First story on this site, I'm a little exctied!

Obviously, I own nothing, the characters and world all belong to that wonderful place known as Dreamworks.

This is a story about Hiccup and Astrid, a few years after the Red Death panic. While out on thier dragons, Astrid is killed, leaving Hiccup devastated. A year later a mysterious woman arrives with a strange claim that Astrid could be brought back to life.

Chapter 1 Accidents Happen

Fishlegs was finishing an shift of patrol out on the ocean, and it was about time. His stomach was furious with that tiny breakfast he'd had.

"Alright, Meatlug, time to head back. There might be a nice pile of you favorite rocks waiting for you." Fishlegs said, mumbling to his dragon in his faux-mother voice he used only to her.

He shifted his weight on Meatlug's saddle and she turned with him. It had taken a while to get used to talking to her like that but he'd perfected it, so that he could communicate with his dragon without words or hand motions. He padded her lovingly on the head, telling her both that she was doing well and that Fishlegs loved her.

He was in the process of turning back toward Berk when something loomed from behind a sea stack, something gray-brown that did not belong there. Hovering in the air he turned them back toward it.

"A ship?" Fishlegs said aloud. He was afraid that terrible things would happen on his watch. Why did it have to be him?!

He roused the napping Terrible Terror behind him and it gave a high-pitched whine. The little dragon stretched and looking at him lazily, large yellow eyes ready to deliver the rushed note Fishlegs was currently tying to his back leg.

"To Berk! Find Hiccup!" Fishlegs threw him up and with a little tired dip he fluttered as he got a grip under his wings. He sped off and vanished in the blue.

Fishlegs stayed and hovered within spying distance of the ship. Someone had to keep an eye on it. When the other got there they would devise a plan, Hiccup would know what to do. But what if they attacked? They would get away, leaving him and Meatlug at the bottom of the ocean!

Fishlegs was shaking with his fear-made anxiety when four flapping dots grew in the distance where the Terrible Terror had vanished. He drew a very relieved sigh.

"Fishlegs, what's happening?" Hiccup asked immediately, taking his leadership without caution.

"There's a ship, it's not one of ours." Fishlegs said, pointing a finger down at the straying ship.

"That looks like a Berserker ship." Astrid said, squinting at the ship's ripped sail.

"It is." Hiccup said, looking through his trusty eye-glass. The sail was ripped and the entire ship looked as through it had had chunks bitten out of it, and then set on fire. Char marks turned most of the hull a dirty black. "But it doesn't look like there any one on it. Let's get a closer look."

The five dragons and their riders followed his lead. A cautious downward glide to the ship, and they circled in, Toothless landed on the empty deck. It looked like it had gone through a dragon battle, with the fiery scorch marks and smeared pools of what looked terribly like blood.

"What happened?" Hiccup said to himself.

At his voice something rattled behind a crashed stack of barrels. A rattle, and a scraping against wood.

"Hello?" Hiccup called. He hopped off his dragon, an act that Toothless met with a disproving grunt and head-shake. Hiccup patted his dragon hoping to reassure him as he stepped toward the barrel pile. Careful steps, pat click pat click, and Hiccup was standing a bare foot in front of the barrel. Something, or someone, was behind it. He could hear them breathing.

Hiccup made to move the barrel when that someone burst from underneath them. A man, wild haired and wide eyed, wielding a bloody sword and an empty crossbow, came screaming out at him. Toothless was soon between Hiccup and the strange man, screaming at the man as Hiccup tried to assess the situation.

"Wait! Wait!" Hiccup said, trying to intervene between the man with the blade and his dragon. "Toothless, no!"

The dragon listened but the man didn't. He lashed forward with the sword, missing from bad aim and a weak arm. He threw his arm forward like a child throwing its first ball. The sword crashed down on the boat with a thud. Hiccup pulled Toothless back and climbed on his back quickly. In the air they rose as the madman shouted and shook his bloodied blade around.

"What's wrong with him?" Tuffnut said, leaning forward over his dragon's head to see the wild man in action.

"Can we keep him?" Ruffnut, his sister, chimed in.

"He can have you bed. He'd make a better roomie." Tuffnut grinned.

Ruffnut kicked him, sending him crashing off the dragon and only missing the steel-colored water by the quick snap of his dragon's teeth.

