Hey! Peeps, I'm back. I've been struggling with writers block with my other story so I've been writing some other stuff in the meantime. This is Part One, Part Two should be up as soon as I've finished editing. Hope you like this!

Hiccup finished connecting the last rod of Toothless' tail rig and sat back.

"What do you think, bud?" He pulled the thin metal lever that now sat just below where he hooked his prosthetic into the harness. "Could use some tweaking I suppose," he rubbed his chin thoughtfully and glanced down at his metal foot. "Maybe even find a way to combine it with the pedal. But let's see if it actually works first."

Toothless chirped happily and flapped his new tail fin.

Hiccup jumped up into the saddle and positioned his feet. Muscles bunched beneath the saddle as Toothless launched himself into the air, propelling the duo upwards, wings pumping.

"Looks good." Hiccup twisted in the saddle to check the tension in the rigging. "Everything seems to be holding. It's all you now bud."

Toothless dipped through the clouds. Condensation glittered on his scales.

"Let's see how fast we can get."

Hiccup carefully disconnected his metal foot from the rig. Slowly he pulled his legs up and stretched out flat along Toothless's back. The wind streamed through his hair and made his eyes water. "This is amazing!"

Toothless warbled and shot a fire blast out in front of them. They rose in the warm air current.

"Let's see what this new tail can do!"

Hiccup held on tight to the saddle as Toothless twisted downwards into a dive.

"Woo hoo!"

The rush of air pressed Hiccup tight against Toothless as they spiralled down out of the clouds. The ocean shone way down below.

"Okay bud, time to pull up." Hiccup had to yell over the roar of the wind. Toothless snapped out his wings, slowing their descent but the duo continued to drop.

"Pull up!"

Hiccup managed to glance back at Toothless's new tail fin. It wasn't quite in the right position to help them pull out of the dive.

"Toothless!"

The wind pressure was intense. Hiccup struggled to pull his legs up. The ocean loomed closer. With a yell Hiccup managed to hook his foot into the pedal.

They had seconds left.

Hiccup reached for the new lever. Almost there. Fingers grazed metal.

"Come on!" Closer. Closer.

"Yes!"

Hiccup pulled the lever and pushed his foot forward. Toothless's tail snapped into the correct position and the dive levelled out. Toothless's claws cut through the white caps as dragon and rider were drenched by the sea spray.

Hiccup let out the breath he didn't realised he'd been holding.

"That was a little too close bud," he rested a hand on his dragon's neck.

"What just happened?" Astrid hovered a few feet above Hiccup and Toothless.

"You saw that huh?" Hiccup rubbed the back of his neck, embarrassed. He hadn't seen her arrive. "We just need to work out a few kinks. Don't we Toothless?"

"You were almost splattered across the water. That's a pretty major kink if you ask me."

Hiccup scratched at his chin. "Maybe if I could find a way to reach the pedals while lying down," he was talking mostly to himself now, lost in the ideas floating around his head. "Find a new way to connect the pedals."

Astrid rolled her eyes. It could be hours before he started making sense again. She got Stormfly to drop down in front of the Night Fury.

"If you're done," Astrid leaned forward in her saddle. "Don't we have a herd of Gronkles to relocate?"

They'd been having issues with a small number of Gronkles that had made their home on Berk. The Dragon Riders were quickly learning that these Gronkles were picky eaters, favouring a type of rock found in the cliffs around the village. In the last two weeks they had caused the collapse of two rock faces, one above the training arena and another close to the stables.

Fishlegs had identified the rock and he and had Hiccup had spent days searching the island for another source to keep the dragons happy. Now it was a case of herding the Gronkles to what would hopefully be their new home on the other side of the island.

"After you milady." Hiccup gestured grandly for Astrid to go ahead, hoping this new task would distract her from the fact that he and Toothless had very nearly slammed into the ocean. With a humoured shake of her head she obliged.

They raced to the meeting point were Fishlegs, Snotlout and the twins were waiting on their dragons.

"Okay gang you know what to do!"

Hiccup directed Fishlegs to branch off to the right, Snotlout to the left. Astrid and the twins moved to get behind the wild dragons.

These Gronkles were fairly peaceful dragons, but they didn't take well to being removed from their favourite food source.

"Snotlout cut that one off!" One of the Gronkles was making a break for it. Shooting out of the group it was cut off by Snotlout and Hookfang.

"Haha, gotcha." Snotlout pushed the dragon back towards the centre. "Gotta be quicker than that to beat Hookfang."

"Uh Hiccup," Fishlegs called out nervously. More of the dragons were flying erratically, looking for breaks in the riders' line.

