For those of you who wondered what happened to me (especially you Lalala):

I did not die. I did, however, get hit by a car.

My arm is broken, as well as two of my ribs, which means that nearly this entire chapter was typed with one hand. That's what took so long, and I won't be out of a cast until around Halloween, so updates will be slow until I can use my left hand again.

The moral of this story is: don't text and run people over. More likely than not, someone like me will sue you so hard you'll have to get a second mortgage. I seriously look like I was thrown into a boxing ring with my hands tied behind my back, and it's been 13 days! It sucks and it honestly took all my willpower to write this. Reviews, or at least a get well wish, would make me feel better :)

HORIZONS

Arc III : We Are Skuld

Chapter II

Bandages in hand, Astrid leant over and started gingerly wrapping Hiccup's battered torso, struggling to be as gentle as she could. He hissed as she pulled the fabric all too forcefully against the scabby welts, scraping the sensitive skin mercilessly despite her efforts to be gentle. He pressed one of his hands on her arm to steady himself as she contorted her body around him in a formless hug, her chin resting on his shoulder as she continued to wind the dressing around him.

"Too tight?" she asked quietly, her voice gentle in his ear. She felt him nod against her, and she quickly released the tension on the bandage, to which he responded with a stifled groan. She closed her eyes and pursed her lips into a thin line, hating how she was hurting him without even trying. She didn't want him to suffer, and yet it kept on happening.

She fastened the end of the dressing securely and broke down, capturing him in an embrace. He was heavy in her arms as he returned the gesture, his bare shoulder pressing gently against the side of her cheek. He hadn't been as embarrassed when he had stepped out of the spring as he had when he had slunk in, although he still asked her to cover her eyes as he reapplied the prosthetic and pulled on his pants. The entire time, he had had the same countenance of carefully suppressed anxiety slathered all over his face, although it had changed back to blank calm once she removed her hand.

"Are you alright?" she asked, submitting as he pulled her closer to his injured chest.

"Yeah," he breathed into the crook of her neck, breathing in the scent of her skin. He wasn't really, and she knew it, but she let him get away with it anyway.

"Come on," she said, pulling away from him, "You'll catch a cold if you don't get some clothes on."

Throwing on the rest of his garments, Hiccup followed Astrid outside from the shadows of the cave. He fought the urge to block out the brightness of the sun with his forearm as he took in the vista around him, taking in each and every detail that he could. He felt the same red, hot emotion he had felt when he had left Berk all those many weeks ago. It was that foreign sensation of knowing exactly what he would be leaving behind forever, only this time there was nothing he could do about it. Before, he had had a choice; he didn't have to leave Berk, but he chose to anyway. And now…

Hiccup took a deep breath, memorizing the heavy scent of pine carrying on the soft wind. He tried to commit to memory the brilliance of the sparkling crystals hanging off of the trees and the feeling of the whisper of a breeze against his skin. He closed his eyes and threw his head backwards, pausing for a moment simply to soak in the warmth of the sun.

Astrid glanced at him sidelong, worry etched across her face. She tried to push the instinctual feelings of apprehension to the back of her mind, but the situation was feeling oddly similar to that fateful day back in the forge where this bad dream had all began. She quieted her anxieties for now, knowing that anything she said would only make the situation potentially worse, and tugged her eyes away.

They made their way back into the cave silently, parting ways as they reached the main cavern. Hiccup sat down by Toothless' flank and rested his back against the dragon's scales, staring absently into the embers of the fire. He could vaguely sense the Night Fury's simmering misgivings somewhere beside the hum of the snake's presence in the back of his mind, but he was more or less attempting to block it, if only for a few minutes. He needed a moment to think.

Over the past few weeks, Hiccup had garnered a few things about the serpent on his own. The connection had become more than just a headache, and it was obviously affecting his dreams. He tapped his fingers against his knee as he skimmed through the remnants of the nightmares he could remember, but for the most part, they were clouded by his own innate fear. Hiccup stopped drumming, and realised what Astrid had meant when she had told him to try and outsmart the snake.

