Chapter Text
“Well, that sounds promising.” Ryker said to one of the hunters who was responsible for dragon fights. They were having problems with dull fights for some time now. He told the hunter to fix this problem and to his surprise he did. There were hundreds of people going in just to watch this one fight and this many customers would make them a whole lot of gold.
“I have a new challenger for the Triple Stryke… A great challenger I dare say.”
“What kind of dragon?” Ryker asked with a suspicious expression.
“A night fury-” as the hunter said those words, he was lifted by Ryker in the air.
“He’s not going to fight! We need this dragon alive!”
“There’s no way I’m canceling the fight! Don’t you see how much gold we would lose?!” Said the hunter with a nervous tone. They hadn’t had this many clientele since forever.
“And what about the boy?! Where is he?!” Ryker couldn’t believe it. They have captured a dragon rider and didn’t think to inform him?! Hiccup Haddock of all! It would fix most of their problems right now.
“You don’t have to worry about him-” before he could finish, he was taken into choke hold.
“If triple strike kills that night fury, I kill you. And bring the boy on my ship. Knock him out before. After the fight, you bring night fury to me too.” Ryker released him and walked the other way.
“I really hate that guy.” Said the hunter and touched his neck.
Dragon fighting, Ryker outdone himself. Astrid thought. They were on the mission to save Hiccup, Toothless and every dragon that needed their help. But they were mostly here for Hiccup and Toothless, as Snoutlout left them in that cave, drugged and vulnerable. But on the other side, it was Hiccup who told him to go and tell them, at least that was what Snotlout told them.
She and the gang penetrated the small island. Snotlout and others went from above, while She and Heather went into the cells, looking for Hiccup. But after they looked through all of them and didn’t find him, the anxiety settled in. They went into the final cell. There were four imprisoned dragons who clearly went through a lot of fights in their lives.
Toothless was fighting while she and Heather were liberating these dragons. They opened the door and dragons were free. Toothless seemed to be helping the dragon he was fighting. At least he didn’t kill him, even though he looked pissed off.
Astrid looked around the cell for the last time and noticed an empty chain that clearly fitted a human leg. He must have been here and they were too late!
“He was here…” She whispered. Heather looked at her with concern and when Astrid pointed at an empty chain, she gaped. “He was there but we were too late! Ryker must have taken him.” Her face flared with fury as she took her axe and slammed it so hard to the ground that the stone cracked and her axe got stuck in it. She took it back and closed her eyes to calm herself. Heather's hand on her shoulder helped her with that.
“Come on, we have to find him.” Astrid said as she left the room. She jumped onto Stormfly and flew to other riders with Heather, ignoring the booing crowd.
“Astrid, slow down. We don’t even know where he has been taken!” Heather said.
“Where’s Hiccup?!” Snoutlout called from Hookfang, who was holding Toothless with his paws. He was moaning and crying. He was probably missing Hiccup.
“He’s not here! They have taken him!” Astrid said. Her tone was serious but also stressed at the same time. She didn’t know where Hiccup was or what they were doing to him. Snotlout's face dropped with that information.
“Let’s interrogate one hunter! They must know where he was taken.” Heather suggested and Astrid didn’t need to be told twice. She dove down on Stormfly and took one hunter in Stomfly’s claws. She flew high up. He started screaming and yelling in pain.
“Where’s Hiccup?! Where did you take him?!” She asked him.
“AH!- I swear to Gods! I don’t know. Ryker didn’t tell me where he was taking him! I swear! Please!” He said. Astrid went down with Stormfly at full speed and dropped him onto the grass. She flew to others. They were speechless. They haven't seen her in such fury for a long time.
“Well, that was fast.” Tuffnut commented.
“Astrid, I think you need to calm down.” Heather said with a stern tone. Astrid looked at her. She looked like she wanted to snap back at first but then she nodded and took a couple of deep breaths. She knew that Heather was right. They wouldn’t be able to find Hiccup if she was acting this way.
“Okay, so we don’t know if there’s a way for us to find a ship that Ryker and Hiccup are on, so I suggest we split. Snotlout will go with Toothless to Berk and tell Chief what happened and the rest of us will look for the ship.”
