DA DA DADADADADADA PITCH BLACK
DA DA DADADADADADA FROSTCUP
PITCH BLACK! FROSTCUP!
PITCH BLACK! FROSTCUP!
DRAMATIC
DRAMATIC
DRAMATIC
HOSTAGE! ...situation.
Yup. That's pretty much what happened the previous chapter. I really should stop eating so many apples.
Also I don't own any of these people. I wouldn't be writing this if I did. Ohohoho~
Toothless had completely disappeared from sight. Hiccup shot him an apologetic glance from the other side at the clearing, tied to a tree. Pitch Black smiled at him expectantly, waiting for Jack to surrender his staff.
It really wasn't Jack's day.
"Well then, Frost, time to part with your beloved twig." Jack looked at his staff, and back at Hiccup, who was shaking his head again.
"Jack, you know it won't-"
"Can you just shut that ungodly trap for a few moments, boy?" Pitch snarled, impatience finally taking its toll on him. Within a moment, his obnoxious prisoner's mouth was covered with sand again.
He turned towards Jack again.
"The staff, Jack. I don't think I can keep myself from hurting this brat for much longer now." Pitch moved his scythe even closer towards Hiccup's throat, who in turn let out a small yelp- and not just because he was scared. Jack flinched when he saw the tiniest bit of blood trickle down the dark blade.
"Stop that!" He could punch himself when he heard the sudden rise in his voice. He hastily turned the staff upside down, holding the lower half towards the Boogeyman, just like the time with Baby Tooth- but he didn't want to think about that now. He took a slow step towards Pitch, still holding his staff upside down.
"Oh, but that's not the way we're going to do it." The Boogeyman laughed at the confusion that was written all over the pale face.
"We're going to do it a little different this time. Put it on the ground, and then get up with your hands above your head. Put it down now- slowly, Jack, slowly. One sudden movement and Hiccup will never bother humanity with his blabbering again."
Jack obeyed directly, slowly laying his trusted staff down.
With a pained expression he let it go, raising his hands as he slowly got up again.
Pitch smiled devilishly.
"Such a good boy, Jack."
"Let him go, Pitch."
"Oh, but we're not done yet! Now, you have to come here. Slowly. Leave your staff over there, if you don't mind."
"MMMMMMPH!" Hiccup couldn't shake his head with the scythe practically licking at his throat, but his eyes conveyed the same message. Don't. Don't do it, Jack. Please.
Jack himself knew what this meant as well. For a moment, he couldn't move. Fear filled him up; he felt naked without his staff to protect him against Pitch. It was as if he was standing at the edge of a cliff: one step and he would fall into the abyss.
But he had to. There was no choice. Shakily, he took a step towards the King of Nightmares. He didn't dare to look back, where his staff lay on the ground. He feared that if he did, he would change his mind.
He took another step. It didn't get any easier after he made the first. Every single step was a small battle between his absolute fear of Pitch and his absolute resolve to save Hiccup. Every single step took him closer to the wretched man of shadows. He was trembling, he noticed after the third step. He felt ashamed, but he couldn't stop it.
Just after he had made the fourth step, he heard some noise behind him. Without thinking he turned around, terrified that Pitch had decided to resort to his favorite fighting technique and was about to stab him in the back. Instead, there was a small group of Nightmares, holding the staff between their jaws, together taking the staff with them into the shadows. He turned back, feeling his heart going mad inside his chest as he realized just how utterly defenseless he was now. He saw that Hiccup realized it too. His tiny chest went up and down so fast Jack had a hard time imagining just how shallow his respiration must have been.
"It'll be alright, Hic, don't worry" he said soothingly, hardly believing his own words. He made a brave attempt at a smile. Hiccup in turn made a half-assed attempt to wink a few times, trying to tell him that it was okay, no doubt.
The Boogeyman himself reveled in the fear that the two boys emitted. Each step that the snowboy took towards him seemed to increase it even more. There was fear of him, of course, but it was overpowered by that other kind of fear, not as sweet, but just as powerful: the fear that the other one would get hurt. Oh, these intense fears alone would have satisfied him, but now that it was coupled by a defeated Jack Frost, completely at his mercy, trembling with fear…
He had stopped in front of Pitch, about two steps remaining between them.
"Alright" he said, trying his best to sound calm. "I'm here. Now let him go."
