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.

AN: This ended up being a short one, but think of it as a transition as we prepare to return to the world of The 100 beyond Clarke Griffin.

The Dragon of Wanheda

Even when she began packing up her things for the return flight, Clarke was still amazed that she'd convinced herself to do this. From the moment that she had started speaking to her new friends, a part of her had still wanted to take back everything she was saying and focus on enjoying her like in the present rather than go back to the mainland and face everything she'd wanted to get away from.

Unfortunately, as much as she hated what she'd been forced to do for the sake of her people, she couldn't deny the fact that she had to do something to help them. Even if Octavia would never appreciate why she had to do things that way, or Jasper would never forgive her for basically causing Maya's death, Clarke still had friends and family back in the camp that deserved a chance to make new lives for themselves without the threat of further conflict. Clarke would never try to force Hiccup to use the dragons as weapons of war, but maybe if she could make other people realise that the world was so much bigger than they thought, maybe people would stop thinking of everything back on the continent as an 'us or them' situation…

Concerned rumbles from either side prompted Clarke to look over and smile at her two dragons, Griffin's head extended through the door of her hut while Charlotte squatted beside Clarke's bed. Each dragon was looking at her with curious sympathy, once again giving the impression that they at least knew that something was bothering Clarke even if they didn't necessarily know what that something was.

"It's OK," she said, reaching over to give her dragons a comforting scratch behind the ears nearest to her. "It's just… well, I guess I'm about to really test the idea that you can't go home again."

Griffin tilted his head curious at her, which left Clarke with the sense that he wanted her to explain more. "I mean, I can go back to the camp's location easily enough, and I'll probably find most of my old friends there, but… I won't be the Clarke who left them. After everything I've done with you and Hiccup and Astrid and everyone else… I like who I am now, but I'm not who I was before."

Griffin stretched his neck out further and rubbed his snout against her front, looking up at her with a warm, affectionate gaze that left Clarke further reassured of her dragon's loyalty.

"Thanks, Griffin," she said, crouching down to give his face a hug with one arm as she rubbed Charlotte's nose with the other. "And Charlotte… I'm looking forward to introducing both of you to everyone."

She wasn't sure how her mother would react to learning that the Dragon Sanctuary had survived in some form, as she'd always seemed to more indulge her father's stories than having any interest in them herself, but that was something to worry about if it happened. Clarke wasn't going to lie to herself that everything would be fine back on the mainland, but once she got back there, she was definitely looking forward to sharing what she'd learned about the wider world with the rest of her people. Maybe it was being a bit too optimistic, but if the Ark and the Grounders knew just what else was out there, and Hiccup could prove to them that dragons could be friends rather than enemies, they might be able to give everyone something good to focus on… something they could all explore together rather than the way everything was so focused on the next war on a world that should have enough space for everyone…

Something hit her in the leg, prompting Clarke to look back and smile as she saw Charlotte giving her a dragon glare as though she knew what Clarke had been thinking.

"Yeah… you're right," Clarke smiled at her dragon, deciding to assume the best and take it from there. "If we're going to change anything, we have to make the effort; nobody's going to do it for us."

She had the support of Hiccup and the other riders, but she had to accept that she was needed to get things started back among her people. As much as she wanted to have faith in the former Ark residents, if she wanted to be sure of their future she had to be there to help.

"He actually drew in the lightning?" Fishlegs grinned at Hiccup as the group stood around the main hall of the Edge, the large boy looking at Toothless in new awe. "I mean, we knew that Night Furies were related to Skrill, but I didn't think they were close to be capable of that…"

"The difference probably has something to do with how the Skrill does that full-time, and I'm pretty sure Toothless just pulled it off during that last flight because he was in the middle of a big storm and had no other way to stop those Deathgrippers," Hiccup observed. Toothless made a low noise that Hiccup had long ago learnt was Toothless's way of agreeing with him, which at least assured Hiccup that his theory was correct. "Anyway, it's something we can look into later; right now Clarke's people are the priority."

"Are you sure you want to take the twins along?" Astrid gave Hiccup a smile of fond exasperation as she looked up from where she had just finished checking the supply bags. "I can get not wanting to leave everyone else behind, but-"

"From what Clarke's told us, the ability to blow things up in large numbers would be more useful than just bringing in hotter flame, and I think we can both agree it's best to leave Fishlegs here to keep an eye on things," Hiccup pointed out. "Charlotte's coming with us and we have Fishlegs' notes if we decide that we need to… make anything, and the others are just one Terror Mail away if we need help."

"And you're sure you want him in charge?" Snotlout looked at Hiccup in exasperation. "I mean, I'm the one who-"

"You will listen to Fishlegs," Hiccup looked firmly at his cousin. "We've done enough damage to the hunters for the moment; it's probably best to stay low-key for a bit so they don't get provoked into doing something else. If we let them think that we've taken just as big a knock as they have, you two can keep looking for any new information regarding the Eye and the local dragons while the rest of us see about helping Clarke."

"It makes sense," Astrid nodded at him. "If we take care not to provoke the hunters again, we might lull them into a false sense of security for when we get back from this trip."

"And the reason you're cutting out to check out some place we never heard of?"

"Because Clarke is our friend who hasn't asked us for anything yet, and if she wants to help her people there's nothing wrong with trying to help her do that," Hiccup affirmed. "We'll check things out and see how it goes."

He didn't voice his own more private hope that this might be a good way to get a few more allies to help them defend the dragons from the hunters. If Clarke thought that her people were having problems, the important thing was to help Clarke deal with those problems; he could worry about protecting the dragons once Clarke's people were safe.

"Is everything OK here?" Clarke looked anxiously around as she walked into the meeting area, her two dragons joining the others waiting outside.

"Just making sure everyone gets their own role in this," Hiccup said, smiling reassuringly at their new healer. "You know where we're going?"

"Once we get to Arrow Station I… pretty much know where we're going," Clarke nodded, glancing around at the dragons. "Can they all do that?"

"Did it once, we can do it again," Tuffnut grinned, as the others nodded in agreement. "Let's go save your crazy ass boating society."

Hiccup wasn't sure what he should expect from these people who had apparently spent so long living on a boat they had apparently had so much trouble living on land, but in a way he was looking forward to the opportunities this might offer. He'd spent so long trying to change peoples' expectations of dragons that it might be a refreshing change to reveal dragons to people who (according to Clarke) had never believed they were real before she found Griffin.

Maybe it'll be a relaxing detour in the end; we go in, show these people what the world can be, and let everything play out from there…