AN: So, to make up for the lack of story last week, I decided to try my hand at a bit of a longer story. I had originally wanted to make this a two-shot, two-chapter thing, but it became this instead. There will be another short one-shot this coming week. So for now, have some How to Train Your Dragon supernatural things. I hope you don't mind, but I didn't proofread this either.
In the distance loomed a hulking form of a building. Two towers jutted up, nearly scraping the low clouds, positioned on either side of a long front face. Slitted windows lined the towers, while more modern windows formed a line along the front. Even from afar, and even in the dimness of twilight, the building was obviously decrepit, waiting too long for care. The siding had fallen off in some places, leaving the bare brick and reinforced cement open to the elements. A good chunk of the front wall, right by the double door entrance, was simply gone, exposing the inside to the elements. Many a ghost hunter and adventurous teen had entered through that large hole, and many had run back out through it. Some, though, had claimed that during their escape, that hole had disappeared.
A small group was making its way towards the building, and from their angle they could see that the building stretched back far, probably where its infamous courtyard was, and ended in a steep wall topped with razor wire. It certainly looked forbidding, but this did not discourage the group. Their footsteps were unhurried, some a little nervous, others sure and languid. Two carried small cameras and microphones, while another sported a backpack with various odds and ends. The others were unburdened, though one had a mallet strapped to his hip, for some reason. There were six in all. The one sporting a hammer was short and burly, black hair pulled into a man-bun, a black hoodie lazily hanging off his arms, unzipped in the front. He practically swaggered down the side of the road, casting glances at the leader of the group. She walked with a purpose, her stance brokering no argument, intricate blonde braid swinging between her shoulder blades. She carried nothing, but kept her chin high, blue eyes cutting through the darkness. A little ways behind her, the two holding cameras were snickering. They looked strikingly similar, both with long blonde hair, slightly hunched with a mischievous gleam in their eyes. The girl kept tugging at twin braids, and periodically reached over to tug her brother's dreadlocks.
Two figures carried up the rear, one slight but lithe, the other tall and wide. The tall blonde boy carried the backpack, comically small between his broad shoulders. He was fidgeting, steps small and stumbling, a nervous grimace on his face as his eyes darted around. Whenever their leader checked over her shoulder, he sent pleading looks her way. Clearly, he was unhappy about his whole endeavor. Even more obvious was the slight boy's extreme displeasure. A jutted lip and furrowed eyebrows brought a scowl to his face. His steps were dragging as he brought up the very rear. A stone appeared in his path, and he kicked at it to take out frustration.
It seemed that the blonde leader was just about fed up with the slight boy's disgruntled demeanor, for she halted and whipped around to face him. An accusing finger pointed his way as she said: "Hiccup I swear to the gods if you keep it up with that sour face I am going to punch it off."
The burly boy chimed in. "Yeah! You're ruining Astrid's plans! They're the perfect plans, by the way. It's awesome that you wanted to check this place out. You're awesome." She scowled at his lackluster flirting, but turned back to the slight boy – Hiccup. The put fell away as she realized her acrid tone lacked the effect it usually had. Instead, Hiccup was sneering back at her and ignoring the burly boy with a practiced ease.
"This is the worst idea you've ever had, Astrid," he shot back. "There's not going to be anything there but compromised building integrity. Oh, and let's not forget! The very real prospect of being arrested for trespassing on federal property." With a huff, he turned his head to look away. Astrid stood, taken aback. Hiccup was usually very meek, and she was very aware of the stuttering mess he fell into around her. In most cases, it was annoying, but useful. Now, though, this side effect she had on him was absent. The accusing appendage fell back to her side. Not to be outdone, she recovered quickly and crossed her arms in front of her, cocking a hip.
"Sounds to me like you're scared. Don't want to find some ghouls and figure out you're wrong?" A smirk graced her lips as the twins and the burly boys jeered as well.
"Ooooo, Hiccup's scaaaared," the female twin said. "He doesn't want to see any ghosts, hahahaha!"
