Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Fire was everywhere. Across the ships and spilling out onto the water, burning along the oil and wood across the surface of the sea. Vander was clinging to a plank, adrift, trying to kick away from the flames. Screams still echoed against the black of the night.
The isles of Zaun faced many hardships: long winters, sudden frosts, poor grazing, and worst of all, the pests. When Piltover, the capital island of the chain, raised their tax yet again, the people had put their foot down and gathered their warriors and their ships to defend their right to not starve. It had been a slaughter. First Piltover mowed through them with their superior weaponry and ships.
Zaun gave as good as they got however, having better numbers and more rage…then the blood and noise drew in the dragons. After that everything really went to shit.
A longship with a dragons head pulled up beside him. Berk. So he would get to live a little longer it seemed. He called out and they tossed him a rope. Benzo himself pulled Vander onto the deck, patting his back. To his relief Silco was also there, at the stern. The slender man approached and they wrapped each other in a firm, wet, hug.
Silco pulled back, looking over him grimly. “Felicias dead. A dragon carried her off.”
The world truly fell apart from there.

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Powder woke up to Violet shaking her. “Suns well up Powder, we got work to do.” The pink haired girl insisted. “I’m upppp;” she complained, sliding out from under the blankets mournfully. Even with the massive open hearth below, it was still cold enough to see her breath in the loft this time of year. Claggor and Mylo were seemingly already gone, beds empty.
All four of Vanders’ children shared one room. They never complained. The one room was bigger than many of the family homes on Berk. And three of them were orphans besides. In most islands they’d be on the streets, or worse. She threw on her boots, bouncing to stay warm (a lost cause she knew), and made her way downstairs to a cold breakfast of yak milk and bread with cheese. “Ships here.” Violet commented as she put on her coat. The meaning of what ship was clear. The stupid Piltie tax ship, come for the fall tax.
“I need you to stay out of town till they’re gone, just in case. Do your chores and be good, yeah?” Powder huffed but nodded. Sisters. Always telling you what to do. Like they’re your mom. Not that Powder recalled much of her mother to go off of. She’d been two when Felicia died.

“Thanks Pow.” Violet said, heading out the door. “I’ll be at the docks if you need me, we’re hauling up the catch from the big fisher today. She read the chores list as she ate; another rare thing in the isles, though all the children in Berk learned to read. She had no lessons today, however she did seem to have mucking the chicken coops on her list. Great. At least Little man could probably be roped into helping her. Another orphan, Little Man was Powders best friend, and the only kid on the island that didn’t make fun of her. There were alot of orphans on Berk. Between the harsh living conditions and the Battle. Powder and Violets mom died in the battle, she knew.
Mylo, Claggor, and Ekkos parents too. She shook her head. Bad thoughts this early wouldn’t do! She added wood to the hearth then bounced out the door, wadding through the snow and hardened mud towards the towns blacksmith.

Ekko was there sure as clockwork, making nails. There never were enough nails on Berk. Powder liked the blacksmiths because Ekko was there, it was warm, and there were fun things to tinker with. “I’ll help you finish those up if you help me with the coops.” She said cheerfully, making Ekko jump out of his skin, nearly dropping the hammer he held. “Powder;” he hissed. She only giggled and picked up a hammer. They chatted about nothing on the way to the farms. Bertha hitting a brick on drunk old Toms head when he tried to kiss her yesterday evening was the current main gossip. Along with the stupid tax ship. Usual violent Berk things.

Powder hit Ekko with some snow and they paused to have a tussle, rolling in the freezing cold, a giggling tangle of limbs. Ekko was a bit smaller and slower than Powder, but much stronger. Powder was used to wrestling with much more violent and larger siblings. It was usually a close fight. Neither of them were very large or aggressive children (something highly frowned upon in Berk), so there were no bruises or blood when Powder finally pinned Ekko. They panted, staring at each-other, and then she helped him up and he grinned sheepishly.
By the time they got to the actual barns it was nearing mid-day. Berk had communal farms, unlike most islands, and kept their stock away from the village for sanitary and dragon based reasons.
The barns where stock were kept in winter were carved into fireproof rock; though the gates could be burned. As such there were always at least two guards in the barracks carved into the cliff face as well; ready to run out and defend from any air strikes. They stomped up to the barrack and greeted the guards, Mulch, Bucket, and Bron today.
Bron squinted down at them. “You two ain’t been up there yet ‘ave ye?” He asked. “No sir, we just got here;” Ekko replied. Powder nodded. “Hmm;” Bron grumbled, stroking his beard. “The third coop door was open last night. Birds were scattered everywhere this mornin’, took us hours to round em all up. Couldn’t find nothin’ but some feathers and a few missing birds from the headcount;” He explained. “D’you think someone stole chickens? Why would they do that?” Ekko asked.
Everyone got fed at least once a day up at the Hall on Berk. If one person went hungry the village was going hungry. “Dunno. Awful weird though. No chew marks or nuthin on the gates.” Bron grumbled. Powder and Ekko exchanged a look. “We’ll keep an eye out for anything weird.” Powder promised. This seemed to satisfy the man. They grabbed their shovels and wheelbarrows before heading towards the chicken coops.

To say the chickens looked distressed was an understatement. They were clucking loudly, the roosters strutting nervously between the hens. Clearly these birds had a rough night. They set to cleaning every inch of the barn, neither Powder nor Ekko were lazy children. Ekko wheeled out a fourth load, humming some tune he picked up from Benzo, probably. Powder was near the back working through the muck, they were nearly finished. She went to shovel another heap of nasty wet bird shit when she heard the soft hiss.
She froze. Slowly, gripping her shovel, she looked up. There, clinging to the ceiling in the shadows, was a bluish lump. Its yellow eyes stared back at her, bristling. A terrible terror. It must have untied the gate. Somehow. Their paws were certainly dexterous enough...if they had the brains behind them. Her first instinct was to slap it with her shovel, turn the beast into a paste before it could lunge at her eyes. Its belly was bulging with chicken, but it looked incredibly skinny. The dragon trembled and hissed at her again. Powder frowned. It was just a starving, scared little animal.
Slowly, she lowered the shovel. “Hey little thing;” She murmured. It blinked at her. She crouched down and averted her eyes. “I wont hurt you, promise.” She said, keeping her voice quiet. If she could get it to trust her, maybe she could get it out before the adults saw it. She knew what people did to dragons on berk; the bloodstains were permanent on the arena walls. Her breath caught when she heard the shuffle and scrape of scales against rock. Her heart leapt into her throat when she felt the paws on her shoulders. A soft humming sound was coming from the dragon now; almost a purr but more, somehow. It tingled at the edges of her senses, and she felt…a pressure in her skull. It felt pleasant though; friendly. She slowly raised her head and glanced sideways into a toothy grin, a single large yellow eye meeting her own. “You’re very pretty.” She murmured. The pressure grew, and it felt pleased somehow.
She slowly stood, intending to walk the dragon outside. The dragon held on tighter, but didn’t spook, to her relief.

Then Little Man came back. The dragon snarled, and Ekko shouted “DRAGON” in alarm. “It’s okay, shes friendly!” Powder called, panicking. She didn’t question how she knew the dragon was a she. Ekko frowned and clutched his shovel tighter. “It’s a dragon Powder. They’re evil. Now don’t move, okay?” He raised the shovel. The little dragon screeched and lunged at him, at the same time Powder shouted “NO!” But it was too late.
The dragon flipped mid-air over the shovel and clawed at Ekkos face. He fell back with a shout, the animal was out the door, in flight, making her break for freedom. And then a net flew over her, and she fell the the ground with a scream of despair Powder somehow felt in her soul.
Bran was there. “Let her go.” Powder protested, as Ekko stood up just in time to grab her arm. Bran looked at her like she’d gone mad. “Its a dragon girl, and one who has a taste for chicken and opens doors at that. I think not. That fancy Piltover ship is here, and they always love live dragons, we can use this one as part of the tax. Neither of you are hurt?” They shook their heads. “Well best finish up yer work then.” He said cheerfully. Powder stared at the little dragon in despair as he dragged it off, likely to the arena, where all the live dragons on berk were kept. “Let me go Ekko, I’m going to go talk to my father.” He watched her go with a sigh. So much for “helping” muck the coop.

Vander, of course, was outraged. “You want me to release not only a dragon, but one that robbed us and attacked Benzos boy?” he growled, setting down the barrel of salted fish he’d been carrying. Mylo and Claggor were with him, as well as Violet, hauling barrels up the the Great Hall to be stored. Mylo snickered at her as he passed, rolling a barrel as he was too small to lift them. “She was starving and she didn’t hurt Ekko, she was just trying to-;” Powder started. “She?” Vander interrupted. Then he saw the tears welling up in her eyes and sighed. He knelt down.
“Listen, Powder. Those beasts will get into your head. They got into your mothers head too, and it almost got her killed many times. It did get her killed, in the end. You have to remember what they are. They are killers-” “But-” Powder started but he went on. “No, listen to me alright? They are killers. And they will kill whenever they can. It was tricking you because it was small and weak and knew it couldn’t beat you. You didn’t know any better, but now you do. Next time, don’t hesitate.”
Powder bit her lip, imagining slamming her blunt iron shovel into the little blue dragon, hearing its screech of pain, feeling its little ribs snap. She shuddered. Vander seemed to take this as a sign she understood the danger, and continued. “The tax crew will be on land tomorrow to collect and the beast will be gone. Worry about it no longer. Go find Ekko and wash yourselves up for supper, alright?”
Powder knew she had lost, and with a nod, sulked off.

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Violet knew her sister was weak. Powder was not only physically small and slender, but mentally soft. She thought of when she and Mylo demonstrated to the younger kids of the island how to kill a nadder. Mylo was faster, and used his speed to distract the monster, while Vi flanked it with her axe. The blood gushing from the body as the skull rolled. Hearing the retching from the benches and looking up to see her sister there, vomiting onto the stones, the other kids looking at her in disgust.
Except Ekko, of course, who was holding her bangs back. Good kid Ekko. But also weak. Children like them usually perished young in Zaun, especially the northern regions. But Powder had Vander and Violet to protect her. And Violet wouldn’t let anything happen to her little sister.

When she heard about the details of the dragon attack from Vander after his talk with Powder, she went to chop the little things head off herself. Claggor stopped her, reminding her of its value to the upcoming tax. It had been a piss poor harvest, and if it was not for Berks dragon killing and capturing prowess, and Piltovers disgusting obsession with dragon products, gladiator fights, and exotic pets, they would be absolutely fucked. A pretty blue terror would be worth a good deal to the rich snobs with their metal aviaries. So, grinding her teeth, she finished her tasks and made her way up to the great hall for super, no dragon blood to be seen on her axe.

Powder and Ekko were already at their usual bench in the corner. She got her bowl from today’s cooking staff; a good thick stew and a slice of bread. She knew it would get thinner as the winter progressed. Best to enjoy it now. The two kids where whispering at each other excitedly, the mornings events already forgotten. Must be nice. She plopped down and started eating. Claggor and Mylo joined them, announced by Mylo loudly commenting “Well well if it isn’t the jinx, getting into shit as usual.” As he plopped down. Violet was about to tell him off when Claggor slapped him upside the head for her. “Leave the kid alone, shes lucky she isn’t hurt as is.” He growled, before digging eagerly into his food. Mylo grumbled but shut up after a glance at Vi, who met his eyes coolly.

The damage was done though; one glance at Powder showed her silently sulking over her soup. Ekko frowned, looking between them all. He started up hesitantly. “The enforcer captain visited Benzos shop this morning.” Violet paused her eating. If Ekko was bringing this up, it was certainly interesting, and possibly important. “He uh, was looking at our axes, and he said he’d come back tomorrow with money; usual stuff. Benzo asked if he could carry it along with the tax haul demanded this year. And the guy…Marcus I think? He said all the men would be here except just a few guards.” “Whats the point, Little man?” She asked patiently, gears already turning. He had Mylo and even Powders attention now, though Claggor only cared for his bowl.
“Well if you came up from the north side of the bay…on a small boat…they’d never see you from shore on account of the angle. Bet all my gold the ‘guards’ will be drunk as hell. That’s a tax ship, the loot is probably insane.” Violet and Mylo met each-others eyes. They both grinned, and started to hatch a scheme.

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Powder waited till well after midnight to creep out the window of their house. She neatly slipped down the tiles, landing on her feet with a soft thump. The ground was terribly cold on her bare feet; so she slipped down to the forge and grabbed Ekkos spare boots.
She slipped in through the window. He was waiting for her, arms crossed. She froze. “Hey Little Man.” She mumbled.
“You’re gonna go free that dragon aren’t you.” he grumbled. “Yeahhhh.” She admitted. He huffed. “Fine. We better hurry though, there’s only a few hours till dawn.” She grinned and hugged him, bouncing up and down.

They slipped carefully along the wooden bridges spanning between the signature steep cliffs of the island. One patch of ice missed in the dark and they would be broken bones on the rocks.
The arena had a guard; it was far from the village, and held a lot of dangerous and valuable property; as such is was the area most at risk from pirates or thieves. Luckily he was blackout drunk. They slipped past him, and stared at the arena doors. They were solid iron. No way to see whats inside.
Obviously the terror would be in one of the smaller doors; but they could also contain cropped speed stingers, or even small gronkles.
“Pow we shouldn’t, we don’t know-” “Its this one.” she interrupted, tapping a small door. Something in her pulsed when she looked at it. A soft chirrup came from inside- a terrors call. Ekko sighed, but they cranked open the door. Sure enough, three little terrors slid out.
Ekko nervously backed up, drawing a dagger from his belt. Powder just giggled as the blue shimmied up her body and licked her ears. The other two soon followed when nothing happened to the blue, and Jinx gave a little spin, causing them all to trill in excitement. Ekko gaped. He slowly lowered the knife. Powder sighed, glancing at the setting moon and plucking the blue off her, holding the dragon up to her face.

“You all need to go. Fly far away from here.” It stared at her, eyes blank as it tried to process. Its wings twitched. “Confusion. No danger.” her brain hissed. She huffed, feeling a little crazy, and concentrated very hard. “Need to go, danger, fly.” She thought as hard as she could, picturing the action rather than using words. Terrors being shipped off in tiny cages or killed for hides, flying away before it happened. "Worry for hatchling" The voice whined, now very distressed. “I’m not in danger. You are.” She huffed, then tossed the dragon into the air. “Get out of here. Now.” They seemed to get the message, though they all looked sad for some reason. ‘I knew you for two minutes’. She thought to herself as the green one chirped at her before finally following the other two. She didn’t think about the fact she understood exactly what it was saying; “Goodbye”

“Let’s go home Ekko, I’m tired” she yawned. He nodded, looking at her all funny. “What?” she asked. “Nothing. Just. You’re pretty brave, Pow. And weird.” She giggled at him. “I was never in any danger, silly. Nothin’ brave about it.”
“Sure.” he said, knowing, as with most things, arguing this with Powder would be a loosing battle. And how much trouble they’d be in come dawn. Better to save his energy.

Chapter Text

Silco made his way through the winding passages of the pits, his second in command beside him, glaring at anyone they passed in the wide dragon tunneled walls. Located well hidden in the icy wasteland of Fjordur, the pit was once a dragon nest. Before Silco decided it would make a good base of operations. The volcanic activity under the pits-a trademark of any northern nest- kept the caves fairly warm, and the location was remote and near impossible to take by force. Not that any ships got close enough to spot the place and try.
Sevika was finalizing her debrief. She had been away for several months; playing the role of a merchant with one goal in mind.

"In short, sir, they are strong, but we have numbers and dragonfire. We could take then now; though we would suffer losses."

"And the girls?" He inquired, voice flat and silky.

"They are alive. Living with him, of course."

They arrived at a large metal door embedded in the wall. Sevika knocked, hard. A moment later the door opened, revealing a bald man, stooped, but only middle aged.
“Silco…” his soft voice murmured. “Come in, I was just making tea.” Silco loathed tea. Rich piltie leaf juice. But this man- ‘Singed’ is what he went by now- was a former resident of Piltover, and a renowned scientist at that. It was to be expected. Sevika waited outside, to ensure no one tried to listen in on his little meeting.
“You have made progress then?” Silco inquired, sipping his tea with the careful look of neutrality he generally wore. Behind them a rather dull and scrawny terror paced in a metal cage with thick glass walls. Singed and Silco had an understanding. Silco gave him whatever he required for his “work” into the study of immortality; and the man made him biological weapons. Shimmer was the result of work on both, a drug that allowed super strength, speed, and healing in its subject.
However until recently the drug proved fatal after a few hours. Singed smiled.
“Oh yes, I have managed to stabilize the compound.” He stood and went to a set of cages containing rats, giving a thoughtful hum as he plucked out a large black rodent that snuffled from his palm. The man plucked up a syringe, and holding the rodent firmly, injected it with a purple substance. He did not seem to mind when the rat bit him, tossing it through a small door in the cages side.
The terror sniffed excitedly, before recoiling in horror from the twitching black body. As Silco watched, the rat grew, purple veins creeping along its small body. It stood, and with a screech, attacked the dragon, tearing into it with savage teeth and nails. It was barely a fight, and dragon blood stained the glass, steaming.
“Of course there are some unfortunate side effects still. But nothing fatal. Scarring, deformations, rage. I am sure all can be ironed out with time-”
“No.” Silco interrupted. “The…perfection can wait. We have been rotting away in this…filth for nine years. I am not suggesting we attack Piltover directly…perhaps a test on a nearby island. We can use the dragons and the Shimmer, get a concept for how a larger battle may error.” Singed nodded thoughtfully.
“A wide scale test in a less controlled environment. This may prove useful to my research. Still, I would only use this compound on your more…expendable men, for now. I shall make more as the beasts allow.” Silco nodded. “Good. Will you be needing anything else from me?”
“A new terror. And more of the…deathgrippers did you call them? would be appreciated. I know they are a southern species and hard to find; but they only make so much of the venoms I require for shimmer per day.” Silco nodded again.
“I already have word through my channels, unfortunately they are quite difficult to capture, and I cannot afford to travel halfway across the world to get them myself. So we must both make due with what we have for now.” “Excellent. That will be all then.” The man turned back to his tea. ——————————————————————————- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Powder woke to Mylo and Vi bickering, as was typical. “I’m telling you she’ll just get in the way! There’s a reason half the town calls her a jinx, Vi. Remember the yaknog incident?” Mylo hissed.
“I know she struggles. And she’s never gonna learn this shit if we don’t help her.” Vi objected, pissed. Powder sat up with a yawn, rubbing her eyes. “I could just stand watch or something; then I wouldn’t be in the way.” She suggested. She really needed to be part of this mission; the goods on this ship might make up for what she did last night. “Compromise.” Mylo sighed, a long, dragging sound.
But all Vi did was nod and say “Get dressed.” The quietly pulled on their thick clothing, Powder slipped her little knife into its sheath. Vi slipped her axe onto her back. Mylo slipped on his bow, and even Claggor grabbed his mace. That’s when Powder realized how serious this mission was. “It’ll be okay.” She told herself, crawling after the others out the hatch and across the roof. “We’ll get these valuables off the ship, use them to replace what I stole, and everything will be fine.”
They crept along the village, and up into the pinewood. It was still dark, and bitterly cold, with merely a hint of gray on the horizon the only evidence the sun ever touched this godforsaken rock on the north seas.
They stumbled through the forest as quietly as they could in the dark. No one wanted to attract a boar, or worse, a stray dragon. Violet thought she saw a flash of blue in the canopy; but nothing attacked them so she supposed she was seeing things. ‘I need to calm down’ She told herself grimly. There was a small cave, one of hundreds on the island, on the side of the bay they finally reached, as a hint of blue was lighting up the sky.
The people of Berk kept small boats in many of these caves, pulled up out of the reach of storms, and replaced every few years to prevent rot. It was a precautionary measure against invasion. If all was lost, they could flee. A dark concept, but this was Zaun, and Berk, while difficult to invade due to it’s cliffs and ice, was a small village.
They pulled out a small rowboat, and shoved in into the bay. Then they waited for the horn. One long blast, which would signify important visitors had landed on the docks. Then they would move. Powder bounced nervously, Vi sharpened her axe. Mylo and Claggor argued about long distance combat being cowardly. Powder thought that was stupid; what was cowardly about not dying because your enemy couldn’t hit you? But she didn’t interject. Mylo wouldn’t appreciate her input. The sun was cresting the ocean, turning the cave orange, when the horn rang. Three short blasts. Invading force. The children stared at each other in varying states of horror. Then they started running back for the village, all plans of wealth and glory forgotten.
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Ekko didn’t get to sleep that night. He was a bundle of dread, between helping Powder free dragons, and sending Vi off to rob a Piltover ship. He was such a idiot. Why couldn’t he keep his mouth shut. He sighed, hearing Benzo moving around out in the shop, and crawled out of his little room.
The sun was just hitting the village, shinning in through the large shuttered window of the main forge. It was always pretty warm in the shop; the constant heat of the furnace kept it warmer than most of the little houses on Berk.
The smithy was one of the most important buildings on the island, and as such it was made mostly of cut stone, which while difficult to produce, helped protect it from dragonfire. As such, it was also one of the oldest buildings on Berk, and showed its age in the cracked mossy stones. “You look like the dead, boy.” Benzo commented as he dragged himself to the forge to warm his hands.

Ekko groaned in response. “Couldn’t sleep.”

“Happens to us all sometimes, eh.” Benzo nodded, a faraway look in his eyes for a moment, before he shook his head and smiled. He ruffled Ekkos short white hair. “I’ll be gone today, I have to help Vander deal with the tax collector goons. You stay here and away from the main parts of the village, alright? They’ll be crawlin’ all over the place and lookin’ for an excuse to bully someone half their size. Or a quarter, in your case.”

“I’m not THAT small!” Ekko protested. (While in fact, being that small.)

“Course not, but all the same.”

Ekko sighed. “I’ll stay here.”

“Thanks lad.”

Just then Vander burst in. He was a great hulk of a man, and very hard to shake. So when Ekko saw the look of fear in his eyes, his heart skipped a beat, then promptly resumed frantically. “My kids are missin’. All of em. And a fishing boat just came to dock. They spotted a fleet of metal boats. Movin’ towards berk. They have dragons flyin’ overhead. With the ships.
As if it was waiting for the news to be conveyed, three blasts sounded from the islands great horn. Invading force.
The world really went to hell after that.
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Jayce Tails was having a bad day.
He awoke to the grand news via the mail that the ship carrying his newest shipment of hex crystals had vanished into the north sea on its taxation rounds. Apparently the island where it was supposedly going was burned to ash, with not even a corpse left to provide evidence of what happened. A storm had hit not long after, washing away anything small they might have found. Tough luck.
The investigation had concluded a mass scale dragon attack; dragons rarely ate humans, but the north sea winters were harsh, and exceptions could be made.
He then got so distracted studying his current stock-several small crystals from common dragons, and one very volatile crystal ball, supposedly from a skrill- that he was late to his lessons, and forgot to eat his breakfast; so he was quite hungry and a tad distracted, as he talked to young Caitlyn Kiriman.
The Kiriman family were one of the most ancient and wealthy families in the capitol city of Piltover, and Jayces sponsors. Jayce himself was an orphan; he never knew his father, and his mother perished in a snowstorm. The only reason he survived said storm himself was because of a mysterious dragon controlling mage. The mage dropped him off outside the city; where he was picked up by Lady Kiriman herself a few weeks later, after they had a talk on the street in regards to mechanics.

She found potential in him, and paid for his university tutelage under the finest in the Isles; Professor Heimerdinger. The man was short and old, but intelligent. Heimerdinger sadly had been forced to attend an emergency council meeting that morning, something to do with the burned island in fact, leaving both his students scheduled for the day with each other for company.
This was how Jayce found himself leading a young Kiriman to his apartment to grab his lab keys, which he tragically forgot. (Heimerdinger usually let him into the lab). Cait was on about some new technology called “gunpowder” from Noxus and how it was going to change the world. He was interested, he was just also hungry and frustrated, which made him a poor conversationalist.
Perhaps he could also make a quick lunch. They climbed two flights of stairs and trod down a hallway before entering his rooms. Caitlyn had never been here before, despite having met Jayce multiple times as the daughter of his sponsor.
“I’m going to make a sandwich, do you want one?” He asked. Cait was looking around his living room, but she glanced over at him when he spoke.
“Yes please.” She said, in that typical high class accent. He nodded and went into his kitchen to throw together some meat, cheese, and bread for them both.He was just regretting not asking if Caitlyn liked any condiments when the side of his home exploded.

It was about then he realized he really should have warned Caitlyn to not go into his study. Jayce rushed out, to find the girl on the floor. Breathing. His case of hex crystals was open, and a large one-from a skrill if he recalled correctly, was on the ground, sizzling. Cait groaned and looked up at him through blurry eyes. He cursed and scooped the girl up as shouts of alarm rang out below them. Jayce ran outside, where enforcers were already arriving to the scene on their large horses. “She needs medical attention.” He shouted at the nearest one.
The man took Cait without question, and wheeled around towards the hospitals. Immediately he began his stride back inside. “What happened here?” A officer with a silver badge approached him. “The girl got too close to some dangerous materials…it was my fault, ma’am.” He admitted. “I forgot to tell her not to wander.” The woman was of course, not satisfied, and demanded to see the scene. Illegal dragon crystals and all.
Jayce never saw himself in chains…then again he supposed that’s what happens when you break the law and almost kill a council woman’s daughter. Assuming Cait was alive. She hadn’t had any serious visible injuries, but there could have been something internal. He shuddered in horror. How could he have been so careless. As he was gently placed into a cell, he decided that surely it could not get any worse.
He still had not even eaten.
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Violet wanted to run at full speed for her village. Her people were in danger. While it was unlikely any ships spotted could’ve landed by now, this did nothing to settle the anxiety in her stomach. Violet had only heard three blasts once before in her life. It had been a very nasty and long winter, and a large ship of pirates decided Berk would be easy pickings after their long hunger. Ten of her people had died in the fight. Vander had been injured, a long scratch down his arm. Unfortunately Violent couldn’t go any faster, because Powder and Claggor were too slow.

When they finally breached the tree line the village was in uproar, prepping weapons, donning gear. She looked out to the bay and knew then and there that they were doomed. ‘How did we never know this many ships were coming?!’ She wondered, heart pounding even harder somehow. At least twenty ships were in their harbor, metal siding gleaming in the morning light. However the worst thing was the dragons. She could see them, floating in circles above the ships, not attacking. Following. Like trained dogs.
“Stay close.” She ordered her siblings. For once even Mylo didn’t argue, a grim silence lining all their features. She found Vander by his loud booming voice, shouting orders into the twisting crowd. When he spotted them his shoulders slumped in relief. He didn’t waste time scolding them or asking where they’d been. Instead he scooped Powder into a hug, and patted his boys on the back, before looking to Violet.
“Glad to see you safe. Now go pack food and supplies.”

Violet frowned. “What?”

“I’m sending all the children and those who cannot fight out to the Craig via the south bay. We’re going to hold them off as long as we can to give the weak a head start, then follow after. Hopefully you will be able to escape safely.”

“We aren’t leaving you!” Claggor shouted before Violet could voice her own protests.

“We can fight. We’re not children.” Mylo added, gesturing to his bow.

Powder stayed silent, looking at the ground. Her fists were clenched. Vander frowned. “And who is going to look after the children and the weak until I manage to get back?” He asked. Violet met his eyes.

“Come on. Lets go pack.” She said calmly.
The boys gaped at her, but they shut up and followed. As soon as they got into the hut Violet turned. “Alright. We pack and pretend to leave, then double back to help. We aren’t leaving dad.”

“What about Powder?” Mylo asked, sounding worried and sincere for once. Violet looked over at Powder. Her sister. Her only thing left of their mother.

“Powders going with the evacuating group.”

“What??!” Powder squeaked. Violet could see the panic in her eyes and her heart clenched. “You can’t ditch me! I'm coming too I can help-”

“No.” Violet interrupted.

The boys started to pack their bags, trying to avoid the upcoming fight. She looked down. How to handle this…“I need you to sit this one out, Powder. You’re not coming.”

“I want to help-”

“You’re not ready for this!” Violet snapped, her fear lacing her voice. She immediately regretted it as tear welled in Powders vision. “Look, fighting people isn’t like fighting dragons. And-” She stopped. It went unsaid. Powder had never killed a dragon. She couldn’t even kill a little one.

Powder lowered her head. “Okay.”

Mylo cleared his throat. “We’re packed.”

Violet nodded and grabbed her bag from Claggor, slinging it over her shoulder and unsheathing her axe from her back. “Lets move then.”

They followed the evacuation group out. Mostly children and teenagers, with a few pregnant women and elders too frail to fight. The village healer was there as well, clutching her curled staff, and two guards, big burly fighting men. Her fathers men. Fighting had already started on the docks far below. A dragon swooped overhead, breathing fire on the houses. A long arrow in its wing joint sent it screaming to the ground. A woman- Jess- ran up and, dodging its fire, slashed off its head with a few swift chops of her broadsword. Its body spammed and bubbling dragons blood pooled on the cobblestone. Powder twitched next to her.

They made their way at the back of the group into the forest, trying to ignore the battle behind them. Vi ensured Powder was with Ekko, giving the kid a firm shoulder pat. And then her and the others faded into the woods. They stuck their packs behind a log, just in case, and raced back to the battle. ——————————————————————————-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Powder stopped to watch her siblings melt into the trees behind the group. Vi gave her one last smile before they vanish. Ekko turns and follows her gaze.

“Where are they going…?” He asks.

“Dunno…bet Mylo dropped something again. You go ahead, and I’ll go ask them.” The lie came casual as breathing.

Ekko looked from her to the retreating group nervously. “I’m not gonna let you go off alone in the woods during an invasion, Powder.” He hissed.

She bit her lip. “Okay.” She mumbled. Then she socked him in the jaw like Vi taught her. She didn’t stick around long enough to notice he didn’t get up.
——————————————————————————-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Silcos attack on Berk had gone exceptionally well thus far. The dragons had ensured their approach was nearly invisible; he allowed the shipping vessel to forewarn them just a little. He suspected Vander would evacuate the children given the chance, and while Silco was more than willing to kill children; he would rather avoid pointless slaughter.
A Piltover tax ship had been in the harbor as a little treat. He ordered one of his spare ships to sack it, kill everyone on board, and burn it.
The docks and the sheer cliffs might’ve proven obstacle…if he couldn’t simply send in soldiers on the dragons. It was clumsy, and some fell off the beasts, but soon those holding the stairways and platforms up to the village were hounded on both fronts.
The dragons lit the town on fire while they were at it. The shimmer infused troops tore through the ranks, ignoring arrow, stab, and even dismemberment. The recent generations of Berk were more experienced at fighting dragons than men; the dragon airforce fell impressively fast.
But the shimmer force and Silcos sheer numbers were damning for them. One by one they fell, and both red and purple blood filled the muddy snow-slush between the burning houses. Shame to see such carving skill go up in flames; he reflected as he walked along.
His personal guard were not shimmer infused; but he had every confidence in the men and women he picked. Sevika was by his right side. And a large dull eyed gray dragon was on his left. Best to always have an escape plan, even if confident in victory.
He finally arrived at the the Great Hall. Memories. The remaining soldier force of Berk were apparently holed up inside. Clever positioning, though it wouldn’t save them. He waited patiently as his men and his enemies fell, until finally the great doors were breached.
Silco called the soldiers back, and strolled in himself with his own guard. Vander was inside, as expected, with only four people left beside him.One woman’s arm dangled uselessly at her side. Vander himself was bleeding from multiple locations.

“Well well, if it isn’t the Bear of the Isles” He drawled.

The man watched him approach with a glare. “I thought you were dead.” He spat.

Silco chuckles. “Despite your best efforts, I survived. You will not.”

Vander spat a wad of blood. “Leave my people out of this, Silco. This is our fight; though I doubt you’ll fight fair either way.You always were a weak man."

Silco tilted his head. Desperate and trying to bait me. How the mighty have fallen. “Poor Vander; always trying to play the savior, but never willing to do what it takes to truly defend your people. Never willing to sacrifice. Kill them all.”
His people moved in. The fight was going well; he lost a few soldiers, but this was the fighting force of Berk after all, Silco would expect nothing less from Vander and Felicia’s breeding. Slowly but surely they fell, the last being a rather fat man with a hook for a hand that Silco vaguely recalled from a past life. Benzo, was it? He made good swords. Just as his men were moving in for the kill, a trio of teenagers decided to burst in and ruin all his fun. Typical.
They fought impressively well, his men were falling rapidly, to arrows and axe, mace and fist, as Vander himself grabbed a man by the throat, snatching a purple syringe from his belt before putting his sword through the mans belly. Without hesitation he injected himself with it.
Vander always had been deceptively intelligent for his girth and manner of speech. Silco sighed as his woulds healed and he began laying into more of the guard. This truly was dragging on. He recognized one of the children as well. Pink hair was quite rare in Zaun; bright hair was a characteristic of Ionian people, and precious few of them would leave their peaceful and bountiful lands. Such a shame to kill a child of Felicia. But it was the way of things he supposed.

Sevika vanished from his side and returned with ten shimmer infused soldiers from outside. The four backed against a wall, they were panting and shaking from the exhaustion of the fight. The skinny boy appeared to be out of arrows, and pulled a dagger from his belt. A blue terrible terror, almost glowing in color, fluttered overhead with a chirp. Silco did not recall permitting dragons inside aside from his very well broken grey. He turned to Sevika, only to see her scrunching her eyebrows in confusion at the tiny dragon. And then the hall burst into flames.
——————————————————————————------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Powder didn’t know what to do. She hadn’t really planned ahead when she ran back towards the fighting, back to her family. She had frozen at the treeline, staring at a scene worse than her worst nightmares. It seemed the fighting had moved to just outside the great hall. The people of Berk seemed to be making for the cover of the rock, which would be more defensible, but had no exits. ‘They’ll be trapped.’ She frowned. Vander knew better.

He must have given up hope of escape… A inquisitive chirp above her head caught her attention and she looked up. “Blue!!” She said, half happy and half exasperation. The little dragon bounced out of the tree and glided down to her shoulder. She absently scratched under her chin. Her brain started ticking.
“Do dragons do deals?” She asked the terror. It looked at her questioningly. No time to try to communicate. She thought grimly, and began racing for the arena. She tried to not look too hard at the corpses already starting to bloat in the streets.
Racing across the bridges was idiotic, she knew, but there wasn’t time to be careful. The terror tried to balance on her bouncing shoulder at first, but quickly gave up and shot into the air to tail her from above. At one point a massive red dragon of a breed Powder had never seen before flashed overhead; but it either didn’t see her or had other priorities. It felt like she ran forever, but truly within ten minutes she was at the area, gasping for air.
——————————————————————————- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cloud-who-jumps could smell the blood, and with his very keen hearing, could pick up the screams from the village. He paced in his tiny rock prison, spikes bristling along his spine in agitation. And worst off all he could feel the pressure.
The mass of a mind far greater than his, close. Terribly close. A nest lord. A bad nest lord-ordering dragons to fight with humans against their wills. The Lord didn’t pay them any mind, and they weren’t his, so Cloud could still think for himself; but the urges and the pressure was horrible. Something was very wrong here; worse than usual. He could hear the other dragons snarling and scratching at their walls with fear and rage. He tried to hum to them, to soothe them, but they wanted blood and sky and fighting and fleeing. All of them were the more simple minded species; Spike-cousins, two-heads, rock-cousins, a flame-cousin.
There had been little cousins last night-clever creatures always good for conversation-but someone had let them out. Let them go free. He wished they’d let him out too.
Cloud regretted visiting berk; after his rider had passed, he had been filled with delirious grief, and decided to visit her home and see if he could find her hatchlings she liked to talk about so much. Sadly the people of Berk were both clever and hostile, and had managed to chain him. It was a mighty fight. Cloud had killed two in the conflict despite being weighted down by heavy rope-and-stone-balls. His short muzzle and large size made it very hard for them to get his mouth shut.
Once it was, he surrendered. No point with no claws-to-tear or fire-to-blow or wings-to-fly.
They had managed to put him to sleep somehow, and he woke up here, in the dark.
Footsteps, human. He froze. Wing-beats, terror.

A chirp of "Here!" and a scratch at his metal door.

“This one?” A small voice asked. “Alright. Hope you know what you’re doing Blue.”

A good deal of heaving and panting, and slowly, so slowly, his gate opened. He slid out into another, larger cage, and felt some despair then. At least in this one he could see the sky, he supposed.
A sneeze. Human. He looked down, tilting his head. A little thing, he noted. Hatchling? Its hair was blue, brighter than his riders. It looked up at him.

“Hi there.” It said, fear in its voice. “I’m uh, I’m Powder.”

Powder…blue hair…small…excitement stirred in his chest. Could this be one of Fell’s hatchlings? The terror he’d heard landed on his crest with a greeting-call.

“Little-friend Blue-Scales.” He acknowledged her softly.

“Cloud-who-Jumps.” The little one greeted. “Hatchling there Blue-Head need help-fight enemy nest. She let all fire-kin go if help her. You big-smart, make the others listen?”

She conveyed cheerfully. So it was a hatchling. And the hair… he bent down and gave the little blue thing a good sniff. His nose wasn’t a strong one but he swore he smelled Fell.

“Help.” He agreed solemnly.

It was a minor hassle to get the other kin under control. Dragons always kept their word, but Cloud was no nest-lord or elder to push others around. However he was large, and clever, and that proved enough. One by one the blue-head let them out. The rock-kin were easy, always calm and mellow creatures. The spike-kin were happy to help if it meant they could fly. He had to bite the big red cousin into submission after it tried to eat the hatchling, misunderstanding who it agreed to follow. A two-heads-cousin licked the hatchlings face cheerfully when she released them, and she giggled.

He hissed orders, and the little blue squeaked as the two heads scooped it up and dropped it on Clouds back. “Uhh sorry big dude I did not mean to jump you like that let me just slide on down-” He turned his head around to look at her “WOAH was not expecting that” she finished, gaping.

He stared at her and slowly shook his head. “You…want he up here?” A nod. “Okay then…” Most dragons carried their small hatchlings on their backs, and Cloud himself was used to a human sized weight, so he did not think much of it. He supposed this hatchling was not used to his kind, perhaps that was why she was so nervous. “Uhm okay, we really need to get out there and save my family, they weren’t doing very well when I left and its been like half an hour. We’re looking for a girl with pink hair. The others should be there.”

He nodded again and turned back to hiss the conveyed orders to his new little pack. They crawled out -or waddled in the gronkles case- the arena door, and took flight. The nadders did a few barrel rolls of joy as they gained altitude. The think on his back was muttering to herself. Something about the “ground being really fucking far away” and “I hope they actually help me and aren’t just going to eat me later.” Spoken at Blue-scales, who was casually perched on his crest-horns.
The group banked towards the human-nest and located a mass of humans and dragons outside a cave. They seemed to be working together, the dragons heads bowed, eyes blank, scales dull. The bad-call-nest lord. He thought grimly.
“Those are all enemy soldiers…they must be inside!!” Powder said frantically.

He turned to the two-heads. “Gas and fire enemy-nest. Red-cousin with me dragon-fight. Spike-cousins rock-cousins into cave find pink-head-nest-mate-family.”

They agreed, and did as bidden. Humans were starting to spot them now, pointing and shouting. But it was too late. The two-heads slipped down, breathing gas across the mass of soldiers. Then shooting a spark casually as they tilted back up into the sky, setting off a burning explosion through the mass of flesh. Many humans fell, screaming. The weird-purple ones seemed more fragile to the flames, he noted. Of course the flames did not do anything to the dragons. They snarled enemy, and began taking to the air. He used the time of gas and flame to dump the hatchling away from the fighting, ordering the blue to stay with her. The hatchling protested, but this was no time for bickering, and he was away in seconds.
He and fire-cousin fought the gray strange-cousins. There were some familiar cousins as well; spikes and two-heads. There were dozens of them. Cloud spit fire and bit and used his extra wings to maneuver in unique patterns. The nest-raiders were slow and stupid for dragons, but they did not submit and flee like normal dragons would when beaten. Instead they kept fighting. Their nest lord commanded them to fight, so they fought.
Cloud didn’t want to kill them. But he did. Over. And over. Cloud was loosing, he knew. His wings were torn, and his leg was weeping from a bite-wound. Nadder quills stuck out of him at odd angles. The fire-cousin was on fire, and snapping without hesitation through the others-tearing wing joints and clawing out eyes and ripping into necks. He was a dragon fighting species, and was happily in his element. However one of the grays managed to get his long neck, and their crushing jaws did the rest.
The two-heads tried to help where they could, but they were fishing dragons, and slow fliers besides. It was all they could do to stay alive and in the air. Suddenly they froze and gaped, blankly. And then the Voice found him. Its focus was on him, at least partially. He screamed and began to flee aimlessly. Nononono. He would not server the bad nest-lord. He had a nest lord, Good-white, who did not make dragons fight and serve humans and fed and cared for his people. He would not submit to this. He was not aware when he crashed, twitching, upon the beach.
The gray took him, in the end. It was too powerful to fight. But it saw his injures, deemed him worthless, and simply left him on the beach, a vacant mind.
—————————————————————————--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Violet knew they couldn’t last much longer. They came to get their dad and escape; but they were trapped, and the man before them -Silco, Vander had called him- seemed to have an infinite number of expendable goons to throw at them until they fell. She split head after head on her axe. By now she was coated in blood, and it made the floor dangerously slick around them. And then the dragons burst in.
The man seemed as surprised as they were, before the woman beside him loaded him onto the gray dragon and smacked it like a horse. It took off towards the exit, narrowly dodging a flight of nadder quills. And then the dragons were on them all. Fire and quills and teeth and claws.
Mylo went first, nadders claws through his chest. Then Claggor was crunched in a gronkles teeth, his body separating in half, before the gronkle spit him out. Then Vander, under a pile of gronkles, all tearing and snapping. Strangely none of them seemed interested in her. They dodged her attacks and skirted around her, chirping in confusion. She still managed to kill three of them.
And then suddenly it was over. All the dragons went slack. Eyes blank. Frozen. She started to lunge forward, to finish them off, when she heard a quiet little voice.

“Vi?” She froze. Turned. Powder was there, coated in soot. That fucking dragon was on her shoulder again.

“What are you doing here Powder?” She gasped in horror. This was a warzone, why was her little sister here, her family was all dead oh gods-

“I got the dragons to save you!” Powder said happily.

Powder was looking past Violet now, at the corpses behind her. Her eyes were blank, the smile still on her face. Like it didn’t know when it wasn’t wanted. “No-” she whispered.

“To-” Violet looked back at the blank eyed dragons. The dragons that stopped right before Powder entered. “YOU did this??” She hissed. “YOU SET THESE MONSTERS ON US?" She suddenly had Powders face clutched in her hand. Powder was sobbing, muttering “nononono” like a mantra. Like it would fix a fuckup this monumental. “Mylo was right.” She hissed. “You really are a Jinx.” She dropped Powder to the ground.
Violet couldn’t think. Couldn’t breathe. She was running, running, crying, gasping. Past corpses, past the houses in flames, into the forest. ——————————————————————————-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Silco found Sevika first, when he entered the rubble. The invading dragons had been subdued; he had watched the ones outside patiently until the Beast subdued them under his order. He did not know how the Beast always knew what he wanted the dragons to do, but it could always be counted on to obey.
Sevika was absent half an arm, charred off at the elbow. Luckily this had stopped the bleeding, or she would certainly be deceased. A few other men stirred in the rubble. He had them evacuated to the medical unit immediately, and ordered his people to search for any other survivors. Loosing Sevika would be a severe blow if it occurred. But he could not think on that now.

He had to address the sobbing, crumpled up girl in the back of the hall. A blue dragon was on her shoulder, eyes blank but still stubbornly clutching on, and her hair was blue too, a lovely shade. He knew who she was immediately. He knelt down before her, carefully hiding a dagger behind his back, just in case. He did just burn this child’s village to the ground, after all.

“Hello little girl.” He started, awkwardly. Silco had no concept of how to address children. “Where is your sister?” There was an absence of pink hair amongst the corpses. The girl sniffled. Then she lunged at him. The knife clattered to the ground. Tiny arms wrapped around his waist. He nearly gasped. She sniffled, gasping. And then a fragile, watery voice from his chest.

“She left me…she is not my sister anymore.”

A breath. He was painfully aware in that moment. Of the hard cold stone beneath him, the fires sputtering along the wooden support beams and tables, of the soldiers watching him, of the blank eyed dragons.

And then slowly, hesitantly, he wrapped his arms around her, held her tight and close. “It’s okay.” He murmured, soft, gentle. In a way he had long forgotten. He looked past her, at the quiet dragons and the quieter corpses. At the large dead man on the stone. “We will show them. We will show them all.”
If his people waiting outside the former hall of Berk questioned their boss emerging from the cave, dragons on either side, cradling a sobbing little girl in his arms, they certainly didn’t show it. He walked past them and paused. “Clean up this mess, I want as little evidence for the Piltover militia as possible.” They nodded, and he resumed his stroll, down to the sea, and the monsters he belonged with.

