Astrid had to blink a few times for her eyes to adjust to the light, eventually being able to see where she was. She wasn't wearing her usual BMCA outfit, just a plain blue T-shirt and black leggings, she was barefoot and standing on what seemed to be an endless sea of ankle-deep, clear water under a fiery sunset sky. She had to squint to see what appeared to be a stone statue about a hundred yards in the distance, slowly walking over to it as the silhouette became more clear.

"Uh..." her eyes widened a bit when she walked over to it, finally recognising the familiar shape, beard and build of the man stood atop the pedestal. "Uncle Finn?"

The figure standing there turned to face her, smiling as Astrid arrived at the foot of the pedestal and looked up to him. He remained where was was, looking down rather than coming down as he said "well... told you this wasn't a battle for you, Astrid."

Astrid scoffed, almost with a chuckle as she put her hands on her hips. "I'm pretty sure you said not yet."

"Made quite the name for yourself, eh? The Deadly Nadder. Stoick gave you that, didn't he?"

"Hmm... yeah, he did."

"Shame, really..." he said solemnly as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "You sorted out that Oswald's lot, but I was really hoping you'd be holding up my name for a good, long while..."

"Well, I uh..." Astrid itched the back of her neck, only to go wide-eyed as he stared at her with the warmth having completely disappeared from his voice and face.

"You let me down, lass. You've let us all down."

Astrid sighed worryingly, brushing her hair out of her eyes and looking away as she struggled to think of what to say. "No, I just... ugh... Uncle Finn, please, I didn't mean..."

"Of course you didn't. No one means to be a failure, Astrid." he shrugged. "Doesn't stop them from being one."

"I don't... I'm not a... Uncle Finn...?" Astrid turned back around again, but the pedestal was gone and the sunset had turned to a dark, cold night, and she was standing alone again. "Uncle Finn?"

"GAH!"

As soon as she tried to sit up, Astrid gasped with an aggressive, stilted inhalation, wheezing as her breath was caught in her throat. Her eyes went wide and she tried to force loud, strained breaths out of her mouth. "Heeee! Huurgh!"

"Easy... easy!" a familiar voice snapped suddenly from right next to her, groaning as the hands made Astrid rest her head back on the pillow again. Astrid stopped struggling in the bed, looking up to see Valka looking down at her. "Slowly now. Breathe in..."

Astrid did as she was told, taking all the air she could as Valka counted four seconds on her fingers. She held her breath, before Valka said "breathe out..." and Astrid released the air as Valka counted another four seconds. "There... wasn't so hard, was it?"

Astrid couldn't open or even feel her right eye, and it was as if someone were covering it so she could only see out the left. She looked around, realising that she was in a hospital ward, wearing a scrub and hooked up to an IV drip. Her entire body ached, but her stomach area was in particular agony. The open window indicated that it was daytime outside, so she must have been out for a good while since the fight.

"Val..." she managed to get out of her mouth, finally noticing that Valka had small, dried streams that led from her eyes to her chin, clearly indicating that she'd been crying. Valka didn't look upset, however, mostly disappointed, stern, possibly even angry. "Where uh... where's Hiccup?"

"Waiting room. He was here all night but... but Stoick finally got him to lie down and get some sleep." Valka sniffled a bit. "That was about a half hour ago, so... I reckon it'd be best if we don't tell him you're awake yet."

Astrid nodded as she looked down at the bed she was in, pressing her hand lightly to her stomach before taking it away again after feeling more pain. "What... ugh... what did the twins do to me?"

"Well... from what I've read in Gobber's report..." Valka rolled her eyes as she pretended to think, counting each of Astrid's injuries on her finger. "Three broken ribs, internal bleeding, minor skin breakage from the scratches on your chest and the bite on your shoulder, numerous punctures and lacerations from the thumbtacks and wire... swelling on the right eye, but not likely to result in any permanent vision damage. Overall... you'll live."

