Astrid screamed as the world spun around her till she smacked into the water. Unable to tell which way was up she let out a breath, watching the bubbles go past her face and followed them up to the surface. Gasping for air as she breached the surface, Astrid could hear someone shouting. Looking to the mountain she could see one man running down the stairs, while another was running along the ledge she had just been on. Most likely to get back up. The first man had just gotten to the second landing and was about to make his way down the last set of stairs. Astrid swam to a dinghy, pulled the rope off the dock and pushed the dinghy away. Once she was out of reach Astrid climbed into the dinghy. She started getting the boat ready to sail when she realized Hiccup hadn't come up yet.
The Outcast had reached the last landing and started making his way down the dock. Astrid desperately searched the water for Hiccup. He was injured, if he hit the water the wrong way he could have been knocked out. The dinghy rocked as something climbed in, Astrid turned around to see a sopping wet Hiccup in the boat. As soon as she saw him Astrid unfurled the sail, the winding picking them up as soon as she did, and off they went. Leaving the Outcast on the dock screaming at them.
She positioned the dinghy in a southeast heading, keeping an eye out on the island as they past. Not that it mattered, the winds around the island were so strong the two Hooligans were practically flying away. Out of reach from arrows, out of reach from catapults, till the island shrunk behind the horizon and disappeared. Once the Island vanished, and she could see no signs of boats coming after them, Astrid finally declared they had escaped. She looked towards Hiccup, to share her excitement, only he was laying at the rear of the ship, head resting on a bench.
"Hiccup?" Astrid inched closer.
She was horrified to see the water pooling around him was red. Astrid moved as quickly and as careful as she could to Hiccup. He was out cold. Astrid tried lightly slapping him, but nothing woke him. She lifted his soaking wet shirt to see a long, irritated, cut across his left side. It was bad, really bad.
"Dammit Hiccup! What were you doing walking around with this kind of wound?" Astrid yelled at the unconscious man. He may have grown up but he was still an idiot. She just got him back and now he might actually die! On her watch! Again!
Hiccup had said the Outcasts used these boats for emergencies so Astrid got to work digging through the few boxes on the boat. Very little food, mainly dried meat, some weapons, some maps, and a net. She finally found a small healing kit in the last box. It had some healing salve that looked old and moldy, one wrap bandage, also old and may have already been used, and some herbs that had turned into powder at the bottom of the box. She shouldn't be surprised. The Outcasts have a habit of getting rid of the weaker tribesmen, they would more likely just toss an injured person overboard.
Frist Astrid ripped off the bottom half of her blue shirt and placed it over Hiccup's wound for now, using some of her arm bands to tie it on him. Then she tried the salve on a small cut on her arm, wanting to test it before she put it on Hiccup. Next she washed the bandage in the ocean and hung it on the mast to dry. finally, she dumped the powder that was in the bottom of the box in the ocean. It was too much of a gamble using that powder. Sure, it could be all healing stuff but she wouldn't put it past the outcast to put some poison in their healing kits. Checking over her cut, it looked good and felt fine so Astrid figured it was safe to use on Hiccup's cut for now.
Astrid kneeled down next to Hiccup, her once blue shirt rag was now soaked in blood so she tossed it to the side intending to wash it later so she could use it as a gauze again. Hiccup's cut didn't look infected, Astrid figured the ocean water cleaned it which is good because there was no way for her to boil water out here. She carefully spread the salve around the outside of his cut, not wanting to just slather the wound in a mystery salve. It would be slow and painful healing this way, but at least they'll get back to Berk and get some real treatment for him. The bandage was still a bit damp and she would have to wash her rags before using them as gauze again. His wound wasn't heavily bleeding anymore so Astrid decided to air it out till she could wash and dry her make shift gauze.
Checking Hiccups face, Astrid could see he was pale under his splattering of freckles and he had dark circles under his eyes. She checked his forehead for a fever with the back of her hand, thankfully he was fine. As Astrid pulled her hand back she brushed his wet hair, unintentionally at first, but then she started combing her fingers through it. His hair was so soft and silky, she just wanted to run her hands through it. She stopped herself mid stroke and pulled her hand back so fast she feared she would yank his head forwards, but her fingers slid through his hair easily and didn't catch on any knots.
