A/N: Well done to everyone who said "Silverado'. (The line was by Cobb-a bad guy and corrupt lawman, of course!)

Twenty-Five: Condemned.

Hiccup had no time to react as Toothless knocked him down, heavy paws slamming his shoulders into the rock-hard dirt of the Plaza. He stared up, green eyes widening as the demon glared down on him. This wasn't his friend, his bonded dragon...this was a ferocious wild animal that saw nothing but an enemy, nothing but another animal. Toothless opened his maw and his throat glowed red, though Hiccup could smell the sharp scent of plasma building up.

Why was it red?

But it didn't matter-even though Toothless, a Night Fury which was famed for never missing but had missed hopelessly when he had just fired -because this really truly was point blank range. He felt the heat coming off the dragon in waves, felt the vibrating growl through the paws and the claws which had dug painfully into his shoulders.

"Toothless...bud..." he said gently. "Please...if you do this, when whatever they've done to you wears off, you will feel so awful...and I don't wanna do that to you..." The glow intensified. "Please...you're my best friend...my best friend..." he begged.

Toothless's maw widened and the glow was blinding. Hiccup reached his hands up to shield his face and his closed his eyes, not wanting to see the flash as his dragon killed him...

...and then the pressure suddenly vanished as a squawk sounded along with a thud and a roar. Hiccup felt a whoosh of something swishing over his head and he glanced up to see the blue spiny tail of Stormfly, which she had used to slam the Night Fury off the helpless man. Spines raised, neck frill raised, she was darting from side to side, keeping her body between the enraged Toothless and the man. She was almost as quick and agile as the Night Fury and she was determined to protect Hiccup...as her Rider had asked her to do...even though she had to fight her friend to do so...

Hiccup half-sat up and watched, breathing hard. Toothless was shaking his head, staggering and roaring, blasting scarlet plasma blasts randomly. Stormfly cawed, dodging the poorly-aimed blasts and mirroring the Night Fury's moves. But Toothless tripped over then spun around, giving a mournful wail. And though his head was screaming that the dragon was dangerous, out of control and completely hostile, the man could tell that Toothless was confused, frightened and ill. He scrambled to his knees and stretched his hands out once more.

"Toothless?" he murmured...and the Night Fury focussed on him once more, eyes locking on the blurred, distorted shape. Toothless reared up, dodging past Stormfly and pouncing at Hiccup once more...and then he roared. A dart appeared in the black hide of the dragon and Hiccup's head snapped round in shock as Fishlegs raised the blowpipe to his lips and exhaled forcefully, sending another dart into the dragon. Toothless gave a drunken roar, staggered and finally collapsed. His face stricken, the Dragon Master lowered the blowpipe as Hiccup crawled to the Night Fury, finally resting his trembling hands on the unconscious beast.

"Oh bud," he murmured. "What has happened to you? What did they do...?"

"Nothing!" the Major sneered. "The dragon showed its true colours...and you are not bonded. No bonded rider would be attacked by his dragon. That creature did not recognise you, did not respond to you, did not obey you. You failed!"

A cold shiver ran down Hiccup's spine as he raised his head in shock. "Wh-what?"

"The dragon didn't come to you, didn't recognise you at all," Arvidson said cheerfully, grabbing Hiccup's shoulder and hauling him to his feet.

"And by the agreement you had...we're going to hang you for dragon rustling!"

"No!" Hiccup protested. "No-that wasn't Toothless. That wasn't my bud..."

"There is only one Night Fury!" Larson sneered. "How can that not be him?"

"Well, obviously physically it's him...but that wasn't Toothless..." Hiccup tried to explain, his face desperate. "He wasn't behaving normally..."

"He looked like a perfectly normal wild beast..." Larson told him coldly and Fishlegs started. He stared to the door of the court to see the shape of Leo slowly limping out. His eyes flicked up-he had heard the words as well and he frowned.

"And in that case, if he's wild, he's mine!" the Major announced.

"NOT YET!" Fishlegs bellowed, surprising himself. "That dragon is clearly unwell and until he has been examined by myself and Leo Gudmundir and cleared, he remains too dangerous to be allowed into your custody!" The Major reached for his gun but Larson tutted and shook his head.

