Archive of Our Own ^beta

Hiccup and Toothless were trapped, surrounded by Dragon Flyers, Krogan on his Titan Wing Singetail blocking their ascent, Snotlout and Minden too far away to help.

Toothless twisted desperately in the air, trying to find a break in the swarm of green Singetails. Hiccup urgently searched for any weakness in their ranks, heart pounding, desperate to escape, trying to ignore the phantom chains around his throat at the thought of being captured by Krogan again.

Hiccup glanced up just in time to see the bolas careening towards him. He knew instantly that escape would be impossible; the weighted rope was moving far too fast. But instinct fueled by panic kicked in at the last minute, and Hiccup twisted in the saddle, trying in vain to dodge the projectile—

Hiccup's world shattered into shards of agony as one of the metal weights smashed into his left arm, the bone snapping like a twig underfoot. An anguished scream clawed its way out of Hiccup's throat, but he barely recognized it as his own. The pain was exquisitely excruciating, so consuming, so acute, so overwhelming, that Hiccup didn't even notice the opposite weight continuing its momentum and wrapping the rope tightly around his upper arms, binding them to his sides.

He did hear Toothless's shriek — vaguely, like an echo from a dream — but even the sensation of falling, plummeting to the earth below, meant nothing to him in the face of his suffering. He didn't feel the Dragon Flyer's shoulder punch into his gut as the man plucked him roughly from his fall, didn't hear Toothless's wail as the net entangled him, didn't register Minden's cry as he and Toothless were spirited away.

The pain had consumed him, eating away at his consciousness until only darkness remained.

Hiccup woke up to Toothless anxiously licking his face. And to pain so intense that he rolled to the side and vomited. Toothless whined a worried dirge above him as he retched; when he had finished, Hiccup eased himself onto his back again and attempted to breathe through the sharp pain stabbing through his arm. It felt like molten metal had replaced his blood, like jagged shrapnel had exploded from the inside out.

"T-toothless?" He hated how his voice came out as a whimper. "Wh-what happened?"

Horror stole through him as a deep, sinister laugh answered his words. Hiccup knew that voice, still heard it in his nightmares. Krogan.

Everything flooded back to him then — the ambush, trying to dodge the bolas but getting struck by one of the weights instead, his arm breaking, Toothless screaming…

Hiccup used his right arm to clumsily push himself upright. His stomach lurched once as his surroundings came into focus: He and Toothless were in a cage on the Dragon Flyers' base, with Krogan standing on the other side of the bars, as tall and imposing as ever, eyes dancing darkly and a self-satisfied smirk twisting his lips.

Then Hiccup glanced down and got his first look at his arm, and his stomach lurched again. Yeah, definitely broken. Hiccup may not have been a healer like Fishlegs, but he knew that a human arm should not bend that way. Thankfully, he didn't see any blood, which meant the bone hadn't pierced the skin. Hiccup had heard horrific tales of Vikings who had died to gruesome infections after a break that severe.

Hiccup swallowed heavily, just managed to keep himself from retching again. At his distress, Toothless went from snarling, back arched, teeth bared, to crooning worriedly at Hiccup.

"I — I'm okay, bud," Hiccup lied. Toothless snorted in disbelief; Hiccup winced. "Yeah, I wouldn't have believed me either."

Hiccup tensed, sending jolts of pain through his broken arm, as Krogan stalked closer to the cage. "Enough idle chatter," he ordered. "Where are the other lenses?"

Hiccup rolled his eyes, trying to ignore the queasiness building in his gut. He had a nasty feeling he knew exactly where this was going and prayed that Snotlout and Minden would rally and ride in to rescue them before Krogan got to the really bad part. Because Hiccup wouldn't tell him anything.

"I don't know."

Krogan growled. "Do not insult my intelligence, boy. You of all the dragon riders would know the lenses' location."

"You're getting nothing from me."

"We'll see about that." Hiccup took a steadying breath as his fear spiked. He knew that either way this would hurt, but he could only hope that Krogan's hatred of Hiccup would supersede the logic that hurting Toothless would be the fastest way to get Hiccup to talk. Thank Thor, Krogan's next orders to his men confirmed Hiccup's hopes.

"Flyers, retrieve the boy from the cage. Kill him if the dragon tries to attack. I'd rather have him dead than let them escape." Hiccup didn't know if he was bluffing, but he knew Toothless would refuse to take the chance, just like Hiccup would never gamble Toothless's life if their roles were reversed.

And so Toothless could do nothing but growl as a Dragon Flyer unlocked the cage door and hauled Hiccup to his feet by his uninjured arm. Any other time, Hiccup would have struggled, but even the tiniest movements sent shockwaves of agony through his broken arm, so he focused solely on keeping it as still as possible.

