Disclaimer: Don't own anything but the slightly changed plotline.

Last Chapter! :)

Astrid breathed a shaky sigh through her nose as she spread the pale green, sweet smelling slave along the burn marks on Hiccup's face. Snotlout had taken his Nightmare into the village, deciding to help the villagers prepare for the return of the defeated voyagers. She had decided to re-enter the Elder's hut in hopes that there was anything else she could do to help Hiccup, which was, frustratingly, very little.

He was... sort of awake; delirious, but barely conscious, and he made odd, slurred, not-all-there words that made Astrid cringe, squinting her eyes to fight the tears.

She started at the sound of heavy thumps, coming from the roof, and she jerked her head toward the ceiling in confusion. Suddenly, there was muffled shouting, a few more thumps, and the sound of heavy footsteps.

The door to the hut slammed open, and Toothless came bounding in, and Astrid was only vaguely aware of the fact that his destroyed saddle and tail fin pulleys had been removed, Gobber, Thora, and Stoick quickly following behind him. Toothless released a sad warble at the sight of his rider, his ear plates falling flat. He nuzzled Hiccup's cheek, crooning, and Astrid had to pat his head in a soothing manner in order to keep him from jarring Hiccup's wounds.

Stoick, Gobber, and Thora immediately flocked to Hiccup's side, and Gobber, who has already lost two limbs, shared a glance with the Elder as they examined the wound. Astrid refused to move, keeping her eyes on Hiccup's pale, ashy face, the pale green cream spread along it, and Gobber stepped forward, his eyes on the discolored, mangled leg.

"Well," Gobber said, his voice unusually grim, his eyes saddened, "We're gonna need to do somethin' about that."

"How much?" Stoick asked, his voice hoarse, and Gobber and Thora shared a glance, along with the Elder.

Thora placed her hand on Hiccup's leg, just a little above the tourniquet, and the Elder gave her an approving nod. "I'd say to about here."

Astrid glanced at the silent Chief to her mother to Gobber. Gobber was proof that Vikings survive lost limbs all the time, but he had been in his twenties; in fact, no one in the Hairy Hooligans younger than twenty had lost a leg, and Astrid wanted to sob. Hiccup was so young, they all were, only fifteen, and he was going to be like this for the rest of his life.

And, he was in that sort-of-awake-but-really-not kind of consciousness, and they were going to cut through him, and Astrid wanted to panic when she realized that he would feel it, wake up completely when they did the deed. He was going to scream and cry and struggle, and they were going to have to hold him down while they cut through his flesh. The knowledge of the pain he would experience made Astrid's breathing uneven, her chest heavy as tears began to set in, and she watched through blurred eyes as Gobber let a small axe heat up above the hearth, the blade glowing orange, seeming to wave around in the heat.

Suddenly, she heard a pathetic croon, and her attention was brought to Toothless; Stoick was pushing him back toward the door, the dragon struggling, and she suddenly found herself in the crossfire, being pushed along with him.

"Wait, no!" She fought against Stoick and her mother, fighting alongside Toothless in an attempt to reach their friend, "No, I can help! I have to help!"

"No, Astrid," Thora said sternly as she helped Stoick remove her and Toothless from the hut and onto the porch, "Not this time; you're not experienced enough."

"But," Astrid stuttered, "I have to help! Hiccup!"

The door slammed shut.

"Hiccup..." Astrid sobbed, slamming a weak fist on the door, letting her forehead fall against it as she breathed in shaky breaths through her tears. There was a mournful whine next to her, and Toothless stood on his hind legs for a brief moment, scratching at the door before he fell on all fours again and gave Astrid a desperate look.

Astrid could only shake her head. "I'm sorry," She whispered, and Toothless whined again, his eyes drawn to the door.

"Astrid."

Astrid started a little, turning her wide eyes to the rest of the recruits, their expressions hollow, grim, and mournful. They were all on the porch, their dragons surrounding them. The Zippleback and Nightmare had taken comfortable spots on the roof, the Gronkle joining them on the porch, and Astrid was a little surprised to see the dark blue Nadder from training curled up comfortable beside Stormfly.

