Chapter 8: Running with the Wolves by Aurora

A gift, A curse

They track and hurt

Say can you dream

In nightmares seems

A million voices, silent dreams

Where hope is left so incomplete


Astrid had tried everything to fight the boredom, but only the anxiety of watching the last bus of the day shuffle away like a dying mammoth won the match against it.

They'd been waiting for Hiccup for a little over fifteen minutes after he said he'd come get them, and her aunt and uncle were passive-aggressively arguing about him again in hushed voices, a few steps away from her because Astrid really, really didn't want to hear it.

The dark clouds had settled, but neither the people nor Cami had really come back out from hiding, so the end of the shift at the vet's had been more than dull, even with her taking advantage of the mighty Wi-Fi signal then, and even now.

A little notification was blinking again in the corner of her screen, and Astrid cursed Erik for leaving a voicemail instead of sending an audio message like a regular person. She'd listened to it again last night and she thought about it. Erik getting her a part.

Should she answer his voicemail? Should she call him?

Still three or so steps away from her, Sigrid was throwing Finn a meaningful look, having grown quiet.

Astrid could spy Hiccup's jeep driving down the street towards them. She tapped a quick message for Erik and put away her phone.

After they'd climbed up, Finn insisting he drive and Hiccup automatically giving Sigrid the passenger seat, climbing on the backseat with Astrid.

They'd exited the town, the trees now rushing away from the window as they sped past them, a comfortable silence stretching between them.

Finn threw Hiccup a look through the rearview mirror, "So? How's your father doing?"

Hiccup jumped, his cheeks went a dusty rose color, and he pretended not to have been caught staring at Astrid, "Oh! well, he's... he's fine, I think," he said, reaching to rubbing his nape, hand lingering in his collarbone. "He's in London at the moment."

"I suppose he went to talk about the export clause with Frederick Worthington," mused Finn, "he told me he'd be getting on about it."

Hiccup hesitated, throwing a helpless look at Sigrid, through the mirror "Uh… I think so. I really don't know."

Sigrid tutted, "and when is he getting back?"

"I think he said Wednesday. I'm not sure-"

Astrid interrupted him, her keen gaze on him, "how can you not know? Do you never ask those things?"

"I…" Hiccup paused to think, "I don't know," he said finally, "We never talk about those things."

She sighed, leaning back in her seat, "oh... well. I guess My mom's the same. I always get her plans through imessage or Martha."

"Martha?" Sigrid piped in, half-turning to look at Astrid.

"Her assistant."

"I see." Sigrid gave Finn a meaningful look.

Astrid shrugged, turning to look out the window again.

"I know what you mean," said Hiccup to Astrid, breaking the silence, "all I ever get is 'Hello, son, Goodbye, son.' I'm an expert on 20 different ways of only saying 'Hi' thanks to him."

Astrid chuckled, "'How to Not Communicate: The Art of Talking About Nothing.'"

Hiccup snorted, making them burst out laughing until their giggles diluted into pleased smiles.

Astrid felt watched and she raised her gaze until she met Sigrid's kind eyes on them, a wry smile on her lips.

Hiccup didn't catch Finn's on them through the mirror.

They arrived at her aunt and uncle's and they all unloaded Hiccup's jeep, and he walked around until he met Finn at the driver's seat's side, but Finn didn't move.

"Thanks for getting us."

"No problem." Hiccup held out his hand to receive his keys, but Finn was still holding on to them.

Sigrid and Astrid shared a puzzled look.

Finn scrutinized him for a moment. "You have dinner yet, boy?"

Hiccup blinked. "Err… yeah. I mean, no," he rushed to correct. "No, not yet."

Finn nodded, closing the Jeep's door behind him. There was another silent moment that passed with Hiccup standing in the same spot beside his Jeep, feeling as if he said anything right then Finn would do something else unpredictable like grab him by the collar and fling him into the sun. Or turn into a vampire. Whichever was more likely.

"Come on, then!" he called back to Hiccup, already walking away. "Dinner, love," he whispered to Sigrid, grabbing her hand to lead her inside and making her redden.

It finally dawned on him that Finn was asking him to stay for dinner.

He noticed Astrid had lingered in the same spot by the jeep.

He was smiling, bright and airy, lopsided and gap-toothed. She liked that.

She nodded at the front door, half facing him, half facing Sigrid's house. He shrugged dismissively, but he followed after her.

After dinner, Hiccup had disappeared somewhere outside after helping clear the table.

