Pain.

That was the first thing she fully registered; pain in her head, soreness in her body, a pounding pain in her skull that made her feel as if she were being constantly hit with a forge hammer…

She didn't know where she was. She opened her eyes slowly, squinting as she looked about her surroundings with new found curiosity. She didn't remember what happened. All she remembered was being shot out of the sky. The last image she had was the deck of a ship. The last thing she heard was Hiccup screaming her name…

It suddenly came rushing back to her like water leaking through a dam. The battle. The Outcasts attack. Their strategy. Stormfly screeching in terror. Her own self screaming as she fell through the air on her dragon…

That would explain her pain, she mused.

"Good, you're up." The voice belonged to Gobber. Astrid looked to her side as her vision finally cleared. She was laying on a bed in the healer's hut. But...why the healer's hut? She put two and two together; she was in the healer's, and was in pain all over. She must have gotten hurt.

"How long was I out?" she asked the blacksmith as she sat up, wincing and putting a hand against her forehead. Her fingertips met bandages. Her head was done up. Why?

"About fifteen hours, max," Gobber replied. "Knocked your head pretty good, lass. The twins were impressed."

"I'm sure they were." Astrid thought about the insanity of Ruffnut and Tuffnut; of course, it would be just like them to take serious injuries like walks through the plaza. They would probably beg to see her scar once she was out and about.

"What happened?" Astrid asked. "Where's Hiccup?"

Gobber's face suddenly fell. "The Outcasts retreated," he said. The fact that he refused to answer Astrid's second question didn't go unnoticed.

"Where's Hiccup?" she repeated (or demanded).

"He's fine," Gobber said, but he was lying, and it was almost painfully obvious.

"What happened?" Astrid asked. "Gobber, answer me."

"The Outcasts have Hiccup," Gobber said. "We don't know what-"

"WHAT!?" Astrid shouted. "They have him, and you're doing NOTHING!?"

"Astrid, calm down," said Gobber.

"NO!" Astrid snapped. "No, I won't calm down! We have to go after them! We can't just pretend nothing happened! We have to act, NOW, before it's too late!"

"We're working on a search party, Astrid," said Gobber. It was clear that his patience with the girl was wearing thin.

Well, Astrid's patience was no different at that moment.

"Hurry up with it, then!" Astrid shouted. "We don't have forever! Get going! Do what you can to help!"

"It's a delicate situation, Astrid," Gobber said. "The Outcasts have threatened to kill Hiccup if a Berkian or Berkian dragon - rider or no rider - is seen following the ships."

"We...well, do something!" Astrid shouted. "Think of something! We don't have all day!" What she meant was: Hiccup might not have all day. For all they knew, Hiccup could have already been dead.

"You had a concussion, Astrid," said Gobber. "I suggest you stay down for now."

However, she was having none of it. She shook her head, getting to her feet, swaying uneasily. She was going to find some way to help them, one way or another, no matter what it took.

…

Hiccup hated sailing.

He didn't mind boats, and he didn't mind the ocean, but the minute you mixed the two together, then you might as well forget it. Now, though, he was forced against his will onto a ship, his wrists shackled to the wall to prevent more than a foot of movement.

He was partially thankful for the chains; by the way the boat was lurching, without the shackles, he would have been thrown back and forth like a limp ragdoll.

However, the shackles also eliminated his freedom; well, so did the cage. Even if he did manage to get out of his shackles, he still had the cage to free himself from. Toothless was muzzled and tied with chains and ropes as well; no plasma blasts, and no dragon strength to help them out of their jam.

Perfect. As if their day couldn't be any worse than it already was.

"So, we have no plan," Toothless stated dumbly.

"Nope," Hiccup said.

"No plan at all?" Toothless asked.

"Nope," Hiccup said in reply.

"You can't even think of one?" Toothless said, and the hope in his voice was hard to miss on any occasion. However, Hiccup could only shake his head in response, along with another mumble of "Nope."

"There's nothing to think about, Toothless," he added after another moment of silence between the two of them. "The Outcasts have us right now, so I guess...we'll just have to make up some sort of plan as we go along. If...if we can figure out something to go by, that is. If we can't, well...we're in for a whole mess of trouble then, Toothless."

Toothless nodded. "Yeah, I can see that," he said. "Are you okay? Getting any headaches, or anything? Feeling abnormally hot? Dizzy? Woozy? Sick?"

Hiccup shook his head. "I'm feeling okay," he said. "A bit dizzy, but I can't tell if it's from the movement of the boat, or from the whole ordeal of yesterday…" He stopped. Was it yesterday? He didn't even know how long he and Toothless had been on the ship. For all he knew, an entire day could have passed, and he never would have known it.

"It'll be okay, Hiccup," Toothless said. "We'll figure something out, don't worry. We always find some sort of way out of our hardest and gravest of situations. This time will be no different."

Hiccup merely nodded in response. He could only hope that his friend was right. The more he thought about it, though, the more reality denied his hopes. The Outcasts had them in custody. The Outcasts wanted Hiccup to train dragons, no matter what it costed him.

Even, quite possibly, his life, in the end.