Odin's Trial I: Reunion
Like clockwork, Astrid mounted Stormfly to patrol around Berk despite her friends and parent's protests. Since Hiccup was gone, she felt like the responsibility of leading Berk fell onto her shoulders, and the council had yet elected an acting chief. The bitter taste in her mouth that the fresh morning air couldn't chase away, she loomed on her dragon, Fishleg's words from this morning resonating in her skull.
"You are tiring yourself out. Why don't you let us do something as well?" Said the husky Viking.
"Don't worry, you just focus on finding him. I'll worry about the village."
"You know what Astrid? I'm pretty sure this very conversation happened between you and Hiccup. And looked what you did to prevent himself from "tiring himself out."
Astrid sighed. "I know, I realized that I removed his right of battle. But if you don't find him, I can apologize."
"I'm trying Astrid. But this is like finding a needle in the whole ocean and spread that ocean into eighty winters. Couldn't that guy you went to see for a few days help you?"
"Well, since I'm already grateful that he didn't kill me. Asking him to help me find that greatest enemy of the Archipelago seemed a bit overstaying my welcome." Astrid replied sharply.
Gods, Hiccup's wit is so sharp that it even cut through Astrid. Now she is talking just like him.
"But you still need to rest. I will restrain you if I had to."
Astrid raised an interested eyebrow. "Try, "she said smugly.
Shivers went down Fishleg's spine but he still stood there, blocking her from exiting the chief's hut.
Before he could understand what happened to him, Fishleg found himself head over heels and seeing Astrid steeping over him running towards her dragons.
Astrid looked out to the ocean, she tried everything to get Hiccup's out of her head, even for just a bit. She went flying with the intent of clearing her mind, but this time, like every time, the intent failed.
"Let's head back. Girl. I still got a village to run."
The dragon squawked and tilted his weight to head back towards the island. Flying near the treetop, Stormfly suddenly sensed a familiar sent. Without warning, she dove into the forest, expertly avoiding trees.
"Stormfly?" Astrid yelled startled, where are you going?"
The forest cleared before her eyes, and she saw the cove.
"What are you bringing me here?"
At this moment, she saw a black, bat-like shape lying in the shadow.
"Toothless?" She yelled as she dismounted the dragons. She ran towards the Night Fury and kneeled before his head. "Thank god. Where's Hiccup?" The black dragon gave a small whine and what she saw in his eyes almost broke her heart.
The black dragon brought his tail up, showcasing his missing tailfin before pointing towards where his saddle lied
"Where's your tail? Are you ok?" She said before spotting the saddle, the mechanical tail, and a sword embedded into the ground.
She approached the pile and retrieved the swords from the ground. The blade was light, hollow. Shuffling the handle, a bit, she pushed a button and flames engulfed the blade. Looking down, she saw the mask, the same one Hiccup last wore, and underneath the piece of leather, she found the pinned piece of parchment.
Carefully she unfolded it and started reading it slowly.
"What?" As she finished, her mind was too shocked to correctly process the information. She read it again, slowly. When she finished, she looked towards the sky and laughed. It was laughter emerging deep between her throat, from someone who doesn't know why he couldn't cry, laughing because he couldn't comprehend the situation. She yelled "Hiccup! you son of a rat-troll, rotten mutton brain."
She yelled and yelled until her throat felt raw. She gathered the small possession back up and instructed Stormfly to pick up Toothless.
Landing in the village, she evaded all questions from the village, curious of seeing the dragon but not his riders. She barged into Fishleg's hut.
"What now" Astrid," He said, startled.
"Do you know anything one can do to clear his name if he ever broke a blood oath?"
"Well, Let me check, I remember reading something about it."
The huskier Viking flipped book after book until he found one with the Berserker crest on it.
"There, he said, pointing to the page. Odin's trial…" But before he finished, Astrid snatched the book of out his hand and exchanged it for the piece of parchment, before running outside.
