YAY! This is the last chapter in the fanfiction, and I am CRAZY excited! The one after this will be titled "Stranded," and I should have fun writing that one. It won't be too long as far as chapters, but it should be pretty interesting to be sure. :) Anyways, this is my THIRD update today, so if you think you might have missed updates one and two, I suggest going back and checking. Every chapter's important. :) Have fun, and this is the LAST chapter! :)

Fishlegs fainted. Toothless broke down the door. Ruffnut screamed. Tuffnut put his hands over her mouth and then she put her hands over his mouth. Snotlout fainted shortly after Fishlegs. Astrid started crying. Gobber looked like he had seen a ghost, Stoick looked terrified...

...and Hiccup just stared at them, confusion rippled across his face.

"What?" he asked.

Then the world exploded around him. Astrid screamed with joy and spun in a circle (something Astrid never did). Ruffnut and Tuffnut jumped into the air, banging their heads together, and then falling over once their feet hit the ground again. Snotlout and Fishlegs woke up a second later. Snotlout did a double fistpump while shouting "YES!" and Fishlegs shouted "WHOO!" while throwing his hands up in the air. Sharpshot blasted fireballs out the window and spun around the room, wings spread gracefully. Gobber and Stoick cheered, Stoick quickly engulfing his son in a tight embrace.

Hiccup stared at them with a deadpan expression as his father released his hold on him.

"Ahh...did I miss something?" he asked.

"MAN I THOUGHT YOU WERE DEAD!" shouted Snotlout, slapping his cousin on the back. He suddenly recollected his pride. "Well, not that I would have cared, or anything."

"Are you kidding, Snotlout?" asked Hiccup, smirking.

"W-What!?" shouted Snotlout. "Are you messing with me!?"

Hiccup smiled and rolled his eyes, when Astrid ran over and punched his shoulder so hard it nearly sent him sprawling off the bed.

"WHAT WAS THAT FOR!?" shouted Hiccup.

"YOU SCARED ME HALF TO DEATH, HICCUP HORRENDOUS HADDOCK THE THIRD!" shouted Astrid.

"Yeah, love you too, Astrid," Hiccup said with a slight eyeroll. "So...you found the cure?"

"Psst," said Snotlout, shaking his head. "Well duh we got the cure! You're still here, aren't you!?"

Hiccup looked to them and smiled. Toothless suddenly bounded over, coating Hiccup in a light spray of Night Fury saliva with his tongue.

"Eww, Toothless!" Hiccup exclaimed. "That's disgusting!"

They all laughed. Hiccup still felt the tail end of the Vorpentitis...but the cure worked almost instantly. He still felt queasy, sweaty, hot and sick, but other than that, he was right as rain.

...

Three weeks passed before Hiccup felt himself up to seeing the dragon that had nearly killed him. The Venomous Vorpent remained in a jar, bigger than the previous one, no one daring to open it even the slightest.

Hiccup was leaning almost his entire weight on Toothless, his leg still unable to hold much of his weight even after nearly a month, but he insisted on walking by himself instead of having ride on Toothless' back like he had done so many times.

"So...what are we going to do?" asked Ruffnut, picking up the jar that contained the green, snarling dragon. "I mean, we can't turn it loose, and I don't think you want to kill it..."

"We have to do something," said Hiccup. "I mean, we can't let it live...but I wouldn't want to see it dead, either."

"Hiccup," said Astrid. She was really beginning to hate and love how selfless Hiccup was. It was annoying and great at different times. Right now, it was just plain annoying. "If we don't kill it, someone else could get sick by it. And we sure can't release it for the same reason."

"Can't we just...I don't know...take it to an uninhabited island?" asked Hiccup.

"It wouldn't matter," said Fishlegs. "It would just fly back."

"Well..." said Hiccup, looking desperate for possibilities, but finding none. The dragon was doomed to die. He just had to be. They couldn't let him loose, and they couldn't keep him there.

"I give up," said Hiccup suddenly. "Okay, Astrid, you..." he paused, not believing the words that were about to come out of his mouth. "...you can kill it. But please, don't ever speak to me of this again. I don't want to remember it."

Before anyone could stop him, he mounted Toothless, patted the dragon's head, and the Night Fury blasted into the darkening sky.

...

A few hours later, after Astrid and the other youths (besides Hiccup) had taken the dragon to its grave, Astrid was on Stormfly, looking for Hiccup. She hadn't seen him in hours; she imagined he felt a little on edge.

Even she felt a little on edge about killing the Venomous Vorpent. But she knew she had no choice. She had to do it.

She found Hiccup sitting at the edge of the cliff, feet dangling off the side of it. Toothless was curled up behind him, his tail draped on Hiccup, curled around his torso. Hiccup was leaning up against Toothless, staring out into the night, starry, cloudless sky.

Astrid landed Stormfly a few yards away, telling the dragon to remain put where she was. Astrid made her way towards Hiccup slowly, not wanting to startle him, especially since he was already pretty shaken up.

"Hiccup?" Astrid asked, her voice just barely above a whisper. Hiccup jumped, turning around halfway, stopping when he saw it was only Astrid.

"Oh, hey," said Hiccup, turning his focus back onto the area ahead of him as if it were the most interesting thing in the world. Astrid approached him a little more quickly once he knew she was there, and then sat down next to him.

They sat in silence. Stormfly curled up from where she was standing and fell asleep, waiting for when Astrid needed her again. Toothless wasn't sleeping, but he did look pretty close to it.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?"

Astrid nearly jumped at the sound of Hiccup's voice. They had been sitting so quietly for so long she had almost forgotten he was there.

"What is?" she asked.

"The stars," said Hiccup. He sighed. "You know," he said, "I had a dream before that Toothless and I were flying, and Toothless went up so high, and when he turned around again, the world we are living on was a round sphere."

"A sphere?" said Astrid. "Impossible, Hiccup. The Earth is flat. If it were a sphere, we would have fallen off of it by now. But it is an interesting thought." She sat back, leaning once more against Toothless.

"I know," said Hiccup. "It was just a thought. Something to get my mind off everything else."

"So...where have you been?" asked Astrid out of the blue. "Your father was worried..."

"I've been here," said Hiccup.

Astrid nodded, sitting back. Silence made itself notable for a few minutes before Astrid spoke up again. "I was worried, Hiccup," she said. "When I came into the house after returning to Berk, I thought for a second...I thought...I thought you had died, Hiccup." She paused before adding one word: "Again."

Hiccup actually laughed. "That's...that's hilarious, Astrid," he said sarcastically. "I don't try to die. I just...I don't know. It's attracted to me like metal is to the magnet Meatlung swallowed that one time."

"You had to bring that up," said Astrid. She laughed herself. "Seriously though, Hiccup," she added, more solemnly this time. "You really scared us. All of us. You're an important part to our lives, Hiccup. We couldn't live without you. We wouldn't be anywhere without you."

Hiccup turned to her suddenly, his emerald eyes wide and trusting. Astrid's eyes mirrored his own, only hers were like sapphire.

"Thanks, Astrid," he said. "It...means...a lot...to me."

He smiled, and she smiled back. He stood suddenly, Astrid copying him. Toothless lifted his head, yawned and stretched.

"One lap around Berk? Last one to the Great Hall loses?" Hiccup offered.

"Oh you're SO ON!" shouted Astrid, running to Stormfly and whistling. The Nadder perked up instantly, standing up, allowing Astrid to mount her. "Ready...Set...GO!" she shouted.

Hiccup, who was already mounted on Toothless, took to the night sky, Astrid following him.

It was good to have everything back to normal.

Correction: It was great to have everything back to normal.

THE END