Graveyards

Jack wasn't sure what he had expected when he slowly entered the dragon's lair. Maybe he'd thought there'd be heaps of gold and jewels like the stories said they held, but with the state of the rest of the castle and its inhabitants, Jack realized he wasn't surprised to not find any riches here. That said; he was rendered speechless with dread at what he did find.

Broken objects were carefully stacked in separate heaps with their respective pieces. Frowning, Jack looked around. Everything in here was broken. Mirrors and paintings hung on the walls with cracks and large holes in them, or stood leaning against the walls because their frames were broken. Every single shard of the mirrors had been gathered and painstakingly glued back in what seemed like desperate attempts to save them. There were a few broken chairs, one table that looked like someone had gone loose on it with an axe was placed upside down with its broken legs placed carefully on the underside. A wardrobe looked like it had been rammed in the side, but newer pieces of wood was trying to hold it up and together despite the fact it was clearly falling apart.

Jack shook his head and tried to understand what he was seeing. The castle was enchanted. Everything and everyone had been turned into something that more or less lived, and some objects may have been humans. So what was this?

The dread made Jack cold and he struggled to breathe. Why was he here again?

The human walked further inside. All the objects were placed in uneven lines along the walls, but a trail was left clean going from the door to the other side of the room where a window must be letting in pale moonlight on the other side of grand bed with a dense overhang.

Jack stopped, staring at the bed. Moonlight? Last time he had looked outside it had been snowing from murky skies; there shouldn't be any moonlight.

Jack shook his head. It was probably magic. He had come to talk to the dragon, so Jack pushed his fear down as far as he could and stepped around the bed, thinking the dragon was probably there.

The source of light was not the moon, obviously, but Jack gaped at the sight of the levitating blue rose that glowed with a winter blue light.

Shivering form a sudden cold that settled in his blood, Jack walked closer and just stared at the sight, knowing without the shadow of a doubt that whatever enchantment this castle was under, this rose was somehow the root of it.

As if sensing his approach, the rose unexpectedly turned so that it's head was faced towards Jack. He froze, expecting the rose to open eyes and start talking to him, or crying out to the dragon.

It didn't. The rose just stayed there, suspended in the air as if it was a magnet between it and the table top, looking completely innocent.

Jack reached out a hand, only to realize the rose was trapped inside a dome of clear glass. He stared at it for a second, wondering why the rose was caught like that. Without thinking, he removed the dome and put it on the floor.

The rose stayed still, as if it was growing in solid ground and not airborne.

Jack reached out a hand, about to pluck the rose, to see if he could, when a loud scraping noise distracted him.

The window flew open and the dragon shot inside. Jack jumped back in fright, but rather than him the dragon reached for the glass dome and hastily put it back over the rose. He was breathing heavily, staring at the flower with eyes open wide, reflecting a mix of horror and something else Jack couldn't identify.

When nothing happened, the dragon turned on Jack.

"Why are you here?"

The human opened and closed his mouth, making noises but not forming words.

"I asked you not to come here!" the dragon said, or cried, the horror on his face hadn't subsided. If Jack hadn't been so out of his mind afraid, he might have noticed that fear was the only thing to be found in the dragon's eyes.

"I wasn't going to…"

The dragon lashed out. "YOU COULD HAVE KILLED US ALL!"

Jack ducked, feeling something inside him snap. He turned and ran. Out of the room, past the frightened stone dragons, down the stairs, past his room, down to the hall and through the corridor that took him to the stable where Philippe woke with a start.

"What are you doing!" the scarecrow called out when Jack started saddling his horse.

"I'm done! I'm leaving! I don't care anymore, I can't stay here another minute!"

"What? Wait, Jack! Please! What happened?!"

But the human was already on Philippe's back, tearing down the doors and setting off towards the gate through the heavy snowfall. Luckily, it wasn't locked and when Jack jumped down to pull it open it gave easily enough for the horse to squeeze through. Then he just took off, seeing the faint golden light that came from behind, telling him the castle had awoken.

