Hello again! (About time too, maybe some of the "silent readers" are saying - but I can't quite know!)

So yeah, I've been called to do a short cosplay appearance, so of course my writing has been slowed down. Also, I've been assigned an internship (you know, I study, too...) and even if I'm not starting it anytime soon, well, you've been warned.

Warning - there are mentions of electric shock. It's not much, but if there are some really young readers, well, I've warned you. I'm trying my best to make this story reader-friendly for most (and believe me, it's hard not to make the characters swear!)

Oh, by the way, from this chapter on there will be different POVs - but mostly, they will be the ones of the three main characters.

Questions I haven't been asked but to which I'll answer anyway:

- this story will cover movie 1 and 2 timeline, but the plot won't necessarily stick to them.

- I've put Shay Cormac from Assassin's Creed Rogue as a "guest character" because there are many references to Vikings in that game, even if we don't actually see them. He's a character I don't like, but I needed someone to act annoying and it was too soon for Eret. Also, more guest characters are Achilles Davenport and Hope Jensen from the same game, Miguel from Road to El Dorado, the Hamada brothers, and... well, you'll see. Some will have minor appearances or mere mentions, others will be more needed.

Chapter 4

Fight and Flight

They were annoying days for me, seriously. I tried my best to tell Hayden everything, but when it came to the worst parts I couldn't help recalling the event and turning into a full dragon – now I knew – out of fear.

Eventually, though, Hayden started recognizing the signals and he started trying to keep me speaking for longer and longer.

"… and he grabbed my hair and he had this cattle prod…" Toothless was trying to say, but he was stuttering more and more often, and his words turned to growls. It was the fifth time that Thursday afternoon, and Hayden would have said he was getting annoyed if he didn't know his friend couldn't really help it. He was afraid of the mere memory.

Cattle prods had to hurt. Hayden had seen a criminal getting tased – and he had actually seen a taser from a close distance. He had no doubt those things hurt – cattle prods weren't even designed for humans, what could they do to a child?

"Do you want to stop?" Hayden asked. He had listened to Toothless talking about his several failed escape attempts, and the punishment – fasting, beating, the cattle prod – his torturers had inflicted on him. He could really understand why he was so jumpy, why even remembering made him afraid.

Toothless shook his head to say no, then he took a deep breath and sank his fingers in the ground.

"Have to… finish…" he panted. "It hurt… but it didn't…"

"Huh?" Hayden pulled a face. He didn't quite understand what his friend meant.

"It was a trick," Toothless bit his lip the best he could. "They… wanted to see… how far could I get. After the prod… I heard them talking. He's the one, they said. Take the special vial, they said."

"Oh…"

Hayden didn't know what to say. In that day and the previous one, he had heard his friend talking about his escape attempts, all the times he had tried to get away, seemingly with no difficulty, only to be caught again an inch away from freedom. It had had to be a shock, finding out it all had been a test to prove something.

"Whatever they put in me, it was different from the other kids," Toothless took a deep breath and explained. "I think they wanted a clever one for this. I kept hearing them saying that they wouldn't have wasted the best on any dimwitted urchin."

Hayden felt for his friend. He could feel the discomfort in his voice. The anger. He had been turned into something against his will, and they had literally tested his intelligence offering him a false escape.

"And then they got this electric clipper and ta-da, most of my hair is on the ground," Toothless ran a hand through his hair and made a sardonic grin. "Next thing I know, they hook me up to an IV and when they released me, I felt so sick I thought I had been given poison."

"Couldn't you try to…?" Hayden tried to ask. "I mean, stop them from doing that?"

"They still had the cattle prod, they threatened me with it all the time," Toothless sighed. "So I was in my cell again, with the other boy near me, the ginger beanpole, and they leave me and take him. After that, I don't know for how long I stayed on the floor, but I felt like…"

He stopped talking, his eyes turned completely green, and the scales on his hands started taking over his arms, covering his clothes. His arms and legs thickened into paws, his face became a snout, and there he was, a full dragon again.

He looked at Hayden and made a sorrowful growl.

