Astrid was rather unorthodox when it came to femininity. She was clearly fetching; but her capacity for 'girliness' was surprisingly low.

But that didn't mean Astrid didn't care for Ruffnut like any girl who'd become close pals with a fellow female her age.

At the latter of eighteen, they'd known each other nearly their entire lives; so they were undoubtedly chummy, as one might suspect. But Astrid recognized her as the one and only girl on the island who could keep her secrets, and vice versa.

She'd known about Ruffnut's infatuation with Splint for as long as Ruffnut had known herself. She'd known the details about their split, and had noticed how reserved Ruffnut had been since then.

But when everything had just begun to fall back into normalcy, and Splint was mentioned less and less, Astrid found she worried over it less and less.

So, to say the least, it surprised her when Ruffnut got up in a steamy aggravation from their table, and showed no signs of wishing to be consoled.

But Astrid's feminine intuition told her 'be the shoulder she cries on.' Leaving just as abruptly, she wrenched her hand from Hiccup's grasp and followed after the pensive blonde ahead of her.

The only two people left at the table were Fishlegs and Hiccup; Tuffnut had been monitoring his twin's brooding since this morning, and didn't want to be around when she finally burst.

Astrid caught up with Ruffnut as her escape route was blocked by a group of raucous Vikings brandishing recently topped off ale mugs. She shoved her shoulder against the nearby wall aggressively, crossing her arms as she willed them to separate by the look of loathing written across her face.

Assuming the men weren't too intoxicated to distinguish a grin from a glower…

Astrid cleared her throat to gain her attention, but Ruffnut was too obstinate to give her any acknowledgement.

"Alright, what's the problem, here, Ruffnut?" Astrid said; if she wasn't going to say on her own, Astrid would interrogate her.

Ruffnut averted her eyes from the rowdy human wall to her friend, a silky sweet smile spreading on her face.

"I don't have a problem! Do you have one you wanna talk about?" she answered through a gritted grin.

Astrid sighed.

"What did I do wrong this time?" she said, irritation finding its way into her intentionally soothing tone.

"Oh, you haven't done anything wrong, Astrid, darling. But that's just it, isn't it? You haven't done anything." She retorted, sarcasm dripping in her words.

Astrid was struck with the temptation to give her a good verbal lashing for her superfluous hostility, but as the words built up, making her face go red, she exhaled and closed her eyes.

"What is it you want me to do?" she asked slowly.

Ruffnut turned her head, not able to look at her friend. Not even she knew the answer to the question. She was beginning to speculate why she wanted to push her only confidant away, but then she closed her eyes and her mind was flooded with painful images of Splint, smiling, condescending, arrogant, beautiful Splint, and she was reminded; she didn't have to think about him if she was angry. It was petty, and would only temporarily solve anything, irrevocably breaking more than it had the potential to fix.

But when one finds themselves with no means to mend a broken heart, they can only think for the moment, because the future is too depressing; too unclear.

She swiveled on her heel, viciously, and peered down at Astrid, who'd remained very petite to her dismay, while Ruffnut had grown nearly a foot in three years.

"I don't want you to do anything! I don't want anything to do with you in the first place." She said matter-of-factly.

Astrid looked up at her through her long eye-lashes, not yet pushed to her limit.

"This seems really sudden, Ruff. I don't believe a word of any of it." She said, crossing her arms.

Ruffnut pouted.

"Well, I'll tell you this, then. Has it escaped your notice that I basically am never around anymore?"

"Were you trying to make someone notice it? Or were you hoping I wouldn't?"

"No, what I'm trying to say is, you're way too busy for me! You never give me any real relief from the fact that the only guy who'll ever give a damn about me isn't worth a damn himself; and when you do, you always give me that brainless little 'it's alright, I'm going to make it better' look. Well, it doesn't work!"

Astrid pursed her lips, still unimpressed with her insults.

"So, I don't even get credit for trying to make you feel better? Which is impossible anyway since your self-esteem is so low…" she countered nonchalantly.

Ruffnut jerked her head away. This argument was getting her nowhere. But she had one last card to play; telling Astrid she didn't care was something neither of them believed; but convincing her she was a lousy job at something always floored her. Then throw some salt in an old wound; and you have an addled Astrid.

"Look at you. And you're trying to convince me you care? You came over here trying to comfort me? Well, I gotta say, you're doing a wonderful job, Astrid."

She tensed; Ruffnut had hit a nerve after all.

"Implying that you are making this any easier! I came over here to ask you what was wrong and you spit in my face!"

