A/N: Wow, I feel like I shocked a lot of readers in the last chapter, with the disturbing scenes. There is some violence in this chapter, but it should be more tame than the last one.

The Hunt

The sense of urgency increased after their discovery. Stoick and Valka ran back the way they had come, hoping Hiccup had returned to the patch of chamomile, calling his name loudly the whole way. They couldn't believe it, the idea that something untoward was happening in a place like Healer's Island. They both had such happy memories of the place, they had assumed they were safe.

"He's not here." Stoick stated as he frantically looked around the area. Hiccup had disappeared in such a short period of time, it hadn't been that long between when Valka had left him at camp and when they had found the bundles of blankets on the trail.

"Stoick, come look at this." Valka had wandered away, further into the trees. Her husband obeyed immediately, worried, though her tone had assured him that she hadn't found Hiccup in dire condition. "It's rope, like from a trap."

"Hiccup mentioned almost walking into one..." Stoick trailed off, not liking the blood that stained some of the rope. "Do you think...?

"I think we would have heard him, if he had gotten stuck in a trap." Valka stood up from observing the rope. "We weren't far away. Besides, Hiccup knew it was there, he wouldn't get caught in it."

"Something got caught in it." Stoick observed, and the observation sparked a memory. "How long would you say that body had been there?"

Valka gave her husband a curious look. "A few days, at least."

"I think whoever was buried— the body we found— was who got caught in this trap. The second night we were here, I woke, thinking I had heard someone screaming."

"You mentioned that earlier." Valka remembered.

"It could have been him who was screaming." Stoick was starting to put events together. Hiccup would be able to help them fill in the rest of the blanks.

Valka only looked more worried by his words. Someone on the island was hurting people, and Hiccup was still out there.

"Hiccup might have seen this." Valka looked around for a sign of where he could have gone. "Do you think he went back to the western side of the island?"

"Possibly. It's a good place to start." Stoick began to walk west, Valka following from several yards away, so they could expand their search while still sticking together.

The worst scenarios were playing through Hiccup's head as he raced through the forest of Healer's Island. His worries outweighed the occasional ache he could feel in his stump, still not in the best of shape— the running didn't help.

His parents were being hunted down. He couldn't lose his parents. He had just gotten his mother back and he relied on his father for so much. All of the confusion about how his parents felt about him was tossed aside, and all Hiccup cared about was getting to them before something bad happened to them. They wouldn't be expecting it...

Hearing something, Hiccup skidded to a halt, wincing as the pressure on his stump caused him a quick flare of pain. He ignored it in favor of concentrating on what he was hearing. He had heard something that sounded like a voice and waited for it to sound again.

"Hiccup!" A familiar, distant voice was calling for him. Hiccup turned to his right, sure that the sound was coming from that direction. He heard another voice call his name, louder than the first one. He would be able to find his parents more easily now. But that also meant that anyone else could find them too.

Not wasting another second, Hiccup made a dash in the direction in which he'd find his parents. He focused more on getting closer to the sound than on where exactly he was going. It wasn't long before the voices became louder as the distance between them lessened, and not long after that when Hiccup was able to see figures walking a distance from each other, through the woods. He quickened his pace.

"Hiccup!" Stoick called from a short distance ahead of his wife, a sense of urgency and worry in his voice.

"Hic-!" Valka was cut off as a hand clamped around her mouth and someone appeared behind her. She let out a muffled sound of alarm and Stoick immediately turned to his wife, ready to go to her aid, but then stopped at what he saw.

"Sorry, I'm sorry..." Hiccup apologized softly as he released his mom, holding out a hand placatingly toward his dad, and moving his other one to take ahold of his startled, mother's hand. "I didn't mean to scare you, but you both need to be quiet."

"Hiccup." Valka exclaimed in surprise, though she did so much more quietly than her previous shouts of her son's name. She placed her free hand over her heart as she calmed down. Her son was with them now, they were all okay. "What is-"

"I'll explain once we get somewhere safe." Hiccup insisted, pulling her along by the hand and gesturing for his father to follow. "We need to be quick."

