Part 1

This just wasn't fair. Not after the night he'd had, full of fiery visions and strange pains in a limb no longer attached to him.

Tired and aching, Hiccup stood at the top of his front steps, shivering and unable to move. Wrapping his arms around himself, he took a sweeping glance across a village transformed by drift upon drift of heavy white. Today was the first time in two days that Berk and its residents had seen the sun after a vicious winter storm. The air was clean, clear, and bitingly cold and what wasn't blanketed in snow was petrified under a thick layer of ice.

Perfect, Hiccup thought bitterly. Just when I was starting to get the hang of this peg-leg thing.

Several months had passed since the encounter with the Red Death and, naturally, waking up to find he was minus body part had come as a terrible shock. Learning to walk again was only one of the many challenges he faced in recovery, but with practice, the support of his friends, his father, and especially Toothless, he'd been progressing well enough.

…Until now.

Now the gods had to haul off and complicate things. Again.

At that, a heavy sigh escaped his lips in a steamy puff and he rolled his eyes, wondering if he was forever doomed to be the punchline of some cosmic joke—

The deep, throaty greeting-growl of a dragon pushed into his thoughts, providing a welcome distraction. Hiccup's mood brightened a little as Toothless slid to a stop at the foot of the steps.

"Hey bud! Where've you been all morning?"

Toothless's only response was a grin and a shake of his head before he turned a circle and sat back expectantly. The green orb-like eyes blinked once, twice, and Hiccup knew the time had come to leave the safety of the front porch like a fledgling from the nest. There were important things to attend to, like perfecting aerial feats and catching fish, for example, that couldn't be put off any longer.

"Alright, alright, I'm coming," Hiccup mumbled, shuffling forward to the edge of the porch. It was just a few steps, but today, when encased in a solid sheet of ice, it looked more like the pathway to certain death. Nevertheless, he steadied himself on his real foot and carefully placed the metal one down on the first stair.

So far, so good, he thought, releasing his breath after a few tense seconds.

The dragon burbled his approval, giving Hiccup just enough confidence to continue. But the moment he shifted all his weight onto the peg-leg was the very moment the rest of his day started going downhill.

"Oh no! Oh no—EEEYAH!" The metal was no match for the slick coating on the steps, and before he knew it, his legs went out from under him and he found himself on a quick and painful journey all the way to the bottom of the steps.

After a stunned moment or two flat on his back, Hiccup got around to wondering why Toothless hadn't caught him like he usually did whenever he took a spill. His answer came when Toothless's botched attempt at a rescue came to an abrupt and not-so-graceful end right on top of him.

The young Viking huffed as all the air in his lungs was forced out by the Night Fury's weight, noting that apparently dragons had trouble with ice as well. Toothless's claws scraped and gouged the frozen ground as he scrambled to find his footing and picked himself up.

Hiccup grunted as the pressure on his chest lifted. "Uuuggh! Man, am I ever glad you're not a Gronckle."

Toothless smacked his lips and rumbled an apology before offering a bent head to help the boy sit upright.

"Thanks." Hiccup brushed off some snow crystals before rubbing the growing lump on the back of his head.

As a Viking living on the almost-always-frozen island of Berk, Hiccup was no stranger to getting around on ice. However, things were different now and it looked as if he and Toothless might have more urgent matters to take care of today than soaring through the clouds. After all, if the two of them could barely stand, how would they take off or land? Hiccup didn't want to think about it.

"Uh, you're gonna hate me, but…maaaaybe we should skip the flying for today, huh?"

Toothless groaned in reply, flopping over sideways in a melodramatic display of disappointment. Hiccup shared the sentiment. Sharing space in a stuffy house for a couple days with an agitated dragon (not to mention his agitated father) had nearly driven him mad. He'd been eagerly awaiting freedom and, seeing that the skies had cleared, took the first available opportunity to escape.

"I know, I know, I want to go too, but this is only the first ice storm of winter. I can't spend the next nine or ten months biffing it off the front porch every day…" he trailed off with a glance at his prosthetic. "I…I'm kinda stuck with this thing and I've gotta learn how to use it." He reached for the now upright dragon, scratching him under the chin. "So whaddaya say, bud? Think you can help me out?"

