Night Terror
(apologies for the ill fitting title)Hiccup takes a late night walk around the edge to find all but one of its occupants sleeping peacefully and the night ends in a way he could have never seen coming.
Set during the race to edge T.V series which I do not own. Happy Hiccstrid reading!
Hiccup had been lying awake for what felt like days, simply staring straight up at the wooden beams of his hut on Dragon's edge he couldn't help the feeling that there was something wrong but he had already looked out along the coast and couldn't see any ships and none of the night terrors had alerted him they had spotted any suspicious activity. So what was pulling at him?
Giving up on sleep Hiccup stood up as quietly as possible with a metal leg so as not to wake Toothless who Hiccup knew would be far less than amused to be wakened at such a time simply to investigate a feeling Hiccup had. Deciding that the twins hut was the best place to start given their record Hiccup began his walk around the perimeter
Beginning to think that he was letting his imagination play games with his brain Hiccup began heading back to his hut however heading past Astrid's hut he couldn't resist the urge to check in on her.
Heading silently into her hut and scaling the stairs to her bedroom Hiccup could hear strange noises coming from Astrid's bed, listening closer Hiccup realised that the sounds were gasps and sobs mixed into one. Not wanting to leave Astrid in her distressed state but not wanting to face the wrath of Astrid finding him in her hut uninvited Hiccup stopped at the top of the stairs and willed her nightmare to end from a distance.
After a few short minutes Astrid's nightmare clearly was escalating dramatically, she began tossing and turning in her sleep and her sobs were turning into tears running down her cheeks which were becoming cloaked in a cold sweat. Hiccup took a few hesitant steps forward, the two sides of his brain having a heated debate on whether or not to make a move to comfort the shield maiden.
Astrid was shrieking now. Screaming. And was thrashing about and punching her pillow. Hiccup sprung forward the second she began screaming. As she gripped her pillow with a vice like grip Hiccup placed a comforting hand gently on her upper arm and gently stated, "Ast it's only a nightmare, I'm here and I won't let anything happen to you."
Astrid's eyes flashed open and she sprung up into a sitting position, looking around frantically, her breathing laboured, her eyes caught onto Hiccup's and she launched into his chest and Hiccup did not hesitate to wrap his arms around the shaking girl in his embrace bringing one of his hands up to soothingly run his hard worked fingers through her blonde hair and resting his forehead against the top of her head he whispered, "Your safe Ast, you're okay."
Once Astrid had calmed down she pushed herself away from Hiccup and turned her face to stare at the back wall of her hut bringing the back of her hand up to her eyes in an unsuccessful attempt to wipe away the puffy redness surrounding her eyes. Hiccup brought his hand up to her face as an indication to turn her face back to him which she hesitantly obliged to. Taking Astrid's hand in his Hiccup asked, "Do you want to talk about it?"
Astrid shifted across the bed and moved her blanket to invite Hiccup to sit beside her which he obliged to. Taking a deep breath Astrid simply stated with her voice shaking, "I saw Viggo kill my parents."
Hiccup moved to place his hand on top of Astrid's as he opened his mouth to respond but couldn't figure out how to reply so Astrid continued, "and there was nothing that I could do. The more I fought back the stronger he got. I was less than useless."
"Astrid, it was a nightmare you are ten times stronger than Viggo, you could take him on anytime, anyplace!" Hiccup replied with a smile putting his arm around her to bring the still shaken maiden into another tight embrace. Astrid responded by laying her head on Hiccup's chest and Hiccup pulled the blanket up over the both of them assuming Astrid wasn't going to be letting him leave until the morning.
A little while into the silence Astrid shifted slightly to look up at Hiccup to say, "Please don't ever leave me, I would be nothing without you."
"I could say the exact same thing," replied Hiccup giving her a tight squeeze before continuing, "you should get some rest, I'll be right here in the morning."
Astrid replied by snuggling closer into his arms and quickly falling into an undisturbed sleep.
Thank you so much for reading my story the whole way through! It would mean a lot if you could leave a review and helpful criticism is always welcome!
