Aftermath

So, this is the absolutely, 100% most current Dimension Splash Chronicle I have written. It is much milder than the last one. It has a lot of dialogue and character interplay, and some of it is supposed to be a little comical. Hope you enjoy it. From now on they'll probably be coming out more slowly because I've been simply posting my whole collection. Feel free to comment if you have questions or advice.

Dimension Splash Chronicles
Event: Aftermath
Pov: Hiccup, Link, Toothless, The Doctor
Time: Year 10.14 of Hiccup and Link’s existence in the game

     Warmth, that was what Hiccup felt as he opened his eyes weakly. He would have been just as well off if he left them closed because all he could see around him was blackness. He tried hard to remember what had been happening, and tried even harder to figure out where he was. Slowly his senses began to adjust to being awake, and one of the first things he noticed was that he could not move. That scared him a little, and then as his memory began to adjust he became even more concerned. There was some sort of wetness pressing against his body and leg, and that made them surprisingly tingle and sting. There was also some sort of breathing, humming noise, and with each resonating sound the pressure on his chest and legs would increase. A horrible thought entered Hiccup’s mind. He remembered Sardilic, remembered Toothless, and then suddenly worried that perhaps this was the inside of the Gemdragon’s gut. Of course... that’s were I was. It would be just like Sardilic to let me see Toothless die, and then go and kill me slowly like this. Great. I just hope Toothless didn’t see him do it. Oh bud...

     Hiccup breathed in sharply and sobbed. If he was already doomed to die here, then there was no point in controlling his emotions. He felt sure he had seen and touched Toothless before last losing consciousness, but he also strongly remembered the huge bleeding gash in the Night Fury’s side and the terribly unnatural bend in his back. He tried to move his foot, but found he was still unable. He was being pressed against from everywhere, or so he had first thought. Now that he cleared his head he noticed that there was nothing touching his face, at least nothing he could feel. He shuddered suddenly to think that he might be slowly melting away and losing all sensation, but then he was sure that he could feel his right hand, and he moved his fingers around trying to be certain of where he was. They were being pushed against as well, but the surface was dry and soft, and he was sure of it. This didn’t make any sense at all, and then, just as he was utterly confused and beginning to wonder where he was, a tiny click echoed through the air. With that click came a blinding white light, and hiccup flinched and pressed his eyes shut. Wherever he was, it wasn’t inside Sardilic.

     Footsteps, footsteps clear as anything walked up beside him. There was a bleeping sound and then a woman’s voice. “He’s regained consciences.” 

     Hiccup opened his eyes again, but the light was still startlingly bright. He could just make out a blue form pacing around the area, but it vanished and Hiccup closed his eyes again. He breathed out in relief. He wasn’t sure where he was, but he so thankful to not still be with, or worse in, Sardilic. Then something touched his face, a human hand, and Hiccup painfully squeezed his eyes open again. The haze of white was still blinding, and tears flooded into Hiccup’s eyes, but the hand brushed them away. Hiccup looked hard and long, and finally his vision became clear. Blue eyes, a young, brave face, blond hair combed to the side, and an all too familiar green hat. The face was smiling down at him, but there was concern in those eyes. Hiccup swallowed to clear his throat and said faintly, “Link?”

     “Yes, I’m here.” came the warm, firm voice of Hiccup’s brother.

     “Where-- where are we?”

     A different voice, quiet, calm and very clearly british answered the question. “You are in the Healing Facility of the Sisters of the Infinite Schism, greatest hospital in the universe.”

     Hiccup’s vision was becoming much clearer, and now he saw that he was lying in a bed of sorts in a pale blue room. A large white apparatus was strapped to his torso and legs. Link was standing beside him, and a stranger in a trench coat was leaning against the wall. Hiccup closed his eyes as his heart washed over with relief. A hospital, a hospital of all places to find himself in. The miracle of his survival began to bubble up in his heart, but then there was a sickening twist. His eyes shot open and he tried and failed to sit up in the bed.

     “Where is Toothless!?” He asked in desperation. Why was Link the one to wake him, why wasn’t his dragon the one at his side? Hiccup had been in comas many times before, and Toothless was always the one who woke him. The last time Hiccup had seen Toothless, the dragon was on the verge of death, and fear fingered its way up into Hiccup’s already fragile mind. 

