Hiccup woke up with a fright. For a few moments he was disorientated as he glanced around him. He was lying on a muddy field, with a broken and twisted plane scattered in the vegetation beside him. Memories of the crash came flooding back to him, and he sat up frantically searching for Astrid.
He found her lying deathly quiet beside him, the pallor of her skin noticeable even amongst all the mud, bruises and dried blood. His heart lurched painfully at the sight of her, wondering if they were ever going to make it home. Or if they were going to die out here, in a muddy field. He stretched out a fearful hand to brush aside some mud encrusted hair from her face.
She suddenly moaned and rolled her face towards him, making him jump and hastily pull back his hand. Her eyes opened and stared right into his. He could see she was unfocussed, but soon she too remembered what had happened, and sat up slowly, resting on her elbows.
"Hey," he said softly, reaching out to brush the loose hair off her face again.
She sighed and closed her eyes at his touch.
"Hey, to you," she replied quietly. "I was having a bad dream, but I think waking up was worse," she muttered, before carefully sitting up completely with Hiccup's help.
He smiled wryly at her. "That's a first."
She glared up at him, "Yeah, not something I want to make a habit of," she responded flatly.
Guilt twisted his guts painfully. Determination fired him up, he would do everything in his power to get her home.
"We'll make it home, then this will be the bad dream," he indicated the carnage surrounding them.
She nodded so sadly, that he shuffled over to pull her into his arms. "We will make it out," he insisted, holding her tight for a few more moments before releasing her and standing up.
Holding out his hand to help her up, he grinned at her in the way she knew and loved so well. "Well m'lady, ready to go home?"
She stretched out her hand to take his, and gave a ghost of a smile. "As ready as I will ever be."
-oOo-
Stoick sighed again and glanced over at his friend beside him, each becoming more haggard and worried as the day drew longer and they still had not found any trace of either Hiccup or Astrid.
They had turned the radio off earlier as it had become depressing listening to the broadcasts repeat over and over again that the young couple had disappeared, last seen on the back of the Harley heading out of Berk. The Police appealed again and again for the public's help in locating them.
The Detective had passed on to Stoick any information that had come his way, but the calls had long since dried up. The young couple had been seen that morning, but not since then.
Stoick banged his hand on the steering wheel in frustration. "Hiccup, where are you?" he muttered to himself.
"We'll find them," comforted Gobber.
"I just hope it won't be too late," sighed Stoick.
"Well, those crooks haven't been found yet either. Seems they're probably still trying to find him as well," commented Gobber.
"Aye. I hope you're right," nodded the bigger man.
They were driving back to Berk along the highway. Stoick was thinking deeply of where the two youngsters could possibly be. Did they take a detour? Did they run out of fuel? He wasn't even sure how well Hiccup and Astrid knew the area.
As they drove along the highway, he saw something, a narrow turnoff that hadn't been noticeable before. It was a smaller country road, leading off to farmlands. On a hunch, Stoick made the turn, taking Gobber by surprise.
"Why would you come down here? It's only a back road," he asked.
"Exactly," replied Stoick grimly. "We've searched everywhere else, it won't hurt to explore down here too. Besides, the kids are still searching the highway."
Gobber just shrugged.
They drove down the road in silence, passing an old weather-beaten house that obviously hadn't been lived in for a long time. Much further down, they found a few farms that were in full swing harvesting their produce in the cool of the afternoon. Gobber and Stoick glanced at each other.
"Wanna stop and ask if anyone has seen them?" the man with the hook asked.
Stoick nodded grimly, "Just what I was thinking," he replied, turning the car into the closest driveway.
They pulled up at the front of an old fashioned two storey home, and stepped out of the car only to be greeted by three large furry dogs. Stoick and Gobber were not the type of fellas to be worried about canines, seeing as they were both close to seven foot tall, Gobber the shorter of the two. So they ignored the circling mutts while they waited for the farmer to approach them, a thin man dressed in the typical country outfit of jeans and plaid shirt with the obligatory cowboy hat.
"Evening!" welcomed the farmer. "What can I do for yer folks?" he asked.
Stoick approached the man, pulling a photo of Hiccup and Astrid sitting on the Harley out of his pocket and showed it to the man. "We're looking for my son and his girlfriend. They were on this bike the last time we saw them. They are in grave danger, and we need to get them home. Have you seen them around here today?" he asked, not allowing himself to be hopeful. They could be completely on the wrong track on this road.
The farmer took the photo and studied it carefully. "Good looking kids," he said kindly, but then shook his head. "I'm sorry, I haven't seen them." He handed the photo back.
Stoick's shoulders drooped as he put the picture back into his pocket. "Thanks for your time, sir. It was a long shot coming out this way. I don't even know if Hiccup has ever been out here."
