~O~

Forced Return

Chapter 6

Bad Guys Fight

~O~

Pinching the bridge of his nose, Stoick leaned back in his chair. A fire crackled dimly in front of him. With a sigh, Stoick realised that he would have to add another log to the flame. Despite the crackle of burning wood and the peace he could find in his own home, Stoick could not feel content. He hadn't been able to for a long time.

Stoick imagined his once eight-year-old son sitting in front of the flame as he gave strict instructions on how to keep the fire alight. Of course, the boy would shoot a volley of questions ranging from why a fire could only burn so much wood at once or why it needed wood to stay alight in the first place. A pang of guilt struck Stoick as he remembered how angry he had gotten at Hiccup that night. Even though he never admitted it, Stoick was sure the boy went to sleep crying that night.

As he stared absently into the flame, Stoick continued to wonder what had happened to his son. An internal war had been waging for many years now. Half of Stoick-his more 'reasonable' side fought to admit that Hiccup was dead. It fought to prove that the Dragon Hunters had killed him. The other half, however, was certain Hiccup was alive and well. That he was somewhere with his dragon doing everything he could to come home.

Then, Stoick dwelled to how everyone else had reacted to his only son's disappearance.

Most would agree that the Dragon Riders had matured since Hiccup disappeared. Astrid had taken up more responsibilities around the village, Fishlegs had started to help his own and other families more than what he used to, the Twins prank rate was slashed and Snotlout had shown a new degree of humility. He hardly ever spoke against his superiors like he once used too.

The change was noticed by everyone on Berk. Some said that it was a good consequence of an unfortunate situation. Others believed that it was for the best. Stoick, however, only felt worse. After three months of Hiccup's disappearance-when people started to give up hope of ever seeing him again-Stoick tried to fill in the Hiccup sized hole in his chest. He took on more responsibilities that otherwise went to the other councilmen, he revised treaties and important paperwork more than what he used to, but the Rider's change made all those efforts futile.

Stoick tried to forget that his son was missing. But without everyone being in on it, he would never be able to do so.

Stoick scolded himself as he was brought back to reality. He had much more important things to worry about. The risk of an attack on Berk was growing greater every day. Much preparation was still to be done, and his five most experienced Riders had left without giving a clue of their whereabouts.

Stoick went back to think about the Dragon Riders. He wondered whether he would have done the same thing. Gobber would say he would, although following a demon seemed unlikely-even for him. A pang of worry stabbed him every day the Riders did not return. He trusted them to look after themselves, but demons were another case altogether.

Shaking his head and taking a deep breath, Stoick cleared his head. They weren't here right now so he couldn't do anything about it. All Stoick could do was pray for their safe return.

Maybe this would do them good after all, Stoick realised. After this, it might be easier to accept that his son was dead.

~O~

Jogging silently, a group of Berkians and their strange foreign company made their way through the maze of the Outcast Island underground. An anonymous water source let small drops of murky liquid fall onto the stone floor of the damp tunnels causing the group to feel sticky and uncomfortable. They had passed numerous empty and filled cells. Some contain tormented dragons while others housed sleeping Outcasts.

It took every bit of Astrid to not release them all. She looked to the other Riders, Fishlegs showed expressions of distraught as a painful dragon's scream cut through the air. The Twins carried on in an awkward silence-Astrid was convinced they were worried for their dragon. Snotlout struggled to keep pace with the long-striding Miara. While she may not be as tall as the average Viking woman, Miara's long legs made up for that.

The foreigner went in a stubborn silence. Astrid was sure that behind the paint covering her most her upper face, hundreds of ideas were whirling. It was similar to the look that Hiccup was once famous for. You could see gears spinning in Miara's eyes and the silent movement of her lips signified so many thoughts that her mind alone couldn't contain them.

"How much longer are we going to keep walking around?" Asked Tuffnut. "My legs are getting tired."

Astrid groaned. It had only been half an hour. "Until we find Hiccup."

It was strange saying the sentence aloud. While Astrid has confirmed that Hiccup had to be alive, she wasn't so sure about the other riders. Astrid apologised to the Gods over and over. She could only imagine how frustrated they must be at her constant change of mind. It was just so surreal, Astrid supposed.

"It would help if we know where he is." Grumbled Snotlout. "We're going to be found sooner or later."

Fishlegs backed up Snotlout meekly. "He does have a point, Astrid, we can't just keep walking around hoping for the best."

Astrid clenched her fist. Obviously, she was aware of that, but what else was she supposed to do. It's not like the Hunters would just give away Hiccup's location. Assuming he was even here.

