Author's Notes: Hey everyone! I'm gonna go ahead and post this chapter even without a review for the last one, simply because I want to share with you all the intense character growth in this chapter for my OC's. And remember, I have complete control over the fate of my characters... even your favorites! No one is safe!... except Toothless. But he's the only exception. No one else, not even Adeline, is protected from my evil ways. But that's a story for much, MUCH later on.

Adeline: Wait, what? What do you have planned?

Wild Cat 214: Like I'd tell you. You'll just have to wait and see.

And just a warning, this is going to be one LONG chapter. Longer than any of my others. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

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Disclaimer: I'm running out of ways to say this, so I'll just be boring. I only own my OC's, not HTTYD. Those dragons and Vikings are DreamWorks' property only.

Day 6

3rd Person POV: The Captain

The morning dawned bright and early on the Captain in his luxuriant quarters, and he smiled. Tomorrow was the day Adeline would rejoin the island. She would become one of the island's blacksmiths and healers, marry Simon, and be a wonderful daughter-in-law, just like he had prayed to the gods for.

He slowly got out of bed, and the familiar pain just above where his prosthetic leg was attached began again. Damn storm. The mast that had fallen across his leg and forced the previous healers to amputate it was still wreaking its havoc on him. But he hadn't come out too bad. Most people wouldn't mess with a man with a sword for a leg, especially not a Blackstone pirate. The Captain grabbed the eye patch on the stone bedside table and put a hand to his ruined left eye wistfully. There had been a time when he was a spry young man with a complete body, but that had been years ago. He thought back resentfully to that fateful day, fifteen years ago, to the storm that had killed his wife, damaged his body, and forced him to raise his son alone.


It had started out like any other raid. They had been lying in wait for a rich trade vessel to fall right into their trap, waiting for the storm that they knew was coming to hit and weaken the defenses of the no doubt well-protected ship, and she had turned to him. Memo, his darling dear, a queen among pirates and the love of his life, was raring to go. She had always been one for no holds barred rushing into a fight, and that was only part of the reason he loved her.

"Shine, is it time? Can we go now?" she asked eagerly. He smiled and shook his head endearingly.

"Not yet, my sweet. Soon." Chuf had come up behind them at that moment and was grinning at them conspiratorially.

"Hey, you two lovebirds. Save it for when we're back home. Then you can tell your son all about your great feats," she said loudly. She was Memo's younger sister, and while Chuf had the yellow six-pointed star of a hunter, her sister had the orange mark of a trainer permanently placed above her eye. Shine slapped her back lightly, the camaraderie between the three of them almost tangible.

"And you can tell Gale and Gust all about how you single-handedly captured the ship," Memo replied enjoyably.

"You know it!" Chuf replied. They laughed, but a piercing whistle from the crow's nest stopped them and made them perk up with tense attention. The merchant ship had come into view and was getting closer and closer, just like the storm. Shine put a hand to her shoulder.

"Thank you, Chuf. I know this whole ordeal has been tough on you, but when you look back on this years from now you'll be glad you did it," he said consolingly. For a moment, her face became pained and depressed, but she broke free of those feelings to smile at him proudly.

"Anything for my Captain," she answered, putting a hand to his kindly. He nodded and turned back, letting go of her and raising that same hand into the air to prepare for the signal. Once there was a quick burst of two more whistles, he closed it. Immediately, the raider started its silent approach on the poor, unsuspecting ship. And all the while, dark storm clouds gathered overhead, making the sea churn and foam and the atmosphere become tense.


The storm hit the ship with all its fury, sending torrents of rain to hit them as hard as hail and creating bolts of lightning to flash across a scene from a nightmare. Men and women were battling on the slippery deck, with the bodies of the fallen lying about their feet like sacks of flour. Shine and Memo were fighting back-to-back, covering each other in a whirlwind of death. Not far away, Chuf was slicing away at three burly men who wielded sharp blades and axes.

The ship had more guards than they had expected, but it didn't matter. Blackstone pirates lived for the thrill of battle, the glory of victory, and the treasure that they loved so much. Not even a squad of Berserker mercenaries was enough to dampen their enthusiasm. Not even a squad of Berkserker mercenaries and a typhoon was enough. Not even a... well, you get the point. Their assault was as merciless as the storm they used to cripple the huge trade ship, bigger than most of the Barbaric Archipelago's ships and loaded with more valuables than your average Viking would see in his or her own lifetime. And they had a system that would ensure they would get something out of this raid.