Her eyes rested on Ruffnut, who was the one who had said her name, and the older girl took a small step toward her, resting a hand on her shoulder, and Astrid jerked away from the touch, sobbing fully, sniffling, tears streaming down, her breaths quick, and she wished she could just stop, but she couldn't.

"He's awake!" Astrid sobbed, "He's awake and they're gonna cut him up!"

Ruffnut tried to touch her again, and Astrid stepped away. "He's gonna feel it! He's gonna feel all of it!" Through her tears, she was only vaguely aware of the recruits sharing horrified looks, the knowledge of what was happening to Hiccup right now finally catching up to them, and Astrid let herself fall back against the door, sliding to her bottom, her hands clutching her hair in a desperate hold as she sobbed with all her strength, ignoring Stormfly's sad croon as the Nadder nuzzled her shoulder.

And then, a strangled scream broke through the almost silence.

The recruits jumped at the sound, their attention brought to the door for a brief moment before they shared a horrified look. Astrid cringed, her grip in her hair tightening, burying her face into her knees, trying to drown out the sounds, but finding herself unable to.

Toothless released a high-pitched noise of distress, scratching at the wall again in a panicked manner. They heard Hiccup cry out again as the sound of something heavy hitting wood resounded, and Snotlout crossed his arms and turned away, imagining the amputation axe hitting the wooden bed with a heavy thump.

The screaming increased in volume just after the thump resounded, and the recruits pursed their lips, their eyes burning, all sharing the same wish that Hiccup would just pass out already so he wouldn't have to go through this, but they knew he was too stubborn for such a thing, and that he would hold onto consciousness for longer than what really made sense.

Suddenly, the screams stopped, and all they heard were strangled sobs, mixing with the sound of Toothless' own cries, creating one of the most heartbreaking harmonies they had ever heard.

Astrid spent the rest of her week teaching the villagers about the dragons. It had been quite a shock when a whole swarm of them suddenly appeared from a distance, landing in places all over Berk, and Astrid was positive that they were all the dragons from the destroyed Nest, freed from the Red Death's control.

It was a little satisfying, finally having the respect of the villagers, but the feeling was hollow, the one she would've celebrated with stuck in an improper sleep.

His fever increased, and that was never good with a recent amputee, and Astrid prayed to every god she knew that they would just let Hiccup survive the poison of his wounds, let him wake up, let him be okay.

She could already imagine what he would do when he awoke; give his leg a once over, tell her that she was right that day in Training, when she said battles were only fun if you got a scar out of it, say that with big battles come big scars, say that what they did was awesome and scary at the same time, but totally worth it. Tell her that he was going to find a way to the forge to make his own leg because he didn't trust anyone else with what little limbs he had left, and Astrid would get upset and tell him that, that joke wasn't funny, that he really scared her, and then he would pop her one on the arm and say, 'That was for being a scaredy-cat'.

Astrid cringed at the imagined scenario, taking in a deep breath before excusing herself from the day's lessons, ignoring the questioning glances to learning villagers and recruits sent her, Stormfly quickly following her.

She didn't know where she was going when she walked, but she suddenly found herself in the forge, at the entrance of the room that Hiccup had made his own. Stormfly, unable to fit in the small space, stayed behind as she hollowly walked into the room.

She looked around, the walls covered in sketches and designs, the desk buried beneath drawings and metal pieces and tools and leather. She grabbed the leather book, flipping through it, looking at the drawings of Toothless, the designs for his saddle and fake tail, the designs for a flight suit, the designs for a flaming sword, the designs for the bola launcher, the designs for different prosthetics-

Astrid stopped, quickly flipping back to the previous page. Astrid knew that Hiccup usually had a hand in designing new prosthetics for the amputees to give out on Stump Day, but this one was very different, so... Hiccup. The way it was drawn made it obvious that it would be a mixture of wood and metal, with a spring-like mechanism somewhere near the bottom, and Astrid could see that it was made to hold the occupant's weight perfectly.

Astrid quickly flipped back to the page showing the designs for Toothless' saddle and tail fin, an idea forming, and she glanced up at the sound of human talking and draconian snorting.

