They were flying back to Dragon's Edge, with Astrid holding Hiccup tightly in her arms while riding on Stormfly. They had just rescued Hiccup after a day and a half of searching for him.

He had been captured. Captured by pirates while flying on Toothless yesterday morning. He was separated from Toothless after being yanked away by the chains aimed at him by the pirates. Hiccup landed on the ship while Toothless ended up in the sea. Toothless watched as the pirates dragged the unconscious Hiccup into the basement and disappear from sight. Toothless thinking fast, sent out a distress call (shooting plasma blast up in the sky) to alert the others that they were in danger. Moments later, the other riders found Toothless but panicked when his rider was nowhere to be found. That was when they began to search everywhere for him and eventually found him in the same ship in the basement Toothless saw the pirates dragged him into.

But unfortunately when they found him, he wasn't in good shape.

Astrid and the Twins were on deck fighting the pirates while Fishlegs and Snotlout went to the basement to look for Hiccup. When they found him, he was curled up into a ball, hiding in the corner with his head in his arms. He was shaking and crying.

"Hiccup!" Said Fishlegs, happy to see his best friend despite the condition Hiccup was in. Snotlout sighed in relief. But Hiccup didn't respond, and they also realised his prosthetic leg was missing.

Fishlegs and Snotlout approached him, relieved to find their friend alive, and slowly reached their hand out to help him and let him know they were here. However, as their hand touched his shoulders, Hiccup screamed from the top of his lungs, startling both Fishlegs and Snotlout. They immediately retrieved their hands.

"Please stop! Please stop! P-please don't touch me please! P-please!" Hiccup kept screaming and thrashing around, leaving his two friends worried and scared.

"Hiccup! It's just us! Snotlout and Fishlegs! We are getting you out of this ship!" Said Snotlout who tried to calm Hiccup down but to no avail. It was as if Hiccup didn't even know who they were, didn't even recognised his friends. Eventually they gave up and decided to get Astrid instead.

"Astrid! Astrid!" Yelled Snotlout who rushed up the deck to get Astrid.

When Snotlout reached the deck, he saw the pirates all tied up and guarded by the dragons.

"What is it Snotlout? Did you find Hiccup?!" Astrid said urgently, axe in her hand.

"Yes, we did. We found him in the basement... but there's something really not right with him! He won't even let us go near him. I think you need to see it for yourself. Now." Snotlout explained breathlessly.

Without another word, Astrid rushed past Snotlout and into the basement. The Twins decided to follow, but only after making sure the dragons were guarding the pirates well.

She gasped when she saw Hiccup, but her eyes widened when she saw the basement. Blood. There were blood on the floor. There were also blood on his clothes. She only hoped it wasn't Hiccup's.

The Twins arrived shortly after. They gasped and froze at the sight of Hiccup.

"Hiccup! Are you okay?" Cried Astrid who began to approach him.

"Please! Please s-stop! I'm begging you! Don't touch me! G-get away from me!" Hiccup screamed loudly and cried which startled Astrid and the others. Astrid stopped, confused but continued to speak anyway.

"Hiccup! It's me, Astrid! We are here to rescue you. You are going to be okay! Don't be afraid. Everything will be okay."

"N-no! Please just stop! Please don't t-touch me! Don't do it anymore, i-it hurts so much! P-please!" He did his best to move as far away as he could from her and just kept begging and crying and showed no sign that he knew it was Astrid who was in front of him.

"Hiccup, baby it's me. Look! It's just me. It's okay!" Astrid said in a softer, gentler tone in hopes that maybe that will calm him down.

But it didn't.

Hiccup looked at her only for a second but immediately hid is face in his arms and continued to scream and shake. Astrid hesitated her next move, but she did it anyway. She reached out and touched his face.

It worked. It was a lot of struggling at first, but it worked.

At the feeling of her touch, Hiccup manages to clam down eventually and look at her. He slowly realises it was Astrid.

"A-Astrid? Astrid, it's y-you. You came for me..." Hiccup said softly, but weakly.

It broke her heart. To hear Hiccup's voice so broken, all hopes lost. It sounded like as if he had completely lost hope of being saved. Like he thought his friends would not even come to rescue him.

"Yes. Yes it's me, Astrid. Of course we came Hiccup. We never stopped looking for you baby." Astrid replied with a trembling voice trying not to cry. She had to be strong. Strong for Hiccup.

Hiccup began sobbing loudly and Astrid just held him tight, letting him cry on her chest. Hiccup was holding Astrid so tight, she thought her bones were going to break, but she didn't care. Even though Astrid tried, tried so hard, she just couldn't hold in the tears that were threatening to fall and she herself began crying as well. The gang just stood there watching them with tears also in their eyes.

After a moment, Hiccup stopped crying and Astrid decided it was time for them to leave.

"Come on Hiccup. We have to go now. Let me help you up okay?" She got up and helped Hiccup up. None of the gang helped, afraid they might frighten Hiccup again, so they just stood there watching them. It was hard getting Hiccup to stand because he seemed to be in so much pain and he didn't even have his prosthetic on.

"It... it h-hurts..." choked Hiccup.

"Where Hiccup? Where does it hurt?" Astrid asked worriedly.

But before he could reply, he passed out.

"Hiccup!" Everyone said in unison.