#preg!astrid

[raflovestuffs]

That is who you are: Chapter 12

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“We're no longer safe here” ~ “We have to fight for their freedom”

Okay guys, here we go, here’s my theory for HTTYD3 end I made 3 years ago... 

Now the trailer came, I’ve seen a LOT OF SIMILARITIES with this fic so that’s why I want to share this chapter with you now. So please Guys, read it even if you don’t read the rest of my story. This chapter is really important to me and I want to know your opinion on it.

This will be my birthday gift to Mr. Dean DeBlois because this man inspires me so much...

I want to thanks my bestfriend because you’ll see his art in this chapter and also because this fiction is dedicated to him because like Toothless for Hiccup, he’s my bestfriend. I also want to thank all the HTTYD fanartists who illustrated this fiction @leffie-draws-fanart, @winxrus and also @raidesart ;) Thank you a lot guys! I also want to thanks all the people who helped me corrected it @wolfie-dragon-rider, @JoyOfBerK and @chiefhiccstrid who always supported me in this fic as well as @poppys-fanworld. A big thank you to my french friend @megtoons who helped me translate it! <3 And above all, a big thank you to my previous translators and to my dear translator @whosthatgal! Thank you so much girl <3

Now, enjoy it.

“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.

Once this fuss ended, everyone took their positions, and I found myself at the helm of a whole army with Heather as my right-hand.

“Form ranks and get ready!” I ordered.

I turned and found myself facing Heather who was looking at me with a shifty look.

“What is it?” I asked.

“Seems like you’re enjoying it.”

“Enjoying what?”

“Leading armies, of course!” she exclaimed like it was obvious. “That’s not my thing Heather…”

“Oh come on Hiccup, admit that’s exciting!”

“I don’t see what’s exciting about leading a war, Heather. This is very serious.” She pouted and lowered her head then she turned around and put a hand on my shoulder.

“You don’t look well.”

I answered nothing, on the spot. Of course I didn’t look well! With all this pressure that was on my shoulders, I had a hard time to think straight. Plus, I was very worried about Astrid. I hoped above all that nothing happened to her. So yes, I was totally stressed and I obviously didn’t feel right. I ended shaking my head.

“Hiccup, you know, I can understand why you’re worried, but you have to ignore it during battle, for your men and for Berk’s sake.”

“No, Heather, you can’t understand. Astrid means everything to me, she’s the love of my life, don’t you see? And we’re going to be parents… so no, I can’t ignore it because if I do, I’m forgetting what I’m fighting for, Heather…”

“Excuse me… I shouldn’t have said that… I know Astrid and you are having a really hard time and I—sorry.”

This time, I was the one to put my hands on her shoulders.

“Heather, it’s okay. It’s me, I’m easy to tease these days…”

She smiled.

“Even worse than Astrid…”

Now, we just had to wait.

Valka led me with the other women and the children to the Great Hall. We were walking fast and agitation was at its peak; children were scared and wouldn’t let go of their mothers’ hands. We crossed the village which was outfitting the warriors with weapons, we saw the troops get co-ordinated and the dragons get prepared to fight. How I longed to be with them… We finally reached the Great Hall. Valka pulled me in a remote corner of the hall and asked me to sit down.

“Thanks but I’d rather stand,” I replied abruptly.

I already had a hard time dealing with staying behind—she wouldn’t force me to sit down either. I didn’t belong here with all those poor people. I was supposed to protect us and I couldn’t do it by staying here… I was suddenly reminded of Hiccup’s words:

“Astrid, please, for once in your life, be reasonable… If you won’t do it for me, then do it for the baby.”

And he had put his hands on my belly. I instinctively put mine on it. Hiccup was right, it was unreasonable—but at the same time, staying here to do nothing but wait was eating away at me. I walked between the villagers’ little groups; some women were singing hopeful songs while others were telling old heroic legends to children. I stopped sometimes to listen to the fables too. I was talking with people and trying to reassure them and give them hope. I continued strolling into the Great Hall until I returned to Valka.

“You really have the making of a chief’s wife,” she said.

I smiled at her and came sit next to her to hug her.

“Thank you Valka…” I whispered.

But we were interrupted by the sound of horns. Drago had just penetrated Berk’s compound.

“Toothless, are you okay bud?” I worried.

“What is it?” Heather asked.

“He felt something…”

“DRAGONS!” the troops shouted.

Heather and I raised our heads simultaneously. Armoured dragons were populating the sky. Gobber and Erik came running, followed by their men, yelling that Drago was coming. Heather and I reacted right away by commanding the dragon riders and managing the air attack. Snotlout and the twins did the same. Gobber and Erik took the lead of the land forces. Drago’s men moved by the hundreds towards the center of the village while destroying everything in their path. The fight had just begun.

I’ve never seen a war before and even less participated in one. The concept of battle was all new for me, so when I saw the thirty armoured dragons coming—that I had trained in Göteborg—it took me time before I gave my orders. I examined them for a moment and that’s when I knew something was wrong.

“Wait!” I cried, stopping my men with a hand signal.

“What? What is it again?” Snotlout grumbled.

“Their eyes… Look at their eyes! They’ve been conditioned!” I exclaimed.

“You mean—”

“Yes… They’ve been programmed to kill us…” I whispered.

I addressed all the dragon riders out loud. “Remember what we told you in training? Well… It’s is all the more true now! These dragons are fearsome so be even more vigilant!”

“Charge!” Heather finished.

And we leapt to the attack. We killed dragons. I followed Toothless in each of his movements, fighting against dragons deprived of soul and much stronger than I have imagined. However, I didn’t feel to be actor of the battle, Toothless was the one to fight to protect me. I was just a spectator of all this killing, it was all going so fast… I couldn’t analyse the situation anymore… until I fell.

Toothless and I fell down in the middle of the one-on-one skirmishes that separated our army from Drago’s. I was blown away by the violence I was seeing—I’d never seen men fighting like that before. A warrior didn’t hesitate to stab a sword into his opponent’s back or separate him from one of his limbs. Drago’s men and mine were killing each other in front of me. The smell of blood was everywhere and the warriors’ cries blended into those of their victims; the noise reverberated across the battlefield.

One of my enemies speed up to me, and dismounted me swiftly from my dragon. I could only count on myself to cope. He hit my arm with his arm, the shot was straight and so was the pain.

Thankfully, he had only slightly hit me thanks to my shoulder protection, which had cushioned the blow. I drew my sword in the second that followed, I needed to retaliate quickly before he could gain the upper hand. I struck at his arm and successfully freed myself from his grip. I ran through the fray, not without difficulty. I used my sword to push through the crowd and took a look to the right, to the left, looking for Toothless, but I didn’t see him anywhere. In my frantic sprint through the battlefield—inevitably—I fell. I really blamed my prosthetic leg at times. I started to get trampled when I felt a hand pulling my collar—this is it, this is the end.

“What are you doing here, Hiccup?!”

“Gobber?” I asked, opening my eyes.

He put me on the ground.

“So?” he insisted.

“Yeah… uh… I fell down and—Toothless he… I don’t know where he is…”

“Well then, let’s get some altitude, and we can find him, can’t we?”

I clambered onto Grump behind him, and we flew over Berk to find my dragon. The battle raged on, but from the air we could see that Berk was resisting well. However, the enemy troops weren’t backing down in the slightest—and I still couldn’t see Drago. But where was he hiding for Thor’ sake? I couldn’t have the time to think about this question, Toothless was there, right below us, and he was about to be shot down by Drago’s trappers.

“Right there!” I shouted while pointing the finger at him.

Grump steered us down to him right away. I stopped an arrow from hitting its target and shooting him in the heart. I ran to him to jump on his back and pat him affectionately on the head.

“It’s gonna be okay bud, I’m here… Come on, taking off!” I screamed.

Gobber did the same and we dodged a final barrage of arrows. He addressed me with a nod and went back with Toothless to the other riders. I examined my dragon on the way and didn’t find anything alarming, only a small notch on his left ear and some other scratches. He saved himself but for how long again? If we hadn’t arrived in time, he could have been dead by now… If I couldn’t protect my own dragon, how could I protect all the others from Drago? In all the commotion, I almost forgot the reason why he was fighting this war: he was attempting to cast the dragons from the surface of the Earth! So I noticed the battlefield where the men were blustering was covered by an infinite number of dead dragons’ carcasses. The battle had just begun.

It had been more than five hours since the battle began outside. My patience had its limits, and this situation was really pushing them. I stopped bouncing my leg and stood up and began walking round and round in the big room with my arms crossed.

“Astrid, please, sit down…”

“No, I don’t want to sit! It’s unbearable, I can’t take it anymore not knowing what is going on! I wanna know!” I said, fed up.

“Astrid… Calm down… you said you had cramps at the bottom of your belly, are they gone?”

“No… it’s still hurting… and the baby doesn’t want to stop kicking, it’s really annoying…”

“That’s because it can feel that you’re stressed… One more reason to sit down.”

“No! I don’t feel comfortable when I’m sitting… Ouch…”

I gritted my teeth, I didn’t want to be weak, I couldn’t be.

“Astrid…”

“It’s okay. I’m fine,” I said, catching my breath. “I’m gonna ask the men if they have more information outside.” “Astrid, you already asked them less than a hour ago and they told you they didn’t have any information…” “But maybe now they do?” I said, a little upset. I went in the direction of the middle of the Great Hall but before even walking two steps, I had a sudden wave of nausea due to the cramps getting closer and closer to each other. Adding to this, the kicking didn’t stop. I held my belly with one hand and leaned against a pillar with the other. My head started to spin, and I heard Valka’s voice calling me as she rushed to my side.

“Astrid! What’s wrong?” asked Valka, apparently really worried.

“My… my head hurts… the cramps are getting worse and worse,” I whimpered.

Valka took me by a shoulder and forced me to sit when we got close to a bench. She put her hand on my forehead and wiped it with a handkerchief.

“You are burning up and covered with sweat… maybe you’re—”

She didn’t have the time to finish that I screamed while holding onto her shoulders. It was like the pain was penetrating my stomach. I felt a hot fluid pouring down and wetting my legging.

“Oh my gods!” Valka cried, smiling. “Astrid! The baby is coming!”

I was hit by confusion.

“What? Now? Like right now?” I sobbed.

“I’m gonna bring Gothi!”

“No, no stay with me, Valka! I’m so sorry for earlier… stay!”

She stayed by my side and ordered someone else to bring Gothi.

“You’ll see, everything will be fine ”, she said with a calm voice. Only, I was more afraid than anything. I didn’t understand what was happening to me… I wasn’t usually that emotional. “But it’s too early! I’m not ready—and Hiccup should be here! Oh my gods, I won’t be able to do this without him… Valka, please, go bring Hiccup!” I sobbed.

“Astrid, calm down. I’m gonna go, okay?”

I nodded and Gothi arrived with two other women, healers maybe. Valka left me alone with them and went to find Hiccup.

“I’ll be back in no time! ” she said.

I stood not without difficulty and went to a corner of the hall, safe from any nosy looks. They put me on one of the hall’s tables where they had many layers of sheets.

“And now, breathe!”

“Snotlout!” I screamed.

I couldn’t see him through the flames that were eating the stables. Catapult attacks had set the stables on fire and we were trying to save trapped baby dragons inside who were too young to fly. Everybody got out with babies in their arms except Snotlout, who was still inside. I screamed his name again—no answer.

“Hiccup, we still need to evacuate all these dragons…” reminded Heather. “But we can’t just leave him!”

“Hiccup...”

Just then we saw a shape emerging in the midst of the flames—it was Snotlout, not without burns, but alive. “Snotlout! Oi, oi… oi!” he chanted, punctuating each word with a cough.

“Snotlout! I thought you were…” “Dead? Oh come on Hiccup…” he said dryly.

I was relieved—Snotlout was safe and we could continue our improvised rescue. We were making our way as fast as we could from the stables to the Dragon Academy, when suddenly I saw my mom riding Cloudjumper towards us at full speed.

“Hiccup!” she yelled.

She finally drew up by my side.

“Mom? What are you doing here?”

