Chapter 4

Remaining Strong

Hi everybody ! I thank you for the reviews, and I'm really glad I could post this chapter ! I swore to myself I wouldn't as long as I didn't update Dragons' Prince.

A Guest asked me whether or not Astrid would be in a relationship in that fic, no, they won't be. Previous relationships will be mentionned at most, but no more. Trust me, I really hate love triangle, so there is no risk with me.

Also, as I saw one or two reviewers asking whether or not Astrid and Hiccup had meaningless sex, no it was sex with an official partner in a girlfriend/boyfriend relationship. You'll undertand more about it while reading the story.

Away from the island of Berk, the ships belonging to the dragon riders were waiting for the return of their chief. Eret, the captain of the fleet, was looking at the sky, like each time. He hoped that Spitelout wouldn't try something against Hiccup and Heather. He was one of the few who knew Hiccup's real identity, he had known him and Heather when they were still fourteen years old, and even if he had accepted him as his tann (a way to say 'chief' in his mother tongue), he had taken upon him to make Hiccup strong and protect him, and he had done the same with Heather. Even now that Hiccup was a man and a very good chief, he was still worried for him.

Plus this time, there was a problem: he received a Terrible Terror with a message from their friend Camicazi who had remained on Berk to watch over the tribe, nd Hiccup would definitely be needed. He felt reassured when he saw a black form coming back from the village, followed by a grey one. The two landed on the ship near him and Eret smiled as Hiccup took off his mask.

"So, how did it go?"

"Fine..."

"Hiccup, you can't do that!"

Eret frowned, wondering what they were talking about. Hiccup lowered his eyes, feeling uneasy. After he had been proposed to choose a girl in her tribe, Hiccup and Heather hadn't left the island but got outside of the village and discussed while waiting for the appointment. Heather was strongly opposed to this.

"Tann, what's happening?" Asked Eret.

"Hiccup is gonna force a girl into marriage!"

"What?!"

"Heather!" Hiccup growled. "Come you two, let's talk inside my cabin."

They followed him inside and Hiccup explained the whole thing. To Heather's disappointment, Eret agreed with Hiccup.

"It won't be easy for the girl, but it's the best option for us all."

"Are you kidding?"

"I already told you, Heather, if we leave without a price, we'll appear weak."

"We stole everything from them, what were you expecting them to do?"

"We didn't steal everything from them, we left the treasure room intact! When I left it was still filled with riches, I had no idea Spitelout had been such a bad chief! He was a shitty uncle but I didn't think he was that terrible at ruling!"

Heather sighed, it was true indeed. Hiccup had decided to inflict a big defeat to his native tribe but left them a chance to get out of it. Since he was supposed to be a stranger chief, Fury had no way to know where the hidden treasure room was. Hiccup had decided to steal Berk's ressources while leaving them the gold so they could buy some of it back. It would have allowed the Hooligans to get back the vital ressources they needed, while still giving them consequences to deal with. Problem was, Berk was now poor and they could hardly give anything. They would really not be able to survive. Hiccup went on:

"We can't appear weak, we haven't beat all of our enemies yet! If other tribes decide to side up against us in addition to that, we'll be doomed. Viking traditions would have made us massacre them all, or conquer the island once and for all. I can do none, I just can't. Even with a price we might appear too merciful when other tribes will know almost no Hooligans died. We have to show our power, otherwise Spitelout will think I'm weak and..."

"So that's it, you have something to proove to your uncle."

"I got nothing to prove, I'm dead! We can't spare them for mercy's sake, otherwise they'll think they can attack us again with a better plan. I can't have a war with Berk, I have to end it now before things gets out of control. This defeat won't stay in their mind for so long. A marriage is the best excuse I got to spare them all."

He had indeed not shown anything to Spitelout or anyone of Berk, but when his uncle had been stupid enough to attack them, he had been almost desperate at first. Of course he had nothing to fear for Endris, they could defeat them easily. However, Spitelout had clearly challenged him by attacking without any other motive than glory. Vikings had some traditions that were almost laws, and one was very clear: a challenge by another tribe couldn't be ignored, otherwise the challenged chief would be seen as weak and others would take advantage of it. Hiccup's tribe was unlike the others, it didn't mean they could do everything as they wished. New enemies had appeared and made an alliance against Endris, and they weren't as easy to beat as the Berserkers or the Outcasts. If he had refused to fight Spitelout, other tribes would have seen it as a weakness, sided with those enemies, and this time...

