CHAPTER TEN
Astrid's Public Incident
"I had barely slept a wink. After the talk with Valka, I wanted to find Hiccup and tell him as soon as possible. This had to be a quick tear, not a slow peel..."
Astrid could feel the weight of the bags under her eyes as she got out of bed, still keeping her window covered to keep the 10:45am sun from burning her retinas. She felt both hungry and sick at the same time, so breakfast was out of the question.
She quickly put on her boots and hood and went downstairs and out the door into the already bustling village.
"Hiccup?! Hiccup?!" she called a few times, stopping then occasional village to ask if they'd seen the chief. No one was of any help to her, until she saw Cami, Heather, Mala and Dagur standing in front of the Great Hall with Eret and the other riders.
"Morning, sleepy-head!" Heather called to Astrid before running down to give her friend a hug. "Heather... Heather, we need to te..."
"Y'had a lie in today, huh?" Dagur laughed before Astrid could finish what she was saying, prompting her to chuckle half-heartedly as she said "yeah... ha ha... long day yesterday... so uh... anybody here seen Hiccup?"
"Last we saw of him, he was in Gobber's stall..." Mala said, while Cami, Eret and Ruffnut all looked at Astrid. She cleared her throat, before separating from Heather's embrace and adding "great... I just... I have to talk to him about uh... ahem... something... I'll uh... I'll catch up with you guys later... probably..."
"No trouble at all, dear honorary sister..." Dagur patted her on the back, before he and the others went into the Great Hall. Astrid sighed as she turned to look at the forge at the bottom of the hill, taking a deep breath before going down to it.
"To be honest, it actually made a lot of sense for me to break my secret to Hiccup here, since this was where I made my little advance on him the first day I tried it. It was practically poetry."
"Hiccup? Hiccup, are you in here?" Astrid called nervously as she peeked into the dark stall, leaving the door slightly ajar as she walked into it. "Hiccup... ugh... look, babe, we really need to talk... it's um... it's about the dragon nip dealing..."
"What about it?" a voice behind her suddenly said, nearly causing Astrid to jump out of her skin as she grabbed a knife off of the table and turned around to face the voice.
Heather quickly raised her hands in surrender. "Easy, Astrid... easy, just... just put the knife down, okay...?"
"Gods, Heather. Why did you sneak up on me like that?!" Astrid snapped.
"What. I saw you coming in here alone and it's all dark, like in a scary story, so... I dunno, maybe you need backup or something..."
"Trust me, Heather. I'm the last person in the Archipelago you'd wanna backup right now..."
Heather had an eyebrow raised with a grin on her face, saying "hm... you're telling him, aren't you?"
Astrid closed her eyes and took a deep breath, exhaling heavily before she said "yeah... yeah, I am..."
She then sighed as she reached for the knife again, throwing it for Heather to catch as she said "so... you wanna silence me, cut my tongue out, or kill me, or whatever, here's your chance..."
"Well, Astrid... as tempting as that sounds..." Heather snarked as she threw the knife away. "I still think you're in desperate need of backup... if you're gonna tell Hiccup the truth, we'll all be right behind you..."
"Hm... thank you, Heather..." Astrid gushed warmly as she pulled Heather into a hug, taking a moment before saying "wait... we...?"
Heather chuckled, separating from the embrace as she said "oh... right... yeah, I totally forgot about them..."
She was close to laughing as she titled the door open behind her, revealing Cami, Ruffnut and Eret all standing just outside.
"Wait, guys, you're... you're not upset about me telling Hiccup...?"
"Course we're not..." Cami said. "Dragon nip's nice, but come on, Astrid, it's not worth all this trouble..."
"Besides, you're the one who started all this, Astrid. It's only right that you be the one to decide when to put it to rest..." Eret added with a chuckle.
"And my butt most certainly agrees..." Ruffnut snarked as they all laughed. Heather put her hand on Astrid's shoulder, a smile on her face as she said "like I said... we're all right behind you..."
Astrid smiled back, before saying "thanks, you guys... so... where's Hiccup right now?"
"Oh, right. We forgot to mention it t'you..." Eret said suddenly. "He's up in the Great Hall..."
"Yeah, he and Valka are talking to my mom about chief stuff..." Cami snarked, prompting a curious Astrid to say "oh... what sort of chief stuff?"
"He's got a big announcement to make. It's also the reason Mr and Mrs Berserker are here with their second-in-command..." Cami said as she pointed to Heather, who added "yeah, the Whispering Trees and Uglithug leaders are gonna be here for it too..."
"Wait, you... ugh... gods..." Astrid rubbed her temple stressfully as a thought suddenly dawned on her. "You don't think it's about... y'know...?"
