A Dragon on Earth
By D. O'Shae
Chapter 10 (seventeen days after arrival)
"There's an electrical grid under the buildings and tunnels," Bunny said as he eyed the other Guardians gathered in his central workroom. "It's too close to the lower floors for me to properly use transport tunnels. I might be able to pass through the grid, but who knows what that'd do? Then there's the electric fencing on the outside and the surveillance cameras all over, so Nick can't just appear without getting spotted in a jiff."
Above the Sandman's head, the image of a bell, like a fire alarm, formed in the dream sand and the small metal arm hammered silently against it. No one needed to interpret what it meant.
"Da, they would know," Nick agreed.
"And no windows since most of the complex is underground, so I can't send the faeries in," Toothania glumly said.
"So that leaves Jack and Sandy," Bunny concluded since he convened the meeting and allowed the others to join him in The Warren. "Sandy can use his sand to get in, and we know what Jack can do. If you could get a picture of any of the rooms, an empty hall… somewhere we could open a tunnel…"
"What if they're held in separate rooms?" Toothania interjected.
"Problem," Nick murmured and crossed his arms. "But two of us can open tunnels."
Jack sat in frustrated silence and listened. He wanted to join Bunny on the initial investigation, but the rest of the Guardians talked him out of it with the logic he may not be able to control his reactions if what he found rattled him. The youngest of the group finally submitted to the reasoning when he began yelling at his friends that they were jeopardizing Hiccup and Toothless. His outburst showed how nominally he maintained his emotional grip.
"You need me to scout," Jack grunted. "Either me or Sandy needs to go in there and take a good look, and this isn't the first time I've gone into dangerous places."
"And if you find Hiccup or Toothless and either of them is… in bad shape?" Toothania raised the argument again.
The Guardians stared at him waiting for an answer.
"Kid, I know what you're going through…"
"No, you don't!" Jack tore through Bunny's statement.
"Oh, he does, Jack, and so do I," Toothania calmly replied. "This is one of the risks when you love so strongly. So trust me when I say we all know what you're going through."
Jack glanced from person to person. While Bunny appeared angry, he also seemed sad and weary at the same time. To his surprise, Jack saw similar expressions on the faces of the others. The Spirit of Fun sighed and shifted his gaze to the tabletop where sheets of paper with rough drawings of the Polish compound lay sprawled. As a covert operative, Bunny proved exceptional. Only an invisible, immaterial, flying person in command of his emotional state might do better. E Aster Bunnymund spent hundreds of years sneaking around humans and hiding things right under their noses. He knew how to slip in and out of human establishments with such practiced ease it bordered on scary. Invisibility around adults, Jack remembered, also helped.
"Tooth, he's right," Bunny said in a tight manner. "We do need him to go in and scout. If he and Sandy can get a good look inside, see who's where, we can figure out a real plan."
"I could get them out," Jack hotly asserted again.
"If they are in the same spot, da, but I do not think these people would be so stupid as to leave them united. After watching them work together, there is reason to keep them apart," Nicholas said with a hard glint in his eyes.
With the exception of Toothania and her small coterie of faeries, the rest sat around the table. Bunny sat across from Jack with Nick and Sandy at the diagonal. As usual, Baby Tooth nestled against Jack's neck, and it served as an emotional anchor for him. The storm of anger and fear inside his body continually threatened to surge outward.
"Listen, Jack, we need you in control of yourself if this is going to work," Bunny bluntly said to him. "If you go in there freezing everything in sight and making one of them disappear, they're going to triple the guard and make it that much harder to get the remaining one out… and they might even kill who gets left behind."
That sobered Jack.
The Sandman then projected an image of a very angry Toothless above his head.
"And the dragon doesn't even know the rest of us, Jack," Toothania spoke up after looking at the image.
Sandy nodded his head.
"I don't want to be hasenpfeffer, kid, or a roasted coney!" The Pooka exclaimed.
"This is why we need to plan," Nick joined coolly rejoined. "The goal is to get both out alive. We can do this, but we need to think first."
The previous day as he raced back to the North Pole castle, it all seemed clear and simple to Jack. He would fly in, dematerialize the two, and fly out with them. When he explained the situation and his plan to Nick, the grand man of the north did not readily agree. That gave Jack pause. When Bunny and Toothania arrived, both heartily disagreed with the plan and for many of the reasons they discussed yet again. Their reluctance to endorse Jack's idea put him in a sour mood that did not lift and left him rather volatile. When even Sandy found the plan wanting, it made him angry.
