A/N: This follows directly on from 'What happened to the Geek?'

Unblemished Reflection.

It was quiet in IT Lab Two, which was why Hiccup headed here instead of the main IT centre. Back in the centre, the crew would be greeting him, cheery banter flying and he just couldn't weather that right now. There would be questions, looks and whispers. He knew Will would respect him but Gray probably wouldn't and certainly Viktor, Xiu and Raoul would pick at him until he broke or had to leave. And he knew his line manager, his boss wouldn't take no for an answer. So here he was, the other side of the administration area, slinking into the secondary IT sector like a truant. Head down, not meeting any eyes as he walked to the furthest station from the door, he logged in and quietly scanned his emails and internal coms. And then he sighed: there were about a dozen from Ozzie, increasingly worried and direct. He paused, fingers hovering over the touch-keys and then he fired a very bland response: I'm okay. Just under the weather.

He had pulled up his conclusions from his doctoral thesis-it had been one of the few things that had kept him sane during his recuperation, mentally revising the section over and over until he finally reached the perfect wording-and his fingers flew over the keypad, the words flashing up as he logged the final version. Despite everything he had endured, he managed a tiny smile, his forest green gaze warming as he clicked SAVE and cracked his neck. There were few parts of him that weren't stiff and didn't hurt...and the chair wasn't very comfortable. He shifted his position and sighed: Gothi had given him painkillers which he was refusing to take. His father had always growled that a Viking had to be strong and though Hiccup knew he was a scrawny fishbone, there was still a tiny corner of him that wanted to make his father proud. So he endured the pain and turned back to his work with a wince.

He was revising the final paragraph and cross-checking his references when the door to the lab opened and a man entered, walking directly and rapidly towards the lean shape, hunched over the screen in the furthest corner. A hand slammed on the desk and Hiccup flinched, his wary emerald gaze rising to meet a buff, powerful shape with carrot red hair, pale green eyes and a broad face with aquiline nose: Ozzie. Hiccup cringed back, his battered face folding into an expression of terror and he pressed himself hard into the corner, his arms rising across his face to protect himself. Ozzie-Captain Oswald Oswaldson-froze, his eyes widening in shock and the scowl on his face melting into an expression of dismay. He backed up half a pace.

"Hicc?" he asked. Trembling, curled on himself, Hiccup stilled and shook his head.

"Hi, Ozzie," he murmured.

"What the Hel...?" the other man asked. "What's going on? Why didn't you call me?"

"I didn't want to see you," Hiccup admitted and slowly lowered his arms, forcing himself to look up into the familiar face and fight the conflicting emotions welling in his breast.

"But I am your friend!" the older man protested, a faint edge of anger and hurt in his voice.

"I didn't want to see Dagur," Hiccup said in a small voice, looking away. And Ozzie gaped, his quick gaze seeing the three horrible contusions on the man's forehead, the black eye, the stitches above his left eyebrow, the welts on cheek and chin, the split lip, the bruises on his neck.

"I'm not Dagur," he growled.

"You're his twin," Hiccup said quietly, still staring at the desk. "When I look at you, I see him. And just now...I-I can't..." Ozzie scowled, the expression so much of an echo of his twin that Hiccup cringed back.

"Hogwash!" Ozzie snapped. "I'm your friend! I deserved to know! I was worried about you!"

"Then please respect my wishes," Hiccup asked him faintly. Ozzie leaned closer.

"Why?" he growled. "I thought we had a deal, Hicc. I thought you'd promised to call me something happened?" Hiccup closed his eyes.

"I...couldn't..." he breathed. "N-not now..."

"I could order you to tell me!" Ozzie threatened, leaning over him and the younger man bowed his head in submission.

"Yes, you could," he said in a crushed voice, "but I wouldn't tell you." He paused. "Ozzie...you know who attacked me?"

"I presume it was my brother," Ozzie growled, still annoyed and hurt. Hiccup nodded slightly, still staring at his hands.

"Your brother. Who looks pretty exactly like you. Who sounds pretty exactly like you...especially at the moment. And when you lean over me and threaten me...you act pretty exactly like him as well." Ozzie's eyes widened and he backed away, his expression suddenly guilty.

"Hicc...I can't help how I look!" he protested.

"But you can help how you act," Hiccup said wearily.

"He's beaten you up before," Ozzie pointed out and Hiccup's face snapped up at that, the green eyes suddenly bright with anger.

"And?" The tone was just snarky enough to irritate Ozzie more.

"You didn't act like this before!" he challenged.

