[HTTYD] Carried Off, chapter 12

Carried Off, a DreamWorks' How to Train Your Dragon fanfic by Raberba girl

Chapter 12 (rough draft)

 

A Night Fury was inside the burning forge.  The twins were in the forge.  Hiccup raced to save his children, bursting into the building without even glancing at the flames starting to eat away at it.

 

The sight of the dragon made his heart quail with horror, but he still snatched up the closest weapon and brandished it as Night Fury raised its head and fixed its eyes on him.

 

"GET AWAY FROM THEM!!"

 

The dragon began to stalk toward him.

 

"Yes, yes, yes, that's it," Hiccup panted, now simultaneously terrified and hopeful as he backed away.  "That's right, thaaaat's right, monster, come on over here and eat me, take your time, take your time...."  He hoped that the nightmare creature would take long enough to rend him apart that someone would have enough time to rescue the children.  "Come on."  Hiccup was practically crooning by now, his hands shaking despite their tight grip on the weapon.

 

The dragon paused.  Then its eyes slid back toward the babies.

 

"NO!"  Hiccup instantly dropped the weapon and dove for his children.  He scooped them out of the cradle and started to whirl, but saw a glimpse of black scales and green eyes and flashing teeth right behind him.  Hiccup instantly dropped to the floor, trying to wrap as much of his body around the twins as he could, desperate to shield them from claws and fangs and fire.  He felt Valka pummeling his chest with her little fists and screeching indignant "Get off me, Daddy, I can't SEE!" noises.  Finn simply cried in fear and confusion at all the strange loud things happening around him.

 

Hiccup was trembling, waiting at any moment for the beast to tear into him, praying that his body would be enough to shield the children, that his sacrifice would buy enough time for someone to rescue them.  A gust of warm breath was exhaled over the back of his neck, and he cried out.  He sensed the dragon hovering above him, and couldn't help shifting his head just a little so he could see.

 

The Night Fury was sniffing delicately at him, nose not quite touching his body.  Then its green eyes met his.

 

Hiccup was astonished at the change.  He could have sworn that the dragon's eyes had been full of cold malice, the pupils narrowed to slits.  Now, however, those pupils looked huge, the expression warmer, and filled with something that Hiccup wondered if he dared call 'curiosity.'

 

The dragon lowered its head toward his.

 

'I'm going to die,' Hiccup thought.  'Someone, save my children, someone please save my children, please, please, please--'

 

A wide, slightly forked tongue touched his cheek - then withdrew.

 

'Did it just...lick me???'

 

The snout started sniffing at his chest, where he was clutching the babies.

 

"NO!" Hiccup shouted, shoving the dragon's head away as hard as he could and then whipping his arm back to encircle the twins.  "NO!"

 

The dragon growled.

 

"I don't care!  Eat me if you want, but you will not TOUCH my children!!"

 

Still growling, the dragon lowered its jaws toward him again.  Hiccup ducked his head back down, clutching the twins tightly and tensing in anticipation of pain.

 

Astrid's battle-roar had never sounded so welcome to him than it did at that moment.  She came barreling through the burning doorway, swinging an axe that the dragon dodged with a snarl.

 

"Astrid!"

 

"HICCUP, RUN!"

 

The dragon reared, pupils slitted again, a purple-white glow starting to light up its mouth.

 

Hiccup didn't think.  He rushed straight at the Night Fury and barreled into it, throwing off its aim.  Hiccup felt one single instant of satisfaction before the dragon's eyes fixed on him.

 

'I'm dead.'  "Astrid, take the kids and run--!"

 

The dragon pounced.

 

Hiccup screamed, expecting pain and blood, but instead the earth dropped out from under his feet and wind rushed at him.  He screamed again, calling senselessly for his wife.

 

Then his brain caught up to him and he realized that the Night Fury wasn't sticking around to slaughter him in the forge after all - it was carrying him off.  He had no idea what his fate would be now, whether he'd be devoured slowly in the privacy of a lair or torn into pieces to feed dragon hatchlings or something else too terrible for his imagination, but whatever it was, the unknown of it was almost as terrifying as the fact that he was dangling hundreds of feet in midair.  And rapidly ascending.

 

"No!  No, no, no no no no no no no...!"

 

He abruptly went silent when the creature shifted its grip on him.  When his voice stopped, the silence surrounding him seemed to press in.  The sounds of battle were gone; now there was only the sound of the wind, the dragon's wings, and the ocean beneath him.

 

A despairing sob broke from him.  "Please," Hiccup wept.  He didn't even know what he was pleading for, except perhaps a chance for him to fight the monster before it killed him so that he could die with honor.  "Please...."  Of course that wouldn't happen, he was Hiccup, nothing ever went right for him.  The dragon would land and incapacitate him before he had time to lift a hand against it.  "Please...."

