I'M SORRY IT'S BEEN SO LONG SINCE I LAST UPDATED. But nope, I'm not one of those authors who abandons their fics and never contacts anyone again. (At least for this story, HEHEHEHE) I know you guys are probably tired of waiting and I'm truly sorry about that. I've just been so busy with working and school lately, and then I kind of gave myself a concussion (I LITERALLY SLAMMED A DOOR AGAINST MY HEAD, I'M VERY ACCIDENT PRONE). And then it was just my birthday on Labor Day, and yadadada. I REALLY AM SORRY! Also, I've really lost my inspiration to write in the HTTYD fandom, so I'm not sure how much I'll be updating in the future. But I WILL finish this fic.

PLEASE EXCUSE ANY WEIRDNESS ABOUT THIS CHAPTER- I honestly forget a lot of stuff that's happened in the past of this story so… just bear with me. :D

Chapter Four

I know I must still be dreaming, Hiccup thought as he opened his eyes. Because I know that there's no way that I could be on an island overpopulated by wild chickens.

He blinked, willing the image to go away. His vision swam, but the chickens around him remained. One even eyed him rather curiously.

Hiccup shuddered; he'd never been as fond of chickens as Tuffnut had.

Pressing a hand to his aching head, he took a moment to recollect his thoughts. What was going on? Where was he? The last thing he remembered was flying Toothless, starting to feel sick, and then falling…

The color drained from his face. How could he have forgotten?

"Toothless!"

He stumbled to his feet, but his vision swayed on the way up. Something was seriously wrong with him, he realized. But finding Toothless was just more important. They'd been separated in the crash and, truthfully, he didn't much want to be by himself right now with all these chickens around him.

"Toothless!" he called again, cupping his hands around his mouth to magnify the sound.

It was a big island, he realized with dismay, and it was going to take a while to navigate it. It was covered with rocks, caves, and dirt, much like Dark Deep. He vaguely wondered how so many chickens could survive on such little food, but quickly brushed the thought aside. It was a dream world - not everything had to make sense.

His only concern was Toothless now. Without a dragon, he was stuck. And he needed to find a way out of here.

"TOOTHLESS, WHERE ARE YOU?" he tried again, and avoided stepping on a few chickens as he passed. They looked up at him with irritated looks, before returning to pecking at the ground in search of food.

Hiccup sighed, looking up at the sky. It was still midday, same as it had been before. Time wasn't real in his dream world, he guessed. He was stuck in the same hour until his brain said otherwise.

As he stumbled around the rocky area, still calling for his dragon, he started to realize that maybe Toothless wasn't here after all. Maybe the reason why he was so weak was that he had been constantly imagining Toothless and the other dragons up. Hopefully, all he needed was a rest before he was able to conjure Toothless back up again.

It seemed like a good plan...

...and then he heard the loud, thundering growl behind him.

Oh, yes. This dream world wasn't finished with him yet.

Hiccup could hardly believe his eyes as he turned around and faced the monster that had haunted his dreams for years.

The Red Death.

"Does Hiccup look a little tense to you?"

Gothi eyed Hiccup who laid on the bed, unmoving. She cocked an eyebrow up at Stoick, and then she shook her head.

"Are you sure, Gothi? He looks as pale as a sheet… isn't there anything more you can do for him? Give him some kind of medicine to make him more... comfortable?"

Again, Gothi shook her head.

Stoick sighed, falling back into his seat. This feeling of hopelessness that filled him… it was unsettling. More often than not, he was able to make the situation better somehow. That was why he was the Chief of Berk.

But how could he have such a great title when he couldn't even help his own son?

His eyes fell back to Hiccup on the bed. The boy's breathing was getting more uneven, and he knew he didn't have much time left. Glancing out the window, he hoped that the riders would get back soon with all the ingredients.

If not... Hiccup was in serious trouble.

It looked like something out of a horror story. For months - years - after the Red Death incident, Hiccup had had nightmare after nightmare of facing this monster again, but never had he dreamed that he'd actually have to fight it.

Only with the help of Toothless had he beaten her to begin with. But now that Toothless was gone, he was alone and injured, and the darkest parts of his mind were coming back to torment him, he had no idea how he was supposed to survive.

The Red Death, towering over him like some kind of angry mountain, let out a roar before bowing its head to face Hiccup straight on.

Fear squeezed Hiccup's heart. He could feel himself shaking and wanted to scream and run away at the same time, but could do neither. All he could do was watch as the queen dragon opened her mouth up again, preparing to fire and kill.

How had this happened? How was he going to die so easily?

The Red Death was a thing of his past, something he promised that would never happen again. Something he'd locked far away in his mind and thrown out the key. But that door had been opened now, and he was about to pay the price.

Trembling where he stood, Hiccup looked up to face the beast as she prepared to destroy him once and for all.

He closed his eyes and waited for the end to arrive.

A moment passed, and then another. Time was slowing down when suddenly there was a faint voice in his ear.

"Hiccup!"

His eyes slightly lifted open.

"Hiccup, go to your right! Hurry, Hiccup - now!"