He steered Philippe straight into the forest, ignoring his own lack of proper clothing, his heart beating too fast and adrenaline running too high for him to notice anything. All he could think was that he had to get away or the dragon would kill him.

Dark birds suddenly took flight right up into Philippe's face, startling the horse. Jack cried out as he struggled to stay on the horseback, and then he suddenly saw something that shouldn't have been possible.

The bear was enormous, with silky black fur and dark eyes, but that didn't matter at all when the bear suddenly stood on its hind legs, almost got to Jack's eye level where he sat on the horseback, and roared at him.

Philippe cried and ran the other way, Jack holding onto the reins for dear life. The bear followed, frighteningly fast for something that size. Philippe wasn't a racing horse, but he had excellent stamina, and started to gain some distance, until he ran over a pond and broke through the ice. The water was so cold it burned and knocked all air out of Jack as he too was submerged to his chest.

The bear wasn't falling into the same trap though. Philippe was bravely fighting to get out of the water, moving forward quickly thanks to the water being shallow enough that he could barely reach the bottom with his hoofs until he could and was back on solid ground. The bear however was moving around the small lake, and had almost caught up with them.

Jack pulled the reins, trying to steer Philippe up a hill, but the horse fought against him and dashed straight forward. The bear missed them with mere inches. Unfortunately, by now Philippe was in a full panic, just running without even looking, and thus ran straight into a bush of thorns.

He reared back and Jack, numb from the cold, found himself flying through the air and landing heavily on his back. Now Philippe was caught. The reins had gotten tangled with a strong branch, pulling painfully at Philippe's face as he tried to tug himself free.

The bear was catching up, a little slower than before, aware its prey was stuck.

Jack jumped up, grabbed the reins and tugged for all he was worth, but the bear was so close, and the teen closed his eyes and cried out.

Jack couldn't see it, but the bear suddenly froze as another sound tore through the air; like a whistle breathing in.

The dragon rammed the bear in a flash of lightning.

Jack's eyes shot open and he stared at the scene.

Beside the bear, the dragon looked small and skinny, and he was wielding a sword of all things.

"Please Elinor, go back to your cubs. I don't want to hurt you," the dragon pleaded.

In vain. The bear roared and attacked.

Jack caught a flash of despair in the dragon's green eyes before he ducked under the large, hairy paws and Philippe jostled Jack back to the fact the horse was trying to pull free.

"Calm down, Philippe! Easy! Come on!"

"Elinor! Elinor, please!" the dragon was crying. And then he yelped in pain.

Jack looked up, the bear had hit the dragon and knocked him into a tree. Now the bear reared to deliver the final blow. But the dragon jumped up, and his sword came out on the other side of the bear's head.

The dragon slowly, as carefully as he could, placed the bear down in the snow and with a grimace of determination pulled his sword out with one decisive tug. Only the wind was howling around them. The dragon kneeled beside the dead animal, slumped and breathing heavily, face distorted with pain and regret.

Then he faced Jack.

The boy closed his eyes again and tried to pull the reins free, but he couldn't feel his arms anymore, and he was scared and he was sure he was crying and he was about to be killed by the dragon and…

Something warm draped around him.

"You will freeze to death."

Frozen in shock Jack just stood there for a second. The dragon had…?

The hood lifted slightly from a gust of wind, allowing Jack to see the retreating form of the dragon, hunched forward, unprotected from the elements, holding his side. But he stumbled, and then he fell and didn't get up.

Philippe stood still, trembling slightly, but his breath was almost back to normal. He wasn't frightened by the dragon. The same dragon that had imprisoned North, who Jack hadn't seen since he showed Jack his room, who had… not wanted to kill the bear.

Jack had to think again. He had been frightened, but when he'd been caught almost plucking the blue rose from its place… he recalled the look on the dragon's face.

The one who had been frightened hadn't only been Jack. And what had he said? You could have killed us all?

Jack bit his lip. Whatever had happened in the west wing, the dragon had still come out here, given Jack his own coat, and had been about to leave rather than force Jack to return.

"We really don't want to force you to stay."

