Hiccup returns to the Square of the village as a handful of men were propping up a stone statue of Alvin. The man was posed like Bork the Bold, a hammer in one hand, and his other shooting in the direction of the sky.
As Hiccup walks up, Alvin and Savage were conversing about the execution. Hiccup was about to leave them when Alvin's voice rings out.
"Ah! Hadrian!" he slaps a heavy hand on Hiccup's shoulder as he guides him to view the statue. "Come, come! You must see this statue. What do you think?"
You look like a piece of shit Hiccup thinks, but he clamps his hand over his mouth, shocked he'd even say that about his father. Even if it was in his head.
"You look fierce, father." Coincidentally, Hiccup got a bitter taste in his mouth as he pronounced father.
"Of course I do! I'm Alvin the Treacherous!" he boasts.
Well if you knew that, then why did you even bother to ask? Hiccup starts again as he hears the voice again.
He groans and scratches his head. Savage looks down and sees something peeking out from underneath his sleeve. Hiccup's hand turns and pulls on the sleeve, making it cover his hand. Savage's eyes drift back up to meet Hiccup's cold stone and defensive glare.
"Now, Hadrian," Alvin says, breaking their staring contest. "We were discussing, and since you've made me more proud than any father of a lethal killer, I've decided to have you join in on the execution."
Hiccup blinks as the news sink into his head. "Wha-what?" he stutters.
"I want you to join in on the execution of the old chief of Berk. Nothing would make me happier than to watch my son LOP off the head of my long rival." He states.
Hiccup ponders over this thought, and it doesn't give him the pleasure I'm sure he and Alvin both expected.
"Hadrian!" Alvin shouts to get his attention, and Hiccup jumps. "What do you say?"
"Nothing would make me happier, father." Hiccup says.
"Hmm," Alvin says, scratching his thick and crusty beard. "You seem different boy. Is something wrong?" Alvin asks, stepping closer to Hiccup until their noses are nearly touching.
"Nothing, father. I'm just really tired. I went to go ruff up the prisoners, and they're fighting made me drowsy."
"Really?" Alvin says, and Hiccup can tell that he only buys half of it. "Well, you're in pretty good shape for someone picked a fight with the old chief." Alvin points out, referring to how well and non bruised Hiccup looks.
"Who said it was the chief?" Hiccup snaps back and Alvin and Savage raise eyebrows in surprise. "That blonde girl seemed to be pretty rambunctious."
"Oh, you went for the girl?" Alvin asks.
"Yes, she lipped off and I, had to teach her a lesson." Hiccup says.
"Well, maybe she can produce a healthy heir if I ever decide to hand the throne over to you." Alvin says with a raspy laugh.
Suddenly Hiccup gets the sickest feeling in his stomach, knots tying, nausea rising. He didn't mean it like that at all. But the strangest thing is, should he have thought that?
No.
Alvin just has a sick mind. Then again, compare to what he did to Astrid the moment they arrived, and Hiccup can easily see why Alvin would think that. The sick feeling gets stronger until Hiccup's couching, afraid he'll vomit in a minute.
"Um, I've got to go. I'll see you at the arena." He says before he takes off running home with Toothless. At least he still had enough sense to run home rather than fly.
Alvin and Savage watch as he runs out of sight. "Did he seem off to you?" Alvin asks, clearly suspicious.
"Very, Alvin. And not only that, but he's wearing his sleeves lower than usual."
"What does that have to do with anything?" Alvin asks.
"Well, I saw something written on his hand, I couldn't tell what, but obviously it was something worth hiding since he pulled down his sleeve to obscure my view." Savage tells.
"Really? Well, we'll have to fix that. The boy could be coming to his senses."
Alvin snaps his fingers and the Changewing swoops up to his side. He barks as Alvin pats his snout.
"The boy's waking up. Go to him, and make sure that Hiccup stays Hadrian. I've come too far now to lose to that ninety pound boy. Now go!" he orders, and the dragon flies off to Hiccup's house. "That should do it."
Alvin looks to the horizon and he sees the sun setting, turning the sky turning into twilight as it bled into an orange and red blaze.
"Ah, sunset." He snaps again and two guards come up with savage. "Bring the prisoners to the arena. It's time." He says with a cruel smile.
The men nod and head for the dungeon.
Meanwhile, Stoick and the others have gone stealth as they sneak around the blacksmith's shop. Their weapons were hopefully left untouched, and then they needed to find Hiccup's house to talk to him.
Gobber was creeping around the corner closest to the fireplace, and saw only one guard on duty. He sneaks up behind him and covers his mouth. He drags the man back as quickly as he can. And while Stoick knocks the man out, Gobber goes and grabs the weapons.
