AN: Hello! Sorry this chapter took longer, I really wanted it to be perfect... I'm really excited about this one!

REVIEWERS!:

Mei1395: Yeah... It's gonna get dark...

Acecove: Ooooh, trust me! It's much worse than just the Azkaban you know from the HP books. Saying that just let's me know that I'm doing a good job writing my villain characters! ...Uh, well, you know... Just read, I think you might like what you find!

TheRebelKnight: Maybe... Anyways, Dementors wouldn't touch this Azkaban with a hundred-foot pole. This Azkaban isn't like the one from HP. And, no, we're gonna stick with Hiccup for a bit longer, actually. :)

EversoGreen: Yeah, I will consent to some fluff in Rapunzel's chapters, but she's more focused on politics right now than physically beating the snot out of people. I'm glad you're enjoying it so much, though, and don't worry there's still plenty of excitement to come!

Guest: More to come!

NOTES: "You think you're Lost, but you're not Lost on your own. You are not Alone."

Chapter 26: Azkaban

The night was dark. The moon and stars were covered by thick clouds that left the world blanketed in shadows. The ocean was like a churning, black mirror, and the BlueBlazer sat anchored beside a small cargo ship.

Toothless looked around at their open surroundings from the bow spit, confirming they were alone and that the cargo ship had no hidden guards. He snorted and whirled around with a flick of his tail. He moved silently into the captain's quarters where Talia and Eret stood over a quivering man tied up in a chair.

"The Thorn is the fastest cargo ship in the entire Ministry! So fast that it isn't listed among the ranked navy vessels because it's primary use is as a ghost ship. For clandestine operations. You expect me to believe that you, the Captain of said ship, doesn't know where Frollo takes his prisoners? His most secretive hostages?" Talia demanded, her face only inches from the mans. His face was red from his earlier screaming and he was sweating profusely, but Toothless wasn't sure he would break.

"I swear, I don't know anything about the Dragon Boy!" The sailor shouted back, and Talia straightened as Toothless fixed his gaze on the man.

Then again, what did Toothless know about humans?

"We never said anything about a Dragon Boy." Eret muttered darkly from his leaned back position in the corner, sharpening his sword.

Toothless growled and stalked forward, rising up onto his back legs to loom over Talia's shoulder, muzzle wrinkled in a snarl as he glared down at the pathetic human whelp below him. The sailor squirmed and whimpered but couldn't escape the bonds keeping him in the chair.

"Tell us where they took Cat!" Talia shouted, pulling out a dagger from her belt and pressing the tip into the man's throat. "Now!"

Toothless added a growl to help with the emphasis.

"I keep telling you: I don't know anything! Look, all they said was that they had the Dragon Boy and the Prime Minister was taking him to one of his secure facilities! That's all I know! The Prime Minister uses private channels for his facilities. They can't be traced back to him, even if someone managed to find them in the first place! The ships, the routes, the crews; everything is covered in protective spells, invisibility spells! No one can find it! Anyone who does is brought there. And they don't come out." The sailor blurted out as a bead of sweat rolled down one temple, his eyes shifting nervously between Talia and her knife and Toothless. As if he couldn't decide which one he'd rather be facing right now. Toothless drew up higher, baring all of his teeth, and felt a rush of satisfaction as all of the color drained from the man's face.

It was no longer a question.

"Where do they disappear? How does Frollo find these private ships?" Talia pressed.

"I don't know!" The sailor enunciated each word, and with time slowly going by, Toothless was started to get impatient. He dropped to all fours, raised his haunches, and lit some fire in his throat. The piercing whistle, though fainter than his usual, full-fledged attack, was enough to slap a look of terror across the mans face and he writhed against the ropes holding him to the chair. "Okay! Okay! I know there's a fortress somewhere in the ocean between the Archipelago and the Allied Kingdoms! It's more West, off of the usual channels most people would take, and that's everything I know, I swear that's all! Please, just get that monster away from me!"

Talia retracted her knife and straightened up, nodding to Eret, and they both turned to leave the room. Toothless paused for a moment, giving one last growl at the man before following the two pirates.

