All I have to say is a small warning. Here it is!
WARNING! - Major Feels and OOC-ness!
Oh, and dragon speech is in bold.
Chapter 10 – Tearful Reunion
The same day, midday.
"I see the nest! We're almost there!"
Freyja looked over Astrid's shoulder to see the dragon nest in the distance. It was a massive island, dominated by a large mountain that sputtered the occasional cloud of smoke. The whole thing was covered in lush green vegetation, and Freyja could see movement in the foliage. Dragons, no doubt.
"We'll be there in a few minutes!" Hiccup called out to the rescue party behind him. "When we do, just let the dragons get used to you, show them you're not a threat. Then we'll look for Dagur."
Everyone yelled in acknowledgement, and proceeded to the island.
"We're under attack!"
Aurora's head snapped towards the voice at the entrance of her cave. A slight rustle told her that the human had also been alerted to the distressed screech.
"From what?" Aurora asked as she stepped outside. Running around in erratic circles was a purple Nadder, who she knew as Jittertail. Jitter was a well-known drama queen who took everything way too seriously and treated even the slightest of scratches like a fatal injury.
"Humans! They're riding brainwashed dragons!"
Aurora's interest was immediately gained. Humans riding dragons? After hearing Elda's story, that was plausible, but brainwashed? No, only alpha dragons could 'brainwash' dragons, and no human had ever been known to have controlled one.
"They're coming!"
Groaning in annoyance, Aurora checked that her human charge was well out of the way before dragging Jittertail into her cavern by his tail.
"Let's get you calmed down, Drama Queen."
"You're going to pull my tail off!"
"Oh, for Gods' sakes! Shut up!"
"Easy, Freya. No. Sudden. Moves."
Freyja was stood stock still, gazing up in terror at the snarling face of the dark green Monstrous Nightmare. The moment she'd left the others to start searching for Dagur, it had burst out in front of her, a look of pure hatred gleaming in its venomous eyes.
"What… filthy…" it snarled.
Freyja tilted her head in confusion. Had the dragon just-?
"Freyja! Look out!"
Snapping to her senses, Freyja noticed the Nightmare preparing to barbecue her. Without thinking, she dived out of the way, the dragon's fire scorching where she had just been standing seconds ago and leaving a massive black scorch mark in her place. Now she had to thank Dagur for pushing her so hard in training the next time she saw him.
Vorg immediately charged forward, only to be cut off by Hiccup's dragon; Toothless. The Alpha Night Fury bared its gleaming white teeth at the Berserker Captain in warning.
"Let… it."
There it is again, Freyja thought. But… what is 'it?'
Growling, Toothless turned to the Nightmare, eyes narrowed. The green dragon snarled back, however the snarl dwindled as its eyes met with the Night Fury's.
"…down… We do… harm… people."
That was Toothless, Freyja noted. Am I going crazy? I must be. Dragons don't talk! Well… I don't speak dragon… What the Hel?!
Respectfully, the Monstrous Nightmare lowered its head and crooned in submission. With a final growl, Toothless sent it off. The moment it left, Freyja relaxed and allowed Toothless to nudge her arm and growl softly.
"…okay?"
"I'm fine," Freyja said as she gratefully rubbed the Night Fury's scaly black nose. "Thank you."
"No…"
Freyja decided not to acknowledge the fact that the dragon seemed to be talking to her, but made a mental note to ask someone about the chances of dragons being able to form some sort of language. Looking up from where she was petting the dragon, she realised that everyone was watching her being cosy with Toothless. Odin help her if Dagur found out about this…
"What was that?" Astrid asked incredulously.
"I think Toothless was asserting his dominance," Fishlegs suggested. "After all, he is the Alpha Dragon."
"That could be it," Hiccup acknowledged. Glancing at Freyja, he decided that it was time to actually make a plan. "Okay, we'll fan out, that way we'll cover more ground. I'll go with Vorg, Freyja and Toothless along the western third of the island. Mom, you and Eret take the centre, Astrid and Fishlegs will take the east. Got it?"
"Got it," everyone chorused.
"Okay, let's move out."
Dagur growled under his breath in frustration. That other dragon that had come in squawking like a crow with a splinter in its foot fifteen minutes ago hadn't left yet and just wouldn't shut up! At least the dragon who had been bugging him for over a week was ticked off too.
