Shapeless Chapter 8: Experimentation (part 2), a how to train your dragon fanfic

Author's note: Quick update, I know right! This chapter continues directly on from the end of the last one.

Hiccup's perspective

"3" I heard Astrid countdown.

"2" Please work.

"1" Please.

"Fire," she said, scrunching her eyes closed.

I clamped the muscles in my throat shut, forcing the blast out. Time seemed to slow down, my blast travelling towards Astrid's tensed frame. It collided and sent a purple shockwave out, and that was my low power blast. The shockwave picked up dust, making it hard to see. I looked over to where Astrid had been standing, but she wasn't there. I cried out, not seeing her anywhere.

The dust settled, once I could see well enough I sprinted over to her last position. She wasn't any there. I did a 360, spotting her limp form lying about 20 metres away, her limbs spread out at unnatural angles.

Astrid, no.

All the worst-case scenarios ran through my mind. Would she be able to walk? Would she be able to talk? Was she alive? At the last thought, I stopped and let my brain process what I had just thought. This could have cost me precious seconds. Please Astrid, please be ok. I reached her and turned back to a human.

"Oh god!" I shouted

Now that I was closer I could see the extent of her injuries. Her right forearm was slightly bench, probably from landing on it. She had blood running down the side of her face and coating her shirt, part of her hair was singed and making an unnatural smell and her right knee seemed to be bent backwards.

I checked her breathing to make sure she was still here. I looked at her chest, but it wasn't rising or falling. I grabbed her wrist and pressed my thumb on the underside of it. Nothing. I pressed my fingers to her neck. Nothing. I put my ear to her heart. Nothing.

"No, Astrid, no." I remembered what I learnt in PE about resuscitating someone "C'mon, you're not going to leave us!"

I clasped my hands together and began to press hard above her heart.

"C'mon, you can do this Hiccup, bring her back." I said, trying to calm myself down, "Why did I ever think this would work?"

I pressed my mouth to hers and blew, hard, before continuing pressing above her heart. It seemed to be having an effect, I could feel a single beat every now and then. Got to continue till it keeps its self going I thought.

"Astrid, please come back, please Astrid. I'm not going to give up on you." I continued the compressions.

Two beats in a row, it's working! Three! Four!

"C'mon." I did one last breath and compressions before.

Thump

"YES!" I shouted, before telling myself to calm down, "She's not out of the woods yet. Better get her to a doctor."

I picked her up bridal style, her head lolling around while I began to jog out of the forest and back to the town. Stumbling over some rocks, I had to avoid dropping Astrid. I reached the edge of the town, our houses on the other edge.

"Help! Please! Someone!" I shouted

There were a few people walking around, all of them turning their heads towards me out of irritation, then they saw Astrid's broken form and gasped. But no-one came forward to help. They all looked as stunned as I felt. This was wasting time, so I sprinted off in the direction of our small-town hospital. I knew from experience that they could help with bones and general infections from cuts, but not much more extreme than that. If Astrid had any internal damage, she'd have to go to one of the larger places down south.

The hospital loomed ahead and I continued to jog at a slower pace than usual, I didn't want to hurt Astrid any more than I already had. This is all my fault. Why did I think it would work? I just hurt Astrid. Please wake up, I couldn't live with myself if you don't.

I reached the doors of the hospital and they slid open, a blast of cool, disinfectant smelling air hitting me. The lady at the counter looked up from her desk and gasped. She picked up the phone and called one of the doctors to come to the lobby. A minute later I was met by the same doctor that treated my leg.

"Back here already Hiccup?" He asked jokingly. I shot him a glare, but I knew he was trying to lighten the mood.

"Alright, bring her in here," He continued calmly.

We were brought into the trauma room and I was told to lie Astrid down on the table. Two other nurses had been called in to help, they stood by the door and started to wash their hands.

"Ok, what happened," The doctor asked.

