CAUTION: Spoils aspects of Innocent Hopes, Twisted Realities, as well as aspects of When Nothing Remains through chapter 19.

Seriously, major spoilers here.

Assuming you wish to continue, read on…

Background: The fifth entry to All That Remains, the AU where the big question has the other answer…

Valka hated this part of her life more than any other part; it was awkward and dangerous and brought back bad memories. It didn't help that she had always disliked taverns, even before casting aside the life of a Viking woman.

But there was no other place to go that had the useful combination of inebriation and information, the former disguising her quest for the latter, so she had no real choice in the matter. Whether she wanted to or not, she found herself frequenting dingy taverns and buying drinks on some nights, such as tonight.

She was dressed in as generic an outfit as she could piece together, though clothing that was made with a woman of her build in mind was rare, and she was no good at alteration. It had taken her years to assemble the no-nonsense, fisherwoman ensemble she wore tonight.

"Two more," she called out, slapping down the payment as a barmaid came over. She made sure to keep her voice rough and deep; acting feminine here was asking for trouble. She could have gone to a nicer tavern, there were several such places on the island, but given she was not much used to human company, a place where she was supposed to act coarse helped her disguise.

"Aye, yer great," one of the two despicable men she had gotten drunk slurred. "Helpin' a man ou' after missin' tha' catch o' a lifetime."

She knew as much already; she had picked out two distinctly unhappy hunters upon stepping into the tavern. There were none celebrating, and unhappy hunters were the next most likely to carry news she needed to hear. These two were from Viggo, judging by their temperament. Drago's men were more sullen and less talkative as a general rule.

Thought of Drago brought a true smile to her face, and she thanked the barmaid when she brought the next round of mead over. Just a few months ago, Drago's world-conquering aims had been the death of his fleet, and as far as she knew he had gone into hiding ever since. Someday soon, she might even be able to catch him off-guard and end the threat for good.

"We weren' even close," the other man moaned into his mug. "Stop callin' it tha'."

"We'da been kings," the first slurred back crossly. Even for Vikings, these two had drank far more than they could handle. "Two o' 'em. We oughta ge' another ship, they're ou' there still."

"Wanna find 'em again?" the surlier of the two growled. "Jus' keep workin' for Viggo. Tha's the third time I've los' a ship to 'em. I's no' natural 'ow smart 'ey are. I thin' they're 'oldin' a grudge."

"Aye," the first said sadly. "Maybe. I 'eard Viggo got 'is 'ands on some a while back, an' guess wha'?"

"What?" Valka asked leaning back in her chair. She wasn't sure what they were even talking about, which was a hazard of trawling the drunken dregs of society for information, but the little she was getting painted an interesting picture.

"'E killed 'em!" the man slurred, slamming one of the many empty mugs on the table. "Catch o' a lifetime, four o' em, an' 'e sunk the buyer!"

She sighed, pressing a hand to her face. She knew what they were talking about there. Night Furies were so rare, it had been a memorable, gut-wrenching disappointment to hear Viggo had callously sold and then killed off four of them, and even worse to hear it from the plant she had sent to that very auction without enough money to buy them and avert their fate. She had no way of knowing, of course, and buying them might have gotten her representative and the beautiful Titan-wing Nadder her representative had managed to buy killed if Viggo had still targeted them, but still.

But… "You're saying Night Furies sunk your ship?" she ventured gruffly.

"Three times an' countin'," the sullen man agreed. "There'll not be a fourth for me, no way. Gotta 'ave more luck than anyone to ge' this far. Shipwrecked twice, almost torn to pieces once…"

"Where did this happen?" she probed, focusing on the less downcast man. If there were Night Furies about, she wanted to meet them. At worst she'd finally get to see one up close, and at best her nest would be two powerful dragons stronger.

"Three days South, a week ago," he replied loudly. "Gotta go back, gotta get a crew and go… You wanna go?"

"I think not," she replied, rising and slapping another payment on the table. "One more round, on me."

"Gonna ge' me drunk so yeh can ge' a head star'…" he grumbled. "Smar'."

Valka turned her back on the table and quickly made her way to the exit, ignoring a few coarse comments cast her way from the worst of those around her. Most of them were hunters, and most would give a limb or two to capture her and bring her to their master… If they knew who they were letting walk away.

