War was always going to be part of the reality of being a Viking, it made up the backbone of their culture, was a rite of passage for many, and without it, the Viking people may not have ever survived to begin with. But it was dirty work, risking life and limb, it would always involve some broken family who would lose sibling or parents in such conflicts. While as much as Hiccup didn't want to partake in such grim business as war, he realized that it was an unavoidable truth of his people, and by extension, he himself. At least this was what he thought as he swooped over the stark and pebbled beach that was the battlefield of today, with his jaw set, and eyes peering through billowing clouds of smoke, surveying the grim scene unfolding beneath him. It was nothing short of shocking, but for the sake of himself and Toothless, he hardened himself against such affairs, focusing instead on points of interest and the advances of Berk soldiers below. Berk was a sea-locked island, and all for the better, Vikings enjoyed their privacy, but being sea-locked, it came that Vikings were natural sailors, and while it didn't happen as often as one might expect, conflicts broke out between nearby Viking tribes. Sometimes it was over supplies pillaged during one of their many raids, or territory on one of the many isles that dotted the sea around them. However, when such conflicts broke out, it was almost always guaranteed to be a long, drawn out, and bloody war. Peace talks would always end in pitched shouting matches, due to the fact that neither side would be willing to give up their new found prize, neither would be willing to surrender, and both wanted to prove their prowess on the battlefield.

But these were nothing too far out of the ordinary, in fact it was something of a custom, on par with the war that had been drug out with the dragons for generations, that was until Hiccup came along and made peace between the two species. Normally, it might have even been looked forward to by some, to cut their teeth and test their skill in the oldest of Viking traditions. But this particular run in couldn't have happened at a more inopportune time, with winter fast approaching, it was a choice left up to the chief, Stoick, between this conflict and the survival of their tribe. With the winter in Berk lasting as long as it did, Stoick was determined to end this conflict as fast as possible, and with as little loss of life as possible. "I'll be damned if I let this be the end of us!" He said with his ever-inspiring fervor, these were his exact words during the council meeting after the first few attacks. So in favor of the favorite tried and true Viking strategy to merely "send them running," by throwing every able-bodied man woman and child at the enemy battlements, Stoick intended to broker a peace through an overwhelming show of force, with their new dragon allies at the forefront. While although it wasn't the most orthodox idea he'd had, not to mention the fact that some didn't exactly warm to it at first. The dragons had been their allies for such a short period of time, some were opposed to the idea of an alliance with the dragons at all, still clinging to age old traditions only just broken. But in the end most found this to be an acceptable alternative to the old Viking fallback, and if they weren't quite satisfied with the new strategy, a swift death glare from Stoick, hand gripped tightly around his omnipresent hammer, quickly swayed all but the hardiest of naysayers. But Hiccup wasn't as satisfied as so many of the others, and he was determined to stand up for what he believed in.

Pacing the ground floor in his the house he and his father shared, Hiccup couldn't believe what the vast man was asking of him, not only as his son, but the most trusted human amongst the dragons. Running a hand through his auburn hair, clearly distressed about the dilemma he was in, forced to make an extremely jarring decision. He knew the consequences and outcomes of both paths, and he knew there was only one he could take, Hiccup didn't like it, and he was persistent in making his true opinion known, despite the sacrifice he would eventually have to make.

"You realize this is just really, really,-Wrong!" Hiccup sputtered, stopping his pacing, at a loss for words when his Dad had first suggested the plan to him.

"I know." Stoick replied, not looking his son in the eye, instead opting to stare at the wooden floor, shame etched on the man's every feature. It was apparent that Stoick was humbled in regard to Hiccup, clearly not wishing to be in his current position, asking Hiccup to compromise his morals, and his spot of trust amongst the dragons, for a war that didn't involve them.

"I mean, we just got them to trust us, after generations of killing them! And now you just want to force them to do what? Become our tools of war, to become our slaves?" Hiccup guffawed, running both his hands through his hair, reaching a point of near hysteria at just what was being suggested.

"I know what I'm asking for is alot-" Stoick muttered before being cut off.

