Cautiously, Hiccup stepped forward. He could hear Toothless making worried snuffling noises behind him, but he put out a hand. “It’s okay.” He wasn’t sure if he was talking to his dragon, or to the Whispering Death. The snake-like dragon was staring at him now, eyes wide and questioning. At least, Hiccup thought they were questioning. They weren’t expressive, not like his dragon’s eyes. But the Whispering Death was definitely staring at him with interest, its head cocked to one side. Waiting to see what this tiny Viking was going to do. Hiccup swallowed hard and bent down to pick up the toothbrush.

            The Whispering Death moved, turning its head the other way. Its mouth wasn’t open as wide now, it wasn’t growling or about to shoot fire at them anymore. At least that was a good sign. Step by step, Hiccup approached the massive creature. His hands were trembling, but he held the toothbrush out.

            “Is this…is this what you want? The toothbrush?”

            The Whispering Death blinked at him, then it opened his mouth wide again, revealing the rows of crusted yellow fangs. Hiccup tried to hide his grimace. There was a reason they called it “dragon breath” and this one was worse than usual. Sawing through rock and dirt all day obviously made your teeth pretty disgusting. He started towards the dragon, heart beating hard against his rib cage. This is just like it was with Toothless, he kept telling himself. Only this dragon had about ten sets of razor sharp teeth instead of one, that was all. Not reassuring.

            Hiccup stretched the toothbrush out, but the Whispering Death suddenly pulled his head back, lips curling in a snarl of displeasure. He jumped back, terrified, sure the dragon was going to chew him into tiny pieces and spit him out. But the Whispering Death wasn’t attacking, it wasn’t doing anything. It kept looking from him, to Snotlout, then back to him.

Wait. The dragon wasn’t looking at Hiccup - he was looking at the toothbrush in his hand. The dragon was looking at the toothbrush and then back at Snotlout.

            Hiccup tried to hide a smile. “I think…I think he wants you to brush his teeth, Snotlout.”

            The burly Viking stared at him. “What? No way! I’m not doing that. That’s disgusting—” he leapt back as the Whispering Death slithered closer, growling, showing its teeth. “Uh, okay. Alright I’ll do it.” He took the toothbrush from Hiccup, giving him a scorching look.

            Snotlout approached the cavernous mouth, hands shaking, looking like he was about to walk into the jaws to be devoured. Maybe he was, if his teeth brushing technique wasn’t to the dragon’s liking.

            The others watched in astonishment as the Whispering Death opened its mouth wider, allowing Snotlout to brush its yellow teeth. Snotlout reached out, trembling violently, rubbing the toothbrush over the first set of teeth. Nothing happened, the dragon didn’t move. As he continued brushing, the Viking’s fear seemed to slowly vanish, quickly being replaced by disgust.

            “This is gross. Ugh. I can’t believe I’m doing this.”

“Would you rather be eaten?” Astrid snapped.

“Why couldn’t Hiccup do it? Why does this thing want me to brush its nasty teeth?”

“Maybe it knows the toothbrush is yours.” Hiccup didn’t bother hiding his grin. Snotlout was far too preoccupied to notice how much he was enjoying this.

“I think I’m going to puke.” Snotlout said. “I can’t do the next set. I don’t want to stick my head in there.”

“You’ll have to.” Hiccup tried not to laugh. “Maybe I’ll talk to Gobber later about putting together some kind of extension.”

“Yeah, great idea.” Tuff cackled. “Maybe Snotlout can go into dragon dentistry.”

Snotlout was not amused. He kept up a continuous string of complaints as he brushed, and when the others ignored him, he complained about that.

Hiccup let himself slump against the wall in relief. They had been dangerously close to being dragon chow. His knees felt watery.  After a moment he felt Astrid on the other side of him. She took his hand, bringing her face close to his. Her lips brushed his ear as she whispered, “That was quick thinking. You saved us.”

            He hoped she couldn’t feel him shiver. Now he was grateful for the darkness, it hid the fact that he was blushing all the way up to his ears. Being so close to her was hard. He sort of wanted to reach out and wrap his arms around her. But now wasn’t the time or place.

