It was hard for Mildew to keep doing this.

Tricking the Outcasts, tricking the boy…

The boy.

Oh, he hated himself for the guilt.

Hiccup would think Mildew had betrayed him again.

"Tell the boy I'm sorry!"

At least he'd got some twisted form of goodbye. Alvin was a clever man, and despite what Hiccup would think, he was definitely no fool.

He was too smart for Mildew to outwit on his own; could he get off Outcast Island alive?

It doesn't matter, he told himself. All that matters is that the boy is safe. We need him more than they need me.

For just a minute he thought of being allowed to go back to Berk and not officially becoming an Outcast. The Vikings of Berk would hate him. Did they not know his position? No, of course they didn't. He sighed. He had to pretend one more time and then make his escape. Could he? And then the answer came to him. He was trapped here anyway. How about Mildew make the most of it?

Mildew sat in the Great Hall, waiting rigidly for the other Outcasts to arrive. When at last they all were seated, Alvin spoke. "Because of our good friend, Mildew, a Viking of Berk, we have found the secret to training dragons without the conqueror."

Mildew swallowed and pushed himself to an upright position. "He means it. I now know the secret of training dragons. You don't need the boy anymore."

"Show me." Alvin commanded and Mildew nodded once, leaving the other Outcasts to come after them.

Hiccup was thinking about Alvin and Outcast Island and Mildew and Toothless. He was thinking of it because ever since Alvin had kidnapped Hiccup, he had been having dreams about the place. He wished he had been able to save Mildew, but that had been next to impossible. The old man had ordered him to turn back anyway and leave him. And Hiccup had seen the Outcasts getting their arrows ready to shoot. Even if it meant Mildew had to be kidnapped, he couldn't, absolutely couldn't let Toothless die. Mildew would just have to hold on until another day. Hiccup dropped his head into his hands. "We ought to go back for him, bud," he said to Toothless. It was early in the morning, just after daybreak, actually and he was in his room. "We needed him and he came for us. We owe him everything, Toothless."

Toothless nodded. Though he'd hated Mildew for a stretch of weeks, he didn't believe the man was bad anymore. He'd seen proof of it himself, of course.

Hiccup sighed and rubbed his temples with his index and middle finger on his right hand. "What can we do, Toothless? You know, I mean, what if Alvin kills him? I mean, I owed him. And if I can't save him…who will?"

No one on Berk liked the crusty old man much, but the teens and Stoick had changed their minds upon hearing the elderly citizen had saved Hiccup. If he had, Astrid owed him her best friend and Stoick owed the man his only son.

Hiccup had no wish to keep on staying up here with only thoughts of a bitter old man turned semi-okay and then kidnapped by Hiccup's archenemy. He thought about asking his father to send out a search and rescue party or let the teens go themselves. He was sure his dad wouldn't agree, however, and thought about asking the teens to go with him with only a note to tell Stoick where he was going. After traveling to the "Isle of Night" and finding out it was a hoax, he was supremely glad he'd left his map in the notebook.

He was still disappointed; what would have happened had the Isle of Night really, actually existed? And how dumb was he to think it had?

"I'm still sorry about that whole Isle of Night business," he told his best friend. "I really wished it were real for you."

Toothless moaned at him and Hiccup heard the words 'you're all the kin I need.'

Smiling at the Night Fury's kind words, Hiccup scratched him behind the ears and walked downstairs, deciding on the spot to skip breakfast because he was sure his father hadn't made it, he wasn't sure if they had all the stuff to make a decent meal with and he didn't feel like making food anyway.

"Hey, Dad?" he called as Stoick walked in the room. He sat down in a chair, pulled a knife and a block of wood toward him and began on his morning woodwork.

"What's wrong? You're never up this early." Stoick pointed out.

Hiccup could hardly give the real reason, or at least he felt that way. He didn't want his father thinking he couldn't handle a day on Alvin's ship and a day and night on his island. So he yawned and said, "No reason, really. Just felt a little like getting started a little earlier than normal."

Hiccup found he couldn't look at his father as he said the next few words. "Dad? You remember how we left Mildew on the island?"

"Yeahhh?" Stoick knew where Hiccup was going.

He was such a noble idiot sometimes.

"Well, uh…I was thinking, uh…I was just kinda thinking I owe him…" Hiccup began to speak more confidently and he met his father's eye. "I owe him and I don't feel right about letting him be on Outcast Island. The least I can do is to go back and get him. Can we get a search party or something to help—?"

"I see where you're coming from, Hiccup. I do. But we can't put everyone at risk to get Mildew back—

"Then let me."

"Huh?"

"Let me. I was great at stealthy, I got off that island real easy. Please let me save him. If he doesn't get saved, if he doesn't get help from somewhere, what do you think will happen?"

"Let you? Let you? Uh, no."

"What? Why not?" Hiccup demanded.

"Does the fake 'Isle of Night' ring a bell? They're probably keeping him there as bait for you!"

Hiccup laughed. It was humorless and low. "Bait? Yeah, right. I may owe him my life but if he was just bait…" he let his voice trail off. "Alvin isn't that stupid. But I know Mildew is being kept somewhere and possibly hurt and if he is, it's all my fault." Hiccup's voice was low and sad. "I've got to help him out."

Stoick swallowed. "Hiccup."

"Yeah?"

"I promise you this isn't your fault."

Hiccup snorted sarcastically. "Yeah. Right. I'd feel a whole lot better about this if you'd just let me go and fetch him."

"Hiccup, no!"

"Why not?"

"How many times have you put yourself in danger just for somebody else? Once? Twice? A hundred? This can't go on!"

"I'M STILL ALIVE, AREN'T I?"

"Alive isn't good enough!"

"It's gonna have to be!"

"Why do you have to be this way?"

"You know what, forget it," Hiccup snapped, grabbing his riding vest off the table. "He's going to get off that island one way or another and I'm going to get him."

"Hiccup, I'm your father! You must obey me!" Even as the words were said, both knew it wasn't about the old man.

Hiccup said angrily, "FINE! IT DOESN'T MATTER ANYWAY!" He stalked out, Toothless seconds behind him, and Stoick saw him take off in the direction of the Hofferson house.

A/N: So this is my new story. It's a whole new take on the 'Mildew-is-a-despicable-traitor' thing. What if he was secretly a spy? But no one knew. And he has this invaluable Outcast information completely at his fingertips and no one but *hiss, whisper* knows ;-) XD so just tell me whatever you think :)