“But why do I have to tell the chief what happened?! He will kill me!” Snotlout shouted.
“First of all, you’re holding Toothless and you’re not going to be carrying him all the way while you would be looking for a shit. And second, you’re the one who knows exactly what happened, so you can tell the chief everything with details. Now let’s go!” Astrid said and they all went in different directions. Snotlout rolled his eyes but went towards Berk.
“We’ve been looking for him for two hours now. We won’t find him!” Rufnutt yelled from Barf. Astrid shook her head.
“No, he has to be here somewhere!”
“Unfortunately, I have to agree with her, Astrid. There’s no way we can find him. Especially as the sun is starting to set down.” Fishlegs agreed with a cringe on his face.
Astrid clenched Stormfly’s saddle in her hands. She didn’t want to meet their eyes. She didn’t want the thought that they wouldn’t find him to settle down with her. She needed to find him and make sure he was safe. But, at the same time, she knew that they were right. Flying around the sea was just pointless. She took a deep breath and said: “Fine. Let’s go.”
They have flown for two hours. It was nighttime already, but when they had reached Berk, she could already see from a distance that the chief's hut was lightened up. Near the hut was Hookfang, sleeping. They landed near it when the door of the hut swung open. Hookfang’s head went up in alarm. Toothless has darted out first, circling them, looking if they had Hiccup. Stoick went right after him.
“Hiccup?! Do you have him?!” He yelled. Astrid knew that he was furious. She bowed her head and shook it with a pained expression. Stoick’s expression darkened. Astrid cringed as he threw his axe in front of him, missing her and other riders.
He walked forward, cursing on the way, and collected his axe.
“What do we do, Chief?” She asked.
“We make a search party, that’s what we do. Collect any information on where they might have him. When I’ll meet this Viggo personally, I will get it in his head that if he picks a fight with one of us, he gets all of us.”
“Chief, I think it would be better if we waited for any information or rumor of where Hiccup might be. And then do the search party. Otherwise it’ll be pointless.” Heather suggested. He looked at her sternly.
“I will send out Team A in the morning for the search. You can rest tonight. Then you will look for any news. Maybe Johann has heard something.” Stoick said and walked away.
Astrid nodded. She looked at Toothless. He looked miserable. Astrid knew what he was feeling, as she was drowned in the same emptiness, sadness and fury. I’ll make Viggo pay , she made a promise to herself.
Hiccup didn’t know how long he had been out, but his head was feeling as if it had been hit by a dragon. All he remembered was Toothless being brought into the fighting area and one of the hunters hitting him hard on the back of his head. With a struggle, he opened his eyes and looked around the room he was kept in. It wasn’t really a room, more like a cell on a ship. He smelled the breeze, salty air and felt the waves underneath him. He tried to move his arms and legs, but both of them were put in chains. Well, Ryker wasn’t playing, it seemed. He tried so hard to stay awake, but his eyes started to close on their own accord. After a while, he finally gave up and fell asleep again.
He woke up to a slap on his cheek. His eyes snapped open. He still was on a ship, but this time he was surrounded by guards. One was undoing chains around his arms and legs, others were staring and laughing at him. Ryker was in the back, watching.
“Get up, we’re taking you to Viggo.” He barked unpleasantly.
“Where’s Toothless…” Hiccup slurred out.
“The dragon? Don’t worry, boy. Unfortunately, he managed to escape. You were less lucky.” Ryker said.
When one of the guards shoved him up to his feet by his arm, he tried to get out of their grasps and run away, but he was just too weak. Guard didn’t even flinch, he just shoved Hiccup harder out of the door. He cringed at the pain that ran through his shoulder. He was escorted through the corridors with four guards and Ryker on his side, so there was no way for him to escape.
They also bounded his hands behind his back. At least they didn’t take his peg leg. They walked out of the ship to the island. There were many buildings but also many cages with dragons in them. Hiccup's stomach twisted. He was just glad that Toothless was not here with him. He hoped that other riders would rescue him too.
