Authors Note: OH MY FLIPPING CATS! 100+ REVIEWS! EEEEEE! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU! *takes a deep breath* sorry, I've just never had a story get this high. I'm so excited! Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Disclaimer: I own nothing!
Sorry for any grammar/spelling errors
WARNING: Violence and blood- When it comes to battles, I really hate to get descriptive, I keep as clipped as I can. :)
Shout Outs! XD
katurdi: Thanks! I've grabbed Hiccup in more than one choke hold over the course of this story so no worries. ;)
harrypanther: Yeah! It was high time Astrid exploded. Ruff and Tuff amuse me so much sometimes. Thanks for your review!
Silverwood68: Erm...I'm debating about Daylight Wanderer, I honestly have no idea what I'm going to work on after I get WAMC done so we'll see. Thanks for your review!
Flopy: Oh there, there *hands you a tissue*. ;) Thanks for your review.
Guest: Thanks! I'm sorry to have disappointed you! April was just really hard for me, I wasn't thinking straight, I feel more like myself now, though. :) Thanks for your review!
SkippyLongSocks: Ha! Nice name. Thanks, I appreciate your support!
FanWriter02: Thanks! I work super hard for those feels! That chapter went through like, fifteen separate edits. (I'm not exaggerating) it's probably my favorite one, well beyond chpt. 7 Thanks for your review!
FabinaForever11: :) Thank you!
Thank you to everyone else for your interest! :)
Chapter 11: Wash Away My Colors
(Toothless POV)
I know who your kin is.
I know who your kin is.
I know who your kin is.
A frustrated growl escapes my throat once again as the sentence tugs at my brain. It's been a few days, yes, but nothing's gotten better. If anything, as the time has passed, Quinn has seemed more set on murdering everything.
He's always staring.
The room is dark, like usual. And damp, also usual.
With persistence, it's ignorable.
Sunlight is flickering through the cracks in the doors it's weak, barely there but there indicating that the sun is starting to rise in the distance. Marking...a week, two weeks since I was brought here. I don't know. The days have blurred into an endless stream of long. It's impossible to tell time here.
Occasionally, guards will toss in some fish. It's not enough to tell the days by but it's something. The clouds that constantly hover over the island make shadows seem to leap off the walls, it's always there. The sun rarely shines and when it does, it's brief, short, and doesn't share its warmth.
This isn't anything like the last time I was here. I could count the days easily, it was maddening, but I could. I knew where Hiccup was, I knew if he was alright or not depending on if I behaved or not. Everything was pretty straightforward. I have no idea where the Haddock is, I have no idea what happened to Berk, Astrid, Stormfly or the other riders. It's just an endless stream of I HAVE NO IDEA!
I'm going insane.
There's nothing to do but pace, memorize wall patterns and get left to your own demons. The voices that always persist in coming back. It never fully stops. It's maddening. There aren't many conversations spoken between us, Bilbo tries. Annoying as he is to start something hourly but it doesn't work very well.
Quinn's gaze is following me, again. He often does that, staring at me as if figuring out the most physically painful way to kill me, then drag me back from the dead to kill me again. It's ridiculous and honestly I'm on the bricking point yelling at him to stop it. But I don't. For whatever reason, I don't.
Quinn's glare is getting sharper, it's boring into my back with promises of murder.
I resist-barely-the urge to roll my eyes and twist my head to look back at Quinn. The Skrill narrows his thin red eyes lower, his pupils mere slits. I return the glare with equal force.
I do not like him. Period.
There's something just so...off about him beyond the fact that he's a broken minded slave of the Red Death. Quinn frowns, the edges of his back teeth showing in the process. I don't back down from my scowl though. I've been ignoring it for days now, it's driving my nerves crazy.
He's challenging me, silently.
I return it.
"I don't know of any way to shoot fire from your eyes." Bilbo says suddenly. I stop blinking in surprise to look down at the small Terrible Terror. Quinn's eyes widen with surprise at the sudden comment. It takes me nearly a full minute before I can muster up a response.
"What?"
Bilbo snickers, "I don't know of any way to shoot fire from my eyes 'else I would've done it by now."
Oh. Yeah, hilarious.
I return my glare to Quinn and the Skrill echoes me. "You two really can stop that." Bilbo assures, he sounds irritated. A rare tone for the usually cheerful dragon.