Chapter Text

The north sea was cold and unforgiving. With Vander and the vast majority of Berks warriors dead, and their supplies taken, the remainder of Berk were in a severely dangerous situation. 
Vi still recalled that day in vivid detail. How she had reached the ships, some already cast into the bay and sailing off to sea, and realized she left her sister. How she’d turned, to go back, to save Powder, only to be grabbed by Bran. “She’s dead. Anyone left back there is dead.” He said coolly. “These kids? They’re alive and they need us now.” She got on the ship.
They found the little island, a cropping of rock with some grass and caves. The ships were hauled into the crevices, the people hidden in the caves amongst the stones. Like animals. 
Vi and the others able and trained soon turned to unsavory measures of survival. Vander had told her stories of their ancestors, before Piltover and taxation and suppression. When her people boarded longships in the warm months, and went about the seas plundering and burning until their ships were low in the water, returning home with wealth and food.
Vikings. He had called them. How he’d laugh to see them now. They only attacked ships from Piltover, and they tried to avoid killing anyone in the crossfire. Tried. Vi killed and killed and killed. 
For her people. She told herself grimly before each battle. They just needed to survive till spring, when the oceans would calm and they could attempt to reach one of their allied islands. 
She was certain Oswald would accept them. Berkians were hard workers. 
Eventually their crimes caught up to them, however. As she was hauled below deck of a Piltover pirate hunting ship, bloodied and bruised, and tossed into a iron cell, she sent a silent prayer to the Gods for her people.
No mortal would help them now. 
——————————————————————————-
Ekko woke up tasting mud. Probably because his face was in the dirt. He groaned, head throbbing, and rolled over onto his back. 
Everything slowly came back to him. The invasion. The evacuation. Powder punching him. 
He dragged himself up slowly. The trees all looked the same here. He didn’t really leave the village often, the woods were dangerous and he was a blacksmiths apprentice, not a hunter or a fighter.
But he needed to get home now. He was very worried about his people. Benzo…Violet…Vander…Powder…Claggor…even Mylo. Were they alright? Did they win? Did they get away? Were they all-No. No they were fine. Nothing could kill Vander, and Benzo had been by Vander’s side when he sent Ekko off. He was sure now Violet and the boys had been going back to help Vander. So they had been close to him too. And Powder…he swallowed, throat suddenly horribly dry.
Swaying a little, he simply picked a direction. And started walking. 
Time passed, he spooked a deer. He drank from a clear stream, little minnows dodging his cupped fingers.
The forest was damp, and covered in mosses. Thick spruce and pine swayed lazily above his head,birds fluttering between the branches, eyes up for dragons rather than concerned with the little boy underneath them.
It was a oddly warm day, and the snow was melting into a slush that led him to frequent slips. He was soon coated in mud.
Eventually he made it to the coast, looking down into a unfamiliar bay. Fear spiked in him as he saw the corpse of a large gray dragon below, bloody sand caked around it as though there had been a struggle. It was curled into a ball. He made to retreat into the forest, then paused.
Maybe if he followed the coast he’d eventually get back to the village. Plus Berk usually kept a few small boats and supplies in every bay, he reflected as his stomach gurgled.
There were thick dark clods moving overhead as well, he noticed. He would need to find some sort of shelter soon.
This certainly had nothing to do with how much he was thinking about Powder right now.
He scrambled down the cliff, panting, and slipped across the sand.
——————————————————————————-
Cloud-Jumper knew he was going to die. His injuries weren’t fatal. They had yet to be infected, and all his people knew to clean wounds in the salt-water to prevent such dangers.
However he would die anyway, because he could not fly and hunt, had no pack-mates to help him, and he needed food to heal. He would starve, here on the beach, surrounded by cliffs and sea.
He desperately wanted to return to Good-White. He needed to warn his Nest-lord. But he could not. He curled to preserve his bodies warmth, and despaired.
Time passed. He slept and woke and slept.
And then footsteps. Human. He stayed still. Perhaps he could eat it. He had never eaten a human before; nor desired too. But he was quite hungry. It drew closer shuffling. 
And the Cloud-Jumper shot up with a snarl and pinned it to the sand, pushing through his pain- only to see a tiny brown hatchling staring up at him, all wide eyed terror and frantic struggling. 
He huffed and let it go, turning away and curling back into a ball.
He was not desperate enough to kill a hatchling, nor would he ever be. Cloud closed his eyes and pictured a human with dark blue hair and smiling eyes.
Quiet, then shuffling. The sliding of sand.
And then a tiny, warm human paw on his shoulder. 
“Hey there big scary dragon.” It murmured. “What happened to you?”
Cloud-who-Jumps huffed. 'Not much. Just fought to the death against over a dozen enemies for a human I had just met because she might have been my friends hatchling. You?'
But he knew this human wouldn’t understand him, so he did not bother speaking. 
The feet shuffled off, and then came back several minutes later. 
Cloud reluctantly turned to see the hatchling setting down many hide and cloth bags of human items. He walked off, and came back many times with sticks.
The little thing seemed to be struggling to light them, so Cloud helped him with a tiny jet of flame. 
“Woah.” The boy said, gaping at the blazing inferno where his damp driftwood pile had been. But he recovered quickly, siting two pots of water on the flames. One smelled very tasty.
“There isn’t much in these bags but let’s see what we can do. Don’t eat me.”
And then Cloud found his wounds being tended, hot saltwater dipped rags scrapping out the sand, before tying cloth over the worst of his injuries. Quills being plucked from his skin. It hurt, but it felt nice. He found himself thinking of Fell, tending his wounds after their battles against the Enslaving ones who stole his people away. 
He rumbled out a steady dragon-purr as the human worked, rolling over obligingly as he nudged and pushed. 
“Your leg looks like shit. I don’t think it will heal quite right.” He commented after they had finished. He was sipping on a bowl of the fish-and-water he had made, as Cloud slurped the rest directly out of the pot. A mouthful, but quite good. Cloud had developed a liking to how humans burned their food many years back.
Cloud shrugged, one of many human gestures he had picked up.
A crippled leg was far better than a wing or tail, at least for a species like him. He would still be able to fly and walk.

“We have to get you off this beach though, it’s going to storm. There’s a nice cave up the coast a little bit.”

The hatchling was right. It would be foolish to die on a beach after all the effort they put in.
So with a huff of effort, he stood up, using his under-wings and good leg to support his weight, and stared expectantly. 

“Lead the way tiny thing.” He chittered.

“Oh. I’m starting to think you understand me.” The boy laughed nervously.

Cloud rolled his eyes skyward.

“Shit. You understand me??” He squeaked. 

Cloud gave him a slow, deliberate nod.

“Gods above, that's pretty cool.” The little thing paused. “Can all dragons understand people?” He asked nervously. 

Cloud shook his head.

“Oh good. Anyways I’m Ekko.” The hatchling continued as they shuffled along the beach. The wind was rising, sending sand whipping across the beach. The waves began to rise. 

Ekko, Cloud learned, was from Berk, and did not know what happened in the nest-war, as the blue-head Fells-daughter had apparently knocked him out. 
Cloud chortled a little, and Ekko squeaked that it wasn’t funny! He was still very mad about it! Which just made him chortle harder. 
However as Cloud finally dragged himself into the cave,curling in the corner out of the wind, the boy had gone quiet. “I hope Benzo and the others are okay.” He murmured, staring out at the raging sea.
Cloud knew that anyone from Ekkos nest was likely dead or gone with their new nest-lord. Such was the way of nest-fights.
And if the hatchlings scent-the sadness leeched off of him-was anything to go by, Ekko knew too. 
But he simply slid out a wing and pulled the hatchling to his side, curling around him. Humans got cold, and dragon-hide was always warm, if not very soft. The little one didn’t protest, simply leaning against him and making the sad noises Fell used to make on some of the longer, colder nights. Soon, the child was asleep.
——————————————————————————-
The last six months of Powder’s existence had been a living hel. First she killed her entire family in a day. Using the monsters who killed her mother, who Vander always warned her against.
She had told Silco Violet was missing, and he’d reported that the scouts had found her dead hours ago and tossed her in the pyre with all the other corpses.
He seemed oddly upset about it, for a man who just killed most of an island.
Then she tried to adjust to being the only child in a fleet of warships full of hardened Zaunite criminals, and considerably calmer- but still dangerous-dragons. 
He little blue friend had ran off the moment the Beast let go of her mind. Powder had been a bit hurt, but she understood. Dragons were not treated nicely on Silcos ships.
They were fed well, and any non crippling wounds were tended, but they were ultimately tools, forced to obey, enslaved by the massive monster below the ships, in the water, pulling them along at massive speed with the chains attached to its tusks. 
It was the Monster that kept them in a line, a massive gray sea dragon below. She had yet to see anything of him but his back, sliding below the surface. But she could feel him, a soft steady buzzing in her skull.
Silco warned her that the thing was incredibly dangerous, and that she must stay far away from it. Silco loathed dragons, she learned. They were merely a weapon for him and he avoided them most of the time.
Powder stayed close to Silco, mostly. He seemed to like her, and no one else here did. They all just glared and her and sent her on her way if she tried to talk to them. 
Sevika, Silcos right hand woman, seemed to especially hate her, when she trailed Silco down to her cabin on one of his visits.
Powder supposed that was fair. She was technically why Sevika was sporting a mace for an arm, had scars across her face, and almost had died.
Silco had been very impressed by her control of the dragons. He asked her alot of questions about it, which she tried to answer. 

“I wasn’t in control or you’d be dead instead of my family.” She thought, but she ate up the compliments anyways.

Most nights she woke up screaming and couldn’t get back to sleep. She didn’t eat much either. Food just didn’t taste good anymore. Sometimes she would suddenly smell the stench of blood and charred flesh, and then she’d vomit what she did eat. 
Usually over the railing, but once she did it right onto Silcos desk by accident.
He had simply picked her up and held her as she cried about it.
She lost weight, and grew pale and sickly. As she grew weaker she got quieter, and stiller. The crew started calling her “Silcos ghost” when they thought she wasn’t listening. 
The man himself was starting to look worried about her. Silly. She should’ve died with her siblings. She should be a ghost. Maybe she would be soon. She giggled at the thought. 
One day she couldn’t get out of bed. She tried, but her limbs just refused to move her. So she lay there, breathing shallowly. She was terribly cold.
She drifted in and out of sleep; she couldn’t seem to stay awake for once. She saw Mylo and Claggor with maggots wriggling out of their empty eye-sockets as they grasped at her with rotting stinking limbs. Another time it was Vander having his intestines ripped out by a dragon Powder sent to save him, a smile on their face as they met Powders eyes and giggled in a human voice, blood dripping down their toothy grin onto the stone floor of the great hall. 
And over and over and over she felt Violet grabbing her and leering down at her, screaming that shes worthless, that shes a Jinx. That was the worst one, because it was real.
After an amount of time she supposed was likely long, there was a knock on her door. After a moment of silence Silco slid into her little room.
“Its past lunch, child. Why are you still in bed?” He asked in that soft, velvet voice. Powder had only touched velvet once, a roll on a merchants ship. But the concept of its texture never left her mind. Too smooth, almost disgustingly artificial.

With all her effort, she turned her head. 

“I can’t get up.” She whispered.

He frowned over her, pulled off a glove and gently touched her forehead with a lightly calloused hand.
“You’re quite warm.” He murmured. “I am going to go fetch the ships doctor, alright?” He sounded…worried. 
Powder didn’t want him to be worried; he’d taken such good care of her, been so nice to her, nicer than anyone had ever been. She offered him a shaky smile.
——————————————————————————-
Silco was mildly panicked. He was not a man prone to fear or panic, so the feeling was quite alien to him. Somewhat fascinating. 
He passed Sevika on his way to the medical unit and paused.

“You will have to cancel my duties for today.” He said calmly.

She squinted at him. “Whats wrong.” She asked sternly.

“The child has fallen gravely ill.” He admitted. “I expect I shall be busy for the remainder of the day.”

Sevika sighed. “Sir. This kid is a continual distraction from the goal. I am sure we could find someone to take-”

“No.” He said firmly.Then he lowered his voice. He trusted Sevika, likely too much, but he certainly did not trust anyone else on this ship. “The child is mine. I will tend to her I understand the feeling of a need for urgency. I know our people die every day. But our army and our plans are not going anywhere. Zaun will be free.” 

Sevika nodded. She knew when she’d lost an argument with Silco. “Sir.” She murmured as he began to walk away. “Is she really…is that brat really your daughter, then?”

He hesitated, then voice lowered, he replied “I believe so. And even if she is not, she is assuredly my former partners daughter, so I will be her father either way.”

Sevika nodded, and let him go. 

The doctor did not seem to walk with the urgency Silco thought he required. When they finally returned to the girls bedside, nearly half an hour had passed. 
The man strolled in, and gently enough, poked and prodded the girl, asking her questions she mostly ignored.
After a time he gestured to Silco, and they walked into the hall outside, closing the door behind them. 
Then he interrogated Silco. “Has she been eating, what does she do, what does she say, how is she behaving.” They gradually got more specific as he went on, to the point of discomfort. But Silco answered honestly, every one. Down to why her family was dead.
There was silence after. The man looked grim. 

“The girl isn’t sick.” He said, finally.

“Shes burning alive and won't even get out of bed.” Silco hissed.

“Nevertheless, she isn’t sick. Shes simply given up. She does not want to live.”

Dread filled Silcos gut. He knew in a moment the doctor was right. The listlessness, the lack of eating or play or anything else children did, the screaming episodes, day or night. 

“And how do you propose I remedy this diagnosis?” He inquired.

“She needs to eat and drink and keep it down, for a start. I would recommend broths for today. If she survives, start working from soft foods to solids.”

'When. She survives.' Silco thought grimly. But he stayed silent, absorbing every word.

“I am going to mix up some teas for nausea and some for night that should help her sleep and mellow her dreams. The rest is truly up to the girl herself. Perhaps you can speak to her.”

Silco, the great crime lord, dragon master of Zaun. Talk a depressed child out of wasting away to her own death in his ship cabin. Of course. 
——————————————————————————-
She woke to Silco gently holding her up. She tried to ask him what he was doing here, but all that came from her throat was a soft moan. 

“It’s alright dear.” He murmured. 

A cup of cool, cold water to her lips. She drank greedily. 

“Slower…there we go." The clack of a cup hitting wood.

“I need you to eat now, alright?” Her nose wrinkled. “I know, it is just broth I promise. Would you eat just a small bowl please?”

She obliged him, through the soup and even the nasty tea. And then he simply held her for awhile. It was nice. The ship rocked, and Silcos chest rose and fell. His breaths had a wheeze to them.

“I nearly drowned in the ocean once.” He murmured softly. “It was no fault of my own. A man tried to kill me in it. We had…a disagreement. He had been my best friend, and my brother. But he still tried to kill me. Thought he succeeded too, for a moment. In the end, however, he was the one who died, and I survived.” 

The girl in his arms shifted, so that a single bleary blue eye could stare into his. Silco knew his face was a rather bleak sight, sharp lines, half scarred and burned, one eye a deformed black and yellow pit. But she had never flinched or stared before, this little girl, and she did not now. 
She was listening. Interest on her pale bony face. Good.

“Betrayal. It will eat you from the inside out, if you let it.” He went on. “It will try to kill you…or you can let it forge you into something greater, more powerful than before. Something new, and beautiful. That is your choice now.” He bent and gently kissed the top of her head, that lovely blue hair, a few shades lighter than her mothers, but still just as soft. 
She blinked up at him, and he could see her thinking through her exhaustion. Then she yawned, and slowly drifted off as he held her.
For three days she didn’t speak. She ate and drank when she was told. She got up on her own the second day, to his relief, swaying to the bedpan in the corner, and back to bed. He fought the urge to help her. She needed to do this on her own. He did everything regarding her care himself, however.
He ensured they were still heading North, and not allowing any ships that spotted them to get away to tell about it, but neglecting all his other obligations as the leader of his organization.
He could tell he was irritating Sevika, but he simply did not want any other people near her when she was fragile, nor did Powder particularly trust or like anyone on the ship. 
So he presented her food, wiped her brow, brushed and braided her hair, changed her bedpans.

He talked to her, of course, about his plans and duties each day, about his dream for a better Zaun, where children did not starve in the streets. Of finally putting Piltover in their place, or perhaps just burning the city of progress to the ground.
He told her about dragons, which seemed to catch her interest the most. About their abilities, diets, the core at their center that powered them. 
“It is always a bright, shining blue. But it varies in size, of course.” He was saying, as her eyes shone up at him. “The larger the core, the more powerful the dragon, and though the power does not equate to the intelligence, the two can often be connected. It’s notably what allows the fire breathers to ignite their gasses. Many mages in the east use them in their witchcraft, I’ve heard, though I personally have not seen it, They are very explosive and unpredictable outside the body, however.”
Her smile was so pretty when she was excited. 
On the fourth day, he came in with a plate of roasted fowl and vegetables, and found the girl already awake and in the chair.

“Good morning, Powder.” He greeted as usually, carefully not showing his surprise. 

She frowned. “It’s Jinx, now.” She said firmly. And so it was.

Soon she was up, giggling as she caused chaos throughout his fleet. She became bolder, leaping between masts and using ropes in impressive displays of acrobatics. She fell a good deal, but it was less per day. 
He took her most places with him now, and that meant she needed to be able to defend herself. The finest weapons masters and fighters in his fleet were summoned; even a man from the east that he had paid handsomely for, who knew the art of making firepowder. 
The girl proved incredibly smart; she was too small for the sword or axe, but proved skilled with the spear, bow, and knife within a few months. 
During this time they arrived back on the island. The new shipment of deathgrippers came, to his and Singed’s pleasure. Silco allowed Jinx into any of his spaces she liked; but he provided her her own cave as well, one hidden deep in the nest and safe from prying eyes. She used the space to build a forge, and so he hired her the finest smith he could find as an instructor, a man out of Noxus, to boot. 
She loved bright colors and little drawings, so he ensured a steady import of bright paints and colored chalks for her, along with metal and fabrics and anything else she desired for her projects. 
The girl was often with the dragons as well, and had managed to create a new kind of iron by feeding random materials to gronkles, and then having them regurgitate it. Some of Silcos most useless stock suddenly became prized overnight.
Soon she was making beautiful blades, stronger than any ever made before. Silco was terribly proud.
He was not without his concerns, of course. His daughter spent entirely too much time with dragons, and he had even caught her mimicking their sounds on multiple occasions, or talking to them as if they could understand her. A few had taken to her- likely because she slipped the beasts extra food when she thought no one was looking- and followed her like dogs whenever she was around, rather than laying quietly as expected. 
She refused to engage with people, even those closer to her age, except to threaten them with bodily harm. Most of his men were afraid of her, at this point. Afraid of a thirteen year old girl.
And of course she had her lows, days where she would refuse to eat, curling up in her cave or in the rafters of his office, silent, gaze far away. Days where she would cackle and giggle and start a fire or stab a man for looking at her or slide a knife against her skin. She claimed it just felt nice. He asked her not to damage his asset. She pouted.
He found missions helped with her mood swings, so he began sending her on jobs, the tamer and more controlled ones, always with him or Sevika.
The men called her his mad princess now. His unhinged daughter. He loved her terribly. Perhaps that was why he let her keep the baby dragon.
——————————————————————————-
Ekko learned the dragons name was Cloud Jumper through a game of charades. They played a good deal of that game, actually. The storm washed a small black and white whale up on the beach, which was great news for Cloud Jumper, but horribly smelly. 
Thankfully the dragon bathed in the sea after each feeding. Ekko got the feeling Cloud didn’t greatly enjoy the rotting meat either, but it was that or starve until he could fly out. He certainly didn’t look like he could swim much. 
As it was, there was no fresh water on the beach, which meant after the puddles in the rocks from the storm dried up, Ekko had to start hauling water from a stream up the cliff-side for the dragon. 
It was grueling work, and all he had to carry the water were the two iron pots he’d found in the caves emergency cache.
About one swallow each for the beast.
He honestly wasn’t sure why he stayed. The dragon was nothing but a drain. He could take out the small fishing boat in the cave, and sail the coast till he found Berk. 
See what happened to his people, to his family.
Part of him knew they were gone, either dead or scattered to the winds. And he wouldn’t get off this island on his own. Ekko was no sailor, and the seas around the northern isles of Zaun were very dangerous, full of sudden storms, sharp hidden rocks, and dragons of a dozen species and sizes that could burn your ship with a stray burp.
And Ekko was very lonely. A dragon was better than no company at all, he supposed. On the fourth day, he woke up to chirping and hissing, mixed with grunts, growls, and other noises
He raised his head from the sack he used as a pillow to find Cloud seemingly talking to a bright blue little terror. 
“BLUE!” He shouted excitedly. The dragons looked towards him and he flinched. Screaming at fire breathing reptiles with nothing on you but a hunting knife. Smart.
But then the little thing trilled and bounced over to him, nuzzling his face. Her breath stank horribly. He grinned and scratched her head behind the horns, something he discovered Cloud greatly enjoyed. She leaned into it, rumbling out a purr.
“Wheres Powder, huh?” He murmured, mostly to himself. 

The little dragon cooed sadly and drooped. 

His heart dropped to his stomach. He looked over at Cloud. “She’s not dead is she??” He asked frantically, standing up. The terror rolled off of him, and chattered at Cloud, who chattered back. Blue looked up at him and slowly shook her head.

“Shes alive?”

A nod from Cloud.

“Is she here?”

A head shake.

“Where is she?”

The dragons talked and then looked at him helpless. There was only so much you could communicate with yes and no answers.
Finally Cloud barked to get his attention and pointed at the boat.

“Shes…on a boat.”

A nod.
“Is she…safe?”

The two spoke a long time again. Cloud shrugged at him. Maybe.

He breathed. In and out. “That’s okay. I’ll find her. I don’t suppose you know who Benzo is, huh?” He asked Blue.
She stared at him blankly, then licked her eyeball. “That’s okay. Lets go get water and then ill catch us some fish yeah?” 
They did just that, and he began roasting a fish for himself on a small fire, Blue fat with fish on his lap, purring. 
Cloud got some as well, but he was just so big. The massive dragon had opened his wings today, giving a experimental flap, before hissing and folding them back up again. Ekko had been truly awed all over again in that moment, staring up and up at massive horns lined by crimson red crests and a halo soft red wings larger than the chiefs house in width.
He was dining with dragons.
The next morning he was up before the dragons. He strolled along the beach, enjoying the scent of the whale corpse being mostly gone, and the sea-salt. He picked up any new driftwood to add to his pile in the cave. It was easier than hauling wood down the cliff.
Then he got the larger pot and began making his way up the cliff. There was a path, just wide enough for a small boy with a big ass pot, else Cloud probably would’ve died of dehydration by now. He washed his face and hands in the stream only a few paces from the top, frustratingly flowing along the top in a dip, rather than down into the sea. He was seriously debating digging it out, rocks and all, when he heard the footsteps. He whirled, hand on his knife, pot dropped with a forgotten clang. The person was a teen, much larger than Ekko with paler but still dark skin and dark brown, near-black hair cut short. They were quite dirty. The individual raised their hands. 

“Woah there kid. Chill. I’m cool.” Then he squinted. “Ekko?” 

Berk was a small village, and after a moment Ekko put name to face. “Scar ?” He inquired, slowly lowering his knife.

“Yeah dude!” The boy said, slowly lowering his hands. “Why are you out here, weren’t you with the kids?” He asked.

Ekko winced. “It’s a long story. What happened in Berk?”

It was Scars turn to look uncomfortable. “They’re all dead. Me and a few others got out, missed the ships but-yeah.”

Silence. Ekko was trying very hard not to cry. “So the evacuation plan worked.” 

“The first half.” 

“Then they didn’t die for nothing, at least.”

The teen nodded sadly. “Vander sent my group off through a small opening in the onslaught towards the end. He saved our lives, honestly. Me and the others got a camp set up further inland, there’s a freshwater cove that’s got good cover from dragons. It’s not much but we’re getting by. You should come back with me.” 

Ekko really wanted to do that. To see people, people from his tribe-but he couldn’t just leave Cloud. Not with his injuries. 

“I uh. I would like that, but I have something to show you first, and you gotta be calm and leave that axe on your back up here.”

Scar frowned. “Gonna jump me Little man? I don’t have anything on me.” 
Ekko winced at the nickname. “I wouldn’t do that!” He protested. “You’d kick my ass anyways!” He admitted.

Scar snorted. “Probably. But still. Kind of shady to ask me to leave my weapon.”

“I understand.” Ekko sighed. “Its alright, you can go.”

“What?” Scar protested. “I’m not leaving you here alone kid.” He set down his axe. “Lead the way.”

Clouds reaction to Scar was far calmer than Scars reaction to Cloud. The moment Ekko called out, and Cloud poked his head out of the cave with a little “Mrp?” Scar was running and shouting. Ekko watched him go, mouth open. 
Cloud shuffled up behind him. Blue was on his horns again, still mostly asleep. 
When Scar realized he wasn’t dead, or being pursued, he stopped, and slowly turned. Several seconds passed. Very slowly, Scar shuffled back across the beach. Ekko had to respect that choice, honestly. Dude had balls.

“Hey Ekko.” He said, casually. He wouldn’t look up at Cloud, keeping his eyes focused on the tiny boy in front of it. His whole body was shaking with adrenaline. “What the fuck.”

Ekko couldn’t help it. He laughed, loud and high, and Cloud laughed with him, the soft ‘thrum thrum’ vibrating through the ground under their feet.
——————————————————————————-
They were on a small island off the foggy mass of the Shadow Isles. It was the first time Jinx had seen them despite growing up so close on Berk, hints of gray rock poking through the rolling fog bank. 
She knew sailors that went into that fog never came out, but she still felt a tug in her gut. An urge to venture into the mist, to see what secrets it held. To see what that humming in her skull was. 
It had been quiet most of the way here; Ash was not around once they got a few leagues from the Nest. (Silco called it the Vault, but all the dragons called it the Nest, so that was what Jinx called it.) It felt…wrong having her thoughts to herself. 
But now there was a new, softer hum, from the mists. A soft, alluring pressure in her brain. She shook her head, trying to concentrate.
No one else could hear Ash, or Monster, as the humans called him. And no one would hear this either.
Silco thought she was crazy, and so did Sevika, she could tell. Everyone did. Last thing she needed was to start talking about some thing calling her from the fucking shadow isles on a job.

They were out here, in the cold ass autumn snows, because some dude named Errett didn’t send his monthly dragon shipment. The outpost supplied a large amount of their stock; as such the absence of shipment or even word was enough for Silco to send Sevika and her men out to investigate. 

“Oh, and take Jinx. She needs to stretch her legs.” He had added, the girl in question watching the exchange from the rafters. She gave a little wiggle of excitement.

Sevika huffed, entirely unaware of her presence. “That girl is intelligent, but she’s nothing but trouble, sir. Too unstable.”

“She will never learn if no one instructs her.” He commented.

“She also doesn’t listen to anyone, for some reason.” Sevika had muttered.

“Why Sevika, are you suggesting I do not know how to parent my own daughter?” He asked, a small smile on his lips.
She simply frowned at him and left, stomping off all tough and broody as usual. Borinnggg.

The why of the missing dragons became apparent as their longship pulled into the island outposts small bay. Sev’s men began lowering the dingy to row them to shore. There wasn’t much left of the outpost. Even less of the ships. Jinx jumped down from the dingy, pebbles crunching under her large boots, looking at the charred hulls with minor interest. The man who supposedly ran this place greeted them at the shore. 

“Greetings. I already know why you are here; I apologize for the wait. As you can see we’ve had a bit of a…predicament.”
Sevika glared at him.

Jinx idly picked the dirt from under her painted nails with a knife blade. The pressure in her head was building. Whatever wanted her was close.

“What the hel happened here?” Sev growled.

Errett swallowed nervously. Jinx grinned in amusement. 

“Have you perhaps, ever heard tale of the dragon known as the Night Fury?” He started. 

Jinx froze, staring sharply. The night fury? The child of Janna and Thor? Was he pulling their leg right now? Or was he that stupid.

“Go on.” Sevika growled.

“It isn’t a long tale. My crew captured a strange young dragon, the likes of which we had never seen before. It was injured, badly, but we brought it back to the camp anyways. We assumed Silco may be interested in studying it. Well, turns out it had a mother.” He paused, scratching his neck. Silence aside from the waves on the rock strewn shoreline.
“The good news is we know what a night fury looks like now. The bad news is she killed eighty-three men and blew up all of my ships before we managed to kill the bitch.” He finished. 

“So.” Sevika summarized. “You lost an entire fort and most of your men to one dragon, all for a near dead hatchling.”

“Yep, basically.” He agreed.

Stupid man. Jinx decided. A pause. 

“We still have about half your shipment, including the baby. Some asphyxiated from the fires, a few escaped, but the rest are mostly sound. Obviously we shall have...a delay on future shipments.”

“Show me the stock. If its good…we might just give you the shit you need to survive this.” Sevika growled. 

Errett gulped. 

The remaining dragons weren’t in horrible shape, though they were all terrified and starving, which made them very dangerous. Ash wasn’t here to tell them to calm down. They were in iron cages, muzzled and chained, but they tried to attack all the same, hissing death and pain and fear fear fear.
Jinx reminded herself that dragons were monsters when not controlled. Dragons killed her brothers. Her mom. Her dad…well, one of them. But her stomach twisted a little all the same.
And then they got to the little dragon that had supposedly caused so much trouble. 
“Found it from all the noise. Some random Monstrous Nightmare was having at it. We caught the thing, but it died in the fires during the fury attack. Little shit itself killed three men before we got a muzzle on it, injured and all.” 
Sevika wasn’t impressed. “Look at that tailfin. It will never fly. A downed dragon is a dead dragon.” 
She began bickering with Errett and his men as they worked their way back outside, about their wages and rebuilding costs and blah blah blah.

Jinx however, only heard this with half an ear. She froze when she saw the dragon. The pressure in her skull was suddenly gone, replaced with a soft hum. The little thing was about the size of the large white dogs they used to have on Berk, to guard the sheep in the pastures, though far longer. Her scales were the soft black of a night sky, with a horrible long set of what looked like claw slashes down her side, starting above the hip and ending with her tail, half of which was gone completely, a red mass of scab and dried blood. And her eyes…they were large and round and blue, the same deep blue of Jinx’s hair. (The hair Silco loved to brush and braid, every day, calling it perfect in his solemn serious voice.) They looked right at her, over the little things muzzle, and pleaded. 
There was no cage, but she was bound too tight to move, so it didn’t matter much. 
Jinx had her muzzle off first, purring a soft “okay calm safe okay” without knowing she was even doing it. The little thing stretched its round jaws, showing a large gummy mouth with no teeth. Jink could’ve smiled at that if she wasn’t so upset.

She didn’t hear Sevika, asking where “the fuck that little shit went” or the men shuffling in behind her.

She was through the leg chains and working off the wing-bands when one of Erretts men grabbed her arm and shouted “HEY are you INSANE what are you do-” He shut up real fast when her knife went through his throat. You didn’t grab Jinx.

There was a shout and another man was on her, lunging with a sword. Sevika was shouting, too far, Jinx was pulling her knife out of a jugular, with a sucking squelch, the man was swinging. Too slow too slow-
There was a black shape beside her then, a whistling noise, and a blast of blue light so bright everyone was blinded. A sizzling burning smell that was horribly, terribly, familiar assaulted Jinx. 
She gagged, fighting the urge to vomit. After she got over that, she looked up. Everyone was staring, silently. Her second assailant was on the ground, except his chest was a sizzling, gaping hole. The little dragon beside her licked it’s jaws, and narrowed her eyes at the remaining people, baring a row of sharp, snakelike teeth in a vicious little hiss.
Sevika was the only one who stood her ground then. Jinx had to give her credit for that. The rest backed for the exit as rapidly as they dared, hands on useless weapons.

Jinx laughed, a unhinged, gurgling sound, hard enough tears welled in her eyes. The baby dragon dismissed Sevika when she didn’t move, and turned to lick the blood off Jinx’s knife hand curiously. Jinx bent down and kissed her little head. “Oh, I think we will be great friends.” She said.
——————————————————————————-
Heimerdinger was the only one to visit him in his cell. He waddled in a few days after the incident.
“Imprisonment.” He chirped. “What a concept. We confine the physical body…yet the mind is still free to do as it pleases.”

A pregnant pause. 

“The girl will be fine. She is already back home and in good spirits. Shes been asking for you.”

Relief. “I’m glad shes okay.”

“Sometimes we go too far when seeking great things. Be honest now. What manner of inquiry was this. Why did you have those items, Jayce?” 

“Professor I- I believe I’ve discovered something truly incredible. A way to harness magic through science!”

“Magic?” The little man asked, plucking an uneaten piece of seafood off Jayce’s plate and nibbling at it.

“Yes!” He said, smiling.

“…No.” Heimerdinger replied, shaking his great mass of orange and white hairs. It was truly a mystery how a man so old was not bald. Not that Jayce knew how old the man was, just that he’d been on the council since forever.

“No?” He replied, hopes sinking.

“The Arcane is dangerous Jayce. It is a force of nature, founded in dragonfire… science cannot hope to control it. Many have tried. And horrible things have happened as a result. Why do you think such practice is outlawed here?”

“But I’m close to a breakthrough. I know it.” He protested. He knew it. He was so close, the equations were nearly perfected, if he had just been more careful-

“How old are you my boy?” Heimerdinger inquired. 

“I’m 24?” He answered. Why was that relevant right now?

“Ah.” the little man nodded. “Well, I am now three-hundred and seven years old.” What?? “All my life, I have struggled to unmask the mysteries of science, only to discover some are truly better left unsolved. This, I’m afraid, is one of them.”
He waddled towards the door. “Own your mistakes before the council, admit your work was dangerous, but speak nothing of magic. Do that and I theorize you’ll get away with a ah, slap on the wrist, so to speak.” He winked, knocked, and waddled out. 
Jayce slumped to the cold metal floor of his cell, rubbing his eyes. How could he be expected to give up something that could change the world. The applications as a power source alone…

As an official resident of Piltover itself, Jayce was granted a trial in front of the Council of the the Isles. This did, however, require accessing the top of the tallest building in the city. Luckily, he did not need to utilize the stairs. The elevator was a curious piece of technology, using weights and manual cranks to lift the individual or party inside up over a dozen floors. He would’ve loved to look at it, see what exactly made it function. 
But the guard nudged him onto the platform, and they were off. His cuffs clanked slightly, but no words were spoken. He had no idea what he was going to say, aside from a very heartfelt apology to Lord Kiramman for her daughter. Caitlyn had thankfully been perfectly fine, though she did sustain a minor burn scar to her shoulder. 
The elevator stopped, and he stepped off into the council chamber. He kept his gaze forward as he passed the observing crowd, and entered the hollow between the councils chairs.
There were seven seats on the council, and six sets of cold, calculating eyes on him. The only friendly face was his professor, Heimerdinger, who gave him a small smile and a smaller nod from his elevated seat. 
Lord Kiramman started the exchange. “Jayce Talis.” She said in a flat, monotone voice. He tried not to wince. “You stand accused of illegal experimentation, resulting injury of a child, and endangerment of the citizens of Piltover. What do you have to say for yourself?” 
Jayce took a breath. “The materials were far more dangerous than I was aware of. And I now know their ownership was against regulations.” He lied, to the councils face. “What I did endangered people. It was reckless and foolish.” He met Kirammans gaze. “And for that I am sorry.” 
He looked at each one in turn then. “I ask the councils forgiveness, and I hope that I may continue my studies.” 

Cassandra spoke. “As Jayces patron for many years, I can speak for his character. I believe that one day, he will be a great contributor to our society.”

“He blew up a building, he could have killed your daughter!” Is this the kind of contribution we are to expect? Lord Hoskel protested. 

Jayce winced.

“If you were a scientist.” Heimerdinger interjected, “You would know that no experiment goes correctly on the first or even the tenth iteration.”

“Do you have anything to show for your work besides and explosion?” The silky voice of lord Medarda inquired.

“Uhm, no.” Jayce stuttered. 

“So, you’re saying your study was meaningless.”

Jayce felt anger then. “It was revolutionary.” He declared.

“Revolutionary how? All I see is a boy meddling with things he does not understand.” 

They went on arguing, bickering about academy standards and quality of youth accepted.

Jayce finally lost his cool. “I was trying to replicate magic.” He growled. 

Silence, stares. He saw Heimerdinger wince. He hear the crowd behind him murmuring softly. 

“Magic??” Hoskel squeaked. 

“Arcane talents are something you are born with. They cannot be..fabricated.” Lord Shoola protested.

“Actually I am quite certain it is possible, via the dragon-crystals.” Jayce said respectfully as he could manage.

“Has anyone even..tried it before?” Lord Medarda asked.

“I have heard rumors of the witches of  Ionia carrying dragon-crystal to enhance already present magic…but naught of this.”  Lord Bolbok announced. “It matters not, either way. Magic, the Arcane. It is a curse upon mankind…my people were nearly destroyed by it. The last of us dwell here now, in one of the few lands safe from spell-casters or mages.”

“I know other people, as well as the dragons who are born with these abilities have done great harm upon our world and our people.” Jayce said in response. “But we are not them. We are a city of progress, a light in the darkness of the world. We can change the world with this, use it for good. Let me pro-”

“Enough.” Heimerdinger cried.

Silence.

“You don’t understand whats at stake…but how could you. I am the only one here that remembers the great wars of the mages. The only one with the curse of time. I’ve seen this power, in the wrong hands.  It corrupts, consumes. Lays waste to civilizations.” The look in the little mans eyes was haunted, far away. 
“That cannot happen here, my boy.” He finished, refocusing back on Jayce.

Jayce knew from the councils face he had lost. Fear was the direct enemy of progress, and the fear was in the air here now. He could taste it. 

In the end he was voted to be expelled from the academy. It was better than being expelled from the city, he supposed. His life was still over.
He hugged his mom, and then walked in a daze, through the streets. Eventually Jayce found himself back in his former apartment somehow, staring at the wreckage. A dog was barking somewhere, and the wind whistled through the gaping hole is his wall. 
He shuffled up to the edge. ‘The drop is far enough.’ He thought, looking down into the shadowed streets below. He had no future without the academy. No funds, no way to provide for his mother.
He swayed, then clenched his fist. He hurt a little girl.  It was really the punishment he deserved. 
“Am I…interrupting something?” A voice inquired behind him, thick accent unfamiliar to the shinning city. Jayce nearly fell out of his skin.
“What the hell is your problem?” He growled, turning to find a small, slender man clutching a cane, idly flipping through a notebook.

“Whats that?” he growled. “Another list with my name on it?” Normally Jayce would be more polite, but in his defense, he was having a pretty bad day. 

“Actually, yes…but only because you signed your notes. Every page. Ehhh… A little egotistical, do you not think?” 

Jayce rubbed his eyes, pushing them back into his skull painfully. “Is that why you’re here? To insult me?”

The man looked up. His eyes were gold, shinning faintly in the moonlight coming in through the hole in his wall. “No? No I was intrigued by what you said at de trial.” The cane clacked as he shuffled forwards, closer.  Jayce turned back to the ledge, looking back out to the city before him.

“That makes you the only one.”

“Yes, well, I wanted to know about your work, this…hextech theory of yours.”

“It’s not a theory!” He turned. “I saw…with my own eyes what magic can do. (Green spring in the snow, his blue fingers thawing back to pink, the mages silvery robes) The lives it can save…you have no idea how beautiful it is. And now it’s gone.Nobody believed me.”

“No ones ever believed in me either.” The man admitted. “Poor, a cripple from the festering corpse of one of Zaun’s many little towns. I did not have the benefits of a patron or a name. I simply believed in myself. Which is why I am here. Because I think you’re onto something. I want to help you complete your research.”

Jayce gaped at him. “No one thinks it can be done.” 

The man chuckled. “When you’re going to change the world…don’t ask for permission.” He held out his hand. 

Jayce hesitated, thought. Then he shook it. “I don’t even know your name.” He frowned.

The man smiled up at him. “It’s Viktor.”

——————————————————————————-

The new humans were amusingly terrified. The first one had bolted like a hare, only to shuffle back, shame and fear rolling off him in waves. He came around in the end. 
“More people to bring water.” Ekko whispered into his frills, and Cloud could not argue with that logic. Blue didn’t like them much, and mostly stayed on his head, or on Ekkos shoulders, snapping and hissing if anyone got close to her. 
He supposed it helped that he could understand them. Blue simply had to take his word for it. 
Cloud figured extra scritches were extra scritches, and soon had all of them rubbing behind his horns. 
There were four new ones the next day. They came down gaping and muttering. The tall one was called Scar; he learned, and the short skinny ones with yellow hair were called Rough and Tough, likely hatch mates by the looks of them. The fourth was a shy quiet girl with long black hair. Heather…she looked smarter than she acted. Heather, he learned, was a defected soldier from the bad nest-lord. Poor thing, still a hatchling and fighting in wars.

They did, indeed, bring more water, and meat besides, great haunches of boar and deer. Cloud ate like a nest-lord. And he healed. He began taking short flights, around the beach and above the sea, careful not to strain his injuries. His leg indeed had not healed correctly, and was mostly useless, but his wings were strong, and growing stronger.
They all seemed fascinated by his grasp of speech. 
One day after he had playfully thrown sand on Ruff for saying he smelled like a rotten fish, Scar had looked up at him solemnly and said “I can’t believe we’ve just been killing you guys for money…for generations.”

“We didn’t know…” Heather murmured.

He shook his head. “Doesn’t change the blood on my hands.”

Cloud bent down and nudged him with his snout, letting out a soft purr. He knew now, and he seemed sorry besides. They would do better, these hatchlings. The boy smiled and stroked his nose.

Two moon-cycles passed on the beach.
One day as he listened to the humans around their evening meat-burning fire -talking about where they were supposed to go, arguing and bickering about a safe place if they should try to find the evacuated children or go to their neighbors or stay here- Ekko finally admitted his goals. He interrupted without warning. “Blue said Powder is alive. Shes on a ship, and maybe in danger.” The conversation stopped abruptly. They all got very quiet. “I’m going to go after her, Cloud is mostly healed and can hunt for himself.”  Blue perked up at the mention of "Powder", looking down curiously.
Cloud, however, was distressed by this. Blue-scales said Powder was with the bad nest-lord and the evil human who controlled it. She had told him much about their army and moving nest. None good.
And he did not want to leave Ekko, or for Ekko to leave him. The humans kept talking.

“And how are you going to do that?” Scar protested. “Do you have supplies? A seaworthy ship? A map?? And concept of where this “dangerous ship” might be?” 

Ekko frowned. “I’m not just going to leave her.” 

Heather spoke up, to everyone surprise. “If shes been gone this long, whoever has her has either killed her by now or wants her alive. You said she knocked you out and ran after her siblings towards the battle. I expect she is with Silco. Before the battle we had orders not to harm anyone with blue hair. I think he was looking for this girl of yours for some reason.”

“She isn’t mine, and-” Ekko protested, but Cloud jumped in with a gurgle. Ekko frowned at him. “What?” Cloud gestured at Heather with a wing. 

“She was on Silcos ship?” A nod.

“Could you find Silcos ships?” Cloud thought about this. If he asked his cousins, he likely could pin down where a massive army of metal ships with a giant evil nest lord had went. But Cloud did not want to go anywhere near that thing ever again. He certainly didn’t want to bring his hatchling- for he had started to think of Ekko as his-into that danger. And besides that, he needed to tell Good-White about the bad-danger nest-lord.
But he could not convey these thoughts to the humans. 
He shrugged. 

Ekko let out a long groan and flopped into the sand. “You really think shes alright?” 

“About ninety percent sure.” Heather said. She was a honest person. Sometimes.

Blue pipped up then. “Worry blue-hair.” She said sadly. Cloud flicked his tail. He was worried too. That was Fells hatchling, if she was alive, trapped with the enemy. And he knew Ekko would not forget. Human-hatchlings were possibly more stubborn than dragon-hatchlings.
A plan began to form in his head.

“We get more big-cousin-wings…carry hatchlings to good-white safe-nest…then find-save blue-hair hatchling?” He had no idea of how to save the girl-if he or any other dragon got close the bad nest-lord would simply take their minds. But perhaps Good-white would know.

Blue-Scales bounced excitedly. “I get help!” And she was gone into the night. He hoped she didn’t get eaten. Not all cousins were friendly.

It was two days later when Blue-Scaled flopped onto the beach followed by a green two-heads and a purple spike-tail cousin. 
Cloud carefully shielded the hatchlings. He didn’t know these dragons, though he knew he had fought with them in the nest-war. Both had healing injuries. The bad-lord must have left them as well. 

“Back-help-good-cousins!” Blue chirped, bouncing around his legs. 

“Greetings. I am Cloud-who-Jumps. You help carry human-hatchlings to good-nest?” He inquired.

The Spike-tail purred. “I am Claw-who-Cuts, and this is Leaf-who-Flies. We help if we can stay at good-nest too.” She rumbled.

The two heads bobbed in agreement. 

This seemed fair trade. Cloud would introduce them to the nest, they would be safe and welcome with his claim on them. In exchange he got the humans to where he wanted them. 
“Yes. You come to good-nest-safe-food. We go tomorrow. The wind is good.” He slowly stepped aside and exposed his newfound wards. The humans stared up, nervous and unsure of what exactly was happening. Cloud gestured at them with his wing as he spoke. They had thankfully set their weapons down. They were learning.
“These are Echo-of-Hope, Heather-that-Sways, Rough-of-head, Tough-of-head, and Scar-who-bleeds” He hoped the humans didn’t mind him making up names for them. The dragons might not understand humans did not have formal names, and he did not want to confuse them. 
The dragons chirped and sniffed. Slowly, the humans reached out, and within the hour the new dragons were enjoying horn scritches.
Ekko was sitting on Clouds shoulders, at the dragons insistence, as he slowly walked around the beach.

“You’re taking us somewhere aren’t you?” He asked. 

Cloud bobbed his head. Clever hatchling.

“Is it safe there?” Another nod. His voice came softer then, fragile. “Are you…going to help me find Powder?” 

Cloud flipped his head around to stare back at the boy. Another nod. Cloud knew he’d regret that promise, but oh how the boy smiled at him. 

“Thank you.” He whispered. 

Chapter Text

Ekko had been on Cloud for days, landing on small islands to rest, stiff and sore. During that time he had woven a basic rope harness for him, something to hold onto. The others followed his lead.
It had been the dragons turn to feed them, hauling in boar or deer each evening. Heather proved a excellent forager, and added herbs and greens to their diet. At least they wouldn’t get scurvy.
It was a rather long and miserable journey once the initial thrill of flying wore off.
One night a group of trappers had tried to ambush them in the dark. Heather had woken first, and let out a soft, oddly accurate growl of of warning. The dragons shot up, and then the fight was on. Ekko killed his first person that day, a large beefy man with big eyebrows. He had broken past the fighters and ran at Ekko with an axe. The boys limited training kicked in, and he ducked under the swing, sinking his dagger into the mans bearded throat.
All the people were safe, but the poor purple nadders head was half severed from its neck at the base from a broadsword, and she was in her death throes, body spamming and twitching Ekko held the head and cried.
They found the peoples boat the next morning, and broke out the dragons below deck, a set of small black dragons the size of dogs, Night terrors, he guessed, another nadder, and a change-wing, who quickly took on the color of the ship as they approached her.
Cloud Jumper didn’t fit below deck, and the nadder remaining to their party refused to even get on the ship, so it had been up to Blue to talk the dragons into calming down enough to be free. The night terrors were quickly off, likely back to their pack, but the other two joined their little band, which meant they had enough dragons to move on by wing, much to his relief.
They burned the nadder, with the dragons help.
Heather and Scar started training him in combat after that incident.
The weather grew colder, and trees vanished, as they went further and further northward. Soon they were landing on icebergs instead of islands. If it wasn’t for the dragons warmth, they likely would have frozen to death in the night.

