𝐚 𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐤 𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐭 | hiccup haddock

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟖

"... Where's my dagger?"

"You mean this?" Freya walked in, holding Vincent's dagger, Thor prowling in behind her.

Vincent froze, staring at her. Shit.

She strutted towards him, holding out the dagger.

"I- where did you get that?" He asked curtly. He probably didn't realise he looked awful, hair all over the place, blood on his face and clothes and dirt everywhere.

Hiccup walked in behind her, sighing. "Freya, I told you to take this seriously, just this one time."

Vincent's gaze flicked between the two of them. They couldn't know. Could they?

She rolled her eyes, then turned back to Vincent. "Don't worry, darling, we know."

Freya handed over the dagger.

Vincent just stared at the two, a heavy wave of guilt overtaking him. He'd almost killed them. He... he was a monster. It was his fault, he should have gone farther away. He gulped, his eyes feeling warm. He was still tense, not moving.

Her gaze softened, a feeling of sympathy washing over her. "It's okay, you know. You didn't hurt us."

His gaze settled on her again. "H-how- what do you mean? I d-don't know what you're talking about."

"Don't try to deny it, sweetheart." She crossed her arms, leaning on one leg.

"I- I- I'm sorry. I can't- can't control it, it's not. I didn't do it on purpose, I swear. Please believe me, I never meant to hurt anyone." His voice comes out strangled, a tired but desperate look in his eyes.

Hiccup frowns. "We know. Don't worry. We've come across this... species, before, and been to Lycanwing Island. We have notes on it, but not much. But we know it's not your fault." His gaze softened.

Vincent furrowed his brows. " You know what it's called? You have notes on it? "

He looked down at his hands. "I... I've never known anything about it, I haven't even seen it other than in reflections. But I know it's not pretty..."

He looked up at Hiccup again. There was a weary fear in his eyes. "You called it a Lycanwing?"

Hiccup grimaced. "We had a bit of an... experience... with it a while back. We all thought Tufffnut had been bitten by one, so Fishlegs and I tried to find every bit of information about it. We have a special artefact that contains a lot of dragons, and we found out about Lycanwing Island. We went there, hoping to find clues, but there were only weird cave drawings and a stone figure of one. We figured it was a myth."

Vincent stiffened when Hiccup described the island. "Oh, no. Lycan- Lycanwing Island isn't empty. You were just lucky." A shadow fell over his eyes.

"So, there's more like you?" Freya asked incredulously, a worm of fear working its way into her.

Vincent hesitated. "I stumbled upon the island when I was 10. Full moon. I had never heard of this dragon, so I did not know of the threat. It found me when I was asleep, attacked me, and managed to bite me before Temple got me away." He stared off into nothing while describing what happened, a shiver running through him. "I never went back." He rasped.

Freya furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. "Is it a full dragon that bites people, or is it just the other human-Lycanwing's?"

"I don't know. I didn't even know its name before today. The only thing I know is every full moon, I go full beserk and ki- and harm everything I come across."

"Oh. I'm sorry." Freya watched him through eyes soft with sympathy. "Do you want us to help?"

Vincent shook his head vehemently. "No! No, no don't, please, god no. I'll just leave, like I meant to yesterday. Again, I'm really sorry for the trouble I caused, it was a close call when I neared the Edge. Thanks for... saving yourself I guess. Uhm, I'll just be off." He grimaced slightly, but then grinned, though it didn't reach his eyes. He was about to mount Temple when Hiccup stopped him.

"Wait- you said 'when you neared the Edge.' You have consciousness when you're the Lycanwing?" He asked incredulously.

Vincent sighed. " Yeah, sadly. I've tried everything, I can't stop it. "

"So... you're fully aware of what you're doing as the Lycanwing but you can't control it? Damn." Freya grimaced.

Vincent didn't answer. He stared at the ground, his jaw tensing.

"Sorry," Freya quickly apologised. "I don't mean to be harsh."

Vincent just mounted Temple, casting one last look at them. "Stay away from me. Trust me, good things don't happen to those who stay." he warned tersely, glancing at the dragon underneath him at the last part.

"We can help you, Vincent." Freya looked up at him through pleading green eyes.

He hesitated. "But can you really?"

Hiccup smiled warmly. "Maybe. We'll try our best. It's a whole month before the full moon, come stay with us for a while. You can leave whenever. But we can show you what we know."

"Listen to the boss guy. He's telling the truth." Freya blinked at Vincent. "Please, just... let us try."

Temple turned his neck all the way to look at Vincent, a pleasing look in his eyes. He was about to say something when "That's so cool." came from Hiccup.

Freya sighed. "Hiccup, now is not the time for a fanboy moment."

Vincent smiled at that. "Sure, I'll stay for a little while. But not permanently."

"Let's go back to Dragons Edge, then." She mounted Thor and took off.