HTTYD: Thor's Thunderbolt 3

Hiccup landed next to his home.  All the flying he'd done made him wonderfully tired and put him in a great mood.  The tips of his ears and his nose were sunburned almost black; the dark skies where he and Toothless flew had some intense sunlight.  Food and a beautiful girl were the only things on his mind; maybe it was the intense workout on all the muscles in his body, but he really ached for Astrid.

  "Maybe she's in the Great Hall."

Being indoors was no longer something he looked forward to. The warm air and the view felt constricting.  He longed to be up in the sky with its limitless views, way above everything and everyone.

"Hiccup…" boomed Stoick as soon as his son entered the Great Hall, "I still need your narrative for the Sagas."

Hiccup hesitated at the door, but felt it was too late to escape the constant requests to write down his adventures.  His father gave so much importance to them, but didn't seem to understand that there was nothing out of the ordinary about them.

"I really need to get some food in me, dad…" Hiccup hoped against hope that Stoick would let him do this some other time; "and I was really just looking for someone… who doesn't seem to be here—" he said with disappointment clearly marked in his face as he scanned the Hall and Astrid was not in it.  "Besides… I don't really think there's much that I'm doing that's worthy to write about."

Stoick's smile was made invisible by his Viking mustache.  He put his massive hand upon his son's shoulder and walked him toward a table with a view of the sky above.  "Why don't you let Me decide what's worthy and what is not?" He motioned for some food to be brought to his son then made himself comfortable caressing a mug of mead in his hands. "Just give me a few quick details, and I'll see if it's worthy of the Scribener."  Stoick gave Hiccup a look that meant he was going to get his will. "Just start by telling me how you discovered you could make the thunderclap?"

Hiccup was crestfallen, "How…how did you know about this?"  He said hesitatingly.  Discretion was how he lived his life, and he had been so careful about not letting anyone know.  "Astrid?" he thought.  

Stoick smiled again, "Well I didn't know, really… until just now—but before you lose trust in any of your friends, know that there were independent witnesses… why else do you think we want to put it in the Sagas?"

"Dad…there isn't much to say—really." Hiccup honestly didn't see what the fuss was all about.  "Just a whole lotta' wind—I never really heard any thunderclap."

Stoick just gave his son that look again.  Hiccup sighed and resigned himself to the fact that he wouldn't be able to go find Astrid until he told his father something.  He racked his brains for something to tell his dad, but all he had were his usual observations, and those made for a very boring tale.  He thought of how he had ended up piercing the sky above Berk.

*********

Hiccup loved playing this hiding game with Astrid; she couldn't figure out how he always beat her.  She and BlueFire were circling high above Berk, listening and looking around; searching the clear sky, knowing that Hiccup and Toothless could not evade them much longer.  Hiccup chuckled and gazed down at his dream girl trying to find him.  Astrid was a truly skilled flyer and he knew she liked him a lot, but she had no idea how wily Hiccup could be.

The winds were constant and strong, so Toothless did not have to flap his wings to stay aloft; they were engaged in an almost silent gliding.  Hiccup and Toothless instinctively kept themselves between the sun and Astrid and BlueFire, matching the blue dragon's path to perfection.  The Night Fury was in its element up here, thousands of spans above the other dragons, feeling the cold, strong currents and enjoying the thinner, purer air wash through its air chambers. This was exhilarating to the young Viking.  He could not even tell how high he was flying anymore; all reference points were getting smaller and smaller.  And every time Astrid looked up, all she saw was the brilliant Nordic sun.

Hiding from Astrid was fun, for the moment, so Hiccup didn't' notice that the winds that had felt like a trickle moments earlier, started feeling like strong maritime tides.  Astrid and BlueFire started to look smaller and smaller, so Hiccup just assumed they were going to lower altitudes.  It was the sinking feeling in his gut that told him they were ascending rapidly up into the sky.

The river of wind turned suddenly into an ocean of wind. Hiccup and Toothless careened in all directions looking for a leading edge or something to tell them the way out, but there was no maneuvering out of it at all.  The strength of the invisible tide was magnificent.  Toothless didn't seem to be spooked by it, however, so Hiccup tried his best to let go of his rising anxiety.  He kept heading into the wind and started to observe this new experience, allowing the dragon to climb the strong currents.

