Chapter 7: Facing the Facts.

Dear Astrid,

If you're reading this, it means you didn't burn this letter yet... which I'm thankful for.

Despite her sour mood, Astrid felt a smile tug at the edge of her lips.

I wanted to speak to you in person, but I figured this is the next best thing. I just wanted to say sorry, for many reasons, but most of all, for hurting you. When you helped me train, I thought you'd be well aware of my intention to try to win your hand, although I assume you didn't expect me to be successful.

To be honest, neither did I. I've admired you all my life Astrid, and some of my happiest memories have you in them, when we trained together, when we talked, or even when we used to play together as kids all those years back before it became apparent how much of a failure of a Viking I was.

I know I'm not good at showing it, but I care deeply about you Astrid. Nothing makes me happier than seeing you smile. Seeing you is always the highlight of my day, and you don't know this, but you are the one who inspires me and gives me strength and courage to face and overcome the hardships in my life.

I know you aren't pleased with what happened, but I promise my intentions were genuine, even if I might have won the trial in an unexpected way. I never intended to prove myself better than you, as we both know that's not true.

I have no delusions about the fact that I deserve you in the slightest, I clearly don't. You're the most brave, smart, and the most beautiful girl I've ever seen, whereas I'm... well, you already know. I'm Hiccup.

This thought was so overwhelming that I did decide to let you go yesterday, after I made you cry which made me realise you'll never be happy with me. But your mother talked to me and made me understand that even though you don't right now, you'll accept me in time. My heart couldn't help but believe her, as it is something I deeply hope of as well.

I know I have no right to ask for your consideration, but no matter how much I try to convince myself, I can't help it, so I'm asking anyway. I sincerely request you to give me one, just one chance.

If you do, I promise I'll always treat you with all the love and care you deserve. I will never hold you down, or stop you from being a warrior, and I'll always treat you as an equal. And not that you need it, but I still vow to protect you with my life, and to always keep you safe, comfortable and happy.

Hoping for your forgiveness, Hiccup

.

.

Astrid closed her eyes and let out a long slow breath. She was still angry about this whole situation, but as much as she hated to admit, she didn't quite feel like throttling Hiccup into sea anymore.

Something about his words felt sincere to her, and now that she thought about it, she couldn't help but admit that any other boy in the village wouldn't even dream of being this considerate towards her.

Had someone like Snotlout or Thuggory been the the one to win her hand... she shuddered at the mere thought. She probably would have ended up on a boat heading away from Berk in that case. There is no way she was going to become a slave or a trophy wife that they'd expect of her.

Hiccup on the other hand... was at least a better choice than them. He definitely didn't seem like the dominating type, but still, that didn't mean Astrid had any wish to marry him. She realised that her main problem was with marriage, and not Hiccup. She was her own person, and wasn't gonna belong to anyone.

A small and traitorous part of her brain was almost contemplating giving Hiccup a chance but she shut that out right away. There had to be some way to get out of this.

Word of Astrid's betrothal to Hiccup had spread like wildfire, and Hiccup felt extra eyes on him, wherever he went around village.

The wedding was to be held in less than two weeks, but since he was to be the future chief, preparations were already becoming visible.

He hadn't seen much of Astrid lately, and she was yet to speak to him since the forest. But at least she hadn't sought him out to beat him up? Hiccup hoped the letter he'd entrusted Ruffnut with had reached her well.

An optimistic part of him, admittedly a naive part, was getting hopeful that Astrid was actually going to marry him!

He spotted some people erecting wooden pillars with streamers connecting them in the main square. It felt like the village was getting ready for a festival of sorts, except snoggletog was still months away.

But nothing made it more real than when he had walked by a small hill overlooking the sea, and saw the wooden framework being placed in the ground, a stone foundation being finished. It was still under construction, but it had still made him gasp when he had realised that it was his house.

He hadn't really given it much thought, sorta assuming Astrid would just move in with him like what usually happened on Berk. He'd forgotten that as a heir, he had certain privileges, one of which was that he'd be the head of his own household, which would one day be his chiefly residence.

And Astrid would live with him. In his house. Their house.

Oh gods, Hiccup mumbled, leaning with hands on his knees to prevent collapsing from nervous excitement.

I can't believe this, he thought. Maybe, things are finally looking up.

When it came to how Astrid was feeling right now, frustrated was definitely an understatement.

After sticking the needle in her finger for the third time, she groaned out loud. She just couldn't get the hang of this sewing stuff.

Ask her to chop down a tree? Easy. Fixing a measly little tear in a tunic? Impossible.

Perhaps I'm simply not made for such a delicate job, she mused. Too bad mom won't accept that as an excuse.

Ingrid had been trying to hastily teach her daughter some basic wifely skills in whatever little time she had, like sewing and cooking. And so far, Astrid had pretty much sucked at both.

Astrid just wanted to forget about the whole thing, and at least spend these last couple of weeks of freedom in blissful ignorance. But it seemed like the whole village was dead set on reminding her of her impending doom on every turn.

Wherever she went, she saw someone doing some preparation for the wedding or even worse, whoever she talked to was all interested in her wedding and what kind of dress she was gonna wear and ughh- she was absolutely sick and tired of it.

