Summary: Post-Httyd 3 fic. Chief Hiccup and Chieftess Astrid leave for Berserker Island for a peace treaty signing and coincidentally end up in the middle of a battle. There is one frightening moment when Astrid fears she has lost her entire family in a single night.

Crammed this one out in a single day! Hope you guys enjoy it! :D

Fire

Astrid knew fear. As a warrior, as a Viking, as a chieftess, as a wife, as a mother, it was an emotion she was well acquainted with. She knew how to fight it, to keep her level-head. Rarely was it as paralyzing, as overwhelming, as it was that night.

She and Hiccup had left New Berk for a few weeks to attend a peace treaty signing on Berserker Island, leaving Valka in charge as Acting Chief.

At her age, that woman could run the island in their absence just as good as the Chiefs that had come before them.

Hiccup and Astrid had brought their children with them. With Heather now in charge, as Dagur lived on Caldera Cay to rule the Defenders of the Wing alongside Queen Mala, they had thought it was only appropriate to bring Zephyr and Nuffink along. Heather had a long and close friendship with the royal couple of Berk, it was about time she met their children.

Zephyr was four years old and Nuffink was only two. A bit young to be travelling this far, but they took to their parents' old friend quite quickly.

It was that night, the night of the signing, that the Berserkers received an utmost unpleasant visit.

Old enemies of Dagur had resurfaced and come to seek vengeance for wrongdoings of the past by burning down the village Dagur once cared for, unaware that he moved on to a different island long ago.

Within minutes of their arrival and the first attack, the village had been turned into an inferno.

The Berserkers fought back, of course. Some tried to douse the fires as best as they could and saved as much as they could, but the flames spread too fast and were difficult to put out. They were fighting two big battles at the same time.

In the mix of the two, Astrid had lost sight of her children.

She had lost sight of her husband.

And thus she felt fear.

"Astrid!" Hiccup found her before she found him. After knocking one of the last few stragglers of the retreating enemy over the head with her trusty axe, she turned upon hearing her name be called to see her partner in both love and life coming for her.

"Hiccup, you're okay!" She had to shout through the deafening noise of the blaze, but at least it gave her enough light to see that he was unharmed.

"Yeah, I'm fine, but where are the kids?!" Hiccup asked her, a panic in his eyes that she wasn't too familiar with seeing on him.

Astrid felt her heart cease again as Hiccup, like her, had no idea where either of their children were. A terrible thing in all of this chaos.

Hiccup's face fell further, realizing his wife hadn't a clue either.

"The Chief's house! I saw a little girl drag her baby brother to the chief's house!" A faceless Berserker yelled to them and the couple decided to take it as truth. It was the only lead they had.

They knew where Heather's home was by now, it wouldn't be too hard to find, but that brought little solace once they reached it.

It, much like many of the other homes in the village, was engulfed in flame.

"No... No!" Astrid didn't like freezing and it wasn't something she usually did, but in that moment, she could no longer move.

How could she? When laying eyes upon that furious blaze and realizing that her only two children might be in the middle of all of that?

Their father didn't freeze.

Something inside of him spurred him on and without thinking, Hiccup ran straight for the open door of the burning home.

"Hiccup!" It wasn't Astrid who called after him, but Heather as she managed to join the two just in time to watch one of her two best friends disappear into the fire.

"Did he go in there?! Just like that?!" Heather asked her, but Astrid found that she had a hard time doing anything other than stare at what raged inside.

Heather seemed to notice as she, too, turned to watch and hope that he made it back out again. Others joined them aswell.

They waited and they waited.

Only seconds could've passed them by, but they felt more like hours.

"Come on, Hiccup. Come on, please..." They were the only words Astrid could utter. She had faith in her husband, she's always had faith, but the reality that she might've lost her entire family in a single night began to gnaw at her.

She hoped it wasn't true. It simply couldn't be true. If anything, Hiccup had a habit of surviving the impossible. He couldn't leave her, not now.

The wait was long, but finally did a familiarly lanky figure appear in the blaze.

And he wasn't alone.

"Hiccup!" Finally, the paralyzing hold on her body ceased and Astrid ran forward to meet him halfway.

"Oh my Thor." Heather shared in her relief and followed.

Hiccup was stumbling slightly and coughing terribly, but in each arm he held a child and their crying was a clear indication that they were both alive.

He fell to his knees and Astrid did too. She cupped Hiccup's scruffy face and checked him over. Meanwhile, a small crowd of bystanders gathered around them.

"I'm fine. I'm fine." He managed to tell her through his coughing and let her look the children over next.

"Mommy..." Zephyr sniffed and reached for her mother. Appearing to be unscathed, Astrid took her in her arms and hugged her tight before checking every inch of her younger brother as he cried.

She captured him in a hug too. She embraced both of her boys and savoured the feeling of getting all three of her family back safe.

Unharmed.

Hiccup was reluctant to pull away, but Astrid needed a second take.

"We're fine. Astrid, we're fine." He thought he needed to reassure her, but as panic ebbed away and her level-head returned, she noticed something startling.

Hiccup's cloak was gone, eaten away by the fire. Large parts of his leather armour were gone too and even the woollen fabric underneath had suffered. it had been blackened and signed in many places.

