Chapter Eleven: Hope and False Help
Hiccup was actually grateful for the team asking him to join them for Campfire Night. It helped him feel like he was...him again – it just brought that sense of normality back to him. He felt as if the last three years hadn't happened. He was even enjoying the team making complete fun of each other in the stories they were telling!
"You should have seen it!" Ruffnut snickered. "Tuffnut was totally hitting on that Bog Burglar last time they came here!"
"Was not!" Tuffnut protested.
"Were so!"
"Not as bad as Snotlout!" Tuffnut sneered. Snotlout couldn't be happier that the only light was the fire.
"Hey, that girl was into me," he stammered. "Who could resist the Viking?"
"More like who in their right mind can't resist the walking-talking Terror-brain," Astrid cut in jokingly. Everyone except Snotlout burst out laughing – Kyra was clutching her sides and nearly fell off her seat! Astrid stopped herself from laughing and turned to Hiccup. "Oh, Draco – you've got to hear some of the stuff these guys do."
"Like what?" Hiccup grinned. Astrid thought carefully before selecting her target.
"Like Snotlout – he used to wear tights," she grinned. The team burst out laughing again at Snotlout's expense. He quickly thought up of a comeback.
"Well...Fishlegs once entered a Gronkle Lookalike Contest...and won!" he jeered. Fishlegs looked put out by this and instantly bit back.
"Snotlout came in fourth and cried!" he snapped. Everyone started laughing again.
"Oh, is that funny? You think that's funny?" Snotlout huffed. "Well, Draco, maybe you should know some of the twins' secrets!" Kyra's eyes went wide – this should be fun.
"Oh, please! This'll be good," she chuckled.
"Like he wants to know any of that...you shut up!" Ruffnut hissed in Snotlout's face, grabbing his shirt and punching him in the nose. Even so, Tuffnut instantly cut in.
"Once, Ruffnut was sent to her room without dinner," he snickered. "So she ate the bugs that were living in the wall!" Hiccup made a noise that was a cross between a gag and a snort of laughter. It may have been gross but it was a Ruffnut-thing to do. To be fair, it was a Thorston-thing really. Ruffnut was quick with a comeback.
"Tuffnut used to stay home every Freya's Day night just to have a bedtime story!" she snapped. Astrid laughed until her cheeks were sore – listening to the Thorston twins having a banter was possibly some of the best entertainment on the Isle of Berk. Still, the targets had swapped from the twins to the remaining members of the team.
"Astrid couldn't plait her own hair until she was thirteen!" Tuffnut suddenly shouted. Astrid's eyes went wide and her face flushed bright red with embarrassment. Hiccup wasn't able to stop a loud 'Ha!' escape his lips – he was actually thankful that Astrid didn't really know who he was at this moment in time (although he was fairly certain she had a hunch – he had a theory that it was what was keeping his hands and feet un-webbed despite how many times he'd had to fly out of the Cove in the mornings as well as the accident at Dragon Training, which was a good thing, if he had to be honest).
"It's hard for some people!" Astrid protested.
"Of course it is," Kyra smirked without thinking. Astrid glared at her – her target was selected.
"Kyra once wore Hiccup's underpants on a visit to the Mainland!" she smirked.
"Hey!" Kyra snapped. Hiccup cast a shocked and confused look at Kyra who had no choice but to use telepathic communication. "What? My stuff was in the laundry!"
"I'm sorry, but you were kinda asking for it," Astrid snickered. Kyra straightened herself up and glared at Astrid.
"During said visit to the Mainland, Astrid had a bit too much mead and attempted to dance an entire Celtic hornpipe without falling over," she snickered. Once again a wave of laughter from the lookout tower could be heard from the other side of the village – Hiccup's eyes were watering due to laughing so much. Astrid frowned for a second – she couldn't remember that being her. Clearly Snotlout couldn't either.
"That was you," he pointed out. Kyra cussed under her breath – dammit, she was a bad enough dancer as it was. She'd been hoping everyone had forgotten about that. She glared at Snotlout with the final blow.
"Whatever, Lout – you kissed a goat," she shrugged.
Hiccup could have died laughing.
/\
Hiccup's sides were still hurting as he made his way back to the Cove. Astrid was walking with him as the night drew on.
"Well, I don't think I've had that much fun in ages," Astrid grinned. Hiccup hadn't seen her eyes lit up the way they were in a while. "Although, seriously – you should have seen Kyra that year." Hiccup secretly wished he could have done – even he was a better dancer than Kyra and that was when they hadn't had any mead at all!