"I know Fishlegs." Hiccup directed Toothless higher, above the heard. "We're almost there, just keep them together a little longer."

He could see their destination up ahead. It was just a matter of directing the dragons towards the rocky outcrops that contained the stone they liked. One of the leading Gronkles dropped down suddenly.

"Go after him bud."

Toothless dove.

"Hiccup! Look out!"

Unseen below, another Gronkle had tried to escape, flying straight up and the two dragons collided in mid-air.

Toothless had rolled at the last moment attempting to avoid the Gronkle. The boulder class dragon had struck the Night Fury on his right side, knocking the wind out of Toothless.

The black dragon began to lose altitude. The pedal controlling his tail had been crushed, the fin itself was not in position to keep him airborne.

Toothless spread his wings to slow the fall. They'd been in a dive when the collision occurred, picking up speed in the moments before impact.

"They're still going too fast." Astrid watched as the scene played out before her. "Go, girl, go!" She urged Stormfly forward, faster and faster towards Hiccup and Toothless.

"Aim for the clearing," Hiccup tried to direct Toothless towards the clear patch of grass.

Astrid leant forward as far as her saddle would allow. "Almost there girl!"

Stormfly reached out her talons, but she wasn't quite fast enough.

Toothless hit the field running and was almost able to pull himself up. A dip in the ground caused him to stumble and fall.

Hiccup was thrown forward, but the catch holding his prosthetic failed to open and he wasn't thrown completely from Toothless's back. The dragon twisted and tried to wrap his rider up in his wings and shelter him as they slid to a stop.

"Hiccup!" Astrid jumped from Stormfly as soon as they were close enough to the ground. She ran to the downed dragon. "Toothless. Are you two okay?"

Toothless opened his wings slowly to reveal his rider.

"Ow." Hiccup looked up at Astrid. "Let's not do that again."

He was lying awkwardly. His left leg still attached to the pedal controlling Toothless's tail. The clasp had been damaged in the initial collision and the rest of the rig had snapped during the bumpy landing.

Astrid knelt beside her boyfriend.

"You've really got a way with words today," she told him as she worked to untangle boy and dragon. "That's the second time today you've shrugged off a brush with death."

"Forgive me for not choosing my words more carefully," Hiccup quipped. "I'm still trying to process the fact that I'm alive." He yelped when Astrid tried to disengage his foot from the saddle.

"I'd prefer you stopped trying to kill yourself." Astrid tried again with the foot.

Hiccup tried to sit up with a groan. "Ow, no, that hurts too. Just undo it from my leg." He lay back down gingerly.

With a frown Astrid undid the ties that kept Hiccup's wooden leg attached. It popped off and Hiccup could put his leg down.

The other riders had finished rounding up the dragons and were coming in to land.

"Dude, that was awesome!" Tuffnut jumped from Belch. "The way you hit the ground. We almost thought you had it."

"Buuut, you didn't. That was one spectacular crash." Ruffnut came to stand by her twin.

"Are you okay?" Fishlegs and Meatlug hovered nearby.

"I'm fine guys, really." Hiccup sat very slowly. Astrid helped him all the way up. "Toothless, how about you? You okay buddy?" The dragon crooned softly in response. "See. We're fine."

"Really?" Astrid asked, unconvinced. She rocked back on her shins and put her hands on her hips. "Go on Dragonboy, stand up then."

"Good luck there Astrid, he only has one leg!" Snotlout had caught up to the rest of the group. Astrid scowled at him and the boy backed away.

Hiccup sat, silently determining the best way up. He reached for the remains for Toothless's saddle, biting back a groan when his ribs protested.

That option out he contemplated his next move.

Astrid reached out to grasp his hand, taking pity on him. "Come on, up we go." She pulled him to his foot.

Upright Hiccup leant heavily on Toothless. Lines of pain were drawn across his forehead.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Astrid still held Hiccups hand. She felt his fingers squeeze hers in what was probably reassurance, but the grip was just a little too tight.

"I just... just need a minute," he panted.

"You guys head back to Berk," Astrid addressed the other riders. "We'll meet you back there later."

The twins led the group off back towards the village, leaving Hiccup and Astrid alone with their dragons.

"Okay, out with it Hiccup," Astrid was checking Hiccup over, "what hurts?"

Hiccup let out a tentative laugh, "everything?"

"Care to be a little more specific?"

"Uh, leg," Hiccup rubbed a hand down his thigh towards his left knee. "Ribs… head…"

"There's not much we can do right now," Astrid pointed out. "We need to get back to Berk. Gothi can check you over."