“Hiccup, you need to come. It’s urgent…” she began.

“But I can’t leave the battle! I’m commanding an army, and…”

“Astrid is giving birth!”

“Uh...what?”

“You’re gonna be a dad!” she smiled.

“What, now? But I…”

“Go, Hiccup!” Heather reassured me. “I’ll take the lead, don’t worry. Go!” I let my friends go under Heather’s command and I joined my mom. We headed in Astrid’s direction, flying once more over the battle that was under us. We finally arrived behind the Great Hall; my mom invited me inside and kept our dragons outside, not without Toothless’ disagreement. Dodging our way through the crowd of elders and children, we made our way to the back corners of the hall where curtains, made out of two sheets, were standing. I stopped before going in.

“Go on, go, she’s waiting for you,” said my mom before pushing me in.

Astrid was lying on a table, legs spread and her back raised; she was in pain. I ran to join her by her side. When she saw me, she let out her tears. I held her tightly against me.

“Hiccup… I was so scared for you… I’m sorry…”

“Shhh… I’m here now,” I whispered while caressing her face.

“Okay Astrid, let's go again,” ordered one of the women who were assisting Gothi. “One, two, three… push!”

Astrid’s face twitched when she did what the healers told her to do, but she shook her head left to right, completely helpless.

“I can’t!” she moaned.

I didn’t know what to do to help her, so I took her hand and I sustained her back to support her.

“Come on babe, you can do it!” I cheered.

So she pushed once again while tightening her hold on my hands, letting out a long painful scream before taking a breath again. “We can see its head!” said Valka.

Astrid turned her head to me with a smile, and I smiled back to her.

“Just a little more Astrid…” I said rubbing her back.

“One more time, push!”

Astrid pushed with all the strength she had, she yelled in pain and soon, her screams were joined by other, smaller cries—those of a baby, our baby.

“It’s a girl, congratulations!” said one of the women.

Gothi cut the last thing that linked our daughter to her mother and showed us a little newborn, dirty and covered in blood. Astrid didn’t even have time to catch her breath before Gothi put the little girl in her arms. Astrid took her carefully and held the child gently against her chest. A big smile drew on her lips, she was filled with joy.

“Hiccup… we made this…” she sighed, happy.

(art by @winxrus)

I caressed her hair and I kissed her cheek, I was the happiest man in the world.

“I’m so proud of you Astrid… you fought till the end.”

“Thank you Hiccup, thank you.”

I was about to answer when a massive sound echoed in the room—it was an explosion.

“I’m gonna see what that was.”

“Hiccup!” yelled Astrid. I got out and saw men trying to reinforce the main door which had just been damaged.

“Hiccup! What are you doing?” my mother exclaimed.

“I need to see what happened outside!”

I went out from the Great Hall and hurried to go before it. When I finally reached it, Heather was there with a few men to protect the Great Hall’s doors from… Drago’s attacks. He was on a huge dragon and was laughing out loud about my men’s fate. I joined them to help and Drago addressed me.

“Eh! Finally, here’s the Dragon Master! I thought you’d never come out of your hole…” he said.

“Drago…”

“Now, let’s finish it!”

He had yelled the last words. He started to shoot at anything that moved but his true target was me. I turned my head to see where Heather was when I heard her screaming:

“Hiccup! Watch out!”

She stood in front of me before I took Drago’s shot. The violence of the impact drove me about ten meters away, I searched to scout the area but I could barely see and then there was nothing.

It was dark, I hated the dark. I was afraid of the dark because I couldn’t see anything and it made me nervous so I lit a candle. I was alone at home. Daddy wasn’t home yet. So I waited for him while drawing. And one hour later, I heard the house’s heavy door opened, I hurried in the direction of the door to see Daddy.

“Daddy!” I yelled.

He took me in his arms and hugged me tightly. I loved when Daddy held me like that.

“I came to say goodbye, Son. Daddy’s leaving for a very long trip, okay?”

I sulked, I didn’t like when he was leaving for a long amounts of time.

“Why are you always leaving for a long time Daddy?”

“Hiccup, you know it’s to find the Dragons’ Nest. I have to go for a long time, that’s how it is. But Gobber will be here.”

“But I want you to stay with me!”

“Son…”

I didn’t want to listen to him anymore, I went back to my room to lock myself in it. I sat down on my bed, brought my legs against me and started to cry. I was sad Daddy left, he never listened to me…

After a while, I heard big footsteps on the stairs, Daddy was climbing. Quickly, I dried my tears with my arm and I put myself under the heavy blankets. Daddy entered with a candle in his hands. He knew I was afraid of the dark. He put it on the bedside table next to me. He leaned next to me and kissed my forehead. I took him in my little arms and held him very tight.

“Good night Daddy.”

“Good night Son.”

I put my head on the pillow and he tucked me in. Then he bounced back and left in the door’s direction but before he got outside, I addressed him one last time before he got away.

“I love you Daddy.”

I heard the door shut.

“Me too Hiccup, me too.”

I felt my eyes about to open but I fell into nothingness again.

Toothless was slowly moving towards me with those terrifying eyes. I begged him to stop but he kept going.

“Stop!”

That’s when my dad came out of nowhere.

“Son!” he cried out.

“Dad! No!” I screamed.

My dad jumped in front of me and took Toothless’ kill shot.

My dad had saved my life, and Heather had exactly done the same thing.

I opened my eyes. Toothless was over me and protecting me with his wings. I looked around me and saw Heather down, a few meters away. I stood up quickly and ran to her. I took her in my arms, she was still breathing but her face was pale and her eyes almost closed.

“Heather! Please, stay with me, Heather!” I shouted.

“Hiccup…” she whispered.

“Yes?” I sobbed.

“Thank you…” she said, closing her eyes.

“No! No, Heather! Don’t leave me! Heather!”

Heather was dead in my arms. No words could define my pain. She was like a sister to me. I cried while holding her her cold, dead body against me, inconsolable.

I was tired of always being protected, my dad, Heather, Gobber, Toothless, Astrid… I couldn’t let anything like that happen again, it was out of the question. I was going to put an end to this, once and for all.

Fishlegs and the other riders came shortly after the incident, he was distraught. Enough people were taking care of Heather now, so I could go. Some people tried to stop me, but I was more determined than ever. I mounted Toothless and took off at full speed. My goal: find Drago. 

Toothless and I looked around us, but Drago was not hard to find. He was nested on the edge of the island with his gigantic dragon. Once I was close enough to him, I asked Toothless to fire his most powerful plasma blast, and it made him fall from his dragon.

Toothless landed only few feet away from him. I climbed down and threw my fire sword on his cutting pike. I didn’t miss my target, I took his stake, got my sword back and threatened him with both, making him recoil. He raised his hands while laughing unrestrained, insanely.

“So? What’s the Dragon Master is gonna do now that he has weapons in his possession?” he sneered.

He could laugh as much as he wanted, but he didn’t scare me anymore. I moved towards him, more intimidating this time.

“You had no right! She didn’t do anything!” I shouted. “She was innocent!” I called out.

The rage tensed my words up.

“You will pay for what you’ve done Drago… For everything you’ve done…”

I rushed over to him and stabbed his stake right in his heart. He instinctively reached down to weapon that had sealed his fate, and staggered back. He fell down from the bank and sank into the ocean.

I had done it in anger, but part of me was still celebrating. I just put an end to the war.

I flew away on my dragon’s back to the Great Hall, where the doors were standing open. I rushed inside to meet Astrid, who was waiting for me in tears. We held each other tightly.

“Hiccup… What’ve you done?” she sobbed.

I put my head on her shoulder, powerless and lost, on the verge of tears.

“I killed Drago…” I confessed with an inaudible voice.

She slightly moved away from me to put her hands on my shoulders and read my face.

“Hiccup…”

“I know, I know… It wasn’t how I wanted it to end! But Astrid, I’m tired of being protected… I’m the one that has to protect you! A chief protects his own…”

She brought me back into her arms to hold me tight against her once again.

“What are you going to do now?” she asked after a while.

“I need to see our daughter first, then I’ll tell you.”

She took my hand and I followed her to the other side of the hall, my mother was waiting for us, our baby in her arms. She gave the baby to Astrid, who then gave her to me. I held her carefully, rocking her gently.

“Hello, you…” I said, gently whispering.

My nerves disappeared and a tear rolled down my cheek, I was so happy. “My little dragon…” I smiled. “I already love you so much if you only knew… Daddy will always be with you… always…” I said, leaving a small kiss on the top of her head.

“Heather. Her name is Heather,” Astrid inquired, bending over me while putting her head on my shoulder by holding me against her.

“Heather…” I smiled, moved.

…

“Are you sure about it?” she asked.

“Yeah, I’m sure Astrid. I will not go back on my decision.”

“All right, then.”

“Let’s go.”

I grasped her waist and we moved outside, hand in hand, to the village center. Astrid let me take the place on the small platform before the other villagers gathered around me. I waited for silence and I began.

“People of Berk, today is a day of mourning for all of us here. We’ve won the war against Drago, but the sadness and pain he brought us will be with us for a long time. A chief protects his own, and today, I failed to protect you. I’ve been told often that I was a peaceful man, but I killed a man today. I was supposed to bring our worlds together, but look at this mess! Hundreds dragons and men died today! This kind of bloodshed will never happen again, because I can still make one decision to protect us all.”

I paused.

“I declare dragons exiled.” Disagreements erupted immediately among the villagers, but I kept going, raising my voice.

“There have always been men like Drago and there always will be. If he’s not the one to exterminate the dragons, somebody else will! As long as dragons live with us, they won’t be safe and neither will we. That’s why I’m asking for this exile, for the common good. I know it’s hard for you—it’s hard for me too—but it’s for the best, believe-me.”

A deafening silence started to fall when, suddenly, they began to make a sign I easily recognized. It was my father’s sign, a fist raised to the top. Soon, the whole village made the Viking’ salute. They just approved my decision.

Farewells were extremely difficult to make. Every vikings and their dragons had met on the middle of the village to say goodbye one last time. It was very emotional to see the love we had for them expressed like that. I wasn’t exiling them for nothing, and my people knew it. If we wanted to save them from extinction, that was the right thing to do.

I arrived at Toothless’ side. Astrid and Stormfly were close to him, their arms full. I caressed the head of my dragon while looking straight in the eye, I smiled faintly at him. I presented him the auto-tail I made for him and Astrid had remade. He started to step back, I held him back.

“Hey… Toothless… I know you don’t like what is going on. But I’m doing this for your sake and you know it,” I sniffed.

He approached and rubbed up against me, then he licked my head. I slightly laughed and hugged him once again.

“Thanks Bud.”

I installed his new tail and made sure it was working before standing in front of him. “Here you go. It’ll serve you more than me…” I said, joking.

Astrid came behind me and moved towards Toothless, wrapping her arms around him.

“Goodbye Toothless, thank you for everything you’ve done for us…” she murmured.

She relaxed her grip and put her hand on my shoulder before stepping behind me again. I took Toothless in my arms one last time.

“I will never forget you, Bud. You’re my best friend… I’ll see you in Valhalla…”

He seemed to begrudge and made a sad noise. I finally released him and stepped back to find Astrid’s embrace. She grabbed my waist while holding me tight against her, supporting me as best she could.

Every dragon gathered around Toothless, who gave me a last look before flying away. All the others followed him and few wingbeats later, all the vikings were already at the island’s borders, calling to their dragons one last time while waving goodbye. Two tears rolled down my cheeks as I watched the dragons flying away forever.

...

Four years later…

“Daddy! Tell me more about dragons!” Heather exclaimed.

“Heather, it’s getting late…”

“Please!” insisted the brown-haired and blue-eyed girl.

Astrid came inside the room and sat down on the bed, next to her daughter.

“Come on Hiccup, if it makes her happy!” Astrid added.

I sighed. I couldn’t refuse anything to the two greatest women of my life.

“Fine, what do you want to know?��

“Tell me how you became friend with Toothle!”

I laughed heartily.

“Ah sweet heart, it’s Toothless…”

“Oops… Sorry,” she apologized while smiling.

I came closer to Astrid and her and started my tale.

