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Chapter Text

“I trust you’re finding your accommodations… adequate?”

Stoick turned his head to slowly glare at Dagur.

“Gosh, those ropes look awfully tight.”

Dagur gestured to one of his men. He approached and tightened the ropes further until Stoick glared harder and he retreated.

“Don’t go getting too cozy, Stoick. Look at it this way! By sundown tomorrow, you’ll either be back on Berk, or at the bottom of the ocean.” He shrugged. “It’s really up to Hiccup. Oof, wow. Can’t feel too good about that!”

Stoick continued to stay quiet. He didn’t like this dangerous man talking about Hiccup, but he couldn’t very well stop him at the moment.

Dagur sighed slightly then immediately grinned, handing him an arrow with a scroll attached.

“Savage, deliver this ultimatum to Berk.”

Savage took the scroll, and as he left, Dagur turned back to Stoick and smiled tauntingly.

“I thought I should tell you, Stoick, just in the interest of fairness,”

Stoick scoffed.

Dagur rolled his eyes and continued.

“I don’t just want Hiccup for his dragon. There’s something else I want from him, too.”

Stoick had to wonder if the man wasn’t just trying to get a reaction from him, but if he was, using his son certainly wasn’t the worst tactic to use. He finally gave in and responded.

“Fine, Dagur, I’ll bite. What do you want from my son?”

Dagur honest to Thor giggled when he asked.

“Ah, Stoick. What don’t I want from him?” He started circling the Chief of Berk. “I want his brain, his strategy, his loyalty-”

Stoick laughed. “His loyalty! He would never follow someone like you. He’s too good for that, Dagur.”

Dagur circled him again silently before coming to a stop directly in front of him. He leaned close to Stoick’s face.

“I don’t need his loyalty. Or cooperation. It’s only a dream, a wish. Something I may never have.”

He moved closer to speak directly in the older Chief’s ear.

“What I will have. Is him. Hiccup. Tied up and naked in my chambers every night so I can have his body all for myself. Until the only thing he knows the night holds is sex with me.”

Stoick paled when he heard the name. Hiccup? His son Hiccup? He growled and snapped his teeth trying bite Dagur.

Dagur danced out of reach quickly and laughed at the expression on Stoick’s face.

“Don’t TOUCH my son, you despicable man!”

“Oh-ho! Despicable? I wouldn’t say that. Deranged, maybe. It is what they call me.” Dagur aimlessly gestured his axe at Stoick. “Despite the name, I don’t think anyone would associate it with this particular situation.”

“I would.”

“You don’t count, you’re a prisoner. A hostage. But no. It’s not crazy to want Hiccup for myself. Surely you must have noticed what he’s become. He used to be an ugly runt. I suppose he’s still smaller than average, but no one could call him ugly and be telling the truth. He’s beautiful.”

Stoick struggled against his ropes.

“Don’t say another word about Hiccup!”

Dagur sighed and looked at Stoick in mock pity.

“Stoick, you can’t make demands of me. I know you want to kill me, but you’re in no position to try.” He pranced forward a step. “You know what.” He adopted an innocent facade no one would believe. “If you behave, I’ll even let you watch the first time I take him.”

Stoick roared at him. No words could ever describe the hatred he felt for the man before him. How dare he! How dare he threaten such a thing against him! If this devil ever so much as looked at Hiccup again, nothing short of death would stop Stoick from ripping him apart limb from limb while he was wide awake and screaming.

He struggled against his bonds until they started fraying, never once letting up on his roar. He wasn’t feared as a warrior because he couldn’t escape a couple pieces of twine.

Dagur stumbled back, startled, a sight Stoick enjoyed greatly, then called his men to bring chains in. Before he knew it, Stoick was wrapped in metal links completely covering his torso. Dagur approached again when they were secure.

“That display with the rope was impressive, so forgive me for going a little overboard with the replacements. Who could’ve guessed I’d get that reaction for being honest!”

Stoick practically hissed at him.

“My, my, my. You’ve gone downright feral, haven’t you?”

“I’ll show you feral. You threatened my son! I will literally chew your head off when I get out of these chains.”

Dagur gagged.

“That is disgusting!”

“You’re what’s disgusting!”

“Now you’re just being childish.”

Stoick growled again.

“Uh, uh, uh, Stoick. From now on, every threat you throw at me is one more thing I do to Hiccup. You want to bite my head off? Now I wouldn’t want to kill Hiccup, that gorgeous body would go to waste. How about I bite his neck until it bleeds?”

“DAGUR!!”

