A/N: Hey, Megan, what happened to that whole weekly update thing? In short, Y'ALL DID. Talk about a test of my patience. I don't get pissed off easily but DEAR GOD. I built this city on Angst and Roll and yet apparently some necessary character/story building that I had to do now to set things up so that y'all wouldn't yell at me for the lack of it when things happen later on was "too much angst" for some of y'all, which, first of all, what story did you think you were reading? This is built on dysfunctional families. Shit like that takes a few therapy sessions to fix. I don't know what some of y'all expected.

There's constructive criticism, and then there's getting yelled at for stuff I wrote for very specific reasons and to keep from getting yelled at later, and when it feels like there is no pleasing you people no matter how much thought and effort and planning I put into this thing, then it makes me not want to write. It makes me not want to post for a couple months. It makes me not even want to give y'all the ending of this story I worked so hard on. And then it makes me want to rewrite other chapters so that I can keep y'all from fussing about stuff and then they probably end up so broken that I should have just left them alone. So don't even bother leaving reviews from here on out, I honestly don't care. I haven't read any that have been left in the last couple months and probably won't read most of them going forward because I doubt this story will ever get finished if I feel like I have to change necessary things in order to appease a few unpleasable people. I'm a grown ass woman and I don't have time to listen to some of y'all complain because you feel like there is too much character interaction in a section of story that is specifically about the futility of two boneheads banging against the same wall. I write what I write for reasons, and if you want to skewer it because you can't see where the story is going or haven't thought about the purpose it might serve, then fine. But I reserve the right to regress ten years and temporarily become a petty teenager who withholds the story from the rest of the class because some of y'all don't know how to behave. This story is something I'm doing for free, you getting to read it at all is a privilege. And some days, I really don't care to hear it if the parts you don't like are the parts that are essential to the story.

So there's my bitchy rant, and here's the next chapter that I probably ruined by trying to fix what wasn't even broken. If you don't like any parts of it, at this point I don't care. I don't have time to change anything and I'm not doing a single bit of rewriting I don't personally feel this story needs from here on out. I do so much better that way to begin with. You can have the next chapter when I feel like I'm getting some actual personal satisfaction from posting it again.

To those of you who have been supportive and grateful for the amount of work I have poured into this thing, thank you so much. You're the reason I'm still here. I don't need reviews that are constantly kissing my ass, but I do just want it to be clear how disheartening it is to pour the amount of work into something that I have poured into this and get people criticizing stuff that is essential to story/character development. So to those of you who are encouraging and appreciative and at the very least realize that this is fanfic I'm writing for free in between trying to run an adult life and try to sandwich your critique in between positivity, thank you.

If this chapter sucks, realize that it is probably entirely the fault of anyone who criticized the last chapter, because half this chapter's content got added because of them.

Chapter 37: Stormbreak

Astrid paced around the room and tried to decide which wall was best for banging her head against. Her husband was an idiot. This was not news to her, but it was still unfortunate to be reminded of it. Hiccup and Stoick were both idiots. Their combined idioticy would be enough to sink a battlefleet. And if they weren't careful, it literally might.

This was exactly the occasion he'd been saving this card for, Hiccup said. He had to do something or Stoick would have her killed, Hiccup said. If anyone could fix this whole messed up situation, surely it was his mom, Hiccup said.

Maybe that was where everything went wrong; letting Hiccup speak.

"You should have called his bluff," she snapped at Hiccup, who stared at her in indignation.

"Called his bluff?"

"He's not going to have me killed. Not yet. Not without hard evidence I'm not pregnant and probably not even then."

Hiccup's silence was deafening. Finally he managed, "You're kidding, right? You do realize that he's been threatening you since—"

"And he still hasn't done it. I don't know why I didn't figure it out sooner. Of course he hasn't. He's had opportunities to kill me for months. Long before we were captured, and yet every time…He doesn't want me killed. Or at least he knows he can't do it and get away with it. He can't. I was his key to you, and now he's figured out that if he kills me he loses you completely. Same with Toothless, probably. Why else would he keep threatening us? Why else would he levy us against you?" She shook her head. "I should have seen it sooner. Maybe I would have if you'd let me join you when you talk to him, but, gods, it's obvious. He's your dad, of course this is where he'd land."

