This is the last chapter to the story, and it's a bit longer than usual, so...yeah, I hope you enjoy it. :) Enjoy! :D

Hiccup moaned, tossing his head, his eyelids fluttering. Astrid put her hands on his cheeks, cradling his face to keep him from moving too much.

"Sh, sh, sh," she said. Hiccup whimpered, although it looked like he was calming down. However, it also looked as though he were trying to wake up. "No, just sleep, Hiccup," Astrid said. "Just sleep. You need your strength." He needed all the energy he could get. Astrid was still holding onto the teeny tiny hope that he could recover on his own without the medicine. But by the looks of it, he was getting weaker, not stronger. He looked even paler (if possible) than he had looked the previous day, and his fever was definitely higher.

Astrid grabbed a rag out of a bucket of water, and then dabbed Hiccup's forehead with it, leaving traces of cool water on his brow. He relaxed visibly, his whimpering quieting.

"You're good to him, Astrid," Stoick said. Astrid looked at him. She had almost forgotten he was still there, watching her and his son. He sat down in a chair, dropping his head in his hands. "Thank you."

Astrid didn't know what else to say, so she merely nodded, returning her focus to Hiccup. "Well, he'd do the same for me," she said offhandedly.

Stoick nodded. "He thinks fondly of you, Astrid," he said.

"I think fondly of him, too," Astrid said in response. She looked from Hiccup to Stoick. "Has he eaten anything recently?" she asked.

Stoick shook his head. "The only thing he can keep down right now is water," he said, "and even then it's nothing more than a few swallows worth."

Astrid nodded in silent understanding. "Have you thought about the...well, I really don't need to tell you what," she said.

Stoick nodded. "I think Hiccup would want us to try," he said. "I'm going to get the healer and tell her my decision. Would you stay with Hiccup while I go? You don't have to-"

"Of course," Astrid interrupted. "Of course I'll stay with him."

"Thank you, Astrid," Stoick said. Before Astrid could respond, he was out the door, heading towards the healer's hut. Once he was gone, Astrid looked down at Hiccup again.

"We're trying to do the right thing," she whispered so she wouldn't wake him up. She massaged his hot forehead with her thumb. "You're strong, Hiccup. I know you can fight this. You just have to give it everything you've got."

Hiccup didn't respond in any other way besides sighing and leaning into her hand. She re-wet the cloth on his forehead and laid it back again, watching him with more concern than people knew she possessed.

Not too much longer later, Gothi, her assistant healer, and Stoick returned. Astrid looked at them each as they made their way over to the bedside, Gothi holding a small, black vial.

"Are you sure it will work?" Astrid asked. "How do you know?"

"We've tried it before," the healer said simply.

"What are his chances?" Astrid asked.

"Half of our patients leave healed," the healer said. "The other half remain comatose. We haven't done it on many people."

"I didn't ask you for the odds," Astrid snapped. "I asked you what his chances are."

"Likely," the healer said, taking the cup of cure off the table and opening the vial. She poured some of the liquid into it; it was black. Solid black. Blacker than a Night Fury, and actually, blacker than anything else Astrid had ever seen.

"Looks awful," Astrid commented. Probably tastes worse than it looks, she added silently.

The healer nodded. Suddenly, Hiccup groaned, tossing his head, his eyes fluttering open. His chest heaved as he gasped for breath, almost as if he hadn't breathed in a long time.

"Hiccup!" Astrid and Stoick yelped in unison. They hadn't expected him to wake up, and they especially hadn't expected him to wake up so quickly. Hiccup looked up at Astrid.

"Hi…" he managed, just before moaning in pain again. This time, Astrid couldn't stop herself. She didn't care who was watching. She kissed Hiccup's forehead, and then pulled him to rest against her chest. The only person really who knew how much she truly, truly loved and cared about Hiccup was Stoick, and that was simply because he was Hiccup's father. The healers had never seen her openly display her love towards Hiccup (except after Hiccup woke up after the battle with the Red Death).

But Astrid didn't care. She didn't care what they thought. She didn't care whether or not they screamed it to the entire village. Hiccup was sick. Hiccup was hurt. Hiccup was dying, and she was going to make sure that he knew that she was there, and that she was willing to take care of him.

"You're gonna be okay," Astrid promised him. "We're gonna give you some medicine, and then you'll be fine." Of course, Astrid wished that she knew this for a fact, but she wasn't about to tell Hiccup that there was no confirmation either way. Deciding that it would be easier to give Hiccup the medicine while he was conscious, she held her hand out to the healer expectantly. The healer looked at Gothi, who then nodded, and the healer handed Astrid the cup.

It felt as if it weighed a thousand pounds, despite the fact that it wasn't even one pound. This liquid in the cup was going to decide Hiccup's fate. Was she ready to figure out what it was?

There wasn't time for her to dwell on her own thoughts. Hiccup needed the medicine now. She held the cup to Hiccup's mouth, and tipped it so that a little bit of its contents ran into Hiccup's mouth. Hiccup choked, coughing and spluttering, and for a moment, Astrid was worried he was going to throw up again, but eventually, he swallowed.

"How much more does he have to drink?" Astrid asked, turning to look at the healer.

Gothi wrote on the ground with her staff, and the other healer leaned over to read what her mentor had written.

"All of it," the healer said. "He has to drink it all."

"Okay," Astrid said, bringing the cup to Hiccup's lips again. Although Hiccup coughed and gagged, he swallowed it easier than he had the first time. Astrid cradled his head in the crook of her elbow, her hand stroking his cheek soothingly while her other hand held the cup. "Swallow, Hiccup," Astrid coaxed, her voice merely a whisper. "Swallow it."

Hiccup gulped down another mouthful, choking on it just slightly. It continued this way until the contents of the cup were downed, and Hiccup was left sagging and limp in Astrid's arms, looking ready to pass out at any given moment.

"That's it," Astrid said, setting the cup down. "That's it. You can sleep now, Hiccup. I'll be here when you wake up." When you wake up. She didn't say if, she said when. She didn't know either way, but she wasn't going to let Hiccup know that.

Hiccup swallowed visibly, and then nodded. Astrid suddenly thought of something. If he wasn't going to wake up, then there was one last thing Astrid wanted to say to him.

"I...I love you, Hiccup," she said.

Hiccup looked up at her in surprise, but then, his eyelids fluttered, and the medicine took over. He fell into his coma, unconscious in Astrid's arms. Astrid held him close and kissed his temple. He looked about ready to say it back to her, but she didn't need him to speak it out loud. The gratitude in his eyes was enough for her.

I love you, Hiccup, she repeated silently. And I'll be waiting for you to wake up and say it back.

Author's Notes:

And that's the end of the story. I know, a lot of you are probably thinking, "WHAT!? THAT CAN'T BE THE END!" but yes, it's over. There won't be another chapter. And no, I didn't get bored doing this story and decided to leave it in a terrible ending spot. No, actually, I planned on doing this since the beginning of the fanfiction.

Right under your noses...mwahahahaha. I didn't want to kill Hiccup, but I didn't really want everything to end with an "all is well!" sort of thing, like I do in most my fanfictions. I decided to mix it up a little bit. Hiccup could live or Hiccup could die. I'm leaving it to you to decide for yourselves. :)

Until next story!

-BeyondTheClouds777