Restlessness followed the next few days. It would come and go, like when Ludi played around the house or when Astrid and him started to talk together. But the jittery feeling always returned soon after, mostly when he was alone. He longed to go outside, he longed to do…something…he didn't know what. He just knew that he had to do something and he could not rest until he did do it.

At night he lied still on his bed, looking glumly across the room over into the corner Toothless used to sleep in. His heart felt heavy, and he slowly realized that he didn't want to get up in the morning. When the sun rose up and he opened his eyes, he only laid there with a sad expression on his face, the ringing pain in his leg shaking him as he stayed still. Ludi usually tried to get him up a few times, prodding him sharply with her claw and bouncing up and down on him. But she always gave up after a while, going down and stretching out in front of his face, trying to block the view of the corner.

He didn't know what made him get this bad, whether it was his failure to bring Toothless back or something else he didn't know. Right now, morning had just come. Hiccup let out a small muffled sound, turning his head and burying it into his pillow, trying to block out the light from the sun. His hands twitched at his sides, and he felt Ludi's paw sticking into his side. Closing his eyes tightly, he blew out a fast breath into the pillow. "Stop, Ludi." He mumbled through the pillow. "Leave me alone."

The cat blinked, drawing her tail tight over herself and flattening her ears to her head. She let out a loud meow, narrowing her eyes slightly as she did so. When Hiccup didn't so anything in response, she meowed again, louder this time. When Hiccup remained still, she started to meow over and over again. Each meow connected to the other, and pretty soon she was just meowing over and over as loud and hard as she could.

"MEOW MEOW MEOW MEOW MEOW MEOW MEOW-"

"LUDI STOP IT ALREADY!" Hiccup yelled, turning from the pillow to glare at her hotly. The silver cat looked a little put-out as she snapped her jaws closed. Her fluffy tail flicked back and forth irritably, and her eyes were critical as she looked at her human. His green eyes were filled with anger that he didn't know he had when he glared at her, and under the stare, Ludi shrunk slightly, shuffling her paws as she did so.

Hiccup opened his mouth to say something to her, when there was a loud knocking at the door. The boy blinked, letting out a quiet grumble as he forced himself to sit upright. "Come in." He called loudly, looking at the door with confusion. It opened slowly, and Astrid poked her head inside, looking around the room as if she was expecting something.

"What's going on?" She asked as she saw nothing. Straightening, the blonde came inside the room with hesitation, shutting the door behind her and walking over closer to Hiccup. "From the noise Ludi was making, I thought she was being mauled to death." Pursing her lips, the girl looked at Hiccup with concern. "What're you doing still in bed? Usually you're up and about right now." Tilting her head to the side, she looked at him carefully. "Is there something wrong? Something that you want to talk about?"

Hiccup held her gaze for a moment or two in silence, weighing his choices in his head. Astrid would most likely only get angered by him, he probably shouldn't even try and explain it to her. After all, he didn't really understand it himself. "I'm find, Astrid." He grumbled, turning away from her. Almost unconsciously, his eyes locked on the corner of his room, and almost too late he wondered if Astrid saw where he was looking.

The girl seemed to have a good idea already, and she crossed her arms over her chest as she saw the glance. "Hiccup." She said, a little sharper than usual. "I know what you might be thinking, and I'll tell you right now, you need to stop." When Hiccup didn't look back at her, she narrowed her eyes. "Hiccup, why do you do this to yourself? Come on, please snap out of it! You got healed by the Elder, Ludi is okay…everything is fine! Hiccup- please tell me what you want."

"I don't know what I want!" Hiccup yelled, digging his fingernails into his skull. Astrid blinked at the answer, but didn't have a chance to say anything as Hiccup went on. "I don't know anything anymore! Everything is so messed up! I don't know what to do anymore, which way to go! I'm so confused, and I can't seem to figure anything out! I can't do anything right, everything I do just ends up in disaster."

"Well I don't know how to help you if you don't even know what is going on." Astrid said sharply. "You're not giving me a lot of stuff to work with, you know. I don't see what you want me to do then." She looked at Hiccup silently for a moment or two, remaining still as she stared at him. "You aren't yourself anymore, Hiccup." Astrid spoke quietly. "You haven't been yourself for a long time. There's a part of you missing."

"I'll never get Toothless back." Hiccup mumbled, holding his head in his hands.

"You can get another dragon." Astrid offered weakly, grimacing even as she offered it.