"Do you think we can trust this?" Talia asked without looking back at Eret. Her eyes focused on No-Name and Ug waiting near by on the deck, and she gave her head a nod back towards the Captain's quarters. The two immediately moved passed Toothless and into the room, no doubt to throw the sailor back onto his own ship.

"Do we have much choice? It's already been a week. What have we got to lose?" Eret replied, his arms crossed over his chest as he glared out at the dark horizon.

"We'll find him." Talia said, looking up at him. "And we'll get him back."

"I know. But I just hope we can manage it sooner rather than later." Eret expressed, his face softening with worry as he looked down to meet her gaze.

"That makes two of us." Talia replied.

There weren't anymore words as Eret pulled her into a hug. Toothless watched the exchange and huffed a heavy, tired breath. He wandered over to the side of the ship, putting his front paws up on the railing as he looked out at the night.

He felt... Lost and... Empty. His heart was aching, and he hadn't slept much since the battle. He looked back at his tail, lifting the offensive contraption that his boy had used to protect his life over saving his own. Toothless squeezed his eyes shut, his heart giving a particularly painful lurch at that thought. He was supposed to protect him. Not the other way around. It made him wonder if maybe he should have let his boy build a fully-functioning tail that would allow him to fly alone. At least then he could search on his own.

"Where are you?" Toothless crooned, looking out at the endless night. He reached out, but he couldn't Feel him. Couldn't sense him.

His vision was blurred by pain and semi-unconsciousness. His arms were twisted at awkward angles as the two guards dragged him along the corridors, his whole body limp. His leg and prosthetic dragged across the metal floors, the metal-on-metal causing a loud scraping sound.

His body flinched violently as the whip cracked across his back. He yanked to one side at the pain, nearly dislocating his shoulder because his wrists were chained to poles on either side of him...

He didn't know where he was, but it was cold and dark. He didn't know how long he'd been there. There was no way of telling the passage of time, and even if he could, he wasn't sure how often or for how long his blackouts occurred. He only knew that everything was made of stone or metal. It was hard. The walls groaned, chains clinked, and cage doors slammed.

Needles pressed into his neck... His arms... His legs... Adding, taking, hurting. Thick straps cut into his body; his wrists, his ankles, across his shoulders, and around his neck... He tensed and writhed...

"It's this one." One of them growled, and he lifted his head to try and see what they were talking about. Through the fog and tunnel, he saw bars. He heard the clanking of keys and the squeal as the door swung open.

Spells seared his skin, potions burned against his insides. They grabbed the back of his neck and plugged his nose, forcing him to drink or drown. Wands jabbed at his neck, scorching his flesh. They brought darkness... Blackness... Sand...

"Get in there!" The other one grabbed him and threw him. The feeling of falling caused his stomach to twist and bile to rise up in his throat. That's how he got here. He fell...

There were chains. Too many chains! He screamed and cried, pulling against the chains that coiled around his body, locking his wrist and ankles. It only brought more chains, tying his arms and legs, wrapping around his neck. He snarled at them, and something yanked on his hair as more forced metal down on his head. A gag... A muzzle...

He hit the floor hard and bounced. He rolled over twice and didn't move once he'd stopped. He couldn't. The twisting, tilting bars slammed shut and the lock slid into place with an echoing clang...

They painted his neck with cursed ink. Ink that was birthed from dark magic and sand. It was a power that wasn't their own, and it stained his skin. Echoing chants cluttered and stuffed his ears as that wretched liquid boiled and seared his neck. He screamed as the collar tightened, choking him. Suffocating him...

He jolted against the metal floor as the cage gate squealed. Multiple, blurry figures came in. Circling him. The last one shut the gate behind them. The lions were fanning out from each other as they got closer to him, circling and enclosing him. He forced his arms to push him up into a crouch, but his head spun with jeers and laughter. He fell back and his head banged against the wall, -Hiccup lunged to the side, avoiding the deadly curse that was reflected off the mirror by the bathroom door, but they drew closer still.

"They say he's the one the Prime Minister's been looking for." One grinned down at him.

"The little wild monster, eh?" Another snickered.

