Torn [Hiccup x Reader x Jack]

Chapter 2

You came to in a dark room, with a pounding headache and a stiff neck. Dusty light came from a jagged crack in the ceiling, showcasing a pale grey sky. You sat up, rubbing your eyes and squinting around at your surroundings, instantly on alert. The room seemed circular, with a dome-like roof. You smoothed a hand along the floor and jumped at the chill. Metal. Heavy, wrought iron, most likely. You ignored the throbbing in your neck and your torso and forced your eyes to get used to the dim light. You could just barely make out a dark lump, slumped on the side of the circle opposite you. An idea formed in your head at what it was, and at first you curled back into the cold wall at the thought, still flinching at the cold, but after all anything was better than what you thought was shut in with you. Maybe you were in a dragon trap... that might explain why you were captured along with the Skrill. They -- whoever they were --assumed you were a dragon rider. "Hello?" you tried to whisper, and instantly regretted it. A dry crackling and a sharp pain filled your throat. You swallowed carefully, and called out again. You were ashamed of the pitiful squeak that came out instead. Clearing your throat this time and standing, you spoke a little louder. "Hello? My name is (y/n), there must be some mistake--"

A growling noise came from the creature across from you, and the dim light revealed an inhumanly large shape, solidly black and dusted with a deeper shade of purple than you could ever have imagined. You had to remind yourself to breathe, caught between stifling fear and awe.

A voice came from the slit in the ceiling. "Yeah, I thought I'd leave them there, give the girl a scare," it said, thickly accented and layered with malice. Forcing yourself to ignore the growling shape and the rasp in your voice, you called up in the general direction of the crack in the ceiling: "I'm not a dragon rider! I don't know where I am, I have nothing to do with dragons, and, um," You cleared your throat again, "I think you people may have forgotten to tie up the Skrill?" The conversation stopped, the growling grew louder. You gulped down air, telling yourself over and over that you could do this, that you could escape and that you were going to be fine. A deafening clanking came from the ceiling, and the crack grew a bit wider. A face appeared in the opening. You squinted in the new light, eyes racing around the room to look for a way out. Spotting a ladder near the crack, you took one step, then froze. The ladder was behind the dragon. You'd have to jump over the Skrill to get out.

"A little liar, ain't ye?" You frantically shook your head no, glancing back and forth from the dragon to the ladder. The man laughed and disappeared from view. "Let's see how you like it with Sparky here, eh? I'll come back when ye can tell th' truth." As he spoke, the man, possibly a guard, started closing the opening and crushing any hope for escape. You scrambled around your side of the trap, feeling for some other way out, searching for a miracle. The crack slammed shut with a boom, and you blinked furiously, urging your eyes to adjust to the sudden darkness. The only light now came from a purple pulsing glow from the Skrill, reminding you of how quickly that dragon could kill you.

The Skrill shifted, raising its magnificent head towards you. You froze, taking rattling breaths and flattening yourself against the metal wall of the dragon trap. Its yellow eyes met yours, and you relaxed a bit when you realized that its jaws were clamped shut. That takes one thing off the list of how to kill me, you thought. But no creature should be bound like that. Running a hand through your (h/c) hair, you reached in your pocket for a dagger.

It hissed and advanced menacingly when it saw your knife. Setting it carefully down, you put your hands in front of you and smiled carefully at the dragon. "Easy, there," you whispered, your words echoing in the metal dome, the rasp almost gone. "I won't hurt you. I'm here to help you." The Skrill's eyes narrowed, seeming to gauge the truth of your words. It bobbed its head once, to show that it understood. Its gaze darted to the knife on the floor, and you seemed to get what it was trying to say. You nudged the knife with your foot, pushing it as far back as it would go. "I'm not going to hurt you," you repeated, trying to still your shaking hands.

The Skrill took one step forward. It took all your willpower not to scream and run to the wall. Instead, you spoke. In a calm, quiet voice, you said, "I just noticed, you only have back feet. Your hands are attached to your wings..." The dragon looked down at its hands and back at you, as if to say, Yes, and? You stepped forward hesitantly, waiting to see if it turned aggressive or stayed still. Breathe, (y/n), breathe, you need air to survive, remember? The dragon didn't move, and a small part of you went YES! before reverting back to mind numbing fear.

"My name is (y/n)." It didn't move, just eyed you with suspicion. Your eyes settled on the band around the Skrill's jaws, cutting into its skin and weighing down its head. "No dragon as magnificent as you should have to deal with this," you whispered. You were almost close enough to touch now. The Skrill cocked its head as if listening. In the dim light emanating from its shining purple scales, you could see scars and slashes around its eyes and jaws. A sickeningly long tear sliced through the edge of its left wing, still bleeding light blue blood. "You're beautiful," you said quietly. "They shouldn't-- they can't--" You closed your eyes, feeling tears pooling and hating it all.

Something rubbed against your stomach, rough but smooth at the same time. You gasped and opened your eyes, not believing what you saw. The Skrill had replaced its purple glow with a dark blue one, and was nosing at your chin, trying to comfort you. Fear struck in your heart, but then it nosed you again and you just had to laugh at the puppy-dog look in its yellow eyes. Hesitantly you placed your hand between its eyes and it nosed you again, curling its body around you and warming you up. You hadn't even realized you were cold.

You glanced at the iron band again and noticed something you hadn't before. It was only iron on the sides and the top. The bottom was strung with leather, which could easily be cut through with your serrated knife. "Okay, I have a plan," you said, gulping. "But you're not going to like it very much."

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The Skrill backed away, shrieking as you stepped closer with the knife. Dropping it, you ran over, ignoring the thrum of fear. "Hey!" you shouted to get its attention. It tripped you with its tail in return, sending you to the ground. You glared at it. That was a dirty move. It snorted, pacing around in small circles, the spines on its back flaring out. The blue glow had gone to orange before you retrieved the knife. You guessed it was happy, or at least contented. Now blood-red highlights traced its wings and back, suggesting it was angry with you. You gained control of yourself and got to your feet. Yelling wouldn't help, obviously.

"Hey," you said, much calmer. "I'm going to cut the thing holding your mouth closed, okay?" The Skrill snorted again, cocked its head in confusion. You walked up to it and gestured for it to come down to your level. You froze when it tensed, then relaxed as it stooped to inches from your face. You pointed at the band. "Do you want this off?" It snorted, lifting half of its spines in what you guessed was a yes. "Then you're going to have to trust me," you said calmly. The Skrill's back changed slowly back to purple, and the spines lowered back down to their usual position. You sighed in relief and retrieved the knife.

<3 Moony