A/N: Thank you, once again, for all the reviews! I really enjoy reading them! As promised, I present the next chapter!

Chapter 3

Slowly, his physical wounds healed. Slowly, the bruises faded and the pain from his cuts and slashes turned to itching as scabs formed and new skin grew. Hiccup spent days lying on his stomach, hardly daring to move for fear of reopening the wounds. And he found his glum thoughts wandering around lazily.

He remembered Viggo Grimborn's words the last time they saw each other before he sacrificed himself. You're more ruthless than you realise. I know you will defeat Johann and Krogan. He scoffed despite the pain in his chest. Clearly, he was wrong. Clearly, he had been right the first time he had commented on his ruthlessness. You're too good, too pure, too innocent, which will get you or someone you love killed. Without that ruthlessness, you will fail against Johann. The expression on Hiccup's face was mirthless. He was still alive. Alive to live with the guilt of knowing that his supposed innocence had killed his friends.

If he had been more ruthless, would any of this have happened? If he had thought more like Viggo, if he had fought every battle like it was a game of Maces and Talons, would he be free and victorious? How many opportunities had he missed to change the course that had led him here?

There was nothing he could do about it. He knew that. He couldn't somehow turn his actions around and bring his friends back. How he wished he could, but he couldn't. Yet Viggo's words were stuck in his brain, refusing to leave. And while he lay down, scared to move, he thought over what had happened in that fight in the darkness. He thought through every step, every swing of the sword over and over, searching for more carefully thought out moves that could replace his heat-of-the-moment actions that had led to this.

He couldn't turn back time, but he could prepare for whatever was still to come. Whatever fight lay before him, whatever vengeance he could achieve for the war that killed his friends. He could do it all. If he learned to be ruthless.

Johann may have torn everything he loved from him. But he wasn't going to lay here and let him steal his freedom any longer. He was going to break out and exact whatever revenge he saw fit. For Toothless. For Astrid. For his dad. For the Riders.

There were thirty-eight scratches on the wall on the day that he got up again. That was the day he dared to move around to test his healing wounds and it was bearable. Every day for the following week and a half there was less pain until he was finally able to move normally. He imagined his back was covered in scars. Without proper treatment, they had probably healed horribly. But he didn't need a pristine body to think and fight his way out of here.

He studied the locking mechanism of his cell. No one was around to tell him not to. He was still on the same ship he had woken up on, presumably docked on Johann's base. The Flyer who delivered him food and water wouldn't come for a while and other than that, the ship seemed to be abandoned. He had plenty of time to analyse his chances of escaping by picking the lock.

Not that he needed that time. He figured out fairly quickly that since the latch was embedded in the floor, he wouldn't be able to pry it open without a hefty axe. Which he, unfortunately, didn't currently have at his disposal. As much as he hoped he could trip the mechanism, he really would need a key to get out.

How would he get a key then? What had just seemed like an advantage to Hiccup now suddenly became a disadvantage. He didn't have a choice in who to get a key from. It had to be that grumpy Flyer who would be here soon. Which meant he didn't have much time to concoct a plan. How could he convince that ill-tempered cynic to open the cell gate? He glanced around at what he had available to him in his cell. Just an empty plate, a few drops of water left in the jug, a pot and the remains of the bola. The remains of the bola… An idea started to form in his head.

When the footsteps of the Flyer became audible, Hiccup was set up. He had positioned himself on the floor, laying on his stomach as he had for most of the time these past weeks. To the Flyer, nothing would seem out of place or abnormal. The fact that a boulder from the bola was right next to his foot was trivial. Well, not quite.

He made sure to groan pitifully as the guard appeared in front of his cell. His dull expression was grumpy as always. Through lidded eyes, Hiccup spotted the dagger in the man's belt and made a mental note. And as his food and water were placed just inside his cell, he mustered up all the acting skills he had. This was going to be quite undignified.

"Please," he croaked when the Flyer turned to leave. "Help me,"

"I'm not helping you," the man scowled.

