34. Tipping point
Astrid pretty much led Storm all the way to the cove. The bad weather left the whole forest muddy and the cove's rocky lake shore made it the best place to wash without instantly getting dirty again. Storm wasted no time and dunked her head underwater as soon as they reached the water. Astrid watched her with concern as when she didn't surface immediately and let out a breathe of relief when Storm finally did after what felt like ages to the viking.
"You okay?" Astrid asked.
"Still hurts," Storm answered rapidly blinking her irritated eye, she looked down at herself and gave Astrid a once over. "We need to bathe."
"The guys could find us at any moment," Astrid commented while gesturing towards the high cove walls that were great for looking down into the cove itself.
"Chief won't let them," the dragon rider commented and started taking off her dirty armor. "Come on, if the mud managed to get under my armor, it certainly managed to get under your clothes."
"You slipping in that puddle didn't help," Astrid joked, she relented and started undressing herself. Storm let out an offended huff at her remark, but couldn't help but laugh after a moment. She had slipped on the way to the cove, all thanks to her prosthetic not having good grip on the wet ground.
Astrid managed to get into the water faster than Storm on the account that Storm had twice the clothes to take off, the viking silently started washing her muddy clothes while soaking in the water.
"You know," Storm broke the silence, "I'm sorry about how I came off at the clearing, I could've been nicer. But my point still stands, right now is not the time."
"Not the time for what?" Astrid asked suspiciously. Storm rolled her eyes, the dragon rider knew that Astrid understood, but chose to feign ignorance.
"Confrontation."
"'I don't know why you wanted my brother alone with you' those were your words." Astrid swallowed and watched as Storm got into the water, taking her armor with her. "Your 'brother' is Hiccup, Stoick's son."
They sat in uncomfortable silence while Storm thought. Hiccup knew Astrid recognized him, so confirming that wouldn't do anything bad. Yet confirmation could spur the viking to confront her brother before he was ready, making Astrid understand that she needed to wait at least a few days was the key to this situation.
"So he is," Storm shrugged not looking up from a difficult spot of mud that refused to come out. "My point still stands."
"Why?" Astrid asked with clear anger in her voice. For her the situation was simple: Hiccup was back at Berk, Berk wanted Hiccup back, Hiccup was lying and needed to come clean, and everything would get better, at least to a degree.
"Stoick wrote a letter to his son," the rider disregarded Astrid's question. "A letter that Hiccup has with him, a letter that he will read when he feels like it. It is crucial that he reads this letter before any talks between you occur. That letter is a big piece of this mess and the words that are on it could change Hiccup's mind in any direction. 'Do you really believe that your son would be the same person as when he left?' is what I asked Stoick, the same question applies to you."
"…So I have to wait?" Astrid asked with a resigned sigh. Storm nodded and put her armor next to Astrid's clothes on the shore. The viking was watching the sky, gathering the nerves to ask one more question, she decided to not stretch it out and asked, "Are you nervous of Stoick's opinion of you?"
"What opinion?" the rider asked with laughter in her voice.
"Well… one could see this situation as you making Hiccup lie to us, and as Hiccup's girlfriend, I would think you would want to make a good impression," Astrid tried to conceal her jealous tone, but she failed. Storm didn't try to contain her full blown laughter.
"I'm not his girlfriend," she said between chuckles, "I'm his sister."
"Hiccup doesn't have a sister," Astrid couldn't help but deny. "Just tell me the truth, you're his girlfriend and that's it."
"No, Astrid, I'm not his girlfriend, I'm his sister, get that through your beautiful head," Storm giggled. "And the 'first impression' thing is done, and it didn't go that well, I literally told Stoick I hated him." Storm said with a small satisfied smile.
"Okay…" Astrid trailed off looking at Storm like she was insane. "Why did you do that?"
"Our meeting got a little heated, that's all I'm going to say."
Astrid accepted the vague answer and ran a hand through her wet hair to get the dirt out of it. She caught Storm moving from the corner of her eye, the rider had turned her back to Astrid to dunk her head under water. What caught Astrid's attention was the huge tattoo that spanned Storm's back.
"Is that a skrill?" Astrid asked with wonder in her voice. Tattoos were a painful process and the one on Storm was big and detailed.
"Hmm?" After a moment Storm's eye's shone with recognition, sort of like she had forgotten the tattoo existed. "Yeah, it is. It's the same symbol that was adopted by the Berserker tribe."
"You're a Berserker?" the viking asked, she was puzzled.
"Thor no," Storm waved the question off. "The tattoo got there before I even knew who the Berserker's were."
"Was it painful?" Astrid was intrigued, she even wondered if Hiccup had something similar. She felt a blush rise at the thought of something like that on Hiccup's back.
"Very," Storm nodded, then in a moment of weakness she looked down at her hands and continued. "It wasn't voluntary."
