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It didn’t matter which time of year it was, Hiccup could disappear without any problem. Nobody missed him and he could finally appreciate being invisible in his own home. Being invisible meant having the opportunity to disappear from the village without having to answer questions when he came back.
Flying was freeing. The wind in his hair and all around him was a feeling he wished everyone could feel. Hiccup and Toothless had been flying for a while. It was their third day on the road, they had spent the last two nights camping out on islands he found on the way.
He was looking around another island to land on when they were shot down. Pure panic filled him as they fell towards the ground, he had noticed the village on the island, but he hadn’t thought they were noticed. They crashed on the island and were immediately surrounded by people.
They were saying something. His head was hurting and his ears were ringing, he saw their mouths moving, but he couldn’t hear them. Hiccup tried to say something to them, he blinked a few times, trying to get his vision to focus. He couldn’t get his body to cooperate. His head fell on the ground and he watched as Toothless was tied up. Fear filled him and he blanked out.
When he woke up he could see anything. For a moment he feared he had gone blind, but after a moment it registered to him that it was just pitch black in the room he was being held in. What scared him the most, was that he couldn’t hear anything but his own breathing.
He tried to move, but he was unsuccessful. He was tied to a chair and couldn’t move an inch. Hiccup tried to shout, but wound himself gagged, how he hadn’t noticed this before he didn’t know. A door was opened somewhere in the room and Hiccup had to close his eyes, the light hurting them. A man entered and left the door open to light his own path.
Hiccup’s eyes got used to the light after a few moments and he could see the door was leading into the outside. People were milling around there and Hiccup couldn’t understand why no one was looking in his direction or trying to help him. The man seemed nice, but anyone who had tied Hiccup there couldn’t be sane.
“Don’t worry,” the man tried to assure him, “If you are smart, everything will be okay.”
Hiccup watched as the man approached another door just in Hiccup’s line of sight. The man opened it and Hiccup’s eyes widened as he saw Toothless bound and trashing in the other room. The roars and screeches he could hear were proof that Toothless wasn’t the only dragon behind those doors. Hiccup thought he heard someone crying, but he could be sure.
“These are not friends,” the man spoke again as he turned to the bound boy, “They’re food, boy.”
Hiccup tried to disagree, but the gag did not let his words come out. Hiccup’s expression said enough for the man. The man forcefully shut the door to the dragons and stalked towards Hiccup. The man gripped the boy’s hair and pulled his head back, making Hiccup look directly into his eyes.
“You’ll learn,” the man growled and released his hair, walking out of the room and shutting the door to the outside, taking the only source of light Hiccup had.
Days passed. At least that was what Hiccup thought. The man came back time and time again. Punching, kicking, even burning Hiccup in attempt to turn the boy to his ways. For this reason Hiccup refused any food the man brought, the only comfort he received was an occasional glimpse at Toothless.
The man was trying to get Hiccup to admit that dragons aren’t friends, more specifically, that dragons were nothing but animals made for slaughter. Every time Hiccup refused he suffered. The man wasn’t above taking off Hiccup’s prosthetic and having a go at the boy’s old wound, but as long as Toothless was okay, Hiccup couldn’t find it in himself to care.
It all came to end when Hiccup was taken out of that room one night. He couldn’t find it in himself to struggle even as his feet and hands were free. He was taken to the village plaza where the rest of the tribe had gathered. Hiccup couldn’t help but compare the gathering to ones he had seen at Berk. The boy couldn’t help but feel like he was somehow important in this.
Fear when through him as he saw Toothless being pulled into the plaza. Hiccup tried struggling, but two men he hadn’t seen before held him back. The man who had tortured him for days took a knife from a nearby woman, and brought it down, pointing at the Night Fury.
“Today,” the man yelled, “We welcome another lost soul into our tribe.”
A cheer rang out and Hiccup felt cold. This wasn’t going to end well, he knew. Hiccup tried struggling again, but he wasn’t strong enough. Hiccup could only watch as the man went around Toothless, towards the dragon’s tail. Hiccup cried as he shut his eyes, not having the strength to watch as the knife went into the dragon’s flesh. The sick noise from the cutting was drowned out by Toothless’ roar of pain that could be heard even through the dragon’s bound snout.
