Here on Berk, we made peace with the dragons. We're finally living and working together. And it only took us three hundred years... There's one slight problem: we forgot to tell the animals.

I held tight onto Hiccup's waist as he slid Toothless down the snow-covered mountainside. The bitter cold stung harshly at my body, threatening a complete shut-down of my brain, but the thrill of barreling down the side of the mountain made it worth it. Intense tricks may not have been my thing, but this was just the right balance between "let's do something interesting" and "I'm going to die".

"Woo-hoo!" Hiccup cried, clearly enjoying the adrenaline rush. I had to admit, this felt pretty amazing. The band that pushed back my hair had long disappeared, but I didn't care. He wove Toothless through the trees and into the air, and every once in a while, I accidentally let out a little scream. "You all right back there?"

"Yeah! This is awesome!" I could have sworn I saw him smile affectionately, but that was quickly ruined as his face contorted, and there was a loud rumbling. I looked back to see an avalanche barreling toward us.

"Uh oh." Hiccup shifted his leg, attempting to get Toothless' tail fin to open, but every time the Night Fury tried to fly, he just fell right back down. I looked back, and my mouth opened in horror.

"His tail's frozen!" I cried. Thinking fast, I ended up crawling my way back to the tail fin and attempted to pull it apart, but it seemed bound together.

"Reign!" I looked forward to see us barreling closer to a cliff that had a large drop-off. I tried my best, but I couldn't get it open, and we ended up tumbling down into the ravine. I slammed against the ground hard, and it took me a moment to compose myself. But when I did, I was left freezing. "Reign?"

"Over here," I managed to shudder out. "Hiccup, I'm freezing."

"Come here." I inched my way toward where it sounded like his voice was coming from, then felt a pair of arms wrap around me. Though it didn't do much to warm me, there was an element of comfort. Cautiously, I inched closer and pressed myself against Hiccup. "Where's Toothless?" A plasma blast lit up above us, revealing that we were trapped under a thick layer of ice and snow. The Night Fury continued to blast at the ice until a hole melted through the top. "I see daylight!"

"We're gonna get out of here," I sighed, relieved.

"Look at what he did." Hiccup almost sounded like a proud father, despite being nowhere near of age for that position.

"He saved our lives." We both turned our heads at the same time and found our faces practically pressed together, causing us to jump apart in embarrassment.

"Uh, ah... um..." I cleared my throat. "So we're good now?"

"Good as new." I flashed him a self-conscious smile, then shoved him a bit, causing him to hit the wall of ice.

"Ow!" Despite that, Hiccup turned and smiled at me. Toothless had this look on his face, but both Hiccup and I ignored it.

"The hole needs to be a little bigger in order for us to be able to escape. It's too dangerous for Toothless to shoot at it even more. We need to wait." Hiccup nodded, and I few moments later, I shivered. It felt like cold was infecting me, creeping underneath my skin.

"Here." Hiccup extended his arms out again, and I gently crept my way back over.

"...and then Toothless used his wings to block the snow," Hiccup continued. We'd been telling the story of what happened to the others. I was still attempting to warm up, so I had grabbed a blanket, and it was currently wrapped around my shoulders.

"I've never heard of anything like that," Fishlegs marveled. "Not even in the Book of Dragons."

"I know! It was incredible!" I couldn't wipe the smile from my face. "It's as if his protective instincts just kicked in."

"Who'd believe it? The dragons we'd fought for years came to our rescue." For several reasons, I couldn't stop smiling.

"Yeah. If it wasn't for Toothless, we would have frozen to death."

"You know what? You could've used your own bodies to keep each other warm," Fishlegs pointed out. Hiccup and I immediately turned red and jumped farther away from each other.

"Um..."

"Who would do that?"

"That's crazy."

The both of us flashed another glance at each other, then looked away. The group knew we weren't exactly just friends, but we hadn't really made anything official, either. There was some strange nebulous zone Hiccup and I were trapped in, happily spending time with each other without really defining anything.

Despite that, Snotlout still took his chance to shamelessly flirt.

"Hey, Reign, if you're still cold..." Snotlout extended his arms out and blew a kiss. Appalled, I knocked my elbow into the pillar next to me, which dumped snow onto his head. "Hey!" I caught a glance from Hiccup that almost looked like... relief, but chose to disregard it.

"Hey, Hiccup." He and I looked down to see Ruffnut and Tuffnut. "Your father's looking for you."

"He looked angry." I looked back at the brown-haired boy with wide eyes.

