SECTION 010

AND THE WALLS FELL

DATE: JANUARY 8, 251 A.D.E.

TIME: 1548 HOURS (LOCAL TIME)

LOCATION: ENGLAND, SIX KLICKS SOUTHEAST OF DOME TERRITORY

Astrid didn't like what she was seeing.

The flight had been silent. Even the A.I. seemed to think better of saying anything until they'd touched down in the crater, right back where this whole mess had started. Astrid didn't like the silence, didn't like how Alex left the cockpit without a backward glance. She didn't like the knot in her chest or the lump in her throat. She didn't like that it was Alex of all people who was ignoring her, didn't think it was fair, then realised that almost ten years of her doing the same made it absolutely fair, no question about it.

But it was what she was seeing now that she didn't like the most.

Ruusaan was hugging Alex.

But it was more than that. Every so often she'd cradle his face, or hold him out at arm's length as eyes and hands roamed worriedly over his body, only to crush him back to her chest, all the while letting a flood of words pour from her mouth too quickly for even the translation matrix to understand. Alex didn't stop her. He just let it happen, an awkward smile plastered across his face, eyes meeting Astrid's every so often then darting away just as quickly.

It made her feel ill, angry and yet sad at the same time. She knew why, too. That made her feel worse.

"R-Ruusaan…" Alex finally tried to prise the Dragonoid off him, holding her arms even as her hands clenched at his shoulders. "I'm alright, really. I'm good, okay?

"Naht gud!" Ruusaan shook her head violently. "Ni ja'hail gar ba'slanar. Ni partaylir te kyr'yc ca'nara mirdir…" She took his head in her hands, held his face as close to her eyes she could. "Ni chaabar par gar, Hallex…"

"I know. I'm sorry. Ni ceta." He smiled at her, eyes soft, and Astrid stomach clenched at the thought that he used to save those smiles for her. "But I am okay, Ni piryc, really."

The Dragonoid smiled; no teeth, almost Human-like. She kissed his forehead, then hugged him tight to her chest, burying her face in his hair. It made Astrid's throat burn and her eyes itch.

But what right did she have to say anything about it? Alex hadn't pushed her away, hadn't shouted and screamed at her and then looked away when Snotlout and the twins had decided to make her a target for their 'banter'. What right did she have to feel…

Ruusaan caught her gaze, surprise in her alien eyes. Of course she was surprised, Astrid wasn't even supposed to be here. Hadn't she been running for The Dome to get back up? To find soldiers and Vikings to bring an alien threat in for who knows what they had planned? The Dragonoid moved past Alex, walking towards Astrid, crossing the distance with frightening speed…before dropping to her knees and pulling the soldier into her embrace.

For a moment, everything was still. Astrid stood frozen in place, eyes wide and heart beating fast. She didn't struggle, push away or even scream. She just stood there; her head against the Dragonoid's shoulder, feeling dark hair tickle her nose and the warmth of her body through her clothes. What was happening right now? Why was the monster that had tried to kill her before now hugging her so gently and yet so tight?

"Hy em…sowry." the words were a whisper, yet they made Astrid's heart stop. "Hy em sowry fer hurtink hyu. Fer scarink hyu. Und…it naht much, but hy em sowry…fer everitink helse."

…

No. No, that wasn't right. An apology? Why? Why now?

"You don't get to say sorry," she felt Ruusaan freeze as she pushed her back…just far enough for her to see Astrid's sheepish smile, "because you have nothing to apologise for. I'm not saying I think your people are blameless, but…I can't say I think that Humans are blameless either. And…"

She stopped as Alex approached, typing furiously on his tablet. Without a word he stopped behind Ruusaan, holding the computer up for her to see. She read the words once, then smiled as she turned back to face the Dragonoid.

Alexander McKrillen. Always coming through for her, even when he was rightly mad.

"Ashi…copaani ori'dush…bat bintar eso. Al gar…ganar'nass ori'dushyc…Ni, mirdir…Ni ganar'nass ori'dushyc gar." Her eyes widened, and Astrid hoped it was because she was making sense. "Ogir la…naasad aht eparavur linibar-"

And then she was being hugged again, followed by the sound of sniffles over her shoulder and the feeling of a smile against her neck. She looked to Alex in a panic, only to find him smiling that smile of his, with eyes soft. That smile he reserved for her, now being smiled at her again.

