Sorry about that last cliffhanger (like, LITERAL cliffhanger). This is my THIRD update today. Here's some shout outs:
QueenAurora: Yeah, I have a love/hate relationship with cliffhangers. :) And yeah, Hiccup sure does get a lot thrown at him. Poor guy. But he's the protagonist to HTTYD 1 and 2. What do you expect, really? :)
Everyone else: enjoy the chapter!
"HIIIIIIIIIIIICCCCCCCCCCCCCUUUUUUUUUUUUUPPPPPPPPPPPP!" Astrid wailed as she watched him fall down into the ocean below. No way. No way that just happened. No way Hiccup just sacrificed himself for his village...no way. No way. No. It couldn't end like this! Astrid refused to believe it.
"SON!" Valka screamed. "NO NO NO NO NO NO! HICCUP! HICCUP!"
Valka burst into tears, Astrid mirroring her. Both woman grasped their arms tightly around each other, seeking for comfort they knew they would never find again. Oh Hiccup...he was...gone. No one could survive that fall, even if it was into water.
The rest of the battle was a blur in the lives of Valka and Astrid. They fought along the Hooligans, knowing that Hiccup would want them to. They fought against the Berserkers...
...but without a Chief to tell them what to do. Without a Chief to give them orders. Without a Chief to be reassuring everyone that the battle would be won. Toothless fought on against the Berserkers with a renewed force. He knew what had happened to his beloved rider, and he was going to avenge him now.
The Berserkers were defeated by noon the next morning, but Valka didn't care. The remaining soldiers who were living were sent to prison until a proper sentence could be handed down, but Astrid didn't go to the ceremony. The dead bodies of Berserkers were put back onto their ships and sent off to the edge of the world, but Toothless didn't watch.
There was no victory celebration.
Gobber didn't sing.
Ruffnut and Tuffnut didn't bicker.
Fishlegs didn't smile.
Snotlout didn't laugh.
Valka didn't meet anyone's gaze.
Astrid didn't speak to anyone who tried to comfort her.
Toothless didn't fly (not because he couldn't, but he wouldn't).
Eret didn't ask questions.
Berk was silent on a day they would normally be rejoicing on...
...because a brave man had fallen.
Hiccup was the only Hooligan in that battle to have lost his life, yet it seemed as though a thousand people had just been killed. The children didn't play; no one left their homes...
...no one, besides Astrid, Valka, and Toothless.
Toothless was in the cove, mourning over the death of his rider. Why couldn't he have saved him!? He was RIGHT THERE! He felt terrible and guilty, thinking it was his fault.
Valka and Astrid sat together, side by side. They remained silent, sitting at the edge of the cliff; the same cliff Hiccup had fell over. No words were needed to be said. No words wanted to be said about the matter. Their eyes were brimming with tears, and they knew saying anything; even something as small as "I'm sorry" or "He's gone" would have made both of them break down in tears.
How could this happen? Valka couldn't save her husband and now her son. The only family she had left was gone forever now. She felt awful, feeling it was her fault. She should have done something...anything to save his life.
Astrid felt the same way. She couldn't save her best friend...she couldn't save someone who would know exactly how to save her had she been in that situation. Hiccup...the one who used to be known as Hiccup the Useless. The one who they'd pick on, constantly trying to make his life miserable. The same Hiccup who saved a village who deserted him in the epic battle against the Red Death. The same Hiccup who made peace with the dragons and changed their world for the better.
The same Hiccup who found the treasure of Hamish the Second when the greatest warriors in history died in the attempt. The same Hiccup who got himself deliberately struck by lightning to prove Toothless' innocence. The same Hiccup who would take an arrow for anyone in his village. The same Hiccup who defeated Drago Bludvist. The same Hiccup who they all thought would never amount to anything.
The same Hiccup they used to call "weak", who actually turned out to be the strongest of them all. The same Hiccup who fought the Screaming Death. The same Hiccup who built most the greatest weapons ever to come out of the forge.
He was brilliant. He was intelligent. He was kind. He was selfless. He was incredible. He was irreplaceable. He was strong mentally. He was clever. He was brave. He was forgiving. He was strong willed. He was humble. He was grateful. He was thankful. He was everything Astrid wished she could be.
But he was gone now.
Forever.
Or so she thought...
...
Hiccup opened his eyes a crack, groaning as the sunlight hit them. Where was he? What happened?
He suddenly felt something ice cold wash over him. He sat up suddenly, only to fall back flat on his back when he realized how much just sitting up pained him. The freezing cold liquid washed over him again...he realized it was the ocean.
What happened? He remembered falling...falling with Dagur, and then hitting something hard. Cold and hard. And then his world went black and he woke up here. Where exactly was here?
Looking around as much as his headache allowed him, he realized he was on Berk. He must have washed up on the shore...but how? He should have been dead! The fall...the everything.
He tried to get up again, but none of his body moved. He couldn't sit up because of all the pain in his chest; he could barely turn his head because of the blinding headache that made dots dance before his eyes; his right arm felt awful, and his right leg was no better.
Hiccup found himself wondering why his leg hurt him so much, when it suddenly dawned on him. Right. Dagur had slashed at it, probably leaving a rather ugly looking gash. He tried to lift it so he could get a look at it...and ended up screaming in pain.
