A/N: Alright, I'm back on my game (kind of?). I'm very excited to show you guys everything I have in store.

There's a bit of physics in this chapter, of which I will admit I'm not very confident in. It's been a while since I've had a hand at these kinds of calculations. But I figure from my limited knowledge and the internet that Astrid and Stormfly have about 8-ish seconds before impact. Now I'm no expert, so don't go citing that for your physics reports or anything. But if you are an expert, and reading this, feel free to correct me (or better yet, tell me that my math skills are still awesome). But anyway, it's a really small detail so not really that important.

I feel awful that I have to do this, but I already have horrible time management and I don't really have the time to respond to your questions. I'm just going to put it out there, as a general answer, that everything will be explained fully at some point or another. I thought of everything (I'm pretty sure). Eventually, you will all find out. As for anon request, well... maybe? I can't really say, you're just going to have to wait... hehe...

Onward!

"Stormfly!" Astrid yells, clutching the saddle for dear life but completely unable to do anything more as Stormfly thrashes wildly, making them spin in the air as they plummet to the water below.

From a fall at this high, Astrid knew they couldn't make it. A drop like this would kill them instantly; she didn't have to ever ride a dragon to understand why Vikings never made it a habit to jump off of cliffs.

So Astrid does the only thing her body knows how in a dangerous situation: kicks into overdrive.

"Stormfly, calm down!" Astrid yells, although fruitlessly, as her dragon continues to panic and struggle under the restraints of the ropes. It was a full net but it had only caught one wing, which, if Astrid was nimble enough (and lucky enough), she could detach.

(Maybe.)

Hiccup wasn't around to rescue her, so she had no choice but to do it herself. And when did Astrid Hofferson ever need a rescue?

She can barely focus her eyes on what's in front of her as they spin, but Astrid grasps a piece of the net in front of her and rips the parry knife from her belt. She tears through the rope easily enough, slashing through multiple threads at once. She goes at it again, hacking away at the fibres as they continue to spiral hopelessly towards the ocean.

"AGH!" Astrid loses her balance on the saddle as they twist upside-down, sliding off the seat and grabbing a handheld to keep herself from drifting away. Her legs fly upwards as they twist around again.

But now, at least, her vision is clear and she can see (more or less) exactly where she needs to cut and pull to get the rest of the net away. She also notices that they're about two hundred feet from smacking the surface of the water at neck-breaking speeds. From here, it would be like hitting a rock wall.

Reaching forward, Astrid uses the strength in the one arm still grasping the saddle and pulls, forcing herself back to Stormfly and the net as her feet flutter above her. She slashes out another piece of the rope and another, and with that, at the speed of their fall, the net catches the wind and flies off into the air above them.

Now free, Stormfly extends her wings to stop their descent. It's like a parachute's been pulled, and Astrid nearly smashes into Stormfly's saddle as their speeds change drastically.

"Eeck!" Astrid tosses the knife, throwing it out into the ocean before she accidentally impales herself on the blade with the speed of their collision. With her hand now free she grabs the other handheld on the saddle, forcing her hips down and pulling herself into a near-sitting position as her dragon continues to struggle against the wind.

They were still falling, albeit a lot slower, as Stormfly's small wings fought against the massive amount of speed they had accumulated.

Fifty feet until the water.

Twenty feet.

Ten.

And then, just as it might seem that Stormfly's able to stop their fall, it's like they hit a rock on the road. Stormfly jolts forward and Astrid gets bucked off her dragon, sailing over the nadder's head and into the water like a missile from a cannon. She bounces once on the water, the surface stinging her back, before she flips over and ploughs forward face-first.

Astrid is motionless as she skids and begins to sink under the waves. She's trying to absorb the impact from the water with grace, but her head is seriously not letting her have it.

Everything is spinning, or maybe shaking, or maybe both. The world is nondescript and blurry and nothing seemed like it was anything more than nothing. In every direction, there was nothing to see. The air is thick, which made breathing difficult but Astrid is quickly becoming too disoriented and tired from all this looking to try and find some more breathable air. She can't even find it within herself to question it.

