Disclaimer: I don't own How To Train Your Dragon, and knowing my luck, I probably never will. All rights go to the author of the books, Cressida Cowell, and the company that made the much-loved films and series, Dreamworks. However, I do own Brenna Bloodsword and Starlight the Night Fury, as they are my OCs. This disclaimer will change over time, as I may add more OCs to this story.
A/N: Here's a code I made up for you so this is easier to read.
Bold: Dragons are talking
Italics: Humans are thinking
Bold italics: Dragons are thinking
Underlined: Any language being spoken that isn't either Norse or Dragonese by bilingual/multilingual characters. It will be written like this for humans:
*Language goes here "Insert speech here."
And like this for dragons:
*Language goes here "Insert speech here."
If there isn't a language in front of the speech, assume that they are speaking Norse if they're human and Dragonese if they're dragons. Sorry about giving such a long A/N, but I felt I had to explain this for you.
The next morning, Hiccup organised an emergency meeting on Dragon Island to compile what they know about the new arrivals.
"All right, gang, what do we know about them?" Hiccup asked.
"Lived on an island," Snotlout pointed out.
"She went traveling," Ruffnut stated.
"She may have been the one who taught Starlight how to talk," Fishlegs included. "Although she did say Starlight had been able to talk for as long as she had known her, so I'm not sure if it was her."
"She can understand dragons," Astrid added.
"She has a plant with teeth that is totally cool!" Tuffnut cheered, before becoming downcast. "Or it would be if Fishlegs hadn't freaked out and made Brenna keep it away from us."
"It's not like she can take a plant that big with her to Berk, could she?" Fishlegs asked.
"No, but she could have taken seeds because they're tiny," Ruffnut argued. "You know a plant like that could make me interested in botany, because I know I'd want to learn more about a massive plant with teeth." Fishlegs whimpered and tried to hide behind Meatlug, who was asleep.
"Can we not talk about the plant with teeth?" Hiccup asked. "We're getting a little sidetracked."
"We need to leave her with someone who she doesn't see as a threat," Astrid decided. "They can tell us more about her, and we'll use that to build up what we know about her." The rest of the group stared at her. "Why are you looking at me like that?"
"OK, Astrid, if you think this is so easy, then why don't you do it?" Snotlout suggested smugly.
"That sounds like a great suggestion; thanks, Snotlout," Astrid smiled, as she took off. That was a sign that the meeting was over, and the other riders took off for Berk. As he flew, Toothless was thoughtful.
There's something odd about Brenna, but it doesn't seem like it's going to be a bad thing, he thought. Starlight's nice, though. I hope I can get to know her better.
Meanwhile, on Berk, Brenna was preparing for a new day in a new village where nobody knew her and she could live a normal life. She was idly wondering what to do today when Astrid and Stormfly landed in front of her, forcing her to take a step back.
"Astrid?" Brenna stammered.
"Hello, Brenna! How are you doing today?" Astrid smiled. Brenna was confused and a little scared. The first time she had met Astrid, she had tried to attack her and had to be held back by the twins and her boyfriend. Now she was being overly nice. What was going on?
"I'm well, thanks for asking. Why did you want to see me?" Brenna asked.
"Have you worked in a forge before?" Astrid asked.
"Yes, I have. Why do you ask?" Brenna answered.
"Well, I heard that Gobber, the local blacksmith, needs some help in the forge," Astrid sweet-talked. "I hope you wouldn't mind helping him. He has a lot of work to do."
"Oh, I wouldn't mind helping him," Brenna agreed.
"Good. I'll take you to him now, if you want," Astrid decided, grabbing Brenna and taking her in the direction of the forge. Starlight took this moment to walk out of the house to see her rider being dragged out of the house by a crazy blonde girl. She ran over to take Brenna back from her, eventually starting a tug-of-war with Brenna as the rope.
"Ow!" Brenna yelped.
*Norse "Where are you taking Brenna?" Starlight growled.
"She is going to work in the forge with Gobber, the local blacksmith," Astrid informed. Starlight thought for a moment, then nodded.
*Norse "Fine, but I'm coming with her," Starlight negotiated.
