Astrid sat up and looked past Stormfly's nose. Hiccup, sitting atop a hovering Toothless, stared back at her.

[We shall leave you both be,] the queen said.

Astrid did not turn her gaze from Hiccup. She did hear the rustle of wings and some chittering in the Old Tongue. She ignored all of it. Her focus remained upon Hiccup as Toothless shifted to flight and landed upon the sea stack. Hiccup dismounted. Astrid watched him. He stared at her. He looked towards the nest then he looked back to her. He stepped closer and sad down in front of her. Astrid just watched him. Given his tone when he spoke her name, he heard her comment to the queen. Astrid found she could not speak, words failing her once again in his presence and she was as equally glad he had heard as she was ashamed.

"Astrid," he whispered, "you still think you failed me over what happened before?"

Astrid looked away. Her fists clenched. She felt warm hands grip both and looked back. Hiccup held both hands. He drew them out of her lap and into his own. He gave a gentle tug. Astrid frowned at him. He blushed slightly but tugged her arms again. She titled her head. Hiccup grunted.

"Please sit in my lap," he said softly.

Astrid looked down at her skirt and shook her head. She was not wearing the non-spiked one and would not hurt him. Hiccup sighed.

"Then sit between my legs. I want you closer."

That Astrid could do. She scooted closer, leaning against Hiccup as he bracketed her with his legs. She felt him lean back and noted Toothless providing a backrest for him. Astrid placed her head upon Hiccup's shoulder.

"Why do you still think you failed me?"

Astrid hesitated. Vikings still did not bear their souls to other Vikings. Then she remembered something Gyda told her before the mage's house was finished and Astrid was just beginning to believe she loved Hiccup. They had talked about many things that night but just before they had fallen asleep that night, Astrid had braved asking Gyda if the mage knew what love was. She had wanted to know, to see if what Gyda, who Astrid trusted, said matched with what she was beginning to feel.

'Love gives someone the power to hurt you and the trust they will not. Hiccup has the strength to love you, Astrid, to give you the power to destroy him but the trust that you will not. He has the strength to lay to bare his secrets before you and know that you will not judge him or abandon him because of them. But he also has the strength to hold the secrets you carry. To let you speak them, show them, to him and let him shoulder the burden they put upon you. Do you have that same strength, Astrid? For only when you do, can both of you be truly free.'

At the time, Astrid knew she had the strength to hold his secrets. To not judge him nor abandon him. She tried to prove that each time his insecurities over everything rose. Now she realized exactly what Gyda had been telling her then. She had to let Hiccup hold the secrets she kept. She had to let him know every fear and every insecurity and trust he would not judge her or abandon her. She had to lay to bare who she was and it was time to start.

"I shouldn't have let you be treated like that. I shouldn't have been so focused upon my family's honor. I neglected you, Hiccup. I ignored everything that happened to you."

Hiccup sighed. "You've already apologized for all of that, Astrid. I forgave you."

Astrid lifted her head and stared at him. "I don't deserve your forgiveness, Hiccup. I deserve to forever make it up to you."

Hiccup cupped her cheek. "The king and I talked as we went on a patrol of the island after my lessons. He told me what it means to a dragon to be forgiven. It wipes the offense clean. Those dragons back home, they know what they did to the island during and after the war. They remember it all. When I gave them my forgiveness, the king said, I told them I would never bring up what they had done and use it against them. Ever. I gave each and every dragon a new start."

Astrid frowned. "I'm not a dragon, Hiccup. Why are you telling me this?"

"Astrid, you apologized. I forgave you. I'm not going to use what happened before Toothless against you. I'm not going to use what happened in the cove before Toothless decided to scare you against you. You have a new start."

"I haven't made it up to you. I have to make it up to you. It's the only way it'll be right, Hiccup."

Hiccup's thumb began to caress her cheek. "The moment you said you would keep Toothless a secret and let me figure out something, you repaid the debt you feel you owe me."

"That's not repaying what I owe you, Hiccup. That was one moment. One conversation. I neglected you for years, Hiccup. Years! I could have stopped Dogsbreath. I could have made sure you knew you could join the tribe for morning and mid-day meals. You should have been there. They were for the tribe as a whole to come together while the war was going on. You shouldn't have been made to feel like you couldn't be a part of that."

Hiccup placed a finger upon Astrid's lips. She quieted, staring at him.

"One moment. One conversation but it held everything that, at that time, meant the world to me."

Astrid frowned.

"Toothless. My best friend. The one who accepted me. The one who made my life before the war joyful again. You knew about him and you kept him a secret for me. You kept him safe. Everything you think you owe me, that night when you promised to tell no one about Toothless and when you kept that promise, erased that debt. You owe me nothing."

"But-"

"It's gone, Astrid."

"Hiccup-"

"Nothing, Astrid."

She blinked. "Nothing?" she whispered.

"Nothing," Hiccup whispered.

Astrid dropped her head upon his shoulders. "Each time I learned something new I had not seen, something you suffered through.. I just knew I had to make up for that. That the forgiveness you gave when I first apologized could not be for that incident. That moment."

Hiccup's mouth fell next to her ear. "I forgive you as an alpha forgives, Astrid. The slate, your slate, is clean."

Astrid's arms closed around him. She felt his arms encircle her and pull her close.

"When did all of this start?" he asked.

"When you trusted me to keep the nest safe when you went to find Johann but the Speedstingers attack."

"That long? Astrid why didn't you come to me? Why did you wait until now to say something?"

"I was scared."

"Of what?"

"That you'd remember how cruel I was to you and stop trusting me. Stop loving me."

Hiccup lifted his head and shook his shoulder. Astrid lifted hers. Hiccup cupped both cheeks and stared at her.

"When I thought the power in my soul made me a monster, you told me that you could not love a monster. I cannot love a cruel person, Astrid."

He paused long enough to lean over and kiss her, a soft kiss, a short kiss. He leaned back and stared at her.

"I love you, Astrid Hofferson, with everything that is within me and if Gothi would perform the rites now, I would make you my wife."

This time, it was Astrid who kissed him and silently told her sister and his brother to deal with it.

Kirika: As am I. It's not always the one who suffered the abuse who has to come to terms with it. The ones who did not see the abuse also has to come to terms with it and the added guilt of missing everything.