"Astrid you're doing that thing where you pace in circles until I get dizzy, which one, is my move, and two, is not helping me understand what you're saying. Like at all."

Astrid stopped. "He's trying to save his village without losing his son." She looked at Hiccup. "For years you've been trying to save your village without losing your dad, and those things have always seemed diametrically opposed, and it's the same way for him. And he's confused, and he thinks he has to threaten you to get your help. Because we're not telling him what he needs to know."

Hiccup was shaking his head, partially in disagreement and partially in confusion. "What he wants to know is where the nest is, and we both know why we can't tell him that."

"He doesn't, though." Astrid pulled a spoon she'd saved out from under her pillow and began scratching in the hard dirt floor. "From what you've told me you haven't told him much more than that he'd be walking into a death trap."

Hiccup sighed and sank to the floor against his cell door. "We don't know much more than that, either. All we really know is that there's a big dangerous dragon that his army can't hope to fight, and I've tried saying that and that hasn't gotten me anywhere."

Astrid hummed. "We need more information on that thing. If we knew more we could come up with a battle plan. If we could put together a battle plan, we could present something to Stoick and work together to come up with a way to deal with that dragon, so you could give him its location without getting all of Berk killed." She looked down at her sketch of Dragon Island. "We need to be able to get a better look at that thing, but we can't do that from here, but your dad is never gonna let us out to do any recon."

"He might once Mom is here."

"You're assuming she'll come back. She doesn't want to get in the middle of this, remember? And you told her you didn't want her in your life."

"Her son is in prison. I think she'll come back for that."

Astrid only hummed in reply.

Hiccup sighed. "What is your problem with this? My dad was threatening you and Toothless, and I made a call to save your lives, to possibly fix all of this. Why are you mad?"

Astrid's scratching stopped. "I left too much of this up to you." She resumed her note making, drawing out, scratching out, and starting over a few different plans. "I let you be the plan guy, I kept telling you to come up with a plan. I shouldn't have done that. Your plans are shit."

"Excuse me?" Hiccup was on his feet, she could hear him stand up and feel his glare. "Did you just call my plans shit?"

Astrid glanced up at him. "You're good at last-minute, in-the-moment, everything-is-on-fire plans. I love you, but honestly, planning ahead is not exactly your strong suit." She looked back at her drawing. "Strategy. Thinking five steps ahead of your opponent. You can do that in the moment but you can't do it until you're in the ring." She circled an area of her map. "That thing can't be anywhere near the size of the Bewilderbeast, we know that, and if your dad sees it first then he's not going to think much of a dragon a fraction of its size. We don't know what its body looks like but judging by its head size and the island size, a volcano like that, I mean, it can't be much bigger than this. I think." She circled the area again. "Which is still huge and way too dangerous to take on. Especially since we don't know anything about it. Shot limit, physicality; can that thing even fly? We need more answers we need….fuck, we need Fishlegs. I bet he could figure this shit out." She continued scribbling in the dirt.

"Astrid, you sound like me, what the fuck are you doing?"

"Planning," she answered brightly. "What I should have been doing all along. I thought this was your thing, because dragons. I stood aside and put the onus on you because I thought this was something only you could do. But this is strategy. This is figuring out how to levy what you've got against an enemy much bigger than you and making other people go along with the plan." She grinned. "I've been doing that all my life. I shouldn't have stopped now." She frowned at her dirt diagram. "Okay, no, actually, we don't even need a perfect plan. We just need something that might be somewhere in the realm of feasible. Something we can show your dad to show we're on the same side in all of this. And then we can go from there. Diplomacy, compromise, I can…I can do those in a battlefield setting. We've been doing this all wrong."

She stopped. Hiccup had collapsed onto his bed and the air in the room had shifted. She could feel it, almost palpably thicker as Hiccup's mood soured. "What?" she asked his back.

"I'm sorry I apparently fucked up so bad by trying to save your life," he murmured.

