A/N: I am not a fan of gigantic author's notes, but please try to bear with me as I explain what's going on here. This isn't really a chapter, nor is this an actual "story" in the traditional sense because I haven't solidified anything yet. This is simply me throwing out an idea and getting it down in short bursts that might come together into something more coherent one day. For now, consider each "chapter" a separate scene, another piece of the big picture, a stand-alone exploration into my version of the "Hiccup gets stuck in the 21st century" idea.

As most of you know, this idea has been done before. A lot. Almost to death, really, but I couldn't pass up the intriguing thought that crossed my mind one early morning a couple weeks ago.

And that thought was this:

Stuck in the future, Hiccup lands in a psychiatric facility.

That was pretty much it, but…I liked it. I really liked it. Why? Because it makes total sense.

If a guy wearing weird armor, shouting in ancient Norse, and swinging around a sword made of fire suddenly plopped into the streets of your generic 21st century city, there's no way he wouldn't be committed. There would be chaos, there would be confusion. People would be afraid of him and rightly so. He would be disoriented, unable to communicate with anyone, possibly injured, terrified of everything around him and definitely on the defensive. In short, everyone he came into contact with would think he's completely insane, dangerous to himself and others and in need of immediate treatment. And naturally, Hiccup would have no idea that they're trying to help him. Only aware that he's stranded alone in a foreign, hostile environment, he just might actually start coming unhinged.

….

The Mysterious Case of Patient H: The Waking

Every part of him, inside and out, burned with the ache of defeat. It wasn't an easy sensation to ignore, which was probably why it was the first to infiltrate the black mist blanketing his mind. Pieces of thoughts and feelings floated together to create a patchy memory, interspersed with glimpses of information about his current state.

He was in the air with Toothless, just the two of them, taking one more grand, sweeping loop for the fun of it before heading home to Berk. Then came the sudden white-hot force that threw him out of the saddle, separating man and dragon before either had a chance to react.

(Lying…on a bed…not mine…)

He screamed, flailed, clawed uselessly at nothing but air in a dead plummet through empty space. The landing came sooner than he expected and was abrupt and hard, not on the mossy ground of Berk, but a dirty, hostile world excruciatingly foreign from his own.

(Too quiet…except the chirping, whirring, beeping…don't know any birds or dragons that make sounds like that…not on Berk…)

He opened his eyes in the shadow of two impossibly high walls of grimy brick, stumbling out of a narrow alleyway to the sight of people. A lot of them. Very much like him, but strangely, freakishly dressed and staring at him as if he'd sprouted an extra head or two. He remembered the pair of muscular men in blue wearing metal badges and belts with all kinds intimidating gadgets attached. As they took unwelcome notice, the reality of his situation shocked him into him the primal instinct to defend himself.

(Something on my face…cord…looped around my ears…shoots air up my nose?…but different…not salty, not musty…doesn't even smell real…)

There was a scuffle. He, with Inferno ablaze, swinging, punching, ducking and running for his life. They, without any kind of weapon that he recognized, chasing after him and shouting threatening nonsense. He sprinted through the dizzying maze between monstrous towers and fortresses made of stone, metal and shining glass.

(Something poking my arm…stings…a needle?...feels so cold…)

Then he was cornered, having no choice but to run directly into the path of one of those oddly shaped, brightly colored metal wagons coursing along a black road at lightning speed like blood through a vein. He felt the collision, an incredible explosion of pain, then the rough, solid ground as his body met it full force. Confused, shaken faces swam above him…

No… No, it was just a dream…complete nonsense...some crazy, awful nightmare...

Eyes still closed, Hiccup turned his throbbing head slightly to the side, opening his mouth. It took a couple tries to get anything out of it other than a dry rasp.

"T…Tooth…less…?" he mumbled.

They must have crash-landed. It was a rare occurrence, but it did happen occasionally, even to the best of riders. He wasn't on the ground, so someone had probably found them and brought them back to the village while he was still unconscious.

"G-Gothi…?"

The healer had to be somewhere in the room, if not nearby, ready as always to patch him up and send him on his way with her signature disapproving frown.

There was no answer. In fact, no one seemed to be listening to him, or to be there at all. Gothi wasn't the talkative type, but he would have at least heard her shuffling around, scratching and tapping the wooden floor with that staff of hers…wouldn't he? Despite his bleary, battered state, Hiccup gathered that something was wrong. Terribly wrong.

"Uuugh," he groaned, heavy eyelids peeling apart. "Wh…what happened? Astrid? H-hello?"

