Sorry it took me so long...I know it's been a while. Sorry. I've just been kind of feeling depressed lately, so, well...that stinks. Part of life, I suppose, but it stinks either way. Soooo...we're nearing the end of this story! :D I'm excited! I can't believe it! It's been a long road, and you guys have stuck with me! Thank you all! :D Enjoy chapter 33!
The days passed like weeks, each minute seeming to last hours longer than it was intended to. The three days of Hiccup's unconsciousness had to be the hardest three days of the Berkians' lives since the battle with the Red Death.
In fact, this was actually (dare I say it?) worse than those days. Hiccup had been in a coma for a week after facing the Queen of the nest, but at least then they knew that he was going to survive.
Right now, they didn't even have the mercy of that reassurance.
Stoick had called a meeting on the first day, telling the village of the newly discovered problem. It was shocking, hearing that Hiccup was either going to live or die, and, moreover, the fact that none of them were going to be able to know for three days straight.
Stormfly had brought Avril back, and as soon as she did, Avril had run into the arms of her sister, crying freely while Astrid tried in vain to comfort the poor girl. No words were needed between the two Hoffersons; both of they were equally scared onto what the next days would bring.
They had went to sleep that night; or tried to, anyways. Astrid ended up staying awake half the night while Avril eventually slipped into her older sister's room and crawled into bed with her, longing to gain the silent comfort the older girl brought upon the younger one.
On the second day, Astrid hadn't left the Haddock house once. Of course, she knew by Valarie and her assistants that Hiccup wasn't to wake up until the third day, but still, that didn't keep Astrid away. The only time she had left was at night, when she went back to her own house to go to sleep, promising that she would be back in the morning.
It was rather hard for them to wrap their minds around, the fact that no one knew if Hiccup was going to live or not.
On the third day, Astrid, Avril and Stoick stayed in Hiccup's room the entire day. Avril was hugging Astrid's leg while Astrid smoothed the girl's hair down. Toothless was standing by the bedside, leaning over his unconscious rider. Today was the day, and the suspense was killing them.
It was dark when Hiccup stirred. Astrid held her breath while Avril hid behind her, everyone in the room focusing their eyes on Hiccup. Please work, Astrid begged quietly. Please, please, please, please work...don't take Hiccup away from me...please work...it has to work, he's strong...it will work...please work...please work...
An instant later, his eyes flickered open, and he glanced about the room. His eyes were glazed over and unfocused, but he looked remarkably aware of his surroundings. He looked at Stoick, shifted his gaze to Avril, and then up at Astrid.
"What time is it?" he asked blearily.
Astrid didn't answer him. She couldn't care less about answering the question "what time is it". She had bigger things to worry about. Sucking in a deep breath, se spoke. "Hiccup," she said carefully, "does your wound hurt?" She remembered what Valarie had said; if it hurt, then that meant that it worked. If he felt no pain, then it didn't.
Hiccup glanced at her for a second, tilting his head in confusion. Then, he placed his hand against his stomach and grimaced. "Yeah, it does," he said. "Pretty badly, too. Why do you-?"
"YES!" Astrid shouted, lunging forward and wrapping her arms around Hiccup. He tensed instantly, but she didn't let go. How could she let go? They had been so close. So close to losing him it was almost scary. Hiccup had been almost more dead than alive. More close to death than he was life, and Astrid couldn't think about that without feeling as though she would simply burst into tears.
Avril did the same as Astrid, hugging the boy, followed shortly by Stoick and Toothless.
And poor Hiccup didn't even know what the heck was going on.
"You guys are really bummed out about this, aren't you?" he said sarcastically while rolling his eyes as soon as his friends and father broke the embrace.
Astrid laughed and shook her head, unable to be mad at him for being sarcastic. How could she be mad at him? "You don't understand," she said. "What do you remember?"
"I remember you saying you were going to get the healer," said Hiccup. "After that...actually, I don't remember what happened after that. Is it morning already? What time is it?"
"Somewhere around seven o'clock, February the twenty eighth if you want to know," said Astrid.
Hiccup turned his head abruptly to look at her. "February twenty eighth," he repeated, and Astrid nodded. "You mean...you mean three days have passed since last time I was awake?" he asked.
Astrid nodded.
"You two have a lot to catch up on," said Stoick. "I'm going to go spread the great news to the rest of the village." He ruffled his son's hair on his way out, giving him a kind smile before he left the abode.
"Okay, Astrid, spill the beans," said Hiccup. "Tell me everything."
And so she talked, and Hiccup listened. Astrid told him everything that had happened since he last remembered, with Valarie coming over, telling them about the plant, and how he almost died that night. Hiccup only nodded and gasped at times, otherwise remaining completely silent.
"And it's all true?" Hiccup questioned once Astrid finished speaking, and Astrid nodded feverishly. Hiccup sat back, leaning against the headboard, trying to take it all in. "I almost died," he said. "Again."
"But you're alive!" said Avril. "I like it when no one dies!"
"Me too, Avril," said Hiccup, patting the girl on the head. Toothless, getting tired of waiting his turn, pushed past Astrid and Avril to get to his rider. Hiccup rubbed the dragon's head, smirking.
"And I take it you were as worried as ever, huh, Toothless?" said Hiccup, although he already knew the answer. Toothless cooed, licking Hiccup's face. Hiccup recoiled in disgust, yet laughing the whole time.
"I'm guessing I should get Valarie," said Astrid. "She'd like to check on you now that you're awake and everything. I'm just...Hiccup, I'm just so glad you're alive. For a while, we were all thinking you were going to die."
"Yeah, well, I didn't," said Hiccup, "and that's what matters, right?"
"Right," said Astrid, glancing behind her, and then looking back towards her friends and sister. "Well, let me go get Valarie. Avril, Toothless, make sure he doesn't leave." Avril saluted, as did Toothless. "Wonderful," said Astrid. She looked at Hiccup. "Stay," she said, and then ran back down the stairs.
Once the healer arrived, she looked over Hiccup instantly, giving positive results, and saying that the wound had sealed, yet was in slight danger of reopening at any given moment. Still, though, it was an improvement. After the examination, Valarie left Hiccup to sleep, as did Astrid and Avril, who both promised that they would be back in the morning.
And, for the very first time since Avril went missing in that storm all that time ago, Astrid and her little sister got a good night's sleep.