Hiccup had the upmost trouble sleeping that night. He sat for hours, crouched at his bedside, staring blankly at the splintery wooden floor. The candle that was on the nightstand provided the only light. The glow was warm, and buttery as Hiccup traced his fingers over the back of his hand.
Strangely, with the Berk Crest on his hand, he felt a little better about, well everything.
Something about it eased his guilt, his confusion, and overall it helped him think. And yet, all these reasons were left unexplained, but he was grateful.
Somehow Hiccup knew that if he got more into it, he'd just get more confused about where his loyalties lie, and his life world just get even more torn apart.
"It's funny," he says out loud. It catches Toothless' attention and his ears perk up in attention. "When I came here, I was so sure of who I was." Hiccup says.
Toothless gets up from his spot on the floor and makes his way over to Hiccup.
"But now, I'm having strange hallucinations, I recognize people I claim I don't know, and I don't even know who I am anymore." He goes on.
Toothless croaks in reply. "I mean, look at this! This is the symbol of my enemy, and I've written it on the one place where I and everyone can see it!" he tells the dragon, suddenly getting worked up.
Suddenly Hiccup realizes the predicament he's created. "Oh crap!" he says.
The Crest.
Everyone will see, even his father. What will he do? What will he say if they find it? Of course he hadn't really thought about the whole thing since he just did it on an impulse rampage.
Hiccup peers down to his hand, and the tip of the crest peeks out from his point of view. He brings his hand closer and just stares at it. He pushes himself up onto his bed. The thumb of his left hand brushing over the skin.
"What's happening to me?" he asks.
As if someone's shadow had just settled on his house, the entire feel of it had completely shifted. Hiccup felt more lonely and alone by the minute. He curled up on his bed and rested his head on his pillow. A cool breeze that creeped in form outside shivered him down his spine.
Hiccup tries to change his thoughts as he let the wind blow out the candle, surrendering the room into complete darkness. A new moon being shunned behind dark gray clouds manages to peek into his skylight. As Hiccup stared out, he couldn't help but feel like the moon.
Feeling as if something so beautiful and exquisite was being blocked by something dark and scornful. That something that could be refuge was just out of his reach. Out of sight, but still in mind. Hiccup brought his hand forward and stared at the Crest.
A cruel wanting eating away at his insides. Wanting to remember.
Something inside him begged him to go back to the prison. But he couldn't. Hiccup tries to make himself feel better by using logic on why not to go back. If people find out he's been visiting them, they'll think he's plotting with them.
But the main reason is because of the confusion and emotions that constantly flood him whenever he sees them. Like the feeling of barbed wire coiling around is head, then having it pulled tighter and tighter.
Somehow, Hiccup manages to sleep it off and wakes up the next morning around high noon. He blinks a couple times before sitting up in his bed. He stretches and moans. He looks to his nightstand and finds a folded note. He takes it and flips it open.
Execution tonight. Don't be late. From Alvin.
Hiccup sighed as he set the note aside. He looked to the double doors of his closet and saw his clothes he invaded the first day. All clean and draped over the doors. He dressed in less than a minute and after some fidgeting, he walks downstairs and comes to find a warm breakfast of eggs and yak milk.
The eggs were still warm, and the yak milk fresh and cold. Hiccup takes them without question and leaves the house after snatching the sheath of his sword. He comes to find Toothless already in the Square, feasting on a whicker basket full of fish.
"Hey Toothless," Hiccup calls, only to be hit hard with a flashback of when he was back in to Cove, feeding Toothless a whicker basket of fish, and a smoked eel which he had to dispose of.
He holds his head for moment as his throbbing temple hammered him from the inside. When he blinked his eyes open, he finds big green eyes staring at him with worry.
"I, I'm okay bud." Another throb.
Since when did I ever call him bud? He thinks to himself.
He walks around the village unsure where to do. He decides to head to the Hall. Bounding up the stone steps, he looks out to the village. Everything seems normal, apart from the Outcasts strolling through the village.
He opens the heavy door and looks to see Alvin, Savage and several other Outcasts gathered around the fire pit. Hiccup stops, no one has noticed him yet, and just stares.
Déjà vu. He says.
A quick, painless flash blinds his eyes, and for a moment, Alvin and the others have changed into Stoick, Gobber and several other Vikings. They only turned to him and looked at him for a brief second before the memory was gone with another flash.
Hiccup shook his head and looked at the gathering of men, Alvin and the others were now present. Alvin notices Hiccup and motions him over without a word. Hiccup walks over and settles on a wooden bench on a table outside the circle of men.