But when they finally arrived at their destination, it was all worth it.
First Ekko felt the pressure in his skull, like an itch or a droning hum. He dismissed it as an annoying side effect of a long ass dragon flight. But it grew and grew, and as it grew, an island crested the waves in the distance.
A huge island, likely bigger than Berk. Shooting out of the landscape in all directions just off the black stone beach, were massive spikes of ice, taller than Berks mountains in some places. Around this floated hundreds of dragons. Some drifted over as they flew closer, sniffing curiously and chittering back and forth with the dragons in their little band. Many seemed happy to see Cloud, some of the smaller ones doing little flips around them in excitement. None of them seemed to mind the humans. He wondered if they’d ever seen humans, this far north. He certainly hadn’t seen many of these species before in his lifetime.

They flapped through a massive hole in the ice, through a equally massive tunnel through the rock, and then out into bright greenish daylight again. As Ekkos eyes adjusted, the first thing he realized was that it was…warm. Almost unbearably warm after the long cold journey here. Then he looked around. They were under the ice crystals, in a dome so massive he couldn’t see the other side. Great pillars of stone and ice were dispersed throughout, holding up the great cavernous roof. Under the warmth and light plants grew, grasses and mosses and ferns. Dragons coated the rocks and flipped through the air, calling to each-other in complex cries and roars.

“This is insane. I died didn’t I.” Ruff commented.

“You wish.” Tuff replied, elbowing him.

Cloud chortled as the new dragons shook their passengers off.
They spoke with Cloud, and then the new dragons were gone. The zippleback, he noted, stayed. Heather and Scar had to walk from there, so Ekko walked too. It felt good to walk, if he was being honest, though he felt very small between all the dragons. A purple dragon missing half their wing sniffed at him and growled, crest rising in what he assumed was a threat display. He flinched back, but Cloud shooed her off with a hiss. None of the dragons seemed interested in contesting Cloud about them, so they were left be after that.
“Your gray beast must have some authority here.” Scar commented.

“He isn’t mine.” Ekko objected.

“Sure sure.” Scar said exchanging a look with Heather. He noticed they were holding hands. Ekko wondered what all that was about.

They stopped above a sheer cliff drop into a huge blue lake. Most of the ice-melt streams seemed to be flowing here, but he saw no dragons. Cloud walked to the edge and gave a loud cry, unlike any sound Ekko had heard him make before.
Everyone winced at the sound, covering their ears.

“Fuck.” Scar complained.

“A little warning next time?” Ekko asked.

Cloud bobbed his head sheepishly.

And then everyone’s complaints were very quickly forgotten. Ekko’s head started pounding, the hum growing to a roar. Even Rough and Tough stopped their bickering, a background noise he’d grown so used to he’d forgotten what silence sounded like.
Not that it was silent now. The water splashed and tumbled loudly against itself and the rocks…and the beast.

The tusks emerged first, great massive spikes of ivory, each as tall as the old Chiefs hut on Berk twice over and twice as wide at the base. Then came the head, bright white scales and piercing icy blue eyes, small in it’s face, but he knew Cloud Jumper could curl in its sockets comfortably. A snout even flatter than Clouds, nostrils flaring once before sealing closed, nearly invisible. The head was crested with hundreds of spikes, surrounding its skull like a crown. And then its body. He couldn’t see much of that behind the head, but the beast came up and up until it was staring down at them, all fittiwng easily between its tusks, which scrapped the cliff face on either side of them. Cloud Jumper was bowing, low, crests scraping the ground, and the zippleback was bent low as well, so Ekko knelt and bowed too. He saw the others doing the same out of the corners of his vision, to his relief.
The pressure in his head was unbearable now, building to a migraine inducing crescendo, and then without warning, it exploded.
He saw everything. Every dragon in the nest, outside of it, through eachothers eyes, all connected, all thriving and feasting and alive, he saw Cloud Jumper, bearing grave news, saw the battle of Berk through the dragon, saw Powder on his back, he hand on his spines. Saw the enslaved dragons and heard the beast in the water. He felt a grave sense of dread that was not his own.
And then all of that cut out, and he saw himself, a tiny speck of life, kneeling on the mossy stone. Amusement. He heard and saw what he should not.
Why was he here? What did he want?
He didn’t know. He wanted to be safe, for his friends to be safe, for Cloud to be safe, to find Powder. He wanted his people back, and he wanted them happy and well fed. No one was ever well fed in Zaun. He wanted the trappers to leave the nadders and the others alone.
He wanted revenge, but as an afterthought.

He felt approval; a great pride, and a gentle thank you for Clouds life, of the beach.
That was silly, Ekko thought, we saved eachother.
And then he was free, back in his own skin. The pressure was gone, back to the soft hum of before. He knew now what it was. Somehow, the massive dragon was seeing and hearing his mind, seeing every mind, hearing every dragon. It told him he could stay, he supposed. He breathed. The others looked just as dazed.
The beast blew a cold breath of frost on them, and Ekko shivered and snapped out of it, wiping off the snow. Guess that’s where the weird ice dome came from.

Cloud led them away, deeper into the caves. They were all silent, processing what they just experienced. It was still warm, but cooler than the dome. They twisted through a dark maze, and arrived at a little offshoot. Light shone out from within. He chirped happily and wiggled in, just barely fitting through the gap.
Inside a small ice covered window was letting in light; revealing a living area larger than any home on berk; though half of that was taken up by a large bed of fiber and pelts, which Cloud plopped on with a sigh of content. Blue rolled off his horns with a squeak and then waddled around, sniffling.
Their was a brick oven, with pots, herbs, and glass jars strewn about. A line of weapons and clothing were on the wall near the door, leather and fur coats beside spears and swords. A strange weapon lay on the floor beside them, looking to be made of one massive bone, a hook on each end.
Heather began to start a fire in the oven.
Ekko made his way to a desk near the window, looking over strew out maps and tally’s, notes on dragon count, fish, a little to-do list. All of it was coated in dust and damp. Notably he found a thick leather notebook nestled in one of the drawers.
He opened it to the first page. And then he inhaled, stepping back. No. No fucking way.

Scar came over “Whats up?”

Ekko nodded at the journal.

“Oh dang. That explains alot I guess.”

There signed in Norse runes on the front cover was a name: “Felicia Haddock.”
——————————————————————————-
Silco watched his daughter from the mouth of one of the higher cave entrances to the Vault.
It was late spring, which meant it was above freezing, though barely. Sevika joined him, following his gaze up, and up, to just below the near-eternal cloud cover in this region, where a black shape drifted through the air.
Nearly every day Silco regretted letting her keep that dragon. “Toothless.” She had named it, for its retractable teeth. At first he had assumed it could be a useless pet, something to preoccupy her time; then it grew, and she “fixed” its deformity, making a complex artificial tail-fin the girl herself could control from the simple saddle she created, using her foot on the pedal. Next thing the man knew, it was nearly impossible to keep them out of the air.
As he watched a shape plunged off the animal, fearlessly falling through space towards the cold heartless rocks. The monster almost lazily folded a wing, and dipped down after her.
She had the beast well trained, but trusting it to catch her was not something Silco had in him. He tensed.
But as always she maneuvered back into the saddle, a few hundred feet above the ground, and they darted up again, flipping and rolling in complex acrobatics most dragons would find physically impossible.
Their daredevil tactics were only one of his worries; the animal was incredibly powerful, almost ridiculously so for its size.
It did not utilize normal dragonfire, nor some of the poisons, ice, or gels a rare few could expel. Instead it worked with pure bolts of energy, bright, burning blue with heat.
It could blow a metal ship to pieces, and did once, in a fit of rage. It had been separate from Jinx, a rare occurrence, grabbing fish from a barrel of fresh catches, possibly for herself and Jinx (The first time Silco watched it throw up a whole fish for Jinx, he had been disgusted, but this too, he adjusted to.) A new hire from the south had tried to hit her with his club, thinking she was just another one of Silcos common beasts of burden, trying to steal extra rations. The shot of pure blue energy went through the man, through the ships deck, and out the hull into the sea. And it was not yet even mature, no older than the girl who refused to go anywhere without it.
But power and agility aside, the beast was also horrifically intelligent. Enough so to make Silco question everything he knew, if he was honest with himself.
It drew pictures, in the snow and mud and along the cave walls in paint, chortling along to Jinx’s giggles. It shook and nodded its head to questions, and made mangled gurgling attempts at language on occasion. He was sure if it had the structure in its throat to talk, it most certainly would.
One day it waddled up to him as he was taking numbers on a recent import of nadders, on its back legs, holding a rolled up piece of parchment in between its paws.
Jinx was following it, laughing hysterically. The men darted out of its way, terrified of the beast and the girl herself. Both were known to kill at small to no provocation.
“Tooth made you a gift!” She chirruped, and Toothless held up the parchment. He took it before the beast fell on him.
It was a drawing. Of him. It had to be large, because the dragon had large clumsy paws, and it was rather hideous, but it was him. And under it, in rough, giant runes, was his name.
And oh how it looked at him, with its massive blue eyes. Like it was seeing his soul. He wanted to kill it, run it through with a spear, into its heart. It wasn’t natural. It wasn’t under his control, disregarding every order, alive and active in a way no other beast he owned was. It was dangerous. But his daughter was looking at him too, so all he said was “Thank you Toothless.” The beast hummed, a soft dragon-purr but with something deeper too it, and then began barking at the nadders, who cocked their heads from their cages and trilled through their muzzles.
“You can let them out by the way. Ash has them.” Jinx commented.
‘Ash’ was what she called the Bewilderbeast, and she insisted ‘he’ talked to all of the dragons in their minds, and made them obey Silco, because Ash loved him. A disgusting concept. Silco would be happy to see every dragon in the world dead. He merely used them as necessitated.

In the early years, he had assumed the girls mind was simply shattered. That she heard voices, and jabbered nonsense to cope with her traumatic experiences. And to some degree that was true. She would see dead people, hear them talking.
She would be happy one day and screaming with bloody rage the next for no apparent reason.
But that didn’t explain how Jinx always knew when exactly new dragons were safe, how they obeyed her as quickly as him, how Toothless obeyed no one. How a beast whose smallest claw was larger than him obeyed him without question, and without a single spoken order.
It didn’t explain the buzzing in his mind, that he had ignored for years, until Jinx told him that was Ash.

Sevika cleared her throat, interrupting him from his musings. He tended to muse far too much, where Jinx was concerned. “The new shimmer just officially passed trials. It’s ready for mass use. We can export a shipment within a few days.” He smiled. The new strain of shimmer was vastly different than the prior strain. It notably healed wounds, even those that would normally be fatal if applied quickly, improved chronic pains, and made its user faster, stronger, and more alert. It was still rather addictive if abused, and it didn’t offer the sheer power of the original, but in small doses it had proven safe for common day use.
Silco had already begun using it on his bad eye, which had always burned and ached. He knew Sevika had also been sneaking injections for her stump pains and back.

“However,” She continued, “the little bugs are a continuous issue. We lost two boats last month alone. It would be foolish to distribute such a high priced cargo with them at large.”

Ah yes, the “firelights”. How a group of ragtag common zaunites managed to get on the back of dragons was beyond him. Perhaps they raised them, like Jinx raised Toothless, and he technically raised the Bewilderbeast. It was a plausible connection. He was impressed, of course, and tried to recruit them, much to Jinx’s annoyance as his only competent rider.
They had left his message man tied up on a island near their burning ship. A shame.
Silco let out a loud, piercing whistle. The black beast whooshed out of the sky, both the shapes on it panting slightly from exertion. “I have a job for you two.” They grinned, and Silco knew that gummy, toothless maw would follow him to his dreams tonight.
——————————————————————————-

When Jayce invited Caitlyn Kiramman over to his apartment, she was not aware it was going to change her life.
She had been chattering away about gunpowder; a new invention from Noxus that powered explosions, and its potential applications, she recalled.
Jayce had left to make them lunch, and she’d decided to snoop in one of his rooms.
There she found a unlocked case of glowing blue crystals. They had been so beautiful, almost humming at her, and she had foolishly grabbed the largest one for a closer look. It had shocked her, and startled, she dropped it.
The rest was blurry. She felt pain, and recalled flying, and her ears ringing. Being carried. A doctors face.
In the end she made it out with nothing but a mild concussion and a few burn scars on her side.
She didn’t hold anything against Jayce, she had been snooping after all, and they actually became good friends afterwards.

Jayce had famously broken into the University he was banished from the very same night, with the help of an assistant of Heimerdinger’s named Viktor. Here, they had proceeded to “unlock” their hextech, as they called it, by commanding the power within using old arcanic runes. The council passed a vote to return Jayce to university, four to three. ( Jayce claimed it was all Mel’s doing, but don’t tell anyone.) Soon, their device was powering a portal down at the harbor, which could literally teleport ships anywhere in the world by putting in certain combinations of runes. Piltover became wealthy overnight, by trading goods in their port, then paying to use the device, ships could save half their travel time.
Resources traveled twice as fast, saving months of dangerous sea journeys.
The gems could also do various things based on their dragon. Almost all gems could be told to create heat, and soon many who could afford it had a heater in their homes powered by a nadder or a gronkle gem, which saved wood and coal based import costs greatly.
Others could shoot lightning, or cause one to float. A rudimentary flying ship had been designed using that one, but they were quite flammable, and as such currently could not get far from the city, on account of dragon attack risks.
Jayce currently possessed one that could cause cold, though no one knew what dragon it came from, and even in the southern isles, cold wasn’t very useful.
Jayce and Viktor were currently stabilizing the crystals so that they were not so unpredictable and delicate. Cait knew they were both frustrated by the Piltover councils’ insistence that the hextech stay within the city. Viktor was from Zaun; he grew up suffering, and Jayce, well. She caught him staring into her families gronkle-powered furnaces once. Her mother had forgiven him, in the end, and they had tea on Wednesdays.

“I almost died once, from the cold.” He’d said.

“Oh?” Caitlyn inquired.

“I would have died if a stranger hadn’t saved me. Now our people…Viktors people, are out there dying of cold and starvation while we sit on this tech. We’re warming our hands on their graves.”

She hadn’t known what to say to that. Her mother insisted this technology was far too dangerous to release to public use.

“It will kill more people if we give it away.” She had said firmly.

The issues in Zaun were only getting more severe as time went on. Shimmer, a new drug that caused severe addiction and deformity, had flooded the streets from a mysterious source. Rumors of dragon rider vigilantes cropped up all over the isles. Whispers emerged from the dark of a new power in the north, spreading with the use of dragonfire, which was ridiculous, but still concerning.

Cait resumed her weapons training as soon as she was mobile, mastering bow and spear with ease. Any long range weapon was her preference. She could notch and fire ten arrows in forty seconds, and put them so close together they broke eachothers shafts by 14. At 15 she hunted down her first dragon after begging for a hunt from her parents, a deadly nadder. He had spit fire as he died, and she had dodged it by a hair.
(Her parents did not take her on any more hunting trips.
She tore the crystal out of its chest herself, and gave it to Jayce as a birthday present. She felt nothing, holding what nearly killed her once.)
She could read and speak three different languages by 16.
However, as she grew, Caitlyn quickly gave up on her academic career. She was no inventor, and politics bored her to tears. When her parents brought up marriage proposals she would simply lock herself in her room until they apologized. Cait was a spoiled rich single child, she knew, and she used it to her advantage.
On her 18th birthday, she enlisted with the formal military as a policewoman behind her parents back. She wanted to help people. She was tired of hearing Viktor and Jayce talk about the evils of the world and doing nothing to contribute to their battle.
She was physically fit, with a thorough education, and her application was accepted.
Her mother was enraged, of course. But she could do nothing, as the application was accepted.
She could however, shield Cait from the nastier assignments, pulling strings and putting her on gate duty, or on patrol ships in the dullest waters.
Caitlyn could scream from boredom. That was, until the Incident.
——————————————————————————-
At first they had been excited to take this job; it was their first big one, and their first time in the south, both of them loved exploration. They had flicked through the empty northern skies, greeting wild dragons and exploring random islands they found along the way (the ship was prettyyy slow). They had even gotten into a fight with a big fat monstrous nightmare, which had been quite thrilling.

But now the ship trailed through the light southern seas, and there were too many people to risk even having Tooth on the deck. Jinx was upside down on a swing she had constructed below deck, among the purple bubbly cargo. It was a poor excuse for flight. If she’d known this job meant over a month of hiding below a deck, she never would’ve taken it.

Jinx didn't take being bored well. When she wasn't doing something, the voices and the doubt tended to creep back in. Toothless didn't take being bored well either, and she got more restless and miserable as the trip went on. Their bad feelings bounce off eachother in waves, and they were drowning.
Every inch of the space was coated in neon paints and chalks, even the ceilings. Even Toothless had been painted, then washed and painted again. Yesterday she had run a goon through for looking at her dirty. Sevika had told her off for that for thirty four minutes. Toothless had kept the count. Recently they had even been reading, some book she stole from the captain about southern port cities. Truly a desperate time.
Tooth was on one of the steel rafters above her, asleep. She was usually asleep now. Must be nice.
Jinx couldn’t sleep much. Things tended to get too real when she was asleep.
‘At least we’re close.’ She thought.

Silco had a buyer from Bilge-water, a large seabased city south of the outskirts of Zaun, known for its lawlessness, looking to purchase a hundred barrels of the new shimmer strain. They were meeting at a port relatively close to Piltover. Jinx had never seen the great city that had supposedly caused to much suffering to her people.
They made port frequently to drop off smaller loads of shimmer, and despite Toothless wailing and whining, she always went on shore. Tooth could watch anyways. Ever since they had met, they had floated through eachothers minds, feeling emotions and smelling and seeing through eachothers senses, and it only got stronger with age.
Sometimes this was beneficial; it allowed them to fly as one creature, and pull lots of funny pranks on Silcos goons. Other times it was horribly distracting, like when she was trying to explore the shady towns they stopped in and Toothless wouldn’t stop bitching about being left behind. Or when their nightmares overlapped into one horrible bloody mess. People also thought she was crazy, always talking to dragons like they were people, sometimes even in their own tongue. Maybe they were right, to be fair. Jinx was not known for her stability in any sense. She shook that thought off. All the time stuck in that ship was not doing wonders for her mental state.
She would admit the lack of pressure from Ash was nice, though.
She got tired of being told what to do and having to fight it all the time. Well, mostly that was Tooth, but they practically shared a brain, so it was all the same, really.

The captain blew the horn that meant they had reached port. Toothless awoke and whined.
“Don’t go.” She pleaded.

Jinx huffed. “I’ll get you a big juicy fish. Promise.”

She was off the ship before the plank was pulled out, leaping the ten feet between ship and dock with ease.

The south, she’d found, was hot. It was summer, and some days it reached over seventy degrees. Insane. So she stripped off all her clothing, till she was wearing nothing but a little top to cover her chest, and some thin pants she made out of a old curtain once. She was sweating as she moved through the alleys and markets, wrinkling her nose at the smell of piss and despair, and snatching what she pleased when no one was looking.
Her belt was thick, and lined with knives and her newer toys, canisters of zippleback gas and gunpowder, which exploded when she pulled the trigger pin. She carried no money, just a pouch on the belt, for holding items she wanted. But people were stupid.
The blue clouds she’d tattooed down her side, her carefully done lipstick, and her clean skin was enough.
Someone always came at her. This time it was three. They tailed her very obviously, gaunt faces and cheap knives. One had a pipe, now that was mildly interesting. She let them down a dead end alleyway. The first dropped before they knew what happened, a throwing knife through her eye.
Jinx pulled out her dagger.
The other two came at her at once. She dodged the one holding the metal pipe, and slipped her large dagger up under his armpit, then twisted, pulling it out as she went, and stuck it through the smaller mans throat. To his credit, his knife grazed her shoulder. A tiny line of red blood welled up, and dripped down.
She felt satisfaction as their blood pooled at her feet. She had fought plenty before, but being out in the real world, on her own, just made it more exciting somehow.
Jinx made sure to snag a large, juicy fish on her way back to the ship.
They were out along an narrow patch of sea, weaving between two well populated islands. The ocean for miles in either direction was a treacherous mass of hidden rocks and small islands. They chose the channel. There was a piltover checkpoint here, checking for dangerous or illegal cargo (heh) and Sevika had just paid off the guards. None of them saw her or Toothless, perched high in the rafters, a wing draped over Jinx’s lighter body.
They were just past the point, when Toothless tensed mentally. Her senses were superior to Jinx, so the girl looked up questioningly.

“Dragons above us.” She hissed.

“Many?” She asked back.

Toothless tilted the fragile sensors on her head upwards. “Seven.” She decided. Oh this would be fun.
Silco had sent them on this trip, along with Sevika, due to a certain vigilante group that had cropped up in the isles. They targeted dragon trappers and shimmer, which were both things Silco was rather invested in.

The notable thing about them, was their use of dragons. Jinx was eager to fight them, if she was being honest. Other people who rode dragons? Exciting to the max. And they lived for excitement. It kept the thinking away. Maybe she could even strike up a chat with the dragons, learn what the fuck was going on. Was there another Alpha in her seas? Alpha species were incredibly rare, but it was possible. Were these dragons willing, like Toothless, or slaves, like Silcos other beasts?
Regardless, she was pretty sure they knew who the leader was, considering the descriptions of his dragon.

“Powder cmon, I have a way to escape, but we have to go now!”

“I told you it’s Jinx! Let go of me Ekko, I’m warning you.”

A slap, a scream, the shout of guards, a boys betrayed face. A massive gray and red dragon in the distance, through her telescope.

Toothless licked her face, breaking her from her thoughts.

She could feel them now, a very light buzz in her skull. Or maybe that was Tooth’s skull. She didn’t know. She grabbed a bomb from her belt, one of the timed ones, and grinned.
——————————————————————————-
It was a lucky tip; one of Heather’s informants, who got word to them about the shipment. He’d seen it unloaded at the docks. Normally such information would be too soon, too late. But the Firelights had wings.

They had located the ship about an hour ago, but Ekko had decided to wait until it went through customs. Just in case Piltover decided to actually help, for once. They did not, of course.
Ruff and Tough rode the same dragon, the original zippleback they’d met on Berk a lifetime ago, known as Barf and Belch. Scar had befriended and bonded with a deathsong called Amity, a beautiful and slender orange and blue dragon that heavily contrasted Scars large build, but he was a deadly beast nonetheless. Heather herself sat on a silvery razorwhip named Windshear. With them were two newer firelights, Eve, a pink haired girl on an equally pink nadder, and James, on a large orange nightmare.
They had already taken out four shipments of shimmer with this team, and six hunter ships. It wasn’t much of a contest with their specialized and well coordinated air attacks. Still, battle was always nerve wracking for him. "I'm no fighter. I'm a blacksmith." He thought grimly. Unfortunately, he also somehow became the leader of his people. With a sigh, he lowered his mask, flicked Felicia’s old hooked staff, and his group descended.

It went according to plan, at first. Amity pinned the visibly armed members above deck with shots of his specialized amber spittle, using up his shot count. Barf shot out a green gas across the ship, providing cover as his crew rolled off their dragons to engage the rest. Heather sent a spear through a man on one side, while Ekko clubbed the man on her left coming up with a knife. A whistle went over their heads as Windshear and Pie shot well aimed spikes through the fog.
Soon everyone was down.
“You know the drill. Spill and burn. Five minutes.” Ekko growled, keeping his voice deep to help hide his identity.
“Group C, check below.”

Tough and Rough nodded, and went below, Barf and Belch following. The rest with Ekko began to crack open and spill the shimmer barrels onto the metal. The dragons helped, speeding things along. Cloud Jumper kept watch from the mast. He seemed jumpy, like something was wrong. Ekko frowned and worked faster.
Piltover would arrive soon; there was no way they didn’t see dragons from their watchtowers. That aside, deathsong spit didn’t last forever. He could hear it cracking as they strained. Ekko knew he should just kill all of Silcos goons, but part of him knew most of them were desperate Zaunites and just couldn’t bring himself to kill them unless it was self defense.  Though he doubted Scar or Heather gave a shit about killing, his group generally followed his lead.

Then an explosion rocked the ship. The doors below deck exploded outwards, and Barf emerged. Belch was absent, a severed head leaking blood and smoking, dragging behind the limbs on that side, limp and lifeless. Barf wailed, a horrible, gut wrenching sound, and collapsed, twitching. After a moment the body stilled.
Smoke spilled around the corpse from the gaping hole into the ships belly. His heart was pounding. A shadow dipped through the fog, lazily strolling along the dead dragons back. Blue braids swayed as she waltzed across the dragon, and dropped down to the deck with a clang from her thick leather boots. Ekko nearly flinched. No one moved.
She looked up at them wide childlike eyes, pure blue.
“NO! No.” His brain protested. Not her. Anything but her.

“Hi.” Jinx said.

And then the demon came. It shot out of the hole, and for a moment, it hoovered above her head, black as night, wings spread above her head, eyes screaming death and rage. Its maw opened, revealing rows of sharp teeth as it let out a strange whistle. Night Fury.
Ekko was so busy gaping at it that he didn’t notice the knives flashing through the air until Heather and James were already dead, gurgling in puddles of their own blood. A split second later two blue bolts flashed. Pie was down, screaming from where her chest had caved in. Windshear fell to the side with a screech. Her thick plating seemed to have spared her life, but her wing was limp at her side. Spikes shot everywhere in a blind panic. Several hit people, and cries were uttered across the deck. One embeded itself in his shoulder, and it went numb instantly. Shit. Luckily none hit his people.
He did flinch then, stumbling back in shock. The girl was on him in a moment, a knife flashing an inch from his throat as he desperately blocked with his club, other arm dangling, useless. Scar came from the side, swinging his axe, but she dodged easily, long neon blue braids swaying with her movements. Scar went too far forwards from his own momentum, and Jinx slammed her knife hilt into his temple. He crumpled, gasping under his mask.
Cloudjumper roared a protest, lunging downwards to block Ekko with his body, even as Ekko tried to get to Scar to help.
The fury didn’t fire at them, and the girl glanced up at Cloud. He saw hesitation there, was she afraid? They were all frozen for a split second, save Scar, moaning at her feet.  But he didn’t get to think about it.

Amity screamed, and lunged from across the deck, where she had been hoovering over Windshear, but Jinx jumped backwards, ducked low, face nearly to the ground, and the fury bounced over her, inches from Cloud and Ekko, and slammed into him, teeth snapping for his neck. They went rolling across the metal deck.
Cloudjumper hesitated, then sprang away after them, but he was slow on his bad leg . The moment the fury realized it could just blast them to death…
Eve had managed to light a torch, tears rolling down her face.
The deathsong venom was starting to crumble, men and women struggling across the deck. Everything was going to shit. They had a minute left at best.
“Hurry.” Ekko called, lunging at Jinx with his club. That was his most fatal mistake of the night.
His cry caught the attention of Jinx.
She almost lazily dodged his club and tripped him, knocking him to the ground. Before he could even stand again she was across the deck.
Jinx grabbed Eves wrist as she punched her face. The mask went flying across the deck. Pink hair blew free in the wind. Jinx froze.
“Vi?” She mumbled. He barely heard it, above the snarling of the dragons and the wind across the deck. Eve struggled, trying to escape, panicking. She must have lost her weapon somewhere.
Behind them, the fury finally got a hold on Amity and bit into his shoulder, hard. The orange dragon screamed and tried to run. The fury let it go, snarling, and fixed its eyes on Cloud Jumper. He lowered his crest, carefully inching back towards Ekko. It watched him, stiff, poised, eyes darting to Jinx, then back to Cloud.

“Jinx.” Ekko practically begged from across the deck.

In the end Eve simply dropped the torch and took a swing at Jinx with her loose hand. This seemed to snap the blue haired girl from her trance. She let go, and Eve turned to run, the flames bursting around them. Jinx blinked, and sent a blade into her spine.
"NO!” Ekko screamed. Despair and horror ran through him. But it was too late. Scar had him, he realized, tugging him onto Cloud Jumpers saddle. They fled into the sky, Amity bloody, but behind them.  They left Windshear, probably to die. There was simply nothing they could do.
He looked down to see a black shape darting fast and low over the sea, just as the Piltover law enforcement finally decided to show up on their shinning galley to the purple flaming wreckage of their battle.
Tears welled in Ekkos eyes.
Fourteen to four in under ten minutes.
They climbed back into the clouds, and the sight vanished.

Only later did it occur to him to wonder why she even let them go at all.

Chapter Text

Teeth-in-Night had a bad day. First she had been bored, soooo bored, in the metal water box humans called a ship. Jinx was bored too, which made it even worse. She was far more sensitive to Jinx than Jinx was to her. It was not the girls fault; despite their similarities, their minds functioned in different ways, she knew.

Then she had picked up on the other dragons- their mind-song buzzing from the skies above. Toothless was very sensitive to the minds of other dragons, nearly as sensitive as Ash.
She felt excited then, as did Jinx, at the prospect of some action, finally. They had been brought here to fight this pack, after all.

But it had all gone rather poorly. They “kicked ass” as Jinx would say, yes. And they didn’t even have to fly, using the element of shock and surprise to ambush their enemies. They took the three that came below deck first, Jinx blew the whole belly of the ship to pieces with her fire-bombs, frying the two humans to crisps in an instant. Toothless shielded her up in the rafters with her wings. Then, while the two heads was reeling, she had sprung down and ripped off one of its fragile exposed necks. The blood loss would be fatal in minutes for certain, and the paralysis would kill him besides.
They fought viciously, Toothless evened the field a bit to start, but neither of them wanted to kill dragons, not when they didn’t know what their situation was yet. Jinx didn’t really want to kill Ekko either, if they were being honest.
The other humans were fair game, though.

She took out the dragons with hard projectiles, though the silvery one survived, and promptly injured their pack before collapsing, which was annoying. The big angry one- leftie- Jinx called her, was fine, and slowly breaking free, so she ignored it.
The orange one came at her, so she rolled with it across the ground, playing more than fighting.
But then Jinx was hurt-upset-angry and she sent the deathsong packing quickly. Cloud was in her way, and she fixed him with a look. I will kill you. It said, plainly. He backed towards his rider. It wasn’t subtle, but Toothless was more worried about Jinx than winning, now.
Jinx had it though, and killed the pain-hurt-sister.
The pink haired girl had dropped the torch, though, before that, and they lost their cargo and crew. The ship was in flames, and a Piltie ship was on its way, with a fresh crew to see what the fuss was about. Jinx hopped on Toothless, and they snatched up Sevika as an afterthought.
Silco would be sad if Leftie died….not that he wouldn’t already be furious with them.
They thought about going after the leftovers, of shooting them all out of the sky in a rage, but Jinx was on the verge of a full breakdown, and Toothless told her no.
Instead they dropped Sevika in the woods, ignoring her cussing shouts, and fled into the nearby mountains.
Toothless listened to her half crazed jabbering as they flew.
“Shut up. Shut up! It wasn’t my fault I thought she was-no it wasn’t I’m not a failure! Silco won’t be mad he won’t SHUT UP-”
Worse than her rambling were her thoughts.
Jinx had never failed him before…maybe he’d kick them out. Smack them like her and tell her she was a Jinx, a failure. Then no one would love them. Maybe he’d take Toothless away. The dragon shuddered at that thought. She and Jinx apart…inconceivable. They were built to be one. They had both killed their families by trusting strange dragons; they were both broken, Toothless physically and Jinx mentally, and they picked eachother up anyways. They both needed the wind in their faces and the blood under their nails to feel alive. They were the same and Together.
Images of the dead flashed in her vision, confusing Toothless as well as she tried to navigate for them. (Luckily for them both Jinx could move that pedal perfectly in her sleep.) She found them a cave, finally, high up and empty, and they landed. Jinx rolled off and mechanically removed the saddle and tail. She was biting at her lip again, hard enough it was bleeding.

“Stop that.” Toothless hissed.

“Sorry.” She mumbled back.

Toothless sighed and wrapped Jinx in her wings, trying to stay alert for danger, as the girls mind shattered under her.
——————————————————————————-
Caitlyn was supposed to be watching the Sunday market. This close to Piltover itself, it was very thrilling and dangerous work. So when she saw dragons of all things attacking a large cargo ship after it passed the inspection gates, forgive her for sneaking onto the ship dispatched to investigate.

The ship itself was a disaster by the time they arrived, in flames, bodies strewn across the deck, dragon and human. Caitlyn felt a bit ill at the sight of that much blood and gore, but she pressed on, boarding the ship and weaving the purple flames, helping to put out the fires with seawater.
Clearly, by the smell and flame coloration, this had been a shimmer smuggling. Someone had bought the officers at the gates. Disgusting, but not unexpected. The quality of Piltovers law enforcement was certainly not what Caitlyn had expected upon joining.
The flames were mostly subdued, and she began to look around more closely.
She examined the strange crystals that had cracked across the deck, coated in blood… and found a grey nadder-like quill beside one, along with a puddle of blood, which trailed in a line across the deck. She followed it, the trail leading below deck. The interior was also burned, but the neon paints could still be seen…they looked to be the doodles of a child, but some were massive, and they were everywhere, across the ceiling and the walls and the floors. No child could reach those points, at least not alone. And who would bring a child on a drug dealers ship?

One was across the hatch doors, a large, crudely drawn face in blue, round, with four nubs sticking out of its head, and large almond eyes. Its mouth was a scribble of shark-like teeth.
Perhaps some type of dragon; she guessed, based on the scribbles of other smaller beasts across the walls, between the doodles of stars and clouds and other things. She pulled out her notebook and quickly copied it, along with a few other larger drawings.
There was a charred dragon head down here, and the crusted skeletons of two people, but she saw nothing else close to the hatch.

She shook her head, and resumed trailing the blood further into the ships belly.
A cough, and a large man, heavily tattooed, clutching his abdomen, was her reward for the observation. He had dragged himself into a small storage alcove.
“Oh, let me help you.” She murmured, pressing a cloth to his bleeding gut before he could even react.

“I-i didn’t do anything! She’s crazy” He gasped against her hand.

“Easy now.” She said, though her own heart was pounding.

“She shot me, I didn’t-” He cut off with a groan.

“Who is she? Who are you working for ?” She inquired

He panted, groaned. “I can’t he’d kill me!”

“Who? I can protect you.”

“N-no he-”

“Caitlyn Kiramman. Interfering with yet another investigation. I should have known. You’re supposed to be guarding the markets for pickpockets and dealers.” A medium sized man clicked up behind her.

“Captain.” She straightened and faced the man. Marcus, chief of police and military affairs. The top dog of their ladder. What shit luck, for him to be here. “I am aware; but that job is pointless at such a well established market and-”

“Pointless?” He interrupted. “Why do you thing no one tries anything at our southern ports?” He leaned forwards. “Because they’re guarded. And with the progress fair coming up; safety is only growing more pertinent.”

She looked down at the man she had been attempting to question; but he had fainted. “I understand…but sir there’s more going on here than just the smuggling-”

“I realize you are used to getting your way, Kiramman, but we have a chain of command for a reason.I’ll take it from here. Since you’re looking for more work…you can take the graveyard shift tomorrow night at the fair.” She thought she saw the officer behind him hide a smirk.

She sighed. Standing around all night on dead silent streets, guarding Jayce’s newest invention, no doubt. “Yes sir. I shall be departing for the Capitol, then.”

“Good. “ He glanced down at the man. “I want this one on a boat to Stillwater immediately.”

“Yes sir.”

On her way back to the boats, however, Caitlyn decided to cause herself even more trouble. The officers had managed to find a dragon alive, a well armored beast Caitlyn knew couldn’t be from around these waters.
It was struggling around the deck and shrieking, with a broken wing.
“It must’ve been unconscious or dazed and woken up”, she guessed.

Someone raised and aimed a spear, and launched, but it merely bounced off the beasts plate and made it angrier. As she watched it opened its maw and spat blue-hot fire at the officer, who narrowly dodged. Caitlyn noted the saddle on its back. Was it domesticated? Large species were known to be untameable…but every dragon body they’d found had a saddle, and she’d seen the dragons leaving the ship with riders.
She looked at it again. It was heaving, fighting for breath and trembling. It’s wing was broken, and it did not look like a swimming species by any means. Its terrified. She realized.

She found herself walking through the shouting men and women as they ducked back, frantic in their own fear, and straight up to the beast, hands held high on either side of her head.
Someone tried to grab her, but she sidestepped, and then it was too late.
“It’s alright. What happened to you, huh? Did they leave you because of your wing? You poor thing, it must hurt terribly.” She babbled soft soothing nonsense.

No one dared to move behind her. One twitch and the idiot girl would be dead. The whole ship was silent save for her chatter. But it did seem to be working, oddly enough. The massive, spiked, fire breathing monster lowered its head, jaws closed, and sniffed at her hair.
It let out a coo, deep in its throat, and Cait found herself feeling so horribly sad, for no reason she could know.

Slowly, she reached out, offering her hand. The beast stared at her, deep into her eyes. Like it was observing her soul. She recalled the fact then, that hextech came from dragons, and therefore dragons must be magic, or contain magic inside themselves. She shuddered.

It bowed its head, and placed its nose in her hand.

“There we go.” She murmured, and scratched at the plates under its jaw.
The others were gaping and murmuring. Marcus stepped forwards, fuming, and the beast hissed, a low, very clear warning. He froze.

“Sir. I believe this beast shall be incredibly useful to Lord Talis. She seems perfectly tame when not threatened, and that is a far cry from most of our imports for study.” She said smugly. He couldn’t refuse, not in front of all these officers who would spread the word. Not when her mother was on the Council.

The dragon rumbled and licked her hair. Gross.
——————————————————————————————
Viktor did not have much in this world. He had worked hard to rise to his current station, and was excited to present their work to the professor. But he was also nervous.

“What if he does not like our proposal?” He asked Jayce. They were sitting in the dark lab, a massive room dedicated to their study in one of the largest buildings in the Capitol. Excessive, just like everything in Piltover. The doors alone cost as much as a house where he was born.
“We did everything they asked. It’s time for us to get to choose something for a change.” Jayce said, feet propped lazily against his desk.

A little chirp announced Heimerdingers arrival. The man was noted for being one of the only people to have a tame dragon. The tiny purple hotburple waddled into the room, snuffling at the floors. It waddled up to Viktor and nudged his good leg.
He liked the little creature, but it always made him feel guilty when he saw it. While neither he nor Jayce did anything to dragons with their own hands, they both knew where the crystals came from. It wouldn’t stop Viktor though. He would see Zaun happy and thriving, even if it killed him.
Which it likely would. He coughed into his arm, ignoring the little dragon and his guilt, as he approached the professor. Jayce had presented him with a stool, which he wiggled onto with a small effort.

“Glad you could make it.” Jayce said cheerfully.

“Wouldn’t miss it for the world my boy.” Heimerdinger chirped.

They showed him the stabilized crystals, watching with grins as his eyes grew huge at the implications. Viktor was also quite proud; this alone had taken two years of effort from both of them
. Jayce displayed the gauntlets, meant to help the poor malnourished miners in the fissures. Viktors idea.
He himself displayed Jayce’s prototype, a laser designed to cut through materials quickly and cleanly.
Both would save hours of labor and vastly improve exportation of goods.
Heimerdinger clapped, bouncing. “Quite amazing gentlemen, you should be very proud of yourselves!” He shared a warm look and a nod with Jayce. Told you so you big oaf. “Obviously there are a few kinks to iron out and screws to be tightened. But give it another decade and this might be ready for public release!” The little man finished happily.
Viktor frowned, gut sinking.

“…A decade. Sir, with all respect the people of Zaun need this power now.”

“Oh don’t worry my boy, it flies by in the blink of an eye! Keep at it and I am sure you can find a way to safeguard hextech against potential misuse and find a source of that much crystal!” With that, Heimerdinger started to take his leave, heading for the large double doors.

Viktor opened his mouth to protest, heart pounding. No, his people were dying in the gutters. They needed his help a decade ago. Jayce reached out to stop him, but everyone froze.

Viktor did not know much about Jayce’s young friend Caitlyn. He knew she was the daughter of Lord Kiramman, a strong and very intelligent woman, and that she was just as headstrong as her mother.
What he did not expect from her, was to arrive at their study along to shouts, screams, and a series of growls.

She burst into the massive room with a cheery “Hello boys!” A silvery head, topped with a massive horn above its snout, poked in above her with a questioning chirp. Heimerdinger’s little hotburple immediately forgot is distress, and gave a cheerful bark of greeting, waddling excitedly over as the silver wiggled through the door. She easily took up half the room, and looked down on them curiously.
Jayce was gaping.

“Goodness! I see you’ve made a friend.” Heimerdinger chuckled, apparently unbothered, as usual. Viktor was starting to suspect living too long went to your head.

“Cait, what the HEL?” Jayce had finally found his voice, it seemed.

“Yeahhh sorry about the hallway. She gets a little antsy when people get in her space.” Cait said, shuffling. “I thought she might be good for study! Shes very tame for a large species! Some random vigilante group who somehow tamed dragons left her behind on a ship after she got injured.”

The beast seemed satisfied no one here was of concern, and flopped down, chattering with the little purple dragon, which flopped between her feet. Viktor noted the brace on her left wing.
“A lovely specimen of a razorwhip!” Heimerdinger complimented. “I do wonder how anyone managed to get these creatures under control. I have heard tales…from Iona, long ago, of dragon riders, but this…fascinating.”

He slowly waddled up to the beast, who lazily raised her head to snuffle at him, before continuing her conversation, ignoring him entirely as he ran a hand over her side.
Viktor got his courage up then, but the beast took one look at him and hissed, a long horrible sound. He froze, then backed away.
“It might be the cane.” Cait said apologetically. “She doesn’t like anything that might be a weapon near her.”

“Or she can smell her people’s death on me.” He thought, but he stayed quiet. “You really continue to amaze me, Cait. You’ll have to fill me in on this story later.” Jayce chuckled, but didn’t try to approach the beast. He hid it well, but Viktor could tell he was afraid. “I’m sure she will be very useful.”

Caitlyn nodded, smiling, though her eyes looked distant. “I certainly will…it was an interesting case.” Then she looked at Heimerdinger. “I will not cage her. She cannot fly anyways. I was thinking I could keep her in my families gardens ?”

He frowned. “The council will not like it. However,I think maintaining this trust is important. She seems very stable, and she cannot fly away currently. We shall have to address that eventually of course, if she heals correctly. I will see what I can do long term. In the meantime I shall escort you both home so that no one stops you. Will it accept a muzzle, for show?”

“She will, though if she gets tired of them she simply pulls them off. Only way I could get them to put her on our wooden ships.” She grinned an evil grin at Jayce then.
He shook his head and rolled his eyes, with a fond smile.
“Thank you, sir.” She added to Heimerdinger, smiling gently. “If you all would excuse me, I have had a long day, and I have night watch tomorrow guarding your little lab; I would like to go home and rest for now.”
They said their goodbyes. And the two dragons, Council member, and young officer left, the double doors closing softly behind them.

“Well.” Jayce said as they left.

Viktor crumpled to the floor. Ran a hand through his hair.

Jayce was at his side in an instant. “Hey, hey.” He put a big, firm hand on Viktors shoulder. “We’ll figure it out Viktor, don’t worry. I’m gonna talk to Mel, she’s hosting a donation for an orphanage tomorrow morning, before the speech.”

Viktor didn’t much care for Lord Mel. But she was a clever woman and didn’t raise the alarm on them that night. More importantly, she knew how to manipulate the council. He hoped Jayce was right.
—————————————————————————-
Silco was in his study when a person entered. He looked up then fought to school his expression as Sevika stood, panting over his desk.
He felt a strange sense of dread. “I presume the shipment went poorly if you are back a month early?” He inquired, opting to ignore the lack of a knock.
“Firelights. Everything burned, thanks to that little blue haired shit and her incompetence. Flew off too, rather than face her actions. After dumping me in the fucking forest outside Port Town.”
His gut dropped. His ship burned…that would set his plans back by a month or more. More importantly Jinx was missing. She was likely safe, with that dragon. But still. She was halfway across Zaun, with no resources, and she might be hurt. He was worried.
However he couldn’t do much. If he placed a bounty or a search out, he would be announcing to the world, and his enemies, that he was missing people, putting them at further risk. He would have to trust that they would come back to him.

“Tell me what happened.”

And she did, with much cussing and panting. She was dirty, and bloody, he observed. She had had a rough time. Apparently she had captured and forced a dragon to fly her here through sheer willpower, just to tell him what happened quickly. But still, this attack had been two weeks past.
Silco rubbed his eyes, hard. This was his fault, for sending Jinx in as the sole rider against a group that had already sunk several of his investments. He was foolish, and luck she got out alive at all. He swore to himself that if-when- she returned he would keep her safe, no matter how much she may resent him for it.

“Thank you, Sevika. Get some rest, and a hot meal, please.”

“And the girl?”

“She will return when she is ready. I will address her mishap then; however she was the only one of you to even land a blow, much less kill over half the attackers. She even saved your life, whether you appreciate it or not. So I do not see a need for punishment. ”

Sevika huffed, but she simply nodded and left, with a slight limp.

——————————————————————————-
Ekko dragged himself off Cloud. Scar hopped off behind him. Amity was small, and he didn’t want to further his injuries, so Cloud had carried them both. Blue greeted them first. The tiny dragon had recently begun a hobby of talking, and worse, teaching the other terrors too. Some days a hundred of the little beasts would swarm, all chattering “Fuck. Hello! Chicken. CHICKEN. Pretty Dragon. FUCK.” Most of them didn’t really seem to grasp what they were parroting, but he was certain Blue knew exactly what she was doing when she fluttered up and squeaked out a “Hello!” at him, before hopping on and chattering at Cloud in her own tongue.
If he hadn’t had such a shit week, he might’ve smiled at her antics.