While the first, larger wave of pirates attacked and drew attention to the deck, the second wave, usually the smaller and less-noticeable men and women of the crew, would sneak into the holds and loot it, using the chaos of the furious battle combined with the ferocity of the storm to hide their presence. And Shine was proud to fight in the first wave. Sure, the second wave meant you were responsible for the island's well-being, but the first wave equaled the opportunity to prove yourself in combat. Not even the blinding lightning and rain could ruin the rush that came with being the strongest.

There was a deafening crack and a burst of light, and the mast began to fall, thanks to Thor's handiwork. Time seemed to slow down as it separated Shine and Memo and there was a blood-curdling scream of pain. The thick, heavy wooden pole had landed right on top of Shine's right leg, crushing the bones within as if they were made of glass. Memo stopped fighting to try and get the mast off of him, and that was when an enterprising defender of the ship decided to take advantage of her turned back and strike. Shine could do nothing as the mace swung through the air in its deadly trajectory. Not even his yells for her to move could be heard through the pounding rain and booming thunder, and with one sickening thump that echoed across the deck, Memo fell, her blood leaking out and being washed away by the indifferent storm.

There was a shriek of despair across the deck, and Shine managed to push himself up enough to see Chuf over the mast pinning him down. Her eyes were wild, her attacks were ferocious, and he realized what had happened. Her father had been a captured Berserker, and now that blood was roaring to the front of her mind and drowning everything else out. She set out on a course of death across the ship, disregarding any strikes a lucky few managed to get in on her body, and arrived just in time to save him from being killed by the defender who had slaughtered her sister. Her swords managed to cut the man so much that it was a miracle he was still standing, but slowly he slumped to the ground in the lethal embrace of death. Chuf pulled him out painfully from below that long piece of wood and handed him her belt buckle, then grabbed the similar one from Memo's waist and did the same.

"Take everyone and get them out of here!" she shouted over the wind and waves. Shine looked at her despairingly.

"What are you planning?" he shouted back. She set her mouth in a grim line before answering.

"I'm ending this battle! Now hurry! And tell Gale and Gust I love them!" Chuf replied before diving back into the fray. Erin, a young guard on her first raid, stumbled over to him.

"Captain! Where's Chuf going?" she screamed. He didn't answer.

"Captain?" she yelled again, worry creeping into her voice. She grabbed his shoulder and saw his leg, but instead of retching she simply helped him up and carried him back to the ship, which was tied against the merchant vessel tightly. The other pirates saw this and began to retreat until finally only Chuf was left on board.

When the Treasure Hunter's crew had returned and was starting to sail away, Shine got back onto the trade ship. He could hear a terrible battle going on below deck, and though every step he took caused knives of pain to stab into his leg he pressed on, trying to rescue Chuf from almost certain death. Before he had taken one step further, the ship exploded below him, forcing him backwards. A piece of burning metal hit his left eye and made it burn with sheer agony just before he dropped into the water. The buckles in his pocket were the only things he could really feel as Shine sank below the tossing waves, and the scream of his crew as he fell rang in his ears.

"CAPTAIN!"

His mind began to go fuzzy from lack of air, and Shine was ready to give up. His wife was dead, her sister had sacrificed herself to help them get away, and now this?

'Simon could be raised by the rest of the island,' he reasoned, 'He's a good boy. He'll pick up fast and become the next Captain.'

With that receding thought, Shine blacked out, with only the faint sensation of being held in strong arms and the feeling of cold air against his face being the last things he felt. And a shout of despair, of fading hope still caught in his ears.

"Captain!"


"Captain?" a voice said at his side. He blinked his way out of the reverie and turned. A young boy, freshly pierced by the looks of him, was standing next to him, watching him both curiously and worriedly. He smiled reassuringly at him.

"It's nothing, um..."

"Thomas, sir. Thomas Thomas," the boy replied proudly. He recognized him now. One of the many kids of the House of Shocks, a house known for being reproductive. He was Lynne's boy, and was training to be a hunter for the island.

