Three weeks.
That's how long Hiccup had been in a coma, quietly sleeping in his room without moving an inch or making a sound. Breathing in a steady rhythm as Elsa and Toothless waited patiently on both sides of the bed, the princess sitting next to her lover on the bed while the Night Fury was having his head on the bed with his body and tail curling around the bed. Both of them have rarely left the room since Elsa managed to calm herself down enough to actually force herself to see him.
During the first week, Hiccup broke down with a high fever from the loss of blood and his body fighting against any trace of an infection that might had managed to get in. Both Elsa and Anna took it upon themselves to take care of him, changing the bandages and reweating the towel to make sure it was cold to bring down the fever. And now, the only visible injuries that were left was the small burns on his skin and the stitches on his stump.
"Hiccup, I don't know if you can hear me." Elsa said, breaking the silence as she brushed the sleeping boy's auburn hair away from his face before taking Hiccup's hand with her gloved hand. "But, everyone's worried about you. Please wake up."
The snow user squeezed his hand and then she felt it. Hiccup's hand moved and squeezed weakly back around Elsa's, who let out a slight gasp. Toothless noticed this and perked up as the two quickly looked at Hiccup's face but nothing happened.
"He squeezed my hand, Toothless." Elsa pointed out in happiness with tears of happiness in her eyes. "It's a sign that he's alive."
Then a laugh was heard inside the room and the fire started to move in a strange way in the fireplace. Both Elsa and Toothless looked suspiciously at the fire before walking towards the fireplace. As they got closer, the flames started to form images of some kind and were depicting people. Then they both realized. The fire was showing some of Hiccup's best memories! One of them showed how he bonded with Toothless, much to the black dragon's enjoyment and Elsa's surprise.
"Did you know he could do this?" Toothless just shook his head as an answer. He had been with Hiccup ever since before the small Viking knew about his powers and even helped train them, yet he didn't know everything about his gift.
Elsa could just be fascinated over the many uses of Hiccup's flames. She had powers and could use them ever since she was a kid and yet didn't know that much of her powers but Hiccup, through training even though he just discovered his abilities, could use them in so many different ways and always found new ways to use them. Another memory was formed in the flames and this time, it was their first kiss before Hiccup went to battle and then the romantic flight they had together the day they officially became a couple. Elsa just smiled at the beautiful memories and the same goes for Toothless. They both was reassured that he would wake up soon now that these memories appeared before them with a hidden message, Hiccup wanted them to know he was okay.
The door opened and the flames stopped to move, the two present in the room turned to the door to see Anna looking at them with a confused smile.
"What are you two doing?" The youngest princess asked the two as she walked in.
"We were reigniting the fire to make sure it's warm." Elsa lied as she walked back to her spot on Hiccup's bed. "Hiccup moved today but only to squeeze my hand."
"That's great news." Anna said with a big smile. "It's a great sign that he's recovering at least." Her smile faded when she saw the worried look in her sister's eyes. "Elsa, what's wrong?"
"What if he doesn't wake up?" The princesses shared a gloomy look together with Toothless. "What if he stays like this for a long time? I do not dare to think about a life without Hiccup." Anna slowly but carefully hugged her older sister.
"Elsa. All three of us know how Hiccup is. He's one of the kindest, bravest and smartest person we know, if he managed to survive twelve years of suffering and pain on Berk then he's strong enough to get through this by himself." The crown princess looked at her younger sister with trembling but grateful eyes despite the slightly visible bags under her eyes.
"You're right, Anna."
"That's more like it! Now, get yourself a bit refreshed. Me and Toothless will watch over our brother for now." Elsa looked between Anna and Toothless with concern.
"Are you sure you can watch over him for a while without me?"
"You doubt us that much, Elsa, really? We won't do anything stupid and tell you if something happens. Right, Toothless?"
The Night Fury nodded in agreement. As much as he liked to have Elsa as company, Toothless had gotten worried about her too since she hardly slept and with every waking moment she watched over Hiccup like a hawk on its prey. Elsa was his friend's mate and Toothless wanted to make sure she took care of herself, just like Hiccup would have thought as well.
