Heyyyyyyyyyy Dragonites!
How's it going? Well I've been busy and with a serious desire to write so that has been a problem...oops
I know I know, took two weeks again... its just that I usually have a little break on Friday and so I can write a little like half a chapter. Since I can't post half a chapter and only have time on Friday (sometimes!) I have to finish it on the next friday so there you go two weeks. Sometimes it takes less time tho.
Well this is the second to last chapter, I'm 99% sure.
I really try to give you the best chapters and I don't always think I did a good job but it's here anyway and I hope you to have a good reading time!
Soooo see ya down there! XD
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Astrid shot to a sitting position and hid her face in her hands. She heaved tiringly, held the gasp growing on her throat and forced the tears threatening to come out of her eyes to just go back inside.
She wished Stormfly to be there with her but the Nadder was resting on the stables like all the other dragons… apart from Toothless of course.
Sweat glued her bangs to her forehead and the blonde silently cursed Fishlegs.
See, there was Hiccup. And especially after the big fright he gave her, Astrid just couldn't… well, actually she REFUSED to go to sleep. After almost a week of sleepless nights Fishlegs had put an end to it, reassuring Astrid that being him keeping an eye and taking care of the Haddock would be way better than being Astrid who, by that time, couldn't even measure the distance between things.
Well, dam you Fishlegs, she though.
During all the nights and days she spent by his side, Hiccup never woke up and that terrified her especially after THE FRIGHT. For Astrid's mind, all the minutes she fell asleep by his side would make perfect moments NOT to rest BUT to have nightmares. Well, why would this one be any different, eventhought she wasn't next to him?
Nightmares about what?
If you thought of an auburn haired boy with forest green eyes who might or might not have been injured by an arrow recently… let's say, you're pretty close.
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Astrid stood with her forehead glued to his and all she knew how to do at that moment was to panic therefore it was better for her to just pray and hope.
She subconsciously started playing with one of Hiccup's braids, one of two she'd made herself.
It'd been almost two days since the Dragon Hunters' attack and fortunately and miraculously the gang had manage to stop Hiccup's bleeding.
Well, for a fortunately there's always an unfortunately right? Not always but of course that they had to have one.
After the boy fell unconscious in Astrid's arms, near the Dome, they moved him to his hut and together bandaged him. Right. Now the unfortunately part: Hiccup'd lost too much blood and the worst of all, there was still a broken part of the arrow "housed" in him, way too close to a vital organ than it should.
They couldn't move him anymore. They needed to take him to Gothi but that was impossible so, they decided to bring Gothi to him instead.
The last thing Astrid wanted was to let go of her best friend but someone had to go with the twins who were the firsts to volunteer. Noticing this and knowing that Fishlegs should stay with Hiccup, Snotlout quickly mounted Hookfang to do so.
And she was thankful for that. A lot.
They should be about to arrive by now, at least she hoped them to because they were running out of time.
It was incredible how the boy managed to hang on for almost two days, having lost so much blood and with that stupid piece of arrow constantly and slowly moving closer and closer to the organ. Slowly killing him.
By that moment, his breathing was raspy and it was obvious that he was struggling to breathe (his probably last breaths). His pale color had become an even more sick one, like snow with white ink if that's possible. He'd been having nightmares the whole time, it was obvious by his twisted facial expressions.
He was giving up she knew it and that scared her even more. Hiccup always had strenght to stand up and to move and talk like there was no tomorrow, call it energie or hyperactivity. For Astrid, it was will power. Now, he was out of it, he had no more strenght, being it physical and psycological. She. Just. Knew. It.
Astrid had just held his limp, weak hand when his eyelids flickered. Astrid opened hers to stare at his green orbs.
"Hiccup?" She called, hope growing deep inside her gut. Maybe he was going to be ok after all!
However his unfocused, distant, cold eyes destroyed the small amount of hopefulness his awakening might've built. So did the weak but still violent fit of coughing the boy started with.
His eyes drifted even more and his raspy breathing made her heart skip a beat. She realized he couldn't breathe. She took his pulse, the one of the hand she was holding, checked it and it was barely noticeable.
