Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Noir's dragon form was tightly curled up, eying the heavy door trapping him in this cave - was it even a cave at that point?

He huffed, green flames jumping from the small opening of his jaw, sizzling out before they strayed too far.

He was bored out of his gods damned mind. Days and nights drained on, unbeknownst to him, as he idly wondered if he'd ever see the sky again.

From what he could guess from the humans - the perma-humans - that lived on this island, it'd been roughly two weeks since he'd been locked up.

The usually very active Noir had no room for much movement - the cage was probably built for a small or regular sized monstrous nightmare at most.

Noir's dragon form was long, stocky, and strong. He had an incredible wingspan, two wings closer to his shoulders, with two smaller wings further down his body, alike a singetail.

He gritted his teeth, two layers of them, sharp and deadly. Down his body were sets of silver-y grey spikes, each two-by-two. Irritated, a pair of them under his chin clicked together.

Outside, in the closed in arena, he heard the humans. The younger ones were apparently learning to kill dragons. The elder one was teaching them.

He shivered, hearing a cage door open. The sound of a gronckle flittering into the sunlight.

Sunlight... he missed sunlight.

An itch on his neck snapped him out of his thoughts. He growled, one back leg stretching up to attempt at scratching it. No use. The humans had put a metal collar around his neck with chains holding him in the cage.

What they didn't know was that this one action done to keep their limbs had trapped him. To be chained up in his dragon form was to not be free, and thus no transformation.

The traitorous human part of him almost couldn't blame them for taking the precaution - lycanwings were rare, and even then, no lycanwing was the same. These vikings had never and would never again encounter a dragon like him.

But he couldn't tell them. He was honestly grateful that he couldn't shift to his human form at that point. It was too much of a risk to his kind.

He carefully rolled onto his other side, closing all four of his eyes. He exhaled slowly, listening to what was going on on the arena.

The gronckle outside was absolutely kicking the shit out of those vikings. Then, for some reason, the adult viking chased the gronckle back into into its cage from the sound of it.

Noir reopened his eyes, lifting his head. From what he could tell, these training sessions were usually a lot longer. Had he accidentally fallen asleep?

That's when, to his utter surprise and horror, the door to his cage began to split open.

Instinctively, his scales tried to hide him, reflect the angry grey of the stone imprisoning him, but the chains holding him back revealed him.

Instead, his fear turned to anger at the humans that hunted, hurt, killed, and caged the dragons. His kin couldn't even get along with each other. It was sickening.

He growled, the too bright light of daytime flushing in and blinding him.

"You can't make us be your guinea-pigs," one of the humans, presumably a younger one by their voice, cried out.

"Expect the unexpected," the adult replied as if he hadn't just exposed all these kids to an unknown dragon. For fuck's sake, the eldest had to be the same age as him, and he was fourteen, while the youngest had to be at least nine!

He growled, deep and guttural, seeing red.

"Uh, PB? Are you sure?"

"Completely, now you multitask! Survive and learn!"

In a powerful breath, he roared a mountain shaking roar. He tried to move towards the adult human, but found himself held back by those fucking chains.

He pulled, despising the restricted feeling the chains gave him. He roared again, sparks crackling in his throat.

With a final and fierce tug, the chains attaching the metal collar to the wall broke, letting him lurch forward, tipping his head to the side to try to take a bite out of one of the vikings.

He heard shouts of surprise, but at this point he couldn't care less.

One of the elder kids threw a rock at his face, and he turned to focus on him. On his other side, another kid threw another rock. Again, he craned his neck around to see who had done it.

It was at that point the adult viking jumped onto his back and started to bang a hammer against a shield. His head spun, his skull pounding from the disorientating sound and the rocks smacking off his face.

He jumped back, rearing onto his hind legs in hopes off knocking the adult (PB, he thought someone had said?) down to the ground. Needless to say, they grabbed his back spikes and wouldn't let go, no matter how many times Noir shook the rows and rows.

