Breaking Point
NOTE: this fic contains mature subject mature, extreme violence, torture and gay sexual content. Stop now and do not read if you do not like. Will contain spoilers to the latest season of Dragons: Race to the Edge.
The last few months had been hard on Hiccup and his mind was still a whirl as he tried to come to terms with everything that had happened. He had sort of become used to having Dagur back and the chaos that followed the Berserker chief, after all he had pretty much grown up dealing with Dagur's particular form of crazy but he had never dealt with anyone like Viggo or Ryker and while that bothered him it wasn't nearly as bad as the series of secrets kept by the one person he had always thought he could count on. For weeks he had tried to tell himself he was okay with Astrid keeping the fact that Heather was working undercover and spying on the Dragon Hunters from the inside but the truth was that he wasn't okay. He wasn't okay with Astrid keeping such important secrets from him. He wasn't okay with someone he cared about putting themselves in such a dangerous situation. Heather had come very close to getting herself killed and had taken off after escaping, yet to reveal anything she had learned except for what little she had told Astrid and him while she was still undercover. No one knew where she was now or if she was even alive and that didn't bode well on Hiccup's already anxious mind. He berated himself constantly for not pulling her out when he did learn the truth. If he had he might still of the Dragon Eye now rather than losing it to Viggo. Now she was Thor knew where and Hiccup was back to worrying over her safety. If the Hunters caught her no one would know until it was too late and after the obvious threat Viggo had given when he left Hiccup the game of Maces and Talons made it clear the Hunters would kill her.
All these things weighed heavily on his mind as he lay across Toothless's back, his fingers absently tracing patterns over ebony scales as the Nightfury glided lazily through the sky. They had decided to take a late night flight, waiting until the other riders and dragons were tucked into bed and sound asleep before slipping away. Hiccup needed time away from the Edge, or more precisely, Astrid. He loved her, he always would but he just couldn't get over being lied to. If it was a little lie he could understand but something that meant life or death for a friend, for Heather, well that was a little more than he could handle. Sure Heather was a wild card and it was hard to predict what she would do but she was still a friend and someone Hiccup had come to care very dearly for.
His eyes closed of their own accord, exhaustion tugging at his mind and he absently wondered how long he and Toothless had been flying. One moment it felt only like a few minutes, others if felt like hours. Perhaps it was time to turn around and head back to the Edge and get some proper sleep. No doubt Toothless was getting tired as well even if the dragon gave no sign of it. Still, he couldn't bring himself to ask his best friend to take them home yet. Instead he lay there silently and gazed up at the stars once more, the sky void of clouds.
The sound of a distressed dragon broke him out of his thoughts and he slowly turned his head in the direction of the sound. Toothless warbled, concern evident in his voice.
"Yeah, I heard it, too, bud," Hiccup answered, sitting up and sliding the mechanism that kept Toothless's prosthetic tail fin stationary so he could glide back into place and thrusting his own metal foot into the stirrup that controlled the tail. "What do you think, check it out? Someone's obviously in trouble down there."
Toothless warbled a warning before giving a nod.
Hiccup gripped the handles to the saddle and leaned forward, letting Toothless take the lead and track down the distressed dragon, relying on the Nightfury's superior senses to find it while he kept an eye on the water below for possible Hunter or Berserker ships. Other than a distant merchant ship there was nothing within miles. A tightness in Hiccup chest seemed to ease, something he hadn't really noticed until then. Rescuing injured dragons was something he was good at, fighting Hunters…not so much it would seem.
They landed on a small island filled with vegetation, tall trees and rolling hills. A virtual dragon paradise and Hiccup made a note to one day bring the riders to visit it. It was beautiful, a near mirror to Dragons Edge when many wild dragons roaming around freely. That is all but one. A new dragon Hiccup had never seen before lay on its side, whining loudly as it clawed the ground trying to get up. Hiccup felt a pang of empathy for the poor creature. Having only one leg himself and often struggling when his prosthetic was either broken or out of reach gave him a certain understanding toward others suffering from similar injuries.