"If that was a sorry…" Hayden hinted at a sad grin. "You don't have to apologize. I mean, you probably thought you were about to die, didn't you?"

Toothless nodded.

"I'm sorry, bud," Hayden approached his friend and put a hand on his neck. "I should have stopped you. This… whoever did this to you, they have to pay. And they will, I promise. I'll help you through this. We'll show 'em."

He hugged his newest – and probably, best – friend and held him tight, as he returned the hug the best he could, using a paw and his wings.

He still didn't know how they would have done it – he was pretty sure he would have started tilting at windmills, just like Astrid – but this was serious.

And he was sure as Hell he would have even bet his life to solve that mystery.

"And you should have seen the battle, the triumph…" Mr. Mildew was declaiming to the small, bored class, as the six eight-graders yawned, their notes forgotten, as their Maths teacher told with his very nasal voice about the war he had been in.

"Sir, that war had never a real victor," Fish…, um, Hayden meant Francis, intervened from his desk. Mr. Mildew "diplomatically" chose to ignore him. In the back of the room, Tuffnut made hacking noises to pretend to throw up.

Hayden normally liked Maths, but his teacher was plain boring, if not even annoying. He was one of the war veterans of Berk and very proud of it, and used every chance he had to tell some triumphal episode of the war, of the good old times "before he was stuck in that damned island to explain equations to a bunch of donkeys". Hayden could understand now… why Astrid kept saying what they did was useless… it was a mere waste of time listening to the old badger's tales when there were terrorists – Red Death collective, Toothless had called them – on ships around the Archipelago, kidnapping orphans and turning them into dragons for who knew what reason.

He pulled out his cellphone and opened the web browser. What Toothless had told him – or tried to tell him before he lost his voice reeds, at least – in the previous week had been a lot, despite the dragon boy had not spoken as much as he had wanted to.

There were other children who had been mutated, and Toothless had given Hayden brief descriptions of their former appearances, so Hayden had decided to Google all the news of missing orphans and see if some of them matched.

He had a suspicion about that – he just needed to know if he had gotten it right.

He entered "missing orphan child" in the search app and set the search on "pictures".

A series of pictures, portraying smiling children, appeared on the touchscreen. The pictures were several, and they all looked quite recent.

Hugh Franco, age 15. Living on the streets of Boston, disappearance signaled by a local priest. Red hair, long nose, grey eyes, about 6 ft 2 in tall… that matched the description Toothless had made of a gangly red-haired boy who had snapped several times at him during his stay on the kidnappers' ship – because they were on a ship, that was their ace up their sleeves. They never stayed in the same place for long.

Other pictures matched other descriptions – a toddler in a green onesie, a preteen girl in martial arts attire, a pair of identical twin boys in swimming costumes with matching scars on their midsection, a somewhat chubby girl with a round face and glasses…

… and there he was, the Archipelago's latest missing person case, Thomas Fury.

Hayden had absent-mindedly seen that picture a lot of times. It pictured a normal boy, with ear-length, messy black hair, green eyes – just like him, front teeth so big he looked funny, and wearing a black t-shirt and a bright red neckerchief, like a gunslinger or GaMERCaT. He was grinning.

Just to think the goofball in that picture now was probably locked somewhere, scared out of his wits, starving maybe, or perhaps even dead…

… or in a certain cove.

It could fit. Toothless had said he knew Astrid. Astrid had left an angry red circular mark on Thomas Fury's face, the year before, during a dodgeball game.

Toothless had mentioned his age, thirteen. The same age of the missing boy. Black hair, maybe shorter, but his hair was definitely black. And he had mentioned they had clipped his hair before the injection.

Also, Thomas had had big front teeth in the picture, but Toothless had… well, lost them, and he had explicitly mentioned someone had knocked them off.

He needed to get out of there. Immediately. He had to talk to Toothless – or maybe Thomas – and find out the truth.

He would have done something to run out of the class, but Gobber would have known – whatever he did. The school and the town were small enough for news to reach every ear in no time. He reluctantly put the phone away and pretended to be interested in the lesson, hoping that the lunch break bell rang soon.

