This is my first FanFiction I have ever written. I love reading HTTYD FanFics so I thought I might try and write one myself. Please review and let me know what you think!

"Get across the barricade!"

"Nets! Nets!"

"Watch out for the arrows!"

Astrid ducked involuntarily as the volley of arrows from the parapets whistled over her head, causing Stormfly to squawk in warning and roll into a dive, dropping fifty feet in the air and below the action above her, plummeting towards the waves of the menacing ocean below. Astrid's hair billowed out from the back of her helmet as she let out another war cry, guiding Stormfly above a bola that flew towards her. Stormfly cartwheeled and soared upward trying to reach their fellow dragon riders above them. Looking higher, Astrid saw Hiccup.

He was sitting tall astride Toothless, the Night Fury riding the wind and staying steady in the air, out of the range of bolas and arrows but close enough to see the fighting. The dragon's green eyes seemed to match the movement of his rider's head, as both constantly swiveled to survey the battle's progress as the dragons laid siege to the castle. Hiccup looked every inch a fighter, with his red and black armor, helmet, and menacing sword strapped to his belt.

Angling Stormfly upwards, she plunged through a thin cloud and, narrowly missing a net, encountered another volley of arrows. With no time to dodge, she grabbed her shield and raised it in front of the bolts, hoping Stormfly would come through unscathed. Arrows thudded into the wood, one clipping the edge of the metal rim and spinning away in front of her. The others missed high, and Stormfly was uninjured. Gasping in relief, Astrid made her faithful dragon put on another burst of speed and then they were out of range.

Having reached Hiccup's height in the sky, she urged Stormfly ahead and leveled her with Toothless. The Night Fury, who was much larger than Stormfly, acknowledged their presence with a warble, and Hiccup turned in his saddle, flipping up the mask of his helmet and baring the face underneath.

Hiccup was no longer a boy. His deep, innocent green eyes that used to sparkle with ingenuous excitement had now been dampened with the horrors of war, the blood of hundreds of dead men haunting their memory. His long wavy brown hair showed out the back of his helm, and when the mask was raised it could be seen on his forehead as well. His chin displayed a stubble which showed that he had not shaved for a few days. The shade of his helmet brought out the jagged white scar that was visible above his left eye. His face was gaunt and unemotional at first, but when he saw Astrid, his dull green eyes lit up with pleasure.

"Good to see you alive, Milady," he quipped, relaxing in the saddle. "I see you've been redecorating my shield in your spare time."

Astrid snorted, glancing down at the round shield and the completely Hiccuplike pattern it boasted, which was now clotted with burns and arrows.

"I think it improves the design," she laughed back at him. "You have no tastes when it comes to colors."

"You said you liked me in red and black, Astrid," Hiccup moaned with mock sadness. "You have betrayed me."

"I did say that, I admit," Astrid laughed back. "But seriously, Hiccup, a black shield with a red dragon painted on it? You just had to go and paint another dragon picture?"

"The black is for stealth, and the red just makes me look sexy," he answered with a laugh, his lips twisting upward.

"The red ruins the stealth part!" Astrid replied, ignoring his comment.

"Oh no, Milady, you don't understand," Hiccup replied. "This is a highly concentrated red dye. It is nearly impossible to distinguish from the black in the dead of night. In fact—"

"Captain!"

Hiccup whirled away from Astrid and looked towards the voice. It was Fishlegs, swooping in on Meatlug by Hiccup's right side, opposite Astrid.

"How's it looking, Legs?" Hiccup asked.

"We've got a solid hold on the eastern wall. The defenses will crumble in a few minutes, and we'll be able to storm the keep from there. But the west side is holding too strong. The dragons don't like going near the Abyss, and our attacks there are too weak to cause any damage. In short, the attack on the west wall needs some help."

Hiccup snapped his mask down. "You up for this, bud?" he asked his dragon. Toothless roared in excitement, shaking the air around the three riders.

