Chapter Text
“There I was: me, and my inner Nut,” Tuffnut insists, as they all sit gathered in the clubhouse together.
They were trying to work on having Meatlug make Gronckle iron, until Tuffnut came back from the woods babbling nonsensically and normally Hiccup wouldn’t think much of it because of how much that happens but whatever this is, he seems genuinely shaken by. “What happened out there, Tuff?” Hiccup prods.
“It was dark. So dark it, Hiccup,” Tuffnut insists, throwing an arm around Hiccup’s shoulders and half-shaking him. “Not even the moon to light my merry way. And then all of a sudden, out of the darkness. Red eyes! Ferocious teeth! A growl that could peel the beak off a chicken!”
Chicken squawks warningly.
“Sorry, metaphor. It grabbed me, and tossed me around like a rag doll, a very handsome rag doll. And then, it left me for dead.”
It sounds like one of those ridiculous things he makes up but Hiccup is pretty sure there’s something more to it this time.
“Tuffnut, can you tell us anything else about what attacked you?” Fishlegs inquires.
“It was far too fast, too...cagey, too...quick, give me another adjective!”
“Ooh, how about, "imaginary?"” Snotlout drawls.
The others laugh.
Hiccup doesn’t. It sounds imaginary, but this is…
“Laugh and guffaw, if you must, but would an imaginary beast give you one of these?” Tuffnut demands, shoving his arm forwards to show one very real bite mark.
Whatever did that had very sharp fangs.
Toothless pushes his way forwards, sniffing at Tuffnut, ears cocking. He looks sort of worried? Maybe? The way he’s looking at it has Hiccup a little unsettled.
“And I even think it was drinking my blood,” Tuffnut complains, “I felt it!”
“Then why didn’t you get a better look at it” asks Snotlout.
“It all happened too fast,” Tuffnut insists.
“Alright,” Hiccup interrupts, “How about Fishlegs and I try to look this up and see if we can find anything?”
And hopefully, if it is nothing, this’ll just blow over.
***
Hiccup and Fishlegs spend a long time looking and come up with absolutely nothing.
“It's obvious we're all thinking the same thing,” Gobber interjects, popping up in the middle of them trying to talk to Tuffnut.
“Well, I can pretty much guarantee we're not, but, uh, why don't you tell us what you're thinking, Gobber,” Hiccup prompts warily.
“Lycanwing,” Gobber says, dragging out the word in a way that Hiccup really doesn’t appreciate, “Also less eloquently called a vampire dragon.”
Vampire dragon?
Uh yeah, he’s heard of those, in complete mythical legends.
“Vampires aren’t real,” Hiccup protests.
“Oh, they’re real alright,” Gobber insists, “The Lycanwing or vampire dragon is a rare beast, and a vicious one at that. They drink the blood of their victims and those who survive its bite are not actually survivors at all. They are doomed to a life as half-man, half-Lycanwing. At the height of every full moon, the condemned Viking transforms into a terrifying dragon! Wings the size of a house, teeth stronger than Gronckle Iron, fangs as long as spears. And a thirst… for blood.”
Tuffnut jerks back, yelping panickily.
“Tuff, the Lycanwing is a legend! It's not a real dragon! Gobber, have you ever seen a Lycanwing?” Hiccup interrupts.
“No…” he admits.
“Has anyone on Berk ever seen a Lycanwing?”
Snotlout and Fishlegs trade a look with each other.
“Not that I can recall,” Gobber admits.
“I rest my case,” Hiccup decides, satisfied. Toothless growls a little, nosing Hiccup’s arm. “What is it, bud?” he asks, frowning.
Toothless growls softly, looking between him and Tuffnut.
Unease rolls in his gut. “You’re not trying to tell me there actually is something to these legends, are you?”
Toothless yips.
Just once, he really wishes he knew exactly what Toothless was trying to say. Because if his dragon thinks that something’s wrong, something… probably is.
***
The whole Lycanwing thing doesn’t just get dropped like Hiccup was hoping. Tuffnut’s now convinced he’s about to die, no thanks partly to Snotlout, and then he locks himself in the stables of all things.
Honestly, the chaos his friends manage to get into sometimes. But at least it’s better than worrying obsessively about the dragon hunters, whoever exactly these people are, and Heather.
Heather, who betrayed them. Heather, who Hiccup once and maybe still does see as a sister. He still can hardly believe it. But she did and she joined Dagur and… Why?
The next time they see her, she’s going to be trying to kill them. Just like Dagur. Because… whatever Hiccup thought they had was only in his own mind, wasn’t it? Was Heather ever nice to him because she actually cared or was it just because she’s Heather and always sweet to everyone until… now?
