During a rescue the weather gets dangerous and forces Hiccup and Astrid to make an emergency landing.
Onward!
The wind was vicious and cut like sharp swift knives. The steel waters were in a rage and the angry ice chunks were multiplying. Hiccup felt his grip on Toothless waning underneath his frozen fingers. He'd lost feeling in his face a while ago. With each breath the icy air cut into his dry throat and filled his lungs like liquid daggers.
"I can't see anything!" Astrid complained. She and Stormfly weren't far behind him.
Hiccup looked over his shoulder at them. She looked as cold as he felt. Her skin was pale and her cheeks had lost the pinkish glow they'd had when they'd started out.
"I don't either." Hiccup called back. The visibility had gotten progressively worse until the sky and the waters were the same dirty snow color. The snow had started as flurries but had graduated into a blizzard.
"Hiccup, we need to turn back or stop before we freeze to death!" Astrid gasped through the snow. "We can't find anyone if we're dead!"
Astrid was right. Hiccup knew it, but they couldn't turn back. He wasn't sure where 'back' was in this haze. And where could they stop? There was no land bigger than Toothless and the glaciers were sharp and jagged.
The wind burst with sudden brute force. The dragons were tossed this way and that through the turbulence. Hiccup tightened his slippery grip on the saddle. The wind was too fierce and picking up strength.
"We can't fly in this!" Hiccup shouted. But he was sure Astrid already knew that. They'd have to land soon or they'd end up in the water. Hiccup reached forward and patted Toothless's head. "Toothless, we need to land."
Toothless growled in agreement and threw out a sightless roar. Hiccup could hear the sonic sound reverberating back to them. Toothless roared a second time and after a pause grunted with a head shake. He'd found something.
"Take us down!" Hiccup directed.
Toothless didn't hesitated and began his decent immediately. The wind fought back but Hiccup held on tight. He looked back to make sure that Astrid and Stormfly were following. They air grew darker as the snow pelted harder. If his face hadn't been so cold he might have felt the miniature blades. He was almost glad he couldn't feel anything.
Hiccup swore under his breath as a tough wind pushed Toothless down with a sudden blow, upsetting his mechanical tail and sending them for a spin. Toothless growled as Hiccup gained control just as a wave crested a few feet below them.
In this weather being wet would be a death sentence. Hiccup was glad when the landing spot Toothless's sense came into view. It had first looked like a giant iceberg but Hiccup could see the rocky base on which the ice had grown. It was a mile high with ice and more than three times that wide. Toothless was aiming for a crevice in the ice. With a well-aimed plasma blast Toothless made it wide enough for entry.
A strong burst of wind blew off the ice just as Toothless made it through. It twisted his tail and sent him and Hiccup into a crashing skid. They flipped over just as Hiccup heard Astrid's shout and Stormfly's protest. Toothless reacted before Hiccup knew exactly what had happened.
The wind had struck Stormfly hard and pushed her backward. Her rider was thrown off at a violent angle. Hiccup felt his chest thump and then stop. Toothless didn't wait for Hiccup's instruction and jumped back into the storm.
Stormfly regained her ground but didn't have enough time. She cry-chirped as Toothless dive-bombed to the ice below. She landed on the iceberg's edge and watched from her perch.
"Astrid!" Hiccup shouted into the wind.
The ground was coming up too fast. Astrid reached up for him, hand open, eyes wide. Toothless was fast but there wasn't time. Hiccup was reaching back when Astrid crashed through the layer of ice and splashed into the freezing waters underneath. It slopped up on the cracked and shattered ice.
"Astrid!" Hiccup cried after her. Toothless refused to land on the thin ice. Hiccup searched the still sloshing water for any sign of Astrid. If he went in after her then they'd both be in trouble. Toothless growled and whined at the ice and clawed at it from the air. He seemed as desperate as Hiccup felt.
He hovered over the hole waiting for…anything. He searched the calming grey waters but there was nothing buy shadows underneath. His heart was thumping hard and his hands were shaking. Was it just him or was time going slower?
The water turned turbulent and Astrid burst through the gray surface, soaked to the bones. Her hair was plastered against her white-cold face. Hiccup leaned as far off Toothless as he could to reach down to her. Astrid tried to pull her shaking limbs out of the water but the only thing to pull on was the fragile and cracked ice. It shattered underneath her with each attempt.
"Astrid!" Hiccup called down to her. If he could just reach a little farther…
At last she found a thicker patch of ice and pulled herself from the water. By this time her limbs were ravaged by uncontrollable shaking. She coughed out the freezing water and gasped in the frigid air.
"Astrid, come on! We're running out of time!" Hiccup shouted down to her.
She looked up at him and returned his reaching, grasping his hand as best she could. She was more than just cold. The water was dripping off her and already freezing. Her hair, skin, and clothes glistened with tiny forming ice sparks. Her grip was weak and like trying to hold onto a struggling fish.
