I Own Nothing

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Author's Note: Mana, your last review compelled me to write yet another page in this very long story and make yet another plot alteration. Just letting you know! :) You'll see for yourself later.

Brace Yourselves…

Chapter 39

Two Thrones Vacated

Tuffnut prodded his sister's limp form. "C'mon sis, get up! Man, that head bash must've really done a number on her this time! She's never been out for this long!"

Astrid was only half listening. Her attention was focused on trying to find Hiccup, figuring out why the Bewilderbeast had stopped the fight, and why all their dragons had frozen in place.

"Stormfly, what is it?"

"I don't know!" the Nadder cried, "I was ordered to stop! I haven't felt a power like this since that—since that Razorwhip took over our nest!"

"It's like when the Red Death was in charge!" Hookfang shuddered, "she'd command us to stop and everyone would freeze like those stone things you humans like to build—but this feels even worse!"

Astrid translated for the others, who were all just as confused as the dragons were.

"What kind of creature has this kind of power?" Camicazi asked nervously.

"And where's Hiccup?" Greta Hofferson said.

Queen Mala gestured to Throk to follow her. "The Defenders will search for Viggo and the Dragon Eye. The rest of you spread out and find the Dragon King and the cause of this disturbance."

They had no way of knowing it, but they had no chance now of finding Hiccup without help from a dragon. He stood before the entire flock of Night Furies. Even the two young ones were there, half-hidden behind the legs of their parents. Nearly all the dragons were glaring at him. Agaruba and Menomem especially looked furious. Radamar and Sclepus in contrast looked worried, though Sclepus was much better at hiding it. As for Toothless, he was looking past Hiccup at the night sky, seemingly oblivious to what was going on before him.

The Alpha Salistus looked at Hiccup angrily, but Hiccup, once over his surprise, was just as angry. "I don't believe it! Four centuries of skipping out on taking care of dragons, and now, just as I'm finishing off a dragon hunter, you show up and order things to stop! I mean, come on!" he shouted, throwing his hands in the air in exasperation.

"I want my armor! Where is it?" Salistus demanded.

"Are you serious? You came all this way for that? Well then, tell me, are you enjoying the fresh air and change in scenery?"

"No!" Agaruba snarled, "We came here to deal with you, you cursed spy!"

"I wasn't talking to you!" Hiccup snapped. He was not in the mood to be courteous. "You imprisoned me and my best friend while my island was sacked, my father murdered, my family and tribe imprisoned and scattered, to be sold as slaves, and you have the nerve to call me a spy because I lied about a suit of armor and slipped a harmless narcotic into your drink? Excuse me, but I think my motives justify the crime, so unless you're here to help, give me back Toothless and go home!"

"You dare to give me orders?" Salistus cried indignantly, "I am the Alepha—I could—I'll—"

"You'll what?" The Dragon King snorted. He knew at once he had said the wrong thing. Salistus was a pathetic fighter, but Agaruba was like a dog straining at the leash.

"Let me take care of it, my Alepha! Let me avenge the insults!"

"Give him permission," Menomem told her son. "You commanded the lesser dragons to be still, now command Agaruba to finish this umanu."

"You'll never be a true leader if you just do what someone else tells you!" the King said loudly. "Don't be some puppet, Salistus! If you're going to be the Alepha, step up and be it!" Salistus was caught off guard and abruptly became unsure of what to do. They could all see his head moving left to right and his mouth moving as if about to speak a command and yet unable to.

"Toothless!" the King said. His best friend was in the middle of the flock and had thus far been standing still as a statue, looking at him without recognition. "Toothless, come on, Bud! It's me! It's Hiccup!"

The Night Fury did not move. His pupils were slits and his eyes, instead of being their normal wholesome forest green, looked pale and sickly, like diseased peapods.

Menomem laughed nastily. "He is not your thrall anymore, umanu! Salistus ordered him to forget you! He belongs to us, to my Vav, the leader of his species!"

"Oh, you think so?" He looked quickly over the flock to gauge their loyalty. A handful, including Sclepus and Radamar, looked uneasy about the situation, though he was unsure where their uneasiness stemmed from.

"Emaracluse is one of us and shall always remain so!" Menomem declared.

"Well we'll just see about that!" He had no idea what exactly he was going to do, but he went with his instincts. His wild, stupid, and crazy instincts. "Toothless, come on, remember the day we first met? You nearly gave me a heart attack when you tried to blow my ears off! Remember the first time you let me touch you? I still think that was the best day of my life. Come on, Bud, don't let this little tyrant keep you from the ones you love the most!" He approached the flock slowly, his eyes never leaving his friend.