He had to tell Roy his partner was dead. No one married in Zaun, not like in Piltover. Still, they’d been together over three years now. They’d come to the firelights together, seeking refuge from the local Barons shimmer spiked goons and ruthless treatment of her workers. Roy clutched their little pink haired toddler to his chest. He cried, quietly.
“She finished the mission. She was fearless.” Ekko murmured, holding the man tight. He was taller than Ekko, and older, but he leaned into it anyways. Comfort was all Ekko could give him now.

Jame’s mother had simply nodded, eyes dry and distant. Gave his shoulder a little pat. Then walked away. Somehow that felt worse.

Ruff and Tuff hadn’t had any family. Tuff had a pet chicken, carefully locked behind iron bars in a sealed room with terror proof locks. Ekko would have to address that at some point, he supposed.
Heather only had him and Scar. And Windshear. Who they left. To be butchered and used to power furnaces, most likely. The guilt would plague him for the rest of his life. All the deaths under his watch did.

He looked out over his home, damaged people and dragons alike.
Jinx. He thought, cursed, fists clenched. Silco. And that dragon. A night fury. Where did they even find one? Ekko only knew about night furies from tales, and a drawing in Felicias book. The woman had made a full, detailed novel on dragons and their behaviors, complete with drawings.
He dragged himself to her rooms, which had become his, mostly because Cloud wanted to be near Ekko, and also sleep in his own nest.

He pulled the journal out of her old desk, flipped the pages. “Night fury.” He head, aloud. “The unholy offspring of Thor and Janna. Extreme caution, very unstable. Only one specimen found. Limited data. Parthenogenic female only species.
Prefers fish, but cannot swim well. Often hunts large mammals by night, using its camouflage, superior night vision, and echolocative abilities . Known to occasionally hunt other dragons. Very powerful and precise blasts of pure arcanic energy, as opposed to flame or ice. Possible weather alteration capabilities. More data needed.”

The passage was very empty compared to most, some dragons had ten or more pages. The fury had half of one, and a detailed drawing of a black dragon with crisp blue eyes. Plus half of it didn’t even make sense. What was parthenogenesis? Offspring of the gods? It was a dragon! The dragon hunting part he certainly bought, after that display on the ship. He sighed and put his head in his hands. After a few minutes he heard a knock. Scar came in. Placed a hot plate of food in front of him.

Cloudjumper followed him in, curling up in his nest with a yawn. Ekko wondered if he was upset about Heather and the others. He knew the dragon missed Felicia, from the way he drooped whenever she came up.
But he seemed fine now…

“You holdin’ up?” Scar asked, putting a big hand on his shoulder.

“I could ask you the same.” He stated.

“You always take this shit hard Ekko. Its why you’re in charge and not a brute like me. You care about people. Alot.”

“I’ll be okay Scar. It’s just.” He leaned back. “Why does it have to be her. I feel like I got my ass kicked by a ghost.” He glared at the food in distaste, nauseated.

“At least get some rest.We ain’t slept through the night the whole way here, and I know how you get.” Scar grumbled.

Ekko nodded, mutely. Scar left, closing the door behind him softly. Blue began eating his food. He didn’t even see her enter. She paused to cock an eye at the fury drawing. “Blue.” She commented.

“Yeah.” Ekko agreed, closing the book, placing it carefully back in the drawer. Dragging himself to the straw mattress he called his bed, wedged between Cloud and the wall. “Blue.” He stared at the rock ceiling.
———————————————————————————-
Jinx came up with a brilliant plan, after she cried herself dry. Silco needed dragons to take on Piltover. Lots and lots of dragons. Ekko and his bugs had been on dragons.
And Toothless said they were nest dragons, stank of hundreds of others.
The trail would still be fresh. She could find the nest, tell Silco. They could take the dragons! Maybe it would finally be enough to make a move on that stupid pig city and their dragon murdering crystal gadgetry Sevikas spies were always bitching about.

Toothless liked the plan. It involved being sneaky and clever and fast, and those were some of her favorite things. Plus Jinx seemed much more stable with a plan. The black dragon bounced over to her saddle and scooped it up, barking “On go go go!” As she shoved it in her friends face.

“Okay OKAY.” She laughed, swatting Tooth back. She swung into the saddle, testing the tailfin, just in case. And then they were off. They gathered height, using the rising air currents off the sea, and circled until Toothless got her bearings. It was three hours later when they found the little outcropping of rocks, a fire pit and dragon dung.

“Them.” Tooth confirmed, sniffling. She was no tracker class, but her nose was good enough to tell one scent from another. Now the trick was keeping the trail. Dragons didn’t leave much scent in the ever shifting air above the seas. It was easy to pick a direction. Most dragons lived in the north. It was isolated, unexplored. Plus they had already been heading that way.

They pulled it off, often asking Terrors for directions. Once they actually overshot, too fast, and flapped right over their active campsite at night. Luckily the two dragons were asleep. They were both very carefully closing their minds off. They’d had plenty of practice with Ash. But dragons had powerful scent and sight as well. The two set up a few isles back and waited.

The nest was impressive. She should really bring up the ice idea to Silco. Extra fortification. There were probably a thousand or more dragons here, minds buzzing just out of reach. They were friendly too. A nadder greeted them as they flew in, despite the time of night.
“Hello friends.” She chirruped.

“Greetings, cousin.” Jinx said automatically, in sync with her friend under her.

The nadders crests raised in excitement. “You speak! The others don’t speak.”

“Yes. I speak. My Alpha and my friend taught me.” Jinx said, trying not to be annoyed. Most dragons reacted similarly. Others in more isolated places thought she was just a baby dragon, based on her scent and the way she clung to Toothless like some species carried their young. Which was way funnier.

“Are we welcome here? We mean no harm, we are just curious travelers.” Toothless asked, her ear flaps low, trying to look nonthreatening as they circled.

“Of course! Great White welcomes all, cousins and two-leg. Warm caves and many fish here. Less warm-blood prey, but none go hungry.” The nadder tilted her wings, leading them down into the nest, just like that.
She likely assumed they were bachelors looking for a new nest. Such things were common for dragons. They did not correct her. The warm green mossy clearing, this far north, nearly blew her breath away. They were careful to avoid the pool. They could feel Him. And if he found them and saw their minds, they were dead. They’d never escape this many dragons in an unfamiliar nest.

The nadder left them, off to feed her hatchlings, but told them to just ask if they needed help. Not a single dragon looked at them oddly, though they got plenty of friendly greetings. “This place is ripe for the picking.” She whispered to Toothless in case any of the dragons understood Norse.
The fury bobbed her head in agreement. “They are so..happy.” She murmured. It was true, Jinx realized. These dragons were happy, sleeping and flying as they pleased. Raising their young fat and warm on fish. It was a far cry from her nest, all depressed gray silence and no eggs.

“After the war…I’m sure they could come back…” She mumbled. “We need them. Silco needs them. We sure as hell can’t stay here.” She added bitterly. It was night, and most the human occupants were asleep. But they’d still had to float over a couple patrols, using their dark scales, and the shadows. This was the firelight base, alright. The people she blew sky high last week.
Toothless sighed. Jinx was probably right.

They found Ekko in a workshop, in the main cave, tinkering with some sort of weird leather shirt. It was a wide, open space, up on a cliffside. Likely to let the heat and smoke from the massive forges along the walls escape. He looked tired. A little blue dragon was asleep on one of the stone forges. It tugged at Jinx. Surely not…
They used the spiky ceiling as a perch, Jinx’s braids dangling as she clung upside down to the saddle. Ekko sighed, set down the shirt, picked up a hammer.
She hesitated. Jinx didn’t owe him anything. Nor did Toothless, that was for sure. The dropped the fifteen feet to the floor, the sound of hammer-falls muffling her light thump. Ow her ankles. Dumb plan.
The blue dragon saw her first, and chirped a horribly croaky “Hello! Blue!” Before flapping over and clinging directly to her chest, murbling “Blue hatchling alive Cloud say excited why enemy why here big black cousin where?” Chattering so fast she could barely make sense of it all. She assumed the dragon was talking to itself, even though she hadn’t seen Blue in years.

“Hello Blue cousin, name Curse-of-Blue now, with other nest lord who say protect ship, why enemy.” She certainly wasn’t giving away Toothless. This little beast was still with the enemy.

“You speak!!!” Blue said happily. Jinx wrapped an arm around the little dragon to keep her stable, and dodged the hammer blow to her head, stepping sideways almost lazily.

“Really, Ekko?” She rasped. “Not even a hello? The dragons are more polite than you.”

“What the fuck. Are you doing here, Jinx.” He had a look of pure, cold hatred.

She snorted. “I know you think I’m a huge asshole, but just remember you attacked my boat.”

“Four people are dead. One of them was a mom, congrats on orphaning a kid.”

She giggled, just because she knew it would piss him off. Dodged another hammer swipe.
Blue screeched and clambered onto her shoulder. “DAMNIT BLUE MOVE.” He growled.

She clutched tighter. “Confusion.” She hissed, trembling.

“It’s okay, I am not here to fight.” She assured. Last thing she needed was Blue alerting the nest lord. Clearly he wasn’t hearing Ekko, thank the gods. But Ekko was human. He’d hear his own.

“Are you fucking talking to the dragon while I’m trying to kill you?” He growled, looking both furious and absolutely baffled.

“I call it dragoneese.”

“That’s stupid.”

“Loveeee your support Little man.” She smirked. He seemed to have finally stopped swinging that hammer at her. Good. “Anyways. I got places to be, just came by to give you a warning.”

His eyes darted.She knew where they lived. She couldn’t be allowed to leave now. Oh she could her his panic as if he was screaming it. This was a fun game. “Whats that?” He asked, stalling.

“You should take your bugs and leave. This place is fucked. And Silco doesn’t bother with prisoners. Waste of food.” She said cheerfully.

“You-you wouldn’t.” Fear. Stinking fear.

“I orphaned a kid over some purple goop, remember?” She gave him her most innocent smile.

He lunged, only to be knocked to the rocks. A heavy, firm paw was on his spine. He turned his head to the side, to catch a glimpse of a bright, blue eye. This dragon was not one of Silcos slaves. It had an intelligence to it, like Cloud-Jumper. “You’d enslave your own?” He asked.

Toothless blinked and looked up at her. It was rare for a human to talk to her. She looked back down and shrugged. It’s not like either of them felt good about it. But to achieve Silcos dream…free Zaun…they couldn’t just give that up for a few happy dragons, now could they? But he wouldn’t understand that. Jinx gently pulled Blue off her.

“You should go too, by the way.” She told the beastie, before plopping it down.

“Silco doesn’t use many terrors anyways.” Tooth added. Blue licked her eyeball.

“Bad nest lord. Stay.” She demanded.

“Sorry, little cousin. I can’t.” She sighed. What would she even do in a place this peaceful? Borinngggg.

Tying Ekko up would’ve been a huge pain, so she just plucked a vial and a syringe from her saddle, and poked him with some nadder venom. Just enough to make him woozy, give him a littlleee kidney damage. He’d be fine. The big baby was struggling violently, but a six hundred pound reptile was hard to budge.

“Jinx. Please don’t do this. There are kids here.” He finally begged, towards the end.

“That’s why I told you to leave, dumb-ass.” She commented, before sticking him. But she’d forgotten someone, who had no clue what she was doing to their friend.
The terror screamed in alarm. Whoops.

The Nest-Lord tried to grab their minds, but they slipped easily from his grasp.All of his dragons were willing followers. Likely always had been.  His power had nothing on Ash. They did get out, despite the uproar. They smelled like the nest after hours of being rubbed on and greeted by the locals, plus Tooth was fast and sneaky. Jinx was a bit brighter, but Toothless used her body to hide her when needed. The real trick was getting out the exit.
They waited for a gap, then darted out. Multiple dragons gave chase, hissing and snarling. But Toothless was the fastest by far, a beast build for speed and agility. They rolled and dodged flame and spike, pedal clicking three times a second, not breaking their promise to not hurt their hosts, for dragons didn’t lie. Climbing higher, higher. They breached the dark grey cloud cover, finally. Safe.
They circled, got their bearings, and headed home.

Chapter Text

Marcus had dug himself too deep, he knew. Years ago, when he took Silcos gold, he had chuckled. Hundreds of coins for his silence and to keep his peoples noses out of Silcos silly little drug operation?
Easy. Who cared about Zaun? It was a cesspool of whores and alcoholics anyways, only useful for its mines, fish, and rather pathetic farms. His men and women, mostly from Piltover or higher class Zaunites from nearby, certainly didn’t. It was all a paycheck to them. And any that got too nosy, well. They had…accidents.
He bought his wife a nice three story house in the middle of Piltover, had a few daughters. Got them all the finest dresses, fresh fruit from Noxus. He was often called away on work business, but when he was home he was happy, content.
Then one day he got a polite little letter in the mail. It was a request to keep his men’s noses out of the north. The implication was clear. ‘I know where you live, where your children sleep.’ It went downhill from there. “Arrest this man, do not detain this or that illegal shipment, if your men see firelights…kill them.”
Now it was years later, and he had one of Silcos men. Not a goon, or a dealer who knew jack shit and got too bold. A actual man. Alive.
He might talk. He almost did talk to that Kiramman girl who insisted on being a thorn in his side. Worse, they were sending him to stillwater, tomorrow.
Normally, Marcus would’ve slipped the man poison, but he was unconscious. Perhaps paid a guard to smother him in his sleep, but the attack was so drastic the Councilors themselves were up in his business about the sole human survivor. Someone would notice. Before he could think up a plan, the man was deported. Off to be patched up and then interrogated in the most secure prison on the isles. Fuck.
———————————————————————————
Vi was still a child, when they threw her into the darkest, dirtiest, and most difficult to access prison in all of the isles. She got no trial, of course. Just a through beating from the warden on her first day, to ensure she knew who was in charge. Many would follow.
Apparently since she was the leader of the pirates, she got the worst punishment.
Her second week, they let her out of her cell, into the big cafeteria.
She was jostled, shoved. Nervously made her way into the line, heart pounding. A big, burly man had tried to kiss her,as she waited, and she promptly beat the fuck out of him.
No pigs bothered interfering. She got her first lesson then. If something happened to you in here…no one gave a fuck.
Apparently taking out a man three times her size on her first day in public was the correct choice. A woman beckoned her over to a table, full of other women, all much older than Violet. Everyone here was older than Violet.
“You’re a tough cookie girl.” The woman complimented, when she cautiously made her way over. “I’m Margret. These fine ladies are Mist and Biter.” Biter grinned, showing large, blunt teeth. Mist smiled politely. She was small and slender. But her eyes held a dangerous glint. Vi nodded, respectfully. Scooped a forkful of slop into her mouth with bruised and bloody knuckles. It tasted like ass.
She watched Margret idly paint her skin over with a needle and a small tub of ink. Wondered how she got it. Decided she didn’t want to know. The woman saw her looking.
“Want a tattoo girlie? It’ll help you look a little less out of place.”
Vi hesitated. Then nodded.
Violet stuck with them, for the next several years of her miserable excuse for a life. She got up each morning. Punched the walls till lunch. (Her knuckles soon had a massive layer of callouses from the stone.) Went and ate her slop with Margret and her women. Occasionally had Margret work on her tattoos, which steadily spread from her shoulders down her back, eventually reaching her waist. Beat the shit out of people in the little prisoner made fighting ring of chalk- until the buzzer rang for them to return to their cells.
Spit in an enforcers face for pinching her ass. Took a beating. Rinse. Repeat. Everything was a blur, days, weeks, months, years. Some days she wondered why she even bothered. Others she didn’t, laying in bed, staring blankly at the wall, ignoring the buzzer that meant food and company. No one got in her way, because no one wanted their face caved in. Men twice her size and thrice her age parted for her like a school of fish from a shark.
Her muscles grew, lean and taunt. Her skin paled from lack of sunlight. Her fingers twitched for an axe. Her hatred festered.

There was a new man in the prison block today. She eyed him up from across the cafeteria, eyes bright and cold under her pink bangs.
He had just been released from solitary, supposedly he had suffered a near fatal wound from a dragon. He was large, well tattooed. No hair on his shiny bald head.
According to her informants, he was one of Silcos men. The motherfucker that took her family. Her home. It was common for informers or shimmer dealers to end up down here. But actual people that belonged to Silco, that was new. He must be getting bolder.
The man seemed oblivious to the tension in the room. Vi had beaten the shit out of most the people here, either because they got in her way, or just for fun. And they all knew she hated anything to do with the rumored shimmer dealer of Zaun.

She watched as he finished eating, stood to leave the room.
Well, she may be stuck in this godforsaken hellhole, but she sure as hell didn’t have to share it with him. She stood and followed, lazily grabbing her metal food tray. Crossed the room. And then began slamming it into his face.
————————————————————————————When they touched down, light as a feather, at the main entrance to the Vault, one of the guards actually yelped, raising his spear. Must be new. She chose to ignore him. She was too tired.
The others quickly opened the massive double doors. No one who knew Jinx wanted to be anywhere near her, and certainly not when she’d been gone for weeks. Girl aside, there was the dragon. Bleeding into the night behind her, eyes glowing in the torchlight.
They stalked into the maze of tunnels, not sparing the guards a glance. She still heard their exhales of relief after. The murmur of them cussing out the poor dude who thought she was a threat.

Jinx and Toothless were both shaking, a mix of fear and exhaustion. They had barely slept in four days, choosing to power through straight back home at full speed to avoid possible ambush by dragon or firelight, flying high where the air was thin and hard to breathe,the sky so cold Jinx would’ve frozen to death if Toothless didn’t radiate heat like a furnace. They’d had to stop once, because Toothless literally fell out of the sky and almost killed them both.
Now her wings dragged, and Jinx swayed a bit. Maybe a nap before Silcos surprise. She definitely wasn’t terrified of rejection. That her gift wouldn’t be enough. Nope just tired. They dragged themselves into their little cave, and promptly passed out in a pile of knives, limbs, and wings.

Jinx woke to Silcos cold hand on her cheek, gently stroking with his thumb. She bolted up. Toothless was already awake, watching quietly.
He leaned back a bit to avoid getting hit by her flailing limbs, face cool and flat. A braid still somehow managed to slap against his chest.

“I-” Jinx started, not meeting his eyes.
Something was lurking in the corner, with rotten, hollow eyes. “Worthless jinx jinx jinx!” it hissed. She pointedly didn’t look at it.

“It’s alright, Jinx. I forgive you.” He said in that calm, silky voice she missed so much.
Slowly Jinx looked up at him, saw no lies in his face. She leaned forward, silently, into his chest. He wrapped his arms around her, and put his head in her hair. Which probably smelled terrible, honestly. “Just please, never run off like that again. I was quite concerned for your well-being.” She fought the trembling. She really did. But there was just so much adrenaline, so much fear, being released from her system. He still loved her. Even after she messed up. Even before her secret surprise. Her surprise!
She pulled away, sprang to her feet. He followed, slowly. “I have something for you!” She chirped, tearing through her piles of knick knacks for paper and crayons.
Toothless murbled, very quietly. She knew to be scarce when Silco was angry or tense, but she was excited too, and it spilled out. She immediately ducked down submissively as he glanced at her.
Jinx made a loud noise, just to get his attention off the dragon. “AHA!” She slammed down a large piece of parchment, began doodling a silly little map. She felt Silcos warm breath as he leaned over her shoulder. “Obviously this won’t be as good as just using Toothless; her sense of direction is better than my drawing abilities, but-” She began drawing rough landmasses, starting from home, scratching at her memory of the frantic flight home.

She scribbled names such as “Vault” and “Spiky rocks” and “Firelight Nest” and then he sucked in his breath. “You found their lair?”

She smiled. “Surprise!!! Its huge, by the way, they even have a Real alpha, same species as Ashy boy, but older.”

He questioned her intensively. She admitted to getting spotted, hence her exhaustion, but didn’t mention Ekko, or her warning. It felt like a betrayal, somehow. Everything in regards to Ekko felt like a betrayal. She should’ve killed him. She warned him instead. She didn’t know why. He hated her guts now. She killed his little bugs. He knew they were coming because of her-

Toothless butted her head up against Jinx’s waist, drawing her from her oncoming spiral. She absently stroked the warm, scaly head.

Silco glanced at the beast in familiar disgust, before brushing a hand through her hair. Toothless flinched back. Waiting. There was no hurt anymore, just understanding, that Silco would never accept them as a whole…like Ekko never could accept Jinx for whatever was left of Powder.
“Why don’t I have a bath poured for you, and a meal prepared for when you get out? You’ve done well for me, but you need rest, child. I’ll even have a boar hauled up for your beast.” She puffed. But a bath did sound nice…she didn’t really want food, she rarely did- but she also knew that was partially why she felt so weak. And Toothless wiggled a little at the thought of a whole boar. So she nodded.
“Good girl.” He smiled, and he looked so happy.
She tried hard not to think about the dragons, or about Ekko. But her eyes still met Tooth’s over her fathers shoulder, and they shared a look of dread.

—————————————————————————————-
Ekko woke up to Scar slapping his face. He groaned.

“You’re alive.” The man murmured, looking relieved.

“Wh-” It all came back to him then, and he tried to bolt upright “Jinx-”

“Easy there. She’s gone. Didn’t even kill anyone.” Scar interrupted, as he pushed Ekko down onto the stone. “What I need to know is what she did to you.”

Ekko groaned, letting Scar push him back onto the damp stone. His head was swimming. “She…stuck me with some dragon venom or another, knocked me out. Said she wasn’t going to kill me.”

“Jinx not killing someone. Doesn’t sound right.”

“Yeah…you’re gonna want to get the primary leaders together to hear this one, we’ll need a vote. In the meantime could I get a water, maybe?”

“So.” Jen said, as they stood around a large stone slab they used as their council table. “Jinx, the chick who murdered five of us a few days ago, snuck into our home despite literally thousands of dragons, immobilized you with a night fury, a dragon we’ve literally never seen before her attacks, all to warn you that shes gonna go tell daddy before poisoning you and SOMEHOW.” She slammed her fist into the stone. Took a breath. “Somehow got away after the alarm was raised, without harming a single person except Ekko the entire time?? Could anyone explain this girls motivations to me?”

“Fish.” Blue suggested, from her perch on Cloud Jumpers crest. Amity lifted her head to at the terror from her spot behind Scar excitedly. Then deflated when no fish were presented. Somehow Ekko didn’t think it was fish. He could be wrong, of course.

They all glanced nervously at him. Everyone knew he used to know Jinx, probably because Scar told them. The traitor. “Her motivations don’t really matter here.” He finally replied, trying to keep himself calm for his teams sake. He leaned on the stone, trying to ignore how the room still swayed like a ships deck. “Yes they do! Why am I alive?” His brain screamed, but he saved that for later. “What matters, is if we are going to heed her warning or not. I am inclined to.”

He gestured to Scar, who slid out a map across the table. “We know Silco is based somewhere in this region, this is where his ships pop up from.” Here, Ekko tapped a region in the south eastern portion of Freljord, a chain of islands made up of black rock and ice that hadn’t melted in a millenia.
“And we know where we are.” He nodded at a drawn on island in the far north labeled ‘Home'. I figure it’ll take them about two months to get here on those heavy metal ships, and maybe a month to prep. Jinx will be back to them within a week.”
Scar had said they sent out hunters on tracker class dragons, but ultimately chasing a night fury was utterly pointless unless they landed, and Jinx hadn’t made that error as far as they knew.

“We have plenty of time to evacuate, but nowhere to go as of now.” He finished, grimly.

“You’re suggesting we abandon our home?” An older man-Mike- inquired, looking upset.

“No. We fight for our nest. I’m suggesting removing the vulnerable from the fighting. Children, the elderly, those who just don’t want to fight.”

The others looked grim but nodded. There would be a fight, no one doubted it. It was obvious Silco had some sort of Alpha hidden away. Dragons would never obey such a horrible man in such large numbers unless they were being forced to. The fight would come.

“So. The way I see it our priorities are reinforcing the cave, preparing our weapons and battle strategies, and locating a place to evacuate to. We will start sending out scouting teams as soon as we have some ideas of where to start looking.” The others verbalized their assent.
Ekko turned and looked at Cloud. “I assume you are filling in the Alpha?” He inquired. The dragon bobbed his head. “Could you ask him if he could start having the gronkles close the smaller exits? Less places to defend once the battle starts.” Cloud nodded again, looking grim. He had been very upset when Ekko finally stumbled out of the smithy, barking and hissing at him in what Ekko assumed was a lecture on wandering off at night. He’d apologized-no one wanted a dragon angry at them, and certainly not one as big as Cloud.
He turned back to the table. “We’ve worked hard for this home. We won’t loose it now. Meeting adjourned.”
He shuffled out, Cloud on his heels.

Ekko dragged himself to his room, and pulled open the old journal again. Stared at the night fury on the pages. He’d spent years building up a home here, a safe space for dragons and humans to live together, away from Zaun. Helping refugees out of the ditches and filth. But he never forgot about Zaun, about the oppression, the hunger, the dragon arena. Her soft blue hair, the dragons perched on her shoulders, scales glinting in the moonlight. So he and a few others had started fighting back, destroying drug shipments, stopping dragon trapping operations. And now because of that, because of her, he was going to war. He might loose it all. It was all so horribly unfair.
He put his head in his hands. Slammed the book shut.

Then he swayed over to Clouds nest, and fell asleep. His dreams were horribly blue.
——————————————————————————————
Caitlyn had gotten a tad obsessed, to say the least. Marcus had put her back in Piltover itself, permanently on boring shifts where nothing happened. This suited her for now, however.
She spent her days staring at her wall, where she had made a complex map of notes, drawings, and strings. She had sent letters to her friends or allies in the force, inquiring to the whereabouts of the prisoner, if he had survived the injury. She had received no replies yet.
Jayce though she’d gone insane, she could see it in his eyes when he came over to check up in regards to Silverbreeze, as she’d taken to calling the dragon. (It had protested or refused to respond to anything else she tried up until that point.)
The beast was large, but she still managed to crawl up Caits wall the first night and into the girls room through the balcony. Her mother was furious, but with Heimerdinger and the importance of research to back Caits defense, there wasn’t much she could do. The dragon was mild as a well broken horse around Cait, certainly not a danger. Though her mother was convinced it was going to snap and kill them all. She could very well be right, of course. But it was hard for Caitlyn to stay suspicious when the dragon curled up at the foot of her bed every night, one eye on the door, the other on the large window. Protecting her.
When she wasn’t staring at the map, she was learning about dragons.
The research on dragons was surprisingly limited. Mostly she found books on small dragons or more common species.
She found out Silver was a dragon called a Razorwhip, notable for their almost unmatched full body armor plates. But not even their preferred diet was mentioned. She didn’t seem to mind fish and chicken, so that is what she received, and entire wheelbarrow every day. The market butchers likely thought she was insane.
She learned more as time went on. The dragon had very little in the way of facial muscles to read, but was very expressive with noise and body movements. Her head bobbed and she made cute little chittering sounds when she was exited. Her tail lashed and she hissed when she was nervous. When she was calm and happy she would let out soft, deep thrumming noises, more of a vibration than a sound. Most unnervingly, she would open her mouth in some twisted imitation of a human smile when she was pleased, rows of long, sharp fangs revealed behind her plated lips.
She took a liking to Caits father, because the man snuck her extra chicken. As such she ‘smiled’ at him a good deal. He grinned back, and would scratch her jaw, inches from those teeth as long as his face.
She seemed fascinated by archery, watching Cait shoot for hours. One day after Caitlyn finished a round of arrows, something whistled past her head. A single silvery spike slammed into the bullseye, right next to her arrows. It was as long as they were, and she shivered as she imagined that going through a persons chest. But she smiled too. Of course her dragon liked to shoot too. Hers? She looked back at the big, bright silver animal behind her. Silver tilted her head, fixing a single dark green eye on Cait’s own. Her tail swished lazily. A single swipe of her facial horn could kill multiple people. Yes. Her dragon. Caitlyn decided, as she lifted a hand to stroke her nose.

Chapter Text

Mel Medarda always had a fondness for the so called man of progress. She had vouched for him, watched him grow. And now she had decided he was ready to fill the role she desired for him to play.
Her mother had placed her here as a pawn, to learn the ways of the weakling nations or some such nonsense (to keep her out of the way, Mel suspected). But she had worked hard, pulled the strings, become the first Lord Medarda of the Isles at age seventeen. Now, at twenty-five, she ran the chess board.

A party was what the council and the higher ranking members of Piltover needed after the dragon scare. (And if it could double as a charity event for the cities orphanage, all the better.) Rumors of the attack at the gap-as well as what the ship contained- spread like wildfire. Everyone was afraid of these new dragon riders, and further frightened of how such a dangerous shipment nearly got by under their officers noses. The Gap had been temporarily closed for investigation, backing up trade ships for miles in either direction. The council had been bickering in pointless circles all month. Piltover had a strong policing power, but no true formal military. And dragons were a powerful foe. One previously assumed to be kept in check by heavy hunting and trapping efforts, with most sightings regulated to the far north. Oh how wrong they were.
But here, they drank their worries away, laughing and gossiping over trivial nonsense and trade. She made her rounds, complimenting one mans jewels, a woman’s dress, so on. But the person she was waiting for failed to present himself. She began to fret that he had missed her invitation…or ignored it. At last, she excused herself to the balcony with a glass of champagne for company.

He came soon after, Elora assisting him to her with ease. “Lord Medara.” He greeted her, inclining his head in respect. His eyes were big, brown. Honest eyes. Easy to manipulate. It was baffling how a man so intelligent could be so open and foolish. “Jayce Talis.” She acknowledged, swirling her glass.

“Your assistant said you wished to speak with me?”

“Indeed. I was wondering about your progress with Hextech-”

——————————————————————————————

Jayce was not fully sure why he had been dragged before the entire council. While he knew that this time he was not in trouble, his anxieties persisted. He perched nervously in his chair before the circle, Viktor beside him as his request, as they bickered in regard to the new threat.
“Why don’t we attempt to contact these dragon riders…perhaps they could be incentivized to join us?” Lord Bolbok inquired, voice as eerily flat and raspy as usual behind his heavy golden mask, intended to hide his supposedly horribly mutilated face, from a dragon attack no less.

“This threat must be met with force. An attempt at parley would display weakness.” Kiramman protested.

“What if we captured and trained our own dragons?” Lord Shoola inquired. “ Clearly it can be done, and Kirammans girl has one at her beck and call according to my informants.”

He saw Kiramman open her mouth to protest, but Lord Heimerdinger beat her to it.

“Live dragons are a force of destruction and highly intelligent!” Lord Heimerdinger protested. “They are not weapons to be trifled with, nor tools to be used, I alone here have lived long enough to have seen what destruction such hubris can bring!” He trembled as he spoke, eyes distant.

“-Regardless of their intentions;” Lord Hoskel continued after a moment; “they have disrupted trade. My shipments are already behind by three weeks! And what of this drug coating our streets? How has it managed to spread so far?”

And around and around it went.

“Jayce Talis.” Kiramman addressed him. He looked up in surprise.

“Lord Kiramman?”

“Would it be possible for you to produce weapons utilizing the hex crystals?”

Jayce frowned. The chair Viktor sat in creaked behind him. “Hex tech is not a violent tool. It is meant to be an aid of the people. I will not turn it into a weapon.”

The chamber shifted uncomfortably. Kiramman frowned in displeasure. Jayce tried to not look like too much of a pouting child under her glare.

Mel chimed in, with a smooth formal lilt to her voice he had not heard in their private discussion yesterday evening. “My Lords, might I comment?” They nodded.

“Once our hex tech is made into a weapon, whose to stop other nations from possibly stealing our weapons or designs? We have already proven recently that there are heavy implications of corruption in our policing force.”

“While I agree weaponizing such power would be foolish, do you have an alternative suggestion, Lord Medarda? You have said little in these recent meetings.” Heimerdinger chirped in his high lilting voice.

Mel nodded. “I believe we are in an extreme situation, my lords. We need action, to respond to the corruption in our city, our nation, and to address this threat in a swift and effective manner. Jayce Talis has done much for this city. He has created wonders of technological advancement with his partner, despite all our attempts to thwart his progress. He has a brilliant scientific mind. In addition, he has agreed to help this city in any way he can. With this in mind, I suggest we explore a more…radical solution.”

“What precisely are you suggesting, Lord Medarda?” Kiramman inquired.

“…I propose house Talis be elevated to that of a Lord. As a councilor he will have the resources necessary to protect our investments and assist us with the looming threats to our city.”

Instantly the council room erupted into protests. Jayce himself stepped back in shock and fear, a soft “what?” muttered, half frantic under his breath. He couldn’t be a Lord! His father was a blacksmith. His mother wove baskets. But no one was looking at him, no one was asking him.

He glanced back at Viktor who looked just as distraught as he felt. The mans mouth was slightly open, eyes wide.

“Does the boy have any experience?” Lord Bulbok asked, almost sounding…curious.

“Only that of a scientist…like Heimerdinger.”

“This is…highly irregular…” Shoola finally began. “The council has held seven seats for generations.”

The others glanced around, frowning. Finally, it was Heimerdinger who spoke, with a sigh. “I believe councilor Medarda is correct. Hex tech security should be administered by a scientist..and none would be able to fulfill this role better than one of its own creators. In addition Jayce is a very intelligent young man, and I do believe he may be able to find a solution to our conundrum. I second the motion.”

Jayce watched, helpless, silent, as his future was decided. As one by one, the councilors raised their hands. Nodded or announced their assent. A unanimous vote. Practically unheard of.

In a daze, he thanked the Lords for their time, promised to look into his new responsibilities and present ideas to the next meeting in three days. Helped Viktor to the lift.
They were silent on the way down the tower. Silent on their way back to the lab. He wordlessly helped Viktor into a chair. The man seemed to be struggling more lately.
Then he slumped to the floor in front of him.
“Any ideas for addressing this at my grand presentation to the city tomorrow?” He joked, half hearted. Tomorrow was supposed to be progress day, a holiday made to display arts and machinery. Though with the tension in the air, as well as the shipping delays, it was likely to be quite a bit duller than most years.

“This changes…everything Jayce.” Viktor rasped, not meeting his eyes. “Our projects-”

“I know. I…I know Viktor. I didn’t want this either. We won’t forget our purpose, I promise. I just have to figure this out first.”

More quiet. Viktor fiddled with his cane.

“I think I’m gonna go home, you coming?” Jayce finally asked. He and Viktor share a large apartment a few blocks from the academy, as well as the laboratory itself.

“No…I wish to work on the kinks in our projects prior to tomorrows display.” Jayce nodded, expecting as much. Viktor liked to work when he was upset. And despite the mans quiet and stoic nature, Jayce knew him well, could see the tension in his shoulders. “Alright just...promise me you’ll get some sleep?”

“Of course…Lord Talis.” Viktor added the tease onto the end, a tiny ghost of a smile on his chapped lips, as he glanced up with warm brown eyes. Jayce made a mental note to buy some lip balm before his presentation tomorrow.

“Oh don’t be like that, you gotta keep me humble, make sure it doesn’t all go to my fat head.” He smirked. “Goodnight, Viktor.”

“…Goodnight, Jayce.”
——————————————————————————————
As Viktor worked his long grueling shift in the smoggy lanes of Locus, a large factory island to the west of Piltover. His father was never in the picture, and his mother passed two years prior.
Viktor worked hard. His shifts were seven days a week, nine hours a day. He was merely one in hundreds of poor, filthy zaunites, building tools or trinkets for wealthy Piltover markets. For his efforts he received enough money to eat, and a bunk in the factory barracks.
The boy wound up the toy boat with a soft click-clack of gears. Distantly, he heard the laughter of children splashing and swimming in the oil stained waters, but he could not join them.
So he made his own fun, stealing a bolt there, a cog here, until a lovely little toy was held before him.
He did not recall the accident that took his mobility, only that it happened. Another fact in his already harsh reality. The boy knew he was lucky to be alive at all. Many much stronger children had perished in the depths of Zauns isles.
He lowered the little boat into the water, watching it chug downstream, dreaming that he was on it, sailing away from here, somewhere warm and clean, where the water didn’t make you ill and the food had flavor.

Soon the boat was drifting out of sight. Oh no. He stumbled as he fought to stand quickly, chasing after it on a clumsy leg that simply refused to work. It tumbled down little waterfalls, over tiny rapids, deep into the rock. When he finally caught up to it, it had drifted across a little pool in a cave deep under the city, somewhere he never would have gone if not for the threat of loosing his new plaything.
There was still light, despite the depth, shining from the strange soft blue plants around him.
He watched as a man, crouched by the water, went to lift his toy, dripping and sputtering.
Viktor bit his lip, wondering if it was worth the risk to go ask for it back. The man didn’t look dangerous, but that didn’t mean anything in Locus, especially in a shady cave. On the other hand he really wanted his boat-he worked hard on it, and he needed it for something.
As he debated, a clatter of rocks alerted him as suddenly a monster emerged, clambering onto the boulder beside the water. It was a beautiful animal, a bright, glowing blue. It sniffed the air, turned massive, cold blue eyes right on him. A loud warbling sound came out of its mouth. He stumbled back, he couldn’t run- “It’s alright, child.” The man rasped, looking across the water from where he crouched with the boat. “She will not harm you. Come here.”

Well the debate was over now. He slowly emerged from behind the rocks, skirting the edge of the pool.

“You built this?”

He nodded.

“Not playing with the others? Hm. I find loneliness is often the byproduct of a gifted mind.”

The animal snuffed at the air, glaring at him still. It’s eyes took up most of its face, wide and watery. Fixed on him.

“What is it?” Viktor managed, heart still pounding in his chest despite the mans calm demeanor.

The man followed his nervous gaze.“Ah. This is Rio. Pluck a flower, boy, and offer it to her.”

He gulped, but did as he was told. The thing stared him down as he approached, small wings fluttering along its back. It raised a set of long delicate looking round appendages along its jaw and head, staring him down. Then after a moment, she crept towards his offered palm, and he tensed, waiting to loose his hand, or possibly his life. But she simply sniffed, chirruped, and gently, carefully, plucked the flower from his palm with its large flat teeth. He watched the plant visibly travel down her throat, a bright oval glow, fascinated. Despite himself, he lifted his hand, and slowly stroked her head. She leaned into he contact with a high pitched rumble.

“Shes beautiful.” He murmured.

“Yes. And the last of her kind. We have been friends for many years.” The man murmured.

The dragon turned suddenly, and flopped onto her side, letting out a hacking noise.

“Shes dying.” The man admitted, as he crouched to stroke her back. “I am attempting to prevent that.You see, it is imperative that she survive.”

Victor felt tears welling in his eyes. How could such a beautiful and gentle animal be dying.

“How can I help?” He asked.

The man looked at him. “You…wish to assist me?”

Viktor shrugged, nodded. Why not? It seemed a good cause, though the boy had no clue how they could stop death. Surely if that was possible, someone would have done it by now.

The dragon-for he learned later she was a dragon, the first he’d ever seen- recovered from her coughing and stood on shaky, stubby legs. She murbled, rubbing her head against the mans waist as he stood with her.

“Very well.” The man agreed, grabbing Viktors boat and handing it back to him. “We can be loners together.”
——————————————————————————————
When the butler showed Jayce into Caitlyns room, he found her sitting on her bed, a mass of paper and string splayed out across the floor before her. It had grown steadily over his visits the last month. A single green eye fixed on him, blinking lazily. The fine wooden boards were coated by scratch marks, courtesy of the beast sprawled out behind her. Jayce still felt nervous around Silver, but he was getting used to her, slowly. Caitlyn looked up at him, nodded a greeting, then fixated back on the letter in her hands.

“Still obsessing over that case?” He asked, cautiously walking up, clutching the roll of parchment in his fist tightly.

“I know this is all connected somehow- the dragons, the shimmer, this ‘Silco’ character. I’m just missing something. And I can’t get the information I need stuck on patrol duty in the safest city in the bloody isles!” She huffed.

The beast warbled behind her, lifting its head to nudge her shoulder. She pet its armored head almost thoughtlessly. “It’s alright Silver. Don’t mind me.”Her eyes still looked distant. “I heard about Heimerdinger.”

He winced. That topic was a tad too fresh. “Yea well, about that patrol duty…I may have a proposition for you.” He offered her the scroll in his hand. She set down her letter, and stood, coming forwards.

She took the scroll, unrolling it to see his new Council seal on the bottom. Slowly, she read. “You want me…to quit my job? To help you weaponize dragons?” She finally asked, rolling up the parchment, eyebrows creased.

“I want you to help me tame dragons. It clearly can be done. And you just so happen to have the most experience.”

“Jayce, these aren’t just dumb animals, they do what they want to do. You cannot just ship them in and expect them to obey you like a common horse.”

Jayce sighed. “I know, that’s why I want your help. The council is going to do this. They’re afraid and they want solutions. Its this or hextech weaponry, Cait. And you know I can’t do that. Not to me or Viktor.”

She bit her lip, dread filling her stomach. “What if we established these riders were peaceful? Or apprehended the culprits behind the attacks and drug distribution?”

“That would be great. But quite frankly it won’t happen any time soon. The councilors and the people want solutions now. Construction on holding pens has already begun.” He rubbed his eyes. Being a councilor was exhausting, especially when everyone else wanted you to fix everything.

“Could I have time to think about it?” Cait asked, biting her lip.

“You’ve got three days. Otherwise… I’ll need to find someone else. And I … I can’t say if they’ll let you keep the only tame large dragon in the city, either, no matter what I say.”

She looked over at Silver, and he thought he saw fear in her stance. Fear was a very rare sight on Cait, so he couldn’t be sure. Gods, the guilt of being a councilor was going to drown him alive.
————————————————————————————-
Caitlyn saw Jayce to the porch, then with a tired sigh, she slumped against the door. She knew the people were frightened. She would be lying if she said she wasn’t. Dragons offered both air power and portable flame. An attack with even ten could be a catastrophe. But forcing wild dragons to work for them? Threatening to take her friend away, put Silver breeze to work like a common donkey? It would not work, she just knew it wouldn’t. Plus she worked so hard to get into the enforcers, fought her parents, the higher ranking officers, Marcus.
But then again, she joined to help people, not stand on night watch outside empty buildings…
Cait made up her mind then. She ran upstairs, grabbing the letter off her bed. It was from an old friend from training, a response to one of the many inquiries she sent out.
“Greetings Caitlyn, The man in question survived. He is at Stillwater Prison, inmate 712. I did not send this ;)”

She calmly took it and Silver outside. Set it on the ground and pointed. “Fire.” It went up in flames, charring the grass. Then she addressed her next battle, making her way to a large shed in the gardens. Silver followed her, yawning lazily. The item had arrived yesterday, but she had been putting it off, nervous.
Slowly, she came out of the garden shed, dragging the large leather saddle behind her. It had to be custom made of course, built to the dragons proportions, complete with straps to hold the rider on. She held it up to the dragon for inspection. “What do you think, girl?” She murmured. If the dragon showed any discomfort, she would forget this idea ever happened. Silver sniffed, then tugged the saddle closer with a claw, inspecting it with one eye, then the other.
Cait saw the moment she figured out the contraption. The dragon warbled, sounding sad, then picked up the saddle and used her long neck to place it on her back. Well then.
Cait secured the straps. They were very thick, to account for the rubbing of the armored plating, but they fit. Now for the scary part.
“I am going to get on you, alright?” Slowly, carefully, she clambered onto the dragons spine. “Mother would kill me if she saw this.” She commented cheerfully as she secured the straps to her legs.

She sat there a moment, getting used to the feeling. It was very different from horseback. The saddle sores from her legs being so spread would probably be terrible if she sat here for any amount of time. But the saddle held her, and the dragon tolerated it, looking back at her curiously. The next issue was steering…putting a bit on a dragon seemed wrong, plus Silver hadn’t had one when they met, just a tattered saddle, so clearly she wasn’t controlled that way…Cait pondered. She was so deep in thought she didn’t see the wings spreading, barely noticed the dragon tensing under her. Until suddenly the animal was running. Cait shouted in alarm, heart pounding. She couldn’t get off, the straps were too tight- the dragons wings beat once, twice, thrice. And then she was in the air.

Caitlyn gave up on the straps and clung to the saddle, staring at the ground, rapidly growing further away. “Oh my gods.” She managed, gasping for breath. Silver laughed. Laughed. Then banked gently, curving around the estate. They were gaining altitude, going in lazy circles, up and up.
Slowly, Caitlyn sat up, looking around. It was beautiful…

Below them the city spread, down to the sea. In the distance she could see the factory islands, churning out clouds of smog across the ocean. And oh the water. It sparkled brilliantly, seabirds circling far below. Unconsciously, she leaned over the dragon towards it, and Silver banked left, flicking them out over the water with a few lazy beats of her wings. Oh.

Experimentally, Cait leaned back right, and they turned, circling back inland. Interesting. She continued her tests, having them circle the council tower. Ignorant to the shouts below her. With some experimentation she grasped leaning forwards for down, backwards for up. They circled and dove, Silver displaying the patience of a mother teaching their child to walk. Finally, the dragon grew tired, her wings still weak from her injury and recovery. She tilted down, fluttering to a stop in the garden, exactly where they started.

Caitlyn slid down, stumbling on shaky, very cramped legs. She turned, placing a hand solemnly on the dragons snout. “Thank you.” She said. And she meant it. Silverbreeze rumbled, then left, curling up in a warm patch of sunlight to rest.
———————————————————————————-
Silco was studying the hastily scribbled map while Jinx bathed. He fully intended to coerce her into eating afterwards; the girl looked like a corpse. This information was truly groundbreaking. He was almost grateful his shipment sank… Who needed allies and money when they would have up to twice the dragons overnight?
Of course, it was a gamble. They had to bet on the beast winning against this other alpha Jinx told him of…but he had little doubt in his pet monster. He raised it bloodthirsty and vicious, after all.

Toothless loudly crunched through a boars leg in the corner, blood dribbling onto the sand and stone that coated the bottom of Jinx’s designated work cave. He looked up and their eyes met.
“When I win this war;” he rasped. “There will be no need of you creatures in my world. Your kind are bloodthirsty killers. You killed my wife, ruined my husband, burned thousands… Piltover has already seen to most of you in the isles, Noxus to the south…it was only a matter of time either way, I suppose. I plan to end it a tad faster. But I doubt the girl would ever get rid of you… your kind killed her family to. And yet she loves you. Quite the conundrum for us, is it not?”

