Chapter 10

Eternal Heart

A/N- Hello! I'm sorry for taking so long to update this story. As some of you may already have known, I began taking art classes Monday-Friday from 9am to 4:30PM for 3 weeks, then I had a lot of family stuff to take care of, I had other stories to update, and then I was wrapped up in a self inflicted (and still ongoing) writing challenge here on FFN. So that's why I took so long to update this story. Plus I had some writer's block as to how to format this chapter. I knew what I wanted to write, but I wasn't sure how to write it. Once I figured it out, I rapped out this here chapter. I tried to put more material in since it's been a while since my last update. I also revised and reloaded chapter 9. The changes were only made at the end (as per a suggestion from a reader to revise the ending). Thanks for the editing suggestion!

I'm sort of doing some borrowing in terms of ideas here, so I'll credit the film that inspired this chapter.

DISCLAIMER: Credits to Dragon Heart, a film by Rob Cohen and produced by Universal Studios. I do not own any of the concepts and I do not own HTTYD or its characters or concepts.

Thank you to everyone who reviewed and favorited this fic (as always, I will list your names at the end of this chapter).

Oh and one more thing, I am taking requests for HTTYD one-shots for my writing challenge- read the previous one shots (labeled under "PART OF THE 20 BY 20 CHALLENGE" in their descriptions) for details on the kinds of shots I am writing for the challenge. All requests must be submitted before August 21st.

Enjoy!

-Don ^_^

A searing pain in her arm woke Astrid up in time to see that she was rapidly approaching the waterfall at the river's end. She jerked her head around to look for anything to grab on to, a rock, a fallen tree branch, some roots on the edge of the river bank, but she didn't see anything within reach. She pushed hard against the current, but with only one good arm, she could only move slightly before being pushed back into the river's one way course. Now she knew how Hiccup felt all the time. He would have drowned if he was in her situation and Astrid wasn't entirely sure if she wouldn't drown at the moment.

The current swerved and Astrid's body slammed into a rock, temporarily stalling her movement downstream. Well, I asked for something to grab onto, Astrid thought with a grimace. I really need to be more specific about what I wish for.

A second later Astrid's gaze went up as another body bumped into hers and pushed her from her rock. It was the body of a dead armored warrior and Astrid looked up as the distant face of Fishlegs stared in helpless horror as Astrid neared the waterfall.

She closed her eyes and then felt something hit her right before she went over the waterfall.

Fishlegs let out a roar of pain as he smashed two warriors' heads together and then cast them into the water. He was now an enraged beast on a rampage. These warriors, no, these monsters, he amended in his mind, Killed two of my friends. Fishlegs was a timid boy at heart despite his size and natural strength. He didn't have the skills like Astrid did, or the guts like Ruffnut did, he wasn't as popular with girls as Tuffnut managed to be, and he certainly wasn't half as strong willed as Hiccup was. All the other Vikings seemed to be leaving Fishlegs behind in one way or another. He growled and then smashed his fist through the armor of another warrior, causing his knuckles to bleed, but he was beyond caring.

Tuffnut and Ruffnut were engaged in an intense fight with five warriors and Ruff let out a yelp as one of the warriors slashed her arm. Fishlegs saw red at that moment and smashed his way across the rafts to where Ruffnut was and took her opponent by the throat and before either twin could say anything, a sickening crunch was heard.

The body dropped to the raft and Fishlegs blinked twice before he noticed that everyone was looking at him with shock and fear in their eyes. He had just killed someone with his bare hands. Fishlegs looked over in horror at Ruffnut, who was wearing an expression halfway between confusion and shock. She probably thought he was a monster now. Fishlegs averted his eyes and then waded through the water and took off at a run. He couldn't face his friends now.

Ruffnut watched blankly as Fishlegs retreated into the woods for a few minutes before she realized that he was really running away. Ruff shook herself from her state of shock and then sheathed the sword she carried with her and leapt the gap between the raft and land, landing cleanly on her feet. She gave a curt nod to her brother, who waved a hand to indicate he understood. Neither had the time nor words to voice their opinions or feeling about what they'd just seen.