But they didn't, and if she was careful, they never would. She hurried to the edge of town, slipped into the forest, and sighed in relief. She was no master deceiver; only the stupidity of those she tricked made what she did viable. It was the same reason she had never, under either of the identities she wore, come anywhere near Viggo or Drago. Both men were reputed to be experts in the art of seeing what lay beneath a mask, and she could not afford that.

Once she was far enough into the forest, she let out a piercing whistle, and a lanky, metallic dragon soon descended, landing on a tree and swarming down.

She nodded, tapped a hand to her thigh, and pointed up. The dragon hurriedly stuck its neck between her legs and lifted her up, springing back into the air with her.

High above the island, another dragon met them, this one larger and with four wings. "Mine," Cloudjumper growled lightly.

"Yours," the Razorwhip agreed, rearing back and slinging its neck forward. Valka let go with her legs at the same time, more than familiar with the motion, and landed deftly on her best friend's back.

"How was it tonight?" he rumbled with his exceedingly deep voice.

"Safe, as always," she replied by rote. If he did not think it was safe, or at least relatively so, he would try to stop her from doing it again in the future. In this case she was telling the truth, but in the past she had been forced to lie.

"News?" he purred, the tension leaving his back as he relaxed.

"Word of dark wings destroying hunter ships," she relayed happily. "Close, too. Only a few days South."

"Recruitment?"

"If they're willing," she agreed.

"If not?" Her friend craned his stocky neck back to get a look at her, his large yellow eye meeting hers.

"We're not taking them back by force," she laughed. "That's only for those who are injured and unable to understand." Or, that was the only time she would abduct a dragon. Before she had shown up, she suspected her friend had a much less strict policy about such things, but he deferred to her now. He was a good sport about it, too.

"They are dark wings, anyway," he rumbled. "We likely would not be able to take them back by force, not without losing half our flock."

"I don't doubt that," she replied, "but I've yet to see why they are so respected." She would have to see one in action to understand why even her powerful friend considered dark wings to be so dangerous, and that would require seeing one in the first place.

"If we find them, you will see," he promised.

O-O-O-O-O

"Luck," Valka breathed quietly to herself a few weeks later. She and Cloudjumper had gone on a scouting flight, just for something to do. The rest of the flock was a quarter-day's flight to the West, and they had meant to search in an Eastward direction. This was supposed to be a nice, calm flight through the clouds.

Instead, they had happened across what they were looking for. She leaned over her friend's shoulder, looking down past his neck to the scene below. More specifically, to the dragons departing it. Two sleek, broad-winged shapes, one orange and one a muddled grey, flying away from a burning, sinking ship. There was no movement on the deck, and from here she could not see the details, but the red hue told her enough.

"They leave few survivors," her friend remarked. "Some in the water, but none on the deck."

"At least they do leave some alive," Valka remarked quietly. "Else we'd never have come here looking."

"They are still dangerous," was the solemn reply. "We should follow from a distance and observe. If they are too combative, we will return to the flock and bring an escort, for safety."

"Oh, that's too much worry," she chided as they descended to follow the quick shapes to wherever they were nesting. "Think they're a mated pair? The species could really use a few of those."

"Not from how they fly," her friend replied, crushing her hope on that subject. "One limps in the air and bleeds, and the other does not seem overly concerned. Allies, maybe, at best."

"I wish I had your eyes," she admitted, leaning forward even more in a futile attempt to get a better look. "Have they noticed us?"

"Not that I can tell…"

Valka was about to ask something else when she was bowled over from behind. Two heavy objects struck her shoulders, and her body lurched forward, flipping past Cloudjumper even as he flew. She twisted in the air, more than used to falling thanks to constant practice, and her mind ground to a halt.

There was nothing in the sky around them aside from her friend, who was diving for her. Nothing at all. Nothing below, nothing above, nothing to any side, she could even still see the two blurs in the distance that they were trailing.

The wind rushed past her body, and she mentally calculated how long it would take her friend, who was not the most efficient diver, to get to her. There was plenty of time, so she wasn't worried.

Then something struck her legs, and she was spinning, being hauled through the air by nothing at all. Her friend roared angrily and gave chase, but whatever was pulling her along was strong, so strong and fast that it felt like her leg was being pulled apart. She let out a pained scream, unable to handle it.

A sudden, final jerk on her leg brought her up to the side a little, and then another set of claws was latching onto her other leg, lessening the pain immensely. She was dangling, upside-down, from an invisible dragon who barely made a blur in the air.