"I'm too weak to get up. I think my wounds are infected. Bring me the water, please," he begged, trying to fake weariness. He'd never done anything like this before and he was already hating it. The Flyer narrowed his eyes, clearly suspicious. "Johann wouldn't want his prisoner to die of thirst, would he?" He knew the rhetorical question was pushing it a bit for the character he was portraying, but he couldn't afford for the man to walk off in indifference. He tried to muster some tears, as horrid as it felt. Just believe me. Just open the cell. "Please," He pleaded once more and he mustered a drop of salty water to fall onto the floor.

That did the trick. The Flyer grimaced at the sight of his feigned crying and all irritability seemed to be replaced by disgust in an instant. Hiccup imagined he was wondering what in the name of Thor Johann could want with a broken teenager that had no shame to cry in front of his captors. But that didn't matter to him right now. What mattered was the sight of the Flyer pulling the key from his belt and putting it in the lock. Hiccup tried to keep his weak façade up, to not show any of the hopefulness that had burst into him at the sight of the key. His heart was pounding inside his chest as the cell door opened and the man picked up the jug of water and brought it closer. Closer, closer… The man put down the jug next to him and Hiccup grasped at it eagerly, gulping it down as if he was absolutely parched and muttering repeated thanks.

The man grunted, his grouchy mood seeming to reappear. Hiccup watched out of the corner of his eye as the man glanced down at what he probably saw as a skinny boy with torn up clothes and scoffed. Had he been watching Hiccup's face for a second longer, he would have seen the terrifying moment Hiccup's timid mask melted away into a deathly scowl.

The instant the Flyer turned his back, Hiccup kicked the bola boulder with all his might. It rolled to the man's feet, knocking him over and while he stumbled, Hiccup leapt to his feet. He pushed the Flyer forward to help him to the floor and just before he landed, he grabbed the dagger and ring of keys from the man's belt. Hiccup heard an angry yelp from below him but barely waited a moment to plunge the dagger into the man's back, right where his heart was. A cry of pain was elicited and then the body became limp.

Hiccup stared at the bleeding corpse on the floor, laying not too far from where he had laid for most of his captivity. He had just killed a man with hardly a second of hesitation. A whisper at the back of his head told him that this wasn't the way to reward kindness, that such a blatant murder hadn't been necessary. But that voice was smothered quickly. Oh, don't be like that, Hiccup. What did I tell you about ruthlessness? Viggo's voice sneered. It took only a moment for Hiccup to agree. That Flyer had been complicit with his torture and imprisonment for over a month. He was hardly undeserving.

So Hiccup pulled the dagger back out, wiping the blood on the Flyer's tunic and then he stepped over the body and left the cell for the first time in Thor knew how long. He hurried down the corridor, relishing the refreshing sensation of using his muscles properly again. He was running. He was running free. No longer confined to the three square metres he'd been restricted to for so long. He could go wherever he wanted.

But first, he needed to get out of enemy territory. He needed a weapon and a dragon. At the end of the corridor he was running down he spotted a cupboard and breathed a sigh of relief when he opened it and it was lined with dragon-proof swords and axes. He scanned them all, secretly hoping he'd find a weapon he'd recognize until his eyes lit up at the sight of Inferno. Those Flyers would regret not keeping that sword somewhere else. He slid it into his half-torn sheath and then closed the door behind him.

Now for a dragon. That was the real challenge. He had spent the past month and a half believing he was on an abandoned ship. That fact would blow up in his face now… unless he was wrong. He glanced down the corridor he had just come from, double-checking none of the cells were occupied, then he ventured around the corner.

The most delightful sight met his eyes. There weren't many, but there were dragons. Dragons that looked as helpless and miserable as he had spent the past few weeks feeling. A Scauldron, a Nadder and a Nightmare. He looked each of them over, trying to assess which one to take as he tentatively took a step forward. The instant his prosthetic hit the wooden floorboards, the Scauldron and Nadder growled at him. The Nightmare, however, looked up at him, eying his timidness with curiosity.

"Hey, there, big guy," he said softly, approaching and reaching his hand through the gate. The dragon's scales were a beautiful mix of red, purple and yellow. "What do you say we help each other get out of here?" The dragon paused, sniffing his hand and narrowing its eyes. Hiccup gave a small smile and turned his face away with his eyes closed. He waited in suspense for a few seconds, yet there was a growing sense of surety within him. The moment he felt the dragon's nuzzle under his hand was the moment his expression broke out into a grin that felt wonderfully strange on his cheek muscles. He couldn't hide the delight in his eyes as he unlocked the Nightmare's cell and gave him a scratch under the chin.

