Chapter Twelve: Puzzle Pieces

Ten miles was a long way to fly and with Ruffnut and Tuffnut bickering with each other on Barf and Belch, every second Hiccup spent on his dragon flying away from Berk frustrated him even more. He knew his little girl was on Berk, he could feel it, and yet here he was flyingaway from her. It felt wrong. Even though he knew he was doing this for her, he couldn't help feeling like he was wasting time.

What kind of night did his daughter have? Did she sleep? Had she eaten anything over the last day and night? He hoped that she had at least been able to drink something. Even if all she could eat was snow, that would keep her alive a little longer. Long enough for him to come and get her. He found himself thinking about what he would give her when she got back... she loved sweet rolls, especially when he added mint leaves. Wait a minute, was he thinking about actually having her home again? No more pessimism? Well that was a start. He felt a little bit better as the glacier finally came into view.

They landed a minute later and immediately dismounted. They searched the glacier for a moment before Tuffnut finally found something odd frozen into the ice. It looked like a wooden puzzle piece, sort of like the ones the kids put together in the Great Hall during especially bad weather.

"That must be what we're looking for." Hiccup muttered, getting on his knees to inspect it. "If it's made of wood, we can't let the dragons melt the ice. The fire might burn it."

Ruffnut and Tuffnut nodded. For a moment, they stood there, staring at the piece in the ice with no idea how to get to it. They had no tools with which to break the ice. So unless they tried to break it with their fists, that piece would be stuck. Hiccup bit his lip. It had taken a long time to fly there. Okay it had taken twenty minutes but a forty minute wait for supplies seemed excessive. Especially since they still had to figure out Ruffnut and Tuffnut's clues.

"So how do we get it out?" Tuffnut asked.

Hiccup restrained himself from punching his friend. It was a legitimate question but he was already on edge. He put his fingers on the ice, tracing the puzzle's shape. His baby girl depended on him getting it out of the ice. Then, quite suddenly, it hit him. It was a bit crude but if it worked... he pulled a dagger out of his coat and immediately stabbed the ice. It barely made a dent but, he thought, this only meant that he was a millimeter close to the thing that would get his daughter back. He'd pick away at the ice all day for her.

"Cool! We get to break stuff?" Ruffnut exclaimed, getting out her own dagger and stabbing the ice close to the dent Hiccup had made.

"It's going to take forever at this rate." Hiccup growled. "If there was a way to soften the ice, maybe..." he looked over at Toothless. "All right, bud, I need a plasma blast but it has to be slow, not very hot. Melt the ice slowly."

Toothless made a gurgling noise and obliged. Once the ice was sufficiently melted, Hiccup stabbed it again and this time, it cracked. He dropped his dagger and dug in the ice with his bare hands until he had extracted the puzzle piece. It had writing on the back but it was clearly only part of a full message.

"Okay that's mine. Tell me your clues. We need to figure them out." he said, turning back to the twins.

"Yeah well mine is stupid. It makes no sense." Ruffnut grumbled.

"Let me be the judge of that." Hiccup held out a hand and she placed the small piece of parchment into it. "Remember when your fiance threw you to the fishes? You know, that sounds really familiar. Like... I know I've heard that before."

"Oh! So that's why I thought I'd heard it before. Did I say that to you? Oh did you ever throw Astrid into the ocean? Or did I do that? Well... I think I did that once but it was like thirteen years ago." Ruffnut rambled, clearly thinking out loud.

"Yeah, yeah, not what I meant. Wait a minute... you were engaged before Fishlegs." Hiccup snapped his fingers.

"I was? Why don't I remember? Did I block it out? Was it traumatizing?" Ruffnut asked, her eyes widening in horror.

"No, no, you weren't actually engaged, you were just pretending to be engaged to me." Hiccup continued.

"I was engaged to you? What? Is that why I don't remember? Did Astrid hit me really hard or..."

