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

Watching the old woman start to unwrap the bandages around Astrid's eyes, Clarke had a feeling that the only person more anxious than her to see that Astrid was well again was Hiccup himself. When Gothi had come to the island yesterday, riding a purple Gronckle a darker colour that Charlotte, Clarke had initially just found the idea of seeing Berk's healer in action to be academically interesting. That said, as the procedure went on Clarke had become far more fascinated to see the kind of healing techniques that had developed after this society lost most of its old technology.

She was still working out the timeline that would have allowed the Dragon Sanctuary to collapse into this after the bombs fell, but at least she could appreciate what they had achieved on a personal level even if she wasn't sure how long it would have taken to reach this point. It had been tricky keeping track of the exact list of herbs and other 'potions' Gothi had used, but according to Hiccup the old woman had approved of Clarke's initial treatment when she arrived and saw Astrid's injuries for herself.

How Berk coped with a healer who couldn't speak Clarke wasn't sure she'd ever understand, and she still wondered if Gothi's silence was some religious thing (she recalled tales of people who took vows of silence) or if the woman had suffered some kind of injury or illness in the past, but she couldn't deny that the woman was good at what she did. After talking/sketching with Clarke to confirm what had been done for Astrid's eyes so far, Gothi had spent some time the previous day mixing a new kind of potion/balm for the blinded Viking. Astrid had been sitting around in relative peace after spending a night with the new bandages over her face, but now that a couple of hours had gone by since she woke up, it was time to take off the bandages. Clarke was surprised to find that it was just her and Hiccup when the time came, but Hiccup had explained that Fishlegs had left to deal with other matters and the twins and Snotlout apparently had plans for the day that the one-legged Viking had declined to share, beyond advising Clarke not to look for them for the next few hours.

For a few moments, Astrid's hut was silent, Clarke and Hiccup watching anxiously as Gothi unwound the bandages from around Astrid's head, Hiccup standing in front of her while Clarke waited off to the side. After what seemed like far too long, the last bandage came off, leaving Astrid's open eyes to look back at Hiccup.

"Astrid," Hiccup asked tentatively. "are you-?"

"Looking at you?" Astrid finished with a rare warm smile. "Seems like it."

"Thank you, Gothi," Hiccup grinned.

"I second that," Clarke nodded at the old woman as Astrid stepped up and grabbed Hiccup in a firm hug. "Believe me, we really appreciate your help."

As the old woman smiled at her in a reassuring manner, Clarke turned to look at the other two, but noticing their silent stares at each other even after the hug had ended, she decided to give them some privacy.

"So," she looked curiously at the elderly healer, "would you be willing to give me a few… well, I've been putting together notes on useful healing techniques, and I'd appreciate anything you have to offer in that regard?"

It was probably a weak excuse, particularly since Clarke would have to read out what she'd put together so far since she doubted Gothi could read English, but it was at least plausible. In any case, the important thing right now was to let her friends have a chance to talk (and take Hiccup's advice about staying away from the twins for the next few hours)…

"Are you sure you're feeling OK?" Hiccup asked, he and Astrid sitting on the edge of the dragon 'landing platform' while Toothless and Stormfly played behind them. A part of him wondered if he would be able to do this, but when Clarke had gone to the trouble of making sure he had privacy… Gods, even the twins seemed to have realised he should be left alone despite the opportunities of today's date…

"I'm fine, Hiccup," Astrid said, her eyes still slightly red to the sides but her pupils now clear. "You can stop worrying about me now."

"I'll never stop worrying about you," Hiccup observed, looking out at the sunlit see before them to hide how awkward he felt about this particular confession. "That's just the way it is."

"Yeah, yeah," Astrid conceded. "I guess that goes for me, too."

Even as Hiccup knew what he wanted to say next, he found himself briefly lost for words. He knew that Astrid wouldn't think of his next words as any kind of joke despite the date, but the thought of actually saying it…

For a moment, he contented himself by simply moving to his right a few inches so that he was now sitting right beside Astrid, but allowed himself to stay silent until Astrid spoke up.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"Um…" Astrid began, unusually hesitant for her. "Back in the forest, when we were… well, you know…"

"Yeah?"

"Were you about to…?"

"Oh, uh…" Hiccup replied, recalling what he thought Astrid was referring to. "So you felt that, huh? I felt like maybe I got away with it…"

"Well, why didn't you?" Astrid asked.

"Oh…" Even when Hiccup had been hoping for such a response, the idea of Astrid actually wanting that was still such a surprise that it took him a moment to think about his answer before he spoke again. "Oh, well, I… it wasn't perfect. And I always thought that if it ever happened, uh… and yes, I've thought about it- a lot- uh… it had to be just perfect."

When he actually articulated it out loud, it felt a bit overly romantic for a fighter like Astrid, but he couldn't help it; when he'd spent so long amazed that Astrid would even look at him…

"Well," Astrid observed, looking out at the sea in front of them once again before glancing back in his direction, "this seems pretty perfect to me."

"Yeah?" Hiccup said, looking back out at the sea one last time before taking the biggest metaphorical plunge since he first got on Toothless' back. "Yeah… I guess it does."

He was prepared to acknowledge that there would be a few challenges to come from the twins or Snotlout later on (obviously different kinds of challenges, but he could imagine all three having a certain reaction), but for the moment, as he leaned over to finally kiss Astrid Hofferson, he felt as though things in his life were coming together in a manner he'd dreamt about since before he even finished the original Mangler.