As he was deep in his thoughts, he suddenly faced the door that he knew was to Viggo’s study. He stood for a second, frozen in place, but Ryker shoved him inside. The room was well kept, with a lot of expensive furniture elements and books, maps. On the desk was a game of Maces and Talons, Viggo’s favourite. And of course, behind the desk was Viggo himself. He looked like he was expecting Hiccup, because he most likely was.
“Oh, Hiccup. I’m so glad that you finally joined the party. I hope that you were treated well.” Viggo said with a victorious smirk on his face. It made Hiccup want to punch him and make it disappear. “Oh, but don’t be so sad, my dear Hiccup. I need your mind sharp, we have some things to disguise, don’t we?”
“I won’t tell you anything, Viggo.” Hiccup said with his fists clenched on his sides..
“Oh, I’m hoping for it,” Ryker said with the ugliest smile on his face. A small panic flared inside Hiccup as Ryker put his hand on a blade.
“No, big brother, right now there will be no need for using these big muscles of yours. Not yet.” Viggo said. He took one pawn from the game and examined it. In the meantime, Ryker has forced Hiccup to sit down in front of Viggo. “Now, Hiccup, I know you and your riders have more lenses for dragon eye. So why don’t you tell me what information is on them, or where do you keep them?”
“Do you really think that I’m just going to tell you?” Hiccup asked with an unimpressed expression. Viggo smirked and then chuckled. He looked amused.
“Of course not, but I’ll give you a choice. You give me information I want or you will experience pain and suffering that you never had before.”
“Give your best shot.” As he said it, Ryker’s fist collided with his jaw in a painful punch. He groaned, but before he could recover another punch came to the side of head. His vision blackened. He groaned and felt blood gathering in his mouth.
“Ready to talk, my dear Hiccup?” Viggo asked. Hiccup looked at him and then spit at him with saliva and blood. Viggos eye’s darkened in disgust and looked at his brother with a meaningful look. Then another punch came, this time to his stomach…
Hiccup didn’t know how long they had been torturing him for, but he now started to feel like he would die at any given moment. If he passed out they would just wake him up or wait for him to continue the interrogation. Everything was hurting him and now he wondered if there was a part of his body that didn’t hurt.
“Ah, Hiccup, and to think that I believed that I could get something from you… Well, as you’re pretty much useless to me right now, I think we can get rid of you now.”
“What do you want me to do with him?” Ryker asked with a cruel smile. Viggo looked thoughtfully.
“I will give him one more chance. Maybe he will give us something worth our time in the end. Put him with a hungry monstrous nightmare in a cage. If he gets eaten, then there will be no problem left, if he will tame the beast, maybe we will get to see how he does it.”
Hiccup couldn’t lie, he stressed a little, even if he was the first one to train dragons on Berk. If they didn’t feed this dragon long enough, he might not have a chance to save himself. But an idea formed in his mind.
As Ryker put him in a standing position by his shoulder, he slammed his elbow, with all the strength he could gather, into his stomach. As the small chaos ensued, he pulled a small knife out of Ryker’s belt. He prayed that neither Ryker, nor Viggo noticed it. He quickly put the knife in his sleeve, before he got slammed into the wall by Ryker once more. As he hit the wall, a thick hot liquid started to pour down his face.
“tut, tut, tut, Hiccup.” tutted Viggo. “Of course you wouldn’t give up, you’re too stubborn.”
Ryker started to drag him by his arms. Hiccup’s limp legs or leg, were leaving slightly visible lines in the dirt. Hiccup was saving his energy to face a dragon. It brought back the memories of his first fight with monstrous nightmare at the area in Berk. But he couldn’t be thinking about that right now. He had to focus. So he focused on a blade in his sleeve and that he couldn’t drop it. The journey lasted several minutes. When it ended, he was harshly dropped into creepy looking arena. It looked worse than the one that they had at Berk. There was a lot of cages with angry looking dragons. Hiccup empathized with them. They were most likely starved for days.
Hiccup groaned and supported his upper body with one arm. He managed to sit down on his bottom. With a struggle he got up to his feet, almost collapsing in the process.
“Well, my dear Hiccup, In case I will say what I’ve got to say. You were a worthy opponent, but there’s only one winner.” Viggo called after him from the upper railings. Hiccup studied the arena more carefully and noticed that the ceiling was made out of chains. They were most likely dragon proof so there was no way of escaping. He would try nevertheless, even if he would fail.
