Disclaimer: I own nothing you recognise; if you're on this site, you know the drill. Also, thanks are owed to athingofvikings, who gave me a much-appreciated sounding-board for a few aspects of my planned world-building for this particular crossover; hope you like it.

Feedback: Appreciated as always.

The Dragon of Wanheda

Looking at the three Monstrous Nightmares sitting in the middle of the outpost, Clarke had no idea if what the other Riders were attempting was a good idea or a bad one. She agreed with the others that Snotlout spending the last day or so sulking in his hut wasn't a sustainable situation long-term, but at the same time trying to give him another dragon to replace the dragon he'd spent the last couple of years training didn't strike her as a good idea.

Granted, she was fairly sure that none of the other dragon riders thought it was a brilliant idea either, but they didn't exactly have a lot of other options if they wanted to keep Snotlout as part of the group after Hookfang's apparent regression. After Snotlout had returned to the Edge, he'd spent the rest of the day just sulking in his hut, and while Clarke had thought about trying to talk to him, she didn't feel qualified to even try to help him get over his issues when she was still learning how to bond with Griffin. When the other five riders had left the base, Clarke had decided to focus on giving Griffin a bit of a grooming before returning to her tower for another night's watch, but after receiving the call to the current meeting, Clarke wasn't sure if she should have just stayed away while the more experienced riders sorted this out between them.

"What's this?" Snotlout asked, staring between the three assembled Nightmares behind Hiccup and the twins. Two of the dragons were a vivid shade of green while the third was an interesting turquoise save for a surprisingly pinking snout that put Clarke in mind of a human with a cold.

"We stayed up all night wrangling some new dragons," Hiccup explained. "We figured, maybe with Hookfang going through... well, whatever he's going through, this might help."

"Guys…" Snotlout smiled at the group. "I don't know what to say."

"Thank Thor," Astrid sighed.

"Except that you wasted your time."

"That was abrupt," Clarke observed from her own position leaning on Griffin, who was watching the events in front of them as though he wasn't sure if he should laugh or dismiss everyone as idiots.

"Oh, come on, Snotlout, at least try them out," Hiccup protested.

"As awesome as Hookfire, Fangmaster and Hook Blazefang are- and I named them all already- I can't look at them and not think of Hookfang," Snotlout said, his tone unexpectedly solemn as he indicated the three Nightmares in question.

"Another cruel twist," Tuffnut said in his increasingly familiar overly dramatic voice. "Snotlout rejects the new suitors. Begone, pretenders, and never return! I hast forsookenst thou."

"I don't think that's how-" Clarke began, before the three Nightmares flew away above her head.

"Snotlout," Hiccup cut her off as he walked up to the shorter Viking. "I know you're hurting, but we need you up there with us."

"We can't be down a rider when we're dealing with the hunters," Astrid put in. "I mean, Clarke's good, but she's still learning about dragons, and she didn't exactly sign up for this when she found Griffin-"

"Hey!" Clarke cut the female Viking off. "I'm not going to just ditch you once I know how to get along with Griffin!"

"You're sticking around?" Hiccup looked at her with a smile.

"Well…" Clarke said, taking a moment to consider her impulsive words before she nodded. "I mean, I get that there's a lot more about this situation I need to work out, but-"

"Not important," Snotlout waved his hand dismissively. "This isn't resolving my problems."

"What if you tried riding a different kind of dragon?" Fishlegs asked, before Clarke could respond to that particularly self-centred observation.

"I don't know… maybe?"

"Yeah, there you go," Hiccup smiled encouragingly. "How about a Nadder? Astrid?"

"He doesn't want to ride Stormfly again-" Astrid began.

"Too small, too slow, two heads, not hot enough," Snotlout said, indicating the other four dragons on the field.

"Not hot enough?" Clarke repeated indignantly.

"That dragon has hot air and Hookfang could set himself on fire," Snotlout observed. "It's not exactly a contest."

Clarke chose not to respond to that, instead turning to give Griffin a quick hug, hoping that the dragon either wouldn't understand Snotlout's insult or accept that she didn't care that he couldn't breathe actual fire.

"Right, so these dragons are out, but maybe we try some new ones?" Hiccup asked. "I mean, we can probably find a Thunderdrum or a Timberjack? Or how about-?"

"Listen guys," Snotlout cut him off, "I don't want to come off as thankful or anything, but you taught me a lesson today by offering me your inferior dragons."

"Inferior?" Clarke repeated, feeling indignant on Griffin's behalf even if she doubted the dragon understood that he should be insulted right now.

"OK, what are you saying?" Hiccup asked, stepping forward before the twins could express their own indignation.

"I'm saying that if I can't fly Hookfang, I don't want to fly any dragon."

