Chapter 54: To Save Her, Whatever It Takes

Hiccup

The deeper I slept that night, the more I kept revisiting the past with Alastair and the Light Fury all the events with Viggo in the past made much more sense and I knew why he wouldn't stop looking for me. The only trouble is that I can't help him, there's no way and not just because I won't it's because I can't I've only met one of them and that was when I was a boy. What does he expect me to do in this day and age? When I knew I couldn't sleep anymore that I decided to sneak out through the hatch with Toothless to get some air and find someone to talk to about what I saw; by that I mean go and find Astrid, she always has logic in these situations so maybe, just maybe she'll have an idea as to what it all means and what we need to do to make sure Viggo doesn't make an approach on me. Toothless and I trekked through the dark of the night to make it to Astrid's home down at the bottom of the hill; I knew the way to her house with familiarity but I'd never been in as she's always been in and out every time I've seen her go in or when I waited outside. The wind crept through my skin as it whistled through the rising dawn of day making me shiver with little goose-bumps trailing up my skin in all directions. Toothless noticed this so made sure he kept close to me at least hoping to shed some warmth into me and it worked a little bit. We finally made it to Astrid's door and I knocked waiting patiently. It wouldn't surprise me if no one did come and answer the door because; it was still the break of the morning so everyone was probably still sleeping. My issue wasn't urgent so I could always come back later in the day but I wouldn't need to because by that time Astrid would have come found me, like she always does.

I couldn't wait that long though, so I guess it was kind of urgent for me. I waited a few longer minutes but when no one still appeared at the door I knew it was best to take my exit with Toothless at my side. I looked down at him and shrugged "We'll come back later, it is still early you know," he grumbled at me nudging me forwards obviously upset about me waking him up this early in the morning when he could have gotten more sleep. I did feel sorry for him because all he's done since we've met is try and take care of me and I've done the same for him, though recently we've barely spent any time with each other and that hurt...a lot. It felt as if I'd completely disregarded him for my own petty issues in this world; sighing heavily he cooed at me sensing my despair "Sorry I haven't spent time with you bud, we'll spend the day together I promise," a smile brightened on his face revealing his gummy smile proudly as we carried on walking away from Astrid's home slowly but in the process I could hear the sound of hinges start to twist and move from their slots signifying a change in the door's actions. Toothless and I spun back round to see the father of Astrid stand in the doorway rubbing his eyes in adjustment to see the fragile figure stood at his doorway...well at least a few metres away from it now. "Hiccup, what brings you here so early this morning?" his tone was soft, vanishing his frightful demeanour. I've seen him through the village recently and he doesn't appear to be the type of guy who likes to be messed around with; he's usually got this low growl to his tone which makes him seem so threatening but at least I know where Astrid get's her warrior attitude from because it's certainly from this man stood ahead of me. Seeing him with this sudden soft side caught me off guard because, I was expecting him to yell or scream at me for waking the household up so early in the morning like I did with my poor dragon but there was nothing, just this soft, tender tone to his sleepy voice.

"Sorry to bother you sir," I started taking a gulp just in case there was going to be a sudden change in attitude, but I carried on keeping my voice as timid as possible "I just wanted to talk to Astrid, if that's possible," the man seemed wide awake now but at the mention of Astrid's name he raised his eyebrow at me, searching inside his house before looking back at me "Sorry Hiccup, but Astrid never came home last night. My wife and I believed she was staying with you last night," that was not what I was expecting, hearing those words come out of his mouth paralyzed my body because if she wasn't at home and she wasn't with me, then where on Asgard could she be. "Oh," was all I could say to the man's reply just as he nodding with no reassurance to give, maybe he started to worry about his daughter just like I am "Thank you anyway sir," the man nodded one last time before Toothless and I carried on making our leave "Hiccup, try the woods she usually goes there to train in the mornings she may already be there," it was my turn to nod at the man's words so Toothless and I began our descend into the desolate woods. The sun hadn't made a full rise in the sky yet so there twinges of sunset rays filling the forest with beautiful, romantic colours setting the place in absolute peace. I could stay searching in this place forever because, right here there was no danger there was nothing, just a beautiful colouring with the awakening sound of birds tweeting as they awoke from their slumber as well as the occasional roar of a dragon waking in the distance.

Toothless and I searched and searched but there was no sign of Astrid anywhere near the woods or inside the woods. Astrid didn't come across as the type of person who would give up training as soon as the sun hit its peak in the sky, to me she seemed like the type of person who would keep going until her hands would give way and bleed till there was nothing else she could do about it. But even by then I still reckon she'd carry on training so her not being here in the forest was a mystery. I even let Toothless stretch his wings during a flight through the woods and up above twice just in case we missed her, but we didn't. There was no sign of a blonde headed figure trailing the woods. The woods is a pretty big place to scavenge for someone and Toothless was able to trek every inch of it twice so there was no way we could have missed her, in fact he couldn't even find a scent which matched hers only mouldy old fish, which he still ate, the smell of ferns and other furious dragons already fighting with one another. In the end, we had to give up we couldn't stay looking here forever because for all the two of us knew she could have left early to go and get breakfast up at the Great Hall. That's when I started to think it was best to give Toothless some fresh fish in case the mouldy one gives him an unsettled stomach. By the time Toothless brought the two of us at the entrance of the Great Hall it was already filled with numerous people fighting off a piece of bread or a cup of mead...mead? This early in the morning?! What did I care, my interest was making sure Astrid was in here enjoying her breakfast meal. I circled the place collecting pieces of fish I went from every individual basket while chucking it towards Toothless who caught each one gracefully patiently waiting for the next one.

