"Fine. Let us see what you can do.", said Toothless, his voice everything but convincing.
Pouncer and Ruffrunner just stared, surprised. Dart flashed her smile, simply happy that she wouldn't have to resort to force.
"Really?", asked Ruffrunner, a noticeable amount of fear in his voice.
The alpha was somewhat afraid too. But the ability to take care of… anything… would be necessary if his three now-not-so-little fledglings were to also grow in their head.
"You need to keep these humans safe and sound. You need to carry the pile of food to the lower levels. And you aren't allowed to cause major psychological events in too many dragons.", he reinstated.
Dart respectfully bowed her head to her father, like she had seen other dragons do. "Thank you for trusting us. You won't regret it."
Something told Toothless this was a lie.
As Toothless took off, Dart motioned towards her back to one of the children by craning her neck.
The confused child craned his neck backwards in the same way, happily observing Dart's reaction.
Luckily for the child, who just so happened to be the eleven year old daughter of two fishermen, the ship carried someone who, in his own words, was 'an expert on everything that has to do with dragons'. Little Eret's experience from a grand total of one previous meeting with the dragons meant that he understood Dart's gestures and promptly climbed on her back and offered his hand to the girl, who made a show of climbing on without using it. "The days of damsels in distress who need strong men to protect them from evil dragons are over. And they have been so for over twenty years. You're so behind your time.", she said to the ten-year old.
According to her husband's words, Helga was not an idiot. (Yes, he had indeed such a way with words.) And when non-idiot Helga had last visited the hidden world, she had understood that they weren't appreciated there. But with the huge scientific reward that a second visit would bring, she had decided it would be worth the risk. The viking had hoped that by bringing enough food and clarifying their good intentions, she and big Eret would be allowed to maybe get close enough to see the edge of the entrance and return safely.
Helga now looked wide eyed at all the children, who were climbing on the three nightlights, who openly encouraged them. And (oh Thor) little Eret was one of them. "Whatever you do, don't let go of those dragons.", she said hurriedly. She did not add 'and try to avoid looking tasty', both because she trusted the dragons and didn't trust the children to keep calm in the case she said that.
Within ten seconds, not one of the children had missed the opportunity to climb onto the black and white beasts, with little thought given to the consequences. Perhaps slightly too little. "What was the reason that we climbed onto the dragons?", asked the girl seated behind little Eret.
And if little Eret answered, the girl was too busy to hear it. Screaming and holding on for dear life had suddenly become her main priority.
Pouncer wasn't feeling calm. He wasn't feeling calm at all. It was the first time a human touched him, let alone rode him. Oh, and there were four of them.
The only upside was that they seemed to be even more afraid than he was. At least, telling from the painful grip they held on his ear nubs.
He purred soothingly and tried to avoid going into hard maneuvers, despite the deep urge to do barrel rolls and show these humans an even freer form of flight.
"Could you please not hold my head so hard?", he whined. Hypothetically, he liked being touched and grabbed. Though hypothetically, it would have been a female light fury to do so and not four human children. Oh, would Laura want to have him?
But as the one riding him understood Pouncer's pain and let go just a little, reminding the dragon of reality once more, the nightlight's eyes turned towards the happy, golden haired figure sitting on his neck. "Hey, you are pretty nice, aren't you?", he rumbled. Sure, this human lacked all those exquisite curves that light furies offered, but was pleasant nonetheless. And when it pointed a little hand forwards, asking Pouncer to go faster, he complied.
"Ruffrunner, what do you think? Are you enjoying the emotions of this incredible experience?", he asked the black nightlight.
Ruffrunner took a moment away from convincing himself that the three little children would not strangle him to cast an almost distressed look to his brother. "No."
Ruffrunner should take from him and show a bit less fear, thought Pouncer. The fact that the white nightlight had been just as scared a moment ago was irrelevant.
"What about those three?", he then asked Dart. They would soon fly with these humans into the hidden world, but there were three more humans who would be stuck on the longboat if they flew away now.
Dart looked down and very true, the two adults and one child were still on the ship. They were waving at them, obviously wanting to fly as well. And who was she to refuse it? But she couldn't physically carry anything above three children. Pouncer, who was (sigh) slightly stronger than her, was carrying four children and thus also at maximum capacity. Ruffrunner was filled up too. They would need help from one more dragon.
