Edit 25/08: The original title of this chapter was bland and uninteresting, replaced it with something slightly better.


As always, Many thanks to my beta reader, Sailorstar165!

Chapter 4: Coming Back Around

Hiccup coughed and spluttered, doubling over as he expelled the last of the foul-tasting seawater from his lungs. Clearing his throat a final time, he straightened up, wincing as his battered body protested. He felt like he'd picked a fight with a Monstrous Nightmare, but as far as he could tell, nothing was broken. Scrambling up a nearby dune, Hiccup surveyed his surroundings. He and Toothless had washed up on a rough sandy beach that extended as far as he could see to his left and right. In front of him, an undulating field of sand dunes stretched out for at least a mile, to the edge of a forest he could just make out in the distance. Behind him was only the open ocean.

Hiccup sighed as Toothless ambled up beside him, and sat down with a huff. "Well bud, unless you have any idea where we are, I think we're lost."

Toothless grunted dejectedly.

Hiccup stroked the Night Fury's neck reassuringly. "Don't worry buddy, we'll get back home. I'll think of something." He pulled his attention away from the landscape, and focused on his dragon. For a long moment he stared wordlessly into a large, emerald eye.

"Are you okay bud?" he asked. "That fall was pretty hard."

Toothless whined and swung his tail in front of Hiccup.

Hiccup crouched and examined the remains of the replacement tail fin. As he expected, a few blackened scraps of cloth were all that remained of the red canvas that had made up the majority of the fin. That wasn't too much of a concern to him, as Toothless carried replacement canvas. More troubling, however, were the metal rods that gave the tail strength and rigidity; they were bent and twisted into an ugly tangle of blackened steel. Even if he fitted the replacement fabric, there was no way that Toothless was going to be able to fly with the tail in its current state. Standing, Hiccup quickly examined the rest of Toothless' flight gear and thanked the gods that the delicate control systems around the saddle were undamaged.

Suddenly, a high-pitched keening shattered the relative tranquillity of the beach. Stormfly!

Hiccup's feet skidded on the loose sand as he spun around and sprinted towards the source of the sound. Stormfly had washed up only a short distance away, initially concealed from view by a dip in the land. She was crouched protectively over a motionless blue lump. As Hiccup watched she raised her head and let out another mournful keen.

No! Please don't be...

Hiccup slid to a stop beside Stormfly and dropped to his knees. Astrid was lying face-down in the sand, her skin frightfully pale. Hiccup gingerly rolled her over and positioned his ear just above her lips. Panic gripped at his chest when he realised she wasn't breathing. He clasped his hands together and began rapidly compressing Astrid's chest, as he had seen his father do four years ago, when a trade ship capsized in a storm off the coast of Berk. He counted out thirty compressions, then shifted his position, holding her nose in one hand and her chin in the other. Taking a deep breath, Hiccup fitted his lips to hers and forced the air into her lungs. He felt his face heat up at the intimacy of the act, but ignored it. He pushed another breath into her, then returned to compressing her chest. He winced as he felt a rib snap under the pressure. Come on, come on... he prayed. He counted thirty more compressions and another breath into her lungs before, at last, he felt her weakly cough against his lips. Hiccup gently rolled her over and held her head as she coughed up a small puddle of seawater.

"Hiccup?" Astrid croaked feebly

Hiccup rolled her back so she was looking up at him.

"I'm here Astrid."

Astrid tried to sit up, only to gasp in pain and fall back, clutching her side.

"Be careful. I... well, you've cracked a rib or two," Hiccup said, standing and offering her a hand. She refused the offered hand and instead opted to tightly grip Stormfly's head and allow the Nadder to pull her to her feet.

She grunted in pain and swayed on her feet for a moment, before regaining her balance, leaning heavily on the dragon for support.

"Are you okay?" Hiccup asked, concerned.

"I'll live," she responded curtly. "Now, do you have any idea where in Hel's name we are?"

Hiccup shook his head, he desperately wanted to ask Astrid about what happened at the ceremony but knew now was not the time.

"Right, first priority: we need to get off this beach and find shelter." Astrid spoke quickly and authoritatively.

Hiccup nodded in agreement; this was basic survival skills. At the moment the weather was fine—the sun shining high overhead in a clear blue sky—but they both knew how quickly the weather could turn in the Barbaric Archipelago.