"And how should I act?" Hiccup asked bitterly. "I never asked to come here. I got more or less dragged along like luggage when my father moved here. I end up in a foreign country as the only civilian on the base, the youngest by years and practically imprisoned here. Everyone else my age gets to graduate High School...though that wouldn't have been much fun, to be honest...and then go to University and shape their own future. Instead, the best I can hope is a distance learning degree and doctorate and then remain locked up here in my private Hel. I have no friends, no one I can trust and I am abused, demeaned and beaten up almost every fucking day! This time...this time I had to endure the worst beating I have ever taken...at one point, I really believed your brother was going to kill me...and so, is it any wonder I don't wanna stare into his damned face, leering over me when I am feeling like shit and vulnerable as Hel?"

"Self pity won't get you anywhere, Haddock!" Ozzie growled, stung at the speech. "You have me...and Gobber. If you don't call us, how the fuck can we help you? But it's all self-pity. Poor little Hiccup! All alone in the base! All bullied and picked on! No one on his side at all..."

"Fuck off, Ozzie!" Hiccup said bitterly, turning away. "I asked you to leave me alone. I told you what happened. Last thing I need is you massaging your wounded pride because I didn't call you. I don't want you here. I don't need you here. If all you're gonna do is pick holes in me, then you can leave!"

"I am your commanding officer!" Ozzie shouted at him.

"Sorry, won't work. I'm not a soldier!" Hiccup shot back, his face pale between the bruises and eyes deeply hurt.

"Shut the fuck up!" Ozzie shouted in his face and grabbed his shoulders. Hiccup instantly went still, eyes widening and shoulders rigid with fear. But Ozzie was too furious to notice. "You wanna be alone-FINE! I'll leave you alone. I won't bother if you're in or if you're fine or if my twin brother is kicking the shit out of you every fucking day. But as you weren't in the infirmary, you were absent without leave for two days-and that's a disciplinary matter! I want you in my office in one hour!" And he shoved the younger man back, turning away sharply and stamping to the door. Hiccup watched him go, trembling...and then felt the eyes of the other two people in the lab staring at him.

"Don't worry," he said in a shaky voice. "It's just Hiccup the Useless screwing up his only remaining friendship." He gave a humourless smile. "At least then I'll have a full house."

oOo

Ozzie was steaming...for about two minutes. It was one of his flaws, he knew: a temper that flared and robbed him of his rationality and compassion and subsided as quickly, leaving him usually with a healthy jolt of shame and guilt at what he had said during his rage. He had promised himself that he wouldn't go for Hiccup because he knew the younger man had really had it tough and tended to be far more defensive than he should be because he had been forced to endure on his own for so long. And he knew his brother was weird and sadistic and very psychopathic...and that Dagur was unhealthily obsessed with Hiccup. The twins didn't really get on that well...but they talked most days and Ozzie knew Dagur had some pretty sick fantasies about the younger rider. Some of them very, very graphic. He paused and peered back at the door of IT/2 and felt a shiver run down his spine.

Had Dagur finally acted on his fantasies?

He paused and almost turned back...but now his head was clearing, he could analyse his friend's reactions...and he felt his stomach twist in nausea at the implications. Hiccup had cringed back at his appearance, had froze in terror at his touch and had lashed out desperately when Ozzie had attacked him verbally. He had attacked Hiccup verbally. Gods, that was something he had sworn never to do as well. Then he forced himself to turn away, heading not for his office but down a level to the Operations Office. Without any hesitation, he knocked and opened the door when the brogue invited him in. Ozzie let himself in and faced Gobber across his desk. The Colonel looked up and his thick blond unibrow dipped, his bald head shining in the soft light and long moustache moving as he inspected the newcomer.

"What's on yer mind, Captain?" he asked, using Ozzie's proper rank.

"Specialist Haddock," Ozzie said, using Hiccup's official name. Gobber's cold blue eyes narrowed and he gestured to the chair opposite. Ozzie sat as directed, though he was clearly tense and the worried.

"What's on yer mind, Captain?" Gobber repeated thoughtfully. Ozzie grimaced.

"What happened to him?" he asked directly. Gobber's eyes narrowed and he winced. "Sir," he added.

"He didnae tell ye?" Ozzie shook his head.

"No. In fact he told me to...go away," he said and his tone was harder than he had intended.

"Not surprised," Gobber admitted. Ozzie leaned forward.

"Sir...Hiccup has been clearly badly hurt...but he wasn't in the infirmary. And there has been nothing on security! I know. I checked when there was no sign of him for two whole days and he wasn't answering my emails or coms..." His tone was concerned. With a huge sigh, Gobber sat back and absently rotated his hook prosthesis.

"He didn't want to go," Gobber told him softly. "He was ashamed and hurt. And ye knew who hurt him?" Ozzie nodded.