He snatches Astrid's duel-bladed axe, swords for him and Stoick. He checks his perimeter and no one seemed to take notice. When he comes back, he hands the weapons out, but the others, besides Fishlegs complained about not having a weapon.
"You kids need to get you dragons. They'll be much better then weapons." Gobber explains.
"Well what about Astrid?" Snotlout points out.
"She's the only one I trust with a weapon." Gobber says bluntly.
He checks his perimeter again and ushers them forward. Stoick takes the lead as they a make their rendezvous to the arena.
Back at Hiccup's house, he'd just drawn himself a bath and changed into his Outcasts clothing when he hears a familiar hissing. Hiccup switches to a fighting stance and grips his hands into fists. He looks all around and out of hi peripherals, he sees his wall shift. He chucks a knife at it, and it moves, then the Changewing materializes in the middle of the room.
"What do you want?" Hiccup spits to it.
It hisses and Hiccup watches as its eyes swirl in a circle. Hiccup closes his eyes, but the urge to look overpowered him and he looks directly into the eyes of the dragon. Just as the dragons' eyes turned a deadly pale white, and sudden screech from outside breaks them both.
As the dragon's shaking his head, a sudden fury overtakes him and he punches the Changewing in the side of the jaw. It stumbles back and hisses.
"Never. Do that. Again." Hiccup says darkly through grit teeth. He then snatches the sheath of his sword from his nightstand and dashes out the door. The Changewing vanishes and slithers off back to Alvin.
Hiccup rushes through the Square, trying to get his thoughts together before meeting Alvin.
That was weird he thinks to himself. Why would the Changewing nearly attack me?
His thought was cut short as he approached the Square where he spotted Alvin and Savage outside of the blacksmith's shop. He hustles up just in time as a soldier was about to tell him what happened. He didn't look like either ones from the prison, which gave Hiccup a breath of relief.
"Ah, Hadrian. Just in time." Alvin says, and he turns to the soldier. "Talk."
The soldier flinches before speaking. "Well, we were headed to the prison on your orders, but when he arrived, we found the cells bare. No prisoners."
"What?!" Alvin screams in fury. He then takes the soldier by the collar and chucks into a wheelbarrow filled with apples. "What do you mean 'No prisoners'?!" Alvin demands to another soldier.
"They were gone, sir. They must've broken out." The soldier says.
Alvin growls in fury as he paces around in a circle. "I never should have trusted to leave the key in the hands of two idiots." He scratches his crusty beard. "Hadrian!" he commands.
Hiccup turns, eyes alert. "Yes father,"
"Gather up a brute squad and search the east of the island. I'll go and search the west." He orders. "We need to find those men and children."
"But why?" Hiccup protests. "Who's to say they didn't leave the island already? Off searching for help?"
"Oh believe me, they didn't leave. They're still here." Alvin says.
"What?" Hiccup asks. "What would make them stay here?" Hiccup asks with genuine curiosity.
"Just go and look for them. And when you find them, haul them to the arena." Alvin says before turning away. "Oh and Hadrian" Hiccup turns to him just in time to have a bow, a crossbow, and a sheath of twelve normal and crossbow arrows tossed to him. "Take these."
Hiccup nods, slings the bow and arrows over his shoulder, shifts so it fits smoothly against his spine, and clicks the crossbow against his side.
"Men! Let's move! We don't know how far they've gotten!" he commands and ten men gather around and file out with Hiccup in the lead.
Just as he turned around, the Changewing materializes next to Alvin. Alvin turns and looks at it. Something wasn't right.
"Something's not right." He states, and this catches Savage's attention.
"What is it sir?" he asks.
"The boy. Something's off." Alvin says as he turns to Savage. "Go with him, and keep a sharp eye out for him."
"Yes sir." Savage says before rushing off to catch up with the group.
The Changewing follows after Savage before vanishing into a stretch of grass.
Hiccup raced through the Plaza of the village, oblivious to the soldiers lagging behind him. Hiccup's speed was purely fueled by a rage that devoured all sympathy and any remorse feeling that even came close to relating to the Vikings.
If they didn't leave, I swear to Thor . . . ! He speaks in his head.
As Hiccup zips past the gigantic feeder, milliseconds after, a sword slashed out and the hilt slammed into the throat of the Outcasts behind him. Hiccup skid to a stop as Gobber stepped out from behind.
"Going somewhere?" he humorously asks. But as he finished his chuckle, an arrow whizzes by his nose, just missing the skin by a small pinch. It sticks to a wooden barrel by a nearby house.