Dagur raised his eyebrows.

“Now there’s an idea. I’ll make him scream.”

He poked Stoick with his axe.

“How much do you think it’ll take to make him scream my name?”

Stoick wasn’t getting anywhere. The monster just kept going. Describing what he’d do to Hiccup. Things Stoick wouldn’t wish on anyone, least of all his precious son.

Eventually, he stayed quiet again.

When he heard explosions from a plasma blast, he was relieved and terrified. He knew Hiccup was strong, but if he got himself captured, Dagur would do horrific things to him. So he prayed to all the gods, even ones he didn’t believe in, that Hiccup would remain safe. Would get off of Outcast Island unharmed and unmolested, with our without his father.

As Hiccup was tossed into the same cell he had been moved to, Stoick frantically looked him over. All his clothes were intact, so there was that. Actually, there seemed to be not a scratch on him.

“Hiccup!”

Hiccup looked up quickly.

“Dad! Oh, I’m glad you’re here. Well, not glad you’re here here, but in the same room as me.”

Stoick gave him an unimpressed look.

“Hiccup.”

Hiccup laughed awkwardly.

“Right! Right. Yeah, not the best location for a reunion. You know, a cell. On Outcast Island.” He kicked the dirt with his good leg. “At least it’s one with open air instead of underground like the last one these people had me in.”

Stoick frowned. He never forgot that Hiccup had been captured before, but he’d chosen to avoid thinking about it. Perhaps he should have tried harder to talk to his son about that time.

“Hiccup, I’m sorry you’re in here with me. I should have fought harder to keep us both safe back on Berk and neither of us would be in this situation.”

Hiccup turned to him, surprised.

“What? Dad, no. It’s my fault Dagur got us. He wants Toothless, and I knew that. I should’ve made a better plan.”

Stoick had enough time to think that wasn’t all Dagur wanted, before he heard Hiccup gasp.

“What is it, son?”

Hiccup came right up next to him and reached out for his dad’s hand. It was turning purple. He touched it gently and Stoick hissed to hold back the pain.

“Dad, what happened? Why are you bound so tightly?”

“I put up a bit of a fight when Dagur was talking to me.”

Hiccup looked up at him with the beginnings of tears in his eyes.

“He hurt you?”

He wanted to hurt you. It kept playing in his head.

“I did break the ropes they had previously. I suppose this was the only way they could keep me restrained.”

Hiccup winced.

“When we get back to Berk, I’m taking you to Gothi.”

Stoick blanched which made Hiccup laugh.

“I’m not going to Gothi!”

Hiccup placed his hands on his hips. “Dad! You’re going to hurt more if you don’t.”

Stoick grumbled but eventually accepted.

A few hours passed where the two got some sleepless rest.

In the morning, Dagur’s men came and brought them back to the dragon arena where Toothless was still caged. They directed them to stand by the wall of the arena while Dagur paced around the cage laughing maniacally.

Looking at the dragon, Stoick finally thought to ask about their escape.

“Are the other dragon riders here, son?” he whispered.

Hiccup tilted his head.

“Well,” he started in that voice Stoick knew meant he was either hiding something, or ashamed of something, “not exactly.”

Stoick allowed himself to be optimistic.

“Oh, the Berk Fleet!”

“No.” The response was far too guilty.

Stoick glanced at his boy.

“Do you have any plan at all?”

Hiccup quickly responded and sounded glad to be able to do so positively.

“I do, actually!”

“Oh good, good.”

He waited for Hiccup to continue. When he didn’t, Stoick tried again more forcefully.

“Would you like to fill me in!?”

His son looked away again, making him exasperated.

“Uh, no. I’d just like to watch it unfold if it’s all the same to you.”

Before he could respond, Dagur started walking toward them.

“Hiccup! I’m glad to have you with us!”

Hiccup gave Dagur an bored look.

“Can’t say I’m glad to be here, Dagur.”

The man shrugged. “Well, it doesn’t really matter one way or another if you’re glad to be here. It just matters that you are.” He reached a hand forward and cupped Hiccup’s face. “I really am so pleased to see you.”

Stoick could feel his blood boil.

“Get away from my son!”

Dagur didn’t flinch this time, although Hiccup looked startled at his vehemence, he stayed put then slowly removed his hand, caressing Hiccup’s cheek and chin. He walked back towards the cage and chose to ignore his human prisoners.

As he rambled about a Night Fury becoming his tribes new symbol, Stoick got his temper under control. Nothing had happened or would happen to Hiccup as long as he was around.

