It was late afternoon, almost evening on Berk. The sky was already changing color- a dark blue at one end and a light yellow at the other. All the green and browns around Berk began to explode in different tones. At the outskirts of the village, the teens were huddled around this particularly large, solitary pine tree that was twenty yards from the start of the forest.

"Why did you guys drag me to see this tree?" Hiccup asked turning to one teen in particular: Snotlout.

"I know. I was in the middle of my training. I rarely ever feel like using my hammer." Astrid gestured with the weapon.

"It's so big." Tuffnut said dazedly then with determination he stepped forward. "I wanna climb it." Ruffnut grabbed his arm and pulled him back.

"I doubt someone could climb that." Fishlegs commented knowingly

"I bet my hammer could hit the top of it though." Snotlout reached over and grabbed Astrid's hammer. "You watch." He said with determination in his voice, pointing his fingers across all of the teens.

This just got too idiotic for Hiccup and especially since Snotlout just took Astrid's weapon…he didn't want to be around. "I'm gonna go. Let me know how it turns out." He headed back to the village.

Snotlout, with the hammer in hand, went back the twenty yards to the edge of the forest. The remaining teens watched him. With a firm grip on the hammer, Snotlout ran forward towards the monumental tree. Halfway there, he stopped and chucked it. The hammer, somersaulting through the air, did reach the same height as the tip of the tree, however, whizzed past about a foot away. Ruffnut and Tuffnut erupted into laughter at Snotlout's failure. The teens continued to watch the hammer fly.

"Uh, guys, it's heading toward the village." Fishlegs warned

"HEADS UP!" Astrid yelled at the top her lungs.

The teens watched as the hammer continued to fly on a set-and-sure path in the air but now on a quick descent. They looked to where the hammer might land-Hiccup was walking to the village. The hammer continued on its path somersaulting in the process; closer and closer it got to the ground- Hiccup kept on walking. The teens watched as the large metal destructive end collided with the back of Hiccup's head. The boy instantly collapsed onto the ground.

"Hiccup" Astrid mumbled under her breath. Fear gripped her body.

oOo

Astrid was sitting downstairs in the chieftain house waiting for Hiccup to wake up. The healer had come and gone. She wrapped his head and said he should be fine, though he'll probably wake up with a massive headache, but to come and get her if need be. Stoik had left to go take care of some "business" in the village asking Astrid to stay and watch Hiccup. Toothless was upstairs with his rider waiting for him to arouse. Why Hiccup? Why did she have to have her hammer with her? Well, at least it wasn't her ax cause then…. Astrid didn't want to finish that thought. She continued to think on what brought her here-the teens got Hiccup help, brought him home, told Stoik, Astrid then went home, barely slept returning to his house the next morning finding Stoik asking her to stay and watch him. He hadn't woken up and so here she sat all morning long. It made her begin to think about her future- married life. To who? Hiccup? She smirked at the thought but the smile grew larger when she thought of the other eligible teen boys.

oOo

Hiccup could feel himself slowly enter consciousness. His head hurt; something inside was throbbing. He thought back to what happened…..he was walking away from the other teens and heard Astrid yell "HEADS UP!" Instantly he knew something went wrong and didn't want to look back to see what it was; he rather get as far away from it as possible. Then all he could remember was something hard hitting him in the back of the head when all went black. Oh man- did his head hurt with an intense pounding. As Hiccup began to move his hands (and in the process, feeling his surroundings) he realized he was lying down on his bed. Slowly he opened his eyes expecting to see his bedroom ceiling but instead a rather dark world with a hint of white light above him- must be the firelight against the ceiling but why didn't it have an orange-ish glow? No matter, since it was so dark, it had to be the middle of the night so Hiccup began to reach over to the right side of his bed where he knew his nightstand was; hopefully he could light the candle. Hiccup kept reaching out into the dark abyss but couldn't find his nightstand. He reached further and further over the edge of the bed, trying to find it and in the process fell off with a loud thud. He tried to look around but all he could see was darkness. Hiccup brushed aside the panic that settled in his mind and soon felt something dry and scaly rubbing against him.

oOo

It was around noon when Stoik entered the house; Astrid was still sitting downstairs in a chair. She just stared at the man that stood in front of the large, wooden door. Finally the chief broke the silence.

"Hiccup?" his voice was just above a whisper, choked.

"Nothing yet." Astrid shook her head.

Suddenly a loud thud emanated from upstairs. Without thinking the two raced up; hearts pounding, blood racing. The nimble teen was first to reach the top and burst through the bedroom door to find Hiccup on the floor by the foot of his bed thanking the black dragon at his side.

"Hiccup, you okay?" Astrid's voice was rushed with concern.

"Astrid, is that you?" Hiccup, still sitting on the floor with Toothless, turned towards the direction in which he heard her voice. Why couldn't he see her? "I was just trying to light the candle on my nightstand and fell off the bed. It's so dark in here. Do you think you could light it for me?"

Astrid turned to her right and eyed Stoik. What did he mean so dark?

"Why are you here in the middle of the night anyway?" Hiccup asked breaking the beat of silence and the witnesses' train of thought.

What was he talking about the middle of the night? Astrid glanced at the open window above his bed that let the noon-time sunlight just pour in. "Hiccup, it's the middle of the day."

It was silent for a moment before Stoik moved toward the boy "Come on son; let's get'cha back in bed."

Hiccup's head suddenly veered to the right supposedly where his father was. Astrid noticed his eyes seemed rather clouded. "Dad? I didn't know you were here."

Stoik has been next to me the whole time-how could you not…..? Realization hit Astrid like a stone in the gut. She watched as Stoik helped Hiccup stand and feel aimlessly in front of him. He guided his hands along the bed and sat down. He's….. blind. No. No! A whelm of emotions flooded through Astrid….pain, confusion, fear, anger, depression, guilt.