“There were dragons when I was a boy…”

[raflovestuffs]

I’m so in love with these 😍

Something of us

This are old sketches but with the impulse of my friends, I post it now so you can appreciate my romantic side that I truly try to hide

[horns-n-jams]

I have sudden need to make Preg!Astrid ask blog...

[slavicviking]

If it's not too late to request, could we have a cute hiccstrid Christmas/Christmas Eve fluff involving preg!strid, who's expecting to deliver sometime after New Years? Could imagine the two of them might get contemplative, thinking about family and what's right around the corner.

Hope that’s okay!

“What?”

“Nothing,”Hiccup grins. “Just you.”

Astrid snortsand pushes herself up to lean her head on her husband’s shoulder as they laytogether on the bed, bellies full after a Christmas dinner, or rather a feast,at Hiccup’s father.

“What does‘you’ mean, huh?”

“You meansyou, obviously,” he replies, twiddling with a loose strand of Astrid’s hair. Heyelps when she swats him on the arm.

“You’re insufferable,” she concludesbefore groaning, her hand sliding over her stomach.

“Let me?”Hiccup cocks one of his eyebrows before rubbing her wife’s pregnant belly. Asmile stretches across his face when something bumps against his inner palm.“He’s moving a lot tonight.”

“I thinkyou mean ‘every day’,” Astrid is quick to reply with a roll of her eyes. “Hecan’t stay in one position for more than five minutes. Like father, like son.”

Hiccuptries to pout but he knows she’s not going to buy it even for a second. Insteadhe pecks her nose, enjoying a brief but utterly adorable look of surprise crossingher face. She’s quick to return his gesture, leaving a slower kiss on his cheekbefore settling in at the crane of his neck.

“Wouldn’tit be cool,” Hiccup muses out-loud, his fingers drawing aimless patterns on herstomach, smile a bit wider every time his son moves. “if he was born today? OnChristmas Day?”

“Don’t,” Astridshoves a finger into his face. “Don’t even suggest that. He’s not coming out aday before New Year.”

“Thinkabout it - we could save up on birthday presents. Two in one.”

“And, justlike that, you became the cheapest dad in the whole universe,” Astrid smiles,draping an arm over his chest and closing her eyes.

“Wha- I didnot.”

“Did too,”she laughs. “But, let’s be honest, if anyone is going to spoil our child rottenit will be you,” she pauses. “Second to your dad, actually.”

Hiccupsnorts having in mind a stack of baby stuff that has gotten under the ChristmasTree as a gift from Stoick the Vast. Their nursery is drowning in cute onesiesand, weirdly enough – or perhaps not, wooden ducks, personally carved by theproud to-be-grandfather.

Hiccup is personallya little scared of them.

“We’ll needto sort that all out,” he says as he rubs his chin absently.

“Mh-mmm.”

“He’s goingto be traumatized from the start if he has so many ducks at once.”

No reply.He looks over his shoulder.

“Aaaand youfell asleep, haven’t you?” He gets a small snore in response and he can’t helpbut grin. Immobilized, he tries to pull the blanket up to cover her. Shereleases a small hum in content, snuggling in closer. Her hair tickles his neckand he leans down to press a kiss to her crown. Their son taps his foot.

He’s onelucky man, no doubt about that. He smiles.

Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays :3

[tysonrunningfox]

Top five versions of Astrid (buff!Strid, preg!Strid, etc)

Uhhhhh I’m not sure how to answer this?  Given that buffstrid and pregstrid are just like…general life stages of an individual?  Because this confuses me, I didn’t realize there was a roster of Astrids I should have studied?  But I’ll try?  

1. Astrid achieving her personal goals 

2. Astrid independently impressing those around her

3. Astrid with a very large and very sharp axe

4. Astrid with rippling biceps and an attitude to match 

5. Astrid supported by friends and family in her pursuit to be a badass

Top 5 asks

[raflovestuffs]

Pregnant Astrid? Always reblog.

“ Astrid rolled onto her side. To her delight, Hiccup followed her example and spooned her from behind, his arms comfortably resting between her swollen breasts and her even-more-swollen belly. Her smile grew bigger at the feeling of his lips on her shoulder, and still wider at the sensation of his nose against her hair. “

A little doddle inspired by “Training dragons isn’t the only thig I think about” by @crazy4dragons . 

Seriously this warmed my heart so much. I love pregstrid.

[avannak]

I know you wrote about stoick not making it to hiccup but maybe you could follow up on what happened afterwards maybe he left astrid a parting "gift"

Part I

It wasn’t until a week after the funeral, when she was back on a recovering Berk, and Drago was defeated by a furious Toothless, and Stoick, and Berk and herself (absolutely, herself).  It wasn’t until days after the unanticipated screaming fit she threw, and after her throat finally cleared and her breathing eased and her eyes were no longer in that uncomfortable too-dry/too-wet state, that Astrid smelled it.

She lay on Hiccup’s bed, overcome with a never-ending lethargy that could only come from grief.  Astrid already spent too many hours in his room, in his home, and she planned to spend many more.  She couldn’t help it.  (“Always welcome,” Valka would say whenever she stood at their door. Stoick only nodded, rarely spoke, perhaps finding her too stark a reminder of his son). 

Astrid could still smell Hiccup in the pillow—musk and cinder—and dreaded the day when it fully faded, but that wasn’t the smell that caught her attention.  It was a foul scent.  A little metal and a little sour. Heavy and invasive.  It made her jaw ache.

She sat up and took a few more sniffs.  It was close.  Low.  Under the bed.  She rolled off and onto her knees, squinting around the dark and dusty floor.  Her nose helped her hone in on something light colored and soft-looking, wedged between the bedpost and wall. The smell became nearly unbearable and, with one hand over her mouth, she reached out and poked.

Astrid recoiled as the unexpectedly moist object gave way under the pressure.  After a few more prods and a hip shove against the bed to bring it into better light, she finally recognized the repugnant, mushy pile. 

It was a “sea cake” she gave Hiccup two weeks earlier, right here on this bed.  He told her he ate it.  The whole thing.  The liar.

An immediate indignation took hold of her.  She was going to kill—

Her stomach lurched.

Shock.  Guilt. 

The physical manifestation of sudden grief was something she’d never get used to.  How it could squeeze and crunch the softest organs.  How it could feel like a terrible, heavy weight that strained the back and joints.

It came again—the pitch in her gut, as though she’d been punched.  Her throat felt like it was puckering against sickness brought on by the smell.  She couldn’t swallow it back.

Astrid sprang to her feet and fled down the stairs at a stumble.  Valka looked up from the table, startled the girl’s sudden (and lively) appearance.  Astrid didn’t have time to exit the Haddock Household.  She kicked over a tool bucket and righted it in time to empty her stomach.  There wasn’t much in there—she’d barely scraped together two meals in the past few days—but the heaving continued, propelled by the memory of the trigger smell, and the new, unpleasant smells beneath her nose, until her stomach physically ached.

“Oh!  Oh dear…” Valka tisked from Astrid’s side. She had the younger woman’s hair gathered behind her shoulders; long, sharp fingers racking back the blonde bangs.

“Sorry,” Astrid muttered.  A trowel remained inside, but the rest of the appliances were spared the shower of vomit.

“Are you alright?” Valka asked, still running her nails against Astrid’s scalp.  Astrid could feel the tension leaving her neck despite herself.

“Yeah, I’ll—I’ll clean this—”

“No. Nonsense.”

“I don’t know what happened—”

“It’s fine. Go lay down.”

“I feel fi—” Astrid paused.  Her eyes fell to whatever Valka had boiling  Something with sheep… and something else.  Seaweed. She could smell the marrow and blood and the tinge of mineral and vegetable and that musty, nasty salt that came with seaweed.  Her hand went to her mouth, but she vomited anyway.  Something olive and thin, like the scrapings from her gut.

“Go home,” Valka urged.

“I’m so sorry,” she said again. Her eyes stung and watered from the force of her retching.  Valka’s rubbing of her back and every tender, compassionate word left Astrid’s emotions frayed.

Despite the physical stress of her body, all she could think about was the sort of motherly affection Hiccup never got from Valka.  Would never get.  It was happening right then, to her.

Astrid felt anger and sorrow.  Confusion.  She didn’t trust herself to speak.  Nodding, sniffing, rubbing her eyes, she muttered a good bye and returned home.

       ##              ##             ##

“Here,” Astrid said a day later.  She held out a trowel to the chief.  He was a hard man to pin down in the bustle of day. Ice still needed to be melted. Homes, rebuilt.  Disputes settled.  That’s why Astrid chose the assurance of sundown.

Stoick stared at the small tool.  Then back at her.

“What’s this?”

“I…” Astrid felt her face warm despite her usual comfort around the man. “I ruined yours.  I don’t know if Valka told you—”

“Ah,” Stoick said quickly and Astrid knew Val must have said something, if he hadn’t seen the evidence himself.  “You don’t need to do that—this,” he gestured to the trowel, not taking it. “No worries, lass.”

“I’m leaving it by the door if you don’t,” she warned.

Stoick sighed.  He looked wane, Astrid noted.  Eyes pinched and grey.  He seemed to have aged five years in the last five days.  Astrid felt similar.

The door opened wider and Valka stepped out beside her husband.  The stacked home had housed two people for decades, but somehow, for the first time, it seemed like only half a family lived within.

“Astrid,” Valka greeted with as much of a smile as she seemed capable of those days. “Are you feeling better?”

Before Astrid could so much as open her mouth, something flew from the house—something invisible, carried through the open door.  That smell.  Similar to yesterday’s.

She backpedaled with her hand over the lower half of her face, leaving the older couple on the top step of their home. She didn’t trust herself to explain or apologize; not when she recognized the same sensations of yesterday.  Dizziness nearly swept her feet out from under her.

Valka pushed past their bewildered chief and rushed out to steady her. The scent of whatever she cooked clung to her hair and clothes. Astrid could smell it. It invaded her nostrils like a spore.

“What’s wrong?” Stoick could be heard from the stoop. “Should I call the læknir?”

“No,” Astrid managed to gasp against her palm.  She didn’t want the attention—not from the læknir, not from them, but already Valka had her hands on her—pressing to her forehead, her cheek.  The smell continued to waft around them, as though Valka wore a suit of seaweed and bones.

“Are you still ill from yesterday?” the older woman asked.

“I’m fine,” Astrid insisted, dodging away from the hands.  Devastated, always.  Tired from grief. But physically, fine. “Please—”

“You’re not ill?” Valka asked again. “No fever?”

She touched Astrid’s forehead again and this time Astrid allowed it, hoping it would at least curb the scrutiny. Her eyes were closed, her breath held.

“No,” Astrid grumbled as shallowly as she could. “But the smell… whatever you’re cooking, I think it’s making me sick.” 

The hand withdrew.

“I’m not cooking anything.”

“Whatever that smell is…” Astrid took another step back, down the path, away from the scent and the probing.  Saliva gathered under her tongue, thin and sour.

“She tried this morning,” Stoick offered, with a tone that told Astrid ‘tried’ was being favorable. “But our hearth has been cold all day.  Haven’t had food in here for hours.”

Stoick, at least, seemed to read well enough that Astrid didn’t want any more attention and allowed her to continue a slow retreat without pressing.

“It’s… it’s oily.  Fishy,” Astrid said through her hand.  “And… it’s pretty strong. I smell seaweed. Did you spill something on you or…?”

Valka stared at Astrid with a shrewd intensity Stoick lacked.  She, mercifully, gave Astrid the space she needed to breathe.  The odor was there, threatening to overthrow Astrid’s latest meal, but it no longer left her completely rattled.

“Are you tired?” Valka asked. “Have you been feeling tired lately?”

Astrid shook her head to help clear it.  “I’m… Of course, I am. After… after everything…” What did she want? For Astrid to explain exactly what Hiccup’s death made her feel?  The exhaustion and bone-deep sorrow and the anger and the inability to eat…  Shouldn’t Valka already know? 

No, Astrid thought bitterly.  Valka had already once made the conscious decision to detach herself from Hiccup.  Hiccup was Valka’s past that had already been grieved.  He was Astrid’s future.  He was stolen from her.  Everything had been stolen from her.

