A/N: Well, that went badly. We're in the final act now, so daily updates to the end. And yes, there is more drama to come...
Twenty Nine: Shock News
It was almost a relief but with a heavy heart that Hiccup walked into the room. There was a wall of intent faces, cameras and phones all focussed on his self-conscious shape as he walked in and took his seat.
There was the whirr and click of lenses as he smiled and self-consciously ran his hand through his bangs.
"Good morning," he said clearly, his voice a little hurried. He could feel the flush rising in his cheeks at the embarrassment but then took a deep breath. Just this last hurdle and then it's over... "I am very grateful you came at such short notice. And I know what I'm going to say isn't going to be welcome to a lot of people." He swallowed, his mouth suddenly dry. "There's really no easy way of saying this so I'll just come right out and say it. I am breaking off my engagement to Astrid Hofferson."
oOo
Blissfully oblivious to the seismic press conference, Astrid was at practice, doing short sprints, rehearsing set pieces and playing a five-a-side practice game forwards against defence. Hiccup had returned home the previous evening, quiet and withdrawn and though she had apologised profusely, Hiccup had almost shut down. He had said he forgave her but there was something off in his words and he had returned to his room with Toothless after making them both Penne Carbonara to do some work he said was overdue. So she had spent a long evening alone with her guilt and her pain, wondering how she could fix it.
"Pay attention!" Ulrika yelled and crossed a ball to her and, grateful for the distraction, she headed the ball down and powered forward. She dinked past the left back, Emma, and rifled a low shot past Bente the Keeper.
"Hey, Ast-give the rest of us a chance!" the blonde girl said cheerfully, picking the ball from the back of the bet. Bente was one of Astrid's best friends in the team, a sturdily built girl close to six feet in height with her hair in a long ponytail and surprisingly light on her feet. There were rumours that Bente was being transferred and Astrid was worried she would lose one of her best friends in the transfer window.
"No chance-because Uglithug won't-and nor will the Berserker Maniacs!" she replied with a grin. "So we have to keep you guys on your toes so we can have a solid defence to build on..."
"Ast-you know that none of the other teams have a strike force anywhere near as potent as ours!" Jannike, a lithe young woman with honey curls and a cheerful face, reminded her.
"No excuse," Astrid told her firmly. "The Valkyries strive for excellence!"
"Astrid? I think you need to see this!" There was a pause and everyone looked up as Agnes the Physio raced out and grabbed the Captain's arm. Helena the assistant Physio was only a pace behind.
"Really seriously now!" she added as the Captain frowned and nodded, handing her tabard to one of the substitutes and looking over to Eidur Harildssen, the Head Coach. "Sir?" she added and he nodded.
"Look-I think Agnes and Helena will drag you away anyway so no point in waiting," he smiled. "Go on!" Nodding thanks, Astrid turned and sprinted back to the main buildings, slowing to allow Helena and Agnes to catch up before following them into the treatment room-and the TV on the wall. And she gaped on seeing the self-conscious shape of Hiccup, holding a press conference. But the rolling headlines summary running along the bottom of the screen already had her staring in shock.
SHOCK NEWS + + + ASTRID HOFFERSON'S FIANCE BREAKS OFF ENGAGEMENT + + + HICCUP HADDOCK CITES INABILITY TO COPE WITH CELEBRITY LIFESTYLE + + + BREAK-UP RUMOURED TO BE AMICABLE...
Astrid stared numbly at the screen, grabbing the remote and thumbing the sound up until she could make out the gentle and familiar voice, speaking honestly and calmly.
When did Hiccup get so comfortable in front of the cameras?
But she already realised the answer.
When he knew this was the last time.
"I know this has come as a shock to most of you but it's something I've been thinking about for a while. Never doubt I love Astrid...but this fame, this constant scrutiny, this intrusion...it isn't me. And Astrid and I are totally different people and she needs and deserves someone who can appreciate the challenges she faces in her sport. And also...someone who doesn't come with the baggage of an ex-girlfriend who seems Hel-bent on garnering headlines and embarrassing me and Astrid. So if I am out of the picture, Astrid can't be a target any more."
She blinked and shook her head at his words. It made no sense. Bella was dealt with, on bail in Berk and prevented from travelling anywhere near where they were. And no journalist would give her the time of day now.
"Make no mistake-this is nothing to do with Astrid. She is a wonderful warm and generous woman, brave and fierce and strong. And this isn't her fault. I love her-I always have-and I never thought I would ever get a chance to be her boyfriend...but I realise now...I don't deserve her. These weeks at her side have shown me exactly the kind of people she mixes with, the people she has to manage and the colleagues she deserves. I'm really nobody and when I leave this room, I go back to being nobody."
