My Hope

Author: Nightstar Fury of Nightstar Productions.

Rating: M for Mature.

Disclaimer: I own nothing from Dreamworks HTTYD or Dreamworks Dragons. I also don't own any of the songs I may use.

19; Wondering.

"HUNTER!" It happened so fast, no one knew what to make of it. First Shadow reveals himself to everyone as Hunter Haddock, a simple high schooler who wanted to be done having secrets, he even apologized to his old friends. The race began and was fine all 19 laps until the end. Other riders ganged up on Damien to separate him from Hunter and Toothless, then when it came to the 90 degree wall, things got bad. A rider with a Changewing knocked Hunter off Toothless, and then that rider fell off her own. No one had seen this rider before, Damien caught the rider and Toothless caught Hunter as the two crashed to the race track floor. The area was silent except for the worried gasps, or screams coming from Heather and Violet. Damien put the rider down and then dismounted to rush to Toothless's semi unconscious form, thankfully the Night Fury was still breathing. Damien saw his left tail fin had been ripped clean off.

"Out of the way!" Violet demanded worried as she and Heather made their way down the stairs of the stands. Heather was holding Hope still as Damien looked over Toothless who began to awaken groaning of course.

"Toothless...Where is he?" Damien asked quickly, Toothless rolled a but and opened his wings to reveal an unconscious slightly banged up Hunter. It wasn't bad, a lot of scrapes or bruising the worst of it was his leg which was twist and bent in a way the ensured it was definitely broken.

"Oh Gods...My baby!" Violet sobbed kneeling before her almost 18 year old unconscious son. Heather wept sadly holding a now very upset Hope in her arms as Samuel was right behind them worried as well. Astrid, Fredrick, Shaun, Rylee, Eric, and Travis rushed down the stairs and towards the track as well but the medics cut them off.

"Dada! Dada!" Hope cried trying to squirm out of Heather's arms to get to her father. The medic checked his heart rate, blood pressure and of course for a pulse. Confirming all that they carefully pulled him out of Toothless's front and back legs but the dragon protectively snarled at them.

"Toothless...You have to let the medics help Hunter..." Samuel said, the dragon growled more.

"Toothy...Dada need help...Let dem help dada pwease?" Hope cried more. Toothless's eyes softened as he reluctantly opened his legs and let the medics and Damien pull Hunter out.

"Careful of his leg..." Damien reminded as they moved Hunter onto the stretcher while the ambulance was backing up on to the track, Samuel had to pull Violet and Heather back.

"Who are all of you?" Asked one medic.

"I'm just a fellow racer and Hunter's friend. Those two are his parents, the young woman his sister, and the little girl his daughter..." Damien explained stepping back to get out of the way. The medic faced Violet and Samuel now.

"I"m his father, Samuel Haddock. This is my wife, Violet, and our daughter, Heather. This little girl is...Hunter's daughter." Samuel informed quickly.

"Name, age, and any allergies?" The medic asked while the other two worked on strapping Hunter into the ambulance.

"Hunter Haddock. 17. Allergic to strawberries, and vicodin. Both make his throat close up, the strawberries cause a rash." Violet said quickly. The medic nodded.

"Understood. We'll take him to Berk General." Replied one writing it down on the pad.

"Who is riding with him?" Asked another medic.

"I will." Heather said handing Hope to her father and preparing to climb into the back of the ambulance, she noticed Astrid and the others now. She scoffed as she disappeared into the ambulance as the medics shut the back doors, the sirens flipped on and it was gone. Not long after, Samuel holding Hope and Violet beside him rushed out to their car to follow the ambulance. Now it was just Damien on the track with Toothless, Shocker, and the gang.

"What do we do for Toothless?..." Astrid asked worried. Damien knelt down towards the dragon's tail and examined it almost.

"Nothing, the wound will close on its own but the chance Toothless ever flies again is gone..." Damien said sighing.

"Is...Hunter going to be okay?" Rylee asked.

"He was pretty banged up and his left leg is definitely broken just not sure how bad yet..." Damien answered.

"We should go see him..." Shaun said.

"What for?...Heather isn't gonna let you near him." Damien stated firmly.

"We have to see him...We want...to apologize to him. We want to be friends with him, we forgive him..." Travis said.

"That doesn't matter to her. You wanted those things too late...And now he's unconscious and will be healing a while...I'm going to the hospital after. I'm gonna have Shocker bring Toothless back to the Haddock house." Damien shrugged.

"We have to see him...I have to apologize to him...I-I love him, Damien...And I'm not gonna lose him just cuz these guys decided to kick him out and didn't tell me until they were already doing it." Astrid tried not to cry.

"You can do whatever you want, just know Heather is gonna be livid..." Damien stated.

"I'm going..." Astrid said firmly.

"We are too...We have to apologize to him." Rylee nodded in agreement. An officer came over now, his pad out and a partner too.

