Old time readers will probably remember this story as one of very few Hiccanna fics out there. I am glad to say that I decided to rewrite this story. I have no idea as to how deep I will be doing this. My current expectation is to refurnish it. I will be going with the flow.

Some noteworthy things here since this is a Hiccanna fic, I would like to declare that:

Anna and Kristoff never dated

Astrid and Hiccup never dated

The story starts three years after HTTYD3, and a year after Frozen 2. Kindly work out the math by yourself.

I don't mean to be toxic by proposing point 1 and 2. After all, this is just a fic that I do out of compassion for the characters I am pairing. So don't take it too seriously.

Hiccup's POV

It was the third year of a long awaited peacefulness. Three years since we released our dragons to the place they belonged to, the Hidden World. Three years since we started rebuilding. Three years since we started anew.

The peacefulness was something alien. It was like a pair of gentle hands reaching for you. You get startled initially, heck do not even realize the gentleness of the hands. But, you begin to accept them slowly.

And the new landscape was something we fell in love with quickly. It was bigger, wider, more diverse, resourceful; it truly was a piece of Valhalla on land.

Releasing the dragons was one big step that needed to be done. Yes, we missed our dragons terribly, but it did make us less of a target in the eyes of other foreigners. And with our new position, not many could find it and… we had higher ground! Strategically speaking, higher ground is always a plus.

Though, that did leave us with work to do, many works. New infrastructures were in order. We had to adapt to the new dragon-less life which we were so accustomed to in the previous five years. Other allies also had to know about our new whereabouts since we relied on some goods for trading. For the chief, it was quite the hard work.

Peace, even after three years, remained something I could not get my head around. Not once did we ever receive a form of threat from outside. That was, until they attacked during one night.

"WAKE UP!"

"INCOMING ATTACK!"

Upon hearing these, I quickly woke up and jumped off the bed. I grabbed my hatchet that I hung on the pillar of my hut and lost balance afterward. The ground shook violently for a brief moment.

"Crap!" I cursed under my breath. After regaining balance, I opened the window to let some light in. Little did I know that a bright orange light was going to greet me.

A giant fireball landed right in front of my house. Its impact shook the ground and its flare consumed the front face of my hut, including the window that I had just opened. To avoid the blaze, I ducked.

"Who's attacking us?..." I asked myself.

After the blaze had calmed down, my instinct made me grab my shield and use it to bash my front door open through the fire. There I could finally see the sky. Smokes filled it. However, it was not the sky that was worth seeing.

My hut sat on top of the hills, facing the meadow that many built their houses on. Through the passages between the buildings crawled hostile dragons with armors. They jumped on houses and wreaked havoc as they went. The dragons apparently had riders on their backs with similar armors adorning their looks as they combated the Berkians. My Berkians.

The hill was alive with the sound of death. My people were losing, despite being experienced in combating dragons. The element of surprise was getting the best of us and my people were dying within minutes. I could only spot a few who could keep up with the combat.

"Hiccup! There you are!" A unique voice called from behind. Gobber.

I turned around. "Gobber! Where are they coming from?!" He was panting heavily.

"The sky! They used the cloudy night to cover their presence! All of them dropped on our island just minutes ago!"

All of them? From the sky?

I decided to keep it to myself for now. "We need to retreat underground! To the docks! Are we clear on that front?!"

"I don't know!" Gobber answered, while moving to the side to avoid flying debris.

"I'll take my chances! Evacuate all people to the underground passages! At least we'll have much more cover there and fewer dragons can fit into them!" I explained.

Gobber stared at me for a moment. He was unsure of my proposal. "But…"

"People are DYING as we ponder. GO!" I pushed the old man and rushed away.

My main objective was now to inform others about my decision. For that, our people have made big horns with different pitches that tell the villagers what to do. Since I wanted them to go underground, I made my way to the one by the village hall. It was not far, but there were enemies along the way.

I hurried through the path between burning houses and told passing villagers to evacuate to the underground all the way to the dock. The housewives and the children fled off while some trained men and women fended off our opponents of the night.

Never did I ever think that we would ever again experience this kind of night. It was a very similar feeling of chaos and terror. But this time, I was the chief. Every view of an injured Berkian and a dead one ached my heart. The young ones stung.

"Underground, now!" I commanded a woman and her young child after freeing them from their burning house.

"Thank you, Hiccup!" The woman thanked me and fled off.

"Alright, back to the…"

I was cut short when a Skrill and its rider landed right before me. The Skrill glared at me with killing intention, but the rider seemed fixated on me. I raised my shield and my hatchet in response.

"Are you… the chief of Berk?" The rider asked. I did not answer and prepared for any movement.