"I wonder if it could be enough...Are you sure the girl is enough of a good match?" Asked Eret, interrupting his thoughts.

"Astrid had always been seen as one of the most promising girl of the island. It's still the case apparently, I got wind of her reputation."

"Yeah, I think I remember some trader telling me about a beautiful shieldmaiden who would contest her chief before everyone..." Eret murmured thoughtfully.

"Plus we took their dragons, and Berk will promise loyalty and peace to us."

"Indeed, it holds some credibility, it wouldn't be the first time that a tribe saved themselves by giving away a good match. Berk offering the perfect bride and all their dragons in exchange of the peace...If you clearly claim that you fell in love with that girl as soon as you saw her, it could definitely make a good story! Beauty and love saving an entire tribe..."

Eret let out an overexaggerated sigh. If it hadn't been such bad times, Hiccup could have laughed. His friend delighted himself in stories, but also liked to make fun of those.

Heather rolled her eyes, she knew that they were technically right. They couldn't leave Berk like that after everything that happened, Berk had to earn that peace, and offering one of the best match of the tribe to the chief was a good way for that. Yet she couldn't help but feel like Hiccup was doing something atrocious and it wasn't the boy she knew. She had told him back on Berk that he wouldn't make a happy marriage if it was an arranged one but he only replied that sometimes a chief's duty had to go before his own happiness.

"Hiccup, she'll hate you. And is this the Astrid who was your friend?" He nodded in reply. "Can't you spare her that? Do you really want to make her suffer?"

"You know it might be a good thing for her as well. I heard she was constantly taunting Spitelout and Snotlout, she might get problems, I'm surprised my uncle didn't try to kill her already. And if a girl on Berk deserves to know the truth about dragons, it's her."

"You pretend you're protecting her?"

"I'm just saying this could be an advantage for her too."

Heather sighed and Hiccup took her hand, in spite of her anger she didn't take it away.

"I know why you don't like this. It's not the same, it's not what those men did to you..."

This time Heather did take away her hand brutally, and simply mumbled:

"One advice: don't tell her you're doing that to protect her, she'll hate you even more."

He was about to tell her something when Eret interrupted him suddenly:

"Oh wait! I almost forgot...Camicazi has written to us."

Because she heard her friend's name, Heather stayed a little longer. Eret gave them the message from Camicazi and Hiccup was immediately alarmed. He started to give his friends instructions:

"Eret, you're in command of the fleet, lead back the boats to Endris while I'll fly there, I'll be faster. Heather, I know you hate all of this, but I want you to escort Astrid, watch that she doesn't need anything."

"I will," Heather sighed. "For her sake."

Hiccup ignored the jab, and went out to announce what would happen to the crew:

"Listen up everyone! Eret and Heather will be in charge, urgent matters are waiting for me on Endris, watch out for Spitelout. Also, a Hooligan will be on this ship, I want her to be treated like your future chiefess, because she will be!"

The crew was quite puzzled but none of them contested Hiccup who prepared himself to travel with Toothless and his little family. His best friend was already married somehow, they had found several Night Furies three years ago, among them a female had been interested by Toothless. Hiccup had named her Lady, because of her proud behaviour which reminded him of a high-born Lady. The two got some babies together, they had grown up and were half the size of their parents now. They weren't the only Night Furies on their island, but Hiccup hadn't brought them all.

He stroked the female's head as she was asking for some affection. Though Lady was gentle and loving toward humans she never accepted a rider and she would only fly at Toothless's side to escort him and Hiccup. She wasn't the only dragon to do that. She would sometimes come in the house like Toothless and sometimes she would rather stay in the barn; it was her personality and Hiccup never tried to change her. The cubs also loved Hiccup and they were still very playful. This had been their first battle and Hiccup was actually happy to get them away from here. In fact he was happy to leave Berk, this place was bringing too many memories.