Stormfly warbled, stepping out of the way so Astrid could excite the tiny room, and she came upon the sight of Gobber, happily talking to the rather lazy looking Hotburple that had taken a liking to him, which Gobber had affectionately named Grump. [1]

Gobber froze for a brief moment when he saw her and Stormfly, his hand resting on the smiling Grump's head, the dragon's tongue lolling out happily.

"Well, hey there, Astrid," Gobber tried to smile, but she knew his mind was still on his wounded apprentice, "What can I do for ya?"

"You can make this," Astrid immediately answered, holding open the book to show off the prosthetic, and Gobber slowly took it from her, his brows furrowed as he stared at the design before slowly flipping through the pages, stopping on what was most likely the page showing off Toothless' saddle and tail fin.

Grump let out a few confused snorts, nudging the suddenly silent man, and Gobber let a grin slowly creep up onto his face.

"I think I see where you're goin' with this, lass."

Astrid carefully held the spoon of willow bark tea over Hiccup's mouth, the boy instinctively swallowing it in his sleep. It had been three weeks, and he still hasn't awoken. His bed had been removed from his bedroom, placed next to the hearth in the main room, and he lay in a dead man's position within it, flat on his back, his head on the pillow, his arms by his side, resting above the furs.

The tea was brought in by Elder Gothi to help subdue the fever, which had, thankfully, receded some. He was no longer burning to the touch, but just a slight warm, and Astrid was sure the gods had finally taken pity on her and answered her prayers.

Toothless sat on the other side of the bed, his wide eyes on his rider's prone form. He hasn't moved a muscle sense Hiccup was taken home, and Astrid was positive he hasn't even blinked yet. Stormfly stood next to him, cocking her head as she stared at the usually cheerful dragon, and she gave him a slight nuzzle in an attempt to comfort her friend.

Toothless suddenly blinked, his head tilting slightly, a quiet, curious sound escaping him when a thin line of tea dribbled down Hiccup's slack chin, and Astrid gave him a small smile as she set the spoon and steaming cup aside, taking a small rag to wipe away the fallen tea.

"It's fine," Astrid murmured reassuringly, and Toothless blinked up at her, "It happens sometimes; people can only swallow so much in their sleep."

Toothless released another croon, and Astrid could've sworn she heard an "oh" in the tone as the dragon returned his attention back to Hiccup. Astrid gave him another smile before grabbing the small cup of the pale green, sweet smelling salve and scooping some up into her fingers. She gently spread some along the burn marks on Hiccup's face, which were starting to scab over, the only visible ones remaining running along his forehead, cheek, and jaw.

Toothless let out a quiet, curious sound, leaning down and sniffing at the salve as Astrid closed the cup and set it aside. He turned his attention back to Astrid, watching curiously as she stood, replacing her medical items back into her usual box.

She looked back down at Hiccup, and, subconsciously, she ran a few fingers along the pale scar on his chin, smiling when he released a small breath through his slightly open mouth, unconsciously leaning into her touch.

She let her fingers linger on the scar, examining him. The scar on his chin was one of many, though it was the most noticeable. There were plenty of very noticeable scars on his hands, though; tiny, little, pale scars littering his fingers, his palms, and the backs of his hands, as well as a large pale scar running along his left palm, and Astrid knew they were from training so hard with that axe as opposed to the forge work others probably assumed they were from.

She felt a blush creep on her face when she remembered feeling those hands on her during their flight with Stormfly, the rough scars and calluses feeling surprisingly nice on her skin. She wondered what they were, exactly, remembering the small, wet kiss he had placed on her cheek before escaping on Toothless.

Her parents kept making wedding jokes, and somewhere in the back of her mind, she wondered if this is what it would be like to be married to him, taking care of him like this.

She let her smile stay on her face as she fingered the scale necklace that had miraculously survived before she looked at Stormfly. "Read to go?" Stormfly squawked, shaking her head like a bird as she followed Astrid to the door.

Astrid glanced back, her smile widening.

Hiccup's lips twitched.