"Lucky me. You are," he smiled. He gave a kick to his dragon and the Skrill lunged forward with jaws open. To counter it, I used my weight and bashed the dragon's jaw with my shield. The contact sent me backward but not by much. Keeping my shield pushed against the dragon, I hit its lower jaw with a swing of my hatchet.

"Whoa! I thought you were the compassionate type for dragons!" The rider mocked.

It was the last thing I wanted to do that night, knowing the dragons were trained to kill. However, the safety of my people was at risk.

The Skrill hissed in pain and stepped back. It charged electricity and readied a shot at me. This was my window! With haste, I grabbed one of my bombs on my belt and threw it into the Skrill's open mouth.

BOOM!

The explosion was powerful enough to send the dragon and its rider flying away into one of the houses. With that cleared out of the way, I continued making my way down to the hall.

With a bit of luck, I eventually reached the top of the stairs that led to the open ground near the village hall. The view staggered me. It was a battle ground of Berkians against whoever our enemies were. Swords clashing, jaws ripping through flesh, shoutings fueled with rage; to worsen all, my people were losing.

Between the horn and myself were at least fifteen battles taking place. I initially thought to help my people, but then I remembered that there were other people dying elsewhere at the moment. The word to evacuate underground had to spread now or never.

Thus, I selfishly rushed through the crowd. I shoved away people, my own and the enemies. I maneuvered to avoid all flamethrowers spat by the dragons that were preying on us. Any incoming fire or attack, I shielded myself and kept running.

Helped by the adrenaline, I managed to reach the horn. I climbed up the spiral stairs and reached the mouthpiece.

"Three short blows for underground evac, Hiccup," I reminded myself.

After a deep breath, I blew the horn as I instructed myself. The sound echoes through the night, shadowing the screamings and the explosions. All faces on the open ground before me turned to me. The remaining Berkians understood my signal, but the enemies did not seem to.

I inhaled some air to shout, "GO! NOW–"

That was when I was hit from behind. I fell off the horn's platform and landed on the ground. I landed with my face kissing the dirt. Just as I was about to see what it was, a large dragon pinned me down with its foot.

"God… Get off–" I desperately tried to free myself. But it was to no avail.

"Men! They're going underground! Meet them from the bottom!"

That voice. I recognized it. How did he know?

"Three blows, huh? Good thing I sent a spy weeks ago before raiding you."

With my current position being pinned down by a dragon, I could not see who was speaking. But the voice sounded heavy and throaty. There was only one man in my life that sounded like this.

"Good to see you again, Hiccup."

A pair of feet walked and stopped in front of me. I looked up to confirm my guess. I was right. It was Drago.

"Drago…"

Behind Drago himself appeared the one man whom I faced previously. He glanced at me before leaving elsewhere. He probably told Drago of where I was.

"I have come for revenge," he spoke, while pointing his spear at me. "And to claim this land under the name of Therondia. Surrender now and your people may just live."

The name Therondia was something new to me. "Heh, now that the Northern Alliance is no more, you're now bowing before someone else?" I mocked while wiggling to free myself.

Drago processed my statement for a moment. "It is true that I now bow to a greater title. However, that doesn't mean I'm not without power," he smiled with cockiness. "If anything, I have doubled my men and dragons by sacrificing a little dignity. You, on the other hand, sacrificed security for your dragons' freedom?"

I hated to admit that he was right. We would have stood more chance with the dragons. Because of this, I remained silent.

"Last offer, Haddock. You hear the screamings tonight? That's your people. And now that we know where you're heading, ohoho…"

"Fine…" I said with a low voice. Despite that, Drago picked that up and gestured to his dragon to let me go.

Having been freed, I slowly stood up with aches all over my body. The dragon, which turned out to be a Deathgripper, pinned me down with great force and this was the result.

I stood before Drago, just waiting for his next move.

He punched my gut.

"OOfh–"

I sensed hatred in the force of the punch. I winced in pain and bent down, trying to suppress the pain. Drago proceeded to pull up my hair and hit my face with the butt of his spear. My face once again kissed the dirt but only for a moment. He picked me up by the arm and threw me to the side wall of the giant horn. It all happened so quickly and I could not retaliate one bit.

My vision blurred. My left cheek had a tear and bled quite the amount of blood. One of my ribs must have been fractured by the time Drago threw me away. I was on the edge of losing my consciousness when Drago approached me again, grabbed my head, and dragged me away to a certain direction.

"L-Let me go!" I pleaded. His hand was big enough to cover my entire skull so I could not see much. My neck was bent so terribly as Drago kept dragging me to somewhere I did not want to know.