"She gets like this, don't worry about it. She just doesn't want you to see her cry-oomph!"

Astrid grabbed his hand, pulled him in and held him close, feeling Ruusaan move her arm to bring him into their embrace. She buried her face in his chest as her eyes stung and throat burned, tears finally rolling and a smile of her own gracing her face as she felt his arms come around her waist and his chin rest against her hair.

She didn't want him to see her cry either.

TIME: 1803 HOURS

LOCATION: THE DOME, NEW HYDE PARK

The past few hours had been…awkward. It started when Astrid awkwardly excused herself to go refill the bike's tires, leaving me to awkwardly explain to Ruusaan everything that had happened over at the Rock of the Assembled. She'd listened intently, to be sure, but the only thing she seemed concerned about was that the recall signal had been sent in the first place.

"The High Superior has plans," The translation matrix had said she'd said. "He needs as many soldiers as he can get. He will be planning something big, but I don't know what. You should be ready. You should all be ready."

Wonderful. More things to worry about. Things that made me unusually quiet, if the uneasy look Astrid gave me was anything to go by. We rode back in silence, too caught up in our own thoughts I guess. Astrid even let me drive without argument, she was that out of it. The kind of things we'd seen tonight…I guess it would give anyone a lot to think about.

We got back to Outpost 83RK without incident and passed through into The Dome just as the gates were being locked up for the night. We walked in the same awkward silence, retracing a route through the streets we hadn't taken together since we were kids. I was so lost in the endless quiet, I didn't even say goodbye as we reached the crossing where we'd normally part ways. I would have walked on too, without a backward glance, if Astrid hadn't caught the sleeve of my jacket.

"We need to talk."

And now, here I was; sitting on a bench on one of New Hyde Park's less walked paths, watching my sergeant pace up and down in front of me.

Up and down, back and forth. Sometimes she's stop, mouth open and halfway to starting a sentence. Then she'd start pacing again. After what felt like an eternity, she finally squared her shoulders to me.

"We need to tell your Dad."

Well…that was anticlimactic. "Tell him what? I've done a lot recently."

"Everything. Ruusaan, the Night Fury, everything we saw on the Rock-"

"And how do think that's going to play out?" She flinched back, a sign she might listen? "Do you honestly think General Gregorio 'Stoic' McKrillen, fearless leader of The Dome's Military Police and major thorn in High Superior Zearaan's colossal backside, is going to listen to anything two baseline soldiers have to say, even if it's about the one place we've been trying to reach for the past two hundred fifty years? Even if he does listen, what do you think he's going to do? Throw down his weapons and try to negotiate peace, or capture and torture Ruusaan and throw everything he has under his command towards Washington Crater? A hundred people surveyed, number one answer's still on the board. Survey says-"

"I get it!" She scowled, arms folded as she looked away, but even in the dim light, I managed to catch a ghost of a smile tugging at the corners of her lips. "I get it."

I smiled slightly as I stood up, seeing a glimpse of a young girl in pigtails I'd grown up with through the cracks in her armour. "We do have to tell him, I'll give you that. We just…have to figure out a way to get the information out without him sending every soldier, Viking and mobile fortress across the Atlantic. And we've got to stop the fighting, Astrid. You saw there are Dragonoids who want peace as much…as much as your Dad did." Shoulders slumped, a weary blue eye watching me from under blonde bangs. "We have to think this through, Astrid. Carefully. Rushing is only going to get people, Human and Dragonoid, killed."

"I know, I know!" She knocked away my hand before I could rest it on her shoulder, her own fingers running over her blonde locks in frustration. "We've just discovered a way into Washington Crater, the thing every Human's been after since the old nations fell. This morning, I'd of called you a traitor for keeping it a secret. To do what? Protect Ruusaan? Juuniis? The Dragonoids? Seriously?" She sighed so heavily, like I'd put the weight of The Dome on her shoulders. "Now though, all I want to do is ask…" she looked me in the eyes, and I almost stepped back under her look of determination. "What do we do, sir?"

I blinked in surprise. "Sir?"

