Chapter Text
Out of all the things that could’ve happened today, Hiccup Haddock did not expect to be violently pulled from his dragon and falling through the morning multi-colored sky. He should’ve been scared, terrified actually, praying to Thor that Toothless would be able to grab him before he hit the waves below. But considering that doing crazy stuff like this was what he was known for at this point, he was more worried about whether they’d be able to beat the hunters before the others noticed they were missing. Again. (Astrid was going to kill him)
The salty sea air shot passed him as he continued to plummet, roaring in his ears that he was an idiot for not realizing dragon hunters were below. He already cursed himself out as it was for not only missing them but forgetting to attach the newest prototype of the flight suit to his armor as well. But the insult to injury was not needed in any way shape or form, thanks.
He tried to engage wind resistance as much as possible by spreading out his arms and legs, something he learned in the various attempts to perfect the suit in the past. The dumbass wasn’t even wearing a helmet, something he promised everyone he’d do after almost crashing into the rock formations during a test run of his latest prototype. Though in his defense, he hadn’t designed one yet that could stay on during the high speed flights.
The world was quickly racing up to catch him as he crashed through the last layer of clouds separating the Heavens from Earth. Toothless was still several feet above, struggling to dive because the prosthetic’s release switch was stuck. The hunters must’ve damaged the contraption when they pulled the viking off his saddle by his good foot. It looked almost destroyed based on the piece of metal still stuck in the broken stirrup.
Fear finally began to creep its way into the rider the more his brother struggled and the louder the hum of the ocean got louder. As if struck by lightning, it dawned on Hiccup to try to get the ropes still stuck around his leg off. But his heart froze as he looked down at his feet.
His metal foot was missing. That broken piece of metal still stuck in the stirrup was what was left of it. No wonder Toothless couldn’t dive.
“Oh for the love of-!” He cursed aloud. Toothless’ face contorted at realizing the same thing his brother did, “It’ll be alright bud,” Hiccup tried to reassure him but even his voice sounded strained above the wind, “Just like we practiced!”
The dragon folded his wings in tighter than before, hoping to make up for the wind resistance his prosthetic fin was giving him. Despite the odds, he managed to make it close enough to grab him. Hiccup ignored the ocean rapidly approaching beneath him and reached up to his brother, relief flooding his system as Toothless reached out his claws to grab him. For a fleeting moment he allowed himself to hope.
In a blink of an eye, that was ripped away. Toothless was enveloped in a net and pulled away onto the hull of an unseen ship. Hiccup could barely react before crashing through what felt like icy stone. Darkness clouded the edge of his eyes as his breath left his lungs and returned to the surface in bubbles. Salt stung his eyes as the rider came in and out of semi consciousness.
There wasn’t any time to acquaint himself with what would’ve been his watery grave as the rope still attached to his leg yanked upwards. Jerking his head too fast in a way that gave him whiplash. Again, thanks. Very helpful.
The rider was pulled aboard the hunter’s ship and brought to his knees, coughing and gagging on the water that made his way into his lungs. Adrenaline drained from his body and was quickly replaced by the white hot pain from the fall. His neck is already becoming stiff from the whiplash.
The salt lingered in the back of his throat as the last bit of water was rejected from his lungs. Toothless’ panicked cries drew Hiccup’s eyes to the top of the ship. The Night Fury was already being contained with dragon-fire proof chains. Something Toothless would usually be able to avoid but had been too distracted by Hiccup’s fall to notice.
The two met eyes from across the ship, and the dragon’s panic quickly receded quicker than the one quickly forming in his brother. Hiccup clumsily threw himself against a guard in an attempt to let him go but without a second leg and hands that were wrapped around the top of his forearms. There wasn’t enough room to move, much less to knock them down.
“Let us go,” Hiccup sneered, he began to reach for his sword Inferno but a hunter was quicker and grabbed his hand to restrain him.
“I’m afraid that won’t be necessary, My Dear Hiccup.” Some of the faceless thugs parted for the owner of the voice as he waltzed to the front. But Hiccup already knew who he was before he even revealed himself.
The last time he heard it was moments before Hiccup threw him into a volcano.
For a moment his breath failed him as he stared up at the man who should’ve been a ghost. He blinked, hoping that this was just some horrible nightmare that he could wake up from. Hiccup blinked again when the man, now with a charred, milky eye, didn’t disappear back into the depths of Hel’s realm.
No, he can’t be here. This can’t be right. Hiccup shook his head but the man grabbed this chin, forcibly keeping his attention. No, there had to be an explanation. This had to be another waking nightmare. Yes, that’s it. Ever since his death they’d plagued him endlessly. There were times he somehow threw himself into the Clubhouse screaming about nonsense and paranoia, scaring the others who didn’t know how to help him.
This isn't real. This isn’t real. This isn’t real. This can’t be real. He tried pinching his arm to induce a wake up, just like Gothi had told him to in situations like this. But no matter what he did the dark haired man didn’t disappear.
He wasn’t asleep. And this wasn’t a dream.
“Surprised to see me?” Viggo asked with a mock innocence, titling his head.
“H-how-? You… you died. ” Hiccup breathed, water seemed to fill his lungs again as the man’s death scene replayed in his mind. He wore his familiar smug expression as his gaze tore through the 17 year old.
“Looks can be deceiving,”
“You fell in a volcano !”
