We'll Always Be There For You: What if for Snow Way Out, Heather didn't blind the hunter about to shoot Hiccup fast enough? Requested by PKWolf014. Rated T for injury.

It's here, guys! Finally, another one-shot! Sorry it took me so long to get around to… school was crazy (as it's the end of the year), and then FanFiciton stopped working for awhile... ugh.… Anyways, thank you PKWolf014 for this idea! I really enjoyed writing it!

Without further adieu, here is your next chapter!

Hiccup glared over at Ryker in the ice cave.

It had only been yesterday that they had found out Ryker was going after the Snow Wraiths for a key to the Dragon Eye, they had both arrived on the island earlier that day. That's when the Riders found a cave up high in the mountains, and with Astrid's helpful suggestion, they believed it to be a hibernation cave for the Snow Wraiths. The gang was on their way to get the Snow Wraith off the island, when Ryker found them.

Hiccup was beyond angry with the man by now. Who was he to demand that the Riders should hand over the Dragon Eye without a fight? Who was he to kill innocent dragons because he felt like it, or wanted to make some easy loot? Hiccup clenched his fists, trying to hold back his anger. He forced a calm expression on his face.

"Dagur was right," Ryker spat, with a small chuckle. "You don't look like much."

Narrowing his eyes, Hiccup returned with an equally fierce expression. "Astrid was right. You look like a psycho."

Somewhere from behind him, he heard Tuff whisper, "Not exactly the compliment I would have led with."

Ryker was infuriated, but he obviously tried to hide it. "How about you and I make a deal? You give me the Dragon Eye, and I'll let you and your friends go."

Hiccup pretended to pat around his belt for the Dragon Eye. "Oh? Well, I guess I must have left it in my other pants." He crossed his arms, amused.

"You really don't have it with you?" Ryker asked.

"No."

"And you're not planning on coming out of there?"

"Not anytime soon," Hiccup said, finding it odd that Ryker wasn't demanding anything of him yet.

Suddenly, though, the man donned an evil grin. "Well, then. You leave me no choice."

No choice? Hiccup thought, worried. What does he mean, no choice? Choice to do what?

Meanwhile, where Heather sat on Windshear, she saw a soldier preparing to fire a crossbow at Hiccup. Alarmed, she tried to expose the hunter by knocking a lantern on the floor to show the Hunter's shadow, but she was a second too late.

The Hunter's arrow whizzed through the air, closer, closer…

And then it sunk right through Hiccup's armor, gaining a painful cry from the boy. Blood dripped out from the wound, running down his side and down his left leg. Hiccup grunted, falling to his knees. Everything hurt… why was he so dizzy?

"Hiccup!" Astrid yelled, running over. She didn't care that the Riders had been ordered to stay where they were. No, she didn't have time to think about that. Hiccup was injured, and… "Hiccup! Talk to to me, please." She put her hands on his shoulders, alarmed with Hiccup's grimacing.

Ryker laughed from in front of them, drawing his sword. "I'm afraid neither of you will have the chance to do that."

Heather bit her lip, determined to save her friends. She'd never forgive herself if she just let them die. The girl nudged Windshear to fly forwards, and then she plucked Ryker off the ground. "Sorry, Ryker- we have to go."

"Let me down!" Ryker demanded, being flown out of the ice cave.

"Viggo needs the Riders alive, remember?" Heather snapped as she flew Ryker away in the falling snow. "You can't kill them. Not until Viggo gives the word."

Ryker mumbled something unintelligible to Heather's ears, but stopped fighting back. The two quickly disappeared into the blizzard, leaving all the Hunters to fend for their own.

Back at the ice cave, all the Dragon Hunters looked confused at what to do next. Their questions, however, soon became answered when Toothless sent a plasma blast at them. They scattered like field mice and ran off.

After they were gone, the Riders rushed over to Hiccup, horrified. Blood was Hiccup's shirt, on the ice… Astrid shivered, gently lowering Hiccup to a lying position on the ground. The boy groaned in protest, and Astrid winced. "Shh, shh… the pain will go away soon.. you'll be okay…"

Hiccup blinked slowly, trying to register her words. "Is everyone-" He grimaced, a wave of pain shooting through his side. "Is everyone okay?"

Astrid felt her heart throb. "We're fine, Hiccup. After all, you're the one who's just been shot with an arrow in the side."

"Oh." Hiccup's voice was small, and almost ashamed of getting himself caught in such a dilemma. "That's why it hurts…"

The other Riders approached them, their eyes wide. Fishlegs let out a strangled sound of distress, the twins exchanged frightful glances, and Snotlout looked shocked to see Hiccup bleeding so much.

