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.

The Dragon of Wanheda

When Clarke woke up to the sound of a loud horn blaring, she decided to take it as a good thing that her first reaction was to reach for her weapon. It might not be a good thing that she'd lived the kind of life where her first response to uncertainty was to be prepared to fight it, but it didn't hurt to be prepared.

"Goooood morning, Dragon's Edge!" a familiar voice called out across the outpost; Clarke thought it was from the other side of the island. "I-I-It's Tuff!"

"Aaand Ruff!" another voice called.

"Aaand Chicken!" Tuffnut concluded, followed by a squawking sound that Clarke guessed was the chicken in question.

"In the mooornings!" the twins finished together.

"Are they actually… doing some kind of radio broadcast?" Clarke asked herself, unable to hold back her smile at the thought. From what she'd seen of such things in recordings up on the Ark, the twins certainly had the kind of eccentric personalities that might make them an interesting fit for radio, but the idea that they'd come up with this on their own…

"All right, folks, now it's time for your weather forecast," Ruffnut's voice continued. "Today it's gonna be freezing cold… And tomorrow will be… well, freezing cold."

Pulling on her jacket and trousers, Clarke headed for the door of her hut and smiled as she saw the twins on top of a cliff near the other side of the edge, gathered around a large horn that Clarke recalled Hiccup describing to her as a means of tracking particular dragons based on the sounds they made. She had been privately sceptical at the idea that such a device was practical, but considering Hiccup's greater experience of dragons, at the time she'd just decided not to question the issue.

"Leave it to you two muttonheads to use the Thunder Ear backwards!" Snotlout called up to them from just outside his own hut.

"Ooor… are we using it right-wards?" Tuffnut called down towards the other Viking as Clarke made her way towards the area to better hear what was being side. "To inform the masses!"

"Plus the earwax on this thing keeps our lips from chapping!" Ruffnut added. It was hard to see at the current distance, but if Clarke squinted she could just about make out Ruffnut applying something to her and Tuffnut's mouths, as the rest of the huts opened up to reveal the other teens walking uncertainly outside.

"OK, let's check the old mailbag and see what Terrible Terror Mails came in last night," Tuffnut continued.

"Oh, here's one for Snotlout!" Ruffnut said, now apparently holding up a piece of parchment. "'I miss your snuggles, too'. Signed, Mommy."

"Hey!" Snotlout yelled. "That's private!"

"Whoa, this one's addressed to us!" Ruffnut continued. "'Dear Ruff and Tuff, your cousin Gruffnut is on his way to visit you today…'"

"Wait, Gruffnut?" Tuffnut said. "Gruffnut's coming here?! Today? Oh, no. Look at me. I am a mess. Alright, show's over, I gotta go get ready…"

From what Clarke could see of the Thunder Ear from her position, Tuffnut had just tossed Chicken to his sister and then run off, which at least ended the strange broadcast but left her confused as to what had just happened. Still, when a quick look around confirmed that Astrid at least was basically a mess after being woken up like that and the rest of the Riders looked like they could still use a few minutes to properly wake up, she decided it was best to save her questions for a few minutes until everyone was more alert.

"Gruff is coming, Gruff is coming, Gruff is coming…" Tuffnut chanted as he swept the floor of the meeting hall, Clarke watching him with the rest of the Riders out of a lack of anything better to do about the strange situation now facing them. "Gruffnut's gonna be here any second; this place needs to look nice! You wanna help, just a little?"

"No," Ruffnut said, her arms stubbornly folded as she stood in a corner of the room.

"OK, I'm new here," Clarke looked uncertainly around the room. "Can someone explain who 'Gruffnut' is?"

"He's their cousin," Snotlout clarified as he leant against a spear. "We've never met him, but Tuffnut worships the guy."

"No I don't," Tuffnut rolled his eyes, "even if he is a totally awesome world traveller and fearless adventurer-"

"Yeah, you say 'traveller', I say 'drifter'," Ruffnut cut in indignantly. "He just wanders into our lives every few years."

"Hiccup," Tuffnut looked over at the one-legged Viking, "what do you guys think about me… taking over the reins around here? You know, just while Gruff is around?"

"After what happened the last time you were in charge?" Astrid countered.

"He was in charge?" Clarke looked at Astrid as she indicated Tuffnut surprise.

"They were in charge," Clarke's fellow blonde warrior clarified, indicating the twins. "Long story short, we found evidence that their ancestor had staked a claim on this island a few decades ago, and the twins used that to take command of the Edge for themselves before that evidence was… well, it was lost during a Fireworm migration."

"Fireworms?" Clarke repeated. "Aren't they… they're small dragons, right?"

"But very hot," Snotlout observed. "Just touching these guys burns you up…"

"OK, OK," Tuffnut began, before he gave Hiccup a more teasingly thoughtful look. "Although, to be fair, back then I was only in co-charge of the island, so I think we all know whose fault that really was."

As Tuffnut looked over at his sister, Clarke was spared from coming up with a suitably balanced objection to Tuffnut's idea when a new voice was suddenly heard.

"Did this island just get 100% more amazing, or is it just me?" the speaker said. Turning to look at the source of the voice, Clarke blinked as she realised the new arrival was standing in a manner that put the sun right behind him, making it hard for her or anyone to look at him properly without being blinded by the light.

"Gruffnut!" Tuffnut said, which at least confirmed Clarke's guess as to the new arrival's identity. "Oh my hero! Cousin, how are you…. friend?"