"All right, you two. But you have to promise me you come get me right away if something happens to him." Elsa commanded the two before Anna started to lead her big sister to the door.
"We'll be fine." Anna reassured her like a tenth time. "Hiccup's not going anywhere and Toothless won't leave even if someone tries to, if I ever go somewhere then I would only be gone for a few minutes. Stop worrying so much, he'll be safe with us."
Satisfied, Elsa walked out of the room with reassurance in mind thanks to her baby sister. Despite having not been together in nine years, the older sister have seen that Anna has matured a little bit since their parents died but she still had much to learn. But now, Elsa needed a well deserved shower and new set of clothes. Anna then turned to Toothless with a smile.
"I'll just go to the kitchen to ask for some fish for you." Anna said to the dragon, whose eyes light up at the mention of fish from the princess. "I'll be back in a few minutes. Roar if there's something wrong."
Anna left just a few seconds after, leaving Toothless to look after his rider as he continued to sleep. The black dragon placed his head where Elsa previously sat as he sadly remembered what happened, glancing at the space where Hiccup's leg used to be. Toothless had to grab Hiccup by his left leg with his mouth before he fell into the inferno of the former Queen, but he bit too hard and now it was gone. He had just closed his eyes to get a shut eye when he heard Hiccup moaning and immediately sat straight again. This was the second time the human had done something in three weeks time.
"Hiccup?" Toothless called out as he saw Hiccup's fingers start to twitch and Hiccup stirring. "We miss you. Come on, open your eyes. Wake up."
For the first time in days, the Dragon Prince opened his emerald green eyes to the world around him.
Hiccup was confused. He could hear Elsa and Anna's worried voices but he couldn't respond or even move his body. It refused his commands and he remained in darkness, he wanted to say that they don't have to worry about him, that he was fine. But he couldn't. The last thing he remembered was being hit hard by the Red Death's tail when he and Toothless tried to avoid the massive wave of fire. Then everything was just endless darkness but Hiccup desperately wanted to open his eyes and comfort them, to tell them that it would take more than fire to take him down. It took awhile but eventually, Hiccup managed to finally move and force his eyes to open to meet the big neon green eyes of his Night Fury best friend.
"T-Tooth… less…?" Hiccup croaked hoarsely, noticing how weak and stiff he felt.
"You're awake!" Toothless exclaimed in happiness as he gently nudged his rider multiple times with Hiccup weakly trying to push him away with a smile, but failed. "You're finally awake! We were so worried about you!" The Night Fury was too excited to notice his paw accidentally stepped on Hiccup's stomach, causing the human to gasp and jolted up into sitting position in pain before slowly laying back down. "Sorry! Got too excited."
"Don't worry. I'm used to it." Hiccup replied before scratching Toothless on the chin. The young prince then looked around, noticing that he was in his room in Arendelle castle. "How did I get here?"
"Kai, William and the guards brought you here once we returned, getting a doctor to check your injuries." Toothless explained before getting somber, much to Hiccup's confusion. "They managed to treat most of them… except…" Hiccup got alarmed when he saw Toothless' gaze move towards his legs, or rather leg. The former Viking moved his pillows slightly to be able to sit up and was shocked over not feeling his left foot but also saw in panic that most of his leg from the knee down was gone, leaving a stump just a few inches below his knee.
"Toothless, what happened to my leg?" Toothless closed his eyes in guilt.
"When we crashed into the Queen's tail and you got knocked off the saddle, I grabbed you with my mouth but I guess I bit with too much force, injuring it to the point they had to cut it off in order to save you." Hiccup looked at his friend in sympathy. "I'm sorry, Hiccup."
"You don't have to apologize." The dragon looked up to see a small smile on Hiccup's exhausted face. "Me losing my leg because of you makes us even now."
"Why does that makes us even with you losing your leg?"
"Your tail fin, Toothless." Said dragon then looked at his tail, realizing what Hiccup meant. "I took away something important for you to fly and now, you took away something that made me able to walk. Ironically, both the limbs we lost are on the left side of our bodies." They both chuckled slightly. Hiccup then brushed both his hands over Toothless before they placed their foreheads against each other, both closing their eyes. "Thank you, for saving my life, bud."