"Yeah, I bet he's too chicken! Like a little baby, hah," her brother said. The knocked heads and laughed uproariously with the burly boy. Hiccup merely scowled their way, but when he saw the look of success on Astrid's face, he wilted. Color rose high on his cheeks.
"I'm not scared," he declared. "At least, not of all this supernatural stuff. I am scared of getting caught and thrown in jail for trespassing. Come on, Astrid, you know this is a very stupid risk." He looked imploringly at her, but her smirk only grew wider. So, he turned to his tall companion.
"Fishlegs? Back me up here. You at least have some sense." Fishlegs, however, only squeaked and covered his face. Peeking out at Hiccup, he mumbled something along the lines of 'poltergeists are very real and very terrifying and I don't want to see them but I can't go.' Well, there went his backup.
"Awww, Hiccup, you know it's not fun unless there's danger," the female twin drawled. "And it's gonna be epic running from the police. How cool will that be?" She gave him a deranged look that set his teeth on edge. Looking back towards Astrid, he knew he had lost as she had already turned back down the path. He let loose a sigh and followed.
It took another ten minutes of walking to reach the wrought iron gates surrounding the building. Stuck firm into the ground beside the gate was a sign that read "Berk State Penitentiary". It seemed to be the most solid and well-preserved part of the whole property. Slipping through a hole in the chain-link fence, they were in. Astrid immediately took charge.
"Ruffnut, Tuffnut, turn the cameras and equipment on now. Keep an eye on the battery life, and change them as needed, try not to change them at the same time so we always have a camera rolling. Fishlegs, take the flashlights out and give everyone some extra batteries. Snotlout, don't use the hammer. Everyone needs to stay in a group, no splitting up. We could get lost without maps, and I'd rather not have to go back in looking for anyone.
"First stop is on the top level and we'll work our way down. A lot of these cells have been reported to have activity, but where we're going are the best spots. Threats on your life, possessions, moving objects, physical harm, all that good stuff."
The burly boy, Snotlout, pounded one fist into the other. "Sweet, this is going to be awesome! I hope I get scratched to shit."
"Yeah, it's not fun unless you get a scar out of it," Astrid replied. Hiccup rolled his eyes and shook his head.
"None of that is going to happen," he said. "It's all just stories and faked shit. Pranks, imaginations, nothing real."
"Don't be a killjoy, Hiccup," Ruffnut, the female twin, said.
"Yeah, let us have fun," Tuffnut said. "I'm gonna have some wicked cool scars. I'll shout and call them pussy's and tell them to give it their best shot!"
Fishlegs cowered at the insinuation. "Let's not goad the ghosts, shall we? That's not a good idea, we don't really know what we're dealing with." His voice reached a new octave that made Hiccup flinch as it reached his ears. No one seemed to take notice.
"Well, what're we waiting for?" Astrid said. Without further preamble, she made her way over to the hole in the wall of the penitentiary. The rest of the group followed her through. Astrid barely waited before walking towards the stairs and making her way up to the top floor. As they drew further and further away from the hole the dim light leaking in from outside faded. Flashlights were turned on and the group subconsciously tightened ranks. All of them were scared, but few showed it outwardly. Snotlout kept trying and failing to cover his unease.
Despite being metal, the stairs managed to squeak and creak in disconcerting ways. Every other step they would let out a loud squeal, followed by a creak that clearly belonged on a wooden staircase. The sounds pierced the silence and felt both out of place and completely at home. It unnerved them all, even Astrid, though she schooled her features and boldly led the way. She had to put on the act to help the others. They needed to know they were in good hands in her company. Each time the stairs let out their sounds, Fishlegs would flinch and whimper. The twins laughed at him half-heartedly, almost like their way of commiserating with him. Hiccup just rolled his eyes at each noise.
As the group neared the last two flights of stairs, crackling and distant moans drifted out of the penultimate level. The twins leaned towards the door to the flight as Snotlout cringed. Letting out a squeal, Fishlegs hid behind Hiccup, who just scowled at the whole thing.
"Can we go there first?" Ruffnut asked. "That sounds like a fun place." Insanity shone in her eyes.
