Chapter Eight

A/N: Oooh! The story's kicking off now! Enjoy and let me know what you thought!

Hiccup stumbles after Toothless, frowning in confusion at the way his dragon is behaving. It's like he's trying to lead him somewhere... The only conclusion Hiccup can arrive at is that Toothless must hear something and is hoping, whatever it is, can help them. Suddenly, Toothless doubles back and coos at him. Running around behind him, Toothless nudges Hiccup forward. "Ow-ow! Okay, bud, I get it. I'm going." He grumbles, staggering a bit. "I don't-"

"HICCUP!"

Hiccup freezes, stopping dead in his tracks at the sound of Astrid's voice. And so close. That must be what Toothless was leading him to! "Astrid?" He turns around, trying to zero-in on where she is. "Astrid!" He calls, loudly. "Are you there?"

From somewhere deep in the woods, she replies, "Yes! Where are you?"

"Um..." He turns around, trying to find a landmark for her to follow but everything looks the same. "Oh!" He looks at Toothless. "Bud, plasma blast."

Toothless obediently fires a bolt of energy at the sky.

"Did you see that?" He shouts.

"Yeah! I'm coming!"

Hiccup smiles and walks over to Toothless, petting his head. "Good job, bud. You really saved our butts." Toothless purrs and nuzzles his head against Hiccup's, causing his Rider to wince at the throbbing pain of his wound. He'd nearly forgotten about it with all the excitement of hearing Astrid...but now, it hurts worse than ever. "We definitely need to get back to Berk as soon as possible." He decides, sitting down to rest while Astrid looks for them.

Soon, he begins to hear the crunch of tree branches and even footsteps against grass. Astrid is close.

"Over here!" He shouts, flinching at the loudness of his own voice. A second later, Astrid steps into the clearing. She doesn't see them at first, her eyes still scanning the area in front of her.

But Toothless sees her. He jumps to his feet, gleefully and races over to her. The Night Fury almost tackles her in his excitement.

"Toothless!" She gasps, smiling at the sight of him. "It's good to see you, boy! Where's-" But her eyes land on Hiccup before she can finish the question. "Hiccup..." All the happiness seems to drain out of her at the sight him.

"Geez, Astrid..." He grumbles. "I know I've seen better days but I can't look that bad, right?"

In response, she sprints over to him and sinks to her knees. Her blue eyes are wide with shock as she looks him over. They seem to mainly concerned with his forehead and the amount of blood that's trickling from it. "Oh Hiccup..." She breathes, reaching up to brush his bangs away from the injury so she can get a better look at it. "What happened?"

Hiccup bites the inside of his cheek to keep from crying out at the pain when she touched his head. "I crashed." He reminds her, struggling to keep his voice light. "Frankly, I'm just glad it wasn't any worse."

"Me too." She agrees, taking her hand away. "But we need to get you back to Berk immediately. That gash doesn't look good."

He nods. "But how're we going to do that? I can't exactly steer Toothless right now."

"I know. That's why I told Fishlegs to head home as soon as I heard your voice. He should get there pretty soon." She tells him.

Hiccup smiles. "Good thinking. Of course..." He suddenly sighs and lowers his head. "This means my dad will come here...crashing two days in a row will not sit well with him."

Astrid shakes her head. "Hiccup, you could have died. The last thing you should be worried about is getting trouble with your dad."

"Yeah, well, you're forgetting: Stoick the Vast is my dad. He's not exactly...reasonable when it comes to some things. My 'reckless nature' is one of them."

Astrid smiles gently. "He's only strict because he cares about you." She reminds him.

Hiccup sighs, deeply. "I know."

With that, she stands up. "Come on, let's get back to the beach so we'll be there when everyone arrives."

"Got it." Hiccup moves as if to stand but as soon as he gets on his knees, the world begins to spin in front of him. He finds himself doubling back over and leaning on his hands to keep from falling over.

"Hiccup? Are you okay?" Astrid kneels down beside him and places a hand on his back. "What's the matter?"

He squeezes his eyes shut, hoping to stop the spinning because it's starting to make him feel sick. And the last thing he wants to do is throw up in front of Astrid. The injured teen takes a careful breath to combat his nausea and it seems to help a little. "I-I'm okay." He stammers. "Just a little...dizzy."

"Dizzy...?" Astrid frowns and leans over, helping him to sit up again. She takes his arm and wraps it around her shoulder, using her hand to keep it there. She wraps her other arm around Hiccup's waist and helps him to his feet. "Come on, let's get to the beach so you can rest." She turns and tells Toothless to follow them, which he does eagerly.

It takes them about ten minutes to arrive at the beach where Fishlegs departed from not too long ago-a few of Meatlug's tracks are still there-and where help will eventually arrive.

