Tell Them I Was Happy [Part II]
Tell Them I Was Happy Crimsxnflxwerz Rating: Explicit Pairing: Hijack Warnings: Sexual Activities Involving a Minor; Depression; Mentions of Infanticide; Child Abandonment; Non-con; Attempted Suicide; Other Possibly Triggering Events Summary: Hiccup was born weak. And all of Valka’s sleepless nights and all of Stoick’s heartfelt prayers couldn’t change that. And so, the Chief had to set the example, because Hooligans’ were strong- and there was no room for the weak. Notes: Virgin Sacrifice!Hiccup; Dragon Deity!Jack
Part I Part II
Hiccup found the lonely darkness almost unbearable.
It was the night of the New Moon and the young Viking shivered in the alter, the entire place dark, like someone had come along and covered everything in coal dust. He lay still though, wondering when his misery would end. He couldn’t even end his own life- but if he could… would he?
No, he had to stay alive for his family.
But everything hurt; especially his rear where the Deity toyed with him. What was he going to become to Jokul Frosti? His mortal pet? He recalled the torn corpse of the last sacrifice, and he almost wished for that instead of the long, painful torcher he was bound to go through with this monster. At first he thought the beast kind, his deep, dragon voice sounding wise- ancient. But that ideal had been completely crushed when Jokul had taken his human form. The boy was coy and dangerous, not to mention confusing. Why was he so different in each of his forms? And more importantly, why had Jokul spared Hiccup?
Was Hiccup not a sacrifice in his eyes? Was he not simply his play-thing? Why would he leave him be, if Hiccup meant nothing to him?
Curling in on himself in an attempt to conserve heat, Hiccup began to drift off. It was probably due to the fear, maybe even the cold. Maybe he was dying, he humored, since he hadn’t eaten in a while. Painful aches invaded his stomach at the thought of food. Sure, he didn’t eat much while he was free, but that didn’t mean he didn’t eat at all. He remembered a time when he and Toothiana would cook together. The other boys would tease him for learning the trade of a wife, but he didn’t pay them any mind. Doing things with Tooth made him happy, and that was that.
And while he was thinking back on his memories with Tooth, Hiccup settled down into a frigid sleep.
--
“Hey, Hic!” a happy voice greeted the young Viking as he entered the cabin. He smiled at his greeter, waving shyly back at her in reply. Looking back at the door, Hiccup swallowed a lump in his throat. He wasn’t supposed to be here, in the dining hall kitchen, with the other young maidens preparing for the feast tonight. He was supposed to be out there, in the roaring winds and biting cold, learning how to fend for himself. The other boys were doing it, but if he were to make any attempt, he would surely perish.
Besides, he reassured himself with the information that not all the girls were here cooking. Merida, Astrid, Ruffnut, and many other young female Vikings were out with the boys, probably showing them up in every way. Though, turning towards the room, he realized that maybe he was the only boy in the room.
“I didn’t think you would make it!” Toothiana said gleefully, running up to him and pulling him into a hug by his waist. Hiccup hummed happily, before hugging her back tightly. The female Viking was the same height as him, which made her hugs feel like he was a stray building block settling down into the bigger structure. It just felt right.
“Yeah, the wind is really whipping today,” Hiccup sighed as they parted, moving along with her to the prep tables. They didn’t have many spices and such to work with, only the things they managed to store away from the summer, and even that they needed to use sparingly or else run out. The Vikings mostly ate meats, but since they were fortunate to have the right kind of soil for some vegetables, they managed to work that into each meal as well. Besides, a diet of mostly red meat could actually be quite harmful. Not that any of the bigger Vikings would agree, unfortunately.
“Well, I hope you got your fill of the cold,” Tooth laughed. “Because it’s gonna get hot in here real soon.”
The two of them helped clean and cut vegetables, while the older women prepared the meats- skinning and trimming. Hiccup wanted to learn eventually how to properly skin an animal, because in all honesty, it seemed more useful than perfecting his battle cry. As anyone who’s ever really listened to him knew, he was a pacifist. He would never put someone’s life on the line unnecessarily. He thought that if they only sat down and spoke to their adversaries, that they could come to some kind of agreement.
Sure, their biggest adversary was the deity who resided beneath their village, the one who needed to be sedated with gifts and sacrifices every spring in order to quell the raging storms and bring warmth to their land again. It wasn’t a fairytale either, as they learned the hard way what happened when the deity didn’t receive his offering. Hiccup shivered at the story, nearly 30 Vikings died of frost bite that year.
