Hiccup's POV
Two months. Two months had passed since I had stumbled upon my long-lost wife in the middle of the skies and convinced her to come back home with me. Though many things had changed about her, the longer she spent back home she slowly but surely began to become better.
In the beginning, she had refused to leave the house for other things than taking Stormfly out for a flight around Berk. About two weeks later, she slowly began eating dinner with the rest of us at the Meade Hall and eventually she began staying for longer than just dinner. It took her about a month to start talking again and the first time I heard her laugh, my heart soared.
It was a long process, but she was pulling through it like the strong Viking she was. I, on the other hand, had been sleeping on the couch for two months. Or rather, in the guest bedroom (also know as my parents' old bedroom). I only went upstairs whenever I needed clothes from the dresser or some parchment from my desk. Let's just say that mine and Astrid's love life ... well, it hadn't been eventful. At all. But I was willing to wait, no matter how long it took. Even if she could never stand to share a bed with me ever again, I would still love her with all of my heart.
I was flipping through some mail at the dining table, Toothless sleeping soundly by the hearth, when the door suddenly swung open. I glanced up from my papers and found none other than my wife herself standing in the doorway, hands behind her back as she avoided eye contact with me. "How was it at my mom's?"
Oh yes, I forgot to mention that. Astrid and my mother have always had a close relationship, but after Astrid came back, it's only improved. She spent many evenings over at my mother's, doing whatever it is women do when they're alone. She only came home to sleep before she went out again the next day, following her new routine of flying with Stormfly, hanging with Ruffnut, eating at the Meade Hall and spending time with my mother.
Was I jealous that she spent more time with my mother than with me? Yes, but I always reminded myself that this was what she had to do to get better and perhaps one day she would become well enough to share with me what had happened and spend some time with me as well.
"It was fine. Valka was lovely, as usual." Astrid tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear as she began eyeing the stairs.
"Good to hear. I suppose this is goodnight then?" I asked, not bothering to take my eyes of the scroll I was reading through as I already knew the answer to my own question.
"Actually," Astrid took a step closer to me. "I was wondering if maybe ... you wanted to, Uh, come back upstairs?"
I put down the scroll I held in my hands and raised a brow. "You want me to sleep with you? In the bed?"
Astrid cleared her throat as she scratched the back of her head. "I mean ... you don't have to if you don't want to, it was just a suggestion."
"No, no! Believe me, I want to, but are you sure you want me there, with you?" I stood from my chair and took a step closer to her. Finally her eyes met mine and I could see the way she was shaking as her eyes darted from one point of the room to another before meeting mine again for a split-second, as if she couldn't stand to keep eye contact with me for a long amount of time.
But then, she shut her eyes and shook her head, stopping the slight shaking. "Yes, I am. I ... I miss you, Hiccup."
Then she did something that really surprised me; she wrapped her arms around me and pulled me into a tight hug. For a moment, all I could do was just to stand there dumbfounded, not really knowing what was going on, but eventually I relaxed and eased into the embrace. "Are you sure you're alright?"
Astrid turned her head up so our eyes met before nodding, though it was obvious that she was focused on taking deep breaths. "Yes, I'm sure. You make me ... you make me feel safe."
I rubbed circles around her back as I pressed a soft kiss to her forehead. "Don't do anything that makes you feel uncomfortable, alright?"
All she did was nod as she rested her head against my chest, her shoulders sinking ever so slightly as she melted into my embrace.
***
A loud thud shook the ground beneath us, instantly waking us from our sleep. Astrid and I shot up in bed simultaneously and shared a look of confusion before we noticed Toothless snarling from where he was peeking out of the window.
"What's happening?" Astrid asked as she rushed over to gather her clothes and get dressed.
"I have no clue," I began as I pulled on my pants and began tightening the leather straps. "But Toothless certainly does not seem to like it."
