How To Train Your Dragon: Perturbation
Chapter 1: Entombed

The morning breeze seemed to sing as it wound its way between the homes of Berk. The faint shimmering of frosty crystals on the grass seemed to illuminate the ground as the sun began to peek itself over the horizon. The village had been through tough times over the past few months. Even setting aside the recovery effort, the fact that the island was no longer bound in place by water meant that many dangers had shown themselves. And despite the fact that there had been no sighting or news of the man, the residents of Berk knew that Drago Bludvist was still out there, plotting his next move in retaliation for his humiliating defeat at the hands of their dragons. Still, it was no reason for the majority of them to be concerned. With a strong chief and an equally strong Alpha dragon on their side, the Vikings rested easily in this crisp morning in the knowledge that they were safe. So easily in fact that not many were awake to see this sunrise, unsurprising given how early in the day it was. Except for one that is.

Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III was sat near one of the cliff edges of the village, his gaze lost over the surface of the ocean as if he was imagining sailing over it at the speed of a dragon. Something he could easily conjure up given how he had done it many times before. The way the water glistened in the red shine of the dawn was breathtaking and any other day Hiccup would be racing to meet it without a care in the world. But his thoughts were now somewhere else apart from flying. He shivered for a moment as he hugged his arms in towards himself, his messy hair ruffling in the light breeze as it rolled in off the sea. He hadn't been able to sleep, having dressed quickly in his flying leathers and wrapping the customary chieftain fur cape around his neck to give him some protection from the cold. He'd left the house long before Toothless would wake him up. He couldn't even begin to guess at the time. Four, maybe five? Time was difficult for him to keep track of these days.

It had been nearly half a year since Hiccup had officially become the chief of Berk and it was starting to take a toll on him. It wasn't because he doubted himself at his ability to do so. At least, he wouldn't admit that. Valka, Astrid, the other riders and even Gobber had shown that he didn't need to worry after what he and Toothless had accomplished and running the village and doing what was expected of him had become the norm by now. However, the more he had thought about it, the more he still had those residual feelings of hesitation. Sure, he was the chief. But it wasn't because he wanted to be. He had simply had no choice. He had done more than his fair share of individual leadership and delegation during his running of the Dragon Training Academy, but this was a whole new level. Responsible for an entire village? After the mistakes he'd made with the Edge and Drago? It did make him stop to think.

However, on this particular morning, another thought was crossing the young Viking's mind. This was more a sense of feeling trapped. Maybe that wasn't the exact right word for it, but it fit well. The damage from Drago's attack had long since been repaired and the event itself had faded into memory as normal daily life resumed. And yet even despite being able to make time for himself and Toothless on a morning, Hiccup felt like he had been confined to the island and surrounding rocks in his running of the village. Keeping true to his father's words of a chief protecting his own was what he strove to do every day, kept his mind occupied. But the other half of him, the half he took from his mother, was yearning to explore again. He felt the same way he had years ago when he was first trying to fly beyond Berk's borders, his flights with Toothless nowadays restricted to the neighboring rocks as patrols for any remnants of Drago's army or Drago himself. And, partially at his family and friends' insistence, he didn't want to come across as irresponsible by just disappearing. Even so, it still almost made him feel like he was chained to the ground sometimes. He and Toothless didn't even have the time to do proper lengthy flights just for themselves anymore unless it was part of the Dragon Racing. Even with Valka's previous help at making his map more complete, he knew there was more out there to discover.

'We can't have seen it all...' Hiccup thought as he continued to stare out to the edge of the horizon. 'I know Dad would probably shout and be all...Viking-y about it. Tell me off. 'Of all the irresponsible...!' Just like last time huh?' He paused at that memory. He'd made his dad that frustrated so many times in the past, he'd be the same way if he was here now. 'But what if something's out there that could help us against Drago? What if he finds it first?' His arm started reaching out as if he could just pick up the edge of the world and bring it to him. It was a good justification to think up as to why he wanted to go. He smirked as he caught himself doing that. He used to think the world was so small, that everything was small thanks to being on the wings of a dragon. But after facing Drago and his trappers along with discovering all the new species of dragon with Toothless and his mother, it was still so much bigger than he could imagine. And he wanted to see it all. The young Viking crossed over his legs, resting his prosthetic one on his good foot to stop his muscles seizing up in the cold. He flicked open the compass on his sleeve, glancing at the tiny needle like he were plotting a course. Subconsciously he was. His mind was already thinking of headings, places that they had never touched before on the map, even though it would mean disappearing from Berk as he used to without a second thought. Still, the young Viking chief had grown tired of not being able to fly properly with Toothless. He began to think that if he was lucky, Toothless would wake soon and the pair would be able to fly out somewhere really quick and be back before anyone woke up. A single morning wouldn't be too much to ask for, would it?

