Hey, guys how are you? I know I'm late but I've been having some issues and problems I needed to solve. I'll answer all your reviews as soon as I can, but for now you'll have to wait. My boyfriend has been cut off of the internet, so we can't talk and I'm too worried to think with a straight mind.

I hope you understand and I hope that you enjoy this chapter. I have to warn you, get tissues.

Chapter 14 – Heart

Toothless' and Astrid's POV

Toothless and Astrid remained silent, taken aback from Jack's outburst.

"He doesn't accept himself…" Astrid commented, eventually. On her face, Toothless could see all the pity and the compassion that she felt towards Jack. "It's obviously something that makes him hate himself. He's been pranked or bullied about it, I have no doubt. That would also give a sense to his un-Jack-like violence and aversion towards Snotlout's tyranny over the weak kids."

"Well… Yeah, that's plausible…" Toothless nodded, looking really absorbed by Astrid's musings. He wasn't the type of guy for deductions, though. He didn't add anything to what his girlfriend had said, in fact. He was just helpless and all he could do was watch Astrid's mastery at work, as it built and revealed amazing truths.

"You can't get where I'm getting at, can you?" She smirked when Toothless shook his head. Oh, didn't she just know him perfectly? She sighed heavily. "I probably know why Hiccup and Jack didn't manage to get together yet."

"Can you maybe explain it to me as well?"

"Well, they do have some sort of feeling, don't they? I can see chemistry flowing between them. Can you, Tooth?" When the boy nodded, she smiled and pinched his cheek. "You are not as helpless as I thought, then. Anyways… Why didn't this chemistry bring them to be boyfriends yet? I need one last answer to know it. Tooth, does Hiccup accept himself for what he is?"

"It's complicated… When he first told me, he seemed very upset about that. I think he thought of himself as disgusting and wrong. I think that he accepts himself, now. My acceptance probably played a key role in that, because it gave him something positive to cling to."

"Then it's clear." She asserted, sounding really convinced. "At first, they couldn't feel the chemistry because they thought that it was something unnatural. They were trying to be a canonic type of normal people, repressing their feelings. Then, when Hiccup couldn't hide it anymore and burst out in front of you, something changed. You helped him to get through that feeling of being wrong. You allowed him to feel the chemistry. In fact, he frenched Jack that same night! But, right when Hiccup was about to pull Jack out of his shell and finally let it flow freely, Jack's drunken memory decided to trick them. And now Hiccup has lost all of his faith and self-esteem because of that, while Jack still can't break out of his cocoon."

"Okay, that makes sense." Toothless nodded. "But the problem still persists: how do we help them getting together? Because, let's admit it, we both think they are made for each other. Don't you even try to deny it."

"I wasn't going to deny anything!" Astrid exclaimed, looking offended. She pouted as she stood up from Toothless' lap and sat beside him, looking the other way. "I totally wasn't."

"Oh, yeah, sure. Because I haven't even known you for almost 14 years by now and I'm not able to tell when you are about to deny something." Toothless chuckled, slipping his arm around her waist, pulling her in a gentle hug. "Come on, tell me how do we solve the problem. I'll follow your intuitions and we'll get them together."

"Well… We could just force them to say it…" Astrid said.

Toothless noticed that his girlfriend didn't say that with a particular emphasis. He brushed a strand of blonde, long hair off of Astrid's forehead. "But?" He whispered.

"But that would make them feel like it's forced… And it wouldn't end well…" She concluded.

"I have an idea, As." Toothless whispered. "I will talk to Hiccup, when he comes back. But now let's stop worrying about them. Now, I want to catch up for what we missed these last days."

It was right in that moment that Astrid realized how close Toothless' face was and, when he kissed her gently, she completely forgot about Hiccup and Jack. She actually forgot the whole world. There was only Toothless.

