Chapter Text
It was Group 4’s turn to do dragon fighting and Mark had said that, once everything was finished, they’d tell the boys about the schedule for the next several weeks. Going into summer, they’d just been doing crash courses with dragons, so what would they do for the next set of weeks?
“Ready?” asked Tom, hand resting on the lever that would release the next dragon. So far they’d seen the Deadly Nadder, Gronckle, and Hideous Zippleback. All that was left was the Monstrous Nightmare, right? Ryan Seaman, Ronnie, Derek, Christian, and Zakk were all pumped to deal with the vicious dragon, but were a little worried when they weren’t given any protection or weapons to deal with it. Tom then pulled the lever, saying, “Here we go!” Instead of one of the large doors opening, a small block was pulled away from a tiny door and out came-
“A Terrible Terror? Really?” asked Christian, half appalled, half amused. Ronnie was laughing.
“This’ll be so easy!”
“Watch your mouth, kid.” Tom warned, “This little devil is a lot more dangerous than he seems.”
“Yeah right.” Ronnie crouched to be at the same level as the Terrible Terror, “What’s it gonna do, bite me?” That it did, suddenly lunging at Ronnie’s face and clamping hard on his nose. Its tiny, almost invisible teeth made the bite hurt even worse, not to mention the venom. As the boy fell backward in surprise, trying to pry it off, Tom went on, “They’re bad enough in packs but even one can be ferocious in its own right. Anyone wanna tell me what Ronnie did wrong?” As the rest of the group responded and Derek helped Ronnie pry the Terror away, the other kids above broke into laughter. Alone, Terrors were quite comical dragons and this was no exception as the dragon let go and pranced away, head held high as if it had done a great deed.
“That hurt.” groaned Ronnie, holding his swelling nose, “That very much hurt.”
“As it should.” Tom said. He then instructed them on how to handle a Terror or, if push came to shove, a whole pack. It was quite easy, as distractions really helped, especially if you had something shiny to throw away. As Tom demonstrated, throwing a few screws for the Terror to chase, Gerard got an idea.
Could I do a similar thing with Muse? Not throw away screws, but have her chase light? He wrote down the note in his journal to check later and eventually, Derek was given the status for the top of the class and everyone was called out of the arena. They were told to stand a small distance away from the cage as Travis began to explain.
“The next few weeks we’re gonna do some reading to study dragons-” Many vikings groaned at that, “-and then we’ll go back into fighting them before it’s decided who’s the best viking.” He gestured to the top of the arena, “This is who the best viking will fight.” There was nothing for a few moments until the metal shrieked as a huge dragon shot against it, as if trying to escape. Everyone jumped and the dragon roared, spitting liquid fire into the air before gaining a grip on the chains. It was bigger than any dragon they’d ever seen before, even Muse, and it had six large, distinguishing horns. It was a Nightmare, certainly, but the horns were much different. Instead of all of them going back, two curled around the sides of its head and two straight up with the remaining two looking like shorter normal horns, making something like a six-piece shield. The scales that stretched from its neck to its belly were bright red while everything else were black or dark orange, giving the illusion it was wearing a coat of soot and ash, maybe even living coal. Sometimes tiny flames flared up between scales, appearing like it was oozing fire right from its body.
“That is the Demon.” Travis muttered as the large dragon crawled around in the arena, “The only Nightmare we’ve been able to catch and one of the baddest dragons you’ll ever meet. It’s not quite a Titan Wing but we think it’s close. It’s only been shown with demonstrations, but whoever gets to the top of the class gets the chance to kill it. Good luck.” The class was very nervous. A regular Nightmare they knew they could deal with, but that thing? It would be suicidal to even get close!
We’ll probably try not to do so well in class or even sabotage ourselves so we don’t have to deal with it. Gerard thought as the Demon hissed menacingly before crawling back to its stall. Despite being there for a short time, the arena was covered in burn marks, evidence that this dragon was bad news. As the crowd of young vikings broke up for the day, murmuring to themselves and each other, Gerard was not only approached by his younger brother but by Ray as well. He was surprised to see the curly-haired viking coming to him again but didn’t think much of it, greeting Ray warmly as he came close.