"I swear… danger!" it squawked yet again.
"… shut up…" the healer dragon; as Dagur had deduced the other annoying lizard was; mumbled.
"How… be… calm?! … have a Night Fury!"
"A what?! Night Fury?!" Dagur snarled.
"What… that?! We… overrun!"
There was a frantic scrabbling of claws and a thumping of heavy dragon footsteps as the annoying dragon that wouldn't shut up fled the cavern, squawking incomprehensibly.
"Great job…" the healer growled. "Now… got… queen… who knows… human… you here."
"Well, I'm sorry," Dagur drawled sarcastically. "Maybe it's because-."
"Sshh!"
Before Dagur could yell in outrage, a cool, scaled claw clamped itself over his mouth.
"Stay hidden."
Oddly enough, Dagur did as he was told as the dragon departed, the soft clack, clack of its claws even quieter and more spaced out than usual.
"See that one there?" Vorg stated, pointing out the sleek form of a light purple dragon with fiery red-orange, fur-like feathers cresting its head and cheeks, with an estimated shoulder of height similar to a Gronkle's. It lurked in the shadowy mouth of a small cavern, golden eyes narrowed in suspicion. "It looks like its hiding something."
"So?" Hiccup shrugged. "What's that got to do with Dagur?"
"Prisoners, perhaps? After all, I've seen a distinct lack of dead bodies since we got here. A good number of men were lost fighting these dragons. Some survivors may have been taken as prisoners."
"Do dragons take prisoners?"
"It could happen. It's like you said, you never know what to expect with dragons."
Hiccup was about to reply, but a flash of bronze-red hair caught his eye. A sharp intake of breath signified that Vorg had seen it too.
"Freyja!" he half hissed, half yelled in the Berserker youth's direction. "What the Hel are you doing?!"
Freyja, who was silently creeping through the bushes towards the cavern, ignored the Captain. Her sight was solely on the dragon, whose eyes were constantly scanning for signs of movement. Vorg prayed that Dagur was alive so he could commend his chief for the survival lessons he'd convinced his sister into going through with.
Vorg assessed his options. Freyja was roughly seven meters away from the cavern and the dragon. He and Hiccup were about eleven meters away with Toothless. They could easily rush towards her and snatch her up before she did anything stupid. True, he'd probably get an earful, and perhaps even end up with a broken nose, but it was that or let the girl get barbecued.
"What in the name or Thor is she doing?!" Hiccup hissed, flailing his hands. Vorg grabbed his arms and pulled them down so as not to attract the dragon's attention.
"Taking after her brother."
"Well we need to stop her! She may be desperate to save Dagur, but from what I remember, Dagur would throw a fit if he knew what was going on! I'd rather not die yet!"
Snap!
"Oh, that's just great…"
Aurora jerked her head in the direction of the sound. She caught a glimpse of red-brown through the branches of some nearby bushes, roughly five metres away from her, and growled softly.
"Who's there?"
The sound of harsh whispers alerted her. Turning her face to search the undergrowth for trouble, she caught sight of black scales and long horns. A quick sniff of the air told her that this wasn't just a dragon she didn't know, but humans too.
Maybe they've come for the Berserker, she thought. Finally, a way to get him out from under my scales.
Despite that thought, she remained tense, waiting for any signs of an attack of sorts. No way was she going to allow anything to threaten her home.
That's when the red-haired blur shot out of the undergrowth for her.
"Freyja, no!"
Vorg dashed forward as he saw the lavender dragon rear up in front of his young charge, the feathers – that resembled Aurvandil's Fire – on its shoulders flaring up. Freyja skidded to a halt, green eyes wide with terror. What had she been thinking?!
The dragon was switching its attention from Freyja to Vorg and back again, before settling on Freyja and pouncing on the terrified Berserker girl. An angry roar ripped out of its throat, prompting a quickly brightening glow from its chest.
"DAGUR!" she shrieked, thrashing beneath the dragon's clawed grip. "HELP ME!"
"DAGUR! HELP ME!"
Upon hearing his sister's terrified call, Dagur was up on his feet and trying to drag himself in the general direction of Freyja's voice. His little sister was in danger, and he'd protect her, no matter what some bossy dragon said.
Grunting in pain, the Berserker chieftain hastily made way for the savage roaring, angry yells and terrified screaming. Straining his eyes, he managed to pick out a ridiculously blurred purple shape amongst all the green of the outside.
