A/N: Sorry for being late, I would've finished typing this last night but we watched LotR: The two Towers (my favourite movie ever!) and the extended edition is like 4 hours long so things kinda got out of hand... Anyway, here in this chapter there is an event that's inspired by a scene in the LotR book (speaking of, Vihra's voice change too is inspired by something in LotR, and the scene with the wolves too). And there's this mythical creature with which I've taken some creative liberties. (Also, this is the longest chapter yet - by 1000 words, wtf?!)
Darkness – it was all around him, darkness and cold damp stones. He was running, desperately following the tunnel's way, sometimes turning right and sometimes left but mostly just rushing straight ahead. He could hear more feet pattering behind, but couldn't be bothered, not when he knew his best friend was at the end of the corridor. So he kept on running, faster and faster, until he couldn't hear the others anymore. All that could be heard now was the pounding of his footsteps, the repetitive clang, clang of his peg leg, the occasional splash when he stepped in a puddle and, most of all, his heavy breaths and the thunderous beating of his heart.
After an eternity of running he finally reached an archway. He knew what was on its other side, so he rushed through it and into the great echoing chamber that was filled with strange greenish light. In its very centre was his best friend, chained and muzzled like before the battle with the Red Death.
"Toothless!" he gasped, ran to his friend and embraced him. The Night Fury crooned happily and tried, even with the chains, to nuzzle in his rider. He laughed. "Missed you too, bud…"
He heard a faint sound, gradually increasing – footsteps. The closer they got, the more blurred everything became until it transformed to the horrifying yet familiar image of the drowning Toothless. He tried to reach out but he felt suffocated, he couldn't breathe – he too was drowning, he realised.
"Serves you right!" Vihra's voice sneered in his head.
Hiccup awoke with a gasp; it took him a minute to calm his racing heart.
"Hey, you alright?"
He raised his eyes to see Jack looking at him concerned from atop his staff. He nodded. "Yeah, fine."
"You sure?"
Another nod. "Don't worry, I-I don't feel like sleeping anyway. Why don't you go take a nap or… fly or something. I'll keep watch."
But the Guardian would have none of it. He hopped off his perch and jogged next to Hiccup. "C'mon, what's eating at you? Was it the dream again?" The brunette looked away. "Oh, Hiccup, I'm sorry…"
"It's not your fault, I'm just useless and that's that, period." He was quiet for a bit, pretending not to notice Jack's disapproving look. "But you know…" The brunette shifted so that he was looking at his friend. "I could swear I heard Vihra speak in my head this time."
The white-haired boy furrowed his eyebrows. "You sure? Has this happened before?"
"No, but it was definitely her."
"What'd she say?"
"It was like mocking I think? Or gloating, she said 'serves you right' or something along those lines…"
The spirit scowled. "Blasted woman… We'll find him, Hiccup, there's no way we won't manage to, I promise!"
He smiled. "Thanks."
The other grinned. "What are friends for?" Then his expression softened. "You'd better go back to sleep though." The brunette shook his head.
"I can't. Not after the dream."
Jack sighed. "Okay then." And he plopped down next to Hiccup. The two kept their silent vigil until the dawn broke; then they woke the two girls and set off again. Because it was the 10th day after the new moon and the four were running out of time.
They had left the tricky fields and marshes behind and were trudging through a chain of mountains for the second day in a roll. Nothing extraordinary had happened so far, but that only put the teens on edge – who knew what devilry Vihra was brewing for them.
It was with these thoughts that the small group started ascending an especially steep slope; the path they were following was supposed to lead them to a long forgotten pass but the old shepherd who'd said so seemed a bit, well, crazy and the relevance of his words was debatable. They were some directions nevertheless so on the four went, on and on and on until they reached the ridge. It was midday already and the teens were so tired they could barely walk so they decided to collectively take a nap – not a long one, an hour at the most. And the cave that seemed to appear out of nowhere looked so cool and shady, perfect for a short relaxation; even the wind seemed to whisper a lullaby for them. So in the teens went.
As she was nodding off, snuggled in Angus' warm body, Merida caught sight of the brunette curling up in a corner and of the albino sitting by the entrance of the cave and fighting a yawn. She fell asleep, feeling the blonde cuddled up next to her.
Rapunzel woke up and her eyes were immediately blinded by the setting sun. She moaned in distaste, raising a hand to block out the light.
Suddenly her hand froze in mid-air. Green eyes flew open and the girl shot up to check that – yes, it was sunset alright. But how had they overslept so much, Jack was supposed to- Her gaze went to the Guardian and when she found him asleep (and he'd promised he'd keep watch) a bad feeling formed in her gut. She looked around, suddenly feeling uneasy in the once oh-so-inviting and cosy cave.