"Alot? Alot!" Hiccup cried in an exasperated tone, voice raising in pitch once again, matching his rising temper. "You're asking for their very lives!"

"You think I don't know this?" Stoick responded, losing patience, bringing himself up to his full imposing height as he matched Hiccup's volume. "You know I wouldn't be asking if there wasn't a lot at stake!"

Both sat in the silence of the hut, fire crackling beside them, air hanging thick above them while obvious tension lingered between father and son, they met at an impass Hiccup was steadfast determined to stand by his values, and maybe make his father see his point of view, and Stoick pleading deeply with the boy, resolute to do right by his people and the one family member he had left. Both sat like this for some time before Stoick finally swallowed the last of his pride and once more humbled himself before Hiccup, breaking the mutual silence.

"Winter is coming early this year, earlier than usual." Stoick spoke, voice soft but serious, placing emphasis on all of his words, determined to break through to his boy. "We can't afford to occupy ourselves with a petty war, you know as well as I that if we don't settle this quickly, it could mean the end of us, and them."

Hiccup still stood, arms crossed, facing his father, not content to give up and bend to his request. Once more silence enveloped the room as Hiccup contemplated his options, but it wasn't before long that he was interrupted. At this point, Toothless, who had been observing the conversation from one of the support beams that stretched overhead, descended on Hiccup, eyes fixated on the stubborn boy, as if they were boring straight through the boy, a clear message plastered on his dragon visage, but despite their intensity, the soft emerald eyes were attempting to sway the young seeing this, Hiccup immediately turned his eye from the Night Fury, steadfast to stand his ground, even against his best friend. But Toothless was clear in his position as well, he understood the risks of what Stoick asked, and he knew the rest of the dragons would as well.

"Fine." Hiccup mumbled, resigning himself to what his father had planned, sighing and crossing his arms, and dropping onto the stool situated beneath him, grumbling all the while. Hiccup had finally agreed, but felt it was rather underhanded for Toothless to coerce him the way he did.

That had been almost two weeks ago, and as much as Hiccup didn't want to admit it, his father's strategy had worked to near perfection. Ignorant to the events on Berk, the defending tribe had been utterly devastated by the first aerial assault. Dragon's fire scattered their forces, and they were all but helpless against the two pronged onslaught. Vikings on the ground quickly cut down opponents distracted by those in the air, catapults were quickly dispatched and so far there had been a minimum loss of life.

The battle was drawing to a close, and with it the rest of this little war, it was becoming clear that only the most foolhardy of warriors came to face them, and even these were now in short supply. It was actually becoming so obvious that they had won, Stoick felt comfortable enough to allow Hiccup onto the frontlines, only with Toothless though, of course. And this was where Hiccup found himself, atop Toothless high above the carnage. They had nearly pushed the enemy line to their back ranks, and they were all but running scared from the overwhelming force that fell upon them. However, things weren't as simple as they came across, the siege weaponry that dotted their rear line was most threatening, the Ballista in particular was devastating to the dragons. It was a large tension powered weapon that slung spears at massive speeds, if one so much as clipped a dragon, said dragon would be grounded at the very least, but was a death sentence at the very worst and was often the case, these machines quickly became priority targets once they realized the damage they could cause, so with watchful eyes and baited breath, Hiccup stayed on the alert, watching for any signs of an ambush or surprise attack, but the day had gone relatively uneventful, and looked like that's how it was going to end.

Descending from the extreme height he and Toothless maintained, Hiccup quickly found the other dragon riders and the small band of friends he had made in his recent ascension to fame. Falling back in with his allies, Hiccup maneuvered Toothless in next to Astrid and her Nadder, seeking what knowledge she may have happened upon, in the hopes of ending the battle with minimum incident.

"What's the situation?" Hiccup called out over the rush of the wind in his ears.

"It looks like our work is almost done, we've got them heading for the hills, but keep your eyes peeled, Ruff and Tuff said they wheeled in a few catapults and other pieces of equipment to make their last stand, so be careful!"

"You too!" Hiccup replied, before they each peeled off and went their separate ways.