Hiccup's POV

It was late night when Hiccup came back to the hotel room he and his father shared. He had taken a long walk through the grassy hills and the meadows on the uncivilized part of the island. He knew that his dad would have been angry because he hadn't even called to say anything, but he had to think. He had to think about the best way to fulfill his promise to Zachary. He had wondered if it was a good idea to even think about it: it was just a promise to a stranger, after all. But wasn't a slight boost like that the only thing he needed to finally try and talk to Jack? Wasn't that the door to his chance of getting his Jack back? Wasn't that the perfect occasion to finally get his newly realized love responded to? He knew it was. He knew he couldn't wait for things to sort out themselves, because if there was anything he had learned from that trip to Berk it was that acting is always better than waiting. Waiting was what had brought he and Jack to that point, acting was what had made he and his father closer than ever. Acting was the best thing to do, and now that he had realized that, nothing could have stopped him from getting his own happiness. Not even Jack's drunken mind. He was going to win that battle. He was going to win for both Jack and himself. Whether his tricky destiny wanted it or not.

"Dad!" He called loudly as he busted into the room. "Dad, there is something I need to do. It's important. We absolutely need to…"

"Does that involve getting back home on a private jet in less than an hour?" His father asked, cutting him off. Stoick was standing and running around, in a visible hurry. Their clothes, all scattered around until the night before, were now orderly placed in their suitcases, as their toothbrushes and necessities were. The man was shoving the last of his sweaters into his bag. "Because that's what we are doing. Close and lock your baggage. They are coming to get us in a handful of minutes."

"O-oh… That's actually what I wanted to ask you to do…" Hiccup said sounding surprised, as he obeyed and did what his father told him to. "Can you please explain, dad? Not that I mind, of course!"

"Can you wait until we are on the plane, Hic? We need to hurry. Now." Stoick urged, picking up his stuff and hurrying out of the door, followed by a stupefied, panting Hiccup. "To the docks, son! Hurry! We need to get there as soon as possible. We're probably late already."

"What… about the… hotel!" Hiccup exhaled his words, just as if he was exhaling his last breath. He was tired of that jolting already and the air in his lungs was running short so quickly that he couldn't breathe quick enough to replenish it. "Who… will pay?"

"Enough with your questions, Hiccup! I paid already, don't worry. Just run and I promise I'll answer on our fly home."

When they finally made it to the docks after a troublesome rush, since Hiccup had risked a collapse and Stoick had to carry on him all the suitcases to help his son, Hiccup saw that his father was right. There was a big ass, white jet in the bay. Its engines were running already: it was obviously ready to take off as quick as it could. And they were late.

After Stoick had shoved both their luggage and Hiccup (which had incredibly managed to trip right in front of the stairs to get into the vehicle) inside the plane and had gotten in himself, it was just a matter of two minutes before they were soaring up high in the sky at an unimaginable speed.

Hiccup slowly pushed himself on his feet and looked around. The inside of the plane was akin to that of a military transport, and every seat but the one next to his dad was occupied. There were fifteen guys, more or less. He barely had the time to notice that the empty seat was for him, that a sharp pain in his stomach bent him to the ground again. He felt his guts clench and twist and he opened his mouth to throw up. No vomit came out, though. He just felt his mouth and throat on fire as he let out a sharp hiss from how much it hurt. His stomach did that two more times before he could finally stand and go take his sit. He spat on the back of his hand only to notice that his saliva was of a dark shade of green. He wiped it on his pants, before fastening the double belt he had on his sides.

"Are you alright, son?" Stoick whispered patting his shoulder gently.

"No. I just vomited my gastric acids and bile." Hiccup coughed slightly, looking at the dark skies out of the glass panels that were interspersed between the various seats. "Disgusting."

"Ah, I know how that feels… I'm sorry. It's my fault. I made you run so suddenly and so fast." Stoick apologized, caressing his boy's head. "But we had to get here as quick as we could. Do you still want to hear the reason? Or would you rather sleep? I can ask for some pills if you want."

"No, just… tell me why." Hiccup sniffled, spitting some more of that thing on his hand and cleaning it the same way as before.

"Do you remember about that guy with the explosive device I told you about?"

"Uh… the one with the micro nuclear bomb? Yeah."

