A/N: Hey guys!

This is my very first How to Train Your Dragon fanfic! Please be nice! I do accept polite constructive criticism and suggestions, though!

This fanfic will be a collection of "What if?" one-shots from the four 'Race to the Edge' seasons. Now, I'm aware some people have done that, but I wanted my own take on it. I like seeing Hiccup hurt, and most of the time I wonder what would have happened if one detail had changed. I decided, why not write it myself?

MY APOLOGIES IF I WRITE SOMETHING VERY SIMILAR TO SOMEONE ELSE'S WORK. I assure you, my goal isn't to copy anyone! These one-shots are simply my take at what I would like to have happened in the episodes! There are more than 15 000 fanfics in this fandom on this website, and I haven't explored nearly every one of them! Please let me know if my work looks like someone else's a lot, and I will check it out and make some changes if need be!

Also, please let me know if the characters are OOC! I have been in the fandom for over a year now, but I still might not nail them

For now, I will start with my own ideas since I have a fair number of them, but once I see fit, I will start taking requests! Please tamper down the requests, for now, thank you!

On a side-note, I'm not the best when it comes to titles, so feel free to suggest names for one-shots and I will have them changed if I like them!

This first one-shot is based on Season 2 of Race to the Edge, Episode 11: A Time to Skrill. At the end of the episode, Hiccup throws himself in front of the Skrill to protect it from Ryker's arrow, and in turn, Toothless saves Hiccup by throwing himself in front of his rider, letting the arrow hit him instead. In my one-shot, what if Toothless didn't make it in time?

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters.

With that said, please R & R, and most importantly, enjoy!

XxX

"Cage him up," Ryker ordered, "and muzzle the Night Fury."

Hiccup gulped as he was pushed toward the rest of the riders. He felt helpless, having fallen into Ryker's trap yet again. However, the feeling only lasted for a second as he stared at the Skrill stuck in the cage. Hiccup hummed to himself, a smirk gracing his features.

Astrid glanced at him, skeptical. "What are you thinking?"

As the Skrill rammed its head into the bars, Hiccup replied, "That the enemy of my enemy—"

"—might kill us all?" Astrid interrupted, uncertain of where the auburn haired boy was going.

"Yes," he confirmed, ignoring Astrid's stricken look, "but he also might help us." And with that said, he sprinted toward the hunters holding his dragon hostage and narrowly avoided getting sliced by a sword in the process. He threw himself against the hunters, freeing the Night Fury from the net holding him. "Toothless, the cage!" he shouted, pointing at the Skrill.

Toothless rushed to the water and attempted to push the cage on land. He met the Skrill's eyes as he pushed and used more of his strength. He failed at first, but then focused all of his energy on getting the cage on land and with one final push, he succeeded.

The sky suddenly became illuminated with bolts of lightning, and Dagur and Ryker found themselves staring at the Skrill with wide eyes as it escaped its metal imprisonment and channeled the energy from the lightning bolts into its mouth with one mighty roar. The Skrill fired at the hunters, knocking a group of them down with one strike.

Ryker annoyingly aimed a dragon root coated arrow at the powerful dragon. Unfortunately, as it began to fly up in the air, its tail got stuck between two bars.

"No!" Hiccup yelled, watching in despair as Ryker pulled his arm farther back with a sickening smirk. Hiccup rushed to stand in front of the struggling dragon, yelling "No!" again as he put his arms up protectively.

Ryker let out a grunt as he fired the arrow. It headed straight for Hiccup's chest.

As Toothless fought off a few hunters, he heard his rider's alarming yells. His eyes widened at the sight of Hiccup standing straight in the arrow's path. He hurried toward his rider, hoping to take the blow instead.

He wasn't fast enough.

Hiccup closed his eyes and lowered his head, fully expecting the blow.

However, he didn't expect it to hurt this much.

His quiet gasp was muffled by Astrid's wail as she watched the arrow pierce her best friend's skin.

Hiccup stared down at the arrow sticking out of his chest with wide eyes, his breath coming out in short gasps. He slid to his knees, his right side supported by Toothless, who warbled worriedly at him.

"Too-thlessss..." Hiccup whispered, resting his right arm against Toothless' head while trying to remove the arrow with his left. Sadly, the slightest twitch brought endless amounts of pain, and so he fell hard against his dragon with a strained shout.