So yeah, worrying about Tuffnut instead of all that is a good distraction.
Fishlegs finally finds a Dragon Eye lens that might actually help them, and they go to the stables to have a dark place to look at the information on it.
“Now am I crazy,” Hiccup says, trying really hard not to be nervous, “But is that a man with dragon wings instead of arms?”
“You aren't crazy,” Fishlegs agrees, looking over the information, “And there he is again, with fangs instead of some front teeth. Hiccup?”
If there’s actually something in the Dragon’s Eye about this, then… Maybe there is some truth it? Maybe? “Can you make out what this says?”
“’No man shall tread on these shores lest he become what he is most feared.’ That must be Lycanwing Island,” Fishlegs observes, pointing to a place on a map. “Hiccup, this Lycanwing, it could be, well, not a myth.”
Toothless growls worriedly again.
“I think Toothless is worried about this too,” Hiccup admits.
“Now that you mention it, the dragons have been acting a little weird around Tuffnut,” Fishlegs adds worriedly.
Ahh, great. There’s no way Tuffnut is actually turning into a dragon, is there? That doesn’t even seem possible. But if there’s something to this, they need to know now. “The island’s not far from here. Let’s check it out.”
***
The island unsettles Hiccup even from the air. He doesn’t even know what it is about it. Maybe it’s that there’s too many and too few trees at once and it’s too…
Something growls.
“Uh, Hiccup – ” Fishlegs starts.
“I hear it,” Hiccup agrees warily.
And then he hears it again. Branches snap in the trees but it’s coming from above them.
Toothless growls lowly, stiffening. Hiccup looks around nervously and then something comes crashing through the trees. He hardly gets the chance to see what it is, just that it looks entirely human, aside from wings on its back and enormous fangs. And it’s flying right at them.
Toothless takes off, spitting a plasma blast as the person – is that a person? – tries to follow. He hears some more very unhuman growls and then he sees a few more of the… dragons? flying out thought the trees after them.
They look like people, just – well, part dragon. They have wings on their backs and obvious fangs when their mouths are open and –
This is real. This is real.
“Oh, Thor. Oh, Thor,” Fishlegs recites panicked, voicing every bit of Hiccup’s thoughts as they fly away, trying to avoid the people-dragons or whatever they are but they won’t stop chasing, not even now that they’re up in the air.
Okay, okay, breathe.
This is ridiculous.
It should be easier to get through to a human dragon than a total dragon, right? Maybe?
“Stop,” Hiccup calls desperately, “We didn’t come here to hurt you.”
The human-dragons stop, hovering. “Why are you here?” He sounds like any normal person. Hiccup almost feels bad that that surprises him.
“One of my friends was bitten by a Lycanwing,” he explains in a rush, “We were trying to find out if they were real.”
“We look real to you, don’t we?” the man asks.
“Uh, yeah,” Hiccup agrees slowly.
“How is this possible?” Fishlegs asks nervously, “How could you just turn into a dragon? How…?”
“I don’t know where it began. Only that it is what we are now,” he replies evenly.
“So you just…. grow wings and fangs?” Hiccup asks weakly. That’s not so bad, is it? At least Tuffnut will still be Tuffnut, right? Just not very human at all. He can’t believe this is happening.
“Yes,” he agrees, “But we can’t let you leave.”
Toothless snarls, teeth barring.
“What?” Hiccup protests, eyes narrowing warily and fear spiking as the Lycanwings circle in closer. Any other circumstances, and he’d be curious to ask them more questions. “Why not? We have to get back to our friends.”
“I’m sorry about your friends,” the man replies, “But no one can know about our island.”
Breathe. Breathe.
There’s got to be some way to negotiate this without it getting messy. “Why not? We don’t mean you any harm.”
“So have said all the people who have come to our islands in the past and chased us from place to place, but they see us the same as dragons. They have enslaved us in the past. We cannot let that happen again.”
Oh.
Oh.
He feels sick. Of course, no one would treat a half-dragon, half-human like they’re even a person even if they are. “The dragon hunters?” Hiccup guesses.
“Yes,” another one of them agrees, eyes narrowed.
“We’ve been fighting the dragon hunters for… weeks now. We just ran into them,” Hiccup says, “We would never hurt a dragon and we would certainly never do anything to hurt you.” He pats Toothless’ head, who purrs. “Our dragons need us out there. All dragons need us out there. We can’t stay. But we won’t breathe a word of your island to anyone.”