The cage clanged shut behind him, and Hiccup internally flinched at the finality of the sound, the audible reminder that he and Toothless could no longer get to one another, protect each other.

"Restrain him," Krogan ordered.

Hiccup blanched. "My arm is broken!"

Krogan just smiled nastily back at him as another Flyer advanced with a pair of manacles. "Yes, I noticed that."

"Why would you—" Hiccup's part-furious, part-panicked question turned into a shriek of pain against his will as the Flyer grabbed Hiccup's arms and cuffed them in front of him. Hiccup could swear he felt the jagged ends of the bones crunching against one another as his broken arm shifted. The left cuff felt uncomfortably tight; although the break was above his elbow, the swelling seemed to reach to his wrist.

Dimly, Hiccup could hear Toothless roaring behind him, but he couldn't look back to reassure him, wouldn't have been able to see him anyway with the tears flooding his vision. Only then did he realize he was crying.

Krogan looked like nothing more than a watery blur of color as he paced to stand before his prisoner. Hiccup somehow managed not to flinch as his captor leaned in close and murmured, "Are you sure you don't want to tell me where those lenses are? I haven't even gotten to the torture part yet."

Hiccup opened his mouth to snap a retort but his stomach, terrorized by the pain and fear, rebelled again, and he retched all over Krogan's boots. Well, he supposed that was the best retort he could have given, considering it succinctly summed up everything he thought of the man.

With a growl of rage, Krogan yanked Hiccup upright by his hair and slammed him back against the bars of the cage. Hiccup's vision dimmed and his ears rang from the impact. The pain in his arm had reached catastrophic levels with the rough treatment; his whole body quaked with uncontrollable tremors.

"Would you like to reconsider my question?"

Too far gone to verbally respond, Hiccup just pressed his lips together and shook his head.

Without a word, Krogan grabbed Hiccup's left arm, right over the break, and squeezed.

A scream, raw, primal, tortured, tore from his throat, so loud and long that it nearly blotted out Toothless's panicked wails. White dots flashed in front of his eyes and a rushing flooded his ears. Oh, gods, please let me pass out.

The gods were not in a listening mood, it seemed. Either that, or Hiccup was way more resilient than he gave himself credit for.

"How about now?" Krogan asked, his fingers, though no longer squeezing, still wrapped around Hiccup's arm. Hiccup could barely process his torturer's question. His capacity for reason and logic and quick thinking had been obliterated by the pain in his arm. He knew nothing but that pain; his world began and ended with it.

Apparently Krogan took Hiccup's lack of response as further refusal rather than stunned silence, and he pressed his free forearm against Hiccup's throat, not enough to cut off his breathing, but plenty enough to incite panic, especially considering their history.

Hiccup's breath came in short, desperate pants. He slammed his eyes closed, Krogan's closeness and the fingers on his broken arm and the excruciating pain and the returning nausea all too much for him to handle. He couldn't think, he couldn't breathe, he couldn't do this—

Suddenly, a familiar voice, shouting from the sky above: "Hey! Krogan! Hands off my cousin!" A startled yelp, a thud — Hiccup forced his eyes open to see Snotlout, baby Razorwhip on his back, picking himself off the ground.

Oh thank the gods, oh thank Thor!

Hiccup crumpled as Krogan released him and reached for his weapon.

"Hiccup, you okay?" Snotlout barked.

"Not really," Hiccup answered through gritted teeth. "My arm's broken."

Snotlout's expression darkened to something approaching murderous, but he didn't lose his cool. Hiccup's heart stuttered as his cousin drew one of the Dragon Eye lenses from his belt. "You want this, you bastard?" Snotlout sneered.

"Snotlout, wh-what are you do-doing?" Hiccup demanded.

"Trust me," Snotlout said. "It's gonna be awesome."

Hiccup watched, helpless, immobilized by pain and shock, as Snotlout shot into the sky on silver wings. Krogan whistled for his Titan Wing Singetail, leaping onto its back and taking off after Snotlout.

Hiccup gripped a bar of the cage with his right hand, trying in vain to pull himself up. Toothless's nose pressed against the back of his hand, and the dragon cooed anxiously.

"Gotta… h-help Snotlout," Hiccup panted, cursing when his body gave out and he slumped back against the cage. "He's gonna get — get himself k-killed."

