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.
Starlight woke Brenna up early that morning for dragon training lesson. *Norse "Come on, get up!" Starlight snapped. *Norse "Get up, Brenna!" Brenna groaned and got out of bed, fumbling around for her prosthetic leg.
"For Thor's sake, what time is it?" Brenna groaned, as she attached her prosthetic leg to the stump left behind by her long-gone pirate attackers.
*Norse "Sunrise," Starlight reported. Brenna groaned and went to look for some clothes for her to wear, swapping her nightgown for a grey dress (red at the hem and sleeves, including pockets) black trousers underneath that and her beloved blue and silver hooded cloak. Once she was ready and they had both had breakfast (a basket of fish for Starlight that she'd freshly pilfered from the docks and a bowl of porridge with some berries for Brenna), they left for the arena.
"Today, we'll be having another self-defence lesson, this time, about how to act when a dragon attempts to fight you and your dragon isn't there to protect you," Gobber explained. "I'll draw straws to see who fights whose dragon. Whoever gets the shortest straw will be fighting a dragon, and whoever gets the longest straw will have to get their dragon to fight them." Straws were drawn, and it was decided that Brenna (recipient of the shortest straw) would fight Toothless (because Hiccup got the longest straw and Toothless was his dragon). Brenna and Toothless squared up, and Starlight was worried about her rider.
"Brenna is so dead," Starlight sighed. Brenna glared at her, but said nothing. Toothless was sizing her up, trying to look for weak spots. He saw her prosthetic leg and grinned. Bingo. She was just like Hiccup. Because of course she was.
"And . . . go!" Gobber ordered. Toothless pounced on Brenna, but she was ready for him. The moment he got close enough, Brenna held him in a chokehold and effectively forced him to lie down while he choked. The humans were shocked. The dragons were in awe. Hookfang in particular was silently cheering for the redhead.
"Get off me! Help!" Toothless forced out, as he gasped for air. "I submit! I SUBMIT!"
"Fine," Brenna replied, letting Starlight's boyfriend go. He laid there, gasping for air, as Hiccup fussed over him. "Toothless, are you OK? I didn't mean to go so hard on you."
"I'll be fine," Toothless choked out.
"I like her," Hookfang said to Stormfly.
"Brenna, how do you know how to do that?" Hiccup asked.
"As if this is my first time wrestling a Night Fury," Brenna remarked, jerking a thumb in Starlight's general direction. Starlight grinned at her.
*Norse "Yeah, she's come far from her days as a beginner, when literally all you had to do was sit on her and she'd submit," Starlight sighed.
"Yeah, I suppose I have," Brenna smiled. "Thanks, bud."
*Norse "You're welcome," Starlight replied. Hiccup's jaw dropped.
"You-you called her bud," Hiccup stammered.
"And your point is . . . what, exactly?" Brenna asked, confused.
"Don't worry about him. He's just freaking out because that's what he calls me," Toothless explained.
"Oh. Thanks, Toothless," Brenna replied.
"What did he say to you?" Hiccup asked.
"He said that you called him bud, too," Brenna replied. "Odd. I thought that was a just us thing."
"Same here," Hiccup admitted. Toothless and Starlight were watching them interact, thoroughly unamused.
"Look at them, nattering away," Starlight sighed. "They sound like an old married couple."
"But Hiccup's Astrid's boyfriend," Toothless pointed out. "She'll be livid if Brenna tries to date him."
"But they're just like each other," Starlight pointed out. "They obsess over the same things. Look at them!"
"Honestly, this is actually super awkward because now I know that you call your dragon bud, what nickname do I give my dragon?" Brenna complained.
"I'm still trying to figure out who's supposed to stop calling their Night Fury bud," Hiccup sighed.
"See? Dorks," Starlight told Toothless. "We should get them to date."
"But if our humans are dating, then I won't be able to date you because it'll be too awkward," Toothless blurted out. He looked away with a blush on his face, but Starlight stared at him with love in her eyes.
"That's actually pretty sweet," Starlight giggled, before it hit her like a ton of bricks. "Oh my gods, you're right! We have to stop our humans from dating!" They sauntered over to their humans and dragged them away from each other, which they wholeheartedly protested.
"Starlight, what the Hel?" Brenna snapped.
"Toothless, come on!" Hiccup whined.
*Norse "From now on, you must stay six feet away from each other so you don't catch feelings or anything," Starlight decided. *Norse "It's for our own good."
"Starlight, don't you mean for your own good?" Brenna asked.
*Norse "No," Starlight replied. *Norse "You two are staying six feet apart until we can be absolutely sure that you won't try dating each other." Brenna and Hiccup looked at her, then to each other, then back at Starlight . . . and laughed hysterically.