“Everything alright, Hic?” Tooth nudged him, plopping some more carrots into the pot at their feet. Hiccup sighed, his eyes falling to the skinned potato in his hands.
“Y-yeah, Tooth, just thinking…” he said, resuming the monotonous cutting of vegetables.
“Thinking about what?” she prodded. Hiccup smiled softly at her concern.
“I was actually thinking about the naming ceremony.” the boy managed to say, despite the gnawing feeling in his gut. Tooth looked over sympathetically at him. She didn’t have to worry about it, since girls didn’t participate in the naming ceremony. Some girls complained that this was unfair to them, but others decided that it gave them more of a free reign on their lives. If they wanted to go out and fight with the men, they were allowed to. If they wanted to stay inside and care for the younger Vikings, they could do that, too. The men, though, were expected to want to sacrifice their lives for their village.
Who would want that? To die for a God he didn’t even know or believe in. To perish in a fruitless attempt to be someone he was not. Wouldn’t it be better for him to help in the ways he actually could? Like in cooking, or inventing. Those things, he was good at, but the village would apparently have none of that from a strapping, young man.
“Hiccup, that’s a year from now,” Tooth said, although the worry she felt too didn’t leave her voice. “And besides, nothing bad is going to happen. The village might be tough on you, but your father is the chief… and I’d say he’s proud of you.”
Hiccup nodded solemnly, not looking up to meet her gaze.
“Besides, no matter what happens, I’ll always be here for you, alright?” she smiled sweetly at him, punching him in the shoulder. He laughed, rubbing his arm where she hit him. He finally looked back at her, his eyes lighting up at her promise.
“Thanks, Tooth.” he murmured, dropping the cut pieces of his potato into the mixture. “You’re a good friend.”
--
Hiccup jerked awake, his head knocking against the cold ground. He groaned, about to slip his eyes back shut, almost disappointed that he hadn’t died yet, when he felt something warm pressed around him on all sides. Feeling his heart pound, he let his eyes widen until he could at least make out shapes in the dark. But even after a few moments, everything was still pitch black.
He didn’t want to move, because whatever was curled around him was making him so comfortably warm. Against his bare skin, it felt like glossy scales, the heat pressing right up against him before drawing back, like a large animal breathing deeply in sleep. Draped over him was a velvety material, which seemed to be trapping the warmth and keeping the cold out. Hiccup let his brain process the situation for a moment, not wanting to freak out and startle his personal heater.
Thinking really hard about his predicament, he concluded that the only thing that could be keeping him warm right now was a dragon. The question was, which one? Most dragons were bloodthirsty, attacking first and often fatally. The ones that didn’t pose much of a threat to humans were too small to keep him warm. This dragon was bigger than him, with smooth scales, and velvety wings. Taking a deep breath, Hiccup tried to gauge the kind of fire the dragon produced. Sometimes he could tell by the scent.
The Monstrous Nightmare’s fire was like a liquid, and gave off a musty scent. The Gronckle’s fire was explosive, and gave off a gassy scent, like sulfur. This dragon was warm and dry, reminding him of a fireplace, giving off a smell of burning wood and coal. He closed his eyes again, taking in the much-needed heat. He wondered if this dragon was here because it saw him shivering. He’d witnessed motherly-like qualities in dragons before, so why not now? He probably didn’t look like a Viking at all, and he was stripped down, therefore not a threat. He only wished he could see what the dragon looked like.
Feeling the cold leave his body, Hiccup felt his eyelids growing heavy. As he was drifting off, though, a familiar sound began- softly at first, but quickly becoming louder. It was a clear, melodic clicking.
Almost immediately, he felt the body pressed around him shifting. The wing draped over him moved, letting a soft light spill in over Hiccup’s face. He blinked, trying to allow his eyes to adjust, since everything was a grey blur. He felt the dragon growl menacingly, as if it were protecting it’s young. Though it was a strange noise, since it was for him, and dragons didn’t often enjoy interacting with humans. Maybe, Hiccup considered, Jokul Frosti had a bad reputation with the other dragons.
‘Looks like you’ve made a new friend,’ the dark voice sent shivers through him. ‘I haven’t seen this one in a long time.’
Once Hiccup’s eyes adjusted to the light, he took the opportunity to look over his protector. The dragon was smaller than others, but it was also long- sleek- and pitch black. Its eyes were slanted threateningly, a mix of gold and green stood out against its thinned pupil. The dragon’s throat glowed a muted blue, like it were preparing to attack. Hiccup felt his mouth go dry, he recognized this dragon.