Meanwhile, back in the much warmer interior of the house, Toothless was slowly rousing from his long sleep. His internal body clock seemed to have automatically synced itself to when the right time to have a morning flight was, just as the sun was beginning to rise and there wouldn't be any people to disturb. Though, even the dragon had to admit that lately it had just meant waking up in preparation for a day of keeping the peace rather than flying. With an irritated grumble as a small beam of sunlight brushed over one of his eyes, Toothless stretched his front legs out, his rear end raising up like a cat which his tall soon followed in a graceful flick. He yawned, getting his muscles in working order as he licked his jaws. Stretching his wings would wait until he was outside, especially after he got yelled at for knocking over some things last time. Even as an Alpha, he still didn't like getting shouted at. The Night Fury's body relaxed itself again as his claws gripped into the floor, shaking his head into full working order as his eyes adjusted to the dim light coming in through the cracks of the house's walls. Time to get Hiccup awake.

'Alright, Hiccup, hope you're ready!'

Toothless had already got this routine down to a fine art. Where in the past he would shake his human awake from the rooftops, his new strategy involved gently patting him and then giving the biggest of licks to get him up. The look on his face was always priceless! Much like Valka, Hiccup could be a heavy sleeper at times but it was nothing that a face full of dragon tongue couldn't solve. With a gentle rumbling that almost resembled a snicker, Toothless began to creep along the floor carefully, trying to take special care not to wake the Viking sleeping not three feet away up too soon. At least, until he noticed that he wasn't there. Toothless' stealthy appearance suddenly halted as he growled in confusion. Hiccup didn't usually wake before him, making the Night Fury suddenly feel a little worried. He cooed quietly, wondering if Hiccup was just somewhere he couldn't see. He didn't get a response, just the slight crackle of the fire still burning from yesterday on the ground floor. Toothless rumbled to himself in suspicion and began to make his way down the stairs. Not the easiest thing to manage given the bulk of his wings, but he actually managed to do fairly well even as the wood creaked under his feet. The dragon felt pleased with himself, having almost reached the door without a sound until his tail betrayed him and thwacked against the wood. Toothless froze, his eyes wide.

If there was one thing he had learned to do over the past few months, it was not to wake up Cloudjumper. Valka and her own beloved dragon slept in the main living area of the house together, leaving Hiccup and Toothless their own space upstairs. Though Hiccup's mother had been more than forgiving and kind whenever she had been woken by accident, Cloudjumper on the other hand was notoriously grumpy if the same happened to him. Even if the Night Fury was the Alpha and technically didn't have a reason to be worried about it, Toothless knew that Cloudjumper was not a morning dragon. Thankfully for him, the Stormcutter remained asleep despite the noise, his bulk rising and falling almost in sync with Valka who slept at his side. Toothless had found it both curious and amusing that she chose to sleep without a bed near Cloudjumper. Eventually, he had become so curious that he'd tried to do the same thing, eventually discovering how much better it felt to sleep that way. On the odd chilly night when the weather was particularly rough, keeping Hiccup nestled against his side with his claws just felt right. Right now, Valka was doing the same, one of Cloudjumper's wings wrapped around her like a scaly cocoon as she slept. The Night Fury smiled to himself for a moment before he snapped back to his task. Perhaps Hiccup was just getting some fresh air? He re-entered his stealth mode and headed for the door, making sure to keep his tail to himself this time.

"And then these ones had a jagged edge to them or...maybe it was the island next to them with the Typhoomerangs..."
Hiccup's pencil darted over his map as he muttered to himself. Currently on his knees as the gigantic spread of paper was laid across the ground, he was refining his sketches after months of wear and tear. Some of the lines had faded and he was scouring his memories to try and remember the particular shapes of some lands he had been unable to visit in a long time. There were even some on here he had never been to before, only having been shown them thanks to Valka's efforts. He bit his lower lip as he paused, flexing his fingers to stop them freezing up before he resumed his sketching. Maybe they could end up going to one of these places for themselves?