Toothless jumped from the window and pounced over to the stairs, which he elegantly l leapt off as a growl emerged from his throat. I was in the middle of pulling on the last of my clothes and tightening the final straps when another large thud made the house shake, followed by a chorus of screams. This time, we didn't hesitate before grabbing our weapons, running down the stairs and out the already open front door, courtesy of Toothless.
The sight that met us was one I had hoped I would never have to see again. Houses were on fire, the flames casting an orange glow on the many homes that were still draped in the darkness of the night. Some of the homes were already smashed to debris by large, scorched boulders that had shattered through them. A portion of our people were scattered along the ground, some severely hurt and others ... dead. We stared at the scene ahead of us in horror before we turned our heads to the sea, where an armada had gathered in our waters, their iron catapults glittering in the moonlight. It didn't take us long to figure out who was attacking us, especially as their sails were marked by their famed tribal crest: the Skrill.
A loud, sharp whistle erupted from behind me and I quickly recognized it as Astrid's urgent call for Stormfly. I turned to face her and found her to look exactly like the Astrid I had always known and loved. A chilling fierceness had taken over her features as her eyes had settled in a glare colder than the iceberg we had frozen the Skrill in many years prior. She balanced her heavy battle axe in her hands, throwing it back and forth with ease as the sharp blade sliced through the air. My gods was she hot.
Before I even had the chance to pull out my own weapon and go after the bastard I knew was hiding on one of those ships, another flaming boulder came hurtling through the skies. I noticed it quickly and roared a warning: "Toothless!"
The night fury quickly took notice and shot plasma blast at the boulder, blowing it to smithereens. It was first then that I noticed that he was in fact donning his alpha-alter ego. Steam seemed to pour out of his flaring nostrils as his spines lit up and burned with an electric blue. A roar unlike any other I had ever heard before burst from his vocal cords as the entire island seemed to shake from its raw might.
I stood there for a second, mouth hanging wide open as I watched my dragon, the king of dragons, truly don his alpha-form. Mere seconds later, the sky was darkened even further by the masses of dragons that filled it up, all eager to command their leader.
Toothless eventually turned around, beckoning me to get up on his back. That's when I knew that my best friend was still in there, somewhere beneath that fierce exterior. I climbed atop him, but before I allowed us to take off, I turned towards Astrid.
Astrid was sitting atop Stormfly, glaring at the large armada gathered in our waters, still attempting to hurtle flaming boulders at us, only for them to be stopped by our dragon army, who were blasting the boulders straight out of the sky. "Astrid, not only as my general but as my wife, would you mind fighting side by side with me?"
For a second she did not reply, she only glared at the ships that threatened our island. Eventually she turned to me, her cold glare momentarily melting. "Of course. We won't ever leave each other's sides again, remember?"
I couldn't help but smile as she recalled that day I had found her once again all those months ago. "Of course I do. Now will you command our troops while I take care of the dragons?"
And for the first time in months, a smirk played across her features. "With pleasure."
I patted Toothless' neck as Astrid gathered both our dragon riders and our other warriors behind us. "You know what to do, right bud?"
The dragon let out a snort, his eyes glued to the enemy in our waters. I took that as a 'yes'.
"Hiccup," Astrid called and I turned to face her. "The dragon riders are mounted and the warriors are on their way to the harbor and the beach."
"Great. What do you say we show them what we've got, King of dragons?" I asked my night fury as he let out a vicious roar and we took off into the skies, followed closely by Astrid, Stormfly, the other dragon riders and an army of dragons.
"Let's blast some Berserkers, everyone!" I bellowed as we dove down towards the ships, blasting those closest to our beaches. For a moment, it all seemed to be going well. Then the dragon proof nets were brought onto the playing field.
I attempted to chase the other dragons back into the sky, but they refused to listen to my commands. They would only listen to the alpha, who was busy avoiding nets of his own as he furiously launched attacks on every ship in sight. Had I lost control of my dragon? Possibly.