"Salistus, why not have Emaracluse kill it?" Menomem nastily suggested.

"No!" Radamar cried, "He's just trying to help his species and his friend, there's no need to—"

"No!" Agaruba yelled over her pleas, "Let me kill it!"

Salistus was still indecisive.

"Go ahead and order it!" the Dragon King commanded, "Toothless would never hurt me!"

"Prove him wrong, my Vav!" Menomem cried, "Prove to him your power is stronger than anything in existence!"

"Oh? If that's true, why did the Notoraquin have to hide in the first place?"

This logic made Salistus even less decisive. Ever since they had emerged from their caves he had been afraid of everything he saw. Everything was new and unfamiliar to him, and he wanted nothing more than to go home, but pride and prestige demanded he find the umanu and punish him. And now that he was being called on to make a firm decision and use his power, which did not deter this umanu in the slightest, he grew afraid. What effect this had on his abilities as the Alpha was hard to say, but it certainly robbed him of his ability to speak. In fact, he looked one step away from having a panic attack.

"My Alepha, give the order!" urged Menomem. She knew she could kill Hiccup herself, but she wanted her son to do this to demonstrate his authority to everyone.

"Toothless," Hiccup said gently.

Agaruba lost patience and lunged for him. Hiccup had been expecting that and shoved strands of Dragon Nip into his nose. Agaruba sneezed inadvertently and set the strands on fire, but he fell to the ground in a daze. Hiccup swayed a little. He suddenly felt as light headed as Agaruba probably had, but he did not know why.

"Stop it—stop—I—just stop it, alright?" Salistus whimpered loudly. His words had virtually no effect on anyone.

Hiccup drew even closer. The Night Furies retreated from him nervously.

For Toothless, this time had been like dreaming during a heavy sleep. He had the faintest ideas of what was going on and knew there was a vaguely familiar human in front of him, but that was all he knew.

"Come on, Bud, come back to me!"

There was something familiar about that human…had they met before? He saw memories flit by. He saw him and that human being chased by a massive dragon, he saw him dragging the bloodied boy from a burning prison, he saw them flying over islands, over a ship of iron, crevasses of ice, and he saw them playing in a river, in a jungle, and on a wall that ran along steep foothills.

"Come on, Bud, it's me, Hiccup! You wouldn't forget me, would you? You used to joke you couldn't forget about me even if you wanted too!"

The other dragons were transfixed with curiosity by what was happening, even if they did not want it to happen. They could see the pupils of Emaracluse shifting between slits and circles.

Radamar suddenly could not stand the suspense any more. "Salistus, just let him go free! What does it matter to you?"

"It matters because we were shamed!" Menomem snapped, "Shamed and disgraced by this umanu, and we will have justice!"

"Oh if we're going to talk about justice, you've got probably the longest list of crimes in history!" Hiccup yelled, "Every wrong a dragon has done in the past four hundred years that could have been prevented by proper leadership is the fault of your species hiding like spiders under a rock! You come to me crying that I upset you—well I can name a score of people without even thinking who have a lot more reason to be angry at you, because thanks to your negligence they've lost loved ones for no good reason!"

This was said so angrily that the Night Furies were too intimidated to talk back.

"Now where were we? Right. You guys were just about to free my brother and leave peacefully."

"No we weren't!" a Night Fury in the back shouted indignantly.

"Worth a try. Toothless, come on, look at me—"

"No!" Menomem whispered fiercely, "Salistus, give the order!"

"But I—"

"Give it!"

"Look at me, Bud. You know me, right? You'd never forget your best friend. And you won't hurt your best friend either."

"Best friend?" Menomem shouted scornfully, trying to recover the initiative, "You left him to fend for himself!"

"He had no choice because you wouldn't let them leave together!" Radamar cried.

"Silence! Salistus, give the order now or I will!"

"I—"

"Toothless, guess what?" Hiccup said, ignoring the infighting, "Astrid's pregnant! You're going to be an uncle! HA! Remember the first time I told you about her? All those doubts I had that she would ever think good things of me? I was more likely to walk on the moon then to have children with her in those days! That's one thing we've never done, you know! Come on, Bud, let's go fly to the moon and back! They say it's impossible, but that's what they said about Vikings being friends with dragons, and look how well that's turned out for us! People said Astrid and me together would never happen and look how well that's gone! You're my best friend, Toothless. If I didn't have you, I don't know what I'd do with myself."

