When Hiccup woke that morning to the sound of banging on the door to his room, he shook his head, running his fingers through his hair. He'd wound up sleeping between his dragons, head resting on Toothless's middle with Fenrir's head draped over his lap, and it had honestly been the best sleep he'd had in a long while. With a small grunt, he pushed Fenrir off his lap, giving her a scratch behind the spines before he yawned, getting up as the knocking became more insistent.

"I'm coming I'm coming. Hold your dragons." Toothless grumbled at the knocking, opening one eye as his rider stood before he curled his tail around himself, fanning his remaining fin over his face as Fenrir trilled sleepily where she'd been pushed off, shaking her head as she uncurled herself to watch curiously. Hiccup opened the door, raising an eyebrow at the guard. "What?" he snapped, causing the man to cringe a little.

"A-apologies, your most hideousness, but Alvin wants you in the kill ring with, er..." When the guard glanced around the boy to see if the dragons were in his room, Hiccup followed his gaze, turning his head to look before glancing back at him. The guard straightened himself, coughing into his hand. "I-immediately."

"Tell my father I'll be there soon then." Without waiting for a reply, he stepped away and slammed the door in the man's face. With a small groan, Hiccup leaned against the door, placing a hand to his face. He didn't want to see his father so soon after last night, but if he didn't go there'd be consequences to be had. Slowly, the boy pushed himself away from the wood of the door, starting to pick up clothing from where he'd tossed it to the side before going to sleep last night. "Sorry, guys, doesn't look like there'll be any time for fishing this morning."

Fenrir and Toothless shared a look before they turned their heads back to their rider, watching him dress in his armor. With a great shake of his head, Toothless stood and lumbered over, pressing his nose into the high point of Hiccup's back after the boy slid his chainmail over his head. He glanced over his shoulder at the Night Fury, remembering last night and how his dragons had wrapped themselves around him protectively. Biting his bottom lip, he shook his head, grabbing his shoulder guards and sliding them on as he started to mutter to himself.

"I am an Outcast. I am an Outcast."

Astrid gave a wince at the sound of the Monstrous Nightmare's roar as she was shoved into the kill ring by the guard who had come to hers and Fishlegs's cell, reaching up to rub at her shoulder as the gate closed behind her. Now this was a familiar situation. An entire kill ring to herself with only a Nightmare for company, though this one wasn't as calm as Hookfang had been. The guards had given up on trying to keep it under control, if anything was obvious by the way rope was tied around its neck.

Glancing up at the Outcasts surrounding the ring, looking on with interest, she pursed her lips together when she couldn't see Hiccup, watching Fishlegs be brought to the bars, no doubt so he could watch her nearly get eaten by the dragon. He raised his hand to his mouth, biting his thumb, and he nearly jumped out of his skin when Hiccup appeared next to him. Watching the Outcast heir nod the guards away, she watched the two boys interact before she felt the air warm up around her.

The Nightmare coming at her, she dodged to the left, narrowly avoiding the teeth that threatened to snap her in two. Astrid jumped back away from the fire that was blasted her way, holding her hand out in front of her. "Why couldn't it have been a Nadder?" she muttered to herself as the Nightmare blinked at her in confusion, head tilting to the side at the sight of the open palm. It sniffed the air curiously before it reared back, snarl curling its upper lip.

So much for that idea.

Hiccup draped his arm over Fishlegs's shoulder as the two boys watched Astrid do another run around the ring, just narrowly dodging attempts at her life had she not been so nimble. Hiccup hummed to himself, feeling the blonde boy tremble a little - whether in nerves or otherwise, he didn't know. He clapped his hand against Fishlegs's collarbone when Astrid leaped on the Nightmare's neck and wrestled it to the ground horns-first, calming it instantly. "She really does know everything about dragons."

"Oh no." Fishlegs shook his head, watching the way Astrid kept the Nightmare pinned for a moment before she let go, dusting her hands off. "That one she learned from Snotlout. It's the only thing that'll calm Hookfang down." There was silence between them as they watched her hold her hand out now, the Nightmare sniffing at it curiously before it nudged its muzzle up into her palm. He glanced out the corner of his eye at Hiccup, pursing his lips together. "I can't believe you lied to her again."

Hiccup rolled his eyes as he leaned away from the other boy, rolling his shoulders. The other Outcasts around the ring were too busy watching with awe as the Nightmare inclined its neck for Astrid, blinking slitted but wide eyes up at her. "I didn't lie to her, you moron," he hissed, narrowing green eyes at Fishlegs. "I made a mistake and I intend to fix it."

Fishlegs raised an eyebrow before he realized there was something different about Hiccup compared to when he'd last seen him. There was a lighter air about him, and he didn't really seem as imposing as he had the night he'd appeared behind him while he was stargazing. "Which is the real you, Hiccup?" At the questioning look, he continued, voice remaining low between them. "You've built up so many lies, so many personas. Which is the real you?"

