We the writers have basically made a plan for the majority of the rest of the story in the last couple of weeks, and there has been a lot of feels involved in doing so. Onward!

-HTTYD-

"Here, drink up."

Astrid didn't even have the energy to roll her eyes at Heather, and she took that damned ginger drink from Heather's hand. She'd gotten used to the taste, and it did help her stomach settle, but the hollow, empty feeling in Astrid's chest just made her want to curl up into a tight ball. She felt guilty being such a burden on them, hated Heather and Dagur fussing over her, but she had no real choice at that moment.

Well, the choice to go back to her dorm technically existed, but it meant risking running in to Eret or Hiccup, and Astrid just wasn't strong enough for that.

Heather, because she was a wonderful friend Astrid definitely didn't deserve, had gone to get all Astrid's stuff. Almost two years of friendship meant Heather knew her way around Astrid's room easily, and most of Astrid's possessions currently resided in a pile of boxes taking up space in Dagur's living room.

Dagur wasn't quite clued in to what was going on. He knew Astrid was pregnant, because her running to vomit violently when he started cooking tuna sort of needed explaining. And obviously, he was worried about how much time Astrid had spent bawling on his sofa, buried under blankets and refusing to speak for hours at a time. But Heather had explained to her brother that Astrid was knocked up, but there were issues with the baby's father, and so Astrid needed to get away.

Dagur did offer to beat up whoever hurt Astrid, but when that was turned down, he took his sisters word and let Astrid use his living room to hide away in, swearing not to tell anyone where she was, lest it get back to 'him'.

"Me and Dagur are making dinner, I know what you're currently off eating and Dagur promised not to cook seafood while you're here."

Her stomach lurched at the thought, but then her most powerful memory of seafood would now always be the twins birthday dinner where her family found out... everything.

She'd turned her phone off for most of the last few days, which made Heather roll her eyes but her friend didn't comment on it. Astrid just didn't want to hear her mothers voice saying she agreed with her husband that Astrid wasn't part of the family, couldn't bear the thought of Hiccup saying what happened was a mistake. She knew they'd want her to end the pregnancy, get rid of the evidence, but Astrid just couldn't. It was all she could do to agree with Heather that if there was something awfully wrong with the baby because of who the father was to the mother, she wouldn't inflict her choices on her own child to suffer that way.

But until she was far along enough for the tests, there was no way to be sure.

"Go check on the food Dag."

"Uh, sure. You got it sis."

Dagur clearly knew he was being kicked out so they could talk in private, shuffling over to the kitchen area while Heather leant in closer.

"He was looking for you. Heard th- him ask if anyone knew where to find you. Didn't see me though... don't you think maybe you should talk? I mean, you can't avoid them forever."

"No!"

Astrid's response came out more aggressive than she meant, but the vehement denial was genuine all the same. Dagur glanced over, then made himself look busy all of a sudden.

"I just... I can't. You weren't there. You didn't see... no. He doesn't want this."

"You don't know that."

Astrid wished it could be so simple. And she didn't dispute that Heather had a point, sometimes, that not giving the twins a chance to be in the childs life was unfair. But equally so, Astrid knew that they'd step up whether they wanted fatherhood or not, and she was too afraid they'd grow resentful of her, feeling as though she'd tied them down with a baby that was never meant to happen.

And even if, by some miracle, they were ok with the baby? Astrid wasn't strong enough to have them in her life, pining painfully and so stupidly in love with them while she had to hide it. So she curled up tighter, shaking her head.

"I do. Just... let it go, please? I appreciate all this, I do, but right now I just need to feel terrible and heal a little bit."

Heather hugged her gently, knowing Astrid was not too keen on being touched but ensuring she didn't feel rejected by her friend, nodding and getting up to go help Dagur with dinner. She offered to stay the night to keep Astrid company, but Astrid insisted she went home. They'd only be sleeping, and Dagur was there to keep an eye on her.

Thankfully, Dagur slept like the dead. He tried to hover and cheer Astrid up, but she eventually shooed him off to bed, thanking him again for letting her stay there. He reassured her she was welcome, reminded her where the snacks were and headed off to bed. His snores were audible less than ten minutes later.

Relieved, Astrid rubbed her stomach as she got up from her little pile of fabric, padding over to get some water. It was easier to move around with nobody fussing over her. Staring out of the window, hand on her belly, Astrid sighed to herself. She knew things couldn't stay as they were. Staring around, her eyes landed on her computer set up. A voice that sounded a lot like Hiccup's muttered in her brain about how it was not set up properly, and she shook it off before heading over, half-formed thoughts finally clicking in her mind.

