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“Alright gang! Let’s finish this!”
Hiccup guided Toothless into a loop, briefly flying upside down as they turned around to face the fleet of dragon hunter ships. The twins were busy lighting one of the five ships on fire, men jumping overboard to escape the zippleback’s wrath, and with a new hole in the deck of the ship, dragons of all sorts were flying out to safety. Astrid and Fishlegs were busy with another of the ships, its mast snapped in half and falling into the ocean, and Hiccup and Toothless themselves were prepared to fire, to launch themselves at another of the ships and sink it once and for all.
And Snotlout…
Snotlout.
“Snotlout, Snotlout, oi oi oi!” The man himself and Hookfang charged past Hiccup, cutting them off and nearly colliding with Toothless in an effort to reach the ship first. Hookfang opened his mouth, and a burst of flames hotter than Hel itself roared past to blast the ship. Toothless reared back, nearly throwing Hiccup in an effort not to get caught in the flames, and Hiccup scowled.
“Snotlout! What was that, you need to be more careful!”
“Sorry, Hiccup! I guess your Night Fury was too slow compared to five thousand pounds of flaming muscle!” Snotlout shot him a grin…and nearly got brained by a rock from the ship’s catapult, Hookfang just barely dodging out of the way. Thankfully, the poorly calculated shot hit another of the ships, punching a hole straight through the center and causing it to sink fast. Three ships down, two to go.
“Snotlout!” Toothless dodged another rock, and shot out a plasma blast, knocking the catapult into the ocean. Hiccup watched it fall, and turned his gaze back on Snotlout. “You nearly got yourself killed there!”
“Yeah, but I didn’t!” Snotlout’s grin didn’t waver, and he purposefully knocked into Hiccup this time, diving down towards the ship. “Watch this!”
“Snotlout don’t – !”
But it was too late. Snotlout and Hookfang dove – and a net shot out, ensnaring the both of them and sending them rocketing towards the ocean. Hiccup rolled his eyes. “Dive, Toothless! Let’s save the muttonheads before they get themselves killed!”
Toothless roared, and dove, wings tucked close to his body. So when Hookfang panicked, and set up a burst of flames straight up – there wasn’t much they could do to dodge.
Hiccup took most of the flame to the face, and he couldn’t even scream. He opened his mouth – but all he felt was searing heat that scorched his insides and cooked the saliva right out of his mouth. Toothless roared again – this time in panic – and Hiccup faintly heard someone scream his name before they were hitting the ocean, and everything went black.
Hiccup woke with a groan. He couldn’t quite manage to peel his eyelids open, fluttering in place, and he licked at his lips. His lips felt dry, cracked, and they burned when his tongue touched them. His whole face felt hot and inflamed, and he whimpered, tilting his head to the side.
“Hiccup! Are you awake?”
Astrid’s voice. Something settled beside him – was he in bed? – and a hand was suddenly in his hair. The gentle nails scratching at his scalp felt cold, like when one itched a bad sunburn, and Hiccup whimpered again, once again licking at his lips. “…As…Astrid?”
Ouch. Talking hurt, talking really hurt, like Hiccup had a particularly nasty sore throat, and he coughed, breathing heavily through his mouth. “Shhh…” Astrid’s voice was back, gently soothing him, and he calmed some, shivering under his blankets. Everything was so hot… “How do you feel?”
“Hot…” He coughed again, a dry, hacking cough. Everything was so dry and hot. “Everything’s…warm…”
“Makes sense. You took a Hookfang blast to the face. It’s a miracle you’re not dead.” Astrid continued to pet his hair, gently raking her nails over his scalp and leaving that same cold sensation in her wake. “You’re pretty badly burned. We brought Gothi out – she taught Fishlegs how to whip up some sort of salve, and it’s been helping. You’re not as bad as you were a few days ago, it’s been pretty touch and go.”
Days? Just how long had he been out? But All Hiccup could do to verbalize this was whimper, and slowly force his eyes open, blinking up at the ceiling. The world was frighteningly blurry for a long moment, but slowly, everything came back into focus. He was in his hut, back on Dragon’s Edge. Astrid was sitting beside him on his bed, and both she and Toothless were staring down at him with nothing but concern. Hiccup managed a weak smile, and reached up a hand, petting Toothless’ snout. “Hey…bud…”
Toothless cooed at him, leaning into the petting, though Hiccup lost strength pretty fast, his hand falling back to his bed. Astrid’s hand left his hair, and she reached for his hand instead, squeezing it comfortingly. “You’ll be okay, Hiccup. Just a little while on bedrest, and you’ll be good to go. Gothi says you shouldn’t even scar…badly, anyway.”
Hiccup swallowed, and dreaded the moment he next looked in a mirror. Still, he kept up a little smile, and coughed again. “Didn’t…kill Snotlout…did you?”
Astrid laughed, and Toothless huffed. “Trust me, he’s alive, but he’s regretting it about now. He’ll be shoveling dragon poop for the next year if I have anything to say about it. But he is sorry.” She squeezed his hand again. “You’ll be okay.”
Hiccup nodded, and closed his eyes again. “I’m…tired…”
“Then sleep, Hiccup. I’ll be here. Nothing will happen to you.”
With that reassurance, Hiccup drifted off into a dreamless sleep.