Toothless saw more memories, and the image of the human before him came into sharper focus. The Alpha's power, which pressed against his memory like a sponge soaked with dragon nip, was loosening. He could feel his will returning. He shook his head and sneezed, and finally realized he was looking at his best friend again.

"Hiccup!"

"That's it, Bud! That's it! I'm here, I'm not leaving you again, keep fighting!"

Menomem turned to her son. "Order him to stop this! He's under your control, keep him that way!"

"That's abusing the power of the Alepha!" Radamar shouted, "You said he's no longer Hiccup's thrall, but you're just making him your own thrall—Hiccup, Agaruba, he's—!"

"Silence! Salistus, give the order! Do something for once in your life!"

Salistus finally got the hint. "Emaracluse, get away from him."

The Night Fury did not budge. "I'm not going anywhere."

"What? But—but I ordered—I order you, get away from him! Get away from him, Emaracluse, I am the Alepha!"

"And I'm not Emaracluse!" Toothless roared.

"My Vav, reword your command and—"

"LOOK OUT!"

Agaruba leapt up with a roar and lunged at Hiccup. Hiccup threw himself to the ground but before the Night Fury could touch him another one collided with him. Hiccup raised his head but to his surprise it was not Toothless who was defending him.

"Take Toothless and run!" Radamar screamed, trying to pin Agaruba down.

"Get off me, you fool!" Agaruba bellowed as he slashed her across the face and bit at her stomach.

"Radamar, stop this!" her mother shrieked, "Salistus, order them to stop!"

"Rada—Plorip, I—Aga—st—stop it!" Salistus stuttered. His order had no effect at all. Agaruba was as enraged and Radamar as defiant as their leader was terrified.

Hiccup reached into a pocket, only to remember Agaruba had burned his supply of Dragon Nip. Toothless leapt in front of him protectively. "Get out of here!"

"Not without you! Not this time!"

Radamar was no match for Agaruba's strength or anger, and he quickly threw her off and shoved her to the ground. She slashed at his legs but this only made him angrier. Roaring like a tiger he grabbed her head in his claws and twisted it. There was a sickening crack and she collapsed on the ground.

Every Night Fury gasped. Salistus was frozen with fear. Hiccup dropped his sword and swayed where he stood. The other dragons were appalled but uncertain of what to do. Menomem screamed and rushed towards Radamar's limp body, only to be shoved aside by Toothless. He looked over Radamar desperately.

"Broken neck," he muttered, "Still alive, barely, oh this is bad. And Night Fury saliva can't heal broken bones!"

Agaruba, looking more like a rabid wolf than a dragon, glared at the Night Furies with blood dripping from his mouth.

"You broke the First Law!" Sclepus bellowed.

"Not quite, but that's only by sheer chance," Hiccup said with disgust, "And I daresay he intended to break it!"

"Such is what happens to those who interfere," Agaruba rasped, "Now I'm going to do what should have been done the moment these two—"

Toothless heard this and lost his temper. He slammed into the dragon with all the force he could muster. "You're going to pay for that!"

Agaruba kicked him and darted around, aiming for Hiccup. He fired a shot of plasma, but Hiccup dodged it easily. Toothless responded with a furious swipe at his foe's tail. Snarling Agaruba spread his wings and flew over to Salistus, who was rooted to the spot with fear. "Your only hope now is to kill them or they will overthrow you and rule over us until we are destroyed! Now give the order or I'll make you!"

"Kill them so you can rule over us, Agaruba?" Sclepus shouted, "I don't think so!" He raised himself onto his hind legs and spat plasma.

But only a few Night Furies seemed to be opposing Agaruba. The others roared angrily:

"I stand with the Alepha!"

"She got what she deserved!"

"They must pay!"

"Look!" someone shrieked.

They heard a squawk and saw Stormfly landing, accompanied by several other dragons, including Hookfang and Barf n' Belch. None of them had brought any riders.

Hiccup looked at his friend. "You summoned them?"

"I'm still a Beta, aren't I?"

"Toothless!" Stormfly exclaimed, "What's going on? What is—what is all this?"

Unfortunately, the appearance of these dragons sent the Night Furies over the edge of paranoia.

"He summoned these beasts to kill us!"

"He means to rule over us!"

"No we don't!" Hiccup yelled, suddenly frantic. His voice carried but went unheeded. The other Night Furies were whispering anxiously over taking sides. "We aren't here to harm anyone! They just came to protect me and Toothless; they aren't dangerous so long as you don't—"

"KILL THEM!" Someone roared.

