Next chapter! Yay! And once Again, no excuse... T_T
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II: Creatures Like Us,
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Hiccup rushed back through the forest to his house with his mind spinning with questions. He recognized the two words that made up the Hybrid's name: Teine meant Fire and Fonn meant Song. However the boy wondered why she was named as such. Seeing the flickering of the fire pit within his home Hiccup winced. 'Dad's in, huh?' trying to be sneaky as half-dragon-ly possible he made his way behind his father and was almost home free up the stairs.
Keyword: almost.
"Hiccup." Owner of said name froze. 'Odin help me…' "Dad! I-uh… I've got something to tell you, dad." "I need to speak with you too, Son." Both took a breath.
"I don't want to fight dragons/I think it's time you learned to fight dragons."
"What/What?"
Both looked at the other and backtracked. "Er, you go first," Stoic said. "No-no, you go first." Stoic nodded and rubbed his giant hands together. "Alright. You get your wish. Dragon training- you start in the morning."
And Hiccup knew he was screwed. "Daw, man I should have gone first because, um… you know we have a surplus on 'Dragon-Fighting' Vikings, but do we have enough… Bread-making Vikings or small Home-repair Vikings-?" Stoic wasn't listening.
"You'll need this!" the mountain of a man dropped a single-bladed axe into his son's hands.
"I don't want to fight dragons." Still not listening, Stoic chuckled. "Oh come on, yes you do!" "Rephrase: Dad, I CAN'T kill dragons."
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One one-sided conversation and a tangle with the arena Gronkle later, Hiccup was heading back to the cove with an arm full of medical supplies and a bag of fourteen fish- he had a nasty craving and he knew without question that Teinefonn was going to be hungry. Squeezing into the entrance he saw the orange-haired hybrid laying out in the sunlight on a rock, a rumbling purr audible from fifty meters away where he was. The moment the wind changed and redirected to Teinefonn, she caught his scent and her head shot up, pupils blown huge and a sharp-canine smile of happiness on her face.
"Cridhe Lasair!*" she said happily when she laid flame-colored eyes on him. Hiccup blinked his own green eyes and tilted his head to the right in confusion. "Huh?" "Like Not-Dragon-Hatchdrake's new Hatch-Call? Teinefonn wondered hard for right one!" "What does it mean?" Hiccup asked with a small smile. "Means 'Flame-Thump-Thump' in dragon tongue. You have strong… errr… what Not-Dragon-Hatchdrake word for thump-thump?" Hiccup motioned Teinefonn over and she complied, doing what he said so he could properly set and bind her broken wing.
"Our word is called 'Heart'. And what you'd call a Not-Dragon-Hatchdrake is what we call a Teenager, or maybe you'd call it a juvenile?"
Teinefonn looked at Hiccup with bright eyes and she nodded. "Y-Yes! Cridhe Lasair is 'Flame-He-Hea-Hearrrt." Then confusion colored her fire-colored eyes. "Nuu-vin-dyle…?" Hiccup laughed and shook his head. "Never mind. Those are words for later."
The two spent their time talking about their respective lives- Teinefonn was livid when she learned of the abuse and neglect the newly named Cridhe Lasair suffered in his village, but she began picking up the speech patterns Hiccup used fairly quickly and was soon speaking like any other human in his village's generation. Luckily Hiccup was able to calm her down by petting Teinefonn's head. After a good half hour of head-pats Hiccup asked the Blaze Fury a question.
"Why do you raid us, Teine?" at the word raid, the hybrid's body stiffened. Minutes passed in silence then Teinefonn sighed. "We don't raid you because we want to," she began. "There's a monster in our nest, Flameheart. It's unlike any dragon you'll ever see- she is so big that the island has to extend underground into a massive cave to hold her bulk. You see the dragons take your sheep, your yak, your boar, and your fish. But we only eat fish. You've gotten the craving for it already." She flashed Hiccup a smile but it lacked the joking tint she tried to put in it.
"We call her Fala Bàs Tyrant,** or the Tyrant Red Reign-." Hiccup's eyes widened in horror as he translated the name from Dragontongue to a more recognizable name. "The Red Death…" "I see you are familiar with her, huh?"