Pitch could see the badly masked fear in Frost's eyes, and he knew that they were both thinking about the same moment, years ago; the shock and devastation in his eyes, as Pitch had simply said 'No'. Oh, how did he long to see that expression again! How badly did he want to see those blue eyes widen, as he would slit the young Viking's throat with a single move! Hopefully, the Guardian would get soaked in his blood- oh, how lovely would the dark red glisten in his white hair, on his white skin?
Such a shame that he couldn't do that here.
"Now let him go."
Hiccup held his breath as Jack said those words. He could see the intense look between the two Spirits; and he felt the tension reach a point that was disastrous for his already exasperated heart.
He felt conflicted. He was extremely relieved that Toothless wasn't in danger anymore; but together with the Night Fury, their last hope for a successful escape had disappeared. Now Jack was completely defenseless. Worse, if he could, Jack wouldn't even defend himself, because of him. As for Hiccup, he could only watch and pray to all residents of Asgard for an unlikely good outcome. The tiny cut in his throat that the scythe had made stung a bit; but his guilt stung far worse.
"Now let him go." Jack used all of his willpower so his voice wouldn't crack. Pitch smiled.
Suddenly, a growling Nightmare erupted from the shadowy trees, as if called on a inaudible command. It walked around Jack, its nostrils flaring, its entire body pouring with a desire to hurt him. Jack didn't move, holding his hands still up in the air, trying his very best not to show the fear he felt for this creature.
After the Nightmare had passed him (taking what felt as an eternity doing so) it halted in front of Hiccup, who pressed himself against the tree in a vain attempt to stay away from it.
"Hello, my dear" Pitch cooed, letting his scythe vanish as het petted it lovingly. "Will you guard our little hostage while I'm busy?"
The beast whinnied, and positioned itself right next to Hiccup. Pitch wiggled his fingers for a bit.
"Ah, finally, hands-free. You can drop your hands now, by the way. Oh, and just so you know" he said in an off-hand manner, "if you do anything funny, my Nightmare will bite off his head."
Jack really tried not to do so, but it became sizably harder to stay still when Pitch reached for Hiccup's knife and painfully slowly took it out the sheath. Hiccup himself squirmed, but he didn't say anything- something that worried Jack deeply.
"That's an awfully sharp blade for such a young man" Pitch said, running his fingers along the edges of the blade. Wherever his fingertips touched the steel, tiny black spots would appear for a moment, only to vanish an instant later.
"You know, they shouldn't give weapons like these to the unskilled youth" Pitch mumbled, as he held the knife close to his eye for inspection. Apparently, he liked what he saw. "They could easily…" he trailed of for a moment. Suddenly, he placed the flat side on Hiccups lips. The boy's eyes widened to an nearly inhuman extent, eyeing the sharp tip with sheer panic.
"… hurt themselves by accident…" Hiccup seemed to hold his breath, frozen in his last effort to effectively press himself into the tree.
Jack had instinctively reached out when the knife had suddenly been pointed at his friend, but an angry growl from the Nightmare held him back.
"There now, Jack, you shouldn't suddenly move like that! You could startle me, and who knows what I'd do, if I were to be startled…" Pitch grinned wickedly, slowly withdrawing the blade. Hiccup let out a deep, shaky sigh as the steel parted with his lips. He didn't let down his guard, however, and watched worriedly as Pitch turned to Jack.
The Boogeyman took one step towards him. Jack instinctively wanted to take a step back, but the sudden rush of the Nightmare's unsightly jaws towards Hiccup's throat stopped him.
"There's a good boy, Jack. Stay." Pitch approached him ever so slowly, the knife in his hand almost aglow from the darkness that the man emitted.
Jack couldn't really tell whether he didn't flinch because he still had guts somewhere, or because he was just frozen solid from fear. But he didn't move a muscle, not even when Pitch started to circle around him. He kept his gaze focused on Hiccup, drawing strength from the brave attempts of the young Viking to act as calm as possible.
"You know, I've longed so much for this moment to happen" Pitch whispered in his ear, halting behind him. An arm stretched out from behind Jack, brushing past his neck. He and Hiccup flinched simultaneously when they saw the knife in Pitch' pale hand, now glimmering before Jack's eyes. "I spent so much time just thinking about the things I would do to you. First, I just wanted to beat you within an ounce of your immortal life and forever keep you that way, battered, bruised, broken, you name it. But that just felt so… uninventive, you know?" Pitch whispered in Jack's other ear.
