So... this is very late. And there's like 3 more chapters I need to get written and uploaded. Oops. Well, hope you enjoy this one!


Not much time passed before Rune, Lok, Shadow, and Icelight reapproached the future site of the Bar and their current camp. As the four begin to walk into the campsite, Shadow decided to shout ahead to Rory, *Hey, Rory! Um, the humans adopted a Flightmare.*

The Ender Dragon sounded tired and worn by this as the four entered the clearing, Lok looked around to make sure Ash wasn't nearby before telling, "Yep, and they're up for helping me troll Ash!" Icelight laughed as she heard this. Meanwhile, Shadow's shout had woken Rory up from an almost-nap, the Stormcutter snorting and looking around wildly for a moment.

*What? Who- a Flightmare? It's the middle of the day, how-* Rory paused and seemed to think to himself, * Oh, who are they kidding, anything was possible in this weird timeline. * After thinking this, Rory spoke up and said, *I hope it can mind its manners.*

The four walked up to Rory and Shadow spoke first, *Flightmare's name is Iceflight-I mean Icelight, sorry, I meant Icelight... Damn mouth.* Shadow opened and closed his jaw multiple times after that, moving his tongue a bit whilst thinking, * Same issue as when I used to try and say Starflight, I'd always used to misspeak it as Starlight, what is it with me and names ending with Ight? *

Icelight laughed as they enjoyed the new lifestyle they had become a part of, and nearby some bushes rustled and Shadow looked to see Ash walking up. The Ender Dragon considered asking where the hybrid just was but decided he didn't care, *Oh, hey Ash, you missed a lot.*

Ash turned to look at the green and red Flightmare, staring blankly before stating calmly, *I can tell, there is a glowing bitch over there.* Rune sighed but before he could say anything, Icelight looked at Ash in a gesture that looked like a raised eyebrow whilst saying, *Yeah, and I can tell we have a talking chicken over here.*

Ash looked like he was about to yell but Shadow sighed and quickly spoke up, hoping to distract the hybrid and prevent another long insult-tangent, *Anyways, Ash, you totally missed the perfect opportunity to make fun of me, and I'm so glad.*

Shadow seemed relieved at this and Ash titled his head, the hybrid asking the Ender Dragon in a curious interested voice, *What'd you do, mother?* Shadow nearly choked on air whilst Rune wheezed uncontrollably at this, and Shadow raised an eyebrow as he thought to himself, * Why is he calling me mother- you know what, never mind, not even gonna ask in my mind. * With a deep breath, the Ender Dragon raised one claw and said in a firm tone, *Ahah, not telling.*

Ash looked disappointed, and quite possibly also considering threatening Shadow with an ass-shank. All the dragons turned as Icelight spoke up, glanced over at a nearby tree whilst telling them, *And I'm going to go relax next to the tree and lay down for a little bit.* The Flightmare did just that.

It was silent for all of five seconds before Lok walked up to Shadow and told him, "Shadow, deal, fulfill, now." Lok paused and then turned to Icelight, who had just laid down, and asked the Flightmare, "Icelight, can you help out with this? It's time to learn Dragonese."

Shadow looked apprehensive, *I could translate, but I also kinda wanted to figure out my senses a bit more...* Shadow paused and his eyes went wide as he turned to Icelight, who was watching him. After a moment, Shadow stuttered out, *You know, train them more, which I have been totally doing for years.* Shadow almost wanted to swear out loud as he thought to himself, * I'm a fucking horrible liar holy shit. *

Lok turned to Shadow with a glare, "No; You made a deal, first thing today, Dragonese lessons; I got sidetracked enough with this coat, but there's no reason I can't multi-task."

Rune, watching from the sidelines, thought to himself, " Oh this should be fun. "

Rory turned to all the animal corpses, courtesy of Icelight, and wrinkled his nose before speaking, *Ah, right; I need to get this to the village, they should have a tannery there... Shouldn't take but a moment,* Rory turned to Icelight, *And... have a nice nap I suppose Icey.* Rory began to pick up some of the animals, starting to rise...

*Uh, have fun!* Shadow shouted and then remembered something important, *Wait, Rory, can you also return the knives Icelight stole while you do that?* Rory turned to him with a squawk, *What- Knives?! I'll get them on the next trip, just put them with the rest!* Shadow merely nodded to the Stormcutter, who flew towards the village.

Shadow glanced at Lok's expectant face and sighed, *Fine, I'll help.* The Ender Dragon then turned to Rune, asking, *Rune, you want to learn as well?* Rune nodded and replied with, "Sure, as it would seem useful and an easier way to explain why we can understand each other, and not look like crazed maniacs." The Ender Dragon nodded in reply and turned to Lok.

"First, can you confirm if Icelight is down to help too?" Lok asked and then added, "Cause we will need a native dragon speaker for this." They turned to where Icelight is or rather WAS. The spot was now empty, and they heard rustling and turned to watch as Icelight snuck out from the bushes behind Ash, using some mist to freeze the hybrid in place.

"Ha!" Lok laughed, "Nice, Ice." Ash attempted to shriek in rage but failed due to being unable to open his mouth, Shadow looked over at the frozen dragon with a little pity and glanced at Icelight and Lok, *Oh, come on...*

Icelight gave the humans a 'are you satisfied now' look and moved back to her spot by the tree, laughing as she did so. Lok chuckled again and told Icelight, "Ah... That was cathartic... Anyway, Ice, wanna help out?" Icelight glanced at him with an 'I thought I already did' look and Lok thought for a moment before saying, "I'll take that look as a yes? This language barrier really sucks, but that's the point!"

"I think that was a no," Rune spoke up but Icelight shook her head at that, and Shadow spoke up, *Alright, Rune, Lok, let's all huddle up in a circle and do this 'language learning time.'*

Shadow, Rune, and Lok all moved closer to Icelight, ending up sitting in a circle as Shadow spoke to Icelight, *Ok, well, it seems like you basically have figured out that the Humans can understand specifically me, Rory, and Ash?* The Flightmare simply replied with a short, *Yep.*

"Which as a side effect means we can't learn Dragonese from them, as we don't interpret what they say as Dragonese," Lok pointed out the semi-obvious as Shadow sighed and spoke, *Just our luck, can't keep it a secret from one wild dragon for like one hour.*

Lok shrugged, "Eh, who cares? You can keep a secret, right Ice?" Icelight nodded and Rune turned to Shadow and pointed out, "It wouldn't have mattered as they would have figured it out sooner or later, with them being in our group now." Icelight turned to Shadow and sarcastically told the Ender Dragon, *Oh I'm so sorry that's it's that obvious, Shadow.*

"But probably what we should start with Ice saying some words and phrases, and then Shadow translating," Lok pointed out, "Then we can start picking out patterns."

Shadow shook his wings and curled his tail as he laid down in place, taking a deep breath and speaking, *Anyways, we should sit down and get on this, I don't want to spend all day doing this.* Shadow grimaced as he thought to himself, * I ain't sitting here acting as a translator for over twelve hours. *

Lok, however, didn't care, "You may be doing this all day, a deals a deal." After a moment the human continued, "Learning language isn't a one-day process; But maybe we can get to a point where your reluctant interpreter ass isn't necessary as we literally make history! You are way less stoked about this than you should be."

* Ugggggggh, * Shadow groaned in his mind, of anyways he'd thought he might make history, this was not one of them; The Ender Dragon remembered his earlier thought about Starflight and whispered to himself, *Damn, wish I had at least one Wings of Fire book to keep me entertained.* With a deep breath, Shadow turned to Lok and said much louder to explain, *All I'm going to be doing is mindlessly repeating what Icelight says so you can understand, for hours.*

Lok didn't give a shit, "Don't care, you made a deal, let's start." The human picked up the unfinished coat to work on whilst they all did this, whilst Icelight snorted at this.