"I don't WANT another dragon!" Hiccup yelled.

"Will you just stop yelling at me?" Astrid shouted. "You don't think that I miss Toothless too! I might say that he's dangerous, but that's just because he is! He's not the dragon that he used to be, and I miss that. I don't miss him here trying to bite everyone's head off, but I miss the way he used to be. People change, sometimes for good, and sometimes for bad. You just have to understand and get past that fact. Toothless wouldn't want you sitting around moping like you have been the past few days. He's want you to move on. And you have to do what he would have wanted."

"How do you know that for sure?" Hiccup sighed, looking over at her glumly.

Astrid scuffed the ground with her foot, blinking largely at the Viking boy. "…I don't." She said simply. "Not positively. But it's something that Toothless would do, isn't it? Maybe you wont find Toothless again, but there's a lot more things in this world than dragons." Ludi hopped up onto Astrid's shoulder as she spoke, and the blonde looked down briefly at the small thing. "You can't shut out the world, because then you would never know all of the wonderful stuff that's in it. Am I right?"

"Hmm." Hiccup sighed softly, looking over once more at the corner. Astrid stood patiently, not interrupting him this time as she looked on. Hiccup's shoulders slumped, then tensed, as if he were bracing himself. Turning back to her, he blinked slowly, giving her a weak smile. "Why don't we go to the Hall for breakfast?" He offered.

"You mean lunch?" Astrid said lightly. But she gave him a smile, seeming satisfied with his effort. "I'll take Ludi, I'll meet you there, okay?" When Hiccup gave her a small nod, she turned on her heel and marched out of the room. The door closed softly behind her, and Hiccup was left in the room alone once more. The boy glanced over at the corner where Toothless had been, swallowing a lump in his throat as he did so.

But as he stared at the small corner, something in his mind clicked. Slowly, his eyes narrowed into angered slits, and his hand fisted up in the covers as determination swelled up inside him. Pushing himself out of bed, he put his injured leg down on the ground gingerly, wincing as a sharp twinge traveled up his limb. Biting his lower lip, Hiccup started forward, limping severely as he made slow progress for the door.

Slowly but surely, he made his way out of the house. The air was cold as usual, but it was like heaven to Hiccup. He hadn't been outside in days, and he relished in the cold wind as it dragged its fingers through his hair. He turned and started walking in the opposite direction of the Mess Hall. He was heading for the forest, despite the promise he had made to Astrid. He knew in the back of his mind that she would be furious, but he didn't want to think about that right now.

The trees and tall grass brushed by him as he went, staggering through the forest like an injured animal. The village was starting to fall back behind him, and he hoped that nobody saw him before he could be hidden behind the tree line. But he made it without being seen, and immediately relief washed over him as he became hidden from the eyes of the village. The greenery around him shielded him from others who might stop him. Astrid was right when she said that she didn't trust him to take care of himself. But…he was Viking. He had stubbornness issues.

And those certainly came up at the worst moments. Hiccup traveled the worn path of the forest slowly, staggering and limping along slowly. Usually he favored his real leg, but as of now he was leaning heavier on his fake one. It made small squeaking noises as he stepped hard on it, and he winced at the small pain that went up his side. He still wasn't very handled with his prosthetic. But at the sight of his sewn-up other leg, he figured it was a minor setback than using his real one and having more pain on him.

The trek was taking longer than usual, and when he was only halfway there, Hiccup was sweating and panting for air that wouldn't come to him. His chest was constricted, and his leg was screaming in pain. He grimaced, but did not give up. He couldn't just give up on something like this, he very rarely gave up with anything. Unless it was something to do with flexibility or agility, then he just walked away from that one.

Shaking himself, he pushed onward painfully, gritting his teeth as he staggered forward. He tried to distract himself from the pain by noticing all the little things around him. The mist of dew on the tree's few leaves. The slight breeze ruffling the grass and making it sway back and forth. The sharp sunlight that shone brightly now through the bare trees.

A whopping hour later, Hiccup made it to his destination. He was overworked, tired, and hot as he gasped sharply for air, clutching his stomach tightly. But he had made it, and that was all that mattered. He had to do this, it was all that was left. Leaning against a large rock, Hiccup looked up to the familiar place, a small smile crossing over his face as he nodded once.

He had made it to the cove.

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A/N: THIS WAS A HARD CHAPTER TO WRITE! T^T

But I hope you like it! And I hope you will be tuned in for the next chappie :D