Astrid's ice blue eyes blearily opened, and for a bit she thought she was warm and cozy in her own bed. After a few blinks, she knew this wasn't the case. With a bit of a jolt she pulled away from Hiccup, whom she had been curled against. Most likely for warmth, but she still blushed a tiny bit, before rolling her eyes at herself. Hiccup finally looked at peace, if a bit pale. His breathing was thankfully even, and the redness of his fever had finally left his face. Mostly out of habit she set her hand on a pulse point on his neck, sighing in relief at the steady heartbeat. Stretching, she decided to let him sleep longer. No use in rousing him after he finally seems to be sleeping in relative peace. Astrid crawled from their small shelter, noticing the first rays of sunlight were leaking through broken up rain clouds. She walked through the quiet woods for awhile, listening for the crisp babble of a creek or stream. All she could really use to bring the water to her friend was a large leaf she found, which meant she was going to be doing a lot of walking back and forth. She wasn't too sure on what to give someone after a bad fever, but she knew water was generally a good fix all. She didn't dare to try and find any medical herbs just from memory. Poor Hiccup would most definitely get accidentally poisoned.

One thing she did know- after this experience she had a whole new respect for Gothi. Healing someone is way harder than harming them. She also knew she'd have to learn some things from the old woman. Being useless is a feeling she hated with a deep passion, and right now she felt just that. Her frustration boiled over at this thought, and she picked up a rock and chucked it as hard as she could into the bush. To her surprise, instead of a thud, she heard a splash. Smirking despite her situation, she ran through the thick underbrush to find a small stream weaving through smooth looking pebbles. Astrid knelt and after a few failures, was able to cup at least a handful of water in her measly leaf cup. Carefully she stood, and wandered back to the large tree's roots she'd tucked away Haddock in. Ducking in through the slightly muddy entrance, she froze.

Hiccup was sitting up. His eyes were blown wide, and his lip trembling. Oh no. Astrid had no idea how to approach this. He looked two minutes away from breaking down, which is a sight she never wants to see again. To see him in such a vulnerable state- it rubbed her the wrong way. Mostly because in her head he's the opposite- someone who keeps creating, and trying, all with a sense of humour so dry it could cause a drought. Not a wild eyed, yelling mess like he was last night. She can't help but shiver a bit at the recent memory. She tilted her head a bit, because he was still staring. At what? His feet? The large pelt concealed her view from the entrance of the small hole they were in.

"Hiccup?" She asked slowly, as if soothing a cornered animal. He snapped out of his trance with a gasp, his eyes becoming more glassy. Astrid was close to panicking. He locked gazes with her, covering his mouth with one hand. She heard Hiccup mumble something quietly. "I don't know what you're saying, Hiccup." She alerted him, keeping a steady but firm tone of voice.

"It's really gone." He said louder. Astrid shuffled in a little closer. When he didn't flinch, she grabbed his wrist and pulled it down from his mouth.

"What is?" She asked.

Hiccup just pointed with his other hand, the one in Astrid's grip weaving his fingers in with hers to squeeze tightly. Her eyes tracked down to where he was pointing, and it took all her power not to gasp loudly. Instead her mouth hung open. No way. How did she not notice?! Everything seemed to get so much more worse. His one leg was fine, but the other. It was just...gone. At first her brain struggled to wrap around the concept. Just under his knee, all she could see was a mass of black skin. Burnt skin. Cauterization then? Did Hiccup do it himself? Why would the dragon only eat his leg? Astrid shut off her brain before she could freak out as much as Hiccup was doing. She threw the pelt over his legs again, holding it down as Hiccup tried to pull it up again.

"It'll be fine." She choked out, attempting a comforting smile. By Hiccup's deadpan expression, she knew she failed. Astrid offered the leaf full of water as a peace offering.

"It's not fine. Far from it! Toothless bit off my leg! Why? I trusted him! I thought we were at least friends- but nooo, did he get hungry? Maybe he was tricking me all along...well, no, he's better than that. What if he was giving me all his food and got really hungry? Oh gods, I yelled at him. I screamed at him! You guys attacked him! Well, he attacked first but-" Hiccup stopped as Astrid grabbed his shoulders, her expression unreadable. She took a deep breath.