"We hit that next," Astrid said. "The rooms just get better as we go down." A spark lit in her eyes as well.
"Gah, guys come one," Hiccup said. "You really think that's something? This is an old building. Things creak and sway with pressure changes. Houses crack with it all the time! In a brick and steel building it'll have some very weird sounds."
"Shut up," was Snotlout's elegant reply. Astrid simply shrugged and continued leading them up the stairs. In sharp contrast to the previous landing, the ninth floor, this final tenth floor was deathly quiet. Even the door made no sound as it was pushed open. Somehow, this lack of sound was more unnerving, even lightly terrifying, than a hall full of ghastly moaning. With nervous steps, they made their way down the hallway. Fishleg's flashlight flung wildly back and forth, illuminating the walls and ceiling as though he was expecting something to crawl forth from the cracks. His breathing was getting panicked and heavy, grating on Snotlout's ears.
"Shut it, Fishlegs!" he hissed. "This isn't fucking scary, and you're breathing is just annoying the ghosts! They won't come out like that!"
"Or maybe they will," Tuffnut snickered. "Keep it up, Fish! Annoy the ghosts so they come out and fight!" Fishlegs immediately quieted at that, trying to control his breathing and stop his erratic movements. Out of the two options presented, the odds were about 67% in favor of the ghosts appearing if his breathing aggravated them.
The twins tried to cover as much as the hall as they could see, camera-mounted flashlights saving the cameras' night vision presets. A lot of frames caught one twin or the other making an array of faces, mocking this or that as they goofed off in the safety of the group. Of course, with their goofing off, they missed the shadows dancing oddly on the walls. Indeed, they seemed to be caused by the flashlights, if it were not for the odd shape here or there that moved independently of the beams. Soon, the shadows fell off into normalcy, and Astrid stopped at their first destination.
"This is the only room we'll get on this floor," she said. "Each floor only has a few really good spots. Everything else is just some EMF chatter and orbs of light. Nothing serious, not like this room." Her eyes practically lit up as she recalled the stories. "Reportedly, this room was the scene of an attack on a guard. He was doing his routine rounds, getting the prisoners up, when the inmate in this cell wouldn't get up. He looked almost comatose, so the guard opened the door to check on him. Another inmate who had managed to pick his lock the night before slammed the cell door shut. When the guard turned around to see what had happened, this cell's inmate leaped on his back and slit his throat with an old razor. The guard bled out while the inmate sat on his chest."
A chorus of 'ooh's came from the group, along with a whimper from Fishlegs. Hiccup gave him a comforting pat on the back.
"Now, there have been reports of hearing those gurgling screams the guard had let out, and the feeling of heavy weights on people's backs and chests. If you lay down, it can be suffocating. And one person said that after they felt that heaviness on their back their neck was suddenly in agonizing pain. They couldn't speak, and were chocking on air. The episode ended as soon as they stumbled out of the cell."
Ruffnut cackled and all but raced into the cell at the promise of major scares. Tuffnut followed, and not to be outdone, Snotlout raced in. Fishlegs opted to wait just outside the bars "in case one of you needs to be pulled out." Once inside the cell, they waited expectantly. All too soon, Snotlout broke the silence.
"Come on, ghosty! We're in your space, come get us!" he shouted. It earned him gratifying jumps from his friends and a punch to the arm by Astrid.
"M-maybe you shouldn't," Fishlegs squeaked. He shuffled his feet nervously, glancing over his shoulders to make sure nothing was happening behind him. Hiccup huffed fondly at his friend, wary as ever.
"Fat chance, Fish," Snotlout said. "I wanna feel it. Then I can say that I won! And don't worry Astrid." He turned towards her. "I'll keep you safe." He was knocked down with a punch to the face.
"Sit on him, ghost!" Tuffnut shouted. Fishlegs quailed again,
"Don't worry, Fish," Hiccup said. "None of it's real. No one's going to get hurt." Fishlegs did not seem comforted, and dirty looks were shot at Hiccup for his effort. He just rolled his eyes and sighed, resigned to his fate. A tense silence followed as the friends waited for something to happen. When it became clear that nothing was going to sit on Snotlout, and after much more goading, the group exited the cell. Hiccup cast one last look over his shoulder into the cell. Nothing moved.
