Emil had fallen asleep rather quickly after Ivan and Vanya's departure to Switzerland. He hesitated to curl up in the plush fur of the dragon's back, but after the day he had, rest was necessary. Luckily for him, Ivan and Vanya chose to talk amongst themselves rather than with him. The once sickeningly sweet voices of the behemoth now soothed him to sleep. And he hated it. He hated how he was forced to stay close to this monster. He hated how they actually thought he was their friend. He hated how, even though the initial savageness of the dragon had depleted with the coming of spring, the dragon still struck fear in him. Yet he could go to sleep near him just like that, completely unguarded. As the brisk wind combed through his mane, a sweet dream plucked him from this terrible nightmare.

A dark sky loomed overhead, brightened only by the flecks of fire emanating from the crossfires. In battles between humans and dragons, the victor was obvious. Emil stood proudly atop the cliff face, flanked by the rest of the Nordic Five. Now far away from his mane-clad childhood, Emil was now adorned with smooth yet sharp scales and his wings cast an overpowering shadow over the mortified faces of the humans who dared to believe even for a second that they would survive this night. This isn't just for gold. This is for glory.

"Brother, what are your orders?" Lukas asked from his left.

Emil lifted his head with pride. He looks to his left, seeing Lukas and Tino ready for battle. He then looks to his right, where Berwald and Mathias stand poised and ready for the attack. Finally, he looked forward, where, beyond the army of humans, lay his prize. A castle filled to the brim with gold and jewels. A smile came to Emil's face.

"Operation Smash and grab is now underway."

With that, the five dragons took to the sky, roaring their war cry. Emil headed straight for the castle as his brothers worked on destroying the army. Berwald took to using his paralyzing stare to stun his foes into submission while Tino slammed them to literal pieces. Mathias fired haphazardly into the crowd while Lukas was busy saving his ass from being assaulted by the catapults lobbing flaming debris at them. The sight of his family working together brought a genuine smile to Emil's face. Nevertheless, he couldn't stare in awe at their handiwork. He had his own job to do.

Focusing on how his wings caught the air beneath them and how the wind flowed against his body, Emil flew effortlessly to the top of the tall tower. He could see the gold practically flooding the throne room. He launched himself headfirst through the glass and landed in the glimmering pile of jewels. In the center of the room sat a human, presumably the king, judging from the crown atop his head. Emil felt his scales stand on end at the thought of his first human kill on his first mission. And a king no less! He ran towards the king, temporarily ignoring the gold around him. The king did not move, accepting his fate.

Or so Emil thought.

The adolescent dragon halted mid-stride and took in the sight before him. The king was a round, yet muscular man. Even when just sitting, Emil could tell he was quite tall for a human. Still, he was just that. All humans looked the same, generally. Even his prominent nose could be overlooked. However, the familiarity was in the eyes. The cold, violet eyes that Emil could never shake.

"Hello, friend." He said with a smile. The king walked over to Emil, who was still frozen in place, and placed a gloved hand on his muzzle. Suddenly, the king started growing. No, Emil was shrinking. His wings melted right off his body and his snowy white mane burst back onto his neck. As the cold king picked him up, Emil felt the skin and scales on his back crawl in agitation. He stayed silent as the king (he was unaware of if he represented Ivan or Vanya, though he hardly cared at this point) stepped slowly across the golden terrain, which turned to dirty snow under his shoes. The rest of the Nordic Five was nowhere to be seen, seemingly swallowed up by the large human army.

Emil closed his eyes and willed all feeling away. He didn't want to feel the pain on his back. He didn't want to feel the angry fire in his stomach. He didn't want to feel the king's hands running themselves through his fur. In his newfound moment of lucidity, the young dragon willed himself awake.

