Born Unchained, a DreamWorks' How to Train Your Dragon fanfic by Raberba girl
Chapter 2 (rough draft)
The next day brought a new slew of problems, the worst of which were the four people who had been arrested for trying to sexually assault female dragons. All the would-be victims had either fought off their attackers or been defended by astonished, enraged dragon witnesses, so now the arrested men were injured, two of them badly, and were calling for the execution of the dragons who'd hurt them. Perhaps not surprisingly, the men demanding such drastic measures were in the still large group of people who were angry and resentful about dragons becoming part of day-to-day life in Berk.
"Are you insane?" Hiccup raged, so angry when he'd heard the news that he'd come to deal with the men in person. "You know exactly what would have happened to you if you'd tried this with human women, what makes you think this is any different just because-!"
"They were ASKING for it-!"
"THEY WERE TRYING TO HAVE CHILDREN." He had thought it was blindingly obvious by now that dragons apparently only mated with others of their own breed, and only to reproduce; that none of them would even consider having sex with a human. "You think they wanted to be raped, especially by someone from a different species-?!"
"Have you SEEN them, boy?! Parading around like that with the goods all on display-!"
"You don't even KNOW what you did wrong! You're so sick you don't even know what you did wrong!"
Hiccup treated the matter exactly as if the victims had been human, ordering criminal charges to be pressed in each proven case (and all of the cases were proven, thanks to the fact that every incident had been recorded on multiple dragons' video logs). Restitution was to be made to the dragons regardless of any physical damage suffered by the humans, since the injuries were all caused in the victims' defense. Although Stoick, as chieftain, had the final say on hotly-contested court cases, he decided that in this situation, it would be best for him to quietly defer to his son's judgment.
Then came a grayer area as theft sharply increased, due to many of the new dragon fathers stealing food (usually with no attempt at stealth) to bring to their pregnant mates. Hiccup hurriedly set up a food distribution center for them, then organized dragon hunting parties in the forests around Berk so that they wouldn't be unfairly cutting into the humans' food supply. The dragons apparently didn't mind eating roasted game, even if it did seem odd for cooking fires and the smell of fresh venison and pork and even bear and squirrel meat to fill the otherwise modern city. Hiccup hoped it would tide them over until he could think of a better arrangement.
While Hiccup spent most of his time stressing out about the human side of things, the dragons were still having their own issues to deal with. By the second day, most of the obligatory and the less picky matings had been completed, so what remained were the dragons who wished to mate more strategically.
Strong candidates prowled the streets and often fought over shared targets. Other strong candidates who didn't want to mate, like Hookfang, alternated between fleeing and hiding, and were exhausted by constantly fighting off suitors or by fighting with friends and sympathetic flockmates in an effort to resist the mating haze. Weak candidates who were determined to mate also hunted, though they were often more desperate and self-sabotaging than their stronger counterparts. Although many dragons didn't care much about matings other than their own, there were some data collectors and some plain old busybodies who liked to go around, keeping track of who had mated with whom and what kind of offspring would result.
Collectively, there was still a lot of worry about the Zipplebacks. While all other copulations were noted with either mild interest or dismissiveness by most of the other dragons, each Zippleback mating drew an anxious crowd. Almost every single time, to the surprise and relief of all, successful conception was announced, though some still worried that something might go wrong before the babies were actually born. MF/MF mates realized that they'd have to physically stay together throughout the entire gestation period so that their offspring, growing in the wombs of both parents rather than just one, wouldn't be rent apart and killed. Several dragons who were too old to mate volunteered to perform any fatherly duties for these pairs that could not be done otherwise.
About halfway through the week, the Zipplebacks who had mated in their homeworld returned to Berk. All were mildly surprised when their live young became encased in hard-shelled eggs during the transition between worlds.
"These bodies can't survive if they're too young, they must grow in eggs until they're strong enough to hatch and live. It's good."
"But must they hatch in Homeworld, or can they hatch here with no danger?" someone worried. "They were already born safely, but now they're eggs again..."
"Five months to wait," another said soothingly. "We won't worry for five months; we will let these eggs grow and then worry if we should take them back to Homeworld to hatch or not."
Barf and Belch gained enough courage to try again. Barf, wrapped in a blanket to comfort herself, also kept her arm wrapped around her sibling-half to comfort him. They moved slowly, advertising their availability tentatively, followed at a slight distance by Toothless, Meatlug, and Fishlegs (the others all had work elsewhere, and the twins had been warned away so that they wouldn't disturb their dragon during this stressful time).
About an hour later, Barf and Belch froze when they met the eyes of another Zippleback. The other was an MM pair of the same generation, and for about three minutes, the two dragons locked eyes as other dragons gathered to watch. The other Zippleback suddenly raced toward Barf and Belch, who cringed but did not flee or resist.