“Hey dude. What’s going on?”
“Nothing much.” Ray shrugged, “Pete, Jacky, and I are about to do a little exploring because Pete thought he saw a new cave in the woods. Wanna come?” This caused the brothers to frown.
“I didn’t think you were the exploring type.”
“He’s not.” said Jacky, suddenly appearing behind Ray and causing them all to jump, “But someone’s gotta keep Pete outta trouble, right?”
“Can’t you do that?” asked Mikey, hiding a little behind his brother from the other boy’s surprise appearance.
“Pete’s more than I can handle by myself.” Jacky admitted, “The only ones who can handle him alone are Joe, Andy, and Patrick but they don’t wanna go exploring.”
“And you can’t convince him not to go?” Gerard asked.
“We tried.” said Ray, “Stubborn as fuck, he is.”
“Well, we’ve got other plans.” Gerard said guiltily, “Sorry we can’t go.”
“Plus, we’re not suicidal.” Mikey got a jab in the side for that, “OW!”
“Shut up.” Gerard hissed, giving his baby brother a glare. Mikey glared back but didn’t say anything else.
“Wish us luck, at least.” Ray sighed. And with that, the vikings shared goodbyes and split their own separate ways.
“What was that for?” Mikey rubbed his side.
“One, you were rude, and two, if you grow up too be a little shit I’ll get blamed for it.”
“I’m already a little shit, though.”
“Then I don’t want you getting any worse. Besides,” Gerard rubbed his arms as if a chill had come over him, “I just got a bad feeling about it after you said it, like something bad was gonna happen.” Mikey frowned.
“Do you think we should go with ‘em, then?”
“No.” Gerard shook his head, “But we might wanna check on ‘em later, just in case.” Mikey nodded. They headed back to the house to pick up Bunny, not surprised to find her sleeping in the unlit coals in the fireplace, and Mikey had to tempt her out with a fish before she’d join them. They hid her in the younger boy’s jacket before heading to the woods, Gerard bringing along one of his larger journals for a project he was working on. When they arrived, Muse was nowhere to be seen but it wasn’t troubling. Gerard sat down and took out his journal to draw while Mikey played with Bunny, trying to teach her a trick or two.
“You know what I’ve noticed while playing with her?”
“What?” Gerard glanced up from his drawing, eyebrow raised.
“She can’t really fly. At least, not yet.” Mikey had Bunny resting on his arm like she was a bird, scratching her chin and making her trill, “Of course it’s probably because she’s a baby, but you’d think she would, with those huge wings.”
“Well, maybe she flies differently from a normal dragon. Put her on the ground and see what she does.” Mikey did so And Bunny chirped, then hopped back to him. She nuzzled his leg, clearly not wanting to leave him.
“C’mon, Bunny, show me that you can fly!” Bunny chirped again, as if confused on the request. It was at that moment that Muse appeared, dropping down out of nowhere with a small thump. She growled a greeting, sniffing the boys and Bunny before laying down and yawning. Neither boy wanted to disturb her, but with how Bunny didn’t seem to understand Mikey’s request, they would have to ask her to give a demonstration.
“Muse?” The black dragon opened one eye to gaze at Gerard, “We were wondering if you could help show Bunny how to fly?” Muse gave a groan but sat up. Her ear-flaps were up as she gave all of them a suspicious look.
“Y’see, I’ve taken care of her for several weeks but she won’t fly.” Mikey explained, “So, could you try showing her?” Muse snorted, then barked to Bunny. The smaller dragon sat up to attention and watched as Muse slowly spread her wings. The darker dragon then flapped them a little, showing Bunny what to do before doing a large flap to take to the air. This gust sent Mikey on his butt and Gerard was thrown into the pond, his journal flying free and not touching the water.
