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Chapter Text

Hands jerked Hiccup upright. 

What was going on? It was dark, and Hiccup could barely see anything--he could just make out the silhouettes of several large, muscular Vikings. And he could feel the rope being tied around his wrists, behind his back. 

He tried to scream, but a gag was yanked around his mouth. 

Where was Toothless? He needed Toothless. He wasn't in his usual spot. 

His pulse quickened. He needed to stay calm. Think of a plan. 

There was still hope of escape. But it was him against three--no, four, and he was smaller than them. Much smaller. It was an unwelcome reminder of how skinny he was. 

If he could just get to Toothless--

One of the kidnappers grabbed on to his left leg. 

Damn it. 

One of the kidnappers hands was wrapped around his leg just under the knee, and the other around his prosthetic.

Gods, Hiccup hated this part. 

It wasn't like he could fight back. Not with another kidnapper pinning his good leg down. All he could do was brace himself. 

The prosthetic was a tight fit--it had to be, he walked on it. Usually, it wasn't painful to take off, if he took it off right. And if he didn't take it off right...

The kidnappers hand cut into his skin, tight enough to stop blood flow. Hiccup clenched his teeth as the prosthetic was torn off, ripping the sensitive skin underneath. 

It wasn't just the pain that bothered him. It was also not being able to do anything. Having to lean on the kidnappers as they dragged him through the forest. Tripping every few seconds. He hated being so dependant--and, to make it even worse, Hiccup never took his prosthetic off in front of others unless he had to. Even his friends had only seen his leg a handful of times. 

His friends. He could really use them right now. 

Toothless scratched at the muzzle the kidnappers had put on him. He had freed himself of the quite flimsy rope that they had tied him up with, now the muzzle was the only thing remaining.

He knew he was on the Edge. He also knew that Hiccup wasn't. 

He needed to get to Hiccup. Bad things happened when Hiccup was away from Toothless. 

Toothless needed to wake up the other riders. They needed to find Hiccup. 

Hiccup's kidnappers pulled him onto the deck of a small boat, pushing him down on his knees. Of course, that wasn't necessary, if they had waited a few seconds he would've fallen over anyway. 

Under the moonlight, Hiccup could see more clearly. The kidnappers were dragon hunters. Of course, he had guessed this much, but it was still nice to know for sure that they were taking him to his death. 

By the time the sun rose, Hiccup couldn't see the Edge anymore. He was completely surrounded by water. 

The hours dragged on, and Hiccup began to wonder where the other Riders were. Had Hiccup really gotten that much of a head start? Or were they still sleeping, and hadn't even noticed he was gone?

A thought crept up on him. It lurked in the shadows, scratching at his mind with its venomous claws. 

What if they didn't care?

"Toothless?!" Astrid opened her eyes to find Toothless nudging her face. He had a muzzle around his mouth. Which meant--

"Where's Hiccup?" Astrid jumped from her bed, running over to Hiccup's hut. 

Empty. And on the ground, was his metal leg. 

Hiccup tried to push the thought away. It was ridiculous. Of course they cared...right? Even before the Red Death, they wouldn't let him get kidnapped...

Hiccup used to go missing all the time. He would sneak away into the forests. And no one worried. Not a single person. Even though there was a chance that he had gotten attacked by one of the many herds of wild boar on Berk. No one cared. They were even...happy. Happy that he was gone. And disappointed when he came back. 

But things had changed. He had friends now. They wouldn't just...fall into hold habits, right? Would they realize they were better off without him? 

The questions made him almost glad when the boat hit the shore. 

"Hiccup's missing?!" Fishlegs screamed. 

"What are we going to do?! Our dear leader is the only thing keeping this group together!" Ruff cried. Tuff started sobbing on her shoulder. 

"We're just going to have to find him," Astrid concluded. They had to. There was no choice. They had to find Hiccup. Before it was too late. 

Hiccup rested against the cool rock floor of his cell, trying not to move. He could tell the hunters were getting frustrated with him. They had kicked him, punched him, cut him with a knife, threw him against the wall, and he hadn't screamed once. He had an extremely high pain tolerance from losing his leg. And he would need it, since there was still no sight of the riders. 

