How To Win The Soul of A Dragon

Chapter 23

"I...Uh..." I giggled slightly.

"I'm kidding! You should know that by now!" he was about to say something, but Gobber didn't let him.

"Uh, you might want to take this one" he said, patting his friend's shoulder. I assumed he had seen Valka.

"Oh, boy" muttered Stoick, taking out his sword. I opened my eyes wide and stared at Hiccup, urging him to do or say something.

"Uh, dad, could you put the sword away, please?" asked my friend, understanding my stare. Attacking your long lost wife and mother of your son was not the best way to start mending the relationship.

Stoick approached the entrance, and the sound of a sword dropping was heard after some seconds. We all positioned ourselves right behind him, while our dragons poked their heads up. We looked like a couple of children staring at a picture curiously, all in a single line while Stoick took off his helmet.

"I know what you are gonna say, Stoick" started Valka, looking at the floor "How could I have done this? Stayed away all of these years, and why didn't I come back to you? To our son?" I looked at Hiccup, who seemed nervous "Well...What sign did I have that you could change, Stoick? That anyone on Berk could?" Stoick still didn't answer. He was approaching his wife slowly, and looking at her with eyes wide open "I pleaded so many times to stop the fighting, to find another answer, but did any of you listen?"

"This is why I never married" said Gobber, making us both look at him "This, and one other reason" I gave him a suspicious look, trying to figure out what he meant by that, but a steady breath coming for Valka caught my attention and made me turn back to the scene developing in front of us.

"I know that I left you to raise Hiccup alone, but I thought he'd be better off without me" a child was never better off without his mother; it was quite the opposite, actually. I was not blaming Valka, not at all; don't get me wrong, I was just saying that, as someone who practically grew without a mother, children needed their moms "And I was wrong. I see that now, but..." Stoick kept approaching her, and it made me even more nervous. I had no idea what he wanted to do, or if he was even planning on doing anything at all. Valka was scurrying backwards slowly; the closer Stoick got, the further Valka went.

She finally bumped into the ice wall "Stop being so stoic, Stoick!" she exclaimed "Go on, shout, scream, say something!" she seemed desperate to get a reaction out of his husband, or she was actually desperate.

Stoick finally stood in front of her and, much to my surprise, and everyone's in the room, I was  sure, he placed his hand on Valka's cheek.

"You are as beautiful as the day I lost you" and that was when I couldn't handle it anymore. I walked quickly to the entrance of the tunnel, trying to calm myself down. That scene, while beautiful, was way too painful for me to cope with. The fact that I could never witness a scene like that with my parents ever again felt as if the world had crumbled down on my shoulders.

"Okay, something is definitely wrong" I heard a voice behind me, and I turned back to see Hiccup. What was he doing out there? He had to be in there with his family!

"It's nothing. I'm fine, really" he approached me, he didn't believe a word, and he was right not to.

"Lexi, you are my best friend, I know when something's not right, and something definitely isn't. What's going on?" I should have said 'nothing'. I should have told him to go back in there and be happy, but I didn't. I couldn't force myself to do it, and that made me feel even worse.

"It's a really selfish thing to say..."

"'Lex" he grabbed me from the hands gently, making me look up to him. I'm not going to say what I felt when he did that, because you can already deduce it "There's nothing that you can say that will make me think you are selfish, you should know that by now" I smiled weakly but, then, I sighed; that was going to be a really long conversation.