Again, Astrid was taken aback by how this new, older Hiccup made her feel. Sure she's had crushes before, but on Hiccup? Was she really that shallow that she would fall for him just because he's hot now? She's met some really hot guys before and she never really cared about them! So why was Hiccup making her heart speed up? Maybe it was because Hiccup was so different. Most of the men she's seen where the typical viking type; broad, muscular, hairy, smash first think never kind of guys. Hiccup had always been different and after getting a glimpse into his life, with her training with Stoic and Gobber, she started appreciating his weird ideas. Even started to understand where his ideas were coming from. Was that it? Was it that during his absence she had somehow grown closer to him?
The dinghy rocked a bit, snapping Astrid out of her thoughts. She went back to correcting their course and kept an eye out for any ships approaching them. After that Astrid washed the gauze in the ocean, ringing out the blood soaked fabric, before hanging it next to the bandage to dry. Astrid went back to the food and started chowing down on some dried meat. It had been about four days since she last ate something and she quickly devoured the little food that was in storage. It wasn't enough to fill her but it would keep her going for another day, maybe two if she didn't over exert herself. She was constantly checking in on Hiccup, looking over his wound, testing to see if he'd wake up. He wouldn't even twitch; but after what he went through, with his injury, she wasn't surprised.
The sun slowly moved behind them. With the gauze and bandage finally dry, Astrid decided to put more salve on before dressing the wound. The skin around the cut was still very red and raw but the rest of Hiccups torso was pale and already getting goosebumps. It was going to get dark soon and Astrid was worried. She wouldn't be able to see ships approaching in the dark and it would get colder, much colder. Most of her clothes were dry, same with Hiccup's clothes, but neither of them were dressed to be on the ocean at night. Setting the gauze on him, Astrid started wrapping the bandage around him. The rest of Hiccups body felt cold but there was nothing more Astrid could do. They didn't have any blankets, and Astrid couldn't make a fire on a boat. They hadn't even passed any islands to set up on for the night. All she could do was put his crust covered shirt down over the bandage. His shirt had become stiff from the blood drying so it wouldn't be much help for him.
Scanning the horizon for any sign of land Astrid saw something up ahead. It was too far away to tell if it was a island, boat, dragon, or something else entirely; and there was no telescope on the boat. She had to wait and get closer before she could decided if it was dangerous or not. She didn't know if she wanted to take the chance. What if they're more Outcasts, or pirates? Astrid looked back to Hiccup. She didn't want to risk his life, but if they were friends then avoiding them could also be risking his life.
"Why is it always your life in my hands?" Astrid moaned to herself. She decided the best choice was to stay on her path and hope whatever was up ahead was a friend. And if not, she did have a couple weapons here.
An hour or so went by and the thing up ahead got closer. She could tell it was three boats, all on the smaller side. She could see the two boats on the sides each had their own symbol but the one in the middle didn't. Astrid wasn't entirely sure, but it looked like the boat on the right belonged to the Bog-Burglars. Astrid decided to raise a white flag, so they know she meant no harm, but there was nothing white on the ship. Eventually she settled on using a map. It was better than nothing.
As soon as she got it raised someone started yelling from the boats. For a moment she was worried the map didn't look white enough and they took it as an attack, but then someone on the middle boat got pushed off and a familiar cackling came next. Relief flooded through her. That cackle was definitely Ruffnut, she'd know it anywhere. Right on cue the Hooligan tribe symbol was raised on their mast. Astrid thanked Odin for letting her meet up with her friends, no doubt on their way to rescue her. The Bog-Burglars probably just happened to run into them and offered their help.
Before she knew it they were right up next to her, A breeze had come in strong and blown her right to them. Astrid was too happy to realize that as soon as she was close enough the wind stopped, nor did she notice the Bog-Burglar ship bob a bit more than it should have, as if something big had just landed on it. Astrid was too busy securing her dinghy to the Hooligan ship to hear a strange grumble coming from the Burglars ship, or see the occasional Bog-Burglar petting the air. Astrid was just happy to see her friends, who were also too excited to see Astrid to notice anything strange.
