Two Walk's of Life

by the-unknown-guardian

Modern AU. Hiccelsa. Rated M for graphic conflicts and swearing. When a specialized team and a kingdom in need cross paths, things never go as expected. Watch as they battle enemies, handle their growing feelings, and their pasts. As the saying goes, "The only easy day was yesterday"

11. The Return

A/N: Apologies about the long delay in chapters. I've re written this five times, and now have finally gotten it where I like it. The following chapters will not take near this long to complete or update. The reason this did, is because it's going to set up a lot of character development in the coming chapters. Be warned this chapter is more graphic than some of the previous ones. Anyway, without further ado, here's the story.

Chapter 11—The Return

Castle Courtyard

03JUL24—0912

Elsa POV

The giddiness from this morning's revelation has yet to subside. One glance at my calendar and clock was all the motivation I needed to jump out of bed and begin my day. 'Today's the day Hiccup and the others return from their little training trip in the mountains. I can't wait to see what kind of shape the soldiers I sent with them are in. I wonder if the month was enough time to whip them into shape.' The thoughts flew through my mind as I stood in the courtyard awaiting the approach of the helicopter that took them from here a month ago. I heard someone walk up beside me as I broke myself out my thoughts.

"Good morning, Elsa" said Anna. I turned my head toward her "good morning Anna." We stood in a comfortable silence for a few moments, before Anna spoke up once more. "So Elsa, do you think a month is enough time to get the men ready for what seems an imminent attack?" "I was wondering the same thing Anna, but from the looks of things I wouldn't put it past any of them to be able to do it." We didn't have time to discuss it any further when the sounds of chopping wind came rushing through the courtyard.

I watched as the helicopter came into view around the North Tower. A giddy feeling began to creep into my chest as I watched it make its approach into the courtyard. I felt the wind begin to pick up as the helicopter began to get closer and closer. Finally, it reached the ground, and sparing no time the pilot powered down the rotors to idle to allow the passengers to exit. I watched the doors for what seemed like hours as the anticipation grew. As I waited my mind once again drifted to the brown haired man who agreed to protect both mine and my sister's lives. Once again the giddy feeling I experienced earlier returned.

I didn't have long to dwell on the thought as the doors to the aircraft finally opened. A few tense moments passed as no one exited the aircraft. As soon as the questions began to ring out in my head, the first of the passengers made themselves known. I watched in awe as the men I sent began to disembark the helicopter. All of them seemed to hold an aura about themselves, despite looking exhausted, that showed immense change. It was like looking at two sides of the same coin, but what really surprised me was when Captain Brownfield walked off with Hiccup. It was easy to tell who received a majority of the "training" as they called it. I heard Anna shuffle next to me as she spoke "wow. That's Captain Brownfield? He looks like a different person…well not different, but different. You get what I'm trying to say right?"

Unbeknownst to us the two men had cleared the distance between the four of us and were listening as Anna spoke. Hiccup took no hesitation to speak out as he responded with a chuckle "no Anna, we're not quite sure what you mean. Care to explain?" Anna, not expecting Hiccup to be that close already, let out an undignified "eep". I found myself unable to restrain my laugh as Anna turned to Hiccup with a pout adorning her face. Hiccup seemed unfazed by the pout, if the grin on his face was anything to go by, and in turn only increased my laughter.

Captain Brownfield spoke up "I'm glad to see you noticed improvement in the detail Princess. It seems Lieutenant Commander Haddock is quite the teacher." Hiccup gave a curt nod and replied "thank you Captain." Captain Brownfield looked toward me "My Queen, if I may, I will take my leave so that I may get settled and begin working on a training regimen for the rest of the men." I gave a nod of confirmation as I spoke "very well Captain. I look forward to seeing the results soon." "Very well my Queen" he said promptly before he turned and made his leave. I noticed Anna hug Kristoff as soon as he walked over to us. He stiffened slightly due to the unexpected contact, but quickly returned the hug.

I turned to face Hiccup, but restrained myself from hugging him, instead I engaged him with a question. "What do you say we take this welcoming party indoors? I love the sound of a helicopter as much as the next girl, but it doesn't make for the best reunion conditions." Hiccup sheepishly looked at me "that sounds like a splendid idea." I heard him shout over the rotor sounds to Kristoff and Toothless "you're dismissed. Go enjoy your R&R, because it's well deserved. Remember we pick up rotation at 0500 tomorrow." I heard both men reply with an enthusiastic "right", but the look on their faces said otherwise.

We began our walk inside as I let Hiccup lead the way. He took us through the kitchen and grabbed a Bud Lite on his way to the common area. I can feel my face slightly scowl at his drink choice. I was quick to remedy my look before he noticed my distaste. I gave my head a small shake as we made our way to the group of couches and took a seat. I heard the can he was holding make a pop noise as he flicked the top open. Without even having to look at him I could tell he was enjoying the bitter tasting alcoholic beverage.

After a few sips of his drink he turned his attention to me and spoke "so Elsa, how have things been? Well aside from the fact that a group of terrorists want your head and will stop at nothing to get you." He could tell I was not impressed with his very dry attempt at a joke when he replied "sorry, bad joke." I did answer his initial question. "Things went well here, with the exception of an incident that requires your attention." I could see him nod his head. Knowing I had his full attention, I continued "a couple of days ago an elementary school was the target of a car bombing."