"What wait, Astrid." But the blond Viking didn't listen. Snatching a water sac on her way, much to the other's Viking's protest. She whistled to Stormfly and jumped on the dragon. The blue Nadder immediately took the sky.
"Where are you going, Astrid?" Fishleg yelled.
"I'm going to find him and bring him back," Astrid yelled over the wind. "Take care of Toothless. Oh, and you're acting chief."
Dumbfounded, Fishleg still couldn't comprehend what happened. Quicker than the twins could screw something up, Astrid disappeared to find their friend and he was now acting chief. When his lucidity came back, Fishleg opened the parchment that Astrid shoved into his hand when taking the book. For the first time, Fishleg swore. "Hiccup! you son of a rat-troll, rotten mutton brain."
\/—•—\/
Hiccup was sat, knees brunched up to his chest on the small boat, void of every provision. His body rocking to the rhythm of the wave, he waited for the element to take him if they acted before dehydration. Looking up at the miserable weather, he sighed deeply. When the wind took up, he prayed that it wouldn't blow away the grey cloud. I don't deserve one last ray of sunshine He thought, before trailing his gaze back onto the wooden Planck.
A dragon screech alerted him. Spotting a bird-like silhouette within the cloud, Hiccup quickly stood when the beast circled in closer and closer. To his big surprise, a loud thud sounded behind, before he could turn back and meet the intruder, a familial voice resonated within the deepest pit of agony in his mind.
"What in Helheim are you doing Hiccup," Astrid said while pointing her axe at his neck
Slowly, Hiccup turned back to face the beauty of his sins. From his nape, the blade traced around his neck and was now lodged against his throat.
"Waiting to die." He said in a broken voice. Astrid immediately noticed something wrong. She saw nothing behind those forest green eyes, not a spark of joy, an eagerness to explore the world. No, just the rotten green of putrefaction. She briefly wondered if she made a mistake to talk personally to Hiccup, but, out on the corner of her mind still analyzing the situation, she noticed Hiccup pressing himself against the edge of the blade. Astrid quickly retracted her axe before it will cause any harm.
"What are you doing? Are you out of your mind?" Astrid yelled, before delivering a loud slap across his face.
Hiccup's face immediately turned into a sneer. "As I said, waiting to die. Don't you see that I am back exactly where I was? Back to that failure of a Viking that is utterly useless. But back then, I didn't cause any harm simply by existing on that island. Now go back to Berk." He said before shoving her away.
A million thoughts trampled in Astrid's mind but quickly settled on one. She was going to beat some sense into him. Literally.
Releasing her grip, she let the weapon fall onto the floor.
"Listen to me Hiccup, you are NOT useless."
"Whatever, Astrid, just go back. Don't waste your effort on me, I'm not worth it."
The shouting match quickly escalated before Astrid had enough. Grabbing Hiccup by the collar, she was about to yell into his face her piece of mind but against all expectation, Hiccup easily reversed her grip and shoved her away forcefully, making her losing her balance.
Standing back up again, Astrid sneered,
"Oh, it's on" The legendary Hofferson temper seeking through her voice.
She delivered a quick yet powerful punch straight to Hiccup's face, which the latter easily blocked, before stepping forward and riposting by an elbow into her ribcage.
They soon started trading hits, each blow collided by the other's body with a sturdy meaty sound. Inwardly, Astrid was very surprised by Hiccup's fighting skills. To her, the training with the Messenger should allow her to dominated pretty much every Viking, except those freaks from the Headless tribe. But She met her match against Hiccup, whose ripostes were quick and precise. Where she had lots of tricks up her sleeves, Hiccup's movements were smooth like water, and showcase a perfect understanding of the body. Moreover, she noticed that he is using his prosthetic as a weapon too, launching a deadly poke at her. She needed to find something to get the upper hand.
"Hell, they really trained you well, you traitor." She spat out guiltily.
