One misstep of her foot was all it took.

Suddenly, she had fell off the Night Fury as it took off, shrieking when the giant dragon clamped its teeth right next to her. Hiccup was flying up, up and away to escape, but she was stuck watching him. Had he heard her scream over all the dragons'?

She got her answer when boy and dragon came diving back down, right as the larger dragon rose up. The jaws clamped around a Hideous Zippleback and the dragon's heads fell into the abyss as Astrid stared in horror.

She couldn't move.

She couldn't move!

Hiccup was tugging at her, yelling, "Come on!" but she was paralyzed. Not in fear, but resignation, almost. Everything was happening all at once -

- Hiccup was pulling her onto the Night Fury -

Maybe her uncle really had frozen before he died. Maybe it really was a Hofferson thing. Whether it was or not didn't change that she'd soon be contributing to the family tradition.

Now she was being thrown forward and holding onto the Night Fury for dear life.

"Go!" Hiccup screamed, and he certainly wasn't talking to her. The dragon beat its wings as they rose in the air. It was shrieking like mad, as though...as though…

Gods above, it was about to fall.

But Hiccup had been controlling it! So what the Hel was he doing, why wasn't he doing the legwork, was he trying to get them all killed!?

It dawned on Astrid, like a slow sickness right before it killed you.

Hiccup -

- hadn't gotten on -

Hiccup -

"HICCUP!" she screamed, looking down.

Their eyes met, for exactly a second. Tears were streaming down his face, and he looked terrified. His eyes were pleading. Pleading for her to save him. To somehow come down, grab his arm, drag him out of the mountain.

But a second really wasn't all that much time.

The dragon - the queen of the dragons - rose up again, opened its mouth, and Hiccup was gone. The last face she ever saw on him was horrifying, burned into her mind, as she flew higher and higher, looking down at him being eaten alive.

No one could hear her screams. No other human being was there. And even if there were other vikings around, they wouldn't be able to make out her pitiful shrieks when hundreds of dragons were shrieking much louder.

But none louder than the Night Fury.

They couldn't even try.

Both of them continued to scream even as the sharp cold air hit them. The dragon beat its wings one last time, and then they were falling.

She wanted to die. She had let go of the Night Fury's neck and was now falling on her own, still screaming her throat raw, as though if she screamed loud enough it would bring the heir of Berk back.

But she'd join him. As soon as she hit the ground, she'd be with Hiccup.

Or, she would have been, if the Night Fury hadn't tackled her halfway and taken the fall for her, leaving her with only bruises and dirt when he let her go to roll onto the rocks.

Vomit was riding in her throat, so she gave out one last, hopeless scream before vomiting the contents of her stomach onto the rocks, her eyes closing as the first few tears fell.

Why hadn't the dragon let her die?

She wanted to.

Hiccup had been right. His friend wasn't a killing machine.

Or maybe it was, because the second she stopped vomiting, it pounced on her, pinning her to the ground.

Astrid felt her own snot mixed with the taste of vomit as she struggled to breathe under the Night Fury. Dust was getting in her eyes.

Toothless was what Hiccup had called him.

Toothless probably wanted to kill her himself. Maybe a measly fall that would break all the bones in her body wasn't enough.

Astrid agreed with him, but as she choked over his claw pressing into her neck, she made the mistake of looking at him.

Really, actually, looking at him.

She'd seen a dragon killed before. But she'd never seen one defeated.

And who had known that it was the death of a human that would cause a beast to look so

broken? So morose?

His face said all she already knew. She was the reason they were near the mountain in the first place. She was the reason they hadn't been able to escape. She deserved it.

When she saw her reflection in the dragon's eyes, she saw the same look Hiccup had been wearing the last second of his life. Toothless hadn't seen him, he'd been looking up.

And yet, as though he recognized a familiar face, he pulled away from her, looked up to the sky, and screeched so loudly and so painfully it made her dizzier than she already was. Every part of her body screamed in protest.

Toothless ran off towards the mountain, throwing his entire body against it, blasting it, roaring at it. But even if he could break open a mountain, he couldn't bring someone back to life.

Astrid attempted to get up, and then let out a cry as she fell back down again. The dragon may have spared her death, but she was mistaken in thinking she had only gained cuts and bruises. Something was definitely broken.

Besides her world, of course.

The dragons still on the island were closing in on her. Every word Hiccup had said rang in her ears, that the dragon were kind and gentle creatures, and that they didn't really want to harm anyone.

Astrid didn't have the will, the stamina, or the means to fight them anyway.

She let sleep overtake her, knowing she most likely wouldn't wake up again. The last thing she saw was a flash of Hiccup's pleading green eyes looking into her's, and Toothless's scream rang out again.

They had discovered the dragons' nest.

Okay, so bear with me here, I don't think I'll be continuing this, but it's a fun idea to think about. A what if for Hiccup sacrificing himself to get Astrid and Toothless out of the nest.

Is everyone OOC? Yeah, but I'm trying to write again, so…

If this gets enough attention I MIGHT write a second chapter. I do have things imagined for this story, but I'm also VERY busy, and I've started a new HTTYD fandom project that's gonna require a lot of attention.

Just...let me know what you think? I guess?