Chapter Text
When Morgan wanted to be helpful, it absolutely did not mean that he wanted to be staying behind, safe and sound, while everyone else fought the screaming terrors throughout the night. At the very least, the villagers could be grateful for the weapons he provided, but no, it’s always “Morgan, stop giving us weapons that have sliding puzzles in them!”, “Morgan, no one wants to fight their own weapon!”, or, simply just “MORGAN!!!”. It wasn’t his fault that no one was any fun at all when it came to puzzles. He lived on a cliff where no one had any imagination or fun. The only reprieve was when the blacksmith–an old family friend who barely tolerated Morgan–would inevitably turn his back for a second, and Morgan would run outside to try and help with his latest invention. Or to “help” others struggling with his masterful additions to the standard weapons.
He was waiting for the perfect moment to escape when the noise outside was suddenly hushed for a horrible, terrifying, moment. All of a sudden, there was the sound of thunder crashing, followed by a scream that “Superior” was there.
Morgan considered, for just a second, that maybe he shouldn’t run outside when the most dangerous dragon known by his village was on the attack. But, Morgan was not a very smart man when it came to his own safety.
He ran outside to the horror of the blacksmith and everybody watching him, but they were too busy fighting for their lives to actually stop him, other than soft cursing and loud yelling to get out of there. Luckily, Morgan had had the foresight to prepare his newest invention for quick use when he was planning his escape. Instead of having to hook the net into all the proper places while he was out there with the dragons, he could just shoot the net into the air and–hopefully capture a dragon with its hard metal. He rolled his net catapult to one of the cliffs surrounding the village. He only had one shot at a time and hadn’t gotten the foresight to bring extra nets. He didn’t think he’d actually get this far, since he was captured and thrown back inside by now on any usual night when the dragons attacked.
He moved the scope, aiming for the back of one dragon that was causing problems for three of the villagers, when the unmistakable screech followed by thunder rang out once more. Flying above the trees, Superior was readying its attack, a fire the likes of only whispered about by the people of the village. No one had really seen the wrath of Superior other than the old Doctor Y, who would whisper the horrors he had witnessed as just a boy the last time Superior decided to set its target on their small village. Morgan, of course, had heard the stories that the famed Doctor would tell, about how the fire Superior set ablaze would remain that way for hours with no fuel in sight. How the lighting would make anyone’s hair, even those miles away, stand up on the very edge. How the flames couldn’t be stopped even by buckets and buckets of water.
If Morgan killed the unkillable, captured the uncatchable, he would finally be seen by everyone. He wouldn’t be seen as the useless nobody who just made puzzles to annoy people. He would be the person who took down Superior before the devastation could be set. Before the village burned and lives ended.
Morgan lined up the shot to the cloudy sky, that not even moonlight dared to seep through. It was too dark to see anything, especially a dragon that could cloak to be night itself. Morgan held his breath as the heat of the fighting hit him in waves. Sweat rolled off his back as he whispered prayers that Superior would do something that would light up the sky. He only needed a moment and he would be regaled as a hero. He wouldn’t be the second sidekick to his brother.
His ears twitched as he heard the crackle of lighting as his hair stood up on end. His eyes never once left the direction of the sound as it got louder and louder. As soon as the glimmer of light lit up the sky, shining golden and reflecting, Morgan pressed the trigger on the catapult.
The net seemed to move in slow motion as it whipped through the air. Morgan could just barely hear the sound of lighting and air as his heartbeat deafened his ears. Then, suddenly, the sickening sound of metal hitting meat and a soft cry of pain and confusion. The lighting abruptly stopped and all the light in the dark sky left. If Morgan just strained his ears, he could have sworn he heard trees break and crash in the distance.
“I did it.” He breathed, as his hair went back to normal and his eyes bugged out of their sockets. “I just shot down a dragon. I just shot down a dragon,” He whispered, taken aback. He didn’t expect to succeed, but Superior was gone. It was out of the sky with that horrible horrible noise of pain and confusion before it went crashing down. Obviously, this needed to be celebrated! Morgan just took down the dragon who was a plague upon all dragons, how could this not be celebrated with everyone! Even if his chest clenched and twisted, this needed to be told. To anyone who would listen.
Before he could get a single word out, he was interrupted by sizzlingly hot breath against his neck that only a creature with a stomach full of coals could create. He froze in place, stuck in fear before he managed to slowly turn around to be face to face with a bright red, glowing, dragon, and it did not look very friendly. His mind screamed for him to move, to run away, but his body refused to comply. He was going to be eaten, or barbecued. He wondered if the dragon had ever tasted barbecue, not likely, right? They don't season their food. The poor dragons, that’s why they must be so angry all of the time, they had never tasted good food!
Before Morgan could react while his mind spiraled into hysterics, he heard a voice louder than what any monstrous beast could create. A voice that was worse than being cooked alive by an oversized lizard.
“DO NOT WORRY MORAN, MY DEAR BROTHER, FOR I, THE CHADSTER, AM HERE TO SAVE YOU!!!”
Morgan groaned and couldn’t decide whether he would prefer the dragon or his baby brother.
~~~
A few hours later, Morgan was back in his room, sulking, after being properly grounded by his father. Chad had tried to defend him, in whatever sweetly misguided way he could, but it was useless against the anger of their father. He was too stupid to truly understand the gravity of what Morgan had done. That being, leaving the safety that could be provided to him since he was “skin and bones”, unable to fight a dragon properly.
Morgan’s pity party abruptly ended as he overheard yelling coming from under the floorboards. Of course his father was yelling. That was where his dial usually was anyhow. From joy at his brother’s actions that night, or anger at Morgan’s stupidity was the real question. Morgan was already grounded, so he supposed that it could just be Chad being praised again. Or maybe Diego, she deserved recognition too, of course.
