Title: A Long Ride Home

Summary: Hiccup is feeling all out of sorts one cold morning at Dragon's Edge, and he's sure he can feel the beginning of a phantom pain coming on. But, the other riders are so excited about going back to Berk and updating the Book of Dragons. He can't crush their enthusiasm. Unfortunately, the pain hits him when they're in the air, right between Berk and Dragon's Edge, with no land besides a sea stack for over ten hours worth of flying.

Characters: Hiccup, Astrid

Genre: Hurt/Comfort/Friendship

Rating: K

Requested by: Golden

Hiccup had been feeling rotten ever since he opened his eyes that cold, winter morning. In fact, he'd been feeling rotten ever since he went to bed before that cold, winter morning. He didn't know what it is. He assumed it was something minor, like a cold or a flu, because he always got sick when the temperature dropped.

He'd never actually been the healthiest person in the world, ever since he was little. He got sick easily as he grew up, and although now, he didn't get sick as much, he still got sick occasionally.

The previous night, he'd gone to sleep with a pounding headache and a tight feeling in his chest. His leg had been aching (his bad leg, go figure), but he'd ignored that. He'd been too exhausted to care much about his leg or his head. He'd gotten chills in the night, and if it hadn't been for Toothless to keep him warm, Hiccup was pretty sure he would have come down with hypothermia.

Despite his initial feeling of illness and pain in his leg (he would probably have a phantom pain later, although he desperately hoped it wasn't the case), he got up in the morning and met the other riders at the Clubhouse.

"Hey, Hiccup!" Astrid called excitedly as she raced towards him the moment he stepped inside. "We were thinking about going back to Berk so we can update the book of dragons!"

To Hiccup, the idea sounded like an awful one, with the way he was feeling, but he wasn't going to tell his friends that. He hated to worry them. He opened his mouth to reply, when Fishlegs piped up.

"Yeah, Hiccup!" he agreed. "We've learned so much! We just have to update the book of dragons, that way, when we come back here, we'll have a clean slate to work on! So much to learn, and so much to document! Ooh, isn't this exciting!?"

Hiccup forced himself to smile. "Yeah!" he agreed.

"In that case," Snotlout grumbled, "we should leave right now. I mean, after all, Berk is about a day and a half flight from here."

Hiccup's shoulders slumped slightly, although no one noticed. Oh, man, he'd forgotten what a long flight it was from here back home, but there was no backing out of it now. If he backed out of it, his friends would know there was a reason, and he didn't want to worry them.

"Alright!" Astrid clapped her hands together. "Fishlegs, pack up! Grab all our notebooks with the dragon information on them, pack them, and we'll head out! Everyone else, grab only what you need. We'll travel lightly."

Hiccup sighed. This, was going to be a very, very, very long day.

…

When they first took air and began the trip back to Berk, the cool air was refreshing. Hiccup's earlier nausea became something he could ignore easily, and his headache dimmed as the cool wind blew through his face. For a while, he was able to forget about the pain in his leg.

But then, it got worse. Five hours had passed since they left Dragon's Edge when Hiccup felt worse than before. He knew it now; he had some sort of flu, or cold, or whatever illness it was. The fact was, he wasn't well. The pain in his leg was steadily climbing, growing, up and up and up and up-

He looked back over his shoulder. The other riders were chatting away, their dragons in the V formation with Hiccup and Toothless at the front of the V, leading the others forward. Fishlegs told Astrid something that sounded like a joke, and Astrid practically fell off her dragon with laughter. The twins snickered, and even Snotlout couldn't hide a chuckle.

He didn't want to turn back now. He wanted to for his own sake, but he didn't want to go back for the sake of his friends. He cared about his friends, and they were so enthusiastic about going back to Berk, that he simply couldn't change his mind.

There was no going back now.

Any thoughts of going back to Dragon's Edge were eliminated when they reached the halfway point between Berk and Dragon's Edge. They were making great time. In fact, it was going faster than usual. They'd flown sixteen hours worth of flying in only eleven hours. That was good.

But eleven hours of flying nonstop while working a dragon's prosthetic tailfin with a leg that currently felt as though it was being stabbed over and over by a white-hot sword while also feeling as though your head was going to explode and your stomach was going to turn inside out would put a damper on anyone's mood, and Hiccup was no exception. He looked down at the ocean below and knew that there was literally no turning back now. There was no where they could land; it was eleven hours back to Dragon's Edge, and eleven hours forward to Berk.