"I will when little kitty over here is dead." Quinn hisses. I narrow my eyes at the comment.
"And what of the others?" The Deadly Nadder-Tin-if I remember right asks. "What will you do of the other "traitors." He spits.
Quinn shifts his gaze to Tin for a moment. "Wash them out. Strip all their colors away. Make sure that they pay."
Tin hisses lowly, "You stand for your cause alone."
"He's right." I agree firmly, venom slipping into my voice. "There are none who believe her anymore."
Quinn hisses. "I will avenge her."
I know who your kin is.
"No," I correct lifting my chin up slightly letting my gaze bore into him. "You will die trying."
Quinn opens his mouth to retort heavily but pauses all of our ears lifting and twitching in sync as metal scrapes against metal and human footsteps ring up. Dread settles on the inside of my stomach.
Jink. He's back. Again. With a group of at least twenty by the sounds of it.
I glance over at the other dragons, seeing their eyes fill with dread slightly save Quinn. He looks absolutely ecstatic. Like he's never seen anything more exciting in his life. A gleeful chortle sounds from the ancient dragon, "Looks like your death will be quicker than I thought." Quinn pauses then. "But not as soon as I would like. Once your child is here, and he will be, I'll kill him, then."
I hiss lowly, "You won't touch him!"
Quinn laughs.
The room grows quiet, still. "We only need another dragon," Jink's voice sounds outside of the door. I still can't see him yet but he's close. "We need the most powerful at the head. Then we'll be ready."
"Yes, but I still don't like this, Jink. We need more time." Hitisha argues.
"We have no time! Berk is bound to be here soon, to avenge the dead heir and we need to be ready. The men are already at their stations. We'll bring down their dragons, then we'll capture the island."
"Jink, you have the dragon, you killed the boy, isn't it enou-" The sound of skin meeting skin painfully sounds up along with a sharp female cry of pain and I can only assume that Jink slapped Hitisha. There's a moment of deadly silence.
"IT'S NOT ENOUGH!" The footsteps stop and heavy breathing fills the silence. Jink inhales forcefully, as if trying and failing to calm down. His voice grows dangerously soft."I want more. I need more. I won't let our island fall again. Where is the general?" Jink demands.
Hitisha's voice is cold, "He's preparing the men, like you told him to, chief."
"Lars!" Jink shouts.
"Yes, sir?"
"Tell General Grem to prepare a boat and a handful of men. We need the other dragon trainers."
"Yes, sir!" The man rushes off his footsteps echoing.
Hitisha hisses. "You know that they won't be compliant. The child nearly died to protect them from you."
Jink laughs, "Then we use different methods, sister. You are the older one shouldn't you know this?"
I blink in shock. Hitisha and Jink are siblings? Jink is younger than her? Since when!?
Hitisha murmurs a deep curse under her breath before her footsteps ring forward again. She comes to a stop in front of the door and shoves a key into the lock. Every dragon visibly tenses at the sound of the metal grinding against the locks to open the door.
The metal door is thrown open and Hitisha stares at all of us, a hint of disgust in her eyes. But not for us. Jink moves to stand next to the woman and Hitisha shifts to the side glaring at her...brother. The word "siblings" doesn't seem to fit them. The two don't even look related. Jink's hair is a deep black with the edges died a deep red. Hitisha is pale blonde. They stand at relatively the same height but Jink is slightly taller. Hitisha's icy blue eyes are narrowed as she stares at her younger brother. If looks could kill, ninety percent of all our problems would be solved.
Jink rings his hands together looking like a hatchling the first time it succeeds in flight; completely missing his sister's stare. Ltina and Les growl a curse under their breath and glare at him. The other dragons tense their stances, repeating the Zippleback's gesture.
The Tijike Chief seems unconcerned and smiles at his sister, "Well, what do you say? I'm thinking the Night Fury and the Skrill."
I tense. Hitisha's eyes stop murdering her brother and sweep over me and Quinn instead. She hesitates, "Jink, that's the only Night Fury in existence. We need to be cautious." Jink looks down at her, "If the battle is not turning in its favor than we should pull it out. I don't want to lose the chance we have with it."
Jink waves a hand, "Yes, yes, of course." A few men walk forward into the prison as Jink and Hitisha turn away walking off somewhere.
