Warnings: none
Word count: 2369
The next morning when y/n arrived at the docks Viggo and his three allies were already waiting. Once they had gotten onto the ship's main deck y/n immediately noticed the burnt and charred floor.
"Damn dragon wouldn't stop spewing fire so we had to use dragon root to knock 'em out," Felman explained gruffly.
Y/n stared at the black ash beneath her feet before asking, "Where is he now?"
"Put 'em below deck in our largest and strongest cage," he replied.
"And you're going to let me see him?" she asked.
Felman nodded. "Follow me," he said.
They all descended down a flight of stairs before being met with a hallway of cages. Y/n's eyes widened. The ship was big, yes, but suddenly it appeared even larger below deck.
"He's at the end of the hallway," Felman told her.
As y/n walked down the rows of cages she saw dragons of seemingly every species, color and size. Low growls, whimpers and rumbles filled the air. She couldn't help the growing feeling of pity within her as she frowned
They reached the end of the hallway. A large cage stood before her, twice the size as the rest of the cages.
"We put the troublemakers in there," Felman explained. "Seemed pretty fitting for the bastard. Most of the dragons we put in that cage end up as a piece of hide. It'd be a shame to kill this one, though, he'd be worth more to me alive. Could get me a lot of gold if I'd find the right buyer," he continued. "But I'm startin' to think he ain't worth the trouble. Think you can change that?"
Y/n approached the cage. All she could see was blackness.
"I can't see him," she said.
"Oh-ho, he's in there alright," Felman replied.
The young girl squinted. In the darkness she could make out a large shape in the corner. Suddenly a pair of yellow eyes appeared in the black. A loud roar erupted from the cage, followed by the monstrous nightmare becoming engulfed in flames as it threw itself at the sea green bars. Y/n flinched back, almost failing to hold back her scream.
Felman chuckled, "What'd I tell ya? Damn bastard's crazy."
"Still think you can do it, kid?" Amira asked and folded her arms.
Y/n broke her eye contact with the growling dragon. That was the first rule, never look a dragon in the eye until they trust you.
"I-I think so," she stammered. "But it'll take time. H-how long have you had him?" she asked, still avoiding the monstrous nightmare's eyes that practically burned through her with rage. The heat of his blazing body forced her to take a few steps back from the cage.
"Couple days or so," Felman guessed.
"Then he's obviously very scared and has been under a lot of stress if he's been able to develop that much gel on his body in such a short amount of time. That could severely dehydrate him," she analyzed with concern, eyeing the flaming gel dripping from the monstrous nightmare's body. "Have you fed him? Has he been given any water?"
"Any time any of my men near him he empties out a buttload of flames. Feeding him hasn't exactly been possible," Felman explained.
Y/n looked back at the monstrous nightmare. He hissed wildly at her. He was scared - which in turn made him aggressive - hungry, thirsty and probably exhausted. She turned back to Felman.
"One of the quickest ways to bond with a dragon is by feeding them, but he will only allow me to do so once I've gained his trust," she told him. Felman and the bald man, Calder, looked at each other.
"Get me a bowl of water and some fish and I can 'fix' this dragon," y/n clarified.
Amira stepped in. "What makes you so sure?" she asked.