I didn't want to be, but the sound of the gurgle in my stomach made it clear all this searching got me hungry so I had to strut over towards the main table where my father and mother sat eating their own breakfast. I slouched down in my chair next to my father taking little nibbles from my plate while Toothless sat around me watching everyone fight over food or argued or people who just sat there minding their eyes business something I thought Astrid would be doing; I guessed Toothless was searching round for Astrid just as I still was even when taking small nibbles from my plate and now he's wide awake all his senses should be heightened by even so, Toothless was still unable to find Astrid anyone. He leaned down next to me rubbing his head against mine cooing apologetically "It's okay bud, we'll find her," I patted him gently just as my father intervened my conversation with Toothless "Find who son?" I looked up into the intrigued big emerald eyes and flashing ignited beard fall down close against my face of my father "Astrid, she didn't come to dinner last night and I haven't been able to find her all morning. She wasn't at home and she wasn't in the woods like her father suggested I looked, it's like she's vanished completely," my father immediately smiled but sent a flutter of hope inside me in believing he knew where she was "Well she's right over there with the rest...of your...friends," but he voiced trailed down when he mentioning the last part because as the two of us looked over there, where the rest of the gang were, there was no sign of Astrid anyone.

My heart was hammering hard in fear to where she was; it wasn't like Astrid to just disappear randomly this was something I knew from spending time with everyone these past months. Leia made eye contact with me when I hadn't realised I was still staring at the table they were all sat on. She was smiling at me expecting a smile back but once she was aware she wasn't getting one in return, her expression frowned and the idea of something being wrong hit her. Immediately, she took a stand and made her way over to the table I was sat on with my family with the others trailing behind her "Son I'm sure she's somewhere, we'll find her I promise," I hadn't realised I started sweating, breathing heavily. Why was this affecting me so much? Why was I so worried about her? I mean she's Astrid, she's brilliant at taking care of herself but the thought of her not being here and disappearing just randomly seemed too suspicious for my liking. Everything blurred out for me in the moment when my father was telling the others the situation, my attention only came back into focus when one of the guards came over and handed my father a small cloth. From here I could already grasp a distasteful smell emitting from it and I had to cover my nose as did everyone else around the area "Where did you get this?" my father asked the guard but the man was interrupted by Tuff who came running over in excitement "Oo, what's that it's probably mine," he took it out of the chief's hand holding it close but letting the smell spread all the way through his nose and into his system with Tuff collapsing straight to the floor with everyone's eyes following his movements in unison. As his body hit the ground all our heads went down with him so we all stared with our eyes wide open.

"Chloroform," my dad muttered and that's when everything made sense to me "Oh no..." I mumbled to myself unsure to whether or not anyone could hear me. I knew where this was all going and I didn't want the next bit to be true just as the guard spoke "We found it by the door of the Great Hall chief," that's when I realised – Astrid never made it to dinner last night at the Great Hall "Along with this note," the guard handed over a small piece of parchment to my father while we all looked up his eyes full of despair revolving into anger and rage, a spiral of red darkness cascaded through as he slammed it down on the table looking at the guard in front of him "Double the guards, double security in the village, double everything..." my dad kept yelling orders at the man while I delicately removed the parchment from underneath my father's hand and read what it said:

"I'm offering a truce on behalf of Astrid's life. To save Berk, Defender's of the Wing and Dragon's Edge we'll make a trade of Astrid's life for the custody of what's rightfully ours – Hiccup. You have until sunset to make your choice or Astrid will die."

There was no decision making in this situation. I slipped out from underneath my chair away from everyone else with Toothless at my lead and marched down the stairs of the Great Hall with the only focus of Astrid on my mind. I knew something was wrong, I should have trusted my instinct from the beginning why didn't I? "Hiccup Haddock you wait just a minute!" I spun round to see all my friends, Astrid's father and mother and my own parent's running after me "Don't try and stop me, Astrid's life is on the line because of me. I have to fix it," and I started walking away again in hope they wouldn't pull me out of my decision. "Son wait! We can work this out, that's what Berk does okay? We'll save Astrid and you all at once, we will," the pleading tone to my father's tone and the look inside everyone's eyes meant truth and I knew I should listen but something inside me told me it would never be this simple though my head nodded anyone and we all headed inside to construct a plan. It seemed pretty simple, we'd follow the directions on the note to where they'd be; some of the riders would distract the hunters by blowing up the ship while the others would go down and save Astrid. I on the other hand would be part of the distraction crew along with my father so I wouldn't be anywhere near the ship so they couldn't get a hold of me. It seemed too simple and usually plans like this work but from the mission I'd been on with the others it all went wrong...I guess we have Johann to blame for that but what if this one goes wrong as well?