"You're here, aren't you?" She stepped up to me, pressed something into my hand with a smirk. "You're not going to worm your way out of that commission if you stick around."

I looked down, and recognised the seal of the Military Police and the overly formal wording between the folds of my officer's commission. Oh yeah, I still had to take down a Dragonoid in front of the entire population of The Dome, didn't I? That was going to be fun.

Despite it all, I found myself smiling. "I still don't want this you know."

"But you earned it."

"Not the way you would've-"

Her hands closed around mine, a light warm touch closing my fingers around the folded paper, "But you earned it, Alex."

Then she smiled at me, and for a sudden moment I was seven again; willing to follow her anywhere and believe anything she said. Then I remembered who was standing before me. Not Astrid; my childhood friend, but Sergeant Astrid Hofferson, call sign Valkyrie. The Dragonoid hater who'd rather let herself fall thirty thousand feet than take the hand of a 'traitor'. The soldier who had treated me worse than dirt and as an embarrassment to her team…

The woman who'd hugged me not even an hour before. The girl who let me hold her tight as her world was turned upside down and let a Dragonoid child hold onto her in turn.

I must have sighed. Astrid was giving me the most perplexed look she could muster. "What is it?"

"I don't know," I replied slowly, stepping back and away from her grip, "but you are really confusing me right now."

She blinked, then blushed. Astrid Hofferson, hardened soldier-to-be, flushed scarlet like a schoolgirl talking about her first crush.

"I'm…going through a lot at the moment…"

"That time of the month?"

"Ye-No! I mean no! No! I mean…shut up!"

"Not my balls! Take the face, take the face!"

Her knee stopped halfway to my groin, a look of confliction flitting over her features at the cowering man in front of her.

"So…what do we do?"

I stood up, wary of fists and knees and the painful places they could strike at.

"I'll think of something. No, We'll think of something."

"We?"

"Me, Ruusaan…you?"

I let the question hang in the air, watched as Astrid winced at Ruusaan's name then blinked in surprise when I mentioned her. And why not? Why did I have to do this alone? It's not like I was asking someone for help who didn't know anything about the problem, right? And…and I'd be lying if a part of me hoped this might be progress; repairing years of damage on a friendship I'd never wanted to lose…

And then she hit me.

It wasn't hard, more of a tap to the shoulder, but seeing as it was Astrid and I was Hiccup, it was hard enough to push me off my feet and back onto the bench.

"Ow! Hey, what was that-?!"

I stopped, and so did my heart. Because although I couldn't see her eyes, hidden behind her long bangs, I could see the tears that trailed down her face, creating silvery trails in the dim light.

I had made Astrid Hofferson cry.

…

I was a dead man walking.

…

Damage control, man. Your future children depend on it.

"L-look-"

"Shut up."

Or I could shut up. That could work too.

Fists clenched and unclenched, white teeth chewing at her lower lip as an unheard argument seemed to be raging behind hidden eyes. And when she spoke, it was so softly I almost thought I hadn't heard anything at all.

"I'm sorry."

…

"W…what?"

"I'm sorry…for not listening to you back then. I just…I just didn't want to hear what you had to say."

"Well…to be fair I didn't want to believe it either." I tried to smile, tried to stand. "I mean who would really trust the word of a nine-year-old anyway-"

"I did." she pushed me back, stood with her knee crooked to the bench to stop me from standing up again. "I should have. You were my friend, Alex. That should have meant more than politicians and generals and the things that I wanted to hear."

"But you don't have to apologise." There was a time when I'd want nothing more than to hear the words spilling out of Astrid's mouth, but right now, with those tears now streaming silently down her face, I would have rather had her hate me for the rest of my life if it would have kept her from crying. "It was the brass' fault, not yours. You'd lost your Dad-"

"That's no excuse!" She sprung forward, hands clamped down painfully around my shoulders. "I should have trusted you! I should have listened to you! I should have…listened to myself. I wanted to believe you. I wanted to ignore everything they said but…"

"It was easier to hate Dragonoids then believe my theories."

