HTTYD VORE: Snow Story Part 1

Snow.

The world was blanketed in thick, fluffy dunes of frost and ice, so smooth and flat that it would almost seem a shame to defile it with footsteps.

Not to this pair of Vikings, both bundled in thick fur coats and remorselessly plunging through the wilderness. They hadn’t been alive long, but they’d already starved and frozen and shivered and soaked through fifteen or sixteen harsh Archipelago winters (far more than any human ought to), and by now the romance of the season was rather lost on them. The elements were just another of the many beasts in their wild world that could strip you to the bone if you weren’t strong enough to take it.

At least this year they wouldn’t have to go it alone. Trudging through the snow was infinitely easier if you happened to be on the back of a dragon. Their travels were not only much faster— sitting atop the fire-breathing animals, they were much warmer, too.

Now that the snow had started coming down harder, heat was becoming more and more of an asset. They had been forced to abandon flying long ago, when the dragons had started complaining of freezing wings, and the world was getting dark grey as the sun threatened to sink and drag the last dregs of her warmth down with her.

“I think we’re lost,” pointed out Hiccup, the Viking in back, raising his voice up over the roaring wind, the snow stinging his face. He shivered, stubbornly resisting the urge to wrap his smallish frail self around the warm neck of his panther-like Night Fury as he tried to keep track of the spiny tip of the Deadly Nadder’s tail bobbing in front of him.

“We’re NOT lost,” insisted the fierce-looking girl perched up on top of the blue, birdlike Nadder. She was standing in her saddle as if impervious to the biting wind, shading her eyes as she tried to blaze a trail through the heavy snowfall. “We’re west of Raven Point. We can beat the storm if we hurry up.”

“Astrid, the ocean was on our LEFT, the last time I could see it…” Hiccup called out.

“What?” Astrid yelled out, unable to hear him.

Hiccup swallowed hard and tried again. “We’re GOING THE WRONG WAY.”

“— What?” She glared down at him over her shoulder.

“We’ve been VEERING NORTH,” he called, the wind trying to scream over him. “We’re off course.”

Astrid squeezed up her knees, pulling the Deadly Nadder to a stop, and turning the dragon to get a better vantage point of the little black Night Fury and its even littler rider. “Don’t you think you should TELL me something like that?” she yelled fiercely.

“I tried! Remember all those times you told me to shut up?”

Astrid sighed.

Hiccup gave her a pointed look. “You said you knew where we were going.”

Astrid looked around for a moment, trying to pick out landmarks, and finally sank heavily back into her saddle. The Nadder clucked uncomfortably, dancing from one clawed foot to the other as she stood in the snow. “Well, I did,” she grumbled. “It’s just impossible to see in this snowfall.”

Hiccup nodded, biting his lip. “I think we’re going to have to wait it out, now.”

“Camp?! In this mess?” Astrid’s eyes narrowed exasperatedly.

“Well, we could wander aimlessly in circles for a few more hours, freezing to death…” Hiccup muttered, wiping his nose on the sleeve of his thick winter coat.

Astrid sighed. “Fine.” It would be much easier to navigate once the snow let up, and the poor dragons were probably getting tired by now. She knew she was sore from riding so long. But it seemed like they were so close…

Oh well. It’d probably be best. She was worried about Hiccup, too. He’d always had a horrible tendency to get fevers in the winter, and if this little endeavor ended up making him sick again…

She nudged her dragon onward. “Let’s go.”

And so the heavy-footed beasts trudged on through the thickening snow, their tails twitching irritably. Hiccup smiled bleakly, feeling Toothless’ neck swell with a sigh released in a thick puff of steam. It had become so cold lately, even Toothless hadn't wanted to get up and go at dawn— and Toothless would usually try to tear the roof open over Hiccup's head early each morning for a chance to stretch his wings.

It had kind of set off a foreboding in Hiccup's chest right from the get-go. If the weather was so awful that even the sky-lovingest dragon on windy, wild Berk was reluctant to confront it, it probably wasn't the time to be traipsing all over the Archipelago, scoping out Snowpecker populations for rest of the winter's hunt.

But Viking obligation, as always, overrode dragon intuition. It amazed Hiccup sometimes how much more common sense a fish-vomiting animal could have than the village adults.

Right now, Toothless was irritably putting up with being a rather bizarre experiment. Today, he was a beast of burden, though he carried no satchels on his back. Instead, the sizable space of his first stomach was swollen with curious leather-wrapped bundles, which Hiccup had stowed inside him and told him sternly not to pass along into his second-belly, where they would be digested.

To be truthful, Toothless had strongly considered passing them along anyway, knowing full-well that several of the bundles happened to contain fresh fish. But there had also been some bundles of blankets and things, too— and though Hiccup had been careful not to put anything in that could hurt his innards, Toothless didn’t think blankets and things would be very yummy. Since his kneading crop couldn’t tell the lumpy bundles apart, he had let them be.

They felt quite cozy in there, really… though he wished he could eat them. He was very hungry— the humans hadn’t been able to feed the dragons much aside from scraps for the entire day.

