There are akwats chains, sometimes more literal than proverbial. But nothing is ever static; even unbreakable metlas can be bent, and from the tiniest of changes, the greatest ones can occur.
Pebble woke before the break of dawn in her comfortable nest of furs before the contained fire, her body strictly trained to the schedule, only to find herself not knowing what to do.
Everything was cleaned yesterday by Toothless; she wasn't even allowed to touch the broom. Theflames didn't need more wood at the moment, which was suspicious, they should have just been embers after an entire night. Then she was startled by wood dropping into the fire. At closer inspection, she found some strange device with pieces of wood in it.
It was sloped, and each piece of wood was separated from each other by a little piece of metal, something was ticking below it, connected to the metal pieces. It seemed that this thing opened a way for the wood from time to time to keep up the fire. Ingenious. Truly ingenious. With this, no one had to stoke the fire early in the morning so that the place wasn't cold when the masters woke up, like she had been doing.
A yawn sounded above, and she quickly stood up and searched for something to do, or at least to look like she was doing something. Maybe she could replenish the device, she raised her paw to it and nudged one of the metal pieces up...
It fell down and broke into pieces. Nonononono!
Soon enough the human and dragon walked down, the human half-asleep, the Night Fury keeping him upwards and directing him with delicate nudges. She bowed, her snout at the floor, her wings curved back and half-unfolded, her tail to her flank, her eyes looking at the floor. This will hurt. Hopefully, it wasn't that valuable.
Instead of a blow, it was a gentle nuzzle. She shook.
*It's not important. Relax. I get you food and then we do something. To think that so much of a fuss would be made over a single…*
She took a more normal position and nodded. Hiccup kneeled by the pieces and collected them, before giving her a soothing rub on the head. She purred at him. Then she froze as a basket full of fish was deposited near her.
"Quod genus item est quod valet opus duo decennia?" He was ignored, sighed, and spoke again. "Whhy tis iing is woth to deades o worrrk?"
"It is a relic of the first generation. The first generation of humans on this world."
Pebble ate as slow as she could without making it apparent, but the fish, her only defence, disappeared far too soon. Toothless wasn't looking at her, instead prompting the human to eat more, so she readied herself.
It was a bit weird, having such a long and flexible tail. Pebble couldn't just raise it at the base, she needed to move its further parts as well, but soon it was done and she moved her hindlegs out of the way, fidgeting for a bit, unsure whether to pull them beside her tail or just splay wide. This body was so flexible that she had no idea what to do with it.
The human's eyes spread wide and the dragon followed his gaze. He was surprised, if a bit bemused. But why surprised?
*Is that what you thought I meant by 'something'?*
She gave him a slow blink, but he only squinted at her. Then she got confused as well. *I am here for something. I am always for something. I'm not doing anything, and Master was saying before I was sent here that you are only the male of this kind and that I can't be used for it after very cold season-*
He snarled, and she closed her eyes instantly with a shiver. The snarl silenced itself soon and she felt a warm touch on her head. She blinked. Wasn't he meant to be behind her...?
The look she faced wasn't one of lust, but of determination.
*You are here for yourself. You do whatever you want. Not whatever someone else wants. That wretched blackheart just wanted to mess with me. Do you want to learn how to use this body well?*
She perked up. *You believe me?* He nodded. *I had seen two-heads that weren't yet... ready... when Hungry One died.*
He stood up and spoke to his human friend in bewilderingly unrecognisable words. "Eo extra instituendi cum suo."
The human didn't react, and Toothless groaned, strode to the door, and peeked outside for a while. It was clear, if freezing cold. Pebble followed him without question.
They sat down at a hill overlooking the nest, a few body-lengths from the alpha den that was standing there as well, pointed towards the ocean.
*Our kind's fire is very mouldable, depending on how you move your tongue and how your jaw is placed it can be as incendiary as flame-skin, even if much more short-lived. It can be explosive, or pierce through anything in its way, including other dragons' scales. Or it can just be loud and bright.*
He fired a shot, and it exploded into a fireball bigger than most dragons, the air itself seeming to shake from its power. Then another, this time at a rocky cliff, it exploded slightly inside it, sending shattered rock flying, and yet another, covering a now lifeless patch in flames briefly. And the last one, she half-lidded her eyes to when it struck, but she still hissed from the piercing light stinging her eyes and the sound sending her reeling.