Spotting the hill that most of the enemy had taken refuge on, Hiccup sized up the enemy. They definitely weren't going to surrender, that much became obvious by the spears and tripwires that were casually lobbed in his direction, but not wanting to attract too much attention, Hiccup climbed far above the soldier's reach, preparing for the final engagement. Considering their speed and experience, it was going to be up to him and Toothless to destroy the siege weapons, once those were out of the way, the rest of their force could move in and the foot soldiers would be easy pickings. Circling about, deciding on their particular approach, Hiccup scoped out the targets below, prepping himself mentally for the task he was taking on, but a reassuring rumble from Toothless calmed his nerves, settling himself and clearing his head.

"Alright boy, this is it, we clear these and we're home free, you ready boy?" Nodding and growling in response, Hiccup pat the dragon affectionately on the head. "That's my buddy, alright, here we go!"

Yanking hard on the saddle to direct the dragon while simultaneously tucking the leather tailfin in tight, Toothless followed suit, tucking his Wings tight to his body, Hiccup mimicking the action by squeezing himself down as far he could while still maintaining control. The two shot like a stone a from a sling, wind ruffled his hair, both he and Toothless squinted intently, searching for the closest target. Screaming in with the usual Night Fury ferocity, the enemy never saw it coming. With the usual high pitched scream that accompanied the Night Fury's attack, Hiccup was all but deaf as the rushing wind drowned out all but his thoughts. Cries of panic and the sound of battle were all lost upon the boy as he and Toothless in unison fell upon the battlements like the hammer of Thor himself. Bracing himself and focusing intently on his task, he spotted the first of his targets, ready to point them out to his partner.

"In front!" Hiccup yelled, pointing to one of the large wooden catapults, on cue, Toothless let loose a blast from his maw, more lightning than flame, and what was once a devastating weapon was now nothing more than splinters and cinders. Circling around, dodging the attacks that were now focused upon him and Toothless, they quickly returned to the offensive, taking aim once again at the dangerous siege weapons.

"To the left!" Again, with honed precision, another piece of weaponry burst into flame beneath the boy and his dragon.

"To the right!" One more time the dragon annihilated the enemy forces in their dive bomb attack before pulling out and returning to the safety of the heights. Looking down from their position high above the battleground, Hiccup was satisfied with the work he and Toothless had done. Maybe this was going to go off without a hitch after all.

Preparing for what was likely to be their last run of the battle, Hiccup leaned forward in his saddle to reach the dragon's ear.

"Alright bud, only a couple more times, you ready?" Hiccup asked, encouraging his friend. Once more, Toothless nodded his consent as he took direction from the boy. Descending from their height once again, the pair gathered speed before the final attack, this time approaching from directly above, Toothless took initiative in eliminating the various weapons as Hiccup scanned the battlefield. Their forces had nearly pushed, even through his watering and wind-stung eyes it was apparent that the Berk warriors had all but won at this point, but it was still up to him and Toothless to clean up the dregs that had holed up on the cliffside. However, before the dragon could get a shot off, a sight struck Hiccup, one that shocked him to his very core. On the cliffside, a team in control of a Ballista was taking aim at something, and in an instant he realized what, Astrid sat right in the weapon's line of fire. Before he could react, the Ballista let off a bolt, headed straight for Astrid, who was busy clearing a path for Hiccup's father and a number of others on the ground. Toothless quickly took notice and let loose a fireball, reducing the machine to splinters, but it was already too late, the spear was in the air, and on a collision course. Acting on impulse rather than reason, Hiccup quickly put Toothless into a pitched dive.

"C'mon Toothless, go GO!" Hiccup cried, gripping the saddle horn until his knuckles turned white, he dug his heels into the dragon's sides pushing Toothless to his limit, shooting down to Earth at a breakneck speed. But it was all in vain, at this point, even if Astrid could hear him, she wouldn't be able to react fast enough to get out of the way. Idea after idea passed through his head, wracking his mind in the precious seconds he could spare, Hiccup tried to find a way to turn the situation around, but to no avail. It didn't take a genius to know the bolt wasn't going to be stopped anytime soon, not without direct intervention. It became apparent what he had to do. Without thought, Hiccup unhooked himself from his homemade saddle, and threw himself off of Toothless, who was in shock as he fruitlessly tried to claw after his lost rider.

