Before I say anything else… you may have noticed that I removed chapter 1 from this story. It seemed like more of a one-shot to me, so I just separated it from this particular story. I think it makes the story flow much more easily! Yes… I also changed the title of the story. I had to completely delete this story from the account and publish it again, so all of your reviews have been deleted… sorry! Anyway, I hope that you continue to review!
Snow was falling.
Crap, Hiccup thought. That meant that it was winter. And winter was the hardest time to get food for the village. Stoick made sure that Hiccup had more things to do as son of the chief, which included getting food. And Hiccup hated the winter.
"Well son, looks like we better go get food before too much snow falls," Stoick said to Hiccup. "And we better get going now, because who knows how much snow will fall."
Hiccup groaned.
"Why now, Dad? Don't we have enough food to last us for awhile?" Hiccup knew that his father could tell he was lying. The truth was that he didn't want to leave Astrid. Or Toothless, for that matter. Stoick put a hand on Hiccup's shoulder.
"Now Hiccup, as son of the chief, you are-"
"-Expected to do everything in order to prepare for being chief. Yeah, Dad, I know." Hiccup interrupted. Stoick sighed and told Hiccup,
"I'll give you a few minutes to go say goodbye to Astrid, if you like. And let her know that she can take care of Toothless."
Hiccup first ran to get Toothless, and then ended up at Astrid's house. He knocked quickly on the door, to get out of the snow. Astrid opened the door and glanced from Toothless to Hiccup.
"Hey, Astrid." Hiccup gestured to Toothless. "Want to take care of him for awhile?" Astrid looked generally confused. Before Hiccup could complain, he shivered.
"Oh!" Astrid opened the door wider and let Hiccup and Toothless inside, and sat them by the fire. "I'm sorry, I forgot that you hated the cold."
"It's fine." Hiccup said, even though he continued to shiver. Astrid reached over to him and rubbed his hands between hers.
"So what were you saying?" She asked.
"Well, my dad is making me go with him to get some food, and we aren't sure how long we'll be gone, and Toothless gets rather lonely, and I know how much you like him, so would you be willing to watch him while we're gone?" Astrid looked concerned.
"I-I would like to take care of him, but are you going to be okay, out in the cold?" Hiccup hated it when people worried about him in the cold. It made him feel even weaker than he already was.
"Yeah, I'll be fine." Astrid still looked worried, and Hiccup had to leave before he stayed there forever. "I should be going too." He stood up and patted Toothless on the head. "See you later, buddy." He and Astrid walked to the door, but Astrid stopped him before he opened it.
"Be careful out there," She said seriously. Hiccup nodded, and noticed she was fumbling with her bracelet he had given her. He took her hand and brought it up between their faces.
"See? I'll always be with you. Bye, Astrid." Then he did something he had never done before; he pressed his lips against Astrid's, quickly, and then left her house without looking back.
"You all ready Hiccup?" Stoick asked.
"Yeah, I'm ready," Hiccup replied, throwing his bag over his shoulder.
"All right, let's go." Hiccup followed his father out of their house, and they headed into the distance. Hiccup stole a glance at Astrid's house, and was horrified to see her standing there. He smiled quickly at her, but then looked away and stared at his father's
back.
A FEW DAYS LATER
Hiccup was shivering violently. He had never been more cold in his entire life. Stoick had left their cave to go find some firewood. Hiccup wrapped himself up so tightly, that he barely could move, other than his shivering.
I hate this, he thought. I hope we're leaving soon. He was usually thinking about Astrid. That's what he was doing now. He was thinking about her and imagining that she was here, arms wrapped around him, keeping him warm. It was slightly working, but he was still cold. Just then, Stoick entered the cave, with no firewood. He took one glance at Hiccup, and started putting away their belongings.
"D-d-dad? Wh-h-at are you doi-i-ng?" Hiccup managed to get out.
"We're going. I know you don't want to hear this, but I'm going to come back later with someone else. Who isn't as sensitive as you are. And I'm doing this because I care about your health. We have enough food for awhile, and I'll come back tomorrow with someone else. So pack up, we're leaving."
"A-a-re you sure?" Hiccup couldn't believe it. They were going to go back! Where it was warm and where Astrid and Toothless were waiting.
"Yes, I'm sure. I can't stand to see you like this." Stoick paused and walked over to his son. He lifted him off the ground and planted him firmly on his feet. He rubbed his hands up and down Hiccup's shoulder, generating heat.
"Thanks Dad," Hiccup said. Stoick smiled at his son and grabbed their bags.
"You ready?" Stoick asked.
"Ready as I'll ever be." Stoick let out a laugh and walked out of the cave with Hiccup.
BACK AT THE VILLAGE
Hiccup had never been happier to be back at his village. The first place he was going to go after he warmed up, was Astrid's. Stoick made a stop at Meade Hall, to drop the meat, and Hiccup ran to their house. He threw on a few extra layers of clothing, and sat by the fire for a moment, before getting up at running to Astrid's house. Before he could get there, he was stopped by Ruffnut, who was coming from the direction of her house.
"Hiccup!" She looked happy to see him at first, and then she glanced back at Astrid's house, and looked slightly scared. "You're going to see Astrid, aren't you?"
"Yeah, and, um, I'll just, be on my way." He tried to make his way past her, but she stopped him.
"I'm warning you now, you might not want to." Hiccup stopped. What happened to her?
"Um, can I ask why?"
"She's, well, she's sick Hiccup. Really sick."
Okay, so I'm realizing that these chapters are preeeeetttyyy short. I'll try and make the next one longer!
