Author's Note: All kinds of inspiration today. I own nothing. This one's gonna be mostly from Stoick's POV though there may be others. Please Review.

After The Battle

"Hiccup! Hiccup!" Stoick the Vast was scared for the first time in his life since he'd seen his wife being carried off by the large four winged dragon. He'd never seen either of them again. Hiccup and the night fury had joined forces to defeat the mountain sized dragon and had succeeded, taking it down in a massive explosion of fire. But they were nowhere to be seen after the fire died. It hadn't taken long for the fire to die but Stoick could feel dread pulling at his heart as he searched through the smoke calling his daughters name. He spotted a dark shape through the smoke and ran towards it, heart in his throat.

It was her dragon, the beast appeared to be unconscious but his rider was nowhere to be seen. Her saddle was still on his back, charred and broken, his false fin nothing but mangled metal. The night fury twitched, turning onto its side facing Stoick, eyes slowly flickering open. They were green, he hadn't noticed before. They looked just like Hiccups eyes.

"I did this." Stoick felt grief and guilt wash over him. If he had just taken the time to listen to her when she'd pleaded him to none of this would have happened. Hiccup would still be here. Stoick dropped to his knees as tears welled up in his eyes.

Aster pushed his way to the front of the crowd of gathered Vikings and gasped at what he saw. Stoick was kneeling down in front of a motionless Toothless. Hiccup was not there. Aster felt his eyes burn as the other teens and Gobber crowded around him. The entire crowd was deathly silent as they all tried to accept the loss of the girl who had just saved all their lives. The girl who had singlehandedly ended a war that had been raging for generations. The girl they had never truly accepted as one of their own. Tears dripped down Aster's face but for once he didn't care. He felt like his heart was cracking in two.

"I'm so sorry." Tears started falling down Stoick's face as he spoke to thin air looking down at the dragons green eyes. The dragon warbled at him and unfolded its wings from where they'd been tucked around its legs. Legs that held Hiccup safe and sound.

Stoick's cry of joy and hope drew the attention of the mourning crowd. He pulled Hiccup out of her dragons grasp and ran a hand through her hair before tossing his helmet aside and putting an ear to her chest. He gasped with joy.

"She's alive! You brought her back alive!" The crowd cheered, even the dragons seemed to celebrate. Aster felt hope rise in his heart though his feet were frozen to the spot as Gobber rushed past him to check on her. Stoick leaned forward, his daughter still in his lap, and patted Toothless on the mussel gently.

"Thank you for saving my daughter." Gobber was looking down at Hiccup, standing next to Stoick.

"Well you know, most of her." Stoick turned his head to ask Gobber what he meant but it was then he spotted the blood. Hiccups left leg was mangled. The wound started just a few inches below the knee. He foot was a bloody mess, barely recognizable as what it had once been. It was clear that the night fury had grabbed her by the leg with his teeth, shredding muscle and the bone was clearly broken as well. Gobber nodded as he knelt down next to Stoick to examine the leg.

"I saw her falling. By all rights she should have been roasted. This beast must have only just gotten a hold on her at the last second. Had to grab her somehow. Excellent work there Screecher." Aster had followed Gobber somewhat tentatively trying to wipe away tears so no one would see.

"Screecher?" Gobber turned to Aster nodding towards Toothless as he motioned the healer forward. The large man rushed past them ignoring their conversation as he checked over his patient.

"For the noise he makes when he shoots. Well he's got to have a name doesn't he?" Aster was trying to look around Gobber without drawing attention to himself.

"Toothless." Gobber frowned.

"What's that lad?" Aster turned back to face Gobber having no luck getting around him without being noticed.

"His name is Toothless, Hiccup named him." Gobber raised an eyebrow at him.

"And how do you know that lad?" Aster flinched slightly at the real question he knew Gobber was asking, how long have you known. But Stoick saved him from having to answer for the moment.

"Gobber, that can wait, we need another set of hands over here. Aster, get that crowd back, have them start salvaging what they can from the ships see if we can make any of them sea worthy. We'll need to get her home as soon as possible." As Aster walked away she heard the healer talking to Stoick.

"There's no way around it. The foot has to go." Aster felt tears rising again and rushed off to follow Stoick's orders instead of thinking about it. He was pretty successful until the screaming started.

Stoick felt tears streaming down his face for the second time that day as Hiccup writhed in his arms. Gobber was holding down her legs as the healer worked as quickly as he could to tie bandages around the stump that had been Hiccups leg moments before. Even though she remained unconscious she was screaming like they were killing her. Toothless whined and laid his head on her stomach gently trying to calm her down. Soon she stopped twitching and was once again still and blessedly silent in his arms. Her breathing was broken and she was sweating. Toothless cooed at her nudging her side to try and get her to wake up. She twitched slightly in her sleep, but showed no signs of waking. The healer checked her over as Spitelout, Snotlout's father, rushed over.

"Stoick, we've found enough pieces of the ships to rebuild one but that's the good news." Stoick stood as Gobber took his place at Hiccups side.

"What's the bad news?" Spitelout looked over Gobbers shoulder at his prone niece.

"It's going to take a week maybe more." Stoick turned to the healer who shook his head.

"It's too damp here. She's already developing a fever. She might last two days, but not a week. She needs Gothi." Gothi was the wisest woman in Berk she could heal practically anything with the right herbs and a bit of time. Stoick felt his heart drop to somewhere near his shoes. He had gotten her back just to lose her again. The gods must have a grudge against him.

Aster watched the scene with a heavy heart. There was no way to get her home in time. He couldn't wrap his head around the idea that Hiccup was going to die. The deadly nadder they had ridden to the island together bumped her head against his hand. He absently scratched her under the chin before it hit him. The dragons were slowly coming back to the island, the ones that the teens had ridden had never left. There might be a way to save Hiccup after all.

"Chief, sir. I've got an idea."