A Promise To Keep

It Was A Matter Of Time

Firstly, I would like thank all of you for the wait. It did take a while for motivation to finally kick in, but when it did, I couldn't be any happier. Hopefully, this momentum will continue and I can finish this story soon. So, without further ado, I hope you enjoy.

And I apologise in advance for any sadness that may develop :)

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The sun was starting to set over the horizon by the time Hiccup left the hospital. But despite staying there for about 9 hours before Mrs Hofferson finally came back from work, it didn't feel that long to him. In fact, he wished he had stayed there for even longer.

As he sat in the middle section of the bus, reading his Vikings and Dragons book, while occasionally looking out of the window and watching the scenery pass by, his mind thought back to those hours. How he and Astrid engaged in so much conversation, and despite being so sick, she still acted like her usual self. Like there wasn't an illness slowly taking her over. Deep down, it always outstand him how she acted. In a way, it was almost inspiring.

But at the same time, it was almost scary. It still scared him how close she looked to death. At times, he felt like a bodyguard, constantly watching over her and not moving his eyes away from her, in fear that she would close her eyes and never open them again.

"Why does it have to be like this?" He sighed, trying not to think too much about it as he made him anxious, but to no prevail. He really cared about Astrid and it didn't want this to happen to her. Not yet anyway.

Soon, his bus arrived in the town and he walked back to his house, greeting his dad and cat. As he was having his dinner, the anxious thought still bellowed in his mind. So afterwards, he decided to read his book upstairs, stroking Toothless' back, in an attempt to clear his mind. But that attempt didn't seem to work, and it only got worst once he finally decided to go to bed. 

Now Hiccup found himself lying in bed, staring at the ceiling in the middle of the night, without a sense of tiredness to finally bring him to a slumber. He hated this feeling of not being able to do the simplest of things like sleeping, all because his mind could not stop thinking about Astrid. He sighed in frustration before turning to lie on his side.

"She's going to be OK." He repeated in his head once more. "She's going to be fine..."

Suddenly, he heard a buzzing sound, coming from his phone. He sat up and reached his arm out towards the bed counter to grab his phone. The bright screen light on the phone caused him to squint his eyes drastically as he quickly turned down the brightness. Once his vision adjusted to the new light source, he focused back on the screen, where his eyes immediately grew at the sight.

It was a message notification. From Astrid.

Hiccup didn't waste a second to unlock his phone and enter the message notification.

'Hey Hiccup' It was a simple message, but it made his eyes sting as they began to water up. He quickly wiped them away before texting back to her.

'Hey Astrid. How are you feeling?'

'Feel the same. Take that what you will. How about you?'

It took every ounce of his body not to overthink the message before replying.

'OK, I guess. Just can't sleep.'

'Yeah, me too. Honestly, I'm glad to hear that's the case. Makes me feel less guilty :D'

Hiccup couldn't help but chuckle a bit. It really felt like he was talking to her face to face again. But then, a dreaded thought came to mind.