(Normal pov)

The only sign that told them it was daybreak, were the small streaks of light breaking through a few see-through cracks in the hull that were well above the water level. After their little conversation yesterday, Astrid concluded that they needed to get all the possible rest they could and so, got comfortable as best as they could. Hiccup pushed himself back to the wall, keeping his arms to his sides and rested his head against the hull. Astrid simply let her head fall forward a little as she settled in for the night. They hadn't known how long they were sleeping for when there were a few knocks, and the familiar sound of a key unlocking the door. The two tiredly opened their eyes to see a few guards with plates of bread and two mugs of water walk in, with Alvin behind them. One guard went to Hiccup's side, un-cuffed one of his hands before settling the plate and mug next to him on the ground.

The other guard untied Astrid's wrists from behind the chair, before handing her the plate and keeping the mug on the floor next to the chair. Both guards then stood close by, their hands at their weapons in case they tried anything.

"You two might wanna eat up, considering we hav' a long day ahead of ourselves." Alvin spoke as the two looked at their food. "If yer' wondering if it's poisoned, it's not. What good would come to me if two were dead?" The two looked at each other before, taking a bite of the bread. It was on the stale side, but it would do for the time being. "After yer' breakfast you'll be heading to convince that dragon of yer's to lead us back to Dragon Island." Alvin continued.

"How far are we from Berk?" Hiccup asked.

"We're about fourteen hours west of Berk. Why do ye' ask?"

"We're heading in the right, general, direction of Dragon Island. Toothless should be able to find it when we get up on deck and he's able to focus." Hiccup explained, munching down the last remnants of his bread, before reaching for the mug of water.

"The lass will be coming with us as well."

"Why do I have to come?" She asked, downing her water in one go. The two hadn't been given anything to drink during their torture, or before they fell asleep. It felt as if they were drying up from the inside, and the cool refreshing water cured that.

"To make sure Cutthroat and Dagur and don't try anything. Plus, I figure that dragon of his has taken a likin' to you. So I'm protecting you and using you as leverage."

"I feel so loved." She muttered with a roll of her eyes, placing her mug back down. "Shall we get this over with then?" She asked.

"We shall." Hiccup agreed.

"Alright then. But no funny business." Alvin warned, before giving the signal to his men to release them. Hiccup's guard unlocked the cuff on his other wrist while Astrid's guard untied her legs from the chair. The two of them rose up, wobbling a bit, getting used to the rocking sensations of the ship. Being tied down and chained to the wall meant no time for standing. They didn't make any attempts to escape, and placing Astrid before himself, Hiccup walked out with her with Alvin and the two guards behind them.

"This way." Alvin beckoned them to follow. He was leading him down the corridor that led to the stairs which opened the inside of the ship to the cool, crisp air of the wind and sea on deck. The two had to temporarily shield their eyes from the morning sunlight. They were glad to be out of the hull that smelled of only fish guts, ale and blood - most likely from the fish. The deck was relatively quiet, with a few Berserker guards posted. There were some catcalls and shrewd comments directed in their way, specifically towards Astrid, due to her lack of clothing from the Berserker guards. She didn't pay any attention to them as she walked past them, giving a few of them a glare. Hiccup took her hand in his, giving it a reassuring squeeze. She smiled in reply, looking at him. However, when they looked ahead, they saw a cage with a black mass in it, up near the captain's wheel.

"Your dragon's been on good behaviour for some reason. I was expecting him to be thrashin' about and all...but no." Alvin spoke.

"That's because he that beast is smarter than he appears." Both Astrid and Hiccup cringed inwardly at hearing that arrogant voice. Even Alvin sighed in annoyance, turning his head away from them to avoid looking at the mad Berserker Chief walking right in between the two with Cutthroat and Enobaria close.

"Hope you had a nice sleep, beautiful." He winked at her. Astrid simply smirked before elbowing him in the face, prompting his guards to advance on them, Enobaria drew her sword

"Stop!" Alvin yelled, and his men soon unsheathed their weapons and placed themselves between the young couple and Dagur's men. It also didn't help that Toothless began thrashing around in his cage, baring his teeth and snarling menacingly.

"What do you mean stop? She elbowed me in the face!" Dagur yelled, pointing at Astrid while holding his nose that began was bleeding slightly.

"And she had good reason to after you threatened to rape her! So as far as I'm concerned, she's settled the score. Now, calm your men down Dagur." Alvin commanded. Dagur didn't like his passive attitude towards the prisoners. It was as if he was favoring them over this alliance.