A too quiet roar caught his attention, as he backed into a wall to squash the adult viking. Once the man fell to the floor, he snapped his head around and made eye contact with one of the kids.

Small build, shorter than the rest of the kids by a significant margine, only barely holding onto a shield that looked too heavy for her tiny arms, and a scared look in her eyes. She was the source of the roar, and he knew it was dragonese the instant he heard it, but the accent made it hard to catch.

"Repeat," he told the child, because oh gods this is a literal child. She froze up, eyes full of understanding.

"I was calling to end the fighting," she spoke, a growl and a grumble. "I was hoping you might listen, because they won't. They don't understand that dragons aren't monsters."

He tilted his head in curiosity, vaguely aware the fighting against him had stopped.

"You know?"

"I know - I've bonded with a zippleback, they let me ride upon their back," she explained. "What is your name?"

"Your's?" Noir grunted.

"Peni," she answered, and he could tell she wasn't lying.

"Arachne," he replied truthfully, because while he hadn't gone by it in a long time, mostly using the name other dragons gave him, it was his true, human name.

"Let me help you, Arachne, let me show them all."

All four of his eyes darted to the arena hatch.

"Free me?" He asked with a soft warble. Peni looked hesitant, and Noir cursed his longing for flight.

"I will," she agreed, "but first, let me prove that dragons aren't monsters, please."

He blinked slowly.

"How?"

Slowly, carefully, she raised her hand, tiny palm facing him, her fingers spread. She closed her eyes and bowed her head, putting her trust in the dragon before her, he realized.

"Peni, what are you doing?" One of the other kids asked harshly, some tall blonde guy that looked insufferable to be around.

"What I have to," she told him in the human tongue. Punctuating her statement for her, Noir lowered his head, letting her cold palm connect to the end of his snout, closing his eyes to show the other vikings he trusted her.

"Peni-" PB started, only for the tiny girl to cut him off.

"Dragons are not devils to be feared and hunted, they're intelligent beings just like us, I've been trying to tell you all this for months," she snapped. "The whole village, we're all wrong about dragons."

The young vikings looked to PB, who seemed rather pale.

"Peni's right," he mumbled, "gods, we have to tell the village- we can't tell the village..."

"We can show them," Peni offered, "I can help you earn the trust of the dragons in here, we can show the chief, everyone, we just need to let this one go - they need the sky, they need nothing to do with people, that's why they're a mystery."

"I'm down," a blonde girl said, a hint of a smile on her face, as the other kids started to agree. "I've always thought dragons were pretty great."

"PB?"

"You're the boss, kid," he blurted, shrugging. "But if we do, we'll have to free this big guy at night, hope no one sees him."

"We'll have to, I made a promise."

"Then it's settled, we return after sundown, don't tell anyone."

Peni turned back to him, stroking down the side of his face, a touch he leaned into.

"You're going free tonight," she told him in dragonese. "I swear on my heart, you'll fly soon enough, but for now you'll have to go back in there. I know it's not good, but it's for your good, so we don't raise suspicions."

"I understand," he rumbled, reluctantly returning to the cage and watching the doors swing close behind him, the light blocking out again.

True to their word, the small group of Vikings, lead by Peni, came back, the cage doors swinging open and letting him out into the arena, though this time with the hatch hanging open.

Was this even real, he wondered, as PB fiddled with the metal collar until it came loose and clattered to the ground. The perma-humans stood scared for a moment, maybe worried someone had heard them, but when nothing happened they relaxed.

"Go," Peni told him. "Enjoy the open world, Arachne."

He gave her a nod, grateful for her standing up for him and his draconic siblings. Maybe, just maybe, his kin could get along after all, he mused, as he stretched out his wings and took flight.

As it turned out, no, they really couldn't. It got too dangerous for him over the years, so he had to make the choice to confine himself to one form. He chose his human form, knowing dragons could be open to humans, but very rarely humans to dragons.

He'd bought a silver cuff from a metalworker's in the Northern Markets, and rarely took it off since.