A clicking noise got his attention. Ryker was holding the lever. One cage’s door opened. Out of darkness, a big pair of yellow eyes looked at him. He stumbled back. Then the dragon lit up and he could see just how big he was.
“Alright, dragon. Please don’t kill me.” Hiccup mumbled to himself and straightened his back. The dragon growled and started walking towards him. He could practically feel Viggo’s eyes studying him, waiting to do something. But Hiccup didn’t break eye contact with the monstrous nightmare in front of him. Instead, he revealed the blade he had in his sleeve. When the dragon saw it, he growled louder and shot a huge cloud of fire at him. Hiccup ducked and collapsed in the process. He felt a burning sensation on his side, but he ignored it. He showed the blade once more and with all the confidence he had he tossed it aside.
“I’m not one of them… please trust me…” He said quietly.
“How did he have a blade with him?!” He could hear Ryker’s shout.
“Are you a fool, Hiccup Haddock?” He heard Viggo’s question, but ignored both of them. He had his hands up in the air. Dragon looked at him with curiosity, but he was still growling. Hiccup gambled his chances and looked away from the dragon.
He put the palm of his hand out. The growling stopped and now the whole arena was drowned with silence. It lasted a couple seconds before he felt the warm dragon’s snout pressed against his hand. He breathed with relief and looked in front of him. He saw Viggo’s curiosity and shock and Ryker’s anger, but he wasted no time. He patted the dragon on the snout and when he had his attention, he pointed at his captors.
Dragons growled and fired at them. Both of them ducked in two different directions. Hiccup ran towards the closed entrance and started to try to open them, but the door wouldn’t budge. He cursed and stepped aside. Suddenly, the dragon slammed into the cage with all his force.
Hiccup grimaced, because he knew that this was painful, but it worked. He and the dragon started running forwards, but then the monstrous nightmare dropped down behind him and crushed into his legs. They were stuck under the dragon who had an arrow sticking out of his back. Ryker was standing behind him with a bow. He smirked. Viggo came from behind him.
“I have to say. You surprised me. I also underestimated you, but well. I think I will find a better use for you. You can take him underground, big brother.” Viggo said with a smug expression. But it changed as he got lost in thoughts. A crazy thought sparked in Hiccup’s mind. Maybe Viggo would realise that dragons were not just mindless beasts, as many people claimed? Maybe when he saw him not getting eaten by a hungry dragon was enough?
“W-what’s underground-AH!” Hiccup asked and shouted in pain as some guards pulled him from the trap he got himself into.
“Oh, you’ll see. But I can assure you just now that nothing pleasant.”
“Funny enough, I figured this out myself.”
“Good to see your sense of humor is still intact, after all this torture. Take him!” Viggo ordered and he was once again forced to go where they wanted him to go.
When they arrived, he was tossed into a dark and dirty cell. He hit the floor but scrambled to his feet right away. He didn’t make it on time to escape through the open door, so he clenched the metal bars in his fists. Other cells were empty, to his surprise. He looked back and to his surprise he noticed a small kid, hugging her knees in the back of the cell. His anger has risen up. Not only were they torturing dragons here but also literal children! How dare they.
“What, you’re into torturing little kids now?” Hiccup spat out.
To his surprise, Viggo looked as surprised as he was.
“Brother, what is a child doing here?” Viggo asked while masking his anger.
“We were doing tests, as you asked.” Ryker answered.
“What tests?” Hiccup asked but he was ignored.
“I’m aware of my own orders, but I never said to do those on children. I expected to do those on prisoners.”
“Well, she was the only one who survived.” Ryker said with his fists clenched.
“I don’t care about that. Release her. You have a new test subject now.” Viggo said and turned to leave. Ryker watched after him.
“You heard your brother, release the kid.” Hiccup sneered. Ryker seemed even more angry.
“And why would I get rid of another test subject, huh? You may not know it, but down here, my brother rarely watches over what I’m doing. He just gives orders, which I don’t always listen to.” Ryker said with a smirk. Hiccup turned to see the girl, who was still looking scared out of her soul.
