Buckle up and get the popcorn! This one is going to be an extra-long adventure!

This is an au of the 'Iced Out' episode where Cutter doesn't save Aggro in time

A cold wind seared along Cutter's wings as he dove over the icy waterfall. A freezing water spray was thrown up in his face as he plummeted.

'If I can just get close enough to fire...' He thought as he squinted through the frigid mist down after the falling Fire Fury.

Warmth swirled up in his chest and he prepared to let out a burst of fire, one last desperate attempt to save Aggro. He hoped with all his heart that it would work as he let out a large stream of flame downward.

Hisssss

The fire sizzled against ripples of water and he realized with horror that he'd been too late and Aggro was already beneath the frozen waves. His heart lurched and a dark cloud spread over his mind.

'I can't lose her!' The feeling of heartache swept through. He hadn't known Aggro for very long but his feelings for her stretched to the moon.

Against his better judgment and his instincts, he squeezed his eyes shut, tucked in his wings and dove in after her.

His world blacked as he was nearly shocked out of consciousness by the subzero temperature of the river. Numb, painful feelings highlighted every part of his body. He forced his eyes to open and saw nothing but blurry, dark water.

He flapped his wings, determined to try to find the surface as his breath gave way. His head burst out of the water, and for a moment he could see the deep star-flecked night sky, before he plunged back in, determined to find Aggro.

After several rounds of dunking his head up and back down, completely disoriented and not knowing where the river was taking him, he finally noticed a patch of ruby red scales caught between two ice chunks.

'It must be her!'

He tried rapidly to swim deeper in that direction, but his sharp spikes were no use for swimming, and he felt he was being pulled the opposite way. Still Cutter tried, and at last he caught onto floating surface ice, worked frostbitten legs up onto it, and now could jump right to where he saw her.

Another cold splash and he saw what was happening. It seemed Aggro had grabbed a floating ice chunk, only for the ice to get lodged into the steep drop sides of the ice river, tipping below and forcing the Fire Fury just underneath the water.

He rushed over to her, and crammed his sharp claws into the edges of the ice that was encasing her. While he was doing that he was also furiously looking over at her face to make sure she was still conscious.

His heart broke as he realized her eyes were unfocused and staring off into the distance, only when it seemed she came into some sort of a right mind and noticed him that his hope was restored.

Aggro's eyes widened when she saw him, and she seemed to come back to life. She started struggling again, barely, as he clawed at the ice.

With all that he had left Cutter moved his tail and stabbed his large tail spike into the ice, wedging the ice clear of her.

But just as that happened the entire ice chunk came loose, it lurched back up, smacking Cutter square in the nose.

It didn't deter him though, no matter the pain, he reached over and grabbed Aggro, helping her get back up. The two breathless dragons broke the water's surface, gasping for air.

Cutter struggled to swim, Aggro's weight was bearing down on him. They couldn't last much longer in the freezing water. He looked around wearily for something to grab onto or climb out on. Then he noticed something not above, but beneath the water.

He looked down, used his super vision to peer through the water and see... a cave. A cave cutout of ice underneath the water, a glow came from it, and it appeared there was a breathing hole under it.

He made up his mind, it was either stay constantly trying to keep your head above the water in a river with steep sides and no exits... Or go into a water-currentless underwater cave where you can have a chance to breathe.

"Aggro," Cutter mumbled, getting icy water in his mouth, "Follow me."

He couldn't tell if she heard him, but dived back into the water anyway. The cave glowed brighter as he swam into it, Aggro in tow. He burst up into the air pocket and blinked the ice droplets from his eyes. He realized that the icy river bottom sloped into a snowy bank within the shadowy cave. The snow gave way to a rocky shore and an ice tunnel stretched out.

Cutter breathed a sigh of relief and swam up to it, straining himself out of the water and collapsed on the bank, frozen pebbles meeting his scales.

Aggro groaned beside him, closing her eyes slowly. He wanted to put a wing around her to check how cold she was, but he couldn't find the energy to. He still felt like he was in the icy water, frostbite devouring his strength.

His vision swam with black spots and he felt hai eyes closing, slowly, into a deep dark abyss...

Aggro woke unable to move. She blinked several times, but all she could see was white. Her limbs felt frozen solid, and she tried desperately to heat up her scales, but she felt no warmth at all.

She was still hazy on the memory. All she remembered was icy numbness and... Cutter?

She jerked, suddenly feeling her limbs. She blinked up, raising her head. Frostbitten gravel surrounded her and the sound of rushing water was behind her.

"Ergh..." She struggled up, only to fall to the side, numbing against something spiky.

