Don't leave me

Chapter 27: To Miss or To Bleed

Hiccup's POV

I shut the door in her face and leaned against it, pretending that I had gone to sleep. I pressed my ear to the door, hearing her sigh before going back upstairs again. I furrowed my brows and sunk my teeth into my bottom lip. Gods, it felt awful to act that way towards her, but at the same time, she wasn't really her.

I let out another sigh as grass green eyes stared at me in wonder from the other side of the dark room. He cocked his head to the side, probably asking me the same question I was asking myself; why am I acting like this?

I shook my head and exited the room. I sat down in front of the raging fireplace, waiting for her to fall asleep so I could just watch her for a short while, without any complications. Luckily for me, she fell asleep rather quickly and I got to stand in her room like a creep, watching her sleep.

But it was when she was asleep that I could barely tell the difference between this new Astrid and the old one. They slept the exact same way, made the exact same faces and uttered the exact same phrases. A smile tugged at the corners of my lips, it was like she finally remembered.

I sat down on the bed and watched her shoulders rise and fall as she exhaled softly. She looked so peaceful, like all her troubles had faded away. I brushed a strand of hair away from her face, my heart skipping a beat as my mind conjured up beautiful memories from the past.

"Will we ever be the same again?" I whispered, more to myself than to her. And as expected, I received no answer. Nonetheless, I smiled. "Even if we'll never be the two of us again, I'll always love you"

I stroked her cheek with my thumb before placing a soft kiss on her forehead. "I miss you, Astrid"

***

As had been the case for the past few days, I woke up early and ate, so that I could slip out of the house before Astrid woke up and begun asking questions again. As I finished my breakfast, I went back into my new room where Toothless was still asleep.

"Hey, you got to wake up now, bud" I crouched down as I patted the night fury's head, a small smile on my lips.

Toothless growled and rolled over.

"Come on, Toothless, don't be lazy!" I poked him, earning yet another growl as I let out a chuckle.

I shrugged my shoulders and turned to the door. "I guess I'll just have to give your breakfast to one of the other dragons, I'm sure they would love it"

The night fury shot up and nearly knocked me over as he ran out the door. Again, I chuckled at the dragon as I handed him his basket of fish, which he devoured at an alarming rate.

After breakfast, we went about our usual workday. Toothless was busy keeping the other dragons in check and making sure everyone was doing good whilst I... well, I did the same for the Vikings plus some paperwork.

But it was when I had gone to the Meade Hall and sat myself at the Chief's table with my work that my mind drifted to other places, like the beautiful girl in my house who didn't even know who I was.

Is she ever going to remember me again? The question floated around my mind, as it had since the accident, making me unable to finish my work. I sighed and put down my pencil, it was clear that I needed a little break.

I decided that a trip down to the academy would be good for me, and it would also be like killing two birds with one stone, seeing as I got my break and I could simultaneously make sure that the twins hadn't found a way to burn down the academy during their class.

I hadn't even made it through the tunnel when a loud voice rang throughout my ears.

"Gather round, gather round, young Vikings! For today we are going to study the most vicious, frightening and dangerous dragon in the entire archipelago!" Tuffnut roared dramatically as he raised his arms towards the sky.

I walked into the arena, my eyes locked onto Tuffnut the entire time as I waited to see this vicious, frightening and dangerous dragon he was talking about. The young Vikings watched carefully and silently as I positioned myself beside Tuffnut, as if they were waiting for me the scold him.

"Hi Chief!" The younglings said in unison before returning to their silent state. 

"Hiccup? Uh... I mean CHIEF Hiccup! Yeah, that was it. Could I ask what you're doing here?" Tuffnut asked me rather nervously as he gestured for Ruffnut to stay inside the dragon cage turned storage room.

"Hello to you too, eager dragon riders!" I greeted the young Vikings before turning to Tuffnut with a small, reassuring smile. "Listen Tuff, I'm not here to disrupt your class in any way, I'm just here to watch, so please, go on with whatever you were doing"

Tuffnut swallowed before gesturing for Ruffnut to come out of the storage room. Ruffnut jogged over to us, a small pedestal covered by a sheet in hand. She placed the pedestal in front of us and took a step back.

Tuffnut pulled away the sheet, revealing a small dragon inside a cage. "Alright kids, can any of you tell me what dragon this is?"

"It's a terrible terror!" A young boy exclaimed.

"Wrong!" Tuffnut opened the cage as he stuck his hands inside to pick up the dragon. "This is actually a— TERRIBLE TERROR!"

Tuffnut screamed as the terror jumped him and sunk its teeth into his nose.

"RUFF, GET THIS THING OFF ME!" Tuffnut howled at his sister as he tried to yank the dragon off his nose, but she was too busy laughing her guts out to help her brother. Therefore, it ended up being me who had to get the dragon of Tuffnut and place it carefully back into its cage.

"I am HURT, I am very much HURT!" Tuffnut complained as he sat down on the ground and held his bleeding nose.

"Well, now you all know what an angry terrible terror will do to you. You are all dismissed" I announced to the class as I handed Tuffnut a piece of cloth to bandage his nose with.

"I believe it is time I take my leave" I smiled at the twins as I spun on my heel and made my way towards the tunnel. "Don't forget to clean up after yourselves!"