Astrid, Ruff, Tuff and Fishlegs were all waiting impatiently outside the twins house for the last person to arrive. And as usual, that person was Snotlout and his dragon. Astrid tapped her foot impatiently against the ground, Fishlegs stole worried glances around him and the twins were half asleep against each other, not accustomed to being up at this hour.
It was indeed pretty early in the morning and those who were up were probably eating breakfast at the Great Hall, so the town square were pretty much empty except for a few Vikings amongst them the teens, Mulch, Bucket and Gobber, who'd they had just asked for help to distract Hiccup in case he were up. Of course, that wouldn't have been needed if Snotlout were in time, Astrid thought annoyed.
But, speaking of the trolls, not over a minute later he came walking down the hill with Hookfang hot on his heels.
Astrid wasted no time in getting up from her seat on the bench to confront the boy.
"Do you know what time it I?" Astrid asked with a little poison in her voice.
Snotlout in response shrugged as the other teens got up as well. "Still to early. Couldn't we have waited with this until like, after lunch?"
"No that wouldn't have worked. And besides, we've been waiting for ever because you promised to be here an hour ago!" Astrid scolded with an accusing finger to his cousin.
"Well, sooorry ma'am but Snotlout needs his beauty sleep," Snotlout retorted as he dusted himself of a bit, even though it didn't make any different on his worn out leather vest.
"You should have slept a lot longer then," Ruffnut said before her and her brother started snickering. Astrid took no notice of them and continued.
"We all agreed to get of the island before Hiccup woke so we would be rid of him," she explained while waving Stormfly to get closer.
"Yeah, yeah I know but seriously you could have just told him we wanted nothing to do with him and for him to keep out of the way," Snotlout replied with a shrug.
"Yeah, to take him behind the light like that is weird. But we don't want him with us so there's not much else to do," Fishlegs said as he jumped on (not so gracefully) Meatlug. But when he did he saw something at the other end of the square. Well, rather someones.
"Eh... guys?" He started nervously. Nobody seemed to notice him tough.
"Seriously though, aren't we being a little over the board for a simple birthday party?" Ruffnut asked, with a yawn as she just woke up form Snotlouts loud arrival.
Astrid sighed as she explained once again. "I know, but seriously we haven't even congratulated him on any past birthday and he won't have another real one for four years. So maybe a surprise party can weigh that up a bit, but in that case Hiccup can not know what's going on. Not a clue," Astrid said and was just about to look at Fishlegs who couldn't hold secrets for everything in him when he shouted.
"GUYS!" Everyone's attention turned towards him and Tuff woke up with a strange "Who, what, were?!" No one took notice of him though as they all looked towards were Fishlegs was frantically pointing. A familiar black dragon already far away from the island and getting farther at incredible speed. "I think he heard us!" Fishlegs sighed with a hand over his eyes.
"Okay, sad; party's ruined. Can I go back to sleep now?" Tuff asked half groggily, already laying back down.
Astrid said something very unladylike as she leaned her forehead against Stormflys stomach in frustration. "Okay, and then that was destroyed," she muttered.
Snotlout looked around and stated: "We can still have the party as we decided. Maybe he didn't hear our conversation, I mean it was a strange reaction for the topic." At the words Fishlegs suddenly froze as a thought entered his head.
"Guys..." He started once again in a concerned voice, but nobody noticed as a scream suddenly echoed through the air. All of the teens and the reptiles turned their heads to the source of the high sound.
There, next to the well, stood Bucket on his knees and held tightly to the bucket he was called after as Mulch loomed over him in worry. They talked for a bit and Mulch pulled at the metal object a bit to test it. Soon Bucket screamed out again.
"Looks like a storm's coming," Ruffnut said with a sigh as she observed the two. It had been a couple of blue days with sun recently after they finally were rid of all the lightning (well, except for Mildew) caused by the metal. But now it seemed the wrath of Thor would show itself once again.
"Yeah, we should probably not fly then," said Fishlegs with a loud sigh of his own.
"It doesn't need to be. It could be false alarm again," Snotlout reasoned, slightly annoyed to be dragged here (at least from his perspective) without even getting on with it. And besides, he wanted to make a celebration for his cousin. After all the kid had never really had a birthday and Snotlout was feeling guilty, something he rarely felt.
Astrid kept quiet during the conversation. Partly she didn't want it to be a storm because it was hard to sleep, they had to store and so on. Another part of her felt worry that Hiccup and Toothless went flying when the possibility lingered.
But she dismissed the thought. They'd be fine, probably back long before ,if, a storm started. Probably.
I really hope he'll be okay, she thought as she turned around.
As Hiccup sank through the saltwater, the first thing he was aware of was the cold.
He sank deeper and deeper. Despite his whole body being sore from the impact of the water he kicked furiously with his legs. But his heavy metal prosthetic made it nearly impossible. As the pressure of the deeps became higher by the second and the pain in his air-demanding lungs as well.
Hiccup realized the only option for survival the next few minutes and bent down to off strap his fake leg, the rems slippery from being wet. He wouldn't be able to fly Toothless home anyway as the contraption was lost. Toothless.
He felt a pang of worry in his already tight chest. He needed to get to his dragon and make sure he was alright. Who knew were he could be right now! It was as if the storm and the hurricane couldn't agree so the wind and waves went whatever direction without any order. Toothless must have fallen too as he can't fly without the tail-fin.
Finally the leg went of from the stump and sank to the deeps, never to be seen again. Immediately he went back to forcefully kicking with arms and what were left of his legs.
He had nearly reached the bottom of the deep ocean, but after what felt like a small eternity Hiccup finally resurfaced, spluttering and gasping. But he hadn't time to take many breaths before a big wave hit him and he came under the water level once more.
Seconds later he gasped again for the desperate need of air in his liquid filled lungs. He coughed some out before desperately screaming Toothless name out. But it didn't even bear over the raging wind.
Hiccup soon felt dizzy from the lack of proper air and how he was tossed like a rag doll in the mighty grip of Njord. (The ASA God of the ocean with more). Hiccup pried to said God to spare Toothless, to reunite them. But the black dragon was nowhere to be seen. Hiccup screamed out the name again only to earn a long short drink. Resurfacing yet another time Hiccup gagged up much of the saltwater before coughing, all the while struggling to stay above the waves.
He hoped Toothless were doing better. He had high body temperature naturally and was a good swimmer, but this storm could crack Viking armadas. Hiccup looked around yet again but couldn't see the familiar dragon.
He was pretty sure he was crying, but he couldn't know as he was drenched in the salty liquid.
The water was filled of currents and together with the waves Hiccup knew he were drifting and tumbling farther away from the eye of this storm. That both relieved him and terrified him; he would escape the waves, hopefully, with his life. But he also knew he was probably getting farther and farther away from Toothless.
Though it was painfully obvious that even if they both miraculously got out of the nature catastrophe, and even more miraculously found each other... Then they were stuck in the middle of the ocean.
I really hope he'll be okay, Hiccup thought as yet another wave hit him and he felt for just blacking out.
A/N: School starts for real tomorrow...
But life isn't about waiting for the storms to pass.
It's about learning to dance in the rain.
So you know what? I'd like to see you smile now :) 3