With a glance at his wife as she was led away, Stoick followed after his family. The two parents didn't question their son's actions, knowing now that something was amiss on Healer's Island. Hiccup still had ahold of his mom's hand, and at first he led her and his father as quickly as he could, as far away from where he had found them as he could. Then, he had been more careful. Valka and Stoick were experienced hunters and trackers, they could tell when someone was trying to avoid leaving a trail, and that was exactly what Hiccup was doing.

Eventually Hiccup stopped. They were in a part of the forest Hiccup didn't know well, which concerned him, but at least they had moved far away from where his parents had been shouting for him and far from the side of the island with the creepy house and the creepier residents.

"Are you okay?" Valka asked. She squeezed Hiccup's hand and he looked down, just realizing that he was still holding onto her. Pulling away now would only manage to insult her, so he didn't move.

"I'm okay." Hiccup answered. He wondered if his parents would believe him this time and hesitated to speak.

"I'm sorry I didn't believe you." Valka looked thoroughly ashamed. "I do now, if that helps." She looked to her husband. "He believed you from the beginning."

"We found a body." Stoick got straight to the point. Hiccup responded with an expression of curiosity, not the shock or surprise Stoick had been expecting.

"Did it have clothes?" Hiccup asked, though he wished he had worded the question a little better once he saw his parents' expressions in response. "It's relevant, I promise."

"I assume so. It was buried, we only saw the hand and part of the arm. There was a sleeve." Stoick answered.

Hiccup gently withdrew his hand from his mother's and reached for his satchel. It was heavy and bulging a little and as he lifted the flap, Sharpshot flew out of it, landing on Valka's shoulder this time as Hiccup wasn't holding still enough as he rummaged through his bag. The Terrible Terror hadn't liked riding on Hiccup's shoulders as he had been running and Hiccup hadn't wanted the little dragon to be flying around when there were crazy hunters out there. So the dragon had ended up in the satchel.

With a small smile, Valka reached up to give Sharpshot a chin scratch. She was starting to really miss Cloudjumper. She hadn't been away from him for this long in... ever, she realized. But she was determined to let Hiccup know that she had never stopped loving him, even when she hadn't been there.

"Here it is..." Hiccup mumbled as he pulled out an arrow and a piece of ripped cloth. He held them both up for his parents to see. "Did the sleeve match this?"

Stoick leaned in to look a little closer. The cloth was indeed the same as the sleeve he had used to pull the hand out of the dirt, only slightly cleaner. "It did."

"Where did you get that?" Valka asked curiously.

"From that trap I mentioned before." Hiccup lowered the two items. "It had been triggered."

"We saw it." Valka remembered the tangle of ropes she had found. So Hiccup had seen it too. "And the arrow?"

"I found it by the stream, after we sparred. It has clothing fibers stuck to the tip." He held it up again so they could see. "They match the piece of cloth."

Both Stoick and Valka looked and agreed, Hiccup was right. The body they had found had clothing that matched the piece of cloth from the trap and the fibers from the arrow...

"Someone... hunted... that person?" Valka pieced together. Hiccup nodded his head grimly.

"He was a trader, from that trade ship? His partner dropped him off here, to gather plants and herbs— I assume— then came back for him. Based off of the state the ship had been in when I saw it, the man who returned for his partner had expected him to be there waiting at the dock, but he was likely already dead. The man I ran into, he was the trader who came back. He left his ship for a quick search for his brother, ran into me and thought I was after him, and then ended up meeting the same fate as his partner." Hiccup explained.

"I thought that man killed himself?" Stoick questioned, and he was beginning to see why the man had done what he had. His words made sense now. I won't let you win.

"He did." Hiccup confirmed, relieved to find that his parents did in fact believe his story now, but also annoyed that they wanted him to trust them, but wouldn't trust his own words. "But... I found him, his body." Hiccup visibly paled and it seemed like it was hard for him to get out the next part of his explanation. "I found a house. It was built from pieces of ships and boats that had been taken apart. I... went inside." He glanced at his dad, expecting to see disapproval, but only saw a look of sympathy. "There were a lot of things in there, likely stolen from other trade ships or from tribes that had come here. I found my Dragon Blade." He gestured to the weapon, strapped to his thigh. "There was a body covered by a blanket. I couldn't bring myself to look... but I know it was him. It's been a few days, but his body was just laying in a corner. These people, they don't even care that they're living with a decomposing corpse." Hiccup's tone grew slightly bitter, then all the indignation melted away and he looked slightly sick. "They made..." He swallowed. "They used his bone... to make a hilt for a dagger."