At least he wasn’t completely empty. It felt good to have a nice full crop. It was better to have a full first-tummy and an empty belly than no full tummy at all. It still felt like food to the dragon, since his crop was for storing food first.

But poor Hiccup didn’t have any room in his little body to store extra food and things, so today he was using Toothless’ food-storing-place. Toothless thought that was weird, but he liked helping Hiccup.

Hiccup scratched his dragon’s ears thoughtfully. Now that they were stopping for the night, he’d get a chance to have Toothless give him back the bundles so he could see how they’d fared in travel.

He’d wrapped each one tightly and securely in a couple of layers of leather, the idea being to keep the contents inside dry and clean. If the experiment had worked as he’d hoped, they wouldn’t have to thaw out their fish for dinner tonight, they’d have some warm clean water, and their blankets would at least start out nice and hot, all from Toothless’ body heat.

All this in combination with a good fire and the dragons to sleep by, and they’d hopefully be quite cozy despite the snow.

He wasn’t sure Astrid would be all that thrilled about it, of course. Especially if everything ended up reeking of fish.

He shivered. He himself would happily put up with crop-smell (he was used to it) if it meant curling up with something warm soon.

It had been such a long, COLD expedition.

Happily, it wasn’t much farther of a trudge before they happened upon a decent enough place to camp, sheltered somewhat from the elements by a jumble of fallen boulders. The Vikings quickly set to work, having their dragons torch up a good-sized, dry, warm patch of ground, before finally, carefully dismounting.

Astrid stumbled, slightly less accustomed to the aches involved in all-day riding, and Hiccup hid a smile under the pretense of adjusting Toothless’ saddle. The Nadder took a few mouthfuls of snow and immediately settled, nesting deep into the powder, clearly not planning to move again for quite a while.

Separated from Toothless’ heat, the wind was shocking as it cut through Hiccup. He grimaced, balancing carefully on the hardened, already-snow-dusted ground, shifting his tired weight from clumsy organic foot to clumsy metal one and kneading his fingers through his gloves. Ever-doting, Toothless still stood, his hot snout puffing nearby at shoulder level.

Briefly, Hiccup and Astrid cast their gazes upward. The snow did not appear to be letting up; on the contrary, it seemed like it was coming down even harder than before.

Hiccup stepped toward the forest, gesturing. “Firewood.”

Astrid quickly strode after him, “You stay here. I’ll get it.”

“We can both get it— ”

She grabbed his shoulder and gently pushed him aside as she walked past. “It’s fine. Stay here.”

Hiccup scowled. “Just give me two seconds to get the snowshoe— ”

Astrid glared back over her shoulder. “I’ve got it, Hiccup.”

Hiccup creaked a step forward, offended. He knew this was about his stupid leg. Most of the time, Vikings didn't have much pity. It wasn't exactly uncommon to be an amputee on Berk, after all. But Astrid... now that the weather had gotten kind of harsh again, she'd been treating him a little oddly-- and it was getting on his nerves. “Look,” he said stiffly. “Just because I— doesn’t mean— ”

Astrid grabbed his shoulders. “You stay here and set up camp. I’ll get it.”

He tried to twist from her grip. “Just give me a minute and— ”

“Stay here,” she snarled, giving him a stubborn shove backward— he gasped as he stumbled and fell hard, Toothless growling deep in his throat as he ducked in after.

By the time the dragon had helped Hiccup to his feet, Astrid had already swept away, her powerful lithe silhouette barely visible now beyond the thickening curtain of snow. Toothless bared a few teeth at her shadow as it finally disappeared.

Hiccup groaned, wiping his nose bitterly. “I’m not actually useless,” he said blankly, to nobody. His dragon puffed reassuringly at his side, making a soft noise before lowering himself into the snow.

Hiccup blinked. The entire space they had melted away for their campground was already covered with a thin dusting of snow again. That wasn’t good— it was really coming down fast now.

Astrid had told him to set up camp. He made a few aimless movements, hesitant. He didn’t know how long it would take her to get back. If he told the dragons to refire the area, it might be all snowy again before she returned, and if he asked Toothless to hack up their equipment, then it might end up all frozen over instead of toasty (and thus, impressive). He sighed, gently cupping Toothless’ nose and lower jaw together, squeezing a little. “Just keep those in there for me for a little bit longer, all right, Bud?”

Toothless made an agreeable murmur, licking sensitively at his snout. Hiccup smiled grimly, hesitated, and finally lowered himself to sit against his dragon’s side, shivering. He was tired, and quite cold in spite of the furs he wore.

He waited for what seemed to be a very long time, watching the sky darken and the snow thicken again in the spot they had cleared until he was sitting in a good couple inches of it and the Nadder resting a few feet across from him was nearly blotted from sight as it fell harder and harder.