Heather wasn't going to be happy. In fact, Heather was probably going to yell at her, but Astrid knew it was the best choice for everyone. A couple of hours on the internet, a rushed phone call while Dagur was out running and an appointment for the following day later, Astrid has a concrete plan in place.

She mentally apologised all the while, using the time when both Dagur and Heather are at lectures to pack up her things again. It hadn't been easy to push for such urgency, but when she made it clear she needed to get away sooner rather than later, someone was willing to help her escape.

Astrid left a thank you note to Dagur with his key in her dorm room, knowing Heather intended to come back for the last of Astrid's things that afternoon. And next to it, she left another note for Heather.

Hiccup was pretty certain it had been the longest week of his life.

They'd spent most of it trying to find Astrid, and though they technically succeeded a couple of times, she was never alone and there was no way they could talk to her with anyone else there.

They'd gone to knock on the door of her dorm, the day after the unmitigated disaster of their birthday dinner, though she hadn't been there. Nothing their father said to them could possibly have hurt more than the look on Astrid's face when she ran away. And sure, Eret Sr had ranted at them before telling them never to set foot in the family home again and storming out so angrily their neighbours complained... but it still wasn't as bad as what he'd said to Astrid.

"Did you find her?"

"No, she lost me. Oh, boys..."

He felt about four years old, in trouble for using permanent marker instead of crayons to draw on the wall, small and scared under Valka's heavy gaze. The sound of a car horn blaring outside jerked them all out of silence, and after a minutes hesitation Valka pulled both of her sons in to a hug.

"I'll try and talk to your father. If you hear from Astrid, let me know."

And then she was gone. There wasn't time to address all the things that they left unsaid; Hiccup was under no illusions that their mother somehow supported what had happened, but like them, it seemed her priority was making sure that Astrid was ok first.

Hiccup could only offer her a text message to say he'd seen her once or twice. She never answered their calls or texts.

When they didn't spot her again for a couple more days, Hiccup cracked. He didn't care who noticed, or if someone had questions, or if people looked too closely. They needed to see her, to speak to her. Eret agreed, and so they headed back to her dorm. They weren't quite prepared for what they found.

The door was ajar, which was weird in itself. And when they pushed the door open, it was to find an empty, cleared out room.

"Are you guys looking for Astrid?"

He sort of recognised the guy who was asking, but that didn't mean much considering the notches on bedposts the twins had racked up in the last few years.

"Yeah, do you know where she is?"

"Nope. Just that she moved out. Saw that Heather girl helping move boxes a couple of days ago."

Heather. They hadn't even thought to ask her, and Hiccup kicked himself for it not occurring sooner. Of course, Heather wouldn't know why they were so desperate to find her, but that desperation overrode logic.

"Do you know where Heather's dorm is?"

"Sure."

They followed the directions given, Eret knocking frantically at the door.

Heather did not look surprised to see them there. She threw a glance at the hallway around them, then invites them in without them actually asking her anything.

"As much fun as I'm sure it would be if you were here for something else" she commented as she closed the door, returning to her clearly-just-vacated seat "I know why you're here."

"You do?"

She nodded, so calm by comparison to Hiccup's mounting anxiety it was jarring.

"Yeah. You're here because of Astrid."

Hiccup nodded hesitantly, scared to say too much. Eret peered closer at Heather, scrutinising her.

"You know why, don't you?"

The panic that surged in his gut was almost enough to make Hiccup puke. She knew?

"Oh, believe me, I know more about the three of you than I ever wanted or needed to. Including that Astrid has an intriguing tattoo on her hip" fuck fuck fuck "and a... particular medical condition."

Heather knew everything. Oh gods, oh gods... It was bad enough their parents knew, and that was pretty damn bad already. But someone else? Oh, they were so screwed if everyone found out-

"Hiccup! Get a grip."

Eret squeezed his arm, trying to ground Hiccup without being overly affectionate, though he didn't know why his brother bothered when Heather already knew they were incestuous deviants Eret wasn't unaffected though, his face pale and his hand on Hiccup's arm clammy with sweat. But he composed himself better than Hiccup did.

"Then you know why we need to talk to her. Can you tell us where she is?

Heather shook her head, grimacing before she turned her back on them.

"No."

