Epilogue

"Toothless!" I shout as I run through the woods, slapping branches and bushes out of my way.

I can hear my labored breathing over the sound of angry roars, and heavy footsteps. An arrow whistles past my ear and buries it self in the tree in front of me, causing me to slip and fall down the ravine. I roll down the ravine cursing every time I hit a rock or a branch. Hitting the bottom with a hard thud, my vision starts to blur. Get up, you have to get up! I shout to my self. I can't, my vision is tinted red, and everything is spinning. I see a shadow of a person standing over me. Then I feel hands dragging me to my feet, telling me we have to keep moving. Astrid? Oh yeah, Astrid. We make it into a clearing and see the cliff in front of us. We run to the edge."Toothle-" A searing pain in my back prevents me from finishing my sentence. I hear Astrid scream for Toothless, as she supports me. I look down an see an arrow protruding from shoulder. My muscles are no longer responding to my commands. My thoughts slow dramatically, and I can no longer breathe. Everyone of my cells seem to be on fire. As everything fades to black I have a sensation of falling.

24 Hours Earlier

"C'mon bud, we gotta head out early if we're gonna make it to Dragons Edge on time." I say to Toothless while scratching his chin. I hear a dragon screech and look up. It's her. I notice she has a bag slung over her shoulder. I busy myself with making sure the straps on Toothless are correct.

"Hey Hiccup." Astrid says nervously. I don't acknowledge her presence, so she stands there in silence.

After a few minutes I respond in a deadpan voice. "I didn't think you were still coming."

I can see her search for something on my face. Maybe pain. She won't find any…simply because it was replaced with anger hours ago.

"O-Of course." She stammers, I feel a tinge of guilt as I see the hurt clearly on her face, but then I remember why I'm angry in the first place."Hiccup about what I di-" I cut her off before she can finish her sentence.

"We should head out now if we want to reach Dragon's Edge in 2 days." She takes a step back.

"I know, but I still want to apologize." She begins. "What I did was wrong, but I didn't mean to. God Hiccup I feel awful." We stare at each other. A part of me wants to forgive Astrid, but I can't. Not yet.

"Its fine Astrid, we're just friends remember? Why would I be upset?" I throw her words back in her face allowing some of my anger to seep through. She flinches as if I struck her.

"Are you ready or should we stand here and talk some more?" I stare at her. She bites her lip and stares at her boots. After a minute she nods her head and looks back up at me, her eyes pleading for me to extend forgiveness. I look away, not willing to meet her gaze.

She climbs onto Stormfly and we are about to take off when she softly says "I am so sorry Hiccup, I never meant to hurt you."

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As we soar through the the air I have time to mull over my thoughts. My father was attending the annual gathering of Chiefs, and he told me it was important that I come. Leaving clear instructions not to do anything stupid, Astrid and I took off for for Berk. Upon landing we boarded the boat. It wasn't too long of of trip, roughly a day. We took a boat because Berk has a fondness for dragons, but not everyone else does. Our destination is a neutral island with a massive hall in the middle. We disembarked and began off loading our stuff.

"Stoick! Is that you!" Shouts one of the Chiefs.

"Aye!, the one and only." My dad responds.

He walks up towards us and gives my dad a hearty hug. "This wouldn't be that boy of yours?" He asks looking at me.

"My he's grown!" He slaps my back with a hearty laugh. "You remember my son Finn." A blonde haired, blue eyed man walks up.

Finn shakes my dads hand, he would've shaken mine, if he could pry his eyes off of Astrid long enough.

After we had done our customary greetings we all headed into the hall. The speaker droned on for hours about things so boring it should be considered torture. Astrid elbows me in the side, abruptly ending my nap. I snap to attention hoping no one saw. Satisfied that everyone was focused on the speaker I shift my weight. Well not everyone was paying attention to the speaker, Finn was intently...studying Astrid. I groan inwardly.

By the time we finish it's well past dark. We all head to the Meade hall to enjoy the rest of evening. I remember my father telling me to enjoy myself as he and Gobber and some other Chiefs take a seat and the counter. Astrid and I sit with the rest of the kids of Chiefs.

"What's wrong?" Astrid ask me while taking seat. "Don't tell me feather weight Hiccup is out of the game already?" She's sitting really close to me, and I can feel the heat coming off her shoulder. Not to mention the smell of ale wafting off her breath.

