So this was all ready to go but then I decided to completely rewrite it... But anyway... here it is! Enjoy!
The world was bright light and heat. Then bitter cold, darkness, and pain.
He was cold, so cold. His bones were frozen brittle things. One wrong move and his whole body would shatter into a thousand fragments of ice.
And then heat. The world was on fire. Flames were licking up his spine. Sparks danced across his forehead and burned behind his eyes.
A dragon sat on his chest. Heavy and warm. Toothless? Where was Toothless?
The blanket lay heavy across his chest, its thick woollen fibres scratching at his skin. Something pressed at his lips, insistent. He turned his head away. There it was again. He was too weak to resist. Something cold and fresh dribbled onto his tongue. It tasted so good and his mouth was so dry.
More water. He drank greedily, choking on the cool liquid. His chest burned with each cough. A thick, sharp smell clogged his nose. He recoiled from it expecting some foul-tasting potion. Instead, hands rubbed soothing circles on his chest as the coughing eased.
The world was fuzzy and indistinct. Someone was speaking but he couldn't make out the words. He was tired, so tired. He wanted to open his eyes, but they were weighed down. He sank back into the darkness.
...
Thirsty. He was so thirsty. Water. He needed water. He called out to anyone that could hear him, shifting on the bed. Calling. Twisting. Reaching.
A cup was held to his lips and a voice was murmuring. Its soothing cadence had a calming effect even if he couldn't understand the words. He tried to gulp down the water, but the cup was removed with what sounded like a gentle reprimand. It returned and he drank more slowly, savouring the taste.
He opened his eyes and a blurry figure slowly sharpened into the shape of a woman.
"Mom?" The word caught painfully, tearing another cough from his throat and he hacked, curled over on his side. Black begins to creep in to the edges of his vision. The woman held placed something on the bed beside them; a bowl with a paste of some kind. Hiccup can smell it, sharp and astringent. It stung his nostrils and he flinched away from the scent.
She dipped her fingers into the paste and made a circling motion. Hiccup didn't have the strength to protest. He let her rub the ointment into his skin and soon his breathing eased. The motion becomes soothing and he can't keep his eyes open any longer.
...
He's warm and comfortable and for the first time since he can remember, Hiccup can draw a breath without pain or discomfort. As he shifted into a more comfortable position he realised he's not wearing anything under his blankets, but right now he doesn't have the presence of mind to feel embarrassed.
Slowly his memories returned. Viggo was unquestionably dead. This time Hiccup cannot bring himself to feel guilty about it. He wondered briefly if he is dead too. No, he decided. He's too uncomfortable to be dead. He's covered head to toe in scratches, bumps and abrasions from his night on the cliff side. His side ached when he moved, when he breathed, Gods, even when he blinked, courtesy of his tumble down the hill. Hiccup can feel the bandages wrapped tightly around his torso.
He had no idea where he was.
As he became more lucid, Hiccup realised that his ability to communicate with his nurse was impeded by a language barrier rather than a muddled head.
He wondered if Astrid and his father were searching for him. He'd left no clue to his destination and he had been dragged so far off course from his original route. If he couldn't figure out where he was, how ever was he going to get home to Berk?
Without Toothless.
Hiccup remembered Viggo's words well. They had been the only clear thing in his mind, replaying in his head over and over as he tossed and turned, burning with fever.
Toothless was gone. Hiccup had lost his best friend.
The sound of footsteps roused him. The woman who had nursed Hiccup back to health entered the room, carrying a bowl of broth. She smiled when she saw him awake. Hiccup tried to return it with a weak smile of his own.
He propped himself up on a shaky arm, wincing when the movement jarred his ribs. The woman put down her tray and helped Hiccup to sit up. She murmured something in her foreign tongue and picked up the bowl, handing it to the young man on the bed.
"Thank you," he croaked, resting the warm bowl in his lap. He ate slowly while the woman bustled around the room. He could hear other voices from further within the house and wondered again where he was and how long he'd been out of it. Hiccup realised that he had no idea how long he'd been gone from Berk.
After a few bites, Hiccup left the spoon sitting in the bowl. The woman came and sat beside him on the bed, encouraging him to eat some more. Sitting and eating had used up his small store of energy. He let his head fall back against the wall, eyes closed.
He felt the bed shift as the woman took the bowl and stood. The floor creaked softly as she stepped out of the room, returning quickly and helping Hiccup to lie back down.
It didn't take long for Hiccup to drift off again.
...
The next few days followed the same pattern.
Hiccup would wake, eat and sleep, slowly building up his strength until his periods of wakefulness grew longer.
The woman would check on him often. Hiccup hadn't seen anyone else since he had first woken, but he could often hear other voices echoing through the house.
There was a gentle knock on the door and the woman entered carrying a pile of clothing. A small child came rushing into the room behind her, chattering excitedly. She stopped, eyes wide when she noticed Hiccup awake, the steady stream of babble dying suddenly on her lips. She ducked behind her mother's skirts, her gaze never leaving Hiccup.
Her mother rolled her eyes at her child's antics. Her tone as she spoke was lightly scolding, but there was amusement in her eyes. The older woman placed the clothing on the bed, and dragged the child from the room.
