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

One thing Clarke genuinely enjoyed about her time with the Riders was how light-hearted they could be when they weren't in the middle of the latest crisis. She appreciated that her people hadn't had the time to properly relax when they were so focused on trying to establish themselves back on the mainland, but it still felt as though most of her initial group wouldn't have even known how to relax.

Granted, when the Riders' idea of having fun involved moving an entire hut from its position on the Edge to a sea stack some way off the coast, it was far more involved than anything her old friends could have done, but Clarke couldn't act like she didn't sympathise with the goal. After everything the twins had put them through over the course of 'Loki Day', Clarke could understand wanting to make sure they realised they couldn't do something that stupid and frustrating to other people whenever they felt like it.

They'd obviously had to help move the house back where it had been taken from once they were satisfied that the twins had learnt their lesson, but the whole experience had ultimately been an interesting training opportunity for them all. Coordinating the dragons to get them to fly all that way had been tricky, particularly with the weight of the hut to take into account, but even Charlotte had ended up pitching in to keep everything balanced. She and Meatlug might not be the fastest dragons on the Edge, but they made up for it with their strength and their relatively contained wingspan.

It was still a tricky 'prank', but in the end it had all come together, and she liked to think that the twins had learnt their lesson about how far they could take that kind of 'prank' in the future. The riders had since returned to their previously-established patrol routine, but it seemed as though the Hunters had basically given up since their failure to acquire the Dragon Eye. The Riders still intercepted a couple of patrols trying to grab some of the more common dragons, such as Nadders or Gronckles, but only when the species were basically 'flocking' in certain areas, and it was always easily dealt with.

At this point, Clarke was seriously starting to wonder if that last big victory when they'd stopped him stealing the Dragon Eye had been such a blow to Viggo Grimborn's ego that he'd just decided to give up. Their run-in with hunters during Gruffnut's visit had been so amateur she wasn't sure if that even counted as a serious attempt to steal anything. As for their recent run-ins, Clarke had heard some of the other riders speculating that the hunters had just decided to take advantage of the opportunity presented by those dragons congregating to try and grab a few, particularly since there was no sign that there had been any actual plan behind those particular raids.

Clarke wasn't going to complain about how she had the time to continue her studies on available healing techniques- it was truly fascinating to learn what some dragons could contribute to medicine- but it left her wondering what they were still doing here. Hiccup was still studying the Dragon Eye in his spare time, but he hadn't mentioned any new discoveries to them yet, and everyone else seemed content to stick to the existing patrol pattern.

Most frustrating of all, the lack of anything new to do led to Clarke thinking about what she'd left behind on the mainland when she first chose to follow Hiccup and Toothless with Griffin.

She wanted to feel as though she had found her place here and just get away from her previous burdens, but no matter how much she was enjoying spending time with her new friends, she couldn't shake the thought of what was happening with the rest of the Ark residents back home. Maybe she wasn't there to cause more problems, but how was Raven coming along after her injury? How was her mother settling in to life on Earth? Had Octavia and Lincoln managed to find a way to make it work? Was Bellamy able to become part of the group now that he couldn't put himself in charge? How was Lexa-?

"No," Clarke said out loud, prompting curious looks from her dragons, Charlotte in her usual place on the floor and Griffin poking his head in through a window. "They're fine… they're all doing fine without me…"

She'd found her place now, and that was it; like she'd thought before, nobody needed her back in the former Ark any more. She had a new home, where she was needed and valued for what she could do without being condemned for failing to achieve unrealistic goals, safe from threats that thought they had the right to destroy something just because it was different…

The more Hiccup wrote about the discoveries he was making thanks to the Dragon Eye, the more he had to wonder about the original creators of the technology. Putting aside the amount of research they must have carried out to learn all this stuff about dragons, he was still puzzled as to why they'd recorded it this way in the first place. The Eye was an impressive bit of work, he wasn't denying that, but he couldn't shake the feeling that he was dealing with some kind of game rather than just finding a lost archive of some sort.

Maybe it was just one of those strange cultural things, like how Clarke's people had lived on a ship for years before returning to land, but even that kind of bizarre behaviour was understandable even if Hiccup couldn't imagine growing up that way himself. The Eyes just seemed so strange; he was even waking up early each day just to take another look over his notes to see if some new pattern would emerge…

"Good morning."

