Chapter Text
“Hiccup, my dear , we meet again.”
Hiccup knew that voice. Knew every inflection in his tone, every stress on each syllable. And it might’ve just been the dragon root wound in his stomach, but it made him sick.
“As always, a pleasure to see you,” he seethed, his voice dripping with sarcasm and general grumpiness. It was the worst fight they’d had in a while: the singular ship of trapped dragons from Johan’s tip off had turned out to be a full on ambush. They’d managed to free most of the dragons; they themselves had not been so lucky. Hiccup had rolled his shoulder, broken his ribs, cut his shin, had his prosthetic leg wrenched off him, and been shot in the stomach with a dragon root arrow. He hadn’t asked the full extent of the others’ injuries, but he guessed they were in a similar state.
“Now now, my boy, don’t be so morose,” Viggo chided, his voice gentle. It reminded Hiccup of the tone he’d seen him use on dragons before he killed them: toying with his prey before he went in for the fatal strike.
“Kind of hard not to,” Hiccup choked out a response. “You’re holding me and all my friends and our dragons captive.” Around him, his friends sat wordlessly, all sporting their own injuries. He was glad they all shared a cell; at least they had company.
A guard marched inside and kicked him in the head, sending his world spiralling. The pain was blinding in tandem with his already battered body. Astrid lurched as far forward as her sprained ankle would allow, and pulled him closer to her, stroking his hair.
“You’ll regret that, you piece of dragon-” Astrid hissed, her eyes blazing with hatred.
“Astrid, my dear-” Viggo cut her off, frowning.
“ Don’t ... call her that,” Hiccup whispered, just loud enough for the room to hear. He sat upright, even though it sent waves of pain shooting down his ribs. Defiance sparkled in his eyes.
“Ohh,” Viggo cooed, as if admiring animals in a petting zoo. “My dear, sweet Hiccup. So quick to defend your... ‘friends’ .”
“We’ve been friends since-”
“Since when?” Viggo mused. Hiccup’s eyebrows shot up as much as his waning muscles would allow him. “Since you trained a Night Fury and the village loved you?”
“I-” Hiccup fell silent.
Viggo gave him a look of what could only be approval. “That’s the spirit, my boy. For someone who's claimed to question everything about the world around him, you sure do seem to be taking these ‘friends’ at face value.”
“Hey! We are his friends!” Snotlout yelled, trying not to clutch the dragon root arrow wound in his shoulder.
“You did kind of bully him,” Fishlegs reminded him, guilt edging his tone. “And you didn’t exactly say -or even act- sorry.”
“Oh Fishlegs, dear boy, don’t act so high-and-mighty,” Viggo said. Fishlegs felt his heart rate spike. “Everyone knows a bystander is just as bad as the bully. You and your friends know full well my hunters do little actual killing, just capturing, really, but...” his voice lingered on the last word, “you shoot them down all the same.”
“That’s because Hiccup’s ten times better than you in every way possible,” Astrid said, her lightning blue eyes gleaming with defiance.
“That, Astrid, I may have to agree with you on. He is too good: for all of us, really. Especially, however, you.”
Astrid’s eyes shot up. “Wha- me? ” A pit slowly began hollowing in her stomach, like one of the twin’s trap floorboards creaking downwards. Hiccup refused to look at her.
“Oh, most certainly. You were nothing but degrading to him - jealous , dare I say-” Astrid let out an outraged cry “-and suddenly you’re the perfect power couple,” Viggo said, his tone suggesting amusement. Knowing the evil man he was, he probably enjoyed it.
“We’re not a couple,” Hiccup said, clenching his fists by his side. Although he was only saying it to keep them from further harm, and it was technically the truth, Astrid couldn’t pinpoint why the statement hurt her so much.
“What say you we discuss this... privately? Hiccup?” Viggo raised his eyebrows.
“What even is there to discuss?” He winced as he tried to stand, resting against the wall. He refused to look up at him. “You know nothing about that.”
“As it seems, neither do they. Do you think they care about what happened?” Hiccup fell silent, unable to move, or even breathe. It was true they hadn’t really talked about what happened before he formed the dragon riders, but he tried not to let it bother him. They were a pretty good bunch, even if they sometimes got on his nerves.
“Put it this way: if they cared, they would’ve apologised by now.” Hiccup couldn’t deny the truth to that statement. “How about this? I’ll give you back your prosthetic leg if you agree to a small conversation with me.”
