Ch: 8 Beautiful Disaster

I don't own HTTYD or it's characters. But my OOC are mine to do as I please.

"Where'd Astrid go?" Hiccup asked everyone else still present.

Ruffnutt and Gobber looked around but obviously they don't find her either. "She was jus der."

When did she leave?

Ruffnutt however seemed to have an idea as to where she went. "Oh boy. She must have gone back to the village."

"And then what? She wouldn't tell them about this would she?"

The four of us look at each other thinking of what she would do if she reached to village with the knowledge that someone was caring for a dragon right under their noses.

"Ok, now were really dead!"

Astrid was running thru the woods as fast as she could. She had to get to the village. Everyone had to be told. For whatever reason Hiccup has betrayed them. He's been helping and working with the dragons.

If I get back to the village I can warn everyone that we have a dragon hiding close by. That knowledge pushes me run faster.

But what would they do to Hiccup? If I give them the whole truth Hiccup will immediately be banished, maybe even executed. If that happens I would be named next to kill the Monsterous Nightmare as the champion of the Dragon Training.

And Hiccup would be gone.

I would have betrayed the trust he just barely gave me. But he betrayed us first.

He already chose to side with the dragons, if he really did leave then the next time we'd meet we would be enemies. I would have to fight him. That is my duty as a Shield Maiden of Berk.

I have to focus on my enemy. Astrid right now who is your enemy?

What was it my parents always told me about my enemy? My father taught me who I needed to fight when I got my ax. This I do remember.

I remember my father inspecting my new weapon. When he judges it to be good he handed it to me along with the lesson I need to grow into a warrior. "Astrid. You have now received your first real weapon. It is your first step to becoming a Shield Maiden of Berk given a few years and harsh training. That means that when the day comes you will protect both this village and the people who live here from all of its enemy's."

Holding the ax my father handed back to me I asked him "Who are my enemy's?"

With a cold stare and warm smile he tells me.

Running thru the forest Astrid says it out loud.

"My enemies are the ones who attack my village and who betray it!"

Hiccup, are you really my enemy?

Ruffnutt already knew what to do after finding out that Astrid had left.

"Hiccup, Gobber let's get her!"

"Why?" Was Hiccup answer.

"You idiot she's gonna tattle on you! Are you really just gonna let her!?"

"Ruffnutt I was just leaving. By the time she gets back here with the village in full mob mode. I'll be long gone. Soooo, why should I go after her?" Hiccup tells me both his plan and his reason all rolled into his classic Hiccup sarcasm. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

But I also know that underneath his desire to runaway he also, very deep down and buried, wants to run after Astrid. Even just one last time.

Roughly grabbing him by the leather of his vest I give him his reason to chase before run. "Hiccup, Viking or not you absolutely can't leave"

I see his face grows with the same rage he used against Astrid moments ago, so I finish.

"Without saying goodbye."

His anger drops and he looks at me confused while trying to figure out what I meant.

For a smart guy this is just not catching on him.

Gobber finally helps me out.

"Hiccup if you are going to leave then you must face your father. The same as you did with Astrid you must do with Stoick. The last look he must have of his boy must be of who he really is. Good or bad he must really see you, force him to look at you the same way you made Astrid and us see who you are. To see that Hiccup the Useless is dead and that now there is only YOU."

Where's Gobber's accent?!

And that's not what I meant. But close enough for now. He also has to do that, but what I meant was that if Hiccup is really leaving Berk then he literally has to say goodbye to Astrid.

It may have been ages ago, but one thing Astrid said was true. Her and Hiccup have a bond. They were best friends once. Even if they forgot it, it doesn't mean what they were together once upon a time never happened. They need closure, both of them. Otherwise it'll slowly destroy them both from the inside.

Hiccup seems to at least understand what Gobber told him. "Let's go."

So the three of us head out of the cove and run as fast as we can to the village.

"Hiccup you know we still have some questions for you before you do whatever it is you're going to do, right."

"Ay." The accent's back? Whats up with Gobber today? "Hiccup ya shud know something if ya da leave. Jus some final advice ferm yer first mastar."

"Yeah sure shoot."

"Me first Gobber! Hiccup how did you do any of this? Was it magic, secret hidden skill or trick, or was it just one time luck?"

"I already told you guys what happened."

"Hiccup en detail dis time."

"Fine but it really boring. You sure?"

We both nod as we kept running to find Astrid and get to Berk before her.

Running I tell Gobber and Ruffnutt who wanted to hear my story again so I told them about it. How Toothless was the Night Fury I actually caught during the last raid and how I went to look for him and that when I found him he was tangled, defenseless, and scared.

I told them how in the end I couldn't kill him so instead I cut him free.

"An he dint kill ya?" Gobber asked completely confused about that part.

"Yeah I was confused at first. But then I just kept coming back to the cove. I'd bring him fish, we'd go for a ride or play in the cove or just sit around and listen to whatever me or the sounds of the forest had to say. Eventually it just became natural to me to be there as long as I could. I kinda figured that the village wouldn't bother looking for me. Which is why I'm really supprised that you three got here. Seriously what up with that?"

"Astrid sid it bast, were worried bout ya. Ya haven't been all a ya lately. Odars may lik da new super Hiccup but som have been worried ya git in ova ya head. Ya change has been too dramatic. Too strange even fer ya."

"Honestly everything I did in was just stuff I did to play with Toothless. You know I wasn't completely joking when I said that Toothless was like my big strange cat cause that basically how he acts sometimes. But it's probably best you don't tell him I said that, he takes being called anything other than a dragon personally."

"An ya real reason fer leven?" Gobber asked.

"It's not right. Nothing we know is right. About dragons, about the raids, none of it."

"What do you mean?" Ruffnutt asks.

"First of all they all don't go for the kill. I wouldn't still be here if they did. Secondly I think the fact that Toothless never stole anything in the raids was always weird. I'm not sure what it means yet but I'm sure I'll figure out what the deal with it was if I really study dragon habits and lifestyles, and not just how to kill them."

"Your going to study them?"

"Yeah it's the only way I'll be able to stop it all. I have to find their reasons and really understand them. It's not just about weak or strong , right or wrong, them or us. It about stopping the killing, on both sides. Knowing how Toothless and some of the other dragons I've met behave, I'm sure that it's all just a misunderstanding. And if we can clear it up then we can end it all."

"Ya sure it lik ya think?"

"I don't know. But if I don't try then nothing will change."

"What other dragons?" Ruffnutt asked.

"Mostly it's just some Terrible Terrors I found here and there. There's also the dragons in the kill ring." Yeah I almost forgot about them. If I'm really am saying goodbye to Berk then I should give them a parting gift. Like freedom.

Me and Tooth could probably?! Oh I am so stupid.

I stop running and Ruffnutt and Gobber stop to see what's wrong.

"What up Hiccup?"

"We left Toothless back in the cove."

"Yeah? And?"

"And I was thinking it would have been easier to fly and grab her then chase her thru the forest hoping that we could beat The Prefect Viking in a foot race."

Back in the cove Toothless laid down and watched the entrance after the other went after the blond female called Astrid.

I wonder if Hiccup forgot, I can't follow them out of this cove without him flying me out of here. I can't fit thru the entrance after all.