A/N: It kind of amuses me how pissed off a select few get when I don't update within a week. It's actually quite entertaining, in case any of you guys are interested. Just look in the review section.

Anyways, where were we? Oh yes, Hiccup stuck his hand into magma to get the Fire Diamond, the Guarder dragon died, and the volcano was rendered harmless. Now, this chapter may be short, but that's because I don't have a lot of time on my plate. As I mentioned before, I'm a junior in high school, so I've always got a crap-ton of homework. So thanks for bearing with me, and enjoy this short little chapter that will definitely lead to a much longer chapter.

Volcano Quest

Back inside the fissure, the only light came from the bright blue glow worms clinging to the ceiling. There was also a bit of extra light from the more curious nanodragons that decided to climb down and inspect the newcomers.

Snotlout was staring at the wall that had just collapsed behind them, checking to make sure no lava was leaking through. There wasn't, and after making sure they were safe, Snotlout gently set Hiccup down, leaning him against a smooth portion of the tunnel wall.

"What happened to him?!" exclaimed Fishlegs.

"He got the Fire Diamond," Snotlout gasped out as he knelt down next to his cousin. "Look," he said, pointing to Hiccup's clenched right hand. There were small beams of red and white light escaping from the gaps between his bony fingers.

"That doesn't look very good..." muttered Fishlegs nervously, looking at Hiccup's arm. There were deep, bleeding third-degree burns around his wrist, just above his glove. Further up his arm around his elbow, his skin was red and covered in large blisters and second-degree burns. The area around his shoulder looked like it had only obtained some first-degree burns. The sheer heat from the magma had also burnt off Hiccup's entire right sleeve and left his hair slightly singed at the tips.

Fishlegs gulped, mostly worried about the deep bleeding burns on Hiccup's wrist. He was also worried that Hiccup hadn't woken up yet.

"W-what should we do...?" he asked nervously.

"Um..." muttered Snotlout, biting his lip. "Are there any bandages left?"

Fishlegs nodded, reaching into their only remaining pack and removing a wad of gauze. He knelt down in front of Hiccup and carefully wrapped up his arm between his elbow and his wrist. He was unable to take Hiccup's glove off, however, because his fist was still clenched around the Fire Diamond.

While Fishlegs had been tending to Hiccup's arm, Snotlout noticed that Hiccup had gotten paler, and a cold sweat had broken across his forehead. Carefully, Snotlout pressed his hand to Hiccup's forehead and found that his temperature was rising. He also noticed that Hiccup was shivering, even in the extreme heat from the lava in the walls all around them.

Only a minute after Fishlegs had finished bandaging Hiccup's arm, Toothless began to wake up. Hearing him start to move, Fishlegs quickly stood up and went to him, leaving Snotlout to watch out for Hiccup.

Fishlegs slowly walked around to see Toothless slowly blinking his glowing green eyes open.

"Ugh... what happened...?" Toothless muttered in Dragonese, not knowing that the only other person who fluently spoke Dragonese was unconscious.

"H-hey Toothless..." muttered Fishlegs nervously. "You're probably wondering what's going on... I don't know if you remember, but the Guarder Dragon smacked you into a wall and you hit your head and dislocated your shoulder. We're in a crevice in the wall, and the Guarder Dragon is dead."

Toothless sighed a bit, slowly letting the memory leak back into his aching head.

"Is... everyone... okay...?" he asked in slow, deliberate Dragonese, knowing that Fishlegs had a very basic understanding of the complex language.

"Well... uh... we're all still alive..." muttered Fishlegs, looking behind Toothless to see Hiccup, who had gone deathly pale.

Toothless immediately lost all of the haziness that had been clouding his eyes. "Where's Hiccup...?"

Before waiting for Fishlegs to decipher the question and come up with an answer, Toothless quickly stood up, only to fall back down, incredibly dizzy and unable to put any pressure on his front left paw. When he fell, he landed on his dislocated shoulder, and even though it hurt worse than losing half of his tail, it popped his shoulder back into the socket and lessened the pain considerably. Toothless then scrambled back to his feet, leaning against the wall to compromise for his messed up balance from the head injury, and not putting any pressure on his left paw while it healed. He then slowly, deliberately, turned around so that he could see Hiccup.

The second he saw Hiccup, his leg gave out and he collapsed. Not having the energy to stand back up, he quickly crawled over to his rider, nudging his with his nose.

"Hiccup...?" whispered Toothless. "Can you hear me?"

It was only then that Hiccup let out a groan and stared to regain consciousness. When Snotlout saw this, he opened his mouth to say something, but Toothless shot him a glare so hard he thought he would spontaneously combust.

A minute later, Hiccup coughed and slowly blinked his eyes open.

"What happened...?" he muttered quietly, his voice weak. "And why does-" He stopped when his glassy eyes fixed on his right arm. He stared at the bandages for a moment before slowly remembering where they were. However, he couldn't seem to remember what had happened a few minute before grabbing the Fire Diamond.

"Can somebody tell me what happened to my arm..." he asked calmly.

"You dipped it in lava to get the Fire Diamond," said Snotlout.

Hiccup was confused for a moment before realizing that his right hand was clenched into a fist. He tried to uncurl his fist, but for some reason, his hand wouldn't respond. That was when he realized something strange.