He climbed off Toothless and rummaged through his saddle bag before slowly approaching the injured animal. Toothless gave a warble of warning and sniffed the air, not liking the situation one bit or letting his human approach strange dragons but Hiccup waved him off. He hated seeing any creature in pain. "Hey there…easy…easy. It's okay, I'm not going to hurt you," he said soothingly, speaking in Dragonese in hopes to keep the dragon calm. He silently wished he had brought his flight wings with him. They had worked great at calming those wild Nadders and showing he wasn't one of the Hunters – who would no doubt happily attack this island and take all the dragons.
The dragon tried pulling away from him, trying to escape and not quite understanding at first, frightened by a human speaking its mother tongue but Hiccup was patient and waited for it to calm as he noted some of the injuries. The poor thing had come in contact with the Hunters judging by the gashes and lesions on its body yet somehow escaped. "It's okay, big guy. I'm just going to help clean those up so you can heal properly, okay? Then I'll splint that leg and you'll be good to go." He moved cautiously forward and let the dragon sniff him before gently placing his hand on the dragon's snout when it finally let him. "There we go. That's a good…" He glanced at the dragon underside. "…boy. That's a good boy. There we go." Very slowly and gently he began working on the creature, a little bit of his confidence coming back in the act of caring for an injured animal. It was something he excelled at, taking care of those who could not care for themselves, like back when Toothless lost half his tailfin and Hiccup had to build a new one and bring him food and generally care for him even when the Nightfury didn't want him to. It gave him purpose.
He was humming softly to himself when he heard Toothless warble behind him. "Just a few more minutes, bud," he told his dragon as he tied the dressing, securing the wooden splint in place. There was another warble from Toothless and then silence. Hiccup didn't think much of it first, his mind completely occupied with what he was doing that he didn't even hear the soft ping of arrows or the thump of his dragon slumping to the ground. All he heard was the soft whimpers of the dragon he was treating.
"I thought Dragonese was outlawed in the Archipelago," a low voice purred from somewhere to Hiccup's left, causing the young man to jump in surprise and the dragon he was caring for the snarl and lash out. "A very rare gift indeed."
Hiccup gave a gasp as a rogue claw caught his arm but he ignored the pain and spun around to face a strike team of Dragon Hunters, Viggo Grimborn and his brother Ryker at the lead. It was a trap, Hiccup quickly realized, both surprised and mentally kicking himself in the ass for not suspecting it. He gaze shifted to Toothless. His beloved dragon was lying on the grass, three dragon root tipped arrows sticking out of him. "Toothless!" he gasped, berating himself even more for not picking up on the cues his dragon had been trying to give him.
Viggo hummed to himself as he glanced at the bound Nightfury. Toothless whined as he was muzzled and forced into a cage. "Ah…your dragon's fate depends entirely on you, Hiccup Haddock the Third. Or is it Hiccup HORRENDOUS Haddock the Third?"
"What does it matter?" Hiccup countered, his gaze never leaving Toothless, his mind racing as he tried to figure a way to escape.
"Surprisingly a lot," Viggo purred, moving slowly toward Hiccup with a pleasant smile that was deceiving.
Hiccup took a step back and automatically reached for his sword. But he hadn't brought one with him. He and Toothless were only supposed to out for a late night flight not stumbling into a battle. A large hand caught his wrist and he was yanked away from Viggo to look up at Ryker's towering form. Oh man, Hiccup should have known if one brother was there the other wasn't far behind. For the longest time Ryker was the one that frightened Hiccup but while Ryker was tall and menacing he was just another brute compared to Viggo intellect.
Nonetheless Ryker grinned down at Hiccup, his grip on the boy's wrist bruising with an underlining threat of broken bones should Hiccup try to break free. "This time you're going to be our guest for considerably longer, Haddock. There will be no dragons saving you this time."
"Brother, there's no need to frighten the boy. Hiccup is our guest," Viggo said soothingly but the look he gave Hiccup was anything but soothing and unnerved Hiccup as they had the first time they met when Hiccup thought he was saving Heather. Those dark eyes bore into Hiccup's, making him step into Ryker and almost surely breaking his wrist in the process. Ryker's other hand clamped down on Hiccup's shoulder, keeping him still as Viggo inspected him, taking the first really good look at the youth. "He'll be staying with us for a very long time."