THIS PICTURE IS SO FUBBERKNUCKLING CUTE
"Astrid!" I keep running. "ASTRID!" Ignore him. "Astrid, can we please talk?" Pretend he's not here.
OOOWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!
I hit my knee on the way down from the loose board, sprawling out onto the walkway, and Sven gasps, stumbling over me and falling as well. I groan, shoving him off, but he grabs my leg before I can go anywhere.
"Astrid, wait!"
"No!" I turn back, slapping his hand off, then dash off.
"Why are you even running?!" I stop for a moment, furrowing my brow. That's a good question, why am I running? I sheepishly turn back around to see a very distraught looking Sven laid out flat on the walkway, hand extended out to me. I put my hand behind my head, blushing profusely.
"Umm... I'm not really sure." He groans, flopping his head and arm back on to the planks.
"EXACTLY!" Gods, he reminds me of Hiccup so much. I purse my lips together, staying where I am. Eventually, he looks back up at me, panting from the run. "Now," He sounds like a dog. "How about, we-" Wow. Poor dude. "We talk it out?"
I nod self consciously, and he slowly gets up to his knees, shaking his head and grinning. He makes his way over to me, breathing gently. He sticks out a hand, and I flinch momentarily.
He rolls his eyes and grabs me by my forearm, pulling me behind someone's hut. I'm too frenzied to see who's.
I squeeze his cheeks, causing him to yelp as I swivel him around to face me.
"Alright, alright, I'm sorry that I was watching you guys, and I'm sorry for intruding, and I'm sorry for-" He tries to stop me, but I'm rambling at this point. "An- And I stopped you guys from having your moment, and Ingrid's crying, and DEAR GOD, WHERE'S INGRID?!" I spin around to face him, ready to slap the boy. "YOU LEFT HER CRYING!?"
He facepalms, dragging the hand down between his eyes.
"No, I'm not that stupid." I sigh in relief, dropping my raised arm. Now that I think about it, he did arrive a bit later after I left. He gestures to where the houses split out to the walkway, sighing. "I talked with her for a bit and she calmed down. She wanted to be alone, and asked if I could come back in a bit." I sigh, nodding. His mouth then twitches, forming into a smirk that looks a lot like Hiccup's. "And by the way, you don't have to be so sorry." I'm confused.
"What?"
"You don't have to be so sorry. I mean, sure, you were watching us like a creep," We both blush at this, "And that was kinda embarrassing, but it wasn't your fault she cried." He purses his lips, looking down and scuffing the wooden planks with his boot toe. "Actually.." He frowns, wincing at something. His gaze shoots up to mine, and he starts to back away. "I- I need to go, she needs me." He dashes off, and soon I see a dragon shaped shadow zip across the crack between buildings.
Go help her.
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The little crumpled up ball of human shook against the silvery tears flowing down her face with growing speed. A gasp for breath, and another shudder.
He had hurt her.
Assulted her.
Invaded her.
Spoke against her.
Betrayed her.
Everything she had ever feared just happened. She needs to escape. Legs aching, she rises from her position on the floor, only to be greeted by a dark shadow looming over her in the doorway.
'Where are you going?' He sneers. Her hopes fall, heart crumbling inside of her chest. A choked whisper escapes her lips, just before a hand squeezes around her neck, forcing a new flood of tears to slide down her wet face.
'N- Nowhere.'
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I slide off of Stormy, dashing into the sparse clump of white trunked trees. I peek around one, and she's still there, head burrowed into her knees.
She isn't shaking anymore. <--666 words haha. 😅
I slowly make my way over to her, and when I gently put my hand to her shoulder, she pulls away quickly, flinching under my touch.
I settle down beside her, when I realize that she's fallen asleep. No wonder she didn't look up to me. I fidget with my fingers for a bit, then bite my lip and I softly settle it on her knee, touching her hand as discreetly as I can.
She gasps, eyes flying open as she screams, clutching her hair and squeezing her eyes shut.
I'm alarmed by this, but remain silent as she sobs, gently rocking back and forth. I gently lay my hand on her forearm, and this time she doesn't push me away. Soon she's leaning into me, my arm wrapped around her as she cries into my shirt, forehead rested in the crook of my neck.
She breathes heavily, choking between gasps for air.
"Sven, I- I'm so sorry, I-" She wipes her eyes, only for a new river to come gushing through. "I didn't mean to- to scare you, o- or hurt you, or-" I pull her closer, resting my chin on her head as I quiet her down.
"Shh.. It's fine." She chokes again, grasping at my tunic and shaking. "It was an accident." She shudders, tears and breaths slowing down as she rests in my arms.
"I- It was a- a dream.." She bites her lips, previous tears still falling as new ones form to push them out. "About him. A memory." I stroke her hair, unsure about what to be doing with my hands at the moment, but at the same time trying to comfort her.
"Him who?" She gasps out for air, shaking again.
"B- Bl-" She can't even say his name, she begins to shudder and cry silently.
"Bludvic?" She nods, biting her lip and widening her eyes, trying to rid of her tears and stop crying. "Hey." I take her chin gently and bring it up to look at me, her frightened face saying all I need to know. "It's okay to cry." She nods again silently, placing her head back into my chest as she lets the tears silently fall, each one wetting my tunic even more than before. But I don't care.
Soon she gasps, pulling her head away and placing her hand to her mouth and then dropping it.
"Oh, Sven, y- your shirt I- I'm so sorry, oh t-" I clamp my hand over her mouth, smiling at her sympathetically.
"Ingrid, it's fine. I don't care about my shirt. I just wanna be here for you." Her eyes widen and her eyebrows raise up as she stares in disbelief. I poke her nose and she looks down, blushing. Don't ask me why I did that, it just felt instinctual.
I scoot closer, biting my lip as her fingers somehow intertwine with mine.
"So, umm.." Gods, how I say this? "W- What happened with.. him?" She bites her lip.
"Uhh.... C- Can you go first?" She looks so innocent and hopeless that I can't say no. (hamilton reference is begging to be let out, but I REFUSE!)
"Sure." She smiles gratefully, and I grin back to her tear stained face. "So, I'm his nephew by marriage. Nephew in law, I guess you could say?" She nods, tears slowing down. I shrug, taking her hand into my lap and messing with her fingers mindlessly, before I remember that they're not mine and put them down, hoping that she didn't notice how awkward that was. "I dunno, I worked for him for a long time." I smirk, looking down at her hand.
"I was a guard in training when Hiccup found me. My mother-" I feel myself choke internally, but I continue on and ignore the bubbling sadness from inside. "Sent me to work for him when she couldn't take care of me anymore, I was really young." She nods thoughtfully, tears dried up, but eyes still red and puffy. "I hated it there. The dude despised me." I laugh softly, and she looks down, running her thumb in circles over my hand.
She sighs.
"He hated me too." She chokes again, tears rushing to her eyes. "Even though-" She squeezes her eyes shut, then looks up to me with her brows furrowed. "I'm his own daughter."
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Super short chapter, but MUAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAAA!!!!
I'll see you on the other side of the war.
~Emmathepug