Disclaimer Mini-Series, Short 4 out of 5: Overalls

"There's a disclaimer creepin' around here!"

"I think not."

"... I'M GONNA LAY YOU OUT!"

"Oh please-"

(shotgun round goes off)

"Gotcha! Let's see now... 'Rift-Raft owns IHHS'. Well that there is a fine piece of work."


"Keep your nose to the grindstone."


I woke from a very peaceful night's sleep on my human's water-nest to the smell of a delicious hare right in front of my nose.

This morning's off to a good start already.

Not even opening my eyes, I grabbed the snack and swallowed it whole. I don't know how my human does it, but each one he gives me tastes better than the last.

I was still licking my lips when I opened my eyes, only to find a new human staring at me – a very strange human. He didn't seem or smell afraid. At all. Not only that, he was giving me a look I haven't seen since the day I was freed of that accursed ice; it was the same look my human had been giving me that day – one of interest and hope. It was so unsettling that I jumped to my paws, giving him a quick snarl and a very weak spark to the chest, which I've found is the best way to deal with humans that get too close without my permission. My jaw dropped along with my human's when he dodged it and laughed. He laughed!

"Well, that's one mystery down!" he proclaimed after his laughter died down. "And here I thought it'd take a lot longer to learn why you didn't fly off the second you got the chance." He pointed his paw at my human. "You're just like him!"

Okay, hold on. Is it just me, or is a human actually trying to talk to me?

And he just kept on talking. "Of course, he didn't use lightning, just daggers. So, did you enjoy your nap?"

My jaw dropped even lower when I heard this. No human has ever spoken to me, not even my human! Now, out of nowhere, a human I've never even met before is talking to me as casually as a dragon would? Actually, not even most dragons speak like this to me (a perk of being a Storm-Chaser), and the ones that do usually carry a fair amount of size, age, or experience. This human isn't even medium-sized, let alone intimidating. He looks more like a hatchling who barely made it past his first winter. He's not afraid at all?

My human seemed just as confused as I was, though for a different reason, when he broke the long silence. "Um, what are you doing?"

"What does it look like I'm doing?" the human asked, as if it were obvious. "I'm talking to your dragon. You said you wanted to see if it could, right?"

Okay, now I'm very confused.

"Well, yeah, but I'm not even sure if he can talk to other dragons, and here you are, acting like he'll understand Norse."

Oh… so they don't know, after all. Well, I guess that makes sense, I thought, considering how much the humans back on the island would talk about me right in front of my face. And here I thought they got the message after the first few times I zapped them. Looks like they didn't get the one I was trying to send. And speaking of sending messages, I decided not to deal with his choice of pronouns this time around. If he didn't get it the first twenty times, he won't be getting it now. At least he's not calling me an "it" anymore. He did get that message.

The other human put on a mischievous smile as he raised an eyebrow. "Well, how do you know that he doesn't understand Norse? Have you ever asked him?"

The human laughed again when mine just stuttered and mumbled, unable to answer the question. Giving up, my human threw his paws in the air. "Fine, you want to make a fool of yourself, I won't stop you!" He walked over and grabbed another hare, throwing it high so I would have to jump to catch it. He sat down before giving a final warning. "But don't blame me if you get zapped again!"

"I won't," the human said, a grin still on his lips. He took a step closer with a confidence that I've never seen on any approaching human other than my own.

I looked down at him, now extremely curious. I still couldn't detect even a single trace of the fear scent. After over a full season with the humans, the fear scent has been one of the few things that I've come to accept as routine, especially with humans I've never met before. Not catching it is… weird. And what's even weirder is how his scent almost reminds me of a dragon's. How does a human do something like that? I would think that it was thanks to some ungodly act of hate and murder, but this human doesn't look like he'd hurt a fly, let alone a Shadow-Blender. You know what, maybe I should just say that his scent is very new and interesting and move on. After all, it's not a bad scent, just completely contrary to everything I know about humans.

Finally settling on what he wanted to say, he smiled and met my gaze. "Well, here goes nothing. Can you understand me?"

I stared at him for a while longer. I've been dying to talk to somebody – anybody – ever since I woke up. Eavesdropping on humans gets old after a while, and it's not like humans can understand (or I guess even know about) dragon language. Believe me, after a few weeks of figurative (but certainly not literal) silence, I learned that fact quick enough. I was even desperate enough to go against the warnings I received with my Norse lessons – the warnings against ever letting humans know that we were teaching their language to our young. But it didn't even matter, since the language barrier goes two ways. One conversation with a green, flightless Little-Biter doesn't make up for an entire season of silence, even if it was extremely fascinating and earth-shattering and mind-boggling and… you know what, just see for yourself:

"So that's why you were attacking us?"