Astrid sighed. "You made a judgment call in the moment and…you bought us time. Your dad has to plan the trip north and you'll have ample time to talk to him while that happens, and while you two do that, I'll be working on a plan to show to him. And hopefully your mom won't be a wrench thrown into the works."

It was odd, knowing someone so well that a certain change in their mood could be felt in the whole atmosphere. She didn't have to see Hiccup at all to know he was still upset and getting worse. "You really think my dad and my mom seeing each other again for the first time in two decades is going to end that badly for everyone?"

Astrid rubbed at her forehead. "Hiccup, I like your mom. I don't agree with what she did, but I understand her reasons even if I don't condone them, and I get that she doesn't seem to condone her reasons anymore either. But that's after spending time with her and talking to her and talking about it all from the unique perspective of having done something similar to my own family. But still." Astrid sighed again. "She left her husband and infant son to go live in the wild with dragons for twenty years. I have no idea how the fuck that reunion is going to go." She made another mark on her drawing for the sake of doing something. "But I've been through enough Haddock family drama not to bank on it going well."

"He was so excited at the idea of seeing her again," Hiccup said softly. "Even when I told him what she's been doing all these years." His voice caught in an odd way that made Astrid leave her drawing and come to the bars separating their cells. Hiccup was sitting on his cot, slumped forward and staring at his hands. He didn't look up at her. "She's been doing pretty much the same thing I've been doing, just attacking dragon hunters instead of trying to protect villages. And yet, my siding with dragons made me a traitor. He doesn't seem to think the same thing of her."

Astrid sat down on her cot and mulled that over. "He looked excited when he first realized you were alive. He looked relieved. I think he was really happy for a moment before you started yelling and he realized you weren't like he remembered. And you two haven't really stopped yelling for long enough to fix things since."

"So it comes back to me just being a fuck-up. Great, thanks, Astrid. Great pep-talk."

She couldn't help it. She punched him through the bars. Hiccup yelped and rubbed at his arm. "This is not the time for your self-pity," she told him. "My point is that he hasn't really had reason not to be excited yet. Your mother was apparently always an odd bird who thought we shouldn't fight dragons, so that part doesn't surprise him. He also hasn't had a chance to be disappointed yet. I mean," she shrugged, "Your dad has had twenty years to idolize and idealize your mom and what she was like. He's probably built her up to be a saint in his mind, capable of doing no wrong, and so he hasn't let himself face reality and get mad yet. Maybe seeing your mom will help change his mind. Or maybe he'll see her, realize how messed up all of this is, and everything will get even more complicated. I don't know. But you can't let this make you feel any more of…this." She waved in his general direction. "We don't have time for self-pity. We don't have time to argue." I don't have time to deal with your emotions, she thought guiltily. "And perk up. At least you know your dad loves you."

Hiccup's scoff surprised her. "Sure he does."

Astrid frowned. "If he didn't we'd all definitely be dead by now. It seems like he's trying. He sucks at it, you both do, but I don't believe either one of you would be doing all this if deep down you weren't two birds of a feather plucking out your own feathers to try to fix what's broken between you. Now seriously, stop moping. I don't have time to make you feel better. I have to figure out some kind of battle plan with an extremely limited amount of information that I can sell to a boar-headed Haddock." Astrid picked up her spoon-pencil and smiled. "Which, oddly, is probably the most fun thing I've gotten to do in days."

Hiccup sighed, and while Astrid could tell he still wasn't feeling better, she also knew there was only so much time she could devote to make him feel better. "Well, I guess that's also the closest we've had to a cohesive overall plan in months, so…have at it. Let me know if I need to make any more mistakes." She looked up to correct him but Hiccup was smiling, albeit a small one that didn't quite fill his eyes.

Astrid gave him a soft smile and shifted so that he'd have a good view down the front of her tunic. "Thank you for giving up a critical piece of information and possibly throwing this whole operation into a thunderdrum den to possibly save my life. I still think it was stupid and possibly a really bad move, but it was really sweet and I appreciate it." Hiccup's smile warmed. "I really do love you, you know," she finished, trying to give him a sweet smile and shaking her chest in just such a way to get his attention.