"I was kind of peeved when I left the table; or did you forget about that? I'm beginning to question if you are even worth talking to about anything anymore. The moment you came over here, you just put me in a worse mood. You know, I don't think you really even care what I feel like in the first place, Astrid. You're so wrapped up in your flawless little world, wanting to make it look like you're some fantastic friend just to make yourself feel like some better person. I'm not buying it!"

Astrid bristled even more. But Ruffnut wasn't even finding sense in her own words, anymore.

"You can't do that. You can't make me feel like a horrible person just because you don't want to be happy. Odin forbid you should face some sort of disappointment after you go after someone notorious for messing around. It's no wonder you can't tell someone who cares about you from someone who could care less who you are."

Ruffnut hadn't expected her to fire back with the truth.

And the only thing big enough to cut through it all was the truth. Everyone knew it; Ruffnut knew it.

But she didn't want to believe.

Splint had 'I told you so' written all over him.

But she'd grown so accustomed to him, and his ways… maybe Astrid was right.

The notion that Astrid's words rang true scared Ruffnut; and she'd do anything to assure herself that that wasn't true.

Splint did care about her; he had to.

Any other morning, Ruffnut would've woken up and gone to her usual meeting place behind the now vacant training arena, but she'd been apprehensive to go since Splint's remarks from yesterday.

With Brimstone perched perilously on his left shoulder, as usual, his eyes glistening, he's assured her that he wasn't seeing absolutely anyone else.

"Who cares about her? Not me!" he'd said, reaching out to insure that she uncrossed her arms and loosened her tense muscles.

"You can't help but hear people… And I may not be what you want all the time." Ruffnut heard herself say. Why had she said that?

It's what he'd wanted to hear.

'Apologies' and 'excuses' like that one had become automatic; second-nature and instantaneous with the slightest indication that his mood had changed. She was so accustomed to supplying them that she barely had time to think about it. It made her nervous, sometimes.

But not as uncomfortable as she was when she thought she'd disappointed him somehow.

"Ruff, you don't have to worry about that… the moment I feel like I'm tired of you, you won't have to guess." He said with a half-hearted chuckle.

Laugh, she thought ruefully.

But his 'reassurance' had unnerved her. Had that worked on her before? She really couldn't remember. Her thoughts were being interrupted by his fingers guiding her chin towards his until their lips touched.

She bit his bottom lip and he laughed.

"What was that for, sweetheart?"

"I wasn't done talking to you."

He appraised her with indignation and surreptitious disdain behind his bemused gaze.

"Why don't you cool off and come back when you're ready to stop being so defensive. I don't have the time." He said.

Ruffnut felt her eyebrows come together on her forehead and she backed out of his embrace.

"What do you have time for, Splint?" she asked icily, but was already walking away from him when he opened his mouth to speak.

"What don't you get about it? I don't want to be around you." She supplied shoving his out-stretched hands away.

She nearly doubted herself; those beautiful, smooth, and oh so gentle hands shouldn't be treated that way.

But then again, she shouldn't be treated by those hands when she didn't have to be.

Splint turned her around abruptly as he reached for her again, his jaw set into a dangerous line she'd seen only once before; and it'd scared her in submission.

But she was gonna have to be damned if he tried to touch her again without her permission.

As she jerked out of his grasp, his face settled back into its typical seductive sweetness, trying to lure her back to him. But she couldn't understand why… it's not like he truly cared; or so she was sure a moment ago.

"Sweetheart…"

"I'm not your sweetheart; or anyone else's for that matter. How else can I say this to you?" she blurted, turning her face away from that slinky smile.

"I'm finished." She said, ere she ran from him and didn't look back.

The sky seemed the brightest it had since that fateful day she first met Splint behind the training arena; when she'd been happy to have his attention. And now, she was discovering how wonderful the bliss was when she'd shaken that dependency.

Now she was her own woman; she didn't belong to anyone or anything in the whole wide world.

As she walked through the village with a confident smile on her face, she felt a surge of pride in herself for finally listening to her better judgment and leaving Splint behind.

And yet, no matter how independent she felt now, she felt she wouldn't know what to do with it for very long.

Splint still had a hold on her mind if not her heart; he'd gradually convinced the beautiful young woman that he was the only thing she needed, and in doing so she'd forgotten about everything else and only lived for fulfilling what he wanted to in turn fulfill her own need.

So backwards had he left her, so shallow was her esteem that she would have to regain it all in reverse until she met back with the fork in the road where she'd chosen Splint and not something, anything else.

Okay, so it's been months since I touched this, but FYI, I did write this a long time ago and am now show-casing it. The prose is jumbled, the flashbacks are many and confusing, but hey; it be an update, peoples. So, from the deepest part of my heart, I apologize to those who have kept up with it until this point, you're probably wondering what hemisphere of the Earth I managed to fall over…