Chapter 26

Continuous cold blasts of wind circulated around Berk County. These were the type of winds that pierced through all the layers of clothing, entered through the skin, and settled in your bones. But the sad thing was, this terrible December weather was not the worst it was going to get. Devastating winter still wasn't due for another month!

Through the cold and the snow, the Haddock family (plus Gobber) and the Hofferson family planned out their holiday celebrations. Since each kinship consisted of only three members each, they had decided to congregate for the celebration. This was really Astrid's and Hiccup's idea as they both wanted to be together for the holidays. Luckily, the Hoffersons couldn't say no to an invitation to the mayor's house and frankly Stoick will agree to anything that involves food.

Because Gobber wasn't married and his closest relatives were probably yaks, he was always included in Haddock celebrations. Back when Hiccup's mother was around, Gobber always made sure he was around to do the cooking and this tradition had carried forward through the years.

Strangely enough, Gobber had requested evergreen needles for part of his meal preparations the morning of the big celebration. No one dared to question this strange entreaty, so Hiccup had volunteered to go collect some off the trees. Bundled up in so many layers that Hiccup resembled a giant marshmallow, Hiccup and Toothless took to the park.

"How many of these do you think he needs?" Hiccup asked Toothless. The cat let out a grunt that signaled uncertainty. "Well I guess it's better to have too much than too little." He filled up an entire bag just to be sure. Right as Hiccup and Toothless were about to get back in the car, a giant gust of wind blew down upon them. Hiccup's winter hat sailed from his head, twirled through the air, and landed on the very top of the tree from which he had just plucked needles off. The boy and the cat stared first at the hat perched high above and then at each other. "That hat belonged to my mother," he sighed glumly to Toothless. "My dad gave it to me a few years ago when I went on a winter camping trip for boyscouts. He said it was my mom's favorite cold-weather hat and she would have wanted me to have it." Toothless whimpered as he looked up. Suddenly, he darted from Hiccup's side and proceeded to climb the tree. "It's okay, bud. You don't have to do that. It's really cold so we should probably get back inside. I'm sure we can get it later." Reluctantly, Toothless removed his front paws from the tree and followed Hiccup as he waddled back to the car. Just as they were leaving, another whirlwind ascended and Hiccup saw his mother's hat glide through the wintery air once more.

The whole house smelled like a bakery when Hiccup returned. He gave the pine needles to Gobber who was whistling away as he stirred an exceptionally large pot of stew. "Thanks lad," he said between notes. " 'xactly what I needed. Ole secret recipe here!" Just as Hiccup was about to leave Gobber to his whistling and stirring to go upstairs and change into something that less resembled an sumo wrestler, Stoick opened the front door. Without warning, Toothless bolted out the entrance as fast as his three and a half legs would go.

"Toothless!" Hiccup cried. "Where are you going?" He really didn't need to ask this as he already knew the answer; although, he tried to chase after him anyways. Even with a bad leg, the cat was just too fast.

"What's was that all about?" Stoick hollered, still looking a little dazed from almost being bulldozed by a puma.

Hiccup scratched his head nervously, "I-I um kinda lost mom's winter hat back in the park. A-a huge gust of wind took it right off my head, and it ugh…"

"And how does that relate to Toothless?"

"He went to go get it, I suppose. He seemed very upset in the park when we left without it…"

Stoick let out a massive sigh, "let him go, son. He'll be back. He is a puma after all. He knows how to survive the elements."

As soon as everyone started showing up, Hiccup began to feel a lot better about not getting to spend the holiday with Toothless. He still felt a great emptiness no matter what room he went to, but having Astrid at his side definitely made things better.

"This is the first year of hopefully many that the Haddocks and Hoffersons are spending the holidays together, so I suggest we start some new traditions!" Astrid cheered gleefully.

"What do you have in mind?" Hiccup pondered.

A large grin spread across Astrid's face, "well, we could have a snowman building contest, or a snowball fight, or cookie decorating contest or a cookie eating contest or…"

"Does everything have to be a competition?"

"You're just afraid that your snowman is going to look like a snowball in comparison to mine!"

Overhearing the conversation between his daughter and her boyfriend, Mr. Hofferson interjected, "or we could open gifts now! I have something pretty special for you, young lady!"

Mr. Hofferson's idea ended up prevailing, mostly because no one wanted to go outside. Everyone took turns giving out and opening their gifts. Stoick had gotten Gobber a backscratcher that he could attach to his prosthetic arm so he would quit asking others to 'get that spot he just couldn't reach.' Stoick received food from pretty much everyone. Mr. Hofferson got a lot of socks and Mrs. Hofferson received a beautiful necklace. However, the most exciting gift of the evening came when Mr. Hofferson placed a thick manila envelope on his daughter lap and gestured for her to open it. The whole room inched a little closer to see what the parcel contained. Slowly, Astrid's slim fingers felt for the edge and lifted it up. She could feel five pairs of eyes staring intensely at her. Although she had an idea of what the envelope would contain, she did not want to get her hopes up. Carefully, the girl removed the contents and placed them gingerly on her lap. There were several piece of paper. Picking up one, Astrid turned it over and began to read what it said.

