Author's Notes: Ah, screw it. I want to continue the story, so I'm not gonna do the whole poll business. So sue me. Sorry to everyone who wanted it

And please, a moment of silence for everyone who has died because of terrorism, no matter when or where. They died because of someone else's misguided beliefs, and for that, I am truly sorry. It's people like those in Isis and Al-qaeda that make me lose hope in humanity, but it's people like you readers that revive that hope. So please, remember them.

Read!

Disclaimer: I do not own HTTYD. Plain and simple.

Day 5

Adeline's POV

I was alone. Nothingness spread around me in the form of an inky, almost living darkness. My body shivered in that frozen expanse, and I realized I was standing on something black and cold, like the stone that Trader Johann sometimes brought from the south. Obsidian, he had called it. But this, this was far colder, like someone or something had taken the deepest shadows of a cave and made them tangible. Slowly, I could see pinpoints of light form in the distance, an infinity of tiny white specks in an endless sea of black.

I heard the soft pad of boots behind me and turned. My father was staring at me beseechingly, a trickle of blood leaking from the corner of his mouth. His skin was pale, his eyes were glazed, and he was dripping with water. He tried reaching out to me, my father mouthing words I couldn't hear, but a gleaming silver sword broke through his chest and made a bone-chilling rattle escape his mouth instead.

"DADDY!" I screamed, but my voice was that of a five year old girl, before my childhood had been wrenched away by the selfishness of an entire island. I looked down and saw I had regressed into my younger self. My eyes rose to meet my father's, and the silent plea in them made me want to sob until I had turned into a dried husk. He fell to the ground and as soon as he touched the cold rock he turned into a pile of gray powder. There was another sound behind me, and I whirled around...

...only to wish I hadn't. Frostwave was standing there, barely, with a spear plunged into her silvery scales right where her heart was.

"Addie..." she hissed weakly before falling onto her side and stopping. I ran over, my body returned to its previous state, and tried to hold her head. But she turned into a cloud of silver dust that was blown away by some unseen wind, and my desperate fingers clutched at nothing.

"Frostwave? NOOOOO!" I screamed into the emptiness. My knees failed me and I collapsed onto the heartless stone that held me up. There was another noise, and I unwillingly turned around. What I had seen so far had instilled a perpetual sense of dread within me whenever I heard something new.

This time, it was Hiccup and Toothless, both terribly wounded and barely alive and each supporting the other. I got up and tried to run toward them, but the distance seemed to lengthen with every step, and I was helpless to stop them from turning into swirls of gray dust in the otherworldly gusts of wind.

A searing pain made me press my hands to my lower back, holding back a shriek that would have shaken this sadist's playground to the core. Not that memory. Anything but that. Not the time my innocence was stripped away from me by the fires of a demented tradition.

More pain streaked across my back, quick bolts of flame that burned me and left me cold at the same time. Like tongues of fire frozen in crystals of ice, they left me feeling blackened from frostbite and burns, no longer the happy girl I was before Blackstone. I tried to whirl around to face whatever was inflicting these wounds, but every time I did it would just follow me, hitting me harder and harder with every attempt to retaliate. At the same time, a feeling like rough hands ran all over my body, making me squirm with disgust. No... not that memory, too. Anything but that one memory! Please!

Just when I was about to give up and stop fighting, I felt some sort of soothing presence behind me, and a faint golden light shone down from that same direction. I turned hesitantly and gaped. A strange, timeless woman was there, with glowing gold hair that floated like it was underwater, kind gold eyes, and a robe of shimmering gold. Yeah, basically, she was completely gold, except for one thing. She had a tiny black and white shape in her hands and was holding it out to me.

"Will you take her, Guardian of Kindness? Will you accept Luna Zyan, as others have before you? Will you take up the path of Lighte?" she asked. Her voice was serious, but at the same time reassuring, like being submerged in a warm bath. I reached out tentatively, hoping beyond all hope it wasn't another trick, when I felt like someone was shaking me.

"Addie! Addie" someone shouted. Someone familiar... Hiccup!

I wrenched open my eyes, breaking free of that nightmare and seeing Hiccup kneeling over me. He looked terrified, and it took me a second to realize why. I had probably screamed in my sleep. Frostwave lowered her head and rubbed it against me affectionately but worriedly.

"Addie, don't cry," she begged, "Please don't cry. It'll be alright." That was when I realized my face was wet; the nightmare had made me cry in my sleep. I looked from her to Hiccup, and from him to Toothless, who was crooning concernedly and trying to bump his head against me. My arms reached around Frostwave's neck and Toothless's head, and I managed to get Hiccup into the embrace that was forming between the four of us. We just sat like that, taking silent comfort from the nearness of each other, until Hiccup asked me something.

"Addie? Are you okay? It sounded like you were having a nightmare," he said worriedly. I was about to answer him when there was a knocking at the cell door. Quickly, we broke apart, and I caught a glimpse of who was at the door. It was Simon, and when he saw me looking he smiled and waved.

