The Night Fury was agitated. He was just shot down from the sky during a raid and he felt trapped and alone and helpless because no matter what he tried, the ropes wouldn't let go. He knew the Vikings would come soon enough and kill or trap him as they did to the other dragons they got their hands on. But for fifteen years the Night Fury has managed to keep quiet and out of their range. He knew they feared him the most – and for good reason, too. So to think that someone shot him down from the sky? In the dark? When he was barely even visible? He felt so disappointed in himself.
The Queen's voice rang in his head, urging him to leave the island and come back to her, but he couldn't obey and slowly but surely the voice became nothing more than a distant echo he could somewhat ignore. It shocked him a little to realize that he could suddenly overcome her voice – if only a little bit. Maybe he should have let someone hit him lightly a while ago. It would have saved him the trouble of serving such a tyrant. Sadly, the pain that came with the hit wasn't something he ever wanted to repeat. He knew his entire body ached from smashing into the ground, but the rope… this weapon shot from the ground? – it cut his tailfin clean through, to the point where the Night Fury didn't even need to check to know that one of his tailfins was missing. And he would never get it back. He only hoped it wouldn't affect him too much.
"Oh, the Gods hate me." A distant voice that came closer and closer drew his attention and the Night Fury found himself pretending to be dead. Maybe if those Vikings found a dead dragon they would just let him go, thinking there was nothing left to do with it. Or, his treacherous mind whispered, they would try to skin him alive. Which would be much worse, thank you very much. "Some people lose their knife or their mug. No, not me. I manage to lose an entire DRAGON?!" He sounded frustrated. And young. There was the sound of a branch snapping and then a pained yelp. The Night Fury readied himself for the worst.
A sharp gasp from somewhere close to him made him feel like he was going to die no matter what happened. This Viking… kid? He was going to get rid of him and the Night Fury would finally meet his parents again. Ugh, he didn't want to die. He very much didn't want to die. Why else would he go with the Queen instead of just getting himself killed? He was all in for staying alive. Sadly, he didn't feel like it was going to work for much longer.
And then there was a bright light and the Night Fury opened his eyes. He was in some kind of room with three Vikings in it – two of them only hatchlings. They spotted him before anything else, of course. The man – the Night Fury knew he was the chief of the Vikings – reached out for something on his back only to come up empty-handed. He had no weapon. That seemed to worry him because he pulled the male hatchling behind his back – the boy's eyes were wide open and he stared at the Night Fury in awe and fear – before growling at the Night Fury.
The other hatchling, the Night Fury noted, tried to get out a weapon as well only to come up empty-handed. She blinked in surprise and looked around before realizing, probably for the first time, that she wasn't in the same place she'd been a moment ago. The Night Fury snorted at her and made her stumble back in alarm before she glared at him just like the adult in the room.
"It-it's not attacking us." The boy hatchling murmured. The chief didn't seem to hear him but the girl hesitated at his words, looking cautiously at the Night Fury like she couldn't understand him anymore. But the Night Fury couldn't care less because he recognized this voice. It sounded like the voice from just a few moments ago – the Viking who came looking for him. He narrowed his eyes at the Viking who gulped loudly and looked guiltily away, as if sensing the blame the Night Fury was aiming at him. "Oh, this is a nightmare…"
The adult seemed to hype himself for a fight, his eyes locked on the Night Fury's eyes. The dragon sneered. "Don't worry, son." He was the boy's father? Wow, he would NOT have guessed that. They looked nothing alike. Maybe their eyes had something… but it wasn't enough for the dragon to make the connection, that's for sure. "I won't let this beast hurt you." He motioned for the girl to come closer as well. "You too, Astrid."
The girl took tentative and careful steps towards the adult Viking, her eyes dancing between the Night Fury and the Vikings. The Night Fury himself just stared. He knew he should probably attack them already because they were planning on hurting him but he had no idea where he was and he thought that was slightly more important. Plus, the Queen's voice was finally out of his head, leaving his head clear for the first time in his life. He loved this place so far.
"What kind of dragon is that?" The girl whispered, probably assuming the Night Fury couldn't understand her. Oh, she was wrong.
"A Night Fury." The boy replied, his voice high-pitched and worried, but also admirable. He looked at the Night Fury like he'd never seen such a magnificent being in his life. And he hasn't, obviously. The Night Fury was probably the last of his kind – he deserved this reaction from the boy. He deserved it from the other two as well, but he had the feeling they wouldn't agree with that at all. When the other two Vikings gave confused looks to the boy, he shrugged and seemed to shrink away under their gazes. The Night Fury crooned curiously at that. "I… I guess?" He offered weakly.