Hiccup's concentration and scheming was broken when he heard the creak of a wooden door behind him, followed by the sound of heavy footsteps and rumbling noises approaching his back. Hiccup smiled and began to fold the map away into his pocket, shoving his pencil back into his sleeve compartment as he stood up to meet his friend.
"Mornin', bud! Looks like I beat you to it today, huh?" he called, watching with a broad smile as the Night Fury pounced towards him like a big scaly dog. Toothless leaped, nudging his head into the Viking's stomach with a content growling sound at finding him as Hiccup's hands began to run over his scales in scratching motions. Thankfully that nudge wasn't powerful enough to send him over the cliff edge. Like last time...
"Sorry if I made you worry, Toothless, wasn't in the sleeping mood." Toothless' tongue lolled out of his mouth before his eyes focused on his human, his head tilting to the side as the only warning before Hiccup was suddenly given a big lick along his chest armor and lower chin. Hiccup himself cringed a little bit and playfully shoved Toothless' head back to wipe himself down. Even when he was awake before the dragon, he always seemed to be getting 'attacked' like this.
"What have I told you about that?" he grumbled, brushing his now wet hands over his chest as the dragon seemed to 'laugh' at his misfortune. At least until those hands raised in a threat to flick the drool back at him. As Toothless remembered this happening at Itchy Armpit, he became quiet and rolled his eyes off to the side. Satisfied, Hiccup instead flicked the excess to the ground before sitting down again on the grass. Toothless followed, patting the ground with his feet before he too sat at his human's side. He turned his head around Hiccup's shoulder, wondering what had made the young chief become so intent on staring at the ocean so early in the day. Hiccup didn't notice at first until he felt Toothless' breath ruffle his hair. He raised his arm up and let it drape over the Night Fury's neck as he spoke.
"Been a while since we were able to go out there, huh?" he thought aloud. Toothless cooed, nudging him again as if to force him to explain his line of questioning. Hiccup didn't resist the offer as he gently stroked over the dragon's neck.
"I mean, we never did finish the map properly with all that "BloodyFist" and trapper business," Hiccup said. "And I know the flights haven't been too fun for you being stuck around here, have they?" Toothless would admit that it had become a bit stale, though could only reply with a snort instead of words. With all of these patrol flights, their former routine of tricks and adrenaline pumping experiences alone seemed more like times of old than recent memories. However, the dragon still understood the reason behind it. As chief and Alpha together, they had an important job. Valka and Astrid had both talked their ears off about it as if to hammer it into them. Toothless couldn't blame them given Hiccup's past attempts at rebellion, it was well needed. Hiccup raised a brow as Toothless' gaze turned to the rest of the sleeping village before it spun back to him. His thick ear-plates ruffled in the breeze as a shiver ran down the dragon's back from the cold, his rumbling taking on a questioning tone as to what his rider was trying to hint at. Hiccup, dropping all subtlety, smiled at his dragon with a gentle rub to his neck once again.
"So what do you say to you and me taking off? Just for today, go off and see somewhere from Mom's map?" The Viking seemed excited at the prospect, his smile only growing as he hoped the Night Fury would agree with him. "It'd be just what we need to liven things up, we'd be back before dinner!" To Hiccup's surprise, Toothless didn't immediately mirror his human's enthusiasm. It seemed to start as the dragon perked at the mention of a flight for themselves. It had been so long since then that the Night Fury felt a rising giddiness in his throat before he felt himself hesitating. His brilliant green eyes turned away from his human, staring at the ground with an unsure croon.

'I do miss it. But maybe it's better that we don't...'

Doing that did sound like fun compared to recent weeks, but with all of the village and dragons relying on the pair of them to keep things under control, Toothless wasn't sure. Maybe some of Valka and Astrid's expectations of the pair had began to rub off on him.
"Come on, Toothless, it's just for one day," Hiccup reasoned. "I think we deserve just a teeny bit of a break from being all...chief-y and Alpha-ry. No-one'll even know we're gone! Just one teeny little island, I swear!" Toothless didn't seem impressed at Hiccup's choice of words and repeated his noise. The Viking smirked and nudged his dragon on the chin. "Come on, baby boo, you need this too. It'll be fun! I promise we won't be long, just for the morning," he said, ruffling at Toothless' head playfully as the dragon managed to smile back at him from the touch. It only took a few more moments of ruffling and scratching and seeing Hiccup's sheer enthusiasm for the idea to win over the Night Fury. Only one morning wouldn't be too much and his human looked like he really needed the change in routine. The dragon growled, happily bouncing around his human in agreement as Hiccup laughed and jumped around in tandem with him. He knew Astrid would probably be rolling her eyes at this, but he took the chances to be silly with Toothless when they came. He used a hand gesture to calm Toothless down and then brought the dragon's head to rest upon his own, the Night Fury's eyes crossing inwards to look at him affectionately.
"Thanks, bud."

As Hiccup clicked the metal connections of Toothless' saddle into place, he opened up his compass again to confirm their heading. Having rechecked the explored and unexplored lands on the map, one particular isle had stood out to him as worth checking out. One that didn't have a name even with Valka filling in the blanks. Why she hadn't told him about it during their initial meeting, he couldn't guess, probably because it was just somewhere empty. Even so, he wanted to be the first to name it properly and hopefully not with a name related to a dragon body part. Hiccup squinted as he looked over the ocean. From the looks of it, they were due to head left away from the rising sun until they reached a rock formation that Valka had dubbed the Syfon Rocks. From there, it was only a short glide to the island below. Nodding in confirmation of their route, Hiccup grabbed the handles of Toothless' saddle and pulled himself up onto his dragon's back. Toothless instinctively crouched, preparing for take off at his human's command with a perked up ear-plate.
"Just like riding a cart, huh, bud?" Hiccup mused, the setup for their flight returning instantly despite the passage of time. Once you did it, you never forgot. With a final rubbing around the Night Fury's neck, Hiccup nodded and pointed his free hand skywards. "Let's go!"

'You got it!'