He got some food and water and called for Toothless and Lady, the cubs following them naturally. He mounted Toothless and they flew away. On boats, it could take weeks to reach Endris, yet theirs wouldn't be so long, dragons would pull their boats to be faster and with a good wind ten days could be enough. On Toothless's back, it would take only a few days.

Hiccup tried to convince himself he was only leaving because of Camicazi's message, but he perfectly knew that while it was indeed urgent, he was relieved to have a good reason not to stay on the ships. Attacking Berk...Oh his father would have been so ashamed! Yet he had no choice, his only consolation was that Stoick was probably blaming Spitelout much more than him from where he was. He hated to see his village like this, even if some of those people had been rough on him, he wasn't blaming them completely, Spitelout had done everything to make them dislike him. He had got a glance and saw that Gobber, Fishlegs, the twins, Gothi and Bucket were still fine. And Astrid...The way she had looked at him...

He was also glad not to be with her on the boat, he needed some times to prepare himself for what would happen. She looked at him like one would look at their enemy, which was to expected of course but it was hurting a lot. At this moment he amost wished to be the bullied kid of Berk again just to have her sympathetic and helpful look. It was quite surprising to feel like this once more, he was persuaded he would never see her again, his feelings changed with time and he had a few girlfriends on his island. But a first love was something nostalgic, and for Hiccup the few things they shared had been very important in a hard time. Their first kiss...He was still sure she had given him that out of pity, but he loved that memory, it had been worth getting beaten...

"I don't even know what to do, bud. Should I show her my face?"

What would she say if he revealed her that it was him, Hiccup Haddock, who faked his death, ran away, then attacked Berk and took her away for marriage? She would be even angrier. And if she was too angry she could reveal his identity, find a way to communicate it to Berk and then...No, he knew he couldn't hide forever but he wasn't ready. More of all, revealing his identity would have consequences, for Endris as well as for himself. His enemies couldn't know who he is until he vanquished them. Then what? He couldn't be masked and hide his identity from her forever...

"I have to make her understand first, I'm not the only one concerned, Endris too...I won't show her my face immediately..."

He thought again of what Heather said. Was it true? Yes, he wished to protect her, that was true, yes he wanted to avoid a war and he truly thought this was one of the safest way. But...He thought of her again, Astrid was pretty when he left her, but now...Odin, he could have thought he had seen Freya herself, she was just gorgeous...Now he would marry her...Both Hiccup and Fury would be rejected by her anyway, so he could try being Fury for some times. He had to anyway, the security of his tribe depended on it.

O o O

Once she had been chosen, Astrid had left for the woods, telling anyone who tried to follow her that she wanted to be alone. She had found a lonely spot where she could stay alone and she just sat down under a tree, fighting against the tears. She didn't want to cry, she didn't want to be weak, but...Odin, that was just horrible! Arranged and loveless marriages always disgusted her, and now she would be stuck in one! But it wasn't only that, she would be in the middle of a foreign tribe who would look at her as the present offered for peace...She would be chieffess...But what kind of chieffess? What had Fury planned for her?

The way he just looked at her and nodded before leaving...Anger rose in her, against that chief. Yes, she proposed herself, but did he have to look at her as if she was nothing but a merchandise? As if it was easy for her to go along for that, if he didn't even try to pay her some consideration, what would it be like?! Couldn't he speak to her? Did he thought she would be some nice doll to stay at his arm and put in his bed? Oh, he would be surprised!

She was nineteen and the question of marriage had been of course discussed. Astrid became a shieldmaiden to be able to escape marriage until she decided it was the right moment, so no one would pressure her. She wasn't against marriage, in fact she wished to have children and a happy love-life, but the thing was, she didn't want to marry just for the sake of it. There was a young man in the tribe, Varl, who proposed her several times, but he was a friend of Snotlout and very arrogant. According to a lot of people, she should have accepted, he was strong, handsome and hard-working. All this was true, but she didn't love him, in fact he annoyed her to no end. Spitelout had even proposed her father to engage her to Snotlout when she was fourteen, after Hiccup disappeared, but Astrid had yelled and warned her father that she would rather throw herself naked in the dragons' arena.