"The dragon nip? Hm... well, maybe..." Heather wasn't worried as she patted Astrid on the back. "But if it is, it'll be fine. If we find Hiccup and you tell him now, he'll probably be really happy about it..."
"Heather, I... I don't know, I just..."
"Geez, Astrid. I'm the dumbest person here and even I know there's no better time than now!" Ruffnut snapped.
After a quick little moment of silence, Astrid took a deep breath, before saying "alright... let's go break it to him..."
"I'd been dreading telling the others about this almost as much as I dreaded telling Hiccup, but to have them actually supporting me was a huge relief that I wasn't expecting to have. So with the big announcement about to be made I decided to seize my moment."
Astrid went into the Hall with the others behind her, seeing Valka standing and laughing with Bertha and Dagur.
"Val, where's Hiccup?!" she asked frantically, prompting Valka to excuse herself from the two chiefs as she said "ah, g'morning, dear... how did he take it?"
"I haven't told him yet! It's why I'm trying to find him, so where is he?!"
"Alright, love, just calm down... it'll be fine, Astrid. He's down by the dock welcoming the other chiefs..."
"Great! Thanks, Val!" Astrid quickly turned back and out the doors of the Hall, running at a fast pace down the steps before the last person she wanted to see at this point stood in front of her, a smug grin on his face as he said "hey, boss... y'hear about the announcement?"
"Outta my way, shrimp!" she snapped as she shoved Gustav aside. She froze at the bottom of the steps, standing straight as she saw Hiccup heading up the hill with Toothless while talking to the chiefs of the Whispering Trees and Uglithugs.
She brushed her hair out of her face and dusted herself down, nodding silently with a smile as the two chiefs passed her. Once they'd gone into the Hall, she turned her attention to her own village's chief. "Hiccup!"
"Oh, morning, Astrid..." Hiccup said as he and Toothless walked past her and up the steps to the Great Hall where everyone was gathering. He was clearly nervous since he was about to make a public speech to most of the other tribe leaders, but he seemed calmer and happier than when he first announced the security measures.
As he went up the steps to the Hall, Astrid quickly followed behind him and took his hand as she said "Hiccup, I have something I really need to tell you..."
"Alright. Just tell me after the announcement, okay?"
"Yeah, but this isn't really an after-the-announcement kind of thing to tell you..."
"Astrid, I can't ta..."
"It's basically an announcement all by..."
"Astrid!" she froze for a moment as Hiccup said this to her, prompting an awkward silence to take hold. It wasn't really a command, or aggressive, but it was slightly harsher than how he usually spoke to her. Within an instant, he'd clearly regretted using this tone with her, sighing as he added "look, Astrid. I... I'm sorry, but I can't talk right now. Alright, they're all in there waiting, Astrid, and I can't screw this up in front of the other chiefs... I'll hear it right after, I promise..."
He kissed on the cheek before quickly running into the hall with Toothless following him, Astrid standing at the door still as she groaned loudly in frustration. "Ugh! You idiot!"
"Well... I guess waiting til after the announcement wouldn't have done anyone any harm... right?"
The entire village was frantically talking as they gathered in the Great Hall. Hiccup was standing in the centre of the table with Valka behind him, while Bertha, Cami and the Uglithug chief stood to his left as Dagur, Mala and the Whispering Trees chief stood on his right. Astrid sat between Heather and Eret in the front row of the crowd, breathing slowly yet anxiously as she waited for the speech to start and finish so she could tell Hiccup her secret.
"Well... I'd like to thank you all for coming here today..." Hiccup aimed this at the other chiefs, who all nodded respectfully in response. Valka had a hand on her son's shoulder as he cleared his throat and continued with "so... I have really good news regarding our security measures over the whole dragon nip fiasco."
Astrid went wide-eyed at this, her left hand fidgeting nervously out of her control before Heather grabbed her hand to stop it moving. She watched as Valka came out fully from behind the table so that everyone could see her. "Aye, we have... ahem... last night, I spoke anonymously to the mastermind behind the dragon nip dealings. And I'm pleased to report that we've reached an agreement..."
Astrid noticed Cami raising an eyebrow at this as she glanced at them in the crowd, before Valka continued with "as long as we press no charges against them or their companions, the dealings will be stopped for good and the mastermind will reveal he... I mean, themselves at this very meeting..."
Heather and Eret both glanced at Astrid without turning their heads as Astrid gulped nervously. She looked at Valka, who quickly looked back and nodded confidently, as if this was meant to be Astrid's cue to stand up.
"Well, there you have it, guys..." Hiccup sighed in relief. "So... assuming the so-called mastermind of this whole thing is in the room, I'd like to ask that you step forward now so we can put away these security measures and everything can go back to normal... since we're all really excited to find out who you are..."
