Chapter Forty-Two:

Bellicostic

That voice belonged to McNair.

They were aligned perfectly, Hiccup behind Jack, who faced his Obscurial foe with absolute disgust. The sky had gone from dusky purple and lilac to black in minutes.

"How did you find us?!" Jack hissed, suddenly hyper-aware that he had let his wand fall to the ground, and now he felt utterly defenceless.

McNair smirked wickedly. "We're all so damn arrogant, we believe some delusionment charms will make us untraceable… You see, Muggles have these magic tracking tools… I used to despise them, but seeing how they've been kicking our asses this year… I gotta say, I'm about to take their side…"

"Jack, who's this?" Hiccup asked, so shocked at McNair's menacing appearance that he had forgotten to be cold to Jack. Toothless growled menacingly towards McNair.

"Ah, see you've found the Dragon Rider, outstanding work, boy…"

"What are you doing here?" Jack hissed again, confident McNair could do little harm when it was against him, Hiccup and Toothless.

"I'm just making sure fate goes on untroubled." He said. "I can't allow the Guardian of Shadows to spoil our good work, now, can I? Not when we're so close to finding the next gateway, aren't we?" McNair raised his wand at Hiccup. Unknown to him, Hiccup was silently pointing his wand at Jack's wand, which had been lying on the ground, quietly levitating it back to the boy's hand.

"Where are the others?" Asked Jack, gripping his wand slowly as it lifted to his palm. "You wouldn't have come alone just for a visit."

"Clever boy," McNair took a step forward, and Jack took one back. "They've told me not to trust you — You see, they knew that like your father you'd be just as weak, just as… traitorous. When those rats refused to release Gothel from their hole, we tried sending a message to the Ministry, but they wouldn't respond… They've warned me, yet here you are, with the dragon rider, all to yourself…"

"You're not having him." The boy gritted his teeth. "What do you want?"

"You've abandoned Gothel, now we can't allow that, can we? I thought we were family… The rituals take Seven to work… if we can't have you by will, then we'll have you by force. But don't you worry, we're not here for you, nor for your little friend." McNair smiled sinisterly.

"What for, then?" Jack's eyes began glowing red, the blood in his veins pulsing black. McNair's eyes mirrored his, also flashing in incandescent scarlet…

"Sending a message."

A gust of wind broke through the Black Army's camp. Three Obscurial forms flew straight into the tents, like fire arrows piercing the fabric, and a fireball erupted from the edge of the woods.

Jack and McNair exploded into their Obscurials before storming against one another, colliding like a train crash. A deafening impact echoed throughout the woods — the shockwave from their clash had been enough to whip Hiccup from his feet, crashing to the ground.

Above him, two indistinguishable black forms stormed violently, enraged like demons in agony — it was the darkest magic he had ever seen. He couldn't tell what part of it was Jack, what was McNair. His heart raced against his ribs as he watched the two Obscurials tear each other apart. Toothless jumped above Hiccup, either protecting him or pushing him, until he heard another booming sound from behind — an orange glow illuminated the woods, and thoughts of the tents in the clearing catching fire sparked Hiccup back into action.

Standing up shakenly, he took a last look at the clash of Jack and McNair, who now more resembled two cumulus nimbus battling. Seeing his chance to leave, Hiccup jumped to Toothless' back, riding back to the camp through the dark woods.

Mayhem and fire painted the scenery of the clearing. Wizards and centaurs were running and galloping away from the burning tents, trying to find shelter in the woods. Some of the centaurs had pulled out their bows and arrows and began firing against the Obscurials that flew like bullets through the clearing, leaving devastation in their trail, but in the night, it was almost impossible to see who they were fighting against.

"Hiccup!" Merida's voice screamed behind him, and he turned to see a formation of wizards and centaurs aiming wands and arrows to the sky. "We need ter lure them away from the camp!"

Hiccup nodded, Toothless gave an encouraging roar. The dragon spread his wings, and they jumped into flight. "Homenum Revelio!" Hiccup casted to the black night sky, and three red glowing forms appeared over the glade. "Now, Toothless!"