"Well, he broke out of prison just before we could transfer him to his new asylum. He killed a cop and stole many guns from the department storage. He's officially very dangerous now. Human lives are being threatened. Every second he runs around freely, somebody could die. Every cop of Berk depart has been called to search for him. I've been told that there's a SWAT squad as well. I would have gladly refused, but it's a matter of life and death." Stoick whispered. "I hope you can understand that this doesn't depend on me and that you don't think I'm giving up on our relationship again."

Hiccup nodded. He was grateful, actually. If Berk's people was in danger, that included Jack as well. And he couldn't let somebody hurt his Jack. "No, I would have done the same thing. Thanks for asking them to pick me up as well." Hiccup smiled slightly. The old Stoick would have given him some money to rent a boat back to the airport. "When are we going to get there?"

"Ten hours, more or less." Stoick shrugged. "We have to pick up another old fellah of ours down in Italy and then we'll fly back. It's going to be pretty long, Hic. I suggest you sleep because we'll arrive in perfect timing to get you to school: there are patrols around the building. It's safe. Safer than home, anyways."

Even if Hiccup wanted to know more about the matter, for example where the Italian guy could sit since there were no more seats, he decided to take it easy and sleep. He needed to be at the top of his energy to finally confront Jack and his feelings. "I'll accept that offer for sleeping pills, dad."

The cop in front of him, a fully armored and armed woman, handed him a small box. "Try this, boy. It's like Tylenol PM, just quicker."

Hiccup thanked and barely had the time to swallow the pill before falling in a deep sleep. He slept dreamlessly through the flight, not even feeling the vibrations of the plane landing and boarding his last passenger. The only thing he thought he heard, was a thunder, but he wasn't too sure of it.

.

.

.

"Hiccup? Hiccup wake up." His father whispered, shaking his shoulder. "We have arrived."

The brunet could still hear the engines roaring, his seat was still trembling from the flight. "What are you talking about, dad… we haven't landed yet…" He muttered annoyed, his voice was broken and raspy.

"Who said anything about landing at Berk's airport?" Stoick chuckled, handing him something that looked like a bag with some short, thick ropes hanging from the sides. The man was wearing one as well. "Besides, this way is quicker."

"What's this?" Hiccup unfastened his belt, wearing the bag on his shoulders like his father had done. He had a bad feeling about that thing.

"A parachute."

"What?!"

"Oh, come on, Hic! You always told me you wanted to fly. Here's your chance."

"B-but I don't know how to do this! I've never done such a crazy thing and I didn't mean the flying thing for real." Hiccup noticed that Stoick was slowly cornering him to the door, opened on the clear nothingness of the sky. There was no way to escape that. "No, dad I've changed my mind, I want to go back! No, dad! No! Dad, n-no… Dad, don't you dare daAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!"

Hiccup screamed at the top of his lungs when his dad pushed him in a deadly freefall. It took Stoick just a second to be falling as well, right above Hiccup. The teen tried to call for help, but all he could do was scream his fear and his anger up at his dad, trying to make him explode with the loudness of his yelling. It wasn't working, though.

Stoick's response was a hearty laugh at his son's scared face. "Calm down, Hic." He overcame the brunet's voice easily. "I'm here with you. Listen to me and everything will be fine, alright?"

Hiccup finally closed his mouth, nodding. He would have liked to give a worded answer, but he was sure that everything that could get out of his throat right in that moment was nothing but a scream.

"Good. Flip yourself around until you face the clouds underneath us. Yes, like that. Now spread out your limbs, it will slow you down a bit." Stoick grinned when he saw his son's muscles relax a bit. He was starting to enjoy it. "See that blue rope on your right? Pull it when you break through the clouds and the parachute will open. Should it not work…"

"Should it not work?! WHAT THE HELL DO YOU MEAN WITH THAT?!"

"…Should it not work," Stoick continued. "Pull the red rope on your right. If that doesn't work either, pull the green rope on your left. Don't forget this and you'll be alright."

When they finally landed, Hiccup had to admit he enjoyed the whole thing. Except the initial fear, his first parachuting experience had been a lot of fun: he had felt weightless and without boundaries. For the first time in his life he truly felt free from everything else. It felt… awesome. Nevertheless, as soon as his legs allowed him to walk again without being too wobbly, he punched his dad's cheek. "You could have told me!" He yelled.