Ruffnut ran as fast as her lanky legs could carry her. She wasn't even sure why she had to be the one to go after Fishlegs, but something told her she had to. Something in the back of her mind urged her to run after him and to make sure he didn't get too far from where his friends were at the moment.

She sharply sucked in her breath as she felt the sting of the gash on her arm. The air wasn't helping it any and she was sure that letting it continue to bleed wasn't the best of ideas either.

Ruff staggered and then tripped over a root in her brief distraction and a second of putting pressure on her ankle told her that it was either twisted, sprained or broken. She grunted and put out her hands to support her and she wobbled to her feet for a second before her ankle gave out, causing her to collapse into an undignified heap. Ruffnut was beyond angry. She was defeated by her ankle of all things and she hated herself for it. It was pathetic and stupid. She had to find Fishlegs for reasons unknown to her and it was driving her nuts.

Maybe mom should have named me Ruffnuts, Ruff thought bitterly and then attempted once more to stand up, but something touched her ankle and the pain sent her back down.

"It's probably broken, you shouldn't stand on that," Ruffnut slowly raised her gaze to look on the large form of Fishlegs. He was currently focused on her ankle, but it was clear from his expression that he'd like nothing better than to get up and keep running. But he hadn't. For the life of her, Ruffnut couldn't figure out why someone like Fishlegs cared about her. Aside from the fact that they were both Viking trainees, they weren't exactly close, or if they had been, they certainly weren't anymore.

He reached into the small pack attached to his belt and pulled out a bandage roll and began to wrap it around her ankle. It had never occurred to Ruffnut that Fishlegs' hands might be soft, if not extremely gentle. The texture of his hands were a rough contrast to his tender touch. She didn't even notice when he finished wrapping her leg, because he said her name more forcefully the second time.

"Ruff," Fishlegs said and she looked at him. "Can you stand?" Ruff felt her embarrassment at her situation resurface as Fishlegs held out his hand to help her to her feet.

"Of course I can," Ruffnut said and pushed herself up, but her ankle caused her to sway briefly before Fishlegs caught her.

"If you keep putting pressure on it, t-the ankle m-might not h-heal properly." Fishlegs said, his usual stammer had now returned and Ruffnut felt a strange sense of relief at the sound. It was a nice change to the confident voice he'd used before. Though, she had to admit, the confident Fishlegs was interesting. Ruffnut shook the thought from her head. I think I'm losing my mind.

With her arm around Fishlegs' shoulders, Ruffnut hopped on one leg back towards the direction of the rafts.

"I-I could, you k-know…" Fishlegs stammered but Ruffnut gave him a sharp glare.

"Uh-uh, no way, I am not letting you carry me," Ruffnut said and continued her hop as Fishlegs supported her. When he continued to give her worried glances, Ruffnut sighed and then turned abruptly on him.

"What? Why do you keep looking at me like that? I can handle myself, okay?" She snapped and sucked in a deep breath, waiting for what she was sure would be a quick apology from Fishlegs.

But it never came. Instead she heard a soft voice grace her ears, "I know."

Ruffnut turned around and stared blankly at Fishlegs. For the first time she saw a look on his face that she never thought was possible. Fishlegs was a burly boy with a book of random facts for a brain. He managed to fight when he was told to, but for the most part he wasn't any more courageous than Tuffnut was, if not less than her annoying twin. She never guessed that behind his fact rattling and random sense of fighting, there was a passionate boy.

Ruff knew the look that he had on his face. It was the same one that she'd seen on Hiccup's face when he looked at Astrid. Of course the other blonde had never noticed how many times Hiccup had spent minutes just staring at her or admiring her from afar with eyes glowing with one-sided affection. Of course, Ruffnut had noticed that Hiccup had that look long ago.

She only had to take one look at Hiccup to know that he was more than he seemed to be or act. He was an idiotic screw-up on the surface, but she could tell from his eyes that he wasn't like that underneath.

It seemed that Fishlegs was the same. "You know?" Ruffnut questioned in surprise.