"Yes!" he chirped, still relieved that I no longer blasted approaching dragons on sight. "At the time, we were still under her control."

"Well that's just… hold on." It's been a while since I could detect the malice and evil in dragons that neared this island. I had no idea a single dragon was responsible, especially not the Queen of a nest. "If that's true, then how do you remember what happened?"

He sighed. "When she's in your head, it's like you can only think about pleasing her, and nothing else, but you can still kind-of think on your own. This is the first time in my life that I've been free, and I owe it all to the Shadow-Blenders who took that Prebirth Monster down!"

My eyes widened at the profanity. "She was that awful?"

"Yes! If you could have seen her, you'd understand. She was really big and ugly and fat and she ate us when we couldn't bring her enough food."

My eyes widened even further. "She WHAT?!"

He spat on the ground. "She deserved what she got. And it wasn't easy to take her down, either." As he finished the rant, his anger left him, and he lowered his head. "It came with a cost."

It took me less than a second to see what he meant. "Oh… I'm so sorry."

He shook his head. "You don't have anything to be sorry for. You were just defending yourself. She's the monster. We lost a lot of nest mates when we took her down, and we almost lost the ones who saved us. The Dragoness of the Moon herself embraced the two Shadow-Blenders for so long that we thought they wouldn't ever get up again. And when they did wake up… one of them was missing a hind-paw, not moving… and the other had to sacrifice one of his tail fins to save him. If it weren't for those two, we would still be trapped, so we asked them if they would be our Kings. Now, they rule over our nest with more compassion and integrity than the Queen ever did. We also gave them names, even though we didn't ask them fir-"

"NAMES?!" I interrupted, my eyes now as wide as saucers. "Only legendary dragons earn that honor!"

"Exactly!" He happily chirped. "After they freed themselves, then freed us, then discovered soul-fire and taught us how to use it, their tale probably would have been remembered even if they hadn't taken her down. Once they led the charge against the Queen and let us all bring her down for good, we knew they had earned the honor. And even while they were under the Queen's control, they would always try to protect us during the raids. That's why we settled on the name that we did. They already had names for each other before we did; they say it feels weird having multiple names. We call them our Saviors." His voice was filled with reverence as he delivered their names, the part of the story that will be remembered throughout the ages, even if all else is forgotten.

"That's… just…" I said, failing to find a good way to respond. No, that's not accurate. I couldn't find any way to respond, good or otherwise. New named dragons, in my lifetime… not just that, they have MULTIPLE NAMES?! What am I supposed to say? Or even think?

Then I remembered some of the best advice I'd ever heard: 'Thinking is like hunting. If you want to do it right, you have to take it slow.'

I turned to the Little-Biter. "Would you mind if I took a moment to think about this?"

He tilted his head, that Little-Biter curiosity nipping at him, but thankfully he agreed without a fuss.

I sat in silence for a long time, trying to wrap my head around it all. Minutes drifted by, and my scattered thoughts slowly tackled this new world, one fact at a time.

Fact One: After I was frozen, my species went extinct. I hate to think about it, but after a month of mourning, I decided that I wouldn't get anywhere by just moping around. It's a fact I have to accept if I want to do something about it.

Fact Two: I was frozen for a very long time – so long that I probably won't meet anybody that I knew before the ice took me. Again, not fun to think about, but I have to move on. As my mother said: mourn your losses for season, celebrate their memory for a lifetime.

Fact Three: A tyrant Queen had been ruling over the land of my kin for almost as long as I've been frozen. She brainwashed her nest, according to the Little-Biter, and she's been ordering raids on humans all the while.

Fact Four: Two Shadow-Blenders took her down. They're now co-kings of the biggest nearby nest, and they have names.

There was a lot more that I wanted to piece together, but when the Little-Biter started fidgeting, I knew I'd have to worry about the details later – all except one.

"What's soul-fire?" I asked in an attempt to distract myself from the fact that now three dragons have earned names in my lifetime.

The Little-Biter smiled, his back spines slightly glowing. Must be my imagination. "You remember Sphere?" he asked with a little too much enthusiasm.

"Of course I do!" I shouted. I never saw him myself, but the rage with which my kin spoke of him is hard to forget.

His smile widened at my response, and his scales lit up even more. After taking a deep breath, he spewed out a stream of fire and… grabbed it. The fire was yellow-green and round and looked like a small sun above the ground. It was so beautiful… the moment I saw it, I couldn't look away; I wanted it to last forever. I don't know how long it lasted, but the flames had taken hold of me, and it was like I was in another world altogether. After what felt like hours, it abruptly vanished, and when it did, the invisible claws that had gripped my senses let go.

