Dragon Friend (sequel to the dragon boy) Chapter 17 - The Fall
frostcup fanfic
Authors note: little or no time to say anything right now but please review ^^ I hope you enjoy this update (dun dun dun!) and I will post the next chapter tommorow
Jack hadn't forgotten about Valka. Even at the arrival of the challenger, he hadn't stopped in his breakneck flight to save her. He couldn't risk an ice spike at this angle and distance without hitting Valka. Besides, high though the stakes were, he wasn't a murderer. He refused to kill- dragon or human (no matter how beastly the person). The black dragon years ago was different- it was kill or be killed- but no, he just couldn't do it. He fought to scare, not to injure or maim... But Drago was right in his sights... He could do it. He could end the war right here...But he wasn't a killer. That was what seperated him from the skin stealer. He wouldn't kill a human. So he had to save Valka the long way- he had to get closer.
He didn't even beat his wings, they were tucked against his body, to make himself as streamlined as possible, using the wind to steer, and provide whatever updraft he needed. He was getting close, now. But, still not close enough.
He saw the dragon skin wearing cause of all this destruction turn back to her, having had his fun tormenting her with the appearance of his challenger, and was now ready to finish her off. She struggled backwards, but she didn't stand a chance. He raised his axe.
Now! It had to be now!
Drago stumbled backwards, falling onto the floor, as a skinny, pale skinned kid landed, with full force, on his shoulders.
"Go!" Jack yelled to Valka, before using the Drago as a springboard to bounce himself back into the air. He switched into dragon form, and fired a bolt of ice, with pin point accuracy, at the ropes tying Cloudjumper. They immediately slackened, and in no time at all, Valka and Cloudjumper were back in the air again.
Now that she was safe- or as safe as you could be in a raging battle- he turned his attention to the two, colossal, fighting dragons.
They fought with both body and mind. Slamming each other with their tusks, and grappling with each others minds, to gain dominance over the other. The Alpha fought nobly. He was battling to save the dragons of the nest, to whom he'd pledged to protect- WOAH! Jack narrowly avoided an oncoming net, that came scarily close to taking him down.
He shook his head, he couldn't afford to get distracted. He had to carry on with his fight, and trust the Alpha to fight his.
Hiccup flew by him on his Night Fury.
'Can't you do anything?' He asked him through the bond.
'No.' Jack answered. 'Every dragon has a right to challenge the Alpha. The Alpha has to be strong enough to fight challengers off, by himself. If not, then he's not fit to be Alpha. It's just the way things are- we can't interfere." Hiccup almost shouted to him that that was a stupid idea, and they should do something anyway, but he could feel how desperate Jack was to help the giant, white dragon; but still the Sky Dragon restrained himself. He guessed, they'd just have to resign themselves to the knowledge that this was beyond their control. They had to focus on what they could make a difference on.
Hiccup surveyed the battlefield. Several Zipplebacks had coated themselves in lit gas, and grabbed their tails in their jaws, transforming themselves into burning wheels of fire. They rolled across the battlefield, causing havoc wherever they went. But they were still outnumbered. Things still went badly.
He needed to stop all this, and he knew what he had to do for that, but it was something he had to do alone. The only question was, how to get rid of Jack?
Hiccup's eyes landed on the shut jaws of the traps. Perhaps they could boost their numbers- and it would occupy the Sky Dragon so he could do what he must.
"Jack." He called out, he had the Sky Dragon's attention in a split second. "The traps! They're set using a trigger-spring system. If the spring breaks, the trap resets, and the jaws return to their original positioning." Hiccup informed. He got the distinct feeling of "say what?" from Jack.
'English, please.' He requested. Hiccup sighed, and simplified things a little.
"Snap spring, free dragon." He explained, pointing to the traps. Jack nodded, and zipped towards them.
'Why didn't you say that in the first place?' He asked, firing a bolt of ice at the already stretched spring holding the jaws of the trap shut. Sure enough, once it broke, the jaws fell open, releasing the trapped dragons inside (the bait dragon had been freed by its buddy).
Jack grinned at the success, and flew round, dismantling every trap on the battlefield. It gave him something to focus on, other than the worry over the great Alpha. He soon lost track of Hiccup, but he wasn't worried- he'd sense if he was in any great danger.
Quite a bit of time had passed, but he'd finally destroyed all the traps. Jack stole a look at the battling Bewilderbeasts. But the moment he turned his eyes to it, things went terribly wrong.
A thrust from the black beast, into the smaller dragon's leg, made it lose concentration, and everything went downhill from there. The competitor took advantage of the slight fall in concentration, take hold of the Alpha's mind. He struggled, and bolstered his defence, but as he did so, his reactions slowed... he couldn't move in time to avoid the beast's tusks.
They locked under his own, forcing him upwards onto two legs, in a way which far too unatural for the great Bewilderbeast. He could barely support his own weight. The black creature turned his head to the side, unbalancing the white dragon, and sending him crashing onto the floor. He struggled to get up, but too late...
The black tusks thrust again, this time deep into the heart of the Alpha... and then he was still. Alpha no more.
Jack felt as though he'd plummeted from deep air.
"NOOOOOOO!" He cried, grief at the motionless body of the white Bewilderbeast overcoming him. For once he'd had someone to care for him, who he didn't need to protect. Someone who he didn't need to worry about, but rather worried about him. A pillar of support, that he could rely on. He'd finally found that, again, in the Alpha. He'd helped him overcome his fears, and his sadness. He had almost been a father figure to him... and now he was gone. Just like North. Just like Tooth, and Sandy, and Bunny, just like all of the Sky Dragons. Gone.
