AU NAME: Isle of Mist (IoM)

A/N: At last, we reach the HTTYD section of the AU. It's the same thing as the OC AU, but this part actually has... y'know... HTTYD elements.

// blood

"It was somewhere over here," Astrid called, beckoning Hiccup into the cave.

He nodded, then followed her. Toothless let out a concerned growl as he trailed after his best friend.

The two of them lingered in the mouth of the cave. It seemed... unfriendly, somehow. Like the cave itself was rejecting them. Hiccup put his hand on Toothless's head, trying to soothe him. "I know, bud," he murmured. "Something feels off."

Astrid, meanwhile, was forging ahead. Stormfly was hot on her heels, lighting up the cave with a low flame.

She stopped when she caught a glimpse of something shiny, like a puddle of water. She took a step closer, wondering where it had come from, when it hit her.

"Oh, gods." Nausea rose in her throat. She was used to seeing blood, yes, but frantically smeared along the walls and floor? Not so much. The streaky handprints were an extra disturbing touch, making it seem like this person had been clawing at the walls as they went.

Stormfly seemed disturbed too; she took a step back and hissed, lashing her tail.

Hiccup appeared at her side, worry flitting across his face. "And a lot of it. Astrid, I'm not sure-"

"We have to investigate," she insisted. "If there's any chance that this person is still alive..."

He hesitated, weighing the options, then nodded. "Alright. Let's go, then."

They walked in silence for a while. The tunnel got narrower the further they went, and the blood got fresher as they approached its source. Eventually, they were close enough to hear labored breathing from up ahead.

Astrid chopped the air with her hand, and Stormfly swallowed her fire. They crept forward until they could see the person it was coming from.

Needless to say, it was... a bit of a shock. There was a little room beyond the thin tunnel they were crawling through. Norell was curled up against the wall. Bloody bandages littered his body, and they both came to the realization that he'd been shot. Many, many times.

One of the arrowheads was still laying nearby. It was coated with blood, but Hiccup recognized the green tint of the edge- dragon root.

That explained the who and the why. But how? Out of all of the people on Dragon's Edge...

Hiccup shook his head. Now was not the time. He crept around the corner, approaching Norell. He knelt next to him, extending a helping hand.

Aaand was greeted with a snap of Norell's jaws, along with a snarl. Hiccup drew back and studied his friend's face. The man's pupils were strangely dilated, and he was shaking ever-so-slightly.

Of course. The dragon root wouldn't have affected him like a dragon, exactly, but it still would've done something. Hiccup raised his hands in surrender. "I'm not going to hurt you," he said in a low voice.

Norell stared up at him. Pain was carved into the lines on his face, and Hiccup felt a pang of sympathy.

"...Hiccup," he ground out after a moment. His voice was gravelly, halfway between a growl and an actual word.

The dragon rider waited for a continuation, but it never came. Norell's unfocused eyes slid over to the crack in the wall, and he slumped forward, passing out.