She watched Hiccup try and fail to keep his smile from growing. "There were still a lot of insults in there, but I'll take it. And I love you too."

Xx

Gobber stared.

"Baby Thor's saggy diaper."

"I know!" Stoick replied, tossing items out of a chest and in the general direction of a bag. "After all these years!"

"And you're sure he's not lying?"

"You've seen the drawing, Gobber. That's Val, without a doubt. There's no way Hiccup could know those things otherwise." Stoick finished pulling clothing out of the chest and stuffed them into his knapsack.

"Okay, yes, but Hiccup could still be sending you on a wild goose chase."

Stoick shook his head. "Not about this, I don't think he would. If what he says about the dragons is true, and what he says about his mother is true…" Stoick trailed off, his gaze fixed firmly on nothing at all. "Then she might be what fixes everything." Stoick looked at his best friend. "Whatever relationship Hiccup and I ever had is in tatters, Gobber. He thinks I never loved him, he won't listen to me and I can only half trust him. If anyone can fix this, it's Valka."

"And so you're just going to abandon your village and leave your son and possibly-pregnant daughter-in-law in prison while you run off north for what could take weeks to hopefully maybe find your long-lost, assumed-dead wife?"

Stoick frowned. "Gobber, you make it sound worse than it is."

Gobber rolled his eyes. "It's exactly what you're doing! What about finding the nest and ending the war?"

"We'll do that after I come back with Val."

"And how do we defend ourselves against attacks in the mean time?"

"What do you mean?"

Gobber sighed. "Hiccup and Astrid are in jail. They aren't out there to help during the raids."

Stoick waved this away. "This village defended itself for 300 years before Hiccup climbed on that dragon and decided to 'help.' It can defend itself again."

Gobber rubbed his hand against his head. "Stoick, if Valka really is alive and out there then yes, I agree, having her here could change everything. But I don't know if this is really the best course of action right now. At the very least if Hiccup were able to help defend us—"

"No," Stoick answered firmly. "If we give him a chance to escape, he'll take it. And then come back with that beast of his and break Astrid and the other dragons out as well. We keep them in prison until we know we can trust them. They don't trust us right now so you know they'll try to escape the moment we give them the chance."

"Alright, but do we have to keep them locked up like that? I mean, Hiccup is starting to cooperate, Astrid really actually might be pregnant for all we know, and they are sitting in prison cells. Couldn't we, I don't know, put them under house arrest or something?"

Stoick scoffed. "You really think they wouldn't figure out how to escape that?"

Gobber had to give him that. "Alright, but surely we could treat them better. Maybe let them stay in the same cell, at least."

Stoick shook his head. "No, definitely not that," he said adamantly. "If Astrid isn't pregnant already then I'm not putting them in the same cell where they can get to work getting her pregnant."

"I mean, I don't know if you've seen those cells, but technically with the right angling of body parts they could actually—"

"Don't."

"I'm just saying, it's not impossible to—"

"Gobber." Gobber shut up at the glare his chief gave him. "Give them more blankets and better food. And maybe something to do. They can have…I don't know, books or something. No weapons, or anything that could be used as one, and of course I want any visitors searched before visiting, but fine, yes, they've at least proven they can be trusted with a few more privileges, I suppose."

Gobber nodded. "Alright, fair enough. So, when are you leaving?"

"Two days time," Stoick said. "Eret's ship is the only one we have capable of sailing those waters and doing it quickly. He needs a day or two to get it ready to sail that far north."

"And, eh, have you and Hiccup talked about this?"

"About what?"

"About his mother being alive. About you two failing at families?"

Stoick paused in dumping whetstones into his bag. "Every conversation I have with him ends up with us yelling at each other. Or sitting in silence."

"So just like the old days?"

"Worse than that." Stoick sighed. "That's why I have to find Valka. If we're ever going to put this family back together…I need her. And I need to know why she left. Why she didn't come back."

"Is that easier than confronting what Hiccup has already told you about why he left and didn't come back?"

Stoick didn't answer.

Xx

"Hey."