Hiccup’s eyes were forced open as the man brought the Night Fury’s cut off tail towards the boy. Hiccup cried harder as he saw Toothless in serious pain. His head was forced forward as the man stood in front of him. The man cut a piece of the severed tail fin and Hiccup’s eyes widened.
The man brought the piece of flesh towards Hiccup’s mouth and the boy tried to turn his head. The men who were holding him not letting him do so, they went as far as forcing his mouth open. The man who had been torturing him forced the flesh into his mouth, making him chew it.
Hiccup tried to spit it out, but the man pinched his nose closed, making the boy swallow. Hiccup felt tears fall from his eyes, but he felt numb. He couldn’t believe that this wasn’t a nightmare. The men who were holding him, released him when he went limp.
“We did it!” the man who had tortured him yelled at the crowd, letting the knife and fin fall from his hands.
Hiccup followed the falling knife with his hands. A pained groan from Toothless forced his eyes up. Hiccup met the dragon’s eyes and swallowed, the taste of the flesh still in his mouth. Hiccup wanted to get rid of that taste, he wanted to free Toothless, he wanted this nightmare to end.
His eyes fell back to the knife and he knew what he needed to do. Hiccup dove for the knife faster than anyone could stop him, not that anyone could as rage burned through him. As soon as his hand touched the knife, Hiccup changed his movement and stabbed up, managing to stab the man directly in the neck, managing to jump up and bite the man in the shoulder.
Hiccup ripped a piece of the man’s flesh and didn’t even think before swallowing the bite. The taste reminded him of something buried deep in his mind. Hiccup didn’t even think about the fact that he liked the taste.
The shock that overtook the tribe made it possible for Hiccup to yank the knife out and reach Toothless’ head, managing to cut through the rope keeping the Night Fury’s mouth closed. The dragon roared and shot a few blasts at the ones who had tried to get to them. Hiccup used Toothless’ distraction to cut the dragon from the rest of his binds.
As soon as the dragon was out he used his speed to attack more people, the instinct to protect taking over any need to stay passive. There were too many people for them to take on alone and Hiccup had an idea, the boy called the Night Fury and hop on the saddle that the tribe hadn’t bothered to remove. Hiccup directed the dragon towards where they were kept.
Toothless threw the doors open as they came upon them, the room with the dragons was abysmal. Dragons were tied up and shackled in various uncomfortable positions. They seemed to be well fed at least, or had been caught recently. Hiccup hadn’t let go of the knife, using it to cut as many of the bounds as he could.
Toothless took it upon himself to bite through any of the bounds Hiccup couldn’t cut. They moved deeper into the room, coming upon empty cages. Hiccup’s eyes narrowed as he heard what he could recognize as crying. He slowed his frantic steps as he came upon a cage with someone inside.
“No!” came a cry from inside, Hiccup removed a torch from a nearby wall and brought it to the bars of the cage, lighting up the inside, “Don’t hurt him!” the voice continued.
Hiccup tilted his head as he saw a girl, about his age, trembling atop a Skrill. She was using her frail body to protect the dragon, looking at Hiccup with fearful eyes.
“I’m not going to hurt you,” Hiccup promised, his voice barely above a whisper.
Hiccup opened the cage, to his surprise it wasn’t locked. He entered the cage and saw the Skrill was bound just like the dragons in the front of the room. Hiccup, with Toothless’ help, managed to free the Skrill. The scars on the dragon’s body made it clear that they were prisoners in this place as he had been.
“Thank you,” the girl sobbed, still looking at him with fear.
“What’s your name?” Hiccup questioned as he wiped his mouth, he looked down at his sleeve and was shocked to see blood on it.
“Storm,” the girl quickly answered. Hiccup nodded as he figured out how the blood got on his mouth.
“His?” Hiccup nodded at the Skrill, the girl put a hand on the Skrill who let out a happy croon.
“Shadow,” Storm told him.
“Hiccup, Toothless,” he told her as he pointed at himself and the Nigh Fury, a sinister smile graced his face, “You want to help us?” he asked, gesturing to the outside.
“Absolutely,” the girl answered in confidence, a similar smile coming on her face.
Hiccup chuckled and put a hand on Toothless’ head. He turned to walk out of the cage, the pair following him. Hiccup was going to bring hell to this tribe, the dragons and the girl were ready to help him and he wasn’t going to pass up the help.
The more the merrier, after all.