Toothless leaned forward to give Hiccup a gentle bump with his nose, uttering a low, sympathetic rumble. He understood perfectly.

….

"So, what is it?" Snotlout asked.

All but two of the teens of Berk were gathered in a clearing below a steep hill, squinting at something in Ruffnut's outstretched palm.

"Looks like a bunch of socks frozen together in some sort of disc shape," Tuffnut responded, leaning in for a closer look with a hand on his chin.

Ruffnut rolled her eyes. "That's because it is a bunch of socks frozen together in a disc shape. We left'em outside before the storm hit to see if we could catch some trolls, remember?"

"Oh." Tuffnut scratched his head. "Oh yeah, I knew that. Huh, I was wondering why I couldn't find any socks for two days."

"And they froze completely solid like that?" continued Fishlegs.

Ruffnut nodded. "Yup. Found'em this morning right where we left them. Cool, huh?"

"Ha, 'cool' is right," Snotlout snorted, taking the rock-solid sock-disc and turning it over in his hands.

"More like 'weird'," Fishlegs commented. "Did you catch any trolls?"

"Nah," replied Ruffnut. "But we made up a new game to play with it. C'mon!" She turned and galloped away through the snow in the direction of a small frozen pond.

Tuffnut followed, calling over his shoulder, "It's awesome because it involves running around and hitting things with sticks."

"Eh, why not?" Snotlout shrugged before taking off after the twins. "Sounds like fun to me."

"Why does it always have to be 'hitting things' with those two?" sighed Fishlegs to himself.

A short run later, the four regrouped by the pond at the base of the hill. Its icy surface was white and smooth as polished glass: perfect for sliding.

Tuffnut took the disc from Snotlout and tossed it onto the pond where it glided smoothly all the way to the other end with amazing speed.

"Whoa, nice!" Snotlout laughed.

Fishlegs wasn't nearly as impressed. "That's your game? Sliding frozen socks across a pond?"

"Just wait," said Tuffnut, "it gets better. Ready, Ruff?"

"Yeah!" she cheered before launching herself out onto the pond, a curved stick now in her hands. She flew over the ice to the disc, and with a mighty whack of the stick, sent it zipping all the way back to land at the feet of the astonished Fishlegs and Snotlout.

The twins shared a high-five, crossed their arms and leaned into each other, snickering and looking smug.

"We call it 'Sockey'," they chorused.

"Hm," said Fishlegs. "For some reason, I'm not exactly sure that name's going to catch on. Maybe you should call it something else. Like maybe hock—"

"Who cares what it's called?!" shouted Snotlout, grinning from ear to ear. "That's awesome! Gimme another stick, I wanna play too!"

Fishlegs hesitated. "Wait, aren't there any rules?"

"Pfft!" Snotlout snorted, waving him off. "Rules schmules. All I know is you better watch out, 'cause I'm gonna send that sock thingy to the next island—HEY!"

In a blur of blond, the twins swooped in to snatch the disc just as he stooped to pick it up. And so the game began.

Fishlegs remained on the bank. "Uh, you guys have fun. I think I'll just…stay here and keep score."

No one was listening. Within seconds, the three teenaged Vikings raised enough chaos to wake all the souls in Valhalla. There would be bloodshed and probably a few missing teeth before the end. Fishlegs smiled a little, feeling relieved he'd chosen not to participate, and turned to leave them to it. After a step, he paused at the sight of an approaching newcomer and waved happily

"Astrid!"

Bundled to the ears, Astrid labored through the snow, red-faced and puffing with the effort.

"Hey, Fishlegs," she gasped. "Have…have you seen Hiccup today?"

"No. He's probably flying with Toothless. Why?"

"Hm. I'm not sure he'd be out flying with all this ice. I mean, Stormfly can barely get around…" she trailed off, looking past Fishlegs' thick frame at the ruckus going on behind him. "Oh great. Did the twins make Snotlout angry again?"

"Uh, yes…I-I mean no. I mean, maybe…? They invented a new game."