Shadow sighed and asked, *Can I at least pick the words you two learn so I can have some form of mental engagement with this task? Cause if not, my ADHD ass is gonna get sidetracked hard.* Lok looked at him and simply replied with, "All we need to do is figure out the patterns, and then we can learn with just Ice."

Rory came back in a glide, coasting over them and back to the remaining animal corpses and the knives. Rune turned to the dragon and gestured to the others whilst sarcastically saying, "Welcome to Dragon Language class." The Stormcutter just nodded and proceeded to pick up the remaining animal corpses, as well as grab the knives after a moment of figuring out how to do so... although Lok hadn't put back the one he'd taken, not that anyone noticed.

*Well, they seemed to like the 'gift', hopefully we'll actually get to keep some of it for ourselves; Oh, and I'll have to explain in a bit, but we could teach them purse-sein fishing! Be right back, again!* Rory told them before flying off back towards the village.

As Rory left, Shadow turned to the still-frozen Ash and tilted his head, observing the frozen dragon whilst thinking, * Wonder when that mist will wear off... hmm, guess we'll find out. * Seeing his look, Icelight told the Ender Dragon, *It should wear off in at least two minutes.* Lok also glanced to Shadow and asked, "Shadow, what did Ice say?"

*They said 'It should wear off in at least two minutes',* Shadow told him whilst deciding to just ignore the fact that somehow a wild dragon knew of the concept of minutes. Shadow sighed and began to think, * Guess I'm just gonna mindlessly repeat what Icelight says... sigh, at least in my head I can keep myself entertained... Wings of Fire... wait, venom, Glory's venom acts more like acid, I have acid; HOLY SHIT, I NOW GOT MAGICAL DEATH SPIT. *

A brief pause in his thoughts and then Shadow added, * Wow getting turned into a dragon has really cut into my jokes and puns, gotta fix that. *

Lok suddenly spoke up, shaking Shadow out of his thoughts as the human asked the Ender Dragon, "Hm, ok, what sound meant it?" Shadow was completely lost and let out a drawn-out noise of thinking before suggesting, *Maybe we should start with one word at a time?*

"That's what I'm trying to do, I meant 'it' as in the word 'it'," Lok clarified and Shadow felt stupid, the Ender Dragon's eyes dropping to his claws as he muttered a simple, *Oh.*

Icelight turned to the Ender Dragon and spoke up, *So Shadow, do you want me to say one word at a time until they get it or what?* At the same time, Lok asked another question of the Ender Dragon, "Or did no sound directly mean it and it's just an implied pronoun?" Shadow looked like he wanted to gouge his eyes out right there.

Rory returned a few moments later, landing nearby and staying a good distance away to not interrupt. As the Stormcutter watched the language lessons, they thought to themself, * Heh, Hiccup and the rest are going to flip. *


A full hour passed of language lessons and so far nothing had been achieved. Rune was trying his hardest to understand what the words are but he was struggling, Lok still looked optimistic and compared those two, Shadow looked like he was three seconds away from ripping his own horns off in agony. The Ender Dragon thought to himself, * Please gods end my suffering... *

Icelight made a shaking motion with her head whilst letting out a 'tsktsk' noise. Lok seemed to think to himself for a moment, " All these sounds don't have very many differences; What's the trick here? " After a moment, the human spoke out loud, "Umm, hey, based on how you talk Shadow, do dragons have words for uniquely human concepts like engineers or something?"

As Shadow opened his mouth to answer, nearby the mist on Ash finally wore off. Icelight had refreshed it a bit every once and a while but had stopped doing so just a little bit ago, and the little hybrid was pissed beyond measure, *ARGGGG, YOU FUCKING GLOWING BITCH, HOW DARE YOU DO YOUR MAGICAL SPIT SHIT ON ME!*

Lok turned to Ash, "Oh, so you're awake!" After that, Lok leaned towards Icelight and whispered, "Hey, Ice, wanna blast him again? Before he shanks you?"

Ash snarled loudly and flared his wings, declaring, *You will become shanked because of this.* Icelight gave an innocent look and pointed at Lok, which caused Lok to subtly tense to dodge as the blame was pinned on him.

*Ash, please... That's more than enough,* Rory spoke up and then mashed their face into the grass, whilst Ash looked like he was debating going over and trying to shank Icelight and Lok right now.

However, Ash's wording had reminded Shadow of what he'd been waiting to do, and he struck at his opportunity to speak, *Icelight's mist has nothing on my magical death spit.* It was said jokingly and Shadow had the biggest grin on his snout as he thought to himself happily, * I waited an hour to say that! *

Ash stared at Shadow for a good long five seconds before finally grumbling, *…of course you're a fucking Wings of Fire simp.* Shadow did not appear bothered at all by being called that.

*I saw an opportunity, and I took the opportunity,* Shadow told him and then grew more joking, *Power of the joke, in the palm of my... claws. Paws?* Shadow trailed off and seemed to think about it, whilst Rune just watched all this whilst waiting for language class to continue. The entire time Icelight stared at Shadow like he was an alien before finally shaking her head and relaxing, seemingly deciding that the Ender Dragon was not losing it.

"Shadow, please answer the question," Lok spoke up with a question, and Shadow turned to him to sheepishly ask, *Which question? I kinda got distracted by Ash.*

"Do dragons have words for unique human concepts? Like engineers and stuff, things that don't exist yet or don't exist in dragon society," Lok asked the question again and Shadow shrugged, *Well, let's see.* With that, the Ender Dragon focused on Icelight and spoke.

*Does the following sound like gibberish? Engineer? Programmer? Computer? Qibli? Airplane?* The Ender Dragon paused and then thought, * Wait, damn it I just slipped Qibli in there. BRAIN FOCUS! THIS IS NOT THE TIME TO GET DISTRACTED! * From nearby, Ash snickered and said in a sing-song voice, *Simp.*

Lok turned to Icelight and asked, "Um, just say one of those words if you do have them; Not all at once." Icelight looked at them like she was seeing something both crazy and weird, so Lok continued speaking, "I mean, it seems that Dragons do have the ability to add new words to their language given the fact that Shadow can say them; Even if you don't know what they mean..."

Shadow meanwhile had glanced at Ash and smirked as he thought, * Ok he wants to say I'm a simp of Wings of Fire, I'm gonna take a page out of Qibli's book then! Might as well roll with it. * With a smirk on his snout, Shadow told Ash, *I'm simp-ly a fan of Wings of Fire.*

Ash face-palmed, or at least did the closest thing to it as a Dragon whilst telling Shadow, *You are just a different breed.* Shadow chuckled whilst Rune facepalmed and sighed at the fact they seemed to be getting side-tracked again. Shadow seemed to sink into his thoughts, * Wait, Lok calls Icey here, well, Ice... Oh, I can so make a joke about Winter and IceWings, this is what happens Ash when you call me a simp! I go big or I go home. *

Lok seemed to freeze and asked Icelight, "...Ice, can you say the word sword?" Icelight looked at him and spoke, a bit slow just in case the human needed it, *Sword.*

"WAIT!" Lok shouted, " Say that again and then say the word... Crossbow." After a few moments and with some hope of making actual progress, Icelight said slowly, *Sword; Crossbow.* Finally, Lok smirked and whispered, "Found the pattern."

