Edited.

Artichoke found Hiccup on the back, small room in the forge. A little place he assumed was only hers as some of her unmistakably sketches. Skinny shoulders were shaking, and her body was too compact, as if she was trying to fill as little space as possible.

The air was silent there. All, if not most people, were still in the meeting, still listening to Stoick's plan, to how it would play out now. Artichoke had seen his parents when he was wondering about the village, they had approached him for a quick argument pairing over whether he knew about the… Treachery or not. The boy's confusion and tired search for his wife seemed to be enough to give him some sense of innocence by the Hoffersons and other Berkians. And then he'd hear a bit of what their leader was now requiring.

It's a mad plan, even for this situation.

Artichoke swallowed dry. Chaotic adrenaline from before was now vanished. He already had been a coward too many times in one day to let the discomfort of a crying girl make him fled again. Yet, he had no good words to say. No good news either.

"They'll be sailing again", Artichoke started, a quick jolt stopped her shoulders for a moment as her eyes lifted to face him. The greenness in them was invisible against the red. "Your fath- Chief Stoick will use Tooth- the Night Fury to guide them".

She sniffed and let her spine straighten but didn't got up. Artichoke figured a conversation was better to have on an eye level and so he crouched near Hiccup to continue. "They won't even wait for tomorrow". Again, no response. "I don't know how fast that ship goes compared to her flying, but they might get there before sunrise".

Hiccup was still absorbing the words, though she didn't seem any inclined to respond or have any comment about it. She seemed numb, as someone who just woke up from too many hours of sleeping, as if any word Artichoke said would find her ears but not her mind. If back at the arena she was hysterical and desperate like a tornado, here she had the cold emptiness of a graveyard on a foggy winter morning. It was unsettling.

Artichoke cleared his throat, an attempt to get her to listen and react, expecting her at least to blink at his words, to show any reply other than just staring back. "Are…" coming in here and seeing her shaking shoulders, he had a light apprehension over what he could do to make her better, expected her to ask for an awkward hug or to go on about the harsh words her father probably let out, as anyone out there was ready to let it out on her; he wasn't expecting a ghost. "Are you okay?".

A simple question with a known answer, but he had no idea what else to say. It was stupid and he wasn't one, well, Berkians were not the kind to sit still and share feelings out loud so either Hiccup was going to admit the truth they knew and say 'no', or she'd lie, and they could bottle it up a little. The boy was selfish enough to wish for the second, but selfless enough to accept the first.

Instead, however, Hiccup just snorted. "Why?" a sharp, bitter tone, "don't you think I represent a ray of fucking sunshine?". Her sarcastic reply could have indicated some improvement towards humor, case it wasn't boiling with venom. "Isn't this the portrait of the sparkling joy of a glorified war hero or something?".

He had nothing to add to this, not eager to poke such pouring wound.

Silence.

Artichoke lips formed a thin line, and he didn't stop his toffee eyebrows from frowning in thought, wondering what was better to say next.

"Thank you".

Finally, Hiccup blinked, perplexed

"For saving me back there", his chin pointed towards the direction of the arena and he added before she could respond "that Monstruous Nightmare was going to kill me if you didn't step in" and I wasn't ready to die, but he didn't emend that last part. Berk's culture had taught him to apologize and thank could be a sign of good manners, yes, but could also be frowned upon. Could be seen as humiliation or weakness or something to hurt their pride. Mothers would make them apologize and thank always, but Artichoke was raised on a proudful, competitive, battling culture he knew Hiccup was exposed to. He also knew actions spoke better than words, showing gratitude was better and even easier than saying it, but, oddly enough, he found it better to lay it on the table then.

She didn't respond again, but was looking at him with present thoughts, or so it seemed. "Everyone seems pretty convinced that this will work", he kept on with the news, not letting her new interest fade, "That Toothless will lead them there".

There, a place never found, a mystical place some doubted its existence. There, a place where sailors gave their whole lives trying to find it. Generations of frustrated outcomes from campaigns. A dormant volcano was heated by that true beast, at least ten sizes bigger than that decaying, imprisoned Monstrous Nightmare, based on its head alone. A dragon queen be controlling others with evil magic.

"They're all gonna die there…", Hiccup said, thinking the same he was. She didn't want that, and she had probably tried to talk Stoick out of this and was pointless. They couldn't possibly win this. Both Artichoke's father and mother would jump into those ships to guarantee their place battling for their children's safety, he knew it, too.

Holding her gaze, he nodded and waited.

Waited.

Waited for that flame of ideas to bubble up on her, because his head was empty and his actions were cowardice, though her creative fire was extinguished. Drowned by today's tears or so it seemed. Another moment passed and he knew the worst happened… Hiccup had given up.

This thought made Artichoke get up and walk away, bitterness filling his tongue at every step he made.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Pain was the first thing she felt while recovering conscience. Bruises, the iron taste of blood and its smell making Toothless know she also had cuts all over. Feeling her eyelids quiver and her face grimace, her sight was filled with murkiness, an unusual blindness for a night creature. Distant sounds called her attention, except when she moved, she felt fetters. Ropes, chains, and a fucking muzzle break.

No, not again, no. Not the immobility, the helplessness of being stuck in such unknown sets of human tools. But this was so much more than her trap at the woods. When her Hiccup had come to save her… Well, not to save her. She remembered quite well, the shinning, small blade. The battle cry for courage. The mirrored fear in both sets of green eyes and the instinctive decision to let her free. Just like the instinctive decision Toothless had made to come to rescue her. But she couldn't… Couldn't pay her debt, protect the only family she had found in years…

If only was just that idiotic, weakling Monstrous Nightmare, but no. Dozens, hundreds, countless of these humans from spooky stories, each one holding a weapon at least tree times the size that dagger Hiccup had freed her with, like that male she'd insist to take him flying, he had a weapon that big. The Night Fury had felt nothing but the wish to burn them all away, but she knew Hiccup wasn't as fire-proof.

She was a prisoner here, not a prey, as in the woods.

Soon, sudden brightness, blinding clarity was unlocked along as a thick door, a passage, and water hit her face before she could figure out where she was. Great, no fire at all then. Toothless felt her body move and the place's scent made memories flash. It was that horrible place, low in the ground, surrounded by rusty metal and countless Vikings.

Even her tail had been chained down. Barely any space to breathe, let alone open her wings. No sign of any Monstrous Nightmare, no signs of any dragon at all as the humans gave her no choice but to follow their path, out of that hole and then down, down, down till she could face the sea. Were they just gonna drown her?

No, Toothless then noticed numerous wood-made floating… Beasts? These didn't smell like fish but followed the Vikings' orders. Different patterns and flags from tribes she couldn't ever differ. Shoved and chained to one of the ships, she gathered energy to struggle. Pointlessly.

A dictatorial voice made her look left. That man. That enormous human male, red fur covering nearly all his face but his eyes and pointy horns… Hiccup didn't let her finish him. Stormy eyes returned her disgusted gaze, her burning fury to bite off his limbs, shooting fire or not.

"Lead us home", hand on sheath, like a threat. "Devil", the unknown word was spat at her with disavowal enough she could guess it was an insult. She could also guess it was pointless to fight. Not only chained down, retrained, and submitted to them, she couldn't fly anywhere without her Hiccup and, while she was forced to face forward, so many of these ships, overfilled with humans nearly identical made her know she couldn't escape them.