Torn [Hiccup x Reader x Jack]

Chapter 12

A/N: look at me rockin it bringing christmastime 2 months early mwahahaha

You flew for hours, tears of confusion and heartbreak frozen on your cheeks. The space behind your eyes ached for sleep, but whenever you closed them the image of Hiccup, flaming and angry, was burned into your eyelids. You and (d/n) had been flying for what felt like forever, and the high altitude and icy wind had cut straight through your layered fur jackets and into your bones. Even (d/n) seemed cold, her scales dusted with frost and ice, her wings and ears shaking occasionally in a resemblance to shivers. You kept looking behind you, though, kept flying, because even though you had left the island of Berk behind hours ago, there was a paranoid hope -- No, worry -- eating at your mind that Hiccup had followed you, that Hiccup still cared.

You're dangerous, (y/n), you told yourself. You don't know what you did to Hiccup, what you could do to anyone else.

You looked over your shoulder into the grayish clouds behind you one more time.

You shook your head. And there is no way that you wanted him to follow you, you idiot.

(d/n) whined beneath you, swatting at you with one of her spines to get your attention. You looked down at her and realized exactly how cold she seemed, how covered in ice she was. You glanced around you again, noting the small snowflakes flitting around you and the gray and stormy ocean below. It was late autumn after all. This might actually be the first snow.

"All right, girl, I'm sorry," you whispered near (d/n)'s ear. "Can you find an island around here somewhere?" (d/n) snorted again, like of course I can, but her usual sass was hidden beneath her exhaustion.

The two of you dove from the clouds, gliding down to the stormy sea, skimming the steely grey waves. The air was warmer down here, but the wind was still fierce and biting, and the sea spray dampened your clothing and kept you shivering despite the lesser altitude. Suddenly you were startled by tremors rippling through (d/n) and you realized that she was shaking from fatigue and cold, frequently and heavily. Unless you found land soon, you would both plunge into the ocean and drown.

Maybe that wouldn't be so bad, you thought bitterly. You shook yourself out of it. You would not let that happen to (d/n). And just as you thought this, a surge of hope raced through you. For there, a dark, jagged line on the horizon, was land. (d/n) perked up and raced towards it, still shaking but reinvigorated. Her wings sliced through the air as she strained towards the mountainous mass, the currents of air slapping you in the face and whipping your hair about crazily. You leaned low onto (d/n)'s back, and finally the island was right in front of you and (d/n) alighted on the tall grass a ways in from the rocky coast line.

Joints stiff from the cold and being seated so long, you slid off your dragon and stretched, your muscles screaming in relief and your thoughts still torturing you over what you had done back on Berk.

Forcing yourself to think straight through the fog of tiredness pervading your brain, you muttered something vaguely about finding a place to sleep and set off walking. (d/n) was way too tired to fly around the island looking for a safe haven for the night, so traveling on foot was the only option. You looked around you at the grey marshes and rocky slopes of the island and sighed heavily.

Might as well get walking.

~~Le timeskip brought to you by "and Peggy"~~

After about an hour of stumbling through strange woods and open fields of tall grass, the grueling search came to a stop. You had reached the base of a huge mountain and were walking along the bottom of the steep, rocky slopes, (d/n) trailing behind you. You leaned heavily on the wall of stone, breathing labored, legs shaking. You struggled to keep your vision straight and your eyes open, but your eyelids kept blocking the world from view. You were so drained that it was no surprise you didn't see the looming hole in the mountainside. And it was no surprise when you tumbled into it as you leaned into the "mountainside" that was suddenly not there.