"Wake up! Wake up everybody!" she cried, a note of near-desperation in her voice. But the others were showing any signs of life – only Jack shuffled a bit and the blonde rushed towards him. "Jack! Jack, come on!"
Shaken by Rapunzel's frantic hands, the spirit slowly blinked himself awake. "… What? Punzie, what's wrong?" Then he saw the sun. "Holy winter, is it sunset? When did this happen?!"
"I don't know, I woke up and I found you all asleep, Merida and Hiccup still are!"
Jack's face contorted in almost-fear. "Still are?" He jumped up and ran to the closest of the two, who happened to be the brunette, and started shaking him. Even though her sense screamed at her to do the same with Merida, Rapunzel kneeled by the spirit's side, worried out of her mind and throwing sense out of the window. Jack's shaking seemed to work though – Hiccup's green orbs soon squinted at the two; the blonde sighed with relief and her arms flew to embrace the Viking as the Guardian offered him a relieved smile and ran off to waken the redhead.
"Rapunzel?" Hiccup questioned; she just held him tighter. When she released him she helped him up and the two hurried to the other half of their team. It was perfect timing – Jack shook Merida awake the moment the two were by his side; a second later the redhead too was engulfed in a hug.
"I thought, for a moment, that you'd died, all of you," Rapunzel murmured in her friend's hair, "when you wouldn't wake up I thought I'd lost you… I'm just glad you're all fine…" She let go of Merida and hugged Jack too.
"But whut's all this 'bout?" the redhead questioned, "Why were ye so worried?" Hiccup nodded, the redhead having voiced his thoughts as well.
The blonde separated from the Guardian and moved a strand of hair behind her ear. "I-I woke up and saw that it was sunset and we fell asleep at noon and I called but you wouldn't wake up…" The Viking and the Scot looked at one another in belated alarm, then back at the other two.
"It's Vihra's doing," Jack stated grimly. "We all fell asleep too easily, I'd bet anything it was black magic and if she managed to make Merida fall ill then who's to say she can't bewitch us to fall asleep?"
"I knew 'twas strange when I saw ye yawnin', Jack." The redhead murmured, absentmindedly patting Angus who'd neighed worriedly.
"Well, we can't do much about it now, can we?" Hiccup reasoned, his voice rising to be heard over the Clydesdale's neighing. "We'd better leave, we've lost half a day already."
"I'm not sure how we'll make it," Rapunzel admitted as the teens turned towards the exit of the cave, "we only ha-"
All of them froze.
Because the exit was blocked by one of the largest dragons Hiccup had ever seen and the largest the other three had. Its ruby-red scales were flashing in the light of the setting sun and its twelve heads were raised like a cobra's hood; a dozen pairs of eyes the colour of molten gold were trained on the teens, their pupils were tiny slits.
"A balaur," Rapunzel whispered almost inaudibly; at the same moment Merida notched an arrow and Jack raised his staff, both weapons aimed at the creature. Its pupils narrowed even more and a low growl in twelve slightly different pitches rose from the twelve throats. The two gripped their weapons tighter, ready to shoot.
"No!" Hiccup hissed; suddenly a dozen sets of eyes focused on him. Noting that, he stared back at one of the central heads, slowly raising his arms in front of himself in a gesture that said 'I'm not going to hurt you'; the head held his gaze while the others fixed his hands or his friends. Equally slowly and in a perfectly composed voice he said: Guys, lower the weapons."
"Whut?!" Merida hissed incredulously just as Jack exclaimed in a whisper: "Are you out of your mind?!"
"Trust me on this one." He murmured, his gaze never wavering from one of the heads'. The two hesitated a bit but tentatively did as told. "Punzie, what did you say this was?"
"A balaur," the blonde whispered wide-eyed.
"But it looks like a dragon… Is it one?"
"Yes, the local version of."
"Then it's enough for me. He's a dragon and I'm going to train him."
With these words Hiccup took a small step forward, his right hand rising a bit. He immediately stopped, however, when the growling started again. He stepped back carefully and it ceased; he moved forward and there it was again. He took a step back, staring at the balaur as he stopped growling, and didn't miss the way the creature's many eyes were flicking every-so-often to his friends.
"Okay, guys," he calmly spoke, "don't panic now but he doesn't trust us. I can't do what I usually do – show him that I trust him – because he'll still be wary with you in the back."
"Okay then, what do we do?" Jack whispered, his hands tight on his staff.