"Hiccup?" the farmer asked, his interest suddenly piqued. "Are you talking about the 'Handsome Hero' by chance? The boy being chased by someone in a white van?"
Stoick's eyes narrowed. He'd forgotten about all the media coverage that had flooded the television and radio.
"Yes! That's my son!" he answered gravely.
"There's not much traffic up here that we don't know about. We haven't seen the bike, but we have seen a white van. Wasn't hard to miss, the driver was driving like the clappers. Scared the life out of my poddy calves, it did."
The two big men leaned forward eagerly, "A white van you say? Where did it go, can you remember?" Stoick asked fervently.
The man leaned back, scratching his chin. "I only saw it the once, but my wife complained about it later. And old Bill up the road rang me about it too. Seems they used his front yard to turn around in. Made a right mess of his turf they did."
He paused for a moment, and the two friends were afraid they were going to get nothing else, when the farmer suddenly leaned forward, "Let me get hold of my wife. She can tell you more."
With that he turned his head toward the house and hollered loudly, "MARY!" making the two men jump.
A female voice echoed back from the shadows, "WHAT!"
The farmer yelled again, "FOLKS WANNA KNOW ABOUT THAT VAN! COME HERE WILL YA?"
Mary said something in reply, not loud enough for anyone to distinguish her words, but she obviously wasn't happy about being interrupted from her work.
A short, well-rounded lady with flour spread over her cheeks and clothes came out of the house, wiping her hands on the apron tied around her waist.
"Mary," the farmer began, "These folks want to know about that white van that come by earlier today."
Mary's face twisted into a scowl. "Idiots driving like maniacs!" she didn't mince her words. "What do they want to drive like that up a nice quiet country road like this for, huh? They ripped up poor old Bill's front yard. The old man's gonna hurt himself trying to repair that!..."
Mary was obviously building up a head of steam on the subject, but her husband gently interrupted, "Mary love, these men are looking for the 'Handsome Hero' and his girlfriend. That van might be the one that's chasing the young couple."
Stoick nodded towards the woman. "Hiccup's my son. Anything you could tell us would be greatly appreciated, ma'am."
Mary gasped and her expression quickly turned to one of horror, her hands reaching up to cover her mouth. "I'm so sorry! I didn't know! They look like such a lovely young couple on the tv, I even said so to my Henry here. We didn't think that van would be the one the police were looking for. Thought it was some city kids skylarking."
Stoick nodded grimly, "Thank you, ma'am. Yes, Hiccup and Astrid are very special. They've already endured more than one man could hope to stand in a lifetime." He staggered slightly under the weight of his grief, and Gobber put out a hook to support him, regarding him with concern.
"If you could tell us what you know ma'am, we'll be on our way. I need to get them home as soon as possible," he finished softly.
"Of course, sir, of course," Mary was flustered. "Well, the van raced up and down here a few times in the middle of the day, and then they didn't come back."
"Which way did they travel last?" asked Gobber.
Mary pointed in the direction the men had travelled from. "They left the way they came in."
"Do you think they stopped further up the road first before they left?" asked Stoick, gazing at the woman intently. The muggers had obviously been searching for the young couple up this road. There must have been a reason for why they hadn't come back. Either they found a different direction to chase them, or…..
Stoick closed his eyes briefly. He didn't want to think about the 'or'.
Opening his eyes again, he refocused on the woman before him. He hoped her recollection was clear. It was vital for Hiccup and Astrid's wellbeing.
She thought carefully for a moment, "You know, that van was driving past fairly regularly. So if they stopped further up the road, it must've been brief. Besides, everyone up and down this road has been complaining about that van. If they had stopped, someone would have noticed."
Her husband chuckled beside her, drawing the attention of their two worried visitors.
"What's so funny, Henry? Feather tickling your funny bone?" asked Mary.
"No," the man drawled. "I was just thinking a good place to hide would have been the old Dickson farm down the road," he nodded towards the direction they had come from. "Place has been deserted for years after old man Dickson finally carked it."
Stoick and Gobber both perked up at this news. A place to hide was definitely what Hiccup and Astrid would have been looking for.
"That old place?" cried Mary incredulously. "Why would you go there? That place is haunted!" she flapped her hands at her husband.
"Now Mary, you know that's not true!" murmured the farmer. He turned his attention to the big men.
"Mary swears the place is haunted. She reckons she saw old man Dickson flying his crop duster down over the fields earlier," he chuckled at his wife's fears. She placed her hands on her hips and glared at him.
"Henry Smith! I saw that plane flying! You can even ask Bobby-Jo! She was right with me!" she replied indignantly.
Henry just chuckled at her again, "I did! She reckons she saw nothing but dust!"
Mary crossed her arms across her chest and huffed, turning away from her husband.
