Symphony of Shadows

22. Breathe

Scouring the chaos down below, Hiccup looked for any sign of a blonde fighter and found many, but not the one he was searching for. Astrid was nowhere to be found which was concerning due to her skills usually drawing her to the center of the fighting. He had already looked for her near the docks and had only found her boat so she had to be somewhere on Berk, now he just needed to find her.

But first he would stick to his prior decision and call off the flock, he had to. Just by looking down below Hiccup could see how unorganized the raid was and the destruction that it would inevitably cause as a result of rowdy dragons. Without Toothless' guidance, there was no structure in the  dragon's activity and it was every dragon for himself as angry vikings fought them off. Hiccup had to do the right thing ti minimize the damage on both sides.
"Okay bud, this had gone on for long enough. Time to call them off, Toothless." Hiccup patted the Night Fury's side and they flew over to where a majority of the fighting was occurring. Toothless let out a roar and several irritated growls, alerting the other dragons to stop whatever they were doing and that it was time to go home. Reluctantly, the dragons let go of the sheep and stopped burning down houses to return to their island.

In the firelight, Hiccup could see the confused faces of the vikings who had been fighting one minute and then been left alone the next. Shit, Hiccup thought, do they think Toothless is the leader of the dragons? Will they target him now? But he had no time to worry, he would save that for later, he had to find Astrid. He knew she could handle herself but he would never forgive himself if something had happened to her because of his actions. For the most part, the dragons were harmless, curious beings who saw herds of sheep all in one place as an easy meal. However, Astrid saw the dragons as invaders and that she needed to protect Berk from the dragons which made for a dangerous situation for both her and the dragons. But she would learn, Hiccup would show her, he just hadn't figured it out yet.

Circling the island to make sure there weren't any stragglers, he felt his heart stop. The Eastern Woods were ablaze and the culprit was a gigantic Titan-wing Monstrous Nightmare that was now flying over the fiery scene. It was clearly flushing something, or someone out of hiding and he knew deep down that Astrid was in those woods. Panicking, he raced to put a plan together; he would need to either scare off or distract the dragon to stop it from attacking them once Astrid was safe.
"Okay, Bud, we need to spook this guy and get him out of here."
Toothless knew what to do and shot a plasma blast at the dragon, egging the dragon to give chase and forget about the viking in the fiery forest.

Sure enough, the angry Monstrous Nightmare roared and flapped its wings, flying straight towards them. Toothless took off into the sky, hoping the lose the bigger dragon in the dark cloud cover, a tactic that had been successful in the past with the Red Death. Hiccup could hear the powerful beats of the dragon's wings behind them getting closer and tapped Toothless' side to signal him that it was time to disappear. The night fury took a hard right and glided into a thicker column of cloud, disappearing into the darkness that covered the night sky. The Monstrous Nightmare roared frustratingly and Hiccup made sure they were facing towards Berk before he signaled with a point of his hand for Toothless to shoot a plasma blast in the air near the dragon. The massive dragon took the bait and flew quickly in their direction, however they banked right and down under the clouds, managing to not stir the clouds and successfully tricking the Titan-wing Monstrous Nightmare.

Now that the problem had been dealt with, Hiccup focused back on the bigger issue: helping Astrid.
"Okay, Toothless, there's someone in that forest that needs our help. We need to land near that tree line to go into the forest and save them. C'mon, Bud!"
They dived down to the spot and landed, but there was already someone there. A woman with charred clothing was laying down in the meadow surrounding the forest and Hiccup started to run towards her. Her unmistakably blond hair stuck out against the blackened ground and her now ashy skin, it was Astrid. He had done this.
Hiccup knelt down to where she lay face down and whispered hoarsely, "No, no, no, no."
Desperate, he turned her over gently, pressing his ear to her chest and praying to any God that would listen for Astrid's life.

He almost wept tears of joy when he heard a whisper of a heartbeat, not being completely certain that it had been real but then he heard it again, she was alive. But barely. He had hurt her, if only he had gotten over the past he never would have raided Berk in the first place and the dragons wouldn't have come. Hiccup had fucked up. He couldn't even take care of his first real friend, he had almost gotten her killed. He had to make sure it would never happen again. He had to or feel guilty the rest of his life, so he would save Astrid. He couldn't just leave her there and wait for someone to find her eventually, she might not make it, so Hiccup took matters into his own hands.

He scooped her up carefully, making sure not to hurt her leg that looked like it had been severely damaged and walked back to Toothless who looked at him skeptically.
"We can't just leave her here Toothless, she's barely breathing."
The Night Fury purred in concern and sniffed Astrid's burnt clothing, sensing the urgency. Hiccup mounted the dragon and made sure to carefully drape Astrid in front of him in a secure position so that she wouldn't slip out of his arms or further damage her leg. He couldn't take her back to the island, it wasn't safe for her or for the dragons. Not to mention that when she awoke, she would probably hurt Hiccup as well out of shock. Plus, Hiccup didn't have much experience treating burns, what with the fireproof suit and all that. There was only one person that he trusted with Astrid's care and was sure that she would receive the best treatment.
"Let's go, Bud, but gently okay? You see that house on the peak right there? That's where we need to go."
Toothless took off as slowly as he could, and made for the odd looking house that overlooked the entire village. There would have been no place to land if it weren't for the small wooden deck in front of the house. They landed and Hiccup carried Astrid over to the small wide-eyed   viking that was about to murder him with her stick. Luckily for him, Gothi saw that he was carrying Astrid and decided against giving him a beating before securing the girl.

Hiccup still had his suit and helmet on so he didn't have to worry about Gothi identifying him and could speak freely as he found the helmet muffled his voice sufficiently to be unrecognizable.
"She needs help, please, help her."
Gothi narrowed her eyes in suspicion but motioned for him to follow her inside her hut where vials of who-knows-what lined the shelves and framed the two beds in the first room. She motioned for Hiccup to put Astrid down on the first bed, then gave the unconscious woman a quick evaluation. The tiny woman grabbed a flask from one of the shelves and poured its contents onto the larger injury on Astrid's leg as well as her hands. She then turned to Hiccup and raised her stick, promising a painful smack, but he raised his hands in surrender.
"I didn't do this! I found her outside the Eastern Woods, I think she was hiding in the forest until a giant Monstrous Nightmare set the trees aflame. She was already unconscious when I found her."
Gothi took his words into consideration and debated knocking him out with her stick, but decided Astrid needed her attention more and waved him off.

Letting out a breath he didn't know he had been holding, Hiccup's shoulders finally relaxed and he felt like he could breathe again. He walked towards the door but looked back at Astrid's limp body, the most fragile he had ever seen her. It scared him.
In a small voice he asked, "Is she going to make it?"
Gothi's eyes softened and she nodded her head, giving him the reassurance he so desperately needed. With a nod, he left the hut and got onto Toothless. Gods, he couldn't wait for the night to be over. He hadn't realized how utterly exhausted  he was and yearned for sleep as they flew home with the stars coating the sky.

He wondered how much more beautiful the moment would be if Astrid was with him.