"Do as he says, cousin. We're on his ship. We have to follow his rules." Cutthroat spoke, placing a hand on Dagur's shoulder. Dagur turned to him, and saw that his cousin was serious. "Stand down." He called out, and his men obediently lowered their weapons, while the Outcasts stayed at the ready. Hiccup, who had placed himself in front of Astrid when things got dicey, turned back to look at her. She knew what would have happened if she did that. But she wanted oh so badly to hit him and make him pay for the portion of the torture he had caused her. She wasn't sure if Hiccup was mad at her, but was silently surprised when he smiled at her, and she couldn't help but return the smile.

"You're going to pay later for that" Dagur shot her a glare. Enobaria punched Dagur's arm with a warning glare. "Let me watch over her alright? Just stop acting like a child." Dagur growled but nodded.

"Best you listen to her Dagur...Hiccup, please get to work. Enobaria watch over her." Alvin said, moving close to the female Berserker while gesturing him to the dragon.

"Go on. I'll be fine. I'm not restrained unlike last time." Astrid gave him a reassuring smile, bumping her shoulder with his. He nodded in reply, before walking to his friend who was caged up, little did the enemy know was that Hiccup and Toothless's bond allowed them to speak telepathically to one another.

"Have they been treating you well enough?" Hiccup thought.

::Sort of... as best as they can treat a dragon anyway. The same can't be said for you::

"Yeah well... I've had worse. Aside from that, we need to go to Dragon Island and get this over with."

::I know. I kept hearing their guards talk about finding it by threatening to harm your mate::

"So you can see why we have to do this." Hiccup said. "If we don't help them find the Red Death, they'll kill her."

::But that's the thing, Hiccup, I don't sense her." he replied. Hiccup's facial expression took one of surprise and curiosity::

"What do you mean you don't sense her? I thought she could communicate with all dragons?"

::She can, but for some reason I can't sense her. There are two possibilities: either she's dead, which is highly likely, since she lost a lot of blood from our fight with her days ago, and the other is that she left the Archipelago, which is very unlikely since she would never leave her home like that without good reason. The only reason I can think of is that a bigger dragon showed up, and even that is nearly impossible::

Toothless explained. Hiccup turned around, facing his captors. How was he going to explain this? How was he going to say that their prize dragon might not even be at the Island. Actually, they might think that he's attempting to fool them and escape, or that he's trying to mislead them off their goal.

"But could you still take us to the Island?"

::Yeah. If they let me out of this cage, I can lead them there by pointing my head in the correct direction. And I won't try and escape::

"Alright, I'll ask them." Hiccup replied, turning his gaze to Alvin and the others. "My dragon said that he will be able to lead us to Dragon Island if he can come out of the cage. I swear on my life that he, or we, won't try anything once he does."

"You expect me to believe that?" Dagur asked, taking a few steps forward.

"Use your brain Dagur, you're the one in control here. You know very well I wouldn't do anything to risk Astrid's safety. So even if Toothless and I did try and escape, we'd be endangering her in the process. Just let my dragon come out." Hiccup tried to reason with them.

"He's right, Dagur." Alvin spoke, "He won't try anything. Let the beast out." Alvin ordered the guard who had the keys to the cage. The Outcast nodded and jogged to the cage, hands shaking nervously as he unlocked the door, unsure whether the dragon would try something. However, as he opened the door, making sure to stay behind it, Toothless simply walked up to Hiccup, not showing any intention of attempting to escape. Hiccup patted his head in thanks, before looking back at Alvin.

"You might want to head to the wheel, since he'll be directing you." He suggested. Alvin nodded and took his place at the wheel while Toothless reached the bow of the ship, and began tilting his head in the direction of the Island. He had been called to the island so many times, from many different paths that he knew the way to it by heart.

"If he's leading us anywhere else, Hiccup...you know what happens." Cutthroat warned him, standing dangerously close to Astrid and a look of warning plastered on his face, while Enobaria traced a knife along Astrids cheek. Making Hiccup nervous, but nodded slightly as he watched Toothless continue to give the directions.

(Isle of Night)

"Any news of where they could have gone?" Stoick asked another group of people who had entered the throne room after searching their portion of the island. The leader shook his head sadly, along with explaining how they had searched every cave, tree and bush in their search zone but had come up empty. Stoick sighed gloomily. Astrid's parents were also with him. They had been anxious about the well-being of their daughter ever since the moment she never returned home. They had seen her walk out with Hiccup that night. They knew about the present she was going to give him. But what happened?