“I’m taking her to Bersi,” Valka announced. To Stoick, with no consideration for Astrid’s wants.

“No,” Astrid yelped, but the taller, stronger, woman already had her frogmarching towards the læknir. 

“Yes.” Valka was uncommonly resolute, which Astrid found shocking enough. When it came to dragons the woman was fierce and knowledgable, but with people Valka more often altered between being skittish and reticent.

Stoick hovered with one foot still on the stoop. “Er…

“Stay,” Valka called over her shoulder. “I’ll be back soon.”

No ‘we’ which meant Astrid might be released on her own. She already regretted her trowel delivery and all that it led to.

Then Valka did the oddest thing.  With Stoick at their backs, she reached over and pressed her fingers against Astrid’s breast.  Astrid sprang away from her—not only out of shock but at the bruising pain that blossomed at the touch.

“What—?”

Valka pushed her forward and asked, “Are you sore?”

“Yeah,” Astrid admitted, rubbing the tender area.

“Are you bleeding?”

“No.” She was vomiting, not wounded.

“I mean on your cycle,” Valka amended.

“No,” Astrid said again.  She thought it an odd thing to ask and added, “I don’t get sick for that.”

Valka seemed to disregard the information. “When was your last?  When did you last bleed”

“I—”  Astrid paused.  It should have been last week, around the time they first discovered Eret. She hadn’t thought about it then with all that happened, but, “I got it early.” 

Three weeks ago.

“Was it normal?  Besides being early, was everything like a familiar bleeding for you?”

“No,” Astrid admitted. “It was shorter.  Kind of more painful than usual…”

She was only forthcoming because the woman was starting to scare her; her direct questions were pulling up answers Astrid had previously disregarded.  Valka stared ahead as they walked, seeming both grim and aflutter.

         ##              ##             ##

Astrid wasn’t taken to Bersi. She was taken to his sister, Bulsa.  She was asked uncomfortable questions (“have your netherlips taken on a different color? Darker?”), asked to take off her shirt and prodded along her breasts and gut. Had her hips measured with cloth.  She was asked to pee on wheat and barley seeds, which she did, rather shaken by that point.

She left the læknir’s house nearly an hour later, silent, and long before Valka, who had stayed to speak with Bulsa.  Astrid said nothing to her parents when she came home, had no appetite for food, and went straight to bed, where she laid awake and watched the shadows creep along the wall until fitful rest finally took her.

The next morning she did not fly—not Stormfly nor Toothless.  She gave both dragons an absent pat and walked, stiff legged, to sit on the piers. The smell of seaweed rose from the crusted shores, but Astrid bore the discomfort.

Minutes passed—or hours—before someone settled beside her.  The very person she had spent the last minutes (or hours?) thinking of.

“Val… told me,” Stoick said.  He stared ahead alongside her, at the clashing blues of the horizon.

“Yeah…” It was the first word she’d spoken since the night before, but Astrid didn’t know what else to say.  She and Stoick were both the type of people to speak with a purpose, but not as good at small talk.

Not like Hiccup was.

The silence stretched until Stoick cleared his throat. “Have you…does your family know?”

He spoke with that halting, awkward pattern he sometimes used with Hiccup when broaching an uncomfortable subject.  It both warmed and punctured Astrid’s already fragile heart.

“Not yet,” she asnwered.  She was still considering what to say.  It was a small island and Gossip came only second to Flying. With just the Bulsa, Valka and Stoick knowing, somehow, in some way, it would get out.  And once it was out, it was Out.

“’N… ’n are you going to…?”

Keep it or Be rid of it. The question could have lead to either.  Astrid would dignify neither with a response.  She leveled a hard, disbelieving stare at the chief.  Stoick coughed once and turned his attention back on the waves, perhaps realizing to ask either of her was both insulting and foolish.

Astrid’s hands went to her navel. Her fingers curled. She tried to imagine the tiny piece of Hiccup she harbored.  How precious it was.  How vulnerable.

“You’re as good as family,” Stoick went on, still unable to truly look at her. “You were going to be…”

If none of it had happened.  No Drago.  No battle.  She and Hiccup would have been married before the pregnancy was detected.  There never would have been an issue.  Another “early birth” easily swept under the rug.

“He should have asked sooner.”

Astrid snorted.  “I told him two years ago to talk to my father.  He always acted like we had all the time in the world.”

“Aye,” Stoick nodded. “Leave it to Hiccup to wait until the last minute.”

Through his profile, Astrid caught an unusually bright eye.  She felt her own throat close and the pair spent another moment in unintended silence.

Again, Stoick broke it first, waffled and gruff.  “I know it’ll be hard…I mean, if you do, that is—”

“I will,” Astrid threw in, stoutly.

“Aye,” Stoick said, soft. “What I mean is… you’ll face some… some unpleasantness.”

Unwed and pregnant, is what he meant, and every stigma that came with it.

Astrid’s jaw shifted forward. “I can handle it.”

The chief nodded, once.  Astrid felt a similar resolution in the lowering of his brow.  A protectiveness towards her.  Unnecessary, but appreciated.

“He’ll be recognized, of course.  By our family.  He’ll be… he’ll heir.”  Stoick’s voice might have cracked on that last word, perhaps remembering Berk’s last heir, but it was impossible to tell with how low he spoke and the winds that pitched the volume of their conversation.

“Or she,” Astrid corrected automatically.

“Or she.”

The question of fatherhood never came up.  It never would.  Not through the pregnancy nor the birth.  Berk would accept the child as though Hiccup had been there all along.

And then, just when Astrid thought she had a tentative handle on herself, a heavy seabreeze ripe with the scent of seaweed invaded her senses.  Her stomach rolled and the reminder of… everything rolled with it.  The pregnancy, the baby, its father.  Its father.

Its future without one.

It became impossible for her to speak any more through the sudden knot in her throat and the incomprehensible pain in her chest.  She tried to keep the hitch in her breath quiet beneath the crashing waves, and failed.

An arm settled around her shoulders—more of a blanket, really, given its weight and size—and Astrid fell against the warm, solid body and cried.

Part III?

[raflovestuffs]

That is who you are: Chapter 10

First l Previous l Next

Hi guys!!

Woah! I’m so glad to come back with a new chapter! The end is near! Only two more chapters to go! They’ll be post very soon cause as I’m going to Annecy, I’m translating the chapters whith @megtoons to give my strory translated to Dean DeBlois! 

So that’s good for you guys, cause you’ll finally how I decided to ended this story so many years ago (hopefully before the trailers comes xD)...

I want to send a big thank you to @wolfie-dragon-rider and @chiefhiccstrid who corrected it! Thank you a lot guys!

Also, here the illustration of this chapter made by my dear illustrator <3

Now, I hope this chapter will please you!

“And if all goes well, Hiccup will be saved,” I said, confident.

I’d told them my plan; it was up to them now to decide to follow me or not.

“Your plan sounds good, Astrid, but I have a question: how do you plan on getting the plans for the Night Fury tail?” Gobber asked.

“I’ll manage,” I said icily.

I knew it would take some time, but I would get there, I would find it, for Hiccup. The twins—as per usual—looked visibly confused about the plan, especially Tuffnut.

“What is it?” I asked him.

“So there’s one thing I don’t get about your plan!” he said. “The thing about the tailfin, so that Toothless can fly on his own and go find Hiccup and all that, okay… but why send Toothless, when he’s the only dragon that can’t fly on his own? That sounds… kinda dumb.”

I stepped toward him, glaring at him all the while, and didn’t speak until I drew level with him.

“Toothless is the only one capable of bringing him back,” I said dryly.

Tuffnut threw his hands in the air, admitting defeat.

“Okay, great—who’s with me?”

Everyone raised their fists proudly, signalling their agreement.

“That’s more like it.”

...

It had been a month now since Hiccup was captured by Drago, a month since I’d heard any word from him, a month that we’d been apart, a month of missing him—a month I’d been searching for the plans for the automatic tailfin for his dragon. And still, nothing. I couldn’t believe how much time had passed without him.

I found myself in the forge, leaning my head on Hiccup’s desk. I had looked everywhere—in absolutely every nook and cranny I could find, and I’d still come up empty-handed. So I stayed there, mulling over all of this, alone in Hiccup’s old refuge—right up until I heard a knock on the door. I lifted my head—it was Gobber.

“Astrid,” he said, shaking his head.

“Hmm?”

“It’s late…you should go get some rest, you’ve spent all day searching again today. Come on.”

He offered me his hand, and I took it. How could I explain that this place was the only link with Hiccup I still had? This was the only place that brought me any comfort. At home, I had nightmares, terrible nightmares. Every night since Hiccup’s capture I awoke in a cold sweat, panicked, and the nightmares would start right up again—but how could I say that to Gobber? I couldn’t. He was worried enough about me as it was.

He walked me home, and I gave him a grateful hug goodbye.

“Thanks, Gobber,” I whispered.

I pushed open the heavy door to our hut and stepped inside, without making a sound. Valka came back in her old house since I was alone. She was sleeping in our room—formerly Stoick’s—while I had decided to spend my nights in Hiccup’s old bedroom, where I could feel his unique presence. Erik was lodging in Valka’s small hut. I headed upstairs, being careful not to wake her, and I threw myself across the bed. And then, I cried. Days’ worth of accumulated pressure came out of me like this every night now, followed by my nightmares. I wasn’t used to crying, but Hiccup’s absence had changed everything.

“No!” I screamed.

I was panting—all lost. Overwhelmed, I swept my gaze around the room—Hiccup’s room. I ended up calming myself and gently replaced my head on the pillow. I drew the blanket close to me in order to smell it—Hiccup’s scent still emanated from the fabric. I curled up, tightening the thick blankets against me, and went back to sleep.

When I opened my eyes, the sun was all there, so the morning was well underway… I scolded myself for waking up so late. I jumped out of bed and dressed quickly, then I left the hut without having breakfast. Toothless and Stormfly were waiting for me outside to do their morning flight. So I climbed Toothless’ back and placed my foot on the pedal to handle his tail fin. Hiccup had shown it to me so many times that now I knew exactly how to make it work. We took off—followed by Stormfly—and we went for a flight.

Flying without Hiccup, it wasn’t the same… Before, whenever we went for a flight, we always had new adventures, we always tried things we’d never tried before—we both liked that.But he wasn’t there and days were monotonous. It was like I was reliving the same day all over again and I couldn’t break free from this vicious circle. Without Hiccup, my life had no sense, my world revolved around him and him only.

We’d been flying for almost a quarter of an hour—it was time to get back, especially since it was getting cloudy. I made Toothless lean to the left to head towards Berk, and we got back to the village. We landed and I barely had the time to put a foot on the ground before the night fury was already on his way to Valka’s hut—where Erik was now—and Lifa too. I followed him in a hurry to greet Erik and his dragon—closely followed by Stormfly. But when we reached the hut, Lifa was nowhere to be found. Erik was standing before the doorstep, a smile in the corner of his lips.

“What is going on? Where’s Lifa?” I asked.

“She left with her eggs in the isle’s heights, it’s time…”

“What do you mean? She’s about to have her babies? Right now?” I said, more and more surprised.

“Night furies are very special, you know,” Erik said. “Unlike other dragons, their eggs don’t explode. They lay the eggs right after mating, and the babies lay dormant until there’s a powerful enough storm… like today. They must be struck by lightning to hatch.”

“Really? Lightning?! I guess that...makes sense… Well, I think I’ll have to ride Toothless up there then! See you later!”

Glad these eggs don’t explode… it’s one less problem to solve! So I took off with Toothless—looking for Lifa—beneath the storm. With the rain coming down in torrents like this, I could barely see anything. Even Stormfly had chosen to not come.

Toothless finally used his plasma wave to locate Lifa��s presence, and we set off at full speed towards one of Berk’s peaks. We landed near the female night fury and I let Toothless join her. His protective side—that he’d shown toward Hiccup for so long—was coming out now, in all its glory, with his family that was just about to be formed. Rain and wind were blustering all around me, I was soaking wet, but this scene made me so happy that I didn’t care.