"Fine," Astrid agreed, figuring that having Brenna and Starlight in the same place at the same time would kill two birds with one stone. Satisfied, Starlight walked alongside her, growling at the people who tried getting too close to her or Brenna. Finally, they reached the forge, where Gobber greeted them.
"Hello, Astrid! How are - who's she?" Gobber asked. "Is that the new lass Stoick told me about?"
"This is Brenna, and after she heard that you were short-handed, she wanted to help you," Astrid told him. This cheered up Gobber immensely.
"Well, isn't that good to hear? Thanks for helping, lass," Gobber smiled. "There's far too much work for one guy to do on his own. I've got 100 axes to forge, 50 swords to repair and 30 maces to assemble, but now you're here, I'll split it in half with you. So you have 50 axes to forge, 25 swords to repair and 15 maces to assemble by the end of the day. Can you handle that, lass?"
"I'll see how much of that I can do," Brenna uneasily replied, searching for Astrid. But she'd flown off long ago, smirking to herself as her plan was completed for her by an unwitting Gobber.
This was almost too easy, Astrid thought, with a smug undertone.
Astrid then met up with Hiccup and the rest of the gang, who looked at her with trepidation. "So how'd it go?" Hiccup asked.
"She's working in the forge with Gobber right now, and she's got a massive workload to get through by the end of the day," Astrid reported. "50 axes, 25 swords and 15 maces, if I remember correctly. And it all has to be done by the end of the day."
"Are you sure this a good idea, Astrid?" Fishlegs asked. "I kinda feel bad leaving her with so much work."
"It's only for a day, Fishface," Tuffnut told the beefy boy.
"She'll be fine," Ruffnut snickered.
"At least we know where she is so we can check on her when we need to," Snotlout justified. "Well, that's that sorted. I'm going to go on a flight with my totally cool dragon while you all stay here being miserable and bored." He walked away.
"Thank Thor he's gone," Astrid sighed. Mere moments after she said that, Snotlout came back.
"What have you done with Hookfang?" Snotlout asked. "He's not here."
"He's abandoned you already? Smart dragon," Tuffnut commented, as he got up to check on Barf and Belch. He ran back to the group with a shocked look on his face. "Barf and Belch are gone! All our dragons are gone!"
"What?" Hiccup yelped, rushing outside to check. Tuffnut was right. Every last one of their dragons was gone.
"It's not like Stormfly to disappear," Astrid muttered.
"This isn't normal for Toothless," Hiccup wondered.
"I hope Meatlug's okay," Fishlegs fretted.
"I'm sure they'll be fine," Snotlout said cockily. "At least, my dragon will be. Not sure about yours, though." Astrid punched him. "Ow!"
Meanwhile, Hookfang, Barf and Belch were taking Toothless to the arena, far away from any curious, prying eyes, which was exactly what they wanted. Toothless was blissfully unaware of any ulterior motives his friends had. "Why do we have to do this again?" Toothless asked.
"Relax; it's just a bet," Hookfang dismissed. "I wanna see if your accuracy is as good as you say it is. Anyway, I hope you like losing."
"And the same to you," Toothless smiled. As Hookfang and Toothless fired shots at the targets painted on the wall, Stormfly and Meatlug were tasked with collecting Starlight.
"'How hard can it possibly be to find a Night Fury in broad daylight? You'll be fine!' Oh, I'll show him fine," Stormfly muttered, as Meatlug tried to calm her down.
"Easy, Stormfly, we have a job to get on with," Meatlug told her. "Besides, wherever Starlight is, Brenna is, so she shouldn't be that hard to find."
"I suppose," Stormfly sighed, as they flew over the forge. "There! In the forge!"
"I told you!" Meatlug chirped, as they landed. "Hey, Starlight!"
"Meatlug!" Starlight chirped. "You have no idea how boring it is!"
"Wanna come with us?" Stormfly proposed. Starlight agreed immediately.
"Wait there," she told them, as she went to find Brenna slaving over a sword. "Brenna, I'm going out for a little while with Meatlug and Stormfly. You don't mind, do you?" Brenna, too tired to listen to Starlight properly, nodded. Satisfied, Starlight reported back to Stormfly and Meatlug. "She's fine with it. Let's go!"