The winds buffeted them from the North instead of the West.  It felt colder than their usual Viking weather, and it was way drier than he had expected out of a North wind.  "But it's late Spring on Berk," he mused, "these winds probably only blow this high and never touch down…" He thought he was getting a handle on the situation when he also felt a strong current coming from the South hitting his Stern that was getting stronger and stronger.  "I really don't know what's going on anymore;" the anxiety that had only left him temporarily was mounting.

Suddenly, they found themselves being driven up, higher and higher into the sky.  The sky was free of clouds and yet Hiccup felt he was getting drenched in what were previously dry winds. Hiccup kept himself calm by making quick observations as to what was occurring: winds from the north and from the south were clashing at this altitude and were pushing them so high, he had lost track of Astrid a long time ago.

Toothless was restless and kept looking up at its friend.  "Alright already… I know you're not scared of this wind," said Hiccup, gathering up the last of his courage.  He adjusted the stirrups and gave Toothless his freedom to fly where it wanted: Toothless chose Up into the infinite sky.  

The magnificent upward wind was not like the thermals Hiccup had felt before; this wind had mass and helped them go up at an amazing rate of speed.  Hiccup could not tell at all how fast they were going up, since there were hardly any clouds up here, but he had a brand new sensation of easy, fluid speed.  The knot in his stomach disappeared in his exhilaration.  This was truly amazing flying.

Hiccup was out of breath and his heart was jumping out of his chest.  "You need to relax," he told himself as he looked down on the world below.  The island of Berk was now a small green, grey and white blob in the middle of deep grey/blue waters.  He could distinctly make out the neighboring islands; they looked closer than ever.  Looking at the horizon, he could make out a great massive green land to the west, and what looked like big islands to the south.  The ocean was dotted with numerous small islands like his own home.  Hiccup paid particular attention to their location.  The current that had pushed them started waning.  The horizon looked more curved than he had ever seen it.  Hiccup felt his breathing more and more labored.

The winds had ceased completely but Toothless was still climbing with ease.  In fact, there were no winds up here at all!  The air was cold beyond belief, but it was so quiet and stable.  The sky had turned darker but the sun stung with greater ferocity.  Toothless was just climbing higher and higher; its body seemed to be buoyed and driven to go faster and faster.  

This was the last thing Hiccup remembered, because his heart started racing and his chest was convulsing on its own.  Hiccup felt no fear or anxiety; he felt nothing at all.  The pressure that had been building all along inside of his head and chest became overwhelming; he lost his hearing, then everything turned black.

********

"When I woke up, Toothless and I were falling faster than ever before," Hiccup continued.  "I really didn't know just how fast until we passed Astrid and BlueFire.  It was she who told me we made the thunderclap..."

"Yeah, We know that part already," interrupted Stoick, "We also took a look at that airbladder of yours.  We gather you use it because there's not enough air when you go that high?"

Hiccup felt betrayed, "I thought you said there were independent witnesses?" He felt pain from his stomach to his throat.  Who else was Astrid talking to?

"Hiccup… the witnesses saw her sitting on top of WhiteFang watching you do that diving thing of yours over the next few days.  That makes her a witness too.  So of course she was also questioned ."  He tried to reassure his son.  "The witnesses were those young friends of yours.  They were flying nearby… you almost knocked them off their dragons with that thunder concussion you made next to them."  He wondered what he'd have to tell their parents if Hiccup had caused their demise.

Hiccup felt some relief at hearing that Astrid did not volunteer information, but had been summoned.  Then he felt guilty: he'd been spending too much time having wonderful fun exploring the dark skies over the past few days, and she had been patiently waiting and watching him.  He felt an overwhelming desire to go out and find her.  "Listen dad, I should really get going, so, are we done here?"

"Almost." Stoick saw the mounting impatience in his son.  "We'd like to take a look at that airbladder of yours.  We like what you've done, and would like to see if there are other applications."  "Also…" he held his son, who wanted to just bolt out the door, "you need to guard your skin when you're up there," he said pointing to Hiccup's blackened nose and ear tips, "our ancestors used to wear metal masks to protect themselves…"  Stoick mentioned as he got up and left.  He gave a last knowing look at Hiccup, who was now running out the door.  Stoick's heart was smiling and the pride in him was uncontainable… according to the Sagas, high adventure and a restless spirit was one of the tell-tale signs of the true Viking hero.