Hiccup sat up in bed and allowed Gothi to poke and prod him. Toothless and Astrid stood by and talked to him, filling him in on everything that happened while he was unconscious. She didn't tell him about dying twice. She wanted to wait until they were alone.

Gothi told, er, scribbled, that Hiccup was to remain in bed until his ribs healed, which would be about six weeks. Hiccup tried to complain, but Gothi waved her staff threateningly and he kept his mouth shut.

After the Village Elder and Gobber left, Astrid sat down next to Hiccup's head and stared him. "I need to tell you something. I don't know how you'll take it."

Hiccup studied one of his best friend's eyes. They were filled with concern. "What happened?"

"You died, twice," Astrid stated. Toothless crooned.

Hiccup stared at her, before letting out a laugh. "That's a good one, Astrid. I died. That's impossible. No one comes back from the dead. Once your heart stops, that's it."

Astrid didn't laugh. Toothless warbled but otherwise stayed silent. They both simply waited for Hiccup to grasp that Astrid had been serious. Hiccup eventually stopped laughing long enough to see that they weren't joining in.

"Oh gods, you're serious," Hiccup said as realization sunk in. "But how? How could I still be here?"

The blonde warrior began explaining both times he died and what had happened. She described the sickening sound of his ribs breaking so they could get to his heart. The whole time Hiccup just stared at her, listening. He found it hard to believe that he had died. Not once, but twice.

Yet here he was living proof that it was possible to come back from the dead. He just wished he could remember it. He could find no memory of walking through the gates to Valhalla. He couldn't remember being judged by past heroes. He couldn't remember all he had been told that came with dying. Maybe there was nothing after death. Maybe it was just a dark void of nothingness for him. He wondered if his deeds were heroic enough for any kind of afterlife.

Once Astrid finished talking about his deaths, Hiccup pulled her lips to his. It was completely spontaneous. Neither pulled away, instead they brought their lips closer together. Toothless tilted his head in concern. One moment, they were talking. The next, they were eating each other's mouths. Humans were confusing.

Once they pulled apart, no words were said. They just stared at each other blushing.

Hiccup eventually fell back to sleep, while Astrid remained sitting next to his head. After a while, she moved back into the chair and watched as her boyfriend slept through the rest of the night.


Over the course of the next several weeks, Astrid and Hiccup developed their relationship in private. Well, Toothless knew, but he couldn't understand. Stealing kisses here and there. Or at least they thought it was private.

Stoick ended up catching them making out a few nights later. He promptly told Gobber, who in turn told pretty much the rest of the town. They didn't realize their secret has been blown until people start congratulating them. Finding out the next chief of Berk was in a relationship with the young woman he'd been chasing for Thor knows how long, who happens to be a beautiful, smart warrior, it was a time to celebrate.

When Hiccup was finally off bed rest, Vikings would stop him in the streets and ask when the wedding was, if they could be invited, and how soon before they started having little ones. Hiccup decided it would best to stay in his house, until Gothi said was safe for him to fly again.


After spending a month and a half in bed and another two weeks grounded from the air, Hiccup and Astrid were ready to head back to the Edge. Almost their entire stay on Berk had been spent hiding from the villagers. It was as if they were gods. Everywhere they went, people wanted to know what they were doing and their plans for the future. Even Toothless had been assaulted a few times by drunken Vikings.

Together they stood on the cliff with their bags, looking out at the ocean, ready to mount their dragons. Astrid enjoyed her trips home, but this one made her not want to come back for a long time.

Despite the relief from finally being able to leave, Astrid felt like something was off. The sun seemed to dim more and more with every passing minute. The grass and trees seemed to fade away. Even Hiccup seemed to be disappearing.

As soon as they were in the air, everything was weirder. Astrid looked at the sky in front of her. It had disappeared. She turned to look at Hiccup only to find Toothless flying by himself.

The Night Fury looked over at her and began to talk. "It's time to wake up."

Astrid quickly reached out for Stormfly's neck, only to end up hugging the air. She began to fall toward the ocean, which disappeared as soon as she looked down. Toothless caught her to keep her from falling further through the abyss.

"You can talk?!" Astrid exclaimed. Toothless just roared.

Astrid felt a tugging sensation, coming from behind her. She turned and saw Berk. It was getting smaller and smaller. Soon it would be gone. She turned Toothless around and flew back to her homeland.

As they neared Berk, everything that was white was turning darker. Toothless disappeared beneath her, yet she didn't fall. Instead she floated among the nothingness. The blonde looked around, hoping to find a way out. And she found one. On the horizon was bright light, pulling her closer.

Astrid willed herself to go faster. She had to get out of here. She didn't belong in this realm. As she neared the light, she could see inside it. There was a room with a blazing fire in the middle of it. The fire lit up the entire room. In front of the fire stood a man. His mouth was moving, but no sound came out.

She knew this man. She'd known him his whole life, but could not remember him. What was going on? Why couldn't she remember this man? What was he saying?

She reached out to the man. As she got closer, she began to remember. Just as her mind was flooded with memories, she felt a snap, and found herself in the room she had been seeing.

The man stood above her. His lips broke into a grin. "Thank the gods you're finally awake. I was so worried about you, Astrid."

Hiccup is his name, Astrid thought, staring up at him.


Author's Note: Special thanks to DraconicBeing2.0 for being a fantastic beta reader.