"Thank you everyone. Please take some rest. You've been out there all day." Mala spoke. With appreciative nods from the group, they left to fill their stomachs up from half a day's search, knowing that they'll be heading out again once evening comes.

"Do you think they've left here all together?" Asbjorn asked.

"Astrid wouldn't ever go anywhere without Shade these days. It's just not her." Astrids mother replied.

"All I know is that Toothless is missing. So there is the possibility that they went flying on him." Mala added.

"But, shouldn't they have been back by now?" Gobber asked. "I mean, I know they're young adults and they have their needs but it shouldn't take this.."

"Don't... finish that sentence, Gobber." interrupted Stoick, grasping his forehead in annoyance and the time Gobber had to say that. The Hoffersons weren't looking entirely impressed with that idea either.

"Astrid would never allow that to happen in any case. No matter how...tense, the situation is." Astrids father clarified.

"Getting back to matters at hand, is there any place Astrid has on this island that she goes to be alone?" Mala asked.

"No. She normally goes anywhere in the forest for training or the many streams and pools and to relax" said Ruffnut.

"What are we going to do? Nearly all of Berk and the small, neighboring and isolated islands have been searched. Where could they have gone?" Astrids father asked.

Mala's eyes lit up in disbelief as she remembered small dinghy boats near the island on her patrol with the other riders. Those boats had to have belonged to the enemy and they snatched up Hiccup and Astrid under the cover of darkness. "They took them." She said, all eyes turned toward her.

"What?! How when?" Fishlegs asked, Mala ordered the dragon riders to gear up and roll out. "Last night, they captured them and I know where." Everyone looked at her, expecting to reveal her answer. "They've taken them to Dragon Island in search of the Red Death."

(Helheim's Gate)

"We're nearly there!" Hiccup relayed Toothless' call to everyone on the ship. There were a few sounds of murderous thoughts from the Berserker soldiers.

"Can't wait to get back in business with the Red Death."

"Berk will pay in blood for killing my friends!!"

Many more unspeakable things came out of the soldiers mouths, and it was going around the ship like a pack of locust. Hiccup was wondering if Alvin knew that the Berserkers would double cross them, he could attempt to tell Alvin right now and cause a crevice in the alliance, but with Cutthroat keeping Astrid within arm's length of himself, that bet was off the table.

They had exited the fog that they had entered over twenty minutes ago and Dragon Island was now in sight for them, except there was one anomaly. "What the hell...?" Cutthroat muttered upon seeing the huge volcano rising out of the island. The side they were approaching, they bore witness to a huge hole in the side of the volcano.

::It can't be...::

Toothless said via telepathy, staring in awe at the destruction. Hiccup and Astrid were also speechless. She had never been to Dragon Island, but she certainly wasn't expecting this. Hiccup was thinking about something else though. The Red Death had to be the dragon that made that hole. She must have come out. But the question is why? Toothless told him that the Red Death would never leave its domain unless it felt threatened to. What a could a dragon of that size feel threatened of. Wait ... Could a Bewilderbeast be responsible to this?

They were the only dragons bigger than the Red Death and more than capable of killing her. The Queen of the Dragons was gone. But that still didn't answer the question...What could drive away a dragon like the Red Death? If it was killed here, a body should be left behind but there's no rotting carcass, no revolting smell ... What happened to that dragon? If it was a Bewilderbeast, there would be ice all over the place, but no was ice was found.

"Well, we're here. So Hiccup, how about telling us where the Red Death is?" Dagur asked, ecstatic at the idea that the Red Death was nearly back under his command. He then noticed Cutthroat's displeased and quickly angering face. "What's wrong cousin? We're about to have that beauty back under our control!" Dagur tried to soothe.

"I would be if it was here!" Cutthroat jabbed his finger in Dagur's chest, pushing him back. "Take a look you idiot!" He pointed to the gigantic hole in the side of the volcano, "Does it look like there's anything in there?!" He yelled. Dagur pushed Cutthroat back and snarled. "We may be family, but get in my face like that again and I run you through and wear your ribcage as my battle armor." The cousins stared each other down before Dagur stared angrily at Hiccup. "Take your anger out on him! Since he supposedly knows where the Red Death is!!"   Cutthroat then turned to Hiccup, eyes blazing. "What is the meaning of this?!"

