WARNING: I know some people are sensible, so I just wanted to let you all know this chapter is a little heavier than the other ones because it contains some torture, though I toned it down the best I could so it's still rated T.

As usual, first I'll answer your reviews:

CB73: Oh, you bet Stoick had that in mind... Stoick still didn't get it hw important the dragons are for Hiccup, especially Toothless, but he will eventually. Once again thankyou for reviewing and enjoy the chap!

Dinochickrox: Oh, yeah, but Hiccup has always been a walking disaster, so maybe finding out that Valka is alive won't be so bad, lol.

Calvin: True, I like to alternate between emotional chaps and action chaps, I think it makes the reading flow better! Great portrayal of a Thanos-Grimmel, he really sounded like a mix of the two. And btw, are you the same reviewer named Calvin that wrote "For the Dancing and the Dreaming - dragon version" in a review for my fic "The First and the Last"? If so, would you mind if I used that for a one-shot and credit you?

TheSadOldOne: Yeah, they'll certainly have to put their differences aside to try and get out of there. And I'm glad you liked that! I appreciate it when people notice those details! :D

Silvolde: Thanks anyway for reviewing both chaps! And gee, ff . net is crazy sometimes... lol

Sup8pdct: Yeah, sorta bonding time, lol. But I really liked that chap, hehehe. And yeah, never trust a hunter...

Thanks to all of you and now enjoy the chap! :D

Shadow and Silver

Chapter 21

A few hours after Hiccup had woken up, Krogan and Grimmel finally showed up. Both father and son stood up to greet their captors.

"Shadow…" Krogan looked at him, putting his hands behind his back. "Or should I say Hiccup? We meet at last." He looked at Hiccup from head to toe. "I must admit I expected more of someone who's being troubling us for so long…"

"I can't say the same." He crossed his arms. "You actually look scarier and a bit more intelligent than you actually are, or at least that's what you made us believe by your stupid attempts to get us with those ridiculous traps…"

Grimmel laughed. "No wonder I was hired to get rid of you, boy…"

"Krogan I had heard plenty about, but who are you?" Hiccup asked.

"I'm Grimmel, the Night Fury killer." The sly smile showed his pride.

"Oh, really, that one seems pretty alive to me."

Grimmel's smile vanished. Stoick remained silent, watching their interaction and being proudly surprise at his once fragile son's reactions to their enemies. Hiccup was so assertive and sure of himself in a way he had never seen.

"Yes, he is for now, because I'm being paid to deliver him alive… otherwise, he'd have been dead already." Grimmel said. "But anyway, that doesn't matter. What matters is that you know the location of many dragons and I want them."

"You call it The Sanctuary, isn't that right?" Krogan completed.

Hiccup shrugged. "You know the answer for that already. And you also know that some of your man tried to get information from us before and it didn't work. I won't talk." He finished with a cocky smile.

"If we got the girl, it'd be a different story… I'm still getting my hands on Silver." Krogan tried to hit a soft spot, but it didn't work, Hiccup laughed.

"Oh, you're so wrong. She's a better fighter than I am. She'd probably have escaped by now. Either way, we both wouldn't say a thing and you know it." There was so much certainty in his voice it was hard to say otherwise.

Krogan grunted. "He'll never crack before we reach the headquarters and by then, you'll be taking him away."

"Indeed, after all, we made a deal." Grimmel looked at Stoick. "And I intend to keep it… However…" Now he glanced at Krogan before his attention locked on Hiccup. "If you want to make someone crack, you torture him, but if you want to make him crack faster, you do it to someone he loves…" He left the words in the air, suggesting what he was about to do.

Hiccup had to resist the urge to show how drastically he had became worried, though his eyes shifted to the other side of the corridor. It was fast, very fast, but it wasn't left unnoticed.

Grimmel's smile grew.

Stoick crossed his arms. "I can take whatever you throw in." Unbeknownst to the Hooligan, he wasn't the topic of the conversation.

The dragon assassin kept cool and laughed. "But you're not in this conversation, dear Stoick… And Hiccup here didn't even need to look at it. His actions earlier proved what he treasures the most; after all, he risked his own life for him. Getting in front of an arrow, refusing to go with Silver… You didn't want to leave your dragon nor see it harmed."

Hiccup gulped, trying to keep his calm façade on. "You just said your boss wants Toothless alive." He shrugged as if to show he didn't care about it. It was too late, though.

Grimmel took his crossbow and shot Toothless with a stunt dart, making the dragon fall groggily on the floor.

Hiccup's heart pounded stronger in his chest as concern grew more and more. Hunters opened the Night Fury's cage and they easily took the dragon from there. Hiccup's breaths were heavier as his anger boiled inside him.

"Indeed, I need to deliver him alive, however, the condition the dragon will be when we get there will be entirely up to you."

A chill ran down Hiccup's spine. He didn't even need to keep trying to hide his concern; it was too late. Grimmel knew exactly what to do.