Somehow, the feeling in his legs was restored. As he opened his eyes and saw just how close he was to the Red Death killing him, Hiccup decided to himself that he wasn't ready to die yet. He started running to the right, just as the voice had ordered him to.

Dad could do this. Astrid could do this. The other riders could do this.

You can do this.

With a screeching roar, the Red Death let out its fire, blasting the area where Hiccup had just stood. He threw his arms over his head in protection as he ducked behind rocks on his way to safety, panting heavily when he finally was able to stop running, leaning against a boulder.

Suddenly, a figure slid down next to him, and Hiccup looked up. He was shocked to find that it was Astrid.

"Miss me?" she asked him, a dangerous gleam to her eye.

Hiccup blinked a few times before realizing that she was real. "Astrid! Er, I mean whoever you are... what are you doing here?"

"Apparently saving your life, seeing as you almost got killed back there," Astrid said with a sigh. "You idiot - you were about to die! If I hadn't shouted for you to run, you'd have been burnt to a crisp!"

Hiccup's eyes widened. "You were the one who said that? I thought it was…" Trailing off, he shook his head. No, it couldn't have been. Not while he was trapped inside this world.

"Who?" Astrid pushed.

Hiccup shrugged. "I just thought it was… my dad."

Astrid looked puzzled for a moment, before she slowly nodded. "That does make sense. You and your father have a strong connection. I could change my form and become him if you wanted me to?"

Hiccup shook his head, giving a small smile. "No, no, it's okay. I'm… good."

Astrid blew a blonde tuft of hair out of her eyes. "Yeah, well, for now, anyway. The Red Death is still out there and she wants blood. Your blood. So…" She held his gaze for a long moment. "What are we going to do?"

"Wait. You're asking... me?"

"We are in your head, dummy. I'm just the part of you that wants to live."

"The part of me that wants to live must not be very polite, then."

"Oh, be quiet. I'm still your best shot."

"I know, but still. Shouldn't you know how I'm supposed to fight back?"

"Some things you have to do yourself. Like, fight that dragon out there. I'll be with you in battle, but we're going to have to use your plan." She grabbed his shoulders, looking at him urgently. "Think, Hiccup! If this happened in real life, what would you do? How would you strategize?"

Hiccup blinked, the wheels in his mind turning.

What would he do….

Well, it depended on who was there to help him out, what their target was, and how much they wanted to hurt it… and since it was such a big dragon, it didn't have as much agility as he did... but then again, its skin was nearly impenetrable… it was only fireproof from the inside… the inside…

The inside!

Hiccup looked back up to Astrid, now filled with a new sense of energy.

"How do you feel about fire?"

"WE'VE GOT IT!"

Toothless's head snapped up in alarm just as the hut's door was slammed open and Snotlout pushed himself in, holding out the basket of ingredients in a flash of valor. "Just in time, as always!"

From behind Snotlout, the other riders stumbled in, all looking flushed and worried. Astrid maneuvered her way past the others and slip around Snotlout, desperate to find out how Hiccup was doing. "Is he okay? He's still alive?"

Stoick pushed himself up from his seat and nodded grimly. "For now, but I'm not sure how much time is left. Hiccup hasn't had any more seizures, but his breathing's gotten a lot worse. If it deteriorates even more…"

"It won't, Chief," Fishlegs assured him, stepping past Snotlout. "We got everything in time. Right, Gothi? What do we do next?"

From where she stood, Gothi held out a bowl. It was clear of her meaning: Mix the ingredients.

And so the riders got to work.

"Ready?" Astrid asked.

Hiccup looked down at his hands. "Not really."

"This was your idea."

"I know, but…" Hiccup sighed, shaking his head. He looked back up, all while trying his best to put on a brave face. Just for a little while longer. Just until I can get out of here.

With the little strength he had left, Hiccup had managed to conjure up two blades and two torches, both divided among him and Astrid. Their plan was to somehow torch the inside of the beast, but if things got messy, they'd need some sort of weapon to protect them. That's where the knives came in.

Otherwise, the rest would come from luck and skill.

"We've got one shot at this, Hiccup. You need to focus- be prepared for anything," Astrid said, which only proceeded to make him feel even worse.

But Hiccup wasn't backing down now.

Not ever.

"Let's do this," he said, and they both took off, leaping out from behind the rocks and charging forward with their blades and torches out in front of them. The Red Death roared in fury as it caught sight of them, releasing a blast of fire their way. The two separated and ducked behind rocks to avoid the blow, and Hiccup was relieved to see that he'd escaped with no burns.

Jumping out from behind the rock once again, he ran forward, blindly, with his legs having a mind of their own. There was no time for fear, for hesitation. He needed to focus. This beast was only a piece of his imagination - nothing more than a nightmare - and the only way to beat it was to believe that he could.

Letting out a battle cry as he charged forward, he approached the Red Death, who looked a little distracted now that Astrid was relentlessly slicing at it with her knife before she danced around in its line of vision.

Taking advantage of that moment, Hiccup's eyes darted around for some sort of way to get up to the Red Death's mouth.

The... the rocks.

