Chapter Text
“Uh. Hi?”
He stared into the dragon's eyes, its pupils slits. It was less than a foot from his face, breathing heavily.
He wasn’t afraid. If the dragon meant harm, Danger Sense would have picked it up before the dragon got anywhere near him. Still, he took a step back, and took in the beast in front of him.
It had a long, thin body, similar to Jirou’s Death Song. It had four long legs, each with five sharp claws. The tail is what caught his attention though. It was long, far longer than any other he’d seen. The main body was only about ten feet in length, while the tail was at least fifteen. It was thin, and the tip shined in the sun, as if made of polished stone. If Izuku had to guess, the tail was meant to be used as a whip. He examined its back, and found it had two small wings. They seemed about the same size as a Gronckles wings. Their shape was similar to that of a Night Fury’s wings, from what he saw in the Book of Dragons. They were far too small to provide any lift off. Even if the dragon was able to produce a wingbeat similar to a Gronckle, its tail would be far too heavy to lift.
The dragon began to circle around him, its long body surrounding him completely. It leaned towards him and sniffed him. “Do you… want something?”
The dragon hummed an affirmative. “Shelter?” A growl, meaning no, he guessed.
“Food?”
Growl.
He thought for a minute. “Do you want... help?” A hum. So the dragon wanted help.
“Protection from other dragons?” A growl.
“From hunters?” Growl.
Izuku tried to think of what the dragon could want from him, but he couldn’t figure it out. Was them living on it’s Island the problem? No, it would have shown itself earlier. Was there anyone on the Island that the patrols had missed? No, all the dragons on the Island would be in distress if that were the case.
Suddenly, the dragon leaped onto the closest tree and scaled it with ease. Once it got to the top, it unfurled its small wings and beat them up and down. As Izuku had thought, nothing happened. Was that the problem? It couldn’t fly?
It clicked. The dragon wanted help flying. But how could he do that? He couldn’t exactly make it grow wings. He could try to have other dragons carry it? No, that's not real flying.
He paused. The trader they had met said that the chief of Berk’s Night Fury flies with an artificial left tailfin. Like a prosthetic, but for dragons. Could he do the same with wings? He glanced at the dragon's small wings as it flapped them. They looked perfect for efficient flying, they just needed to be bigger. Could he make wings the same shape as the dragons, then attach them to its existing wings so that it could control them? When the dragon closed its small wings, the prosthetics would close. When it flapped its, the prosthetics would flap. He smiled to himself. He could do that. He had spent enough time with Hatsume before they were sent here.
He yelled up at the dragon. “Hey! I think... I know how to help you.”
The dragon looked down at him, hummed in approval, and then jumped to the next tree, quickly disappearing from his sight.
Izuku watched as the rustling of branches became silent. He gathered the logs he had dropped and began to make his way back to the village.
---
The first thing he noticed upon returning was that there were five new dragons roughhousing with their own dragons. A Zippleback, Nadder, Gronckle, Nightmare, and. And a Night Fury.
Literally.
What.
Someone needed to explain this to him. Now preferably.
He turned to Ashido, who he had passed the logs on to. “Ashido. Why is there a legendary beast on Shinsou’s house?”
Ashido had to stifle a laugh at his deadpan tone before answering. “The search party came back. They found the riders, and brought them back. They’re Berkian, I think. Aizawa-sensei and Yamada-sensei are talking to them in Aizawa-sensei’s house.”
Izuku nodded. “I… see.” He turned back to Ashido. “Do you think they'd mind an interruption? There's something I need to report.”
She shrugged. “Dunno. They've been in there for a while.”
He began to make his way towards Aizawa’s house. He climbed the steps up to the door and knocked.
After a second, the door opened, and Yamada came into view. “What's up, little listener?
“I, uh, kinda have something to report? Something big, I think probably.”
Yamada stepped to the side and gestured for him to enter, and he did. He saw Aizawa and their six guests sitting in a circle, all now looking at him.
“Uh, Aizawa-sensei, I found something while gathering wood. It’s, uh, a species of dragon I haven’t seen before, I think?”
Aizawa stared at him for a second, before slowly lowering his head into his hands. He let out a long, tired sigh, mumbling something about “damn problem children”.
The biggest of the vikings timidly spoke up. “Um, this new dragon, it didn’t happen to be green, did it? Like a really bright green.”
Izuku scratched his head. “Uh, yeah. Do you know what it is?”
The viking in the middle, who seemed to be their leader, copied Aizawa’s movements. “And here I thought my dragon discovering days were over…”
---
Izuku fitted another ball bearing into place, pulling the large wings to test their movements.
It was three weeks after the first encounter with the dragon. After speaking to the Berkian riders, Izuku learned a lot more about the beast.
It was a legendary dragon that, centuries ago, was more feared than even the Night Fury. It was said that it hunted any time of the day, snagging animals and humans alike. Sailors eventually learned to avoid its infamous island like the plague, spreading tales of the terrifying beast. For generations, dragon hunters had gone to the island in hopes of slaying the dragon and bringing honor to their name, but none had ever returned from their endeavors.
Izuku clung into every word of the tale that the Berkians told, itching to have his notebooks and pens to write it all down. What really interested him though, was the name of the dragon.
Emerald Reaper.
It was a pretty self explanatory name, really. Fishlegs had eagerly explained how a sole survivor of a trade ship had caught a glimpse of the dragon and quickly spread the word of its bright color. Apparently, it had been the Outcast tribe who named the Reaper, after a few of its ships accidentally docked on the island and never returned.