He used the wall behind him to struggle to his feet, but one of them came at him and a fist jammed into his stomach, making him double over and gag. -He curled inward on himself on the floor as they kicked him over and over.- Another yanked him upright by his hair so a third could punch his face. Daren spat, then pulled his fist back, and punched Hiccup right in the face. A fourth and fifth grabbed his arms and held him as the rest continued to beat him.

"Now, now, behave little pet." Pitch smiled at him mockingly. "That is what you are now, isn't it? All that talk about freedom and never going back to another cage! Now look at you..." Pitch's voice echoed in his ears as a sixth grabbed him from behind so the other two could have their fun.

"To them you are nothing but a beast, a monster, to be either tamed or destroyed at any cost."

His breathing was ragged. He was lying in a puddle of his own blood. He felt something pulling him by his tattered shirt. He groaned weakly.

"Be quiet, or they'll hear you." The voice was a quiet hiss close to his head, but it sounded muffled and distant to him.

Something cold like ice pressed against one of his injuries, soothing and easing the pain. He tried to turn his head to see who was helping him, but his vision was blurry. He could just make out pale skin... White hair... "-ack!" He tried to speak. "You shouldn't... Shouldn't be here..." He struggled to form the words around his broken ribs and fat lip. He tried to push himself up, but a firm hand on his shoulder pushed him back down.

"Rest." The voice ordered. "You'll need your strength."

Hiccup started awake to the shrill ringing of a bell. His neck hurt and he hissed as he reached a hand up to it. The clank of the lock on his cage door told him it was being unlocked, but he didn't look up. He was to distracted by all the different pains throughout his body.

"Get up!" A guard growled, kicking his side. Hiccup flinched away, but slowly stood as he winced and bit his lip to keep from whimpering in front of the guard. "It's recess, brat, and the Prime Minister wants you out on the playground!" The guard sneered with a sickening grin and shoved him towards the opening.

Hiccup was lead along the rows and rows of cells and down a set of stairs, eventually coming to a set of heavily-guarded double doors. Even through the thick fog the outside light was blinding, and he had to blink a dozen times before he could see properly. He was in a giant, stone square with tall, tall walls and guards stationed at every ten feet. The big empty yard was only filled by people. Prisoners. There were all sorts of shapes and sizes among them, but one thing they all had in common were the scarred and hardened faces that turned toward him when the guard gave him a final shove into the yard.

Hiccup straightened, eying the scowling prisoners warily as he limped a few times before he forced his body to ignore the pain and walk normally. The doors slammed shut and locked behind him, and he glanced back at them for a moment before turning to look toward the crowd again. A very, very large man was stomping his way toward Hiccup, who could sense Aggression and Intimidation rolling off of the man in waves. He was trying to assert his dominance, but Hiccup's lip curled back in an instinctive warning growl. Something about the man's scent made Hiccup think Half-Giant.

"You must be the Thing they keep talkin' about." The man rumbled, looking down at Hiccup's Left hand. He followed the giant's gaze, staring blankly. He hadn't realized it was exposed. A shot to the shoulder made Hiccup stumble back a few steps as the giant advanced. "The guards' been tellin' us you the Prime Minister's Pet. You're even smaller than they said, though. You're small like a little bitch." The giant grinned. More men were gathering around, circling them as they grinned, whistled, and called out mockingly. "You the Prime Minister's bitch?" The giant asked.

"Walk. Away." Hiccup told him, voice low and quiet. His whole body was vibrating. He knew the sharpness of his vision meant his pupils had lengthened to vertical slits and the white of his eyes were hidden by bright green.

He wasn't feeling very Human.

The giant shoved him again. "Just cause you the Prime Minister's Pet don't mean you can give orders." The giant said, chest expanding as he loomed over Hiccup. "See, we don't like the Prime Minister much. He the reason we're here in the first place. So we gonna get back at him by fucking up his hoe. You a hoe, Pet?"

Hiccup thought that he glimpsed white hair coming towards him out of the corner of his eye, but he brushed it off as another hallucination and kept his focus on the giant. The man grabbed his shoulder, but Hiccup grabbed his arm and twisted in the blink of an eye. There was a loud POP! and the giant screamed. Hiccup ignored his cry and smashed his arm between his knee and elbow, snapping the thick arm that was nearly half his entire size. The hairs on the back of his neck rose as the giant dropped, and he whirled around, slamming his fist into the face of the man rushing him from behind.