Hiccup grabbed Astrid's arm as she turned to mount Stormfly, "Wait!" he exclaimed. "Toothless' tail was damaged in the crash, he can't fly."

Astrid swore. "Then we walk." With that, she turned and set off at a brisk pace across the sand dunes towards the forest, with Stormfly following close behind.

Toothless looked from Astrid to Hiccup, letting out a confused grumble. Hiccup turned to his Night Fury and shrugged. "I don't know bud, I just don't know..."

Hiccup sighed and jogged to catch up with Astrid.

A long silence stretched out between them as they walked. The shifting sand underfoot made progress difficult for both of them. However things were worse for Hiccup, as with every step his false leg dug into the sand. If Astrid was aware of his difficulties, she didn't show it. Despite the pain she must have felt from her broken ribs, she set a relentless pace across the dunes. After several more minutes of just the sound of their footsteps in the sand, Hiccup finally broke the silence.

"Astrid... " he began.

"What?" she asked, irritably.

Hiccup mustered his courage. "About what happened at the ceremony..."

Astrid cut him off. "I don't want to talk about it."

Hiccup stepped in front of Astrid, blocking her path. "Please Astrid," he begged. "I won't get angry at you, I promise. Just please... talk to me."

"I said I don't want to talk about it."

Hiccup wordlessly held his ground.

"Please," her voice cracked, and Hiccup saw a flicker of emotion cross her face, "let's not do this now."

Hiccup wordlessly stood aside and let her pass. If he knew anything about Astrid Hofferson for certain, it was that no force on earth could make her do something against her will. Sighing to himself, he trudged after her in silence.

The sun had passed its zenith by the time they reached the edge of the forest. The hot sun on their backs combined with the effort of crossing the dunes had quickly dried their soaked clothes, leaving them encrusted with salty residue.

Up close, Hiccup realised this forest was different from ones he was familiar with. Rather than the towering pines he was used to, the trees here were broad, with large flat leaves. Enough light filtered down through the canopy that patches of lush grass and wildflowers grew in the spaces between the trees. Astrid knelt down on one knee to study a set of prints in the dirt. Hiccup examined them over her shoulder.

The prints reminded him of Elk footprints that he'd seen occasionally on Berk, albeit much smaller and narrower.

"Well, at least we won't starve," he remarked.

Astrid grunted in response and looked up at the sky. "We'd better split up if we're going to find somewhere to shelter before nightfall." She stood, hissing in pain and clutching at her side.

Hiccup instinctively took a step forwards and reached out to help her, then stopped himself.

"Are you sure you're okay?" he asked. "You should let me take a look at those ribs."

"We're Vikings, Hiccup," she replied. "I can put up with some broken ribs for a few hours."

With that, she turned and stalked off into the forest, snapping her fingers for Stormfly to follow.

Hiccup let out a long sigh and turned to where Toothless was rolling blissfully in the lush grass in stark contrast to his inner turmoil. Will our friendship ever be the same again? He asked himself. Hiccup shook his head to clear his thoughts. "Come on bud," he said to Toothless and trotted off into the forest in the opposite direction to Astrid.

Hiccup tried to put thoughts of Astrid out of his head for the moment and enjoy his surroundings. Growing up as a social outcast on Berk, he'd spent many long hours walking in the woods behind his home and had developed a deep appreciation for the beauty of the wild.

His thoughts were suddenly brought back to the present when he almost tripped over a small stream that gurgled through the forest. The stream looped between the trees to his left and across the dunes to his right, before joining the sea. Hiccup knelt and took a long drink from the stream.

The water was cool and clear. Refreshed, he stood, and with no better idea for where to look, he decided to follow the stream further inland. Toothless roamed ahead of Hiccup like an excitable puppy, sniffing around the bases of trees and sticking his nose into bushes and clumps of long grass. More than once, he jerked his head back in surprise as he disturbed a nest of birds or small rodents. Despite himself, Hiccup found himself smiling at Toothless' exuberance.

A short while later, Hiccup found his path blocked by a rock wall that rose suddenly from the forest floor. The rugged cliff face was easily a hundred feet tall and slightly concave. A narrow waterfall tumbled from the top of the cliff. The water plummeted to the forest floor below, where it formed a small but deep pool, before flowing into the stream Hiccup had followed. Behind the pool, an overhang from the cliff formed a sheltered area, just large enough to protect two dragons and riders from the elements. The whole scene reminded Hiccup of the cove back on Berk where he'd forged his forbidden friendship with Toothless. He took a deep breath and felt himself relax.