Falling, Hiccup knew he was just in time, the javelin was hurtling toward him, and almost in slow motion, the spearhead punched through his chest. It hurt less than he expected, but he knew it had hit him, for he immediately began to lose feeling through his entire body. The moment it made contact, the world grew silent and darkness began to eat away at the edges of his vision, and before long his body grew cold, reactions and thought were listless and lethargic, and after a little while, he lost feeling altogether. His gaze finally wandered down toward his chest, Hiccup could see crimson blossoming across the tan woolen shirt he wore, blood copiously coagulating on it, some drops starting to seep through altogether, the slick ooze coating his skin. Out of the corner of his vision, he could see his hand had already turned a chalky white, hanging limp at his side no matter how much he willed it to move, slowly, his thoughts began to wander and his mind trailed off with them. Coughing, blood burst from out at the corners of his cheeks, and finally, darkness consumed him.

XXXXXX

Crying out, Toothless howled to his lost rider. But it was clear Hiccup wasn't going to respond, he could tell the light had already left the boy's eyes, resembling nothing more than a rag doll as gravity took hold and pulled him toward the ground. Acting quickly, Toothless propelled himself with massive thrusts from his wings, intent on catching the young Viking before he violently collided with ground below. Without Hiccup to direct his tailfin, Toothless' direction was at the whim of the wind and what luck he had gotten a hold of in his life. But fate smiled on him, the wind had all but died and he hurtled toward Hiccup's falling form. Smoothly, Toothless glided beneath the boy, allowing him to softly make contact.

It was shocking when the boy's body settled onto him, even through the thick Viking garb, Toothless could tell the boy was ice cold, it had seemed as if life had left him altogether. Fear struck the dragon, and panic overwhelmed him. Careful not to put pressure onto the spear that had punctured his chest, Toothless returned his attention to his flight path. With no way to change direction, he settled upon maintaining his current bearing, shooting off into the nearby wood, intent on protecting his precious cargo with every ounce of his body.

XXXXXX

Astrid had seen every second of the horrifying scene, one moment she had heard Hiccup and Toothless come screaming out from the sky, the next second she saw Hiccup had thrown himself from the saddle, and in that moment she realized what he had done, shocked, on the verge of tears, and eternally grateful all at once. Before she could react, she saw Toothless swoop down and dash of into the wood with the dying boy. Taking her Nadder down to the front lines, she began scanning the crowd for the Viking Chief, Stoick the Vast. His girth unmistakable, Astrid found him amongst a group of other men guiding the battle. But it seemed that recent events didn't go unbeknownst to the massive man. It seemed that Stoick was trying to arrange a search party at the moment of Astrid's arrival.

"We'll need at least twelve men, split into four groups of three and then comb the forest, is that clear?"

Most seemed quick to agree with the man, as concerned for Hiccup as he was, but there wasn't a complete consensus amongst the people. One such naysayer spoke up, voicing his opinion.

"Stoick, we understand, and we feel you pain, but you've got to realize, there's no surviving that, the poor boy is dead."

"What?" Stoick responded, his voice reaching a quiet and extremely dangerous tone.

Treading lightly, the man took notice of the Chief's tone, choosing his next words carefully, he went on.

"You've got to be honest with yourself here, it's a tragedy, to be sure, but Hiccup played his part, and we have a battle to finish here, it would be foolish to completely throw this away over one person, and a shame to him, we need you here."

For a few seconds, the air was thick enough to cut with a knife, but the atmosphere was broken when Stoick lashed out. A single meaty hand gripped the man around the neck, the other raising his massive warhammer above his head, fury burning in his eyes.

"YOU DON'T TELL ME THAT!" Stoick cried, and for a moment it seemed his anger would get the best of him.

"Don't do it!" Astrid plead desperately, leaping down from her dragon and running toward the Chief. Before she reached him though, another intervened.

"Just calm down." Gobber said, placing a hand on Stoick's shoulder. Lowering his hammer and taking his hand off the man's throat.