Suddenly, the thunder rolled just overhead, and a few seconds later lightning struck the three eggs at once. It was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen. Three small night furies came out of the eggs and their parents licked them clean. They were adorable, and I couldn’t believe I had the chance to be a part of this. Toothless seemed so happy… He raised his head towards me and I smiled at him, seized with emotion. It was at this very moment he realized he missed his master terribly, because he wasn’t there—next to me.

...

Two months had passed since Hiccup had gone. The night fury babies had all grown up, they were flying with their parents now. As for me, I still had hope, I had found one of Toothless’ auto-tail plans—it was a good start. So I was in the forge, trying to decipher Hiccup’s plan to know what I needed to built the tail.

“Twenty tons of steel… Uh… no, twenty kilos! Twenty kilos of steel!” I exclaimed. “I’m not gonna make it…” I sighed, head in hands, my arms leaning on a table.

I went back to my difficult deciphering when I suddenly heard voices raising from the centre of the village. I jumped out of my chair and rushed towards the sound of Berkians cheering. A young woman with braided ebony hair climbed down from her razorwhip to greet me.

“Astrid!” she cried, running into my arms.

“Heather? What are you doing here?” I asked, disconcerted.

“Well, I came to see you and the gang!” she exclaimed.

“You’re not in conflict with someone at the moment?” I asked.

“And no, my last conflicts came to an end weeks ago already! So I’m on sort of vacation, I guess? That’s why I came—to say hello!”

“You always have a home here, Heather. You can stay as long as you want.”

“Thank you Astrid, that’s very kind of you. Anyway, everything’s going great on Berk, I assume? I didn’t see the gang running up to meet me… Where did they all go?” she asked, jokingly, but with a worried look in her eyes nevertheless.

“Uh… Follow me to the forge, would you? I’ve got one or two things to tell you…”

So she followed me to the forge. I invited her to grab a chair and sat down next to her by my working table. I took her hand.

“Heather, what I’m going to say is hard to hear so—”

“Astrid, what is it? You’re scaring me…”

I took a deep breath.

“Hiccup is being held hostage by Drago Bludvist.”

Her face crumbled and she put her hand over her mouth.

“What? But how?” she said, shocked.

“We both got captured, but Drago wanted Hiccup for himself and Hiccup refused to go with him so Drago said if he disobeyed him, he’d come after me…”

“So Hiccup stayed to protect you… It’s so him… But what are you waiting for to go find him?”

“We can’t, Gobber and Valka made a deal to save me from Drago’s men. And anyway, we wouldn’t stand a chance, we aren’t enough to defeat them… Drago’s fleet is huge and Göteborg is a merchant town—too few people there even know that dragons exist...”

“Drago is in Göteborg? But what is he doing down there?”

“I don’t know but the fact he needs Hiccup’s help in his plan doesn’t bode well…”

“I know you Astrid, you’re not the type to give up so easily—so what are you going to do about it?”

“The deal was we never come back to Göteborg but… he never mentioned the dragons. I’m going to send Toothless to find Hiccup.”

“The only dragon who can’t fly alone? Hiccup has really rubbed off on you, you’ve lost me with your ‘element of surprise’ tactic!”

“Only Toothless can find him—plus he’s also really discreet, unlike the other dragons. And don’t worry about his solo flight—look.”

I showed her the sketches on the table. She stared at them, perplexed, then she raised her eyes and looked questioningly towards me.

“Hmm… What is this?”

“Hiccup made Toothless a tail so he could fly all alone, but Toothless didn’t want it. However, there are still some sketches and plans in his workshop that I’m trying to find in order to build this tail again so he can save Hiccup.”

“Good plan. And where are you at exactly?”

“Well, I only found the material checklist I’ll need to do it. I was deciphering it before you got here.”

“And what are the others doing?”

“They’re in charge of information. Valka and Gobber are trying to rally the other tribes to our cause. Meanwhile, the rest of the gang is keeping an eye on what’s going on in Göteborg.”

“Astrid,” she said with a smile, “I’m going to do everything I can to help you find Hiccup, I give you my word.”

She held me tight and I cracked. It was too much. She just got back and she was already offering her help. I tried to hold back my tears but I didn’t manage to do it.

“I miss him…” I whispered.

She caressed my hair, trying to console me, but I was inconsolable.

“Oh… Astrid… It’s gonna be okay… You’re strong… We will save him, together,” she stuttered.

I was strong, yes, but right now I just couldn’t be.

Spent the whole day in the forge together, deciphering the checklist of things we’d need to make Toothless’ tail. We successfully deciphered the checklist in its totality and we even started to understand the schematic of the tailfin on the list a little. Heather had promised she’d help me, and I knew she meant it.

The gang finally arrived, and were surprised to see Heather by my side. Snotlout ran into her direction and took her in his arms.

“Heather! It’s been a while!” he exclaimed.

She quickly extricated herself from his grip, but it was twins’ turn to lunge at her.

“So, Heather, what brings you to Berk?” Tuffnut asked..

“Is there a particular reason for your presence here?” Ruffnut raised.

Fishlegs approached Heather timidly in order to greet her in his turn and calm the situation.

“Hey Heather, how’s it been going since the last time we saw you?”

“Really well, thank you Fishlegs,” she answered with a fruity little voice.

“The village is throwing a party to celebrate your arrival Heather, let’s go to the Great Hall,” I announced.

“Fishlegs, will you come with me?” Heather asked.

“Who? Me?”

“Who else?” she smiled.

“Uh yeah, sure…”

So they headed together, hand in hand, for the Great Hall, I was starting to follow them when I heard Snotlout’s lamentations behind me.

“How could she prefer that to this?!” he said, gesturing to himself.

“And he still wonders why I’m not interested in him?” Ruffnut sighed to her brother.

We finally entered the imposing building. The party was in full swing inside—everybody appreciated Heather a lot on Berk and it was different from the usual atmosphere that prevailed in the village lately. We sat at a table all together and we started to talk about everything and nothing, it has been a while. I didn’t spend time with all my friends much anymore, and I missed it.

“You know Heather, you can sleep in my hut tonight if you’ve got nowhere to go? Of course, it would only be temporary, well I mean—” offered Fishlegs clumsily to Heather.

“I’d be happy to stay with you, Fishlegs,” Heather answered gently, smiling while looking at him amorously.

She was becoming incredibly dumb when it came to Fishlegs, I should tell her someday… I now had a true friend ready to help me and who supported me. Heather was my friend and I was happy she was there, by my side.

...

One month had passed since Heather’s arrival on Berk. We successfully found all Toothless’ tail plans despite the excellent hiding place Hiccup had chosen for them. Thanks to Heather, I managed to decrypt them all and we had started building the prototype with Gobber’s help. We were missing some elements for the processing, but we were on track to finish it soon enough to save Hiccup. Heather gave me back hope, a hope that was growing each day. I even resumed patrols—I was in great shape. I was—by the way—in the middle of a raid accompanied by Heather, Fishlegs and Snotlout. We were moving towards Göteborg in order to learn more about Drago’s intentions and projects. So we were going to check on the ships’ traffic in and out of the town. For the first time since Hiccup was gone, I was confident and I felt helpful. We had barely arrived but Snotlout had already spotted a boat.

“There’s something suspicious about this ship…” he said.

“I have a bad feeling about it too,” Fishlegs agreed. “Let’s go take a closer look!”

So we followed the boys to approach the ship to get a better look and see what was going on inside. We were concealed behind rocks to hide our presence and we observed the ship.

“Hey! Look! There are dragons in cages on deck!” Snotlout exclaimed.

“Oh my Thor! Oh my Thor! Oh my Thor!” Fishlegs repeated, panicked.

“These dragons are armoured!” I noticed.

“And those cages, those chains… They look like the ones Dagur used!” Heather noted.

We looked at each other simultaneously.

“Drago!” we shouted.

Snotlout and Fishlegs stared at us, perplexed.

“Since the beginning, it was Drago! He started his revenge much sooner than we could imagine… He’s the one who sold the dragon-proof ships to Dagur in the first place!” Heather exclaimed.

“And now, these armed dragons! He’s preparing a war by all the gods!”

“Well—girls, not that I want to interrupt you but—I think we got spotted!” Snotlout quipped.

“Let’s get out of here!” Heather shouted.

We moved away from the ship as fast as we could but men had already taken aim to shoot us down.

“Come on, speed it up girl!” Fishlegs moaned.

“What are you doing, Astrid? We have to go right now!” Heather yelled to me.

Suddenly, I didn’t feel right; everything started to go woozy on me… It must be about all these revelations—we were in even more danger now! I would have to undertake a multitude of procedures and I… I felt myself fall; I was falling from my dragon. In the distance, I heard Heather’s voice shouting my name and moving towards me into a dive to catch me, then nothing.

When I opened my eyes, Heather was standing over me, she seemed different, and she was smiling—she must have had a nasty fright. I scanned the room while passing a hand on my face, I was laying on a bed, obviously at Gothi’s. I turned my head towards Heather.

“What happened?”

“You fainted. You fell off your dragon and I caught you, barely...”

“Oh no… Did the men spot you because of me?!”

Heather burst out laughing—why wasn’t she taking me seriously?

“Astrid, everything is fine… In fact, I’ve got something to tell you…”

She was still standing there with this radiant smile on her lips—I didn’t understand.

“What? What is it? Why are you staring at me like that?” I asked, disconcerted.

She smiled again, then she took a deep breath.

“Astrid… you’re pregnant!” she exclaimed.

“What? But how?” I started choking.

“That’s why you’ve been acting so crazy lately!”

“And I don’t see anything…” I whispered.

I was surrounded by so many emotions at the same time… but fear dominated. I was afraid at the idea of losing the baby once again… I couldn't handle that a second time, especially without Hiccup.

“What is it? Are you okay?” Heather asked, worried.

“Yeah… It’s just— Heather, the last time I got pregnant… I— lost the baby…” I sobbed.

“I’m sorry.”

“You couldn’t have known,” I added.

“But it’s still good news, right? I mean, you’re pregnant! You’re gonna have a baby, isn’t it wonderful?” she exclaimed.

I smiled, on the verge of tears.

“Yes!” I acquiesced, emotional.

She put her arms around me and held me very tight against her. I was full of joy and at the same time also full of fear, but I was so happy to be pregnant again that it was all I could think about.

“I’m so happy for you two…” she whispered in my ear.

Hiccup. His comeback to Berk was vital now.

“Here, enjoy…” the man said ironically.

He came to feed me in my cell daily so that I would stay alive. He threw my bread through the bars and also dragged a bowl of soup between them, then he left. I ate my bread slowly in order to stretch out this moment that had become so precious these last four months.

I dipped my bread in the soup to restore some flavor but it was still flat and stale. However, this simple action of eating was keeping me alive, so I remained hopeful. I knew that I’d get out of here eventually. I didn’t receive any other whipping as violent as the one I had at my first day here. I got hit several times but nothing more. They used me for something else, for training their armoured dragons. Drago had visibly abused them and now, they were uncontrollable.

These dragons had become completely crazy and didn’t listen to anything, so I had spent hours with them, helping them relearn everything. I had to make them trust and listen to me, but it was extremely difficult. When I wasn’t with them, Drago invited me in his quarters and he told me about his evil projects. He was convinced I’d die before the war began and that nobody would come to save me.

I had to discuss and debate major issues with him. He was listening carefully to my remarks, but his arguments made him right—according to him, he was never wrong. Through our interactions, I learned what kind of man Drago was; a ruthless man, full of himself, believing he was above everyone else and sure to be the chief that all Viking folk had been waiting for.

Clearly, Drago was mentally ill. He was a man traumatized from seeing his family kidnapped by dragons and who wanted to get his revenge on something no longer relevant. Despite all that, at least now I knew important details of his military tactics that could help me to prepare Berk, if this war actually took place.

After a while, some men came to bring me to the training arena of the castle. I arrived in the arena and found one of the armoured dragons that I named Raspar. Drago was against naming dragons, but I had explained him the importance of a name in the climate of trust between the dragons and I and he didn’t argue. It was the only domain in which I was impressing him.

