Chapter Text
Hiccup’s mind stirred long before his body did.
Pieces of what had come before flashed through his head, a disjointed tangle of events he struggled to sort by chronological order.
He remembered Astrid following him through the forest, remembered her finding Toothless. They’d both been at each other’s throats at first, but Hiccup had managed to talk her down (with a little less-than-wanted help from Toothless in the form of a flight that had scared the absolute crap out of her), and for a brief, shining moment, absolutely everything was perfectly okay…
Then, that moment had ended with a screech. Toothless had inexplicably joined up with a flock of dragons, following them as they turned toward a volcano and plunged down into a dark, eerily straight tunnel, through a sickly glowing mix of red and yellow mist, and into the volcano’s hollow core. Toothless banked in the air, carrying them over to a small supporting pillar and huddling behind it…
The volcano erupted. Or, at least, that was what Hiccup had thought for a moment before seeing and understanding the far more terrifying truth.
A dragon unlike anything he’d ever heard of had lurched up from the volcano’s lava-ridden depths. For a second, it has lingered, the fiery blood of Midgard streaming off its scales, its impossibly large head dwarfing the bodies of even the largest dragons known to exist tenfold.
And then… that massive dragon had turned towards the pillar the three of them were hiding behind. A low, commanding growl had slipped from its throat… and with a soft, dejected whimper, Toothless had emerged from behind the pillar, behind the only thing standing between them and that dragon.
Said dragon had lifted one talon, brought it up to Toothless’s trembling, visibly crying form… and then, with a flick of that talon, Hiccup had been sent flying. For a brief moment, he’d been aware of a deep, stabbing pain, of hot, smoky air rushing past him at a truly unbelievable rate…
And then, there’d been darkness.
Hiccup shot awake in an instant, his mind gripped with a sudden panic. Heavy eyelids peeled apart, his eyes filled with a bright orange light as he sucked in a lungful of air. Smokey, ashen air that should’ve made his lungs burn and eyes water.
Strangely enough, it didn’t.
Hiccup put aside his surprisingly disturbing lack of discomfort for the moment. He forced himself to remain calm and still, keeping his breathing low as his vision adjusted. Shades of orange and grey mixed together in his vision, lighter and lighter until he could just barely make out the stony ceiling above him, the thick smoke, the fiery glow of molten lava.
Is this Hel? Hiccup found himself wondering as he slowly sat up. Admittedly, he thought Hel would be a lot colder… and look less like a cave. But that was definitely in the realm of possibility; his death, if his memories were to be believed, had definitely been dishonorable.
He blinked hard, his vision coming into focus and revealing his surroundings. He was on a low ledge, a massive cavern looming above him and a bubbling lava lake below. A very familiar cavern.
He hadn’t had time to get a really good look at the Nest’s interior, but he’d had enough of it that he could instantly recognize the hollow core of the volcano, the ledges lining the interior of this cavern, the massive assortment of dragons flying, lazing around, and socializing (or, at least, looking like they were socializing) on the upper ledges.
Nope, this is definitely not Hel. Hiccup realized, far more alarmed by that than he’d normally be. Because if he wasn’t in Hel, then that could only mean he and Toothless and Astrid were still in the Nest. They were stranded with no allies or supplies, in a place swarming with dragons who’d probably kill them (or Astrid and him, at least) without a second thought, and worse, they were all still within reach of that massive, multi-eyed titan of a dragon.
Hiccup wanted to leap up, to scramble to his feet… but he also wanted to not draw attention to himself by scrambling around in a panic. Instead, he slowly and carefully crawled over to a wall, reaching up to brace himself against the stony surface as he climbed to his feet, careful not to make any sudden movements…
And then promptly made a very sudden movement as he toppled over, his left leg giving out on him like it wasn’t even there and causing him to collapse to the floor. Hiccup glanced down at his leg, and noticed for the first time that it really was not even there, his leg ending in a stump just below his shin. And his leg wasn’t the only thing about him that had changed. His fur jacket was completely missing, his green shirt and trousers were torn and blood-soaked, the pale skin beneath his ragged clothes blanketed in countless scars from deep, ragged scrapes and utterly coated in blood.
For a long, long minute, he just stared at himself, struggling to comprehend what he was seeing. If the injuries he’d suffered when he hit the wall of the cavern had been this bad, he should be dead. At the very least, he should be in shock from blood loss, or feeling some kind of pain. But somehow, he felt fine. No lightheadedness, no pain, and the only discomfort he felt was from the way his blood-drenched clothes stuck to his skin…
A deep, dangerous rumble rocked the entire cavern, the motion causing the dragons above to all freeze, their gaze turning toward the simmering lake of lava that constituted the floor of the cavern. Hiccup could almost feel his teeth vibrating inside his head from the strength of the quake. All of a sudden, the state of his body was the last thing on his mind. He pulled himself closer to the wall, hoping said wall wouldn’t collapse on top of him, that it would help hold up the ceiling and make it less likely he’d be crushed. This has to be some kind of earthquake, or maybe the volcano was about to erupt-
And all of a sudden, he was reminded of what happened the last time he’d been nearly certain that the volcano was about to erupt.