"Regretfully, the man is an expert and the law says he has to examine the beast before I make a judgement," he said but then his face hardened as he turned to the pinioned Hiccup. "But I agreed to the condition. Take the condemned to the cell. We hang him at sunset!"

oOo

"Why Red?" Fishlegs asked. "I mean...Night Fury plasma is always purple...everyone knows that..." Leo nodded, slumped in Fishlegs' chair-which was the most comfortable in the shop. Stoick had insisted he was freed by the Marshals and the men-who clearly despised the older prisoner-had unfastened his handcuffs and unceremoniously thrown him to the ground in the Plaza and walked away. After being picked up, he had gone straight into Fishlegs' shop.

"It's...unusual..." Leo murmured, frowning. Fishlegs paced back and forth.

"And he almost looked to be steaming...I mean how...?" his voice was confused. Leo spun in the chair and carefully reached for the huge 'Dragon Manual' that was propped by the desk. Grimacing, the man rested the book down with a huge thud and began to flick through the thick parchment pages. Fishlegs opened his mouth to ask something but Leo quietly raised his mangled left hand to pause him as he concentrated on a half-remembered memory. Not daring to breathe, Fishlegs watched as the older man reverently turned the pages until he reached the page, his shortened index finger sliding down the smooth page until he paused.

"Hmm...fever...delirium...uncontrollable explosive plasma blasts..." he read. "Reddish glow..."

"How did you remember that?" Fishlegs asked him helplessly. The Manual was huge and Leo hadn't read it for twenty years: he could not believe that the man could recall an entry after so long...

"I love dragons," Leo murmured. "Wanted to become a Dragon Master from when I was a small kid and I read an old copy of the Manual cover to cover four times by the time I undertook my training. I've a photographic memory anyway...but just when I finished my training, my sister met Stoick and she came here-and I came with her. I gave up my dreams to be with her, though I helped out in Berk..." He sighed. "Eel," he read.

"But dragons don't eat eels!" Fishlegs protested.

"Except the Typhoomerang," Leo pointed out, his eyes lifting. There was a little smile lifting his lips. "Red...so it will be a blood-bane eel," he read.

"Those live in the river, up by the mountain lake," Gobber added as he lumbered in from the yard where he had been watching the restrained and unconscious Night Fury. He grinned and lifted a flask of his home-made mead. "Something to help the research...?"

"Gobber-we are not trying your rotgut!" Leo sighed, his eyes flicking down the page. "If Toothless was fed an eel, he'd develop symptoms of Eel Pox...but the cure is the same except you leave the eel out of the potion..."

"I could get Gothi..." Gobber offered. "She'd know the potion..."

"Lightly roasted buckthorn root, a dozen rock blossoms, a handful of..." Leo began to read.

"Ooh-I have those in my dispensary!" Fishlegs volunteered excitedly and scooted off. Gobber rolled his eyes.

"I havenae seen the laddie so excited since he stroked his first Gronckle," he commented and Leo sat back, wincing as he stretched.

"You know, being dead was so much less painful and stressful," he grumbled lightly. "Admittedly, it was a delight to find my nephew and see Val's eyes again...but after that..." He took a shuddering sigh.

"Ye didnae have tae come back tae Berk," the blacksmith pointed out as Leo flicked his disconcerting gaze up to inspect his old friend. Gobber shuddered slightly: it was easy when listening to the same voice and gentle sarcasm that Leo had suffered near-fatal wounds and been left significantly less than the man he had been. Gobber could recall the absolute piercing emerald gaze, lit by his humour and keen intelligence: the whited-out eye surrounded by horrible scars was a chilling reminder even of the slightest glance of his trials.

"Actually, I did," he sighed. "I was a coward. I never came back because I feared what Alvin would do. That he would kill me...or those I cared for because I had survived. I did search for Hiccup but the trail went cold and I didn't have the resources of a Sheriff to chase him. Months passed to years and I just...gave up..." He idly ran his hand over the thick parchment of the page, feeling the irregularity under his fingers. "Until I met him. And meeting him...seeing Val's eyes...hearing Astrid call him Hiccup...I just knew. And he has that stupid little scar under his lip, to the right, from where Starlight caught him. I remember having to chase him for a whole night because he was so upset at harming the baby...but Val never blamed him or me."

"Stoick did," Gobber reminded him. Leo sighed and ran his right hand through his hair in a weary gesture.

