Chapter Text
Hiccup POV
He hadn’t felt the heat when it engulfed him. Hadn’t felt Toothless’ claws dig into his skin as the dragon caught him midair and shielded him beneath his wings. Didn’t feel the impact when they hit the ground and rolled to a stop.
He didn’t know what to call it - this sensation of drifting through an endless, black ocean, aware that something was wrong but too far gone to grasp a single, solid thought.
Wading through the vast emptiness, through the fog that stretched seemingly forever, a flicker of fear stirred within him. A quiet panic whispered that he had failed.
But failed what?
The question barely formed before it unraveled, the thought slipping away like sand through his fingers, impossible to hold.
But still he struggled through the haze. Struggled through the invisible current that kept him under, kept him drowning in the ocean of nothing. Because something was wrong.
Something... had happened.
He couldn’t remember. Not fully. Just flashes through the mist around him.
The searing heat, too bright, and so close it seemed to dance along his skin.
The sting of smoke in his throat and in his eyes.
A roar, not just of fire, but of fear.
Toothless screaming, reaching. Then silence.
The memories (?) fray at the edges, slipping from his mind, the grains of sand falling from his hands again. Gone before he can grasp them.
“-up!……Hiccup!”
He jolts at the echo of a voice familiar to him, the gruff bringing a feeling of warmth and relief.
He wanted to answer him, to call out, to shout, to beg him for help. Wanted to ask him if everything was ok now and if he made him proud. Needed to know if he could call him dad again, if he could be his son.
He knew he wasn’t much of a chefs heir, but maybe now that the Red Death was gone… gone… that’s right, they had fought the queen, did they really win? Yes if the queen was really gone, maybe he would finally be more than just a little Hiccup.
…But the words wouldn’t come. They stayed trapped the endless dark, tangled in whatever was still holding him under.
“-ve…..-ought hi-…..-ack alive!”
Suddenly warmth enveloped him and it wrapped around him like a blanket against the storm. It pulled him closer to the surface and for a moment he thought he might make it. That maybe, waking up wouldn’t be so hard.
But then the pain came with it.
The numbness gave way to agonising pain. His chest burned and his head throbbed. The pain so strong it made his stomach churn violently.
Make it stop. Please, PLEASE just make it stop.
He felt his dads arms tighten around his shoulders and pull him closer to his chest.
“-ight Hiccup….. I’m so proud of you, my son. Rest. I’ll take care of you”.
Hiccup hadn’t released how long he’d been waiting to hear those words, or how much he needed to hear them. It brought a new wave of relief. He had waited so long to hear them, and it settled something inside of him. The pain subsided and he drifted back into the calm endless black ocean, let it drag him back under. No fear, no panic, no pain. Just let his fathers deep voice wash over him. His dad would help him, would hold his broken and bleeding body close and keep him safe.
Cradled in his fathers arms, on the ashy shores of the Queen’s island, he let his mind drift again, let the pain pull him back down into oblivion.