"Did Snotlout really kiss a goat, though?" he snickered. Astrid nodded, noting that the guy was drunk at the time, and Hiccup's grin widened further, if that was possible. "The guy's more desperate than I thought..."
"Meh – I saw one of the Bog Burglars giving him the eye last time they were here," Astrid shrugged. "Who knows? He might actually get lucky this time." She paused. "You know...you're not that bad, Draco." Hiccup stopped in his tracks for a moment.
"You really think so?"
"Mmm-hmm," Astrid nodded. "Listen – I'm sorry I doubted you before. I just...I'm just the kind of person who does that – I've never really been good with new people." Hiccup knew that all too well, although Astrid had been better with Kyra.
"It's okay," he smiled gently. "I'm not exactly much of a people-person either." Astrid chuckled slightly.
"I can see what you meant by the human-counterparts thing," she grinned slightly. "You're just like him." Hiccup tried to smile but it came out more like a grimace – it was still the worst thing ever that Astrid had to figure out that he was really him and that he'd been lying this whole time. This sucked. Still, she did still suspect things so hopefully it was just a matter of time before she decided to confirm things. Even so, she was probably gonna kill him for lying to her...this triple sucked.
"Well...uh...I should get going," he noted, indicating the forest. "Because..."
"Yeah, of course," Astrid nodded quickly as she brushed a lock of hair behind her ear. "So I guess we'll see you tomorrow then?"
"Sure," Hiccup nodded. "And, hey, listen – thanks for inviting me tonight. I had a great time," he grinned. Astrid smiled back.
"You're welcome," she replied, heading back to the village. "Night, Draco."
"Good night," Hiccup waved as Astrid vanished into the village and he headed back through the trees. Once he reached the Cove, he lay down with his eyes cast up to the sky where the stars glittered in their millions. Somehow he could feel that he was getting closer to becoming him again – he didn't know how he knew...he just did. Eventually, sleep took over the half-dragon boy and Hiccup drifted off, letting sleep to take over and allowing his mind to wander.
/\
Well, Little One. You've certainly made...progress.
Who's there?
It is only me – don't worry.
Wavewing? What is it?
I have new for you – something that will help you.
What?
First things first: the necklace I gave you can only help you if you completely let go of yourself. Having two forms fighting for dominance is never a good thing, especially when cheating a curse as powerful as the Darkwing's.
Well, I can easily just be me – that's kinda what Odin said was part of what I needed to do anyway. So...yeah – I'm getting there.
Wonderful. Second: I believe your sister told you the story of Lohikäärme and Ivor, right?
Yeah – she did. Why?
I have reason to suspect that the Darkwing may be one of the dragons that supported Ivor during the Gods' War, hence why its magic is so powerful. It may be that the best way to become yourself again is to enlist the power of the Goddess Lohikäärme herself.
I've pretty much done that – Kyra's helping me in every way she can...
The girl fell victim to the Darkwing's curse just as you did. Her powers have left her. How can she stand a chance of helping you?
What do you mean?
The Goddess' powers lay dormant until the new Dragon Shifter is born – until the current one is gone, they have no hope of moving on.
But, I...
I fear that this may not be enough. As powerful as the Dragon Shifter may be, we are talking about divine magic here – something beyond mortal capabilities. Even that of the Dragon Shifter.
What do I need to do?
Free our Goddess. Release her from the prison of flesh she has been forced into for these past centuries. Free Lohikäärme and let your true self return.
/\
Kyra jogged through the forest towards the Cove as she had been doing for the past week. Hiccup was making some really good progress despite the stint at the Academy so she was all for getting him set for the day so that he could continue working towards gaining his human form again. There was no sound coming from the Cove when she arrived so she assumed that Hiccup was sleeping in – heck, even she'd had a longer lie-in than usual after yesterday.
"Hiccup!" she called cheerily, jumping down into the Cove. "Rise and shine! Come on – Gobber's been waiting at the forge for an hour. He said he wants you to help with dentistry today – I'd probably do what he asks because..." No answer came from the half-dragon curled up by the pond. "Hiccup?" Kyra rolled her eyes and walked over. "Come on – I know last night was fun but you never sleep in this...late..."
Hiccup slowly stood up but there was something about him that made Kyra freeze in her tracks. The way he moved...it wasn't right...it was so...animalistic. His breathing sounded wrong as well – it was heavy and rasped. Kyra was sure she could hear a hint of a growl coming from the boy as well.