"He's looked angry since the day I was born. But I'm sure there's no connection." Hiccup climbed onto Toothless and flew back toward his home, leaving me with the others. The moment I turned to face them, they all had these weird looks.

"What?" I asked innocently.

"Come on, Reign. You and Hiccup are smart. We know you didn't forget that you could use your own body heat to warm yourselves up," Astrid teased. I rolled my eyes and tried to suppress the blush creeping up my face.

"I-we... that is to say... I mean..." I took a deep breath and turned on my heel. "I don't have to take this interrogation." I walked away from the others and back into the village. There was an odd feeling to the air... something wasn't right. People were rushing to make... storm preparations? There's no way there could be a storm coming. Winter was just starting. I watched as people shuttered their windows, raced food through their doors, and prepared weighted bags. Then, from the distance, I could hear Bucket screaming in agony. A storm was definitely coming. Hiccup approached me with a slightly paled expression.

"We have to wrangle all the animals into the academy before the storm. Get the others."

"Come on, big boy. You can do it," Hiccup encouraged the large Yak we were trying to get into one of the cages. "Ah, come on." The creature wouldn't budge. The main concern seemed to be that the dragons were in the way. "You'll really like them if you get to know them."

"The dragons look scary, but they're just big, scary reptiles."

"Just like Snotlout," Tuff quipped. Snotlout grabbed his shirt and readied a fist, then hesitated.

"You're the guy, right?" he asked.

"No," Tuff answered in falsetto. One of the Monstrous Nightmares snapped his jaws at a Deadly Nadder, causing the Yak to run and all the other animals to scatter.

"Wait, what if we looked at this from an animal's perspective?" Fishlegs got down on all fours and began to crawl around on the floor. "Oh hello, Mr. Dragon. I'm just a little sheep here-- walking, doing sheep things. Baa, baa." Fishlegs turned to look back at us, and I couldn't hide my slightly confused expression. "You know, he doesn't really seem so big and--" He turned back around just as the Nightmare roared in his face, causing Fishlegs to scramble underneath Meatlug. "Sorry, but I'm siding with the sheep on this one."

"Look, I've learned that once you've had a positive experience with something you're afraid of, it isn't so scary anymore." Hiccup picked up one of the younger sheep and put it back with the others. "Okay, there you go, boys. Over here." Hiccup herded them right in front of the dragons. Not necessarily his best idea, in my opinion. "And that's what we have to do with these sheep. We gotta prove to them that they have nothing to fear." I watched in horror as the Monstrous Nightmare accidentally almost lit one of the sheep on fire, managing to catch its tail. I extended my arms and kept it from running any further as Hiccup rushed over to put out the fire. "And at this rate we'll never get any milk or eggs."

Dark clouds were beginning to roll in, and the wind significantly picked up, as though intentionally rushing it along. Hiccup shot up and attempted to wrangle the animals, but things only got more chaotic from there. The chickens were scurrying around his feet, the yaks were rampaging, and the sheep were huddled in a corner, terrified. I managed to stop one of the large, hairy creatures and attempted to calm it.

"Another way for the animals to overcome their fear is to show them that dragons are afraid of things too." Everyone shot Hiccup a skeptical glance, so I piped up to help.

"Remember Magnus the Merciless? He was a pretty scary guy." Fishlegs shuddered at the memory. Unfortunately, he had been one of my first experiences on the island. "I was afraid of him until I learned that he was afraid of the dark."

"During the day, merciless."

"And during the night, Tuffnut." The blonde elbowed his sister in the gut. "Ow!"

"Hey, that's a real problem."

"I'm just saying... knowing he was afraid of something made him less scary to me."

"Yes." Hiccup reached into a barrel and pulled out some eels. "So let's show the yaks that dragons are afraid of things too." He held up the slimy creatures in front of the dragons, who roared and flinched at the sight of their seemingly mortal enemies. The yaks seemed to be communicating with each other.

"I think it's working."

Suddenly, one of the eels slipped from Hiccup's grip and began to slither toward the Monstrous Nightmare, causing it to back further and further against the wall, causing its tail to fly out and knock a sheep against the cement. Luckily, the fluffy creature survived and seemed unscathed, if not a bit shaken. Hiccup groaned in frustration and I placed a hand on his back.

"Don't worry."

"Worry? I-I'm not worried! Do I look worried?" I sighed and crossed my arms in that way.