"What about her previous relationship with Dag Ivarsson?" a voice called from the crowd. "That was supposedly mutual as well!"
"Is Astrid difficult to live with? Is that why the relationship failed?"
"What about Thuggory Cabeza de Carne? There were rumours she and he had an affair! And they were out two nights ago in the Bifrost Club and all over one another. Any comment?"
"Are you covering for her faults?" another reporter accused him and Hiccup raised his head, his emerald eyes flashing with fury.
"NO! Certainly not!" he replied angrily-the first real emotion he had shown in the Press Conference. "None of this is her fault."
"But Dag said that she was awkward in his biography..." another voice told him and Hiccup clenched his fists.
"That's it!" he snapped. "Astrid is a focussed sportswoman and she-as anyone, including Dag himself-has things they have to do at a certain time in a certain way in order to hit the goals she has set herself!" Then he glared at the reporter. "Personally, I don't think that breaking up with a man you catch cheating on you with one of his male team-mates is unreasonable at all! And definitely not awkward. Astrid hasn't breathed a word about the reason they split up-because her gay ex-boyfriend was uncomfortable coming out. But for him to accuse her of being difficult and blaming her for the break-up is unfair. And she doesn't deserve it!"
There were gasps and the scratching of pens was almost deafening as the reporters locked down the next scoop.
"You sound like you're defending her!" another reporter accused him.
"Of course I am!" Hiccup told him hotly. "She was my best friend from Elementary School and I hope and pray we can remain friends after this. But even if that isn't possible. I will do everything within my power to protect her-because she is blameless in all this." He looked around the room. "Thank you all for coming!"
And then he rose and left the room, leaving them calling more questions after him and discussing between themselves in shock at the revelation he had given them. And though she had promised she would never reveal the reasons why they split up to the press, there was a perverse satisfaction for the watching Astrid in seeing Dag finally outed for his actions-especially when he had blamed her for the break-up in his book-which she hadn't known about.
But Hiccup had ended it, organising the press conference that Heather was supposed to have organised the day after the revelation broke. And he had still defended her, not realising that she no longer wanted to end the pretence. Because it had become better than real.
But not for Hiccup. For him, it was still a pretence that had harmed him more than she had guessed, subjecting him to hostility and undermining by almost everyone he met and abuse and some serious stalking by the girl he had been going out with before. Few people from her circle had been kind to him and he had been giggled at, sneered at and blanked more times than she cared to recall-and she hadn't always been as diligent as she should have been in defending him. Especially at the Archipelago Soccer Association Awards where he had been ignored much of the night-even by her. And she had abandoned him and broken his heart.
She paused. Was that it? Was it just wounded pride and being fed up? But she knew Hiccup wouldn't have sneaked away and done this if he was just feeling neglected-he was good at masking his unhappiness but she had become far better at reading him, at seeing through the sassy mask to the thoughtful young man beneath. No, something had changed and she couldn't for the life of her figure out what...
Except she could. She had reminded him it wasn't real for her and he had finally given up.
And the problem was that she had got used to having him there, got used to waking and seeing his handsome face, to hearing his familiar voice and sparring with him over breakfast. And she thought...she thought she had made it clear that she was in love with him.
But maybe that was it? Maybe he didn't love her? Maybe the words he had stated so boldly to the press were a shield to protect her from any fallout from the breakup. But that didn't ring true because when he had said he loved her, she had seen it in his eyes. He had loved her before she left and when she came back...no matter how hard it was for him, he had stood by her.
She turned and grabbed her tracksuit top and her bag, looking up at the physios.
"I need to get to the airport," she said. "If I hurry, I could still catch him..."
"Rika has a Porsche," Agnes said and the Captain raced out to the practice field. She beckoned the winger and the tall, red-haired woman sped in.
"I need you to take me to the airport..." she said. "It's Hiccup..." Rika frowned.
"What's happened?" she asked, recalling how down the young man had been at the Awards Dinner after Astrid bailed. Astrid was almost frantic.
"He's ended our engagement," she said urgently. "He knew I was in training now. And knowing him, he'll have left and gone straight to the airport. He was planning this last night."
"Okay," the winger said, nodding to her team-mates. "We'll be back soon..." And they sprinted to the car park, leaping into the sleek black Porsche that Rika drove, and roaring off towards the airport. And for the first time in her life, she realised what it was like to be her passenger as Rika sped through the traffic, dodging and weaving between the lanes. There was a lot of traffic and they found themselves more often than not in queues, waiting for the lights to change and then haring off as soon as they did, switching lanes and overtaking wildly.
"AAGH! I was hoping to arrive there alive!" Astrid yelled as they undertook a milk lorry and then cut across the lanes to speed up the ramp towards the airport.