"No, you were pretending for that prank you pulled on me at Snoggletog, remember? You were Ms. Ruffy and you played my fiancee long ago. I don't know, it was weird, but I remember Gobber told me that you were thrown to the fishes!" Hiccup smacked himself upside the head in triumph (and immediately regretted this action). "Your piece is at that bridge! The one where it happened!"

"Ohh... yeah that would make more sense." Ruffnut admitted as she climbed onto Barf's neck.

"Yeah. But that's way back on Berk." Tuffnut said, clumsily mounting Belch. "Kind of a waste of time to fly all the way out here just to go back."

"If it's for Addie, it's worth it." Hiccup countered, quickly mounting Toothless and taking off.

Xxx

"Remember when you nearly made yourself sick... and emerged stronger than ever?" Fishlegs read as Astrid pocketed her piece. "Okay so making myself sick... I wonder if that's metaphoric? Maybe lovesick?"

"Yeah maybe it's that place you and I had that talk before Finn and Anna were born. When I told you how I was..." Astrid suddenly choked on thin air. "She was listening to that too? That was a private conversation!"

"Emerged stronger than ever though... I don't think that's what she meant. I mean I couldn't find Ruff so I put the flowers on her doorstep. Not very strong." Fishlegs shook his head. "It must be referring to something else. Maybe the bit about being sick is literal."

"So did you ever make yourself sick?" Astrid asked, leaning against a nearby tree.

"A few times, yeah. Various reasons. But I never came out of it stronger than... wait a minute!" Fishlegs read the message over again, a look of triumph on his face. "I didn't emerge stronger than ever. That's the metaphor! The day I discovered Gronckle iron, I was kind of depressed so I might have overindulged in some berries and fed Meatlug too many rocks. Felt really sick when it was over. And then she threw up the stuff that we turned into Gronckle iron. Maybe... maybe that's it. The place where it first happened."

"Couldn't hurt to take a look. But gods, how does she remember all this stuff? How old were we, sixteen? That would have been at least eleven years ago!" Astrid sighed deeply as she mounted Stormfly.

"I'm more interested in how she spied on us all without any of us noticing." Fishlegs said as he got on Meatlug and the two friends flew away.

It was a five minute flight to the beach that had once played host to rocks easily converted into Gronckle iron. A lot of trial and error on the part of other Gronckle owners finally resulted in the formula's replication but the correct rocks were becoming scarce. It took a bit of searching but they finally found the shovel and the instruction to dig underneath the berry bush.

Astrid's heart dropped uncomfortably as she realized that the berries were the same kind that Finn had snacked on mere weeks before. That memory had little to do with Adrianna but their family had been happy back then. Things had been simple. She looked down at the blood on her shirt again. This morning, she had honestly believed that her little girl had been brutally slaughtered by her own great aunt. If there was one thing Astrid knew for sure, it was that things would never be the same again. Fear suddenly gripped her when she realized that losing Adrianna would completely destroy her whole family. It wouldn't be just Adrianna that was missing. If Hiccup broke down that badly when their daughter was alive, how would he react if she was...

She felt a sob escape her throat before she could stop it. She put a hand to her face, trying to wipe away the tears, force them to stop pouring down her cheeks, but it was too late. So this was the breakdown her husband had experienced the previous night, was it? She forced herself to remain calmer than he had. Sobbing and screaming was a waste of time and time was one thing they didn't have. Still, she could not stop the barrage of tears from pouring out of her eyes.

"Astrid?"

"Keep digging." Astrid commanded, trying to wipe the tears out of her eyes. "We don't have time to stop. Just dig."

Fishlegs hesitated at first but one watery glare from Astrid got him moving again. He focused on the digging, the shovel piercing the dirt, nearly uprooting the berry bush. Astrid's sobs were barely audible behind him but he did his best to ignore them. The piece of the puzzle finally came into view and he clutched it in his hand.

"I have it." he said, turning back to his friend.

Astrid nodded and inspected the piece. It certainly looked like part of the same puzzle. She turned around so she could mount Stormfly but Fishlegs grabbed her arm.

"Hiccup has 3 clues to figure out, he'll be late." he said as Astrid turned to face him. "And you need a minute."