"How the fuck should I know?! This is Dragon Island as you can plainly see! But that hole in the volcano's side is not my doing." He defended himself. This was bad. The deal was to lead them to Dragon Island and lure the Red Death out, but if it wasn't even on the island anymore...

"Calm down Cutthroat! We'll hop ashore, I'll send a few men in there and if they report back, we'll know that the dragon isn't here." Alvin butted in, making sure everything was in order for the moment. Within another twenty minutes, the whole crew of the ship, and the four other ships that accompanied them, had disembarked and a squad of ten men were had already left to confirm whether the Red Death was in fact still inside. Hiccup and Astrid had their wrists bound and were kept sitting on a flat rock near one of the ships while everyone else talked and explored. Toothless was put back inside his cage, much to his displeasure and was kept on the ship, away from the couple.

"Hiccup, what's wrong?" Astrid finally asked him. She had a suspicion something was wrong the moment she saw the hole.

"The Red Death might not be in there!" He whispered to her.

"What?!" She whispered in the same tone.

"The Red Death would never leave its home unless it felt threatened. And if it did, once it took care of the problem, it should return, but Toothless told me he never sensed her presence, and that's what worries me." Astrid understood where he was coming at. If Toothless, a dragon, was sure that the Red Death wasn't in there, then it probably wasn't within the distance of at least twenty miles. And if the Red Death wasn't there, the one creature that their captors wanted back, their lives would be useless to them. Their fate would soon be decided as the squad of ten men who had ventured in returned unscathed.

"So, what news?" Dagur asked.

"They're all here. That's news enough that the Red Death isn't in there!" Cutthroat yelled at him, his eyes falling on Hiccup's.

"Apart from a few dragons, we didn't see a large one as big as a mountain as reports described." The leader of the group said. That was all convincing Cutthroat needed before he began marching up to the two of them, giving a swift punch to Hiccup's face, sending him toppling into the gravel face first.

"You tricked us!" He exclaimed, barely able to contain his anger. "Where is the Red Death?!"

"I-" Hiccup spat out a bit of dirt before continuing "I don't know you fuck! I haven't been to Dragon Island since I learned both Outcast and Berserkers allied themselves." He explained.

"I can't believe this." Dagur snarled. "Hiccup, you best tell us where she is. You wouldn't want to get Cutthroat madder than he already is now wouldn't you?" Hiccup swallowed thickly, tension rising at an alarming rate.

"You definitely had something to do about this." Cutthroat continued. "Berk must know of this island's location. That's the only explanation."

"He refused to tell anyone on Berk about this place when he was banished." Astrid spoke. "He knew we wouldn't be able to survive if we attempted to fight it, and judging by the size of that hole, clearly he was right about that."

"No. You know. You could have told Berk about the Red Death. In fact, who's to say they don't even have the dragon with them?" He accused.

"Do you even hear yourself? What would Berk gain from having a dragon like that?" She knew though. It would mean unlimited power in the entire Archipelago. Only possible if the dragon could be trained. "We don't have the Red Death and we don't know what the Hel happened to it after it flew off to Thor knows where." She tried to keep an even voice. It seemed that Cutthroat was after something more. No man would be this furious about a missing dragon that no one had control over.

"Oh no...you know and you're going to tell me." He told her calmly while walking to Hiccup. Astrid put the puzzle together fast and knew what Cutthroat would do to him if she didn't comply with his demands. "Tell me where the Red Death is, or he suffers." He said in an emotionless tone as he yanked Hiccup onto his knees, unsheathed his sword and placed it at his neck.

"Cutthroat, calm down..." Alvin started. "Don't do anything rash. We'll simply ask the lad where the dragon is and continue on from there."

"Don't you see. The Hooligans might have acted without Hiccup's knowledge, and considering she's has Hiccups complete trust, she would know." Cutthroat countered.

"He's right, Alvin. I refuse to believe that the Red Death just upped and vanished for no reason. Either it was captured or killed, and we don't know any tribe in the entire Archipelago that is capable of something like that. The only tribe that could be is Berk because of golden boy over here." Dagur said, taking his place at Cutthroat's side. "Tell us where the Red Death is. NOW!!"

"I don't know. Even if Hiccup did tell me, I would never betray his trust like that! Please, believe me when I'm telling you that I don't know anything." She begged. Her fear for Hiccup was so high, that she couldn't hold back the tears forming.

But before she knew it, she saw Cutthroat's nostrils flare up but not before pushing Hiccup onto the ground, followed by a sickening crunch of metal meeting bone and a blood-curdling scream.