"Of course I know. I've known you for a long time, Ruff, and I've always known that you can handle yourself," The confident voice was back and Ruff was having a hard time taking it in without losing her nerve. She wasn't sure how to handle this new version of Fishlegs.

Ruff scowled, "So what are you saying? That I should ask for help?" Fishlegs shook his head.

"No, but it wouldn't hurt you to depend on your friends a little more," He stopped walking and forced Ruff to stop as well. For a few minutes Ruffnut stared fixatedly at the ground and neither one of them spoke.

"You like Hiccup, don't you?" Ruffnut looked up abruptly and her voice caught in her throat at the understanding look Fishlegs was giving her. It wasn't jealous or hurt and he certainly didn't sound angry. Some part of Ruffnut wished he was because the look he had was more painful in that it wasn't filled with blame.

"I like him," Ruffnut stated and wished at that moment she could disappear. She chanced a look at Fishlegs and saw that his expression had changed to one of sadness and he gave her a wistful smile.

"I know how you feel," He said and then effortlessly lifted Ruffnut's legs up so she didn't have to hop any more, once she was secured in his arms, he began walking in silence towards the river. She didn't bother to complain or argue this time.

The drop over the fall was brief but the impact sent water gushing into Astrid's face and into her lungs until she felt her throat burn. She grimaced her way through the entire plunge and once more she found herself slipping into unconsciousness. Then she looked up to see that she was heading straight for a jagged rock at the bottom of the tiny lake. She blinked and squeezed her eyes shut as she could feel that she couldn't stop herself from sinking.

Something then grabbed her waist and she hit her head on something hard, but it wasn't a rock. Her eyes opened just as she and what she now saw was a person hit the rock. Her body shook violently but it only stunned her for a second. The figure, whoever it was, had struck the rock's sharp surface head first and then his body was slammed against it as a result of Astrid's weight. She let out a yell, which only came out as bubbles and then pumped her way towards the lake's floor where the figure had fallen. Like the other armored warriors, this one's face was covered by a mask. Astrid couldn't care less at the moment since she knew that whoever this warrior was, he or she had saved Astrid's life. That alone said something for the warrior's sense of morale. She sucked in a breath as she used her single arm to lift the warrior, who was surprisingly light in spite of the fact that he was wearing armor. She took a moment to rip her belt from her waist and then started swimming again.

She coughed as her throat and lungs burned from lack of oxygen. Any second her strength would ebb and she would die from blood loss or drown, whichever came first. Astrid was determined to at least make it to the surface before either one happened. She pumped her legs and then let out a raspy cough and bubbles came out of her mouth. With a last burst of strength, Astrid kicked through the water and splashed through the surface, gasping and breathing in the air for what seemed like the first time in months.

She dragged the limp form of the warrior to the edge of the small lake and then clambered onto the grass before pulling the warrior up after her. She took a second to catch her breath before turning to look sideways at the warrior lying on the grass. Was this warrior the same one who had tried to pull her from the water before?

Astrid grasped her injured arm and then got up to walk over to where the warrior lay. She crouched down next to him and eye balled the dark stain that was spreading from the warrior's masked head and then the trail of red that was slowly leaking onto the grass underneath the warrior. Astrid flicked her braid back and then carefully removed the black cloth wrap that served as the warrior's mask.

It only took her a second before she jumped backwards impulsively at the face she was looking at. "It can't be…"

"Astrid!"

Astrid didn't notice that Fishlegs and Tuffnut had caught up with her until they had reached her side. "Astrid, a-are you okay?" Fishlegs questioned and then cut himself off when he noticed Astrid's expression. He looked from Astrid and to the warrior and then his own face paled. It was Hiccup.

"What happened?" Tuffnut demanded, "I don't get it, why are you two acting so weird?"

"You're the one who's weird, Tuff," Ruffnut's voice said from behind. She was riding on the back of a Night Fury and landed right next to her brother, who had jumped in surprise at her sudden arrival. "Someone you know is lying on the ground bleeding and you're asking why they're acting weird?"

"I'm not weird, Weirdo!"