But he could do nothing to help his cousin, nothing to stop him. Pain and fatigue had siphoned the last dregs of fight out of him. He physically could not get up, could not open the cage, could not save his cousin or prevent Krogan from getting that lens. And to top it all off, three of Krogan's Flyers were now approaching him, whether to kill him or throw him back in the cage, he didn't know. Whatever happened next, he would be helpless to to stop it.

But then, from out of nowhere, a Monstrous Nightmare swooped down and swatted Hiccup's attackers away; one of them fell, screaming, from the platform.

"Hookfang?"

A tall warrior in iron armor leaped from Hookfang's back, fire in her eyes, mouth set in a determined line.

"M-Minden?" Hiccup stammered, thoroughly lost now. Thinking became increasingly difficult, his mind trapped in a haze of pain.

Minden bent over one of the unconscious Flyers and stood up with his key. She gave Hiccup a grim smile as she knelt in front of him, unlocking his manacles and carefully arranging his arms at his sides. Hiccup groaned; even her gentle touch caused unbearable pain.

"Can you fly Toothless?"

Hiccup shook his head, hurting too much to be self-conscious. "Don't think so. B-but Snotlout can." That may have been a generous description of Snotlout's ability to operate Toothless's tail fin — sort of can, with lots of shrieking and swerving and sudden stops would be a more accurate description, but he didn't have the time or energy to say all that. Plus, desperate times called for desperate measures. They had to take what they could get.

"Okay, I'll get him," Minden said, unlocking the cage. Toothless spilled out, all worried croons and trilling purrs and gentle nuzzles. Hiccup leaned into his best friend's warm body and felt for the first time since this nightmare started that everything would be okay. Hookfang shot into the sky, a little wobbly — had he been injured, too? — and toward his rider, who was, with the aid of the baby Razor whip, ducking and dodging Krogan's attacks, but just barely, and the Dragon Flyer had nearly caught him—

Hookfang plucked Snotlout out of the sky with his talons, twisted to send an enormous gout of fire at Krogan and his Singetail, forcing them to bank right to avoid getting barbecued. The remaining Flyers were in the air now, but Hookfang deftly avoided their attacks and dropped Snotlout onto the platform, then spread his gigantic wings and roared: a clear warning to the Singetails to back off, that these humans and their dragons were under his protection.

Snotlout scrambled over to Hiccup, blue eyes wide and panicked, his earlier bravado crumbling in the face of Hiccup's battered state. "Oh, gods, oh gods. Hiccup — your arm."

Hiccup felt the blood drain from his face as Snotlout hoisted him to his feet and half-carried him to Toothless. A whimper — he had no energy to scream, not any more, even with pain so excruciating he nearly blacked out — escaped as Snotlout pushed him onto Toothless's back, then climbed on behind him.

"Okay, little guy, go back to Minden," Snotlout said, and for one strange moment, a pain-addled Hiccup thought that Snotlout had been speaking to him. Then he realized that his cousin was, in fact, talking to the young Razorwhip on his back.

"Snotlout, they're rallying!" Minden shouted as Toothless's tail fin clicked in response to Snotlout's twitch of the pedal (he put it in the wrong position twice before he got it right, Thor help him). "Hookfang can't keep them back much longer!"

"Then let's go!"

Hiccup's stomach turned and his head swam at the spike of agony that accompanied Snotlout's bumpy ascent.

And then, the sound of a a fireball sizzling by, far too close for comfort, a yell, Toothless screeching, then a steep dive that jolted his arm so violently that finally, blessedly, his body hurtled into unconsciousness.

His last coherent thought: I really hope Snotlout doesn't accidentally drop me.

Hiccup woke to a purple dusky sky peeking at him through the gaps in the thick foliage. He groaned; every part of him ached, but his left arm felt like the twins had torn it off, used it as a bludgeon, and then stuck it back on.

"Hiccup?"

Hiccup turned his head to see Snotlout sitting beside him, Toothless peering apprehensively over his shoulder. He warbled, eyes lighting up when he saw Hiccup awake, but the tension radiating from him didn't ease; if anything, it seemed to magnify.

"H-hey," Hiccup whispered.

"Hey. I, uh, I really hoped you would stay asleep for this bit."

Hiccup's brows furrowed in confusion, but understanding hit him with all the force of a Catastrophic Quaken when he saw what lay on the ground beside Snotlout: two straight, sturdy branches, and a coil of rope and a blanket cut into strips, both from Toothless's saddle bag.

Snotlout was about to splint his broken arm.

"Oh, gods," Hiccup moaned.

"Yeah," Snotlout said. "That about sums it up."

"Where's Minden?" Hiccup asked, desperate to stall for as much time as possible.

"She and Hooky are patrolling the area. We don't think we were followed, but…" He trailed off, shrugging. "Anyway, we need to get you back to Wingmaiden Island, but I've got to splint your arm first. So stop stalling."