I could see him tense a little at the news, and after a momentary pause 'probably to collect his thoughts' he spoke. "How many?" I did my best to hide the sadness in my expression and voice. My best attempts failed me as I answered him. "Right now, reports are in at 115 confirmed dead, 32 severely injured, and 14 with minor injuries." "Jesus Christ." I heard him say in surprise as he let me continue. "The closest description of the incident is comparable to the Oklahoma bombing."

He let out a heavy sigh as he pondered over the information. "Anything else I should be made aware of?" I let a moment go by before I answered him "yes actually, a few of your men got with the group of SAS operatives and formulated a plan to prepare for the worst. I know that they should probably notify you first, but these are my people were talking about here. As a leader, I ask that you stop these men at all cost; but as your friend, I beg you to take care of my people. My life means nothing if I can't keep my country and its residents safe. Once more, I ask you, please train those men so that when you leave I won't have to worry about terrorist cells or another country's invasion force. Well, at least not as much."

I could see a small smile adorn his handsome face as he spoke to me. "Elsa, relax. My men and I are not just going to up and abandon your country like that without creating some countermeasures. I know it wouldn't sit right with any of us. Plus, I'd hate to see what Anna would do to poor Kristoff if we couldn't protect you and your subjects. I know this has to be hard for you, and trust me when I say that I know what it's like to lose someone under your command. It's never easy to see something like this happen, especially when you felt that you could have done more. Trust me when I say that you're doing everything you can to stop these men. However, I'm not going to sit here and lie to you either. When Black decides to make his move, and he will, things are going to become very unpleasant. More people are going to die, on both sides, but none of it is going to be your fault."

I instantly cut him off "how can you say that?! Of course I'm at fault! These men are after me, and my people are going to suffer for it. I…" "NO!" the tone in his voice left no more room for argument at the moment. "Men like this are after power, regardless of who is sitting on the throne they would attempt this. If anything, I made it harder on your people when my team arrived." I could feel a bit of confusion rise up at his words. As if sensing it he clarified "Pitch holds a grudge against all of us on the team, but myself especially. He can't stand the fact that it was our team that threw him from his seat of power in the Middle East. It also doesn't help that I was the one who killed his brother during the raid."

I saw him shift the weight from his left leg to his right, almost subconsciously. I decided to question him about it a little more. "Hiccup, what exactly happened between you, Pitch, and Drago?" His eyes closed for a long minute as a heavy sigh once again escaped his lips. At first, I began to wonder if I spoke too soon, and if he was even going to tell me. Before long though, he began "Elsa, what I'm going to tell you is not exactly pleasant nor is it pretty. About three to three and a half years ago the team and I were assigned a mission in the Hindu Kush mountain range in northern Afghanistan. I was just a junior office at the time…"

Flashback

Hindu Kush Mountain Range

17SEP21—1843 HRS.

Hiccup POV

I looked at the team one more time as I spoke over the sound of the rotors. "Alright men, we are pursuing a HVT by the name of Pitch Black. Not much is known about his origin or background, however we do have his picture and biometrics." I showed the team a picture of the man one last time as the pilot spoke over the headsets. "Alright guys, this is as high as I'm going to take you. Any higher and the altitude gets too thin to achieve lift." I gave a subconscious nod as I spoke to the team "you heard him guys. This is the last stop, the rest of the trip is going to be made on foot." I turned my attention to the pilot "Bear, go ahead and set us down somewhere so we can kick off this party." I hear him come over the comms "roger Hic, got prime real estate set up for just the occasion."

The helo began a rapid decent to a small patch of open rocky terrain. As soon as we touched down I gave the order to disembark. I walked off the helo last, scanned the area, then gave Bear a proper send off. I watched as he took off into the distance and past the adjacent peak. Once they were clear I turned to my team and began issuing orders. "I want a three meter jagged spread. I received a chorus of "roger" as we began our trek.

Flashback Break

By the time nightfall had arrived we had already made good time. We set up camp for the night and took turns as look out. Elsa took the opportunity to get a word in, "Is it common to be dropped that far from your mission location?" I nodded "generally we want the element of surprise on our side. Sometimes we don't even get a helo to drop us that far. We were just lucky Bear owed me a favor." I said with a small chuckle. "Anyway where was I? Oh, right the morning after the first hike."

Flashback Continued

I woke to the sound of Toothless rousing the others. I quickly wiped the sleep from my eyes, grabbed my gun, and hopped to my feet. "Morning." I was met with a chorus of "morning" and a couple of groggy groans. "Alright, glad to see you're all rested. We have another mile to go before we reach our destination. Powder your feet and beat your meat, because we leave in 10 mikes. God knows this will be the last chance you'll have for a while." A round of chuckles made its way through the group along with the sounds of confirmation.

Roughly an hour later we arrived at our destination. It was a cave entrance leading to God knows where, and crawling with who knows how many insurgents. "Team, I want radio comms kept to a minimum, chances are they'll be no use to us anyway. Give yourself some space in here, last thing we need is a gaggle-fuck of bullet sponges." I didn't even need to look back to know that they heard me. Instead, I issued the order to "move."

