A World Without You - httyd

Secret Injuries

Sorry this one's so short, or the other ones are just rlly long. This is just about Astrid catching something wrong with Hiccup. Happy reading!

.....

Astrid was so happy that they were able to drive the hunters away and save Hiccup. The mission was almost unsuccessful and Astrid feared that not agreeing with what Viggo wanted would get Hiccup killed, though it almost did.

As soon as they got back, Astrid and Fishlegs tended to the open wound on Hiccup's neck. There were many bruises from the chain that had wrapped tightly around him and Toothless. 

"It doesn't hurt, guys," Hiccup had told Astrid and Fishlegs when they cleaned up his neck, though Astrid could see him flinching whenever she touched the bruises.

"Oh be quiet, Hiccup," Astrid had snapped back. "You don't have to be all tough."

Hiccup sighed but didn't say anymore. His breathing was raspy and that just worried Astrid further. His voice was almost unrecognizable because of how swollen his neck and airways had become. But she couldn't help but feel like there was something more wrong with Hiccup. But when she asked if anything else was injured or hurt, he said no. She had believed him, but now sitting at dinner with the rest of the gang, she could tell there was something wrong. She noticed he stayed out of most conversations when he normally was the one to start them. And he barely touched his food. And when he did, Astrid saw a small amount of pain in his face when he swallowed. She kept a very close eye on him.

"So then I told Tuff, 'It's obviously a trap,'" Ruff narrated what she said to her brother during the battle. "'there's no way he'll let Hiccup go with all of that dragon knowledge in his little noggin', and he was like-"

"'You are right, my dear sister'," Tuff said, continuing the story. "And so we decided not to land on the boat but to instead attack it when the time was right." 

Ruff frowned slightly, "I think we waited too long though, it was a very close call." But she went back to smiling. "But who am I kidding, it was a brilliant plan!"

"A brilliant plan indeed," Tuff said again slowly, crossing his arms and smiling with triumph. 

Astrid laughed along with Snotlout and Fishlegs but Hiccup only smiled. Astrid saw him grab his stomach uncomfortably and pain exploded in his face. She frowned.

"You okay, Hiccup?" She whispered to him. No one else heard, she was right by him after all.

"Just tired," Hiccup said after a second of what seemed like thinking. "It's been a long day."

Astrid nodded and took the hint. "Everyone?" The Riders stopped talking and turned to look at Astrid. "I think it's time we head off to bed, we had a big day today." Everyone nodded in agreement and said their good nights before heading to their huts. Astrid turned to see Hiccup who usually walked her to her hut to see that he was already heading to his. Puzzled, she went up to catch him. 

"Hey," She said when she caught up. Hiccup jumped in surprise. 

"Oh, hi," He said with a smile. 

"Something bothering you?" She asked. 

He shook his head. "I'm fine," He said quietly. His throat obviously hurt still.

They walked in silence to Hiccup's hut. Astrid didn't want to bother him and told him he forgot to walk her to her hut. It didn't bother her. What bothered her is that he wasn't telling her something important. 

They soon made it to his hut and before he could go in and disappear, Astrid grabbed his hands so they were facing each other. 

"You know that you can tell us what's bothering you, right?" She asked and Hiccup nodded.

"Yes, I know," He said. 

Astrid sighed. "Well, see you tomorrow," She said with a smile that was more forced. 

"Sweet dreams, m'lady," He said and stepped into his hut, closing the door behind him.

.....

As soon as Hiccup closed the door to his hut he collapsed on the floor, breathing heavily and shaking uncontrollably. Toothless, who was sleeping on his stone slab on the top level of his hut rushed down and cooned worriedly to his rider. 

"It just hurts so much, Toothless," Hiccup moaned out. Toothless nuzzled his rider.

Hiccup stood up with the help of Toothless, clutching his side where Toothless could smell blood. They went over to a cabinet by the stares and Hiccup got out rolls of bandages that he stored. He groaned when he pulled off his tunic after taking off his armor. The blood had made the tunic stick to the dagger wound. But the blood was barely visible, no one noticed it slowly soaking through his tunic. 

"I'm okay, bud," Hiccup said, hissing through gritted  as he wrapped the bandage around his stomach as Toothless gave him worried looks. The bandage was instantly soaked in blood. Hiccup didn't really know what to do with his broken rib that had been pushed around and no doubt bruised his lungs. All he did for now was patch it up as well as the wound. "Care to help me upstairs, bud?" Hiccup asked as he put on clean clothes. Toothless cooned in reply, instantly by his riders side. They finally made it to Hiccup's bed. Toothless stayed by his side as Hiccup slowly climbed into his bed and adjusted himself to be comfortable. 

Soon, his rider drifted to sleep. Toothless could smell blood again. He didn't know what to do for his rider. Toothless saw that Hiccup didn't want Astrid to know, which confused him. Couldn't Astrid help? But for now, Toothless kept Hiccup's secret injuries to himself and his rider. Hiccup knew what he was doing. Right?