"Please Astrid, we all know I could drink circles around you if I wanted to." I say confidently. I'm rewarded with one of her beautiful laughs.

"Is that a challenge Haddock?" She says with playful punch on my arm. "I would hate for you to lose in front of all these people." A servant passes by and we both take a mug of ale.

I'm not much of a drinker so it takes me a little while to empty my mug. Astrid rest her head on my shoulder with a drunken sigh. I look around and I see my father and Gobber trying to see who can destroy their liver quicker. I smile with contentment. I look up and see Finn walking in our general direction and my smile disappears. I don't feel like talking to him.

"Hey Astrid, I'm gonna get some air. It's getting a little loud in here." I whisper. She sighs, but let's me up.

"Hurry back!" She shouts as she grabs another mug of ale and scoots closer to the other teens. I smile and head towards the exit. Pushing open the door I take a deep breath of fresh air. The stars are sparkling in the most glorious of ways. I kick the dirt next to me, wishing Toothless were here. My thoughts stray back to Astrid, and I instantly smile. My heart aches for her. I think about our first kiss and how each and everyone of our kisses since then leaves a scar on my heart. I've loved her for such a long time, ever since I can remember. I just never had the courage to tell her. Ever since she kissed me after defeating the Red Death I wanted to tell her, but I didn't. We had never been this close, and it didn't want to ruin it by saying something I might regret. I take a deep sigh and force a smile on my face. Looking at the edge I see a group of flowers, I pluck a few and then I head back in. I hadn't even left the doorway before I feel my heart shatter into pieces.

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I stand frozen in place and watch Astrid kissing Finn. No. No! NO! My brain refuses to accept it. Without even realizing it, I had taken several steps forward. It's as if I can feel the flowers wither and die in my hand.

"Hiccup!" Astrid shouts when she finally notices me.

"Don't look so heartbroken mate, she said you were just friends anyways." He says

She shoves Finn away in horror. He gets up and pats my back smugly before walking off. I don't say anything. My voice no longer works, and I can feel my world falling apart at the seems. The whole hall has gone quiet and I'm suddenly aware of the burning sensation crawling up my throat. My fingers go numb and the flowers tumble to the floor.

"Hiccup." She says again. Her eyes glisten with tears when she sees the flowers crumpled on the floor. I don't say anything, I look around and see a variety of emotions. It's becoming to much for me to bear. She tried to get up, but I put a hand out to stop her. With deep jagged breaths I turn around and stumble for the door.

As soon as I make it out the door I break out in a sprint. My eyes burning. I can't focus on anything other than the sound of my feet hitting the earth and my ragged breaths. I think I hear someone shout my name. I finally stop when my legs collapse underneath me. I'm breathing so hard it hurts. I lean against a rock and stare at my foot when the first sobs begin to rack my body. It starts slow and escalates in to a roaring river of emotion. I let loose a guttural scream and slam my fist into the rock over and over again. I don't stop until my hand are covered in my own blood. I lay there for I don't know how many hours. All perception of time has been lost. Without realizing it I had drifted off to sleep, waking because my hand is aching and it needs to be bandaged. I pick myself up and head back toward the hall.

I open the door and walk behind the counter and grab gauze, a knife, and some adhesive. As I walk to my table I realize someone's still there. She wakes when she sees me

"Hiccup?" A feminine voice delicately asks. I freeze.

"Hiccup is that you?" Astrid asks a second time.

"Yes." My voice doesn't sound like my own. This one sounds bruised and battered. As if it's owner had spent hours screaming and crying.

Her eyes widen as she notices my hand. "Your bleeding, here let me help." She says cautiously. I don't respond. I don't move. "Please Hiccup."

Slowly I sit down and I let her bandage my hand. "Hiccup I am so sorry. I never meant to kiss Finn I swear. I, I was drunk and he was sitting really close to me and I...and then he leaned forward and kissed me." She looks up at me, I can see the tears forming in her eyes.

"Hiccup say something! Please anything! Scream, shout, but for gods sake say something!" She's freely crying at this point.

"You kissed him." I speak so softly she has to lean in close. "I saw you, you kissed him back." I finally look up at her.

I let her see my pain, I let her see my bloodshot eyes, I let her see how much her actions have hurt me. I take my hand from her, and stand up. She looks up at me with eyes filled with nothing but sorrow.

"Hiccup I-" She cries.

"Don't " I cut her off. "Just Don't." With that I walk away. The last thing I remember hearing is the sound of her crying.

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