Hiccup looked on in shock as Rapunzel advanced towards her mother. Flynn's body lay as a barrier between the two, casting dark shadows across the ground in the late afternoon sun. Rapunzel's hair looked as though it were on fire, and there was a fury in her eyes to match. This was a new sight for him, he'd only ever seen her look happy, sad or scared, and if he was honest with himself he found the sight of her angry to be incredibly intimidating. Clearly Gothel felt the same way, as she began to sputter and plead with the girl.

"Now, Rapunzel, lets be reasonable-"

"Reasonable?" she was positively screaming now, "Tell me mother, when have you ever been reasonable with me, just give me one example."

The woman mouthed silently before regaining control over her panic, setting her face in a sickly loving mask. "Rapunzel I've always been reasonable, everything I've done has been done out of love."

"No, mother. I will not be fooled into forgiving you any more. You just killed a man! He was kind and caring and trying to help me, and you killed him. If you loved me you wouldn't have done that." Looking anywhere but at Flynn, Rapunzel stepped around him and advanced on her mother. The fear was plain on Gothel's face now, and it was partnered with confusion, why wasn't her blood bending working on Rapunzel? The girl was wondering the same thing, her entire childhood had been moulded by Gothel bending her to do her will, if she refused to do a chore, or tried to leave the tower, her mother blood bent her into submission, there was no escaping it. So why could she all of a sudden resist it? There was no time to ponder the question as her rage was still urging her onwards, towards Gothel. Hiccup looked on in apprehension, watching as his friend created arcing loops of water that glittered gold in the blazing sunlight. He was worried she would do something she would regret, her mother was a horrible person, but Rapunzel would never forgive herself if she hurt her. Thinking of protecting his friend he lurched into action, stumbling towards the bristling pair, arms outstretched, reaching for a peaceful conclusion.

"Rapunzel think about what you're doing. Do you really want to hurt her?"

She turned her blazing green eyes to him, "You're on her side now are you? She killed Flynn, or did you forget that?"

"I know, I know. Rapunzel she did a horrible, horrible thing, but this isn't you. You don't want to hurt her, I know this isn't you."

"How can you know? I don't even know what I am any more! Just, stay out of the way." She turned her gaze back to her mother, although her resolve seemed to be wavering after Hiccup's intervention. Stubborn and concerned, he refused to give in so easily to his friends emotion fed urge to hurt her mother. If there was no stopping her then there was only one thing for it. He moved his feet into a firm stance, careful not to step anywhere near Flynn's body. Concentrating for all he was worth, he took a deep breath in and focused on the air turning into pure energy, into fire. Sweeping his arms in a serpent-like motion he exhaled, spewing a stream of fire directly towards Gothel. It hit her with considerable force, and she fell unconscious to the floor. He blinked in surprise, he had never been able to do that move before, he had pretty much made it up after watching Toothless spit sparks, and had never expected it to work. His brief moment of celebration was brought to a halt by a furious blonde storming towards him.

"Why on earth did you do that? I had it Hiccup, I didn't need your help! I had it. Why oh why did you do that?" He stumbled away from her as she spoke.

They all jumped in surprise when a dark silky voice joined the conversation, a voice that made Jack's insides twist. "Excellent question." Pitch appeared from the shadows and before any of them could move he created a wall in front of Jack, Merida and Rapunzel, cutting them off from Hiccup. Merida called out for him, and Rapunzel shrunk in fear, suddenly returning to her gentle self. Jack leapt into action and began to scale the wall, scrabbling for footholds in the frustratingly smooth surface. When he finally reached to top only a few moments after the walls construction, he saw Pitch with Hiccup in his grasp. He held a knife at the boy's throat and wore a wicked grin. "Jack, how nice to see you again," Jack made to jump onto their side of the wall, but Pitch drew the knife closer to Hiccup's neck, halting him in his tracks, "Ah ah ah. I wouldn't do that Jack. You're friend and I are going to have a little chat, man to man. But let's face it, what good would you be anyway? We both know you can't save the people you care about." Fury blinded Jack and he leapt from the wall towards the pair, but before he had even hit the ground Pitch had disappeared into an underground tunnel, pulling Gothel in with him and sealing up the entrance with a flick of his wrist.

As Jack scrabbled at the ground where they had disappeared, Merida finally managed to dismantle the wall, and the girls rushed to his side looking about frantically. Merida was panting from the strain of taking down the wall. "Jack," she breathed, "Jack where's Hiccup."

"He's gone, Pitch took him into a tunnel. Merida your an earth bender, open it up follow them! Hurry we can still catch them!"

