The sky was filled with hollers and shouts as the riders flew through the air. The teenagers zipped around eachother as they played for the first time in what seemed like forever. Astrid laughed when the twins tagged Snotlout, knocking him off his dragon.
"There will be repercussions!" Snotlout shouted before hookfang scooped him out of his free fall. Fishlegs flitted around nervously on meatlug, keeping as much distance between himself and the twins as possible.
"I really think we should be more careful..." fishlegs said, his voice wavering.
"Come on Fishlegs!" Astrid shouted. "Just live for a minute!" At that, Astrid shot up into the air, spiraling higher and higher. Then, Stormfly went into a free fall, tucking in one wing and spinning towards the ground. Looping high and around the others, she came to a halt besides Hiccup. As the others laughed and raced around eachother, Hiccup whispered to Astrid.
"This is the happiest I've seen you in a long time Astrid."
"Well, gotta live it up while I can... the weddings in 2 days." Astrid said quietly, not wanting the others to hear.
"What?" Hiccup exclaimed, not sure how to respond.
"It's fine, Hiccup, it's not like it's the end of the world." Astrid said sorrowfully. And at that, she flew back towords the other, shoulders held high and a smile plastered on her face. Im not going to let her suffer Hiccup thought to himself.
"Come on bud, let's go talk to Colden." Hiccup said to toothless, flying silently and swiftly away from the group.
Hiccup flew over the village, scanning the Vikings for a familiar blue eyed shape. "Ugh, where is he!" Hiccup exclaimed in exasperation. Flying over the fields, Hiccup almost gave up. "There bud!" Hiccup said, pointing towards the edge of the woods. Standing there, an axe clutched in his hand, was Colden. "What is he doing?" Hiccup thought aloud. Colden dove and rolled, throwing the axe dead center on the target. Quickly retrieving his weapon, he spun and dove, summersaulted and jumped, weaving in and out of training excersizes and imaginary enemies. Suddenly, Colden stood and turned, axe at the ready.
"What are you doing here?" Colden asked coldly.
"I could ask the same of you." Hiccup replied. "Those look like the same training exersizes as Astrid's."
"Of course they are, we came up with them together." She still uses them? Colden thought to himself.
"Anyway, that's not why I'm here, I... I heard that the weddings in two days..." Hiccup chocked out.
"I know, it's my wedding after all."
"Do you love her, Colden, like, really love her?" Hiccup says abruptly, looking Colden straight in the eyes.
"Of course. I've loved her ever since I was little. But why bring this up now?" He retorts.
"Because if you love someone, don't you want to see her happy?"
"Of course I want to see her happy! Do you know how much it hurts to see her like this? But, it's for her own good. She's gonna learn to love me like I love her."
"Colden, you can't force love." Hiccup tries to explain. "Your going to make her hate you more than she already does!"
"And who's fault is that. Hm? That's right. Yours. Ever since you brought peace with the dragons, my family has had nothing. Nothing!"
"Your family owns all the fields and boats! What do you mean you have nothing?" Hiccup interjects angrily.
"We weren't always conmen Hiccup! We disgust ourselves at what we've become! But we had no choice. Once you befriended the dragons, what were we supposed to do? We are a family of warriors and blacksmith. Once there were no more beasts to fight, less and less weapons to make, we had to make a business for ourselves." Colden explains.
"But then why trade it all for a one sided marriage?" Questioned Hiccup.
"We felt terrible about what we did, and we figured that if I married Astrid, with that deal she couldn't refuse. I would have influence and make life better for my family."
"Why didn't you offer that the first time then?"
"I've always loved her hiccup. Those times were for me... but you wouldn't understand that. Don't you have somewhere to be?" Colden replies coldly and he stalks away, clearly uncomfortable with all he had just shared. Hiccup justs stood there, flabbergasted, floored. Was Colden not the person Hiccup thought he was?