Strangely, her first thought was to wonder what kind of dragon was taking her. She knew of none that could camouflage in midair; Changewings needed something to camouflage against, and that did not work in the air.

Her second thought was to look backward and see how close Cloudjumper was, but when she did she felt her heart drop. He was being rapidly left behind, the gap between them shrinking at a tremendous pace.

So, she was being kidnapped by an unknown dragon, for unknown purposes. She had only been in this position once before in her life, and that had ended pretty well, so she wasn't as scared as she might have been. She didn't bother calling out to her kidnapper; dragons sometimes shook their prey if it was noisy, and the vast majority would not understand her. She didn't have her staff, either, so making herself understood would need to wait for wherever they were going.

"Ugh," the dragon above her grunted, shifting its grip, "you are throwing me off balance."

She felt the urge to laugh at that, and might have if her head wasn't swimming from being upside-down so long. The way it had been said was funny, but she was also relieved to hear a young, feminine voice as far as dragons went. This was no man-eating, battle-hardened elder of a dragon, that would be far more difficult. Only the most suspicious of dragons held onto their skepticism in the face of all she knew about communicating with their kind, even without her staff.

Really, unless she was missing something, this was just a minor inconvenience. The biggest problem was going to be consoling her protective friend once she made her way back to him; he was going to have issues with how easily she had been stolen from him.

"Got it?" another female called out from behind. Valka twisted her head to behold an unfamiliar dragon turning to fly alongside her unseen kidnapper. She didn't know the details…

But her mouth fell open all the same, as hard as that was to accomplish while dangling upside-down. This had to be a Night Fury. Sleek, large wings, a strangely alien head, smooth scales, odd little nubs and frills and ears, a mottling that would look beautiful on any dragon… It all fit.

"Got it," the unseen one confirmed. "How is he?'

"A few days will see it healed, like all the rest," the Night Fury replied calmly. "He is going to be more scar than scale by the end of this, but these are not that bad."

"But he is in enough pain to send you back and not come himself?" the invisible female asked.

"He does not even know we were being followed," came the smug reply. "Good thinking, by the way."

"I saw a No-scaled-not-prey riding a dragon. What else could I have done, ignored it and not said anything?"

"You could have come and told us about it so that we could decide what to do," the Night Fury said carefully. Valka sensed a firm lecture coming for her kidnapper.

"I could have," the young female replied.

"And instead you took initiative and stole it right off the other dragon's back," the Night Fury chortled. "See, you are learning! That is something I would do in a heartbeat."

Or maybe not? She didn't understand the dynamic between the Night Fury and the other; that almost sounded proud, though there was a sense of seniority with the Night Fury. If it was Dam and child then there would be a different dynamic, but at the same time there was something similar going on. She really didn't get it.

"I don't know what to do with it now, though," her kidnapper admitted. "Ember could talk to them."

"Like he would get anything useful out of it. Besides, the one you stole it from is coming for us," the Night Fury observed, looking back. "We should just land on that sea stack up ahead, wait, and then question him about all of this. If we like what we hear, we can give it back, and if not, we can crush its little head against the rock."

"Hey!" Valka's kidnapper protested. "Why would we do that?"

Valka was glad someone here had some sense; the Night Fury was sounding an awful lot like the kind of dragon she wouldn't be able to work with without either her staff or the alpha to help, but her kidnapper seemed innocent and kind.

"It is an option," the Night Fury said calmly. Moments later, the two dragons landed on the sea stack the Night Fury had pointed out, and Valka was set, somewhat gently, on the rock.

She lay there for a long moment, letting the throbbing in her head subside. It wouldn't do to stand and then immediately stumble off of the rock and into the ocean because of a dizzy spell.

"So… We just wait here?" the young female asked.

"Well, unless you can talk to it, yes," the Night Fury grumbled. "You cannot, right?"

"Not unless it knows what I am saying," the young female replied, her body a blur perched on the edge of the sea stack. "I know their language, but that doesn't mean I can speak it."

"You do?" Valka asked, sitting up so fast the world whirled around her. Both Night Fury and blur started at her sudden movement.

"Yes, I do," the young female warbled, only sounding marginally surprised. "I suppose you understand us as well?"

"Definitely." Now she was in familiar territory; talking to dragons when communication went both ways was easier and less dangerous than talking to Vikings. Dragons were less prone to stupidity and rash killing. "I am a friend of your kind." She wouldn't bother with her name, dragons didn't have names as a general rule and thus would not care.