"Addie? It's me. I came to ask you something," he whispered, glancing to the sides as if he was afraid of being caught. And for all I knew, he was. Simon was putting a lot at risk, coming down here without his father's permission. I got up and walked over to the door, still shaken by the dream. He looked over my shoulder at Hiccup and Toothless, then back at me.

"Please, Addie, tell me you're not planning anything crazy," he begged. I shrugged noncommittally, and he groaned exasperatedly.

"Well, you need to watch out. Gale is planning something, and I don't think it's good." I raised an eyebrow.

"How would you know? Last time I checked, Gale hated your guts and refused to let you anywhere near his rooms." Simon grinned.

"Gust and I have a newly formed friendship. I'm not the only one who's worried about what his father might do if he ever came to power. And I may have given him a few of Durni's seed cakes in exchange," he replied sheepishly. I smirked, then looked back at Hiccup and the two dragons. They were watching us curiously, but warily. I waved, showing that Simon was an ally, and beckoned Hiccup over.

"Hiccup, this is Simon. He's the one who brought me the pieces of my medicine kit, so you could say he's the reason I'm able to help you with the poison," I said, gesturing to Simon while introducing him at the same time. Hiccup nodded.

"And Simon, this is Hiccup. He's my cellmate, and if it weren't for you bringing me my medicine kit, he'd probably be dead by now," I continued, turning to the Benydel boy. He reached through the bars and held out a hand.

"N-nice to m-meet you, Hiccup," he said, stuttering over the Viking a bit. Hiccup smiled pleasantly and shook his hand.

"Nice to meet you, too, Simon. Addie, what's going on? I heard you two mention Gale, so I figured there was something I needed to know. Like, say, is that maniac gonna try and kill us?" I shrugged (man, my shoulders and back were going to be so strong after this adventure was over) and turned back to Simon.

"Does Gust know what he's up to?" I asked him grimly. If Gale's son could help us avoid any problems, then I had no qualms about using him like that. And if Simon had managed to get more than just a vague warning from him, then even better. The more we knew, the more likely it was that we could escape successfully. Simon shook his head.

"All he knows is that he's arranging to get all of the weapons you made and exchange them for some the House of Winds made, and is planning to get only the guards loyal to him to appear at his initiation," he replied, pointing at Hiccup. I quickly translated for his sake, then looked at the ceiling in thought.

"Okay, that might put a damper on things, but don't worry. I'll think of something. I always do, right, Hiccup?" I said, recovering from the slight blow this had dealt to the master plan. He didn't look completely convinced, but nodded in agreement anyway. I know he was thinking of Toothless when he did that. If there was anyone Hiccup cared about most in the world, it was that Night Fury. Right now, I was their best chance of getting out of here in one piece, so he was willing to put up with my show of bravado.

But inside, I was scared. There was no guarantee that I could protect them from what those guards might do in the Ynahy, or that I could even help me and Frostwave if push came to shove. I didn't dare to think about what would happen if they managed to recapture all of us. No one had ever dared to do something like what we were planning, so there was no recorded punishment in the Luda uv Benydac. Which could be very, very bad for us if we were caught again. Especially for me.

There was the sound of heavy boots getting louder, and Simon looked toward them fearfully. He looked back at us briefly.

"Well, gotta go." With that, he took off in the other direction, probably to loop around to the exit. I stared after him sadly. If only Simon weren't so afraid of his father, he wouldn't have to act like that. My musings were cut short by the arrival of breakfast. Jeez, everything keeps getting interrupted (A.N. Sorry, Addie, but thems the breaks). The guard seemed surprised to see us at the door, but fortunately he didn't drop the food.

"That hungry, are ya? Well, don't expect any seconds," he said, probably thinking himself very clever with that last remark. He pushed the food through with a dry chuckled and walked away, whistling the Faith Song cheerfully. Meanwhile, I took the food and rejoined Frostwave and Toothless in their huddle underneath the grate. Hiccup sat against Toothless, like always, and I copied suit with Frostwave then distributed the breakfast.

In the middle of a mouthful of vegetable broth and bread, Hiccup asked me something shocking.

"So, is there anything going on between you and Simon?" he said casually. I nearly choked on my food, but managed to avoid that humiliating and possibly fatal incident by swallowing it painfully instead.

"W-what? What in the name of Odin gave you that idea?" I stuttered, shocked by the topic of discussion. He avoided looking at me, but I think some pink started to form in his cheeks.

"Well, it's just that you two seem pretty close, so..." I stared at him until the ridiculousness of the question finally sank in and I started to laugh uncontrollably. Frostwave's eyes widened in alarm, but soon went back to normal when she realized I was just being me.

"Are you done?" she growled petulantly. I held up a finger to tell them to wait, and when the laughter had subsided enough for me to breathe I wiped the tears from my eyes and shook my head.

"No, Hiccup, we are not a thing. Simon is like a brother to me. That's all. The very idea..." My sentence disappeared in another wave of giggles, until Frostwave swatted my head with her tail and cut it short with my cry of pain.