He shrugged, clicking his tongue like a disappointed teacher, “Oh my dear boy, I thought I taught you by now not to judge a book by its cover. Of course you should know, you used to be quite unimpressive yourself.” Hiccup lunged again but the guards didn’t let him go far. Viggo shook his head and let go of his chin. “You may want to cease your struggling, it’ll only make your pain worse.”
“And who’s fault is that?” He hissed through the gritted teeth, his body screaming at him to stop moving.
“Well we couldn’t have you poking around our business now could we?”
Whatever energy Hiccup had was quickly fading, being consumed by the pain overwhelming his body. But a fire was lit somewhere deep in his gut. Something primal and frenzic like what he imagined dragon fire to feel like. It crawled at the walls inside of him, begging to be free. He sucked in a breath and tried to focus it. He didn’t even care about getting out of here anymore, he knew that was pointless. All he needed to do was get one punch. Just one. That would be enough to shut him up.
“Gone quiet, have we?” Viggo taunted, causing the brutes to laugh in a chorus of stupidity. Then Hiccup struck, somehow getting loose enough to lunge forward to chin level. But it wasn’t enough. Viggo saw it coming, moving just out of his reach to be irritating to the Viking. “Come on now Hiccup, use your words instead of this-” He gestured to all of him, “Petulant display.”
“You want to- you know what? Fine. I don’t care how you somehow cheated death. I don’t know and I don’t care. Just let Toothless go, this is between you and me.”
Viggo shook his head with disappointment, “I’m surprised you haven’t figured it out by now.” He said softly, almost like he didn’t want the others to hear him, “No matter. I assume you’ll figure it out soon enough. Guards, place him with the other.”
The rider did what he could to resist but the efforts were quickly shut down when a burly guard kicked him in the gut. His whole body crumbled in on itself as the pain flared through him again. He hung his head, trying to blink the stars out of his eyes and let the fire dull to a burning ache. He found himself letting out a sob that was drowned out by the commotion going on around him.
The light of morning was soon replaced by the dim firelight of torches. He lifted his head to try to scope out a means of escape before he was no doubt tossed into a cage when he saw a weirdly shaped box at the other end. He didn’t get a good look at it before he was thrown into the cage. The smell of barnacles and blood hit his nose, nearly making him throw up what little breakfast he had eaten. He propped himself up on his elbow to try to absorb his surroundings but flinched when a hand suddenly grabbed his shoulder.
“Oh- sorry!” A girl’s voice with a heavy Scottish accent exclaimed. His senses flared at the new unknown presence in the cage with him. Hiccup rolled over and pulled a tiny dagger the guards didn’t get. It was a prototype of a smaller Inferno. He only caught a glimpse of red hair before the girl decided to smack him across the head.
“Ow!”
“What the hell lad!” The girl scolded him, “I’m not one of them!”
He rubbed the area where she got him, hoping to hide the bafflement on his face. “H-how exactly do you expect me to trust you?”
“If I was one of them I wouldn’t be here with you in this bloody dungeon-?! Seriously, that would be the most idiotic thing they could do! Do you even have a brain?”
“Ok, that- makes sense actually. Alright, yeah, that was my bad,” Hiccup groaned, “‘Sorry,”
“You should be! I’ve had the worst 4 days of my life. I didn’t ask to be here! I don’t need some fishbone to pull a knife on me of all things, calling me a liar for no reason at all!”
“Alright, alright I get it, I’m an idiot for not realizing- I’m sorry.” He sighed, settling back onto the ground to hide his face, “I’m sorry, I really am. It’s been a very long morning…”
“Well that seems like an understatement,” She said, quieter than before.
A small chuckle bubbled out of his chest, “Yeah, it definitely is.”
Hiccup peaked his eyes off of the ground to see the girl had finally calmed down. She even looked a little worried as Hiccup brought himself to his knees.
“What happened to yer leg?” Something close to horror danced behind her eyes, “Did they-?”
“Oh gods no. Viggo’s men are ruthless but they would never…” Could they? “Well not without permission anyway,”
“So how did you lose it?”
Hiccup kept down the chuckle that nearly made its way to his throat, “To make a very long story short: dragon attack.”
The girl’s eyes widened, “Dragons? How far north are we?”
“Only few degrees off freezing to death,”
“Oh no, no, no,” The girl put her hands to the side of her freckled pale face, “You can’t be serious! Only the northern tribes get attacked by dragons. Unless vikings are involved…” Her face dropped and her eyes went wide. In the little light they had he could almost make out tears forming in the corners.
Unsure of what to do, Hiccup cautiously took one of her free hands in a careful comforting gesture. “I’m sure it’ll be ok,”
“You don’t understand, we were attacked by them.”
“What do you mean?”
“We were attacked by vikings. They don’t take prisoners usually. At least not for very long,” The girl said finally. A look of realization in her eyes as a tear broke free of her eye, “My parents will think I’m dead,”
A pang of guilt and sadness stabbed through his heart, “I’m sorry. But they won’t for long. I'm gonna get us out of here.”
Stormy blue eyes met his steady green ones, “How do you expect to do that? We’re in a ship in the middle of the ocean with no one knowing where we are,”
“That’s never stopped me before. I’m sure we’re not too far from land. I was only a couple miles from the Edge when I got captured. Once we know exactly where we’re going, we’ll make a game plan.” Hiccup tried to keep his voice light despite feeling the hopelessness begin to set in, “Besides, I got people who are looking for me. We’ll be saved in no time.”