"Well, that was a bust, but it's supposed to be the tamest of the spots we're hitting. We've got two cells on the next level." They made their way back to the stairs. The door creaked when it opened, and the stairs simply rang dully underneath their footfalls.
"Uh, didn't these, like, make sound last time?" Tuffnut asked.
"And d-didn't that d-door not make s-s-sound?" Fishlegs added on. A shiver went down Snotlout's spine. He suppressed it the best he could.
"It's fine, probably scared off all the ghosties with my courage and manliness!" He flexed in false bravado, not letting on how much these ordinary noises affected him. They were just sounds! Sure, they changed drastically from the last time they had walked through here, but still. Nothing happened in that room, so obviously the ghosts were scared. Not him. The ghosts.
"Let's just keep moving," Astrid said. With a determined quick-step, she headed down to the ninth landing and yanked the door open. Shadows seemed to scatter at the invading flashlight beams, and the crackling they had forgotten about hit them full force. The moaning picked up in intensity at their arrival. Without even flinching, Astrid strode through the doorway, Snotlout and the twins following soon after. Hiccup nudged a catatonic Fishlegs forward and brought up the rear. The shadows seemed to hiss and writhe towards the group, the twins aiming their cameras at anything they could. The shadows seemed to flee as the group passed. Hiccup shouldered his way towards Astrid's side.
"So, believe yet?" she smirked, gesturing at the shadows and the sounds. Hiccup glanced around, then returned his eyes to her face.
"No," he stated rather bluntly. The hissing and crackling faded down to nothing, the shadows returning to normal. The moaning kept up, increasing in volume and becoming frantic as they worked their way to their first destination. Astrid paused upon reaching it and rested her hand on a bar.
"This cell held a rapist and a petty thief. Back then, they didn't separate prisoners very well. One night, the thief took a pillow and managed to smother the rapist. His only explanation was that the shadows had told him that unless he killed his cellmate, he would be the next victim. The next day, the inmate was found hanging by his sheets from the ceiling. A final note, scrawled on the wall, said the shadows had driven him mad. Now, it's said that the rapist's ghost is still here, and will scratch backs and attempt to push people onto his cell bed. The shadows crawl on the walls."
"Let's go," Ruffnut said. She pushed her way past Astrid and Hiccup into the cell. She swept her camera around the room for a panoramic shot. Hiccup followed her in and turned a slow circle around the room.
"Come out, come out, ghosties," he drawled. "Some nice backs here, good flesh, all that." With a look at Astrid, he said: "See? Not real." He sent her a crooked grin and deftly dodged a punch.
"Quit ruining this, Hiccup!" she shouted. "Just because you don't believe doesn't mean that you can make it horrible for everyone else!" His face fell as her finger poked his chest. He looked sufficiently cowed.
"Sorry, just trying to make light of it," he muttered, sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck. Astrid huffed and turned her attention back to the room. Still, nothing happened. No shadows moved, no scratches appeared, nothing.
"Whatever, let's move onto the next room. That's where all the moaning's coming from." She shoved past Hiccup and the others, marching fearlessly towards the moaning cell. The sliding door to the cell began slamming as the group drew near. Fishlegs let out a girly scream, but Snolout dragged him forward when he tried to stop.
"Fish this is it! We got it on video, and we're gonna find some cool shit!" he proclaimed.
"Not much happens here, but this is the only apparition that you can clearly see and make out when he's present. He'll stare at you with red eyes, but won't touch you. It's the safest one."
The twins eagerly rushed forward. "Cool!" they exclaimed. Staring into the cell, they were greeted with the sight of a hunched figure. He turned his face as he let out a loud and low moan of pain. It was clear how this man died – half his face was charred and melted as though a great fire had afflicted him and was put out too late. The cell door slammed shut as though to keep them out. Two haunting red eyes bored into the twins, who raised their cameras to capture it all. The rest of the group caught up, with an accompanying shriek from Fishlegs. The ghost's eyes widened considerably, growing abruptly quiet. The door stayed firmly shut, but the ghost disappeared.