*Wrr, I shot too close. Anyway. Those are the kinds of fire you will be able to make... some day. Right now, you should focus on managing to flame at all. Let's try it cold now. If you rapidly move your lower jaw to the back…*
He presented the movement and she spotted little sparks, and said before she could stop herself: *You make sparks to ignite the gas—sorry for interrupting!*
The dragoness crouched low, her head hanging down. Toothless nudged her back up. *Easy. You are not going to be punished for interrupting.*
Pebble gulped. *I was.*
He cringed and nuzzled her soothingly for a good few moments before getting back on topic. *Well, you know how to release gas?*
*Yes, I did it once when I tried to flame.* She cringed at the memory, but quickly released gas and ignited it while keeping her tongue down. A short burst of white-blue flame erupted from her mouth and into the air.
*Good. If you want to turn it into a continuous stream you should keep your jaw back and shake it slightly so it continues to make sparks.*
She nodded and then shot, this time keeping up the stream for a few heartbeats.
*Great! You are learning real fast. Now. Have you seen two-heads firing on distant targets?*
*Yes, part of their gas exploding pushes the rest forward. Is it what I will do?*
*Yes. But you need to do it from inside your mouth.* She went wide-eyed. He smirked. *Don't worry. It is why our teeth retract. Just make sure that inside of your mouth is thoroughly covered in saliva, otherwise it can hurt you a bit.*
She nodded, and hesitated. *Should I put more gas forward?*
*Good catch! Yes. This way you can maximise the firepower of the shot, trying to do it the other way around would have resulted in the shot getting too big a kick and dispersing, so of course don't do that. If you want it to move faster, you have to fly while shooting. This way you can put even more gas in front without making it too slow to reliably hit.*
The first attempt was a total failure, with her own shot detonating immediately and sending her flying for a short distance with her mouth sore. She quickly hydrated it with saliva and tried again, this time managing to awkwardly send a small puff of flames a tail-length away.
Fed up with failures and increasingly fearful of them, she sent another shot completely without thinking of what she was doing, unintentionally making a connection with an organ she didn't know she even had...
Pebble curled up and hissed at the sudden pain, Toothless roaring beside her in surprise and anguish.
It hurt. Her mouth felt like it was on fire, and her skin stung, the scales on her front completely numb. It took her a long while to calm down enough to uncurl and check just what had happened.
The ground around them was hot and slimy, something she only now realised, but it wasn't hot enough to hurt, it was just uncomfortable.
What made her whimper and rush over was a shaking Night Fury, with his front-left body all visibly hurt in some way, though she couldn't recognise the kind of wound it was.
*Toothless! You need help! Let's go.* She gingerly pressed herself to his undamaged right side to act as support, and they started walking. He got better in a few steps and sped up to the den's entrance, shaking off the shock, once they were inside the alpha swiftly leapt to them and barked orders to his offspring.
The dragon was deposited before the fire, with furs thrown over his unharmed parts. His injuries were treated with lukewarm water, briefly warmed over the fire, poured from a wooden bucket delicately by Hiccup onto the wounds. She felt out of place and wondered what to do, when it was finally asked what happened, not that she could respond to humans in any case.
"I dunno, they were fighting?" Hiccup said. "No, no. Firing, and he got scalded. Bud, what had exactly happened?"
Toothless spoke quietly, mindful to not move anymore than necessary. "Rrrrrr, se-she av-have ta-star. E-me o-too l-close. Not er ault-fault."
Hiccup nodded, then smiled. "See? You can make those sounds if you really need to. Stubborn reptile."
Toothless laughed but it was cut short by another hiss of pain. She was left out of the loop until Hiccup spotted her confusion.
"Ah, this, Toothless told me that Night Furies can sometimes be hatched with special abilities. This one was a 'star', fitting if it could scald a dragon from proximity alone. But how didn't you know that?"
Seeing Pebble ducking her head he hastily remarked. "No no, it was just an accident, right? Those scalds aren't that bad, he just wasn't scalded ever before, I guess."
It was the exact moment Toothless chose to whimper in pain. Hiccup looked over his wounds with worry but relaxed somewhat soon.
"Everything is okay bud. It isn't going to even make a scar, just hang on. You will be fine."
The Night Fury babbled something unintelligible and got ignored, then sighed and spoke in the human tongue. "E-he-ehentually."
Hiccup nodded. "Yeah. It will be definitely unpleasant for a while. It may not be a severe scald, but it is a big one."
The small human smirked deviously in a sudden. "Sooo, it seems that I will need to take care of you from now on, like a big, scaly baby."
