The smoke from the explosion stung his eyes as he squinted through the grey. Coughs threatened to distract him and he clutched at a gash in his side from the fall onto some of the broken branches for Thanatos' earlier rampage through the forest in an attempt to find Hiccup and Toothless. His voice sounded hoarse as he ground out, "Toothless, where are you?" A black shape emerged from the smoke ahead and he practically fell towards it. "Toothless! Are you al…" But it was just a stump. He turned in the other direction and called out again.

A soft moan answered him this time and he stumbled to the right. The black-winged form of his bride slowly penetrated the smoke and he fell to his knees beside her. He ran a hand over one of her wings. "Toothless, are you alright?" She crooned softly and reached for him with a foreleg. He scooted closer and let her draw him to her chest, holding one of her paws as she nuzzled the top of his head. He smiled. "I missed you too." Then he remembered her wound.

He pushed away Toothless' legs and crawled down her length until he sat in front of her torn tail fin. "Is this the only place you got hurt?" She warbled a yes. Hiccup released a breath he hadn't known he was holding and assessed the damage. Most of the bleeding had stopped, but it was still prone to infection, probably. And a smoky forest floor would make sure it got infected. They needed to move.

"Toothless, can you walk?" She hauled herself upright in answer, but he could see the pain in the stiffness of her shoulders. They had to get her help, and quickly. They walked, slowly to avoid aggravating their wounds, to the edge of the lake. Hiccup dragged Toothless' tail into the water. She hissed as the liquid hit the wound but he just said matter-of-factly, "We need to get this clean. Otherwise it'll hurt a lot more." Still, she didn't stop whimpering as he washed it clean of ash and other debris.

When he pulled the tail back onto the beach, he pulled a muscle in his back and the pain from the wound in his side doubled him over. Toothless wobbled over to him and nudged his wincing face with her snout, looking up with big concerned eyes. He put a hand on top of her head and tried to reassure her. "It's fine, it's not too bad."

But she grabbed his jerkin in her teeth and pulled it up over his head. The dried blood on the fabric tore at the wound and he gasped. She immediately stopped trying to remove the shirt. "No, it's okay," he said, trying to breathe. "I need to get that…huff….off to clean the…huff… wound." He braced himself. "On three. One, two, three." She ripped the fabric upwards and he let out a scream, clenching his hands over the weeping wound. He looked up at Toothless. "Can you find my pack? There's bandages in it. Just hold your tail up so it doesn't get dirty." She went as fast as she could back into the forest to find the pack, trying not to let the pain get to her.

Hiccup turned part of the garment inside out, balled it up, and pressed it to the wound. He sat curled in on himself, hoping Toothless wound come back soon. A few minutes later, she leapt out of the woods and crashed onto the beach. "Toothless!" He shouted and ran over to her. "You can't fly with a torn tail fin. Why did you try?" In answer, she extended her front paws and placed the pack at his feet. But he ignored it and grabbed her chin with one hand. "Don't do that. I'm not worth your life."

But you are, she thought as she pushed the pack towards him. You are worth that and more. But she still nodded so he'd leave her alone and take care of himself. Thinking he'd gotten through to her, Hiccup dug through the pack and emerged with a roll of white, clean cloth and a clean Jerkin. He folded the Jerkin several times until it was a thick pad. He pressed the pad onto the wound and wrapped the white fabric around his waist, holding the pad tightly in place with the loops. Toothless watched as he bandaged himself. Thank goodness the wound hadn't been as severe as she'd first thought.

Then Hiccup dug out a clean blanket and bandage roll. "Your turn." Toothless brought her tail around to where Hiccup sat so he didn't have to get up again. He looked up at her. "This is going to hurt."

She braced herself and felt pain, though not as paralyzing as she'd expected, coursed through her. She looked at Hiccup and saw him holding the wadded up blanket under her fin as he rearranged the torn flaps of skin into their original positions. Then he grabbed a hammer from the pack and used it as a splint to keep the tail fin open as he wrapped both the blanket and hammer into place with the bandage roll. He tucked in the end and smiled at her. "If you can stay on the ground, this should be fine. Wait, can you change into a human?" She shook her head. If she was going to fly again, that tail fin needed to heal, and it could only do that while she was a dragon. Hiccup's shoulders fell a bit. How was he going to get her to safety?

Then something swooped through the air towards them and landed right behind him. Slowly, Hiccup turned around and saw…

A man with a high ponytail wrapped in a dragonskin.

Toothless growled and try to pull Hiccup away from the man, but he laughed. "It's alright, Toothless. I'm just here to help." He held out his hand. "I'm Cloudjumper, one of the skinchangers the Red Death imprisoned. Thank you for freeing me."

Hiccup took the hand and shook it. "It's fine. But if you'll excuse me, I need to get Toothless somewhere safe."

"Why not let me help with that?" Cloudjumper grinned. "The Red Death's castle is very comfortable, and not that far from here. I can fly the both of you there."

Hiccup looked at Toothless. She'd probably spent the last few days with this man. Could they trust him? She nodded and he turned back to the man. "Well then we'd better get going."

"Terrific." The man wrapped himself more completely in the skin and Hiccup was suddenly looking at a huge dragon with four wings and eyes that made him feel very small. He lowered a wingtip to the ground and Hiccup used it to climb onto the creature's back. Then the dragon leapt into the air and grabbed Toothless around the middle with his claws. A few strong flaps and the trio were airborne, headed for the castle of their former enemy. Hopefully it had what they needed to heal from the battle.

I tried to recreate the feeling of that scene where Stoick is looking for Hiccup after the battle, but I don't think I succeeded. My earlier decision to mess with Hiccup's parentage is doing wonders for the plot. I can't wait to post some of the more recent chapters I've written.

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