. Fuck, maybe I am. I'm not exactly the friendliest person you'll ever meet. I had a friend who once said that people like me are an acquired taste when it comes to personality." She sighed. "It's…it's just…I just have a feeling that if I got too attached, and the time came to split ways…it wouldn't end up being a pretty goodbye. I wouldn't be selfish enough to keep anything or anyone here with me if we had the chance to send you back where you belong. And I can't just…leave this place. Not—not Berk, this isn't my place, but this world is my home. I don't want to leave."

"I can appreciate your reluctance, Lupin. I'm not mad, if that's what you're fearing," Valka replied gently. "I wouldn't be selfish enough to ask of you to give up your home to come live with us when we return to our proper place. And I can already tell you wouldn't want to steal way one of our dragons to remain by your side. But while we are all here together, you might have to learn how to cope with the fact that you're going to be living side by side with them. And you might have to form some bonds. Dragons are mostly social creatures by nature, with few exceptions here and there of course."

Valka paused, allowing that to sink in. Lupin glanced at her from the corner of her eye for a few seconds. She returned gazing out at the sea. It was mostly calm, with a few choppy waves breaking the monotony of the still and clear surface.

"I'm not asking you to change your whole world overnight. It takes time for some dragons to learn to trust. I'm beginning to get the same feeling from you as well."

The older woman laughed softly when Lupin offered a vaguely sour look, but it didn't hold for long when she sighed before nodding. "I'm still processing everything."

"As am I. But I think we may be able to cope better if we worked together on this."

Lupin had to force herself not to flinch when Valka gently touched her shoulder. Lupin's spine turned rigid like a steel bar, and she bit back a nasty response, a snap that was on the tip of her tongue to yell. It was like resisting a kneejerk reaction. Valka just about retreated almost as quickly as she had offered the olive branch, a brief light of worry dancing across her face. She leaned away, lips parted, brow furrowed, and a faint whiff of fear wafted off of her in the following moments. Lupin hesitated.

"Sorry, I…I don't like being touched. It's…a thing. But, I-I hear what you're saying. And thank you. I think that might be best. Sticking together, I mean."

Relief was slow to wipe away the worry, but it came to Valka eventually.

"Perhaps we can discuss more later on? It's getting late and we've only just gotten back. Come on," she said and stood up, her steps carefully tracing the path she carved minutes before with practiced ease.

"I'll, uh, I'll be by in a little while. I think I just want to relax here for a little while longer."

Valka paused, studying Lupin's face before she nodded mutely and leapt nimbly off the edge of the roof and out of sight.

In truth, she didn't feel comfortable taking up space in the woman's house. She could sniff out the smells of other dragons, and two men—one young and the other…well. The other scent was an older male, but unlike the younger scent mark, it was faint. Valka had mentioned in the last week her son, Hiccup and his dragon, a Night Fury named Toothless. But the other scent mark could only belong to her late husband, Stoick. Every time she said his name, her voice would crack, just a little bit. Lupin pretended not to notice.

Intruding in her home, her space, even if she was invited didn't comfort Lupin in the least.

Maybe I can just sleep in someone's barn or something. I'd rather not make a fuss. It'll probably do me a few shades better sleeping on some hay than sleeping on the hard ground and using a rifle as a pillow.

The thought of her destroyed career and the loss of contact with her command and the Marines at her unit brought up a brief flash of anger. It bloomed and took root between her ribs and around her chest and she wished, just for a moment, she had done herself a favour and clocked at least one of the twins before parting ways with them.

It wasn't Xerxes, but it would have made her feel better for the time being.

Lupin sat on the roof of the house for a while longer, watching the clouds build up and scoot across the sky. All the while, it got darker and darker still until night eventually fell. The dragons, for the most part, settled down to sleep. Some were a little more active and Lupin found that somewhat interesting.

Valka's right, she thought as she watched a two-headed dragon heckling another with spikes and spines galore decorating its lithe body. If I'm going to be stuck here, I'm going to have to work with them.

Just like in deployment, not everyone she went out overseas with had been with her original unit. Some people, she had to gain a foothold and a feel for. She had to learn about them, even if it was just a little, in order to work with them and get the mission done.

This ain't no different. It's just a really bizarre kind of deployment. I can do this.