"I want you to feel the pain that I felt years ago, Haddock," Drago said. "I'm going to teach you what it feels like to lose everything. Your dignity. People. Dragons. Home. Everything."

"You said you're going to let them live!" I was muffled, since his hand was on my face.

"May, Haddock. May."

I knew it. But then again, what choice did I have?

We walked for a few minutes. I swore it was the longest three minutes in my life because I could not see anything and my breathing was limited. However, we then stopped after climbing what seemed to be a small series of stairs.

"ARRRGHHH! ARRRRGGGHHHH!"

Drago screamed at the top of his lungs. His screaming echoed through the night. Magically, the sounds of everything else subsided. No more swords clashed. No more men screamed. What remained was the voice of flame engulfing the houses.

Drago then lifted me up in the air and opened his hand. In front of me was the view of the entire village of New Berk. He apparently took me to a balcony of a house that sat on top of the hill, allowing us to see the entire village.

Among the villagers were the raiders, Therondian raiders. All ceased their battles and looked at us. Worry painted the faces of my Berkians while evil on the Therondians.

"Let this be a life lesson to you Hiccup," Drago spoke, pulling me by the hair again. "This is pain."

Drago slammed me to the floor hard, back first.

"Arff– ACK!"

His spear pierced the flesh of my left hand. Stinging with pain, he added more by stabbing my right hand as well.

I could only scream in pain and did not know there was more to come. Drago laughed and speared my sides and calf. Blood gushed off my wounds and painted the floor red.

"THIS IS PAIN, HADDOCK! FEEL IT!"

He then removed my prosthetic leg and cast it off to a distance. Alongside the pain, I sensed the screaming of many. It was either slaughter or my people losing themselves at the sight of their chief being tortured.

"You're lucky I'm not here to teach you about death, though," Drago said. "You will live while your people die, Hiccup. You will live through the experience of failure. You will live and rot."

I could not reply. My left cheek was torn and I could not mutter clearly. Drago knew that. Thus, he turned my face around to see my village. With a finger, Drago kept my right eye open with force. I could not blink.

"No, run! Just leave me–GAH!"

"Run, my child. To the underground!"

"Please spare my children! Take me instead!"

"No, no, NOOO!"

"Mother! Father!"

"I beg for your mercy!"

"KILL THEM ALL! TAKE NO PRISONERS!" Drago commanded. His command sent a shiver up my spine.

Was this Berk's time coming to an end? This abrupt? Did my choices lead me to this outcome?

"Take a good look, Hiccup," Drago

"You two. Take him to the ship. He's going to be of great value later."

Drago let go of my head and I collapsed on the floor. Soon I lost myself.


Third person POV

The chief of Berk lay in a small cell. His eyes slowly opened after three days of being shut. When his vision kicked in, soon his painful wounds did, too.

With some help from the light from the round window on the wall, Hiccup discovered that his left cheek had stitchings that were terribly applied . His hands had some too that were wrapped loosely, too. The Therondians seemed to have forgotten his calf as the wound on that part did not have anything. Frozen blood covered the puncture, but it could really use external aid.

Hiccup later learned that the floor swayed about. He was on a ship being shipped to somewhere he did not know where. But he did not care as his memory flooded his mind.

"Berk… no…"

His mind flashed through what he experienced three days ago. The fire. The agony. The worst of all, how he let his people down.

'Mom… Gobber… Astrid… Where are they? Did they make it out? Didn't Drago command to kill them all? How can I be certain? They had dragons and we didn't. There's no way we can even stand a chance! How did they even infiltrate the village? We should've been able to spot them! Just how cloudy was that night? I thought the night patrols were trained to spot even through the clouds! But we haven't even built all the posts to accommodate them. Stupid. Stupid. STUPID. Haddock, you useless fucking–'

"Oh! You're awake!"

Hiccup turned the source of the voice and saw a Therondian guard. "Sorry but no food for now. We're going to restock soon, though. Best you endure it for now," He casually spoke.

Of course, Hiccup could not care less. Yes, he was hungry, but that was the least of his concern at the moment.

He had so many questions, but so few answers. To worsen it all, Hiccup was still physically in pain. He could barely move his fingers. His prosthetic was missing. His sides have been punctured. He could barely function as a human being.

"Oh, he's awake."

This time, it was a different guard who noticed Hiccup behind the bars.

"Should we feed him?" He asked the other guard.

"We can only provide him with water for now. We're out of food," the other guard replied.

"We'd better feed him soon. The order is to keep him alive."

"Yeah. It's a good thing that we're stopping by Arendelle."

The name hit Hiccup.

Arendelle. Wait… Anna and Elsa!