"It's nothing, Thomas. But thank you for your concern. Did you need something?" he asked as kindly as he could for someone who had just relived a traumatizing experience. Thomas nodded cheerfully.

"Yes, sir. My mum would like to know what you have planned for the initiation ceremony tomorrow," he recited, sounding as if he did this a lot. The Captain sighed.

"The Ytubdaa in the dungeon will rejoin the island, and the prisoner with her will kill his tnykuh and go through the various nedac uv byccyka," he informed Thomas tiredly. The boy nodded, chewing on his lip as he memorized this new info before smiling and running off. The Captain stared after him wistfully. If only he could do the same, just smile and run wherever he liked. But he was the Captain, and no matter how much he wished it weren't so, he couldn't leave the island to do whatever he liked.

The glint of silver in the corner of his eye made him look for the source. A stray beam of sunlight from the carefully constructed passage above him lined with mirrors had struck the belt buckle on his table. A sprig of some flower was surrounded by five leaves, the etching as delicate as the blossom it depicted. A lily of the valley, the bell-shaped blooms gently curving in an arc. Memo's belt buckle, a grim reminder of what happened when you weren't careful. When you cared about others too much...

The Captain forced his mind away from this train of thought and instead focused on preparing for the initiation tomorrow. The prisoner would need his own piercings and tattoo, and that had to be arranged for a day before the event. Otherwise the craftsmen in charge would start railing about how they never got advance notice for something like this and would do a poor job as a result. He stood up unsteadily and walked out the door, ignoring the pain in his heart when he thought of that day and what it had torn from him.

3rd Person POV: Gale

Gale walked down the halls toward the guard barracks, where the purple-marked men and women slept apart from the rest of the island. Each house had its own male and female dormitories, and he paced toward the pair of doors marked with the triangle of the House of Winds. One hand knocked on the door to the male half, and a yawning young man opened it in reply a few minutes later.

"Yeah...? Whoa! Forgive me, sir! I had no idea you were coming!" he yelped when he saw who it was at the door. Gale pushed down the snide feelings and walked past him into the dorm. Men in various stages of dress and undress were standing at attention by their hammocks, each praying to the gods that he wouldn't be here to punish them.

"Men, I have a job for you," he said calmly.

Half an hour and one trip to the female dorm later...

Satisfaction brought a smug smile to Gale's face. Now that his guards, loyal to him only, knew what he wanted of them, he had confidence that the stupid Ytubdaa girl would never be able to enact her plan, whatever it was. Sure, his son's friendship with that traitor Simon was worrying, but it didn't matter right now. They couldn't help the girl now. Chuf would have liked that. Probably.

Even now, thinking back to what she had been forced to do for her island made him feel sick. Couldn't the other heads have realized that every time she had to betray her people like that, she was losing a part of herself? Even if it was to the island's benefit... He shook his head. The other heads weren't to blame. It was the Captain's fault she had died, his fault he was now a widower and his son was half an orphan, his fault they had lost so much. Gale thought about how he had known his wife was dead long before the Treasure Hunter had returned.


There had been a chilling scream from deep within the island, but it wasn't close to being human. It was the sound of an animal in the deepest pain imaginable, boring right into your soul with the pure sorrow it held. Then... it stopped. The absence of that cry was more worrying than the cry itself, and he had rushed to the source only to cover his mouth in an effort to hold back the bile that rose to the back of his throat. That thing had been lying in a pool of its own watery red blood, the blade on its tail being the cause of its demise. From what he and the other six heads could see, it had felt some sort of immense emotional pain somehow and had cut its own throat, not wanting to live anymore. And that thing had been bonded to his wife, which could only mean one thing. Chuf was dead, her soul already on its way to Valhalla.

Gale had fallen to his knees when he realized this life-changing event, ignoring the translucent crimson fluid being absorbed by his pants and soaking his legs with the cool touch of the lifeblood. That thing's crimson eyes were staring out at the world sightlessly, despair frozen in its dead gaze, and in that moment they shared the same eyes. The loss of Chuf had killed them both, leaving them empty shells devoid of true life. The only difference between them was that one was a dead tnykuh and the other was a living human.

An echoing cry rose up from his throat in answer to the fading scream that still resounded in the furthest corners of the tunnels, the sound of an undying grief made by two kindred souls.


