If We Had Wings - A Tuffnut Love Story (HTTYD/RTTE)

11

As Delta's talons latched onto the tusked dragon's back, it screeched in pain. It spun in the air, flinging her from it's scales. Once the tidal fury was steady in the air again, she took a moment to look around. Everything seemed to happen in slow motion. The dragon rescuers had been winning, but now the scene looked very different. Yes, she'd fought dragons before, but never ones as ruthless as these.

Delta was hesitating out of fear. One of the tusked dragons stuck Astrid with a stinger in it's tail, causing her to immediately fall out of the sky. Snotlout grabbed her before she could be collected by the heartless dragons. Next was Ruffnut. She fell from the sky, just barely being caught by Fishlegs and Tuffnut.

"Delta, look out!" She heard Hiccup screech, but it was too late. Before she knew what was happening, Delta felt a sharp pain in her hinde leg. Everything went black before she could even feel her own body rushing down through the wind.

• • •

Delta woke up to an unpleasant rocking from side to side. With an irritated groan, she opened her eyes, finding herself confined to a cage. There was thick wood on three of her sides, and one made of sea-green metal bars. However, her mind was still too woozy to think straight; whatever that strange dragon stung her with was wearing off, but still effecting her a bit.

"Delta, are you awake?" A familiar voice was finally able to bring her back to reality.

"Tuffnut?" She groaned groggily, "what..where are we?"

"We're on a hunter ship," Tuffnut replied bitterly, "they got us."

Delta's heart dropped to her stomach. "Is anyone else here?" She asked in worry.

"I don't know," the sand wraith answered, "I just woke up, too."

"Well, I hope you didn't assume you're completely alone," a new, sinister voice hissed from the shadows on the opposide side of the brigg. "We wouldn't want the two of you conspirering to escape, now, would we?"

Delta growled as she watched a dragon slither out into the light. It was one of the strange tusked ones that had attacked the rescuers. "Who are you?" She demanded, "why are you helping these hunters?"

"Oh, where are my manners," the dragon gurgled then bowed his head sarcastically, "my name is Johann, I'm the death gripper in charge around here."

"Death gripper..?" Delta mumbled to herself; so that's what these dragons were.

"Yeah, okay," Tuffnut squawked awkwardly, "so, uh, you know these hunters hunt dragons, right? And you're a dragon?"

Johann scowled at the sand wraith. "You'll come to learn quickly, these hunters are much more advanced than the pansies you're used to," he answered, "you and your little pack don't stand a chance."

"So you're working for them? Because you're too much of a coward to fight them?" Delta assumed menacingly.

The death gripper growled a low, terrifying gurgle and approached the bars of her cell. "I don't work for anyone," he corrected, "I work with them." He backed off before adding more casually, "besides, my species has nothing to fear; in fact, we're honoured by these humans....well, those who stay in line."

"And those who don't?" Tuffnut wondered nervously.

Johann gurgled in laughter, though it gave Delta chills. "The death grippers that choose not to follow my lead a forced to," he explained, "the human I work with has created quite an impressive mind-control substance from my venom."

Now things were beginning to make sense. That was why the other grippers didn't listen to Delta. They weren't killing machines, they were under the control of their sinister leader, Johann. "You're a traitor," Delta hissed, "a stain among all dragons!"

"Call me what you will," Johann groaned in an uncaring tone, then smirked, "I'm not the one behind bars."

Just then, the sound of footsteps came from the stairs that led down into the brigg. Delta and Tuffnut peered out of their separate cells to see a tall man with white hair approaching calmly. "There you are," he called to the death gripper, who gurgled in response, "keeping our newest guests company?"

Johann, only able to understand a bit of human language, responded, "they shouldn't be left alone, you moron. You're lucky I decided to guard them."

"You did good today, Johann," the man cooed. It was odd; his voice came out soothingly, but there was no emotion in it whatsoever. "No night fury, of course," he grumbled, then turned to Delta with a grin, "but you did find this..whatever she is. She could be useful."

Johann sighed dramatically and rolled his eyes. "You humans are so unintelligent."

The man turned back to the death gripper and signalled toward the stairs. "Come now, I'll kill that night fury yet," he chuckled.

Johann gave Delta and Tuffnut an menacing growl, "for your own good, you'd better behave." Then he left with the hunter.

After a few tense minutes of silence, Delta quaked, "I've never been so close to a human before."

"Really?" The sand wraith squawked in surprise, the rambled on, "well, I guess that makes sense, since you spent a lot of time in the ocean. Not many humans have gills." He gurgled in amusement, but his joke was unable to lift Delta's spirits.

"Do you have any idea what he said?" She asked timidly.

"I'm not..entirely sure," Tuffnut answered, "he either said 'I'm gonna massage that night fury with my toes', or.." He trailed off.

"..Or what?" Delta urged.

The sand wraith hesitated. Delta could hear him shift uncomfortably in the cell beside her. "Or he wants to kill the night fury," he finally groaned, "..he wants to kill Hiccup."