Here is the next chapter, and here Dani goes to Berk, and something interesting happens to her…
Onto the story!
Welcome To Berk!
When Astrid woke up the next day at the crack of dawn, she realised that her new roommate was gone.
"Dani?" she asked herself, feeling a bit worried.
Getting out of her bed, she checked the makeshift one that Astrid had made for Dani the night before. She remembered how confused and lost Dani had looked, her normal routine broken by being in this new place, but she hadn't complained and had gone straight to bed. Even so, she had trouble sleeping, and Astrid guessed that Dani was a light sleeper. But during the night, Dani had made no indication that she was going to leave tomorrow.
So why was she gone?
Remembering how quickly Dani had left the stables, Astrid headed in that direction, hoping to saddle Stormfly so that she could do a fly-over of the Edge and the island to see where Dani was. But when she neared the stables, she heard from inside sounds that seemed to be someone cleaning one of the dragons' stables. There was a grunt, and then a familiar voice said, "Cleaning out a dragon's stall isn't as easy as I thought."
Dani? Astrid thought incredulously. She peered around the door and sure enough, in Stormfly's stall with the Deadly Nadder herself in another cell, was Dani. She had her strange blue hooded shirt discarded on the floor, and the sleeves of her white shirt were rolled up, exposing her slight arm muscles. Her face was beaded with sweat as she cleaned out Stormfly's cell, and judging by the other dragons who seemed happy, their stalls had been cleaned out too, by Dani no less.
Astrid admired the dark-haired girl's work ethic, but she decided that maybe was the right time to interrupt.
"Dani?"
The girl jumped. She instinctively went into a fighting stance, fists clenched, but she relaxed when she recognised Astrid.
"Oh, hey Astrid. I didn't expect you to be up so early," Dani said, grinning.
"I usually wake up pretty early. And it seems that you do too," Astrid said back, leaning on the door frame.
"I didn't really sleep well last night. When I saw that the sky was lightening, I decided that I may as well reach some sort of peace with the larger dragons. I thought about cleaning them, but considering if I even came close to them I would have my arm bitten off or my face burned, I decided to go with the safer option of cleaning their stalls."
Dani brushed back her longer bang, her eyes an intense blue colour as she finished, "That sounded easier in my head than in real life."
"Yeah, it usually does," Astrid agreed, remembering the early days and how hard it had been to clean Stormfly's stall, even now.
The blonde Viking noticed that Dani looked absolutely tired and she suggested, "Hey, why don't you take a break? I think you've earned it."
Dani smiled. "Thanks."
She walked up to Astrid and took the offered pouch of water, drinking it's contents. When she had finished, she handed it back to Astrid, before sitting down on the wooden floor, her back against the door frame.
Dani noticed Astrid looking at her and said, "I know what you are thinking."
Astrid was taken aback. "What do you think I'm thinking?"
"You're thinking why did I clean the dragons' stalls, even though neither you, Hiccup or the other Dragon Riders asked me to," Dani said, which surprised Astrid, as that had been what she was thinking. The raven-haired girl went on, "Well, the truth is, I don't want you or Hiccup or any of the others to feel as if I'm taking advantage of your hospitality, that I'm a guest who wants you and the other Dragon Riders to wait at my beck and call. I want to help around, pull my weight, do some of the work. Be one of those guests who's more of a help than a hindrance."
Astrid nodded. She could understand Dani wanting to help around the Edge while she was staying here; she would probably do the same thing. But…
"I can appreciate that; I think I would probably do the same if I was a guest here. But I think the twins would do the opposite."
Dani laughed. "Yeah, I can imagine that."
"Especially if them being the rulers of this island is anything to go by."
Dani's eyes widened at that.
"Wait, wait, wait. Time out. Ruffnut and Tuffnut were the rulers of this island?"
"Yep. According to a claim-stone that's now gone thanks to Meatlug, the twins were the rightful rulers of this island. They had us all do tasks that were really annoying like bowing all the time, paying for landing and leaving, removing the letter 'S' from the alphabet and- why are you laughing?"
Sure enough, Dani was laughing, doubled over as she held her stomach, tears streaming down her face.
"Sorry, Astrid. I'm just imaging you all saying words without the letter 'S' in them. Like saying 'iland' instead of 'island' and 'Tormfly' instead of 'Stormfly', for instance."
A smile crept on Astrid's face; now that she thought about it, saying words that had the letter 'S' in them without the 'S' was pretty funny.
"Yeah, all that. Eventually, we all ended up in one of the dragon stalls, which was the twins 'dungeon'-" this caused Dani to once again let loose another round of laughter-"but they let us out and we became equal rulers of Dragon's Edge, as we had a Fireworm invasion at the time and-"
"Sorry about interrupting, but one question: What are Fireworms?"