“Are you sure?”
No.
He bristled at his sudden shift in his internal monologue. Sure, the Riders were Muttonheads on a good day, but he had faith in them. They came through exactly when they needed to. He pushed that voice away but the thought still lingered somewhere in the back of his mind. Right where he put his other doubts, “Positive. Everything is going to be ok. Me and the dragon riders do this all the time,”
The girl looked at him like two more heads sprouted out of his neck, “Dragon riders? Are ya daft?”
“Pardon?”
“I don’t know how it works around these parts, but where I come from you get gobbled up by one if you cross its path.”
An embarrassed itch flared at the base of Hiccup’s neck drawing the attention of his hand, “Well I mean- it used to be like that around here too. Until I befriend one anyway,”
“ You befriended a dragon?” She looked him up and down, “You?”
“I don’t appreciate the insinuation,” Offense coloring every word, “But yes, I did. He’s my best friend. We have a very tight bond and he trusts me enough to allow me to ride him.”
She nodded, looking slightly impressed, “I’d expect someone like my dad to ride a dragon- wait, you said ‘him’?”
“Yeah, he’s a he, and his name is Toothless,”
“Toothless…?”
“Yeah, Toothless. I thought it was fitting. He has retractable teeth.”
“Retrac– wha?” She pressed her index fingers to her temples, something he liked to do as well. Maybe she got the same everlasting tension headaches that he did? Or more likely trying to wrap her mind around everything, “That doesn’t mean he doesn’t have teeth. Who names things like that?”
Hiccup shrugged, “It’s meant to ward off trolls.”
The girl arched an eyebrow, “How would that drive away trolls? If I was a troll, I’d go for him first…”
“And we’d catch them off guard,” He had to fight a smile as he watched the girl try to wrap her mind around the concept. Of course he didn’t tell her that his tribe knew their names were terrible and that’s how they kept the trolls at bay. Because where would the fun be in that?
The girl’s eyes twinkled with a tentative understanding, “Guess yer right…” She trailed off. “Sorry, uh, where are my manners? What's yer name? Unless it’s Toothless too?”
“Close, it’s Hiccup.”
The girl blinked, “Did yer father hate you?”
He shrugged, “It seemed like it at times for sure. But no, he doesn’t. What’s yours?”
“Merida.”
“Alright Merida, how did you get here? It sounds like your ship got attacked? Did you see anything important that might’ve clued who they were?”
“Yes, we…” She trailed off, her eyes searching for a logical answer that didn’t seem to be there. “W-we were coming for a… negotiation after the Northern clans were attacked.”
“Negotiation? Are you like a chief’s daughter or something?”
“Something like that I suppose.” She sighed, putting her head in her hands, “I had a fight with my mother. Coming here seemed like the better option than dealing with her which is why I was even on the fecking boat in the first place. Then just when things seem to calm down the next thing I know I get snatched by some dragon with an iron muzzle-”
“Hold on, dragon? Iron?”
“Aye, they had iron armor and a muzzle. The boatmen could barely get a hit on them. Why?”
Cold dread poured through him, extinguishing the pain he felt. His eyes fell to the wooden floor. “Dragon armor? With iron? Gronkle iron?” Now, Hiccup has seen the hunters pull many things with the dragons they lock away. But dragon armor? What did they need armor from, they’re dragons. Unless the armor wasn’t meant for protection from dragons.
“Aye, that’s what I said. Don’t know about the Gronkle iron though,”
His lungs felt tight like he couldn’t breathe, “This must be their plan. Oh gods,” They’re going to use us as bait–
“What plan? What are they going to do to us?”
Hiccup’s eyes snapped up when she spoke, forgetting someone else was in the room with him, “How long have you been here?”
Merida shrugged, “Almost a half day. I don’t know, I can’t-” She stopped for a moment. Her hands clasped together in a comforting gesture, “I can’t tell anymore.”
“Why? Half a day can’t be that bad?”
Merida began to speak but her words were quickly cut off by the opening of the door at the end of the hallway. The two watched helplessly as the rest of the dragon riders were put in the opposing cage. The door closed with a thunk and echoed through the dungeon. Hiccup tried not to let the surprise or relief show on his face. Yeah, he expected them to come but not this quickly. Did they really notice he was gone that fast?
Astrid, trusted companion to the only other brain cell the team had, made her way to the front of the cage and immediately he knew something was wrong. She looked terrible, her blond braid was barely hanging together, her winter gear tucked in her weapons belt haphazardly, and the shadows under her eyes were darker than he’d ever seen. Something that seemed to be shared between the rest of the riders.
Astrid's eyes visibly relaxed and hardened quicker than Hiccup ever saw. “Where have you been?” Was all she could ask. There was a dulled edge to her voice, too overwhelmed with tiredness to be threatening.
He shrugged, dread beginning to sink its teeth in his bones, “Here.”
“For 2 weeks?” Her voice broke along with whatever understanding Hiccup might’ve had.
“2 weeks,” He repeated, numbness spreading through his core.
