𝐑𝐔𝐍𝐀𝐖𝐀𝐘

Chapter-17

Astrid stared up in disbelief, her cheeks instantaneously flushed and her hands flew to her mouth in awe. Hiccup's helmet lay strewn at his feet as he clenched his fists and eyed Snotlout coldly. The name, Ryder, had been forgotten as he revealed himself for the first time to the person that he held a grudge. His eyes shown the pain that he had felt for the last six years, and then he looked down at Astrid, the maiden on her knees. Hiccup's eyes changed from ones of pain, to ones of regret and the rest of his face showed it too. He walked cautiously to the far wall of the cell before slumping against it and running his hands through his auburn hair.

Astrid began to stand on her shaking legs, using the cell's bars to aid her. She quickly stumbled over to Hiccup; and as slowly as she stood, she swiftly fell at his side and hugged him. Astrid could only sympathise for she had no idea what could be going through his head, there was nothing, virtually nothing that would protect Hiccup from the truth of his disappearance and of what he had to sacrifice to get here. Hiccup didn't budge as he was held in Astrid's embrace, yet he cried a single tear for his thanks.

"Fishlegs," Snotlout stuttered out, "that's... Hiccup-" he choked on his words as the tone Hiccup used on him set in. Hiccup was angry, Snotlout's cousin was angry with him. The thought that he had just blamed his cousin of being the murderer of himself would have been humorous to a bystander, but it was an absolute horror to the one whom said it. Now Snotlout was in a turmoil of emotions, he hated himself for hating his cousin, for failing his duties to protect his cousin, but the pain he felt outweighed his self-hate, and he collapsed.

The thud of Snotlout's passed-out self falling to the floor jolted Ruffnut awake. Her body sprung to life but her brain did not, except for when her head hit the floor again--sufficiently making her alert to her surroundings. Ruffnut, being a self-proclaimed woman of deduction, quickly took note of her environment; and from the rocking of the room and the tarred wall, she felt it safe to assume they were on a ship of sorts. Fishlegs heard the crash of her helmet on the floor and worriedly turned to look in the direction of the twins.

"Ugh- we're captured, again!" Ruffnut complained loudly.

Astrid gazed at Hiccups features, seeing them for the first time. She looked at the stubble that was faint on his sturdy, angled jaw, complimented by his messy, dark auburn hair. His green eyes still shown bright with the hope Hiccup had always had, even though they were tearing over. His eyebrows were barely visible to Astrid's sight but she could tell that he kept good care of himself. Even though he had never shown his face, to her knowledge. Her eyes travelled down to his lips and she felt her cheeks flush and her skin grow cold from her memory of the lost boy.

A little cut, just under his mouth, on the right side of his face, caught Astrid's attention. She hadn't noticed it before when they were younger, when everything was normal; but thinking back, it had always been there. The cut, barely noticeable, seemed to complete his look.

Astrid didn't know what to do, she wanted to comfort Hiccup and tell him that everything would be all right, but she couldn't find the words. In the time that she had come to know him, he had changed from the perky young boy to a war-hardened young man. Luckily his sarcasm was still intact. This was the Hiccup that Astrid had come to know; and although she didn't understand fully, she was still warming her way into hid mind.

Astrid, still having Hiccup in her arms, held tighter, trying her best to comfort him. Hiccup, for the first time in years, was scared of the people around him, and he didn't have the slightest clue as to what he should do. Astrid raised one of her hands and started to play with his hair absent mindedly, and this did bring Hiccup some comfort, allowing for him to think. He looked up as he thought, drawing Astrid's attention, and he looked at Fishlegs.