"What?" Hiccup was startled for a blink, but that blink was all Astrid needed. Stepping forward and kicking his prosthetic out under him, she elbows him in the ribs before smashing her other leg into his opposite knee and brought him to the floor with her. She ended awkwardly straddling him, one leg pinning his arm. She then armed a punch, and as she saw his free hand moving up to block the hit, she used the same arm to block before smashing, against all expectations, her lips against his.
She heard his gasp of surprise and could feel Hiccup's lips moving on their own to find hers, but she quickly straightens back up. She felt his body go limp under hers and relaxed for a bit.
"Why did you try to throw yourself at my blade?" She asked.
"Answer me!" She added when Hiccup just blankly stared at her.
"Because I deserve to die." He finally said, "All I have done…" His eyes teared up "I want to escape; I don't want to feel useless again. I can't support the weight of what I've done." These words broke Astrid. Her eyes teared up again.
"Looks like I'm really a failure of Viking. I've made the women I love cry. Twice" Through his tears, Hiccup said, laughter tainting his tone. "I don't deserve you anymore, and to be alive"
"Then why didn't you just kill yourself," Astrid shouted, fed up. She immediately regretted it but her emotions, her irrationality scrambled the words out of her mouth. Again, to her surprise, Hiccup actually laughed a bit.
" I considered it. But I wanted to see you one last time when you ascended into Valhalla. Killing myself would deprive me of this privilege. But now that you are here."
"So that's why you threw yourself at my blade?" Astrid asked in a shaking voice. Her appearance made Hiccup a dreamless person.
Hiccup nodded.
"You boar-headed son of a troll. You promised that there will always be a Hiccup and Astrid? Whatever I wanted it to mean? Well, it means that I'm yours to care, yours to yell to, yours to love, yours to cry on, but never in the nine realms yours to leave." Astrid shouted
"But I hurt you, Astrid. More than I ever could" Hiccup said hesitantly. Never did he thought Astrid would behave like this.
"Then I'm yours to hurt (1)" Astrid said defiantly. "Listen Hiccup, I am not mad at you. You're still the same to us, to Berk, and to me. Do you understand me?" She threatened him.
Reluctantly, Hiccup nodded. "But what about the blood-oath I broke? I am dishonored in the eyes of the gods."
"That's what I'm here for," Astrid said before whistling to Stormfly. According to this book Fishleg found, there is a way to be pardoned"
"What?"
"Yes, Odin's trials," Astrid said, before taking up a rusty old from the bad she brought with her.
After briefly glancing at the content, Hiccup asked:" Are you willing to go through these with me?"
"Do you really want me to answer that?" Astrid growled menacingly. Hiccup gulped and quickly breathed out a shy "no" under his breath.
"So, Astrid said, reading the book. "We need to do exactly what it is said for you to restore your honors." So first, the dishonored and the trialed companion must be escorted in a single ship that shouldn't be accessible to either of them when arrived on the island. Then both of them shall not carry any weapon upon setting foot on the island. Fine" Astrid commented. "And last, the trials shall find their own means to leave the ground of the trials. All set" Astrid said.
"The island is roughly a day sailing from here. I'll send Stormfly back to Berk. They didn't say anything about dragons, but let's not anger the gods." Quickly Astrid rote a short message stating that she had met Hiccup everything was going according to plan. Well, a plan was a generous word but at least, they knew what they should be doing.
The young woman strapped her axe to Stormfly saddles.
"Back home, girl." She gave the dragon a quick hug before sending it off.
"That was supposed to be my wedding gift to you. I see that you found my secret desk." Hiccup said, having finally recognized the weapon.
"Yes and I'm keeping both."
"What, you saw the necklace too?" Hiccup said in a panic.
"No, the axe and our wedding." Astrid replied smugly. "What's that necklace you're talking about."
"Nothing." Hiccup replied awkwardly before scratching the back of his neck.
"Anyway, get some rest Hiccup," Astrid advised. "After, you can give me a detailed story of how you escaped that tribe."
(1) This by no means that any form of domestic abuse should be tolerated.