Astrid spent the rest of next week with the recruits, helping the villagers integrate in with their newly found companions, and she found herself, along with the others, laughing and smiling as they did their jobs, and she even helped the recruits name their dragons.

Ruffnut had decided to call her claimed head Barf, which Astrid supposed made sense considering it spews out gas, and Tuffnut called his head Belch, which also made sense considering it sparks; together, as one dragon, they were BarfBelch. Fishlegs had decided to name his Gronkle Meatlug, and Astrid wasn't sure if she should tell him that Meatlug was a girl or just let him figure it out for himself. Snotlout had decided to call his Nightmare Hookfang, and Astrid assumed it was either due to the small horn on the Nightmare's nose, or the way his teeth curved up like hooks.

The dark blue Nadder from Training had taken a liking to them, following them everywhere they went, and Astrid decided to name him herself. She named him Snaptrap, though the others didn't agree with her and continuously argued over his name, despite the fact that the Nadder answered only to 'Snaptrap' when he was called.

Astrid had also spent time with Grump and Gobber in the forge, watching as the man carved wood, sewn leather, and pounded away at metal. When the week was up, he had finally finished their project.

Despite being warned against it, Astrid stayed and watched when they put the prosthetic onto Hiccup's leg. She had watched as they fastened the metal strap around the end of the stump; locking the metal together with two screws on the side. They then attached the prosthetic to the end of the strap, hooking the wooden end into place. They had given him new trousers afterwards, the pant legs customized to suit the new limb; they had cut the left pant leg to just over the metal place holder, ending right where the wood began, before tightly tying a rope around the fabric, keeping it in place over the wood.

Afterwards, they had let Elder Gothi check him over, and she was elated at the news that his sleep patterns had changed, and that he was now in a proper sleep, and that he would wake up any day now.

And, on the final day of the week, the Elder's predictions came true.

Hiccup began stirring, his brows furrowing, breathing out groggy sighs, and Toothless leaned forward, sniffing at him. The force of the air he puffed out swished Hiccup's hair, and he leaned back a little, crooning impatiently, growling out something that sounded very similar to, "Wake. Up."

He nudged Hiccup's cheek, and the boy dazedly opened his eyes, blinking groggily. Toothless crooned happily at the sight of his opened eyes, and began nudging him impatiently and excitedly. Hiccup gave a tired smile, patting him. "Hey, Toothless," He said weakly, and Toothless gave him a small lick, "Good to see you, too, bud-ARGH!"

Toothless accidentally stepped on Hiccup's stomach during his impatient nudging, and Hiccup bolted up, hugging his stomach in pain. It woke him up completely, and he glanced around his room, finding himself in his house, his bed moved to the main room in front of the hearth, which had a stand and pot sitting over it. "Ahhh-I'm in my house." He looked at Toothless. "You're in my house." Toothless wiggled around impatiently, licking his lips, his eyes incredibly wide. "There is a Night Fury in my house."

Toothless began bounding around the room excitedly. "Does my dad know you're in here?" Toothless bounced off a support beam, hopping over the hearth, knocking over the boiling pot in the process. "Oh, what...?"

Toothless landed in front of Hiccup, sticking his face close and giving impatient grumbles. Hiccup held up his hands in surrender, "Okay, okay!"

Toothless bounded off again, his attention on the rafters. "Tooth-no, no, Toothless." The dragon ignored him, hopping onto the rafter, scratching his back legs against it as he tried to right himself. "Toothless!" Toothless stopped, looking down at him at the sound of his stern voice.

"Oh, come on-" Hiccup cut himself off as he shifted to get out of bed. He paused, something feeling off. He furrowed his brows, pulling the covers away from his legs. His brows lifted up, the sight startling him, horrifying him, and overwhelming him all at once.

He stared, feeling queasy, afraid he might throw up. This was too much. He swallowed heavily, breathing deeply and shakily, feeling his eyes well up from the shock.

Toothless hopped down from the rafters, tilting his head with a soft croon.

Hiccup took a moment to himself, allowing the feelings to pass as he stared before releasing a long sigh through his nose, looking resigned.

He swung his right leg over the bed, letting his foot touch the floor.