"Hiccup. Who the hell is Toothless." She frowned. Hiccup coughed awkwardly. Ah yes. She was still there.

"Uhm. A guy I met." He spit out the half baked lie, immediately regretting it. Astrid's eyebrows raised in surprise.

"You met a guy. On Dragon Island, who bit off your leg because he was hungry." She repeated back his mumbling from earlier. Hiccup gulped. That sounded very bad. Usually he was more clever than this.

"Yes." Well, he was running with it now. Astrid sighed, slumping into him. He jumped in surprise, as her head knocked against his chest. His arms were awkwardly out to the side, not quite sure what to do now. He fears that his dumb lying has broken her brain. After a minute, she raises her head. They stare at each other.

"Hiccup. It was a dragon." She said, looking tired, and a bit confused, but mostly confident in her answer. Hiccup gulps, but nods in defeat. Astrid sits cross legged across from him, her head in her hands. Hiccup looks off to the side. He gets the familiar feeling of disappointment coming off her, eerily similar to what his dad does when he accidentally blows up the kitchen for the third time in one month. He hates the feeling. Hiccup turns the rest of his body away from her. Right now, despite all the trauma, he wishes for Toothless's presence. The warmth, and constant rumbling did wonders for his anxiety, which is currently through the roof at the moment. Now that his head is less cloudy from his fever, he knows Toothless was trying to help. He hopes with every bit of his body that he's right. Toothless would never hurt him, right? The dragon saved his life once, and he had the suspicion that he had saved it again a few nights ago. Toothless was better than Astrid, who he had a sneaking suspicion hated him. She had always saved his butt in training, but he guessed it was all out of loyalty to her chief. She probably hated him for being so weak. He didn't blame her.

Astrid got up suddenly, leaving from where she came. Hiccup watched her back disappear into the thick woods. He couldn't help a small noise of uncertainty. Great. She thinks he's crazy. This is wonderful. Frowning, he dragged himself out of the stupid shelter and settled against a bigger root outside. It was cold, but the sunshine warmed him a bit. He wiped away some of his dumb tears, knowing they wouldn't do anything. She was obviously mad, or disgusted. Maybe she went to kill Toothless, unless she already did. When they got back to Berk, she would tell everyone that he was a freak who let a dragon take a chunk out of his leg, then he would be sent to Outcast island or something. Many other ugly thoughts raced through his head, that he tried to silence, but it was hard.

He was a freak. For Thor's sake, he felt safer around a dragon than his own tribesmen. Those few days with Toothless, in their own world, were some of his best memories. He wanted to go back, instead of meeting his fathers eyes again. There's no doubt that he'd think Hiccup was even weaker, now that his leg was gone. He covered his eyes, bringing his knees up to his chest. For awhile he sat there, feeling useless. After about half an hour, he heard twigs snapping. He didn't look up.

Astrid swore, then walked away again. After a moment, the warm pelt was clumsily draped onto him. Her cold fingers tapped the top of his head. Hiccup looked up, seeing her usual stern expression.

"Drink up." She demanded, offering her weird leaf cup. He took it into his palms, eyeing her strangely. She avoided his gaze, her brows knit together now. She seemed pretty conflicted. After he drunk up all the water, he handed the leaf back to her.

"M' sorry." He muttered. Astrid just swore again, getting up and doing her weird pacing thing again. He moved to get the pelt off him, and she stopped her aggressive pacing suddenly, only to wrap it firmly around him again. Hiccup raised an eyebrow at her erratic behaviour. "Are you okay?" He asked. She paused.

"No. I have no idea what to do and its pissing me off." She growled. Hiccup wearily scooted away from her. "I'm...I'm sorry Hiccup. I'm sorry for leaving you by yourself. It was immature. I'm also sorry for...um, almost killing Toothless?" She finished, looking just as confused as he suddenly felt at the last part. Hiccup took a moment to process what she just said.

"What." Was all he could say. The pelt fell from around his shoulders at his slackened grip. Astrid let out a sigh that sounded like a build up to a scream. She knelt in front of him and wrapped the blanket around him, tight, and left her hands there, not breaking eye contact.