Stoick barely even hurt from his son's fist, started to laugh again. "And lose that awesome face of yours? Never." He chuckled. "By the way, give me back the communication device in your ear, please."

When Hiccup looked at him as if he was crazy, he pulled out something like a very small coin from his son's right ear. "It's impossible to talk at such heights without these. I thought you knew that."

Hiccup nodded. "It's… It's just… I'm still slightly dizzy from my ten hours nap." He muttered, embarrassedly. How could he even forget something as elementary as that?

"Well, it's time to wake up sleepyhead. You've got to get to class."

"Uh, oh… sure. Where's the school from here?" Hiccup asked. "Well… where is 'here', actually?"

"Look around yourself."

Hiccup did as his father told him. First, he looked up at the sky: he noticed that the clouds they had passed through were as gray as clouds could be and, with the cold climate of Berk, they easily meant heavy snow. Then, and only then, he really looked around himself for the first time from when they had landed. He facepalmed. "You had this planned, am I right?" Hiccup sighed heavily: they were in the school's courtyard and his dad had unconsciously made sure that he couldn't chicken out of his promise at the last minute.

"Totally." Stoick chuckled. "Your bag is waiting for you into your Math class for which, I may add, you are five minutes late already."

"I hate you dad." Hiccup shouted merrily, joking as he slowly jogged to his first class. To his first class with Jack. To the fulfillment of his promise.

When he got into the classroom, the teacher barely gave him the time to close the door then barked him to get to his seat and just follow the lesson quietly. He silently thanked him for not asking about his delay.

"Hey Jack." He whispered gently as he sat next to his favorite white haired boy. "How are you?"

No answer. Jack obstinately kept his pouty expression at him, turning the other way not to look at him.

"I imagined something like that… I'm sorry…" The brunet continued. "Listen, I need to talk to you when Math is over."

No answer again.

"Come on, I'll be quick and…"

"Shut up!" Jack hissed, turning to face him. "I don't want to talk to you anymore. You left me alone for a week after promising to be a better friend and you didn't even think of warning me about your trip! I don't want to hear anything from you."

Hiccup wasn't going to give up that easily. He kept harassing Jack for twenty minutes, thinking that maybe, if he proved that it was important to him, Jack would have decided to hear him out for a minute. And a minute was everything he needed.

"No, Hic." Jack replied for the millionth time. "You lost your chance when you left for Berk. I don't want to talk to you."

Hiccup's determination was starting to falter. He wasn't sure anymore on how to handle Jack's denials and rejections. However, he had one last card to play in his favor. He inspired. There was no other way but to tell him. Right then and right there. "Jack…" He whispered gently, swallowing nervously and silently praying every divine entity to help him. "I… I… I lo…"

It was right then that the door busted open and a man irrupted in the room, interrupting both Hiccup and the lesson. He was tall and his face gave off that he wasn't that young anymore. He had two rifles on his back and a handgun in his right hand. "One." He muttered to himself, lifting his gun towards the crowd of scared students. "I need one…"

"What are you do-" The teacher tried to shout, getting cut off by the man with the gun.

"Silence! You will all die if you speak!" He wasn't kidding, everybody could easily tell that. Then, he pointed his gun at Jack. "You. Stand up."

Hiccup's eyes widened when he saw Jack obey. No… No, it couldn't be true! It couldn't happen to his Jack! Not now that he had finally found the courage to tell him! Not now that things had finally started going right for him! Not… Not his Jack… Not the one he loved… Everyone… Everyone but him…

"Got any last words, kiddo?" The man asked as a twisted, evil grin built up on his face. "No? Good. Makes things quicker."

As Jack closed his eyes and the criminal aimed with the gun for the deadly shot, Hiccup acted. He stood up, as quick as he could. It was as if the time had frozen, for the brunet: he could see every single movement around him, he could sense everything. He could see the muscles of the criminal contracting as he hit the trigger. He could see Jack's eyelids slowly opening to see what was going on, what was that thing on his arm that was pushing him. For a second, he even saw the bullet, flying in their direction. Then, he closed his eyes.