"You go, I'll take care of things here."

In the moment, it became apparent that Stoick was ashamed of himself, his shoulders slumped, and self hatred apparent in his features.

"Thank you, my friend." Stoick muttered.

XXXXXX

The situation was grim, Toothless had managed to avoid agitating the boy further when they landed in the woods, but from what he could see he was already far gone. Eyes dark and skin chalky, it seemed that all life had left the young boy, but Toothless still kept hold of the boy with all importance placed upon him.

Rain began to fall and Toothless moved quick. Bounding deeper into the trees, Toothless found a small cave that would serve well as shelter for the night, dragging Hiccup in first and then shuffling in after him. Breathing fire onto a rock in the back of the cave until it glowed bright orange. Finally taking the opportunity to study his rider carefully, Toothless couldn't help but cringe. The boy he'd known to be so lively, so happy, seeing him like this was heartbreaking.

At this point, Toothless was desperate, he would give anything to have Hiccup back. Wouldn't he? It was something he had only heard of, legends and fantasy amongst dragonkind, he wouldn't even know where to start. But time was wasting, Hiccup hadn't been gone for long, but he knew he couldn't perform this at his leisure. With the light dwindling in the cave, Toothless stood over the boy. Gripping the spear in his jaws, Toothless pulled it free of the boy's chest, snapping it in two and tossing it aside. This was the tricky part, the spear had pierced Hiccup's heart, Toothless would be giving his own heart, his very life to the boy, there would be no coming back from such a decision. If it was to get Hiccup back, he could do this. Finally settling his mind and making peace, Toothless spread a patch of scales on his chest and pressed an ebony claw to the skin beneath it. Bracing himself, the dragon pushed straight through, exposing a broad gaping wound. With that, Toothless pressed the identical wounds on his and Hiccup's chests to each other. A second passed, then another. Before long, Toothless was unsure of it would work at all, but at the last minute, any doubt was crushed as he felt a heat well up in his chest, consuming him. It grew hotter and hotter, and even though he was a dragon, the heat was near unbearable, it felt as if he would burn up in such an inferno, and it felt as if it would never end, just at this point, the heat subsided and a heavy throbbing settled in the center of his chest.

Picking himself up and away from the cave floor and Hiccup, Toothless was almost afraid to see the result of his handiwork. Cracking an eye, he peered down at the boy. Where there used to be the wound from the spear, there was now a patch of seared skin, in the center of which was a long pink scar, mimicked on Toothless' own chest. But what sent a feeling of pure ecstasy through the dragon, was a pink flush that had spread to Hiccup's limbs, and his breast rose and fell with deep breaths. And before Toothless knew it, the boy's eyelids began to flutter as he slowly regained consciousness.

XXXXXX

The last thing Hiccup remembered was darkness closing in on him, and then nothing, he felt the weapon hit him and death's caress upon him. But now he was coming to, was this Asgard? Slowly his vision was coming into focus, but before he could make anything out, he heard a voice, deep and resonate, coming from a large black spot in the center of his vision, he was about to call out to it, but instead, it spoke first.

"Hiccup, Hiccup can you hear me?"

XXXXXX

Things were getting clearer to Hiccup, his vision was finally coming into focus, he was thinking more clearly, and feeling was coming back to his body, particularly his chest, where a heavy throb had settled, and now wouldn't quit. But the most curious thing that had piqued his interest, was the black smudge, which had now taken center stage in his vision, almost blotting out everything else, except on the very edges. The strange part, however, was that it seemed to occasionally say words of encouragement to him, sometimes just his name, other times encouraging him to open his eyes, or asking him to get up, but it was always friendly, and somehow familiar.

Hiccup was finally feeling rejuvenated, he could clench and unclench his hands, he was moving his right foot, and the rest of his body was regaining feeling. So in a bold move, Hiccup pressed himself off the cool rock of the cave and stood shakily on foot and prosthetic. For a moment he swayed, as blood began to rush back to his extremities, but it was too much all at once and before Hiccup knew it, he had lost balance and was quickly rushing toward the stone floor. Before he could make rather painful contact, he was stopped short, he had collided with something warm, moving, and scaly? Once he regained his balance, Hiccup settled onto his feet once again, pressing off of the thing that had caught him.

