Stoick watched in horror as his son fell to the ground with a dagger plunged into the back of his shoulder. He watched as Astrid leaped into action. He watched as Hiccup quickly lost the willpower to remain awake.
He stormed over to where Ryker stood, grinning at his accomplishment. He was going to wipe that smug look off of him.
"You vile, heartless, yak dung smelling, worthless piece of a man," Stoick roared as he picked him up off the ground once more. "Only a coward attacks a man when his back is turned."
"Only a coward would turn his back," Ryker retorted. "How ashamed you must be to have that boy as a son."
Stoick roared in anger and threw Ryker to the edge of the cliff. He caught the villain by the tunic and dangled him over the edge. "Do you want to know what my tribe was originally going to call me before settling on Stoick the Vast?"
Ryker gulped down air as a reply.
"Stoick the Vindictive," Stoick stated. "Revenge is what I'm best at. I'm telling you right now if my boy dies, there is nowhere you can hide. I will find you, torture you, and make you beg for death. You will only die when I say you can. Is that understood, Grimborn?"
Ryker nodded. In response to his answer, Stoick threw him into the biggest tree he could see.
By the time Stoick had gotten back to the group, Astrid had Hiccup bandaged and ready for transport.
The chief picked up his son and watched Astrid climb into place on Stormfly, so she could take Hiccup. He was going to fly Toothless back. "Astrid and Heather, go on ahead. We'll be right behind. We're going to try and find his leg." Toothless immediately started sniffing.
Astrid watched Hiccup's breathing, to make sure it didn't stop. Seeing Hiccup so vulnerable, so helpless, hurt her. She fought back the urge to cry. She'd known Hiccup all her life. Granted, she spent a large part of it avoiding him, just like all the other kids, but deep down, she had always had a small, very small crush on him. After the events with the Red Death, she started to fall for him hard. She did her best to conceal it, but ever since they found the Dragon Eye and started Dragon's Edge, it became harder.
Over the past few months, she's found it extremely hard to hide her true feelings. Right now, her true feelings were showing. No doubt Heather noticed.
"Don't worry, Astrid, Hiccup will be okay," Heather stated with a small sad smile.
At that moment, Hiccup's eyes shot open. He screamed in agony for a solid three seconds, before closing his eyes and going limp.
Astrid quickly placed her ear to Hiccup's chest. She listened as his heart slowed to stop. "NO, HICCUP!"
"We need to find a place to land," Heather stated. She searched the sea and found a small island. "There."
They landed. Heather helped get Hiccup off of Stormfly and laid him as flat as she could on his back, but proved unsuccessful. "We need to take the dagger out. I can't help him otherwise."
Astrid knew it was a bad idea, but they had no choice. "Okay. I'll take it out."
She grabbed the hilt and pulled it out swiftly. She rolled him over to his back, keeping her hand placed firmly on the wound to keep pressure on it. "How are you going to restart his heart?"
"Dagur taught me how when we were with the Hunters. I'm going to apply pressure to his chest, fast and hard. I might end up breaking his ribs. The result will be worth it," Heather explained.
She proceeded to place her hands together and push on his chest, just over his heart. She kept at it, pushing harder and harder. Eventually, the two young women heard a loud crack; Hiccup's ribs cracking from the pressure. The sound was sickening, but the end result was worth it.
Hiccups eyes fluttered open as he took a gasp of air.
"Hiccup. Thank Thor," Astrid breathed. She sat him up and gave him a hug with her free arm.
"What happened?" Hiccup asked.
"I'll tell you later, just relax. We need to change your bandages," Astrid said. "Heather, can you put pressure on the wound? I'll get some clean bandages."
Heather nodded and took over. "This is going to hurt, Hiccup."
Hiccup nodded. "I don't feel anything."
Heather looked at him with concerned eyes. That wasn't good. "How are you feeling?"
"Tired," Hiccup replied.
"Once we're back in the air, you can fall asleep," Heather promised.
"What happened? Why are we here?" Hiccup wondered.
Heather sighed. "Your heart stopped. We had to restart it."
"I-I had a weird dream. My ancestors were there. The-they were all sa-saying how proud they were of me," Hiccup rambled as he blinked slowly. "My mo-mom wasn't the-th-there though. Why, why wasn't she there? I-is she not pr-proud of me? Why is she disappointed in me?"
Tears ran down Hiccup's cheeks and into the sand beneath him. Heather brushed his hair out of his face. He was burning up. She turned and saw Astrid running back with the bandages.
"He has a fever," Heather said. "We need to hurry."
They quickly rewrapped Hiccup's shoulder and got him back on Stormfly. By the time they were back in the air, Hiccup had lost consciousness again.
Heather and Astrid pushed their dragons to go faster. They screeched in reply, but sped up.
Author's Note: Wow I am amazed at the response I have received. I hope the edits are pleasing.
Special thanks to DraconicBeing2.0 for being a great beta reader