Lok jumped up in excitement of this and started to pace around whilst explaining, "It's so obvious now! We were going about this completely the wrong way! Your words for those, words that derive from human concepts, are the same as our words! It's like running lyrics through a filter to convert them to a midi file!" Shadow seemed to think and asked, *Like those videos on YouTube where the songs didn't have lyrics but SOUND like they do?*

Lok however didn't directly answer the question but did in a way answer it for Shadow, "If you know what to listen for, it creates a sort of audio illusion where the tones and notes make up the word! It makes so much sense dragons don't speak with intricate words as much as tones and notes! It's like communicating through music, in a way, or one of those whistling languages." Icelight looked at them as if they've finally lost their minds.

Shadow, seeing an opportunity, smirked and joked, *Could say we've whistled away at the problem?* He said whistled in place whittled. Lok wasn't paying attention though, the human thinking to himself, " Holy shit, I never thought having perfect pitch would actually be useful for something other than music ."

Rory spoke up, *I think that's called a 'cognate' with other languages; In a way, actually, it's more like adopting words from another language; Tsunami, Tortilla, you know.* Icelight looked between the Stormcutter, Ender Dragon, and human before declaring, *Yep, lost it.*

Lok turned to Rory and told the Stormcutter, "Well, those are cognate words; But they reveal how the language actually functions."

Meanwhile, upon hearing one word from Rory, the Ender Dragon had fallen back into his thoughts, * Tsunami, gods damn it today just loves to remind me of Wings of Fire characters, or maybe that's just my brain. Maybe I am a simp... * Seeing Icelight's look, Shadow turned to her and simply told them, *No, this is just how they are normally.*

*You sure about that?* Icelight asked and Shadow nodded grimly as if it was the most serious thing in the word, saying in a tone of voice that showed just what he thought, *Unfortunately.*

"This is great! It's just like music, and I'm good at music! Just listen for the pitches!" Lok remarked and turned to Icelight, "So, can you say a word like... Fish? Something that wouldn't be a cognate; Those words are most definitely uniquely dragon, but probably follow the same structure... You just gotta identify the tones."

Shadow grinned and joked, *So they're gonna ask you a tone of questions now.* Lok turned to him and said quickly, "Nice pun; Anyway..." With that, they all turned to Icelight, who shrugged.

*Well I feel like an experiment, and fish,* The Flightmare answered them and after a moment, Rune spoke up in a very broken and poorly pitched tone, "F-i-s-h." Lok turned to him and shook his head as he told the other human, "Nah, I don't think we'll be able to speak this for a long long while; You basically need to create multiple notes at a time; You'd need to be a pro beatboxer to even have a chance."

Rune replied quickly, "I know but it was worth a try, and it could help us better understand the language if we could understand how to speak it."

Shadow shrugged and remarked quietly, *Not like you need to, most dragons seem to understand humans, you just need to understand dragons.*

At the same time, Rory spoke up and said much louder, *But you don't have to speak it; You only need to understand, like Han Solo and Chewie.* Rune turned to the Stormcutter and nodded, "True." Lok also nodded and added on, "Yeah, I'll try to speak it eventually; But we shouldn't get caught up in the minutiae of it yet until we actually know the language." Rune nodded in agreement with that and rubbed his throat.

Shadow suddenly sighed and got up, asking, *You still need me for this? I wanna stretch my legs for a minute.* The Ender Dragon wanted to go experiment more with his new enhanced senses, the idea just not leaving his mind. Lok's answer was disappointing for him, however, "Not yet, we still gotta figure out the structure of the language; How these... Well, I'll call them measures as they're far more similar to music than to human language, we need to figure out how these measures fit together with meaning."

*Neeerds,* Ash told them in a sing-song voice whilst Rune turned to Lok and said, "Let him have a break Lok, we've been doing for an hour." Lok looked at them and just declared loudly, "You guys are spineless and have no motivation!" Rune looked at the other human and told him, "I do, but we shouldn't push Shadow; There's no rush."

Lok paused and continued a bit annoyed, "Fine if Shadow is leaving... Ash, get over here, you're on translation duty." Shadow rolled his eyes at the leaving bit, *I wasn't leaving, just taking a quick break.*

At Rune's comment, Shadow decided to try joking, *You can't push me... Physically... Like, I weigh too much.* Rune looked at him and explained, "I meant metaphorically Shadow." Shadow nodded and replied with a little nervousness, *I know, just... attempting to joke...*

Icelight looked at Ash and said, *Oh how nice, bring the chicken over to do more experiments on me.* Lok glanced at her and remarked, "It shouldn't be too long... All we need is to figure out that pattern, and then the need for middlemen is over!" Icelight snorted in defeat and remarked, *Fine, I'll play nice with the chicken.* Ash looked tempted to shank them at being called a chicken.

"We just need the basic pattern of how the verbs and nouns connect, basically, and other super simple stuff, and we should be able to figure this out," Lok explained out loud and Rune snorted, remarking, "You're treating this like a science experiment."

Icelight looked at Rune as if questioned what else he thought it was, whilst Lok spoke up quickly and passionately, "This is science! Linguistic science! Science is the means by which we learn about the world! Science must be performed to progress our understanding!" This made Shadow snort and the Ender Dragon began to sing.

*We do what we must, because, we can; For the good of all of us... Except for me and my legs,* The Ender Dragon sang, only putting a small twist on the last bit and somehow not sounding terrible. The others ignored his singing.

"Anyway, we gotta learn more of the important non-cognate words, and then onto the structure," Lok explained and Icelight snorted before laying back down for the continuing lessons, Ash still looked like he was debating shanking them.

"Yeah I know, and it's exciting, but maybe don't get too carried away with it," Rune said as he glanced to Icelight with a shrug and a grin. Ash seemed to have decided he wasn't doing it, meanwhile, Shadow got up and slowly began to back up, raising three of the four claws on one of his forepaws as he spoke, *Alright, three minutes then we'll continue; No ifs, ands, or butts, you can't stop me anyway, heh.*

Rune just gave a thumbs-up before digging through the satchel Hiccup had given them, trying to find some spare parchment to write down which sound and pitch matched with which words they'd learned so far.

Shadow began to walk around the very large property, keeping his distance from the others as he closed his eyes and began to think, * I should try out more of my advanced senses... maybe smell? * Shadow let out a deep breath and then sniffed long and deep, focusing on what he could smell. Unlike when he was Human, his sense of smell seemed to be back and he could easily smell the two male humans in the group, they might need a shower of some sort soon, Lok sooner than Rune.

Shadow could also smell Ash, Rory, and Icelight, although Ash seemed to be heading away from the group for something. The Ender Dragon memorized all the scents before sniffing again, picking up the wood earthy undertones of the forest and the ash from their long burnt-out campfire... as well as some faint smell nearby.

* That, isn't me, right? * Shadow questioned in his head and opened his eyes, lowering his head to his paw and sniffing, smelling a mix of cinnamon and the smell an acid would make, like a faint vinegar. * Not me... * Shadow hummed and then spoke in confusion, *Ok... Hmm...*

Shadow stopped walking and closed his eyes, focusing on his hearing and... seven heartbeats. One was coming from the forest, away from them, and as he realized this Shadow could hear very faintly his own heart speed up a bit. *EVERYONE! RED SPY IN THE BASE!* Shadow shouted whilst thinking, * Even if this is serious, I will joke! *

"What?!" Rune asked loudly in confusion over the sudden quote, the human stopping his writing. Icelight flew up to the nearest tallest tree and waited for the threat, whilst Rory jerked awake again before wheeling to face the direction Shadow was looking in, knowing it to probably be a Berkian. Lok got up calmly and put down his coat.

Shadow listened and looked at a tree, which the heartbeat was coming from behind. The Ender Dragon snarled and advanced, *Someone is spying on us!* He moved around the tree quickly and grabbed something or rather someone, biting down on the back of their shirt and dragging them into view of the others.