For Stormfly and Hookfang, it was unreal to see over a dozen Night Furies charge towards them clumsily. The Notoraquin fired blast after blast of plasma. Purple explosions sent rocks and grass and ice flying in every direction. They were met with equally fierce explosions of Zippleback gas and bursts of fire.

Stormfly leapt into the air and flung her tail spines. Hookfang lit up and bellowed with rage, and the sight was so scary that Salistus nearly fainted. Persephone slipped under one Night Fury and bit her in the leg. The other dragons on their side, mainly a few Nadders and the Whispering Death, were following Stormfly's example, spitting fire and throwing spines at any perceived enemy. Sclepus had to get behind them so they would not mistake him for one.

"The very first time I see a Night Fury besides Toothless and I'm fighting it!" Hookfang commented loudly, "This is just crazy!"

Hiccup was trying to stop the fight, and to do that he was trying to hit the Night Furies in their sensitive spot under the chin, which could put them in a peaceful sleep for some time. But he could not get close enough to any and Agaruba was still trying to find a way to kill him, so Toothless spent most of his time trying to defend his brother. Agaruba was chasing after them like a wolf after a lamb.

"Toothless—get us in the air! We're the better fliers!" Hiccup shouted as he threw himself onto his dragons back. "Get us in the—oh hey, look, we're in the air! That was quick!"

"Well of course it was!" Toothless said, though he did not feel very humorous. "What now? If Salistus regains control—"

"I doubt he will, but we've still gotta stop this now without more of us getting hurt!" He could only think of one way to do that. Someone else would have to become the Alpha. "Challenge Salistus, Bud!"

"Challenge—are you serious?"

"It's our best hope! Think of what good you could do if you were the Alpha!"

A blast of plasma shot past them, almost hitting Hiccup in the back. Toothless spun around in the air and saw Agaruba flying towards them, several Night Furies with him. Agaruba in particular looked ready to kill them. Toothless decided that Hiccup was right. "If it keeps you safe…all right, hang on!" Toothless sped towards their pursuers and spat rings of plasma in quick succession. The flock scattered, except for Agaruba, who took three blasts to the head and went spiraling towards the earth.

"Hah! That attack formation was pathetic!" Hookfang yelled gleefully, "They're no match for us!" He lit himself up again, only to realize that he had melted through the snow and set the now exposed grass on fire. Despite the dampness of the ground, flames leapt up around him like a giant bonfire. It did not hurt him any, but it certainly made for a spectacular addition to a fight already filled with fire and explosions.

It also meant that for the first time the humans searching around the ruins of Grimmige Festung knew where to look for them. The Bewilderbeast had not obeyed the call from Toothless because he had not felt it, as he was not part of that nest. So he had resumed destroying the Fortress once his freewill had returned. But when he saw the fires made by Hookfang and the explosions, he started out at once. But first he stopped and lowered himself so the nearby humans could climb onto his massive back.

"Now I've seen everything!" Camicazi cried happily. "Isn't this amazing, Thuggory?"

"Yes it is!" Thuggory shouted back, "Just make sure you hold onto something!"

"Oh trust me, they haven't seen everything yet!" Astrid snorted to her mother.

Queen Mala had never felt so powerful before. She was sitting on top of the largest and most awe-inspiring dragon she had ever seen. She felt she could whip any army in the world right now. No wonder her people had always worshiped dragons. No wonder Berk had wanted to live with them.

It would have taken a human over a thousand paces to reach the fight. The Bewilderbeast covered half the distance in ten.

Toothless pulled out of a dive and landed right in front of Salistus. "I challenge!" he yelled, waving his tail imposingly and flexing the real and false fins.

"I am the Alepha! I have complete control over every—"

"He's gotten some of his ego back, evidently," Hiccup said dryly, "If you're so powerful, prove it by ending this right now!"

Salistus looked like he only wanted to run and hide.

"Look around you! You Night Furies don't have a chance!" It was true. Hiccup's side was far more experienced in fighting and flying and the differences were becoming appallingly clear. The Night Furies were unfamiliar with the dragons they were opposing, and even the most typical tricks were enough to make them nervous. Only Agaruba was putting up any real fight now. "Give your responsibilities to Toothless. It's the only way. Nobody else has to die tonight. And I'll make you a real suit of armor if you want—for real this time!" he added brightly.

Salistus looked about helplessly. If it came to a fight with Toothless he could not hope to win and he knew it. "You'll let us live?"

