Finding What You Are Not Looking For

Chapter 5

Walking through the eerily night is Astrid Hofferson. The twenty-year-old woman is trying to enjoy the little freedom she has left. You see, the disappearance of Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third unfortunately lead the way for Snotlout to become heir. Unhappily for the young woman, that meant she found herself forced into another unwanted marriage contract. But this time with it is between Snotlout and herself. Unfortunately, her parents could only delay the wedding date for her twenty-first birthday, which is under a year away. This whole scenario's engagement to Snotlout made her wish she was kind to Hiccup when she had the chance. Sure, Hiccup was not her favorite person, but she would admit that she would instead marry him over his egotistical cousin any day of the week.

Ever since that fateful day five years ago, she has been cursed to have nightmares about her being the reason. Hiccup would die. She had always felt like his blood was on her hands. There were many times over the years when she would have to stay up all night training just to get exhausted enough to fall asleep. The only good thing that came out of the disappearance of the former heir was that she learned that she needed to become a better person. So, she promised herself she would not allow anyone to pick on the small and the weak like they all did to Hiccup. Walking by the house that belonged to her chief, she felt miserable and regretful. No matter what he or anyone else says, it was her fault that Hiccup went missing and met his untimely demise.

Ever since that day, Stoick had never been the same. Astrid figured that it was just the pain of losing a child. She knows a pain will never go away, or the chief will never find closure. His heart had blackened some because of the loss of his family. A loss he felt was his fault. Stoick had also become more gory and violent towards the dragons. Because everyone figures Hiccup was taken by a dragon in the nightly sky when nobody could have saved him. About a week after Hiccup had disappeared, the dragons they used for training had all escaped somehow. Stoick was not in the slightest happy about that, so that is when the people of Berk started to kill their training dragons alongside the Monstrous Nightmare. The aging chief has been working tirelessly so that nobody must suffer the same pain he did. But sadly, this is his final year before handing the chief mantle over to his nephew. Then he would regrettably have to marry Astrid against her well.

There are two ways out of the marriage. The first one is that they had to die or be banished. Despite Astrid's anger towards Snotlout for forcing her into this unneeded mess, Astrid did not want either one of these options happening to Snotlout or herself. There was indeed no way from coming back from either one of those options. The last option is unlikely ever to happen. It was for Hiccup to come back and claim her as his wife. Because initially, she was under contract with him before this one. If by some miracle the auburn-hair boy was still alive and reclaimed her. It would make the marriage contract between Snotlout and her invalid. It would indeed be a miracle for this to happen. With Hiccup being dead and all because there is no way he could have survived out of the village for this long.

A Hofferson was becoming a Jorgenson. It was not a comforting thought for Astrid. It was no secret that the two families did not have a good relationship. These two families rarely agreed on anything, so it was no secret that her father, Gunner, and Spitelout were unhappy when Snotlout chose her to be his wife. Now it is no way out for her to become Mrs. Jorgenson. Just the thought made her want to throw up in disgust. To become the thing she despises the most, a glorified trophy wife that belonged to Snotlout. She dreaded where this would lead her to be forced to bear his children in her womb. The life of a homemaker is not something she is looking forward to. All her life, she has been the best warrior in her generation. It is her most dominating trait. She never wanted to be married because she wanted to be an independent individual and not some mother taking care of her home, husband, and children. Now all that she worked for will be taken away. Unfortunately, she must become someone's wife and mother.