Astrid immediately threw Hiccup over her shoulder, one hand holding him secure. Her other gripped her ax tight, as she stared down the very dragon that had caused Hiccup so much pain. She never quite understood revenge for the longest time. She thought it was foolish to take your anger on something or even risk your life to settle a score.

However now, she understood.

When pain falls upon those you care about, you will do anything to make sure they are ok. And if that includes taking down the demon that had stole him away, well, she would make it pay.

Snotlout backed up, his face robbed of colour. His mace shook in his sweaty palms, as he ended up beside Astrid. It was only seconds until the dragon would strike. Astrid watched it with her concentrated, cold blue eyes.

"Snotlout, run." She growled. He fixed her with a confused look. "Take Hiccup and run! I'll hold the Night Fury off!"

"No...no. You take him. I will h-hold it off." Snotlout argued, steeling himself. Astrid was slightly incredulous. She was about to respond, but the ground shook under their feet.

Its lips were drawn up, showing all of its spear like teeth. Its eyes were fiery, glaring severely at the two vikings. Its tail whipped back and forth as it paced a little, like a cat on the prowl. The fins on its head were all folded down, all making for a terrifying picture. Astrid momentarily froze.

She shook herself out of it and fixed her stance. Snotlout let out a watery war cry, charging right towards the threat. Astrid quickly set down Hiccup, tucking him against the wall of rock and followed suit. Snotlout got in one hit on its snout before being flicked away by its powerful tail, luckily sliding to a stop before going off the edge. Astrid went for under its chin, kicking it as hard as she could. As predicted it's head was knocked upwards, leaving its neck open.

She went to slice it open, but cried out as intense heat hit her abdomen, the whistle of a Night Fury filling her ears. It shot her back, sending her into a roll across the stone. Astrid curled in on herself, expecting the worse. But when she lifted her shirt, only a ring of fresh bruises lined her stomach. No fire damage? What had it hit her with?

Once again she rose to her feet, racing with Snottlout to at least ward the dragon off. But they were nothing but fleas to it, apparently. It roared and rose, flying towards them. It pinned both teens under a large taloned paw, glaring at the both of them. It stole away Astrid's ax in its jaws, throwing it away somewhere she couldn't see.

Astrid glanced at Snotlout. He looked unconcious. She looked up at the dragon holding her down, and yelled in frustration, kicking and pushing at its paw. It was to busy scanning the area to notice her scratching or screams of anger. It seemed to see what it was looking for, its ears momentarily perking. But when it looked down at her, the flaps flattened again.

"Let me go beast, or kill me already!" She yelled, trying to kick it in the stomach. It growled loudly, pushing down a little harder on her. It stopped growling when her and the beast both heard a small sound.

"Toothless?" She heard Hiccup mutter. He sounded so small, and so quiet. The beast, as if hypnotized, stepped off her and padded towards the barely concious teen tucked in the corner. Astrid gasped for breath, rolling onto her knees and watching helplessly as the beast closed in on Hiccup.

To her surprise, it crooned. It gently sniffed Hiccup's hair, peering at his pale face. Its pupils were round, almost softer, than the twin diamonds they had been before. Astrid slowly inched towards her ax, still watching in disbelief.

Suddenly, Hiccup screamed. It was a horrible sound, hoarse and weak but so loud at the same time. The dragon flinched back.

"No! Get away!" Hiccup cried, his head weakly turning away. He squeezed his eyes shut. Toothless watched helplessly, wanting to nuzzle his human. He didn't want to be the reason the small human was starting to hyperventilate. Usually the dragon would wrap his body around the panicking human, letting him hide in his wings while his attack passed. But Hiccup looked so afraid.

Of him.

"Get away from him!" Snotlout screamed, running in a dead sprint towards the dragon. He knocked himself into it's shoulder with no warning, knocking it off it's balance just enough to send it over the edge of the outcropping. Its claws scrabbled for purchase, wings blowing out, but Snotlout lost his own balance and fell after it.

Astrid didn't notice. Even before Snotlout hit it, she slid in front of the beast, grabbing Hiccup and sending them both over the opposite edge themselves. She held him tight in her arms as they slid down the gravelly side. Rocks scratched her skin and dug deeply in, but she focused harder on making sure they didn't find any sheer drops. Luckily this side of the mountain was shale, which broke away easily, and made for a slippery but relatively easy path down. Though itself, it was very sheer, and they slid fast down the side. She let out a yelp, as they tumbled over larger rocks, and suddenly it was dark.

/\

Ruffnut poked at the measly fire, the small flames wavering. Raindrops sizzled as they hit the fire, minimizing the fire even more. She frowned, not exactly caring that she was going to be soaking wet soon.