Astrid gripped the blanket beneath her and didn't look up. "It's okay, you don't have to talk to me. I know you probably won't." Ingrid sighed. "I know that what we did was wrong. I can explain forever why we did it, why we thought it was a necessary sacrifice, how much it broke our hearts to do it. None of that makes it right. None of that excuses it." Astrid forced herself not to look up as she heard her mother sniffle.

"There's no forgiving it. There's no forgiving us. I know that. I don't expect you to." Ingrid took a deep breath. "We're sorry, if it counts for anything. I can't say much more than that. There's no making up for it. We failed to protect you then, but we're doing everything we can to protect you now."

Astrid snorted at that. "I don't know what your plans are. If you wanted to escape I don't doubt you would have by now. It wouldn't be hard for either of you to overpower the guards they send to get you. I know you know how to fight off or at least outsmart captors twice your size. I'm guessing you and Hiccup are hoping to break through to Stoick. There are rumors, you know. That Hiccup told Stoick that his mother is still alive. Word is that's where he is now, confirming the best route to get to where she is. That's why I chose now to come and see you. Stoick's certainly been acting like he just heard his wife is still alive. I haven't seen him that hopeful in twenty years."

Astrid weighed her chances and said, "Valka didn't want Stoick to know she's alive."

"So she is?"

"Yep."

"Is it true she's been living with dragons all these years, or is that just Hiccup trying to sway his father's mind?"

Astrid nodded. "She's at a whole nest of them. She cares for and rehabilitates dragons who have been injured by trappers, mostly."

Her mother clicked her tongue. "She was always an odd duck. But she was nice to me. I didn't know anyone but your father when I first came to Berk, and Valka was kind to me. She'd lived here her whole life and still didn't fit in. I don't think she liked me, necessarily. Thought I was too violent, too happy on the battlefield. I probably was, in those days. But I liked her. I didn't agree with her, but I admired her tenacity." She sighed. "I remember the night she disappeared. I was trying to get you to safety when I saw the Haddock house on fire. No one knew where Stoick was, Valka had last been seen running around the village, and no one knew if their baby was in the house or not. It was a long time before anyone had the heart to bring up the irony." Her chuckle was devoid of humor. "The girl who publicly fought with her husband about the danger the dragons posed had been carried off by one. But, I suppose she was right after all."

That made Astrid look up. Her mother was staring at the floor, nervously twisting the hem of her tunic. "Whatever your plans are, your dragons are ready if you need to leave."

That really got Astrid's attention, sitting up in bed and twisting to look at her mother. "What?"

Ingrid nodded. "They're trying to keep the dragons underfed; not enough to starve them to death, but just enough to keep them too weak to escape. Your father and I have been sneaking in to feed them and make sure they're healthy." She glanced at her daughter. "They are, by the way. They're cooped up and unhappy, but ready to fly. They can't figure out how to get the saddles off and of course no one wants to get close enough to Toothless for long enough to try and dismantle that fancy tail thing, so they're both ready to go anytime. The other dragons are healthy too. We'd have released them already but that would have brought suspicion, and we didn't know if you'd need them."

For a moment Astrid was speechless. "You've been feeding our dragons?" Ingrid nodded. "But how? They've got to be guarded."

"They are. Often by the only people crazy enough or interested enough in dragons to be okay with being near them so often."

Astrid felt a smile prick at the corners of her lips. "Fishlegs and the twins?"

Ingrid nodded. "You've got people on your side, Astrid. Maybe not the whole village, maybe not a majority, maybe not that many at all. But a few, at least." She stepped closer and gripped the bars, her face set in a determined frown. "There are a few people at least who won't stand by and let this village sentence you to death again."

A laugh bubbled up and out of Astrid's throat. "You've been feeding our dragons."

Ingrid's face softened. "They…they aren't so bad, once they trust you. They lash out when they're scared, fight back, but once they know they aren't in danger, they, well," Ingrid shrugged. "That Nadder is rather sweet, actually. She lets Brenna read her bedtime stories."

Astrid jumped to her feet. "What?"