A huff of slightly manic laughter. Of course Snotlout, the master of stalling to get out of things he didn't want to do, would recognize Hiccup's attempts to stall. "Yeah. Okay. Let's get this over with."

By the time Snotlout finished setting, splinting, and strapping Hiccup's arm to his chest, Hiccup was soaked in sweat and barely conscious, throat raw from screaming. The splint had helped; moving — or, more accurate to his current situation, being moved — didn't hurt quite so much anymore.

Which was good because they really needed to go.

Hiccup slumped back against Toothless, who had been frantic as Snotlout took care of Hiccup's arm. At one point, he had thought Toothless would attack Snotlout for hurting him so badly, but Hiccup had managed to convey between hitched breaths that Snotlout was actually helping him, not torturing him. Well. Maybe he'd been doing both.

Now, Toothless rumbled reassuringly, tail wrapped protectively around his rider.

"Okay, so how are we doing this?" Snotlout asked, looking around at the semicircle of humans and dragons.

Hiccup lifted his head from where it rested against Toothless's side; even that small movement sent waves of pain through his head. Since his arm had calmed down, all his other hurts now vied for his attention as well. "With my arm immobilized, I might be able to fly Toothless?"

Snotlout gaped at him. "What? No. For a smart guy, you really can be an idiot sometimes."

Hiccup rolled his eyes. "Not sure if I should thankful or offended."

"Definitely offended," Snotlout assured him. "I was absolutely insulting you."

Hiccup chuckled. "Okay, noted. So that means you'll have to fly Toothless. I'll fly on Hookfang—"

"What makes you think you're in any condition to fly my dragon if you can't even fly yours, you muttonhead?"

"I won't have to control—"

"Nope, not interested," Snotlout cut him off. "You'll ride on Toothless with me so we can keep an eye on you."

Hiccup considered arguing further, but they really did need to go, and Hiccup really did not feel like flying by himself, anyway — and the anxiety lurking just behind his cousin's brash tone and words showed that Snotlout needed this just as much, if not more, than Hiccup did. Hiccup would never forget the tear tracks that had stained Snotlout's cheeks after he'd finished securing the splint, even if Snotlout had threatened to feed him to Hookfang if he told anyone else.

"Okay, you win," Hiccup said, lifting his right arm in surrender. "I'll fly with you, Minden will fly with her Razorwhip, and Hookfang will fly alone." He caught Minden's eye and joked, "Can you believe this guy?"

Minden smiled, her gaze drifting to Snotlout. "I think it's lovely how much he cares for you, Hiccup."

"What?!" Snotlout all but shrieked. "Me? Care about him? I mean, barf." He stooped over to help Hiccup to his feet, the care with which he did so completely belying his harsh words and tone. He smirked at Hiccup. "No offense."

"Well, I happen to like men who aren't afraid to show their feelings," Minden commented, winking at Hiccup as Snotlout helped him climb awkwardly and painfully into Toothless's saddle.

"Hey, Hiccup, have I ever told you just how much I care for you? Like in a very manly, we're family kind of way?"

Toothless chuffed indignantly, and Hiccup shifted forward to pat the Night Fury with his good hand. "Ah, give him a break, Toothless. He's had a hard day."

Toothless took to the sky — jerkily, haltingly — with Minden and Hookfang in his wake. Behind Hiccup, Snotlout groaned. "Bad choice of words, Hiccup! 'Give him a break? That's too soon!"

Hiccup spluttered indignantly. "I'm the one with the broken bone, Snotlout! Shouldn't I be the one who decides what's 'too soon'?"

"Hey, don't hog all the trauma from this shitstorm of a day," Snotlout groused. "Setting your arm wasn't exactly a picnic for me, either."

"Thank you for that, by the way," Hiccup said. "Even though it felt like you were actively torturing me, I appreciate it."

"Yeah, well," Snotlout said. "You're welcome." A pause. "Can we be done with the mushy stuff now?"

Hiccup laughed; despite the pain in his head and his arm and the long recovery ahead, he felt warm inside, safe and cared for and protected. Not a feeling he got a lot with Snotlout, granted, but still nice.

Toothless's body vibrated with his gurgly dragon laugh, and Hiccup rubbed his neck affectionately. "Yeah, the mushy stuff can be over now."

"Oh thank Thor."

Hiccup chuckled and shook his head. Snotlout could pretend that he didn't care about him all that he wanted. But Hiccup had seen the truth today, in the panic in his eyes, the steel in his voice, the tears on his face, and the gentleness of his hands.