Suddenly, lightning flashed in the distance, followed by a powerful roar of thunder, causing me to jump. My fear of thunderstorms was definitely still with me. Time was running out, and now all of the creatures were startled and running around the academy as though it were a madhouse.

"Aah! What are you doing?" Snotlout screamed. Hiccup gathered up some of the chickens as I calmed the Monstrous Nightmare.

"Hey! Calm down... Get back over here." I gently pushed it back toward the cage.

"You know what I'm learning from this? Chickens are really, well, chicken." I pretended to laugh at his awful joke, then flattened my expression.

"What if we showed them how much we have in common with the dragons? They both lay eggs, right?" I raised an eyebrow at Fishlegs. "A Terrible Terror laid one last week." Fishlegs picked up the egg, which he must have rescued, and set it down before the chickens. They cocked their heads at it for a moment, then made their way over to it, and one of them jumped up on it.

"All right. See? An egg's an egg, right ladies?" Just then, the egg exploded with some hot, slimy substance, causing the chickens to flee again. "Until it explodes..." Gobber and Mulch rushed through the gate and seemingly ignored the chaos unfolding.

"Everybody out! The storm is here!" Only now did I notice snowflakes rapidly falling onto the ground. It wouldn't be long before they started to stick.

"Wait! We haven't made any progress with the animals."

"Your father wants everyone in the Great Hall."

"Take the others. I need to stay and keep working with the animals. They're still afraid."

"Ya can't get eggs from a frozen chicken! We've got to get the animals in the barn." Thunder crashed once again, and my heart did a little jump. I could feel my breath getting shorter, and my vision was blurring. Gobber and Mulch gathered up all the animals and quickly ushered them away as I remained frozen in place. Everyone else rushed out, except for Hiccup, who noticed I wasn't following and turned back.

"Reign, we have to go!"

"I-I-I can't, Hiccup!" I could feel tears brimming in my eyes. "I can't go out in that!"

"Come on! We have to!"

"I can't do it!"

"Well, I can't leave you here. You could get hurt."

"I could get hurt out there too!" He ran back to me, and without a moment of hesitation, firmly grasped my hand.

"Don't let go. I promise I've got you." I managed to smile at him, and we raced off to join the others, only to find that the entrance to the barn had been snowed over. Lightning and thunder screamed, and I squeezed Hiccup's hand out of shock.

"So much for the barn..."

"There's no other place to hold them!" Hiccup's head shot up; a clear sign he had an idea.

"The Great Hall." Another crash caused me to grip his hand with a crushing force.

"So, we're gonna have the dragons and the animals under the same roof..." Mulch chuckled nervously. "We know that won't work."

"We have no choice. Let's go."

We started to make our way down the mountain side, when suddenly, lighting struck a tree and knocked it over. Stormfly and Hookfang, who had been herding the animals along with us, became startled and ended up scaring the animals once again. They ran in chaotic, unorganized circles, trampling Snotlout and nearly crashing into Fishlegs. After they'd caused their chaos with us, they raced off into the glaring whiteness. Without thinking, Hiccup dragged me over to Toothless, and the two of us hopped on.

"Where are you two going?"

"We're going after them!"

"Forget it, Hiccup! We'll never get them rounded up in this storm!" I shouted over the wind.

"With Toothless, we can. I have to try. If I don't, we starve to death."

"No! Your father would kill me if I left you out here!" Ignoring all of Gobber's warnings, Hiccup took off. "Sorry, Gobber!" Warily, I looked back to see the others following behind.

"We've got company!" I announced. Hiccup took the briefest second to look back, then lowered Toothless to fly closer to the ground. The Night Fury shot out a plasma blast to give us some temporary light.

"You find as many as you can! We'll herd them back to the Great Hall."

"Can we swing by my house?" Fishlegs yelled. "I'd like to get my heavy coat." I pressed myself closer against Hiccup, both for warmth and out of fear of another lightning strike. We pulled up over a cliff, and Hiccup pointed down, deep into the blizzard.

"There they are! Come on!" Everyone dove and began to chase the animals, but it seemed to only make them run faster.

"Yaks on the left! Chickens to the right!" Snotlout knocked Fishlegs out of the way.

"Hey! I'm flyin' here!" He suddenly veered away from a tree and into the sky, his flying pattern becoming completely erratic. Together, Fishlegs and Astrid were able to trap most of the sheep and get them on the right course.

"Hiccup! Stray sheep!" We glanced over and saw a few of the woolen creatures running up a mountainside. Suddenly, one fell away from its flock and began sliding toward that ravine Hiccup and I had been trapped in earlier.

