The Boy and His Night Fury (On Hold)

Chapter 33

Quote of the Day

"When it hurts- observe. Life is trying to teach you something."
- Anita Krizzan

Astrid's POV

I was, quite frankly, a terrible human being. 

All those words I had said- had they really come out of my mouth? And to Hiccup? The one person I could actually trust without any question at all?

Watching him fly away now, him and Toothless disappearing into the night sky, I feared nothing would be the same between us. 

I wanted to run away. To hide and never come back. 

But I couldn't. I was Astrid Hofferson. I wouldn't give up. I couldn't let my personal feelings get in the way of the plan. It was our only hope.

Gathering myself and stifling the raging sadness eating away at me, I got on Stormfly and took off to see what Fishlegs and Snotlout were doing. 

The smoke of the fire we'd put out earlier was still lingering in the air a bit, but thankfully since it was night, nobody would be able to tell unless they flew right over it.

I saw Fishlegs in a clearing, hiding behind his dragon, Meatlug. 

Hiccup was nowhere to be seen.

When I landed, I heard Fishlegs whimpering. 

"What happened to you?" I asked,

"Something took Snotlout," he said in a shaky voice.

"What?"

"I was coming back with another bucket of water when I saw Snotlout being taken by something. There was a fireball which spooked Hookfang and he took off," Fishlegs said. 

"Where's Heather?"

"She went after him."

"Sounds like Heather," I muttered. "Come on, let's go."

He peeked an eye out from under his hands. "Where?"

"To go find Heather and Snotlout. It's probably some prank the twins played on him. Nobody else knows how to ride dragons," I said.

"But the the twins' dragon is a Zippleback, Astrid. The thing that made Hookfang take off wasn't gas, it was a ball of fire that came out of a dragon's mouth," Fishlegs responded. 

"It was probably another dragon they found," I said, growing a little unsure myself. But what other logical explanation could there be? Hiccup would know in a second.

Hiccup.

"I guess you're right," Fishlegs said, finally getting up and climbing on Meatlug.

Where was Hiccup? Did he leave? No, he wouldn't do that. Would he? No. He wouldn't just abandon his friends. Right?

"Um Astrid? Can we go?" Fishlegs asked.

"Hm?" 

"Are you alright? You've been acting strange," he said.

"Oh, I'm fine. Shouldn't we wait for Hiccup, though?"

"We-"

Fishlegs was interrupted by sounds of screams coming closer. It sounded like a dying chicken was headed our way. 

"There you are, Snotlout," Fishlegs said. "We were worried about you."

"Don't bring me into this, Fishlegs," I muttered. But Snotlout had already let it get to his head, as usual.

"Astrid. You were worried about me?" He asked, pretending to be touched. "I knew we could make it work, babe. It's time to ditch the one legged boy that can ride a dragon, because, let's face it, so can I a million times better, and a dragon that goes up in flames on command is way better than the offspring of lighting and death. What do you say?"

There was a silence that consisted of me thinking of the ways I could throw him in the ocean in the most painful way possible.

"Well, that was something," I heard Hiccup say from behind me.

I turned quickly and saw Hookfang land behind him. 

"I was circling the island when I saw Hookfang flying," Hiccup said. "Are you alright, Snotlout?"

"It was the twins. They took me and threw a ball of fire from a catapult they put fake wings and scales their dragon shed on," Snotlout grumbled.

I was relieved that was all it had been.  

"How much progress have you been making? And where's Heather?" Hiccup asked. 

"The twins are actually making good progress," Fishlegs said. "If we use the catapult-dragon thing they made, we could make it look like we're more armed than we actually are. And Heather is still out looking for Snotlout. She'll come back soon enough."

"OK, great job, guys. But we have to work faster. At the speed that armada is going, we're definitely going to be attacked by morning. Maybe even sooner if the wind favors them," Hiccup said. "And let me know when you get an update on Heather."

He was talking so ... normally. 

"Yeah, yeah, we will. What's the plan now?" Snotlout asked. 

"It hasn't changed. You're going to continue doing your tasks. Astrid is going to prepare the weapons until Heather gets back and you and Snotlout will still make it look like we're not here," he said. "And keep an eye out for the twins."

After discussing where on The Edge everyone would be, they climbed on their dragons left.

I got on Stormfly, but stayed. I wanted to talk to Hiccup.

"Hiccup," I said, just as he was about to fly away. 

"Yes?" he asked, not looking at me and pretending to be distracted by something on Toothless' saddle.

"Are you mad at me?" I asked softly. 

"What do you think, Astrid?" he asked in a hollow tone.

"I really didn't mean to say those things."

"But you did," he said, turning to me. His eyes were filled with something I couldn't quite put my finger on. "I didn't expect you, of all people, to say that to me."

He nudged Toothless who softly warbled and then flew away. 

Standing in the cold night air, I realized what Hiccup's eyes had been filled with. It wasn't disappointment, or pain, or even anger. They weren't filled at all. There hadn't been any emotion, and that scared me. 

Hiccup was trying to seem alright. He had to so that we would win. 

But I'd really messed things up and now there was only one battle that could be won.

The world's or ours. 

I don't have much to say, so I'm going to keep this note pretty small. 

I have not died yet and I'll be more consistent with updates. I'm really sorry it's been so long. I was kind of loosing motivation to write, so I just didn't. I was considering discontinuing this book, but I have a lot of things I still want to do with the characters, so I decided against it. 

Anyway, if you liked the chapter, let me know. If you have suggestions that you think could improve it, also let me know. I'd love to hear your feedback!

Have a great rest of your day <3