"Hey! Anyways, why are you asking? Hmm?" I asked, turning the tables on him. He blushed and sighed.

"Well, it just seemed like a valid question. You two seem very close," Hiccup replied defensively. I chuckled.

"Yeah, 'cause we're like brother and sister. What about you? Got anyone special on your mind? Maybe someone back on Berk?" He blushed even deeper and looked away.

"There's this one girl, but I don't know if it'll work. We've only been together for a short time, and I like what I've seen of her so far, but I don't know how she feels about me," he answered cryptically. I raised an eyebrow, but didn't press further. If Hiccup wasn't gonna talk, then I wasn't gonna force him. I tried to respect private matters like that. The operative word here being "tried." Sometimes, my curiosity would get the better of me, and I would ask very personal questions. It was probably a side effect of my healer training. We're taught to learn everything we can about how the ailment came to pass, including digging into what may be considered risque matters. Just another joy of my childhood. Learning exactly how someone came to have a sprained ankle is not something I would recommend to the faint of heart, or even to anyone with a hope of retaining their innocence. Yeesh. Even if it made me recall just what had happened to me four years ago...

"Well, I hope it does work out," I replied eventually. Then Frostwave swatted me with her tail. Again.

"Okay, what is your problem?" I snapped, whirling around to face her. She sighed out a cloud of tiny ice crystals and narrowed her eyes.

"You are so dense sometimes!" she growled irritably before prowling off to join Toothless near Hiccup. I stared after her in mute shock. Frostwave had never acted like this before. Hiccup also seemed surprised, but thankfully he didn't comment on Frostwave's actions. I groaned quietly.

At that moment, I would have welcomed a wave of guards to fight. Anything to work off this frustration. But since I was not to be obliged with some opponents, I took the next best thing. I stood up, backed against a wall, and ran forward to leap up and grab the grate. Sure, it seemed a bit showy, but it worked, because I could now work off all that excess energy in making sure I was in tiptop shape for our escape.

One half hour and plenty of calories later...

Frostwave had decided to forgive me for whatever I had done and was now permitting me to lounge against her side, well worked out and dripping with sweat. Hiccup looked at me inscrutably.

"What? I needed some way to work off all that energy," I grumbled, folding my arms across my... less than ample chest. Okay, was it really my fault that I was fifteen and didn't have the body of a woman? I blamed the food, tasty though it was.

But Hiccup's reply cut my internal rail against the cruelty of fate short by at least five minutes.

"What happens at initiation that's so terrible you want to help us get out of here, even when it means you'll be risking your own life?"

3rd Person POV: Hiccup

Addie froze up and blanched, her face becoming ghostly white from the blood draining away. Her mouth opened slightly in a terrified silent gape. But just as quickly, she regained control and color and turned away grimly.

"You ever hear of how there are no painless lessons?" Addie said suddenly, changing the subject rather obviously. Hiccup sighed, but she did have a point. Nothing worth learning came without consequences. He wasn't going to be diverted that easily, though.

"You still haven't answered my question. Listen, if it's really terrible, you don't have to tell me all the details, but I'd like to know what they have planned for me," he said firmly, raising an eyebrow. Addie looked away, her face starting to pale again, then sighed heavily.

"Let's just say, you'll wish you were still in prison," she retorted darkly, scowling with malevolent anger toward the rest of Blackstone.


And that was that. For the next few hours, Addie said nothing else except basic commands and one-word replies to his questions. Not when she was helping with his little souvenir from Gale and bringing them dinner from the door. Not when she started chewing on some mint leaves and rinsing her mouth out with water, then spitting it into the corner no one went into. Not when Toothless accidentally hit her back with his tail during a mild game of chase with Frostwave and she flinched away from that brief touch. Not when it was time to sleep. And certainly not when their eyes met a few times, and he could see the painful memories haunting her. Deep inside, Hiccup wondered what was so terrible that an ex-pirate would dread the very thought of it and do her best to prevent it from happening to someone she barely knew.

He let out an exhausted sigh. Well, whatever it was, he wouldn't ever have to go through it. Not if Addie and Frostwave could help it.

Author's Notes: Whew! Your translations, wonderful readers.

Benydel - Piratic

Ynahy – Arena

Luda uv Benydac – Code of Pirates

Now that was a lot. Okay, you patient and awesomely faithful readers. They're nearly out of there. Just two more days. Two more chapters, a bunch of flashbacks and hints from my OC's about the past, and then they're home free! And Addie and Astrid will finally meet. Oh, the sparks that will fly, and not just from Stormfly. Hey, that rhymed.

I'll stop being dumb now.

And hey, at least we get to see Addie react to more Vikings! ...Oh, God. Stoick is going to meet her. Run, everyone! At this rate, Berk will be destroyed!

Review! That's an order! Okay, not really, but you get the point. Give me your feedback! I live off of it, and it makes me feel happy whenever I see it.

See ya! Wild Cat 214, out!