A.N- I'm still alive! Really, really sorry it took me awhile to update this! I thought I would do this soon after I uploaded the last chapter, then that turned into a month later, and now that was about 3 months ago. I would've gotten this done sooner, but I guess I got a little busier with school and clubs and sometimes felt like drawing or something other than photography. I guess I should also say that on October 4th I became an Aunt! My sister gave birth to a beautiful and super adorable baby girl! Her name is Autumn Lily and I just love her to death! I actually was contemplating whether or not to add some things to this chapter or just start it on the next. I decided to just add it to the next since a) this has a pretty good amount of words compared to my other chapters, and b) I think you've guys waited long enough. Alright, I'm gonna let you guys read this. Hopefully the next chapter won't take three months to update, but I can't promise anything, especially since apparently at Live Oaks, the 3rd quarter is suppose to be the most stressful (yay :/). I hope you enjoy chapter 11! If you see any typos, btw, please feel free to tell me. One day I was kinda skimming through some chapters around the beginning and saw some things that needed revision, which I did fix some but I want to get a more thorough search before I update the fixed chapters. Anyways, Stay Awesome!

Chapter 11

Kidnapped

The evening was growing cold, and the spritzing waters were no aid to warmth.

"Hey, Avis!" shouted one of the sails men, "When are we gonna get there? We're cold, hungry, and haven't slept in days!"

"Calm yourself, Mitch!" Avis yelled, "We'll be there by tomorrow, as long as we keep a straight course!"

"You said that yesterday!" argued Ug.

"Well, we would've been, if someone hadn't fallen asleep at the wheel and turn us in the wrong direction!"

All the Vikings turned to look at Hoark, who was sitting on top of a barrel, sound asleep.

"I wouldn't mind being him right now," mumbled Ug.

Avis looked around at his crew. Each of them had bags drooping under their eyes and were all very slow. Some of the men could barely keep their eyes open for three seconds. Avis himself was struggling to stay on his feet.

Avis sighed. "Alright. I'll let you rest. I'll be on the first watch. But if I spot one dragon, nap time's over. Get some rest, men."

"Thanks, Avis."

"Finally, I can get some shut eye."

"Hopefully there aren't any dragons out tonight."

While all the men gathered below deck, except Hoark, Avis took a seat on a nearby crate and watched the skies, using all his strength to stay awake.

Down from below, a scrawny figure climbed up to the top and walked over to Avis, wide and awake.

"Hey, Avis?" asked Brant.

Avis, who had been falling asleep, shot his eyes partially open and looked up at the boy standing over him.

"What is it, Toothpick?" he replied groggily.

"Well, you haven't slept for days, like all the other men, so I thought I'd take first shift for you. That way, you can get some sleep and be more awake afterwards."

"Thank you, Brant," Avis said, "but I'm fine. You go get some rest. I'll be down at the second shift."

"Come on, Avis. You can barely stay awake. I've gotten some sleep today while I was below deck; so I'm wide awake. You can trust me."

Avis thought about it, and made up his mind.

"You're right. I can't even keep my focus on you. But if a dragon comes, wake me up. Got it?"

Brant nodded.

Avis slowly got up and walked towards Brant. Brant began to walk around Avis to go to where he had been sitting, but was pulled back by his shirt. Brant turned towards Avis, who was pointing towards the pillar he measured him on. Brant sighed, but walked over. While Brant stood straight against the pole, Avis brought his knife out of his pouch and brought it near his head. Avis forced himself to stay awake as he nicked the wood, making sure he didn't do so to the teen's head. Brant backed away from the pole so Avis could compare the height of the marks.

"Looks like you lost two more inches," Avis yawned.

Brant looked at the slashes across the pillar to make sure Avis' calculations were accurate. He grumbled when he saw they were true.

"You're not gonna tell Drago, are you?" Brant asked.

Avis sighed, "I know I'm suppose to report this to him, but I'll tell you what, if you don't lose another inch, maybe two, I won't tell him. 'Kay?"

"Okay."

"Alright, Toothpick. I'll see ya when I wake up."

"Night, Avis."

Brant picked up a nearby spear and held it as he watched the stars. He kept asking in his mind to the gods why they were doing this; what they had against him. Nobody seemed to answer.