I sighed as we all flew out into the great beyond on the hunt for Astrid, the directions were pretty simple to follow and we made it to the ship in a matter of hours. We stuck to the plan with Toothless, Stormfly, Tuff and Ruff, Leia and my father all began attacking the ships from far away. It was clear we caught all the men off guard, sooner than later Viggo and Ryker made an appearance on the deck of the ship so it seemed the plan was working smoothly. I kept debating with my father to do down below in the ship to get Astrid back because, I knew it well enough and it would help to disappear from Viggo and Ryker much more efficiently than dodging bolas and dragon root arrows from every direction where they could easily spot a Night Fury, but it didn't matter because my father was very persistent in his decision so I found myself shooting at the men below, knocking out all their catapults and arrows while they fired towards us. Once Viggo and Ryker were distracted by the gas of Barf, Snotlout went under deck with Fishlegs on the hunt for Astrid. I shouldn't let my mind get distracted so went back to focusing on the task at hand. It went on for too long and I was starting to get worried, it wasn't until a cascade of dragons come flying out from below the deck with Fishlegs, Snotlout and Astrid come running out from behind them all. A smile brightened on my face as the pair of us made eye contact with one another, the bright sparkle in her gaze sent a flutter of delight through every pure bone in my body. This was almost over; I could feel the adrenaline in my bones pulse with energy as everyone began retreating with the feeling of winning coursing through every inch of our bodies. Stormfly lunged down to collect her rider; Astrid ran towards the edge of the ship ready to jump and reach her dragon's saddle. Stormfly cut in close to her as she swooped in close circling up back into the sky she grabbed hold of nothing; sat on the saddle was invisibility.

My eyes diverted back down to the deck of the ship watching as Ryker held Astrid against his chest, knife against her throat while she tried pulling away; the flash of the first fight at the Edge coursed through my brain as I remember what it's like to be held like that. "Astrid!!" I plummeted Toothless down towards the scene below followed by the rest of the riders and my father "Not a move closer!" Viggo shouted out at each of us but his eye gaze focused solely on me; all the dragons in the sky stopped suddenly staring down at the image below us all. "Let's try this again shall we, a trade Hiccup for Astrid and four islands that seems like a pretty could trade if you ask me," Viggo's smug face and demeanour expanded out towards us while everyone just stood frozen where they were "Hiccup don't do it!" Astrid shouted out to thin air but I knew I had to when Ryker pierced the knife harder into her neck slitting the skin pouring a trickle of dark red blood falling down her neck "STOP!" I cried out below "Viggo stop! I'll go with you but please...just leave everyone alone," I spoke too fast for everyone to take a moment to register what was happening right now; Viggo squinted his eyes at me waiting for a catch to take place but nothing was happening. "I'll go with you, as long as you keep your promise, you'll leave Berk, Defender's of the Wing, Dragon's Edge and Astrid as well as everyone else I love alone," the curve at the end of Viggo's lips curved into a smile, a elated smile knowing he had won. Our eyes forced onto each other's with seriousness until he finally gestured to his brother to lower the knife away from Astrid's neck "You have my word Hiccup," I nodded and indicated to Toothless to land on deck but my father cut in front of me "Dad don't," I stopped him as he tilted his head to look at me "I'm not losing you again," his voice was breaking when he spoke in almost a whisper "You won't, I promise. Just promise you'll come for me," the glass in my father's eyes sparkled as I flew past him landing Toothless on the deck.

Astrid and I started walking trading places with one another but as we got to the middle she glared at me shaking her head "Don't do this, please don't do this," even her voice was breaking and I didn't want to break in front of her as well "I have to," immediately she pulled me close holding me against her tightly while I did the same. This moment I needed to last forever but that wasn't possible; we tore apart and carried on moving our separate ways. I walked facing too smirks of over joy as I stood next to them. I looked back round to see Astrid delicately get on Toothless and take to the sky without too many glances back at me. I didn't like what was yet to come now that I was back here, instead the first pain I had to watch was my family and friends flying away from me in the distance "FIRE!" the cry of Viggo shouted next to my ear; my head looked round at him then back at the others flying away "NOOO!!" A huge net was fired out into the open catching them all inside sending them far into the depths of the water as the sunset started to take place. I tried running after them but felt my weight pulled back my numerous arms holding me as far away as possible from the scene. I cried all my best, I tugged against all the men's force and I was almost free when a rougher hand pulled me back into them and just in an instant a prick injected through the side of my neck.

A hand ran through my hair as my weight began going to limb and I felt my legs buckling. The same person still held my weight taking me down into the ground onto my side. Through the blur I could see Viggo looking down at me placing his hand on the side of my head "Don't worry, we'll be home soon."