In a matter of moments, Toothless' powerful legs had catapulted them off the ground, Hiccup's own prosthetic leg activating the tail to give them lift. As the dragon's wings beat heavily towards the ground, the pair of them suddenly arched forwards and dived off Berk's edge towards the sea. With a triumphant roar and equally joyous cry between them, the duo pulled themselves up just as they were about to hit the ocean, racing along its surface like a missile. The water beneath Toothless' wings parted from his sheer speed, the dragon making slight adjustments with his wing tips for a moment before Hiccup forced them to turn upwards towards the few clouds above their heads. Holding onto the saddle handles, Hiccup pulled his body down tight against Toothless' back to reduce their drag and allow the Night Fury to finally pierce the veil of haze with a roll.
"Yeah, baby, keep goin'!" Hiccup yelled. As they cleared the tops of the clouds and were met with what looked like an endless expanse of pinkish white being gently touched by the Night Fury's claws as they soared, Hiccup's body felt tingly with excitement. As Valka had said to him long ago, being up here just made him feel free. After months, he felt like he was back in a natural habitat, his arms spreading outwards to catch the wind as though he could take off himself. This was what he loved more than anything. Just him and Toothless with the world far below them. Toothless himself echoed the sentiment with a delighted growl, turning his head to glance back to the human clearly enjoying himself. He began to think, wondering what kind of antics the Viking would want to get up to. Maybe some more solo gliding since they had perfected it with Drago? Maybe some more flips or something even more daring?
"No tricks today, bud," Hiccup commanded, much to the Night Fury's surprise. "Just keep it steady and smooth. Feel that wind in your wings." Toothless nodded his head in acknowledgement and agreement as the chill of the high altitude air made his body wriggle a little. Even just being able to go somewhere else was enough for now and the dragon realised it would probably not be the best idea to try anything crazy. They were a bit rusty at doing so after all, so steady and smooth it was.

Hiccup couldn't wipe the smile off his face as he reached for the map in his pocket to confirm where they were going, keeping a firm grip on it in his hands as the edges fluttered from the air. According to Valka's description of their destination, the Syfon Rocks were gigantic structures of volcanic rock, formed from when an ancient eruption threatened to pierce the heavens from its ferocity. Those columns of now frozen magma remained today and and were easily viewable through the clouds if you knew where to look. Strangely, Valka had never said what the isle beyond them contained, only adding to Hiccup's need to solve the mystery. As Toothless began to angle off the flight into the right direction, Hiccup kept his eyes peeled for anything sticking above the clouds to their level. However, he also knew that it would take a little time before they found anything given how far away it was from Berk. Not too long thanks to Night Fury speeds, but enough to make him relax his searching stance. Right now, he decided to focus on spending some quality time with Toothless, the worries of being a leader slipping away from his thoughts like the way Berk grew small behind them. Toothless seemed to imitate his humans' behavior, scanning the horizon of cloud for a moment before enjoying the isolation up here as well. Hiccup leaned forward, idly scratching about one of Toothless' ear plates as a purring rumble came back in response. He felt so relaxed up in the skies like this and it was all thanks to this magnificent creature. The Viking felt like the luckiest man on the planet, his hand continuing to move in gentle tracing patterns around the plates on the dragon's back. Just him and Toothless. That's all it needed to be.

As he reflected on the situation he found himself in and how he had been so fortunate to become so close to the Night Fury, he suddenly felt something stir in his chest. With all of their duties to the island and the dragons as the chief and Alpha respectively, Hiccup suddenly felt like he hadn't been able to properly give his friend this attention and affection for a long time, at least not like this. They had been too busy with repairs and construction, too tired with maintaining regular life on Berk, too surrounded by other people to really be alone except for at night time. And even then was far too brief. Hiccup also knew that Toothless had not exactly recovered from his ordeal with the Bewilderbeast. The Night Fury still seemed bothered by it, sometimes guilty. As much as the chief had tried to help and be a source of comfort, their time together always seemed to be too short for his liking to help. Given their lack of genuine free time to spend until now, Hiccup suddenly felt a little emotional that he was now able to do so as his eyes took in the serene beauty of the situation, catching himself by surprise at the sudden lump in his throat. He wasn't sure where it had come from. Maybe it was the way the sun tinted the clouds a shade of rose that seemed to billow and flow with the air currents running through the Toothless' wings. Maybe it was just because he finally had a chance to truly be alone with his dragon for a decent time for the first time in months. He didn't know. Either way, Hiccup just felt incredibly thankful to be with Toothless right now, the moment making his heart soar.
"It's been too long since we did this, bud. Thank you for taking us up here," Hiccup murmured. His dragon tilted his head back, a curious sound escaping his jaws as he listened to his human speak. Hiccup had never spoken this way during their flights before. Was something different? Hiccup paused, trying to find what he wanted to say before his feelings started to spill into the open without a filter. "What I mean is that, uh...I missed this. Being up here with you without a care in the world. Up here, it's like we could circle the globe over and then do it all again if we wanted to, huh?" Toothless crooned, the vibrations of his tone making the Viking's body tingle from their frequency.