"We don't have any other option." Astrid said not turning around. "We just need to keep looking."

The other Riders looked to each other before nodding. There was no point in trying to fight Astrid when she came to a decision. If you did, it ended with an axe to the head. The group once again continued in silence. They were on the lookout for an attack, possible Outcast ally, and, most importantly, they were on the lookout for Hiccup.

As the group approached an intersection, with one new hallway turning right and the other continuing forward, thunderous footsteps from around the corner made the group stop and press themselves to the cold stone walls. Miara-who was leading from the front-peered around the corner to then quickly pull back. The other Riders waited for Miara to say what she had seen. Instead, the woman bolted down the corridor in front of them.

Yells resonated from around the corner and soon a group of Dragon Hunters rushed to chase after her. As the Riders stared in a shock and irritated silence, Miara lifted her long arms and pointed right. To the Hunters struggling to keep up and a few of the Riders it was a confusing act. It wasn't until Snotlout pushed past Astrid and turned down the corridor did the Riders get the hint.

"I can't believe her." Fishlegs grumbled. "If she was going to do something like that a warning would be appreciated."

Snotlout, who was now leading, replied. "There's nothing we can do about it now. Miara led the Hunters away so we just have to work with what's happened."

Astrid could only silently nod. While she was just as annoyed as Fishlegs about the fact Miara had completely changed the little of a plan she had in mind, she hadn't expected Snotlout to be the one to just go along with it. In fact, she had expected Fishlegs to be telling Snotlout to just deal with what had happened.

"I hate to be the bringer of bad news," Ruffnut interrupted the silence that had engulfed the Riders as their pace slowed, "but has anyone realised that we have no idea where Miara has gone."

Tuffnut continued with his sister's comment. "Yer, what if she finds something. How do we contact her?"

Astrid, who had now started to trail behind the group, stopped abruptly in the middle of another intersection of corridors. The Twins did have a point. What were they supposed to do if Miara found Hiccup?

"We'll just have to get on our Dragons and then sear-" Astrid was cut off when her shoulder was grabbed from behind.

Unsheathing her axe, Astrid swung at whoever was behind her. Hearing the noise and noticing the sudden stop of Astrid talking, the others turned around as well. Eyes widening at who was behind her, a grin climbed Astrid's cheeks.

"Alvin!" She cried. "That the Gods you're okay."

"We thought the Hunters had caught you." Snotlout piped.

"Takes more than a couple of those idiots ta take me down." Alvin looked the Riders over. "Took 'ya long enough. Startin' ta think you lot hadn't gotten me letter."

"Letter?" Fishlegs asked.

A confused expression crossed the Outcast leaders face. "Then why are you…"

Each of the riders exchanged glances. None of them were certain whether to tell anyone else about their plan at the moment. All five of them knew that if Miara was lying and that Hiccup really was in Valhalla - a fact which most of them would rather not think about - that it would hurt, a lot. If they dragged another person down with them… it just wouldn't be fair.

"You're lookin' for ta Haddock boy, aren't ya'?"

Everyone froze in their running path.

"How did you…?"

"He was here." Was Alvin's simple response to Astrid's question. "Shot down a night after me island was taken over. Had this weird sandy coloured dragon with 'im. Hunters put 'im on a ship late last night."

Shocked silence was all that followed. Tears of joy and relief threatened to flow from Astrid's eyes. He was alive. Hiccup was really alive! The six years of loneliness she had experienced were coming to a close. She would be able to hear Hiccup's cheeky voice as he explained new ideas he had, watch the new stunts he performed with Toothless, and what she missed the most-his eyes. Those deep, forest green eyes that held so much feeling and emotion. While almost impossible to read, the expressions he showed were one of a kind. Some could convey happiness to anyone around him, while others set a twinkle in every eye.

Hiccup was so close. Hiccup was alive.

Snotlout was the first one to break the silence of shock. "Then let's keep going."

Without any other words, he sprinted down the corridor in hopes of finding an exit. The Riders really should have let Alvin lead-he did know these tunnels like the back of his hand-but, of course, they followed Snotlout blindly. After all, each of them were just as relieved as Snotlout. Though, looking back, it wasn't the best reason for not first thinking of a plan.

Hiccup was alive. He was somewhere nearby. They didn't know where exactly, but at least he was alive. It would only be a matter of time before their lost heir was found.

~O~

Far away from any land, on the dark abyss, the ocean had become, a silent, lonely ship sailed. No light was lit and the few visible stars in the cloudy sky above the only sense of direction those on the ship had. With only seven men manning the ship and a prisoner beneath the deck, their location was bound to be kept secret.

