Astrid's Confession: A Message In A Bottle – Part Two
How to Train Your Dragon Fanfic
Eliana Robinson©
A NOTE FOR THE AUTHOR
Opinions can be a tough thing to hear, to this I say to the cowardly message left upon my page about Part One of this fanfic; Patience is a virtue and respect is clearly something you lack. I've removed your vicious review, only for its rude content and perhaps you'll find in this second part, that you were far too quick and judgmental in your nasty comment.
To all others I say;
ENJOY!
Chapter Two:
"A Viking Panic Attack"
"Come on, Hiccup. We better go."
Hiccup sighed as Snoutlout pointed out what he knew was true. Though Astrid's image had long since faded into the smoggy shadows out to sea, he still stood on the beach staring out into the darkness.
As the rest of them got on their dragon's to disembark, Snoutlout nudged Hiccup in the back.
"Give it up, pegleg. She'll never go for you."
His emotions already weakened by worry Hiccup turned on Snoutlout, his worry being the kindlewood instantly sparked into a fire by Snotlout's words.
Fishlegs, however, sensed the tension and stepped in-between them.
"Hiccup. If you like Astrid so much why don't you just tell her?" He asked calmly casting a warning glance at Snoutlout, who then huffed dismissively and walked away to his dragon.
"I...I Don't...I mean..."Hiccup tried to deny the statement but flustered over the words, his attempt only seemed make clearer to the gang how he felt about Astrid.
"It's cuz he knows she'll reject him." Snoutlout chimed in from the back of Hookfang.
"Snoutlout!" Hiccup warned, but on the inside it was exactly what he feared.
"Ignore him, Hiccup you should tell her how you feel."
"Why would she like him?" Snoutlout called back. "He's a one legged puny Viking-"
Hiccup cringed at Snotlout's teasing and swiftly interjected.
"Let's just get on with the mission." Jumping into the saddle on Toothless, Hiccup clipped his metallic foot into gear, opening and closing Toothless's tail. For a moment he looked down at his missing leg. Agonising doubt brewing like a violent storm within him.
His mind and his heart could only focus on one thought…
Why would she like me...?
Far out in the calm sea drifted a Viking boat, its soul occupant sat on a crate with a heavy sigh.
Astrid had been sitting there for hours, listening to the soft sounds of the waves as they lapped at the sides of the boat. It seemed intolerable that there was another day's worth of journey before she reached Outcast island. Oh, how slow sailing seemed once one had flown on the back of a dragon.
That thought lead to another deep seeded sight escaping her cold lips.
She missed Stormfly. She missed-
No, she shock herself and stood. Checking the mast and ensuring that the boat continued to drift in the right direction. She tried to force aside all unwanted thoughts. Tried to keep her mind on the mission.
On her mission.
She shivered as a cool breeze blew through the night, its gentle but cold presence cast out the lantern light hanging from the rigging. Relishing the need to be productive Astrid set about relighting the lantern, however not even that chore could distract her for another day!
Her mind was as unruly as a wild fire! Her fierce thoughts raging out of control. Too much space alone, too much time to think about what could go wrong, what she already missed, who she missed….
Astrid heard a fierce growl echo back to her on the night breeze and realise it had come from her. Anger was always her facade to her true feelings. It was all she knew, a warrior could use anger, wield it like a weapon… they couldn't do so with wayward, weak girly emotions!
The hours wore on, dragging its feet slower than a yack on the way to the slaughter.
She'd sharpened all her weapons, twice and checked her course was true more times than she'd taken the mighty Thor's name in vain.
Still no distraction proved substantial enough to fight back her thoughts. Her pounding hear filled with worry, fear and an emotion she refused to acknowledge…not even to herself.
She was close to pulling her hair out in frustration, but it was more than boredom and waiting that troubled her. She was consumed with thoughts she couldn't keep at bay, with feelings she didn't want to feel and a fear that was choking her half to death.
Ever since Heather and her fluttering big eyes came to Berk; everything had been turned upside down and it was driving Astrid mad with the realisation this arrival had brought. That lying flirting chit of a girl had all the boys falling over themselves.
Even Hiccup!
She tossed her head to attempt clearing the troubling thoughts from her mind. The action brought the unfamiliar dark colour of her hair into view as her braid fell across her shoulder. Taking the cluster of ink stained hair in her hand she stared at it. Almost dazed as the night grew colder.
It had only been a few hours but in her frenzied state she'd drunk every bit of her water supply. She couldn't believe it. She knew better than that! To drink all of one's rations on a mission like this was foolish, but Thor forgive her! She was so nervous.
What if this didn't work?! What if Alvin recognised her?! What if...?!
Tossing her hair back over her shoulder with a gruff sigh she slummed over in misery. She didn't care what happened to her but with Alvin having the book, Stormfly would be in danger, all of Berk would be in danger. The Dragons, all her Friends,...Hiccup...
Astrid stood abruptly to pace the length of the small wooden boat. She needed to focus! Every fibre of her being told her she wouldn't be able to do that if she thought about him.
Though a side of her knew she needed to put the young Viking from her mind she couldn't help the fear. What if she didn't make it? What if she never saw him again...? By the time that thought crossed her frantic mind she was in a full panic.
"NO! This is ridiculous!" She screamed at the clear night air. She was Astrid! And Astrid 'Fearless' Hofferson DID NOT panic! She was a warrior! She didn't overuse her rations, or get hung up on fearful thoughts. She took action, she could battle with the best and win, she could always focus on a mission. She was a warrior.
She didn't panic!
With a deep seeded sigh she sunk back down upon the crate once more, her hands covering her face as she almost sobbed.