“We were really worried, Hiccup,” Fishlegs chimed in, his voice just as grave as Astrid’s. Only then did he notice heavyset viking’s crooked helmet and unkempt hair, “We thought-”
“We thought you’d gotten yourself killed by dragon hunters!” Snotlout bellowed. Had Astrid not looked the way she did, the award for worst-for-wear Viking would’ve gone to him. His helmet was on backwards and leather armor was worn and crooked, “And here you tell us not to do reckless things but when you do it-!”
“Yeah! Why do you get to be stupid but we don’t!” Tuffnut agreed.
“Seems unfair,” Ruffnut, always joined at the hip with her brother, added. “You can’t just disappear for two weeks and act all high and mighty when we wanna break a world record for most gassy dragon.”
Astrid huffed but didn’t acknowledge them, “We all thought-” Her voice was choked by a sob. Hiccup couldn’t imagine what she was going through. Her best friend disappears after another one of his stupid unscheduled, secret flights and then he’s found in the dungeon of a dragon hunter ship. Not even mentioning the amount of time he’s apparently been gone. She gripped onto the bars as if they were a lifeline, “And nobody thought you could’ve just been captured because there would’ve been a bargain. There would’ve been word. There would’ve been- something. We had to tell your father Hiccup. We had to tell him that his only son had vanished without a trace,”
“What?” He felt Merida’s eyes turn to him but he couldn’t find it in himself to look at her. All he could picture was his dad’s face when he heard the news.
“And yet here you are, completely fine.”
“No.” Hiccup said despite himself.
Astrid’s eyes hardened again, “What do you mean no?”
“I wasn’t– we weren’t–”
“Now you understand?” Merida asked.
Astrid’s eyes met Merida’s, “Who’s this?”
“Lassie, I should be asking you the same question.” Merida snapped.
Hiccup sighed and recollected himself, “Astrid, this is Merida. Merida, Astrid. She’s my friend and fellow rider.”
“Ohhh, so you're crazy too,”
Astrid’s mouth dropped in offense and disbelief. Hiccup had to restrain himself from chuckling at the girl’s lack of filter. This was definitely not the time for that. He didn’t have the energy to even if he wanted to,
“I am not!” Astrid protested. “Who in Thor’s name do you think you are?”
“Crazy hot maybe,” Snotlout said, which earned him a punch in the gut by Astrid. “Ow, what was that for?”
“Time works differently here,” Hiccup muttered under his breath, “Do you know why?”
“How am I supposed to know, lad? I’m as clueless about this as you are.”
“A mystery is afoot!” Tuffnut exclaimed butting into their conversation. “Why is that girl’s hair so red? There’s no way hair can naturally be that color, the chief’s hair isn’t even that bright! She must be a troll,”
“Maybe she drinks the blood of her enemies? Dagur used to and his hair is pretty close,” Ruffnut suggested.
Tuffnut gasped as if they’d cracked the world’s hardest riddle, “Sister, your a genius,”
“We’re doomed,” Merida flopped onto the bedroll that was conventionally right under her. Hiccup had the urge to agree with her, but another voice adding to the gloom was not going to solve their problem. Besides, someone needed to be stupidly optimistic. The responsibility fell to him most times anyway.
“We don’t know that yet. We just need to figure out why time works differently,” He explained out loud. “Anyone have any ideas?”
“How do you even know that?” Astrid asked accusingly.
“Because I’ve only been here for an hour. Maybe less than that,” Now, Hiccup knew the riders barely took anything he said seriously, but he didn’t expect them to burst out laughing at his claim. Even Astrid, who most times barely played along with their theatrics.
“There’s no way,” She said breathlessly, laughter and a deep exhaustion painted her voice.
“He’s just lying. Trying to make up excuses for being gone for two weeks,” Snotlout tried, but he didn’t sound too convinced.
“He’s not lying,” Merida tried.
“How do we know you’re not just trying to cover for him?” Snotlout crossed his arms and leaned onto the right wall.
Merida looked at him as if he had three heads, “Are you daft? Why would I do that?”
“You’re both about to die!” Tuffnut exclaimed.
“Tuff, no, how many times do I have to say it? Hiccup has a gambling addiction and the girl’s clearly trying to help him cover it up.”
Merida looked up to Hiccup for an explanation, “You have a gambling addiction?”
“No, I don’t know where that came from.”
“You once lost all of Berk’s gold!” Snotlout defended himself dumbly, “How do we know it wasn’t cuz of gambling?! Hmm?”
“He does have a point there,” Tuffnut agreed.
Hiccup sucked in a breath to explain before Merida could bite the idiots’ heads off, “I can prove it to you guys. Please. When me and Toothless got captured, the dragon hunters pulled me off him by shooting me down. I don’t know how they did it but they did. Toothless couldn’t save me in time and I fell in the ocean. If I was really gone for two weeks, how could I still be wet?”
The dragon riders’ faces dropped, even the twins. Nobody must’ve realized his brown hair was still wet with how dim the lighting was, or hear the slight squeak in his leather armor with every slight move over their argument. They were too relieved he was found alive. He could hear the twins begin to utter half brained solutions but they didn’t finish. There was no explanation that could’ve justified it.
All the usual silliness was drained dry from the air. Even the twins took this seriously, following Fishlegs as he began to pace around trying to rack his encyclopedia in his brain. Astrid suggested something to Snotlout who didn’t make a whole production out of it and even tried a different plausible one.
