Chapter Sixteen

A/N: I'm sick! *sad face* Worst. Headache. Ever. So...if this chapter sounds awkward or forced in any way...that's why. (I figured I wouldn't put off writing this because we're SO close to being done, it would be a shame to have to wait because I have a migrane.) So! Without further ado, ENJOY CHAPTER 16!

The air ripples like heat waves, which very rarely occur on Berk. There's the distinct sound of hissing and even a few crackles as sparks fly from nowhere. Hiccup's body sails toward earth as Toothless struggles to right himself.

"Brace yourself!" Hinrik warns him. "This will protect us from dying...but it will probably hurt quite a bit..."

Hiccup squeezes his eyes shut, tensing for impact.

Astrid stares with a horrified expression as Hiccup is thrown from the saddle. Her friend flips in midair from the sheer force of whatever Aragwen did to him. For a moment, he appears to be unconscious...but then, he turns again and yells something at Toothless. A few seconds pass as the two of them plummet closer and closer to earth. Why didn't she bring Stormfly?! It's only now that she thinks of her own dragon, waiting patiently for her to return... If Stormfly were here, Astrid could zip up there and save him!

Instead, she's forced to watch as Toothless suddenly whips around and fires a plasma blast at Aragwen. She's thrown off her feet and lands, heavily on her back. Her shoulder sizzles where the fire hit her...but she doesn't appear to be hurt. But she doesn't move so Astrid turns her attention back to Hiccup.

He holds out both hands, the light in his eyes glowing brighter than before. And, before her eyes, a the air begins to warp. It twists and bends and even sparks a little.

What is happening...?

Within a handful of seconds, Hiccup the odd, rippled air forms a kind of dish-shape below Hiccup's body. It sizzles, looking dangerously hot and still throwing sparks. What is he planning on doing with that? And, more important, HOW ON EARTH IS HE MAKING IT?!

Moments before crashing into the earth, Astrid squeezes her eyes shut, not wanting to see her best friend fall to his untimely death only feet in front of her. She braces herself, already feeling sick to the stomach. And then-

SMASH!

Hinrik was right. Miraculously, his weird shield-thing stops Hiccup from simply breaking every bone in his body when he slams into the ground from a hundred yards up. Instead, he drops into the sizzling hot air which feels almost solid beneath him. It gives a little, feeling almost lost rubber and lowers him the rest of the way to the ground.

But Hinrik was also right when he said it would hurt. A lot. Hiccup even hears a sickening crunch come from somewhere in his right arm, which he fell on. It takes a moment...but soon, the pain comes as well.

"Hiccup!" Astrid gasps when she realizes what has happened. He isn't dead! Somehow, he's alive! But... As she sprints toward him, she realizes he's anything but in good health...

Hiccup lets out an agonized yelp as a horrible, searing pain shoots through his broken arm. It's so intense, his vision goes dark around the edges and big, white stars flash in his head.

"Are you okay?" Hinrik asks him, sounding a bit guilty.

I think my arm is broken... Hiccup admits, grinding his teeth together against the pain. But otherwise...I'm alright. Thanks, whatever you did saved our butts!

"It's not a big deal. I wish I could have had more time. If I had, your arm might not have broken..."

Don't worry about it... He struggles to sit up, to move from the grass that's still hissing below him with heat from Hinrik's shield. But suddenly his arm screams in protest and he cries out, gasping as his vision blurs once again.

There's a subtle thump beside him and then a loud, frightened roar. Toothless hurries over to him, from where he managed to land a few yards away. He prods Hiccup with his nose and coos, terror flood the dragon's senses.

"I-I'm okay...bud..." Hiccup chokes out, noticing how Hinrik's voice is no longer accompanying his.

Toothless purrs and nuzzles his Rider's cheek in relief.

That's when Astrid arrives, panting from running all the way across the clearing as well as pure horror of watching Hiccup fall out of the sky. She kneels beside him, her hand hovering tentatively above his back. She doesn't know what to do... "H-Hiccup...?" She squeaks, nervously. "Are you okay...?"

He tries to nod, only to have his arm protest the little movement and force him to moan in pain instead.

"Oh man..." She whispers, just loud enough that the semi-conscious boy beside her can hear. "Your arm..."

It's twisted at an impossible angle and trapped beneath his body, bent and snapped at the forearm. A small amount of blood trickles from torn skin near the break...but at least no bone is showing...

"Hiccup...!" Hinrik's voice sounds urgent. "Your dragon did it...!"

Wha...? He forces open a blurry eye and looks out across the clearing. He finds Aragwen's motionless body only about twenty feet away. Her shoulder is actually smoking, letting off a thick plume of black smoke. He...did it? The Tether...

"It's gone! He burned it!"

Hiccup smiles, weakly and lets his eyes fall shut again. Thank gods... The last thing he hears is Astrid's gentle voice in his ear.

"Just hang on, Hiccup. I need to go check on your father. Just hold on..."

And then the world turns black and even Hinrik's voice can't reach him.

Astrid pushes herself to her feet and races across the meadow, toward Stoick. Hiccup's father is still laying on the ground, blood seeping through his tunic from whatever Aragwen did to him...

"Stoick!" She says, hurriedly as she sits down beside him. "Stoick, are you alright?!"

The man groans, his face crunching up in pain.

"Please, sir! You have to wake up! Hiccup needs you...!" She cries, desperately hoping he'll snap out of it, hearing that.

And, surely enough, the older viking's eyes flutter open a few seconds later. He moans again and folds an arm over his bleeding abdomen. In a gasping breath, he asks, "Where's...Hiccup...?"

She grimaces. "Over there. His arm is broken and he passed out. We need to get him home as soon as possible!"

Stoick nods in agreeance and forces himself to sit up. "What happened to Aragwen?"

"Toothless shot her. I think she's unconscious too..." Astrid explains. Her eyes gravitate toward her chief's wound and she bites her lip. "Are you sure you're okay...?"

"I've had much worse on many occasions. This is nothing." With that, he stands up, wavering only a little, and starts toward Hiccup and Toothless. His face turns very grave at the sight of his boy's arm... "What happened...?"

"Aragwen pushed him off Toothless while they were flying." Astrid tells him, deciding to leave out the part about the sparking air because she isn't exactly sure what it was...

Stoick knees beside his son, gently tipping Hiccup's head to the side. "He's out cold..." He glances over at Aragwen and frowns. "We'll have to carry both of them. Toothless," He looks back at the Night Fury, who is whimpering and nudging Hiccup's cheek. "Do you think you can carry Hiccup back to the village if we strap him in?"

The dragon's ears fold down and he growls as if to say, 'Of course!'

"Then I'll carry Aragwen. I don't want anything else bad happening. Everyone stay on your guards."

Astrid nods and draws her axe, a determined glint in her eyes. She helps Stoick carefully lift Hiccup's torso off his arm and flip him over. Then, in one motion, they manage to lift him into the saddle and strap him in, nice and tight. "I'll walk beside them and make sure he doesn't fall out."

"Good." Stoick unceremoniously yanks the witch into his arms and then over his shoulder, making sure to leave a few bruises in the process... "I'm taking her straight to the prison cells. Would you bring Hiccup to Gothi...?"

"Yes sir." She nods and pats Toothless's head, motioning for him to follow her. With that, they head back into the forest, on their way home...

It's over.

A/N: ONE MORE CHAPTER GUYS! GAHH! It went sooo fast for me!