Sure enough, a large geyser of molten rock splashed up a moment later, its shape frighteningly familiar. Hiccup pressed himself into the floor and wall, trying to make himself as small as he could, praying to the gods that that thing wouldn’t notice him…
No such luck.
A scream of terror erupted from his throat as he was snatched by his shirt with a huge, clawed talon, the world seeming to drop out beneath him as the massive dragon lifted him up. He twisted, legs kicking helplessly as he tried to free himself, but in a matter of moments his captor had lifted him over the lava it had just emerged from, and he had to stop for fear of being dropped into a fiery end. For a handful of seconds that seemed to stretch for all eternity, he dangled helplessly in its grip, completely convinced that any moment his captor would send him plunging into the lava—or worse, its own mouth…
Almost as quickly as the talons had picked him up, they roughly tossed him onto firm, stony ground. His relief was very short-lived; it took him practically no time at all to realize said ground took the form of a pathetically tiny outcropping, with no way off and nowhere to hide.
And then, almost as if his captor was actively trying to drive home how completely and absolutely screwed he was, its head rose up in front of him, its shadow engulfing his scrawny, trembling form as six large, blood-red eyes locked on him.
The massive dragon leaned in closer, hot air blowing over Hiccup’s skin and ruffling his hair, its breath an unwelcome reminder that he was probably mere moments away from being eaten alive. Not knowing what else to do, Hiccup just crawled backward until his back hit the stony wall behind him, pressing himself into it as if the rock might envelop him and shield him from the dragon’s baleful six-eyed gaze, squeezing his own eyes shut and waiting for the pain to come…
“So… you’ve become a Wraithborne, despite your scrawny frame.” An impossibly powerful voice asserted idly, speaking in an alien language made up of growls and warbles and hisses, a language Hiccup could somehow understand as if it were Norse. Hiccup opened his eyes again, glancing back at the source of the voice, a tiny gasp of shock slipping from his throat. “Makes me wonder what sort of Wraith would risk itself like that for such a scrawny little Flightless…”
“You… you can talk?” Hiccup asked the six-eyed monstrosity in front of him, his voice barely higher than a whisper.
“Of course I can talk, you narrow-minded little Wraithborne. All flames can.” The Queen purred, its booming voice only vaguely female. “You just couldn’t understand what was being said until your Wraith gave you the ability to parse our speech. And on a related note, you can call me Infernia, in lieu of Red-Hot-Death or whatever other ridiculous name you might come up with.”
“A- are- are you going to eat me?” Hiccup whimpered, fear fragmenting his sentences despite his best efforts. Given that this thing had just given him its name, it was unlikely, but Hiccup wasn’t inclined to take any chances.
“Relax. I don’t plan on eating you. Not anymore, at least…” “Infernia” asserted, lifting one huge talon, and it took all the self-control Hiccup had to hold still as she gently fondled his hair with it. “That was before I noticed the contraption on the body of the Bolt you were astride.”
“...Toothless’s saddle? What about it?” Hiccup guessed tentatively, not entirely sure whether the fact that the Queen had noticed that Toothless had a saddle on was a good sign or not.
“Yes. That Bolt was grounded when I knocked you off his back and sent you plunging toward your first death. He managed remarkably well with only half a tailfin working, but without you on his back to control the other tailfin you’d given him, he couldn’t fly on his own. Normally, I eat flames who are unable to fly… but a Bolt is worth some extra effort.”
A shudder ran down Hiccup’s spine; he’d just figured out where this conversation was going. ‘Bolt’ was probably the dragon term for ‘Night Fury’. And Night Furies were some of the most dangerous dragons Vikings knew of. There was a very good reason the Book of Dragons just told its readers to “hide and pray it doesn’t find you” in regards to that particular species; he was the only person he knew of who’d even seen one and lived to (not) tell the tale. And Infernia was definitely intelligent enough to grasp that a dragon’s value to her was proportionally related to how much damage that dragon could do…
“I shall make you a deal, Wraithborne. You continue to help that bolt fly, so he can participate in my nest’s hunts, and abide by my rules as if you were another flame within my domain, and I will not kill you slowly and horribly.” Infernia offered. “Do we have an accord?”
For some reason, bile wasn’t rising up in his throat, but he was too disgusted and horrified by what this monstrosity was asking of him to really take note of that. Saying yes would mean that Toothless would be back to raining fiery death and destruction at the bidding of this thing in front of him, that he’d be helping him do that, helping him kill his fellow Vikings, just to save his own skin.
“...You’re still attached to your old nest,” Infernia spoke again when Hiccup didn’t answer for several dozen seconds.
Hiccup just nodded mutely, his terror quickly giving way to despair. This thing would kill him if he didn’t give it what it wanted… but what it wanted was something he couldn’t give. Helping a dragon in need was one thing, but helping that dragon kill others who did nothing to provoke it? That was a step too far, even for him. And that was really saying something, given that he was the kid who befriended a Night Fury .