Her father, her mother, Hookfang, Rej and Stormfly. Which of these dragons would be best suited to carry them? She seemed to recall that one of these adults was a certain Eret, who had a previous connection with one of the dragons…
"Stormfly!", she called out. "Can you carry those three?"
Big Eret and Helga looked at the sky, anxiously waiting for one of the circling dragons to pick them up. And when the blue nadder started approaching, a wave of relief washed down over Helga. For big Eret, the appearance of that particular deadly nadder did not enact the same feeling. "Why did it have to be her?", he mumbled under his breath.
"Can we please fly along?", asked Helga nervously as the nadder landed and greeted them with a chirp.
Stormfly chirped again and offered her neck for the woman and the child to climb onto. Helga swallowed her fears and jumped onboard, holding the nadders numerous head spikes for support.
But of course, when big Eret wanted to do the same, Stormfly raised her neck and instead moved her claws towards the viking.
Not wanting to repeat last time's torture, Eret promplty took a step back, away from the nadder's not-so invitiong claws, and stared into Stormfy's eyes.
He tried to gesture his wishes. The viking held his right hand out in front of him and pointed to it from above with his left hand, while vigorously nodding and smiling. He then pointed to his right hand from below and vigorously shook his head while frowning. It was a clear, simple message. Above: yes. Below: no.
Stormfly was somewhat perplexed by Eret deciding to give her details of his intimate life, but decided to shrug it off. She grabbed him into her claws and took to the sky.
The scorching sun shone down on the ocean. Right now, in the afternoon of a late summer day, it was warmer than ever. Even in the hidden world, where temperature differences remained at a minimum, it could be felt. It could be seen even, due to the dragons doing very little more than laying, paws and wings sprawled, on the most comfortable available surface. In general conscience, this was a day to sleep, maybe eat a little, and generally stay away from anything laborious. Four dragons carrying a total of thirteen humans formed a notable exception.
Ruffrunner remembered how he had been one of these happy creatures. It was a simpler time then. Before Dart. Before the humans. Before everything. Half an hour ago had been such a pleasant time. But Ruffrunner considered himself wise, and as a wise dragon, he would think about the future and not linger in the past. His siblings should learn from him, he thought.
But Dart had promised fishing for him for a month. It would be worth it. He could finally get to spend his time eating, sleeping and…
"And how about you three settle your argument when you're not on me?", he growled to the three children on his back.
He had expected that flying for the first time would be fascinating for these young vikings, who would just hold on and take in the experience. And in a way, that had been true. For the first two minutes of their ten minute flight, they had behaved better than an alpha's most understanding subjects, calmly and peacefully enjoying their life. It wasn't before the third minute that they got bored, at which point one of them decided it was fun to pull at his ear nubs. The second one disagreed, claiming that his splitting spines could be pulled in and out and were therefore more entertaining. The third then said that the previous two were being cruel and that the nightlight deserved better, loudly. Long story short, his ears, ear nubs and splitting spines had been forever traumatized.
Nonetheless, he trusted humans more than he did a few minutes ago. This was flying on currents compared to what his siblings usually subjected him to.
But at least they had arrived. Dart spoke to the three of them from the front of the formation. "My beloved dragon. Pouncer and Ruffrunner. Let us show these humans the beauty that we live in!" And with those warm words and the prospect of giving these children a little payback, Ruffrunner started to fall. "Let's see what you think of this.", he growled teasingly.
The subsequent screams of fear filled his heart with joy.
And when he finally flared out and landed on a ledge, he looked at the now pale children on his back. "That's right. I am in charge here."
"They are just children, you are being mean!", said Dart after pulling out of an almost identical dive. "Don't you think so?", she asked the individuals on her back with a toothed growl. The equally pale children on Dart's back nodded, though it is unclear whether they had actually understood the question or were just trying to please the angry dragon they were sitting on.
The male nightlight basked at his small victory. The children on his back had been scared and would now finally respect him.
At least, for five seconds. After that, those individuals asked Ruffrunner to dive again, because apparently the near death experience had been perceived as fun.
"What's with kids these days?", muttered the fifteen year old nightlight.
