Happy Friday! Many of you have asked, and I post a chappie every week - I usually aim for Thursday or Friday. Thank you for all your comments; they mean a lot to me.

Chapter Sixteen: Phoenix

She hurled through the void, stars blinding her and voices chasing her. She whirled around, not sure where she was or how she got there, the image of the Outcast girl stabbing her etched into her mind.

She flipped over and over, thoughts racing through her head. She didn't think death would be like this, she thought she had a chance to get to her body, she needed to find it and find Hiccup and Snowdrop and tell them about the Outcast girl, that she was a murderer, healed and ready to kill!

Astrid flew onward, clawing at the air around her trying to stabilize herself. Suddenly, a severe pain hit her in the chest, sharp and hot. She held onto that mark, but another pain sliced into her shoulder, making her scream. Again and again, sharp pains stabbed through her chest, her shoulders, her thighs. They filled her with heat, with anger, with feeling.

She slammed to a halt, an instantaneous stillness exploding through her. Her body hurt in every which way, a blistering heat coursing through her veins. Blurry visions hit her dry eyes, pried open for ages. She focused on lines above her, which turned into slats, which turned into wood, which became a ceiling. Gothi's ceiling.

The Outcast girl loomed over her, a soft and somewhat comforting face hovering above her. Her fingers were red and the knife was drenched. Astrid tried to breathe, the urge to panic overwhelming. Only a whisper of breath left her lips. Somehow it was enough. Astrid couldn't move anything, not her eyes nor body, but her mind was awake and alert. The girl smiled softly and rested the knife to the side.

Wake? a voice echoed in her head, loud and startling and bouncing off every which way. Astrid would have cringed if she could, but her body remained deathly still.

What? Astrid asked in her mind, thinking the word immediately as if she could make the word heard on her lips. Who's there?

Bond, was the simple reply. Astrid thought for a moment, staring uncontrollably at the girl above her.

"The voice you hear," the girl whispered with a surprisingly beautiful voice that sounded too old for her age, "is Stormfly."

Wait, can you hear me? Astrid asked quickly, trying to find her body but failing, breathing the tiniest breaths she had ever breathed, the pain ebbing through her. The stab wounds laid open and bare to the cool air made her writhe in her mind.

"I can hear your dragon," the girl responded. "She and I are going to save you."

Astrid had a million question rush through her head, and she felt Stormfly's presence as if she were a person looming over her shoulder confounded and trying to keep up. But the thought of seeing Snowdrop, how she wailed as they tore her tiny body away from her corpse, made her abandon every thought save for one.

How? she thought clearly and distinctly.

The girl smiled again, and Stormfly entered her vision, looking over her with a worried eye. "Blood and venom," she said quickly. "The moment I knew you were poisoned, I called to Stormfly. When the matrons gave up, and after healing fast and in a way I can't explain at this time, I left my bed and Stormfly granted me a willful dose of bloody dragon venom, the secretion much different than an attack venom. I would apologize for the stab wounds, but they should heal properly if –"

She heard voices above her and looked up cautiously.

"I hear a noise. Stormfly, outside!" she said quietly. She grabbed Astrid's face and looked into Astrid's seemingly vacant eyes. "You cannot move yet, your spirit and body are still unconnected. When I saw you hovering toward Valhalla, I knew I had a window of time. It was merely a first step."

More voices sounded, closer and louder. The girl cursed and continued even faster. "With Hiccup, it was different."

Astrid's mind clicked together, a realization hitting her like a battering ram. Rose, she thought. It's Rose. You're Rose. The girl from our wedding, we fought together against Cauli, you bonded Hiccup.

"With Hiccup, I bonded him when he was alive, which didn't need as many steps as you're about to endure. He merely had to make a bond, you will have to… go through a wee bit more. I bonded him to make the Saviour stronger, but I am doing this to keep you alive. Berk will hold a funeral for you when they can, and your body will not deteriorate, but will not heal. Stormfly's blood is supporting you, but she will have to give you more than her blood for it to work. Your insides have been burned by Outcast Orchid, a plant Stoick knows not of, so you will need that time to heal and the fire to give you a leg-up."

A voice floated through the ceiling. "I see them, the dragons are here… Gods, Hiccup."

Rose bit her lip. "Trust me, Astrid, I know it's hard for you, but I can't let you die knowing what's coming Berk's way."

What? Rose, what? What's going on?