She watched the spikey-looking dragon finally chase off the two-headed dragon before settling down in its spot for the night. The two-headed dragon thrummed as it passed closely over the roof Lupin was perched on. The trailing wind zipped by her, ruffling her hair and the fur on her tail. She sighed.

At least, I think I can do this. Adapt and overcome, Marine. Adapt and overcome.

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She was up and on her feet before the barn door had fully opened. The creak of the wood and iron hinges had barely registered to her brain, but her body reacted with all the instinct of a predator on high alert. She had even managed to find a knife in the barn last night and she had it in her hand before she realized that she was safe. It was only Valka. There was no fight, no war, no ambush, no bullet hitting her skull.

Her memory was a little more scrambled than she liked to admit. She was glad it was dark and Valka couldn't see her cheeks reddening in embarrassment.

Who else would it be, she groused quietly to herself. The older woman paused for a short moment at the entrance.

"You didn't come by last night," she said, breaking the tension. Lupin shrugged, then realized in the low lighting, Valka couldn't see all that well. Not like Lupin could. The werewolf had perfect night vision. It was incredibly useful being able to confidently tell the difference between a dancing shadow and a creeping enemy combatant while others struggled with doubt. She started to check her watch, but stopped herself halfway when she realized that of course, she didn't have it anymore. Six months in a coma? They had stripped her of everything, probably to rush her to surgery and…

Why didn't I ask for more? What had happened after, before I woke up here? So much I forgot to ask about...

Lupin cursed softly under her breath, realizing that she had let her temper get the best of her and blind her to other important subjects when she had had Scribe readily available. Just thinking about it pissed her off all over again.

"Sorry," Lupin muttered distractedly in apology. "I had a lot on my mind."

"I can tell. You sound like you've got more still," the other woman quipped back, sounding vaguely amused. "It's still early. Why don't you follow me and I'll get some food in your belly. You haven't eaten anything since yesterday."

"Thanks. I…yeah, thanks. That actually sounds good."

"Of course." There was warmth in Valka's voice, a hint of laughter tinging her words.

Lupin began combing her fingers through her hair, untangling it as best she could while pulling out bits of straw and hay out at the same time as she followed Valka back out. Cloudjumper, predictably, wasn't far from his rider. He hummed a sort of greeting to Lupin, tilting his head and blinking one eye and then the other at her. She waved at him.

"Morning."

Cloudjumper hummed again, shifting his weight from one front wing-limb to the other. Lupin followed after Valka, winding around the village back up toward her home. It was still dark out, but the grey of dawn was beginning to lighten the sky up, bit by bit.

"So…what do we do today?"

"What do you mean?"

Lupin mulled over her next words. "Well, I mean…what do we do? We've got dozens of dragons all over the place. We can't let them just…fly away, not too far anyways. We've established that we're not in your time period. We're in mine. The world's advanced quite a lot, and we're about three days away from Scotland, and I'm sure we're closer to a few other places. You've only seen a small part of my time, and it wasn't even during a high volume of activity like in the daytime, it was in the middle of the night. It's loud and noisy, it's bright and confusing, and it's a lot faster."

Valka didn't answer, not right away. She led the way up the flight of steps to her home, crook in hand and it made a clunking noise every time Valka struck stone with it.

"I cannot force them to stay. I have no control over them. If we had an Alpha, then perhaps we would have a chance to divert them away from any human settlements to the south and the east and west, but…" She sighed, and it was a frustrated noise that threw away her usually calm veneer. She wanted a clear and concise solution as well, that much was obvious. "We'll have to figure something out. Dragons mostly know to stay away from the mainland, but even they might try for a bold and daring raid if food grows short around here."

"Then let's hope we don't run out too soon. What do they eat?"

"Fish, mostly. But they'll eat just about all kinds of meat. Livestock, cattle, small rodents, birds even. But that's when they must scavenge and don't have much of a choice."

"Beggars can't be choosers."

"Yes, I suppose that's one way of putting it."

Valka reached the front door and pushed it aside, ushering Lupin in. The werewolf was immediately enveloped in the warm glow of the hearth's light and heat. Valka lingered at the doorway, spending a few extra moments with Cloudjumper. In the end, she left it open, allowing for the large dragon to slink in as much as his body could allow in the home.

"We were hoping to expand," Valka said, looking somewhat sheepish. "Myself and Hiccup, I mean. We wanted to accommodate for Cloudjumper."

