She couldn't hear his heart.

But that meant…

...No.

"HICCUP!" Astrid screamed at him, grabbing his shoulders and shaking him back and forth roughly. "HICCUP!" Nothing. No response. He remained limp, pale, breathless and without a heartbeat.

He was dead.

But Astrid wasn't going to believe that.

"You can't do this to me, Hiccup!" she yelled. "You can't! You're stronger than this! Get up, Dragon Boy! GET UP, HICCUP!"

Behind her, Snotlout, Fishlegs and the twins took off their helmets, almost in perfect unison.

"It's not funny anymore, Hiccup!" Astrid cried. She was still holding onto the hope that he was faking it, as he had faked it in the prison cell. But she knew that he couldn't make his own heart stop beating. "Stop it! Stop it, Hiccup!" Astrid sobbed. "You're not dead! You're fine! You're fine, HICCUP!"

"Astrid, stop!" Snotlout shouted at her. His voice sounded oddly choked. She looked at him in time to watch him rub the tears off his face. "It's no use! He's gone!"

Astrid wanted to deny it. She wanted to yell at Hiccup's cousin and tell him that he was wrong, but there was no denying the truth.

Maybe...maybe Hiccup was gone.

But that didn't mean Astrid was going to give up on him without a fight. She didn't care what the others thought. She knew Hiccup, and she knew that he wasn't one to give up so easily.

He wasn't dead.

She wasn't about to believe that he was.

"Fishlegs, the vial," she said, holding her hand back to him expectantly, not even looking in his direction. Her eyes remained glued to Hiccup's face.

"B-but-" Fishlegs started uncertainly.

"NOW, FISHLEGS!" Astrid demanded. Her friends were wasting her time. They didn't have time for this. None of them did.

"Fishlegs!" Snotlout said. "Do what she says! Give her the medicine!"

"But it won't do anything!" Fishlegs cried. "He's already gone!"

Silence fell as the others thought about the reality about what Fishlegs had said. Even Fishlegs looked shocked by the truth. Their leader, their heir, and more importantly their friend, was dead.

Hiccup...it was almost too painful for them to think about. He had done so much for them and the others on Berk. To lose him for good would just be…

They didn't know how to describe it.

"Give me the vial," Astrid growled through clenched teeth, hoping that the tears falling from her eyes weren't obvious in her tone. "We have to try. Hiccup wouldn't give up on us so easily, and we're not going to give up on him, either."

Fishlegs stepped forward. "You're right," he said, placing the small bottle into the palm of her hand. "I believe you."

He didn't sound certain, but at least he wasn't arguing with her anymore. Astrid uncorked the vial with her thumb, ignored how badly it smelled, and forced its contents down Hiccup's throat.

She tossed it aside and held her breath.

"It won't work," Snotlout said. She felt his hand on her shoulder, and didn't pull away as she would have done any other day. "His heart stopped beating. The cure isn't going to circulate through his body. I'm sorry, Astrid. We've done all we can."

No we haven't, Astrid thought. We're giving up on him now.

"We're not giving up on him," Astrid snapped back at him, finally jerking away so that he pulled his hand back. How dare he give up on Hiccup? Especially after all Hiccup did for Snotlout and the rest of Berk as a whole? How dare he?

"Astrid-" Snotlout started, but Astrid tuned him out. She didn't want to hear him blab and blab about how Hiccup was dead. She knew he was, and she also knew that she was going to try to save him.

She wasn't going to give up on him.

Once she was sure he wasn't breathing and that his heart wasn't beating (both of which were even more terrifying to clarify yet a second time), she folded her hands over Hiccup's chest and pushed down repeatedly as she tried to get his heart to beat again.

"Come on, Hiccup," she sobbed as she desperately tried to bring her friend back. Nothing happened. "Don't do this. You can't do this to me. Just breathe. Breathe, Hiccup!"

"I can't watch this," Ruffnut said, grabbing her brother and hugging him fiercely. Tuffnut hugged her back in silent comfort. Snotlout and Fishlegs exchanged sorrowful glances before looking back at Astrid sadly.

"Astrid-" Fishlegs said.

"NO!" Astrid shouted so suddenly that she actually saw Fishlegs flinch violently. She thought about apologizing, but then she remembered how negative they were all being. Fishlegs had said that he believed her, but if actions really did speak louder then words, then he had been lying. "Shut up!" she snapped. "Please shut up!" When Hiccup didn't respond to the chest compressions, she pinched his nose closed, put her mouth over his, and tried to get him to breathe.

She tried not to give him too much air, since she knew that if she did that some would be forced into his stomach and he would throw up and they did not need that, but she was panicking almost too much to care at that point.

Because she couldn't lose him.

She couldn't lose Hiccup.

"Astrid-" Fishlegs tried again.

Astrid ignored him entirely. When Hiccup still didn't breathe, and his heart didn't beat, she went back to the chest compressions, hoping that somehow, he would be okay. He had to be okay. If he wasn't…

She felt one of his ribs crack beneath her hands, and for a moment, was shocked with herself. An instant later, she shook her head and resumed her task. She would just have to be more careful and not push as hard. Her tears didn't stop falling, and she didn't try to hold them back.

She couldn't lose her friend. Not after everything they went through. Not after everything he did for her. Not after they got the cure...oh, why hadn't they reached him sooner? They could have used the cure then, before Hiccup died.

Astrid shook her head. She couldn't think of Hiccup as being dead.

She just couldn't.

"Come on, come on, come on," Astrid tried, tried, and tried again. "Come on, Hiccup. Come on."

AND NOW I WANT TO RANT.

I WANT TO RANT AT THIS HORRIBLE CLIFFHANGER, BECAUSE I JUST FINISHED READING THE FINAL BOOK IN THE HTTYD SERIES AND WHAT THE HECK THAT WAS A BEAUTIFUL YET SO SAD ENDING IT WAS GORGEOUS OH MY GOSH IT WAS SO GORGEOUS WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW! :D

I really love the books...there are a few things I wish we would see in the movie franchise, but we probably won't...like the fact that Hiccup could speak, like, five fluent languages, the fact that Hiccup (SPOILERS FOR BOOK TWELVE YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED) became King of the Wilderwest and all, like we all knew he would because of all the previous Epilogues and Prologues and stuff, Hiccup's sword Endeavor, Book Toothless, Camicazi, the fact that Fishlegs is Alvin the Treacherous' son...

But most importantly, I am going to miss, THIS:

"DON'T KILL ME JUST BECAUSE I'M A REDHEAD, NORBERT!"

Seriously. Hiccup started a war shouting that, omgosh...

Anyways...

BYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEE! :D :D :D