Chapter 13: Punishment
That night came and Astrid had been sitting in her room for hours. She had been sitting there waiting for Snorre to come pick her up and now he still isn't here. Two thoughts came to her mind and she really hoped that it's her first thought that is the correct one. 'Maybe he decided to not marry me after all. There is that or he is late and if so, I guess it doesn't matter.' Astrid thought knowing that soon she would be leaving and let tears slip down her cheeks. The thought of leaving made her depressed knowing that she will never see her friends again. She tried her best not to think of Hiccup but it was just too hard not to and that made everything that much worse. Soon Astrid had fallen asleep crying not thinking that anyone was watching her. Unknown to Astrid, her mother had come by and watched sadly at Astrid and then walked away seeing her daughter fall asleep.
The next day the wind and rain picked up speed. The speed is so great that branches broke off trees, caused boats at the docks to crash into each other and the sails on the boats to rip and the posts to snap. A few boats even broke free of their anchors and went adrift. In the forest in a hole, Snorre worked hard to untie himself and reach the top of the hole and finally managed to get out. Snorre made it out breathing heavily and shivering. Snorre wanted more then anything to rip those Vikings apart but had more urgent matters to attend to such as getting warm. Snorre made his way out of the forest and found the village below. Quickly he made his way toward the mess hall. However now that he is out of the woods, the wind made it harder for him to move.
Hiccup and his father went inside the mess hall and sat down at the front of the table. Soon Snorre's father and sister came in and sat down near the back and Brynhild sat down on the other side of Hiccup. Astrid and friends came in shortly after. Soon after Astrid came in Gobber and others came in. Stoick had gathered a search party and asked everyone to meet in the mess hall. "Ok Snorre has been missing for some time now. Hiccup, would you like to take over?" Stoick asked.
Hiccup really didn't want to send out a search party but he knew that if he didn't, his father would. "Ok dad." Hiccup said sourly. "We have a missing Viking somewhere out there." Hiccup said and then thought to himself. 'Hope he is somewhere in the ocean, that way he wont be found.' Hiccup thought hopefully. "Assuming he is still on the island, he is probably in the forest. Gobber, you and your search party look to the east of the island but don't go too far. There is a nasty wind today and that goes for everyone else. Dad, take your group to the west of the island and Astrid, why don't you take your group to the forest." Hiccup choked out the second half of his sentence. The last thing he wanted for Astrid to be out in the cold weather again but he couldn't tell her not to go unless. Hiccup thought of a way to keep Astrid from having to go outside. "Astrid I've had a quick change of mind, why don't you let Ruffnut and them go and you stay inside where it's warm. The last thing anyone needs is for you to get sick again. I'm sure that Snorre doesn't want to take you home sick." Hiccup suggested but could have cared less about want Snorre wanted. Just as Hiccup dismissed everyone, the doors slowly opened to the mess hall to reveal Snorre.
Snorre slowly opened the door to the giant room and found everyone there. Then he saw three certain Vikings and then pointed at them. "You three are dead meat for throwing me into that hole." Snorre said as he walked further into the room.
Everyone looked at Tuffnut, Ruffnut, and Fishlegs who turned away from everyone and started whistling. Both Hiccup and Astrid secretly snickered at hearing what they had done to Snorre. Hiccup quickly gathered himself together and caught the attention of the three. "Is this true, did you three really do that?" Hiccup asked as sternly as he could.
Ruffnut nodded and so did the other two. "We did it to keep Astrid from leaving, she clearly doesn't want to go with him and we were just trying to keep her from being with someone that she doesn't like. We were only thinking of Astrid." Ruffnut said defending her and the other two.
"Regardless, you two will stay afterward to let you know what your punishment will be." The three nodded and Snorre just smiled happily. Hiccup then turned to Snorre and his father. "I apologize for what they did and they will be punished for it, they know the rules." It pained Hiccup to do so but he knew that he had to do something.
"Thank you." Snorre said and then bowed and then stood up straight. Then Snorre turned to Astrid. "Seeing how this is such a bad storm, we will leave once it calms. I hope you're ready to leave." Astrid nodded and Snorre smiled. "Good, well I guess I will go rest up and get changed as well." Snorre left followed by his father and many of the others. That left only Astrid, Brynhild, and Ruffnut, Tuffnut, and Fishlegs.
Brynhild leaned over to whisper in Hiccups ear. 'Once they leave, it'll be just you and me.' Hiccup shivered to himself at the thought and then Brynhild left the building.
"Astrid, why don't you and the others come here?" Hiccup waved the group over. "Astrid, I want to talk to you afterward." Astrid nodded and then sat down while Hiccup talked to Ruffnut and the other two. "Listen, I think it very funny what you did and I appreciate it but as much as I would love to let you three go, I can't. You three will clean the mess hall for three meals. Believe me; that will be plenty of punishment for you three. I'll make sure of it. That means for lunch, dinner, and breakfast tomorrow morning. I have my reasons." The three friends looked at each other and then nodded. "Now go on so I may talk to Astrid alone." The three hurriedly left the building.
"Ok Hiccup, though I agree with you about it being funny, I don't think that just cleaning up after meals is a good enough punishment." Astrid folded her arms.
"It will be trust me. Anyway, my leg is able to be walked on now. I'm still surprised that the other bent so easily. Guess it was just getting to old. I mean who knows how old the metal was before." The two continued to talk for a while more before Astrid left the building.
A/N: I hope you enjoyed the chapter and thanks for the reviews. Please continue to review.