 

They flew for so long that it started to hurt simply from being carried.  The strain grew unbearable, yet still they continued on, and when Hiccup was begging for unconsciousness just to make the pain stop, the dragon started descending.  Fresh fear surged through Hiccup like nausea.  He no longer had the strength to struggle, so he shouted instead.

 

The landing was painful, too, and he couldn't move.  He had to lie there moaning as the blood agonizingly began flowing again in the limbs that had been gripped and supporting the rest of his body weight.  He couldn't stop the Night Fury's approach, though he was confused when the beast simply sniffed at him instead of taking a bite out of him.  It licked him for a minute, then stopped with an unhappy snort and met Hiccup's gaze.

 

They stared at each other for a while.  "What do you want with me?" Hiccup finally asked.  "Why did you take me?"

 

The dragon made a noise that sounded almost like a cat's meow before taking off - leaving Hiccup stranded on a barren rock in the middle of the sea that wasn't big enough to be called an island.  "I hate you...."

 

By the time the dragon came back (Hiccup hadn't been able to decide in the meantime whether a slow death by starvation was better or worse than getting his head quickly chomped off), the pain in Hiccup's limbs had faded to a dull tingle, and he was able to scramble back.  Unfortunately, there was nowhere to go and no weapon to fight with, so he had to just stand and watch as the dragon approached and...vomited up a fish at his feet.

 

"...What, are you sick or something?"

 

Eventually, the dragon made it clear that he expected Hiccup to eat the fish.  Hiccup took a very, very reluctant bite, choked it down, then pushed the rest pointedly in the dragon's direction.  The dragon huffed, snapped up the fish in one bite, then lunged at Hiccup.  The man wasn't prepared to be grabbed again, and now he was once more dangling in the air.  "Nooooo...!"

 

They flew until they approached what looked like a mountain made of ice spikes.  Hiccup's eyes widened in horror and he started struggling again, but it was no use, he had to watch as he was taken into the heart of the dragons' nest, where swarms of the monsters would undoubtedly be waiting to tear him to pieces.

 

It wasn't enough that he had to be eaten by just one dragon or even a nest of hatchlings, nope; it was going to be the entire flock, every beast that could reach him, probably fighting savagely over each bloody shred of his flesh.  'Maybe that just means it'll be quicker.  Fifty times more terrifying, but quicker.'  He squeezed his eyes shut when the first of the swarm came into view.

 

Which meant that he was utterly unprepared for the landing, and he actually got knocked out for a few seconds from the impact.

 

When Hiccup opened his eyes, he found himself SURROUNDED by interested fire-breathing reptiles.  The smallest of them was at least twice his size, the largest towered over him like a giant from legend.  He was too terrified to move.  Any second now...any second now...it was useless to resist, probably the smallest movement would trigger the feeding frenzy....

 

Any second now.

 

What was wrong with the monsters?  Their lunch had arrived on a silver platter, yet they were all just sitting on their butts, chattering at Hiccup's black-scaled abductor like a bunch of gossiping housewives.

 

'Do they think I'm dead or something???  Is that why they're taking their time?!'  For a minute, he considered playing dead on purpose, but the suspense was too agonizing.  There was zero doubt in his mind that he was going to get devoured sooner or later, and he honestly preferred it to be sooner.  Prolonging the inevitable was driving him crazy.

 

'I'm going to do it.  I'll do it on the count of three.  Look, there's a stick right there, I'll dash for it and maybe I'll have time to hit a few of them before they rip my arm off.'  He inhaled and exhaled.  'Go, Hiccup.  ...GO.  One, two, THREE!'  He scrambled.

 

His fingers touched the wood, which was too straight to be natural; it must be the remains of someone's weapon.  He'd had time to reach the stick and grasp it.  He was having time to whirl around.  ...These monsters were slow.

 

Armed and ready for battle, it took a few tense seconds for Hiccup to register that none of the dragons were in the process of attacking him.  They all just continued to sit there stupidly, staring at him.  "Come on!" he screamed, shaking his stick.  "Come and get me!  Come on!  Come--"  He shrieked and swung wildly when the Night Fury pounced at him.  It snarled and angrily knocked the stick out of his hands, but before he could throw up his arms defensively, the dragon seized him and took off with him again.  "NO!"

 

Then he saw where the dragon was taking him.  He went completely limp in shock and horror and despair.  "No...."

 

The Night Fury came to a landing on a ledge beside THE MOST ENORMOUS DRAGON IN ALL THE WORLDS.  Hiccup lay there bonelessly, staring up at it, so awed at the white sea dragon's size and majesty that his horror kind of seeped away, and he found himself thinking that it wouldn't be so bad to meet his end at the hands of such a magnificent creature.  Its eyes, gazing down at him, seemed to piece through to the depths of his soul.  Hiccup found tears trickling down his face which were somehow completely unrelated to his impending doom.