Either way, they would be flying for another eleven hours, and Hiccup would have no relief from his illness or upcoming phantom pain. He could feel the beginning of the phantom pain setting in what was left of his leg. There was no denying it now. The sun was still up in the sky, although as time wore on, it began setting.

"Hey, Hiccup," Astrid asked, moving Stormfly out of formation to fly alongside him for the first time since they took air. "Fishlegs was wondering…" She stopped abruptly, her eyes narrowing in confusion. "Hiccup, are you okay?" she asked.

Hiccup heard the concern in her voice and cringed inwardly. No, no, no, no. He didn't want her to know he was sick, and in pain. He didn't want her to worry. No, he wouldn't let her worry. He would brush it off, tell her he was fine-

"I'm fine. Why do you ask?" he asked. Stupid, stupid, stupid, oh, that was a stupid thing to ask...

"You look pale," Astrid said.

Hiccup shook his head. Don't let her worry, don't let her worry, don't let her know, don't let her know, don't let her find out, Hiccup, you idiot. "It's just the lighting," he said, making an excuse for himself (although he was sure Astrid didn't buy it at all). "The sun's setting, see? The lighting. Nothing to-"

He cut off abruptly and grit his teeth in pain. His hands tightened into a death grip on Toothless' saddlehorn. He squeezed his eyes shut and gasped heavily, his chest heaving.

The phantom pain had set in.

The pain was splitting and sudden, stabbing straight through his leg, worse than anything he'd felt before except another phantom pain. Hiccup bent low over Toothless' back, his forehead pressing against the back of his dragon's neck.

Don't scream, don't scream, don't scream, not in front of Astrid.

"Hiccup!?" Now Astrid really sounded worried, and Hiccup heard Stormfly's wings beating against the sky, followed by Astrid's hand on his shoulder. He wanted to flinch away from her, but instead, he remained still, trying to fight off the pain. He felt Astrid's hand press against his forehead.

Wow, that was weird...her hand felt freezing…

"Y-you okay?" Hiccup asked. "You're...you're cold."

Astrid shook her head. "I'm not cold, Hiccup," she said. "You're hot. You're burning up. You've got a fever."

Ah. That made sense. Another sharp, stabbing pain burst through Hiccup's leg, and he whined in pain. Astrid wrapped her arm around his shoulders, Stormfly flying directly beside Toothless in an attempt to help keep the dragon aloft.

"We have to land!" Astrid called back to the other riders. "Hiccup's sick!"

"He's sick?" Fishlegs questioned. "Hiccup?"

Hiccup didn't reply. He was too busy trying not to scream in pain from his leg or upchuck whatever was in his stomach, especially in front of Astrid.

"Where are we going to land!?" Snotlout shouted across the sky. "The nearest island is another few hours worth of flying away, and I don't see any sea stacks we can land on, either!"

Hiccup already knew this was a problem. His head was resting on Astrid's shoulder, and as much as he wanted to pull away and insist he was fine, he found that he couldn't. He couldn't move from his position, and he really didn't want to, the more he thought about. He felt downright awful, and his leg...oh, his leg...the pain…

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, easy there, Hiccup," Astrid said, and it was then Hiccup realized he was slipping off Toothless' back. Hiccup forced his prosthetic back into the pedal, but that was an awful idea, because moving his leg jarred more pain, and he cried out, burying his face against Astrid's shoulder in an attempt to stifle the feeble sound.

"Hold on, Hiccup," Astrid said. "What's wrong? What is it? What hurts?"

Hiccup moaned. "M...my leg," he groaned.

Astrid's eyes widened. "You mean a phantom pain?" She'd seen his phantom pains before, and the symptoms added up. Crying out, jerking weakly every now and then, gulping down cries, although Astrid could see no evidence of physical injury.

His leg was hurting, and Astrid's heart sunk when Hiccup nodded shakily, confirming her fears.

"Oh, no," Astrid sighed. She looked back at the other riders. "GUYS!" she shouted. "We need to find somewhere to land, NOW!"

"Why!?" Fishlegs' terrified voice came back.

"Phantom pain," Astrid said. "He's got a phantom pain."

The last time Hiccup had a phantom pain while they were flying, an hour after the pain became excruciating, Toothless had crashlanded because of Hiccup's inability to control his tailfin. And crashlanding in the ocean was not a good idea, because if they couldn't get Toothless back into the air, he and Hiccup would both drown before they had even a chance at preventing it.

