Chapter Text
It was a dumb mistake. That’s all it was, and all it could be. Dumb.
Hiccup had heard rumors of a wandering Hunter’s Auction ship, one so large it could be practically considered a village that sailed. It was rumored to take the seas near an island chain not too far from the Edge. Hiccup should’ve found that suspicious, but no, he wasn’t thinking. A dumb mistake. He should’ve been thinking like Viggo, watching every piece in the game.
He’d called in Heather and Dagur for reinforcements, momentarily taking them away from their search for their father, Oswald. A dumb mistake. He shouldn’t have gotten them involved, it would only needlessly put them in danger.
He saw that the ship, though no crew was visible, was docked at one of the smaller islands in the chain. There wasn’t any cover around them, no sea stacks, no clouds, but he thought with the right use of stealth, sabotage, and surprise, the Riders could take them down. A dumb mistake. He should’ve anticipated something going wrong. And something did go wrong.
It started with the whistling of an arrow, narrowly missing its target, causing a shout from Heather, who, as the best Rider at stealth and covert missions, was already underway with her sabotage. A dumb mistake. He should’ve put himself up there, should’ve taken the hit for her, should’ve told her to be a lookout. Should’ve, should’ve, should’ve-
“AMBUSH! TAKE TO THE AIR!”
She’d barely gotten the words out when multiple bolas came out from the hatch that went into the cargo hold, hitting both Rider and Dragon, immobilizing them. Out of the hatch, a steady stream of hunters, armed to the teeth, flowed out, some taking their place next to the now downed Heather and Windshear, the others manning the ballistae, catapults, and hook launchers.
In the momentary panic, Ruff and Tuff were the next to go down. As they were trying to pull away, a hook wrapped itself around Barf’s neck and the resulting jolt had yanked Ruffnut off of her saddle and she plunged into the sea, quickly being scooped up by a net as Tuff tried to save both their dragon and his twin. Though it was useless, as the chain, the launcher, and the deck were all dragonproof. Barf and Belch were hit by Dragon Root arrows as they were immobilized, and they hit the deck, Tuffnut quickly being seized.
Snotlout was next, as he was trying to help Barf and Belch get free of the chain pulling them to the ship, he’d left his flank open to attack, and a ballista bolt had Snotlout just narrowly dodging it and Hookfang quickly retaliating in rage for the close call his Rider had. But it was for nothing, as with the distraction of the ballista, three hunters had lined up their shots on Hookfang, and loosed their Dragon Root arrows, two of them hitting their large, easy target of the Nightmare’s underbelly.
Fishlegs wasn’t long in the sky either, with all the heat drawn to the slow, lumbering target after the other Riders were taken down, he was quickly overwhelmed. He and Meatlug had put up a good fight, lasting a good while by dodging the onslaught of attacks from the numerous hunters, however, there were just so many of them. Again, in the end, it was for nothing, as a catapult had knocked into Meatlug’s tail, sending her spinning through the air and tumbling further and further down. She crashed into the deck and Fishlegs engaged in close combat.
Hiccup couldn’t think, there was too much going on, going wrong, there was no way to salvage it, the mission had failed, and failed spectacularly. A dumb mistake. He should’ve called a retreat, should’ve told the Riders to stay while he scouted the ship, should’ve kept them safe.
Then it got even worse.
He heard Astrid’s scream.
Stormfly had taken a ballista bolt to her lower leg just below the knee, although not a fatal wound, it would ground her for at least a week at this point, and she crashed to the ground, Astrid following.
He sent Toothless into a dive, trying to aim for the Hunters quickly surrounding her. But it didn’t work, Toothless couldn’t even get a shot off before a stern call of ‘loose!’ was heard from the left, and Hiccup saw a group of Hunters, armed with bows and arrows, along with others manning the arrow volleying catapults. Hiccup was forced to pull up and out of the dive, leaving Toothless exposed as he maneuvered out of crashing with his increase in speed. A hook had quickly made use of Toothless’ exposure, wrapping around Toothless’ tail fins and quickly causing the Night Fury to lose control of his own flight. Hiccup, having seen the hunter responsible, and knowing there was no other choice, had dived off of Toothless as he plunged into the sea, knocking the hunter out by landing directly on him and smashing the hilt of Inferno against his helm, before turning and breaking the chain that held his dragon, releasing him and keeping him safe.
He looked up to Dagur, still trying to save his sister. They met eyes, and for the first time he could remember, Dagur was scared. He looked lost, terrified at this failure of the mission, and for a moment, Hiccup softened. He wouldn’t make another mistake, he wouldn’t get him captured too. Steeling himself he vigorously waved his hands away from the boat, shouting, “Go Dagur! Grab Toothless and get out of here, that’s an order!” And without giving him a moment to respond, he turned and sprinted towards Astrid, who was completely surrounded. He sprinted towards a stack of crates as he lit Inferno’s blade, climbing and jumping off the stack into the middle of the circle, where Astrid was taking on those foolish enough to test her and her axe.