Astrid raised her eyebrows. "That's a game? Sounds more like a brawl to me."

"Well…yeah. Yeah, I'd say that's pretty accurate."

"Uh, guys?" Astrid marched to the edge of the pond. "Hey, guys! Could you stop for a second?"

The battle raged on…

"GUYS!"

Finally, an axe came hurling through the air and embedded itself in the ice right between Snotlout and Ruffnut, narrowly missing the toes of their boots.

"Hey!" Snotlout protested. "What was that for? I was just about to—"

"Ooh, nice shot," said Ruffnut, eyes glinting. "You should do that again! See if you can get it any closer to my foot."

"Yeah, she hasn't cut her toenails for a couple weeks," Tuffnut put in.

Astrid charged onto the ice, arms folded and jaw set. "Have any of you seen Hiccup today?" she asked, wrenching the axe out of the pond's surface.

"Uhhh, nope," said one twin.

"Haven't seen'im," said the other.

"Why d'you need him, anyway?" asked Snotlout.

"Well, I was going to ask him if—"

A shrill and startled cry from the crest of the hill ended the conversation right there. All eyes glanced upward to see something vaguely resembling a human shape plowing down through the snow toward them at alarming speed, yelping and squawking as it fell. Dumbfounded, they watched the unfortunate individual crash through the brambles on the bank of the pond and slide to a stop in a heap at their feet.

"Uuggh…" the human snowball moaned. "D-don't worry, I'll be fine…maybe."

Astrid was the first to react. She dropped to her knees beside the new arrival, brushing as much of the snow away as she could to reveal a head of auburn hair, a face full of freckles, a green shirt…

"Hiccup?!"

"Found'im," said Tuffnut, pointing.

"Um…" Hiccup sat up slowly and ruffled more snow from his furry jacket. "H-hey, everybody. I was just passing by and thought I'd…y'know, drop in and see what you're up to." He paused, teeth chattering, face flushing. "Wow, is it cold or what? Everybody keeping warm out here? Heh…"

"Hiccup," Astrid repeated, "What was that? What happened?"

"I was…practicing."

"Practicing?"

"Walking. On the, uh…the ice. With the…with the leg. Yeah."

Astrid nodded in understanding and helped Hiccup to his feet, bringing one of his arms around her shoulders to steady him.

"You slipped?"

Hiccup's face reddened further, almost enough to cause his dusting of snow to melt into steam.

"Gee, how'd you ever guess?"

Astrid smiled, about to say something encouraging, but was interrupted as another avalanche on the side of the hill announced the arrival of Toothless. The dragon exploded out of the snow and leapt straight at group, scattering young Vikings in every direction and nearly bowling Hiccup over.

"Whoa, whoa, Toothless," said Hiccup, smiling and detaching himself from Astrid to throw his arms around his dragon's neck. "I'm ok. Lucky this nice, rock-hard pond was here to break my fall, huh?"

The Night Fury was not amused and uttered a concerned growl as he carefully eyed his human from head to toe.

"I'll be all right, bud. Really." Hiccup gave him a reassuring pat on the muzzle.

"Urgh, enough with the mush, already," moaned Snotlout. "Can we get back to Sockey now?"

Hiccup exchanged a humored glance with Astrid and bit back a snort. "'Sockey'?"

She shrugged. "Some new game the twins came up with, I guess."

"Yup," Ruffnut added, "it's gonna make us famous."

"Just wait, it'll be the rage throughout the Archipelago in a week or two," said Tuff.

"And all because our socks froze together in the storm."

Hiccup blinked at the disc. "Those…those are your socks?"

"No, no, they used to be our socks," Tuffnut waggled a finger before gripping his Sockey stick. "Used to be. Now, let me give you a demonstration."

"Tuffnut, wait!" Astrid lurched forward.

Tuffnut's stick whooshed through the air, catching the disc with a sharp crack. It shot into the air, but its journey ended too soon as it made contact with the forehead of the wholly unprepared Hiccup. the force of the blow sent him reeling a full 180 degrees before he dropped to the ice.