I had a request for a one shot (from star-the-writer) based on the first chapter of my Night Terror fanfic which was originally supposed to be a one shot by itself but I thought that they would actually go quite well as part of the same story and so this was born! Just a quick warning this took a slightly different turn to what I had intended to write so it gets a bit gruesome but nothing graphic just mentions of blood and what not. Again I do not own race to the edge, how to train your dragon or any of the characters.

The peace had returned but it was to be short lived for Astrid. Her knuckles were getting whiter and whiter the stronger her grip on Hiccup's tunic became as she held onto the red material soaked in blood willing life to enter back into his body; in reality she was pulling Hiccup's peacefully sleeping body closer to her own.

Staring down at the pale corpse she witnessed her own tears dripping down onto the empty, pale and lifeless face laying in her arms and felt the breath leave her own body as she realised death had taken her closest friend from her, the realisation made her beg death to take her as well. Hiccup gently stirred awake from his sleep sensing the change in rhythm of Astrid's breathing and looked down upon her face, scrunched up as though trying to prevent tears from flowing however a few still slipped free lightly soaking where Astrid had chosen to lay her head after the nightmare she had experienced earlier in the night.

Viggo had outsmarted the riders again, all of them except Hiccup. Hiccup warned her it was a trap, but she ignored him anyway, she attacked Viggo anyway. Hiccup came after her, but she pushed him away, ignored him again. Hiccup paid the price, she held him close with all her attention only on him, and she wished she had listened to him. If only Astrid hadn't let her anger get the best of her after Viggo had insulted her family she charged at Viggo without thinking about the fact that what she was about to do was exactly what Viggo wanted. Hiccup yelled at her that it was a trap and was prepared to risk everything to keep her safe from it. Astrid's foot hit against a trip wire roped between two trees which triggered a large dragon hunter spear laced with dragon root to be launched from the trees behind Viggo on a bee-line for the place where Astrid was standing, staring hopelessly before her vision went black.

Hiccup looked down upon Astrid's terrified looking face for the second time that night and he lifted his hand to gently stroke small circles onto her bare shoulder, leaving a comforting kiss on her blonde hair and gently shushed to try and ease the emotional trauma clearly being caused by whatever nightmare the maiden was suffering through.

Feeling her body being shoved chaotically to the ground Astrid looked up first to see Viggo's face showing no emotion and then turning to see Hiccup's body; her soulmate's body, laying in a pool of his own blood.

Turning her head further into Hiccup's chest Astrid proceeded to punch Hiccup in the shoulder causing Hiccup to flinch, and when Astrid kneed him in the thigh to which Hiccup replied with, "argghh! What was tha…?" Hiccup trailed off when the sleeping blonde in his arms let out a sob accompanied by a quiet, "Hic…"

Then Astrid felt her throat closing up as though she had forgotten how to breathe at the sight of Hiccup lying on the ground. Hiccup noticed that Astrid's breathing had become shallow and instantly began to panic, should he wake her up? But that may cause her to panic more however how was he supposed to calm her down while she was still in the middle of a nightmare? Hiccup decided to go with the first option as it was apparent Astrid was becoming more and more panicked. Hiccup pushed a few stray locks away from her eyes, shook her shoulders lightly and calmly asked Astrid to wake up.

Clearly Hiccup's efforts were in vain and as Astrid's breathing increased so did his worry as he told her to wake up in a more stern voice and increased his shaking until Astrid's eyes fluttered opened and stared up into Hiccup's green and worried orbs and Astrid lets out an out of breath, "your…alive…"

Hiccup ran his hard worked hands through Astrid's golden blonde hair before bringing his hands down to stroke her cheek, "last I checked yea." Hiccup let out a small laugh in an attempt to reassure his pale girlfriend. Astrid jumped into her boyfriend's arms squeezing every ounce of air out of him as she did so with a few stray tears falling to soak the thin material of his tunic.

"It's okay you're okay Ast." Hiccup shushed bringing his arms around her middle to fully envelop her as well as pressing her face into her golden cascade in an attempt at comfort.

As Astrid's breathing calmed she pulled her head away from Hiccup's shoulder, eyelids partially covering the redness and puffiness of her eyes but Hiccup could still tell that she was exhausted, after all it had been a long night.

Hiccup placed both of his hands on either side of Astrid's upper arms sternly but gently before asking, "This isn't the first time this has happened to you, is it Ast?"

Astrid momentarily made eye contact with the concerned teen looking down at her intently but she then tore their gazes apart to look at the very interesting scorch mark on the wooden wall of the hut before mumbling a quiet, "No."

Again pushing her hair away from her eyes Hiccup followed an invisible trail down the side of Astrid's cheek he sighed then whispered, "You should have come to me; a problem shared is a problem halved after all."

"I didn't want to be a burden besides, there stupid nightmares anyway." Astrid stated non-questionably.

Hiccup's face turned almost solemn as he said, "Ast you were on the verge of a panic attack, that obviously wasn't a 'stupid nightmare' what was it about?"

As her face turned a light shade of red Astrid looked Hiccup in the eye and told him, "I watched you die."

Clearly seeing that Hiccup did not know how to react Astrid continued, "It's the worst nightmare I have ever had." Astrid shuffled her body so that her back was facing Hiccup and she wiped her eyes in a desperate attempt to make herself look less like a vulnerable mess and more like Astrid Hofferson.

Then Hiccup did something Astrid wasn't expecting, he snaked his arms around her waist, pulled her closer and placed a chaste kiss on her cheek. Astrid leaned into the touch and when Hiccup pulled away he then took both of her hands in his and her eyes drifted sheepishly upwards to meet with his when Hiccup broke the silence, "First of all I can guarantee that I'm not going anywhere anytime soon."

Astrid smiled at him and Hiccup continued, "If it makes you feel any better you can stay here anytime you want to, you know to help you to sleep better."

Astrid's smile widened mischievously, "Be careful Haddock, I might just take you up on that offer."

And that was that, I really need to start writing more…
Reviews always appreciated! *hugs*