He could just go to bed. Listen to the unintelligible murmurs of his father yelling as white noise. Or he could be snoopy and hear what was going on. But that could always be more trouble than it’s worth. He could listen into Chad chatting about the dragons he managed to stop while being congratulated for his brute strength, or he could be in peace for the night while not listening to his baby brother talk about blood and death.
Morgan was nosy. He put his ear to the floorboards and held his breath to hear whatever was happening.
“-ot strong, he doesn’t listen to instructions, and he’s always off doing whatever with those, those-” his father said, sounding angry and like he wanted to punch something. Whoever he was talking about was definitely in trouble. No doubt about it. Maybe Chad had finally done something worthy of their father’s wrath.
“Death Traps?” Morgan was definitely the one in trouble. Dammit.
“Yes! He could severely hurt someone with those, but does he stop? No! No one knows how to talk to him or even just knock some sense into his head! What am I supposed to do with a son who can’t even do as he’s told?” The people in the village are idiots, no one can get hurt in a death trap; it’s a death trap! Only the most idiot of idiots can get killed in death traps!
“Well, I don’t know, Sterling. He does have a smart head on his shoulders-” Morgan couldn’t tell who his father was talking to. At least they tried to defend him. It wasn’t like Morgan would be able to.
“A smart head means nothing when it is used for evil. For all we could know, he is secretly trying to kill us all!” The Chief sounded mad. More than usual, Maybe he would finally give Morgan the boot to be stuck all alone in the wilderness. That wouldn’t be fun. He wouldn’t die, of course not, but Morgan was attached to his bed, and his inventions.
He could deal with everything in the morning. He had to find Superior tomorrow and finish the job of killing it. There was no way it could possibly be dead just by falling to the ground from several hundred feet in the air, it was too strong. But that could be done tomorrow. Morgan needed a sharp enough knife anyway.
~~~
Tracking where the thing landed proved to be more difficult than Morgan expected. He had been searching the forest since down and it was still nowhere to be found with the sun high in the sky. How hard is it to find a giant dragon in the middle of the forest! The thing was fucking huge! He was loosing hope that he would ever find the fucking thing when he spotted a tree broken clean in half. Morgan paused, straining his ears for any noise or sign of movement from the area. He was completely silent until a soft sigh and grumble sounded out. Morgan tried to push down the hope that he would finally be over and done with his forest adventure sooner rather than later. He honestly quite liked the woods. They were quiet and peaceful with no people around to fuck up what he was doing, but it was hot with the sun high in the sky, and he had plans to get back to.
He silently trekked along the narrow deer trail that seemed to be following along the path of destruction. The growling got louder, and louder, until Morgan had finally stumbled into a clearing.
In the center, there was a blazing gold dragon, as bright as the sun, glittering with the light. Morgan was entranced as it huffed and puffed, struggling against the metal that binded it. Morgan was grateful that he had formed his own iron from the bones of dragons killed by his to make the chains. It made the already strong metal–that wasn’t the iron like was typical for his village, he had managed to make a trade with his friend Barnaby into stealing some old metal that was said to be “the strongest there’s ever been”--that much stronger to actually hold the fully adult dragon feared by his entire generational line.
Morgan jumped back as the dragon finally noticed him. It turned with a growl, and with the shift Morgan could finally see the deep red flecks on the dragon’s scales. Morgan couldn’t tell if it was the dragon’s blood, or another creatures, but he didn’t want to know.
He took a deep breath and stepped towards the dragon. “Once I kill you, I’ll be able to go back and throw this in everyone’s face.” He mumbled as pulled out a dagger thin enough to pierce through the scales and actually kill the thing. He had heard stories that Superior’s scales were strong enough to break through any sword that tried to slice through, but stabbing between the plates? That was a whole other matter, and Morgan’s best shot.
He gave the dragon a wide berth as he scoped out the best place to stab his dagger through. The dragon was silent, watching him with slitted golden eyes that matched the rest of him. They sparkled in the sunlight like everything else about Superior. Morgan couldn’t help but marvel at it. It really was beautiful.
He had to stay focused. As soon as he got the dragon’s head back to the village, the sooner he could get away from everyone who bothered him for at least a month. He settled right next to the dragon after making sure it couldn’t swipe at him with its forearms pinned underneath its body. He held his breath as he raised the dagger. He could do this, he could kill a dragon. He could, it’s right there for the taking.
Superior whimpered. It was so soft, Morgan would not have been able to hear it if he was not directly on top of the dragon. Morgan huffed in return. He had to do it. He had to get people off of his back. Superior made another pitiful noise and Morgan could feel his resolve just shatter. He could feel tears pool in his eyes as he shifted his gaze away from the scales to the dragon’s face. It was staring at him, unmoving in any other capacity. Morgan shook and he dropped the knife. He started undoing the screws on the metal with his screwdriver. He was officially the worst viking ever. He couldn’t even kill one dragon.
Superior watched him unscrew the chains until it gained just enough slack for it to slip out. Then, the dragon pounced. Its claws dug into Morgan’s shoulders as it growled directly into his face. Its mouth was cracking with lightning as it stared him dead in the eyes, which continued to sparkle. If Morgan was going to die, at least his last moments would be staring at such a pretty, yet terrifying sight.
Until, suddenly, Superior suddenly spit at the ground right next to Morgan’s head, lighting it with a boom. Morgan flinched as it growled in his face one more time before stomping the flame out and stalking off, leaving Morgan behind, laying on the ground and hyperventilating.
Huh. He wasn’t dead.