            “We’re not out of this tunnel yet.”

            “But we’re not eaten either, so there’s that.”

            “I do enjoy not being eaten,” he admitted.

            The twins joined them, sitting down next to Barf and Belch, laughing as they watched Snotlout cleaning the dragon’s teeth.

            “Hey, Snot, I think he wants you to really get in there.”

            “Yeah, the ones at the back need cleaning too.”

            “Don’t forget to brush his tongue.”

            “Shut up, you guys!” Snotlout’s voice came from deep inside the dragon’s mouth. “This is revolting. It smells like someone died in here.”

            “Better brush harder or you could be next.” Ruffnut chortled and nudged her brother. “Bet he tastes bad.”

            “Yeah, when’s the last time you had a bath, Snot?”

            “I should have thought of that but I just panicked,” Fishlegs was telling Meatlug. “I know all about them. It’s in the dragon manual Gobber gave me.”

            Snotlout may have been deep in the Whispering Death’s mouth, but it sure didn’t stop him from whining. “There are so many teeth. This is going to take like an hour.”

            It did take like an hour. In fact, Hiccup was fairly positive it took almost exactly an hour. For a while they sat there, leaning against the wall. The relief that they weren’t being eaten was enough to keep them talking and joking with one another. Plus, Astrid didn’t move away, and Hiccup would swear that she actually moved closer. So close that the wisps of hair that escaped her braid ended up tickling his nose. He hoped he didn’t sneeze, since that might make her back away.

            It was as if the darkness made her a little bolder, and he was surprised to feel her arm slip around his, pulling him closer. Eventually she leaned her head against his shoulder, and Hiccup could feel her lashes move against his neck when she blinked. Tentatively, he slid his arm around her shoulders, leaning his cheek against the top of her head. Underneath the smell of sweat and dragon she smelled like soap. She smelled like Astrid. Was that a weird thing to think? He wasn’t sure he cared at this point. He just knew he liked it. It would be nice to hold her like this when they weren’t trapped in a tunnel. When there was no risk of slowly running out of oxygen and dying.

That thought jarred him rudely out of the happy glow he’d been feeling. It was wonderful that the Whispering Death hadn’t chewed them to tiny pieces, but they were still trapped in a tunnel under the earth. Granted, he’d admit being buried alive was a much less painful death, but it still wasn’t part of the things he’d planned to do that day.

            Astrid seemed to come to a similar conclusion. She sat up, much to his regret, and Hiccup dropped his arm from around her, wishing they could have stayed that way a bit longer. Astrid kept glancing over at him, brows furrowed, mouth turning down slightly at the corners. She was probably holding herself back from saying what she was thinking. They couldn’t just sit there and die. Already, the air inside the tunnel was feeling stuffy.

            Finally Snotlout groaned loudly, and the others looked up. He was emerging from the dragon’s mouth, one hand holding the toothbrush away from him like it was a live skunk, the other rubbing his lower back. “That was horrible.”

            He jumped when the Whispering Death leaned forward, nudging him in the shoulder. Hiccup sat up straight, wondering what was going to happen now. Would the dragon eat Snotlout now that it had what it wanted? Had it just wanted a good brush before its afternoon snack? Wait, was it even the afternoon anymore? There was no way of telling. The campfire made from Snotlout’s vest had burned almost all the way down now, so they were once again relying on the light that managed to slip through the cracks in the top of the hole.

            Even if the Whispering Death wanted to help them, it probably couldn’t reach the top of the hole. It had burrowed down so deep into the earth that it couldn’t stretch the length of its body back out. But maybe it could burrow another tunnel back to the surface.

            “Snotlout, ask it if there’s some way for us to get out of here,” Hiccup suggested.

Snotlout grumbled, but he didn’t argue. He looked up at the Whispering Death and hesitated. “Uh…do you think you could help us out of here? We’re kinda stuck.”

If the dragon heard him it gave no indication. Instead it turned, slithering back towards its hole.