"That's…strange," Astrid said. "He has never left before."
Hiccup shrugged. "Maybe you missed a story, or maybe the people ran off before he disappeared." Hiccup fidgeted slightly and looked away. With a sigh Astrid agreed, and led them back to the stairs.
"Just one on the next floor," she said. "It's an inmate that passed away during the night, but he had an extremely violent lifestyle. Those who are near the cell have had the strange sensation of fingers running down their spine, and have left with welts and bruises on their hips and shoulders. In the cell, their backs have burst into pain, they've had major migraines for days, and being violently ill. All clear attacks by the ghost."
Fishlegs squirmed, very unwilling to even walk through the door to the eighth landing. Even the twins and Snotlout seemed uneasy. Astrid strode confidently down the hallway towards their destination, a smile gracing her features. Hiccup was close at her heels, twitching. Astrid noticed and loosed a laugh.
"Finally getting scared?" she asked. He rubbed his neck before shoving the hand into his pocket, keeping his flashlight forward.
"No," he said unconvincingly. After a look from Astrid, though, he amended his statement. "Fine, I'm a little nervous. All this noise will definitely attract the police." He smirked at her.
"You're not even going to acknowledge the ghost we just fucking saw?" she shouted.
"I haven't seen any ghost, it was gone when I got there. I'll have to look at Ruff and Tuff's tapes."
"Fine," she all but growled at him. "You stay here with me so you don't miss anything. You will leave her believing me." She stared at him fiercely, and finally she got his cheeks to color and his eyes to skitter about. They reached the cell all too soon. Hiccup kept his eyes trained on the ground. Ruffnut hissed behind them, and Astrid whirled around.
"Ow…" she said, lifting her shirt slightly and finding a bruise on her hip. "Nice." She let out a dark chuckle. Hiccup kept his eyes down.
"I-I'm not going in there," Fishlegs said. "I'm staying right here, outside of the pain sphere."
"Fine, chicken," Snotlout laughed. He and Tuffnut walked into the cell and sat down in the middle, shoving each other's shoulders. Soon, they stilled. Snotlout looked positively green and gripped his temples. Tuffnut laughed uneasily, before crying out in agony and rushing from the cell.
"Oh I am very much hurt!" Finally, Hiccup snapped his head up, first following Tuffnut's travel down the hall and back, then staring hard at Snotlout's sickly appearance.
"Get up and out," he said. Astrid rushed forward, to Hiccup's terror, and bodily dragged Snotlout out.
"No-one's getting too hurt on my watch," she muttered. Snotlout and Tuffnut's afflictions quickly dissipated after leaving the cell. Hiccup kept staring into the cell, a strange look across his face.
"Now do you believe?" Astrid asked haughtily. Hiccup kept his eyes forward and gave her no answer for a long moment. He turned his head towards her.
"No," he said simply, and walked off. "Where to next?" Slightly unnerved by his behavior, Astrid lead the way to the next floor.
"No one really knows the story of this cell. Very strange things happen here, and many inmates had gruesome but unexplained and unsolved deaths in the cell. Some say it's a portal that demons use to enter this world. It's not the worst offender as far as this prison's portals go, but it's still rather dangerous. May not want to goad this one."
"Hah!" Snotlout laughed. "I'm not scared! I'll goad demons all I want to." Hiccup snorted and shook his head at his cousin's false bravado. When they reached the cell, a collective chill set all their hairs on end. Even the twins knew to stay quiet and steady their cameras. Hiccup flinched at the sight of the cell.
Nothing happened. They stood around and in the cell for what had to have been ten minutes, and yet no activity was recorded. Astrid huffed, but said nothing. In honesty, she was becoming unnerved by the lack of incidents, especially as any activity they were experiencing was being cut short. And this was real activity they were seeing! Not knocks, not the odd sound, real incidents caught on camera. Real evidence.