He glanced away from Fishlegs at the question, focusing instead on watching Astrid tame the Nightmare down from its raging fury, his brow furrowed as he rolled the question over in his head. After a moment or two of silence he crossed his arms over his chest, scowl deepening. "I'm the heir to the Outcast tribe. That's the real me."

"I don't believe that somehow." Fishlegs turned his attention back at the ring, not noticing the look Hiccup gave him before the Nightmare was taken away and Astrid prepared herself for the next dragon. There was a rumble underneath them, causing both boys to reach out and take hold of the cage railing in front of them. The blonde's eyes widened when the next dragon revealed itself. "The Whispering Death...we've never seen one of those! She won't know how to deal with it!" He reached for Hiccup's arm, shaking it. "You have to stop it! Otherwise Astrid could get killed!"

"Then she'll get killed," Hiccup growled, pulling his arm free of the larger boy's grasp, but even as he said that, he turned his eyes towards the kill ring, watching as she waited, biting his bottom lip as the Whispering Death sniffed the air, nostrils flaring. He sucked in a breath at the same time as just about everyone did, watching as Astrid slipped a foot towards it, crouched, her hand held out. The Whispering Death took another whiff of air before it opened its mouth, revealing thousands of razor sharp teeth and it lunged for Astrid but missed, instead burrowing into the earth. Both boys watched on as rocks flew up, the dragon creating a myriad of tunnels underneath and causing Astrid to turn around, watching as the ground was torn up. "What's it doing?"

"The Whispering Death is a dragon that tunnels under its victims, where it traps them in a maze," Fishlegs responded, biting his thumb nail as Astrid dodged the rotound dragon as it came up before it dived again, tail wriggling down after it. "The victim can get lost for hours, weeks at a time." He noticed Hiccup staring at him out the corner of his eye and turned his head, frowning when he saw the look on his face. "Weren't you the one who said 'then she'll get killed'?"

Both vikings looked to the ring when a terrified shriek met their ears and they turned their heads to see Astrid tumble down into a hole that opened up beneath her. Without even thinking, Hiccup slipped through the bars into the kill ring, shouts and murmurs sounding around him as he ran for the hole. He didn't even acknowledge his father's calls to stop him, because nothing could stop him at this point. He withdrew his axe from his back just as he saw a black blur shoot past him - Toothless! The Night Fury dived head first into one of the holes at the same time Hiccup leaped down the one that had swallowed Astrid.

The hole was deep as he landed on his feet on the side, taking a couple of steps forward with his axe held in both hands as he held it in front of him, looking around quickly. The tunnels echoed around him and he turned around as he walked past a crossroads, glancing down both tunnels. "Father shouldn't have sent her into the ring without a weapon," he muttered under his breath, straining his ears to hear Astrid's voice - there! To the right. The sound of furious fighting echoed down to him too and Hiccup took off, axe slung over his shoulder before he bumped into something, sending him sprawling backwards. Hiccup shook his head, raising a hand to it to run his fingers through his hair before he opened his eyes, watching Astrid look at him.

Hiccup barely had time to express his relief before she was on him, tackling him with such a force that sent them rolling backwards until she was sitting on his stomach, her hand raised to punch him as she grabbed hold of the front of his chainmail. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't kill you!" she said, lowering her fist marginally before she shook him, ignorant of the two dragons tumbling past them through the connecting corridor in the background. "You lied to me! Even after making a blood pact, you lied to me!"

He held his hands up in defense, considering his axe had been thrown to the side in their clash. Instead, he lowered them, opening one of his eyes from where they'd closed. "Princess, please. Let me explain...!"

"I don't want your excuses!" Astrid was trembling above him, he realized, and he looked up at her, watching her grit her teeth together. "Fishlegs told me everything. How the volcano had been part of your plan to gain my trust - iour/i trust. How you were going to kill the chief..." She stopped short when she realized what he'd just called her before she pulled her arm back and slugged him, hitting him across the cheek. "Don't call me that!"

Hiccup lowered his hand to his face, rubbing the spot where she'd hit him before he reached to grab her wrist to stop her from doing it again. When it looked like she was going to use her other hand, he snagged that one too, watching her glare furiously at him but she allowed him to speak, even as she did struggle to get out of his grip. "I didn't kill Stoick," he said slowly, sitting up and pushing her back until she sat in his lap. "I was going to, but I didn't. Yes, I planted the fire stone in Mildew's house, and yes that whole thing had been so that you would trust me. Yes, the Blue Oleanders were my doing. Yes, I told Savage to bring Fishlegs here, but I'm going to make up for it."

