COLDHEARTED

Falling. Free falling. The ground rushed up on me as I fell towards my death. I was just about to slam onto the grass when a black lump shot underneath me and caught me and the last second.

"Cutting it a little close, aren't we bud?" I chuckled as I sturdied myself on Toothless' back. We did a few loop-the-loops and landed in the Plaza. Astrid and Fishlegs were there waiting. Fishlegs looked as though he had been hyperventilating, and sweat ran down his face.

"Okay Hiccup, that was way too close." The Viking announced shakily.

"Hey, don't blame me, blame Toothless." I joked, and Toothless rolled his eyes. I moved to kiss Astrid but she backed away, much to my confusion.

"Astrid, is...is something wrong?"

"Um, Hiccup. Your dad wants to see you." She said with an almost somber expression.

"Is everything okay?" I asked.

"Just go."

"Oh..okay." Astrid turned and walked away. She had her left hand on her right arm. That's what she does when she's upset or sad.

"What's going on?" I asked Fishlegs.

"I dunno."

Toothless and I were walking towards the Great Hall when Gobber ran up and stopped us.

"Hiccup! Have you heard the news?"

"What news?" Asked I.

"Oh...yeh have't heard. Well, better let Stoick tell you."

"Tell me what?" I persisted.

"Nothing! Nothing!" He hurried off, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand. Confusion sparked inside me. What was happening? Was it tragic? We kept walking and I prayed to Odin the news wasn't bad. I finally reached the Hall and pushed open one of the tall doors. I had just had it open a crack when I heard my father's voice.

"Oh, this is going to devastate them."

"But it's for the good of Berk. He'll understand that." I heard Spitelout's voice.

"Aye, but he's young. So is Astrid. There's nothing like young love, you know. I can't believe what I'm about to do."

"What are you about to do?" I announced myself, opening the door fully. Spitelout and Dad jerked their heads toward me, startled. I met Dad's eyes with a demanding look.

"Well?" I insisted.

"Hiccup..." My father started slowly and hesitantly.

"Maybe this is something you should tell him alone." Spitelout muttered and slipped out the door. I turned back to Dad, meeting his gaze, despite the fact I had to look up to do so.

"Well, Hiccup. The kingdom of Isitmelda, you see...years ago, when they were a growing kingdom and needed allies..."

"Okay..."

"Well, they sent a letter to me. They have a daughter your age, and to forge an alliance..."

"No. Dad, no." It wasn't a refusal, rather, it was begging him to tell me I misunderstood the situation. I prayed not only to Odin, but to Thor, Loki, Frigga, all of them, that what I thought was not true.

"Hiccup you see, this was many many years ago, before you and Astrid. You were still just a baby. And from what I hear, Caitlin is a smart, wonderful young woman."

"Dad, it's not the marriage I'm focusing on, although I am mad about that. You said you did this when I was just a baby, right? Well, how could you possibly think I wouldn't find love before I was eighteen? Or, if you did think I was going to have a relationship, you just wouldn't mind destroying it? Is that what that is?"

"Hiccup-"

"No, Dad. You made this decision that would permanently affect my life, without waiting to see what would happen when I got older. Is it that you didn't think I was going to find love before this? That no sane girl would ever have me?" I am rarely this angry, and I surprise even myself, but this did it. "And you know what? You hurt Astrid! When you swore me off to some stranger, did you think about what I might feel, or what the girl I would grow up to love might feel? No! I could go on and on, but I'll let you try to defend yourself."

Pain spread across Dad's face.

"Son, you know I never wanted to hurt you, or anyone you would grow to have a relationship with. Both Berk and Isitmelda needed allies, and it was the perfect opportunity. Before we befriended dragons, no one ever came looking for an alliance with us. We were getting desperate, and when Isitmelda offered an alliance, I couldn't say no! Although, I know it was kind of thoughtless."

"Kind of thoughtless?" My hands stretched and clenched in front of me. "Try really heartless!" I spat, and, without giving my father a chance to reply, turned on my heel and stormed out the Hall. No one except Toothless saw, but tears trickled down my face.

"Hey, Hiccup." Greeted Astrid as she opened the door to her home. "Come on in. What are you doing here?" I noticed her eyes were slightly red and puffy, as if she had been crying, but I decided to ignore it.

"Dad told me." Was all I said.

"I know."

"What are we going to do?" I asked.

"We can't do anything." Astrid resigned. Surprise filled me. Astrid was usually so fiery and determined. It unnerves me a little to see her give up so easily.

"I mean, there has to be something we can do!" I protested desperately, but both of us knew I was just trying to convince myself.