"What?" Astrid softly asked. Seeing as Storm was volunteering information about herself the viking didn't want her to close off again, after all the woman called herself Hiccup's sister and Astrid would do well in getting to know someone who held that tittle in Hiccup's life. The luck was on Astrid's side as Storm was in the mood to overshare.
"You've seen Shadow, right?" she received a nod of confirmation. "When I was thirteen my village, at the time, received a shipment of dragons who were unbroken. The tribe made a business of 'taming' wild dragons and Shadow was one of those dragons. I felt connected to him from the first time I saw him, I used to sneak him meals and just sit with him, he was resilient and didn't break when the tribe wanted him to. They decided to get rid of him… by killing him." Storm sighed, a faraway look took over her eyes. "I couldn't let that happen, because at that point he was my only friend, so I set him free. I was never supposed to know Shadow existed, never supposed to see him while he was captive. I got caught while watching him fly away and my punishment was the tattoo. 'So you remember your crimes for the rest of your life, and anyone who sees it knows that you are not worth anything,' my fa- the Chief told me while I was crying from the pain."
"I'm so sorry that happened to you," Astrid apologized, her eyes were wide in horror. The small smile Storm sent her way confused her a little.
"Jokes on that guy," Storm said with satisfaction. "A couple of years later Shadow saved my life and introduced me to Hiccup, and look at us now! We're a family, by choice."
Astrid let a genuine smile grace her face. A small part of her still wasn't convinced that Storm wasn't romantically involved with Hiccup, but that was her jealousy talking. The sun was going down when they got out of the water, their clothes were still damp, but at least they were clean. Together they made their way to the village, Astrid needed to get home and Storm had to get to the academy so walking together just made sense. Before they parted ways Astrid stopped Storm from walking away.
"I promise I'll wait before talking to him," Astrid promised, Storm put a hand on her shoulder and lifted her helmet, she looked straight into the viking's eyes that were full of sincerity.
"I promise to get you a chance to talk to him," she gave Astrid's shoulder a squeeze and left towards the arena, her clinking prosthetic was the only noise in the late evening air.
Hiccup was sitting in the arena, he was alone. He sent the others home when the sun started setting as he knew that Storm would be coming back soon. The twins carried out their punishment with minimal complains, mostly because they could see the anger in Hiccup's eyes. All of the dragons were spotless and were bathing in the setting sun.
The letter was in his hands, his helmet was by his stretched out foot. He wasn't worried about being seen as the dragons would hear someone approaching and alert him before anyone saw him. He looked down at the piece of parchment that held his future. If he didn't like what he read he would leave after this mess with Drago was finished, but if he liked what he read then he need to figure out how to come clean.
He had already decided that no matter what this letter said, he owed it to Astrid to tell her the truth. And Gobber, the mad deserved the truth as well. And maybe… possibly the rest of the gang could know.
Hiccup unfolded the letter and took a deep breath.
Dear Hiccup,
I hope this letter reaches you, and I can only hope that you will find it in yourself to read it.
I met a few of your acquaintances recently and they made me see some things in a new light, and in this light I understood that I owe you a life time of apologies.
I'm sorry I ignored you. I'm sorry I neglected to give you comfort and help. I only ever wanted you to be strong and wise, I wanted you to grow up with realistic dreams and hopes, I failed to see that my actions rarely helped you. I'm sorry I came off as uninterested in your life, I wanted to change the world so you could grow up happy, yet I was blinded by my dreams and failed to see I ruined yours. I was always secretly proud of your talents and maybe if I was louder with my pride you would still be here, with me.
I'm sorry that my selfish views made you leave. You leaving was the worst thing that happened to me after your mother disappeared, but this time it was completely my fault.
By the time I got over my anger of you leaving, it was too late to search for you, I may not have liked dragons back then, but I knew that they were fast and you were long gone.
I'm trying to change the world again. With the help of your acquaintances I'm trying to make Berk a place where dragons could live next to vikings without fear. A place you would want to come back to.
Despite my past actions showing different, I love you, and I hold the hope that it's not too late for me to be a better father to you. If you find it in your heart, please come back. I miss you, and so does Gobber, and Astrid.
Berk is dull without you,
Your father, Stoick the Vast.
Tears were rolling down Hiccup's cheeks, he never heard his father speak from his heart before. Stoick words were very promising and Hiccup was already thinking of ways to reveal himself without backlash. Stoick has already made affirmative actions in the right direction and Hiccup hoped that he will continue to do so, for everyone's sake. His heart was already open and with one wrong action Stoick could break it, Hiccup's hope was fragile, but it was there.
"You okay, Chief?" Storm asked. She had reached the arena and saw Hiccup crying with the letter in his hands, she could only fear the worst. Hiccup stood up and hugged her, the tears still freely rolling down.
"I'm great," his voice held undisturbed happiness. Things were shaping up for the best.