While no one was watching, Brant pulled his pant leg up to where he could see where the bite mark would have been if it weren't for the Terrible Terror scales in his way. It looked as if he had a green rash spreading over the skin of his leg. He had no idea what it meant, but it frightened him. He wasn't sure if he should have been more worried about his condition or the fact that Drago would definitely be putting him in one of the dragon cages. He hoped Avis wouldn't ask about his leg or mention anything about scales on it. If he did ask, he'd tell him the truth. If not, he wouldn't say a word.

Hiccup woke up early the next morning with a pain that undoubtedly was being caused by his unwanted transformation. The growth of his scales continued to grow more rapidly. He could predict that he had only a couple days left until his change was complete, or if the growth of the scales continued to accelerate, he may only have hours. Once every shred of skin was covered by the black scales, his body would change form, and he would be a dragon.

Dust particles flew off the ceiling, putting Hiccup into a coughing fit. He was coughing so hard, he managed to wake his wife.

"You okay, Hiccup?" Astrid asked, rubbing her eyes.

Hiccup coughed, "Yeah," he coughed again. "Just some dust."

There was a big BOOM at the top of the roof, sprinkling more dust over the couple, putting Hiccup back into a fit, and this time included Astrid in the fun.

"Toothless," both mumbled.

While Astrid went back to bed for a couple more hours, Hiccup got up to see what his pal wanted. Stepping outside, Hiccup turned to look up at the rooftop, with his Night Fury pounding at the tiles.

"Toothless!" he shouted, trying to get the dragon's attention.

Toothless stopped and looked down to see his rider, showing an expression of pleasure. Toothless hopped down to meet Hiccup at his feet, well, foot.

"Good morning, Hiccup! I hope you slept well."

"Luckily for you, the pain in my side woke me up before you did."

"From the scales?"

"Mhmm."

"Can I look at them? I wanted to see how much they'd spread since last night."

"No. No, no, no."

Hiccup backed away as Toothless came closer, forcing him against the side of the house. Hiccup pushed the curious dragon's snout.

"Ok, first of all, I'm not just gonna pull up my shirt and show you in public! And second…"

"Woah, woah, woah," Toothless interrupted, "You still want to keep this a secret?"

"Yes! Why would you ask that?"

"Well, I just thought..since.."

"Since what?"

"Well, you aren't hiding your face, this morning."

Hiccup's eyes widened. He slammed his hands against his face. The right side was soft, with a bit of stubbiness below his chin. On the left, he felt the smooth coating and bumpiness of the scales attached to his cheek.

Hiccup threw the front door opening, sprinting into the house. Toothless could hear as Hiccup rushed up the steps and into his bedroom. He could tell he was trying to be quiet around Astrid. His footsteps became less frequent and lighter on the floorboards. Seconds later, the same rushed footsteps stomped down the stairs and the door swung open to reveal Hiccup, this time with his mask on.

"That's better." Toothless said.

"Luckily no one else is up at this time," Hiccup replied. "So, what did you want?"

"To fly."

"... That's it? That's all you wanted."

"Uh..yeah?"

"Well, okay, I guess? But couldn't you have waited until later? Your stomping on the roof made me have a coughing fit, which woke up Astrid."

"How did my stomping give you a coughing fit?"

"You made the dust on the ceiling fall, which floated around the bed. That's how."

"Oh, I'm so terribly sorry," Toothless growled sarcastically, "Now can we go flying?"

"Oh. Hey guys!"

Toothless and Hiccup turned their attention towards Dyina, who was running up to them with a book in her hands.

"Hey, Dyina!" exclaimed Hiccup. "What are you doing up so early?"

"My body decided to wake me up about an hour ago and I couldn't get back to sleep. I decided to read more of the Dragon Manual you gave me, while taking some more notes." Dyina raised the book in her hands to show him the faded cover of the manual.

"Hey, that's great! Have you decided on a dragon yet?"

"Um, not really. It's a really hard decision. That and I'm not sure if I'm ready for a dragon.."

Hiccup couldn't hear the last part of what she said. It was mumbled under her breath.

"Sorry, what was that last part?"

Dyina sighed, "I don't think I'm ready for my own dragon."

"What? But you seem to really like dragons. You were really excited when you saw Toothless. I could also tell you loved it when you flew on his back."

"I do. I have nothing against dragons, well, besides the fact my parents were killed in a raid, it's just…" Dyina walked over next to Toothless.

"Just what?" asked Toothless.

"Just complicated."