Two more started running at him from the side. Hiccup ducked under the first one's grab to grip the throat of the second one. He use the second man to swing around and slam his foot and prosthetic into the first guy's chest. That guy landed on his back, winded, and Hiccup used his grip on the second guy's throat to yank him down and then knock him out by dropping his elbow onto the back of his neck.

"What the hell?!" Someone shouted. Some were starting to coward, other looked ready to fight.

"Enough!" The command was met with silence as all the men turned toward the source.

Hiccup's eyes snapped in the direction everyone was looking, a growl sitting at the back of his throat, but what he saw made him freeze. The man walking towards him through the crowd was obviously respected, even if grudgingly so, because the prisoners parted to allow him through and keeping their distance. Several others lingered close behind the man as he came to stop just a few feet in front of Hiccup.

"He's obviously stronger than he looks." The man barked at the crowds, looking around at all of them. "Leave him be, before you start something that the guards feel the need to finish." That bit of common sense seemed to work as those that were still conscious began to slither away. None of them tried to help their beaten and groaning prison-mates, who were still on the ground where Hiccup had left them.

Hiccup, though, was frozen. Entirely focused on the man in front of him. A man he'd only ever heard legends and stories of. Had only ever seen in pictures. His pure white hair was almost waist-length and tied into a low ponytail. His features were youthful, but his blue eyes held a wisdom that came only from experience.

"You fight well for someone so young." He said, finally meeting Hiccup's gaze with his own. "But losing your temper here could get you into some serious trouble later on... Come over this way." The man, waved his arm for Hiccup to follow as he turned back the way he had come.

Hiccup hesitated for a moment, but then his feet started moving of their own accord. He looked ahead to where the man was leading him and saw the group that were lingering near him during the whole event. Hiccup recognized them almost immediately.

Five of them were the legendary wizards of the Kingdom of Altea; The Paladins of the Voltron Squadron. Five wizards chosen by the ancient Lions to be protectors of the Kingdom and it's Royal family. A new team had been chosen within the recent years, about the time of Hiccup's first year at Hogwarts. Among them also stood a large, rock-golem with a straight back and lifted chin; the proud stance of a trained soldier. He was Mr. Arrow, the Auror who had investigated the escape of the dragons at Hogwarts. Presumably he never figured out that it had been Hiccup who'd freed them.

"You'll find that most people here are a little more than rough around the edges." The man continued, casting Hiccup a friendly smile.

"That's an understatement." A tall brunette remarked. He looked young. Maybe a few years older than Hiccup.

"We do our best to maintain our civility in spite of our circumstance." Mr. Arrow grumbled, giving a pointed look to Hiccup and then to the groaning men he left behind. Hiccup made a note of the sharpness in Mr. Arrow's eyes.

"That was quite a display." A tall and muscular man with a white streak in his hair said before nodding at Hiccup. "Don't let Arrow intimidate you, he'd friendlier once you get to know him. I'm Shiro. This is Lance," He gestured to the tall brunette from before. "That's Keith, Hunk, and Pidge." He pointed out a short, dark hair boy who stood next to Lance, then a larger boy with dark hair and a friendly face, and then a very short girl with reddish hair and glasses, though Hiccup was only able to tell she was a girl because of her scent.

"I think the more interesting question would be; who are you?" The girl said, adjusting her glasses as she looked at him curiously.

"You're right." Hiccup nodded to her. "I know who you are. It's a bit hard not to."

"So does that mean you're gonna give us a name?" The dark-haired one, Keith, demanded, his arms crossed as he glared at Hiccup calculatingly. His gaze lingered on Hiccup's left hand.

"Don't suppose it does." Hiccup responded, keeping his voice purposefully bland, but he did give a little glare back.

"Ignore Keith, he's always cranky." Lance broke in between them, smirking down at both of them. "I'm surprised you're even standing, considering how you looked yesterday."