Rose shook her head as someone descended the steps. "They're going to deal with me in a way even I don't know, so when you burn, you have to get to Hiccup. I will worry about me, you focus on staying dead. Stormfly is here for you and knows what to do. Just trust me –"

"YOU!" Juniper's voice shrieked from the doorway as the dragons landed outside. She crossed the room and grabbed Rose by the mouth, lifting her boney body off the floor by her jaw. Rose cried out and tried to speak, but with a bloodcurdling crack, Juniper dislocated Rose's jaw. "I knew you couldn't be trusted!"

No! Astrid screamed internally. Rose, no! Stormfly, you have to stop her!

No, Stormfly replied frightfully, Spirit Weaver said not to. The statement made Astrid even more frantic. But she couldn't move. She was absolutely still and cold. Rose was dragged away by her hair, one more look between them that horrified Astrid to the core. What would they do to her?

There was a tense moment of silence, the room settling as voices yelled outside. Only when she heard the familiar sound of an inconstant footstep, one foot and one squeak, did she know Hiccup was running to her. It broke her heart when she saw him stumble forward, his eyes open and red and filled with terrified tears. He approached haggardly until he slipped in something wet and slick, falling onto her chest and making a sound Astrid had never heard him make. There was blood on his chest, on his face, and he looked into her eyes. She hoped he could see her spirit behind her dead eyes. He crumbled and said her name with one breath. Then, he placed a hand on her abdomen, which made her heart shatter into a million pieces. Her spirit may have been there, but the baby… she didn't know. She let herself stare, chanting Rose's words in her mind to give her some peace.

They had cleaned her up during the longest days of her life. They placed her back in her riding suit, Juniper overriding Olga against the wedding gown. They painted her face and covered her wounds. It still hurt immensely, but the moment they were concealed, she felt the raw flesh rub against the bandage in a pain that was disgusting. At least she wasn't rotting.

Finally, at the boat, her eyes closed, she could only hear the ceremony. When she felt Snowdrop's hand – the only petite hand in her world – her spirit awoke and slammed against her shell of a body, trying to find a way to hold her and tell her she was alright. But she listened to her small words and felt her heart ache with every painstakingly-slow heartbeat.

Love, Stormfly said, thinking sweet thoughts into Astrid's mind, trying to comfort her as Snowdrop's voice became distant.

She smelled Hiccup before she heard him. She felt his hands on hers, her wrist pulling from her body, her frigid hands pressed against the bear skin of his chest. She felt his heartbeat beneath his shirt and the sobs that pounded his body into devastation. He kissed her face and tears spattered her cheeks.

"You are the beauty of my morning…" Hiccup whispered against her face. She recognized the vows instantly and listened to every word. "You are my only and my chosen… I will love you even though you are gone, after our dragons have taken flight to Valhalla and our bones are distant memories... I will always remain all that I am and I will cherish you for your entirety forevermore. Always and eternal. A-Always, Astrid."

He kissed her twice.

I love you, my Hiccup, Astrid thought weakly. I'm here, I love you, I'm here.

"It's time to go," he choked. "I love you… I love you."

Hiccup…

But he was gone. Her boat began to move and finally, she remembered Rose's words. She prayed this would work as she felt the soft ripples of the boat beneath her. There was a brief reprieve as she floated.

What if this didn't work? What if Rose did it wrong? What if she floated away until nothingness consumed her, until her weak body finally gave up, eons until she was asleep forever?

The fire hit her body, and the pain was the most excruciating she had ever felt in her entire life. She burned and burned and her spirit screamed. She desperately tried to claw at her skin, feeling as if it was melting away. The bandages burnt to floating ash and the wounds began to sting as they pulled and tore and forced themselves shut, new skin bursting forward like a blossoming flower, healing everything. It took time for her whole body to glue itself back together, the boat burning and suffocating smoke attacking her face. It hit her nose, filled her lungs, and she coughed.

She coughed! Her body moved with that one movement, and she centred herself in her suffering. She felt the shell of her body, how it felt hot and fluid, forcing her spirit into the empty spaces like molten metal into one of Hiccup's moulds. Her fingers twitched. She searched for more spaces to fill. Her eyes fluttered open. The fire filled her and with that fire, things became clearer. Her eyes burned into new sights, her throat burned with a new voice. Her heart pounded strongly between her lungs, and the searing heat filled her organs.

She made a sound, a silent shriek as the holes in her stomach closed, the infections burning away, the poison smouldering and simmering away and out of her roaring veins. The boat creaked beneath her as she found her bones and moved an arm, and the wood gave out beneath her.

The claws of the frozen sea seized her, grabbed at her riding suit and surrounding her in a frigid prison. She couldn't breathe, but the cold shocked the fire within her to burn harder. She snapped her legs around, pushing herself to the surface. Her unfamiliar arms dragged her upward until her face broke the water. She sucked in a huge breath of delicious air into her new lungs, the air whistling into her and rushing out. She coughed and gasped and looked at the stars above her.

