Real quick update. It's shorter than usual because I decided to spilt the original chapter. The title I had in mind for this chapter just didn't fit the context of the chapter.

What I meant with Hiccup being an idiot in the previous chapter was that he named a Norse god (Forseti is the Norse God of Justice) and revealed himself. And the reason Astrid says who she is in English: pretty much all the characters in the previous chapter had a moment of idiocy and that was hers and (this has happened to me) when you speak more than one language and you use them on a regular basis, you can accidently start speaking in the wrong language. Several times have I started speaking Dutch with non-Dutch speaking people around me. And there's also the possibility that Astrid doesn't know how to say it in Norse but that's not likely.

For those of you that didn't see the AN I posted: I decided to write an alternate ending regardless of the review amount. There's a poll on my profile where you can choose which ending you like best. The one with the most vote wins. The poll closes when I post the epilogue.

WARNINGS: Character death and feels.

Chapter 35: Lost

Third Person POV

"Astrid?" Hiccup gasped in disbelief. All these long years, he had thought her dead. He had seen her being consumed by flames and yet here she was without even a scar and still the feisty girl he had once known.

He fought against the guards and ran to her, enveloping her in a tight hug.

"I thought you were dead." He whispered into her shoulder. Astrid huffed and hugged him back,

"And everyone thought you were dead, so we're even." Hiccup laughed lightly, a small tear coming out of his eye that he quickly wiped away.

"Astrid Hofferson?" The booming voice of the King spoke. Both Vikings looked up at the hulking man as he stood and stared at the blonde woman with large eyes, "I've heard about your family." He walked down from the high platform and strolled to her, "Rivals with the Jorgensens, amongst the feistiest and the bravest warriors in the Viking Archipelagoes.' He reached out and played with a lock of her hair, "A shamed name because of your uncle." Astrid face scrunched up in anger and she slapped the King's hand away, earning a gasp from the judges. She pointed an accusing finger at the King.

"My name is no longer shamed." She hissed, "I redeemed it a long time ago and I didn't need a dragon to do it!" The judge stood up,

"You will show your King some respect!" He seethed. Astrid glared at him,

"He's not my King!" She retorted, "And I most certainly do not have any respect for the man that slaughtered my people for sport!"

The room nearly burst from the uproar. The King snatched Astrid's arm and called for the guards,

"No!" Hiccup screamed as he tried to get to Astrid and free her but some other guards came behind him and restrained him. Little did he know that his cry had triggered a rescue.

By some miracle from the gods, Astrid managed to keep the guards at bay. It went even smoother than her first fight. She easily could've escaped but her reckless head refused to go without Hiccup.

"GO!" Hiccup screamed at her. He realized that if she escaped he wouldn't stand a chance but her importance was far greater than his. Astrid stared at him with uncertainty, often breaking the stare to fight. As soon as her attention was glued back, Hiccup gave her an encouraging nod.

With one swift move, Astrid broke the arm of her current attacker. As the man howled in pain, she made a dash for the shadows, her friend.

"I'll free you, Hiccup! I swear by the Allfather, I will!" She called in Norse as she disappeared from sight. They tried to follow her but it was too late. Astrid was gone.

The whole court room fell silent, though not for long. There was a high pitch in the air. It started small but grew louder and louder. Everything stopped as the pitch sounded as though it was right above them.

BOOM!

Part of the upper wall gave out with a cloud of dust, bricks falling down on the unfortunate ones below the hole. Coughing at the dust, Hiccup felt the guards being pushed off him and felt the familiar brush of hard scales.

Toothless.

As the dust settled, there were conjoined gasps of fear and amazement at the sight of the fearsome Night Fury. Toothless snarled at anything and anyone that was too close to his friend. He bared his teeth at the guards and put his tail protectively around Hiccup.

Two foolish guards thought they could take on the large dragon and charged at the large beast. Toothless easily kicked aside the two men and quickly assaulted the men man he saw with a raised weapon: the King. Being such a strong and large man, King Fergus actually amnaged to fight Toothless back but not for long.

The high pitch returned and a plasma blast began forming in the dragon's mouth with the intention of hitting the King.

"No!" Hiccup screamed. Hearing the pleas from his friend and rider, Toothless swallowed the blast. He stared at the human with large eyes as if to say "me is sorry."

That was a fatal mistake.

The biggest brutes in the room attacked at once and held the dragon down. Hiccup wanted to run to him and help but the guards held tightly to him. He continued to struggle to get to his friend as William came down from the platform.

With menacing eyes, William stared at the dragon, his hand going around the handle of his sword.

"No!" Hiccup screamed as William drew his sword. He struggled harder against the guards, desperate to get to Toothless, "No! Please! Don't hurt him!" He begged but his pleas fell on deaf ears. William stopped by the dragon's heaving chest and simply looked at the creature in disgust. He lifted his sword,

"Die, you devil!" He whispered and brought the sword down. A loud terrifying screech resounded in the room as William impaled his sword into the dragon's chest, piercing it's heart.

"NO!" Hiccup screamed, tears streaming out of his eyes. He struggled harder against the guards, pulling himself free and running to the body of his friends, still held by the brutes, "Get away from him!" He screeched, kicking at them. The brutes were stumped by the blacksmith's reaction but one by one, they dispersed.

Hiccup collapsed and hugged the still-mockingly-warm body of Toothless. The blood seeping out of the hole in his chest stained the Viking's hands but he made no notice of it as his tears dripped onto the black scales, "Toothless.." He sniffed, pulling tighter at his body. He looked up at stared at William with look that emphasized all his hate, his anger and his grief. He wanted nothing more than to wring William's neck for ruining his life but in his grief, Hiccup couldn't bring himself to do it. He lay his head back on Toothless' scales, "Toothless…" He mumbled as a fresh batch of tears ran out of his eyes.

Merida's POV

Seconds, minutes, hours, days, years; I had no perception of time as I lay against the door. I hadn't moved since Cináed locked me here and stole the key.

I had called through the little window until I had almost lost my voice but no one came, let alone notice.

My time was wasted wallowing in regret. It was all my fault. If it wasn't for that damned letter I wrote to my mother, North and Flynn would've been alive. If I written that letter, Jack and Rapunzel would've been free. If I hadn't written that letter, I would've been with Hiccup, in a place where we could be together in peace and without any fear.

I cired and prayed that they would be proven innocent and that everything would return to normal, whatever that was, but part of me was saying that that would never happen.

The footsteps outside and the sound of the key being put back in was the one sound I had been dying to hear all day. Standing up, I stared Cináed in the eye. The man only gave me a smug look in return.

"The verdict has been reached."He nearly whispered. I leaned closer, hoping that the verdict was that they could go fr- "The sentence has been passed. The scum will die tomorrow."

This chapter is the reason why I didn't want to add Toothless to this story. Also to that guest reviewer who said they'd rather have Toothless dead than see Snotlout and Astrid together. You should be careful what you wish for…

I'm going into hiding now. BYE!

Review, favorite, follow.