"No, I'll feel better if I keep moving." she countered, pushing him away. "Thanks for looking out for me but I need to focus. If I take a break, I'll lose it."

Fishlegs nodded and gently patted her on the shoulder. "If you need someone... I mean I know Hiccup is kind of... you know where to find me. I'm here to make sure you won't go crazy."

"What about Ruffnut? As her husband, aren't you supposed to be doing that for her?" Astrid asked, sniffling loudly and wiping her nose.

"She's already crazy. It's one of the reasons I love her. But her and Tuffnut are enough without you and Hiccup joining them." Fishlegs said with a small smile. "We can do this, Astrid. Addie's truly blessed to have so many people in her life that love her."

"Anna." Astrid corrected. "Only Hiccup calls her Addie."

"Ah, I didn't realize... sorry." Fishlegs shuffled his feet awkwardly.

Astrid breathed a sigh, glad to have stayed her tears for now. "It's fine, just don't say it in front of him. He might... well who knows, really? Let's just head back."

Xxx

Gobber stared at his note with an annoyed gaze. "'At least you're not left-handed.' This is a fact, not a place."

"But it has to point to a certain place or else she wouldn't have said that." Stoick reasoned, looking the note over.

Gobber slapped his hook into his left hand. "Well clearly, but she could've made things easier."

"Easier? This is Trista we're talking about."

"I know, I know." Gobber scratched the back of his head with his hook. "I almost wish I could ask Hiccup to help figure this out, but that's out of the question."

Stoick watched his friend wave his hook around as he talked, something nagging in the back of his mind. And suddenly it hit him.

"Your left hand. It's missing."

Gobber slapped Stoick on the arm. "Stoick, you have an immaculate eye for detail..."

"No, that's not..." Stoick sighed heavily in annoyance before restarting. "She wants you to find your piece of the puzzle where your hand was taken."

Gobber's mouth slid open and he slowly nodded. "Ohhh..." he closed his eyes, muttering to himself. "I lost my leg... near the forge. But my hand... beard of Thor, it was so long ago..."

Stoick gaped. "What! You don't remember?!"

"It was nearly twenty years ago, Stoick!"

Stoick suddenly reached out and grabbed his friend's shoulders. "Gobber, you have to remember! Adrianna's life as at stake, not to mention Hiccup's sanity!"

"Calm down. Don't let her get to you."

"Then you better start thinking because we don't have a lot of time." Stoick sighed heavily, getting go of Gobber's shoulders and trying to return his heart rate to its normal pace.

He paced around the edge of the cemetery while Gobber thought. He tried to stay calm, but the longer they stood around, the more his impatience seemed to build.

After a few minutes, Gobber finally turned to him. "I think... I remember it was a Monstrous Nightmare. I jumped on his neck and he started to dive towards the docks. I fell onto one of the docks beside it, tried to fight it off with a sword, and it bit my hand right off, sword and all. So... the docks?"

Stoick nodded, hoping that was the right location. "Okay. Let's check the docks."

They were unsure of whether or not Trista had meant to leave Gobber's piece so close to Stoick's but the docks were a five minute walk from the cemetery.

"I should have spent more time with her." Stoick said after a moment of silent walking.

"Time with who?"

"Adrianna. I was so... so distracted with Finn, he's bigger and more like me that I didn't really notice her most of the time." Stoick sighed deeply "I don't care if we have a war on our shores, I will spend time with her every day after we get her back."

"I know you will. You will make it up to her and Hiccup. And don't you ever think differently, not for a second." Gobber said, looking his friend directly in the eye.

Stoick averted his gaze. "Hiccup... he's never been so angry with me before. I made a mistake. I should have listened to you."

"You were doing what you thought was best. People make their own decisions. Chances are if he was in your shoes, he would have done the same exact thing. He's a lot more like you than even he thinks."

That doesn't change anything, Gobber. I still ruined the only relationship with my son that I've ever had."