Pebble quickly trotted over and shook her head vigorously. *I will do it.*
She needed a few moments to realise she had just defied her current handler, but before she could cringe, the alpha already comforted her, his big hand laying on the back of her neck firmly.
"Now, easy there. You can forget about it all while you are here."
Meanwhile, Toothless was huffing in indignation, fussed over by Hiccup. All of the friendly teasing amused both her and his sire.
"You shouldn't move much. So what would you say for a diaper?" "Nrrro whay." Hiccup rolled his eyes good-naturedly. "Oh of course you would say that. Well, you don't have a say in the matter." The Night Fury's pupils narrowed. "I wihh bitre yrrrou." Hiccup raised his hands in surrender. "Ookay, baby boo without diapers. Just don't make a mess or you will get one." The Night Fury just glared at the undeterred and smirking human. Then he groaned seeing he wasn't going to back down.
Pebble suddenly felt tension build up in the alpha. "How you are not hurt, but he is?"
"Thck-thickr scls."
"And now you are mispronouncing 'thicker scales', are you sure you aren't turning into a hatchling?" The dragon made a move to push his insufferable friend over, but was stopped mid-move by the pain induced by stretching his skin. He instead snarled. It got utterly ignored to his chagrin.
"And now you are pouting. Big baby boo."
Toothless pawed at his ear with his good paw. He will never hear the end of it.
"On Berk, it must be a devastating winter for a while already."
The burly woman nodded. "And yet here it is just late spring, southerners call it autumn."
The travellers, two humans and eleven Gronckles, ten being fledglings, sat around the bonfire and ate the meal; a big deer hunted down by Meatlug and Hilda.
Fishlegs reached for the saddlebag when he thought she was too busy eating. He was frozen by the proof that no, she was not.
"No parchment near food, darling. We won't get any more until we find a city."
"O-okay!"
So they looked at the map after the meal. Fishlegs sighed, Meatlug whined quietly but got a series of comforting patting. "It is not your fault, girl. You just took the nearest maps, you couldn't know which ones were real."
His gaze fell back to the x's drawn over city names, while he absent-mindedly scratched two fledglings at once. Most of the cities they bothered to land in hadn't succumbed to the Night Furies' flames but to human strife, be it internal or external. The ruins of villages around them were another matter entirely though, with all the buildings hit with enough firepower to level down to the foundations in a single strike.
It was so genius yet simple, in a way that a dragon without wider knowledge of human society could conceivably come up with: hit defenceless villages, providers of food that simply cannot be fortified in big enough numbers, and then let towns and cities fight over them or succumb to hunger.
They surveyed dozens of places by this point, but it seemed like the entire landmass was desolate, home only to ruins and wild animals. They still had to circle its shore completely though.
After they decided on what direction to take, Fishlegs wrote down today's events in his diary in the fading light of the bonfire before sleep. Mom didn't want it to be alight when the dawn broke. Thankfully Meatlug was very warm, like a furnace from flesh and bone.
The next day, they continued down the shore, and at last, there were many dots littering the ocean. Ships. They both laughed in glee and Meatlug went downwards.
Something caught in the very corner of Fishlegs's left eye. He rapidly turned towards it, only to see a puffy cloud. A disturbed puffy cloud, with wisps of it swirling quickly.
One of the fledglings wailed, and Meatlug's irises narrowed into slits.
"Mom..."
Hilda nodded and curled her fingers around the spear secured in the saddle-harness, the very same one retrieved from the Outcasts, crude, but tipped with iron instead of just sharpened stone, albeit low quality one. He did the same with Astrid's axe.
"Maybe... Maybe it is just a cautious dragon."
"Quiet." His mother hissed. He promptly obeyed. For a few moments everything seemed alright. Then a shape broke through the another cloud. There was a flash, intense heat washing over them, a pained roar, and they spun around for a few times before Meatlug steadied her flight.
There, before them, in plain daylight, head tilted, left ear raised, right vibrant purple coloured eye squinted in confusion.
Complex but visibly crude pitch-black armour, rough around the edges and baring no insignia, wrapped around the entire underside from half the tail all the way up to the head.
Slim body twisting through the air like a fish through water, like the greatest dancer on the stage, as casually as one would lean back in thought.
Grand bat-like wings, a duet of twin tail-fins, and an envelope of deep, deep, deep green scales.
The Night Fury gazed at them all, trying to discern what was happening. Why was this dragoness shielding humans with her own body? Meatlug said something. The purple eyes narrowed, a snarl formed, and a screeching flame built up.
