So this chapter's a bit longer then that last one. :) This is my THIRD update today, and I have realized something. I haven't been doing any shout outs the past few chapters, and I am sorry. The next story, I will be starting anew with the shout-outs to all you awesome people. This story shouldn't take me more than a few more days to complete. I hope you like the way I intend to complete it. :) Enjoy chapter 36!

It took until nightfall.

It was insane, really, waiting outside the healer's hut for hours and hours on end, waiting and waiting, not knowing what was going on inside. The dragons waited patiently from below; Toothless had tuckered himself out earlier by constant roaring and trying to get up to find out what was going on, and now settled for just sitting and waiting.

Astrid paced back and forth restlessly, her mind deciding that this would be a great time to think about how many things could have possibly gone wrong. There was really a rather big list of things that could have been messed up; mistakes that could have been made, none of them turning out for the better.

She was scared; terrified, even, although she wouldn't easily admit it. It was true, though. She was terrified. She had come so close to losing Hiccup so many different times in his life; and this one was almost too much. It had been nearly eight hours. What was taking so long?

Snotlout was having similar thoughts. He would never actually admit that he so much as cared about Hiccup, much less openly say that he was worried. He his his concerns behind constant questions: "What's taking so long?" "Why aren't they finished?" "Will it work?" "Will it fail?" "Would Hiccup survive?"

Ruffnut and Tuffnut were also worried, although they kept it to themselves as Snotlout did, asking many crazy questions, most of which were completely off of subject and didn't matter. Moreover, would never matter for as long as they lived.

Stoick was also worried. He paced back and forth, wondering what in the world was taking Gothi so long. She normally never took this long with stuff such as this. Why was this time different than any other time?

He was still trying to register the fact that Hiccup was partially paralyzed. He didn't have much time to think about it when Hiccup first told him, but the past eight hours, he thought about it like mad. His son was partially paralysed, and quite possibly permanently. If what Gothi was doing failed, that was.

It continued like this: Worry, questions, pacing, questions, worry, questions, pacing, questions, worry, repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat, for eight hours on end. It was insanely hard to deal with and fully comprehend.

Astrid was angry. Why was all this happening to Hiccup? He would never hurt anyone unless he absolutely had to. He never did anything to anyone to deserve this kind of "punishment", or whatever you decided to call it. It just wasn't fair. Not fair...at all.

Falling into the flames of the Red Death had been enough for Astrid. Those few minutes when they had been sure that their heir and hero had been killed. After that, he had lost a leg. Shortly after, he was struck by lightning. Then, Dagur became his enemy. Alvin wanted Hiccup to train his dragons.

What had he done to deserve all of that?

Of course, Astrid knew life wasn't fair, but still. Hiccup didn't get cut any slack, it seemed. He attracted danger like a magnet; it was strange, different and discomforting all at the same time. Between running out to train dragons to breaking a bone or something, Hiccup always seemed to go a little bit overboard.

Astrid still didn't understand him.

She had known him for quite a while, and yet she didn't understand him. There were few who did. Of course, she caught the obvious things; his selflessness, his compassion, his sarcasm (which she both loved; since it lightened the situations; and hated; because it was slightly irritating), and everything in between. But really, he was slightly on the crazy side. Not as crazy as Snotlout or the twins by a long shot, yet not as sane as Fishlegs. He liked adventures; not danger.

He was strange, unpredictable, and just...Hiccupy. That's what he was. That's the best way Astrid knew how to describe him. Really, she didn't know how else to do so. Hiccup was Hiccupy. Nothing more to be said about the matter.

Another hour later, Fishlegs left, since he wasn't really supposed to be out after dark. He bade the others farewell, promising to be back in the morning to see how it went, and then headed off.

After he left, another hour passed. Ruffnut and Tuffnut called it a night, bickering over what time it was precisely as they mounted their dragon and headed off to their house. Astrid could hear their complaining as they flew out of sight.

After they left for sleep, Snotlout waited another half hour, and then headed off on Hookfang. He was worried about Hiccup; he just wasn't too keen on staying up for who-knew-how-long for no apparent reason. He knew Gothi wouldn't do something if she wasn't sure she could succeed. Plus, she was the best they had. If she couldn't do it, nobody could.

That left just Astrid and Stoick, along with Toothless, Stormfly, and Thornado, who waited below the platform for their riders. Toothless whimpered every now and then. Why didn't he know what was going on? He knew something was wrong, but no one even cared to explain it to him. He didn't think it was fair. He was the one to protect Hiccup, and yet why wasn't he?

Astrid's mind continued to wander as she sat down and tapped her axe against her foot lightly so she didn't cut or hurt herself. She wondered what was taking Gothi so long; now it was nearly midnight. She had started around two in the afternoon. It didn't make much sense. Why on Earth would it take the best healer in the world nearly ten hours?

A few moments later, although it felt like a few more hours had passed, the door creaked open. Astrid and Stoick were instantly on their feet, approaching Gothi as she exited the abode.

"Well?" said Stoick. "What happened? Did it work?"

Gothi smiled, and then nodded.

It worked. It had worked. Astrid was so happy she could have shouted it to the world, hadn't it been midnight. Gothi gestured for them to come inside, and they did so with little to no hesitation. Hiccup was laying on one of the beds, sleeping from whatever Gothi had used to knock him out with.

Gothi wrote out on the ground with her staff. Astrid moved over to investigate the text.

"She says he'll probably wake up tomorrow," she said. "She would like to keep him here until he wakes, that way she can check him out as soon as he's up."

"What a relief, it worked," Stoick breathed.

Gothi nodded, and then wrote a little more.

"She says we should probably head back and get some sleep," Astrid translated. She and Stoick instantly wanted to protest, but knew there was no arguing with Gothi. Besides, they were both rather exhausted from waiting out almost all night. They could use some sleep. They could always come back in the morning. And they would, too.

"Thank you, Gothi," said Stoick and Astrid, almost in perfect unison.

They turned and left the building.

(MEANWHILE...)

"Sir, we are approaching Berk," a soldier said to his leader. "We should be there tomorrow night. Are you sure we shouldn't turn around and get the others?"

"Positive," the other answered. "A small ship, a small purpose. We are not heading there to fight the Berkians. We're heading there for one thing and one thing only."

"What's that again?" the soldier asked.

"Hiccup, you fool!" said the leader. "The plan is set in perfection. As soon as we dock, you and the other soldier we brought have to go get the girl. I will find Hiccup, and tell him of my wager."

"Is this about the Night Fury again?" said the soldier.

"No," said Dagur the Deranged. "Something much more...precious."