Once again, years of having to be alert for dragon attacks served Hiccup well in terms of helping him stay sharp even if he hadn't been expecting trouble. Getting to his feet and turning around, Hiccup soon spotted a tall man standing in the shadows of a corner of his hut. From what Hiccup could see in the dim light, the figure had pale skin, and was wearing brown and black leathers with some kind of weapon on his back.

"Oh, I hope you don't mind if I help myself," the man said, casually sipping a mug that Hiccup recognised as having been taken from his own cupboard, a slight accent to his voice that Hiccup didn't recognise. "This is, uh… quite good."

Hiccup was tensed for action as he faced the man, but he was ashamed to find himself unprepared when the man took out a small bow-like weapon and fired it at where Toothless was just starting to stir.

"Toothless!" Hiccup yelled, running over to check the dragon. A quick assessment was enough to confirm that the Night Fury was still breathing, but if Toothless wasn't already on his feet and growling at the intruder by now he definitely wasn't at his best.

"What did you do to him?" he looked at the intruder.

"Nothing that he won't sleep off," the man said with a cool smirk as he sat in Hiccup's chair. "May I? I understand that you are Hiccup Horrendous Haddock, son of Chief Stoick the Vast?"

Hiccup just stared at the man in as menacing a manner as he could muster as the figure pulled back the black hood he had been wearing, revealing shockingly white hair for a man who seemed like he was just a bit younger than Stoick.

"You have no idea who I am, do you?" the man said.

"Maybe if you told me your name?" Hiccup countered.

"Your father knows of me," the man said. "My name is Grimmel the Grisly, and there was a time when I understand your father and I were in the same line of business."

"Which was?"

"Dragon hunting," Grimmel said, a brief edge of scorn in his voice as he looked at Hiccup. "And what must he think of you? After he made it his mission to destroy the beasts so that you could grow up in a better world-"

"My father changed his mind," Hiccup countered. "Everyone in Berk has changed-"

"Because of your misguided ideas," Grimmel cut Hiccup off with a cold glare that felt disturbingly more intense than Viggo's stare had during their last confrontation. "And I am here to correct that particular mistake before it can make things worse."

"Make things worse?"

"I am the Night Fury killer," Grimmel said, a new intensity to his tone as he leaned forward in the chair. "I've hunted every last one but yours. You are going to give me that dragon. Or I will-"

"I will never give up my friend," Hiccup said resolutely. "And if you think any of my friends will give up-"

"I don't think you understand the reality of the situation you're facing here, my boy," Grimmel said, standing up and walking around the still-unconscious Toothless. "You wish dragons to live free among us, like equals, but that is a toxic notion at best. History has shown that we are the superior species; if word of your misguided ideas were to spread, it would be the undoing of civilization as we know it."

"And why does that have to be a bad thing?" Hiccup countered. "Just because something's always been a certain way doesn't mean it always has to be that way; we can make a better world-!"

"With dragons?" Grimmel said dismissively. "I have been bringing peace to this world since I was a child by killing dragons like the abominations they are, ever since I killed my first Night Fury when I was still a few years younger than you. If you think you understand more about these creatures than I do-"

"Yes, because if you've spent all this time killing them you clearly can't-!"

"Oh, I know more than that," Grimmel cut Hiccup off with a cool smirk. "Let me demonstrate."

Hiccup only realised that Toothless had started moving when Grimmel fired another dart at the dark dragon. For a moment, Hiccup expected Toothless to fall down again, but then the dragon's eyes reverted to narrow slits rather than the more open dark pools he was familiar with.

"Uh… what did you just do to him?" he said, trying to hide his anxiety.

"Deathgripper venom," Grimmel replied with a confident shrug. "Even the dragons that produce this poison cannot resist it, so your pet has no chance."

"He's not my-!" Hiccup began, only to be interrupted when Grimmel snapped his fingers and pointed at Hiccup. When Toothless turned around and opened his mouth to fire a plasma blast at Hiccup, the young Viking just managed to dive out of the way, but that left a hole in the wall of his hut.

"In any case," Grimmel grinned as he walked over to sling a leg over Toothless's back, "I think this is enough."

"You can't-!" Hiccup began as he scrambled back to his feet, only to halt as Toothless glared at him with those strange blank eyes, a warning glow in the back of his throat.

