Night Fury's Venom

Part 10: Rejected

This couldn't be happening. This was never supposed to happen. No... She couldn't die, she couldn't die. She was too stubborn to die like this, she was too strong to die. This couldn't be happening. I won't let her die.

Even if she didn't recognize me anymore.

"DONT HURT HER!"

Every muscle devoted itself to throwing my body mass toward the two as the shout tore itself from my throat. I rammed Meatlug with my full strength, causing the lava shot she had built up to crash into the wall mere inches away from Astrid's head. The impact hurt—a lot. But I was prepared for it, while Meatlug wasn't. The impact knocked her onto her side, dazed.

I shook my head to rid myself of the dizziness and stood between the dragon and the warrior. I noticed that Gobber had frozen in mid-hobble-sprint, somehow balancing on his peg leg, slack-jawed and blinking rapidly. When I made eye contact with him, it was as if he broke out of a trance, and he wobbled and crashed down to the ground. As Gobber's face greeted the stone ground, Meatlug rolled back onto her feet with anger in her eyes.

"Don't. Hurt. Her." I growled, calmly but firmly, desperate to avoid backing down from the angry Gronckle. I had to remind myself that I could actually survive a fight with a dragon now. Maybe not win said fight, but definitely survive it.

"What are you doing?! I had the perfect opportunity to kill that thing!" She shouted.

"That 'thing' doesn't deserve to be killed," I tried to explain.

"It tried to attack me first, so it's fair game." She snorted. I looked at her in irritation.

"Fair game? Is that how you view us? Fair game? Let me tell you something, that is exactly how Vikings view you dragons!" I retorted.

"Ha! That proves it! They don't recognize our society, our castes, our customs. They aren't able to understand any of our ways," she growled darkly.

"Think about it, what do they see? You come at night, killing people, stealing food, and making chaos. The only thing they can see is a fire-breathing monster. What would you expect them to see?"

"They have never tried to understand us, they ju-"

"Just as you have never tried to understand how Vikings think," I interrupted, "it works both ways, and I seem to be the only one who understands this..." I finished darkly.

With a growl, she turned and stormed back into her cage. Once I was sure that she wouldn't be trying to hurt Astrid again, I relaxed a little and turned to face her. It surprised me to find her looking so vulnerable. She had curled herself into a ball, covering her head with her arms. I could hear her breathing quickly and shakily. As I turned to face her properly, I accidentally breathed on her, ruffling her hair. She flinched and looked up.

I didn't think Astrid was expecting to see me so close as she jerked her head backward, smacking it against the wall. She stared at me wide-eyed for a moment, her hands scrabbling around the floor as if searching for something. I backed up a little when I realized that she was searching for a weapon. I knew I should have expected that sort of reaction from her, but it still hurt that nobody trusted me.

When I moved back, she stopped her searching and looked at me strangely. Probably couldn't believe I wasn't about to rip her head off. She stood up slowly, keeping herself pressed up against the wall. I crooned gently and took half a step towards her, trying to appear as non-threatening as possible.

"Get back," she spoke breathlessly, looking scared out of her mind. The words brought a sharp pang in my heart, but I still took the required step backward, checking quickly that nobody was trying to sneak up on me. Satisfied that nobody was close enough to strike at me, I turned my attention back to Astrid. She didn't seem to be as afraid as before, so I repeated my earlier croon.

The reaction was not the one I wanted.

"This can't be happening..." she breathed, before taking off for the exit. I would have happily gone after her, but Gobber quickly placed himself between myself and her retreating form. I saw the other trainees running after her, but Gobber was making sure I couldn't follow them outside.

"You ain't going anywhere, dragon."

"Astrid, wait! I can explain...sort of..." I called after her.

I tried to push Gobber out of my way to give chase to Astrid, but he tackled me and pushed my head into the ground. I grunted and tried to wiggle out of his grasp. I couldn't worm my way out of his hold, though, he had the advantage of experience. And weight. It was hard to move when someone was practically sitting on your head.

I didn't give up though, the thought of Astrid abandoning me was too much to bear. I just changed tactics. Instead of trying to push away from the Viking, I started to push into him. The unexpected change obviously caught him off guard, as I managed to knock him down to the ground.

When he hit the ground, his grip around my neck loosened. With a bit of effort, I twisted out of his grasp and ran for the exit. Before I had made three steps, something tangled itself around my legs and tripped me onto the floor. Groaning, I twisted to see what had happened.

I immediately recognized the ropes and rocks as a bola, one of my special ones, in fact. More durable than the average bola and a thicker net to completely trap the victim. The victim here being my back legs. Reaching down, I tried to use my claws to saw through the vines. I paused in my work when a shadow fell over me. I twisted to look at who it was and saw Gobber with another bola twirling in his hand.

"Hey," I grunted and resumed with sawing through the bola. I heard a small clack behind me and turned to see what made it out of curiosity. The bola that Gobber was holding was dangling from his hand, the rocks tapping each other from their previous momentum.

"What are you?" I tilted my head at that question to show confusion. "You act like a dragon, then you act like a Hiccup, then you do something that doesn't match either. What are you?"

I rolled my eyes. "That's me. One of a kind!" I said, forgetting he couldn't understand me. I returned to sawing through the vines.

"You have to be either the dumbest dragon I've ever seen..." I poked my tongue out at him for that. "...or still be the crazy Hiccup I knew." I gave him a firm nod.

"You can't fight, you make stupid mistakes like turning your back to a possible enemy, you walk like a cripple." He continued, "and you still haven't realized that it would be easier to chew through that bola." I glared at him during his little speech before hesitantly curling down to chew at the vines.

I had always been reluctant to put stuff in my mouth due to the traditional Viking hygiene standards. Knowing that Gobber had put his grimy hands all over them was nearly enough to make me gag. But I really would like to have feeling back in those legs.

Chewing on the vines, I felt them break in a matter of moments, and immediately tried to move my legs. When I felt ready, I rolled back to my paws, stumbling for a moment as my circulation returned. I immediately turned and walked to where there was a small pile of sand on the floor by the wall. I used a paw to spread it out a little and started to write a few clumsy runes.

YOU KNOW WHAT HAPPENED

I looked up at Gobber, who had kept himself between me and the exit, to see how he would react.

"I know what happened..." He read carefully. "But, I don't know whether Hiccup still exists."

I knew that that was the best I could expect from him, so I smoothed out the sand to write a little extra.

I AM WHO I AM

I gave him a few moments to read it before rubbing it away again.

NOT WHAT I AM

He looked at me strangely for a few moments before finding his voice. "Then I will have to find out who you are."

He walked backward to the exit, and I did not follow him. When he reached the portcullis lever, he spoke again.

"Dragon training begins tomorrow." He rested his hand on the lever. "It'll be your turn next."

The portcullis slammed shut.