A/N: Hi!

So... it took me a while to finish this story. *subtly checks the author note on The Ring of Fire where I said I'd have this done in September* Yup, definitely took longer than I expected. I have adjusting to uni to blame for that. And maybe the fact that the Netherlands is currently in lockdown again has something to do with me finally finishing this, who knows. Either way, here we are, finally. With my longest story ever written.

Disclaimer: This fanfiction is rated strong T for a lot of violence and both physical and psychological whump. Much whump. No slash. You have been warned... Enjoy :)

Chapter 1

It was a simple mission that caused all of this. That was the worst part of it all. It wasn't the result of an epic battle lost or a dangerous mission with intricate planning and a knowing caution of everything that could possibly go wrong. It wasn't a consequence of his own stupidity, nor the Flyers' strategic genius. It was just a blighted supply run and the fateful factor of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. If he'd approached from another direction it would have been different, if he'd arrived half an hour earlier it would have been different, if he hadn't been alone it would have been different.

Maybe he had let his guard down. Maybe if he'd known… but how could he have known that the ambush was coming?

At some point during the flight back home, the sun had set, scattering colours across the darkening sky until it was replaced by the ghostly moon. It was full tonight, but the thin layer of cloud that covered it dimmed the light it would have provided. The cold wind rushing through Hiccup's hair kept his senses enlivened as Toothless flew them sweeping across the dark sky and over the inky waves below them. And despite how much he was enjoying the midnight flight that never ceased to feel amazing, the thought of Astrid waiting for him kept him urging Toothless on. The sooner he got back, the sooner he'd be with Astrid.

He couldn't remember exactly when he and Astrid had started the tradition of the bedtime kiss. Maybe it was after their run-in with the Amour Wing, maybe it was after Viggo had died. But as sappy as it may be, it was now routine. Neither of them would go to bed until they'd had a little bit of alone time. They'd managed to keep to it every day so far, regardless of what time either of them was done for the day, or how many times all the other Riders were already sound asleep by the time they had their "moment".

Their "moment". That was what the other Riders had come to call it. But other than the funny looks and air quotes whenever the "moment" was mentioned, their "moment" was respected. And thus it became a standard that Hiccup always looked forward to. Just as he did now.

This was definitely going to be one of their later "moments". The Edge looked like one big dark mass ahead of him and he could hardly make out his own hut, let alone the shapes of the trees below Toothless' wings. But he could see the light shining from under Astrid's door. He smiled, already imagining her look of delight when he opened it.

There hadn't been any sort of warning before the night took its fateful turn.

But that was when the whistling sound made Hiccup practically jump out of his skin. Neither of them had seen it coming. It was peaceful, there were no signs of hostile presence. Toothless owned the night. He could sense things no human ever could. Yet now he shrieked as a bola flung itself around his tail. Luckily, he managed to fold his remaining tailfin in before any damage could come to it, but one of the stones smashed into the fabric of the prosthetic, tearing a gaping hole in it. The next thing Hiccup knew, they were plummeting.

Hiccup had fallen before. He'd fallen enough times to know how to protect himself. When he felt himself leave the saddle, even as his mind whirred with shock and confusion, he raised his arms to guard his head, then prayed to Odin they'd be alright as gravity did its work. The preparation didn't help the pain though, and he gasped each time he landed on another spiny branch until he finally crashed to the ground. He managed to not hit his head, but he groaned at the pain all over the rest of his body. But now was not the time for recovery.

He heard Toothless shriek again and looked up to see him trying to bite the ropes off his tail. Hiccup scrambled to his feet, already pulling Inferno out of its sheath as he crossed the distance between them and slid to his knees. He hadn't even looked around to find the enemy, but he knew that helping Toothless would be the first step towards a fair fight.

He had the ropes off quickly, slicing through the strands of twine with ease before he tried to jump onto Toothless' back. They couldn't fly away, he could hardly even see in the dark, but Hiccup knew they were safer together. But then an arrow whistled towards him and Hiccup only just saw it in time to dodge, throwing himself straight off Toothless' back and rolling to his feet. Whoever it was clearly wanted him and Toothless separated.

"Hiccup, so nice to see you again," A voice came from the darkness as he ignited his sword, but he didn't need the light of the flames to know who it was.

"Krogan," he replied, a dark scowl on his face. This was the last thing he needed right now. Toothless was heavy-laden with supplies, there was practically no one around on the Edge at this hour and his enemy was surprisingly elusive for an army of dragon-flying soldiers. Speaking of which… "No Flyers? No captured Singetails? Just you?" Krogan laughed.