“A nightfury?” he croaked, his voice quiet and scratchy from dehydration. He saw that the dragon noticed he was awake, but still stood firm in its guarding posture.
‘Yes, you are correct.’ the voice nearly purred in his head. Hiccup looked up at Jokul Frosti’s dragon form, his eyes wide with shock still. The fear was yet to set in. ‘Why do you look so surprised?’
Hiccup swallowed dryly, looking back at the nightfury, before casting his gaze down. “I’ve never seen one up close before.”
Jokul moved slowly around the alter, wrapping his tail around it and settling his body as if to trap Hiccup and the nightfury. Though, instead of looking threatening, he lowered his head down into the snow. The nightfury huffed in distrust, but otherwise let his flame die out, curling back around Hiccup. The small Viking looked out at Jokul, seeing that the dragon was just watching them, curiously.
“Why did you stop?” Hiccup said after a moment, his face heating up in a burning blush.
The dragon looked up through lidded eyes questioningly, as if he didn’t understand what Hiccup was trying to get at. Hiccup continued to blush, and finally Jokul looked like he smirked.
‘Oh, why did I leave you be, instead of going through with my threat?’ the beast laughed in his head. He purred suggestively, ‘why? Would you have liked me to continue?’
The color suddenly drained from Hiccup’s face, and he looked a little sick at the thought. No- he didn’t want that to happen. He had been scared, cold, and hurting. Of course he didn’t want Jokul to violate him like that. He thought he was going to die, and to pile that on top of it had practically been enough to stop his heart right there.
“Why did you spare me the pain and humiliation?” Hiccup asked again, attempting to ignore the dragons provocative attitude. The nightfury growled softly against him, keeping its eye on Jokul. Hiccup felt bolder in the protective embrace of the dragon. At least it didn’t have any sinister intentions, just to protect.
‘I saw your dedication to your people, and it threw me off-guard,’ the beast answered after a moment. The dragon’s gaze shifted away from Hiccup. ‘The other sacrifices were cowards, pleading for their lives, willing to give up the safety of their own family so that they may go free. I find it disgusting. Even I, Jokul Frosti, know that family should come before pride or honor, always.’
Hiccup flushed in anger upon hearing about the other Vikings. He and his father, and everyone else, had always mourned their deaths. They held vigils, and carved their names in stone, so that they would never forget them. And those Vikings would readily trade the lives of the villagers in exchange for freedom? Jokul would freeze the town, kill their crops, and those who survived the cold would starve before the next spring.
And they said that he wasn’t fit to be a Viking, fit to be Stoick’s son, fit to rule.
If anything, his kindness and sacrifice made him over-qualified.
“So what now?” Hiccup asked Jokul Frosti, and the beast lifted his head. He stared down at the boy and his dragon, his eyes narrowed.
‘You cannot return to the village now, you must stay here with me. That was out agreement.’ he said firmly in Hiccup’s mind. ‘But since I do not wish to kill you, I will make you my wife instead.’
Hiccup blushed, half-hidden behind the nightfury’s wing. He furrowed his eyebrows, thinking of all the married couples on Berk. None of them where as ruthless towards their wives as Jokul was to him. A-and the wives were all women. He was not a woman… he couldn’t bear children, so what was the point of making him Jokul’s wife?
“W-wife?” Hiccup stuttered, still quite embarrassed by the notion. “B-but what would be the p-point of that? I’m a male, and so are you, nothing would come out of the relationship.”
Jokul looked as if he were baffled by the young Viking’s statement. He quickly recovered, though, uncurling his tail from the alter and bringing it up to wrap around himself. He glowed softly, humming a soft melody, and shifted into his human form right in front of Hiccup. The boy was still confused and awed by how that happened. Sure, it was magic, and he guessed that only dragons could use such things. He wished he could use magic as well, it probably could have gotten him out of the mess he was in currently.
Jokul approached the boy and the dragon carefully, receiving a defensive growl from the nightfury. He growled in return, the noise sounding much less threatening, though, in his human form. The nightfury still stiffened at the noise, laying its head down closer to Hiccup.
When he was close enough, the deity crossed his arms, watching Hiccup curiously.
