Found again (HTTYD FF)

★8★

Hiccup breathed a sigh of relief when Astrid said those words. He looked at her hopefully. Maybe he could convince her to spare his life. He grabbed onto the thread of hope and decided to continue the conversation. After all, he could free the dragons from this cursed place. It was worth a try. But first he had to find out where the hell he was. And try to find out about Toothless.

"C-can you tell me where I am?" He watched Astrid cautiously sit down a short distance from him. Still ready to stop him from any possible escape.

"On Berk. Now tell me... why are you attacking us? What do you know about this all?"

Hiccup swallowed nervously. What should he tell her? That dragons have no choice? Would she even believe that?

"If I told you, you wouldn't believe me." Hiccup thought it was true. She wouldn't believe him. She would have called him a liar. She would have called dragons bloodthirsty beasts and killed him. Then she would have walked away as if none of this had happened. Just another normal day.

"Try it. I've believed a lot of things today. The craziest of them is that I'm not just dreaming this. Talk and don't make me force you do it." She twirled the axe in her hand menacingly.

Hiccup swallowed dryly. He'd rather tell her everything than find out how this forcing would work. But first, he wanted to free the dragons. They were starting to make his head spin. He may have been able to banish their voices to the edges of his perception, but that didn't mean they weren't annoying.

"Let them go first. Please, I c-can't take it anymore." He wasn't exactly in an advantageous position to negotiate and he knew it but, still he wasn't backing down that quickly. "I'll tell you everything I know, just... just let them go."

"Give it up. I'll never let them out of here. My dragon training starts tomorrow, and it doesn't work without dragons, as you know. Now talk."

It was no use. The stubborn girl would never give in to him. He sighed in defeat and relaxed his wings a little. He was getting hot as he sat in them.

"You wanted to know w-why dragons attack. Allow me to disabuse you of your mistake. There is only o-one dragon that attacks."

"How one?" She asked, uncomprehending. She was probably beginning to think there was no point in talking to him, because she picked herself up off the ground and walked a little further. But then she turned around and started marching back and forth. Hiccup took the opportunity to speak again.

"R-Red Death lives in a nearby nest. It's a huge dragon, a-almost bigger than a mountain. It controls the other dragons, they wouldn't attack anyone by themselves otherwise. It takes their thoughts and co-controls their movements. I-I guess we got too close because... I don't know when that was. A few days ago? N-nothing I remember since she co-controlled us."

"This doesn't make sense. This... wait, are you saying there were more of you? More like you?"

Hiccup was taken aback by the question. Was there anyone else like him? He knew it was possible, but he hadn't seen anyone like him before. Most of those who were supposed to be like him hadn't even survived the first phase of the transformation or had been killed right after.

"No... I don't know. Maybe somewhere, but..."

"Then who was with you? Other dragons?" Astrid interrupted him.

"Actually, only o-one. T-toothless, he's a Night Fury."

"Night Fury!?" exclaimed Astrid, stopping. "I don't think we should kill you. For the time being. You could show us the way to the dragon's nest. Tell us the way to capture a Night Fury..." Her voice gradually quieted until it faded into nothingness. A dangerous sparkle glittered in her eye.