"Starlight, there's no need! As far as I'm concerned, Astrid is welcome to Hiccup!" Brenna reassured, still giggling. "I can't date him for two reasons."
"And what would these two reasons be?" Astrid asked, secretly delighted.
"The first reason is that I would find it weird to date someone who reminds me of myself so much," Brenna replied.
"That's reasonable. What's the second reason?" Hiccup asked.
"The second reason is that he has my brother's face, and I don't want to lock lips with someone who reminds me of my own flesh and blood. Seriously, Hiccup, you could gatecrash a Bloodsword family reunion and be mistaken for another member of the family," Brenna explained.
"Hey!" Hiccup snapped.
"I'm not going to lie, that was good," Toothless giggled.
"And the third reason?" Snotlout asked.
"The third reason is one I find hard to put into words, so I'll just show you," Brenna explained. Blue sparks shot out of her fingers and swirled around Hiccup, before forming an arrow pointing down at him. These sparks rearranged themselves to say 'PROPERTY OF ASTRID' directly above the brunette boffin's head.
"Oh, come on!" Hiccup blurted out as all the humans plus Toothless (as he was the only dragon who understood it) laughed at him. "Is this really necessary?"
"I'm just trying to make a point here, Hiccup," Brenna explained, trying and failing to hold back giggles.
"But this is just cruel! Get rid of it!" Hiccup demanded.
"Fine, fine," Brenna sighed, waving her hand and letting the blue sparks fizzle out. Toothless, still snickering, was questioned by the other dragons about the words above his rider's head.
"Toothless, what did that say? What did that say?" Hookfang asked, picking Toothless up and shaking him as hard as he could to get it out of him.
"Property of Astrid! It said property of Astrid! Get off me!" Toothless blurted out. The other dragons started snickering hysterically.
"I have to admit, that was good," Hookfang complimented.
"Aw! Thanks, Hookfang," Brenna replied, thinking he was talking to her. Hookfang jumped, scrambling away as if she was made of eels.
"What did she just say?" Hookfang blurted out.
"Now you know how I felt," Toothless snarked. Hookfang, despite still being in shock (to a degree) was still able to sarcastically reply.
"No, Toothless, I don't know how you felt. For that, I'd need Brenna to force me to the floor and choke me until I submitted," Hookfang huffed. Toothless' jaw dropped.
"That was also good," Stormfly admitted, grinning.
"That was not good. That was mean," Toothless corrected.
"Don't mind him, Stormfly. He's cranky because he was beaten at something," Barf explained.
"No, he's cranky that he was beaten at something in front of Starlight," Belch taunted. "He has one Hel of a crush on her."
"Shut up; she'll hear you!" Toothless hissed. Starlight could already hear him, but pretended to be asleep.
"I rest my case," Belch sighed.
"So, will anything else be done today?" Brenna asked. Gobber snapped out of it and yelled for everyone's attention.
"Class! There's no excuse for such slovenliness! We're wasting valuable time! Draw straws again!" Gobber ordered. Everyone drew straws again, and this time, Snotlout had to fight Starlight. Both felt rather confident that they would win. Snotlout felt confident because he'd seen Brenna win against Toothless, meaning there was hope for him too; Starlight felt confident because she was a Night Fury, meaning she had a size advantage and the ability to fly.
"This is going to be easy," Snotlout snickered, staring Starlight down. "Brenna can take down a Night Fury, and so can I. How hard can it be?"
*Norse "Just because she could win against Toothless doesn't mean you will win against me," Starlight pointed out, as she took her time stretching like a cat before standing at her full height. Snotlout, in a foolish and arrogant display of bravado, grinned up at her.
"Save the trash talk for afterwards," Gobber ordered. "Now go!"
Snotlout charged at Starlight, but she was ready for him. "Snotlout, Snotlout, oi, oi, oi!" he chanted, as he rushed towards the apathetic Night Fury. Without any hesitation, Starlight picked him up and threw him in the air. "AARGH!" Snotlout's scream became quieter the higher he went.
"Whoa!" Toothless yelped.
"Toothless, watch and learn," Hookfang grinned.
"Put me down! I said, put me down, you crazy reptile!" Snotlout screamed. "Oh, gods, I think I'm about to puke!" He had a point; his face was turning a sickly shade of green. Starlight suddenly decided that now would be a good time to start wrapping it up. But not immediately, of course. Where was the fun in that?
*Norse "OK, you little - prick. How about - you submit and - I stop this?" Starlight proposed. With every pause in her speech, Snotlout was tossed into the air like a pancake.