A cold gust of wind flew through her clothes and settled, a little too comfortable, in her skin. She crossed her arms and burrowed her fists almost too near her armpits. Her booted feet stepped onto the turf grass, still a little slippery from the rain that afternoon, and carried her to where Hiccup was sitting on the bench swing, fiddling with an object in his lap.

She stopped next to the swing and watched Hiccup for a moment. His hair had settled from its windblown look.

Astrid hesitated, but Hiccup smiled at her and she sat next to him. The swing swayed gently, forcing a breeze that made Astrid a little regretful she'd worn just a pullover. She crossed her arms, shivering.

"Cold?" He didn't look at her, he was putting his camera in an expensive-looking case.

She shrugged. She nodded, gesturing at the camera. "Can I see?"

"It's dead…" He put the case to the side. His fingertips lingered lovingly on it. "Maybe I can show you some other time?"

"Sure."

He offered her a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. She mirrored him before they both turned to look at the sky.

After the rain, the clouds had cleared, and now the stars, millions of glittering diamonds, shone in the night sky.

It was just beautiful. And the contact from Hiccup's leather jacket-covered arm was warm and comfortable.

She pulled out the script, trying to read it again with only the moonlight and the decently-distanced backyard light for lighting. Her brows furrowed, her eyes squinting.

"What's wrong?" interrupted Hiccup.

"There's..." she tried to straighten the paper, "I don't understand this."

"Let me see?"

Astrid angled it, so he could read.

Hiccup hummed, reading in a low voice. "Well, that's ominous," he said after he was finished. "Who wrote it?"

"It doesn't say..." she frowned, "what's ominous?"

"You didn't read it?" He pointed at the last section of the script. "This, right here...!" He paused, and something clicked right in Hiccup's brain. "Oh. Right."

Astrid gave him a level stare.

"Right. Berkian." He gave a little giggle. "Right… I'll translate." He cleared his throat, standing up, prying the paper from Astrid's fingers.

He started pacing, exaggerating a mysterious, womanly voice:

"Many trials you'll face. Much pain you'll... suffer?" he stopped and considered it. "Yes. Suffer's the right word. But when you meet your... you know? soul... friend... friendly soul?" he shook his head, "let them live. Let them live for you'll meet your people's... the savior of your people and your nation."

He bowed to a mediocre applause and a smirk from Astrid. Then, she asked him to repeat Skuld's lines in Berkian, so she could practice their pronunciation. Hiccup tried to correct her, but they kept getting stuck in the first line and Astrid's fuse was close to blowing.

"No, it's okay. Just say it again, but when you say the first 'R' just meh-the-shipov-you-shongue-ike-"

Astrid ripped the paper away from him.

He sat back down. "Is this for Sommerfest?"

"Yeah." She glanced at the crinkled paper in her hands. She folded it, so she didn't have to see the ink mocking her. "I should've read the script before agreeing."

"-said Robert Pattinson after Twilight."

Astrid snorted, but her deadpan manner had him wincing.

"Right. Not funny?"

She put the folded script away in her pocket. "Very funny. Not in the mood for funny."

"For what it's worth, I think you'll be great at this," he said, trying to comfort her.

Silence. Her arms were now folded, and she looked out into the fields.

"Astrid?"

"That's... all I've ever wanted to be." Astrid's voice was raw, unbound.

The quiet was as delicate as walking into an artisanal glass trinket store from the cultural center downtown wearing boots with no traction on a rainy day.

"But... you're already great. You're Astrid Hofferson; you're a superstar."

"I...!" She seemed to choke on the rawness for a moment. "Because of who I date. Dated. Or what I look like, Hiccup! It's not the same."

"That's... well..." he struggled to find something to say. "Why? Isn't there a saying that goes: all press is good press?"

Astrid shook her head, "not when you want people to talk about anything but your outfit or your partner." She grimaced, "or when people nominate you for a Razzie on your first part everon a feature film."

Hiccup's head tilted to the side, "really? I thought you were funny."

"It wasn't supposed to be funny."

He scoffed, "'Robo-Nanny 2: The Karaoke Party' wasn't supposed to be funny?"

She huffed, her annoyance surging up her throat. "It was supposed to be social commentary and- and speculative fiction."

"Well, the singing robots sure fooled me."

Astrid turned and swatted his shoulder. "The studio made us add them. Said it'd make the movie more digestible."

"And they thought it was a good idea at the time?"

She paused, keeping her mouth open and holding her breath as she looked for a comeback.

"It was such a mess," she finally conceded with an exhale.

"That's not your fault." He gave her another of those tilted smiles that made her heart hammer against her chest. "You still were funny."

Her cheeks were a pretty pink as the corner of her lips gave a shy turn upwards. "Thanks."

