Chapter Text
R/n’s legs burned as he ran- his throat had run dry a while back and now it was turning numb from the cold. His breaths and exhales were loud and raspy. He let out a groan as he tripped, rolling down a steep hill to a little river below. He hit his head on a wet rock as he landed.
His head spins as he weakly holds himself up, feeling the stream flow around his body. He could barely open his eyes as he held a hand over his forehead.
“Agh.. dear Odin..” he muttered, pushing himself out of the stream, laying in the grass as he took deep breaths. The moon peeked through the thick layer of tree leaves up above. R/n was surprised he hadn’t fallen earlier in the dark forest. His rest was cut short as he saw the light of a torch in the darkness. He got up hurriedly- clawing at the ground to propel himself forwards and away from the enemy.
He rushed through the forest, paying attention to where he put his foot as he ran, he dared not glance back in fear Viggo’s henchmen would be hot on R/n’s tail. He saw the end of the forest as well as a camp.
“Darn it..” He cursed, had Viggo’s men camped all around the island? It was unlikely as this camp was on the other side, and he hadn’t heard them say anything about another campsite. R/n swallowed and looked back, Viggo’s men were close- but he couldn’t run into some random camp! There was no way he would run back in their arms- he just got out.
With a groan, he turned to the right, running along the edge of the forest. He stopped dead in his tracks as he came face-to-face with a dragon. R/n hadn’t noticed it because of its black scales. It growled at him as he took a step back. Tears came to his eyes- if he hadn’t been terrified of getting caught- now he had to worry about a dragon eating him.
“Please..” He begged the dragon as opened his palms, showing that he wasn’t going to attack as he backed up. The dragon growled- taking a step forwards.
R/n’s head whipped around as Viggo’s men yelled- they were right there. He looked back at the dragon whose attention was on the men.
“They’ll kill me if they find me- please leave me be.” R/n begged, taking a step to the side, hoping to walk around the dragon and then run for it. The dragon paid him no attention as more voices came from the camp. The dragon pounced away, growling. R/n sighed, taking no time to start running away from there.
A loud roar and an explosion made him look back- there were more dragons and they had riders- they were fighting Viggo’s men. R/n sighed- they were buying him some time, unintentionally. He ran off, not as quickly as before as he knew they’d take longer to find him.
The sun was rising over the horizon as R/n came to a stop- he was done. He had run all over the island and he was too tired to run at all. He dropped to his knees, then he fell to the side into a fetal position. He breathed- his chest hurt and he put a hand onto his chest to regulate his breathing. His mouth was dry and it was uncomfortable to close his mouth as a result.
He knew that Viggo’s men were leaving soon. The island was only a pitstop till they got to the true destination. It had been R/n’s last chance of freedom, he knew there would be a low chance of him getting out after this island. But now he was stranded. He knew that he was in no more danger as there’d be no way they’d be late just for some scum captive.
A smile dared to show up on his face as he laid on his back. He raised both hands up in celebration. He’d gotten away from that mutt. The celebration was cut short as he heard voices. He lowered his arms immediately. He held his breath- listening.
“I don’t know what Toothless is doing!” A boy’s voice exclaimed. R/n couldn’t tell if it was a boy or man- the pitch of the voice was weird.
R/n turned to lay on his stomach, looking over the edge of the little hill he was on. The dragons and their riders were on the beach part of the island and R/n’s eyebrows furrowed as he recognised the black dragon. It was sniffing around- was it looking for R/n?
He cursed himself for choosing to be so close to the edge of the island. But he had needed to see Viggo’s ships leave.
“For Odin’s sake..” He muttered, what was he to do?
The dragon’s head shot up and it looked right at R/n who ducked, hoping the dragon didn’t see him. He cursed at his wishful thinking- it was a dragon! He hurriedly turned around, quietly climbing down the hill he’d been on. His legs ached but he pushed forwards- especially upon hearing the dragon growl and take after him. It wasn’t flying- but it was still fast. Its rider shouted for the dragon to stop as he and his friends (along with their dragons) ran after the black dragon. R/n got pretty far before the dragon got to him- jumping onto him. His back slammed against the ground and he groaned. The dragon breathed down his face- it growled, opening its mouth and R/n stared down its throat as it readied to blast R/n’s face off.
“No!” Its rider yelled, pulling the dragon off of R/n who turned to his side, letting out an audible “haaaa” sigh.
“Are you okay?” The rider asked and R/n turned his head to look at him. The.. boy was a brunette and he had his hand out for R/n to take. R/n looked at the dragon who looked guilty.
“I’m.. Oh dear Odin..” He laughed- it wasn’t one of happiness, but one where one’s body can’t contain any more stress and fear and the emotions came out as laughter.
The brunette frowned, he knelt down to where R/n laid.
“Did my dragon hurt you?” He asked worriedly.
R/n did indeed look as if he’d been torn up by a beast- he was bleeding in multiple places and he had hit his head- even if he hadn’t seen what it looked like, he was sure there was blood.
“No.. Your dragon is fine.” R/n said, the adrenaline of the situation was wearing off and he could feel the pain his body had been dragged through.
The brunette nodded, his friends were standing a bit away, looking at R/n and the boy.
“I’m Hiccup- what.. What happened to you?” He asked, helping R/n stand up.
“Pleased to meet you, Hiccup. I’m R/n. May I ask if you work for Viggo?” R/n had to make sure.
“What? Absolutely not.” Hiccup shook his head, eyebrows furrowed. R/n nodded, holding his head as it started to seriously hurt.
