Twenty-One.

Astrid arrived at the forge to see Hiccup and found Gobber worriedly sharpening an axe. Toothless was curled at the back of the forge, dozing.

"Where's Hiccup?" she asked. She had been disappointed when she had woken that Hiccup had gone. She had found the neatly folded towel and blanket with a tiny scrap of paper, scribbled with one word. Thanks.

She had caught a glimpse of his wounds, the brand and bruises and of course the hideous whip-gashes. Hiccup had looked very small and vulnerable when she had come in with his mended and cleaned clothes and she had tucked the blanket tight around him as he lay curled by the fire. She recalled the way he had mumbled and nuzzled against her before slipping into a deeper sleep and she had argued hard to allow him to stay. Her father had assured her that he had made the offer to the boy but that he had wanted to get back to his dragon. And her father had sounded relieved. No one seemed to want to give a Hiccup a chance.

"Gobber!" she repeated. The blacksmith looked up. "Hiccup!"

"He's in the jail!" he explained, looking concerned.

"WHAT?" she almost shouted at him. "How?"

"Last night, he was caught out after curfew and got into a disagreement with some guards," he explained. Astrid sighed. She knew just how smart-mouthed Hiccup could be and her own family's unwillingness to help the boy simply reinforced how few friends he currently had. "They came here and arrested him."

"But...when did you go to jail for being out after curfew?' Astrid asked. "The guards just shout at you and tell you to go home!"

"That doesn't really work for Hiccup though, does it?" Gobber told her. "No home. And he's a slave-no one to vouch for him."

"But you...the Chief..." she protested. Gobber shook his head.

"Lass, he needs a friend," he told her heavily. "He's a mess. There are flashes of the Hiccup I knew but he's clearly suffered a terrible amount of hurt. He's scared of anyone touching him, he won't let anyone even come close. And he thinks everyone will reject him."

"Many of them have," Astrid said sadly. "And I'm not sure jail will help him either. Can't you do anything?" Gobber nodded and put his axe down.

"I'll go and do something I should have a long time ago," he said gruffly. "Those guards didn't look too friendly either. Go and see him, lassie while I see if I can get him released!"

oOo

Hiccup slowly lifted his head. He had been right: it had been a hell of a beating. Then he grimaced painfully: actually, it had been two. Nils and Gunther had given his ass a beating when they raped him and then the rest of the guards had pounded him into a bloody puddle on the floor of his cell.

Almost too weary and overcome with pain, he slid an arm under his body and began to drag himself across the floor. There was no point in getting to his feet: they simply wouldn't hold him. He was shuddering with pain and shock: no matter what had happened, no matter what forebodings he had felt, he had never guessed he could be so appallingly hurt here on Berk. This was his home, the place he had clung to during all those horrible weeks on Outcast Island. He remembered the warmth of belonging to his tribe, his friends, his family. When he returned, it was as if he had landed on a foreign island: nothing was as he recalled. Tears welled from his eyes, over bruised and swollen flesh. He swallowed painfully, tasting blood. He wasn't sure what more he could do.

It was pretty evident now he couldn't stay on Berk. No one would tolerate him, the guards had abused him and he would freeze to death when winter really set in. Maybe when they let him out of jail, he could mount up Toothless and head south, maybe find an island where they could be safe and no one would care if he was branded as a slave or had been exploited by Dagur.

Sobs were really tearing through him now and they hurt. Everything hurt. He buried his face in his arm and just sobbed. He really couldn't take any more. He had hoped...trusted...that once he would home, he could start to feel safer, protected. That he would learn again not to jump when he heard a footstep or start to tremble at the sound of an unfamiliar voice. But Berk seemed as bad as Outcast Island.

He throat really hurt as well. Savage and Dagur really got off on choking him and the guards had certainly had some fun choking him to silence as they attacked him. He took another shuddering breath. He managed to make the far wall, squirmed into a corner and curled up. The guards had departed, leaving him locked up once they had finished. Not that he cared. He just missed Toothless.