He was seventeen now, a bounty hunter, and a nameless customer around the markets, wondering if he'd ever run into that little Berkian girl who'd helped him so. Sometimes he wondered if they ever sorted the problem with the giant Queen in the volcano.

But on this particular day, he was checking every notice board around the markets, a stolen bullhook gripped tightly in his gloved hand.

He knew the history of the weapon, knew it used to hurt dragons, so he re-purposed it against the hunters and trappers. If he lost it, he wouldn't care, he'd simply take another weapon. As long as humans didn't use it against dragons.

It was a very slow day, he silently mused, as he kept an eye on the few hunters that were walking around, as he always did. He didn't trust perma-humans who openly hurt dragons, they weren't good people.

Just like every notice board before it, barely any wanted posters were pinned up, with only a few people who barely did anything, like stole some bread or got into an arguement with a high ranking hunter or whatever.

But one caught his eye - an image of a small seeming girl, shoulder length hair, familiar looking eyes, and a gentle smile on her face. `Wanted: Peni of Berk, the Dragon Speaker`, and then an absurd amount of gold listed as the reward, were written on the bottom.

Oh gods, kid, what did you get yourself into?

Chapter Text

It wasn't that hard to find the kid - just show up at the designated meet up area and wait in the shadows for a bit. He was very confident he could take Ryker and whoever turned up in a fight. Even if he would be outnumbered, the more he waited, the more small dragons and changewings took notice and sat with him, and he could bet they'd probably help.

How much he wanted to just smack that dragon hunting fuckhead with the hook of his stolen weapon. He narrowed his eyes, staring at the back of the bald bastard's egg like head. A past encounter with the man told Noir everything he needed to know about Ryker.

And not even a minute after he first started considering just kicking the hunter off the nearby cliff, a man in a thin cloak appeared, dragging the tiny viking by a fucking chain. Gritting his teeth, Noir forced himself to stay put for just a few moments more.

Peni was passed over, not without trying to run away, and the prize chest was opened to reveal... ah, yes, rocks, just like Ryker to pull a bait and switch like that.

Then things went fast - Ryker was knocked down, Peni tried to run, but the captor didn't let her. Before Noir could even think to react, Peni and the captor went over the cliff, with only a pair of tiny hands keeping them both from plummeting.

There was a sound of someone falling, a distant scream growing further away, but the hands were still in place, fingers quivering. Ryker was now approaching her.

Noir finally pushed himself into approaching, moving quickly, grabbing the back of Ryker's sword sheaths and pulling him back, throwing him to the dragons that had gathered with him.

He turned to Peni, taking her by the forearms and pulling her up, noticing that she was now missing one of her boots. Fear shone on her face, and he let go as soon as she wasn't in danger of falling. She, thankfully, ran off, allowing Noir to focus on Ryker.

The man glared, gritting teeth, as he clumsily got to his feet.

"Who the fuck are you?"

Ah, right, the mask and fur-collared cloak pretty much hid his identity. Come to think of it, that's probably why the kid ran off so quickly.

"Think of me as a.. concerned party," Noir answered, voice low and smooth, a voice he usually reserved for scamming people or sweet talking other people for information.

Huh, red flag identified apparently.

"I'll just stick to calling you an unwanted pest," Ryker scoffed (ouch), drawing his swords. At the action, Noir lowered himself into a fighting stance.

They circled each other, walking slowly, eyes boring into the other's soul, as Noir started to spin the bullhook and pull a few `stunts`, which was actually silent dragonese in a human shape, though not even Ryker would recognize it. It did, however, have the extra effect of being rather intimidating.

A dance of blades, exchanging and dodging blows, each desperate to injure their opponent without catching the opposing blade: that's what Noir expected.

Nope, the kid was back, with a rock, that she managed to hit Ryker with. The man's eyes rolled and he fell to the floor with a heavy thud.

Peni raised the rock again, giving him a look that he thought was meant to be scary but really wasn't doing anything.

