Saving You

Chapter 5

"No, no, no, no, NO!" Hiccup yelled, as he and Astrid zoomed towards the great hall. The entire building was engulfed with flames, which radiated enough smoke to fill the entire archipelago.
"Hiccup," Astrid stated, worriedly, and the two dragons stopped momentarily, hovering directly outside the array of ash. "We'll never be able to fly through that smoke!"
"Well, we have to try." Hiccup pushed Toothless forward, flying at lightning speed through the cloud. After a moment's hesitation, Astrid followed. Although she was unable to find him in amongst the ash, she pushed forward, knowing exactly where he was headed. She could only hope he was ok.
As she strained onwards, she began to notice rubble flying through the air, racing at 100mph, not stopping for anyone. The first few piece of rock were easily dodged, but the massive chunk of wood rapidly flying towards her was not.
"Stormfly, spine-shot!" She yelled just in the nick of time, as the wood splintered and split in half directly before it hit her.
"Phew," she said, leaning forward to stoke the deadly Nadder. "That was close, girl," she shuddered. "...Probably too close for my liking if I'm being honest.." Astrid sat up straight again, ready to regain speed to help Hiccup and the rest of the village, but before she could, a large piece of rock flew forward and whacked Stormfly. The two separated, and began plummeting downwards.
"Aaah!" Astrid yelled, in the hopes that Hiccup could hear her over the blaze, but before she had a chance to even finish her shout, she hit the ground, and everything went black.
...
Hiccup raced forward, dodging the rocks and rubble as he went.
"Nice flying, bud." Hiccup said, nervous undertones still filling his voice. For all he knew, the rest of his tribe could be dead, along with all the traders for miles, meaning other islands will need to suffer. Dead. Just like his dad. Dead. All because he, the chief, let an intruder onto the island. Stop thinking like this, he said to himself. Just focus on getting to the great hall and doing your bit. The smoke was beginning to get thicker now, making Hiccup sure that he was nearing the destruction. As he landed in front of what once was the regal centre point on Berk, it became apparent to him just how devastating it was. Vikings crowded outside of it, murmuring to themselves, trying to find out if everyone is ok.
"Mum!" Hiccup yelled, as he spotted Valka climbing on top of Cloudjumper, the other dragon riders mounting up too.
"Hiccup! You're alright!" Valka exclaimed, jumping off of her dragon once again and running towards her son.
"Yes- is everyone else?"
"There are still a few people inside. Hiccup," Valka added, before her son ran off once more. "Where's Astrid?" That caught Hiccup's attention. He whipped his head around to face his mother, an anxious look on his face.
"I don't know.. she was flying right behind me! Why is she not here? Is she ok? Did something happen?" Hiccup began nervous rambling, something he did a lot these days
"I'm sure she's ok, son." Valka said, although doubt filled her voice. Filled with anxiety, and anger at himself, he started to shout commands at the riders.
"Fishlegs, Ruff, Tuff, go and look for Astrid. She's to to be somewhere in amongst the ash. Snotlout, mum, you stay here with me." Snotlout opened his mouth to make a remark about him being so bossy, but bit it back, not wanting to cause any more trouble. The riders nodded in return and set off to their posts. Hiccup turned to face those who remained with him.
"What are you going to do?" Snotlout asked his cousin, for once with no undermining tone.
"Go in there and help them." Hiccup nodded towards the blaze.
"You can't!" Valka cried. "It's too dangerous!"
"Someone needs to and as chief, it might as well be me." Before accepting anymore objections, Hiccup ran towards the blaze, leaving the pair standing, calling after him and Toothless frantically pacing around them.
...
Inside of the hall was roasting, as you would imagine if the building was on fire. Hiccup could feel himself sweating as he wiped his brow and ran onwards. All around him, he could see debris and flames, engulfing what was once the main feature of his home village. Anger bubbling up from inside is chest powered him onwards through the flames.
"Hiccup! Chief!" He heard a Berkian shout. He raced towards the noise to find a woman, cradling her baby.
"Follow me." Hiccup said calmly, the frustration extinguishing and he returned back to his normal selfless, kind self. He led the woman out of the building, dodging any hazards as he did so. After safely handing the Viking to Valka and Snotlout, he sprinted back into the hall, determination fuelling him on, not even stopping to let out a small cough as the smoke began to enter his lungs.
...
Within 5 minutes, Hiccup had everyone out, and he stood beside his cousin, mother and fellow Vikings as he gazed into the explosion, his clothes ragged and torn from the fire, and his chest ponding from the smoke. . Everyone around him was helping one another, tending to injuries and burns, and discussing possible sources of the fire.
"Are you okay, son?" Valka asked Hiccup, who hadn't broke glance with the flames in a few minutes. He didn't reply.
"Hiccup?" Snotlout added, a tone of worry in his voice for once in is life, to no answer once more.
There's something there, Hiccup thought. I can hear it. Dull though the noise was, Hiccup was in a trance by it, not focusing on anything around him. Just then,he all heard it. They all heard it. An ear-piercing scream splitting through the burning walls of the great hall. Without a second thought, he darted towards, and into the fire once more.
"NO!" "Hiccup!" Hiccup heard the worried shouts of his family members, alongside the nervous screeches of Toothless, but he ignored them. Someone is in there. Someone who needs his help. He scanned all around him staring up at the ceiling momentarily as he did so, noticing what state it is in. That could cave in at any minute, his thoughts raced once again. I have to save them. I have to get out of here! Unable to hold it in any longer, Hiccup started to cough, until he found that he couldn't stop. The ash penetrated his lungs, drying up his air supply almost completely. Glancing round once more, he spotted a trader, a large rock lying on his right leg. He too was spluttering, except blood was coming up with it now.
"It's... going... to... be... okay..." Hiccup choked out between coughs. He gently rolled the brick off of the trader's leg, and the man let out a large groan as he did so. Knowing that they couldn't really stay there a moment longer, Hiccup hauled the man into his arms. He was heavy, although that was the least of Hiccup's worries at that moment in time. He could feel himself growing weak from the smoke, but pushed on, coughing through the pain.
He was approaching the door now. In just a minute now, we will be out of this, he thought, until his worse nightmare came true. He heard the creaking of the roof. We can make it, he thought. We can make it... we can make it... I can't make it! Knowing what was coming, Hiccup reached the door and threw out the man, in just enough time to choke out;
"Toothless, catch." He heard the breaking of the beam, and the crashing noise as it began to fall. Everything began to move as if in slow motion.
"HICCUP NO!" He heard Valka exclaim.
"HICCUP!"
Before he had time for anything else, he heard the 'whoosh' as Toohless swooped in, catching the man, And failing at his attempt to lunge and grab his rider.
The roof collapsed, taking him down with it.
Hiccup lay there, motionless.