Aggro turned her head to look at what she'd fallen onto.

"Cutter?" She gasped, surprised as she looked at the motionless, frosty Razorwing.

There was no response.

She crawled over and poked him with her claw. When the first time issued no reply, she prodded him again and again.

"Cutter..." Aggro gritted her teeth, "Wake up!"

Suddenly the Razorwing's eyes opened, staring ahead blankly. He then dragged his head to the side, where his eyes widened when he saw her.

"Aggro?" He muttered, moving his wings.

She nudged him with her nose horn.

"Are you ok?" Cutter blinked rapidly, shifting his claws as if trying to find his footing.

"Where are we?" She coughed, ignoring the question. Her limbs felt like popsicles and by the time she got up she could hardly feel herself standing.

"In an underwater cave I think."

"How-How did we get here. What even happened?" Aggro looked around the cave rapidly, the pebbly shore gave away to snow and the walls looked to be blank white, ice-cut, and covered in frost. A tunnel stretched away ahead, a warm glow coming from it, the only source of light at all.

"You fell in the water so I-" Cutter broke off into a coughing fit, before regaining his voice, "So I... dove in after you. To... rescue you."

There was a pause and Aggro was speechless.

'For ME? He jumped into a frozen river for ME?'

If Aggro still had her flame, she'd be heating up bright red and hot.

"Listen, this was the best place I could take you before drowning." Cutter crawled up to his claws. He took a step forward, stumbled a bit before stretching out all legs to balance himself.

"Ow, walking hurts." He gritted his teeth.

"I know- ugh." Aggro agreed but turned away from him, she didn't want him to see her blushing. If he could even tell blushing from her red scales.

Suddenly his shoulder pressed against hers, and he said, "Well your legs look more like popsicles than mine, so, uh, lean on me."

She happily obliged and the two dragons leaned heavily on eachother.

"We need to find a way out." She shivered. Now that she was up her limbs were slowly regaining feeling back, but that also meant frostbitten pain and cold was back too.

"Let's try this glowy tunnel." He started walking forward and Aggro matched his steps.

The snow crunched beneath their claws as they left the gravel and strode, shivering and slow, into the tunnel.

The source of the light was not up front, it seemed to lie behind every twist and turn of the windy tunnel they walked, but never showed itself. She realized slowly the light was glowing brighter, illuminating the snow.

But as the glow grew so did the cold. She couldn't tell if they were going deeper or not, her senses were all clogged up.

'Will we ever get out of here?'

She thought and once that possibility presented itself, a hole opened in her chest. There was a chance they could be wandering forever till their both ice statues.

All she could feel was the cold, the snow, Cutter beside her, and the horror of impending death.

There was nothing else to lose now so...

She turned her head over and buried her head in Cutter's shoulder as the frostbite creeped along her wings. He seemed to pause and hesitate for a second before continuing going along. His presence calmed her, and she felt her heart lift.

'What am I thinking? Of course we'll get out of here. Both of us... together...' Now she felt embarrassed for so boldly resting her head on his shoulder.

She held her breath and wondered if he would say anything about it, but he didn't make a word.

Not until they walked into an opening in the ice tunnels.

"There! I think that's the light." Cutter exclaimed and she moved her head over to look.

In the middle of the cavern lay a... a fire? Of all the bizarre things that could have been in an ice cave it was this?

The fire seemed to be coming from a bright illuminating cracked hole in the ground, flames licking over the edges and smoke slowly seeping out. The light was so bright she had to squint and she understood why it reached so far.

"What is...?" Cutter slowly inched forward with Aggro, and they both peered into the hole. All that could be seen though was an orange-yellow glow and long flames.

"Who cares... it's warm." She tilted her head and let the heat seep into her. She lay down back on the ground in front of the hole and stretched out her wings and legs to the fire.

Cutter looked around hesitantly before joining her.

"This is weird..." He sniffed the edge of the hole.

"Cutter, right now you shouldn't care if it's weird." She dismissed his worries.

He still looked unsure and leaned in against her. She crawled a little close to the fire and let the flames tickle her nose.

"We need to rest anyway." She murmured, not having a care in the world at that point.

Yet even so she looked down at the hole every so often to check if anything had changed. It wouldn't hurt to make sure nothing else was enjoying the fire with them.

Cutter fell silent, he still frowned and looked around suspiciously. Everytime he looked at the fire hole he got even more restless.

"What is it?" She finally asked.

"I'm just worried about you, you know- uhm. It's just... you still look really cold and... and honestly this hole is freaking creepy. I thought I saw a pair of eyes down there." He explained, eyes still darting around.

