Hey you guys! I'm happy to be uploading this, but I'm sad that it's a bit on the short side...compared to the last chapter. Hope you still like it! Lots of really good stuff!
I'm super excited about the new Race to the Edge episodes, hbu, guys?:)
Don't forget the favorite, follow, and review because they really do make my day! Enjoy!
Hiccup was amazed at just how strong Astrid was being. She was not the same terrified girl he'd seen a few weeks ago. She carried herself like a true Viking. The closer they neared the Hofferson's house the more confidence she seemed to show.
It wasn't until they were right in front of the door that her face betrayed her, and he placed a comforting hand on her shoulders. The smiled she offered him nearly made his heart stop, and he needed a second or so to compose himself. Mom looked at her questioningly," Are you ready, lass?"
She took a deep breath and nodded," Yeah..."
No sooner that they knocked did the door swing open and they were immediately ushered inside. The door closed and Astrid got to finally meet her parents face to face.
Astrid looked at the people in front of her and she couldn't help but gasp. The woman in front of her had her eyes except hers were filled with tears and the very sight of them brought tears to her own.
She took a hesitant step forward and she saw that the man had her hair, and he looked about ready to cry as well. She felt an overwhelming rush of love for these two people who had only seen her briefly, were weeping for joy at the very sight of her. Fath-Drago wouldn't have been caught dead crying over anything, and especially not her.
In that moment she made her decision and threw herself into her parents arms and cried. She cried for the parents she never knew, the parents she never knew loved her, and the Father who had supposedly loved her and kept her best interests at heart but had lied to her for 19 years.
Her parents seemed to understand and held her tight and wept with her, and their shared grief enveloped them and the feeling of being loved and missed and cherished made Astrid never want to let go of them.
Her mother lifted her face up," You've grown up so much...you're so beautiful..."
Her... father looked at her too," You look so much like your Mom..."
Her mother nodded," You're everything we could've hoped for."
She held back a sob. Drago would have never complimented her, he made it a point of addressing her flaws and making sure she did, too," Really?"
They nodded and she saw no cruel remarks hidden in their faces, no biting sarcasm, no mocking. Only love, grief, pain, and happiness. They stayed like that for a while before her father pulled back but not away and looked at Hiccup, Stoick, and Valka in gratitude," Thank you, you don't know how much this means to us."
Stoick shook his head," Don't thank us, it was Hiccup. He found her and he brought her back."
Mother brought him in for a hug," Thank you! How can we ever thank you?"
Hiccup smiled bashfully shaking his head and looked at her," You don't need to do anything...just make sure she's taken care of and happy...she deserves that."
The way he looked at her when he said that made her heart flutter uncharacteristically and she felt a flush of color make it's way into her cheeks," Hiccup..."
Her parents looked at her and then turned serious. Her mother dried her tears and placed a hand on her cheek," We understand if you don't want to, but we would love it if you stayed with us."
Astrid's eyes widened," Stay with you?"
Her father nodded," Only if you want, but if you did...we would be a family again..."
She teared up a bit just at the thought and closed her eyes in order to keep them in check. She wanted to stay, and she wanted to be a family, and she wanted to start a new life on Berk, but then she looked at Hiccup and his parents and hesitated. Valka seemed to notice and smiled reassuringly," Don't worry about us, dear, we'll come and visit often. And if you ever need anything we would be happy to help."
Stoick nodded," Aye, lass, go for it."
She looked at Hiccup who gave her his signature crooked smiled and nodded encouragingly and she took a deep breath and said," Okay."
Her parents rushed over to hug her and she laughed hugging them back.
Valka smiled looking a bit teary eyed herself and said," We'll bring your things over right away, and let you get settled."
She smiled back grateful," Thank you."
Valka shook her head," It's nothing, dear."
Hiccup was swamped with questions as to how it was that he was able to find the lost lost Astrid Hofferson after so many years. All of Berk now knew who she was and they wanted to know everything about her.