Both halves of the other Zippleback seized Barf, who went limp and dropped the blanket; there was a brief struggle, then the male with the less secure grip hissed and turned away to seize Belch instead. The two stared at each other in sudden confusion.
The first male gripped Barf's hair with both hands, and she focused on him again. "Match?" he asked, forcefully but a bit uncertainly.
"No, but you may," she responded in a neutral tone, not moving.
There was a very long pause as Barf and Belch waited and the other Zippleback considered. The second male tried to take hold of Barf again, finally circling around in frustration so that he held her from behind as his sibling-half clutched her from the front. Her eyes slid to Belch's and then closed. Belch clasped her hand.
"Not Matched," the other Zippleback finally decided, releasing her and hurrying away. The watching dragons sighed and dispersed. Barf and Belch stepped close together in an odd, full-body gesture to reassure each other, as their troopmates hurried up to them. "Are you all right?" Fishlegs asked urgently. "Are you hurt?"
"Not hurt," Barf murmured. She and Belch gratefully leaned into Meatlug's embrace.
"Were you uncomfortable? Were you scared?" Fishlegs persisted. "Did you not like them, or him, or...?"
"Are we Matched to anyone in this horrible body/bodies?" Barf murmured to her brother.
"Oh, yes!" Meatlug answered at once. "There have been three Matched matings for one-who-is-twos."
"Only three?!"
Discouraged again, Barf and Belch returned to the arena to hide.
Meanwhile, Hookfang was getting desperate. He had taken to carrying around Snotlout like a comfort toy or a talisman, and Snotlout had gotten too tired to protest. The Nightmare started hiding among groups of already-mated or older dragons, who obligingly hid him and protected him and gave him a bit of respite, but the pursuing females always found him.
Sometimes Hookfang would take refuge with Hiccup, and if Hiccup was forceful enough, the hunting females would hiss and reluctantly turn away when their queen ordered them to. Toothless, as a sympathetic fellow mate-avoider, was also usually willing to fight Hookfang and drag him out of that awful mating haze whenever it became overwhelming.
Unfortunately for Hookfang, the females did catch him sometimes. He fought fiercely, and even when five females ganged up on him and managed to subdue him, he screamed so desperately that they hesitated. Even they balked at actual rape, and Hookfang made it quite clear that he absolutely did not give permission to be mated with. "NO BABIES, NO BABIES, NONE NONE NONE NONE!"
"Silly One With Hooked Fangs," crooned the one poised most threateningly over him, "I am good and strong, you are good and strong-"
"NO! NO! NO! NO!"
"You are so selfish!" they all screamed back at him in fury. "Your good strong body, you won't give it to any offspring, you will deny our next generation?!"
"MY BODY DIES WITH ME! YOU CAN'T HAVE IT, THEY CAN'T HAVE IT, YOU CAN'T YOU CAN'T YOU CAN'T YOU CAN'T, I HATE YOU!"
It got worse and worse as more strong Nightmares were claimed, and he, highly desirable and still unmated, became an increasingly valuable prize. His body started to fall asleep even when he hadn't intended to, and then his suitors would chase him in his dreams and he would fight back in his dreams. He began to cry and couldn't stop crying, clinging blindly to anyone who offered him comfort or safety or the least bit of relief, cursing his own body and wishing hard that the end of the week would come and rescue him from this nightmare.
Barf and Belch were on the verge of deciding to mate with the next eligible Zippleback they saw, regardless of compatibility, when they suddenly shot to their feet as if pulled by marionette strings. Another Zippleback had tracked them to the arena. The rest of their troop watched, the humans with varying emotions and the dragons eagerly, as the FF pair stared intently at Barf and Belch, lashing their tails. Their name was Ones Who Chirp And Twitter. "Match?" they growled.
"Yes," Belch hissed back, leaping at them. He caught Chirp, who clung to him as he began to mate with her; Twitter and Barf were embracing when Barf suddenly collapsed in her arms. Barf revived slowly, shook her head, then grabbed her brother as the other female prowled around their mating halves, hissing impatiently. Belch finished and seemed to become slow and heavy for a minute, Barf looking half-conscious as she leaned against him. Twitter pushed at Belch until she could mate with him, and he stared into her eyes. Barf, alert again, seized Chirp and looked intently at her belly. "B...Baby?" Chirp stammered, looking dazed, but no one answered.
Twitter finished and crawled to her sister's side, the two huddling close and shivering. Barf and Belch, looking concerned, knelt on either side of them, touching them gently. After a while, Belch asked softly, "Baby?"