“What will you do to us?”
“Right now, nothing. You’ll have to wait some time.” Ryker also left. The only light source was a small window with moonlight going through it. But there was no way he would fit to escape through it.
Hiccup slumped down the wall and looked at the kid. She was pale and really small. She had short, light brown, roughly cut hair and blue eyes. Dirt was all over her face. She also looked like she hadn't eaten in two weeks.
“Hi kid, you’re alright?” He asked. The kid just stared at him. She looked like she was on the verge of tears. When she didn’t answer for seconds more, Hiccup sighed and said: “You don’t want to talk? That’s fine. If I were you, I probably wouldn’t want to talk either.”
“I promise I’ll get us out of here…” Hiccup said to himself. After some time in this prison he finally began to fell all the pain and exhaustion from torture that he endured. He couldn’t help it when his eyes closed.
“Take him, leave the girl.” Hiccup was woken up to being dragged out of the cell.
“Where are you taking me?” He asked.
“For your first experiment.” Ryker said from the darkness. He had a cruel smile on his face. As they were walking upwards, Hiccup asked:
“Do you even know her name?”
“Whose?”
“The kid… from the cell.”
“Who cares about that.”
Before Hiccup could respond a gag was put in his mouth. His eyes were also covered with some disgusting, smelly, dirty, cold material. They walked a couple of minutes before they reached their destination. Ryker uncovered his eyes, but the gag stayed in. Hiccup guessed that was for him not to tell Viggo about the girl that Ryker didn’t let go. He was forced into another cell. It looked like ones that they have kept the dragons in. Hiccup could only guess what they were going to do to him.
“Ah, Hiccup. You’ve finally joined us. How wonderful.” Viggo clapped his hands. On the other side of his cell, there was a pot, which was being heated up by fire. Somebody was constantly stirring it.
“You’re probably wondering what will happen to you. Let me explain. As you know, I am in possession of Dragon eye now.” Viggo glared at him with victory painted on his face. “Well, when I was researching it, I came up with this one interesting lens. It was old and scratched so I couldn’t read the entire thing, but it was about turning people into dragons.”
Hiccup was shocked. How could this be possible? Viggo knew that he had Hiccup’s full attention, so he continued.
“The effects were supposed to be permanent, but as the recipe for the whole solution is slightly destroyed, we cannot get it right. So we’ve been experimenting with it. You’re going to be our another test subject. And if we succeed, we will have a night fury to sell.” Viggo circled him and picked something up from his armor. He showed it to Hiccup. It was one of Toothless scales.
“Don’t worry, my dear Hiccup. I have many more of these. I’ve been collecting those on our little battles.” Viggo said and walked towards the pot. He nodded to the man who was stirring it and dropped the scale inside it. The mixture inside bubbled and the scale dissolved. The liquid inside now took a dark, almost black color. Hiccup wasn’t happy about it. He felt drops of sweat starting to pour down his forehead. His heart began to beat faster. He honestly didn’t know if he could trust Viggo on what he was saying, but why would he lie to him now? Was locking him up and telling him this story just a big joke? It sounded like they were talking about magic, but apparently it was true. Hiccup tried to get his hands untied from behind his back, but it was useless. Viggo chuckled at his pathetic escape attempt.
Minute after minute Hiccup was starting to believe what Viggo was saying harder. Panic settled in. On how many men have tried it before? And how many of them ended up dead? Or maybe they got turned into dragons but died the day after? This thought was terrifying to him. He wanted to live, he wasn’t ready to die!
“Come on, Hiccup. I will have to remove the gag and you will drink this.” Viggo approached the cell with a cup, which was filled with dark liquid. “It’s a new recipe, you know. You might be the lucky one who won’t die.”
Viggo removed his gag and Hiccup sewed his mouth shut. Viggo rolled his eyes.
“Don’t make it harder than it needs to be.”
