Unexpected

Burnt Fish

I got called evil for expressing my love for cliff-hangers on facebook. Can I help it if I enjoy being annoying like that? I'm the oldest child, I don't get many chances to annoy people! It's hard to compete with a sister who wrote what many on this site have called the best Hiccstrid fan fiction ever but I do my best to keep you interested!

And come on, guys! Did you really think I'd kill off Astrid? What kind of twisted writer would do something so cruel?

Anyway, here's chapter 2!

~KateMarie999

Chapter Two: Burnt Fish

"ASTRID!"

Hiccup knew his cries were impossible to hear over the roar of the wind and the sheets of rain pouring on his head but he couldn't stop himself. If something horrible happened to his wife, he would be inconsolable. Stormfly swooped around him, looking to him for direction but he had no idea where to fly. He knew she must have hit something by now. All he could do was hope that she wasn't dead.

He flew low over the turbulent water, his eyes peeled for any sight of his wife. Then he finally saw something. A head bobbed over the raging sea. Profusely thanking the gods, Hiccup dived down and scooped her out of the water.

"Astrid!" he cried once more, brushing her hair out of her face.

He felt her mouth and was horrified to realize that she wasn't breathing. He started to squeeze her stomach, hoping against hope that she was still alive.

"Come on, Astrid!" he whispered into her ear. "Not now! We just started a life together! Astrid, please!"

Her head lolled uselessly to the side. He squeezed her stomach again, vaguely thinking that she might have breathed in some water and that he could somehow squeeze it out of her. And to his amazement, it worked. Moments later, she spat out copious amounts of the sea and began to cough.

"Oh thank Thor!" he said to himself.

She wasn't conscious but at least she was alive. He instructed Toothless to fly as fast as he could to Berk, Stormfly flying slightly behind them. That had been too close! If he had lost her... he didn't want to think about it. He couldn't think about it. She was alive and that was all that mattered.

He managed to get through the storm, which was beginning to clear up, more easily than he thought he would have. He didn't like flying in terrible weather but it was a necessary evil in this case. They landed in front of the healer's house. He picked up his wife and carried her in, not caring that they were both soaking wet and dripping all over the floor.

"Help!" he called, praying that the healer was inside.

She was inside and, the moment she got a look at Astrid, she immediately instructed him to place her on the nearest bed. Astrid stirred slightly but remained unconscious. In the warm lamplight, Hiccup finally got a good look at her.

She was bruised all over. Her right arm was twisted in a very awkward position, obviously broken in multiple places. He guessed that she had landed on it in the water, which was what had ended up saving her life. Her breathing was shallow, probably from the water still in her lungs. But she was alive and that was all that mattered. He took hold of her left hand, which looked uninjured, and squeezed it. He brushed her bangs out of her eyes once more.

"She'll be okay." The healer said after giving her a thorough examination. "But her arm is going to have to be set right now."

"Set?" he asked.

"I'm going to have to set it in the right position so it can heal properly. It's broken in three places so it's going to hurt a lot." she said, looking very apologetic.