"Toothless," he whispered in Dragonese, "why doesn't my arm hurt?"

Toothless closed his eyes for a moment, trying not to curse when he realized that Hiccup's injury was just as bad as it seemed. Slowly he pressed his nose against Hiccup's injured arm. Hiccup didn't even wince.

Using his sixth sense, Toothless looked inside the injury and saw that it was just as bad as he thought. He pulled back, opening his eyes and raising his head so that he was eye-level with Hiccup. He didn't need to say anything, though. The sadness in his eyes said it all.

Hiccup slowly nodded. "We should get out of here," he said to Fishlegs and Snotlout, who had been waiting on edge for Hiccup to say something to them. They nodded in agreement.

Hiccup reached up with his left hand and grabbed onto the rocky wall, shakily pulling himself into a standing position. As soon as he stood up, however, he almost toppled over, and it was only Snotlout holding onto his uninjured arm that kept him from falling. Toothless noticed that he had gotten even paler. He also noticed that Hiccup wasn't putting any pressure at all on his left leg, and he realized that the phantom pain was back, probably worse than before.

"Are you okay?" asked Fishlegs nervously as he helped Toothless to his feet.

"I'm fine," gasped Hiccup. "Just dizzy..." In fact, he was so dizzy that the only thing keeping him upright was his death grip on his cousin's shoulder.

"Let's just get out of here..." muttered Snotlout.

Hiccup nodded. "Let's see where this tunnel leads," he said, gesturing towards the darkened end of the fissure where the glow worms' light didn't reach.

"I think that's a good idea..." muttered Toothless, testing his paw and finding that it had already started healing, along with his concussion. He then led the way down the tunnel, his glowing eyes lighting the way. Several curious glow worms also dropped down onto his back, providing extra light.

As they walked in silence, Hiccup managed to regain enough of his balance to walk on his own, even though his left leg was aching painfully, probably from the stress of being inside the volcano for so long. After a few minutes, the pain became too much, and he leaned on Toothless, who had recovered enough to support him.

"Toothless," Hiccup whispered in Dragonese. "What's wrong with my arm? I still can't move my hand or feel any pain."

Toothless bit his lip before quietly replying. "From what I can tell, all of your nerves below your elbow are completely destroyed. If you could feel pain, then there would be a chance you could heal, but..."

Hiccup looked down at his arm, hanging limp by his side, the Fire Diamond still clutched in his hand.

"Toothless... am I going to lose my arm...?"

Slowly, Toothless nodded.

Hiccup stared for a moment before focusing on his feet... or... foot. He knew he should feel upset, but at the moment he just felt numb. He was going to lose another limb at this volcano. He would probably freak out later, when the shock wore off.

They walked on in silence for half an hour, and with each step, Hiccup found it harder and harder to walk straight as the dizziness and nausea returned. He was shivering in the steaming hot air, and that was how he knew he had a fever. He knew they needed to get out of the volcano, or he might not make it. The bandage around his wrist was already soaked with blood, but he still couldn't feel anything below his elbow.

As they walked, the path sloped upwards, and the air became less humid. Finally, they came to a place where the tunnel split into two. One of the tunnels – the tunnel on the right – continued upward, while the tunnel on the left took a quick turn down into darkness. There was also a bit of light coming from the right tunnel; not the red light of lava, but the cool blue light of the sky. There was even a breeze.

"Looks like we found our way out..." said Snotlout. The others nodded in agreement, but as they started towards the tunnel on the right, Hiccup stopped.

"Did you guys hear that...?" he whispered, taking a small step closer to the tunnel on the left, the one that led back down into the unknown darkness.

"I don't hear anything," said Fishlegs, but Hiccup had already moved to the entrance to the dark tunnel.

"Just listen..." he said. He could hear whispering coming from the darkness. However, the voices didn't sound human. They sounded like they were coming from the shadows themselves. He felt a strange tingling in his chest, like something was pulling him towards the tunnel. He looked at the others to see if they were experiencing the same thing, but they all were simply looking at him, confused.

"Hiccup, there's nothing down there..." said Toothless. "I don't hear anything. And besides, we have to get you out of here. I think you might be hallucinating."

Hiccup looked back at the others before looking back down the dark tunnel. There was something there, and he knew it he found himself stepping a bit closer to the tunnel. Right at that moment, the nanodragons sitting on Toothless' back were suddenly scared by something, and they scampered off back down the original tunnel, taking most of the light with them.

"Hiccup..." Toothless' voice was full of warning. "I know what you're thinking, but don't-"

Before Toothless could finished, Hiccup turned and stumbled down into the dark tunnel, immediately disappearing into the shadows.

"Hiccup!" roared Toothless. He bounded down the tunnel after Hiccup, his black scales merging perfectly with the shadows.

Fishlegs and Snotlout exchanged glances before immediately chasing after Hiccup and Toothless.

They all disappeared into the shadows.

A/N: Short chapter, I know, but I've written shorter. And at least you get to see what happened to Hiccup... for now.

So, time for you guys to guess: what's down the tunnel? And will Hiccup make it back in time, or will he die from his injuries. So many questions, so few answers. See ya later.