Bunny stared at him for a long time, causing Jack to shift in his seat. No one spoke as each appeared to be calculating and scheming. Jack forced himself to accept that if anyone could figure out how to infiltrate a military compound and extract captives, the best candidates came in the form the four other Guardians.
"You said you made them dematerialize back on the other world, but it took you a lot of energy to do it," Bunny mused aloud.
"That was on Halla, but I'm at least ten times stronger here, just like Isemaler is back there. He made Fishlegs' gronkle disappear in about two or three seconds," Jack answered the unspoken question in Bunny's statement.
His friend's gawked at him.
"A gronkle has more mass than a night fury," he explained to the blank looks. "It's sort of like a flying rock with a lava pit for a stomach."
"Right," Bunny hummed the word.
"So then that means you could get Toothless out of there fairly fast, before the guards could react?" Toothania, the blur of wings behind her, inquired.
"Yeah, I'm sure I could," Jack replied.
"Now there is Hiccup to consider," Nick said and his eyes focused on the Sandman.
Jack glanced up and saw a golden, near perfect likeness of the Viking floating over his colleague's spiky yellow hair. It made his heart skip a beat and his eyes sting. Behind that a vast tide of anger formed at those who held the Hallans captive. Given that Hiccup and Toothless destroyed two helicopters and killed the pilots, he did not think the captors would treat them with any kindness or understanding. They would be viewed as weapons.
"And that's where we come in," Bunny picked up the thread. "It'll be Nick's job to get in and get Hiccup."
"Why me?" Nick blurted.
"'Cause how do you think that boy is going to react when a bloody big rabbit suddenly pops up out of the floor and says 'Hi, I'm here to rescue you, mate'?"
Nick nodded while Jack said: "But he knows about you. I've explained all of this to him."
"Knowing ain't the same as experiencing. It's the difference between theory and reality," Bunny instantly countered.
Against which the elemental young man could not argue. Despite everything Hiccup, Fishlegs, Gobber, and Valka told him about Halla, Jack continually came upon items and situations that took him by surprise. Hiccup knew even less about Earth. Given his circumstances, a large Pooka making an abrupt appearance would be extremely unsettling.
"Jack," Nick said in his matter-of-fact way, the type he used when finding a new wonder and trying to explain it to a novice, "you need to be able to give us whole picture of what we will find there. You need to warn your man and dragon about what will happen…"
"I think I just need to find where Toothless is kept. I don't know how he'll react to seeing me, and it could give me away," Jack said as he thought about possible outcomes.
"Oh, that's right: you said dragons can see you when you're invisible," Toothania recalled for them all.
"How do they do this?" Nicholas Saint North pondered.
"I haven't been able to figure it out. There must be some wavelength of electromagnetism they can see that I exist in when I go immaterial. After all, the mantis shrimp can see in eight different segments of the spectrum and…"
Jack paused when the others simply gazed at him.
"What?" He asked the questioning looks.
"And they said television rots the brain," Nick chuckled.
"I don't have a lot to do when the sun approached the Tropic of Cancer, you know? Radio and movies were a great way to pass time, and then television…" Jack explained and trailed off.
"But will Toothless cooperate once he does see you?" Bunny inquired and returned to the main topic.
"If I tell him were going immaterial, he'll listen. He's been bugging me to do it again ever since the first time."
"Good, because this has to be coordinated, Jack," Nick piped up. "We need to do this at the same time. I get Hiccup, and you get the dragon. No delay. Once we start, they'll know something is up, da? We don't want them to start shooting."
Again, another sobering thought for the young Guardian got laid bare. Jack nodded. He then followed Nick's line of sight and saw him staring at the Sandman. Questions formed in his brain.
"Sandy, could you put everyone asleep in the compound?" The man called Santa Claus asked.
A question mark appeared above the Sandman's head while he shrugged.
"He'd have to know where the guards are and the layout of the place," Bunny reiterated the point, but then looked at the diminutive Guardian and said: "Unless you could flood the place with dream sand?"
Sand shook his head while and x in a box took shape above it. He clearly rejected idea. Jack could not blame him. While Bunny did a good job scouting and getting a general idea of the compound, they still did not know the exact details and dimensions of the place. Thus, Sandy could not estimate how much dream sand he would need to be successful. Too much would be a waste and could drastically reduce his supply, while not enough would tip off those unaffected of the operation. Once more unknowns proved to be the real enemy. Slowly, everyone turned to face Jack.
