One thing Viggo was good at, was pushing down his opponents until they lost their own trust in themselves and slowly died inside. His victories over his own settled game had done it to Hiccup, and had worked quite a number on him.

As Viggo Grimborn watched over the crowd of Outcasts, Berserkers and Dragon Hunters offering all their money and gold, the only person he was looking forward at selling the one and only Night Fury was a strange man coming from a strange land. The amount of treasure he was holding up for the dragon was unquestionable.

''Sold!'' called Viggo to the man, and the entire crowd lowered their voices in disappointment for being unable to buy the Night Fury. Viggo turned to two of his men darkly, smiling grimly. ''Get the boy. I want him to remember this moment.''

He shot a look down at the Night Fury, and Toothless shook his head, growling lowly, his eyes narrowed at the man. No way was he going to hurt his rider by using him. No way!

...

Guards approached the underground dragon-cage in which the group of Dragon Riders and Gobber were locked in, with minimum chances of getting out.

Tuffnut ran in the rock wall for the uncountable time, his helmet on his head ringing as he collapsed on the ground with a thud, groaning painfully.

''Do it again.'' chuckled Ruffnut as she leaned against the wall, her arms crossed over her chest.

''With pleasure...'' said Tuffnut and he ran into the wall, said to be made of iron ore. He collapsed once again, moaning at the pain from his head and neck, and pretty much from everywhere. He stood up as if everything was usual. ''It's all good in the archipela-hood!'' And next thing they knew he had collapsed to the ground once again, though this time not about to run in any wall anytime soon.

Hiccup sighed heavily as he leaned against the bars of the cell. ''Sorry, gang. I'm the one who got us into this...'' he said, sorry for his actions. He thought he should have known better than to enter the enemy's fortress, where it was crawling with hundreds of soldiers who could have jumped on their backs and carried them away if seen – which is exactly what happened.

''Hiccup, no one is accusing you for anything.'' said Astrid, placing her hand on his shoulder, trying to talk some sense to him. ''Besides, if we hadn't come here, than we wouldn't even have tried helping all these dragons. It was worth a shot, right?''

''Yeah, I guess...'' he said slowly, looking down. Even Astrid wasn't able to bring back his confidence to the surface. Maybe there wasn't any left...

His gaze lifted up as two guards appeared approaching them with weapons and rope. He frowned, wondering what they were up to.

The one with the spear stayed behind, holding his weapon's end towards them as the other stood in front of the cell, overlooking the riders.

''Viggo wants to see you.'' announced the masked hunter to the prisoners.

''Me?'' questioned Tuffnut as he held his head while he stood on his knees, with not the slightest idea of what was going on.

''No.'' snapped the guard, and his gaze fell on Hiccup who glared in return. ''Your leader. Let's go!''

He unlocked the door and before Hiccup was dragged out, he felt Astrid's hand touching his shoulder. He looked back at her and saw her worried expression.

''Be careful, Hiccup.'' she said, the unmasked concern in her voice. ''Promise me.''

Hiccup nodded hesitantly before he was pulled out of the cell and had his hands tied up with rope at his front, tightened roughly by the guard. He was pushed in the back to walk forward by the guard with the spear, a hand on his shoulder so he wouldn't go anywhere as the other locked the door behind them.

Hiccup had no idea what was going on, except that Viggo wanted to see him... Or, perhaps see something. He was wondering what was going on with Toothless, and he just hoped he was alright, and that Viggo hadn't sold him already. He just didn't want him sold at all, actually.

As the hunters led him away from his friends, he planned an escape for any possible situation he might be finding himself in the next couple minutes. He'd always had Toothless with him as he faced the enemy, but soon it wouldn't be the case. He remembered when he came face to face with Dagur for the first time in many months and Toothless was numb from the dragon root arrow. He had found himself alone against the deranged man, feeling helpless and weak in front of him. Positive thing about that was that he wasn't held captive and Dagur had changed so he didn't harm him. Here was different. He just hoped it wasn't too late...

As they exited underground, Hiccup found himself standing on a high level where he spotted Viggo and Toothless tied down, a mysterious man exchanging gold with him. His eyes widened as he saw his buddy getting carried away and Viggo turning to see him, his arms crossed over his chest, smiling darkly.

''I'm afraid this ends here, dear Hiccup.'' said Viggo, gesturing to the Night Fury and the man. ''I truly enjoyed our time together, but I'm afraid it's over now. You've been too much of a threat, to be honest, and something had to be done about that.''

The two men who had brought him out here pushed him roughly forward towards Viggo and the Dragon Rider and Dragon Hunter came face to face, one having the power over the other at the moment of course, or this would already have blown.

Viggo placed his hand on Hiccup's shoulder as he led him forward to the edge of the highest level, overlooking the crowd of people enemies with dragons. Hiccup didn't like it, and he took a step backwards, only to have the man forcing him to stay put, his grip at his shoulder tightening, almost painfully.