"My brother," he sighed heavily. "What did he do now?"

"Ye don't wanna know," Gobber told him shortly. Immediately, Ozzie shot to his feet and leaned forward, his hands flat on the desk.

"Yes, I do," he said in a low voice, his eyes suddenly worried. "Because whatever he did to Hiccup was so horrible he's shutting down, trying to shut me out so he can wallow and drown in his misery. It's not healthy, Gobber."

"Ye think I don't know that, lad?" Gobber's face was stricken. "He's so alone...and there is nae thing I can do to help him." He paused and his eyes darkened. "He cut himself as well, Captain. Just once...but he was utterly broken. I worry fer him!"

"What did he do?" Ozzie demanded. With a roll of the eyes, Gobber rubbed his nose and sighed.

"He ambushed Hiccup outside Pen One, knowing the security protocols take so long he could nae run inside and seek protection from Toothless. Knowing Pen One is isolated and nae one would overhear. Knowing nae one would come to help. Knowing they had as long as they wanted tae do what they intended tae that poor boy."

"Gobber...what did he do?"

"They definitely beat him...unprovoked, very brutal. He's had a concussion, broken ribs...Gothi thought maybe bruised kidneys as well. But as well..." Gabber's eyes darted elsewhere in the room, unable to meet the other man's eyes. Finally, he sagged. "Dagur raped him."

There was silence. Ozzie felt his stomach knot and nausea rise in his throat. Hiccup's reaction became plain as day, his terror, his desire not to see the face of the man who had...hurt him so personally. To look at the face that had leered at him as he fought a desperate, losing battle. To relive the assault...

"Gods."

"Exactly me thought, Captain," Gobber told him. "Ye see his problem? Yer about his only friend...and yer the image of the man who harmed him so badly."

"He should have said."

"Yer know Hiccup. Boy's stubborn as a rock. He wouldn't gae ter security because he reckoned they'd nae believe him and the investigation would utterly humiliate him...and Dagur's cronies would claim Hiccup begged fer it."

"But his injuries? Wouldn't they count?"

"The lad is so abused, d'ye think he'd cope with all they'd do, all they'd put him through tae investigate? And what if it were known? D'ye think his father would give him any sympathy? Or would he just completely scorn and disown his disappointing son? Tae Stoick, that his son could be raped would just be a mark of his inadequacy. Hiccup's...not Stoick's as a father in failing tae protect his son and prevent the level of abuse the boy has tae endure!"

"I knew his father was unsupportive but..."

"Stoick would rip him tae pieces fer being so weak!" Gobber said strongly, his eyes flashing with anger. "The boy is hanging on...just...but he really has nothing left. Yer his only friend here. The riders are foul tae him. D'ye think the others would make his life anything but a constant Hel if they knew? D'ye think he wouldn't seriously consider ending his life?"

"Gobber...I never knew..."

"Why would ye? I've known the boy since he were a wee nipper o' three. When his Mother died, Stoick more or less abandoned the bairn then. I did what I could but I were away as well. And he was bullied and humiliated through much of his schooling. And he's a bright and funny and sarcastic and frankly brilliant young man...he's just nae bulky and big. I watched him since he came here...and seen him begin to break, piece by piece. And he canna see any way outta here! His father will nae let him go and you are his only friend. I think if he didnae ha' Toothless, he would already have found somewhere quiet and ended it."

"Shit." Guilt was making Ozzie feel very sick now. He had his brother and sister, his friends and comrades in IT, one of the Vet techs was making some very pleasant advances towards him that he was really interested in exploring and he had a cordial relationship with pretty much everyone in the base. But his friend...was universally despised because he wasn't a soldier, just the son of the base commander, foisted on them to deal with. No one gave him a chance. Ozzie couldn't even recall when they started calling him Useless but the name had eroded what little confidence Hiccup had possessed. And he considered: Ozzie had volunteered because the rest of his family had and he was military and proud of it. Hiccup had, in his own words, been dragged along like unwanted luggage.

And felt like it ever since.

"Anything else I should know, sir?" he asked quietly. Gobber shook his head.

"Laddie will tell ye when he's ready," he sighed. "Be gentle with him, will ye? he's like a son tae me...though all he wants is to make his Dad proud. And that isnae gonna happen before Ragnaraok!" Ozzie rose and saluted.

"Thank you, sir," he said in a thoughtful voice. "I wish I'd known this before I saw him this morning." Suddenly, Gobber was glaring at him and he felt his cheeks flush slightly.

"What did ye say?" he demanded. Turning to the door, Ozzie have a huge sigh.

"Precisely the wrong thing," he admitted. "Something I need to address now before my friend can do something very stupid."