"Guys, look out!" Hiccup said, watching the man dig bolt from the mass of junk amid the barrels. He shot into the air recklessly, missing them all by far.

"Look out for what?" Tuffnut said.

"We're better off staying still." Snotlout leered.

"What happened?" Astrid asked, hovering closer to Hiccup and Toothless. "Do you think they were attacked?"

"Looks that way. By a dragon, maybe." Hiccup said. "Who knows how long this guy's been drifting about."

"By the smell? More than a month." Astrid said.

A war-cry, and the man was shaking his head madly and mumbling incoherent gasping words. Bolt after bolt, none of which found a mark other than the ocean below, the man shouted upward at nothing. Finally, words came to him in a desperate lashing out, "You'll never take me alive!"

One last bolt, fastened into the crossbow, and fired in a mad rage, this time striking much closer. In all his wailing, and previous misses, the expectations of the last was low. It came at Hiccup and Astrid much too fast. It was too quick and they were too unprepared.

Hiccup and Toothless jerked quickly to the right, out of harm's direct path. He heard the bolt sink into something thicker than water, and much closer to him. It was joined by a wounded shout, as much anger as sudden pain.

"Astrid!" Hiccup shouted as he dashed to look her way. He clutched at her middle, the bolt's end sticking out horribly from between her fingers, red seeping into her clothes and soaking her hand.

"Son of a…agh!" Astrid screamed as she pulled the bolt from her own flesh, a nasty ripping sound accompanying it, that made Hiccup cringe at the scene.

The madman was shouting vigorously, and the others were looking at Hiccup for what to do. He had to make a decision and quick, there wasn't must time. They had to get Astrid back to Berk.

"Take it down, there's nothing we can do for him now." Hiccup said to the others, feeling the weight of his words as he spoke then. There wasn't time for any other. "Astrid, we're going back."

She didn't argue and followed as a good pace behind Toothless. The ship and the other riders faded into the blue, and then suddenly a fiery explosion raged on top of the water. Hiccup felt his chest thundering. It was made worse by Astrid's troubled breathing. He held up for a moment so he was flying beside her instead of in front.

"Astrid?" Hiccup called. She didn't look good at all. She was soaked in red, it ran down Stormfly's side in rivets. Astrid was pale, the color completely gone from her face. Her eyes were dropping, half closed and waning, slumping in her saddle and gingerly holding her bloodied hand over her wound. "Astrid, ride with me."

She didn't decline. Stormfly seemed to understand, and didn't flinch when Toothless flew especially close to her. Astrid slide off the saddle and into Hiccup's helping arms. In her movement a new surge of sticky warm blood leaked from her hand-covered wound. He clasped one arm around her, securing her in front of him. He motioned to Stormfly with the other and flew as fast as he could toward Berk.

He had to hurry. There wasn't much time left.

Astrid's breathing had gone shallow and minuscule as Berk settled into view. Hiccup pushed Toothless to fly faster, but he knew the dragon was already pushing his limits. Berk was surging into view at an alarming rate but it still felt so far away.

"Hiccup," Astrid managed to squeeze out, her hand twitching toward him.

"We're almost home, Astrid. Don't worry." Hiccup said, more to reassure himself than her. "Just a little longer."

She exhaled, and her lack of argument was startling. She always had a comeback for his worrying over her, always. Maybe she knew his worry was well placed this time. It only refilled his grief.

Hiccup aimed for the village's center. Help would be there. Before he landed began shouting for help. He heard the desperation in his own voice but didn't care. When he landed a crowd was gathering to see what was happening. A few showed the troubled faced of uncertainty.

"Hiccup." It was barely a whisper, empty and breathy.

"Astrid, don't go, Astrid please." Hiccup said, watching her fight to keep her eyes open. She was looking at him, her blue eyes vanishing behind her heavy eyelids.

By the time some of the women had gathered around Hiccup and slid Astrid from Toothless's back, Hiccup felt in a daze. His hands were shaking and sweaty, the world seemed a step away from him, fenced by a black haze that drowned out the sound of the talking Vikings around him.

The women were shaking their heads.

"Astrid?" Hiccup asked, hoping to her breathy voice.

"Its too late." one of the Viking women said.

"She's gone."

And...scene. End of the first chapter - unrefined, sure, but whatever. There's the rest of the story, about half written, but before I just combard the net with more chapters, tell me what you think. If you hate it I'll leave it as is and not worry about the rest of it.