Darkness. That was the first thought that whispered though Hiccup's mind. Silence. It was silent. But why?

He could feel his body sinking... falling slowly, so slowly, the blue-green light drifting farther and farther away. His body was so heavy. It seemed his arms and legs were being dragged down by weights, and he could not move them. The cold was pressing all around him. He would have shivered, but he could not move.

A thin trail of bubbles escaped from his lips, but he could not draw breath. By now, every fiber in his body was screaming for air. He needed to breathe. But the darkness... the darkness was stealing away all the light. It was getting farther and farther away, and he could not move, could not up, up to the air, up to the light. The darkness... it was overtaking him.

Suddenly Hiccup felt something digging into his shoulder. Something was dragging him up. Back into the light. The darkness was fading, drawing back, disappearing, but a new kind of darkness, a diffrent kind, was taking its place, wrapping its warm blanket around him.

He felt himself break through the surface of the water, and the sound of windflaps filled the air. Air. It was steaming around him, blowing though his wet clothes, chilling him once again, but he could not breathe. He still could not draw breath.

Hiccup's body slammed into the ground, and suddenly, it all came flooding out. His stomach contracted painfully as his back arched forward, spitting out water, and taking short, quick gasps of air, his entire body shaking. Each breath felt like a knife gashing through his lungs, and he felt as if his very brain was being squeezed. A small whimper slipped out as he pressed his forehead into the dirt, tears burning his eyes.

A gentle cooing noise that Hiccup knew well broke though the silence.

"Toothless," he whispered, trying to open his bleary eyes. Hot breath flooded over his face, warming his chilled body. Vision blurring, Hiccup sat up and wrapped his arms around the dragon's neck, his breath hitching. "T-Toothless."

I... saved you. I saved you! I did it!

"That... that's great... bud," Hiccup muttered, his ears beginning to ring. Toothless seemed to fade beneith his fingertips, and he felt his body hit the dirt.

The darkness was coming again. But that was alright. Toothless was here. Toothless would keep him safe.


When Hiccup opened his eyes, he was no longer on the shore. He was inside a large room, filled with people in fancy suits and dresses. In the middle of the room were two young women, the elder one wearing a crown. They were arguing loudly, and the eldest kept trying to grab back the glove the younger was holding.

The two sisters, Hiccup realized. The queen and princess of Arendelle.

It did not occur to him to question how he he got there. In fact, it did not really feel like he was there at all. He was only observing.

He watched in silence as the queen turned and began walking away, the princess... Anna, she was called, yelling after her.

"Why do you shut me out; w-why do you shut the world out? What are you so afraid of?"

"I said: ENOUGH!"

The young queen spun around, ice shooting out of her hand and spreading across floor in an arc around her. The ice seemed to rise up, their ends sharpened into spikes. The people drew back, and a collective gasp seemed to sweep across the room.

For a moment Elsa stood, clutching her glove to her chest. Then she turned and fled.

It's true. So she was cursed. With the power of ice.

The scene blurred before his eyes, and suddenly he was outside.

"Please," Elsa was begging. "Just stay away from me, stay away!"

A thousand noises were clamouring in Hiccup's ears: ice, shouting, shattering, freezing, running... but one voice seemed to rise above the rest.

"So. Much. Fear," it whispered, drawing out the words. "Terror. Fright. Distress. Panic. And this, this! is good. Oh, it is wonderful! The cold, the dark, and the fear."


Spirit started awake, jerking his head up. Wonderful. He had been asleep, asleep! He should have been watching, and instead he let his eyes drift closed. They could have been attacked, they could have been...

Spirit sighed. Well, at least he was awake now.

The darkening sky was already beginning to fill with stars, the horizon glowing pink. Twilight. And... Hiccup still wasn't back. What had he gotten himself into this time?

Spirit walked over to Rain, who was still alseep, and nudged her gently. Hey Rain, Wake up. Hiccup's not back yet.

Rain was awake almost instantly, glancing all around her. Past sunset, she said quietly, her eyes meeting Spirit's.

Exactly. He said he'd be back by then, Spirit scraped his hoof against the grass, his gaze flicking from Rain to the village below.

Are you... Rain swiveled one ear forward, the other back. Her voice was tentative. Are you saying we should to down to the village? We can't do that! We'll get captured for sure!

No, not into the village, just... nearer. Just to see if anything strange is going on.

Like... that?