The next few rooms were the same. There was absolutely no activity. The shadows no longer moved. All the sounds they heard were normal for an old building. Even Fishlegs was more at ease – he still jumped and glanced over his shoulder, but not he was remarking more on the crumbling structure and less on the paranormal occupants.
And Hiccup. Hiccup was infuriating. He was saying nothing, just rolling his shoulders and twitching around like he was bored and had someplace better to be. No more mentions of the cops, and he wouldn't answer any of her questions. Just a straight face and bored, blank eyes would look at her. He was becoming slightly unnerving as well. Usually, he was tripping over his own feet whenever she talked to him, stumbling and stuttering over his words. It was quite endearing, actually. This side of Hiccup was off-putting and discomfiting.
After finishing off the last – completely uneventful – cell on the first floor, Astrid sighed.
"We have one more place to visit – the courtyard. That was where all the executions took place – hangings, firing squads, and early electric chairs that didn't quite get the job done. Of course fights and such as well. The evil that took place here is said to have called upon demons, which promptly used this place as a portal into this world. It's the largest in the area, and third largest in the world."
No one said anything. A shudder wracked Hiccup's body. Had he not been acting strange earlier, Astrid would have laughed victoriously. As it stood, she was concerned.
"Hiccup?" she asked. He made no move to acknowledge her. "Are you alright? Hiccup?" She made her way towards him. Slowly, almost laboriously, he lifted his head to look at her. His expression was pained, a grimace contorting his face, lips tightly sealed over teeth. She placed the back of her hand on his forehead. It was burning – one of the signs of an attack.
"Hiccup-" she started, but was cut off by his sharp gasp. Suddenly, his eyes rolled into the back of his head and his breathing was unsteady. As quickly as it had come on, it left. His eyes focused on hers, twitching green meeting steady blue.
"Alright, I believe. Time to go," he said quickly.
"Hiccup," she said, dodging his hands as they tried to usher her out of the courtyard. "Hiccup, stop, I think you've been possessed! We need to take care of this before we get too far."
"No no no! No need for that, haha!" He waved his hands frantically, eyes almost panicked. "We just need to head out before anything like that happens."
"Hiccup, listen to me!" She took him by the shoulders, earning another tight-lipped grimace. "I've done a lot of research on this, you are most definitely possessed."
Before he could respond, Fishlegs screamed. Turning around, and letting go of Hiccup in the process, she saw what had caused the scream. Even the twins and Snotlout were frozen. In front of her eyes, Astrid saw the portal in the courtyard open. It took up nearly the entirety of the back three quarters of the courtyard. The air crackled with electricity, winds whipped through their very bodies, and the portal itself was colored like bruise. It looked like smoke and sludge and was clearly unholy in design. Flashes of stark reds, greens, and blues made themselves apparent in and around the portal. Beasts from the underworlds, demons covered in scales and wings and horns, crawled forth from the portal.
One figure stood out from the rest. It held itself high and regally, striding forward on long, clawed feet, double wings held out and aloft. A crooked smile spread across its purpled face, red eyes gleaming with malice.
"Hello, young ones," it purred. "Would you like to dance with a devil tonight? So sorry, I'm not the one with the fiddle." Its eyes ghosted across each one, seeing bowed heads and stiff postures. It could smell the fear radiating off of them. Finally, its gaze returned to Astrid.
"Ah, fearless one, I see. How fearless can you be? Shall we find out? I'd like to." It began to stalk towards her. Snotlout put himself in front of Astrid with a murmured "I'll protect you" before being unceremoniously flung across the courtyard. He impacted hard with the wall, but shook his head and raised himself enough for Astrid to assure herself that he was okay. She returned her eyes to the demon that was now much too close.
Then she could no longer see it. Her vision was filled with auburn hair and a slight frame. Hiccup had come to stand in front of her, just as Snotlout had.
"Hiccup no! You'll be killed!" she shouted. Hiccup didn't even turn his head. She saw him flinch, then flinch again, then a strong shudder ran through his body. But he didn't budge.