"Hiccup?" she mumbled, backing away slowly. "Hiccup – stop it. You're scaring me and you know how hard that is." Hiccup turned around, his wings extended ominously. As he turned to face Kyra, she let out a small squeak – his eyes were bright red, just like they had been during the Firepower Test a couple of days ago. He wasn't himself – he wasn't aware of himself. "Hiccup...wake up – this isn't you..." she stammered. Hiccup didn't seem to hear her and advanced towards her, his face full of hatred. Kyra glanced at his hands – the webbed skin was back and his nails had extended into sharp claws, capable of tearing her to shreds.
It dawned on her what was going on. Somehow, something was controlling Hiccup indirectly so that his actions were his own but he didn't know what he was doing. Something had completely reversed his progress to make him more of a dragon than he ever was before, entirely reliant on his instincts in a similar way to Kyra in her Shifter State. Except his actions wouldn't be random – Kyra could see behind the face of anger that this Hiccup – this Hiccup that wasn't her brother – only had one goal.
And that was to kill her.
/\
"HELP!"
Astrid whipped her head around and shot her hand to her neck as she heard the scream coming from the forest. The villagers around her, including Stoick and Thornado, all stopped in their tracks at the sound, wondering what on earth was going on. Moments later, a girl came pelting out of the trees at full speed – it was Kyra. Hot on her heels was a human-like dragon with dark turquoise wings and burning red eyes.
Astrid was shocked – what had happened to Draco? Yesterday he'd been so...normal...so...nice. Something had completely changed him but she had no time to contemplate what as Stoick ordered the village to stop the Halfling from hurting his daughter. Astrid quickly jumped onto Stormfly and shot after the Halfling, attempting to slow him down with a burst of flame but he was completely unaffected by it, leaping straight through the magnesium based fire that was hot enough to melt steel.
"Twins! Gas him out!" she ordered. Ruffnut and Tuffnut dove in on Barf-Belch and let rip a wall of gas which would normally knock a person out for about a week but instead Draco again completely ignored it. In desperation, the twins ignited the gas which did knock the Halfling down for a moment, giving Kyra some time to get some distance from him and call Windwalker. Draco was back up on his feet in seconds so Fishlegs intervened by having Meatlug fire flaming boulders at the Halfling but Draco weaved in and out of the barrage with ease.
"Stop that dragon at all costs!" Stoick ordered as Draco followed Kyra into the air. Astrid rammed into his side on Stormfly, tackling him to the ground but Draco was stronger than she anticipated and quickly threw her off but not before she saw the eyes – they had been green before, not red. Plus, despite the anger plastered in them, there was a blankness behind them that didn't feel right. Astrid's momentary lapse of concentration meant that Draco had caught up with Kyra, forcing her to take to the ground again.
"Stop it!" she shrieked. "This isn't you! Don't let them do this!" Draco lunged at Kyra but the girl whipped out her dagger to block him before his claws reached her neck. She punched him in the face and Snotlout swooped in on Hookfang to keep the Halfling occupied whilst Kyra made a run for it. Astrid was confused – what had Kyra been yelling about? It was more obvious than ever that she knew more about Draco than she was letting on and had one from the start. The question was: what?
The villagers did all they could to stop Draco from getting anywhere near Kyra but nothing they did seemed to hinder the Halfling – he seemed to know what they were going to do before they did it and even nothing the dragons did could stop him. Toothless tried tackling him at one point, even roaring at him desperately, but his cries fell on deaf ears as Draco seemed to block out the world around him, completely set on taking Kyra down. Stoick called Gobber to use his old Dragon Fighting skills but Astrid was reluctant to let anyone kill Draco – she just needed to find a way to get him to snap out of whatever trance he was in.
"Ruff, Tuff – you guys get the Mangler and a couple of bola cannons," she instructed. "Snotlout, Fishlegs – make sure his tail's pinned down. I'll see what I can do to knock him out." She dashed off to find something heavy she could use to get Draco unconscious without killing him – if she could at least knock the guy out it'll give them a chance to get Kyra somewhere safe. Speaking of Kyra, she'd begun climbing up onto the roofs of houses in a ditch attempt to give Draco an obstacle of some sort but seeing that he could fly and she couldn't meant that it didn't do her much good. Draco set off a bright turquoise fireball that knocked Kyra off the roof she was on (also setting said roof on fire) and was about to strike when a bola cannon hit him in the side, tangling his wings in a mass of rope and downing him.
