Hey hey hey, ladies and gentlemen! Fangirls and fanboys of all ages! Welcome, welcome, welcome! :D :D :D Shout-outs for chapter 35:
Lightclaw's Shadow: Thanks! :D Yep, gotta love Mother/Son bonding! :D
Cadet Seinera: Thanks a bunch! :D Yep, the feelsies are realsies, that's for certain. :D And yay! I'm lookin' forward to being one of the awesome NADRS. :D
GuardianDragon98: Haha, lol! That's a lot of thank you's there, my friend. :D And yeah, Drago deserved death. Sometimes, some villains aren't evil enough to deserve death (kinda like Alvin, even though he really didn't stay a villain), but yeah, I never really wanted Alvin to die in the series. Now, Drago and Dagur, on the other hand…:D
LiviLovesDragons: Ha, thank you! :D 90 stories doesn't sound like a whole bunch to me, but then when I go back to my profile and scroll through my list of stories, I'm just, "Omgosh, 90 stories is a lot." XD Thanks for the review! :D
HappyPup1: Thanks! :D The wedding is in the next chapter (chapter 37). So yep. That marks the last chapter of this story, too. The wedding will be the end.
LissanFuryEye: Hehe, thank you! :D I loved that scene when Fishlegs was singing that song about Dark Deep! Especially Hiccup's reaction to it! :D
Literally No One: Thanks! :D
LunarCatNinja: I'm glad you love it! :D And the wedding scene will be in the next chapter, just so ya know. :D
thearizona: The wedding is going to be in the next chapter (chapter 37). And wow, yes, that WOULD be a good idea! Doing an extra chapter with Hiccup and Astrid's kids? That would be so adorable! Okay, now, I'm brainstorming...now, I'm getting ideas...and now I want to write it...XD
ParagonNight666: Aww, thank you! :D But I would be nowhere without my encouraging followers and reviewers to cheer me on! *everyone gets Golden Globe* WHOOOO! :D
neobendium: Oohhh, hahahahahahaha, wow! :D That is pretty cool! September 12th, aye? :D XD
Twilightandpercyjacksonlover30: Awwwww, thank you so much! :D I'm glad you enjoy all these chapters so much! And yes, I agree, Hiccup. Don't feel bad, Hiccup! Drago deserved it! But yeah, like you said. Hiccup has a conscience. It makes him human. Drago was just this...this...in-human type freak without conscience. The opposite of Hiccup. :) Thanks for the review! :D
HugsandBugsSmileyface: Thanks! :D
AnimeAngel: I know, right? A year has gone by so fast! *shares cake with you and our dragons* Hmm, yes. :D WEDDING SCENE NEXT CHAPTER! :D
Hiccup had strict instructions not to get up or move at all for another few weeks; four at the minimum, and after that, he still couldn't do anything strenuous that would strain his ribs for another few weeks.
So, when Astrid found Hiccup working at his desk, only two weeks after he was on the mend, she had a few choice words for him.
She crossed her arms as she stood in the doorway, tapping her foot impatiently. Hiccup lifted his head in her direction. His concussion was almost fully healed, according to Gothi, and his ribs were also healing nicely. His arm was still in a poor shape, still bound in its splint, but obviously enough, it didn't bother Hiccup. His eyes were bright, and he smiled at her.
She sighed. She couldn't stay mad at him, especially when he smiled at her like that. She hated and loved his smile both at once: loved it, because it was honest and sweet, and hated it, because all he had to do was smile, and she wasn't angry with him, no matter what it was.
"Hey," Hiccup said, waving briefly in her direction. His left arm was in a sling tied around his neck and shoulder, and he held a charcoal in his right hand. "What's up, Astrid?"
"You are," Astrid said. "And you're not supposed to be, either." She crossed the room, her feet creating hollow THUMPS against the ground when she walked. "Do you know how late it is, Hiccup? You're still recovering, you shouldn't be up."
"I'm not up," Hiccup protested. "I'm awake, and I'm sitting."