"They're small dragons that are so hot that they set anything they land on on fire. And a migration of them was coming here."
Dani winced. "That must have been pretty dangerous, trying to get them off here, not to mention putting out all the fires they started."
"It was," Astrid admitted, "but we eventually got them off the island and moved them to a more rockier island, thanks to the Night Terrors forming into the shape of the Fireworm Queen. And the rest has been history."
Dani shook her head, trying to comprehend what Astrid had told her. "Wow. I'm sorry that you, Hiccup, Snotlout and Fishlegs had to endure Tuffnut and Ruffnut's rule when you guys had to get rid of a migration of little fire-causing dragons."
"Well, we managed to move the Fireworms, and the twins aren't the rulers anymore. And, the Edge is still standing."
"True, true."
The two went into a comfortable silence, Astrid discreetly studying Dani. The blue-eyed girl was a mystery, that's for sure. Astrid liked her, and she admired Dani's fighting skills and her spirit. But something about her had made Toothless, Stormfly, Hookfang, Barf and Belch and even Meatlug, the friendliest dragon Astrid had ever met, become both fearful of her, and hate her so much that they wanted to kill her. And whatever it was, Astrid wanted to find out, in case something like what happened yesterday happened again.
And to make sure it didn't happen again, Astrid had to ask Dani what exactly had caused the dragons to have such a reaction towards her.
"Dani… how come the dragons were so spooked and aggressive to you yesterday?"
At the question, a guarded look came across her face.
"I'd rather not talk about it."
"Well, considering the dragons wanted to kill you, I think it might be wiser if you-"
"I don't want to talk about it," Dani interrupted. She cast her eyes to the ground, expression still guarded.
That made Astrid more curious to know the reason why Dani had caused the dragons to react that way. She wanted to find out Dani's secret, whatever it is, even though the girl seemed to be willing to keep it with her life.
But, it seemed like Astrid has prodded too far on the subject for Dani's liking. So she moved on to a, hopefully, lighter subject.
"So, Dani… what's your village like?"
Dani, who seemed as eager as Astrid for a change in subject, looked up, her eyes bright and a smile on her face.
"It's great. It's sleepy, and it's small. At first glance, you wouldn't assume much, but my village has a really interesting secret. Because it's attacked regularly by… creatures, but my village is protected by two protectors. Most people who have heard about what attacks my village usually steer clear, but it's a great village. I miss it."
She looked at Astrid. "It's not like Berk, but it's my home."
When Dani asked Astrid what Berk was, the Viking girl told her that it was the Dragon Riders' village. When she had described it, Dani got a wistful look in her eyes, and Astrid had guessed that Berk sounded similar to her village. And now hearing Dani talk about her village, it sounded like Berk, but at the same time, completely different. She was curious, though, at what attacked her village so much it needed two protectors. So…
"Dani, what attacks your village?"
And like when Astrid had asked about what happened yesterday with the dragons, Dani's guard was up and she retreated into her shell, closing herself up.
"It's not important. Forget about it."
Astrid was about to protest, but from the steely look in Dani's eyes, dropped it.
Desperate to change the subject again, Astrid saw that the sky was lightening even further, so much that it appeared to be around the time that Hiccup, Snotlout, Fishlegs and the twins woke up. She turned to her guarded companion and said, "We better get organised. It's a long flight to Berk from here."
Dani grinned. "Wanna beat the boys at getting ready first?"
"And Ruffnut."
"And Ruffnut."
Astrid smiled back at her. "Yes. That, and while we get organised, I can show you how to ride Stormfly."
At that, Dani became nervous. "Why would I need to ride Stormfly?"
"Because you're riding with me."
At that, Dani turned pale.
"Uhhh… thanks for the offer, but no thanks. I'm sure Stormfly's a great dragon, but I rather ride a dragon that I know doesn't hate my guts and won't impale me with a barb shot from it's tail while riding it."
"You have a point, but if you can't ride a dragon, how are you going to get to Berk?"
"I'll ride with Hiccup," Dani said. "Me and Toothless have a truce. It's shaky, but he won't kill me. Wary, though, but won't kill me. He's the only dragon I'll be able to ride without worrying that the dragon I'm riding will kill me."
"That's… a good point," Astrid admitted, casting her eyes down.
Dani caught her look and said, "Astrid, there's no need to be jealous."
Astrid scoffed at hearing that. "Jealous? I'm not jealous."
Dani gave her a look before going on.
"Look, I know that, because I'm the girl falling from the sky that Hiccup saved, that you think he likes me, and I like him. But you're wrong. I have no attraction towards him whatsoever, and I don't think he does to me. He actually reminds me of my brother. And I can understand why you would be jealous; the romance between you two is so heavy I can almost see it. But don't worry, Astrid; you have nothing to be jealous about."
