Today is a special day, so I decided to give you all another chapter. - De Amicus

.

Chapter 5 - Hope and Fear

Startled by a weight across her midsection, Astrid shot from sleep to consciousness in less time than it takes a Terrible Terror to decide if it will be a terror that day. She grasped the knife she slept with and neatly pounced on the sleeping figure beside her, holding the knife to his throat as he woke with wide eyes. Seeing Hiccup frozen stiff and pinned beneath her blade she gasped, dropping the knife on the bed. She groaned and sat down on his lap.

"Ugh, I guess I'm not used to sleeping with someone anymore." She apologized before looking down at Hiccup to see his eyes dancing with amusement and a wide smirk plastered across his face. "What are you looking at, dragon boy."

"Oh, I just got a dose of deja vu. Remember our wedding morning?" Hiccup laughed.

"Be quite you, you'll wake up the village." Astrid retorted. She opened her mouth to say more but closed it again. That was, after all, exactly how she had woken him up the day after their wedding.

Deciding against speaking, she instead threw herself down on top of him and hugged him tightly. "I've missed you so much. Can we just stay here for a while?"

"For a few minutes, but milady, people will come looking for you. We probably should be found when we - I don't know - have on more clothes?

Astrid's eyes widened as she remembered their state of undress. They had arrived too late to be bothered to put on nightclothes; instead sleeping under a heap of furs in a comfortable amount of their underthings. Meaning essentially nothing.

"Get up! Now!" She ordered as she pushed him out of bed.

"Hey hey, what's the rush? Ouch." he grunted as he landed on the floor with a thud.

"Get dressed, Now!" Astrid demanded as she sped through an explanation. "Any second now our son is going to barge in here either for snuggles or to wake up his tardy mother. And while I do want you to meet him, I don't want him to meet you in bed, naked!"

"Aww, he comes in for snuggles? That's so adorable." Hiccup crooned mischievously.

"That's all you heard? Really?" Astrid shook her head as she tried to hide a smile.

"Of course not," Hiccup replied as he pulled on his armor, "Where would you like me to hide, milady."

Astrid chewed her lip for a moment before answering, "Take Toothless and hide above the Great Hall. We have a counsel meeting today and you and me are going to crash it."

Surprised, Hiccup inquired, "They have counsel meetings without you?"

Astrid nodded, "Yeah, for the small things with which I don't need to bothered."

"That's not a bad idea, it would save a lot of chiefing time."

She smiled, "I'm glad you approve, now go hide. I'll come get you when it is time."

"Milady, I love you with all my heart." he declared as he pulled her in for a sweet kiss.

"Oh stop it, you'll make me cry again, and that will worry Vindur." She spoke with twinkling eyes.

"Good man." Hiccup stated as he crawled out the window and sneaked off with Toothless.

~\~|~/~

Hiccup was bored. Of all the ways he had imagined his return to Berk, none of them included him lounging around with nothing to do for hours while he waited for his secret contact to arrive. He hadn't even bothered to watch the time assuming he wouldn't need to wait long, but the ground surrounding him and Toothless was now adorned with dragon drawings in place of the natural wind-smoothed texture. Even Toothless had given up watching Hiccup doodle, opting to take a not-so-quick nap instead.

Hiccup sighed, if he wasn't careful he would fall asleep as well, and he'd probably snore, attract a herd of wild terrible terrors, and Gustav would accidentally trip over him, spilling the beans to the entire island. No, that wouldn't do; he'd just have to stay awake.

Noise from a disturbance in the village caught his attention and he poked his head out from behind the tree to see what was causing it. Unable to see anything interesting he almost sat back down, but froze as the sun shone off of the golden hair of a certain chieftess masterfully giving orders and calming crowds after whatever had happened. Oh, and the twins were there, that might explain it. Astrid quickly sorted out what needed to be done and flew off on Stormfly.

A few moments later Astrid and Stormfly landed beside him with a flourish; the rider jumping off in one fluid motion.