'We'll be able to one day. The world's easy to see together.'

"Back home, everyone's counting on us and, uh, well... I could never say it to Astrid or my Mom or the others because I don't want to let them down, but there are times I just wanna fly off to forget it for some time. And you, bud...even without me asking, you're there for me." Hiccup paused again, swallowing to clear his throat. Toothless hummed to him affectionately at his words, seemingly touched by the young man's outburst of emotion as his head turned back to try and look him in the eye. The Viking's body leaned down until he was almost resting his stomach against the dragon's back.
"Throughout all we've done, you've always been there to help me when it's felt like too much. And I'm so sorry I've not been able to return any of it for a while," Hiccup said, his voice wavering for a moment as he looked above their heads to the faint outline of the stars in the dawn light. Just dark enough to catch their outlines, looking close enough to fly up and touch.
"Ugh, listen to me getting all sentimental and whiny...'Pride Of Berk' is as big a baby as his dragon is," Hiccup muttered. Toothless' own smile followed his human's dry humor, twitching his head to playfully hit his rider with an ear plate.

'Who's the baby boo now?'

Hiccup smirked and rested his head against the dragon's neck, wrapping his arms around the Night Fury as best he could with a gentle squeeze.
"What I'm trying to say is... thanks, Toothless." Hiccup beamed, the dragon looking back at him with a pleased expression at the compliment. "I'm always going to be there for you too. I promise, bud." The Night Fury seemed just as emotional as he happily sung back a noise of affection. With nothing to distract him, Toothless even closed his eyes for a moment to savor his Hiccup's touch. The way those hands still felt comforting and warm against his scales even all the way in the frigid air of the skies just felt right. If Toothless could speak, he knew he'd say exactly the same thing back. The pair continued to fly in silence, the rush of the wind around them being the only accompaniment to their moment alone.

After around half an hour of flying towards their goal, Hiccup was laying on his back against Toothless' saddle. He stared upwards at the still fairly dark sky, making mental notes of all the patterns he could see in the stars before the rising stun would make them impossible to see. A sudden noise from his dragon caught his attention. The Viking sat up using his elbows and leaned forward to take a hold of the saddle handles so he could see what Toothless had. A spiraling tower of intertwining rocks, black as night and dimly lit in the slowly rising sun. Hiccup adjusted himself, holding onto the handles to check his map again.
"OK, bud, that looks like the Syfon Rocks. We must be getting close." Toothless rumbled with a nod of his head, gently tilting his wings downwards to descend into the body of clouds. Hiccup's eyes screwed shut as the thick mist of the white lumps hanging in the sky blasted past them at some great speed. Almost took a bit of time to remember that you were travelling faster than you realized all the way up here. Eventually, the white obscuring his vision cleared and Hiccup was greeted by a rather surprising sight.
"Wha...? Are we in the right place?"
Just as the map said there would be, an island sat upon the surface of the ocean. The Syfon Rocks stood like a beacon to draw travelers here, towering above them above the clouds the duo had just descended from. But the island itself wasn't unlike anything the map had described. Valka's own drawings and his own had shown it would be nothing more than a single spot of land, smaller than the former location of the Edge. But the mass they saw beneath them was gigantic, nearly comparable in size to the Sanctuary. Something felt amiss. Valka had never been wrong since she had seen so much. How could she have missed this? Toothless felt it too, a hesitant rumbling vibrating to Hiccup's fingertips resting against his scale.
"I know, bud, I wasn't expecting it either. Let's try and get a closer look." Toothless nodded and angled them off, passing the giant presence of the Syfon Rocks. Each one was like a pillar, their age apparent from the small amount of plant life that was growing on it. Hiccup's mouth opened a little as he took in their wonder, such geology being alien in comparison to what he'd seen before. Sea stacks and coastlines were one thing, but this was like the eruption that caused it had simply been frozen when it happened.
'Well, at least we'll have most of the morning to explore this place,' Hiccup thought to himself. But before he could question on what to do first, the Viking found himself being lurched off to the side with an ear splitting boom.

The nearest pillar of rock to their cruising altitude suddenly exploded in a gigantic burst of flame, lashes of heat and fire singing the end of Toothless' right wing from the ferocity. Hiccup shouted out in alarm. What was that? He hadn't seen where it had come from, no projectile or hint of anything being rigged. The dragon roared, flailing in the air as he did an involuntary barrel roll to his left, his injured wing pulled in close to his body out of instinct to protect it and causing Hiccup to cling for dear life to the saddle.
"Toothless!" he yelled, pulling at the saddle's restraints the other way to try and stop the dragon's roll. "Come on, bud, hold us up!" He briefly managed to catch sight of the end of the Night Fury's wing as his footwork with the tail helped them to right themselves, the delicate membrace near the outer bone having been burned and scorched rather viscerally to the point it made him feel ill to see.

'It hurts... hurts...'