"Not you... not you…" She muttered, pure horror growing inside her and sending thin, cold shivers throughout her stomach. "Don't do this to me ok? Don't you dare!… don-don't leave me here alone…please…You made it until now Hiccup- All you gotta do is wait a little longer, they're almost here." She held his cold, pale hand tighter and closed her eyes, praying to the gods; her own eyes suddenly becoming watery.
Please let them arrive with Gothi right now, please let them arrive with Gothi right now, please let them arrive with Gothi ri-
It stopped. It stopped beating. There were no more beats.
She suddenly hugged him against her, his injured back leaving the wooden bars of the bed, and opened her watery eyes to look at him, pure terror in her expression. "Hiccup?" Astrid cried. "Hey?" She snaped her fingers in front of his cloudy eyes. No answer.
"No no no no..." She started to balance them both back and forth as if that could somehow bring him back to life.
Her gaze was constantly switching from the stairs to Hiccup. From Hiccup to the stairs, expecting the others to just jump from there and put an end to the fact that Hiccup's heart had just stopped beating.
"I'm so sorry." She muttered, closing her eyes again, allowing herself some tears. For almost two days that she'd been fearing this moment to happen and now, that IT had happened, she was there holding him without fulling assimilating IT.
She wanted to scream and call Fishlegs but Hiccup's sudden dead weight made her gasp. She found his head falling down so that his chin was pointing to the ceiling.
"HICCUP!" Yep, she finally assimilated it.
Several eletric footsteps and at the top of the stairs stood all of the gang and Gothi. Her friends' worried faces had turned to paralyzed ones after hearing her scream.
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Swinging her legs to the side of her bed Astrid got up. She was still shaking from the big dose of nightmares but the need to see him was stronger than it all.
After putting on her shoulder pads, Astrid quickly braided her hair and hurried down the stairs and outside.
The morning air was cool and the sky full of white, fluffy clouds. She walked down the wooden platform and soon stood in front of the Haddock's hut. Astrid grabbed the cold knob and pushed it upwards, the inside of the house coming to sight.
As if on cue Fishlegs walked down the stairs carrying a bucket with probably tepid water. His face carrying a heavy expression of pure powerlessness.
"Astrid." He started. "You should really have some more rest."
"I've had enough Fishlegs. How is-" She didn't even have to finish her sentence.
"Hiccup didn't wake up if that's what you're asking." The chuby boy predicted, in a sympathetic and sad tone.
"I kinda guessed that." She played, whatching has her friend walked towards her with the same, wooden bucket. "But I was hopping to help with something" She finished.
More like I'm hopping to not sleep and be with him, she though.
"Well, I have to go change this water and it would probably be a good idea to check on the twins and Snotlout. They won't listen to me but that Monstrous Nightmares gel storage is worth the try so you could-"
"Keep an eye on him got it!" She finished for him, hurrying for the stairs.
Astrid had almost reached the top when she heard Fishlegs closing the door again, preventing the fire from the fireplace to die from the cold, end of autumn breeze.
A black, purrying overgrown lizard rubbed his head on her stomach and Astrid was pulled out of her thoughs just in time to stop in her heels and not smack herself against a vertical beam, one of those who helped supporting the roof.
"Thank you Toothless." The blonde replied, scratching the top of the dragon's head. The dragon purred even more, like an overgrown black kitten showing his gratitude.
A small laugh escaped her throat and Astrid found herself wondering since when exactly she hadn't laughed until now.
With a last growl Toothless finally abandoned the Hofferson, walking to the floor next to his rider's bed and laying there instead of on his stone bed; his tale curled around the bed, it's tailfin resting on top of Hiccup's legs in a so-Toothless-like protective way. Astrid walked to the other side and sat on the edge of the bed, next to the Haddock.
Oh she just wished him to wake up.
She took his white hand in hers and started caressing it with her thumb. What if Gothi had failed? What if Snotlout and the twins had arrived later with the the old healer? Hiccup would be dead by now.
She feared the whole dying for a while thing to have somehow harmed him even more. What if he wasn't waking up because of that? What if he stayed asleep for ever? There were stories and reports of Vikings that ended up in a coma for the rest of their lives.
With that wandering on her mind she just stayed there, Thor knows for how long.
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Well one thing he was sure. His back hurt. That was PAINFULLY obvious.
His eyelids opened a bit and the light coming from the window almost blinded him.
His green orbs noticed Toothless laying on the ground next to him but landed on HER.