The adult Viking looked like he was ready to take that as an answer and move on to try and beat the Night Fury to a pulp but before the Night Fury even got to grit his teeth at him, one of the walls seemed to flicker to life. The dragon jumped away from it, hissing a little from the surprise. The Vikings reacted the same way before the boy moved past his father to read the letters the Night Fury couldn't understand.
"Welcome to the future (and a bit of past)." The boy read in his nasal voice. The girl and the adult switched glances with each other, keeping an eye on the Night Fury who crooned questioningly at the words. The boy gave him a quick glance, as if not sure what to make of his lack of violence, and then turned back to read. "No violence is allowed – if you move intending to hurt someone, you would be locked in place." He winced at the words and then moved on. "You will be sent back once you're done here. Enjoy…" He blinked and then turned to look at his father. "What's going on?"
The adult Viking frowned at the screen and then chanced a glance in the Night Fury's way. For a few seconds, he didn't move and then his body seemed to relax. He looked surprised. "By Odin's beard… this must be the work of the Gods." He muttered, amazed. Then he nodded. "You two sit down – we are going to obey the Gods and listen to what they have to show us." He glared at the Night Fury. "If I can't move to hit the dragon, then he can't do it either. I'm sure we're safe."
The Night Fury didn't really try it, honestly. But when he thought about trying to pounce on the boy who was clearly responsible for his crash landing, he found himself frozen in place. Okay, so he couldn't attack the Vikings and they couldn't attack him. He could work with that. And… watch the Future? He could deal with watching the future. Why he was there made no sense to him, but he found out that he didn't mind that much. He could sit back and enjoy the clarity in his head. It was a nice change from the norm, wasn't it?
So, ignoring the incredulous stares of the Vikings, he made himself comfortable in front of the wall. A few moments after him, the Vikings did the same. The girl sat next to the chief, her body looking restless and like she was ready to bolt at a moment's notice. The chief didn't look much different. But the boy, for some reason, scooted a bit closer to the Night Fury, looking at the dragon briefly to make sure it was okay. The Night Fury didn't really like him much, knowing the boy was going to kill him before they were all taken here, but he couldn't attack here and neither could the… small hatchling. So there was no harm in sitting like that, really.
The Vikings and Night Fury nearly freaked out when music filled the room, coming from the wall. And the words on the wall disappeared to show… moving images that looked like real life yet were clearly not really happening on the other side. It was some kind of magic. The Gods really did have something to do with it, huh?
"Drago!"
The scene began with that cheerful word being yelled by someone the Night Fury couldn't recognize, though the reaction of the adult Viking was immediate. He cringed and then glared at the wall, searching. The Night Fury noticed the way the hatchlings seemed confused by that but didn't ask questions either, so he turned to watch as well. On the wall, he could see dragons, armoured , carrying a wooden crate with more subdued dragons on it. Tied and following were a bunch of Vikings who were being led by the strange Viking who called out. One of the tied Vikings looked like an adult version of that girl – did the chief call her Astrid?
Someone tried to grab the man who called for this Drago person – the Night Fury assumed it was the large, buffy and grumpy man who was covered in some kind of cloak made of… dragon skin. It made the dragon shudder and hiss at the screen. "Get off me." The leading man said and pushed away from the one holding onto him before smiling at Drago. "Always great to see you, my friend. Keeping warm up here?"
"Wait…" Astrid squinted her eyes at the wall and gasped. "That's me, isn't it?!" She glared at the way her future self seemed to just follow that man without fighting. The Night Fury couldn't even argue that point – it seemed a bit like she was useless against the situation. She probably was. "Who is that guy? Why are we being taken like that? Where are the rest of the tribe?"
The chief grunted and shook his head. "This is really, really bad." He muttered and then sent a look towards his son that seemed to try and not to show how obvious it was that he was staring at the older version of the girl and blushing profoundly. The Night Fury tilted his head at that. He couldn't really tell whether a person looked good or not – he was a dragon, after all – but he was almost certain that this girl caught the attention of the boy rather quickly. Maybe he was already into her? "I'm just glad this madman didn't get you too, Hiccup."
The boy – Hiccup – blinked at his father and then offered him a weak smile in return, his cheeks still burning a little. When Astrid rolled her eyes at him, Hiccup looked back at the wall, clearly trying not to even glance at her future self. The Night Fury suppressed a cackle and just focused on the wall again.
Drago moved past the armored dragons without even batting an eye and they cleared the path for him, nearly bowing before him. It sickened the Night Fury and made him snort loudly and shake his head, trying to fight the urge to mock these dragons. The humans sent him cautious glances but he didn't pay them any mind. They couldn't hurt him and he was too busy trying to understand how these stupid dragons could just bow down before a human. Stupid.