He had laid his other hand causally on Jack's shoulder. The arm in front of Jack that was holding the knife suddenly turned. Jack momentarily stopped breathing as Pitch ever-so-slowly pointed the sharp tip at his chest, not quite piercing the hoodie, but creating a pressure right between his ribs that was terrifying enough on its own. Jack tore away his eyes from the shiny threat and focused in Hiccup again.
"It'll be ok" he mouthed, hoping to magically calm him down. Hiccup blinked back, but the fear that was written all over his freckled face didn't diminish at all.
"What's that, Frost? Making empty promises again?" The tip of the knife pressed a bit further into the hoodie.
"Pitch-" Jack's threat broke off after the first word and ended up as a small gasp, as suddenly he felt something cold and sharp prick him in the chest. The knife had pierced the hoodie effortlessly.
"You should watch your tone, Jack. If you anger me, my hand just might slip" the sharp point bit into his skin "and who knows what kind of… accidents could happen."
Jack closed his eyes, trying his best not to freak out. However, there were other priorities right now.
"You got me where you wanted now. Hiccup has nothing to do with this. Let him go."
"Oh, but Jack, his fear… I wish you could feel it, the way he freaks out every time I do this" the knife bit into his flesh more. "He'll have first-class view."
"View of what?" The question escaped Jack's lips before he could realize that he did not want to know the answer at all. Pitch chuckled darkly behind him.
"View of this."
A burning pain erupted from the spot where the knife had punctured his skin, as if the cold steel had been turned into a scorching hot branding iron.
Jack cried out in pain, blindly grasping at his chest as if the burning would stop if he touched it. He kept screaming, falling to his knees, digging his fingers in the fabric of his hoodie further and further. The pain kept getting worse, alternating between feeling like flames licking at his insides and a thousand minuscule needles roughly being jammed into the tiny spot where the knife had pricked him.
He could hear Hiccup shout his name in the distance, and Pitch' condescending response that was impossible to distinguish. A heated conversation followed, but the pain blocked out every sound.
Slowly, agonizingly slowly, the pain started to fade away. Jack still lay trembling on the ground, panting heavily, clutching his chest. He slowly opened his eyes.
"Feeling a bit better now, Frost?"
Jack staggered to his feet, determined to show Hiccup that everything was alright, and to show Pitch he hadn't won yet.
"What…" he coughed violently, "what did you…?"
"Oh, that was just a little party-trick, really. Just putting up a good show for dear Hiccup. Tell me, boy, did you like it?"
The author chooses not to repeat what Hiccup had to say about it. Instead, she finds it sufficient to say that it wasn't a compliment and that she wonders where the hell Hiccup learnt that phrase.
"I'm ok, Hic. Look at me. I'm fine." Jack smiled reassuringly, gesturing as if he were calming a panicked child. Hiccup didn't seem convinced, looking at the crumpled fabric of the hoodie that Jack still held tightly. Jack quickly let go and straightened it out, and attempted to show him another smile. "Really, the pain's gone. I'm fine." Jack patted himself on the spot where the knife had pricked him. It was true- the pain had completely disappeared by now. Jack looked at Pitch.
The Boogeyman chuckled at the dark look. "Let me guess: you want me to release him and then crawl back into the deep pit I came from." He rubbed his chin, as if he was a rational, sensible being that was overthinking his options.
"Well, you have put up a rather entertaining show so far- I suppose that was to be expected though, from the Guardian of Fun. All right, your efforts will be rewarded."
And just like that, he disappeared from sight.
The Nightmare guarding Hiccup vanished instantly, and so did the gag. Jack had barely processed this surprising change in Pitch' attitude, when the other binds disappeared as well. Hiccup fell forward and practically stumbled into Jack- who in turn, couldn't keep his balance either, both from the shock that had taken away all the strength in his legs and because Hiccup was actually heavier this time than Jack had anticipated.
"Oof!" Jack couldn't help but wince when he fell on the unforgiving ground, the sudden weight on top of him squeezing the oxygen out of his lungs.
"Jack!" It sounded panicky from on his chest. Jack looked up, seeing the wild mess of brown hair that had been tickling his chin. Within a moment, two worried green eyes popped up.
"Are you ok?"
"For the fiftieth time, I'm fine, Hic. I just had a rough landing, that's all. I'll live. How about you?"
He felt Hiccups chest go up and down as the boy let out a sigh of relief. Then, it went up and down at a much faster pace, as a wary chuckle came from the brown mess on top of him.