Rune glared at the suspect before going wide-eyed as he recognized them, and they all watched as Astrid struggled against being dragged, "Let go of me!" The female Viking managed to break from the Ender Dragon's grip, making sure the group as a whole was in her eye of sight. Astrid had her ax on her back but was not yet threatening bodily harm, which a few took as a good sign.

Lok spoke up, "Ah, Astrid, was it? I'm not really surprised to see you here, given you were giving us a death glare our entire first meeting." Rune knew why Astrid was here but spoke up and played dumb, "Astrid? What in the world are you doing here and why were you hiding?"

* Oh here we go, * Shadow thought as Lok moved closer to the Viking teenager who was much stronger than him and also taller, the human holding out a hand as he said, "Anyway, I didn't get to do this our first meeting; Pleasure to make your acquaintance." Rune didn't follow him, staying where he was.

Astrid glared at Lok's hand whilst eyeing him suspiciously, not shaking it and moving on to speaking, "You all have been acting strange ever since you first arrived... whispering to yourselves and such; Hiccup may trust you, but I don't.

From atop the nearby tree, Icelight glanced down at Shadow and whispered, *Is it okay to come down?* Shadow snapped his head around to her and gives a 'no don't move an inch' look as well as a gesture. Shadow, in his head, thought to himself quickly, * We don't need Astrid freaking out over that just yet! * Icelight, seeing the look on his face, nodded.

Lok was still waiting for a handshake, "Yes, I understand that; And I know there's no way to convince you of our trustworthiness with words alone, so I offer actions; Let us prove to you we have no ill intentions." Rune meanwhile shrugged his shoulders and told the Viking, "That's understandable but I don't know why with the hostility; We aren't here to harm any of you."

Rory got closer and thought that maybe Astrid would trust a dragon quicker; So, Rory put on a show of looking at Lok's still held out hand before creeping forward and extending a claw to Astrid in the same manner, offering a wide-eyed innocent look with a head-tilt to boot. Lok snorted and muttered intentionally loudly enough to be overheard, "Rory, ever inquisitive."

Astrid glares at them both, staring at Lok's hand and Rory's claw as if they'd personally wronged her. Eventually, the ax-wielding teenager spoke, "I didn't trust you to begin with, but then I saw that you're just having 'happy little playtime' with the Flightmare of all dragons." Her eyes drifted to the Flightmare in the tree, whilst saying the name of the dragon breed like it was venom.

*Um guys, she mentioned me,* Icelight said whilst Shadow thought to himself, * Anddd Astrid has seen Icelight, well, fuck; We're screwed. *

Rune seemed to be internally screaming but hid it as he thought, " Oh shit. " After a moment the human spoke, "Um, I don't know why that's a problem, it's just another dragon that we could be friends with." He tried to hide his inner turmoil as Lok spoke up as well with a confused face.

"What do you have against Flightmares? And yes, one did happen to wander into our camp; Completely by accident, gave Rune a bit of trouble and threw him in a pond," Lok explained whilst knowing full damn well why Astrid had a problem with Flightmares. Upon hearing about the pond, Icelight chuckled from up in her tree.

Astrid turned her glare to Lok and answered, "Every ten years a Flightmare attacks Berk; Last time around it killed my uncle, Fearless Finn Hofferson." Icelight stared at the female human incredulously as she growled, *I didn't do shit, girl, what the hell.*

"Well I'm sorry for your loss, but what proof do you have that says that this is even the same dragon that killed your uncle?" Rune questioned and after a moment Lok spoke up as well, "Oh, I'm so sorry... But, if every ten years you say, is it the time it shows up again? Cause this one seems harmless." Lok gestured to Icelight, who added on with, *Mainly pranks, but that's it.*

"Yeah, ten years is a long time," Rune told the female Viking and nearby Rory turned to Lok and hissed quickly, *Hey, hey mention that we found out what the mist does! The paralyzing thing, they didn't know that.* Rune turned to the Stormcutter and shook his head at them, thinking it would only piss Astrid off.

Not that she wasn't pissed already. "I never saw the Flightmare that killed my uncle, just the glow; It is around the time the Flightmare appears, and well..." Astrid growled out between grit teeth and gestured to Icelight in the tree.

Rune stepped between Astrid and the tree that Icelight was in, thinking to himself, " This is a dumb idea, but I got to protect my new friend; Even if she is a giant flying reptile. "

Icelight looked at Astrid like a kicked puppy whilst Lok spoke up with a question, "What color was that one's glow? And you say it arrives cyclically, what's the trigger? This one didn't seem to arrive on any sort of queue; Looked like it was passing through and happened to make an interest in us." Icelight seemed to nod and added, *Cause I felt that you guys needed help.*

Astrid answered Lok's question, "Aurvandil's Fire; Every ten years, Aurvandil's Fire happens and with it, the Flightmare comes... And the color of the glow was blue." The last bit was said after a pause, a brief empty looking passing through the Viking's eyes before disappearing.

"Aurvandil's fire... Coming up soon... OH! I think I know of it, just under a different name," Lok began to speak and Icelight watched him curiously as he continued, "A special form of the aurora borealis that appears a more striking blue than the greenish hue it normally features."

Hearing the bit about the Flightmare being blue, Shadow made a show of glancing at Icelight and then turning to give Astrid an unimpressed look as he told her, *The Flightmare in our group is green and red, sorry.* After Astrid didn't understand him or even look at him, Shadow cursed and thought to himself, * Dang it, she won't understand my words! Stupid fucking language barrier-! Lok, Rune, you two better pick up what I said. *

Rune either had the same idea or heard Shadow, as he spoke up whilst pointing at Icelight, "Wait you said the one that killed your uncle had a blue glow, so it couldn't have been ours as she has a green glow, see?"

Next to him, Lok rolled his eyes and began to remark, "Why does it seem like someone has a very personal vendetta against all of our dragons? First Stoick suspects Rory of murdering his wife, now this... What's next?"

Astrid wanted to be sure, one hundred percent sure, that this wasn't the Flightmare that killed her uncle; This led to her staring at the Flightmare hard for a good few seconds before stating, "How do I know it doesn't glow a different color when it glows really brightly?"

*I glow green, girl,* Icelight told her and Lok spoke up, "That's not how bioluminescent works, I've studied the phenomenon."

Shadow glanced over at Lok and told him, *They probably aren't gonna know about that, Lok, they're Vikings; They may be smart in some regards but I don't think they know that.* Shadow sighed and looked back at Astrid whilst muttering, *Stupid fucking language barrier...*

Rune sighed and spoke, "Let's just do it so she can be happy and satisfied." The human turned to the Flightmare and asked, "Icelight, if you can, could you please brighten yourself up to prove to Astrid that you are innocent?" Icelight nodded and replied back with a quick chirp, *Of course!*

Astrid turned to start at the Flightmare, who glowed a bright emerald green that was nowhere near the color of the Flightmare who killed her uncle. Lok turned to the female Viking and said, "As you can see, green."

Astrid grit her teeth and glared at Lok and Rune, "Fine, this may not be the Flightmare, but this doesn't explain the constant whispering and what seemed like you two talking to your dragons; I don't care if your crazy, just don't become a threat to Berk." And with that, the young teenage Viking turned around and stomped off into the woods towards the village, leaving the group alone.

Rune gave her a snarky glare as she walked off and muttered, "Yeah, like we will try and be a threat to Berk when we are trying to save it from a terrible future." Up in the tree, Icelight looked at where Astrid had disappeared in annoyance.

Shadow just nodded and clapped his paws together, although it wasn't anything like how a human clap's their hands, *Well, that was interesting.* Lok meanwhile spoke up louder and called out into the woods, "You never returned my handshake!"