“MUSE!” shouted Gerard, angry. The dragon was hovering just above the cove, chuckling, then landed in a pounce. She gestured with her head for Bunny to try. Bunny yipped, then began walking on her wings, as if trying to figure out how to copy Muse. She was walking in a circle, her steps awkward because of her wings.
“Bunny?” Mikey asked, worried for his dragon. Then Bunny began to walk faster and flap her wings, where sparks began to come from her mouth. She got faster and faster and was soon flying low to the ground, still surrounded by sparks, causing Gerard and Mikey to raise their arms to shield themselves. Bunny flew higher, loosing her sparks as she landed on Muse’s head and chirped.
“Wow.” Mikey gasped as Gerard crawled out of the pond.
“You said it.” agreed the other, twisting part of his clothes to get the water out, “She looked like a typhoon when she was spinning, then came back like a boomerang!”
“Yeah.” Mikey got back on his feet and held out his hands, where Bunny glided to land in his arms. She trilled as the boy rubbed her head, knowing she had done something good, “You know how we talked about how she was a mutation of a Nightmare, kinda?”
“Yeah?”
“Maybe she’s close enough to be related, but different enough that she’s a new species entirely?” Mikey held Bunny out and the tiny dragon flapped back to Muse’s head, “A ‘Typhoomerang.’” Gerard contemplated it for a moment, then nodded.
“I can see that. I’ve been trying to document Muse, knowing she’s not a dragon we’ve ever seen before, so we could do the same with Bunny.” Gerard walked over and picked up the journal, “I’ll write it down later. Right now, I’m trying to copy all these designs.”
“I was gonna ask about that.” Mikey tapped one of the designs with a foot and jumped when Muse growled at him.
“Oh yeah, don’t touch the pictures.” Gerard gave him a glare, “Muse and I drew these together as we got to know one another, so please don’t mess with them.”
“Gotcha...” Mikey backed away from the dual glares and sat down on a rock, Bunny joining him. He gazed around the cove as Gerard went back to drawing and Muse laid down again, Bunny curling up in his jacket, and took note of the scales scattered about. Carrying Bunny, Mikey went over and gathered the scales, careful not to step on the images, returning to his seat to study them. He knew they had come from Muse because they were black and large, oval and surprisingly sturdy. Curious, he pocketed the scales, wondering what could come out of studying them. After a while the boys had to leave, with how the sun was starting to set, and so they bid Muse goodbye before heading home. They trekked through the forest silently, Bunny asleep in Mikey’s jacket, but soon came across Frank and Bob. Both groups were surprised to find each other, the brothers more nervous.
“Hey, have you guys seen Ray, Pete, or Jacky around?” asked Frank.
“Um, no?” Mikey said.
“Is there something wrong?” asked Gerard.
“No one’s seen them all day.” Bob explained, “None of them are back yet and some of us went out looking.”
“And you haven’t done the same for us because..?” Mikey gave a gesture for him to continue, annoyed.
“You two go off all the time and you don’t get into trouble. Ray, Jacky, and Pete are different.” Bob said.
“If you don’t see Pete after an hour or two, it usually means he got himself into trouble.” Frank shrugged, “But if you find them, tell them to get back to the village.” Frank and Bob gave their goodbyes before hiking away. Gerard and Mikey shared a look before Gerard led them down a shortcut back to the cove. Muse was grooming her wings, having not left yet, and perked up when the boys appeared again.
“I know we said we were going back home but we need to ask a favor.” Gerard said, “Some of our friends went out to explore this cave and they haven’t come back yet. Could you help us look for them?” Muse narrowed her eyes and tilted her head, eyes glancing away as if to think. Slowly she nodded and the boys breathed sighs of relief.
“Great, let’s go.” Miikey started back to the top of the cove. Gerard understood that Muse still wasn’t comfortable with the older boy riding her and so he climbed with his brother and Muse took to the sky. She flew away, apparently to go look as Gerard searched the ground for a moment before grabbing a dead branch. He reached over and scratched Bunny’s head to get her awake, causing her to give an irritated chirp.
“Set this on fire, please?” Gerard held the branch close to her mouth. Bunny gave him a dark look before giving a small burst of flame, lighting the branch.