"Now, as you all know," Alvin begins. "the executions begins at sunset. And Stoick gets the first trial. Now the prisoners will, of course, be resistant, and that's where you come in Hadrian."
Hiccup looks up in surprise at the mention of his name. "Huh?"
"You will personally lead the prisoners to the arena where we will proceed with the execution."
"Oh, yeah. Sure." He says.
Alvin raises an eyebrow and walks over to Hiccup as he lazily stirs his fish stew a random chef served him. Alvin slams his palm on the table and Hiccup stars wide-eyed for a moment from the surprise and looks up.
"Is everything okay, Hadrian?" he asks.
Before he answers, Hiccup manages to pull down his sleeve over his hand without Alvin knowing, and says, "I'm fine, father. I just didn't sleep well."
At least that wasn't a lie.
Alvin seemed to buy his story, that or he was too busy to worry about Hiccup's problems enough to realize something was up.
"Well, just don't be late. Understood?" He says.
"Crystal." Hiccup snaps. He stares straight into Alvin's eyes to make his point clear. "I'm going for a walk." He says, and then he stands up from his seat and exits the hall.
He walks down the steps and meets Toothless at the end and walks through the village. When he somehow reaches the outside, he wanders into the forest. He walks for a few minutes before another flash surprises him.
He holds his head and closes his eyes. They were becoming more frequent, but less painful. Guess that's the only silver lining. His vision was in the air. He looks around, then steeply dips down and flies through an archway of rocks, seagulls flying above, the salty-sea air permeating his nose.
In a bright flash, the scene was over and Hiccup's left baffled. He turns to Toothless who only purrs in happiness. Hiccup stares for a moment, and then ever so slowly raises his hand. Toothless leans away for a moment, before something hits him. And Hiccup could see it in his eyes.
He was remembering something too.
Toothless blinks a couple times before slowly moving his snout toward Hiccup's palm. This was weird. It was like they were meeting each other for the first time. Once Toothless' snout touches Hiccup's palm, another flash blinds them both.
They're back at the Cove, and Toothless had drawn some freaky sketch in the dirt after watching Hiccup draw him in the dirt. Hiccup had stepped over the lines to avoid getting snarled at, and nearly bumped into Toothless.
He stepped away and just stared at the Night Fury. He slowly stretched out his palm, but the dragon grimaced at him and Hiccup withdrawals. Hiccup tried again, but ducks his head down and extends his hand. There was no growling, and when the Night Fury touches his hand, the memory's over.
Toothless and Hiccup jump back and stare at each other intensely. They stay frozen like this, wondering what had just happened.
"You saw it too?" Hiccup asks Toothless, though feeling stupid for asking a dragon. As if he would understand him.
But when Toothless barked, Hiccup looked to him and felt his face go white.
"You, did you. . ." The question dissolves in his mouth. But Toothless nods.
Every hair on Hiccup's arms stands on end. He slowly approaches the dragon, and the dragon doesn't step back. Hiccup looks at the Night Fury and makes his way around his side. A saddle, that Hiccup is baffled he never noticed, is strapped to the dragons' back.
Hiccup takes a deep breath. "This is completely ridiculous but . . ." he looks to Toothless and he seemed to be seeking the same thing.
He slowly turned to the side and Hiccup approached as if it had teeth. He looks to the stirrups and sees one was modified.
"How did I not see this?" he asks.
He circles around to the normal stirrup and places his foot in and secures the strap. When he swings his leg around, he hears a click and looks down to see his other foot had clicked into place. And yet it frees with ease.
He fidgets his foot and he hears flapping behind him. Both he and Toothless notice the other half of Toothless' tail moving. He looks down and meet's Toothless' curious gaze. With his hands shaking slightly, he grips the saddle. He looks around and sees a drop off just up ahead.
"Are we really . . . ?" he doesn't finish.
He looks ahead and suddenly, his vision flashes to him taking off over and over again. Different places and different ways. He's falling, and he sees Toothless falling with him.
He blinks a couple times, and stares ahead. With a sudden adrenalin and urgency driving him, he tells Toothless, "Let's go!"
And Toothless charges.
Once they jump off the cliff, as if by reflex, he adjusts his foot and the flap opens and they're soaring in the air. They circle around, they dip down, and they do acrobatics. And the whole time, Hiccup's . . . smiling.
He's . . . laughing.
There's a freedom that takes over and he flies around and around the forest and dives down to hover over the ocean surface. He touches clouds and smells the salt of the sea. The wind searing through his hair and just an overall feeling of freedom.