With that, she stood up and headed towards the huts.
"Where are you going?" Astrid asked.
"To get my things packed," Dani answered, though Astrid could see a gleam of mischief in her eyes. And with that said, she ran off in the direction of the huts, almost disappearing out of sight…
Like a ghost.
...
Later
Dani invisibly sneaked to Snotlout's hut, barely able to keep herself from giggling. She had already packed-some food and water into a leather knapsack-and now she was ready to play a little prank on Snotlout.
Back in her teenage days, Dani was the pranking queen, but now she was in college and on top of her studies, homework and her part-time job as a barista at a local cafe, she had to protect Amity Park as Dani Phantom, so she didn't have any time to prank people anymore.
Now, though… maybe here she could prank people from time to time.
She casually strolled into Snotlout's hut, and looked around for anything she could take, before her eyes rested on a knapsack at the foot of Snotlout's bed. She had to hand it to him, he was an efficient packer, and that knapsack was perfect for her prank.
Grinning slyly, Dani grabbed the pack, extending her invisibility over it and sneaked back to hers and Astrid's hut, where she turned visible again.
An alarmed squawk came and Dani whirled around, fear coursing through her about being discovered, but when she saw who had caused the squawk, she relaxed.
"Hey Smidvarg," she greeted.
The albino dragon looked at her warily.
"It's okay; I'm not going to hurt you," she assured him, kneeling down.
Tentatively, Smidvarg walked towards her. He butted his head against her knee. She began to stroke him and the albino Night Terror was soon purring. Dani smiled at the small dragon before she got to work.
Grabbing the knapsack, she giggled as she made the knapsack invisible and attached it behind her knapsack. She stood up, earning a squeal of protest from Smidvarg, and headed out of the hut, grabbing the knapsack Astrid had packed last night, walking back towards the stables.
…
Later
At the stables, Astrid was outside saddling Stormfly when she heard Dani say, "Catch!"
Astrid turned and caught the knapsack she had packed last night, Dani grinning from where she was standing, holding a knapsack of her own. At her feet, Smidvarg was curled around her, purring as he rubbed his head against her leg.
She walked towards Astrid and looked at Stormfly, the bird-like dragon looking at the secretive girl warily.
"Relax; I'm not going to hurt you or Astrid," Dani assured the dragon, but Stormfly squawked irritably as she eyed Dani, who moved to stand beside Astrid.
"Give her time; she'll warm up to you," Astrid assured her.
"Probably. But, until then, I'm staying around ten feet away from her," Dani said back.
"Good plan."
Dani watched as Astrid finished saddling Stormfly, and asked, "What is it like? Riding a dragon."
Astrid considered this and answered, "It's not like anything else. You feel weightless, but at the same time grounded. Some part of you is scared that the dragon is going to drop you, but another, bigger part of you knows that your dragon won't drop you, because you trust each other. And, you form a bond when you're riding a dragon; it's not like anything else. The person that I know of who has the strongest bond with his dragon is Hiccup; he helped Toothless fly again after his left tail fin was damaged, and in doing so, Hiccup became the first Dragon Rider and he and Toothless forged a powerful bond. It's unrivalled."
"That sounds amazing, able to ride a dragon and have a bond with them," Dani said, looking out to the horizon, before asking, "How did Toothless manage to damage his left tail fin?"
Astrid hesitated in answering, before saying, "That's probably a question Hiccup is better suited to answer."
"Oh."
The two girls sat in comfortable silence, waiting for the others to wake up. An hour later, they did.
Hiccup was surprised to see Astrid and Dani up so early, and the first ones ready, but he paid it no mind and got organised himself. Dani told him that she may be riding with him, since all of the dragons except Toothless hated her and wanted to kill her, and Hiccup agreed with that logic. He spent the next few minutes showing Dani how to ride Toothless and she thought, It's just like riding a horse.
Fishlegs and the twins were the next ones up. Everyone was ready to go… until they heard Snotlout yelling.
They all jumped and turned to see Snotlout running towards them, an angry look on his face.
"Someone took my pack!" Snotlout yelled.
Everyone looked shocked; well, except for Dani, who smirked as she prepared to make Snotlout's pack visible, and the twins, who were snickering.
Snotlout, who heard Ruffnut and Tuffnut, stormed towards them.
"Aha! Did you two take my pack?" Snotlout accused them, glaring.
"Now, my burly friend, if we took your pack, you would know about it. We don't prank others without reason," Tuffnut said, and Ruffnut added, "And that reason is whether Loki wants us to prank others, or if we find the situation of the prank funny."
"Quite right, sister."
"So, if you two didn't take my pack, who d-"
"Hey, Snotlout! Is this your pack?"