At this point, Hiccup's sight was almost completely in focus, and he got a good look at what was in the cave with him, although he already had his suspicions.

"Toothless?" Hiccup asked dazedly, in relief.

Staring down at his best friend, a wave of happiness overcame him, a smile crept over his lips as he reached down to pet his friend on the snout. Before his hand reached it though, a voice spoke to him, and it came from Toothless.

"Hiccup, are you alright?"

Taken aback, and absolutely shocked, Hiccup stood there, his hand still poised above the Night Fury, Hiccup couldn't help but stare at the dragon.

"Alright, there's a perfectly reasonable explanation for this," Hiccup said, turning his back on the dragon, lacing his fingers behind his head as his breathing increased to hysterical levels.

"Yeah, I've got it, I fell. Yeah, that's it, I fell and hit my head." Glancing back at Toothless and remembering what happened not a second before, Hiccup added, "Really hard."

Turning back around, Hiccup plopped down onto the cave floor and stared at Toothless, who had remained silent since Hiccup had started to lose his composure.

"Yep, this is all just part of my overactive imagination." Hiccup said, eyes still transfixed on the dragon, "I'm going to wake up any second now in my house, in bed, head wrapped up and being chastised by my Dad for being an idiot."

"Yeah, that's exactly what's going to happen." Hiccup reassured himself, sighing. After a few seconds though, Hiccup couldn't help but question his own theory. "So why am I still here?"

Getting up and looking around Hiccup tried to shake himself from what he still thought was a rather strange dream. Looking out of the cave mouth and into the rain, Hiccup held his hands out and let the water pool in his palms, taking what little hadn't seeped through the gaps in his fingers, he splashed it on his face, trying in vain to shock himself from his state. All the while Toothless stood by chuckling to himself as Hiccup tried to make heads or tails of the situation. Losing patience, Hiccup turned back to face the dragon.

"Alright." Hiccup said, crossing his arms, "Explain yourself, start talking."

For a little while, Toothless stared carelessly at Hiccup, disregarding, as if he hadn't a clue what Hiccup was talking about.

"Well?" Hiccup asked, fed up.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Toothless replied, gazing off at a stone wall that had suddenly become desperately interesting to the dragon.

"Great," Hiccup said, throwing his arms into the air, "My dragon's a smartass."

"Well that's harsh, you give me the cold shoulder, and then you insult me, I'm crushed Hiccup."

"So, I'm not-"

"No." Toothless interrupted.

"Then what-, happened?" Hiccup asked, trailing off as he recalled the events that had happened earlier that day.

"Wait wait wait," Hiccup said as reality dawned on him, "No no no, something's wrong here, no I remember now. We were in the battle, it was almost over-And, and I jumped."

Stopping for a second Hiccup shook his head. A panic came over Hiccup, he backed away, flattening himself against the back face of the cave, his chest heaved as the young Viking boy began to hyperventilate.

"No I remember now, I took that spear for Astrid, I DIED."

Concern washed over Toothless, getting up, he began to approach the panicking boy.

"Hiccup, just calm down, you'll-"

Pressing himself further against the rock, Hiccup was all but hysterical now, visible beads of sweat ran down the bow, leaving streaks where they crept down his skin.

"NO STAY AWAY FROM ME!" The boy cried, pressing himself further up the wall, which seemed nearly impossible at that point.

Toothless realized his presence would only serve to distress the poor boy further, so backing away, he let Hiccup settle down, slowly slumping off the wall he had nearly become attached to. His breathing slowed, and Toothless could tell Hiccup was settling down, but he dare not talk or approach him. For a moment, Hiccup merely settled, letting his breath reach a level state. By chance, Hiccup's hand came to rest on his hammering heart, which was something Toothless had feared. Once more shock found its way onto the boy's face, fingers traced over the long scar and with every second his hand lingered, a look of horror developed further. Looking up to Toothless, Hiccup was distraught.

"What did you do to me?"