Chapter Text
Note to self : Do not try any inventions at this cliff again. Ever.
To be fair, it is a good spot. High enough to be able to see clearly even with a night sky full of clouds, far away from the village to not accidentally crossfire and have enough space to set up his tool, a newly invented axe launcher.
Hiccup just forgets that because of all of those qualities, it means he doesn’t have a place to hide if a dragon spotted him. Which is why now, he is running for his life with a Deathly Nadder hot on his heels.
He tripped, fell face first in the dirt, narrowly dodged a fire shot past his head, lit up the tree like it’s the biggest torch on Berk. Cursed under his breath, he pushes and runs without any clues where he is heading to.
Hiccup doesn’t know how far from the village he was, every tree looks the same out here, but he hoped it was far. He didn’t want to be scolded for ruining another house, or a well, or a watchtower, or a ship…
It appears he quite has a talent in that department. Didn’t matter whether it was with an intention or not.
His lungs start to burn, he almost can’t feel his legs and he runs slower than minutes ago but the Nadder is still chasing him.The dragon screech is too near. For a second, Hiccup thought he might die.
That thought changed quickly when he heard a shout. An axe flying through air, hitting the dragon on its leg makes the giant lizard roar in pain and switch its attention.
That shout sounds familiar enough for Hiccup to dare look back and what he saw made him feel both relief, for himself, and fear, for hers.
Astrid.
He doesn’t know how she was miraculously here but that question was quite irrelevant when a scary giant lizard was standing between them.
For a split second those blue eyes made contact with his green ones, glaring in his soul and she shouted loudly, same time as the Nadder raised its tail to shoot spikes at her.
“RUN MUTTONHEAD!”
So Hiccup does exactly what she says. He runs. After the dragon that chased her because his stupid brain was messed up and he kinda panicked a little. He understands her order, loud and clear, but he would rather be dead than leave her to face a dragon alone even though he was the one who was chased minutes ago.
Among the dark woods his eyes catch something. A crack between a huge rock big enough for him and Astrid to run pass but too small for the Nadder.
They could use that.
“Astrid! This way!”
She turned sharply to his sound, saw the crack and ran toward it without a hesitation.
Hiccup bent down and slipped through the rock before Astrid quickly followed. He held his breath when the Nadder’s talons slammed to the crack where they just ran through, leaving a clawed mark on the hard surface.
Astrid pushes him to go inside, making him move further in the dark. He didn’t think it’s a good idea to go deeper into an unknown tunnel but it is better than facing the dragon’s teeth on the other side, so they stumble forward until they are positively sure that the dragon can’t reach them with their talons or flames.
Back press against the stone wall. Heart beating fast in his chest. His eyes fix at the entrance, watching the shadow try to reach them. He hears Astrid breathing heavily beside him. Her body tenses every time dragon claws try to reach them.
Finally, the Deadly Nadder seem to realize it will never reach them and decide it’s time to give up. Its footsteps quickly go further from their hiding spot, fade away in the dark forest.
For a moment, neither of them uttered a word. Feared that the dragon would come back.
Minutes past without a sound of heavy dragon footsteps, Hiccup slides down to sit with his shaken legs.
That was a close call. Too close.
He still feels heat from fire that flew past him and there is mud covered all over the clothes from his trip plus some bruises and cuts. Not how he imagined his test run would turn out-
“Did you have a death wish?”
He jumped, forgetting that there is another person in this dark tunnel, his head jerking up towards the sharp sound to face his life saver, who looks like a very terrifying valkyrie.
He didn’t need to see her expression to know that Astrid is furious. He fully knows that he definitely deserved it. After all, he just somehow dragged her into his mess, almost got her killed.
Guilt creeped in his throat. Make him feel awful.
The night outside is darkened with cloudy sky. The first drop of rain fails, then the second follows and so does the third and so the tenth. Soaked everything outside the tunnel within a minute, trapped him in a close space with her. Which doesn’t seem to improve her mood.
“Answer my question”
He really messed up this time.
“I’m sorry” He answered quietly, trying to make himself smaller. His eyes didn’t dare to look into her icy blue ones. “I-it wasn't supposed to turn out like this. I-I just wanted to test my invention-”
“So you are not where you’re supposed to be” He flinched at her word.
“I-“
“You have a task Hiccup, one task! Fix a weapon in the forge! Why can’t you just do it!” She shouted, her frustration echoed in the tunnel drowning the raining sound outside.
Hiccup eyes fixed on the ground. He has an answer for that question but he knows she won’t listen to him. Why would she if no one has ever listened. And even if she, by a miracle, listens, she still won’t understand his reasons.
He wants to ask her some questions too. Didn’t she also have a task? How did she find out? Did other people know he’s here? How did she know he was being chased by a dragon?
Why did she risk her life?
Why did she help him?
Despite his confusion, Hiccup knows she won’t answer his questions so he ends up pathetically repeating his previous answer, like a parrot repeating itself.
“I’m sorry”
From her tense posture. It seems his answer isn’t what she wants to hear.
Astrid sighed.
“Forget it” She said harshly before sitting down. Her back facing him. Eyes fixing at the entrance looking out in the rain. “When this rain stop, we’ll go back to the village”
Hiccup nods. It seems the rain won’t stop for a while so they will be stuck here until then.
On any other occasion he would be happy to spend his time with her but now after a mess he causes and drags her into he just wants to be alone.
Curse him and Berk weather.
With ongoing rain the temperature is beginning to drop. They sit far from an entrance enough to avoid drizzle but cold air still seeps in the tunnel. While hugging himself, Hiccup saw Astrid shaking a little. She hugs her bare arms closely to herself, brings her hands to cover her mouth and exhales softly.
He looked down to his clothes before deciding to slip off his bearskin vest and left only his long sleeved tunic on. His tunic might not be made with a fabric tick enough to keep him comfortably warm but he would manage better than her. At least he still has long sleeves covering his arm while she has none.
Hiccup told himself that he did it to repay her from saving his life but he knew there was another reason, he just didn’t want to think about it.
He cleans a mess on his vest as best as he could and carefully taps her shoulder. Astrid turns sharply to look at him, drops her gaze to a vest in his outreach hand.
She frowns. Refused to accept his offering.
“I’m not cold”
Hiccup didn’t drop his hand.
“You’re shaking and your clothes didn’t have sleeves” He pointed out and earned himself a glare that made him stutter. “J-just take it”
Astrid hesitated. She looked between his outreach hand then his face before accepting his vest and warping it over her body.
“Thanks” She mumbled.
He nodded and went back to his corner. It’s still raining heavily outside. A wind howled in the wood, cold air in the tunnel made him tug his chin to his knees and hug them closer to himself.
Astrid sighs before scooting closer to him, blocking the wind that blew in his way. He looked up, blinked, confused with her actions. Feeling heat rushed to warm his neck and cheeks.
“T-thank you”
She grumbled something under her breath that sounded like an acknowledgement before going silent. Hiccup would take that as a ‘you’re welcome’ in a viking way.
He tries to stay awake but exhaustion seems to sink in his bones and drag him into a slumber. Slowly, everything went darker, darker, darker.
Finally he fell asleep and so did Astrid.
Without his knowing. A blood seeping from a cut on his palm and dropping on a cold floor.
Something shines softly around them and in a blink of an eye, both children are gone from the tunnel.