Okay, this is my FIRST update today. So far, this is THE LONGEST chapter in this fanfic, but I don't know how long the other chapters will be, so...yeah. Don't know. XD! Aaaaaanywaaaaays, shout-outs:

silverwolvesarecool: Yeah, getting sick's no fun. :( And yeah, Dagur deserves to get sick! Yay!

flame: Glad you seem to like the story! :D

Jesusfreak: Haha! Yeah, and it's a disease that is incurable for me! Cantgetenoughofthecliffhangeritis, or something like that. :) And yeah, I thought it was funny, too! He's like "I refuse" and then ten seconds later *snore* XD!

AnimeAngel: Um...the wind? A day? Daytime? Nighttime? I have no idea! :)

QueenAurora: Is the answer to the first one darkness? Time? I don't know. I don't know the answer to the second one, but the answer to the third one is A Map, I think...? Am I right? Am I wrong? And yes, it was a splinter! Whoop whoop! No one I've asked that so far knows the answer, so you get THREE points! Yahoo!

BerkDragonRider: Hahahahahahahaha!

Wanli8970: Ah...do I really WANT to know what happened to the last guy who made Flara angry, or am I better off just not knowing? :)

xFaerieValkyriex: The horror...the suspense...

According to what Dagur had said to one of his men, it was about a six hour walk from here to Freezing To Death. Six hours of just walking on ice, hoping we didn't die by the freezing weather conditions. It wasn't even windy, but if it had been, it would have been about a hundred times worse. I was thankful it wasn't.

A plank was lowered from the ship. The ice held firm beneath it, just proving to me just how thick it really was.

Dagur came up behind us. He was dressed in thick clothing, probably just barely feeling the freezing cold air that hovered in and around the area. He pushed Hiccup and me towards the plank, and we had no choice but to walk down it.

We were followed by Dagur's men closely. They had drawn their weapons, all wearing the same ridiculously thick clothes as Dagur. Their blades glowed in the pale moonlight flowing from the cloudy, black, night sky.

Hiccup whistled. "And I thought it was cold below deck," he muttered under his breath.

"Silence, you fools," said Dagur.

Hiccup looked to me and twirled his index finger around his temple. I smiled at the gesture, and he shrugged. Then, we both turned to the six hours of freezing cold weather we had to walk through.

Fantastic.

[Yes, Hiccup, you can rest assured that that was sarcasm. There was nothing fantastic about that situation, and you know it without me even telling you]

The first hour, it really wasn't so bad. Hiccup and I were Berkians; we were used to intense weather conditions, so it didn't prove to be too much of a problem. The hour passed rather quickly, too, which helped tremendously.

Behind us, Dagur and his men were whispering stuff I didn't understand or make out, mostly because I was too focused on not slipping and at the same time trying to conserve body heat, but I heard Dagur say, "If he doesn't help us, I have a little something planned for him."

I could only guess he was talking about Hiccup. Hiccup seemed to have heard him, too, because his steps grew uneasy and he looked to me frantically for support I couldn't give him at that moment.

But I would give it to him sometime. Dagur would get his pay day one day, to be certain.

The second hour, it got worse. Our steps became slower and less fluent, although we knew we couldn't stop. Dagur and his men were right behind us, making sure of that. If we stopped, we would be forced up again and also probably endure some sort of horrid punishment as well.

Dagur and his men seemed unfazed by the chill, probably because of how much clothing they were wearing, but it wasn't so for Hiccup and myself. We were both shaking visibly, just barely forcing ourselves on.

And that was only hour number two. We had four more to go.

The third hour seemed to go on for weeks and weeks. The clouds had begun to pulse out snow, to an extent, but it didn't help one bit. It clouded our vision and only added to the initial chill of the landscape.

Dagur dragged his axe at his side so it cut about half an inch deep into the ice, making a trail in it, probably for when they returned to the ship, or just because he was bored and wanted to cut something. Or both. Or neither.

The fourth hour, I nearly passed out. It got to the point where I stumbled so frequently Hiccup actually had to hold me up half the time. He was in no better shape than I was, but he knew when he had to be the brave one.

Normally, I was the brave one, and he was the one thinking of the brilliant plans, but sometimes the roles were reversed, although I never really thought of brilliant plans. Hiccup acted as the brave one, and the smart one. It really was perplexing to me and many others, but we didn't question it.

When I got feeling back into my limbs, I mumbled a "thank you" to Hiccup and then continued to walk on my own without his assistance. Of course, he always put a steadying hand on my shoulder when I swayed, which wasn't seldom, but each time he did, I felt the icy coldness of his skin, and immediately felt guilty. He was in far worse shape than I was, with amnesia, headaches and a wounded shoulder, yet he was the one keeping me from face planting into the ice when it really should have been the other way around.

The fifth hour was by far the best. Which, by the way, is not sarcasm. It seemed to warm up at least a little bit, which made it easier to walk...no...just move in general. The sun showed itself a fair few times, although it was still cloudy and snowing slightly, I was glad for what warmth the sun provided. And apparently, Hiccup was as well. He flicked some snowflakes out of his hair and looked at me in plain annoyance. Probably because it was still snowing.

I was hoping it would get warmer. I mean...a little warmth here and there was a step in the right direction while traveling to Freezing To Death. Unfortunately, that's what you were doing: Traveling to Freezing To Death, where it was, quite literally, Freezing To Death.