Then he let his metal leg rest beside it with a soft clink.

Toothless narrowed his eyes, sniffing at it. Halfway down his shin, Hiccup's leg ended and a fake one began, and he could feel the coolness of a metal place holder on the middle of his shin. The prosthetic was spring-loaded, made of both wood and metal. He recognized the design as one of his own, but he never thought he would actually be using it on himself. He never expected to come out of that fight unscathed, but a full on missing limb?

Toothless lifted his head to look him in the eye, giving a soft croon. Hiccup gave him a disbelieving look, releasing a breath. He sucked in a deep one before grabbing the bed post, lifting himself up.

He kept all his weight on his right leg and then took a step, stumbling a little with a pained breath. He waited a moment, stifling the pain as he took another breath.

He took another step.

The pain made him tumble this time, and Toothless quickly pushed forward, catching him with his head. He gently pushed Hiccup upright. "Okay," Hiccup whispered, patting him a little, "Thanks, bud."

Hiccup used Toothless as a crutch, hopping toward the front door. He let go of Toothless for a moment to open it.

He promptly slammed it shut at the sight of a hovering Monstrous Nightmare. He looked at Toothless, "Okay. Stay here."

He opened the door again, but froze at the sight that greeted him.

"C'mon, guys!" Snotlout yelled from the back of the Nightmare, "Get ready! One more time, here we go!" He flew off, and the rest of the recruits, minus Astrid, quickly followed him on their own dragons. Nadders huddled together in a group atop a house, and Hiccup was positive he recognized one as the Nadder who helped them in the battle, Terrible Terrors fought over a bucket of fish, Hotburples, Hobbelgrunts, Monstrous Nightmares, Zipplebacks, Gronkles, Mood Dragons, Snafflefangs, dragons of all kinds, casually walked and flew throughout the village, Vikings walking alongside them, completely relaxed.

"I knew it," Hiccup shrugged helplessly, "I'm dead."

There was a hearty laughter as Stoick approached him, resting a hand on his shoulder, "No, but you gave it your best shot."

He gestured around the village, "What'd ya think? Astrid's been teaching all of us about the dragons while you were asleep. People took to it quite nicely."

Hiccup shook his head, a smile beginning to form on his face.

Somebody noticed him, and then there were cries of, "It's Hiccup! He's awake!" echoing through the village. Soon enough, he was surrounded by Vikings, including Thora and Cnut, and he limped heavily as his father placed a hand on his shoulder and led him to the middle of the crowd. His Uncle Spitelout even had a Terror on his back.

"Turns out, all we needed was a little more of Astrid," Stoick smiled, gesturing vaguely over Hiccup, "And a little more of... this."

Hiccup gave an overwhelmed grin. "But, you just pointed to all of me."

"Well, most of you," Gobber said as he pushed through the crowd, a happy looking, lazy looking Hotburple following close behind, carrying a bunch of red, metal, and leather material on its back. He gestured to Hiccup's foot. "That bit there's my handy work. With a little 'Hiccup flair' thrown in. Think it'll do?"

Hiccup pretended to inspect his foot. "I might make a few tweaks," He joked, and everyone gave a little laugh.

He let out a startled sound when he was suddenly thrown to the side, feeling a face bury itself in his neck, arms wrapped tightly around him. He hesitated for a moment in surprise before returning the hug, wrapping his arms securely around Astrid.

She lifted her head, looking up at him with watery, relieved, elated blue eyes, a small smile on her face. "You scared me..." She whispered, and Hiccup gave her a gentle smile as they parted.

Astrid suddenly gasped, her hand shooting up to her throbbing arm after Hiccup gave it a nice, hard hit, and she looked up at him with wide eyes.

"That," He said, an odd smile on his face, "Was for being a scaredy-cat."

Astrid wanted to laugh when her prediction came true, but she held it back in her frustration, throwing her non-sore arm up in annoyance. "What?" She said irritantly, "Is, is it always gonna be like this? Because I-"

She was cut off when Hiccup suddenly cupped the back of her head, swiftly pulling her forward, capturing her soft lips with his rough ones. He kissed her. On the lips. In front of everyone.