"Alright, Jack, it's down to you," Bunny told him in a low voice. "Can you keep it together enough to do only what you need to do and not get carried away? If you start freezing everyone, they'll just tighten security… or worse."
"I can do it: get in, scout, and get out," Jack replied while keeping his temper in check.
"More than ever, Hiccup and Toothless need you to get this right," Toothania added her thoughts.
Jack began to frown, but then Sandy laid a hand on his forearm. The youngest Guardian stared into the eyes of the oldest. A small smile formed on Sandy's face, but it did not convey humor. For a tiny instant Jack thought he felt and saw regret in the sallow features, and it gave him pause. The Sandman possessed a complex and long history, most of which Jack did not know, but he sensed the little man shared something profound with him. Jack calmed and nodded.
"I can do this," he whispered to his friend.
"Alright, tomorrow we reconvene at the Pole when Jack gets back," Bunny told them in an authoritative manner. "Since its closer than here."
"Agreed," Nick chimed in.
"I'll be there," Toothania stated.
The Sandman nodded and fixed everyone with an even gaze.
"Jack, you can stay here tonight if you want," the Pooka offered.
"No, I think I'm going to head out and expend some energy. I need to show Creak he's not winning," the elemental Guardian said in a cold, icy voice. "I know some kids in Lapland who could use some fun right now."
"Just the children?" Nick mused.
Jack caught the gleam in his mentor's eyes, grinned, and replied: "There's a kid in all of us."
"Da, da. Remember that, my friend."
In the morning they allowed Hiccup to feed and water Toothless, then spend a half an hour with him. It felt like a mortal wound when he it came time to place the cage on the dragon's head with the large eyes begging him to stop. The black hood came to Hiccup's rescue in a perverse way, but the hurt remained regardless of the darkness.
As per the daily custom, Hiccup spent many hours being grilled in languages he did not understand by the lead woman whose name he could barely pronounce or remember and the dark-skinned man. They showed him pictures of he and Toothless in flight and in the fight with the flying machines. Hiccup winced at the images of the two that exploded when struck with Toothless' plasma. He never intended to have the dragon kill anyone, but they were injuring his winged friend. Toothless merely sought to save his own life. The man and woman relentlessly pointed to the photos and threw one meaningless sentence after another at him. In the number of times he went through the ritual, Hiccup discerned at least six different languages they used to try and communicate with him. Only one came close to being comprehensible, but even that remained nonsense to him. After four hours of the grilling, Hiccup lowered his head to the table and let it lay there. The man pounded his fist, but Hiccup refused to budge.
The hood and the walk back to his cell commenced. Whether his captors realized it or not, Hiccup figured out they led him in an oxbow pattern through the halls in an effort to confuse him. He counted steps and the number of turns he made when directed to the interrogation room, Toothless' holding chamber, or his cell. By his estimation, he never traveled more than a radius of one hundred feet. A mental map of began to form in his mind, and with it a sense he might be able to affect an escape if he could just understand more of the layout. It remained an insubstantial hope at best.
Following his meal of bland food, Hiccup sat in the corner with the blanket over his head to block the harsh overhead lighting. He curled his body around the paltry pillow and closed his eyes. The Viking returned to his memories. Reliving in as much detail as he could recall the events following the arrival of the new Isemaler became his most recent pastime.
"You miss it, don't you?" He asked Jack one night as the lay under the blankets in the dark.
"Miss what?" Jack inquired, but it sounded knowing to the Viking.
"Being the Jack Frost."
"I'm still Jack Frost."
"Then being Isemaler," Hiccup corrected himself.
"A little," replied the brown-haired young man snug in Hiccup's arms.
"It's the flying, isn't it?"
"Yeah, I really miss that."
Hiccup and his beloved lay in silence. Since the arrival of the Hallan Isemaler, Jack never transformed. Moreover, the young human-looking man said he could not even force it. Hiccup could not imagine what it would like if he suddenly lost such extraordinary powers. The Viking saw the want, almost envy, in Jack's eyes when looking at the staff of Isemaler.
"Noro told me I wouldn't be able to," Jack quietly told him yet again. "She said being mortal came with limitations… and uncertainties. She warned me I wouldn't like some parts of it,"
"What don't you like the most?" Hiccup asked because he discovered Jack tended not to brood if he discussed his condition.
