Songs: Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata" and "She Lit a Fire" by Lord Huron

000

Remember that Girl You Can't Forget (Hiccup Age 18)

Gobber glanced around the open foyer, while Stoick's voice reverberated from the staircase landing above and around the rooms. Elaborate bouquets of flowers, clusters of balloons, and festooning streamers enhanced the regal interior of the Colonial-style estate. His stomach growled as fragrances of roasting meats and sugary treats permeated the warm festive air.

"…I want to thank my wife – Valka. You sure know how to throw a party!" Stoick held up his glass to his wife standing behind him.

At the next part his voice changed to the tone he used when Hiccup was a child and accomplished something – building a rocket, winning the science fair, getting into a top boarding school. He also used that excited higher pitched tone when talking about desserts. "Also, I'd like to acknowledge my son – with his straight A's at a top school, I'm sure he'll be able to step into my position the day he graduates, so I can retire."

The whole room turned to Hiccup, who shifted further into the shadows at the edge of the landing. He rubbed the back of his neck, "I don't know about that, dad…I was sort of hoping you'd live forever and keep working."

The crowd laughed as if cued to do so, then looked back to Stoick who continued the speech with his usual baritone authority.

Gobber watched the boy. He had known him long enough to tell this party and the attention wore on his nerves. Sure, he had natural leadership abilities, but only the right opportunity would force him to see it himself.

Stoic drabbled on, peppering his speech with more jokes, more thanks to attendees, and encouraging words for employees who made it to the party.

When it ended, Gobber limped against the current of the crowd toward the dining area to approach Valka, "The food smells good. I can tell ya didn't do the cookin' this time 'round."

She embraced him then playfully pinched his belly, "Meatballs still rolling around in there?"

"Ha! Ya know it…I saw Hiccup by himself. Wasn't he dating that Olympic ice skater?"

"Ay, but no more. It would be nice to see him with someone, I think having a girl by his side would make him more self-assured at these functions."

A short young couple walked up to Valka and complimented her on the lovely party. She made small talk with them before saying, "This is Gobber Belch, he runs Camp Berk. Gobber, this is Alec and Pan Ramsey. They run Hopeful Farms out in Kentucky."

"Oh, Valka, I saw the sign for the camp when we drove into town. It sounds lovely." Said the blonde wife.

"When Stoick and his father bought land for the refinery years ago they had to purchase some of the old farms that surrounded the location they wanted. Instead of developing it, I decided I wanted to turn it into a rehabilitation stable for abused horses."

Gobber jumped in, "Well I had a car accident shortly after that." He gestured to his prosthetic leg and arm, "It made me reconsider my whole life. I'd wanted two things – to become a blacksmith, which I did in a way, since I worked as an engineer and designer at Haddock, but the other thing – I always wanted to go to summer camp."

Valka laughed and held his arm, "Oh, it sounded like such a silly simple dream, but the more we talked, the more we decided we would set up a stable and a camp and Gobber would run the camp."

"And it's my dream job. And I do farrier work on the side – and with that I use the blacksmith skills."

"But does the camp only keep you busy 3 months of the year? What about the rest of the time?" the red-headed husband asked.

"Well it's a functioning stable for the other 9 months. Then the cabin and other facilities are used for group retreats. And I help Valka with the horses. She's done wonders with some of them. Her son's horse is well known in evening competitions."

"We train race horses, but I have met Hiccup. Camp Berk has always sounded very prestigious." said the husband.

"We offer some scholarships to underprivileged, but high achieving children. It gives them opportunities they might never have had otherwise, and they can mingle with kids from different backgrounds."

"That sounds lovely." The woman said wrapping her arms around her husband's. We should consider sending our children there.

Gobber listened as Valka went on about the camp. He looked around the room and noticed Hiccup slip away from the crowd.

000

The regular music stopped, and the sounds of the crowd melted into their own melody. However, somewhere amongst the sounds of people the distant notes of a piano stood out as Hiccup heard flowing keys come together to produce Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata. The slow hypnotic tune lured him from the warm bright crowd like the Pied Piper.

At the back of the house there stood a sun room, which with winter's night had become dark and cold. It was crafted entirely of window, including a large glass roof, a clear barrier to the ceiling of stars above.

On the outskirts of the room luscious house plants resided around Louis XV chairs and couches. In the center stood a glossy black grand piano. At that piano sat Ruffnut, fingers gliding over the chalk-white and ink-black keys.