"You shouldn't worry, Hiccup. I'm not alone," he said smoothly, a smug look on his face. Hunters and dragon-less Flyers began to emerge from the shadows as he said that, forming an eerie army of half-lit silhouettes behind their leader. "But dragons lack the discreetness of well-trained soldiers sometimes. How do you think I managed to sneak onto your island without your friends noticing?" Hiccup frowned. Who was on patrol tonight? Maybe it wouldn't have mattered anyway. If Toothless hadn't sensed their presence, how could he expect any of the other riders to do so?

"Though I was the one to take the shot," came Johann's voice as he stepped into the light, holding another bola. "Quite a good one, wouldn't you say, Master Hiccup?" At this he raised his arm to throw, looking at Toothless and scowling. Hiccup raised his sword, ready to defend and Toothless attempted to move out of the way in time, but the bola flew straight past the burning sword, encircling the Night Fury and pinning his wings to his body. Toothless… His dragon shrieked again and Hiccup prayed that maybe someone might hear it and come to help. They were grounded, partially incapacitated and incredibly outnumbered. So much for a fair fight. Part of him wondered whether he might save them all the effort and give himself up now. They were clearly here for him.

No, he told himself. Astrid is waiting for me. She'll come. I can do this. He just needed to evade capture for as long as possible. So throwing a sorrowful glance at Toothless, he turned and ran. He hoped the Night Fury could somehow free himself and run, get help, save himself. But the army of Johann's soldiers had started encroaching on him the moment Johann had shot at Toothless and he knew he wouldn't have time to free Toothless and get away. At the very least he was leading Johann's men away from him. It felt wrong to run. But he did anyway.

So he sprinted, fumbling blindly through the darkness. He clicked Inferno off, hoping to increase elusiveness. But he still had to skid to duck the arrow that whistled towards him, falling onto his back as he did. His sleeves ripped at the elbows and he felt the skin tear. But he gritted his teeth and just managed to scramble to his feet again before the footsteps of his pursuers sounded behind him. He only got a few paces, however, before pain exploded in his shoulder. He'd been hit. The burning jolt caused a ripple effect down his arm, sending tormenting tingles down to his fingertips. He stifled a scream of agony and begged his knees not to buckle beneath his own weight, which suddenly felt much heavier. His pace slowed but he managed to stumble on until he let himself fall to his knees behind the first bush he found.

It wasn't hard to see the arrow sticking out of his shoulder when he turned to look behind him. Even in the darkness, he could see the shape protruding from his flesh. If he took it out it would bleed. Not only that, but with oxygen and adrenaline pumping through his veins at high speed, it would bleed out quickly. But if he left it in, he wouldn't be able to fight. The offending weapon would be a literal target on his back. One slight knock and he'd be screaming. He could fight and bleed or leave it in and wait here for Krogan's men to find him and drag him off.

No, he told himself. He couldn't let them down. He had to carry on fighting.

So with a pained grunt, he pulled the arrow out of his shoulder. As he gave himself a few moments to breathe and recover, he could already feel the blood seeping into his tunic. The blood loss would weaken him. He needed to act quickly.

With that thought, he heaved himself to his feet and ran again, the sound of his own panting and blood rushing through his ears too loud for him to possibly hear how close the Hunters and Flyers were. If he could only lose them…

Another whistling sound met his ears and he ducked, only to find a bola wrap around his leg. The sudden extra weight sent a jolt through his balance and he stumbled, landing on both hands. The impact caused pain to shoot through his shoulder but just as he tried to bite through it and get up, someone slammed him to the ground.

He screamed. He couldn't stop himself. The sound was ripped from his lungs as the Flyer lying on top of him twisted his arm behind his back. The man's elbow happened to be right on his fresh wound and his entire weight was pressing down on him so that as much as he tried to wriggle, he could barely breathe, let alone free himself. You could give up now, he thought glumly, save yourself the pain, let them take you away. But something inside him drove him to slam his head back at the man's chin. His action elicited a yelp of pain and a second later, Hiccup had thrown him off his back. As he struggled to get to his feet, however, he felt the self-inflicted blow to his head cause a wave of dizziness to crash over him and for a moment he didn't have a clue what direction he was running in.

Which was probably why he hardly noticed when he practically ran straight into another Flyer. They both grunted, Hiccup's vision swirled, but he could see enough to realise he'd been recognised.