The three dragons flew to the arena, but it wasn't long until problems started. The moment Starlight saw Toothless, she was immediately nervous. Toothless saw her and had the same problem.
"You didn't tell me Toothless was going to be here," Starlight hissed to Stormfly.
"You didn't tell me Starlight was going to be here," Toothless hissed to Hookfang.
"Of course we didn't tell you! We needed you to both be here at the same time," Hookfang explained. "And now we need to get you to stay here."
"What?" Starlight and Toothless squeaked. But before they could get away, Hookfang and Stormfly locked them into a nearby dragon pen, locking the door behind them and barricading the Night Furies inside. Angry protests could be heard from inside. Stormfly was startled at first, and stuck a few of her spines into the door. Hookfang tried to burn them, but he just left behind burn marks.
"What do we do now?" Barf and Belch asked.
"Everyone out!" Meatlug ordered, and they flew as fast and as far as their wings could carry them. Meanwhile, Starlight and Toothless were trying to figure out how to get out of the dragon pen. This would take some time, since dragon pens only locked from the outside. They were stuck.
"What was that for?" Starlight ranted, the moment she heard the other dragons leaving. "This was shaping up to be a perfectly good day before I got locked up with a weirdo that can hide his teeth and pretend to be a hatchling!"
"Well, pardon me for thinking that was a Night Fury thing and you'd be able to do it, too!" Toothless snapped, without thinking. "How was I supposed to know that you'd freak out about Barf and Belch teasing you for being new and threaten to tear them limb from limb?"
"I thought they'd try to hurt me or Brenna!" Starlight justified. "Besides, I don't even really know any of you except for Stormfly and Meatlug! I didn't think they'd do this to me!"
"Wait, Stormfly did this?" Toothless asked, shocked. "I thought that it was Hookfang and Barf and Belch who wanted to lock me in a dragon pen with a beautiful Night Fury female!" It wasn't until Toothless thought about what he said that he tried to get out of the dragon pen and away from Starlight, who probably thought he was crazy and she should stay far away from him and-
"Toothless, did you just call me beautiful?" Starlight asked, not quite believing what she was hearing. Toothless was uncharacteristically lost for words.
"Yes! I mean no! I mean you're really beautiful and I have a huge crush on you!" Toothless blurted out. Spike! Why can't I control what comes out of my mouth? he thought.
"Well, Toothless, since you really feel that way about me, I might as well be honest. I . . . really like you too," Starlight confessed, blushing profusely underneath her scales. Toothless was ecstatic, along with being a little bit light-headed. Starlight said she liked him! Like, really, really liked him!
"Really? But I thought you hated me and thought I was weird and dumb!" Toothless explained. Starlight couldn't take any more, and placed a paw over Toothless' mouth. All words left him, and under his scales, Toothless turned pale. His green eyes glazed over. All he heard was Starlight's voice.
"Toothless, I want you to know that I'm really, really sorry," Starlight told him. "I was acting weird because I was nervous. You understand that, right?"
"Of course I do!" Toothless reassured. "That basically explains everything I did, too. So, we're good, right?"
"Right," Starlight agreed. "Well, other than being stuck in here, I guess." The two giggled. "Is there any way out?"
"Not without a key, I think," Toothless told her. "These dragon pens are ridiculous! Why is it that just about anyone can lock us in, but you need a human to get us out?"
"I agree," Starlight said, sighing as she settled down. "I guess we've just got to wait now."
Meanwhile, at the forge, Brenna had completed her work and Gobber was impressed. "Thanks, lass," Gobber smiled, letting Brenna go. "You've done your share of work, and I can't keep you here any longer. You're good at this, you know."
"Thank you, sir," Brenna smiled. "Well, I must be off. I still have to cook dinner for me and Starlight." She turned to where she'd last seen Starlight, but saw only an empty space. "Wait, where's Starlight?" She was about to panic, before remembering that Starlight had gone with Stormfly and Meatlug earlier and they might know where she is. "I'll ask around. Bye, Gobber!" She ran off to search for Stormfly and Meatlug.
