Hiccup and Astrid

memories part 8

Astrid sit in her hut, thinking of would have happened if Hiccup died after that fight.
She remembered clearly what happened while he was unconscious after that.
...Ash and smoke and silence covered the volcanic island.  Humans and dragons alike stood by anxiously watching their chief and the broken dragon that had brought them here.  Stoick knelt before the Night Fury but he was only thinking of his son and the many mistakes he had made in regards to him.
"I'm sorry," he whispered not knowing if he'd ever even find a body to set sail to Valhalla.
The dragon – Toothless the boy had called him – heaved a pained sigh and shifted onto his side.  Large eyes watched Stoick and the Viking had an eerie sense of being weighed and measured.  Then with a slow rumble the great wings spread open and Stoick could hardly trust his own eyes: Hiccup lay inside cradled by the dragon's legs, pulled against its chest like a baby.
"Hiccup!" Stoick cried in great relief and reached for the boy.  Toothless relaxed his hold almost immediately and Stoick scooped his limp son into his arms, almost afraid to hope.  Pulling his helmet aside, he placed his ear to Hiccup's chest.  An eternity seemed to pass before he was certain he heard the faint slow beat of a heart.  "He's alive!"  Stoick exclaimed and the Vikings behind him erupted into enthusiastic cheers.   A small whine escaped from the dragon.  Stoick placed his hand on Toothless' head.  "Thank you for saving my son," he said solemnly.  At that moment Stoick knew: now matter what had happened in the past, no dragon would be harmed by him or anyone in his tribe.  This was a debt to be paid and repaid into eternity.
"Well, most of him."  Stoick frowned at Gobber and then looked back down at Hiccup, letting his eyes take in the whole boy.  His breath caught painfully in his chest as he saw the mangled remains of his son's left leg: the fabric of his trousers was frayed and charred; the flesh beneath was shredded and caked with blood; and the now visible bone was shattered beyond repair.  Even as the boy lay in his arms, blood was seeping out onto the ground.
Footfalls sounded behind him, which were without doubt the other children that had come to their aide.   Those children who had tormented Hiccup his whole life had rallied behind him in this crazy mission.  "Keep them back, Gobber.  They can't see this."
"All right, back the lot of you!" Gobber hollered.  "Nothing to see here."
"But how's Hiccup?" one of them asked.  Stoick thought it was the male Thorston twin.  Gobber herded the small group away barking orders while the kids fired question after question at him.
Stoick pulled off his great cloak and laid it on the ground before gently setting Hiccup on top of it.  He prayed to the gods that Hiccup's eyes stayed closed; he couldn't bear having Hiccup deal with the pain of the upcoming ordeal.  Stoick unbuckled the harness that the boy wore over his tunic.  Though Stoick couldn't take much time to appreciate the craftsmanship, a small sliver of pride shot through him knowing Hiccup had created it himself.  Using his knife he cut a long portion of the harness and slipped it around the top of Hiccup's leg, pulling it as taut as possible to staunch the precious blood draining out of it.
Toothless moaned softly and poked his nose at Hiccup sniffing and making small crooning sounds.  Stoick's heart clenched.  How was this beast showing more compassion for his son than he ever had?  "It'll be all right," he heard himself saying, unsure which of them he was trying to comfort.
"Well I set them kids on a task to keep them occupied – they're making a litter to carry the boy on…you know after we're done."
Stoick closed his eyes.  He had been in enough battles to be hardened to such realities; after all, he himself had tended to both of Gobber's wounds.  But his son was a different story.  Fears raced through him unbidden, of all the horrors he had seen, the wounds that eventually proved fatal.  This was his son, the last reminder of his beloved wife, how could he take a knife to his young flesh?
"Stoick," Gobber said gravely, placing a hand on the bigger man's shoulder.  "We need to do this now.  I'll do the cuttin' if you can't."
"No.  It'll be me.  It has to be me."
Gobber nodded and handed him a sword.  "I've already set it in the fire to purify it."
The sword wasn't the largest Stoick had ever held, but he could have sworn it was the heaviest.   He stood up and Gobber took his place to hold the boy's shoulders.  Stoick moved to the left side, now standing right next to Toothless who watched him intently.  "I have to do this," he said to the dragon.  "If I don't, we can't stop the bleeding and he will die."  Gobber watched him thoughtfully but stayed uncharacteristically silent as he communed with Toothless.  For his part, the dragon made a small resigned noise and laid his chin on Hiccup's chest.  "Okay, then," Stoick said and gripped the sword's handle, which was already feeling slick from his sweat.
Gobber shifted the right leg to the side to give him space.   He glanced at Hiccup's face, a few cuts and singes, but otherwise unmarred, almost peaceful in its deceptive sleep.  I'm sorry, he thought again.   Clasping both hands on the sword's hilt, he set it on the leg just below the knee marking the strike point, and then raised it over his head.  With a grunt filled with anguish and regret, he sliced the sword down with his might.  It did its job well, cleaving the flesh and bone easily.  The jolt of impact reverberated up Stoick's beefy arms and deep into his chest as the sound echoed louder in the eerie aftermath than would be normally expected.  He loosed his grip and the sword fell with a clatter to the ground.
Gobber immediately set to work in bandaging the wound and Stoick knew that the worst was yet to come.
"We need to get him off this island, or all of this will have been for nothing."
With a nod, Gobber said, "Aye, I know that.  Spitelout's seeing about getting at least one of the ships seaworthy again, but it'll take most of the night."
Stoick sighed heavily as he watched the dragon affectionately lick at the small cuts on his boy's face.