The sixth hour was by far the longest, coldest, and hardest. A sudden wind picked up so strong I feared a few times it would blow us right off our feet and to the Isle of Night before we could even yell for help. It also began to snow harder, and the flakes blew around in all different directions.

Dagur and his men shielded themselves from the snow, but they had a lot more coverage than me and Hiccup. We stumbled around blindly in the what was now turning into a blizzard. I stumbled, grabbing Hiccup's arm just before I was able to fall forward. Hiccup held me up, but I could feel the weakness in his grip. He was a lot thinner than I was, not to mention it was also harder for him to walk, seeing as he had one and a half legs. Not to mention a bad wound on his shoulder, and probably frequent headaches.

"Are we going the right way!?" shouted one of Dagur's men.

"Yes!" shouted Dagur. "I am certain we are going the right way!"

"But how can you be sure?" questioned a different soldier. "We should check our maps, just to make sure we aren't heading towards the ends of the world!"

I heard Dagur sigh. "Fine," he said. "Five of you, watch the prisoners. The others, come with me took look over this map."

As soon as the words left his mouth, I felt relief flood over me. We were stopping, even if it was just for a moment. Hiccup and I sank down to the ground, Hiccup keeping one arm wrapped around me, me doing the same to him with my own arm. He leaned against me, resting his head on my shoulder, and I leaned against him, pressing my cheek to he top of his head. I closed my eyes with a relieved sigh as the two of us rested for the first time in hours.

It was freezing, the wind picking up around us, sending snow and blistering cold ice pretty much everywhere, but at least we weren't alone. If I had been doing it by myself, I never would have survived. And looking at Hiccup, I knew it was vise versa.

We heard Dagur muttering to his men in the background, but really didn't care. They ad been muttering to each other for nearly six hours. It didn't matter to us anymore. Let them mutter. Didn't do anything. I heard one of the soldiers laugh at some fiendish plan Dagur had spoken of, but I didn't care. Let them laugh. Let them have their fun. And when the time comes, let them see how they were wrong. Let them see their foolishness. Let them see their ignorance.

Let them laugh.

After about ten minutes, Dagur announced that we were headed in the right direction and that we would be continuing our trek. Hiccup and I stood unsteadily to our feet, swaying uneasily from exhaustion and cold, but we moved none the less. We weren't given the choice. Dagur and his men followed behind us with weapons. We stopped, and we died.

When Freezing To Death was in sight, I didn't know I would be as excited to see it as I was at that moment. Sure, we would be thrown into prison. Sure, we would probably be forced to train some dragons, and then killed if we didn't (and quite possibly even if we did). But at least it wouldn't be as bad as out here in the open.

Once we stepped for on Freezing To Death, Dagur and his men split into two groups; Dagor taking one group to what appeared to be some sort of a Great Hall while the other group took Hiccup and I to our cells.

They led us aside and then opened the door, followed by a tunnel leading underground. We had no choice but to venture inside, going down further with every step.

Then it broke off into one single cell. It was musty smelling and freezing cold, but at least there was no wind or snow, which was an improvement.

One of the guards took a key, unlocked the cell, and then shoved Hiccup and me into it. We both sank to the ground, our legs unable to bear our weight, and the prison door shut behind us.

"Have fun," one of the guards hissed. "You won't have a choice."

He tossed something inside the cell and then turned, followed by his mates, and left the area.

"Well," said Hiccup, "how hospitable." He rolled his eyes and sat up, wincing and clutching his bad shoulder. It suddenly occurred to me that he had fallen on it when we were tossed in. I couldn't imagine how badly that had hurt.

"Here, let me look at it-" I tried.

"No, it's okay," said Hiccup. "It's fine." He groaned. "No problem at all, see?"

I frowned and gave him an "are-you-serious?" look.

He frowned. "We have enough problems without you worrying about me," he said.

"Well, we've already achieved that," I said, "so why not?"

Hiccup frowned, but didn't stop me when I rolled up his sleeve to look at his shoulder. It didn't look bad, but I really couldn't tell, since it had been wrapped in gauze while we were on Berk.

"No one even knows we're here," said Hiccup. He shook his head. "I'm sorry, Astrid. This is all my fau-"

"Don't say it," I cut him off. "It's not your fault."

"You know it is," said Hiccup. "If I hadn't run off, you wouldn't have had to follow me. If I hadn't got amnesia, this wouldn't even be a problem."

"I told you, Hiccup," I said, "it's not your fault you have amnesia."

"It sure feels like it is," he said.

"Well, it's not," I said.

He smirked. "You're just as stubborn as me, you know that?" he asked.

"Aahh, not true!" I said. "You're definitely more stubborn!"

"Fine," he said. "Can't argue with that."

"No, you can't," I said.

I looked to the side and saw what one of the guards had thrown into the cell. It was a satchel, not too big, but big enough to make me wonder what was inside it. Curious, I moved over to investigate. I picked it up and opened it. Inside, I found two water flasks and a blanket.

"Here," I said, tossing one of the flasks to Hiccup. He caught it with both hands and then looked at me curiously. I shrugged and moved over to sit next to him, taking the blanket and draping it over both of our shoulders.

"It could be worse," said Hiccup. "Really, it could."

I fell asleep thinking about how it could have been a lot better, too.