After some more flying, the quartet of dragons and their passengers landed next to a freshwater pond, formed by the water vapour condensing once it reached the (relatively) cool stones of the upper levels. Dart took a quick drink, her throat dry from flying with all of that cargo. She should tell the children to shed some weight.
"Stormfly?", asked the nightlight thoughtfully.
The deadly nadder had been occupied getting to know what she believed to be Eret's mate. And so far, she seemed like a nice enough person. For starters, the woman had politely asked Stormfly to take her clawed paw off Eret, indicating a deep care for others' wellbeing. The deadly nadder had responded by gently licking the woman's face.
"Stormfly!", barked Dart, louder.
The deadly nadder looked up. "Yes?"
"What do humans find fun more than flying? You've lived with them for six years, so do you have any ideas?", asked the nightlight, who was starting to seriously worry about being too 'boring' for these young, adventurous humans.
The deadly nadder smiled broadly, ignoring Eret's complaints from below her paw. "We are dragons. We spit fire, throw spikes and camouflage.", she explained. "My dear Dart, everything you do will be new for them! Imagine yourself as a much more interesting sheep."
Dart knew what a sheep was from her visit to new Berk (in the homecoming short). She remembered a frightening animal, even larger than herself, that was allowed to freely wander among the human village. It was true that Dart had grown since then, but it couldn't be that much righ? In short, sheep could almost be described as the dominant species of the outside world. And Dart, a mere nightlight, was even more interesting than that? "Thank you! That was really encouraging!", she barked happily.
As the sun moved along it's wide arch in the sky, warm rays of sunlight made their way into a tunnel on the eastern side of the hole, where three hatchlings of monstrous nightmares saw the sunlight for the first time. The dragons, barely a month old and not even as big as a terrible terror, were marveled and terrified by the great ball of fire, and closely huddling to their mother while observing it.
After teaching an important lesson on how you should not stare at very bright objects, said mother then decided it would be great to teach her hatchlings just how lucky they were, and how the little angels had to live their life to their fullest.
"This is the hidden world, our home.", she said solemnly. Whether or not her kids understood speech didn't really matter. The monstrous nightmare felt intelligent either way. "And we should all be grateful for living here."
The large dragon closed her eyes, letting the bright rays of light warm her yellow scales. "Once upon a time dragons lived outside. And it was horrible. Many were forced to fight for evil queens."
The mother purred at the hatchlings laying against her. Really, at their age, their main activity was eating and finding the closest warm-blooded animal to sleep against. And they weren't bothered but whatever that animal said. "But that isn't everything. The outside world contained humans. Small, but many, and with incredible but twisted minds, they meant that you always had to be on guard."
The yellow dragon sighed, distant memories making their way back to her. "Some of them were good. A pack of them had learned to live peacefully with us.", she said. "But others were not so friendly. They hunted us. And even though they were small and weak, all of their new inventions meant that very often, they won."
The small family looked forwards, at the heavily trafficked main entrance. The mother thought about when her little hatchlings would learn to fly. How would her life change then? She smiled at the knowledge that whatever happened, they would be safe. "But thanks to our great alpha Toothless, and no I don't know why he calls himself that, we moved here, to the hidden world, where there is no way for humans, good or bad, to reach us and harm us.", she concluded joyously.
"Hello!", barked an upside down black and white dragon from the top of its loop, a small human child on its back screaming from euphoria.
The mother stood perfectly still for ten long seconds. She then snapped back, sudden anger colouring her face. "Alright, back to the nest, now."
According to the eleven children, the dragon's ability to spit fire was fun. So was the 'one-second-cooking' which the fire implied. Camouflaged could also be used to turn dragons into invisible, warm and highly comfortable cushions. This task was particularly enjoyed by Ruffrunner, though he said that it was a shame that the humans would stir his sleep to lay on him. The nightlight then thought on how it was also a shame to have siblings who would call you boring every time you took a moment to sleep, and started daydreaming about a world without said siblings.
But nothing beat flying. For every child that wanted to have a herring reduced to ashes in the shortest possible time, ten of them wanted to fly. Loops, barrel rolls, split-S, even Cobra for the most daring. The list of new aerobatics to showcase to the children was steadily diminishing. The four dragons did what felt like a week's worth of flying that day.