 

He was quickly developing a headache.  He closed his eyes and shifted, wondering in annoyance why a stupid headache had to interrupt him now, of all times, when he was contemplating the fact that he was about to get swallowed by a dragon half the size of Berk, and that he actually might not mind too much.

 

The headache slowly faded, and he opened his eyes again to find the Night Fury chattering at the sea dragon, who rumbled back as if they were having a conversation.  Then the giant turned its (...his??) soul-piercing eyes to the human again.  Hiccup buried his face in his arms, unable to bear it, then hissed in pain as the headache came back.

 

He didn't know how long he lay there, miserable and aching, before it slowly dawned on him that the headache felt like it was...waiting.  Like there was an enormous cloud overshadowing his mind, waiting for him to...to invite it in.

 

'No!  Go away!!' he thought frantically.

 

After a moment, the headache receded, as if it was sentient and respectful of his wishes.  Hiccup lifted his head again and gasped when he saw the giant dragon turn away.  'It.  Was.  Talking.  To.  Me.  It was talking to me, he was asking--  He wanted to INVADE MY MIND--?!'  "NO, put me down!!" he shrieked as the Night Fury picked him up YET AGAIN.  It was flying away with him, it would drag him into its shadowy lair and eat him now that it had him all to itself.  "No, no, no, put me down, I hate you!!"

 

It did take him to a lair, and it did corner him in the shadows.  But then it just sat there and watched him.

 

Hiccup, back pressed against the mossy rock wall, stared back.

 

After a long time, the dragon made a quiet croaking sound and started to stalk forward.

 

Hiccup panicked and tried to dash away, but the dragon was quicker than him and caught him, knocking him to the ground.  He curled up in a ball and covered his head.  He felt that huge horrible nose sniffing at and nudging him - then the dragon lay down, curled its body around his, rested its head on top of him, and exhaled in a huff.

 

Hiccup froze, surrounded on all sides by the warmth and weight of a dragon that had been terrorizing him for hours but was refusing to eat him for some unfathomable reason.

 

'...Was it really terrorizing me?'  Well, it had kidnapped him, but it wasn't like it had deliberately tried to scare him or anything.  Dragons were quite capable of frightening the daylights out of any sane person just by their mere presence.

 

Hiccup had an odd thought.  'It must suck to show up anywhere and have people take one look at you, then scream and run or try to stab you.'  Slowly, he uncurled.  The dragon shifted, but made no threatening move.  Trembling, Hiccup forced himself to look it straight in the eyes.

 

It gazed back at him quietly, looking...unhappy, mostly.  Not murderous at all.

 

"...Why did you take me?" Hiccup whispered.  The dragon moved then, and he was frightened, but all it did was nudge him back against its warm hide and start licking him.  Hiccup shuddered, and sobbed with frustration and terror and exhaustion.

 

...The dragon just let him cry.  It licked him and nuzzled him like a dog trying to comfort its master.  'I'd rather grieve here in the heart of the dragons' lair than back home with my own people,' he found himself thinking.

 

He didn't exactly sleep, but he lost track of time, lying there with a Night Fury, sensing its heartbeat, trying to reconcile the fact that he was in the depths of a dragon's lair with the other fact that he was not currently in the process of getting eaten.  He felt caught between the terror of having been dragged into a living nightmare, and the exhaustion of giving up.  He almost didn't care anymore.  If he'd had no babies to return to, no Gobber to say goodbye to, he might have almost felt at peace.  "Why did you...take me...?"

 

At last, Hiccup blinked and felt suddenly alert.  He scrambled to his feet, holding out his hands cautiously when the dragon rose up too and approached him again.  "Okay...okay, okay, ssshhh, it's okay, dragon, I'm not gonna...I'm not gonna run away, I, don't grab me, don't eat me, I'm just gonna...take a look out here...okay...?"  He edged toward the rocky opening, his body angled toward the Night Fury so he could keep an eye on it.  It followed him, its eyes narrowed suspiciously and its nose twitching, but it didn't growl or pounce.  Hiccup risked a glance outside.

 

It was...green.  There was somehow an oasis of life inside this icy fortress, plants and....

 

Dragons.

 

So, so, so many dragons.

 

Feeling sick, Hiccup moaned and edged back inside again, curling up by the wall with his hands over his head.  He tensed but didn't move when he sensed heavy footfalls approaching.  He shuddered, still not moving as a big forked tongue bathed the back of his neck and his hands and his hair.  There was a warbling sort of sound.

 

"I want to go home," Hiccup mumbled, knowing full well that he was probably never going to see Berk again.

 

To be continued....

 

Author's Notes: This fic would have been very different if I hadn't taken the time to write out HiccStrid's married life first. I had not expected Hiccup's marriage to be that awful, nor did I expect his experiences in his unhappy marriage to have such an effect on how he emotionally responds to the dragons.