The moon was out that day, bright silvery light shining on Astrid's skin. On her beautiful blue eyes, and velvet-looking, pink lips. He wondered if he touched them they'd be as soft as they looked.

But no. It couldn't be. No matter how much her lovely face, eyes, lips and voice, and her strong personality, and…

No matter how much everything about her made his heart do funny flips, she was way out of his league. All he could do was bask in the light of her short presence in his life and then remember it. Probably forever. And then bring it up at their wedding. With pictures. She would look otherworldly in a white dress. Was she Christian? Or did she follow the old-way? Would he have to address Sigrid or Astrid's mum?

Shit.

Shit.

He cleared his throat. "Anyway, you'll be great," he raised a hand, but he forced the direction to change from towards her shoulder to scratching his neck. "At Fishlegs' play, I mean, you survived Robo-Nanny 2! you can definitely survive a Fishlegs-directed play."

Astrid felt her face warm; the cold wasn't quite so biting now. "I know… Thank you."

Hiccup's breath came out in a relieved little laugh. "Not a problem. And I can help with the Berkian… If you want."

Her soft smiled widened. "Okay." She mock-frowned, pulling out the script with one hand and raising a threatening finger with the other, "but if you make another stupid face..."

Later, after Hiccup had gone home with him promising to help Astrid practice her lines, and Sigrid promising at least she and Astrid, if not his father or Finn, would be going to see him at the turf the next day, Astrid thought again of Erik's voicemail.

Still awake, sitting in her bed in the guest bedroom, she pulled out her phone to check the text she'd sent him.

'I just got your voicemail. Explain. Clearly and briefly.'

She figured she'd be getting an answer by morning.


The race was at noon, but they'd had to leave at nine because they'd be getting stuck in traffic.

Sigrid had pointed at the long line of cars before and after them in the lane leading down south of the Isle.

At 11-ish, Finn dropped them off at the turf's parking lot, already grumpy about 'lousy drivers' and how they were 'not following the driving safety regulations' and driven off still muttering about a man that'd tail-gated them part of the way.

As they walked, Astrid and Sigrid passed by groups of grown men zealously discussing the outcome of the race (some men favored Hiccup strongly while the rest favored some guy they called 'the American.'), that ended with one of the men punching another and a brawl breaking out.

Some nearby families sped away from the fight, and Astrid and Sigrid followed them to the entrance.

When they deviated from the ticket booth, where a sizable line was still moving along. The number of people gathering at the entrance, laughing, playing music from speakers and just chatting reminded Astrid of a stadium before a major sports match.

"This is insane!" she said to Sigrid, eyes and smile wide, drinking in the crowd's energy.

Sigrid laughed, "this?" she said, gesturing to the throngs of people with her chest swollen by pride and a rich warmth in her voice, "this is Berk."

She let Astrid observe the people before she pulled on her elbow. "Let's get on, then, we've got the best tickets."

Berk's turf was oval-shaped, with common seating stands all around for the general public as well as a couple of booths they could access only by presenting their named tickets and ID. (Which presented a bit of an inconvenience when the guard had commented on how Astrid looked nothing like Stoick, Hiccup's father. It was only by Sigrid's throwing Hiccup's name around that they'd been let through.

The tickets Hiccup had given Sigrid gave them access to a nice view and the company of Gobber and a group of men that were badgering him.

"Hiccup's ready. Been havin a winning streak he has, for the last two years!" He said confidently to the group of men.

"Good," said one of them, looking vaguely familiar. He was nodding along with the other men. "I have a ticket on him placing first."

There was a gasp to her left, and Astrid's aunt was marching towards the man that'd spoken, who was now cowering from her ire, trying to hide behind another of the men, but he was given no mercy and thrown to the front of them.

"Snotlout Jorgenson!" she reached down and grabbed his ear, "you're betting! On your cousin!"

Astrid remembered him from the Haddock ranch now, trying to act suave in front of her.

"Si-si-si-Sigrid!" his confident voice had turned high pitched, clawing at his ear as he was dragged out of the booth by her aunt.

Faintly, Sigrid's voice could be heard: "I did not change your nappies for nothing, young man!"

The rest of the men laughed, with the exception of another that hung back. Taller, but very obviously related to Snotlout, with his black hair and a stubborn frown. He had his arms crossed and addressed the other men and Gobber.

"Told boy'o not to bet anymore, but he seems to hate an honest day of work. His mother will hear about it."


Tuffnut Thorston held Fury as Hiccup mounted, and then promptly slapped Natt Fury's butt, shouting in a theatrical voice "go on you, ugly beast!"