Everything was a nauseating blur, but it was not hard to tell that he wasn't in his home, in his bed where he should be. Instead of thick wooden beams above him, there was nothing but stark white. At the center of this ceiling, a glowing square produced a cold, dim, unnatural light.

Witchcraft…?

It was the first conclusion his hazy thoughts were swept to. He had never been the superstitious type. It just wasn't in his nature to go around blaming strange or unfortunate occurrence on black magic or the anger of the gods. There was always a reasonable explanation behind everything…except for this. This was far beyond anything he'd ever known or experienced. And it was terrifying.

At this, adrenaline began to course again and one of the steady beeping noises picked up pace. He turned toward the sound, catching sight of the metallic box it emanated from. A series of colored zig-zag lines raced across its front like tiny, infuriated snakes. The beeping, he realized to some astonishment, was somehow exactly in step with his pounding heart. He was hearing his own heartbeat…? It was more than a little disconcerting, which only made the speed of the beeping increase.

Now wide awake, his vision clearing, Hiccup was hit head-on with the full comprehension that none of those memories had been part of a nightmare. They were real. Every single one of them. His stomach churned, causing panic to build up within him like magma beneath a dormant volcano. All around, wires and tubes hung like vines, alarming contraptions whirred and chirped while colorful dots of light blinked. His armor and clothes had been replaced by a loose, thin robe-like garment that did little to ease the chill and his sword was nowhere to be found. Raw fear struck him to the core.

"Toothless?" he called out uncertainly for his friend "Astrid? C-can you hear me? Is anybody there?"

Relative silence dropped on him like a stormcloud. No one came running. No familiar faces appeared at his bedside to comfort him, to reassure him that everything would be all right. There was no scuffling of claws on the floor, no slobbery greeting-lick to the face, no tall, proud blonde with a warm kiss meant just for him hidden within her smile…

He was alone, lost and completely defenseless in this bizarre alien world. He didn't belong here. He had to get out. He had to get home.

The attempt to raise a hand to pull the annoying cord thing from his face was an immediate failure and brought with it a sharp, stinging jab. Alarmed, he looked down to find a long, translucent tube attached to a needle sticking right out from the pit of his elbow. Following it, he found it to be siphoning steady drips of a clear liquid from a bag hanging above him, feeding some kind of wicked poison into one of his veins. Not only that, but each of his arms was tethered to the railing running along the side of the bed with a padded cuff around the wrist. Upon further inspection, he discovered that his legs, prosthetic included, where strapped down in a similar fashion, but to the bed instead of the railing.

"No," he said, giving the restraints a tug. "No! What's going on?!"

Again and again, he pulled and twisted, rattling the railings in the process, but the ties were much too strong. He was trapped, confined to this barbaric torture chamber to await an unknown fate.

Regardless of the pain spreading through his head, sheer horror sent him sitting bolt upright, yanking at the tethers with everything he had.

"Toothless!" he screamed over the sudden, rapid cacophony of beeping and chirps, willing the dragon to hear him. "TOOTHLESS! HELP ME!"

A door on his right burst open, admitting several men and women in matching teal uniforms. They rushed to either side of him, speaking urgently from behind white masks in a language he couldn't understand. Two of the newcomers, both sizable men, took it upon themselves to try and force him down again, but without much success.

"Toothless!" Hiccup shouted at them, thrashing violently. "My dragon! Get away! Let me go! I've gotta find my dragon!"

More hands grasped at him, more noises and flashing lights invaded his senses, more unintelligible words came at him, not one of them getting through.

He wanted his best friend right now more than anything in this world or his own. He wanted him to swoop in and drive away these fiends with a mighty growl and a single flick of his claws. He wanted him to bite easily through the tethers and blast this place to bits before the two of them flew away to safety.

"I can't understand you! I can't—where am I?! Why are you—NO! What're you doing to me?! STOP! PLEASE STOP!"

A fresh wave of cold flooded into him from the needle, travelling rapidly up his arm and into his head. The room tilted out of focus.

"TOOTHLESS! P-please, bud, you've gotta…you've gotta hear me! I need you! I NEED YOU!"

He had to fight this! He had to hold out in hopes of rescue or escape! He wasn't going to let these strangers take him down so easily. The potion, however, was trickling in too quickly, seeping through his limbs, muddling his mind and dampening his will to resist.

"Toothless! I need…I need…I…"

Eyes rolling back, he sank limply into a murky lake of defeat.

"T-Tooth…"

It was over. The dark rolled in.