"I'll live too, I guess. I seem to have landed on something soft and squishy and fat." Suddenly, Hiccup's head shot up again, as he pretended to look down in surprise, as if he saw Jack for the first time. "Oh, HiJack!"*
'I'll never get over it how he can still joke after this' Jack thought, feeling his admiration for his friend grow. He pushed Hiccup off, punching him playfully.
"Shut up, Horrendous the Turd. I take everything back I said about your weight. I think I'd rather be crushed under North than under you." They laughed, finally, and Hiccup stretched out on the ground. They lay there silently for a few moments, staring up at the clear sky, trying to normalize their erratic breathing patterns, trying to process everything that had happened.
"So… What about your staff?" Hiccup asked eventually.
"Dunno. Pitch took it with him, I guess." Jack tried to sound as casual as possible, but his hands turned to fists nonetheless.
"Did he break-"
"He hasn't. Trust me, I would've felt it if he had."
"Why didn't he break it, then?"
"I don't know, Hic. I really have no idea. Nothing he does makes sense. He had us completely at his mercy. He could've done anything. He could've-" Jack didn't finish, but the rest of his words were clear to both him and Hiccup.
He could have killed you. Not just Hiccup, either. Toothless too. Hell, he could have broken the staff, killed Hiccup and Toothless, and then he could have done anything he wanted to Jack- and there was nothing that could have stopped him. Instead, he had only tortured Jack briefly and taken the staff. It puzzled him, but for now, they were all safe, and that was what mattered most.
"So, what are you going to do now? Without your staff?"
"I guess I'll go to North" Jack said lazily. "The Guardians need to know Pitch is back in business again. Maybe we'll find a way to get it back. Pitch is bound to confront us again. And when he does, he'll be sorry he dared to lay a finger on you and Toothless."
"Heh. I guess I better stay away when that happens, right?" Jack noticed a small change in tone in Hiccup's voice. He looked aside. Hiccup unhappily stared up at the sky. Jack understood at once that Hiccup held himself responsible for what had happened here. He couldn't help but grin for a bit. That is just so Hiccup.
"Yeah, you better stay away indeed" he replied. Now, Hiccup's shoulders tensed for a bit, too. Jack smirked.
"I mean, if you and Toothless would come with me, there'd probably wouldn't be any Pitch left for me, right?"
Hiccup relaxed, and after a moment, he snickered.
"You bet. One shot from Toothless and there'll be nothing left but some grey mud."
"Speaking of Toothless, could you maybe use that funky flute you have and call him? I mean, we're on an uninhabited island, and I can't exactly fly us back…"
"Yeah, we should head home." They both reluctantly got up.
The whistle had been one of Hiccup's latest ideas. Inspired by Fishlegs' sign language communication system for dragons, he had designed a whistle with a shrill, distinct sound that you could hear from miles away. It had been easy since then to call Toothless without ripping his throat apart.
Hiccup walked towards the middle of the clearing, hoping it would increase the whistle's range. He reached in one of the pouches that hung from his belt.
Oh. Great. I mean, my day wasn't already happy enough, was it? "Uhm, Jack, have you seen my whistle? It's not in my pouch anymore…"
"You mean this?" Hiccup heard a loud whistle behind him. It was uncanny how Jack could manage to get a pleasant sound out of that thing.
"Yup, that's the one" Hiccup said, as he turned around.
And froze.
Pitch had been watching from the shadows, barely able to contain his excitement. The 'show' that Jack had put up for him was in fact merely the prelude, though it had been entertaining for sure.
Al that was needed now was a little push, and soon the gears would turn by themselves. And with each turn, Jack would be trapped further between them, and each turn would crush a him a little bit more.
As for the last little push, well, Jack seemed to be sufficiently relaxed and off-guard now. Pitch smiled darkly.
"What?" Jack asked, as he saw Hiccup's expression suddenly change into horror-mode.
"Behind you!" he screamed, and Jack wheeled around; instinctively his hands rose up as if he was still holding his staff.
There was nothing.
"Um, Hic, there's nothing behind me" he said, turning around again to face Hiccup.
There was no one to answer him.
Hiccup had been about to knock Jack upside the head for not believing him –with his sarcasm, don't get the wrong idea here- when something cold and sandy suddenly wrapped itself around his body and pulled him towards the shadows. He didn't even get the chance to properly scream his lungs out when something covered his mouth- not sand this time, but two real hands. Grayish, pale hands.