I turn glaring at Quinn, "Your plan is failing." I note.
Quinn's smile broadens, "Oh, you'll see, Kitty. You'll see."
The men move forward pointing their weapons at me and with the edges pressed against my throat, the men rip off the mussel and the chained wrapped around my left foreleg. I'm herded forward towards a door on the left of the front wall.
The men shove me through it, "Try not to kill each other too badly!" Bilbo calls to our backs.
Ha. Amusing.
The swords are released and I'm left to my own. Quinn is the same. The arena is similar to Berk in design with a netting of chains across the top. The floor is dirty and covered in soot and ash. Many fights have been fought here. The sky, true to Tijike nature is once again covered in thick clouds.
There's no evidence there ever was sunlight.
Quinn hisses slowly. "You're crippled, Fury. This will be easier than I thought." I bite down sharply on my tongue as frustration pumps through me.
Where are my wings!?
Where are you Hiccup!?
I haven't seen the tailfin since I woke up. They must've removed it well I was unconscious. That seems like yesterday, but also years ago. I growl through my teeth lowly as we start to circle each other.
Quinn watches me with interest, "You have such passion, such youth. I wonder why you waste it on that boy."
I glare at him, still saying nothing. Don't let him rile you into a red rage. Don't let him rile you into red rage. Ignore it, ignore it, ignore it. Focus on the battle, don't get distracted, keep a cool head.
Distantly, I am aware of Hitisha and Jink moving into a position to watch us from above.
Quinn's red eyes gleam. "You're so pathetic, you know that right?"
I only stare.
I don't waste it on Hiccup. It comes alive with him. I may be crippled, but he's my wings, my sky. Quinn's eyes narrow dangerously and he dives forward claws outstretched to attack.
I inhale slowly, letting my senses perk upwards, my eyes narrow as time seems to slow before with a jolt, I leap left and up away from the claws time snapping back into motion. My claws wrap around the chains of the ceiling and I stare down at Quinn as he bounces off the wall landing on his feet hissing.
Quinn flaps his wings powerfully and dives towards me again. I leap off of the chains and tackle the older dragon to the ground slicing my claws across his chest. Quinn howls in pain and shoves me back with his forelegs scraping the edges of my talons.
I grit my teeth refusing to howl out with pain. Quinn gets up, bleeding heavily, "I'll make you suffer. I'll find that stupid human child you're so attached too. You know I will, you're afraid. Trust me on this, Fury, he'll be dead within a fortnight."
Anger pulses through me along with a stroke of fear and I leap towards Quinn again swinging my claws out towards him in rage.
The dragon meets me with equal force and there's a brief struggle before Quinn leaps into the air and scrapes his claws deeply along my back landing on the other side. The pain blinds me. Hot waves of it crash over my head pulsing heavily and I stand still.
Breathe. Breathe. Am I breathing?
I suck in a breath.
Focus. This isn't over yet. I blink my eyes open slowly and Quinn cackles with laughter. "Oh mighty Night Fury the flightless dragon." Quinn snickers, "The fightless."
I narrow my eyes angrily. No. I am not. I am not afraid of him. I won't let him hurt Hiccup, Stormfly and Astrid or anyone else in our little pack. I dive forward in an angered haze building up a plasma blast wincing as my shoulders move.
I ignite the spark and throw the fireball forward. It smacks Quinn dead in the chest and he tumbles backwards smacking against the far wall, moaning. I leap towards him stretching my claws out. Just run it across his chest and this will all be over.
He won't be able to hurt anyone ever again. He won't touch Hiccup.
A red haze tints my vision and I watch my claws grow closer and closer to the dragon.
'There is always an alternative to killing.' my voice rings through my head and I hesitate. 'Hold Toothless.' I'm pulled back to the battle of the Red Death, as we tumble backwards unable to catch air. Hiccup's silent request for me to blindly trust him and I to him.
Hiccup.
"There's always an alternative to killing."
I stop my eyes widening as I draw my wings in close to my chest and crash down next to Quinn my feet skidding underneath me as I struggle to find balance through the pain. My muscles groan, my shoulders are stining, bleeding badly.
I struggle to my feet slowly. Quinn flaps his wings once, fidgeting it seems before with a cackle he looks up towards the sky. A roar of thunder sounds and my eyes widen before with a roar, Quinn draws the lighting onto his scales and channels it towards me.