"Aww, Mary! Don't be like that honey!" he cajoled.
Stoick and Gobber turned to each other in surprise. A plane? Sounded like Hiccup. But if that were true, where was the bike? What had happened to it? And why hadn't they noticed a plane?
It was time to go.
Stoick rapidly pulled his wallet out of his pocket, and extracted his business card before handing it to the miffed woman.
"Thank you ma'am. You've been more than helpful! If you think of anything further, please give me a call," he thanked her hastily.
"And for the record, I think you did see that plane flying. But it wasn't flown by ghosts…it was flown by my son."
Both Mary and Henry stopped to stare at Stoick with their mouths hanging open in shock, while the men beat a hasty retreat to their car.
They had a derelict farm to investigate.
The two men had already driven off before Henry turned to his stunned wife, "What kind of a boy gets in a plane like that…and flies it?..."
-oOo-
Astrid and Hiccup had staggered through the open field, heading towards the small scrub that hid them from the highway. The rain soaked earth made it difficult for them to travel with any ease, and Astrid had to stop every few feet, to unstick Hiccup and his false foot from the clingy mud. It had taken an unbelievably long time to cross through the chest high vegetation, and now they were thoroughly exhausted, despite the impromptu rest they had taken earlier.
"Urgh! I look like the swamp monster!" Astrid complained. Her mud spots had mud spots. She was completely filthy now. The stench of the mud was revolting! Astrid sniffed her clothes and wrinkled her nose in disgust.
"I can't even stand myself! Why would anyone want to pick us up?" she demanded, stating the obvious flaw in Hiccup's plan of hitching a ride home.
"Maybe someone with a ute will toss us in the back," he joked gently. He was sweating from the exertion of their trek and his leg was hurting quite a bit, but he knew they had to keep moving. Otherwise they were looking at spending the night on the side of the road, something he would like to avoid if at all possible.
The young couple were standing at the edge of the muddy field, but they still had one more obstacle to get through before reaching the road…a large patch of thick scrub.
"You never know, we might lose some of this mud on the way through," he jibed gently.
"What? And remove the natural swampland fragrance that I worked so hard to achieve," she said sarcastically.
"Somehow I think it will be a while yet before that smell gets removed," he responded morosely.
She sighed, "I think it will be a long walk home. I'm sure even our parents would think twice before letting us in their cars."
Hiccup thought of the expensive leather seats in his father's upmarket car and sighed. "You're probably right. Maybe we'll get some rain or a nice puddle to wash off in first."
Astrid wrinkled her nose in embarrassment. "It's just hit home how that little 'bathe' I had to have this morning was a complete and utter waste of time."
Hiccup had to laugh as he recalled how his girlfriend had insisted on having a wash in the very shallow stream, so she could be 'presentable' when they arrived home.
"Was that this morning?" he shook his head disbelievingly at all they had gone through since then. "Weren't we supposed to just go home and get yelled at by my father, for disappearing yesterday?"
Yesterday.
When Toothless and Eret had given everything for them.
He lowered his head as the pain of what they had left behind hit him directly in his chest. He gasped at the sheer ferocity of it.
Astrid understood what he was thinking. She pulled his hand into hers and drew closer to him. She raised her other hand to his chin and gently directed his attention back to her. "It will be okay, Hiccup. I know it will," she tried to reassure him. "We can't assume the worst as happened. We just need to get home first, okay?"
He nodded, "Home…."
She stood on her toes and reached up to kiss him gently on the lips, before releasing him. He gazed into her soft blue eyes with his own deeply worried green eyes. He loved her so much, but their short time together had been nothing but trouble. In the deep recesses of his mind he questioned whether all this might make her decide that being with him was too much pain.
He pulled her slowly into his arms and nestled her into his chest, and rested his cheek on the top of her head. She sighed softly and wrapped her arms around his waist. For just a few moments, they could believe that all was right with their world.
Hiccup murmured into her hair, "Which part are we in again? The nightmare that we will wake up from? Or the nightmare we're still living?"
She sighed dispiritedly, pulling back from his arms reluctantly, "The pain in my body tells me we are unfortunately awake. Besides….I don't think I could ever get this filthy in my dreams…even in my nightmares," she said ruefully, glancing down at her mud covered physique.
Hiccup gave a brusque laugh, "Why m'lady! Don't you know mud is the best beauty treatment that money can buy?"
She glanced back at him in an unamused fashion, "Then we better look nothing less than fabulous once we wash this lot off."
He smirked ruefully at her, "Somehow, I doubt that will be the result."
She groaned at the idea of what would be exposed once the mud did come off.
"Come on," Hiccup encouraged, reaching for her hand. "Let's tackle this scrub. Then we'll have one less hurdle between us and that bath."
He tugged on her hand and led her into the bush.