He was accepted by his village, he had the respect of his friends, he had done things no other Viking had ever dared, and he had the love of the most incredible girl he'd ever met… what could spoil this?

It was days like this that made Fishlegs glad he and the other original Riders had relocated to the Edge after Hiccup found the Eye. They might have needed to build a new place to live essentially from scratch, and obviously the hunters were a continued threat, but there was something about exploring the mysteries of a new island that really helped Fishlegs relax.

And right now, with Hiccup and Astrid making that final step (by this point it seemed like they'd done everything but tell each other how they felt), he was appreciative of the chance to get away from the main Edge and explore other parts of the island. So far it seemed as though last night's storm had just thrown up a few rocks or torn up some trees without causing any serious damage to the island itself, but there was nothing wrong with making sure.

"Here you go, baby," he said, tossing Meatlug another rock as they walked along the misty beach, reaching an array of rarer rocks balanced on larger boulders. "Oh, that big storm washed up all kinds of cool things up here. Quartz, Icelandite- Travertine, Meatlug!"

Just as Fishlegs reached out for the third rock- a particular rare treat for his dear Gronckle- the rock not only fell off the boulder, but then rolled off into a bush on the edge of the beach, apparently without any outside force.

"What the…?" Fishlegs said, walking cautiously towards the bush to investigate this odd event further-

"Loki'd!" two familiar voices called out, as Ruffnut and Tuffnut suddenly burst from the bush, startling Fishlegs so much that he fell backwards (his only consolation was that Meatlug had been just as shocked as he was).

"Never gets old," Tuffnut grinned, holding up the rock in question by a string he'd somehow attached to it.

"Nope," his sister affirmed.

"Don't you two have something better to do?" Fishlegs groaned as he sat up, Meatlug grumbling indignantly alongside him.

"Are you kidding?" Tuffnut replied as the twins walked out from behind the bush. "On Loki Day?"

"The day of our favourite god's birth?" Ruffnut added.

"One of the greatest days of pranking ever conceived by any man, woman, child, animal, vegetable, mineral or rock-?" Tuffnut was suddenly interrupted when Meatlug lunged on him, apparently aiming for the rock in his hands. Fishlegs didn't even have time to take in what was happening before Tuffnut was back on his feet, clutching at-

"Ah, my arm!" the male twin yelled, his left limb suddenly absent. "My arm!"

"How could you, Meatlug?" Ruffnut looked at the Gronckle in shock, Fishlegs too stunned and horrified to say anything in his partner's defence. "You were always such a gentle dragon!"

"I'll never be able to clap again, and you know how much I love applause…" her brother moaned.

"Meatlug didn't mean it!" Fishlegs said, walking over to examine the wound more closely. "She-"

The large Viking was once again thrown back when something hit him in the face, but it still took him a moment to register that he'd just been punched by Tuffnut's not-so-missing arm.

"It's still here; I still have the arm!" Tuffnut grinned, Fishlegs mentally kicking himself that he hadn't registered the utter lack of blood for the alleged wound earlier. "Do we really even need to say it?"

"I think we do; we've earned it," Ruffnut grinned again.

"Loki'd!" both twins yelled, leaving Fishlegs to fume at himself in frustration and storm off down the beach, leaving the twins behind him. He heard something about how the missing leg 'gag' had stopped being funny due to Hiccup, but he wasn't in the mood to chip in with his usual defence of their leader; anything that stopped the twins pulling a particular prank was fine with him.

After a few minutes of walking, Fishlegs reached a fair-sized cove on the other side of the island from the Edge that they'd found during their initial reconnaissance, currently shrouded in a thick fog. Its narrow 'entrance' made it a useful defensible position, but there wasn't enough space here to set up a full outpost, which was the main reason they'd chosen the more exposed area as their setting for the Edge, but this was a good place to be alone.

Still fuming at the 'prank', Fishlegs picked up a sand-coloured rock to give Meatlug a nice snack, at least partially as an apology for ever believing she could have attacked Tuffnut, but his attention was drawn to a strange crackling sound out on the water. It was hard to make out exactly what was out there, but there was definitely something in the water with two rows of spines on it…

"Very funny, you two," Fishlegs rolled his eyes. The fog made it harder to see, but the back-spines of a Zippleback were fairly distinctive, and it wasn't as though the dragons couldn't swim if they felt like it. "'Loki Day', I get it; joke's on Fishlegs, huh?"

"You say something?" Tuffnut said, just as Fishlegs turned around to see the twins behind him… with their dragon…

"Wait a minute," Fishlegs looked uncertainly at the new arrivals. "If you two are here and Barf and Belch are over there, then-"

The same strange crackling sound reached Fishlegs' ears, but when he turned around the two-spiked figure he'd seen earlier had disappeared, without even a ripple on the water to show where it had been.

"You saw that, right?" he looked anxiously at the twins; he might have been blocking most of the view, but that thing was large enough that they had to have seen some of it beyond him…

"Oh my Thor, I did!" Tuffnut said.

"Really?"

"No!" Tuffnut yelled at him, making Fishlegs drop the rock he'd been holding. "Not at all. Not even!"

As the twins laughed and ran off back into the mist, Fishlegs could only turn back to look at the cove, straining to see whatever that thing had been once again.

Maybe it was nothing more serious than a lost dragon, but there was definitely something out there that he hadn't seen or heard before…