When she was fourteen, she had felt something for Hiccup, but he died. Then there had been a boy: Grun. He was the son of a merchant who lived for some times on Berk and she had been in love with him, so much she actually led him in a barn in the middle of the night. That's how she had been introduced to herbs which avoided unwanted pregnancy. They thought of marrying, yet his parents forced him into an arranged marriage to another family on a foreign island, and they were separated. She had a few Berkians boyfriends after, but not very serious relationships, at least not as serious as Grun. She had felt for them affection and some tenderness, but no more.

Astrid didn't need a man to make her live, she could fight and provide for herself, but it didn't mean she had no wish to met her future husband. Plus, she wanted children, and sadly, children born out of marriage were often looked down. Efficient potions to avoid pregnancy existed, so giving a child out of marriage was rarely excused. Bearing a child to have him being looked as a bastard all his life was already cruel, but in addition to that she was the insurgent, the one who would always upset the chief and his son. If she had bastards, Spitelout and Snotlout would take advantage of that and make her kids miserable. Plus she had no wish to take care of children alone. No, she decided long that either she would find a respectable husband for a happy marriage, either she wouldn't have kids.

Once, she and Fishlegs joked about marrying if they couldn't find someone of their liking in the next few years. But then they spoke of it a little more seriously: it could be a solution, at least they could have legitimate children that way. Astrid wasn't in love with Fishlegs, but she liked him a lot, it was more than what some spouses shared, and honestly she couldn't picture any another man of the island as her husband. And it's not as if they couldn't break their marriage anyway. While some Viking tribes were a little more touchy about it, Berk allowed spouses to do that as soon as they asked for it. (1) She trusted Fishlegs, he would never let his children down, even if they decided to end their marriage, he was someone reliable.

Yet she wouldn't marry Fishlegs...She would marry someone who had the reputation to be Loki himself. What if it was actually true? What if he actually was Loki? She straightened herself, that was stupid, she wouldn't believe that...wouldn't she? But this wouldn't have been so terrible if it had been a more regular marriage, if most marriage could be easily broken, those made for important alliances were often (though not all the time) considered as special. Those could hardly be broken, or only under dire circumstances, or not at all. So not only she would be married to a stranger, but this marriages would be tricky to be broken.

Suddenly, she decided to go back to the village. They were probably all dicussing her fate and she wanted to know what was being said. She was told that the council was in the Great Hall, as well as other people. She kicked the door open, surprising everyone inside. Fishlegs and the twins were in there, they had tried to convince the Council to go back on their decision. Whatever Astrid had in mind, they would support her. The young woman advanced toward Spitelout.

"I know you're happy I'm chosen! You won for now, but your only victory will not last for long! You already led Berk to ruin, and I'm not your only enemy on this island, you just got people to hate you even more. Do you think they'll all forget how you threatened to sell their loved ones to that..."

"Astrid," Gobber said, "before you say anything else, listen."

Because it was Gobber, the young warrior stopped talking and listened. He showed her someone standing in a corner, someone she didn't notice: it was a young woman about her age with jet black hair, and she vaguely remembered that girl at Fury's side.

"This is Heather, she shall escort you during your tr avel."

"You mean keep me locked for her chief until I get sold?"

"I'm not one for selling women, if you really don't wish to be part of this, I won't be the one forcing you."

With a snort, Astrid turned away from her, she got the message perfectly: other people could force her to tag along. Her eyes went on Snotlout who didn't dare to look at her.

"You're happy of this too, aren't you? I wouldn't marry you, so you gave me away to that man, and who knows if he is even a man to begin with! But he surely more of a man than you'll ever be!"

"No, I'm not..."

"Yeah, sure! You always hated her because she didn't want you," yelled Ruffnutt who looked furious too.

"And because she defended Hiccup all the time!" Tuff added.

Though they were forgetting they occasionally tormented Hiccup as well at the beggining, Astrid felt thankful toward them for supporting her.

"That's true! You and your father have this little habit of making those who bothers you disappear! If you could drive your own cousin away to meet his own death, then how about selling the girl who won't take your shit?!" She yelled further.

"I never agreed to this!" Snotlout yelled.