Alarm coursed through Hiccup, heart pounding against his ribs. None of this made sense. Dragons were way too resilient to fire to be affected by it on it's own, especially dragons as fast as Toothless. Something about that explosion wasn't normal. Toothless himself hissed and whined in pain, his flight clearly lopsided with one of his wings injured as much as it was.
"I'm sorry, bud, I know it hurts!" Hiccup yelled over the cacophony of collapsing rock. "I'll do what I can when we get down there, but we need to-"
Before he had chance to comment further, another explosion further down the pillar suddenly burst into life. The top section of the volcanic rock began to crumble at an increasing pace, like an avalanche of black tumbling down towards them.
"Move, Toothless!" he yelled, pulling hard on the saddle handles to increase their turning speed to get out of the way. Ricocheting fragments of rock bounced off each other, pelting into both of their bodies like the heaviest hail they could imagine. Both of them were too preoccupied with protecting themselves from the small shrapnel to notice the near boulder size chunk slam into Toothless' injured wing. Toothless howled in agony as he was sent spinning from the sky violently, the snapping of bone and wet sound of torn muscle somehow reaching Hiccup's ears through his alarmed state.
"Toothless!"
The pair were plummeting like the rocks that had hit them, a trail of blood accompanying their fall like a twisted version of a vapor trail. Hiccup's prosthetic jarred around in the saddle's socket to do anything to help his dragon stay upright. But nothing was working, his eyes screwing shut as the sea started to come up towards them.
"Come on, bud, hold it together!" he screamed over the noise. "I've got you, I'm right here, we can-OOF!"
Hiccup felt a sharp thwack to the back of his head that cut off his speech. His words were lost to him, dancing away like he'd never thought to say them in the first place. The world turned upside down and not from Toothless' spinning. He felt light headed, his concentration on the moment faltering as all his thoughts began to ebb away into comforting black. In a matter of seconds, his body slumped off of the saddle into a freefall.

'Hiccup, no! HICCUP!'

Before he lost consciousness, Hiccup could have sworn he heard Toothless roaring at him. He could have sworn he saw a rock stained with his own blood sailing past him like a dead weight. He wasn't even aware of making impact with the water.

Hiccup's next memory was one of feeling like he'd been chewed up by a Monstrous Nightmare and spat out again. All of his limbs ached. His thoughts were a jumble. His head was still spinning and he couldn't even open his eyes for fear of being sick. He could at least tell he was resting on solid ground now, a fact that confused him since they had been ready to meet the ocean before he blacked out.
'Where... am I?'
With a grunt of exertion, Hiccup started to slightly roll to his side and then eventually on to his front as he struggled to make sense of where he was. He suddenly winced in pain as the new position of his head forced a sharp pain to radiate from where he had been struck. Rivulets of hot blood pooled from the wound and traveled through his hair, running in thick lines over his brow and dripping to the ground in deep crimson splashes. He slowly started to open his eyes despite the clenched teeth to deal with the pain. There was a source of light resting nearby him, lit and resting on the floor. A single lantern. As he forced his vision to focus on it, his still pained legs refused to move. He stretched out with an arm towards the lantern's handle with another noise of effort, the age of the thing apparent as it squeaked and groaned from its moving parts. Taking shaky but deep breaths, Hiccup pushed himself onto his knees and waved the lantern around. His eyes were still partially closed from the brightness of the light, one of them more so from the blood running near it.
'What...?'
That was the only question he could think. He was in some sort of cave, or at least the very back of one. The walls of rock surrounded him like a tomb's structure, the tunnel stretching off into black so deep he couldn't fathom how long it went on for. A gentle rumble and occasional drips of moisture from the roof proved he was probably very deep underground, prompting another flood of questions to form in his mind. Had someone found him? He quickly checked over himself to make sure he still had everything and felt dismay when he realized he hadn't.
"Oh, come on..." he mumbled. Inferno was missing from its holster and so were the canisters that fueled it. His compass had been removed from his sleeve compartment and the map under his chest plate was missing as well. He hadn't just been found. Someone had stripped him of his possessions while they were at it. How on earth had he gotten here in the first place? Why had he been stupid enough to make them come out here? Then he thought of something much more pressing on his mind.
Where was Toothless?

