RAGNAROK IS COMING

— Epilogue —

Astrid panted and threw herself onto a rock, leaning away from Stoick. It felt like she'd run miles and she'd barely walked the length of herself. It was those stairs, going down them without tripping and the breathlessness. It was the only thing that had her finally agreeing to go without a fight because Avrid had taken one look at Astrid's mother and eyed her. He'd eyed her as if to say, this. This is what you will become here. It had been like a blade to the heart.

All those years she'd hated her mother for sitting idly, for falling into that depression and it wasn't her fault. It was this Essence consuming her as it would one day do to Astrid. And if there was a chance Sunnil or Rhyther might carry the same fate then Astrid would do and go wherever she had to give them better. Avrid had simply nodded when she'd agreed and set to loading his dragon with her things; there weren't very many.

Stoick put a hand on Astrid's shoulder. The chief had been grieving since he lost his son, both child and wife dead before he was and it had weighed on the harsh Viking. Left him hard hearted and paranoid but through it all he always had an eye out for Astrid. He always helped those in his village and saved Astrid from the brink of death more times than she could count. She owed the Chief a debt that could never be repaid if she left.

Astrid clasped the chief's arm. "Thank you Chief."

Stoick smiled at her and there was something new in that smile. Something healed. Astrid turned as two boys came thundering down the stairs of her home and out the door. Sunnil ran with a drawstring pouch flung over his shoulder as Rhyther chased him, claiming a stolen figure. So young and they were entering a world none of them had any idea how to live in.

Astrid looked at Hiccup then. He was smiling slightly, a curve of his lips as he looked to Toothless every now and then, as if they were talking in the silence. Hiccup put a saddle on Toothless and the dragon kept fidgeting, as if he was unused to the thing and yet Hiccup had used one that night years ago.

Avrid now, Astrid had to keep reminding herself. He called himself Avrid and she didn't mind the change. Hiccup had been a child, afraid and desperate for acceptance. Avrid was a warrior, a commander. He was ruthless and stark, strong and wise. Hiccup was dead and in his place Avrid ruled. Still, she found butterflies in her stomach every time he smirked and looked her up and down. An assessing look. A healer searching for improvements but they felt like more, they felt like hot, soft hands roaming.

Avrid looked over, catching Astrid and she looked away.

"Okay boys." Avrid called and they stopped bickering to snap to attention. "Up you get."

Sunnil looked up to his older brother but Rhyther didn't hesitate. He walked over and let Avrid lift him into the front of the saddle. Seeing Rhyther unafraid made little Sunnil run up and into Avrid's arms. He chuckled and set him in front of Rhyther. Toothless grumbled and titled his head so his fins ran along Sunnil's face. He laughed and ran his small little hand over Toothless' scales.

Perhaps they were going to be fine. Perhaps, at such a young age, they would adapt quick and learn to live among Elves and Dwarves and whatever else existed beyond the nine realms.

Avrid turned to Astrid then and she took a breath to prepare for the walk. It was embarrassing, this uselessness. She had become too weak to even move by herself but Avrid only watched her stumble over. Holding out a hand to catch her but managing to stop her from collapsing in his arms. It was a small bit of dignity that he offered and she thanked him with a squeeze of her hand.

Avrid turned her around and put his hands on her waist, lifting her over Toothless' wings and into the saddle. Astrid patted Rhyther's head to get him to stop torturing Sunnil and then wrapped her arms around the both of them; though if they were to go sliding off, Astrid was sure the two of them would be better holding on than she could.

Toothless turned his large head around and gave Astrid a smile, as if he remembered her. Astrid smiled back.

"Hello again Toothless." The Night Fury's eyes widened, surprised and delighted she could speak his language. He answered a series of gurgles but she only caught a few of them and answered what she could. She turned to look at Avrid and found him frozen, hand raised to a rolled up pouch on the side of Toothless' saddle and caught in a daze, caught staring at her. Astrid looked away before he could snap out of it.

Looked away and saw her mother standing in the doorway. Her face was as dead and lifeless as before but there was a tear steady falling. A single tear on a stone face and it punched Astrid in the heart. She tapped the two boys and told them to wave at their mother and they did, but she had never really been their mother and so they didn't cry when she walked back into the house without another word.

Astrid heaved a breath as Avrid jumped into the saddle behind her. He shuffled his hips in snug because it was only built for two and there were four of them squeezed on it. He assured that the trip wasn't far and he'd be standing as soon as they got in the air, but even for a second this seemed too close. Seemed too intimate when he fiddled with something on the side of the saddle and she only realised when Avrid repeated himself that he was putting her foot into the saddle's stirrup. Astrid let him guide her foot in and then he bent to the other side and slid in the other one; she tried to keep in mind that his fingers didn't linger on her ankles and they were only cold.

With another glance at the village that had been her home and prison, Astrid waved to Stoick and the small crowd behind him. To a baggy eyed Fishlegs and barely smiling Tuffnut. To Snotlout who gave her a single nod and Gobber who gave her a toothy grin. She looked at the people behind them, the beginnings of a new Berk. Paeton had his arms crossed but there was a tear in his eyes when she winked at him. Yrsa and Frode stood arm in arm and only Frode gave her a wave. There hadn't been time to thank them, to thank Heather who waved back and held away her tears with her other hand. There hadn't been time to apologise for the death of Bjorn for his body had never been found in the wreckage of Drago's castle. Avrid had been dead set on leaving before the sun fully rose and so she couldn't say anything but what thanks could be called from her eyes.

Avrid wrapped an arm around Astrid's waist seconds before Toothless took off and Berk became a speck in the distance.

There was so much she hadn't said and done. To Fishlegs because he had saved her life by locking her in that dark storage room. Because Paeton had been kind when he was cruel and Bjorn and Yrsa and Frode had tried their best. To Ruffnut and Bjorn and Spitelout and whoever Liogoo was, for giving their lives to save her and the rest of Berk. To Avrid because she had heard everything Loki spilled. She'd heard his insinuations and jibes and felt Avrid catching and then covering her seconds before the castle came down around him. Held her the entire way back to Berk.

Avrid had abandoned her but he had come back. He had come back and fulfilled that promise.

In the air, Sunnil squealed in delight and lifted his hands to the clouds as they passed through them.

Avrid grinned and she felt it against the back of her head so she smiled too. Because despite all she hadn't done, Astrid could feel something coming. Something far more exciting and full, something that smelled like the man behind her and sounded like the beat of Toothless' wings. Something as grand and vast as the pink sky around them.

Something was coming, and Astrid couldn't wait to have it all.

…o0o…