It all slows.

Or maybe, up until now, everything has just been going too fast and he never realized it. His mother, the ice breathing Alphas, Drago, the army, his...his father. Too fast...

He's not fearless like his father.

He's going to die.

The dark Alpha's slitted eyes are turned on him, and Toothless is quivering, still fighting off its influence. It parts it jaw and lets loose an icy exhale, and all of the chaos and panic and terror suddenly slides to a halt, becoming as frozen as the Alpha's breath.

The battle is motionless around him—weapons about to be drawn, catapults in mid launch, dragons spewing molten fire, Drago's head raised upward as he let out a blood-curdling wail. Astrid is letting loose an arrow. It takes more time to spot Valka; her shape and height aren't as familiar too him as he wishes they were.

They're all too far away. He can't hold onto them like he wants to.

But Toothless is right here in this moment with him, curled around him, chest rising and falling against his back in panting breaths the move in time with his own.

And then, everything turns cold. Colder than anything he's ever felt before, which is saying a lot coming from a kid raised in Berk. It's the kind of cold that slips right into you like a knife. Toothless slams into him and his legs give out. A second later his realizes his can't see anything anymore. Maybe because his face is pressed against the underside of Toothless's black belly, or because the sheet of ice around them doesn't let any light through. It doesn't really matter, so he just closes his eyes; it all looks the same no matter what.

There's no sound in here, or sight, or smell, but he can feel everything. He knows seconds are passing by and he's just lying here breathing. What a lousy way to die.

His cheek is pressed hard against Toothless's chest. He can feel the dragon's heart flying, it's pace uneven. He flattens his palm against the scaly skin. It's okay.

Well, what a lie, it's not okay, but it just... is.

The heartbeat slows. He counts them, times his breaths to them.

It's okay.

Repeating the phrase in his mind isn't enough to convince himself, but he hopes maybe Toothless will sense his calm and follow suit.

He loves a lot of people on Berk. Every one of its citizens, in a way; that comes with being a chief, or at the least the son of one. He loves Astrid. He loved his father. He think he might have been able to love Valka.

But Toothless isn't like that. He found and named and loved that dragon before anyone else. Even when the entire island of Berk made him feel like a pathetic weakling, he rode on Toothless and he felt like the strongest, bravest, most invincible Viking to ever live.

Toothless's heartbeat resembles something closer to normal now. Maybe Hiccup's soothing worked, or maybe not, and it's just the cold catching up with them and slowing their hearts until they finally stop. He guesses that the temperature will kill them before anything else. But he doesn't really feel that bone-splitting chill anymore. Maybe dying is kind like that—comfortable. He hopes so. He hopes Stoick didn't feel any pain.

He presses his palm harder against Toothless: It's okay. He feels Toothless's ribs expand and push back: Love you.

He's not cold at all now—warm even. It feels like summer on Berk, when the sun is highest and everything is bright and the sky is blue instead of it's usual grey.

Kind of like now.

He shoves his palm away from Toothess's skin. A second later, his brain catches up to the instinctual movement, and he realizes his hand is stinging like it does when he accidentally brushes it on the white-hot metal he's molding in Gobber's shop.

Toothless curls his limbs in, pushing Hiccup more tightly beneath him. A bead of sweat slides down his temple and catches on a dimple on his cheek.

The dragon exhales a long, long breath. It feels like air escaping from a fireplace when you pull back the metal screen. It fills every crevice in the tiny gap and stuffs their bubble in the ice with smoldering heat. It's okay, he feels.

He starts to believe it.

And the ice bursts apart.


Thank you for reading. Reviews are so kind.