"We were out exploring the forest when a wild dragon jumped out at us. It must have thought we were food or something `cause it started to charge a blast. It fired at me, but Astrid here jumped in front and took the full force of the blast. She was thrown backwards about 30 metres. I managed to scare the dragon off, then I ran to her. She wasn't breathing and her heart wasn't beating, but I performed CPR and got them both going again. But she's remained unconscious the whole time," I knew it wasn't the right thing to, not telling him the truth about me being a dragon and shooting her, but really, what difference would it make. Either way, she was still hit by a dragon blast and was unconscious.

He turned to the nurses and said "Ok, so we'll get an x-ray, then transfer her to the theatre and set the bones," The nurses wheeled her out when he turned to me, "Unfortunately, we don't have the facilities to deal with any major internal damage. If we find anything, she's got to go to Kalgoorlie or Perth."

I nodded and the doctor rushed out to follow his team. I sat down in the waiting room, my head in my hands, trying to process what had just happened. This is all my fault. Please be ok Astrid. We all need you. I need you.

It was about 3 in the afternoon when the doctor came to see me.

"She's doing well, but she hasn't woken up yet and, unfortunately, we found some internal bleeding around her small intestine. This is where we think the blast hit her. So, she's in a stable but critical condition and we do need to send her to Kalgoorlie for further treatment," He said.

I felt heartbroken, knowing that I was the one to cause all this pain and injury. I nodded solemnly.

"We've called the RFDS and they should be here in about half an hour to take her to Kalgoorlie and I expect you'll want to go with her." I nodded my head again. He continued, "In the meantime, you're welcome to see her."

The doctor led me to her room. I stepped inside and was shocked by the amount of cable and tubes coming out of her. This is my fault. I sat down next to the bed with my head in my hands. I glanced up occasionally to see if she'd woken up, but it was in vain. The RFDS came and from then on it was a blur of activity. The doctors wheeled Astrid out to the airstrip located behind the hospital, exclusively for the RFDS. She was loaded into the plane and I got in behind her. The co-pilot gestured to one of the empty seats next to Astrid's bed, I sat and strapped myself in.

We took off minutes later for Kalgoorlie, leaving the town of Berk behind. I realised that my dad and Astrid's parents had no idea what was going on at the moment, so I decided to call them. Knowing that phones weren't usually allowed on planes I leant towards the co-pilot and asked, "Is it ok for me to make a call?"

He nodded, "Yeah, sure. We're not flying at any altitude for it to be dangerous."

I pulled out my phone and dialled my dad's number. It rang for a few seconds before he picked up.

"HENRY! Where have you been? I've been worried," he shouted causing me to recoil slightly.

"I was in the woods dad, sorry. And I left you a note saying I was going out. But I need to tell you something. Huh, um, when Astrid and I were in the woods, she was hit by a wild dragon's blast, she got badly injured and we're on our way to Kalgoorlie."

Stoick's perspective

I was making my way home from work when my phone rang. Please don't be my boss. But it wasn't, it was Henry. Finally, where has he been?

I picked it up and shouted, "HENRY! Where have you been? I've been worried."

I put on stern, commanding voice, "Ok, son, I'll meet you there. I just need do something first."

I hung up and drove down one of the side roads and turned around, on course for Astrid's parent's house. I arrived a few minutes later. This was not going to be fun, telling a family a dragon attacked their daughter.

Knock, knock

"Oh, Stoick. Good to see you again," Garret said, shaking my hand firmly, "Come in."

I walked in the door and into the living room, sitting in one of the chairs. "So Stoick, to what do we owe the pleasure?"

I clasped my hands and placed them in my lap, my had down. "I got a call from Hiccup and he told me some bad news. Astrid was shot by a dragon and is on her way to Kalgoorlie with Hiccup."

The look on Garret's face was one of complete devastation and disbelief. "He didn't tell me any more than that. I was going down to meet them and I thought you should come with me."

"Yes, let's go."

I can't imagine what he's feeling right now, not knowing the fate of your daughter. Just let her be alright.

Author's note: Thank you guys so much for all the support this story is getting. This chapter was annoying to write as I had to deal with my laptop's keyboard playing up and missing keystrokes. UUHH! Anyway, I will be going back to uploading about once a month as the holidays for me are coming to a close in a few days. Please review and tell me what you think.