"Fine! I submit! Whatever! Just let me go!" Snotlout pleaded, utterly broken. Starlight caught him one last time and dragged him over to Hookfang.
"Hey, Hookfang! I believe this belongs to you," Starlight snapped, dumping Snotlout directly under Hookfang's snout.
"What the Thor did you do to get such a cool girlfriend?" Hookfang asked Toothless, occasionally looking downwards at his dazed rider.
"She is not my girlfriend!" Toothless hissed. "Shut up before she hears you!"
"Ok, that's enough. Class dismissed," Gobber ordered. Everyone got up to leave, chattering about the lesson. Toothless and Snotlout still felt a little down about having been beaten, especially Snotlout. He prided himself on being the toughest one there, and Starlight had ruined it for him. Fishlegs and Meatlug went home immediately afterwards, which meant that there was no calming voice to deescalate the situation when Hookfang decided to start teasing Toothless about what happened in the arena.
"Hey, Toothless, how does it feel to be defeated so quickly by easily the coolest human here?" Hookfang asked. "Also, do you think Starlight would still date you?"
"Shut up," Toothless snapped. "Go pick on Snotlout, like you usually do!"
"But this is much more fun," Hookfang told him. "And you know Snotlout doesn't understand me."
"I'll write it down for you if you want," Toothless volunteered.
"He doesn't understand you either," Stormfly pointed out.
"Oh, yeah. Forgot about that for a moment." Toothless relaxed. "If that won't work, what can I do?"
"Just copy me and set him on fire. Maybe Starlight will notice you," Hookfang suggested.
"Shut up!" Toothless hissed. As the other dragons teased the embarrassed Night Fury, Brenna was interrogated about her fighting techniques.
"How do you know how to take on a Night Fury and win?" Hiccup asked.
"I wrestled with Starlight a lot as a kid. It built up my strength and gave me much-needed experience," Brenna explained. "That wasn't exactly new to me."
*Norse "The difference is that time, you actually won," Starlight replied, grinning at her rider. *Norse "And you didn't use magic to help you. I'm so proud of you."
"Hey!" Brenna huffed. "And magic wouldn't have worked; Night Furies are annoyingly immune to it. I should know; I tested it on you an infuriating amount of times."
"Hear that, Toothless? That was the only reason why it didn't get any worse for you than what's already happened," Hookfang teased. "She just wasn't allowed to turn you into a slug or something because it wouldn't have worked."
"She wouldn't have turned me into a slug," Toothless muttered, to ease the fears of nobody but himself. "She wouldn't."
"How does one take down a Night Fury anyway?" Hiccup asked. Brenna looked at him like he was crazy or an idiot.
"Why do you need to ask me? You saw me do it and you literally live with one. Just wrestle with one all the time; that's how I learned," Brenna retorted.
"That sounds easy!" Snotlout dismissed.
*Norse "If it was that easy, then I wouldn't have won," Starlight replied.
"As the dragon that, unfortunately, has to live with Snotlout, I approve this insult," Hookfang grinned.
"And as the resident dragon with a huge crush on Starlight, Toothless probably approves of this insult too," Stormfly teased.
"Stormfly, shut up!" Toothless replied. "She's going to hear you!"
"Well, I don't particularly care, so you're going to have to suck it up, lover boy!" Stormfly hissed. Starlight decided to step in.
"You don't need to worry about me, Toothless. I heard everything you were saying, right from the very start," Starlight teased. Toothless stiffened up with shock. If he could blush, he would be doing a pretty good impression of Hookfang right about now.
"I'm never going to live this down," Toothless moaned.
"You got that right," Hookfang agreed, not caring as Toothless glared at him.
"Starlight, don't be so rude. If Father told us anything about unarmed combat, it's that your opponents are to be treated with respect no matter the results. Speaking of which . . ." She got up to walk over to Toothless, who stood there, quiet out of fear and respect for her. *Dragonese "Don't be too hard on yourself, Toothless. You did really well."
Toothless was shocked. "I . . . um . . . thank you," he muttered.
*Dragonese "You're welcome," Brenna replied. And then she left with Starlight, the silhouette of a teenage girl mounting a Night Fury against the door to the Great Hall the last traces of them.
"How do I keep forgetting that she can do that?" Hookfang snapped. "Now I can't insult the humans any more!"
"You can insult the humans if she's not there, because she won't be able to tell them," Toothless pointed out.
"Oh, yeah!" Hookfang let off a celebratory flame that set Snotlout on fire . . . again.
"Hookfang! You're getting your own fish now!" Snotlout yelled, as people laughed.
"As if I don't do that already," Hookfang muttered, sharpening his claws on a convenient table leg.