He knew she was overwhelmed but surprisingly, or unsurprisingly depending on how you looked at it, she handled it all really well. She threw herself head first into starting her new life, and he was proud of her. She had been working with Gothi ever since, and when she wasn't Ingvar had taken to teaching her how to fight. Asdis had even passed on her old ax, and she had begun training ever since.
He had seen her practicing and training and throwing and running, and all the while she seemed to be enjoying herself. He would've thought that for someone with as sheltered and harsh a life as the one she had, she wouldn't have taken to such things, but she was a Viking. And he had the suspicion that if things had turned out differently, it would've gone exactly like this.
He had been basically dragged into future chief duties, and Dad had been showing him the ropes. He guessed he deserved it for having snuck out and bringing Astrid to Berk and maybe...probably... angering Drago Bludvist along the way, but who was keeping track?
He would've done it all over again if given the chance, and Dad knew that, and he settled for the next best thing. He wasn't saying that he liked everything that came with being future chief, but it could be worse, and the fact that they had to protect themselves against such a big threat gave him the motivation to face the day.
He had one mission, though, and that was to get Astrid her own dragon. She seemed to accept the dragons, and was doing really well, but she had yet to actually ride one herself. Hiccup knew that it couldn't be easy for her, and with how she'd been raised, it was probably worse, but he knew that there had to be a dragon out there for her.
He was actually on his way to Gothi's to go see Astrid, and Toothless was as excited as him to see her. If it were anyone else he would have had the thought to feel jealous, but he found it endearing that Astrid could have won his dragon over so completely. But then again, it could have been largely due to the fact that Astrid loved to spoil him and snuck him treats every chance she got. He chose to ignore that, though.
They reached Gothi's hut and entered. Toothless immediately rushed forward and tried to find Astrid. They found her as she was tending to one of the children. He stopped in surprise as she tended to the child. It was a little boy not much older than 5 and he was whimpering as she inspected his knee. It looked like he fell and scraped it, and it looked a bit painful, but manageable.
He waited to see what she would do. She stepped back and nodded encouragingly," I think you'll be fine... we'll just clean it up, okay?"
The boy nodded tearfully and she smiled as she went to work. She cleaned it with water and a clean rag. Then she wrapped it up and tied it in cloth. The whole time she talked to the boy and tried to distract him, and eventually the boy was laughing with her, and his knee was taken care of.
"Now, make sure you're more careful when you try and ride your Father's dragon," she said sternly but kindly," You'll get your chance, but for now you have to wait, okay?"
The boy nodded solemnly and was on his way home with one last wave to Astrid. It was then that Toothless leapt forward and tackled Astrid to which she squealed and laughed," Toothless! What are you-Hiccup!"
He smiled in what he was sure looked incredibly goofy," Hey, Astrid, you ready to go?"
She nodded," Yeah, just give me a minute."
Toothless completely abandoned him as he followed Astrid as she said goodbye to Gothi and some of the people there," Mutinous reptile..."
Once she came back they headed outside and he walked her to her house. She looked up at him," So what did you do today?"
"Oh you know...the usual," he said wincing," I spent most of the day with Dad again...we dealt with some disputes, dealt with a bit of paperwork, and well...you know..."
She nodded in understanding and he asked," What did you do, milady?"
"I woke up early to train a bit before breakfast," she said," And then I helped Mom with some of the chores-"
"She finally let you help?" he asked amused.
"I know!" she exclaimed," It was about time! I couldn't bear to see her do all the work, but anyways...then I made my way over to Gothi's and helped a few people and let Gothi deal with the more severely sick or injured."
"Most girls would shout for joy if their mothers refused to let them do any chores," he said wryly," That's just..."
She rolled her eyes but laughed slightly," Shut up, but everything's been so amazing, and it feels like it's a dream...I just need a reality check every once in awhile."
"And doing housework is just that?" he said understanding.