The Lycanwings are exchanging glances with each other but Hiccup’s pretty sure they got through to them. That they’re telling the truth is obvious enough from Toothless and Meatlug – hopefully.
“Go then,” the leader tells them, “If you are really an ally of the dragons, and of our kind, you will always be welcome on our island. But be sure no one ever follows you here.”
“I promise,” Hiccup says sincerely.
He can only imagine just how serious it would be for them. He’s never seen a slave before but he knows it’s a thing, but no one would ever deny that a slave is still a human. He’s pretty sure a Lycanwing wouldn’t even get that. They’d just be seen as animals. That can talk.
Ugh.
It’s more awful than he can even find words for. He definitely needs to make sure that no one ever finds this place.
“Wait,” Fishlegs cuts in, “Is there any way to stop the transformation? Once someone’s been bitten? Is that what causes the transformation?”
“No.”
So that means maybe…
Okay, not that being a half dragon would be the worst thing out there but getting a sudden species change is still… Well, Hiccup can’t quite imagine that.
“Only a bite with the intent to turn will cause a transformation,” the man replies.
“But why would one of your people try to turn Tuffnut?” Hiccup protests.
“Perhaps it was carelessness. Perhaps he upset him. I could not tell you.”
“But there’s got to be a way to stop it, right?” Fishlegs asks, “I mean, not that there’s something wrong with your people. This is fascinating. I’ve got so many questions, maybe later? But…”
“If there’s a way to stop it, we know of nothing.”
Ah, great.
Hiccup’s gut drops. “Really, nothing? No plant or…”
“No.”
“Well.” They really better get back. “Thanks for… the information.” He offers them a final nod, before he and Fishlegs turn and take off. And he still can’t quite help throwing a few glances over his shoulder to make sure they aren’t being followed.
Just… meeting talking dragons who apparently used to be human – or well, they still are human – is a lot more unsettling than meeting a new dragon species somehow. And he’s actually got so many questions but now’s probably not the time.
“I really have so many questions for them,” Fishlegs pipes up, “But there’s got to be something we can do for Tuffnut, right?”
“Well, we don’t know if he was bitten with the intent to turn him,” Hiccup points out, taking a deep breath and trying to be logical, “And even if he was, we can still assure him that he’s still gonna be Tuff. He’s not becoming a feral, mindless animal like Gobber claimed.”
What if the dragon hunters try taking Tuff as their slave?
Norns.
He can’t even… This could get really, really messy. This is about the worst place out there to suddenly turn into a half-dragon.
The rest of their flight back to the Edge is mostly silent.
***
Hiccup has a really bad feeling by the time they get back to the Edge. Everything seems too quiet. “Where is everyone?” Fishlegs asks, as they fly over the clubhouse and then the stables to see no one.
“The Dome is closed,” Hiccup observes, frowning, “Maybe everyone’s in there?”
“Why would they be? The Edge isn’t under attack,” Fishlegs protests nervously.
“I don’t know,” Hiccup admits. Something’s wrong. Something’s wrong. “Let’s just fly in to get a closer look… carefully.”
He flies Toothless down, landing outside the dome. The Night Fury growls suddenly, ears twitching as he looks around. “What’s wrong, bud?” Hiccup asks.
Toothless growls again, sniffing the air.
Yeah, something’s definitely wrong.
Please tell him that Tuffnut didn’t go full-Lycanwing while they were gone and… And what, exactly?
“Hiccup, look out!” Fishlegs yells.
Toothless whirls around, snarling.
Hiccup’s mid-turning too when someone tackles him. He flails, half expecting it to be a dragon hunter or something, but no, it’s just –
“Snotlout? What are you doing?” Hiccup grumbles, trying to push him off.
His cousin just jumping him hasn’t happened in a long time and a part of him is half-expecting to get a fist to the face for something he doesn’t remember doing. He just knows his heart is pounding as he wriggles and tries instinctively to get himself free.
Snotlout just makes a growling noise that sounds entirely unhuman. And actually, are those wings starting to wrong on his back? Tiny wings, but still definitely there.
Oh. Oh no.
“Snotlout?” Hiccup asks warily.
Snotlout shoves him down and his cousin might be shorter than him now but he’s still stronger. He shoves Hiccup’s head down onto the ground and sideways and then just bites his neck.
Hiccup yelps. “What are you – “
Oh, Norns.
This isn’t happening this isn’t –
Snotlout’s got his head firmly pressed against Hiccup’s neck, though, and it sort of feels like he’s…
Uhh, sucking his blood?
Help.