"Stoick... This is Hiccup." Gobber stopped for a second and waited for Stoick to face him. "Things will turn out all right in the end, and he will come around. He's the most forgiving, compassionate person we know."

Stoick wanted to argue further, his soul squeezing tight in his chest with guilt. But he knew no matter how much he argued, Gobber was right. They would find Adrianna. But Hiccup's forgiveness? No. That was too much to ask.

Xxx

"That seemed kind of easy." Hiccup said as he stared at Ruffnut's piece in his hand. "She didn't bury it or anything. If we hadn't gotten here, a Terrible Terror could have flown off with it."

"Yeah that would have been weird. You'd wrestle it to the ground and pry it out of its mouth!" Tuffnut chortled.

"It's not funny!" Hiccup snapped. "What does your note say? We need to get these back to the Great Hall as soon as we can."

"But we didn't find my piece yet!" Tuffnut whined.

Why had he decided to travel with the twins? They were making it very difficult to keep calm.

"So let me see it!" Hiccup nearly ripped it out of Tuffnut's hand. "If you let yourself get trapped, be sure to carry a torch."

"But why would I do that? Do they mean in a cave? Woah have I ever gotten trapped in a cave?" Tuffnut turned to Ruffnut, who shrugged.

"Torch... hey, what if that's talking about the time your hair caught on fire! That was hilarious!"

"Ruff, focus." Hiccup frowned, but focused on the word torch like she had. "Wait... Torch! The Typhoomerang we met when we were teens!"

"OH!" Tuffnut shouted in excitement. Then he paused. "I still don't get it."

"Tuffnut, do you remember where you got caught in that dragon trap?" Hiccup asked, turning to him and staring at him intently.

"No but Astrid was yelling at me the whole time..."

"Not that time! The other one, when we were sixteen!"

"Oh, you mean the one where we almost got burned to a crisp in the forest fire?"

Hiccup bit back a growl. "YES!"

"Umm... in the forest?"

Hiccup slapped his forehead. "Well that was enlightening. Thank you."

"I dunno, it was some clearing. I don't remember exactly where it was, that was like eleven years ago!" Tuffnut shook his head. "Maybe we can put everything together without my piece."

"No!" Hiccup shouted suddenly, making them both jump. "We are not giving up!"

"But I don't remember where it happened..."

"Welcome to my world." Hiccup gave him a decidedly fake smile. "Yet here we are. The rest of us had to use our brains, so you should probably use yours too."

"Right! I'll use my brain!" Tuffnut put his fingers up to his skull. "Okay... clearing... burned by the fire. The trees would be younger then!"

"Of course! Tuffnut, that's it!" Hiccup exclaimed. "We just look for a place where the trees are smaller, younger."

"But that was a big fire. How are we gonna know which tree to look under?" Ruffnut asked, a look of abject confusion on her face.

"We'll figure that out when we get there. Come on!" Hiccup shouted and mounted Toothless in seconds.

It didn't take long to find the patch of shorter, newer looking trees. Hiccup peered at the ground. This had happened so long ago and all he could remember was that it was in a clearing. How Trista remembered it at all was a mystery.

"There's a clearing. Maybe that's it!" he shouted to the others and immediately dived without checking to see if they had heard him.

But there was nothing in the clearing except snow and shorter trees. Hiccup growled in frustration and took off before the twins had a chance to land. The next clearing had nothing in it either but the third one they checked had the instruction to dig and a shovel propped up against a tree.

"One more piece. I hope the others found theirs because we do not have time to wait." Hiccup said as he grabbed the shovel and immediately began to dig.

It was a slower process this time because ice had frozen over the snow. It took several minutes for Hiccup to reach the ground and digging underneath the frozen soil was even more difficult. Sweat began to pour down his face but he hardly noticed it. His muscles screamed in agony but he didn't stop. He couldn't stop. He felt like he was digging his little girl out of the ground, like if he dug long enough, she would be in his arms and this nightmare would all be over.