Hilda threw her spear. The dragon swiftly dodged, weaving through the air flawlessly, moving just enough for both iron and wood to miss it by an inch, and in the same movement propelling forward and upward, tilting into a barrel-roll and heaving her paws with spine-shattering strength onto the path of two pests daring to enter the skies.
The Gronckle swung in a circle surprisingly quickly, knocking the dragon back with her club-like tail. She openly snarled and then roared at the indignant, befuddled and now injured dragon. The place where the blow struck, at the dragon's flank, was visibly damaged, and the smallest amount of blood already managed to gather there from the cuts made by sheer brute force.
Fishlegs felt light. Like a feather. Except even lighter, enough to just fly into the air. He was also more aware than ever before. His mind refocused from its inward, to an outward stance. He perfectly heard his mother's battle-cry, Meatlug's roar, the fledglings' panicked buzzing, the Night Fury's snarling intersected by short hisses of pain.
And he could see the second one, emerging from the cloud it hid in earlier. Without a thought, his arm extended and swung in a great arch, sending the two-bladed battle-axe, before the property of Astrid, and before her of Finn the Fearless, into the Night Fury emerging from the clouds, just clearing its vision of wisps of sky-high fog.
The dragon screeched and plummeted as the weapon impacted its wing-shoulder, piercing through muscle and down to the bone from the combined force of the weapon and the dragon's speeds, and Fishlegs snapped out of his hyper-focussed state right after witnessing the strike, screaming and flailing his arms about.
Both Night Furies went down, the still able-bodied one diving after his comrade, leaving the party of humans and Gronckles in peace. For now at least. They didn't waste time, and rushed towards the city with all the speed they could possibly muster. Fishlegs composed himself just enough to realise that they were rushing towards a fortified position and yanked back on the saddle, the fledglings slowing down in unison with their mother.
In just the nick of time, it seemed, as people on the thick stone watchtowers were aiming a variety of weapons at them. "I-I, oh-hi!"
He waved his hand shakily, unable to find words, still focusing on the fact that he nearly died. Hilda handled it instead.
"Ahoy! We just had a close encounter with two demons and wounded both, can we enter? Gronckles can make a lot of incredible steel."
One with the most intricate uniform, presumably the leader, shook his head. "Go to the port, you can ask for entrance there."
They did as they were told. Entrance was granted, and the city opened before them.
When Fishlegs read about the grand cities of the south there was always talk of impressive structures, buzzing marketplaces, fabled masters of many arts, and it was true indeed.
But what all the books failed to report was the smell, trash, grime and dirt. Too many bodies in too small of a place. They all endured it, better or worse, with the fledglings whining loudly, but shushed by their mother quickly enough. Their very presence, however, drew unwanted attention.
A man, in armour far less intricate than the soldiers on the walls, waved to them with his spear and stepped closer.
"What are you doing with those dragons out in the open? Cages are near the forges. Take it there before it kills someone."
Fishlegs frowned. "She will not just kill someone!"
The guard looked down at the 15-years-old incredulously. Hilda again took the lead. "Meatlug, will you kill someone randomly and without a reason?"
The dragoness shook her head, and prompted her offspring to do the same. The guard reeled back a step before composing himself. "If it does, it is on you." Then he walked away. Fishlegs looked at his friend. "Umm, why didn't you say—"
"Guess what reaction that would induce." Hilda cut him off. People around indeed didn't seem fond of them, if passively and just moved on with their daily routine.
They coursed around the blacksmiths. It seemed most of them already had Gronckles... in chains. The ones without them were very willing to pay a lot though, and one even took them into his house as guests, albeit he was hesitant about letting dragons inside. He got over it though when they made it clear that the cages lining up the circumference of the nearest tower are out of the question.
As they settled down Fishlegs blurted out. "We can't leave those poor dragons here. They are enslaved!"
She sighed tiredly.
"And how many slaves did the Berserkers have, and yet we don't charge in there freeing them? The skies are heavily guarded here, against the Blitz primarily, but I doubt Gronckles would stand much of a chance. Besides, we need a place for winter."
He sighed as well. They indeed weren't some liberators, they were just a bunch of Outcasts without money or weapons.
"I must say, it is far more pleasant way to travel than I thought it will. Reminds me of my hawk, those thirty years ago, before this whole madness began. Poor bird, by the way, died out of boredom in a cage because venturing out was too dangerous for obvious reasons. Though doing it at night is a novelty; I didn't thought I would enjoy as much as I do..."