What its true intentions were remained to be seen, but Hiccup knew that the snake was flogging him with frightening visions to scare him, at least in part. But there was so much to learn from them, so long as he could remember them clearly enough in the morning. He knew that the snake's mind was clouded by greed and desire, to the point of where it was obsessive. That was a major weakness that Hiccup supposed he could use against him; being the objects of its fixation, he and Toothless could distract the snake while Astrid swooped in and stabbed it with the sword.

Hiccup shook his head and drew his knees to his chest. The last thing he wanted was for Astrid to get herself into any more danger than she already was, despite the fact that she was probably more prepared for it than he would ever be. She was born and bred for battle whereas Hiccup was more of the cerebral type, and although they seemed to be polar opposites, he realised they were more similar than they initially appeared.

He glanced over to where she was sitting, plaintively sharpening the bowed edge of her axe against a whetstone with that kind of precision that used to give him goose bumps. She was hunched over, the weapon resting in her lap, but it was the firelight against her profile that truly drew his attention. The way the shadows flickered across her cheeks accentuated just how long her eyelashes feathered past her eyes. Her lips weren't pulled into a scowl like they usually were, but were instead relaxed and parted in absent concentration.

He blinked once and continued to gaze at her from afar, realizing that he'd never actually noticed all of these things about her before at once. Sure, he'd stared at her before; he had an entire notebook nearly filled with drawings of her, but that had always been for an ulterior motive. This time, it was just because there was nothing else left to do, and subconsciously he realized he didn't know how much time he'd have left.

He closed his eyes and breathed in deeply, ignoring the prodding presence of a particular black dragon thrumming in his head like a war drum. He had to stop getting distracted; if he wanted to get Astrid and Toothless out of there alive, he knew he had some planning to do.

Plodding her way through the snow, Astrid hugged her arms closer to her body and sighed as she watched a cloud of breath dissipate into the afternoon air. She had desperately needed to get out of that cave and breathe in some fresh ocean air, if only to avoid Hiccup's continuous scrutiny. She clambered over a cluster of boulders and found herself on the edge of a precipice, gazing out into the more or less calm waters of the ocean.

She sat down and let her feet hang off of the edge, just dangling back and forth in the breeze. She gazed out towards the horizon and let her eyes wander, breathing deeply in an attempt to try and calm down and relax.

She pinched the bridge of her nose and started grumbling to herself.

It wasn't working.

Her constant companion landed somewhere behind her and quickly closed the distance between them, folding her wings and settling with a thud by her side. Astrid glanced up at the Nadder thoughtfully, and then hunched over with a heavy sigh.

"I didn't sign up for this."

The dragon harrumphed in obvious rebuttal.

"We didn't sign up for this. Sorry."

Astrid tossed her bangs from her plane of vision, only for them to blow back onto her weatherworn complexion. She rubbed her eyes with her gloved hands and leant over in resignation, resting her forearms on her thighs.

"How did everything get so complicated? It wasn't supposed to be like this."

The dragon made no effort to respond and, annoyed slightly by the silence, she continued, "I was just supposed to find him, beat him up a little, and then drag him back home! I didn't ask for this…for him to be eaten by some giant, stupid snake. How did this even happen?" she tugged her hair and ground her teeth in frustration, glaring up at the unhampered skies, "Why does this always happen to me?"

She released her hair from her death grip and collapsed back into her previous position, stooped over and feeling even more miserable than she had before. The selfishness of her previous outburst didn't fail to sink in as soon as it had passed her lips; if anyone should be ready to tear their hair out, it should be Hiccup. Hiccup was the one who needed the support here.

…And yet, Astrid realized with a sigh, she couldn't bring herself to actually go back there and do it. She would stay out there for days if it meant being away from him and the stupid emotions he stirred up within her.

She buried her face in her hands and groaned again – selfish didn't even begin to cover it.

She was in love with him – she had already accepted that, loud and clear – but couldn't it just…go away now? Wasn't the first step to recovery when you admitted what was wrong? Love was a disease, and it was annoying her to the umpteenth degree. The sooner she got it out of her system, the quicker she could get on with more important things, like survival, for example.