"There isn't."

"Oh, I can't believe this is happening. I'm getting married." I said, my head in my hands.

"Yeah, you are."

"Well, we still have a few more days before Caitlin comes. We can enjoy them, right?" Tears began streaming down mine and Astrid's face as she shook her head.

"Hiccup, you know we can't keep going, or even enjoy these last few days together. You know neither of us have a choice."

"I do. I just..don't want to believe it."

"Neither do I."

"But...we can spend a few more minutes together." I said breathlessly, a fire in my eyes.

"Yeah...yeah I guess we can." Astrid breathed. She stood up and slowly, hesitantly, began walking towards me. A few moments of silence and thinking, then, before I knew it, Astrid had ripped her hair out of it's usual braid and her weight fell onto my lap.

"You're going to need to produce an heir, Hiccup. And I want to be your first." Panted Astrid.

"Oh, you are my first. My first and only."

I was exhilarated. I had never done this before, and neither had Astrid. It felt so different than what I expected. It felt unique, like it was just something shared by Astrid and I. Our lips connected and my hands crept up her neck, hers on my waist. We stumbled over to the door and, without looking, Astrid locked it and shut the windows. We fell to the ground and, well...I won't tell you the rest.

But I will tell you what happened twenty minutes later when we were content just kissing on a chair. My hair was messed and Astrid's was a tangled golden waterfall. It was the first time I had ever seen her hair out of a braid and her spiked headband lay forgotten on the floor. As we were enjoying ourselves, there was a knock on the door. We reluctantly pulled our lips away from each other and Astrid rose out of my lap.

"Coming." She called as normally as possible. I too stood up and joined her at the door. Standing in the frame were Snotlout and Fishlegs.

"What were you guys doing? You've been in there almost a half hour." Inquired Fishlegs.

"Woah, Astrid. I've never seen you with your hair down." Snotlout remarked in awe. He reached out to touch it but Astrid slapped his hand away.

"So what were you doing?" Fishlegs continued.

"Well...um...we were..." I say, rubbing the back of my neck nervously.

"Oh." Snotlout interjected in a triumphant way. "Ho, ho, ho."

"Wait, what were they doing?" Fishlegs asked, confused. Astrid bit her lip uncomfortably.

"Nothing, Fishface. Absolutely nothing." He said with a mischievous tone and a wink towards me. The two Vikings turned away and Astrid shut the door again. I could hear Fishlegs keep asking what we were doing and Snotlout having fun withholding the information. I shut the door again and viewed Astrid. Her clothes were wrinkled, her face was red, her hair was a tangled mess. She had never looked more beautiful.

"We should probably fix ourselves up." I admitted.

"Yeah." She said quietly. Astrid grabs a hairbrush and began running it through her hair and putting it back into its braid along with the spiked headband. I smoothed my hair with my hands and straightened my clothes. We had just finished making ourselves presentable when there was a bang on the door and I heard Toothless. After making sure we looked okay, Astrid and I walked towards the door and she opened it. Standing outside were Toothless and Dad. Astrid shot him a cold look that was quickly erased.

"Chief." Her voice was curt and tight.

"Astrid." He nodded towards her. Toothless looked between the two, his head tilting from Dad to Astrid in confusion. I could almost see the sparks of hate flying from Astrid's heart to Dad. I cleared my throat to try to clear the tense silence.

"So, you wanted to see me Dad?"

"Oh, yes. Well, Caitlin is going to be coming a day earlier, so she will be here in five days."

"Great." I replied, with a tone that clearly states I don't think it's great at all.

"So, that's it?" Asked Astrid coldly.

"Yes. Except, you two were in there for about twenty-five minutes. What were you doing?"

"Ask Snotlout." Astrid almost spat. I could feel her trying to hold back. Dad was the chief, she wasn't. I knew she wanted to grab her axe from under her pillow and take it to Dad. But she couldn't.

"Snotlout?" Dad asked.

"Snotlout." I interjected.

"Now, is that all?" Said Astrid.

"Yes. That is all." Dad walked away. Toothless stayed with us. For the first time, he rubbed himself against Astrid in an attempt to comfort her. She absentmindedly scratched him.

"I better go with him." I said solemnly to Astrid.

"Yeah." Her voice was low. Our hands were grasped together.

"I'm gonna miss you." We said at the same time. I knew it would be the last time I would ever be able to see Astrid like I did then, I would never be allowed to love her, I would be bound in an unwilling marriage, I would never be able to see her in this light as we slowly walked in opposite directions, our hands helplessly slipping out of each other.

