Chapter Text
The dragon hunter base stood tall, almost looming over Vincent as he stood on the docks infront of it. He put a hand through his graying hair as he waited. He’d gotten a letter from the head hunter themselves, inviting him to the base to discuss some important matters that had been neglected to be mentioned in the letter itself. Vincent’s thoughts kept circling around his head; Why did the dragon hunters need his service? They were dragon hunters, people who hunted dangerous, scaley creatures for a living; if they had a problem, they could handle it; although, he wasn’t one to turn down a service that likely would have good pay.
A lone hunter walked down the dock and stopped infront of him.
“Are you Vincent?” the hunter asked, looking the bounty hunter up and down.
“I am” he answered.
“Hunter’s been expecting you. Follow me” the hunter said, motioning for him to follow.
Vincent followed the hunter up the dock, along the path and into the hunter stronghold. The stronghold was located inside a large rocky hill, with long, hand carved tunnels connecting each of the rooms. They walked down a particularly large tunnel and the bounty hunter could hear the sound of dragon roars echoing through the tunnel.
Eventually, he was led to a room at the end of a large tunnel; the outside of the room looked nicer than the rest of the place. The hunter motioned him to stop and knocked on the door.
“You may enter” he heard a voice say from the other side of the door.
The hunter poked their head through the door. “I brought the bounty hunter you asked for”.
“Good, good. Bring him in” the voice said, sounding extremely pleased.
The hunter motioned him to enter so he did. He entered a fancy looking office; well, fancy by viking standards. The only person in the room was a women, sitting at her desk with her feet up, looking very pleased with herself. She had semi-short, scruffy silver hair, sky blue eyes, a claw mark shaped scar going over her right eye, a dull silver armour chest plate, dark green trousers and mud brown boots. The women stood up and walked infront of her desk.
“You may leave us” the women said, nodding to the other hunter. The hunter nodded and left the room, closing the door behind them.
The women turned to him.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you sir. I’m Hunter” she introduced, holding out her hand.
“Vincent” he said, taking the hand and shaking it.
They broke the handshake and sat down at the desk, Vincent sitting infront while Hunter sat behind.
“If I may start, why do you require my services?” Vincent questioned.
“Getting down to business I see” Hunter smirked.
“I’m a busy man. My time is valuable” Vincent replied, leaning back in his chair.
“Alright then” Hunter nodded and began looking through one of the draws in her desk, digging around for something.
“Someone has popped up recently that has gained my interest” she commented while searching. She eventually pulled out a scroll and laid it out flat on the desk infront of him.
“I want you to bring this person to me” Hunter said.
Vincent looked down at the scroll and who was depicted on it; He felt his heart drop. It was Crystie, the young viking he’d met several months ago on Harmony Island. She’d being doing good the last time he saw her but that was ages ago. He looked up at Hunter with a raised eyebrow.
“You know this person?” Hunter questioned.
Vincent quickly shook his head. “No, I’m just surprised that it’s a child”.
Hunter smirked. “I was surprised too at first; but what interests me is what they were seen with”.
Vincent raised an eyebrow again. “And what would that be?”.
“Dragons”
Vincent paled slightly. Of course she’d been seen with dragons; that’s what he’d seen with her last time and was the thing she was basically obsessed over. She’d even said that they were basically her family.
Hunter continued. “And from what was seen, she had control over them. Imagine that; a person, a child no less, being able to control dragons”.
“It’s hard to imagine” he lied, trying to sound surprised.
“I know. That’s why I want you to go track them down and bring them here” Hunter said, almost sounding giddy.
Vincent stared at Hunter, slightly in disbelief. “You want me to go hunt down a child?”.
“Yes” she replied.
“A child?”
“Yes”
The Bounty Hunter raised an eyebrow. “And what are you going to do with them if I bring them in?”.
Hunter’s smile disappeared and her eyes narrowed. “That is none of your concern”.
“But they’re a literal child” Vincent argued.
“Look, do you want the job or not?” Hunter hissed, sounding quite annoyed.
Vincent sighed. “How much?”.
Hunter smirked. “Three thousand gold”
“Three thousand? That’s a lot considering what I’m supposed to be getting” Vincent remarked.
“Listen. Are you going to take it or not? I need to know if I need to contact other hunters if you can’t get it done” Hunter asked, seeming a bit impatient at this point.
He thought about it. He didn’t want to break Crystie’s trust again since he’d promised he wouldn’t but why should he care? It wasn’t like they had any kind of positive relationship after what he’d done and Crystie hadn’t seemed to convinced that Vincent was sorry.
“I’ll take it” he replied at last.
Hunter piped up at his answer. “Perfect. You will be given payment upon delivery”.
Vincent nodded and left the room without a word, wanting to get this done as quickly as possible.
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It took him a while and a bit of struggle, but he finally managed to track down the young viking; she really didn’t stay long in one place, and he hadn’t quite found her hideout yet. He’d tracked her down to a lone island. She seemed to only have one dragon with her, the blue deadly nadder he believed was named Storm if his memory served him right.
When he was near, he hid in a bush and observed the scene infront of him. Crystie was glaring at Storm, like she was angry with them, tears in the corner of her eyes.