She nodded," It sounds crazy but-"
He let out a chuckle," Oh, please, I know about crazy, and that is nowhere near crazy."
She smiled," Thanks, it's nice to know somebody thinks so!"
"Anything else?" he asked.
She nodded," I hung out with Ruffnut for a bit. That was fun-"
"Ruffnut?" he asked a bit taken aback," Fun?"
She gave him a look," Yeah, we had some girl talk, she helped me with my training, and we got to get revenge on Snotlout!"
He chuckled, both girls had taken to hanging out together. He supposed it was because they were both close in age and the only girls in their group, but they really did seem to get along. They had both teamed up in trying to put Snotlout in his place.
That tended to be pretty hilarious, and he was about to ask what they did to his cousin, until he saw something ahead of them and he rushed forward. A blue Deadly Nadder had just collapsed out of nowhere and was lying almost limp on the ground. He tried to see what was wrong and was shocked to see arrowheads buried in her scales, and bits of a net tangled in her claws.
He heard Astrid gasp and turn pale before collapsing next to him and she picked up a piece of the net. He looked over and he was confused. The net very clearly displayed a sun as a decoration. He didn't know what it meant and he turned to Astrid who only uttered," Fath-Drago..."
Astrid couldn't believe her eyes, she would know her fath- Drago's crest anywhere. She'd had a few things herself, engraved with the same crest. Now, to have it on one of the trapper's nets, and an injured dragon which couldn't have flown that far for very long...meant that he was close...and he couldn't be happy with her.
One look at the Deadly Nadder, and she pushed all those thoughts aside. The dragon was obviously hurt, and Hiccup turned to her," Stay here, and I'll go get Gobber."
He turned to leave when she stopped him," What do I do?"
"Whatever you can," he said," Just make sure she stays here, and doesn't move."
She nodded and he got on Toothless and they were gone in a flash. She turned back to the Deadly Nadder and looked over her injuries. The arrows were the worse, and the other scratches would be fine. She took a closer look at the arrows. There were so many of them and she gasped as she noticed a familiar sedative goo Drago used as a last resort before he would order his men to...
She immediately got out some of her supplies from her bag, and took a deep breath before removing the arrow heads before they did any lasting damage. Thankfully, the Nadder was out cold, but she still made sure to be a careful as possible.
By the time she had finished, the poor thing was nearly awake. Astrid felt horrible for having hurt her by taking out the arrows, but there was no other way. She resolved to petting her as she regained consciousness and because she'd seen so many people on Berk doing it, especially Hiccup and Valka, she tried to calm her down by talking to her," I know, girl, but Hiccup will be back soon, and you'll get better, I promise."
The Nadder opened her eyes in alarm before she realized she couldn't move and collapsed. She was a fighter and refused to take it," Don't do that, please! Just calm down...you'll be okay."
She panicked when she saw that the Nadder's tail spikes were getting ready to shoot and she immediately tried to stop her. She tried to think of something-anything- and did the only thing that came to her which was to smooth them back down. The Nadder immediately calmed down, and looked at her confused. She nodded," I know, and I'm sorry, girl."
The Nadder squawked and she looked into her eyes before placing a hand on her snout. She got a strange feeling, and she had no idea what it was. No sooner than it happened did Hiccup and Gobber come rushing in.
Gobber nodded appraisingly," Good job taking those arrowheads out, lass."
She nodded, but asked worriedly," Is she going to be okay?"
Gobber looked the Nadder's injuries and nodded once more," There's not much that can go wrong now, the arrows are out, and as soon as whatever was on them wears off...she'll be up and about in no time."
She smiled relieved," Thank the gods..."
Gobber finished cleaning the wounds and applied special herbs on them. That was all we could do for her, and then we lead her to the hangar where she would be able to stay until she healed. They stayed with her until the sun went down, and she reluctantly realized she had to go home.
She gave her one last worried look before letting Hiccup and Toothless take her home.
Hope you enjoyed!:D