Dark Despair (Book 2: Together Forever)

Forgiveness

Astrid's POV

It had been two days since I had last seen Hiccup. I left him that first day with his mom. Lagoon could give him something no one else could, not even Valka. She could give him a mother's love that only a mother who has known their child their whole life could give.

Valka was a great mother and she and Hiccup had gotten along well. She still blamed herself for Hiccup leaving when he was five.

I came across Lagoon just sitting and staring into a lake, her tail twitching. 

"Have you seen Hiccup recently?" I asked her.

"He's in that cave." She pointed to a cave high up on the stack, that was just big enough for a normal-sized viking, with her nose.

"How in Thor's name did he get up there?"

Heather walked up, "He climbed."

"He used to do it all the time when he was growing up." Lagoon added.

"Well, I'm going after him." They both looked at me, then looked at each other and shrugged.

"Knock yourself out," Heather said.

I started the long climb up the stack. Stormfly was constantly fretting that I would fall, which was highly likely.

After what was at least twenty minutes of climbing I reached the ledge. "How did he do this when he was six?" I mumbled.

"Well, I would've thought that was obvious. I climbed down, not up." A voice, which I recognized to be Hiccup, called out. And when I looked up I saw that the top much closer than the ground was. I mentally slapped myself.

"So, what are you doing all the way up here?" No reply. I walked farther into the cave and finally found him, "Hey, Hiccup. It's not your fault. It's going to be okay."

"No, it won't. Can't you see, that if I hadn't gone to Berk then Toothless wouldn't have chased after me and gotten captured? Can't you see that Toothless is likely dead? Can't you see that I might never see my best friend again? Can't you see?"

"Hiccup I overheard you, mom, talking to your siblings, she said, 'it's not his fault. He needed to go see her again. He behaved just like any of you would behave if Toothless kept you from your mate. It's the same for Hiccup'. She knows what you're going through Hiccup. We all do. We know how much this hurts. We know that you feel responsible. We do. But, you need to get off of your butt and do something to fix the problem. You can sit here and cry over your brother's death. Or you can help us save all of the other dragons and avenge Toothless while we're at it. What do you say? Will you help us?" I offered him my hand. 

He said, "No." And turned away.

Mist's POV

I felt awful. I abandoned Eclipse. She needed me and now... 

Ugh! It's all so messed up.

Wait... Did she really want me to leave or does she want me with her? Oh, who am I kidding? Of course, she doesn't want me near her. But... I should apologize.

I started to walk back into her cave. 

"Eclipse? I'm sorry."

She looked at me and I saw the tears streaming from her eyes. I saw that she had been crying harder.

"What did you say?" Clearly she was trying to make herself sound angry, but it wasn't working.

"I said, I'm sorry. I'm sorry for leaving you. I wanted to make you feel better... but, clearly, I needed to be here instead."

She looked at me with tears in her eyes and started to smile softly.

I pulled her into a hug with my wings. I felt a warm feeling growing inside me. A feeling I couldn't quite place.

Eclipse whispered to me, "Of course, I forgive you. Just don't leave me again. Ever."

"I won't, I promise."

I wondered if she was feeling the same thing I was.

Hiccup's POV

I couldn't help them. Not at all. There was a feeling deep inside me that told me Toothless wasn't dead. At least, not yet.

No, for my plan to work I needed to be alone.

Somehow I knew that this wasn't a feeling of hope or hopelessness it was a feeling of instinct. I knew that if I told anyone else about my feeling they'd at best call me crazy at worst... I couldn't go there.

No, I knew it wasn't my fault. I remembered everything clearly. I knew that I might've killed someone if I hadn't visited Astrid. That would've haunted me for the rest of my days and it would've followed me to Valhalla. 

I was going to rescue Toothless. I would succeed. I would find him and destroy the armada that had torn us apart. 

Astrid was staring at me. I could feel it.

"Why not?" I didn't answer. I couldn't bear to lie to her. But, going by myself was the only option.

She sighed and sat down leaning against the wall. 

A few minutes later she was sound asleep.

I whispered, "I'm sorry, Astrid." And jumped out of the cave quickly turning into a Night Fury. I left a note behind in her hand as I flew towards my brother.

Heather's POV

I woke up to the sound of Astrid swearing and pacing. "Son of a half-troll, rat-eating, munge-bucket," were just a few of the things she said. She was hopping mad.

"Astrid."

"Don't even try." Lagoon said. This was my first time noticing that everyone else was here.

"That Muttonhead. If he doesn't get back here right now I swear I'm going to..." Astrid shouted.

I ignored Lagoon's warning, "Astrid, what's wrong?"

She turned around and stopped. Suddenly, realizing that she had an audience. She stared and started turning red and all of a sudden got mad again.

"That Muttonhead decided that he had to go solo and get captured."

"What?" She thrust a piece of paper at me and continued yelling. 

"What does it say?" Lagoon asked.

"It says, Astrid if you are reading this. It is too late to stop me. I know you'll think I'm crazy. Which is why I didn't say anything. I know Toothless is still alive. I know what you're thinking, 'great he's still in shock'. But, I know. It's an instinct. Just like when I rescued you in the ring or I had to leave to save my family or I came back to you. 

"I know, I know. This is such a stupid, Muttonhead, Hiccup thing to do. But, it's the only way to save him. I left for the Fury Killer's base. I'm going to pretend to be a loyal dragon killer. I'll find Toothless and set him free. Then fly away with him. If plan A doesn't work then I'll be taken, prisoner and escape that way. Don't come after me. It'll only result in your death and mine too and likely Toothless's as well. I love you with all of my heart and I promise that I'll always, always find you again.

"Sincerely, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third.

"Ps. I'm sorry, for everything. Especially last night."

We all stood there in shock. He'd done it again. Risked his life for all of ours.

It took us all a minute to realize that Astrid had stopped pacing and was now crouched on the ground crying. Lagoon immediately went to comfort her, wrapping her wings around Astrid, letting her cry for as long as she needed.