"I guess that makes sense. You were riding a dragon," the female admitted. "I hope I did not hurt you on the way here."

"Not enough to matter," Valka replied kindly. Her leg felt strained, and she would probably have a few bruises, but that was all. That was a fair payment for finally getting up close and personal with a Night Fury.

And at that, she was right on the same sea stack as one, and an unknown species. She shouldn't be wasting time with pleasantries. "If you could tell me what kind of dragon you are, and maybe let me look you over, I would consider us even on that score."

The camouflaged dragon repeated her words, and the Night Fury snorted at her. "Look her over? How?"

"So long as you do not hurt me, sure," the young female replied tentatively.

Valka crept forward, her hands outstretched, being sure to keep her head down so as to not appear threatening, and soon enough she found warm, almost hot scales. "What do your kind call themselves? I have no idea what you are."

"I am a light wing," the female replied, sliding whatever part of herself Valka was touching down, revealing frills and ears similar to what she could see on the Night Fury. "Why do you care?"

"I love dragons, and wish to know everything about every kind," Valka said honestly. She wished she could see the dragon she was petting. "Is there a way to let me see you?"

"Wait for my scales to cool. That's the only way, really. I am not going swimming on a day like today."

"Certainly not," the Night Fury huffed. "Ask the No-scaled-not-prey what we should say when its dragon gets here. I would rather not get into a fight over this."

"That is one good thing about fighting so often," the young female murmured to the other dragon. "You are not itching to get into unnecessary fights."

"The easiest way to mollify him would be taking me out to meet him," Valka answered. "On your back, ideally. But we are here to meet you, anyway."

"Why?" The scales and frills under her hands pulled away, and she got the impression she was on the receiving end of a skeptical stare. "How did you even know about us, to seek us?"

"We heard of two Night Furies wrecking hunter ships, and since we do the same, we came to find out whether you would want to join us." It wasn't her most eloquent, subtle recruitment speech, but there was no reason for them not to-

"Fat chance," the Night Fury barked in amusement. "Our little group is too big as it is, and we don't need any more help. We've turned away plenty of rescued dragons already."

"It's not really your call, Storm," the camouflaged female said in annoyance. "I agree, and Ember will too, but we should at least find out what he thinks."

"Ember would be the other Night Fury?" She was almost as intrigued by the fact that they did seem to use names, but that wasn't as relevant at the moment.

"Yes. I'm Pearl, by the way," the female said casually. "You can come meet him, I guess. He won't want to join up with a big group, but we're not the ones making that call."

"I would definitely like to meet him." Even more so if he was their alpha in some way. If she could change his mind, she could get these two with him.

"Incoming," Storm remarked, looking off to the side of the sea stack. "He does not look to be ready to listen to reason."

"Don't worry, that's just a front," Valka reassured them. She turned and waved her arms at Cloudjumper, trying to project an image of calm. "It would be easier if I could touch you, Storm. He would see that and calm down." They had only a few moments before he would be within roaring distance, and she'd rather not have this devolve into threats, which it probably would.

"If I had not just fought a large battle, I would refuse," Storm grumbled, holding out a paw. "Touch away."

Valka put both hands on the paw and turned her body so that it would be visible from afar. A few heartbeats later, Cloudjumper slowed, though he was still flying at near his top speed.

"She is mine!" he roared as soon as he got within roaring distance. "Do not harm her!"

"What's the connection here?" Pearl asked curiously.

"He is my best friend, and I his." She left out that he was the only Stormcutter either of them had ever seen, and thus probably lonelier than he should be, aside from her.

"Well, that is the only obvious connection," Storm said snarkily. "It would be pretty odd for them to be mates, or related in any way."

"I do not want that image in my head, Storm!" Pearl complained. "Now I won't be able to forget it. I'm going to get you for this."

"You will try. I am getting good at seeing you coming," Storm purred maliciously.

"What is the connection between you two?" Valka asked. She would not usually have put it so directly to them, but that reluctance made no sense when they were joking about her and Cloudjumper. If they could be direct to the point of being offensive, so could she.

"Let's see…" Pearl huffed loudly. "How best to put it?"

"We are friends who share targets of vengeance," Storm said blithely. "We were rescued together, we went on an assassination mission together, and now we are waging war together. And once we are done here, we have another dragon to kill, too."