It seemed everything he gained, he lost.
He was on his own, again. No one to depend on. No one to support him. No one.
He couldn't mourn the once-Alpha for long, though, as the new inheritant of that title turned to the battle field, and called out his dominance to all the dragons still engaged in the fight. Instantly, they all fell in to him. Their eyes narrowed to slits.
The previous Alpha might have supported the free will of all dragons, but this one was forcing them all to do as commanded. Using his more powerful mind to control them. Whether or not they'd fought for the nest in the beginning, was meaningless now. They all rallied to the black dragons call. Circling his head in a numberless swarm. Powerless to resist. The dragons of the sanctuary all followed the dragons every command... even the strongest.
Jack felt the Alpha's great heavy presence draping over his mind.
'COME TO ME.' It commanded. Jack shook his head- no! He wouldn't! The Alpha worked further into his mind, and he struggled to hold it back. Everything around him turned blurry- was that air or ice? Were the black blurs dragons or rock? The world had become a meaningless mash of light and dark.
Jack was losing control over everything, his sight, his thoughts... his wings. They started shuddering, jerking up and down, as he fought to control his own body. He almost succumbed to the Alpha's will, but a single part of him (the part that made him unique- the part that made him a Sky Dragon) held the oppressive influence back. It fought to resist the control of the Alpha. A battle it was slowly losing the energy to fight. He was slowly succombing to the Alpha.
Through great effort of will, Jack cleared his sight for a split second- the wall of the nest was just a few flaps away. The world blurred again. He forced himself against the Alpha's control, and, through sheer will power, attempted to gain some control back over his limbs.
He shifted a little towards the ice. Come on! He carried on straining so hard, he though the effort might break his mind, but was rewarded with slow, jerky, erratic movements towards the wall. His wings flailed everywhere- he dropped and swung about with every wingbeat. Jolting through the air, as he edged, with painful slowness, towards the wall of ice.
A gust of wind was out of the question. He could barely keep track of his own thoughts, much less control an element.
He had no idea how close he was to the ice, but he couldn't hold it back any more. His resistance crumpled.
He prayed he was close enough. He dropped all attempts to lift his wings, and let himself plummet. The Alpha got in. He hit the cold, hard surface with crushing impact- a white haired, seventeenish year old kid.
He lay there... Taking great gasping breathes of air... Shaking from the after effects of the exertion of will power... He'd never felt so weak. He was trembling all over, and he could barely keep his head up. The Alpha's presense had gone. It didn't hold any sway over humans. He could still feel it at the edges of his mind- dragon was a part of him, no matter what he did. But it could no longer take over his thoughts, they were his own again. But, he suddenly wished he hadn't freed himself.
It was over. Everything had failed. The dragons were taken over. The Alpha dead. War had begun. Berk soon to be destroyed- the Vikings wiped out, just as the Sky Dragons had been. Everything he had ever cared about. Gone. Destroyed.
He wanted to get up, to save Berk- he didn't want them to all die like North and the others had. But he was all spent up on will. He couldn't even keep his head up anymore. He let it fall, with a soft thump, onto the cold ice, and gave in to despair.
His breathe broke into heaving sobs that broke his chest. Everything. All of it. Everyone. Gone. What reason did he have to go on? What was to stop him from just giving up on living? From just lying there on the ice until he faded away... or letting himself get taken over by the Alpha, so he'd never be bothered by these thoughts again.
He had nothing. Nothing to care about. Nothing to fight for. Nothing to live for. It was over. The past had repeated itself, again. He'd failed to protect them. It had all happened again.
Everything he gained, he lost.
The thought weighed heavily on him, as he thought about everything he'd lost. North... Tooth... Bunny... Sandy... the Sky Dragons... the old Alpha... the dragons of the nest... everyone...
The wind howled over the ice, pulling at his clothes, blowing his hair over his eyes. His limbs had stuck to the ice, his face was a mess. He hadn't cried though... he'd just given up. So what if the world raged on at him, that was all it had ever done. He had lost everything...
...But not Hiccup.
Hiccup was still alive! He was still here! Still fighting!
He did still have a reason to live. Hiccup. That boy was all he had now, and he would do anything- no matter the physical, or mental, cost to himself- to protect him. He would fight for him, keep him safe, no matter what. He was his world entirely, now. He couldn't stand to lose him too. No. He wouldn't let that happen. He would do anything- anything- to stop him suffering so much as a scratch. Anything.
'Toothless, what are you doing?' The voice was not his, but Hiccup's. Jack didn't even need to look into his mind to know what was happening. All dragons were under the control of the Alpha. No matter how strong. Not even a Night Fury could resist.
Complete horror, so strong it almost incapacitated him, flooded through him, and he felt as though he'd been struck at his core. No... not Hiccup.
That beast, not even worthy to be called human, Bloodfist had turned his Night Fury on him. He had to do something.
He forced himself into action. Scrambled up the ice- limbs still heavy, and shaky- to see out across the battlefield. He could barely even make them out. Two black pinpricks, with a slightly larger one beside them, at the opposite end of the battlefield. No way could he get there in time, not like this. He'd have to fly.
He shuddered as he relived the terrifying struggle to keep himself under control, he'd never experienced something so terrible... but so be it.
He wasn't going to let anything happen to Hiccup. He had to save him. No. Matter. What.