She's just so tired, all of the flying and falling off of Stormfly had really tuckered her out. If only she had the strength to close her eyes, maybe she could rest. Or maybe they were closed already, she wasn't exactly sure at the moment, everything just looked the same.

No… you can't pass out! Someone was yelling at her, but she couldn't be bothered to listen. She was far too stubborn for that.

Something tugs on her hair. She can feel it faintly but the pain isn't registering. The sensation is similar, like that time… that time… she can't remember. She isn't even sure why she's here. Something to do with…

The pull is much more aggressive, and this time Astrid feels it. If her eyes were closed they shoot open, and her hand goes to the back of her head. Something large and scaly is clamped onto her hood and caught some of her hair in the process. It tugs again rather harshly, and Astrid opens her mouth to protest.

Then she notices the water. Water, everywhere. She was underwater—and Stormfly—

They break the surface, and Astrid gasps for the air she didn't even know she had been craving until a second ago. The air is shockingly cold, even colder, she thinks, than the water, and her cheeks sting. She inhales deeply again.

Ow. Ow, everywhere.

"Stormfly…" she beats her bangs away from her eyes with shaky fingers, looking around frantically for her dragon. The surface of the water is rougher than it had looked from the sky as it sprays upwards, disorienting her. It's like it was stuck in her ears, filling her head with the sounds of sloshing.

Her dragon approaches her. Unlike how she had expected, Stormfly is a good swimmer. She's using her wings to tread, flapping them back and forth slowly to keep herself afloat. It was surprisingly effective, but did look a little bit odd.

Stormfly had saved her, obviously.

Astrid kicks over and wraps her arms around Stormfly's snout, so incredibly grateful. How could anyone have ever thought badly of dragons, ever? Stormfly was just a baby, and she'd saved her life. The dragon could have easily let her drown, but she didn't.

"Thank you," Astrid breaths, resting her head against Stormfly. The dragon hums in response, refraining from opening her mouth as not to knock Astrid back into the water.

After a few seconds, Astrid gently pushes away and treads on her own.

(Ow. Ow everywhere… but nothing felt worse than really sore).

"Okay…" Astrid looks over at the ice fort, then turning in the direction she knew the fort Hiccup was attacking to be. The fog is still thick, so she can't be sure exactly what's there, but from this angle she can see where the water met land at least. That would be their goal for now.

If Astrid and Stormfly had any chance of getting out of there, they have to get to land. Stormfly, although a proficient enough swimmer, couldn't tread and take off at the same time when she used the same appendages for both. This was probably the really good reasons deadly nadders didn't live near water.

She can't see Hiccup anywhere in the air. The thought is a little bit concerning, but she decides to focus on one problem at a time.

"We're going to have to go to the island, it's the closest," Astrid says to Stormfly, who seems to make a nod-like motion, so it's taken an agreement.

Nodding back, Astrid turns and begins swimming, her eyes on the sky. Hiccup… where are you?

Stormfly starts making noise, and Astrid stops, looking back at the nadder curiously. "What's wrong?"

The dragon continues to make little nods, and after a second of confused staring Astrid gets it. She grins at her dragon. "You're so sweet," She says, swimming over and grabbing onto the saddle strap that wrapped around Stormfly's torso.

The dragon begins to swat her wings, moving them rather quickly and steadily towards the island. Astrid allows herself to be pulled along.

When they reach waters shallow enough, Astrid drops herself from the saddle so she can stand on her own feet. The island has more of a ledge instead of a beach, and after wading through the waist-high water, Astrid grabs onto the small cliff side and pulls herself into a sitting position on top of it. She exhales loudly, looking out over the water and up in the sky. He hands wrap around her brain and she begins to rather hopelessly wring the water out, but her mind is focused on spotting another dragon in the sky.

It was weird, that she hadn't seen (or a least heart) of Hiccup. When was destroying things ever a quiet process?

Stormfly leaps up rather easily onto the ledge after Astrid. There's a brief moment of silence before Stormfly starts shaking the water off her scales, spraying her rider and the subsequent forest.

"Ah, Stormfly!" Astrid groans, raising her arms in defense to little effect. (It would have been bothersome had she not already been soaked). But she can't help but laugh, and then realizing what an inappropriate time it was to laugh, abruptly stops.