"You make it sound like we bond over cracking skulls," Pearl complained. "We're both just friends helping another friend."

A loud roar interrupted them, and Valka sighed. She should have known he wouldn't take her being stolen lightly, even if it was all right now.

"You stole my No-scaled-not-prey," Cloudjumper thundered, slowing to hover in front of the sea stack, his four wings beating in time and making him look far larger than he really was, dwarfing the Night Fury and presumably the light wing too.

"Be glad we did not mean it any harm," Storm called out. "Because you sure were not fast enough to stop anything."

Valka winced at that. She was going to have a hard enough time soothing his wounded confidence later without Storm driving his failure home.

"I want her back now," he replied sullenly.

"I'm on my way." She took a step back and vaulted off the sea stack, trusting him to catch her, which he did, first in his claws and then after a short toss, on his back. "And I'm fine," she continued.

"They stole you," he grumbled angrily.

"A simple case of curiosity," she explained. "And a female who can fly unseen. We're going to accompany them to the other dark wing."

"Right now, instead of having them come to our flock?"

"Yes, right now." She didn't think they'd want to come meet her flock right now, so going to them was the only good option.

"Follow us and try to keep up," Storm called out, lifting from the sea stack. Presumably Pearl did the same. "We will go slow for you."

"Obnoxious female," Cloudjumper rumbled to her. "Is the other as bad?"

"The other is like a new adult, naïve and innocent," Valka replied. She had gotten that impression, at least, aside from the talk of killing enemies together, which came from Storm. "We are going to meet the one that acts as their alpha."

"The injured one. He will not be in a good mood."

"No, but what else can we do, fly away and forget we found them? We do not even know if they will be here tomorrow." This little flock of Furies moved constantly. They had to, in order to take down so many ships in such short order. They were doing more damage in weeks than Valka could recall doing in months at a time.

O-O-O-O-O

Some time into the flight, which passed mostly in silence, a shimmer in the air caught Valka's attention. She watched in awe as the body of a dragon blurred and rippled into existence, the camouflage fading and dying out in patches that spread and moved. When it was over, a breathtaking white Fury flew alongside Storm, her ruby red eyes occasionally glancing back at the much larger dragon following.

"So… She is a dark wing?" Cloudjumper rumbled. "A light dark wing."

"She called herself a light wing, like it was a separate kind," Valka recalled. "Very, very similar, but separate." Aside from being sleeker and having an odd reflection at times, Pearl was identical to Storm in all the important ways. "And she cannot end her camouflage prematurely, I think."

"That is odd," her friend admitted. "Do you know how she activated it, or if there is a limit?"

"No, but she was hot when I touched her scales," she mused. That might be a hint, or it might be coincidence; for all she knew, Pearl always felt unusually hot, or was sick and running a fever at the moment, or had any of a dozen other explanations that did not link the heat with her method of camouflage-

But no, Pearl had mentioned waiting for her scales to cool down, so it definitely was related to heat. She hoped she could get a better explanation when they got wherever they were going.

O-O-O-O-O

A small, mostly desolate island loomed in the distance. Cloudjumper followed the two Furies to it, and descended with them, though Valka could tell he was tense. His back muscles always tensed when he was worried or nervous.

"What's the matter?" she whispered. She had not seen any sign of the other Fury, but the island was small enough that he could not be far. She also hadn't seen any signs of treachery or even just trickery occurring between the two females leading them. Aside from those concerns, she couldn't guess at what was bothering him.

"I feel eyes on me."

"We're a strange sight he doesn't expect." So long as there weren't any more camouflaged dragons around, they would see the owner of the eyes soon enough.

She didn't dismount once Cloudjumper landed; they had long ago agreed she wouldn't in situations that made him wary and didn't directly call for it.

"Storm, should we go ahead and warn him?" Pearl asked.

"Why?" Storm shook herself, flapping her wings at the ground before folding them in. "He does not need to guard himself, he has someone to do that for him."

"Okay… Follow us," Pearl directed, walking into the sparse forest. Cloudjumper stalked after her, looking from side to side as he went.

Valka was beginning to feel the same thing he had spoken of; she couldn't ignore the sensation of cold, dead eyes on the back of her neck. It wasn't just that they were being watched, she suspected they were in immediate danger.

"Ember will not try and attack us, will he?" she asked.