The Ender Dragon turned to Lok and told him simply, *Buddy, I don't think you're ever getting a handshake from her.* Lok simply returned the look, looking the dragon dead in the eye as he stated, "Oh, I will get that handshake." After a moment, Icelight seemed to relax a bit as she spoke up and remarked, *Welp guess I can finally relax, now that the annoyance is out of here.*

Lok let out a sigh of relief, "Ok, it's good that's over." After a pause, he turned to the others and continued, "Anyway, we should get back to language lessons; But after that, Rune, I need to talk with you about something." Rune turned to him and nodded as he answered, "Alright."

* Ugh, the language lessons, again. * Shadow whined in his head but didn't show it physically as he asked out loud, *Maybe we should try to get started on building the Bar? We are gonna need a place to stay and it's going to take a while to finish it, so we should probably get started soon.*

"It's not like we have the lumber yet; The Timberjack is still cutting it, and it still needs to dry," Lok told the Ender Dragon, who hid a huff; Up in the tree, Icelight looked around and then asked them in confusion, *Hey guys, where's the chicken?* Lok was listening closely to that and seemed to realize something.

"Hey, I recognize that measure! You referred to Ash, right? Is that what that means, Ash?" Lok asked, mistaking the word chicken for Ash, Icelight looked at him with a 'who else would I be talking about' look before Shadow spoke up and corrected the mistake, *They said chicken, not Ash; Although they were referring to Ash.* Icelight chuckled and Lok replied with a simple, "Oh, ok; Thanks for saving me the embarrassment later."

Shadow seemed to get lost in his thoughts as he thought about the language lessons, * Even though I'm a dragon, I still have to sit in a god's danged lesson. I could be flying. I could be training to learn to fight so I'm not helpless. I could be trying to bribe Hiccup into creating something so I can write. I can do so many things and yet, here I am, stuck in this lesson where I have to mindlessly correct these kinds of mistakes. * He wasn't good at focusing on tasks that were boring to him, and right now he wishes he could read or write something.

"Wait, where is Ash anyway?" Rune questioned and this snapped Shadow out of his thoughts, *Wait, Ash...* Shadow looked around and muttered, *Ash might've wandered off.*

* Wait, this is a perfect excuse, * Shadow thought and then spoke up, *Maybe I should go look for him, you can continue the lesson with Rory right?* Find Ash and getting out of language lessons would be two wins, * PLEASE! * Lok however, just grabbed one of Shadow's horns and tried to hold him in place whilst saying sternly, "You made the deal, not Rory."

*Oh, so the chicken did run off in a fit of rage, too bad he wasn't here for the annoyance,* Icelight said from up in her tree whilst Shadow wanted to whine about having to continue lessons, he really did, but the Ender Dragon just nodded and sat down.

*Ok, let's continue,* Shadow told them and thought to himself, * And I will probably end up losing my mind from this; Gods I fucking wish I had a book to read or, hell, even some music. * Lok picked the unfinished coat back up and continued to sew it, looking up briefly to speak, "So, let's get to it..."

Rune glanced at Shadow with a look of sympathy, pulling out his phone and opening the audiobook app, which had some stories downloaded that didn't need internet. Rune looked up and called out, "Hey Shadow?"

Shadow glanced over at him, feeling exhausted mentally from the lack of activity, *Yeah?* After a moment, Shadow's eyes focused on Rune's phone and he tilted his head slightly curiously, *What you got open on there?* It only took Rune a moment to tell him, "Audiobooks and I have all the Wings of Fire books downloaded if you want to listen to them."

Icelight came down from the tree and next to Rune and Shadow, as Shadow's jaw opened slightly and his eyes went a bit wide as he stared at Rune, *Did you just say Wings of Fire books...* There was a brief moment where the joy built up in Shadow's body and the Ender Dragon lept onto his paws as he shouted in pure excitement, *RUNE YOU FUCKING LEGEND I LOVE YOU! BOREDOM IS DEAD NOW!*

Icelight looked at the phone curiously and Rune asked, "Hey, do you also want to listen?" The Flightmare nodded, but before Rune could press play Lok spoke up.

"Hey, no distractions; Save it for later, a reward for helping," Lok stated and Shadow snapped his gaze to the human, taking a deep breath before stating, *Six hours of lessons and then I get to listen to Wings of Fire books for another six. Deal?* Lok thought and nodded, "Deal, let's do this."

Rune turned the phone off and put it away before telling Icelight, "Well looks like we have to wait until the lessons are over, but I promise you can listen with me and Shadow." Icelight nodded in response.

* Anything for entertainment, * Shadow thought and then said in excitement, *Let's get this over with!*


Six very long hours passed of them and by the time they finally finished, the sun was just beginning its descent for the day. It would probably be only about forty to fifty minutes until it was completely dark out, but they had finally reached the end.

"Ok, well deals a deal," Lok told Shadow before turning to Rune, "But Rune, after you put the books on play, can you meet me in the woods? There's something we should do..." Icelight and even Shadow both glanced over at them, wanting to know what they were going to do, however, neither received an answer.

Rune answered the other human, "Aw, alright, though I kind of did want to listen to the story as well." Rune opened the phone and turned the story on, putting the volume up to its max so the dragons could hear, and then laying the device on the ground before getting up. Lok got up as well, putting on his now-finished coat and tying it closed with his belt before saying to Rune, "Anyway, I'll meet you in the woods."

Lok began to walk off into the woods as Shadow curled up slightly around Rune's phone, seemingly protecting it as the Ender Dragon spoke, *I will protect this phone with my life. My. Life.* After that declaration, Shadow began to intently listen to it as he thought to himself in his head, * Entertainment, oh sweet entertainment. ..*

Rune chuckled at seeing Shadow protecting the phone like a dog would his favorite toy, after finishing his chuckle Rune turned to the woods and called out, "Alright, I'll be right behind you." Quickly, the human began to walk after Lok, both disappearing into the treeline.

Rory seemed to snap fully awake upon hearing this and spoke up quickly, *Oh, are we after the Jack? Count me in, I need to see those babies-!* Quickly, the Stormcutter scurried after Lok and Rune, leaving Shadow and Icelight alone in the clearing.

After a good few minutes of walking, Lok finally managed to reach a clearing big enough for what he wanted to do, however, the second person to arrive in the clearing was not Rune but Rory, who as a Stormcutter was significantly faster than a human. The Stormcutter weaved through the trees and called out, *Wait! Right behind you! So- oh.* Rory came to a stop, *Not the Jack; Ah well, anythings better than more parroting.*

Lok turned to look at them and spoke, "Hm, ok... Well, you won't really have much of a role in this, but I guess it's fine you're here.. Just gotta wait for Rune." As Lok turned to watch the trees for Rune, he spoke, "That whole encounter with Astrid got me thinking... We are so unprepared, and we can't afford that."

*Yeah, we're in a bit of a bind; There's no way to move or act without looking weird,* Rory sighed, *For all of us, and we won't be any help if they don't trust us.*

After a pause Lok spoke up, "We could have died, Astrid could have killed us... Would have if given even the slightest reason." Lok turned and noticed Rune, who was finally approaching them after having had to catch up, and Lok remarked, "Finally, you're here."

Rune came to a stop in front of them and crossed his arms as he gave Lok a serious expression and asked, "So what did you want to talk about?" Lok walked closer and spoke, "Well, talk was a bit of a misnomer... Fight me." Rune just looked confused.

Lok decided to explain, "I didn't really want to do this in front of everyone, because I don't think they'd really... Get it. Everyone else is a dragon; Natural weapons, prearmed with deadly weapons, but us, we're only human, literally... Soft, frail humans, and we can't afford that." Rune nodded and replied back quickly, "Yeah I know."

