Author's note: Pokes his head out from inside bomb shelter Um, hi, there. I'm really sorry for not uploading a chapter sooner, I wrote the last chapter on the last day of my holidays and have started a new school year, so, uh, haven't really had time to do any writing for this story. Anyway, enough with the excuses, onto the chapter.


Stoick's perspective

"So that's all the information you have?" the officer asked.

"Yes, they left two days ago and we haven't heard from them," I responded, a panic-stricken Hofferson family standing next to me.

"And you didn't think to call us earlier?" the officer asked, clearly thinking we were stupid.

"No, I just assumed they had gone camping, they've done it before. I wasn't home when Hiccup left so I don't know what he took, and only when I met up with Garret the day after did we realise we both thought different things about where they were. And it's not like them to not tell us of their plans." I sounded irritated even to myself, picking up on the officers disbelieving stance.

The man steeled his face, talking to me "We don't take lost persons claims lightly. We will send out a search party to look for them, any volunteers are welcome too." Immediately we all put up our hands. "Well, that's settled then. We leave in one hour." He pointed one finger up for emphasis.


The helicopters had been loaded and we took off, all of us trying to figure out how to focus the binoculars. The field we used as a temporary landing pad was filled with other volunteers in the search party, covering the ground and looking for possible tracks. Two other helicopters went off in the other direction before splitting up and covering the outskirts of the town and the far surrounding desert. Quad-bikes searched through the forest looking for signs that anyone had been through there.

We flew north, past the forest and over the towns' two dams. The Great Sandy Desert lying 200 kilometres further ahead, the edge of search area as we knew they couldn't have gone that far in two days without a vehicle.

We swooped the area below systematically for the next three hours, only spotting the regular snake or lizard track. There lay a canyon to our left, knowing there would be some sort of river at the bottom. They were smart enough to seek water, right?

"Wait, wait, slow down." Astrid's brother called, pointing excitedly to a point on the edge of the canyon. We all poked our binoculars over at where he was pointing. Sure enough, a single bike track stretched to the edge of the cliff and disappeared over the edge, truck tracks stopping ten metres back and boot marks continuing after that.

The pilot set us down and turned the engines off. We climbed out and looked down into the canyon, a dried river bed below, other than the occasional muddy puddle.

We got back in the helicopter, following the tracks. Which to our utter surprise led us back to Berk. "Maybe they were kidnapped?" I suggested. "That's definitely a possibility that we'll look into. In the meantime, you should let us handle the search. Go home and rest, you all need it." The officer spoke as the helicopter landed back in Berk. We reluctantly nodded and went home. But there was still something nagging at the back of my mind. I pushed it down and told myself that the police would handle it, and yet I couldn't quite shake that bad feeling.


Hiccup's perspective

I woke to a handful of sand falling on my face and getting into my mouth, uh. "Pah, uh," I spat the sand onto the ground, wiping spit from my face. Astrid leaned over me with an annoyed expression on her face.

I pulled myself up against our shelter's wall while Astrid spoke, "I've been poking and prodding you for the last twenty minutes. You sleep like your father!" she exclaimed. "How do you know how my dad sleeps?" "We had a sleepover one time and I could hear your dad snore from across the hallway. I poked to shut him up, but nothing happened." She said blankly. I waved my hands in front of my face "Well let's stop talking about my dad snoring and address the elephant in the desert. We need more water."

We climbed out of the shelter and observed our surroundings. Snake tracks surrounded our bag and bottles, but this was to be expected. I flew away in to search for some more of the plants we got the water from last night, going far enough away so I could only just see the rock formation. I bent down to pull one of the plants out of the ground when something moving caught my eye. I turned quickly, barely fast enough to escape the Western Brown Snake that pounced at me.

I jumped up and narrowly avoided its strike. It turned and hissed at me, coiling to strike again. I jumped to the side to avoid it again, seeing why it had attacked me. A nest of eggs lay in the sand with a small dead mouse next to it, obviously for the future hatchlings. I turned into a dragon and growled at the snake; it started to back off, not wanting to be challenged. I turned and flew away, leaving the snake with its nest.

I returned to Astrid with to handfuls of plants, landing by our shelter. "Astrid, I'm back," I called, not seeing her. "Astrid!" I called again. She walked around the rocks, face white as a sheet. "Hiccup, you better come see this." I panicked slightly, following her back to where she came from. She stopped and stared at the dirt, I came next to her and stared at the same place.