Maybe kissing him would help…

"Ugh," she dragged her palms down her face and bowed her head in shame. This was so stupid.

Something niggled at the back of her mind, telling her to get up and be proactive about the situation, but that cowardly side she had only recently discovered shortly before she had left her home for the unknown took over. It was being in the dark that she hated, being thrust into a situation that she just simply wasn't familiar with. Battles always ended the same way; flights always ended the same way, but this? Astrid wasn't sure how this was going to end, or even whether they'd make it out alive.

Astrid knew Hiccup was probably wracking his brains right now trying to think up a way to get them out of this; he was just that kind of guy. Always thinking, always studying, always the dreaming, intelligent one; they were quite similar in a way, so long as you ignored the obvious differences. He was a boy, she was a girl, brawn versus brains, upper class and middle class…

But they were both still kids.

Kids in a situation that was far bigger than either of them could have imagined when they first embarked on this journey.

They were in way over their heads, and they knew it. They just had to find a way out before they drowned.

Astrid pulled herself to her feet and brushed the snow from the backs of her leggings. She heaved a sigh and then slowly made her way back in the direction of the cave, leaving the Nadder alone to follow in her wake. It was only a matter of time before they would have to leave their refuge; the snake was obviously patient, but how long would it let its prey linger in plain sight? She knew without a shadow of a doubt that it was probably circling their little island right now, licking its chops in anticipation of its next glorious meal.

Astrid shivered and tugged her jacket closer to her body, fending off the sudden biting chill to the winter air. She glanced over her shoulder and expected to see a huge, leering snake spewing fire somewhere off in the distance, but nothing except the calm ocean filled her line of vision. Sighing, she turned back towards the inland, and continued to trudge towards the cave.

Toothless stretched his front legs out in front of him, rumbling deep in his chest as his back popped and released. He tugged himself to his feet and snorted a cloud of smoke from his nostrils, shaking out his back foot that had lost its circulation. It tingled uncomfortably as he hobbled over to the dying fire, the chill of the cave having already settled in his bones.

He let a burst of flames pass his lips and for a split second, the entire cave was bathed in an outburst of blue and purple light. The glow died down as quickly as if had come, however, and in its place was the gentle crackle of an auburn fire. Toothless heaved a sigh, and sat back down onto the stone floor.

Meanwhile, somewhere behind him Hiccup was bemoaning his own position of comfort, hissing as a series of phantom pains spasmed through his legs. It had been months since he had lost the offending appendage, and he had kind of been hoping that the ache in his non-existent limb would go away. Part of him knew he was only kidding himself; he'd been around Gobber long enough to know the signs that even he felt some level of anguish, so he supposed that he himself would never get used to it so long as he was still around.

And, once again, the theme of the day reared its ugly head in the middle of his inner monologue. He thought he had been doing a good job of ignoring the fact that he was basically doomed, but as usual, nothing ever stayed good for long. He could sense his mood deepening, but he honestly didn't feel like helping the situation; he wanted to stew, he wanted to sulk, and there was nothing anyone could do about it.

"Hiccup?"

His concrete resolve shattered into a thousand pieces at the sound of her voice, quiet but no less destructive to his ruminations. He spotted her staring at him from behind the entrance wall of the cave, her expression barely discernable. They met each other's glances from across the expanse of space and held it for some time, just sharing an understanding of this whole exploit they had gotten themselves caught up in, and kind of regretting it.

After a while, she came over and sat beside him, resting her head on his shoulder. It wasn't something she usually would have done, but she was feeling impulsive.

"You alright?" she asked softly, staring down at their feet.

"Not really," he replied, his voice surprisingly passive. Astrid tried to relax.

She continued to stare.

"It's weird isn't it," she said finally, nudging her foot against his.

"What?" he responded.

"I don't know. This…" she gestured around her with her arms.

Hiccup wasn't quite following, "Being in a cave?"

"No. I mean like…being here with you."

"Oh."

"Well, not just that…" she started to elaborate, "I mean like, in this stupid situation."