Pearl looked back at her. "No, he won't. But try not to make any sudden moves. He's not the one you need to worry about."

"I told you there was someone watching," Cloudjumper hissed. "This is dangerous, it is the feeling one gets when a cold killer is stalking. I don't know what is around, but it is not safe."

"No, he is not safe," Storm agreed. "So, if you know what is good for you, you will not make any sudden moves or say anything too angry." She seemed to be enjoying their discomfort. "And, we're here."

The two females slipped around an unusually close-knit stand of trees and stopped just to the side. "Ember," Pearl said quietly, pawing at someone just out of sight, "we found a dragon and human who fly together. They want to meet you."

"Do they?" a deep, smooth voice asked. "Well, I want to meet them."

Valka stared as an orange Night Fury limped out from behind the stand of trees, his left back paw held close to his stomach. There was an expansive gash running across his side, long but shallow, and a small puncture wound near the top of his forehead. His deep orange eyes betrayed a mix of pain and curiosity, and his body was littered from end to end with scars of every size, shape, and severity.

Those deep eyes focused on her, and he straightened, losing some of the wariness he exuded. "Interesting. A masked female and a large four-wing."

"How did you know?" Valka asked, caught by surprise. Dragons were not usually able to tell the gender of a human at all, and certainly not beneath her riding outfit without even seeing her face! She was pretty sure most Vikings couldn't do that.

"Easy. You are fit, but your chest…" he put a paw to his own heavily scarred chest and let it drop a bit. "Armor only bends out like that for women or out of shape men, and you are not out of shape."

"Ember," Pearl chided, "isn't that rude to say to her? You would not point out…" She trailed off, looking away with a look Valka easily identified as embarrassment. "Well, you would not say the equivalent to a female of our kind."

"Maybe if I was No-scaled-not-prey it would be crude," he said, putting emphasis on that for whatever reason. "But I am not, so it is just my explanation."

"And you are right, of course," Valka admitted. "But how did you come to know so much about my kind?"

"Observation." He shrugged his wing shoulders. "Also other things, but it does not matter so much in the end. If you want to find others like yourself, go to the island known as…"

"Yes?" she asked.

"I am only now realizing that island's name does not really translate," he admitted. "It sort of means 'idiot', but that's not how it's meant there. They say it is twelve days North of hopeless, and a little bit South of freezing to death? But those are not really directions…" He huffed in annoyance.

But Valka had heard enough. It was like a blow to her chest, once again hearing a saying she had heard often enough on one island in particular, a joke with some truth to it. She found that she couldn't breathe. The one-two strike of being told there were others, and then being told they were on Berk, was just too much, pleasant surprise outweighed by absolute shock and disbelief.

"How… why Berk?" she managed.

"Yes, that's the one," he said. "Change came to them by chance. They can tell you the story. Their Chief knows it well, she was a big part of it." He shrugged his wing shoulders. "But I've not been there in a while, and don't expect to ever return. How do you know that place?"

"I fought in the area for a time," she admitted, skirting around the true reason it shocked her so. In her years of meeting new dragons she had learned that most considered abandoning a mate and hatchling a heinous crime, and thus as a general rule did not reveal her true origins. "Those who lived there were not receptive, so I moved on."

"To be fair, they were under repeated, senseless attack." Ember nodded to her. "You've had better luck here under the white alpha of ice and mental power, I presume."

Again, a shock, knowledge he should not possess. "How," Cloudjumper interrupted, "did you know who we serve?"

"We visited that nest several moon-cycles ago," Pearl volunteered. "We were told they had a No-scaled-not-prey around, but that it was off on a mission with many of the other dragons."

And again, a logical explanation. She was glad Ember did not seem to be looking into her mind the way her alpha could but chose not to; it certainly seemed like he was.

"And you did not stay?" she asked, seeing the chances of recruiting these three slipping away. There was nothing she could offer them that they did not already know about, and they had left once already, judging those benefits not worth remaining for.

"My path in life does not lie in that nest, or any nest," Ember said somberly. "I have one goal left, and then it is over."

Valka noticed, even while staring at Ember, that Storm huffed in annoyance and Pearl shook her head defiantly. "Over?"

"I will utterly destroy these hunters, and then I will be done. I do not wish to live past that." Ember's cold, sad eyes bore into her own. "Tell me, what do you fight for?"

