I've had a little break from writing to catch up on some crochet, but I have missed this. I have been thinking up stories in my head. This is a little two-shot that I was working on to pass some time.

Here we go!

...

Hiccup moved his arm from in front of his face to see if he could tell what direction Toothless was heading into. He was immediately blinded by the sleet and snow that continued to fall around them. He was numb with cold.

"You o-okay, b-b-bud?" he asked Toothless as loud as he could.

The dragon cooed at him and tried to hurry home as fast as he could.

"I'll be o-kay," Hiccup said. His teeth were chattering but he could barely tell. His face stung from the cold. He laid his head down against Toothless trying to get as warm as he could. He grew concerned realizing that Toothless was not near as warm as he should have been. Of course, they had been flying in the storm for easily two hours.

He cursed Dagur under his breath. The man simply would not let Hiccup leave when he had tried earlier that morning. He wanted Hiccup to stay, but he had to remind him that he had his own wife and village at home he needed to get back to. Dagur finally understood this. Hiccup could see the gleam in his eye when Dagur had turned to Mala, who had been holding their new born son in her arms. With that, they had bid farewell for now.

Thinking of the warm island was rather soothing to Hiccup. At that moment he wished he had remained for just one more day. He knew deep inside even if he had known this winter storm would have surrounded Berk he would still have traveled home to protect his village.

"I hope everyone is safe," Hiccup said to himself quietly. He knew Astrid and the gang would do their best to make sure the village people were safe. Suddenly, he felt himself shake violently again, and he pressed himself closer to Toothless's body for any additional warmth the dragon was able to provide him. It wasn't a moment later, Hiccup had lost consciousness.

Toothless began picking up speed again. He needed to get Hiccup home or else he knew they would both be in danger.

...

Astrid sat up by the door in a stool, leaning against a support post, waiting and listening for anyone coming at the doors to be let in. Her axe sat across her lap. To pass the time she had been sharpening it. Her mind had wondered, and her eyes drew to the gold band around her left ring finger. She rubbed it with her thumb, feeling the smoothness of the gold. A slight smile crossed her face when she remembered watching Hiccup make the band in the Forge for her two days before they married.

"Can't sleep?"

Astrid turned to her right and saw Fishlegs had approached. She could see the worry in his eyes that mimicked her own. She turned away and sighed.

"I'm sure they are fine, Astrid," Fishlegs said to her.

"I still worry," Astrid said. "There Terrible Terror made it here two hours before the storm hit. I don't understand why Hiccup is this far behind."

"You know they will get here," Fishlegs said to her. "They always do."

Astrid sighed. "I only hope so."

Glancing behind Fishlegs she saw most everyone in the village had fallen asleep now. Snotlout had strung himself over the arm rests of the Chief's chair along the back wall. Even though Hiccup rarely sat in it, Astrid had felt herself grow angry seeing him sit in it commanding people to fetch him a plate of food.

That was another thing that made her nervous. They had only had enough food in the Great Hall to last two full days for the village. By the following evening she knew that the Rider's would have to venture out to the supply house to bring more in.

"Astrid, why don't you get some sleep?" Fishlegs asked her after a moment of silence. "I'll stay up and keep watch."

She glanced at the large doors again for a moment, then hung her head in defeat. She knew she needed to get some rest. Nodding, she headed towards her cot on the floor and tried as best as she could to sleep.

...

Toothless used his sound waves to sense where he was at. Suddenly, he felt himself feel some relief. Berk wasn't far. Another ten minutes and they would be home. He forced himself to move his numb wings to gain some speed. They had to make it home.

He noted that Hiccup was asleep on top of him. Toothless had been growing increasingly worried about his rider. The cold was too much for the thin man. With Hiccup being so slender he knew the cold was going right through him.

As he started to enter Berk's fishing perimeter, Toothless though he felt Hiccup begin to slip slightly. Toothless knew that if he slowed too much the gear wouldn't be in the correct setting and it could interfere with them making it back to Berk. He shrugged his shoulders to try to readjust Hiccup's position on top of him. Instead, he over corrected, and Hiccup suddenly rolled off of himself.

Immediately, Toothless tolled himself and caught him in his arms, holding his rider closer to his body. Almost there. Just a few more minutes and they would be home.

In the back of his mind, Toothless wondered how they would land without Hiccup to adjust the tail...

...

Fishlegs was fast asleep sitting against the post. He snored loudly. Astrid stood a few feet away, with her hands crossed in front of her, feeling annoyed. She hadn't gone to lay down but twenty minutes and right when she was drifting to sleep, she heard Fishlegs snores over Snotlout's. It was hard to believe he could out snore Snotlout.

She sighed. There was no point waking him. She was up again anyways. She would just continue watching over the people in the Great Hall to make sure they were warm and comfortable.

Turning to go put some more wood into the giant hearth, she paused when she heard a familiar sound. The sound was hardly detectable through the thick doors, and through the thickness of the storm outside, but she knew it was Toothless. Her pulse quickened realizing this. Turning to head towards the doors, suddenly Toothless slammed into them, pushing them open, and the dragon came rolling into the Great Hall. Astrid ducked for cover.

