Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Bold + italics --->dragonese

Just bolded-- Thoughts

Just italics --- viking language/English

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(3 weeks after the end of HTTYD 1)

Hiccup was working in the forge. Nothing too dangerous, just repairing saddles because he still couldn't walk on his prosthetic without stumbling and falling, and that could be dangerous around red-hot, razor-sharp metal.

He was just about done when he heard the horn sounded. That was strange. Nobody had sounded that horn since the dragon raids stopped. Hiccup stumbled outside to see villagers starting to panic. 

"Hiccup!"

Someone shouted, running toward the forge. It was Fishlegs.

"Fishlegs, what's going on?"

Hiccup asked.

"Ships from an unknown tribe were spotted approaching the island. And they're coming fast- too fast! Almost as fast as dragons can fly!"

"What? That's impossible, no ship can move that fast!"

"No, I saw it myself! Everyone too young or old to fight is hiding out in the great hall. You should go too, you can hardly walk in your own let alone fight!"

Fishlegs started shooing Hiccup toward the great hall to put emphasis on his point.

"No way! I'm not cowering in the corner while the rest of the village is risking their lives!"

"You'll get yourself killed!"

"I have Toothless, remember? I'll be fine!"

Hiccup ran - well, stumbled and limped - towards his house, where he saw Toothless last. As he made his way through the village he heard people shouting at him,

"Get back inside!"

not with the annoyance that came with the dragon raids but with concern for his safety.

Finally, he found Toothless at the bottom of the hill of the Chief's house.

"Toothless! Bud, we have to get ready! There are ships approaching, fast, and we're pretty sure they're not friendly."

Just as he finished that sentence, an explosion happened right next to him, narrowly missing him. He jumped onto Toothless' back and they soared into the sky. What they saw shocked them.

The ships, at least a dozen of them, were nearing the island. Armoured men already shooting green-tipped arrows at the dragons in the air, causing them to collapse and lose consciousness. Bola launchers and cages littered the deck, a few with dragons already in them.

"Hiccup!!!"

Stoick shouted to his son from the ground,

"You have to get out of here! The entire village is evacuating!"

"What, and let them take the dragons?! No way!"

Hiccup and Toothless dove toward one of the caged dragons, a pink and pale blue deadly nadder, and shot a plasma blast at the bars. But nothing happened.

"Dragon proof cages?! Come on!"

Suddenly Toothless got shot by an arrow, causing him to plunge toward the ground. They both screamed as they fell but by the time they hit the ground, Toothless was unconscious.

"Toothless!"

Hiccup cried, trying to lift the downed dragon to his feet. But it was no use.
Villagers round him started to flee as the invaders started to swarm the island but Hiccup refused to leave his dragons.
He heard orders being shouted to the invading men,

"Remember, we need the young and weak! We don't need children! Kill anyone who gets in your way!"

Every urge was screaming at Hiccup to run but he ignored them. He would not leave his best friend in danger!

"HICCUP!!"

It was Astrid and Stormfly,

"What are you doing?! We need to get out of here!"

She held out her hand inviting him onto Stormfly.

"No! I'm not leaving her here to die!"

Hiccup screamed back.

Not too far away, Fishlegs and Meatlug crash landed after being hit with an arrow. They were both unconcious. Suddenly one of the invading men grabbed Fishlegs, inspecting his unconcious form.

"He'll do nicely."

The man said thoughtfully before carrying him back to the ships.

"FISHLEGS!!"

Hiccup and Astrid cried.

"Go after him!"

Hiccup shouted to Astrid, who reluctantly did so.

Hiccup watched her go only to be grabbed by another invader.

"You're a cute one aren't you?"

The man chuckled.

"Too bad it won't last."

He dragged Hiccup toward the ships.

"HELP!!"

He screamed, thrashing about and trying to get free.

"HICCUP!!"

Stoick cried from across the village. He ran towards Hiccup, only to be shot by one of the green-tipped arrows.

"DAD!!"

Hiccup screamed. He continued to struggle but it was no use. He was carried onto the ship and put in chains before being shoved into a cage-like cell below deck with others around his age and older.

Fishlegs was there, slowly regaining consciousness. Most of the people there were from other tribes. These invaders must've been busy.

"This one's full!"

Someone above them shouted.

"Let's get moving!"

The ship was unanchored and started to sail away from Berk.

Chapter Text

Hiccup was curled in the corner of his shared cell, listening to sound of the waves and footsteps above. Fishlegs was completely conscious by now. He was crying quietly and mumbling to himself.

There were three others in the cell with them. Two girls: one with shoulder length black hair and brown eyes who looked about 10 years old, the other with long ginger hair and green blue eyes who looked about 17 years old. They were both hugging each other, leaning against the bars of the cell.

The other boy with them had short, messy blond hair and blue eyes. He looked about 12 but the way he handled the situation made Hiccup think he's older. He was sitting in the final corner alone, fast asleep.

They had been sailing for hours and, from the sounds of the activity upstairs, it seemed like they were headed to shore. The people in the other cells were starting to stir as the shouts from above got louder. Some, especially the younger ones, started to panic. Others started to cry. Fishlegs seemed to be out of tears but he was still mumbling furiously.

Hiccup was surprisingly relaxed, he had already done his fair share of panicking as they left Berk. Now he was anxious but not anywhere near enough to be in the panicked state so many others were in.