He had come to terms with the fact that they weren't coming to save him. 

The hunters were outside, debating what they should do to him next.  

"We could rip his stomach out." 

"Viggo said to keep him alive."

"We could...tear his lungs out!"

"Viggo said to keep him alive." 

"He would be alive!" 

"I have an idea."

"And what might that be?"

"You'll see."

Hiccup heard footsteps coming near him. 

"Hey, I thought we were supposed to work together!" called out one of the other hunters. 

The cell door opened. The hunter walked over to Hiccup, still resting on the floor. She didn't hurt him. Not yet, she didn't. Instead, she whispered in his ear. 

Hiccup's pulse quickened. "No--no, please," he begged. He scrambled away from her as quickly as he could. Tears of fear started to cloud his vision. 

"That's the thing with torture. You don't really have a choice." 

They had been flying for hours. Astrid could've sworn they had flown past the same island at least five times--and examined it just as many. The ocean was starting to feel endless. 

"They couldn't have gotten that far, they were on a boat!" Snotlout pointed out.

He was right. How could a boat possibly have gone that--

"Wait, we're flying towards Viggo's base," Astrid said. 

Fishlegs looked confused. "Uh...yeah. Isn't that the plan? The hunters would've wanted to eventually get there, so they would sail in this--"

"We're going the wrong way." 

Hiccup couldn't lose another leg. He would never walk again. 

Panic threatened to drown him. His face felt wet. Was he crying? Or was he sweating? 

All the pain losing a leg had caused him came back with colors so vivid he could almost feel it. He couldn't go through that again. 

The hunters entered his cell. 

These were his last few minutes with a foot. 

At first, he tried to run, crawling as fast as he could. But they caught him quickly, holding him above the ground by the fabric of his shirt. He punched the hunter in the face, as hard as he could, which was pretty effective. But his freedom only lasted for a second and the number of hunters carrying him tripled. He couldn't move his arms. Or his legs. He still struggled, trying desperately to get out of their grasp. 

They tied him to a chair, with ropes so tight he could barely breathe. He gasped for air. He felt light headed as the pain of a headache washed over him. All of him hurt--his muscles were cramping up. 

"No, please, don't..." he sobbed. He closed his eyelids, tears rolling out from under them. His breathing broke.

No one was coming to save him.

He could hear the hunter unsheathe the ax. 

He squeezed his eyes shut. 

"Hiccup!" 

Chapter Text

Hiccup's head shot up. It was the gang. It was the gang! 

The hunter who had been about to chop off his only leg turned around. Thank the gods. Relief warmed his nerves like sunlight on a chilly day. 

Astrid sprinted towards him, horror written across her face. She tugged on the cell door. Of course, it was locked. 

"Ha, you thought you could save him. Well, you can't." The hunter chuckled and raised the ax again. 

Hiccup's blood turned to ice. Hiccup could barely hear Astrid scream, "You monster!" over the sound of his own heartbeat. No. No. No. He squirmed in the ropes holding him--if he could just find a way to move--

Astrid lunged for the hunter, sticking her arm through the cell, the sound of her body hitting the metal echoing across the stone walls. Blood started to redden the bars. 

But it worked. She had a finger hooked around the back of the hunter's shirt. 

Astrid yanked her backwards, the hunter's skull hitting the metal of the cell door. Hard. She went limp. 

Astrid grabbed her keys and unlocked the door, pushing it open. 

"Are you okay? What happened to you?" Astrid examined Hiccup's face for a second before cutting the rope around Hiccup with her knife. It happened to be the same knife that Hiccup made for her. 

"Let's just say I'm very glad you came when you did." Hiccup didn't know how he could be so happy and yet still very much recovering from the fear. He freed himself from the chair. His breath was still ragged, but his friends did care about him. And he still had a foot. He was nearly crying with relief. He was already crying from terror, so he supposed crying from relief wouldn't be too bad. 

Astrid wiped the tears from his cheeks as she wrapped an arm around his back to help him stand. "You're safe now." 

His skin tingled with her touch.

"Not yet. We still have to get past the guards," Hiccup pointed out, "And I don't have my leg, so I'm..." Hiccup turned his head away, stopping his speech. 

Astrid bent down to look him in the eye. 

