A/N: Ah, revenge, sweet revenge… This idea came up as I was chatting to Nightstar Fury and I summarised the plot of the Count of Monte Cristo…and I realised that I could really reimagine that. A quick reread of Captain Fury also got the creative juices flowing. So here is the Modern HTTYD version of Dumas' classic tale of love, jealousy, betrayal and revenge…

Rated M for lots of reasons including adult themes, graphic violence, sexual abuse and language.

Disclaimer: I do not own How To Train your Dragon. Rights remain with Cressida Cowell and Dreamworks.

'The Count of Monte Cristo' was written by Alexandre Dumas and is the classic (and in my opinion, best) revenge novel. I have borrowed some of the plot (at least the major outline) from this work. And yes, it is my favourite novel!

ONE: Condemned

"Guilty!"

The gavel slammed down and cut through the gasps and protests that erupted in Berk Central Criminal Court. The Jury all looked ashamed and no one could meet the eyes of the huge shape of the Mayor, sitting behind the defendant, his flaming red beard familiar to everyone on Berk. Judge Hoark slammed the gavel down again and his cool brown eyes swept the room, finally landing on the tall shape of the defendant.

"Hiccup Haddock, you are found guilty of treason against the Government and People of Berk by consorting with her enemies and plotting the downfall of the democratic government. I have taken note of your exemplary character references and the fact that you are a member of Berk's ancient line of Chiefs-but in a way, this makes your heinous crimes even more dreadful. There is really only one penalty in the United Archipelago Penal Code for such a terrible crime. And since the death penalty was abolished a century ago…I have no option but to sentence you to Life Imprisonment without Parole in the Jotunheim Maximum Security Prison on Freezing-To-Death."

There was a gasp and then silence as every eye turned to the convict. Hiccup lifted his chin and stared at the judge, his emerald eyes dark with emotion. Tall and lean, his sharp-jawed face framed by casually messy auburn hair, Hiccup's face was pale, his few freckles standing out against his ashen skin. Dressed in his best brown leather jacket with a deep autumn red shirt and dark brown pants, every eye focussed on him-but he turned and looked at the blonde young woman sitting beside the Mayor. She was shaking her head, clear blue eyes filled with shock and incomprehension.

"It's not true," Hiccup said.

"Take him to the holding cells to await the transport!" the Judge said.

"I'll appeal!" Hiccup swore. The man nodded.

"Of course," he said. "Guards-do your duty." But Hiccup turned to the shape of the Mayor, the huge man six foot ten and nearly four hundred pounds, a massive mountain of a man with flaming red braided beard, flaming red hair and cool grey-green eyes.

"Dad-I didn't do it. I swear, I didn't do it…"

And he saw his father, the proud descendant of Chiefs, a man who had dedicated his life to Berk, crack. Stoick's face was stricken, his eyes shining with grief.

"I-I know son," he croaked. "I know. I trust you. And I will do everything to get this sorted out, to clear your name…" But Hiccup was led away, glancing over his shoulder to fix the vision of his father and the blonde girl, who was the love of his life, in his memory.

oOo

They kept him in shackles even though he was in a cell, sitting waiting to be taken to the most secure, remote and fearsome prison on the planet. So he sat back on the bed, his head bowed and felt utter despair wrap around him. It was the most mistake and yet…he knew who was to blame. The same man he had taken in as a partner, who he had given a job and helped and supported. Someone supposed to be his best friend…

"This isn't a letter delivery service!"

"The sender of the package paid good money for us to take a single suitcase to Icefell. He specified the date and time for the delivery and he also specified that we must not, under any circumstances, look in the case."

"And this doesn't strike you as say, suspicious?"

"Why should it?'

"Well, all of this smacks of smuggling at best and at worst…well, Icefell is the most inhospitable port in the whole North. It's the haunt of smugglers, gangsters, people traders, even terrorists. That case could contain anything. Our best course of action is to hand the damned thing over to the Police and tell them everything we know."

"I-I can't…"

"What do mean you can't, Eret?" The tone had been sharp and in retrospect, he should have seen the cunning in the man's eyes and the manipulation in his words.

"They made me do it, Hicc! You know, things haven't been going so well at the tables and I'm in a bit of trouble…"

"And I've told you your troubles are your own business, not mine! I offered to help if you accepted help-but you refused an intervention or Gamblers Anonymous and instead, you just keep getting more loans and carrying on. Whatever you're in, it's your problem-and yours alone."