Everyone turned to see Dani holding Snotlout's pack, an innocent expression on her face.
Snotlout walked towards her and snatched it out of her hands, a look of shock on his face.
"It is my pack! Where did you get it?"
Dani shrugged nonchalantly, expression blank, but the twins were amazed.
"Have we just found… another follower of Loki?" Ruffnut asked. Her brother said, "It seems too good to be true."
"But she is obviously the one who took Snotlout's pack as a prank on him."
"And how she did it, is quite exceptional. If she is a Loki follower, then she has already mastered the art of pranking."
"Quite true."
"Let's see if she's a good liar, shall we?"
"We shall."
The twins watched as Dani lied, "One of the Night Terrors must have taken it during the night. I found it in my and Astrid's hut this morning. I was going to give it back, but until you woke up."
Snotlout and the others seemed to believe the lie, but Tuffnut and Ruffnut could tell she was lying, and they were grinning.
"She has the silver tongue," Ruffnut said.
Tuffnut wiped tears from his eyes and said, "Sister, we have found a Loki follower who is both an exceptional prankster and a masterful liar."
"Tell me I'm dreaming. I must be dreaming."
"If you're dreaming, then I'm dreaming too. And I don't want to ever wake up."
The twins continued to admiringly stare at Dani as Snotlout walked off to get Hookfang ready, grumbling about the Night Terrors.
Soon, the Dragon Riders were ready for flight, Dani sitting behind Hiccup on Toothless, already giddy with the prospect of flying; especially on a dragon.
"Dragon Riders, take to the wing!" Hiccup announced.
As if they had done this a billion times(which they did), the dragons unfurled their wings and took to the air, flying towards Berk.
As they began their journey, Dani let out a whoop of joy as she felt the wind on her face, already easing into the enjoyable feeling of flying.
Hiccup, Astrid, Fishlegs, Snotlout and the twins looked at Dani, but they eventually focused back on what they were seeing in front of them, also smiling at the feeling of flying.
The flight to Berk had begun.
…
Later
As they flew, Dani couldn't stop grinning.
Sure, flying on her own was great and gave her a blissful feeling of peace and joy, but flying on a dragon, and feeling the animal's muscles underneath her work to keep their flight steady and up in the air left her in awe.
Dora had always told her and Danny that it was always a different feeling when she flew as a dragon instead of in her humanoid form. Now, Dani finally got it, in a way.
She watched as Hiccup used his metal leg to help steer Toothless in another direction, amazed by how well Rider and dragon worked to fly seamlessly together. It made Dani feel both awestruck… and envious.
Dani had never minded flying on her own, but now, especially after what Astrid had told her, she wondered what it was like to fly on a dragon of her own, to have that trust that the other Dragon Riders had with their dragons. She wanted to ride a dragon of her own, but she knew it was impossible; nearly every single large dragon was both afraid of her and hated her, and the dragon who didn't want to kill her already had a Rider, and their truce was shaky at best. Still, Dani couldn't help but hope that, while she was here, she could find a dragon of her own to ride and become a Dragon Rider herself.
Wishing to get rid of those yearning thoughts, Dani looked at the scenery around her, and was amazed all over again.
Never back home, even in national parks she had stayed at before she was adopted, had such clear blue skies and such clean air. The sea sparkled like liquid sapphires, free of pollution. Sea stacks rose out of the clear waters at random intervals, and Dani could swear she saw the shapes of dragons moving underneath the waters.
Dani reached up as far as she could and tried to touch a cloud. Surprisedly, she could, and the cloud was so fluffy, she felt like it could be used for a pillow.
She was stunned, by this beautiful landscape, so free of the pollution from the future and untouched by human progress.
Sam would love this, seeing the ocean so blue and beautiful, Dani thought. She wasn't as much of a nature-lover as Sam was, but she could appreciate nature's beauty in it's most purest form.
And seeing all of that, and getting a crazy feeling on her stomach, gave her an idea.
Dani slowly stood up, causing Toothless to yelp at the sudden shift in weight, but she wasn't causing him any harm. Thanks to her half-ghost status, Dani was lighter than most women her age. As she balanced herself, a smile made it's way on Dani's lips and she spread out her arms to either side of her, like the Christ statue in Rio de Janerio, and threw back her head as she shouted, "WOO-HOOO!"
At her shout, Hiccup turned-and his eyes widened in fear at seeing her standing on Toothless.
"Dani, sit down!" Hiccup hurriedly said.
Dani, at seeing the fearful expression on Hiccup's face, sat back down, a sheepish smile on her face, though she was still feeling the earlier excitement just seconds before.
"Sorry, Hiccup. I didn't mean to scare you. I just really like flying," Dani apologised.
That's an understatement, Dani thought, referencing to her last sentence.