I approached Raspar, with whom I’d established a steady understanding, more or less—on account of his recent arrival at Göteborg—and I caressed his head gently. So I began the training session by showing him a few exercises. Everything was going great until he categorically refused to be saddled. I was trying to quietly calm him when Drago intervened, ordering me to hit the dragon if he didn’t listen.

“No! This dragon has been abused long enough,” I replied.

Drago flew into a rage.

“How dare you disobey my orders?! Guards! Bring him to me right away!” he ordered.

I didn’t have time to think before two of his men seized me by the arms and brought me in front of Drago. He took out a knife and asked his men to remove my shirt.

“Turn him over! You'll see what we do with guys who don’t respect the orders like you!”

He stuck his knife in my flesh, and I screamed.

“It hurts, doesn’t it?” he said.

He continued to carve my flesh with his knife, and with each new line he spoke to me.

“So do you think you’re gonna do it again?”

“No…” I answered with an inaudible voice.

“I didn’t hear, ‘no’ who?”

“No, Master,” I struggled to say.

He ripped my skin once again, letting thick drops of blood pour down my back. The pain was becoming more and more unbearable.

“Who’s giving the orders, Hiccup?” he finally asked.

“You are, Drago.”

I couldn’t believe it. After five hard months, we finally did it: Toothless’ auto-tail was done! I was in the forge with Gobber and Heather, holding them tight between my arms.

“You can’t imagine how grateful I am, I couldn’t have done anything without you!” I exclaimed. “Thank you.”

“Aw, c’mon, it’s the least we could do to save the chief!” Gobber retorted, laughing.

“Astrid, what are you waiting for? Go find him!” Heather added.

I smiled to them and slipped away outside, the gear under my arms, looking for Toothless. He wasn’t hard to find.  I approached him, but he moved away from me when he recognized the object I was holding.

“Wait! You know, we talked about this... I know you didn’t want to use it anymore, but this time, it’s for Hiccup. I want you to save him, Bud,” I smiled, eyes full of hope.

He finally approached me and rubbed his head against me, I caressed his head affectionately, then I held him tight in my arms.

“Thank you, Bud,” I whispered.

I removed his old tail and attached the new one instead.

“Come on, try it!”

He flew over me and tried several maneuvers in order to check the tail’s functionality, then he came down to see me.

“Well, everything seems to be working perfectly…”

I put a reassuring hand on the top of his head while looking straight in his eyes.

“I rely on you, Bud, everyone does and I believe in you. Please, bring me back Hiccup, Toothless.”

He licked me over my whole face—a sign of agreement with him—and he flew away to Göteborg.

I couldn’t hold on much longer in here. I had lost a lot of weight, and I couldn’t get out of my cell as much as I used to since refusing to obey Drago. I spent my entire days locked in my jail, waiting and withering. I was in rougher shape than I’d ever been—plus, Drago’s men were hitting me again and their instrument of choice was the whip. I couldn’t sleep anymore; it was like living an endless torture, both mental and physical. The only thing that kept me alive now was Astrid. The image of her smile. She was waiting for me.

Against all odds, men came to find me in my cell.

“Drago wants to see you, in the arena,” one of them announced.

I could barely stand on my feet. I finally managed to stand up, and followed the men through the narrow corridors of the castle’s tunnels. Once we arrived at Drago’s side, he told me that he wanted to see me for a special reason.

Suddenly, he was interrupted by a loud thud—and a cry I would have known anywhere. A plasma blast followed the recognizable cry of a night fury. I couldn’t believe my eyes.

“Toothless!”

In the smoke generated by the firing, he caught me in his talons and took me away from the arena—soon, we were flying across the castle. In the distance I heard the angry shouting of Drago’s men, but I didn’t care anymore. I was once again a free man. Toothless slowed a moment to allow me to climb on his back, then took off immediately, flying at full speed, without any help. I leant on him and surrounded his neck with my arms.

“Thank you Bud…” I whispered. “You saved me…”

I gently tapped his head before collapsing into nothing, I need to get some rest, and since he was able to fly alone—somehow—I let myself pass out from exhaustion.

When I rubbed the sleep from my eyes, we had not yet arrived on Berk. It took a few minutes before I could see the village’s imposing statues, situated not far from the isle’s entrance. I was finally able to make out the shape of the village, and started to hear villagers’ voices… announcing my arrival? We were very close.

I saw all these happy, relieved people but I was only looking for one person in the middle of this crowd. And I finally found her. Toothless slowed rapidly in the middle of the square. I dismounted and I ran as fast as I could to join her.

“Astrid!” I shouted.

“Oh my gods, Hiccup!” she exclaimed.

We fell roughly into each other’s arms, and I clasped her to me with all my might. I was clinging to her as if my life depended on it. I tightened my grip to feel her closer to me, I needed to feel her presence, to know she was really here, with me.

“I’m… so sorry… for not being here,” I murmured between two sobs. “I love you Astrid, I love you so much!”

“Shh… you’re here now,” she said, caressing my hair with a trembling hand.

Then, she took my head between her hands.

“And I love you…” she added, tears in her eyes.

[raflovestuffs]

That is who you are: Chapter 11

First l Previous l Next

Okay guys I know we’re all loosing our mind with those whole new images of HTTYD3 but I wanted to post this chapter before everyone freaking out about the trailer xD So here we go!

Thank you to @megtoons who translated it with me, @chiefhiccstrid and @JoyOfBerK who corrected and of course my dear translator @whosthatgal who improved it!

Please guys enjoy it, there’s one last chapter after this one!

He was there. Hiccup was back on Berk. We could go back to a normal life—well, almost. He was really thin and could barely stand on his feet. The whole gang gathered around him. Hiccup was back with us, and back to his chief duties too, but all this pressure was hitting him too soon, in my opinion. He was standing by my side and I was holding him against me, one arm around him. Heather arrived shortly after the others and moved towards us to take Hiccup in her arms.

“Heather? But— what are you doing here?” he asked.

“I’m here, that’s all that matters,” she said, moved and relieved to see him again.

The whole crowd of villagers was surrounding us, and it started to feel suffocating. I could tell it was getting to Hiccup. He could barely stand, and then fainted in my arms.

“Hiccup!” I yelled. “Wake up! Please Hiccup, wake up!”

In the distance, a voice rose above the others.

“Step aside! Out of the way!” Gobber shouted.

He and Valka arrived next to us and they helped me support Hiccup.

“Let him breathe for Thor’ sake!” Valka screamed.

“He’s unconscious!” I said, panicked.

“We’ll bring him to your hut while Gobber gets Gothi, okay? It’ll be fine.”

I agreed with a nod and we brought Hiccup home. We laid him down on the bed and I sat down next to him, taking his hand in mine with all my strength. I couldn’t lose him. Valka tried to reassure me the best she could, but she was also terrified.

Gobber finally came with Gothi and she got to work right away. She started listening to his heart and she assured us it was beating—that was a relief. Hiccup was in bad shape but we could heal him, I hoped it with all my heart. Gothi asked us to remove his clothes so that she could treat him correctly.

Gobber left the room and we started to remove his top, and we ended up taking away his pants and his shoes so we could see the extent of his injuries. There wasn’t much on the chest except several superficial scratches. We examined his legs and were forced to notice that his stump was infected when we removed his prosthetic leg. Then, we lifted him by the shoulders to survey the damage on his back. And what I saw made my blood run cold. Hiccup had nasty whip scars spreading from top to bottom, all across his back.

And as for signing his work, Drago hadn’t left any room for ambiguity. Hiccup had been scarred by Drago for life. This scar—I would see it every single day when I woke up. For the rest of my life it would be there to remind me it was because of me that Hiccup had been through all these atrocities. I slumped at the foot of the bed. Valka put a reassuring hand on my shoulder.

“Astrid… It’s not your fault…”

I suddenly raised my head.

“Of course it’s my fault! If he hadn’t listened to me, we’d have gone and…”

“You’d both get captured and we couldn’t have saved you. But you’re here, both of you are safe. That’s all that matters.”

I looked at Hiccup and grabbed his hand, and held it very hard, then I kissed him.

“Drago will pay for that.”

Gothi and Valka remained silent for a moment, then they ended up finding sheets, water and ointments of all kinds to heal the chief. I helped them in their task; from now on, I was going to stick to him like glue. Valka and I laid him down on his stomach so that Gothi could apply a viscous mixture onto the lash scars on his back. Then she took care of his infected leg, using several medications, each one more unusual than the last. When she was done, she explained us that he would mainly need rest, but that it was a matter of time before he woke up due to his obvious lack of food. Valka left me alone with him to go prepare what he needed for when he woke up.

I hung onto Hiccup’s hand as if his life depended on it.

Valka was right—I should settle for Hiccup being here and safe, and finally reunited after these five months of torture. I was so happy to see him again and I missed him so much. Life without him had been a nightmare. I had so many things to tell him, but especially one thing in particular. I instinctively put a hand on my belly, then I seized Hiccup’s and placed it delicately on it.

“We’re gonna be a family Hiccup,” I muttered, “We’re gonna have a baby…”

I knew he couldn’t hear me, but I felt the need to tell him. I was so excited to announce to him that I was pregnant! But I had to wait a little longer; it was a lot to take in. I looked at him, smiling, then I finally dozed off by his side.

When I woke up, Hiccup was still asleep and his hand was still tight in mine. I got out of the bed and went back to my chair to watch him. He was moaning in his sleep and he had this tortured expression that I couldn’t bear, he must have been in pain. I couldn’t allow myself to think about all the atrocities he had to endure over there… But I would have to know. Keeping it to himself was not an option, and talking about it could be for the greater good and would enable him to move on.

Suddenly, the door opened up and a green-eyed girl came in. Heather. My rock, my confidant, my strength, my best friend.

“Hey,” she whispered.

I smiled to her in response. She grabbed a chair to sit down next to me, then she slung her arm around my shoulder.

“So, how you holding up? Are you okay?” she questioned me.

I took the hand she had on me and held it affectionately.

“I’m fine,” I said.

“Good.”

She put her hands on my shoulders and took them off for an instant to sit down on her chair. She put her hand on my right shoulder again, smiling.

“You know, everybody is worrying about you in the village. People ask me how you are and if Hiccup will recover.”

“He hasn’t woken up yet.”

“I’m sure he will very soon,” she said with enthusiasm.

“I hope so,” I sighed.

“Stop being so negative, Astrid!” she exclaimed while faintly pushing me.

“I’m being a realist, Heather. You saw the state he was in when he came back… He’s very weak and if he doesn’t make it…” I sobbed.

“Astrid…”

Her voice broke. She took me in her arms and I burst into tears.

“I was so scared! I thought he might have been dead already, and now he’s lying here near death and I can’t do anything!” I cried.

I couldn’t hold the spasms that were passing through my body so I let it all out, my fears, my anger, my sorrows, all of it. And Heather was supporting me, both physically and psychologically. She was there for me.

“Hey… It’s going to be okay, you’ll see,” she said softly.

She raised my head and wiped away a tear with her thumb. She smiled to me and we had a last hug before she left for the Great Hall. I put my head again on the bed, next to Hiccup, and I sank into the realm of dreams once again.

…

“Astrid?” I woke up with a startle when I found Hiccup with opened eyes. I bounced back hurriedly to take him in my arms and we hugged so hard that tears flew down my face.

“You’re here…” I murmured.

“I’m here,” he said by tightening his grip.

We stayed like that until I came to my senses.

“Oh Hiccup! I was so worried about you but thank Thor you’re alive!” I exclaimed.

“And I intend to be around a long time to be with you,” he declared amorously.

“With us…” I confessed.

He made his confused face, the one he made when he couldn’t understand what I was saying.

“Hiccup,” I said by tightening his hand once again, “I know you just came back and we’ve barely been together... I know that’s a lot to take in all at once, but I can’t keep it to myself any longer so…”

“What? What is it, Astrid?” he asked with a concerned voice.

I delicately took his hands and put them on my round belly with caution. I maintained his hands on it and took a deep breath.

“I’m pregnant…” I whispered, my voice full of emotion.