"Hey babe. I figured that in spite of your night fury you didn't manage to sneak lunch, so I brought you some." Astrid called out as she sauntered over to where Hiccup was standing.

"Thanks, I missed breakfast as well, so I've been pretty hungry." Hiccup admitted.

Astrid paused for a short second, "Oh, I forgot. I would have at least sent Sharpshot to you with some bread."

"Eh, don't worry about it, I've had it a lot worse the past couple of years. Besides, you were busy chiefing, and doing a fine job of it too."

She sighed softly, feeling the tension drain out of her as he pulled her close and embraced her.

"I still should have sent you something to eat." She decided as she rested her head on his shoulder.

"You couldn't have."

Astrid looked up at him, "And why not?" She questioned.

Hiccup chuckled, "Because Sharpshot came and found me here hours ago, see?"

He held up his arm, waiting only a short time before the small green dragon happily joined them.

Hiccup hummed thoughtfully, "I watched you handle the villagers. I think you did such a good job maybe I'll just leave you as chief. Then I could -"

Astrid pulled away slightly and looked at him sharply, "You aren't seriously considering trying to pull a stunt like that, are you? Do you have any idea the rioting we - oh wait, I - would have to control?"

"Relax Astrid, I would never ignore my duties." Hiccup soothed.

The tone of his voice convinced her he had previously spoken in jest and she relaxed, sitting back onto the ground.

~\~|~/~

Hiccup quietly finished his lunch, looking over at Astrid where she had stretched out on the grass. They had carried on quiet conversation until her eyelids began to droop and Hiccup, noticing her exhaustion, had allowed her to fall asleep rather than force the conversation to continue.

He sighed, he had experienced more than one horrible recurring nightmare in which he found Astrid dead because he had failed to protect her, he had failed to be there. He shuddered, and a single tear marred his complexion as he silently turned away lest he weep at the quite beauty around him, but mainly at the sleeping valkyrie before him.

"Hiccup?" A soft, careful voice interrupted his thoughts, "Are you okay?"

Scolding himself for loosing his composure he turned around, greeting Astrid with the best smile he could create without appearing too obviously fake.

"Oh Hiccup."

She may have had more to say, but Hiccup cut her off with a firm kiss on the lips, a kiss that sung of sorrow and hurt and need. Breaking the kiss, he guided her back towards the waiting dragons.

Astrid kept her arm around his waist and kissed his shoulder as they walked.

"If you need - or want - to talk, I'm here. You don't have to, but trust me, I'd understand."

"I know." He spoke huskily. "Not now though."

"Right." She sighed, "Time to bring you back to life."

~\~|~/~

"Ladies and gentlemen, distinguished viking comrades, fellow defenders of Berk and guardians of its moral integrity, -"

"Astrid." Hiccup managed through the laughter threatening to erupt from his mouth.

As soon as the pair had crashed the council meeting the blond had become slightly euphoric, adding flourishes and exaggerated hand gestures to her movements for dramatic affect. Between seeing Hiccup casually stroll into their meeting and watching Astrid's movements the entire council was momentarily spell bound.

"Nothing has changed." Hiccup mused as he watched Astrid bounce her shoulders in an interpretation of his famous movements.

"Too much?" The lady in question asked playfully as she looked back over her shoulder.

Hiccup rolled his eyes; he was sure Astrid was enjoying this way too much. "Milady, you were hilarious."

"Aw, thanks babe."

"But I really want to get all these formal introductions over with so we can move on to all the problems my return will cause."

Astrid pouted, "Well that's a bummer cause I was on a roll, but if anyone causes problems about your return I'll drop the mutton-headed half-troll in a well. Probably a deep, narrow well. Maybe a whispering death hole?"

Hiccup's sarcasm reemerged to generate a quick reply. "Thank you, I no longer have any fear for life and limb. You should finish your speech quickly though, before Gobber explodes."

Hiccup ended with a slight twinge of worry in his voice.