She nodded slowly. "And I lost you for it. I pushed you away and focused on a revenge I thought I wanted, I needed. I let Henrik and the others beat you down because I wanted you to deserve it. I hated you, but every day I had to remind myself why. Because if I didn't, then maybe…maybe I'd start wondering if you were…right…"

I couldn't stop myself. I cupped her face with both hands, feeling her freeze under my touch as I wiped those tears away. She looked at me, eyes red and puffy, and she was still one of the most beautiful creatures I'd ever seen.

I quirked a smile. "Were you always this sappy, or did Juuniis bring out an emotional side you never knew you had?"

She laughed, much to my relief. "You're an idiot."

"But I'm your idiot. And I'm always going to be your idiot. You can hate me for as long as you like Astrid, but I can't hate you. I'll never hate you. Ever."

"Now who's being a sap?"

"You are. Still. Dry eyes, see?"

She laughed again, warmer and stronger than before. Then, things seemed to change.

Slowly, with a hesitancy I'd expect more from Waif than my sergeant, Astrid leaned forward until I could feel her bangs against my forehead. Eyes closed, and a slight smile played across her pale lips.

"So…you're my idiot, are you?"

Oh God, had I said that?

"Kinda corny?"

"A little bit."

"Sorr-"

"Nope. None of that." she smacked my shoulder lightly. "I'm the one being sorry here. Take a ticket and wait your turn."

I leaned back slightly. "Wait…so I do have things to be sorry about?"

"Oh, absolutely." she grinned down at me, and I realised too late where she was leaning one knee on the bench… right between my legs. "I can forgive most of it though. The whining, the cheating on the AF training courses, the kidnapping-"

"Kidnapping!?" I let my hands drop as I stared at her like she'd grown an extra head. "The Fury took off on its' own! How was I-OWW!" She hit me again, hard enough I swore I felt my arm bones crack. "What was that for?!"

"That was for making me cry."

"Really? Seven years of pissing you off, and it's the waterworks at the end that deserves the pu-"

I stopped. Everything just…stopped. My mouth, my brain, my sheer sense of…well, everything.

Why? Because Astrid kissed me. Her hands cradled my face as she brought her lips to mine. Chaste and warm and utterly stupefying.

Maybe it lasted a minute, maybe it lasted a lifetime. I could only be sure of one thing when Astrid came up for air. I really wanted to kiss her again.

But first, I needed to ask. "A-and what was that for?"

Astrid smiled; bright and radiant, like nothing I had ever seen before.

"For staying with me, even when I tried to stay away."

Then she kissed me again, and this time, I had the sense to kiss her back.

Dragonoid Translations

"Ni ja'hail gar ba'slanar. Ni partaylir te kyr'yc ca'nara mirdir… Ni chaabar par gar Hallex…"
(I saw you leave. I remember the last time and… I feared for you Alex…)

"Ni ceta."
(I'm sorry.)

"…Ni piryc…"
(…I'm well…)

"Ashi copaani ori'dush bat bintar eso. Al gar ganar'nass ori'dushyc Ni, mirdir Ni ganar'nass ori'dushyc gar. Ogir la naasad aht eparavur linibar."
(Others are wrong on both sides. But you haven't wronged me, and I haven't wronged you. There is nothing to apologise for.)

Author's Notes

And then they did stuff. Smexy stuff. They went home first though, park benches can be chilly.

Before I talk about this chapter, Crofty666 asked me how long an average Dragbonoid lived. I would say the life expectancy of an average Dragonoid is roughly the same as a modern day Human, perhaps a little bit more. It's just another little 'Not-so-different' element between the two species.

This chapter is the culmination of Dragonoid's original idea; to expand on Hiccup and Astrid's relationship, and make that sudden change of heart more believable, at least in my eyes. I really hope I've been successful in that department. To honest, I thought I'd have more to say on the subject, but honestly I'm just happy I got this far. I'm happy I finished the story too, but to reach this point and look back thinking "Yeah, this makes more sense, right?" was a good moment for me.

And then there's Ruusaan. Poor Ruusaan.

The story isn't over yet though. Plenty of time for things to happen, both good and bad (and isn't that a matter of perspective?).

While I appreciate the general feedback that no one really had any problems with the long word counts, chapters from here on out largely clock between four and just over six thousand words. That's just where I felt the chapters were best to break, I'm afraid.

Into Act Three ladies and gents! I hope you enjoy it!