Teinefonn's eyes glazed over with tears. "Though I was never willingly brought into the nest and they treated me no better than your village had to you, it still doesn't make it any easier to watch them get eaten. That's why we raid you. If we don't bring enough food back, we'll be eaten in place of the quota we fail to bring as an individual. Last time it was a Two-neck*** named Smokespark…"
Hiccup couldn't believe his ears- the dragons were forced to raid…
"Can we change the subject, please?" Teinefonn's voice pleaded to him and he nodded. "Your wing is bound now," Hiccup started. "If you're careful it should heal in two weeks. My father is gone searching for the-the nest for four weeks." Teinefonn hummed and shifted her tail a little. Hiccup's new wings and tail had been out since he'd started binding her wing so he could get used to the feel of them. The metallic coppery sheen that was a few shades lighter than his auburn hair shimmered in the sunlight.
"So that means you'll be able to spend time with me more?" Teinefonn asked with wide eyes. Hiccup nodded. Teinefonn let out a purr, satisfied and happy, and fell into a dozing nap.
~Two Weeks Later~
Hiccup was becoming quite the prodigy in the ensuing two weeks; he'd taken some quirks Teinefonn had displayed- chasing a reflected light, rolling around in Dragon Nip (that incident was never to be spoken of. Ever.), and the pleasure spot on the spot in the middle of her wings- and applied them to dragon training. While doing so, he was confronted by his former-friend-at-the-time and he'd gotten to yell at him in a rare bought of anger. After he'd re-forged his friendship with said former friend, who was Fishlegs Ingerman.
With careful tips from Teinefonn and nightly practice, Hiccup had also perfected his shifting into his Hybrid form and flight.
And today was a glorious day: it was the day Teinefonn's splint came off.
When the last of the wood and cloth fell away Teinefonn stretched her wing and gave a few experimental flaps. The young Viking had proven his trust to the Blaze Fury an uncountable number of times… but honestly that one time, the day they first met, was enough. After she performed exalted loop-the-loops in the sky Teinefonn landed in front pf Hiccup.
Her earflaps were flat to her head and her gazed was serious and nervous. "Cridhe Lasair, we are both outcasts in our own right, even if we are a bit of both worlds, right?" Hiccup nodded and gave his friend (and new object of Astrid Hofferson-intended affections) a smile. "That's right," he said. Teine then shuffled her feet nervously, but took a deep breath and adopted a serious and determined expression.
"I've been meaning to tell you something for a few days now," Teine blurted out.
Hiccup stilled for a moment then tilted his head to the side. "Ooookay… What do you want to tell me?" Teinefonn stiffened, than whined in the back of her throat. Hiccup took on an alarmed expression and pulled Teinefonn into a panicky hug. "What's wrong? Is your wing still sore? Do you need more fish, cause I can totally get some for you if you wan-!" Teinefonn then did an insanely human gesture- she grabbed Hiccup's tunic, yanked the fishbone-Viking forward, and pressed her lips to his. He went ramrod straight then relaxed and began to kiss her back.
For what felt like an eternity the two stayed that way. When they finally separated Hiccup had a goofy grin on his face. Once they caught their breath Hiccup said- "Glad I'm not the only one." Teine was elated. With a laugh she hugged her Cridhe Lasair as fiercely as she could. After a while Teinefonn stood and thumped her tail against the earth once, a resonating thrum hitting Hiccup's heart and making him jump at the feeling.
With another thump of her tail, she bent over and helped her best friend and, now unclaimed-yet-technically-claimed mate up. "Let's make a Nestless Blood-Pact." She said. Hiccup, knowing what a blood pact was from hearing Teine's explanations on Draconian mannerisms, was shocked. "Teine… you know what that means-!" the sunset-colored Blaze Fury crossed her arms and leveled a self-conscious gaze to the dirt under their feet. "Yes." "And you still-?!" "Yes. Because you're like me. Even before all this happened, you're like me. You're different, your nest- er village, doesn't respect you for who you are. No one is stranger than us."
Teinefonn placed her hand over Hiccup's heard and smiled wider at him, just like she did that day they met. "You, me. Us, we." Hiccup's copper tail thumped the ground and his green eyes widened. Teinefonn's tail thumped in time with his. The two suddenly hummed, an age-old instinct sleeping through the thousands of years, lying dormant within outcasts everywhere, and not just the humans, but the dragons, rumbling to the surface of their souls all across the archipelago.
Teinefonn and Hiccup's tails beat the ground harder, faster, making the pool behind them ripple from the vibrations.
~People Like Us= Kelly Clarkson~
We come into this world unknown
But know that we are not alone
They try and knock us down
But change is coming, it's our time now
Teinefonn grasped Hiccup's hand and led him to her sunning rock as she chanted the invocation.
Hey… everybody loses it…
Everybody wants to throw it all away sometimes.
And hey… yeah I know what you're going through
Don't let it get the best of you,
You'll make it out alive
Oh~
The two Draconians then slammed their tails against the earth, making a loud *THUD* permeate the air. Hiccup and Teinefonn then sharply turned to face each other and spread their wings to their full span- 28 feet each, and drove them downwards. The two propelled into the sky as one.