The twins were uncharacteristically quiet. Ruffnut thought about her own daughter.; how would she react if she was in Hiccup and Astrid's predicament? Certainly not like this. And Fishlegs would have broken down much earlier. She shook her head, trying to clear her mind, but once the thoughts began to creep up, they were very difficult to shove down.

"I've got it." came a distant voice.

Ruffnut snapped back to reality, surprised that she had been this distracted to begin with. She wasn't usually so emotional. But she supposed that anyone would be if they had to think about what would happen if their precious child disappeared. And, for all her faults, Ruffnut adored her children.

Hiccup held up the puzzle piece to show them that he had it before pocketing it and mounting his dragon. The twins silently got on theirs and they flew back to the Great Hall.

Stoick, Gobber, Astrid, and Fishlegs were all sitting at a table waiting for Hiccup and the twins. They had attempted to assemble their pieces but this had been made very difficult by the fact that the end result's shape clearly wasn't going to be a square (or any recognizable shape). They had finally figured out that Stoick's and Fishlegs' pieces fit together when the group was reunited.

"We got them. Weird places too. I don't know how she remembered them when we barely did." Hiccup grumbled, throwing the three pieces they had acquired on the table.

"Like I said, she's clever." Stoick said, not meeting his son's gaze. "I think the three pieces we were missing are the ones in the middle. That's why ours didn't fit."

"We should assemble them based on the writing. That would make it easier." Hiccup said, turning all the pieces over.

Perhaps it was the stress but everyone at the table felt a bit sheepish for not working that out. The other side of the pieces had details, sort of like some sort of picture, but they couldn't figure out what it was. It didn't take long to assemble the seven pieces once they were together and the writing made it quite a bit easier. The final message was spelled out in large capital letters.

TURN THIS OVER. YOU CAN FIND LITTLE ADDIE AT HICCUP'S LOCATION. DO NOT FLY HERE. COME ALONE. SEE YOU SOON!

"My location?" Hiccup asked, reading the message over several times. "What does that mean?"

Stoick turned the puzzle over. Trista seemed to have drawn a map of a nearby mountain. The piece Hiccup had found was on the top and there was a large black dot, which they now realized was where she was keeping Adrianna.

"We can't fly. We could be there in twenty minutes but no... we have to hike up the mountain." Hiccup put his head in his hands, trying not to explode like the last time. "It's going to be another day. At least."

"We're all upset but you cannot lose it right now. You're going to start a cycle." Astrid said, gently rubbing his back. "We know where Anna is. Just focus on that. We're going to have her back tomorrow."

"I want her back today. Hel, she shouldn't be gone at all. When is this going to end?" Hiccup muttered into his fingers, his voice trembling.

"Pull it together. We need to go now. Every second we stall is another second she spends with that psychopath. We can do this, Hiccup." Astrid whispered.

Hiccup slowly looked up at her. His cheeks were slightly pink and Astrid could see the agony in his eyes... but he nodded and stood up.

"Get supplies. We meet back here in half an hour." he said to the group in an amazingly calm voice that made even Stoick slightly uneasy.

Xxx

No one spoke much on the trek up the mountain. They briefly talked about whether Trista had explicitly told them not to bring their dragons and decided that, as long as they didn't fly, the dragons should come along. They might be useful.

The mountain was massive. A journey in the middle of summer would take long enough but with the deep snow, it was definitely slow going. They knew they wouldn't be able to reach Adrianna that day. Even Hiccup realized this but he didn't want to think about it. He couldn't sleep. Not while the only daughter he would ever have was taken from him. Some of the others hung back and tried to figure out how to keep him from hiking all night. He'd probably get himself killed that way. They finally decided to leave the task to Astrid, who was probably the only one he was willing to obey anymore. He refused to look at Stoick. Deep down, he knew it wasn't his father's fault that they were in this situation, not truly, but it didn't matter. He needed someone to blame and his father was the closest scapegoat he had.