"How?" she spat, lifting her head when she heard the dragons growling from down the corridor before she lowered it closer to his face. "What in Odin's name do you think could make up for that? For putting our dragons in danger of losing their lives and for endangering the entire Archipelago?" Astrid paused before she shook her head, turning it to the side as she muttered to herself. "I should've seen it the moment you named Fenrir. Loki, the God of tricks and lies. Fenrir is his child and mount. How could I have been so blind?"

He waited for her to calm down before he tried talking again, releasing one of her wrists to reach up and cup her face, stroking his thumb over the cheek where he'd cut it the previous night. "Because I'm going to get you out of here. You and Fishlegs. And then I'm going to challenge father, only this time I mean it..."

"BOY!" Alvin's roar echoed into the caverns the Whispering Death had made and Hiccup cringed. Pushing Astrid off, he rose to his feet and took hold of one of her hands, grabbing his axe with the other. Astrid felt her anger fade when she saw the look on his face before he started leading her towards an exit.

Angry grey clouds floated overhead as both of the viking teenagers hauled themselves out of the hole, Hiccup reaching down to help her up only to have his offer refused. He winced a bit at the cold shoulder, briefly wondering where Toothless was before he turned his head over to where the Outcast chief was standing in the kill ring, about to speak before his heart very nearly stopped dead as he inhaled sharply, hearing Astrid do the same behind him.

Fenrir squawked and struggled when she saw him, bound as she was by tight ropes and held down by three strong-looking Outcasts. Alvin was tossing a hatchet up and down in the air, an angry look on his face and Hiccup took a step forward, hand outstretched. "Father, no! Please! Take my mistakes out on me but don't hurt her!"

"Time on Berk has made you weak, Hiccup," Alvin sneered, lip curling in disgust as Fenrir trilled out for her rider. "It's time to get rid of the things that make you weak."

"Father, please! I promise I'm not weak! I ate the heart, didn't I?!" His voice was growing desperate, anxious and Astrid found herself placing her hand on his arm to keep him from going any further. "Dad!"

Hiccup barely heard Astrid's breath hitch behind him as the axe was swung down, cutting clean through the green Nadder's neck. He stood still, watching blood pool out underneath the dragon, her movements going still as he felt as though his heart would stop. He trembled, stretched fingers wavering in the air as Astrid buried her face in her free hand behind him, her shoulders hunched. The sound of his own blood rushed into his ears before he pulled back, hands clenching into fists at his side as he heard laughter echo around him.

Fenrir was dead, and yet instead of feeling a sense of satisfaction that he used to feel, all he felt was pain. Vaguely he heard Fishlegs shout something but it was drowned out over the noise his heart made in his chest, the cold claws of guilt and sadness ripping him into two. Swallowing deeply, he raised his head to look at Alvin as his father walked forward, Nadder blood dripping from his hatchet and along the floor of the kill ring, one of his dragons still underground in the Whispering Death's maze. He flet his father's large hand thread fingers into his hair before he was wrenched to the side by a grip that could have snapped his neck in half.

Hiccup held his ground, though. Shocked as he might have been he was still aware of who stood behind him and where she was from. He had to protect her. He opened his arms, pulling his head out of Alvin's grip and stepping back in front of Astrid, deepening his scowl from the hurt that he felt tearing inside him. Alvin raised an eyebrow at his son's look of defiance, chuckling before he leaned down to whisper in the boy's ear, causing Hiccup to go stock still and murmur out a "yes, sir".

Turning on his heel, the Outcast chief turned on his heel and stalked back towards the gates. It wasn't until the tribe had gone and it was just Astrid and Fishlegs, did Hiccup let himself drop to his knees, wrap his arms around himself himself and lowered his head to the ground, mourning the loss of his Nadder.

Astrid hated to admit it, but this was the most human she'd ever seen Hiccup, and she waited for Fishlegs to be shoved into the ring by the guards before she knelt down next to him, placing her hand in the middle of his back.

"I don't want your sympathy," she heard him choke out, trying to sound just like he usually did. Cocky, arrogant, smug. Anything to escape the pain tearing through him right now like Alvin's axe had gone through him instead of Fenrir. He felt a familiar nuzzle at his side as Toothless, back from his impromptu fight with the Whispering Death, whined low in his throat, sensing his distress. "I am an Outcast, not a weakling."

"It's not weak to show emotions, Hiccup," Astrid said, her earlier anger forgotten having witnessed Fenrir's swift death. She rested her chin on top of his head as Toothless rounded his back, crooning lowly. "She was your dragon. Your first. It's okay to feel sad about it." She heard him mutter something about contracting some sort of disease and closed her eyes, sighing softly.

