Happy New Years to you all!
I hope that you had/are having a fun time stuffing yourself with food, or celebrating, or whatever you do on New Years.

Because I love you, chapter seven, the finale to the story.

And, I don't like asking for reviews, but I would really appreciate it if you left a comment saying what you liked about the story, or didn't like, or whatever. It helps me become better at writing.

Carry on...

Chapter Seven

Wrenlou opened the door to Marcus' house, Hiccup leaning heavily on him. "Vera!" He called, and in a moment, the woman had appeared from the kitchen where she was making breakfast. Her eyes widened as she looked over Hiccup, opening her mouth, looking as though she might run away.

Then she set her jaw. "Bring him into here."

They followed Vera into the main room, where Aelia was sitting and playing.

"Aelia, go play somewhere else." Her mother ordered, and the little girl looked up. She stood up, staring with large eyes as Wrenlou gently lay Hiccup on the ground.

"Aelia."Vera said again, gentle, yet firm, and when there was still no response, she ushered the child out of the room.

Wrenlou took a deep breath, mentally listing what he needed to do, and murmuring them under his breath. "Water, you need water."

A moment later, he was carefully tipping a cup of water to Hiccup's mouth, and he drank greedily. When the cup was empty, Hiccup looked at Wrenlou, a request for more unspoken on his lips, but the dark-haired man shook his head.

"Not yet. You'll just throw it all up again if you drink too much."

"Well, at least that would mean that I have water." Hiccup pointed ou. "Something I've inherently lacked the last week."
"Hush." Wrenlou said, although he was smiling. "Go to sleep or something."

"What, on the hard floor? Such barbaric conditions."

"Stop making jokes, or I might hit you." But Wrenlou did find him a pillow, and within a few minutes, Hiccup had fallen asleep.

"He's lucky to have a friend as good as you." Vera said, watching him.

Wrenlou didn't respond for a moment. He was looking over Hiccup, trying to decide which wounds were the worst and needed to be treated immediately. Deciding on his back and the long slashes through the skin, Wrenlou stood up to get more water to wash them. He gave vera a long look before saying "He's not a friend. He's a brother to me. He's family. And you have to look out for your family."

~~~O~~~

Cassius pulled a whip off of the wall. Rather than simply a cord, it had small spikes of metal tied into it. It had been a week-Cassius was ready to end the man's life.

He headed out to the courtyard, although he took his time. He wasn't in any hurry to end the man's suffering.

Opening the door into the courtyard, however, he stopped dead in his tracks. The metal pole was empty, the ropes hanging limply in the gentle morning breeze.

"Where is he?" Cassius shouted. Of course, there was no one to reply. No one until he went into the prison, picking a guard at random.

"The murderer, who was out there, where is he?" He demanded, shoving the man up against the wall.

"I-I don't know, I-"

"I don't tolerate excuses!" Salive sprayed the younger man's face as Cassius shouted. The guard, having no response, was thrown to the ground.

"Find him! If you have to tear apart the whole city until you do, find that man!"

"Excuse me." Cassius looked up, panting as he seethed, seeing another man with a slight build helping up the guard.

"What do yo want?"

"I believe that I would be the one in charge of this prison. The warden, you might say."

"So?"

"So, you have no right to decide punishment." He inclined his head slightly. "I would put the whip away if I were you."

"There's a murderer on the loose, a murderer who killed my best friend."

"I apologize for your loss. The murderer isn't on the loose anymore, Cassius. We found him last night."

Cassius narrowed his eyes. "Where? Show me."

"As you wish." The warden led Cassius to a cell, and opened the door, revealing a haggard looking man Cassius had never seen before.

"That's not who killed Antoninus, you idiot."

"On the contrary, witnesses to the event claim this man as the culprit."

"Aye!" The prisoner said hoarsely. "Aye, was I who killed the centurion." Then the man dissolved into murmurings, rocking back and forth.

The whip Cassius had been holding fell to the ground as he reeled in shock. If this was the man who had killed Antoninus...

"Oh gods help me." Cassius said, leaning against the wall for support.

Who had been subject to punishment the week prior?

~~~O~~~

"Toothless!"

The Night Fury bounded forward, landing atop Hiccup, who groaned in pain before flopping over onto the grass. Heedless of his rider's injuries, Toothless began energetically licking Hiccup's face.

"Toothless, no-stop, gah! That is so disgusting- OW!"

Toothless shied away as Hiccup curled up, arms around his stomach. He edged Hiccup, who looked up at the dragon. "It's okay bud, I-yeah, I'm okay. You didn't do anything wrong."

The dragon seemed content with the reply, although he was a lot more gentle when he curled around him protectively. Hiccup scratched Toothless under the chin, and the dragon fell to the ground, purring contentedly.

Hiccup leaned back against the dragon, eyes flitting across the clouds that dotted the sky. Odd that mere hours ago, he was looking up at the same sky from quite a different position.

But the world moved on, despite oddities, and despite its occupants.

~~~O~~~

Hiccup and Wrenlou were sitting inside on one of the long sofas that ornamented the main room. The former had bandages wrapped around his arms, and underneath the thin shirt Marcus had loaned him were even more. He also felt sticky, from some plant that Wrenlou had sliced open and rubbed over him. Even though it had soothed the burns, it was an unpleasant feeling.

Wrenlou was watching the fire-again. It was slightly disturbing how he sat so still for such long periods of time. Hiccup wouldn't have been able to stand it, save for the fact that he wasn't exactly active himself.

"Where did the burns come from?" Wrenlou asked suddenly.

"Come again?"

"The...burns, the long ones that..." He traced lines across his chest.

"Inferno." Hiccup replied simply. "Why?"

Wrenlou turned sharply. "Really?" When Hiccup nodded, he relaxed once more, shaking his head. "I was just wondering. Because they looked different than the other burns, more...melted?"
Hiccup winced, and Wrenlou murmured "Sorry. Not the best topic."

Silence overtook the room once again, interrupted only by Marcus coming in from the back door. But even that sound simply faded into the ambience. There wasn't much to be said.

"Wrenlou..."Hiccup began. "It's alright. You don't have to blame yourself-you blame yourself for everything, which I guess is okay, because I do that too. But please...don't."
He took a shuddering breath. "I...Oh gods." He trailed off, and tears burned behind his eyes. He was too tired to try to keep the hidden.

"Hiccup?" Wrenlou moved a bit closer to him.

"That was probably one of the scariest things that's ever happened to me. I'd appreciate it if you would tell everyone that I'm crying because I'm actually in a ton of pain, but you ought to know." Hiccup closed his eyes. "I hadn't felt that scared since..." He trailed off. Actually, there were a lot of times that he had felt that terror, knowing that he was going to die.

Yet somehow, he had always managed to get through it.

Wrenlou looked up sideways at Hiccup, his heterochromatic eyes gleaming with unshed tears. "It will be okay."

Hiccup nodded. Yes, they had been through hell of a lot together. It had always worked out in some way or another. And even though he was sure that this was nowhere near the end of his or Wrenlou's misadventures, that was a comfort to him.

It would be okay.

Eventually.