I only remembered what was going on when the Little-Biter dropped to the ground, panting. "That's soul-fire."

I think I'll stop there; the soul-fire is making it difficult to remember more. Anyway, that's the only conversation I've had with anybody since I escaped the ice. At this point, I don't care if it'll be with a human. I'll take it. The old warnings are probably outdated by now anyway, so I decided to answer his question truthfully. "Yes, I can understand you."

His smile grew larger at my reply and he turned away, looking over to where my human was sitting. "See?" he asked, gesturing at me.

"See what?" my human asked, not impressed. "All he did was grunt at you."

The human's eyes widened in a realization of sorts, then he chuckled and shrugged. "Well it's a start, right?" At my human's bored sigh, he brought a forepaw to his chin and began pacing.

It was only when he started moving back and forth right in front of me that I noticed his uneven walking. I tilted my head when I saw the metal where his lower left paw should have been. Missing limbs aren't uncommon among humans, but this is the first time I've ever seen a metal replacement. Hold on… a human who's missing a single hind paw…

Why do get the feeling I should know something about that?

No, it's not just a feeling, I know I know something about that, but before I could begin searching for what it was, the human stopped pacing.

"I have an idea!" he said, probably to catch my human's attention. Taking a step closer so that he was just in front of me, the human began again. "If you want to answer 'yes' to something, nod your head up and down, like this." He bobbed his head up and down, that strange smile on his face again.

Catching on, I mimicked the motion, now smiling myself.

"And if you want to answer 'no' to something, shake your head side to side, like this." When I went through that motion as well, he turned back to my human, looking proud of himself. "Well?"

My human still wasn't impressed. "Maybe he was just mimicking you. That's not the same as understanding what you were saying."

"Well then, Mr. Skeptic, why don't you ask him something?" he asked in a challenging voice. "You know, to see if it worked."

"… So you're saying you want me to prove you wrong?"

The human shrugged. "If that's how you want to put it, sure. I just want you to do it yourself."

Rolling his eyes, my human stood up and walked over. "Fine."

At that instant, I froze. I only just then saw what was about to happen. My human was about to talk to me. Not some random human, my human. It's been months since I've been able to talk to a nest-mate. Actually, I guess it's been a lot longer than that. Now I might actually be able to talk to the only true friend I've made in this new world – the only person that, even without words, has come close to understanding me. I could feel my scales trembling as we met each other's gaze.

I braced myself as he opened his mouth, but he gasped and closed it before saying anything. His reddening cheeks and sped up breathing told me why before he did. "No, I am not doing this. It's just stupid."

I don't know if that made me feel relieved or disappointed, but I sighed as the unexpected tension left my body as easily as it had come.

"What, are you afraid of your own dragon?" the other human teased.

"Dagur the Doombringer is afraid of nothing!" my human shouted, letting the other one get to him. "I'm just not going to embarrass myself with one of your stupid ideas!"

I cocked my head to the side, not certain if he was talking about himself. Sure, I've heard a lot of humans call my human a 'dagger' before, but I always thought it was just their way of getting back at him for all the times he had me mess with them.

Years ago, I remember calling the annoying half of my favorite Two-Head the "Second Opinion" of the pair (but only when she got more annoying than usual). She's the one who gave me the advice to slow down before thinking; what made Second Opinion so annoying was just how often she was right about everything. That's why I can understand name-calling for the sake of fun, even if it's slightly 'culturally incorrect', as she put it.

Regardless, I probably wouldn't have known what 'dagger' meant if the humans I spied on all those seasons ago weren't such fans of the little metal things. This was the first time I've heard him use the joke, even if he didn't say it multiple times while screaming and running away like the other humans do.

"Dagur… the Doombringer?" the human asked, clearly trying to hold back laughter.

My human shrugged. "It's a work in progress."

I still don't get why it's so funny to call him a weapon. I'd take it as a compliment.

The other human brought his forepaw to his chin again. "Hmmmmm. So you aren't afraid of anything, then?"

My human shook his head. "There's only one thing I'm afraid of, and no one knows where it is or what happened to it, so as far as you're concerned, no, there isn't." It didn't look like he planned to say any more than that.

The human took a second to realize mine had finished, raising an eyebrow when he did, but didn't press my human on his fears any further. "Well then, 'Doombringer', how about we make a deal?"

My human raised his eyebrow. "A… deal?"

"Yeah, a deal. I'll ask the first question, then you ask the next. That way I'll look just as stupid as you do if I'm wrong! And I'd look stupid first." That weird smile was on his face again.