"Oh a strong one? Interesting batch today," the demon said.
"I didn't realize you would be here," Hiccup said. His voice was raspy. "I wouldn't have come. Don't like to see your ugly mug, Red Death."
"And what of your little friends, Strong One?" Red Death asked. "Would you have prevented them from coming? I highly doubt you could. You may be strong at resisting some slight magic, but you are not physically strong." The demon cooed at Hiccup in a patronizing way, but Hiccup was not goaded.
Red Death clucked its tongue and flicked its wrist forcefully. Hiccup swayed, and had Astrid not been frozen to her spot by what she was witnessing, she would have reached out and supported him. An irritated look crossed the demon's face, and it flared its wings as it swept its arm forcefully through the air. Hiccup let out a throaty scream as he resisted the force that managed to move him a foot towards the wall. He would not budge anymore, though he was left panting.
After a moment, a grotesque smile split the Red Death's face. "I see," it said, chortling. "I see, I see I SEE! You are well hidden, hahaHA! But I can see, SEE now! Why hide, why are you standing over there and not over here? Come out and play, little biter, little fury!" The Red Death flicked a finger up.
Hiccup's small island night lizard, jet black and uniform in color, peeped out of Hiccup's collar. Astrid was shocked to see the small lizard here – Hiccup was always careful to keep him safe. Never would he have brought Toothless to a place like this, unless he truly thought that nothing would happen. Just as she reached to keep him safe for Hiccup, Toothless scurried down to the center of Hiccup's back and sank through his clothes. Astrid was left with two hands raised towards Hiccup's collar. Hiccup let loose another unearthly scream.
Astrid stumbled back, voice hoarse from a scream she just realized was coming from her. Before her eyes, before them all, Hiccup was changing. His legs grew and changed into a digitigrade stance, shoes bursting open as clawed feet stretched out to support his body. Claws burst forth from his fingers, skin darkening to black on his hands, mottling around the mid-forearm to meet his normal skin tone. A tail slowly grew and languidly stretched out behind him, two tail fins sweeping the ground. The tail base met with a base fin and two large, leathery wings. The blackness became scaled, blunt spines protruding from his back. The coloration mottled at his neck. When it was done, he turned his head slowly towards her, peering over his shoulder. Sharp teeth glinted in the light, eyes like green fire as the slitted pupils bored into her.
"Get out of here," he hissed, sounding surprisingly like Hiccup. "I'm not possessed, I'll follow. Get out with the others."
"No!" she shouted defiantly, stupidly. She'll admit that her stubbornness her was stupid. Hiccup hissed, but turned his attention back to the Red Death. She was pushed backwards by his tail.
"Ah, little fury! So good to see you! So good, so good! Let's play, dance shall we? You were always the best!" said the Red Death. It's face had gone deranged. The other demons, Astrid noticed, were fleeing into the portal. One had seized Tuffnut's dreads and was dragging him towards the portal, but one look from Hiccup had the demon dropping its prize and literally running off with its tail tucked between its legs. Soon, the courtyard held only the humans, Hiccup, and the demon.
Hiccup said nothing to the Red Death. The demon, however, was chatty. "Come now, little fury. Black night. My little prince. We used to have so much fun. Why did you leave? You were my favorite plaything." Hiccup snarled at that. With two beats of his great wings, a gust nearly sent the demon toppling over backwards. Standing tall and with his wings held out imposingly, Hiccup walked towards the Red Death, stopping mere feet from the demon.
"You've missed torturing me have you? No one is here now to stop me from fighting back. I left our rotten world because of creatures like you. I don't like your form of 'play,' I don't like our society. So I'm here." Hiccup stared into the burning eyes of the demon.
"Oh, poor little prince. You've made your consort so sad by leaving. You've left me all alone, with nothing good to play with. You'd have grown out of your strange, morally rebellious phase. We all have experimented with the good – it's what demons do, no? Break all the rules and form our own?" It loosed a laugh at that.
"I did," was Hiccup's simple reply. "My rules simply aligned with this world."
