Okay, everyone….Here is where the story is going to start getting interesting. You are going to see some explanations as to how Hiccup ended up the way he did.

One reviewer said that it was not necessary to describe what happened to him during his attack. I would argue it would because of a future chapter that has been planned. Everything pieces together eventually. I should have apologized in advance for the fight scene. I know not everyone likes blood. Keep in mind this is my first time posting anything up. I am learning the dos and don't of Fanfiction

Also, guys, consider who "the stone" is in this story. It is Astrid. She IS falling apart because of Hiccup's considion.

And again, I chose Eret to be the one that Astrid choses to help because how I see him as being more of a private person to keep the village at piece.

"Stop it!" Leave him alone!" Hiccup yelled from the chair of which he was restrained to. He tried to pull himself away, but the pain sheared up his shoulder. He began to see stars in front of his eyes, so he stopped, not wanting to pass out again.

"Or what, Hiccup?" Dagur. In his hand he was holding an iron poker. He shoved it into the fire for a moment, then turned to Toothless. "I bet you would love to kill me right here, right now, wouldn't you Hiccup?"

Hiccup glared at the Berzerker hard. If only he could escape his chair. Hiccup knew it would be a hard fight, and he would probably lose again. But, it would help release his anger.

He knew Dagur was right. Without Tootless he was a weak man. If Toothless had been free, they would have been on their way home long beforehand. He needed to get Toothless free, and get home. The question was, how, considering the saddle gears were broken.

"I don't think you have it in you to kill me, anyways," Dagur said, grunting. "Some chief you are." He turned and walked away from Hiccup, and started tossing the poker around the goal again for a little while. Other than the crackling of the fire, no other noises were heard.

As Dagur closed in near Toothless's leg with the hot pole again, Toothless tail whipped around and pushed Dagur into a wall filled with welding equipment. A bucket of water fell to the floor.

"Stupid dragon!" Dagur screamed as he stood back up. He sighed. He then turned his attention over to Hiccup. "Well, threatening your dragon doesn't seem to intimidate you any." He smiled evilly.

The neck lining in Hiccup's shirt was beginning to soak from the blood from his head wound from the earlier struggle. Dagur had never had Hiccup so vulnerable. He felt empowered! Usually Hiccup's gang wasn't too far behind, helping Hiccup dodge his attacks. There was nothing around them to stop him.

"So, Hiccup, have you changed your mind yet on that saddle?" I mean, it's not going to be a whole lot of work. In fact, if you fix it, I'll let you go. I'll let you take a boat home. Heck, you might get lucky and find a Skulldren to help you out to sea." He laughed at his own amusement.

We have been through this, Dagur," Hiccup said. "If I make you that saddle to ride Toothless, he won't let you ride him. "I don't understand why I have to keep repeating myself over and over again to you."

"He will let me ride him, Hiccup," Dagur said, waving his poker around again. "Especially if you are out of the picture!" He dropped the poker and reached for a different hot iron. This one was shaped like a small circle, about two inches in radius. "Untie him, now!"

Fear hit Hiccup. He was approached by another Berzerker, who began to untie his binds. The man stopped, and turned to another man who was in the shadows.

"Why aren't you helping me?" he said.

After a moment's pause, both the men were untying him. Dagur then grabbed what was left of Hiccup's shirt and threw him against the same wall he had before. He felt his head connect again, immediately starting a splitting headache. He fell to the ground again, and was barely able to keep conscious.

"I might not be able to kill you—yet, Hiccup. I need that saddle. But, I can sure do my best to convince you to get the job done sooner—"

Suddenly, he felt the neck of the back of his shirt choke him before he felt the shirt rip. Then, something hot pressed against his left lower hip, making him scream.

Astrid heard Hiccup screaming violently upstairs from the kitchen. She had just finished her little bit of lunch before she heard the violent yell.

"Hiccup!" she yelled, rushing up the stairs to their bedroom.

His fever had been very low-grade over the last several hours. He had been moved back to their bed, and after his chills had still been non-existent, she and Valka had felt comfortable enough to leave him alone to have some lunch.

Astrid found him in their bed thrashing. When she sat down beside him, he had rolled over into her, thrashing violently under his blankets.

"Hiccup—Hiccup, wake up!" Astrid pleaded with him.

"Get it off!" he cried. "Toothless—"

Toothless had approached the bed. Astrid could see that the dragon was more alarmed than he had been since they had arrived home. Something wasn't right. Toothless knew something was very wrong.

"Hiccup—" Valka had sat down on the other side of him.