Night fell at last and the tired travelers found a decent size cave in which to sleep. Stoick started a fire so that they would stay warm. The cave was heated quite nicely and if everyone wasn't so tense, they might have been very comfortable. Hiccup sat down and stared into it as the others began to go to sleep. Toothless lumbered over to his human and curled up behind him so that Hiccup could lie on his back. Astrid sat down next to her husband, determined to keep him there all night even if he wouldn't sleep.

"I wonder if she's warm." he whispered to her after a few minutes.

"Maybe she is." Astrid replied, placing her head on his shoulder.

"I just want to put my arms around her and never let her go." he muttered. "The second I have her back, I'm not letting her out of my sight."

"I think everyone feels the same way. She'll be smothered." Astrid murmured. "Get some sleep. You're no help when you're tired and I know you didn't sleep last night."

"I can't..."

"You really want to be tired when you're dealing with Trista? You're going to need all your energy." Astrid kissed him on the cheek, gently caressing the side of his face with her hand in an attempt to relax him.

There was a long pause in which Hiccup leaned back on his dragon, surprised at how comfortable he was becoming. He felt his heart constricting; he needed to verbalize what he was thinking before he went even more insane.

"I almost don't want to go." he whispered.

Astrid looked up at him. "Why not?"

"Because I know she's alive. And I might watch her die tomorrow and..." Hiccup took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. "She's alive now. But I don't know about tomorrow. That's what scares me the most."

"You can't think that way." Astrid gently stroked his hair, an action that usually rendered him incapable of movement but he was far too tense to notice.

"She is the only daughter we're ever going to have." he closed his eyes, trying to enjoy the pleasurable sensation spreading over his scalp. "And even if she weren't, she's still my Addie. She'll always be my first little girl. You can't just... just replace that. Not ever. I can't... I can't lose her, Astrid."

"Shh. Go to sleep. Now isn't the time to worry. There's nothing you can do." Astrid muttered, kissing him on the cheek before snuggling into him and leaning on Toothless.

Hiccup's eyelids fluttered shut.

SNAP!

His eyes flew open and grew wide as he looked around. A Terrible Terror has stepped on a twig outside and was flying away as Hiccup's eyes flitted to the mouth of the cave. He realized with a jolt that he could see daylight. How long had he been asleep?

He felt Astrid stir next to him, apparently awakened by his startled movements. He leaned down and kissed her on the top of the head, thanking her for making him sleep. He felt much better than he had over the last day.

They awakened the others and it was early in the morning when they continued their hike. The dragons hung back a bit, yawning and stretching as they walked. They were used to waking up their humans, not the other way around.

Around midday, they spotted a dragon flying high over their heads. Stoick looked up, his hand over his eyes so that he would not stare directly into the sun.

"We're close." he said, lowering his hand. "I think that's her Nadder."

He had told them of his suspicions regarding her usage of dragons the previous day during the hike. It was the detail that convinced them to bring the dragons along.

As Hiccup heard his father utter those words, he felt his heart pounding in his chest. He was close to his baby. She was within his grasp.

They had only walked for a few more minutes when they spotted a clearing. There was a crudely built hut toward the back but it was what was in front of the hut that caught their attention. Long golden locks, dirty white shirt and pants, looking tiny compared to her surroundings and shivering in the cold... Trista had been telling the truth. Adrianna was alive.

"Addie!" Hiccup cried, racing forward as fast as he could.

The child turned her bright green eyes to face him, her expression never changing. In fact, she looked terrified. Why didn't she run?

Seconds later, he had to stop and very nearly skidded on the icy snow. A very familiar old woman stepped out of the hut and immediately grabbed the girl by the hair, placing a sharp looking dagger to her throat. Hiccup felt his heart jump into his throat, pounding so hard it became difficult to draw breath.

"You..." he choked. "You're the one who... you told me... you sent me to the Berserkers!"

Trista Haddock laughed. It was a cold, frightening sound that made the hair on the back of his neck stand on end.

"I wondered if you would recognize me. Very good." she simpered. "And Stoick, I see you've joined the party! And with mommy dearest and all your little friends. This will be so much fun."

