Hiccup's POV

The sound of Dagur's maniacal cackling rang through my ears, causing my head to snap in the direction of his voice, where my eyes landed upon the cackling Berserker, who was standing over something, or rather, someone.

I knocked out my adversary as Toothless ran up to me, panting heavily as smoke poured out of the corners of his mouth. I gave the dragon a pat on the head as my eyes remained glued to Dagur. "Let's see what's got him all giddy."

I hopped onto Toothless' back as the dragon leapt swiftly in to the air, being careful as to avoid arrows and axes being thrown our way before we landed not too many feet away from Dagur, who was still cackling. It wasn't before I slid off Toothless that I saw what the Berserker Chief was cackling about.

My heart momentarily stopped beating as I found myself frozen in place and all the sounds of battle around us seemed to fade. At Dagur's feet laid an eerily still Astrid, face down in the sand with a large axe sticking out of her back as the sand around her turned a deep shade of red.

I found it hard to breathe as my hand gripped the straps of Toothless' saddle for support. My eyes stung as I was unable to tear my gaze away from the scene in front of me. This was not happening.

Then all of a sudden, my lungs began to function properly again as the stinging in my eyes ceased. I narrowed my eyes as I let go of Toothless' saddle and clenched my fists, feeling like liquid fire was coursing through my veins as I lit up Inferno and charged at Dagur.

Dagur quickly dodged my attack as he gracefully stepped away from Astrid. I swung my sword over my head, but right as it was about to strike the Berserker Chief, he blocked it with the axe that had been strapped to his back. "Hiccup! I'm so happy you've finally decided to show up, but unfortunately, it is time for me to go as I have successfully gotten my revenge."

I growled at him as I charged at him, again and again, without even breaking a sweat. "You're not getting away that easy!"

I relentlessly swung my sword his way, noticing that the Berserker Chief was growing more and more tired with each blow. I thrusted my sword forward, leaving a nice burn on the side of Dagur's neck as he hissed and stumbled backwards before gritting his teeth. "Berserkers, our work is done!"

Dagur's voice rang through the battlefield, somehow managing to capture the attention of all his men, who quickly complied as they attempted to escape their opponents. An animalistic roar tore through me as I lunged at Dagur, attacking him ferociously as he desperately tried to make his way over to the closest ship.

"Had I been you, Hiccup," Dagur panted as he swung his axe, which I quickly parried with a vertical blow. " I wouldn't be focusing so much on me, but rather on your dying wife over there!"

Once again, I froze in place as I remembered why I was so angry in the first place. I turned to look at Astrid, who was still laying face down in the sand, and suddenly, I was no longer standing in the middle of a battlefield.

The sun was sinking beneath sea, leaving the sky a rusty orange with strokes of pink and yellow scattered across it as the world prepared for yet another day to end. I was sitting on the edge of a cliff, feet dangling off the edge as my wrinkled and frail hand grasped Astrid's. I gazed up at the woman beside me, ocean blue eyes shining brighter than ever as a warm and loving smile graced her wrinkly features. Her golden hair had faded long ago, but to me, she was still as beautiful as the first time I had laid my eyes upon her.

It was then that I realized that Dagur was meaningless, revenge was meaningless, all that mattered in that moment and every moment to follow was her, only her.

As I sprung to my wife's side, Dagur's men boarded their ships in a terrible hurry, doing their best to avoid the rain of arrows coming from the cliffs and the angry Berkians and their dragons, who were very eager to finish them all off. It didn't take long before the remaining Berserkers managed to scramble onto their ships and sail away from the island, this time in a much smaller quantity than they arrived in.

I fell to my knees beside Astrid, having forgotten all about the Berserkers as I carefully removed the protruding axe from her back before flipping her over, to which she responded with a muffled groan.

