SOOOOOOO GUYS THIS IS A CHAPTER ENTIRELY IN TOOTHLESS' POV TAKING PLACE JUST AFTER CHAPTER 30, SO HICCUP IS STILL IMMOBILE. :) See the ending author's notes for more info on WHY I did this...I know a lot of you were asking for something in Toothless' POV and I BLEW IT on writing something in Toothless' POV amidst all the mother/son Hiccup/Astrid brother/sister drama, and I AM SO SORRY. I HOPE YOU GUYS ENJOY THIS CHAPTER! :D :D :D Love ya! Enjoy chapter 31a! XD

Toothless was busy.

As the new Alpha dragon, he had a lot of responsibilities. The first order of business was, of course, disposing of those hideous spikes of ice that littered the island from the previous Alpha's frosty breath. The second order of business was trying to find a safe place for all the newly arrived dragons to stay, and the third and most important order of business was to keep the dragons from fighting over their territory. That was the most important and yet one of the hardest things to accomplish, but somehow, Toothless managed it.

Yes, Toothless was busy. To say that he was simply "busy" was a terrible underestimate. He was tired of dealing with the dragons' problems; he was tired of dealing with the other dragons, period. He was tired of being looked to as a leader when he had never been in such a position before. Yes, he wore the badge of the Alpha well, but that didn't mean it was an easy burden to bear, because it wasn't, even slightly, easy.

It was, in fact, the hardest thing the dragon had ever faced before in his life. Harder than learning how to use his prosthetic tailfin; harder than fighting the Red Death, harder than anything he had ever done before.

And there was a reason it was harder, too.

Because now, he was doing it alone.

Maybe that was why the first order of business was disposing of the ice spikes; maybe that was why Toothless blasted the majority of them into the open ocean, never to be seen again. The ice must die; the ice must go, because Toothless hated it; he hated the ice, he hated the previous Alpha, he hated Drago Bludvist (thank goodness he was dead), and he hated anything that kept him from his rider, the one who was more of a brother to him than the entire rest of dragon kind, though he wasn't a dragon at all…

Toothless was alone, dealing with the responsibilities of the Alpha on his own, without help, without peace of mind, without Hiccup…

Hiccup wasn't dead, Toothless reminded himself as he turned a spike of ice to splinters with a blast of plasma. No, he wasn't dead, well, not yet, anyways, but Toothless honestly wasn't reassured. He didn't want to be taking care of the dragons, who were perfectly capable of taking care of themselves. He wanted to be taking care of his brother. He couldn't have cared less if not all the ice was splintered, if the dragons weren't all happy.

He hadn't seen Hiccup in days.

From what he gathered, Astrid, Valka, and Heather spent most their time with him, and thank goodness for that, because Toothless trusted the three of them with every fiber of his being, but at the same time, he wanted to be with Hiccup. He wanted to make sure the boy was alright.

The ice...it had been so horrible...it all happened so suddenly, no one had time to react, not even Toothless, with his impossibly fast reflexes and plasma blasts, not even Heather or Windshear, the unbeatable team that they were...not even Hiccup could save himself the same way he had saved Astrid…

BOOM.

A giant spike of ice exploded from the force of Toothless' plasma blast and rained down over him and a nearby Nadder, who quickly spread its wings and soared to higher ground, flanked by a Gronckle and a Rainwing. Most of the ice had already been cleared. Toothless was finishing up, and the dragons around him knew better than to get in his way.

If ever a dragon were angry or hurt, it was now, in the form of a sleek, jet-black Night Fury, the most dangerous and respected dragon of the entire archipelago, newly appointed Alpha over all dragons, firing purple bursts of plasma at the remaining spears of ice in resounding fury.

It was really no wonder the other dragons were keeping their distances.

One more blast was all it took, and the last of the ice shattered like glass and hailed down on the ground in front of the dragon. Toothless straightened up, panting. The dragons looked down at him curiously.

Toothless wished they wouldn't.

When he finally realized there was no more ice for him to destroy, he perked up for the first time in days. He looked around. The dragons weren't fighting. They all had a place to go where they would be safe. There wasn't any more ice to dispose of.

Which meant there wasn't anything left for there to be done.

Which meant…

YES.