Tables went overturned, people woke up and ducked for cover. Astrid felt the chill of the outside weather rush through the Great Hall. Chaos broke lose around them as people woke up, highly confused as to what happened while they slept. Ironically, no one was injured.

"Get the doors!" Astrid heard Valka yell from somewhere. She ignored the doors, and went rushing to Toothless's side.

He had landed in a heap on the stage. His wings were curled around himself, and Astrid could see him shaking, something she had never seen in him before.

"Toothless-" she breathed to him, touching his head. The dragon barely let his emerald eyes make eye contact with her blue ones. "It's okay-"

Suddenly, Toothless unwrapped his wings and used his head to push Astrid down to her knees, pushing her towards his rider, allowing her to check on Hiccup that laid motionless in his dragon's arms.

"Hiccup-" his name barely escaped her lips. She crawled closer. She leaned towards him and touched him. He was ice cold.

"Toothless-I expected more out of you-" Snotlout had begun to scream. The chair he had been sleeping so soundly in had been knocked over. "Where's Hiccup-Never have I seen such poor landing skills-"

"Shut up!" Astrid found herself screaming. She was panicked. "Valka-!"

Gobber and a few other villagers had just managed to get the Great Hall doors closed and locked again. When he turned around looking for a word with the chief. He was upset with Hiccup for behaving the way he had, causing a scene when the villagers were already worried. When he saw Astrid bent own over Toothless's side, fear frozen on her face, his anger eased. Valka had approached them in a hurry and had collapsed to her knees. Fear and worry had spread instantly across the woman's face.

"This don' look good," he said more to himself than anyone. He slowly approached the stage.

"We need to move him," Valka said. "Quick, back behind the wall here-" She headed towards the back of the stage and opened up a door behind the wall. "Hurry-quick-"

Quickly, Snotlout gathered Hiccup up into his arms and carried him towards the door and disappeared in the back with Astrid's husband. Valka hurried in after him, leaving the door wide open for Astrid to come.

Astrid turned back to Toothless, who was very weak. She could see he was struggling to catch his breath, and he shook trying to keep himself up right. After a moment of staring at each other, he nudged her with his snout, pushing her away. He wanted her to go to his rider.

"Toothless-"

"I'll take care of Toothless, lass," Gobber said to her, approaching them, then he wrapped a large yak fur over the dragon. "He will be fine soon. Just go to the Chief."

Astrid nodded and hurried to the door, leaning against it to shut it behind her. She opened her eyes to take in their surroundings.

The secret room behind the stage meant for very hush meetings. Stoick had decided to make the room when Hiccup was just a boy. Many times over the years while the whole village was settled in the Great Hall for safety, Stoick and many of the counsel members had met there away from the village to avoid causing a panic.

Snotlout had laid Hiccup on a bed of furs Valka had laid out. There, they had begun to take off his armor. Astrid approached, and gasped when she took in how horrible Hiccup really looked. His lips were a dark shade of blue. His skin was incredibly pale. The ice in his hair was beginning to slowly melt.

"Valka-"

"We need to get him warm," she said. "Astrid-fetch a set of dry clothes-"

Astrid did as her mother-in-law asked. Going towards a chest, she found a large shirt stashed inside. It was three sizes too large for Hiccup, but it would have to do. She had to remind herself to calm down as she rooted through more clothes, looking for a pair of trousers that might actually fit her husband.

"Snotlout, another fur-" she heard Valka say.

Astrid came back with the change of clothes for him, and began to help Valka strip him out of the cold, clothes. They were very stiff as they started to pull them off of him. Astrid could feel the ice in the fabric breaking apart from it.

"We need to get him warm," Valka said again. "Not too quickly, though-"

They hurried to get him changed and settled. Snotlout brought the extra fur and sat it down at Hiccup's feet. From that point he stood behind them waiting for his next direct order.

"There," Valka said quietly. She paused for a moment, then turned to Astrid. "Astrid, take your armor off-"

Astrid did as Valka asked her to do. She quickly stripped all of her armor off of her body, dropping each piece only feet from the furs that Hiccup laid on. Finally, she was down to just her tunic and her leggings. She slipped under the furs and laid down next to her husband to help warm him up.

"Valka-he's ice cold-why isn't he shaking?" She knew that the body shook in an attempt to warm itself up. Hiccup wasn't doing any of that. He was motionless and appeared to have become more pale over the last few moments.

"Give him some time," Valka said to her. But, worry was plastered all over her face. "I am going to go check on Toothless."

Just as Valka turned to check on the dragon, the door was pushed off of it's hinges with a blast, and the dragon came hurrying into the room. Gobber followed in hot pursuit into the room, and began trying to fix the door back to the wall to make sure their business was kept private.

"We cannot let the villagers in," Gobber said to Valka. "Not with the Chief like this."

Toothless laid down close to Hiccup, placing his large head just inches from where he knew Hiccup's hand laid under the furs. He cooed gently, then closed his eyes. If only the people knew how hard he worked to get Hiccup there quickly. He felt as though he failed his rider.

