Hey guys! Look who's sorta on time, lol.

Shout out to Phoebe Miller for beta reading!

Fact #162: Survival can be summed up in three words – never give up.

-Bear Grylls

Season: 5th Season

Water

Steve combed the shoreline. He had tuned out Danny and now his voice was just another sound like the lapping and crashing of the storm tossed waves.

From the peak of the hill he hadn't been able to see any other land nearby. A heavy fog had settled on the water around the east and south of the island, impossible to see through. Danny had become insistent that there might be another island or even the mainland with people on it just a mere mile away.

The lack of boats and general activity made Steve doubt it, and he had told Danny as much.

He had been stranded before. In the jungle. In the desert. In the middle of the ocean that one time when his and Danny's fishing trip went awry. The SEALs had taught him well. Panicking wasn't productive. He knew he had shut down and gone into survival mode, pretty much ignoring Danny, but it was the only way he was going to be able to work the problem.

Currently, the rule of threes was what he was concerned about.

A human, or a dragon, could typically only go three days without water before the bad side effects set in. He couldn't remember drinking anything yesterday, and had only had a meager sip of water that morning. The headache starting to poke at the back of his right eye let him know he was dry, and he was sure Danny was dry, too.

He was also probably using too much saliva talking as much and as fast as he was.

Steve blinked as he finally processed what he was talking about. He stopped scouring the rocky shoreline and twisted his head around to squint at Danny.

"You want to make a big burning SOS?" he repeated, just to make sure he had heard right.

Danny nodded and flung his claws out towards the open ocean. "Maybe some boat passing by or...or...a plane flying overhead will see it and come check it out. Boom! That's our ticket home, huh?"

Steve exhaled slowly and glanced out at the white capped waves and the gloom that was settling over the ocean. It looked like it was going to start raining again. The wind was already twitching the branches of the sturdy evergreens flanking the shore.

"How are you going to keep an SOS signal burning?" he asked.

Danny opened his mouth and then closed it, his beak snapping as he did.

Steve went back to searching through the rocks and tree root tangles. He knew Danny was not a survivalist. This wasn't his idea of a fun adventure. If he had the training that Steve did, he may not have been as nervous as he was, but it was too late now. He would just have to get a crash course from the resident SEAL.

A flash of blue caught his eye.

He tugged at it. It was another bundle of fishing net. He already had another torn up net draped over his shoulder. The rope from it could come in handy for building a better shelter or for catching food if it came to that. But it wasn't what he was looking for.

There was a splash behind him.

"What're you doing?" he barked at Danny.

Danny was knee deep in the water. It didn't look like he had fallen in, more like he had purposefully gone in. With his dislike of water, it startled Steve. Maybe Danny had already lost his mind and was going to make a swim for it.

Then his partner lifted his claws out of the water.

"Is this what you're looking for?" Danny asked.

Steve grinned. "That's exactly what I was looking for."

Danny watched the flames dance under the cast iron pot.

Steve hadn't really explained what he had been searching the beach for, all Danny had caught was something to do with junk that had been washed ashore and water. He had finally put two and two together and figured he was looking for something to boil water in, not that Steve had actually answered him when he had asked three separate times. The SEAL had been in a different land where getting stuck on a deserted island was fun while Danny was firmly in reality where getting stuck on a deserted island was not fun. Not fun at all. It was worrisome. And aggravating.

At least he could finally have a drink of water now.

"Does it ever stop raining here?" he grumbled as he removed the pot from the fire to let it cool.

Drips of cold water plinked on his head. Steve had managed to construct a nifty shelter over the firepit to keep the rain off it. Unfortunately, that was the only well put together shelter on the island, and the constant trickle of rain was quickly wearing on Danny's nerves. At least in Hawaii the rain was usually warm.

"Be glad." Steve meticulously placed another chunk of wood on the fire.

Danny glared at him. "Be glad? Be glad that I'm going to start growing mold from being damp all the time?"

"If it didn't rain a lot, there would be no freshwater streams," Steve said with a pointed look at the pot.

Danny huffed. It was either be soggy and cold but have freshwater to drink, or be dry with no water to drink. Living on a deserted island was definitely not fun.

He picked the pot up carefully between his scaled forefeet and poured some of the water into his mouth. It was lukewarm with an earthy flavor and a little bit of grit. He handed it over to Steve who finished it off and then poured more water in from one of the jugs they had found down on the beach. He set it back on the edge of the fire.

"So what's the plan?" Danny asked. "Because sitting huddled under a couple of fallen trees while sharing a pan of puddle water isn't a plan."

Steve remained silent for a stretch. Danny always imagined a bunch of little Steves inside his head going through file cabinets looking for the correct answer before he opened his mouth, and that's what took him so long to say anything sometimes. That, or he was ignoring Danny and just realized he was being asked a question.

"We stay here. Hopefully someone notices the boat went missing and will come looking," Steve said.

"Really? Shelter in place? I would've thought your plan would have included building a raft or attempting to fly out," Danny said.

"The first rule of survival is to stay put unless you're in danger," Steve said. "We're currently not in danger."

"This still doesn't sound like a plan."

"What do you want me to say, Danny? We have no way to get in contact with help, we have no idea how far away other islands or the mainland are, and we don't have a safe way to get off the island," Steve said. He looked up at him, and Danny saw the determined, hard-headed SEAL that had pointed a gun at him in John McGarrett's garage years ago. "We survive. That's the plan. Someone will find us."

Danny nodded, but sighed. He poked at the fire with a long claw. Now that his thirst was satisfied, other pangs were making themselves known. His awkward sleeping position from the night before. Hunger. Frustration.

"Think of it like a camping trip," Steve said.

Danny frowned at the tiny smirk pulling at Steve's mouth.

"Oh yeah, sure, a camping trip. One where our tent is super crappy and leaks, we have to boil our water, we have no food, no beer, and no marshmallows. This is a fan-freaking-tastic camping trip."

"Why are marshmallows in a different group than food?"

"Because they just are. Would you consider marshmallows a food?"

Steve's tail twitched and he made a face. "A junk food, maybe. What do you consider them?"

"A camping necessity. That's the only time I eat marshmallows."

Steve just shook his head.

Danny flinched as thunder cracked overhead. The rain began to steadily pour. Thankfully, Steve had built their firepit with enough stones and branches and bark and moss to keep it from getting flooded. The small glowing pit was the only comfort in their miserable cubby hole.

This was going to be a long camping trip.

To be continued…

Next week on "Dragons", food becomes a priority.

I promise they won't all be simple ones like this. I had a busy week and so was only able to get this one to this point. A few of the others will be more involved. ;)

Thanks for reading, reviewing, faving, and following guys!