He turned and bolted, red and black tailfins dragging the ground in his wake. The dragons watched him go and returned to their chatting and claw-sharpening; Toothless couldn't have cared less what they were doing. They could have been swallowing each other whole and Toothless wouldn't have done more than roar at them to stop.

He leapt across the street and tore up the hill leading to the house he had so longed to reach.

He could see Hiccup now…

At the last moment, just before he reached his destination, he skidded to a stop, barely avoiding crashing into Valka, who just walked out the door. Toothless watched her curiously; as far as he knew, she hadn't left Hiccup's side yet. Was something wrong? Oh, dragonscales, if something was wrong…

"Oh, there you are," said Valka shortly, offering Toothless a small, tired smile; the kind of smile presented by someone who was trying almost painfully hard to hold back their tears. "Funny you should show up, Hiccup was wondering where you were…"

This almost made Toothless barrel past Valka and storm into the house. Of course Hiccup was wondering where he was. Toothless was a bit shocked with himself, in honestly. Why had he stayed away from his rider so long? Why hadn't he dealt with the dragons and the ice and the blasting later?

Maybe he was too angry with the Alpha to face his rider...or maybe he was too afraid of what the Alpha's spike of ice had done to his rider…

"Astrid and Heather left to get some rest," said Valka, glancing over her shoulder. "I was hoping to find you. Would you mind staying with Hiccup for a bit? He's asking for you..."

As if that wasn't what Toothless already planned to do, anyways. He licked Valka's hand in agreement, and Valka smiled sadly again. The resemblance between her and Hiccup was almost frightening; when she smiled, Toothless could only think of Hiccup, and nothing else.

"Thank you, Toothless," said Valka, and she sounded relieved. "I'll be downstairs if something happens." She opened the door, and Toothless raced inside so quickly he nearly broke the door frame. He charged up the stairs to the loft, leapt the last five steps, like he always did-

And stopped.

The smell hit him like a brick wall, like a giant siren in his head screaming "WAIT!" It smelled like heat and sick, and there was fear mingled with that, and pain, and confusion, and underneath all that...Hiccup.

Toothless approached the bedside slowly, his footsteps making the floorboards beneath him groan, and he winced. The creaking sounded so loud in this otherwise silent room.

Otherwise silent, if it hadn't been for Hiccup's ragged breathing. Even after the fight against the Red Death in which Hiccup had lost his leg, he hadn't breathed this unevenly. Toothless remembered overhearing the healer saying something about broken ribs...yes, it definitely showed. Breathing sounded painful.

And it wasn't just in sound, either. Toothless sat down directly beside the bed and stared into Hiccup's face. Though he appeared to be sleeping, he was grimacing. His cheeks were flushed an unhealthy red, like the color of Toothless' prosthetic tailfin, but the rest of his face was pale as though dusted by flour. Toothless could smell the heat and the sweat; the boy clearly had a fever.

Toothless was worried. Out of everyone on Berk, Hiccup was the most prone to illness, as he was, of course, born a "runt", a "hiccup", never thought to even survive his first winter, much less the rest of his life, but he got over any malady surprisingly quickly. He was like a spring, in Toothless' opinion. A very resilient, persistent spring.

But now...now…

Toothless growled lowly and licked Hiccup's cheek. His face was hot. He was definitely sick, there was no doubt about it, and he was in pain, obviously. His arm was in a sling. One or more of his ribs were either cracked or broken (hopefully cracked, but Toothless couldn't have been certain).

He didn't know what reaction he was expecting the lick to garner, but Hiccup opened his eyes. Toothless almost reeled back. Never before had his rider's normally bright green eyes looked so bloodshot, or glassy, or...dare he think it...lifeless.

But despite everything, Hiccup smiled. He smiled in that goofy, lopsided way of his, and though he did it tiredly, more tiredly than Valka had, it still looked so real, so full of genuine joy. It wasn't a smile to reassure anyone. It wasn't an act. Hiccup wasn't trying to boost Toothless' mood by smiling at him in reassurance.

He was smiling from his heart, which, of course, made Toothless both thrilled and torn apart both at once.

"Hey...buddy," Hiccup rasped, raising his hand; Toothless ducked his head to meet it, almost like he had done the day Hiccup trained him, the day their friendship began, what was so long ago, and yet felt so recent, as though it had happened yesterday. "Where've you been?"