"You saved me first, but you're welcome, my prince." Toothless broke away before giving Hiccup a lick on his cheek, causing the human to laugh slightly. The door then opened and the two became quiet as Anna walked inside, who somehow didn't notice Hiccup was awake.
"Sorry, if it took so long." Anna apologized totally oblivious that there was a third person listening. "One of the cooks gave me a cup of hot chocolate and asked me about Hiccup, as well I had to check to make sure they didn't put any eels in your food again."
"...Anna…?" The youngest finally looked up and started to tear up when she saw Hiccup, awake and well despite the tired look on his face.
"Hiccup!" Anna exclaimed loudly in happiness before going back into the hallway. "Someone get Elsa, Hiccup's awake!" The princess ran back inside and hugged her brother figure tightly.
Elsa had just finished changing when she heard a knock on her door, quickly putting on her charm bracelet Hiccup had made her some time ago. The crown princess opened the door slightly to see one of the maids there.
"What is it?" Elsa asked confused as the only ones that would regularly knock on her door was Hiccup, Anna, Kai and Gerda.
"It's Prince Hiccup, your highness." The maid answered and Elsa instantly got into panic mode.
The snow princess raced down the hall with many worried thoughts. Did something happen to Hiccup? Did he get a seizure and died? Elsa tried her best to get the bad thoughts out of her head to not only to control her powers but also think about Anna's words she said not too long ago. When she came to Hiccup's room and took a deep breath to prepare for the worst out come before she quickly opened the door.
"Anna, what happened to Hiccup?!" Elsa exclaimed extremely worried before she saw him.
Her sister was sitting next to Hiccup, her eyes red and her face stained with tears and a big smile. But the dragon rider was awake! Hiccup had finally awoken from his coma and was sitting up, Elsa's eyes started glaze with tears as she ran up to her boyfriend and bailed out all her worries as Hiccup cradled her.
"It's okay, Elsa." Hiccup soothed his lover. "I'm right here and not leaving anytime soon." Anna and Toothless could only smile at the loving exchange.
"I'll go and fetch the doctor and some food." Anna said to Toothless, who nodded before she left again. After a few more seconds, Elsa finally calmed down.
"I got so worried." Elsa sniffed as Hiccup brushed away some of her tears. "I thought I would lose you too."
"It takes more than a bit of fire to kill me." The prince replied much to Toothless annoyance.
"That fire actually almost killed you, dumbass." The Night Fury huffed before smacking Hiccup on the head with his tail.
"Thank you for mentioning that, you useless reptile." Hiccup mumbled as he rubbed the sore spot on his head and Elsa giggled at the conversation despite not understanding Toothless like her boyfriend. "I see you're wearing the bracelet I made you."
Both of them looked at the charm bracelet made of Gronckle Iron on Elsa's wrist. There was five charms that represented each member of the royal family. A tiara and a crown representing her parents respectively, a sunflower representing Anna and a Night Fury to symbolize Hiccup and Toothless. In between the two last charms was a beautiful snowflake that was slightly bigger than the rest, representing the owner herself.
"I've been wearing it since you left." Elsa explained she started to fiddle with the charms. "It helped to reassure me and made it feel like you were with me all the time."
"I'm glad it came to good use while I was away." Hiccup kissed Elsa on the forehead.
After a check up from the doctor and Hiccup getting some food in his system, the Dragon Prince started to tell the sisters about his battle with the Red Death and even drew a picture of it to show them, but left out the part of him using his powers to keep his and Elsa's secret away from Anna. Soon, Anna decided to let the three of them spend some time together alone, feeling a bit jealous of their love for each other and awkward. Hiccup, Elsa and Toothless had gotten some shut eye when someone knocked on the door.
"Come in!" Hiccup called out as he and Elsa sat back up. In came Kai, who bowed as an apology.
"I apologize for interrupting but General William wishes to speak with you." The royal Stewart explained as the general walked in and Kai closed the door to give them privacy.
"Prince Hiccup, I'm glad you have finally awoken." William said and the auburn haired boy bowed his head slightly.
"Thank you. I'm glad to be back." Hiccup replied.