Ingrid laughed. "Well, she's still learning to read so she makes up the parts she can't read. She wasn't supposed to be anywhere near them, of course. She followed me out one night when I went to feed them. Snuck out right behind me without your father or I noticing. And here I thought things might get less terrifying once she wasn't a baby anymore. It didn't work that way with you; don't know why I thought it would with her. But that's what she did. At first I was terrified; that dragon could gobble her up in one bite, and what would a little girl know about being safe and not upsetting a big beast like that? But that dragon started treating her immediately like a hatchling. Chirping at her, shepherding her around the dungeon away from anything dangerous or messy. I'd never seen anything like it. So after that we'd bring Brenna sometimes."

Ingrid laughed and cast her eyes to the floor. "I should have just listened to you. We all should have just listened." She looked up. "I'm listening now. I can't undo what's been done, but I'm here and I'm willing to do whatever needs to be done. I know you're likely lying about that baby, not that I'd ever tell a soul. I won't let them hurt you. Not my baby, not again." Her voice cracked, and Astrid found herself drawn to the bars. Her mother grabbed her hands and gripped them tightly. Her whole body shook and she started to cry.

"We can't make up for what we've done. I don't care if you never forgive us. I don't. I don't know if we deserve it. But you are my baby. My first born, my precious little girl. I labored for so long to bring you into the world, you know. It was such a difficult birth, nothing like Brenna's." Her hand tightened. "I thought I might die. I remember telling my mother to have them cut you out if they had to, and just make sure you knew I loved you. 'Just tell her I love her, just tell her she was worth it,' I remember I said." Her wide eyes held Astrid in place like a physical anchor. "You are the dearest thing in the world to me. I love you. Your father loves you. My darling girl, we love you more than there will ever be words to say. No matter what, you are our baby and we love you." Ingrid sobbed. "I can live with you never forgiving us. But we can't live with you not knowing how fiercely and completely you are loved."

Astrid's legs were shaking. "Astrid, we have failed you. As parents, as people. But you have not failed us. We're so proud of you. We just love you so, so much. Whatever we have to do to prove it, just say the word. My little Astrid, my sweet baby."

Astrid collapsed. She threw her arms around her mother and pulled her as close as she could. Tears flowed freely and she let them. Her mother's arms wrapped tightly around her and her fingers threaded through her hair. "I'm right here, baby, I'm right here.'

"Mama…" Astrid held tight, as tightly as she could. She couldn't speak, couldn't find words for the flood of emotions. Relief, joy, fear, comfort…things she couldn't even name.

They stayed like that for a long time, her mother stroking her back and singing softly. For the first time in a long time, she felt like there was real hope.

Her parents loved her.

And for the first time in a long, long time, she believed it.

Xx

Hiccup stood staring out at the pouring rain and flashes of lightning long, long after the fires had been put out.

Astrid kept calling to him, telling him to get down, to bring his cot back to the bars between their cells so they could go to sleep. There was no use in standing there staring out at the storm all night.

But Hiccup couldn't pull himself away. Every flash of lightning briefly illuminated the village, briefly showed what damage had been done.

As soon as the raid had begun he'd been at the door, at the window, screaming for anyone who would listen to please, let him out so he could help. He'd come right back after it was over, but please, please, let him help. No one would listen. His voice was just one of hundreds as Berk scrambled to defend itself, for the first time in so long without help. Hiccup had been able to do nothing but watch, helpless and horrified, as the dragons wrought destruction on the village. It would have been truly horrible, with lives lost on both sides and utter devastation brought to parts of the village, had the storm not swept in as suddenly as it had.

The dragons left once the distant thunder started to roll, and the pouring rain and winds swiftly put out the blazing buildings. Gobber had come by to check on them once the raid had ended and the village extinguished, and had confirmed no fatalities, and that Stoick and Astrid's family were all safe. There was damage to several homes, but nowhere near as bad as it could have been.

As it would have been had the storm not intervened.

Gods only knew what had happened in other villages.

They had been locked up for days. This was the first raid on Berk since they had been captured, but Hiccup knew it had not been the only one in the archipelago. There would have been others on other islands, on other towns and villages. And without him there to help…

"Hiccup, you can't blame yourself for this."