"What are we going to do with him?" Came Viggo's foreboding voice as he approached the man staring out at the black void of the ocean. "Why not just kill him already?"

"He's too valuable to kill." Came a voice that those on Berk would find familiar. "You know that his little demon friend will have gone to Berk."

Viggo raised an eyebrow. "How can you be so certain, Johann? You know very well how he feels about returning."

The renowned 'trader' turned towards Viggo, "You should be able to guess, the girl thinks she knows what's best. And even if she hasn't, they will eventually find their way to Berk."

"And that is why we must kill him. Even the men know there is no point in keeping him in a cell." Viggo narrowed his eyes as a Hunter yelled on cue.

"The prisoner escaped!"

"My point exactly."

Johann turned towards the ocean again. "It doesn't matter whether he is in his cell or not. Hiccup Haddock is not stupid enough to try to take on all the men on board."

Viggo growled.

"Besides, if he does manage to reprimand us, he doesn't even know where we are. He's been out cold for at least half of the day."

Viggo shot daggers through the back of Johann's head. His hatred for this man had been growing for years. At first, Johann simply took a portion of the profit Viggo made for supplying the Dragon Hunter leader with ships, supplies and men. But now, Johann had completely taken over. Krogan had already gone his own way after Johann refused to reveal the whereabouts of the King of Dragon's to his buyer.

The only reason that Viggo was still here was for three reasons.

-He knew Johann was waiting for him to leave-Viggo was stubborn and wouldn't back down easily.

-Too much of Viggo's time, money and energy had gone into leading the Hunters.

-He wanted to see Hiccup Haddock dead-Viggo was certain that the second he parted way with Johann that the man would kill Hiccup himself.

Viggo had failed several times to kill the man-something he took much worse than most. All his plans had failed. Sending him to the Amber Slavelands; Blow up a building he was staying in; Arrows; Stabbings; Poison; Nothing had worked. Johann made sure to remind him of that every day.

"You two really shouldn't be fighting like that." Came a voice from the ship's mast. "You know what happens to bad guys that fight."

Both Johann and Viggo rolled their eyes. Despite their different views on many things, they could at least agree that this man was becoming very annoying. He avoided most captures, broke out from every cell and no matter how many ropes they tied him with, in under a minute he was free.

"I was expecting you to make your grand escape a little sooner." Johann didn't turn towards the figure descending down the mast. "Or did you need a little break?"

"Honestly, I did need a little sleep. Taking a net to the head can make you a little woozy." Viggo glared at Hiccup, his unwashed hair hanging loosely on his shoulders and permanently covering the mark on his forehead.

"Well, then what do you think?" Viggo asked sarcastically-a trait he had picked up from the nuisance over the past few years. "Should we keep you alive or kill you?"

Hiccup paused for a moment before striding past the two and hoisting himself up onto the waist height railing. He looked at both irritated men. Viggo was showing his anger with fumes. His face red and fist clenched white. Johann, on the other hand, made his annoyance less obvious. He simply stared at Hiccup with a dark glare-similar to the one he used when scaring his men.

"From a strategic view," Hiccup continued acting oblivious to how the two men were reacting, "I'd kill me. You're both smart. Surely you can see that keeping me alive has just caused more problems."

"My point exactly." Viggo muttered darkly.

"But from a personal view, I don't really want to die. I'm still young, haven't finished my bucket list, got to stop this war from startin'. You guys must understand that, right?" A cheeky smirk followed.

When Hiccup received no reply he continued. "But of course, I could always let you kill me. You'd then just have to face the wrath of Miara, possibly lose any chance of finding those lenses you need for the Dragon Eye-I'd love to know where that is by the way-then have to explain to Berk exactly what happened, because as you mentioned earlier-" Hiccup pointed at Johann, "-we are pretty close."

"Enough." Hiccup was hardly fazed by Johann's sudden snap.

"Take him back to his cell." He called one of his men. "And do us all a favour and knock him out."

Without complaint, Hiccup pushed himself off the railing and walked down the stairs to the underdeck. Meanwhile, Johann pinched the bridge of his nose while Viggo walked away smugly-he was happy that Hiccup had gotten to Johann like that. The man really deserved it.

"I really should kill him." The 'trader' muttered.

Staring out towards the dark moon-deprived sky, Johann continued to scheme. His plans had been failing almost a hard as Viggo's-just more subtly. The man kept slipping through his fingers and it wouldn't be long until the Demon came looking for him.

"Because if I don't," Johann continued talking to himself. "he is going to be the death of me."