He turns in time to block an oncoming attack from Hiccup's sword; aiming straight for his heart. He pushes him off, but Hiccup slides to a stop, his toes digging into the dirt to provide traction. He charges, sword raised and he and Gobber spared one more time before Stoick and the others emerged from their hiding places.
Hiccup kicks Gobber's feet out from under him, and when he lands, Hiccup points the tip of the blade inches from Gobber's nose.
"You're making me sorry I let you go!" he spits in a hushed whisper.
Hiccup hears a shift in the air currents and pulls his sword up near the right side of his head, blocking an oncoming stone. He looks to find Fishlegs and Astrid. The look on Hiccup's face made Fishlegs regret throwing the rock. Hiccup growls and Fishlegs runs screaming with his hand high, scattering the rocks in the air. Hiccup rushes toward them, leaving Gobber in the dirt.
He readies his sword as he notices Astrid' axe, poised and ready. As he goes for a high blow to the head, she blocks it using the middle of the handle on the axe. She thrusts him off and his whole foot barely made contact with the dirt before Hiccup pushes off his toes and launches himself into Astrid.
They slam into the dirt, not having time to see whose hurt worse as Hiccup spins his knife so the blades out. Astrid blocks his original place of stab which was her cheek and manages to knock him off slamming the end of her axe into his throat.
Hiccup stumbles back, propped on one knee, hand clasping his throat as he coughs and gaps trying to regain his breath. Astrid pushes herself to her feet and approaches Hiccup. But he instantly swerved up, slashing a sword with him. Astrid manages to dodge and roll away, giving her a few feet of space.
In an instant, Hiccup sheaths his sword and draws an arrow. He fires four total at Astrid, each barely missing her as she dodges. One managed to braise her cheek, creating a small cut and allowing blood to flow freely.
"It's only fun if you get a scar out of it!" Hiccup mocks.
Astrid is shocked over her words he repeated, but it was a mere pull in as Hiccup was suddenly in her face, and, grabbing her axe, he yanks her to the ground and pulls the axe free from her grip. It skids across the ground just like it did in the Cove when she first met Toothless.
Hiccup hears a struggle behind him and sees Savage taking on Gobber and Stoick challenging three men. The others were nowhere to be found.
"Men! Fall back! We need to head to the arena!" Hiccup orders, but Astrid needed to buy more time.
She'll just try her best to lead him in a chase away from the village, but she knew Hiccup was too smart for that, but it was the only thing she could think of.
She manages to crawl toward Hiccup, close enough where she springs up and grabs Hiccup's sword. "Hey!"
The two struggle to snatch the silver weapon, but Astrid never would've imagined the gain in muscles Hiccup obtained while with the Outcasts. She feels his leg slip between her thighs, but instead of severe pain, she felt his hands envelope hers and her body lifted and tossed over him.
As she's in the process of pushing into a push-up position, she sees the glare of silver above her and rolls to the side as Hiccup's sword came crashing down, searing into the ground. So hard Hiccup had to harshly yank a couple times before the ground surrendered the blade.
Once free, he lifts it and swings, but Astrid weaves out of the way and takes off running again. But Hiccup doesn't follow. Instead, he sheaths his sword and runs in the opposite direction.
"Onward men! We need to get to the arena!" Hiccup orders.
"No!" Astrid yells in return, but the men begin to run back.
As Astrid's about to run after them, an arrow barely misses her shoulder. Suddenly an ambush of arrows showers above them.
"Everyone take cover!" Stoick screams.
While the men continue to fire with their crossbows, Hiccup and Savage and two men rush off to the arena.
"We've got to stop them!" Astrid says as she hides behind an abandoned Outcasts shield.
"Already on it!" Gobber says, and Astrid watches as he pulls a small round ball out of his vest.
"What is that?!" Fishlegs yells across the field.
"Just watch!" Gobber says as he chucks it into the air.
It explodes like a firework, but sickly green smoke showers down and permeates the soldiers.
"Cover you mouths!" Gobber orders.
Everyone does and Gobber's the one to lead the Vikings through the smoke and away from the guards. Astrid manages to snatch her axe before they leave the fog of green and rush to the arena.
"We've got to get to the arena." Fishlegs says.
"I just hope Snotlout and the others made in time. It didn't take that long to fool Hiccup." Astrid says.
"Might as well measure us for caskets." Gobber says.
Hiccup had just broken through the Plaza as he finds Alvin in front of the blacksmith's shop. "Father!"
Alvin turns and sees Hiccup. "Ah, I trust you had better luck?" he asks seeing the dirt smears.
"Too good of luck." Hiccup snarls. "Father, we need to get to the arena." Hiccup says and Alvin's lips curl into a vicious grimace.