He wanted to be worried about Astrid. He really did. Surely she should’ve returned by now? It was coming down so heavily now, it would be so easy for her to have lost her way…

But before he had even seen it coming, the cold had wrapped its icy wings around him, and now it was all he could think about. His face stung, his nose was numb— his fingers and toes were achy and frigid no matter how much he sat there kneading them. He found himself huddling closer and closer to Toothless, until the dragon, worried, murmured and actually wrapped the boy close in his forepaws and wings.

But even then, he couldn’t seem to stop shivering.

He grit his teeth, pressing himself flat against Toothless’ warm scales, entertaining the idea of retrieving just one of the nice, thick blankets from inside that beating black chest underneath his cheek.

But Astrid would return soon, and he wasn’t really that cold yet.

The wind seemed to find every gap in Toothless’ wings, weaseling in to find Hiccup and soak in straight to his bones. Toothless began to shiver and twitch, uncomfortable, as the thin, blood-filled membranes began to chill and freeze.

It wasn’t long before the dragon made an apologetic moan, and momentarily released Hiccup in order to torch another patch of ground. Hiccup found himself half-nudged, half-dragged onto the piping hot spot, and then Toothless more or less lay down on top of him, holding his wings and fins tightly shut.

This worked for a while— Hiccup’s shivers lessened, and he began to be able to smell the dragon’s hot mustiness. It wasn’t long at all, however, before the chill reclaimed the ground, and even the hot spots trapped beneath them drained away.

Hiccup’s teeth chattered, and he squirmed, struggling under the dragon to try to curl himself up. Toothless murmured worriedly, and suddenly the boy felt the shockingly, almost painfully hot flickers of a dragon tongue prodding at his face and shoulders.

Hiccup squirmed some more. Getting wet didn’t seem like it would help, but he knew what Toothless was thinking.

The dragon wanted to eat him.

It seemed odd; but Toothless had done it before, other times, when he had wanted to keep or protect Hiccup. In fact, this was how Hiccup had originally discovered the curiously safe, if smelly, conditions inside of the dragon’s first stomach. Toothless even seemed to rather enjoy it (he liked having a nice full crop), but, while Hiccup had been through it enough to build up a kind of tolerance, he had never been much of a fan— the whole process of being squished and squeezed and swallowed up was really quite uncomfortable, and once there, it would be very wet and dark inside Toothless' rather oppressively snug belly-basket— though it would also be, undeniably, very, very warm.

Hiccup pushed on the beast’s snout. “D-don’t...” What if Astrid came back and couldn’t find him?

He stiffened, hearing a low sloshing noise deep in Toothless’ throat— the dragon was thinking about discarding the bundles to make space for him inside.

Hiccup deflected the creature’s musing nose and pushed his hand firmly into the soft surface of the scaled throat. “D-don’t spit th-those out. We-we’ll need them.”

The dragon grumbled, giving him a look, but his innards seemed to settle.

Hiccup squinted up at him, burying his hands in his armpits and vibrating with shivers. “Just d-don’t. She-she’ll be b-back soon, and w-we can m-make a fire, and-d…”

Toothless mumbled dismally, cushioning Hiccup’s head with his paws. His pupils subtly changed sizes as he contemplated for a long moment, and, evidently satisfied, he ducked in and licked Hiccup’s face again.

Hiccup winced as the wind bit at his wet nose. “S-stoppit…”

The dragon raised his hot head up, and glanced toward the Deadly Nadder, who appeared to be napping. His body jerked as he barked at her.

No response.

He barked again. She twitched.

Finally he drew in a quick breath and sent a bolt of energy sailing over her horns.

Hiccup couldn’t see her too well through the snow, but her glistening yellow eye suddenly appeared in the dusky grey, accompanied by her curious, gurgly inquisitions.

It was all Hiccup could do to keep from wailing with longing as Toothless shuffled to his feet, dragging the only heat Hiccup had away from him. Immediately he shut his eyes, stiff and shaky with shivers.

What was that dragon doing?

Momentarily, he felt the hot, gentle gums take him by the scruff of the coat and lift him up, suspending him in the chilly air. Hiccup made a small noise of disapproval, unable to do much else as Toothless lifted him over and set him down in front of the Deadly Nadder.

She blinked sleepily, turning her head from side to side as she peered at him, gurgling curiously.

Toothless rumbled, his tongue swiping his snout. He ducked, licking a couple times at the back of Hiccup’s head and nudging him forward, before gazing again into the eyes of the Nadder.

The Nadder squawked suddenly, rattling her wings as she stiffened and straightened, giving Toothless an odd look.

Hiccup huddled in the snow, hugging himself, and he swallowed hard. “T-t-toothless… W-what…?”

Toothless nudged at him again before lifting his head and baring a few-odd teeth at the other dragon. The Nadder gave a strange shake, and then brought her head down closer to Hiccup, her tongue sloshing oddly in her mouth as she examined him pointedly, making soft gentle gurgles.

Hiccup stiffened, feeling Toothless’ heat withdraw from behind him as the dragon left him to the Nadder.

Oh.

His heart sank. He fumbled backward clumsily, flailing for his dragon. “N-no, Bud! C-come on! S-she has t-t-teeth!”