"We gotta find Hiccup…" She exhales, looking back at the cliffs where the fort was supposed to be. "Or get out of here, or do something. We definitely can't stay here … what do we do?" She asks Stormfly, glancing up at her dragon.

The nadder squawks, titling her head to look back at her. She motions towards the cliffs with one wing.

"Yea, you're right." (Was it weird that she totally got that?) "We should get moving—"

Both Astrid and Stormfly hear it at the same time: a faint, yet still distinct, high-pitched noise.

The girls both look at each other. "What is that?" Astrid voices, suddenly wishing that she'd not thrown Hiccup's knife into the ocean.

"AGHHHHH!" The sound quickly turns into a distinctive yell, one that Astrid (thankfully) doesn't recognise.

She spins around, watching the forest for someone coming their way.

"WHOAAAAA!" A man in a thick fur outfit comes sliding down the side of the steep hill, head first and on his back. Astrid jumps out of the way more out of surprise than fear, watching the man skid right past and over the edge of the small cliff, using it like a ramp to backflop into the water. He lands with a surprisingly satisfying plunk and disappears beneath the surface.

"What the Hel…" She peers over the side of the ledge, preparing herself to fight this man in case he tries to climb back up. He must have been one of the trappers Hiccup had been taking about before he was… expelled. At least this meant that Hiccup had found the fort.

A second later the man resurfaces, his face flushed and eyes red. He doesn't even look their way, instead turns to face the open water and swim away as fast as he could, panting with the effort and maybe even crying a little bit.

What…

From somewhere above them, Astrid hears the familiar sound of Toothless' plasma blast. Following that is the expected sound of something blowing up and a number of men yelling profanities and at each other. There's another blast, and then another, and Astrid starts to smell smoke.

With this new development, she looks back over at her dragon. "I guess it's time to get back up there, then." She says, grabbing the saddle strap and (with a little help from Stormfly) hoists herself back up on the saddle. It's still slightly slick with water and Astrid readjusts her grip on the saddle, although she has no fears of falling off, this time.

Stormfly extends and bats her wings a few times before taking off. The two fly skywards, gaining a good amount of height before stopping to hover out over the water.

The fog has cleared over the ridges where a massive fire is raging across a number of small buildings. Now able to clearly see the fort, Astrid notices how cleverly it had been built: instead of one big structure it was a group of many, all haphazardly stacked on the side of the hill with a number of low-lying platforms. Using the fog, they had been pretty much invisible. If the inhabitants hadn't attacked, they probably would still have their fort in one piece.

But now, it was falling apart. Slowly the fire was eating away at the bases of the platforms, causing them to collapse and drop the buildings down the side of the cliff. Wait… where was Hiccup?

Stormfly begins to turn, and Astrid tears her eyes away from the collapsing fort in the new direction they were moving. Hiccup and Toothless are casually making their way over, stopping to hover next to them.

"It's too bad, that was a really cool fort." Hiccup says coolly, glancing her way. He does a double take. "What happened to you?" He asks, nodding towards her.

Astrid looks down at her damp clothing. She looks up and smiles sheepishly. "We got hit by a net and fell into the water."

He looks alarmed. "What? Are you okay? We must have been a thousand feet in the air, how did you survive a drop like that?"

Astrid looks down at her dragon, smiling. "Do I sense doubt in your voice?"

"No, I mean—you just said you fell a thousand feet!"

She grins at him, motioning in the direction of the Berk smugly. "Can we go back, now?"

His expression turns wry. "Oh, yea. Just one more thing I should do," He says, reaching for his belt and pulling out a short cylindrical piece of metal. It didn't look like anything Astrid recognised, but knowing Hiccup it was probably something unfortunate.

"You guys go on ahead, we'll catch up." He says, floating past Astrid back towards the devastated fort. Astrid and Stormfly stay put, watching curiously as Toothless glides over the hillside and Hiccup drops the mystery object into the wreckage.

Toothless swoops around and begins to fly their way again. As the four set off together back towards Berk, Astrid looks over at Hiccup. "What was that thing?" She asks.

"A canister of hideous zippleback venom. I usually use it as an add-on for my sword but it has multiple purposes." He says.

