Triad

Five: Gone

He slid forward in the mud as he dove forward to catch her, hands hanging helplessly in the air. Screaming as he could watch his childhood friend fall, disappearing into the storm.

Hiccup gasped as he sat up sharply, cold sweat shining his skin as the tears slipped down his cheeks. His body shook, breaths coming in short gasps. It felt like he couldn't breathe, even though he knew he was breathing fine. It felt like he was not inhaling oxygen.

"Hallr." The man turned his head to see the brunette standing there, his eyes were puffy from all the crying and his throat felt tight. "What do you want Hiccup?"

"It's... It's about Kari."

"Seriously? That bitch can't just disappear already? She's always causing trouble for me..." Hiccup hung his head at hearing that, foot kicking the dirt lightly. "Ac-actually... she... jumped... off the cliff."

"Oh? Really?" Hallr asked excitedly, looking down at the runt of the village. He nodded, Hallr smiling widely. "Thank all father! That's the best news I've heard! My prayers have finally been answered, thank you for telling me Hiccup!"

"Hic!" Dagur called out, breaking Hiccup from his thoughts. His fingers tightened in his pants, burying his head in his knees as the berserker made his way toward the berkian. "What's going on with you? Come on, we need to go find buttercup."

"We... we won't be able to." Hiccup spoke up, his voice scratchy and hoarse from his previous crying. Dagur looked down at hearing that, raising an eyebrow. "What do you mean about that?"

"Kari... She... She jumped..."

"Jumped where?" Dagur asked dangerously, hands tightening into the tight fists. Hiccup shook, speaking in a broken voice, "Th-the cliff."

"The... The cliff? The cliff?! How do you know?! Did you see her?!" Dagur yelled, refusing to believe that his buttercup is gone. There was no way that he could lose Kari, he already told his father that he was going to marry Kari! "Y-yes..."

"What happened Hiccup?" Hiccup flinched, knowing that this was going to end badly... He hung his head, more tears slipping down as he explained everything to Dagur. All of Kari's abuse, him betraying her for the attention of the other kids, to the final straw of slapping her to be accepted. But he didn't have time to explain how he learned he couldn't live without Kari, that Kari was more important than anything.

He couldn't explain that because of the berserker lifting him by the collar of his shirt. There was an anger under Dagur's skin that he couldn't explain. He wanted to hurt Hiccup, but he wanted to kill Hallr.

"Hiccup... You're now my enemy." Dagur suddenly spoke, throwing the runt on the ground and watching him slide on the ground. Hiccup didn't move. "I'm going to hurt you for taking Kari away."

"I-I-I didn't-!"

"But you didn't save her." Dagur snapped, storming away. Hiccup could only watch his other childhood friend walk away from him, leaving Hiccup alone with that sinking feeling in his chest. One of his hands grabbed onto his chest, letting the tears run down his face.

— — —

Eyes slowly opened, hearing the birds and early morning animals chirping in their daily routine. Her body was stiff, top of her arms hurting as she sat up; fingers running over the scabs lightly. Pops came from her back, more soreness spreading across her muscles as she looked around the cave was in.

A dying fire was close, sunlight showing from the entrance of the cave. She staggered to her feet; wondering what this afterlife was. Bright light took her off guard, hand raising to shield her face as she closed her eyes.