Astrid shook her head. Of course Hiccup would try to squeeze his way out of resting. She knew him too well. "Sure, sure," she rolled her eyes, "but you really should-"
"Hey, I'm tired of sleeping and being a useless sack of broken bones," Hiccup said, not rudely, but not entirely nicely, either. "Besides," he looked back at the papers sprawled out on the desk in front of him, "I had some ideas."
"Oh?" Astrid asked. She knew she should probably get him back to bed, but at the same time, she missed the hyper, eager to think up new inventions Hiccup. She didn't like watching Hiccup sleeping with broken ribs, a broken arm, and a concussion as much as she liked watching slightly insane Hiccup in action.
So, in the end, she pulled a stool over beside the chair Hiccup was residing and sat down. "What kind of ideas?" she asked.
"Ideas for the wedding," Hiccup answered.
Aha. Astrid should have known. Since becoming coherent enough to think for himself, Hiccup hadn't stopped blabbing random ideas about the wedding. Most of them were the same ideas repeated, whereas sometimes, they were new schemes she'd never heard of before.
"I was thinking," Hiccup said, "that we could get the twins to decorate the Great Hall, and maybe Snotlout to help them. Or, if you wanted, we could actually take the wedding to Raven Point…" Hiccup paused and tapped his chin with the charcoal. "Then again, it will be around Snoggletog, so I suppose it might be too cold…?"
"Hiccup, no matter what we decide to do, I'm sure it'll be great," Astrid said. She put her hand on his shoulder and looked at the writing on the paper sprawled out on the desk before her betrothed. As soon as she saw the runes, she couldn't help but chuckle.
"Oh, Hiccup," she said, shaking he head and shutting her eyes. He was left-handed, of course. He used his right hand sometimes, when he wielded Inferno or fought during training years ago, but he was dominant left hand. He couldn't write with his right hand.
And yet, looking at the runes on the paper, Astrid could tell that he had tried really hard to use his right hand to write and draw down ihs ideas. He was so sweet, really, he was, in a crazy, Hiccup-y way.
"You're trying to use your right hand," Astrid said.
Hiccup's confused face faded, if slightly, and he shrugged. "Well, yeah," he said simply, turning back towards the paper and fingering the corner of one of the pages. "My left hand isn't exactly...well…" He glanced at his arm in the sling and sighed. "You know. It kind of goes without saying."
Astrid nodded. She understood. "Still, though, Hiccup," she said, "your writing's messy. Here, give me the charcoal." Hiccup handed it over to her without so much as a second thought, and Astrid took to re-writing what he had managed to scribble out on new sheets of paper.
"Gobber could wed us, I was thinking," Hiccup said with a small shrug as Astrid continued trying to make sense of Hiccup's scribbles and drawings. "Gothi would have to, you know, approve of it and everything, but I don't think she'd have a problem with it, do you?"
Astrid thought for a moment, tapped the charcoal against her chin, and nodded. "Yeah," she said. "Sounds great, just so long as Gobber doesn't mess up on anything. That would be...well-"
"Yeah," Hiccup nodded. "Embarrassing." He looked over at Astrid's handwriting. "Thanks," he said. "It was getting to the point where I couldn't even read my own writing."
Astrid smiled and nodded. She'd had a hard time reading Hiccup's writing, too, after all. "Yeah," she said. "So, it would probably be best if we had the wedding indoors, probably at the Great Hall," she offered. "Just in case it is cold, or snowing."
Hiccup nodded. He took the charcoal from her hand and pointed it at her. "You, milady," he said, "are a genius."
"Not really," Astrid shrugged. "It was your first initial idea, too, Hiccup-"
Hiccup wasn't listening. He turned back towards the paper and tapped his pencil against the table. "We could write our own vows," he said, "if we want to."
Astrid had wanted to write her own vows to begin with, and she'd a feeling that Hiccup would want to do the same. It felt more special, writing her own vows, rather than have someone else write them for her. Besides, Hiccup was worth it. Even if it took her from now until the night before the wedding, it would be worth it for Hiccup.
"Yes, I would like to," Astrid began. She was about to continue, when Hiccup jumped in excitedly.
"Great!" he said. "That's exactly what I wanted to do, too! So, what day should we have it? Before Snoggletog, or after Snoggletog?"