Hiccup cast an eye over Toothless's damaged harness.

"I'm not sure if Toothless can fly like this. I can't fix his tail here, but I might have his old rigging still at home in the forge. If you go get it…" he glanced down, wincing at the movement. His head was pounding making thinking difficult.

"I'm not leaving you here alone Hiccup, not like this."

"I'm not leaving Toothless here alone."

"Toothless can take care of himself," Astrid indicated to the dragon. "Much better than you can right now. Tell me honestly, would you be upright right now if you didn't have Toothless to lean on?"

Hiccup didn't answer.

"As soon as we get you back to Berk I'll come straight back for Toothless, I promise."

Toothless pushed his head into Hiccup's hands, trying to reassure his rider.

"We could walk back," Hiccup suggested.

"You can't walk!" Astrid reached for the useless prosthetic tangled in the saddle, giving it a few tugs to prove it was stuck.

"There should be a spare in the bag," Hiccup flapped his hand towards his saddle bag. "I always carry a spare." This last part was mumbled, more to himself than anything. The gesturing hand came up to rub this head where a painful bump was forming.

Astrid rummaged through the bag, pulling the spare leg free. It looked okay. Toothless had taken the brunt of the collision and fall on his left side, the bag was hanging on the right. Astrid handed over the leg and took a moment to glance over the Night Fury for injuries. It appeared that his tough scales had protected him, but there were scrapes and marks from where his harness had dug into the softer skin under his legs and the dragon appeared to be favouring his left leg slightly. Hiccup definitely wasn't thinking straight if he'd failed to take in Toothless's injuries. Astrid scowled. This time his stubbornness wasn't just putting himself at risk.

She turned to point this out, watching the dark-haired Viking wobble as he tried to bend down to attach his foot.

"How about you sit down before you fall down?" She snatched the prosthetic out of his hands.

"As-"

"Sit!"

She helped him down and knelt.

"I can put it on myself." Hiccup held out his hands for his foot, Astrid shoved it at him with shaking hands. She tried to ignore the heat pickling at her eyes. She was not going to cry! Warriors did not cry.

Hiccup groaned.

"I think I might need some help," he admitted. He handed the metal leg back to Astrid, leaning back when she took it and rubbing gingerly at his ribs.

He watched her face, taking in the dark expression.

"You're angry with me."

Astrid sighed, trying to relax her posture. "I'm not angry Hiccup." Her hands were gentle as she eased the hem of his pants up to attach his spare leg. "You scared me. Badly. When you and Toothless hit the ground..." she trailed off as she finished tying the knot to keep the prosthetic secure. "I just want to get you back to Berk. Get you looked at. Toothless too."

At that Hiccup turned to look at his dragon- really look at him.

"You're right, I'm sorry," Hiccup put a hand on Toothless. "I'm sorry bud. I- I wasn't thinking." He was finally noticing the scratches that marred the dragon's side.

Toothless chirped reassurances at his rider.

"We'll check him out when we reach Berk," Astrid promised. "You ready to stand?" She moved around to the injured boy's side, hooking her hands under his arms to haul him up.

"Yeah, time to go."

On the count of three, Astrid helped Hiccup to his feet. They stood there for a moment while he caught his breath. His left leg was bent slightly at the knee, to avoid putting any weight on it. With a steadying breath, he eased his weight down onto the injured leg.

"Okay, walking's out," he grunted shifting his weight back onto his good foot.

Toothless darted to move in front of Hiccup, indicating that the boy should climb on.

"No Toothless," Hiccup gently pushed his dragon back. "I'm not going to ride you when you're injured too."

"Maybe we could get you on Stormfly," Astrid suggested.

Hiccup gazed up at the tall blue dragon and gulped. "Yeah, maybe." He looked back to his own dragon. "You sure you're okay to walk bud?" Toothless nodded and pushed him towards Stormfly. "Okay then."

Astrid supported his weight as he hobbled over to the dragon. "Crouch down girl, let's make this as easy as possible."

With a cheerful squawk Stormfly sat in the grass, pressing herself low so that Hiccup could struggle into the saddle.

Astrid removed the last of the ropes that made up Toothless's damaged saddle and unbuckled the damaged fin from the Night Fury's tail. Unencumbered the dragon looked a little more comfortable. That done, Astrid climbed up behind Hiccup, wrapping her arms about his waist.

"Let's go home."

()

It was a long walk back to the village.

Stormfly's springing gait had not made for a pleasant trip and Hiccup was relieved to finally see the edge of the forest where the fields around Berk began.

