This Time for Sure

Chapter 8: We'll be ready

When Hiccup's eyes opened to see the sunlight streaming in through a hole above him, for a moment he forgot where he was and why he wasn't chained up in a cell. It was when memories of the past day rushed back into his head that he smiled. The blue sky was a welcoming start to the morning and he breathed a sigh of relief at the thought that he didn't need to wait for Ryker to show up and deliver his half-eaten breakfast. And speaking of breakfast…

The smell of cooking fish wafted over to him and in confusion, Hiccup sat up and turned around to see Stoick sitting over a fire. He frowned, wondering how on earth they had managed to ignite a flame in a dirt hole. He groggily got to his feet, suddenly looking down in surprise to see his prosthetic had been bent to almost its original shape. It was pure relief on his still tender stump, which was enough to make his lips twitch upwards.

"Is it alright?" He heard his father ask and he met his gaze, mouth hanging open. He took a few steps forward and felt the ease with a smile.

"Yeah, it's almost back to normal. You did this?" He replied, walking towards Stoick and sitting down across from him.

"Aye, you were out the moment your head hit the dirt but Astrid and I stayed up a little longer," The chief responded. "You're going to need it when we get Toothless back after all," Hiccup nodded until his smile fell suddenly.

"Wait, where's Astrid?" He asked, glancing around the tunnels.

"Right here," Came her voice from above him as she jumped down into the hole holding two more fish.

"Astrid," Hiccup gasped. "You went back out there! Did you see any hunters?" He couldn't have his friends putting themselves in danger while he slept.

"Yeah, but that's a good thing. The more there are looking for us the less there will be with Toothless," Astrid replied, making a point so valid that Hiccup had nothing to counter in his half-awoken state. It didn't stop his worry though.

"Did you get firewood from outside as well?" He asked, wondering how much Astrid had been out there avoiding death by Hunters. But his father's chuckle told him he hadn't quite hit the nail on the head.

"She went out for fish, aye, but the fire was started by a Terror with some dry leaves Astrid found in the tunnels," He responded, adding the newly found fish to the one already over the fire.

"A Terror?" Hiccup asked in surprise.

"Your father had told the Berk Council to send a Terror to follow the ship after the last ransom. Turns out the little guy had hidden in one of the tunnels when it couldn't find us. It started the fire for us and is now on the way back to Berk with the message that we're coming back soon," Astrid explained, sitting next to him with a smile dancing on her face.

"This was all part of the plan? Wow, great!" Hiccup exclaimed, and Stoick laughed even harder.

"Thanks, but we still need a plan to get Toothless out," The chief answered, handing the now cooked fish to the two young Berkians.

"I have a plan," Hiccup said, taking a bite out of his breakfast. But Stoick only raised an eyebrow.

"Son, using yourself as bait isn't a plan," He responded, and Hiccup's eyes widened a little bit.

"What? Me as bait?" He forced a laugh but sighed when he saw his father and Astrid's glare. "Ok, I no longer have a plan," He continued to eat in silence, catching what he thought was Astrid's smirk out of the corner of his eye. "What?"

"You know, there is a point where you don't have be keep putting yourself in danger. I could create a distraction. I'd have more chance of being able to shake them off," Astrid explained.

"But, Astrid, Viggo ordered your execution! He at least wants me alive. I'm not losing you," Hiccup countered, appalled at the idea of sending Astrid into more danger than she'd already put herself.

"What about me, then?" Stoick interrupted. "Viggo hasn't order my death so he'd keep me alive. But I'm not letting that bastard catch me," Hiccup paused thoughtfully.

"What's the plan then?" He asked, seeing a twinkle in his father's eyes that told him he had an idea.

"Glad you asked," The chief smiled. "If I go out there and start calling your name, Hiccup, then do you think that Viggo or Ryker would send Hunters to where I was looking?"

"Yeah, I guess he would. He'd try and find me before you could, and probably attempt to capture you too. Maybe even use you to force my surrender..." Hiccup thought aloud, starting to see where his father was going.

