Stoick and Gobber found the derelict farmhouse they had driven past before. Stoick carefully picked his way down the overgrown driveway. He was driving an expensive car, not a four wheel drive.

He pulled up beside some tall plants where they could see a space leading to the old house. Gobber was on the side of the car closest to the building, and he got out of the sedan carefully, his old bones complaining about sitting still for such a long time.

He ambled towards the gap in the trees, not bothering to wait for Stoick who was taking his time easing out from behind the wheel. It was a big car, but still too small for a man with such a huge stature as him.

Gobber was almost level with the plants when he saw something that excited him beyond belief. He gasped in shock and had Stoick's instant attention.

"What is it Gobber?"

"You'd better see this for yourself," the shorter man encouraged.

Stoick strode around the car and soon saw what his friend was so excited about.

A bike.

Hiccup's bike.

They had been here!

Stoick examined it carefully, noting the scratches on the paintwork, the dust and mud covering the engine and the tyres. He saw the two helmets resting on the saddlebags, and he placed a shaky hand over the top of the one he knew to be his son's.

His son had worn this helmet only this morning. Hiccup had driven this bike only this morning. Stoick felt as if he had gotten closer to the young couple, only to have them ripped away from him again. He was still no closer to finding them. So far, all they had done was locate where the youngsters had been, retracing the terrible journey that the two young lovers had found themselves on.

Were they afraid? Were they losing hope? Were they injured, or in pain? Stoick dreaded finding the answers to those questions.

He allowed his hand to drift across the seat of the bike, over the fuel tank and towards the handlebars. He flipped the 'kill' switch and turned the key before hitting the 'start' button. The engine responded with a cough and a splutter.

"No fuel," observed Gobber.

Stoick nodded and lifted his eyes to search out for what was behind the house. The farmer and his wife had mentioned a plane. Hiccup and Astrid must have found it over there. He noticed the large barn which would be the most likely source, and headed towards it, not minding the weeds and plants brushing past him.

Gobber followed, his peg leg making an odd 'thunk' at each step.

The two men reached the side of the large barn, and saw the destroyed door on the ground.

"Hiccup's work I'm guessing," said Gobber cheerfully. They passed through and noticed the light flooding in through the large sliding doors. Glancing around they could see evidence that a plane had been here, and that someone had worked on it recently.

Following the tyre marks, the two men walked in the direction of the runway, where the line of damaged plants gave evidence of the plane's escape.

Gobber cast an experienced eye down the track, noting all the signs that indicated their take off would have been a difficult one. This worried him, but he decided to keep that information to himself for now. He glanced at his friend anxiously.

Stoick found his attention diverted by another set of tyre marks coming from the side. His curiosity aroused, he headed in that direction, wondering what he was likely to find. Something sparkled on the ground in front of him. He drew closer, than squatted to pick up the object.

He almost dropped it again.

"NO!" he shouted, his anger and fear combining to force him back up on his feet. He strode quickly forward, tracing the new tyre tracks, searching for more objects.

He found them.

Gobber had trotted towards his friend in his lop-sided fashion at the frantic sound of his voice. He reached Stoick slightly breathless.

"What is it?" he asked in concern.

Stoick was shaking in rage, but he said nothing as he reached out instead to drop something into Gobber's outstretched hand.

Gobber inspected the brass coloured cylindrical object in his hand, and paled.

It was an empty bullet casing.

The implications were enormous.

Hiccup and Astrid had evidently managed to get the crop dusting plane off the ground, but not before they had been found by that madwoman and her stogies.

Gunshots had been fired.

Bullets had been aimed towards the young couple, and who knew what damage had been done.

Stoick did not dare to think about it. He could only draw hope from the fact the plane was not here. He turned on his heel and headed back to the car, Gobber once again lagging behind.

Stoick pulled his phone out of his pocket and dialled in the Detective's number. He knew it by heart now. He was soon filling the police officer in on their latest find. The officer promised to send men out to investigate the site and also to speak to the farmers that Stoick and Gobber had spoken to earlier.

The police may be experienced in doing their job, but when it came to this determined father, they were always going to fall behind.

Stoick had hung up the phone by the time the two reached the car. Stoick sat in the driver's seat and paused, while Gobber got in on the other side.

He turned to his bald friend and stated what facts they knew.

"We know Hiccup and Astrid were in that plane, and shots were fired at them."

"Aye," came the reluctant agreement.

"We know they got away, but we also know they haven't made it home yet."

"Aye," responded Gobber again. "It seems they've probably had to land again. A plane that old is never going to get very far without major engine work."

