Hidden Scars

Chapter 68

Chapter 68...
Hiccup's eyes lit up as his blurred vision cleared, seeing the sight of his beautiful girlfriend's bright ocean eyes. To hear the voice of her in his ears made him smile.
Astrid continued to stroke his hair as he shared at her with his grin still there on his face.
"Are you smiling because you're happy to see me or are you still a bit tipsy?" Astrid giggled as Hiccup closed his eyes and continued to do a stupid smile.
"Both..." he said whilst smiling still. "But more to see you safe and ok..."
Astrid stood up carefully and kissed his right cheek.
"Are you ok?" Hiccup asked her.
"Y'know... a few broken bones, bruises and scratches but... What can I say... It's only fun if you get a scar out of it..." Astrid smiled.
"You're very stubborn, you know that?"
"Ummm I'm Astrid Hofferson of course I know that"
"Tell me about it"
Hiccup stretched his body and realised he couldn't feel his left leg properly.
"I must be on something still because I can't feel my left leg properly."
Astrid went silent and looked away for a second at his left stump. Hiccup was still led down in bed and wasn't allowed to move a lot. The fear crept over her as she continued to look at his stump.
"Astrid?" Hiccup opened his eyes after realising she fell silent and was looking away from his face.
"Um... Hiccup... Uh..."
"What's wrong?"
"Hiccup... there's something I-I need to tell you" Astrid took a breath before taking his hand is hers again and holding it tight. Her thumb brushed his knuckles gently. She swallowed as her mouth became dry and her voice came out croaky. "W-when you were shot in your leg, you were bleeding out so much. I-I tried my best to stop the bleeding but the house was on fire a-and the flames were getting higher and t-the smoke was e-everywhere..." Astrid paused and took a deep breath. Hiccup was still watching her, shocked to hear about the fire that he couldn't remember happening.
"Hiccup... I'm so sorry... the- the doctors tried everything they could but... they couldn't save your leg... they had to amputate it..."
She turned back to Hiccup to see his eyes wide open staring at her. She saw the tears forming in his eyes and run down his face. He was silent. He raised his head a little, enough to see his left leg now turned to a stump at his knee. Once seeing it, he pit his head back down on the pillow and closed his eyes. Seeing the pain in him from realisation tore Astrid's heart in two.
She began to sob.
"Hiccup I-I tried... I-it's all my fault... I tried to save it the best I could... I p-pulled you out the fire and that was the only thing I cared about... I didn't want to lose you... I'm so sorry Hiccup."
She put her hands over her face as she cried hard. The guilt had taken over her body and broken her down seeing how upset Hiccup was.
But seeing his girlfriend in this state hurt Hiccup aswell. She saved his life for god sake! How could she blame herself for not saving his leg when she saved his whole life. He watched her as he cried, realising she was also covered in bruised and scratches like him. Her arm was in a cast and her forehead was bandaged up... she saved him even though she was injured herself.
He moved his hand to hers and pulled it away from her face revealing her tear stained face. He used his strength and pulled her towards him where he opened up his other arm and brought her into a hug.
"Astrid, don't be stupid... you saved my life... I don't care about my leg, I'm just shocked that's all. I love you so so much, don't blame yourself for any of this. If it wasn't for you... I wouldn't be here..."
Astrid continued to cry as Hiccup spoke to her. He pushed her back a little to reveal her face to him seeing him smile with his teary eyes. She smiled back at him. He brought her face to his and kissed her on her lips, kissing her with everything he had. It was his way showing how much he appreciated her and his way of taking away the pain. She meant her forehead gently onto his, making sure her injury didn't touch. She whispered to him.
"I love you"
He smiled and whispered back.
"I love you too... and thank you..."
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1 HOUR LATER...
Valka was in the room with Astrid and Hiccup. She was sat in a chair one side to Hiccup and Astrid in a chair on the other. There were many emotions flying around the room of pain, relief, worry and comfort. After a while, Hiccup had accepted the fact he now had a stump and Astrid explained everything that had happened in the house with Leo. They had managed to call the gang through FaceTime and were all relieved to see them both alive and safe. Tuffnut made Hiccup promise he could try out his prosthetic leg when he came home... He agreed but did he really mean it? Nope.
KNOCK KNOCK
"Ah Mr Haddock, it's good to see you awake and well." The surgeon said walking in. "How are you feeling?"
"I'm ok, I just feel a bit tired."
"Yes that is expected but luckily that will wear off soon. How is you leg feeling?"
"It's a bit painful to move and achy but other than that... it's good. Thank you do the operation."
"No problem Mr Haddock, we are here to help and save lives." The surgeon smiled and walked towards him. "I've come to check the results and hopefully start to talk about the prosthetic leg that will be made for you."
After unwrapping the bandages from Hiccup's stump, the doctor agreed that it was beginning to heal well and was happy with the short progress. He bandaged it up with new and fresh bandages and began to talk to Hiccup about his prosthetic choices.
As they did so, Astrid excused herself and stood up. Her headaches were slowly beginning to come back but were at a bearable state so she didn't mention anything to anyone.
Hiccup turned his attention to his girlfriend noticing that she was wondering away from them with her eyes closed and fave scrunched up almost as though she was in pain.
"Astrid? Are you ok?"
"What? Oh yeah um... I'm fine just need to... stretch..." she turned seeing her boyfriend concerned. She smiled trying her best to make it convincing and hoping it worked. Hiccup smiled back but wasn't properly convinced with what she was saying.
As she turned back away from the others, her head hurt even more. The pain was shooting from her head down her back, arms, legs, her whole body. Her ears began to block out sound and her vision blurred. It was only a second before her body couldn't handle it and... Astrid collapsed to the ground.