Then he brought his hand to his cheeks and squeezed them in a strong grip that forced Hiccup’s jaw to open. Then he felt hot liquid pouring down his throat. It tasted like raw, spoiled fish with a hint of something he didn’t recognise. He started to choke on the liquid, as he tried to spit it out, but it was no use as Viggo now put his hand over his mouth. Mixture was burning his mouth and throat. Some ended up in his lungs and the rest went to his stomach. After a couple seconds he felt his muscles relax. They relaxed so much that he couldn’t move anything or say anything. He was laid on the cold floor. He felt numb. Like pain went away and left some kind of hole in there.
“Now, let me explain. If done correctly, the solution should first paralyze you for a while. Then the pain of transformation will come… The rest you’ll hopefully experience yourself.”
Hiccup hated this. He was in fact paralyzed right now. He couldn’t even do as much as twitch a finger. He wanted to scream but no sound escaped his throat. He has never felt so frustrated. He began to stress. Now he had only two variants of how this would play out. One, he would die. Two, he would turn into a dragon, most likely forever. And as the first symptom of what Viggo described was correct, Hiccup was afraid that he was going to face a second fate.
He laid there, unable to do anything for several minutes. He felt the eyes of Viggo, Ryker and his men over his body, studying him as if he was an exhibition. Then he started to get his feeling back to his body. But with that privilege came massive pain. A huge wave of bone-snapping feeling came across his body. Then he felt like his muscles were on fire. Like they were pulled all in different directions. A grievous scream escaped his mouth. He curled into a ball, trying to get as much comfort as he could.
Of course, it did a whole lot of nothing. He clenched his fists and stuck them to the ground. He closed his eyes as hard as he could and continued to scream in agony. He wanted it to end. He felt scales growing out of his skin in a painful way. He knew his body was deforming, but it didn’t change the fact of how painful the process was. He also felt like his spine extended. It was probably tail growing out. Then something popped out of his back. Wings. Hiccup didn’t know how long he could survive like this. He just knew that he must have been covered in blood right now.
The whole thing lasted about ten minutes. Then the pain stopped. Hiccup slumped on the ground, shivering at the pain that he just went through. He closed his eyes and then opened them. He looked at his hands, but instead he noticed two black paws. So it worked. If Hiccup had any energy left, he would most likely freak out. But considering he was tortured for a long time, hasn’t eaten and the thing that just happened, he had the right to be too exhausted to not want to fight them anymore.
His body felt sore. He didn’t know if it was from transformation on torture, or maybe both, but hasn’t felt this way in a long time. Besides that he felt heavier and like he had three additional limbs he couldn’t control. Well, maybe because he had a tail and a pair of wings.
“It worked…” He heard Viggos' voice. He was pleased. “How remarkable…” Viggo studied him, as he and Ryker entered the cage. All he could do now was give them a rageful glare from the ground, that probably wasn’t that scary from the defeated dragon.
“Funny, you love dragons so much, my dear Hiccup. I hope you won’t mind being one, right?” To be fair, Hiccup did sometimes wish to be a dragon, but he wouldn’t want that permanently, nor if it would be this painful!
Viggo’s hand traced his back. To his surprise it was a gentle touch. Then a wave of odd feelings came through him. He could hear a mix of voices from basically everywhere. He also could identify every smell in this room and because of that he could tell that there were seven men without him in the room right now.
As Viggo was examining him, he felt this instinct, a wave of distrust. He wanted these two men away from him. As he couldn’t stand up on his own, he decided to give them a threatening growl. Viggo and Ryker just raised eyebrows, but didn’t pay much attention to him.
When all those feelings were coming back to him, he felt that he still didn’t have half of his leg. And he felt that he was lying on something. His metal leg. Great. Now he would limp as a dragon, but also as human if he ever turned back.
Then he looked around once more and saw torn clothes around. A wave of embarrassment came crashing down on him. Not only was he in the most vulnerable position he could be, he was also naked in front of his worst enemy recently. Things could not get any better.
“Do you think he still has a human mind?” Ryker asked.
Hiccup couldn’t help but say something. What do you think, muttonhead? But it only came out like an aggressive growl. Hiccup sighed. Right, he couldn’t talk this way.
“I think we have our answer.” Viggo said. “Take him to his cage. And observe him for a week. If he turns back, we will continue tests.”