"Maybe you and I can do it."

"Have you expanded a home before? Built one? Renovated?" Valka sounded skeptical as she stared over Lupin apprehensively.

"Ehhh…not really. I'm pretty handy, though. And a quick learner." She averted her gaze, staring into the fire crackling away in the hearth. "Before she met my stepdad, my mum would usually go to me or my brother for help around the house. She couldn't do much herself, but we could. We were the heavy lifters, I guess you could say."

She still gazed at Lupin doubtfully. "We'll see…for now, we'll make due."

The next several minutes passed in relatively comfortable silence. Lupin sat at the heavy oak dining table near the corner of the room, not too close to the hearth by neither was it too far. She could feel the warmth of the fire and it brought her some comfort to draw from. The minutes passed and before she knew it, a bowl of gruel was set before her. She looked up, briefly startled. Valka sat across from her, placing her own bowl on the table.

"Your mind is far from here, it seems," she said quietly. "Are they thoughts that you wish to share?"

Lupin picked up the spoon and began stirring her food in aimless patterns inside the bowl.

"I was shot in the head by a weapon—one that won't be around at least another eight-hundred years from your time and its projectile was made of something that can kill me."

"Most projectiles shot in anyone's head would kill them."

Lupin shook her head. "I'm not human. You can see that, I mean…I won't insult your intelligence. And I can survive a shot to the head from the usual run-of-the-mill crap. But this…this…"

"What was it made of, if you don't mind my asking?"

The werewolf hesitated. It was information that was both well-known and unclear. Anyone who knew about werewolves knew about it, and yet, all of that knowledge was based on fictional media. She didn't like revealing it, admitting it was true. If anything, Lupin would prefer to make a red herring claim; make them believe it was something else entirely. But, she felt she could trust Valka. If she didn't, then who could she trust? Certainly not the twins. They were hiding something and Valka was more open.

"It was silver," she answered sotto voce. "It was a silver bullet. It should have killed me. It was…"

She squeezed her eyes shut and let go of the spoon, clenching a fist. The memory was still blurred, but it was becoming clearer with every passing day. The airport, the running crowds, the gunfire cracking off in the air…

"I should be dead. I don't understand how or why I'm still alive. I'm not pining to be dead, but it's…strange. And I don't like it."

She had one of the few people who may have known the "how" and the "why", the details of the entire case and maybe even the identity of the one who had shot her. She let them slip right through her hands and she had no clue how to get in contact with either Scribe or Scribble. And I was too fucking blind and stupid with my temper to just think. All I did was sit there, practically frothing at the mouth and making threats and being a pigheaded dumbass.

"We'll find out. I don't know how, or when, but we will."

She wanted to believe Valka. There was such warmth and assurance in the other woman's voice that it was hard not to fall for the tone of reassurance. Even if it was for a second. Lupin chose to keep her pessimistic comments to herself this time around.

Valka was only trying to help. This was her way of doing it. Lupin couldn't fault the woman for trying to be optimistic, especially after she had just found her world had turned upside not that dissimilar in the way Lupin's has.

Instead, Lupin put on a smile, however thin it was, nodded to the woman in thanks, and tucked in her meal.

There was work to be done. Sitting around brooding and bemoaning her situation wasn't going to get it fixed in any way whatsoever. Halfway through her food, Valka paused, a wry smile pulling at her lips. Lupin glanced up at her, spoon partway to her mouth. She slowly returned it back to the bowl.

"Whyyyy are you looking at me like that?"

The older woman's smile broadened.

"You're going to need training. I just realized that."

"…training."

"Yes." Valka calmly spooned a bite of food into her mouth, still smiling. "Dragon training."

Lupin stared back at the woman carefully, nearly for a full thirty seconds before she spoke again.

"What, like…dragon boot camp training?"

"If you'd like to see it as such, yes. You're living on an island that is co-existent with them. You'll need to learn how to work with them more directly if you're to continue living here."

"I don't need to, but it's more beneficial if I did learn rather than being a stubborn jackass about it and refusing."

Valka paused, giving the werewolf a reproachful and yet simultaneously guarded look.

"I suppose, if that's how you view it as…" Valka said, trailing off. Lupin shrugged.

"Okay, so…when do we start?"

The smile returned, knowing and shrewd with a dancing light in her green eyes.

"Today."

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