Hiccup raced down, calling for the twins to stop and tell him what was happening. But his words were lost like leaves blown away by gales.

He kept running, desperate for answers to the questions that were plaguing and swarming busily around his confused mind.

"Ruff, Tuff! Wait for-"

Hiccup skidded on his heels to a stop when he reached the bottom of the slope. He sucked in a trembling gasp, hardly believing what he saw.

What had happened to his home? It had been contorted and twisted into this hellish, burning place of suffering and evil. Yes, that's what this was, evil.

Dragonfire from that of Gronckles to that of Monstrous Nightmares rained down from the smoke-smothered stars. Screams of men and children were heard. A cacophony of dragon screeches and roars loud enough to rival even that of a Thunderdrum's concussive cry filled the air. The torches were raised, and men were hauling out weapons. It was exactly like one of those raids he had seen when they were still at war with the dragons. It was all the same except for one thing; the tips of the arrows and ballistas were coated with Dragon Root poison.

This was wrong. This was all wrong. What had happened to Berk? They had made peace with the dragons. Why were they fighting them again? And where on earth had the Dragon Root arrows come from? Never had Berk used such weapons before. Everything was twisted beyond words.

He broke into a run, weaving through the horde of Vikings. Hiccup had to find someone, anyone. He needed someone to tell him what was going on. With a yelp, Hiccup stopped abruptly in his tracks just in time before flaming debris from the roof of a house could crush him. The cinders and smoke flew up into his eyes and filled his lungs, stinging and burning. He backed away, hacking up his lungs violently.

By the time he had regained air and his vision, he had found that he had lost the twins. He needed to find out what was happening. Where were the twins, Fishlegs, Snotlout, Astrid?

Toothless. Where was Toothless? Hiccup turned in circles, his head swimming in panic.

"Another wave!" a Viking yelled.

A rain of arrows shot up into the sky, targeting their prey. Some of the dragons were able to dodge, but most were hit and fell to the ground to be netted and cage.

Hiccup skidded on his heels to a stop to see Snotlout loading a crossbow. He looked the same except for a great scar over his right eye.

"Nightmare, coming in!" yelled someone.

Snotlout pointed his crossbow up towards the flaming dragon diving down towards one of the far catapults. His fingers moved towards the finger. The world seemed to slow down as panic overwhelmed Hiccup's senses. Snotlout was going to shoot a dragon. All sound was drowned out by the sound of Hiccup's beating heart, but he could still tell what Snotlout was saying: "I'll take care of this."

"NO!"

In one swift movement, Hiccup darted forward and knocked Snotlout to the ground as he fired. Fortunately, the arrow missed its intended target.

Hiccup breathed a sigh of relief. "Snotlout, what-"

But he was broken off as a Snotlout reached forward and struck Hiccup across the face. "You idiot! What the Thor are you doing?"

Hiccup massaged his face with a wince, the mark on his cheek burning an angry red. "You were gonna shoot that Nightmare!"

"No duh!" Snotlout retorted, and got to his feet. "And you did that on purpose!"

"Snotlout, what is going on? I don't-" Hiccup began.

"And be respectful," Snotlout snapped. "It's 'chief.' "

Hiccup felt as if someone had knocked the wind clean from his chest. "Ch-chief?" he barely breathed. "You- you're chief?"

"Wow, you really are an idiot, aren't ya?"

"No, no, you-you can't be chief." Hiccup pulled on his hair, his brain turning horrified somersaults. "Stoick the Vast-"

"Died almost five years ago, trying to find that dragon nest."

"No, no, that-that's not how it happened. We did find the island, and we killed the Red Death. You-you were there, you reme-"

But he was interrupted as they were suddenly enveloped by toxic green gas. The next thing he knew, Hiccup was being pulled by the wrist by Snotlout and running for cover. He was losing feeling in his hand, but he was more focused on getting away before the gas was lit and they were both blown to Valhalla.

They dove through an open window and onto a dirt floor just before an earth-shattering explosion boomed in their ears.

Hiccup gasped short breaths, his hand clutching at his chest. "Oh, gods, we almost died..."

"Yeah, you're welcome, kid," Snotlout groaned then murmured a rather colorful curse under his breath as he peeked out the window to survey the damage. "These flipping blowtorches are gonna destroy the village…"

Hiccup got into a crouching position and followed Snotlout's gaze. Outside, Hiccup saw Nadder swoop down and shoot spines at one of the Vikings, impaling them in the arm. So, this was Berk. A living nightmare, earth's closest imitation to a burning hell.

"Snotlout," Hiccup began, his voice quavering. "What the Thor is happening?"

"What does it look like? It's a dragon attack!"

"No, I don't mean that." Hiccup brushed his bangs back in a frantic fashion only to have them fall back into his eyes. "I mean, Berk hasn't had anything like this in years, not from the dragons. And my-my dad. What happened to my dad? He was alive when I left him. And the Dragon Root arrows, where did they come from? Nothing's making any se-"

"Chief! How goes the counterattack?"

Hiccup turned around fast to see his old mentor, Gobber, who was currently carrying a large vat of something.