"Bud...?" Hiccup called out, straining at his vocal cords to work like they had forgotten how as he stared off into the abyss of black. The sound of his currently husky voice echoed out into the depths of the cave, reverberating against the walls and giving him the eerie feeling like someone was calling back to him as it bounced back.
"Toothless? Are you there?" No response except for the echo. He tried to do so louder with another shout of his dragon's name, making the echo this time powerful enough to make him wince.
"Toothless!"
Nothing. The Viking huffed in frustration, feeling like he wanted to punch the wall for all the good it would do him. As he scuffed his feet against the ground, the dim glow of the lantern picked up on the edge of what looked like parchment. Hiccup stared down at it. It was far too small to be his map and he didn't have any other sort of note on him when he left. He knelt down, using his free arm to rub against his brow and smear the partially dried blood to keep it out of his eyes. That same arm then grabbed the piece of parchment as he stood, holding the lantern near it to get a idea of what it was. Runes were scrawled across it. Not uniform, but with a scratched style that didn't seem to be consistent. Hiccup peered across the words. It wasn't a long message, but enough to make his blood run cold.
"...'Lose him. Or lose yourself'..." he read aloud. "What does that..." His head didn't want to process the idea at first from the effort, but he couldn't think anything else. He had been brought here by someone who had purposely gotten rid of anything he could use to find his way in these caves. They had given him a lantern in an act of pity to let him try and then threatened that he would lose his other half if he didn't comply. Hiccup scowled harshly as his fists threatened to scrunch the note into a ball.
"No-one threatens Toothless that way. No-one."
With determination brimming in his chest to beat whoever had trapped him here at their own game, Hiccup began to walk into the caves. He didn't care whether it was Drago, Viggo somehow or any other maniac. He would escape with Toothless. He had to.

Hiccup wasn't sure how long he was walking for. The tunnel he had started out in hadn't changed much in size or direction since he started his journey, the lantern having at least held steady in brightness to give him some indication of movement. But part of his gut was telling him that he was either walking in circles or just in the longest cave in history. The only change he'd really seen were the occasional stalagmites to avoid and a strange abundance of weird mushrooms on the ground he'd not seen on any other island in the Archipelago. He grimaced and held onto his head as another wave of pain pulsed through it. He must've hit that rock pretty hard, enough to make him worry about whether he had a concussion. The Viking exhaled forcefully and kept walking, his prosthetic making ringing metallic noises with each step against the rock he took.
"Come on, keep going, gotta find Toothless..." he mumbled to himself. He couldn't imagine to begin the state his dragon was in right now. That wing had been pretty nastily hit and the thought of his best friend being in such pain would never sit right with him. He began to quicken his pace as that concern converted itself into adrenaline to force himself forward, his possible concussion and headache being far removed from his mind. He had to find Toothless, he had to. Damn whoever wrote that message, no one would be lost today.

After what felt like another twenty minutes of walking but could have been as little as five, Hiccup came to a crossroads. The cave had suddenly split in two. A 50/50 chance of choosing the right way to freedom and/or his dragon. Given how he had a slight preference for the left given past events, Hiccup was close to choosing that pathway to go down, his prosthetic having already taken a step towards it when a sound suddenly made him jump. It was like a howl, piercing into his skull and reminding him of the headache that still throbbed beneath the skin he had been choosing to ignore. He paused, exhaling shakily. It wasn't coming towards him. It sounded far off, as though it was trying to grab his attention. He opened his mouth to call out to it before the howl sounded out again. It warbled and cracked before fading into silence. It sounded hurt...
It sounded like Toothless. And Hiccup's heart skipped a beat.
"Bud! Toothless, is that you?"
The howl came back, tugging at his chest and drawing him closer with another sad whine into his eardrums. Instinctively, Hiccup started running down the right hand path, the squeaking of the lantern being the only accompaniment to his heavy breathing and footsteps.
"Toothless!" he yelled, trying to get the dragon's attention again but to no avail. He breathed in to shout again just as his foot suddenly slipped on something the ground. The Viking tumbled to floor, scraping the edges of his flying leathers as the lantern clattered falling from his hands. Thankfully having heard no smashing noises that would destroy his only light source, Hiccup pushed himself up on his hands to get back on track. And that was when he noticed what his hand was resting in. A pool of red, staining his fingers a dark shade. He gasped and jumped back in revulsion, staring at his palm for a moment. This... this wasn't Toothless' blood was it? He reached forward, grasping the lantern's handle in his hands and stretching it out in front of him. The blood wasn't just in a pool. It was a trail, leading off into the darkness in regular droplets like something had run down here. If it really was Toothless, Hiccup needed to be fast.
"B-Bud, wait! Just stay where you are, I'm coming!" the rider called ahead, keeping the lantern held low enough to follow the trail of crimson and lead him to his friend.