And during all of that time the humans were in the hidden world, where they could stare in awe at the many incredible dragons that it contained. Said dragons could also stare at awe at the humans, and were very much worried by this. Wasn't the whole point of the hidden world being free from humans? Many expressed their concerns in more or less colourful words. Luckily for the humans, they couldn't understand what was said about them. In the meantime, the alpha's offspring continued their aerobatics.
As soon as Pouncer landed next to the pond to let off his panting passenger, four new children flocked around him. The white nightlight grinned at the attention. "Do you think that some of these humans are females? That's not a surprise, really. It is impossible for any female to resist me, no matter the species."
"Pouncer, no.", said Dart immediately, terminating the horrific idea before any twisted mind could snatch it up.
"Just know. No female can keep their paws off me.", he said confidently while puffing his muscles.
Dart unsheathed her claws. "Especially your throat."
The sky was red with sunset as the four dragons made their way back to the sea. The God Enrager's anchor shook gently as the ship was rocked by their landing.
"We are done!", declared Dart as the last of the passengers disembarked.
She took a moment to look at the setting sun. Too bad that it was currently shadowed by some kind of large pile of food sitting on the ships aft.
Her eyes widened in recognition. "Oh, no!"
Ruffrunner swore to himself to never agree to help his sister ever again. "We have to carry the food to the lower levels of the hidden world, where it is needed the most.", he all but whined. His toxic green eyes were downcast. "For once, we all agree. This is going to be a slog."
His two siblings nodded, enjoying the trios' rare moment of harmony. This one was exceptionally long, lasting for fifteen whole seconds.
Pouncer then added that they also could all agree that Ruffrunnner was to blame, as he had suggested the idea to their father. The black nighlight had responded by claiming it was their sister's idea to take care of the humans, which then caused said sister to claim that taking care of the humans by force would have been much better, and it was nothing but her brothers' 'sensible' suggestions that were now forcing them to do actual work.
Anyways, it had been fifteen very pleasant seconds.
Why? Why had he agreed to this? Why had he mentioned the possibility to carry the pile of food to the hidden worlds lowest cavern, adding fifteen kilometres of vertical climb to their trip?
Ruffrunner wasn't sure what had gotten into him. But he surely resented it.
The habitants of Laura's home cavern had apparently never seen food before. The pile contained fish and mostly cheap meat from berserker island, but the dragons stared at it like it with more respect than towards an alpha.
"You can do more than just watch.", said Pouncer after noticing how the small crowd of dragons was for some reason keeping a distance to the pile.
One of the dragons, a gronkle, creeped it's way closer, and sniffed cautiously at the bottom of the pile. "Is that non-fish meat?" asked the dragon in awe, it's yellow eyes looking at the pile in marvel.
"Yes it is. I cannot tell you which meat, sadly, as I don't know that much about the animals of the outside world.", said Dart, while thinking that maybe a few visits outside wouldn't be that bad…
"But I can.", said Stormfly. "That is yak."
Cautiously, the gronkle transferred said yak into its mouth. "This is delicious. Where does it come from?"
Dart smiled. "It's a gift from the humans who carried it here."
The yak meat that had been in the gronkle's mouth immediately exited it. "This is absolutely disgusting, and it is a disgrace that you are giving it to us.", said the dragons as it flew off, its rapid wingbeats sounding even quicker and angrier than usual.
But the other dragons had heard the world delicious. And many, if not all of them now started to take from the pile, who's life expectancy was steadily declining. The four dragons which had carried it here looked at the fruits of their work. A certain female nighlight was very happy with herself.
"Thank you Stormfly. Will you help us in the future?", asked Dart.
The blue dragon chuckled and shook her head. "Sorry guys. It was fun, but you should try finding someone your age."
Dart nodded and turned towards her brothers. "You two weren't useless either. Thanks."
"Oh, such warm words.", exclaimed Ruffrunner with his paw on his chest. "My heart is melting."
Dart rolled her eyes. "If there is something that I can do to repay you…", she said, trying to not show her hope. Had they managed to forget?
Nope. The toxic green eyes of her brothers were unimpressed. "Don't act as if we didn't have a deal."
Dart's honour was causing a serious pain to her used wing muscles. The nightlight had flown for hours with heavy loads today, and now had to fish for Ruffrunner because of their deal. With a final burst of adrenaline, she took the last few wingbeats and landed in her cavern. She landed and retracted her wings, giving them some much needed rest. Tiredly, she walked deeper into the cavern and dropped the large cod in front of Ruffrunner.