The animal seemed to narrow its eyes, that haunting flicker of intelligence in the corners of its vision, but it merely returned to its meal, placing a paw on the boars body, ripping off the leg in its jaws with a squelch, before swallowing it whole.

He returned to the map.
—————————————————————————————-
Viktor had grown fond of the strange man in the cave and his dragon. He came by after his shifts, plucking flowers for the weakening beast and fishing for her, as she slowly grew unable to fend for herself.
Sometimes she let him onto her back.
He would curl up against her warm flesh, and watch the scientist work, fascinated, but not really understanding. Viktor had always worked with machinery; the art of biology was not yet familiar to him. He did not think much of the jars and tanks of various body parts…he had sen death before. Sometimes the man would talk, and his deep, raspy voice lured the boy to sleep. He never gave his name.
The dilemma came with the fair. Once a year, piltover hosted a fair on Locus. Anyone under the age of eighteen could enter. The prize? A full scholarship to Piltovers grand university. The event was hosted by a short, wrinkled old man called Heimerdinger. He always looked far too clean and cheerful for Viktors tastes; what was there to be cheerful about in Zaun? Regardless, it was a way out, a way higher. And Viktor had never had anything to leave behind.
Every year Viktor had gone, looking over machines and science experiments, learning, perfecting. This year he was ready. But now…now he had someone expecting him. A dragon who needed fed…could he leave them, if he won?
He entered anyways, assuming he would loose. Who cared about a silly little boat? But he won, much to his horror and joy.
Heimerdinger approached him with the ribbon, smiling.

“Congratulations son. What may we call you?”

“I- my name is Victor, sir.”

“Do you have any parents, Viktor?”

“No sir.”

The little man frowned.

“Any guardians or family members?”

“No sir.”

He nodded. “I see I see, well then this is entirely between you and me then! Well, Viktor, are you ready for the opportunity of a lifetime?”

“I must confess I am not sure, sir.”

The little man nodded, still smiling. “You may refuse, of course. We will depart on the morrow. So long as you arrive by the afternoon, you can still come with us. The choice is yours.” And then he waddled away.

Some time later, Viktor made his way down to the caverns, deep in his troubled thoughts. What to do what to do. Perhaps the scientist would know? Mindlessly, he shoved open the large wooden door to the laboratory.
And cried out. Rio was on the floor, hooked up to pipes, wailing softly as she twitched and spasmed.
“What are you doing to her?” He cried, running forward and hugging the dragons head.
“She Must Survive.” The man replied, firm, cold.
Viktor looked up at him in despair, tears in his eyes. And then he turned and ran. He ran and ran, gasping, falling, tripping, his leg cramping in agony, all the way to the docks. He stopped, wiped his face. Limped over to the shiny Piltover ship with its pearly white and gold sails.
Heimerdinger was waiting for him on the deck. Smiling. Oblivious. “Well my boy? Ready for an adventure?”
—————————————————————————————-

Chapter Text

Viktor spent the night after Jayce left him working, testing every possible malfunction of their new prototypes. Heimerdinger said they had to be perfect, so they would be perfect. He would perfect his work, no matter how much sleep it took from him. For Jayce and for the future of Zaun.
Sometime in the night he paused work on the mining equipment, exhausted beyond the point of thought, and turned to his latest side project. A hextech crystal, surrounded by a ball of runes. He watched the runes click and turn, fascinated.
The crystal was difficult to decipher, but appeared to react to organic matter. So far Viktor had fed it a few plants, as well as some of his own blood by accident when he cut his hand on some metal near it. Without fail the machine sucked the matter up, runes clicking ever faster.
It seemed to almost have a voice in its soft hum of power. But that was silly. It was just an attempt to communicate commands more clearly to the Arcane. Nothing more.
Sometime the next morning he fell asleep. He woke to Sky, gently shaking him, and sat up. The girl held out a cup of warm coffee, smiling. “We gotta head out in thirty.” Viktor groaned, and accepted the cup. She smiled and walked out to give him a moment to compose himself. He waited until the stupidly massive doors closed behind her, then took a sip of his drink, fighting back a cough. His leg and back were horribly sore.

He soon found himself anxiously waiting behind the stage, a massive crowd chattering away outside to music. If Viktors leg was not cramping so terribly, he would be pacing. Perhaps he could have used an injection today. Ah well, too late now.
Jayce was late. A man came up and asked him if he could do the presentation. Him! Sky stood to the side, sneaking what she likely assumed where discreet glances at him while pretending to watch the stage.
Finally, Jayce showed up. Viktor struggled quickly to his feet. “Where have you been? They asked me if I could do the address??” Jayce averted his gaze. He seemed almost…shy.
“I got held up last night, ended up talking to Mel. Sorry I’m late.”
Viktor shrugged. “I am just glad you made it.”

Jayce grinned and clapped his shoulder. Viktor fought a wince as the shockwave traveled down his spine and into his legs. “You should come up there with me. We’re partners.”

“No no.” He grimaced. “Not up there with…all of…them.” He smiled nervously. The both knew Viktor had a chronic fear of public speeches. “You…have your speech prepared?” He attempted to change the subject.

Jayce looked down at his notes. “I did but-”

The announcer shouted his name from the stage above:“Jayce Talis!”

He smiled back at Viktor and the man felt his apprehension melt under those big golden eyes. “Guess I’m up.” the larger man grinned, and pranced onto the stage. The cheers were near deafening, even from back behind the curtains.

Jayce strolled on, all confidence, smiles, and handwaves. Handsome, strong, likeable. Everything Viktor was not.

“Well.” He began, looking out over the crowd. “I expected to come before you today to introduce me and my partners progress with Hextech, but I believe you all are likely more interested in other matters.”

Viktor frowned. What was he doing?

The crowd, however, murmured, nodding.

“I imagine you all have already heard about the dragons, the street drugs, the terrorist attacks. As you all may or may not know, I have been elevated to a Lord, and tasked with assisting in fulfilling a Lords duties to their people. Now, let me tell you, I am a scientist. My father was a mere blacksmith. I never expected to get so far.
But I swear to do right by this city, and by it’s people. We will address this threat, and we will come out above the squabble as the city of progress!”
The crowd cheered. Technically, Viktor reflected, Jayce had given them no plans or solutions, merely empty words. But the people of Piltover were far more trusting of their authority than the people of Zaun overall, and they believed him.

Viktors heart sank. So much for their invention prototypes to improve mining conditions. Nothing would progress until the council felt safe from these dragons, he knew. He tried not to feel bitter as he limped away to sulk in his lab, but he felt a strange and pervasive sense of dread building in his chest as he collapsed into his chair.

Across from his desk, the crystal hummed.
——————————————————————————
Silver floated in the cloud cover, casting a curious eye on the prison below. Caitlyn leaned over, shivering against the bitter cold despite her coat, and took in the view herself. Stillwater was a haunted place, Cait decided. Carved from the black barnacle coated stones of the island itself, the prison was surrounded by harsh crashing waves and jagged rocks. The only way on or off was a pair of gear-cranked trolley cars, connected to the equally bleak nearby island of Gulls. No one had ever escaped. It was where prisoners were sent to die.

“Let’s go Silver.” She said grimly, leaning into the saddle. They made a deliberately flashy entrance, a bright silver dragon and a girl in piltover blue and gold, coming in slow and lazy for their landing on the open space before the main gate.
She dismounted, and watched from several paces away as the guards at the gate played rock paper scissors. The shorter one lost, and he approached her, eyes darting nervously to the dragon.
“Greetings m’lady. Why ‘ave ye come to stillwa’er?”
She raised an eyebrow at the formality. What having a dragon behind you, and nice clothing, will do for you.
Caitlyn presented Jayce’s stamp, along with his signature, from the letter he hand given her, careful to not display the contents. “I am here by order of Lord Talis, to question a high interest prisoner.”

The man looked over her paper, eyebrows raising. “Aye-right this way ma’am.” She watched him flinch as the click of Silvers claws followed their footsteps and fought a smile.
While there was a smaller utility door to the prison, upon Caitlyns insistence, they shouted up, and the massive, mostly decorative, main doors were opened to admit the dragon. Like hell she was leaving the animal out in the cold mist.
It was dry and a few degrees warmer inside at least. When the doors shut behind them Silver let out a nervous hiss, but Cait calmed her before they proceeded. Ignoring several smaller offshoots, the man- Thomas, she learned, as he nervously jabbered- led her up to massive stone desk, with a large man behind it.
“Sir, this is Madame Kiramman, here on behalf of Lord Talis to interrogate a prisoner.”
He looked surprisingly uninterested in her, the dragon, and least of all Thomas and his introduction, barely glancing at her papers.

“Didn’t know the man of progress was a Lord now.” He commented dully.

“It’s a new development. Doubtless the news hasn’t reached here yet, especially with the delays.” She said, a tad too quickly.

But he didn’t seem to notice- or more likely didn’t care. “Huh. Who ya lookin’ for then?”

“Inmate 712, I believe, from the Shimmer case. He may be more relevant than we anticipated.”

“Hmmm.” The man scratched his poorly shaven chin. “You’ll be havin’ a hard time questionin’ that one. 516 broke his jaw. And his face. And the rest O’ him. He’s close to dead.”

Caitlyn grimaced. Shit. “Would you know their motives?”

The man snorted. “That ones always been unstable. Who knows, maybe she had a bad day. We got her in solitary up on floor 17 if you wanna ask her.”

And so Caitlyn did. Silver whined as she slipped into the small hand turned elevator. “I’ll be back in a few minutes. If anyone bothers you, eat them.” She assured the beast.
The guards present exchanged nervous looks.
Silver grumbled but lay down with a huff.

She browsed the folder the warden had offered her on the way up. Inmate 516. Violet, responds to Vi. Known aggressor and troublemaker amongst the other prisoners and even staff. No record of crime. No record of trial. No known family. Admitted to the prison age 15.
Suffice to say Caitlyn had a good deal more questions than before she received the woman’s folder.

The elevator stopped at floor 17, and Caitlyn stepped off. She was greeted by a long, cold, and dark hall of gray stone, poorly illuminated by a few sputtering torches.
‘Vi’ proved to be very easy to find; she was the only inmate on the floor, about halfway down the hall.
Caitlyn peered in nervously, minding the line before the cell with care.
‘Vi’ was pacing the cell, slowly gracefully, all muscle and raw power, reminding Cait of the tiger at her cities zoo. Except her hair was bright pink rather than orange, and as opposed to stripes, her skin was adorned with tattoos. She watched Cait silently, alert, pale blue eyes under her bangs darting sneaking glaces. She didn’t speak.
So reluctantly, Caitlyn took the initiative.

“I took a look at your file. There is no record of you, or your crimes...what are you here for?”

“My sunny personality.” The girl hissed, sarcastically, as she circled the cell. Her voice was light, with a slight wheeze to it.

‘Well, at least she speaks.’ Caitlyn took a breath.

“You attacked and nearly killed an inmate. Why?”

“Why not?”

“He was a witness in an ongoing investigation.”

“Hm. Bummer.” She grunted.

Caitlyn finally lost her patience. “This was a waste of time.” She turned to leave.

“Couldn’t agree more! Hey, when you see Silco, plant a nice big axe through that lovely eye of his, will you?”

Caitlyn paused, turned. “Silco?”

The girl groaned. “Okay, this is getting old…could you just send in whoever is gonna beat the shit out of me so I can get on with my night?”

Caitlyn bit her lip. Then, nervously, she stepped over the line, lifting up the sketches in her journal of the paintings at the crime scene.

“Would this mean anything to you?”

The woman stopped, tilted her head up just enough to see the drawings. Caitly blinked and-

Slam. Suddenly the woman was at the bars, staring with wide eyes. Caitlyn jumped back, heart pounding. She had no doubts as to who was physically stronger here. Violet could most assuredly strangle her through the cell bars, with ease.

“Where did you get this?” She asked, softer now, milder in her demeanor. Her eyes darted up to Caits, then back to the sketches.

While Caitlyn hadn’t copied every sketch, she had copied all of the larger ones, including the dragon doodles, the clouds, the little stars and swirls, the huge “Jinx Was Here” across one wall in Norse runes, as best she could from memory. Clearly this woman knew something about them, judging by her shift in demeanor.

“My question first. Did that man you injured work for Silco?” She tried.

“Uh, they all do, everyone knows that” she muttered quickly, almost frantically- “where did you get this?”

Cait bit her lip. The woman clearly cared about these drawings. The more information she withheld, the more she could possibly get out of her.

“I copied them from a crime scene.” She said, at last. “Do you know who this ‘Jinx’ character might have been?”

The woman slumped, muttering something to herself. Then.

“I have…an idea.”

“I need proof, if I am to believe what you are saying.”

The woman snorted, leaned against the bars almost lazily. “I could get it for you…I’d love to see that man get what her deserves…but not from in here.”

Cait rolled her eyes. She just wanted out of jail. Typical. “In what mad world, would I trust someone like you?”

Violet stood up off the bars and started pacing again. “Someone like me?? You enforcers…all the same. Just asshole criminals in fancy uniforms!” She stopped, looked over at Caitlyn. “ Y’know what? Find Silco yourself. I’m sure you’d last a whole hour in the cesspits of Zaun.”

Cait couldn’t take any more of this. She turned and left, before she lost her cool. Rang the bell to the elevation shaft, and made her descent. By the time she got back to the central floor, she made up her mind. She checked on Silver first. The dragon was perfectly fine, snacking on some sort of jerky the guard had brought her, likely an attempt to appease the beast. “How would you feel about a friend coming along for the ride?” Cait inquired, brow furrowed. Having a prisoner on her saddle she built for one sounded terrible honestly. Especially one like…that. But the alternative was travel by boat.
The dragon chirrped, tilting her head in curiosity.

Caitlyn sighed. Next thing she knew she found herself outside Violets opening cell door. The woman stared at her blankly.

“Well? Let’s go, we don’t exactly have time to waste.” Caitlyn huffed.

It was going fairly well until they got back to the main lobby. The woman didn’t say a word in the elevator. Made no aggressive moves. Her eyes were glazed, as though she was not even really present. It remained that way. Till Violet saw the dragon.

Silver saw them first, or perhaps smelled Cait, and stood, chirruping, coming over to meet their new friend. Suddenly Cait was slammed into the ground. Shed gasped, trying to get her breath back, shoving herself upright just in time to see Violet slam a fist into Silvers face. The dragon hissed, rearing back her head safely out of the girls reach.

-Caitlyn struggled to her feet, boots slipping on the damp stones-

Violet dodged a spout of flame, which bounced off the rocks. The warden sighed, sounding tired, and didn’t even bother to move his arse from behind the desk. The guards, meanwhile, shouted in a panic, not knowing who to restrain or attack. Vi meanwhile, ran over to one, dodging a swipe of Silvers tail, decking him in the face, and grabbing his spear. She hefted it over her head, taking aim. Silver screeched, about to dart forwards- “EVERYONE WAIT.” Caitlyn screamed, darting between the former prisoner and the dragon. Silver froze, snarling. “MOVE that thing will kill yo” Vi started-

“Shes my friend.” Caitlyn interrupted. Vi stared, then looked up at the very much not killing them dragon. It glared right back, tail spikes bristling. She watched Violets eyes move downward, to the saddle.

Then the woman laughed. “Oh my god. My sister would’ve loved this. You’re insane. You’re actually crazy. I’ve agreed to help a crazy woman.”
Caitlyn sighed at the hysterics. “When you are done could you kindly stop pointing a weapon at my dragon and perhaps apologize?”
She wiped away tears. “Yeah yeah I’m done. You really should have told me before we got close, Cupcake. I’m from fucking Berk you know.”

Cait gaped. “The lost dragon trapper village?” Oh her questions just doubled about this woman.

“The very one.” She lowered her spear, slowly. “I don’t like dragons. They killed my family. I’m not going to apologize for punching one.”

Caitlyn sighed. Silver huffed, deciding the threat was averted, and bent her long neck to nuzzle Caits hair.

“I suppose you’ll feel fantastic about whats about to happen, then.”

“Oh? And whats that, Cupcake?”


Cait frowned. "My name is Caitlyn." 


"Not anymore!" The woman grinned, teeth only slight yellow.


This was going to be Caitlyns life for the foreseeable future, wasn't it? “You’re going to ride her.”


Violet frowned. “Excuse me?”


“It’s the fastest form of travel, we will save months. If we return to Piltover I can get the saddle modified before we set out, of course.”


Violet tilted her head. “You want me. A Zaunite from a dragon killing island. To get on your pet monster. And fly to the city of people who hate me?”


“Yes that sums up my request nicely, thank you.” Gods she sounded mad.


Violet stared at her. Rolled her neck around, as though to relieve the tension. “Okay then.”


Caitlyn did not trust Violets motivations at all, but she had to respect the woman’s courage and determination as she climbed up behind her, no straps nor even a proper handhold, on the saddle built for one.
Silver was clearly uncomfortable and uttered a soft hiss as Violet settled, glaring back at them through slit pupils.

“Feeling is mutual beastie.” Vi muttered.

The guards were happy to see them go, opening the large doors with haste. Silver clattered across the stones to the cliff edge, hundreds of feet above the crashing violence of the waves below.

“Oh I hate heights.” The girl behind her muttered, right before Silver plunged off the cliff face. Vertically.
——————————————————————————
Viktors back hurt. His legs hurt. It was going to be one of those days. With a exhausted sigh he dragged himself from his plush bed, and into his personal bathroom, complete with running water. He coughed, rubbed his eyes. Oh he couldn’t do this.

Carefully, he pried open the floor vent, and reached inside, pulling out a small handful of purple syringes.
The man hesitated. Originally, he had brought shimmer for study. The drug possessed fascinating healing properties, despite its damaging nature to tissues with long time use.
But then he made the mistake of testing a small dose. On himself.
The relief was mind numbing. It did not fix his leg, nor his spine. But the pain had nearly gone away. For hours.
Ever since he had been using tiny doses on his worst days. He had the money for it, and plenty of Piltovers citizens smuggled shimmer, despite not knowing where the drug came from, nor what exactly it’s properties were. He even happened to know one of the councilors used it for his back issues.
Viktor inserted the needle into his upper arm and sighed with relief as the pain slowly ebbed away. He then slid the other doses back into the vent, and closed the lid.
He dressed and tidied up his hair a tad, never one for stressing over his appearance. He knew what people thought of him, no matter how nicely he dressed. Zauntite scum. Then he made his way out into the living room, where Jayce was already sat at their little table, frowning over his coffee, papers strewn across the table.

“How is it going?” Viktor rasped, taking his own premade cup (courtesy of Jayce) off the table and sitting down.

“There’s been multiple riots. Shimmer is spreading. The enforcers caught someone selling it in Piltover yesterday. Dragons are being sighted more and more in the north. Hextech has been put on total pause, the councilors want weapons. It’s all falling apart, Vik.”

Viktor slowly reached across the table and put a hand on Jayce’s shoulder. “What does Mel think?” He asked. He knew Jayce had been seeing much of Medarda lately, perhaps more than even him, despite their shared apartment. Viktor tried to not mind it. She seemed intelligent. Too intelligent. Still, she knew more of politics than both of them combined, and Jayce valued her input highly.

“Same as most of the others. She wants to start working with dragons. I think it’s that or hextech weapons at this point.”

Viktor sighed. They both knew that was not an option. “Then you had best address that today. The Kiramman girl will be very unhappy with you.”

Jayce chuckled darkly, leaning into Viktors hand. “I might as well say goodbye to that friendship. They’ll take Silver Breeze no matter what I say about it. And gods Viktor, the way that animal acts, how she protects Cait like she’s the whole world, the way she looks at you when you are talking about her…” Jayce paused, frowning.
Then; quieter. “Do you think we were wrong, to kill so many?”

Viktor sighed. No, he wasn't sure. He wasn't sure at all. But that was not what Jayce needed to hear right now. “Jayce, think about how many lives we’ve improved…imagine what this work could do for my people. We’ve already vastly increased Zauns wealth with our shipping improvements alone. This work is important. And you forget how many dragons rob and kill people each year. Obviously they are not all evil monsters. (He thought of a soft glow and round eyes in a dark cave) But reducing their numbers has certainly saved many lives.”

Jayce nodded, slowly. “Yeah…yeah you’re right. I’m sorry I’m just…tired.”

“I understand. This…is alot for you. As for Caitlyn… perhaps you can talk to her after, give her another chance to join the new force before it is too late for them.”
Jayce nodded. “Yeah. Yeah you’re right. The sooner this is all wrapped up, the sooner we can get back to work.” And with that he stood, Viktors arm sliding off his shoulder. “I better get started then.” Jayce said with a forced smile, and made his way to the door.

Viktor tried to force down the growing sense of dread in his gut.
————————————————————————————
Mel watched the circle of Lords closely. Tensions were very high today, upon examination. Jayce in particular was hunched over his papers, shoulders lined with tension. She found herself longing to massage it out. Alas, she must remain perfect and professional in these meetings, lest the Lords sense any weaknesses. She met Kirammans eyes across the table, as dark and worried as her own. She hoped Jayce would heed her advice. Despite his poor grasp of politics, he knew how to sway a crowd. It was unconscious for him, effortless. It made him the perfect tool in this quiet war of dominance.

Heimerdinger decided to open the meeting, interrupting the muttered conversations between the seats.

“My lords, I know we are struggling, and we are worried about our city. But I assure you weapons of mass destruction are not the answer here…this city was made to be a bastion of enlightenment and trade opportunities.”

“Then how do you propose we solve these problems, Professor?” Jayce all but growled, staring down at the table.

The little man smiled. “Ahh. This is about the hextech delays isn’t it? I assure you with more time-”

“No.” Jayce interrupted.

“Pardon?”

The councilors sat up straighter around her, finally picking up on the tension.

“Shimmer is rampant in the streets, even in Piltover we have located dealers recently. Dragons with riders, burning ships within our borders, our officers fear to even set foot on half the isles in Zaun for fear of being attacked. Our people hate us, and we are facing threats from every side, even from the sky. All under your watch. And yet you refuse any of our suggestions for defending ourselves. So how would you propose we fix our issues?”

Everyone was deathly silent.

Finally, the small man spoke. “Jayce. You forget yourself.”

Jayce snorted, stood. He strolled around, meeting each Lord’s gaze as he spoke. He was deathly calm, but Mel could see the frustration under the surface.

“I am sorry Professor. But fixing this nation will take more than speeches. You warn us, always, of what not to do. To move slower, to hesitate longer. Well while you were waiting, people have been dying outside these walls, out there in the isles Starving, freezing, working in filth while we sit up in our tall towers in comfort. And now they’re turning on us. Turning to other solutions for their problems. It will take more than a few officers to stop this.”

Jayce stopped, full circle, back at his chair. “We need leadership that is focused on the future, not the past. You are a Father of piltover…and a brilliant scientist. But I do believe….” Jayce looked over, at Heimerdingers shocked, horrified face. “that is is time we gave our beloved Professor a well deserved retirement. It must be unanimous, of course.”

And Mel watched, as the battle shifted, as the Lords one by one raised their hands. It was sad to see the little man go, but Mel was fighting a smile. As usual, Jayce didn’t just shake the playing field. No…he caused an earthquake. She would have to be sure to congratulate him properly tonight. But first…they must address the new infrastructure and trade. For live dragons.

Chapter Text

“I am NOT getting on the dragon.” Vi protested.
A few minutes and logical reasoning later, Violet got on the dragon. She had to find Powder, if it was Powder who made those drawings. She had to find her people, or what happened to them. Most of all, she had to send Silco to hell. And if that meant betraying her peoples principles…so be it.
The dragon, which Cupcake refereed to as “Silver Breeze” dove off the prison. Vi, however, did not get any time to savor her freedom, as she was plunged hundreds of feet down towards the ocean, clutching the saddle edge in desperation as her ass left the seat.
The beast pulled up at the last possible second, splashing all parties with the seawater that grazed its claws, before pulling upwards rapidly.
“Ah I am sorry, she is not usually like this…” Cait apologized as they gained altitude.
Vi was fighting not to vomit at this point, caught the beast glaring back at her, only to do a fucking barrel roll across the sky, followed by a rapid series of sharp twists, turns, and dives.

“LORD THOR ABOVE I’M SORRY JUST CHILL THE FUCK OUT” Vi finally yelled around the acid in her throat.

The dragon leveled out instantly, a steady glide with the occasional flap for altitude. She banked gently, orienting towards Piltover without being directed. Vi slowly loosened her iron grip on the saddle.

Caitlyn looked back at her, a faint smile of relief and amusement on her lips.

“NOT a word, Cupcake.” Violet growled.

It was actually…a very nice experience after that. Vi was able to somewhat forget how fucking high they were as she reached up to the low hanging clouds. They were damp, with little texture. Vi always assumed they’d have more…substance to them.
They passed islands and sea, months of travel, in minutes. Vi saw more of the world in a few hours than she’d ever seen in her life.
Towns, small cities, forests, plains, and rocky cliffsides dotted with white and gray seabirds, spread below her like a map. Bells tolled in alarm as they floated over villages, pale faces turned upwards.
To really send it all home, the sun decided to come out towards the late afternoon, casting everything in a reddish gold hue.
Really the only con was the Pilties long ass hair slapping her in the face. It smelled like flowers.
Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad…


The city of progress was something Violet had only had described to her in various tones of disgust in her short lifetime. But despite the port cities history of oppression and disdain for its surrounding people, Vi had to admit it was stunning.
As they drifted over the defensive walls, the evening sunlight bounced off the white marble and golden accents, lit up the greens, blues, and reds of the roofs, alongside the patterned tile streets. Everything was clean, even the air. People moved below dressed in bright elaborate clothing from all over the world, rather than the usual dull woolen vests and pants worn in Zaun.
A massive building in the center of the city caught her eye.

“Whats that?” She asked the Piltie, pointing.

“Oh that is the Council building. Law making and such is handled inside, and the top is where the Lords of Piltover hold their meetings.”

Vi frowned. “So it’s where you host your Thing?”

Caitlyn shook her head. “It is similar, but far more structured and refined.”

Vi snorted. Of course a Piltie would think their governmental meetings were better than Zauns. Always superior.

The central tower was mind-blowing in its size, all the same. While not the largest structure Violet had seen-that achievement went to stillwater- it was built stone by stone, rather than carved from solid rock, with a complex colored glass roof that likely cost more than ten of Berk combined. She recalled hungry winters bitterly as she stared at it, wavering between disgust and awe.
They flew past it, gradually loosing altitude as Silver honed in on their destination. The buildings steadily grew larger and fancier as they went, the streets less populated.
Finally, they landed in a massive flower garden. Vi slid off the saddle with a stumble, wincing at her stiff legs and sore arse. Caitlyn slipped down far more gracefully, poised as ever.
“Rest up. I will see about fetching your dinner.” She informed the dragon in that thick accent.
For Violet, the pieces were starting to fall together.
All around them rose bushes and small trees swayed in the wind, and behind them stood the back entrance to a fucking castle sized building.
That thick upper class accent, the pristine clothing, the expertly carved metal?? longbow, that fine ass…
Caitlyn was already making her way towards the house, so Vi trotted to catch up.

“Geez Cupcake. I knew you were rich but this…” She whistled.

The taller woman frowned. “Do not touch anything. You are a guest here.”

“Wasn’t going to, believe it or not.” Vi growled, dropping the playful demeanor instantly. Of course she’d immediately assume Vi was going to steal her…vases or some shit. Ugh.

Caitlyn must have noticed, because she stopped walking and turned. “I apologize, that was presumptuous of me.”

Vi stared in confusion. “pr-presumpty-”

“I. Should not have assumed. You were going to steal. I am TRYING to apologize.” Cait hissed.

“Ohhhhh. Okay.” Vi shrugged.
—————————————————————————————————
A servant opened the door for them, and Caitlyn Kiramman made her way inside, keeping half an eye on the pink haired woman beside her. Interacting with Violet felt like walking on eggshells, but she couldn’t deny the shorter woman had a strange allure to her. (And some incredible biceps.) She was strong, and quick to take offense, firm in her beliefs, but willing to listen to reason. Caitlyn found herself wanting to get to know Vi, investigation aside.

“Welcome home, lady Caitlyn. Is there anything we may get for you?” Luke, the primary servant of their household, inquired as she entered the halls.

“Yes, Silver needs feeding, and if you could be so kind as to bring us some tea, that would be lovely. We shall be in my rooms.”

The man bowed slightly in acknowledgement and left. Vi raised an eyebrow, but blessedly didn’t say a word.

They made their way up the massive central stair and down the halls, into Caitlyns room. It was quite a mess, but blessedly, Vi did not strike her as the judgemental type. Indeed, the woman ignored the mess entirely, instead heading straight to, and staring closely at the elaborate investigation map Caitlyn had constructed.
It was silent, and Cait took the moment to, unsling her bow, unlace her boots, and finally, sit down and catch her bearings. It had been a long day, and she knew that soon, she would be facing her impulsive choices.
A servant came in with a tray, laden with tea and small sandwiches, inclined his head, and left. Cait made herself a cup, and Vi absently shoved two of the sandwiches in her mouth at once. The sun began to truly set, the hextech powered lights flickered on, a soft blue glow cast across the room. Vi stared at them, at the archery trophies, at everything. Finally, blessedly, the woman spoke.

“So who are you exactly? You’re clearly high up the ladder, and you can’t be much older than me.”

Caitlyn took a deep breath. “I’ll tell you if you tell me what actually happened to Berk and who you are.”

Violent bit her lip. Shrugged. “Deal.”

“I am Lady Caitlyn Kiramman, daughter of Lord Cassandra Kiramman and Doctor Tobias Kiramman of Piltover.”

Vi stared blankly for a moment, then gave a dark chuckle. “Well, it adds up. Never thought I’d see the day I partner up with a pig, and a lords daughter to boot, but then, I also never saw myself riding a dragon, and here we are.”

Cait bit her tongue and swallowed her offense. She might finally get something out of Vi, and she didn’t want to ruin her chances.

She shoved another sandwich in her mouth, before joining Caitlyn on the bed. “yurh futhd has nu flAthor” she complained around the bite. Caitlyn winced at the lack of manners.

Vi swallowed without choking, somehow, and sighed. “What I’d give for a good cup of ale for this. Anyways…”

Caitlyn waited eagerly.

“I’m Violet Haddock, daughter of Felicia and Vander Haddock, heir to the Chiefdom of Berk, for whatever that’s worth now.”

Cait bounced a little. “The Chiefs daughter? So you must have been right in the middle of the attack.”

Vi gave a dark chuckle. “Oh yes, despite my fathers best efforts. We were minding our own business, it was tax season so things were a little tense I guess?”

Vi’s gaze darkened. “And then Silco came.”

Cait opened her mouth to inquire further, but Violet continued in a rush, and she closed it.

“He had these huge metal warships, a dozen at least…and we might’ve managed, because Berk is on a super steep cliff that isn’t too difficult to defend from large forces…but he had dragons and shimmer. The shimmer soldiers were huge, faster and stronger than any human should be. The dragons had airpower and fire and he put fucking armor on them to protect their vitals. Between the two? It was a slaughter.”
The woman’s shoulders were so tense, her fists clenched. Hesitantly, Cait reached out, and placed a hand on her shoulder. Vi didn’t react, but she continued.
“Eventually me, Vander, and my brothers got cornered in the great hall…we were actually doing okay, doubt it would have lasted, but then more dragons came in, and somehow my little sister was there? And they killed everyone but me. I got away, but I lost my little sister in the chaos.

Some of my people got away, mostly kids. We had almost nothing but the clothes on our backs and a few boats. Me and some of the older survivors took to piracy to feed them through the winter. Eventually I got picked up for it.”

“That’s…” Cait started. Awful? Unjust? Cruel? They jailed a fifteen year old for feeding her people without record or trial? “That’s fucked up.” Caitlyn managed. Then winced immediately at her poor use of language.

Vi raised an eye brow at her and laughed, a belly deep, genuine sound. “Yeah.” She agreed, smiling sadly.

A beat of awkward silence ensued. Slowly, Caitlyn removed her had from the woman’s shoulder.

“Alright, I am quite tired after today. Shall we discuss what our plans for furthering this investigation are tomorrow?”

Vi nodded. “Yeah I’m beat. Your little floor thingy has given me some ideas for sure. It is…scarily detailed.”

“Thank you, I worked quite hard on it.”

“I…can tell.”

While she originally planned to put Vi in a nearby guest room, Caitlyn ended up simply putting Vi in her own king sized bed. It seemed easier in the moment.
Caitlyn managed to get Violet into clean clothing (by borrowing her fathers simplest day clothes). And into the massive bed, with minimal theatrics. (“This is the softest thing I’ve ever felt in my life, I think I’ll die-”)

The woman conked out quickly, seemingly without a care for the strange environment or Caitlyn next to her. Cait took longer to sleep, mind racing, a tad nervous about sleeping beside a stranger. But at last, sleep claimed her as well.
————————————————————————————

Jinx was having…doubts. Toothless told her about the one sided conversation with Silco. It was pretty clear what “No need of you creatures” meant. She knew Silco did not care for dragons, and she knew why. But to kill them all…. Would her dad really hurt Toothless? She realized she didn’t know. And that made her nervous.

A man shoved her shoulder in the crowded hallway, and she stuck a knife in his ribs. Watched him bleed out and die from a punctured lung.

She used her exhaustion as an excuse to hide away in her shop. Outside, preparations were underway for a literal war. The forges rang with hammers as weaponry and armor were crafted. Dragons were slipped into metal helms and plate to protect their necks and spines. Men tested swords and bows and catapults.
She saw little of it, sulking, barely moving. Only going out for food. The tunnels were just so crowded. Yesterday, a man had shoved her shoulder in the kitchens, and she stuck a knife in his ribs before she even knew what happened. Watched him bleed out and die from a punctured lung. His gasps were kind of funny, but not enough to raise her mood. So she settled for a small chuckle, grabbed an entire roast chicken and walked away.
Toothless mimicked her mood, though she sensed the dragons restless energy. Sometimes they slipped into Silcos meetings, perched up in the support beams along his office’s ceiling, but Jinx didn’t speak.

After a week of sulking, Silco came to her. He sat beside her while she pretended to work on a zippleback bomb, carefully weighing gunpowder on her scales for that initial spark. Without turning around, Jinx felt Toothless wake up behind them, eyes cracking open from her and Jinx’s nest of pillows and ratty blankets. The dragon otherwise stayed still, observing.
“Something is bothering you, my dear. What is it?” He inquired, voice soft and gentle. Jinx frowned, then leaned into him, sighing.

“You’d never let anything happen to Toothless, would you?” She asked, voice raspy from disuse. She looked up at him imploringly.

He frowned down at her, then began gently redoing her messy braids. She shifted, turning her back to him to give him better access. This was a tradition between them, held as long as Jinx could recall. It was comforting. “The beast is a valuable tool, I would not let anything happen to it within my power to prevent, no.”

“But after the war is over…when we’ve won…what will you do with the dragons?” She asked, feigning nonchalance.

“I will likely keep a few, for protection and shimmer, but I plan to put those monsters down once I have no further need of them.”

Dread pooled in her stomach.

“Even Toothless?”

“The beast protects you, and you are the most important thing to me. It would benefit no one to not keep it around.”

Jinx felt some of the tension leave her shoulders, even as bile rose in her throat. Sure dragons killed mom, and yes, dragons killed her brothers and her dad. But she knew for a fact at least one of those cases was miscommunication. Was her fault.

The great hall was on fire, Vi was staring at her in horror and then her side was on fire, tail ripped in half, mothers blank dead eyes staring up at her and Mylo was in corner, black blood dripping from his lips and he chanted “Jinx Jinx Jinx-”

They shook their head, frantically. Not now. (Unknowingly Silcos eyes darted between them, brow furrowed)
Not every dragon was friendly, Jinx and Toothless both had the scars to prove it. However, unlike their time with humans, most dragons in their experience were friendly, willing to help, gentle.

Silco spoke again after a time, starting on her second braid. The clang of distant hammers and the rustling of his fingers were the only sounds.

“I know you have an unusually strong connection to the beasts. You…empathize with them. But I assure you, they are only so obedient to you because they fear you. The moment they got the chance, they would kill you.”

“Toothless wouldn’t hurt me.” She protested, trying to avoid Mylos empty eyes without turning her head and messing up the braids.

The dragon purred out assurance (Safe-love-affection) from the corner, soft enough Silco likely wouldn’t pick up on it.

“Perhaps not.” Silco agreed. “But she is a very unique exception. Highly intelligent, and you raised her. Plus she is dependent on you for mobility.”

Jinx frowned, but didn’t argue the case further. Silco was older than her, knew more, and had a far lager dragon at his beck and call. Still… she didn’t think they all deserved to die…did they?

Silco finished her braids in silence, giving her hair a gentle tug to inform her they were done, good as new. She turned and reluctantly met his gaze.

“You know I am always here for you? If you need anything, you only need ask.” He said solemnly, looking down at her, face scarred and maimed, not by dragon, but by a man.

She smiled, warmth in her chest. Silco really cared about her, in a way only he and Toothless did. Silco trusted her, and she trusted him. All this worrying was silly. Wasn’t it? Doubt pricked at her, ate at her gut. But she lunged forwards anyways, hugging her dad around his middle tightly. He hugged her back, as he always did. Affection, something he never shared with anyone else, radiated off of him, despite his flat features.

“I know.” She said against his chest, savoring his quiet human heartbeat. Dragons just weren’t the same, their hearts deeper, more variable in speeds.

He bent down and kissed her hair. “Now that that’s settled, what are you working on?”

Jinx, leaned back and beamed. “So its like a chomper but instead of exploding shrapnel it has pink glitter-” She started.

After he left, she dragged her way over to Toothless, holding some blueprints and a pencil. The dim light didn’t affect her much; Toothless was a creature of the shadows, so Jinx became one too long ago.
“Maybe we can convince him to leave our nest alone, eh? Break him down.”

She looked over her schematics, frowning, as she leaned against warm dragonhide. Toothless huffed.

“Worry. All this.”

Jinx glanced up, then back down at the blueprints. “Yeah no kidding.” The blueprints were old, crumbling at the edges from moisture and poor storage. A failed tail design. The general plan originally, when Jinx started working on the tail, was for the dragon to be able to fly on her own. Unfortunately, she hadn’t been able to figure out a way for it to work. Something had to control the tailfin, and the dragon did not have a way to do so. Sure they’d tried a similar device to the modern design, but hooked to the dragons leg…that ended rather horridly, as moving the leg resulted in all kinds of drag and balance issues in the air. Same for attaching the mechanics to the tail itself, and mouth control was totally out of the question- no material Jinx had ever discovered could survive a direct plasma blast.
It was quite the headache, which is why they settled on their current solution- a Jinx controlled fin. Jinx was small, lightweight, and she could flatten herself very close to the dragons back. She created very little drag, when they needed to go fast. The slight flicks of her foot on the pedal did very little to affect the dragons balance in flight. It was the perfect solution…except what if Jinx wasn’t there. Sure the fin was stiff, and allowed very basic gliding and diving on its own…but anything complex? Ha. Plus the straps, despite lots of fluffy padding, would rub the tail raw if she didn’t take breaks from it…
Jinx groaned in frustration. All she could think about was what she had already failed to do with her designs. Truthfully, she couldn’t bring herself to focus. Her mind was darting in circles, thinking about Silco and dragons and Ekko of all things. The traitor she had warned for some fucking reason. Gods she was a idiot-

Toothless nosed her side. “Fly?”

“Yeah, okay.” They certainly weren’t getting anywhere with this today, though she was determined to figure out the puzzle eventually. There had to be a way.

In the meantime she could help her friend. She could feel the dragons own anxiety, see it in the tension of her muscles and the movement of her pupils. Silco and the upcoming fight were weighing on her too. A flight would help take her mind off it, stretch her stiff wings.

Jinx slipped on the complex but lightweight saddle, attaching the straps along the hips and tailfin with practiced ease. There were no straps or safety measures. Ha. They didn’t need them.

She threw on her snug, lightweight jacket made just for flying- the outside was made up of thick black dragonscales she took from Toothless when she shed, carefully woven so close they were nearly airtight, the inside lined with ice-bear fur- and her glass goggles (she couldn’t see shit in their dives without them). They made their way into the halls, where henchmen and women paces rapidly by, eyes on the ground. The vault-nest was a flood of activity.
They were really going to war with little boy savior. She giggled. (Claggor glared at her in disapproval in the shadows from rotten black eyesockets). “Oh shuttup it is funny.” She whined at him.
He only frowned deeper. Spoilsport. Finally, they busted out a side gate, into the icy wasteland she called home all these years. White, white, and the occasional speck of gray rock greeted her. The green-black sea sloshed far below, dotted with ugly gray ships.
“We should really get around to decorating those later, if we’re gonna go fighting in them. They’re sooo boring.” She complained to Toothless and she slipped into the saddle.

They took to the air, wings stretching wide and flat to catch the updraft from the mountains. The tail-fin clicked as it slid into the correct position, a comforting sound.

“Agreed. Very ugly.” The dragon ‘frowned’ by flattening her head-nubbs and lowering her lips, head tilted sideways to meet Jinx’s eye from where the girl sat on her spine. “Need lots of paint.” (Dragons did not have a work for paint, so Toothless made one up, a pop of the lips with a soft “p” sound, followed by a firm click of the tongue on the roof of her mouth.)

“Oh definitely. Dunno if we can get it shipped in right now though…maybe just something small on the front of each one.”

Toothless hurmmed in acknowledgement.
Jinx’s mind was still elsewhere, but she shifted perfectly with the dragon (Click) all the same when she picked up speed, before sending them into a barrel roll (Click), shifting into a rolling dive as they lost momentum.

There was a new ship coming into the port, Jinx observed idly as they fell towards the sea.
(Click) They evened out between the ships, just above the crashing north sea waves.Perhaps they’d have more paint, if she was lucky. Toothless was a rather poor swimmer, the waves presenting a truly dangerous and exciting obstacle that they wove between and over with care (Click, click, click-).
Toothless beat her wings hard, sending them up over the ship decks (Click), both of them giggling at the sailors nervous upturned faces. The dragons on the decks also watched them with a dull sort of longing in their eyes. That killed the mood a bit, so they flicked (Click) away, up, and up and up, through the snow-clouds, until they were gasping the thin frigid air into their lungs, eyes watering from the pale sun above.
And then they flipped backwards and down, wind whistling shrilly across their wings. Toothless had eyes for a large outcropping of rock, and they angled towards it (Click). The building power pulsed through them, almost mumbling in some language neither of them understood. Her jaws parted with a high pitched scream of energy, a bolt of blue, and the rock exploded into a million shards. (Click) And back up they went, tail just scraping the snow below them.

They perched on the southern gate, the one closest to their workshop. Jinx slid off the saddle, and approached the gate, shoving her stiff, freezing, fingers against Toothless, who grumbled in mock complaint. Her nose was probably bright red ugh…she never did have the best complexion. There were hushed murmurs coming from inside, quick and frantic. She spotted three people outside the gate, two guards and someone who was probably a friend of theirs.
They went deathly silent when they saw her, faces almost as pale as her own.
“Don’t stop the gossip on account of little ol’ me.” She grinned, waving at them to continue. “What delightful news has graced us this fine afternoon. Did the doctor finally blow himself up? Oh! Did Sevika loose her other arm?? Or maybe a leg!” Jinx giggled. Despite the cold, her large blue eyes caught the sweat rolling down one mans cheek.

“Silco asked us not to involve you sir- ma’am?” The smaller of the three muttered. The others glared at him like he was stupid. Personally, Jinx thought he was very intelligent for not lying to her.

“Oh, and what is that, Chuck?” She inquired, stepping closer, head tilted ever so slightly, eyes wide. This guy clearly didn’t know her, so It couldn’t hurt to try the sweet little girl act.

The man seemed to sense his friends glares, but she had a fucking dragon behind her, so he stuttered out.
“He said you where uhm. Busy. And you didn’t need more on your plate.”

Translation, he didn’t want her to fuck it up. She bristled inside, but kept on her facade, smiling up (even a short person was taller than her).

“Awe that’s nice of him, but really, I would like to know. If we have a breach in security or something, it would be best if I am aware of it.”

“Oh no nothing like that!” He assured her, still stiff as a board, eyes darting from her, to the dragon, to his buddies who were literally making chopping motions at him, eyes bulging.

“There was a uh, attack. On a primary trapping outpost.”

“Oh? She leaned closer. Now this was juicy. “Which outpost? Was it the Bugs again?”

He grimaced. “Erets. Again apparently, but that was before my time heh. Uhm. It’s unclear. They claim it was some girls? They had a dragon but one was dressed as a cop and one was Zaunite, bright pink hair apparently. But they also said the firelights were there, just later. This is a third hand report, so I am sure plenty was lost in the telling.”

“Huh.” Jinx said, heart pounding. Pink hair…no no lots of people had pink hair. She killed a girl with pink hair last month it wasn’t a big deal. Toothless snarled behind her, lips peeled to show a mouth of yellowed fangs. All three of the henchmen stepped back. Chuck flinched, eyes darting.

Jinx forced a big smile, and jumped forward. The man flinched harder as she hugged him, patting his back. “Thanks for the info, Chuck.”

“My names Kevin ma’am-” He managed to his credit, as Toothless slid by him with a side eye full of anger. But she was already walking inside, not even paying any mind to the poof of pink glitter behind her.
————————————————————————-
It was night by the time Sevika made her way to the office. There was no light, save for the dull flickering of a few candles on the desk. Her head hurt like a bitch. All day she’d been racing around, trying to control the gossip, trying to get the correct story out of the sailors and soldiers on the ship. Trying to make sure it didn’t reach the tiny blue haired devil before she got it handled. That girl was more unstable than a yeti that just lost its pups. Hearing about this…no.
Luckily Silco agreed with her. Apparently it hadn’t occurred to anyone on the ship to just…bring in a eyewitness. Dumbasses.

Silco was turned towards the wall, as he tended to do when thinking. She decided to cut straight to the point. “The sheriff fucking lied about that pirate ship going under. The girl in the report literally had “Vi” tattooed on her face. Pink hair, battle axe, dressed in Zaunite clothing. Shes alive, and working with the enemy.”

“Oh? How interesting.” A voice chirruped from the chair.