Reluctantly making up his mind, Jack reached up and decisively untangled Philippe's reins, cutting himself on the thorns but not feeling it. They circled the bear, who looked a lot smaller now than it had appeared to Jack when it was alive and chasing them.

The dragon had called the bear by a name, asked it to return to… so it was a mother with cubs. Jack glanced at Philippe. To the bear, Philippe must have looked like a feast.

Even the dragon looked small now, Jack realized. It was almost laughable how much the teen had blown this creature up in his mind when the reality wasn't even close.

He was still breathing, but bleeding from a slash in the side. It took some spine and some help from Philippe, but eventually both boy and dragon sat on the horseback and was heading back to the castle.

Ruffnut was just about to leave after taking care of the animals on Overland's farm when she stopped and looked up the road. Something was moving, appearing to be crawling on the road, but then it just gave up and fell down.

Curious, the girl walked forward.

It turned out to be the remains of a wagon that looked like it was supposed to be pulled by a horse. But there were no rains, no horse and, curiously, no wheels.

A noise from inside startled Ruffnut, and then again when North suddenly fell out of the wagon. He coughed wetly and tried to get up on all four.

"Mr Overland?" Ruffnut spoke, just to be sure.

The elderly man looked up. He looked like the wagon had taken him home via hell; his eyes were wide and feverish, his face coated with dirt and sweat along with his matted hair and beard.

"Whe… where am I?" North asked around his coughing.

"Home," Ruffnut answered carefully and wondered if she was supposed to help him up and inside. She didn't have keys to go inside though. "Jack went looking for you yesterday morning."

"Jack," North repeated and started crawling. "He took Jack. I have to…" but then he froze, staring at his large hands in horror.

"You should see the doctor or something," Ruffnut said matter-of-factly. "Where did you come from anyway? I thought I saw the wagon move by itself."

"It did," North mumbled. "There were no horses. He just shoved me inside and I heard him give an order."

Ruffnut tilted her head. "Who are you talking about? What happened to Jack?"

North managed to push himself to his feet and turned to stare at the remains of the object that had taken him here with the outmost horror. "We have to burn this," he said brusquely and started for his house.

That action Ruffnut had genuinely no qualms about. She had always loved fire and the chaos it caused. Berk had once been full of fire, and she missed those days so much it physically hurt sometimes, even more than watching Snotlout fall victim to insanity the way he had. Thus she happily helped North put firewood underneath the wagon and lit it on fire.

But watching the flames seemed to kill North inside.

"Why would he do that?" the old man whispered.

"I don't know what you're talking about. You sound like you've lost it, Overland," Ruffnut informed him.

North stiffened. "I… I can't tell anyone. He'll kill Jack."

The young woman stared at the flames. She had never been very intelligent, but she wasn't without a brain. North and Jack had both gone into the forest to circle the mountain so they could head for Burgess.

"Did you find the dragons?"

"…I can't tell you," North breathed, and Ruffnut knew fear when she heard it. "What I found… I can't tell you. I can't let Jack die there."

Ruffnut felt her heart go cold, and her eyes strayed towards the north east, like they so often did. Whatever had happened to Jack and North, she prayed to the all-seeing Odin it had nothing to do with the dragons and her lost friends.

The atmosphere in the room was so heavy Jack could feel it like a weight on his shoulders. The only sounds in the room came from Gobber's ticking, the fire, the dragon's slow, heavy breathing and the rag that Jack was winging hot water out of to clean the dragon's wounds.

The candlestick, whose name Jack couldn't recall or if he'd even asked for it, stood by the dragon's head, watching his face. She stood stiff and refused to look at Jack. Ida the teapot was the most helpful yet. She had been the one to heat water to clean the dragon's wounds with as well as order rags to allow Jack to use them. Now Ida and Tuffnut sat on the cart from the day before along with the vase with the sour bunny painted on it.

"You didn't leave him to die."

It was Tuffnut who spoke, a statement really, and Jack suspected they were all thinking that.

"I couldn't," the teen answered.