Valka grimaced and Stoick's face hardened.

"How many are there?" Stoick asked, wanting to get an idea of the threat they were facing.

"Four, as far as I can tell. Two parents, an older son, and a teenaged daughter." Hiccup answered. "I first saw some of them from a distance, they were on the trade ship that I tried to show you, looting it. They have our boat too."

"That's where it went, then." Valka figured.

"The girl snuck up on me." Hiccup hadn't wanted to mention that, but it seemed relevant. His dad wasn't reacting in anger at anything he was saying, at least not directed at him, and Hiccup wondered if his dad was really taking his mom's former words to heart. "She told me that her older brother hunted down those two traders. She... she's been stalking me, while we've been here. She stole my dagger, her brother took it from her and lost it to that trader."

Valka nodded in understanding, seeing how things were coming together. Hiccup had been telling the truth, he had really been through all of what he had said. She felt guilt gnawing at her. Sharpshot, sensing her change in mood, nuzzled her face. Valka appreciated the gesture from her son's dragon companion, he had so many, but then he was very good with dragons and such a compassionate person.

Stoick looked indignant and angry, but not at his son. No, these people were breaking the rules of Healer's Island, furthermore, they were looting, and murdering people. They were outright terrorizing people on a land of peace and healing. As one of the chiefs currently involved in the Healer's Island treaties, he had a responsibility to see that things were made right and justice was served. However, they were outnumbered and had no transport.

"She said..." Hiccup hesitated, thinking that his parents might not react well to this next part. "She said that she... that it's her turn. She gets to have me. She's hunting me."

The reaction his words had on his parents was instantaneous. They looked alarmed and terrified, their worry showing on their faces. Their desire to protect him evident in their posture and the involuntary steps they took toward him.

"Their parents, they're hunting both of you." Hiccup continued. "That's why I had to make sure you were quiet, and why we had to get out of there as soon as we could."

"We're being... hunted." Valka stated slowly, processing the information with some shock.

"We need a plan." Stoick took charge.

"Maybe we can get our boat back?" Hiccup suggested.

"We need to send Sharpshot back home, with a letter." Valka said, giving the dragon another scratch under the chin. Hiccup started rummaging through his bag again, for his sketchbook and charcoal pencil. They could use one of the loose pieces of paper he had with him to write the note— the sooner the better.

Something whacked against Hiccup's arm bracer and he let out a gasp of surprise as he pulled his hands away from his satchel. He noticed as the arrow that had hit his arm bracer, bounced off and landed in the grass. Before he could look up to see where the arrow had come from, his mom was ushering him away and behind a tree trunk, protecting him with her own body.

Stoick and Valka had been startled and then alarmed by what had happened. Clearly they hadn't managed to lose their pursuers. As his wife immediately took their son and ran for cover, Stoick had paused a moment, seeing the direction the arrow had come from and wanting to stand and fight. However, he had no weapon on him and was at a disadvantage being a distance away from an archer, and so ran after his family.

"Are you alright?" Valka quickly looked Hiccup over.

"It didn't hit me. She was probably just aiming to startle me." Hiccup answered. What were the chances an arrow meant to kill, only managed to hit one of the few pieces of armor he was wearing? He only had his arm bracers on, the rest had been loaded onto their boat. The creepy girl was toying with him.

"Why would she do that?" Stoick asked as he stood behind a nearby tree trunk, glancing around to see if there was a safe path for them to take, away from the hunters.

"She had her chance to kill me earlier today." Hiccup answered with a shrug, all too nonchalant about his possible death and causing his parents to look a him sharply and with alarm. "She said that she didn't want it to be easy, she wanted to have some fun first."

Valka glared. "She wants you to run."

Stoick merely growled. He would do anything to protect Hiccup from this crazy girl who wanted to play with him before killing him. He had met bad people before, but these people were inhumane monsters.