Hiccup felt bad for Dyina. She lost both her parents at a young age. Not only that, the only family she had left rejected her and was forced to fend for herself.

"But of course I still like hanging with dragons like Toothless."

Dyina began scratching under Toothless' chin, who accepted happily.

"Well, how about you think about a little longer. A dragon will become your best friend instantly. I think you would be a great owner."

"Thanks, Hiccup."

Dyina stopped scratching the Night Fury and walked over to Hiccup, the Dragon Manual extended from her hand.

"Here."

"No. You keep it until you're positive about this."

"Actually, I was hoping you could look over some thing's I wrote. You don't have to."

"Oh, yeah. Yeah, I can look through some of it. I'll make sure to return it to you when I'm done with it."

"Great." Dyina put her arms around his shoulders. "Thanks again, Hiccup."

"Anything for a friend."

Dyina gave him a squeeze before releasing her grip. She looked up at his hooded face, noticing something weird about his eye.

"Woah! What's with your eye?"

Hiccup shut his left eye and covered it with his hand.

"What? I don't know what you're talking about."

"Has it always been that way?"

"Well, no. But it's nothing, really."

Dyina raised an eyebrow. "Okay, then? Can I ask about your hand?"

"My hand?" Hiccup took his hand down and saw that his fingernails had turned pitch black, with scales spreading out from under his sleeve.

Hiccup gasped. His left eye shot wide open, along with his normal one. He quickly snapped his left eye shut again and hid his hand behind his back.

Hiccup tried to play it cool; "There's nothing wrong with it. Just some soot, that's all."

"Are you sure?" she questioned.

"Absolutely. Now run along."

"Uh..alright. I'll just go now, I guess."

Dyina slowly turned away and walked in the opposite direction of the house. She knew something was wrong with him, but didn't want to force him to talk. He didn't push her, so she wouldn't push him, even if she could help in any way.

"Bye, Dyina!" roared Toothless.

"No! I can't tell them my secret! I can't! I can't! I just can't!" Dyina thought.

After Dyina was out of sight, Hiccup pulled his hand back out in front of him to examine it. Taking a longer look, his nails seemed longer than they were before and were as thick and hard as Toothless'.

"Oh, great," Hiccup said. He pulled his shirtsleeve to where it hid most of the scales that were growing from around his wrist.

"So, gloves?" Toothless grumbled.

Hiccup sighed. "I'll deal with this later. Now, I just feel like flying with my Bud."

"'Bout time!"

The Night Fury jumped and wriggled with excitement, making it a slight task to get onto his saddle.

"Easy, Toothless!" Hiccup had to keep tell him.

Once he was sitting on top of the Night Fury, he put his foot in place and prepared himself for Toothless' takeoff. Once they were in the air, it felt as if all of Hiccup's worries had blown off into the wind.

The trapper's boat sailed closer and closer to the island, passing between the two stone Vikings; one who still needed repairs from their last battle. Avis stomped up the stairs to the deck, smirking when he saw Brant still sitting in his position with his head leaning against the stick of the spear. When Avis walked around to see the front of his face, a sliver of saliva dripped from his mouth into a puddle that had formed overnight.

"Wake up, Toothpick!" Avis shouted in his ear.

Brant jumped, falling off the crate and dropping the spear. The teen moaned from the abrupt awaking and stood up.

"What? Morning already?" Brant squinted his eyes at the light.

"Mhmm. I'm guessing you were on guard all night. No dragons last night?"

Brant yawn, "No, sir. Just the stars."

Avis and Brant could hear the heavy footsteps of one of the other men, presumably Mitch.

"Ick!" he exclaimed, wiping something wet off his face. "Who was drooling up here?"

Brant looked in the corner of his eye where he had been keeping watch. He felt embarrassed when he saw a puddle of spit draining through a crack in the wood, and then quickly wiped away the drool on his chin to hide the evidence.

One by one, the sailors awoke and climbed up the stairs, ready to start the day's wor.

"Hey, Brant," Avis pulled the scrawny Viking aside, "How's your leg?"

"M-my leg?"

"Yeah. Is that scale gone?"

"Um…" He didn't want to tell him, but he would have to. Brant didn't want to lose the trust he grew on Avis. He was saved when something else grabbed Avis' attention.

"Oi! Look at that!" Everyone turned to see what the leader was looking at. "I see we've made it to Berk!"

The crew cheered. Almost all were overjoyed to have finally made it to the island. Brant was surprised to see Avis the least happy of all of them.