"You will get there alive," Rika assured her. "I haven't killed myself yet..."
"That is in no way reassuring!" Astrid gasped as they played chicken with a double decker bus and cut to the right at the last minute, zooming up to the Departures door of Archipelago International Airport and screeching to a halt.
"Here you are-perfectly safe," Rika grinned as Astrid unfastened her belt and got out.
"I'm alive!" she gasped. "Thank Thor, thank Odin, thank Freya..."
"Have you seen yourself drive?" Rika teased her as she got out.
"That's not the same-because I'm in charge!" Astrid replied tartly. Laughing, Rika waved her on.
"Go get your boy!" she said as Astrid turned and ran into the Terminal. She stared at the board and then the time: the flight to Berk was already boarding and she realised that Hiccup had timed his departure with the precision you would expect from an engineer. Glancing up, she checked the gate: A2. And then she was off, sprinting up the escalator to the upper level, through the seats and among the store before she reached Security.
It didn't take her a second to decide and she cut the line, vaulted through and sprinted through the security check. As alarms screamed, she sprinted towards Gates A 1-8 and heard pursuit behind her. Ignoring them and knowing that she was faster than they would be-and that they didn't want to shoot what was clearly an unarmed woman in soccer gear, she closed on Gate A2 and raced round the corner to arrive at the Gate.
It was closed, the doors shut and the sign proclaiming "Archipelago Air Flight VNG-103 Boarding is now CLOSED'.
"No no no no no!" she yelled, slamming her hands against the glass door. There were footsteps closing and she peered through the full length glass that formed the wall of the Gate. The plane was already pushing back, the doors closed and passengers listening to the preflight safety briefing. She stared in vain, trying to see the longed-for auburn-haired shape but she could make him out. She slammed her hands against the glass again.
"HICCUP!" she yelled. "NO! Please don't go! Don't leave me..."
But hands grabbed her and hauled her back-though gently because they had seen the newsfeeds as well. She didn't struggle, just let them pulled her back, her eyes fixed on the window that showed the silver, red and brown shape of the aircraft recede up the taxiway and turn, waiting its turn. And they had the decency to stop and let her watch as the plane roared down the runway, speeding past, the nose lifting as it passed the terminal and took off. And they let her watch until the shape vanished into the clouds, carrying her ex-fiancé away from her.
Hiccup was gone.
oOo
She arrived back at the apartment, mumbling thanks to Rika and still feeling embarrassed by the warning she had received for breaking security. And though the Airport Security Chief had been sympathetic, because he had realised what she was trying to do, she had to receive a warning the same as everyone else. And she had accepted it meekly, because she had known what she was doing was wrong...but it didn't matter. All that mattered was Hiccup.
She dumped her bag on the floor and looked round the empty apartment. Of course, he had taken Toothless and the little cat's feisty presence was also missing. The draughting table was folded down and neatly stowed and his computer and a bag of clothes was gone. The suit and the tuxedo were left hanging up when she checked his room but the clothes he wore most-including the old clothes he had arrived in-were all missing. And the card she had Heather get for him, loaded with funds for anything he needed was left pointedly in the middle of his perfectly made bed. He had moved out.
But on the bed by the card was a watercolour of her, beautiful and delicate, swathed in blue and gold. Behind it were other images of the Bay, of the Park, even of Toothless and of Heather and Dagur. All were done with skill and delicacy and Astrid stared. They were clearly meant for her because beside them was a note, written on the same watercolour paper.
My dear Astrid,
Milady. Thank you for everything you have done for me. I can never thank you enough for the comfort and strength you have given me when I was desperate. You were kind to me when you didn't need to be and for a while, I imagined you felt something. But what you said, it was devastating...but it reminded me of the truth. This was all a sham, a pretence to help you. Nothing more. And I hope I have given you enough time to make sure your lines sell out.
But I couldn't stay. The Awards made it painfully clear I am not part of your world. And that I don't matter to you the way that you matter to me. I would never want to do anything to harm you, which is why I took the blame for ending our 'engagement'. I'm sure your fans will blame and hate me and that is fine. I just want you to be happy-and whether with Thuggory or someone like him, they can give you what I cannot.
I have left the pictures as thanks-inadequate, I know, but they are all I can offer. I have left Toothless's litter tray behind though it is cleaned out and empty so it shouldn't be a problem.
I will always love you and always be your friend.
Hiccup.
She collapsed onto the bed, tears welling in her eyes. Quietly and thoughtfully, he had left her, believing she would be better off without him, still not valuing himself enough to fight for what he cared for. And she had let him down. She had used him and allowed him to go without managing to make him believe the truth. And she had no idea how she could fix this.