As soon as the bell rang, he quickly picked up his stuff, rushed out of the classroom and on to the cafeteria, he bought his lunch, found a secluded spot and opened his cell phone again.

He opened one of the snapshots he had taken of Toothless in the previous days, at a point in which he looked the most human, then he googled "Thomas Nathan Fury"… just to be sure. He opened a facial recognition app and submitted his picture and the results of the search.

They matched.

"Hayden?"

He almost fell off his seat when he looked up and he found Astrid Hofferson standing two steps away from him and staring.

"Astrid!" he almost squeaked, then he tried to assume a less concerned façade, closed the app on his phone, pocketed it, and focused on his lunch. "What's wrong?"

"I don't normally care what people do," Astrid tapped her foot on the ground. "But you're acting weird."

"And so?" Hayden rolled his eyes, then looked down and stuffed two fries in his mouth, doing his best to ignore his classmate. "I was sure you already thought I was."

"Well, weirder," the girl pointed out. "Mildew is half crazy, we all know that. But you texting in class? I thought it would have been a cold day in Hell before you did it."

"Just leave me alone." Hayden tried his best to sound grumpy, but he knew he would have never been a good actor. And he knew by experience that Astrid wouldn't have left before she found out what was happening.

Instead of leaving, Astrid sat in front of him and looked in his eyes.

"I want to know what's going on," she said. "One day you're desperate to get everyone's attention. Look at me I'm going to win the science fair. Look at me, I signed in the cycling team. Now you're ignoring everyone, you disappear every afternoon, and it just looks like you're living on your own cloud!"

"Well, now you know how I felt looking at you when we were kids," Hayden pulled a face.

"You don't know how it feels, not being believed." Astrid clenched a fist.

Oh, I do, Hayden thought. He had been ignored for ten years – he never felt good enough.

"Well, if you're really in a pinch, why don't you ask for help, for a start?" Hayden shrugged. "I'm helping someone who asked me for it. Someone really in trouble. Now, if that doesn't answer your question, that's all you'll hear from me for now."

"You won't help anyone being stuck here eating fries and fish sticks. Or texting in Mr. Mildew's class."

Ooops. Checkmate.

"School ends at three. But we could get out of here sooner." Astrid raised three fingers, then she closed her fist. "Now, the question is… is it more important to keep your secret, or to get out of there and do something?"

Hayden looked down, dropped his fork and sighed. If "Toothless" was really Thomas… if Astrid knew him… if Astrid could help…

… if she wasn't just trying to play by her own rules and try to use them both to get to her own ends…

"Last school year, you left your mark on Thomas Fury's face during a game of dodgeball. Or so I saw on the school's Youtube channel," Hayden mumbled. "Would you be able to recognize him if you saw him again, if you heard his voice or something?"

"Hayden, Thomas is…"

"Gone, I know," Hayden smirked, then he opened his cell phone. "But I think he's hiding on this island."

Astrid looked at Toothless's picture with eyes wide open in disbelief, then she took the phone from Hayden's hands and looked more closely. Her jaw almost dropped when she saw the dirty clothes, clipped hair, missing teeth, the abnormal ears and the patches of scales on his face.

"What happened to him?"

"Are you going to help me?" Hayden snatched his cell phone back.

"I'm coming with you." Astrid stood up and grinned.

"Good. Do you have any paper bags or something?" Hayden stood up in turn and looked at the tray.

"Seriously, the cafeteria food? I didn't think you could like it so much."

"It's not for me." Hayden looked in his backpack for anything he could use to carry the food away. He found a crumpled paper bag in his backpack and emptied the contents of his plate, then he shoved the untouched orange juice pack in his pocket. "Now what?"

"You signed up for the science fair, didn't you?" Astrid asked him as he picked up his backpack.

"Yes, but…" Hayden didn't quite have the courage to tell her he still didn't know what to do. He had the materials… but he didn't have an idea good enough to beat Hiro.

"Well, you just got yourself a coworker," Astrid punched his shoulder and led him out of the canteen. "So, what are we working on?"