"You okay, Avis?"

Avis shrugged, but his mood was lifted when his eye caught something else.

"You see that, Toothpick?" Avis said with a devious smile. He wrapped his arm around Brant's neck and pointed to something in the sky. "That there's a Night Fury. I only know the existence of one, and he needs a rider in order to fly."

"Are you saying that…?"

"That's the Dragon Master."

"Woohoo!" shouted Hiccup. "This is amazing!"

"You say that every time!" Toothless said.

"Because it's like this every time! This'll never get old!"

Toothless spun straight up through the top of the clouds before letting himself fall backwards and make a bunch of loops and swirls through the neighboring clouds. Suddenly, the dragon and rider began to plummet face first towards the active sea. The speed. The wind. The adrenaline. This is what both of them loved most about flying, with the exception of being with their best friend. Just before hitting the surface, Toothless lifted himself back up and began shooting towards the sky.

Once Toothless was level and at an appropriate speed, Hiccup threw his fists in the air, with a loud "Woo!" Toothless winced at the screech so close to his ear. "Man, I love this!"

"Soon, you'll be able to do it yourself."

"What are..Oh. Right…" He looked down at his partially black hand. Hiccup was so intrigued by their flight that he had almost forgotten that in a matter of days or even hours, he himself would be a Night Fury.

"Let's not worry about that right now," Hiccup said, "Let's do one more flight before going back home. Okay?"

Toothless' speed began to accelerate once more, lifting himself into the clouds, then back down again. He got faster and faster, but before he could let out a plasma blast somewhere in the vacant sky, an unknown object whizzed past his head. Toothless began to slow down.

"What was that?" he asked Hiccup.

"I don't know." Hiccup replied, looking back to see where the object went.

Hiccup turned himself back around, but ducked seconds before he could be entangled in the net that seemed to come out of nowhere. There was a faint shouting coming from the ocean below them. Looking down, he could see a single but large boat. By the equipment aboard it, he could assume one thing.

"Trappers."

Suddenly, more nets came shooting up at them, each one dodged by Toothless. Toothless was becoming infuriated.

"That's it! Let's see how well they can swim!"

"No, Toothless!" The Night Fury looked at Hiccup in confusion. "We need to warn the island." Once he saw Toothless' understanding, he then shouted, "Let's go!"

The first house Hiccup wanted to get to was home, where Astrid was still asleep. There, he could have Astrid help from the others to warn the island of the possible attack. However, dodging the enemy's nets was slowing down time to get there.

The two were almost over the island. Soon, they'd be out of danger from the nets where they could continue with their plan.

"We can do it, Toothless! We're almost there!"

Suddenly, Hiccup felt pain in his side, worse than usual. Wincing at the pain, Hiccup was too late to a nets spiraling towards him, and had no time to dodge it completely. Trying to miss getting hit, the net wrapped around Hiccup's left arm. The weights on the ends caused Hiccup to lose his balance and fell off of Toothless. He forgot to hook his vest to the saddle. Hiccup began to scream. His stomach felt like it was in his throat. He could hear the flapping of wings above him. Toothless was falling, too.

Hiccup managed to get the net off his arm and reached out for Toothless. Toothless used his wings to push himself towards his rider. Hiccup could almost grab the strap around Toothless' neck. But just before his fingers could even touch, the two were separated again. Toothless had flown close enough over the island to where he had fallen right on the edge of Berk. Hiccup, however, continued to fall towards the icy sea.

Toothless, surprised by the impact, shook off the shock and peered over the edge where Hiccup would soon hit the water. He watched as Hiccup's green eyes disappeared under the blue surface. Toothless was eager to jump in to retrieve his best friend, but kept stopping himself, knowing that if he went in, they'd both be stuck. The other half of his mind wanted to go get help, but he didn't want to leave Hiccup. Some relief came to him when Hiccup emerged out from underneath the water, but still wanted to get him out in fear he would get hyperthermia.

Hiccup breathed heavily and caught his breath. He could see Toothless above, anticipating to jump. He was going to tell him to stay put, but was caught by surprise when a hand grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and lifted him up out of the sea. He was then met eye to eye with a tall, muscular Viking, with greasy, brown hair. In the corner of his eye, Hiccup could see this man had a dragon tattoo on the arm the held him up, long with a sword that pierced through its heart. Hiccup could hear Toothless whimpering as the Viking set Hiccup down on the deck of the ship.