“Hey wait!” Snotlout started after it, then seemed to think better of it. He stopped, shoulders slumping, dropping his toothbrush in the dirt again.

“Maybe we can go after it, you know, through the tunnel it’s making,” Tuff suggested.

“We don’t know if it’s even going to the surface,” Astrid said. “It could be going deeper underground.”

“Plus I’m not sure we should follow it,” Fishlegs squeaked, his eyes round. “What if it decides it doesn’t want company?”

The remaining bit of fabric blackened and curled up in the fire, and then the orange flames fizzled out altogether, throwing them into darkness again. In the shadowy tunnel, Hiccup couldn’t make out anyone’s expressions, but the twins were no longer fighting and Fishlegs didn’t seem to have any more facts to tell them. Astrid pulled closer again, sensing the mood. This time she buried her face in his shoulder and didn’t speak. Everyone was wilting slightly in the dark, oppressive atmosphere.

So this was how the son of the great warrior, Stoick the Vast, was going to go out. In a hole in the ground. It wasn’t exactly a glorious death in battle. Hiccup dropped his head into his hands, feeling dizzy.

Another rumble shook the tunnel, and he felt Astrid grip his arm tightly. Now they knew it was the Whispering Death dragon tunneling. Tunneling away from them. The dragon was probably going deeper into the earth, and it was liable to bring the rubble down on them while it did.

Was being crushed to death more glorious than suffocating? Probably not.

The first rock that hit him was on the knee. Hiccup didn’t know how big it was, but it hurt. More fell, striking the ground around them, peppering them with small pebbles that grew larger as more fell. The sound of the tunnel collapsing was like another earthquake.

 Astrid cried out beside him, and he was about to grab her, shelter her somehow, but then he was being pelted by rocks and dirt, being buried alive as more and more fell. They hit his shoulders and his arms, and he felt a trickle of blood trail down the side of his neck. He pulled Astrid down beside him and they both put their arms over their heads. The roof was caving in.

“Get down!” Hiccup yelled as loud as he could over the rumbling sound of the earth collapsing. He couldn’t see anything, it was too dark, but he could hear his friends yelling, and the sound of the dragon’s roaring. Something rubbed his shoulder and he knew without opening his eyes that Toothless and Stormfly were there. The dragons had curled themselves around their owners, trying to protect them. It was impossible, even the dragons couldn’t hope to save them from a half ton of rock falling from the ceiling. They weren’t big enough.

Hiccup felt torn. He didn’t want to let go of Astrid, but he didn’t want Toothless to sacrifice himself either. And it wasn’t like he could shield his dragon’s entire body. His thoughts seemed to be drowned out by the thunderous rumble overhead. It sounded like the entire earth was splitting down the middle. The ground beneath him was shaking so violently that it felt like it might break open and consume everyone a second time. Would they all plummet into an even more complete darkness? Falling for the last and final time?

Then it stopped.

For a second he stayed where he was. The blood rushing in his ears was loud in the silence. Thankfully, Astrid’s breathing was deep and even beside him. She was still clutching his arm, and her head was buried in his chest. It would have been nice if he wasn’t so worried about being crushed to death. He opened his eyes. After several agonizing seconds they adjusted and he could make out his surroundings. Somehow it was lighter now. He could see Stormfly’s glowing eyes through the dust that was settling in the air, and when he turned he found himself staring right into Toothless’ bright green eyes. The dragon burbled happily.

“I’m okay, bud. You’re alright?”

Astrid pulled away from him, reaching out to check on Stormfly, stroking her dragon’s nose. She sounded relieved. “Thank the gods, you’re okay. What happened?”

“We survived the cave-in, that’s what happened.” Tuffnut’s voice reached them before he did. The twins materialized out of the dust, trailed by Barf and Belch. Both of the sibling’s blonde hair was brown. They were covered in an even coating of dirt. “Look.”

They looked. The tunnel had changed shape. It was like the ceiling had reformed itself during the earthquake, it was higher now, and in front of them was a long, even slope of rocks and dirt that led to a hole in the surface. His heart leapt. They could get out of here. They weren’t going to die.