"I don't know how to thank you for bringing Hiccup back alive, general." Elsa pointed out grateful.
"There's no need to thank me, your majesty." William replied while shaking his head. "I'll do anything to protect the royal family to the day I die." The royals smiled grateful but Hiccup remembered something.
"General. About what I did back there…" Hiccup said serious with Elsa looking at him confused. "You and the other soldiers have to swear to not tell anyone about my powers, it has been a secret between the three of us and the late King and Queen. If people got word of what I can do then they would kill me on the spot."
"You don't have to worry, my prince." William answered. "We've already swore it to secrecy." The statement shocked the two magic users quite a deal. "Our loyalty and respect for you is enough. What happened when we found you and the dragon after the battle, I still can't wrap my head around it."
"What in God's name happened on that island?" Elsa asked completely confused over the sudden information that came from the two men.
"When Toothless showed us you were unconscious and terribly injured, all of the dragons surrounded all of us." The general slowly told the two and looked at the sleeping dragon by the fireplace in wonder. "We weren't sure what to do until we saw it. All the dragons bowed in respect and gratitude to the two of you. They even helped us through the fog bank in order to get your injuries treated as quickly as possible. Once we got close enough, almost all the dragons flew back to the archipelago."
"Wait. 'Almost all of them'?" Hiccup asked confused. William just smiled and from behind his back, came a green Terrible Terror crawling onto his shoulder.
"Remember me?" The Terror chirped with Toothless, who had been listening on the conversation, looking at it annoyed.
"You're one of the Terrors we met on that island after our test drive." Hiccup recognized as the Terror flew to the prince's shoulder.
"Fish thief." Toothless replied annoyed and Hiccup chuckled.
"What are you doing here?" The Dragon Prince asked the little dragon perched on his shoulder as he scratched its chin. "Arendelle is a few days away from the archipelago and dragon territory."
"I wanted see if you were okay, Dragon Prince." The Terror explained. "Now I can tell the other dragons that you are okay!"
"Hello, little guy." Elsa greeted as she started to scratch the little dragon on the back of its head.
"Oh, that feels nice!" The Terrible Terror chirped in delight and looked curious at Elsa once she stopped. "I like her."
"It seems he just wanted to check up on me to tell the other dragons." Hiccup explained to the humans in the room. "The dragons from the nest must be very worried about me and sent this Terror to make sure me and Toothless were okay."
"I thought Terrible Terrors flew in flocks of five to ten." The crown princess pointed out.
"I'm tougher than I look!" The Terror exclaimed proud.
"He says that he's tougher than he looks." Hiccup translated for them. "Can I ask a favor out of you?"
"What, my prince?" The Terror questioned in curiosity.
"Can you leave a message to someone from Berk?" Hiccup asked causing the humans to glare at him in concern.
"Hiccup, you can't be serious!" Elsa exclaimed seriously.
"I agree with Princess Elsa." General William agreed with the blond princess. "Any contact with Berk can put your life at risk, especially if they manages to figure out why the King never responded to their desperate plea for help."
"I promise that they won't be able to figure it out that I'm here." Hiccup told them serious. "There's only two people on Berk that knows that I'm alive and that I'm living in Arendelle. That's my father figure Gobber The Belch and Fishlegs Ingerman, the only teen that didn't bully me back then. He found out about me under one of my trips and promised to not tell anyone about me and Toothless after I told him the truth about my 'death'. Fishlegs is a dragon geek as he read the Dragon manual more than anyone and the easiest to convince about the dragons' true nature."
"I suppose you're right." Elsa sighed. "Gobber have managed to keep his silence for this long and you trust this Fishlegs enough to tell him your story. However, how will this Terror get there unnoticed?"
"Terrible Terrors are known for being incredibly stealthy and quick, everyone always underestimate them because of their small size." Hiccup explained simply as he had taken out some paper and a pen to write the letter, closing it with his personal sigal on the front and tied it around the small dragon's back leg. "This way, we can know what's happening on Berk to make sure."
"I won't stop flying until this letter is delivered safely." The Terror squeaked determined as William opened the balcony.
