NOTICE: I'm not entirely sure how "graphic" my description of Hiccup's leg is, but I figured I'd leave this here just in case. (I meant to add it in when I first uploaded but I forgot. Sigh.)

Chapter 17: Consequences

Astrid's POV

Time seemed to slow down.

I watched in horror as Hiccup fell into the inferno caused by the exploding queen, Toothess desperately diving after him. I didn't want to blink, but the gusts coming from the flames caused me to instinctively throw my arms in front of my face.

When the winds and flames died down, Stoick immediately started running through the falling ashes, calling Hiccup's name. I ran after him, ignoring the protests coming from the other teens.

As the smoke started clearing, I could clearly see Stoick kneeling in front of Toothless, his head bowed. The dragon was unconscious, and the saddle and tailfin were burned to nothing or torn to shreds. The mechanism that crontrolled the tailfin was a mess of red-hot metal and half-burned leather, pressing into Toothless' scaly hide.

But there was no sign of Hiccup.

I couldn't move. I couldn't breathe. I started trembling as tears welled up in my eyes. He couldn't be gone, not yet! I had too much to tell him!

And I had just started to think…

A low moan came from the Night Fury, and he slowly blinked his eyes open, turning to face the devastated chief.

"I-I'm so sorry," Stoick whispered.

Toothless gazed at him for a moment, then started to move his wings, which I had just noticed were wrapped around himself protectively. Stoick gasped, and I rushed over to see…

"Hiccup!" Stoick gasped.

I looked over his shoulder, and sure enough, Toothless was clutching a very beaten-up Hiccup in his paws. He was so still, I feared the worst as Stoick grabbed his son from the tired dragon, took his helmet off, and put an ear to the boy's chest.

"He's alive!" Stoick cried, his voice cracking, "You brought him back alive!"

I almost collapsed in relief, a wall of noise from cheering Vikings and roaring dragons following Gobber as he hobbled over.

"Well," he said solemnly, "Ya know, most of him."

I turned towards him, confused, and caught a glimpse of Hiccup's left leg, partially concealed behind the two Vikings. My hands flew to my mouth to stop myself from screaming or crying out, because just above his left ankle was what could've been mistaken as a second knee, except with jagged bone sticking through his blood-soaked pant leg. I had to look away to keep myself from throwing up.

"He tried to warn me," Stoick muttered, "And this is the price he had to pay for my foolishness."

Gobber patted the Chief on the shoulder. "We need to get that foot off soon, or he'll have to pay a lot more than part of his leg."

Stoick nodded and stood up. "We need a fire to warm up an axe."

Snotlout, the Twins, and Fishlegs immediately hurried to the wrecked ships and brought back the driest timber they could find and piled it up in a hastily built firepit. Snotlout waved the Monstrous Nightmare he rode from the Arena and gestured at the pile. The red dragon cocked its head and let out a short spurt of fire, igniting the logs instantly and earning some scratches under the jaw from Snotlout.

"Axe," Stoick stated, and a random Viking came up and handed over their axe. Stoick held the weapon over the fire for a few seconds as another Viking came up with part of a torn sail to lay Hiccup on.

I was still trembling as I watched the older villagers pick up Hiccup, who let out a weak moan, and set him on the cloth. Gobber tapped my shoulder gently.

"Lass, ye should take the other teens away," he said seriously, "Yer too young to watch something like this."

I nodded numbly and waved the other teens over as I walked away from the group surrounding Hiccup and towards a small pile of rocks. I sat down heavily as a familiar blue and yellow Nadder trotted over and chirped at me questioningly.

"Hey there," I muttered, absently scratching the dragon under its chin. I gazed at the huddled Vikings and noticed Toothless trying to break through the wall of bodies to see his rider, but the villagers kept gently pushing him back.

"Toothless!" I called.

The Night Fury's head turned towards me, recognizing my voice. He took one last woeful look at the huddle and started limping towards me.