She halted when Hiccup approached and leaned against the piano. "Don't stop on my account." He smirked.

Ruffnut put the cover over the keys and sat on it. Hiccup joined her.

She looked stunning in the dim lights that filtered in from outside the room. That night she transformed her usual sloppy braids into several twists. Like Tuffnut, she wore a tuxedo jacket, but she paired hers with a floor-length mermaid skirt that had a slit all the way up her long thigh. Gold bracelets and chains layered around her neck and wrists, while studs and hoops adorned her ears.

She leaned back exposing a cropped shirt that revealed moon pale skin taunt over the curves of her collar bone, cleavage, and hip bones which peeked above her skirt.

"I don't think Ylvis is Norwegian black metal," He teased as he got a closer look at what was left of her t-shirt.

"Eh, my dad got it for me. He probably knows the guys. Since it was a gift from him, I didn't mind cutting it short and chopping it up."

The twins' father was a Swedish pop star with no wives and children all over the globe, while their always exhausted mother was a well-known music producer. While everyone knew a lot about their dad as a person, the twins barely knew him. What they did know, was that someone regularly sent money and gifts from him (and probably to his other children), but they received little else.

Ruffnut slid closer to him. "Since they're from your country – what does the fox say?"

He could smell her proximity in the warm air around her that carried the scent of vanilla lotion.

"Um…" He swallowed as he realized how close she sat. "I'm afraid, I don't know."

It had been a while since Hiccup and Ruffnut had been single at the same time. He had wondered how he felt about her. She made many a flirtatious comment his way and she fit his "type" in many respects – funny, caring, brave, blonde.

"Maybe, we could talk about it when you've haven't been drinking?" He suggested.

She shrugged then winked as she hopped atop the piano. She stretched across it like a lounging kitty, her slender left leg and stiletto foot slipped further out the slit. Its whiteness and bend against the black- ness of her clothes and piano made it look like Thor's lightning bolt in the night sky.

"Do you play?" She asked, pulling his eyes away from her leg.

He flipped up the key cover and continued the Moonlight Sonata, allowing the elegant, yet sad song to fill the dark of the room.

"It'd be pretty silly to have a piano and not play," he watched his fingers dance over the keys. "Mom insisted I take lessons."

She watched him for a while, occasionally they exchanged glances that reveled longings they never before dare to put into words.

"I suppose we're all spending the night here," she stated.

Hiccup stopped playing and met her eyes, longer this time. Deeper. Ruffnut leaned closer and Hiccup could taste wine and gingerbread cookies on her breath as it hovered near his own.

"I suppose you can sleep in my bed if you have nowhere else to go…" He trailed off as their lips lightly touched with a soft click.

Hiccup pulled back quickly, eyes drawing down to the keys. He wondered if this was a test to see if he could move on.

In the main part of the house "She Lit a Fire" by Lord Huron started to play, its triumphant upbeat melody pulling him into a consciousness about his moment.

It reminded him, he was looking for someone. And that someone was not here. Even if he was supposed to be and his heart was supposed to be moving on.

Even if he could move on - he could not do it now. Not like this. Using his friend to pretend he forged on while she used him as just another guy to deal with unresolved daddy issues.

"I've always wanted to see your room," she continued.

"Yeah, well you can take the bed and I suppose Tuffnut and I can sleep on the floor. It's comfortable."

"Tuffnut can sleep elsewhere." She reached out to grab his tie and twist it into her fingers. "We'll share your bed."

Hiccup thought about it. Thought about sinking deeper into her summer-blue eyes and tangling his fingers into thick sun-gold hair. He imagined skin feeling like warm milk under his hands and tasting like vanilla ice cream as he bit down.

They would giggle and moan and be happy for a night which could stretch into a few months. Until she admitted that no matter how good a friend he was, he was a terrible boyfriend. A boyfriend who made her a stand in for an ideal of the past. A memory which became so elevated it might have made any possible reality a shadow of how he really felt.

"I'd be a terrible person if I did that, Ruff."

He got up and took her hand, helping her to slink off the piano and onto the floor. He led her over to his mother and had Valka set her up in a guest room.

Maybe doing the right thing this time around would build up some good karma with the gods. That's how stories went - right? The hero had to overcome temptation, prove themselves, then set things right before they could get the reward. If anything, maybe the reward would be something totally different. A different girl. One who would be nothing like her and could finally help him move forward. Or maybe not.

000

"Ya know," Gobber mentioned, "I'm looking to fill some positions for next summer. As former campers, yu'll be perfect."