People like us we've gotta stick together,
Keep your head up nothing lasts forever!
Here's to the damned to the lost and forgotten,
It's hard to get high when you're living on the bottom!
Spiraling in corkscrews and singing the song of loners-not-by-choice coming together to make a safe haven for creatures like them, Teinefonn and Hiccup burst into flames- the two's flames were different: Hiccups' were a vivid green like his eyes and Teinefonn's were a brilliant golden with orange and red sparks, colored just like her eyes. They made a tunnel and flew into the opening.
Oh whoa oh! Oh whoa oh!
We are all misfits living in a world on fire!
Oh whoa oh! Oh whoa oh!
Sing it for the people like us, the people like us!
Blasting out of the exit Hiccup took up the next verse. He grabbed Teine and dove down towards the ocean, pulling up just before disappearing under the frothing waves and making a shockwave out of foam and salt water as he soared over the sea. Holding Teinefonn close Hiccup sang.
Hey, this is not a funeral,
It's a revolution, after all your tears have turned to rage!
Just wait- everything will be okay,
Even when you're feeling like it's going down in flames~!
Oh~!
Teinefonn took up the chorus with Hiccup and the two harmonized while ducking in and out of the sea stacks and weaving between formations.
People like us, we've gotta stick together,
Keep your head up nothing lasts forever!
Here's to the damned, to the lost and forgotten,
It's hard to get high when you're living on the bottom!
Oh whoa oh! Oh whoa oh!
We are all misfits living in a world on fire
Oh whoa oh! Oh whoa oh!
Sing it for the people like us, the people like us!
~In Berk Village~
Fishlegs was standing at the cliff, watching two figures with wings round the bend from behind the Island. His eyes widened when he caught the flash of flame-orange and metallic-copper scales. Fishlegs' heart thumped in excitement as realized what the flashes of color meant.
"Blaze Furies…!"
Then the song hit. He felt a calling, something tugged at his very being, leading him into the forest and heading straight to Raven Point…
~Back with Hiccup and Teine~
Oh whoa oh! Oh whoa oh!
You've just gotta turn it up loud when the flames get higher
Oh whoa oh! Oh whoa oh!
Sing it for the people like us, the people like us!
~All over the Archipelago~
The Souls of the Outcast raise their voices, calling to each other in a human and draconic roar for unity and to create a separate place where creatures like them could live together and without fear of being ridiculed for things they can't help.
They can't do nothing to you!
They can't do nothing to me!
This is the life that we choose,
This is the life that we bleed!
Throw claws and fists in the air!
Come at us now if you dare!
Tonight we're gonna change forever~
The two singers circled over the island, miles above in the sky. Without warning the two dive, the every particle of strength going into the completion of the pact- no the Union, that was initiated between Hiccup and Teinefonn.
Everybody loses it…
Everybody wants to throw it all away sometimes
Oh~!
People like us, we've gotta stick together,
Keep your head up nothing lasts forever!
Here's to the damned, to the lost and forgotten,
It's hard to get high when you're living on the bottom!
Oh whoa oh! Oh whoa oh!
We are all misfits living in a world on fire!
Oh whoa oh! Oh whoa oh!
Sing it for the people like us, the people like us!
Oh whoa oh! Oh whoa oh!
You've just got to turn it up loud when the flames get higher!
Oh whoa oh! Oh whoa oh!
Sing it for the people like us, the people like us!
Oh whoa oh! Oh whoa oh!
We're all misfits living in a world on fire!
Oh whoa oh! Oh whoa oh!
Sing it for the people like us, the people like us!
Oh whoa oh! Oh whoa oh!
You've just got to turn it up loud when the flames get higher!
Oh whoa oh! Oh whoa oh!
Sing it for the people like us, the people like us!
There was a bright glow, a burst of fire in green, gold, and red. Then Hiccup and Teine stood there, wings out and extended to the reddening skies as their tails formed an 'S' behind themselves. They pressed their foreheads together and smiled happily. Teinefonn then lifted her arm and slashed a flame-pattern into the flesh. Hiccup didn't even blink. Raising his opposite arm he gave Teinefonn the okay to do the same to him. After her application the two pressed their wounds, identical in every line and blood-give, together.
Thus concluding their pact to create a place where outcasts can live in safety and with happiness:
To provide and protect.
To forever love and cherish.
In sickness and in health.
Till death force them to part...
For they realized that in the span of two weeks- they've fallen in love with each other.
