A/N: I do not own How to Train Your Dragon.
This story is so much fun to write, but once I am done with this chapter, I will be out of ideas for now. That means that this story will be on hiatus for an unknown amount of time. I am accepting new ideas, and I will probably be writing a fair number of different stories as I work to come up with ideas on writing the next chapter of this story. The longest I can expect without a new chapter will be a month or two, but during that time, I will also be reworking the current chapters.
It had been two weeks since Hiccup had lost his leg in the battle with Dagur before he started to wake up. At first, he did not know where he was. As the memories came flooding back, he remembered where he was, but was still completely puzzled by how he had gotten there.
He was laying on a cot in Gothi's hut, with a black shadow curled up in the corner. As he turned his head, he saw Astrid sitting by the side of the bed. His eyes widened in surprise; he had never expected to see her there after what he had done to her. What surprised him the most was that she looked to have been crying before he awoke, after all, Hoffersons never cry.
He croaked, "Astrid, why are you here? You don't have to stay here, you have better things to be doing than sitting there."
She stood up and moved closer to him. She reached down and helped him to sit up before helping him take a drink of cool water. Hiccup sighed as he felt the cool liquid slide down his parched throat. Astrid said softly, "I am here to take care of you. You are only here because of me. If I had been a better fighter, then I wouldn't have needed you to save me. Please let me stay and care for you, it is the least I can do." She sobbed a bit when she continued, "You saved me from a fate worse than death when you stopped Dagur. One thing I still don't understand is why you saved me. I treated you so horribly, I did not deserve what you did for me."
Hiccup fought the urge to reach up and cup her cheek, not wanting to suffer any more injuries, and replied, "Astrid, I could not just stand by and watch as the woman I love was dragged off and raped when I could have done something. I did it for the same reason why I gave Berk help for the past months; it is just who I am. I appreciate that you want to care for me, but you don't have to. You have already repaid me for what I have done. You may have treated me bad over the years, but you were always the best to me. You were the only one who never beat me."
Softly crying, Astrid said, "I want to take care of you. I love you too, I was just too afraid to ever say it. You are a good man Hiccup, and I am sorry that I did not see it sooner. As for the others, they won't mess with you any more."
Hiccup looked down, hiding a blush, and then he saw his leg, and he screamed. His left leg was missing. Astrid grabbed him and pulled him close, no longer caring what the others thought, he needed her help to get through this. As she comforted him, she said, "You lost your leg when you were fighting Dagur on my behalf. I am so sorry, I wish that you had never come to save me."
Hiccup, still upset replied, "Astrid, don't you even think that. Nobody deserves to experience what they would have done to you, not even Snotlout. It is not your fault, it was bad luck. We will get through this, you know that."
This is a fairly short chapter, but I feel like it has a great deal of implications for the story. I am once again working through the next part of this story, so it might be a bit until the next chapter. As always, feel free to share any thoughts or ideas you might have.
I would like to take a moment to thank everyone who has read this story, you have no idea how much it means to me.