     “Woah, hold on. He’s fine Hiccup. He’s here and he’s fine.” Link pushed Hiccup’s head back gently.

     “Unfortunate thing that,” the man Hiccup did not recognize said. “Your brother wanted him to stay with you, but the nurses had to move him out of the room because he kept trying to stick his tongue under the medical equipment on your chest.”

     “That’s because his saliva has healing properties.” Hiccup said instinctively. “Wait, I’m sorry, but who are you?” Hiccup looked over at the man who then stopped leaning on the wall and walked slowly up to the bed.

     “Me?” He said, and his face broadened in a cheery smile. “I’m the Doctor.”

     Hiccup looked confused. He glanced down at the man’s feet. Those were the same feet he had seen before he finally fainted. “So, wait, what? How on earth did you find me?”

     “I’ll answer all the questions you like, but can I ask a favor?”

     Hiccup looked at the man, considered the fact that he would be dead without him, and answered, “Of course.”

     “Thank you. I’m the Doctor, I am a time traveler, and that is one of the reasons I was able to find you. I am fascinated and worried, Hiccup, by what I saw when I found you, and for the good of everyone, for the good of this entire universe, I need you to answer some questions. Are you feeling well enough for that?” The Doctor’s brows raised in genuine concern, and it surprised Hiccup. The man actually seemed to care for him deeply, and they had never even met.

    Link leaned over to Hiccup and whispered, “I haven’t told him anything, and he’s kind of unhappy and worried about that. I still think his magically showing up is suspicious, but since I haven’t been willing to give him any explanations, I also haven’t asked him any real questions. I wanted to leave it up to your judgement.”

     Hiccup looked at the skinny man and wondered. He wished he knew more about him, but he had saved his life, so at the very least he deserved some answers. “Doctor.”

     “Yes?”

     “I can answer some questions for you if you would like.”

     “Oh, now that would just be smashing! Link here,” the Doctor pointed his device at Link, “doesn’t trust me... but I suppose I can’t blame him.”

     “Yeah, forgive me for not believing in miracles.” Link said sternly. “Our lives have taught us that if something is too good to be true, it is too good to be true.”

     “Right, well anyway, Hiccup--” the Doctor looked back at Hiccup. “what was all that?”

     “All what?” Hiccup asked. He cringed a little as the device on his chest throbbed.

     “All those white gashes in the sky? Did you make them? If not, do you know how they got there? I mean, you had some sort of massive universal catastrophe surrounding your wounded body... what was happening?” The Doctor’s questions flew out fast at first, but then he slowed them, looking Hiccup sympathetically in the eye, but there was some sort of deep, pained concern in the Doctor’s tone.

     “Right, I think I know the answer to that, but when I’ve finsihed, could you explain a little more about how you found me? I still just can’t believe it.”

     “That makes two of us...” Link mumbled quietly.

     “Yes, of course.” The Doctor said.

     “Those gashes in the sky are inter-dimensional rifts, and no, I did not make them.”

     “Wow... um. Right. Just, are you sure?” The Doctor looked keenly at Hiccup.

     “Almost completely positive.”

     “Now that is fascinating... that really is just fascinating. I’ve seen interdimesnional rifts before, but these are totally different. Anyway, might as well explain how I found you because it is sort of tied to this. Ah, well... I have been seeing really strange disturbances, things going missing, and eventually I used the Tardis--”

     “Tardis?” Link and Hiccup asked together.

     “Woah, we best stick to one question at a time.” The Doctor smiled and then got back to his train of thought. “I used the Tardis to start tracking these anomalies because they were physically impossible. Completely physically impossible, absolutely amazing. I wanted to understand more about them, but what I discovered about them was very worrying. The Daleks were present in every anomaly. I had thought that they had all been destroyed, but they always survive, and now I was finding them near these rifts. The Daleks were  always present when these things happened, and always missing afterwards.”

     “Ah, well, I think I can explain that.” Hiccup stated. “Those anomalies... you finally found one and walked through it, didn’t you?”

     “Yup.”

     “Well those are the inter-dimensional rifts. And don’t worry, it isn’t the Daleks that are making them, it is something far, far worse.”

     The Doctor paused. “Oh, now that really is bad... are you sure?”