“Well, Viggo’s men happened. I'm now an ex- prisoner of his. I ran away last night.”
“I’m so sorry. Do you have a way home? Do you by any chance have a dragon?”He asked, holding R/n by his shoulders as he swayed side to side- about to fall.
“Hiccup! What’s going on?” A girl yelled.
R/n’s head spun, his vision turned to nothing as he blacks out- falling into Hiccup’s hands.
>><<
R/n felt good, he opened his eyes to see a wood ceiling. He turned his head as he heard the sparkle of fire beside him. He groaned, sitting up and looking around. He didn’t recognise where he was, he got out of the makeshift bed he’d laid on. He noticed the bandages all over his body, some on his hands and some on his head- he pulled off the ones on his head and threw them onto the bed.
He neared the door which he was sure led to the outside. The bright sun blinded him and he shielded his eyes with his hand, he looked around, he saw the ocean at his footsteps. The house was above the ocean, but if he were to fall off he'd have to hope the grass beneath him would soften the fall.
The sound of a dragon landing came from right beside him and he looked over.
“Morning, how do you feel?” A blonde girl asked as she got off her dragon. R/n had to take a step back to really take a look at the colourful dragon.
“Hah!” She laughed, “Stormfly is quite something, isn’t she?”She laughed. R/n could only nod in agreement.
“I’m Astrid, it’s good to see you awake.” The two shook hands.
“R/n. I’m R/n.” He introduced himself too, Astrid smiled at him.
“If you’re feeling better, you need to come with me and meet the others. And they have their questions.” She warned.
“That’s fine. Do we..” He paused, looking at Stormfly “Fly? Or..?” he asked, looking back at Astrid who thought for a second.
“If you don’t want to fly we can walk, it’s not too far- it’s that hut there.” She pointed to a building not far off and R/n nodded.
“I’m sure you can take me out for a ride another time, huh?” R/n joked, Astrid laughed as she led him to the hut. Stormfly followed them, making her dragon sounds as she walked. R/n glanced back at her with a smile.
“We’re here” Astrid called out, making R/n jump a bit as he looked back at her.
“Finally” A short, dark haired boy said, glaring at Astrid and R/n.
“What took so long?” He taunted and Astrid punched him, making him whine. R/n snorted.
“Hey~ He looks kinda buff now.” A tall, lanky boy said, suddenly popping beside R/n. A similar looking girl appeared on the other side, touching R/n’s bicep.
“Wow~ He is~” She smirked, caressing the bicep before R/n pulled it away from her, walking back over to Astrid. She gave him a sympathetic look.
“That’s snotlout” She pointed to the short boy who huffed, puffing his chest out.
“And those are the twins, Tuffnut” She said and the boy puffed out his own chest.
“And Ruffnut.” The girl growled ‘sexily’ at R/n who looked away from her.
“Now we’re waiting on Hiccup and Fishlegs.” She sighed, looking around the open room.
R/n looked around the room. There was a fireplace in the middle which he walked over to.
Astrid followed him. The two sat at the stools around it.
“We rescue dragons from Viggo. We train them, heal them to health and we often let them out in the wild.” Astrid explained as R/n listened attentively, nodding his head along. The twins were goofing off in the background, messing around with snotlout.
“We also protect Berk from Viggo’s attacks.” Astrid continues.
“Berk?” R/n asks.
“That’s our home. It’s in the Barbaric Archipelago.” R/n nods. It had been a while since he’d been in the clouds.
R/n’s mind knew he’d been there, but as he tried to remember anything about it- his mind was blank. It was as if someone had wiped it clean. His mind was blocking the memories for whatever reason- he couldn’t understand why.
“Are you okay?” Astrid asked, making R/n look at her. He had been staring at the fire burning.
“I’m great.. Astrid.” He paused before saying her name, he had forgotten it for a second.
She smiled at him. She had talked about all the other time’s they’d come face-to-face with Viggo, but she noticed R/n not listening to her.
Astrid and R/n looked at Hiccup and Fishlegs as they came in, chatting about dragons.
With a groan, Astrid got up and pulled Hiccup by the ear. R/n gave Hiccup an awkward smile as Astrid dragged him over to R/n.
“Good to see you awake R/n.” Hiccup said, taking a seat beside R/n and moving to be closer, Hiccup looked over R/n’s face.
“Uh.. Hiccup?” A smirk came onto R/n’s face as he noticed the red face Hiccup had.
“Ah- sorry. How- How are you?” He asked, sitting back up, glancing over at his friends as they wooed a bit. Hiccup laughed nervously.
“I’m okay, I feel.. Good.” He sighed, looking back at the fire.
“Let me look.” Fishlegs parted R/n’s long hair, taking a look at his scalp where the wound was.
R/n sat patiently, letting Fishlegs open the bandages on his arms and re-do them as he hummed.
“Everything has healed quite well but you need to be careful.” Fishlegs frowned at the h/c haired coloured boy.
R/n nodded and Hiccup pulled him up to stand.
“Great! Wanna fly around with me?” Astrid frowned at Hiccup.
“Toothless hates him- and he has to be careful, his wounds could open. And flying on a dragon is not careful!” Astrid argued as Hiccup dragged him off, R/n simply let Hiccup drag him around.
“Okay!”Hiccup yelled back. Astrid groaned, rubbing a hand over her eyes. The twins walked out, off to whatever stupid things they wanted.
Snotlout got too touchy-feely with Astrid and got punched.