“As a lone deity, I often crave company. It’s hard to live in an ice cave under a village full of people, and not feel like you’re missing something terribly important. I’ve been up on the surface before, disguised as a human. I’ve seen the families looking on at each other with love in their eyes.” Jokul explained, a look of abandon crossing his face. “This, my human form, is my original form. I was never meant to be this way, but when the Vikings stopped treating me as one of their own, I decided to take up the form of their enemy. If I could not win them over with kindness, I would scare them into submission. It was my last option.”
Hiccup was speechless as he listened to the beast. What was he trying to say? That he was once part of the Viking’s families? That he was once welcomed up there with them? That didn’t make any sense. There was never any story that his father told about the deity being a part of their tribe. He’d never got the sense that the relationship between the Vikings and the deity had ever been anything but violent.
“That doesn’t make sense,” Hiccup argued. “Are you telling me that my village- my father- lied to me?”
Jokul looked on with his eyes narrowed. He turned his head to the side, obviously expecting this sort of reaction from him. The nightfury seemed to relax at his almost defensive behavior, its green gold eyes focused on the deity.
“Why would I have any reason to deceive you?” he said angrily. He growled again, his eyes flashed an angry blue, like fire. “Is it really that surprising that your village is full of ignorant, selfish people? We lived peacefully, and then the dragons came to our village looking for food, and the soothsayer said that it’s kill or be killed, and they all believed her. When I tried to speak up against her, they turned their backs on me. So- I turn my backs on them!” In his hand, a long Sheppard’s staff appeared to form out of the snow and ice at his feet. He lifted it and brought it back down harshly, sending a cold blast of wind right at the young Viking and nightfury. Hiccup shivered, feeling the hairs on his skin stand up. He was afraid of this man- this thing- and arguing with him wasn’t doing any good. But he wasn’t going to sit around and take this. Sure, his village tended to have some meat-heads, but there were people who didn’t want to fight the dragons. Toothiana, Merida, his mother; they fought only to defend themselves and others, sparing a dragon when they could. And not to mention himself. Despite the fact that he wasn’t able to kill a dragon- just according to his physical strength- morally, he would never harm one. He would rather study them, document their interesting features and learn from them. He learned a lot more when the dragons were still alive.
“We aren’t all like that!” Hiccup protested, rubbing his bare arms to try and bring back some warmth. His voice trembled, he was scared, but Jokul was wrong. “Some of us never wanted this violence. Some of us would rather die than kill a dragon.”
Jokul Frosti’s angry glare lifted some, into a confused expression. He bared his teeth in frustration, narrowing his eyes. He knew very well that not every Viking was cruel, but he hadn’t met very many pacifist ones. They all seemed to want bloodshed, violence, and would not settle for a compromise. They wanted everything, even when they couldn’t have it, at least not peacefully. The only Viking he’d ever met who wasn’t like the others was a woman who cared deeply for the dragons, and a person who was just curious, a person who spared the beasts from the other Viking’s rage whenever she could. That person was Valka. He hadn’t seen her in a long time, but looking at this boy now, he saw her in him. He wondered if they were related.
“If you turn your back on everyone, it’s no wonder you get lonely down here, but that is no one’s fault but your own,” Hiccup snapped, rather bravely, he thought. Jokul could kill him at any moment, the nightfury protecting him or not. “I will never agree to be your wife! I would rather you killed me, it would be better than living with someone so heartless.”
Hiccup clamped a hand over his mouth, his eyes a little wide. He couldn’t believe he’d just said that. That he’d just told someone something so horrible. He wasn’t meant to say those things, but something about the way the beast made assumptions just made his heart lurch painfully. He thought of all those people who loved him, those people who wouldn’t harm a fly, and he felt a pain so strong in his chest, that he couldn’t breathe right. He never wanted to be cruel so badly in his life. Never wanted someone to feel sorry so badly in his life. Or at least, feel something, other than anger, in the case of the beast.
Jokul, visibly taken aback by Hiccup’s words, sneered at the young Viking. The deity turned his back to him, humming softly, and letting the light transform him back into a dragon.
‘No matter, you will still remain here,’ he growled out in Hiccup’s head. ‘You will stay here until you grow old and weary. You will never leave- I will make sure of that. You will never see the light of day again, let alone your friends and family.’
And with that, Jokul slipped away, leaving the Viking boy with his dragon. The nightfury looked on at him with curiously worried eyes. He felt the burning pinpricks of the first drops of tears at his eyes. Hiccup buried his face against the dragon’s warm scales, feeling comfort in the wing wrapped carefully around him as he cried. The dragon began purring, attempting to sooth the boy, but nothing it could do would help.
And Hiccup could do nothing, either.