In truth, it had only taken around half an hour to make the return journey to Berk, but with every jolt Hiccup's new aches and pains made themselves known and time seemed to stretch.

As they reached the centre of the village they found the other riders. Stoick and Gobber were both with them.

"Son!" The Chief had caught sight of his boy and was strolling over. "We were about to come looking for you."

"Sorry Chief." Astrid eased her hold on Hiccup's waist in the presence of his father. "We realised Toothless's tail was too damaged to fly. We had to walk."

"But everyone's okay?"

"I'm fine Dad," Hiccup tried to brush off his father's concern. "I'm more worried about Toothless."

"I'll make sure he gets checked out," Astrid smiled down at the Chief. They both knew what Hiccup was like. "Fishlegs, would you take a look at Toothless? Gobber, maybe you could lend a hand? I know you've been tending to some of the dragons here on Berk."

"I would be happy to help lass." The blacksmith hobbled forward towards the Night Fury. "Come along dragon. We'll get you sorted in no time."

"Ruffnut, Tuffnut, will you two fetch Gothi and bring her to the Chief's hut?"

"We're on it." Ruffnut cheered as she swung up on to her dragon's neck. Her twin copied her movements and the green dragon took off into the sky.

Nodding to herself, Astrid tightened her hold on Hiccup once more.

"Right, well I guess we'll meet you up at the Chief's hut soon. Up we go girl."

As they took off, Stoick turned to shoot a glance at Gobber who was chuckling to himself.

That girl was so right for his boy.

()

Stormfly landed lightly on the grass outside of Hiccup's house.

Astrid swung a graceful leg over the saddle to slip down from Stormfly's back, landing just as lightly beside the Deadly Nadder. She turned to help Hiccup down from the dragon. Once again Stormfly crouched to make it easier for them. Astrid got Hiccup inside and sitting a stool at the foot of the stairs.

"Shirt. Off."

"What. Now? But Gothi will be here any moment!" Hiccup had been quiet since they had entered the village. Now he was blushing fiercely and fidgeting with the hem of his shirt.

"Really Hiccup? I want to make sure you haven't broken anything. What did you think I was going to do?" Astrid rolled her eyes. "How hard did you hit your head?"

"Right. I knew… of course."

"You didn't answer my question."

"Which one?"

"Head."

"Oh... that… look, there may be two of you in here right now… not that I particularly mind…"

There was a knock on the door before Astrid could respond. The twins had returned with Gothi. Astrid let the Elder inside.

"This really isn't necessary…" Hiccup tried the aging argument one last time.

"Hiccup, babe, shut up and take off your shirt."

Hiccup gave in and started working on the ties that held his leather armour in place. Astrid sat on a stool beside him to help, discarding the pieces in a pile on the floor.

Gothi pottered around them, setting up some of the things she had brought down from her hut.

The front door swung open again, startling the younger Vikings but Gothi appeared unfazed. Stoick strode into the house.

Hiccup grasped the hem of his shirt, pulling it off slowly and wincing as it pulled in tender places.

"I can probably take it from here Astrid," Stoick said, heading over to the pair.

"I don't mind staying." Astrid reached for the shirt Hiccup was now clutching in front of himself.

"I'm his father, I can take care of him."

"I'm his girlfriend," Astrid countered.

"I don't need either of you arguing over me right now," Hiccup grumbled. "But-" he turned to Astrid. "I'd like you to stay… if you want to." He caught his father's look over Astrid's shoulder and groaned in defeat. "You can both stay." He let Astrid take his shirt.

Astrid hissed in sympathy at the sight. Bruises were already beginning to form down Hiccup's left side.

Hiccup was still talking to himself.

"I'm an adult. I'm nineteen years old. I think I'm a little beyond needing people to take care of me."

"I know babe," Astrid added the red shirt to the pile as Gothi came over. The small woman poked and prodded at the tender areas, making small sounds when Hiccup yelped in a particularly painful spot. She made the boy take deep breaths. His face scrunched up at the ache in his throbbing chest. Nodding to herself, Gothi moved on to check the bump on his head.

"Her hands are freezing!" Hiccup complained, earning a light smack to his right shoulder.

"Shush and let her do her job," Astrid warned.

"I wouldn't mind if it was you though."

"No flirting while we're checking you for concussion, Hiccup." Astrid was laughing. Stoick's face had gone the colour of his beard.

"I'll go see how Gobber is going with Toothless." The Chief excused himself quickly and Astrid dissolved into another fit of laughter.

"I swear your dad is easier to embarrass than you are."