Ryker chuckled, taking a threatening step toward the downed rider. However, he made the mistake to forget about the Skrill, which was free.

A loud roar pierced the air as more lightning bolts found their way surrounding the Skrill's body.

Hiccup squinted at the Skrill, thinking he and Toothless would be dead in the next few moments. He closed his eyes, anticipating the worst, but he was stumped when he felt the dragon fly over them. All he heard were the sounds of a shot, terrified yells, and footsteps heading his way.

He had no strength left to open his eyes. He found it harder and harder to breathe.

"...Hiccup..."

And he heard no more.

XxX

"...waking up!..."

"...Come on, Hiccup..."

He groaned against the harsh light that filled his eyesight.

"...wanted to see if it would work..."

He internally groaned at whatever Tuffnut had done.

He tested his eyes again, this time blinking against the blurry figures appearing in his vision.

"Hiccup?"

The voice sounded clearer, closer.

Astrid.

He blinked until he could make out the shapes in front of him. Astrid had her hand resting in his hair—how hadn't he noticed?—while Tuffnut was standing next to her holding a small metallic object. Hiccup could only guess Tuffnut had reflected the sunlight on his eyes to wake him up.

Ruffnut was standing to Hiccup's left next to Fishlegs, and Snotlout was standing in front of the bed. All the teens were staring at him.

Hiccup blinked and tried to hoist himself up, but found that his arms were tied to his bed with ropes. He started breathing heavily, panic creeping up his spine.

"Hiccup, it's okay," Astrid soothed, putting her hands on his shoulders. "Don't move, you'll hurt yourself."

"W-Wha..?" he muttered, his voice extremely raw. He tugged at the ropes again, a slight whimper escaping his lips. "W-Why..."

"You trashed around in your sleep," Fishlegs remarked, holding the boy's hand to calm him down. "You nearly ripped your stitches out." The unfamiliar gesture indeed got Hiccup to stop moving but his eyes were still wide.

"W-What sti-tches...?"

Astrid occupied his vision again. "You don't remember what happened to you?" He shook his head, confirming what she thought.

"You got shot!" Ruffnut provided, earning a warning glare from Astrid.

Hiccup's eyes widened. "I—what?" He attempted to get up only to for the ropes to stop him in his tracks. He cried out as the sudden halt caused his wound to throb and he collapsed on his bed, groaning as the pain lingered.

"Hiccup!" Astrid gently scolded. "Stay put. You were badly injured."

Hiccup heavily breathed, weakened from the pain from his wound. He gave a half-hearted tug at one of the ropes, which wouldn't budge. "A-Astrid," he whimpered, closing his eyes so he would avoid the other riders' helpless looks.

Astrid immediately picked up on his feelings and shooed the others outside their leader's hut. One by one they walked out, all but Fishlegs who hesitated in his steps, looking back at his friend with sadness and worry in his eyes before reluctantly leaving.

Once the two were alone in the hut, Hiccup let out another groan. Astrid noticed his right arm was outstretched and his palm was facing her, so she gently grabbed his hand in hers. "You'll be fine in a week," she assured, smoothing back his brown locks with her other hand. "You just need a lot of rest, that's all."

Hiccup blankly stared at a spot in front of him. "W-What ab-bout Too-thle-ess..."

"Toothless is okay," she answered, frowning a bit. "You shouldn't talk too much. You should rest."

"W-Where is he?"

Astrid sighed. "He's outside the hut. He wanted to keep guard."

"A-And the Sk-krill...? D-Dagur and Ryk-er...?"

"Gone, for now," she simply stated. "The Skrill wrecked the hunters' camp and flew away while they fled to Thor knows where."

Hiccup winced as he slightly shifted to get more comfortable, in vain. The wound was starting to bother him. "Get some rest," Astrid whispered, squeezing his hand before letting go and leaving his hut.

"W-Wait!" he whined. "G-Get Dad..."

And with that, he promptly passed out.

XxX

The next time he opened his eyes, he found himself staring at the back of a familiar, burly Viking chief.

"Dad...?" he groggily asked, unconsciously pulling on his ropes only to find out that they weren't there anymore. He tried to get up, letting out a groan as he did so, but somewhat successfully sat up, watching as his father turned around to stare at him with a relieved sigh.