"Could you get makrill next time? I like them better. But of course, since they are smaller fish you will have to get more of them", he said happily. Because there wasn't anything quite like having one's sister work for you.
After explaining how she could get a piece of Ruffrunner's throat next time, she reluctantly moved on to the next errand. While Ruffrunner's price was laborious, yet innocent, Pouncer's request to explain his dream would with all likelihood involve things that no dragon should ever hear. Nevertheless, Pouncer had helped her today, and she was a dragon of honour.
"So, how is Laura? What was that 'wonderful dream'?", she asked, fearful of the contents of her brother's mind.
Pouncer smiled. "It was spring. It was beautiful. And we were slowly flying towards the sunset"
"Huh. That's not so bad.", said Dart. She had expected far worse.
"And then it became night and we landed and…"
And Dart would feel a surge of disgust every time she looked at her brother for the coming two months.
Said brother looked rather pleased instead. "Wouldn't that be wonderful?"
Dart swore to never approach a male ever again. She was starting to feel sick.
This was not in any way improved by Pouncer, with his usual enthusiastic, despiteful voice. "Now, let me tell you about the most important things to be well developed in females.", he started.
What had she done to deserve this? Dart wanted to leave. She did not want to see how Pouncer's total lack of shame once again broke basic dragon decency. But despite her desire to fly away, her promise to let Pouncer talk about anything and her aching wing muscles kept her stuck. The poor nightlight wasn't sure she would survive a lot more of this torture. Was there any solution?
"You see, the muscles that power the back paws…"
"Pouncer!", she snapped, barely managing the desire to remove her brother's vocal cords with her claws.
"What?"
"Why don't you go tell these things to Laura? I am sure she will love it!", she said with a very forced smile and slightly homicidal eyes.
Her brother looked entranced by this at first… until his toxic green eyes suddenly went downcast. "I thought that approaching females while camouflaged would guarantee results, but if Laura doesn't want to… be with me…", he sighed. This time, Dart listened. As soon as her brother was suffering he became much more pleasant.
"Now, I know that everyone will fall in love with me eventually.", he clarified while puffing out his chest. "But…" Even for Dart, what Pouncer meant wasn't hard to understand. Her idiotic brother was afraid of getting rejected. How quaint.
"Really? What happened to that confident white dragon that wasn't in the least afraid to lay a wing over Laura two weeks ago?", she asked smugly. To make sure the idea really got into her brother's head, she skillfully avoided mentioning that said dragon had failed miserably and had been a general douchebag. Still was, thinking about it.
Pouncer tilted his head. "Are you telling me I should go to a female?"
I am telling you to go far away from me, she thought. But yes, the answer was yes. The female nighlight just couldn't find any other way to get her brother away from her sight.
Inwardly, she felt guilty. She was essentially sending Pouncer towards Laura. And no female should have to be subjected to her brother. But the world was a cruel place.
"You're right. I'm going."
However, there was something she could do to make it better. "Just one thing, Pouncer.", she said while turning away, thus making sure her brother was behind her.
The white nighlitght looked at his sister. "What?"
Dart gathered all her force and smacked her brother's nose with her tail. She met the nightlight's astonished look with stern eyes.
"I know you will deserve it.", she explained. "Now go away and mess up someone else's life."
After countless attempts to convince Pouncer of why females were nothing but a waste of valuable rest time, Ruffrunner had given up and told him where Laura lived. Coincidentally, it was in the same cavern where they had carried the food. Pouncer now dove as fast as he could, keeping his eyes wide open for the underground ravine despite the heavy airflow hitting against them.
There. The pile of food that they had delivered less than an hour ago, already considerably smaller. Pouncer hastily bit down a mouthful and chewed it. Although less impressive than stealthily walking up to a female and impressing her with charming words , regurgitated food was still a viable option.
The cavern was full of dragons, both near the central stream and in small crevasses which dotted the walls. Luckily for the nightlight, light furies stark white colour made for excellent camouflage in white snow and in absolutely nothing else.
Many had speculated that light furies had been designed by a higher being purely to look feminine, rather than being a viable species.