"They're hunting you too, it's not just me." Hiccup reminded them, but his parents seemed less concerned by that, which bothered Hiccup. He needed his parents to take care of themselves too. He had just gotten his mom back and felt like he had only had the past five years with his dad. He needed— wanted— them both to continue to be present in his life no matter what had happened in the past.

"This way." Stoick gestured for his wife and son to move, ignoring Hiccup's concerns. His son came first, even at the cost of his own life. As Valka ushered Hiccup forward, he snatched Sharpshot off of her shoulder and hugged him to his chest, protecting him.

Hiccup ran ahead of his parents as directed, away from where the arrow had been shot. They needed to get somewhere safe, find a shelter so that they could safely let Sharpshot loose with a note asking for help. They needed weapons and a plan.

The world was suddenly spinning around him as he felt something ram into his side. causing him to tumble to the ground with a grunt of pain.

Hiccup vaguely heard his parents calling for him as he found himself on his back, the creepy girl holding him down, and something sharp, once again, at his throat.

"I found you!" She sang happily.

Sharpshot growled from his place on Hiccup's chest and lunged for the girl's face.

"Ah!" As the girl cried out and tried to shake the Terrible Terror from herself, the knife was withdrawn from Hiccup's throat. Taking his chance, Hiccup pushed himself up and shoved her off of himself.

Stoick and Valka had found themselves facing off with a muscular, young man— the girl's older brother, Hiccup had told them about. The beast of a young man stood between them and Hiccup, giving his younger sister the chance to do her thing while aiming his bow and arrow at the couple.

However, as the girl cried out in pain at Sharpshot's attack, his attention was taken away from Hiccup's parents. Stoick prepared to charge the man, but before he could, the girl's brother was already running.

Nearly growling in exasperation, the girl's brother ran to his sister, gripped Sharpshot, and yanked him off. The Terror writhed in his grasp, dangling in his hand from his wings.

"Let him go!" Hiccup shouted as he made a run for the young man who outsized him significantly. If Stoick and Valka had been closer, they would have held him back, assuming that their son didn't stand a chance against him. But they only managed to take a few steps forward before the creepy girl had recovered enough to leap onto Hiccup's back and bring him back down with a thud.

Hiccup landed hard on his stomach, his hands scraping against the dirt and the air leaving his lungs with the added weight of the girl on his back.

"Didn't we teach you better, Katla?" Her older brother admonished, speaking in a way that made him sound younger than he was— not in tone, but in his speech. "This was sloppy."

"I'd have more practice if mom and dad would let me have a turn more!" Katla argued back, pouting. Even as she bickered with her sibling, she held Hiccup's head down with a hand in his hair while the other one pressed on one of his arms. "But they always give you the hunt, Ullr."

"Don't move!" Ullr drew an arrow from the quiver on his back and pointed it at Valka as she and Stoick advanced. "Kat, where's your dagger?" He admonished her again for not having a weapon to threaten her prey with. The weapon in question lay in the grass just out of her reach from when Sharpshot had attacked her.

Hiccup struggled, nearly managing to buck her off with his superior strength while she was glaring at her brother, but her hold in his hair stopped him from moving as she tightened her grip and caused him to make a sound in distress.

"Enough." Stoick demanded in his chief-voice. Katla and Ullr both looked at him with wide eyes, responding to the demanding tone, like little kids caught in the act of misbehaving. "Where are your parents? We can talk this out, we can help you get what you want, just leave my son alone."

The vicious siblings exchanged glances.

"But this is what they want." A smile spread across Ullr's face. "They said I'm the best hunter there is, because of their hard work in training me."

Katla huffed and glared at the ground at her brother's words. She could be just as good as her brother, if her parents would give her a chance and let her show them what she could do.

"You don't have to hunt people." Valka joined the conversation. She glanced at Hiccup, his face was being pressed against the ground and the girl had wrenched one of his arms behind his back after he had almost bucked her off. The girl would have him, if her dagger was within reach.

"Mom and dad said, people don't want us to have what they have. They want us to work when we deserve better. People cast them out for being different." Ullr sounded like he was reciting something. "So we take what we deserve, what mom and dad deserved."

Sharpshot struggled again as he dangled from Ullr's hand, managing to nick a claw on his arm as he swayed in his grip. Ullr cried out as he felt the sting of a cut and reacted immediately with anger, swinging his arm around and whacking the small dragon against a tree trunk. Sharpshot let out a sad cry and stopped struggling.