Had another, less experienced rider on the saddle and a more neurotic horse, the horse-rider tandem would've shot out of the pen at a furious speed, but as it was Hiccup, all he had to do was rein in the horse and give him a firm command, "Fury," he called so that Fury only walked off a little away from the previous spot instead of bursting into a gallop.

Hiccup half-turned to give Tuffnut an unimpressed glare.

But Tuffnut was already lamenting, "aww, man! Why you gotta kill my vibe?"

Exhaling tiredly, Hiccup started Fury at a canter out of the mounting and dismounting area, easing him into a gallop once they reached the turf's grass, to the exhilaration of the crowd, that welcomed them with the shouting of his name and clapping.

To his left rode Eret Anderson. That made him smile. There was also Gustav, a trainee from the Haddock ranch, out on his first race at 16. He didn't quite know the others, they were other trainees from the Berk turf, and he wasn't the most sociable person.

Fury slowed again slowed to a canter as they reached the holding pens, ending up with Eret (who was recognizable with his red and blue stripes over his back) on Hiccup's left, riding Skullcrusher, a horse with a nasty headbutting habit.

"Hiccup! Ready to get your butt kicked?"

Eret was giving him a friendly smile that he couldn't help but return.

"Hey, Eret."

Eret's brow furrowed in concern, but he wisely chose not to bring it up.

"God, last race of the season, pity it's so short here," Eret tried to chat, but didn't get more than a non-committal hum from Hiccup. "My whole family's down here to see me race! I'm a little nervous, to be honest," he tried chatting again.

"Yeah." Hiccup watched the disappointment in Eret's eyes. "Sorry… just… focusing."

Eret shrugged, "don't worry. It's good."


"-He's acting weird today," Gobber confided Sigrid and Astrid, back in the booth. "He's fidgety."

"Why?" said Astrid as Sigrid wringed her hands in her lap; they were already sitting, ready for the race.

Gobber shrugged, "dunno. Not his da, and he doesn't tell me much these days. What say you, Sig?"

Sigrid's gaze was fixated on the turf in front and below them. "Me, too. I haven't really talked to him recently," she admitted, guilt darkening her voice.

A cheer broke out and from the mounting/dismounting area out came the horses, one by one, and the presenter calling the jockey and horse's names. The other men in the room shouted a spirited "YEAH!" when Hiccup's name was called out, and Astrid saw a blur with a black vest and white breeches riding a black horse.

Seeing her squint, Gobber rummaged in his bag before pulling out some binoculars and hurriedly handing them to Astrid. She thanked him quickly while Sigrid stared at Gobber in disbelief.

"Wha-? I like bird-watching!" he defended himself to Sigrid, "forgot you glasses girlie?" he asked Astrid.

"Don't need those," muttered Astrid, trying to find Hiccup in the turf.

Always willing to help, Sigrid pulled on the binoculars to direct her towards the holding pens.

The crowd had fallen into silence as the presenter was calling the countdown.

A shot went off and the horses burst from the holding pens at a furious gallop! Hiccup lagged behind a guy in red and blue stripes and another jockey with a fawn-colored horse, wearing a single, purple star on his white vest. Sadly, the latter's horse got fatigued and quickly fell behind, leaving the striped guy and Hiccup on the lead.

The men behind Astrid, Sigrid and Gobber quickly became restless, but nobody dared shout or even speak.

It seemed Gobber's worry was for nothing as both leading jockeys evened out, horses riding head to head, and Astrid was perched at the edge of her seat.

A flash and it was a picture finish. The crowd waited, the anticipation building higher as the committee decided on the winner.

The group of men in the booth started to chatter and Astrid tried to tune them out.

After a good minute, during which the rest of the contestants cantered their horses out of the turf and into the dismounting area, waiting for their assigned stable hand, the committee called their deliberation, Hiccup and the striped guy following the rest last.

As soon as she heard it, Astrid jumped up from her seat and started clapping furiously, a bright and wide smile on her face. She'd have to congratulate Hiccup later.

Her eyes were glued to the line of his back and the movements his body made as the horse trotted to the dismounting area. And then she had to look at the little curve hiding in those breeches, leaving her throat dry and her face warm.

And then she had to watch his prosthetic slip and get tangled in the stirrup as he started to dismount, and his whole body slamming on the ground.


Hi everyone! I'm so sorry for the delay, but i'm now working full time and the adjustment period has been a little rough. I was also having problems writing this chapter because a big part of it is describing actions (really needed to fasten the pace a bit) and so I really wanted to end the chapter with Hiccup falling on his face. How's that for 'no distractions'?
Poor dude can't get a break.

No guest reviews this time? :( that's alright!