     “Believe me, the creatures creating these rifts make Daleks look loving.” Hiccup shuddered noticably and the Doctors deep eyes looked even more worried than they had before. Hiccup pulled himself back together and said, “Please continue.”

     “Right, well, you’ve pretty much already said it. I was tracking these rifts already, and I couldn’t figure them out with most of my scans because none of them would stay open for long, so when I finally found that one was sustaining itself for far longer than usual, I did as much scanning as I could, figured out it was a doorway of some kind, and decided to run in.”

     “You ran into a burning white cut?” Link asked.

     “Well, yes! Do that kind of stuff frequently. Hiccup, I hope you don’t mind, but what are these creatures that you described as being so terrible?”

       “They are called...Gemnodes.” Hiccup shuddered again, but suddenly the most obvious of questions burst into his mind. “Link, what happened? What happened to Sardilic? What happened to Toothless?”

     Link reached into one of his pouches and pulled out something shimmering and green. “Hiccup, Sardilic is dead.” Link showed him what he had in his hand. It was part of the Gemnode’s skull, the area around where its eye would have once been, but the crystal was cracked and charred.

     Though he hated to rejoice in the death of anyone, Hiccup breathed out hard and, to his surprise, began to cry again. “Oh thank Thor... oh thank Thor.”

     “Toothless killed him when he was stooping over you. He was wounded very badly in the process, but according to the nurses working on him he may recover.” 

     The Doctor leaned over to Link. “Guessing this Sardilic wasn’t really a nice character.”

     “No. He wasn’t. I personally just wish he would have suffered more.”

     “Life and soul you are.”

     “If you had seen what he’s seen--”

     “Trust me, I do understand what he’s seen.”

     “I doubt it.” Link was becoming seriously annoyed with this stranger who did seem to understand Hiccup but had only known him for a very little while.

     “I’m nine hundred years old...” The Doctor’s voice quieted, “and I’ve learned that a long life isn’t exactly a happy one.”

     Hiccup had pulled himself together. He now looked at the Doctor and listened with some interest to the conversation. The Doctor noticed this, and looked down at him. “Do you mind if I ask you another question?”

     “No.” Hiccup breathed.

     “What did he do to you? Your eyes... they are old eyes.”

     “No. He won’t discuss that.” Link butted in.

     “Its fine, Link. I think--” Hiccup looked hard at the Doctor’s face, “I think he understands. I was...tortured by Sardilic. He forced me to...forced me to see horrible things. I lived lifetimes in hallucinatory visions that I could feel, hear, taste, and touch in. I don’t know how he did it, but he forced me to believe in their reality before immersing me in them... I couldn’t doubt what I was seeing, and he made the most horrible things happen to me and the ones I love.”

     “Did he make you hurt them?” The Doctor asked quietly. 

     “How on earth could you know?”

     The man raised his brow slightly, almost shrugged. But there was a history in his eyes Hiccup could not make out. "Experience." He said, simply, a twinge of regret in his voice. Hiccup wished badly to understand, but he also knew from his own pain that prying into this sort of a thing was unwise and deeply unkind.

      Link knew that Hiccup usually was extremely hesitant to talk about his experiences in the deletion void. This whole conversation was very strange for him, and he asked the Doctor in mild exasperation, “Do you spill your heart to everyone you meet?”

     The Doctor was taken by surprise by the question, but after thinking it over for just a moment he answered, “No, not everyone.” The Doctor sighed and was silent. 

      Hiccup suddenly very badly wanted to see Toothless. He had learned enough about this Doctor to trust him to a degree, and now the longing to be united again with Toothless was burning in his chest. "Can Toothless come in? I really… just need to see him right now."

The Doctor looked up at him thinly, realization in his wide, brown eyes. "Your brother made sure that I saved him, said you two were inseparable, and your brother was right. You two are inseparable." There was an odd caution in his voice, and it confused Hiccup. "Something wrong with that?" Hiccup smirked, casually.