Astrid and Stormfly followed closely behind the two of us. Astrid was standing atop her dragon, batting away the incoming nets from both her and her dragon with the help of her axe whilst Stormfly was busy deflecting nets that were threatening to capture Toothless and I.
As we shot across the ocean surface, I managed to free some of the dragons that had gotten caught in the nets and had been lucky enough to land in the water within the reach of my blade. Eventually, I was also able to convince Toothless to get us up and out of range of both arrows and nets, but he certainly wasn't very happy about it.
The first rays of sunshine peeked up from the horizon, bathing our battleground in its golden glow. Our dragon army had been cut in half. Some of our dragon riders had gone down as well, one of the most notable ones being Fishlegs and the twins along with their dragons. Fortunately, they were still alive, but they were incredibly pissed over getting
shot down by Berserkers. I let out a sigh at the sight that loomed beneath from where we were hovering in the skies. Some of Berserkers had managed to get to the beach and the harbor, and blood now stained both the water and the sand. Painful memories flashed through my mind as I spared a glance over at my wife, who I had to remind myself was still with me, alive and kicking.
"We should be down there, with them." She grumbled, brows furrowed as she stared somberly down at our warriors. Of course she wanted to be down there with them, she was both a warrior and their general. As a warrior, it was her duty, her privilege to fight until the bitter end, surrounded by your allies instead of standing on the sidelines and watching hundreds of brave men and women die for something they have nothing or little to do with. Warriors stuck together until the bitter end and it was clear Astrid was displeased with seeing her soldiers die from the sidelines.
"I know, I know, but we have to ground these dragons and find Dagur before he does even more damage than he has already done." I explained, my eyes still fixed on that bloody beach, my entire body shuddering at the sight.
"There!" My mother called out from behind me, where she was standing atop Cloudjumper. I followed her finger to where it was pointing and quickly found my blood to be boiling in my veins. There, at the edge of a cliff — in classic, dramatic Dagur style — stood the scarred, red-headed Chief of the Berserkers with what I presumed to be a smug grin on his face.
"Mom, Gobber, you handle the dragons and fish up the twins and Fishlegs, Astrid and I will be going after Dagur." I ordered as I prepared both me and Toothless to dive.
"Wait!" Astrid stopped me in my tracks as I turned to face her. "There isn't space enough for both Toothless and Stormfly to land there."
"Fine, jump onto Toothless. I'll tell him to call off his dragons." I patted my dragon on the top of his head as Astrid and Stormfly flew over us and Astrid gently dropped off her dragon and onto Toothless' back. "Hey bud, you can tell them to rest now."
Surprisingly, but also not surprisingly at all, Toothless did as he was told and called off the wild dragons that had come to help him. "It's up to the dragon riders now, mom. Good luck!"
Astrid and I waved them goodbye before we plummeted down towards the sea, Toothless only straightening up right before we reached the cliff and he elegantly landed on it. By the time we had landed there, Dagur had retreated towards the edge of the forest gathered around the cliff.
"Well if it isn't the famous Haddock couple themselves, come here to greet me on such a momentous day!" Dagur grinned so wide the scar on his face scrunched together.
Astrid and I both slid off Toothless, weapons in hand as the dragon growled at the deranged Chief before us. I lit up my blade as I took a step closer to the Berserker.
"Why are you here Dagur?"
"I thought it was obvious!" Dagur cackled. "I've come back to take my revenge! And this time, I'm not alone!"
Astrid and I both raised our brows as we shared a look of confusion. Astrid tightened her grip on her axe. "What do you mean 'you're not alone'?"
A crazed grin stretched across his features once again. "As it turns out, I'm not the only one who wants revenge on you guys! Isn't that great? You can come out now, buddy!"
A large figure stepped out into the early morning rays of sunshine, his face darkening as he laid eyes on Astrid. There was one man I would never forget, one man that had been forever burnt into my memory and he was standing right in front of me, grinning almost as wide as Dagur.
"Long time no see, Haddocks."