"The Red Death is coming!?" Hiccup screeched at his still masked friends as they stood in front of him, Toothless behind Astrid's right leg. "What happened!?"

"Well, after we knocked out his friends he was trying to shoot us with his acid shotgun, until I drove his head into a brick wall…." Astrid tells him.

"Ahah! Hiccup! You should seen it! It was awe-" Toothless excitedly says waving his hands around, shutting up as everyone stared at him with a non amused face, "jeez, tough crowd."

"Anyway… I was about to knock him out when he held his hands up, and said he'd tells us what we wanted to know." Astrid continued her story. "We agreed and he said their leader, The Red Death, intended on coming to Berk herself."

"Herself? Their leader is a woman?" Fishlegs inquired.

"Yeah, apparently. But that narrows it down to 50% of the people on Earth." Astrid said nonchalantly, shrugging her shoulders.

"Did he say anything else?" Hiccup inquired.

"No, freaking cops showed up, buzz killers." Toothless said from behind Astrid.

"We couldn't afford to bring him here Hiccup, I know more information would be useful, but we must keep this place hidden." Astrid said.

"I know Astrid. You did good." He held her hands and gave her a light peck on the lips, he felt some of her war paint get on his nose, but that went over his head when she saw her smile brightly.

"You too Toothless." He gave Toothless a pat on the head. He had found out Toothless really liked being petted on his head, although Toothless didn't want anyone else to know. He made it abundantly clear. As in gun-to-my-face abundantly clear.

"I'm gonna go talk to him, see if Cami can get me in his cell." Hiccup said as he grabbed his phone and dialed her number.

Cami walked into the precinct, most of the lights were turned off, except for the ones on the desks of the cops that were in the night shift, Hiccup followed her in the shadows as his black suit blended perfectly with them.

She had been relieved to hear from him, she had been worried about his state these last few days and when he called her to ask for her help she didn't hesitate in saying yes after, seeing the sacrifice the man was willing to do for the city.

Unfortunately Snotlout was one of the cops on night shift and as soon as he saw Cami he headed over to her, calling out "Hey Camicazi, what are you doing here? Came to tell me you want to go on a date afterall?"

Shit was Cami's first thought, if she said no he'd come after her and Night Fury couldn't stay still long at risk of discovery.

With quick thinking she made a motion with her hand behind her back, pointing at the interrogation room door.

"Actually Snotlout yeah." The answer surprised Snotlout, who beamed brightly, Hiccup on the other hand cringed.

"Of course you did, I knew that." Snotlout said with fake confidence, he didn't usually get to this part.

"Let's discuss where you're going to take me to dinner over a coffee." She said as she lead the big detective over to the coffee machine, on the opposite direction of the room she had pointed at. "Steven! Can you put the guy we caught today in interrogation room C?" She shouted at the officer standing guard at the entrance of the hallway where the cells were.

The officer went to fetch the prisoner and Hiccup hid in the room where you could see the interrogation room from across a one way mirror.

A minute or two later the officer dropped the prisoner in the room, locking the door from the outside and returning to his post.

Hiccup left the adjacent room and saw a key on the lock of the interrogation room door, probably left so Cami could enter, he opened the door and took it, locking it from the inside.

"Night Fury?!" The captured man shouted, scared. Thank god the walls were sound proof.

"Yes, now talk quieter. I'm not here to hurt you, you told me colleges your leader was coming to Berk." Hiccup calmed the man but went straight to the point.

"Yes, she is, she told us over the speaker, if our team failed, as you know it did, she'd come take care of you herself." The other man spoke, he was in his mid twenties, with long dark brown hair, tied in a ponytail with brown eyes and a thick chin, his body sported quite some muscle and was covered from head to toe in scale-like tattoos. It never ceased to amaze Hiccup how Astrid could beat guys so much bigger than her.

"Alone? How is she supposed to do that?" Hiccup asked, placing his hands on the table.

"I don't know, I've never actually seen her, I only know it's a woman because of her voice." The man said, shrugging.

"How do I know this isn't a trap? That you're still not working for her?" Hiccup asked in menacingly.

"Because I was never working for her, not willingly at least." The man pleaded.

"What do you mean?" Hiccup tilted his head, his attention captured.

"I was on vacation in Denmark, I was driving on a road when someone jumped in front of the car, I tried to move so I wouldn't run over them but hit a tree instead." The man began telling his story, at this point, Hiccup had sat down and was intently listening to the prisoner. "I woke up handcuffed in a cell, some tattooed men grabbed and dragged me into a big room, where other men like me were. We were all scared, looking around trying to find a place to escape. I was scared and panicking." Hiccup looked into the man's eyes and saw the honesty in them, the fear and despair he had felt in that moment.

"And then… I suddenly I felt nothing…. No fear, no panic, no emotions at all, not even thoughts!" The man said, Hiccup frowned under his mask as the prisoner spoke.