"I can tell. But, maybe a little warning next time, please? You could have hurt Toothless, or yourself, or you could have fallen off."
Dani grinned sheepishly again, although she was internally rolling her eyes; because of her light weight, Toothless was in no danger of injury, and if she fell off, she could always fly to steady herself. But still, she appreciated Hiccup's concern for both hers and Toothless's safety. "Okay. I'll warn you next time when I think about doing another crazy stunt."
Hiccup rolled his eyes exasperatedly at that, but Dani could tell he was grinning.
A couple of hours later, Dani noticed that the sea stacks were getting more widespread, and she even spotted a couple of fishing boats, the fishermen on them dragging in their catch with nets.
Wow; nets are more efficient than fishing poles, Dani thought as the dragons flew past. She was tempted to wave, but she didn't want to make a fisherman lose his hard-earned catch, so she looked towards her-and gasped.
In front of her, was an island surrounded by conical Viking statues. On the island was a village of simple wooden huts, almost like Viking homes in her History textbook. Boats were docked at the harbour and roaming across the village, mingling with the Vikings, were dragons. Hundreds of them. Deadly Nadders, Gronckles, Zipplebacks, Monstrous Nightmares, dragons that looked like smaller, four-legged Monstrous Nightmares with big bug-like eyes, all flying around, totally peaceful...
Dani gulped, turning as pale as a sheet.
Astrid, who noticed this, flew as close as she could to her as Stormfly would allow and asked her, "Dani, are you okay? You look really pale."
"What? Oh, I'm fine. Totally fine. Absolutely fine," Dani replied back, making herself calm outside, but inside, she was freaking out.
OH MY GOSH! As soon as I land, all those dragons are gonna start panicking, and then they'll start trying to kill me! And then these dragons are gonna start trying to kill me too! I'm gonna be dead in a minute-fully dead! Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh!
Dani must have started hyperventilating, because Fishlegs asked her, "Are you sure you're okay, Dani? You're breathing really fast."
At that, Dani realised that she was beginning to hyperventilate. Calming herself down, she took a few deep breaths and smiled breezily.
"I'm fine, guys. Just felt that my chest was a bit tight," Dani assured them.
That didn't help relieve their looks of concern, so Dani continued smiling at them, before she turned around to face Hiccup's back, and her smile dropped into a terrified look.
As soon as she landed, the dragons will go crazy with fear and hatred towards her.
…
A Few Minutes Later
They landed in the centre of the village. Almost immediately, the villagers began whispering excitedly at the return of their fellow Vikings, but those whispers turned to ones of curiosity as the villagers saw Dani get off Toothless.
Dani, thanks to her ghostly enhanced hearing, heard those whispers as clear as day and those, plus the curious looks the villagers were giving her, made her feel uncomfortable. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see all of the bigger dragons squawking and growling in fear, edging away from her as fast as they could. Honestly, Dani couldn't blame them
Ghosts are scary things, she thought. Even she was afraid of her powers, at times, and that she might become Vlad. Or worse…
As Dani was contemplating whether or not to risk her secret and turn invisible so that she could make a quick getaway, a booming voice shouted, "HICCUP!"
Dani yelped, startled, as her eyes flashed green in terror before going back to normal blue. She, along with Hiccup and the other Riders, turned in the direction where the voice came from… and Dani let out a squeak at seeing the giant of a man walk towards them.
He was about as tall as Dani's father, Jack, and nearly as wide as him, but this man was more burly and muscular. He had a bushy red beard that had a few streaks of grey in it, an iron helmet on his head with two long horns sticking out on either side, blue eyes, a strong nose, and wearing a long green tunic, a large brown belt with a runic design on the buckle, a metal scale-like skirt, brown pants and brown boots, brown bracers on his wrists and a brown fur cape. He was obviously the Viking chief, and there was no doubt he was the strongest Viking here; even Dani believed that, though she had ghostly super strength, he could crush her if he wanted to.
But the large Viking's attention wasn't on her. It was on Hiccup.
Hiccup smiled at the Viking chief. "Hey… Dad."
Dani's eyes widened in shock.
"Dad?!" she echoed, looking at Hiccup in shock. "That's your-no way, he is-he's your dad?!"
Dani was shocked. No way could that burly, giant Viking man be Hiccup's dad. But, then again, her father was taller and larger than Danny, and Danny himself was pretty scrawny. Muscled, yes, from years of ghost-fighting, but still a little bit on the scrawny side. So, maybe she wasn't one to judge.
Hiccup looked at her and said, "Yes, he's my dad. Don't worry, Dani, you're not the first who was shocked at learning that."
Dani, realising she was still wide-eyed, blinked and managed to have her eyes get back to normal size and said back, "Sorry Hiccup. It's just… wow."