"We need to learn to fight; And, the best way to start is by getting a baseline, training has to start somewhere," Lok stated and after a moment, Rune spoke up with an idea, "We could ask Gobber for some training or the other riders if you want a more dangerous training course."

Lok shook his head quickly and replied back, "Not yet at least. That wouldn't work, they'd be way too suspicious. Gobber's training would kill us, and the only fighter worth leafing from among them is Astrid, and she would most definitely not trust us yet." Rune then shrugged and asked, "Then how to expect us to train as we don't know any type of fighting techniques let alone know how to use weapons like swords, spears, or maces?"

Lok shook his head again, "I'm not saying train with weapons, you ever been in a fight?" After a moment, Lok added, "I've actually had some martial arts training. Limited though."

Nearby, Rory drooped and the dragon began to back up a bit, *Ah... I'll just, leave you to that then; Might try to get something done on the house...* The Stormcutter turned around and walked back towards the Bar construction site, Lok and Rune barely acknowledging this.

"Besides punching some player on the ice rink who was harassing my teammate, no," Rune told Lok, who put up his fists and replied back quickly, "Then I guess it's time to learn; Put em up, let's do this."

Rune stretched his neck and rolled his shoulders, popping some joints before he brought up his fists and spoke, "Alright, guess we are doing this."

Thirty long minutes passed of training and by the end, Rune was panting and they both stopped fighting, standing still as they recovered from it. Lok glanced to Rune and spoke, "Hm, not bad for a beginner; Though, you leave yourself really exposed."

Rune glanced up and said with a shrug, "Yeah I kind of figured that out when you punched me in the face." A pause and then Lok replied to add on, "And elbowed you in the face, and kneed you in the stomach, and your ground game is slightly better, but that's mostly from your size. And you fell to basically every shot."

"Yeah, at least my time playing hockey and getting some great balance really helped," Rune stated and Lok nodded before speaking, "Yeah, I'll give you that; I gotta work more on my striking and defense, dodging will probably be the most useful, considering it's highly likely we'll be fighting armed opponents."

"Yeah… So you ready to head back now?" Rune asked and Lok nodded, but before the two could begin heading back, the bushes rustled, and out of the foliage came a large glowing green and red Flightmare, Icelight. She looked at them and then remarked, *Oh hi.*

Lok recognized the last word and waved, "Hey Ice ... I'm liking the reduced language barrier." Rune also noticed Icelight and waved with a smile whilst covering his bruises, "Hey Icelight."

After a moment Icelight spoke up, *Sorry, I had to check up on you guys, it's just been a long while so I worried.* Rune focused and after a moment seemed to nod as he thought he understood, "Oh you were worried about us." Icelight nodded happily.

Lok spoke up, "Well that's sweet; But we're all good here, we were about to head back." The Flightmare turned to both of them and asked, *Well do you mind if I come with you guys back to camp?* After a moment of thinking, Lok understood the point and nodded, "Yeah, let's go."


Earlier, back in the Bar site just after Lok, Rune, and Rory left to go to the woods, Shadow remained curled around the phone whilst Icelight rolled her eyes at the seeming weirdness, the Flightmare closing her eyes and laying her head down to listen to the story from the phone and relax.

As time went on, Shadow would sometimes speak up and say a line from the book as the audiobook said it, the Ender Dragon overall being very entertained by the book. As he listened the dragon thought to himself, * We need to find a way to charge this phone. Until I can somehow copy the books back into written form, this device is the holy fucking grail to me. *

After a while, it reaches a part of the book where one character trains another to fight, and as it got to this Shadow hummed audibly and thought, * Reminds me, I need to learn how to fight... eh, mental note of something to do later; Anyways, STORY! *

Within a few moments of this, Rory came walking back into the camp and laid down nearby, although a good enough distance away from Shadow and Icelight. The Stormcutter sighed and spoke, *Eh, not much going on; I'll just, I dunno... Draw in the dirt...* Shadow looked up at the Stormcutter and nodded before putting his head back down towards the phone.

Eventually, Icelight spoke up to ask, *So what now?* Shadow snapped his head to face her and let out a shushing noise as he told her, *Shh, I'm still listening to the story.*

Icelight sighed and turned to the forest, eventually speaking, *Okay then I'm going to check on the others.* Looking up from the phone, Shadow shrugged and told her, *Sure, they're probably fine; Ash is too... hopefully... he has been gone for six hours.* With that, the Ender Dragon refocused on the story as Icelight padded away into the woods.

A few moments passed as the book got to a specific part and Shadow thought to himself, * Ah yes, this is when Sunny, Clay, Starflight, and Glory reenact the whole Queen Oasis thing. * Looking around and realizing that Rory was asleep and no one else around, Shadow slowly got up and began to speak alongside the characters whilst acting out what he thought they might do.

* Thank gods no one can see me right now. * Shadow thought as he began to walk around, being careful to avoid stepping on the phone. As he walked around, Shadow mimicked the character lines and even what he thought they'd sound like, *Squeak, squeak squeak, and other annoying scavenger noises-*

And at that very second, Lok walked back into the clearing, startling Shadow into jumping in place with a loud yelp. Icelight also walked back into the clearing and chuckled, *Hehe sorry Shadow, did we miss something?*

*HOLY SHIT WHAT THE-!* Shadow shouted in fright and Icelight began to laugh heavily as the Ender Dragon thought to himself miserably, * If Dragons can blush, I probably look like a fucking tomato right now. * After a few moments the stammering dragon spoke, *You ah, you saw nothing!*

Lok eventually spoke, "Yeah yeah, you totally weren't miming; Don't worry I won't bring it up, until I need something from you, in which case I will use it as blackmail."

* Great. I need to be more careful about doing this. I need a private cave or something for moments like this ,* Shadow thought and then looked around, not spotting Rune as he asked, *So uh, what did you two discuss?*

Lok ignored his question and spoke, "Anyway, it's been a long, productive, day; We started language lessons, I finished my coat, and more; Anyway, sleep well, I'm beat." Lok began to walk past and Icelight spoke up, *Welp I'm on night patrol.*

Rune walked out from the bushes, laughing as he had seen Shadow's little display, and the Ender Dragon shifted his gaze towards him in embarrassment before his eyes went wide upon seeing the forming bruises thanks to his eyesight, *Rune why the fuck are you covered in bruises?!*

Icelight turned to Rune and remarked, *So there was a reason for me to check on you guys!*

Rune chuckled with a wince as his bruises hurt, "Eh it's alright, Lok wanted to train me in some hand-to-hand combat and kicked my ass." Shadow gazed at them annoyed and asked in both an annoyed and slightly hysterical tone, *And you didn't tell me? Why?*

Lok looked at him and replied simply, "Because I didn't want you intervening; A fight is hard, and you won't have anyone watching your back when your fighting for your life." Shadow subtly flinched at the first six words as his eyes grew slightly distant for a moment.

With a shake of the head, Shadow asked, *I get that, but why didn't you tell me you were gonna do this?*

Rune spoke first, "Cause I didn't know until we got to where Lok wanted to talk." Lok spoke second with a shrug, "Eh, I didn't think you'd want to see me repeatedly beating and throwing down Rune." After a moment, Icelight spoke up and asked, *Hey Shadow, do want me to blow some of my mist on their bruises for a while?*

Shadow however ignored her and focused on Rune and Lok, glaring, *Your right, I don't, but I can live with it if it means you both come out learning how to protect yourselves better.* The Ender Dragon sighed, *I'd match rather you'd done it with me watching for my peace of mind in terms of your safety, ok?*

Rune spoke up with a slight smile and a chuckle, "Dude you sound almost like someone's parent." Lok spoke to Shadow quickly and calmly, "I get that, but it's exactly why you shouldn't be there; It's a thing we need to do, for ourselves, not have a dragon there to protect us." Rune turned to Lok and added, "Yeah that too."