About five minutes into the cave I noticed a lack of resistance, hell a lack of everything for that matter. Apparently, Toothless noticed as well because he quietly made his over to me. "Hic, I don't like this. We should be shooting at something by now." As much as I wanted to agree with him, I reveled in the peace and quiet of the situation. "Don't pray for rain on a sunny day Tooth." We trekked another five minutes into the tunnel before I finally started to become unnerved by the situation.

I heard the new Doc 'what's his name again?' speak up "Sir, something's not right here. Didn't intel say that this cave was crawling with activity?" I was a little more inclined to agree with their suspicions this time. This time Kristoff spoke up "Sir, I think he's right. This place is giving me a bad vibe." I held up the team, but before I could get a word off two insurgents came from around a corner. Without hesitation we put the two men down. "Well seems like that may be the best bet." I heard Meathead say. With a nod of my head we made our way down the tunnel the two men just came from.

Flashback Break

I was halted in my story by a question posed by Elsa. "Hiccup, if I may, what compelled you guys to continue to check the tunnels even after encountering no enemies?" Without hesitation I responded "I'll answer that shortly Elsa." She gave a curt nod and waited for me to continue.

Flashback Continued

I had Kristoff take point with Meathead brining up six. About two minutes into the trek down the tunnel, an explosion rocked us all to the core. We all looked at one another to make sure no one was injured. I called out to the men "everyone alive?" Everyone responded with some kind of acknowledgement almost instantly. I heard Meathead call out to me over the sound of falling rocks "Sir, I think our two friends back there just met Allah. And the rocks trickling past my feet inclines me to believe that there's no going back the way we came." With a slight sarcastic tone I responded to him "thank you for that 'in-depth' analysis Meathead." I heard him whisper under his breath, but I wasn't quite sure what it was. 'Did he just call me an asshole? No, I must have misheard.' "Alright, you heard him, keep up the push forward."

Flashback Break

Once more, Elsa had to get a word in "ok, so that answers my question about proceeding further into the cave, sorta. I thought this was going to tell me what was going on between you, Pitch, and Drago." I gave a sickly sweet smile "in due time Elsa. This is pertinent to what is to follow." Yet again she held her tongue and allowed to me continue, hopefully, uninterrupted.

Flashback Continue

Before long we found ourselves in a large cavern maybe two hundred yards across and about a hundred feet high. I looked around and noticed several large stalagmites coming from the overhead and reaching all the way to the cavern floor. A couple appeared to have toppled over and had to easily be within three feet in width. Kristoff pointed out a small light across the cavern "Hic, that appears to be our way out."

I looked down to see about a ten foot drop to the cavern floor below. "Looks like once we drop down, there's no way of getting back. The walls are too steep and slick to climb back up, and I'd rather not forego our gear." I went to make a move when Toothless stopped me. "Hic, I don't feel right about this." I turned and faced him "there's not many options here Tooth. We obviously can't go back the way we came, and I don't exactly see an exit sign or a fucking door out of here." "Fuck man, now I see why they put you in charge. God damned boy scout." I scowled at him "fuck you man. Now come on, we got to get the hell out of here." He looked at me and paused. He waited a few seconds before he spoke again "oh by all means, ladies first." I shot him a dirty look and flipped him the bird as I made the jump down.

I hit the ground hard 'fuck that hurt.' I heard Toothless call out "you good Hic?" I scanned around once and replied "yea, I'm good. Toss a few chem lights down here, it's dark as fuck." I heard him chuckle "don't you have a fucking flashlight?" I replied back "the beam only goes so far dumbass. Throw them as far as you can so I can scan before I give my position away." I heard him grumble and then speak to the others "you heard him, let 'em fly boys."

A few moments later I could see the glow of chem lights about fifty yards in front of me. I popped my head from behind cover then sent the "all clear" to the guys. Seconds later I heard a series of thumps followed by several groans. In the dark I heard Kristoff speak "damn that hurt, but it looks like the further ahead we get the lighter it gets." I looked around a little more thoroughly this time and notice there was a lot of cover for up to about a hundred yards. 'The cover starts to thin out as we pass the hundred yard mark. If we get caught in a pinch out there we're finished.'

I noticed the cover was thicker on the right side of the cavern. I made my voice know to the men once more "ok, looks like the cover is heavier on the right. We're going to stagger and remain close to the wall. At the first sign of trouble, find the closest rock and keep your head down." With a calming breath I gave the order to move.

After the first hundred yards, I noticed we made it to the location where the cover began to thin substantially. Before I could issue my next order a set of floodlights illuminated the cavern and bullets began to fly. "Contact" I heard someone scream, but my body reacted before I even had to think about it. I jumped behind the nearest rock formation and returned fire towards the light. I kept letting rounds fly, as were the others, toward what we could see. Unfortunately, the lights made it difficult to differentiate enemies from rocks. A few seconds of continuous gun fire went on before I heard Meathead yell "grenade!" I dove to my left as he jumped over his rock and simultaneously me, before the explosion went off. For a few solid seconds my vison blurred and my ears rang as all sound became nothing. As I began to regain my bearings I heard Toothless calling out to me from a newly formed hole in the wall. "….up….Hi….Hic…move…..Hic we gotta move!" I staggered to my feet as sounds returned to me, but before I could make it to the new tunnel I was attacked by an enemy. He engaged me in a hand to hand battle, but I was having none of that now. I instantly grabbed my knife from my sheath and stuck it in his neck. I noticed a piece of paper sticking out of his right breast pocket. 'Is that a CIA letterhead?' Without a second though I grabbed the piece of paper and stuck it in my pocket as I made my way over to the others.