"I'll fly ahead and look for sea stacks!" Snotlout offered, and before Astrid could thank him or order him on, Snotlout blasted forward on Hookfang. Astrid's hold on Hiccup remained firm and unbreakable. She hoped Snotlout found something. She hoped he found something, for Hiccup's sake, and for Hiccup's sake only.

Snotlout flew ahead of them for hours to come - three hours, to be exact. Three hours of excruciating pain. Three hours of Astrid whispering to Hiccup, telling him to hold on, that they would find land soon.

It wasn't more than another half an hour later before Snotlout returned to them on Hookfang, panting as he was. "Up ahead!" he said. "Sea stack! Probably just big enough for us to land and camp on for the night!"

They really hadn't bought proper camping supplies, but they did bring some blankets, and those were a necessity, as it was already dark and thereby, cold. Astrid nodded towards Snotlout, and Snotlout turned Hookfang around and showed them the way.

Luckily for them, Snotlout hadn't been joking about the sea stack - it was the perfect resting place. The dragons touched down, and Astrid was forced to let go of Hiccup to let Toothless, who was shorter than Stormfly, land.

But she wasn't away from him for more than a few moments, because as soon as she could, she jumped off Stormfly's back and ran to Hiccup again.

"You're alright, Hiccup," she promised as she carefully unhooked his prosthetic leg from the foot pedal and pulled Hiccup off Toothless' back. As soon as Hiccup's one foot and prosthetic hit the ground, his knees buckled, and as he sank to the ground, Astrid sank down with him and held his head in her lap.

"Relax, Hiccup," she coaxed. "Relax." Last time Hiccup had a phantom pain, the only thing that really seemed to help him was relaxing and taking deep, calming breaths. Now, though, he was sick on top of his phantom pain, and Astrid didn't quite know how hard relaxing was when he felt so awful.

Relaxing was the only thing she knew for sure would help him. His fever wasn't dangerously high, but he definitely had a temperature, and was definitely sick. That much was painfully obvious.

But the real question was, what was Astrid supposed to do in this situation? Getting him to relax was never easy, and now, she feared it would be an even harder task.

She ran her fingers through his hair, trying to ignore his feverish forehead and sweaty locks. Oh, it hurt her to see him like this. It hurt so much, but there was nothing she could do about it. Nothing at all.

While the others began trying to find logs and brush and just about anything else they could find for a fire, Astrid remained with Hiccup.

"Come on, Hiccup, easy," she soothed. "You know it'll help if you just relax, take a deep breath...that's it, see? It helps."

Hiccup didn't protest, at all, in fact. Tears were slipping past his lids now, and he was moaning and whimpering at different bouts, but at least he was relaxing, if slowly and slightly.

That was good.

Fishlegs approached them with two blankets in hand. He spread one over Hiccup, and the other around Astrid's shoulders. Astrid thanked Fishlegs quietly, and Hiccup just barely murmured "t-thanks" through his chattering teeth.

Well, at least he was coherent.

That was also good.

Hiccup didn't stay awake long after that, and really, no one could blame him. Toothless and Stormfly joined their riders early on, and while Stormfly wrapped her wings around Astrid, Toothless curled up beside Hiccup and draped his wing over Hiccup. Hiccup's shivers stopped abruptly, and he nodded off to an exhaustion-fused sleep.

After making sure he was sleeping soundly, Astrid leaned back against Stormfly, and drifted off as well, watching as the embers of their makeshift fire rose into the crisp, cool air.

By the next morning, the pain in Hiccup's leg had vanished, and although he still had a low grade fever, it wasn't much to be concerned about, and he was able to make it to Berk, where his father fussed over him when Astrid told him what happened (much to Hiccup's dismay) and asked his son why he flew when he was in that condition.

Although really, in Hiccup's mind, it didn't matter why he did it or what the mindset behind it was. The fact was, he did it, and granted, it was stupid, yes, he agreed to that.

Pain was something he knew well, and having phantom pains were just a part of life. They were an occupational hazard.

But having friends like he did, who took care of him no matter how stupid he was...that, was an occupational benefit.

And with friends like that, honestly, what more could Hiccup ask for?

Author's Notes:

Not so sure how I feel about this. I mean, I really like it, of course. I liked the Hiccstrid, and I really kinda liked the ending, too. Sorry if you guys think it's abrupt. Yeah, agreed, it's a bit abrupt, but I'm really trying not to drag these one-shots on for longer than they have to, because then, it just gets boring to write, and boring to read.

So, I hope you guys enjoy this. :)

Until next update!

-BeyondTheClouds777