And I blanched.

Before use was a large, barefoot footprint. I stared and stared and stared, not knowing what to do. Astrid snapped out of her distress and spoke, "It wasn't there yesterday, or before that. How?" "I don't know Astrid, but I somehow get the feeling we're being watched." We both glanced around as if they would magically announce their presence.

Silence. The sound was deafening. We stood and listened, only the clicking of insects responding. We circled the rock formation, finding nothing. "Well, what now?" she asked. "I don't know Astrid. We've just got to keep surviving until we can figure out how to…" CRACK. We both spun 'round, spotting only a large lizard walking over a dead bush.

Seeing an opportunity, I transformed into a dragon and fired a blast, but Astrid had already beaten me. I turned back and stared at her, slowly looking down towards the smoking dead lizard. "When did you learn to breathe fire," I said flabbergasted. "Oh, I didn't breathe it." On cue, her hands burst into a white-hot blaze. She propelled one of her hands towards a rock, a ball of flame hitting the rock and dousing itself. I gaped open-mouthed at her. Seeing my awe, she explained, "I got up last night to got to the toilet, and I couldn't see, so I thought of how you can hold a flame in your mouth, and voila, my hands caught fire." "And you didn't think to tell me this?" "It didn't come up. Anyway, we have tasty lizard to eat."

She strolled over to the lizard, picking it up and strolling over to our campfire, me still not quite believing what I saw. We ate the lizard at the top of the formation, gazing out over the desert below. "Tastes like chicken," I said, tearing into my meal. "I know." Replied Astrid, having already finished hers. I still couldn't understand how she managed to eat so quickly.

"Well, now we're up here, might as well continue with our flying lessons." Astrid groaned and lay on her back. "Remember what I said Astrid, you need to learn to fly at some point. I can't keep flying you up to high places."

After much hesitation on her part, I managed to persuade Astrid into doing another lesson. "Right, remember what I said about gliding," she nodded, "this is very similar. Once you feel like you are going flat enough, push your wings down to gain air. Just flap them once and glide down, then we'll try again." I pushed of the edge of the formation and glided away a bit, then pushed down with my wings and rose in the air. I landed 100 metres away, giving Astrid the thumbs up, hoping she could see me.

She took a run up and extended her wings, gliding perfectly. She stumbled a bit after flapping and glided down to me. "Nice work Astrid. Now we're here, let's try taking off from the ground. Run, then extend your wings and flap them hard until you lift off the ground slightly, then touch back down."


Astrid's perspective

I could do this, come on. I ran and pushed off the ground, flapping my wings as hard as I could. Feeling myself lift off the ground, I screamed with glee, continuing higher. I kept flapping and gliding until I reached the top of the rock formation. I skidded to a stop turning back to look for Hiccup. Nothing. I didn't see him anywhere. He wasn't where I had taken off from and he wasn't at the top of the rocks.

I started to panic and flew to the shelter, still looking. "Hiccup! Where are you? This better not be some kind of a joke 'cause it's not funny!" I looked in the shelter, not finding him.

"AAAHHHH!" my vision went black, feeling something being pulled over my head. Strong hands pulled my arms together, binding them in a rope. "AAAHHH! Hiccup!" I heard the grunt of a voice behind me, indicating for me to shut up. "What have you done with Hiccup?!" I got no answer, them just shoving me forward.

I reached something metallic and was dropped inside, being pushed to the back of what was probably a van. I panicked, fearing I was going to be raped. "What do you want?!" I screamed. "Astrid?" I heard a voice next to me. I recognized that voice immediately. "Hiccup?" "Yes" The van's engine started up and we bounced up and down as it went along the bumpy desert ground. "What's happening Hiccup? Where are you?" "I'm here Astrid, come to the sound of my voice." I shuffled over to his voice and pressed my body against, feeling better with the knowledge he was there.

"What's happening?" my voice squeaked, I was truly terrified.

"I don't know Astrid. But I don't think it'll be good."


Author's note: Bit of a shorter one today, still hope you enjoy it. The next chapter should be a good one, so keep a lookout. Again, sorry for not uploading sooner. Please review and tell me what you think.