Somehow Hiccup managed to pull her out of the water. She collapsed onto Toothless with a gasp. Hiccup placed a hand on her back to hold her as Toothless shot upward. Stormfly chirped in anticipation as Toothless flew into the ice cave. She followed them into the cave and lit it up with her bright magnesium sparkler.
Toothless flew as fast as he could and landed on the first semi-smooth patch of rock. He blasted away what ice there was and bent down to make disembarkment easier. Hiccup left Astrid on the saddle while he search the saddlebags for firewood. His hands were fumbling as he dropped them to the ground. He knelt down and arranged them as best he could and motioned Toothless to light them.
It simmered and grew into a blazing fire while Hiccup picked up Astrid from the saddle and escorted her to the fireside. She could barely walk and leaning into him, holding his arm in her shaking hands. She stumbled and fell as the warmth grew closer.
"You need to get out of those clothes." Hiccup said. It took a few seconds before Hiccup realized what he'd said. Her felt a bashful red flush into his frozen face.
She tried to speak but her words were mangled. Her fingers weren't working as she fumbled with her arm wrappings.
Hiccup didn't have time to be bashful. He swallowed and he didn't waste any more time in pulling Astrid's arm toward him and undoing the leather ties. He pulled the half-frozen wraps from her arms. She shook terrible in his hands. Hiccup found himself shaking too, but with stress not cold.
She put her hands out to the fire and gasped-sighed with relief. But it didn't last long. She pulled off her boots and socks which were both slippery with ice. Hiccup tried to help but she shooed away his hands.
The warmth of the fire felt amazing. Hiccup's skin was coming back to life and he was aware of how unbearably cold it really was. Astrid didn't say anything but hit him with the back of her hand and pointed to her shoulders. Hiccup took the hint and removed the metal and fur. The skin underneath was shivering.
Astrid pulled at her shirt with her shaking hands and Hiccup hesitated to help. It was stiff and iced in several places and it would be better if she removed it. He inhaled and reached out to help her. She paused, and looked at him, but nodded. Hiccup took hold of the fabric and pulled it from her skirt and away from her skin. It crunched under his grip where the ice was forming.
She raised her hands to make it easier. Hiccup pulled the shirt over her head and threw it with the growing pile of frozen clothing. Underneath, her stomach was red. She pulled the skirt from her hips and with the help of Hiccup's sturdy hands she pushed her pants down her red and frozen legs.
Hiccup helped her to sit closer to the fire.
"How are you feeling?" Hiccup asked. That awkward feeling was coming back. Would it make her feel less strange if he took his shirt off too? No, that would make it worse. A lot worse.
"I'm better." Astrid mumbled.
Hiccup shook off the weirdness and searched through the saddlebags for anything that might help. He found an old blanket that had been packed for a while with the wrinkles and smell to prove it. He shook it out and draped it around Astrid's shoulders.
"This'll help." Hiccup said. He sat down beside her. The fire was bringing back the feeling in his extremities. He could only imagine how it must feel to have been submerged in that ice water.
"Thanks." Astrid mumbled through cold, but dry, lips. She was still shaking but not nearly as bad.
Hiccup sighed in relief. This wasn't at all how this mission was supposed to go. They'd been sent a day before to find a group of riders in training who hadn't come back from an exercise. Fishlegs had taken charge and taken a small group of inexperienced riders to test their cold weather survival skills and then the storm set it. They could see the grey clouds from Berk. When they party didn't return Hiccup and Astrid wet out after them.
Hiccup hadn't wanted leave give Fishlegs in charge. But he had and it was too late for regret now. Fishlegs is brilliant with dragon trivia and was a never-ending well of knowledge but he wasn't a leader. And Hiccup hoped to Thor that it was the weather keeping them.
Hiccup had given Fishlegs the okay and whatever happened to them it was mostly his fault. He could have gone or done something. And now Astrid's health was precariously hanging one the life of the fire.
"I guess we'll just came here for the night." Hiccup sighed.
Astrid mumbled what Hiccup took for an agreement. Hiccup tried to ignore the fact that Astrid was just in her undergarments and a blanket but I kept returning to the forefront of his mind. "Hopefully, the others will survive the storm."
"Hiccup," Astrid said in a raspy and dry voice. "It's not your fault."
"What do you mean?" Hiccup asked. "It's ninety percent my fault."
"It's not your fault the weather turned bad." Astrid said without pause. "You didn't cause the wind that blew me into the water."
"I can't help feeling like there was something I could have done." Hiccup sighed.
"Like what?" Astrid asked, turning toward him. Her brilliant blue eyes were looking at him with reassurance. He loved that look but she always used it when he didn't appreciate it.
"I don't know…" Hiccup shrugged.
