úlfheðnar, httyd

xxxiv. Stoick's Ship

𖣯 ✹ 🌷(úlfheðnar) ꏍ ！┈─❟
╰───►chapter thirty-four; hiccup
❝ stoick's ship! ❞

    HICCUP heard a ringing in his ear; it made everything around him so distant━like he was drifting on a long lost ocean and watching the island get smaller and smaller, quieter and quieter ... his limbs ached━his side hurt from where he hit the ice, pushed aside before he even got the chance to even think. The snow was cold under his fingers, but there was a chill to him that was worse than the ice. Like he should be remembering something, but his mind was so muddled, Hiccup was falling behind, unable to catch up. He felt winded━his breaths ragged and short, but he forced himself to think. What happened? He was standing in front of Toothless, and he was about to fire, and then his dad━

    Part of him jolted. He looked up and back over, heart starting to race as he remembered━and he was suddenly swallowed by that water, the raft he floated away on ducking under with no chance of resurfacing.

     He saw his father; covered in shards of ice on his side. He wasn't moving. His helmet was askew, and his eyes were closed━Hiccup waited for a moment, ready for him to get back up and fix his helmet as he always did, but he didn't. He lied there very still━too still.

      "No," Hiccup breathed, shaking his head. For a moment, he was frozen, unable to take his eyes off the way his father lay━it was unnatural; it wasn't right. His father was never meant to lie so still. "N━no."

     There was another jolt to his system, and Hiccup forgot all about the battle. He forgot about Drago, and the Bewilderbeast, and even Toothless━his eyes tunnelled and all he could see was his father. Stoick the Vast━a man who popped off a baby Nadder's head clean from its shoulders, who cracked a boulder open with his skull when he was just a child. His tall, invincible father━

      Hiccup scrambled to his feet, almost slipping on the ice. "No," He croaked again, finding it hard to speak as his throat seemed to close up. He raced to his father. Perhaps he just needed help. Perhaps he just needed to be shaken awake━how could he get up with that ice keeping him down? Yes, that was it. Of course, that was it.

      He fell to his knees at Stoick's side, hands trembling as he pulled off the shards of ice. Hiccup felt sick━he felt worse than sick. "Come on, come on━" he pushed off the final piece of ice, revealing a grey tone to his father's usual red cheeks. "Wake up," he begged, shaking him a little. "Dad."

      This wasn't working. Hiccup knew what had happened━he knew it deep into his bones, and it made him frantic. He grasped his father's huge arm with his tiny hands, barely able to reach on his knees. "Dad!" He cried, pulling with all his might. He wasn't strong enough. Even now, Hiccup couldn't grab him, he couldn't heave him towards him━Hiccup yelled in his frustration, desperately trying to muster the strength to just see his father's face. To just see that he was all right━he had to be all right. 

      But he couldn't━he couldn't━

     Hiccup fell back, hitting the ice. He sat there, in a daze for a second. He remembered the days he was little, reaching up to try and wake his father before sunrise so they could go looking for trolls. He hadn't been strong enough then, and he wasn't strong enough now. But even then, his father had opened his eyes, and he was annoyed, but never when his son looked at him with wide eyes. And he'd smile and tell him, all right, let's go, yeh wee lad. 

      He didn't do that now. 

      Hiccup tried again. He was growing worse and worse. He could barely see━his eyes blurred with tears he forced back. His words cracked in the back of his throat. "DAD!"