With that Viggo left. It left him with Ryker and five guards. Ryker approached his face- or snout and put his boot down on it. It irritated Hiccup so much that he tried to stand up and show him who was stronger now, but Ryker pressed it harder and slammed him to the ground.
“Don’t think it will be this easy, dragon .” Ryker sneered. “Stand up, you’re going to your cage.”
Hiccup tried to stand up, but the first time he did, he just stumbled back because of the imbalance that lack of a limb provided. He managed to get it right the second time, but then his tail started moving on his own accord. He could not control it. Suddenly, it swung and made Ryker fall down. He started cursing and Hiccup had to hold in his laugh. He knew Ryker wouldn’t appreciate getting slammed down and laughed at.
Ryker stood up and said: “Do it one more time and you’ll regret ever getting born, you runt.”
Hiccup rolled his eyes and limped his way out of the cell. It took a long time since he didn’t have his leg and his whole body was sore. He tried to flap his wings or move his tail on his own, but it seemed they didn’t want to do it.
The way to his cell lasted two times longer than before. Ryker left him to others as they were halfway there. When he finally got inside, one of the guards threw some red and brown material.
“Clothes if you turn back.” Then he threw a half eaten apple that he just took a bite off and two raw fish. “Dinner.” Other guards left. Only one stayed and he wasn’t especially interested in them.
Hiccup looked at the fish in disgust. Last time he had to eat raw fish was when Toothless forced him to. He doubted that it would taste any better now. He had an idea, to fry it with his plasma, but he had no idea how to fire it. Then he looked back. The girl was looking at him, at his missing leg especially. But she didn’t seem scared. She seemed more likely curious and understanding. She probably knew what happened to him, because they were doing the same thing to her. These monsters. But he was actually so impressed with Viggo that he didn’t want this kid tortured and experimented on. Maybe he wasn’t as soulless as he thought.
The kid looked at the half eaten apple and approached it with caution. She took it and went back to her place. He didn’t want to scare her, so he looked at his fish. He sighed and opened his mouth to take the fish. He had his teeth out, but he didn’t know how to retract them back.
With all the courage he had, he took the fish into his mouth. Great, now what? he thought as he could taste the fish. It wasn’t really as disgusting as last time, but it wasn’t tasty either. He held fish in his mouth. He remembered that Toothless never really chewed the fish he gave him. He just swallowed them whole. So he also tried to do it, but he started choking in the process. When he finally managed to push the fish down his throat, he made a disgusted face. Then he heard a small laugh in the back of the room. It was the girl laughing at him.
Right, it must be hilarious for you . But he wasn’t mad at her for laughing. It was the first time he saw other emotions in her than sadness and fear. He laughed as well, to show her that she could be comfortable around him. Then he swallowed another fish.. This attempt was far more successful than the last one, but he still almost choked on it.
When he ate his food, he lay down, close to the girl. He was exhausted and even the uncomfortable position he was in was good enough for him right now. Then he felt a small body pressed to his stomach. It was a girl, who was supporting her back on him. Her clothes were torn and didn’t look warm in any way. He was probably the warmest thing in this room. He wanted to cover her with his wing, but as he didn’t know how to use it, he didn’t want to hurt her. He just curled himself a little and stayed this way.
The next two days were pretty boring. At least his body didn’t feel so sore. A guard was always observing them, or more likely him. He didn’t turn back into a human. And the more time passed, the more hope he was losing. Ryker was just one time, he probab;y wanted to make sure personally that their little experiment was going as they wanted it to go.
The only positive aspects of the time that has passed was that he has figured out how to retract his teeth and use his wings and tail. He still didn’t know how to fire plasma blasts and he didn’t want to test it out with a girl in a cage with him. Also, the girl started to trust him more. He admitted that he enjoyed her company. She was the only thing that was bringing him joy and hope right now. He even grew protective over her and he didn’t know if it was about the dragon instinct or it was just him.
Today was the third day since they turned him into a dragon. He was lying and observing the guard when some other hunter opened the cage door. But when he entered the cell, he didn’t approach Hiccup. He approached the kid. Hiccup’s eyes widened. As the hunter started to pull the girl, he growled aggressively. He couldn’t let them take her and let her go through the same hell he did. He retracted his teeth and went to bite the man’s leg. He heard a cry of pain. The girl was set free. She ran across the room and hid behind him.