Hayden ran a hand through his hair. She obviously wanted to tell a teacher they were going to do some research on their own for a science project. So, what kind of project could they develop that might need some outdoor research?

It needed to be something that could easily cover staying out of the town with a kid that could turn into a dragon… of course…!

It would have been a difficult project, he couldn't deny it – different from his usual backfiring gizmos. But it sounded interesting, and with the right equations and experiments, it could have really been something.

"Flight." Hayden smirked.

It wasn't hard, convincing Mr. Hoark to give them a written permission to get out of school, but still, Hayden felt a little bad for skipping Mr. Miguel's music class.

He kept telling himself it was for the greater good – he liked playing the guitar every now and then, but if Toothless was really Thomas, then going out mattered more.

"So, where are we going now?" Astrid arrived at the promontory of Raven Point and pulled the brakes. Hayden stopped next to her.

"Well, the place is a cove," he stuttered. "It's a lot like, well, my own secret place. Toothless found it when I was training."

"Training for what?" the blonde-haired girl asked him. Hayden tapped the handlebars of his bike and smirked.

"I know the way. Follow me."

They zoomed on the country dirt track until a roar distracted them. They both pulled the brakes, Hayden stopping a few yards away from Astrid, and it was then the black dragon landed and faced Astrid with a snarl.

"Oh man…" Hayden couldn't help rolling his eyes. If Toothless hadn't managed to turn back after almost a day, he had to be pretty nervous. He tossed his bike aside and ran between the two, raising his hands to gesture them both to stop.

"No! It's okay… it's okay…" he panted. "She's a friend…"

He turned his look from Toothless to Astrid, and they both were staring at him in disbelief. He wished he could actually understand his part-dragon friend right now. Having to explain was loads easier when the person he was speaking to could reply.

"I think you scared him." Hayden looked at Astrid and shrugged.

"I scared him?" Astrid, still holding the handlebars, raised an eyebrow and panted. "Who is him?"

Hayden hinted at a sad grin and shrugged.

"Astrid, Toothless. Toothless, Astrid. Now please, calm down, both of you. I can explain, and I'd rather do it when we all can have a say in the matter."

He snorted and kicked the dirt with a foot, then he squeezed his eyes for a moment. He had to do it – to be sure. It was the only way to prove Astrid he wasn't lying… but what if they had gotten it wrong?

"And when I say we all, I say we all…" he stared at Toothless and hinted at a grin. "Right, Thomas?"

I think I was about to crap my pants. Or, well, the pants I didn't have, at that moment. And the worst thing was that I couldn't explain anything. The situation was worse than a dog biting its own tail!

Writing was out of the question – it would have taken too long to explain and there wasn't enough dirt to write everything. Speaking was out of the question too – I was too scared to turn back.

"Okay… I got this, I got this!" Hayden raised a hand again and hinted at a grin.

Thomas didn't really know what was his idea, but he hoped it was a good one.

He turned to Astrid.

"Ask him a question!" he said. "Something that can only have yes or no for an answer!"

Astrid pulled a face – she never looked happy to do something, that one – then she looked at him.

"Are you two telling me we can have a conversation like this?" she asked, with doubt in her voice. Thomas could smell even fear on her.

He nodded, and for good measure he said: "Yes!". Maybe if those two memorized the sounds, the conversations wouldn't be so one-sided.

Astrid smirked, then she stayed quiet for a moment.

"Have we ended up into the Chronicles of Narnia?"

Thomas shook his head in denial, but then he couldn't help bursting into laughter. Seriously, that was funny. Of all the things he had thought of himself, it had never crossed his mind he had gotten the Eustace Scrubb treatment, minus the bracelet and swollen arm.

Some of the fear he was feeling was faded… and he could almost see that he no longer had four digits on each paw, but five. Apparently, even Hayden had noticed it, because he grinned and said: "How do you think the unthinkable? With an itheberg!"

He knew Hayden was making fun of his lisp, too, but that was funny indeed. And it worked, he was getting smaller!

"Come on, Astrid, another!" Hayden was almost skipping on the ground. "Told you he's scared… or he was, at least!"