“Hiccup, we’ve never seen anything like this before.” Fishlegs said finally, “I can only think of one thing that might explain it: Magic,”
Hiccup’s heart clenched with fear. Magic? Viggo’s… magic? Is that how he got away? How long has he been magic? Is that how he’s always been 5 steps ahead of us?
“Fishface, don’t be ridiculous. Everyone knows magic isn’t real,” Snotlout rolled his eyes. “There has to be a better explanation.”
“Lad, what are you on about? Of course magic is real,” Merida said, “In fact, I just came from a witch before I got tangled up in this fecking mess.”
“Witch?” Hiccup made the mistake of letting the fear slip into his voice. Snotlout began to bellow a laugh after hearing it.
“What’s wrong Hiccup, you’re afraid of a little magic?” But was quickly cut off by Astrid punching him in the gut. Again.
Before he could respond, the torch at the other end of the hallway went out. Everyone’s eyes turned to the now charred stub, staying quiet in fear of something pouncing if they made the slightest noise. Nobody dared to look away, they were frozen in place.
With a soft hiss another torch was stolen of its light. Then another. Then another. Then another and another. Until all that was left was darkness. Hiccup didn’t dare take a breath, like the air was stolen from the space as well.
Merida grabbed his arm, nearly making him jump. She pressed a finger to his lips before sound could escape them. Without notice, light began to pour in from the cracks in the floorboards above. And just as quickly it vanished without a trace.
That was sunlight. His stomach dropped.
Creak.
The floorboards began to buckle at the other end of the hallways. Someone stepped out from the other end of the hallway. The only problem with that? There was no door on the other end. More sunlight came flooding in cracks and disappeared again.
Creak.
The footsteps continued, growing louder with every step. Panic, dread, and apprehension grew as the steps, and whoever they belonged to, got closer. The once heavy silence was now replaced by the shuffling of dragon riders trying to escape the cage. Someone began banging on the ceiling, hoping someone would let them out.
But no one came.
Another couple of rotations went by as Merida grabbed him by the forearm and pulled him onto his foot. He went to ask her what she was doing but she shushed him. He leaned onto her for support before he could accidentally fall forward. The silence returned when the dragon riders heard her. The sun began to disappear once again but not until the silhouette of a lanky man appeared in front of them.
The lights above flickered and sputtered before disappearing entirely. Like someone shut off the sun.
Hiccup stifled a gasp as two orange lights appeared through the dark. They were so small he almost didn’t see them. But the longer he looked at the sickly orange, the more he felt sick from the dread and hopelessness, the more realized that those orange lights had a dark center. Like a black hole in the center of a star.
They weren’t lights. They were the color of someone's eyes.
Hiccup lost his center of gravity and nearly fell forward. Had Merida not grabbed him, he would’ve crashed into the bars. His stomach dropped. The eyes narrowed and a collective chill went down both their spines.
An icy hand clasped his chin and dragged him into the cold metal. “Who are you?” The voice was flat and even, yet was as intimidating as the Red Death.
Words bubbled and died in the back of his throat. He stared up helplessly at the shadow with a deeply familiar terror. “H-h-h,”
“Not you,” He said pointedly, “The girl,”
“I’m not telling you anything,” She growled, voice breaking at the edges.
A chuckle came rising out of him, “That’s a shame really. It would’ve made things easier.” The grip became iron as the shadow began to pull his face forward, much to the protest of basic physics. New pain flared up under his skin despite the cold of the bars.
Hiccup acted without thinking. He quickly pulled his sword, Inferno, from where it laid in his belt. Must be they didn’t notice his work-in-progress sword when they were pulling him from the sea. If the shadow was startled by the display, he was too shrouded in darkness to reveal it.
“Hiccup!” Astrid shouted from behind them. The eyes disappeared and a soft whimper came from the dragon riders’ cage. Shuffling and banging on the roof occurred again. This time more frantically than before. Hiccup could only imagine what the shadow was doing to provoke this much of a reaction from them.
“Shut it,” Merida hissed.
The eyes snapped onto the two of them again and the clutch on Hiccup’s chin hardened. Hiccup took a deep breath to steal his resolve. “Leave them alone.”
“Why?” The shadow asked, his eyes widening like a predator who caught its prey. “What would a talking fishbone have to offer me?”
An icy feeling entered his chest, “Anything,”
“Lad, don’t,” Merida warned him.
“Just leave them alone,” Hiccup finished regardless. Extinguishing Inferno for good measure.
The hold lightened as an ear splitting laugh filled the limited space of the hall. “Your fear, it’s delightfully familiar. Have we met before?” He crooned, his eyes shrunk down to slits.
Hiccup’s breath caught in his lungs. The light reappeared from the ceiling, better illuminating the man’s figure. A feeling of deja vu hit him hard, throwing off his center of gravity. The only reason he didn’t fall to his knees was because of the shadow’s grip on his chin.
The shadow seemed to shift with every second, growing taller and more unnatural in the sliver of sunlight. His eyes grew while his face became more slender and uncanny. Hiccup tried to tear his eyes away but found he couldn’t.
Moments moved like molasses as the shadow looked over the Viking. The hair on the back of his neck stood up as the shadow let him go. This is a trap. Kept repeating over and over again in the back of his head.
“Yes… You’ll do quite nicely.”
The shadow disappeared as the light flooded into the dungeon, freeing Hiccup from the hold it had on him. Inferno fell to the ground with a heavy clank . Air finally seemed to return to his lungs as he fell on his side. Merida loomed over him with a grave look on her face.