"Shhhh, boy, not a word now" Pitch whispered, clamming his hands more tightly around Hiccup's mouth, making sure that not even a whimper would escape from his lips. "Just pay attention to our dear Guardian. Trust me, you don't want to miss this."
And since it was the only thing he could do, he watched how Jack freaked the fuck out.
"Hiccup? Hiccup!" Jack shouted, worry starting to show up on his face. "HICCUP! HIC! WHERE ARE YOU?" Behind him, Hiccup could hear Pitch chuckle in delight. He tried to wriggle himself free, but both the sand and Pitch' hands were far stronger than he was.
"Lost something important, Jack?" Hiccup's eyes widened as he heard Pitch' voice. They hadn't changed position –it seemed like they didn't need to; apparently they were somehow invisible in the shadows- but the voice seemed to come from all directions at once.
Jack looked around, a murderous expression twisting his features. If he had had his staff, he would have looked very intimidating.
"PITCH! What did you- where is he?" he snarled, scanning the shadows around him.
The laugh seemed to come from all directions again.
"Are you worried, Frost? Do you fear what might become of your precious friend now that you failed to protect him?"
Jack raised a shaking fist, a string of undoubtedly unholy words ready in his mouth, when suddenly his shoulder slumped. He probably had realized that without his staff and with Pitch having both Hiccup and the ability to hide in the shadows, he didn't really stand a chance.
When he looked up again, the anger in his eyes had been replaced with devastated resignation.
"Just- just leave him out of this!" Hiccup had never heard Jack sound this desperate. "This is between you and me, Pitch!" He threw up his empty hands. "I'm unarmed! You can do whatever you want!"
"Oh, but don't you worry, Jack, I already am" Pitch told him joyfully. "I am doing whatever I want- with your dear Hiccup, that is." Right at that moment, the hands disappeared from Hiccup's mouth. Before he had even noticed they were gone, he felt a sharp pain as something hit him, the whip of dark sand striking him mercilessly in the back. He cried out in pain, his scream cut off halfway as Pitch smothered him again. The scream echoed through the woods, seemingly coming from everywhere and nowhere at all. Jack let out an incomprehensive, enraged howl in return, looking around like a madman.
"And that's only the beginning, Jack" Pitch told him merrily. "You've driven this boy into my arms, and I will not rest until he has been broken beyond repair; until there's nothing human left inside him! And there's nothing you can do to save him!"
The last remaining bit of colour had faded from Jack's face.
"No…" he stammered, staggering backwards as if someone had slapped him across the face. "No, no, NO!" he yelled, clutching his head, as if everything would somehow be alright again if he just shook it hard enough. "NO! NO!"
Pitch laughed softly. He nudged Hiccup a bit. "This is the moment, Hiccup, watch closely."
Hiccup didn't look. He had stopped looking right after the whip had set his back on fire; not wanting to see Jack's expression- his voice, his words were already unbearable enough.
"NO! N-AAGH!" Hiccup's eyes shot open at the sudden cry of pain. Jack had fallen to his knees, clutching his chest- the exact same spot where Pitch had inflicted that wound from before. He kept screaming, and unlike the last time, the screams didn't grow softer as time passed by- the opposite, their volume increased and each scream was more pained and savage than the previous one.
Hiccup's mind went numb at the sight before him. He didn't even notice that Pitch had removed his hands and that his ties had disappeared. Only when he received a little push in the back, he moved; without looking back he ran towards the curled-up figure in the middle of the clearing.
"Jack!" He pushed the shivering Spirit on his back, his unsteady hands wandering over his body, completely unsure of what to do, or how to remove the pain that he was in.
"H-Hic?" Jack slowly opened his eyes a little bit, squinting at the figure bending over him.
"I'm here, it's ok, you'll be ok, just give me a minute" Hiccup muttered, searching for the source of Jack's sudden attack of pain. He softly disentangled Jack's fingers from his hoodie. The fabric had been completely crumpled, having been grasped tightly at the same spot multiples times now. Hiccup was relieved to see that there was no sign of a tear in it, or any blood, as he secretly had been fearing. However, it did confuse him; why had Jack been gripping it so tightly if there wasn't any wound there?