It didn't matter where he had been, because he was here now, and that was all that mattered. He plunked down on the floor and rested his head on the edge of the bed, Hiccup's hand still resting against his scales.

"I missed you."

Toothless nuzzled Hiccup's side gently in response, in a silent way of saying, I missed you too. He felt so horrible, because Hiccup sounded so tired, as if just talking was enough to deprive him of energy. Hiccup ran his hand back and forth along Toothless' head, like he always did. It was like clockwork: when Hiccup was distressed, Toothless nudged his hand, and when Toothless was worried, Hiccup stroked his head.

Their bond was so tight it was almost as though they could sense each other's need for reassurance...

"You...doing okay, bud?"

Toothless cooed and shook his head. No, he wasn't okay. As long as Hiccup was sick or hurt, the dragon wouldn't be okay.

"Yeah...me neither. But...I'm glad you came...and Astrid, Heather, Mom...they've been taking care of me..."

Good. Toothless would've roasted them if they hadn't been.

Hiccup sighed heavily and shut his eyes. Toothless watched him like a hawk, listening, in case he was going to say something else. When he didn't, Toothless nudged him; he didn't like seeing Hiccup vulnerable, and he looked most vulnerable when he slept.

"I'm awake, bud," Hiccup murmured tiredly, though his eyes still remained closed. "Yeah...just...resting…"

Toothless rested his head back on the edge of the bed, though he wished there was more he could do to help his brother. He should have been here sooner, he shouldn't have left Hiccup alone, what was he thinking?

Hiccup turned his head and coughed; Toothless jerked up again instantly to investigate. Hiccup turned to him again, eyes open.

"Sorry," he said. "You're...probably tired, too...right?"

Toothless shook his head. Yes, he was tired, but that didn't matter right now; all that mattered was Hiccup. That was all Toothless cared about.

Hiccup sighed again, shuddering. "I'm sorry, bud. I'm just...not feeling so great…"

Toothless growled sadly. Hiccup didn't look so great, either, but Toothless didn't want him to apologize. The boy hadn't done anything wrong. He'd saved Astrid's life, and Toothless knew he had no regrets...but it still hurt the Night Fury to see the boy like this…

Toothless licked Hiccup's hand; his fingers were cold. Hiccup smiled weakly at his antics.

"I think I'll be alright, bud," he said. "I've got Astrid, Mom, Heather...and you...what more could you want…"

And he dropped back off to sleep.

Toothless watched him, worrying, wondering if this would be one of their last conversations, if Hiccup wouldn't recover, if the injuries and the illness would kill him…

Toothless jerked his head back as soon as he thought it.

No.

No.

No.

And again, no.

This wasn't Hiccup's deathbed; Toothless wasn't going to let it happen. He wouldn't let his rider die; he wouldn't, he wouldn't. Hiccup was his friend, his best friend, his brother, the most important thing to Toothless, and without him, Toothless didn't know what he would do, where he would be, if he would survive the horror of losing the person most dear to him…

This wasn't the end. It wasn't.

And even if it was, it wasn't. Their bond was strong. They would literally give their lives for each other. It wasn't going to end so easily. A falling piece of ice wasn't going to take Hiccup away from the dragon, Toothless would make sure of it.

Hiccup would recover. He would get better, his injuries would mend, and he and Toothless would fly in the light of the setting sun for many days to come, like they did when they were younger, and the world seemed so bright, so new, so innocent. Everything would be back to the way it was, before Toothless was Alpha, before Hiccup grew up to become Chief.

Because in the end, they would always be just a boy and his dragon, best friends, brothers…

Until the end…

Author's Notes:

SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO I was re-reading my HTTYD2-AU and I realized something that you have also pointed out to me.

TOOTHLESS WAS NOWHERE TO BE SEEN AND THAT BOTHERED ME A LOT I AM SO SORRY. It bothered ME, as the AUTHOR, how much more would it bother YOU, as the READERS.

I'm sorry! Here's Toothless' chapter, happening, I imagine, directly after the chapter in Valka's POV. Let me know what you think, and I'll see you all again soon! :D

Cheers! :D Love you guys! :D

-Beyond