"Don't!" Hiccup struggled again as he cried out, trying to fight against Katla's attempts to restrain him.

"Stupid thing!" Ullr cursed as he held the barely moving dragon in his hand. Valka and Stoick had gasped and taken another couple steps forward when Sharpshot had taken the blow, but they were held back again by Hiccup's pain.

"Just give us the dragon." Valka said with more urgency, Stoick giving her a quick, sharp look. "And our son. You can keep the boat." Valka hated to see Sharpshot tossed around like that, the dragon was barely conscious, every now and then fluttering his eyes open and trying to move.

Stoick hated feeling like he couldn't protect his son— his son who was the priority in his mind, as much as Sharpshot meant to his son. The loyal dragon had fought to protect Hiccup, and Stoick appreciated that, but he didn't agree with Valka's words.

As much as Hiccup loved Sharpshot, it didn't escape his notice that his mom had asked for the dragon's safety first, over his. The realization pierced his heart with a new wave of sorrow and self-loathing. Sharpshot was dear to him, how could he let himself feel bad when someone was worried about his dragon's well-being? Then the guilt settled in, how could he want his life to be valued over Sharpshot's?

"And ruin the fun?" Katla smirked. Her ratty hair was hanging in her face and her eyes had a crazed glint to them. "No, I have a plan for all of you, and it involves me taking Hiccup with me."

Ullr grinned at the mention of this plan that his sister had. She may not be as good as he was at hunting, but she had fun ideas.

The situation was quickly deteriorating and Hiccup knew it. Katla was trying to prove herself to her parents, trying to earn something from them. She had been incredibly defensive of them earlier and apparently had a plan to please them. Meanwhile Ullr seemed to have their parents' approval and seemed to enjoy that he had the upper hand in their situation. Hiccup's own parents couldn't do much while he and Sharpshot were being held.

While all of this was going on, Hiccup had been trying to remember the specifics of a move Astrid had once drilled him on. She had wanted Hiccup to be able to defend himself in all sorts of situations, especially back when he had been a fish bone of a teenager. They had been moves her own father, Arne, had taught her, since she was also a smaller than average Viking girl.

Astrid had once commented on his need to think everything through, rather than act on instinct, so she had drilled him harder, wanting him to know the moves so well he could just act without thinking. Really, he should remember how to get out of this hold— Katla straddling his back and holding him down.

"You're not taking my son anywhere." Stoick stated in the most menacing tone he could manage. He started to advance on Ullr, knowing he could take him with his bare hands if needed.

"Stay back!" Ullr warned, though he couldn't properly keep Hiccup's parents at bay when he couldn't wield his bow and arrow with only one hand. In his panic, he swung his arm again, Sharpshot whacking against the tree once more. This time, the little dragon hung completely limp in Ullr's hand.

Hiccup cried out for Sharpshot as the dragon took another blow, his free hand reaching out from a distance. The image of his little dragon friend hanging limp in Ullr's hand ingrained itself in his mind, even though it was quickly blurred by the flow of tears. Maybe he could still help his dragon... maybe it wasn't too late for Sharpshot.

Before Hiccup could try to escape once more, Ullr tossed the Terrible Terror aside and quickly wielded his bow, pointing it at Valka as a warning to the advancing Stoick.

Sharpshot landed in the patchy grass, just a few feet in front of Hiccup. None of what was happening around him registered anymore. All Hiccup had eyes for was Sharpshot. His silly, loyal Terrible Terror who had been with him for the past five years. The dragon that loved to curl up on his lap and purr, perch on his shoulder and keep him company, and who had defended him when it came down to it. Sharpshot lay in the grass, unmoving.

While on his stomach and pinned, Hiccup quickly drew his knees up and to his chest, pushing his backside up in the process. Not expecting the sudden movement, Katla cried out in surprise as she was launched forward. She was forced to let go of Hiccup's hair and his arm in order to catch herself before face planting in the dirt.