Hiccup tilted his head at that and then looked at the first man again, still shaken by the sense of familiarity he got from the man. "It was you." Hiccup stated, staring at him. "You're the one who iced my injuries... I thought it was a dream."

"It's proven a useful talent here." The man shrugged. "I may not be able to heal completely, but I can at least help my friends a little with what magic I can do without my staff."

"Why help me though? You seem awfully interested considering you've never met me." Hiccup questioned, lifting an eyebrow at the blue-eyed man, who chuckled in response.

"I guess you could say I have a soft spot for kids... Forgive me for assuming, but you look very young." He was clever in his wording. It was a way to draw answers without actually asking any questions. No doubt a skill picked up from the Auror Department.

"I'm sixteen." Hiccup informed him, though he threw a look to let the older man know that he knew what he was doing. "My name is Cat." Hiccup pointedly ignored Mr. Arrow's stern gaze, and the Auror didn't say anything.

"You're just a kid!" The large, friendly one who went by Hunk said. "How did you end up in a place like this?"

"You're one to talk. What are you? Two minutes older?" Hiccup quipped back lightly. It had been a long time sense he last felt comfortable among a group of wizards. But he grew serious and quiet as he realized there really was no harm in telling them anything. Not so long as they were trapped in this prison. "They're not entirely wrong. The Prime Minister took an interest in me. He promised not to hurt my friends if I went willingly..." His eyes dropped to the ground as he thought back to those final moments of Falling...

A hand on his shoulder brought him out of his thoughts, and he looked up to see the same blue-eyes looking at him.

"A noble effort, but trusting the Prime Minister has only brought you here." Mr. Arrow pointed out, though his stern expression had softened some.

"Believe me; I'm well aware of where it's gotten me. But at least my friends are safe." Hiccup replied, meeting Mr. Arrow's gaze for the first time and holding it for a long moment. A twinge of pain around his neck made him wince and reach up, rubbing his throat, but the girl, Pidge, grabbed his arm and pulled his hand away.

"Careful. You don't want to take any risks with the Prime Minister's experiments like that." She said, peering at his neck as she rubbed her chin thoughtfully.

"What are you talking about?" Hiccup asked, letting his hand fall back to his side.

"Oh, sorry, I guess you can't see it..." Pidge stumbled awkwardly as her hands waved about her head a bit.

"Here." The blue-eyed man knelt down and touched the ground with one fingertip. A small patch of ice spread out around his finger, smooth and shiny. Hiccup moved over and looked at his reflection in the small ice patch.

There were black rune-like markings on his neck. A single, horizontal line, like a tattooed collar. The markings were slightly raised and the surrounding skin was red from irritation. There was also a very faint purple glow coming off of the runes.

"They were glowing more when you were fighting. Do you feel them?" Pidge asked as he twisted his head back and forth to look at the offending marks.

"My neck hurts like Hel, but I had no idea about these." Hiccup admitted, noting his bright green eyes with almost no white and the slight point to his canine teeth. His hair was messier than usual, too, and he only had the stained, brown shirt and pants that made up the prison uniform.

"This place is hidden from the rest of the world. It's a place where the Prime Minister, and those who operate under him in secret, can do whatever they please. Azkaban isn't just a prison, Cat, it's an experimentation ward." Shiro explained as they all stayed back, allowing him some space. The blue-eyed man crouched in front of him, but Hiccup kept his eyes on his reflection.

"This is no place for a kid, but as long as you're here, we'll do our best to help." He promised, his expression earnest.

"But why? You don't know me... I don't even know your name." Hiccup finally lifted his head, and though the statement wasn't entirely true, the sentiment was. The blue-eyed man just smiled.

"You asked why I would help you; the answer is that you're the same age that my son would be now. Also; I may be in prison, but I'm still a Guardian, sworn to protect all children in the world." His mouth lifted into a half-grin as he shared the last part, and Hiccup felt a bit of hope at the fact that Azkaban hadn't broken him even after all this time.

The man stood and offered his hand to Hiccup, who accepted it only after a brief hesitation. They stood, and instead of dropping his hand, the man lifted it and dropped it on top of Hiccup's head, ruffling his hair.

"As for my name; it's Percy. Percy Frost."