"Hiccup!"

"I see him!" Toothless dove at a speed that caused the wind to split some of my skin open, but I didn't care. The dragon managed to catch the little sheep before he met a terrible fate, and set him down on solid ground. "Good job, bud." The snow was starting to get into the open wounds on my fingertips, and I was losing the feeling in them quickly. Astrid emerged from the falling snow.

"Hiccup, the storm is getting worse! I can't see anything!" Determined, Hiccup turned Toothless around.

"Come on, bud. Give us some light." Toothless shot out a plasma blast, revealing the last of the animals we needed to round up. "Stray yaks, twelve o'clock."

"I see them!" Ruff and Tuff dove toward the fleeing animals as I fought to remain conscious.

The one thing I couldn't handle was the cold. Any temperature drop below freezing was too intense for my body, so this snowstorm was like something straight out of a nightmare. The twins flew back toward us, revealing that the yaks weren't yaks at all! They were Gobber and Chief Stoick! They put them down, and Hiccup landed Toothless, taking the time to help me off before we both approached Stoick.

"You shouldn't be out here, Hiccup!"

"Dad... I'm sorry I let you down."

"It's not your fault, son. I'm taking you back."

"Which way?" I couldn't blame Gobber for getting lost.

"Follow our tracks." Chief Stoick pointed in the direction they'd come from, but there were no tracks on the ground. They'd already been covered by fresh snow.

"So much for that idea!" I violently shuddered, attempting to keep myself warm and awake.

"Sir? What are we gonna do now?" Fishlegs asked timidly. We all shivered at the same time." He looked around at all of us.

"Everyone, come together." He extended his arms out, and we all came into a circle, standing as close as possible without actually touching. Suddenly, the dragons came closer, and caged us in a circle of their wings. Everyone stared at them in awe. "What are they doing?"

"They're protecting us."

"It's their natural instinct."

I think that's what I said.

Each dragon shot a blast to create a fire, and things slowly started to warm up. Toothless bounded over to the three stray sheep, and gently got one of them to enter our circle, which caused all the others to follow. It was amazing, a miracle, even!

"Your dragons are really something, son."

"Yeah, they are."

I wish all of this had been enough for me... but it wasn't. I could feel myself shaking even harder than before, and it was getting more and more difficult to stay awake. I think at that moment, everyone noticed.

"Dad, something's wrong with Reign!" I stumbled and collapsed into the snow, and found no strength to lift myself back up. I was stuck down there. "Whoa, I've got you." I could feel a few people helping me up, but that's the last thing I remember before everything went black.

I gently opened my eyes as I felt feeling come back to my body. My limbs felt heavy, and there was a stinging pain in my fingertips, but I could feel my limbs again.

"She's waking up!"

"Come on, give her some space."

"Okay... everyone out except Hiccup and Stoick. Come on, go, go..." Things were blurry at first, but after my vision cleared, I was able to get my bearings. I was in the Great Hall, wrapped in what seemed like five blankets.

And I currently had a Night Fury staring down at me with big eyes.

Toothless suddenly purred and licked my face like an enthusiastic dog. I laughed and managed to sit up.

"Hey, bud," I chuckled. "Don't worry, I'm okay." The eccentric Night Fury stepped away, revealing Hiccup sitting in a chair, looking slightly wan.

"Thank Thor you're awake..." he muttered before standing up and coming over to hug me, which I happily returned. "What... happened back there?"

"I can't handle the cold all that well. I'm surprised you never noticed." I looked down at my hands to see all my fingers wrapped in bandages.

"If you feel good enough, Gothi cleared you to get up and go," Gobber informed me. Warily, I stood up and stretched. My legs felt slightly shaky, but overall, I was fine at this point. However, as I walked toward the door, I had Toothless on one side of me, and Hiccup on the other, both looking at me as though I were about to fall again.

"Guys, come on," I laughed. "I'm fine."

"Sorry." Hiccup blushed. "I just... after that first time you passed out, I got really freaked out."

"Sorry I scared you, then." I thought for a moment. "How'd I get back, by the way?" Hiccup turned even redder.

"Toothless and I carried you back." I smiled affectionately and turned to give Toothless a light scratch. I then turned to Hiccup and hugged him.

"Thank you, both of you."

We made our peace with the dragons when we learned that we could trust them. Turns out, they actually have instincts to protect us. All of us. Life on Berk just got a little warmer.