He almost jumped when the first Berserker guard fell through the arena floor. Hiccup just looked at the hole like he'd expected it to appear then looked right back up at Dagur. When the second guard fell, Stoick eyed his son who turned to smirk at him.

A dragon burst through the ground and out through the bars of the arena while more cracks appeared around them. Three more Whispering Deaths broke through before the first one returned with Alvin the Treacherous and Mildew hanging from its tail.

Alvin threw Mildew at Toothless’ cage where he unlocked it and tore the muzzle off the Night Fury.

Stoick was incredulous.

“Alvin, Mildew, and Whispering Deaths. This was your plan!?”

“Did not see that coming did you?”

Alvin ran to them and removed their binds as quickly as possible given the sheer number trapping Stoick.

Before he knew it, a battle had begun. He lost track of Hiccup somewhere in the fray, but he wasn’t terribly worried. On the back of that Night Fury, Hiccup was a force to be reckoned with. It had started as a losing battle, being on enemy territory with only four men and then the whole arena floor collapsing in on itself, but the tides turned when Hiccup’s friends arrived on their dragons. They jumped straight into the fight which Stoick took as a sign to continue fighting as well. At some point he saved Alvin from a surprise attack and accepted that, somehow, his old enemy had changed for the better.

When the Screaming Death appeared he spun accusingly towards Hiccup.

“He’s looking for his mother! He’s been destroying islands trying to find Berk, but what he’s actually looking for is here!”

Stoick swung his head between Hiccup and the Screaming Death.

“That thing has a mother?!”

“Yes!”

Said mother appeared to be trying to fly to her offspring but was held back by Dagur. Stoick watched as Dagur threatened the dragon to force Hiccup to stay back. He offered a trade and Stoick was too far away to protest. Hiccup didn’t get a chance to accept or deny as Snotlout shot fire at the ropes and handlers, releasing the Whispering Death to be with her child.

His son flew to say goodbye to the creature that had nearly destroyed all of their homes. He really was too kind.

Stoick tried to keep track of Dagur, but in the end it had to be Alvin who saved his son from the man’s last attack. He was relieved. With Dagur in prison, there would be no way he could get near his son or try anything like this again.

He took the time before they left to let Alvin know that all had been forgiven. After all, he’d saved his son and helped save Stoick. They shook hands and a new alliance was born.

When they got back to Berk, Hiccup forced Stoick into Gothi’s hut where she checked every limb and joint that had lost blood flow during his capture. When she was satisfied, Stoick took Hiccup to a cliff overlooking the sea. Thinking over the events of the day, he was sure of something.

“You know son, you’re going to be a great chief one day. One of the best, I’d wager.”

Hiccup laughed it off.

“Yeah, if the last few days are any indication of what it’s like to be chief, I’d just as soon leave that to you.”

They both smiled. For a while longer, they stayed together on the cliff. Then a minor crisis popped up with the riders, as usual, and Stoick had to deal with Silent Sven.

“I suppose we both have our own chiefing to do.”

Hiccup nodded.

Stoick held a hand out to stop his son before he flew off to who-knows-where.

“Hiccup, wait.”

His son turned, confused.

“What is it, Dad?”

Stoick pulled him into a hug and squeezed as tightly as he dared without hurting the boy in his arms.

“I love you, son. I need you to know.”

Hiccup was surprised by the declaration, but hugged him back.

“I know, Dad. I love you, too.”

Stoick briefly tightened his hold on his son.

“I will never let anything touch you or hurt you, do you hear me? I’ll protect you, son.”

Hiccup squinted, confused and a tad annoyed.

“Dad, I don’t need you to.”

“Whether you need it or not, I will. No matter what, I’ll keep you safe.”

Hiccup softened at that and rested his head against his dad’s chest.

“Okay, Dad. And I’ll protect you, too.”

Stoick smiled as he released his son to his duties. In his head, he swore to himself that he’d never tell Hiccup what Dagur wanted with him. He’d never tell Hiccup what the man had said about him. He would never, because that would protect him from ever having to be afraid of a monster who wasn’t there anymore.

Certainly, Dagur would never enter their lives again, so there was no need for fear. The thought comforted Stoick as he went to deal with what Gobber had brought him.

The monster’s gone.

Chapter Text

2 years later.

Hiccup turned eighteen two months ago. He was an adult, technically. He didn’t particularly want to be. He just wanted to explore the archipelago with his friends, but his friends didn’t come with him anymore. They had seen everything the archipelago had to offer, but Hiccup wasn’t satisfied, so he was on his second exploration. He tried to convince them there was more, but even Astrid barely came on flights anymore. She and the rest of the riders were moving on, but Hiccup was stuck. He knew there was more out in the world, they just had to find it! 

