Chapter 2: Coming Together

Thump. Thump. Huff. Thump. Thump. Huff.

Hiccup breathed deeply, wondering what the pounding rhythm was playing near his ear. His pulse or something else… he wasn't sure…

He felt sticky. That was the first thing he noticed. His left leg felt the stickiest, although his right did as well. Not as bad, but it still felt somewhat damp.

Thump. Thump. Huff.

Hiccup opened his eyes, greeted by total blackness. He blinked again, wondering if it was night already…

Gods! The hunters, the crash, the arrows, the bolder!

Astrid!

"Astrid!" Hiccup cried out in a muffled voice. He struggled to move, but by now his sense were returning, and the moment he moved his left leg, pain shot up it and into his spine, effectively knocking the air from his lungs. He tumbled back to the ground, landing against something soft as he gasped for air and squeezed his eyes shut against the pain.

Another groan met his ears, and the thing he leaned against shifted. It was only then that Hiccup realized that Toothless was beside him, and his wings were wrapped around his rider.

"Toothless…" Hiccup gasped, pressing a hand against one of his wings. "C-c'mon bud… I need to find Astrid."

Another groan, then a scaly nose bumped his shoulder. Hiccup looked up, squinting and catching sight of the slightly glowing green eyes that were wide with concern.

"Hey bud…" Hiccup greeted with a little smile, patting the dragon on the nose. "C-can… can you let me out?"

Toothless warbled, his entire body vibrating. The sound and feel was both comforting and calming to Hiccup, and soon his breathing returned to normal and gulped, trying to push the pain aside and focus on what needed to be done.

Toothless's nose moved further down Hiccup's body till it reached his injured leg. The dragon sniffed it, but quickly redrew with a whine. He sounded slightly panicked, and breathing huffed loudly.

"Shh… it's fine." Hiccup reassured. "But I really need to find Astrid, Toothless. She might be hurt…"

Toothless whined again, then fell silent. Finally, the dragon lifted his wing, allowing the blinding sunlight to pour inside nearly blinding Hiccup in the process. He lifted a hand to cover his face, waiting a few moments before opening his eyes again.

He looked about at their surroundings, first catching sight of the smashed and splintered trees as well as the trench that stretched behind them. He grimaced and glanced at his dragon, hoping that he hadn't suffered too much from the fall.

"You alright, Toothless?" He asked worriedly, running a hand over the dragons hide. Toothless smiled gummily and crooned. He looked fine as far as Hiccup could tell, but Hiccup was still leaning against his side, which didn't allow him to see the dragon too fully.

Hiccup pat him again, then glanced down at his leg with a sigh. The sight made him wince, because the sticky wet feeling he'd been feeling… it just so happened to be blood.

"Great." He muttered, reaching a hand down to pull up his pants leg. He grit his teeth together at the movement, because merely touching his leg sent pain shooting through it. His prosthetic was drenched in blood, and he wasn't entirely sure where the wound was at this point. The blood that spread all across his leg confused him, and didn't allow him to see fully where the main wound resided.

Toothless whined at the smell of blood his tongue coming out and licking some of it off his pants leg. Hiccup cried out quietly, his breath coming in little gasps when the pain nearly blinded him.

"Okay… okay…." Hiccup whispered to himself. "I'm okay… just…" He looked back at his leg, took a deep breath then exhaled before carefully pulling his pants leg, more blood layering underneath.

"Just my luck…" He whispered sarcastically. Toothless was there again, hurriedly licking at his skin and removing any blood that was there. The poor dragon looked frantic over the whole ordeal, and he kept crooning worriedly and nudging Hiccup's hand from time to time. Hiccup tried to push him away and tell him to stop coating his leg in dragon saliva, but Toothless was determined to care for Hiccup the best way he could.

Hiccup cried out again when Toothless hit an extra painful area. The dragon whine worriedly, his tongue switching from his leg to his face.

"O-okay, b-bud." Hiccup stuttered. "I-I'll take it from th-there."

Hiccup pulled his trousers up over his knee, then turned and dug into the saddle bags for bandages or water. He found both, so used the water to clean out the wound that lay in the inside of his leg. The jagged cut ran from his stump all the way to above his knee. Hiccup couldn't tell how deep it was, but when he prodded it a bit (extremely carefully) he was sure he saw white mixed in with flesh.