She breathed and treaded the water. It was night, dark and long after her funeral. How long had she burned? That didn't matter. She pushed herself towards the shore nearby and when she felt the sand under her, she crawled onto a soft shore, collapsing into the dirt. She felt in in her mouth, grating against her teeth, and disgusting grains of sand in her mouth. She loved it. Tears filled her eyes gratefully as she felt herself sink into the sand. She was exhausted, and she had a ways yet to go.

She lied in the sand for thousands of waves washing against her calves until she got her arms beneath her to force herself up. Her hair fell out of her braid as she crawled forward.

Stormfly landed in front of her quietly and sniffed her with worry. Wake.

The sound was alien, the words of an ancient voice softly vibrating through her head. Hiccup had always tried to explain the voice, the bond. He had said that it was like a thought or a dream that wasn't her own, but different and comforting. Astrid rolled onto her back. She reached up to her beloved Nadder meekly, the creature that saved her life that crouched next to her, and wrapped her hand in the reins. Stormfly hauled her up, using her weaker wing to push Astrid into her saddle before leaving the ground and jumping into the air.

When they landed, Toothless met them, conversing with Stormfly hectically. Astrid slumped off Stormfly, her knees buckling under her weight, but she remained standing. She wasn't entirely present, but her body could move if she focused hard enough. That was an improvement from being dead, she thought. She just wanted to find her sister, her husband, and Rose. Her heart was pounding as she noticed her house in the dark – how? It was too dark for her to see… but her eyes could see through the heavy darkness of the overcast night sky. The sight of her home made her want to run forward and crash through the wall of the house to show Hiccup she was alive and –

"Stormfly?" Hiccup's voice made Astrid's eyes flick up, but she couldn't find the will through her exhaustion to step forward after all her thoughts. Stormfly, unsure of what to do, began moving, trying to cover Astrid as Toothless met with Hiccup.

"I need her to calm down, bud," Hiccup said to his dragon. "She'll hurt herself… Toothless, seriously! No, you can wait! Stormfly, calm down! …Please, let's keep things simple tonight, okay? I don't want to deal with damned riddles or rhymes or –"

Astrid, in a fit of homesickness and longing paired with her famous stubborn determination, forced herself around Stormfly. Her whole body burned in that one movement and she almost lost her balance. Hiccup jerked upright and fell back. Astrid moved forward, desperate to comfort him but her body aching. Gods, he was so pale. He was going to make his own heart stop out of fright!

"Hup?"

Snowdrop's voice froze Astrid like a wild wind. Her baby sister, barely able to handle her own speed, stumbled around the house and looked at her with a shocked look.

"J-Just fell, get back inside," Hiccup wheezed. But Snowdrop stepped forward towards Astrid and looked up at her. Astrid could only look at her in suspended shock and grief, so happy that she couldn't move as Snowdrop wrapped her arms around her legs and buried her face between her knees with a shiver. She immediately accepted the return of her sister.

Time stopped. Astrid stared at the head of her baby sister, her heart fluttering with so many emotions, it hurt. She could smell her hair, see every strand of hair, feel her heartbeat against her shins. So many emotions, so many senses. She was so close to leaving all this behind…

Astrid let her knees go and she fell to the ground, throwing her arms around Snowdrop and burying her own face into Snowdrop's shoulder and messy hair. Her body began to shiver and she felt the familiar feeling of tears warmly rush over her cheeks.

"Astrid," Snowdrop screamed without making sound. "Astrid."

"Snow…" Astrid murmured, threatening to crush her sister into her own body. She stayed there as Snowdrop held onto her desperately. "My dear… little Snowdrop…"

She laughed. A smile and a sigh left her body and she opened her eyes to find Hiccup staggering towards them, one hand against the wall of their home. Astrid struggled to her feet and held Snowdrop's hand as she looked into Hiccup's face for some feeling of happiness. But he was shocked, his eyes half-full with tears and his mouth trembling. She reached out towards him. He shied away.

"Are you a ghost?" he asked barely above a whisper.

"I was never gone…" Astrid admitted, begging him with her eyes to step forward and touch her.

"I saw you. You were dead."

"Oh, Hiccup…"

"This can't be real," he wheezed, depressed. "This can't be."

Astrid bit her lip and stumbled forward, trapping her husband between her and the wall. He hissed as she reached up and cupped his face, looking into his eyes lovingly. She ran her thumb over his cheekbone and pressed her forehead to his. He sucked in a breath as he touched her face and felt her skin.