Stoick closed his eyes and his hands clenched tight around the steering wheel, as he was forced to confront the likely situation that the two young people he loved so much, would now be in.

"Land…or crash. But they must still be on their way home. It can't be that hard to find a downed plane, can it?" he questioned, knowing the answer already.

Gobber regarded his friend seriously. "From the ground we'd never find it. But from the air…."

Stoick already had his phone out, dialling in the number for the airport. He knew exactly how to find eyes in the sky….

-oOo-

Hiccup and Astrid had managed to push through the scrub. It hadn't been that deep, but with their rapidly diminishing energy reserves, every step was becoming agonizingly more difficult. Hiccup's limp had also become more and more pronounced as time passed.

The two were now waiting to catch their breath under the cover of the last line of trees before they exposed themselves on the road.

"Phew! I didn't think that would be so hard," panted Hiccup, collapsing on the ground.

"Yeah, that was a bit rougher than expected," agreed Astrid, leaning back against a tree. "Now what?"

Hiccup scanned the road from their hidden spot. "It's getting late. We need to keep going for as long as we can before it gets dark…otherwise we'll have to find somewhere safe to hide overnight…and I'm not too sure I want to do that."

Astrid nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I'm not too fussed on that idea either. But we won't have enough time…or enough energy…to walk home before tonight…."

He shook his head, "I know…we can only hope that someone will be willing to pick us up….but we'll have to be on the other side of the road to increase our chances of finding someone who's already heading for Berk."

Her voice trembled in fatigue and fear, "But what about them? What if they show up?"

He stiffened, staring at her blankly. It was a few moments before he answered, "We'll just have to be very careful…maybe if we keep close to the tree line, we can hide every time we see a van…just to be on the safe side.

Astrid narrowed her eyes, her lips pursed as she studied him.

"What?"

"We're going to miss a lot of cars if we do that."

His shoulders slumped forward in defeat, "I know. But we can't take the chance."

She stared at him for a bit longer, then sighed in resignation, "We're not making it home tonight….are we?"

He lifted one shoulder in a half-hearted shrug, "Probably not," he admitted. "But hey," he said softly, causing her to glance over towards him. The determination in his eyes caught her attention, "…we'll still be a lot closer to home than we are now. We will get home, Astrid. I promise you that."

She nodded, closing her eyes. She desperately wanted to believe it, but the longer it took, the harder it was to think they would ever get home, to see their families once more. Right now she was more exhausted than she ever thought possible, her head was thumping, her limbs ached and stung from all the bruising and cuts, she was thirsty and hungry, and she was worried about him. It felt very much like a nightmare….except she couldn't wake up from this one…it was real.

Hiccup pulled himself up off the ground, with a great deal of difficulty. He grimaced as he struggled to stand, pain shooting through his leg.

She watched him in concern, but made no move to help. She couldn't.

"Ready?" Hiccup asked at last, finally standing, stumbling a little in his exhaustion.

She pushed herself off the tree, swaying slightly in fatigue. "As ready as I'll ever be," she declared with a resigned sigh.

"Then let's do this."

They held hands as they cautiously made their way across the grassy verge to the road. They kept their eyes peeled as they crossed over, but there were no cars to be found at all.

Reaching the other side safely, they started the long journey home by foot, taking it in turns to look behind them for any vehicles.

It was late in the afternoon, and it seemed most of the traffic had already gone home. The two held their breath every time a vehicle passed by, waving wildly to attract the driver's attention, and expelling it in frustration when the car continued past without pausing to stop.

"Why isn't anybody stopping to help?" wondered Hiccup in frustration.

Astrid was incredulous as she turned to look at her mud-covered boyfriend. "Are you serious?" she questioned. "Look at us!"

Hiccup paused to study his girlfriend. What he saw made him stop and think. Her once neat blonde braid was now seriously dishevelled, hair sticking out wildly in every direction. Dried blood was caked on the side of her face with a wide gash on her forehead. Her jacket was ripped and torn and covered in mud, her shorts were ripped and filthy and her legs were covered in bruises, scratches and dried up blood.

He glanced down at himself and saw that he wasn't much better. In fact, he had so much dirt on him, his auburn hair appeared black. He doubted his own father would recognize him at the moment. No wonder all the cars had avoided them! They looked as if they had been roughing it in the bush for a month!

Hiccup sighed and continued trudging forward. It seemed that they were only going to get home the slow way.

Astrid slipped her hand in his and they continued on in silence.

Not long after, Astrid gasped and her grip on Hiccup's fingers tightened. He looked up to see what had gained her attention. That's when he saw it as well.

A white van was travelling towards them on the other side of the road.