The loud bang echoed throughout the whole school and in the nearby streets, drawing the attention of every cop within a hundred meters.

However, Jack couldn't hear the many gunshots fired at the criminal just a few seconds later. He couldn't see the assassins' dead body fall, lifeless, to the ground. Because his senses were completely focused on the brunet, laying on the ground next to him. He barely noticed that he had fallen on his knees, next to Hiccup. He whispered his name. He called, gently, two or three times, before Hiccup finally opened his eyes.

"Jack…" He coughed, spilling drops of blood in the air. "I made… I made a promise…"

"Don't talk!" Jack shouted, despair taking over him. He could see the light slowly fading away from those amazing green orbs he liked so much. "You'll be fine, just don't talk!"

"Jack, look at me." Hiccup whispered, a resigned smile drawing his way on his blood stained lips. His cheeks were paling quickly. "Look at me…"

"Hiccup, you'll be fine!" Jack refused to believe it. It couldn't be true. "P-please don't give up…" When Hiccup called his name for the third time, Jack finally looked him over. His face was almost as white as his hair, his once bright green eyes were now dim and almost closed. On his shirt, just above his heart, a rose of vivid blood was impressed, making Jack understand that the small pool of blood on the ground was much more of a serious matter than he thought. "H-Hiccup…"

The brunet lifted his hand, which seemed to weigh so much more than when he had cut himself, and placed his finger on Jack's lips, staining them with blood as well. Jack nodded, tears starting to run down his face as he gently grabbed the brunet's bloody hand with his to listen to his friend's last words.

"Jack, I made a promise…" Hiccup whispered, coughing slightly. "I promised to myself to tell you… something… I need to do it before I die…"

"You won't die!" Jack couldn't stay silent. He couldn't let Hiccup go. He just couldn't let him accept the idea of dying. He ripped Hiccup's shirt off, pressing it whereabouts the wound was. "You won't die! I don't want to…"

Hiccup hissed in pain. "Jack, I promised something to myself and something else to a friend." He whispered. His voice wasn't anything but the feeblest gust of air, something inaudible and almost inexistent. But Jack was there. After all that time, he was there to listen to him. Eventually, he had obtained what he wanted. Thanks to Jack's rough, yet effective, actions, he wasn't coughing anymore, even though blood was now freely running from his mouth. "To my friend, that helped me to realize it… I-I promised I'd tell you I… I love you, Jack…"

Jack let go of the shirt and stared at Hiccup, his eyes even wider. "Y-you… You…"

"To myself, I promised I'd love you forever…" Hiccup coughed slightly. "Because I have loved you since the first moment. I've loved you since you told me my name was cool and you didn't know it…"

"H-Hiccup…" Jack whispered, his tears even thicker when he realized what Hiccup was saying.

"You didn't know it and we fought because I was too much of a coward to tell you… You didn't know and I hurt you because of that… You didn't know and now I'm dying…"

Jack shook his head, restarting his attempts at stopping Hiccup's blood. This time, though, his struggles were visibly useless. "You won't die! You won't die! You cannot die… Please, I need you…" Jack whimpered, sobbing as hard as a man could. "Please… don't leave me alone…"

Hiccup closed his eyes, smiling when he heard the sound of an ambulance approaching the building. He knew that he was too late. "I'm sorry, Jack. My time has come…" He whispered as he felt his own self slipping away from his own body. "I love you." He managed to say with the last of his strength.

When the paramedics entered the room, they found that Jack was carrying his friend. The white haired boy had Hiccup hugged to his chest, his blue hoodie irreparably stained with that dark color only blood could have. It was Jack himself who carried the brunet on the ambulance, laying him down where the paramedics told him to. There was no way to make him get off the vehicle. He wanted to stay with Hiccup, holding his hand even if he could feel the warmth slowly seeping away and letting the dead cold in. He wasn't crying. He wouldn't allow himself to. He just glared at the heart monitor with ferocity in his eyes, almost as if he was daring Hiccup's heart to stop.

And when that beeping line on the screen went flat, he wished he had never dared it.

Yes, I just did it. Made ya all cry? I hope that this has hit your feel at least, Skelly.

Bye!