"It's about time- ouch- he's been embarrassing me my whole life."

Gothi moved on to assess his leg, removing the prosthetic gently and revealing what was left of Hiccup's lower limb. The trail of bruises down his left side appeared to extend right to the end of his leg. His knee was swollen and inflamed.

The Elder returned to the table to look through her supplies. Astrid went over to watch. Gothi picked up a discarded pencil and scratched her words onto a piece of parchment.

"She's making a paste which should help the swelling go down faster," Astrid read over the tiny woman's shoulder. "There's not much she can do about your ribs. Bad bruising?" She struggled to decipher the language. "Maybe cracked? I'm not sure."

The wise woman dropped her pencil and returned to her task.

"Why don't I go check on Toothless?" Astrid offered. "We're almost done here anyway."

The examination had laid most of Astrid's fears to rest. Hiccup was going to be fine.

()

Two days later and Hiccup was chomping at the bit, desperate to get out of the house.

"You can't wear that until the swelling goes down."

"Well then I'll need my old crutch."

"You've got cracked ribs"

"But how am I supposed to get around Berk?"

"You're not. You're supposed to rest."

Astrid knocked on the door, listening to the raised voices coming from inside.

"Astrid, see if you can talk some sense into the boy." Stoick had one of Hiccup's prosthetic legs clutched in his large hand, holding it out of reach.

"Astrid, see if you can convince my father that I'm not a child- "

"Well the way your acting, you could've fooled- "

Astrid rolled her eyes at the two Haddock men and went to stand by Toothless.

"Have they been like this all morning?" She asked the dragon. The Night Fury let out a long human-like sigh. "Maybe we should get out of here, and leave them to work things out."

The dragon leapt to his feet.

"I'm going to let you two sort this out yourselves."

"Come on Astrid, how about a little support?" Hiccup hopped painfully towards the stairs.

"Your dad's right Hiccup." Astrid put her arms out to steady him. "I'll be back later."

Before he could argue, Astrid left the house with Toothless. Stormfly was waiting outside.

Together they walked down to the village. It was a cool morning. Toothless and Stormfly took turns chasing each other through the grass. Fishlegs and Gobber had done a good job cleaning up the Night Fury's superficial scratches and grazes and though his front paw was tender, it didn't look like the dragon had done any serious damage to himself in the fall. It didn't appear to be limiting his play with the Deadly Nadder.

As they passed the forge a thought occurred to Astrid. She ducked inside.

Gobber was working inside, pounding at a red-hot piece of metal with his prosthetic hammer hand.

"I would'a thought you'd be with tha boy." Gobber paused in his hammering to change his hand over. This new one allowed him to grip the glowing metal and dunk it in the bucket of water by his feet. The water boiled instantly, sizzling and bubbling around the iron rod.

"He's in a bit of a mood." Astrid wandered over to see what the older Viking was working on. "I think Stoick has stolen Hiccup's leg and that is not an argument I want to get in the middle of."

"Smart lass, I wouldn't want ta get in between those two either."

"I was just going to have a look in Hiccup's work room." Astrid pushed through the clutter to get to the door. "I know he had some plans he was working on."

Gobber put his work down.

"That's a good idea. Give him something ta do."

"That's the plan." Astrid ducked through into the small work room. The desk by the wall was littered with pieces of parchment. Astrid picked slowly through the mess. On the very top of the pile were the plans for the tail Hiccup and Toothless had been testing the morning of the accident.

Astrid made a new pile on the stool. She was always stunned at the ideas her boyfriend came up with. She could see more plans for his fiery sword, they were added to the pile. She also found plans for new buildings on Berk. She shuffled through the papers finding an interesting design at the bottom. It was added to the bundle on the stool. Astrid rolled the stack of papers into a tube to take back to Hiccup.

"Hopefully this will keep him occupied for a while," Astrid muttered as she backed out of the room. She waved to Gobber on her way out of the forge deciding enough time had passed. Hopefully both Hiccup and Stoick would be in better moods when she returned.

The dragons stayed outside when she reached the hut, playing together in the sun. Astrid left them rolling in the grass and went inside.

"Here," Astrid dropped her bundle on the table. Hiccup was sitting downstairs at the table.

"What are these?" He unrolled the parchments.

"I thought you could use something to do." Astrid sat on the stool opposite him.

A smile spread across Hiccup's face as he realised what she had brought him.

"This is fantastic Astrid. Thank you."

Astrid shrugged. "If it keeps you out of trouble." She reached out and placed a hand over Hiccup's. "I'm happy to help."