She blushed again, "Cutter..." She scooted over to him more.

"Hmph." He remained ignorant.

He took one more glance around before reaching over and pulling her close tight to his chest very protectively. He then wrapped his tail and wings around her, making her heart skip. His eyes still shifted suspiciously from side to side.

Aggro relished this moment, she suddenly felt that much warmer.

A little... too warm than it should be. At first she didn't notice it, then she realized there was something hot radiating from her back. She adjusted herself before realizing that the warmth was coming from Cutter's chest.

"Cutter? Did you get your flame back?" She asked.

He was staring into the hole, and, without taking his eyes off the pit, answered, "I'm not su-"

Then he jumped up, startled. Aggro got to her claws quickly, alert as to what was the cause of his sudden surprise.

"I told you. I- There were eyes flashing down there! I knew it." He exclaimed, then, before she could question him he dove, recklessly, down into the hole.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" She roared.

She slid to the edge where she could just glimpse Cutter's tail disappearing into the glow. She gulped, gritting her teeth and jumped in after him.

She gasped as the flames stretched over her scales, filling her with a new warmth. Her senses came alive and her foggy iced mind cleared. As she dove through the frozen hole, she briefly questioned how cold she must have been to accept the holefire's presence with no hesitation. It didn't linger in her thoughts long as an opening to the hole filled with golden light and fire appeared below her rapidly.

She stretched out her wings, only to find that they were still half numb and hadn't fully soaked in the fire's heat. She yelped as she plummeted into the bright light.

"Oomph!" She fell onto something soft and squishy and hot.

Aggro got up fast and looked around.

What she landed on seemed to be like a nest, made of interloping flaps of frost-logged hay and snow. The edges of the nest were lit up in forever flames, golden orange vents just outside the nest blowing lightly the flames, and also somehow bending the light into the hole above.

She peered over the flames, and the weird nest seemed to be in another icy tunnel, but this one was huge, and looked like it's been carved unevenly by some giant dragon digging it slowly.

There was no one anywhere in sight.

She then realized that no one included Cutter too..

"Cutter? Cutter, where are you?" She shouted, circling.

"Got you!" A voice sounded triumphantly up ahead. She looked to her right at the tunnel, which seemed to have taken a sharp turn.

She leaped through the fire, fell onto the hard ice ground and ran through the tunnel. She rounded the corner as quick as her aching legs could, feeling her normal, spitfire Aggro-self return.

She skidded out from the turn, hissing only to see not much of a threat left.

Cowering against a dip in the wall of the tunnel, Cutter blocking off the exit, was an entirely new dragon...?

If only Leyla were here to identify what was before them.

It was similarly sized to a baby Ramblefang, and looked to be very very young too. Not quite a baby but still younger than Aggro. It had four legs with small wings that folded like a sail behind it's back. Its tail was studded with large thick scales and it's head was like a Foreverhorns', but rounder and more rock-like features.

It's scales were a light gray and silver with golden or bronze highlights. The big round eyes and the curved horns twisting behind it's head was a contrasting black however.

"Don't hurt me." The dragon said in a female voice.
"Why were you spying on us?" Cutter demanded.

"Yeah, why were you?" Aggro bounded over to him.

He jumped, as if surprised she was all of a sudden here, "Oh- hi Aggro."

"Hey dummy, did you think I'd just let you jump into a random hole all by yourself and get away with it?" She frowned at him.
"Woah woah, can I have quiet, cuddly Aggro back please?" Cutter made a weird facial expression.

"Hey!" She retorted.

The she-dragon spoke up, "Can I go please." She whimpered, looking very scared, even though with her completely black eyes it was hard to fully tell her true emotions.

"No, why did you look at us?" Cutter turned back to her.
"I was just really curious, just really confused. I've never seen dragons like you before." She muttered, "Why do you look so different from me? And why do you look and sound old but you're so small? What kind of disrupter are you?"

"Disrupter?" Aggro asked.

"Tectonic Disrupters. Don't you know what you are?" She responded.

"Tectonic what? There are other dragons than whatever a tectonic thingy is that you are. How long have you been in this cave?" Cutter wrinkled his nose.

The Tectonic dragon blinked in confusion, "What other caves or dragons are there? I have been here since I was hatched, I didn't leave like my siblings. When I burrowed up directly from my nest I came back down... Father doesn't seem to think it's normal. He tells me all Tectonic Disrupters are supposed to leave their parent early and go off burrowing."

"Sad story, anyway, we need a way out of here. Can you tell me where your siblings' burrows are? And if your father can help us?" Aggro leaned in.