It wasn't a moment later, Hiccup darted up out of bed so quickly, he leaned forward, pushed Astrid away from him. She fell sideways off the bed, and he lost his balance and fell on top of her.

When Astrid sat up, quickly getting over the initial shock, she pulled Hiccup to her, hugging him tightly. She whispered in his ear gently. "I'm here—Nothing is going to hurt you." He thrashed again. "Easy, easy. You are home, Hiccup."

She reached her hand to the back of his neck, and started turning a lock of his hair around in her fingers, and suddenly he stopped thrashing against her hold. Instead, he was sobbing.

"Easy," Astrid said to him quietly. She began rubbing is back gently. After a few moments, he pulled away from her. Leaning back, he found support on the back of the bed. Astrid put her forearm in front of him to try to stabilize him so he didn't topple and lose balance. She looked at him, and he was looking at her. Really looking at her. His eyes were bloodshot, tears were streaming down his face. But, they had made eye contact.

"A-Astrid," he said quietly.

She nodded and smiled weakly at him. Finally, he was conscious. She reached her hand up to his face; he had an alarmed expression. She paused a moment, and held her hand out to him, just as he did with a dragon he was attempting to train. She closed her eyes and let out the deep breath she had been holding. She reached out and touched his cheek gently.

His body relaxed with her gesture, and he opened his eyes and looked at her again.

"Astrid," he said, relief showing in his voice. She really was in front of him. He had made it home.

She leaned forward and placed her head against his forehead. He was sweaty. She hoped this meant his fever was breaking more. He still didn't feel near as warm as he had hours ago.

"It hurts," he said quietly.

"I know. Let's get you back into bed. You'll feel better."

As Astrid helped him back into bed, that was when she noticed the scab on his hip. It was perfectly round. She touched it gently, and Hiccup winced when she did.

"Hiccup—"

"That's—that's—" Hiccup was shaking, but his thoughts were collecting. He knew that was where Dagur had caused the pain, the worst pain over the dislocated shoulder. He suddenly felt the need to not alarm Astrid. "It's okay."

"Hiccup—"

"O—Okay," he breathed, shaking his head at her. He wanted her to drop the subject. "I'm okay."

Astrid turned to Valka, who had stood at the end of the bed, observing. "What does this look like to you, Mom?"

"No—Astrid—" Hiccup became a little alarmed. He didn't want the extra attention on himself.

"Stop it," she told him sternly, and took his hand, squeezing it tightly.

Valka looked at the scab. She hadn't thought anything of it earlier. But after looking at it again, she knew what had caused it. Her heart ached realizing someone had been personally torturing her son.

"It isn't infected," she said to Astrid. She could sense Hiccup's worry. "We won't worry about it right now."

Hiccup leaned back into his pillows and took in some deep breaths, letting them escape. His mind became conscious of how congested and sore he felt. He was trying to stay calm. He also did not want to worry Astrid or his mother more than he already had.

Valka moved closer to Hiccup, pulling the blankets up over him. She rubbed his face with her hand, and he leaned into her touch gently.

"Hiccup, can you tell us what happened?" Valka asked him.

He looked at her for a moment, trying to process what she had just asked of him. He turned away, immediately looking for Toothless. He saw him, and reached his hand out to his dragon's snout. He rubbed it gently, and listened to Toothless coo at him.

"How—how did we get back?" Hiccup asked.

"What do you mean?" Valka asked.

"How—did we get back home? We couldn't have—no—we couldn't have flown back here."

"You didn't," Astrid said. Hiccup's confused expression in regards to his thoughts was almost as hard as watching him lay unconscious. "You both were in a sail boat."

"What do you remember?" Valka asked him.

Hiccup leaned back against his pillows and closed his eyes. For a moment, they thought he had fallen asleep, until he spoke. "We were shot down by a net. Ambushed on Outcast Island. I—we fell. I woke up—" He paused. "Toothless's tail was broken—"

"What else?" Valka asked him.

Hiccup turned and looked at her. His mouth was slightly opened. His brain felt slow. But, he was able to think. He closed his eyes, and remembered bits and pieces. He had woken up after the hot iron had pressed against his back. He wasn't able to move. Someone was standing over him, arguing.

"Once he wake up, he had better fix the saddle."

"Dagur, this is not going to make him work for you any faster. If the man doesn't want to fix the saddle, then you need to come up with another way," said a second voice.

"Oh, he will. I'll get that dragon, and then I will have Berke!"

Hiccup felt something cold press against his hip. He had winced, then blacked out.