At her words, Spirit froze, his gaze turning to the scene below him. Ice. Ice was flooding over the fjord. Around them a wind started to pick up, the temperature dropping.

I've never seen anything like this, he muttered, eyes rived to the fjord. Hiccup was down there, down where ice was taking over everything. He cast a quick glance at Rain. Well, come on then, let's go! he whinnied.

With that, Spirit took off down the steep mountain slopes. His hooves skidded on rocks, but he didn't slow down. He had to get to Hiccup. He heard Rain squeal, and scrambled to a stop, whipping his head around to see if she was alright.

I'm fine! she neighed. Just keep going; I'll catch up.

Spirit nodded quickly, and began running again. He ran faster and faster, sliding down slopes, leaping over gaps, dodging trees. His heart nearly stopped every time he slipped, but he didn't slow down. The farther down he went, the colder it got. Ice started to coat the rocks, making it even more precarious.

He had almost made it to the bottem when his hoof caught on a jagged piece of ice. Unable to stop himself, Spirit felt his body pitch forward, his knees crashing into the ice. Seconds after it touched him, the ice shattered, the small pieces feeling like sand as they ground into his freshly scraped legs.

Spirit pinned his ears back, feeling the ache spread through his front legs. He painfully rose to his feet and hobbled forward. Then he stopped.

To his right was a solid stone wall, much too high to jump over. To his right was the village. To his right, possibly, was Hiccup. Spirit groaned. To get to the other side he would have to go all the way back up, and down the opposite side. Spirit closed his eyes, resisting the urge to slam his hoof into the frozen ground. He didn't have time for this!

Spirit stepped forward to the shoreline, his eyes scanning the ground for any more patches of ice. Then he gasped, jumping back a little. Not to far from him, crumpled on the ground... was Hiccup!

Oh Hiccup, Spirit breathed. What happened?

Quietly, carefully, Spirit stepped over to the boy and blew gently in his face. When Hiccup didn't respond, Spirit began nudging him and nickering quietly. C'mon, wake up!

Hiccup let out a small moan, turning on side and curling up in a ball. "I don't feel so good," he whispered. His stomach was churning from all the seawater he had swallowed, not to mention his skull was pounding. Twice knocked out in two days. That was a new record.

What happened to you? he heard Spirit's voice ask. He blinked open his eyes to see the stallion looking down at him.

"Some crazy dude pushed me into the water. But then... Toothless!" Hiccup suddenly sat bolt upright, almost keeling over again as he grabbed his head in his hands. "Toothless... he- he's alive! He saved me." Hiccup raised his head and pointed at a dragon print in the now-frozen dirt. "He's alive."

Hiccup let out a long breath, feeling as if a burden had suddenly been lifted. Everything would be alright. Toothless was alive. Toothless had saved him.

But where is he now? Spirit asked, and Rain, who had arrived a few moments earlier, nodded.

Hiccup felt his shoulders drop again. "I don't know," he admitted. "I don't think he was captured, there's no sign of a struggle, and I probably would have woken up. But... why would he just leave?" He shivered. "Brrr... it's freezing out."

That's no surprise, seeing how the entire fjord is frozen over, Spirit muttered.

Hiccup blinked, suddenly remembering his dream. "Elsa," he whispered.

Who?

"The queen of this... place. Apparently she has snow powers."

Spirit raised an eyebrow. Snow powers? How'd you find that one out?

"Well I..." Hiccup trailed off. What if he was wrong? It was just a dream after all. But... who else could have caused this?"

Suddenly, Rain let out a whinny. She had been looking at the frozen fjord, and was now pawing at it with her hoof, jerking her head towards it. Hiccup unsteadily rose to his feet and walked over to her, looking at the ice. Though the sun had long since disappeared, Hiccup could make out footsteps leading across the ice, almost glowing in the darkness.

"Maybe... just maybe... Toothless followed her," Hiccup mused quietly.

Spirit let out a humorless laugh. It's worth a shot. After all, we're just a band of wanderers who don't exactly belong here. Two horses and a Viking, off to find a dragon who's following a queen with snow powers, and to save the world from a pile of evil sand.


A/N: Whoops. It's 1 AM, and I'm trying to get back to a normal sleep schedual. Drat.

Guest: Sorry you don't like my shippings. I'm not planning on doing Hiccelsa (they will become friends), but Ruff's not going to be in most of this story, so I hope that keeps you happy.