Run Away (HTTYD)

Stubbirn Dragon

Chapter 11

Hiccup had been in a coma for around three weeks now, and his constant caretakers were Astrid and Toothless. At least she was taking the time to eat, Astrid thought with a sigh as she glanced at Toothless. The dragon had been curled around the bed the whole time, refusing to move away from his rider, not even to eat. He just stared at the unmoving figure of his friend, waiting for him to wake up.

Sometimes the Chief came and stared at his son, as if willing him to wake up, and the other teens had visited once as she re-bandaged what was left of Hiccup's left leg, which had been crushed horribly in the battle, but all went pale at the sight and left.

Astrid got up and offered him a fish. He shook his head at her and turned away. "Toothless, please... You have to eat something!" She pleaded, holding out the fish. He grunted stubbornly in reply, and Astrid dropped the fish and stormed back to her chair.

"Fine, if you won't eat, I don't care!" Toothless only whined and nudged Hiccup again, trying to wake him up.

She sighed again and got up, announcing, "I'm going outside." She pulled open the door and slid out, closing it behind her before turning to look out at the village with a small smile. There were dragons everywhere, both flying and on the ground, some even perched on rooftops.

Astrid ran to her own house to get her axe. She'd been behind on training recently and she wanted to make up for that. She stopped outside her door, however, when she heard her name inside. She put her ear to the door, curious.

"...So it's agreed upon, then?" Her mother's voice asked.

"Aye," Astrid realized with a jolt that that was the Chief's voice. What sort of agreement would require her parents make with him in private?

"Good, I'd better start Astrid on her dowry when she gets home, then." Astrid froze. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. She couldn't get married now! She'd promised Hiccup that she'd live with him, if she was married, she couldn't go with him, and she'd be forced to break her promise.

"He'll want to forge the rings himself, of course..." Stoick's voice drifted through a crack in the door. She almost collapsed in relief at what that meant. She wasn't breaking her promise! Then she realized what that entailed. She was getting married. To Hiccup.

Astrid turned and ran. She had to tell someone. She found the twins wrestling behind their house. She made a fist and hit Tuffnut over the head. He collapsed, leaving her to smile pleasantly at Ruffnut.

"Um, what... Did you want something?" Ruff asked awkwardly. Nobody had ever dared interrupt a fight between her and her brother.

"I have to tell you something!" Astrid grabbed her arm and dragged her off into the forest. She let go when they were several minutes out of earshot.

"What is so important that you had to drag me way out here for?" Ruffnut was confused. She and Astrid were best friends, and she knew by the way Astrid was biting her lip she wanted to tell her something girly. But what could be important enough to kidnap her for?

"My parents are arranging a marriage for me." Astrid announced nervously.

"What? With who?" Now she was surprised. Both of them had always thought Astrid would be a shieldmaiden all her life. "How did this happen? It better not be Snotlout! Oh, I get it, you want me to help you beat 'Lout up?"

"No, no!" Astrid said, gagging. "It's not Snotlout! It's Hiccup!"

"Wait." Ruffnut stared at her. "You're getting married to Hiccup. Astrid! You don't even really know him, I mean, you've ignored him all his life! I know you're attracted to him now, but-" She paused to stare at her friend. "...You're blushing, Astrid."

"I know, Ruff!" Astrid sat down. "It's just... He's cute now! Before he was just the scrawny idiot who ran away from me in training, but now his eyes are... They shine when he's happy, Ruff! And his hair, it-" She cut herself off and put her head in her hands. "I don't know what to think. What changed, Ruff?"

"Nothing. He looks just like he did before, except that now he's taller and he rides a Night Fury." Ruffnut answered simply, sitting down as well. "The only real difference is that you're noticing him now."

"But I'm not ready to get married," Astrid said in a small voice, lifting her head. "And what if he doesn't want this?"

Ruffnut laughed. "You seriously never noticed, did you?"

"Notice what?" Astrid snapped, glaring. "Stop it, I'm trying to share my feelings!"

Ruff stopped laughing and explained. "He used to watch you from the forge window during raids, and he always got this look on his face, like he was seeing a Valkyrie or something."

"Really?" Astrid asked disbelievingly.

"Yeah, and when you kissed him that time in front of his dad, he got the same expression. Trust me, he likes you."

Astrid blushed harder, remembering that kiss. "I think... I think I like him, too." She admitted slowly. "But marriage? It's... It's all so soon!"

Ruffnut smirked. "And with marriage comes ceremony and tradition. When the Chief or the son of the Chief gets married, they have to go through a public consummation." She recited.

Astrid glared at her friend. "Thanks for reminding me, Ruff. Now I have another thing to panic about."

"Look at it this way, if you're both going to live on that island together, there'll be nobody around to hear you and Hiccup scream at night!" Ruffnut teased.

Astrid turned several interesting shades of red and stood, grumbling. "That's it, I'm going to talk to Stormfly instead. She needs to be fed anyway."

She stormed back to the village in search of her Nadder. She wandered around for a while, looking for her dragon, then gave up and walked back up the hill to Hiccup's house.

When she entered, Toothless didn't even raise his head. He just watched Hiccup, whining quietly. Astrid stared at her future husband for a while, then for the first time in over three years, she climbed the stairs to his room and looked around. It was exactly as she remembered, if a lot more dusty. There was paper everywhere, even tacked to the walls and ceiling. She bent down and picked up a dust-covered sketch from the ground.

She blew most of the dust off and her eyes went wide. It was her, axe poised to throw at some tree. She walked over to peer at another sketch, nailed to the wall. She didn't recognise the woman in the picture, but Stoick was standing beside her, and there was a boy about six years old in front of them with a smile on his face. She understood immediately that the woman was Hiccup's mother.

She remembered Valhallarama's funeral, vaguely. It was the only time, her parents had said, that their Chief had ever cried. Hiccup had been seven years old. So that sketch was drawn around a year before her death.

Astrid picked up another drawing. This one was of the Great Hall, during some feast or another. But the atmosphere of the page wasn't happy, despite all the smiling faces. She looked closer and realized that off to one side, in a corner, there was a small figure gazing miserably at a group of twelve year olds. It was Hiccup, watching her laughing at a table with the others. Astrid began to wonder why he hadn't left sooner.

She wandered around Hiccup's room for about an hour, quickly realizing that there was nothing of Toothless there. Hiccup must have taken them with him when he left. Most of what was there featured her in some way and she realized that Ruff was probably right about his crush on her. Astrid walked back downstairs to stare at him again.

His auburn hair was messy, some of it falling over his closed eyelids. She knew his eyes were the most brilliant forest green and tended to shine with emotion, and his smile always made her want to smile, too. Why had she ever ignored him?

"Toothless... Eat your fish. Please Toothless? You have to eat something!" The dragon refused to acknowledge either her or the fish she waved in front of his nose.

She sighed. "Toothless, if you don't eat your fish, you won't be strong enough to go flying when he wakes up." She pointed out. Before she could even finish the sentence, the fish was gone and the Night Fury was looking at her innocently.

She gave him a flat stare and left to get more fish.