"Moron, can't you come up with a better comeback?"

"Has anyone bothered to check if he's still breathing?" All eyes turned to Korenth, who hopped off the back of another Night Fury and was now standing with his arms folded across his chest.

Astrid leaned over and pressed her fingers against Hiccup's wrist. "He's alive," She breathed, though her voice was barely audible at this point.

"Stand aside," Two broad black wings brushed the trainees aside with ease and then the large head of Kuwaay leaned down and touched his nose to Hiccup's chest. "He is dying."

Astrid shook her head, "That can't be true!" For the first time in her life, Astrid let her feelings of panic show. Not that anyone among the trainees didn't know at this point that she and Astrid liked each other and probably wouldn't admit that they might even love one another, but Astrid felt a mix of embarrassment and shame at her sudden outburst. It was the most useless thing she could have said and she averted her eyes. She was sure that the other trainees were staring at her now. Why was she being uncharacteristically weak now?

"I believe now it is about time that I told you the truth," Kuwaay continued. Astrid turned her head up to look into the dragon's brilliant greenish yellow eyes. Korenth's brow furrowed.

"Truth?"

"There is a reason why the warriors and their king are after the Night Furies and it isn't what you think it is," Kuwaay said. All eyes were now focused on the largest Night Fury, including the other Night Furies. Toothless was giving his father a strangely inquiring look. No one spoke as the Night Fury straightened and lifted his head so he could look out at the burning trees surrounding the river.

"The King doesn't want us dead," Kuwaay said plainly. "The very thought would ruin his initial plan."

Korenth scowled even more deeply, "Which is what?"

"To become immortal," Kuwaay replied with a slight growl at the end. Korenth clamped his mouth shut for a moment as he mulled over what the dragon had just said.

"Become immortal? Isn't that impossible, even for a dragon?" Astrid put in. Kuwaay turned his head to look at the girl, taking in the fear in her eyes and the fact that she was grasping Hiccup's limp hand in hers.

"One can live longer but one can never become truly immortal. For if your soul dies, so do you," Kuwaay stated with a frown of his own. "Many humans foolishly believe that it is possible to live forever. But somewhere along the line the things that they want to live to see die out and they die as a result. Once you have nothing more to live for, living forever seems more of a curse than a gift. Even dragons, who live for hundreds, sometimes thousands of years, do not live forever."

"Then why does the king think you can help him do that?" Everyone turned to look over to the speaker. Ruffnut's eyes hardened as she stared Kuwaay down, "Why does he think that?" She repeated more harshly this time. Fishlegs gave her a sympathetic look. Ruffnut had lost her father at a young age and the idea of never having to see someone die, must have caused her to feel sad that she never got the chance. Tuffnut even looked disturbed now, his eyes fixated on the muddy ground.

"Because only Night Furies have the gift of eternal heart," Kuwaay said, gesturing his wing to indicate to his fellow Furies, who all looked down at the ground or simply stared at the humans with distant expressions.

"Meaning what?" Tuffnut questioned, glancing sidelong at his sister, who was frowning deeply as she glared at a random spot on the grass. He knew that she liked Hiccup, but out of respect for the fact that he knew that Hiccup liked Astrid, he neglected to make fun of her on this one topic. Now that Hiccup was lying on the ground, dying, Tuffnut couldn't find anything comforting to say. Comfort wasn't really his forte, so he decided to vent his anger out on Kuwaay for his vague statements.

"I've heard myths about that," Fishlegs said before anyone could speak. Tuffnut and Ruffnut both turned to look over at Fishlegs now. The confidence was back in his voice. It was the tone he used when he was rattling out facts about dragons. Clearly he would be the one to know about this particular mystery. "Night Furies are supposedly the only dragons that have the ability to share their hearts with humans."

"Share their hearts?" Tuffnut wrinkled his nose. "You mean like spill secrets of love or something?"

Fishlegs shook his head, "They can take half of their hearts and give them to a human who is dying. That heart will save the human and as long as the dragon lives, so will the human."