"Pooping," the new mortal quickly answered. "It's disgusting. I forgot how bad it is."
"Wait a second, you mean for the last three months you didn't… what did you do in the privy then?"
"Sat there and read what people carved on the walls. Sometimes I'd go invisible and fly around to see what was happening. Just taking time for myself."
Hiccup chuckled at the answer. He never knew Jack did not go through a few the messier bodily processes, although that did not include their intimate moments. Both he and the Guardian seemed to enjoy getting gooey and sticky together. Hiccup felt his blood rise at the thought.
"Aha, what's this?" Jack giggled the question while wiggling his back against the rising development.
"You have this weird effect on me," Hiccup gamely responded.
The Guardian in disguise laughed and said: "You are really twisted if the idea of pooping gets you going!"
"What? No! Gods, Jack!"
Jack snorted in mirth.
"And you call me twisted," Hiccup grunted in his mate's ear. "I just thought about the things you don't find disgusting even though most people on this island would shudder at the mere idea…"
"Of what's none of their business what we do in bed together," Jack interjected with an edge to his voice. "There're a lot of arguments about that on my world, Hiccup. People get punished for being in love with the same gender. Some people even get killed for it."
"Your world sounds terrifying if that's the way it is."
"It can be."
They lapsed into silence, but Hiccup's body remained alert and sensitive. The feel of Jack's naked flesh pressed against his own caused a delirium in his head. He could scarcely remember the times when he feigned his attraction to women. Astrid remained rather hostile toward him because of the truth and the events spawned by the revelation. Hiccup never intended any of that to happen, let alone the death of Sledgehead, her dragon, Snotlout's dragon, and the number of Berkians who died during the civil war. He hugged Jack closer trying to drive the memories from his head.
"The war?" Jack whispered.
"How did you know?" Hiccup asked.
"I can feel your muscles tense and shake at the same time, and there's a way you breathe when you think of it… likes there's not enough oxygen in the room," the Guardian stated his observations.
"If you hadn't come to find us…"
"I had to. I knew you were the only one who could end it."
Hiccup remained quiet for a long time. Jack respected his silence. One piece of that awful day shone bright and clear in the Viking's mind, and he latched on it with all his might. He could still feel Jack's hands on his shoulders from the night when Berk gathered in the burnt ruins of the great hall and tried to make sense of the battles. He recalled the songs, the laments, and the tears of his people. Mostly he remembered how two invisible hands held him as he gave vent to his grief.
"That's when I really fell in love with you," Hiccup whispered to that particular set of memories.
"I was already in love with you by that point," Jack rejoined with a happy note in his tone. "I saw so much in you that I want to be. You'd make a great Guardian, Hiccup."
The Viking hugged the man from another world as tightly as he could until Jack wheezed. The two the laughed together. Hiccup already decided the transition for Jack from Guardian to mortal would take time and, most important, understanding from him. He recalled the days when he first found Toothless, found that remarkable kinship with the dragon, and how he hid it from the rest of Berk. When his people discovered the truth, it nearly cost him his father, friends, and entire village. Hiccup never forgot how Astrid alone stood by him, for whatever reason, and spurred him to the right actions. Thus, a good notion of how he should respond to the changes in Jack's life formed his head.
"You know, Jack, just because you're not… whatever it is you really are, you don't stop being a Guardian," Hiccup pondered aloud and with certainty. "You've just got to apply it in different ways. Besides, you still go back to Earth once a month, so it's not like it's completely cut off from you."
"Those are good points… but the flying?" The thin human from Earth said.
"There's always Toothless. You know he'd take you for a ride any time night or day."
"But he wants what I can do in my Guardian body," Jack countered.
"I don't think it will matter to him. I think Toothless really, truly likes you," Hiccup stated.
From above on the other side of the room, Toothless rumbled with seeming annoyance that his name kept being used while he tried to sleep. Hiccup and Jack snickered while peering through the darkness at the all but invisible form of the dragon. They heard his wings ruffle.
"He's amazing," said Jack with genuine affection for the night fury.
"Yeah, he is… and I think that all the time," Hiccup agreed.
In the cell on Earth, Hiccup raised his head. His eyes stung as he remembered that moment when all seemed perfect and right on the far-off world. The Viking wished he could find his way back.
"Little flying boy sad," Creak's voice taunted as if he found the perfect moment. "So alone…."