"Then we're off!" Hiccup shouted. "We'll handle the west side, Legs. Go supervise the storming of the keep as soon as that east wall falls!"

"Right! Catch you later, Captain!" Fishlegs cried, and Meatlug dove back down into the action, moving towards the eastern wall.

"I'll head with you, Hiccup," Astrid stated. "Do you want your shield back?"

"No thanks, Milady," Hiccup shouted back. "I'm way too skillful to need thaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaatttttttttt..."

Toothless interrupted Hiccup by banking into a steep dive, his black scales glistening in the evening sky. With a terrifying roar, he ripped through the thin clouds and into the battle below.

Astrid wasted no time. "After them, girl!" she shouted, and Stormfly mimicked Toothless' motion, swooping down into the white screen of the clouds and then emerging beneath where the action was.

Toothless was racing through the dragon army and the missiles being shot at them, avoiding the nets and arrows with practiced ease. Another roar from the Night Fury echoed off the stone walls of the fortress. Looking at the castle, she could see the men on the walls yelling and shouting, trying to fend off Hiccup's dragons as they hovered above the ramparts, blasting the troops mercilessly with fire. A lone arrow whizzed towards her, and with a flick of Hiccup's shield, she deflected it, bringing her attention back to her part of the battle.

Flying away from the main fighting, Toothless thundered towards the west wall, his wings beating the air and sending gusts of air back in Astrid's direction. For a second the cold air from Hiccup was all she could feel as they flew through another cloud and emerged on the opposite side.

Then, with a cry of astonishment, Astrid saw the Abyss that Fishlegs had mentioned. It was a terrifying sight. The gap in the ground was easily a hundred feet wide, and stood just beyond the west wall. It was merely a big black hole, but even looking at it made her feel frightened, made her want to run away and never return again. It seemed to live and breath death and destruction. Apparently Stormfly thought the same thing as Astrid. She whined in fear and faltered in her flight. But Astrid was firm.

"No, girl. Hiccup needs our help, and we aren't leaving him."

Stormfly croaked in agreement, and increased her speed to try and match Toothless. Then there came the terrifying shriek that every man had learned to fear; the Night Fury roar. Even Astrid winced and covered her ears at the sound. Then blue flame erupted from Toothless, and an explosion rocked the defenses on the wall.

Looking below, Astrid could see bodies of several dragons floating in the sea. They appeared horribly cut and mangled. What had happened? she wondered. How could the dragons be in that condition? Stormfly interrupted her thoughts by firing a blast of lava-hot fire at their enemies. Peering over the flames, Astrid saw that it hit the defenses just above the wall, where the enemy soldiers were wheeling some strange looking weaponry to the edge of the ramparts.

Toothless fired twice more, causing the stone defenses to tremble and quake. It looked as if it would collapse soon, and Toothless roared again in triumph. In the moment after the bellow she heard a strange click, and looked up. Strange weapons were flying through the air. They appeared to be bolas, but they were not quite identical. Instead of ropes and rocks they were massive blades that spun through the air in three directions. There was a lot of them, and they were flying right into a thick swathe.

"Hiccup!" She shrieked, trying to warn him. He had already seen, however, and was desperately trying to avoid the attack. Astrid flew right behind him, following his lead. Toothless dodged one, then two, and a third, but there was so many of them, and escape seemed impossible.

Stormfly curled away from a projectile, spinning Astrid's view of Hiccup for a second. Righting herself, Stormfly dodged another, and Astrid, looking up, saw one of the missiles about to strike Toothless.

"WATCH OUT!" she screamed, but it was too late.

Blood sprayed from the Night Fury, the blades cutting through the dragon like a hot knife through butter. The black fluid flew back at Astrid and Stormfly. Astrid raised her shield to block it, and the hot liquid splashed against the wood, coating the design with drops of Toothless' blood. Lowering the shield, she saw something that made her freeze in horror.