"Well, well, well. Look what we've got here, boys!" The man shouted, "We've got ourselves a dragon rider. But not just any dragon rider…" He grabbed Hiccup by the hairs on the back of his head and glared into his open eye. "We've got the so called 'Dragon Master!'"

The crew began to laugh. Some were clapping.

"We could go and capture his Night Fury,.."

The men began to prepare themselves.

"But, honestly, it's probably not the best idea to unite the 'Dragon Master' with his dragon, don't you think?"

The men stopped, a little confused.

"Yeah, sure. I get it. We don't have any dragons to return to Drago, but I think we might get away with it if we present him with the Chief of Berk! After all, he is the son of Stoik the Vast!"

The crew began to cheer. Hiccup began to shake with rage.

"You really think what Drago's doing is for the greater good?!" Hiccup yelled, "He just gonna start a war! Is that what you want?!"

Their leader stomped up to Hiccup, his face almost touching the mask of Hiccup's helmet.

"How I see it, the war has already begun."

When Avis had turned away from Hiccup, two of his men grabbed Hiccup by the arms and dragged his towards the cellar. Hiccup fought against them, but went limp in their arms when his side continued to burn with pain.

"Get up!" one of his captors shouted, "We don't got all day!"

The other man continued to pull him back, causing Hiccup to yelp in pain. Avis turned back around to see what the fuss was all about.

"What's going on back there?!" he roared over their heads, "The sun won't stay up forever!"

"He won't get up!"

"Even I can tell he's in pain! I want him in one piece when we deliver him to Drago!"

Mitch, the Viking on Hiccup's left side, looked down to see what the problem was, and noticed something peculiar.

"Avis," Mitch said, "you might wanna take a look at this."

Avis marched over to the men and foe. Standing next to Hiccup, Mitch took Hiccup's left hand and presented it to his leader, who was drawn back from the blackness that covered his hand. Hiccup himself took a peek and saw the scales that at first covered his wrist had spread to the rest of his hand.

Avis grabbed Hiccup by the wrist and looked straight into his right eye, invading his personal space.

"What is this?" he said in a grim voice.

No answer.

"Answer me!"

Hiccup continued to stare past him, looking at the small boy behind him.

Avis forced Hiccup back to his grey eyes. "I'm gonna ask you one more time, and I ain't gonna ask again, what is the reason for your hand?"

Hiccup decided to remain quiet, which only angered the dragon trapper more.

"You will answer me!" Avis spat, looking at Hiccup's unopened eye. "And you will do so with both eyes open!"

Avis struggled against Hiccup to open his eyelid, ending up poking his left eye doing so. Avis took the advantage after Hiccup rubbed his injured eye and removed his hand to reveal an eye of a Night Fury.

"What is happening?!" Avis shouted in shock.

"Sail into the fog. Maybe you'll find out then."

Avis grew more serious and stood back up, leaving Hiccup on his knees.

"Take him below deck." He told his men, looking away from the monstrosity.

When Hiccup had disappeared, Avis made his way to Brant who looked startled when he had approached him.

"Hey, Avis." Brant said.

"Brant!" Avis shouted, startling the teen, "Show me your leg. Now!"

Brant sighed, and pulled up the pant of his right leg to show the multiple green scales that now hid the scar. Avis was wide eyed with concern, which soon changed more to frustration.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"You never asked me about it, so I didn't say anything."

"I did ask you!"

"Which I was going to tell you but then you got distracted."

"So it's my fault?"

"That's not what I said!"

"Were you implying it?"

"No!"

"Then why didn't you tell me?! What's the real answer?!"

"I was afraid!"

Avis stopped walking toward Brant when he was cornered to the other side of the deck.

"I was afraid of what you would think and Drago and being locked up in one of those cages."

"I'm sorry, Brant."

Brant looked at him, fear still in his eyes.

"Escort him below deck. Keep him far away from the prisoner," He told Hoark.

"Please, Avis, no. Oh no!"

"I'll try to reason with Drago when we get back, but I can't promise anything."

"Please, Avis, please! I don't want to be caged! Please!"

Avis turned away from him as he was led down to the cellar. He held himself and continued to bark orders.

"Steer us away! Let's head back!"

"Aye, Cap'n!"

The boat swayed as it rotated in the direction of their island base, leaving the Night Fury waiting at the edge.