"No, no. No." The last repeat was paired with a shaking head and a long intonation. "It's beautiful, to see that." He smiled, but Hiccup wasn't sold completely. He'd seen enough pain and anger around here to tell when someone was hurt. "You okay, Doctor?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," he said quickly, but the words still didn't ring true. Something dark crept into Hiccup's heart, as if the man was hiding something, hiding something painful and sad. The very thought put a cold clammy feeling in Hiccup's chest, and as he watched the man walk out the sliding doors, he suddenly thought of Astrid and Gobber, and his own father, hiding because of him. And Toothless, his precious dragon, all the pain they'd gone through. Inseparable. There was a strange condemnation in that word suddenly, the way that sad, odd man had said it. Was it worth it? Was this worth the pain and death and cost? Was love worth the pain?

     It’s an occupational hazard. Hiccup thought quietly to himself.

     The Doctor had turned and walked out of the to fetch Toothless. Link moved back a little from Hiccup and crossed his arms. He still had a lot of questions that needed answering, but not questions for the Doctor. These were far more mysterious than this wacky man who claimed to travel in time. Why had the Gemshard taken him and Toothless directly to Hiccup? Why had Hiccup aged and what where the ramifications of that? And, most importantly, what would they do now? The Gemnodes would consider the death of Sardilic to be an act of murder. There was no question about that. This event would kickstart a war that could tear the dimensions to shreds if Hiccup wasn’t careful. Was his brother convicted? Yes. Careful? No.

     A nurse dressed in a long blue dress and hood walked into the room and detached the apparatus from Hiccup’s chest. Without saying a word she strode out again and the circular door closed behind her. Hiccup put his hands down on the sheets and slowly, painfully pushed himself up. His left arm was barely able to move. Apparently his shoulder was still gone. Then Link and Hiccup both heard it very faintly, a clomping, clicking gait. The sound got louder and louder, faster and faster until it scraped to a halt and thumped loudly against the door. Gargles and roars accompanied loud knocking thumps against the smooth white door. There was a muffled yelling of “Hold on! Wait just a moment, I’ll get the door.” Hiccup chuckled. It sounded as if Toothless was trampling the Doctor in his excitement. Then, with a swish, the door opened up, and Toothless shoved into the room with the Doctor behind him. The time traveler came to a stop in front of Hiccup bed and smiled broadly, genuinely happy, as Toothless bounced over and slammed into the boy. Toothless was wearing a large brace on his back and wing and a medical patch on his side. Both Hiccup and Toothless winced as Toothless pushed himself clumsily into the boy’s chest, and then Hiccup burst into laughter as Toothless spastically nudged and licked him. “Happy to see you too, bud!” Hiccup said when Toothless finally calmed down enough to let Hiccup grab his head in a hug. The moment seemed to last forever as Hiccup pulled his dear friend into him. Eventually Hiccup notice he could hold a lot more of Toothless than before, and then it hit him again. Of course. I aged. 

     He stroked Toothless’s head gently, and then broke into another smile, “Look at that bud!” He tickled Toothless’s three new nubs, and the dragon throated a symphony of pleased gurgles. “Where’d those come from? Oh, you look good Toothless.” Hiccup knew that Toothless would appreciate compliments on his new look, and he stroked Toothless’s head spines which he noted were much sharper than before. “Seems we both are a little older, huh? You like it?” Toothless stepped back and looked down at his forearms and then throated a yes. “Good.” Hiccup said. 

     “He ran after you as he aged.” Link said in admiration.

     “Really? Really, bud?” Hiccup was genuinely surprised. Toothless’s just hummed in response and stroked his nose across Hiccup face again. Then the Night Fury stopped and sniffed. He looked suddenly worried, and then, not to Hiccup’s surprise, he gummed the edge of Hiccup’s shirt and pulled it up before sliding his tongue wetly up Hiccup’s torso. Hiccup shook his head and chuckled. “Yes, thanks. I’m just happy that there’s enough left of me for you to try and heal.”

     “Oh, that’s a bit nasty looking!” The Doctor said leaning forward and smiling. “Don’t you mind him soaking you like that?” Toothless gave the man a sideways, patronizing look and then gave Hiccup a particularly wet lick. 

     “No, I’ve kind of gotten used to it.”

     “Right, well I guess I’ve seen weirder. Don’t you want to see the other one?”

     “What?”

     “The other, you know, dragon?” The Doctor raised his brows.

     “Oh, Skari!” Hiccup felt guilty for not thinking earlier about the Skrill. “Is he alright?”

     “Yes.” Link answered. “But he won’t come into the hospital.”