Snotlout got turned too, didn’t he? Actually turned, unlike Tuffnut.
“Hiccup!” Fishlegs is still circling overhead, sounding panicked. “Snotlout, get off him!”
“Go!” Hiccup calls back to him, “I’ll handle this.” There’s no need for him to get bitten, too.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea, Hiccup,” Fishlegs argues. Meatlug comes swooping down, grabbing Snotlout and hauling him off. He starts trashing and flailing, trying to free himself.
Toothless jumps in then, climbing on top off Snotlout and sitting on him.
His cousin growls, squirming and flailing, and then groaning faintly, like what Toothless is doing hurts, and he knows the Night Fury would never actually hurt Snotlout so he doesn’t get what’s wrong.
Hiccup reaches up slowly, hand pressing to the stinging bite on his neck. It burns. Sharp and stinging and almost worse than what he thinks a bite should feel like. And it’s spreading. Like… like it’s running down through his neck, and…
This is not good.
Breathe. He’s got to be levelheaded.
“Snotlout? Did you get bitten too?”
“I got bitten like a dozen times, no thanks to Ruffnut,” Snotlout grumbles, and then makes a feral nearly hissing sound, “And I’m hungry and you taste good.”
What in the –
“Okay, but… maybe you should just try some normal mutton? Instead of human meat?” Hiccup offers, holding up his hands.
Uhh, the one thing he completely forgot to ask back on Lycanwing island was about the diet. It’s not all blood, is it? That could be a really big problem.
“That doesn’t help,” Snotlout argues, squirming, “And you taste better than Hookfang.”
He bit Hookfang?
Now that he’s talking, Hiccup can actually clearly see the….
Fangs?
They’re a whole lot bigger than normal teeth and… really, really sharp. Sharp enough to go through dragon scales, apparently. Great.
Where are the twins? And Astrid? And Gobber?
“Oh Thor, this is really bad,” Fishlegs supplies, panicked, still hovering on Meatlug but looking mostly like he has no idea what to do with himself.
“I know, Fishlegs. But we’ll figure this out.” At least, Hiccup hopes they will. The burning is getting worse.
“And I’m hungry. What is wrong with you, Hiccup?” Snotlout complains, thrashing and still trying to get away. “And it hurts. And don’t tell anyone I said that or I’m gonna deny it.”
Snotlout never says things hurt. But he is now and he looks downright miserable and maybe a little like crying, which means it must be really bad.
“And biting me… helped?” More like the blood part helped? But it’s too blunt a question to ask.
“It’s the only thing that does,” he whines.
Well then…
“Okay, alright, Toothless, let him up.” Even if he’s a little wary to know what that’s about to mean. But he already bit him. Doing it again won’t change anything.
“I really don’t think that’s a good idea, Hiccup,” Fishlegs protests.
Toothless growls in protest, looking worried.
“It’s okay,” Hiccup promises.
Toothless very reluctantly gets off him and then Snotlout is practically flying at him, tackling Hiccup onto the ground again.
“Is this really necessary?” he groans, wriggling around. Ouch. He’s gonna be sore from getting knocked over so many times, at this rate.
“Stop squirming,” Snotlout complains, shoving his face up against Hiccup’s neck.
Hiccup groans faintly and goes still. Might as well let him do… Whatever exactly this is.
It feels beyond weird. The burning is getting worse, spreading through his body. This isn’t what Snotlout meant by pain, is it? Because it’s just getting worse.
And that can only mean –
“Snotlout?” Hiccup asks, trying to ignore his sudden pulse of fear, hand lifting to try pushing him off, “You aren’t trying to turn me, are you?”
“What does that even mean?” Snotlout grumbles and then bites him again.
“Ow!” Hiccup tries to wriggle away. “Seriously?”
“I’m hungry,” he whines.
Uhh…
“I’m not sure I’ve got the amount of blood you’re hungry for,” Hiccup protests. He’s pretty sure there’s a very limited amount of blood that humans can lose.
“Fine, fine, I’ll stop. In a minute,” he mutters.
“I think you better stop right now, Snotlout,” Fishlegs demands, eyes wide.
“Shut up, Fishface or I’ll bite you,” Snotlout grumbles.
“It’s okay, Fishlegs,” Hiccup tries to tell him, even if he’s actually starting to panic himself.
Also, it’s downright weird to be talking with Snotlout’s face shoved right up against his neck. Well, it’s actually weird period.
“But Snotlout, can you answer me?” Because something’s wrong, and if this is what it feels like, then… “Because you get turned into Lycanwings if the one who bit you wanted to turn you. So…?”