Hiccup stayed silent. Having his prosthetic leg would help him. Plus, it was only a conversation. And he’d never talked about it with anyone before. Having the first time be his nemesis wasn’t quite ideal, but it was better than the village ignoring it. Viggo gave him an enquiring look. “Come now. You know you want to talk about this.”
Something dark and unsettling simmered in his posture. “You know what, Viggo? I would quite like to talk about it,” Hiccup said, his shoulders square. He shot the group a cold look over his shoulder as the guards opened the cage, pointing their spears in case any of them tried to make an escape. But there was no point: they were all too injured, or too stunned to fight back.
Viggo took him by the shoulder so he could walk easier. His hand gripped Hiccup’s rolled shoulder to the point of pain.
“Good luck with him after Viggo’s put his word in,” Ryker said with a sinister cackle.
It wasn’t until Ryker and the other guards were done that Snotlout cleared his throat, and said the words everyone was undoubtedly thinking.
“ Wow, we screwed up.”
.o0o.
An hour or so later, Hiccup returned to the cell, mostly cleaned of blood and ash, and walking steadily on his prosthetic.
Astrid tried to wave, patting the space next to her, an unspoken ask to sit down. He ignored her with a stony look in his eyes. “Hiccup, whatever he told you, it’s not tr-”
“Oh really? And who else should I believe? My best friends forever , who’ve always had my back, right?” His voice was ice-cold, and cut sharp as ice, too.
“Better us than listening to a war criminal who killed countless dragons!” Astrid shot back.
“We kind of are all war criminals,” Tuffnut interjected. One glare from Ruffnut, and he shut up quick.
Hiccup stayed silent for a moment, then another. The entire room held its breath in anticipation for his next words. What came was cloud-soft, tinged with tragedy, as if he was too scared to yell. “You could’ve been him. Any one of you.”
“What?” Astrid breathed, horrified.
“You guys were all, and I mean all , for killing the dragons. I wouldn’t -because Thor forbid- ” he spat “-I don’t want to kill other living beings with feelings. And all -and I mean all- of you treated me like the lowest scum in the Archipelago because of it. But all of a sudden, everyone loved me.”
He panted, staring at the others with newly unveiled hatred. It burned on his eyes, and could only imagine how much it hurt for the others to see him so angry. Let them, he thought, unbidden, they deserve it.
“Even when I defeated the Red Death, I thought you all would come to your senses, and have some humility, but no, you just had to act like we were perfect friends the whole time. Like you didn’t just hurt me, but almost hundreds of other dragons. You could’ve been Viggo, you could’ve been Ryker, you all- ” he stopped, gasping for breath “could’ve been dragon killers.”
“Indeed.” Viggo’s sudden voice behind them made them all jump. “Surprised to see me? Don’t yell so loudly next time; you might be more... aware of what’s coming for you. And, personally, I think you would’ve made such fine dragon killers. You all can fight, you’re fierce, and you'll listen to whatever people tell you. Had Hiccup not put a famous dent in my ideas, I might’ve even recruited you.”
“What do you want already?” Astrid said, as angry as she could be with a split lip, a bruise on her jaw, and what was probably a sprained ankle.
“Spit it out, Viggo,” Snotlout added, his nose still bloody from where a guard almost knocked him out.
“I just wanted to have a conversation with my dear friend Hiccup.”
“He’s not your-” Astrid broke off, suddenly realising what she was going to say.
“What would any of you know about friendship?” Hiccup said. His voice was void of emotion; it terrified her.
Viggo and Ryker left without a word. Hiccup pulled his knees up to his chest, and buried his head in his knees. No one said anything. Guilt hung in the air like smoke. There were no windows, nor words with which to clear it.
.o0o.
In a small compartment, just underneath the bow of the ship, a man sat, with a Maces and Talons board on his table.
A smile slowly edged onto his lips as he took the Chief, and all the Warriors, and split them all up, placing them delicately on different islands. The joker went back to their base, while second-in-command retired to the retreat point. He continued placing the pieces, much to his amusement, when he came to the Chief. And he hesitated.
Should he put the Chief beside him, risking such a dangerous move? The Chief could backstab him at any moment. But... what was there to backstab for? A village that only loved him once he was useful? A team who bullied and abused him for his childhood?
Viggo chuckled, as he positioned the Chief beside the King. “Ryker?”
His brother -who was standing guard, much to his dismay- came into the room at once. “Yes, Viggo?”
“Come in, brother. I have a proposition.”