Open Borders

Awe And Wonder

Hiccup's P.O.V.

I found myself crouching down to pear between the legs of the first row of Vikings. Several dragons landed; a Nightmare, a Nadder, Zipplebacks, two Gronkles and what seemed to be two Night Furies though one of them was far from night. The man who hopped off of the Night Fury- off of Toothless- was tall, had broad shoulders, and a short beard. I could hardly believe this man, this Viking, was me. How could this possibly be my future? It didn't seem real that my life could turn out so wonderfully; friends, dragons and Vikings living in peace. But it wasn't just that my future was looking bright, I was enamored by this man, by myself. I wanted to know everything about him, I wanted to spend time with him and learn everything he knew. But of course, Snotlout was right, he wouldn't want anything to do with me; and somehow that thought hurt more than the idea of being rejected by Astrid.

"Hiccup?" my father asked in awe.

"Dad." he answered. His voice was much like mine but deeper, though still gentle and soft. I liked how it sounded. It was comforting in a way.

Older Hiccup's P.O.V.

 The air seemed tense as he stared at me for longer than was surely necessary, but I did my best not to fidget under his gaze and to keep a cool expression. Easier said than done. I wasn't really sure how to approach this, approach him. Thankfully, I didn't have to figure it out; with a hardy laugh, he walked forward and hugged me, actually hugged me! Not that my father had never hugged me before, but that only really came after the Red Death. Was I really that much of a surprise? I decided just to roll with it and laughed along with him, hugging him back.

"Well, I'll be a Nadder's uncle!" he shouted. "My son leading a team on dragon back, as if this isn't a big enough surprise!"

"Well..." I countered,

I turned to face my family and signaled everyone to remove their flight masks. To say everyone was surprised would be an understatement. 

"Boyo?" my uncle Spitelout gasped. I take back my previous reservations, this was fun. 

"Oh, hey dad. Uh, What's up?" Snot asked awkwardly from atop Hookfang's saddle.

There was a pause; I'm pretty sure I saw the twin's parents attempt to walk away unseen. Can't say that I blame them, I've seen firsthand that the Thorstons and Zipplebacks don't always mix. I'm sure they'd see it too before we left. 

"Oh, Hiccup me boy," Gobber said walking up to put his arm around my neck, "You must be quite the lady's man now, eh? Just between you and me, I'm pretty sure Bertha's single."

"Whoa!" this conversation was getting out of hand. "Sorry Gobber, but you're gonna have to tell Bertha I'm sorry. I'm taken."

"What's this?" it should probably have annoyed me that he was so surprised but looking back I'm glad it didn't.

"That's right, Gobber." Astrid said walking up to take my hand. "Old Bertha's gonna have to fight me for him."

Hiccup's P.O.V.

I could hardly believe it. A tall blonde woman walked up to him, grabbing his fingers with her own. I only knew one person with hair that blonde and eyes that blue. Astrid, my wife. Everything in my future look better than I could ever imagine it and now I get the girl too?! I was suddenly grateful that I wasn't up front as I kept staring, mouth hanging wide open. How was it possible that she got more beautiful with age? Because she was drop- dead gorgeous. She also had this air of maturity and experience about her that her younger self didn't have, not to mention she was taller as well now. 

I was brought out of my thoughts when dad started laughing again, and I didn't want to miss a word of the conversation. 

"So, is this it then?" Dad asked, "Or has Thor himself made a bargain with you?"

"No that's it." Astrid answered. "Unless of course, you'd like to meet your grandchildren?"

Looking back, I'm pretty sure I stopped breathing. Kids. I had kids. I was with Toothless, I had real friends, I got the girl of my dreams and now I had children?! If there were many more surprises, I may just have had a heart attack. I wasn't sure I could take anymore. 

I saw my older self beckon two children that I hadn't noticed before. I suppose I was just so caught up with myself that I didn't really see anyone else. There was a girl of about eight or nine years sliding down off the Nadder, and she was absolutely beautiful. She had long auburn hair done up in a very Viking like fashion and owned bright blue eyes. Astrid's eyes. And hopping off of Toothless, was a small boy with a messy blonde mop atop his head and stunning green eyes. My eyes. It was funny really; I hadn't even met these kids, but I was absolutely sure there were no cuter creatures on the planet. Had I really helped make these? I wasn't sure why, but for some reason I was grinning like an idiot.

"Dad," I heard myself say, "This is Zephyr and Nuffink."

"Hello, sir." the girl, Zephyr said shyly whilst the boy, Nuffink, hid behind her back in a nervous manner.  

Dad bent down and seemed to examine them before giggling. My father, the chief, actually giggled. Like a little girl. He then picked them both up, sweeping them into his arms, much to the children's astonishment. 

"Everyone to the Great Hall!" He yelled. "As if we haven't already been given every reason to celebrate!"

Astrid's P.O.V.

Everyone was in the Great Hall partying and drinking mead; everyone except me. When I heard myself walk up and take the older Hiccup's hand, and claim to be his wife, I was angry. I'll be honest, I wasn't really sure why, but I was. Somehow, I'd been fooled into thinking I loved the village nobody, the weak link. Not that Snotlout would have been any better, but really! Though I had to admit, his older self was quite handsome. Maybe he wouldn't be the weak link forever?

It didn't matter, eventually I would work up the nerve and ask my older self what the crap was going on. She was very pretty, and I was courious about how much better she had gotten with an axe. But that wasn't what was on my mind at that moment. It was the two children, my children. When I saw them, I was more in a state of awe than anger. Now I found myself eyeing them every few minutes from across the room. Something was different about me, that's for sure. My mom had once told me that when she found out she was pregnant with me it was like lighting a match, she was instantly in love with me. Is that what I was feeling? Was I already attached to these kids?

As I watched them from across the way, I could see them playing on the floor, wrestling while they laughed. I tried to shake this feeling, to force myself to ignore these brats. So why was I smiling? Why did I want to be over there with them? I looked over to my future self and found all my friends talking, trying to find how to best approach our time traveling guests. I would join them in a bit, if only to take my mind off of everything. 

Whatever this feeling was for the kids, there was also a new feeling there, for Hiccup.