Hiccup's dad, who seemed to have noticed her finally, asked Hiccup, "Son, who's this?"
"Dad, this is Danielle, or Dani, as she likes to be called. Anyway-"
"Danny? Isn't that a man's name?"
"Uh…"
"Yes, it is a boy's name, but my name is Dani. With an 'I'," Dani said, stepping out from behind Hiccup to look his dad in the eye. "And before you ask, it's just Dani. Not Dani-With-An-I."
Hiccup's dad looked at her with an unreadable expression, and Dani began to feel nervous, that she had done something wrong.
"Hiccup," his dad started, "what were you saying before?"
Dani let out an internal sigh of relief as Hiccup continued on speaking, before his dad interrupted him.
"Well, anyway, I first met Dani when I saved her when she was falling out of the sky. She was unconscious, and injured. After I caught her, I brought her back to the Edge. Despite a misunderstanding that we had when she woke up, I said that she could stay with us until she found a way back to her village. But, she said she only had those clothes to wear, and Astrid suggested that maybe she could find some clothes here. Considering that our supplies were running low, we decided that we might as well do both things. And now, here we are."
"Hmmm…" Hiccup's dad said. Dani looked worriedly at Hiccup, beginning to worry.
However, her worries were put to rest when he said, "You did the right thing, Hiccup, saving her. And, I like her. She seems like a nice girl, with just a bit of spunk. Reminds me of Astrid."
"Not really. Well, maybe a little," Dani said, causing Astrid to smile.
"Well then, Dani, welcome to Berk! I'm Stoick The Vast, chief of the Hooligan tribe. You've already met my son, Hiccup, and the other Dragon Riders. You are welcome here, but if you betray us, make no mistake the consequences of betrayal will be harsher than you'll ever imagine. Got it?"
Dani gulped and stammered out, "G-got it, Chief Stoick."
She walked back to stand beside Toothless, breathing shakily. The Night Fury gave her a glare, but allowed her to stand beside him. Stormfly, Hookfang, Meatlug and Barf and Belch, however, gave her a wide berth, looking at her warily.
Stoick, noticing this, got a look of suspicion on his face as he said, "Hiccup."
Hiccup turned to his dad at the mention of his name and said back, "Yes, Dad?"
"Son, why are the dragons so wary of Dani?"
"Uh, I don't know for certain, but something about Dani scares the dragons, and yet also makes them hate her. Yesterday, nearly every single dragon tried to kill her. But…"
"But what?"
"It's only the larger dragons who hate her. The Night Terrors love her. She could barley go more than ten feet without one swarming her or following her. I think it might be the same with the Terrible Terrors."
As if to prove his statement correct, a Terrible Terror walked up to Dani and rubbed it's head along her leg, purring. Soon, around a herd of Terrible Terrors, following their leader's example, swarmed Dani, covering her from head to toe.
"Not again!" she groaned as she toppled to the ground, buried under a mound of Terrible Terrors, their contented purring like a rumble of thunder.
"I see what you're saying, son. But, just in case the larger dragons are rightfully scared of her, keep an eye on Dani, to see if she means harm to Berk. Just in case."
Hiccup nodded; he had been thinking of keeping an eye on Dani too. She seemed to be trustworthy, but she was just too secretive. He didn't know whether she had a good reason or not to keep secrets, but it was better if he discreetly kept an eye on her, just to be safe. The way she made the larger dragons both scared and aggressive… there was something about her to make the dragons act like that. Something… off. Something she was determined to keep secret.
Something that had made Hiccup consider keeping an eye on her, in case she was a danger to the dragons and Berk… or worse, was an ally of Dagur The Deranged.
"I'll keep an eye on Dani, Dad. But she seems to be trustworthy," Hiccup said to his father.
"But, we can never be sure now, son, with Dagur out there," Stoick reminded his son.
Hiccup had to agree with his father on that.
"Well, I best be off. Chief duties to do. You and your friends get whatever you need for the Edge. Bye, son."
And with that, Stoick walked back to the Great Hall, to conduct his chiefly duties.
"Bye, Dad," Hiccup said back. He looked back at Dani, still buried under the mound of Terrible Terrors, and walked towards her to help her, but when he got there the Terrible Terrors were flying off her, scared away.
Dani sat up, and Hiccup swore her eyes had been fading from green to blue, before she looked at him and smiled.
"Hey, Hiccup. Man, those Terrible Terrors love me as much as the Night Terrors back on the Edge."
"That they do," Hiccup agreed. He held out a hand for Dani to take so that she could stand up and she took it, her weird shoes making squeaky noises on the grass.
Dani brushed off some stray grass on her red trousers and blew one of her bangs back, before smiling at Hiccup again.
"So, Hiccup…" she started, before her smile turned into a frown. "When were you going to tell me you were the son of the chief!?"