"If we weren't locked up, trying to convince my dad of things he's never going to understand—"

"So first thing tomorrow yes, we talk to him, present him with the best plan we've got, incomplete as it is, okay, yes, but standing there all night staring out into the rain isn't going to help anyone. Come to bed. First thing tomorrow, we show Stoick we're on the same side."

Hiccup looked away from the window. Astrid was at the bars, sitting on her cot, staring at him with obvious worry. "People are going to die if we don't do something soon. We can't wait for my dad to sail north and find my mom."

Astrid sighed and ran a hand through her hair. They had finally been allowed something like a real bath today. They'd been brought large basins and hot water and soap and then left with privacy until the water had cooled enough they could not use it to facilitate an escape. It was far from the hot springs under their mountain, but it had been a soothing relief all the same. "So we have to work out a deal with him. Tell him where the nest is-"

"No."

"Let me finish," Astrid said. "We give him a plan before we even hint at the nest's location. Work out a deal so we go with him. We can't let him jump out of the frying pan and into the fire, but obviously we can't put this off any longer either. Once we get him listening, we start calling in favors. My parents, everyone who is helping them. We get some expert eyes on this. Fishlegs, get a dragon expert backing us up."

Hiccup shook his head. "I don't know, Astrid, I just don't know." He finally stepped off his cot and away from the window. "I don't know if Dad will even listen to me. Especially after tonight. I'd bet anything his temper will be through the roof."

Astrid stuck her hand through the bars, reaching for him. Hiccup sighed, and dragged his cot back over to the wall so they could sleep close together. He sat down on his cot and took Astrid's hand, kissing it. She reached for him with her other hand and cradled his cheek. "We won't know until tomorrow, Hiccup. There's nothing we can know until then, and not much we can do in the way of planning for that possibility until then. If nothing else, maybe they can let us send a Terror to Valka. If we explain what's happened I think she'd come back. I know she doesn't want to come back here, but if she thinks Stoick is going to get all of Berk's warriors killed, and possibly execute you or me or our dragons, then I think she'd show back up for that. If nothing else, we know my parents are on our side. Maybe they can break us out."

Hiccup leaned into Astrid's palm. "They didn't tonight."

"The raid didn't last that long; they probably spent most of it focused on getting Brenna to safety and helping how they could where they were. If it comes down to having to break out of here, then we can do that. We aren't completely without allies. One way or another, we're going to need some rest if we're going to take all of this on tomorrow."

Hiccup sighed. "We've just been fighting and planning for so long, and just when we start getting close, something like this happens. I just…I so want this to all be over."

"I know," Astrid said, giving him a small sad smile. "But for tonight, we've fought all the battles we can. Sleep now, have an existential crisis tomorrow."

They laid down, still holding each other's hands as they did every night, though it took a long time before either was finally able to sleep.

Xx

On the other side of the village, another figure was unable to sleep. Stoick sat by his hearth until the fire burned low and the storm outside subsided into the dark calm of early morning. Beside him on the table was the sketch his son had done of his wife, who he had so hoped to be reunited with soon, if only to understand why she left.

He looked at the portrait in the dying light as the last of his energy failed him and he began at long last to slip into sleep.

"I'm so sorry, Val," he mumbled as his eyelids grew heavier and heavier. "I think, it'll be a little longer still before we'll have that dance…"

X

A/N: I again apologize for my bitchiness, but I stand by my right to be at least a little petty when it feels like people treat your magnum opus like something that just appears magically and easily and should therefore be everyone's definition of perfect. I reserve the right to be pissed when people treat something you killed yourself to finish like something you halfassed. I'm gonna be bitter for a while. I worked too hard on this thing to have essential parts of it be treated as extraneous. And maybe if I stretch the time between the updates, there will be a little more appreciation for the work that goes in to making this happen. I love my readers but god y'all test me sometimes. Sometimes you say and do things that make me not like you at all. And it's my love for a select few and this fic that keep me going at this point. So. I'm gonna be sour and probably not going to read reviews until this is done and I can be sure that I wrote it like I wanted to. I only seem to fuck it up when I'm either trying to appease y'all or when I'm doing something important to the story. I love you all. I'm mad, but I still love you.