Hiccup realised he was shaking, though whether with anticipation or repressed anger, he wasn't sure.

"Heather, please! We know that you're her closest friend, so if there's anyone she said something to, it would be you. If you know where she is, then–"

"But that's the point! I don't know where she is."

Heather turns back toward them with… tears glistening in her eyes? Hiccup felt his anger evaporate, left with the shakiness of anticipation and the fear she was telling the truth. She scrubbed a hand through her hair, not quite looking their way as she continued.

"Yes, you should talk. She should've talked to you long ago! But no matter how much I tried to convince her, she wouldn't. And now…"

Heather threw her hands up in the air, letting out a frustrated sound. Hiccup shared a worried look with his brother, then they both moved as one to stop Heather walking away, forcing her to look at them again.

"Heather, what happened? Please, for the love of gods, just tell us!"

Deflating with a deep, defeated sigh, Heather nods and sits down again, gesturing vaguely to her bed for the twins to sit on.

"Okay, fine. You're right, up until this morning, I thought she was finally telling me everything. After that fantastic birthday party of yours, she hid at my brothers place and slept on his spare sofa."

Hiccup supposed it was clever, since they never would have thought to check Dagur's place.

"How much does Dagur know?"

"Just that she's pregnant. Not that you're... yanno, or who the father is. Not that Astrid knows that either, from what I gather. Anyway... she didn't want to risk meeting you, or you confronting her, or… whatever else was going on in her head. Plus I think she was avoiding your mom too? And then I thought we'd agreed on deciding together what to do now, to find another place for her and all. That she would let me help her! But, apparently, she decided to play the lone wolf instead."

Another defeated sigh escapes Heather before she reached into her pocket and pulled out a piece of paper. She hesitated, but eventually handed it over to Hiccup.

"And so when Dagur came home from his lectures, she was gone. He called me, I went to her dorm in case she'd gone to get something, and found this."

The twins shared another worried glance, then Hiccup unfolded the paper, Eret leant over his shoulder to read too.

"I'm sorry. For being such a nuisance lately but also for leaving without a word. I can't say how grateful I am for your support and help. But I need to figure some things out for myself, need to clear my head. I'll get in contact once I know what to do, and let you know how I'm doing. Until then… feel free to tell 'him' whatever you think necessary."

"Him?"

"That's what we referred to you guys as in front of Dagur. Woulda been a bit obvious otherwise, don't you think? Remember, nobody knows you guys were even still fucking, let alone anything else."

Hiccup had to suppress a flinch - it was more than that, even if they'd been too stupid to see it before - lest he tear the note Astrid left.

"So she's not answering your calls either?"

"No. She did send me a text to say she's definitely alive, but that she's also not going to answer the phone until she's ready to call me. And... well, I guess you guys know what she's like pretty well. Stubborn as a mule."

Eventually forcing out a "thank you" to Heather, who said they could keep the note, the twins left. It wasn't until they got back to their flat Hiccup let himself crumble, his brother little better as they held each other tight, neither pretending that they weren't crying. After what felt like a long time, Hiccup heard his brothers quiet whisper.

"What do we do now?"

"This is Astrid, please leave a message."

She'd changed it, Valka realised. It was Astrid Hunter before. Hanging up and biting back a groan of hair-tearing frustration, Valka ran a hand over her face. Eret had let her know Astrid had well and truly vanished, and because she apparently anticipated it, Astrid had asked the univeristy not to tell Valka anything if she called. Which left Valka only to try and contact her daughter herself, which she was having no luck with.

Hitting call again, Valka waited for it to go to voice mail again, hating how impersonal it felt and knowing Astrid may well just ignore it.

"Astrid, love, please just let me know you're alright. Please."

Valka was about to hang up when her husbands voice cut into the message.

"That better not be Astrid you're calling!"

She hung up on reflex, used to trying to hide her contact with her children from her husband the last few days, and wasn't that a ridiculous thing? Only when her phone screen cleared did Valka realise she couldn't delete the message as she planned to, heart aching when she realised if Astrid heard that message, she'd hear the outburst at the end.

"Eret!"

"What? I made it clear we're to have nothing more to do with them. We raised them better than that, and this is what they do with it?"

Drawing in a deep breath and reminding herself she'd probably regret hitting him with something, Valka turned to face her angry husband.

"Astrid is pregnant, and nobody knows where she is. Are you really going to stand there and tell me you aren't worried?"

-HTTYD-

Well, this can't be good.