Well, this chapter is an ass. (I wasted a whole day thinking of how to start it out, and finally decided on this). Told in Ruffnut's view, so you know. This chapter pretty much just tells takes place on Berk after
And thank you guys for all of the views and reviews for the last few chapters! Sorry about the super long update though, this story was really just dragging and not fun for to me to write at the time.
The night sky blazed with a sea of green and blue bands. The dancing flames illuminated two people lying beside each other, fingers entwined, one of them leaning against the others shoulder, rubbing her fingers through his thick, black hair. Ruffnut nuzzled Snotlout gently, sighing in enjoyment as she inhaled the scent of sandalwood and ash. Snotlout looked at her, a playful smile arching across his face, eyes closing in pleasure as Ruffnut's long fingers traced the scar on his chin and then, teasingly, she kissed him on the cheek swiftly. Snotlout attempted to mutter something but was stopped when Ruffnut kissed him on the mouth hungrily.
Ruffnut's fingers trailed down to Snotlout's waist, phalanges eagerly searching for a way to wrap themselves through any viable loophole, and as she found one she attempted to pull his leggings down, her fingers hungrily hoping for something but before she could Snotlout pulled away from her.
His voice echoed shock and just the smallest amount of fear, eyes searching Ruffnut's face for an answer as he asked, "Hey, Ruff…not so fast, come on. Please? You're sort of freaking me out right now," Snotlout said as he pushed Ruffnut away from him.
Ruffnut looked at Snotlout, electric blue eyes flaming with rage, her desire for "fun" now turning into a pit of anger. "What's wrong with you today Snotlout? Still hung up on Astrid are you?" Ruffnut's voice edged with hatred when she said Astrid as if the thought of Snotlout still chasing Astrid around bothered her more than she ever let on.
Snotlout's eyes filled with outrage as he snapped back at Ruffnut, disbelief making his long gone smile turn into a frown of anger and sadness. "Why do you think that Ruff? I got over her three years ago! I love you, not her." Snotlout's eyes burned with anger, as Ruffnut turned away from him, not wanting to believe him in any way.
"You're lying! You always lie to me, Snotlout, always!" Ruffnut snarled, unconsciously brushing a strand of blond hair out of her face, as if to intensify her venomous glare. Snotlout flinched, shame filling his heart as Ruffnut's voice echoed years of pain.
"Ruffnut…" Snotlout looked at his friend, sorrow shifting into his gaze as he heard Ruffnut's pain. Gently he laid his hand on hers and hugged her, soothingly patting her head and whispering soothing words to her. Ruffnut attempted to push Snotlout away from her, but he grabbed her arms and looked sincerely into her eyes and silently shook his head.
Ruffnut turned away from Snotlout, anger still burning through her face, as she yanked her hands out of his grasp and got up, and walked away from Snotlout who was watching her with a stunned expression on his face. "I thought we had something for five years Snotlout, and suddenly now you don't want to be in love? Why? Because you're afraid of the responsibilities of loving me?" Ruffnut raged as she turned on Snotlout again, who now had walked over to her in an attempt to comfort her.
"Ruffnut, come one. Don't think that. I just, I don't know if I really am ready for what you want Ruffnut," Snotlout explained sadly knowing that what he was saying was exactly what Ruff had been describing him as.
Snotlout reached out and gently put a hand to Ruffnut's shoulder he said, "Remember Ruff, I need you to walk? Well I need you to live. Can't I love you even without showing my love to you physically like Hiccup and Astrid do?"
Ruffnut opened her mouth to reply, but nothing came out and with tears running down her eyes she ran away from Snotlout, who yelled for her to come back but his voice drowned out as she ran away from him.
Ruffnut ran till her feet bled and when she stopped she realized that she was at the ship docks. She sighed miserably and stepped towards the boat when—
"Mom! Wake up, wake up, wake up! Chief is back!"
I started awake, rubbing sleep out of my eyes as my daughter bounced around at the foot of my bed. "Svalva, how many times have I told you not to wake me up before the sun rises," I snapped as I clumsily got out of my bed, wondering why my daughter couldn't control herself some days.
"Momma, can I play with the chief's dragon, please?" Svalva asked, black hair covering her eyes as she bounced around my feet excitably. Reaching one of her small hands out to me she pulled me, with surprising strength for a kid going on five years, towards the door.
"Whoa, there crazy. You know you can't just barge into the chief's house just because you feel like it Svalva," I said, my temper flaring slightly as Svalva continued running around, even knocking over some of the weapons hanging on the wall.
Once the weapons clattered to the floor Svalva turned to me and gave me one of her signature "I'm innocent" looks and with an uncontrolled giggle bolted out of the house. What am I going to do with this child, I wondered as I followed her outside I noticed that she was headed up towards Hiccup's house.
Shooing Svalva away, who kept jumping excitedly at the prospect of seeing Hiccup and Astrid, I walked to the chief's door; hesitantly I knocked, not really wanting to bother Astrid or Hiccup at such an early time. For what seemed an hour I heard nothing, and just as I rose my hand to knock again somebody opened the door.
"Ruff? What are you doing here?" Astrid asked, yawning widely as she held the door open enough that I could walk indoors.
Turning to Astrid, who had closed the door behind her, I answered her, "Svalva noticed you fly in today, and I guess she wanted to hear one of Hiccup's infamous 'taming' stories."