While he had remembered that fateful day, his feet had subconsciously taken him to the armory, where the next part of his plan waited to be enacted. He snapped out of it and started walking down the aisles of weapons, some normal, some barely even considered tools of the trade. He went down them and picked out all the ones with the seal of the House of Winds, the usual triangle (A.N. What? You were expecting a parallelogram?) marking those made by his family only. With the heap of different weapons in his arms, Gale set off toward the rack of weapons on the far side of the room and began replacing each one with something from his arms, grinning maliciously.

Soon. Soon he could replace that idiot Captain and take his rightful place as the ruler of Blackstone. And his first decree would be to exterminate all dragons on the island, including the two in the dungeon right now. Then... that Ytubdaa girl would face her punishment for betraying them all, for betraying him in such a terrible way, and he could finally have his perfect Blackstone Island.

3rd Person POV: Simon

Simon didn't know what to do. What he had managed to pick up yesterday from Addie and Gust worried him. What was Addie planning? What was Gale planning, for that matter? And why hadn't Addie told him about the nightmare before he left? His head hurt, and he instinctively reached for the mug of water on his bedside table, only to remember that it wasn't there. It was sitting in a basin somewhere about to be washed for the initiation feast tomorrow. Hopefully, Addie and that boy, Hiccup, would be alive to see it.

He resigned himself to a dry throat and a headache and started to pace. Of course Addie hadn't told him. She never told anyone anything personal. Well, except for that Hiccup boy. It looked like she had told him almost everything. A wave of jealousy broke through him, only to be replaced by one of shame. Addie wasn't his, and he shouldn't act like that. Besides, he knew how she felt about him.

"Like brother and sister, huh?" he muttered resignedly. Well, it was better than nothing. And maybe one day he could get over these feelings, though it would hurt, and they could look back on this without worrying about what could have been. It was obvious Addie was infatuated with Hiccup. Simon could tell just by hearing her talk to him and the way she had looked at him whenever they were talking together. There was no room in her heart for poor Simon, and he had accepted that, difficult though it was. He could take second prize as her brother. And by the gods, he would be the best brother possible. Simon owed it to her. She had listened to his fears, his confessions, his dreams, and had promised to help him with each one some day; now he would help her. First things first, though. He had to find some way to prevent Gale from trying anything during the ceremony.

A devious idea popped into his head, and he thought of one prank he and Addie had played as children. His first goal was to gather as much flax as he could find in the village gardens high above on the surface and take out all the linseed. Then he would add a good amount to the morning soup just before it left the kitchen and pray for the worst. He started to chuckle evilly, but caught himself just before it could grow in volume. It wouldn't do to attract attention right now. Not until he was ready to enact the plan. Simon stepped out of his room a confident young man, a glimpse of what he would become when he was older and led the island in his father's place, and started the arduous journey to the gardens.

Frostwave's POV

It was late afternoon by the time Addie and Hiccup started talking about their master plan. I, meanwhile, was preoccupied with getting a particularly stubborn piece of dried fish out of my teeth. Having food in my teeth was a horrible feeling that I detested the same way many dragons hate eels. Personally, I find them... acceptable. Not my favorite, no, that was reserved for salmon and cod and chicken, but I would eat eel if I had no other choice. Survival meant doing what you had to, even if you hated it.

I half-listened to them talking, thinking back on what had happened since Addie and I had met. So much had changed. I had lost Cloudstar and was trying to drown my sorrows in the Grass That Pleases Us (humans call it dragon nip) when I had met Addie. We had flown together for several months until I had been hit by the spines of one of Those Who Pride Themselves On Skill (the human name for them is the Deadly Nadder), and Addie had snuck me in through the Ynahy skylight so she could heal me with some of her strange goo. But we had been caught when I had stopped to investigate a bucket that smelled like salmon, and I had made too much noise doing so. I know Addie blames herself for our capture, but it was really me. My instincts had taken over and had changed me from the elegant keeper of the creator's ways into a ravenous beast. But really, when salmon is on the line, could you blame me?

That time seemed like so long ago, but in reality it was only two and a half leaf-cycles. And in the time before we had met, Addie had suffered some terrible trauma. She had told me all about it when we had been bonded for a month, what they, especially that man, had done to her as a child. It made me want to rip out his throat and feed it to Those That Scavenge From Others (humans call them Terrible Terrors, though they are certainly not terrifying).