Astrid lolled her head around to face the council. The spellbound group sat unchanged with the exception of Gobber, who was turning successively deeper shades of red and was now somewhere in the deep crimson color range.

"Is there even a name for a red that dark?" Astrid asked Hiccup.

"There must be. What did you call the color of that red silk out of which you sewed that, ahem, garment?"

"Ooh, I don't know, it was an old scrap from Mom's fabric stash. Speaking of that, I still haven't told her I used it."

"Still? That was five years ago!"

Astrid shrugged, "Eh, time flies."

"Laddie?" Gobber interrupted.

"Yes Gobber?" Hiccup waited.

"It really is you?"

"As much of me as there was before, well, my disappearing act, but less than, say, about ten years ago when - "

"Aye, its you. Come er' and give ol' Gobber a proper hello." Gobber interrupted as he hobbled around the table and squeezed the thin figure soundly.

"Gobber, air!" Gobber set Hiccup down, not even bothering to acknowledge the lean viking's discomfort.

"Now," Gobber spoke as he sat back down on his stool. "What problems did yer think yer return would cause?"

"For one, I must somehow prove who I am and -"

"Does the council object that this man is Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third, returned Chief of the Hairy Hooligans and my husband?" Astrid questioned the counsel shortly, her voice making it clear she thought the question was ridiculous.

"No? Good. Hiccup, looks like you're actually Hiccup, although if you were an impostor you'd I think I would have figured it out last night."

"I would sincerely hope so." Hiccup deadpanned.

"What else do I need to fix?" Astrid quizzed.

"Uh, yeah well, there is this old tradition that if a chief is lost in war, unable to return but not dead, when he does return he has to prove he isn't a coward."

"Seriously? No one would dare think you are a coward." Astrid replied incredulously.

"Of co'rse yer father taught you that tradition." Gobber muttered under his breath. "Ner you worry Astrid, I think I can solve this one up fer ya real quick. Lad, look at me and don't look away 'til I say."

"Um, okay?" Hiccup complied, curious as to what his mentor was thinking could fix what Hiccup believed was a complex issue. From what his Dad had taught him, Chief trials often included feats of valor, proofs of skill, and demonstrations of wisdom. It made Hiccup feel uneasy to think of trying to accomplish such tasks at the moment. Despite the lazy morning, he was tired. He had not slept well, instead holding Astrid close and drifting in and out of sleep many times during the night, only to finally fall asleep a mere hour or so before he should be awake and preparing to reveal his return to the village.

At first Gobber just sat quietly in his chair and stared straight into the Hiccup's eyes. Astrid eyes flicked back and forth between the pair but rested on the other council members, noting the curious expressions painted on their faces. She did not like lack of confidence she could feel radiating off of Hiccup, nor did she enjoy lacking the ability to encourage him. She had absolutely no idea what was transpiring in front of her. She was chief, was she not? She should know all about these traditions, including the loopholes she could exploit in order to expedite this ridiculous test of Hiccup's character. Unfortunately, Hiccup was the one possessing a lifetime of instruction tuned to grow his leadership and diplomacy skills. She had only been in chief training for two years, and the actual chiefing had taken a higher priority than memorizing obscure and seldom used sections of traditions buried in the dusty archives of Berkian law. Although she trusted Gobber with her own and her husband's lives, she would much rather be directing this trial than merely looking on as an observer.

Fortunately for Astrid's anxiety, Gobber's plan was not overly time consuming. The minute or so of intense staring was abruptly interrupted when blacksmith swiftly dashed around the table and sprinted towards Hiccup. Gobber's braided mustache flying wildly as a guttural yell resonated throughout the hall, the wild man raising his hook when he barreled on towards Hiccup.

Hiccup stood still, his cool composure undisturbed throughout the ordeal. He had become quite familiar with the wide range of expressions that could cross his mentor's face. The stare currently aimed at him was meant to be blistering, capable of causing paint to peel and men to loose more than just their courage, but Hiccup was used to the stare and the man. Besides, he had seem much worse in the past few years, a thought which nearly caused him to shudder, but he steeled himself and overcame the emotional turmoil. With startling clarity Hiccup realized that in this moment he was not scared, he wasn't even lacking confidence anymore. He remembered every piece of the combat training Astrid had taught him, along with a few new skills he acquired while wandering aimlessly.