Astrid shrugged. She honestly didn't care what day the wedding was, except, having it before Snoggletog meant that it would come sooner… "Before Snoggletog," she decided, nodding fervently. "Right after the first day of winter."
"Perfect!" Hiccup agreed. He lowered his charcoal towards the paper, and then paused, looking at his right hand for a moment before he let out a huge sigh. "Help?"
Astrid smiled, rolled her eyes fondly, and took the charcoal from his hands again and wrote down the date on the papers. "So, Gobber can wed us, and we'll have it the day after winter begins," Astrid said as she continued writing on the paper. "Sound about right?"
"Sounds amazing," Hiccup agreed.
The rest of the night was spent with Hiccup and Astrid coming up with idea after idea, fawning over the ones they loved and discarding the ones they didn't like so much. It wasn't until much later (hours later), that Astrid saw Hiccup's eyes drooping and realized just how long they had been working at it. They'd filled an entire notebook worth of all the possible ideas.
Hiccup put the charcoal behind his ear and flipped through the pages. "I can't wait," he said. "It just can't come sooner…" He put his hand over his mouth, trying to conceal a yawn. Astrid knew he was tired; of course he was, and she also knew he would try to deny it, no matter how wrong he was.
"Alright, Hiccup," Astrid said, putting her hands on his shoulders. His posture was slack, his muscles relaxed. "You should get to bed now."
Just as she knew he would, he instantly started murmuring half-hearted protests. "No, wait," he said, picking a piece of paper off the desk and examining it. "I have to-"
Astrid rolled her eyes. Hiccup was sweet, yes, and he was hyper, yes, and she loved him, yes, but it would be a lot easier if he admitted when he was tired and reacted accordingly instead of trying to hide it. Astrid sighed. "Hiccup," she said. When Hiccup didn't respond, she took the paper right out of his hands and held it out of his reach.
Hiccup's reflexes must have been slow, because he waited about five seconds before he tried grabbing at the paper again, his arms just barely too short to grasp the paper. Astrid was holding it just far away enough from him. "Astrid," he whined.
Astrid wasn't fazed by his whining, though, and he had to learn that. "You can work on it tomorrow, okay?" she promised. "For now, just get to bed. I'll be over in the morning, and we can look over it to your heart's content, alright?"
Hiccup didn't protest. Instead, he stood. Astrid wanted to help him over to his bed, but he waved off her offer to help and made it himself, flopping over his bed and draping his good arm over his eyes. At least he'd gained enough strength back to get from his desk to his bed on his own.
Although it wasn't a very far trip, it was an improvement nonetheless. A few weeks ago, Hiccup could hardly sit up on his own without passing out or having to lie back again due to the pain.
"We'll work on it again tomorrow?" Hiccup asked. Even though Astrid could tell in a heartbeat he was exhausted, she heard the pleading, childishness of his voice and sighed, a smile crossing over her face and making any creases of anger or irritation or even annoyance to smooth out as if they had never even existed.
She nodded. "Yeah," she said. "We'll finish making the plans tomorrow, except, I don't think there's much left to plan." She looked at the large stack of filled papers on the desk and then turned back to Hiccup. "I'd be surprised if we didn't write down every aspect in five different ways twice."
Hiccup laughed. "You're probably right," he said. Astrid grabbed the hem of the blanket and pulled it over his body; Hiccup sighed. "Thanks," he said. "You know, for everything. It...it means a lot to me."
Astrid knew it meant a lot to him before he even said it. The relief in his eyes was enough. "You're welcome, Hiccup," she said. "And thank you, too, for letting me help you."
Hiccup smiled.
Astrid smiled back.
*wedding bells*
AND THE WEDDING SHALT TAKEST PLACE IN THE NEXTEST CHAP...TER...um...EST. *clears throat* Sorry 'bout the awkwardness there, guys. :)
And, I believe the official release date for the next 13 Race to the Edge episodes is December 16th. I don't know if it's accurate, but it's what I've been hearing for a while now from different sources, so, yeah. :) Someone correct me if I'm wrong! :D
See you guys next chapter (which will be posted in October, or quite possibly in this month if you guys are lucky. :D). See you then! :D BYYYYEEEEE! :D