Astrid sets Hiccup down against a fallen tree and smiles when Toothless instantly lays down beside him, wrapping his tail around his Rider's weakened body. "How are you feeling?" She asks him.

"Um, well...I've been better." He admits.

"I'll say..." She mutters in agreeance.

Hiccup watches, curiously, as Astrid pulls a knife off her waistband. He feels Toothless's body stiffen when she moves closer, bringing the dagger dangerously close to Hiccup. "What are you doing?" He asks her.

In response, she takes the bottom hem of his tunic and slices it with the knife, tearing a rather thick section off.

"H-hey! What was that for?" He demands, frowning at his ruined shirt.

She folds it in half and sets it in his lap. Standing up, she goes over to Stormfly and starts digging through the pouch on her dragon's saddle. She comes away with a flask of water before returning to Hiccup. "We need to clean that wound before it gets infected." She explains. "Besides, your tunic is long enough even without this piece." As an end to the conversation, she pops open the lid of the bottle and pours a bit of water onto the scrap of cloth.

Hiccup braces himself for the pain, knowing she's right. Astrid's hands are as gentle as possible when she dabs the wet rag over the wound. However, Hiccup still has to grind his teeth together to keep from crying out.

"Sorry..." She apologizes, seeing his agony. She finishes up cleaning away the dirt and blood from his skin, leaving just a long gasp running from his left eyebrow to the top of his forehead. By the time she's done, Hiccup is so pale she's afraid he might faint. Pain tolerance was never really his strong suit, after all. "Hey, you still with me?" She asks, touching his cheek.

"Yeah...I'm awake." He mumbles, his eyes still closed.

Seeing everything that's happening, Toothless whimpers and stares at Hiccup with big, sad eyes. He crawls a little closer and licks his friend's hand. Even in his state, Hiccup smiles down at his dragon.

"I'll be alright, bud. No need to worry." Suddenly, Hiccup's brow furrows. "Astrid, I never really got the chance to get a good look at Toothless but his leg looked pretty bad before..."

She frowns and scoots over, gently telling Toothless to move his tail so she can see his leg. He listens and lifts his tail out of the way. "Oh man..."

Hiccup struggles to sit up, wanting to see for himself but Astrid pushes him back, reminding him he needs to rest.

"It looks like it hurts but it's not bleeding." She tells him. "Toothless is tough, a little injury like that and some scratches won't slow him down."

That's a relief. Hiccup smiles at her and Toothless. "Thanks, Astrid."

She shrugs, nonchalantly. "It's not a problem. Now, let's just take it easy until help gets here." She slides over between Hiccup and Stormfly and sits back against the log as well, folding her arms behind her head. It's only then that she really looks out across the beach and the glittering ocean water.

The sun is still midway in the sky, about noon. A few sea birds glide above the water, cawing at each other. Far away from their island, a thick mist has settled above the ocean, obscuring any view they might have beyond that point.

Astrid chuckles. "You know, if we weren't stranded here, this might be kind of nice."

Hiccup laughs, tiredly. "Yeah. I guess it would be."

She glances sideways at him. "If you're tired, you can take a nap. Don't feel obligated to stay awake because I'm here."

He shrugs. "I'm not tired."

He's still as bad a liar as always. "If you say so."

The two teenagers sit there in a comfortable silence for a while, content in the fact that help will arrive soon. That is, until both Toothless and Stormfly suddenly jump to their feet. The dragons growl and hiss, their gazes flashing all around the small beach.

"What is it, bud?" Hiccup asks, having snapped out of his sleepiness.

"Stormfly, what's wrong?" Astrid wonders, standing up. She places a hand on the Nadder's side, trying to calm her. That's when Hiccup notices.

"Um...Astrid?"

"Yeah?"

"You...might want to take a look at this..." He says, suddenly sounding nervous.

"What is it-" She freezes, her eyes widening at what she sees in front of her. The mist has cleared over the ocean, showing them the massive island it was hiding. "Is that...Berk?" Astrid asks.

"No, it can't be. We flew too far for that to be Berk." Hiccup points out.

"Well it's not Dragon Island either. That's on the other side of us. I saw it when we landed."

"Well...if it's not Berk and it's not Dragon Island then...what is that?" Hiccup mutters, sounding bewildered.

"I'm not sure...I don't know what other islands are out here-"

"Astrid." His voice is stiff. Before she even turns to face him, she knows that he's figured out where they are. And it must not be good. "Remember when we were thinking we might have gotten blow off course?"

"Yeah."

"I think we were right. The wind must have pushed us harder than I thought...and when that Monstrous Nightmare attacked, we got turned around again..."

"So...?" She urges, just wanting to know what he's getting at.

"What's on the other side of Dragon Island?"

"The other side...well that's-" Her eyes widen. "Oh no..."

"Yeah. I think we're looking at Outcast Island right now."