"No wonder the king wants that," Tuffnut said, "With half a dragon's heart, he could live for thousands of years."

Ruffnut still remained stonily silent and then she looked over at Kuwaay, "But it's not that simple, is it?" Astrid looked carefully at the other female trainee and for the first time it occurred to Astrid that Ruffnut might like Hiccup as well. The questions Ruffnut was asking were more intuitive than Astrid was used to hearing from the other blonde.

Kuwaay gave a short incline of his head, the dragon version of a nod, "Nothing is ever simple when it comes to the heart. The dragon and human will share everything once half the dragon's heart is placed in the human's body. If the dragon is hurt, so is the human, if the dragon is sick, so is the human and if the dragon feels emotional pain, so does the human. Nothing is separate from that moment on. Even some thoughts are shared between them and even if the human wants to have a normal lifespan, he or she couldn't. Unless both the dragon and human want to die, they will live for a long time."

"So the king wouldn't be able to live forever even if he wanted to," Korenth said coldly. Kuwaay nodded.

"Precisely," Kuwaay lifted his head and sniffed the air, his nostrils twitching as the smell of smoke filled them, "Every Night Fury can share a heart, but not all of us can connect well enough with a human to make it last."

Silence fell among the trainees and all those gathered around Hiccup, who now coughed and shuddered before falling still. "Astrid," She turned to look at Kuwaay.

"Hiccup is dying, but not every life is meant to last forever," The dragon heaved a sigh. "I will now be honest and say that the real reason Ki'shna's mother died was because the human with whom she shared a heart died as well."

Astrid stared blankly and then followed Kuwaay's gaze to where Hiccup lay. "Wait, you don't mean…?" Kuwaay nodded and Astrid felt a twinge of pain.

"Hiccup's mother shared a heart with Toothless' mother?" Korenth questioned to break the silence.

"A pure bond if I ever saw one," Kuwaay said with a pained smile, "But when Hiccup's mother died, so did Toothless' mother." Astrid looked down at Hiccup.

"That's why Toothless and Hiccup are so close," Astrid said finally. Kuwaay nodded once more.

"If anyone can share a heart with Hiccup, it's Ki'shna," Kuwaay stated, "But the choice is a difficult one."

"I don't see it that way," Astrid stated as she stood up. "To me, life without Hiccup is a life not worth living," At the moment Astrid couldn't care how corny her statement sounded, all she knew was that she'd never said anything truer in her entire life.

"Astrid…" Astrid turned at the sound of Hiccup's voice.

"Hiccup," She knelt down next to him. "We're going to get you out of this."

"There's no time," Hiccup said and grimaced as a violent shudder went through his body, "Hidaiyo is trying to bring all the Night Furies under his power so he can destroy and control the other villages. He knows about the eternal heart and will use it on all his soldiers."

Astrid froze and then gripped her hands into tight fists, "How did you find that out?"

"Because the General stabbed me before I came," Hiccup said, "He knew that my death would force your hand, Kuwaay."

The dragon's eyes blazed with unmatched anger, "You mean he sent you out here to die and then prove that the eternal heart exists?"

Hiccup nodded slowly and Astrid grasped his hand tightly before turning to Kuwaay, "We can't just let him die." The dragon closed his eyes meditatively as everyone withdrew to their own thoughts. Hiccup continued to shiver and was now no longer able to keep his eyes open.

"Kuwaay," One of the other Night Furies sang, "It is the will of the stars that we live to keep harmony among humans. This boy is your kin and he is human. We must honor the stars."

Kuwaay heaved a deep sigh. "I don't like that Hidaiyo is forcing us to follow his plan. But I think Hiccup lasted longer than the king expected because Hiccup informed us of the trap. We will go into it willingly and maybe the stars will bless us with the ability to reverse the trap."

"I like this plan," Tuffnut said, rubbing his hands together.

"It's the best one yet, I should know," Snotlout said with a self affirming nod. Ruffnut rolled her eyes.

"Sure you would," She said and Snotlout gave her a defiant look.

"He knows better than you do," Tuffnut commented and Ruffnut punched her brother in the arm.