"Yes!" Toothless said, "I'll swear on anything you like I will!"

"Then—"

Agaruba swooped down and grabbed Hiccup from off of Toothless's back. Toothless screamed with fury. Hiccup hit his gauntlet instinctively but the fire did no harm to his attacker. When Agaruba's teeth sank into his arm, Toothless lost it completely. The scales on his back and head began turning purple, and he reared up onto his hind legs and roared like a savage monster.

"YOU GET AWAY FROM HIM, YOU COWARD!"

"HAH!" Agaruba laughed scornfully, spitting out blood. "I'd rather kill myself than have you as my Alepha!"

Salistus suddenly had an idea. "You two fight, and I'll name the winner the next Alepha, if they desire it!"

Toothless charged like an enraged rhinoceros, slamming into Agaruba and spitting plasma right into the Night Fury's eyes. The two dragons fell over and rolled downhill, Toothless kicking his opponent with all his might. Agaruba was surprised by the ferocity but quickly extended his claws to their greatest length so he could sink them all the deeper into Toothless's back. Toothless seized the dragon by the neck with his teeth. It was almost a fatal bite but Agaruba had twisted his neck just in time, so Toothless missed the jugular.

Still, having a Night Fury biting into your neck was no pleasant experience, even for another Night Fury, and Agaruba, screaming with pain, tried to throw him off. Toothless did release his grip, but that was so he could try a second bite. This time Agaruba was ready and he slashed at his opponent's nose. Only when Toothless clobbered him in the eye with his tailfin did Agaruba figure out the bite attempt was only a distraction.

"Augh! Since when do tailfins have metal in them?"

"Did you never notice I have a false one?" Toothless asked smugly.

"Made by that umanu, no doubt. Have you no shame at all?"

"Pride wouldn't do me much good if I couldn't fly!" Toothless swung his tail and struck Agaruba in the side. Agaruba tried to bite it but missed.

"I'll make sure you never fly again!"

Toothless spit plasma into one of Agaruba's wounds, and it stung like salt on a canker sore.

Hiccup had managed to pick himself up and stop the bleeding. He knew better than to distract Toothless with such a fight, but watching this battle felt like a blow to the stomach. He had spent so much time trying to urge humans and dragons to coexist, trying to persuade humans that dragons were not as monstrous as believed, yet here was his best friend battling to the death a member of his own species, and nearby other dragons were fighting with each other, and for what? He could see Radamar attempting to breathe; she had been severely injured and all for nothing. She would probably die before they could help her, if they could help her at all.

Whatever excuses they could make, the fact remained it was still happening, and after all else that had happened it felt like the final blow to his vision. He had failed his island, his father, his friends, and once again he had failed to bring peace. All of these together meant he had failed himself. These thoughts struck him like a massive hammer. And as if he could not feel any worse, he became conscious that he felt sick. In the excitement so far he had not paid any heed to his physical state, but now he could not ignore how much his hand, stomach, and chest hurt, and he felt light headed and drowsy.

Toothless had increased his attacks and for the first time that night Agaruba began to seriously fear for his life. He took to the air, hoping to have the advantage, but Toothless fired a powerful bolt of plasma right into his wing joint. Agaruba felt his wing break and he plummeted back to earth. Toothless was on him in an instant and savagely raked his claws down his back.

"Now see what happens when someone tries to kill my human! You should've seen what I did to Drago Bludvist! I pulled him apart and crushed his head in my jaws! Shall I do the same thing to you?" He pinned Agaruba to the ground and opened his mouth.

"No!" Hiccup shouted, "Toothless, that's enough! That's enough!"

Toothless paused. "Give up the contest."

"I will not!" Agaruba snapped, but the grip on him was like iron.

"Typical. Salistus!" Toothless called, "Am I the winner or am I not?"

Salistus hesitated.

"You never did say how he has to win," the Dragon King pointed out quickly. "This doesn't have to be to the death!"

Salistus still hesitated.

The ground shook. It had in fact been shaking before, but it had felt too distant to really notice. But now it trembled as if an earthquake was in motion. The Bewilderbeast had arrived. Salistus had never seen such a huge dragon before and as the great white dragon lowered his mighty head to get a better look at them, he screamed in terror and bolted. "All right, you win! I name him the next Alepha! There, it's over, just don't kill me, please!"

Toothless slowly climbed off Agaruba, making sure to keep him in sight. "All right—wait, why don't I feel any different?"

