Home-Bound: The Beginnings (HTTYD)

2 - He's A Spy

Astrid never liked Hiccup.

Ok, maybe once, but in her defense, he was cuter as a child. Now he was the village screw-up. He may have defeated a bunch of dragons, but who cares. He's still a hiccup! A runt! The thing you point at and tell your kids how not to be like him.

Whatever, she thought bitterly. He'll probably get killed by the Monstrous Nightmare. Then who's gonna be first?

She then took in her surroundings. Tall pine trees, the smell of tree bark. Dimmed sunlight and soft dirt under her feet. The forest. Right.

How did she get here?

Astrid looked up at the sky, noticing that the sun was sinking slowly past the horizon. She turned on her heels and escaped to the chaos of the village.

By the time Astrid got back to the town, the sky was dark and unforgiving.

The first thing she noticed was the small crowd of teenage girls around the Chief's Hut. Hiccup. She made her way toward her house in the center of the village, buying some food for herself on the way.

She then noticed a thin figure sneaking through the village, desperately avoiding any light and any sign of life. The person was getting closer and closer to the Mead Hall, the place with the most people.

A spy. Astrid thought.

She would not let a spy in her home village.

She crept quietly behind the person, banning any sound, even her own heartbeat. The person paused behind a couple of barrels. Astrid made her move, once she was a couple of feet away, she pounced on the stranger and was met with a very puny yelp.

You see, all Hiccup wanted to do was get to the hall... While avoiding as much people as possible.

The craziness could wait until later, during his meal. Now he just wanted a nice, peaceful night walk, free from any teenage fan girls following him.

Unfortunately, his walk was anything but peaceful.

Being stealthy was not the clumsy Hiccup's strong suit. No, he'd much rather use sarcastic remarks to bore his opponents to death. He was very exhausted by the end.

Hiding behind a barrel of mead, he swore to himself that he would never tumble again. All of it paid off though, as he almost made it near the Mead Hall without encountering a single person.

That is, until a person tackled him to the ground and painfully wrestled his arm behind his back.

"Who are you and what are you doing here?" The voice demanded, sounding familiar and feminine.

"A-Astrid?" The boy stuttered, his voice cracking on the first vowel.

Damn my scrawny voice, he thought.

"Hiccup? What the Hel are you doing out here?" She asked, still twisting his arm. "More importantly, why are you sneaking around?"

"I am trying to avoid my crowd of adoring fans," he replied. His voice was muffled by the ground.

Astrid released her grip on his arm, but still eyed him suspiciously. He rolled from his chest to his back, and sat upright across from a very pissed Astrid. Her blue eyes burned holes into him. Those blue eyes were once the feature he fawned over, especially when they were alight with happiness. Now, they only carried scorn and hatred.

"Fans? Huh. Didn't all the villagers hate you until last week?" Astrid smiled at her wonderful insult. Little did she know, it was pretty weak compared to the things Hiccup would hear her say behind his back.

"Oh, yeahhh." He said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "No one cared about me! All you guys ever told me was how un-vikingly I was."

Astrid scoffed. "Seriously? It's called constructive criticism for a reason! We just want you to grow up and stop destroying the village."

Hiccup just rolled his eyes. "Sure. I don't expect you to understand. All your life, everyone just kept telling you how great you were."

The girl opened her mouth to reply, but was cut off when Hiccup stood up and said, "I'm going to leave now."

As he walked away, and up the steps of the Mead Hall, she heard him mutter, "I'll never miss her."

Miss me? Astrid thought. She knew Hiccup had a crush on her, but to miss her?

Shaking her head, she walked to her house and began to absorb the conversation.

Hiccup couldn't help but be angry. Astrid was acting like all those years of torment were for his benefit.

As if.

He stomped over to the large doors of the Great Hall, not caring about being stealthy anymore.

As the doors to the hall swung open, the crowd one by one turned around to see Hiccup. The room soon filled with silence. The quiet noise rung throughout the columns and stone walls of the large room, multiplying the sound tenfold.

Puffing up his chest, he took a tray full of meat and walked over to a vacant table. As soon as he set down the steaming food, Vikings came over and started praising him.

He glanced over to Snotlout and smirked at his furious look. The Viking stood up and stormed out of the hall. Feeling victorious, Hiccup conversed with the other Vikings, not really caring what they were talking about.

"So, boy, how've you been?"

"Great, Hoark, what about you?" He replied with a smile.

The older Viking told a story about how his fish were stolen by a group of Nadders during the latest raid and how he scared them all off with his bare hands.

Tomorrow. He said to himself. Tomorrow, I leave this chaos.

Nodding at a snide comment made by Hoark, he began to plan his escape.

Astrid walked through the doorway to her cozy home.

Her parents were not the richest in the village, but still made enough to sustain a nice home. Enough that Astrid, even as an only child, and a girl at that, would live comfortably for the rest of her life.

Scanning the room, she finally laid her eyes on her mom who was busy preparing dinner in the kitchen. Her mom spun around at the sound of the front door closing.

"Hey, Sweetheart."

"Hi Mom," she said, placing her axe down on the table in front of her.

"Why the long face?" Her mother asked, frowning. She took a plate full of steaming food fresh from the pot and put it down in front of her daughter.

Mouthing a thanks, Astrid dug into her food—which tasted like chicken—and told her mom about what she did that day.

.