“What?!” Snotlout demands, head jerking up, “So that means Ruffnut wanted to turn me? Next time, I’m biting her first!”
Wait, Ruff –
Oh, great. They’re all Lycanwings now, aren’t they?
“Well, she might also not have known what she was doing,” Hiccup offers weakly. The burn is still spreading. His entire body is throbbing now. And it feels like something is changing. Shifting. Turning. Because he is turning into one now, isn’t he? He can’t exactly say how he knows, just that he does know. A sort of gnawing dread that in minutes, he’s not going to be… this anymore.
This is how Tuffnut felt, isn’t it? And everyone was just laughing at him for it. Hiccup officially doesn’t find that funny at all anymore.
Not that being a dragon would be the worst thing in the world. It…. actually sounds nicer than being a human, in some ways. Maybe.
But it just… He’s not quite ready for a completely unexpected species change? He’s gonna need a few moments to actually process that, moments that he’s really not gonna be getting.
“Where are the twins? What happened after I left?” Hiccup presses, “And can I get up yet?”
“No,” Snotlout says, making no efforts to get off him. He’s got an arm sort of around Hiccup’s shoulder now, about as much as he can when Hiccup’s flap on his back. Strangely snuggly for Snotlout. He’d have less issue with it if the circumstances weren’t so disturbing and if he could actually breathe properly, which is a little hard with someone this heavy on top of his stomach. Ugh. But fine. He’ll just… wait this out. Not much else he can do, right? “And I don’t know,” Snotlout adds, “Ruffnut was dragging me around in the woods and then Tuffnut attacked her and I ran away. And then I heard them chasing me and then Ruffnut bit me a few hours later. And then… I got really hungry. And everything started hurting.”
Okay, uhh…
Just take this one step at a time. No need to panic about what this is going to mean or how they’re all officially dragons now.
Toothless pushes his way in finally, sniffing at Hiccup worriedly and growling none too happily at Snotlout.
“It’s okay, bud,” Hiccup promises exhaustedly because what else is he gonna say at this point? It’s too late for… regrets. And he thinks he knew somewhere inside of him on the flight back, that if Tuffnut was a dragon, it wasn’t gonna stay just special to him, “So where are the twins now?”
“Out in the woods. Apparently they can talk to Barf and Belch now that they’re fully… turned,” Snotlout says.
Hiccup jerks, eyes widening. “They can?”
“I don’t know,” he grumbles, “I thought I could understand Hookfang for a moment but then he took off.”
Yeah, typical enough for Hookfang.
Snotlout finally pulls back, sitting up. He scrubs his face off on his sleeve and Hiccup tries not to think too hard on how the blood smeared on his face was supposed to be inside of him. He feels sort of light-headed and dizzy but that could just as well be whatever change is happening, as it is the blood loss.
“Hungry anymore?”
“Not right now,” Snotlout says, “But it keeps coming back. And it still…” His face scrunches. Clearly it still hurts.
“Where’s Astrid?”
“Hiding in the Dome with Gobber.”
“Wise move,” Hiccup has to admit, “C’mon, Toothless. Let’s go find the others. And Snotlout? Maybe… Try not biting anyone else unless they’re already a Lycanwing?”
“Sure,” he offers unpersuasively.
Well, he’s done about all he can here. Time to find the others.
“Are you sure finding the twins is a good idea right now?” Fishlegs objects.
“I – ” Hiccup breathes out shakily. He’s starting to feel even more dizzy. This isn’t good. “I think I’m turning, too,” he admits, “Go stay with Astrid in the Dome until this is over with.”
Fishlegs eyes go wide. “You are? But that – that’s – ”
“I don’t know but hey, being a dragon isn’t bad, right?” He smiles weakly, patting Toothless’ head who purrs.
“Yeah, but…”
“I know, I know, I don’t really know what to think of this either but I’ve got to go find the twins.” Hiccup nudges Toothless forwards and they take off out over the woods again.
He never makes it there. The pain is getting worse. And worse. Bad enough that it feels hard to breathe and he feels dizzy, and –
He doesn’t remember slipping just that Toothless is yowling and they’re crashing, branches about to smack him in the face. “Sorry, bud,” Hiccup gasps out, struggling to regain control. He manages, enough that he’s able to slowly lower him down to the forest floor.
Maybe finding the twins isn’t a good idea, after all. Maybe he can just wait it out, out here.
He slips off Toothless, sliding to the ground. Toothless noses at him, worried.
“I’ll be okay,” he promises weakly, leaning against his side.
All he can do now is wait this out and try to breathe.