"If you'd like to do the honours, Toothless."

Toothless roared happily and launched a fireball into the air. A second later, an explosion shook the canopy as the projectile detonated. Satisfied that Astrid and Stormfly knew where to find them, Hiccup left Toothless splashing around in the pool, and set off to gather wood for a fire.

Stormfly was coming in to land by the pool when Hiccup emerged from the forest, carrying an armful of firewood. He watched as Astrid heavily dropped to the ground, clutching at her side. She looked up as Hiccup approached.

"Good idea," she said, noticing the bundle in Hiccup's arms. "I'll help."

Hiccup dropped the bundle at her feet. "No you won't," he grunted. "You've been walking around all day with broken ribs. You need to rest."

Astrid's eyes flashed dangerously. Hiccup sighed inwardly. This was the Astrid that he fell in love with: indomitable, and fiercely independent. He cut her off before she could object.

"No. We could be stuck here for several weeks, so I don't want you making your injury worse because you were too stubborn to listen." Turning to Toothless he added, "Make sure she doesn't move."

The sun was starting to set by the time Hiccup returned with a second load of firewood, and already the air temperature was dropping. Astrid had started a small fire on the far side of the pool, just in front of the overhang. She was sat on a boulder nearby, staring into the flames and poking the fire with a twig. Stormfly and Toothless lounged on either side of her.

Hiccup dropped the firewood nearby, and headed over to Toothless. A small leather pouch was attached to the saddle. He reached into this and retrieved his small stash of emergency items. Hiccup spread the replacement canvas for Toothless' tail out on the ground and set the other items on top of it. There was a short dagger in a leather sheath, a small collection of useful herbs, including a tuft of dried Dragonnip, and the item Hiccup was looking for, a tightly-wound roll of cloth. He picked up the cloth and turned back to Astrid.

"Come on, let's have a look at those ribs," he said, holding up the roll.

Astrid threw the twig into the fire and stood up, turning to face Hiccup.

Hiccup took a step towards her and coughed awkwardly, feeling his cheeks redden. "Lift up your ... uh ... shirt."

Astrid's eyes bored into him for a long moment. "Let's get this over with," she sighed. She grabbed the bottom of her vest and pulled it up, exposing her toned stomach to the air. Hiccup tried to ignore the exposed skin and instead focus on the blotchy purple bruise that ran down her left side. The skin at the centre of the bruise was broken, where the sharp end of the bone had pierced her chest from the inside. A small trickle of blood ran down her side from the wound. Ouch, he thought. He cautiously extended his hand and gently touched the bruise. Astrid flinched and hissed in pain.

Hiccup was by no means an expert in the healers' arts, but he'd spent a few afternoons with Gothi and had picked up some of the basics. He bound Astrid's injury as best he could, then took a step back, examining his handiwork.

"There," he said. "With any luck, that will stop the bone from moving too much, and help it set straight."

Astrid gently lowered her vest over the bandage. "Thank you," she said softly.

"Don't be so hasty," Hiccup replied dryly. "Wait and see if it heals first, then thank me"

"Not just for my ribs," she continued. "In the storm, you and Toothless risked your lives to help me and Stormfly, and this morning, you saved my life." She hesitated, then dropped her voice until it was barely audible. "I'm in your debt, Hiccup."

Hiccup looked at Astrid carefully. She'd been acting strangely all day. First she gave him the stonewall treatment, then she said she owed him her life? The crash must have really shaken her, Hiccup thought. They'd saved each other's lives countless times in the last three years, and neither of them had given it a second thought before now.

Hiccup waved his hand dismissively, and sat down on another boulder. "It was nothing."

Astrid said nothing, and sat down across the fire from him.

"So what's our next move from here?" Hiccup asked, eager to keep the conversation going.

Astrid paused to consider her response, and for a moment Hiccup feared she wouldn't answer. "Food is our next priority," she replied eventually. "I saw a few more sets of tracks in the forest, and I think some of the plants around here are edible. I'll head out at first light tomorrow and see what I can find."

"Toothless and Stormfly could catch fish for us," Hiccup suggested.