The twins loaded an extra bola cannon into the Mangler just in case they needed it whilst Snotlout and Fishlegs pinned Draco's tail down – it was still free of the rope and swished and flailed about so much it actually gave them nosebleeds. Draco was unfortunately stronger than Astrid anticipated and his claws sliced through the rope like a knife cutting through hot butter – she had to act quickly. Kyra had nowhere else to run and Draco was advancing on her quickly. Thinking fast, she glanced at the docks to see the Meathead ships docking – no doubt Artair on a visit to see Kyra.
"Perfect timing," she muttered. "Windwalker! Get Artair!" she yelled at the Star Backed Night Fury. "I've got this!" Reluctantly, Windwalker shot off to the docks whilst Astrid raced forward as Draco grabbed Kyra's wrist and wrenched her dagger from her hands.
"Please..." Kyra whimpered. "You promised..."
Astrid could have sworn she saw Draco flinch but she didn't have time to think about it – the guy was inches away from bringing that dagger down across Kyra's throat. Without a second thought, she rammed into his side, knocking him off-balance. At that moment, Windwalker arrived with Artair who grabbed Kyra's outstretched hand and hoisted her onto the dragon's back. Draco snapped and tried to follow but Astrid leapt onto his back, drawing his attention to her instead. The entire village surrounded the warrior teen and the dragon but stood back for fear of Astrid getting hurt.
Draco raised the silver blade as if to strike Astrid and remove her from his way but Astrid was just about able to grab his wrist and punch him in the chest, winding him long enough for her to get the weapon out of his hands. Artair landed with Kyra some distance away and Draco spotted them. He was about to make a break for it when Astrid grabbed his wings, causing him to cry out in pain and allowing Astrid to get him in a headlock. As the dragon struggled to get Astrid off his back, his hands tried to pull Astrid's away from his neck and Astrid spotted something on his left hand – it was a dark mark – it looked like a burn mark of some kind. Whatever it was, it looked off. Then, as the dragon continued to struggle, Astrid felt something around his neck – something out of place. It felt like a chain.
Subconsciously, Astrid's fingers closed around the chain that was around Draco's neck as he wrenched himself away from her. The Nordic Blonde's grip was so strong, however, that the chain broke and flew off in Astrid's hands. Draco stumbled around for a bit and shook his head but Astrid wasn't taking any chances so she grabbed the nearest shield she could see and walloped him on the head, knocking him unconscious.
"Take him to Berk Prison!" Stoick ordered. "I'll be having words with him later." Gobber and Spitelout, Snotlout's father and Stoick's brother, grabbed Draco roughly by the arms and dragged him to Berk Prison where he would await punishment. Stoick walked over to Astrid who had collapsed in exhaustion. "Are you alright, Astrid?"
"Never mind me," Astrid panted, wiping her brow as sweat beads glistened on her forehead. "What about Kyra?"
"I'm okay..." Kyra stammered, shaking in Artair's arms nearby. Astrid was stunned – she had never seen Kyra so frightened. Why hadn't she been able to fight Draco herself? Even with her powers gone she was still strong enough to hold her own. What was stopping her? "Just...Dad – Draco...he...he wasn't himself. Something happened..."
"I know he wasn't acting how he usually was," Stoick cut across. "But that doesn't matter – what matters is that he tried to hurt you. I'll see to this." He walked off to the prison, leaving the teens in the plaza. Astrid walked over to the Kyra and Artair, closely followed by the rest of the teens.
"You okay?" Astrid grimaced, although she knew that Kyra was anything but okay. Kyra nodded shakily anyway. "What happened to him?"
"I don't...*gulp*...I don't know," Kyra sniffed, gulping back tears of relief. "I just went to the Cove to check on him and...something was different about him...he wasn't..."
"It's okay," Artair comforted, holding Kyra close. Astrid could see why Kyra liked the guy – he really was a nice person. If he cared for Kyra this much, the arranged marriage could work. She shook it from her mind – now wasn't the time. "Has he been like this before?" Kyra paused before answering.
"Once," she mumbled. "Except that time he snapped out of it." Fishlegs frowned.
"When was this?" he asked. Kyra scrunched her face up trying to remember.
"Two days after we asked him to do those tests," she replied. "I'd just gotten back from the library and..."
"Why would you go visit him after that?" Snotlout quizzed. Kyra made a move as if to answer but shut her mouth at the last second, shaking her head miserably and finally letting the tears go. Astrid patted her shoulder gently as Artair held her close to him. It was then that Astrid remembered the necklace.