"What? But the fort is one fire, that gas…?"

"Oh, it'll blow the fort sky-high. And if that won't be enough to ward off scavengers again, I don't know what will!" He says a little too gleefully.

Astrid glances over her shoulder, watching the burning fort as they retreat. Nothing seems to be happening. "Are you sure—"

The fort suddenly implodes, the hillside erupting into a massive cloud of flames that shoots high in the air. Fiery debris shoot in all directions like a volcano, splattering against giant ice wall but doing it minimal damage in respect to its size.

Astrid watches the explosion with wide eyes as they fly farther away from the heated cloud. The inferno on Outcast Island wasn't nearly as small, but this one just felt different.

"Were there any people left in there?" Astrid asks, still shifted in her seat to watch the hillside. She probably already knew the answer, but she felt the need to ask. Just to know exactly what she had been a part of.

"I let them go," Hiccup says gruffly, and Astrid turns back to look at him, a bit shocked, but he's not facing her way.

"You let them go?" She says questioningly. That didn't sound like something Hiccup would do. "But—"

"I just needed the fort gone." Hiccup says with a tone of finality, and Astrid drops it. If Hiccup had it in his mind to spare lives, well… she wasn't going to question it.

.

.

.

When they arrive at Berk, it only makes sense for the pair to head back to the cove to recoup in peace. Stormfly lands the moment they arrive—the poor thing is clearly tuckered out from such a full, action-packed morning. For just a baby she had done so well, and as Astrid climbs down she runs a hand along her dragon's side.

"You were fantastic," She says warmly. "I'm so proud of you."

Stormfly hums in response before bending over in what was probably the deadly nadder equivalent of sitting. She folds up her wings, clearly ready for a nap.

Hiccup circles the cove once on Toothless before coming to a clean landing next to Stormfly. He's saying something to Toothless that she can't make out before he goes to unhook himself from the saddle. He looks a little bit flushed, which is an odd colour from his usual pale complexion.

"Did you get a sunburn or something?" Astrid asks him.

He looks her way, his eyes slightly unfocused. He smiles sheepishly. "Yea, something like that."

His response is delivered oddly. "Oh, uh, I could go get something for that. We've got—"

Hiccup falls, sliding off his dragon and into the grass on the opposite side of Toothless as Astrid was.

Astrid is shocked, not entirely sure what he was doing. "Hiccup!" She yells, running around Toothless to where Hiccup was, his features scrunched up in what was inarguably pain. He holds his hands to his side, groaning quietly.

Toothless stands up, looking over at Hiccup with startled eyes. He raises his head to Astrid inquiringly and she can see the deep concern in the dragon's wide gaze.

Astrid falls on her knees next to him. From years of battling fatally against dragons, Astrid knew this expression, this situation, very well. It was that of an idiot Viking who thought he could just absorb the pain and digest it like a meal rather than treat it.

"You were stabbed!" She screeches, fury then terror then concern taking over one after another and confusing her tone. She wants to hit him, but she decides it might not be the best decision for his health at the moment.

"Let me see," She says, gently holding his hands and moving them away from his side. There's a clear puncture in the leather weaving of his armour, the fringes stained a dark crimson while everything beyond that looks just as horrible. There's a small amount of blood leaking out, although thankfully not nearly as much as there should have been for a wound this fresh. But it was definitely enough blood and a steady enough pace for Astrid to worry he was losing too much.

How long had he been hiding this from her? How much more blood had he lost? How had she not noticed?

She had about a thousand other question to ask him, but now was not the best time. She had to get this stitched up and covered before it became any worse.

"We have to get you to the village. Can you stand?" She asks, dropping his hands and kneeling to prepare herself to help him up.

"I can't go the village." He says with a surprising amount of control.

"You know, I don't really care about your stupid war right now. If you don't go get help, then you're going to die with a wound like that! Even if the blood loss doesn't kill you, an infection will!"

"I'd rather die than get caught," He says grumpily, glaring up at her like a toddler told playtime was over. His eyebrows mesh together and his eyes squeeze shut again as Astrid is sure the pain hits him again.

