Night Fury's Venom

Part 13: Plan of Escape

-Hello! From this chapter forward, my writing style might be a bit different! I had to revise this whole story to fix how horrible these chapters once were, but I left the chapters before this one mostly alone. I wanted to mostly leave them be as a reminder of how much I've grown.

Without further ado, enjoy!

-NFD

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The time of night where the moon was at its highest in the sky always caused painful memories to resurface. And every time I was awake at this time, I would distract myself with my responsibilities. Unfortunately, those responsibilities were attached to home. And Little-Peak was not my home.

I stomped through the undergrowth, uncaring how much noise I made, and focusing exclusively on thinking of anything else but Au-

"Shut up," I growled to myself, shaking my head roughly. If only doing that would dislodge those memories, too.

I forced myself to think about the new Dark One, using that topic to veer away from my regrets. I wasn't entirely certain about how to free him from the Moon-damned confinement he was trapped in. I was tempted to leave him in there, worried about how he might react to seeing the dragon who turned him but threw that thought aside. I wasn't a coward, what did it matter if he was angry with me?

Not to mention, I still needed to get Stormfly out as well. I tried not to think about how I technically didn't need to save her, she wasn't precisely trapped there as the Dark One was, but she would certainly be pissed if I didn't do so anyway. I offered to help her in her search, and even though she got herself trapped for childish reasons, I still had a promise to keep.

As for the other dragons in there? I might help them—might—, but they were not a priority. If they had to be left behind, then I wouldn't-

Thump!

"Urrgh..." I grumbled, picking myself up out of the small hole I had fallen into. "The Dragoness of the Moon must... hate..." I trailed off, finally noticing that what I tripped into wasn't a small hole, it was a trench. Silently and slowly, I followed the sundered ground down the hill, glancing at the ruined tree as I passed it.

I stopped just before the lip in the earth ahead of me, a heavy feeling in my gut making me hesitate. The world around me was silent, not a single sound of wildlife in every direction. It instilled a sense of unease in my chest. I lifted a forepaw, then changed my mind and set it back down. I couldn't do it. I couldn't bear to see where I had done something so... unnatural. I thought I had a good reason for doing it, but now...

'Toothless...!'

I jumped, sweeping my wide-eyed gaze around me for the voice's source, seeing nothing but the late-night fog and trees. Feeling an intense chill run down my spine, I turned tail and bolted. I darted around numerous trees as I fled, my breaths quickly becoming labored as fear raced through my mind. For a moment, I feared I was going insane. I swore I heard a voice call my name, and it sounded like a voice I've been trying so hard to forget.

I dug all four paws into the earth as the concealing undergrowth abruptly ended. I couldn't stop fast enough, though, the ground suddenly disappearing and making me drop toward the churning sea below. In a panic, I snapped my wings and tail-fins wide open, barely managing to steady my flight before slamming into the water.

I gasped for breath, flapping my wings to slowly regain altitude. I shakily dropped onto the nearest clear land I could see, hearing the sound of splintering wood as my claws dug into the ground. I took in a few more deep breaths, slowly calming my racing heart.

"Toothless?" I yelped, my head whipping around to face the voice. I stiffened when I noticed it was Stormfly. Apparently, the one place I'd decided to land happened to be exactly where I wanted to go. Lucky me.

I forced myself to relax, looking down with embarrassment into the large enclosure at Stormfly's amused face. "If you say one word about this to anyone, I will leave you here," I growled.

Stormfly tilted her head. "Now, whyever would I do that?" She warbled innocently, "it isn't like you were afraid of your own shadow again, right?" Maybe I wasn't so lucky. I narrowed my eyes, daring her to test me. "Fine, fine. When are you going to get me out of here, then?"

I sighed, glancing through the only set of heavy doors that were open. The new Dark One was laying inside fast asleep. "There's a change of plan, the Dark One is coming with us."

Stormfly glanced at him for a moment as well before looking back up at me. "I can't say I'm surprised," she said softly, "your kind isn't that common after all." I raised a brow. "What?"

I resisted a smirk. "I know you have another reason than that to agree with me."

"Shut up," she retorted smoothly, managing to keep an indifferent expression. "Now is not the time to tease me about my search."

I shook myself, annoyed at losing control over my own priorities. "You're right... sorry," I muttered, "as I was saying, we need both you and the Dark One out of there. How capable is the Dark One?"

"Hiccup," Stormfly corrected, "his name is Hiccup." I tilted my head. What an absurd name! Who would name their hatchling 'Hiccup?' "He has no clue how to do much of anything dragon-related. He says he was once a Scaleless, and I think I believe him."

I kept up my indifferent facade. "Sure he was," I grumbled noncommittally, "so, I assume he can't fly or use his fire?" Stormfly nodded. Too bad, I hoped his instincts would make it easy for me. "Alright... then you need to teach him his fire."

She snorted. "Why not you?"

"I'm outside." Sometimes I wondered if she thought things through. "And the longer I stay here, the more likely it is that I won't be outside anymore. So, I will teach him through you. Your method of using your fire is... wasteful."

She rolled her eyes. "Then teach me, 'oh wise one.'" She bowed mockingly. That's a first...

I ignored her metaphorical jab. "Step one, efficiency. That's something you lack, by the way," I purred, making her scoff.

This is going to be a long night...