“I hope this goes well fer you. It’s never a good idea to bargain with the Boogeyman.” She warned him.
“The what?”
The door opened and Hiccup was dragged out of the cage. Protests of his friends and the girl told him they were taken too. When he was pulled onto the deck, a rogue sunbeam from the sunrise hit him in the eyes. Momentarily blinding him from the rest of his surroundings.
Morning again? Hiccup thought miserably. Couldn’t they have let us out at noon?
Viggo waltzed in front of him when he wasn’t looking and threw his spare prosthetic in front of him. Hiccup stared daggers at the man. “Come now, don’t look at me like that. You’ll need both your legs for what comes next.”
“What are you planning, Viggo?” He growled.
“Patience, you’ll see in time.”
The hunters forced his leg on but put it on in a way that uncomfortably poked into his skin when he took a step. Pronouncing his limp more than usual. He gritted his teeth through the discomfort until he’d eventually have time to adjust it later. He just had to wait it out. At least he could walk again.
The ship lurched forward as they landed at their location. A large Citadel of ice loomed over the small dragon hunter ship. It stood strong in the sky. It looked gracefully built yet awkwardly rested at several bent angles, jutting out spikes and icicles to keep intruders away. If one would look closely they could almost confuse it for a castle made of ice. It consumed the rest of the horizon, like the wall of ice that marked the end of the world. A collective gasp went through the captives as they beheld the sight.
Is this where the sky ends? Hiccup wondered as the hum of ice sliced through the air. Did he take us to the end of the world?
“So this is niflheim?” Snotlout asked, unintentionally echoing Hiccup’s own thoughts.
“Don’t be ridiculous Snotlout, it’s clearly Jotunhiem. Which is great because that finally means we’ll get to meet Loki.” Tuffnut said, completely unfazed.
“Or Jokul Frosti,” Ruffnut added, “Ooh, do you think he’ll give us ice powers if we sacrifice Viggo to him?”
“Hmm, maybe.”
The hunters whisked them off the boat once they were docked. The snow under their feet shifted unevenly, making Hiccup nearly fall more times than he’d like to admit. Muffled laughs came from behind and he found himself biting down a smile. At least he could make them laugh despite the circumstances.
The orange eyes were waiting for them in the dark of the cave, even the hunters paused in surprise. “What is that?” One hunter asked.
“Good, so I’m not crazy.” Hiccup muttered under his breath.
“Oh no, you are,” Merida told him, “But about that, no.”
The shadow waited for them patiently with Viggo by his side. The hunters were apprehensive about following their leader into the darkness’ clutches. Even disregarding the shadow, the cavern looked too treacherous for burlier vikings to navigate.
“Men,” Viggo began, “Let Hiccup, Astrid, and the Redhead go. Guard the rest of them until my signal.”
When the thugs let go of him, Hiccup immediately went to fix his leg to see where their dragons were. Meatlug, Hookfang, and Barf and Belch were clearly displayed upon the deck of the ship in the garish green dragon-proof cages. But Toothless and Stormfly were nowhere to be seen.
Viggo grabbed the Rider’s shoulder, “Looking for something?” He asked in a knowing tone.
“Where is he?”
Viggo smirked and went ahead of them into the cavern; opening an almost perfect replica of his own flaming sword. Except it had different open chambers that could retract given the circumstances. Hiccup would’ve been impressed had he not been in a hostage situation with his mortal enemy. If he was honest, he was impressed by it regardless of the hostage situation with his mortal enemy.
Viggo smirked back at them before disappearing into the thick fog of darkness.
“This is clearly a trap, right?” Astrid asked.
“Way to point out the obvious lass,” Merida deadpanned.
Astrid shot her a look that would’ve killed an average man before clarifying to Hiccup, “I mean seriously, how does he expect us to just follow him like that?”
“I don’t know. Viggo must have something up his sleeve.” He said.
“You mean like he always does?”
The terrified scream of a dragon came from the cavern and the hair on the back of his neck shot up. Because of echos he couldn’t tell which one it was, but it was undeniably either Toothless or Stormfly.
“Well that answers my question,”
“Ba da da, we’re doomed.”
“So we just– charge head first into the scary-demon-filled cave, eh?” Merida asked.
“Yup,” Astrid replied.
“Well, there could've been worse ways to go.” She shrugged before charging ahead into the cavern after Viggo. Carefully picking up her skirt so she wouldn’t accidentally slip on it.
The two exchanged a look before Astrid helped Hiccup along the icy hill. They met back up with the Scottish Princess, who was evidently dragging her feet, a couple seconds after going through. Apparently the girl wasn’t as fearless as she led them to believe. They blindly followed the light of the sword, anxiety growing with every step, through the twists and turns of the tunnel system.
On the walls there were some sort of weird markings that were older than the runes they wrote in. Hiccup would’ve taken a closure look but the light Viggo had barely helped in illuminating the chamber.
After what felt like hours of careful navigation through the endless winding tunnels, they entered a crypt with a very high ceiling. In the center was a large skeleton, almost human looking, covered in ice atop an ancient stony altar. Surrounding it were torches that glowed an eerie blue that somehow was enough to fill the entire chamber in light. Almost ceremonial, like a memorial for a forgotten god.