Hiccup sighed as he gathered the thoughts back into himself. He was on one such exploration mission now, flying over Outcast Island. One of the guards saw him and waved. He laughed and waved back before deciding to head home to Berk. 

Thinking about it, just a couple years ago, he was terrified of that place. And sure, there were still bad people on the island, but they were in prison. Now he could fly over any day with no fear of being shot at or driven away. Honestly, he wouldn’t have believed it 2 years ago.

As he flew back to Berk he started thinking about that time. It felt like so long ago, but 2 years isn’t all that much in reality. He still remembered the panic that had coursed through him when he’d been thrown in that cell and saw his dad’s hands discoloured from how tightly they were bound. He remembered his first time being kidnapped to that Island, the interrogations and endless cries of dragons being starved or hurt or pushed too far. 

But, that led to the thought of Fishlegs and his skills in resisting the questions of Hiccup’s father thanks to the interrogation lessons the academy had held. Hiccup smiled to himself.

Hiccup felt something slap his face and looked down at Toothless who was giving him a side-eye.

He rolled his eyes. “What do you want you big baby?” 

Toothless wiggled beneath him and made his chortling noise.

“What, you want to go faster?”

Toothless gave his puppy-dog smile and took off with no further questions.

Hiccup laughed as they soared at renewed speed. They flew up until they were above the sparse clouds and dove again to the edges of the puffs. Something he’d learned from spending so much time in the sky, was that the clouds were easily manipulated. If you rushed past them they would scatter predictably and adding in a little dragon fire for fine touches, he and Toothless had become proficient in drawing with the clouds. Today, they created a classic; Toothless’s face. It fed the dragon’s ego, but what could he say? Hiccup loved him anyway. 

When Hiccup returned home from his expedition, in high spirits from the flight with his best friend, he doubled back to make sure he was in the right house when he found his father, Stoick the Vast, wringing his hands together and pacing. Reminiscent of something Hiccup would do. Like what?

Hiccup cautiously stepped inside and closed the door before approaching his dad.

Stoick didn’t seem to notice his son had arrived until he narrowly avoided knocking him over as he turned to pace the other direction.

“Hiccup!” he exclaimed, “You’re home already? You just left not an hour ago!”

Hiccup looked pointedly out the window where the sun could be seen dipping beneath the ocean. He looked back at his dad.

“I was gone all day, actually.” He awkwardly rocked on his feet before concern quickly flooded his features. “Does that mean you’ve been here all day?” He looked to the fire pit and the table not far behind it. “Have you eaten at all today?”

Stoick still looked caught off-guard by the setting sun and Hiccup sighed.

“Dad.”

The large man shook his head as if to clear it.

“Sorry, son, what was that?”

Hiccup raised his eyebrows, completely unimpressed with this absent-minded version of his father.

“Have you eaten since I left?”

Stoick did his own quick check of the house and realized that he hadn’t. With an out of character hesitance he rubbed the back of his head and replied, “No, I suppose not.”

The confirmation was unsurprising but still had Hiccup drawing closer to check his father over for fever or sickness. He was batted away with a light glare and ‘harumph’ from the father.

“Hiccup, I'm not sick. I just have a lot on my mind.”

“Mmhmm,” Hiccup hummed, skeptical.

Stoick sighed and moved to take a seat heavily at the table. 

Worry growing, Hiccup followed and sat across from him.

“Hiccup,” he started, “You’re eighteen.” Hiccup went to interject with ‘no, really?’ but Stoick held up a hand to keep him quiet. “You’ve been eighteen for a couple months now and there’s something I need to talk to you about, but being honest with you, it’s a scary subject. Especially for a father.”

A blush of embarrassment slowly crept up Hiccup’s face as he came to the wrong conclusion as to where this was going.

“Dad, I don’t need you to give me ‘the talk.’ I’ve already got it twice from the twins and once when Gobber was drunk, I think I know whatever it is you're about to-”

Stoick reached out to grab his shoulders. “No, no no. Son, that’s not what this is about. Well, not entirely.”

The embarrassment bled into confusion and Hiccup asked, “What do you mean, not entirely?”

Stoick sighed and ran a hand down his face.

“I never wanted to tell you. I swore to myself I never would, but circumstances have changed. Dagur’s been making friends with his guards and I don’t know what’s to become of that.”