"A man was dropped from the ceiling," he continued "and a femininish voice said, over the speaker, 'Kill him', suddenly I had the urge to kill the man, I wanted to, I needed to, it was the only thing on my mind." Hiccup's eyes widened, shocked with the story, "I began running in the man's direction, everyone else did too, luckily, others got there before I could… and… beat him to death. After he was dead, my mind went blank again and a few seconds later, I could think once more." Hiccup could see the sorrow and regret on the man's eyes' for letting the other die, but there seemed to have been nothing he could really do.

"They took us to the room several more times over the course of several weeks, how many I'm not sure, they made us do several things, as in learn how to shoot our weapons, how to assemble them… they even picked two of us and had the others kill them… even the chosen ones began to punch themselves..." Hiccup was bewildered, this was horrible, what these people went through, and the fact that they seemed to remember every moment. Hiccup was horrified. "Every time they took us there it would take longer for the effect to wear off… until it didn't. And then I was like a slave, I did everything they ordered, whatever they wanted. Until your friend woke me up." the man said, with great gratefulness in his voice. "Thank her for me please, she saved my life."

"Do you remember everything?" HIccup inquired after a moment of silence.

"A lot of it yes." the prisoner said regretfully.

"Do you know how they controlled you? Noise? Gas?" Hiccup asked, "Do you remember any sound or smell before going blank?"

"No… no sounds or smells either." the man said, looking down and Hiccup sighed.

"Alright… thank you for your assistance, you'll probably be arrested for a few months or years for weapon possession." Hiccup stood and moved next to the prisoner, placing a hand on his shoulder "Everything you did under their control is not on you, it's on them, and I will make sure they pay for it." Hiccup said comfortingly.

Hiccup moved to the door and opened the blinds a little to see if anyone was outside the door. No one was. When he was about to open it, he turned back, "What's your name, by the way?" he asked the man sitting down.

"Eret." he answered simply, but with a small smile.

Hiccup smiled back and left, just in time to see Cami arrive. "You freaking owe me! Big time!" she whispered harshly.

She took Eret back to his cell and they left. Once outside, Hiccup proceeded to tell her about his talk, and Cami was just as surprised and horrified as he was.

Back at Hiccup's, Fishlegs had been teaching Astrid and Toothless how to play the game he'd been playing with Hiccup before they arrived. And although they were enjoying themselves, they were all worried. Worried about Hiccup, about the Red Death, about Berk.

During that time Ghustav called out for a robbery and a man harassing a woman, but Hiccup answered both on his way back. They took the time to talk, and after Toothless had lost a game and thrown his controller against the wall above the tv where it had drilled through the concrete and gotten stuck there, they had really nothing better to do.

"So is Red Death their leader or their organisation?" Toothless asked, confused at Fishlegs previous explanation.

"In simple terms it's both." Fishlegs said, sighing.

"Well that just can't be!" Toothless shouted, raising his hands.

"Why not?" Fishlegs questioned, starting to get a little annoyed.

"Because otherwise you don't know who you're talking about. If I say 'Oh the Red Death is really mean.' Am I talking about the leader or the organisation?" Toothless said answered.

"The leader, mean is an adjective that defines a person." Fishlegs said simply, like it was obvious.

"But it can be used to define objects! Now see? It can't be both." Toothless said triumphantly.

"Yes it can." Fishlegs argued.

"No it can't."

"Yes it can."

"No it can't."

"Yes it can."

"No it can't. I can do this all day bro." Toothless said smugly.

"It's night." was Fishlegs' simple answer, which left Toothless honestly confused, his mouth slightly open and eyes bulged, he shook his head and repeated, "Anyways, it can't."

"Ye-" Fish was about to say before he was interrupted.

"If you two don't shut up, you'll encounter the same fate as that remote!" Astrid shouted, both males closed their mouths, which left the room in an awkward silence.

"For now, it's both." Astrid said, Toothless was about to speak but Astrid shot him a glare and finished, "And that's final."

As she said that Hiccup entered the room, "You guys will not believe what I fo- why is my remote embedded in the wall?"

Toothless played with his hands smiling awkwardly at Hiccup, "Story for another day..." he said, "What did you find?"

Hiccup told them everything about his night, and their reactions were similar to Cami's, although Toothless and Astrid got angry, really angry.

"How do you think they're controlled? Gas? Noise? Electromagnetic waves?" Fishlegs questioned Hiccup curiously.

Hiccup sighed and ran a hand through his hair, "I don't know Fish, he doesn't remember any smells or sounds….The sun is rising… I'm gonna go to bed, it's been a long night…."

Hiccup laid in bed on his back, looking at the ceiling, he was extremely tired, frustrated and angry, and Hiccup rarely got angry, the thought that all those thugs were actually regular people, forced to do the Red Death's bidding, dying for a cause they didn't stand for… it pissed him off... and made him feel helpless, how was he supposed to beat those people? People with that kind of power… they didn't even know how they were controlling other people….

He closed his eyes to try and sleep, to no avail, his mind was racing, so much so he didn't hear the door open, so much so he didn't notice a person entering his room, not until they got under sheets with him.