And yet, besides the bad cough, he appeared to be fine and neither Zephyr or Nuffink, though their clothes were badly burned in many places aswell, weren't even bothered by a cough.

Glancing back at the blaze Hiccup had rescued their progeny from, still raging on behind them, she realized none of them should've made it out alive.

"We're okay, Zeph. We're safe! The fire can't hurt us now." Astrid brought her attention away from the burning building and back to her family, to her partner as he tried to sooth the little girl bawling hopelessly in her arms.

Hiccup shot Astrid a smile as Zephyr found comfort in his voice and touch as he wiped her tears away and her hair out of her eyes. He, too, was simply overjoyed that they were okay. The rest of the Berserkers might not be, but at least they were. At this moment, that was all that mattered to him.

Astrid couldn't help but pull her young family in for another hug. Right now, she just wanted to hold them close and completely soak in their presence.

Hiccup, his coughing not yet gone, still buried his face in the crook of her neck. Seemed like he had the same idea in mind of not wanting to let go just yet.

The next day, the invading tribe was gone and damage could be properly assessed.

Not too many lives had been lost and injuries had been kept to a minimum, but almost the entire village had been burned to the ground and that meant a lot had been lost. The Berserkers would need help rebuilding their home.

That was what Hiccup had been discussing with Heather. As Chief of an allying tribe, he could provide her and her people the help they might need. No longer wearing any of the leather that had become almost like a signature of him at this point, with Zephyr clinging onto his leg and Nuffink asleep in his hold, Hiccup spoke to Heather about all they could do to aid the Berserkers.

As chieftess, Astrid should be a part of that talk. Instead she was standing a little ways away and staring at what was once her friend's house.

Or where it should've been.

It hadn't just completely burned down, there was simply nothing left. Not a single piece of clothing, a scrap of paper or even the very foundations of the home had survived.

The embers that still remained were only now slowly dying.

Her lover and children had been in the fire that caused this destruction. It was frightening to think about.

"Can you believe it?" A nearby conversation between two Berserkers drew her attention.

"That the Chief of Berk and his kids survived that... Nobody should've been able to survive that, let alone walk out without a scratch." A young man spoke with an older woman, sharing his disbelieve.

They were the talk of the village. Though also speaking of the attack itself, most of the quiet gossip taking place around her was about the Berkian Chief and his heirs living through a fire that should've killed them.

"He was lucky. He could've died. He should've died." The older Viking woman was a robust one and she looked like the kind that could strike fear into the heart of any foe. She was worn from battle for sure.

It wasn't that she wished death on Hiccup, she was simply stating a fact.

As Astrid approached the house and watched some of the fragile and burnt wood crumple by the slightest touch of a breeze, she found that woman to be right.

It was a harsh thought and she felt dirty simply thinking about it, but Hiccup, Zephyr and Nuffink should be dead.

They should not be with her here, still breathing. They should not have come out of there with a few simple scrapes and not a single burn wound in sight. There wasn't even a slight redness on any of them and Hiccup's coughing had ceased by now.

Astrid didn't know what or who had protected her family that night, but She didn't know what she would do if she had lost them. Any of them. She wasn't sure how she would have ever been able to live with herself.

So she was thankful. Astrid wasn't going to question their miraculous survival, she was just thankful.

Turning away from the ruins, Astrid walked to Hiccup's side. A hand on one shoulder of his and her chin on the other one, she drew his attention and he gave her a smile.

"You know what some people call him right?" The young man spoke up again in the background.

"Those rumours about "The Dragon Chief"? Those are just farfetched tales from the same merchants who talked about the Dragon Master." The woman decided to continue to entertain him with this talk for now.

"Yeah, but the dragons-"

"Are gone now. The Chief of Berk made sure of that."

"I know. We haven't seen one in years! But what if he's... and the kids..."

The Viking woman had shot him down after that. It was too ridiculous to even think about.

Astrid found it an incredulous concept too.

But no matter, she was just happy to have her loves still there by her side.

"You look tired. Maybe the four of you should get some rest. There are some cots in the Great Hall, I'm sure we can spare some for you." Heather offered and affectionately rubbed Astrid's upper arm.

"Thank you, Heather, but I think we'll just sleep on the boat. There are other people who might need them more than we do." Hiccup politely declined and they parted ways with her. She had a message to send to Dagur and Mala and people to help.

"What do you say, M'lady? Go back to the boat? Get some shut-eye?" He suggested and Astrid decided that was what they must do. Hiccup looked like he could fall over. Not such a good idea with a toddler in his arm.

"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. I need the three of you safe on that ship and resting. I just... I need to know that you will be okay." She was shaken up after the night they've had. She imagined she would be for quite a while to come.

Hiccup took this moment to place a brief kiss on her lips.

"We're fine, Astrid. Zephyr, Nuffink and I, we're all fine." He knew she needed the reassurance and he gladly gave it to her.

Astrid stared up to his nearly completely unblemished face and absentmindedly noticed how the only scars he had, he had received through weapons and hapless accidents and never by fire. Even the leg was lost by Toothless' attempt at rescuing him so many years ago.

"Astrid." Wherever her mind had wondered, Hiccup brought it back to the present.

"Let's go. You need some sleep too." Astrid found him to be right and together they made their way back to the Berkian longboat for the rest and peace they so desperately needed.