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The battle was messy, dozens of large ships controlled by the dragon hunters, along with the numerous arrows being shot up into the sky. Nets, arrows, cannons.
There were so much of them, you wouldn’t even be able to look at the other riders without being spooked with an arrow to the chest. The foggy and snowy terrain didn’t help either, not only did it make it harder to be see the arrows, you couldn’t even see the other riders!
All you could do was hope, hope that they were still beside you and unharmed.
But of course, hope isn’t a reliable source.
Astrid came crashing down into the ocean, plunging her into the ice cold sea, her back slammed onto the surface, the impact from falling a good 50 metres up shocking her. Her head dunks under the freezing ocean floor and she gasps, her skin and flesh stinging up as her chest tightened in.
“Astrid! Astrid!?” Hiccup shouts, his voice trembling with worry.
He had been the first one to notice Astrid missing ever since the riders managed to take down every ship of the hunter’s, though being the first didn’t mean he noticed immediately either. They had been checking every ship for any signs of Viggo, which meant tons of time wasted, valuable time that they could’ve used figuring out where Astrid was.
He just hoped she wasn’t captured, or worse, hurt.
Hiccup breathes heavily, the cold air turning his face red as Toothless flew around, eyes darting all over the ocean floor and even at some shores. Maybe Astrid fell into the water and was floating around while waiting for the riders to come help? That wouldn’t be good though, it was winter and it would have been freezing…
Hiccup covers his face with his hands, his cheeks felt icy and cold and the mask had done little to warm his face, only serving in blocking more of his sight but it would be better if he kept it on.
His eyes dart around when he noticed something blue and brown washed up on shore, something…someone… Astrid!
”Toothless, d-down there…” Hiccup murmured out, trying to be coherent.
With how cold it was, he couldn’t help but shiver and quiver with every word.
Toothless got the message, his wings straightening out and diving down to the island, another blast of cold wind into Hiccup’s face, which he ducked down to cover off. He leaned forward on Toothless, pressing his face onto the scales of his dragon, it was still cold but bearable with the little body heat his companion produced, it was warm, so warm he almost forgot what he was doing.
The sudden rough landing shook Hiccup out of his head, immediately sitting up and looking at the body washed up shore.
Hiccup froze and his eyes shot open when he took in the scene, Astrid, unresponsive and looking blue, her lips were not the usual colour they always were, and she looked lifeless. Her body seeming oddly cold.
He quickly leapt off of his dragon, rushing towards Astrid.
Toothless followed from behind, trudging through the snowy shore and sniffing her.
Hiccup hesitantly pressed two fingers to her neck, praying for any sign of life, one pulse, please. one pulse was all he needed.
There was nothing, nothing in her heartbeat, nothing in his mind, nothing.
Nothing but pure regret and dread.
Hiccup leaned down, caressing her face with his fingers, cold, it felt like she was leaving cold fire burning on his fingertips.
He couldn’t believe it, he didn’t want to believe it.
This was all the hunter’s fault, they killed her, they probably purposely wanted to harm her, to… play mind games with him.
No, no.
This was all his fault. Everything was his fault.
Astrid, his closest friend, his bestfriend, his beloved.
He killed her, killed her with his ignorance, with his selfish urge to not retreat when they could’ve.
With nothing but heartbreak, he held her cold hand, warming her for the last time.