''What do you want, Viggo?'' demanded Hiccup, losing no more time than already lost. ''I'm pretty sure you didn't bring me here just to tell me something I already know.''

''Of course not,'' grinned Viggo, gesturing before him, at all the caged and enslaved dragons. ''But I want to show you how much you have lost. I would keep this moment memorized if I were you, Hiccup. It's good for the future... if you ever have one.''

Hiccup glared at him from the corner of his eyes without turning his head to face him. As much as he showed anger and hate to him, inside he was actually desperate and saddened from the fact that Toothless was being forced away from him.

''Come now, my boy,'' continued Viggo cheerfully. ''Don't look so morose! I know I'm selling the rarest and most beautiful perfect dragons known, but that what makes business run. I'm sure you would understand.''

An idea suddenly flashed in Hiccup's mind at Viggo's words. Rarest, most beautiful and perfect dragons..? If these three things were what the buyers were looking forward for, than Toothless was missing one of those. Viggo must have hid Toothless' tail when the buyer took him, making the dragon appeared perfect.

He watched Toothless fighting for freedom as he was pinned down on the rolling wooden plank, the mysterious man walking closely to his new item as his servers dragged the Night Fury to the decks. This was his only chance at getting his dragon back. He had to give it a try.

''Hey!'' Hiccup called out at the man, confusing Viggo. Toothless' buyer turned suddenly, raising an eyebrow. ''Are you aware that you paid more than you should have for that dragon? You know, if you take off the cloth on his tail, you'll realize your sellers already cut off half his tail for their own collection.''

The man frowned at the boy daring to address him this way, but then his eyes shifted to his seller, Viggo Grimborn, his brows furrowing.

''You know how cheap a dragon is that way?'' added Hiccup, and he could feel Viggo's dark eyes falling on him. If this didn't work, he would be in so much trouble than he already was...

Murmurs rose around and the man eyed the cloth indeed placed on the Night Fury's end of tail. He walked over and uncovered what appeared to be a prosthetic tail fin. Clearly this wasn't going to pass. He couldn't accept a dismembered dragon, even if this was the last of its specie. What good could it possibly do anyway? The man lifted his gaze up to Viggo once more, but the man and boy had disappeared.

...

Viggo tossed Hiccup to the ground violently in an empty backroom, usually used for supplies. The boy hit the floor hardly, his hands still tied up before him, so unable to defend himself correctly.

''You fool.'' muttered Viggo angrily before swinging his foot in the boy's stomach. ''Do you have any idea of what you've just done?!''

''Actually,'' said Hiccup, short of breath. ''yes. I am keenly aware of my actions.''

''I'm not entirely sure about that.'' hissed Viggo before kicking him once more, this time in the ribs. ''Otherwise you would've shut your blabbering mouth and stayed quiet...''

''Oh, so you expected me to just watch? I'm afraid you may not know me as well as you thought. I can be very talky when I want to.'' said Hiccup mockingly at Viggo's failure at selling Toothless, trying to push himself up, but the kicks always came back and it was keeping him pinned to the ground. At one point, Hiccup gave up trying and stayed where he lied, his abdomen and ribs hurting like never before.

''I'll see forward for your execution.'' said Viggo darkly and pulled him sword from his back. But before he even brought it before him, jaws tightened around his hand and pulled on, snatching the weapon out of his hand.

The Night Fury growled lowly at the man, his eyes narrowed dangerously. The instant he'd heard his rider's shouts of pain, he'd lasted no more time pinned to that thing and thrashed wildly – wilder than ever before, working his claws on the mussel. The whole crowd roared in panic as a loose Night Fury crawled around, none minding capturing it.

Toothless stood in Viggo's way out, his teeth unsheathed, ready to use them on the man who had dared hurting his rider.

''Game's over, Viggo.'' announced Hiccup from behind him. He pulled himself up, feeling weaker than usual though, his muscles and bones aching, but he found some strength left inside for that only.

Unexpectedly, Viggo narrowed his eyes and faster than Hiccup's ever seen, he snatched out a dagger from his back, grabbing him suddenly, the blade pressed under his chin. This had been too fast - even for Toothless, who would've blasted him if he had been able to. But now it was too late – he couldn't risk hurting his rider.

''I would think twice about that, my boy.'' said Viggo. ''The game's not over, unless I say so.''

Yes, YES, I know, I'm evil. Hey, who doesn't like my one-shots who always end up with a huge cliff-hanger with no continuation? X) You guys can be mad at me if you want to, no problem with that.

Oh, by the way, again about A man of his Word, STOP asking for a continuations! You guys are driving me crazy! (kind of like it, though) I did try writing a second chapter, buuuuut... It was awful, really nothing interesting about it, so.

Leaving you guys on that note, and see you next time! ;*