"Uhm, ok, sure. Father will know what to do with you two weird Disrupters." She sidled away from Cutter and them and started walking through the tunnel.
"Were not-" Cutter stopped himself and sighed, he turned to Aggro, "Did you hear that? Were so deep we met an entirely closed off species of dragon! This is really bad, but at least it'll be interesting for Leyla to hear..."

"You're sure we'll get out?" Aggro asked him.

He looked at her with an unreadable expression, "Of course... don't you think so?" He suddenly looked awkward and she didn't know why until she felt his tail twine around hers. She didn't pull away and let it last for a while before hurrying to catch up with the unnamed Disrupter.

"What's your name anyway?" Cutter ventured.

"I am called Pangea." She did not look back, her spotty scales seemed to be prickling with nervousness. Aggro wondered how it felt only knowing an icy tunnel, your siblings long gone, and what your father tells you.

"I'm Cutter and this is Aggro." Cutter said slowly, his eyes were narrowing and she recognised that was his sign for thinking hard or getting suspicious about something. His wariness seemed to have only slowed down for a couple minutes.

"This father of hers might be dangerous." He side-whispered to her.

"I know..." She responded.

Suddenly a scraping sound drifted from the oversized tunnels. The munching and breaking of ice came along with it every now and again. Suddenly a large tail encrusted with diamond-like growths loomed from a turn in the tunnel.

Slowly they rounded it to reveal the dragon attached to the tail. Cutter raised a wing to shield Aggro automatically.

The dragon was colossal, way bigger than Grumblegard version of Pangea. The giant dragon was eating away at raw ice, wide jaws full of strong, short teeth slicing through the frozen crust.

His legs were strong and thick, colored a dusty brown and gray. Large spikes ran along his back and onto his tail, and there were several sets of horns on his head and even reaching down to his forearms.

Several quills that slid out of the neck and shoulders from little holes shifted and twitched. They suddenly pointed in the three newcomers' direction and the big Tectonic Disrupter paused.

He opened his eyes to reveal pitch black with only a white pupil slowly moving over to see them. The massive dragon turned and looked down at them, eyes widening slightly. He didn't look aggressive, just... confused. Was he also raised to be unaware of the surface world?

A low growl still escaped from Aggro's throat. Cutter stood protectively close to her, baring his teeth, spikes bristling. She stood confidently with him, nothing could go wrong when they were together.

"What is a Fire Fury and a Razor-whats-it doing all the way down here?" His voice was like a rumbly breeze rustling through ancient oak trees.

She was surprised, it turned out he did have some knowledge of the outside. Strangely accurate knowledge for some dragon who looks like they've been suited for solely below ground living.

"They came from my hole, Father." Pangea looked up at him with her big pupiless eyes.

"We need help getting out of here." Cutter said slowly and skeptically, there was an edge to his voice.

The father let out a low chuckle, "Of course you do. How have you not frozen yet? Do not worry, I will not eat you. I cannot digest living flesh."
"Uh... are we supposed to be thankful for that?" Aggro raised an eyebrow.

"It is a fact. I just said that because whenever I meet another dragon they all think I will eat them." The father's eyes showed no intent of ill-will, "My name is Mantle. I am a Tectonic Disrupter, I live very far below the surface. Usually I'd be surrounded by lava or ice right now but I dig tunnels for my partner's eggs. A shame she isn't here right now." His eye twitched, just once, just one hint of sadness.

Pangea spoke directly after, "Yes, Father's 'name' is Mantle. Father, these dragon's names are. Cut-ter and... Ag... Agg-ro..." She seemed to be struggling with the names, which was fair since she's never heard anything close to their names before.

"Could we get out now?" Aggro grumbled harshly.

"Of course of course. You are not the first hostile dragon for me to come across in my time. Which is very understandable... but the first to be so deep down. I will burrow fast." Mantle took a step towards them, reaching out his wings, and the ground slightly shook with his step.

Cutter and Aggro both slowly got onto his claw and climbed up onto his back. They kept close to each other.

Cutter wrapped his wing around her tight. She held onto him more than she gripped Mantle's rocky scales.

Suddenly the Tectonic Disrupter dragon's scales grew hot and he started to jerk forward, wings unfurling, blasting a stream a superheated pure blue fire straight at the ice above, melting it instantly and sending large water droplets splattering on Aggro's scales. He leaped towards it, wings blasting behind him, fire continuing in a bright beam of light. It felt like this dragon was breathing part of the sun!

The good thing was that as she held on, she grew so hot that her frostbitten scales seemed to have melted back to normal. She grimaced however, because even for a Fire Firy it was very, very hot.

