Chapter Fifty Three

*Warning: Mentions of adult themes and abuse in this chapter. You're more than welcome to skip over it, even though I don't really go into too much detail...


"Heather?" My voice was barely a whisper as I stared at the girl chained to the wall. Her hair was longer now, almost reaching the floor as she continued staring down at it. God, if my father did to her what he did to me, I was going to do more than just kill that bastard.

"She's been out of it since they dragged her back here," Gobber explained in a grim tone. "Somethin' tells me she won't talk about it." I nodded in understanding, remembering how horrified and shocked I had been when he first attacked me.

"How long have you guys been here?" I couldn't help but ask.

"'Bout five days for me," Gobber replied. My fists clenched at that. And he'd already been given that many wounds? "Not sure how long the lass has been here. She was here when I was taken here."

I had to bite the bottom of my lip. Poor Heather. I'd barely known her but she was brave. She'd gone out of her way to help her family. And now this had to happen. Shaking my head at the thought, I tried to think of any way out of this mess.

"I'm sorry," was all I could whisper.

My heart sank even further when I realized that this was all my fault. Between Gobber getting hurt, Stoick dying and Heather getting captured…. I hated myself for bringing this upon Berk and those close to me.

Gobber was ready to say something when the door swung open. I glared at the man standing in front of me.

"I think we all know the reason why you are here," he sneered as he grabbed my chin. "Our leader told us to do whatever we pleased with you, and I plan on doing just that."

"Do whatever you want with me, but let them go!" I snapped just as Gobber began struggling against his restraints. The man only smirked at the sight, just as Heather had begun to wake up.

"Oh, your father would not be pleased with that." I couldn't help but flinch when they both stared at me in disbelief. "Now be a good little brat and come with me." Again I flinched at the double meaning in his words.

These people were just as sick and cruel as my father. And I was about to learn that the hard way.

...

"Did you know about this?" Heather demanded as she was dragged away.

What happened next made them both freeze in horror. Gobber had heard stories of it happening in far off islands, but never had he heard such horrible screams before. Heather flinched every second that followed, and even the mighty Gobber cringed at the sound.

"She dropped hints," Gobber replied when the screaming had finally stopped. It lasted for what felt like hours. But finally a deathly silence had followed.

"How could she not tell anyone that her father is… alive? And some kind of monster?" Heather's voice was raw with anger, and understandably so. His men had done the same thing to her not too long ago, and Gobber had been forced to listen to it all.

"Well, I think what just happened answers your question," he muttered. "I'm not gonna sleep for days now."

Not that sleep had come easily for either of them. Those men were doing everything they could to ensure their captivity was as painful as ever. They made Dagur the Deranged look good, and that was saying something.

A few more minutes had passed before the door suddenly swung open again. Both Heather and Gobber flinched when the guard threw Alex into the room. She was passed out, fists still clenched tightly as she was chained to the wall again.

Gobber had to look away when he noticed the fresh wounds covering her face. He had a feeling that she would be out of it for the next few hours.

"How could her own father do this to her?" Heather looked at her with new found pity. Though Gobber detected a hint of anger in her voice as she looked away once again.

"I don't know," was all he could say. All they could do was hope and pray to the gods that they got out of this alive.

...

The waiting was probably the worst part. Hiccup had asked Astrid to gather the other Dragon Riders in the arena. After discovering that… whatever that thing was, Hiccup had decided that he might be able to use it in order to track down Alex.

He had a feeling that where ever she was, the dragons would likely go. At least that was his hope. He wasn't going to say that out loud though. The last thing he wanted was to bring false hope.

"You called for us?" Snotlout asked in a smug voice. The others had arrived, finally.

"Guys, I can't do this alone," he admitted. Toothless warbled in concern as the other dragons shuffled into the arena.

"Glad to know he needs us," Ruffnut muttered with a roll of her eyes.

"Right, everyone needs us," Tuffnut added.

"Guys, this is serious," Astrid snapped. "Half of our dragons are missing, and so are the villagers."

The twins just looked at her in annoyance, and Astrid folded her arms and glared at them in response. They could argue all they wanted. But they knew that she was right. Something had to be done about these disappearances. It wouldn't be long before the Riders lost their dragons.

"So, what did you have in mind?" Fishlegs asked cheerfully.

Meatlug was leaning against him, licking her entire face with her tongue. By now the others had learned to keep their distance from the motherly Gronckle.

"Eret, would you mind having Skullcrusher track someone down?" Hiccup looked at the newer Dragon Rider.

Though Eret was still new, he was getting better thanks to the training Astrid had given him. And of course he had a competitive spirit like Astrid. That led to some of their many arguments. But it wasn't something to discuss at the moment.

"I'd be more than happy to," he replied. "What exactly is Skullcrusher tracking?"

Hiccup grabbed the device that he'd found back in the forest. Everyone eyed it suspiciously. The twins however looked at it with interest. Hiccup was quick to pry it away before Ruffnut tried reaching for it.

"I saw Alex throw this into the ocean," he explained warily.

"Wait, why would she throw that away?" Snotlout asked.

"I don't know." Hiccup shrugged as he handed it to Eret.

When Skullcrusher gave it a good sniff, everyone hopped onto their dragons, right before he took off. In seconds they were already flying across the island, out to sea. Hopefully it wasn't a trip that would last more than a few days. Otherwise they just left more than unprepared.


AN: Blah, so sorry it took so long to get this posted :( I've been busy rewatching all the Avatar: Last Airbender episodes XD And yes, all of that did just happen. And yes, Heather is back ;) And this chapter is also really short... sorry about that...

Sil - Well, you're somewhat right about that. I didn't really go over why he brought her here, but more will be explained.

Layla347 - Thank you! And yeah, I think I kind of made that obvious :P

69759 -Prepare For Bass - XD I always get the name wrong! Yeah, I would definitely do that. He deserves to rot in hell for what he's done. And that's great, the movie was definitely one of the best animated movies I've seen so far... much better than Frozen if you ask me ;) I'm not entirely sure that's what Gobber was intending, but you never know :)

HTTYD Obsessed - You shall find out soon :P I love keeping readers in the dark! And thanks, I definitely have big plans for this story... it's just a matter of getting off my lazy butt and writing it XD

Guest - Thanks!

Morietachibana - Thank you for reading, and reviewing! And I love your idea, though I think Hiccup would come up with something a little more original... I'll think about it though :)

Sophia Kaiba - Thanks, I appreciate the review!