"If you'd gone with them then you'd be in the same boat. And then I'd have come looking for you by myself and died when I fell." Astrid said. "You need to let Fishlegs stand on his own, be responsible, and understand what it's like not to reply on you for everything."
Hiccup sighed, but Astrid laughed. It was hoarse but her warm laugh was inside it.
"What?" Hiccup asked.
"You're worrying over them like a real chief." Astrid smiled. "See? Your potential is showing."
Outside the storm raged. The wind smacked snow against the iceberg and the ocean surged in torrents. The dragons were on edge. Hiccup guessed it had something to do with the instability of the ground around them. Inside their little cave the snow outside sounded like hail.
Hiccup grumbled. For all they knew it could be a snow and hail storm.
Toothless kept the fire hot and Stormfly curled behind Astrid. She leaned against her dragon's warm stomach and hugged the blanket around her. Her hair was still a little wet but not frozen.
"Are you alright?" Hiccup asked. He could feel sleep settling in behind his eyes.
"Yeah." Astrid said. She shuffled the blanket around her. "You know, I really thought I was done for back there."
"You didn't think I'd save you?" Hiccup asked, a little deflated.
"No, before that." Astrid said, a little uncomfortable in her confession. "When I was under the ice. There was a moment when I was I was looking up and everything around me became the same color and I didn't know which way was which. It was so cold, and dark, and I could feel my lungs burning and…and I knew it was all over."
"But it worked out." Hiccup said.
"I started floating and I think…I heard your voice. I went toward it and then I heard you for sure, and I knew which way was up. I knew I'd be fine." Astrid sighed.
Hiccup smiled. It was warming to know that she trusted him like that. It felt like a warm hand over his chest. Without realizing until after he'd done it, Hiccup hugged his arms over his chest against the cold.
"Hiccup? Come here." Astrid said. She turned toward him and adjusted herself. She held the blanket open like warm wings.
"Are you sure?" Hiccup asked with a fluctuation in his throat. Even from this distance he could see the bare skin on her stomach and the gray around her chest. "I mean, I appreciate it…but…you aren't…wearing a lot."
"Hiccup, it's too cold. You'll freeze." Astrid said with certainty. But Hiccup hesitated, and then a mischievous grin spread across her face. "You'd rather freeze then sleep next to me? I thought you'd jump on the chance to snuggle."
Hiccup felt his face burst with redness. There was no hiding it and he knew she saw it. He scooted it closer and Stormfly chirped a quiet greeting as he sat down inside Astrid's open arms. She enclosed them around his neck and engulfed him in the warmth she'd concealed inside.
For the blanket to cover them both they had to sit close. Hiccup's arms were in the way. He hesitated and tentatively snaked them around her waist. It was much more comfortable and Astrid didn't seem to mind. If anything, she moved closer.
Her bare skin was underneath his hands. She was so…soft. A lot softer than he'd expected. It was like the soft fresh yak fur, or the silk that Trader Johan would occasionally bring.
"Having fun?" Astrid asked.
Hiccup had been caught off guard. He hadn't realize his action again until they were called to his attention. He'd been rubbing her side. Embarrassment spread over his face but Astrid was smiling at him.
"Sorry, I was just…" Hiccup stuttered.
Astrid laid her head on his shoulder and he stopped talking. He felt his heart do a rapid thump-thump and then pause. They'd hugged before and they'd shared several short kisses. But they'd never been this close for this long. Hiccup hand resting comfortably one her hip and the other was hugging her high enough to rest his thumb on the fabric that bound her breasts. And he couldn't stop thinking about that.
Astrid laughed lightly in his ear.
"What?" Hiccup asked.
"You know we're going to get a load from the others when we're gone for the night." Astrid said.
Hiccup smiled. "Yeah, probably."
The twins often poked and prodded for anything to use against them. It had become a running gag for them. A night where no one knew where both Hiccup and Astrid were would be a gold pot for them.
"Let them say whatever." Astrid sighed with that cheeky smiley. "Besides us, only Toothless and Stormfly will know what really happened."
The way she worded it felt…mischievous. Hiccup's hearth did a turnabout when Astrid stroked his jaw with her index finger. His instinctive reaction was to follow her finger and turn toward her where her lips were waiting on his. The inside of her mouth was hot and made the air outside feel frozen. Astrid had his mouth and she wasn't going to let him go. She bit his lower lip and pulled him closer, licking his parted lips.
Hiccup couldn't stop the moan that escaped his throat. With her initiate he started the battle of tongues in which he fought gallantly but knew he couldn't win, because if he did she wouldn't let him forget it. When Hiccup withdrew his tongue Astrid bit it, pulling on it playfully, just enough so that he'd know.
His hand held her tight. His thumb fiddled with the edge of the bindings, to the mysterious and forbidden skin underneath.
"You know," Astrid said between prolonged kisses, "They're still pretty wet."