"I know: most alone," Hiccup snarled the rest of the phrase while pulling the blanket from off of his head. Two yards away the faintly glowing orange orbs peered in his direction.
"Where is cold boy? Why cold boy no come to save flying boy and flying black lizard? How long can lizard live in chains?"
"Toothless is not a lizard."
"But where is cold boy?" Creak asked again while his outline became a bit more assembled. "Why does the little Guardian not care for flying boy?"
Hiccup opened his mouth, but then clamped it shut before he could speak. He learned the twisted creature liked to goad and sneak information it would later use against him. The Viking glared at Creak.
"Is Jack really so much more powerful than you that you come after me instead of him?" He taunted in return.
The orange eyes narrowed. Hiccup believed for a moment he scored a hit. The small respite from fear and sadness seemed miraculous.
"Soon these human grow tired of you and flying black lizard. Soon they cut up black lizard to see what's inside of him. Smell in room, flying boy," the misshapen head said while lifting what appeared to be a nose and sampling the air, "is smell of death. Many, many humans died here. Many died screaming."
Hiccup remained motionless and silent, and he tried to present a brave front in the face of the horridly giddy creature. Over the course of days he started to wonder how long his captors would try to pry information out of him and how they would react to repeated failure. Moreover, something about his cell seemed ominous in the blank, sterile manner of its appointments. Furthermore, this did not appear to be a new construction although built for this very purpose.
"Humans kill what they don't know," Creak's dry voice intoned. "Kill what they think makes them afraid. Humans like to kill. Soon they will kill flying black lizard."
The Viking slowly blinked his eyes.
"Cold boy could save lizard, but cold boy cold… does not care or want flying boy on his world. He leaves flying boy to die!"
"Liar!" Hiccup yelled and threw himself at Creak.
The maligned, ugly being laughed as the young man passed right through the gnarled form. Hiccup landed hard on the ground. The scratchy twittering of the being echoed around his head, but the figure disappeared. As the laughter died, the young Viking man berated himself for falling into the creature's verbal trap. He looked up at the glowing block of light on the ceiling.
"Why don't you know I'm here?" He whispered the now painful query.
Unbeknownst to Hiccup as he lay numbly sprawled on the floor for several hours staring at the ceiling, twilight crept over Trójmiejski Park. The ruined village twenty-five feet above him gave every appearance of having been abandoned long ago. Only the odd footprints and tire tracks indicated the buildings continued to serve some purpose. On the horizon the final hump of sunlight faded to nothing as azure gave way to the purple of impending night. Shadows began to merge into indistinct shapes. Although spring settled firmly over the land, what remained of the village appeared resigned to remain lifeless.
Jack effortlessly sailed between the trees, over the fencing and signs written in Polish noting the area as dangerous for human habitation, and toward the group of buildings. He brought up a mental image of the maps Bunny drew. Thus far, the Pooka proved an excellent scout.
"There," Jack whispered to himself while leading himself forward with the staff. It gleamed white as ice crystals forms and flaked off during the slow flight.
The Guardian halted and spun in a circle to determine his location. While doing so, he noticed the small cameras craftily hidden in moldering soffits, exposed beams, and crumbling walls. The more he looked, the more Jack realized the state of the village to be completely artificial. The buildings seemed old, but the decay appeared too recent. The garbage strewn around the grounds did not look happenstance, but rather planned. Whoever designed the town wanted a casual observer to think the village as given over to nature to be slowly consumed. Jack, however, saw through the ruse.
"This is staged," he told the wind the crept around him. "This is… awful."
Once correctly oriented, Jack zipped off toward a particular house that, for all intents and purposes, looked ready to collapse on itself. One glance revealed the walkway to be swept clean of debris and dust in order to hide the passage of anyone. The door to the home hung on single hinge, but would not deny entrance to a person. Jack flew through it and inside. Broken, rotten furniture lay roughly in what might be an ideal arrangement. The Guardian scanned the floor. Only faint traces of footprints could be seen. He followed those into one of the back rooms, ostensibly a bedroom, and studied it. A grin spread along his face when he saw the door handle on the closet appeared a bit too polished for a ruin.
"Nice try," Jack mouthed the words as scanned the area.
