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I blink a few times and shake my head, glad to be done reliving the memory. I look over at Astrid to find her staring at me with concern.

"I'm fine" I say. She nods and looks back down. I know I should forgive her, but every time I look at her I end up seeing her kissing Finn. I'm scowling now. I let out a heavy sigh and pull out the map.

"How far away do you think we are?" she asks.

"We still have maybe a day and a half." I respond. She nods and looks down again.

She looks completely dejected and the guilt that I've been suppressing starts clawing it's way to the surface. What are you feeling guilty about? I think to myself. She's the one who can't keep her tongue in her mouth! My first instinct is to suppress it, to remind myself how much she hurt me, how I'm justified in being angry. But I can't, how do you stay angry at the woman you love the most? Not being able to talk freely with her has been killing me. What if she doesn't feel the same way about you? Are you really sure you can handle a rejection like that? The doubt in my mind grows more alarming. It doesn't matter, Astrid is your best friend, and if that's all she wants to be, then so be it. Don't lose her because of your stupidity. With that final thought. I fly closer to her.

"Hey." I say she looks up.

"Hey. She says back. She looks at me intently.

I rub my jaw. "I'm sorry." She stares at me with confusion.

"For what?" She leans closer to me and I can see a glimmer of hope appear in her eyes.

"It wasn't fair of me to hold you accountable for something you did while inebriated. Your my best friend Astrid, I'd rather forgive you than lose you. " I let out a deep breath and look at her. The smile that radiates off her face makes my heart leap. It disappears after a minute.

"Hiccup, I'm the one who should apologize. Even drunk I should've remembered how much you me mean to me." Her face reddens when she realizes what she just said. Welcome to the club. I think.

Gathering what's left of my courage. I fly closer to her, I stop when we are parallel. She looks at me with a mix of hunger and apprehension. "Astrid." I let her name roll off my tongue. Her eyes search mine. "Hiccup." She murmurs. I'm about to lean forward when I hear Toothless roar in pain.

I look behind me to see a hole in Toothless' prosthetic wing.

"Berserker ships below!" Astrid shouts. I don't pay her much attention, me falling to my death and all was a little distracting. "Hiccup!" I here Astrid scream.

"C'mon bud, we got to try to level out." I shout to Toothless. With that I aim us at the island rapidly approaching beneath. I see Astrid and Stormfly dive after us. She pulls up beside me.

"Hey." She says

"Hey" I say.

"So is there a plan or are we just gonna fall?" she ask with a smile forming at the corners of her mouth.

"Falling sounds good to me." Toothless slaps me with his ear. "On second thought, my good man Toothless here has just reminded me it would be most useful if you could help us not crash land on that island."

Astrid frowns, "we won't be able to stop your descent, but we can slow it down." With that her and Stromfly drop back. Seconds later I feel Stormfly's claws rap around Toothless. We're gonna need to lay down some cover fire. Sensing my thoughts Toothless fires off 3 rapid fire shots at the ships below. Our victory is short lived as an arrow hits Stormfly in the side and the ground approaches faster and faster.

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"Toothless!" I shout as I run through the woods, slapping branches and bushes out of my way.

I can hear my labored breathing over the sound of angry roars, and heavy footsteps. An arrow whistles past my ear and buries it self in the tree in front of me, causing me to slip and fall down the ravine. I roll down the ravine cursing every time I hit a rock or a branch. Hitting the bottom with a hard thud, my vision starts to blur. Get up, you have to get up! I shout to my self. I can't, my vision is tinted red, and everything is spinning. I see a shadow of a person standing over me. Then I feel hands dragging me to my feet, telling me we have to keep moving. Astrid? Oh yeah, Astrid. We make it into a clearing and see the cliff in front of us. We run to the edge."Toothle-" A searing pain in my back prevents me from finishing my sentence. I hear Astrid scream for Toothless, as she supports me. I look down an see an arrow protruding from shoulder. My muscles are no longer responding to my commands. My thoughts slow dramatically, and I can no longer breathe. Everyone of my cells seem to be on fire. As everything fades to black I have a sensation of falling.

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I wake with a jolt. Worse mistake of my life, mind numbing pain shoots through my body and I let out at grunt, only to have someone's hand clamp over my mouth.

"Hey, hey. It's ok, your safe, but we have to be quiet." Astrid says gently.