Since Toothless didn't have room in his own hot crop to warm poor Hiccup up inside, he was simply going to make the Nadder swallow him down instead.

Toothless grabbed Hiccup by the collar and dragged him closer again with a stern gollop. He positioned Hiccup carefully in the snow again, then tenderly licked at his shoulders, making soft rumbles. Hiccup knew the dragon was trying to reassure him, but that wet tongue left icy trails on his back that he could feel like huge tears through his thick coat, and his body was stiff with shivering, burning cold.

He swallowed hard. He felt like he could barely breathe as Toothless slipped away behind him again.

The gentle Nadder brought her great snout in close to him, gurgling softly and puffing him with the loveliest hot sulfuric breaths, which dissolved so quickly in the frigid wind. Hiccup’s heart fluttered as he watched her thick tongue slop around in her mouth as she contemplated Toothless’ request. Was she wondering what he would taste like? Or what he would feel like, a frozen little Haddock sliding easily down her throat?

Hiccup winced. He didn’t want to be eaten by the Nadder. What if she didn’t know to keep him in her crop, and instead boiled him down for her dinner soup in her belly? And her massive teeth could easily tear him to pieces if she wasn’t careful. And… Astrid…

He wanted badly to get up and try to move away, but he was curled around what seemed like the last dregs of his inner warmth, and he REALLY didn’t want to let it escape. So he moaned helplessly, trying to relax as she snuffled at him, starting to prod him curiously with her tongue. She puffed for a moment, then raised her head and made a low skeptical noise at Toothless.

Toothless barked at her sternly, and with a submissive noise she hesitantly ducked back in, nipping gingerly at his coat, probably trying to figure out how to pick him up.

Hiccup’s heart fluttered nervously. “T-t-toothless… s-she’s not g-going to hurt m-me, right?”

Toothless paced closer, rumbling with one of his most pleasant sounds, a sort of optimistic purr.

Hiccup had to give the poor Nadder credit. She seemed quite baffled by the task set before her, and she handled him very, very gently, as if afraid she would break him. Then again, Hiccup supposed she knew if she were to hurt him, she’d suddenly have one mad Night Fury to contend with.

It took the poor beast a long while of puffing at him, turning her head, touching him with her teeth or tongue, and getting snarled at periodically by Toothless, before she finally just opened her jaws as wide as she could, and hesitantly, carefully (Hiccup swore he saw her eyes shut in concentration), positioned her mouth around him, her beak to the ground in front and in back of him, leaving him in a dark little cave.

Hiccup gasped immediately, gagging as he felt the hot, salty, sulfury moist air flow into his frigid lungs, shocking him with the strangely acidic chemically-fish smell of her breath. He started coughing hard, feeling like he was at the edge of throwing up, but the breath felt so unbelievably, wonderfully warm…

He yelped as he felt the incredibly hot tongue slide down his back and bury itself roughly under his backside— he felt the breaths of the dragon puffing awkwardly over him as she made small pouty sounds, carefully trying to scoop him into her jaws, in over her terrible teeth. Her tongue rippled and adjusted gingerly against his back, and then with a quick upward jerk of her head, he was shoveled into her mouth.

The moment his full weight hit her tongue, he gasped in pain, his lips locked in a breathy, agonized “O”— the full heat of her mouth against his stiff half-frozen body hurt, as if he had been flopped into a sizzling frying pan, but he was so weak now with cold that could barely react to it.

He was distantly aware of the poor Nadder’s tongue shifting and adjusting underneath him, scooping in his feet to make him a nice tight curled-up mouthful of Viking, carefully lapping and rippling in its alien way as she tried to make sure every bit of him was there and unharmed as she heard his small distressed sounds.

Hiccup winced, squinting blankly out at the pale snow there beyond the jagged teeth. He’d never been a mouthful before; Toothless’ maw wasn’t near big enough to hold all of him like this. It was a curious feeling, being cradled completely on top of big, shifting dragon tongue- though right now, his frigid bones could barely register it, too shocked with the utter heat of the Nadder’s saliva.

“Ow-ow-ow…” Hiccup whimpered, able to breathe in only stiff short gasps.

Toothless’ eyes appeared outside the Nadder’s mouth, peering in at him cautiously. The sleek dragon made a low noise.

“It-it’s okay, Bud. I’m all r-right… She’s got me…”A dismal feeling spread through Hiccup’s chest. He knew he was about to be swallowed down alive, and there was nothing he could do about it. And he was worried. As the Nadder’s tongue apologetically began to move and shift underneath him, getting him wet so he would be easy to gulp down, he fumbled clumsily in the mouth so he could look out at Toothless.

“Toothless— ” Hiccup managed, hissing through his teeth in discomfort. “You n-need to find Astrid. G-go find Astrid.”

The dragon’s eyes focused hard on Hiccup’s, and his head bobbed as he rumbled a solemn affirmative.

Hiccup reached weakly out through the Nadder’s teeth and touched his dragon’s nose. “T-thanks, Bud.”

