Draugr

Four

A/N: Yup. This is based on the 1990 film 'Ghost' starring Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore. Love the film. And I have never killed any part of Hiccstrid off before. Yes, this is still Hiccstrid...it just requires far more effort on the part of the participants. Thanks for all the reviews and comments!

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Four

She was dead.

It had seemed unreal as Astrid had crouched down by Hiccup, trying to comfort him, trying to work out what had happened, how she was able to stare at her own corpse and yet still be there, watching the man she loved break his heart. She gently reached out, meaning to wrap her arm around his jerking shoulders-but her arm was completely insubstantial, sinking through him with a strange, cold sensation. She jerked back, eyes wide in shock and gaped. She tried again-but it was like trying to touch smoke. There was no substance, no warmth or cold, no sensation at all. It was like touching a ghost.

She rose to her full height, staring at her hands, almost uncomprehending.

He wasn't the ghost: she was.

And she had no idea what to do, how to react. He couldn't see or hear her. She couldn't touch him. She would never feel his gentle, strong fingers stroke her face, feel the rough callouses on her cheeks, his soft lips on hers. She would never run her fingers through his soft auburn hair once more. Gods, she would never feel his warmth or his strength or...

Her vision blurred but there were no tears. Tears were a mortal, alive thing, a sign of life and emotion. She was a shade, an echo of a past life that just didn't know when to stop.

"I love you," she whispered brokenly. "Gods, I wish you could hear me now, Hiccup. I wish I had said it so many times when I had the chance. Now you'll never hear it and never know how much I love you and need you. How much I wanted to spend my life with you, to grow old with you, spend all my years with my love..."

And numb, empty, she saw him scream for help, watched the first people approach, saw phones snatched and emergency services called. And wordlessly, she watched blue lights flash and uniformed shapes crowd around her, trying against all reason to pull back what was long gone. Cops cordoned off the scene and led Hiccup back, eyes suspiciously trailing over the bloodstain on his coat where he had clutched her to him, rocking and crying and trying to call her back to him. But he pulled away, desperate as they covered her body and lifted the stretcher, taking her away.

"No! Astrid!" he shouted, urgently following her. "You can't take her away from me. Please-I can't leave her alone. Please..." The cops stared at him then nodded, allowing him to clamber into the back of the ambulance with Astrid while they turned to the EMTs.

"Are you going to Blessed Freya ED?" the cop checked and the ET nodded, clambering into he cabin.

"They'll have to call it and then she'll need a post mortem," he said grimly. "Such a shame-a young woman, killed just like that. What is the world coming to?"

oOo

It was later and Astrid was sitting next to Hiccup on a bank of seats in the ED where her body was being declared dead. The cops had taken some details from him but he was in shock, shaking and staring blankly at the floor. His face was wet with tears and eyes red and swollen so a nurse had kindly brought him a cup of coffee-but he had been holding it for ten minutes, unable to process what had happened.

They had called his father and Astrid wished she could reassure him but she knew he couldn't hear or see or feel her. So she sat by him, desperate to comfort her broken-hearted lover and sighed.