"It could be better if this runt-" Snotlout jerked his thumb at Hiccup who was still crouched on the ground, dumbstruck. "hadn't gotten in my way."

Gobber then eyed him suspiciously, and Hiccup got to his feet.

"He was gonna kill- I- Gobber, why are the dragons attacking us?"

"M'sorry, who's this lad?" Gobber asked Snotlout, gesturing to Hiccup with his prosthetic hand.

Snotlout shrugged. "No idea. Never seen him before-"

Hiccup's breath hitched. "What? Why- No, you-you know me, I'm Hiccup."

Snotlout blinked. "Hiccup who?"

Hiccup stared at them, confused why they were acting this way. "You both know me! You've known me since I was a kid-"

But Gobber shook his head as he set down the large vat. "Ya mus' be thinkin' ah s'meone else."

"Nah, he's just insane," Snotlout scoffed.

Hiccup opened his mouth to protest, but somehow, the words failed to come out. He did not understand. More than that, he felt like he was being driven to insanity. This behavior was at least somewhat understandable coming from the twins, but Snotlout and Gobber, it was out of character for them.

So why were they doing this? Why were they acting like he had never met them before? Then, the sobering thought crossed his mind. Maybe they were not faking. Maybe, just maybe, they had never met him before. I wish I had never been born. His wish echoed hollowly in his head like a cry projected across an empty stone hall.

No. No, that was ridiculous. It was impossible. How could this have happened? Hiccup refused to believe it. And yet, reality seemed to proclaim otherwise.

But if he had never existed, he would not be here. But for some reason he could not decipher, he was not entirely sure. Was he even here? Hiccup's hand went to his face then to his chest as he checked to see if he really had a body. Yep, he wasn't a ghost. But why did he have a left leg? He knew he lost it.

Wait. Hiccup's fingers went to the right side of his hair. They were gone. Astrid's braids, those two stupid little things she always loved to tie in his hair, they were gone.

Clutching his spinning head, Hiccup drew a shaky breath. Had his wish come true? Had he been erased from existence just because of a few grief-stricken words? It seemed to be the only solution that made any sense. If had never been born, he would not have changed history and ended the war with the dragons. They had never found the nest. He never would have trained dragons, he never lost his leg in the battle. He had never dated Astrid or met Toothless...

Toothless. What had happened to Toothless? What if he had been shot down by one of the Berkians and killed? What if...

His thoughts were interrupted as he caught a glimpse of Gobber dipping the tip of an arrow into the vat. He then lifted out and the arrowhead glimmered with a toxic green tint. As Gobber went to dry it over the fire, Hiccup rushed forward and snatched it out of his hand.

"Wha' tha-" the blacksmith began.

"Where did you get this?" Hiccup demanded, his voice quavering unstably.

"I don'-"

"The Dragon Root!" Hiccup pointed at the vat of poison behind Snotlout. "Where did you get it?"

Snotlout, evidently fed up with him, spat, "well, you just love interf-"

But Hiccup did not let him finish. "Tell me!"

Snotlout rolled his eyes. "We trade with the Grimborns."

Hiccup's heart skipped a beat. "Viggo?" he barely breathed. "You're working with him?"

"I like the way his mind works," Snotlout remarked with a grin. "He says he has a way to end the war with the dragons once and for all. So, we've come to an arrangement. Dragon root for dragons."

"A way to end the war?" Hiccup echoed. "You mean, the King of Dragons?"

Snotlout squinted at him, clearly clueless of what he was talking about.

"But the only they'll find it is…"

Viggo must have found some way to acquire the Dragon Eye from the Reaper.

"Snotlout, you can't help them!" Hiccup suddenly cried.

"Ya dare talk tha chief like that?" Gobber demanded.

"Hey! You do not speak for me!" Snotlout then turned to Hiccup. "You dare talk to me like that?"

"Don't you see you're being played?" he asked, desperate for Snotlout to see reason. "Johann's gonna use the Dragon Eye to-"

"Johann? Trader Johann?" Snotlout guffawed. "That idiot's got nothing to-"

"No, he pays Viggo. Johann acts like an idiot, but he's not. When he finds the King of Dragons, he won't use him to end the war. He'll use him to conquer Berk and anywhere else he wants!"

Snotlout rolled his eyes unamusedly. "I knew you were an idiot, but this is just ridiculous."

As he turned to walk away and grab an quiver of arrows, Hiccup grabbed his arm. "No, you have to listen to me, this is import-"

Snotlout tried to pull away his arm, but Hiccup did not let go. "Don't touch me!"

"For Thor's sake, will please just listen to me?!" Hiccup cried.

Then, Snotlout squeezed his wrist and threw him to the ground, knocking the wind out of him. Snotlout unsheathed his sword and held it dangerously over Hiccup's chest. "Say one word, and I swear to-" he growled.

But he never finished his threat. He was interrupted by an ear-splitting whistling. It was coming from outside. Hiccup lifted his head up, recognized that sound all too well.

"NIGHT FURY!" was all that was heard before the sound of a plasma blast erupting and splitting the night air as it exploded.