“I see…” The monstrosity snorted, a gust of hot wind sweeping over the outcropping. “You’re still attached to a nest full of flightless who would kill you without a second thought if they knew what you have become.”
“All the more reason to just kill me now.” Hiccup snapped back, suddenly far less afraid than he had been mere moments ago. There wasn’t much point in fearing something that was going to kill you no matter what you did, after all.
“Hmm… so you’d rather die than bring harm to your old nest.” Infernia was silent for a moment. “Let me rephrase my offer: You continue to help that bolt fly, so he can participate in my nest’s hunts, and abide by my rules as if you were another flame within my domain, and I won’t burn that old nest to a crisp.”
Hiccup shot to his feet, his terror returning in an instant. “What?! Did you just-”
“You heard me the first time,” Infernia growled smugly, flames flickering at the corners of her mouth. “Refuse my offer, and your old home will be reduced to ash, your former kin burned alive.”
“Y-y-you’re bluffing!” Hiccup somehow managed to choke out. “There’ve never been enough dragons in a raid to wipe Berk out! You’d need at least a hundred more-“
“There’ve never been enough flames in a hunt to wipe out your old nest.” Infernia corrected him, raising one of her massive wings and sweeping it out toward the dragons gathered above, “because wiping it out was never my goal. Thinning the livestock it keeps? Yes. Weakening its defenses and leaving it vulnerable to further hunts? That too. But pure, complete destruction? That was never a goal of mine. And why risk my whole flock on a simple snatch-and-grab hunt when a tiny fraction of it will suffice? The flames you see during hunts are just that tiny fraction. I can field many more flames than that… and I won’t hesitate to do so if given reason to.”
“In essence, the only reason your former nest still stands is because I have no reason to change that.” Infernia’s wing plunged back beneath the lava, its gaze returning to Hiccup once again, and the young Viking was suddenly reminded of how small he was compared to her. “With all that in mind, I ask again: do we have an accord?”
Hiccup just stood there for a second, Infernia’s words sinking in. She wanted Toothless back in the air and joining in on her raids again, he was the key to making that happen, and she was willing to do everything in her power to get him to cooperate. And she had a truly unfathomable amount of power, too: Hiccup could see at least five hundred dragons on the ledges above, and hundreds more could be outside the mountain, off raiding another village.
Saying yes would mean betraying Stoick, betraying Berk, betraying everyone and everything he’d ever known… but if he said no, this dragon could and would make everyone and everything he’d ever known go up in flames.
It didn’t take Hiccup long to come to a decision: after all, there wasn’t really one to make.
“It’s not like I have much of a choice.” Hiccup finally responded, silently praying that Stoick the Vast, if he ever learned of what he’d just agreed to do, would have it in his heart to forgive him.
“Took you long enough.” Infernia rumbled triumphantly. “You will be one of my nest. You shall hold yourself to all of my rules as all the other flames in this nest do. Kill yourself, cross me, or find some loophole by which you may escape my domain, and your former home shall burn. Do you understand?”
“…yes.” Hiccup almost hissed, his voice low, barely higher than a whisper. “I… understand.”
“Good.” Massive talons snatched him up, carrying him out over the lava once again, but this time, Hiccup wasn’t convinced that he’d end up in the lava below. Apparently, Infernia considered him too valuable to let him die… for now, at least.
Sure enough, when Infernia did release him, it was onto yet another ledge, right in front of yet another side passage.
“Oh, and one more thing,” Infernia added as he used a nearby wall to pull himself up onto his remaining foot. “Before you get any ideas, know that here, my word is law, and your bolt “friend” is just as bound by that law as any other flame in my domain.” And with that, the six-eyed monstrosity vanished back beneath the lava.
For a long, long minute, Hiccup stared down at the lava below, a cold, dead weight settling in his chest, his heart.
I should probably go find Toothless… and with that thought in his head, he turned toward the dark, gloomy side tunnel. Swallowing a little bit, he began to slowly hobble deeper and deeper into the tunnel, leaning on the cave wall for support. With any luck, Infernia had been considerate enough to dump him in front of the same cave the Night Fury was in at the moment…
His foot hit something, and the next thing he knew, he was sprawled on the ground, on account of having tripped on it. And then that something began to stir, a sleepy moan slipping from its throat. Hiccup quickly rolled onto his side, scrambling backward on all fours, trying to both get away quickly and not disturb the no-longer-sleeping dragon any more than he already had…
Two huge, toxic-green dragon eyes appeared in front of Hiccup, seeming to emerge right out of the darkness in front of him.
Hiccup froze. He’d seen those eyes before, knew them better than he knew his own by now.
“…Toothless?”
“HICCUP!” And all of a sudden, claws wrapped around him, quickly and gently pulling him close to Toothless’s scaly belly. Wings as black as the shadows encircled him, the leathery membranes wrapping around him in a protective embrace as the Night Fury began licking Hiccup’s face and chest furiously. Slobber was getting all over Hiccup’s chest and hair, but he was too relieved over being reunited with his other half to really be upset by that.