Hallowtober 2024 Day 14 - Animal Attack
She can’t believe that she has to compete with a human for the affections of a Night Fury, for this north’s King of the Dragons no less. She is a dragon, fierce and powerful. He is a lowly human, capable of only cruelty. Not to mention that he’s missing part of a leg and that there’s no muscle on him at all. What does this meek little thing have that she doesn’t?
She tries to fire at him, the Night Fury fires back. She rips him off his back to end the dragon’s offensive servitude, he saves him and won’t look at her for the entire rest of the journey.
Well, the human is not going to be a problem any longer.
After she lured him away from his tent in the middle of the night, she struck his chest with her claws, throwing him to the forest floor. Without their horrible weapons, humans are vulnerable and this one is especially weak. He doesn’t stand a chance as she bites onto his right thigh and pulls him back when he tries to run, tearing at his flesh. His screams fill the forest, but she knows the other humans can’t hear him.
She throws him into the nearest tree and he hits his head, lying still between its roots as the hit was dizzying. When he tries to sit up with his head pounding, bleeding from the claw marks on the side of his chest and the torn flesh of his right thigh, she realizes he’s not dead yet.
Her claws sink into his left thigh with a growl and another pathetic cry leaves him. Screaming and crying, it’s the only form of communication these animals are capable of.
“Toothless!” He holds his hands up in a sad little attempt to protect his head and soft organs from her claws and her teeth. Without armored skin, with no large teeth or claws, without fire, he doesn’t stand a chance. She’ll show him exactly how useless his meager defense is when she bites down on his right arm and it immediately snaps under the pressure of her teeth.
He cries out, his eyes are wide with fear and she wonders how he likes being scared for once.
The taste of him floods her tongue as she bites down harder, as she shakes with her head and the bones of his arm are crunched to countless pieces and his flesh tears. Blood pours from her jaws, drips down to the ground and soaks his tunic. He can scream as much as he wants, the other humans won’t be able to save him.
“TOOTHl-egh!” She cuts his call off the second time by putting her free paw on his throat and he chokes. Her weight threatens to crush his larynx and he gazes up at her, knowing that there is exactly zero he can do to stop her.
He’s dying tonight and the Night Fury will be free of him at last.
-XOXOX-
When Hiccup wakes up, he has no idea for how long he’s been out.
It’s hard to breathe, he’s wheezing through a throat that’s bruised to Hell. He’s in bed in his tent, he realizes that much. His left hand settles on his chest, it’s been bandaged. It and his thighs feel like they’re burning, he can feel the stitches pulling.
None of the pain compares to his right arm, however.
There’s a whine and Hiccup finds Toothless staring down at him. He’s in bed with him and licks his cheek.
“... Bud?” He tries to smile, voice barely a breathy whisper. He’s only vaguely aware of what happened to him. A dragon attacked him, he knows that much. How could he ever forget the way her teeth crushed him so easily and tore flesh from bone.
Her teeth.
Tore flesh from bone.
While Toothless sits up and the bed creaks beneath his weight, they both look down at his right arm.
Or what’s left of it.
Fishlegs or Gothi, whoever operated on him, managed to save a portion of his forearm, but all the rest of it is gone, his hand included. There is no reaction from him upon seeing the stump, though his dragon watches him closely for one. All he can do is put his head back down and sigh, his eyes closing. A part of him already knew during the attack that the limb was lost.
How on Midgard is he going to make Toothless’ tailfin now?
“I don’t know…” It hurts to talk, but he swallows and does it anyway. “What I… did wrong.”
With a croon, his dragon lies back down and rests a foreleg on his stomach, carefully missing his injuries. The truth is that he did nothing wrong. For some reason that even he doesn’t understand, the Light Fury targeted Hiccup. Why she thought getting rid of him would bring them closer together is anybody’s guess.
Fortunately, the Night Fury arrived just in time. He was already stirring when he started noticing that his human was no longer with him. The Light Fury tried to fight him over his fate, but in the end, she fled.
After moments of quiet, his human’s new reality must be sinking in, because Toothless can hear a pained gasp and he watches as tears come to Hiccup’s eyes.
“I… I lost… my arm,” he realizes quietly, swallowing the lump in his bruised throat. “I can’t… I can’t… make… anymore of your… tailfins… I’m sorry, Bud.”
It doesn’t matter how much his throat hurts, how his voice is inaudible to any ears that aren’t a dragon’s, but he still apologizes.
Toothless whines at him and carefully scoots closer before nuzzling his cheek.
“I’m sorry…” He whines again, there’s no need to apologize. He’ll make another tailfin, he’ll make many more creations in life, Toothless is certain of that. As for the Light Fury, she is just one dragon of many. One day they’ll find someone who’s willing to take the package deal that is them. Maybe not now, but one day.
-XOXOX-
IIIIIIII have such beef with this pic. Because this pic looks 👌👌👌 on Procreate, but the second it leaves my art program of choice, it looks so much darker and the colors duller. And this is the lightened version! And it looks baaaad on Procreate!
@mr-business-whump was kind enough to help me out with this one!