"Too bad! I'm not going to let you die, so now I'm going to help you up, and we're going to go to the village and get help!" She says angrily. If she wasn't concerned she'd make it worse, she would have put him in a fireman's carry already.

"Astrid…" He manages a half-smile. "With the kind of lifestyle I live, this was sure to… happen at some point." He pauses and his face contorts again.

"No! NO!" Astrid feels the back of her eyes prick, but she doesn't dare cry. He's not dead yet, not even close, and he won't be at least for a while, if she had anything to say about it. "Honestly, Hiccup, you're so stupid sometimes!"

Astrid begins unravelling the leather string from around her cuff, tossing it on the ground. She slips the cuff off and turns it inside out.

"I'm serious, Astrid." Hiccup warns.

"So am I!" She says firmly, pressing the furry side of the cuff against his would to try to stop some of the bleeding. It wasn't the most absorbent of fabrics, but it would be enough to block some of the escaping blood. She picks up the leather string, and quickly but carefully starts winding it around his torso to hold the cuff in place.

"What kind of dragon master are you, anyway?" She grumbles as she works. "You want to help dragons and get rid of all the Vikings and all that crap, and then on the first hit you go down. I thought you told me you got stronger, but this seems pretty weak to me!"

"I can't do any of that stuff if I get caught," Hiccup rasps, frowning at her. "They'd probably kill me anyway."

"I won't let them," Astrid growls.

"You won't have a say. If… if you really want to help me, go get whatever you need to fix this and come back here. I can…" He exhales loudly. "…tough it out."

"No way, anything can happen while I'm gone!"

"Toothless will protect me," He argues.

"I don't mean that," She says, finally finishing with the leather, tying it in a knot on his other hip.

"I don't believe it, is Astrid Hofferson actually showing signs of concern?" He says, although his teasing tone is weak.

"Shut up and raise your head," She says, not paying mind to his comment.

He doesn't move. "I can't go there."

"Stop being such a child! I won't let you get caught!" She says, lifting his head herself so she can loop an arm around his shoulders. She raises him into a sitting position and he doesn't fight her, although she has to wonder if maybe that's because he really can't now.

He puts a hand on her other arm. His grip is weak.

"How?"

"Don't worry about it!"

"I'm inclined to."

Astrid growls again, glaring at him. "You can't let yourself die, Hiccup. If you die…" She struggles to think of the right words. How could she express everything he meant to her?

"If you die, then I won't be able to kill you! I promised you I would, and I can't kill you while you're injured, it wouldn't be honourable! So you have to let me help you, I promise I won't let you get caught!"

That seems to shut him up. His expression is soft as he looks at her, his eyes full of meaning. "Okay, fine… just stop yelling."

"Shut up!" She yells. "If you weren't injured, I would have beat you up by now!" Maybe she was being a little bit harsh, but he was being a lot a bit stupid. How could he even suggest that he was willing to die over something so petty? Besides the fact that he hadn't told her he'd been hurt, it angered her that he would suggest giving up so easily. Not to mention he wasn't even considering how it would affect her. She had come to care for him, and if he were gone, she'd be all alone again.

Carefully she helps him to his feet, allowing him to lean heavily against her. But it isn't anything she can't handle as she readjusts her arm to go under his opposite shoulder.

Toothless pokes his head in Hiccup's direction, his eyes looking at Hiccup with nothing short of worry. His stare seems to mean something to Hiccup, and he reaches out his free hand and touched the scales on top of the dragon's head.

"It's okay, Bud. It's not like the last time, Astrid's going to fix me up." He mumbles.

…The last time?

Astrid adds another question dated for a later time. "We'll take Stormfly out of here, and then walk the rest of the way. I'll get you in and out without being spotted. Just trust me, okay?"

Hiccup shakes his head. "She can't carry the both of us, and she's exhausted. Toothless can take us."

Astrid glances over at the aforementioned dragon hesitantly. He's still watching Hiccup, head bowed meekly. Astrid doesn't have a problem with Toothless, but… she doesn't think she'd be able to manage the complex system to maneuver the tail.

But Hiccup was right, and he didn't have time to wait…

"It's really not that hard, I'll help you." Hiccup says reassuringly.

Astrid swallows hard. "Okay… let's go."