"Whe-." My voice is unbelievably hoarse, as if I had been screaming. Astrid gently tilts my head and gives me a drink of water. This pillow is soft. I mumble to myself. I try again.

"Where are we?" I whisper. Astrid doesn't answer right away. Her fingers run through my hair. She's being unusually affectionate. I think to myself.

"How much do you remember?" She asks.

"Not much. Wait where's Toothless?" Concern creeping into my voice. I try to sit up and Astrid pushes me back down.

"Toothless is fine, but if you keep getting up you'll ruin my stitches." On cue Toothless comes and nudges my hand.

"Hey bud, I missed you too..." I pause. "Did you say...stitches...?" I ask cautiously.

"Relax, Haddock. I managed to keep what's left of you in one piece." She jokes while brushing the hair out of my eyes.

I realize the pillow I'm laying in, is actually Astrid's lap. A blush creeps over my face, Astrid notices and then helps me shift to the floor. There she's placed a blanket.

"Astrid?" She looks down at me.

"Where are we? Specifically." She glances up at a sound.

"Well, I don't really know to be honest. After you got shot and so considerately fell off the cliff-

"My apologies, next time I get shot I'll aim for the nice grassy pastures that sheep dream about." I say sarcastically.

She laughs. "Be quiet and let me finish Hiccup." She strokes my cheek.

"So as I was saying, after you fell off the cliff I had to rescue you, you're welcome by the way. After that we found a cave and we are now waiting for your arm to heal up."

"How did you manage to do that. Toothless prosthetic-" she stops me by pressing a finger to my lips.

"You ask to many questions Haddock." She says with a small laugh.

"Astrid are you alright?" She laughs.

"Yes Hiccup, I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be?" She looks at me with her beautiful blue eyes. Yeah Hiccup, why wouldn't she be fine. This is your shot, don't you ruin this. Is it weird I keep talking to myself?

"No reason, it's just I wouldn't expect Fearless Astrid Hofferson to be so..." She leans forward and I can see the apprehension in her face.

"So.." She whispers. I reach up and run my finger through her hair. She leans into my touch.

"Affectionate." I finish. She blushes and looks away. I cup her chin bringing her eyes to me mine. "Affectionate is a good look on you." I say with a laugh. She frowns.

"When I saw you get shot. My only thought was that I had to get you to safety. I thought nothing of it at first, but it wasn't until I was taking care of your injuries I realized just how much you mean to me, the thought of you dying was.." She trails to a stop.

I sit up, and she tries to protest but I wave it aside. "The thought of me dying was what?" I ask gently.

She looks me in the eye and whispers "Unbearable."

The next thing I feel is the warmth of her lips pressed against mine. For a moment I'm for frozen, positive that I'm hallucinating due to my injury. Kiss her back you fool! Running my finger through her hair again I feel her mouth working against mine. Her lips are incredibly soft, softer than I could have ever Imagined. I would have stayed there forever, but Astrid and I both need to breathe.

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We stayed like that for a few moments, our faces close enough that our noses touched. A smile on both our faces. Astrid lays her down on my chest and we lie like that. She can feel my heartbeat, and I can feel the warmth from her head. I find my self playing with her hair.

"Hiccup." She starts. "I don't want this to come out the wrong way, but why did it pain you so much to see me kiss Finn?" She leans up to look at me. Her fingers ruffle my hair, and I stare into her eyes.

"You know why." I say softly. She inclines her head, but doesn't say anything. "I love you Astrid, I've loved you for a long time." I feel her freeze. "When I saw you kissing Finn, I felt a piece of me die, a piece of me I kept locked away, because I was to afraid of what you might say, or do.

Astrid sits up completely and bites her lip. But she doesn't say anything. Great job Hiccup. I mutter to myself.

"Why didn't you say anything sooner?" She whispers suddenly.

"Because we had never been this close before. After Toothless and I defeated the red death, it's like you finally realized I exist. I didn't want to say or do anything that might ruin that." I let out a sigh.

Smack! "That's for waiting so long to tell me you love me."

"Why would you do that?" I say while rubbing my good arm.

She leans down and kisses me again, this one even better than the last. "And that's because I love you too." She lies back down on my chest, and I warp my arms around her, holding her close. I kiss the top of her head and resume playing with her hair.

"I love you Astrid." I murmur sleepily to her.

"I love you too Hiccup." She whispers back.

With that we both drift off to sleep.