And wake he did. He was glad he didn't feel the pain, but he knew the nightmare was not very far from his reality. His family is gone and he's stuck with a beast he's not even sure he hates or not. He knows he should. He killed Hana for Odin's sake! But with all this internal conflict and trauma to go through, the only thing he could do is to find solace in the comfort of the dragon's fur and imagine it belonged to someone else.

Emil found himself still curled up on Ivan and Vanya's back. During his time asleep, they had landed right next to a large lake. While Vanya was more concerned with getting a drink from the gleaming lake, Ivan marveled at the flowers in the surrounding area. Emil decided to stay put, not wanting to interact with either of them at the moment.

"Oh, Emil! You're awake!" Ivan said, looking back at him. He lowered his head to the water, right next to his brother. "Would you like to drink, too?"

Before he could even respond, a fish almost bigger than his whole body was slapped right in front of him courtesy of Vanya. He gesture caused him to flinch as he stared at the fish in wonder. It wasn't flopping around or anything, so they probably killed it earlier and saved it for him to eat.

"Of course he wants to." Vanya spoke up. "He needs to get his energy up once we finally make it to our destination. Switzerland is just across this lake. We should be able to make it there before nightfall."

Emil stared at the fish, then back to Vanya, then back to the fish, then at Ivan. He doubted they would poison the fish, since he was sure Ivan genuinely thought they were friends, though the idea lingered in his mind. After Ivan finished drinking, and before Emil could eat the fish, the dragon once again spread their wings and headed out, their destination ever so close. With the sudden liftoff, Emil's fish flew out of his grasp and flopped to the ground ungracefully. He was mildly upset, but with the amount of energy he had, he wasn't able to care that much. He simply settled back down into Ivan and Vanya's fur.


Lukas and Mathias stood positioned on either side of the throne room, just like old times. However, this was no time to reminisce. Berwald and Tino were being battered by the humans manning the catapults, and family safety was top priority. Still, this was nothing compared to previous sieges back before Emil and even Tino joined the group.

'Back then we were just called Scandinavia…' Mathias mused to himself. Then, as Berwald found Tino and Lukas found Emil, Mathias found himself with a bigger and better family than he could ask for.

"Oi, idiot. Focus." His best friend mumbled from the other side of the tower. "They're going to die in a few seconds, but I don't want the humans' last thoughts to be about some dragon acting like a dope instead of killing their king."

Mathias only smiled back. "Sorry Lukie, just got caught up in the moment." The blood red dragon steeled himself as he returned his attention to the king in the throne room. The helpless king stood with a sword gripped in one hand, looking back and forth between the two dragons. The Swiss haven't seen war in hundreds of years. They were unprepared. Complacent, even. It seemed as though only the king had the guts to face them head on. Nevertheless, no matter how hard the king trained, he would never be prepared for an attack from the great Nordic Four. Mathias summoned his strength and a ball of fire rose in his throat. He looked over to Lukas and an acidic liquid flowed from his jaws. The recipe for an explosive end never failed them before.

Suddenly, an angry roar was heard from the town square. Tino had stopped collecting the smaller pieces of gold from the normal citizens' houses and, instead, looked up to the sky, fangs bared in one part hatred and one part fear. Of course, no one else could see what got him so riled up, but whatever his Sniper Eyes picked up, it was serious enough to stop the assault. Berwald continued to use his tough scales to shield Tino from any oncoming threats, though he took his paralyzing stare off his adversaries for moments at a time to see if he could spot what had Tino so upset.

"It's them." Tino growled out.

Before long, Ivan and Vanya landed indiscreetly in the center of the action, a huge grin plastered on each of their faces. Both the dragons and the humans stopped their fighting momentarily to marvel at the new arrival. Lukas and Mathias struggled to keep their focus on the task before them. However, a snarl from Lukas set them back on track. He was sure Berwald and Tino could handle it long enough for them to get the gold and get out. The stream of acid continued to flow from Lukas' mouth until it was interrupted by a familiar cry. In the blink of an eye, Lukas' attack was directed at the monster with his little brother on his back.