"Yeah...sometimes, I guessed he had wished I stayed back home," he admitted. "I was always there, always seen as a rival for her affections...except I wasn't. She was my sister...and he owned her heart. Totally. I...just wanted to have a family because Val was all I had. And when I met Hiccup...he wasn't a gunslinger or a murderer...he was a man who had been appallingly hurt because he rescued a girl from rape and imprisonment and refused to give her up. And he had that sarcastic humour and keen observation that Val always had. And gods, could I sympathise with him after what those Berserkers did..."

"Ye need tae give yerself more credit, Leo," Gobber said thoughtfully. "He trusts yer. And for a man whose lost what he has, whose been though what he's endured...that's a mighty grand honour!"

"Got it!" Fishlegs announced brightly, dropping a pile of ingredients on the desk. Gobber stared up...and began to to laugh.

"Gobber," Leo sighed as the bell above the door jingled. There was a pause and then limping steps approached. A staff whacked Gobber, who cursing broadly and shuffled aside to let Gothi peer over the desk at the injured Leo. She jerked her head, then scraped a few symbols on the floor.

"Hey! My floor!" Fishlegs protested, earning himself a steady whack from the staff as she finished her comment.

"Okay, hand them over," Gobber read. "I'll brew yuir potion to cure the dragon!" He paused. "How did ye know, ye auld witch?" Gothi hit him again with his staff. "Okay, okay, yer've lived o'er a hundred years and don't take nae crap from anyone! I get it!" Gothi glanced up and nodded to Leo and the man nodded. No matter what they did, if they couldn't cure Toothless, it was all for nothing!

oOo

Hiccup sat on the bed in his cell, alone. Leo had been freed-for which he was grateful, because he had been sickened at how badly his Uncle had been treated, but even so...he would rather not be here as well. And though he knew the Major had done something to Toothless, it wouldn't help him because he was going to be killed. He closed his eyes and laced his hands behind his head, resting back against the wall. Strange that after all the things he had done-and he would be the first to acknowledge that some of them had been pretty bad-he was going to die for not bonding with a dragon.

He didn't bother to open his eyes as the door to the cells opened and a set of heavy footsteps entered. Then stopped by his cell. There was a long pause, then the creaking of floorboards and the shuffling of feet. And finally a small cough. Hiccup sighed then opened his eyes...to see, as expected, Stoick Haddock, standing stiffly by the bars of the cell, his big face looking...very uncertain.

"Afternoon, Sheriff," Hiccup said in a weary voice. "Excuse me not calling it 'good' but as I'm going to be executed at the end of it, can't bring myself to."

"I...er...understand, Ryder..." the Sheriff said gruffly, his grey-green eyes darting around the cell.

"You can call me Hiccup," he said. "It is my name, after all. About the only thing I have left from my former life....before I went with Espen." It was noticeable how Stoick's fists tightened at the mention of the man.

"Hiccup." The big man tried the word, rolling the name round his mouth. It was a name he only mentioned in association with devastation, pain and loss. It was the name of a dead baby, the death of his hopes and dreams and future, the shattering of his family. To have that dead child grown up and slumped on a bunk here in front of him, awaiting execution was really stretching his patience to breaking point. The prisoner felt himself grow uncomfortable under such an intense scrutiny, eyes inspecting every detail of his face-the pale skin, few faded freckles, sparkling emerald eyes, sharp line of the jaw darkened by stubble, the little white scar under the right end of his lower lip...

"Um...I am about to be killed so if you have anything you wanna ask, now would probably be a good time to ask it," he said dryly. Stoick flinched.

"Do you remember me?" he asked suddenly. Hiccup paused for less than a second.

"No. Sorry. Nor Mom. Espen was the man I called Dad. He said my Mom was dead but told me nothing. We moved around for a few years, working as casual dragon hands on various ranches until he scraped enough for our own farm. But we hadn't been in business long when the Hunters came through, stealing our herd and fatally shooting Dad...Espen. As he lay dying, he told me I wasn't his, that he had helped kidnap me and that my family may still be alive...but he never told me where to go. He died too soon...and that left me alone. So I made my way as best I could. A man must make his way in the world...was what he always taught me. I worked on ranches and read what I could. I learned about dragons and worked every hour Odin sent so I could buy my own ranch. And I met...Heather. Her Dad was another wrangler...and we fell in love. I proposed and we married when I was fifteen. When we were fifteen. Together, we bought little farm...a tiny place that could support a few Gronckles and not much else...but we were happy. We were together."