Pitch was accustomed to human blabbering, but not to understanding it. And the second human on her back just wouldn't stop, liking sound of his own voice far too much.
An irritated yank on her reins,her mistress doubtlessly as aggravated as she was, signaled landing. Not that she needed it, since others were setting a camp up already, but she didn't complaine. She never did. Especially since soon there will be relief for her from constant babble.
They landed; the human male finally shut up, if only just to get off the saddle. He huffed when he failed to un-tether himself, and started complaining about equipment the second her mistress helped him. Pitch skittered away immediately, her mistress close after, her eyes set firmly on the alpha's nest.
So firmly, in fact, that she collided with another Quirk that emerged from behind a tree, and sent a bag he carried flying from his jaws. Pitch immediately leaped for it and managed to keep it from spilling its contents with her unwieldy paws... safe for one not-so-safe letter that fell right into the mud. Without hesitation she threwd the bag straight back to its original holder, forcing him to stop snarling to hold it properly.
Before she reached the alpha nest, she could hear dead-snake thwacking and Quirk roaring in pain. She smirked, but it evaporated from her expression the second her eyes connected with ones of a nearby human.
He squinted at her, or rather, at the collar enveloping her neck. Then motioned for her to get closer. Pitch gulped. It will hurt.
When he got a closer look at her collar, and at the blue stripe on it, he immediately slapped her on the cheek. She didn't really feel it, but it made her cringe nevertheless, knowing what was to come.
"Blue walking without a handler, dumb beasts, how many times do I have to remind you lot about your place?" He pointed at the singular pole in the ground, few steps further. His Quirk, one with crimson red marked collar, trotted towards her menacingly.
She gulped again, lowered her head, and meekly walked towards the pole.
"Wait!"
He rolled his eyes at her mistress. "She lost you, Ewa. Seriously, is it so hard to just keep them by the reins?"
Mistress shook her head. "She never goes away from me, but forget it. Grimmel wants to interrogate her further, and we all know how he reacts to delays."
Relieved, Pitch leaped towards her mistress and bobbled her head so reins leaned towards her. She shook her head but grabbed them anyway.
"You do know you'll be punished later?"
Pitch nodded, but made no noise and kept her gaze pointed at the tent. Soon enough they arrived.
The Quirk of the alpha stepped towards her and made to grab her by collar, as always, but was interrupted by the alpha himself. "No need, just sit there."
Uncertain, she did as told, sitting right in the center of the tent. Her mistress took the bridle off after a moment of uncertainty.
The human alpha seemed very pleased, resting his leg on the knee and smiling broadly. "Well well well, what can I ask you now? Apparently Albino is all-seeing in a large radius, though far from omniscient and omnipotent. Hopefully this trait will surface in others, though finding a reproductive strategy was too complicated for you so we will have to do it ourselves. What else? Let's see."
He flipped through a paper notebook and then raised his finger into the air triumphantly. "Aha! Blitz command structure. Or rather, in simpler terms…who answers to who?"
With her snout and gaze pointed at the ground, she spilled everything she knew. "They have leaders, but they question them and ignore them if they think they know better, and there is nothing those leaders can do with that."
Grimmel shook his head. "So not even loose command structure, but total lack of command structure. Very disorganized. Will make it easy to fight and win with twice, maybe thrice our numbers. If humanity had anything airborne back then they would never have managed to do real damage."
She didn't comment, staying silent until his next question. Then another. And another. Eventually there was a longer pause, and something much more unexpected was asked.
"Why are you helping us?"
Pitch fell back on safe response. "I am meant to, I am your-"
The human male waved his hand. "Yes yes yes. But why do you do it for real? Why so much? You didn't need to tell us what is coming; your children would have been free soon."
Her thoughts were scurrying around haplessly, unhelpful in finding a secure way out, so she just said the truth.
"I obey and I am rewarded for it. Resistance only ends in pain. Obeying is better."
Grimmel tapped his chin, then smirked. "Now that is something I would not punish you for saying, but tell me, what with the Blitz? Your chance at freedom?"
She couldn't hold back a snarl and then replied hastily to avoid punishment. "Albino will make sure that I suffer in there, only them and you can let me fly, and you are fair. You don't punish constantly no matter behavior, you punish for bad and reward for good."
Grimmel hummed thoughtfully for a while. Then he threw something: a red stripe. She blinked in surprise, mirroring her mistress. Alpha just nodded.
"You can be trusted to an extent. You are red now. Don't have any illusions though, you are and always will be below humans."