Well, if that was true, Pouncer was thankful. According to the nightlight, it made the white dragons much more appealing and easier to find.
There. A pure white dragon drinking from a puddle. He landed behind her. "Laura."
The light fury turned around and stared at the nightlight with curious eyes. "Pouncer? What are you doing here?"
Alright. This was his moment. "I know that you didn't want a long confession about the true meaning of love. But that was two weeks ago." A toothy grin made its way on Pouncer's face while Laura prepared herself for what promised to be an… interesting confrontation.
The white nighlight felt right at home, and spoke with a confidence that surprised even himself. "And during those two weeks, I have been thinking about your scales and wings and back and…"
"Hmmm.", mumbled Laura with a noticeable amount of worry, though secretly amused by the shameless suggestion.
"Thinking of you just makes me happy. And I know you are worrying. You are breaking your head about whether I am taken, just like I am worrying about you.", he said as Laura rolled her eyes.
"Well, you don't have to worry anymore as I have no mate.", concluded the nightlight.
The light fury chuckled. "Who could have guessed that?"
Poucer felt glorious. He had made her smile! "And from what I saw in this cavern, the same is true for you?", he continued.
"It is.", answered Laura happily. She could have lied… but this was starting to get fun. "My dear Pouncer. Do you want dating advice?", she asked, thinking that the dragon in front of her deserved as much as she had given to his brother. "I know it may seem hopeless, but… with some luck…"
Pouncer shook his head, the smile never once disappearing from his face. He puffed out his chest, displaying his muscles. "My gorgeous Laura. There is only one thing I want. And that is you."
Laura was flattered and amused. No male had ever acted this way before. But she couldn't deny that this was just stupid."As much as I appreciate being the 'thing' you want…"
She halted herself as a mess of blood, organs and bones exited Pouncer's mouth, making a small pile onto the rocky floor. Her stomach growled in anticipation.
Pouncer had just taken out his triumph card, and now looked at his target with hopeful and fearful eyes. "Here is regurgitated fish. For you."
Laura looked at the gift in awe. It smelled like Pouncer. She could see how strong teeth had cut through flesh and bones alike, making a delicious looking mess that she had barely dreamt of.
"Thank you.", was all she managed to say before practically diving into Pouncer's gift.
"You're welcome.", answered the nightlight with a satisfied face as he watched her eating. He had succeeded. There was only one thing left. He made his way closer, and for the second time let his wing wrap over the light fury's body. He could feel her smooth back, her salty scent, her… muscles contracting violently as she shoved him off?!
"I am not going to mate with you just because you gave me regurgitated fish!", barked the light fury with extended claws and a tone halfway between playful and murderous.
Pouncer looked astonished. "What?!", he roared with sudden sadness and anger.
Laura sighed. She had broken this dragon's beliefs, and made him suffer. She tried to make things better. "Listen."
The nightlight looked at her with an once more hopeful look. "You don't seem like an idiot…" No, this wasn't right. This wasn't right at all. She halted herself and searched for a better way to say it. "You don't seem like a complete idiot…" Yeah, that sounded good.
"But I don't know you enough. And I don't know myself enough.", she said. Laura had started finding males interesting relatively recently, and wasn't sure what she wanted. "Maybe in the future…", Pouncer had seemed fun, after all. "But I am not going to mate with you now. Even if you bring me regurgitated fish."
Pouncer just stared.
"You are the most muscular white nightlight I know.", she joked to lighten the mood.
The white nightlight shook his head angrily. "I am tired of being treated like this. First you say yes, then no, then yes again…" Laura tilted her head. When had she ever said yes? "Well, I am not going to be played like this. Goodbye."
As he took off, leaving the evil female and his dreams of happiness behind, the female in question marveled at what had just happened. "And that is the alpha's son?", she exclaimed.
"Remember when you said that females are nothing but a waste of valuable rest time?", asked Pouncer angrily.
His very much still asleep brother strugled to understand why he was being woken up in the deep of night. Using all of his effort, the black nightlight managed to whisper out an answer. "Mmmh?"
"You were right." The white nightlight curled up into a ball and covered his eyes with his tail, locking away the light and sounds of the outside world. And that night, the nightlight made a promise. He would never fall into the malevious trap that people called 'love' ever again, and never more think about Laura.
Pouncer would then keep this promise for several hours.