She could hear the hoots and hollers, and the cat calls and wolf whistles of everyone around her.

If he wasn't holding her up, she was sure she would've keeled over.

After a few seconds, he pulled away, revealing her dazed face to everyone. She glanced around before shrugging, smiling a little, a flush staining her face. "I mean, I could get used to it."

Hiccup gave a satisfied sort of smile.

Stoick placed a hand on his shoulder as Gobber took the newly made saddle and tail off of Grump's back, handing it to him. "Welcome home, son."

Hiccup gave him a genuine smile before his attention was suddenly caught by shouts.

"NIGHT FURY!"

"GET DOWN!"

Hiccup looked over, catching sight of Toothless bounding out of the house. He hopped over different Vikings, knocking them to the ground, giving Hiccup big, puppy dog eyes. His Uncle Spitelout took the brunt of it, scaring the Terrible Terror right off his shoulder. Toothless crooned impatiently, and Astrid and Hiccup shared a glance and a small laugh.

Hiccup snapped his fake leg into place, the newly designed stirrup locking with the prosthetic, creating one shape. He pushed the pedal back and forth, watching as the red tail fin flared in and out before grinning, looking over at Astrid, sitting atop of Stormfly beside him with a grin of her own.

"Hey, Hiccup," Astrid suddenly said, her smile turning a mixture of both embarrassed and nervous, "Um... back there, when you, uh... you know..."

Hiccup gave a tiny smirk, shifting Toothless closer so he could look up at her with their height differences on their dragons, "Yeah?"

"Well, um... does that make us... are we...?"

"There's no need to stutter, Astrid," Hiccup said, leaning up a little so their faces were inches apart, "I mean, I did kiss you."

His eyes suddenly shifted from amused to devious, and Astrid didn't react in time when he reached up and kissed her. Again. She closed her eyes and smiled into the soft kiss as he gently pushed her bangs aside and pulled away, smiling up at her. "So," He smirked, "About that contract."

Astrid laughed, moving away, and glancing down at Stormfly, patting her a little. "You ready?" Stormfly squawked, shaking her head out a little, and Astrid's smile widened as Hiccup leaned forward a little on Toothless, his grin still firmly held in place, and she took in the new world around her.

This is Berk.

It snows nine months of the year, and hails the other three.

Astrid and Hiccup shared a glance before the two took the skies, and they flew together around Berk, the sun beaming, probably the last day before winter struck. Everything was just... right, the smell of the ocean wafting along the small breeze, dragons and vikings mingling together within the village.

The flew in close to the Vikings, whooping and hollering in laughter, startling a few unsuspecting villagers; one man nearly spat out his ale when they shot by, catching him off guard.

Any food that grows here is tough and tasteless. The people that grow here are even more so.

Astrid glanced over at Hiccup, catching sight of the brilliant green eyes she had missed looking into these past four weeks. It was amazing that, just two months ago, all she wanted was to be acknowledged as a Viking by her fellow villagers, and now, she couldn't imagine her life without Stormfly.

Or Toothless.

Or Hiccup.

The only upside are the pets.

"Yeah!" Hiccup cheered, holding up an arm in a victory pose as Toothless and Stormfly did aerial spins, each trying to outdo the other, and Astrid hollered in laughter as they sped ahead of them.

They passed one of the wooden bridges, Toothless running across it before he flared out his wings, taking to the air again. They were soon joined by the others, the twins on their Zippleback, Fishlegs on his Gronkle, and Snotlout on his Nightmare.

While other places have ponies or... parrots.

They flew by them when Hiccup and Astrid waved them over, and soon they were all racing around Berk; laughing, joking, having a great time.

We have...

The war was over, and their troubles were back to normal, teenage Viking things. Astrid was finally accepted by her people, Hiccup by his father, and the two were held as village heroes. They were finally happy, and it felt like nothing could stand in their way.

Suddenly, everything was okay.

Dragons.

Yay, mega happy ending!

1) Grump is Gobber's dragon from the second movie

I hope you enjoyed, and please be sure to read the author's note I'm placing up as the next chapter.