Both halves of his and Barf's new mate looked astonished. "Yes!" they exclaimed, prompting delighted cheers from Barf and Belch's dragon troopmates. Then, in confusion, "Baby?" All four of them looked at Barf's belly, then at Belch's.
Still confused, Barf and Belch touched their mate's bellies. "In here only, but it's okay...?"
"A [red] baby, here and here," Chirp and Twitter purred in unison. Both halves of both Zipplebacks stood and briefly twined around each other in an embrace that was like a brief dance, then Chirp and Twitter went away, satisfied, holding hands.
Barf stepped into her brother's arms and he held her close, both of them giggling in relief. "Matched," Barf whispered affectionately.
"I told you," Meatlug laughed, hugging them, "there was a Matched mate for you, there is a good baby for you, this body is strange but not bad, all bodies can mate and have offspring even if they're silly."
"But our baby is still inside them, our baby must still be born, maybe the bad thing will happen later instead of now...!"
"Hush," Meatlug soothed. "You are good and healthy, your baby will be good and healthy and will grow up and find a good healthy mate and have good healthy offspring."
On the fifth day, Hookfang was at his limit. He lay dully in his cell, his spirit broken despite the fact that Hiccup had written temporary sequences to prevent the Nightmare's most persistent suitors from entering the arena.
Snotlout had put his foot down, so it was currently Meatlug lying with Hookfang in her arms, murmuring comfort to him. "It's okay to be scared, our good strong troop will protect you, our poor One With Hooked Fangs..."
"I'm not scared," he said dully. "I'm strong. I'm good."
"Yes, dear."
Stormfly came in to check on them. "Why don't you want to mate?" she asked curiously. "I was a little scared, too, but it wasn't bad - my very good mate caught me, and now we will have very good offspring."
"Scared he'll get clawed up by his females," Toothless said, poking his head into the cell.
"I'm not scared of getting hurt!" Hookfang yelled, though he only had the energy to shout rather than move. Meatlug's hand stroking his hair didn't waver. "I'm a fireskin, I'm not scared of pain..."
"Maybe you're scared of babies," Belch mused, sitting comfortably just outside the cell.
"I'M NOT SCARED OF WEAK STUPID BABIES!"
"Not any babies," Barf clarified. "You're scared of your babies."
Hookfang started to cry.
"Why?" Toothless asked in surprise. Although he himself was opposed to mating, it was for a different reason.
"I will be a bad sire to my babies," Hookfang sobbed. "Don't know how to teach them raise them care about them, HER THAT I HATE, that MONSTER queen 'Red Death,' She tortured me broke me ruined me, my horrible body that I hate is strong and they want it, but inside I am still broken, broken, horrible bad self to make babies, horrible bad weak broken babies...!"
Every single one of the dragons was now crying and shivering, Meatlug and Stormfly with their arms desperately wrapped around themselves as if they could protect their unborn children from the torment in their memories.
Hiccup came into the cell. "Hey, I don't know what's going on here, but I think you all need a break." He was surprised when every single one of them seized him and tried to cling to him in a miserable huddle. "Oooorrrr...we can do this. Okay."
Toothless was the one who recovered first. "New queen now," he sad raggedly. "SHE that monster queen is DEAD, now we have this VERY GOOD new queen, He will help us. We will have good babies for Him."
"He will chain our offspring," Hookfang wailed, "He's kind but He still loves these chains, He will bind our offspring when they're born and we will never, never be free...!"
Hiccup wished he knew what they were talking about, because the anguished expressions on all their faces as they looked at him were unbearable. "Hookfang," he said gently, "what's wrong? Whatever it is, it's okay, we'll figure something out."
Toothless leaned against him. "Hiccup...we love You but broken. You save us but broken. She is still here, Hiccup." He laid a hand over his heart. "Memory, hurt..."
"She?"
"Her that Red Death," Toothless hissed.
"She's dead, Toothless," Hiccup said firmly, wondering what this had to do with mating.
Eventually, Meatlug said, "He is our queen, we must trust Him. If He chains our offspring, we will not resist. He has been gentle with us and our chains, He will be gentle with our offspring, too."
"I'd rather die!" Hookfang screamed.
"...You gave yourself to Him," Stormfly reminded him softly. "When He set us free...you offered yourself to Him, you saw His heart as He freed you. He loves these 'chip' 'computer' things like toys, but He hates chains."
"He doesn't know they're the same thing!" Toothless realized incredulously. Hiccup was both his other half and his queen, so he had quickly stopped minding and had gotten used to the frequent and casual invasions of his very self, but now the invasions made a lot more sense. He wondered if Hiccup would still delve into him with such self-assured entitlement if he truly understood what he was doing.
"We named Him One Who Breaks Chains," Barf and Belch said. "Before we knew His name, we named Him One Who Breaks Chains because that is who He is."