"I'm going to call you… Freedom," Hiccup said, his smile growing even more. Freedom closed his eyes in agreement. "How about we get out of here?" he said and he could see the delight in the Nightmare's eyes when he opened the cell. He quickly unlocked the cells containing the other more aggressive dragons, then hastily got on his latest friend's back. Freedom eagerly ran down the corridor, the Nadder and Scauldron trailing behind him until Hiccup spotted a hatch above them.

"There!" he called out, then inhaled sharply. This was it. He was going to escape. Then Freedom blasted the wooden hatch open and they were flying into daylight. The sun blinded his eyes for a moment and the feeling of its rays touching his skin was an odd but lovely one. He looked down at his bare right arm, noticing how pale it looked now he was out in the open.

But before he could dwell on his freedom any longer, he heard shouts from below him. He looked down. He had been right. The ship he and the dragons had just emerged from was docked. The deck looked like a wreck and at that moment Hiccup realised why he hadn't been moved. He knew he wouldn't be the only one to think it looked like a ghost ship waiting to be got rid of. While it sat there lonely in the docks, any potential rescuer would immediately overlook it in favour of more likely places for prisoners.

Like the other ships where Hunters were staring up at them in confusion. There weren't many of them, surprisingly few in fact, but their shouts of alarm sounded loud and clear. Hiccup scowled as he scanned the small group of soldiers, Hunters and Flyers alike until he saw a familiar face that awakened a sudden wave of burning rage in him.

Johann.

The man didn't look much different from when he had seen him last. Hiccup had expected him to have changed out of his old trader's attire by now to wear something more fitting for the man who had just won a war and found the King of Dragons. If anything, his attire had become shabbier. Krogan, on the other hand, was nowhere to be found.

But that was no matter for now. What mattered was that the few men that were standing on the docks were now being ordered to shoot at them. Oh, no don't, Hiccup thought angrily. I didn't spend weeks in a cell for you to shoot me down now. He quickly whispered something in Freedom's ear, slid Inferno out of his torn-up sheath and narrowed his eyes in determination. He was fighting on dragon-back again. Back where he belonged.

The wonderful rush of adrenaline that Hiccup felt as Freedom dived towards the archers and let loose his firepower would forever be remembered by him. The blaze was almost blinding but he didn't care. If this was what revenge felt like, he understood why it was so appealing. He never wanted to forget this feeling. Freedom easily finished off the last of the archers, with Hiccup there to deflect any arrows with his sword, before swooping upwards to gain altitude.

That was when Hiccup turned back on the burning remnants of Johann's docks and smirked in a way that would have seemed unrecognisable to the Riders months ago. He spotted the trader-turned-traitor fleeing towards the centre of the island and reached for the dagger in his belt.

"Freedom, take us down one more time, will you?" he whispered and the dragon obediently dove towards the island again. Johann saw them coming, looking back in fear but Hiccup didn't care. As soon as they were in range, he raised his arm to preparation. "This is for all those years of manipulation," he whispered. And then threw. The knife cut through the air like lightning before striking the trader in the shoulder. The man cried out in pain and stumbled and at that moment, another small group of Hunters started to emerge from the centre of the island, also carrying crossbows.

Hiccup scowled. A part of him wished that the dagger had hit somewhere more fatal. But Freedom was growling with aggression and wariness as Hunters were running to get in range to shoot them. Now was their chance to leave.

"Alright, big guy, let's go," he muttered and the Monstrous Nightmare grunted slightly in approval, flying straight upwards and then away from the island. They would go far, far away where no Hunter could ever find them.

When Hiccup looked around at the endless ocean ahead of them, it was like seeing the world for the first time again. The sun was halfway down its descent towards the horizon and the waves glimmered with light. The feel of the air rushing through his air and torn clothes was chilling but invigorating.

He had no clue what to expect from the next few days, but he felt a sense of peace start to settle in his heart knowing that the forty-ninth mark on the wall was the last.