"They're gonna kill me, Hicc! They told me I had to deliver the package or they would find me and…cut bits of me off. Lots of bits. Please, Hicc! If you were ever my friend, you'll help me now…"

"That's pretty low, Eret. I've been your friend for almost ten years and I set up Night Fury Transport so both of us could have a living. But ever since I put the money up, I repair the aircraft, I set everything up…you have just been a drag. At the start sure, you made an effort but since then…you've been late, drunk, just plain missing…"

"I've had issues…"

"You've had no self-control or any loyalty! You used me and continue to use me. Why should I believe a word you say now?"

"Because I'm telling the bloody truth! Those men found me and if I don't deliver the suitcase, they're gonna kill me, Hiccup. Please…I'm begging you…"

"You make the delivery. I'm having nothing to do with it."

But he had broken that vow as well…

"Hiccup?"

His eyes focussed and his head snapped up, seeing the familiar and oh-so longed-for shape of Astrid standing at the bars, her blue eyes filled with complete lack of hope. In a second, he was on his feet, crossing to the bars in a couple of long strides, his emerald eyes filled with relief at seeing her.

"Astrid," he breathed, reaching his hands through the bars and gently stroking her cheek. She leaned into his touch, her eyes closing briefly at the tender caress of his calloused fingers. "Milady, I am so glad you came…"

"Babe-I couldn't not come," she reminded him. "You're my heart, my life. We've been together since Middle School. I can't imagine a world without you in it." He gave a bitter smile.

"I'm still here," he reminded her. "Just locked up in the most inescapable prison on the face of the planet, in a place so cold they named it 'Freezing-To-Death'."

"But my world won't have you in," she told him, her eyes shining. "Thor, I sound like some pathetic female from a melodrama, not a Hofferson."

"My ferocious Valkyrie would never sound pathetic," he told her gently, his fingers gently paying with a wisp of her long golden hair. "She'd be sad but then she would move on because no one could expect her to wait…"

"I'm waiting," she said stubbornly as he managed a small smile. "I'm waiting until the ends of the world."

"I can't ask that of you," he told her gently.

"And I can't accept you're giving up," she retaliated, her eyes glittering with fire. "You're innocent-I know that. Your Dad knows that. Anyone who knows you knows that!"

"And yet, here I am…" he commented sarcastically.

"And he and I will never give up on you," she told him sharply. "The moment I leave here, I am lodging an appeal."

"On what grounds?" he asked. "I mean, I apparently had a fair trial and the person who is actually to blame lied his face off and they believed him. There was no paper trail or any other evidence to link the suitcase to him so they convicted the person who took the case to the island."

"I will find evidence," she told him spiritedly. "I will find evidence that he was the one who accepted the case and that he is the one who knew what was in there and who it was for. You did nothing wrong except try to help a man who claimed to be your friend and who claimed that he would be killed if he didn't accept the case and deliver it. And both of those claims were false!"

Hiccup sighed, his shoulders sagging.

"Believing me, not him, isn't grounds for appeal, my love," he sighed. "The Jury came to the opposite view. I believe that is the basis of our legal system…"

"And it's wrong!" Astrid blurted out. "I'll go to the Chief Prosecutor, Viggo Grimborn, and make him reopen the case…"

"And how will you do that?" he teased her gently, feeling his heart lift a little at her staunch and fierce defence of him. "And please don't threaten him with an axe! Though it would earn you jail as well, I doubt they put women in Freezing-To-Death and we would never get adjoining cells…"

"If I thought they would put me next to you, I would," she promised fiercely and then her head dropped. "What am I going to do? You and Stoick are literally the only people I have in the world. I mean, Uncle Finn died when I was five and my parents when I was sixteen. Your father took me in without hesitation-we were already boyfriend and girlfriend then anyway-and you have been all my family since then. I-I can't go on without you."

"You must," he urged her.

"How can you accept this?" she demanded and he sighed.