The Red Death seemed angry at that. "You could have been so good, so great so GREAT. WHY did you throw it AWAY?"
Instead of answering, Hiccup tilted his head. "Shall we play again?" he asked. The Red Death almost instantly transformed his features into glee.
"Oh yes! What shall we play, little prince?"
"Our old game of fire. Remember the rules?"
"When you play with fire, someone gets burned!" The Red Death laughed manically, and Astrid was unsure if that was the rule of the game, or if the demon had simply lost its mind.
"Good, let's start" said Hiccup. Neither moved, staring intently at the each other. A haze began to form around each. The Red Death had the same sickening color as the portal, purpled and hazy, reminiscent of a particularly bad contusion. Hiccup's was strikingly blue and beautiful, like beacon in the night. His glow was much sharper than the Red Death's, his back spins taking on the color as well. The heat radiating off the two of them was too much, and Astrid scooted back as far as she could before the wall hit her back. It was still intense, even back here.
Hiccup smirked as the Red Death's smile grew, a telltale glow forming in the back of it's throat. From the Red Death's position, it seemed as though Hiccup was lagging behind in his power storage. His mouth was open slightly, but the glow was absent. The haze surrounding him was dull, and very little glow was forming on his skin. All the cards were in the Red Death's hands, and it knew it could take him out without storing its maximum amount of power.
From Astrid's view, however, it was clear that Hiccup had built up much more energy than the Red Death. His spines, from his neck to tail, were glowing near white. The rest of his scales were glowing blue, and his skin had a faint amount of blue. The haze was still faint, but it was clear that his power was not concentrated there. Hiccup was a powerhouse in that instant.
As the Red Death opened its maw, Hiccup released the stored energy. In a flash of light, the haze burned bright white and blue, all the power transferred from his body to the aura. It launched itself at the Red Death, invading its mouth and eyes, igniting the inside of its body as much as the outside. The demon disintegrated in less time than it had taken for Hiccup to release his fire. Even the ash burned to nothing.
Hiccup turned towards his friends. "Now shall we go?" he asked, a smirk across his face that was so Hiccup even in this demonic form. Astrid could only nod as Hiccup returned to his human form and lead the way out of the penitentiary.
He would swear from this world to the next and back that being subject to all the badgering questions of the twins and Fishlegs that it was worth it to see Astrid's face.
"So, you knew?" she finally asked. "You knew it was all real?"
After a pause, he answered her. "Yes, I knew the whole time. I kept it all away from you. That place is seriously dangerous. Some of the most deranged demons reside there, tormenting those poor souls. I wanted to keep you all safe, but had I known that my old consort visited the building I would have never let you guys come. Should've done my research, I guess." He reached up and rubbed the back of his neck, little Toothless licking his hand before retreating down his collar again.
"You have SO MUCH explaining to do later," she hissed in his ear, earning a high blush and unintelligible babble. Somehow, the fact that he was a demon and she could still earn that reaction from him made her way too proud.
When they looked back at the footage later that night, the others were shocked to see that in every single shot of Hiccup, shadows clung to him. A faint mist surrounded him, and dark spots in the shapes of his wings and tail swayed and fluttered on his back, much smaller than his true form. Whenever they came to a cell, the shapes seemed to solidify slightly. Falling in time to his flinches and shudders were ghastly figures poking and prodding him, only to bow or waver before disappearing. As the film progressed and they moved to the lower levels, his shadowy form solidified more and more, until in the courtyard it was strikingly apparent. It seemed as though the limit of his power in human form had been reached, warding off everything that creeped and crawled around their group in that courtyard.
It was a wonder they were all still alive, and they owed it all to Hiccup. Hiccup, the demon. Hiccup, the Fury that Astrid had done extensive research on. Toothless, it seemed, was his dragon companion from the underworld that leant him strength in a strange way in the human world. She had hoped to see neither of them that night, as she knew just how dangerous his power made him. But for the umpteenth time her senses had proven her wrong. It was a very, very good thing she had seen this particular demon. Had any other situation played itself to conclusion, she and her friends would not have lived to see that dawn.