POLAR VORTEX

I stood on the docks alongside my father. Toothlesss had been standing there, offering any comfort he could, until Dad told him to leave, saying 'We don't want one of the first sights they see here to be a Night Fury.' I fought back tears as my gaze fell on the approaching ship.

The ship arrived agonizingly slow, and once it was docked and tied a tall man with Dad's build stepped out - Caitlin's father.

"Ah, Chief Arp!" Called out Dad.

"Chief Stoick!" He stepped out and the two shook hands.

"Eh, it's just Stoick to you!"

"And for me, just Arp."

"This is my son, Hiccup." Dad held out a hand towards me, as if displaying me in a gallery.

"'Ello, Hiccup. Nice to meet you."

"You too, Chief Arp." I shook his hand. Chief Arp turned back toward the boat and called to his daughter.

"Come on Caitlin, don't be shy!" He teased. I looked back at the boat and out stepped a beautiful young woman. Caitlin had curly brown hair that reached to the end of her shoulder blades, and bangs that covered her forehead. She wore deep blue high heels and a tight-fitting, peacock-colored-swirling dress.

"Hello, Hiccup. Nice to meet you, I'm Caitlin." She smiled warmly.

"Hiccup. Nice to meet you too." I returned her smile. She seemed OK.

"So when did you find out?" Asked Caitlin suddenly.

"Find out?" I repeated, confused.

"About all this." She gestured in all directions.

"Oh. Five days ago. You?"

"Same. It was the day before my wedding." Her voice began to choke.

The day before her wedding? My eyes widened in disbelief. How could my father - her father - our fathers - do that?

"I'm so sorry." Was all I could say. Caitlin jerked back to reality and shrugged.

"Well, it's not like I'll ever see him again. And we can exchange letters."

I realized that I had been spending so much time thinking about how this would affect Astrid and I, I never even stopped to think about how Caitlin might feel about this.

By now we were walking through Berk. I spotted Astrid furiously grooming Stormfly, and my heart bled. I wanted so badly to reach for her, to put my hand in hers instead of Caitlin's. Caitlin's hand was surprisingly freezing.

"Who's that?" I was jerked back to earth by Caitlin's curious tone.

"That's Astrid. She and I were together before all this happened. She didn't take it to well. Then again, neither did I." Astrid turned and looked at us for a quick second. In that second, Caitlin smiled friendlily and gave a small wave. Astrid ignored it and avoided eye contact with me, going back to grooming the already pristine Stormfly.

"We can make the best out of this, right?" I heard Caitlin's voice next to me.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, there's no reason to go through this hating each other. We can at least be friends, and only be married for the public." She sounded hopeful, for good reason. She had been so happy and in love, and all of a sudden was ripped from her home and fiancé, and told she had to marry a total stranger. Suddenly, I felt lucky. At least I could stay home on Berk.

"Yeah, sure. So, um, what do you like to do in your free time?" I asked, trying to continue the conversation.

"Study dark matter and work on my MD. Also, I like bioengineering and studying meta-humans."

What? I mostly just heard gibberish. However, my attention caught on the last word: meta-humans. I had learned about them, heard storied about their incredible powers, but had always thought they were long gone.

"There are meta-humans in Isitmelda?"

"Oh, yeah, tons of them. Quite a bit are criminals, but we also have some that are good. Heroes, even. I work with them. Hey, no secrets, right? So what do you like to do in your free time?"

"Um, play and fly with Toothless, hang out with Astrid - or I used to do that - work in the blacksmith, or work on an invention I might have in mind."

"Oh, you're an inventor?"

"Yeah. See that black dragon over there with a fake red tail? I made that." I proceeded to tell Caitlin the story of how I met Toothless, befriended him, created the tail, and made peace with the dragons. By the time I was done, Catilin's hand had begun to warm and we had arrived at the Great Hall.

"Wow! And I thought the most incredible thing I've ever done is-"

But she didn't get a chance to finish, because Snotlout swaggered up to her and took her hand that wasn't in mine.

"Ho, ho, ho, hello. You must be Caitlin. Name's Snotlout. Single and ready to mingle...with you." Caitlin pulled her hand out of his, and at the same time her hand suddenly became cold. Really cold. So cold I instinctively jerked my hand out of hers. Immediately, everyone's eyes went to me. An awkward silence fell. Chief Arp's and Dad's eyes bore into me. Caitlin avoided looking at me, to try and spare me a little uncomfortableness. I appreciated her doing that.