Hiccup didn't get it at first but Astrid tipped his arm upward so that his hand was poised to the binding's end. She pulled away just long enough to looked into his eyes with that mischievous grin. He kissed her again and this time she pushed against his lips.
He fumbled with the bindings. He was a boy and never had to think about how they actually worked. Turns out, it was a long strip of fabric wrapped around the chest and tucked underneath to keep it in place. Once Astrid showed him where to un-tuck the rest was a game of patience.
The breast bindings joined the other wet clothes and Hiccup couldn't stop his trembling hands and thumping chest and yearning somewhere a lot lower. Astrid gasped into his mouth when he began to explore her body; his hands going where they couldn't before.
A series of moans from her mouth to his told him whatever he was doing, he was doing it right. That yearning deep below his stomach grew as he held her breast in his hand. It was like a plump ripe apple, and like the rest of her, unbelievably soft. In his exploration he found its hard center and Astrid hesitated her lips and moaned deeply into his mouth.
In curiosity, Hiccup brought his other hand to join his other. Astrid gasped into his mouth and Hiccup took the chance to lead a trail of kisses along her chin and jaw and ended at the base of her neck. Stormfly adjusted which sent Astrid and Hiccup crashing to the floor.
Hiccup stopped and started to get up but Astrid pulled him back down. He crashed back down on top of her and she threw her mouth onto his. She pulled him closer by snaking her arms around his neck and shoulders. She caught him by surprise when she wrapped her legs around his waist and pulled him tighter.
She gasped at the impact and Hiccup didn't have to think about why. There was no way she couldn't notice it. Hiccup felt her smiling against this lips. She did a subtle motion with her hips and Hiccup groaned before he knew it. It was stirring something inside him he'd never felt before.
"Hiccup," Astrid gasped into his mouth.
He paused to look down at her but didn't need to ask. Her hands were at the hem of his tunic and already pulling it up and off. It landed with a flop near her wet clothes pile. Her soft hands searched his torso, grabbing and maintaining a firm grip on his hips, pressing her palms into his back.
For a while it was silent, between heated kisses and exploratory extremities, there was little room for anything else. But neither seemed to mind. Astrid started doing that incredible twisting of her hips. She kept her legs around his hips and he almost couldn't stand it.
"Hiccup." Astrid breathed into his mouth. When she didn't say anything, or do anything, Hiccup leaned on his elbow to look at her. He admitted, to himself, that he would prefer not to stop.
"What?" Hiccup asked. "Did I do something-"
"No, no, it's just…" Astrid said. Hiccup was concerned about the nervousness in her voice.
"What's wrong?" Hiccup said. He adjusted himself so he wasn't directly over her. She loosened her legs and he laid beside her. She adjusted her arms and pulled the blanket over exposed chest. "Are you alright?"
"It's just…where is this going?" Astrid asked.
"I don't know." Hiccup shrugged.
She adjusted her hips.
"I'm sorry." Hiccup said. He released his elbow and laid on his back beside her. "I guess it just escalated."
"Yeah." Astrid nodded.
Hiccup felt awkward embarrassment filling in where his previous excitement was vanishing.
"It was fun thought." Hiccup tried to laugh it off but it wasn't working.
"It was." Astrid agreed in a quiet tone Hiccup didn't know how to interrupt.
"So…what now?" Hiccup twiddled his thumbs.
"Well, the storm still sounds pretty bad out there." Astrid said in the same tone. "It might take all night to blow over."
"True. True." Hiccup agreed. He had a feeling this night was going to be a long one.
Astrid coughed. It was fake and she didn't bother making it sound real. "You know, we do have all night. No one would know."
"Know what?" Hiccup asked.
"Hiccup." Astrid said in that stern tone she used when he was being ignorant to something she deemed obvious. She turned her head to look at him with a look that confirmed her tone.
"Oh." Hiccup gasped when he got it. She was talking about that. That thing people do when they're married and that thing that his father would skin them both alive if he knew they were even thinking about it.
"Yeah." Astrid nodded. She had that nervousness about her that absolutely adorable but at the same time a little frightening. That mischievous smile broke out across her lips.
"But…that's…I mean…" Hiccup stuttered out. He was on his elbow again.
"Do you want to?" Astrid whispered.
Hiccup looked down at her and felt a bit of a resurgence of that excitement below his stomach. He did, there was no doubt, but he also didn't want to. But was it intimidation or embarrassment that was holding his tongue?
"Yeah." Hiccup nodded.
Astrid's smile widened as she bit her lower lip. Hiccup leaned back over her and she pulled him into a kiss he gladly leaned into. Soon they were folded around each other as tightly as before.
The End.
Hmmm… Originally I figured they'd have sex but then I got to the end and I realized that those scenes were totally unnecessary. Weird how a story kind of writes itself like that.