The hunter was cursing and yelling. Before Hiccup could take any further action, something sharp penetrated his side. He looked and saw an arrow sticking out of his side. His head got drowsy and loopy. He fell onto his stomach when his legs couldn’t manage to hold his weight anymore. He wanted to attack the guards, but his eyes closed without his control. The last thing he saw was the guard struggling with the girl before everything turned black.
When he woke up, he was alone. A pain in his side was bothering him a little. He tried to remember what happened and then it hit him. They took the girl! And they have shot him with a dragon root arrow! And for his unfortunate, it worked pretty well on him. He looked at the injury, there was no longer an arrow stuck in his flesh. Only a small wound that was already starting to heal.
He waited and waited and they weren’t coming back. What if they have killed her? Or if they were torturing her right now. Hiccup couldn’t stop thinking about it.
Finally, he heard footsteps. Two men were walking with someone. It must have been the girl! They entered the corridor. He released a breath of relief when he saw that they had the girl. She looked mostly unharmed, only with a few scratches and bruises on her arms. And she wasn’t a dragon!
“This is useless, I wonder why Ryker wants to keep her if the solution doesn’t work on her.” said one hunter when he threw the girl into the cell. Hiccup growled and went to check on her.
“He probably hopes for a miracle. Or to make a stronger one that would work on everybody…”
He licked her face out of instinct. She let out a giggle and tried to get away from him. He bumped his snout to her hand and made a happy sound. At least he hoped that it sounded like one. She was fine. But then he noticed something. Her previously ocean blue eyes were now glowing yellowish and orangish color. So they did something to her. Hiccup just wasn’t sure exactly what.
It was the fourth day when it happened. Hiccup was circling around and thinking about his friends, Astrid, his father and Toothless, when this sudden pain hit him. It was again this bone-crushing feeling. He let out a roar of pain and collapsed. He alarmed the girl and the guard. But he didn’t care about that. All he was feeling was agony. He felt his organs changing shape. His skin felt like it was on fire. Then he felt lighter, but also like a hot liquid was going down his body. His tail and wings have fallen off. He was screaming and thrashing around for a long time. When the pain had stopped, he laid on the cold floor, naked and covered in his own blood. He felt a material being gently laid down on him, covering everything he didn’t want others to see. He didn’t even want to know who did it, he just put the tunic on himself, then the pants.
His tail and wings, which had fallen off, were covering him from everybody. He looked and saw the girl who was sitting with her back on the wall. She had her head between her legs, looking at the floor. Ok, this must have been traumatic to see a man turn into a dragon. Especially that he left most of the dragon skin and body parts around the cell. He noticed that his hair has grown a lot. They were now shoulder length. This must have been a side effect.
But he was human again, that was what mattered. The turning back process was a little less painful then the last one.
Before he could stand up (As much as he could without his prosthetic) he felt a bucket of cold water being slammed into him. It cleaned him of most of the blood, but now he was left shivering on the floor. The guards rushed in and took him to the corridor. They have also taken the girl and they put her in the next cell. Hiccup wanted to shout at them, but he was cold and in pain. Then he felt his stomach ache, probably from raw fish that he had consumed during the time he was a Night Fury.
He was thrown into the cell with the girl.
“Report to Viggo and Ryker that the runt turned into a human.” He heard and the guards left.
He was left alone with the girl. Honestly, he was tired of calling her the kid or the girl.
“Hey kid…” He called. A pair of yellow eyes glared at him. “You wanna tell me your name?” He asked and waited for a reply but it never came. Instead she pointed at her throat and then at her mouth. Hiccup realised something. “You… can’t talk, can you?”
She nodded.
“O-Okay, that’s fine. Maybe you can… write it. With these rocks.” He pointed at some small rocks that were lying around. She nodded and started collecting them. Then she came in front of him and started to form the rocks into letters.
“Lily, that's your name?” He asked as he read what she had written. She nodded vigorously with a smile on her face. “That’s a nice name. I’m Hiccup.”