"Oh, Thor, oh, Thor," Fishlegs murmured, pacing beside Hiccup. "I knew Ryker couldn't be trusted to make a deal! Oh, Thor, Hiccup…"

"We have to get him back to base," said Astrid, standing up. "It's too cold for him to survive up here, and going back to Berk would take too long… the Edge is the only reasonable choice we can make."

Hiccup moaned. "Astrid…," he murmured. "Toothless… D-Dad…"

Toothless walked over, and licked at his rider's tightened face. When Hiccup didn't react, the dragon rumbled, concerned.

"Before we do, though, we have to get the arrow out of him," Astrid explained with a wince. The last thing she wanted was to hurt Hiccup even more, but there was no other way. The longer they kept the arrow in, the worse Hiccup would get. Then again, he could possibly get an infection in the wound when they removed the arrow- it was the only thing keeping even more blood back. Still, either way, Hiccup would hurt more than he was feeling now.

"Okay… w-we have to hold Hiccup down to begin with," Fishlegs stuttered, snapping into action. "W-when we remove the arrow, it's going to hurt him a lot, and he'll try to resist."

"I'll be fine," Hiccup argued, right before he grimaced. He held back a cry of pain. Please, stop… please, stop…

Fishlegs didn't look convinced, and turned to the other Riders. "Ruff, Tuff, hold down his legs- and don't press too hard!" The twins rolled their eyes, but nodded. "Okay, Snotlout, Astrid, you guys cover the arms." He swallowed. "And I-I-I'll be the once to remove the arrow. I once looked into medical classes with Gothi, you know…"

Astrid nodded, pushing down on Hiccup's right arm. "I've got my limb."

Snotlout did the same with Hiccup's left arm. "So do I."

The twins, after a quick slapping fight of a "who gets to hold down which leg" argument, each pressed down on their parts. "We're ready too!" Ruffnut said proudly.

"Hey," Tuff complained. "I wanted to say that!"

"Well, I thought of it first!"

"Nuh uh!"

"Yeah huh!"

"Nuh uh!"

"Yeah h-"

"Ruff! Tuff!" Fishlegs snapped, taking in a shaky breath. "It doesn't matter about who gets to say what first. Hiccup's our main priority right now."

"Oh, right." Tuffnut winced, looking over at Hiccup. "Sorry, H."

Hiccup tried to shrug back, but he was too filled with pain to.

"Okay…" Fishlegs looked extremely nervous. "Hiccup, this is going to hurt… a lot. Just try and relax. It'll make it pass quicker, alright?"

Hiccup closed his eyes, and grunted in agreement. Here we go...

Licking his lips in worry, Fishlegs went down to his knees, and grabbed hold of the arrow in Hiccup's side. The sudden movement made Hiccup yelp, and he was obviously trying not to give away how much it hurt. "H-Hiccup! It's okay!" Fishlegs assured the other boy, softening his grip on the arrow. "Take a deep breath in, deep breath out… it'll help lessen the pain. C'mon, Hiccup, breathe…"

Toothless licked Hiccup's cheek in concern, and Hiccup chuckled, though it was painful. He did as Fishlegs asked, and breathed in deeply. It hurt his side some, but it wasn't as bad as it was before. He tried the method again, and was met with the same comfortable result.

Fishlegs gripped the arrow again, and after a moment of hesitation, he yanked it out of Hiccup's bloodied side before he could change his mind.

The other boy let out a blood-curdling shriek, and more blood came pouring out of the deep wound. Astrid gasped, horrified to see Hiccup in so much pain. Usually, he'd cover it up when something was hurting, and do a pretty good job of it. But now that he was screaming… that was certainly not a good sign. "Fishlegs! What do we do?" she exclaimed, struggling to holding the withering Hiccup down. "H-he's shaking too much!"

Fishlegs whimpered. "If he keeps on acting like this, he'll lose too much blood... w-we have to calm him down, and then after that, bandage the wound…"

"Okay, guys," Astrid announced, not listening to Fishlegs any more. They had to act now or never. "We have to get Hiccup to relax. Alright?"

Snotlout made a face, but he didn't say anything in return. He knew just how serious the situation was. It was either life or death for Hiccup if they didn't get him to stop thrashing about. "Uuuggghhh, fine," he groaned, and patted Hiccup on his trembling arm. "If you calm down, Dragon Boy, I'll listen to you for a whole… week. Yep, but no more. There'll be no complaining from me: no pranks, no schemes, nothing."

Hiccup grimaced, his body tremors not getting any better. Well, at least he had managed to stop screaming. "W-why do I-I-I find that s-so h-hard to b-believe?"