Pitch nodded rapidly, nearly bumping her chin on the ground. "Yes master. Thank you master. I will do good. master."
He huffed. "You had better, or you will regret your hatching."
With this threat hanging over her head, they were sent away, her mistress tucking the bridle to the saddlebag instead of onto her — one of few improvements coming with her new status. She would no longer be bound, and would be allowed to move freely on her own within their territory's boundaries, and would not be used by other Quirks as entertainment, and she'd be able to finally use them instead, if they badly misbehaved.
Her eyes went to the Quirk she bumped into on the way to the tent. A smirk returned to her face at the needles placed on his collar's left side: markings of merit. His was negative, hers was positive, still remaining from her time as a Blue.
Mistress groaned. "Horny animal. Go and don't bother me until evening."
Pitch immediately ducked her head. "Yes mistress." She was punished with a glare. "Do not call me that now, when you are allowed to speak. My name is Ewa."
"Yes Ewa, whatever you order." Pitch skittered away, a smirk returning to her face yet again. The male looked at her with disdain. Then he noticed the red stripe on her collar and went wide-eyed. She whispered straight to his ear.
"Be good and I won't hurt you... much."
He was unhappy and not even trying to hide it. Her smirk widened. She knew exactly where are those little places Moonlight used to torture her so thoroughly yet without leaving any marks. It will be fun to see him writhing and whining and pleading with wide eyes, deprived of all this confidence and reduced to a hapless worm...
He had observed the movements of others. They were heading and concentrating in one place, the very same one eleven Quirks were at pretty much constantly, defending a nest now, it seemed.
He couldn't catch up to them of course, they were flying, and he was walking, but he knew the way. He will get there soon enough.
Then there was a pair that traveled on paw, just like he did. One of them was apparently unable to fly, with the other one sticking around him, but clearly being able to fly, as it did regularly.
Their heading was more or less the same, and after short consideration, he decided to go a little off course to meet with them. Their way was easy to discern, as his Gaze let him see the terrain shape in a vast radius of himself, and therefore, to know what way was the easiest to move on paw from any given direction.
Sure enough, in a few days of march intersected by sleeping and by digging out hibernating animals from their holes, he neared them.
Both were females, curiously enough. One had a big wound on her wing-shoulder, muscles and bones cleaved through by whatever weapon struck it, it was in the process of healing, but this process was nowhere near completion. Her companion in contrast had only minor damage to her ribcage.
They were friends, but not terribly close ones, as he discerned from the interactions between them. Those were mostly curt and to-the-point, with only slight affection. The way they spoke though was really weird, likely this human tongue the dragoness talked about taking for their own uses.
So, he introduced himself in a respectful but restrained manner. First announcing his presence in an unthreatening way, by a short and not overly loud or aggressive roar. One of them, the able-bodied one, responded in kind while shushing her grounded friend to silence. Smart. Masking their true numbers. Not that it worked on him in the slightest.
Moonlight stepped into view at a small pace, keeping his lips down over his teeth, ears and frills relaxed and his pupils at medium wideness. They spotted him at the very moment they had a line of sight. Good.
*Greetings, may I join you?*
The duo didn't relax. Why… ahh, they had their sights focused on his harness. Many parts of it were clearly made for subduing and nothing else, like metal rings at his neck and chest, and obviously it was a human creation. Additionally, the Blitz likely knew about their enslaved fellows. He needed to reassure them as fast as possible.
*I ask for assistance. It may be more than a little bit too fast, but...*
He trailed off, watching their reaction. The able-bodied, dark-green female went up to him, while the second one observed their surroundings carefully.
*Do not worry. We will help you, as fellows should.*
Sense of fellowship from being the same kind alone? Considering Blitz's actions, it makes sense.
*Good. I know where the others are, and for how long they will be. We aren't exactly in a rush, there is still time, but I would like to see their liberation personally, and for that, this... thing will require adjusting.*
He exposed the fake tail-fin and wiring coming all the way to his chest plate from the tail. The eyes of the further female lit up. *Crafters will be delighted to see this.*
Moonlight purred and then dispelled the rest of possible doubts, while simultaneously acquiring information. *It took me sixty days on paw to get here, after I got rid of my... owner. Is your nest far further away?*
The able-bodied female cocked her head to the side. *On paw it would be really hard to get there, but no one should stay alone. With you here though, I can fly to get help. We will carry you both on sheats of... however is this thing called in this.*
The wounded dragoness narrowed her eyes at her companion. *You will be alone then. Not safe.*
Moonlight chittered a little to garner their attention. *I think that another two Quirks should be in line of sight just above this canopy.*
They both cringed. *Quirks. No. It is not a name worthy of our kind. We have a new name. Night Furies. A sign of how much more than mere curiosity we are.*
He nodded, then purred have seen that they didn't understand the gesture. One of them flew up, while the second stayed with him.