"You're quitting?" Clarke looked at him in surprise.

"You're good," Snotlout nodded at her in approval before turning to face the rest of the group. "As our new associate has correctly deduced, I am quitting my position. Henceforth, I shall be a dragon rider no more."

"What?" Astrid stared incredulously at him.

"Oh well; easy come, easy go," Tuffnut said as he glanced over at Clarke. "On the bright side, the replacement's a lot hotter than Snot was."

"Hey!" Clarke glared at Tuffnut, unsure if she should take that as an insult or a compliment.

"OK, let's not get into that," Hiccup said, walking up to in front of his cousin. "Snotlout, you're just hurting now, that's all; give it some time."

"No, Hiccup, my mind's made up," Snotlout said solemnly. "I'm going to say goodbye to Hookfang, and then… sail back to Berk for good. It's over."

Following the example of the other riders, Clarke simply watched in silence as Snotlout walked away from the outpost and deeper into the island, heading for the area that Hiccup had previously identified as the apparent location of Hookfang's new cave.

"So," Clarke looked over at the others, "just to be sure, you're not actually expecting me to take his place, right?"

"Why not?" Ruff grinned. "Be good to get some more female company here full-time, and-"

"Look, like I said to Astrid, it's not that I wouldn't like to stay, but I can't just… I'm me, OK?" Clarke said. "I like you guys, and maybe I'd stay anyway, but I don't want to feel like I'm just… I don't want to be the girl who got dragged in to fill a slot someone else left open."

"I can get that," Hiccup observed.

"You can?" Fishlegs looked at him in surprise.

"Hey, you think it was easy spending years knowing Dad wanted me to be something else before I met Toothless?" Hiccup observed. "It took until we killed the Red Death for me to stop feeling like he wanted me to be… well, a smarter Snotlout."

"Yeah, that's not a disturbing image at all," Astrid said, looking at Hiccup with a brief warm smile before she looked back at Clarke. "Anyway, Clarke, we're not saying that you have to stay to 'fill Snotlout's spot' or anything like that; if you want to stick around… OK, I'm not saying we wouldn't need some time to adjust to the changes, but we'd still accept you for you."

"…Thanks," Clarke smiled slightly at the blonde, deciding to appreciate the sentiment of that statement before she turned back to indicate the direction that Snotlout had walked off in. "Still, I think you should try and talk to him one more time; maybe if we can work out what made Hookfang act up like this we can get them to patch things up?"

"It's worth a shot, anyway," Fishlegs said, looking curiously between Clarke and Griffin. "Still… could you just… stay here?"

"What?"

"It's nothing personal, but if Hookfang starts acting up… well, we'd prefer to have had a bit more time training with Griffin before we start going into action with him," Fishlegs shrugged. "We only really managed to get these guys working together the first time we went flying as a group because we were dealing with one big target in an open space; if Hookfang tries anything…"

"You don't want to have to worry about Griffin getting in the way when you're all flying around?" Clarke nodded in understanding. "That's… fair."

A part of her resented this turn of events, as though the earlier attempt at solidarity had just been for show, but she could understand the reasoning behind it. If fighter pilots back in the old days had needed training to work together when they were all flying the same planes, how much harder would it be to coordinate a group of dragons with different skills and their own minds and instincts to take into account?

As the others got back onto their dragons and flew away, Clarke smiled as she affectionately rubbed Griffin's nose under his large front horn.

"Sorry you can't go with them right now," she said, smiling as the dragon gave a soft rumble in response as though assuring her he understood. "Still, as long as we're here… I know the saddle isn't ready for anything longer yet, but shall we just take a quick flight?"

Griffin let out another rumble in response as he bent his head slightly, allowing Clarke to climb onto his neck and take up her old position where the dragon's neck joined his body. She took hold of the fin in front of her, lightly squeezed her heels against Griffin's side, and allowed herself a brief whoop of joy as she took off into the air, grinning as the wind hit her face and Griffin let out a joyful roar of his own.

For a moment the sea was spread out before her, glistening in the sunlight, but then Griffin adjusted his flight so that he was heading back towards the island, only to spin again so that he was flying along the island's coastline. Clarke briefly thought about taking the dragon further inland to find the others, but talked herself out of that before the thought could do more than cross her mind. She didn't like being sidelined, but the other riders had at least had a valid reason for that beyond treating her like she was still a kid even after she'd been forced to prove otherwise.

I just need more experience here…

She was just completing her initial circuit of the island when she saw Hookfang flying through the air over the forest with Snotlout on his back. Clarke smiled hopefully at the sight, but the smile faded when a larger Monstrous Nightmare emerged from the woods behind Hookfang, this dragon a deep shade of red that made Clarke think of blood.