Stoick said nothing, hearing the inflection in the young man's voice.

"And then Trappers came through," he said quietly. "They pretended to be just passing through...but they saw our herd...and then they saw Heather." There was a pause. "They went for her...and I did everything I could to fight them off...but there were five of them and they were armed. They beat the crap out of me and then they turned to Heather."

"You don't have to..." Stoick said but the young man flicked up his resigned emerald gaze.

"I think I do-because this is all I can give you, Stoick. You can have my life story...because my life is done. I can't be the son I was born to be because that was taken a long time ago. I can't develop any sort of relationship with you going forward because I am to be hanged. So this is your only chance to know what happened. To know who I am."

Stoick's face grew very guarded. Hiccup caught it and sighed.

"And I can guess what you think, Sheriff, because you told me the first day I got into town. But watching five men repeatedly rape and finally murder your wife doesn't leave you the same man you were. I was saved by Redwing-the old Monstrous Nightmare I rode in on. He saved my life and killed the man who was about to kill me as well...but the other four got away with our dragons. I buried Heather and went to the law...but no one was interested. My farm had been burnt down, my dragons stolen and wife murdered...so I went after them. Five damned years it took me...until I finally rode into town on a dying dragon that Alvin's men just about finished off. They deserved to die...and all Dagur's men, after they murdered Astrid's father and held her hostage, after Dagur sexually abused her, after they beat and tortured me and tortured Leo. And Snotlout kidnapped her and tried to rape her. And...she killed him, not me, though I accepted the blame."

"I...understand..." Hiccup cocked an eyebrow.

"Actually, I don't think you do," he said quietly. "Because-forgive me-you never chased the men who murdered your wife and stole your child. I gave up everything and dedicated my life to that. I did what had to be done. Men died by my hand...but no one died who was a good man or who was working within the law. Usually there was no one on my side except Red...and sometimes the weak and innocent who suffered at the hands of the people I dealt with." He sat up straight and rose, walking slowly to the huge shape and staring into his birth father's eyes. "Stoick-you gave up. You sat at home and mourned your wife and let me go to Hel. Gobber and Leo went after me and...well, see how that went. You should have stopped Alvin then-but you didn't...and you let him win! You never even challenged Dagur and that meant the Trappers he traded with had free reign-including the ones who killed my wife!"

"I am not to blame!" Stock shouted at him and Hiccup gave a small smile.

"Well, I guess that answers where I got the temper from," he smirked. "No-but you didn't stop them. Had you...maybe things would've gone different. Maybe had to you chased, you would've found me and I would have you for a Dad, not Espen. Our choices define us, Stoick. Yours was to do nothing and it means you lost your son once to kidnapping-and now finally to hanging. Mine...was to do something, to chase down and avenge my wife when it was obvious the law would never find the men who destroyed my life...and killed my wife." He paused, breathing hard. "And you know the fucking ironic thing? I was done, finished. I had achieved what I had to, I had a dragon...Hel, I even found a woman who would love me and who I...found myself loving...and now I end up dying because that Major has drugged my dragon to steal him!"

"He didn't recognise you..." Stoick murmured. Hiccup slammed against the bars, his hands tightening round the metal as he glared at the lawman.

"I rode into town on that dragon!" he snapped. "I was rescued from the Berserker Compound by the dragon. I released him from his cage...and he got me up onto his shoulders and clambered us out of there! I was in no fit state to get out...he saved me. We have flown together every day since I escaped. He insists on sleeping around me to make sure I am safe! The dragon who was presented me today had been drugged -because he wasn't my bud." He clenched his fists. "Just promise me, Stoick, you'll try to get that Major to justice...and stop Alvin!"

There was a long pause.

"Aren't you about to say anything?" Hiccup said then paused. "Midgard to Stoick?"

"You are the image of my wife...and Leo..." he murmured. Hiccup sighed and forced himself to turn away in exasperation, then walked back to the bed. He squinted at the small barred window: the afternoon definitely had a sunset sort of a feel.

"Nice to have known you, Stoick," he said sarcastically. "Shame you managed to fail me in every way but hey? Why ruin your fabulous track record of non-achievement?" The Sheriff scowled at him...as the door opened and the Marshals came in.

"It's time," Larson said.