"What else can I do?" he asked her simply. "Astrid-I'm hurt and angry and frankly terrified! I'm an innocent man who completed a delivery to save my friend and he lied and I end up condemned to die in prison for treason. I would never betray Berk or Dad or you! And my best friend has framed me for this-and no one will listen. And in an hour or so, they will drag me off to prison…and I will never see any of you ever again. There is no hope of escape…and the place is the worst prison on the planet. I have no idea what will happen…but I know I will never return…"

"You could…" Astrid said suddenly. "You could escape…" He managed to cup her face in her hands and stare into her eyes.

"Appeal by all means…and I would hope you would…" he told her. "And I will never give up. But one day, if all hope is spent, you should move on. You shouldn't wait for me because I think I will never leave there. And if I can imagine you happy and smiling and living a good and happy life, then maybe, I can survive in there." She blinked and tears trickled down her cheeks.

"I love you," she whispered. "I will wait for you, Babe." He leaned closer.

"I love you, Milady," he breathed and leaned forward, managing to reached enough through the bars for their lips to meet and for the two young lovers to lose themselves in a desperate final kiss. Finally, breathless, they separated.

"Hiccup," she whispered. "I'm never giving up on you…" She lifted her hand, showing him the small silver ring with a tiny turquoise in it. "This ring is never leaving my hand. You are never leaving my heart." She rested her hand against his chest. "I am always with you, Babe. So be strong. Be brave. And hang on. I will find some way of getting you out of there. There will always be a Hiccup and Astrid."

"Whatever it means," he murmured.

"Whatever you want it to mean."

"Always and forever, Hiccup and Astrid," he breathed. "I'll hang on. And I will do everything I can to come home to you." He quirked a small smile. "I am an engineer and a pilot. And just because the prison has never had anyone escape doesn't mean I can't." He forced himself to give a small smile. "You know me-I love to be the first to do anything."

"And I'll look after your Dad and Toothless in the meantime," she promised. He sighed.

"He's an old plane-don't let Eret scrap him or sell him," he breathed. She nodded.

"I promise. I'll get him away before I do anything else…" she promised.

"Before you appeal," he told her urgently. "Look, if my Toothless is safe, I can at least relax. A tiny, tiny bit." She lunged forward and kissed him again.

"And then I appeal," she said, forcing herself to smile.

"Time's up," the guard said, his grey uniform marked in silver with the crest of the Berk PD. Astrid clung onto the bars.

"Hiccup," she breathed. "Don't give up! Please…don't give up. I love you!"

"I love you, Milady," he called as she was escorted out and exhausted, he leaned against the bars. But the guards walked forward.

"Time to go, traitor," the guard said. Hiccup's head snapped up.

"But my father…" he breathed.

"We can't wait forever," the guard told him cruelly, his cold blue eyes and full blond beard standard for Berk. He motioned to the other three guards and they unlocked the cell. Hiccup backed away.

"No…" he breathed, his pulse accelerating. The guards lunged in and grabbed his arms, manhandling his lanky shape out of the cell and down the corridor. He struggled and fought but the guards were all much taller and more heavily built than he was and as he resisted, a fist crashed into his middle. Breath crushed from his body, he folded, flopping like a beached fish.

"SON!"

Fighting for breath, he looked up.

"Dad!" he called as the huge shape of his father surged forward, massive fists clenched to try to rescue his son. The snap of firing bolts cut through the melee as the other two guards raised their automatic weapons and levelled them at the desperate shape of the Mayor.

"Let my son go! He's innocent!" he bellowed, his furious shape tense and angry but not wild enough to walk into a hail of bullets.

"Wrong!" the leading guard said, his blond beard moving as he spoke. His scornful voice and the Mayor's face growing red with fury. "He was found guilty by a jury of his peers and rightfully condemned for his heinous crimes!"

"He's no traitor!" Mayor Stoick Haddock yelled.

"Yes, he is." A clear, cultured voice cut through the chaos and Stoick turned to see the neat shape of Chief Prosecutor Viggo Grimborn standing behind him. The man was muscular and poised, his black suit and shirt clearly made of the finest materials by the best tailors. His dark hair was cropped close and his manicured beard was immaculate. His dark brown eyes were pitiless. Mayor Haddock turned to him in fury.

"My son is no traitor!" he repeated, his voice thick with hatred.

"Mayor, you have my deepest and most sincere sympathies-but as things stand, your son is a condemned traitor and has to be treated as such!" the Prosecutor told him reasonably. "I grieve for you-I really do-but I can only deal with things as they are, not as we want or hope for them to be."