At the front of the room, distracting Hiccup from his thoughts, one of their captors walked to one of the the cells hitting his sword against the bars making a loud banging noise. "SHUT UP, ALL OF YOU!!" He almost screamed. Everyone fell silent. The man grinned, and speaking more softly he said, "We're almost there so you better enjoy yourselves while you still can." He laughed and went back up.

Fishlegs had stopped mumbling. He sat next to Hiccup. "Hiccup, I'm scared."

His voice was trembling.

"I know, Fishlegs, but we'll be fine. As soon as we get the opportunity we will find some wild dragons and get back to Berk. It's what we always do when we get captured, remember?" Hiccup didn't believe himself.

"I guess you're right." Fishlegs was unconvinced.

They felt the ship slow to a stop and the anchor dropped. They had arrived. Panic began to spread again. Several men swarmed the area, going to one cell at a time, chaining and leading people away like animals.

After maybe seven cells were emptied, the men came to Hiccup's and Fishlegs' cell, chaining them up and leading them off the ship. They followed the men down a stone staircase, which was immediately at the edge of the island, and surprise surprise to another cell. This one was labelled 'H'.

Once they were all in the cell, the men headed back the way they came leaving the small group alone.

"What do you think they want with us?" Fishlegs asked Hiccup

"I don't know," Hiccup replied, "But I'm sure it has something to do with dragons."

Chapter Text

The next morning, cell by cell the teens prisons were entered by guards. In their designated groups, they were tied together in a row by metal collars and chains then they were all given a number to go with their group letter. Eldrid was H1, Edna H2, Thanatos H3, Hiccup H4 and Fishlegs H5. Their numbers seem to correspond roughly with when they were captured.

"This really looks like it's favour of the slave theory.." 

Fishlegs whispered to Hiccup.

"I'm sure that's not true. Besides we're getting out of here soon. Remember our plan?" He whispered back.

Before Fishlegs could respond, they all stumbled as the guard who chained them yanked the front, leading them out of the hall of cells. For the first time, the five got a good look at the island. It was horrid. Around the outside different prison buildings of varying sizes dotted the place. Some big enough to fit full grown dragons.

 Speaking of, all over the place, dragons muzzled and chained with dragon proof chains were being tortured and worked to exhaustion. It broke the berkians' hearts. The biggest detail, though, was a huge stone building in the centre of the island. Baby dragons were being lead out of it, crying already. The adult dragons, even though they were overworked, always tried resisting the chains to go to the babies aid but it was useless. They knew something that the vikings did not.

That was where they were being lead.

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Even though two days had passed, Berk was still a mess. Burnt and broken wood was everywhere. All of the livestock had escaped. Most of the dragons had fled. Hiccup and Fishlegs as well as the weakest of children over 9 years old were gone. Parents were grieving and depressed, including Stoick. Most people had to stay in the Great Hall because their homes were so destroyed. This felt like an all-time low for Berk.

Astrid couldn't stand to see her village in this state. She felt like she had to do something about it. Everyone was gathered in the Great Hall. Most people were silent, grieving for their lost homes and children. Astrid decided to take the opportunity. She stood on a table to grab everyone's attention.

"People of Berk!"

 She started. All heads turned her way. 

"I know that we have lost a lot. Our children, our homes, our livestock and our dragons but we can't give up! We're vikings! When something is destroyed we rebuild it, when something goes missing we find it, when something is stolen we take it back or we die trying! Are we really going to just give up and hide in here like cowards?!"

A chorus of "No, we're not!" 

"We have to do something!" 

"We're vikings!" And things of the like echoed throughout the hall.

"Then let's get to it!" 

Astrid cried, 

"We a village to rebuild!"

Everyone cheered. It was time to get back on their feet.

-----

Group by group, the chained children and teens were lead through corridors of the huge building. Every now and then they would pass a cage either filled with more people or a variety of baby dragons. 

Hiccup wished he could save them but, being chained up, there was nothing he could do. After about ten minutes of wandering they finally arrived in a large room where all the other groups were. Three more groups arrived after them. 

They were lined up in evenly spaced columns throughout the room. Most groups had five in them but some had four and some had six. All of them had a guard holding onto the front of the chain.

They didn't have to wait long until a man entered the room. He wore a red dragon scale tunic with a black over shirt, spiked belt and shoulder armour and brown boots. He had short dark hair and beard, large brown eyes and he didn't look friendly.

"Good evening, friends." He greeted the prisoners. "I'm sure you're all wondering why you've been brought here. Well let me explain." He paced slowly across the front of the room as he spoke. "You see, you all have quite a lot in common. You all come from dragon-friendly villages, you are all weak, and you are all powerless to stop what I'm going to do to you." Several prisoners whimpered at hearing this. The man continued to speak. "None of you are under nine years of age and none of you are older than seventeen. There is good reason for that and I will explain soon, but first does anyone have any questions?"

Hiccup decided to speak up. "Listen, I don't know who you are or why you've taken us but my village all ride dragons. My father, the chief, and all my friends will come for us and save us and you won't even stand a chance."

"Oh, how rude of me. I haven't introduced myself yet. My name is Viggo and as I've previously said I will explain my intentions with you soon. As for you, I've already heard some complaints about you, H4, and if I were you I'd keep that mouth of yours shut before you dig yourself further into a hole. And I wouldn't worry about your father or friends. You're from Berk, right? That village was burned to ash. Absolute chaos. I wouldn't count on being rescued."

Hiccup was about to speak again but a guard elbowed him in the gut, stopping him from doing so.

"Any more questions?" 

Viggo continued.

  "No? Good. Now I'm going to explain why you're all here. I'm going to use you all for a little experiment.."