Toothless gurgled softly, licking gently at Hiccup’s glove before nuzzling the boy’s hand gingerly back into the cage of the teeth. Hiccup would be warm and safe inside the Nadder, even if he didn’t like it very much. The Nadder was smart and knew how to keep her babies safe inside of her crop. She was a good dragon.

Toothless would’ve preferred to have done it himself, but Hiccup had given him special jobs to do. So this was okay.

The Night Fury nudged the Deadly Nadder on the chin, and with a reluctant gurgle, her jaws eased shut, sealing Hiccup inside.

The air inside seemed like it was SEARING hot, like an oven— Hiccup found himself wheezing and tearing up as the heat attacked his numb limbs, gnawing and sizzling like acid over his icy skin and aching into his bones. He lay limply as the tongue awkwardly shifted and moved him within the tiny space, scrubbing him abrasively with thick slime. If he weren’t so weak and chilled through, he might’ve struggled or screamed (though of course, if he had been warm in the first place, it wouldn’t have been nearly as agonizing), but now he could only moan, letting the poor Nadder do what she needed to do.

She was probably saving his life, after all.

The Nadder felt awkward, struggling to keep her mouth shut around the Viking boy. Outside, he looked tiny, but with all of him in her jaws she felt gluttonous, like she was trying to gobble up a whole skinny deer without biting it into easy pieces first.

That’s right. No biting.

And the little Viking boy was so alive, and he was cold (especially the metal bit of him), and he moved on her tongue and made tiny unhappy noises. The sounds he made reminded her of a little Nadderling, and made a strange sort of motherly warmth spread through her chest. The poor thing was tiny and adorable and she wanted to hold him close and wrap him up tight and keep him safe. He was icy-cold, but she would tuck him deep down inside, where not a scrap of chill could reach him.

She gurgled gently, trying to comfort the poor thing. He wasn’t happy.

Toothless bobbed his head, urging her to hurry up. The Night Fury was dancing in the snow nervously, looking over his shoulder in the direction Astrid had left in.

The Deadly Nadder shut her eyes, reluctantly trying to position the little Viking so that a skinny end of him was toward her throat. She’d never eaten a human before. Not even a little tiny one. He was so cold he almost seemed flavorless, though she could taste deer hide. He wasn’t big, but he was big enough that she wasn’t sure she could actually get him down.

But the Night Fury was smaller than her, and if he could swallow a human boy whole and alive without hurting him, why couldn’t she?

She felt the creature’s little fuzzy head nestled at the back of her tongue, and her throat wavered, ticklish. She sighed deeply. The Night Fury wouldn’t leave her alone until his poor Viking boy was tucked safe and warm in her tummy.

She twitched her wings, clucking nervously, and finally pitched her head back and swallowed him up quickly, before she could change her mind.

The little Viking disappeared surprisingly easily in one strong gulp, his long body so skinny and wriggly and chilly on her insides as he slid down her trembling throat. She sat there, wide-eyed with the bizarre sensation, and squawked with shock as she felt him flop, heavy and cold, into her waiting belly-basket.

Toothless blinked at her chest as it wobbled gently. It was agonizing, in a way, to watch another dragon eat his Hiccup. Toothless knew what it was like to have poor Hiccup moving inside, pushing with his little feet, asking to be let go— but he’d never realized what it looked like from the outside. He wanted to hurry up and go get Astrid, but for now curiosity got the better of him, and he stepped hesitantly closer, purring inquisitively.

If the Nadder’s tongue had been like a frying pan, and her mouth like an oven, her steamy, bubbly wet first-stomach was like a big boiling stew pot, and Hiccup a blue ocean-fresh lobster dumped into it to hiss and writhe until he was turned docile and red. Hiccup found himself half-drowning in a deep dark sloshy pit, submerged in liquid so hot it made his eyes tear up. He struggled in pain for a long moment as the boiling heat gobbled him up, searing his cheeks and burying itself in his belly, and then finally he melted like snow on a hearth as his blood finally began to warm up again, spilling back into every corner of his chilled flesh.

Soon he just lay back and panted, his heartbeat slowing as he began to relax, feeling himself coming back to life. His surroundings were dark and squashy and fishy-smelling, everything from the wet slippery walls to the thick heavy air itself just wonderfully, deliciously warm. The Nadder’s pulsing innards cradled him loosely, her first-tummy big and roomy and so soft it was as if it was barely there, like a pile of new feather pillows.

The Nadder gurgled, her pupils rapidly changing sizes as she contemplated her chest, filled with wriggly-twitchy young human. She was shocked and intrigued by the peculiar sensation, not sure what to think of it. He was big, big as a young deer, and she could feel his tiny hands and feet pushing inside as he floundered about aimlessly, feel his slight heaviness stretching her innards, feel his coldness dissolving away.

He felt weird. And good.

She gurgled gently, feeling him beginning to settle inside of her, and cupping him gingerly in the clumsy folds of her voluntary first-stomach, she tenderly began to knead at him, wanting to help wring every drop of cold from his tiny body.