"Say – was he ever wearing this before?" she asked everyone, holding up the broken chain. Kyra calmed herself down and took a look at the thing – the chain was made from a fine silver that would have easily been lost on Draco's pearly skin and the scale attached to the chain was the same colour as his scales. If he had been wearing it this whole time, no one would have ever noticed – it was only by sheer luck that Astrid had found it during the struggle before.
"I'm not sure," Kyra frowned, examining it closely. Windwalker sniffed the necklace and suddenly growled at it in a similar way to how most dragons would growl at an eel that had made its way into their food. "What is it?" Kyra asked in Dragonese.
"That thing is evil!" Windwalker hissed. "It is a cursed scale – if he had been wearing that...it must have been that thing that was making him attack you," she added scornfully. Kyra's eyes widened with shock, as did everyone else's when she translated the sentence.
"No wonder he stumbled when I took it off," Astrid realised.
"So does this mean Draco really 'wasn't' wasn't himself?" Ruffnut asked.
"As in he didn't even know who he was?" Tuffnut added.
"Or what he was doing?"
"I was gonna say that!"
"Well, I said it first!"
"SHUT UP!" the other teens, including Artair, chorused before the argument between the twins escalated. Astrid glanced back at Kyra who was now leaning against Windwalker's side – she looked almost sad, rather than relieved that she was still alive.
"Are you sure you're okay, Kyra?" Astrid asked. Kyra insisted that she was fine. "You yelled at Draco earlier – you said he'd promised something? And...to not let 'them' do anything else to him?"
"Yeah, what was that all about?" Snotlout shrugged. Kyra sighed.
"I...can't say," she replied firmly. "All I can say is that he came to me for help – that's why he's here. The rest...you'll have to find out for yourselves." She stood up and walked away, a clear indication that the conversation was over. Artair offered to take care of her and followed her with Windwalker, leaving the Defenders of Berk in the plaza.
"A dragon that comes to its Goddess' human incarnation for help," Fishlegs noted. "Makes sense, I guess."
"But why would it be something that he can only tell Kyra about?" Astrid wondered. "He's more human than any dragon I've ever seen – surely he could've told us."
"Must be a dragon thing," Ruffnut shrugged. "I sure wouldn't talk to a dragon if I needed help with something that was a human problem."
"Yeah – I can name a few," Tuffnut mumbled. Ruffnut still caught it and shoved him in the nearest dragon dung pile. It got Astrid thinking though – the mark she'd seen on Draco's left hand before looked incredibly familiar. Casting her mind back to it, it looked just like Kyra's burn mark...
"Maybe she was the only one he thought could help him," she realised. The others stared at her. "There's definitely more to Draco than we think."
"Well, yeah!" Tuffnut drooled sarcastically. "We've found out he's bipo...OUCH!" All that earned him was a punch in the face from Astrid.
"I don't think any of that was him," she snapped. "There's a mark on his left hand, guys – what if the Darkwing cursed him too?" Fishlegs eyes widened with excitement.
"That could explain the sudden change in behaviour!" he realised. "And it could also explain why he only went to Kyra for help."
"No, it doesn't," Snotlout made a face.
"Yes, it does!" Fishlegs pointed out. "Kyra's the human incarnation of the Goddess of Dragons, remember? Draco must have gone to her for help because..."
"...he thought she could lift his curse!" Astrid finished.
"Okay...but why would he stay when she couldn't?" Snotlout pointed out. "I thought it was pretty clear that Kyra can't exactly use any of her powers right now."
"True," Astrid frowned. Wow – Snotlout was more observant that she thought. "I'll go talk to him," she decided. "If I tell him we know what his situation is, maybe he'll tell us enough to help him."
"That is if Stoick will let us," Ruffnut pointed out cynically. "You do remember the penalty for trying to kill a member of the chief's family, right?" Astrid didn't remember – she knew the penalty for trying to kill a member of the chief's family.
She would need to talk to Draco quickly.
AN: Yes, the segment at the beginning was based on 'Friends' - I love that show, I couldn't help it.
Busy times ahead so updates will become slightly further apart, just to give you guys a heads up, but I'll try to update as often as I can.
Also, I've uploaded some designs of Kyra onto deviantArt as she looks during How to Speak Dragonese and at the beginning of How to Cheat a Dragon's Curse, when she's aged 14-15. Tell me what you think in the reviews and I've got more designs on the way of how she looks at 18+. Follow the link to see the designs!
Once again, hope you guys are enjoying the story!
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