The fire jets illuminated the clearing like the dawn, gold and red raining over the nearest Obscurial. The horrific piercing screams were distorted by the monstrous creature's rage, but he knew they had hit the target. The Obscurus was thrown off of its path, crashing against the ground in a curtain of smoke and sparks.

Then another one found their location – there was a sharp pain striking their sides as they were hit by the Obscurial, as if they'd been pierced by a storm of knives. Hiccup and Toothless let out a loud scream.

"Don't let them touch you!" Hiccup screamed to whoever was lucky enough to hear it. Several metres beneath them, Azel led a line of wizards, goblins and elves towards the edge of the woods, a hidden location Hiccup knew they'd be safer. All around them, shield charms were lifted, like impenetrable glass windows.

Jack and McNair still clawed to each other's monsters with a piercing roar. Eventually, McNair's form was thrown to a tree, breaking the trunk with a loud crash, the tree collapsing against the others at the margin of the pond, lifting a cloud of dust and earth. The pain that seared through McNair also seared through Jack. In that moment, he remembered what McNair had said; 'too bad we can't hurt each other.'

McNair's body had re-emerged from his Obscurial, fallen in sprawled fashion against a pile of broken wood and stones. "Oh, Erebos taught you just right, didn't he?" He hissed in pain, but still cracked a smile through an agonising dislocated shoulder. Jack's shoulder also flared in pain, and it spiked into an acute agony when McNair snapped it back into place. Hiccup, several metres away, saw as a strange twitch seemed to run over the flying Obscurials like a wave — they all let out identical shrieks of pain.

Jack's form shifted back into human. The boy resurfaced through the black smoke, and the expression of anger would've caused shivers to anyone watching, as he turned to McNair. "Tell them to call off the attack." He commanded.

McNair spat blood. "Or what, you'll kill me, Jackie boy?"

"I'm considering it." Jack spat back. "You've said we can't hurt each other. But for you, I'll pay the price if it means I get to kill you myself."

McNair laughed evilly. "Oh, I've been dying to have a one-on-one with you…" Jack approached intimidatingly, and his eyes began to glow scarlett red. McNair dragged himself back, for the first time now showing fear.

"Call. It. Off." He ordered.

A loud roar of pain echoed in the night, and he recognised it belonged to Toothless. Fury intensified in him, and his Obscurial inflamed again, his body half skin, half rage. The boy erupted a massive shockwave towards McNair, pushing the man another several feet back, like he was a rag doll.

"I said call it OFF! NOW!" He barked, and even though he could feel every blow he struck McNair with, it only propelled his fury further into destroying the former Death Eater. Pain was as much his agony as it was his thirst, like burning fuel…

An explosion erupted loudly from the clearing, and in the short distraction it brought, McNair managed to dissipate again, the Obscurial vanishing into the woods. Cursing to himself, Jack jumped at McNair's trail, shifting himself into black matter and chasing him into the shadows. Jack thought of his restraining spell, but he chose to ignore it. If his tracker would put more ministerial wizards behind him, that'd also mean more wizards chasing McNair, he concluded.

Now how to destroy McNair without destroying himself in the process? Jack's mind kept searching for an answer, but he was running out of time… flying through the sharp tree branches, snapping twigs and disturbing the canopies, they flew in the dark, black magic and black starless night.

Jack then heard an enraged roar. Bright red ignited on the shadowed forest. He heard McNair scream monstrously in agony. And then he felt it:

A burning pain seared through the side of his body. Jack let out a hurling scream as he began falling, the pain was enough to shoot him off his flight. The boy crashed against the trees, descending through branches and pines like a rag doll until he landed on the ground. Shaking the stars away from his mind, he saw them: only a few metres away were McNair's contorting form and the massive shadow of Toothless, hovering above his Obscurial foe. The dragon was beyond frightening; it was death staring at the man in the eyes.

"Where did they go?" He heard Hiccup's voice, so grave and clear that Jack barely recognized it. Suddenly Jack felt a terrible weight crushing his chest, and the air stopped filling his lungs.

