"Four years." He couldn't believe it, how could he, four years of his life, gone.

His mind began to run a mile a minute, various scenarios, issues, problems, ideas, all came to him at once, and with them emotions, it was too much.

Seeing the state he was in Gobber sat next to him and tried to calm the chief as best he could. "Easy there lad, take a deep breath, I may not be as good with this stuff as Gothi is but I think your having a heart attack. Ow!"

Rubbing the lump on his head Gobber turned to face the offender, only to find no one there, looking around he shrugged it off only to feel something smack his leg causing him to fall to one knee with a yelp and come face to face with his 'attacker'.

"Oh hey there Gothi, was just talking about ye."

The elder in question gave Gobber a dull look at the remark then gave him another whack for good measure before making her way over to Stoick, carrying a bowel in her hand ignoring Gobbers complaints.

"Drink this, it will help, and don't you worry boy, your just having a mild panic attack, nothing to worry about if you just breathe."

Nodding his head Stoick took a few deep breaths to calm himself, once he felt he had things under control he then reached over and took the bowel from Gothi, drinking its contents in one gulp, ignoring the urge to gag from the bitter taste.

Four years he had been in a coma, how had he survived, what had happened while he was gone? There was just too much to know, Stoick wasn't sure where to start, where to go from here, to start, how he had been taken care of, by all accounts he should be dead.

"I kept you going boy" Taking the bowel from his hands Gothi couldn't help but let out a sigh.

"You have that stupid bewildered look you always have when your wondering about something, and you were glancing around the room in confusion, I did not become an elder on just wisdom boy, I have more tricks I can do with these old bones than you oafs can pull out yer arses in a fight."

"What she means is she used her magic to keep ye alive Stoick, there were times that we almost lost you, that attack left you in pretty bad shape, and you didn't come out in one piece mind ya." Looking at where Gobber was pointing Stoick immediately noticed, or rather felt, what was missing, pulling away the cover his eyes widened in shock, his right leg was completely gone, the flesh around it was covered in burns all the way up his side, as far as he could see, looking down his right arm he also noticed that he was missing two of his fingers, he still had his middle and index fingers along with his thumb, would need to keep a tighter grip on his axe from now on because of that.

Suddenly he was assaulted with flashes, visions of that night, the fire, heat, the dark figure kneeling over him before silently walking off as calmly as he arrived. "He was there."

"Who lad?" Taking a side glance at Gobber before looking back to his hands, Stoick let out a weary sigh, closing his eyes, sitting there for a moment in silence.

"The one from the nest, the armoured warrior who killed Mildred, blew up my house and left me for dead, that bastard was here!" Rising to his feet in rage Stoick felt himself lose all control before he was shoved back down into a sitting position by Gobber placing his hands on Stoicks shoulders and forcing him down.

"And where do ye think yer goin?"

"Where else!?" With barely contained rage Stoick rose to his feet, shoving Gobber back in the process. "I'm going after him, and by Odin I'll make him suffer!"

"Oh are ye now? Then tell me chief." Poking Stoick hard in the chest Gobber continued with as much sarcasm as he could muster with every word he spoke.

"Who is he?

Hearing nothing the Viking continued giving Stoick another hard poke to the chest.

"Where is he?" Not waiting for an answer Gobber proceeded to poke one more.

"Who's he with?" Once again there was no response. "No? Nothing? That's what I thought, three basic questions when it comes to knowing you're enemy, and you know none of them."

"I hate to break it to ye Stoick, but you're as much in the dark as we are, and you were there for two of the encounters."

Letting out a sigh Stoick slumped back down on the bed in defeat, then Gobbers words struck him, confused, he raised his head and stared at his long time friend. "Two of them?"

Letting out a sigh Gothi shared a look with Gobber, who had turned to her wondering how to proceed. Nodding her head, she gave him the ok followed by a look that promised pain if he screwed up.

Flinching in response, Gobber turned back to Stoick, rubbing the back of his head nervously, unsure how to proceed, so he did what he does best and got straight to the point on the matter. "The Jorgenson boy, while everyone was preoccupied with you, the lad came across our mutual friend, and confronted him, least that's what we figure from what we got from the lad.

Whatever happened to the lad wasn't pretty, whoever, or whatever, he provoked, made a right bloody mess of him, we think it was the same man, given the lads tongue was cut out."

"What!" Rising to his feet in rage once more, Stoick felt a fury like never before, not since the traitors – Hiccups, betrayal. Before he could do anything however he was swiftly brought to his knee, clutching the other in pain courtesy of Gothi and her infamous staff.

"Rest lad, or take it easy, believe me anymore outbursts like that and I'll smack you so hard even Loki will cower in fear" Seeing him settle, she relaxed and motioned to him to follow.

"Come, we'll take you to the lad, everyone will want to see you also, and by Odin you need some fresh air and a good amount of food, you look like a Hiccup." Opening the door, neither she nor Gobber noticed the sad expression come over Stoick the moment she uttered that word, his failure, his pride, his son.

Shaking off those thoughts Stoick followed after them as quickly as he could.

Not far off, out the window, up high on one of the cliffs, a pair of eyes stared mercilessly into the hut which previously occupied the trio. "Found you."

IMPORTANT PLEASE READ

Hey guys, long time.

So as promised I have not abandoned this fic, yet things have kept me from updating, uni has been hell and since my last update I've had serious case of writers block, I have so many different ways I can take this from this point, but doing so in a way to keep it interesting is one problem.

The other is I'm worried it will get out of hand, with the dark souls elements it has magic and the like, so it really can which worries me, so trying to keep it strongly focused on HTTYD with minor DS elements.

Anyway enough ranting, thanks to all who show your support, it really helps, but I honestly don't know when I'll next update.

Also, as I have mentioned, this was initially a challenge fic, so people are welcome to try their own take on it but please give credit where it's due, all I ask.

Also constructive flames and feedback is much appreciated but not required.

Til next time, hopefully not too long, no promises though.