Hi...

By the way I'm not the user name DragonConqueror5000 or what ever it was. I'm just Stingray alone. At least the user name is lower 9000 so Vegeta still keep his scouter.

Enoy Reading And Review If You Feel Like It

Chapter 21
Heartbeat

The war's over, the Queen is now dead, the dragons are now free. But Hiccup and Toothless are nowhere to be seen. This could be the cost of the war…

Ash…

That was what the first thing that filled the whole places.

Dead…

That was what the first thing they felt of the whole places.

The three-hundred-war between Vikings and dragons was ended that day, and the person who stopped the war, was nowhere to be seen. Two persons was there, searching for a green-eyed, auburn hair, sarcastic funny lanky boy, along with his companion that not-so-deadly and named way off from what it supposed to be.

"Hiccup!" yelled a big burly Viking that happened to be the father of the hero. It had been nearly an hour after the explosion as Hiccup was still nowhere to be seen. The whole time, Stoick was still searching for Hiccup and he wasn't alone for the search.

"Hiccup!?" shouted a teen girl that happened to the Hiccup's overprotective, overreacting eyes. Astrid was immediately with Stoick for the search after the explosion died. Similar like Stoick, she was at the edge of tears.

…but not the Astrid inside her. She broke down when Hiccup hadn't been found yet.

"Hiccup!" while on the search, something caught Astrid's attention at the corner of her eyes, something black. She squirted her eyes trying to get a better view of it. The light from the sun went passed through the thick ashes and shone toward the black scaly figure. Instantly, she knew who it was. "Chief!" she called Stoick and he turned around and saw the black figure at the distance.

"Hiccup," he whispered before he, along with Astrid, ran towards it. They knew who that black figure was. It was the first person that ever being with Hiccup's side when he was at his breaking point, and the funny thing about it was that person was not even a person, but a dragon Hiccup named Toothless.

Upon arriving, they were expecting to see Hiccup stood there with a grin on his face and said, 'Look what I have done! If I could see them anyway…' but he was nowhere near. Toothless was lying on his side breathing slowly, meaning that he was still very much alive. The saddle on his back was burnt and empty and the metal on his tail was twisted and sticking out in all directions.

Astrid stared at Toothless in horror. She watched the scene unfold earlier, and she witnessed Hiccup hit the tail of the Queen and fell off Toothless. She couldn't do anything other than watched Hiccup fell down as the fingers of the flame licked him. Thor, did she lost her voice when she screamed his name.

She suddenly then heard a loud thump beside her. She looked towards where it came from and saw her chief was kneeling and facing the ground beneath him, muttering it was his entire fault. Then she heard something shifting, coming from Toothless. Toothless looked at her for a moment before he locked his eyes with Stoick.

At that time, ashes began to clear revealing the approaching Vikings behind them with a sad look on their face, knowing what had happened to the boy. Behind the Vikings were the dragons, looking terribly shocked and horror at the same time. Their savior was nowhere to be seen. They were still for a moment before Stoick whispered to Toothless.

"I'm… I'm so sorry," Toothless' eyes widened a little and he looked a little bit hesitate. He closed his eyes and slowly opened his wings, revealing unconscious Hiccup. "Hiccup!" Stoick rushed to get Hiccup. He gathered his son in his arms and looked at his face, checking whether he was alive or not. He threw away his helmet and put his ear to his chest.

He was still for a moment as he held Hiccup in his arm and pressed his ear to his chest. Minutes later, his body trembled as he lowered Hiccup's body from his ear. He looked at Hiccup's face for the final time before giving Astrid sad expression. Knowing that look, her eyes began to sting as she shook her head.

"No," she whispered. She forcefully took Hiccup from Stoick's arms and pressed her ear on his chest. She clutched tighter as she pressed her ear harder on his chest, just wanted to hear a sound of life coming from Hiccup. Still, she couldn't hear anything.

"Astrid-"

"No!" she snapped at Stoick, making him silence. Astrid pressed her hear harder on his chest, trying to hear a heartbeat.

'Just one. Just one is enough' still she could hear anything.

"Please," her voice began to crack as she screwed her eyes shut. "Please, Hiccup," she tried her best to hold back tears.

'Just one heartbeat is enough… just…' then it hit her. 'Oh right, no one could hear nor feel his heart,' she totally forgot about the specialty of his heart. Nobody was worthy enough to hear or feel his heart, not even his father.

But that doesn't mean his heart stopped beating. His heart was still beating, but no one heard it. It must beating. It just they don't know how to hear his heartbeat.

"Hiccup?" she whispered as her eyes began to get watering. She received no respond, but she was not going to give up. "Hiccup, please wake up," Astrid could feel the Astrid inside her pounding the last wall. Telling the truth, the current Astrid was trying to break herself free but she doesn't know how to break the last wall. When she let go one lone tear, the wall began to crack.

"Hiccy?" she whispered the name she used when she first met him when he introduced himself. Another tear ran down her cheek and the wall cracked further. "Hiccy, please, don't leave me," she couldn't hold back her tears and so soaking his tunic with tears. "Hiccy, please, you promise to be here with me," her voice cracked as the wall began to break. "Hiccy, I'm scared," she sobbed. "Hiccy please wake up… just wake up… I need you, she need you… Hiccy, please, I…"

Dare she say it? Yes.

Because Astrid Hofferson was now free. She broke down the last wall and now she was free. This was the Astrid that Hiccup had been searching for, this was the Astrid Hiccup first met, and this was the Astrid Hiccup truly loved.

Hiccup had been searching for her for ten years. Oh, how angry she was at herself for creating that monster who claimed to be Astrid Hofferson. She doesn't know that it led her to being locked away behind thousands of walls. But when she thought about it, all fingers were pointed at her herself. She created that monster and she was regretting it.

But despite being locked away behind thousands of walls and stripped naked, her feeling toward Hiccup grew. She already had these sensational feelings when she first met him and for the past ten years, they grew bigger and stronger. But she felt Hiccup grew distance as she held him close in her arms. She needed him but he slowly drifted away as she can't hear his heartbeat.

Astrid took the chance to savor the moment. She clung to him – one thing she desperately wanted to do – and breathe in his forest scent. It only brought more tears as she sobbed further. It was like remembering every moment with that person before that person left forever and never come back. So, she took this opportunity.

"I love you…"

Lub-Dub

Her eyes snapped opened wide.

Lub-Dub

She couldn't believe what she was hearing.

Lub-Dub

There it was again. Her breath caught her throat as a smile formed on her face.

Lub-Dub

She let out tears of joy as she looked back at the burly person beside her. She knew who he was because for the past ten years he was barely changes except that he had a bigger beard now. Her knowing look gave him the answer.

"He's alive!" Stoick yelled and both Vikings and dragons cheered in joy. Astrid was not paying any attention to them. She put her ear back on his chest.

Lub-Dub

She sighed. The sound of his heartbeat was soothing and comfortable. It was faint but there.

Lub-Dub

She held his body closer to her. The warmth and comfort radiated from him still hadn't left. Odin, did she miss them.

Lub-Dub

"Well, you know, most of him," she heard someone said. She looked up and saw a mustache Viking with two missing limbs. She knew that person was Gobber, judging by the missing limbs but it looked like he had a stone replaced his tooth. Astrid and Stoick looked at him with confusion before they saw at what he was looking.