Much to Hiccup's gratitude to whatever power was watching over him, he eventually escaped the tunnels into a wide open space. A chamber of sorts, with multiple ways in and out of it across its circular space. The young chieftain spun on the spot, shining his limited light on the walls to get an idea of what he was dealing with. Strange symbols of red were everywhere, symbols he didn't recognize as runes, letters or words. Whatever they were, they were plastered over each surface like they did have some sort of meaning. More of the strange plant life from before lay nestled in corners to each entrance way to the chamber and Hiccup had no idea what to make of it. Were people in this space before and then abandoned it? What did they use it for? He shook his head to try and focus. Toothless should've been in here, but he couldn't find any trace that his dragon ever was. It wasn't until his lantern shone against the blood trail again that he remembered to follow it to its source. He stepped carefully to the center of the room and eventually found it. Unfortunately, it didn't belong to Toothless.
Laid before him on some sort of rock slab was a man. He seemed middle aged, missing a shirt and only possessing a pair of tattered trousers as attire. His form looked emaciated, nearly skeletal as though he hadn't eaten in weeks. The blood trailed over the edge of the slab where the stranger's wrists were bound with fabric under his back, pouring down from it profusely. As Hiccup scanned over the man's body with the lantern, he felt repulsed by what he saw. Lacerations, markings, brands, all sorts of horrific injuries coated the surface of the skin, some of them fresh enough to have smeared trails of red to join the pooling blood at the base of the slab. It was horrific, forcing Hiccup to liken it to some sort of sacrifice. He couldn't stand idly by and let this happen.
"H-Hey... hey, can you hear me?" he asked, hesitantly moving his fingers towards the bindings to try and loosen them. "I'm g-gonna get you out of there, so..."
Before Hiccup could even come close to touching him, the man screamed, arching his back and writhing around on the slab as through he didn't have the energy to move his legs and set himself free. The cry of agony died down just as he man stared at the Viking youth. His eyes were wide, a thin smile strangely sliding across his lips as Hiccup saw traces of blood oozing from the spaces between his teeth.
"Ohhh...ohh ho ho ho..." the stranger murmured. "...they brought you in too, did they?"
"Brought me in? A-Are you alright...?" Hiccup responded, trying to understand the situation. No normal men would look so happy at being in such a state.
"Never. You're never alright. Not in here." Hiccup could tell the man was a little delusional, unsurprising given what he was like. He thought it best to try and steer the topic towards escaping this place. Maybe they could help each other.
"Listen, I'm going to try to-"
"NO!" the man interrupted, leaning upwards to stare Hiccup in the eye despite the lack of use for his arms. "You need to save yourself from this place, boy. Before you start to see too." Hiccup frowned, trying to act as though he wasn't unnerved by this unknown.
"See...? See what?"
"This place... it knows you," the man whispered. "It knew me. Showed me things no one else could show me. Things no one even knew about." Hiccup's hands were tensed as they held onto the lantern with a fierceness he rarely showed. This made him feel legitimately afraid. The man laid his head back down with an almost content sigh. Like he was at peace.
"You're not making sense..." Hiccup eventually said. The stranger didn't pay any attention as he suddenly let out a cackle, a laugh that reeked of madness.
"I tried to escape it too, you know. But these walls, they don't forget. Even if you try to show them how much you regret, how much you're willing to sacrifice... they won't let you forget." Hiccup gasped as the connection in his head was made.
"You... you did this to yourself?" he exhaled, his gut feeling like it was being grabbed and twisted into knots. The stranger twitched once, raising his head up to stare Hiccup in the eye. That wild-eyed expression was piercing right into his very soul from its intensity.
"Escape. You either let them go, or you lose yourself."

Before Hiccup could ask any questions, the stranger slammed his head back down into the rock slab. Hard. Hiccup yelled in shock as a wet splattering noise hit the ground, jumping backwards as the man did it again. And again. And again. The impact of skull cracking and splintering against the surface of the slab to which he was bound pierced the quiet of the chamber. Hiccup could only stare in horror as the man slammed down over and over, painting the ground red with his blood. Until the very last horrible hit when his skull finally gave out and was pierced by a protruding edge. A sickening exhale of the stranger's last breath was the only sound left to echo in the empty space as silence once again hung in the air. Hiccup felt sick. He span on the spot, leaning against the wall behind him as he suddenly vomited onto the floor. His back heaved, the memory of that gruesome sight burning into his eyes like a brand. Maybe to the stranger it was preferable to being stuck down here. He coughed, spluttered and spat to clear his mouth of the taste.
"Oh, great Odin's ghost..." he muttered, leaning against the wall with his arms braced along his head. "What would possess someone to do that to themselves...?"
Hiccup's mind span wild with possibilities. Maybe Drago had just found a new way to torture those who disagreed with him. Maybe he'd found an ideal spot for people to be sent and be driven mad by the isolation. But Drago wasn't capable of this. Breaking people and dragons were definitely his thing, there was no denying that. But straight up mental torture? Too cerebral, not enough brute force involved to be satisfying enough for a man called Bludvist. But if it wasn't Drago logically, then who else could it be? And again, the burning question resounded in Hiccup's skull like the man's screams. Why had he been brought here?

He cursed, slamming a fist into the wall. He should never have persuaded Toothless to come with him out here. Thanks to him, the dragon was injured, alone and probably terrified by what had happened. And that was even if he had survived the fall thanks to those explosions at the Syfon Rocks. That idea made him feel like he wanted to throw up all over again.
Toothless couldn't be gone. He'd heard him in here, he was in these caves somewhere. But where? And the man had said that something else knew about it. It knew they were in here. Either people or some other entity, he couldn't say, but some other danger here and Hiccup had no idea what to do to combat it. The only thing he could do was keep going. He was going to find his dragon, he was going to keep his best friend safe as he should.

It was all Hiccup could think. Just as the note said. He'd either lose Toothless... or lose himself trying not to.