So, after the posting of this fic, I received a few reviews, and one of them was a death threat from a friend of mine. As part of an agreement I made with him, this story will now have an actual completion. This is my friend Regis' ending. He wrote the Good Ending.

"NO!" she screamed, a denial of the reality in front of her. She ran to the edge to confirm her fear, but she couldn't see through the waves of the brackish water as they crashed against the cliff face. But Toothless could. He dived off the cliff like a lightning bolt from Thor's own hand. He aimed for a dark object that was already submerged underneath the waves. Toothless pierced the water like an arrow.

He shot back out moments later flying straight up and then circling back to the cliff where Astrid was. She ran forward to meet him as he landed roughly in the dirt, rolling several times. He opened his wings and legs to reveal his cargo and Astrid felt as if her heart had leaped up her throat.

It was Hiccup, but not like she had ever seen him before. He was deathly pale, his breathing shallow and ragged between the moments where he coughed up sea water. But what was horrifying was deep gash in his chest. It looked like he had been run through with a sword.

"Hiccup?" she asked hesitantly. When he didn't respond she shook him, "Hiccup? Hiccup!" But he wasn't responding. "Sorry about this," she apologized in advance. Then she slapped him, hard.

"DAMMIT!" he roared, his voice jaded. He jackknifed up and then fell back down immediately. He was awake now but he still looked like he awaiting entrance to Valhalla. "What do I do?" she asked him. She was a warrior, not a healer. This was beyond her. He grabbed her wrist. His grip was weak. "Burn…the wound…" he gasped out.

"What?" she asked. Worry mixed with confusion clouded her face. "How?"

"Heat…dagger…with…dragon fire."

She understood immediately.

"Stormfly!" she called. The nadder walked over. Astrid drew her dagger and held it away from her body. "Shot Blast," she called out. Stormfly shot fire at the blade making sure to avoid hitting her rider's hand in the process. The force of the blast was still strong enough to knock the dagger from Astrid's hand. But the job was done. Astrid retrieved the dagger and saw how it glowed with heat.

She walked back over to Hiccup, unbuckling her left vambrace as she went, the glowing dagger held carefully in her left hand. When she reached him, she knelt down and placed the leather in his mouth.

"Clamp down", she said. "This is going to hurt." Then she pressed the dagger to the wound.

Hiccup clamped down on the leather vambrace, as a searing hot pain tore through his chest, causing him to buck. His primal scream of pain was muffled by the vambrace. Toothless tensed, snarling a sound of warning, but didn't move from where he crouched next to Hiccup. He trusted the human female to make sure that the friend-of-his-life survived. If she was causing him pain, then it was because she had to for his sake.

The heat faded, but the wound still throbbed. Stars danced across Hiccup's eyes as he looked down to make sure the wound was sealed. It was. The dagger had done its job, leaving him with a shark fin shaped burn mark that was guaranteed to scar extending half way across his chest. That would hurt for a while but at least he would live if the blood loss didn't kill him. With that thought he stood up, only to have his vision tilt. He would have fallen if Astrid hadn't caught him. "What happened?" she asked, as she helped him onto Toothless' saddle. He leaned on Toothless' back unable to support himself

"Raider…got lucky…arrow…buried…up to…fletching," he managed to wheeze out between, jagged breathes. "Had to…cut…it out."

She flashed him a worried look when he had a coughing fit. He repeated the lie he had told Toothless. "I'm fine," he said. He was better off than he was before now that the wound was closed but there was still a chance that the blood loss would lead to him dying by infection or even a minor illness. As long as he didn't strain himself and didn't get sick he would probably be fine.

"How is…the battle…going?"

"We drove them off, and no one got hurt except for… well, you."

"Hurt…understatement."

She remained silent.

Hiccup paused for a moment, thinking things over. "Mount…up. Home. Rest."

Astrid mounted Stormfly and both dragons took off, flying back towards Berk.

The chief was waiting in the center of the village when they arrived. His eyes widened with shock at the wound on Hiccup's chest. He had left it uncovered because the cold wind had numbed the wound on the ride home. "What happened!?" he asked his son. Hiccup gestured to Astrid with his chin, a request for her to explain to his father what had happened. He was tired from talking to Astrid so much after waking up.

"A raider got a lucky shot off. His arrow sank up to the fletchings into Hiccup's chest. He dug the arrow out with his dagger but he had lost too much blood, so we had to burn the wound to seal it." She explained quickly.

When he saw his father tense, he wheezed out: "Missed…vitals."

He relaxed slightly. Hiccup glanced at Astrid, sending her a silent "thank you" for not telling his father about the part where he fell off the cliff.

"Home…rest," Hiccup told his father.

"Alright, just so you know, we drove them off but they will be back. The damage we dealt to the fleet wasn't very much, and they will probably return after a week of repairs going by Gobber's guessing."

Hiccup looked at Astrid. She understood what he wanted. "I'll take the rest of the riders to patrol around the island and make sure they don't sneak up on us." Hiccup nodded, and then flinched as the action elicited a sharp pain in his chest. After it faded a few seconds later he patted Toothless on the side of the head and whispered "Home." Toothless took care of the rest.

Hiccup woke up with a splitting headache and a throat so parched it felt like it was cracking. As his vision focused he looked to the left of his bed to see Toothless lying down on the floor, watching him. His voice came out raspy. "Hey bud. You've been watching over me huh?" Toothless made that sound between a cough and a whine, which meant he was laughing. "What's so funny?" Toothless looked toward the other side of the bed. Hiccup followed his gaze, and then had to freeze to prevent himself from making any sudden moves.

Astrid was sitting close to his right hand, her head resting on her arms as she lay partially on the bed. Her breathing was even as she slept, dressed in her armor. Hiccup blinked slowly. Wow. Toothless laughed again. Hiccup's voice was a panicked, dry whisper. "Shhh! What if you wake her up!? You know she will kill me if she catches me seeing her like this. How long has she been here, anyway?'

Toothless did five slow, deliberate blinks. Hiccup paused.

Five days.

Hiccup had been asleep for five days.

That meant he had less time to prepare for when the invaders returned. Less time to forge that new piece of armor he had dreamed about. And even less time to think about this. It wasn't that he wasn't enjoying the moment, because he was, very much so, but they really didn't have time for this with the invaders' return close at hand. However, he saw no harm in letting this moment last for a little while longer.

Preparations could wait for a little while.

Toothless closed his eyes, and began to hum. It was a sound that was filled with contentment.