"I thought you were taking care of Toothless," Valka said to Gobber, crossing her arms in frustration.

Gobber shrugged his shoulders. "It's Toothless. Nothin' keeps 'im down ter terribly long."

Astrid smiled gently and nodded. "Gobber is right about that."

Toothless snorted at Gobber and placed his head back down beside Hiccup. Astrid could see the worry in his eyes. She could tell Toothless was still a little weak, but he wouldn't go down without a fight. She reached over and placed her hand on his snout.

"It's okay, Toothless," Astrid said to him. "Just give it a little bit of time."

The dragon heaved a great sigh, and the room fell silent for a little while.

...

They had asked Gothi to come and take a look at Hiccup once the commotion in the Great Hall died down from Toothless's grande entrance. His lips were starting to turn back to normal, and he was beginning to shaking violently, but worried them the most was his breathing seemed labored. Gothi asked for another blanket to be thrown over him, and had requested he be moved closer to a fire for additional warmth.

When Snotlout went to pick Hiccup up to move him, the Chief winced.

"Hiccup-"

"No-okay-" he mumbled. "Okay-"

Once he was moved and settled, Astrid laid down beside him again. She leaned to one side, supporting her upper body with her elbow. She rubbed her finger along his face, feeling the chill that remained on his pale skin.

"Gothi said to give him another hour or so," Valka said to her.

"Why was he wincing?" Astrid asked her.

"Might of happened in the crash," Valka said. "Hiccup will tell us what hurts when he wakes up."

Astrid caught sight of Toothless's head dropping from the corner of her eye. He was beginning to feel worse, she could tell. Fishlegs had joined them, and was trying to comfort the dragon as best as he could.

"Is anyone hungry?" Valka asked everyone in the room. Silence was her response. She sighed, and stepped away with Gobber to discuss what they would do about the people of the village. Someone had to continue to make decisions while Hiccup was ill.

...

Astrid must have fallen asleep, but she hadn't for long. Realizing she had, she bolted up and looked around herself for Hiccup. Her tension eased when she saw the color was continuing to return to his body. He was still shaking under the covers.

"Napping on the job, I see," Snotlout mocked. Astrid glanced around, and noticed he was sitting in a chair about ten feet from where she and Hiccup were lying. H was watching over them, she knew.

"Oh, hush," she said back to him. "How long was I asleep?"

"Long enough to miss breakfast being served in the Great Hall," he replied. He moved down to Astrid's level, sitting down on the floor on the other side of Hiccup with his legs crossed.

"That could have been hours!" Astrid said.

"It was," Fishlegs said gently, coming over with a bowl of porridge. She pushed it back to him, her stomach giving a massive flip at the thought of food. "Has Hiccup woken up at all?"

"No," Fishlegs said to her. "He's been asleep the whole time."

Astrid's shoulders slumped. She reached over and felt his face with her finger tips. He felt still a little cool to the touch, but seemed to have improved. "Has Gothi been back to look at him?"

"No," Snotlout said. "On the bright side, we think the storm is beginning to head north."

Astrid nodded with reply. "Hopefully soon we can all return back to our homes."

"We are going to have to dig our way out is the problem," Fishlegs said. "I'm pretty sure the snow is as tall as Meatlug by now."

Astrid sighed and turned to look for Toothless. He apparently had cozied himself on the far side of the room. She wondered if he was still being hard on himself for Hiccup's condition.

Suddenly, Hiccup winced again in his sleep. It was much louder than when he had before. The wince caught Valka's ear from across the room and she came over to inspect. Getting down on the opposite side of Hiccup (Snotlout moved out of the way), she pushed a few of the blankets away. Instantly, Hiccup was shaking as he was exposed to the colder air. She glanced around his body quickly looking for any bruises.

"I don't see anything off-" she began.

"Any ideas why his breathing is so shallow?" Snotlout asked her. Snotlout was right. It had grown worse since they'd last noticed it.

Valka shook her head slightly. "I'm sure once he wakes up we can look into it more." She looked at Astrid. "Have you not eaten your breakfast?"

Astrid glared at her, and suddenly Fishlegs pushed the bowl of porridge back to her. She accepted it, only because Valka was eying her so intently. A moment passed, and Valka wondered away.

"Astrid, you better eat," Fishlegs said to her. "We don't know for sure if this storm is heading north and dying down. That might be the last bit of food you get all day if we realize we need to ration it out."

She pushed it away again, sliding it about three feet away. "I can't eat right now." She sighed. "What if Hiccup needs something to eat later and we don't have anything for him?" She saw Snotlout's head drop a little bit. "I'll save it, just in case." She then reached for it and tucked it under a pillow for safe keeping.

"Where are the twins?" Astrid asked.

"They are actually working in the kitchens," Fishlegs replied. "Keeping them busy is key right now."

"Those two are like wild boars," Snotlout laughed. "Keeping them confined is asking for trouble. Keeping them preoccupied will keep the order in here."

Astrid nodded in agreement. Turning back to Hiccup, she sighed. She was worried about him, but despite how worried she was, he was improving. That was something she was thankful for.