"Dear Astrid, due to you stellar athletic performance we are pleased to offer you a spot on the varsity cross country team of Nadder University along with a full scholarship."

Astrid's heart thumped with pure joy. She couldn't help the gigantic smile that spread across her beautiful face. Everyone took their turn coming over and giving her a big hug.

Mr. Hofferson hugged her and then abruptly stopped, "there's more. Keep reading the letters." One after another, Astrid picked up and read. Gronckle University, Zippleback College, Skrill University, and Rumblehorn all wanted her to run for them and all offered her full rides. Astrid's pride was swelling. Finally, finally someone had recognized all the hard work, dedication, and time she had put into her training to be the very best. However, she couldn't help feel a twinge of disappointment. No matter how many times she flipped through the stack of acceptance letters, she couldn't find a particular one: Night Fury University. But, Astrid brushed this aside to bask in this victory and enjoy the company.

Throughout the night, Gobber ended up having a little too much 'holiday spirit' judging from the empty bottle of whiskey beside him. The ethanol coursing through his veins incited him to give an impromptu concert, complete with jingle bells. Gobber was not known for his singing when he was sober, and he definitely was not any better drunk. Nonetheless, he gave everyone a good chuckle, and before long, all others including the very stoic Stoick had joined in as well. Hiccup took Astrid by the hands and began to execute movements that only remotely resembled dancing. Astrid laughed and went along with the clumsiness of his swaying. And she couldn't help but admire that his forest green eyes went perfectly together with his crimson shirt in true holiday fashion.

Through all the fun dancing, singing, and laughing, everyone had almost forgotten that Toothless had gone missing earlier that day. That was until Gobber, still extremely tipsy, spotted Toothless' uneaten food on the floor and proceeded to try it.

"What iz dis crap? Iz terrible!" Gobber bellowed as he chewed the dry, chicken-flavored cat food. Seeing the bowl which should have been empty by now gave both Hiccup and Astrid terrible pits in their stomachs.

"There's something wrong. I know it. Toothless should have been back by now. He never just leaves, and in the rare times that he has, he was always back by dark," Hiccup expressed worriedly.

"I'm sure he's okay. He probably is just out hunting. He still has natural instinct and will probably show up tomorrow morning with a 'present' on the doorstep," Astrid tried to reassure her boyfriend, although her expression said otherwise. Hiccup did not seem convinced at all.

"I'm going to call him. I'm just going to try."

"But it's so cold out…" protested Astrid.

Hiccup sighed, "exactly. That's why I need to find him. He's going to freeze being out in this weather."

The couple bundled up the best they could and took to the great outdoors. The howling wind resembled a freight train passing and the icy flakes of snow that were flung at their exposed faces stung like a million tiny bees. They called and called but with no avail. Despite the treacherous driving conditions, Hiccup and Astrid decided to get in the car and drive to the park to see if he was there.

"Toothless!" Hiccup called.

"Toothless!" Astrid yelled between teeth chatters.

"Toothless! Where are you?"

"I-it's s-so c-cold," Astrid muttered, barely able to move her lips.

"I know. Come over here." Astrid pressed her body up against Hiccup as he wrapped his arms around her, trying to bring her in as close as possible. "It's all my fault that he is out there in this horrendous weather. If I wasn't so stupid to let my hat get blow off my head to gods know where, then he wouldn't have gone out to look for it."

"You know it's not your fault. It was his own decision to go get it." Astrid saw as Hiccup's head lowered slightly. She knew that deep down he knew it wasn't his fault, yet he was still beating himself up over it. "Hiccup, you of all people know how smart Toothless is. He is okay. He probably is hiding somewhere warm right now to get out of the elements and just couldn't make it back." Hiccup looked into Astrid's eyes and gave her a slight smile before kissing the top of her head.

"Oh man! Your hair is completely frozen!" he exclaimed as his lips made contact with the frozen ice flakes on her head.

"No shit! And so is the rest of me!" she laughed.

"I guess we should probably go inside before we get frostbite on our spleens."

"I'm not sure if it isn't already too late for that! And I could really go for a nice cup of hot cocoa!" Astrid expressed.

Hiccup unwrapped his arms from around Astrid's waist so they would be able to walk, "that does sound really good right now. I will take anything but your eggnog!"

"Hey!" she sneered and punched Hiccup on the arm of his puffy coat.

As the couple was walking back to the safety of the car, a huge, bone-shattering gust of wind whirled through the sky. It swaddled the magnificent stalactites of icicles adorned a tree branch high above. Hiccup had all of two seconds to react to the situation. For him, the world suddenly came to a halt and he felt his senses sharpen. His bundled arms reached out from his pockets and he pushed Astrid to the side. One of the mighty icicles came crashing towards the earth, aiming directly for the beautiful girl like a carefully fired missile. But now that Astrid had been pushed out of the way by Hiccup, it was he whom the icy spike was headed towards. As it barreled closer and closer to Hiccup, the light caught the piece of ice for a split second, causing it to glisten an arctic blue. But the spectacle of beauty did not remain for long as the ice made impact. Crash!