The twins were followed by the others. Fishlegs and Snotlout were both filthy as well, and Snotlout looked dazed, his helmet was on crooked and he was stumbling a little, but everyone appeared to be alright.

The dust settled further and as the group started to climb out of the rubble that had landed around them, Hiccup saw a huge black shadow snake up from the ground. He jumped; Astrid whirled around, fists in the air, ready for another fight. He relaxed a little when he saw what it was, but only a little. The Whispering Death was back, sliding out of the hole at the back of the tunnel. The dragon looked from Hiccup to Snotlout, bobbing its head in what looked like satisfaction. It was smiling, very toothily.

“What happened?” Hiccup asked it. “Did you cause the earthquake? How did you know we wouldn’t be crushed?”

The dragon tilted its head back, aiming its glistening rows of teeth at the ceiling of the tunnel. Hiccup looked up, looking at it more closely this time. He felt his stomach twist in fear.

Now that he was really looking at it, he saw that the ceiling was long and scaly, the same grey-green colour of the Whispering Death beside him. There were hundreds of sharp spikes hanging down like stalactites, some so long that they were only a few inches away from the top of the Viking’s heads.

Hiccup didn’t have a lot of experience with what the ceilings of tunnels should look like, but he was fairly certain this wasn’t it.

“When is a ceiling not a ceiling?” he whispered shakily, and Astrid gave him a funny look. “When it’s a dragon.”

The others gaped, tipping their heads back to look up. Snotlout’s eyes were huge, and Fishlegs blinked a few times, mumbling something about needing a new pair of pants.

The Whispering Death was making a rumbling, coughing noise and Hiccup was fairly certain it was laughing.

“You didn’t abandon us,” Hiccup said. “You went off to get your dad, or you big brother, or…whoever that is.” He looked at the ceiling again and gulped, deciding it was probably time to leave. As grateful as he was, he didn’t feel like meeting the front end of that particular dragon any time soon. The smaller Whispering Death had enough teeth to deal with already. “Thank you.”

The dragon nodded, thrusting its head in the direction of the light, and Hiccup turned. “Come on, guys. Let’s get out of here.”

It was a long, slow climb, and Hiccup couldn’t help glancing upwards once or twice. It was a bit scary, knowing that the dragon was the only thing keeping a few tons of rocks and dirt from collapsing on them, and a few times the dirt beneath them slipped, and one of them would slide back a few feet. Luckily Fishlegs was the last one, and he served as the catcher, making sure nobody else plummeted back down into the tunnel. Ruffnut slid backwards once, her boots skidding on the crumbling dirt, and she gave him a relieved look when he caught her arm. When he smiled back she yanked herself out of his grip and began climbing again. Fishlegs stared after her until Meatlug nudged him forward again.

When the group first emerged into the daylight there were gasps of relief coupled with groans about how bright the sun was. Hiccup shielded his eyes, leaning on Toothless for support, breathing the fresh, cool air in deeply. He hadn’t realized how stale the air had been until now. They really had been running out of oxygen.

Beneath his feet he felt the ground vibrate again, and a spray of dirt flew out of the gaping hole in the ground. The Whispering Death was tunneling again, retreating deeper into the earth, heading in the direction of the forest and not the village. That was good. If houses started collapsing, the general census on dragons would not be tipping in their favour.

It took several minutes for the group to collect themselves. Hiccup noticed that Snotlout was walking with an exaggerated limp, telling everyone how much his ankle hurt. He tried to lean on Ruffnut, who planted a hand in the middle of his face and shoved him backwards.

Astrid grabbed Hiccup’s vest, pulling him around to look at her. “You saved us, you know that?”

“Aw, I didn’t really do anything—”

“Yes you did.” Astrid hesitated, staring up at him. She looked right into his eyes so intently it sort of made Hiccup wish the ground would swallow him up all over again. Her face was smudged with dirt, which made her blue eyes stand out more than usual, and not for the first time he found himself comparing them to seas and lakes and rivers and a hundred other ridiculous things. He hoped his face wasn’t going bright red. It felt like his cheeks were burning.