"Astrid, if you go back on your engagement, I'll propose him another girl, someone who won't be selfish enough to refuse, and you'll have that on your conscience," Spitelout yelled, humiliated once more at the girl's behaviour. "But it's true I'm glad to see you finally leave.3

"Can't you do anything else but propose to sell girls around like sheep?" Tuff insolently asked.

"I never said I would go back on it," Astrid spat, "I volunteered and I'm a woman of my word. I know you would be low enough to sell as many girls as you could to stop this, but I'd rather sell myself than doom them, that's called self-sacrifice you piece of dog's vomit! But I'm doing that for my tribe, for the people of Stoick the Vast, for my family and our home, certainly not for the pathetic insufferable fool we have as a chief."

She approached Spitelout once more, he looked so exhausted that anyone else would have took pity on him, but not Astrid, seeing him weak made her only feel more like a predator looking at her prey.

"And honestly if getting sold away can spare me the sight of your ugly face and moronic ass on Stoick's throne, then it will have an advantage. Fury is maybe a monster, but at least monsters are poweful and feared, you're only a rat: a scorned thing. And your son is no better."

Spitelout was about to say something but Gobber came between them.

"Astrid, you're not obliged..."

"Yes I am, and you know it. When am I leaving?"

"...Tomorrow," he mumbled. "Maybe you should go to your mother and talk to her."

It was at this moment that Astrid noticed that her mom wasn't here. She had to go to them, she could have said much more things to Spitelout, but she would never feel like she had insulted him enough, so she could also stop right now and go to her family, or at least what remained of it. She turned round and left without a single words to the council or to Heather. Fishlegs and the twins followed her.

"You have only one word to say and we make you escape," Ruff said.

"Yeah, we sail away and we never see them again," Tuff proposed

"It's nice of you, but it wouldn't solve a single thing. The war would start again, and they would just sell another girl instead of me, maybe Alina."

"Then we're coming with you! Fishlegs already proposed himself for that, we can do it as well."

"Seriously?"

She turned agape toward Fishlegs who hadn't uttered a word since Astrid entered the Great Hall.

"Yeah, so you could have a friend."

"You don't have to."

"Don't worry, I can return when I want, I'll just be a companion for some times, to ease things up."

"We can come too, we can put a whole mess around!" Tuff boasted.

"Thank you, but I prefer you to stay here and keep an eye on my sister and my mother. And annoy Spitelout and Snotlout from time to time."

The twins both nodded and promised solemnly that they would do as such and Astrid hugged them, they weren't perfect but they were loyal friends. She also hugged Fishlegs, even though they wouldn't be leaving each other so soon. Once she reached her home, she heard furious yells. Inside, two men who came to tell her mother about what happened were trying not to get killed by Olga. Astrid stopped her mother and the guys escaped thanks to her. Alina was looking completely distraught.

"They can't do this to you, Astrid! They just can't!"

"Mom, please!"

"I won't loose you like your father! That man could be a monster, a rapist!"

Astrid calmed her mother down, assured her she would never let any man rape her, that she was willing to do this. Though she wasn't shouting anymore, Olga was still angry and mostly hurt.

"You were right, you know."

"What?"

"When you supported Stoick's son all the time. You were right, if he had stayed and took command, maybe he would have done better."

Astrid thought the same, she couldn't tell for sure what kind of chief Hiccup would have been, but the boy had much more sense at ten than Spitelout today. In normal times, she would have felt glad to hear her mother admit she had been wrong about Hiccup, but she wasn't in the mood to rejoice. Alina came toward her, tears in her eyes.

"I don't want you to leave."

"I know sweetie..."

While hugging her, she prayed the gods to watch over her along with the twins. They weren't the best guardians but it was the best she could offer to her sister. She spent most of the night talking to them, and even when she felt tired se was unable to sleep.

Okay, before anyone says that Astrid is judging Hiccup too quickly, remember that she is not in an easy situation, and it would be normal for someone to expect the worse.

1: Pretty surprising, but I didn't invent that one, divorce was indeed allowed among Vikings. Now it would change depending the tribes/countries and the centuries, but in some cases reasons such as a overbearing jealousy, or sadness in marriage could be valid for divorce.

Don't hesitate to review! Next update will be Little Hiccup.