"Hiccup, son of Berk," Kuwaay said, "I will-" Toothless pushed his father aside and stood over Hiccup for second before he stood up on two legs and gripped the scale covering the left side of his chest with his claws and pulled them back like the flap of a tent. The glow of the thudding heart reflected in everyone's eyes and it continued glowing even as Toothless grasped the round heart in his claws. As he split it in half, the color changed from a pinkish red to a vibrant green and then it continued to change colors as Toothless approached the now still form of Hiccup. Astrid backed away in stunned silence as the Night Fury nodded to her. She slipped the remains of Hiccup's armor and black tunic back to reveal the gash from the stab wound Hiccup had mentioned earlier. Toothless took the half heart in one claw and then cut further into Hiccup's chest and with a quick push the human heart came out in the dragon's claws. All the Vikings averted their eyes except for Astrid, who watched with shocked fascination as Toothless placed his half heart into Hiccup's open chest. The dragon's eyes closed firmly as the multicolored lights danced around the two friends. As the lights faded, Toothless took one look over at Astrid before collapsing to the ground next to Hiccup. Immediately Astrid was at the side of the dragon and Hiccup.

"Hiccup, Toothless," She said and let out a relieved sigh when she felt the soft heartbeat of both dragon and boy against her hands as they rested on the chests of her two friends.

"They will be resting for a while," Kuwaay said, "In the meantime we must construct a plan to attack Hidaiyo's castle."

Astrid stood up and brushed the dirt off her clothes, "First I need to get my belt from the bottom of the lake, then I will be more than willing to talk about killing whoever did this to Hiccup."

Kuwaay frowned, "This is not about revenge, Astrid," He looked up at the sky. "The stars wanted us to revive Hiccup so that we could prevent bloodshed."

"How do you know?" Ruffnut demanded, "For all we know, the gods want us to do what the General did to Hiccup back at those vermin."

"A dragon's heart is bound by the laws of the stars," Kuwaay said firmly and a hint of anger entered the dragon's voice. "If both Hiccup and Ki'shna are to live, they must not violate the will of the stars and the stars do not run on revenge."

Ruffnut then muttered under her breath before turning away from the others. Fishlegs watched her with concern but resisted the urge to talk to her as he sensed she needed time to herself. Hiccup had almost died and had been revived in front of their eyes, she was probably more than preoccupied with those thoughts, if not more things.

Astrid had gone off to get her belt from the bottom of the lake, temporarily leaving the duty of watching Hiccup and Toothless to Snotlout and Tuffnut. She emerged from the water, grasping her belt and only then remembered that her shoulder was still dislocated. She touched it and then clambered onto the grass, breathing heavily.

"Your shoulder is dislocated," Astrid looked up to see Fishlegs standing above her. She pushed herself up. "I can put it back for you." Astrid nodded and Fishlegs put his hands on either side of her shoulder and pushed hard and with a loud pop the shoulder was back in its socket. Astrid bit down on her lip to keep from yelling in pain. But now her shoulder felt so much better.

"Thanks, Fishlegs," She said, but Fishlegs was already staring off in another direction. Astrid followed his gaze and then looked back at Fishlegs. There were so many things she was only just finding out about her fellow trainees and it was only because they were face to face with a dire fight against an enemy more complex than anything Astrid had ever faced.

"Let's go make a battle plan," Astrid said, clapping her friend on the shoulder. He nodded wordlessly and then followed Astrid back over to where the dragons were gathering to confer about their strategy. Already Snotlout and Tuffnut were arguing about who had more seniority now that Hiccup was out of commission and Astrid had to shake her head in silent amusement. Fishlegs' mouth twitched into a bemused smile and they exchanged silent looks before joining their friends.

Thanks to the following users for adding this story to their story alerts, favorite stories lists and/or favorite authors list:

Eyriegirl

.4ever2010 (Sorry, FFN wouldn't let me print your full name for some weird reason)

Darkdagers

bob-in –ator

Comet Moon

BFSF

Thanks again to all you old hats for your feedback and favorites, you know who you are and you rock!