Hiccup shook his head and grabbed his dad’s hand.

“What are you talking about? What does Dagur have to do with anything?”

Stoick turned his hand in his son’s and held it tight. 

“You remember when Dagur had his Berserkers hold us on Outcast Island?”

Hiccup nodded and frowned. “Yeah, of course. He hurt your hands with all those chains.”

“Aye… You remember why he brought the chains in?”

He searched through his memory for a moment.

“You broke the ropes, right?”

It was Stoick’s turn to nod.

“I broke them because the things Dagur had said infuriated me beyond anything I’ve ever felt, before or since. I wanted to hurt him. I wanted to hurt him so badly that I broke through my restraints to get at his throat.”

Hiccup blinked as the hand holding his tightened further. Whatever had happened still affected his dad, clearly.

“What did he say?” He wasn’t sure he wanted to know, but he had to ask.

Stoick looked at his son’s eyes. “I’ll tell you,” he said, “but you need to realize that some people are just bad. There is no redeeming them, son. Do you understand?”

Hiccup figured his eye roll was enough to show his disagreement on that matter. Of course people could do bad things, but everyone could change and make things right. Savage did it, Mildew and Alvin did it, heck! Even Stoick had done it when he chose to team up with dragons instead of fight them three years ago.

“Hiccup. Dagur is a bad person.”

He nodded his head from side to side.

“I know what you mean , but I really think everyone can make up for what they’ve done. Dagur’s spending his life in prison for his mistakes, and maybe that’ll make him a better person!”

Stoick’s eyes closed in pride and fear for his child. 

“I love that you see good in all living things, I don’t want you to lose that. But Hiccup, please be cautious. I need you to stay safe, son.”

Hiccup's eyebrows furrowed. 

“Wait, are you talking about being safe from Dagur? He’s in prison, I just said that.”

“If he were ever to escape, you’d be in danger.”

“... I mean, yeah. I’m sure I’m high on his priority revenge list.”

Stoick hesitated again, much to his son’s concern. 

“You- Hiccup, you…What Dagur wants with you is a kind of danger you’ve never faced before.”

Hiccup felt his dad’s hand shaking minutely and immediately moved to comfort him, placing his other hand on top of it. “Okay. Dad, I’m listening. What kind of danger?”

“Dagur wants you.”

“Right, he wants me and Toothless, I know. He’d probably be happy if he could get me to train dragons for him like Alvin tried to do.”

“No, he wants your… body.” His voice shrunk on the last word.

Again, Hiccup was confused.

“My body? What does that even mean? I don’t think he’s a cannibal, but he is crazy, and there was that one time when we were kids that he-”

“He wants to rape you! Son.”

Everything was quiet for a second as Hiccup tried to process what he’d heard. That couldn’t be right. There’s no way Dagur would want that. Why on earth would anyone want that?

“What did you say? Because it sounded like you said he wanted to…”

“Rape you, yes." Stoick sighed. "You heard correctly.”

Hiccup laughed disbelievingly and shook his head in denial.

“There’s no way that’s true! Why would Dagur want to, you know," he couldn't say it out loud. "It doesn’t make sense!”

“Nothing he does makes any sense to me. But this is something I know for sure. That’s what he was telling me in the cell before they brought you in. He ranted to me about all the vile things he wanted to do to you, and I couldn’t stand to hear that said in relation to my son so I broke the ropes. I tried to attack him, but they brought in chains. He’s a filthy, evil man who thinks only of himself and his wants. Unfortunately Hiccup, he wants you. If he were ever to escape from that Island, I fear he would come after you for more than just revenge.”

Shock. That sounded like a good word for what Hiccup was feeling. He felt shocked and somewhat nauseous. So it was understandable that he ran outside as quickly as he could to throw up. He hadn’t had dinner so only acid came up and what was left of his lunch in his stomach.

His dad followed him out and placed a hand on his back as he knelt in the grass.

“Hiccup?”

Hiccup felt his emotions swirling so much he couldn’t decipher if he was angry or scared or something else entirely.

“What am I supposed to say to that? What am I supposed to do with that information!? Dagur is locked away so it’s not like he can get to me, but I know he wants to now, I just-” Hiccup collapsed further on the grass and felt tears well up in his eyes. “Dad I don’t know what to do.”

Stoick sat on the grass beside him and pulled him into a hug.

“I’m so sorry. I felt you should know, but there’s nothing you have to do. I’m still going to protect you. For as long I live, I’ll protect you.”

Hiccup gave a watery laugh. 

“I know. Thank you.”