As if to emphasise that, she punched him in the arm.
"Ow!" Hiccup exclaimed, rubbing his arm. He looked at her and returned, "When are you going to tell me and the other Riders your secret?"
At that, Dani withdrew into her shell, her face hard and expressionless.
"I have my reasons for keeping my secret a secret," Dani evasively answered.
"What reasons?"
"Really important reasons that are none of your concern!" Dani snapped, eyes glinting as hard as ice.
Hiccup and the other Riders looked at Dani in shock, the dragons tensing up in case they needed to attack Dani. At seeing the reaction, Dani's angry look became shocked, her eyes wide.
"Oh my gosh. I-I didn't mean to snap like that. I'm really sorry."
Hiccup, recovering from his shock, said calmly, "It's okay, Dani."
Dani, though, shook her head.
"No it isn't," she said. She rubbed her arms as she added, "I'm sorry for snapping. I don't like people continuing to prod at things I don't want them to continue on prodding. As for reasons… I can't tell you my reasons. I can't. So don't ask me to tell you my reasons."
There was a spell of silence. Dani, noticing the tense atmosphere, decided to change the subject.
"Come on, let's do what we came here to do."
Suddenly, as quick as that, a flash of eagerness entered her eyes, replacing the shock, seriousness and anger in them.
"I've always wondered what it would be like to wear Viking clothes."
…
Later
The Dragon Riders-and their unexpected guest, Dani-spent most of the day gathering supplies and getting clothes for Dani to wear, which Astrid and Ruffnut attended to.
While the boys got the supplies, Astrid and Ruffnut rushed Dani to the nearest clothing stall. There, the stall-owner took one look at Dani's clothes and said that they were, "Too bright." Dani looked offended at this, but accepted that she had to wear clothes that were more… duller, than the shirts, trousers and strange shoes she was wearing.
Ruffnut and Astrid, however, kept on constantly arguing as they tried to help Dani pick out clothes she would like; Astrid with the practical style, Ruffnut with the flashy style. In the end, Dani had asked them to wait outside as she picked out her new clothes, before heading into a change room.
When she came back out, Astrid and Ruffnut were stunned speechless.
Dani was wearing a brown leather vest-like shirt with short sleeves and a hood attached, the shirt laced up. Underneath, she wore a mist-blue shirt that was almost the same colour as her usual hooded shirt, only a shade darker, that had sleeves that reached midway to her forearm, black cloth bracers with the cloth between the second and first fingers on each hand and grey cord wrapped around them, and the left bracer being shorter than the right bracer, a brown leather belt with a buckle like Tuffnut's belt buckle, her usual red trousers, which were tucked in her fur-lined brown leather boots, a brown cord wrapped around each boot. Her raven hair, in it's ponytail, was more unruly than before, along with her bangs, and she now had a side-braid, the braid behind her ear and touching her shoulder.
She looked really, really nice in Viking clothes.
"Whoa," Ruffnut said, amazed.
"I guess we should have left you to choose out what you wanted earlier," Astrid said.
Dani gave her a raised eyebrow that said, You think?
"These clothes, apart from my trousers, reminded me of what I usually wear," Dani admitted, looking over herself.
"Speaking of your trousers, why did you keep them?" Astrid asked.
"The stall-holder said, although the colour is still too bright, the material they're made out of is unlike anything he has ever seen, and is tougher than most material," Dani answered, smirking at that. "But, I didn't want to argue with him. I'm pretty sure that I wouldn't feel comfortable in anything else but my usual trousers."
"Well, you look really good, Dani," Astrid complimented. Dani smiled at that.
"Thanks Astrid."
"The boys are gonna drool over you," Ruffnut stated. Astrid glared at her while Dani just smiled, rolling her eyes.
"Ruffnut!"
"What? It's true! And considering how good Dani looks in those clothes, it's a viable possibility."
As Astrid was about to say something back, Dani cut in, "Astrid, Ruffnut, maybe we should go back to the others now. Y'know, just in case."
The two Viking girls agreed that was the best course of action, and that said, the three of them walked to where they had left Hiccup, Fishlegs, Snotlout and Tuffnut; at the food stall. There, the stall-holder said that they had gone to Gothi's for medicinal supplies, but they should now be at the docks, getting some fish for the dragons.
The girls thanked the stall-holder and headed to the docks. Sure enough, Hiccup, Fishlegs, Snotlout and Tuffnut were there, helping to put fish into baskets that were easy to carry for the dragons.
As soon as the boys saw Dani in her new Viking clothes, Ruffnut's prediction almost came true; Hiccup and Fishlegs were looking at Dani in stunned amazement, while Snotlout and Tuffnut were nearly drooling.