McNair cried under the dragon's claws: "They're gone now," He barely choked under the weight of Toothless' huge paws.

"Tell me where," The weight on Jack's chest grew heavier; it had become impossible to breathe… McNair hurt, Jack hurt; McNair stopped breathing, Jack stopped breathing…

"Hiccup…" Jack coughed out, the air barely leaving his mouth. The boy collapsed on the floor, holding on to his chest for dear life. It was enough for Toothless to listen, however.

"What the-?" Hiccup exclaimed as his dragon eased his weight over McNair's body. Both Obscurials began breathing again.

"If you hurt me…" McNair gritted his teeth, "...you hurt your friend over there."

Hiccup's eyes widened for a moment, before narrowing back into slits. "Liar."

The dragon lowered his paw again, this time over McNair's hand, and both heard a snapping sound — Jack's screams pierced the nightly forest. If once Hiccup had hoped he'd feel no sympathy for Jack's suffering, his heart had just now betrayed him, for the boy's screams ripped the boy's heart like knives…

"I could kill you," Hiccup said. "I could tear you all apart…" His mind rushed for rationality, but Jack's screams made it nearly impossible to proceed.

McNair barked in pain. "Brave boy," He gasped and fought, but his eyes flared in anger at the boy above him; he seemed to burst in and out into his Obscurial monster, but now he felt far too weak to transform entirely. "Go on, shred us all. Shred Jack apart."

Jack now breathed in and out sharply, rolling on his fours as he grabbed his hand and agonised sinisterly, like a wild animal, like a beast… Hiccup's heart tightened like a fist in his chest, and in his hesitation, the dragon made the choice that the boy couldn't.

Toothless hopped off McNair, and Hiccup was unceremoniously thrown off of his lump, falling down gracelessly. Toothless jumped over to Jack, who had now collapsed on his side, the crushing weight now completely gone from his hand - and then the dragon shoved his gigantic nose on the boy's face, sniffing and licking away his porcelain skin, trying to love away his pain...

But also freed from Toothless, McNair rolled off to the side. Jack heard it, but barely saw it, the short spell casting between the two - Obscurial and Dragon Rider - until he heard the unmistakable crack of the transformation, and he knew then that McNair had shifted back into his monstrous form, violently crashing against trees until he was at a safe distance from Hiccup's spells, flying away towards freedom…

Even in the shadows, he could hear that Hiccup's breathing was filled with anger and frustration. He could sense the rage seeping in the air like smoke, like something he could smell and taste. But he was immovable, his hand — although immaculate — still flared in pain, the memory of McNair's crushed fingers still very fresh, very present…

Eventually, Hiccup steadied his breathing just enough to summon Toothless. However, the dragon did not move.

Hiccup frowned, his anger now rising again. "Toothless, let's go."

The dragon shot him a devious look of anger, a deep growl of indignation seeped from his throat. The dragon turned back to Jack, and there he stayed.

"Toothless you- you've got to be kidding." He snapped at the dragon. "I said leave him-!"

With a jump, Toothless turned on Hiccup, letting out a roar of fury to his Rider that finally managed to scare Hiccup away - the boy tumbled back, falling hard to the ground, and there the dragon remained, at Hiccup's face, staring deeply into the terrified green eyes of his rider — and then it happened, like something had cracked between them: boy and dragon finally saw themselves as they really were.

"Toothless?" Hiccup gave out a low cry. The dragon shot him a final look of disgust, before turning back to Jack. Toothless half pushed, half lifted the boy in the most delicate manner a dragon could muster, and Jack wobbled his way out of the woods, supported by Toothless wings on his back. He walked out unable to mutter a word, too pained, too disgusted, to look at Hiccup in the eye as they got away from the boy.

Hiccup felt numb. It was like he had been slapped in the face. He simply remained there, planted on the ground like an unwanted insect, humiliated, listening to the distant fire cracking in the night.

okay y'all, Hiccup's been served like a little bitch here