Stoick took a few tentative steps forward, keeping an eye on the dagger to his granddaughter's throat. "All right, you've had your fun. We've played your game. Haven't we won?"

"Won what?" Trista asked, her voice still retaining the sickeningly gleeful quality.

"You called her our prize." Stoick said, his voice trembling ever so slightly as he watched the dagger edge closer to the child's neck. "We've won. Give her back."

Trista laughed again and it was all Hiccup could do not to charge forward. This was the woman who had torn apart his family. He felt hatred burning in his chest, eating away at him until he was consumed with it.

"Oh I just meant that she's a prize to you." Trista chortled. "You lost a long time ago."

"So why are we here?" Stoick asked. "What more do you want?"

Trista gazed at him for a second, the smile frozen to her face. Her eyes narrowed. "I want my prize."

As he gazed at his child, Hiccup felt his voice bubble to the surface. "Why Addie? She means nothing to you?"

"Oh she means more than you think." Trista said, her head turning to face him. "But only as leverage."

Stoick took another step forward, his hands outstretched. "Your problem is with me. Not with Hiccup, not with Adrianna. Leave them out of this."

Trista turned to face her brother once more, her gray eyes narrowed. "Oh I could but it simply wouldn't hurt you enough."

"Why are you doing this?" Stoick sounded desperate, more emotion than usual pouring through his vocal cords. "I'm sorry if you were mistreated but it wasn't my fault..."

"Oh no, it wasn't your fault I was born first and female." Trista rolled her eyes. "If that's all it was, I'd only take issue with our parents. Guess I'd have to kill them. Oh wait. They're dead."

"So what are you doing here? Why are you targeting me? I didn't do anything..."

Trista's eyes flew open and she nearly choked on thin air. "Didn't... didn't do anything? Really? Nothing comes to mind?"

"You're the one who went insane!" Stoick roared, making them all jump. "Trista, you killed our brother!"

"Did I? My, my, we certainly have different memories of that day."

There was a long pause in which Stoick and Trista never broke eye contact. The rest of the group stared between the two, trying to figure out what they were talking about. Suddenly, a look of comprehension dawned on Trista's face and she let out a laugh.

"We really do!" she exclaimed. "You've... you've started to believe your own lie!"

"What lie?" Stoick asked, completely bewildered.

Trista continued to stare at him, searching for anything in his eyes that would tell her that he knew what she was talking about... but it wasn't there.

"Did you feel guilty? Is that why you blocked it out?" she asked in a falsely sweet voice. "You were such a good boy, you couldn't imagine doing something so horrible, even if it was an accident. You needed someone to take the blame."

"Blame?" Stoick's voice sounded constricted. "Blame for what?"

"Think back to that day." Trista commanded. "Really think about it."

"I am thinking!" Stoick shouted, balling his fists. "What do you want me to remember?"

"Keep thinking." Trista goaded, leaning forward slightly. "I know it's buried in your head. Something like that is too big to completely forget. No matter how much you might want to."'

Stoick's mind raced, the memories flashing at him in the form of tiny pictures. "I don't know what you're..." and then it clicked. The memory she had been prodding out of him. The memory he had long since buried. "No..."

Trista grinned in triumph. "There it is. You've been running from that moment your whole life. How does it feel, Stoick?"

Hiccup could no longer contain his curiosity. "Dad, what is she talking about?"

"Tell him."

Trista and Stoick stared at each other, her looking excited and him looking horrified. Hiccup had never seen his father look this frightened. Stoick's eyes flitted to him for a second but he seemed fearful of meeting his gaze. After a few seconds, Trista lost patience. She placed the dagger a little closer to Adrianna's throat.

"Tell him."

For a few seconds, Stoick seemed incapable of speech. He shut his eyes tight, forcing the emotions down. Soon he was able to live up to his name as he turned to Hiccup, finally looking him in the eye. His heart was pounding as his mouth formed the words, as he told his son his deepest, darkest secret.

"Trista didn't kill Hiccup." he said; his voice was steady but Hiccup saw a flicker of horrible guilt in his eyes. "I did."