A few compliments later, Hiccup informed them that they had all the supplies that they needed, but as they were walking back to the dragons, Astrid had a look of realisation and stopped.
"Wait."
They all stopped and looked at the blonde Viking girl, confused.
"What is it, Astrid?" Hiccup asked her.
"We can't leave Berk yet," she said. Astrid turned to Dani and added, "Look, I know you're really good at fighting, but…"
"But what?" Dani asked her friend, confused.
"But you need a weapon."
Come to think of it, although it wasn't probably needed, Dani could use a weapon. Considering it was highly unlikely she would be using her ghost powers a lot in this time period, having a weapon could help; she couldn't rely on her fighting skills all the time. So she nodded at Astrid's suggestion and said, "Okay. Let's find me a weapon."
…
Later
Hiccup, Astrid and Dani were walking towards Gobber's forge/armoury, to find Dani a suitable weapon. The others were back with the dragons, prepared to leave as soon as Dani, Hiccup and Astrid came back.
The three young adults walked into the forge and were quickly greeted by the village blacksmith himself, Gobber the Belch.
"Ah, Hiccup! Astrid! Who's yer friend over there?" Gobber asked, pointing to Dani with his hook hand.
"That's Dani. We, um-" Hiccup started, but Dani cut in.
"Long story short: Hiccup saved me when I was unconsciously falling out of the sky and took me to Dragon's Edge. I woke up and despite a misunderstanding, I'm now staying at the Edge. We're here because the Edge's supplies were running low, and I needed a change of clothes. We're here now because I need a weapon. And that's basically it," Dani summarised.
"Ah. So you're the girl who's been scaring the larger dragons and making them hate you," Gobber said, realisation in his tone.
Dani cringed slightly. "Yep, that's me. The girl who scares dragons and also makes them hate her."
"Well, then. What weapon would yer like, Dani?"
"Uh… you guys choose," Dani said, before she backed away to look at the forge.
"Okay then! How 'bout an axe?" Gobber suggested, showing Hiccup and Astrid a double-bladed axe.
"I don't think Dani's an axe girl, although that is a nice axe," Astrid rejected, admiring the axe's surface.
"Then a mace?"
"Dani doesn't strike me as the bludgeoning type either."
"A bow and arrows?"
"No; Dani doesn't seem like the shooter type," Hiccup said.
Meanwhile, Dani was looking at all the random weapons strewn on a nearby bench. Her fingers carefully trailed over the hilt of an axe, before they came to something soft and leathery.
Piquing her interest, Dani looked at the leathery thing. It was a leather scabbard, red in colour, embossed with a skull and a design that Dani faintly recognised. Slowly, as if she was drawn to it, she grabbed the scabbard, as Hiccup, Astrid and Gobber talked about weapon choices for Dani.
"Crossbow?"
"No."
"Dagger?"
"Actually… no."
"Club?"
"Again, Dani isn't the bludgeoning type."
"Yer kids are making this really hard! I've gone through nearly every single combat weapon! All that's left is spears, bolo balls, and-"
Shink!
At hearing the scraping noise of iron and leather, Hiccup, Astrid and Gobber turned around…
… And Gobber's face turned pale as a sheet.
"I don't believe it," he muttered.
Dani was holding the weapon by it's leather-wrapped pommel, the skull on top glinting in the faint light of the forge. The hilt was plain, as were most Viking weapons of this sort, but the blade was the most interesting.
It was a long, sharp thing, honed to razor deadliness. It was such a dark colour, it was almost black, and silvery runes gleamed on it's surface. Dani's eyes were transfixed on the weapon, her hands gripping the pommel as if they were made for it, made for holding the-
"Sword. Dani's a sword person," Hiccup said. He looked at Gobber's pale face. "Gobber?"
"I don't believe my eyes… it's not possible… it's her?"
"Gobber, what are you saying? Dani chose a sword. What's the big deal?" Hiccup asked Gobber, confused. Astrid was, too.
Gobber looked at him and said, "That's no ordinary sword, Hiccup. That's-"
"Equinox," Dani murmured, still staring at the blade of the sword.
As soon as Dani said the sword's name, the runes glowed green.
Cliffhanger!
I know, long wait, but this chapter was really hard to write.
And Stoick and Gobber have made their appearances! I hope I kept them in-character and true to their personalities. It's really hard to keep characters as awesome as those two in-character.
Well, that last part was ominous. What's the sword Dani chose, Equinox? Why was Gobber so fearful of it? And why did its runes glowed green when Dani spoke its name? All your questions will be answered in the next chapter…
As you can tell, I've got a cover image for this story! It is Dani, in her new Viking clothes, her eyes glowing green, and holding, yep, Equinox. But who's the dragon with her? You'll have to find out that answer later on in the story…
Please read and review!
GhostWriterGirl out!