It was then Sevika noticed the light scraping of scales. She looked up, into the rafters. Bright blue eyes stared down, reflecting candle light, from one of the thick support rafters. The chair turned, slowly, revealing the little brat.
Jinx smiled up at her, hands fiddling with one of her many daggers, dried blood already on the blade. Shit.

Chapter Text

Caitlyn awoke to the warm huff of a snuffling dragon in her face. “Five more minutes Silver” she mumbled into her pillow. It was so warm and soft and- Cait shot up, wide eyed. Violet stirred beside her, disturbed by the sudden movement. Oh gods. She had been laying on the woman’s chest. She rapidly scooted away as the woman awoke, trying to hide her burning face, curse her pale complexion-!

Violet was a surprisingly hard sleeper, to her immense benefit, and woke up slowly, rubbing her eyes. Her pink hair was spiked in various directions, and she tiredly began patting it down as she looked up, seemingly oblivious. “Mornin’.”

“Uhm. Good Morning.” Cait managed, realizing she too likely looked like a mess.
“I am going to go tidy up in the restroom, you are welcome to use it after.” She managed, before making her retreat. Vi muttered something behind her as she shut the door, a tad too hard.

After a minor struggle with Vi and the bathroom, involving entirely too many freak outs about basic plumbing, they were both somewhat groomed and dressed. Silver at least seemed to be enjoying herself, curled neatly in her half of the massive bedroom. Violet avoided her with care, always keeping the dragon in her vision. Caitlyn couldn’t blame the berkian for her nervousness.

Caitlyn was grateful her parents seemed to be either too busy to visit this side of the house, or simply not home, with all the ruckus the pink haired woman insisted on making over every little aspect of her life, from her archery trophies to her toilet flushing.

All the same, she had breakfast brought up to the room. It would not do for her parents to know she brought a still-water prisoner home before she was prepared.
Violet stared as the servant brought in two heaping platters, piled high with eggs, toast, jams and jellies, slices of hot ham, and of course, tea.
“You just…eat like this every day?” She asked, staring between the food and Caitlyn in disbelief.

“This is a modest breakfast?” She asked, confused.

Violet snorted. “This is more than the average sump rat would see in a week, Cupcake.” She said before shoving an entire egg in her mouth.

Cait frowned and carefully placed a sugar cube in her tea, before taking a sip. If that was true information…well it explained the woman’s table manners.

Caitlyn was just finishing up, when a soft knock sounded on her door. “Come in.” She called, fearing the worst (her mother). But the door opened to reveal none other than the professor, dangling from the handle.
He dropped to the ground rather comically, and waddled in, brushing off his coat.
His little hob-gobbler toddled in after him, with a happy chirp. Silver raised her head and greeted him with a warble, as he excitedly toddled over to see his big friend.
“Goodness, you mortals and your large doors” He chuckled, looking at up them. His eyes fell on Vi and widened slightly.
“My apologies, I do not think we have met. I am Heimerdinger.”

“Violet.” She said, glaring in suspicion.

The yordle was unfazed. He turned to Caitlyn, suddenly very grim. Her gut twisted. “I apologize for arriving unannounced and so early. I am afraid I have grave news to deliver. I wanted to get here before the ah, council. You may want to hear this in private.”

Caitlyn glanced over at Vi and bit her lip. “I’ll wait outside.” The woman decided for her, stepping out into the hall. The door closed with a soft click.

“Sorry for Vi, she has had a rough time of it, I am afraid. Please, have a seat, professor.” She gestured towards one of the chairs by the fireplace, and took the other.

“Thank you dear. And do not worry, I have dealt with far worse than that in my lifetime.” He wiggled his way up into the human sized chair, then continued. “I wish to cut to the chase on the matter I came to address this morning.”

“Of course.” She replied. Here we go. Whatever it is cannot be good, she had never seen the professor look so serious.

“I am afraid that yesterday evening I was voted off the council for my refusal to condone dragon enslavement and use in combat.” He said grimly. She opened her mouth to offer condolences, but he pressed on.

“Jayce plans to offer you a place in the new program, doubtless, but if you refuse, they will assuredly take your dragon for research and to work.”

“She would never tolerate that! Nor would any random wild dragons they drag into this!” Cait protested.

“Regardless of what dragons will tolerate, they are planning construction of the new pens as we speak. It is only a matter of time. I wanted to forewarn you.”

Caitlyn bit her lip. “I just needed more time to find this terrorist group! I had leads, we were getting somewhere!”

Silver seemed to sense the mood change, and gave a questioning sound from the other side of the room. Caitlyn looked over and forced a smile. “I am alright dear.”

The yordle leaned forwards. “What sort of leads did you have, might I ask?”

So she reluctantly told him about Violet, showed him her map. He nodded, looking over it seriously.
“Your investigation is sound, but it will not convince the council to wait.” He decided sadly.

Caitlyn growled in frustration. “Then I will do it myself.” She decided. He raised a furry eyebrow up at her. “You would become a criminal to protect dragons?”

She looked across the room. “I’ll become a criminal-” she grit out- “to protect the innocent, and stop villains.”
She mustered a tight lipped smile. “Besides, I have yet to receive any formal orders from the council, so technically I am free to do as I please, as is Silver.”

The short man grinned. “I shall accompany you, if you would have me. It has been a long time since I have left our city, and I do believe I am due for a reality check, if what Viktor tells me is to be believed. I also have other theories I must clarify.” He said, staring at the dragons on the other side of the room.
Caitlyn started to ask, then thought better of it.

Caitlyn went out to fill Vi in on their plans, only to have the girl say “I’m in.” before she so much as got a word out. “I heard that whole conversation by the way, shame you pilties couldn’t afford thicker doors…too busy making sure they are big enough to compensate for something else, I suppose.” She said, looking pointedly down. Caitlyn sputtered in indignation, but the yordle merely laughed behind her.
——————————————————————————
Jayce entered Mel’s study, and sat down on her bed with an exhausted grunt. She was working on that massive painting of hers by the remaining light of the sunset, all red sails and blue sea. It was a stunning work, and he admired the dedication, as he did in all the things Mel Medarda chose to do.

“Long day?” She inquired, glancing back at him.

“You could say that.” He muttered.

She made a soft humming noise.

“First I went to the lab to check on Viktor. He’s pissed at me because I paused my work on spreading hextech to Zaun, he’s been speaking only in one word sentences. Won’t even look at me. He’s working on this new device that helps teach runes to hextech items…it’s supposed to expand our understanding of how to talk to the arcane…but he’s obsessed! The way he was staring at it was creepy…”

“That does sound stressful. I assume that was not all?” She asked, adding a last swipe of paint to her work, before standing and making her way to the bed. She began gently working the tension out of his shoulders, and he slumped under her hands.

“No…you remember Caitlyn?”

A pause. “Lord Kirammans daughter?”

“Yeah.”

“Of course, she possess the Razorwhip that has been scaring all the citizens lately.”

He smiled at that. “I went to offer her a position with our new dragon project, and break the news about the confiscation. She was gone. So is the dragon. And Heimerdinger. The servants report a pink haired girl of unknown origin with them…her parents are distraught.”

He leaned, felt her warm chest against his back. “I don’t know what to do. Every time I try to fix this mess, more things fall apart!”

She hummed. “We can figure that out tomorrow. You will not get anything accomplished while you are so tense.”

She pulled him back down onto the bed, and he followed her without protest under the sheets.
————————————————————————-
Even with the last minute saddle modifications (more leg straps), it was a tight and nerve wracking fit on the dragon’s back. Heimerdinger sat in front of Cait, cackling and enjoying this entirely too much, Cait perched behind him, and Violet squished once again behind them both, with their bags strapped haphazardly behind them. At least she had convinced Cait to braid her hair this time, so it wasn’t slapping her in the face. The Bullpuff that seemed to be the yordles, was sitting on Silvers head, letting out happy barking sounds at any birds they passed.
Violet wondered if it could even fly on its own. According to Heimerdinger his name was just Gobbler, -a “hob-gobbler” he insisted -though it looked exactly like the drawing of a bullpuff in Berks old dragon slaying guides- which was ridiculous. Then again, it was a ridiculous dragon.

Vander had always drilled into her thick skull that even the smallest terrible terror could be deadly, but the rotund little purple “Gobbler”, tongue lolling in the wind, was immensely hard to take seriously, even for her.
Then again, she was honestly beginning to question everything. In a few short days she had met not one, but two pilties who were willing to apologize and attempt to address their mistakes, and two dragons that not only didn’t try to kill anyone, but were friendly, and seemed to have at least some grasp of Norse.
She was riding a dragon, for Janna’s sake! And it was willing!

“Doesn’t explain the attack that killed mom. Or why dragons were working for Silco.” She reminded herself grimly. “Doesn’t fix the oppression and suffering in Zaun.” But all the same, her doubts festered. She pushed them aside. There were larger issues at stake now.

“That island there, I believe.” Heimerdinger pointed below where they drifted, hundreds of feet above the sea. Thank the gods Caitlyn forced her into that stupid blue parka. Though they had traveled mostly east rather than north, the air was freezing. The island looked different from above, and it had been eight years since Violet had seen it, but she was still fairly sure he was correct.

According to the yordle, Lord Babette, a powerful ally of the old clan barons, was still kicking, and if anyone would be able to tell Violet where to start looking for Powder, it would be her. Assuming she would tell them. While Babette and Vander had been friends, that was years ago.

Now for the next challenge; land the three thousand pound, glittering silver dragon without being noticed. They slipped into a cloud, drifting with it across the sky.
The southern half of the large island below was heavily industrialized, tall rusty buildings spitting smoke, not a green thing to be seen between the dark alleyways.
The northern half, however, was somewhat less populated.

Tall factories and businesses tapered off into thatch and clay slums and tent cities, and eventually to scrubby yellow grasslands scattered with rocks. The rocks made agriculture impossible, though a few soggy sheep wandered the grasses. Far from the city, on the northern cliffs, they found a cave large enough for the dragon.
Caitlyn pointed, and Silver slipped out of the cloud, diving quickly, then pulling up low along the ground to break sight lines. She seemed to grasp their need for stealth, slipping neatly and quietly into the cavern with a few soft wing-beats. A few bats scattered with alarmed squeaks, along with a few mockers, which quickly calmed down when Gobbler chirruped a greeting at them. One landed near Caitlyn, who went very still, face amusingly pale as the tiny blind dragon sniffled at her, before curling back up. Vi grabbed Caits bow off the saddle and tossed it to her, along with her quiver. She’d have to snag a weapon once they got into town…ideally an axe.
Silver snorted at the abundance of bat dung on the floor, and then opened her mouth. “Everyone back!” Cait warned, before the dragon expelled a jet of flame from her jaws and set the mounds of shit ablaze. The horrendous stench of shit and smoke filled the cave, leaving the trio coughing and wheezing on the narrow ledge outside.
When they peered back in, Silver was comfortably laying on a pile of ash and cinders.
“She is as vain as you, eh Cupcake?” Vi jabbed, before turning to climb up the cliff side. Caitlyn snorted behind her. “I am not vain!”

“Sure. That’s why you took two baths in two days.”

“That is basic hygiene!”

“Uhuh.”

“How often do YOU bathe then?” Cait asked, scrabbling along behind her.

Violet hummed. “We got a bath like once a year in prison…but before that we kinda just bathed if we got covered in shit or something. So maybe once a month?”

“Oh my gods you must be joking. I let you SLEEP in my bed-”

Cait kept going, lecturing about hygiene and something called germ theory, which sounded like a load of bullshit honestly. Heimerdinger occasionally offered corrections to her lecture. He reached the top before both of them, and sat on the cliff edge, kicking his tiny legs. Gobbler, it turned out, could fly, and had fluttered up on his stubby little wings to join his companion.

Heimerdinger shooed him back towards the cave with a chuckle. “Not this time old friend. Too suspicious.”

Though they landed early in the morning, it was past noon when they finally reached the city, slipping neatly between it’s narrow streets.
Violet looked around the alleys carefully. Someone with some money…ideally scummy enough to attack her first…ahah. She wordlessly split from her position behind Caitlyn and Heimerdinger (to ward off the pickpockets) and down a side alley.

Sure enough, as soon as they saw her in her borrowed fancy clothing, the two wannabe gangsters slipped off the wall they were slouched against.
They began circling her, like dogs circling a piece of meat. “A pretty face like that doesn’t belong down here.” The taller of the two, a man with yellow saggy hair, grinned down at her. Oh she would enjoy this.

A few minutes later she left the alley, a nice, well worn red jacket across her shoulders, proper wool pants on her legs. She found Caitlyn frantically looking for her…while getting pick pocketed. Vi strolled up, shooting the scrawny kid with his hands in Caits pockets a stern look. He retreated quickly.

“Where have you been-” Cait started, before Vi dumped a nice black jacket, some scuffed boots, and some actual pants into her hands. She tossed Heimerdinger a dingy cloak, meant for a kid, but the child she got it off of was happy to swap for the silver coins she’d found in the shorter goons pockets.

“I…am not wearing this.” Caitlyn protested, as Heimerdinger slid into the cloak.

“You wanna find Silco? You need to stop looking like a mark.” She hissed.

Caitlyn muttered, but slid into the jacket, and put the pants on over her leggings. Slid into the much tamer boots.

Vi looked them over, making a few adjustments. They still looked too nice…but it would have to do. “Come on.” She muttered.

Violet led them deeper into the city, pausing only once, to get some decent fucking food, and some subtle directions. It had been awhile. She shot the right people glares, avoided the right gazes of others, wove and climbed and dropped. The others behind her were dead weight. But she would manage.
She faintly recalled her childhood trip here with Vander. For him, it was a meeting to discuss trade with an ally. For her, it was a lesson in Zaunite culture outside of her tiny home island. She’d gotten the shit beat out of her by some gang or another. All her stuff stolen, even her boots. But she learned, and grew, and did not regret the experience.
Finally, they reached a rather inconspicuous red door, deep in a gray side alley. Violet knocked. A man slid open a peep hole in the door, looked them over. Vi nodded, hoping she didn’t need a password or some shit, that would be annoying.
But they were thankfully admitted without question.

The scent of something sickly sweet filled Violets nose as she stepped down into a long hall.
“The place where all the secrets are spilled.” Vi grinned, turning to see her companions reactions. They gaped around. Caitlyn was rapidly changing to a lovely shade of red as they walked further into the building.

The establishment was a long set of hallways underground, with many rooms branching off from each hall. Each room had naught but a small silk curtain between the occupants and the walkway, and many were open to reveal rather…unsavory acts. (Or savory, if you weren’t a prude.)

“This place is full of shimmer.” Cait hissed, pretending not to stare into every room the passed with an open curtain. Ah, that must be the smell. Violent didn’t know much about shimmer, after all, she had been in prison most of the drugs existence.

“All right. We split up, start hunting for information. Heimerdinger, the kitchens are down the left hall.”

She’d have far better chances of getting information out of Babette if she was not accompanied by strangers.

“And what am I supposed to do.” Caitlyn protested, as Heimerdinger saluted and waddled away.

Vi paused and turned. “Let em think you work here.” She stated the obvious.

“Pardon??? I will not!” Caitlyn huffed, turning even redder somehow.

Vi sighed. This woman. “You know what your problem is? You want everyone to just give you what you want. That’s not how it works in the real world, cupcake. If you want something, you have to either take it by force, or make people think you have what they want. Now I don’t personally fancy fighting the entire city. So.”

Caitlyn snorted. “Fine. What exactly do I have, then?”

Vi smirked. Strolled around her. Long dark blue hair, pretty soft sea blue eyes, still innocent. A prim, proper demeanor, somewhat exotic to these poorer districts of Zaun. Tall, fit, a decent ass. Without warning she pushed Cait into a wall, just to see her jump. “You’re hot, cupcake.” She snorted, leaning in close. “So what’ll it be? Man, Woman, a third option perhaps?” Caitlyn stuttered, helpless, against the wall. Ugh. Vi really had places to be.

She casually grabbed a wide eyed passing guy. Probably knew jack shit, just here for a quick lay. But he would get the Piltie off her back long enough to actually do what she came here for, and he wasn’t dangerous, so no one would get hurt.

She made her way into the office and living quarters of the brothel. A few prostitutes shot her looks, but nobody spoke a word.
She finally made her way to the old yordles office, softly parting the red curtain.

Babette looked up from whatever business she was working on. At first she looked curious, then the recognition hit.

“Violet?” She murmured

“Unfortunately.” Vi agreed.

She set down her quill. “I’ll have Moxie fetch ale.”

The ale, served by some quiet girl with dark hair, was cold and decent, for a city.

Vi took a long gulp.

“I was real sad to hear about Berk…and Vander. I like to think we were good friends, despite the distance. I had heard Silco killed you all. A whole island, a hundred generations, in one day.”

So she knew about Silco. Vi leaned forwards.

“I’ve been gone for a good seven years or so. I came to you because you were friends with dad… I need to know about how things lay in Zaun. I need to know about Silco most of all. I think he has Powder.”

“Powder is alive too?” The woman inquired, eyes wide and hopeful.

“I don’t know.” Vi admitted. “But if she is, he has her.”

The yordle sighed and leaned back. “Some people tried to fight that mans take over. Most obey him now. He has the muscle, the power, the merchandise. Are you sure you want to go after him, Violet? More and older people have tried, and they all lie in shallow graves.”

“I have to. I have to know if he has my sister, if nothing else.”

The old woman nodded. “Silco has a right hand who comes here on occasion with the shimmer shipments. Thanks to her pillow talk, I happen to know where one of his trapping outposts are. It may be a lead for you.”

Violet sighed with relief. “I owe you.”

“It’s nothing dear. Think of it as a return favor for your father. Now, we need to update your knowledge of Zaun-”

Hours later, Violet emerged to hunt down her companions. She found Caitlyn flirting with some bunny-masked girl, sprawled on a sofa. Interesting.
She gave a discreet gesture and Cait made some excuse.

After gathering up Heimerdinger, who had somehow managed to make an entire three tiered cake in the two hours she was talking, they started the long, boring trek back to the cave.
She filled the others in, Caitlyn had gotten some valuable information on shimmer economics and other possible leads. Impressive adaptability, Violet had to admit.
She paused at a blacksmith on the way out, and got herself a hefty iron battle axe with Caits coin. It wasn’t fantastic, but it would do.

“So you want us to fight an entire outpost of dragon trappers?” Caitlyn asked, slightly incredulous.

“Not exactly. I was thinking we could hit one of their boats after it leaves.” Vi corrected.

“That would be quite risky, since those boats are equipped specifically to capture dragons.” Heimerdinger commented. “A night attack would likely be most beneficial, perhaps we could capture one or two guards to question.”

“The trouble with that is I doubt common guardsmen will have any knowledge of Silcos whereabouts.” Vi sighed.

“Pardon,” Caitlyn interjected. “but what if we just followed a shipment? If Silco is taking these dragons, wouldn’t that lead us right to him eventually?” The other two stared at her.

“That’s not a terrible idea, it would take alot longer though. Ships are slow and the north seas are dangerous.” Vi admitted. “Still, it may be our best bet, considering our numbers.”
She didn’t mention that they’d be even more outmatched once they actually got to Silco, but she needed Caitlyns dragon for travel, so she decided not to discourage her. No, best to keep the Piltie confident.
————————————————————————

Caitlyn felt she was finally starting to understand Violet to some degree. As they traveled north, she observed the woman closely.
She was crude, often cracking rather scandalous jokes, but she knew her way around her fists and that axe she insisted on purchasing. She wasn’t a horrid shot either, when Caitlyn agreed to let the woman test her bow. Though not nearly as good as Cait herself, of course.

She could cook as well, forage for local herbs, skin a hare in seconds. She was loyal. Not only to this missing sibling and dead father of hers, but surprisingly to them as well, despite her apparent disgust for “Pilties and Dragons”.

When a massive boar burst out of the undergrowth and lunged at her, it wasn’t Silver that saved her, but Violets axe, cleaving through the animals fur, flesh, and into its spine. It dropped, long silvery tusks inches from goring her guts out.
When Heimerdinger got lost while off collecting firewood, it was Violet who went and found him.
At first, she kept her distance from Silver and even Gobbler as soon as the hit solid ground each evening.
But as days turned to weeks, Caitlyn caught her tossing a dead hare to Silver, and even giving Gobbler a quick scratch behind the horns.

They were further north now than Caitlyn ever assumed she would go. It was warm enough to avoid a risk of freezing to death this time of year; though there was still a frost on their blankets most mornings.

They followed the directions the brothel yordle gave Violet. Caitlyn hopped it wasn’t some sort of goose chase or elaborate trap; Violet trusted this Babette woman, but Caitlyn never even saw her, much less got a read on her legitimacy.

The landscapes were stunning, she had to admit.
From blue-green seas to snow dusted mountains, forests of trees so large the dragon could perch on the thicker branches. In many places, almost impossible spires of black rock jutted from the foggy seas, crested with slender pine and stubborn grasses.
They were gliding through one such landscape when they saw the smoke.
Caitlyn twisted to look back at Violet, nervous. She frowned back, grim, and nodded.
They flew lower, hoping to use the mass of pine and spruce as cover. The fog opened below them suddenly, revealing a massive outpost on a rocky shore, above a bay full of ships, surrounded and well hidden by large moss coated cliff faces. She saw cages of dragons below, and at least half a hundred men and women.
Their plans went to shit immediately. A guard on the large wooden walls spotted them, shouted, and a alarm bell rang seconds later. Men darted across the walls like ants.

Caitlyn pulled up on the saddle. They needed to gain air, quickly.
But Silver, while being a decently quick dragon, was not fast enough on the limited updrafts being put out by the sea below. Massive bolas flew at them from all directions. Silver managed to dodge several, but one hit its mark, pinning her feet and a wing.
They went down, spinning. Vi yelled, Heimerdinger muttered a prompt “Oh dear!”, Silver screamed as she tried to soften the fall on one wing. Gobbler went flying, quickly out of sight.
Caitlyn undid her leg straps, holding the yordle with one hand and her bow with the other.

They landed in the fort with a crash, just inside a wall. Caitlyn went rolling one way, the yordle another. Darting her feet quickly, she notched an arrow and drew.

Vi groaned behind her, but she didn’t dare look. Thank the gods they had a wall to their back, or they’d probably already be dead.

They were surrounded quickly, weapons on all sides. The trappers, all coated in dragonhide and fur, didn’t move in. Someone would take an arrow if they attacked, and all of them were hesitant to gamble on it. She saw rows of cages behind them, many filled with chained dragons. They had almost certainly found the right place. Just far too carelessly.
Finally, a man strolled out of the masses, tall, well muscled.
“Well well well, what do we have here? You sure as hell ain’t the demon girl or one of Silcos iron beasts…a firelight, perhaps?”

She directed the arrow at him, eyes narrowed. She was sure Violet was moving behind her. “I have no affiliation with any gang, nor do my companions. We are law abiding citizens.” She lied, flat and cold.

“Woah now… a Piltie this far north? No need to be hostile. If your story is true, we can pop ye right back on a ship south. Just let us muzzle that beast.”

“I will not let you muzzle my dragon. Who are you?” She huffed, unwavering.

“Me? Why I am Eret, son of Eret. Finest dragon trapper alive! And I happen to know my boss doesn’t have a razorwhip yet in his little army.” He smiled hand on his sword, confident.
She was debating how to get out of the situation when a shout of alarm rang out from one of the men. “Boss! Fire!!”

More shouts rang up. The fort, despite its stone foundation, was made predominantly of pine thatch and wood. And sure enough, one of the larger buildings was ablaze, smoke rising above them. A good deal happened at once then.

The man cursed. “GET BUCKETS YOU DIMWITS, PUT IT OUT!” Men ran around, all but forgetting them.

Gobbler waddled between legs in the chaos, pausing to look up at her, and letting out a smoking belch.

Silver whipped up behind her with a roar of rage. Violet must have cut her free. To Caits horror, she promptly set even more buildings ablaze, at the same time sending her tail spines into a half dozen trappers. They went down, some silent, others screaming in agony.

A man turned and loosed an arrow at the dragon. It clattered harmlessly off her plates, and she darted forwards, chomping the mans head off in one clean snap.
“Silver no-!” Caitlyn began. They needed to get out of here, what was she doing? But then Violet ran past, yelling, dodged a woman’s broadsword swipe, and cleaved into her chest. Despite the several yards between them, Caitlyn swore she heard the bones cracking. Dragons screamed through their muzzles from the burning buildings. While dragons were fireproof, the lack of oxygen would likely kill the poor beasts soon.
Some trappers were still trying to put the flames out, others were turning to fight, enraged.
Violet put her axe into another mans skull. She was fighting three at once now. Another trapper got a lucky swipe with his shortsword, cutting the pink haired woman’s thigh. She growled, turning to attack, bleeding. Too slow. Her raised his sword again. Caitlyn loosed her arrow. It flew through the mans eye, dropping him instantly. Vi shot her a nod and returned to combat. Silver blew more fire, slicing at men with her claws. Heimerdinger was seemingly absent, as was Gobbler. They were quickly getting overwhelmed again. Caitlyn drew more arrows, putting them into their assailants with panicked but precise shots as they danced with Violet and Silver in the ash filled smog. Everything stank of smoke and blood and guts.

Then a loud, powerful roar echoed above it all. The largest dragon she’d ever seen descended from the sky.
And there was a person on its back, masked and clothed in thick leather, a strange staff with hooks on the end in their hand. The dragon hoovered above the chaos, four wings beating in tandem, bright red crests flared in rage, before folding its wings, dropping to the ground with a loud thud.
Silver paused in her carnage, giving a happy sounding chirp. The massive dragon chirped back, before bending to allow the person on their back to jump down.
More dragons descended, throwing various projectiles and flames and firing arrows into the enemy, clearing ground for a landing. People in masks darted off their backs, running to the various cages.
Eret ran at a man who was opening the cages, yelling. A orange dragon spat a glob of yellow fluid at him, which hardened upon impact. He was left immobile, screaming in rage.
Violet had decided to regroup at some point, flanking Caitlyn with her gore coated axe in hand, eyes cold under her bangs.
Silver seemed content to simply watch. Many half crazed dragons flew into the sky, while others stood shaking just outside their cages, seemingly in shock. A few were tiny babies, simply too small to fly at all. The orange dragon seemed to be rounding those up into a huddle between two other larger dragons.
Most of the trappers were dead. Those left were throwing down their arms. The strangers, who Caitlyn was willing to bet were the fabled firelights, restrained them and caged them with a ruthless efficiency.

Finally, the seeming leader, the person with the hooked staff, turned towards them.

“I’m glad to see you Windshear!” They called. Silver chirruped. The voice was muffled by the mask, but she decided it was likely a mans.

He (?) approached them casually, staff relaxed. “You can lower your arms. We are not going to attack you without cause. Besides. You’d loose.” The large gray and red dragon peered over his head at them, snuffling at the air.

Well, he had a point. Slowly, Caitlyn lowered her bow. Vi snorted, but relaxed her axe.

“What are you gonna to do with their leader?” Violet asked immediately.

“What’s it to you?” The person growled, voice muffled and distorted by the mask.

“We were hoping to question them as part of an ongoing investigation against a potential criminal organization.” Caitlyn finally found her voice, and it didn’t even shake.
The giant dragon had slid off to the side to chitter with Silver, which helped her ease of mind a little.

“So you are claiming you aren’t with Silco.” The person commented.

“Are you fucking serious? That guy killed my entire village!” Vi growled, lifting her axe again. “Who the fuck are you anyways.”

The large dragon turned, eyes narrowing. Silver let out a quiet chirp of nervous alarm.

“Violet-” Caitlyn hissed, but the person chuckled. They stepped closer, and pulled off their mask, revealing dark skin and bright white hair over a perplexingly young face.

“Hey Vi. Thought you were dead.”

Violet gaped. The axe fell out of her hands.

Chapter Text

Ekko wanted nothing more than to question Violent and her entourage. Unfortunately, he had things to do first. He told them to sit tight, and let June know Vi had wounds that needed tended.
His first concern was unarming and restraining the surviving trappers. They would need to be questioned later. Scar seemed to have that down already, so to the next order of business. The newly released dragons. Human hands were far better at treating wounds than dragon claws. Lyre ran up to him as he was making his way over to inspect them for injury.

“Sir. We have a situation. There’s a hostile…well. You better just see this.”
He followed her, Cloudjumper behind him. They made their way to a charred cage in a unassuming corner of the fort. And he inhaled. In the cage, chained wing, foot, and tail, with a massive muzzle on their face, a dragon he’d never seen before snarled. One eye was a bloody mess of scabs, certainly beyond repair. The other was a slit pupil in bright sea-green.
The dragon had a light coat of dappled grays and whites, and she had a larger body, with thicker, more robust finnage…but her shape screamed night fury. Danger. Fear. Blood. Black wings and a high pitched scream that meant death. He shuddered and shook his head. Not now.
He had no doubt somehow, that the dragon was a female. Nor that she wanted him dead. It was a buzzing in the base of his skull. The fixation of her eye, the tension in her body. Ekko had gotten very good at reading dragons.
He looked up at Cloudjumper. “This is up to you buddy.” He said.
The dragon huffed and rolled his eyes, but even he looked tense.

Cloud chittered. After what felt like at least half an hour the light (?) fury snorted and grumbled. Cloud finally turned to him and nodded.
“Hope you’re sure.” Ekko muttered. He slowly, carefully, set down his staff, and made his way to the cage. First he opened the door, then began undoing the chains, doing his best not to touch the dragons scales. They were very smooth and fine, and she snarled every time he brushed them. He moved from leg to leg, heart pounding.
Finally, she was free. She hopped out of the bars neatly, and gave a long, almost lazy stretch, before turning expectantly. He gulped. Moment of truth.
Trying not to let his hands shake, Ekko removed the muzzle.
She stretched her jaws, licked her injured eye, and tilted the good one to stare down at him.
He didn’t dare even breathe.
She huffed, and then threw herself into the sky, vanishing into the lumpy gray clouds.
Ekko, who felt he would’ve been justified in pissing himself in that moment, sat down and took a breather.

Of course, he didn’t get much of one. Scar found him soon after. “We have four severe injured adult dragons. They wont be able to fly far. One can’t fly at all, broken wing.
We only brought three carriers so we’ll have to build another before we leave. Unfortunately a bullpuff set the forest on fire, so we will need to tear apart the boats for the parts. May take a few days.”

Ekko sighed. “Great.”

“On the bright side we didn’t loose anyone, and only sustained minor injuries.
Forty-six dragons were freed, twenty-seven stayed. Thirty eight trappers are dead, four are available for questioning, including their leader.”

“And Violet?”

Scar frowned. “It’s definitely her. She was helping us pile the corpses for burning last I checked. Her injuries have been tended.” Scar was a stone face sort of man, but Ekko knew him well enough to see all the questions in his eye. He could relate at the moment. Why here? Why now? Why with two pilties?

Ekko managed a small smile. “Lets get the dragons settled up the cliff a bit, and then I’ll speak with her. Figure out whats going on.”

It was nearly pitch out before they had a suitable camp made and managed to treat, transport, and feed the dragons. They sat far up on a sheer cliffside near the wreckage of the fort. Everything reeked of smoke, even up this high.
His back hurt like hell by the time he finally sat down on the rocks.
Nervous wild dragons and calm nest dragons perched around the camp, eyes gleaming in the firelight. Cloud was up in the sky somewhere, using his large eyes to keep watch.
He made his way around the makeshift campsite.

Ekko spotted Violet on the rocky ground, staring blankly. She looked as exhausted as he felt.
He made his way over, slumping to the ground beside her.

“Hows your thigh?” He asked, glancing at her. Why did he feel so nervous…this was Vi. Sister in all but blood…

“It’ll heal".” She dismissed. “Care to fill me in on what the fuck is going on here?”

“Only if you fill me in first.” He protested. “We thought you were dead, Vi. I got word eventually of where the remains of our tribe ended up. That the Beserkers took them in after the winter. But when I went to visit? You weren’t there.”

“Well that’s one of my questions checked off. Glad to hear some of my charges survived.” She stretched out her leg with a soft hiss. It wasn’t a bad wound, but he bet it burned like a nadders breath.

“Were were hiding out on a nameless island, but the food ran out. I turned to piracy, hitting piltover ships. They didn’t like that. Spent the last several years in Stillwater.”

“They put a kid in stillwater?” He growled, jaw tightening.

“Yeup.” She shrugged. Like throwing a child in Stillwater didn’t matter. Wasn’t relevant. He shelved that information for later.

“Then a few weeks ago Caitlyn-that piltie I’m with- busted me out. Needed my help with her detective work, and well. Dragon flight is faster than ships. Been using her to look for Powder and track down Silco. Dunno if she’s even alive but…”

Ekko winced. “Powders alive Vi…but. Shes not who you remember. She goes by Jinx now and she’s…. she’s a murderer. She works for Silco.”

Violets eyes narrowed and her fists clenched.He could see the conflict in her eyes, the relief and confusion. Even after all these years…he could still read Vi like a book. He felt himself relaxing.

“Silco must be controlling her somehow. I need to get to her. And kill that bastard.”

He shook his head, looking as tense as she felt.
“She could leave any time she wished. She rides a night fury, Vi. I’ve seen her, watched them both kill my men. It’s terrifying how they move. Like one creature in two bodies.” Ekko shivered, just thinking about those cold blue eyes…

Vi interrupted his thoughts. “There must be a mistake. Powders my sister Ekko. I wont leave her, not again. Not to him.” She glared into the rocks below her.

He decided to try a different topic for now. “So what are the Pilties’ deals?”

She smiled a little, still tense. “I don’t really understand Heimerdinger. I think he is partially studying dragon behavior, and partially trying to help Caitlyn. Caitlyn is trying to get evidence on Silco… and you guys actually. Apparently Piltover is trying to enslave and ride dragons and she’s trying to stop that from happening. They tried to take the razorwhip from her.”

“Damn. Oddly solid for pilties’, I am surprised.” And he was. Trying to prevent dragon enslavement was half his job description, but he was surprised to see a high and mighty citizen of Piltover caring so much for the cause.

“Yeah…I guess.” She agreed.

Then Vi leaned in, voice low. “You’'ll never guess who she is.”

He raised an eyebrow at her smug look. “Do tell.”

“That chick is the sole heir of the Kirammans.”

He gaped. “Seriously?”

“Yeah, and the Yordle is a retired councilor as well.”

His mind was racing. The hostage potential…the negotiations they could acquire…

Vi cut his thoughts off, a knowing look in her eyes. “You can’t afford a war on two sides right now. The best action here would be to…” Vi wrinkled her nose. “Strike a truce alliance with Piltover until we can deal with Silco. Speaking of, where is he? I assume you’d know.”

He dropped the train of thought…for now. Vi was probably right anyways.
“I do. Silcos base is untouchable. He operates on the coasts Freljord, far enough north to avoid Piltover but close enough to control the Barons. His base is in a mountain, with a fleet of metal ships and an army of enslaved dragons surrounding it. They obey him because he somehow has a bewilderbeast on his side.”

“A what?”

“Picture the largest dragon you’ve ever seen in your life…then imagine a mountain instead. Luckily they can’t fly, but it can control the minds of other dragons and its so insanely huge nothing even scratches it….”

She gaped at him. “You’re joking.”

“No.”

“Yes.”

“No!”

“Sure bud.”

He huffed a frustrated laugh. “Come home with me, I’ll show you one.”

“You HAVE one??”

“He’s not my pet Vi, if anything we’re HIS pets. You’d need to speak with him to understand-”

“Speak? To the dragon?”

“It’s…hard to explain. He can speak to humans through images and feelings in our minds. Plus he does understand basic Norse…your mom taught him.”

She stared at him a moment. Then another. Finally she opened her mouth. “I have. So many questions.”

He laughed.

They talked late into the night, about what happened to Ekko, the nest, his discovery of Felicias notebook, how Caitlyn ended up with Heather’s dragon. Violet seemed to be taking it all well, honestly. At some point Cloud drifted out of the sky and started scolding him. Half asleep as he was, Ekko could swear he understood the implication of his barking.

“Hatchling needs rest long day talk later sleep sleep!”

“M’ not a hatchling Cloud. I’m nineteen.” He grumbled.

Vi looked at them curiously. “Do you understand him?”

“Nah, just the implication and a few of the '“words” he uses alot, though he understands us fine. The old man says I have to go to sleep. Do you need anything?”

“No the beast is right, honestly.” She stretched and stood. “We can talk more tomorrow. Night little man.”
Then she leaned over and hugged him. “I missed ya.”

His heart twisted a bit at the nickname, but he smiled warmly and hugged her back. Tight. “I missed you too.” So much. Finally, she let go. He almost made a protest at the loss of contact, but managed to resist.

“Night, Vi.” He murmured instead, and went to his assigned tent.
—————————————————————————————-
Violet woke early, and shifted. Wait. There was something on her chest. And it wasn’t her tits. She pried open her eyes- to a bright yellow terror laying on her. She stared at it. It yawned, and stared back at her.

Her instincts were screaming it was about to tear out her throat, or burn off her face. Her rational brain said it was probably with the firelights. Either way, her axe was terrible for such a situation, and her knife was too far away. So she tried her greatest weakness; diplomacy.

“Uhhh hello. Could you get off me?”

The dragon licked its eyeball.

Errr. She was debating between trying to just sit up, or grabbing it by the neck, when Caitlyn burst into the little cloth tent the Firelights lent her.

“Vi! You are going to be late for breakfast!”

The terror screeched in annoyance and fled. Vi let out a breath.

“Mornin’ to you too Cupcake.” She grunted, before rolling to her feet. “I was sort of stuck.”

“Ah…I see.” Cait smiled, looking after the fleeing terror.

Violet brushed her hair flat with a hand and threw on her boots. She grabbed her knife and her axe. “Lead the way, O mighty pastry.”

Caitlyn, who had given up, did as she was bid. Vi found a throng of people and dragons around a large fire, over which sat a massive pot. Heimerdinger was chattering away with two of the firelights, but he paused to greet them with a brisk “Good morning!” before returning to his talk.
Some stout woman in furs handed them each a bowl of some form of soup with a smile. Vi side eyed the purple nadder laying behind her.
She made her way over to Heimerdinger for some reason, plopping down on the rocks. The firelights took their cue and departed with smiles and waves at the old yordle. He grinned back.

“Making friends I see.” Vi noted.

“Oh yes! These people are delightful company! They have many tales and incredible amounts of dragon information!”

“Well I’m glad you’re having a good time.” She said. And she meant it. The Yordle was growing on her, despite his origins.

Caitlyn joined them, perching on a slightly elevated piece of stone, back straight, as she delicately sipped the soup from her spoon. She paused, patting at her face with a cloth.
“Did you gather any useful information last night?” She inquired, eyes sharp despite the early hour.

Vi loudly slurped some soup into her mouth directly from the bowl. Fish. Possibly some spinach. Not bad, for camp food.

“Ekko offered to help us out. I figure we can go back to his place, learn what we can. He says Silco is untouchable but is possibly going to attack him.”

Caitlyn frowned. “How did Silco learn his homes location?”

Vi sighed. “Supposedly…my sister.”

She caught Cait up on the news, careful to leave out anything she might use against the firelights. She was a unique piltie…but still a piltie.

In the end they agreed to go to the nest. Heimerdinger seemed thrilled about the giant mind reading dragon (Vi was not, but she trusted Ekko.) Vi noticed a frown in the corners of Caitlyns mouth, but the woman didn’t say anything.

Ekko stopped by as they were wrapping up their little counsel. “Good news, we should be able to leave by tomorrow morning. There’s a smaller ship I think we can rig pretty quickly to carry the injured dragons we didn’t have room for. Just need to gut the thing and install some chains.”

Vi nodded. “Just tell me where you need me.”

“I may be able to assist with weight calculations.” Heimerdinger chirruped.

“I am not sure what good I will be, but I would be happy to help where I can.” Caitlyn added.

Ekko smiled. “Never expected a group from Piltover to be
useful.”

“Oi!” Vi protested, mildly offended. “I’m a berkian you lout.”

“Still came from Piltover.”

Oh those were fighting words. She grinned and lunged forwards, grabbing Ekko in a headlock. “Take it back you little devil!” She half shouted. Ekko was huffing in her grip, not bothering to struggle. There was no escaping her marvelous biceps, if she did say so herself. “ARE YOU LAUGHING RIGHT NOW?” She did yell that time. The audacity!

After a moment she realized half the firelights and multiple dragons were watching them, various levels of amusement or astonishment on their faces. The usually stoic Scar was chuckling.

Feeling her face heat up, she reluctantly let Ekko go. He was still grinning. “That’s the Violet I remember, solving all her problems with brute strength.” His gaze turned serious. “I am going to question the trappers this morning. After that I’m sending them off on a small ship. Should be a good while before word of this hit reaches Silcos goons. I figured you’d want to come with me.”

Vi nodded. They made their way over to Ekko’s dragon. “You’ve met Cloud Jumper. Cloud, Violet!”

‘Cloud’ chirruped.

“I don’t know about this one Ekko.” She stared up and up into the dragons bright yellow eyes. The dragon leaned over, snuffing at her with his short nose. She leaned back a little, hand itching for an axe.

He laughed. “Cloud is a very friendly guy. Plus he really likes you. Nothing to worry about.”

“Sure. Wheres the saddle?”

He grinned at her and slipped on his mask, which she now realized closely mimicked the head of the dragon behind him.

“Wheres the saddle Ekko??”

A very terrifying minute long bareback flight later, they were at the cliff base. Two firelights in masks nodded at Ekko as they passed into one of the few standing buildings. The few living trappers were inside, crammed into two dragon pens. Rather ironic, she had to admit.

None of them had much for them, save some shipping records and reports on faces and names of some of Silcos associates, which Ekko noted down into a thick leather journal. They were oddly compliant. When they finally got to Eret, the man smirked.
“Last time I disappointed Silco, he gave me this.” The man pulled down his shirt to reveal a large burn scar on his chest. “He promised me he’d be far less forgiving next time. I’m a dead man walking, boy.”

“What did you do the first time?” Violet asked, curious.

“I captured a baby night fury.” He smirked.

Ekko inhaled. “So that’s where she came from?”

Eret stopped smirking. “Aye. I gave that monster the one thing no one can hope to escape from. And his pet demon tamed it. What do you want to know, riders? I’m just a trapper, so I know scarce little, but makes no matter anymore if I speak.”

“Where does Silco live?” She asked.

Eret shrugged. “Somewhere up north, in a volcano, according to the people who pick up my shipments. Dragons need the heat to hatch their eggs.”

Ekko frowned. “Is Silco truly preparing for war?”

Eret nodded. “Aye, his people are on the move. Building weapons and ships, the dragon quotas are higher than they’ve ever been.”

Ekko nodded. “Do you and your men like being trappers?”

Vi raised a brow. That was a very off topic question. Eret snorted.

“Wouldn’t know. It’s the only business this far north. The fishing is poor, the farmland poorer, and the cold bites. My people needed coin, so they came north to trap for the dragon trade. That was three generations ago. We know nothin’ else…well, knew, for most O’ us.”

Ekko sighed. “I know it doesn’t make much difference, but I am sorry for the loss of life during the raid.”

Eret shrugged. “Comes with the line of business boy. Most of us would’ve died to a dragon eventually.”

“Be assured we will leave you a supplied ship when we depart. We do ask that you cease your business ventures, else we may meet again, and you will not be so lucky a second time.” Ekko growled. He actually looked kind of scary… little man truly was all grown up.

Eret just laughed and shrugged. “Sea’s too harsh this time of year to sail. No, we will stay here and die. Mayhaps with some honor, mayhaps not.”

He couldn’t tell them much more, just vague rumors of shady dealings and underground live dragon trade routes. Eventually, they left the makeshift prison.

Violet spent the rest of the day after that joyless exchange gutting the ship. Since Caitlyn had a dragon, and little knowledge of any sort of construction, he put her on patrol, watching the nearby land and sea for and signs of human activity. Heimerdinger did indeed prove very helpful with the mathematics, she even heard Ekko compliment him on his abilities.
Vi herself just moved heavy shit and cut where she was told. Oddly enough the dragons helped, of their own free will. Violet had been under the impression Silver was an exception to a rule…but now she was being proven wrong. Nadders perched on nearby cliffs, keen eyes scouting for danger. Zipplebacks used their long and agile necks to fish the sea for the groups dinner. Ekkos stormcutter led a group consisting of two nightmares, a shovelhelm, and a rumble horn as they helped move heavy pieces of the ship around as needed.

Cloud Jumper kept looking at her, something behind its eyes. She tried to picture her mom riding the dragon, but couldn’t quite pull off the image. She still found it hard to believe at all. And the dragon was still staring at her. “He’s thinking.” She realized. But about what? He didn’t send the Yordle those looks. Only her. Whatever.

Vi watched in fascination as a pair of firelights looped long chains around each end of the sawed-off mast, before handing them off to the nightmares. The dragons took a short run and burst into flight, hauling the entire mast into the sky and onto the beach.
A group of terrors came down from the campsite around noon, packs full of salt-pork and fresh water pouches, which they distributed to the workers.

The yellow one from that morning landed on her shoulder.

“Fish.” It said confidently.

Before she could even process that it spoke, a firelight- Lyra she was pretty sure- laughed and said “No, its pork silly.”

“Excuse me, did that dragon just speak?” She asked.

Lyra (?) smiled. “Oh yeah, Blue taught all the terrors some words.”

“Blue?”

“Shes a old blue terror at the nest, shes always spoke. ‘Least as long as I’ve been around. You’ll usually see her pestering Ekko or Cloud Jumper.”
A blue terror… surely not. There were tons of blue terrors! Violent nodded and went back to work, frowning in thought.

By days end they had a semi-functional dragon transport. And Violet, though she was hesitant to admit it, was having a change of opinion on dragons.

Everyone had fish stew for dinner (of course). The firelights were all still rather weary of Caitlyn…her being a dictionary definition piltie and bonding to their dead friends dragon probably didn’t help her case; but they seemed to like Violet and Heimerdinger quite well.
Vi ate with Caitlyn, just so she didn’t feel too left out. The poor woman was truly trying her best.
She sparred with some large middle aged man named Erik, got into a fist fight with some chick who called her a goat, got pulled off said chick by five people, all of them laughing their asses off. All in all, she had to admit she was having more fun than she’d experienced in…a long ass time.
Vi went to bed sore and smiling. When the gold terror curled up on her side, she let it stay there.