As the man in question walked into the meeting hall, Clarke only just stopped herself jumping in surprise when she saw Gruffnut properly. He wore his long hair tied behind his back rather than letting it drape over his front, his clothing was brown rather than Tuffnut's green, and he was even missing the small horns in the middle of the helmet (to say nothing of one horn being basically turned around so it was pointing up while the other was pointing down), but allowing for this minor differences he bore a disturbing resemblance to Tuffnut.

"Gruffnut," the male twin continued, "these are the Dragon Riders. Dragon Riders, this… is the Gruffnut."

"Hello everyone, and the always fabulous Ruffnut," Gruffnut grinned, even as Ruffnut noticeably leaned away from her cousin's attempted hug with a brief snort.

"No one mentioned the… family resemblance," Hiccup said, which at least assured Clarke she wasn't just seeing things.

"I don't see it at all," Tuffnut said after exchanging glances with Gruffnut.

"Me neither," Gruffnut said (Clarke decided not to question if they were being deliberately obtuse or just quirky).

"So, cuz," Tuffnut asked, "what have you been up to?"

"Oh, the usual," Gruffnut replied as he walked over to sit down at the central table. "Winning my weight in gold, that sort of thing…"

"How do you win that much gold?" Clarke asked.

"And who is this beauty?" Gruffnut looked at her in surprise before he turned back to Tuffnut. "I thought you said it was just Ruffnut and that Astrid girl here?"

"Yeah, Clarke's new," Tuffnut smiled. "Saved her and her dragon from some passing thugs, she's now basically our healer… anyway, how did you win that gold?"

"Spear-throwing competition," Gruffnut said nonchalantly.

"Whoa, that's a lot of gold," Snotlout put in, his interest in their visitor clearly piqued by this news. "Could I see it? Maybe hold it and caress it?"

"Gah," Gruffnut said, still far too nonchalant about his tale for Clarke to believe a word of it. "I'm sorry, but I don't have it any more."

"Oh, what a surprise," Ruffnut said.

"Yep, gave it all away to the poor," Gruffnut finished.

"How convenient," Clarke observed, hoping her tone didn't give away her scepticism too soon; she didn't exactly want to deliberately alienate her new friends by criticising someone Tuffnut clearly admired.

"Your generosity is only exceeded by your adventure-osity," Tuffnut said approvingly.

"I have an idea… cuz," Ruffnut put in. "Why not show everyone your awesome spear-throwing skills that won you all that gold that you conveniently don't have anymore?"

"Sounds interesting," Clarke said, grabbing a spear from Snotlout and holding it out towards Gruffnut as Snotlout fell to the ground. "Care to try this out?"

When she tossed the spear towards Gruffnut, she wasn't surprised to see him stumble and clearly fail to grab the spear properly, leaving her to exchange a grin with the female twin.

"Uh, I'd be happy to put on a little exhibition," Gruffnut said defensively as he rubbed at his right shoulder, "except that my arm is still injured from...that shipwreck...that darn shipwreck..."

"What shipwreck?" Ruffnut asked.

"I didn't mention saving the shipload of sinking orphans?"

"Oh no," Tuffnut grinned. "Buried the lead, I guess, 'cause you're so humble."

"The most," Gruffnut affirmed. "Well, enough about me. Tuff, what have you been doing while I was out winning fortunes and saving orphans and defeating the Kraken?"

"Well, uh… I-I have Chicken!" Tuffnut said, prompting a cringe of exasperation from Snotlout as Gruffnut simply stared at his cousin.

"Hey, Tuffnut," Hiccup cut in, "why don't you show Gruffnut around the base-?"

A quick kick from Clarke to Hiccup's remaining real leg caused him to stumble against the table, but Clarke would take whatever anyone might have to say about that over making sure Hiccup didn't do anything he'd regret later.

"Yeah, we've really brought this place together since we moved in; you're gonna love it!" Tuffnut grinned, apparently ignoring Clarke and Hiccup's brief interaction as he led his cousin out of the base.

"What was that about?" Hiccup looked at Clarke, keeping his voice low as he indicated the door Tuffnut and Gruffnut had just left by. "I was just going to-"

"Give Tuffnut an ego boost that isn't going to help him in the long term," Clarke cut Hiccup off. "I appreciate that I'm not an experienced dragon rider, but in my experience when dealing with people, if we give the likes of Tuffnut an inch, they'll take a mile and do something stupid. Don't get me wrong, I don't think Tuffnut would do what Murphy did and nearly kill someone on purpose, but he'd do something stupid and we'd have to stop him making it worse."

"Murphy?"

"An… associate of mine from my old group," Clarke explained. "He was… well, he wasn't exactly a bad guy, but he'd make a lot of mistakes that ended up making things worse because he couldn't accept that he wasn't as smart or skilled as he thought he was…"

She shrugged out of a lack of anything else she wanted to say on that topic. "Anyway, I don't see Tuffnut as being quite as arrogant as Murphy was, so he wouldn't do anything deliberately bad, but he's still dumb enough to make similar mistakes if we don't keep him in check."

"…Yeah, that's pretty fair," Ruffnut nodded in agreement at the other woman before looking back at Hiccup. "Appreciate the sentiment on behalf of my brother, but like Clarke pointed out, giving him authority over anything more than Belch and the occasional patrol would have been a bad move."

"…All right," Hiccup nodded in understanding as he stood up. "Let's just… keep an eye on them and make sure Tuff doesn't do anything stupid."

"Like try and show off that flaming sword of yours?" Astrid suggested with a brief smile.

"..Oh Gods," Hiccup groaned, leaning over to cradle his head in his hands. "He would do that, wouldn't he?"

The way everyone looked around the room at that comment made it clear to Clarke that she'd made the right choice to keep Tuffnut 'in check'.

The question bothering her now was whether the new arrival was going to turn out to be more of a problem than the known element…