If I stand correctly, this is my THIRD update today. So...thanks! First of all, I would like to do one shout-out:
ILuvDragonzAndGum: Thanks! I am SO GLAD you like it! :D If you have a request for another fanfiction you want me to write, please tell me! I have a few already, so it could take a few weeks, but I update like the wind, so it shouldn't take me all that long. :D Thanks for reviewing!
Whoop whoop. If he had a list of the worst weeks of his life, guess what? This week would be at the top of the list!
Hiccup rode Toothless, followed by Stormfly, Firevein, and Scarlette in switching orders. At one point it was Toothless, Firevein, Stormfly, and then Scarlette, which changed to Toothless, Scarlette, Firevein, Stormfly, and that changed again, and again, and again.
Hiccup's main focus was getting to Outcast Island. If he could do that, he would have lots of dragon help. Getting Astrid out wouldn't have been too much of a problem. Or would i? He didn't know. He had only been to Outcast Island a handful of times, and had only been in the Outcast Prison once or twice. Although he was pretty sure he had the place memorized.
It was hard not to have the place memorized when it was the island of your greatest enemy and you needed to get around to save someone who said greatest enemy kept capturing.
Outcast Island was in sight about an hour later. Hiccup wished it would have came into view sooner, while another part of him wished it were later. He wasn't quite ready to confront Alvin again, but he knew he didn't have a choice.
"Okay, Toothless," said Hiccup as said Night Fury flew over the island, followed by the other dragons, "land in that clearing there, right behind those rocks."
Toothless obeyed, touching down, stumbling a little bit as he landed. Hiccup dismounted as the other dragons did the same, landing right beside Toothless. The Changewings looked to Hiccup for another command, as did Stormfly and Toothless.
"I'm going in to look for Astrid," said Hiccup to the dragons. "When I find her, we'll need backup. I'll get her out. No doubt we'll be followed...so that's where you guys come in."
The dragons waited eagerly. Battling a bunch of lunatic Outcast soldiers who tried to hurt their friends and riders? That was what they were made for!
"Stormfly, as soon as you see Astrid, you race up to her, grab her in your claws, and then shoot up into the air," said Hiccup. "Don't come back, no matter what Astrid tells you to do. Get out of the Outcast Crossbow range. Toothless, Firevein, Scarlette and I will draw the Outcasts to us, and then we'll make our escape."
It sounded like a great plan. And indeed it was. Hiccup's only thought at the moment was getting Astrid to safety. He could take care of the other Outcasts, with the help of the remaining three dragons.
"You all got that?" he asked. The dragons nodded. "Okay, good," said Hiccup. "I'll be back in a little while, with Astrid. Don't follow me, no matter what happens. If you hear a scream, don't listen. Only come if I call your name."
With that, he turned and raced off to where he knew the Outcast Dungeon was. He hid from a few roaming guards, but other than that, he didn't have a problem getting to the prison. And once he did, it was pretty much smooth sailing.
He walked past the dragon cages, trying not to draw any attention to himself, and looked into each prison cell individually, looking for Astrid.
...
She heard footsteps. Astrid hid at the corner of the cell, bringing her knees up to her chest and wrapping her arms around them. Alvin had left just an hour ago, saying he would return in one hour, and the assigned time had come.
The footsteps were haunting to her ears...but then she noticed something...different about the footsteps.
They were quick and frantic, almost as if time were short. Astrid looked up, but only for a split second before burying her face again. She couldn't believe herself. She was hiding. Hiding from Alvin. Hiding from the Outcasts.
Why? She was terrified. Just plain terrified. Terrified she wouldn't be able to hold out. Terrified Hiccup would come rescue her, but at the same time, wishing he would come.
It was then she noticed something else about the footsteps. They weren't just footsteps. She listened to every footfall, and gasped.
Step...clunk...step...clunk...step...clunk...step...clunk, the sound of a normal footfall, and then metal against the metal floor leading between the different prison chambers.
Astrid couldn't believe it. She didn't think she could. For all she knew, it could have been a one-legged Outcast...
...but the footsteps were so frantic, so quick, so light...who else would it be if not...?
"Hiccup?" Astrid whimpered.
The footsteps stopped for a split second before they continued, now as if the person they belonged to were running.
"Astrid!" shouted a voice Astrid knew and loved.
Hiccup raced and looked into the prison the voice had come from. Astrid was still in the corner, too afraid she was just hearing things. It couldn't be true.
"Astrid!" shouted Hiccup as loud as he dared. "ASTRID HOFFERSON!"
That did it. Astrid finally realized it wasn't her imagination. She sprang to her feet and raced forward, grasping the bars to the prison.
"Hiccup!" shouted Astrid. "You shouldn't be here!"
"Neither should you!" Hiccup commented. Astrid looked at him. He still had on the bandages, although he acted as if they were invisible. He looked exhausted, his hair messy, his clothes equally so.
Hiccup looked at the lock and studied it.
"It's no use!" said Astrid. "These are Outcast locks!"
"I KNOW that!" shouted Hiccup. "But I just..."
Astrid looked as he trailed off. She knew that face. He was planning something.
"Or," said Hiccup, bending down, "we could try something different."
He took off his prosthetic and smashed it up against the lock. Astrid couldn't help shrieking as the lock broke and the door swung open.
Hiccup, satisfied, reattached the prosthetic and looked to Astrid. Her face was incredibly hilarious, but Hiccup didn't laugh.
"How did you-?" asked Astrid. "You...you used your leg to break the...? What...?"
"I made a new one with some of the left over Gronckle Iron," said Hiccup. "Lightweight, and stronger. I think it worked well."
Astrid, without fully realizing what she was doing, raced forward and threw her arms around him. Hiccup didn't know how to respond, so he just hugged her back.
"Yeah, hate to break the mood, but we should be going," said Hiccup.
"Right," said Astrid. "We should."
They turned around, only to see exactly what they feared. Outcasts, blocking their way out. Thankfully, though, Alvin wasn't present.
"Ahh," said Savage, "my two favorite Berkians."
"You got a plan, Dragon Boy?" asked Astrid.
"Working on it," said Hiccup. He thought about calling Toothless, but then Toothless risked being caught, and there was no way they could have risked that. It was their entire escape plan.
Astrid turned to Hiccup and watched as he pulled a metal sphere out of his vest. She would have said it was about the size of a tennis ball, had she known what they were. Hiccup then shouted, "Hold your breath!" and smashed it on the ground in front of them. The whole tunnel exploded into thick smoke.
Astrid felt someone grab her arm and yank her through the smoke, weaving their way around the choking Outcasts. She would have fought the grip had she not known who it was.
She couldn't hold her breath, and glancing to Hiccup, she knew he couldn't, either. Eventually, they found that they had to breathe in the smoke from that whatever-Hiccup-set-off, or they die from not breathing at all.
At that moment, Astrid was just happy to finally be reunited with Hiccup.