“WHY DON'T YOU JUST LEAVE THEN!” Crystie yell at Storm, seeming quite upset as well.
Storm let out an angry snort, continuing to glare at Crystie before the dragon hoped into the air and flew away. Crystie looked to still be fuming. She threw the sword and shield she had onto the ground and then threw her bag somewhere into the forest, luckily nowhere near Vincent.
The young viking then turned towards the ocean, shaking. She stood there for a few moments before she collapsed onto her knees and hugged herself, tears falling down her face and letting out devastating sobs.
Vincent felt his heart break. The last time he’d seen the young viking she’d been so happy and cheery; even when he’d tried to take the baby Razorwhips, she’d kept her composure and was willing to make amends.
But now, here she was, on her knees, sobbing her heart out.
Part of him wanted to go over and comfort her, ask what’s wrong and try to make things better; he may not know her that well, but he never wanted to see someone cry. But he had a job to do, and this one was no different from the rest. Technically, Crystie was a stranger to him and therefore he had no connection to her.
He lifted his blow dart gun and aimed it at the young viking who had now stood up, still crying but only slightly, and was staring into the distance.
“I’m sorry kid” Vincent muttered before blowing the tranquilizer dart into the young viking’s neck.
The dart made direct contact, making the young viking stagger slightly. She pulled the dart from her neck and looked at it for a few moments before staggering about and collapsing onto the dirt floor below her.
Vincent waited for a few moments before getting up and walking over to the unconscious viking. He looked down at her and a feeling of guilt developed in his chest, but he pushed it down. This was a job, like all the ones before it. This time was no different in any way, but why did it feel different?
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A while later, he was back at the dragon hunter base and was in the process of docking his boat.
The feeling of guilt kept growing in his chest, but he kept pushing it down. This was a normal job; it was no different. This was a normal job; it was no different.
Once the boat was docked, he went over to Crystie, who was still unconscious and leaning against the banister of the boat. He picked her up with both arms and carried her bridal style towards the docks; She was surprisingly light. When he touched down on the platform, he saw Hunter walking towards him with two hunters trailing behind her. The lead hunter had a smile on her face.
“That was fast” Hunter commented as he stopped infront of the bounty hunter.
“I’m good at my job” he replied, trying to keep his tone neutral.
Hunter looked down at Crystie, who was still in Vincent’s arms.
“Wow, she looks younger than I originally thought” Hunter commented.
“Well, she is a literal child” Vincent muttered under his breath while rolling his eyes.
“What was that?” Hunter asked, eyeing the bounty hunter.
“Nothing, nothing” he replied.
Hunter shrugged and snapped her fingers. The two other hunters came up to Vincent and removed the young viking from his arms, holding her by her arms.
“Put her in an empty cell. I’ll deal with her tomorrow” Hunter commanded.
The two hunters nodded and began dragging Crystie away, letting her head hang and dragging her feet; They carried her away and out of sight.
Hunter then turned to Vincent and handed him a quite heavy bag. He checked the bag and confirmed it was three thousand gold, just like they’d agreed upon. He closed the bag and looked back up at the head hunter.
“What are you going to do with her?” he asked.
Hunter gave him an annoyed smirk. “That is not for you to know. You did your job and delivered what I asked for. I no longer require your service. Good day sir”.
“But-“ he began to say before getting cut off.
“I SAID GOOD DAY” Hunter said, raising her voice before turning around and walking away.
And with that, the bounty hunter was left all alone on the docks, with a growing feeling of guilt and worry building inside him.
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It was very quiet in the middle of the ocean; nothing except the sound of lapping waves, the gust of wind and the occasional call of a sea bird.
Vincent sat cross-legged on the floor of his boat, leaning against the pole of the mast; He had his head resting in his hand and was looking blankly at the floor.
He knew he needed to get going, get another job and move on with his life. Sitting here moping wasn’t very productive or doing him any good. Whenever he thought about trying to do something his mind kept going back to Crystie.
He was worried what was going to happen to her. What Hunter was exactly planning to do with her?; From the way Hunter talked, it didn’t sound like anything good and could’ve put Crystie in some sort of danger. And also, Crystie also didn’t seem to be in the right mind set emotionally before he took her in; Vincent feared for the young girl’s health, both physically and emotionally.
But in the end, what could he do? He was just a bounty hunter. It wasn’t like could just go back in there and rescue her; there was a whole army of dragon hunters, and he was just one regular man.
And besides, why did he care so much? She was literally a child he met one time; Once. He’d been on countless bounty’s, hunting down people without a shred of remorse, so why was this time any different?
He glanced over at the weapons Crystie had been carrying on her; He’d picked them up because it felt wrong to just leave them there.
Why did he care so much?
Maybe it was because she was a child, maybe it because he was worried what Hunter was going to do. Maybe it was because, she was so hopeful and energetic and full of optimistic wonder, ready to explore the world and help anyone she could, like she had done to him. He felt a parental instinct wash over him when he thought about her; it was like she was the daughter he never had, and he’d put her in danger. He was going to make it up to her, whatever it took.
With that, a feeling of determination grew inside him. He stood up and began turning his boat around, heading back in the direction of the hunter base.
He was going back for the kid, and nothing would stop him.