"He—he's after Toothless. And the island," Hiccup said.

"Who—"

"Dagur, Astrid—" He sighed. "I wish he would just give up by now."

Astrid noticed he was shaking again, and pulled the blanket up to his neck. She turned to Valka, who sat with her hand to her chin, lost in thought.

"Hiccup," Valka said after a moment. "Do you remember how you escaped?"

The chief shook his head slightly. "I don't—I don't remember much from being in the tunnels on Outcast Island to here."

The trio sat in silence for a few moments. The only noises that could be heard were the crackling of the fire and Hiccup's slight labored breathing. He had fallen asleep again.

Eret came through the door right as dawn was approaching. He let himself inside, and leaned back against the door, gently closing it behind him. Valka was sitting at the kitchen table, nursing a cup of tea in her hands.

He looked at her for a moment. The dark circles under her eyes had gotten darker since he had been over yesterday evening. It appeared as though she didn't get any sleep at all.

The distance yells upstairs told him why. Valka winced when they started, and went to get up and head upstairs. But, a few seconds later they calmed, and she sat back down at the table again. Her hands ended up on her temples. Her head was throbbing due to lack of sleep and stress.

"Are things not getting any better?" Eret asked her, as he took a seat across from her at the table.

"He's coherent, I think. He still has a lingering fever. The nightmares are beginning to keep him awake."

"Nightmares?"

"From what we can gather is that Dagur escaped his prison on Outcast Island, took it over, and took Hiccup and Toothless prisoner. That's why he didn't come home."

Hiccup screamed again suddenly. Eret assumed Astrid was upstairs with him, trying to calm him down.

"May I?" Eret asked Valka.

She nodded, and the two parted and headed up the stairs together.

Eret entered the room first. From the shadows of the fire he could see Hiccup sitting up on the edge of the bed, wrapped in a blanket. His knees were drawn to his chest, and his head was down. Astrid was rubbing the back of his neck gently with a cool rag, trying to help draw out his lingering fever. Eret could see that she was also exhausted. Toothless was lying on his stone slab. He must have known Astrid would be there for him so Toothless wasn't hovering.

Hiccup wasn't making eye contact with anyone, he seemed to be studying a particular nail in the floor boards. Keeping is eyes focused, keeping his mind centered on a particular spot. Coping technique Eret had used himself during times of great stress.

Eret crouched down in front of Hiccup, doing his best to make eye contact with him, but Hiccup barely moved his eyes, continuing his blank stare.

"Hey, mate," Eret said to him quietly. Eret felt as though he might have been talking to a child. He had not seen Hiccup so vulnerable, even when his father passed away.

Hiccup closed his eyes after a moment, and a small smile escaped him. "How are you, Eret."

"Afraid I am doing better than you are…lad," he said. He reached up and touched Hiccup's forehead. His gentle gaze became slightly serious. "Where's that broth at?" he asked.

Astrid reached over to the table and handed a small bowl to Eret. He sipped a little bit of it himself, tasting the horrid stuff Gothi had concocted up, trying not to show how horrid it actually was. It was missing something.

"Valka, add some additional peppermint to his broth. I don't think Gothi put enough into it."

"That'll keep him even more alert, though," Astrid said. "He needs—"

"If we can break his fever, I think he will get better rest. Would you rather nurse a fever the rest of the day, or part of the day? The sooner we break this, I think he will get some sleep."

"I trust your judgment, Eret," Valka said to him, and turned to go down the stairs to get the broth ready.

Suddenly, Hiccup gave a loud cry and jolted. Eret had just realized he had fallen asleep for a moment. Astrid wrapped her arms around him, whispering in his ear.

"I know you are exhausted, Hiccup."

"I—I don't want to—sleep—"

"You do, just not with these nightmares," Eret said gently. He reached for the cloth in Astrid's hand, dipped it in the bucket of water beside the bed. He rang it out, then laid it directly on the back to Hiccup's neck. "Take in some deep breaths, and relax, okay mate?"

Hiccup nodded.

Shortly after Valka returned with the broth, she made Hiccup drink a whole half cup of it, even though he fought her. He gagged a little bit on the broth, but was able to swallow it.

"Now, we wait and see," Eret said quietly. He felt a gentle push on his side, and he turned and met eye to eye with Toothless. He could tell the dragon was telling him "thank you." He gave Toothless a gentle nod.

An hour later, Hiccup's fever began to break again. He finally leaned back against Astrid and fell asleep in her arms. Both were thankful for another few hours of uninterrupted sleep.