Hiccup leaned forward, reaching for the fresh clothes on the end of his bed. The movement hurt. It also shifted the blankets, reminding Hiccup of his situation under the covers. What hadn't seemed important earlier, suddenly had him flushing and struggling to pull his tunic over his head. He couldn't raise his arms too high without feeling the strain on his ribs. Biting his lip, Hiccup shoved his arms through the sleeves, grunting in pain and letting the shirt settle.
The pants were easier. He didn't have to reach too far to get them on. Dressed, he sat on the bed, his legs hanging over the side.
A few minutes later there's a soft knock on the door and a head peeked in.
The woman returned, holding a crutch. She placed it against the wall by the bed and held her arms out. She nodded at her hands and spoke in her unfamiliar language.
Tentatively Hiccup reached out to grasp the woman's hands. She counted down slowly, three short words and pulled him to his feet.
He wobbled on a shaky leg. With one hand the woman reached to grab the crutch, passing it to Hiccup. He held it under his left arm, bracing his weight against it.
It was a slow and painful journey through the little house. With the woman's help, Hiccup made it outside to a chair that had been set up in the sun.
Hiccup lowered himself down into it gingerly and let the crutch drop to the ground.
He was exhausted, but the effort it would take to get back to the bed put him off returning. How many days had he already lost sleeping? Hiccup had no idea what day it was now and no way of asking.
It was nice in the sun. It was nice to look around and see something other than a dimly lit wooden cabin. The house sat in a little clearing. Off to the left was forest. Hiccup could see a narrow track winding off into the trees. To the right, the clearing extended down towards the sea. The ocean sparkled in the late afternoon sun.
It reminded Hiccup of Berk.
On the far side of his home was a cliff with the most charming view of the sunset. When they could find the time, Hiccup and Astrid would meet there with their dragons and watch the sun sink into the sea.
Hiccup couldn't imagine a world without Toothless in it. Everyone assumed that the dragon was reliant on the Viking. Hiccup wasn't so sure. If it wasn't for Toothless would there still be peace between Vikings and Dragon's on Berk? Would Hiccup be the man he was today if he hadn't shown the village that the dragons weren't the dangerous vengeful creatures everyone thought them to be. None of that would have been possible without Toothless's help. Yes, Hiccup had shot the Night Fury out of the sky, causing irreparable damage to the dragon's tail. The guilt of it still weighed on the boy, just like he knew the guilt of damaging Hiccup's leg had weighed heavily on Toothless.
Toothless was Hiccup's best friend. His first friend.
And he was gone.
Hiccup sat, lost in thought and staring into space. The young girl wandered out of the house to sit beside him on the grass, a doll clutched in her small hands.
She was talking, babbling with childish excitement as she brandished the toy in Hiccup's face. This got his attention and he pulled himself out of his thoughts.
The words the girl spoke made little sense.
"I'm sorry," Hiccup shook his head. "I don't understand you." He realised that his words were probably just as foreign to the little girl. She couldn't have been more than six or seven. She seemed to take a moment to process Hiccup's words and try and make sense of his speech.
Hiccup had encountered a few languages during his travels. One of the many advantages of training dragons wasat the world the Vikings knew had become a whole lot bigger. They had ventured out further than ever before and met people from all over. Despite that, Hiccup didn't recognise this language as one he knew, though some of the words sounded familiar to ones he had encountered before.
The child repeated the same words over and over. One of them sounded like a name.
"Adeline." Hiccup echoed it back. "Is that your name?"
The girl giggled and ducked her head shyly. She glanced up at Hiccup, waiting.
"Oh, uh…" Hiccup put a hand to his chest. "Hiccup."
She repeated his name.
Hiccup smiled and nodded.
Adeline pointed at his leg and said something. From where she stood by the clothes line, her mother scolded the child. Hiccup guessed what the girl was saying.
"It's okay," he kept his speech normal, even though no one understood him. "It was a dragon. A really big one. It had been terrorising the village." He paused at the lack of comprehension in Adeline's eyes. "Uh," He searched around as saw a stick. He pointed to it. The girl understood this and fetched it. Hiccup drew a picture in the dirt. "Dragon. Rah!" The small child giggled at his impression. "Gobbled it all up."
He drew another picture. "Toothless." He let out a sad breath. "My best friend. He saved me, but I- I couldn't save him."
Though his words were meaningless to them, the signs of grief, it seemed, were universal. Adaline made a small sound and put her doll down. She stood and gave Hiccup a hug. He felt a little awkward being consoled by a child. He wasn't quite sure what to do with his hands.
Adeline pulled away and returned to her game.
Her mother had watched the entire exchange with a critical eye. It made sense. Hiccup was a stranger to this little family. Not that he could hurt any of them, even if he wanted to, he was as weak as a hatchling. He supposed that counted in his favour. What would happen once he was better? Would these people still help him? Why had they even helped him in the first place? How had he come to be with them?
Hiccup had so many questions that he couldn't ask. It was frustrating.
He sat, stewing in his thoughts while Adeline played beside him. Her mother finished with the laundry and helped Hiccup back to his room. The short venture outside had exhausted him and he was more than ready to return bed.
With a few unintelligible words, she left him alone to rest. Hiccup wanted to sleep, but his mind was racing.
He needed to find a way to communicate with the people who had helped him. He needed to find out where he was.
Hiccup needed to find a way to get home.
Hope you enjoyed! Please review!