"Not again…" He murmured, grabbing the bandages with shaking hands and sloppily wrapping them about his leg. Since it was painful, it was very sloppy, definitely not his best work. But it seemed to be doing its job of keeping the blood from flowing anymore.

"Now I have to find Astrid." Hiccup stated, his voice once again filling with panic. He pushed himself up, his bad leg bent at an angle although it caused excruciating pain. Toothless also got to his feet, shaking himself clean of dirt and debris before motioning with his head for Hiccup to climb aboard.

Hiccup limped forward before flinging himself over Toothless's back. With a little help from his dragon, he scooted all the way on, panting once he was done. Toothless took off, his nose low to the ground and his ear flaps straight in an alert manner. Toothless seemed to know where they were going, and Hiccup trusted his dragon with directions better then him anyways, so he just rested his head against Toothless's neck and tried to focus on something other than the pain.

"A-any sign of them… Toothless?" Hiccup coughed, hating how thick his voice sounded.

Toothless crooned and slowed down to a slow trot. He stopped suddenly, his head sticking straight in the air and his expression one of alert.

Hiccup sighed and glanced up at the sky. Dark clouds rumbled, and a chilly wind was blowing. Great. Just what they needed.

Before he could think more on the cloudy sky, Toothless dashed towards the side, barreling through the underbrush and thick grass. He whined worriedly as they went, and before long they erupted into a small clearing.

Another trench was seen, along with a little lump of blue and yellow. Toothless barked and rushed forward, skidding to a stop before the curled-up dragon.

Hiccup slid of and collapsed on the ground beside Stormfly, his hands scrambling to push the wings away. But upon touching Stormfly's right wing, she let out a pained shrieked and snapped her neck about, opening her mouth and displaying her sharp rows of teeth.

Toothless hummed and began licking the Nadders face, calming the dragon instantly. Stormfly's head lowered to the ground again, her eyes closing and her breathing steadying.

Hiccup carefully continued on, gently prying the wounded dragon's wings apart. The right wing was obviously broken, one side of the wing jutting out at an odd angle. Hiccup's heart swelled with sympathy at the pained groan the poor Nadder croaked out, and he promised to wrap the wing up as soon as he knew Astrid was alright.

Finally, Hiccup was able to pry Stormfly's wings apart, and there Astrid was lying in her protective grasp. Hiccup grabbed the girl by the arms, tugging her out of the trench and up into his lap. She didn't respond at all, which had him worried to no end.

"Astrid!?" He shouted, pushing her bangs out of her closed eyes. She moaned quietly, but that was the only response he received. He then switched to looking for signs of injury, noticing with a sinking heart that her leg was bent, and she refused to straighten it. It was most likely broken, and he had no idea if she'd suffered any rib damage. Thankfully though, he saw no blood. Then again, he wasn't sure if that was good or bad. Maybe she was bleeding internally, and he had no clue what to do if that was the case.

"Astrid…" Hiccup whispered a bit softly, leaning closer to her ear.

"Hiccup..?" She murmured, her lips ghosting his cheek. He pulled back and smiled happily, glad to see that she was appearing to be aware, and not to slurred like he'd been the first few moments of unconsciousness.

"What hurts, Astrid?"

She shifted her weight, letting out another moan of discomfort. "Ugh… everything. Gods, what happened?"

"I-I don't even know. We were shot out of the sky and were separated in the fall."

"No, I mean, why do I feel like I was tossed about in a bag filled with rocks? Every part of me seems to have a bruise." She murmured, her tone hinting a confused yet sarcastic attitude.

Hiccup ducked his head, "I'm sorry… that's my fault. Wasn't watching where I was going…"

"Which was actually my fault." She interrupted. "I was the one who asked for a kiss."

Hiccup sighed and nodded before reached a hand out to run it down her injured leg. "What hurts?"

"I just said everything." She joked lightly, but he could tell she was in pain. Her blue eyes were clouded, and she was continually biting her lip. "But… my leg hurts pretty bad. So does this rib." She lifted a hand and let it hover over a lower part of her chest, right above her stomach. "Wrist hurts too." She gestured towards her other hand which lay curled up against her side.