Shadow felt a flare of hurt in his chest and he growled, *I wouldn't intervene!* He then added in his head, * Unless training became life-threatening somehow. * The Ender Dragon took a deep breath and added, *I'd just like to know you two are gonna do something like that BEFORE hand!*

As they talked, Icelight moved and decided to blow some mist onto Rune and Lok's injuries, numbing them. Lok felt it and glared at Icelight as he told her, "I know you have good intentions there, but never do that again." Icelight rolled her eyes whilst Rune glanced down at his bruises and spoke, "Huh, um thanks."

Lok turned to Icelight and spoke, "Ok, sorry; But seriously, I have a thing about stuff like... This. I don't like painkillers; Call it a family history, but they never go over well for us." Icelight happily nodded to Rune before turning to Lok and nodding in understanding.

Shadow spoke up and grumbled, *You two aren't getting off scot-free.* It felt childish but the Ender Dragon was not in the right state of mind to care. Lok gave him an unimpressed look and said, "That implies you plan on disciplining us."

That was not what Shadow had been thinking, but the Ender Dragon latched onto it and glared at them, *Yes, I am planning on something along those lines.* Icelight spoke up with her thoughts, *Probably escorting you guys.*

Lok yawned and told him simply, "I'll just say good luck to that." This just hit a nerve and Shadow began to speak, *Let's see, no dragon language training for the rest of today and the entirety of tomorrow? Check. Not letting you two out of my sight? Check as well. OH! And I'm gonna force you two to listen to Wings of Fire with me for the rest of today until Ash comes back. Also, check.*

Rune looked at Shadow unimpressed at his attempts to act like an adult, Icelight's eyes widened at Shadow's rant, and Lok shrugged and told the Ender Dragon, "That implies you can actually enforce that punishment."

Shadow's glare deepened as Lok had no idea the proverbial landmine he'd stepped on when it came to the Ender Dragon's thought processes, *Fucking WATCH ME!* With that, Shadow moved over and wrapped his tail around Rune and Lok, picking them up and holding them in the place where they stood.

*I wouldn't put it past him to at least try- and I stand correct, shit,* Icelight had been saying as Shadow did this, whilst from his place in Shadow's grip Rune spoke up, "Dude that's literally not a punishment for me as it implies that you are taking something away from me that I care; Also you're not wasting my batteries for an entire day."

Shadow glared at Rune, *This is more a punishment for Lok than you, but I can make it a punishment for you if you like?*

*Rune, I suggest you hide it,* Icelight suggest and Rune glared back at Shadow, "And I can revoke your privileges to listen to Wings of Fire so don't test me on authority boy as I have something that you want; I will delete those stories if I have to and they will be gone for good."

Shadow snarled loudly and angrily but let Rune go, *Don't you fucking dare.* From nearby, Icelight turned to Rune and spoke up, *He might steal it in your sleep.*

"Shadow can't open the phone," Lok said simply and Rune also added, "Jokes on him I keep it in my pockets, and he doesn't have the dexterity in his claws to do something like that." Icelight nodded whilst Lok slipped out of Shadow's tail grip, the Flightmare speaking, *Oh hehe.*

Shadow then just moved and pinned Lok with his body before angrily declaring, *No. Punishment is punishment and you are fucking sitting still. And I. Will not. Fucking. Let you. Move.* The Ender Dragon looked about five seconds away from a breakdown, whilst Rune just moved and went to pick up his phone from off the ground.

Shadow sighed tiredly and Icelight spoke up from nearby, *I have no idea what's going on, nor what even I should be doing right now.* Lok, from under Shadow, turned to her and wheezed, 'Well, considering I'm being crushed to death, mind helping me out?"

Hearing this made Shadow's reasoning actually kick in a little and the Ender Dragon lifted his weight a bit so the human didn't get hurt. Rune turned to Icelight and hummed as he translated as much of her words in his head as possible, "Ummm, I think it's best if you stay out of it." Just as Rune finished saying this, Lok squeezed out from under Shadow and prepared to dodge any incoming moves.

Shadow looked like if he had hands he'd be strangling someone, *LOK I SWEAR TO FUCKING GODS IF I HAD HANDS-!* There was a pause as Shadow stopped talking, took some deep breaths, and finally noticed the slight shaking in his body, and the Ender Dragon just sighed tiredly as he began to mumble, *Gods I'm fucking too tired to deal with you and this and that and all of this...*

Rune glared at him and moved to stand next to Icelight, "I've barely done anything but remind you that you don't have the authority in this group." Icelight spoke up and simply told the Ender Dragon, *Oh I was just about to blow some mist on you to calm down.* But Shadow wasn't even listening to them now, lost in his thoughts.

"Well, you guys can sleep; I'm gonna do something to retire myself, I'm very much awake now," Lok told them and walked out of the clearing, waving back as he left.

* Fuck it, * Shadow thought with a sigh and spoke, *You know what? I'm going to sleep. I'm going to sleep.* Rune just simply said, "Goodnight."

Shadow continued as he opened his wings, *And it's not gonna be here. I'm gonna go find the comfiest spot imaginable on this fucking island and take it as my own, and sleep in it; Today has been, TOO LONG!* Shadow waved to them over-dramatically to cover up his rambling and the beginnings of a breakdown, *Bye-bye, see you all tomorrow once my nerves aren't frayed like a fish!* With that, the Ender Dragon flew off at top speed in a random direction.

Icelight spoke up as they left, *Night guys, you need it.*

Rune looked around and then quietly sat down as he began to think, " Was I too hard on Shadow? I know he was only doing it cause he cared, but I don't want people to worry about me; I've been… fine on my own and I rather not have people get close to me so they don't get hurt like all the other times. " Rune ran a hand through his hair as he tried to calm himself.

"I may not know any of these people for too long but we have to stick together if we are to survive our new world and our new home," Rune thought to himself and then spoke out loud quietly, "Heh, even now I'm terrible at making friends and keeping them." Rune thought about crying and letting his thoughts out, but he just sat quietly and looked up at the stars.

Icelight looked over at Rune with no idea what to do, so the Flightmare settled for thinking about the whole situation. The dragon had had no idea how to react or what to do, especially as things got personal like with how Lok had handled her mist. She had been annoyed and upset before she had been given an explanation as to why, and all she'd wanted is for people to explain and clarify things for her so they were easier to understand.

The Flightmare reflected on themselves, on how they were too afraid to keep up a relationship, romantic or friendship, out of knowing they were going to leave her eventually. Well, that's what the dragon thought anyway. Icelight sighed and spoke as she moved towards Rune, *Might as well make a snuggle pile, I may be a deep-sea dragon creature that breathes paralyzing mist but I do want to have some warmth.*

With that, the Flightmare laid her head upon Rune's legs and slept on him, quickly passing out from tiredness. Rune looked down at her sleeping on him and had a flash or memory of an old companion, someone he'd call a true friend and brother. Who never abandoned him and loved him unconditionally until the end.

Rune smiled at her as he finally began to cry, tears rolling down his cheeks as he covered his face and laid down whilst looking away so she wouldn't see if she woke up.


Meanwhile, quite a distance away, Shadow was vocally ranting as he flew up towards Berk's mountain, the Ender Dragon had wanted to find a comfortable spot to lay down, curl up and hide from his problems but he felt too emotional to do it. *Don't they understand I care about them!? I just wanted to be informed of things! Is that so much to ask?!* Shadow yelled as he flew.