“Astrid… That’s amazing!” he exclaimed and turned towards me.

He took me in his arms and we embraced, both of us overwhelmed by a new kind of love—we were overflowing with it.

I looked at him, smiling as I watched his face. I put his face very close to mine in order to kiss him. I needed to show him how much I had missed him.

“Life without you really doesn’t make sense…” Hiccup admitted.

I kissed him in response. Someone knocked at the door then a young woman entered.

“Well… It looks like the chief has finally woken up…”

Heather elbowed against the wall.

“But he took the wrong food…” she added with sarcasm, smirking.

Hiccup and I looked at each other, embarrassed, then we split.

“Welcome home,” she told Hiccup. “I’ll tell Valka,” she said to me. “See you later!” Heather left, so we could pick up where we left off but instead, we started laughing.

“Sorry, sometimes Heather is… annoying,” I said.

“You could be sisters, you two,” he mocked.

“Don’t complicate her situation, she already had enough problems with siblings. She’s the Berserkers’ chief now and it’s better this way, believe me.”

“I don’t doubt it Astrid, she’s a precious ally for Berk.”

“And a precious friend,” I added.

“And a precious friend,” he repeated while hugging me.

The door opened on this private embrace. Valka entered, followed by Gothi and Gobber, and she ran to Hiccup and I. I stood aside. She caressed her son’s cheek, smiling, then she hugged him. She whispered something to his ear that I couldn’t hear and she stepped away from him, letting Gobber take her place. He smiled to Hiccup and took him briefly in his arms, then he gave him a pat on the back.

“It’s good to see you, kid.”

Hiccup smiled without saying a word and I could go back next to him. Gothi moved closer to us with a bowl of soup in her hands, and she gave it to him. Hiccup took it and thanked her.

“Drink, it’s an infusion prepared by Gothi herself, it will build up your strength,” Valka informed.

Hiccup drank the whole container in no time. Valka left the room a brief instant before coming back with a tray full of healthy things.

“You must be hungry,” she said, dropping it front of her son. “Gobber and I made it,” she added like it was important, Valka cooked very well.

“Thank you so much...”

“It’s okay, what are you waiting for? Eat!” Valka exclaimed.

Hiccup didn’t wait any longer, he was starving. He ate the entire contents of the tray while Valka and Gobber told him how I had ruled the village during his absence.

“She did very well, you know,” Gobber said.

“She was very strong,” Valka raised.

“I’m sure she was,” he said while turning towards me, giving me a big smile.

They were laying it on a little thick—I also had my weak moments and I surely would have lost hope if Heather hadn’t been there...

They continued to talk about me like that till Hiccup finished eating.

…

“You feel up to standing?” I asked.

“I think so, but—”

“Get up,” I said.

He sat down on the edge of the bed and I gave him his prosthetic so that he could put it on. Gothi’s cure started to take effect; his stump’s wound was almost cured. He successfully stood up by leaning on me, and I helped him walk; we joined the others by the fireplace. I moved with him to the door.

“Ready?”

“Ready for what?” he asked, doubtfully.

I pushed the door, and in no time, we found ourselves in front of all the villagers who were celebrating their chief’s comeback to Berk. The whole village was before our hut, cheering and screaming Hiccup’s name. He was so naive… He wasn’t expecting that, but he was happy. The others went out from the hut, staying close behind us.

“The village is throwing a party to celebrate your comeback!” Gobber said.

“I think I’ll stay here, I’ve almost recovered…”

“Don’t worry, we understand,” Gobber replied.

“I’m staying with you,” I said.

“No Astrid, have fun with the others, you need it.”

“I need you,” I smiled.

“Well, in that case, we’ll leave you alone,” Valka retorted.

“Everybody to the Great Hall!” Gobber exclaimed, followed by all the villagers.

Some of them stayed a little longer to send Hiccup their best wishes for his recovery and offer us gifts of all kinds. Once everyone left, we finally got back inside. I escorted Hiccup to our room and helped him remove his prosthetic.

“Are you okay?” I asked, worried.

“Yeah don’t worry, you could have partied with everybody, you know.”

“Hiccup, there’s no way I’m leaving you for a second, okay? Plus, Gothi gave me instructions.”

“Oh really?” he said, questioning me with his eyes. “What kind of instructions?” he insisted.

“Instructions for curing you.”

“Oh.”

I went to look for a bucket of hot water as well as the viscous cream to put on his back, alcohol and some other ointments of Gothi’s making. I came back few minutes later with all I needed in my arms and I dropped it on the end of the bed. I sat down next to Hiccup.

“Give me your leg.”

I swabbed his stump’s wound and applied Gothi’s cream on it. Hiccup watched me without saying a word, which was a little unnerving.

“It reminds me the time when you nursed me in your hut, when I broke my leg with the Dragon Fly Three…”

I smiled; that was the day he kissed me for the first time. I blushed internally.

“Yeah, that wasn’t one of your brighter moments.” “But it was very helpful for us, right?” he said, caressing my cheek.

He leaned his face toward mine.

“I love you, Astrid Hofferson…”

Then, he kissed me as if for the first time. I kissed him back and we separated. I caressed his hair and I smiled to him.

“Now, take off your shirt.”

He removed it completely, then I asked him to turn and I started to clean up the whip scars with hot water. Then, I applied alcohol and I felt Hiccup stiffen, but it was for his own good. I finally applied the sticky cream to his back.

“Hiccup… I have to ask you… What happened out there?”

“Astrid…”

“I think I have the right to know! Don’t keep this to yourself, Hiccup…”

He didn’t say anything for a moment so I continued spreading the thick cream on his scars. And he finally started to talk.

“After they took you, I found myself alone with Drago and some of his guards. He explained to me what he wanted from me and his plans for the Northlanders, and then, his men brought me to my cell and… they beat me...just for the hell of it.”

His voice was already starting to break. I shouldn’t have asked him, but he kept going.

“Then, I was so relieved to not see you detained in a cell next to me that it allowed me to hold on. I was sure you’d escaped. The first months were the least painful, I had to train dragons for Drago and I also got to have dinner with him sometimes, so I took this opportunity to eat. It was going alright for awhile….but about a month ago, during one of the training sessions, the dragon I was taking care of didn’t want me to saddle him, so I didn’t push him, but Drago got angry and wanted me to do it anyway and... I refused.”

He choked back a hot sob. I carefully touched the scar he had on his right shoulder blade.

“So Drago definitely did that to you…”

I put my hands around his shoulders and he held my right hand fervently. I pressed my head against his back.

“He punished me, and from there things got out of hand… I got myself whipped at least once a week…”

He turned to me and took my head between his hands, he had tears in his eyes.

“Astrid… You’re the only reason I’m still here today…”

He took me in his arms and held me tight against him with all his might. He ended up bursting into tears. I supported him the best I could.

“It was horrible… I thought… I would never see you again, Astrid… I love you… I love you so much…”

I finally cracked. I cried and our tears interfered as well as our repeated sobs. We stayed like that a very long time, then we finally calmed down and we fell asleep in each other’s arms.

It had been a week since my return to Berk. My strength was coming back thanks to Astrid; she was a great support for me. She also brought me to see Erik, my uncle. I talked a lot with him and I understood that he wasn’t the one to blame, he was only an unfortunate pawn in Drago’s plan. Erik was a good, brave and loyal man, we could trust him. In fact, he knew so many things about night furies… Things no one was expecting.

He and Astrid told me how the night furies babies were born. It was incredible. There were still so many things to learn… At this rate, the book of dragons will never be done, which I was sure would make Fishlegs happy. The baby furies, who weren’t really babies anymore, were adorable. Toothless was taking care of them wonderfully, thanks to this protection instinct he had a unique knack for. Toothless, my best friend with whom I was flying again.

I had missed… all of this. This sense of freedom I was sharing with my mom. My mom, Gobber, Astrid… they took care of everything in my absence. From now on, it was my turn to take back the lead.

“If I asked you to come here today, it’s because we need to talk about this whole conflict that’s upon us… As you know, we are at war with Drago Bludvist and we can’t escape it. Drago is merciless and crazy, he will never give up. That’s why we have to stop him, together. How many tribes did you convince to be allies in our cause?” I asked.

“The Outcasts, the Defenders of the Wing, the Wingmaidens, the Great North’s tribes and a few from the South,” Snotlout answered.

“The Berserkers will fight by your side, Hiccup,” Heather added with a reassuring smile.

“Thanks, Heather. Snotlout, you will have to give me the exact number of how many tribes will follow us.”

“No problem Hiccup.”

“Knowing that, I have to share what I learnt on Göteborg with you … Drago told his battle plans…” “Really?” Fishlegs wondered.

“So cool!” Tuffnut said, amazed.

His sister gave him a punch in his ribs.

“Cut it out, would ya, it’s serious!” Ruff argued.

“Hey… alright, no need to yell…” Tuff pouted.

“What did you learn?” Heather asked.

So I explained to them how Drago planned to penetrate Berk and when he would like to strike. I also told them about the dragon armies he intended to use against us. I told them of the training those dragons had endured, as well as the number of men Drago had at his disposal, and the program they had; I described the battles strategies they had established, then I pointed out their strengths and weaknesses.

“Of course, knowing I escaped, I’m sure he’s changed his plans—but it gives you an idea of what Drago was up to,” I concluded.

“So we have three months left…” Astrid stated.

“Three months, it’s not much but it’s more than enough for Vikings like us!” Snotlout exclaimed.

“Snotlout is right, friends, we are Vikings… It’s an occupational hazard!” I added.

Everybody stood up and raised their fists in the air, shouting in agreement. This ended the council meeting.

Once everyone had left the Great Hall, Astrid came to see me, gripping my shoulder from behind. I turned around to face her.

“I’m so proud of you, my beloved chief…” she said, hands tied around my neck.

I gripped her by the waist while drawing her close to me.

“Thank you Astrid… Thank you for everything.”

She briefly kissed my lips, then she held me tight in her arms again before pulling away from me, a hand on each of my shoulders.

“Come on, leave already, I’m sure you’re dying to fly!”

I put a kiss on her cheek and smiled to her before joining Toothless to fly away. Astrid knew me so well, she knew that after this kind of meeting, I needed to relieve the pressure. She understood me. And I was deeply grateful for her.

Soon, I found myself in the air on Toothless’ back, followed by his little ones. We flew for a long time, heading east, finally landing on a nearby island. I dismounted smoothly and sat down on at the side of a rocky cliff, hanging out over the icy ocean. Toothless joined me right away. I caressed his head affectionately.

“You’ve missed it too, eh, Bud?” I asked him.

He shook his head in a groan.

“The little ones seemed to enjoy the trip anyway… Look at this, they’re so tired that they’re falling asleep,” I sneered. “Ah, you’re so lucky, Bud…”

He agreed, tilting his head slightly while closing his eyes and uttering a small affirmative roar. I rested my head on his back in order to contemplate the sky.

“You know, I’m going to be a dad too…” He warbled happily in agreement.

“If you only knew how much it’s scaring me! I’m afraid I won’t be good enough… How am I supposed to become one without even having prepared for it? And Astrid would kill me if I screwed it up!”

Toothless gave me a gentle smack on the head.

“Ouch!”

I looked at him, he gave me the stink eye.

“Well, okay, she’s not gonna kill me but she’ll be very upset…”

I continued observing the sky.

“But you know, I’m also very excited about meeting this little one… And Astrid is very happy since she knows she’s pregnant… I want to see her smile etched on her lips forever.”

Toothless let out a kind of purring.

“You’re right Bud, I’ll learn with time…”

...

Weeks had passed, as well as months. Berkians were preparing for the war the best they could. The forge was almost always lit; Gobber had to support the village’s weapons demand, which was at an all-time high. I helped him out as best I could—we needed to make enough for everyone in town.

With the help of other villagers, Snotlout and the twins were taking care of the construction of other defensive weapons like catapults and ballistas. Eret, my mom and my uncle, as well as Bucket, Mulch and so many others were taking care of the village’s protection, they reinforced the infrastructure to minimize damage and withstand any major shocks.