"Eret lied," Stoick growled.

"The jury believed him-and the facts pointed to your son as being the person who made the delivery of secret papers to the Terrorist Bludvist," Grimborn pointed out calmly.

"But it's wrong! My son never knew what was in the case and he only made the delivery to save his friend from gangsters who were threatening him for his gaming debts!" Stoick snapped.

"There was no proof of that," Grimborn said quietly. "Bring me proof and I will overturn the conviction and reopen the case. I will happily declare a mistrial because this young man is clearly an upstanding citizen…but I am a servant of the law. And as things stand, the law says Hiccup Haddock is a traitor and must be imprisoned for life to protect the rest of us."

"RKG," Hiccup said suddenly. "There were initials almost rubbed off the case-but they read RKG. That could be a start."

The Prosecutor frowned, his thick brows dipping as his cool eyes looked calculating.

"I shall investigate forthwith," he promised, resting a hand briefly on the Mayor's shoulder. "You have my word, Mayor Haddock. I shall do everything in my power to ensure that your son gets the break that he deserves." And then he nodded. "But in the meantime, he must be transported to the prison as the law demands."

Stoick's head dropped and the fight oozed from him. Then he broke away and walked to his son, wrapping the lean shape in a huge hug, burying his face in his son's shoulder.

"Be strong, son," he murmured, his voice cracked with emotion. "I believe you. I trust you. I love you. I know you are innocent. And I will move Asgard itself to prove that you are not a traitor." Hiccup leaned against his father, closing his eyes and trying to fix the memory.

"I know, Dad," he murmured. "I would never betray Berk-or you. I love you. And I'm so sorry I let you down."

"You never disappointed me," Stoick murmured. "A man could never have had a better son. You stay strong and we'll have you out of there in no time. And I'll write to let you know how things are going. Just…keep your spirits up. I will free you." And then he pulled back as the guards gripped the young man's shoulders once more. "Love you, son."

"Love you, Dad," Hiccup murmured and managed a small smile as he was hauled away. He snatched a final glimpse over his shoulder and then he was pushed through the doors and as they slammed, he closed his eyes.

They took him straight to the helipad and added shackles to his manacles, before forcing him into a heavy military copter. The engineer in Hiccup swept his gaze over the solid blocky craft, grey with red markings of the RD-100 class, an old but solid workhorse of the Archipelago that he had worked on during his engineering degree. His expert ear heard the faint dissonance in the motor and he frowned, knowing it needed a service but should cope with the trip north. The pilot seemed competent, steadfastly looking at his instruments as they guards clambered in and the door slammed closed. Hiccup found his shackles fastened to a loop on the floor of the cabin and then they took off. He cast a glance through the small grubby window in the door, seeing the shapes of Stoick, Astrid and Grimborn standing on the pad, watching him leave. Astrid kissed the ring on her finger and then placed the hand over her heart, her eyes fixed on him. His father waved until the chopper vanished into the clouds and his son was gone.

The ride was long and cold, the bumps as they hit the turbulence north of Berk jolting the prisoner and making him feel sick. But they flew on and on, skirting storms and finally rising over the snow-locked land of Freezing-To-Death. The guards began to mutter, keen for the meal and warm drink they would get before they had to make the return journey while Hiccup felt his spirits plummet to his boots. They circled a cruel looking solid stone fortress perched on the very edge of a cliff, with high thick walls, razor wire, searchlights and guards on every entrance. Slowly, they touched down on the helipad just outside the main entrance on the land side, a huge gatehouse with a portcullis as well as heavy leapt gates and double guards.

A welcoming committee was waiting for them, four guards and a huge man with wild black hair, a wild black beard and a scarred face. He wore the grey uniform of a Prison Governor and a red sash just for good measure while his men were in grey wearing helmets with face-covering masks that echoed old Viking helmets. And as soon as they touched down, even before the rotors had stopped, the guards had wrenched the door open and hauled the prisoner from the relative warmth of the helicopter into the bone-chilling cold of the helipad. Dazed, suddenly fighting for breath in the searing cold and face so cold it felt like he had been slapped, Hiccup hunched up and tried to back away as the Governor walked forward and gave a yellow, menacing grin.

"Welcome to Hell," he said.