On her search for Stormfly and Meatlug in an effort to search for Starlight, Brenna ran into Astrid. "Brenna, our dragons are gone," Astrid told her. "Have you seen them anywhere?"
"No, I haven't. In fact, I was looking for Starlight after she left the forge with Stormfly and Meatlug," Brenna replied. "How about we check the arena? They might be there."
"You might be right," Astrid acknowledged, not trusting Brenna at all. "I'll come with you. Safety in numbers, after all." Brenna nodded, and the girls went to the arena.
"There's nothing there," Brenna remarked, unwittingly stating the obvious. "Other than proof of a fight."
"So you were wrong," Astrid told Brenna, smug even if her face didn't show it. Starlight woke up when she heard Brenna's voice and began screaming for help.
*Norse "Brenna, help! We're here!" she screamed. "We got locked in! Help!" Astrid and Brenna heard her loud and clear.
"That sounds like Starlight!" Brenna gasped, rushing over to the dragon pen and sliding back the ultra-strong deadbolt to release the exhausted Night Furies, who looked like they were at their wits' end and had no more energy left in them. "What were you two doing in there?"
*Norse "What part of 'locked in' don't you understand?" Starlight groaned. "Stormfly, Meatlug, Hookfang, Barf and Belch totally owe me an explanation!"
"Oh, they did this? I should've known," Astrid growled. "Where are they?"
*Norse "Don't know," Starlight moaned. "I don't even know how long we've been in there. It feels like days." And with that, she passed out.
"What?" Astrid hissed. "Oh, Stormfly is in so much trouble!" And with that, Astrid stormed off, leaving Brenna with two exhausted Night Furies who just wanted to go home and sleep after an exhausting day full of revelations. As the fiery blonde stormed out, she ran into Hiccup.
"Astrid, what a surprise," Hiccup sighed. "Have you seen Toothless?"
"He's in there. Him and Starlight got locked in by our dragons as a prank," Astrid reported. "He looks pretty bushed, and Starlight's not looking any better."
"Our dragons did this to them?" Hiccup squeaked. "Oh, no. We're supposed to be making a good impression on the new girl, and now our dragons are pranking her dragon!"
"They also pranked your dragon," Astrid informed. "Starlight and Toothless were locked in a dragon pen together for hours. Starlight told me Stormfly, Meatlug and Hookfang were involved."
"Let's check where they'd normally go. There's the cove, Raven's Point and-" Astrid stopped him.
"Why should we go to them when they can come to us?" the blonde Valkyrie proposed, leading Hiccup to the arena.
"What do you mean?" Hiccup asked. Astrid smirked, before taking a basket of fish, holding it up for a solid five seconds . . . and let it fall to the floor, spilling all the fish.
Within seconds, Stormfly, Meatlug, Hookfang Barf and Belch swooped down and fought over the fish, wanting to eat as much of it as they could. They wanted to play with Hiccup and Astrid, but when they saw how mad they looked, they backed away.
"Uh oh," Stormfly squeaked.
"We are in so much trouble," Hookfang muttered under his breath.
"Oh, am I glad to see you guys!" Astrid glared. "I just found Starlight and Toothless inside a dragon pen, and I heard that you played a part in putting them there! Now, who helped you?" Stormfly shifted from one foot to the other with guilt. Hookfang found a very interesting wall to stare at. Barf and Belch looked at the ground. Only Meatlug looked her in the eye. "Well?"
"If you've got anything to do with this, step forward now," Hiccup instructed. Guiltily, all four dragons stepped forward. Hookfang, Stormfly and Barf and Belch were giving Astrid and Hiccup the infamous 'hatchling eyes' as a silent plea for leniency. Neither human bought it.
"Stormfly, Hookfang, Barf and Belch, you are all on limpets for a month," Hiccup instructed. These three dragons that were now condemned to limpets hung their heads in shame, before realizing something.
"Hey, how can Meatlug get away with this and we can't?" Stormfly asked, nudging the Gronckle forward. Astrid saw what her dragon was doing and glared at her.