Astrid felt Heather's hand squeezing hers gently, turning to face her as she grinned encouragingly. Astrid smiled weakly in return, before looking back where Hiccup was still waiting to find out who the mastermind was. She closed her eyes and took a deep, slow breath, exhaling quietly as she whispered "okay... here goes..."
"DARLING, NO!" everyone jolted up as they heard Mrs Larson's voice from outside the Hall. Hiccup had already jumped over the table onto Toothless' back as the dragon took off over the crowd to the door while Astrid and the other riders quickly followed him outside. Mrs Larson was standing at the bottom of the steps, looking up with terror at the top of the Hall's towering doors.
"Gustav, he's up there!" she wailed as Hiccup got off of Toothless and they all looked up at Gustav, who was cackling without a care as he dangled dizzily on the sword placed in the right statue's mouth. "Hey, you guys all look like ants from down there! AH HA HA HAAA!"
"Alright, Gustav!" Hiccup called as Astrid and the others gathered behind him and Mrs Larson. "We're gonna get you down from there. Just don't let go..."
"What was that?" he said in a theatrical, sarcastic tone. "You want me to let go?"
"No-no-no-no-Gustav-don't-do-that!"
"WHOOO!" Gustav let go of the sword and began plummeting towards the ground. Everyone else screamed, but Cami remained calm as she shoved herself to the front and shouted "Toothless! Trust exercise!"
Toothless nodded as he quickly leapt up on his hind-legs and lowered his head, just letting Gustav slide down his back and reach the ground unharmed, exactly as he'd done with Cami the day she first visited Berk. Gustav hadn't been hurt, but he was robbed of his breath as his mother worryingly wrapped him into a tight embrace.
When she finally released him, Gustav sat on the ground groaning as Hiccup got down on one knee. He strictly said "Gustav, what in Thor's name were you doing up there? Do you know what could have... wait... your eyes, what... what's wrong with them...?"
Astrid also noticed Gustav's face was devoid of it's usual colour and he had thick, heavy bags under his eyes. "Gods... he's taken dragon nip, Hiccup..."
"What?! Eret, how... how could he even get his hands on it?! You saw him feeding it to Fanghook!" Hiccup looked at an equally-confused Eret, who glared at Gustav as he said "the little bugger must have hidden himself a sample!"
"Ha ha... on the orders of my employer... the dragon nip mastermind..." Gustav laughed out weakly, prompting Astrid to go wide-eyed as she said "what?!"
"What orders, Gustav?!" Hiccup asked intensely, with Gustav keeping a smug grin as the other chiefs were within earshot. "It was my job to get some dragon nip for a new garden while the mastermind played you like an idiot and made you think she surrendered! Ha ha... it's simple, ain't it?!"
What?! No I didn't?! Astrid thought to herself, before looking at Gustav and saying "what the Hel are you even talking about?!"
"It's all true, chief..." Gustav said, clearly trying to build up tension for a bombshell to drop. "Just ask your girlfriend..."
"What?!"
"Don't listen to him, Hiccup! He's a liar!" Ruffnut called in protest, before a worried, slightly wide-eyed Hiccup kept his eye contact with Gustav as he added "why should I ask Astrid, Gustav?!"
"Because she is the mastermind, dumbass!" Gustav chortled out as a loud series of gasps spread like a fire amongst the crowd.
"Oh gods..." was the only thing Astrid could really get out as everything seemed to freeze around her and she collapsed onto her knees. She couldn't even bother trying to stop tears streaming down her face as she felt everyone looking at her, before Hiccup finally looked away from Gustav at her to snap her out of her trance. His face, one that seemed to feel shocked, confused and betrayed all at once, cut her right down to the core.
"Astrid... Astrid, is this true?!"
Everything around her returned to its normal speed, but it wasn't panic she felt anymore. There was a hint of fear, and quite a bit of shame. But most of all, it was sheer fury.
"You snitching... lying... little... BASTARD!" Astrid was snarling like a beast as she shoved past Hiccup and charged Gustav, who barely had time to scream as she tackled his scrawny body to the ground and began pummelling him wildly with her fists.
"Astrid... Astrid, stop this!" as she beat Gustav senseless, Astrid could hear Valka's voice and the feeling of her future mother-in-law's hands gripping her arm to pull her off of the boy. She was still shrieking and red in the face as Valka was able to pry her back, letting Mrs Larson pick up the bloody mess that her son had been turned into.
When Astrid finally managed to calm down, the majority of the crowd had taken a few steps back, almost forming a circle around the scene. Astrid looked at Valka, and then at Hiccup, who was glaring at her with equal loads of despair, disappointment and disapproval all at once.
"Well... busted, I guess..."