She blinked at the Night Fury as he neared her curiously. He stood a ways off, and hesitantly reached with his snout to prod at the soft place where her neck entered her chest.

Toothless murmured softly. His Hiccup was in there. The Nadder clucked at him, self-consciously shuffling her wings and feet where she sat. Gently, he inched closer and pressed his forehead into her, his ears outstretched and trembling as they reached for vibrations.

Swimming in the delicious heat and darkness inside, relaxing sleepily into the gentleness of the Nadder’s hot, rhythmic caresses over his sore muscles, Hiccup gradually realized there was something prodding at him from outside— and finally heard his dragon’s curious, questioning little yawp float in to him through the thick hide.

Hiccup fumbled, pushing against whatever was pushing at him. “Bud,” he whined. “I’m all right. It’s pretty… hot in here— I’ll be okay now, but…” He pressed more insistently, “Astrid’s lost— you need to go find her, okay? Go find Astrid.”

He heard a soft grunt, which had a note of worry in it. Hiccup was helplessly sleepy, now, as the Nadder massaged him and cradled him gently, but he smiled, yawning, “Toothless, I’ll be okay. I’m going to sleep, now. You go get Astrid. Make sure she’s okay, all right?”

There was a soft affirmative, if reluctant, grunt, and the lump that was Toothless disappeared from Hiccup’s dark little world. Hiccup sighed, his now-hot blood gushing through him, making his flesh tingle numbingly. His body was sore and exhausted from the long ride in the cold. Now he was wonderfully, deliciously warm, his aches pulsing away with every beat of the Nadder’s heart, every tender caress of her impossibly soft insides. He curled up tight, and panting contentedly, his body, shocked from going so rapidly from nearly-frozen to bubbly-hot, quickly and quietly shut down, dragging him helplessly into a deep, unshakeable red sleep.

The Nadder crooned gently. This was so extraordinary. She felt a motherly thrill, feeling his tiny breaths puffing ticklishly against her wet inner walls as he snoozed, all cuddled up nice and cozy in the pit of her belly, too small and adorable to be her supper. He was like a tiny pile of limp fishes. Did he like it inside of her? Didn’t he miss his own dragon?

The Night Fury gave her a look, and a weak snarl, warning her not to hurt the little Viking boy. He backed away, staring in longing toward her chest, and finally spun away into the blizzardy grey, quickly disappearing beyond the curtain of snow.

The Nadder made low, worried noises to herself, hugging herself tight with her wings and feet. She was all alone now with the little Viking boy in her tummy, and it was her job to keep him safe no matter what. She wondered where her little Viking girl was. Wouldn’t she be awfully cold, too? She wasn’t quite as small and weak as the Night Fury’s Viking, but she was still quite small and weak.

The Night Fury could smell a warm animal even in the snow— he could smell hot blood over the clean rainy smell of ice, and feel the heat of a mammalian heartbeat in the hollows of his head. The girl-Viking’s footprints had long since vanished, and her scent had been blown all over by the wind, but he could still find patches of air where her essence had hung like a thick mist.

These he breathed and sipped on, trying to find that whisper of heat that would tell him she was near.

It was a long way out. She had become lost quickly and wandered aimlessly through the woods, looping back on herself, hesitating, falling in the deep snow, getting back up again. Toothless was worried she might’ve hurt herself, but he would’ve smelled that.

Finally he felt mammalian heat against his temples, smelling wet dead-deer hide and pine branches and tasting that subtly-more-acerbic-than-Hiccup female-human essence at the top of his panting mouth.

She was a little lump of human with an odd bunch of sticks piled up in a strap on her back, huddled up against a tree and trembling, her arms wrapped around herself. Toothless paced up to her with a small, inquisitive gurgle.

She hadn’t gotten quite as cold as Hiccup had yet. She was still vital and awake, though her teeth were bared in the chill. Her eyes brightened as she noticed Toothless, and she got to her feet with a grudging scowl, dusting off her jacket before shoving her hands back into her armpits and clumsily bounding toward him.

“I w-was only r-r-resting,” she grumbled.

Toothless licked her face politely. She was icy-cold.

She hissed and spat. “St-stupid dragon…”

Toothless let it slide this time. He lowered his head and paced around her, nudging her to entice her to climb onto his neck.

She tried. She really did. He felt her claws fumble ticklishly, trembling to grab onto his saddle, tugging weakly as she tried to heft herself up. Toothless finally ducked his head low for her, pushing himself underneath her and scooping her up.

She gasped, his neck hot and firm under her stomach. Toothless waited patiently as she clumsily flopped, finally getting her leg over to straddle him. She did not bother to sit up— she simply lay on her belly, wrapping her arms and legs tightly around and clinging to his throat.

Toothless swallowed uncomfortably, but he knew she was drinking in his hot. He just hoped she didn’t freeze in place like that. Even her tummy felt chilly.

It was a good thing he had found her quickly.

Toothless opened his senses to find traces of Hiccup and the Nadder, now, and whirled back into the woods, bounding as quickly as he could, but being careful not to shake the poor girl-human off.