Izuku bent another rod into proper shape.
As he had listened to all the tales of the dragon, a single question remained on his mind.
Why hadn’t it attacked them?
What was so special about them that made the dragon hesitate? At first, Izuku thought it was because of their quirks, the sight of them making the dragon step back to evaluate its enemies. But as he thought about it more, they weren’t something that would discourage the dragon from attacking. From the stories, he could gather that it was a dragon that was very confident in its capabilities, attacking any vikings that docked on its island without hesitation, new weapons or not.
As he thought about it more and more, he realized it wasn’t combat prowess that postponed its attack, but most likely hope. Izuku had no doubt that it was watching them from the second they landed on the island. It saw their efficiency, how quickly they were able to make housing and tools. It had probably seen this quick advancement, and thought that maybe these new people could help it fly.
He grinned to himself, examining the large object in front of him.
They were done. The large, shining wings sat on the table in front of him.
It was no small feat to complete the fake appendages. When he first told the Berkians of the Reaper's wish, Hiccup had immediately volunteered to help him create a blueprint for the wings. Together, they were able to get a good blueprint done in just a few days. After that, the Berkians left, and it was up to Izuku to build the wings.
He drafted the help of Yaoyorozu to help with the project. She happily agreed to create any materials he might need, and Izuku put them together. Working as a team, they were able to complete the wings in just over two weeks.
For protection, Izuku gathered the shed scales of the other dragons and glued them onto the wings using a strong adhesive Yaoyorozu made for him. He painted over them using a reflective green paint Yaoyorozu made, giving them the same color as the Reaper.
...He really needed to thank Yaoyorozu somehow.
He picked up the wings, testing their weight. He tried making them as light as possible, but making them too light would make them hard to fly with, the Reaper would have a hard time controlling them.
He based their weight off of the wings of Iida’s Razorwhip, Pearl, because of their similar size and body shape. As he lifted the wings, he smiled to himself. They were the perfect weight.
He carried them outside, and into the forest. Now, all he had to do was hope the Reaper likes it.
---
He set the wings down in the same place he first met the dragon three weeks prior. He hadn’t seen the Reaper at all after that, so he had no idea where to wait for it, but he figured there was no better place than where he met it.
He didn’t have to wait long. Just a few minutes later, he heard the same low growl approaching him. From the bushes, the dragon slowly emerged, its powerful legs making cautious movements across the floor, until its full body was visible.
Izuku slowly stepped away from the wings, motioning towards them. “You wanted to fly, right? These will help you.”
The dragon cautiously stepped forward, leaning down to sniff the wings, before looking up at Izuku with a questioning gaze.
He took it as an invitation. “Can I help you put them on?”
The dragon thought for a second, before slowly turning and presenting its back to him. He grinned, picking up the wings and beginning to strap them into place along its back and legs.
After a few minutes, he stepped back, admiring his work. Through a system of small pulleys and tension cords, the wings were made to copy every movement that the dragons' real wings were doing.
He stepped out in front of the dragon as it studied the contraption on its back. “Try flapping your wings slowly.”
The dragon listened, moving its wings up and down, the fake wings flapping in turn with them. It flapped them faster and faster, before stopping and turning towards him.
Suddenly, it raised its wings high up and beat them down as hard as it could. The sudden wind knocked Izuku over, and he watched in amazement as the dragon shot into the sky, climbing high above the tree line in seconds. Its emerald scales glistened in the uninterrupted sunlight, as it let out an ear splitting roar that shook the trees around him. He watched as the dragon suddenly stopped beating its wings, folding them in and spinning midair, before diving downwards back towards him. It unfurled its wings just before hitting the trees, slowing its descent and hopping between trees to get back onto the ground.
Izuku laughed in triumph. The wings had worked! First try!
The dragon circled him once more, before bending its legs and crouching down in front of him. Izuku stood still for a second, before processing the meaning of what the dragon was doing.
“Do you… want me to ride you?”
The dragon hummed an affirmative, using its long tail to push him towards it. He tentatively swung his leg over the dragon's back, grabbing its two spiral shaped horns for support.
Before he could react, the dragon took off again, soaring high above the ground in seconds. Izuku screamed at the sudden action, just barely holding on.
The dragon continued to climb, finally levelling out above the clouds.
Izuku took a deep breath, marvelling in the view around him. Is this what the others felt when they were flying? He almost felt weightless, the only feeling he felt was the dragon idly flapping its wings to stay airborne.
He let go of a horn to pet the dragon's head, and it hummed at the touch. “What do you say, boy? Wanna go flying like this all the time?”
The dragon let out a roar, weaker than the one earlier, but still enough to make Izuku wince. “I’ll take that as a yes.”
He thought for a moment. “I guess this means you need a name, right?”
The Reaper hummed in agreement, and Izuku thought for a moment. As he thought, he once again noticed how the sunlight seemed to make the dragon's emerald scales glow. It came to him.
“Hey, bud?”
The dragon lifted and turned his head, looking at him.
“How about… Verdant?”
The dragon seemed to smile before beating its wings, the sudden acceleration almost knocking him off.
He laughed as the Reaper turned back towards the Island.
As Verdant began to descend into their village, he couldn't help but wonder what the others reactions would be. He hoped Aizawa wouldn't get too angry for his sudden disappearance for a day.
...Oh, who was he kidding? He could feel his teachers glare from way up here.