Disclaimer: I don't own How to Train Your Dragon or Dragon Heart or anything affiliated with either.
This is a sequel to "Twin Hearts of Destiny," and this first chapter is just a prologue.
"She looks like she's sleeping." A soft voice commented in a cave that was dimly lit by molten lava that flowed slowly in the background. A young dragon stood over the form of a young girl, who truly could have been asleep- if not for the massive crimson spike that stuck out of her chest, and the pool of blood that continued to gather around her.
A larger, and much older, dragon murmured, "She's so young..."
Watching the trail of blood join with the lava flow and sizzle, the younger added, "Too young..." He then seemed to remember something and straightened up, "Father," He looked to the other, determined, "You told me once that there's a way... A way to fix things like this... When humans get hurt... What is it?"
The father hesitated, "It is possible to share your heart with a human... But it can only be done once in a lifetime, and you must choose carefully. If the human's heart is impure, it will corrupt yours as well... And it gives them partial invincibility. The dragon would become their life force. Any wound that either the dragon or the human suffers, the pain would be shared between the two, and the human could not die until the dragon does. For those reasons... It's extremely risky."
Drake considered this for a moment, looking at the human girl with a pained expression before finally closing his eyes, "How do you do it?" He questioned, "What do I have to do?"
For a moment, there was silence as the two dragons looked one another in the eye, before finally the larger asked, "Are you sure you want to do this?"
"She's my friend! I can't just let her... She's a good person, you said so yourself." Drake whimpered, moving to the girl and pulling the spike out of her chest. "She can't die..."
"If you're sure..." Draco guided his son through the process of lifting his chestplate and cutting out his own heart with the words, "Half my heart to make you whole. It's strength to purify your weakness."
For a time, there was an eerie calm as half of Drake's heart beat within Audney's chest. He faintly wondered if he'd done something wrong, but just as he was about to voice his concerns, he felt a stabbing pain in his chest as Audney's wounds began to heal suddenly. "Augh!" He fell to the ground, his head beside hers, wheezing in pain. And then, slowly, her eyes opened. "Aud...ney?" He called out softly.
The girl sat up suddenly and turned to the dragon, "Drake! Drake, what happened? Are you okay?" She fretted, gently touching a hand to his head. She didn't see any visible wounds to tend, so she wasn't sure what more she could do.
With a small smile, the young dragon replied simply, "You're alive," and closed his eyes, exhaustion from the day's events and the extreme pain getting the better of him and rendering him unconscious.
"Drake..." Horror washed over Audney's face as she recalled the last few moments of her life. One of the spines on the Red Death's tail had blown out in the explosion and was going to impale Drake if she didn't do something. So she'd... Placing both hands on her chest where there should have been the spine of the tail, she felt that there was a hole in her shirt, and, looking down, saw a scar through that blood-stained hole. "I don't understand..." She murmured.
A deep voice from behind her "He'll be fine... You saved his life." Audney whirled around to face Draco, but calmed the moment she saw the dragon's face. "You saved his life, and so, he saved yours."
A hand still clutching the hole in her shirt, she asked softly, "How? Why? I don't... I don't understand... One minute, there was a spike coming at his head... I tried to get him out of the way... That's all I remember, that spike hurtling towards us."
Draco moved said spike into the light for her to see, "You caught it instead of him. It went straight through you," The girl twisted and turned, reaching around herself, until she finally managed to feel a second hole on the back of her shirt.
"Am I... Am I dead?" She squeaked, looking to the dragon.
"By rights, you should be," He replied, wanting to make sure that she was aware of this fact, "But Drake insisted upon saving you. There's an ancient glory that was bestowed upon us dragons, the ability to share our hearts with a human." Audney looked even more confused at this, so he went on, "'Half my heart to make you whole. It's strength to purify your weakness,' that is the intention of the ceremony. The dragon removes half of his heart and places it into a human's chest. With this, the dragon and human share in everything, every pain, every emotion, even death... For a person with a dragon's heart cannot die until the dragon does, as well. We can do this but once in our lives, and it is a great risk, for if the human's heart is impure, it will taint the dragon's own."
The girl looked down at the scar on her chest, "Drake did that... for me?" She whispered, in awe.
"He did," Draco affirmed, "So live well, and stand by your word. Remember the Old Code."
Tears welled up in Audney's eyes as she rushed to Drake's side and lifted his head, forcing the unconscious dragon into a hug, "Oh, Drake! I'm so sorry, you didn't have to do this for me! I... I promise you, buddy, I'll never do anything to make you regret this."
"I know you wouldn't," Drake's voice came from over her shoulder. She pulled back to stare into his now-open and aware eyes, "I know... So don't cry, okay?"
She sniffled and let go of the young dragon's head to wipe her eyes obediently. For a time, they stayed like this, and silence filled the cave, with the exception of the occasional popping of bubbles of lava, until finally, Audney got to her feet and turned to face Draco, "Please," She said earnestly, "Please, help me become stronger. Help me learn... to protect this gift."
Draco smiled a bit. So far, it seemed that Drake had made the right decision. Perhaps in saving her... he'd really been helping himself. "Alright then, but not today. You should let your scar settle a while."
She nodded slightly, seeming to understand, then glanced back at Drake, who seemed to have fallen asleep again, "I will protect you, Drake, I swear it... And this time, without any secrets."