Fishlegs, Heather, Astrid and I were in charge of the elaboration of a battle plan for countering Drago’s attacks. The plan was almost finished, except for a few improvements that still had to be made. We decided together on the maneuvers during the battle. Eret would lead the ships, he would be on the front line… Gobber would command the island’s defense with Erik’s assistance, while Heather and I would lead the front row of the attack with Snotlout and the twins. Fishlegs would be on report. Children, young mothers and the elderly would be kept safe in the Great Hall under the protection of my mom and some of my best men. I asked Astrid to join them, but she refused categorically, she wanted to fight, she was a warrior. I finally was able to reason with her -not easily- by telling that in her condition, it was not even feasible. She obviously gave up, knowing that I was right.

Drago still hadn’t attacked, but based on what he’d told me, he would strike in a month maybe, right before the first winter’s frost. We only had one month to get prepared. That was the reason I was gathering all the riders every week at the academy for training sessions for a while now. We were teaching dragons how to defend themselves and fight Drago’s own armoured dragons. I had allowed Astrid to come training with us despite other riders’ disapproval, but I did it to make her happy. In fact, she was the best despite her pregnancy, which was now really starting to show. I had the usual tendency to overprotect her, but she only wanted to prove me she wasn’t weak.

“No, Snotlout! You’re not doing it right!” Astrid yelled.

She climbed on Stormfly.

“Come down, I’ll show you how you’re supposed to do it…” she sighed.

She perfectly executed the maneuver Snotlout had failed before landing beside him.

“Here, that’s how it should be done. If you don’t do these moves in the right order and in a very short time, it’s your men’s lives that you’re putting in danger… Who’s next?” she asked to the group.

Fiery. That was the word that described her at this precise moment. Astrid was fearless, she just made a fool of Snotlout in front of everyone without any hesitation, something that Ruffnut didn’t miss.

“I think that’s enough for us for one day,” said Ruffnut. “Especially for Snotlout…” she concluded, laughing out loud.

The riders headed back to their respective huts, leaving Astrid and me alone.

“So, how does my dear lady feel after blowing off some steam on everyone?” I asked her, trying not to laugh.

“Very funny… At your concern, your dear lady is feeling really well and so is the baby, it won’t stop moving…”

I slowly drew close to her and leaned my hesitating hands towards her swollen belly. She took them and put them gently on it. She gave me a smile and I could felt little kicks through her skin.

“Wow… amazing!” I said, a little confused. “A tiny future Viking!” Astrid let out a little laugh, touched by the situation.

I kept my hands around her belly and kissed her passionately. Then, with my hand, I invited her to climb on Toothless behind me. She wrapped her arms around my waist and we took off. I brought Astrid to our secret sanctuary in the farthest corners of the island. We landed next to our favourite cliff in no time, the night would come soon and it was almost nightfall. I took Astrid’s hand and invited her to follow me, and we sat down at the edge of the cliff.

“What a beautiful sight, don’t you think?” I pointed out to her. “I have to admit it brought back some memories,” she confessed with a smile, a hand put on her belly and the other clenched to mine.

“It’s been over a year now…” I uttered.

She huddled against me and I wrapped my arms around her.

“Over a year ago, we were here, on this cliff, watching the sunset… like today,” she said with a dreamy voice.

“And we are here, about to start a family and I…”

Astrid turned her head and put her hands on my cheeks, dampened with some tears.

“Hiccup… What is it?” she asked, worried.

“It’s just… I realized we’re adults now, we’re gonna be parents and we’re preparing for a war! And I think that… I’ve never missed my dad so much…”

I let my head rest on Astrid’s right shoulder, and she ran a soothing hand up and down my back while my sobs doubled.

“I wish he was here… I miss him…”

Astrid didn’t reply; there was nothing to say anyway. I only needed to feel her next to me. She tightened her grip.

“Thanks…” I whispered.

She parted from me and passed a hand through my hair.

“Thanks for what?” she asked.

“Thank you for always being there for me and being supportive.”

“Hiccup, I love you, that’s all,” she smiled.

“And that’s a lot, Astrid…”

We went back to the village at the end of the sunset. We landed in front of our hut shortly afterward, I helped Astrid climb down and before we got inside, we spotted two people’s silhouettes, stepping closer and closer together—and eventually, unmistakeably kissing. Curious, we got closer to the shadows, hand in hand, and realized it was Heather and Fishlegs. We moved away immediately to give them some space…

“Seems like it’s official now…” Astrid stated.

“I’m happy for them; you’re not?”

“Of course I am, but Heather could’ve told me…” she responded, a bit offended.

I put my hand on her shoulder and forced her to look me in the eye; she smiled. We burst out laughing and we went back to our home.

The night that had followed this wonderful evening was one of the quietest and the most serene we had for months. Gradually, Hiccup regained his confidence and was getting used to the idea of becoming a dad, which made me happy.

Days passed until that morning. We were awakened by the village’s horns announcing the impending approach of an enemy on our island. Drago was here and he was coming to destroy us—but what he didn’t know was that we were ready.

[acoupleofbravedorks]

So damn cute! It's a shame we didn't get to see them in this state in the films or anything.

Pregstrid 💖🥰

[raflovestuffs]

And Pregstrid because yes!

[avannak]

Not sure if you answers this before, but how do you think Astrid would handle pregnancy the first time compared to her last time?

On the whole, her second pregnancy went better.  With the second one, she was more prepared, less new, less anxious.  She was more relaxed through it all.  When her water broke, she was relatively chill.  Walked herself back home and flagged over the people she needed.  It was a longer labor than her first, but the birth itself was less trying.  However, the baby was bigger. XD

What if she did? Haha, then it would have been a rough first couple of years, I suppose.  When I first started thinking of their kids, I initially considered twins… but then I thought about the likelihood, especially considering twins already exist in their group (how common could they be on Berk?).  Twins run in the Thorston family.  Maybe one or two others.  I don’t think it’ll happen to Hiccup and Astrid.

[acoupleofbravedorks]

Hot damn this turned out amazing! Astrid especially is adorable here, and the two of them are just precious.

Maybe redraw the old preg!strid kiss you did a loooong, long time ago? Think it was one of the first hiccstrid pieces you did, if not the first?

I’m afraid I’m not sure which pregstrid drawing you’re specifically referring to so i hope this’ll do!! Thanks for the request!!

here’s the timelapse drawing of this on youtube :) 

[for those interested in making a sketch request, i’m currently working through old requests and will make a post if/when i open up for requests again!]

[avannak]

Can you write a drabble of Hiccup and Astrid telling Valka that Astrid is pregnant please?

“—I-I-I gotta tell… tell Gobber!  I gotta tell my mom!” came the finish to a long babble of disbelief and excitement.  Astrid bore it all with crossed arms and a grin that bordered on smug, her brows raised in fond exasperation.

“No,” Hiccup said a second later, hand pressed against his head. He spun, pointing at Astrid. “You should tell her.  It’s—you’re—I mean, it’s your news.  Our news, I guess, but your body—”

Astrid reached out to settle a calming hand on his arm.

“We can tell her together Hiccup,” she said.  She was the balm to his tremor.

“Right,” Hiccup breathed, lips wet by a finicky tongue.  “Yeah. Okay.  Let’s go.”

He had her turned around and driven downhill with an arm around her shoulders.

Astrid’s knees jerked with each step. Half crushed to his side, she stared up at Hiccup, bewildered.  “Wha—right now?”

Hiccup nodded towards the sun.  “If we wanna catch her at the forge.  She’ll be heading out on Cloudjumper any moment now—ah! There she is! Mom!”

“Hiccup—” Astrid felt the calm of earlier dry against her shoulders.  A cloud of nerves and insecurity she hadn’t the time to address yet threatened to burble upward. “We should figure out how—”

Hiccup was waving, propelling them through the stone hedges.  From the mouth of the forge, Valka smiled widely and returned the gesture.  As they neared, she clapped the remaining soot from her hands on the front of her skirt and said, “Evening.  We’re just closing shop if it’s a fly you’re looking for.”

“Later,” Hiccup waved off with impatience.  Astrid could feel the shake of his leg against hers now that they no longer moved. “Look, Mom, we…”

His voice tapered.

“Uh…”

He looked at Astrid. She stared back, unimpressed.  He shrugged helplessly and gave her a sheepish smile.

Valka stared at the both of them, amused.

“We…” she prompted.

Hiccup lowered the hand on Astrid’s shoulder to her waist and gave it an encouraging squeeze. “Astrid and I—well, her—well, me too. But her mostly—”    His other hand flittered around her front, half gesturing to a topic he hadn’t prepared to breach. “We have news.”

Valka nodded, encouraging.  Hiccup hesitated.

Astrid swatted his hands from her and stepped forward.

“Val,” she said, directly, “I’m—“

A wide, red-fanned head blustered between mother and son; Valka and Hiccup stumbled aside as Cloudjumper shouldered through their small group and went straight to Astrid.

Astrid uttered an "oh!” at the forthcoming greeting.  Her hands rested on the wide flat brow as Cloudjumper’s nose bumped her torso, sniffing up and down with rapidly flaring nostrils.  He bayed, turned to Valka, gullet warbling, before sending Astrid’s gut another nuzzle.

Valka hands went to her mouth.

“You’re pregnant!” she gasped.

Astrid and Hiccup immediately turned to each other, mystified.  Hiccup coughed.

“Ah, yeah, how do you know…” Valka stepped around him and beelined for Astrid m

“Oh,” she cooed, “may I?”

Astrid glanced again at Hiccup, who now stared at Cloudjumper.

“Yeah,” she responded slowly, “sure, but—” Valka was beside her, one hand braced on the small of Astrid’s back, another on her navel. “—there’s nothing there.”

Valka seemed not to hear her and clicked her tongue, “Dragons are amazingly perceptive to body changes.  Smells and energies…” She drew her fingers across the flat stomach and sighed, “This is wonderful.”

“That explains Toothless over the past week,” Hiccup muttered, his eyes passed from the owlesque dragon to the figure that slinked behind him.  Toothless had taken to trailing Astrid as though she smelled of cod.  Hiccup reached over and roughly rubbed the finned jaw.  “You knew before we did, didn’t you, bud?” 

Toothless yammered back through a wide, gummy grin and tongue lolling.  Hiccup laughed rubbed harder, “We gotta work on your communication skills.”

“Let’s try not to celebrate yet,” Valka said, hand still rubbing between the bones of Astrid’s hips.  “It’s still early and a lot can happen in the first couple months.  Best keep it from the village until we’re safe.”

Astrid looked a bit like she regretted giving touching permission.  But the moment she opened her mouth, she found herself pulled into Valka’s arms.

“Congratulations, dear,” Valka whispered with all the sincerity of Astrid’s own mother.

Astrid’s pause lasted half a breath before she relaxed and returned the embrace, and into the warm fur of Valka’s armor, she murmured, “Thank you.”

Valka kept a tight hold on the girl and reached out with her other arm, beckoning Hiccup to into the embrace.  With one last scratch to Toothless’ chin and a fond smile at the offer, Hiccup stepped into the hold of the two most important women in his life.

Valka kissed the side of his head. “I’m so happy.  For the both of you.”

Hiccup’s eyes closed, wishing there was one more set of arms to feel safe in. “Thanks, mom.”

Seconds later, a hook and a hand and a smelly mass of weight joined them.

“I don’t know what’s happening,” Gobber said into Hiccup’s back, “but I’m always game for a cuddle.”

[avannak]

Can you doodle a pregnant Astrid?

First baby :)

[avannak]

I know this will not happen, but if Astrid turn around and told Hiccup she was pregnant in Httyd 2. How do you think Hiccup would react and what would he say?

Um… I think he'd be dumbstruck. And maybe a little horrified.  Because he's trying to dig his heels in the ground about settling down and getting married, and this would kind of throw even more responsibility anchors on him.

Of course, he'd work through that, and get over it, because this is the girl he loves and of course he'd eventually get to that point. It would just be closer than comfortable.

WAIT--I have a pregnancy scare post already. XD

And I have a Astrid-Is-Pregnant-Reaction post.

I have it all. *Magical girl pose*