“Took you long enough, was wondering where you were.” She said as she spared him a split-second glance, maintaining her focus on the crowd circling the two.
“Yeah well, you always tell me I’m a bit dramatic, why not get a little bit of suspense in before the cool action scene? And you were doing fine anyway.” He said with a light smirk as he put his back up to hers, covering her blind spots, before they both sobered at the sight of their friends slowly getting overrun.
“We’re not making it out of this, are we?” Astrid asked as her grip on her axe loosened ever so slightly.
Hiccup couldn’t answer her, the guilt taking over his vocal chords. He got them in this situation, he messed up. It was a dumb mistake.
Astrid noticed his silence in the growing volume of the circle of hunters chanting and jeering against the Riders. “Well, ‘least Dagur will be getting out of here, he’s got Toothless and he’s flying off now, that your doing?” She asked lightly, knowing the answer. Hiccup sighed in relief, his brother and best friend would be safe at least, they could gather reinforcements and rescue them eventually, if they can find them after this. She continued, tightening her grip on her axe to the point her knuckles grew white, “Well, why don’t we cause some trouble ‘fore they take us down.” A mischievous grin took to her face, before quickly being wiped off as a familiar, eerily steady voice rang out, silencing the hunters.
“Oh I wouldn’t recommend that, Astrid…”
Hiccup flinched and his head, along with Astrid’s, shot toward the sound as he heard it, the calm, collected, and cold voice of an enemy brought from the dead like a vengeful draugr.
“Viggo.”
A pair of hands parted two hunters and from the gap, the old leader of the Dragon Hunters himself stepped through, Krogan not far behind. Although disfigured, his face had barely changed from those few weeks ago, his signature cold smirk, constant superiority just oozing from it, and the calculating eyes, always scanning. He looked exclusively at Hiccup, not paying an ounce of attention to Astrid, and spoke. “Ah, it truly has been a while, my dear Hiccup. Too long apparently, if your willingness to fall for simple rumors spread in a rat’s den is to be accounted for. Have you not been brushing up on your strategy, or even just your Maces and Talons while I was… absent?” His smirk grew a fraction, revelling in the momentary look of realization that crossed Hiccup’s face. He knew of the rumors, and he had believed them as if they were fact.
Krogan, the buzzkill, quickly stepped in before any monologuing could take place. “Surrender Hiccup Haddock, or your Riders face the consequences.”
Hiccup looked to his friends; Heather completely bound in bolas, Ruff coughing up water she had accidentally inhaled while being dragged to Viggo, Tuff being held by two Hunters by his arms, Snotlout dazed and near flattened by the unconscious Hookfang, Fishlegs attempting to body block the Hunters from getting to the downed Meatlug, and Astrid… staring at him in a silent question.
’Did we lose?’
Hiccup sighed, closing his eyes and dropping his head. He raised Inferno in one hand, and Astrid tensed, ready to follow his lead into the fight. Hiccup inhaled… then doused Inferno, throwing it to the floor in front of him. Astrid was shocked, looking to the sword then to him. “Hiccup-”
Hiccup cut her off. “Astrid they have us surrounded, the others are already in danger, I can’t risk any of them getting hurt. I can’t risk you getting hurt. Please…”
Astrid looked at him for one more moment. She sighed, and threw her axe onto the floor next to Inferno, and raised her hands in surrender, the other Riders following not long after.
Viggo looked disappointed, but resigned, as he knew this was probably the only outcome that would’ve come from this… situation Hiccup had been put in. It was just like he said, Hiccup was too pure. It made him too scared to lose anything, to sacrifice anything but himself. He smirked.
That is exactly what he’s hoping he’ll do with what they have planned.
The Riders were all placed in chains, each of their hands bound and legs chained, and led into the cargo hold, their dragons being taken to a separate area to be held. Some way through the ship, the Riders were stopped and placed in one cell, though when Hiccup stepped through to join them, Viggo stopped him. “Oh no my dear, we are going some place else while we prepare some accommodations for your… front row seat.”
Astrid spun around and glared at him. “What’s that supposed to mean? Front row seats to what?”
Viggo grinned like a shark. The trap was set. “We are hosting quite the event today. All of you are required to attend. We wouldn’t want the stars of the show missing out on their big moment.” He gestured to the other Riders, stopping before he reached Hiccup, filling him with dread.
Viggo saw his face pale. The bait had been placed.
Krogan stepped up to close them into the cell. “We will return for you shortly, I would advise you to prepare yourselves, it will be quite the performance.”
Viggo pushed Hiccup forward, taking him past the cell the other Riders were held in. It was all ready, his prey was scared and beginning to take the bait. Once he did, it would be himself that would break his poor, precious Riders.