That Divine Beauty

Chaper 7: Wheres Snotlout?

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Astrid's POV

I woke up and the sun was shinning. I woke up before Hiccup, which is unusual because he has chiefing to do so he's usually up before sunrise.

"Hiccup? Hiccup wake up." I said, shaking him. He groaned and sat up.

"Ugh... What time is it?" He asked in his morning voice.

"Um about 9am." I said. He jumped out of bed and pulled his clothes on quicker than ever.

"I've got to get started chiefing! I'm late!" He said hurriedly. He kissed my cheek and rushed down the stairs and out the door.

Since I had nothing to do today, I decided I would go to the academy. I got there and the whole gang was there, but one.

"Wheres Snotlout?" I asked.

"We don't know." Ruffnut said, shrugging her shoulders. "I went to his house early this morning to see how he was doing after what happened last night and found this note." She said, shoving the note in my hands.

Dear whoever reads this,
    I have decided to leave Berk for a little while. Since no girl on Berk likes me, I will visit other islands trying to find myself a wife. I don't know when I'll be back.
                                   ~Snotlout

I looked at the group and no one said a word. I looked at Ruff and noticed something was bothering her. She had a distant look in her eyes.

"Ruff? Will you come talk to me outside?" I asked. She nodded and followed me outside the arena.

"Whats wrong? And don't tell me 'its nothing' because I know when something is wrong with my best friend." She glanced up at me and opened her mouth, about to speak, but broke into tears instead. I pulled her into a hug and rubbed her back trying to comfort her.

"I don't know what to do...sob... I did like him and now...sob... now he's gone, finding another girl. He said no girl here liked him...sob... but I did." She cried harder and I did my best to comfort her. She broke the hug and looked at me, tears making her eyes look glossy.

"Its okay Ruff. We will send out a search party to bring him back."

"Okay...sob... Thank you Astrid." She walked away wiping the tears away from her eyes. I've got to get this note to Hiccup so he can see what his idiot cousin is up to.

I flew to the forge, looking for Hiccup. I barged in and walked to his little hide away place in the back. He was sitting at his desk, drawing like usual. He didn't notice me at first, but then he turned his head and his eyes met mine.

"Oh, well hello milady." He said with a smile.

"Hi Hiccup. I have this note for you that Ruffnut found." I handed him the note and watched him read it. He set it down and started drawing again.

"So what are we going to do?" I asked. He set his pencil down and turned to me.

"What do you want to do?" He asked in a tone I've never heard from him. He sounded almost annoyed.

"Well I was thinking we could search for him because believe it or not, Ruffnut does like him and shes heart broken Hiccup." I said, trying to make him understand my point.

"Thats a good idea. We will send a small search party for him tomorrow." He said and turned back to his drawing. I walked closer to look at his work. He was drawing a picture of Toothless. Typical. I looked at him and could just tell something was bothering him. His eyes looked unfocused as he worked and he didn't have that little crease on his forehead like he does when he works.

"Whats wrong?" I asked, placing my hand on his shoulder.

"Oh nothing. What makes you think something is wrong?" He asked. I gave him a skeptical look and he gave in. "Ugh, fine. I just... I'm so tired of being chief. I'm still not ready and I'm terrible at it!" He said frustrated.

"You are not terrible at it Hiccup. You may think you're not ready, but you are. You've done great things for the village. Your dad would be so proud. Your mom is and I am too. You're so strong, Hiccup, you never let anything drag you down, so why this?" I placed a hand under his chin and turned his face to look at me. He stood up and paced around the room.

"Astrid, I'm not the man my father was. I'll never be as great as him or as accomplished. He was so brave and fearless and I'm... well I'm nothing like him. I'm the fishbone kid nobody liked..." He was looking really upset. I walked over to him and made him stop pacing.

"Thats what makes you, you. You don't have to be like him to prove you're great or worth something. The village loves you, Hiccup, and they love you for who you are, not because you're Stoick's son. They are proud of you and trust you." I placed my hand over his heart. "Its what in here that makes you so great." I kissed his cheek.

"I guess you're right Astrid."

"Hmp. When am I ever wrong?" We both laughed.

"Well you have a point there." He said, grabbing my hand. "Come on, lets go home. I'm kinda tired from the events of this morning. We can have lunch and then take a nap."

"Sounds perfect." I said and we walked home.

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Author's Note:
So that was kind of a boring chapter, but we will get into the more action packed stuff in a bit.