AN: Hello, my dear readers. Thank you for all reading! I appreciate your interest in my little collection. I feel compelled to warn you that this is a sad chapter. Trigger Warning: miscarriage.

Disclaimer: I do not own How to Train Your Dragon or any of the associated characters or settings

He was twenty and she was twenty. Winter had come crashing down on Berk with little warning and all the rage of the gods. Hiccup was certain that Höðr hated him, but then again Hiccup was always certain that some god or another hated him. He was starting to think that Sjöfn might have some bone to pick with him, too. Astrid had been avoiding him for the better part of a week, which was impressive since they shared a bed. She was up and out of the house before he'd risen each morning and she was asleep each night before he'd even managed to leave the Great Hall.

Hiccup was hoping that it was just poor timing, but he was also mentally surveying every conversation he had with her up until now anyway. Just in case. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) he wasn't able to come up with any one incident that had stood out. Life with Astrid had been great – from their marriage four months ago until last week. Harmonious. Magical. Perfect. So what had gone wrong? It weighed on him, her sudden absence. He missed her – the way she listened to him, the way she helped him figure things out, the way she teased him. He missed her physically, too. Hiccup was surprised that he could become accustomed to kisses and caresses so quickly; he was surprised by how much he relied on them, too.

Sadly winter waits for no one and Hiccup was beginning to understand the years of exasperation that his father had expressed, particularly when Hiccup had managed to destroy something while the village was preparing for winter. There was no room for error when winter approached. There were no resources to be spared, no time to be wasted. Hiccup was forced to spend considerable amounts of his own resources – mainly his brainpower and inventiveness – to prepare Berk for the winter. This meant less time was spent trying to determine where he'd gone wrong with Astrid. It wasn't like Astrid not to tell him immediately and painfully when she was displeased with him. Her behaviour weighed heavily on his shoulders, even as he sat drawing out the final blueprints of the Wall of Berk.

Hiccup had designed the Wall to protect the bulk of the village from the high winds and vicious snowstorms that winter brought to the island. He was allocating considerable resources – wood, dragons, time – to building the Wall. He wanted to be sure that it would be sturdy enough to last the winter, but flexible enough to be easily dismantled in the spring. Gothi had come to him early that morning, gesturing wildly toward the sea. It was coming – the storm was coming. Gothi was never wrong, not about the weather. Not about anything. The Wall had to be erected now or else Berk faced yet another winter buried under mountains of snow, with high winds whistling through the seams of their houses. Hiccup had gathered as many dragon riders as he could at the Academy. He was pleased to see Astrid, even if she avoided looking at him.

"There's a storm coming so we need to put the Wall up now," he said, rolling out his plan for the others to see. "Snotlout, Fishlegs – take the South side; Ruff, Tuff, Gobber – you take the West side; Eret, Astrid and I can take the North side. If the storm starts, abandon the Wall, even if it's not finished. A partial Wall is better than no Wall at all and I won't have anyone being caught in the cold."

Everyone nodded in agreement. Everyone except Astrid. She turned, mounted Stormfly and got ready to take off without a word. Hiccup had to run to catch her before she lifted off.

"Astrid!"

She looked at him, blue eyes hollow but defiant. Hiccup frowned at her and rested his hand on Stormfly's side.

"Is something wrong?" he asked.

Anyone else might have missed it, the way her eyes widened in surprise ever so slightly, the way her hand tightened on the saddle, the way she squared her shoulders.

"No," she said, her voice crisp, "Why would something be wrong?"

"Oh, I don't know. You've been avoiding me all week?"

Astrid laughed, but it wasn't light and it wasn't real. "I have not. You've been coming home late."

Hiccup was sure his disbelief was visible. Astrid rolled her eyes and tried to disengage Stormfly from Hiccup.

"Is that all?" she asked, "Shouldn't we be helping Eret?"

"Astrid, I—"

"You worry too much, Hiccup," she said, turning her face away and nudging Stormfly into the air.

Hiccup watched her go, a puzzled frown on his face. Toothless bumped his hand. "I don't know, bud," he said, tearing his eyes away from Astrid, now a blue dot in the grey sky.

Setting up the Wall was not without its problems and Hiccup was forced to leave Astrid and Eret to the North wall alone to help fix some issues that the twins had managed to cause (he didn't really understand how they could manage to erect the wall backwards, but somehow they had, much to Gobber's dismay). By the time Hiccup was done righting the West wall, the temperature had dropped sharply, the winds had begun to howl, and the first flakes of snow had melted on his cheeks. The storm was upon them and it would only get worse from here on.

Hiccup made his rounds on Toothless, surveying the wall from the South side up, dismissing the dragon riders. The Wall was mostly in place, mostly the way he'd designed it. He was on his way to the North side when Eret appeared beside him.

"The North is looking good, Hiccup. It's not entirely done, but it's almost there."

Hiccup nodded, his eyes scanning the air for any sign of Astrid and Stormfly. He flicked his gaze back to Eret.

"Where's Astrid?"

"Where—" Eret said, looking over his shoulder. He turned back to Hiccup. "She was just here, right behind me."

Hiccup had a terrible sense of foreboding, especially with the gods hating him the way they did.

"Okay, you head back to the Academy, get Skullcrusher penned somewhere warm for the storm. I'm going to look for her."

"You sure you don't want help?"

Hiccup shook his head. "No, I'll find her. Just get back to the village before this gets any worse."