Toothless was quick to grab me and pull me behind cover as he spoke "shit…" I heard a bullet wiz by as we both ducked and he continued on "…I thought you might have been hit." Before I could respond Meathead called over to us "looks like I found our saving grace. This new tunnel leads down and out." With no hesitation I gave my orders "move now! Get out of the cavern as fast as possible, and…" Another bullet wizzed over my head as I ducked once more. "…And cover our six. Take Sven with you, the rest of us will be right on your ass!" He gave a crisp nod, turned to Sven, and took off down the tunnel with him.

An idea hit me as soon as I saw them leave. 'I hope this doesn't come back to bit me in the ass.' I moved to a rock slightly farther down the tunnel next to Kristoff. "Kristoff, you have that C4 on you?" He dropped back down behind cover as Toothless began putting rounds down range. "Yea, I never leave home without it." 'Ok, let's hope this works.' "I need every last bit, rigged to one detonator." I heard him shuffle through his pack as he spoke "right, give me a few minutes." Without looking at him I responded "you've got forty five seconds." I didn't listen to what he had to say after that as I heard Toothless call out "dry."

I took that as my cue to pop from cover and get my weapon down range. As I did I called to Toothless "fall back to us and reload." As soon as he was clear of the fatal funnel I began squeezing the trigger. One by one enemies attempting to enter the tunnel fell at its entrance. I was careful to make every shot count, so that Toothless could reach cover and be ready when I ran dry. After I dropped a few more enemies, I noticed my mag began to run dry. 'A couple more and I need to reload. And what the fuck is taking Kristoff so long?!' I neutralized a few more of the fuckers when my time to reload came up. I ducked down; simultaneously, Kristoff peaked over the top and began to fire. As he did he spoke to me "the C4 is ready for you, but if I may ask, what the hell do you have planned with that." I grabbed the prepped plastic explosive as I replied "no time, just get back to the formation behind us as soon as I pop. And take Toothless with you." "Right."

After he acknowledged me, we switched positions and I once again began taking the lives of those against me as Kristoff grabbed Toothless and fell back. A few moments later, they called back to me "SET!" I dropped behind cover as they began to put rounds into the mouth of the tunnel. Without hesitation I grabbed the 5 pounds of C4 and threw it towards the mouth of the cave. As soon as I let it go, I grabbed the detonator and hauled ass to the rock formation next to the other two. "Heads down!" Once I heard them stop shooting, I detonated the C4.

After a few seconds, everything got quiet. I took the chance to peek around the rock I was sitting behind, and was relieved to see that the C4 had the desired effect. A shaky breath later I yelled out to the other two "you guys alright?" A couple of chuckles made their way to my ears overlapping a nervous tone. I heard Toothless speak "holy shit! I feel sorry for the poor bastards who got caught in that." I used a few moments to catch my breath before I replied "alright enough of that. That's not going to hold them for very long; we need to move. We need to regroup with the others and get an exfil out of here. This shits already gone too far south." Kristoff rose to his feet as he spoke "right, we don't have very long. I'd rather be gone before they can regather their forces." With those final words said we began to make our way down the tunnel and to the exit. 'Hopefully.'

Ten minutes later we made our way to the end of the tunnel and out into the sunlight. I saw no sign of the other two so I called out "PBR." A short moment later I heard "piss water" followed by some rustling of rocks under boots. Meathead approached me "what happened to our guests? We had a lovely party set up for them." I looked to where he was gesturing to see several M18 Claymores set in advantageous positions. I turned back to them "sorry fellas, they declined the invitation. They wanted to bring too many guests." I spotted a crumbling village a little ways down the hill 'that looks like a good place to take stock of our gear and radio in.' "Ok, were going to move down to the village, take stock, and call for our ride."

We made our way into a little rundown home on the outer edge of the village. Meathead spoke his thoughts "the village appears to be enemy-less, for now at least." I noted his observation as I passed out my orders "right, Meathead keep a look out. Sven, get on with Godfather and get us an exfil." While, those two took care of that I took the opportunity to look at the letter I grabbed off of the insurgent's body. I took a moment to read the letter fully, but it appears to have been coded. The only thing I knew for certain was that someone sold us out, and that they had intel on all American operations in the Middle East. 'Shit, this is bad. They could cripple several operations with this kind of info.'

I looked up to see Sven walking over to me "Hic, bad news. We're still too high for a helo to land. We have to head to the base of the village and do a hot load." I couldn't help the groan that escaped my lips "fuck, I hate hot loads." Meathead grabbed my attention before I could ponder on that any longer "yo Hic, I've got worse news. Seems our 'party guests' have brought some serious company, and are sweeping the village. We're not making it to the bottom without one hell of a fight." 'Son of a bitch! This sucks.' "Sven, eta on the chopper?" He turned his head to me "I don't know, it was hard enough just getting a signal out. We're in no position to receive a signal, we need to move further down." I let out a sigh "this just keeps getting worse. Fuck it, everyone load up. We're moving down to the base of the village. At least there we may get an evac; if we sit here we'll just end up dead." Toothless stopped me for a moment "so what's the plan then? Just go down there and sit like ducks till the chopper arrives, if it even does?" I nodded my head "unless you have a better idea?" I waited for a moment before I continued "yea, I didn't think so."