"You're warm," he cried. "How are you warm?"

Astrid kissed him shakily and slumped against him with a moan. Hiccup scrambled to hold onto her as she grew dizzy.

"Astrid? Astrid?!" Hiccup yelled. Astrid was limp in his arms, faint and limp but alive! Alive!

Inside, Toothless barked. She has exhausted herself.

This time, Hiccup listened to his Night Fury immediately. He picked Astrid up and carried her into their home, taking her straight to the bath. Toothless kept snickering with Stormfly, and left the dragon door with the gathering pouch in his mouth for bath snow. Snowdrop ran ahead and pulled as many blankets as she could haul to the floor beside the bath. Hiccup rested Astrid on the blanket.

"We have to get the suit off her," Hiccup murmured, his fingers shaking too hard to be of much use. The suit, made from old dragon skin stored in the cellars of the Great Hall, protected the riders from dragon fire and wind chill. It had done its job, the suit intact albeit discoloured from the fire. He gulped, the remembrance of her boat on fire. The rest of her skin was untouched and beautifully healthy. None of this made sense.

With Snowdrop's help, he freed Astrid from her clothes and pulled her naked body forth. Snowdrop twisted her mouth as Hiccup scoured her body for any signs of contusions and bruises.

"They said she was stabbed," she quipped. Hiccup sucked in a breath.

"Who told you that?"

"The other Dragonlings told me they found her bleeding from being stabbed into a pulp…"

Hiccup stared up at her, mouth parted and eyes wide. "What?"

"They weren't very nice to me…" she replied.

"Who said that?"

"Doesn't matter if wasn't true," Snowdrop huffed. "She looks good."

Hiccup nodded, knowing the truth, the blood, the knife, the girl –

Toothless landed and dropped the snow into the tub, then warmed the snow to warm water. Hiccup somberly carried her into the water and rested her lightly, washing the water over her body. Soot and dried blood washed off wonderfully, and her hair unfroze in the warmth. Her mouth curled into a tired smile, her body curling around his warm hands as the water cooled. But Hiccup couldn't stop thinking about the one inconsistency in the events of the past week.

Astrid had been poisoned with a tool from the east. She was too far gone for Juniper to save her, so why would the girl stab her? And if she had stabbed her, how did Astrid come back?

"Stay here," Hiccup whispered to Snowdrop. "Stay quiet, keep her warm in the bath. I'll be back."

Toothless landed in front of the Great Hall, making sure the coast was clear. Hiccup slipped off and ran inside. The fire had burned down to embers as he ran for the stairs, keeping in the shadows under the candlelight. He slinked down the stairs and approached the dungeon, staying quiet, hoping no one was looking.

"She won't talk," Stoick growled. Hiccup stumbled and leapt to the side of the hallway as his father rounded the corner with Gobber in tow. "I've tried what I'm willing to try."

"I know, but… you know I don't agree with that," Gobber replied.

"I had no choice."

"Sure, sure."

Stoick stopped, seeing Hiccup in the shadows and suddenly growing quiet. Hiccup stepped forward, keeping his eyes down.

"Hiccup? What are you doing up?" Stoick asked awkwardly. "You look like you've seen a ghost."

Gobber groaned and put his head in his hands. Stoick coughed uncomfortably.

"Yeah. Wife's funeral and all that," Hiccup said. Stoick grunted. "I haven't slept. I want to see the girl. For… closure."

Stoick raised his eyebrows. Gobber waved his hands around. "We were just with her..."

"Did she say anything?" Hiccup asked carefully, his eyes darting down the hall to where she would have been.

"Her jaw's broke, boy. And they roughed her up real good on the way in," Gobber noted. Hiccup took in a ragged breath.

Stoick shook his head. "…You are not the only one upset about Astrid."

"Is the girl still alive?" Hiccup asked.

Stoick rubbed his eyes. "Go look for yourself… I'm done for the day."

His father shut his mouth and stepped around him. Hiccup watched them until they left the hall, and sprinted to the girl's cell. He skittered over the damp and cold stone, racing towards her. He slammed into her cell door, which flew open surprisingly easily, and found the girl curled up in the corner of her cell. He ran to her and grabbed her.

She moaned in pain, her face bloody and her body misshapen and bruised. Hiccup hoisted her up and ran out the hall, only focusing on getting her home to safety. No one was there as Hiccup slipped out the Great Hall and to Toothless, getting the girl onto the Night Fury and charging home.

Spirit Weaver? Toothless asked sadly, too quiet for Hiccup to hear.