Hiccup didn't wait for a response. He urged Toothless toward the North wall, glancing at the grey clouds that were rolling in over the ocean. The wind had become stronger and his skin burned in the cold. It was becoming increasingly difficult for Toothless to fly without being thrown off course by the frigid wind. Hiccup could see Stormfly attempting to hover by the North wall carrying a large pole of wood. As he got closer, he could hear Astrid encouraging Stormfly.

"Just one more, girl. Then we can go get warm."

"Astrid! What are you doing?"

Astrid looked up, blinking her eyes against the cold wind. "Just one more pole!" she yelled.

"Leave it! The storm is too rough! It'll stand until the storm calms," Hiccup said.

"No, I can do this!"

"Astrid! Leave it!"

"No, I got this!" she said stubbornly, urging Stormfly on.

Hiccup watched the pole wave in the wind, Stormfly barely able to fly straight let alone drop a pole into place.

"Astrid, stop," Hiccup shouted, "It's impossible!"

This seemed to be the wrong thing to say for she shot him a glare that dared him to argue with her.

"I. Can. Do. This," she said through gritted teeth.

As though Höðr himself had heard her, a sudden, sharp wind knocked Stormfly out of her hover, the pole plummeting into the sea below. Hiccup watched as Stormfly struggled to maintain flight.

"Come on, bud," Hiccup whispered to Toothless, urging him down.

Stormfly seemed to steady her flight. The winds increased, more sharp bursts knocking both dragons out of their flight paths.

"Let's get back to the village," Hiccup said.

Finally Astrid nodded in agreement, although she didn't look happy about it. Both riders tried without success to direct their dragons upward. The wind was too powerful, the snow too heavy.

"We're going to have to land," Hiccup yelled over the howl of the wind.

Astrid narrowed her eyes, searching, and then pointed to a cave, low on the cliff. "There!"

With some difficulty, Hiccup and Astrid were able to direct Toothless and Stormfly into the cave. Hiccup jumped off of Toothless and walked around the interior of the cave, looking for tinder.

"There's not much here," he called back to Astrid.

The cave was so close to sea level that Hiccup could hear the violent waves crashing against the base of the cliff. Astrid didn't respond and Hiccup turned to see her wiping at her face furiously.

"Astrid?" he said, walking to her, "As?"

Her hands were in her face, scrubbing at her eyes viciously. Hiccup caught her wrists and pulled her hands from her face. She wouldn't look at him, her breathing heavy and hitched, jaw clenched. She was holding back tears, Hiccup realized. He let go of her hands and brushed his thumb along her cheekbone.

"What's going on?" he said, his voice barely above a whisper.

Astrid swallowed and looked up into his face. She seemed lost for words, wordlessly shaking her head and looking away.

"Let me help," he whispered somewhat desperately.

Astrid never cried. Never.

"I just wanted to get something right," she said, her voice loud with her effort to halt her tears.

"What are you talking about? You always get it right," Hiccup said, keeping his tone light, "Is this about the pole?"

Astrid huffed. "No, it's not about the pole, Hiccup."

"Then what? What are you talking about? Please, Astrid."

Her eyes found his again and she shook her head once more. Hiccup waited, biting back words that he knew would only make her less likely to speak.

She stared at the ground as she spoke, as though looking at Hiccup was impossible. "I lost it."

Hiccup frowned. "Lost what?"

Astrid drew in a shaky breath and released it slowly. "The baby."

Her words hit Hiccup harder than any physical blow she'd ever landed on his person. He felt like the air had been sucked out of him all at once. Astrid had been pregnant? She hadn't told him. And now she wasn't. He felt the elation in combination with the despair all at once.

"What?" he breathed.

Tears flowed as freely from Astrid's eyes as the words flowed from her mouth.

"I was going to tell you. I went to Gothi; I wanted to be sure. And I was – and I was so happy. I couldn't wait to tell you. But you were late, busy with the Wall and calming everyone's worries. I thought I'd wait til morning, but then…"

She paused there, unable to continue. Hiccup drew in a sobering breath and wrapped his arms around her fiercely. He let her cry – Astrid, who never cried. He let her sob and scream into his shoulder. He let himself cry, too, for the child they would never meet, but he made sure he'd calmed himself before she had. He made sure he could be the support she needed, the rock on which she could rely for foundation. Her pain was a thousand times what his could ever be.

Astrid's knees gave out, her body too weak from the exhaustion of grief. Hiccup eased her to the ground, keeping himself wrapped protectively around her. He leaned on Toothless, who watched them with careful, watchful eyes. Hiccup stroked her hair, rocked her in his arms, hummed to her until she calmed. She slept. Hiccup watched the snow whirl by the entrance of the cave, thankful for the warmth that the dragons supplied with the occasional fire blast. Thankful for the warmth of Astrid at his side. He dozed eventually, dreaming of pink babies and fatherhood.

Hiccup woke to Astrid's lips against his cheek. His eyes fluttered open and he found himself staring into two bright eyes. He smiled at her as he always did when he woke to her face. Then his smile faltered when he remembered last night. Astrid turned away from him and glanced outside.

"The storm's stopped," she said.

Hiccup stared at her profile. She looked brighter today, the secret hint of a smile that she usually carried on her lips was back. She looked like herself again.

"We weathered it together," he said softly.

She looked at him and smiled gently. She nodded.

He leaned in and kissed her forehead. "I'm sure it's not our last storm," he said.

"No," she said quietly, "I'm sure it's not."

Hiccup ran his fingers along the side of her face. "I promise you good days, Astrid."

She smiled and kissed him. Astrid leaned her forehead against his and sighed. "Today is a good day."