He saw various holes in the walls and flooring, and therein discovered the cameras and microphones. Bunny did not lie when he spoke about the heavy surveillance of the area. It made sense now why the Pooka said either he or the Sandman needed to make the final scouting run. One thing puzzled Jack: he could not figure out how Bunny discovered the electrical grid underlying the compound. He stored the question and prepared to begin the real job.
Adults, he reminded himself, did not believe in him, so the likelihood stray belief might give him a jolt of unexpected and uncontrolled power diminished. He feared his natural magical field might interrupt the equipment and trigger alarms, so Jack used only enough to remain immaterial and invisible while flying. He wished he spent more time with the new staff since it did not feel entirely his own although much improved since first receiving it. Jack's nerves felt unaccountably twitchy as he soared through the door, found the stairwell, and started to make his entry.
At the top of the stairs a heavy metal door greeted the Guardian. He examined the thick plating as he walked through it noting the two inches of solid steel. On the other side the stairs waited, and Jack floated instead of walking. The two overhead lights were dim, and he suspected it a purposeful setting. At the bottom the stairs terminated into a hallway that Jack followed until forced to turn right. The first thing that hit the Guardian when he entered the real compound came in the form of the eerie quiet. Then the oddity became more profound. People moved about their jobs, but did not speak. They all wore soft-soled shoes, so even footfalls got muffled. When two or three of the strangely dressed people met, some in military gear and others in drab gray suits, they tilted their heads together and whispered. Each person, regardless of their garb, moved with decided purpose.
A long hallway stretched into the distance. Jack spied the doors on either side and also the open corridors spaced at intervals between the doors. Jack hovered near the ceiling and floated along. Each short corridor held at least two military personnel armed with assault rifles. A quick detour showed gun ports in the walls as well as observation mirrors. Jack peered through it and saw a woman of clear Middle Eastern descent sitting on the cement block serving as both bed and couch. She stared at the two-way mirror with a hard expression. Dressed in an orange jumpsuit, it became obvious the facility served as a prison of sorts. The western war on terrorism, Jack knew, gave rise to such places.
The elemental young man shuddered and moved back to the main hall. He found more short corridors, some attached to long back hallways, and more containment rooms. Each held a single prisoner dressed in the same orange jumpsuit. A single blanket and pillow served the prisoners and did not appear to give much comfort. Jack felt torn on how to feel. Violent extremists existed, and as a Guardian he fought a few in his realm, but he also became aware innocent people got swept up. The fact this prison existed out of sight and off the record by all accounts, greatly disturbed him. Those held there basically disappeared from the face of the planet, and the concept chilled him. His mind could barely conceive of Hiccup and Toothless being trapped in such a place. He moved on and grew increasing anxious each time he discovered a new holding cell that did not house a prisoner form another world.
The five cells on the right hand side of hall held people of varying nationalities, but none were Hallan. Jack turned his attention to the left side. He discovered a workroom at the end of the hall containing an unsavory assemblage of people and equipment, and next to which he found a prison room unlike the others. It sat isolated and surrounded by armed guards. Jack found he could navigate around it, and what he saw on the other side of the viewing mirrors made his heart sink.
"Great Wotan," he mouthed the Hallan oath when he saw the night fury in the larger cell.
Toothless sat with all limbs and his neck securely bound in chains, heavy straps encircling his mid-section to keep his wings pinned, and a form-fitting wire cage around his head to keep his mouth shut. The dragon looked miserable and lay with eyes closed. The sight of Toothless burned itself into his memory in a single instant. An anger Jack could barely contain rose in his chest. He felt energy leak from his hand into the crook. Suddenly, radios and speakers began to squeal around him. Soldiers instantly jumped to their feet. The Guardian realized his reaction caused the feedback in the electrical equipment as his power built. He forced the energy to subside, and the equipment returned to normal function. The staff vibrated in his hand, but did not flow with magic. A state of heightened alert swept through the halls.
In his mind, Jack vowed to free Toothless as soon as possible. A very un-Guardian notion briefly took root as he considered what would happen if he simply let the dragon roam free in the compound. Jack felt shame at the thought, knowing what the night fury would do, and dismissed it. It took considerable strength of will to pull away from the window without acting on the dragon's behalf, but Jack could hear the other Guardians in the back of his mind admonishing him to keep on task. He recalled the one time he got distracted by Pitch Black and Easter got ruined as a result. The lesson served in that moment.