Two hunters passed them with a large device, unlike any of them had ever seen, carried between them like a log. They placed it carefully in front of the altar before fleeing the crypt quickly. It was built with technology he’d never seen before. The steelwork was more for an aesthetically pleasing intricate design of interwoven steel than anything actually useful. The corners of the shadow’s mouth turned up into a smile that grotesquely stretched his features in several mind boggling ways.
“What do you want Viggo?” Hiccup asked, holding his arms protectively over his chest. “What even is this place?”
“This is the tomb of Jokul Frosti.” He returned flatly. “The hasbeen-spirit of winter. If you believe in that sort of thing,”
Hiccup didn’t know if he wanted to laugh or completely despair. Viggo either had to be a madman or a complete genius to bring them here in a place that would probably be cursed by the gods above. Of course Hiccup believed in the myth, most of the archipelago did. So why did he think this was a good idea? The only thing rattling around in Hiccup’s mind was the question: what could be strong enough to kill a god?
“Dear Thor,” He whispered.
A troubled warble drew the trio’s attention to the dragons in the corner. They weren’t tied to the usual dragon proof chains, instead bound by a chain of solid ice that kept them tied to the wall.
“Now do I have your attention?”
“Stormfly! Let them go!” Astrid cried, having to be held by Hiccup in order to keep her from charging at Viggo. They both knew that if he didn’t, she would’ve pummeled the man even without the use of her trusty axe. She could’ve done it too, she was stronger than both of them combined and had the muscle to prove it. He was half tempted to let her do it but they desperately needed answers. Astrid's repressed blood lust could be satisfied another day.
“In time I will.” Viggo promised, “But for now they will remain there. Now here’s what’s going to happen.”
“We aren’t going to do anything you say,” Merida declared, “You’ll have to kill us first!”
“Let’s not be hasty,” Hiccup tried.
“Yeah, what the red head said!” Astrid agreed. “We don’t know what you're planning Viggo, but we aren’t going to be a part of any of it! I don’t know why you decided to separate us but when we get back with our dragons, us and the riders will turn this place into slush!”
“Listen to her lad, and pray I don’t get my hands on a bow because there’s already an arrow with your name on it!”
Astrid turned to the girl and sealed a silent truce with a nod. Great, just what Hiccup needed: Two scary women who could easily kill everyone if they really wanted to. At least in this circumstance they’d be better off for it. Gods forbid they stick together when dealing with Snotlout. He made a note to start preparing his obituary when he got back to the Edge.
“Just give up Viggo, you know our threats aren’t empty.” Hiccup made the last attempt to warn him before letting go of Astrid’s arm.
She began to charge but suddenly stopped in place. She stumbled back, beginning to clutch at her head. Small winces and moans turned into screams of pain. Hiccup was at her side in an instant but she lunged at him instead.
A dark, crazed look entered her eyes as she violently swung at him. Hiccup grabbed her fist in an attempt to restrain her. Something that looked like solid darkness crawled in and out of her ears, trying to overtake the whites of her eyes.
“Astrid?” When she came too it was just as violent. She collapsed to her knees with her head in her hands, shaking as if she’d just walked through a snowstorm. She wouldn’t respond to anything, she just kept muttering something under her breath.
“What did you do to her?” Hiccup screamed after checking on his best friend.
“The Nightmare King only showed her truest fear. And she took it in stride,” Viggo said nonchalantly. Merida came to their side as well. Stealing a knife from Hiccup’s pocket to defend herself with. Not that it would do them any good if Astrid of all people fell so easily. But it might come in handy later.
“The Nightmare King?” Hiccup echoed, deja vu once again splintered through him. His mind began to peel through itself to try to find where he first heard the name.
The Nightmare King began to smile again, making his face shift once again as Hiccup’s mind tried to desperately make sense of it. His heart began to pound against his chest, thundering warnings to leave the crypt while he still could. A name drifted out of the haze the fear put his mind in, a name familiar but he’d never heard it before.
“Pitch Black,”
Pitch titled his head to the side in confirmation. His features cemented into place. His changing features became more human-like than before. Somehow that only made him more terrifying than the shifting shadow from the darkness.
“That’s me.” He hummed, “You remind me of someone. And now you're going to help me destroy him.”
“Now why would I do that?”
“Well unless you want your friend to become my next fearling,” He gestured to Astrid, still writhing in pain, “Then I suggest you help me get what I want.”
Hiccup looked over to the both of them. Merida’s eyes were pleading with him to not go through with it while Astrid gave a curt nod. She stayed silent as she stopped writhing around in agony and refused to look him in the eyes. If it was powerful enough to stop ‘Fearless’ Astrid Hofferson in her tracks, he didn’t want to know what else the Nightmare King had in store for them if he didn’t cooperate. He steeled his nerves and steadied his resolve before rising to his feet. He repeated the process with each step he took, slowly losing his courage with every step as Pitch watched expectantly.
Pitch grabbed his shoulder, his grip like steel. An icy cold began to worm around through his brain. Moving with a mind of its own, it slithered through every secret and thought Hiccup had ever had. Pressure began building at the front of his skull, starting steady at first until it became unbearably painful. A long nailed finger came to his temple and traced his hairline before stopping suddenly. The pressure began to recede quicker than it came as a dark strain tied to the tip of Pitch’s finger came squirming out of his brain.