"Astrid! Oh Gods, Astrid are you okay?" Fishlegs was the first to reach her, checking her over in case she was injured.
"How'd you get away?" Tuffnut was pushed to the side as soon as she saw him.
"Obviously she fought her way out! How bloody was it?" Ruffnut claimed her spot next to Astrid, physically hanging on to her. They didn't give her a chance to talk as they crowded in on her.
"Ahh, who's this guy?" Astrid turned around to see Snotlout, dripping wet, pointing at the unconscious Hiccup in her dinghy. Fishlegs had come over and was looking down at him too. Fishlegs looked like he was trying to figure out how he knew the unconscious man, much like she had when she first say Hiccup.
"What, you don't recognize your own cousin?" Astrid couldn't help but be snarky, knowing Snot probably wouldn't get it. "Fishlegs, give me a hand."
Fishlegs however, his eyes shot wide open and is jaw fell to the floor. He just stared. Astrid hopped back into the dinghy to get Hiccup out, but it wasn't Fishlegs who helped her. Two strong, beefy, leather wrapped arms reached down and basically lifted Hiccup out on his own. She looked up to see Thuggory, Heir to the Meathead tribe, laying Hiccup down on the Hooligan's boat.
"Let me guess, he's injured." Cami, Heir to the Bog-Burglars, jumped over from her boat carrying a box full of healing supplies. Her blonde hair, un-braided, flying everywhere. She quickly kneeled down and started working on Hiccup's wound along with Thuggory. Astrid jumped back onto the Hooligan boat and looked back to her group of friends.
"We ran into them and when we told them what happened they offered to help." Tuffnut supplied with a shrug.
"Said they were waiting for a friend but he never showed." Ruffnut continued.
That last part reminded her of something Hiccup had said back in the jail. He was on his way to meet his friends…
"You knew he was still alive?" Astrid turned to accuse the two Heirs. "That's why you were acting so weird! Why didn't you tell us?!" She all but screamed at them. She felt Fishlegs move behind her, whether to support her or hold her back she didn't know.
"So what if we did?" Cami started, not happy with someone yelling at her, only to have Thuggory pull her back.
"Yes, we did. He had always told us he left on his own, so to go to Berk and hear he died was confusing. We wanted to talk with him before we intervened, in case he was actually disowned or faked his death on purpose." Thuggory explained softly, "We called him here to get his side of the story and even bring him back to Berk. But I see you meet him first."
"He IS a danger magnet." Cami stated. She was now poking Hiccup's face, seeing if he would wake up. "We figured he'd show up in the most dramatic way possible."
"And he did." Thuggory sounded tired, like Stoic used to when dealing with all of Hiccup's… Hiccup-ness. Had Hiccup been meeting up with them this whole time?
"Okay…so who is this guy?" Ruffnut asked. Her and Tuffnut looked like they had no idea who he was while Snotlout looked liked his brain was working overtime.
"I don't have anymore cousins." He finally stated. "Just the one and he's not around anymore."
"Guys," Fishlegs started quietly. He was still behind her, but she could tell he was looking at Hiccup. "that is Hiccup."
It was quiet for moment as the realization sunk in. Then the twins started laughing.
"Oh, Good one Legs!" Tuff laughed. Ruffnut was on the floor she was laughing so hard.
"Please, that guy could never be Hiccup." Snot chuckled. "Besides, Astrid saw him get taken away by a dragon, isn't that right babe?"
"No, I didn't. We just assumed he did. Really he just left. It really is Hiccup. He had no idea we though he was dead."
"We can confirm it too." Cami said while helping Thuggory pick up Hiccup, not that Thuggory needed help, and began moving him to the hull. "We've known Hiccup's been alive this whole time. We've hung out with him, gone on adventures, he even stayed with both of us before."
"Again, if we had known you thought he was dead we would have done something sooner." Thuggory clarified. The two moved Hiccup into the dark hull to rest while everyone else came to terms with the new history they've just learned.
"That's really Hiccup. Like really, really him?" Snotlout looked almost hopeful.
"Yeah, it's really, really him." Astrid nodded.
"Whoa." Was all Tuffnut said, looking impressed.
"That's… hot." Astrid kicked Ruffnut.