Hiccup sighed again and nodded, laying her down on the ground before him as gently as possible. "Let's get you fixed up then-"

"Thor, Hiccup!" She suddenly shrieked, nearly causing him to jump out of his skin. Even Toothless flinched, his head lifting from his place beside Stormfly with a panicked look about.

"What is it, what's wrong!?" Hiccup asked frantically, looking around for any signs of alarm.

"Y-your leg…" She said softly, reaching her good hand out to touch his bad leg. He flinched noticeably, catching his lip between his teeth to keep from crying out. "Sorry." She said, withdrawing the hand. "What happened?"

"Just a little cut." Hiccup reassured. He brought out the rest of the bandages from Toothless's saddlebag, scooting carefully towards her leg. "Nothing too serious."

"But there's so much blood…" She whispered dazedly.

"Shh… you're disoriented. Just lie still and let your senses return, alright? I'm going to try and set your leg."

Astrid nodded and closed her eyes, sighing with a shudder as he began rolling up her leggings. He paused when he reached her knee, careful to pull the leggings over it and then laying it out straight as carefully as possible. Astrid hissed and fisted her hands, but otherwise made no move to stop him.

Hiccup had dealt with this before. Once on a dragon, and once on Snotlout. Not only that but he'd watched Gobber do it many times, so he had a good idea on what to do. He placed his hands where they needed to be after fingering her knee carefully to figure out where the break was. Thankfully, it looked like her bone had just popped out of the socket, but he knew he had to be careful or he could damage her knee cap.

So, with a careful twist, he snapped the bone back in place. Astrid hissed again and her other leg kicked out, but that was it. After he was done, she sighed and began breathing heavily.

"Sorry, sorry, sorry!" Hiccup muttered over and over again, sweat beginning to trickle down his forehead. He couldn't stand to see her hurt, and this… he had to be the one making her hurt too. It was a terrible feeling, but he knew he didn't have a choice. Him setting the bones right again might be painful, but it would definitely be better than her walking about on a broken limb.

Once done wrapping it, he hurried to pull her legging down again. The cold wind was becoming more frigid by the minute, and it made Hiccup wish for a warm fire. But he didn't stop once. He then scooted up to her head. Grabbing her wrist and gentle wrapping that as well. He was working tediously and trying to use as les bandages as possible, since they had a very small supply. But he did have enough for her broken rib as well, so he bunched the bandages up and motioned for her to lift her shirt.

Astrid by now was fully awake, and wanted to sit up. He helped her do so since he needed her to be in a sitting position anyways to wrap her chest. She punched him lightly when he pressed a kiss on her neck in the process of propping her up against his shoulder.

"You alright?" He asked, giving her a worried stare.

"Peachy." She replied, flipping her head to rid her eyes of her bangs. "I'm more worried about you."

Hiccup didn't reply, because honestly, he didn't have anything reassuring to say back. He felt terrible, just down right rotten. He was freezing, his hands numb and his leg was stabbing pain. He tried to hide it as he scuttled around on his hands and knees (Or knee, since he couldn't use his left leg) but he was fairly certain his wound was bleeding again.

"Okay, I have enough bandages here to wrap your rib too. It'll make it more comfortable breathing." He explained, holding up the wad of bandages. He paused, then blushed, realizing that she'd have to expose her stomach in order to get this ordeal finished.

Astrid seemed to notice what it meant too, for she too was blushing a crimson color. But she complied, gentle bunching her blue shirt up just until the rib was exposed. Hiccup hurriedly bandaged it, being careful yet speedy at the same time. He didn't want her to get cold, which in this bitter wind he was certain would happen sooner than later.

"There…" He whispered and tied off the end. She instantly shoved her shirt back down, giving a little shiver before rubbing her arms.

"So cold…" She chattered. "We have to find a place to stay through this storm." She nodded her head towards the sky, making Hiccup follow her gaze.

He stumbled to his feet, gulping down a scream when he placed pressure on his leg. Toothless bounced forward, his head leaning forward and bumping against Hiccup's chest for support. He grabbed it thankfully, limping over to Stormfly to try and see what he could do to make the poor dragon more comfortable.

First, he dug through the saddlebags to see if there were any more bandages. Thankfully, Astrid had come prepared with another large wad. Enough for Stormfly with maybe a little bit left over, if he was careful. He then crawled up to Stormfly's head, petting her beak like snout in attempts to keep her calm.