"Can ye calm him down another way?" Merida added.
Hiccup thought for a bit, his eyes never leaving the balaur's golden orbs. "I have seen dragons calm down when I used a lit torch, that one was almost hypnotised, but it's happened only once and anyway we can't light a fire without making him snap."
"D'we have ta fight him then?"
The Viking sighed at the princess' question. "I really don't want to get there…"
"We might not have to." Rapunzel spoke up for the first time in a while; the two dozens of eyes immediately flew to her, making her breath hitch, but still she went on in a quiet voice. "Hiccup, how exactly does the thing with the fire work again?"
"Well," he started carefully an inaudibly sighed in relief when Rapunzel wasn't the main focus of the eyes anymore, "dragons believe that only other dragons can wield fire, it puts them at ease if a fire-wielding being is in front of them. That's my theory, at least."
"Could we do the same with my hair's light?"
Hiccup shook his head, then slowly raised his hands in front of himself when the melodic growl rose from the twelve throats at the sudden movement. "Easy, boy…" he soothed in a whisper and continued when it subdued, "I'm not sure it'll work. I don't think I'll risk it, if I was alone – alright, but with you three…"
The blonde was quiet for a bit. "So, if I read this right, you have to show a dragon that you're one and the same to get it to trust you?" Hiccup slowly nodded, almost dumbfounded; he now saw the beginning of Toothless' and his story in a whole new light. She continued: "And his growl is so melodic and I thought that perhaps if I sang it would calm him down and then you could do the thing with the trust."
And the brunette's voice was back. "You know what, that could work! But…" His enthusiasm evaporated a bit. "… you'll have to come here, next to me, we have to be near him to show him we trust him… Are you okay with that?"
She nodded, then realised he couldn't see her – he'd kept on staring at the balaur lest he'd aggravate him – so she called out a quiet 'yeah'.
"It's great that you two came up with a plan, but what do Merida and I do in the meantime?" Jack whisper-called from behind them.
Hiccup nodded. "Right. Look, I hate myself for saying it, but this is a wild dragon, anything could happen, so you two – our warriors, if I may – should be ready to get us out of a sticky situation, just a bit behind so that we don't aggravate him.
"So we're backup? Good plan, lad!" Merida approved in a hushed voice. "Ye tell us when ta move back a bit, okay? Ye're da chief."
The brunette huffed, masking his nervousness. "Right, no pressure…" He then focused on the creature. "Ney, bud…" He swallowed the lump in his throat at the mention of his best friend's pet name and continued: "I won't hurt you, I promise. I know we took you home but it wasn't intentional, alright? I know Jack and Merida probably scare you. They're a bit afraid of you too. So they'll move back a bit, just to make us all comfortable, yeah?" The heads stared unblinkingly at him. "There they go… C'mon, guys." The shuffling of feet from behind and the way a few pairs of eyes strayed towards it told Hiccup his friends had moved back. When the sound stopped the Viking went on: "See? No trouble. Now I'd like you to meet Rapunzel, I'm sure you'll like her…"
The blonde strode forward with careful fluid movements until she was side by side with the brunette. "Hello," she smiled a small smile at the balaur, "you're really beautiful."
"We want to be your friends, bud." Hiccup explained. "I already said I don't mean you harm but you don't trust me because I have a weapon." His fingers touched the shield strapped to his back and the melodic growl rose again. "That's why I'm going to get rid of it." And he demonstratively flung the shield some distance away from himself; the dragon's pupils widened a bit, but mostly stayed the same. "There, I'm unarmed. Jack and Merida still have weapons though because you aren't calm. Punzie will sing a song to soothe you, okay?"
Hiccup dared to look away from the balaur for a short moment to smile at the blonde. She took a breath and softly sang, staring at a pair of beautiful golden eyes.
There once was a someone who nobody knew,
A someone of darkness and 'hate you's.
He chose for himself the foulest to do –
To gift us with horror and scare us.
Despite the slightly creepy lyrics the song had a serene monotone melody that immediately put one's mind at ease.
His being was one of the utmost aggression
And hatred – a scary grotesque.
His eyes always sneered, mocking in fashion,
His teeth were pointy, his grin – of a snake.
But he was most feared because of his voice,
For it was so scary to most –
Louder than screaming, yet doesn't make noise
And fit to command even a ghost.
He thought of himself as powerful lord
Yet his days of rule were but counted –
A prophecy did so, privately told
And captured in secret and solemnly guarded.
It told of belief and hope and forever
Trapped in the smallest of hands,
It told of survive and alone and together
And four heroes that brought others with them.