The man talking had his daggers pulled from behind his back by someone else that kept on glaring at him even though the dagger-less man kept on talking, as nonchalantly as possible. He looked tense, though. "Well, as you can see I am right on time with a new batch of dragons. Just like I promised."
A Monstrous Nightmare, tied and roped to a cart, began to wake up and try and shake the people holding him down. They fought for a moment until Drago ordered them to stop with a smirk on his face. The chief growled in the room but didn't say anything. Hiccup chanced another look towards the Night Fury. But they all watched as the Nightmare straightened up and glared down at Drago with narrowed eyes. The man didn't even move out of the way when the Nightmare spit fire in his face. No, he just lifted his robes and protected himself – dragon skin made him fireproof, just like any other dragon. The Night Fury snarled.
Astrid gasped at the sight of Drago advancing towards the dragon on the wall and pulling the cloak down with an unimpressed look on his face once the Nightmare was out of power. The Vikings tied not too far away stared with annoyance and uneasiness as Drago observed the roaring dragon for a moment before roaring at him right back. He lifted a spear over his head and waved it around, startling the Monstrous Nightmare and making him shut up. The dragon shied away until he lowered his head to the ground and let Drago put his boot on it. The Night Fury stared. The three Vikings stared as well. This was… unheard of.
Gaping at the wall, Astrid huffed out what sounded like an impressed breath. "How did he do that?" She leaned forward and squinted her eyes at the scene, clearly trying to study the man's actions. "If we could do THAT… we would finally win the war." She smiled widely in the chief's direction. "We HAVE to learn how to do this, sir!"
Hiccup looked at them with uneasiness, probably seeing the way this seemed a bit… much. The Night Fury sure felt like that act was way out of line. He knew his kin and he raided the Vikings' village but this… this controlling the dragon by yelling and shouting… it made him feel scared and he didn't like it. It was hard enough to stand the Queen's orders. So now to stand against those Vikings as well? No, thank you. Maybe the boy didn't know about the Queen but he sure didn't look like he wanted to make a dragon bow down to him like this Nightmare just did. Then again, he shot the Night Fury down, so what did he even know about him, right?
"We'll… see." Was the chief's only reply, which seemed to dampen Astrid's mood. But she didn't argue that point and just nodded solemnly and turned back to watch the wall.
"Hookfang!"
"Hey!"
"What are you doing?!" Demanded the other Astrid. Not-Astrid, the Night Fury dubbed her. She stood in front of the other Vikings, glaring at Drago. Behind her two blond and nearly identical Vikings stood, looking worried. It took the Night Fury a moment but he realized one of them was a girl and the other a boy. Behind them stood a large, round Viking who pouted at the scene displayed before him. Not too far to his right stood another Viking, with black hair and a displeased snarl on his face. He looked angry.
Astrid gaped even more at the reactions of the Vikings on the wall and shifted a little away from the chief who looked like he couldn't believe they looked… worried. About the Monstrous Nightmare, no less. "No… why would I care about a dragon…" The girl muttered under her breath and turned to glare at the Night Fury. He just huffed in her direction. She rolled her eyes at him and turned back to the wall, her shoulders stiff.
On the wall, Drago smirked down at the Nightmare – did the Vikings call him Hookfang? – and leaned a bit towards him, not paying attention to the questions thrown his way. Instead, he kept his eyes locked on Hookfang's. "You belong to me now."
"And as an added bonus," The untied Viking from before went right back to talking, sounding just as nervous. Maybe even more so than he did before. Drago's eyes moved towards Hookfang's back and he looked a bit taken aback by the sight of… was that a saddle?! The Night Fury crooned softly, confused. Why would a dragon have a saddle on his back? What kind of dragon would let a Viking ride his back like a horse? Or a yak? "I also caught you their riders. No extra charge."
Behind the man, Not-Astrid turned to scowl at him instead of Drago. "What? Are you kidding me?!"
"Aw!" The other woman in the group pouted. "But you were so perfect!"
"I-is that Ruffnut?" Hiccup stuttered, staring at the wall with his head tilted to the side like he wasn't sure what he was looking at. His father looked like he was busy trying to understand how to talk again while Astrid just kept on staring wordlessly at the scene playing before them, clearly caught off guard. It sounded to the Night Fury like the riders of the dragon – and probably the rest of the captured ones – were those Vikings, but he couldn't forget the sight of them – he was sure he'd seen them during raids before – cursing the raiding dragons with all they had. Why would they RIDE dragons?!
The man kept on talking, ignoring the girls completely. The Night Fury almost smirked at the way he seemed to cower before Drago as the larger, scarred man approached him. "T-turns out there's a whole bunch of them out there. They attacked – " He coughed when Drago grabbed him by the throat, growling at him. The Night Fury didn't even feel sorry for him.