Without warning, my human released a series of noises I've come to realize are his way of laughing. He wiped a nonexistent tear from his eye. "Oh, you still bring the funny, Hiccup!"

That made me freeze. Again. Hiccup? I could have sworn I heard something about a hiccup very recently. Or was it a cough? No… there's something bigger, something I'm not seeing, something that was distracting me when I heard about it…

"Alright, you're on!" my human shouted, once again forcing me to think about it later.

The other human smiled, stepped back, and turned so that the two of them were standing side-by-side.

After he thought everything was in place, my human motioned for the other to start.

The human turned to me, still smiling. "Alright, I'll start us off easy. Can you understand me?"

Ugh. This again? "Yes, I can understand you." I nodded as I spoke, my head going up and down just like he showed me.

My human scoffed. "That doesn't prove anything. My turn! Let's see…"

The other human rolled his eyes while mine took a moment to think of a question.

"Are you a dragon?"

I was reminded once again of all the conversations that 'his men' have had about his mental health.

The other human spoke before I decided if I should answer. "Why are you asking that?"

My human scoffed. "To see if he can understand us. Obviously. If he shook his head, then we'd know right off the bat that he can't. First we have to ask questions that we already know the answers to, otherwise it wouldn't prove anything."

The other human smiled. "That actually makes sense." He turned to me. "Well?"

Mentally agreeing with him, I answered the question. "Yes, I'm a dragon." I said, nodding my head.

My human's eyes widened a little when I answered, but his skepticism spoke up again. "We can't be sure if he understood us, or if he was just nodding his head like the last time. Ask him an obvious 'no' question."

The other human shrugged. "Alright." He turned to me. "Am I a dragon?"

The answer to that was obvious enough. "No, you aren't a dragon," I said, shaking my head.

My human still wasn't convinced. "Maybe he was just guessing."

The other human sighed. "Look, Dagur, if you really want to bring this home, why don't you ask him something that you've always wanted to ask him? Ask him something that really matters to you, something that you can't not know, and look him in the eyes when you do. That's really important. You have to decide if you can see understanding in them or not, or you'll never really know."

My human thought about the suggestion for a while, nodded, then started thinking again, now more serious than I think I've ever seen him.

I have to admit, it is a really good suggestion. All I have to do is play my part, and we'll be that much closer for the rest of our lives.

My human's face lit up when he figured out what he would ask. He turned to face me, his eyes locking with mine before he spoke. "What's your name?"

Before I could even think of a way to respond to that blasphemous question, the other human cut in. "Uh, Dagur, yes or no questions only, remember?"

My human's cheeks got very red when he saw his mistake. He gets really uptight about stupid mistakes, and he hates it most of all when he makes them. "Oh, right," he admitted, looking down for a second before he started thinking again. This time, it didn't take so long. "Well then… I'll try this!" Our gazes met once again. "Do you have a name?"

Oh come on! Couldn't he have asked about anything else? Why is this so important to him? "No!" I tried to get the message across with more than just head motions this time. The other human chuckled when I began shaking my head side to side as hard as I could while stomping a paw on the water-nest and flapping my wings.

My human just stood there, mouth open and eyes wide, as if he'd been struck by lightning.

The other human must have thought the 'deal' was still on, because he asked his next question in a soft voice before mine had come back to his senses. "Would you like one?"

I was starting to shake my head again when it hit me. Hard.

All the important details about this strange human aligned, and the rest of the conversation I had with the flightless Little-Biter pushed itself to the front of my mind.

"That's soul-fire," he huffed out in between breaths, recovering very slowly. "We surrounded the Queen with it and she fell into the ocean. The Saviors told us that a sea dragon took care of her after that."

It took me a few more seconds to recover from the display of… 'soul-fire', but after I did, my mind was set. "These… Saviors taught you how to do that?"

He panted out a "yes", still trying to catch his breath.

I smiled as I remembered the Storm-Chaser motto, hammered into me by every one of my teachers: 'Learn all types of magic. You never know when you might need it.' My smile widened even more when I remembered Second Opinion's take on it: 'Be prepared.'

Truer words have never been spoken. I never could have survived in the ice if I hadn't learned the obscure bit of body magic that lets me regulate my own internal temperature. Up until now, I thought my training was complete. I steeled myself as I asked a question I never thought I'd have to ask again. "Have they chosen their apprentices yet?"

The worst part is, either they have, or they haven't, and there's nothing I can do about it.

"I don't… what?" the Little-Biter asked after a few more pants.

Oh. Right. Too informal. I should probably ask them directly. "Where are they right now? Can I meet them?"