The next two cells held two more people who appeared to be Hindi. He pondered what they did to land in this hellish environment, and then moved on. Jack reached the second to last cell in the hall, not far from the stairwell where he entered, and felt his gut freeze in a manner having nothing to do with his nature. Hiccup lay sprawled on the floor of the ceiling and stared vacant at the ceiling. His green eyes seemed lifeless. The man the Guardian loved looked pale and wan. His normally robust and slightly wild russet hair formed a messy mat on his head. Like all the others, the Viking wore an ill-fitting orange jumpsuit. Jack felt his body tremble.
More high-pitched squeals and tones emerged from the surrounding electronics. The guards jumped to attention and actively scanned the area. They looked past the invisible elemental young man who wrestled with his very being trying to calm the flood of energy in his system. Bit by bit he wrangled it under control. However, one of the nearby guards began to stare in his direction. The man or woman – impossible to tell because of the armor and uniform – stripped a glove from one hand and raised it toward him. It only took two seconds for Jack to realize he generated a field of cold due to the manner in which he garnered energy. Thus, with little option, he slipped inside of Hiccup's cell despite his inability to fully contain his reaction.
Frigid air emanated from his body as the Guardian instinctively absorbed the local ambient energy. Ten seconds later he saw a faint plume of vapor issue from Hiccup's lips. Jack tried to hide in a corner to further pull himself together. He could not keep his eyes from Hiccup, and that disrupted his efforts. The Guardian in him constantly wanted to surge to the fore and take command. The temperature in the room continued to drop at the Spirit of Fun sought to corral his emotional reaction.
"Cold?" Hiccup whispered as he felt a nip on his lips, nose, and exposed fingertips.
The Viking blinked his eyes and began to rouse. He could literally feel the temperature dropping. As a child of northern climes, as well as the air and sea, Hiccup attuned his mind to notice changing environmental conditions. It sparked something in his mind, and the torpor began to dissipate. A will to move returned. The young Viking sat up, and right into a chill so intense in made him involuntarily shiver. He snapped his head around. In one corner of the cell near the ceiling he saw ice crystals forming on the wall. Hope, a virtual stranger to him in the preceding days, came briefly to life. He looked at the spot, saw it grow slightly, and took a wild guess.
"Jack?" He murmured.
As though shouted, Jack heard the word and felt his heart quake. The voice coming from his beloved sounded uncertain and weak. A desire to swoop down and take hold of the young man on the sitting on the floor nearly took over. He drifted closer to his heart's desire. The look of raw hurt and pain in Hiccup's visage stung him. He could see his mate desperately searching for a clue. Against all wisdom, Jack acted. He wiggled one finger in Hiccup's direction.
Three small snowflakes formed and fell onto Hiccup's upturned face. His eyes closed, and tears streamed out of the corners. For he knew snow did not simply appear inside of a closed room. Only one agent could be responsible. His fervent wish now granted left him at a crossroads. The Viking tried to puzzle together why the being who captured his love did not immediately act. The days of loneliness and strain, now finding an outlet, began to crack Hiccup's hold on himself.
"Jack!" Hiccup called louder while his eyes popped open, but he saw nothing as he swung his head from side to side.
Jack could recognize when a person reached the end of endurance. He flew down and hovered behind the Viking whose head whipped back and forth. As he learned on Halla, the Guardian placed his hands on the Hiccup's shoulders and allowed them to become solid without becoming visible. Then he squeezed.
"I'm here," Jack said in the smallest voice he could make.
Hiccup crossed his arms over his chest as his hands reached for his own shoulders. There he found the cold, solid, and real fingers gripping his muscles. The Viking's fingers encircled the smaller hands and grasped as hard as he could. They did not disappear. Hiccup slowly folded at the waist as relief coursed through him, warring with the despair with which he learned to live, and began cry.
Jack followed along as tears welled form his eyes as well. The sobs bore into him as though he got shot by a gun. He let more of his body become semi-solid so Hiccup could truly feel his presence. Together they sat in middle of the cell, each recoiling from a vast well of uncontrollable emotions. Jack struggled contain the limitless love he felt for Hiccup to guide his actions. He did not want to further jeopardize the man or the dragon. It took a supreme act of will to refocus on the task at hand, but he did not let go.
"We're going to get you… both of you, out of here," he whispered into the shaking ear of the distraught love of his immortal life.
"Jack! Where…" Hiccup began to plead.