"Huh."

Astrid closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose for the umpteenth time that day, "You know what I mean."

"Yeah."

Silence encompassed the cave for several minutes. Just having her beside him was lightening his mood in the same way her eyes seemed to radiate in the blush of the fire.

Astrid turned her head and glared up at him in suppressed annoyance, "Are you always going to do that?"

He ignored her stare, but she didn't miss the slight upturn of his lips as he continued to gaze into the fire, "Do what?"

She narrowed her eyes, but his mischievous smirk was contagious, "You know what."

"No I don't."

"Yes you do."

"No I don't."

"Yes, you do!"

Hiccup finally met her eyes, his expression brimming with mirth; he was grinning, and in that moment, it was like nothing had ever changed.

"You're insufferable," she groused, punching him lightly in the arm.

"You're crazy," he shot back.

"I'm crazy?" she cried in mock outrage, "You're the crazy one."

"Maybe I just seem crazy because you're crazy."

"What?" she raised an incredulous brow, "How does that even make sense?"

"It makes perfect sense."

"No it doesn't."

"Yes it does."

"No it doesn't!"

"Yes it does! And do you want to know why?"

"Why?" she glowered, fists planted firmly on her hips.

"Because I said so."

"Ugh!" she rolled her eyes and threw her head back, reeling from his stupidity, "You are so immature."

"Yeah well –" he was going to accuse her of being 'such a girl', but he thought better of it at the last second, "Fine. But my dragon is faster than your dragon."

"Oh my gods," she rolled her eyes again, sighing loudly, "You can't seriously be bringing that up again."

"Why not?" he chirped, "It's true."

"Don't you remember what happened last time you said that?"

Hiccup snorted in amusement and followed her gaze over to where their two dragons were snoozing, thinking back to that time where the six teens had been arguing somewhere off of Baldur's Bluff, "I wonder if he's actually proud of those scars," Hiccup commented with a grimace.

Astrid made a noise of revulsion, "Trust me, he was. I lost count of how many times he asked me if I wanted to see them."

"He asked you if you wanted to see his butt!"

Hiccup's expression was a foreign mix of disgust and serious outrage, and it was just enough to make her laugh out loud, "Can we please stop talking about Snotlout's ass?" she asked, "Just thinking about it makes me want to throw up."

"Yeah," Hiccup trailed off, staring distantly at the wall beyond the fire like he wanted to strangle it with his bare hands.

"Look," Astrid said, discerning all of his warning signs, "Snotlout's disgusting. So don't get all angry about it. It doesn't suit you."

"I'm not angry," he replied in a huff, crossing his arms over his chest and pouting.

She sighed, "Yes you are."

"No I'm not."

Astrid groaned, the redundancy of their argument making her smile, if only slightly, "Is it always going to be like this?"

He didn't answer her for the longest time, but his expression spoke wonders. A thousand thoughts were running through his mind all at once as his fingers inched over to hers, tips brushing slightly, just enough to make her shudder.

"Yeah. I think so."

Astrid smiled fully this time, and shimmied nearer to close the gap between them. She tangled her fingers with his as she rested her cheek against his shoulder again, "Good. I'd like that."

She felt him laughing before she heard it, and she lifted her head up to get a better look at the grin gracing his features.

"You sound like Ruffnut," he said between guffaws, and Astrid smacked him in mock outrage before dissolving into peals of laughter. He clutched his stomach as their chuckles continued long into the evening until the darkness of the cavern had all but disappeared.

For now, they were just a boy and a girl, just Hiccup and Astrid. Right then, the rest of the world had been forgotten, and for just a moment, both of them were free.

Short, but have sympathy. I did this with one hand. And my ribs are killing me.

Also, I made a reference to one of my favourite stories on this fandom, which is funny because last chapter I also made a reference to another one of my favourite stories. And in the first half of arc 2 I made a reference to my favourite movie, which I saw the other day in theatres again! So basically, I am the reference lady. Lol.

Reviews would be greatly appreciated. Because I'm sad. And I look like I went through a windshield. Go figure.

Brontë