I turned to the team as I spoke "let's get a move on guys." I heard the shuffle of feet as the men stacked up on the door leading down to the village. Meathead, at point, gave the door a solid push and peeked around the corner. "Clear" sounded out form the head of the team as we began to move. We made it twenty feet from the door when bullets began to scream by us from our six. I heard a yell accompanied by another voice saying "shit! Take cover!" I didn't need to even think about it as I hauled ass toward the nearest building. I heard a voice call out "Doc" from an adjacent house. I saw Sven attempt to move out the back door before a group of bullets pushed him back inside. "Shit, Hic we've got more in the tree line to our right." 'Fuck, this is turning out to be a shitty day.' Meathead made his way over to Sven "Doc, I'm going to provide you cover. Get over there and help whoever that is out." "Right, don't miss." "I'll try heh. Move on my signal." I continued to put rounds down range in an attempt to slow the frontal advancing force.

Simultaneously as I was putting fire forward, Meathead opened fire to the right to cover Sven's move to the next building. I heard Meathead call out "he made it." I replied swiftly "good, as soon as Sven says they're ready to move, we'll haul ass down to the base of the village." I called out the window near me "you hear that?!" I heard what sounded like Toothless call back "yea, we got you. Sven says give him thirty more seconds." "Deal" I replied back. "Thirty seconds Meathead." I heard a "roger" come back my way.

A mere thirty seconds later Sven let us know they were ready to move "Hic, were good over here, but cover is diminishing, we need to move." Sparing no time I gave my orders "ok, were going out the back. They're on our right flank, and closing fast from the front. Sven give that radio to Kristoff. Kristoff, you're sole purpose is our ride. Now everybody move." All at once we moved from the two houses as bullets rained passed our heads from the right and behind. On our run to the base of the village we encountered a few patrols that were quickly disposed of. Finally, we made it to the base of the village.

Kristoff called out to me "Hic, we have a friendly 46 on station, but it's going to take a couple of minutes to get here." I absorbed the information "shit, let's hope we can hold out that long." I noticed the advancing force was getting closer now, and ammo supplies were beginning to run low. "Guys, make use of your rounds. This is all we have till our pick up." We progressed a little further down the mountain side till we reached a steep cliff drop and a small goat pass. We all took cover behind rocks and continued to fire down range in an attempt to slow the enemy advance. It turned out to be a futile effort as our rounds began to expend quickly.

I heard a yell to my left as Meathead took a round to the left leg "Fuck, you fucking goat fucker." Sven moved into assist as Kristoff provided cover along with myself and Toothless. The enemy continued their advance, and was almost on top of us when the sound of chopping wind echoed around the mountain tops. A voice came over the comms that simply stated "HEADS DOWN!" No one needed to be told twice as we all dropped to the deck. The next thing we heard was the sound of a .50 cal machine gun ripping though the enemies closest to us. The gun continued to fire on the enemy as the chopper's rear hatch set down on the edge of the cliff. I took this as my cue "move to the chopper!" Meathead grabbed Kristoff along with Sven and helped him onto the chopper. However, as Toothless and I made our way to the helo a RPG flew over our heads and hit the rear rotor housing.

A voice came over the comms "shit, were going to have to bug out. We can't maintain this altitude any longer." The helo began to descend away from the mountain as Toothless called out "fuck, wait!" It was in vain as the helo disappeared beyond the tree tops. I moved back to cover as did Toothless "Tooth, we need to get outta here. Quick the goat pass!"

We made good time as we took off down the goat pass with the enemy hot on our heels. A few minutes down the goat pass the terrain began to get steeper. Bullets continued to wiz by our heads as we moved as fast as our bodies would take us. We could feel the stain on our muscles as we willed them to move. I heard a small groan of pain as a round shot by. "Tooth, you good?" I yelled over the sound of the bullets. He responded "keep going! I'm good, little fucker just grazed me."

After a few more steps we were forced to make a hard stop as the goat pass came to an abrupt halt. I looked over the edge to see a 50 foot drop into a group of trees. Luckily, the trail behind us had gone quite for a minute, but we didn't let that fool us. I looked to Toothless and could see he was thinking the same thing I was. "It won't be long before they catch up." I saw Toothless give a small nod as he spoke "yea, I don't think we'll have long to think of a plan."

Luck seemed to be against us as a yell was heard in the bushes not far behind us. "Looks like we have no time." Once more we glanced at one another then back forward. Toothless spoke "see you at the bottom." With that said he took a step and aimed for the trees. I followed shortly after, with only one thought on my mind. 'Fuck this is gunna hurt.'

The fall only lasted a few seconds as the tree tops rushed towards me quickly. I saw Toothless disappear behind the foliage as I followed quickly after. I could feel branches hit several parts of my body as I continued to descend. Suddenly, a searing pain coursed through my left leg as a loud snap was heard. The resulting impact caused my body to tumble and flip over as I watched the ground approach. The last thing I remember was seeing Toothless hit the ground before darkness overcame me.