The more the song unfolded, the bigger the balaur's pupils became and towards the middle of the third verse he'd started purring along. Upon seeing this Hiccup began to gently sway from side to side and by the first line of the fourth verse the creature was doing so too, unknowingly timing his movements with the brunette's. He noticed that as well and started slowing his swaying, making the dragon do too, and at the same time started slowly moving forward. Thus the end of the song found him right in front of the balaur, his right hand raised just a few inches in front of one of his heads' snout.
Hiccup stared back at the mesmerising golden orbs for a second, then dropped his head and closed his eyes. For the longest time nothing happened, all was quiet and he momentarily feared his hand would be snapped off; when a full minute had passed he was debating pulling back and even started forming a plan as to how to get past the balaur with minimal casualties for both sides.
And then he felt scales pressing themselves to his palm. His eyes flew open and he felt thrilling wonder wash all over him at the side of the magnificent creature that was pressing one of his many snouts to his hand. The other 11 heads had their eyes closed as well, hanging unmoving in mid-air and spread like a peacock's tail. A moment passed and the 24 golden eyes blinked open, but the dragon didn't pull back from Hiccup's hand. What's more, three more heads separated from the fan of necks and lowered, their amber orbs fixing the teens.
Then it struck Hiccup. "Guys, he wants to bond with all of us!" The others gaped at him, but one look at his big smile – so rare a sight recently – helped make their minds and they nodded. The two 'warriors', as the brunette had called them, tentatively walked forward until they were in line with him and Rapunzel. She reached out first, shyly putting a hand on the balaur's nose. The head immediately and quite enthusiastically nuzzled in her palm, a small croon emitting from its throat. The blonde giggled and caressed the smooth scales more boldly. Encouraged by that, Merida reached out too and slowly petted the head in front of her; when it showed no hostility the princess became more comfortable and was soon scratching behind the dragon's ears, causing it to purr contently. Jack reached out more tentatively; his worry caused frost to sprout from his fingertips when they connected with the head's scales. The balaur seemed to like the cold sensation though – it snorted and cooed in what could be interpreted as chuckling, causing another head to lower and sniff the Winter Spirit curiously; he laughed in glee and coated the second head's scales in frost as well.
Hiccup looked around with a smile – both Jack and Merida were interacting with a pair of heads while the other seven were crowded around Rapunzel and were… purring along to her song? The Viking chuckled. Well, what did he know, he only was – and quoting – 'the dragon conqueror'… His smile fell as he patted the dragon's snout, directing the head he had bonded with towards Jack, and moved a few feet away. He berated himself for momentarily forgetting Toothless – how could he have done it, that was his best friend! His very best friend who was chained and locked gods-know-where, had been for the last 10 days, and Hiccup was still in the middle of nowhere when he should've freed him ages ago! For Thor's sake, it was his best friend!
"Are ye upset 'cause o' da dream? An' not havin' Toothless with ye in general?"
He hadn't noticed when Merida had walked next to him, but it didn't surprise him that it was her. Despite her tough exterior, she was good at noticing subtle changes in one's mood, even if she didn't always act on it. She reminded him of Astrid in a way. "Thank you for summing that up."
"Whut's worryin' ye so much? That ye won' be able ta find him? Hiccup, we'll manage that."
He shook his head. "You don't understand, I replaced him, I trained and bonded with another dragon when I should've-"
"In that case ye've replaced him long ago."
Hiccup felt as if he was gutted. "What?!"
Merida shrugged. "Well, ye bonded with all o' us, didn' ye? Surely that means ye've replaced him." Oh. Oh. Her and Astrid had more in common than he originally thought. "C'mon, cheer up, we'll find him an' he'll be right as rain when we do. He wouldn' want ye worrying yer head over it that much." And now she sounded a bit like his father had on that Snoggletock! What was that, the impressions-of-Hiccup's-tribe hour?
He must've made a face because Merida laughed. "Don' think it, it'll be fine. Now come an' name that big lad, none o' us've any experience in that."
"You sure it won't be a mistake?" Jack called from behind, "I mean – Barf and Belch, for Manny's sake!"
"Hey, don't go blaming me for that, the twins chose it!" Hiccup defended himself as the redhead burst out laughing. The Viking threw Jack a dirty look when the latter snorted. "Is that a challenge? You think I only come up with ridiculous names?"
"Well…"
Okay, now Hiccup had to wipe that smirk off the spirit's face. He walked to the dragon's side and crooned – crooned, Jack couldn't believe it! – grabbing the attention of all twelve heads and drawing them towards himself, making them leave Rapunzel who'd just introduced Pascal. "Hey boy," he softly spoke, smiling and petting the snout closest to him, "how would you like the name Windcatcher for yourself, hmm?"