Shadow felt a pang in his chest as his thoughts went back to what he'd first thought when Rune came back covered in bruises and Lok said he didn't want him interfering, * Do they not trust me enough to tell me? They lied to me, yeah it was a small lie but they still lied... * Shadow took a deep shaky breath, *They lied to me about this... what else would they lie about?*

* So many others in my life before have lied about massive things... do I need to add them to the list of people who'll do that to me? * Shadow thought as he flew up to the top of one of Berk's mountains, landing on top of a large cold rough clearing. Not the most comfortable place to sleep, he knew, but he didn't care.

As it began to settle in that he was alone, Shadow realized something and spoke up in startled realization, *They're all fucking strangers.* Shadow thoughts quickly turned to a continuous rant, * I meet them on DISCORD! We've only physically known each other for, what, two days?! Can I even trust them!? I know we're all tasked with changing the Hidden World, but can I trust them? *

Shadow began to walk around and muttered to himself, *Am I an idiot?* Shadow continued to walk but switched to thinking, * And I stupid for trusting them so easily? We all had Discord convos, yeah, but this isn't fucking Discord. When did I start becoming basically a parent?! I'm just concerned for their safety, but am I taking too far? Am I the problem? *

Shadow came to a stop and sat down, lowering his head to his chest and whispering, *Gods I'm a fucking mess.* He took a deep breath.

* I'm just concerned about them... but maybe they don't want nor need my concern, or sympathy, or anything. Not like I'm helpful in any other regard... nope, not going down that mental train again, not going down the I'm useless to the group train again. Already visited it and would like not to visit it again. Nooo thank you. Nope. Nadda. Not thinking about it. * Shadow thought and tried to think for several seconds before giving up.

* ...Fuck it I've never been able to control my thoughts. Do they even want me as part of the group? Not like I'm useful. I can't help with building anything. I can't help with fighting cause before this I was an overweight FUCKING WIMP WHO COULD BARELY TOLERATE THE PAIN OF GETTING PINCHED! I may be a dragon now, but that's not gonna fucking change that fact that I can't fight to save my life, or their lives. I'd probably just be more of a hindrance than a help. * Shadow took a shaky deep breath.

As he continued to shakily breathe, Shadow lowered himself to the cold rough stone and laid his head on it, reflecting on how good the cold felt against his scales. He took some more deep breaths and wondered if he could physically cry, not that he could tell if he was, he just wanted to let it all out...

* Years I've spent holding back my more extreme emotions cause I always thought the consequences of showing them would be bad. Here? I let my walls weaken a little and now I'm snapping at people left and right. * Shadow thought bitterly about himself, * What the hell do I do? Would they even care if I just... disappeared? Maybe they'd throw a party. Look! The idiot who can't fight and is just a drain on resources, the nerd who annoys us all the time with his stupid quotes and stupid love of stories, is gone! Hmph... no, I already decided I wasn't leaving and I'm not going to give up that easily. *

He took a deep breath, * But... that doesn't mean I can't give them a choice? Tomorrow. Tomorrow I can just go up to them and lay it out, lay out that I feel useless and am probably just a waste of space, and then ask them if they still want my useless tail as part of the group. If they want me gone, I'll pick a direction and fly until I collapse. Maybe I'll collapse into the sea, just my luck. *

Another deep breath as he laid in place, * They can't possibly say they want me. Like, what the fuck do I even bring to the group? My ADHD I guess, but that's not exactly helpful. My various mental issues? Nope, more burden than help; I thought I knew even some basics about engineering then I meet Lok and Rune and now I see I know nothing. And it's not like they're gonna want me to write them fucking stories! I can't program anything, I can't write anything, I can't help them. They're going to say no, we want you gone... *

* ...They have to, cause I don't know what I'll do if they still want my useless ass ,* Shadow thought sadly as he took deep breaths, missing how his eyes were watering and how a few tears were slipping down his scales. The Ender Dragon sighed and bitterly remarked in a whisper, *What a fucking amazing friend am I? Useless, totally useless...*

Shadow felt rage building up in his chest, hatred towards himself, and he eventually brought his head up and scream up at the sky without a care in the world for if anyone heard, * GET THAT UNIVERSE?! I'M FINALLY FUCKING SAYING IT! I! AM! USELESS! *

Shadow panted, throat aching from his scream, and after a few moments, he looked up at the stars and spoke in a quieter tone, *There... I finally put it into actual words in case it wasn't obvious enough, universe.*

With some deep breaths, Shadow maneuvered his head back down and curled into a tight small ball, laying his head by his chest as he covered his head with his wings. In the darkness, he could hear his heart going wild and his breathing slightly shakily, which helped him continue to think, * I wouldn't be surprised if the others secretly hate me, but hearing it said out loud will probably hurt more than anything, but at least then I'll know, I'll know... gods damn it I'm tired... just... so... tired... *

Shadow shook his head slightly before raising it and speaking up loudly, *Night.* It was said to no one in particular due to him being alone. * Maybe alone is all I'm destined to be... maybe this is why I never had friends before Discord, not because it wasn't possible for me to... get any. But I feared the pain of finding out they hated me for how useless I am. Shadow couldn't help but snort, Even as a dragon... I'm still useless. *

Shadow slowly laid his head next to his chest and the cold stone ground, closing his eyes as his thoughts tapered off into mindless buzz as his physical and emotional exhaustion caught up to him, and he was asleep within minutes.


Meanwhile, down in the forests below, Lok had found a small young tree and was using it as a kicking post. A steady rhythmic noise of flesh meeting wood echoed through the cold night air, as Lok angrily thought to himself. " He doesn't get it. He just doesn't get it. He doesn't understand what it's like. The power of being a dragon went to him already. "

Lok continued hitting the tree, " Imposing his will like some paternalistic tyrant, acting like the British to India. He wasn't dropped into a harsh new world and expected to survive, he was handed strength in a silver platter. And he acts like he knows better than I do what's necessary to learn to survive. " Lok stopped as he thought the next part, " He'll never do what needs to be done... "

Lok came up with a plan and the boiling anger he was feeling condensed into a cold bitter feeling, which fueled his next steps as he began to search the forest for any signs of Whispering Death burrowing. He called out for the dragon and after a few moments, the ground began to shake and then exploded.

Wisp glanced around and then spotted Lok, tilting his head and asking the human, *Yessss, human?* After a moment Lok spoke up, "Hey big guy, can you do me a huge favor? I need you to dig something out for me and keep it between us."

The Whispering Death tilted his large head and asked curiously, *What do you want me to dig?* Lok smiled and simply said, "Follow me..." With that, the human began to lead the dragon deeper into the forest and towards a specific spot, the Whispering Death following slightly confused.

Lok lead him to the massive face of one of Berk's mountains, a waterfall nearby, and the human turned to the Whispering Death whilst pointing towards the sight, "I need you to dig me a little tunnel down, and then a large, rectangular cavern as smoothly as possible; I can direct you on the size." The Whispering Death thought about it and nodded.

"Thank's so much for the help," Lok thanked Wisp who nodded, and Lok added on with, "Afterwards definitely some tooth brushing as a thank you."


So yeah, that was a long time to make. We acted out this chapter in the RP back on Jan 15th lmao. I got issues.
Also, side note unrelated to the RP: This is officially now my only in-progress HTTYD fanfic, I've effectively retired besides this one fic and trust me, the others had to drag me outta my cave to work on it lol. Also, everyone just needs a hug after this chapter lol.

So there is 3 more chapters to come for sure, whenever I actually manage to work on them. See you all next time!

20-8-9-19 23-15-14'20 2-5 20-8-5 12-1-19-20 1-18-7-21-13-5-14-20...

This is JustANormalHTTYDFan, over and out.