It smacks into me with such force I fly across the arena hitting the wall.
Pain.
It pulses through me blindly. Everything is hurting. Everything aches.
Then it slowly dims, enough for me to concentrate on something else beyond how much it stings.
I peel my eyes apart slowly looking up at Quinn. "PULL THE NIGHT FURY OUT!" Jink's roar startles me slightly and I blink hazily.
My muscles don't seem to be operating the way they should.
Quinn advances slowly, but my vision is blurry and I can't make out much more than his brown form slipping in and out of my vision. I grit my teeth moaning slightly at the pain.
Come on.
Get. Up. Get. Up. Get. Up.
I squeeze my eyes shut and when I open them, there are a dozen plus humans advancing slowly towards me, weapons pointed out.
No, no, no, no! I am NOT going back there!
Whatever strength that I have left rushes through my muscles and I leap to my feet gritting my teeth at the pain that stretches across my back. The Tijikes pause watching me for a moment. My vision is still hazy but I let out a roar in warning towards them.
Back. Off.
The men lift their shields and advance towards me. I build up a blast and fire it towards them. The effort is weak at the short time I had to build up and only a few are thrown backwards. I hiss angrily narrowing my eyes towards them.
The Tijikes stare back at their fallen comrades before turning back towards me. My gaze flickers from them for a brief second towards Quinn. He's watching from the sidelines, head cocked slightly as he stares at me.
A man swings his sword forward and I snap back into focus, diving back to avoid it. The edge of the sword scrapes across my chest painfully as my side smashes against the wall again and I grit my teeth at the pain, that one's going to leave a nicely sized bruise tomorrow.
A bola is throw towards my feet and I leap above it, aldrenerine is working through my system though, and my strength is slowly draining. A pain slices across the already deep cut across my shoulders and I roar in pain everything fazing out for a moment.
The weapon just scraped across the cuts on my shoulders.
I can't! I. Can't!
My muscles collapse in on themselves, everything pulsing with pain. My chest, my shoulders, everything. I can't escape, I can't get free, I can't fly, I can't do anything!
A human hand presses down on my head and I flinch heavily gritting my teeth at the pain. "Don't touch him!" Quinn roars. I lift my head slightly to look towards the Skrill before with an angry hiss the elder dragon swings his tail forward and smacks the humans away from me. I blink several times in shock.
He's...he's...protecting me?
Quinn dives forward in front of my crumpled, bleeding form lightning crackling on the edges of his wings. I struggle to my feet behind him but Quinn doesn't even glance at me, just lifts his wings upwards to look bigger.
Everything is still blurry and I'm starting to dwindle on unconsciousness but force myself to stay awake. Sounds of battle blur around me, Quinn redirects lighting towards the Tijikes, time passes quickly as I struggle to stay conscious before Quinn gives a screech of pain, screaming at it.
I lift my head towards the dragon as he crumples down lighting jumping across his scales for a final time.
"Quinn!" I shout, "Quinn!"
Jink lowers his sword, Hitisha swinging her double bladed one back, she and a handful of other men watching us for a moment. I shove my muscles forward, dragging them across the ground towards him. The Skrill lifts his head slightly, smirking, "Why?" I beg. Why? Why? Why? You're supposed to hate me!
Quinn hisses in pain, "It...would...appear you have freed me...to…"
He lays back his head. He's...dead.
He died to save me.
There's a moment of bated breath. "It's dead." Jink declares swinging his sword in a spinning motion. I turn my head to look back at them glaring. Jink lifts his eyes to me, deep brown ones staring into mine. "Now grab the Night Fury and prepare the ships for battle."
A rope wraps around my neck and I hiss slightly before several others make their mark, I pulled forward blindly towards wherever. "Grab a healer." Hitisha adds the command after a second of watching me.
Pain. Pain. Pain.
I force myself to move forward the tugs the only thing keeping me from slipping out of consciousness. I want to fight! I want to break free!
I want out!
The tugs stop suddenly at the sound of pounding footsteps. I turn my head slightly to look back as a Tijike soldier rushes up to Hitisha breaths coming out as gasps. Hitisha grabs his shoulder before he collapses over, "What is it!?" She demands.
The man takes in several more gasps for breath, "Dragon riders! Coming in from the south!"