"Get the boy."

The hunters opened the cage and dragged him to the same direction Toothless had been taken. Stoick would have tired to fight them, if he weren't so astonished. Sure it was a trick to let them know the dragon was so important… right? Stoick told that to himself, despite the gripping doubt in the back of his mind. How could a dragon be so important?

Hiccup was taken upstairs to the main deck. Toothless was inside a small cage and still trying to shake himself to be alert. Then, the dragon rider was strapped to a chair right in front of the cage.

Grimmel and Krogan came up to the main deck as well; the latter held a map.

"By what Astrid told me, the Sanctuary should be around here…" He showed the spot to both Grimmel and Hiccup. "But it was a lie. Our scouts said that there were no dragons there."

"Tell us where it is." Grimmel said calmly. Hiccup remained silent and serious. "Very well."

With a snap of his fingers, one of the hunters beside the cage thrust a spear through the bars, cutting Toothless's skin. The dragon roared and was shot awake, moving and fighting against the spear. He couldn't bite the weapon away, let alone fire at their captors because he was still muzzled, but a swing of his tail at the right moment broke the wood, damaging the weapon.

A small smile crossed Hiccup's lips for just a second, his best friend new how to fight back.

On the other side of the cage, another hunter did the same, catching the dragon by surprise. Toothless tried to fight it again, though the hunter managed to retrieve the weapon just in time.

The broken spear was changed and the first hunter repeated the attack. Toothless also used his paws try to hurt the men, but he couldn't reach them; he also tried to prevent the thrusts, however, when he was focused on one side, the other hunter would act.

The forced shut mouth suppressed Toothless's roars and growls, yet they didn't hide the pain he felt.

Hiccup hated to see it and not be able to do anything. Sure Toothless was strong and could take a few bruises, but what they were doing was just too much!

"You can end his suffering." Grimmel put a hand on Hiccup shoulder.

Of course the young rider wanted to do it, but he couldn't endanger hundreds of dragons…

He gulped. "Okay, I'll tell you."

Grimmel narrowed his eyes.

Krogan brought the map closer to him. "Where is it?"

As best as he could with his wrists tied to the arms of the chair, Hiccup pointed to an island south of the Defenders of the Wing.

"What do you say, Eret? Have you scouted this place before?" Krogan was suspicious, too.

"Yes. There's nothing but rocks, trees and birds."

Grimmel leaned in closer to Hiccup. "You're a bad liar." He snapped his fingers again and now a third hunter started thrusting his spear in Toothless's Eret grimaced at the violence.

They continued for a long time, and the hunters would also hit Toothless with the spear when he managed to break it before they changed to a new on with a sharp edge.

Despite his body be soon covered in bruises and blood, Toothless fought back and resisted for a long time, longer than Grimmel expected, as he let out how resilient the dragon was. However, Toothless eventually started getting dizzy and tired, he was hungry, thirsty and hurt… He only needed it to stop.

Hiccup's heart was shattered to pieces when the Night Fury couldn't hold on anymore and lied on the ground, trying to avoid the attacks by curling himself in a ball. Defenseless, his growls weren't angry anymore, they were just sad. His big green eyes met Hiccup's as if asking for help.

The rider looked away, tears clouding his view.

He couldn't take this anymore. "STOP! Just… Stop!" Hiccup yelled as if he was the one in pain, and in a way, he was. "I'll tell you! For real. Just leave him alone!"

Once again Krogan put the map near him and now Hiccup pointed to a new place, a spot way beyond north, passing a few islands, but there was nothing there.

"This is not an island!" Krogan yelled.

Hiccup gulped, feeling awful for what he was about to do. He had no right to doom all of those dragons… "There is, you just don't know it. The waters are hard to sail through, so almost no one has charted beyond this island." He pointed to the one up north.

"See? It wasn't so hard, was it?" Grimmel smiled. Hiccup's nose flared and his heart pounded strongly; rage hitting him like a wave.

"He could be lying." Krogan reminded him.

"But he's not. You only need to look at him to know. He's weak; his bond with those reptiles made him so. Take him back downstairs."

The hunters put the spears down to untie Hiccup. Once he was free from the chair, he clenched his fists and taken by his anger, he hit the men that had hurt Toothless with all his strength, taking them by surprise. Hiccup ran to the cage, sticking a hand inside to caress Toothless head. The Night Fury relaxed under his best friend's soft touch.

"I'm sorry, bud… I'm so sorry…" He whispered to the dragon right before the hunters grabbed him to take him away.

So, this chap was kinda hard to write, because although I've written characters getting hurt before, it was never the only focus of it like in here, and I didn't want to make it too descriptive because it'd be rated M (which I could have done), but also, I needed some level of description so the readers could really grasp what Hiccup and Toothless were going through.

Therefore, please tell me if I managed a good balance! Was it believable, yet not too painful to read? Should I have done something different?