"Aye, that would draw his men out. Why would Viggo need soldiers guarding Toothless if I'd let them all know that you were out in the forest?"

"And then Hiccup and I can go get Toothless," Astrid finished, smiling.

"On my signal, yes," Stoick agreed.

"What signal?"

"When I start shouting Astrid's name too," The chief replied, and Astrid nodded in agreement. She turned to face Hiccup, whose face had fallen.

"Hiccup?"

"Wh-what if Viggo sees through the ruse? If the Hunters are in the forest then it'd be silly to start shouting. He could work out it's a trick," Hiccup thought aloud.

"That's assuming Viggo knows that we know that his men are in the forest," His father replied, finishing off his fish. "Which he doesn't. You follow?"

"Yeah… yeah, you know what? This is it! This could work!" Hiccup jumped up from where he'd been sitting in excitement. "Let's go!"

"Got your weapons?" Stoick asked, brandishing the sword he had stolen from a Hunter.

"Check," The two Riders said in sync.

"Then good luck to us all,"

Stoick had been the first to climb out of the hole and into the open and it was once he was out of sight that Hiccup started to feel the adrenaline enter his bloodstream. This was it. Nine days after he was captured by Ryker, they were escaping. Back to Berk, back to the Edge, back home. The thought itself exhilarated Hiccup and he smiled. He and Astrid started their climb up out of the hole. They had to hold themselves up to where they could easily jump back down to safety should they need to, or pull themselves into the open upon hearing Stoick's signal. Both Riders had swords strapped to their backs, ready for any Hunters they might encounter and Hiccup had the honour of carrying the remaining Changewing acid that would be their salvation.

"What are you thinking?" Astrid whispered as they positioned themselves with their arms over the ledge.

"That this is finally it. This is where we show Viggo that he can't bring Berk down," Hiccup said, getting a smile from Astrid in reply. Silence fell as they both waited in anticipation, dreading the sound of any shuffling or voices other than the expected shout for Hiccup.

And then it came, loud and clear, echoing through the forest. The shout came from their right, much further away from the centre of the island than they were. Perfect. Hiccup and Astrid smiled to each other as they heard distant footsteps and voices of Hunters following the sound of shouts. And then after a few minutes, their signal came.

"Astrid! Hiccup!" Stoick's voice boomed. "Astrid?" The young Riders pulled themselves up onto the grassy forest floor, the morning sunshine warming their faces. They drew their swords, gave each other a determined nod, and started their run towards the tunnels.

It was about ten minutes later that the pair found themselves at the mouth of the tunnel. They'd been lucky enough to not come across any Hunters on the way to getting this far, but Hiccup knew there could still be a few men remaining in the tunnels. Now wasn't the time to underestimate Viggo.

They both pressed their backs into the outside of the tunnel and Astrid was first to peer around the corner and into the tunnel. She beckoned Hiccup with her upon seeing the tunnel empty and they both crept along as quietly as they could. The silence in the tunnel was nothing if not eerie, leading Astrid and Hiccup to give each other a worried glance.

"Where did Dad say Toothless would be?" Hiccup whispered, hating the echo his low voice caused.

"Around the corner there," Was Astrid's reply as they neared the corner. She pressed her back into the tunnel wall again, ignoring how the grime of the surface soiled her blonde hair. She slowly edged closer, peering around the corner, only to instantly relax. "There's no one there," She muttered in surprise. Hiccup frowned, running quietly through the tunnel.

"Seriously? No one? Wow!" He said glancing back at Astrid following him. But the minute his focus shifted to the cage where Toothless was chained, he froze. Clearly, not quite everyone had left.

"Yes, I must admit it is impressive," Viggo's voice echoed in the otherwise empty tunnel, as he stood next to the cage with his back leaning protectively against the lock and ignoring Toothless' warning growls. "Not everyone can go through the beatings you have and still get up the next day to fight. And I must commend you on managing to fool all of my soldiers, including my own injured brother. Though, please, don't be offended that I wasn't quite as convinced," Hiccup glared at the man.