It started to rain as Hiccup finally stood, brushing his hands along his arms as though nothing had happened even as he looked over at the dragon's body. He schooled his expession, turning around to look at them. "You two need to get out of here."

"But..."

"You need to take Toothless and go!" He pointed in the direction where the gates were still open, looking at her desperately. "If you don't, if I screw up again, Alvin will kill you too." He nodded as though deciding their course of action for them before he knelt down in front of the Night Fury, running his fingers along the bridge of his nose. "You'll all be safer."

"What about you?" Fishlegs asked, reaching out to hold back Astrid before she could kneel down next to Hiccup, keeping her a safe distance from the Outcast heir as he murmured instructions to Toothless, who perked an ear flap as though in understanding. "I hate to say it, but we can't just leave you here. Not after that display."

Hiccup shook his head and stood again, rain dripping down his face as he turned his back to them, away from the body of his Nadder. "I'll be fine. Go. You know how to control Toothless's tail fin, princess. There's nothing faster than a Night Fury."

"Hiccup, please, we can help yo-"

He whirled around on his foot, pointing in the direction of the gate as he roared his next words. "GO!"

As though on a hidden command, Toothless butted his head against Fishlegs's legs, slipping under them as the large boy gave a yelp before doing the same to Astrid. Barely waiting for both teens to get a good grip on him, the Night Fury trilled at Hiccup before he bounded out of the kill ring, the cries of Outcast guards sounding as lighting flashed overhead.

Once he was sure they were gone, Hiccup walked over to the severed head of his Nadder, kneeling down in front of it and placing his hand on her cheek. The coldness the normally warm body gave away was mildly shocking, but he leaned his head down, tucking her chin into the crook of his neck like she did - used to - when they slept and he closed his eyes, reaching to pull her eyelids down.

"Sweet dreams."

Hiccup was livid, seething in a rage that made it almost impossible to think, moreso than when he had been humiliated in front of his tribe by Astrid. Lowering Fenrir's head to the floor of the arena, he stood from where he knelt, pulling his axe from his back. His hand shifted around the hilt of his weapon, gripping it in a hold that turned his knuckles white before he tossed it up into the air once, catching it after it fell back down to him.

Something inside of him was screaming to be let out, to avenge the monster - no, dragon - that had somehow gotten under his skin in his last few weeks on Berk. She was his. He might not have liked being bonded to her at first but she was still his. His dragon, his Nadder. Alvin had always killed or gotten rid of things that he became attached to before, it shouldn't have mattered like it did, but this was different.

And he saw red.

Outcast warriors stepped out of his way as he stalked from the kill arena, shoving one aside as whoever it was asked what they should do with the body. As far as he was concerned, there would be two bodies tonight. Hiccup gritted his teeth, grinding them as he thought back on his first flight, the way Fenrir had crept closer to him each night until he'd allowed her to sleep nestled around him, how he'd kept waking up draped over her. Memory after memory flashed through his mind, clouding his vision until he slammed the doors of the great hall open, chest heaving and he screamed out in rage.

"Father!" All activity in the hall stopped, the voices died down. Alvin turned away from where he was discussing something with Savage and looked at the boy he'd raised, an eyebrow lifting. Hiccup charged in like a rampaging bull, axe pulled back and ready to strike before he felt a fist hit him in the gut. Hiccup coughed out air, free hand wrapping around the wrist and staring up at Alvin. "Why?"

"Because you were getting weak." Alvin quirked his lips into a smug smirk, taking hold of his son's chainmail and lifting him off the ground, easily throwing him away, watching Hiccup regain his footing easily as he rolled his shoulders, cracking his knuckles. "We cut off things that make us weak in the Outcast tribe. Or have you forgotten that in just three weeks on Berk?"

"She was mine." Hiccup rearranged his grip on his axe, shoulders stiffening as he regained his footing. His heart was beating fast in his chest and out the corner of his eye he saw the other Outcasts in the room leave. They knew what was going on. "You killed her!"

"It. I killed it, boy. Dragons are monsters."

"She had her own personality! She felt things. She...she cared about me!" The hit came before Hiccup could bring his axe up to defend himself, the strength behind it enough to make him stumble to the side. Using the force of the blow, he spun around, keeping a tight grip on his axe as he swung it at the man who had raised him. A hand came up and grabbed the hilt above his, drawing him to Alvin so they were face to face. "She wasn't a monster."

"You're delusional," Alvin purred, wrenching the axe from Hiccup's hand and kicking the teen away from him. Closing the distance, he started to circle his heir, tossing the axe up and down. "The one you should be blaming for this loss isn't me. The dragon conqueror put you in this position. She made you care about something that can't feel anything."

"Stop it," Hiccup hissed out, clamping his hands over his ears. "I'm not listening to you anymore."

"You have no chance against me, boy."

"I can damn well try."