Jack had to grin at the balaur's enthusiastic reaction because who wouldn't grin at watching a dozen overly excited heads trying to nuzzle in the Viking at once? (Even if he claimed that "The name was good because Rapunzel's been rubbing off of you, my point's still valid, Dragonboy!") When the affectionate attack had been fended off – mostly – and Windcatcher had made friends with Pascal and Angus (which only took half an hour) it was already dark enough to not see anything so it was collectively decided that the group would camp out – well, in – the cave and continue the next day. (Travelling should be much faster because they'd be flying on the balaur's back.) So everyone snuggled comfortably in Windcarcher's warm side and soon fell asleep as Jack stood guard, perched atop his staff, as always.
It wasn't even a quarter of an hour later when bright bluish light crept on the cave's floor. Puzzled, the Guardian raised his head – to see the waxing moon shining through an opening in the cave's roof.
"Manny?" Jack murmured, looking to the patch of light in front of him, "Want to tell me something?"
The bluish spot shifted its shape, forming the message from Man in Moon. The Winter Spirit leaned in deciphering it and with every passing moment his mouth dropped a little bit in realisation…
Darkness – it was all around him, darkness and cold damp stones. He was running, desperately following the tunnel's way, sometimes turning right and sometimes left but mostly just rushing straight ahead. He could hear more feet pattering behind, but couldn't be bothered, not when he knew his best friend was at the end of the corridor. So he kept on running, faster and faster, until he couldn't hear the others anymore. All that could be heard now was the pounding of his footsteps, the repetitive clang, clang of his peg leg, the occasional splash when he stepped in a puddle and, most of all, his heavy breaths and the thunderous beating of his heart.
After an eternity of running he finally reached an archway. He knew what was on its other side, so he rushed through it and into the great echoing chamber that was filled with strange greenish light. In its very centre was his best friend, chained and muzzled like before the battle with the Red Death.
"Toothless!" he gasped, ran to his friend and embraced him. The Night Fury crooned happily and tried, even with the chains, to nuzzle in his rider. He laughed. "Missed you too, bud…"
He heard a faint sound, gradually increasing – footsteps. The closer they got, the more blurred everything became until it transformed to the horrifying yet familiar image of the drowning Toothless. He tried to reach out but he felt suffocated, he couldn't breathe – he too was drowning, he realised.
"Serves you right!" Vihra's voice sneered in his head but it came as if from underwater; towards the end of the sentence it was fully drowned out and a new voice called to him, faraway but clear.
"He's by the Balaton Lake, Hiccup, in the land of the Majar! He's by Balaton Lake, Balaton lake, Balato-"
"Balaton Lake!" Hiccup cried out and woke up, shooting up. And immediately fell back with a groan because his head had collided with something…
"Oh, Manny, my head!"
… Jack's head, as it turned out. As soon as his vision stopped swimming and cleared out Hiccup shot up again and ran past the startled Guardian to his stuff, throwing it carelessly in a bag.
"Whoa, Hiccup, what's going on?"
The brunette didn't even look at him as he answered: "It was the dream again, but the end a voice called to me and told me where to find Toothless, I'm late enough as it is so I'm leaving immediately." That's when he looked up at his friend. "I have to save him."
"So why're you leaving alone?"
Hiccup's eyebrows furrowed. "What?"
"Did you really think we'd let you leave on your own?" the Guardian repeated.
The dragon rider looked thrown off-guard. "But you don't- It's only four days till- I-It's bad enough that I thought to take-"
"So you really did think it?"
Both boys turned around startled; they hadn't noticed the commotion had woken the girls who were now staring them down.
"You know we're friends, Hiccup, friends stick together – and you thought we'd bail on something so important to you?" Rapunzel continued, looking at him with a mix of accusation, hurt, pity and fondness.
Merida picked her line: "We too want Toothless back, if only fer ye." She grinned at his surprised expression. "Sorry, lad, no backing out now. Can' get rid o' us if ye wanted ta."
"Couldn't've said it better myself," Jack smiled. "Now that it's decided we're all leaving – don't even think about it, Hiccup, it's not up for discussion! – we're we leaving for?"
The scrawny Viking looked awed at his three friends in all of their stubborn supportive glory and fire glinted in his forest-green eyes as the Toothless-shaped hole in his chest felt like it was starting to inch closer. "To Balaton Lake, in the land of the Majar."
Vihra had no idea who she was dealing with.