"Nevermind. Just...just--let's get out of here," Hiccup stumbled over his words. There were too many ways to finish that sentence. Useless. A waste of time. Pathetic. All of those words that had been engraved in his mind by the vikings of Berk. By the other riders. 

Astrid kissed his cheek. It snapped him out of his haze, giving him the strength to lift his head and look her in the eye. 

She was smiling softly. He smiled back. Everything would be alright, as long as she was by his side. 

"I'm going to carry you," Astrid stated. 

"You're going to what--" 

Astrid leaned down and tucked her arm behind his knee, picking him up off the ground. 

Of course Hiccup trusted Astrid. That didn't mean he was totally comfortable with being carried. His muscles clenched as he wrapped an arm around her back. "Can you put me d--"

"Nope." 

Hiccup really hated being this reliant on someone. But...if he had to, he was glad it was Astrid. 

Hiccup was surprised to see that the hunters had already been taken care of. Astrid seemed surprised too, but she just smiled knowingly. a

A black dragon caught Hiccup's eye. "Toothless!" 

Toothless turned around, saw Hiccup and bounded over. "Hey, bud." Hiccup scratched Toothless's head as he licked Hiccup's face. Much to Astrid's disgust, but she didn't say anything. Astrid put Hiccup down, setting him on Toothless. 

"Tuff has your leg, by the way. I was going to put it in your saddle bag, but Tuff started crying every time I took it away from him," Astrid explained. 

Hiccup didn't quite know how to reply to that. 

Luckily, he didn't have to. 

Tuff came out of nowhere, running into him so hard Hiccup nearly fell off Toothless. 

Hiccup was never very good at hugs. For one, he never really got any--before the Red Death, at least. Occasionally there was one from Fishlegs, or, even rarer, one from his dad, but...that didn't happen very often. He had gotten more used to it over the years, but it wasn't perfect. So Hiccup didn't really know where to put his arms when Tuff sobbed into Hiccup clothes as he hugged him.

"H--Hi, Tuff...uh...," Hiccup awkwardly said as he patted Tuffnut's back. He was a bit surprised at how happy everyone was to see him. 

They stood around him, looking at the cuts and bruises he had been given. A couple were checking to make sure his right leg was still there. 

Hiccup wiggled his toes, relieved that they still moved. Unlike his other foot. 

He looked between all of the riders. All of them were there. All of them were concerned. All of them cared. "You guys came." 

"Of course we came, Hiccup," Fishlegs said, "Did you think we wouldn't?" 

It took Hiccup a second to process that. And think of an answer. "No, no, that's ridiculous! I would never think that...," Hiccup slowed down at the end of his lie, looking at the skeptical faces around him. 

"You thought we wouldn't come, didn't you?" Astrid walked towards him. 

Hiccup stayed silent for a bit, looking at Toothless's ears. "I just thought...maybe you didn't...care...about me," Hiccup said softly, voicing the worries he had thought all day. Saying the words made him feel a thousand times lighter, even though he was endlessly worried about what his friends would think. 

"Why on Thor's green Earth would you think that?" Snotlout demanded, stunned. 

Hiccup contemplated the question. "Well...you know...when we were kids...I would go missing a lot...and none of you really..." Hiccup's voice broke. He shrugged. His throat felt like it was going to close up. He had just stopped the tears, and he did not want to cry again. Not in front of all of them. 

"We cared..."

Not very much.

They must've thought the same, because everyone looked uncomfortable.  

"Sorry...Hiccup..." Tuff let go of him. 

The apologies kept coming. Hiccup wanted to tell them they didn't need to, that it was a long time ago, that he was over it...but he couldn't. Because it wasn't true. 

"Thanks, guys." Hiccup looked up at them and gave a weak smile. He knew his eyes were embarrassingly red and watery. 

"Group hug?" Tuff suggested. 

"Group hug!" Fishlegs cheered, getting closer to Hiccup. 

"No--I can't stand--I don't have my--" Before he could finish his sentence, Hiccup was pulled off Toothless and absorbed into the center of the group hug. 

Hiccup looked around him. For once, he didn't mind that he couldn't stand very well, or that he had to lean on them to keep him upright. Because that's what friends are for.