Alrighty! This is going to be fun.
If you want to know how I'll be writing this, then take So Long and the first-person narrative of I Hear Him Scream and mash them together and you've got something like this one.
It's going to be 94 chapters counting this one. Whoo-boy!
This story is also a sort of experiment. I've always wanted to try and write a firm, rooted story that interacts with the readers without becoming a plain shout-out to them or a 'do it yourself'-ish read. I made a tumblr, named 'ask-trapped-toothless' (because I'm original, haha). You guys'll see how it affects the story later, but for now, hit it up if you'd like and leave a message on it (if you do, make sure you add the '.tumblr' at the end).
The story and tumblr both coincide with each other, meaning that what happens here will happen on the tumblr, and most of what happens on the tumblr will happen here even if it isn't actually written. I say most because some OOC moments may happen for kicks. Hope that makes sense!
Just keep in mind that I'm not going to go out of my way to include every detail from the tumblr in this, and whatever happens in it absolutely will NOT change the plot of this story. So no need to worry about the audience changing it, it's completely set.
I'll stop rambling now. Enjoy, and stay tuned!
I squeezed my eyes shut and held my breath. Then, as if waiting to receive a Snoggletog gift, I snapped to attention at the ravine.
This had to be it! I'd been doing this for hours. The sun had already risen, which was great and all, but that meant that someone was going to notice sooner or later that I wasn't, you know, home and then I'd be in even more trouble.
Nothing. No sign of the dragon. But I swear that I actually hit it this time! As I'd said, it went down right off Raven Point. I was just having a little trouble with the 'right off' part. Raven Point was already a mile or two behind me.
Scowling crossly, I lifted my sketchbook and crossed out the area I was at on a hastily-drawn map of Berk. In a sudden fit of frustration and anger, I scratched out the whole thing, taking out my anger on the defenseless page. It wasn't fair! I'd worked so hard to not be a screwup, and now that I did something right, it just had to go and lodge itself in the deepest, most obscure part of the forest imaginable. If the stupid dragon was still there, anyways.
"Ugh, the gods hate me," I moaned, snapping my abused notebook shut and tucking it inside my fur jacket. The ravine widened horridly, its gaping mouth plunging a heart-stopping height below. I carefully climbed on top of a log and made my way over it, making sure to tell myself don't look down over and over. "Some people lose their dagger, or their mug…"
I swung my left leg out and stomped it down angrily. "No, not me!" The log moaned and wiggled when I jumped off of it. "I manage to lose an entire dragon!" Rage suddenly overcame me, and on impulse I slapped a tree branch as hard as I could. Any other Viking in Berk would have broken the twig clean off from such a blow, so I foolishly assumed the same would go for me. It didn't.
The branch came back with a vengeance, slapping me upside the head. I yelped and held my cheek, blushing in embarrassment despite apparently being the only living soul in the area. Just as I was about to turn on the branch again, though, I finally noticed something that I really should have the second I crossed the ravine.
This giant tree was broken clean in half!
Wide eyes scaled the fallen giant and a very clear trench. Something very big had crashed through here very fast. It couldn't possibly have been a landslide.
My feet carried me through the path before I made the decision to. The forest stilled. I suddenly became aware of how all the birds had quieted except for the few giving warning calls. I had actually been hearing their cries all morning, but had assumed that they were panicking because I was wandering through their home.
As I slowly realized that I was getting closer to the legendary Night Fury (or at least where it had landed), my heart picked up double-time and refused to calm. This was it. This was the moment of truth, to see if my invention had worked to its full extent, to see if I'd managed to do something right for once!
I reached several fallen stones and cautiously glanced over them.
There it is!
I gasped and hid behind the rocks to gather my wits again. Peeking over them one last time, I crept out from their comforting shelter to face the dragon.
It didn't look alive.
"Oh, w-wow," I whispered. "I did it. I did it! Yes!" I ran forward, arms outstretched as if trying to give the Night Fury a hug. "Oh, this fixes everything! I have brought down this mighty beast!" I placed my foot on top of the dragon's arm, puffing my chest out with pride unrivaled.
The dragon roared and jerked beneath me. A small part of me couldn't believe that my heart wasn't pumping itself out of my chest.
Terrified, I backed up and shakily reached inside my jacket for my measly dagger. I held it out unprofessionally, gripping it far too tightly to be of any use. Upon seeing my weapon, the Night Fury ceased its movements. It breathed heavily, but that was it.
Creeping along its surprisingly small body, I pointed my weapon at it in preparation. The neck would be the best place to cut—it would be a much faster death, and my father would love to have its head mounted somewhere in our house. A plan was already formulating in my head. I could do this. I'd already done the hardest part. The dragon actually surviving its plummet was just a bump in the road, so to speak.