It was a wing. A dragon wing. Toothless' wing. It missed her by a hair's breadth, spraying her with more blood as it sailed past, completely detached from the body. Then a black leg hurled by on her left. Looking down, she saw what was left of Toothless dropping into the ocean, horribly, horribly mangled.

And Hiccup was not on his back.

Lunging ahead, Astrid realized that the flying blades had stopped coming. Miraculously she had survived the onslaught. But where was Hiccup?

Scanning the area below her, she saw him. He was perhaps two hundred feet beneath, plummeting towards the ocean in an uncontrollable fall. He looked to be still alive, but she could not tell.

"Stormfly, fetch!" She yelled to her dragon. Stormfly saw what she was pointing to, and, diving down, raced towards the falling rider. Even as she dove, however, Hiccup's suit opened up as if by magic, and wings appeared. Hiccup began to spin over the waves, stopping his fall and guiding himself towards the castle. He had a flight suit.

He was not flying it well, Astrid realized. He was spinning crazily and heading directly towards the enemy's fortress. She would have to hurry and catch him before he was shot down.

Then the ground below them transformed from water to land. They flew directly over the west wall amid a volley of arrows. None struck home, but Astrid realized that they were in more danger than ever; and not because of the soldiers. Astrid tore her eyes off Hiccup and looked up.

They were rapidly approaching the Abyss. Its black depths seemed to be encouraging them towards it, inviting them, and while Hiccup's flight suit was keeping him from crashing, it was angling his landing point right into the pit.

"Faster, Stormfly!" Astrid yelled. "We need to get him before he falls!"

Stormfly put on a final burst of speed. They were very close now. With a anguished cry Astrid could now see why Hiccup had not been flying well. His right arm was missing. Therefore only one wing of the flight suit was working, and this completely threw off the balance of the equipment. She must catch him before he bled out.

The trio was now very close to the ground, and also approaching the edge of the Abyss.

"Get him, girl!" Astrid cried out in desperation. With one final swoop, Stormfly's talons grabbed Hiccup and closed around him - just before they all struck the dirt. Astrid was hurled from the saddle, her axe clattering away on the rock. She landed softly, but Stormfly was not so lucky. Her dragon crashed heavily, rolling over several times. Astrid heard a sickening crack as Stormfly's wing broke, and then she saw Hiccup get flung from the crash and fall – over the edge of the Abyss.

"HICCUP!" Astrid yelled, leaping to her feet and running towards the edge of the Abyss. She expected to see him falling into the darkness, but instead he was hanging on, with his one free hand, six feet below the edge. He was still alive.

"Hiccup!" Astrid cried. "Hold on! I'll get you!" Flinging herself down, she tried to reach his hand with her own. He was too far down.

Hiccup looked up at her. His helmet had been stripped from him in the collision, and blood was oozing down the side of his head, merging with what was gushing out of the stump of his arm. His green eyes locked with Astrid's.

"Astrid," he said quietly, and with effort.

"Hiccup, hold on!" Astrid pleaded, reaching down towards him. She was a foot away from his hand, and he could not reach with only one arm. She stretched further. So close.

"Astrid." Hiccup said.

With a gasp Astrid looked at Hiccup again. He offered her a weak smile.

"I love you, Astrid," he whispered.

And then he let go.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Astrid screamed, clutching at the air. Hiccup fell into the darkness, down, down…

Astrid woke with a cry, sitting up in bed, her hand flying to the axe. A faint light outside her window reflected off the white sheets of her bedcovers and showed that the moon was still high in the Berk sky. Gasping for air, Astrid tried to shove the images of Hiccup falling from her mind. It had been so real.

"Astrid?" Her little sister queried from her bed beside Astrid's. Looking at her, Astrid saw that her eyes were wide in fear. "Are you OK?" her sister asked.

"I'm fine," Astrid exhaled, laying down again and replacing her axe on the bed stand.

"It was just a dream."

That was my first attempt at a HTTYD FanFiction! Please let me know if you like it in the reviews! More is on the way!

NatB.