There was a brief moment of silence from Addie and that Hiccup boy she liked, and I realized I had vented some of my rage in the form of a growl. The Night Fury – also known as Those Protected By the Night – came up to me meekly and growled out a question.

"Is something wrong, Frostwave?" he asked. This question was mimicked moments later by my bondmate. I shook my head to clear away the dark clouds of hatred overtaking it. This was not how a guardian of dragon history should act, certainly not before her bondmate, one of her allies, and his bondmate.

"It is nothing, Addie," I growled evenly. She didn't seem convinced, but that was my bondmate for you. Years of living with pirates made her suspicious of anyone saying it was "nothing" to her face, even when that someone was her dragon. Ah, well.

"Whatever. We're just going over the final details of the plan, Frostwave. Care to help? Maybe give us some suggestions?" Addie said. I flared out my wings with pleasure and walked over, my claws clicking against the stone floor. Together, we mapped out the final stages of our plan, and I made a few changes to it, keeping in mind Addie's strengths and weaknesses. A Silver Horror, a Night Fury, a pirate girl, and a Viking boy, up against hundreds of pirates itching to fight us all. They would never know what hit them.

A few hours later...

Adeline's POV

Slowly, the lights from above were extinguished, leaving me and Hiccup in darkness. My eyes adjusted to the inky blackness, and I could see his dim shape a short distance away, against a spot of pure black that was probably Toothless. Frostwave's silver-white body had become a twilight gray, and I could barely see my hand in front of my face. Now seemed like a good time to think about what was coming.

I rolled onto my side and thought hard about what I was going to do when we escaped. I was going to go to Berk with Hiccup, and hopefully I could live there as peacefully as possible when it came to Vikings. But first, we would have to hope the plan would work. All our preparations could be for nothing, if there were more guards than I had expected, or they had finally fixed the mechanism that blocked off the skylight, or even if they managed to capture one of us again.

I didn't want any of us to get hurt anymore. Not Frostwave, not Toothless, and definitely not Hiccup. The idea that he would have to go through initiation and then either face his first test or die made me want to tear the world apart just to keep it from happening. And that's when I realized it. The truth hit me like a bolt from the blue.

I was in love with Hiccup.

And the pathetic thing about that was I was the last to know, except maybe Hiccup himself. Frostwave knew days before I did, and I bet many of the heads could tell at my hearing. Gale certainly had a smug smile on his face when the Captain was granting my request, so he was definitely among their number.

'...But what if Hiccup didn't feel the same?,' a small voice replied, 'What if he was okay with being friends?'

'If that's the case, I'll just have to deal. But right now, no one is here to stop me.' I knew that I had to take it slow. So I just asked him for something small.

"Hiccup? Are you awake?" I asked quietly into the darkness. I could barely see him lift his head.

"You can't sleep either, huh?" he replied tiredly. I nodded, though remembered that he couldn't see me.

"Yeah... hey, can I hold your hand?" I said, my voice no more than a breath. There was a pause, and I thought he hadn't heard me. I was about to ask again when he gave me his answer.

"...Sure." There was the rustle of cloth moving, and I felt the warmth of his hand in mine. Calluses on both of us rubbed against each other as we shifted to more comfortable positions to support this arrangement, and I could feel myself blush. I just hoped Hiccup couldn't feel it through my hand.

"Thank you..." I whispered into the dark. He mumbled something softly that I couldn't hear, but it didn't matter. Tomorrow we would be free, and I could see just what I was up against on Berk. I closed my eyes happily to dream of a better future.

Author's Notes: Behold! I have typed up your translations!

Ytubdaa – Adoptee

tnykuh – dragon

nedac uv byccyka – rites of passage

Ynahy – Arena

Isn't Hiccup lucky? He's got two awesome girls interested in him. And to think, if it wasn't for Toothless, he wouldn't be in this awkward position. I guess you could say he was Hiccup's wingman (Ba-dum, tss). Bad jokes aside, it's coming. Don't you see? All of you... MY STORY IS READY! Ready for what, you ask? Ready for Adeline and Hiccup to escape!

Wild Cat 214, out!