"Dammit, Hic" Jack groaned in pain "I thought you- PITCH! WHERE?" he shot up; or that was what he about to do, but after the first few movements upwards he fell bac againk, hissing in pain. His eyes frantically searched their surroundings for the Boogeyman. Hiccup held him down as Jack attempted to get up again.
"He's gone, Jack, it's gonna be ok now." Hiccup didn't have the slightest idea whether Pitch had really left or not, but Jack was in some serious need for white lies now.
"He's really gone, so just calm down now and tell me where it hurts."
Jack groaned.
"Chest. Burns. Less than- before. Hell." He also said some other things, things that will not be repeated for the sake of this story's PG-rating.
"There doesn't seem to be a wound" Hiccup said, puzzled.
"Well there is something!" was the cranky response. Hiccup was about to retort with something extremely witty and snarky, but he decided to save it for later. Medical matters came first.
"Ok, just hang on, I'll look."
Somehow, Hiccup was unreasonably nervous as he pulled up Jack's hoodie. He felt a small flutter in his stomach as he saw the subtly toned muscles- that was probably jealousy, he told himself. Who wouldn't be jealous of those abs and that pearly white skin?
"I really don't see anything-"
"Higher."
"Still don't- What is that?" Hiccup squinted his eyes at the tiny spot, right in the middle of Jack's chest, at about the same height as his nipples. Not that Hiccup was looking at those, or something. Really.
Dammit, Hiccup, focus.
"What is it?" Jack tried to sound as normal as possible. This description might imply that he didn't feel, in fact, normal- and he didn't. But he would like to stress to the reader that Hiccup having nearly stripped his hoodie off didn't have anything to do with the abnormal feeling- he was just in a lot of pain, really.
Just so you know.
"There's this tiny black spot, right here-" A sudden pain shot through Jack's body and he cried out.
"Sorry!" Hiccup squeaked, immediately drawing back his hand.
"Watch out" Jack choked, trying to breath steadily again. He looked at the young Viking to see if he had that adorable I-screwed-up-again-but-I-didn't-mean-to-please-don 't-freeze-my-tongue-to-my-drink-in-front-of-Astrid -like-last-time-expression on his face. He was disappointed to see that Hiccup instead looked very puzzled.
"Weird…" he mumbled, looking at his hand.
Jack wondered what could be so damn weird that it distracted Hiccup from him being in pain. He looked up a bit, trying to see what was so curious about the hand.
He never really got the time to see what it was, as something far more important drew his attention- and his horror.
Right behind Hiccup, Pitch bared his pointy teeth at him, his scythe held firmly in the ghostly white hands. Jack wanted to scream, but Pitch already lashed out, his blade moving with unforgiving swiftness towards Hiccup's unprotected neck-
NO!
The sudden return of all of his fear was of such an intensity that he barely registered the burning pain that simultaneously erupted from his chest.
The immediately following black-out felt like an act of mercy.
"Weird…" Hiccup studied the tiny bit of stuff that had clung to his fingers after he had withdrawn his hand from the weird black thingy on Jack's chest. Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be sand. Black sand.
I have a very, very bad feeling about this.
Hiccup wanted to share this alarming observation with Jack, but as he looked up from his hand, he directly forgot whatever he had wanted to say.
Jack's eyes had shot open, staring into the distance as if he saw something terrifying. His mouth opened as if he was about to scream, and his back arched, his shoulder tensed and his hands convulsed, turning his fingers into claws. Before Hiccup could ask what was wrong, Jack's impossibly wide eyes rolled to the back of his head, and he fainted.
"Jack? Jack!" Hiccup anxiously shook the unconscious boy, but to no avail.
"Jack! Wake up!" Great Odin's eye patch, just what is going ON here?
"Thor's Beard! Hiccup, you ok?"
"Astrid?" Hiccup wondered surprised, as he recognized both the voice and the dragon that landed in front of them. The next moment, he was tackled by a black scaly blur.
"Whoa, Toothless, easy! I'm alright!" he hushed, as the dragon worriedly inspected his friend to see if there were any injuries. Within a moment, the clearing was filled with dragons and their respective riders.
"He came to me, completely rabid, you should have seen it- he swam all the way from the island. Kept pushing me; I thought there was something wrong. I've never seen Toothless that worried." AStrid said, patting Stormfly after she got off.
"Yeah, and we have never seen Astrid that worried" Ruffnut added teasingly, ducking right in time to dodge Astrid's punch. Tuffnut wasn't as quick.