"I don't have a weapon to defend myself. You can't run, let alone walk. I'm losing my mind. You claim 'Toothless' saved you. You're smart. I'm going to believe you, for some reason." She listed off. Hiccup was bewildered. He's never seen her so...not in control of things. He also thought her one track, dragon killing mind would never believe in his story. Suddenly she pulled out his stump, eyeing it intensely.

"It's so deliberate! And clean! Its even properly cauterized. Not ripped off, just cleanly off. The offspring of lightning and death bit off your injured limb so it wouldn't infect the rest of you. It's so obvious, but at the same time, a damn dragon did it too you!" She ranted, dropping his stump leg (and sending Hiccup tumbling, not so gently). Hiccup knew she was freaking out. Probably for the first time in her life. She didn't know when to stop. Luckily, Hiccup was well used to freaking out. He stumbled to his feet (foot), leaning heavily against the tree. He grabbed Astrid's shoulders, pretty much falling into her before she could pace herself a ditch. She stopped, as he wrapped her up in a shaky hug. It was something he always wanted after a full freak out, so he guessed it would help a bit. He breathed in slowly.

"Okay." Was all he said. Astrid froze up, grabbing his sides to steady him almost automatically. She was quiet, before relaxing the tiniest bit into him.

"Okay." She repeated, shakily breathing along with him. Hiccup smiled a bit, rubbing her back like Gobber did when he was little, and sobbing because he scraped his knee. She may hate him, but Hiccup knew having a breakdown wasn't ever fun. He hoped she would accept his attempts at comfort, if only for her sake. Hiccup knew he had at least calmed her a tad, as she murmured "Okay..." again, in a much more quiet tone.

/\\/\

Snotlout woke up, because his back was wet. He reached back to see what was the cause, only to be met with a sharp growl. He noticed that one, they were moving, and two, he was hanging from a dragons jaw by his scruff. Immediately he started struggling, which only lead to him being dumped on the ground. He turned slowly, to see the night black beast glaring down at him, its tail whipping back and forth. He froze, knowing he had no weapon, and nothing close to an upper hand in this situation. The Night Fury snarled, then tromped past him. Snotlout blinked, then turned to see where it was going, instead of eating him. He didn't notice its tail, until it pushed him forward along with the dragon. Snotlout pushed the thing away, planning to take off running, but a large black wing popped out in front of his path. Another low growl filled the air. Snotlout ducked under it and took off as fast as he could, not daring to look back. He didn't make it far.

He gasped as claws grabbed him by the shoulders, lifting him into the air. He couldn't help but scream and struggle, kicking his feet like it would do something. Suddenly he was dumped on a particularly big tree branch, scarily high in the air. Snotlout held on for dear life, as the dragon perched in a tree nearby. It chuffed at him, looking...smug? Snotlout glared back.

"Let me go!" He yelled. The dragon ignored him, and instead sniffed the air. His ear plates perked, and he leaned from his tree to sniff at Snotlout. The dragon turned in a specific direction, scenting the air. He seemed quite a bit more happy now, his pupils becoming larger. He spread his large wings, catching a cold updraft and taking off. Snotlout sighed in relief, thinking it finally flew away. But then he remembered that he was on a tall tree, with no hope of getting down unless he felt like snapping his legs. He mumbled a few curses, starting to scoot towards the trunk. He just hoped Astrid and Hiccup were doing better than he was currently. He also wondered why the offspring of lightning and death didn't devour him while he was out. As well as how he was still in good shape. He distinctly remembers plummeting from a cliff, and the dragon roaring so loud it made his ears ring before he passed out.

Maybe his praying worked? Or the beast was toying with him. Who knows? All he knows is that he needs to get down, find his cousin, kill the dumb dragon, and get home. He sighed. Easier said than done.

/\\/\

A/N: Hello, it's been awhile! I know a lot of you like this story and my interpretations of the characters, which is touching. So here's another chapter. It's a little more to establish what everyone's thinking, sorry for the lack of action and copious amounts of dialogue. I'm sorry if updates take awhile, this summer was just, ah, not a good time for me. But writing helps a lot, and I'm feeling better. Thank you for all your wonderful reviews and touching pms! I promise I'll finish this, it may just take awhile. I hope that's ok! Love you all!