"Hey, girl…" he whispered soothingly. "Can you stand? I want to try and fix your wing, but can't with you lying on the ground."

She seemed to understand, for she struggled to her feet before giving a small shake, giving a little squawk of pain when she jostled her wing.

"Here." Hiccup offered, rubbing a hand lightly over the large wing, feeling for where the break might be. He felt all over, but couldn't find any signs of broken appendage, much to his relief. She must've just sprained it.

Still, he wrapped it in the bandages, knowing that would give it support and would help it heal faster. Stormfly stayed reasonably still for the most part, seeming to know that what he was doing would help her and not harm her. Once done, he stumbled back, and would've fallen flat on top of Astrid had Toothless not jumped forward and caught him with his head.

"Than-thanks bud." Hiccup stuttered, both from the cold and from the pain. "Now let's find some shelter."

He turned around to help Astrid, but she was already on her feet, leaning against her dragon much like what he was doing to Toothless. She grinned and gave a little wave before slowly climbing onto her dragons back. Stormfly cawed and nudged Astrid's good leg to help give her a boost.

Toothless gave Hiccup a similar nudge, urging the boy up onto his back. Once in the saddle, Hiccup kept his bad leg out of the pedal while he slipped his good one in, hoping that he wouldn't get to jostled or he feared he'd pass out.

The two dragons took off, both in the same direction. Once again Hiccup figured they knew where to go better than neither he or Astrid knew on this strange island, so he allowed them to go where they pleased. Sure enough, not three minutes later they arrived at a cave opening.

Astrid slid off, Stormfly ducking her head and offering it as a crutch. Astrid turned to Hiccup, her face pinched in pain and worry.

He slid off as well, landing on the ground with a small thump. Toothless wrapped his tail about him protectively before stepping towards the cave, Hiccup hoping it was big enough for all four of them.

When entering, Hiccup found it more than big enough for the two dragons and humans. It ended about twenty feet in, which reassured Hiccup they hadn't just walked into a Whispering Death tunnel. He turned and pulled the blankets out of the saddlebags, tossing them to the ground while Stormfly searched for sticks for a fire.

"Good girl, Stormfly." Astrid praised from her position on the ground. "But I bet there's some in that crevice that you can't reach. Here-" She started to stand, but Hiccup gave her a harsh glare that instantly had her sitting again.

"Stay." He repeated sternly for the utmost time. "I-I'll get it."

"Hiccup, you're worse off than me. You can scarcely walk."

Hiccup took a shuddering breath, exhaling equally as shaky. "St-Stormfly… could you go outside and get some logs before it starts to rain? Those should last us through the night."

Stormfly squawked before running out of the cave, leaving Toothless to guard the Dragon Riders. He refused to leave Hiccup's side however, especially since he was needed as a crutch.

"Alright." Hiccup said, sliding to the floor with a quiet hiss. "I-I think we're set. Toothless?"

The dragon opened his mouth and shot a small plasma blast at the pile of sticks, instantly setting it ablaze. Hiccup moved closer to Astrid, bringing the blankets with him. Once he reached her side he wrapped the blankets around her shoulders, and warped another around her legs. He grabbed the last two for himself, the two riders cuddling close together to try and preserve some body heat.

Toothless curled up around them, his body warm and comforting. Before Astrid or Hiccup could say a word, they both drifted off into an exhausted sleep.

…

Blood.

He lifted his head and sniffed a bit more. More blood.

He sniffed some more, hissing when he caught smell of a horrible foe.

Night Fury.

Never had he come across one, but it's smell just simply spoke the words. He hissed again, his tail snapping and he gestured to the others of his pack, the females jumped forward first eager to prove their worth. He hissed and cackled, jerking his head towards the bushes where large prints could be seen.

Follow the scent. He dashed into the bushes, the others close behind.

Sorry if there are typos, I'm in a hurry and I know you guys wanted an update so here ya go. ;)

Let me know what you think, and a little thing here. In the previous chapter, where Astrid says "I want a kiss" I realized (Thanks to guests review, thank you for that! ;D) that it was really OC and rather creepy as the reviewer put it, so I went back and switched it to "I think this calls for a make-up kiss" (Or something similar to that XD) That's all I changed, but thought I'd let you know!

Okay, thanks again, see you next chapter folks! *waves before slamming laptop and clapping hands together in a tidy manner*