     “Yeah, and judging by the way he was eying the nurses who went out to feed him, I don’t think anyone’s upset.” The Doctor stated. “I don’t think he trusts people.”

     “No, he doesn’t, but I had hoped we had made some progress with him...” Hiccup breathed quietly while still looking Toothless over. 

     “Trust me, you DID.” Link broke in. “Skari was the one who I flew to use the Gemnshard, and he pulled Toothless into the rift and then into the blue box.”

     “Oh, yes, and to answer your question earlier, that blue box is the Tardis!” said the Doctor with an excited look in his eye. He seemed to have become much happier since bringing Toothless into the room, and Hiccup was happy for the change in atmosphere. He wanted to understand this Doctor, but he also knew that right now he needed to rest.

     “Well, I’m glad he is ok. We’re all really lucky... especially me.” Hiccup looked around the room still hardly able to believe he was there.

     “Luckier than you would think.” Link stated. “Your idea about the Gemshard worked and brought us right to you. I don’t have any idea why.”

     “Gemshard?” The Doctor asked. “Like, this?” He held out a sharp chunk of green crystal. 

     Link looked at Hiccup who nodded. Something about this Doctor inspired a ridiculous amount of trust in Hiccup’s heart. Link answered. “Yes. That is a Gemshard, and it was once a Gemnode. They can travel dimensions, and when I used a piece of it, it brought me to the exact dimension and almost the exact place Hiccup was. I really can’t believe it.”

     “I can’t believe it either.” The Doctor said while whirring his device over the hunk of gem in his hand. “That kind of thing doesn’t happen by chance. I’m going to look into it. But for now, I will say, good to get to finally meet you Hiccup. You’ve been out of it for almost a week now, and you’ll have to stay here for two months before you recover. I promise I’ll pop in to check up on you and keep you company if you like. You’ll be safe here, I promise, and if you do what the nurses tell you, they should be able to use that cell cloning to get all your tissues back... well, not your foot, sorry.”

     “Its fine. I’ve had it for eleven years. I’m kind of used to it.”

     “Well, you’ll need another one.” Link said. “Your old one’s too small.”

     “You’ve got two months with nothing to do--” The Doctor stopped. “Wow, that must be boring... Well, I’m sure we’ll find useful things to do with the time. Anyway, I’d suggest using your rest wisely. You really do need to heal... and later I’ve got some questions about those wounds, actually... I’ve got questions about a lot. Your sleep cycle is about to kick in. I’ll be back soon, after I’ve done a bit of searching, and then I’ll probably have even more questions. It was good to meet you Hiccup.  Allons-y!” The Doctor gave a quick wave and then ran out of the room.

     “You know,” Link said, “I think the readings he got on his device must have really excited him to make him run off like that. You really trusted him that quickly? That information you were telling him is stuff that took you years to discover and cost you your life.”

     “Well if it weren’t for him, I wouldn’t still have that life, and Toothless would be dead as well, so I think he deserves as much thanks as I can give. Besides, I like him... I don’t know why.”

     “Me neither. He seems awfully moody... like he’s being cheerful to try and hide something dark.”

     Hiccup gave Link a snarky smile. “Oh, I see what it is.”

     “What?”

     “You’re jealous. You thought you were the only time traveler.”

     Link stared in mock anger at Hiccup, and Hiccup glared back until they both began to chuckle. “No, its not that!”

     “I know.” 

     “Its just we need to start being careful. When you feel rested, we are eventually going to have to talk about what to do next. But, for now, don’t worry yourself. Hopefully the nurses will let Toothless stay with you, we’ll go catch up with Skari, I’ve got a plan on a gift, and when you are better, you and I will need to decide what our next step is.”

     “Right,” Hiccup breathed and slowly laid his head back. “it’s not over yet. But, Link...”

     “Yes?”

     “I never got the chance to thank you. You saved Toothless, and I’ll never be able to repay you.”

     “You’re alive, aren’t you?”

     “Last time I checked.” Hiccup smiled.

     “Then that is all the payment I need. You get some rest. Keep an eye on him, Toothless. Lick him silly.”

    Toothless gargled happily in answer as Link walked out of the room and switched off the lights. Hiccup drifted into dreams as Toothless slowly caressed him. They were safe and together for the first time in ages, and Hiccup’s sleeping mind had banished nightmares Sardilic implanted.