"My name is officer Marx. This is my partner, officer Greene. Seems this crash wasn't an accident given what happened so who'd like to tell me what happened?" Officer Marx said looking at the group now.

"The Changewing rider isn't part of our league, and whoever that rider was was aiming to hurt Hunter. We have 2 Nadders, a Gronckle, 3 Nightmares, a Skrill, and a Night Fury for the Berk Racing League. We've never had a Changewing rider among us before." Said the race master, Coldan.

"So this Changewing rider came in, caused the crash, then took off?" Asked officer Greene curiously.

"Seems that way officers. I'll show you the recording from the race if you'll come with me." Coldan motioned for the officers to follow him which they did, Damien mounted Shocker as the Skrill lifted Toothless carefully and they flew off.

"Come on guys, lets get to the hospital so we can be there when Hunter wakes up..." Rylee said. That being agreed on they all got to their cars and took off for the hospital.

(Berk General)

Astrid drove the twins and herself to the hospital while Eric drove Shaun, and Fredrick drove himself. They all parked in different spots but still near one another. They met towards the emergency room entrance and looked inside seeing Samuel, Heather, Violet who was holding Hope. They walked inside quickly to see the Haddocks. Heather was up first glaring. "What are you doing here?" She asked.

"Heather, please...Now is not the time to be starting fights." Samuel sighed heavily.

"I'm not. They don't need to be here...They don't care about Hunter." Heather snapped.

"Heather please...We're sorry...We all saw that crash, we just want to make sure he's okay." Fredrick tried first. He and Heather had a thing for one another so it made more sense to try and get him to make her see reason.

"We haven't heard anything on his condition yet. We were told to wait out here..." Violet cried softly sitting beside her husband. Hope was whimpering and wanting to see her father, the rest of them looked miserable.

"Can we...wait until the doctor updates?..." Astrid asked softly, the Haddocks looked at one another now. "I know...we hurt him...But please believe that I love him...And I was in the bathroom when these guys decided to kick Hunter from the group...I never...wanted that. I forgave him the night he took me flying...Please...I-I have to know if he's okay...I have to apologize to him...Please...Please just give me that chance." Astrid pleaded while on the brink of tears.

"What do you mean, Astrid. You were standing with them when they kicked him out." Heather grumbled.

"Because I didn't know what was going on, Heather. We were supposed to vote on it, and talk more when I got back from the bathroom...But I came back and they were already at his table. I went to find out and they kicked him just as I arrived and then he told us all to leave him alone..." Astrid replied quickly.

"Then why haven't you spoken up before now." Heather crossed her arms over her chest.

"Because he addressed all of us when he said he'd leave us alone if we left him alone. He thought we were all in agreement and he refused to see us. But I do love him, Heather...I mean it...I love him so much, I have since freshman year...I waited two years, thinking I lost my chance and now that he's in my life again...I'm not losing him twice. I can't...Please...Please let me wait too?" Astrid asked pleading.

"Mother...father. Up to you...I don't think any of them deserve to see Hunter..." Heather huffed closing her eyes and sit down. Samuel stood up now sighing.

"I'm sorry kids. But as much as Hunter hurt you with his secrets, you hurt him just as much by not understanding. You threw him from your group without even considering a second chance. And I was raised to believe that two wrongs do not make a right. Just because he hurt you, doesn't mean you should of done the same. So for now, until Hunter wakes up and rests a bit...I think its be best for you to get home. Hunter can decide if he wants to hear you out. For now, there is much going on...And all this will only cause more stress to his recovery." Samuel said firmly.

Astrid let her tears fall now, she didn't want to leave. She wanted to see Hunter, even if he didn't love her back she wanted to see him and apologize for everyone. "If I can interject..." Damien's voice made them look his way. "I don't think it would hurt for Hunter to wake up and see them there. He may be hurt by them leaving him, but he still cares about all of them. He told me that himself, that he wished he hadn't been so stupid and kept secrets. He doesn't blame them for leaving. And they know they made a mistake, just like he knows he made one. Perhaps it would be good for him to see so many people there who care about him. It could help clear the tension and pain for him to see that regardless of things, they still care..."

"I believe Damien might be right, Samuel...Hunter is going to need a lot of support to get through this. Between his leg recovery and finding out Toothless lost his tail fin...That is really going to hurt him." Violet stood now handing Hope to Heather.

"Very well." Samuel said, the group had hopeful looks on their faces now. "But if he wakes up and wants you to leave...You will."

"Yes sir, of course." Astrid bowed her head in thanks. The group slowly looked to Damien, silently thanking him as well. He is the one who got the Haddock's to change their minds. He defended them. All of them sat down in the waiting room waiting for an update. Minutes turned to almost another hour before the emergency room doors opened and a female doctor walked out with a clipboard at her side. She had shoulder length curly blond hair and brown eyes, wearing navy blue pants, regular blue crocks, and a black and red scrub like top. Violet, Heather, and Samuel were up first with worry.

