Chapter Twelve "Love's Bond"

Shawn’s POV

Sitting up, I grab my head in sudden pain. "Easy, Shawn," Hiccup says.

We've got to get out of here. Toothless growls.

"Why?" I say.

Lukas. We need to meet up with everyone else at Dragon Island. Toothless growls.

"Thanks," I say, letting Carla help me up.

"Don't mention it," Carla says.

"Let's go," I say. Carla and Hiccup grab their shields. Carla grabs my knife and UMP, while Hiccup grabs a Gronkle Iron sword. Running to Raven Point, I stop, feeling like something's trying to control me.

Ah! What? I growl, fighting the feeling.

"Shawn?" Carla says, leaning down, patting my head. I, unwillingly, shake her hand off. "Shawn? Everything okay?" Carla says.

"Toothless? What's wrong?" Hiccup says to our right.

Mommy? Gracia growls. I throw Carla off my back and Toothless and Siare do the same.

"Shawn! What is wrong with you?" Carla says, hitting the ground with a thud.

"C'mon, bud, you can tell me. What's wrong?" Hiccup says.

"Something's wrong with Siare, too," Astrid says, getting up after being thrown off by Siare. I gain enough control to revert to human, wrapping myself with my wings, getting clothes on under the cover of my wings.

"What was wrong?" Carla says.

"I dunno. Astrid, Carla, hold down Siare. Hiccup, help me with Toothless," I say. Me and Hiccup hold Toothless's wings down while Astrid and Carla do the same with Siare's wings and tail. "I'm sorry, Toothless. Please forgive me," I say, my throat screeching.

"Shawn! You aren't going to- are you?" Hiccup says. I fire a small, silver plasma blast at Toothless's back.

"He's only out cold, for Berk's own good," I say, coughing up smoke. "Stand aside!" I shout, getting another plasma blast ready. Astrid and Carla jump aside just in time.

"Shawn-" Carla starts.

"They're out cold," I say, coughing up more smoke.

"Your blast. It was silver, not purple, like Toothless's," Hiccup says. I see the look in Astrid's face, knocking Siare and Toothless out, reminded her of how soon Stormfly is going to die. It's been seven weeks since Valka said Stormfly was going to die in ten weeks. She only has three weeks left, and she's growing weary by the day. I guess Hiccup saw it, also. "Astrid!" Hiccup says as Astrid runs towards the Dragon Hangar.

Astrid’s POV

"Astrid!" I hear, running to the Dragon Hangar. I reach the Dragon Hangar after a long run.

"Hey, girl," I say sadly.

Stormfly muzzles me, weakly growling.

"I'm not leaving Berk. No need to worry, girl," I say. I feel like crying.

Stormfly growls, trying to cheer me up.

"Yeah, guess I still have you now," I say.

"Astrid!" I hear. Stormfly growls in the direction of the voice.

"Yeah, girl, they're out there," I say, petting the blue dragon.

"She's probably visiting Stormfly," Hiccup says. The door to the hangar swings open. "There you are, Astrid," Hiccup says.

"Visiting Stormfly?" Shawn asks, walking over to my dragon. "Hey, girl," Shawn says, petting my dragon. She growls in delight at the one person who can accurately tell people what she was saying. My attention turns to Hiccup while Shawn starts a conversation with the dragon.

"How are we feeling, m'lady?" Hiccup says. I don't know why, but hearing that, I just lunge for Hiccup, embracing him in a hug. I feel like crying, but I'm not just about to cry. "There, there. We can take a walk, if you want," Hiccup lovingly says.

"Perhaps out to Ravens Point?" I say.

"Wherever," Hiccup says, tightening his loving grip on me. Walking out to Raven Point, I just collapse on the ground. I couldn't hold it back anymore. I fall on something hard, but I could care less, I'm just lying there, shaking as sobs rake my body. "Don't worry, m'lady. I'm still here," Hiccup says. This almost doesn't sound like him, but I could care less. I borrow my head in his shoulders. We sit there for Oden knows how long, until we hear my name in the distance. By that time, me and Hiccup are just sitting there in each other's arms.

"I guess we should start to head back," I say, not breaking the embrace.

"Yeah, guess you're right," Hiccup says. I'm the one to break the embrace by a sharp pain in my side. "You okay, Astrid?" Hiccup says. I look down and see I'm bleeding. I also notice that I collapsed in shallow water, falling on a familiar knife. I look around and see that we went to the Cove. "What happened? Are you okay?" Hiccup repeats.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I say, picking up the knife.

"It's my old knife. You took us to the Cove," Hiccup states the plainly obvious. We stay just a bit longer for me to calm down. I get up, dusting myself off, trying to avoid my cut.

"Astrid! Hiccup! There you are!" Shawn says.

"You okay, Astrid?" Carla says.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I say. We hear shouting in the distance.

"Crap! Berzerkers!" Hiccup says.

"We're lucky they didn't see us," Shawn says, as the four of us run to the two dragons. Gracia roars a tiny roar of excitement. Toothless and Siare are conscious and fully aware.

"Let's go," Hiccup says, clicking his prosthetic foot into his saddle. We dash around until we reach The Old Forest. Once we think we're safe, we take off, circling Berk to head to Dragon Island. I look down at my cut and see I've lost a lot, and I mean a lot, of blood. My vision is fading, blackening around the edges.

"Astrid!" Carla says, grabbing my shoulder pad just as I start to lean to the right. She pushes me back onto Siare's back, holding onto me, awkwardly, until we get to Dragon Island. My vision went back but I can still hear fading voices.

"Get her to..."

"she's lost..."

"on it,..." I struggle my eyelids open, only to see Hiccup, Shawn, and Carla there, until I see one black and one purple figure.

"She's awake!" Hiccup says.

"How you feeling, Astrid?" Carla asks.

"I'm fine. Thanks," I say. Hiccup whispers something to Shawn and Carla. Toothless and Siare follow them out the door.

"How you feeling?" Hiccup says, kissing me.

"I feel better, now," I say returning the kiss. We just sit there, in each other's arms.

"I have to go. See you soon, m'lady," Hiccup says.

"I'm coming, bud!" I hear as Hiccup walks away. I let my eyelids fall, a smile tugging its way onto my lips.