I woke up to Toothless shaking me and yelling "get up!" A groan escaped my lips as I struggled to sit up. "Fuck Toothless, what happened?" A jolt of pain seared through my leg again. I looked down and saw a splint around my leg and quickly put two and two together. "Hic, you're kinda fucked up." I shot him a deadpan look and spoke "no shit, Sherlock." Toothless looked back at me "yea, and we don't have much time before they make it here. We need to get a move on."

I bit back a hiss as Toothless helped me stand. "Fuck Hic, you need to lay off the alcohol." I shot a short reply back "fuck you, of course I'm not going to be much help when I'm broke dick." "Hic, keep an eye over your shoulder." Once more we began our move to the lower exfil. About fifteen minutes into our trek we heard noise in the distance behind us. "Fuck, these guys just don't give up." Toothless snipped back "that's the damn truth. We seem to have good distance between us and them though." "Yea, let's just hope it stays that way."

Another ten minutes into our retreat we hit another problem. "Ah fuck" I heard Toothless all but scream. I looked down the cliff face and felt a sense of despair hit me hard. 'I definitely won't make it out of the jump this time, even if it is only twenty feet.' I heard noise behind us, this time much closer than before. Without a second thought I made a decision, one I knew I would come to regret. I looked at Toothless with a solemn look as I pulled a couple of papers from my vest. Toothless looked at me slightly confused as he spoke "Hic, what is that?"

"Tooth, I picked this off one of the guys inside. It holds information on several up and coming US operations. It needs to get to command…And you're going to be the one who takes it there." He looked at me astonished as he spoke "you mean WE are going to take it there." I shook my head "no I mean YOU." The noise was much closer now, as if it was just beyond the bush. Toothless looked at me and shook his head as he spoke "I'm not leaving you here." I stopped him "You know as well as I do, I won't make that jump, and there's no going the other way." He looked at me sternly "No Hic, I won't do it!" I looked at him sternly back "It's not a choice, it's an order."

Just as the insurgents were about to breach the bush, I faced Toothless, stuffed the papers in his vest, and shoved him over the edge with his rifle. I knew that would be the last I saw of Toothless, probably ever. Without a second thought, I propped myself against a rock, checked my mag, took aim and waited. No shortly after I did, several enemies broke through the brush. I took no time in dropping as many as I could to give Toothless the much needed escape time. The enemy didn't seem to take too kindly to that, took cover, and began to fire back. Rounds wizzed by me as I continued to put down anyone who showed themselves. 'Seems like they're blind firing. Let's keep it that way.' I didn't waste time reloading the rifle as I switched my pistol. I drew quickly, flicked the safety and made sure every round was true to its target.

I didn't see the enemy to my right until it was too late, but I was determined not to let him get the better of me. He dove at me as I pulled my knife from its sheath and reversed its grip. He had no time to react as I drove my knife into his neck. I saw the next guy move in close, but was a little more reserved. He charged in as did another enemy from my left. I took no time in slicing the throat of the first, but before I could turn to the second I was kicked flat on my back.

The second enemy jumped on me after he kicked me and threw a few punches at my face. Despite my leg, I managed to flip him over and drive my knife into his chest. I turned to my next enemy, but before I could get a swing off my wrist was caught. I didn't let it phase me as I threw a few left handed punches in an attempt to release my wrist. An enemy seemed to notice my injury and took no time in exploiting it. I felt an excruciating pain sore through my leg as an insurgent stepped on it. The momentary lapse in my actions was all the rest needed to capture me.

'Fuck I hope Tooth was able to make it back. One life is not worth several hundreds.'

Flashback Break

I looked at Elsa "no matter how many times I told myself that, I knew that life was only going to get harder." She looked at me slightly confused as I continued on "they were going to use every means to extract any information they could from me. Ha. Little did they know, I wasn't going to break so easy." Before I could continue Toothless entered the room and made his way over to me. "Hic, SOCOM is on the line. Cap says it's urgent." I nodded and turned to Elsa "Sorry to cut this short, but as you can see something has come up." She nodded at me "right, I'll let you tend to your business." With that said I made quick haste to the door and on my way out.

Toothless POV

I heard the tail end of the conversation Hiccup and Elsa were having when I walked in. I approached Elsa and picked up on the touchy subject. "I see he's telling you the story." She simply replied with a nod. After a moments pause I continued on "I can't really fill you in on what happened while he was in captivity. Simply because even I don't know all the details, but I can pick up the story from the time we received notification that he was alive…If you'd like that is." Her head shot to me as she replied with a quick "yes!" I felt a small smile grace my lips. 'She's completely head over heels for the poor man.' "Ok, let's have a seat and I'll try to continue where he left off.

Flashback Continued

I was flung from the cliff with my rifle in my hands as Hiccup turned to face certain death. I landed hard on my right side, and shot my gaze back to the ridge I just came from. I could make out the distinct sounds of Hiccup's rifle going off. I hopped to my feet clutching my weapon in my left arm. Shortly after standing up, the sounds of gun fire stopped. 'My worst fear has come to fruition it seems.' I took cover in some brush as I grabbed the handful of papers that cost my friend his life. 'What's so God damned important about these fucking papers?!' After a quick look I could see why Hiccup was so urgent to get them away from the enemy. 'We were fucking sold out?! And it cost Hiccup everything!'