Hiccup quickly dragged Astrid behind the closest bush and waited. There were so many white vans that they had taken to hiding from them all. It was too difficult to work out if the van was harmless until it was too late for them to attract its attention. So they would just hide.

Hiccup noticed something familiar about this white van though, and watched it carefully. Then when it was about to go past, he suddenly jumped out and started waving wildly. Astrid realised why a moment later. It was Snotlout's van! She jumped out too, but the van sailed right past them, without giving any sign that they had seen them.

Hiccup was elated and frustrated all at once. Elated because he knew that someone was out looking for them, and frustrated that Snotlout hadn't even noticed them. They were so close! He clenched his fists, threw his head back and gave a deep, guttural yell towards the sky, making Astrid jump.

She reached out to place her hand on his arm. "Well, that's Snotlout for you," Astrid's drawl reached into his thoughts.

He turned towards her, his deep green eyes flashing his anger, "If he was going to search for us, he could at least pay attention to what he was supposed to be doing," he spat out venomously.

Astrid was taken aback by his anger, "Hey, it's okay. They'll be back," she told him soothingly. Inside, she was also seething at Snotlout, but it wasn't going to do them any good if both of them flipped out.

His chest heaved as he stared down the road where the van had disappeared, his fists still clenched by his side. Finally he turned back towards her. He shrugged tightly, "Maybe."

They resumed walking towards Berk, but had only gone a few feet, when he stopped. She raised a questioning eyebrow at him.

He faced her, taking hold of her hands. "I'm sorry," he told her dejectedly, his eyes on the ground.

Astrid was puzzled. "For what?"

"For everything. For flipping out back there, for getting you into all of this, for crashing….just...everything," he said wildly. He glanced up at her and she was surprised to see his eyes shiny with unshed tears.

"Hey!" she said softly, cupping his face with her hand. "We're in this together," she reminded him. "You promised me we'll get home, and I have no reason to doubt you. We'll make it, I know we will. But you can't go losing faith on me….not now. We will get home…together."

He gazed at her for a long time, then sighed in gratitude, leaning forward to touch her forehead with his. "Thank you," he breathed, his eyes closed. "I…I lost it there for a moment."

She patted his cheek, "I noticed," she told him drily.

He chuckled nervously, before taking hold of her hand. They aimed towards Berk again.

They had only managed to walk a few more feet down the grassy verge, when the heard the familiar sound of a van again, this time coming from behind them.

"He did see us!" cried Hiccup elatedly, twisting to look behind them.

Astrid was excited too, but something kept nagging her in the back of her mind. They stood out on the road to wave down their friends, but as the van drew closer, Astrid realised what was wrong. Hiccup gasped beside her so she knew he had realised it too.

This van was not Snotlout's.

It was Heather's.

-oOo-

Stoick and Gobber had left the abandoned farm and driven down the road a short way before pulling over. Stoick was on the phone, receiving confirmation that a spotter plane had been sent in their direction and would soon let them know if any downed aircraft could be seen.

"Well, that's it then. The plane is on its way," stated Stoick as he snapped his phone shut.

Gobber nodded, "Aye. It won't be long before they can tell us what happened. There's not much land to search if Hiccup was flying straight home."

If….

Stoick was suddenly filled with restless energy. He needed to keep moving, he couldn't just sit here waiting for someone else to tell him if his son had died in a crash or not. He needed to keep searching for them.

He turned the key in the ignition and pressed the accelerator, starting the car with a ferocious roar from its V12 engine. He slammed the car into first gear and floored the accelerator, causing the car to lurch forward.

Gobber raised one eyebrow at his friend, but said nothing. He just clung to the handle over the door to steady himself.

The sleek black car handled the tight corner onto the highway smoothly, and charged across the bitumen. As they headed back to Berk, they noticed the white van with the other teens passing by them in the opposite direction.

Stoick didn't acknowledge their waves of recognition, he was too focused on the road ahead.

-oOo-

"RUN!"

Hiccup and Astrid tried to run back into the trees, but it was too late. The van veered onto the grassy verge and screeched to a halt beside them, the two huge fighters immediately launching themselves out of the side door. They quickly overpowered the two young lovers, tackling them to the ground.

Despite their utter exhaustion, Astrid and Hiccup tried to fight them off, but they were unable to put up much resistance.

"LET US GO, YOU MORONS!" Astrid screamed at her captor, as she lay struggling on the ground, trying to push the heavy man off. He just gave a cruel laugh and stood up. He reached down and yanked roughly on her arm, forcing her painfully up against him and wrapping his brutishly thick arms around her, pinning her arms down. He picked her bodily off the ground and carried her towards the van.