Now that Katla's arms were holding herself up, right above Hiccup's head, Hiccup grabbed one of her arms and collapsed it, rolling them both over in the process. Katla let out a gasp in surprise as she was rolled onto her back, Hiccup's head now on her stomach and him laying between her legs on his back. In her now vulnerable position, Hiccup drew his elbow back so he could hit her in the ribs before rolling forward on his own and standing up.

Katla gasped in pain and grabbed her side. Ullr scowled but couldn't go to his sister's aid unless he stopped aiming his bow at Stoick and Valka. He took a couple steps back, seeing that this confrontation wasn't likely to go in their favor.

"Maybe you won't be as easy to take down as I thought." Katla rasped, arm still holding her side as she forced herself to stand up. Hiccup glared her down with the most hateful look he had ever given anyone.

"Don't." Ullr warned, aiming the bow at Hiccup's chest when it looked like he was about to go after his sister.

With a cackle, Katla bent over and grabbed Sharpshot by the tail disrespectfully, giving Hiccup a cocky smile. Though blood dripped from the fresh scratches on her face, she seemed completely unfazed.

"We'll call it a tie for now." Katla smirked, loving how much of a reaction she was getting out of Hiccup simply by holding onto his dragon. "You guys can go. I'll catch you later."

When no one moved, Ullr lowered his bow, just a little, to indicate that he was going to go along with his sister's plan. They had all the time they wanted to hunt them down again and have even more fun. It wasn't like their victims had a way to leave.

Stoick slowly grabbed Hiccup's arm and tugged him back. Hiccup hadn't moved, his eyes glued to his poor, beat up dragon. He couldn't even tell if Sharpshot was alive, but he didn't hold out too much hope. He couldn't just leave his dragon and abandon his friend.

"Hiccup, we have to go while we can." Stoick said gently, seeing the sorrow on his son's face. Stoick tugged his son harder and Hiccup stumbled back. "Let's go."

Hiccup got one last look at Sharpshot, now being held like a baby in Katla's arms as she rocked the dragon's body and laughed at her own joke, before he was pulled away by his parents.

A/N: Thanks for reading! I will probably be going back to alternating between updating this story and my other one, "What Lies Beneath," each week. So, next week you can expect the next chapter of "What Lies Beneath," then a new chapter of "Deviation" the week after that.

Ysabelle Anne R. Inoncillo: Thank you! Sorry to make you wait after that last ending! I hope you liked the new chapter!

Silver Sentinel: There's plenty more action to come! I think they were just focusing on one hunt at a time. The island was big enough for them to hunt the trader's first, then go after Hiccup's family later.

Musical Dragon Rider: Haha, sorry for the creepy vibes from my story! I was aiming to make it somewhat eerie, so I'm glad that came across well. I'm glad you liked the chapter and hope you liked this one too!

KinglyRoom59363: Yeah, things went in a crazy direction. But I'm glad to hear that you are loving it! I hope you continue to enjoy!

Romantica 543: That family is definitely inhumane and messed up. Hiccup and his parents are in danger, but hopefully they stand a chance! Sorry, but it doesn't seem like Sharpshot is going to be able to bring help. Haha, yeah, thanks. I was updating this one every week, but I finally got a new chapter of "What Lies Beneath" out, so I'll be updating this one every other week so I can keep updating my other story as well.

gandalf nho: I think Hiccup explains things in a little more detail in this chapter too. Thanks for the review!

CHSHiccstrid: Oh no, I shocked your brain! Haha, I'm sorry. I will keep adding warnings to the beginnings of chapters with heavier content in them. Yes, Hiccup and his parents could use some weapons right now, but I thinks their relationship will get better soon too. They need to come together now, more than ever.

nw150: Haha, things just got serious.

omega13a: I'll keep adding warnings for chapters that need them! The story shouldn't get much darker than the last one. I don't think that family could have been on Healer's Island for that long, otherwise someone else would have found out about them by now. If people kept going missing on Healer's Island, for years, the nearby tribes would have suspected something. I think it is more likely that they have been there for several months, maybe close to one year, but no longer. They weren't there last time Hiccup was there.

Guest: Haha, I'm sorry if the last chapter was a little much.

KN Hudson: Hiccup has been struggling with his feelings in regards to his parents, but being in danger has made things clear for him— he cares about them, he loves them, and wants them to continue to be in his life.