All I had to do was kill it and take back proof, since I couldn't drag it back home. Maybe I could take back some scales…no, that wouldn't do. I searched the Fury's body for something relevant. The tailtip? A foot? How about…the…eyes…
Gods, the eyes. The Night Fury was staring at me! Its gaze never wavered, not even for a second, daring me and judging me and hating me all at the same time. Something else, something I couldn't quite place but knew very well, was there, too. I desperately tried to look away; there was too much emotion! A dragon should not be able to possess what it had!
I managed to avert my eyes to something different for a whopping two seconds. Then I was drawn back to that eye like a moth to firelight, unable to escape. The dragon appeared to frown deeply.
Swallowing, a placed both hands on my dagger and held it up. "I'm gonna kill you, dragon," forcing confidence into my voice, I growled, "I'm gonna rip out your heart and take it to my father. I'm a Viking." The dragon moaned, almost like it was asking a question. Like it was mocking me. "I'm a Viking!" I cried, squaring my feet and thrusting the dagger into the air. Fear flew through me for a brief second when I received a loud bark in response, and I almost threw myself to the ground on instinct.
I squeezed my eyes shut, but it wasn't like Snoggletog this time. No, it was like I was expecting a blow. All I could hear was the injured dragon's struggled breathing, the slight shifting of its legs as it futilely pulled on the bola one last time. Don't look at it again, I told myself determinedly. Don't let it trick you.
The dragon gave a painful-sounding wheeze. I peeked one eye open. Big mistake.
That same, frigid stare, just asking me to do something. I sucked in a breath. There was the something else again. Like a lightning bolt I finally recognized the emotion I'd written off as 'plain creepy'. This dragon was frightened out of its mind. Just as I was.
No! Stop it! I shook my head in a desperate attempt to shake off the pity and any thoughts that this wasn't the biggest enemy to Berk but just a scared, injured animal. The Night Fury seemed to sense a change in my resolve; it whimpered a fearful little warble and shut its eyes, dropping its head to the earth in submission.
My arms were stretched to their limit—I could hold the dagger no higher. I just needed to bring it down. It would be right in the neck, a sure kill. The dragon wouldn't feel anything, I told myself. It wouldn't feel the pain.
Just the fear, I thought. Immediately I was attempting to get rid of the idea, banishing it to the darkest depths of my mind. Even so, the image of the Night Fury dying like this, alone, aware, and afraid, threw me off-balance and toppling over a mental bridge. How would I feel if I were him?
I dropped my arms to my head, squeezing the dagger into my hairline as self-punishment. Unable to bear looking at the Night Fury, I retreated shakily. "I did this."
Just standing there was even worse. I turned to leave, to flee back home and pretend this little adventure had never happened.
He'll die if I leave him here.
I halted, gritting my teeth and clenching my fists so hard they shook. I stared at my dagger—a fine dagger, very shiny, very sharp—and battled within myself.
Every fiber of my being screamed to ignore him. But I couldn't, not when I'd seen his emotions clear as the sun, not when I'd seen that he was just a scared animal and not a demon sent from the depths of Hel. He never even attacked us, not like the others; he just went after our buildings. He didn't deserve to die when all he'd done was knock out our skylights.
I slumped in defeat. Turned around and knelt next to him.
The bola snapped in seconds. Then another section of it ripped apart. Then another, and another. My eyebrows drew in as I concentrated on ripping the tethers in half, sawing and sawing, avoiding the eyes.
I had barely registered the dragon's roar before he had broken through the rest of its bindings, turning on me and crushing me into a rock! He held me firmly by my neck, snarling, eyes (gods, those eyes!) green slivers.
The tables had turned. Now I was the one barely able to breath, silently begging for mercy. Now he was the one who held all the cards, the one who got to play as a god.
His gaze flickered. For a split second, so quickly I doubted it even happened, my captor seemed to give me a mournful look. I had little time to think it over; the beast reared his head, teeth sharp and brilliantly white, the beginnings of a growl rising in its throat. My eyes were glued onto his, unable to even shut in preparation.
The Night Fury slammed his paws right besides my head, leaned down, and screamed. I was still in shock by the time he had rebounded off of the rock that had kept me in place and flown away.
I gasped for air, weakly picking up my dagger in trembling hands and using the stone to help me to my feet. Just out of sight, I could hear the dragon roaring, followed by what sounded like a crash.
No time to think. Get home. Get home now. That dragon might have let you go, but a mountain lion surely will not.
Oh, gods, that dragon let me go…
Scared stiff, barely able to push my feet off the ground, I turned to slowly trek back to the relative safety of Berk. My vision blurred and my chest felt tingly. I felt almost lightweight, like I was floating through a dream, like none of this was happening and I was about to wake up in my room.
I managed a feeble moan before I fell over, losing consciousness—
—and hit my head dead center on the stone.