“I’m gonna go look for the guys. You both need to head home.”
“You can’t go by yourself!” Mikey protested.
“I don’t want you getting hurt, either. The caves around the island are dangerous and it’s my job to keep you safe.” Gerard gave his brother a small smile, “I promise I’ll be fine. Muse’ll be with me, y’know.”
“That doesn’t make me feel any better.”
“At least get your dragon home.” Gerard pointed to Bunny, who was curling up tighter, “It’s gonna get cold tonight and I don’t think she could stand that.” Mikey held Bunny close, trying to warm her a little, then sighed as he gave into his brother’s reasoning.
“Be home soon. They’re all tough, too.”
“I know that, but they’re also my friends.” Gerard pat Mikey’s shoulder before going away. Mikey stared after him.
“They’re my friends, too...”
Gerard stepped carefully, one eye always on his torch so he didn’t accidentally cause a forest fire or something. There were hundreds of caves across the island, Pete could’ve chosen any of them to search, but he couldn’t give up hope. He’d asked Muse to help, he wasn’t going to let her do it alone. He had to build up trust with her somehow. It also made him wonder why she’d decided to help him, especially with the sudden favor. Maybe they’d gotten closer than he suspected? He hoped so.
As he approached the first cave he saw, he found Muse waiting at the entrance. It was too small for her to enter, but not for Gerard. He crouched at the entrance, staring into it as if he could see his friends inside, then called out. There was no response except for his own echo, but he tried again. When it failed a second time, Muse gently pushed him aside and gave a small screech into the cave. Her ears were parked, twitching as she listened to something, then shook her head. She backed away before taking off, pushing Gerard to the ground again.
“At least it’s not water...” he muttered. He went to the next cave as Muse presumably followed from the sky, getting the same result again and again, but they weren’t giving up. Gerard also took some time to think about what Muse was doing at the caves, her small screech and twitching her ears. He wondered if it helped her somehow, like telling her what was in the cave without needing to see it. It would certainly help if that was true, and if not, why the hell was she doing it? The viking shook his head as he joined Muse at another cave, this one similar to the first. He allowed Muse to do her screech first was surprised to hear very human yelps in return.
“Fuck! I knew a dragon would come to eat us!”
“Shut up, Jacky! We’re safe as long as it can’t get in here!”
“And we can’t get out!” Yep, all three of them were in there.
“Guys!” Gerard called.
“Gee?”
“Did you chase away the dragon?”
“What the hell are you waiting for, give us a rope or something!”
“I don’t have one on me, but I’ll get one!” Gerard look around, trying to study where he was in the rapidly fading light, even with his torch. Frowning, he knew he had no choice if he wanted to make sure his friends would be okay and so told them to stand back before throwing the torch down to them. Dragons may have been fireproof but there might’ve been other things down there that they needed to chase away. Plus, the warmth would really help in the cold that always came with the night.
“You stay here.” Gerard ordered to Muse, then began making his way back to the village. He had a vague idea of where it was and so followed his instincts, trying to spot the lights so that he’d know where it was. A few times he had to stop and calm himself, trying not to let the darkness get to him, but slowly, he was sure he was getting back to the village. But upon turning a corner, he jumped when he saw Muse suddenly in front of him.
“I told you to stay there!” he hissed. Muse rolled her eyes and gestured with her head for him to follow. The boy did so, wondering what she wanted, and gasped when he finally came out of the forest on a hill near the village. He turned to her and saw this knowing look that kept him from saying anything. She then turned back into the forest and disappeared. Gerard stared after her, then shook his head and ran to the village.he’d try to figure out the enigma that is his dragon friend later, he had human friends to save.
It didn’t take long for him to obtain a rope and run back. He wanted to tell someone he’d found the group but no one was around, so he’d have to do this himself. When he got there, Muse was waiting. Gerard looped the rope around a tree and trailed the rest of it down to his friends, calling, “Here’s the rope! Can you see it?”