Wait? He was alive. Memories flowded his mind and he remembered everything.
Hiccup remembered EVERYthing.
Astrid sat on the egde of his bed, looking at the wall in front of her as if it was the most interesting thing in the world. Interesting wall award of the year!
As if on cue she lost interest on the wood in front of her and happened to look at Hiccup, her mouth opening for such a big and bright smile it ran the risk of breaking and falling to the floor in little pieces. The fact was that for that moment, all her tiredness was gone and her pierce blue eyes were submerged in relief.
"Hi-Hiccup!"
Hiccup was about to smile back but the thing is... He remembered EVERYTHING, including the everything Astrid would probably want him to forget.
"How do you feel?" She asked in a caring tone, her hand landing on top of his.
Hiccup however looked to the other side, his hand quickly escaping hers. More than the wound on his back, Astrid (and the others) believing he had turned to the other side hurt even more.
She looked at their hands and then returned to his face. His insides were crying for doing that to Astrid but at the same time hurting because of the motive.
Her smile was completly gone and the excitement for seeing him awake had been transformed into guilt. She knew very well what he was thinking about and that only made her wish EVEN more it had been her taking the arrow and not him.
"Look Hiccup I-" She started.
"There's nothing to talk about." He interrupted.
"But-"
"Really." He said dryly.
Astrid stared at him for a while, swallowing hardly.
"Hiccup." She looked down. "You have to understand that... with your behaviour... You had been isolating yourself from us and, I heard what Viggo talked with you. It all looked... Well..."
"And you didn't even though you could've... Oh I don't know, misheard it?!" He asked madly, gesturing widly but regretting it afterwards. "Ahh" He cried, his hands trying to clutch his back.
Astrid immediately moved to help him, but Hiccup blocked her arms. He pushed himself to a sitting position, moaning and hissing constantly. Astrid watched as he squeezed his eyes shut until his back slowly and hurtfully rested against the head of the bed.
Toothless perked his head up, his ears detecting a new sound: Hiccup's heaving breaths.
Hiccup! His eyes widened and the floor of the Haddock hut almost broke when the excited, stressed and obviously very clumsy Night Fury got up, turned around to face his rider and showed his happiness by licking Hiccup in such a way it looked like he was eating the boy.
"Ye-yeah b-bud I know Toothless, I know" Hiccup said when he finally managed to. Toothless happily bumped his head against Astrid's stomach and then rubbed it gently against Hiccup's.
Everything was okay in the world for that Night Fury and it got even more when both Astrid and Hiccup started scratching him behind the ears.
But not everything was okay for the two humans in that house.
Astrid raised her gaze to look at Hiccup, who was nostalgically scratching his purring dragon's head. His eyes were still full of pain and his clanched jam proved that he should've stayed in a laying position.
"Let me at least help you go through this" She tried afraid that with his stubborness he'd end up by hurrying himself more.
"I can take care of myself thank you. You can trust me to." He said coldly and she shivered with the trusting part. "It's getting late, it's probably better if you go now."
Astrid ignored the fact that he hadn't said her name the whole time and the obvious fact that he was telling her he didn't need her and looked outside the window just to see the orange sunlight of the sunset.
Did she really spend the whole day there?!
She got up and glanced at Hiccup one last time, sadly scratching Toothless' head.
She walked downstairs and then outside, regretting every new step, and glanced at the hut she'd just left. His words were on her mind 'I can take care of myself'.
Hiccup never held a grudge on anybody and when he told her he would be fine all by himself she wasn't reassured at all because:
-First, she was mad at herself and at the others for not trusting him;
-Second, she felt miserable for seeing him like that (although it was comforting the fact that he was awake and that, from all she had seen, he didn't seem damaged by the dying moment);
-Third, Astrid was somehow left knowing he would NOT be okay all by himself.
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Sooo yep, this was the second to last chapter most likely yayy!
I'll say sorry again but I put serious effort on the fanfics and adding that to the fact that I simply don't have time is... well... disapointing, sad and enfuriating.
I'll try to start writing the next one as soon as I can, you have my word.
Ps: I don't really know how angry Hiccup is sooooo... yeah, just to reminds you that there are no bases nor examples for this type of theme.
Hope you enjoyed and see ya soon! XD