"We've got to be strong and hold it…"
The door to the cell clanked and flew open. Two guards entered, pointed weapons at the weeping Hiccup, and slowly advanced. A severe looking woman wearing a navy blue skirt and matching blazer approached. Concern laced her tight features, made more so by the more or less dark blond hair pulled into a bun at the back of her head, and her gray eyes search both the man and the room.
"What is the matter?" She asked in German, and Jack understood her perfectly.
Hiccup raised his head and stared dully at her as tears continued to streak down his cheeks. Jack did not let go. He recognized her as a woman who possessed authority.
"Why is it so cold in here?" The woman inquired and glanced around. She turned to the guards and said in Polish: "One of you go check to see if the ventilation system is malfunctioning."
"We can't leave you here alone," a guard with a male voice responded.
"I said one, not both of you."
"We need a facilities check!" The guard yelled through the open door without taking his sights off of the Viking.
The woman returned her attention to Hiccup. Jack noted how she kept out of arm's reach, but she crouched down into a squat so she faced him nearly at eye level. The woman stayed balanced, and the Guardian could only assume physical training gave her the ability. She eyed Hiccup for a few moments.
"Why are you crying?" She asked in a neutral tone and in Danish.
"I don't know what you're saying!" Hiccup spat at her.
"It's like I can almost understand you," the woman mumbled and shook her head.
Jack listened to the exchange and felt Hiccup's neck tense. He could understand both of them, and it quickly became apparent the two could not communicate. The Guardian wondered how many times they placed Hiccup under interrogation only to discover the stranger spoke a language they could not decipher or understand. To the best of his knowledge, Jack assumed he alone on Earth could speak Hiccup's Hallan tongue.
"Leave me alone," Hiccup grunted and started staring the floor again. However, he did not relinquish his hold on Jack's hands.
Outside the room Jack heard people bustling around, speaking in whispers, but generally maintaining silence. It gave the impression they feared someone might overhear them. Jack identified it as a means to keep the prisoners in further isolation. His dislike of the prison compound grew by leaps and bounds, and his hands grew colder. Hiccups fingers pressed in against his flesh.
"Very well, continue this game if you must," the woman said in a stern Dutch voice. "One of these days you will have to talk to us, and we will figure out how you made that creature."
She stood, faced the guard, and said in Polish: "Is he still on suicide watch?"
"Yes, ma'am," the shorter and apparently female guard replied.
"I think he's finally starting to break, so make certain he doesn't fashion a noose with the blanket or try to suffocate himself with the pillow," she commanded.
""Yes, ma'am," both guards said in unison.
With that she walked out of the cell. The guards waited until she left before they backed out and closed the door. It clanged shut with sickening finality. Jack learned to hate the compound in rapid order. It prompted him to lean down over Hiccup's head.
"Tomorrow, Hiccup," Jack whispered in the tiniest of voices. "We'll free you and Toothless tomorrow."
"Please don't leave me in here," Hiccup begged and his handhold on Jack became vice-like.
The pleading nearly broke Jack's resolve and he whispered: "If I act now, I can only get you out."
He did not need to add anything further when his words caused Hiccup's body to stiffen.
"Stay by the walls and be ready for a large man dressed in red to suddenly appear. Go with him," Jack said while forming a plan in his head. "I'll get Toothless at the same time. Just one more night, Hiccup."
Hiccup's head roughly nodded in agreement. Jack let his head become solid, and he pressed his lips against the back of Hiccup's neck. The Viking relaxed a bit.
"I am so sorry this happened to you."
"Just… free us," Hiccup replied, his words strangled by finally being able to talk to someone.
"We will," Jack promised. "I love you."
Hiccup bobbed his head once in response.
The elemental Guardian never before found it so difficult to get his body to move. Releasing his hold on Hiccup proved the hardest act of his life. He could sense the pure desperation and trauma suffered by the man he loved most in all worlds. However, in order to succeed at saving both Hallans, he could not do what he so wanted. Jack's hands became immaterial. A shudder went through Hiccup's body when it happened. Hiccup hugged himself while Jack floated up and out of the compound as fast as he could. Neither young man felt happy about the new separation.
Five minutes later and one hundred miles away, the waters in an abandoned quarry instantly froze and exploded into a rain of ice. A thick rind of hoarfrost coated the walls of the large dig site. The ground shuddered as a freak localized arctic storm pummeled the quarry. It lasted for ten minutes, and then ended as abruptly as it started. Nothing got killed, but never again would quarry be useful. It collapsed in on itself when the ice began to melt.