"Unless we can find a source of fish nearby, I'd rather not have them so far away. Who knows what kind of wild animals or dragons could live here?" Astrid glanced at Toothless. "Besides, some of us aren't as accustomed to the taste of dragon saliva as you are."

Hiccup chuckled. "Point taken. And after that?"

She hesitated for a moment. "I don't know," she replied eventually. "The only thing that I can think of is to start exploring this island and hope we see some landmark that lets us know how to get back to Berk, but..." she trailed off, leaving the unspoken question hanging in the air: What if they didn't find anything?

Hiccup shrugged. "It's as good a plan as any I can come up with."

Astrid gave Toothless a long glance. "What about his tail?" she asked, gesturing to the Night Fury. "Can you fix it?"

Hiccup was silent for almost a full minute, considering. The damage to the tail was extensive, but...

"Yes," he replied. "It won't stand up to any hard manoeuvring, but I think I can rig something that will work."

"Then it's a plan," Astrid said. "Tomorrow, you fix Toothless' tail, and I'll forage for supplies. Then, the day after tomorrow, we start looking for a way home."

Hiccup glanced up at the sky. While they had been talking, the sun had slipped below the horizon and the moon and stars had emerged. "We'd better get some rest if we're going to be up at first light," he said, standing.

He wandered over to the area under the overhang and eyed the rocky ground distastefully. "It's not going to be comfortable," he muttered to himself, sweeping an area clear of stones, "but I guess I'd better get used to it."

Hiccup started as Toothless brushed past him without warning. Toothless circled a few times in the area Hiccup had cleared, before curling up and resting his head on his forelegs. He raised a wing and looked up at Hiccup expectantly.

"Fine," Hiccup replied, walking over to him, "but people are going to start saying things about us if we keep this up."

He stepped over Toothless' tail and lay down against his side. Toothless curled slightly more tightly around Hiccup, then, making a contented noise in his chest, draped a wing over him, enclosing Hiccup in a living tent.

For a long time, Hiccup simply lay there, marvelling at the play of the firelight through Toothless' wing membrane.

Finally alone with his thoughts, his mind drifted to thoughts of Astrid, and the events of the spring equinox. To his surprise, he found that the feelings of betrayal that he'd felt at the ceremony had disappeared. Thinking about Astrid and Snotlout being together still hurt, but the anger was gone.

Having a brush with death really does give you a new perspective on life, he thought.

Hiccup sighed and shifted to a more comfortable position against Toothless. Unbidden, memories of happy moments spent with Astrid from the last three years drifted through his mind. I don't want to lose that, Hiccup thought, but what am I willing to sacrifice to keep it?

Hiccup's feelings about Astrid were a tangled mess, but there was one thing he knew for certain. The bond of trust and friendship that they shared was one of the most cherished things in his life, second only to his relationship with Toothless. His attraction to her was strong, but deep inside he knew that it wasn't worth risking their friendship on an attempt to court her, when it was apparent that her feelings lay elsewhere. Hiccup sighed deeply; he knew that he was young, and that first loves often didn't end in a long-lasting relationship, but that did nothing to calm the tempest of emotions roiling in his chest.

He was suddenly jolted from his thoughts by a low growl next to his ear. Hiccup looked over at Toothless' head, just beside his own. In the dim light that filtered through his wing membranes, Hiccup could just make out Toothless' eyes darting back and forth under their lids, and his front paws twitching beneath his head.

He must be dreaming, Hiccup thought with a smile.

Hiccup yawned and felt the exhaustion of the day hit him full force. Resting his head against his Night Fury's side, he closed his eyes and allowed unconsciousness to claim him.


Author's Notes:

Friendly Greetings! I'm back again with another chapter, a bit of a slower chapter after the big plot points in the last two, although hopefully still interesting. Now that our 'heroes' have finally arrived in this new land, the rate of earth-shattering plot twits will slow down, as we start investigating the relationship between our two main characters (Which isn't to say that I don't still have a few tricks up my sleeve :P).

Thank you to all of you who responded to my rant in the notes on the last chapter. I know that most of you understand that my fanfic is only a hobby, and I apologize for inflicting that rant on all of you. For those of you who still can't wait for the next chapter, I have about a month off without school or work at the moment, so, hopefully I'll be able to get the next chapter written relatively quickly.

Finally, thank you to all those of you who have left reviews already, and, as always, whatever you thought of the story, please leave a review!

~ Superbun

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