"Anyone else would have." The candlestick's voice was barely above a whisper. She was still not looking at Jack, and suddenly the human couldn't imagine what she was feeling. What any of them were feeling. Here they all were, trapped, and the way they were so protective of the dragon it was like he was their only hope.

Jack suddenly felt like a monster. The dragon had gone out, probably to try to bring Jackson back, but had instead ended up killing a bear he was familiar enough with to have given her a name, and then… just given up.

"I wouldn't," Jack said. "He saved my life. I wouldn't just leave him lying there."

It was silent for a long time after that and Jack managed to finish dressing the wounds to the best of his ability.

"Sorry, I'm not a doctor," he apologized as he stared at the messy handiwork.

"It's more than any of us would have managed," Gobber said sombrely. "Astrid is the only one who has arms."

"And look how useful they are," the candlestick hissed and waved her arms around, the half-burned candles that was her hands were straight and stiff, so she couldn't use them as hands.

The dragon suddenly inhaled sharply.

"Hiccup!"

Green eyes blinked open, and quickly took it their surroundings. They landed on Jack, blinked and squinted. Then he sighed and relaxed against the mat.

"Hiccup?"

Everyone looked at Jack with surprise, even the dragon, but the candlestick covered her mouth.

"Your name is Hiccup?" Jack repeated, unable to keep the mirth or incredulity out of his voice as the corners of his mouth twitched upwards.

The dragon rolled his eyes and huffed. "Just laugh it up."

Jack would have loved to, but he found he couldn't. He stared at this creature, a talking dragon, and nothing made sense. He had imprisoned an old man, but had almost died to save Jack. He had mercilessly dragged North away without allowing father and son to say goodbye, not showed his face after locking Jack up in another room and still showed Jack kindness despite being hurt and cold.

"Why did you put my father in the tower?"

"The toymaker!" the flower vase cried out in sudden outrage. "He killed Easter! He should be dead!"

Jack stared at the vase in both horror and anger. "Dad would never-!"

"We're OBJECTS!" the vase roared with a voice that echoed inside it.

"He also attacked Hiccup when he rushed forward in an attempt to save Easter," the candlestick said stiffly. "Everything was moving in to kill that man. Myself included."

The dragon was fidgeting on the floor. "The tower isn't good for anyone of us, so I put him there, hoping he would calm down so I could talk to him. But he was terrified out of his mind. He seemed certain I was going to eat him or something."

Jack just slumped. He wanted to defend North, say that none of that could be true. But he'd seen North; he had been scared, too scared to communicate with. The dragon must have also realized North would have died if he stayed there like that, so Jack coming to look for him… of course they couldn't let anyone in Berk know about this, or they could because nobody would believe them. But if North said there was a dragon here it would definitely cause a hunt lead by Snotlout, and what did the dragon really have to defend himself?

"I'm… sorry."

The dragon stared into the flames. "Easter was one of the… more energetic ones here. But once something breaks, there's no saving them."

The flower vase grunted and looked like it wanted to leave, but instead just turned away.

Jack recalled the state of the west wing, all the heaps of broken objects and every attempt to put them back together. He looked around at everything in the room. The candlestick locked completely fine and polished, but Tuffnut's rim was nicked here and there, Ida had subtle cracks in places, the flower vase looked especially fragile, Gobber was ticking away with a rugged outside and cracked glass to his pendulum. On a table beside a high chair full of stains and scratches stood Fishlegs and watched everything with a forlorn look.

Jack swallowed. He wanted to ask about the rose and the curse, but it didn't feel like the right time. Instead he made a silent promise to do whatever he could to help these people.

He sat back, pulled his knees to his chest and stared at the flames for a while.

"I'm really sorry, for everything. And…" he swallowed, glancing at the dragon, "thank you… for saving my dad… and me."

The dragon didn't move or even glance at him, but his features seemed to soften. "You're welcome."

A/N; We have finally made it this far. I hope you enjoyed it, and if there's anything in particular you'd like included (because the ball scene might not happen in this version) do let me know and I'll see what I can do about it ;)