Astrid wasn't ready to give up just yet, so she kicked out viciously, giving a small victorious grin when she heard him 'oomph' after she connected with his shins.

Hiccup wasn't fairing much better. He found himself face down in the dirt, his arms held tightly behind him. The huge oaf then proceeded to grab both his arms and haul him unceremoniously off the ground to his feet. Hiccup stumbled as he was forced to walk towards the van, his arms pulled painfully behind him in a vice like grip.

He could see Astrid struggling. "LET HER GO!"

Hiccup tried to twist around but was forced to stop by the blinding pain as his shoulder threatened to dislocate from the rough treatment. He gasped and hung limply for a moment, as he heard Heather give a spiteful laugh from the driver's seat.

"It's too late for heroics now, Hiccup. Both of you will suffer the same fate!"

Hiccup's blood ran cold at her words, and he stared at her frozen with fear as the colour drained from his dirtied face.

"Why?" he whispered to her. "Why are you doing this to us?" he asked again in a stronger voice.

"Be quiet!" she commanded loudly, as the second man pushed him mercilessly onto the floor of the van.

Astrid was already lying there, still fighting even as the first thug tied her hands and feet together with a length of coarse rope. She let loose with a string of profanities that would make a sailor blush. The man grunted with the effort of trying to contain a wild cat.

He completed his task as Hiccup landed heavily on the floor of the van beside Astrid. Hiccup immediately bounced back up again, his muscles tense as he prepared to fight for both of them. He swung his fist and connected with the massive jaw of the man who had thrown him, making him grunt in surprise. But Hiccup's small victory only lasted a second as the other man grabbed him from behind and held him fast as the first thug gave Hiccup a solid punch to the gut.

Hiccup dropped to the floor of the van, groaning in pain as he curled up into a foetal position. The two villains laughed maliciously, as they flipped Hiccup over onto his bruised stomach. One tied his hands behind him, while the other tied his foot and prosthetic together at the ankle.

"Hiccup!" cried out Astrid, as she tried to lean her trussed up body towards her battered boyfriend.

He rolled to his side, before coughing up drops of blood, the metallic taste filling his mouth.

Astrid was petrified as she watched him recoil in pain.

"No!" she whispered, her mind reeling, not able to comprehend that this was really happening to them. That after all they had gone through, it was still going to end like this.

The side door of the van slammed shut ominously, as the two brutes took their seats. Heather slammed the van into gear, spinning the wheels and launching back onto the highway.

She performed a tight u-turn, causing the tyres to squeal, cutting off another vehicle on the road and forcing them to slam on their brakes as she pulled into the lane in front of them.

Before the other driver could even beep his horn to register his complaint, the van had already gone, speeding off in front of him. The driver narrowed his eyes and managed to read the last three numbers on the number plate before it was too far away for him to work out the figures anymore.

-oOo-

Stoick and Gobber had travelled back towards Berk at a much faster pace than before. Stoick was still full of pent up energy, and he didn't intend slowing down anytime soon. Gobber only held on silently, scanning the surrounding countryside as they went.

He knew it was going to be practically impossible to locate the plane from the road, as the road was lined with thick scrub and bushes on both sides. Seeing past all that would take a minor miracle.

Stoick's attention was abruptly drawn towards the phone ringing in his pocket, and he hurriedly pulled over to the side of the road to answer it.

"Hello?" he answered gruffly.

The voice on the other end told him the news he had been dreading. A crashed plane had been located.

Stoick's jaw slackened, and his hold on the phone loosened as he absorbed the information. Gobber swiftly stuck out his hand to grab the phone. The movement gave Stoick the opportunity to refocus. He gave a slight shudder as he took the phone back from Gobber and lifted it to his ear again.

"Where is it?" he asked, his voice hoarse with grief and exhaustion.

The voice on the other end gave him the directions, which he repeated to Gobber, before hanging up the phone. He turned to his best friend, staring at him with blank eyes as they silently contemplated what this meant. Gobber returned his worried gaze and said nothing, his heart sinking faster than the Titanic. He had always believed that Hiccup and Astrid would come home, but the reality was starting to tell a very different story.

He wanted to cling to the hope of their survival, but it was becoming a very slippery thread that was rapidly pulling out of his grasp. He knew that if it was found to be true, his friend would never recover. He just hoped and prayed that it would not be true.

Stoick was on auto-pilot as he turned his attention back to driving. His hands were shaking as he changed gears to pull out on the road. He didn't even bother to check for other vehicles.

In their dazed state, neither man noticed a white van on the other side of the road, nor questioned the speed it was travelling at.