Hiccup blinks for a moment before detaching his leg and carefully balances before pushing off Toothless, doing a flip and the two diving down towards the earth. They meet each other's gaze and Toothless presses a paw to Hiccup, sending him spinning in a circle.
They swerve and Hiccup presses his leg into place.
As they fly over the village, Hiccup's envisions a flash of Berk at night, with Astrid. The flash hits Hiccup like a ten sacks of hardened flour. He holds his head, fingers entangled in his hair.
Suddenly, it's as if something had just woken up from a long and painful slumber inside Hiccup. He blinks, and he finds himself hovering over the Great Hall.
"What just . . . ?" he trails off.
A strong feeling was overpowering his senses. The senses he claims to have known for forever.
We need to get to the prison
He startles himself and looks around. As if someone had just whispered in his ear. He could feel a vibration travel through his chest. Like it was from inside him.
This feeling, it was against his normal protocol, but he had to do this.
"Okay bud we've gotta go." He tells Toothless and he steers them toward the prison.
Gobber had tried the ninety-eighth key on the third ring and it was a fail just like all the others.
"Okay, we're getting close. I can feel it." He says.
"Gobber, you said that on the seventy-sixth key." Fishlegs protests.
"I know. But this'll work, I know it." He says, and everyone could tell he was at his breaking point with the keys.
Outside, Hiccup lands Toothless out of sight, hops off and then walks up to the prison gates. Two guards are posted, holding spears and looking rather drowsy.
There's his chance.
Hiccup fixes his clothes and hair before approaching the guards. The guards notice him coming, and actually straighten their poses. Hiccup smiles at the power he holds over them as he walks up.
"Men," he states.
"Sir Hadrian." One guard says
"What can we do for you?" the other finishes.
"I've just gotten word from my father, and he wants you all in the Great Hall. Immediately." He says.
"But, sir, we've were given orders from Alvin to guard the prisoners." The guard on then left says.
"Are you disobeying me?" he threatens, pulling out a knife he kept in the belt of his tunic.
The men tense and stand even straighter, the bones in their spine form a perfect straight line. "No, no sir. We didn't say that."
"So you think I'm a liar?!" Hiccup says, his tone increasing, hoping the guards think he's getting worked up.
"No sir." The guard on the right says, fear swimming in his eyes.
"Then, Get. To. The. Hall." He says through clenched teeth. He spins his knife and sheaths it in his belt once again. "Dismissed."
The men nod and are about to take off when Hiccup stops them. "Wait!" and they literally freeze in their place. "I'll need the keys for the cells."
"Why, sir?" the guard asks.
"Alvin said I could rough them up before the execution." Hiccup says with a recognizable sly smile.
The guard returns his devious smile and hands him a single, charcoal black antique key. Small rusted spots are sprinkled on the middle and small dents and kinks in the end show it's been used a lot.
Hiccup watches as the men rush down the hill and disappear behind a building. Hiccup pushes through the opening gates and makes his way into the prison.
Gobber had just picked the last key. "Okay, this is the last one. This has to be it." He says.
"Well, it's not." Hiccup's voice echoes down the aisle of the cells, and through the walls of the prison.
Everyone jumps and Gobber rushes to hide the three rings off keys that jingle loudly in the prison even when he's trying to put them away. Hiccup makes his way to his cell and Gobber smiles nervously and chuckles.
"There's only one key for your cells." Hiccup says and dangles the black key on his pointer finger. A smug smile on his lips. "Those are for the others on the other side of the prisons."
Gobber frowns and the Terrible Terror pops up from behind his shoulder and squeaks. Gobber tries to smack the dragon down, but the things avoids his hand and even slips in between the bars and crawls toward Hiccup's feet.
When he purrs against his leg, Hiccup's doesn't kick him away. Instead, he stares at the dragon.
"Why are you here?" Gobber asks, but there was no offense in his tone.
Hiccup shakes his head before remembering his mission. "Oh right."
And he goes and inserts the key into the lock of Stoick and Gobber's cell. Everyone else stands and approaches the front of their cell in curiosity and shock.
"Wh - what are you doing?" Stoick asks.
Hiccup looks his in the eyes while the tumbler grinds in the lock. "I've managed to get rid of the guards, so you should have time to find a boat and get out of here." He says avoiding Stoick's question.
"Hiccup, what are you doing?" Astrid repeats.
"What's it look like? I'm saving your butts." He snaps as the latch unlocks and pulls the door open. He then moves to Snotlout and the twins' cell.
"But why?" Gobber asks. And Hiccup groans in annoyance.