"How many?" Drago demanded.
Not-Astrid seemed relieved, though. She smiled a little at the others behind her. "Drago doesn't have them after all." Then she looked down, thoughtful. And when Drago demanded an answer again, she stepped up with a determined, cocky grin. "Hundreds." She taunted him and the Astrid in the room shuddered and moved further away from the chief. The adult Viking was glaring at the wall and at Astrid, his brows pinched together. "A whole island full."
The choking man rolled his eyes a little and tried to smile. "I wouldn't worry about it," He kept on despite Drago tightening his grip around his throat. "My men are hunting them down as we speak. They won't know where you're hiding, I promise you that."
Not-Astrid whispered something to the girl beside her quietly and the girl turned to the black-haired boy before Not-Astrid talked loudly again. "Oh, yes they will!" She countered his words. The Night Fury wasn't sure, but he had the feeling she was bluffing because the others behind her looked at her with worried, questioning eyes. "They know we're missing, and they have tracking dragons." She began to walk towards Drago, glaring at him and ignoring the way he dropped the choking man to the ground who tried to shake his head at her, probably to make her stop her rant. "If you so much as touch us, Hiccup is gonna kick – "
"Hiccup?"
"Hiccup?!" The chief roared and the boy in question seemed to jump at the loud voice, his eyes going wider than before. He looked away from the wall to his father and Astrid who looked at him with confused and angry glares. "What will you do? What have you got to do with any of this?!"
"I-I-I don't know!" He shook his head and waved his arms in front of him, moving his head from his father to the girl in the room who seemed to look between him and the wall, her eyes searching, as if not sure she heard the name well. The Night Fury was certain she referred to this boy. Who else could it be? And there weren't a whole lot of people who were named Hiccup, after all. "I-it's in the future! I don't know why she – you – would mention me. I… I don't…" He looked back at the Night Fury as if begging him to help him. The dragon snorted. The boy turned back to his father. "Please, Dad… I know just as much as you do."
After a moment the man sighed and turned back to the wall, clearly displeased with his son's answer. Astrid seemed to turn back to the wall as well, though her gaze was unsure as if she couldn't even imagine a scenario where she used Hiccup as leverage.
"He's not a problem." The Viking on the ground choked out, rubbing at his neck. "Really, trust me."
Hiccup dropped his shoulders even more. "See? I'm… nothing." He said in a cheerful tone, though he didn't look like the words made him very happy. The Night Fury warbled a little but just kept on watching.
Not-Astrid didn't seem to agree with either the boy in the room not with the recovering man on the ground. "He's only the son of Stoick the Vast, his heir to the throne of Berk." She squinted her eyes at Drago, leaning forward. "And the greatest Dragon Master this world has ever seen!" She said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"WHAT?!" Hiccup's entire body was trembling and he looked like he was going to faint. His hands flailed in the air helplessly before they landed in his hair and began to tug at strands of it as if trying to wake himself up from a dream. Sadly for him, the Night Fury knew this wasn't a mere dream. Dragon Master? This puny human? The Night Fury couldn't help but snort at that. There was no way this boy could control dragons. "T-this… this has got to be a mistake!" He stared at Astrid for a moment, his eyes pleading. "Y-you meant someone else named Hiccup! Or-or-or just… just a Dragon Master as in someone who puts them in their cages or feeds them to keep them alive or… or… ugh!" He held his head with both hands. "Oh, the Gods hate me."
It looked like that Drago person questioned Not-Astrid's statement too, because he lifted an eyebrow at her. "Dragon Master? I alone control the dragons!"
The other tied Vikings finally seemed to snap out of their state of haziness because they all smirked at Drago and nodded their heads.
"Nope. Mm-mm."
"Sorry!" Another one sing-songed. The remaining two just laughed as if it was a really funny joke.
Not-Astrid smiled at them over her shoulder before she scowled right back at Drago. "And unless you let us go right now, he will blast through here on his Night Fury and blow your entire fleet of ships to splinters." She threatened and Hiccup blinked at the wall before he turned to look at the Night Fury, his eyes wide. The Night Fury looked right back, feeling like the ground was shaking under his legs. He? Let this boy ride his back? Really? But he shot him down! How did the Night Fury even escape?! Well, at least it was good to know that he would still be alive. That was somewhat of a relief, wasn't it?
"Then you'll be crying like babies." The girl from the group said – Ruffnut, Hiccup called her.
While the male identical to her seemed to ponder her words, the other two laughed and then complimented her, making her groan. Astrid, though, seemed to perk up at that. "Well, this is a pleasant side effect." She hummed contently right before the wall turned black for a moment. They all stared. "Is that it?"
