"Son, you are coming with to get firewood this year." Stoick grumbled. A five year old Hiccup looked up at his father and smiled.
"Really?" He pressed.
"Really. Now, I know you have been looking forward to going into the forest and helping the men, but-" Stoick stopped as his small boy ran up and hugged him tightly.
"Thanks, dad." Stoick smiled at the young boy in his arms. Stoick packed a lunch and warm blankets in case they got stormed in. It was only the beginning of winter and all the ponds in the forest had already iced over.
When they were all ready to go. Stoick turned to his only son. "Stay close, don't go running off." Hiccup looked at his father with a confused look. "I know you, Hiccup." Then Hiccup nodded, understanding. But, secretly, he knew he had to find the trolls that had been hiding in the forest like Gobber said.
They left the Haddock home empty and cold. Following a group of men being sent up to get wood for fires during the winter to come. Hiccup looked around him at the taller men. Even the smallest men towered over him easily. Making him feel small and unwanted. He hurried to catch up with his father that had gotten ahead of him. Stoick looked down at his son and smiled warmly, trying to give him comfort.
After walking for almost an hour and Hiccup having to jog most of the way to keep up, they found the patch of trees they wanted for wood.
Stoick looked around at his men and ordered them to start cutting. He then found Hiccup and sat him on the stump of a tree that had already been cut and went off to help his men.
Hiccup watched the Vikings cut down the trees for a while. Then, he started to get bored. He stumbled of the tree stump and fell to the ground on his knees. He stood up, wobbled a bit then went off in the opposite direction of the men. What a good time to find that troll. He walked and walked, looking at the trees for signs of troll marks.
At last he decided to head back, when he looked behind himself, he realized that he had no idea where he was. He turned in a 360 degree circle many times, but couldn't find any clue that would lead him back to his father. Hiccup began to get scared. He worried he would never find his way back. He started running, not caring if the way he took was back to his father or not, he had to get out of the woods.
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"Look at that one! Haha, look at him run! Go skinny legs go! Haha!" Systems cried from Stars wrist band on her arm.
"Knock it off Systems. That's my Whitelighter." Star mumbled to him sharply. Systems beeped in reply. "Stupid, computer." Star grumbled. She watched as her Whitelighter ran through the trees without a second thought. She jumped from branch to branch to keep up.
"Haha, small, but quick." Systems commented. As Star nearly slipped from an iced branch. Star growled using her claws to grip the branch and pull herself up. "Why can't we just fly over the trees?" Systems complained.
"Because, we need to keep the boy in our sights. He's to small to see from that high." Star said, as she jumped a long distance and snapped out her wings to glide down to the next low branch.
"Well, he stopped moving now." Star yelped as she fell down into the soft layer of snow. She groaned as she pulled herself up over the bank.
"Would you warn me sooner next time?" She snapped, grumbling as she transformed into her human phase, shaking off the snow all over her. She shivered, realizing she had left her jacket back at the Haddock household. Systems let out a whimpering beep at the sudden loss of heated scales beneath him.
Star lifted her legs high trying to get above the sudden deep snow. "This is strange. There wasn't this much snow a few minutes ago......" Star mumbled while looking at the sky.
"Well, yeah, it snows this fast on Berk, doesn't it?" Star could only nod at System's comment. She was to focused on the boy in front of them. He was looking directly at her he green eyes full of tears. His auburn hair full of the newly fallen snow. He was trembling with his tiny arms wrapped around his body.
Star hesitated, but moved towards her WhiteLighter. The boy seemed to be frozen in place as Star moved forward. She stopped about 15 feet from him wondering why he hadn't moved. Then she realized, the boy was standing in the middle of a frozen lake.
"S-star....." Hiccup croaked.
"Systems, scan that ice, how thick is it?" A beam of light ran out of the silver band on Star's wrist lighting up the ice. As soon as the light was emitted, it was drawn back in.
"About, 1/2 and inch of ice is present." Hiccup let out a cry from his spot on the ice. Star looked back to the ice around her WhiteLighter and realized that there was now a large crack in the ice with water beginning to bubble out of it.
"Hiccup, listen and listen closely, I need you to carefully and slowly walk towards me." Star said slowly making sure he got her instructions. Hiccup nodded and slowly started his way forward. He let out a yelp and the ice cracked again. "Just keep coming, I can almost reach you." Star assured. Hiccup let out a scream and Star watched as her WhiteLighter was submerged in the icy water. "Hiccup!" Star croaked.
"We must retrieve him." Systems stated from her arm. Star nodded and transformed into her small gold dragon phase. She dashed across the ice where Hiccup had gone in and dove. The ice hit her like a stone being hurtled by a catapult. It was cold, she wasn't going to lie. If it hurt this bad with heated scales, she could only imagine what Hiccup was feeling.
She saw him sinking to the bottom of the pond, she used her wings and legs to propel herself downward, grasping the boy by the scruff of his coat. She pushed back up, Star broke the surface of the water and flapped her wings, dragging herself into the air. She landed on the ground with a thump and collapsed. Beside her Hiccup began to cough and spit up water.
Star transformed into a young girl again and hefted the boy to his feet. She turned her hands to fire. She ran her hands along his body, returning him to his normal temperature. She gasped in relief as he opened his eyes and gave her a wary smile. She smiled back and grabbed his hand pulling him back towards the other Vikings logging camp.
Star stopped, Hiccup looked up at her in confusion. She put her finger to her lips, hushing him. A branch snapped to their left and a small girl with long braided blond hair and piercing blue eyes stared back at them. Star sighed in relief.
"Would you take him back for me? I'm going to collect twigs to make a project I've been working on." It was a good lie, thought Star.
"Sure." Chirped the little girl. Star push Hiccup towards the girl and Hiccup turned back to look at Star for support. Star nodded and pushed him forward. Star watched the young Vikings all the way back to the Logging site. At one point, the young girl punched a hiccup so hard he fell over in the snow, Star couldn't help but laugh.
Watching as a light on System's band blinked on affirming that the young girl had become her WhiteLighter as well.