"Stormfly, now you're just going from bad to worse," Astrid reprimanded. "First you lock Toothless and Starlight in a dragon pen, then you try to blame Meatlug, who didn't even do anything!"
"Didn't do anything, my tail!" Stormfly growled. "She planned all of this!"
"I'd better not hear about you doing anything like this again," the blonde warned. "Come on, Stormfly, home." And the angry warrior girl took her miscreant dragon home on foot. She was too mad to fly, and the distance was too short, anyway. On her way, they ran into Gobber.
"Ah, Astrid, good to see ya," Gobber greeted. "I need to talk to you about the new lass who's been helpin' me. Brenna, wasn't it?"
"Yeah, why?" Astrid asked. She didn't mess up, did she? she thought.
"That was actually a really good idea!" Gobber beamed. "She works really fast and the weapons she produces is great! She works faster than me!"
"Glad to know I could help, Gobber," Astrid smiled, secretly even more ticked off than before. Having to hear praise about the new girl was not something she expected to hear. . . or wanted to hear. Still, she continued to walk home, keeping one hand on Stormfly's neck. That dragon was going to get used to the taste of limpets if she had anything to do with it. She did her best to forget about it as she continued home.
And that was when she ran into Snotlout and the twins.
"Hey babe, you seen my dragon anywhere?" Snotlout asked, placing his hand on her shoulder. "Don't look so nervous, Astrid. Do you think these muscles would let anyone hurt you?"
"Hookfang, Barf and Belch are in the arena," Astrid informed them, ignoring the other thing Snotlout had told her as she removed his arm from her shoulder. "They locked Toothless and Starlight in a dragon pen and left them there for hours."
"Who's Starlight?" Tuffnut asked. Ruffnut punched him. "Ow!"
"That's the girl Night Fury, remember?" Ruffnut hissed.
"Oh, yeah," Tuffnut replied.
"Wait, our dragons locked her in a dragon pen? Brenna's going to hate me!" Snotlout yelped, running to the arena in a panic while dragging the twins behind him. "Bye, Astrid!"
"Bye, Snotlout," Astrid called, a little confused at Snotlout's sudden change. Well, at least they're gone, she thought, as she led Stormfly to her pen, got her some limpets and went to bed. She fell asleep rather quickly.
Once Stormfly's sharp ears heard the sound of quiet snuffling telling her her rider was fast asleep, she snuck out of her pen through a self-made back entrance Astrid didn't know about and went to meet Barf, Belch and Hookfang. "Have you seen Meatlug anywhere?" she asked.
"We're still looking for her, actually," Barf and Belch chorused. "But she's not here."
"Of course she's not here; this is the arena! Check Fishlegs' house, idiots!" Stormfly yelled, taking off for the Ingerman household, the boys in hot pursuit. They found Meatlug innocently looking for where Fishlegs kept the granite . . . and that was when they pounced, pinning her down in seconds.
"Hey!" Meatlug yelped. "Watch where you're putting those claws!"
"We want answers, Meatlug," Stormfly commanded. "Why would they punish us, but not you?"
"Yeah!" Hookfang agreed. "What do you have that we don't?"
"A clean record," Meatlug answered. "Hookfang, you've started fires all over Berk, Stormfly has gotten into so many chicken coops, she's banned from every farm on Berk, and the less said about all the explosions Barf and Belch have been involved in, the better! The idea that you would lock Toothless and Starlight in a dragon pen isn't that far-fetched to most. But I have no prior record of ever breaking the rules, not once! They'd never suspect well behaved Meatlug to do something like prank the newest dragon to the island!"
"Letting us get the blame for something you planned isn't fair!" Barf protested.
"We're going to tell Toothless and Starlight everything you told us first thing tomorrow!" Belch promised.
"If that's how you want to play it," Meatlug replied, wriggling free and sneaking back into Fishlegs' room through the window.
"I had no idea Meatlug could be so sneaky," Stormfly muttered.
"We'll see how smug she is tomorrow, Stormfly," Hookfang replied. "Until then, let's get back home before someone notices we're gone."
Three dragons flew away in different directions from the Ingerman household that night, seen and heard by nobody.