"That. Destroying Viggo, and Drago, and all those who enslave and imprison dragons to further their own ambition." She was on safe ground with that question, but she did not feel safe. "You?"

"Vengeance."

"Four Night Furies drowned after being sold," Cloudjumper said with the air of one who now understood what had previously been unfathomable.

"My sons, my Sire, and my Dam." He nodded over at Storm. "Her Dam, too."

"And Sire in all but blood," Storm muttered.

"And that," he agreed. "We fight for vengeance. Pearl is here because she chooses to be."

"He saved me, and I don't want to leave this unfinished," Pearl explained. "So, now you know. Who we are, what we are doing, all of that."

"Now we know. I don't suppose you would like to join our nest? We fight Viggo and Drago and their people, and our alpha is strong."

Ember shook his head ruefully. "No. Storm or Pearl may go if they wish, I am not holding them to me, but for me, I will not."

Then he seemed to recall something, and his eyes brightened. "Also, how long has it been since you were at your nest?"

"How long?" Cloudjumper huffed in annoyance. "A moon-cycle, no more, but that is not your business."

"And everything was well? No… Upheavals?"

"None. Why?" She couldn't help but notice the pattern, him throwing her off with inexplicable knowledge every time she thought he was done revealing things.

"I wonder what happened to him," Ember mused, absently stretching his wings out in a gesture Valka knew to be similar to that of a human rolling their shoulders. "He should have arrived long since… Has your alpha been injured recently? Or has a new dragon like him but smaller arrived?"

"Oh, that," she exclaimed. "Yes, we got another like our alpha. He came peacefully enough. We almost never see him because only one of their size can fit in the nest at a time. He is young and has a lot of bad mental habits, so our alpha keeps a close eye on him."

Ember sighed and closed his eyes, leaning forward. "That, at least, is good."

"This speaking in vague wording and asking questions is pointless," Cloudjumper objected, coming to the end of his patience for such things. "You will not join our flock?"

"No." Ember looked to Pearl and Storm.

"Never," Storm said defiantly. "I obey myself and none other."

"It's not for me," Pearl declined more politely, favoring Valka with an apologetic warble. "Sorry. Your alpha was very helpful, though. Next time you see him, could you tell him I say I am still trying to follow his advice?"

"Of course." She nodded politely from her perch atop Cloudjumper's back. "I guess we will be going now, then…"

"One thing bothers me," Cloudjumper said suddenly. "If these three are all that are here, who or what stalked us on this island?"

"I do not see any reason to say," Ember replied after a short pause. "If he wants to speak to you, he will show himself. If you want to meet him, you might walk out of this forest instead of flying immediately. It is his choice whether you see him."

Valka exchanged a look with Cloudjumper; she knew all too well that he wanted to fly away and not chance it, and he knew that she wanted the opposite. If there was a third new kind of dragon here, she wanted to know about it.

If that was all there was to their argument, they would be at a stalemate, but Cloudjumper was also curious, even if he was wary, so when they left it was by ground, not by air.

"I am not sure whether I would even want them to join our nest," Cloudjumper admitted once they were far enough away that they would not be overheard. "The female dark wing would be frustrating."

"Maybe." Overall, she would rather be taking them along, but Ember in particular unsettled her. She had never met a dragon who wanted to die like that before, or one who seemed to know so much more than he was saying. At least Storm was a known issue; rebellious, contrary dragons who said what they thought were not so rare, though she took it to an extreme.

As the shore came into view, the feeling of being watched redoubled, and she found herself searching the trees for eyes on her, to no avail.

"There it is," Cloudjumper growled, stepping out onto the sand. "Another of them."

She saw it, finally, creeping along the shore toward them, in full view. It was a dark wing, one as scarred as Ember and somehow more dangerous in looks, one with fey eyes. This was a dragon she would have fled upon first sight, were she alone. Predators like that did not often care whether their prey spoke or not. They did not often speak themselves, either.

So, she was more surprised than she should have been when the ominous dark wing stopped and called out to them. "You are leaving and will not return."

"We do not plan to," Cloudjumper snarled. "If you follow, you will find no easy prey."

"I do not prey on others," the Night Fury replied in its gravelly, toneless voice. "Not of my own will, or of my current alpha's will."

"You will let us go, then," Cloudjumper demanded, flaring all four wings as he made to launch himself into the air.

"Go."

