That is who you are

Chapter 12

"Astrid, wake up!" I screamed, shaking her to force her to open her eyes.

She woke up, confused, and rubbed her eyes before the sound of the horns registered.

"Oh no..." she whispered.

She got up quickly and threw herself into my arms. We held each other tightly. I pushed her away gently and caressed her cheek with my thumb. I smiled bitterly to her. She held back a tear.

"We have to do it..."

"No, no! I don't want us to be apart! Not again..." she cried while holding me really tight.

I rubbed her back to reassure her as best as I could, when my mom came in suddenly.

"Hiccup..." my mom began, but she faltered.

"Astrid, Astrid... Calm down," I begged her. "Everything is gonna be okay..."

My words didn't seem to comfort her much, and with regrets, I left her in my mom's arms. I kissed her on the cheek.

"I love you, Astrid."

"Me too, Hiccup," she said sadly.

I addressed a grateful smile to my mother and got out of the house, taking Inferno with me. Toothless was not far behind. I had never seen the village so prepared; every person found their place and knew what they had to do. I ran to Heather's hut and once there, I found her at Fishlegs' side.

"Oh Hiccup, finally!" she exclaimed.

"We were waiting for you," Fishlegs added.

"Sorry, I was with Astrid and—"

"It's okay," Heather said while putting her hand on my shoulder, understanding.

Snotlout and the twins joined us not too long after, coming from next door.

"So, how's the situation?" I asked.

"Eret is leading the ships with his men, there are already a lot of casualties... and Drago's army is almost at the village's doors... Gobber and Erik are trying to slow them down as long as they can, but Drago will be here soon."

"Thank you Fishlegs; we'll be ready in time."

"Okay, so I'm going back now!"

Heather walked close to him and kissed him passionately— then Fishlegs climbed on Meatlug with clumsiness. He was a bit shook, poor guy.

"Follow me!" Heather ordered.

We moved towards the village square, very closely followed by our respective dragons. Hundred of vikings, men and women, were waiting for us.

"Your army," she declared with a smirk.

"Heather, I—"

"Come on chief, go on now..."

I was afraid. Afraid of taking the floor, afraid for all these people who were ready to give their lives for Berk and were counting on me, afraid of taking my responsibilities. Then, I thought about Astrid; she would have wanted me to be strong and to take it. So I did it:

"Northern peoples, vikings, men and women, the fight we're going to lead will be difficult, there will be blood, there will be tears but don't forget the reason of this fight and remind yourself of Drago Bludvist's acts... Don't forget who you fight for and above all, don't forget what we fight for! We fight for peace! For giving a better place to our children! So fight for peace! Fight for Berk!"

I had grown in strength over my speech and I had yelled my last sentences. I never thought I'd be able to be so confident. The crowd answered me with war cries and swinging of weapons. Heather, Snotlout and the twins started it too, they motivated the troops even more. And they all cried my name... It was a strange feeling.