HtTYD - There 02

Title: Surprise!

Summary: When you know there's something wrong, you fix it, but how do you get rid of something that's not there? A sequel to 'For the Better'.

Disclaimer: Even if you sue me, I don't have much. I already don't own HtTYD, what more do you want me to not own?

Stoick the Vast was not an easy man to shock. He was known for laughing when dragons attacked him from out of nowhere. But as hard as he was to surprise, scaring him was approaching impossible. This was the man who had faced down the Night Fury with only a hammer.

That said, he was scared witless, coming home and opening the door, only to hear a thud, look down, and see his son on the floor.

Imagine his horror, when he realized his son wasn't moving.

Imagine how cold his son's body must have felt, and imagine how seeing his son's dragon looking as worried as he felt must have made his blood run cold.

Stoick didn't know this, but Toothless had tried to wake up Hiccup before. Hiccup had screamed, crying, and Toothless hadn't tried since. The dragon had tried to move Hiccup to his bed, but that had woken the boy up, and Toothless had stopped, and felt so helpless he wanted to cry.

He couldn't even wrap himself around his human without Hiccup whimpering, making it impossible for Toothless to tell if he was hurting the boy or not. Toothless had been reduced to trying to breathe warm air around Hiccup when Stoick had come home and had his heart try to jump out of his chest and attack him.

"What Happened?" Stoick asked Toothless, not really expecting an answer. He picked up Hiccup, and nearly dropped him when the boy started screaming and struggling.

While Stoick was glad for the sign of life, (he remembered how still Hiccup had been when they had cut off his leg) Toothless' ear-things went back. The Night Fury's pupils narrowed and he started growling.

"Not now, dragon. There's no time."

Stoick ran up the stairs, taking them two at a time, Toothless hot on his heels. The thuds were eerily loud in the quiet house, and Stoick wished he hadn't left that morning, wished he'd come home earlier, wished he could talk to the dragon the way his son could so he could find out what happened. He wished he'd left his son's bed downstairs, for Thor's sake!

Stoick kicked open the door to Hiccup's room and put his son to bed. By now, Hiccup's cries had diminished into weak whimpers.

Stoick looked down at his son, and suddenly, the sight seemed to suck the strength right out of him. As Toothless watched, the huge Viking seemed to shrink until he was just a man who was worried he would have to outlive both his son and his wife.

Stoick put his face in his hands. "Odin." Was all he said. The Night Fury looked at Hiccup, who was still pale but at least calm and breathing evenly, and he looked at Stoick, who had tears leaking from between his fingers, who didn't make a sound as he cried and prayed for his son's life.

And for the first time, Toothless was torn as to who, at that moment, needed him more.

A/N: This one's pretty short, but I like I said, the shorter I let the chapters be, the sooner I update, and I'm still guilty for not uploading for a few days, so I'm trying to make up for it. Think of it this way, if I write longer chapter in the same time, the longer chapter would be a lot worse, with misspelled words and misplaced punctuation marks. Not that I don't do that already, but expect rushing to make it worse.

This chapter's pretty drama, but let's face it, this There's predecessor was pretty drama too, and I don't see why I should break the pattern thingy I've got going. If you want comedy, check out my other works, which I try to keep lighthearted enough.

As always, I appreciate you taking the time to read this and I value any and all feedback concerning my work. Until next time!