"Aye, son," the man spoke. "Snotlout terrorized half the village when he and his dragon landed. The lad explained everything on our way here." Stoick smoothed his greying beard. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine," the boy shrugged.

Stoick shot him a deadpanned look. "Really now."

Hiccup squirmed. "Maybe in a little bit of pain." He winced as his wound throbbed, betraying how he truly felt.

The chief sighed. "You don't need to be strong for me, Hiccup."

The boy remained silent.

Stoick took a good look at his son. Aside from the paleness that came with his recovery, he was skinnier than usual. The bags under Hiccup's eyes were even more apparent on his nearly toneless skin, and his forehead glistened with sweat. Something was obviously worrying him, and knowing Hiccup, the boy would push it aside to care for his team.

That's what makes him a good leader, Stoick thought to himself, internally proud. For now, though, he had to push his pride and tend to his son.

"Hiccup," he started. His voice held a gentleness rare to him. "Whatever's bothering you, you don't have to deal with it alone." The boy was about to protest when Stoick shushed him, causing him to cast his eyes down with a scowl. "Let me finish. I know how strong you are, son. Everybody does. But some battles you cannot fight alone." The heir looked up at his father. "Now, you're struggling with something and it's wearing you down."

"I can deal with it," Hiccup protested. "Besides, I have Toothless." He looked down. "As long as he's by my side, nothing will happen to me."

"We both know you're not worried about yourself," Stoick countered. "You're worried about the others."

Hiccup paused. "We'll be fine."

Stoick nodded. "Aye; that you will. But you need to let them in; let us in, Hiccup. They're your team. You're not alone in this battle you're fighting."

"He's right," a soft voice spoke from the entrance to Hiccup's hut, causing both father and son to turn around. Astrid stood leaning against the wall with the other riders surrounding her. "We're with you, Hiccup."

"Guys—"

"We'll defeat those hunters," Snotlout affirmed.

"We'll blast their ships!" Ruffnut shouted, and Tuffnut approved with a "Yeah!"

"We'll do it all with you to lead us," Fishlegs added, smiling at his friend.

"You just have to take care of yourself first," Astrid finished, walking over to him and sitting on the other side of his bed, holding his hand.

"I—" Hiccup started, only to give up and shake his head with a smile. His friends were just as stubborn as he was. "Thanks, guys. I could never do it without you all."

"And us all, without you," Astrid replied, stroking her thumb against the back of Hiccup's hand.

Stoick watched the two fondly for a few seconds, then cleared his throat, catching the attention of all the riders. "What's the plan now? From what I was told, those hunters will stop at nothing to get the Dragon Eye."

"We need to hide it," Fishlegs offered, "but where?"

Stoick stroked his beard. "I could take it back to Berk with me."

Hiccup thought for a moment, then shook his head. "No. I can't risk an attack on Berk. It's better it stays with us." He sighed. "I'll think of some place...when I feel better." He yawned, feeling weak from all the talking.

As usual, Astrid picked up on it. "You need rest," she agreed. She shooed everyone out as each teen left the room with their own goodbye to their chief. She then left the two alone in Hiccup's hut with a promise of coming back with water.

Stoick smiled as he watched her leave. "She's a fine lass, son."

Hiccup smiled too and then stared at his father. "Are you going back to Berk?"

"Aye," Stoick replied. "I'll leave tomorrow. It's getting late now." As if emphasizing his claim, he glanced outside then back at his son. "You should get some rest now." He then whistled much to Hiccup's annoyance, which soon turned into surprise as Toothless came bouncing into the hut and around Hiccup, causing the boy to laugh despite the pain it caused.

"Hey, bud," he softly said, petting the Night Fury as Toothless purred, his tail wagging in delight. The dragon nuzzled his rider, and Hiccup fought hard to conceal his flinch as the movement caused his still healing wound to throb slightly.

Stoick chuckled. "I'll leave you two alone, now. Skullcrusher must be getting impatient."

"Just like his rider," Hiccup joked as he watched Stoick retreat out of the hut. He didn't miss the look the chief sent him, though.

"I heard that!" the man gruffly said, but his son merely laughed, causing him to shake his head with a smile. "Goodnight, Hiccup. Remember, things will be alright."

And they would be.