He head swerved around as he looked for a structure tall enough to reach the monster's head, and because the island was so thankfully rocky, it didn't take long to find one. "Cover me!" he yelled to Astrid as he raced towards to the structure, and was relieved when he heard a yell of approval back.

This was it.

This was the chance he would get to fight off the Red Death once and for all.

"Is it ready yet? Can't you work any faster?" Stoick demanded, hovering around where Gothi and Astrid worked at grinding away the ingredients they'd just rounded up.

"One minute, Stoick," Astrid grunted back, almost done with shredding up the second to last ingredient. "We're almost there… almost there…"

"I know, but-"

Suddenly, there was a painful cry from the bed.

All head's snapped in the noise's direction, and Stoick was appalled to find Hiccup thrashing around in his cot, having no control over his seizing limbs. He rushed over to his son, the blood draining from his face. "Hiccup!" he cried.

"What's going on?" Snotlout whispered, looking horrified as he watched the scene from the corner. Toothless whined loudly and began to pace the floor, looking deeply distressed for his rider.

Astrid sucked in a breath. "It's Hiccup. He's dying."

Hiccup had never felt more alive.

Blood coursed through his limbs like bursts of energy, his legs felt like they could run for hours, and his heart pounded with a strong source of life. Facing his biggest fear was one thing, but actually getting to defeat it?

It was a whole new sense of freedom he hadn't felt in… forever.

He climbed his way up the tall rock pillar, probably looking less graceful than he actually felt, but his goal was still the same. Get to the top, throw his torch into the Red Death's mouth, and then his problem was solved.

If only life was ever that simple, a part of him thought.

But Hiccup ignored it, and continued racing up to face the Red Death.

"It's done! It's done!" Astrid yelled, and let Gothi take over as the woman quickly went to work in taking the paste they'd created and pouring it into some kind of makeshift needle.

"Well, hurry it up, then!" Stoick shouted as he struggled with the other riders to keep Hiccup from struggling on the bed. "He's still seizing! We need the medicine right now!"

He was at the top. The torch was clenched in his hand, and sweat rolled down his cheeks in pools of water. Right next to him was the Red Death, roaring as Astrid confused it by running around and dodging its attacks. Hiccup knew he needed to get its attention to fight it, and gritted his teeth as he stood atop the rock.

"HEY!" he shouted as loudly as he could.

He didn't expect everything after that to silence.

The Red Death stopped in its tracks, letting quiet fill the island, and then it slowly lifted its head up to look up at him. Its eyes narrowed as it faced him, and Hiccup could almost feel its smoky breath brush his cheeks.

Raising his torch, Hiccup prepared to throw it towards his target. The Red Death's mouth was still open and he knew he could make the shot if he calculated just where to aim it. But the dragon was smarter than it looked, as he soon realized. Whipping its head around, the Red Death slammed itself into the rock pillar, and caused all the debris to fall apart before sending Hiccup himself spiraling up in the air.

"HICCUP!" Astrid yelled from below him.

Hiccup could only watch as he spiraled upwards to his doom.

Gothi had just finished filling up the needle. Astrid watched desperately from beside her as the old healer rushed over the Hiccup, preparing to administer his cure.

"Hurry!" Stoick yelled.

Gothi raised the needle.

Even though he knew he was going to die no matter what he did, Hiccup decided that he was still going to defeat that monster. No matter what the consequences. No matter if death was the penalty. Even if it wasn't worth anything to anyone else, it was worth something to him.

The torch was still miraculously on fire (a plus-side of being in this dream world) but he was falling at a speed he didn't know. The only way he could get the torch inside the Red Death's mouth was to go into its mouth completely.

Gritting his teeth, Hiccup prepared himself as he fell towards the dragon, its mouth wide open, and held out his torch in preparation for the pain yet to come.

"EAT THIS, YOU UGLY BEAST!"

At that same moment, Gothi plunged the needle into Hiccup's chest.

And Hiccup fell into the monster's mouth.

...talk about the belly of the beast, huh? *laughs to self*

If anything doesn't make sense in here, I APOLOGIZE PROFUSELY! As I mentioned before, it's been a few months since I last updated and I forget quite a few details from the last chapters, haha. However, I WILL finish this fic, although the next update might take a little more time to come.

Also, Hurricane Florence is coming DIRECTLY our way, and since I live in the designated hit area, I'll be getting some of the worst of it. There's even a chance the hurricane could come right down our street… yay… so if our power goes out, I'm not gonna be able to update for a bit! So hang tight, guys. And if you live in the danger zone, remember to BE SAFE!

And now… SHOUTOUTS TO REVIEWERS WHO I HOPE DON'T HATE ME FOR TAKING SO LONG TO UPDATE: P-Artsypants, ThePhoenixGirl, ShineeFanForLife (Guest), harrypanther, Roxy190, Stella (Guest), Astrid Erica Lokison, Syra Nyth, SweenTheSaltine, Raineir Feralsome, katurdi, Scribblefoxx, Warrior-of-httyd, Romantica 21, JChttyd, AHeartForStories, Aspielady, Plasma Snow, leanneinoncillo0314, Pokey314, Skylar87, and Guest!