"So you stayed here all alone?" He demanded, his grip on the sword becoming tight enough for his knuckles to turn white.

"Indeed. Contrary to what you might be believing at the moment, I'm not here to recapture you. I only want to talk," The Grimborn replied calmly, casually glancing down at his fingernails as if this were any regular conversation. Hiccup, however, wasn't convinced that the "talk" Viggo wanted was as innocent as he made it out to be, especially considering the suppressed anger he could see in the man's eyes. But Viggo wasn't the only one holding back rage.

"Talk about what?" He shouted, not caring if his voice echoed through the tunnel in all directions. "About how you kept me captive for over a week, taking my friends, my family and my dragon? How you let Ryker beat me whenever he wanted, how you taunted me every day, how you tortured me for information on Berk?"

"I think you'll find that those are all inevitable consequences of getting yourself involved with me and my Dragon Hunting business," He replied relatively calmly, seemingly unfazed by the Rider's blatant fury. Hiccup paused for a few seconds, his breaths heavy with fury.

"No, it's you and your Hunters who are messing with the wrong Vikings. And here I am to prove it," He said, a little quieter but then with one swift movement, he grabbed the little bottle of Changewing acid, uncorked it and threw it at him. Viggo's eyes widened at the corrosive liquid spilling out of the vessel as it approached and he quickly hurriedly dived out of the way. The acid landed on the lock that Viggo had been leaning against, fizzing on contact. It took little over a second for the lock to fall off and the cage door swung open. Hiccup ran in, making use of Viggo's distraction to pull off his dragon's muzzle. The dragon crooned in delight.

"Hey, bud, you know what to do," Hiccup said, giving the Night Fury a brief pat before turning back to Viggo. The man had just managed to get back on his feet, only to find that Astrid was pointing a sword directly at his chest. He was just about to reach for his own when the sound of a charging plasma blast made him look up in fear. The Hunter ducked to avoid getting obliterated as the blast rushed past his head and upon seeing Stoick enter the tunnel with an axe in each hand, fled in the other direction into the darkness.

Hiccup watched his retreat and turned to his dragon in delight, whose tongue was hanging out in joy.

"Hello, bud, I missed you too!" He embraced the dragon's head. Toothless purred as Hiccup's sword shattered the chains and the dragon landed on the floor, finally free. "You knew we would come for you, right?" The dragon fell silent, looking up at Hiccup with big eyes. "Bud?"

But the next thing he knew, Hiccup had fallen back onto the floor as Toothless lathered his saliva over his human.

"Argh Toothless!" He started to complain but quickly dissolved into joyful laughter until his dragon backed off, giving his own dragon-y laugh. Hiccup took a minute to recover, then turned around at the sound of Astrid and Stoick laughing at him.

"Oh, come on!" He exclaimed, only to stop himself when he saw a Nadder standing next to his father. "Wait, where did he come from?" He got to his feet, shaking off the excess dragon slobber from his body.

"Oh, him?" Astrid replied cheerfully. "He was in one of Viggo's cages and is going to help us get back! We won't all fit on Toothless after all. So I'll go with you, and the chief can go on this guy,"

"Aye. But now, let's get out of here before Viggo calls for backup," Stoick replied and Hiccup smiled.

He couldn't agree more.

Hiccup felt a wave of relief when Toothless took off into the sky, Astrid sitting behind him with her arms wrapped around his waist just like that first flight all those years ago, and his father flying next to him on the Nadder. He smiled at the feeling of the wind rushing past his face and chuckled when he saw Toothless stick his tongue out at him. It was nice that everything felt almost back to normal. His shoulder didn't throb as much anymore and although the cuts and bruises still hurt, he knew they too would heal. And then he would get back to defeating Viggo once and for all.

Viggo. As the name flew through his head, Hiccup found himself turning around to look back on Dragon Hunter Island. His smile faltered when he saw Viggo standing on the cliff with a few armed Hunters, watching them leave and his frown made Astrid follow his gaze worriedly.