"What the-?" she began, flying towards the other rider.

"Stay back Clarke!" Snotlout yelled, urgently waving Clarke back with one hand as he continued flying. "We have to stop this ourselves!"

"You don't have to-"

"It's a dragon thing!" Snotlout yelled, urgently indicating the dragon behind them. "We have to stop this sucker on our own, or Girl Hookfang's eggs get smashed!"

"Eggs?"

"Just stay back!" Snotlout yelled, Hookfang reinforcing his master's words with a roar. As though the roar had been a cue, Griffin pulled back, leaving the two Nightmares to continue their aerial chase as Clarke and her dragon returned to the Edge. As she approached, Clarke was relieved to see that at least most of the other riders had already arrived back ahead of her; at least she knew there was probably some dragon-related reason to Snotlout dealing with this himself rather than just him being the last one standing.

"What's going on?" she asked as she came into land. "I was just out for a flight, and then Snotlout and Hookfang came back with another Nightmare-"

"It's a Titan Nightmare, and we'll explain everything once it's been dealt with," Hiccup explained, looking up anxiously as Snotlout and Hookfang flew into view with the other dragon behind them. "Star the dome now!"

As the twins slammed the control lever down, the dome began to close once more. Confused, Clarke could only join the other riders as they watched Snotlout and Hookfang race towards the lower cave that led into the dome, followed by a faint tremor from below before the dome slammed shut, both dragons and Snotlout still inside it.

"They didn't make it!" Astrid yelled, slamming her hand against the dome in frustration. Clarke was about to say something when she heard a loud roar from inside the dome, followed by the vague sound of Snotlout's voice and sudden small bursts of flame emerging from the stitches in the dome.

"Hookfang's using the Titan Wing's size against him!" Hiccup said in understanding.

"He's trying to wear it down," Astrid added.

"Oh…" Clarke nodded in tentative understanding as she looked at the dome again. It was hard to be certain when she hadn't seen the Titan Wing up close yet, but based on Hookfang's size, he could probably manoeuvre around the interior of the dome and attack the other dragon at different angles while the Titan Wing was just too big to manoeuvre properly…

After a series of roars and a few more bursts of flame, the dome interior fell silent until Snotlout called out to them to open it up again. After the twins had returned the lever to its upright position, the dome opened to reveal Snotlout and Hookfang standing on top of their opponent, the large red dragon that was nearly twice Hookfang's size letting out a final roar before it slumped to the ground.

"Now that's what I call domination!" Snotlout said, his arms folded as he sat up straight behind Hookfang's head. "Boom! You tell him, Fangster!"

"I take it this is good?" Clarke asked, only for her question to answer itself as Hookfang stepped off the downed Titan Wing, which looked forlornly back at Hookfang and then flew off into the distance, clearly travelling away from Dragon's Edge.

"Superb," Tuffnut nodded.

"What was?" Clarke looked back at him before turning to Hiccup and Astrid. "What exactly just happened here?"

"We got to the cave where Snotlout had left Hookfang, and it turned out that Hookfang was actually there to try and protect the female from a Titan Wing Monstrous Nightmare who seems to want to destroy her eggs," Hiccup explained.

"The one that Hookfang just fought?"

"That Hookfang and Snotlout just fought, thank you," Snotlout cut in. "Girl Hookfang was probably the mate of another Titan Wing and this one wanted to destroy its rival's eggs; Hookie here was just responding to a call for help.

"Huh," Clarke smiled as she looked at the dome in understanding. "So Hookfang beating that dragon was just his way of protecting the eggs?"

"Pretty much," Hiccup nodded. "He had to establish dominance over the Titan Wing so the other dragon would leave the eggs alone."

"And that's why I couldn't interfere when we passed each other?"

"Bingo," Snotlout nodded at her. "If Hookfang didn't beat the guy himself, Girl Hookfang would probably have had her eggs destroyed."

"OK, so with the eggs safe… what happens now?" Clarke asked, shrugging curiously as she indicated the returned Monstrous Nightmare. "I mean, does this mean Hookfang's their new… dad figure?"

"Hey!" Snotlout protested.

"No, from what we've seen of nesting dragons, this is probably just her safe place for the moment rather than her new home," Hiccup put in. "Once the eggs are hatched, she should be able to fly them somewhere safe until they're big enough to look after themselves."

He smiled as another thought came to him and he looked around the group. "And speaking of them hatching, now that the danger's over, shall we go back and see how those eggs are doing?"

"Sounds good to me!" Clarke grinned, already swinging her leg over Griffin's neck.

One of her new friends wasn't leaving (even if she found Snotlout a little bit annoying), and now she was about to see dragon eggs; what could be better?