"Thank you, Sharpshot." The Terror tilted his head in confusion. "It's your new name. Remember, stay out of sight until you get the chance to deliver this to Fishlegs. He'll know what to do."
Sharpshot nodded before quickly flying off into the sky, determined to deliver the message no matter what. He didn't want to disappoint Hiccup and Toothless as they were both their saviors and Alphas.
It had been almost four weeks since the latest dragon raid happened on Berk. The Viking village have managed to get a well deserved rest from the fighting and get back on their feet, but it was unnatural that no raids had come under that time and they had yet to find the dragon nest. Hiccup was well forgotten throughout the village except for three people, Gobber, Fishlegs and Stoick.
The lonesome Chief never mentioned or denied he had a son except for when you took him off guard, Stoick mourned Hiccup once he was alone in his house and reminiscing about the days he raised the young boy by himself after Valka was taken. He missed him and felt slightly guilty for treating Hiccup the way he did, Stoick tried to forget everything concerning Hiccup with his chiefing duties and drinks of mead but nothing worked.
Fishlegs and Gobber, however, knew that Hiccup was alive and that he managed to train dragons instead of killing them. Fishlegs met Hiccup personally when the former heir saved him from a few wild dragons when the big teen were with some others to gather supplies from another island, he almost didn't recognize Hiccup at first but once the dragon rider took of his mask, Fishlegs was shocked that he was alive. Hiccup had told him everything that happened to him the last couple of years he was gone from Berk. However, he hasn't seen Hiccup's dragon friend Toothless nor been told of what species of dragon it was since it wasn't nearby.
Fishlegs had informed Gobber of where Hiccup was but they swore not to go after the former Viking unless it was absolutely necessary. Gobber took Hiccup's absence pretty hard but he was reassured when he goes back to the only evidence of Hiccup being alive, his letter that he left by the blacksmith door the day the apprentice disappeared.
"Gobber!" Fishlegs called out, overhearing the sound of the hammer against the metal. The old blacksmith stopped his work to look at the big teen, who was panting heavily from probably running.
"Wha' is it now, lad?" Gobber asked confused. Fishlegs took a moment to catch his breath before he showed a piece of rolled up parchment with a sigal.
"It's from Hiccup!" Fishlegs exclaimed hushed and Gobber quickly looked outside the smithy to make sure no one was around.
"Are yah sure it's from him?" The blacksmith asked to be sure.
"Yeah, a Terrible Terror had this strapped on his leg before it went hiding in my room somewhere." Fishlegs explained. "Only Hiccup would have thought to use a Terror in order to send messages, which is pretty clever if you think about it and it has the mark Strike Class mark on it that Hiccup had printed of his shoulder pad."
"Well, what are yah waitin' for? Tell me what it says!" Gobber demanded. Fishlegs opened the letter.
"Dear Fishlegs…" The blond teen read out loud to Gobber, "...I finally managed to find a way to keep us in touch with each other. The Terrible Terror is called Sharpshot, just give him a few fish and some rest then he'll be able to send messages between you and us in Arendelle. He came to me just recently as I'm recovering from a battle injury. I don't want to go into detail about it but all I can say is, the dragons will never raid you again. I made sure of that. Tell Gobber that thanks to him and everything he taught me made this possible, without his mentorship I wouldn't be able to stop this war for good. Send me a message of Berk's current state and I can tell the dragons of what you said. From Hiccup, Prince of Arendelle."
Both was left in awestruck, Hiccup had managed something that Vikings haven't managed in three hundred years.
"You think Hiccup really found a way to stop the war for good?" Fishlegs questioned in wonder.
"Ah don't know, lad." Gobber replied a bit worried. "But tha' with the battle injury is enough proof that he did somethin' and now we haven' had a raid in four weeks, whatever Hiccup did, saved many lives. Both on Berk and in Arendelle. Let's give him our thanks if we see him personally."
Fishlegs nodded in agreement. Despite being weak and small, despite what the people of Berk had done to him, Hiccup had managed to do the impossible. The most bravest thing you could think possible was done by the one person they thought was weak and useless. Hiccup wasn't Hiccup the Useless anymore, he was the Dragon Prince of Arendelle.