"Well, you better believe it, because it's true," Snotlout said. "All you have to do is relax, cuz. Just relax. Doesn't a Snotlout-complaining-free week sound good?"

Astrid smiled. She knew that the other boy didn't exactly care for Hiccup, but it was sweet of him to offer his obedience to Hiccup, even though, most likely, it'd never happen. "Hey." She stroked Hiccup's forehead where his brown bangs met the skin. "You'll be alright, Hiccup… we're going to fix you up, bring you back to the Edge, and then you'll feel better soon… everything will be fine."

Toothless snorted in agreement, and nudged Hiccup's head. Hiccup chuckled weakly. "I-I'm okay, bud… i-it's only fun i-if you get a-a scar o-out of it, r-right?" he asked. With a deep breath, he focused on relaxing his shivering body. Calm down, Hiccup. Calm down.

Frowning, Astrid cocked her head. Did Hiccup still think that saying was true?

After a few moment of silence, the boy's shaking began to die down. Fishlegs grew excited, and turned to Astrid. "It's working! Now, all we have to do next is bandage the wound." He winced. "Do we have any cloth we could use for makeshift bandages around here? I-I didn't bring any bandages myself."

Astrid frowned. Cloth… cloth…

Suddenly, Toothless's bright red tail fin caught her eye. She grinned, and turned to Hiccup. "By any chance, do you have an extra cloth for Toothless's tail fin in your saddle bag? We could use that to slow down your bleeding."

"Y-yeah," Hiccup replied, wincing. "I-I try to be prepared i-in case of a-an emergency. L-like, if Toothless's tail fin w-was injured i-in a crash, I'd s-still have a-an extra one."

Astrid smiled, relieved. "Good." She waved Toothless over, and the dragon happily showed her the saddle bag strapped to his side. Astrid dug through the pouch's contents until she found the folded, thick piece of cloth she was looking for. When the girl pulled it out, she saw that it was a dark black color and fairly big- just the right size to cover Hiccup's arrow wound.

"O-okay," Fishlegs stammered. "We h-have to stabilize Hiccup while I… while I bandage him up. And, Hiccup, it's not going to be an exactly pleasant experience."

Hiccup nodded, still determined not to show his fear. "Don't worry. I'm ready."

Astrid gripped Hiccup's hand, her knuckles turning white from the force of the hold. "You'll be fine." She grinned weakly. "I'll make sure nothing happens to you, alright? We'll get through this- together." She squeezed his hand harder. "We always do." I won't let anything happen to you, Hiccup. Not ever again.

Hiccup closed his eyes, relaxing his expression. "T-hanks, Astrid."

Toothless grunted in frustration, and licked Hiccup's cheek once more in an attempt to get the boy's attention. Hiccup laughed. "And you too, Toothless. You too…" He nodded, taking in a shallow breath. "You can start now, Fishlegs. I'm prepared for what's coming."

"You better be, dragon boy," Snotlout huffed. "Or you'll have the twins and me blowing things up left and right."

"Yeah!" Tuffnut cheered. "Because we like that kind of stuff!"

"Tuff!" Ruffnut smacked her brother's head. "We're supposed to be encouraging!"

Tuffnut faltered. "Oh. Well, in that case… I'll be positive from now on. Yep, I'm positively sure that Hiccup isn't ready for this."

Ruffnut scowled. "You're the worst positive thinker ever!"

"That's a very positive thing to say."

"Guys!" Fishlegs cut in. "Now is not the time. Okay…" He swallowed. "Time to start…" Grabbing the dark cloth from Astrid, he placed it over Hiccup's bleeding wound. Hiccup let out a hiss of pain at the touch, but otherwise was silent. Fishlegs nodded, still holding the cloth to Hiccup side. Once a few moments had passed, he shared his diagnosis. "As long as we slow the blood from coming out, you'll be fine, Hiccup."

Hiccup tipped his head, eyes shut tightly. "Thank you, Fishlegs. Thank you, Astrid. Thanks all of guys. I-I… couldn't have done this w-without you."

"Well, that's what friends are for," Astrid beamed. "We'll always be here when you need us."

Hiccup smiled. "Thank you… thank you…" His words trailed off, sleep rapidly taking over. In just seconds, the boy lapsed into a deep, peaceful, healing sleep, ready for a quick recovery to come.

And he knew that his friends would be right there for him every step of the way.

*claps* Whoop-whoop! Friendship rules! I hope you guys liked it! :D

Sorry it took me so long to update… FanFiction stopped sending out chapter alerts for more than a week, so I didn't want to post anything without you guys knowing about it. *kicks FanFiction* WORK!

Well, happy reading!

-thepurplewriter333