Okay, check THAT off the list, he thought to himself. Part of him was telling him that he should have sucked it up and got up, or at least called for help (who knew how severe his injuries were?), but another part of him was just so...so...tired.
I'll get help when I wake up, Hiccup thought to himself. I won't sleep very long. Just a few minutes...
Weather he meant to or not, he was in deep sleep before even being able to finish his thought.
...
Astrid refused to look down the cliff. She didn't know what she would see. A body of water stretched out below, which she knew was there; a little sandy shore off to the corner, which she also knew was there...
...she just couldn't bare to look.
She and Hiccup used to sit there some nights, looking out into the sky, finding the constellations the stars created. Astrid never looked for them, or could remember where they were, despite how many countless times Hiccup had told her; she was just fascinated by how much Hiccup knew about them. He would point out every one, give the names, and ask Astrid what she found interesting.
The good old days.
The days she would never have with Hiccup again...
...WHOA! WHAT WAS THAT!?
She heard a scream. As soon as she did, both she and Valka stood up abruptly, Valka having heard it too. If they didn't know better...
...they would say it sounded like Hiccup...
...but that was impossible...
...Hiccup was dead...
They thought they were hearing things, until they heard the bounding of a certain Night Fury. Toothless ran to the side of the cliff and looked down. If Toothless heard it too, and he was acting this way...
...was it possible that Hiccup...?
They didn't waste another second. They both leaped onto Toothless, Valka sitting behind Astrid since Astrid knew how to control the tailfin, and then Toothless dived off the cliff.
"TOOTHLESS!" shouted Astrid. "SLOW DOWN!"
Toothless did not slow down. Astrid just barely had enough time to open the tail before they crashed into the ocean. Toothless turned and made his way back over to the little shore that was off to the corner.
Astrid looked. She was sure she saw something over there...what was it? Valka must have seen it, too, because when Astrid looked at her, Valka was squinting, looking at the thing they thought they saw on the sand.
Toothless flew and landed. Now Valka and Astrid were sure they saw something. They jumped off Toothless just as fast as they had got on, and ran over to the figure. It turned out to be...
"HICCUP!" shouted Valka as she ran over, outrunning Astrid (I believe that a terrified Mother could outrun almost anyone in an attempt to see their child) and making her way to Hiccup's side. She quickly knelt down and pressed her ear to his chest.
A heartbeat!
He was alive!
She breathed out a sigh of relief as Astrid raced over, kneeling right next to Valka.
"He's alive," Valka announced, gently lifting Hiccup off the ground half-way and hugging him tightly, despite how his body was limp. Astrid realized Valka was crying now from relief. Astrid suddenly realized that she, too, was crying.
Strange. She hadn't noticed it until now. Was it possible to cry without even realizing it?
Apparently so.
Hiccup felt someone hugging him. When he opened his eyes, he gently whispered. "Mom?" he asked.
Valka pulled away as soon as she heard his voice. She looked into his face. His eyes were open slightly, just enough to allow her to see the beautiful deep emerald green color that they were.
"Oh Hiccup," whispered Valka, hugging him again, trying to be calm. He had just fallen two hundred feet into water. She didn't know what kind of pain he was in. "You-you would not believe how much you scared me."
Hiccup made a small yelp when Valka hugged him tighter. Valka quickly pulled away, worried she'd hurt him more.
"Sorry," she said, wiping tears from her eyes as they continued to fall.
"It's okay," said Hiccup. Valka gently laid him down on the soft sand again, attempting to assess his current condition. Astrid moved forward after finally getting a hold of her tears and grasped Hiccup's hand in her own.
"Don't-" she started, choking back another sob. "Don't you ever do that again. Please. I can't take it."
"I don't plan to do it again," said Hiccup. "What makes you think I would?"
Toothless bounded over, no longer waiting his turn. He sauntered over to Hiccup, stopping when he was just a few inches away from the injured boy.
Hiccup looked to the dragon as Toothless gently nuzzled his side, purrs rippling through his throat.
"Hey, bud," Hiccup said, not liking how scratchy his voice sounded when he spoke. He scratched Toothless' head with his good hand, causing the dragon to break out in violent purrs of pleasure.
"We should take you back, Hiccup," said Valka. "I don't know how you were injured from the fall down the cliff...I would like to have Gothi look over you."
"Aww, again?" Hiccup asked.
"Yes, again," said Valka. She gently slid one of her arms under Hiccup's shoulder blades, the other arm sliding underneath the crook of his knees. Valka stood up, picking Hiccup in with her. He wasn't hard to carry; he weighed next to nothing. Besides, Valka had lived amongst dragons twenty years of her life, which made carrying him even easier.
Valka thought about riding Toothless back to the village, but she didn't know how severely Hiccup was injured, so she decided not to risk making it worse by going on dragon back. Hiccup rested his head against his mother's shoulder as she made her way back to the village, followed by Astrid and Toothless.
You didn't REALLY think I'd kill poor Hiccup, now did you? I told you, I don't do good character deaths (sure, Dagur died, but I don't count him, honestly). Next chapter is the last one! We're ALMOST DONE! YAYAYAYAYAYAYAY!