Watching as Gobber charged him, Hiccup observed the world around him slow to a gritty grind. He saw Gobber's fake tooth and how it wobbled slightly, noting it would fly out of Gobber's mouth if the man was punched. Hiccup observed the dust and smoke in the air of the hall mix and churn, and he heard that troublesome yak attacking the food stores once more. He had half a mind to bark an order at the next free viking to go catch the beast. However, the orders stuck in his throat due to other sensations tickling his senses. Astrid was standing next to him and emanating the same strong presence he had often found so comforting, but this was different, some more unusual emotions seemed to rage within her and he felt it. He could hear the breath she slowly inhaled, and suddenly he recognized the emotion: fear. Hiccup was simultaneously furious so much fear had forced its way into her life, and utterly proud of her courage for standing with him, she was even prepared to fight and was clutching a dagger hidden in a concealed holster.

Time rapidly resumed its normal breakneck pace and without neglecting to glare at Gobber, Hiccup flashed a quick smile at his beloved before turning all his focus onto Gobber, and watching the hook rise high in the air to strike, Hiccup made his move. Having launched both hands up to catch the arm and adjusting his feet to maximize traction, Hiccup waited. The blow landed with a resonating thud and Hiccup's feet slid back an inch or so but the man stayed upright, the spikes on his prosthetic leg scraping shallow channels into the stone floor.

"Yield." Hiccup commanded sharply, but Gobber was not moved by the order.

Hiccup shifted his stance to provide more support to his left arm and let go of Gobber with his right hand. He bunched his right hand into a fist and the gauntlet on that arm burst into flame, which he held in front of Gobber's face. Narrowing his eyes, he spoke once again.

"Yield." Once again the simple command was stated, and this time Gobber's face softened.

"Aye," the blacksmith agreed and ended the furious staring contest. "The lad ne'er took his eyes off me, he's as strong as ever."

Blinking at how easily and rapidly the 'trial' had concluded, Hiccup remembered his observations and looked over to Astrid. He made a move to embrace her, but was surprised when she recoiled with wide eyes.

"Put that out first, dragon boy." She instructed serious but playful in tone of voice.

"Oh." He shook his arm to put the fire out. "Sorry, that would have hurt. I should have paid more attention."

"Just figured that out?" She quipped while grinning at him.

"Come here you." Hiccup grinned right back at her as he looped an arm around her and pulled her close.

"Ahem." The pair looked up into the amused eyes of the council and shifted to stand side by side facing the council.

"The council of elders of the tribe of the Hairy Hooligans of the island of Berk has reached a verdict on the abilities of Chief Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third. Once thought to be dead, he has now returned alive and his identity has been verified by the Chieftess of Berk and his wife, Chieftess Astrid Hofferson."

Gobber would have droned on longer, but due to the fact he had participated in the test of will, Gothi stood up and ordered Gobber to translate the rest of the speech.

"The Chief endured a trial of strength and will with great solitude - whack - er,fortitude, proving his capability to resume the pole - patience woman, I see that's not what you wrote - role of Chief of the Hairy Hooligans. That is, unless Astrid wishes to challenge you for the position."

"You've got to be kidding me. Job's all yours babe, you were born for it." She stated, slipping an arm around his neck and pulling his head down for a solid kiss.

"You'd 'av thought I said kiss the bride, not you're the chief." Gobber muttered under his breath.

"All right Hiccup, take the rest of the day off. Settle in, 'av some quality time with yer family."

After thanking Gobber and shaking hands with the rest of the council, except for Gothi, who smiled warmly and held his shoulder, Hiccup nodded in agreement and he lead his wife from the hall to face the village. But first, he was going to meet his son.