"Uhmmm…" Astrid mumbled. "There's a soldier sitting on a bus, the bus stops, a general jumps on and the soldier stands up and salutes. The general is all like 'son, sit down, you don't need to'. After several stops, the soldier stands up again, and the general tells him 'please, my boy, sit down!'. And so on for three more. At the fourth, the soldier stands up, the general complains, and the soldier bursts out 'Sir, I had to get off the bus!'"

That was funny… but as soon as he could stand on two feet, Thomas noticed that Astrid was more sad than amused.

"What's wrong?" As it seemed Hayden had noticed that, too, because he was standing next to her.

"Uncle Finn," she explained with a small grin. "He always told me that joke to make me laugh."

Thomas looked at those two, and couldn't help grinning. It looked like he had gotten it right, Hayden was in love. And probably Astrid returned it.

He cleared his throat.

"Uhm, maybe Hiccup here didn't tell you," Thomas said, relieved to be able to speak. "But he has a deal with me. He helps me to take care of those who did this to me. And I'll help him to find out what happened to the kidnapped scientists and their guard ten years ago."

Hayden's face instantly turned red, and Thomas couldn't help laughing again. This was so amusing. He finally understood why Hiro Hamada found so funny teasing his older brother about girls – it was priceless.

Then, something felt off with his back, and he almost lost balance. He reached behind himself – something felt definitely off, as if he had just let go something heavy. No wings. No tail. He reached up to his ears, and they were back to normal size.

"Hiccup! Astrid! Look!" he burst out with a grin.

They turned to him – Hayden was the first to approach him, he patted his shoulders and pulled him into a hug.

"Did you really have to pull my leg to turn back to this?" he smirked.

Thomas grinned.

"Come on, you can't deny it helped! Sometimes it won't hurt to sacrifice for the greater good!"

Astrid picked up her bike, then she approached him, too.

"So it's really you," she said. "Hiccup wasn't telling lies."

"Hey!" Hayden complained loudly. "Come on, let's go to the cove. We have much to talk about."

He was about to lead the way, but then a noise coming from his pocket made him freeze on the spot. He quickly reached for his cell phone and opened the call.

"Uhm… yeah? Hi Dad!" he said, and he quickly started smelling of fear. Thomas recognized, coming from the phone, the voice of Officer Stewart.

"Gobber just told me you're not in your class. What's happening?"

"Nothing, Dad… Astrid and I…" Hayden stuttered. "We're allowed outside. We're working on a science project about the physics of flight…"

"For the science fair?"

"Yeah… yeah, the science fair at Lee Island. We're working together this time. What about you? Any…" Hayden's gaze stopped on Thomas and his face turned a nasty shade of green. "… findings?"

"Nothing much… but whoever threw that bike in the sea, they must have at least a boat. We have to check all the naval traffic, so we're moving to the coast guard offices at Lee Island. Know what? I'll see you there. I'll be there for your science fair."

"Okay… bye Dad… bye…" He ended the call and pocketed the phone. "I'm dead! Now we really have to do the report, and do it well too!" Hayden then told Astrid. "He's coming to the science fair."

Astrid rolled her eyes.

"Okay… my fault." She made a sad grin. "Next time we do this, I'll have to think of a better plan."

As they started discussing on how to start their work, Thomas scratched his chin and started thinking. So they were doing a project on flight… and they were going to take it to Lee Island.

"Excuse me guys," he intervened. "As you're talking about flight, why don't we kill two birds with one stone? The science fair is going to draw a lot of people to the archipelago – and we already know Stoick the Va… I mean, Officer Stewart, sorry Hayden, that's how kids call him down at Lee, didn't mean to make fun of your old man… will be there. We need a place and a chance to expose the terrorists who did me this. If you win, and get called on stage, you will be holding the microphone and even if half the room won't believe you…"

"The other half will!" Hayden grinned. "But Thomas, you forgot one thing… Hiro and Tadashi always win."

"You forgot one thing, Hiccup," Thomas pointed at himself. "So, you're making a project on flight, aren't you? I guess you might need some first-hand experience…"

I would have never imagined "Fearless" Astrid Hofferson could scream that much.