The Nadder chirped a greeting, but Toothless was busy trying to get his ruined saddle and twisted remains of the tailfin off of himself, with little luck. He moaned and flopped onto the ground, emerald green eyes staring imploringly up at me. I knelt down next to the dragon and scratched behind his ear flaps like I'd seen Hiccup do, but Toothless just warbled sadly. I didn't dare touch the rigging; most of it was still glowing a dull red from the heat of the explosion.

Suddenly, there was a thunk, and a terrible scream shattered the still air of the rocky beach. I jumped up, startled, and Toothless wailed as he covered his face with his front paws. Fishlegs looked like he wanted to faint, Snotlout screwed his eyes shut as he covered his ears, and the twins exchanged sullen looks.

Just as quickly as the scream started, it stopped, and our ears rang with the muted sounds of a gentle breeze and the waves crashing against the shore. I rushed back towards the group surrounding Hiccup at Stoick emerged, his face downcast.

"We need to get him to Gothi," he muttered, "but there's no way we can sail him back. He'll die of shock or blood loss before we make it."

I ran up to him. "Sir, if we tie him to a large plank of wood and secure it to the dragons, we can fly him back quickly!"

Stoick looked at me carefully, and nodded. "Aye. Spitelout!" Snotlout's father turned to face the chief. "You, Hoark, and Phlegma, look for the sturdiest board you find. The rest of you, gather as much rope from the ruined ships as possible!" There was a chorus of "Aye!" and the group of Vikings dispersed, giving me a clear view of Hiccup.

If his chest hadn't been rising and falling with his slight breaths, I would've thought he was dead. His skin was pale, his forehead covered with sweat, and his left leg had been cut off just below the knee, leaving a stump covered in a cloth soaked with blood.

I turned and beckoned the other teens over. I explained the plan, and Snotlout grumbled about having to do "actual work" (as if helping kill a dragon the size of a mountain wasn't considered work), until he looked at Hiccup's leg. He turned white as a sheet and didn't say anything after that.

A group of Vikings came over to us with several lengths of rope, a mostly-intact sail, and a large, jagged board, probably torn from the deck of a ship. Snotlout had his Monstrous Nightmare tear the sail in half with his claw, and Fishlegs laid it over the board as Stoick and Gobber carefully lifted Hiccup and placed him on top of the cloth. Fishlegs covered Hiccup's torso and lower body with the other half of the sail while two more Vikings lifted the board for me and Ruffnut to tie Hiccup to the board. I tried to make sure they were tight enough to keep him in place and loose enough to not be harmful, but my hands were shaking the entire time. We motioned the other dragons over, and then I remembered that Toothless couldn't fly. I turned to Stoick as Toothless hobbled over, but he spoke up before I had the chance.

"Don't worry, Astrid," he stated, "We have a couple ships that are still sailable. We'll take the Night Fury with us."

I nodded as Toothless licked the larger man's hand in thanks. Stoick jumped in surprise.

I smiled. "He's just thanking you, Chief," I explained as Toothless looked at the man with wide, intelligent eyes, crooning softly.

Stoick hesitated a moment, then held his hand out, palm facing down. Toothless closed his eyes and pushed his snout into the chief's oversized mitt.

"This is what Hiccup was trying to show us...trying to show me," he whispered as Toothless moved back and looked back at Hiccup, whining sadly. Stoick sighed. "He tried to tell me he couldn't kill dragons...but I didn't listen. I only saw what I wanted him to be, not what he is and will become."

"Don't worry, chief," I replied, "Hiccup's strong. He'll get through anything thrown at him." Stoick sighed and nodded.

"Astrid!" Fishlegs called. I turned and saw that our four dragons each had a rope tied to their leg, the other end of each rope tied to a jagged plank on either end of the board. The other teens were mounted up and waiting for me.

"Fly safe, Astrid," Stoick called as I clambered onto the Nadder. I nodded and we took off carefully, letting the dragons navigate through the maze of seastacks and out over open water towards Berk.

I hope you all had a good holiday and new year. I'm sorry this took so long; I'd started writing it sometime in December (I think) but work got a little hectic. (Protip: don't work for a shipping company during the holidays.) And then I lost confidence…again. But here we are. Probably only two or three more chapters before I finally wrap this thing up, after that I don't know if I'll do anything this long again. We'll see.