"All here for...Hunter Haddock?" The woman asked gently.

"Yes...Family and...friends." Violet stated softly.

"A pleasure to meet you all. I am doctor Sarah Carroll." She introduced shaking the hands of Violet, Samuel, and Heather. Hope was being shy and hiding in Heather's shoulder.

"Hunter's parents, sister, and daughter for family. Friends...Damien, Astrid, Rylee, Travis, Eric, Shaun, and Fredrick." Samuel said quickly, "How is our boy?"

"Still unconscious I'm afraid." Dr. Carroll replied with a weak smile. "He only suffered minor bruises and cuts on his face and arms from the impact of the crash. His leg however will take some time to heal. We used X-ray to determine that his leg is fractured in a few places. Its considered a displaced fracture meaning no bones punctured the outside the skin, we were able to use open reduction and internal fixation to straighten the broken bones. There's a small assortment of screws, wires, rods, and nails along with a metal plate to hold the bones together until they grow back together. The surgery was successful and his leg is in a cast for now." Dr. Carroll informed as simply as she could.

"Will he have to wear the cast for a long time?" Heather asked.

"Thankfully this fracture wasn't so great so I will place heal time for now at around 6-8 weeks. The assortment of things I mentioned before has actually shortened his recovery time. Originally on X-ray I was placing recovery at 4-6 months. But being the metal pieces will secure his bones where they need to be to reconnect, the recovery time is about 2 months or so. His leg is casted to add to the limited mobility, and if things are looking good at his appointments we can move to a simple brace or air cast. But while in the cast he'll be using crutches and I suggest for at least the first week he is on bed rest but that call is up to him on how he feels." Dr. Carroll smiled a bit.

"See dada..." Hope asked.

"I'm sorry?" Dr. Carroll asked now.

"Oh, she wants to see her father...Can we see him?" Heather asked now.

"Of course. He's still unconscious mind you but I'd be happy to take you all to see him." Dr. Carroll smiled as she scanned her badge and the emergency room door opened with a high powered click. She grabbed the handle and led them in. The Haddocks first after her, then Damien and the gang. "We know that he is Shadow, we were watching the race in the break room so we prepared a private room for him so he wouldn't be seen by other patients or their visitors." She added now.

"Thank you." Violet said softly.

"Oh don't you worry about a thing. Shadow has made weekly donations of $250 since the first time we took care of little Hope when she got sick." Dr. Carroll smiled brightly. This had been shocking for all them to hear, "Giving him a private room so he can heal in peace was the least we could do."

"Hope got sick when Hunter started racing, he's been giving weekly donations since then? Of $250?" Samuel blinked. Dr. Carroll nodded as she opened the door to Hunter's room and led them all inside. There was an IV and monitor on his right, the bed in the middle. Around the room were chairs or benches for everyone to sit. Hunter laid un-moving on the bed, his arms at his sides, the IV line in his right arm. A breathing mask over his mouth and nose, the monitor linked to pieces on his arm and chest to watch the heart rate and blood pressure. Hunter's left leg was set in a dark gray cast and elevated with a machine. Silence of the room except the steady beeping of the monitor watched the heart rate and blood pressure.

Violet began to cry light taking the seat closest to Hunter's bedside, then Heather holding Hope right beside her, Samuel standing behind them. Damien sat on the left, the rest either stood around or took whatever open seat they could find. "My baby..." Violet said stroking his hand.

"He's not...in a coma right?" Samuel asked.

"Not at all Mr. Haddock. He was unconscious before the surgery, and his vitals stayed normal through it. We did use anesthetic so he will be out from that too. I suspect the next hour or so, possibly longer. Visiting hours end at 10pm, the cafeteria is open until 8pm. And if you need anything at all, or have questions don't hesitate to find one of us at the circle station out there." Dr. Carroll smiled.

"Thank you, doctor." Samuel nodded, the doctor left as they all just looked at Hunter laying there after the doctor shut the door for them.

"He looks so peaceful..." Astrid said gently.

"How was Toothless?" Samuel asked Damien now.

"Resting with Strykeout and Windshear when I left. His tail stopped bleeding and was beginning to close. Shocker is with them too, I drove here from your house." Damien replied.

"Good good...Now all we can do is wait for Hunter to wake up..." Samuel looked back to his son. They all looked at him sadly now. They hated waiting but they had too. The gang just wanted to apologize to him, his family just wanted him to wake up. What was scary to wonder was if Hunter would wake up angry when he saw the gang there. They also all wondered how much of the crash he'd remember, or how he'd take to finding out Toothless would never fly again. It would be hard but they all knew without saying anything that they'd be there for Hunter as much as they could.