"Yeah... maybe I shouldn't have..." Astrid pinched the bridge of her nose. Valka almost seemed to have taken outright offence to this remark, sighing angrily as she got out of the chair and walked over to the other end of the room. Astrid scoffed, before saying "what?! I lost, Val... alright, I fucking lost. I don't know what happened, I... I just... at least if she killed me I'd go out with a bang, you know... just like Un..."

"Do not mention that name, Astrid. Listen to what I have to say, right now." Valka turned back around to face Astrid, putting her hands on the end of the bed. Her tone was a lot more blunt when she said "I really could not give less of a fuck about you losing. And you need to understand this... I really do not have any sympathy for you, whatsoever."

"And here I was expecting words of encouragement..." Astrid snarked with a groan as she tried to get herself comfortable. Valka wasn't amused, at all, remaining stern faced as she continued her lecture.

"You don't need encouragement, or sugarcoating, or whatever you want to call it. What you need is the truth, and the truth is... I knew this'd happen to you eventually. And a part of me feels that you knew as well. Yet you took the fight anyway. You got yourself into this, and you're lucky to still be alive after it. So if you start sprouting that pessimistic, suicidal crap again, you're leaving this hospital. Through that window there. Understand?"

Astrid was taken back a bit by this, but she nodded after a brief moment of fearful hesitation, prompting Valka to exhale as she calmed down and sat again. She rubbed the back of her head as she lurched forwards in the chair, not looking Astrid in the face.

"Besides... apparently, you're um... well, you're still keeping that... that fucking title."

"Wait..." Astrid cleared her throat as she managed to force herself to sit back up. "What? How... how uh..."

"That Sven bloke. Cam rang earlier, she says he's talking to the... the committee, or whatever the fuck is it, I dunno... he's claiming that Ruffnut can't have the title cause her brother got involved. Illegal interference, or something like that... that Johann one's pissed about the thought of her being disqualified."

Astrid chuckled a bit at this, before drooping her head down with a sigh. "It is, like... coming out, or what?"

"They're um... they're discussing it." Valka grumbled, before wiping the side of her own face as she stood up. "At least, now that you know, I don't have to waste time thinking about it anymore."

"Val..." Astrid's voice stopped her as she reached the doorway, prompting Valka to look back at her with that same cold, disapproving face. "I'm sorry, but... but I didn't know what else I could have done... I mean, what else could..."

"Probably could have had a bit more sense." Valka scoffed with a brow raised. "But it's happened. Fuck it. Just try and get some rest."

Valka closed the door as she left the room, leaving Astrid alone in there. After glancing around the room again Astrid realised that there was a TV hooked up on the wall in the corner, and the remote was on the table just to her right.

She had to struggle to grab it, since she had to reach, and also having to use her right hand since she couldn't roll over with her ribs. After about a minute of this effort, she eventually got a hold of the remote and sat upright on the bed, pressing the top red button to switch on the TV and change it to the news channel.

"In Sport Today, BMCA fighter Astrid Hofferson, professionally known by the stage name The Deadly Nadder, has been placed in Berk County Hospital today following her defeat at the hands of twin siblings Ruffnut and Tuffnut Thornton, AKA the Zipplebacks, last night. Hofferson reportedly received multiple injuries from the fight, including three broken ribs, but is expected to be making a full recovery."

She instantly switched the TV back off again, sighing as she put the remote back on the table and rested back on the bed again. The stinging in her stomach came back again, and Astrid had to bite her bottom lip to fight through it before she got her pillow from behind her and pressed it onto her own face. "UGGGRRRRRAAAAGGGGGHHHHH!"

The muffled scream she let out through the pillow must have gone on for about half a minute, possibly even more, but Astrid took it away from her face when her lungs were strained to the point where she could barely speak.

"Nice going..." she whispered bitterly to herself as she finally closed her eyes and tried to get back to sleep. "Great fucking job."