Snotlout and the twins had just picked the lock of the Stormfly's cage as the twins mount Barf and Belch.
"Okay, that should do it. Now all we have to do is . . . Duck!" Snotlout screams as an arrow comes straight for his helmet.
He ducks down slamming into the ground the twins look around baffled, but their distraction caused them to get their dragon roped by the neck. The Outcasts men yank and send the twins flying. They crash into two muscular Outcasts men who grip their arms in a viselike clutch.
Hiccup and Alvin fly in on the Changewing and Hiccup jumps off with an arrow ready. He points it to the dragons. "Get back! All of you!" he orders.
The dragons cry in fear and a high-pitched screeching catches everyone's attention. Toothless flies in through the open gate and lands at Hiccup's side. He roars and snarls and the dragons all back up.
"Well done Hadrian." Alvin says. "I knew I could count on you." Hiccup turns back to the dragon, his fingers all but decided to release the arrow. "Go on."Alvin encourages. Finish them off."
No! his insides scream. This is wrong! What about Astrid and the others? They'll be crushed!
"They had their chance." Hiccup says, swallowing the voice that somehow vocalizes within him. Thankfully no one heard him.
Hiccup squints his eyes, steadying his vision. His fingers red and raw from the pressure of the string. The dragons whine and cry in fear as the point of the arrow shifts from one to the either.
"Hiccup no!" Tuffnut begs. He looks back, but the soldier covers his mouth.
Hiccup turns back and the point of the arrow shifts to the Deadly Nadder, and she steps back and shifts from side to side. Fear swimming in her eyes, the same fear that Hiccup ahs so often seen in his prey.
But at the last minute, a voice rings out. "Hiccup stop!" It causes his aim to shift and the arrow misses Stormfly and sticks to the wooden bars of the cage.
Everyone turns to find Astrid and the others rushing into the arena. As Hiccup's aiming another arrow, he's suddenly slammed form the side by Stormfly's tail. He's slammed against the brick wall and sent sliding down the wall.
Gobber frees the Zippleback and twins. Once freed, the twins mount and fly off. Soon, Gobber and Alvin are sparring it out.
Toothless jumps on Stormfly's back and begins to claw.
"Toothless no!" Astrid cries, and suddenly he's blown off by a loud echo. Astrid looks to see Stoick and Tornado flying in.
Hiccup looks to Toothless, then Stoick. "No!" He screams.
He readies an arrow and fires at Tornado. Tornado dodges, but it throws him off balance. As Hiccup aims another, Astrid intervenes by slamming the back of her hand against the edge of the bow, sending the arrow flying in another direction.
"I'm sorry Hiccup!" she says before she uses her axe to knock the sword out of her hand and into her own. She lowers her axe, but points the sword toward Hiccup.
Hiccup manages to prop himself on his elbows as Stormfly blocks the other dragons and Vikings from view.
"I can't believe I actually trusted you." Hiccup spits to her.
"Hiccup, it's not what it looks like. . ." Astrid tries to convince him.
"I set you free, and you go and attack m family!" He scowls at her, the rage so strong Astrid takes a step back.
"Look, let's just talk." She says.
"No talk." He says holding up a hand to stop her. "Just do what you have to do."
Astrid stops and stares at the sword in her hand. "Hiccup, I can't." he cringes at the name. "I wish you could understand."
Hiccup's face softens for a moment, and his voice suddenly contains the gentleness she recognized. "Wow. I guess you're really. . . Weak!"
He spins and kicks her feet out from underneath her. The sword releasing from her hand, he jumps up and snatches it. Stormfly turns and receives a slash to the middle of her nose.
"No!" Astrid screams.
Hiccup steps close to her. "You're fast girl, but I'm just a little bit faster."
He raises his sword, but as he's about to swing, Hookfang and Snotlout swoop in and pick her up as the sword slices into the stone. Tornado and Meatlug air lift Stormfly.
"No!" Hiccup screams as he watches the dragons escape.
Once they're out of fire range for crossbows, Stoick orders to the twins. "Give us a firewall."
Barf breathes the gas and Hookfang slams the gate shut as the Outcasts try to flee the arena. The smoke floods in and fills every crack. Stoick and Astrid fly closer in on Tornado and see Hiccup covering his mouth with the collar of his sleeve, but it won't matter. He'll pass out soon.
Hiccup manages to see them through the smoke. He snarls and gives them the most terrifying death glare. Astrid mouths I'm sorry, but it only makes things worse. Hiccup chucks his sword in their direction as his last act of defiance as he passes out from the smoke.
It scratches against Tornado's stomach, but he stays level as they watch Hiccup fall to his knees and collapse.