"Stop!" he commanded, stumbling forward a few paces towards what was certainly the bothersome – and now very furious – dragon.
"Stay out of this!"
"DAGUR!"
"FREYJA!"
That was definitely his sister's voice. And judging from the screaming and roaring, this dragon was about to kill her.
"DON'T YOU DARE HURT MY SISTER!" he screeched, his face twisting into a mask of feral rage. The pain in his legs didn't matter, all that mattered was saving his little sister.
The roaring ceased, and the blurred shape of the dragon shifted slightly. It repeated the motion several times before finally moving, allowing a slim, red-topped figure to stand up.
What came next was a punch in the face and a lot of enraged screaming.
"DON'T YOU DARE HURT MY SISTER!"
Aurora froze, the fire rising in her throat halting in its passage. Sister?
Turning her head, she swung her gaze between the stricken human beneath her and the one stood rigid at the mouth of the cave, an animalistic protectiveness raging in his blind eyes. Looking back and forth between the two, she slowly began to piece things together. They had the same hair and eyes, same face…
And she'd just been about to kill her human charge's sister…
Unable to believe the madness of her actions, she pulled away, snuffing the building flames and letting out low whines of confusion. What had she been thinking?! She was supposed to heal, not kill!
"I… I-I…"
Backing away, she remained a respectful distance from the siblings. A mournful, expression of regret adorned her face.
The two other humans, who had come out of the bushes in an attempt to protect the human girl, were watching the reunion.
The girl got up, and immediately went over to her brother to punch him in the face.
"YOU IDIOT! YOU STUPID! FLAMING! IDIOT!"
Dagur didn't move as Freyja screamed and punched her frustrations at him. She didn't care if she hurt him, she just wanted to degrade and humiliate him, let him know just how much he'd scared her and tormented her.
"I COULD HAVE LOST YOU! YOU'RE ALL I HAVE LEFT AND YOU JUST DECIDE TO THROW YOUR LIFE AWAY! DID YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW SCARED I WAS?! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT I WOULD HAVE DONE IF YOU HAD DIED ON THAT STUPID SUICIDAL CRUSADE OF YOURS?!"
The Berserker chief was silent, eyes closed to the world around him so he couldn't see the choked, despairing and furious mask on Freyja's face. So he couldn't see the tears that streamed down her cheeks. He'd let her do this to him; it was what he deserved after nearly destroying her.
When Freyja was done belittling Dagur, she threw herself into his chest, heaving great sobs of distress.
"I thought… I thought I was doing it to protect you…" Dagur whispered, wrapping his arms around his sister.
"You-you can't protect me if you're d-dead."
He didn't know why, but those words broke Dagur's resolve completely. The floodgates opened and shuddering sobs broke free of his chest. He collapsed to his knees, taking Freyja down with him.
"I-I'm so sorry!" he wailed. "Th-this s-stupid obsession has destroyed everything! Now I can never protect you again, all because of this mad quest. I-I can't- I just-!"
"Don't say that. You can always-."
"I can't!" Dagur yelled, pushing Freyja away so she could see his pale, unseeing eyes and the acid burns that surrounded them. "Look at me! This is all my fault! I did this to myself!"
As Freyja's eyes took in the state of Dagur's, she slowly realised what he meant. Without his sight, he was next to useless in a fight, therefore he couldn't fight to protect her. She sighed. What had he gotten himself into?
"Just because you can't fight to protect me doesn't mean you can't do something else to protect me," she said softly.
"Like what?"
"… I don't know… But we'll figure it out. I promise."
Oh god, I was picturing this in my head the other night and... I cried! D'X I genuinely cried! Don't worry, I feel better now!
Oh, and I've also decided a genre for this!
The next chapter contains some more major OOC-ness, so don't kill me please.
Edit/: Dammit, I forgot to fill in the Dragonese DX Here it is!
"What are you doing here, you filthy human?!"
"Let me handle it."
"Back down. We do not wish to harm your people."
"Are you okay?"
"No problem."
"I swear! We're in terrible danger!"
"Jittertail, shut up please."
"How can you be so calm?! They have a Night Fury!"
"What was that?! We're overrun!"
"Great job..." "Now we've got a supreme drama queen who knows I've got a human; i.e. you here."