"So you went to get help, huh, bud?" Hiccup wasn't surprised at all, actually. He knew that Toothless was far more intelligent that people often credited him for. For example, Jack once thought-
Crap. Jack.
He quickly went back to the unconscious boy. Toothless hurried with him, sniffing to see why weird white human was asleep. When his nose grazed over the black spot, he suddenly crawled back and bared his teeth, growling angrily at it.
"Is that Jack? What happened to him?" Astrid knelt next to Hiccup, and the others quickly formed a circle around him. They had only come to see Jack recently- it had taken Hiccup inhuman amounts of effort to convince them he wasn't going mad and seeing things that weren't there.
Lucky thing that they had an ancient lore on Jokul Frosti; that made it a lot easier for them to understand and accept that another mythical being was hanging out with Hiccup. He seemed to attract those things.
"And what is that?" Fishlegs pointed to the black mark. Did Hiccup's eyes deceive him, or was it bigger than before?
"It was Pitch, we walked right into his trap, and he-" Hiccup realized it would take hours to properly explain what had happened, especially since none of them even knew who Pitch was in the first place. He sighed.
"It's a long story, but Jack got attacked and now there's something seriously wrong with him."
Snotlout, with his ever-so-delicate tact, was about to ask what it was when Astrid pinched his ear, sensing that now wasn't the time for a satisfying explanation.
"What are you going to do? I don't think anyone in the village can help him... They can't even see him." Truth was, they had been keeping Jack's presence a secret. Of course, Hiccup had tried to tell his father about Jack, but he had given up on that fairly quickly. It had been a rather one-sided conversation, so to speak.
Gobber had just laughed at him.
"Yeah, is there, like, a Spirit Hospital or something?" Tuffnut asked.
"I don't know… I highly doubt it." HIccup said thoughtfully.
Suddenly, he remembered their earlier conversation.
"So, what are you going to do now? Without your staff?"
"I guess I'll go to North."
"Guys, I'm probably not going to be home for a while."
"What? You figured something out?" Astrid asked.
"Yeah. I think I know where to go."
"Where?" it sounded in unison.
"I'm taking Jack to the North Pole."
Aaaaaand that's it for this chapter, folks! Stay tuned for the next ones so you might understand what the actual fuck is going on. I myself had some trouble with that as I wrote this fic. I fail at planning, big time.
The following words are ramblings of the so-called author and mostly consist of lame excuses and brainless ponderings and foreshadowing and superfluous background stuff. Read at own risk.
* I KNOW IT'S THE LAMEST PUN EVER. I STILL REFUSE TO REGRET ANYTHING. ANYTHING, YOU HEAR ME.
I may or may not have written 3/4 of this chapter just so I could make that pun. I got my priorities damn straight.
Next up will be the journey to the North Pole with an unconscious Jack and all the hassle (winkwink) that this provides. Oh, and some explanation as to what the fuck just transpired this chapter. I've tried to drop a few hints, subtly.
Then again, my foreshadowing is about as subtle as a vodka-filled North with a megaphone, so you brilliant beings probably have figured out what is going here already.
Goddamn intelligent fandoms *grumble*
On another note: I only recently started watching Dragons - Riders of Berk and by the gods, do I love it. Hiccup's sass is an inspiration (and a drug) to me. It does, however, provide a problem: I can't help but love Astrid and Hiccup. Together. As a couple. Which kind of messes with my HiJack feels. Which kind of messes with my inspiration.
It's not like I believe that one ship automatically means the demise of another; I am somewhat capable of liking different ships with same characters. Hiccup just fits remarkably well with different kinds of characters, in my opinion. Astrid fits him, as does Jack, both in different ways.
BUT IT STILL INTERFERES WITH THE HIJACK FEELS DANGIT.
That, and it makes me painfully conscious of my own FAIL at attempting to stay true to rule #1, THOU SHALT NOT NOT BRING SHAME UPON HICCUP'S HOLY SASS. Why did I ever think it was a good idea to write something with Hiccup in it TT^TT
And as a final note: YAY TORTURING JACK. I AM A DESPICABLE HUMAN BEING 8D
IT'S ONLY GONNA GET WORSE, YA KNOW. MUCH WORSE. WITH ANGST.
LOTS OF ANGSTING. YAY.
Oh and Bennefrost-shippers: you might want to stop reading this is, if you are fragile of heart. There will be an elaborate warning later on, but yeah. Be warned. Or something.