“Listen, you did. You saved us. I charged in there like a berserker, which just made it worse, since it didn’t actually want to fight us. You’re the one that made us stop. Somehow you realized what it wanted.”

Hiccup shrugged, sure that if he tried to talk right now he’d turn into a babbling idiot. Astrid looked a little relieved when he didn’t say anything. She smiled. “I’m glad you were there. In fact, I’m always glad you’re there.”

She reached up, hooking her fingers in his shirt, and then she was pressing her lips to his, and Hiccup shut his eyes, half out of surprise. She pulled away after a second, cheeks flushed. “That’s for saving us. Again.”

He hoped the grin on his face didn’t look as goofy as it felt. Astrid was already turning away though, so it didn’t matter. When he looked up, it was to see Toothless eyeing him sideways, clearly amused. “What?”

“Why don’t I get something for brushing that dragon’s smelly teeth?” Snotlout complained as they made their way back through the forest.

“You get something,” Astrid told him. “It’s called a bath.”

When they reached the village, absolutely no fuss was made over their dirty, dishevelled appearance. Nobody was shocked when a bunch of Vikings came back looking dirty. No doubt everyone thought they’d been fighting, or falling off their dragons and rolling around in the dirt, which was practically a daily occurrence.

Hiccup and his friends paused at one of the vendor’s shops, asking the shop keeper and her assistant if they could have some of the hot cocoa she’d been brewing up. The snow was starting to fall thicker around them, sticking to their clothes and hair. He knew they would have to tell someone about the giant hole in the forest. It would have to be filled in so nobody else fell down it, but for now, for the next hour, he was just going to enjoy being alive.

They sat outside, all shoved together on the same bench since the twins had been kicked out for fighting in the store and knocking one of the woman’s pots over. Hiccup preferred it anyways.  The shop had felt a little too closed in after the tunnel. And Toothless was happy, curled up on the ground with his head resting on Hiccup’s foot. They made an odd group - six Vikings all crammed onto one bench with a bunch of dragons lying around at their feet.

Hiccup found himself squished against Astrid, which he didn’t mind at all. He took a few sideways glances at her, thinking she looked very pretty with the snowflakes decorating her lashes, even with all the dirt on her face and her braid falling out.

“What?” Astrid said, and Hiccup sat up straight, realizing he’d been caught. She smiled at him, eyes glittering with mischief. Luckily he was rescued when the shop door squeaked open and the woman bustled out, carrying a tray of steaming mugs. They took the drinks, thanking her, and the woman stood back and tucked the tray under her arm.

“Now what have you wee scamps been up to today?” She smiled at them, including the dragons in her smile. Hiccup grinned back at her.

“Just taking the dragons out for some exercise.”

“Racing them is more like,” the shop assistant said. She tossed her long braid over her shoulder and gave Meatlug a narrow look. The round dragon had been nibbling tentatively at the wooden leg of the bench, and now he stopped, wilting under the woman’s stare. “These beasties could still be dangerous. You might get yourself killed gallivanting around like that.”

Hiccup paused, studying the woman’s face. He wanted to tell her all about what had happened. That dragons could be trusted, you just had to give them enough of a chance, but she might not believe him. Besides, if she was around dragons for long enough, she’d find out for herself. There would be a few scraps here and there, a few fights, but it would all turn out.

Instead of replying, he put one hand on Toothless’ head, smiling down at his dragon friend. Beside him, Astrid did the same, and the others did as well. The woman shrugged, turning to go back into the shop. She stopped when a low rumble started up, and Hiccup felt the earth vibrate one last time, ever so slightly. It was as if the Whispering Dragon was saying goodbye.

“Odin save us,” the shop assistant muttered. “First dragons, now earthquakes. What’s next?”

Hiccup couldn’t help smiling, and when he glanced over at the other he could see they were too. “I wouldn’t worry about it, ma’am. It’s just a little quake here and there. Nothing we can’t handle, right guys?”

The End.