Valka didn't protest their abrupt departure. She didn't expect to get much of interest out of that dragon; it was lucky enough that it didn't feel like pursuing. She would expect such brutality from a dragon under Drago's dominion. In fact, this one reminded her of the Night Fury he was rumored to have bent to his will-

She turned and looked back as they left, examining the Night Fury on the shore for as long as she could. It was impossible to say whether they were one and the same, but if she had to guess at what a dragon would look like, willingly working for and helping Drago Bludvist, that would be it. Scarred, dull, a predator with little willpower of his own.

"You have had your look, and they are not receptive to joining us," Cloudjumper summarized as they flew away. "We can go back to our normal routes now?"

"Yes, we can." She couldn't help feeling like she was leaving behind a mystery, but they had responsibilities, and those responsibilities didn't involve wasting too much time chasing unsettling dragons bent on revenge and death. As it was, she now had to consider whether their next trip would involve going back to familiar waters and one island in particular, to see what Ember meant when he spoke of Berk and others like her.

"Actually," she continued after a long pause, "we should call the mission off and head back now." She needed to talk to her alpha, to go over it and decide whether it would be smart to go to Berk. This needed to be answered.

"These dark wings are doing our work for us anyway," her friend rumbled agreeably. "We can afford to cut it short. But you get to announce it."

She smiled and slapped the broad back beneath her. "You just do not want to deal with the disappointment," she complained. "You'll agree with me in public, and then commiserate the moment my back is turned."

"Maybe."

"Traitor."

"Risk-taker."

Neither of them looked back as they left the four Furies to their journey.

O-O-O-O-O

"I did not like them," Storm said rudely. "Second?"

"I might have fought them, had our paths crossed in the past," Second admitted. "I was looking forward to it, actually, or my alpha was. It was odd to see them and let them leave alive."

"Odd, but the right thing to do," Ember called out, having hauled himself over to the shore. He was lying in the sand, resting, and presumably enjoying the breeze.

Pearl, feeling protective, though she would have denied it had Storm or Ember brought it up, had taken up a spot just behind him, and was watching the sky. Maybe she was being paranoid, but she could not help feeling wary of them returning for one reason or another. That entire encounter felt like too much was being left unsaid.

"Oh," she huffed, remembering something, "Ember, why did you not tell her more of Berk, or your origins? You told us."

Ember rumbled quietly. "People do not usuallytake what I can do very well. You two were a special case, for many reasons. I am not in the habit of telling everyone I meet. It gets tiring, explaining and answering the same questions over and over again."

"They seemed understanding."

"Most people do. She kept secrets, I am sure, and I did the same. She will find out about me if she goes there. By then, it will not matter anymore." His tail slid back and forth across the sand, sweeping a small hollow into existence.

Pearl winced, and then snarled at nothing in particular. She was not going to let that happen. She slid herself forward and turned, sitting in a new place. Not looking at him, not even within his range of sight, her back to him…

And her tail, going where it would seemingly at random, drifting over to rest atop his in the little hollow he had dug. She was not going to look at him, and if he stared she wouldn't notice. A small gesture, maybe, but one he could not ignore if he tried.

Author's Note: Why yes, I did just do that. Valka was never going to be a part of the story if I had chosen this path to follow in canon; she does not serve any real purpose, as they're already set against Viggo and Drago, and represents an easy out when it comes to Ember's issues.

In fact, given where we stop following canon to do this AU, technically speaking she might not even be the Collector in this universe, or she might not exist at all, just as I could have totally ignored the existence of the young Bewilderbeast if I chose. I didn't have to keep either of those elements in for this, though I decided to play with and dismiss them instead of directly deleting them from existence. Thus, both are sent out of the story in relative peace.

It's also entirely intentional that both Valka's and Ember's "people don't take it very well" approaches prevented recognition on either side. Hypothetically she might find out on Berk, if she goes there, but by then it will be far too late, and we're not going to see her again.

She also, coincidentally, served as a way to convey that the 'new Second' has not caused any trouble, though I'd take her explanation as to what's going on there with a huge grain of salt. It's not as if she would know what happened between the two Bewilderbeasts, who undoubtedly would have sensed each other's presence long before anyone else was aware of anything odd going on. Add that to a nice little mini-encounter to check in partway through the long destruction of Viggo's empire, and this chapter was quite useful. Not much happens of note over the time it takes to decimate the hunters one ship at a time, so I'm certainly not going to depict it day by day.