The next issue presented itself in the morning, though it started pleasant enough. Violent simply ignored the terror, who decided to cling to her from bed to the pot.
She grabbed her plate (fish and carrots, the height of zaun luxury) and sat by Caitlyn.
“Who is your new friend?” Cait asked, offering a bit of fish from her plate to the little dragon.

“Nomyfriend” Vi grumbled around her food. She swallowed painfully. “It’s stalking me.” She added in a whine.

She heard a snort and turned in time to see Ekko plop down on her other side. “Terrors tend to do that. They pick a person and just never let them experience peace again. Like a toddler that sets things on fire. If it’s any consolation, they tend to also do it to larger dragons.”

He reached over and scratched the golden dragon under the chin. It rumbled, a soft, admittedly pleasant sound.

“I don’t know this little guy, he must be one of this years hatchlings. Terrors grow fast.”

She raised a brow. “How do you know its a male?”

“Mostly vibes; you get a feel for these things if you work with dragons a bunch. But male terrors do have smaller horns.”

“If you say so.” She doubted she would ever pick up a dragons gender based on “vibes”, but Ekko had always been rather different. Him and Powder… Suddenly her mood darkened.

“She’s gone Vi, she belongs to Silco now.”

After breakfast the firelights packed up camp with terrifying efficiency. Dragons lined up, still and compliant as they were adorned with various bits of leather and cord. Many were riderless, she noted, instead packing gear, food, and the massive iron pot on their backs. Terrors crawled onto shoulders, dragon and human alike. Within an hour the camp was gone, nothing but skítr and some charcoal from the campfires to prove they were ever here at all.

Teams of dragons took thick iron bars connected to the boat and the other carriers by large iron loops fastened to the sides, and took into the air in practiced unison, carrying those too injured to fly up into the sky. She saw Heimerdinger and Gobbler clamber onto one and shrugged. More room for her.

She clambered up behind Caitlyn, and they joined the formation, a large V surrounding the carriers. It had taken a good deal of bickering with Ekko before he agreed not to blindfold her the whole way to his “nest”, as everyone called it. (She won by arguing Silver could take her there anytime anyways.) Vi watched scouts take off ahead and to their flanks. Ekko was certainly covering his bases.

"Imagine looking up and seeing a flying boat.” Caitlyn commented.

“Imagine looking up and seeing some dude surfing on a dragon.” Vi snorted, nodding at Ekko. They way he flew, simply standing on Cloud Jumpers bare back, was pretty funny.

“His balance must be immaculate.” Caitlyn commented, as they watched Cloud cut a sharp curve through the air.

“Indeed.” She rolled her eyes and tried to get settled. They were in for a full week of flight, according to Ekko. Something about the injured slowing them down, which made logical sense she supposed.
“This is incredible.” Caitlyn sighed. “Imagine what we could do with an allyship like this back home…”

A lump grew in Vis throat. Piltover with a dragon army…now there’s a scary thought.
————————————————————————
The girl dragged herself into Silcos office mid meeting with Singed. It was a rather important affair. The man had successfully developed a new shimmer strand using speedstinger venom. Though the full effects were not yet apparent, the higher healing qualities were promising. Sevika, whom he’d had to cut out of his chair unconscious and barely alive last week, scowled.
Silco glaceed up, frowned, and lowered his cigar. All concerns about business left his mind. Singed dipped his head and wordlessly made his exit. A truly intelligent man, albeit despicable.

“You’ve returned.” He gestured Sevika out. A muscle jumped in her jaw, irritation evident, but she obeyed without a word.

Jinx ignored the woman entirely, stalking up to the desk, silent, eyes sharp, locked on his. Her braids were in shambles, barely held together. Dirt smudged her face, makeup absent. The damn best slid in behind her, leaping quietly into his rafters. He pointedly did not bother looking at it. It knew its place.

He waited in his chair, meeting the girls gaze evenly. Though he was loathe to admit such, his daughter was much like the dragons she favored.

She would circle, and bait. Looking for weakness, a crack to exploit. She used her body with an… animalistic skill he admired, loud or silent to suit her needs. To show fear, or a lack of assuredness, or even anger, to a upset Jinx… would be incredibly foolish.

She jumped onto the desk, crouched at his eye level. Seeking.

“Did you find anything worth knowing?” He inquired. Calm.

She huffed, blowing a bang out of her face, and visibly untensed.
With a slight shift she turned. Without a word, he began undoing her messy braids.

“Not much. Vi went with the bugs. She had a rich ass piltie with her, and a yordle. They were on a razorwhip. Double betrayal.”

He hummed. “The sheriff who lied to me has been…disposed. We are sailing on the nest soon. Past this, there is not much to be done at the immediate moment about the issue.”

Jinx tensed under him. “I hate her. But…I want to talk to her.”

“You will only be hurt.” He said, knowing how it felt. His bad eye itched. Ignoring it, he grabbed a brush out of his drawer and began combing out the tangles in her seemingly endless mane of blue.

“I know.” She whispered.

“I am glad you returned.” He admitted. Weakness, foolishness. Forgiveness for her disobedience.

She understood. Turned and lunged into his arms. He gently held her in return.

“If the girl is with the firelights, I shall put out word that she is to be taken alive. I will do my best. In return, you can’t let this distract you. We are going to war. I need you at your best. This is my compromise.”

“….kay.” She mumbled into his shoulder.

He somehow doubted she was truly listening.

Chapter Text

Viktors cane clicked ominously on the stone floor as he walked a few feet behind the Lords. The old dungeons below the council building had been gathering dust for hundreds of years…until now. Like everything in the central buildings of Piltover, the prisons were excessively large, hallways and doors seemingly built for giants.
(To be fair, they very well could have… giants were supposedly once intelligent and civil beings, before the abyss cracked open and stole their souls.)
Behind the bars of the newly refurbished and expanded cells, muzzled dragons stood.
In total, twenty-six dragons had been acquired. Ten came from personal collections, donated by the upper class. The only law on dragon keeping in Zaun was that the animals had to be under control. As such; many of the richer residents kept a dragon or two as a status symbol, purchased from the merchant ships. These had blank eyes, fearful gazes. Many curled away from them, into the corners, heads under wings. Others, the wild caught, were far less stable, snarling and lunging at the bars.
A few were mere hatchlings, chirruping in confusion as they pawed at their muzzles.
Viktor knew his work rested on the corpses of dragons, but seeing them like this…sat poorly. The council inspected the beasts like cattle as they passed, a hired dragon expert rambling in response to their questions.

Practically an army had been hired to care for the dragons, suits of fireproof dragonscale purchased for safer feeding, butchers sold out of their stocks, officers vetted as potential workers, trappers hired as trainers.

They stopped at a cage near the end of the hall. Viktor felt a strange…tug in his gut as he peered inside

The man puffed his chest out proudly. “An ‘ere lady's and gents, we have the prize of this collection. Behold; the Skrill!”

The dragon behind the bars didn’t look overly threatening…at least not compared to the nightmares and zipplebacks they’d passed.

It was smaller than a nadder, only a bit larger than a deer, with a build somewhere between said nadder, and a nightmare. It’s scales were a dark purple. Yellow eyes peered out of a flat muzzle, underneath a spiky head. It neither lunged, nor hid. Instead it simply met their eyes silently, watching.

“What does it do?” Lord Kiramman inquired, looking doubtful.

The man chuckled. “The skrill can control lighting, ma’am. Fast as hell and intelligent, too. Got real lucky to catch this one as a hatchling. Still mean as shit though, pardon my language.”

“That certainly is impressive, though I suppose it could not do that while being ridden safely.” Lord Shoola noted.

“I could probably rig up a lightning proof saddle with some brainstorming. Might require hextech though.” Jayce said, thoughtful. Mel was clinging to his arm, looking at him admiringly as he spoke through her dark lashes. As was the case often lately, Viktor felt a pressure in his throat as he watched them.

They moved on, talking about feeding methods and potential training theories. But Viktor found himself standing unmoving, gaze returning to the skrill.
It’s gold eyes met his, cold, unwavering. It moved forward, the thumbs on its wings clicking against the stones. He found himself stepping towards the bars, breath shallow.
Half of him was screaming to step back, to stop, to run. The other half felt a pressure building in his skull, a humming call, taunting him forwards.
Their eyes were inches from each-other now, separated only by the bars and the dragons muzzle. “Magic-Kin.” He said solemnly, staring at Viktor, in what he knew now with absolute certainty was disgust. “But killer-trapper-hurter. Why…?”

Viktor felt dizzy, confused. How was the dragon talking. Everything was blurring, his vision spinning, unable to tear himself from those golden eyes.
Suddenly he was wrenched away “-ktor? Viktor!” Jayce was shaking him. His head was pounding in agony. “Hey dude, are you okay?” Jayce sounded worried. All the council were staring now, between him and the skrill. Viktor carefully straightened, not looking at Him. His brain was still reeling. Was he hallucinating? He had gotten over six hours of sleep…and he only took a unit of shimmer this morning…

“I am quite all right, thank you…just a bit more tired than I anticipated.” Viktor normally hated drawing attention to his disability, but today it was coming in handy.

Jayce frowned, looking about to speak.
But to his surprise it was Medarda who stepped forwards. “Why don’t you all go ahead with the tour while I escort Viktor back to his rooms? I will get the details from Lord Talis or Kiramman later.”

The others agreed cheerfully, save Jayce who continued to frown. Viktor avoided his eyes, knowing Jayce would see right through his act. He turned and followed Mel without a word.
He felt the prickle of the Skrills gaze all the way to the stairs.
————————————————————————
Teeth-in-Night was afraid. Not of Curse-of-Blue, but for her. It was normal for Jinx to have moods of sleeping-crying-sad and moods of laughing-running-fighting. Sometimes in these moods she would pull her hair or bang her head, maybe scratch at her arms or face with her long nails. Toothless had moods too sometimes. She understood.
But this was different. More volatile. More dangerous.
Toothless had to keep Jinx safe. Because Jinx kept her safe. Because they were… something. Not mates, not siblings… there was not a word in Norse or dragonspeak to truly convey their bond. They just Were.
There was no Jinx without a Toothless, and no Toothless without a Jinx. So when the girl knocked Sevika out and stormed into her cave, Toothless was there. When she laughed, loud, manic, tugging her hair, tears leaking down her face, Toothless tried to calm her down, sensing the rising panic and desperation.

“SHUT UP SHUT UP YOU’RE WRONG!” Jinx yelled at nothing, no one.

They saw the shadows, dripping rotten blood across the caves floor.

When she grabbed a knife, long, sharp, off her belt, and dragged it down her arm, Toothless pinned her to the ground.

Jinx snarled, her tiny fangs bared. “OFF ME!”

“No! Why hurt??” She hissed, a paw firmly on each arm and leg.

“I can’t…” The girl struggled, frantic. “I can’t! I see them. Watching me. Judging me. And they’re right. I deserve to be hurt.”

Toothless wanted to wail in distress from the pain rolling off her. But she had to be strong now. Her tail lashed out in distress, but she didn’t budge, even when Jinx bit at her paws. The stink of blood penetrated her delicate nose.

After a good ten minutes of curses and snarls, Jinx went limp under her. The overwhelming pressure in her skull let up, just a little.

“Joining up with the pigs who killed mom? Who have been hurting us for generations? Did I ever even know Vi at all…and then to join the bugs? To choose Ekko over me… I guess I understand that part.” She giggled wetly. “I’d leave me too.”

“I wont leave you.”

The girl sighed, finally meeting her eyes, blue on blue. “I know…. sorry scared you.”

Toothless slowly, hesitantly, loosened her hold. Jinx stayed limp on the rocky ground. Slowly, she lowered her head onto the girls chest, letting out a soft purr of comfort okay.

“Maybe Big-Angry-One lied?”

Jinx sighed, stroking her jaw right where she liked it. “I don’t think so. Sevika is a bitch, but she’s not a liar. I do of course plan to check the source.”

Violence…the perfect way to calm her Jinx down. Calm them both down.“Go now?”

Jinx grinned. “Why not.”

They set off within the hour. The girl did not even bother to bandage her arm.

And so they found the remainders of the trappers -huddled in the wreckage of their fort, forest burned for miles around- and they questioned them. Jinx made them bleed, and scream, as she normally did. Toothless simply ensured none of them managed to retaliate.
When they got to the leader, however, she remembered. She trembled with tension, teeth fully bared. And when the fool lunged at Jinx, screaming, everything went black.
Next she knew Jinx was in front of her, and her muzzle was red. She tasted the sharp iron of human blood, unique in its flavor. Rather foul. She licked her muzzle.
A corpse was laid out behind her and under her and around her, organs and bones exposed to the night, chunks scattered for feet in any direction. She shuddered, heaved a deep breath. Everything smelled like meat.

Jinx couldn’t purr, but she could do the human version. She had a firm hand on her nose, and was humming. Deep, airy. Soothing.

Slowly, they both calmed. “You good?” Toothless nodded.

“I’m sorry.”

Jinx smiled. “It’s okay, they didn’t know shit anyways. Let’s just… let’s go home.”

Home…

And so they did. Ash was furious. He hissed Anger and Bad. But what would have a normal dragon shaking on the ground, begging for forgiveness, Toothless shook off with a twitch of her nubs and a mild sense of guilt. Jinx snarled Shut up, fearless, and the beast quieted in their minds.
He wouldn’t go against Jinx, because of her sire.
Neither her nest-lord, nor the Bad-Eye-Alpha he obeyed liked Toothless. The nest was cold and stank of misery and dragon-blood. But for Jinx, she would stay. Because Jinx was the only one who wouldn’t leave Toothless, and Silco was the only human wouldn’t leave Jinx. An uneasy, but inevitable truce.

But still, even with Silcos forgiveness, even with her own constant comfort and care, Toothless felt the pressure in the girls mind, saw the tension in her shoulders, watched her pick at her painted claws until they bled. Everything felt like a trap, ready to spring. And Toothless didn’t know how to fix it.
————————————————————————
Caitlyn, daughter of Lord Kiramman, had seen many beautiful things. She had seen sunsets and sunrises of a thousand colors, the finest paintings of a dozen countries, buildings carved to artistic perfection, the hundreds of flowers in her family gardens. Despite all this, the nest of the firelights was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen.

They flew in with the mid day sun above them, reflecting off the crystal spires in a thousand colors of blue and gray, a mass easily as large or perhaps larger than the capital city of Piltover, surrounded by black pebbled beaches and blue upon blue sea.
The air was frigid, and her breath was visible in the air as she gasped.
Vi managed to lean over the side and gape along with her.
Hundreds of dragons flew out to greet them, circling and warbling joyously. Their own dragons cried back, creating an overwhelming cacophony. Some of the dragons, she noted, had riders, including children. They shouted their own greetings through the chaos.

The group continued their revelry as they dove, with a practiced ease into one of the gaping tunnels in the structure, weaving around rocks and ice. Caitlyn didn’t bother trying to steer; Silver knew the route far better than she did.
And it was getting…warmer. First she stopped shivering. Then she began to sweat in her thick borrowed furs. They emerged into a huge chamber of…green. Moss, lichens, and ferns surrounded waterfalls and cliffs, bits of rock supporting an icy roof over their heads. The sunlight trickled down gently.

Dragons coated every surface, a rainbow of colors shifting as they moved. As she watched a flock easily forty strong surrounded them, greeting the newcomers and original firelights alike.

“Wow.” She breathed.

“Wow.” Vi echoed.

Dragons and firelights scattered in several directions, some down tunnels, others to what looked like human structures in the distance. Cloudjumper, and Amity, as she had learned the two dragons were called, perched near the entrance, and Silver perched with them. A girl on a zippleback landed just long enough to drop off Heimerdinger, both exchanging a happy wave before she flew off again.
Ekko and Scar slid off their dragons with a fluid ease she envied.

Caitlyn followed their lead, sliding down the dragons hide and slipping off her coat. Violet slid off behind her with a soft “oof”. They both stretched their sore spines and stiff legs.

Several dragons were around Silver in an instant, chittering back and forth.

“Old friends?” She asked the dragon, smiling.

Silver bobbed her head, mouth open in a toothy grin of excitement.

“Well go have fun then, I’m sure we are in perfectly good hands and wings here.”

Silver barked and bounced away with a gronkle and a dragon Caitlyn didn’t recognize.

Vi snorted. “This is cool as shit not gonna lie.” The woman offered to Ekko.

He smiled cheerfully. “Welcome to my home. Please be careful, since you don’t know dragon etiquette and are new here.”

He was looking at Caitlyn with that comment. She gulped and nodded.

“Okay, follow me now. All humans have to see the Alpha before they’re officially welcome in. You too fuzzball.” He added at Heimerdinger, who she noticed looked about to explode from excitement, his big eyes bulging.

They began walking, picking their way across the cliffsides along a worn trail. Baby dragons bounced around them chirruping happily. Adults sniffed at them, but left them be, aside from taking a pat on the snout from Ekko or Scar.

“How is it so warm?” She inquired.

“There’s a active set of volcanic vents in the sea under this island. The ice roof and the rock walls keep the heat from those inside the mountain.”

“How is it so clean?” Vi asked. “There must be thousands of dragons living here…” Leave it to Violet to ask about dragon shit.

Cloudjumper, who was limping along behind them, snorted.

“Dragons are pretty clean, actually. They bathe, groom, and relieve themselves in designated areas, usually outside, though the small babies tend to go wherever.”

“Huh. Neat.” Violet commented.

The walk was a bit long, but Caitlyn was enjoying stretching her legs, and she suspected the others were as well. When they finally reached the end of the trail, it was a dead end.

The pathway plunged off a cliff into a massive pool of water. It was dark and very deep looking. At first, Caitlyn though the mass of white and gray in the pool was a chunk of ice. Baby dragons were playing on it, dodging between the spikes in a game of violent tag.

Then the shape began to register.

“Oh man. The size of a mountain, you said?” Violet was talking to Ekko beside her, her voice deceptively casual, stance loose. Caitlyn saw it out of the corner of her eye, but she didn’t dare look away now.

Ekko gave a long, crisp whistle.

The dragons eyes opened. It turned, stood, slow and careful. Baby dragons flew every which way, squealing. It shook its spiky mane, and turned towards them, taking two steps, water sloshing, ground shaking, to cross the pool. He looked down at them, all slotting easily between his tusks.
Caitlyn, who had no idea what to do in this situation, offered the formal bow expected when presenting oneself to a Lord of Piltover. The slight bow felt horribly inadequate.

“I dunno…looks a bit smaller than a mountain to me.” Vi muttered, staring up with a baffled look beside her.

The dragon blinked. And then she felt it. He was in her mind, a forceful, all consuming stream of energy, indescribable and horribly intimate. She recoiled, stumbling backwards, protesting mentally.
The dragon waited, patient, gentle. He was old, older than her, older than the city she called home. He had seen a million lives come into fruition and die under his reign, read a billion minds.
There was no judgment here, only a desire to know.

She swallowed. Took a breath. And let him in. In seconds it was over. Her entire life read like a book. And then he was gone. She had passed his examination. She was welcome in the nest.
And now she had a migraine.

“Dear Janna that was wild.” Vi muttered beside her, as she gradually became aware of her body again. “Is Heimerdinger gonna be okay?”

The Yordle hadn’t so much as twitched since the dragon moved, but he jumped at his name. “Oh don’t mind me younglings! I am simply engaging with this fascinating hive mind structure! Good-Cold-King knows so much!”

“Hold up.” Ekko frowned. “You hear the…others too?”

“Oh yes!”

“Huh.”

“Is that unusual?” Caitlyn inquired.

Scar nodded. “Only Ekko and Eve could ever hear it.”

“I must talk to this Eve person! And to you as well dear boy! I wish to compare data.” Heimerdinger demanded cheerfully.

“Well you can talk with me but not Eve. Shes dead.”

“What happened to her?” Cait asked, morbidly curious.

“Jinx got her.” Ekko growled, shortly. The room seemed to get colder. Caitlyn’s eyes darted between Ekko and Vi, noting the tension. And that was then end of that conversation.

They walked back up the trail, Ekko doing a different, but still quite loud whistle. A few minutes later Silver was beside them rumbling.
“It’s far faster to fly to the main base.” Ekko explained.

So groaning at her saddle sores, she climbed back on the dragon. A quick two minute flight across the cavern and into a large tunnel later, they emerged into another ice covered clearing, in front of a absolutely massive tree, leaves shimmering a crisp green under the ice. In its branches were small huts, and around it seemed to lay the main hubb of the firelights. Tunnels branched off in multiple directions, people and dragons alike coming and going. Children and young dragons played in the dirt below it’s branches, giggling as they tussled.

“A tree…this far north? A ginkgo, native to Ionia no less…” Heimerdinger murmured.

“Huh. Never knew what kind of tree it was.” Ekko commented.

He turned to Vi, looking the most nervous Caitlyn had ever seen him. “I have some things…to show you. I’ll have the crew get you two settled.” He added to Heimerdinger and Caitlyn. “We will talk later.” A promise then. Possibly a threat.

A sweet and very polite young man ended up showing them around. The big guy- Scar- followed them, but he wasn’t much help, simply glaring silently.
They toured the tree, the bathrooms, the well, the caves where the human-paired dragons commonly slept and fed, the kitchens, the medical tent, the gardens, the forges- Caitlyn saw Violet once, standing with Ekko before some sort of shrine which she swore had Violets face on it- and finally, stopped at a small stone hut constructed near the wall of the cave.
“You can stay here for now, dinners in an hour!” The boy grinned, showing a cute little tooth gap.

“Thank you very much for showing us around.” She returned, turning to open the door.

“No problem!” He returned, before running off towards the tree. Scar grunted, and with visible reluctance, followed the boy.

The room was small, two beds, a pan for water. A basic wall of shelving. Caitlyn desperately missed her home in that moment, as she had most nights when faces with sleeping on the cold, hard earth.
With a sigh, she turned to Silver. “Alright girl, lets get all this off of you.”

Dinner had already started by the time she unloaded all her bags, sorted the contents, and pulled the tack off her dragon. And she still needed to groom Silvers scales!

Still, the scent of stewed meat wafted across the open field from the kitchens, and oh Caitlyn was weak. “I’ll clean you up after dinner.” She promised her friend. Silver whined a complaint, and took off, bouncing towards the dragon caves.

She made her way to the dining hall, a well lit cave with rows and rows of thick wooden benches, crowded with laughing children, and cheerful, robust people. The occasional terror or hobblegrunt waddled between the tables, begging for scraps.

However most of them eyed her with various levels of distrust as she passed, conversations cut off, smiles falling into thin lines. Clearly, word of her had spread quickly.
Caitlyn was not the most social or charismatic individual, and she knew her very existence here was a threat to these people, not that she meant them harm…but they couldn’t know that.

She took a bowl of the thick stew, a polite smile plastered on her face. Heimerdinger was already off, chattering away. His tiny fluffy build, and outgoing, open nature, had quickly wormed it’s way into the hearts of the firelight band, and therefore he was welcome openly, people politely answering his various questions and asking theirs in return.

She sat at an empty table and blew on her food. She found herself missing her father, ever patient, and even her mother, stern but kind. She missed the gardens and the city…. she had never been away from home so long.

She found Violet after dinner in the rapidly fading light, standing below the shrine from earlier that day, staring upward, face unreadable.

“Are you alright?” She inquired.

Vi jumped, looked over and plastered on a big grin. “All good. Just looking.”

Caitlyn turned to the mural. There were dozens of faces on it, in many art styles. But in the center, five faces stood out in lifelike detail.

“Who are they?” She asked, softly.

“Dunno about most of em, but the ones in the middle…that’s me… Benzo- he was like a uncle…. and my family. Ekko painted them.”

She looked over the faces. “The blue haired girl…that’s Powder, is it not?”

A muscle twitched in Violets cheek. “Yeah.”

Cait frowned in confusion. “But Ekko knew she was alive.”

“Shes not alive to these people, that much has been made clear to me by several of them. They hate her.”

Caitlyn wasn’t sure what to say to that, so she changed the subject, placing a hesitant hand on Violets arm. “It’s getting late…I can take you back to the room if you would like? I know I need the rest; I am sure the firelights will want to begin negotiations sooner, rather than later.”

The tension in the shorter woman’s shoulders drooped. “Yeah.”

And solemnly, they turned away from the dead.

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Mel Medarda was young, gifted with a natural grace and beauty that was enhanced by her careful schooling and upkeep. She was intelligent, healthy, notably unscarred.
For Mel was not a fighter. She took no pleasure in gore or bloodshed, no satisfaction in subduing her prey through violence. As the only surviving child of a famous Noxian general, a people who lived and breathed violence, she was a utter disgrace. Sent away to Piltover on some pointless mission to gain a foothold in the isles. An exile, in fewer words.

And here Mel thrived. Finally, she was in her element; the world of politics, of clever words and manipulation. She pulled herself up, and soon found herself on the top. But she knew her power didn’t have to stop there.
Jayce was a decent potential partner. Marriage was an uncommon concept in Noxus, but one could have as many partners as they pleased.

And Mel had decided she planned to have Jayce. He was easy to manipulate, but intelligent. Healthy and robust, popular, now a Lord thanks to her careful movements. And for the most part she had him. Only one thing was in her way.

Viktor. A Zaunite of low birth. A cripple with no name, no relatives. And yet he had Jayce Talis by the throat. The men were infatuated, though she doubted either of them truly knew it. And Mel wished to know why.

He was admittedly a very intelligent man, soft spoken, with pretty eyes in his pale face. When she saw the opportunity to get him alone, she took it, escorting him patiently up the stairs.
But the man offered no conversation. Either he was poorly versed in proper etiquette, or he simply did not care. Perhaps both.

“You seemed most intrigued by the Skrill.” She offered.

“I admire the beasts greatly. They are clever and powerful animals.”

“Does not your work kill many dragons?” She asked, curious now.

“I also admire the common bull for it’s power and ability, but I still eat steak when it is offered to me.” He replied. But she saw something in his face. Guilt? Or was she projecting?

She offered a soft chuckle. “Fair enough.”

They were already on the street now. The apartment Viktor and Jayce shared was not far. But to her surprise the man turned, heading instead towards the nearby University.

“Do you not wish to rest?” She asked.

“No. I wish to help my people. Something that is a rather low priority for everyone else at the moment.” He half growled. Ah there. A string to pull.

“Ah that’s right, you are a Zaunite, if I recall correctly.”

The man stopped and turned before the University gates, meeting her eyes with a flat gaze of striking amber. “What is it you want from me, Lord Medarda?”

She raised an eyebrow. Clever indeed. “To ensure you get to your destination safely, of course.”

“Well I am here. You may return to your…tour.”

Damn this stubborn man. “Of course.” She smiled. “Be sure to get some sleep, Jayce worries about you quite a good deal, you know.”

The man sighed, clearly exhausted. “I know.” And without and formalities, he turned, cane clacking, and walked into the large building.

Mel sighed. This would be harder than anticipated.

Chapter Text

In the beginning there was warmth. Love, humming through the walls.
Then there was fear and pain and rumbling and he was Alone.

When Ashes-in-Sea hatched, there was no father waiting for him with great and mighty tusks, no mother with loving eyes. No.
He cracked out of his egg with his tiny tusks to the same blackness as inside…but colder.
The nest, though he did not know it, was gone. Its Alpha had been slain by another, and its people taken away or fled. Eggs were left behind, forgotten.

Ash knew, instinctively, that he was supposed to find…someone. Something. The million year old instincts of his people were demanding he find his parents.
He waddled along, a stubby gray creature about the size of a large dog but with small little tusks, blunt claws, and small, worthless teeth. Harmless. Defenseless. He let out the occasional chirrup of a hatchling, sniffing his way along with many stumbles and falls.
After a time, the blackness changed to gray. The temperature steadily dropped.
And then, at around two hours old, Ash tumbled down a cliffside, and onto a pebbled beach. Seabirds screamed in alarm, flying in every direction. He quivered with fright, watching the animals flee.
For two days he paced up and down the beach, confused, hungry, lost.

Then they came. They rowed up in a boat, squinting down at him in confusion and he stared up at them, curious. These things were not afraid of him. Were they who he was looking for?
The humans warbled back and forth, a language he did not understand. He did, however, sense their anxiety and curiosity. Images and concepts flashed from their minds, there and gone too fast to grasp. He made himself small, crouching flat, instinctively trying to look harmless. He opened his mouth and let out a cry. “Hungry.”

The humans talked some more, and then one left and returned with a fish. They offered it to him. He sniffed, then gobbled it down whole.
The human smiled and warbled to the to the others, before carefully, gingerly, lifting him off the ground.
He found himself soon in a new life, on the sea, enjoying fish, following after what he assumed was his parent like a dog after its master. The humans laughed and patted him and he tried to mimic their speech. He was happy.
Some part of him screamed that everything was Wrong. But he did not know why.
————————————————————————
Ekko led Violet to his rooms, and silently handed her the leather journal of Felicia Haddock. Vi bit her lip as she read the front page. She spent the next two hours reading the thick tome. She took no notice when Cloudjumper came in, curling up in his nest to sleep, nor Ekko leaving and returning with two bowls of stew.
Finally, she set it down, with a gentle reverence. “Wow.” She stated. Her mind was swimming. Why did Cloudjumper steal her mom? Why did mom never come back when she had wings? Did she not love them? Was everything Vander taught them about dragons a lie? Also wow.

She turned to Ekko, who looked up from his sketchbook, a mostly complete sketch of Violet on the parchment. “My mom was a badass dragon riding vigilante.” She commented. “Who knew.”

He chuckled. “Yeah.”

“Might take me awhile to process that one.” She admitted. And it definitely would. Her gut twisted in a mix of emotions.

The sat for a moment quietly. “I do have one other thing to show you.” He added. He sounded hesitant, fidgeting with his thumbs as he avoided her eyes.

She smiled reassuringly. “Lead the way little man.”



“This is where we remember the dead. Those lost in the fighting, against Silco and Piltover.”
Before them was a shelf, full of candles, incense, and various little trinkets left behind by the people of the nest.
Above it was a massive, flat stone wall, with dozens of faces painted or carved onto it in various styles. In the center of them all was her family. Her, Powder, Mylo, Claggor, Benzo…and Vander. She stared up, at all the faces on the stone, wide eyed.
“You…painted us.” She murmured, reaching up to touch her dads face. It looked so real, so happy. Tears pricked at her eyes. “It’s beautiful. Thank you for showing me.”

“I’m sorry Vi. I didn’t know you were alive.” He murmured.

She paused, lowered her hand. A chill went up her back. “You knew Powder was alive.”

He sighed. “No. She isn’t.”

Vi turned, fists clenched. “How can you be so sure of yourself, when you didn’t even know I was breathing?”

He glared right back, growling out in a low tone and he pointed at the wall. “Half those faces up there are her doing.”

Vi huffed. “Silcos doing, you mean.”

Ekko rubbed his eyes. “We’re gonna start evacuations soon. The scouts found a decent spot to hide the people and dragons who cant fight, about fifty miles south. You can stay and try to talk to Jinx all you like when the fighting starts, but do me a favor. Don’t get yourself killed in the process.”

She was pissed now. “Powder would never hurt me.”

“Sure, Vi.” He muttered.

The silence between them felt deafening to her.

“I’ll be around if you need anything.” He added softly, before leaving her in the gathering dusk. Vi decided to take as long as she could with her family, staring up with a strong sense of nostalgic grief.
——————————————————————————
Ash was two years old when his life fell apart. He was asleep on the deck, enjoying the weak summer suns the north had to offer. Ash was never cold; but the heat was nice.

Suddenly the man who sat up on the big stick cried out. The dragon was awake in an instant. Ash slipped into their mind, curious and fearful. He saw the other ship through the mans eyes, rapidly approaching.
Ash had met other humans beside his own. They were always wanting to touch his scales and feed him fishes, curious. As such he was quite excited, and ran to the prow, barking a very crude mimicry of the word “Hello”.
But the humans were not happy, he realized. And the ship was getting closer. The parent-human kept trying to shoo him below, but he would have none of that, and eventually she gave up. Everyone had paws on their sharp-cutting-things.
The pirates caught up around mid-day, hooking themselves to the ship and springing onto the deck. There was screaming and running and shoving him. By the time Ash understood what was happening, parent-human was choking in a puddle of her own blood, along with most of the other nest-ship-humans. The human who sent a blade through her throat peered at him, poking him with their sword.
They garbled some words, most lost on him in his infancy.
The baby dragon trembled, inhaled, and then screamed with rage-despair-grief.
The human-enemy who killed parent-human found himself on his knees, screaming, blood leaking from his ears. The other pirates seemed to notice him then.
They gaped, watching as the man collapsed, curled up, and quickly died. The little dragon, utterly spent, passed out.
——————————————————————————
Ekko was exhausted. He had spent almost all his time in meetings or travel, evacuating those who could not fight, the children, hatchlings, old and sick, to a nearby small nest that Good-Cold and the Firelights were friends with. They of course required a guard, which spread his meager human troops even thinner. For the upcoming fight, he would have only two hundred fighters. Worse still, they could not move the eggs. The north air was far too cold for them to survive the journey. Hundreds of eggs still lay in the nest, helpless, immobile.
The ships were only a few days away; Ekko had scouted them himself. Eighty galleons, lined with iron. Thick chains led from them into the sea, and he had a suspicion of what was on the other end of them. Some of the grim gray ships possessed bright swirls of color along their hulls; splashes of blues and pinks and purples. The ship in the lead had a crudely scribbled blue night fury head on the front. So she was here.
He truthfully hadn’t been sure Silco would throw his favorite pet into the fight. Ekko frowned grimly, the usual mix of rage and grief over his old friend twisting in his mind.
On the decks could be seen dragons, decked in iron armor, and warriors, also well equipped, thick and burly. In terms of man power and equipment, they were outnumbered ten to one.

They did however, posses three weapons in this fight that could possibly lend them victory. One, they had more dragons. Thousands of dragons were waiting back at the nest, bristling, ready for the fight.
Two, they had the air. Despite Silco using dragons in his armies, only Jinx was ever seen actually riding one with any degree of skill.
And three, they had a powerful, old, and wise Alpha, who would defend his people at all cost.
Still, he knew he was going to loose people, and dragons, in this fight. The dread of inevitably burying more of his friends, or possibly being the newest firelight corpse himself, on top of knowing she was here, made him irritable and tense.

War strategies came next, formations and battle plans. Then meetings with the Yordle and Caitlyn about possible peace treaties with Piltover. In the end the upcoming fight took priority, however, as there would certainly be no aid in time, if at all, from that avenue. The woman seemed to understand this, and was drilling flight formations alongside his people for the upcoming battle. Violet, who did not have a dragon and seemingly still had no desire to bond with one, was drilling as a secondary rider with her. The two seemed to be becoming oddly close, the longer they spent here. He caught them more than once whispering too close together in the caves, or leaning on each other thoughtlessly in the dining hall.

Needless to say, Ekko was mentally and physically exhausted.
He decided to head down to the forge, to get some well needed peace and quiet. Repair some weapons. Only to find the little Yordle already at the bellows, dangling from them with a huff of frustration. Blue the terror was hopping up and down on top of the bellows, clearly trying to assist the poor fellow.

“Uhh need some help there?” Ekko asked. He hadn’t really talked to the man outside of their meetings regarding Piltover.

Heimerdinger grinned and dropped to the ground. “Indeed my good boy!”

“I’m nineteen.”

The yordle laughed, curling his fluffy mustache between his fingers. “A child.”

Ekko began working the bellows, noting the bent and rusted sword inside the coals. Blue barked at him and leapt to a nearby stone, plopping down in her usual laziness.
“So are you enjoying our little home?” He asked, uncertain how to approach a yordle, much less a former Lord.
Truthfully, he held some resentment towards Heimerdinger, but the yordle was hard to stay angry at.

“Oh yes! I have learned so much here, about dragons and people alike.” The yordle frowned. “I fear I have failed my people indeed these past years.”

“Yeah, you have.” Ekko said truthfully. He clenched his jaw. Wouldn’t do to yell at him now.

“The people here weave tales of starvation, struggle, and death, as well as a deep seated hatred of the capitol. Though as their leader, I am sure you know all about it.” Heimerdinger continued. His pointed ears drooped.

Ekko nodded. “I do. What will you do with the information?” He did want to know, seeing as how Heimerdinger was under his roof, so to speak.

Heimerdinger frowned. “I wish to help, but without much power, I do not know how. I am only a scientist, not a politician.”

Ekko hummed, pulling the heated metal off the coals, and beginning to pound at the bent blade.

“You are helping already. During the evacuation prep, you kept the kids all busy with that bubble thing you created from nightmare spit, which gave all the adults a well needed break. The day after that, you improved our farms in a few hours. This morning Jan told me you helped patch up our injured dragons, a pretty dangerous task. Now you’re repairing our weaponry.”

“Trying to. Your ah, forges are not precisely my size.”

Ekko smiled despite himself. “My point is, sometimes helping is small. You don’t need to save the world to make a difference.”

Heimerdinger looked up at him, and grinned. “You are indeed quite wise for a child.”

“For a child.” He huffed, looking down. Maybe the yordle wasn’t too horrible…just misguided?

“Your eyes are the same blue as a Night Fury.” Ekko stated, half a question, as he turned back to the work at hand.

“Creatures strongly connected to the Arcane often have some sort of blue branding, I find.”

“Aren’t all dragons and Yordles connected to the arcane?”

“Oh yes. But some more than others, just as people better connected to the arcane often have brighter hair colors…though I theorize that is simply because most mages are descendants of Ionians, so it is not exactly the same.”

Ekko frowned, processing the implications of that information. “Violet isn’t a magician. Nor am I. And I think Jinx would’ve used magic by now if she could. Probably to blow people up.”

The Yordle paused that he was doing and looked at Ekko. “What color was Eves hair?”

Ekko froze. “Pink.” he said coldly.

“And what color is this “Jinx” girls?”

“Blue- why is this relevant?” Ekko growled, mood ruined.

“Perhaps it is not. But I have a running theory at the moment. Humor me on this. Who have you known who has the strongest bonds with dragons, who communicated with them the best?”

Ekko thought. “Probably myself honestly, and… Eve was incredible with them, she could always round up the hatchlings the best…and…” His gaze darkened. “Jinx. The way she moves with that Fury… it’s inhuman.”

The Yordle hummed. “And what do you all have in common?”

Ekko stared at him, lost. “Get to the point!”

“You all have Ionian hair colors.”

Ekko thought. Then shook his head. “Violet also has Ionian hair, shes Jinx’s relative, and she shows no inclination towards dragons at all.”

“True. But for me, three out of four is quite a statistic. Especially when one was hardly around peaceful dragons until very recently! Of course, not enough to solidify a theory…but enough to get the gears turning.”

Ekko shrugged. “Doesn’t matter either way.”

“Maybe not, but it is interesting, and I love interesting things.” Heimerdinger chirruped.

“Fish.” Blue agreed.

And then the great horn blew, a loud, sinister call of alarm, ringing through the nest. So soon?? Ekko raced out of the forged and down to the tree. Scar was there waiting, old Mike beside him. Dragons and people were darting left and right, preparing for battle.

“They will be on the shore in minutes.” Scar growled. “They must have been faking their speed to fool us.”

“The we better haul ass.” A voice growled behind him. He turned to see Vi there, eyes dark, axe already in hand. She had found a thick leather breastplate somewhere, and some padded leather shoulder pauldrons.

Mike chuckled. “Indeed girl.” Then he turned and waved his own axe, yelling. “SADDLE UP YER BEASTIES AND GRAB YER WEAPONS, FORM UP ON THE SPIRE.”

He continued shouting orders as he walked off. Vi turned to go, likely to find Caitlyn.

“Vi.” He grabbed her by the arm. She paused and turned.

“Whats up?”

He hesitated. “Be careful out there, I just got you back, okay? And…just remember what I said, about Jinx.”

For a moment he thought she was going to get mad again. But instead she grabbed his arm and pulled him into a crushing hug.

“You be careful too, understand me?”

He nodded into her shoulder.

“Good.” She pulled back, gave him the firm nod of a warrior, and turned again. He watched her back, and tried to ignore the pressure in his throat as he ran to don his armor.
——————————————————————————
No one was nice anymore. There was no more fishes or head pats or sea air. Only bars and darkness and rotten flesh of unknown origin.
For six moons Ash curled in a cage meant for a pig. At first he wailed, distraught. But the bad-men would come and poke him with sharp things until he was quiet, and sometimes if he simply drew their notice, and so he learned not to make a sound.
He did not know how he hurt the parent-killer, and he did not try again. He did not want to hurt anyone, and last time he did so he was put in the cage. In his young mind, he assumed this was some form of punishment for the act of hurting the murderer.

Eventually they drug his cage out into the sunlight again. He inhaled the sweet salt sea air and looked around. They were at a port, a strange city of gray and tan stone stretching out before him, cold and unforgiving. Red cloth hung from many of the walls, swaying in the wind off the large bay Ash found himself in.

The Alpha-bad-man and a new, strange man in bright clothing were chattering about him. His comprehension of language was still mediocre; but he could grasp what they meant through his growing ability to perceive minds. The shiny-man peered at him, poked him with a stick. He did not react, blinking around and absorbing the sights.
Then, to the little dragons immense surprise, the man offered him a chunk of fresh, raw meat.
Ash hesitated. What if it was a trap? But after a few seconds his hunger won. He was severely underfed. The man smiled and gave his head a firm, confident pat. Ash made no move to protest.
He did not make a sound as the shiny rocks exchanged hands, or as he was loaded onto a small land-boat pulled by a big smelly animal. But he felt a small bit of joy at the change, despite being dragged slowly away from the sea.
The shiny-man took him to a big stone circle full of caves. And here was where Ash truly began to understand what he was.
In the caves, behind bars like his own, paced many beasts he would only learn the names of later.
Bears, lions, wolves, drake-hounds, and even a mammoth, old and scarred. They passed all of these however, and then he heard it. A soft, faint chirp. He shot up, small crests raised in excitement. Something was near, something new and Important.

Around the corner they went, and there, lay the dragons. The beasts looked out from dull eyes, disinterested. They were chained, many muzzled, and scar coated, but they were dragons.
Ash stared in wonder, as his rolling boat came to a stop. Shiny-man was back, talking to others, seemingly a heated discussion, before approaching his cage.
The man opened his door. Ash stood, frozen. The man gave a curt, demanding word. “Out.”

The baby dragon hesitantly crept out, stretched his stiff legs and fins. He looked up at the man attentively. The other humans where muttering, and he sensed their astonishment.

“Down.” The man ordered. A word he did not know. But he saw the intention in the mans mind, and lay down, despite the protests in his muscles.

The shiny-man smiled. He was pleased. A dragon that obeyed without any whips or spears. If only he could meet the trainer! But the dragon in question was weak, only the size of a small brown bear, with no fangs or claws, and tiny tusks. It must be young, he felt the man decide. It will grow.

The man opened a large cage, and gestured. “In.” Ash stood up, hesitated. He did not want to go in a cage. He wanted to run and jump and swim and eat.

Suddenly, he heard a whistle and a sharp sting. He cried out, a small, feeble yelp. Blood dribbled down his back, hot and fresh. “In.” the shiny man repeated, a long thin rope now in his hand.
The dragons watched, silent, submissive.
Ash realized his intention. In. Or be hurt. Like the bad-men hurt.
He crept into the cage, and the door slid shut. The men chattered for awhile. Then left.
There was quiet, save for the occasional howl of some distant beast. Ash trembled, from both fear and exhaustion. At least he could stand and walk now, he supposed. And shiny-man only hurt him when he did not obey, which was preferable to the bad-men, who would prick him for their own fun.

After a long time, a soft hiss of scales against stone came from the cage beside him, and a great, orange eye peered into his pen from between the bars. He was large, a soft mix of black, brown, and gold, long and with only two normal legs. His front was supported by two bulky wings, akin to a birds, but with no feathers. Ash wished he had wings. Maybe he would later?
“Hello hatchling.” the dragon murmured, low and soft. Ash sensed the intent of the noises, but having never heard them before, was baffled.
Ash blinked. “Hello?” He asked, trying to correctly replicate the greeting.
The creature tilted its head, and suddenly it was very sad. “You do not even know our speak, do you?” It hummed.
He blinked up at it. He had to admit he did not. But he did not know the word to admit it. So he tried something new. He pushed the “no”, the intent, into the dragons mind. The dragon pulled back with a sharp hiss, and for a moment, Ash thought he had scared him away.

But slowly, the dragon came back. “You…are an Alpha.” He murmured, a feeling of baffled awe pervading his mind.
Ash wondered what an “Alpha” was. He sensed with the noise the implication of Power, of the brown dragon submitting to some large hulking beast. That certainly had nothing to do with little Ash.

He said as much, using emotions and images of the powerful he had met, to convey that was certainly not him.

The dragon laughed, a soft “hurr-hurr”. It was a lovely sound.

“Worry not about it, you will know when you are ready.”

The dragon laid down, one eye on the little hatchling Alpha.

“This is a place of violence. You may die. I may die. But I will teach you to speak, and of dragons. It is the right of all of our people.”

It was not kindness or affection, Ash felt, but a sense of duty, that led the old dragon to speak to him. But he was grateful all the same.

Ash curled up against the bars, feeling the warmth of the big dragons hide through the cold metal. He sent out an exhausted wave of gratitude, and then fell into a deep sleep.
——————————————————————————
Violet had seen death, injury, raids. She had cleaved heads from shoulders, sent her fists into teeth.
But never, had she so much as dreamed of something like this. This… was war.
Silver darted out of the nest and into the sky, Caitlyn helping her locate their squad with practiced ease. They perched on the ice spires for a moment, gathering their bearings. Vi had convinced her to put on some chain-mail, at least. The woman was very picky about anything that might make drawing back her bow more difficult.
Below them, men and dragons were rapidly filling the beach, descending from metal gangplanks. They wore well crafted armor, and rolled along catapults, cannons, and traps.
Riderless nest dragons flew scattered overhead, screaming in anger and distress. Vi knew the plan. They were to wait for Ekko’s signal. In the mean time, she was frantically hunting the sky and the ground for any sign of black or blue. She knew Powder was here somewhere…she just needed to find her. Get to her before one of the firelights or Ekko did.
One of the cannons fired, and then all hell broke loose. The nest-dragons fell from the sky, blasting fire and spikes into the enemy lines. Men fell, burning and screaming. The armored dragons growled, but did not budge from their positions, even as their armor melted to their scales. For a moment it seemed to have an effect, as the lines fell, burning.
Then Violet heard a scream. It was a horrible sound, piercing her eardrums. It seemed to come from all around them, getting louder, closer.
So close the wind pushed her hair, the blurred form of a black dragon flicked past, right between Silver and another girls nadder.
There was a blast of blinding, horrible blue, and two firelights and their dragons perched below them exploded. A red dust shimmered in the air, chunks of meat, bone, and ice falling down on enemy and friend alike.
Still just a blur of speed, the dragon was gone into the clouds as fast as it had come, with a vicious roar of fury.