It took a moment for me to calm myself, as I realized that what Hiccup did, was the best for all. I stuffed the papers back into my vest and looked to my watch. 'I need to make it to the exfil in the next hour or I'll be fucked and Hiccup's sacrifice will have been in vain.' I pulled the map from my pouch and got a quick bearing and desired heading. 'Good, I'm not far from the extract.' I decided to get a move on before the enemy could regather their bearings and come after me again. As soon as I began to move I tapped the radio attached to my neck.

I heard a small beep in my ear as joy rushed through me. Without a second thought I attempted to hail command. "Odin, this is Dragon two. Checkmate. I need immediate exfil. How copy?" My heart dropped a little as I heard static come back. 'Fuck! Come on!' "I say again, Odin this is Dragon two. Checkmate. I need exfil. How copy?" This time silence reached my ears. A few moments went by as nothing came back over the radio. Just when I was about to give up hope I heard a saving grace.

"Dragon two this is Raider five. Did I read right?" 'Raider? What are the Marines doing out this way? Fuck it.' "Raider five, Dragon two. Checkmate. I say again, checkmate." A moment passed when the pilot came back. "Copy Dragon two. We've got a full chalk. We can get you the jump, but it's gotta be fast." I sense of relief hit me as he spoke. "I copy Raider five. I will pop green to signal." He shot back once more "Copy Dragon two, but make it quick."

Ten minutes later I found myself at a large clearing with a decent amount of cover on all sides. I grabbed a green smoke marker and tossed it into the center of the clearing. "Raider five, Dragon two. Smoke popped." I got an immediate reply "Copy Dragon two, hold tight." Things went quiet after that as I hunkered down in a small foxhole. A few minutes passed by as I awaited the approach of my ride.

Finally, after what felt like forever, I heard the sound of rotors in the distance. Unfortunately, so did the group that was tailing me. Almost instantly, the sounds of gunfire rang across the clearing as rounds ricocheted off some small rocks in front of me. Without hesitation, I returned fire and radioed to my ride. "Raider five, the LZ is hot. Several tangos in the tree line to the East." I didn't wait for a reply as I continued to put fire down range.

Not long after my call, the helo made itself visible over the top of the tree line to the north. It made a pass as the gunners on both sides opened fire on the eastern tree line. They set themselves down, dropping the rear door in the process, as the gunners continued to suppress the enemy. I made a beeline into the chopper and made it aboard right as it touched down.

Flashback Ends

Elsa had a look of shock on her face as I wrapped up the first leg of my story. A gasp alerted me to another presence in the room. At some point Anna had made her way into the room. She may have been here the whole time, who knows? "Well Anna, why don't you come join us?" It sounded like a muffled curse came from the young woman. She made her way over to us from the opposite side of the room. Elsa looked at her sister with slight anger. Elsa spoke to her sister as she approached "how long have you been there?" Anna sheepishly rubbed her arms as she answered "uh….almost the whole time." I could tell Elsa was upset about that. Before the two could get into an argument I stepped in "well, what's done is done. I'm sure Hiccup would have told you his story regardless whether he knew you were there or not. And chances are, if I knew you were there then he did too."

I continued my story as the two women found their seats "Hiccup had been missing about a month and a half. We searched that mountain range for about 2 weeks before the search was called off. We all thought the worst had happened to him. That is until, about a month after he went missing, we received solid notification that he was alive. That day is burned into my mind…

Flashback

"Come on Sven, one more. Give me one more." I spoke as Sven repped out another press. "ARGHHH!" he yelled as he pressed on more out and racked the bar. "Thirteen, one more than yesterday." I said to him as I pulled him off the bench. He smiled as sweat poured down his face. "If I keep this up, I'll beat your record." I gave a chuckle as I spoke "only in your dreams." Before we could continue our banter Kristoff came running in. "You guys need to see this." He said as he walked over to the nearest television and flipped through a few channels.

The two of us looked at each other then back to Kristoff. I asked the question on both our minds "Kristoff, what's going on?" He didn't answer as he landed on the news channel he was looking for and turned to us. "This." I turned my attention to the television."

On it was a captured American solider with a bag over his head. "Shit, they got another one. I tired of this fucking scare tactic these fuckers use." Sven said with anger. It was at this point Meathead made his way over to the little group we had. Several marines in the weight room with us also tuned in to what was on. Many wearing faces of anger much like Sven. However, what really made our blood boil was what happened next.

As their "message" was being translated across the screen, they removed the bag from the head of the solider. I felt the air leave my lungs and a cold chill enter my body at what I saw. The bag revealed a face most of us thought we'd never see again. "HICCUP?!" Almost all of us said in unison. A few of the Marines who worked with us also were wearing shocked looks.

As I viewed the television I got a good look at Hiccup. He was beat to hell and sporting quite a few bruises. Blood leaked from his mouth and nose signifying his most recent beating, and one eye was almost swollen shut. His leg was in a crude splint just below the knee, obviously one he put on himself. I glanced at the text below as it scrolled across the bottom. It read 'this infidel refuses to tell us what we want to know, so maybe you will.'