The red head burrowed into the earth where he was pointing, but only found solid rock. Growing frantic she made hole after hole, but could not find any sign of where the men had gone. She poked her head up after her sixth or seventh attempt and looked from Rapunzel to Jack, a grim expression on her face. "I can't see any sign of them. He's gone."

Rapunzel gasped, clutching at her sides, "What? No check again. He can't be gone, he can't! Keep checking, oh no. The last thing I said to him was horrible, why aren't you looking?!"

She was hushed by Jack pulling her into a comforting hug. "It's no use Punz, she can't find him. But I think I know where they might be taking him, c'mon." He grabbed Merida, still holding onto Rapunzel, and pulled them towards the camelephants. Once they had mounted up, Jack now riding with Rapunzel and Merida on her own with the supplies, he led them at a fast pace back towards the city, which was starting to glow in the evening sun.

Hiccup had given up struggling against his restraints. The rocks around his wrists were rubbing his skin raw, and every time he moved the band across his chest seemed to get tighter, already he was finding it difficult to breathe. They had been underground for a while now, Gothel had woken up and was arguing with Pitch.

"She was right there, why didn't you take her?"

"Because," he spoke with restraint, although she was clearly getting on his last nerve, "the boy will be more useful."

"How?" spat the woman.

Pitch snapped at her, and Hiccup winced as he tightened the boy's bindings in his frustration. "Stupid woman! Use your brain for once! This one is wanted by the fire nation, so we'll get reward money for handing him over. Before we do that we can get information on the girl from him, and we won't have to track down the rest of them now we have him."

"How do you figure that?"

"Because, Gothel, they'll try and save him, and walk straight into our hands, we don't have to do anything."

Hiccup felt his heart speed up, and could only hope that Pitch couldn't feel it through the rocks, no such luck however, as the man approached him, face uncomfortably close to his own. The man's skin was grey and pasty, as though he were sick with some strange disease. His yellowing pointed teeth were revealed as he grinned maliciously. "What's so funny?" Hiccup stared at Pitch for as long as he dared, but eventually had to look away from his amber stare.

"That's right, embrace your fear. I can feel it. Brave soldier isn't really brave at all, in fact he's just a coward." Hiccup felt his face grow hotter with each word. "Running away from the army, how disgraceful, I bet your family despises you, I'd be surprised if they even admitted they knew you. What shame you must bring them."

The boy cracked and let his anger slip. What had taken him months to master now came easily to him as he blew fire towards Pitch, shouting in his anger. The man jumped back in surprise, but quickly regained his cool, evil smirk back on his pointy face. "We won't be having any more of that." He squeezed his hands together, and simultaneously the rocks around his chest and arms began to constrict, choking him. Gasping for air he struggled against his bonds, trying fruitlessly to create another burst of fire to defend himself. White spots were beginning to cloud his vision and his eyes were streaming. The last thing he saw before he passed out was Gothel putting out her hand to stop Pitch before he crushed the life out of him.

He woke with a searing pain in his chest, a pounding headache, and absolutely no clue where he was. He seemed to be in some sort of rock cell with no windows, the only source of light coming from a narrow slat in the door. There was barely enough room to move around, but he relished the freedom to stretch his aching limbs, finally free from his constraints. The air in the cell was freezing and the ground damp, which probably wasn't helping with his aching joints. He fumbled with his fingers for a moment before managing to rub up a slight flame, which he cradled gently in his palms. With the light from his fire he could see the interior of his cell more clearly, although what he saw didn't provide much comfort. The ground was dark with a mixture of mud and blood, and what looked like a few teeth were scattered in one corner. The ceiling was low a jagged, when he tried standing up his head knocked against a spike painfully, sending him sinking back to the floor with a groan.

Muffled speech sounded from outside his cell, and he strained to hear who was there. It sounded as though Pitch was there, as well as a few other voices he didn't know, probably guards. He slowly slid into the corner of the room, taking comfort in the walls supporting him. His ribs were aching and he was pretty sure one of them might be broken. The weight of his armour wasn't helping with the situation, so he unclipped the chest plate and then his shoulder pads so that it was just his black base shirt left on top. His boots and trousers were lightweight enough to not cause him any issue, and besides, he didn't really feel like stripping off in a prison cell. He lifted up his shirt to inspect the damage on his chest. A dark purple bruise was blooming in a ring around his torso, with almost black patches on the right side of his ribs. Gingerly he pressed the area and pain shot through him, almost making him cry out, but he bit his lip and carried on. Bracing himself for the agony that awaited him, he took a steadying breath before moving his hand to his ribs once more. He felt around until he found the one that was obviously out of place. Biting down on his other hand to keep from yelling, he moved it back into position, gasping in relief once he was done. He tore a strip of cloth from the bottom of his long shirt and wrapped it tightly round his chest to keep the rib in place. After tying the knot he sighed in relief, leaning back against the cool stone wall of the cell.