He opened his eyes, panicked and scared but then felt Astrid's soft lips on his and her blonde hair all over his face.

"Can't sleep either m'lady?" he asked sweetly, but his voice showed great tiredness. Astrid laid her head on his shoulder and shook it, signaling no.

"Can't stop thinking of how we're going to this… we don't know when she's coming, how she's coming, how she looks like, why is she so confident she can beat us? How is she controlling them? So much we don't know… and I don't like it." she sighed and closed her eyes, putting an arm around him.

"I can't stop thinking either… but… whatever comes at us, we can take it, it might not be easy but we are a team, you, me, Toothless and Fish, heck even Cami… as a team we are unstoppable. Specifically if you're beside me." he smiled down at her and she smiled back, giving him a peck on the lips. He meant it, when Astrid was with him he felt stronger, braver, capable of anything. They changed topics and spoke for a while, eventually Astrid fell asleep on Hiccup's shoulder, who kissed the top of her head and fell asleep a few minutes later.

Hiccup woke up when a pillow was harshly thrown at his face, Toothless was standing at the door, Astrid was waking up on his shoulder. "Wakey, wakey love birds, you gotta see this, quick. He said and motioned for them to follow, they left Hiccup's room in an accelerated pace, not bothering to change out of their pjs, the Tv was turned on in the news channel.

"-not know what contents are on it, so we advise younger viewers are ushered out of the room." the lady was just finishing the warning, and Hiccup realized why Toothless had called them, this was extremely similar to when his father was kidnapped, and it happened rarely enough to be worth watching when it did, in case it had something worth checking out.

On screen appeared a black silhouette, in the background a giant, poorly lit flag with a giant dragon drawn on it, representing the Red Death.

"Night Fury." the silhouette started. "I'm here in Berk. You don't know who I am. But I know who you are. Meet me at Berk Plaza tomorrow at noon, or I will tell everyone who you are. If there are any police there, I will blow a bomb I've hidden somewhere in the city. But you Night Fury, you can bring your friends, even with them, you won't stand a chance against me..." The figure closed in on the camera revealing a grey mask with 6 eyes and a large nose, with several coral like structures sprouting out "The Red Death!"

1 day. That's all Hiccup had to prepare himself to what was probably the hardest fight of his life. One he might not win. He spent the rest of the day thinking and training with Astrid. He needed to be on his best if he wanted to beat that monster. He needed to outfight her and outsmart her. Still…. there was still her secret weapon, a mind control one. They had no idea how it worked, how it could be stopped, so they couldn't do anything. They just prayed it was too big for her to carry. During the day Toothless and Fishlegs went around town looking for the bomb, but they had 0 clues and no idea where to start so, of course, the search lead to nothing.

At night, they went to bed early, Astrid and Hiccup finally deepening their connection, for Hiccup's first time, and to Toothless' dread, he took longer to sleep than he should have. Way longer.

The next day passed fast, Hiccup spent the morning sleeping and went to lunch with his dad, just one time before the big fight. Stoick had changed a bit from his near death experience, being more open to Hiccup's choice at following engineering instead of politics. Hiccup felt like it was one of few good father-son moments he had with his dad.

Too fast did noon come and too fast was Hiccup standing in front of his secret closet. It was open and he was staring at his suit, he was extremely nervous and preoccupied, even a little scared. He heard the light footsteps that crept up beside him and looked towards the sound, he saw Astrid approaching, fully suited up, she smiled at him and he smiled back, he averted his eyes back to the winged suit. "It's time." she said as she grabbed his hand, making no move to leave, a motion that represented she would be there, by his side, no matter what. He nodded and spun around to give her a tight hug and a kiss before suiting up himself.

A few minutes later he stood over the hatch, Toothless on his back grabbing onto his shoulders, and said to Astrid "We can do this. All of us." As he said it he gave a pat on the raccoon's head, but it seemed to be more for himself than for Astrid or Toothless, she smiled and answered "With you leading us, we can do anything." Hiccup grinned. "I love you." he said simply before opening the hatch and dropping down, not giving her time to answer, but also not hearing the faint "I love you too…." Toothless wore a very confused face during those seconds.

Hi... *ducks beneath a flying table*

I'm really sorry about the 2 year hiatus... I was meant to post a bigger chapter yesterday, exactly two years after I posted the last chapter but life got in the way, as usual, and I didn't finish the chapter in time and was trying to finish it today but realized the last part shouldn't be rushed... so I decided to cut it two, because I really wanted to post it this weekend.

As for why I stopped, I lost interest and school started and it just kinda was forgotten...but I watched the last 3 seasons of RTTE (finally Hiccstrid!) in a week and it came back... so here I am...

I am trully sorry for the extremely long wait and for the short chapter... after I finish this story I plan on writting one-shots and mini-fics, nothing too extensive.

I hope you enjoy it, kinda rusty from not writing in such a long time. Next chapter should be up in a week or so.

Again, my apologies and many thanks.