“I’ve found another kindred spirit it seems,” Pitch’s words almost were sympathetic. “Maybe you could accompany me to the future when we were done.”
“Future?”
“Yes Hiccup,” Viggo confirmed, reestablishing his presence in the crypt, “Almost a 1000 years if I’m not mistaken.”
Hiccup couldn’t believe what he was hearing, “What did you get yourself into Viggo?”
“I did not get myself into anything. On the contrary, it was Pitch who found me after I escaped the volcano.”
“How did you even-? Ugh, nevermind. I’m assuming the device you brought in here is the thing you want me to fix?”
“See, I told you he was who we were looking for.” Viggo boasted, his face full of pride. “I’m sure his fear will be powerful enough to get you back to your own time. You won’t have to resort to using mainland magic like what we originally planned.”
Pitch studied him, circling the boy like a panther. “Maybe.” Within a blink of an eye he vanished. The only thing that alerted anyone of where he went was the sharp hissing noise that escaped the machine by the altar.
Hiccup’s head whipped around so hard he almost gave himself whiplash again. His neck screamed in protest of the movement, but he didn’t seem to feel it. The snake that he pulled from his brain was now being fed to the machine like an offering to one of the gods. It sparked to life, sputtering around for a moment before dying quickly. Pitch’s cat-like eyes returned to view and locked onto him. Narrowing with doubt.
“Can you fix this?” He asked carefully. Something in Hiccup lurched at the words. He slowly made his way towards the machine, never taking his eyes off of Pitch.
Think of this like a new dragon. He told himself, You’re good at training dragons. This is fine.
A burst of sparks flew upwards at Hiccup’s arrival. He knelt down to its level and began his usual inspection. He found the problem almost immediately. He almost couldn’t believe they didn’t know what was wrong, it was only a loose gear out of place. With a little tightening it would work just fine.
But things could never be that easy, could they?
His gut churned with the same dread before stepping into a trap. A feeling he’s been more acquainted with than most. And if Toothless’ worried warbles were anything to go off of, everyone else felt it too. Ideas of how to get himself out of the situation flew through his head faster than the dragon races the gang loved to throw but nothing came to him.
Well, that wasn’t exactly true. One idea did. One idea so stupid, reckless, and dangerous that Astrid would rip him a new one before he had a chance to face the consequences. But it was an idea. And at this point, any idea was a good idea. He just wouldn’t tell any of the other riders because they would never let him hear the end of it.
“I need a stick,” He stated. Here goes nothing.
“A stick?” Pitch repeated, dumbfounded at the odd request.
“Do you want the machine to work or not?” Hiccup almost feared the Nightmare King would kill him on the spot with the look he shot him. Instead he complied with his weird demands.
Viggo rushed over with a metal spear that Hiccup guessed could’ve passed for a stick. He didn’t know why he immediately gave him a dangerous weapon, it seemed a little dumb to give your prisoner something that could at least stab out your second eye. But hey, he wasn’t one to judge (to your face at least).
He took the spear with care, making sure not to arouse any suspicion. He caught Merida’s eyes who immediately understood what he was about to do. He sucked in a breath as he raised his spear above his head.
You can do this. You can do this. He closed his eyes before plunging the spear into the heart of the machine. The redhead jumped to her feet as a loud screech was let out by the machine and raced to where the dragons were held. To her surprise the knife lit up in flames just as she struck the ice chain. See, the need would always arise for a fire knife. They were all just lucky she picked the right button and happened to understand stressed eye contact.
Nothing happened to the machine at first. A couple more sparks sputtered and fell to the ground but nothing else. Viggo was more concerned about Toothless being free than anything. But a light more brilliant than the sun soon pierced the air above the heart. Hiccup was thrown into the air, and for a moment he wondered if the entire half hour/2 weeks he spent with the hunters had all been in his head. But the gods were never that merciful.
“Hiccup!” Merida exclaimed. Hiccup was pulled from the darkness that consumed his vision and saw he was floating in mid air. Just in time for Toothless to intercept him.
The huge ebony dragon tackled him to the ground beside the portal. “Toothless!” His brother peered down at him swiftly before tracking the enemies still left in the crypt. A low growl of warning stirred deep from Toothless’ throat, his pupils narrowed into slits as he prepared for whatever Pitch was planning to do.
But the Nightmare King did nothing, just glowered at the two and their attempts to escape. And somehow that was scarier than retaliation. Hiccup got to his feet as he heard Stormfly’s draconic war cry split the air. Astrid was by his side in a moment, Merida trailing alongside her. The three didn’t know how the battle that was about to commence was going to turn out. But they all knew that whatever was about to happen: they’d be in it together.
The light burst open and consumed whatever was in its path. Which happened to be our newly formed trio and their dragons. Hiccup reached for something to hold him down, blinding grabbing for anything as his scrawny body was sucked backwards. The last thing he saw was Pitch’s smiling face from the opening of the cave.
All at once Hiccup realized why they didn’t protest when he asked for a stick. Why there was minimal resistance from Pitch as they tried to escape. He wanted this to happen. This was the trap that they sensed and they walked right into it. Now gods knew what he was planning on doing without their interference. He thought to the riders, to his father, to his people that relied on him. Now all at the whims of a mad man.
Now Hiccup was violently pulled backwards and once again did he fall through the multicolored morning sky. Only this time he didn’t know what was waiting for him when he hit the ground.