Darkness

The working title for this was 'Tuffnut's Biggest Weakness' but I decided not to call it that. This was inspired by another one-shot I wrote, 'Interrogation'.

If I get an idea, I might possibly continue this, but it'd be short, because I can't afford another story right now. Hope you enjoy.

Rated T for blood, mentions of torture and gore, and mild interrogation.

It's in the darkness that you can't hide.

In the light, you can ignore the shadows and pretend they're not there, but in the darkness, where there is nothing but shadows and fear all around, you can't hide.

There is no place to hide in the darkness.

When harsh, rough ropes cut into the skin of your forearms and when you can still taste the blood from last night's beating…that's when you can no longer hide.

I swallow. My throat burns. Everything on me hurts. Hiccup is gone. He protested a little in the beginning, but he didn't fight his father on it in the end.

There's really no arguing with the chief, not once he's made up his mind. And definitely not if it concerns the life of his son.

I'm not sure if Alvin and the Outcasts wait in the darkness still, just out of my sight, but I know I'm in pain. I'm not sure where the others have gone off to.

But Alvin searches for Hiccup still. His harsh voice echoes in my ear every night, until he deals me a blow to head that sends me spiraling into unconsciousness for another few hours. He doesn't just search for Hiccup – he searches for a way to train the dragons and he thinks I can help him.

He knows I can help him.

He thinks I won't be as big a help as Hiccup, and while that's true, I know the search for Hiccup would begin again, more vigorous and violent than before if they knew it, too. But then, it's not just dragons that they require Hiccup's help with.

He thinks that for now, beating me is the best way to get me to help him because willingly, I will never betray my village.

I know he waits in the darkness every night, because his voice always echoes emptily out of the blackness every night, asking me the same questions, over and over.

He tried to threaten me in the beginning. I'm beginning to think I am little more than bait, now.

Yes…that would make sense. Hiccup was always stupidly loyal to us, his friends, if I remember rightly. That's not the Viking thing, really, thinking of others before yourself. Risking your life and being loyal – maybe. But not in the ways Hiccup did.

It's almost good he's gone. It's probably best for everyone that he and Toothless made it to the safe place, that they didn't protest too much when the chief told them to go.

My days have begun passing in such a fashion that the only distraction from pain I get nowadays is when Alvin's questioning starts up again. And after that, pain comes. It always comes.

I haven't seen Astrid or the others in weeks. I haven't seen my sister in days.

I don't even know anymore if the constant weakness and fatigue I feel but never show is an aspect of being hungry or maybe thirsty or just the state of fear I'm living in right now.

It can range from terror to panic to worry in seconds.

The terror only comes when I think of the others. The panic only comes when I think of my sister. The worry comes when I think at all.

And then, there's that special fear reserved for the rest of the village and then the fear reserved for Hiccup and Toothless. What are they doing? How are they faring? Are they going to be alright? Have they come back?

It's the questions that torture me these days, in a way that Alvin's fists and swords cannot.

I don't think I've seen light, even firelight, for about three days. My timing is incredibly off and has been for awhile, so forgive me if it's been longer or shorter, but it's felt about the length of three days.

Suddenly, a noise comes from out of the darkness. My muscles tense. I'm ready for pain. I'm ready for questions. I'm ready for almost anything.

But what I'm not ready for and what I don't think I'll ever be ready for is exactly what I hear.

There's a long, sharp inhale, as if somebody's in pain, and then a voice I recognize speaks from out of the blackness. "Ow! Get off me, you idiots!"

My heart jumps into my throat and stays there. I know that voice. I'd recognize my sister's voice anywhere. "Hey!" I yell out to the darkness, because that's the only thing I can do to fight it, is to yell at it. "Th-that's not fair! Only I'm allowed to hurt my sister!"

"Well, then, tell us what ya know about the dragons, boy, and you can keep being the only person to hurt your sister," Alvin's sly, cunning voice hisses in my ears.

I can't betray my village…but I can't betray my sister. I can't. I can't. I can't.

"Tuffnut!" For the first time in forever, Ruffnut's calling me by my given name. "It's okay, it's alright, Hiccup's coming—

But her words are suddenly cut off and I hear Alvin grumbling to his men.

"Hiccup's coming?" I ask, heart rising, before feeling it immediately fall again. It's true, Hiccup's pretty smart and with Toothless, he's a really good fighter, but he hasn't got a hope. Not with Outcasts storming the village the way they pretty much have lately.

The chief tries to say that Berk is still a free island and that we aren't slaves, but we know the truth. Alvin wouldn't be walking the streets of Berk if the island was a free place.

I hear the thud of a body hitting the floor. "Ow!" Ruffnut protests loudly and my heart clenches.

I close my eyes and try to pretend we're in a different place, a different time. I wish I could smile again at the sound of Ruffnut in pain, but I can't. She could be seriously hurt now and if she is, it's all my fault.

As the silence falls, I bury my head in my knees, as I hear somebody coming closer and closer in the darkness. I tense my muscles, ready and waiting for a blow, but it doesn't come.

What does is a comforting arm around my shoulders and it feels nice. I lean into it before realizing it's my sister and it feels more weird than nice. I'm used to being hit with that hand, not gently stroked and comforted by it. I know then that the Outcasts must be gone – they would never have let a shred of comfort, small as it is, make its way to me.

Ruffnut's voice echoes in the darkness. "Hiccup's coming, just so you know."

"Pretty words, sis," I whisper bitterly. "But he can't fight these people on his own. It's a suicide mission to even think of coming out of hiding at a time like this, when Alvin's men are looking all over him."

"I don't know," Ruffnut says thoughtfully. "He's pulled us out of a lot of impossible situations before. Remember when Alvin had that book and he managed to get it from him? Or when it looked like all our dragons were gonna have to be caged, but he ended up showing the chief that the dragons didn't mean any harm?"

I wipe at my nose and when I draw my hand away, I feel something warm and wet on my fingers. I don't need a light to tell me that's blood. "Yeah," I whisper, feeling tears threaten and sting at my eyes. "That was a long time ago, Ruffnut."

"Not so long ago," Ruffnut replies encouragingly. "It feels like just yesterday when Chief Stoick banned all the dragons from flying."

"Yeah," I mumble. "And Hiccup started that secret flight club that wasn't really a secret flight club, because it didn't really exist."

"First rule of dragon flight club was that there was no dragon flight club, or some other nonsense," Ruffnut says, and I hear the smile in her voice as we chuckle over Hiccup's stupidity.

We laugh because otherwise, we will cry.

We laugh about the past because we're in danger of crying about the present.