"He's over here!" the man shouted, before raising his sword. No, no, no, no, no... He needed to stay hidden, to disappear. Stormfly could track him wherever he ended up, as long as he stayed out of the Flyers' grasp. He needed to move, to run.

But nothing was stopping the Flyer's sword from swinging towards him and it was out of instinct that Hiccup retaliated, bringing Inferno up to block him, then swinging again in return. But before his weapon could reach its target, a blow hit him in the leg and his feet were swept away from under him. He yelped as his face hit the ground, then rolled over to see Krogan leering down at him. He growled, trying to get up but finding it a struggle with his weakening muscles. His shoulder felt sticky. He could barely resist when Krogan assertively placed his foot on his chest. But he sucked in a breath to shout anyway.

"AST-" he managed, but he was cut off when a fist hit him in the face. He grunted, feeling a metallic taste in his mouth. At this point, it was more tempting than ever to give up. Lying on the ground in a puddle of his own blood seemed an astonishingly pleasant idea at the moment. But Astrid and Toothless are waiting for me. He tried anew to shout, but before he could so much as open his mouth, he was punched again. He wasn't quite sure at what point he had received the cut on his cheek, but he could feel some warm liquid on his face and his head was spinning.

"Shut. Up." Krogan growled, before administering another punch for good measure. Hiccup groaned as he tried to shield himself. Krogan let him, removing his foot so that he could roll over onto his side. Leave me be, one voice in his head whispered, urging him to simply curl up into a ball and never emerge again. But this is your chance, said another. He frowned at the dilemma. There was still something inside him that wasn't done fighting.

So, with his final strand of remaining energy, he quickly flipped onto his back, bringing his legs up to kick Krogan's foot and rolling backwards to his feet. He heard his attacker cry out in pain and frustration as Hiccup steadied himself, glad to be standing up again. His head was still spinning as he scanned the ground around him for his sword, but just as he spotted it, he heard another whistling sound. Before the arrow even hit him, the power that drove him to keep fighting died.

When the dart hit his already wounded and bloody shoulder, he didn't even have the energy to scream. He distantly felt the ground come in contact with his knees, felt a pain that he was sure he'd never experienced before in all his life and suddenly his head was too heavy for him to hold up. He expected to feel the dirt beneath him meet his face as he slumped forward but Johann's men must have been holding him up. His eyes felt damp as he blurrily blinked. The only thing that told him he was still partially conscious was the fact he could still hear voices and scuffling. His vision was a mess of darkness.

Somewhere, far away, maybe even miles away, Johann muttered something with a displeased tone. Krogan was giving orders and then Hiccup felt his weary legs being dragged across the soil. Whereas he normally would have held his head high in defiance even as he was taken captive, he didn't even bother now. Tears were streaming down his bloody cheeks anyway. There wasn't much defiance in that. There wasn't much defiance in any of this. This was just losing.

Toothless? Astrid? he thought as his limp legs collided with something hard and painful. The bustle around him was too much.

So when unconsciousness came to meet him, he welcomed it with open arms, finding comfort in the numbing of his pain as he faded away.

Hiccup's eyes shot open and he gasped. His breaths came in shallow pants as he stared at the wooden ceiling above him. His chest was heaving, his pulse racing. He closed his eyes again for a moment as he tried to calm himself down. Then awareness returned to him fully and he growled. Those damned dreams again. Every night he told himself he wouldn't, yet somehow the dreams persisted. Useless. That's what the dreams were. Useless. Nothing but sore reminders of the failure that got him here. He couldn't change what happened. The world in which he was kidnapped from his own base in the dead of night was gone. All that was left was this, him lying right here in this cell. These four walls and silence.

It was hard to keep track of time passing like this. He had resorted to marking the wall. His gaze fell on the scratches he'd made, one for each day.

One, two, three…

At least silence was better than the torture he'd had to endure at first, he supposed.

… nine, ten, eleven…

At least, that's what he told himself.

… sixteen, seventeen, eighteen …

He wasn't sure he believed himself all the time.

… thirty-three, thirty-four, thirty-five…

How could he when he wasn't entirely sure of his own sanity at this point?

… forty-seven, forty-eight, forty-nine …

After all, his capture was almost two months ago.

A/N: ... Yup, I think it's safe to say that Hiccup probably hates me already. Oh well!

Anyway, feel free to let me know your thoughts in the reviews. I look forward to hearing from you! I plan to upload two chapters per week, probably on Saturdays and Wednesdays. So luckily, you don't have to wait too long. :)

See you on the next chapter!

~httydfangirl123