The Little-Biter instantly stopped panting and eyed me with caution. After a few seconds of silence, he shook his head. "I'm sorry, but they said that's the one thing we couldn't tell anyone while spreading the word. The Saviors said that their location has to be a secret for now. They don't want a lot of dragons flocking to the nest."

"Why not?" I asked, confused by his sudden reluctance. "Why wouldn't they want a larger nest? Any King would be thrilled at a new addition to their flock! Besides, I just want to meet them."

"Even so, orders are orders, and…" the Little-Biter avoided my gaze as he explained. "It would probably cause even more problems for the humans they're living with."

I felt my jaw drop. "They're living with humans?!" That's the last thing I was expecting.

Named dragons, living with humans… legends in heart and deed, nesting with those that they had just finished warring against. It sure is one way to try to promote peace, but to go to such extremes… I couldn't decide if it was a sign of madness, or genius. Either way, I could hardly believe the absurdity of it all. Or the irony.

Hopefully, I can at least learn more about why they'd choose to do something so crazy, even if I can't learn where. "Why would they choose to live with humans?"

"Actually," he said, smiling nervously. "One of them is a human."

Okay, that was just too much. By the time I had finished laughing, the Little-Biter was giving me a very annoyed look, which I ignored. "You really had me going there! For a second I thought you were serious."

"I am serious!" he chirped.

I decided to humor him. "Alright then, how do you explain the two Shadow-Blenders? You're not going to tell me there were three Saviors, are you?"

"Of course not!" the little guy exclaimed, now even more annoyed. "The Shadow-Blender who lost his hind-paw wasn't always a Shadow-Blender. And he isn't one anymore, either. The Queen took it from him when she died. The other Savior and the humans call him 'Hiccup'."

Oh.

Ooohh.

Before I could even begin to think of something to say to that, a rustling in the bushes caught our attention. I hadn't realized we were shouting until then, and I had completely forgotten to keep a lookout for humans. Lucky for me, this was just the thing I needed to take my mind off of that loaded story.

Giving the air a quick sniff and catching a very familiar scent, I turned back to the Little-Biter, trying to stay calm so I wouldn't make him panic. "Look, I think my human is nearby. You have to go, or he might make me attack you."

Without another word, he scurried off, going deeper into the woods, probably in the same direction that the red-purple Flame-Skin had gone after dropping him off. Just as he vanished into the brush, my human came out in the open.

"So?" My human's voice cut through the memory, and I was once again looking at two humans and standing on a floating human nest.

It was only when the other human – no, one of the Saviors – cleared his throat, that I realized I must have been staring at him for a long time.

"Well, do you want one or not?" my human asked, awaiting my response with barely-contained excitement.

The original question completely forgotten, I did what I should have done from the start. Spreading my wings and arching my back, I lowered my head in the deepest bow I've ever given. I couldn't believe it. I was in the presence of dragon legend! It all makes sense now! The confidence, the missing paw, the casual conversation, that knowing smile… and all this time, he's been helping to close the gap between me and my human. He's been helping me! I am not worthy of such an honor.

"Umm, what's he doing?" I heard my human ask.

I felt my wings trembling as I looked back up at the Savior.

He was waving one of his paws, using it to silently tell me to get up, and from the desperate look on his face, it seemed like this wasn't what he was expecting, either.

I looked over at my human in confusion before another bout of realization had a go with me. He doesn't know! I thought, slowly getting up and looking at my human with apprehension. None of them do!

The Savior's voice cut through the dense air. I could now detect a very strong fear scent from him. "Maybe names are a bigger deal for dragons than you might think?" he asked my human.

I felt my eyes widen as I had a final moment of understanding. And he doesn't want them to know!

Trying to salvage what little I could from this, I began nodding fiercely at his last remark. It's true, after all, and a good answer. I thought back to the rest of his questions. Of course it is.

Luckily, my human had been too busy looking at me to notice the Savior's predicament. "So, do you want a name?" he asked with just as much excitement as the first time.

And that was the moment my chin hit the ground. It was too much. I'm in the presence of an actual legend, whose story will be told and retold for generations, and my human wants to name me?! I collapsed on the floor, covering my face with my wings and asking all the Gods if I could have a few moments to just think.

"What's he doing now?!"

"Maybe it's a much bigger deal than you might think?" the Savior asked him.

I nodded.

"You need some time to think about it?" he asked.

Nod.

He sighed. "It's probably best if we dropped this for now, to let it all sink in. But you both need to work this out later."

At my final nod, I heard a strange sound coming from ocean. I think the humans call it a 'horn'.

"Actually," the Savior amended, his voice rising in surprise, "I think I know just the thing that'll help."