Chapter 8
Time stopped. Everything blurred and her body went numb. For some unknown reason, it got harder to breath. She heaved, forcing her lunges to work. Her face felt tingly as tears drew wet lines down her face. Her hands automatically cupped her half open mouth as she sucked in air deeply. Her mind searched for any sort of explanations for what was happening… She could be hallucinating, or this could simply be a dream.
But it wasn't. It was very much real.
There he was, the boy who vanished years ago, sitting in front of her, staring at her sadly. Even after being apart for many years, she still recognized this person. Even though his body went through transformations over the years, turning from boy to man, he was still himself. He was still the sensitive, caring, sarcastic boy inside. He scratched the back of his neck nervously. Grabbing his peg leg, he dusted off dirt from the bottom before screwing the fake body part back on.
"I, uh, I guess I have some explaining to do, huh?" He awkwardly chuckled, a failed attempt to lighten the mood. He stood up, walked over to her and offered his hand out to her to help her up. She reached out with a shaking hand and grabbed his, only to suddenly pull him down. He yelped and was about to complain but Astrid punched him in the gut, shoving out the air from his lungs. A thud was heard when her fist collided with his body, waking up the dragons.
"Oww! Way … Why would you do that?" He asked between coughs, clutching his stomach. He paused after he saw the look on her face. She was biting her lower lip to prevent herself from screaming, her eyes were painfully red around the edges as she stared at him with a mighty rage. She threw her hand back, which caused Hiccup squeezed his eyes shut, expecting the slap before it came. The hit was so hard, his head turned to the side, leaving a stinging, red handprint on his left cheek.
He released a breath he didn't know he was holding and rubbed the red spot. "Yeah… I guess I kind of deserved that…"
She clinched her fist and rammed it against his chest, accidently hitting a button which flapped open a fin on his back.
"Owwwkay… that one hurt…" He said breathlessly while winding up a circular object attached to his body, folding the fin back in place.
She hit him again, and again, and again.
"You stupid, empty headed, mindless…" She screamed between punches.
At first, Hiccup tried to stop her, or at least, defend himself, but gave up after noticing her hitching and cracking voice. He relaxed his body, absorbing every hit as she lost strength each time she struck him. Her punches became lighter and weaker, her cheeks became pink.
"…Son of a half-troll… Rat eating… Munge bucket…"
Her hits became useless taps. He looked at her sympathetically as he endured her abuse. Her tears turned into waterfalls. She dropped her head down and used whatever energy left in her to punch him one more time, but only managed to tap his chest with her bruised knuckles before sliding her hand down in defeat, resting her hand on his lap as she choked out a cry.
"… you… you… you hiccup…"
The last word felt like it cut through her throat. Her emotions battled against each other, anger and sadness got tangled together while fear, happiness, confusion and other emotions rammed the inside of her body, looking for any way out. Her brain felt like exploding as a headache started growing. She cried. She cried like a newborn baby. She didn't know what she was feeling or what was happening. Nothing made sense anymore. Nothing was logical.
"Hiccup… Hiccup…"
It was the only word her mind managed to form. It was the only thing correct at that moment. The dragons sat nearby, not sure what to do. They wanted to somehow interfere and help their saddened humans, but the interaction between the male and female human seemed like it was something that shouldn't be interrupted, so they watched.
"Hiccup…"
Her voice had lowered, turning into a whisper as she ran out of strength. She felt him gently cup her hand between his, placing it where his heart was located. He pressed her palm there with one hand, and used the other to hold her chin and tilt her head up, forcing her to look at him. He gave a gentle smile, letting her know that he understood her… that he cared.
Yes, this was Hiccup, no doubt about it.
He carefully released her hand, and after he was sure her hand won't slip away from his chest, he placed both of his hands behind her shoulders and slowly pulled her towards him, encouraging her to come closer. Her brain refused to work, but her body responded by leaning on him, giving him full permission to wrap his arms around her. When was the last time she got hugged? When was the last time she craved affection? It never bothered her before, so why now? Warriors were supposed to be tough, not crying their eyes out after finding a long lost person. They were supposed to focus on the important tasks and not let any social dramas get in their way. They are strong and never ask for help, because asking for help is a sign of weakness, right?
But only here, in his arms, did she finally realize how lonely she had been.
Becoming a warrior was the only thing on her mind. She focused on training and forgot about her friends. She spent her days and nights axe throwing, and would come home to at least see her parents for a few minutes. She focused on killing dragons and ignored the humans around her. She focused on herself, and didn't care about anyone else. She gave up her happiness in exchange for success. She was the perfect Viking.
Now, she felt like nothing.
Giving up, she lurched herself onto him, wrapping her arms around his neck and screamed. The scream quickly turned into heart wrenching cries. With every breath released, she let out everything that had been bottled up inside. Her throat hurt, her chest hurt, but it didn't matter. Breathing in was a painful effort, but releasing it with a cry was worth it. The black dragon had his ears flat against his head as he lowered himself to the ground, making whimpering sounds. The Nadder wrapped her tail around herself, feeling useless as her master cried. Hiccup felt like his heart was being ripped out as he heard her sob close to his ear. He had never seen her act this way. No matter how badly he wanted her to stop, he knew she needed it. The way she cried felt like she had never cried before in her life and her emotions took this opportunity to finally relief her mind and body from stress held inside for many years.
I know this chapter is short, but the next will probably contain explanations between Hiccup and Astrid so I didn't want to add that to this part as this chapter is mostly emotions.
We rarely got to see Astrid's soft side in the movies. Yeah, I know she's a tough character, but I believe she covered up her true self in order to be strong for others. In the first movie, she reveals her caring side to Hiccup after she found out who Hiccup really was after the romantic flight. She talked to him differently, more gently, and came to see him off before the Nighmare scene. In the second move, she's more mellow and relaxed around him. She can be tough when she needs to, but she can also be gentle. I like this balance, as it shows that she's an actual person, responding and reacting with emotions to words and actions.