"Help me get her inside," Hiccup said quickly. The girl's head lolled over his elbow when he kicked open the door. The tub was empty, Astrid in the bedroom with Stormfly, when Hiccup stepped into the tub to clean the girl.

Snowdrop ran in and squeaked. "No, Hup! She's a bad lady!"

"No, no, that wouldn't make sense… she saved Astrid, she saved her."

He rubbed the girl's bloody head and washed away the red into the murky bath water. The girl was still breathing as Hiccup washed her. He pulled her out and wrapped her in a blanket, wet clothes and all, and placed her by the fire. He straightened and rubbed his face, groaning through a bout of nausea.

What the hell was happening? His wife had died, poisoned and stabbed. The poison almost killed her, the stabbing definitely finished the job, and yet she was in the other room. And the girl who had stabbed her was lying at his feet, faint and swollen and bruised, mangled to a disgusting mess, and in his house. He tugged on his own hair. What should he do? He couldn't tell anyone until he figured this out. The Eastern Islands' chief would be here in the morning to answer the poison question, but that wouldn't answer the girl. Or Astrid.

He turned and walked to the bedroom, where Astrid slept with Snowdrop playing with her hair. Hiccup sat next to her and ran a hand over her cheek. It was smooth, gorgeous, new. Her scars were faded to an untrained eye, her bruises gone, all traces of death absent on her flesh. Her body was warm and healthy and there were no stab wounds. She was breathing, she was alive, she was safe. How? Toothless was at the foot of the bed with Stormfly at the head, and Hiccup silently connected with Toothless.

How? he asked. Toothless perked up and squirmed slightly.

Bond, Toothless replied quietly. Hiccup turned and furrowed his brow.

Bond, as in our bond?

Yes. Bond. Astrid to Stormfly.

Hiccup licked his lips. That wasn't possible. The only person who knew about bonds was the person who inflicted them and that was –

He leapt to his feet and ran to the girl at the hearth, taking a knee and reaching to her face. The girl opened her eyes. She snapped her hand outward and grabbed Hiccup's extended hand, crushing his fingers. He gasped as she rolled to her knees, swaying and grabbing her jaw with the other hand. She twitched her head over and there was a sickening crack. Hiccup gagged as the girl rotated her jaw and twisted her face.

"I'm surprised my jaw hasn't fallen off, yet," she groaned, holding her face. Hiccup pulled his hand free and was amazed at himself for not noticing before. Of course it was Rose! The tiny body, the green eyes, the red hair didn't match the brown she had before, but everything else was there, including that voice. Hiccup grabbed her hands and held them tightly.

"Rose!" he exclaimed. Rose smiled painfully.

"Where is she?" she asked quickly. "I thought you wouldn't make it in time."

"Did he hurt you? Are you alright?"

Rose squirmed and popped a rib back into place. "Everything is setting properly, that's a good thing. He has… a mean fist, nothing I haven't been through before."

Hiccup rubbed his face again. "Gods, I am so, so sorry."

"Where is Astrid?"

"Rose?" Astrid's voice whispered from the hall. Rose looked up and saw Astrid leaning against the wall, tired and struggling to stay upright. She saw Rose and faltered, stumbling back. Fear filled her eyes, but she swallowed and lifted her chin. Rose stabbing her still brought frightful memories to her mind.

"You're hurt, what did they do?" Astrid asked quietly, clearing her throat.

"I'm fine, just bruises that will disappear before sunrise," Rose dismissively replied, reaching up and beckoning Astrid next to her. Astrid pursed her lips and stepped forward, putting her hand in Rose's. Rose embraced her warmly and held her face. "You made it."

"So did you," Astrid remarked. "How did you get out?"

Hiccup shifted his weight to his foot, the prosthetic becoming painful under his knee. Rose looked up at him and smiled again. "Your husband retrieved me from my cell, I'm assuming after you found your way home. Stoick had been interrogating me up until then."

"With his fists," Hiccup growled, sitting behind Astrid and wrapping his arms around her, refusing to let go. Astrid's mouth fell open. Rose waved a hand defiantly.

"I'll be fine, I'm resilient. My bond kept me safe, and my dragon's blood is old. It… protects me."

Hiccup and Astrid stared, their own dragon's blood festering within their bodies. Rose stared back, the bruises upon her face fading slowly. Bones cracked and popped and Rose breathed deeply, waiting for the healing to finish.

"That… didn't happen when I found you," Hiccup said. "You were unconscious for days."

"Aye," Rose murmured. She closed her eyes as the bleeding in her eye blotched away. "I should start at the beginning. It's a bit of a story, and there is much to warn you two about."