"...I still don't know how to take care of babies," Hookfang said in a low voice. "All I know how to do is protect. I can't teach or help or provide, I can't even love my human the way you all love yours, I'm a good 'monster nightmare' but I'm a bad dreamling..."
"Silly," Meatlug chided. "You are a good dreamling, and we are your troop. We will help you."
"Yes," Stormfly agreed.
"Yes," Toothless added.
"Of course," Barf and Belch huffed.
Hookfang slowly rose to his feet and said apprehensively, "I will mate."
Hiccup looked at him. "Fang? You feeling better now?"
"Females, mate," Hookfang hissed, crouching a little, his eyes unfocusing as he started to give in to the mating haze.
"Uh...okay. Are you sure, Hookfang? You really want to mate now?"
"YES," Hookfang bellowed, and rushed out of the arena. Everyone quickly followed.
There were three suitors left, two Matched to Hookfang and one not Matched but desperate. They descended on him when he was only a few steps out of the arena and, between the three of them, they managed to rip all his layers of clothes to shreds in less than a minute. Panting and mostly-naked and a little scratched up, Hookfang waited as the females battled each other to claim him. The non-Matched female was soon chased off; the next fight took longer, and the loser sulkily retreated but did not flee, hoping to have another chance if Hookfang rejected her rival.
The winner, One Who Flits Elegantly, immediately turned to Hookfang and fought him. Frustration and annoyance, built up over so many days of his rejection, made her vicious, and Hookfang was covered in blood and whimpering in pain when she defeated him. "MATCH?" she demanded, looking like she would kill him if he rejected her again.
"Y-Yes."
She mated with him rather vengefully, and he was too emotionally drained to even inquire about their success at the end. After she had unlatched her jaws from his shoulder and waited in vain for him to ask, she finally just grabbed his hair and announced, "One baby, female," and even added on his behalf, "You will be a good papa to our offspring." She smiled smugly as she let him go, her mouth gruesomely stained with his blood. "Good strong baby. Next season, you will be willing and we will have four."
"Maybe," Hookfang mumbled sulkily. His mate got up and went away, exhaustion and relief slumping her shoulders as the last of her mating haze dissipated.
Snotlout was looking sick. "That was...not hot at all," he said weakly.
"Are you kidding, that was totally hot," Ruffnut laughed.
Tuffnut shrugged. "I think it would have been hot if I wasn't ace, but whatever."
The others were all gathering around Hookfang, Meatlug and Stormfly praising and comforting him as Toothless started to lick his wounds. Hiccup quickly fetched a med kit, shooed away the Night Fury and distractedly scolded him for being unhygienic, and took over treating the Nightmare's injuries with Fishlegs's help.
"I got the strongest, best female," Hookfang was now boasting, having recovered from the shock of his more-violent-than-usual first mating. "FIVE DAYS she chased me, she waited and waited and fought off ALL THOSE RIVALS, she beat me the best strongest fireskin, our offspring will be very good."
"I told you," Stormfly said affectionately as Meatlug stroked his cheek. "You don't have to be afraid. You were caught by the best mate."
Belch remarked, "She hurt you more than she would have if you hadn't rejected her so much."
"Who cares? Our baby will be good," Hookfang huffed. "And you will help me, you promised!"
To be concluded...
Author's Notes: Please note that I am NOT condoning abusive relationships. Monstrous Nightmares don't have the same standards as humans or even other dragon breeds when it comes to some issues.
The way Hiccup (and other tech-savvy, partnered humans like Fishlegs) works with dragon chips is often overkill - Hiccup is always nice about it, and they let him because they love and trust him, but what he doesn't realize is that manipulating dragon chips for non-emergency reasons is, in some ways, kind of like grabbing someone, pinning them, pushing something into their hand and maneuvering their fingers to grip the thing, as opposed to just holding out the thing toward them so they can take it and handle it themselves, or at least teaching them how to handle the thing so they can do it themselves next time.
Another way to put it is if a Bewilderbeast were to resort to something as drastic as mind-controlling his flocklings for everything, including mundane matters like "Hey, Toothless, it's your turn for guard duty," rather than just telling them.
(I need to edit "Valka's Dragon Sanctuary" a bit so that Valka is aware of this and can finally explain it to Hiccup. ...And then all the other stories that take place afterward. *facepalm*)
The dragons put up with it because they do like Hiccup in spite of it, and by the time they finally have enough vocabulary to explain properly, they're too used to being treated that way to remember to explain; and of course under their former queen, the Red Death deliberately abused them, so many of them don't know any different way to be treated.
Tuffnut is my token asexual in the HTTYDverse. (I pick what's useful from the TV show and discard the rest, and there is nothing in the movies to indicate that Tuff isn't ace.)