Before anyone could answer Agaruba extended his claws and slashed them through his own throat. "I said I would!" he chortled, "You'll never command me!"

"Stop!" but it was too late. Agaruba fell onto the ground, a great amount of blood seeping from his neck. His body shuddered and went limp.

Hiccup put a hand over his face. "It didn't have to be this way!"

"So why couldn't I—" Toothless looked up at the Bewilderbeast, who was stooping to let the humans off his back. "Say, do you feel any different?"

"As a matter of fact I do." The huge dragon sounded perplexed.

Toothless's eyes widened. "That explains it. Salistus declared you the Alpha, not me!"

The Bewilderbeast looked up sharply. "I am?" He looked around and cried out "Stop the fighting, all of you!" Every dragon froze in place, even if they were moments away from biting someone in the head. "I suppose this means I am." He lowered his head again, as if feeling the weight of his new and unexpected responsibilities.

Hiccup tried to climb onto his dragon's back, but almost at once he lost the physical strength to do it and had to give up. He felt ready to fall over, and he was starting to tremble.

Toothless eyed him worriedly. "Are you alright? What's wrong?"

"I'm fine, bud, just a…just a little tired, that's all," Hiccup said with a forced smile. "Been through a lot today, you know," That was true, but now he seriously felt sick. He was sweating, and it was not from the fight. His head felt dizzier than ever and his heart was pounding.

He turned and saw his friends approaching. Tuffnut arrived first, looking more upset than he had ever seen him.

"Hiccup! Ruffnut's dead!"

Hiccup felt ready to faint.

"Dead! Did you hear me? She's dead, Useless, and it's all your fault!" Tuffnut shouted in between sobs, "You and your stupid plans, that's what got her killed! You and all your useless schemes, you stupid Fishbone! She's dead and it's all because of you!" He shoved Hiccup roughly. Hiccup swayed and then he doubled over and collapsed.

"Toothless…"

Tuffnut broke away crying. "Stupid useless fishbone. One little push and he falls right over, that's just pathetic. Oh Hiccup, why? Why did this have to happen? Why Ruffnut?"

Toothless went to pick up Hiccup. As he got closer something felt wrong. Hiccup was not breathing, and though his eyes were opened he was not moving them or blinking.

"Hiccup?" he nudged his human, but there was no response.

Tuffnut stopped his crying and looked at Hiccup uneasily. "I didn't think I pushed him that hard," he muttered. He put his fingers against Hiccup's neck, feeling for a pulse. He stiffened. "Oh Gods…"

Astrid by this point had reached them, having been delayed by trying to tend to Ruffnut and then inspecting Stormfly for injuries. "What's happening? What's going on? Who's been hurt?"

And then she saw Hiccup's body and Tuffnut's reaction and screamed. She shoved Tuffnut away and grabbed Hiccup as tightly as she possibly could. "NO! No, no, no, NO! You can't do this to us, you can't be dead, you can't be! Come on, Hiccup, wake up, this isn't funny!"

Toothless felt as if time had stopped. "No…" This could not be real, it simply was not possible. This had to be a horrible nightmare. He could not believe that his best friend, his brother, his human was dead. It was not possible. Hiccup had survived so many things before, he had always escaped, he could not have died now! It just made no sense! He nudged Hiccup frantically, but Hiccup did not move.

"I told you I didn't want our child growing up fatherless!" Astrid shrieked at Hiccup's unresponsive face. "You were supposed to take care of yourself! We were going to get through this and raise a family and rebuild Berk together! Come on, my love, get up!" She hit his shoulder, "Get up, I mean it!"

"Hiccup, I didn't mean what I said!" Tuffnut shouted, shaking the limb body, "I didn't mean to call you those things, I was just angry, I—oh gods, the last words he ever heard were those stupid childhood insults!" He fell away from them almost deliriously and threw up. The Chief was dead, Ruffnut was dead, his cousin had betrayed him, Loki knew how many others were dead, Snotlout had cholera, if he was still alive, and now this! Dear Odin, how many more lives were going to be lost in this nightmare?

Toothless nudged Hiccup more, frantically hoping there were signs of life; perhaps he was just really in a deep sleep or unconscious. His gaze fell upon Hiccup's hand. On it was a partially dried cut, several inches long. The skin around it was a sickly shade of purple. Toothless carefully sniffed it and detected traces of several dragon venoms.

That was the last thing he was conscious of doing before he broke down as Astrid had. There was no escaping the terrible truth, however much they wanted to. Hiccup was dead.