Sometimes she would squeal as she slipped a little, and he’d have to stop and tilt his head to try to shake her back on. But mostly he went fast, his feet pounding quickly through the snow. It was so chilly that even his hot scale-wrapped dragon paws were beginning to burn now. He couldn’t wait to help the girl-human build her fire-keeper, so they could all be toasty.

It was so dark and snowy now that Toothless couldn’t use his eyes very well, and the snow was so dense and sound-absorbing that he couldn’t see with his ears very well either. He was used to navigating in pitch darkness, but he couldn’t remember ever moving around in a world quite this… DENSE. Luckily he had other senses to see with- but the little human must’ve been practically blind.

No wonder she had gotten lost.

Toothless moved a bit more slowly now, sniffing carefully, his auricles flared. He didn’t want to bump into trees.

It took him a bit longer coming back than it had going out, but soon he could smell sour sulfur in the air, and hear the Nadder make a low, soft sound in greeting.

Toothless’ heart twinged. She was being quiet because his Hiccup was fast asleep inside. Hiccup was being good, then, and not trying to hurt the Nadder, asking to be out.

He took a deep breath and gasped on a patch of snow near the Nadder, melting it down with careful fire. It took a few breaths, now that the snow was so deep, but soon he had made a decent-sized dry spot for the fire-keeper to go.

Toothless lowered his head and tipped the girl-human off his neck, nudging her impatiently. He knew she was cold, but if she built the fire-keeper quickly, none of them would be cold anymore. He wanted her to build it before the snow piled up again.

She was slow. For a while she only laid there and whined at him, swiping weakly at his nose. But finally, she sat up, and dropped her sticks, and began to lay the wood together with shaky hands. Toothless purred, watching interestedly. She was a good girl. It was weird how a human knew how to capture fire like that, even though they couldn't breathe it.

She shivered and went at it quietly for a while. Sometimes Toothless would try to help, picking up a stick, but she would scold him every time. He was a dragon and he wasn’t clever enough to know where all the pieces went right. The contraption was very neat and got bigger and bigger, and soon enough Toothless just watched her intently with his large eyes, waiting for her to tell him it was time to set it alight.

Suddenly, she stopped mid-motion and stiffened.

“W-wait…W-w-where’s Hiccup?”

She turned quickly to Toothless, just as he hastily looked away, ashamed.

“W-what-??” Astrid turned quickly to look at her own dragon. It’s difficult to tell exactly where a Deadly Nadder is staring, but she seemed quite stiff, her head quite upright and her eyes wide in an unsettling, vague, walleyed gaze.

“Hiccup— ?” Astrid called hopefully into the snowy waste around them. “H-Hiccup-?? A-re you… t-there?”

No answer. Just the soft shhhh of thousands and thousands of snowflakes falling in an empty forest.

Astrid stiffened.

“HIC-CUP— !” she wailed a bit louder, her voice taking on a shrill, anxious note.

No response at all.

Astrid realized that she was so cold she could barely stand to move, but she made to crawl toward Toothless. “W-where is h-he??” she asked again, more insistently.

Toothless would not answer her. Not looking her in the eye, he hesitated, then made a soft dismissive gurgle and nudged a stick next to her hand, urging her to continue building the fire.

She pushed it away impatiently. “W-why w-on’t y-you tell me?? W-where on e-earth is H-HICCUP? Y-your rider— ?” She struggled to crouch in the snow, thinking about standing, though the thought of this wind whipping through her again was almost unbearable now.

Toothless wouldn’t look at her. Neither would the Nadder.

“I-I’m not s-stupid!” she snarled, staring from dragon to dragon. “T-there’s something V-VERY w-wrong here.” She glared at Toothless. “H-he d-doesn’t j-just VANISH b-by turning sideways! S-spit it out right N-NOW!”

Toothless and the Nadder looked at each other nervously, the Night Fury defensively edging closer to his charge. The Nadder adjusted her tongue, shuffling her feet a bit closer to her chest. She didn’t want to spit the boy-thing out. It would wake him up, and he would quickly become cold and sick again. It was good and warm for him to stay inside right now. She shut her mouth tight and made a low gurgle.

Astrid’s eyes narrowed. There was something strange about the way the Nadder was sitting. Her feet were cupped oddly around her chest.

Astrid jerked to her feet, almost overbalancing on stiff cold legs, and stumbled toward her dragon to get a closer look. Toothless squawked in surprise, and the Nadder started, blinking down toward her chest, and then pleadingly back up at the Night Fury.

Toothless’ ears drooped helplessly, hesitating. What was he supposed to do? If he grabbed the girl-human and tried to drag her away, she would get angry. The girl-human would never finish building the fire-catcher for them if she was angry.

The Nadder, however, was more concerned with being found out, and waking the poor boy-Viking up. She didn’t want the girl to be mad at her and not like her anymore, but it was also important to keep the Night Fury’s boy safe and not startle him.