"Listen, I'm really sick of this whole kidnapping and bounty thing, so try me, see if you can do better than him against this," she dared him.

But Noir felt a laugh ring from his chest, and be took off his mask and hood, pulling his long pleat of black hair out from under the cloak. She studied his face, taking in every little scar, tiny details, whatever she could gather.

"Don't worry about it, kid," he spoke through his hearty laughter, "I saw your wanted poster in the Markets, and I owe you one - you helped a friend o' mine a few years back."

"What? Who?"

"A dragon. You listened to him, set him free, he's forever grateful," Noir told her, conveniently leaving out the part where he was that dragon.

She paused for a moment, then said, "Arachne?"

Fuck, he really should have given her his dragon name instead of his human name- then again, he exclusively went by his dragon name whenever perma-humans asked. Oh well, if this kid ever found out about the lycanwing thing then they'd just have to deal with the name thing then.

"Exactly," he confirmed.

Peni's eyes lit up.

"Where is he? How is he? Is he okay?"

"Woah, woah, slow down, kid, let my brain work, yeah?" He joked. "I've not seen him in years, but he was okay last time I did see him -" not exactly a lie, but not the whole truth either "- I just figured I could say thanks for him. Usually, bounties aren't tiny vikings whose crime is speaking to dragons, y'know."

"Oh, uh, thank you, Mr..."

"Noir, just Noir."

"Thank you, Noir."

She turned her head to look out to the sea.

"Hey, how'd you get here, Noir?"

He raised an eyebrow.

"Boat, why?"

"I don't have a way home, I was seperated from my dragon when the first hunters grabbed me," she explained.

Her dragon?

"Your dragon?"

She looked surprised.

"Oh, right, on Berk we train dragons, bond with them, a symbiotic relationship in a way - my bonded dragon is a zippleback, their names are Bolt and Socket. I don't think they'll be able to find me out here, and I don't know if there are dragons here that might trust me, let alone carry me. Plus, I don't want to relocate them or anything."

"Berkians train dragons, now? Weird, last time I checked you guys were at war with them," he dug.

"Things changed after we freed Arachne - we proved that dragons aren't beasts to be killed, we found the Queen of the nest, and now pretty much everyone has a dragon companion."

"I'll have to see that to believe it, but yeah, I can get you back to Berk no problem - might take a while though."

"I don't mind how long it takes, as long as home's at the end."

Gods, the endless optimism of this kid.

"Your gramma say that or somethin'?" He found himself asking, tilting his head, as they begun the treck back to his ship.

"I never knew my grandmother," Peni denied. "I'm an orphan, actually."

Noir snorted, unable to stop himself.

"There's a lot of it about," he hummed, and the kid perked up.

"You too?"

"Yep, lets- hang on." He turned, vaguely aware of the hidden eyes watching them. Switching to dragonese, he called out, "hello? I know you're there. You can come out, we won't hurt you."

Peni gasped, "you speak dragonese?"

He nodded, crouching down and holding out his hand, palm facing up. The shrubbery rustled, parting, and the scales of a vibrant bronze changewing flickered from the camouflaged green. He recognized this changewing from when he was waiting, she'd come right up to him, sniffed him, and curled in at his side, her head laying on his, and a wing over his body. She'd napped there for a few minutes before Ryker showed up and she'd scarpered.

"Hello again," he continued in dragonese, "do you need something?"

"You're nice," the changewing told him, "may I follow you?"

"If you wish, but we'll be leaving the island soon."

She scuttled over and pushed her head into his chest - if there was one thing vikings didn't get to appreciate is how cuddly and affectionate changewings were.

"Want to come, you are safety."

"Then I'd love to have you."

She trilled happily, curling her feelers around his wrists.

Peni smiled.

"Hey, maybe you could benefit from Berk," she suggested in the human tongue.

He laughed.

"We'll see," he then swapped back to dragonese, "what is your name? I am Noir."

"Skitter."

"A lovely name. Come on, both of you, my boat is just down this way."