“Got it!” There was a small tug, then a larger one as the guys began climbing up. Gerard was nearly dragged back from the weight and so did his best not to get pulled around the tree. Unfortunately, because of his lack of muscles, this only worked for a short while before he lost his grip. The rope snapped back and almost fell into the hole before Muse snapped her claws around it, holding it steady.
“FUCK! DON’T DO THAT!” screeched one of the guys. Probably Pete or Jacky. Gerard looked to the dragon before giving a slow nod.
“Just don’t let them see you, okay?” Muse nodded back, then leaped into the branches of the tree, tugging the rope behind her, there were more yelps before the guys were steady again and climbed out of the hole, Gerard helping them out. All were wet and shivering a little, as well as a scrape or two, but other than that, they seemed to be fine.
“Remind me...to never go spelunking with Pete again!” Ray growled, giving the other boy a glare.
“How was I supposed to know we’d get trapped?” Pete protested.
“Let’s just get back to the village, fuckers.” Jacky said.
“Follow me, I’ll lead us back.” Gerard offered. He looked up into the tree, following the rope, but the dragon was gone. He tugged the rope back down and helped his friends back to the village, wondering why she had helped.
The boy didn’t like being lauded as a hero, especially with all the attention he was getting. It felt nice, yes, but it was pushing his anxiety against the wall, not to mention the problems it caused trying to get to Muse. Yet, he didn’t mind Frank’s attention. He was finally being noticed by the smaller viking and it felt wonderful. He just wished it could be the two of them and not a whole damn crowd. As much as he wanted to be with Frank, he had to get away somehow.
“You okay?” Gerard blinked out of his thoughts and turned to the side. There was Frank, giving him a curious look. They had been walking alone on one of the walkways, looking over the beach. He hadn’t even noticed he hadn’t been paying attention to Frank.
“Sorry. Just a lot on my mind.”
“Is it Mikey? Just being the kid of the chief? All the dragon training? Even though I don’t see how you could be stressed over all the paperwork we’ve done...” Frank blew the curl of his hair out of his face. He needed to have it trimmed.
“I guess it’s kinda all that combined?” Gerard gave a sigh, “Ever since I helped Ray, Jacky, and Pete back here, no one’s left me alone. You haven’t left me alone, but I don’t mind.” Gerard blushed a little from the last half of the sentence, “It’s driving me crazy.”
“Well, if you want, next time someone comes up to us, I’ll help you get out of it.”
“Really?” Frank nodded.
“Sure. You’re my friend, aren’t you?”
“Yeah. I’m your friend.” Wish I was something more. They walked along for a while before they were approached by some of the other kids and Frank made good on his promise, moving to talk with them as a distraction, letting Gerard slip away. The older viking hid in the Great Hall, watching through a crack in the door as things happened, then turned away. He owed Frank so much.
Glancing around, wondering if there was another way out, his eyes landed on the back wall, where there was a whole line of painted shields. The boy paused for a moment, then walked up to them. He’d seen them many times, they hung over his head literally and figuratively. They were the portraits of previous chiefs and their sons, giving a small line of history for the tribe, all except for one. The very last (since he hadn’t had his portrait yet) was of a woman, not slim or bulky, and standing beside her was a strong viking boy. That was the portrait of his father and grandmother. Gerard knew his mother died when he was young, soon after having Mikey, but his grandmother had disappeared, leaving his father to lead the tribe. Sometimes he’d sit under the portrait and draw, taking inspiration from it, and somehow, he knew she wasn’t dead. Elena the Wise hadn’t led the tribe for years by herself without getting into a fight or two, he’d heard from his father how she’d battle vikings and dragons alike and still win. She was out there somewhere, and one day, he’d find her.
“Gerard?” He turned back. Frank’s head was poking into the Great Hall, “I got ‘em to go away, but you might wanna head home before more of ‘em show up. I doubt it’ll work a second time.”
“Thanks, Frankie.” The smaller viking blushed.
“Don’t call me that.” It wasn’t said with venom and Gerard smiled. He glanced back at the portrait one last time before joining Frank outside.