Her head hung limply in my arms as I brushed the hair and sand away from her open eyes. Astrid's usually glittering, ocean blue irises had been replaced with a dimmed, grayish blue and her normally rosy skin had turned sickly pale. From the corner of her faded lips, ran a line of blood down the side of her face, where it was mixed with the sand that clung to her cheeks. 

"Hey, hey, I'm here now, it's going to be all right." I attempted to reassure her as I listened to her ragged and sharp breathing. I brushed away the sand around her eyes. "It's going to be all right."

With the Berserkers long gone, the remaining Berkians and their dragons gathered around the two of us, watching us silently as they all wondered what was going to happen. I locked eyes with my friends, who were all covered in scratches, bruises and some ash, but otherwise seemed to be doing good. They watched us with tired eyes and furrowed brows as they nodded to me, assuring me that they were indeed fine.

Suddenly, Astrid's whole body shook as she coughed violently, spitting out blood and sand in the process. "H-Hiccup...?"

A glimmer of hope ignited in my chest for as I felt my lips stretch into a wide smile. "Astrid! I'm here, babe, I'm here! Just hold on a little longer, we'll get you help and you'll be just fine!"  

But my hope was short-lived, seeing as the second I finished my sentence, she had gone completely limp. My smile faded as I shook my head, clutching Astrid's increasingly cold arms harder than I should have. "No, no, no. Astrid? ASTRID!"

Sounds of sniffling and muffled sobbing came from all around us. My head shot up as I cast a glance over at my friends, who were all wiping tears and doing their best not to make a sound.

Once again, I shook my head, refusing to believe what was happening. She wasn't gone, she was just resting! Taking a little nap, that was all!

As my eyes began burning and my throat was closing up, loud screeching could be heard from above. I glanced up and found Astrid's dragon, Stormfly, sinking to the ground as she watched her rider, limp in my arms. The dragon landed in front of us, nudging Astrid with her nose as she desperately tried to get a response from her. The sniffles and sobs from earlier seemed to grow a little louder as the heartbreak in Stormfly's face was evident.

The nadder squawked as she flailed her wings around for a minute before laying down at her rider's side, seemingly drained of energy. I turned my attention back to Astrid as my eyes burned once more and I was struggling more and more to breathe properly.

"Astrid, please." My voice cracked as I pleaded with my unresponsive wife. "Please."

Stormfly watched the two of us with half open eyes, not even reacting when Toothless walked up beside me, cooing as he nudged his nose against me in a show of support. I pulled Astrid close as I clung to the tiniest fragment of hope that somewhere, deep inside her, there was something that keeping her alive.

Too wrapped up in my own desperation, I didn't notice my mother, Gobber and Gothi walking up to us and our dragons. Stormfly glanced lazily up at Gothi, who was bending down beside me, before letting her gaze fall back on her rider.

Gothi raised two fingers, looking to me for permission before pressing them to the side of Astrid's neck. The crowd surrounding us held their breath in anticipation as Gothi rested her fingers on Astrid's neck. It didn't take long before the older woman closed her eyes and quietly shook her head.

I had lost the ability to breathe. I was gasping for air as my eyes burned painfully, tears upon tears pressing on as my body struggled to process what was happening. My hearing faded once again as all I could focus on was her. I brought Astrid's limp, cold body even closer, pressing my forehead against hers as all my bottled up emotions finally were set free in a heart wrenching sob that tore through me like a storm on the sea.

"Don't do this to me Astrid, please." I cried out as tears streamed down my cheeks, dripping onto her bloodstained clothes as I pressed my forehead even harder to hers.

The earth had stopped spinning, the sun would never again rise to see another day. I had lost her, I had lost the love of my life and there was nothing I could do to bring her back.

How would I move? How would I breathe? How would my heart beat? How was I to go on without her? How was I to go on without my trusted confidante, my lifelong companion, my compass, my protector, my soulmate, my wife?

All the color had been sucked out of the world, there would never again be another light in the endless darkness. I had lost my other half, I had lost the love of my life.