"Sorry, it's just...your hand...it got super cold all of a sudden." A concerned look spread across Caitlin's face, like she knew what had happened and it wasn't good. After a moment, or maybe a few hours, she jumped to my rescue.

"It's fine. My hands sometimes just do that. It's...genetic." She looked uncomfortable, even a little scared, like she desperately wanted this to end.

"Again, it's fine. It happens to a lot of people." She repeated. Dad turned and started to talk to Chief Arp again. Everyone else followed their example and looked away from us. I tried to lock eyes with Caitlin, but she bowed her head, her curly brown hair creating a wall between her and I.

"Hey, Fishlegs. Could I talk to you for a second?" I called from Toothless' back.

"Sure." Meatlug and Toothless landed in the woods and we dismounted.

"So, what's Caitlin like?" He asked.

"Oh, Caitlin's great. She's really great. She was actually told she had to marry me the day before she got married."

"Really? She had a fiancé?"

"Yep. But she really wants to make the best out of it."

"That's great. So, what did you want to talk to me about?"

"Well, we were holding hands for a while. Her hands were really cold. Like, freakishly cold. Unnaturally cold. And as we were holding hands it got warmer. And then when we were in the Great Hall Snotlout came up and did his thing, and then her hand suddenly got even colder than it was before. So cold I instinctively pulled my hand out of hers. Everyone stared at us and it was really awkward. She rescued me by saying it was genetic. But I really feel like it was a lie. And when I tried to talk to her she was quiet." Fishleg's small eyes widened.

"Wow. I've never heard of anything like this. I'll research this as soon as I'm done with my lesson on the History of Dragons to the kids."

"Thanks. And, um, how's Astrid? Have you talked to her?" His expression became somber.

"Yeah. She's hurt, but she's not showing it. She spends all her time chucking axes, working with Stormfly, or some other violent thing. Don't worry, it's natural, blocking out emotion. It'll last a little while. I better go."

"Okay, thanks."

Fishlegs took off on Meatlug, leaving Toothless and I on the ground. It killed me to hear Astrid was in pain. Suddenly, my life flashed before my eyes. I remembered every time I had tried to get her positive attention, but really made a fool out of myself. I remembered our first flight on Toothless together. I remembered our first kiss. I remembered how in love we were.

No, that's not right.

How in love we are.

We just weren't allowed to show it.

"Hiccup?"

I turned around and saw a brown-haired figure coming out of the trees. Caitlin had traded her peacock-swirled dress for black leggings, a light white shirt, and a jade blazer.

"It's Astrid, isn't it?" Her voice was soft, tender. She actually cared about me and hated to see me hurt. Then again, she seemed like the kind of person who would hate to see anyone in pain.

"Yeah. This hit her hard." Mine was soft as well, but only because I thought that if I talked any louder, I would start crying.

"It'll get better. It hit Ronnie hard too, but he was understanding. Astrid knows why you had to do this, and she seems like a logical girl. Besides, it's not like you'll never see her again." Her weak comfort didn't help much, though I really appreciated her helping.

"Who's Ronnie? Your fiancé?"

"Yeah. I thought he would be here for our - yours and mine - wedding, but turns out he couldn't make it. That's why I'm here." She gestured to the woods. A long moment of silence followed, neither of us knowing what to say. I was still marveling at how Caitlin managed to keep it together after all this.

"Well, we better head back." She broke the silence.

"Yeah." I still didn't know what to say. So I took her outstretched hand and we walked back to Berk, where our fathers were waiting.

We arrived at the Great Hall and stepped in. Snotlout, thankfully, wasn't there. He must have gone off to flirt with some other girl. Dad and Chief Arp were there, though, along with the seamstresses. My blood boiled at the sight of my father's face when he turned to me.

"Caitlin, dear, come here. We have a few designs for the dress." He beckoned her with three fingers. She stepped up and peered down at a sketchbook the seamstresses had prepared, filled with different drawings of wedding dresses.

"Oh, Hiccup, come on up to? Maybe Caitlin could use your opinion." Chief Arp called to me. All I really wanted to do was jump on Toothless' back and fly. I craved the freedom, the pure, raw, freedom I felt when soaring through the skies.

"So, which ones do you like, lass?" Asked Dad. "After all, we do have a wedding to plan."

Hey guys! Thanks for reading this! What will happen next?! Will the wedding go through as planned? Will Astrid get over Hiccup? It's all one big triangle of love, hate, and broken hearts! This is my first story so please review! I welcome constructive criticism, so please be honest! Thanks again and see you next chapter. I will write a couple chapter next time, actually. Have a good day or night or whenever you're reading this!