The man on the screen identified himself as Pitch Black, then turned around to face Hiccup one more. "Drago." Pitch called out to a man just off the screen. "If he refuses once more, I want you to extract the information." The unknown man appeared just behind Hiccup and replied "with pleasure." A Marine in the gym spoke out "hey, I recognize him! He works for the CIA, he specializes in torture." The only thought going through all our heads at the moment was 'oh fuck.'

Pitch spoke to Hiccup now "now infidel, I want the name and location of the person who has my document." When Hiccup finally spoke it was with the voice of a broken man. "Henry Haddock, 364633722624." Pitch shook his head and spoke as he would to a child. "Now Henry, we've been over this. You know that's not what I want." This time Drago stepped up and spoke "enough Pitch. They're trained not to give up information. He'll just continue to repeat his name and ID number. Just let me do what I do best." Pitch spoke "very well Drago."

Pitch then stepped off to the side of the room as Drago took center stage. He spoke to Hiccup "this is your last chance Henry. Tell the man what he wants to know, or I'm going to have to hurt you…real bad." Once again Hiccup mumbled "Henry Haddock…" this time Drago spoke over him. "Ok Henry, have it your way." Drago produced Hiccup's combat knife from across his back. Drago then turned to the camera and spoke to all of us watching. "This is what happens when you fail to give me what I want."

He dragged the knife across Hiccup's chest creating a gash from collar bone to collar bone. Hiccup's face contorted in pain, but he did not yell out. Drago was unsatisfied with that reaction, so he took the knife and drove it straight into Hiccup's right shoulder. Once more, Hiccup's face showed extreme pain, but yet again he did not give in. It was easy to tell Drago's blood was boiling.

We all knew something worse was about to happen as Drago's face took on a sadistic smile. He kicked Hiccup's broken leg as he spoke "oh Henry, your leg seems to be causing you some pain. How about I take care of that for you." While still wearing his smile Drago crouched down next to Hiccup's leg.

Flashback Break

I had to pause for a second as the memory hit me like a freight train. Both the girls seemed to be lost in their own thoughts. 'I only hope they figure it out.' However, it seems my wish would not be fulfilled as Anna spoke up. "W-what happened next?" I could see the underlying fear in Elsa's eyes as she seemed to have put it together. It looked like she was just waiting conformation. I let out a sigh as I continued the story.

Flashback Continued

Drago tapped the back of the knife about three inches below Hiccup's left knee as he spoke. "This looks really painful Henry, it may even be infected. Let me help you with that." As soon as he said that he flipped the knife over in his hand. He began using the serrated edge of the blade to cut off Hiccup's leg. Slowly he sawed it like a woodworker would a simple log, smiling the whole time. We all stood there in shock as Hiccup's screams of pain echoed through the quite gym. Drago took five agonizing minutes to finish his "procedure".

As soon as he was done he grabbed the leg, looked at the two men toward the back of the room, and stuck the knife in the now severed leg. As the two others approached he spoke to them "don't allow him to die. I want to have a little more fun with him before I allow him the luxury." The two men dragged Hiccup off the screen as Drago turned around to face us once more. "Let's hope the next one you send us is just as…exciting." As soon as he said that he held the leg up, smirked, and then turned off the camera.

Flashback Ends

I didn't need to see the looks on the girl's faces to know that they were having a hard time processing what I just told them. I gave them a few minutes before Elsa spoke. "How did you find him?" "I'm glad you asked. It took us a moment, but we soon realized the 'ID number' he gave wasn't actually his ID number. It was a geographic coordinate. 36 degree 46'33"N by 72 degrees 26'24"E. That's close to the peak of the Lunkho e Dosare mountain range. It took no time to assemble a team for a search and rescue operation. When we finally recovered him his condition was even worse. It was a hell of a firefight to recover him, even between our seal team and the recon guys that accompanied us.

Another voice made itself known "I was never happier to see a familiar face than I was on that day." I saw both girls' heads snap toward the door as Hiccup walked through. Elsa shot up and gave him a hug, almost like she would lose him if she let go. I could hear a few chocked sobs as she held him. He returned the hug as he spoke "now now, I didn't mean to upset you. Anyhow, I think it's time for us to all get some rest. It's late and I know were all tired." I glanced at the clock and confirmed my suspicions oh shit, it's already 22?!

I agreed with him none the less "I think I'm going to hit my rack. Anna, care for me to walk you back to your room." She nodded her head as she spoke "I'd like that Toothless." As we exited I could see Hiccup and Elsa close behind, most likely walking toward her room. A silent walk by all parties lasted all the way up till we both reached our destinations. Anna bid me a farewell and made her way into her room to bed.

I heard Elsa's door shut behind me as I turned to face Hiccup. We made our back to our rooms as I brought up what was on my mind. "Hic, she really cares for you." He stayed silent for a moment, but right before I thought he wouldn't answer, he spoke. "You're right. I think the feeling is mutual." I didn't say anything as we finished the rest of our walk. I let him ponder the questions I know were plaguing his mind. When we made it to or respective doors I bid him a goodnight, and turned in.

End…for now