I will save you

Chapter 20: You?

Hiccup's POV

I closed my eyes and breathed in the fresh air as it whizzed past me. One year, one whole year without ... her. Twice I had managed to let her slip out of my grasp, and twice I had failed to save her from that pain. Thoughts of what could've happened to her poisoned my mind as my heart grew heavy. I had failed her, once again. Gods, how was I ever going to forgive myself?

A coo escaped Toothless as he turned his head to look up at me. I let out an audible sigh as I leaned back on my dragon. I dragged my hands across my face, trying my best to get it all out of my head, seeing as there was a very slim chance that I would ever see the woman I once called my wife ever again. We had spent 6 months searching for her, 6 months looking under every rock and in every house, but we hadn't even found a trace of her, or Stormfly, who had disappeared shortly after her rider.

I kept my gaze up on the darkening skies above us, tears welling in the corners of my eyes as the image of Astrid danced around my mind, taunting me with something I was unlikely to ever have again.

I bit my lip, stifling a sob as the memories washed over me like a tidal wave. Gods, it felt like my heart had been ripped straight from my chest.

I sat back up again on Toothless, my heart begging for me to go home so that I could find something else to distract myself with, like I had been doing for the past year. It was my only method of coping, the only thing that kept me sane, so I had to turn.

And as we dipped beneath the clouds, I caught a glance of something that made my heart skip a beat. Out of the corner of my eye, I had seen a blonde braid flowing through the wind before disappearing behind a cloud.

I urged for Toothless to stop, the only thing keeping us afloat being the flapping of his wings. I scanned the area where I thought I had seen the blonde braid, praying to the gods that I hadn't just gone mad. As we flew closer to the place it had vanished, I could almost feel my stomach turning in on itself.

I took a deep breath, filling my lungs with the cold air of the skies as I motioned for Toothless to fly through the clouds. On the other side of the large cloud, the burning skies of dusk stretched far and wide. Not a single cloud could be seen for miles and miles ahead, which allowed me to see the owner of the blonde braid, who was riding atop a very familiar nadder.

Toothless picked up speed as we flew closer to the pair, and when I was certain we were within hearing distance, I said the one thing I had been burning to say for ages. "Astrid?"

The nadder stopped, hovering in the skies as I watched its rider freeze. I motioned for Toothless to stop as well as the other rider slowly turned around to face me, eyes wide.

I felt my heart leap in my chest as I saw the beautiful face of a woman I thought I would never see again, my wife. A grin spread across my face as my eyes once again filled with tears, but this time, they were tears of pure joy.

Astrid's face turned pale as I saw her entire body tense. Her chest rose and fell faster than I had ever seen before, and a look of pure horror seemed to be painted on her face. I drew my brows together, was she ... afraid of me?

"G-go away, please." Astrid pleaded as Stormfly slowly inched backwards, tail ready to strike at any given moment as its spikes stood straight out.

I attempted to search her eyes from afar, but found that she was avoiding my gaze. "Astrid, please, it's me, Hiccup. You know I won't hurt you!"

She turned away from me as she and her nadder flew away, but in classical Hiccup style, there was no way I was going to let her go without a proper explanation. Just as Toothless and I were about to fly up on Astrid and Stormfly's side, they dropped down in the direction of a small island in the middle of the ocean.