"Look, I don't know what you've people have done to me, but for some bizarre and frankly stupid reason," he pauses as the cell door opens and moves to Astrid and Fishlegs.
He unlocks it with skillful hands and pulls the door wide open. "But I can't let them kill you."
He looks Stoick straight in the eyes when he says this. Everyone files out of their cells a Hiccup heads for the main door. He checks through a small natural peephole and still no one has come.
"But what about the other prisoners?" Stoick asks.
"They'll be fine. You're the only ones Alvin wanted to execute." Hiccup confirms. "Now go, they'll be back."
He turns around in time for Astrid wraps her arms around his neck in a tight hug. But her reunion didn't last long. "Whoa, hey, what are you doing?" he asks as he shoves her off.
She steps back a little surprised. "Uh, I was just . . ." she trails off. Her hope diminishing.
"I may have freed you, but my loyalties still lie with the Outcasts." He says, stabbing her hope with in the center.
"But Hiccup," Fishlegs starts.
"Don't 'Hiccup' me. I don't even know what I'm doing. And stop calling me that!" he snaps. "This was simply out of pity. So congrats, you've managed to find feeling in the remorseless Hadrian." Hiccup says.
Stoick looks to him with hurt eyes at the sight of his son. Even when he's trying to be good, the evil that attaches to him is still in control.
"Now, buzz off. The execution will be starting and o doubt the guards will be back." he informs, suddenly taking on the role of a Commander. "Your dragons are locked in the arena so you're gonna have to find another way out on your own."
As he's talking, Astrid looks at him and her eyes trail down to his hand where she can see the Berk Crest. As if her body has put her on automatic, she walks over and takes his hand. She surprises him, but he doesn't pull away.
She turns his hand and the full view of the Crest covers the entire back of his hand. Astrid has worked with Hiccup long enough to at least recognize the skill of his handwriting. The style of the Crest was made with the man penmanship and steady hand Hiccup did for the dragons in the Book.
Astrid looks to him and his eyes seemed warmer compared to the stone cold feeling they gave off. A warmer green, like emerald, borders his pupils while the cool jade color fills the rest.
"You can't come with us?" she asks, but her tone was as if begging him to come with.
"I can't." he says disappointed, turning his stare away from her, and she drops his hand.
"Why?" Stoick asks.
Hiccup looks to him. "Because once the guards see that you've escaped, I need to be somewhere else so they don't think it was my fault." He says. "Now get going and don't follow me."
He opens up the door and the sunlight blinds them all for a moment. As Astrid walks near the door, Hiccup comes up behind her. Her spine tingles, but she turns around.
"And don't make me regret this." He says pointing to her, his pointer finger touching her chest, just over her heart.
Then he dashes off down the hill, leaving them all behind, stunned.
"What just happened?" Fishlegs asks.
"Hiccup saved us." Astrid answers.
"Well, for now." Snotlout interjects.
"Okay, let's go." Stoick orders.
Astrid turns to him in shock. "What? Where?"
"Off of Berk until we can find help." He informs.
"No!" Astrid protests.
This time Stoick was the one who was shocked. "What?"
Astrid knows it's beyond disrespectful to talk back to the chief, but she didn't care, for now. "We're not leaving without Hiccup." She declares.
"Astrid, Hiccup's done all he can without getting into trouble. We need to go now." Stoick says.
"No, we can't. Hiccup saved us. He's breaking free. Are we just going to leave now while he's so close to breaking free?" she protests.
Stoick's left without words as he ponders over the thought.
Gobber chimes in, "Look Astrid, we don't have much time before the guards find us, and possibly connect Hiccup to our break out."
"Then we'd better hurry." She snaps.
Gobber looks to Stoick and he looks to Gobber.
"But what about what Hiccup said about setting us free?" Fishlegs asks. "If he finds out we didn't leave, he'll probably be more furious than ever."
"And he won't trust us anymore." Gobber adds.
"Look, Hiccup had the Berk Crest on his hand." She says, and everyone looks to her in shock. "He did it himself. I know it. I-it's like he's breaking free, but something's holding him back."
"Like Alvin and the Changewing." Fishlegs finishes.
"He needs our help. It's like he's practically crying out for us to help him!" she says.
"Well that's a pretty quiet call." Snotlout interjects and Astrid slams her fist into his gut.
While he collapses on the ground trying to catch his breath, Stoick ponders over Astrid's pleading conversation.
"Stoick . . . ?" Gobber asks, cautiously stepping closer to his friend.
There's a moment of silence before Stoick turns to the group of Vikings. His eyes flick to Astrid before a smile comes across his lips.
"Vikings, let's save my son."