Gobber excused himself from another dull conversation Valka involved him in then made his way over to the corner where Hiccup, Fishlegs, and Tuffnut stood. After reminiscing about summers past Gobber decided the teens might still be interested in spending their summers at Camp Berk.

"I'm game! If I can teach music," Tuffnut volunteered. "And I think I'll volunteer my sister for arts and crafts."

"I'll take science and nature," Fishlegs added.

"I don't know." Hiccup looked at Tuffnut, "Maybe that's a part of my life I should be moving on from. Besides, Toothless and I have to train and we have some competitions I should enter."

Gobber persisted, "You'd be working with horses. With ya mom being so busy these days, I need someone to run the whole riding program this summer, I couldn't think of a better candidate."

"I'm sure you have older better people you can hire-"

"No…Actually, no one better than you. Remember Astrid Hofferson?"

Tuffnut shot Gobber a startled look and shook his head as though he was trying to drop some hint. Gobber ignored him, thinking the boy's strange behavior might be from sneaking in a few drinks.

"Anyhow, she first showed up when she was 12, knowing nothing about horses and by the end of her last summer could take a blue ribbon at any show. And there were others, but I know your work with her really changed her life for the better at the time...You know I actually heard from her mother again after all these years."

Hiccup leaned forward, his eyes went wide. "Really? She sort of disappeared. She's not even online. I know you said her father died and after that you lost track of her-"

"Hiccup!" Tuffnut shot him a glance that would stop a stampede.

However, Hiccup persisted, "How is she? Is she good? Does she remember me?"

"Hiccup, we should talk in the next room," Tuffnut could also persist.

"Gobber and I are catching up – it can wait."

Tuffnut walked over and grabbed his shoulder, "Pretty sure it can't."

Hiccup grabbed his hand and a cracking noise could be heard as a pained gasp escaped the blonde boy's lips.

"Excuse us." Hiccup got up and shoved his friend out of the room. Tuffnut gave Fishlegs a pleading look.

"Ow! Ow! I am hurt! I am very much hurt." Fishlegs nervously stuffed more shrimp from a nearby platter into his mouth.

Hiccup dragged Tuffnut behind the door that led to the basement and the sounds of a scuffle could be heard with Tuffnut's cries of "Thor's mighty hammer…How can do you hit that hard…I'm peeing in your clean laundry from now on… I'm still very much hurt!"

Gobber heard a series of bumps as if someone fell down a flight of stairs.

000

Hiccup emerged from the door, made eye contact with Fishlegs, and said, "I think he's still alive, but you might need to pop his shoulder back in."

Fishlegs gawked at Hiccup, whose hair and dress shirt were disheveled, and a light trail of blood trickled from his nose.

"I'll get Snotlout to help me pin him down and pop it back in." The other blonde boy scurried off.

Valka walked by, stopping to open her eyes wide in horror, "It's OK, mom," Hiccup wiped his bloody nose with the sleeve of his white dress shirt. "Roommate stuff…You should see the other guy."

Assessing the damage as minimal and more than she wanted to deal with, she returned to mingling.

Gobber gave him a curious look as Hiccup leaned back, "Who were we talking about? Was it Astrid? Gods I haven't seen her in years? Do tell – what's she into these days?"

Gobber leaned back. "Not sure if ya want to know."

Hiccup felt a lump form in his throat, maybe Tuffnut hit him harder than he thought, because his head started to spin and his heart felt like someone squeezed it. Something about Gobber's fallen face and slouched posture signaled to Hiccup he needed to brace himself.

"Of course, I do. I really want to know how she's doing," his voice weakening as his mouth went dry while his skin broke into a cold sweat. His world seemed to fall together and rip apart at the same time.

"Hmmm…I'm afraid the past few years have been hard since ya last seen her…Poor girl - got into some real trouble."

000

A/N: First, a big thanks to all who faved, followed, and reviewed. I apologize I did not have a chance to get back to everyone, but your kind reviews warm my heart.

Second, I apologize that it took me a while to update, but I have been slammed at work. I will try to get my other pieces updated soon as well.

Third, just so we are clear because sometimes folks misinterpret things and my writing is usually subtle, Hiccup and Ruffnut are just friends and will stay that way after this. The chapter is supposed to show that he can't stop thinking about Astrid, even when faced with an opportunity to move on. Doing the right thing by not taking advantage of a friend is rewarded by the universe/fate/gods/whatever, bring her back. She will return in the next chapter.