A patronising voice spoke up from the other side of the room, "I'm impressed dragon boy."

Hiccup sat up a little straighter, he hadn't even seen Pitch come in, and yet here he stood only three feet away from him. He tried to speak but his throat was dry and his lungs were aching, so all that came out was a wheezing cough. However, on his second attempt he managed to croak out a sentence, "What do you want?"

"How rude. I provide you with a cosy room and a place to rest your head, and that's all you've got?"

Hiccup let out a small bark of laughter. "Cosy? Alright then. Fine, what do you want, Mr Earth bender guy who I don't know but decided to kidnap me for no apparent reason sir?" His voice was practically dripping with sarcasm.

Pitch took a gliding step towards him, he was now looming over him with a mildly cross look on his face. After a moment his expression turned calm, and he raised an eyebrow appraisingly. "Intersting, I had you pegged as the coward, the weak one, oh but I do enjoy surprises. Tell me dragon boy, why aren't you afraid?"

"You're not very intimidating."

"Don't lie, it's so painfully obvious and awfully predictable. I can tell when you're lying to me boy, so this will go a lot faster if you just tell the truth."

"Alright. I'm not afraid, because there are worse things that could happen to me than being locked in a cell with you."

Surprise danced across Pitch's features, and he sat down on a rocky stool he created for himself. "Interesting, and what makes you think that?"

It was Hiccup's turn to be surprised now, Pitch genuinely seemed interested in him, like he was some sort of puzzle he had yet to solve. "Well, it's like you said, here I have a place to sleep, a place to rest my head, no noisy neighbours, lots of elbow room-"

"Get on with it."

He sighed, rubbing the back of his head in thought. "Look, I'll tell you why I'm not afraid, if you tell me why you took me in the first place, does that seem fair?"

"Are you sure you want to play this game boy?" Hiccup nodded casually, "Alright, a question for a question. You start.

"What's your name?"

"Pitch Black, what's yours?"

"Hiccup Haddock. Where are we?"

"In a fire nation camp. Where are your friends?"

"I don't know, on the road probably. Why did you kidnap me?"

"I need you as leverage, and I can give you to the fire nation for a reward. Surprised?"

"No. Okay so-"

"Ah ah, it's still my turn, I never asked a question."

"Yes you did, you asked if I was surprised, my turn."

Pitch snarled at him, "That's not fair-"

"I'm just playing by the rules, you said yourself, you could tell if I was cheating you."

"Fine, go on."

"Okay, so why do you want my friends?"

"I don't want all of them, just two. You and the red head are spares. Why aren't you afraid?"

"I've been in worse situations. What do you want with Jack?"

"He's the last air nation individual left other than the Avatar who we both know has disappeared. I don't like unfinished jobs. What situations?"

"Like the time I lost my leg. What do you want with Rapunzel?"

"I need her to cure a certain ailment of mine, along with some other things. How did you lose your leg?"

"I got mauled by a komodo rhino when I was 13, I had to drag myself home and then my dad sawed it off while I was still awake, because there was no way he could save it, and no time to knock me out apparently. What's your ailment?"

"You are an interesting fellow. Shame, it's a waste to have you cooped up in here before I send you off to your certain death. Never mind, I never was sentimental."

"You didn't answer my question."

"I'm done with the game for today. I like you Hiccup Haddock. It really is a pity."

"I don't mind being in a cell."

"Oh no, I wasn't talking about that, I was talking about this." Pitch waved in a pair of soldiers, one of whom was carrying a silver tray laden with odd instruments. Hiccup's heart jumped and Pitch laughed, revelling in the boy's fear. "Finally, the dragon shakes in fear! Gentlemen, start with the leg, just a tip." And with that he left the room, sealing the door behind him. Hiccup gulped, sliding as far away from the guards as possible.

A/N:

I liked writing a longer chapter last time, so I think I'll try keep them about this length, is that okay with everyone? I hope you like where the story is going, and don't hate me for what I'm putting our favourite characters through, it's all part of the plan. Sorry for constantly ending things on kinda-cliffhangers, thats just the way I like to write ahah. I also have a lot more time to write right now, so chapters are bigger and coming more often! Hope you enjoy this episode and I'll see you in the next one,

Stay Classy, Icepoppy