It had been a week since the whole heartbreaking trophies incident, and Astrid had not spoken to Hiccup. Technically, it was his turn to contact her, not the other way around. Astrid refused to wait around for him, so she went on about her life. Taking her online classes, going out for coffee with her mother, and ingesting her medication of Phalanxifor.

Then one night at dinner, her phone rang. Caller ID: Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third. Astrid looked at her phone, tempted to answer, but obeying the 'No phones at dinner' policy.

"Astrid, honey, would you like to be excused?" Her father asked. Astrid looked up in surprise, smiled and answered her phone and went up to her room.

"Astrid Skye," Hiccup said when she answered.

"Hi, how are you?" She asked.

"Feeling triumphant. Listen, remember how I said that I thought it was torture to suffer the uncertainty of the fate of the characters from An Imperial Affliction? And I said there would be consequences?"

"Yes…?"

"Dear Mr. Haddock, I am writing to thank you for your correspondence, via Ms. Freya, my assistant."

"Hiccup, what the hel are you talking about?" Astrid froze to her seat.

"I tracked down his assistant. And I managed to contact Van Houten. 'I appreciate anyone who sets aside the time to read my book. But no, I have not nor do I ever plan to write another book sequel to An Imperial Affliction. I do not feel as if it would benefit me or my readers. Thank you again for your email' And before you ask Astrid Skye, check your email box."

Astrid threw open her laptop and checked her email, sure enough there was a forwarded email address for Ms. Freya there. Astrid began to type away on her laptop. Her email consisted of her admiration for the book for its true ingenuity for understanding cancer patients and her questions of what happens to Abby's mother, Abby's friends, whether her mother marries the dutch tulip man, even what happens to Abby's hamster. She ended with her intentions to read anything else he would write, including his grocery lists.

She read her email out loud to Hiccup as she typed it. "What do you think?" She asked as she prepared to send it.
"It's good, a bit pretentious but genuine. I'm still blown away by the fact that he called me 'Sir' in the email!" Hiccup exclaimed. Astrid laughed at his excitement.

"I agree with Van Houten on some level, we are all side effects." Hiccup stated.

"Barnacles on the ship of consciousness." Astrid quoted. She could almost hear Hiccup smile at her quote.

"Is it really one in the morning?" He asked. Astrid looked at her phone, sure enough, it read 1:02 AM.

"I gotta sleep. You should too, Astrid Skye."

"Okay." She said.

"Okay." He said back. But neither of them hung up.

"Okay." Astrid said again. There was silence on their line, but it wasn't awkward, it was something Astrid couldn't describe.

"Okay… perhaps 'okay' will be our 'always'." He said after the continuing silence.

"Okay." Astrid said, her smile giving itself away in her tone.

Finally, Hiccup was the one who hung up.

It was all Astrid could do to not check her email every 10 minutes to look for a response from Gobber Van Houten. Instead of waiting, she visited Snotlout at the hospital. The surgery went well, and he was showing no evidence of cancer, that was good news, he was now blind which was still unfortunate. Astrid and Snotlout discussed the good qualities of a nurse. 1. Cannot be overly perky 2. Doesn't talk about disabilities in a condescending tone 3. Gets blood on the first try.

After a while, Snotlout's face tightened with anger. "It really sucks, sometimes I just wish the whole cancer thing never happened. And I thought of Heather a lot more than just my eye."

"I'm sorry Snotlout," Astrid said, not knowing of anything else.

"Hiccup stopped by," Snotlout said smiling. "He helped." Then his pain medicine kicked in and he was asleep. Astrid went down to the gift shop and bought a dozen yellow roses. She bought yellow because she read somewhere yellow means friendship. Leaving them on Snotlouts table, she left him to rest.

The next morning, Astrid checked her email and there was a response waiting for her.

Reading the email as fast as her eyes were mobile, she processed two things. 1. I will not answer your questions in writing, only in person. 2. Should you ever find yourself in Amsterdam please stop by. I will let you read my grocery lists.

Astrid lost her breathe, not because of her sucky lungs, but from amazement.

"OH MY GOSH! THIS LIFE!" Astrid yelled. She shouldn't have done that, because as soon as she did, her mother rushed into her room in a panic.

"What's wrong?!" She asked.

"Nothing, nothing." Astrid reassured her. "Look," she said pointing to her screen. "Should you ever find yourself in Amsterdam, please stop by! He invited us there to find out what happens after his book! I have to go!"

Her mother sighed sadly. "Astrid, I want you to go, but... we don't have the money for international travel. The expense of getting equipment over there, honey, it's not-"

"I get it. Don't worry about it. It was silly to consider it." Astrid forced a smile to her mother, who still look concerned. Instead of sitting there looking at her mother's 'I can't make my dying daughter's only wish come true' face, she said she wanted privacy to call Hiccup.

To say hello, she read him the letter from Van Houten.

"Wow, that's incredible." He said.

"Yeah right it would, but I can't get to Amsterdam unless you can make that night fury jump out of your book and fly us there."

"Don't you have a wish from the Genie Foundation?" The Genie Foundation spent their time and money granting wishes to sick children.

"Not anymore, I spent it when I was thirteen." She responded sadly. On the other end, Hiccup's eyes widened at her revealing of age when she spent the wish. The only thing kids wanted at that age...

"You did not go to Disney World." Hiccup breathed apprehensively.

"Hiccup, I was thirteen..." Astrid warned.

"Astrid Skye! How could you use your one dying wish for something so cliche and conventional?!"

"Knock it off Haddock! I said I was an immature, provincial thirteen year old girl!"

"Ok, sorry, but I still can't believe I have a crush on a girl with such standard wishes." Astrid's eyes widened at the word crush, but decided to change the subject.

"Shouldn't you be in school?" She asked.

"I'm playing hooky to be with Snotlout."

"How is he?"

"Still trying to determine if he's not ready to deal with his new disability, or if he's really really upset about Heather dumping him. Not very talkative."

"How long will he be in the hospital?"

"Several more days, then he's got rehab for a couple weeks, but he'll be able to stay at home. Oh, there's his mom I gotta go, okay?" His smile was showing itself in his tone again.

"Okay." Astrid smiled and hung up.

Hey sorry if it's a little slow, but it'll get better real soon! It feels so weird writing about a character named Heather...