"Ruffnut, I said to hide the firewood before it started to rain!" Fishlegs tuttered, grabbing an armful of deadfall that was already damp. He sighed. Ruffnut ignored him, staring at the edge of the forest. She waited for it to break, revealing the three missing teens. She wished everything was just...easier.

Fishlegs stomped out the rest of the fire.

"Lets go to our tents. No use catching a cold." Fishlegs announced, slightly skittish. Ruffnut regarded him with a blank stare, almost indifferently.

"I'll take the first watch." Ruffnut said. She turned back to looking at the treeline at the end of their small clearing. Fishlegs nodded, walking back to his own shelter. Tuffnut was out to get a rabbit or a fish for their supper. Ruffnut was weird when she was seperated from her other half. Much more quieter, and quite a lot more distant. But he guessed it wasn't just the twins seperation that was causing her grim nature. He just hoped the others would come back soon.

/\

"Hiccup! Hiccup it's me!" Astrid yelled, holding his wrists. He threw himself around madly, kicking and punching at random. Astrid restrained him the best she could, desperately trying to quiet him down. He kept crying out as if being attacked, and blubbering on about someone named 'Toothless'. Astrid could tell he was barely lucid, just by the milky look in his eyes.

He must be deep within the throes of a fever. His forehead was scarily hot, and his body twitched out of control with tremors.

"Hiccup, quiet!" She almost hissed, but softened her tone. She was no good with comforting anything, or anyone. But she would try, if only to sooth her friend. She let him thrash for a bit while she rushed from their small shelter she threw together- evergreen boughs quickly leaned against an ancient oaks large roots. Between two huge roots was a space large enough for two humans to fit comfortably. The boughs kept out the rain, which came down quite heavily. She ran to a small stream nearby, her body groaning in protest.

She soaked a strip of cloth in the ice cold water, then hurried back to their shelter. Astrid set the cooling cloth on Hiccup's burning forehead, shushing him again and wrapping the pelt tighter around him. He finally relaxed, his body going limp. Astrid let out a sigh of relief, looking sadly on at her friend. He still shivered as if cold, but his body burned as if dragon fire filled his veins. She had only the barest idea of what to do. She only had a hunting knife- her ax had been lost in the skirmish up on the mountain. She was most likely far, far away from the side of the island she needed to get to. And Hiccup was so very sick.

His eyes fluttered open, forest greens glancing around. She knew he still wasn't awake enough to process anything. She had seen her father like this once, so she at least knew what to expect. It was scary, and she rarely used that word for anything. He had yelled and screamed, then cried and begged for death the next second. Gothi said fevers are some of the most dangerous illnesses a viking could face, and only the bravest survived severe ones.

"Be brave Hiccup, I know you can be." Astrid hummed softly, moving his mussed, messy hair from his eyes. His eyes closed softly, as sleep finally claimed him with its comforting darkness. Astrid smiled only slightly, hoping he'd sleep all night. Or better yet, until his fever passed. She made sure the pelt was tucked up around his chin, just as her own mother did for her when she was sick. Astrid may not be the most maternal woman ever, but she was a fast learner. He just looked so much different from the Hiccup she's always seen around the village. His usual sharp eyes were glazed over, his fiery auburn locks now dull. His clever hands shook unsteadily, no longer steady enough to tinker with those strange machines of his. She honestly missed that Hiccup.

The boy who was always on the outside, keeping to himself. She knew how important his fathers respect was to him, which made her often at least respect him as a person. That was probably the only reason he came on this gods forsaken trip, to impress the chief. As much as she respected Stoick the Vast, sometimes she agreed in silence when her mother harped on the chief for constantly ignoring his son in favour for chiefly duties. Her mother was a bit of a gossip, but she was also so fierce in battle no one judged her for it. While Astrid was mostly raised with 'tough love', she never felt ignored or brushed aside. She couldn't imagine what Hiccup felt every day.

As she wrapped her wounds, she mulled over all this. Of course she kept her ears open for any movement outside of their shelter, but there wasn't much else to do. Hiccup would awaken to thrash, but his movements became weaker and weaker through out the night. Astrid became gentler and gentler with calming him, just hoping the few herbs she had found could help him break the fever.

Until then, she mended her many deep gouges, and kept watch of the darkness beyond their small pocket of safety.

/\

A/N: I have no idea what canon Astrid's mom is like, I just kinda made her into my own character, ha. Also, I'm like 500% sure Toothless wouldn't have killed Astrid and Snotlout, because he's smart enough to tell the difference between adult vikings and baby vikings. He was in a 'you darn kids get off my lawn' kinda mood.