And all her aunts and cousins were suddenly interested in giving her girly marriage advice! How to be a good old fashioned Viking wife, how to do your chores, how to please your husband- they might as well straight up torture her instead, instead of making her sit through another one of these talks.

At home, her time was filled to the brim with domestic lessons, and her parents were even making her skip dragon training for the time being! She supposed it had a silver lining in the sense that she wouldn't have to face Hiccup at least in the arena.

Even if she might concede that his intentions might not have been evil per say, that didn't change the fact that every time she saw him, even from a distance, she was reminded of her inability to scheme up a way to break their engagement.

Why was it that the devious little gremlin could think of clever plans better than her?

At least she'd managed to avoid talking to him so far. She definitely wasn't ready for any conversation with him yet, at least one that didn't involve his face and her fists.

Her luck finally ran out one evening in the great hall at dinner, when she distractedly sat down at the table with the other teens, before noticing Hiccup sitting diagonally across from her next to Tuff, looking wide eyed at her.

She quickly averted her gaze, cursing at herself and him and her parents and why on earth was her face feeling hot?

She braved a quick glance up and saw Hiccup looking as uncomfortable as she was, like he wanted to say something but wasn't able to build up the courage to. Good, she thought. I don't wanna hear it anyway.

Determined to ignore him for the rest of the meal, she continued eating before she felt Snoutlout's elbow nudge her side.

This idiot has no regard for personal space.

"What?" she hissed quietly.

"Hey babe. Why the sour mood? Did anyone bother you? just let me know and I'll-"

"Shut up!" She snapped, loud enough to draw attention from people at nearby tables. "Don't you dare call me that"

Snotlout snorted. "Why? I thought we were a thing"

She really wasn't in a pleasant mood to begin with, but Snotlout's idiocy finally pushed her over the edge.

Seething with anger, her traitorous mouth blurted out something that she wanted to take back the moment she'd said it. "Because I'm spoken for! That means you have absolutely NO right to flirt with me or call be 'babe' or anything else! I'm off limits!"

She vaguely heard Ruffnut's quiet gasp but the thing that affected her the most was the look on Hiccup's face, a mixture of looking scared and happy at the same time.

Snotlout gave Hiccup a once over and laughed that obnoxious laugh that made her want to do his head in. "What, that runt? Does that even count?"

That's it.

"Yes, it does!" she shouted before smacking him on the side of his head, right where she'd hit him with her axe during the trials. The area was still sore and Snot let out a girly scream, before stumbling out the door, clutching his head and cursing.

"Serves him right, sister" muttered Ruffnut, and Astrid looked up to see Hiccup looking down at his food, unsuccessfully trying to suppress his smile.

She wasn't sure why her face felt so hot again. Probably from all the anger, she figured. If being engaged gave her a valid reason to shut out Snotlout's shameless passes at her, that at least that was one good thing that had come out of this.

She gestured to Ruffnut to come with her after the meal was over and most people had left, and they went outside, out of earshot of anyone nearby.

"What is it?"

"I think I might have a plan to break off the marriage" Astrid said with a gleam in her eye. "Unfortunately, for it to work, I'll have to get married first"

"Huh?"

"So these old ladies were forcing me to listen to their drivel, and they told me about the part of the wedding they thought was of the utmost importance- the wedding night."

"Ooh, I like where this is going" Ruffnut squealed, smirking like crazy.

"Ugh, don't even start, it's Hiccup we're talking about here. Anyway, I'll spare you the embarrassing details, they said how the couple will have to consummate the marriage, and that this is something very important, and a thing that the husband will be very much looking forward to. They also said that they'll check the marital bed next morning for... evidence"

Ruffnut raised an eyebrow. "So?"

"So, even though Hiccup might be a weakling, he is still a man. Which means he'll be like the rest, and will expect... certain things from me. And of course, I won't let him touch me, I'll beat him up if I have to, which will mean there will be no blood as evidence, and our marriage won't be considered complete when they come to check the next day. So I'll be able to use this as grounds to appeal an annulment"

Ruffnut thought about this. "Not a bad idea... but are you sure this will work like you think it will?"

Astrid let out an annoyed huff. "This was the best plan I could of think so far. It's not foolproof but... it's all I've got."

They both were silent for a moment before Ruff spoke up.

"Have you considered that maybe being Hiccup's wife won't be so bad? You can even think of him like a personal servant, who you can order around, and as a bonus, you get your own expensive house for free"

Astrid glared at her friend. "Don't even try. If you come up with a better way to get rid of Hiccup, then let me know"

On the way back home, she couldn't help but stop to stare at a nearly finished house by the cliffside. It was modestly sized but very well built, and it looked like a house worthy of a chief.

As the moonlight caught the rain-damp roof at just the right angle, it made the whole house seemed to glow. Like the building had the gods' approval itself. Even though she wanted to resent what this house represented, she couldn't help but appreciate its beauty.

It had been a long day, and her tired mind clearly wasn't functioning correctly when it conjured up her next thoughts.

Maybe Ruff was right.

Maybe it wouldn't be so bad after all.

Hiccup is feeling dangerously optimistic while Astrid is frustrated and maybe a tiny bit confused. I wonder what will happen next? ;)