Quite a healthy female, except for the wound. Hmmm. No. He didn't feel like it right now. Information about Blitz on the other paw, not only what exactly they do, but how usual members of it behaved and spoke was certainly intriguing...
*What did they do to you all?*
He was asked instead of asking. That rarely was the case.
*Besides cutting off tail fins and making replacements that only they could control? Let's see.*
Moonlight rummaged through the sacks and brought out a few items. *At first they made us all wear it, deprived us of our fangs and flames, you see those circles on the sides? This thing in turn was attached to them, and they yanked on it to force us into the direction they wanted, or to restrain us to one place. When they thought we were obedient enough, they took it off.*
Her eyes were narrowed, anger seeping through her seemingly calm form. Curious, curious, she treated what was done to him by humans personally it seemed.
*Here is this... thing. Each time they used it, it hurted. While it doesn't have any teeth, our scales aren't as durable as other kinds.* Her eyelid twitched a little. Irritation.
*The ones we were hatched with. The ones we made for ourselves are stronger than that of any other, excluding only Starborns.*
She spoke in a somewhat dismissive tone... yes, yes, he could see it now. Next he extracted a thing filled with a smell which made him dizzy and he forced himself to suppress the urge to roll in it even while it was closed. She didn't seem to have as much self-control as he did, and he needed to shoo her away with his tail.
*Now this was a reward for good behaviour, don't move, I will do it exactly how they did.* There was a little frown at that, but there wasn't resistance as he popped it open, slinked his claw inside, and then rubbed it into her nose, then, after brief hesitation, covered his claw in it back again, closed the thing precariously, threw it into the bag, and only then rubbed it into his nostrils. He knew that there is nothing that can hurt them in hours of march, so it wasn't any risk at all...
A good long time of hopping around and trying to fit a head-bind at the female's head, forgetting about it and tugging at the circle at his collar, tossing stuff from the bag everywhere and then chasing her with a biting dead-snake later, he reconsidered this stance. Nothing really happened, but at times he was close to making... a really bad impression, thankfully his fellow Night Fury was as high on the stuff as he was and had seen it all in a playful way.
*That was... wild...*
He grumbled in acknowledgement. Now it was obvious why humans never gave them more of this stuff than near-nothing. He didn't want so much of it ever again. He couldn't think straight this way. Even now he felt the urge to reach to those few points on the Night Fury's body that cause truest agony when twisted in just the right way, to hear those weak, defeated, delectable whimpers, and see the individual turned into a shaking heap of misery without any physical damage done at all.
*What is your name, anyway?* She stopped inspecting the circle on his collar and blinked, as if thrown out of a trance. It was likely the case.
"Aurora-dominii." She shook her head. *It means- I have it because I was hatched when the first... level... of Blitz was completed.*
*Level?* *It is how dragons classify in their hierarchies but no it doesn't mean this here...* Aurora-dominii trailed off, seeing that he understood it perfectly and returned on topic. *The first level was meant to break humankind power into isolated packs, made them unable and unwilling to help each other, kill as much as possible, the second is when we gathered more of our kind thanks to victory, adapted human technology to our own uses, gave them a false sense of stability, and cut communication between them. The third… the third will be their end, and our beginning.*
Aurora-dominii explained with something more than mere excitement.. A sense of purpose, certainty, something she lived her entire life to see... Yes, now he understood what Blitz truly was, and it was confirmed even more when he gazed upon the nest they were carried over to, at all Night Furies working, sharing, talking, all filled with so much purpose.
It was not merely an alliance to destroy existential danger, to tip the scales in an ancient conflict; it was something beyond a pack, beyond an alliance, something deeper and fuller, something so much greater than the sum of its parts...
A tool of ultimate power, the personification of supremacy, of wielding the hearts and minds of countless people with unwavering purpose. To shape the world into whatever was desired, with everything in the way crumbling down before them.
The thought of so much power gave him chills that he didn't even try to suppress.
He craved it.
"What do you think you are doing?"
The dragoness chuffed and ignored him. Eret folded his arms.
"Seriously? I did it the last five times. It is your turn."