Then several hundred armored dragons fell from the cloud cover, slamming into them from above.
Silver took to the air immediately, flipping to take a blast of flame to her well plated belly, protecting her riders. She screamed a challenge at the bulky shovelhelm that had assaulted her as it slammed into them, and they locked talons, spinning toward the ground, snapping at eachothers necks.
Vi, feeling the extreme urge to vomit both from the height and the spinning, managed to lean around Silvers side and hack into the shovel helms unprotected wing.
It screeched, and then Silver disengaged with a violent shove of her legs, letting the broken animal plunge into the hard ground, still a good hundred feet below them. Caitlyn took the chance to put two arrows into the soldiers below, as they regained altitude.
The unarmored nest-dragons, no longer having a height advantage, were being slaughtered despite their numbers. Teeth and claws grazed harmless off the metal of the enemy, and for every one of Silcos poor thralls that was felled, three of the nest fell with them. Cannons fired at the nest, chipping away the icy shell.
Vi did her best to ward off enemy dragons that tried to take them from above, as Caitlyn and Silver put arrows, spines, and flames into the enemy.
She watched a net shoot out of a catapult and wrap securely around Mikes hobblegrunt. The dragon fell, slamming into the ground, and him along with it. Before any of them could hope to react, a spear was in his gut. Every few minutes that horrible scream would start again, and a firelight would die, sometimes in a ball of blue plasma, other times simply plucked into the air, dropped, screaming, to their death. Vi swore she saw blue on the dragons spine, but there was no conceivable way to catch it, no way to get the riders attention without taking a spear or a nadder spine to the back. She growled and took her frustration out on a snifflehunch that tried to lunge at them from the side, axe cleaving through its scaled hide, and into it’s jaw, just under the helmet.
The firelights were giving it their all, fluid with their dragons, hurtling arrows and spears at the enemy. But regardless, she had to admit they were loosing.

Where the fuck was Ekko??
———————————————————————-
It had been over thirty years in the Ring for little Ash. He had grown into a robust adolescent, now the size of a small mammoth. His tusks had reached a good six feet, long enough to rip and tear. His sheer bulk crushed many creatures under his great paws.
He was the favorite of the Shiny-man, loved by the humans that came to the rock circle to watch the shows he put on.

Often, he led Ash out into the ring, along with an assortment of broken creatures. They would perform tricks for the crowd, bowing and leaping and flying for them. If they did not, the man would use his lash.

Other times he was asked to kill, pitted against bears or wolves. At age twenty he put down the old mammoth, gaining a long scar across his shoulder in the process. The crowds loved him.

Ash was now fluent in dragon-speak, as well as Norse and Latin, the primary languages he encountered in the Colosseum, as the humans called it. The other dragons respected him, he found, and even obeyed his commands, though he still did not fully grasp why.
When he was twelve years old, he had been out of his cage, sat obediently by his master in the ring, when a nadder went quite mad. She threw spikes at him, the man, the other beasts, blasting fire and screaming as she tried to break the metal net over the ring.

Ash was frightened, but he let out a vicious roar of “STOP.” And she did. Eyes going blank, she dropped out of the air, trembling before him. He sensed no will, and sluggish thoughts from her mind. Only obedience. Ash found he liked the control of it. It was rather…satisfying.

Shiny-man stood, staring between them. He smiled. Ash got extra fish that night. From then on Ash made the dragons do what the man said in the ring, often many at a time. The show grew in popularity, thousands coming to see the fabled dragon master and his gray beast.
Not even the dragons knew what he was. No one had seen anything like him.

One day the man threw two dragons against eachother. It was the crazed nadder, and Flame-Scales. Ash felt some worry then, as they were led away. Flame-Scales was the nightmare who had taught him of his own people, and the only dragon that obeyed him out of respect, rather than fear.
He had little to worry about, however. Flame came back, barely bleeding at all. His eyes flashed with a dark cruelty, blood steaming on his muzzle.
The old beast curled up with a happy sigh. His belly was full. It was then Ash realized scarred, wise old Flame was a killer. Not that he was forced to kill, he enjoyed killing. Ash did not know what to think of that.

The old dragon it was who gave him his name, for his gray hide and longing for the sea. And it was him that taught Ash the tongue of his people, and how to survive in the ring. In the end, Ash decided to turn a blind eye to his behaviors.

Eventually, enough time passed for Ash to learn of the mortality of men. Shiny-man grew wrinkled, then stiff, and one day, he simply never returned. A new man came, big, with a nasty smile as he looked over Ash and the dragons. Ash had seen this man a few times before. Shiny-mans son. Mean-paws, so named for his love of hitting things with his fat paws.

“He don’t look like much. Sure he’s big, but honestly look at those teeth. Pathetic.” The man grunted.

“He’s made us alot of money though. The dragons respect him for some reason.” A man beside him protested.

“Money on boring tricks. My father was a bore of a man. Nay…I want to see what hes really made of.” Mean-paws smirked. “Put him up against the old brute. We’ll see who really deserves to be fed.”

Ash shifted, crest lifting in anxiety. He had learned very young you could not hurt the humans. They would stab and starve you into submission.

So when the day came, and he was pushed into the ring against Fire-Scales, he killed. It was a poor fight. He simply looked at the large dragon. The great male, over a hundred years old, looked back, head tilted.

“Make it quick, Lord.” He purred. They both knew he could do nothing against Ash and his mind-control. The fight was lost before it began.

Ash placed a paw on the dragons side. And with great sorrow, he plunged his tusks into his fathers chest. The crowd booed. They had come to see the “Mammoth” fight the “Cannibal.” Not a tragedy. Mean-paws was angry. He yelled and punched. Ash didn’t really notice. He was once again, he realized, alone.
————————————————————————--
Cloud-who-Jumps was full of rage and fear. His people were dying outside, the screams of agony echoing through the tunnel walls.
The clever human plan had been to let the enemy line up on the shore, and then signal Good-Cold to emerge, crushing the army swiftly with his sheer bulk and ice-breath, before sending in the dragons and riders to pick off survivors. It had taken his human a few minutes to reach his cave and don his armor, and in that time the plan had crumbled.

The nest-dragons had broken in their simple rage, and been ambushed, and now the plan was quickly falling to shreds beneath their claws.
Cloud was a large dragon, not build for speed, but his double set of wings allowed for excellent maneuvering. He used this to dart around the sharp corners of the nest, emerging out of a side tunnel to view the chaos, just as Good-Cold burst out of the ice behind them, crying out “RAGE.”

There was so much force to the cry that even CloudJumper, a powerful and old dragon of the nest, felt his heart tremble in fear of the Alphas wrath.
He felt Ekko shift on his back, lifting his weapon, likely unknowing it was the bone of a Alpha dragon itself, over his head.
The boys mind screamed determination despite his own fear, and Cloud loved him for it.
They tilted to the side as one, sliding out of the way just as Good-Cold unleashed a blast of ice down upon the enemy. Men and dragons alike froze, while other ran, screaming. Their own were unharmed, as the dragons, connected to the hive mind, knew every move before the Alpha made it, just as he knew all of theirs.
Cloud joined the fight, yanking a enemy-cousin off his own and ripping apart its wings.
He felt some guilt over attacking the dragons, especially when he doubted they were here willingly, but his own came first in his mind, and the minds of his nest-cousins.
They aided where they could, Cloud using his bulk and power to help his cousins, and Ekko using his brain to instruct where to fire to destroy the various human-weapons on their shore. Cloud translated his orders, dragons blowing traps left and right under their dual command.
They saw Scar on the ground below, tearing into the enemy. Slender Amity was at his side, shooting amber at anyone who showed sign of getting past his guard, and then tearing the poor fellows to shreds. Cloud added his flames to their battle, burning several soldiers to a crisp in their armor.
At one point he spotted Caitlyn, Violet, and Silver, fighting as excellent partners.
Good-Cold continued to rain ice and trample the enemy, killing dozens with a mere step. Things were looking up, despite their initial start. But Cloud-who-Jumps and Ekko-in-Time knew better.

He burst from the water as Good-Cold neared the ships, smaller in stature, a light ashy gray, tinted with red around his great crests and fins, but with the same deep, blue eyes. He roared out a challenge, and the true fight for the nest was on.
The two Kings of dragons slammed into each other, tusks clattering, feet shaking the earth. Men and dragons alike scattered in fear below their feet. But Cloud nor Ekko had time to watch the spectacle.

Their people were still under attack, still dying and killing. They returned to the fray, Cloud letting out a horrible snarl.
To make it all worse, they watched as the black dread of their people fell from the sky, killing with every dive, flipping and twisting in the air, like death was a dance, or a game of tag. The girl threw a bomb, some contraption of gas and flame, and it burst in bright pink against a nightmare and her rider, sending the dragon shrieking with a hole in its side. Cloud could see her ribs through the blood, and he hissed his distress. The rider was obliterated, save a single arm that fell to the beach below.
Sometimes it was plasma, or a knife, or claws and fangs, but always his people fell, the only pause in the slaughter being when the pair had to regain momentum by flying back skywards.
Cloud felt Ekkos mind turning, trying to find a way to stop them. But they were simply too fast. Unless they picked the fight…
Ah. As the fury dove again, whistling through the air, Cloud dashed forwards, and roared out “Coward-weakling! Will not fight fair darting-weaving-hiding!” He did not know how much they heard, but evidently it was sufficient. The two pulled out of their dive, for the first time in the fight pausing, mid air, to stare at them as they lunged forwards.
Cloud saw the long, blue hair of his old friends daughter, and his heart twisted in sadness. The fury under her was also young, scarred from some tragedy. Her eyes gleamed playfully at him, not glazed or dull like the other bad-cousins he had fought. She was here willingly. And she had seen them now. He opened his remaining talons, ready to strike.
But the two laughed at them, the chuckle of dragons right alongside the cackle of a human, diving out of the way an inch from his claws, and flicking up behind them, the dragon nipping at his long tail.
Cloud turned nearly fully around in a perfect hoover, with a powerful thrust of his unique wings, snapping, but they were already gone again, toying with them. His tail dripped, hot blood steaming in the cold.
They were only fifty feet above the ground now, the swifter fury slowly forcing them downwards.
He knew they would get bored soon; children always did, and he felt dread as he tried to find a plan. They could not catch the two, nor could they outmaneuver them. His human had no projectile weapons, nor did he himself, aside from a large and easy to dodge flame. At least the beach was mostly clear of enemy soldiers, as it was very close to the raging Alpha. He could feel Good-Cold trying to help them, pushing at the furies mind, even as he lunged towards the ships, but the dragon did not seem to even notice.
And then, the cry. “POWDER!”

The girl froze, stiff as a board. The dragon under her shuddered, as though in pain, and both turned only feet from him, staring down at the beach, where the pink haired, long lost Violet-Felicia-daughter stood, staring up at them. Caitlyn stood behind her, bow notched and ready, looking conflicted. Silver circled below, tail bristling. There was no conflict in his cousin. She was only worried she would hit him and his rider as well.
Ekko wasted no time. He darted forwards off Clouds back, and slammed Jinx out of the saddle. Both went plunging towards the ground. The fury snarled and dove after them, and Cloud followed.
The fury managed to snag the tangled, snarling pair by the girls spine. With a snap of her wings, she slowed the fall just enough for everyone to hit the ground unbroken. The humans and the fury went rolling, all three swiftly darting to their feet. Cloud slammed into the fury before she could gain her bearings, pinning her under his weight as he balanced on his wing-claws, his good foot on her mouth in a death grip. Blood seeped from between his claws, and he had her throat. But he hesitated, unsure.
He felt Silver snarling behind him, urging him to finish the monster that killed her rider, killed Eve and Barf and Belch and Heather and so many more of their nest. He knew she was right, the dragon below him was in its right mind, she was a murderer, a horror upon her people, no better than the spike-cousins of the ground or the egg-stealers of the nests.

Behind him the humans were talking, feelings of fear and anger and rage coming off of Ekko in waves…and off the girl. Powder? Jinx? She was…afraid. For the dragon under him. A voice pressed into his mind, somehow, impossibly, from the girl, even as she screamed behind him.
“Nononono beloved-Teeth-in-Night-how to escape-”
Silver he sensed, could hear it as well. Every dragon in range flinched in his mind from the sheer desperation of he thoughts, spreading outwards. Only Felicia had ever been able to do anything similar to this, but never to dragons outside her own nest…

And still, the dragon stared up at him coldly, a piercing blue eye fixed into his soul. How could he? How could he kill the cousin his old friends daughter loved so much? How could he not?
Behind him he was aware of the sounds of fighting, a bows strong twang, the crunch of an axe in a skull. It seemed reinforcements had arrived for the girl. Neither her nor Ekko paid them any mind.

He felt the intensity in the two children’s blows as they clashed, Ekko to kill his enemy, Jinx to get to her dragon.
In the end he heard the girl fall, smelled her blood on the air, felt the blow hit her face. And then he heard the bomb. Everyone was running, or screaming behind him, but if he turned, if he let the fury go, if he killed her-
Cloud was frozen in his indecision.

BOOM.

The horrible Scream in his mind. It came from below him, from where before there had been absolute silence. But it was not directed at him, no. This monster was far to intelligent for that, even in its grief. It was directed at Good-Cold.
Somehow, though it should be impossible from a non-Alpha species, a pure blow of sheer mental agony stabbed into the alphas mind, and all of their minds through his.
Every dragon in the nest screamed in pain, many dropping out of the sky. Good-cold flinched, blinded by pain that was not his.

And only a second later

it pierced him. The agony hit him in the side, tusks sinking into his ribs. Except, he realized, it was not him being killed, not his heart pierced. Ice fell around them shattering against the stones as the great body fell to earth.
Cloud Jumper, struggling to even begin to process what was happening, flinched, violently from the noise and the pain and the absence, and that was all she needed. Toothless wriggled her head loose from his grip, skin tearing, and fired.
Pain, burning, blinding…and then everything went black. The last thing he heard as he collapsed, was a terrible roar of triumph, and Ekko screaming his name.
———————————————————————-
Ash was laying against the bars where Flame-Scales used to be when He came. The man was small, slender. One of his eyes was black in it’s socked, the other cold, calculating. A large, robust woman was behind him, glaring. She slouched against the wall, and lit a cigar.

The man reeked of an absurdness, a power, that had Ash lifting his head to stare.

“I have heard rumors from those who work here…” The man rasped, approaching the bars without fear. “Of a young dragon that is the key to the success of this entire venture. One who seems to comprehend the human tongue to some degree, and make people see strange things in their minds. One who controls all the other dragons in this filthy prison. I would argue what I saw in the arena proved these people correct, at least on some of their hunches.”

Ash tilted his head, curious.

“The old owner of this place would of course, not let me so much as view his prized possession. He had to be…removed. The new one is far more considerate.”

And then the man unlocked the door. With a lazy confidence, he stepped up to Ash. There was no fear in his mind, no hesitation. Slowly, deliberately, he put a hand on the dragons tusk, and pulled his head down, looked him in the eye with the assurance of a leader.

“You belong to me, now.”

The dragon felt a thrill. Things were changing. And this man, he saw, would make him powerful. Would take him to the sea. Would give him armies to rule over, as was his right by birth. This Alpha could give him the world. Ash bowed his head, the universal sign of obedience amongst his people.

“Good. Come now.” And just like that Ash was out of his cage, no chains, no guards, no whips. The man began unlocking the other cages, removing chains. Nadders and zipplebacks and gronkles shuffled into the open, all in varying states of confusion.

Ash held them in check with barely a thought, keeping them mild and still, on the ground. As with all of his masters, he knew the mans desires and intent without a spoken word. He felt the ice in his throat, the secret he had kept from all his masters before. He was ready.
Once all nineteen of the dragons were freed, they began to make their exit, the man in the lead, dragons trailing behind. More people appeared down the hall, a small army, armed, ready. They flanked the dragons, nervous, but obedient.
He expected nothing less.

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” The woman growled as she joined them, puffing on the stinky stick.

“No, but I have a hunch, and they are often correct. Besides; we need their ships.”

She grunted and side eyed him, full of doubts. Ash puffed up. He would show the woman. He would show them all.

(And the city that night crumbled, half under ice, and half burned to ashes, streets smeared with blood.)
————————————————————————————————
Toothless was being naggy lately.
Jinx was not feeling good, she had to admit. She constantly saw things lately, heard voices whispering horrible thoughts into her head. The feeling reminded her of how she felt when Silco first found her, those first few hazy months of suffering. Some days she truly wondered why she was going at all. Then she would remember Silco, and Toothless, and she would get up and eat.
The dragon drug her out on a daily adventure as they slowly sailed towards the nest. They invented a new compressed can of paint, which allowed them to coat the ship while flying. Jinx had to admit trying to get the lines right while on dragonback was very fun.
They visited nearby islands, terrorizing the local wildlife. They even got to blow up a pirate ship that got too close and spotted their fleet!
All the same, she felt like shit. She knew Toothless didn’t feel great either.
Neither of them wanted this fight. Both of them would see it.

Sevika spotted her one day, perched on the railing, staring blankly at the sea. Vander was in the corner of her vision, and she was pointedly not looking at him. He was a quiet and rare visitor, but still, seeing him somehow hurt the most.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” The woman huffed, plopping her metal arm on the girls head as she joined her. Jinx jumped. She hadn’t hear the woman coming. Gods, she needed sleep.

“What are you on about, ogre?” She growled, already bristling for a fight.

“You’re usually horrifyingly excited at the prospect of blowing shit up. Now we’re going to the biggest chance to do so your skinny ass has ever seen, and you look like someone kicked your puppy. Are you sick or something? I can’t have you compromised on the battlefield again.”

“I’m fine.” Jinx growled. She felt Toothless approaching behind them, sensing her tension. Sevika seemed to notice as well. She slipped her arm off Jinx’s head. She found herself missing the warm metal.

“Is it Violet?” The woman asked, quieter. Oh no. No fucking way she went there.

Jinx turned on her, snarling. “How fucking dare you?”

“That’s a yes then.” The ogre growled, unflinching. Too stupid to fear her.

Toothless gave a low warning growl, and Sevika obliged, backing away. Not so stupid as to get herself blown up.

“Don’t let this conflict fuck us all over like the last time. We can’t afford your bullshit in this fight.” The woman threw over her shoulder as she walked off.

“She doesn’t know shit.” Jinx growled to Toothless, who murbled in concern.


Jinx thought about that conversation now, as she found herself falling through the air, exchanging punches and kicks with Ekko. He was in his stupid mask, and she ripped it off his head.
Like clockwork, Toothless grabbed her, slowing the fall. Annoyingly, the stupid boy grabbed Jinx, ruining the dragons catch and sending them all crashing to the ground.
Jink snarled as she went rolling across the beach, pebbles sinking into her back from the force, despite her scale armor. Her helmet went rolling. She quickly assessed her situation as she regained her feet. Between her and her now pinned dragon was Ekko.
She had to get to Toothless. Now. She was too small to get out of that grip on her own. Any moment, Cloud could go for her throat. He would be justified as well. Toothless had killed many of his own, with Jinx’s help. But he was hesitant, reluctant to finish his fight. Good, she could use that. She began projecting her own distress into his mind, letting out and unconscious hatchling-cry of distress. She felt him freeze up, his guilt and confusion. Good.
Ekko flinched at the sound, staring at her like she was possessed. She giggled and pulled out a long dagger, ready to go for his throat. No one got between her and her dragon. He clutched his weird bone spear thingy tightly, tensing in anticipation of her attack.
But she forgot what was behind her.

“Powder?” That one word and she froze like a fucking deer. Stupid stupid STUPID. She turned, stiff. Behind her was a tall chick, a razorwhip that was seething with barely contained rage, and…..

“Vi?” She asked, horrified at her voice crack. Her eyes unwillingly filled with tears.

“Hey Pow-pow.” Vi whispered. They were a foot apart now, eyes locked.
Vi didn’t look angry or disappointed…she just looked sad and happy at once.
Was Vi… not mad at her?
Vi stepped forward slowly, carefully, and wrapped her in a firm hug. Jinx felt herself be enveloped by warm, thick arms. “I’m so sorry Powder. I missed you so much.” Her knife clattered to the ground and she threw her arms around Violet in return. Her tears broke free, streaming down her face. She’d always been a crybaby. Jinx was shaking, she could feel it, everything crumbling around her. For a moment she felt calm.

The shouts came first, then the reinforcements, cresting a hill on the beach. At least fifty of Silcos men raced down the beach. The girl…the piltie Jinx would wager, turned her bow at the enemy, loosing two shots in quick succession. The men did not falter. They knew full well what would happen to them if they let Jinx get killed, and they feared Silco far more than death.

Jinx pulled back reluctantly. “I need Toothless.” She murmured, turning back toward her dragon. Ekko was still between them, tense.

“Pow listen, you need to call them off.” Vi hissed, looking frantic.

“What?” Jinx blinked.

“You gotta call them off!”

Jinx pulled back. “Shes using you. You fool! Shes with the bugs and with Piltover!” Mylo sneered behind her back.

“Shut up!” She growled, slamming a fist into her head.

“I wasn’t talking Pow.” Vi murmured, hands up, placating.

“I wasn’t talking to you!” She snarled. Vi flinched.

“Violet they’re getting closer!” The woman called, firing more arrows. The dragon behind her snarled, opening her wings.

Vi turned, eyes wide. Jinx giggled. “Sister thought I missed her.” She scooped up her knife. “But you wouldn’t miss her…” She murmured to the knife, considering. She’d killed the rest of her family. Would it be so wrong to kill the last one standing?
Violet’s eyes widened. “No! Jinx no I came here for you!”

“Then help me get my dragon!” She snarled.

“Ekko-” Vi started.

“I am NOT telling Cloud to let that monster go.” Ekko growled behind her. Jinx could almost taste his rage, barely contained by some respect he must have for Violet, she assumed with a smug feeling.

“Violet I need you NOW!” Caitlyn yelled. She was out of arrows. The enemy was only a few hundred yards away.

Vi stood frozen, frantically looking between Ekko, Jinx, and Caitlyn. Then with a growl she turned, scooping up a gore coated axe off the ground. Jinx snorted. She debated sending a knife into her traitor sisters back, just like that last pink haired bitch. Or better yet her piltie girlfriend... She used her free hand to pluck out a slender throwing blade, pulling her arm back to throw-
The whoosh of something behind her interrupted her action. She twisted at the last second, dodging the blow.
Oh. Ekko had grown impatient.

“Well well, if it isn’t the boy savior!” She hissed, turning with her dodge.

Ekko smiled at her and lowered his weapon, sliding into a fighting stance.

She smiled back though her distress, slipping under his next swing and stepping back. So he wanted to play? Fine. As the giants raged above them, with the life of her best friend at stake, Jinx circled her opponent.

She knew she was at a disadvantage against Ekko on the ground. He was stronger and had far more range with his choice of weapon. They were also too close to Toothless and each other to detonate one of her dragon-gas bombs without possibly blowing everyone up.
(She really needed to work on a less powerful bomb.)
She had to use her speed and intelligence to win this match up.
Behind them the fight was in full swing, but they only had eyes for eachother, cold brown meeting her amused blue. Her heart thrummed with the thrill of it all, the stakes as high as they could go.

She lunged, as if to go straight at his exposed head and neck. He swung his spear, and she rolled out of the way, using her other hand to send a tiny blade at his head. He saw the flash of silver a second before it hit his eye, tilting his head just enough that it instead sliced a thin line through his scalp.
Damn. He wouldn’t fall for it twice. Fine. She darted around him for a full minute, searching for an opening in his defense. But Ekko gave her none, an excellent defensive fighter due to his nonviolent nature. She got a few slices in, some on his leather and scale armor, a few on is body, but nothing lethal or even serious.
She realized it quickly. She was too slow.
She growled internally, even as she laughed in his face. Every second she wasted was a second Toothless was in danger. And she was loosing.
Sweat beaded her brow despite the freezing cold, but she couldn’t stop now, no. She circled, went in again.
She felt the stones slide under her feet, throwing off her center of balance for just a few seconds.
That was all Ekko needed. The spear slammed into her head, knocking her to the ground. Her ears rang, and before she could even process what happened he was on top of her, slamming his fists into her face, legs tightly wrapped around her to pin her, the spear on her throat.
He pushed down, snarling, and she coughed, the blood pouring from her nose making breathing nearly impossible as she struggled to push up the weight on her neck.
Honestly, she contemplated, this wasn’t a bad way to go. She sniffled and smiled up at him.
He hesitated, fist raised above his head. Eyes full of something she didn’t understand.
She let the bar slide over her throat, using a hand instead to pull a large grenade off her belt, slipping the pin with her thumb.
He heard the ticking of the bombs timer before he saw it. She opened her palm, still smiling. The blue painted ball of metal, firepowder, and zippleback gas slid to the stones beside her. His eyes widened in fear, darting between her and the bomb once, before he scrambled up and swung his spear, throwing it a good ten feet away as he bolted the other direction.
Dimly, Jinx was aware of toothless screaming in her mind. She needed to get up and run. There was still plenty of time to dodge the blast zone. But Jinx, in that moment, was done. Violet had betrayed her, Ekko hated her, she had failed to protect her friend, and Silco would probably hate her once he saw how weak she was. Couldn’t even squash a bug. Whatever.
She lay there, and submitted to her fate.

Tick.

Tick.

BOOM.
—————————————————————————
The old bulls face would haunt him for many moons, he knew. The fierceness with which he protected his people, not for power, but for love…it baffled and confused Ash. The fear when his death was upon him. Not for himself, but for his people. For his…well. Ash would make no mention of that.
Ashes-in-Sea pulled his bloody tusks from his enemy, and roared his triumph into the sky. The old male had been strong and wise, and Ash had to admit he was loosing the battle to his sheer bulk and experience. But old bull froze for just a second, and Ash struck, sliding his tusks into his heart and lungs.
The older bull coughed, swayed, and crumbled.
The tiny dragons of the nest crumbled under his will in seconds, thousands flocking around him, joining him. Only one he felt slipping away, just out of his range of control. No matter.
He had won. He had slain an enemy many times his age, and larger than him, and taken his power. He old learned later from his new thralls the cause of his victory. The disobedient black gnat. Her newfound ability frightened him greatly, though he was careful to keep that from his subjects.
Between that realization, and the girls severe injuries, there was little joy, and there would be no gratitude, he knew, from Him.
Because Ash, unlike Good-Cold had failed to notice, in his brutal, all consuming fight, the smaller battle occurring below him.
Curse-of-Blue, that dirty troublemaker who caused him disobedience from one of his charges, was flickering out. Her life was hanging by a single talon.
And Silco. Oh how angry he was. He lifted his hatchling in his arms, and strode rapidly to the ships. Teeth-in-Night frantically limped after them. Ash let her go; she was small and could fit in the ships. And she would die for the girl without any need for a command.
Despite her rebellious tendencies, she was the perfect guard. She had caused a alpha, a bull possibly thousands of years old and hundreds of times her size, to flinch.
He had to admit to himself, in a very deep corner of his mind, he was concerned for them not only for his sake. They were in a way, the closest thing to hatchlings he had ever known. He shook his crests. Ridiculous. Foolish.
He sighed, now feeling the soreness of his muscles, the blood on his sides from the elder Alphas tusks. The heaviness of holding his bulk up on land. The agony of the injured and dying dragons was also picking at his mind. To keep the others in his grasp, was to know their pain.
The human thralls could clean up the remainder of the nest.
He slid back into the sea with a huff, ships parting in his wake, to get a good sleep. He was feeling oddly…hollow.
———————————————————————————
Ekko was sobbing over his best friend, and alongside Scar, the closest thing to family he had left. Cloud wasn’t dead, but he likely would be soon, his wounds severe. Half of his face was melted, along with parts of his wing and chest. His breathing was a shallow wheeze. Ekko heard his Alpha die, imagined he felt the tusks of their mutual rival in his chest. But he couldn’t care less. Men shouted behind him in the distance, searching through the corpses. They would be here soon.

Everything was over. His home was taken, the last refuge gone. Silco had won. Twice today Ekko thought he saw Powder. Once, when she hugged Vi, and once when she looked up at him, blood coating her face from his own blow. And his hesitation over his friends walking corpse had cost him everything.
Even if Ekko felt the desire to escape in that moment, he couldn’t hope to. All the flying dragons were gone, and his leg was shredded, blood dripping hot onto the rocks. He knew he would likely pass out soon from the bloodloss. Then he would die, to his wound, exposure, or to a enemy soldier. Either way, this was it for him. He supposed he did his best.
Slowly, agonizingly, he rolled off his friends barely breathing side, slumping to the ground.

As he felt himself fading, a soft whoosh of wings sounded over his head. He squinted up, seeing a blur of gray and white, peering at him with one bright sea-green eye.
“Easy now friend-of-dragons. I have you.” The shape seemed to say, voice echoing in his skull. He felt himself fading, somehow thinking everything would be alright, despite his impossible situation.

Chapter Text

Lightning struck the top of the mountain with a thundering crash, scattering the piled metal and rock in every direction. The shell shattered with the blast, sending a tiny black hatchling flying off the mountain without mercy.
Luckily for her, her mother was ready. With the skill and dexterity unique to their breed, the young fury plucked her tumbling offspring from the air, still moist from the shell.
“A large strike. This will be a strong one.” She mused to herself. Her first batch, consisting of four eggs had not been strong. Two had hatched, but both were dead by six moon cycles.
This season she had only laid one egg. However against the odds, the baby now squirmed in her forepaws, screeching its protest into the thunderstorm around them.

She carried it several miles from the nest-rock, weaving through the furious winds and mountain terrain with ease. Finally, she dipped into a well hidden cave, nestled behind a stand of pine clinging to a cliff face. Here she curled around her squalling newborn, pulling it close to her side with her wing and letting loose a soft purr.

The infant dragon, finding itself warm and comforted, soon went silent, and then to sleep. The mother soon followed, exhausted from her months of building and guarding her nest.

The next night she was awoken by the scrambling of her little charge. The baby had managed to escape her wing halfway, but had gotten stuck at the hips, and was now wailing horribly. She released the baby from her plight by lifting her wing.

“Hush now hatchling.” The mother warned.

The baby went silent immediately. Dragon babies were born knowing much of their language, even if they did not know quite how to speak it at first.

The mother was relieved to have an obedient child. The life of their kind was a dangerous one, and she recalled well what happened to her first clutch. The mother, who was named Fearless-of-Eyes by her mother before, nosed her baby into a crack in the cave wall.

“Wait.” She ordered. And then she left the cave, stretching her stiff muscles before entering the night sky quietly. She drifted through her homeland, a series of tall and jagged mountains, sharply pitched against the sky. Pine and moss clung to the stones, and a fine mist coated the forest between them, shimmering in the moonlight.
She paused at a fresh flowing mountain spring to drink and relieve herself, snapping lazily at the little fish in the water, then returned to the air.
It was a good night for hunting, she decided. She climbed upwards, then drifted in circles, gradually widening her search.
There. A trio of sub adult deadly nadders was clustered on one of the cliffsides, heads tucked neatly under their wings. Likely they were seeking a new nest due to poor conditions or overcrowding, and stopped in the mountain chain for the night to rest. Many young and old dragons alike did the same, often alone or in small groups.
Making the territory excellent for cannibals.

She charged up her stone, feeling the energy build in her chest. And she dove, a blur of motion against the sky and a screech of Arcanic energy.
The nadders awoke with cries of “Fear-night-monster-fly!” as they rose and scattered off the cliffside, making distinct targets for Fearless’s perfect night vision.

She tilted her tail-fins slightly, angling herself toward one purple nadder as they scattered, and with a wingspan to spare, she loosed her blast. Pulling out of her dive, she almost playfully pushed off the now deceased nadders back with her paws to gain altitude. The other two nadders had no interest in revenge attempts, and so, she let them flee.
Her preys body had landed in the trees below. She could not fly in the dense forest, and so she landed in a small clearing created by a recently fallen tree, and made her way in, using her slender body and four paws to weave between the trunks.
Mammals and birds fled as she crept by, soft chirrups and chitters of alarm in the surrounding shadows. She ignored them, following the burnt scent of her meal through the trees with her sensitive nose.

She found her meal wedged in a low hanging branch, little but bone left of the head, and gorged quickly. Once she had eaten what she could, she made her way out of the forest, and back into the relatively safe sky, where only a rival fury could catch her.

She made her way back to the cave, careful she was not being observed, and called out her hatchling. "Come here.” She called.
The baby was obedient, and had stayed put. She waddled out of her hiding place, and barked a happy “Hello!”
Fearless purred in affection, and regurgitated a small amount of her kill. The baby sniffed, unsure what to make of the meal at first. But in a few moments instinct took over, and the hatchling tore ravenously into the steaming half-chewed meat.

Fearless tucked up beside her charge, ready to sleep for the next few days before hunting again.
~
Her daughter was a full twenty-five moons tonight, Fearless realized as she awoke to the hatchlings chortling laughter outside their newest den.
She sniffed the air and sighed. Her initial assessment of the child had been incorrect. The baby was strong, very strong, likely to grow up far more powerful than her mother, and intelligent to boot. But she was certainly not obedient.

Fearless wiggled out of the small crack to their newest abode (she moved her young frequently to avoid scent buildup, just as her mother had), and loosed an angry growl, both at her hatchling, and the surrounding flock of night terrors she was playing with.

The night terrors screeched in alarm, scattering into the night sky, a cloud of gray against the black. While as a group they could likely shred the angry mother, none of them wanted to die for the pointless cause.
“You!” Fearless snarled, cuffing her charge with a paw and sending the stubby young dragon sideways. “I tell you and I tell you, the cousins are prey and predator, NOT for playing!” She snarled, her wings half spread.

Her baby whined, nubbs flat in submission. “They were nice! And knew many things.”

“You are lucky you are alive.” Fearless growled. And it was quite true. In her boredom and cockiness, the still flightless hatchling had so far been caught chattering or playing with a buffalord herd, a terrible terror, and a very amused young changewing. Her hatchling had been particularly alarmed when her mother killed and ate the changewing right in front of her. Like Fearless would waste a good meal. It seemed impossible to convince her of the danger she was exposing herself too. Fearless blamed the hatchlings loneliness. But there was nothing to be done for it.

Still, despite the babies best efforts to get killed, she was still unscarred, her legs and wings growing long and strong. Fearless lashed her tail, peering up at the building cover of thick clouds, soon to cover the moon. A rumble echoed across the mountains. It was time.

“Get on.” She huffed at the sulking youngling. The change was immediate, the hatchling bouncing in excitement.

The hatchling scrambled onto her back, clinging to her scales as she leapt into the sky and climbed. Up they went, circling above the clouds, until the air grew thin. The moon was blindingly bright this high, and Fearless squinted as her eyes adjusted.

She felt her baby gently in the back of her mind, observing as always how she moved, watching every twitch of muscle and fin. She carefully kept her thoughts clear, focused on the flight at paw, as the storm began below them with a crash of lightning and a roll of thunder.

“Do you remember what I have taught you about the sky?” The mother asked, tilting her broad head to the side to observe her offspring.

“Yes mother.” The hatchling replied.

“Tell me then.”

Her baby groaned, and she almost laughed, remembering her own ceremony. Still, the hatchling provided an answer.

“The sky was given to us by the Mother of the Wind, and the Alpha of the Storm.
The sky is for all dragons, but the storm is only for us and our storm-kin, to hatch our eggs and give us power. To fly is a gift, and it can be taken away any time if we are foolish.”

“To fly is a gift.” Fearless agreed. “Only the strong may fly, and only the strongest may fly in the storm. The Great Ones decide who flies and who does not.”

Without warning she rolled, tossing the hatchling off of her spine. The hatchling let out a wail of alarm, tumbling down, down, and into the thunderclouds below.
Fearless waited, watching, heart pounding in an ironic amount of fear. This was her first hatchling to even reach the ceremony, and she found herself begging the Sky-Lords not to take her baby.
Several minutes went by in silence.
Fearless was about to resign herself to another lost clutch, when something breached the clouds. A little black head, followed by flapping, functional little black wings.
Fearless was about to cry out in joy and relief…when the spines appeared through the clouds under her charge.
She tensed in a mothers rage, and would have fired at once if the hatchling was not in the way. But then the storm-kin poked the rest of its small purple body out of the clouds, gently nosing her baby higher with its snout, away from the storm below. Her little one barked something happily down at the dragon, fighting to go higher on immature wings, tail fin flicking wildly as she fought to adjust her balance.
The storm-kin rumbled a reply, too soft to properly hear, and with a sideways glance up at Fearless, vanished into the storm below.
Fearless was left baffled, joyous, and lost all at once. Her little one struggled her way up to her mother.

“Mother! Did you see the storm-kin? He was very nice! He saved me from the ground! I did not know how to stop rolling. Then he showed me how to fly.”

She bent her head down and licked her babies head. “Yes, I saw. The Storm Lord must favor you. I will name you Chosen-in-Storm.”

Storm squeaked happily, flapping around her mother and doing a little spin in the air. And Fearless dared to think maybe this one would be okay.
~
Storm was different, Fearless had begun to realize. Outwardly she was identical to her mother…but inside, she held more power. At only ten years old, she was blasting through ancient trees with ease, weaving through the storms with the skill of an adult. She had strange ideas, such as digging holes and covering them with leaves, to catch mammals.
She was powerful. However, she refused to kill dragons.
Once or twice a week the youngling would drag in a deer or a goat, eyes hopeful.
Fearless would hiss in disappointment and disgust, knowing on their next hunt Storm would refuse to strike their prey.
Mammals were for when you were starving. To be a storm-born was to eat the flesh of lesser dragons. There was no morality to it for Fearless; it simply was the way of the world; what her specialized body was built to do.
But the hatchling had begun to decline such meals, even when Fearless killed them, instead crunching on rabbits and birds like a common terror.
She also continued to engage in play and conversation with other kin, though as she grew these encounters grew less common. The local dragons knew what a night fury was; and many had little interest in engaging even a young one.
Either way she was making Fearless’s head ache with confusion.
~
Storm was gone again. Fearless had a strong suspicion of where. Due to food scarcity they had been roaming the coasts, something Fearless rarely did. Night furies were poor swimmers, and as such she saw the ocean as dangerous, especially to her young. During their flight, they had encountered a human fort on the beach, torches and fires glittering in the dark. It was fairly new, certainly not present last time Fearless had taken this route twelve years prior.
Most concerning to her, she saw dragons caged inside, trapped and muzzled. Her mother had warned her long ago to avoid humans and their traps, and so she led Storm away quickly, miles down the coast. If the humans were trapping, they would find little of her prey here anyways.
But now her child was missing, and not even her loud calls were getting a result. Storm liked to wander off, but she did not ignore a home-call.
Either she was dead, or she was far. Fearless took a guess, and began flying quickly up the coast, back towards the human settlement.

She arrived just in time to see the humans dragging her squealing, fighting baby into their nest. They were talking over her, making their loud sounds and flapping their arms.
They seemed agitated.
Her baby was bound in some sort of metal, too tightly to move or open her jaws. And her tail….oh her tail. Still, Fearless hesitated. It would be best to try and sneak the hatchling away in the night, rather than engage directly.
But a human kicked Storm with it’s paw, and Fearless saw red.

She dove, the power of her rage thrumming through her spine and chest in a wave of blue. She did not know anything of humans. Her hatchling cried out in protest in her mind, a shockwave of power. But none of it mattered. The human-nest burned.
She fought, first in the sky, then after a spear managed to wedge itself into her lung, on the ground. Even after her wing was sliced halfway off, dragging limply behind her, she fought. Humans fell before her. So many. An endless wave of sharp metal and burning flesh.
She was getting slower, she knew. She was failing. But still she fought.
She stumbled, falling to the ground. An axe nestled into her skull, and she did not move again.
—————————————————————————————————
Storm wanted to see the strange creatures her mother had warned her to avoid. They looked very interesting, with their strange nest and fires.
She snuck out around mid-day, flying back up the coastline towards the strange place. The sea too she had been warned against, but the salty air wafting off the waves felt lovely to her.
She drifted lower, crooning “Hello!” to a blue sea-cousin that breached the waves. They whistled a greeting back from their two heads, before vanishing again into the deeper sea.
She was getting close to her goal when she heard a distressed series of roars from below her. Storm circled, until she located the source of the commotion.
To her alarm, she saw a large fire-cousin trapped by the leg in some sort of metal, the device biting securely into his foot.
She fluttered down, squinting through a blast of flame aimed directly at her face.

“Calm. I help?” She protested.

The flame cousin glowered. “Cannot help, night-filth. The humans shall have me now.” They snarled.

Storm blinked. She had never been called dirty before. Her grooming was immaculate! “I can try! Let me see.” She protested, edging forwards.

The dragon snorted, letting her creep closer. She sniffed at the strange metal, poking it with her claws. Fascinating.

The old fire-kin peered down. “I had a strong hatchling once. She was brave and fierce. Her flame was strong. One of you killed her. Plucked her out of the sky. I never forgot the sight.”

Storm paused her poking and opened her jaws to protest-she had never killed a cousin- but then the pain burned through her and she screamed.

On reflex she darted back, trying to get away from the towering force of the fire-cousins claws as they dug into her hip. He was too heavy, and in her fear induced confusion, she fired. He reeled back with his own scream, chest sizzling from her blast. She fled again as he stumbled, skin tearing with the force of her flight, the claws dragging down her side, with a sickening rip.
She dragged herself out of ranged and collapsed, bleeding. Her leg…her tail…
Storm wailed for her mother, the cry of a distressed hatchling, ringing against the sky. No one answered.


She tried to defend herself when the two-legs came for them. Some of them fell. But she was weak, and fading in and out of consciousness as they dragged her chained and muzzled body.
She struggled, and one kicked her, sending a shockwave of pain up her body.
Dimly she became aware of her mother, a pressure on the edge of her mind. She felt Fearless’s rage and tried to dissuade her. It was pointless to save a broken fury. But none of it mattered to her enraged mother.
~
“To fly is a gift, and it can be taken away from those that are foolish.”

Her mother had warned her. Her mother had told her over and again.
Storm was not chosen, not special. The skrill that had saved her was a fool, nothing more.
She had killed her mother, and now she would never fly. Chained, broken.
Despairing. She hoped the strange two-legs would kill her soon. To not fly was to die anyways. And everything hurt.

Many days she laid, unfed and immobile, unmoving on the ground. The pull came at first so softly she barely noticed it.
But as it grew stronger she could not ignore it. Her ear nub twitched in annoyance as it grew, a tugging in her chest, a thrum of energy in her stone.
Something was coming for her.
~
The girl called her Toothless, and the dragon figured it suited her better than Storm. She was weak, and the name represented that well.
Her new home was full of dragons. At first she flinched from them, but she soon realized none of them would hurt her. None of them cared for much at all, eyes dull and lifeless.
Only the Alpha held power here, and he left her alone. She was insignificant to Him, a waste of space.
The girl cared though. Her name was Jinx, and she too knew what it was like to be a failure. They bonded slowly, exchanging words at first, learning to grasp language, communicating through gestures and body movements. But they realized eventually they could hear eachother in other ways, similarly to how Toothless could once hear her mother, but far stronger.
They ran about, causing general chaos for the two-legs and dragons alike. But no one scolded them but the big woman. And even she wouldn’t dare hit them.
Toothless healed, and grew large on fish, and loved her friend. And as much as she wanted the sky, and missed her mother and the forest and the sea air…maybe it was enough.
~
Jinx was grinning. Her mind was fluttering with excitement as she tied on the newest contraption.
Toothless was excited as well, though more hesitant. It had been working so far in controlled tests, but today they were going to test it for real. There was nothing Toothless wanted more than to fly again, even if she needed help to do so…but she didn’t want to get her hopes up.

“We can’t keep introducing you to dragons as Toothless, ya know. We need something more…fierce.”

Toothless snorted. “Hardly. But names are less important to me. Do as you like Curse-of-Blue.”

Jinx switched to “dragoneese” as she called it with little effort, her throat contorting into sounds very few humans could make. “I am thinking something like Fangs or Night, but those are so boring. This language is limited.”

Toothless hummed thoughtfully. “Teeth-in-Night will do.”

“Yes, that will work. All done!” Jinx slid off her tail, grinning at her work. This was the fourth attempt at the model, and by far the most complex one.
“I have the positions memorized, so we should be good to test this sucker out!”
The girl clambered onto her back, sliding into the newest version of the harness. They bounced out of her little cave, causing shouts of alarm as they barrelled down the tunnel network of their home. Toothless had grown stronger in the years since her injury. She had fought and trained alongside her blue haired charge, and was now well feared in the nest, despite her young age and disability. Nothing would hurt those she cared about again.

“No hesitation!” Jinx yelled as they plunged out the great door, and across the cliff face. The dragon below her snarled, and leapt into the air.

Her wings stretched out, beat once, twice, three times. And she was in the air. Slowly, she angled right, and the girl shifted her foot, causing the new tailfin to shift with them. She didn’t loose her balance. She didn’t fall out of the sky.
They went through some more slow maneuvers, gaining altitude. Nothing went wrong. Jinx knew her every move before she made it, perfectly in sync with her movements, occasionally offering suggestions through slight tilts of her body in the saddle. Toothless started to think they could actually do this. They went into a dive, gaining speed, and wove with ease through the mountains valleys, startling herds of white goats and fuzzy mammoths below.
Toothless was shaking with joy. She could fly. Jinx giggled.

Out of the edge of their vision, Something shifted in the wind, almost invisible.

“To fly is a gift. Use it well.”