She couldn't imagine how Cutter felt.

Cutter's scales felt like they were on fire. Whatever devilish heat this insane dragon Mantle was able to produce was searing. For being shivering and cold for so long this abrupt change paired with the rapid movement upward was an absolute nightmare.

Still, he held on, he didn't let go of his wing around Aggro, no matter how here Fire Fury scales amplified the heat. He squeezed his eyes shut and he endured it.

All the way the one-two minutes they've been burning through ice and soon literal solid rock to the surface. With a boom the heat whisked away and Cutter was surrounded on all sides by deep dark, blue ocean water. His breath was taken away quickly, and he held on tighter to Aggro.

The water around got light fast as Mantle broke through the ocean.

Cutter gasped a deep breath and looked over to make sure Aggro was breathing. The Fire Fury seemed to be inhaling and exhaling fast like him.

"Here. Quickly, it's not safe for me up here." Mantle seemed to have landed somewhere and Cutter looked to find them on the edge of a sea stack, an island gleaming off into the distance behind a glowy sunset.

"Thank you for your help." Cutter managed to say and rolled off Mantle's back, suddenly feeling very energy drained. He felt so exhausted, he thought of his hay bed and sighed painfully.

Mantle's weird eyes looked around before falling back into the ocean as fast as he had exited it.

"Oh my Nightfury, that was wild." Aggro moaned, fallen completely still on the rock, eyes droopy.
"We made it, didn't we?" Cutter moved slowly over to her.
"Finally... that was- so terrible. Ugh I'm so tired I can't even move." She grumbled.

He lay down beside her, "I'll need soooo many naps after this." He joked, cracking a smile. But Aggro closed her eyes and did not respond.

"...but yeah, that was terrible, I hope I never go through it again." He unwillingly relaxed his muscles, fatigue overcoming him.

"Cutter... you would have never had to go through that if you didn't dive in after me." Aggro said slowly.

'What is she talking about?' He thought, surprised.

"What do you mean? I didn't have a choice."

"Yeah you did. You could have stopped if you wanted to, couldn't've you?" She continued, still not opening her eyes.

He grew frustrated, "No, I couldn't willingly let you just drown! I couldn't live with myself." He leaned in and licked her cheek, "I- I wouldn't have been able to stop myself. I just couldn't. I wish I saved you initially so we both wouldn't have to go through that. I just wasn't fast enough. Ugh, it's because I lo-" Caught up in it all he nearly slipped and said something. His face grew a bright red.

Aggro fell silent, and eventually her eyes opened, she glanced over at him. Their gazes met and Cutter couldn't look away.

"I brainlessly dived in because... I think I really like you Aggro..." He took a deep breath, "Like, love-like you Aggro. I love you."

There. He said it. He held his breath and his scales prickled up, no matter what icy cold or searing heat he could experience could compare to this. one. moment.

Did he say that? Just now.

Aggro thought she heard a 'I love you', but perhaps she was blanking out. There was no way, he was just-

'Oh- he really said-' Her eyes widened to be as round as the moon.

"Really? You mean it?" She gasped.

"Wha- y-yes." Cutter flinched, staring back at her, as surprised as she was.

"Oh well I... I guess I love you too." She looked away, her scales heating up embarrassment, "It's just... after everything we've been through." She started to try to justify things, but Cutter didn't seem to taking in any of it.

He just stared at her, so dreamy and clueless. She loved the stupid expression on his face. She loved that and everything else about him, from the dumbest moments to the fierce bravery rescuing and protecting her.

He seemed to break away from his trance. He leaned in close and locked their curved nose horns together, bringing their faces in close beneath the twilight sky. She paused and waited as her heart swelled, she reached out and cuddled up to him just before they dragon-kissed.

Aggro didn't pull away, more like after the kiss concluded she leaned downwards and rested her head on his shoulder, this time fully confident. He propped his chin on the top of her head and she let herself fall against his chest.

Finally the two lovers found peace, their home Huttsgalor outlined against the stars wistfully in the distance.

Whew! I told you that would be an adventure!

Will we see Mantle in another, longer book? Maybe!

Also this little extra short:

Leyla: WHERE WERE YOU GUYS???

Aggro: Whoops, Leyla's mad.

Cutter: Let me take care of this.

Cutter: We nearly died but we found a new dragon!

Leyla (leaning over with dragon diary in hand): Tell me everything about this new dragon.

Cutter: Boom! Leyla's anger averted!

Aggro (facepalming): You could have just explained and we would still be out of the wrong, dummy.