He didn't see Astrid arrive because he had closed his eyes and was huddled up in his own little world of pain. She stared through the bars at the small, curled shape and the trail of blood-smears on the floor that led to him. Her breath caught.

"Hiccup!" she called but he gave no sign he heard her. She leaned forward. "Hiccup! Are you alright?" She stared at him. He was breathing shallowly but otherwise, he was giving no signs of life. She opened her mouth to call again.

"...no..." The word was almost a rasping breath, no more than that. She stared into the gloom and realised his face was livid with bruising, blood on his skin, an eye closing with a blow. His small hands were balled and clutched against his middle.

"What happened?" she hissed. He gulped and his emerald eyes fluttered open.

"Apparently...curfew...is a it more...serious...that we thought..." he rasped slowly. "Maybe ...calling them ...yak-brained Gronckles...didn't help..." She blinked and realised he was trying to joke.

"Hiccup...they had no right to do this!" she raged. His eyes closed again.

"No...but did it...anyway..." he breathed. She dropped to her knees and peered through the bars.

"We have to get you out," she said softly. He sighed.

"Then what?" he rasped. His eyes opened and she read real fear in them. "Astrid...no one wants me here...if they think...this is okay...how can I stay? I might as well be back with Dagur. At least then...I knew everyone wanted to hurt me."

"I don't," she said in a small voice. "You should have stayed with me last night!"

"Got that now..." he said slowly. "Your Dad...didn't want me there...he asked nicely...but his face said I was as welcome as Alvin the Treacherous."

"Can't you stay in the forge?" she asked.

"Toothless..." he murmured. "Not enough room. Can't think...Gobber'd be too happy either."

"Snotlout? He's your cousin!"

"Where do I start? He's the heir so I can't be with him. Half the village think I may try to kill him. And his Dad...he never liked me..." His tone had altered and Astrid's eyes narrowed. There was a story there as well which Hiccup wasn't sharing.

"The twins?"

"Are you kidding?"

"Fishlegs?"

"He just has room for Iggy and Meatlug. No, there is nowhere I can go." He sounded utterly defeated. "Could...could you feed Toothless please? I may be here some time." The tone was pleading. She nodded.

"Get some rest," she told him encouragingly. "I'll find a way to get you out." His eyes fluttered. He really was deadly tired.

"Thanks," he murmured and drifted into sleep.

oOo

"OPEN THAT DOOR NOW!"

The bellow echoed through the jail and the torches closed on the door. The guards jumped to attention and fumbled with the keys. With a creak, the cell door cracked open. Stoick and Gobber glared at the guard who had arrested Hiccup, the blacksmith rotating his hook very menacingly. He loved the boy like a son and hadn't liked the way they had spoken to Hiccup. The Chief was so mad he was almost breathing flames himself.

"Who said you could lock up my slave?" he shouted, hating the words but knowing it was the ploy he and his friend had agreed on as most expedient. Expedience was unusual in a Viking but Stoick was determined to what was right for his Tribe-all of it. And that included Hiccup. "And, by Odin, what have you done to him?" The guard went stone-faced and shuffled his feet.

"He injured two guards in escaping last night and showed no respect for the guards who arrested him today. He had to be taught a lesson!"

Stoick walked into the cell and held up his torch, then peered at the unconscious shape, slumped in the corner. He gasped at the obvious injuries, then handed the torch to the guard and scooped the huddled shape in his arms. Hiccup was limp, very thin and battered, his face swollen with welts and clothing torn from the beating he had clearly endured. Stoick adjusted the boy in his arms, feeling the boy stir slightly. The emerald eyes fluttered open briefly.

"Dad..." he murmured and a small fist latched into his father's chest. Stoick turned and stalked out of the jail. Gobber stared at him.

"Where are you going?" he asked. Stoick felt the battered shape stir slightly in his arms.

"What I should have done days ago," he said grimly. "I'm taking him home."