"Oh, we've made him mad alright," Hiccup muttered, his heart sinking at the look in the Grimborn's eyes.

"Why don't they attack? We're still in range," Astrid asked, furrowing her forehead as she sensed Hiccup's worry.

"He said he didn't want to recapture us, he just wanted to talk. I cut him off, but I think I can guess what he would have said. By the look in his eyes, I'd say he already has a better plan. And I'm not looking forward to seeing it," Hiccup muttered.

"We'll be ready," Astrid said comfortingly, squeezing his arm.

"But he has the Dragon Eye," The young heir sighed, already dreading what he suspected would come.

"Then we'll get it back, Hiccup," His father interrupted his chain of pessimistic thoughts. "We'll think of a plan. Viggo won't get far, I'm sure of it," Hiccup smiled, hoping he was right.

And they did think of another plan. After all of Hiccup's wounds had healed, he came up with an ingenious idea that only failed because of Ryker's revolt against Viggo. And they had found out what Viggo's plan was alright. Project Shellfire. But all of that passed too, with the Dragon Eye gone along with Viggo. Everything was back to how it should be. It was finally over.

But it was harder for Hiccup to accept that. Occasionally, on his worse days, he would be haunted by the look in Viggo's eyes. The look of fury when he escaped after over a week of captivity, the look of horror when he realised the ground beneath him was crumbling and the look of fear as he followed the Dragon Eye into the volcano. Hiccup knew it shouldn't haunt him – Viggo had been the enemy to put him, the Riders and Berk through so much – but it did.

And it was moments like those that Astrid would recognise the way Hiccup stared blankly out at the horizon. And with hands trailing over the healed wounds he got from the long war with Viggo and soft, comforting kisses, she would remind him that they had won.

"It's finally over,"

"Yeah," Hiccup mumbled in reply, only half listening. Not that he didn't appreciate her presence, but his thoughts were currently elsewhere.

"This will stop, right Hiccup?"

"What will?" He finally turned to face her, the unexpected question catching his full attention.

"Well... this," She vaguely gestured towards him.

"You just gestured to all of me," His lip twitched upwards at the familiar line but Astrid pulled a face.

"You know what I mean. You said you'd be fine. When does the staring at the horizon every other day stop?"

"Every other day? I've been doing this that often?"

"Yeah..." She avoided his confused look, squeezing his hand slightly.

"I'm sorry,"

"Don't apologise. It's not your fault," She hated the guilt in his face and almost regretted bringing it up. "You take all the time you need. I'll be here through it all,"

"Thank you," Hiccup smiled, pulling her closer. "I'm lucky to have you," Astrid blushed and smiled, opening her mouth to reply but Hiccup pulled her into a grateful kiss. He could have said a lot more about how happy he was to have her with him but instead he communicated it with lips, their kiss deepening as they pressed their bodies against each other.

Because he knew that if it wasn't for her and Stoick, he'd have been left in the dust. He had come so close to losing hope but they still came and dragged him out. He knew that Astrid meant it when she promised she'd be by his side through whatever came next.

And every time he was losing faith, she'd be there to help him through it all. Always.

A/N: And it's finally over...

Let me know your thoughts in the reviews, as always! I'm going to miss this story, I think it's one of my favourites. BUT it's certainly not my last one. I still have school and stuff so I don't have all the time in the world and writing goes a bit slower, but I am writing my next fanfictions already. I can't say for certain when they'll be up but as always, I'll keep my profile updated so if you get impatient, just take a peek over there.

Thank you all for reading, following, favouriting and reviewing! This was a wonderful comeback to the fandom and you guys make writing worth it! Shout out to DANIELA123, Massive HTTYD Fan, Sunfire16, Steampunk Wilson and Romantica 123 for reviewing on most, if not all, chapters! :)

I hope to see you on my next story!

See ya (and stay safe!)

~httydfangirl123