Astrid rolled her eyes jokingly as Svalva, who was still outside the house, leapt up to one of the open window areas and cried out, "Hi Astrid!" Waving exuberantly at Astrid, Svalva leapt away and ran off, voice echoing through Berk as she laughed near-manically.
"She's a lot like you Ruff," Astrid said as she walked to the room where her daughter was sleeping soundly. Bending down to take care of her, Astrid continued talking, "Svalva reminds me of him also. She's even got his hair color, you know?" Astrid turned back to me and raised an eyebrow at my expression of shock.
"How do you know Astrid? Gah, it was supposed to be my secret. That's why I married Gustav," I muttered as I paced back and forth, rubbing at my temples stressfully. Astrid watched me, sadness echoing in her eyes as she stood up and gently put a hand on my shoulder.
Turning to her, a trace of frustration flushing in my face, as she quietly said, "I have known about it since she was born Ruff. Even if you did marry Gustav, I knew you never had your heart into the marriage and having a child with him? Unthinkable. And having Svalva just a month after getting married to him? Really, Ruff, who do you think I am?" Astrid put her hand on my shoulder, in an attempt to reassure me as she sat down next to where her daughter was sleeping.
I knew deep down that Astrid was speaking the truth, but why did she have to be so smart? Sighing exasperatedly, pushing a strand of hair out of my face, I quietly said, "I miss Snotty so much. If only I could see him again." Once I finished speaking I saw Astrid tense up and look away from me.
Narrowing my eyes at her suspiciously, I opened my mouth to ask her what was wrong when she interrupted me, "Funny that you would mention that, Ruffnut, because Hiccup and I saw him today—"
Before Astrid could finish I grabbed her arms and stared into her eyes, "What? You saw him? Where? When?" Astrid stared at me, shock apparent on her face as I excitedly pulled at her arms, heart racing joyfully.
"Ruff, calm down," Astrid said as she pulled out of my grasp, "Hiccup and I were attacked by him when we were out flying. He captured us and took us to some sea stack in the middle of the ocean, and tried to reason with Hiccup about something. But he and Hiccup got in an argument and he flew away. Sorry, Ruff."
Astrid's blue eyes filled with sympathy as my heart thudded to a stop, and with cry of outrage I said, "He left? Why would he leave? Doesn't he care about me at all?" My voice shook with sadness as I pondered the idea of Snotlout never really liking me.
As tears, so uncommon for me that it almost scared me, started falling from my eyes, I felt something brush against me, cooing soothingly at me. Looking down I noticed Toothless, who looked fairly tired rubbing against me. "Hey, bud," I said as I scratched the Night Fury behind his ears.
"Toothless? Where ya go buddy?" a voice called down groggily from Hiccup's room, and slowly the chief walked down his stairs, yawning widely. Hiccup looked over, face lightning with worry as he saw me sitting next to Astrid with streaks of tears running down my face.
"Ruffnut? What's wrong?" he asked as he too sat down next to Astrid and playfully rubbed his hands through Eris's hair.
Astrid replied before I could even open my mouth, "Svalva pestred her to ccome here, but Ruff forced her to leave since she saw how tired I I told her about Snotlout also."
Hiccup narrowed his eyes and growled something under his breath that sounded a lot like "Snotlout", and with an audible growl Hiccup turned back to me. "That's what's wrong, Ruffnut? Snotlout? How could you still like him after what he did to Astrid! He almost killed her!" Hiccup's voice was shaking, pain etched into his face as he screamed out his anger.
Astrid looked at Hiccup, and gently wrapped her arms around his frame gently, and whispered, "Hiccup, enough. Let your anger go Hiccup. It's pointless to be angry about something that happened years ago." Hiccup lookd at Astrdi, anger stilling smoking in his eyes but after a bit he calmed down and nodded to Astrid.
Hiccup looked back at me, and with an attempt at being calm, he explained what had happened when his cousin, the man I thought I had loved a long time ago, attacked him and Astrid and attempted to finagle his way back to Berk. My heart sank as Hiccup finished his tale for I knew deep down that whatever Snotty was doing capturing Hiccup and Astrid, that it was leading him down a path I dared not think about.
"Ruff…I know you care a lot about him, but he can't be trusted ever. He seemed different, angrier and more distant than I've ever seen him. And I'm scared that he's going to come back to Berk and seek revenge for everything that happned to him in exile," Hiccup said, voice hinting at some unknown emotion.
I opened my mouth to respond but stopped when I heard a sharp warning horn blare out. "What the," I yelped in shock as Hiccup, Astrid and I leapt up and ran outside.
"What is it?" Hiccup roared to Gobber, who had run up to us eyes filled with some kind of terror.
"A Montrous Nightmare! And it's carrying a rider which we haven't been able to identify yet!" Gobber said between gasping breaths. Hiccup's eyes widened as he turned to Astrid, whose face held the same expression as Hiccup's.
"What? Who is it?" Gobber asked as he looked at our chief's horrified face.
Hiccup looked at him, and with a voice racked with anger, said, "It's our own exile. It's Snotlout."
Woop dee doo finally finished (and it's not even as long as I envisioned it but whatever). Next chapter will be longer (hopefully) and I have no idea when it will be finished.
Oh and the start was Ruffnut dreaming of a time just a few weeks before Snotlout was exiled.
And OMG Snotlout's poster is sexy as hell! I almost died when I saw him and Hookfang!