He didn't get an answer until the bonfire in the cave they sheltered in nearly completely burned away. The answer was a snap of fangs near his face, a menacing snarl, and a wing pointing to the cave mouth. The man barely flinched. The dragoness knew that she needed him, knew that if she wanted to continue flying then he had to be alive.
Apparently, alive didn't mean unscathed, as he was kicked with enough force to send him reeling back.
"What was that for?!"
He glared at the Night Fury, but was taken aback. There was an icy cold spark in her eye, a threat.
She pointed at the cave entrance again. Eret hesitated, but he couldn't allow her to treat him like that, he hated being treated like that, hated getting at the very least ignored, and most of the time thrown to do chores without his former mount lifting a claw beyond anything but travel and hunting, so he snarled back.
The reprisal was swifter and more merciless than he could have possibly imagined. A paw pinned him to the wall, slamming him with such a force that the breath was thrown out of his lungs. Yet, at the consecutive strikes that followed, he still found air to scream out his outrage, and then pain.
Blunt force behind the hits made his body burn in heavy bruises, battered by the sudden assault. Finally, the dark beast retreated, glaring at him and pointing at the entrance.
He looked between it and her, hissing in pain. Submitting would be a better idea, he was unarmed, powerless before a creature so many times bigger and stronger than him.
But he had enough of this shit in his life.
"Fuck it. Fuck you."
He lunged at her, wishing to land at least a few blows, but was thrown away by a wing suddenly unfurling and slammed into the wall with a force that made his teeth rattle and ears ring — from her furious screech or from the impact, he couldn't say. Before Eret could muster any pitiful defence, the dragoness was again on top of him, beating the shit out of him past until he could no longer stand, and not stopping when he was conscious.
Eret woke from a pain-induced stupor, groaning at the feeling of bruises covering his body and a few broken ribs stinging hard. Thankfully nothing else was broken, and his head was spared from the onslaught, so nothing obscured four out of five of his senses.
There was no one here with him, but his relief and kindling idea of running off to uncompromising wilderness was short-lived, as the dark grey reptile emerged from the blizzard on the outside, dragging the carcass of a deer with her.
He curled up into a ball, fearful of... his new master. It went full circle, didn't it? No good deed goes unpunished. Huh. Has a nice ring to it, this one.
The dragoness deposited the prize of her newest hunt on his side of the fire, then added more wood to the flames, holding it awkwardly in her jaws, not even glancing at him in the entire process.
He didn't move. He wasn't told it was his to eat. It wasn't his place to take assumptions. Especially if they could result in him being punished.
She glanced at him, her expression impossible to discern, then tore off a whole leg, including a chunk of hip, out of the dead animal, deposited it in the fire for a while, then padded closer to him, and placed it before Eret, averting her gaze all the while.
Eret looked over the retreating dragoness, confused. A growl from his stomach encouraged him to take a bite out of it then spit it reflexively. It was burned, not cooked. Could he cook it properly? He neared the crackling, haphazardly shaped bonfire, bitting his lip and hissing from pain, but wasn't shooed away and managed to make the meat edible.
When he finished eating and turned to return to his place, the Night Fury sat there and prodded at an item on the ground; an item he hadn't seen for a while now. A knife.
He gingerly picked it up, seeing that it was what he was expected to do, but not understanding why. Why now? What had changed that the item the dragoness jealously guarded inside her saddlebag was given so freely?
Instead of an answer, he got fear, as a whip was retrieved from the bag as well. Eret backed away in fright and tossed the knife aside, gulping and hoping that he would not be punished when he understood the message; do not have weapons. This thing was meant to whip dragons. It would hurt so much.
Yet, instead of thwacking him with it, the dragoness nudged it in his direction, before doing it with the knife again. Bewildered, he didn't take up either of the tools. The dragoness huffed and turned away, tucking her tail and paws below her stomach, furling her wings and pinning them to her side.
It looked very much like... But why?
He stepped to her head and waved the whip before her eyes, and she purred. Eret stepped aside, incredulous. She wanted to be whipped? But why- Oh.
"You want to equal the score."
The dragoness didn't budge at his words, and he gave in to anger, swinging the whip at her exposed back. She hissed and fidgeted but didn't get up.
It took him fourteen more strikes to calm down, and, trembling, he threw the wretched thing away. How could he do onto another what was done onto him so eagerly? He felt dirty, disgusted in himself.
A pair of big eyes glanced at him, then their owner started licking her sore back. Eret threw the whip into the fire. They exchanged a glance, understanding sparking between them.
They were no longer slave and master, or slave turned master and master turned slave, but equals.