HICCUPS POV.
"You ready to go?" Hiccup asked Astrid who trailed out of his house a few paces behind him. He had noticed her eyes fixed on Toothless who outstretched his wings now that they were outside. "If we leave now we may be able to get back to your village by mid-day." He said tightening the belt around his waist to keep his sword from swaying to much during flight.
After to long of not hearing or seeing Astrid he looked back to check if she was still there. She was but something was different. The way she looked at Toothless. Before whenever she looked at the Night Fury he could see anger in her eyes, loathing, disgust. But know when he looked into her ocean blue eyes.
All he saw was pure hatred. The kind of hatred to make you go insane. The kind of hatred to make you kill. "What's wrong?" He asked studying her body language further. Her fists were balled, her skin had a reddened tone, and all her muscles tight. "Astrid?" He asked a final time pulling her out of her thoughts.
Her muscles and clenched fists relaxed and she turned to him. "What did you say?" She asked, her voice laced with anger and annoyance. "Are you okay? You seem different." She scoffed at his concern and rolled her eyes. "How could I seem different to you! We haven't even had more than five minutes of a conversation!" She exclaimed.
Hiccup dropped the subject and went back to his own business of tightening the straps on Toothless's saddle so it wouldn't slide and shift under the weight of two people. Toothless let out a unhappy roar as he moved his front left left trying to loosen one of the tight leather straps.
"I'm sorry bud, but it's only for a little bit." He said giving him an encouraging pat on top of his head. Hiccup had a feeling, like someone was watching him. He turned around and to no surprise Astrids eyes quickly darted away from the two and she turned away from them.
Hiccup rose from the ground beside Toothless and walked up behind her slowly as if he approached to quickly she'd attack. He outstretched his right hand and directed it towards her shoulder but he stopped himself. She was right. They didn't know each other. Or at least she didn't know him, not in the way she thought as least.
He lowered his hand back down to his side and let out a sigh it's sound being amplified by his mask. She turned around and gave him a questioning look. "What do you want?" She took a step back because the two had been standing so close together they could almost touch.
"Were ready to leave." He said with a slight stutter in his voice. He began to rub the back of his neck to break the tension between the two of them as Astrid glanced at Toothless. "I'm not riding it." She said flatly. "Him." He corrected before she could start talking again.
"You must have a long boat around here somewhere." She said gesturing to the island. "Sorry but the only way on or off the island is by dragon." He said leading her over to Toothless who eyed her suspiciously. They were about five feet away from mounting onto Toothless before she pulled away from him.
"I can't, I won't ride that beast." She said, her tone getting fairly aggressive. "Toothless is no beast I can assure you." He said offering his hand to her as he mounted Toothless. "Your right he's not a beast! He's a killer!" Astrid spat out and Toothless looked away and let out a sad coo.
And that's when it clicked in his head, why she had been on edge around Toothless all day. And not just because he was a Night Fury. "What did a dragon do to you, that you hold them all accountable." He asked and she stiffened under his words. He had struck a nerve.
"What, who did you loose." He asked. He wasn't sure if that's why she didn't like dragons. If she didn't like them because they had taken someone precious to her but when she stiffened more under those precise words he continued. "Who? Both your parents are still alive, and you don't have any other family."
He took a risk at her finding out who he was by saying that he knew she didn't have any other family but she seemed to miss that he brought it up. He dismounted Toothless and walked over to her. He grabbed her by the metal armor she wore around he shoulders and looked her in her eyes.
"Who?" He asked, his voice calm and caring. And that's when she broke. In the corner of her left eye he saw a small tear form. "Hiccup." She said and he simply stepped away from her. After a moment of shock he responded. "Who's Hiccup?" He asked as if he had no idea who he was.
Before the tear had even left her eye she wiped it away. She clearly didn't like showing vulnerability around him. Well he was also pretty sure she didn't like showing vulnerability around anyone. "Hiccup was an old friend." A look of sadness over came her face. "If I could even call him my friend." She did to quick blinks. "He was always so nice to us, he was always so nice to everyone."
For a moment the sadness faded from her face as she must had remembered a memory of him but it quickly disappeared and sadness re-took the stage. "But nobody was nice to him. Not even his own father." Hiccup slowly shook his head whenever she made another point about how they had been so mean to him.
On the outside all she could see was a man in a mask standing in front of her. But behind that mask was the very person she spoke of. "He was a lot scrawnier than the other Vikings and the other teens including myself all picked on him for it." Her face know registered disgust. But not at him and Toothless, but at herself.
"Then one day dragon training started and all the teens including myself and Hiccup attended. And he was amazing at it, and I... I was, l..." She could barely say the next few words. "I was jealous of him. And I spent days cursing his name." Hiccup now felt himself crushed by her words.
For many years he knew she had hated him. And for many years he had expected that she had cursed his name. But for her to know admit that she actually had. Made the pain almost unbearable. "Then he got the privilege to kill the Monstrous Nightmare. And I was furious." She balled one of her fists and Hiccup was almost certain some of that anger was still with her.
"But then later that day..." Her voice became overwhelmed with sadness. "He was killed, eaten by that very dragon you ride upon." She said pointing at Toothless with hatred burning in her eyes. But Hiccup paid no attention to this. He was lost in his own thoughts.
So that's what everyone on Berk had thought happened to him. That Toothless had eaten him. "And what happened to his dad?" Hiccup asked in a chocked voice. He had always thought that maybe his dad had figured he ran off. But Astrid and everyone on Berk thought he was dead. And the thought of what his supposed death could have done to his father terrified him.
"What happened to his dad?" He asked tears welling up in his eyes. Astrid didn't notice his sudden emotional reaction to her story and she answered him. "At first he was overcome with grief." The words crushed him. "But then that grief became anger. And it's been anger ever since." She said finally finishing off her story.
"Astrid." He said and she looked up into his eyes. "Toothless did not kill you friend." She looked offended. "How after that whole story can you still be on their side." She accused him. "Even though Toothless may have killed you friend." The words were painful for him to say. He was not only agreeing with the fact that his friends and family back on Berk thought her was dead.
But also him almost agreeing with the fact that dragons were killers. "You must not hold it against him, as he does not hold against you the death of many members of his species." He said the last few words slowly making sure they sunk in and he walked over to Toothless who had been silently observing the show.
Toothless gave a low purr as Hiccup got onto the saddle and clipped his feet into the peddles making so he could control Toothless's mechanical tail fin. He offered his hand to Astrid and she accepted this time. But she was still stiff when she took a seat in front of him on Toothless's back.
"Let's get you home." He said wrapping his left arm around Astrids waist to secure her as the three blasted into the sky. Heading for Berk along with the rising sun.
(Authors Note)
A new chapter finally I was able to get it done and break through my writers block. I only hope it doesn't return before I can get a few more chapters out. I have literally been sitting looking at this chapter for four days trying to finish it perfectly. I was going to make this chapter longer but I find the longer I make a chapter the worse it gets. Well that's enough babbling from me. I hope you enjoyed the chapter and I'm off. -Samuel Scutter