She didn’t want the girl to get too close to her chest. She twitched nervously as the girl-thing stumbled nearer and nearer. Soon she came up so close that the Nadder couldn’t stand it anymore— with a low hiss of warning, she raised one of her big feet.

“Stormfly— w-what— ?” Astrid put her hand gently on the big foot and made to push past. There was something different about the Nadder, but she couldn’t quite put her finger on it…

The Nadder clucked in surprise as the girl-human tried to push through, and with a thick growl, she gently but firmly squooshed the girl into the snow underneath her massive paw. She would not let the girl-thing come any closer.

The little female squealed unhappily, wriggling in the snow, trapped under that big heavy foot. Toothless edged closer, licking at her to try to calm her, but she only flung her tiny fists at his face.

Astrid struggled. Something was DEFINITELY wrong here. Really, really wrong. The Nadder didn’t want her near because— because— ?

It was her chest. That big paw cupped protectively around it, the wings pulled in nice and tight— Astrid could see that it seemed to be ever-so-slightly swollen in an odd sort of way…

The Deadly Nadder’s belly was full.

But what could she possibly have found to eat, here in this sort of weather…?

Astrid instantly became nauseous.

No....!

“…Y-y-you A-ATE HIM?? Y-you ATE H-HICCUP??”

The Nadder’s pupils narrowed nervously, and she stiffened, her tongue shifting in her mouth, making a low noise. Toothless darted in, pushing tenderly at Astrid’s cheeks with his snout, hastily trying to comfort her.

He let out a strangled snarl as she grabbed on to one of the sensors on his jaw and tugged.

“H-how c-could y-ou— ?!” Astrid howled, utterly horrified. “H-how could y-you let th-this happen?! Y-you’re supposed to p-protect him— you let h-her EA-EAT HIM??”

Why wasn’t Toothless concerned about this? Toothless had risked his own safety over and over to protect Hiccup before— why would he just let a hungry little Nadder kill his best friend now?

Toothless winced at the pain, but shook his head, staring with big eyes. She didn’t understand. The Nadder hadn’t torn poor Hiccup into pieces first. He hadn’t become her supper. She had gently and carefully swallowed him all in one bite, and lowered him down into her soft warm pillowy first- stomach, where it was good and safe and warm for him, and he was cozy and happy and sleeping, very much not-dead.

The little female didn’t understand that Toothless WAS protecting Hiccup this way, because it had been too cold for him outside.

“How— c-could you— ?” she screeched, as the thought that Hiccup was gone forever began to sink in. “No— ! H-how could y-you— ! No, no-n-no…!”

Toothless gurgled worriedly as her grip on his sensor loosened and dropped free. Immediately he ducked in again, nudging and licking gently at her face and shoulders, making soft rumbles in his throat in a desperate effort to console her.

But she wouldn’t be consoled. She howled and cried and wriggled helplessly under the Nadder’s foot, trying to claw at Toothless’ face and eyes.

Astrid’s body felt frozen, but she still fought to get free of the Nadder’s grip. Some impulsive, illogical part of her longed to press herself flat against the beast’s chest, to try to hack and claw her way through, to worry over the bony lump inside and listen, in hopes of feeling one twitch, hearing just one single bleat of frightened but intact life— not the quiet contented sloshings of successful, efficient, deadly digestion… stupid as it was, the idea of approaching a man-eating monster instead of running for the hills— somehow it seemed so important. She couldn't believe it. Her head was empty— all she knew was that surely Hiccup hadn’t quite vanished— his corpse was still there, in one form or another, so close, just inside that thickly scaled belly… He was probably only a lump of digesting torn-up meat and broken bones now, but everything he was and had ever been, everything him she had ever sort of cared about, was all buried THERE, jumbled and twisted there in such a terrible, inglorious grave.

Her face was alight with pain, her nose numb, her tears ripping into her cheeks— her entire body was stiff and burning, and though she felt like she was fighting hard, in reality she could manage little more than a weak wiggle, her lungs on fire as she began to pant more than she could cry out. It seemed like the air was too cold for her body to register— it wasn't long before all she could do was gasp and twitch underneath the Nadder’s big paw.

Soon Astrid had all but melted, shivering hard and clinging stiffly, unrelentingly, to the powerful talons. “W-what… w-what a-are you going t-to do to M-ME, then?” she croaked, tears frosting painfully on her face.

Toothless murmured, giving the Nadder a look. The girl-human was too cold now. Her strong little body had stopped working so well. They needed her to finish the fire-catcher quickly. Toothless didn’t know if she even could anymore, but they would have to try.

The Nadder lifted her foot and watched nervously as the Night Fury took her girl around the waist and picked her up. He turned with her to carry her off toward the fire-catcher.

Astrid yowled, distressed. Toothless’ mouth was SO HOT it hurt around her, and he was carrying her off, like a deer corpse.

Carrying her off…to eat her, too.

If the beasts had been desperately hungry enough to butcher Hiccup, who they adored, then she… all she was, was meat.

“N-no—!” she hissed, writhing as violently as she could.

(Continued)