"I can," Grimmel countered firmly, now drawing a long sword from his back. "You're a child who doesn't understand the world; consider this the older and wiser generation saving you from yourselves and eliminating the threat."

Hiccup was forced to dive out of the way of his friend as Grimmel forced Toothless into the air and out of the hut. Hiccup briefly cursed his modifications to Toothless's stirrups- the idea was to let other Riders at least be able to keep Toothless airborne if Hiccup couldn't fly himself, but keeping it simple meant anyone could at least get the dragon off the ground- but his dread only grew even further when he heard Toothless give off a call from outside.

"Oh no…" he said, mind racing over some of his and Gobber's theories about Toothless's status among the other dragons as he heard various doors open and then saw the other dragons flying out of the stables and other huts. They were cautious fliers at first, each of them apparently responding more out of curiosity than anything, but the sight of Grimmel holding a sword to Toothless's throat seemed to end any idea that the other dragons might do anything. Hiccup heard the others call out to their dragons, pleading or ordering them to come back down, but he couldn't take his eyes off the dragons themselves. Hiccup was briefly unsure if he should be disturbed or impressed to see that even Charlotte was flying along after Griffin from Clarke's hut; the other gronckle might not be part of their regular team, but under other circumstances it would have been good to see that she considered herself part of the group like that.

I have really skewed priorities…

"Awww, don't feel too badly!" Grimmel said, his tone alternating between mocking sympathy and cold contempt. "You tried your best… but you are nothing without your dragon."

With that, Grimmel gave another whistle and Toothless flew away, the other dragons following him at a safe distance. Hiccup briefly thought about calling out to one of them to try and shoot Grimmel off Toothless, but quickly abandoned that idea; from what he'd seen of Grimmel's speed the man might just manage to get to safety, and if he could get on to one of the other dragons they would just be back where they started.

As the dragons flew away from the island and followed Toothless, Hiccup could only run up to the edge of the island and watch as the flock flew out over the sea. He could see a ship in the distance as the sun rose, which at least suggested that Grimmel hadn't come here out of nothing, but left him no closer to finding a solution to the current situation…

"Don't say it," he said, as Astrid walked up behind him.

"I wasn't going to," Astrid held up her hands.

"I got cocky," Hiccup said, pacing along the edge as he tried to ignore the ship taunting him off in the distance, so close by flight but so far by sea. "I thought we were keeping the hunters busy… I thought we were winning… and then we get hit with this guy and we had no idea what we were dealing with before he won…"

He punched one palm with his fist in frustration. "Aargh! I feel like the same screw-up I was before I met Toothless!"

"I can see that."

"Are you just gonna stand there and agree with everything?" Hiccup turned to look at his new 'official' girlfriend in frustration.

"Well, you're right," Astrid nodded. "We're pretty much back to where we started; no dragons, and our strongest allies marching into danger with no way to deal with it."

She walked over to stand more closely to him as he found his gaze fixed on the ship off in the distance.

"But I was the first to believe in you," Astrid continued. "And I have watched you doubt whether you're worthy ever since. But you know what? I am the person I am today because of you. I never told you that, but it's true. You are the bravest, most stubborn, most determined… knucklehead I know. Toothless didn't give you that, Hiccup. He just made it…"

"Easier?" Hiccup finished for her, trying to hide just how touched he felt at that assurance.

"And right now it's a lot harder, but you've never let that stop you before," Astrid finished, smiling encouragingly at him. "So… what are you gonna do about it?"

"…Probably something stupid," he said after a moment's thought.

"That's the Hiccup I know," Astrid grinned at him. Still uncomfortable with public displays of affection, Hiccup just leaned over to give her a kiss on the cheek before he walked off back to the other Riders (he wouldn't be too offended that Clarke and Fishlegs had clearly been working to keep Snotlout and the twins back while he talked with Astrid).

"Suit up, gang!" he called to the group. "We're gonna get them back."

"What?" Fishlegs said.

"He's lost his mind," Ruffnut rolled her eyes.

"Bold statement," Tuffnut grinned at Hiccup. "I like that kind of madness."

"But how are we going to get the dragons back without dragons?" Clarke asked. "I mean, they even got Charlotte…"

"The advantage of that Grimmel guy being so quick to go after Toothless is that I'm betting he didn't think to take a proper look around our huts," Hiccup grinned. "And if he didn't search the island as thoroughly as he might have done, I have an idea or two that should get us there…"