It was pointless. She couldn't fight the truth.
Not now when she was weakened by fear, tired, hungry and thirsty….
Astrid 'Fearless' Hofferson indeed panics when it involves that skinny little Viking.
"Odin, help me!" She sighed as the boat quietly drifted across the darkened sea.
As dawn broke over the horizon Astrid woke from a tormented sleep. Her restless heart giving flight to terrifying fantasies of a wounded Toothless clutching a dying Hiccup. Fears soon mixed with memories and she would be pushing through the crowd, her heart racing as she broke from the smog of Vikings to see Toothless clutching Hiccup's lifeless body. Tears stung her eyes as she watched frozen in place, helpless.
When the past relinquished their hold on her the dreams would change, growing more cryptic, more bloodthirsty, but still one thing remained. Each time she had fail to protect him. Each time she would see a shadowy figure strike Hiccup down, the harder she tried to save him, the faster the darkness consumed him and Toothless. Ripping them away from her. Leaving her frozen in cold-blooded fear. Powerless, terrified. Consumed with grief…..
As the sun grew brighter, the clouds drifting away. Astrid reached over the side of the boat and splashed the cold Archipelago sea water on her face. Ridding her eyes of the tears and soothing her troubled heart.
Drawing in a steading breath she took a moment to calm herself. The nightmares had troubled her periodically ever since that day. The day that scrawny Viking had saved them all from the Red Death.
The day he'd changed the world.
Ever since then she played it calm, not wanting anyone to see, but that day had scared her. In one dreadful moment she'd almost lost him. Had discovered how badly it could hurt to feel and discovered just how much she loved him.
In one heart beat she had experienced fear, grief and the sheer brilliance of realisation.
Since then she'd built a kingdom of lies around her heart. Telling herself she didn't care, that she was not in love with him. She played it tough, hid her feelings tried to deceive and trick everyone around her, even herself.
Plagued by the nightmares, irritated with herself, infuriated with the new feelings she didn't want to feel…it was all too much. Astrid stood up and cried out to the skies in anger!
"Yes, alright it's true!"
She loved Hiccup.
There she'd said it, but what difference did it make? Other than to torment her at night and force her to hide her feelings in the day.
Saddened by the hopelessness of it all she fell to her knees on the boat.
Though she feared losing him she missed the days when she'd been consumed by nothing but her training. She'd been strong, she'd been focused….now she was a consent bag of wet cats! Figgity, uncertain and yes, angry. Her temper often appeared in her violent actions. Snotlout often the one to suffer the brunt of it as he tried to charm her.
Sitting back, she gagged at the thought of Snotlout's attempts to win her over. Her act must be convincing if Snotlout couldn't see he didn't stand a chance!
"Okay so he wouldn't stand a chance before either…." She muttered to herself.
Now it was a lost battle. There'd never be anyone else for her but Hiccup.
Yeah, he was a few years younger than her but at times he was smarter, and braver than any adult Viking she knew. A tentative smile curved the corners of her mouth. He would make a great chief one day. She just knew he would. It was because of him that the war with the dragons was over. It was because of him that she had Stormfly. That dragons now lived peacefully among them. He'd changed Berk for the better and…he'd changed her.
"Yay, me!" Astrid sarcastically remarked. There upon her knees, water dripping from her washed face she knelt with her head tilted back her eyes closed against the sun. Hiccup had changed her, and to be honest she wasn't sure she liked it one bit.
All her life she'd been trained to be a warrior, to fight dragons, not protect them and love them!
Not that she'd ever give up Stormfly now….
Back then she had been cold, she'd been controlled. She'd been…numb. Hiccup had shown her how to feel…and she was discovering how much it could hurt to feel.
How vulnerable it made her.
With a renewed vigour she sat up. Reaching in to her satchel bag she found a scrap of parchment and ink. Then as the small boat continued to sail across the sea to Outcast Island she sat and wrote. Wrote all she could, wrote then scribbled out words countless times till she needed to get another piece of parchment for the words had all become unreadable. As the day slipped away into the setting sun she continued to write. It didn't seem to mattered why or how, only that she did.
Many times she screwed up the parchment into a tight ball and pegged it across the boat. Only to get up moments later to retrieve it and flatten it out and start again.
This didn't come easy to her. It wasn't her thing, words, writing. That was all Hiccup!
"ARRR!" With a growl of frustration she scrunched up another bit of parchment and tossed it overboard. She was surprised when she looked up to find the sun had set and darkness was fast approaching. Getting up to check her course and to light the lantern she let out a shriek of alarm as the boat rocked suddenly and swayed from side to side. Astrid steading her footing and dared to look over the edge of the boat. She gasped as a giant green head and neck crawled from the dark water like it was a child rousing from sleep. The Scoldren barely noticed her. As it surfaced briefly and then sunk below the water once more. As its large form swam by its body rocked the boat again and its wing seemed to pick up the discarded parchment she'd thrown overboard and tossed it back onto the deck of the boat.
Now that the shadow of the Scoldren had passed by. Astrid's attention turned to the parchment, damp but oddly intact. She looked at it with such resentment she was threatened to toss it over board once more.
It was a good plan. She tried to tell herself.
It was a ridiculous plan!
She amended.
It was…It was…she picked up the parchment and sat back in her usual place with a resigned sigh. It was a dangerous plan. More so than normal. There was a high risk she'd never see Berk again.
That's why she was writing this stupid letter. Or trying to.
She'd mentioned her parents, asked Stormfly be taken care of. Said how sorry she was that she had failed….
Still the letter seemed unfinished….
What was she to say? What was she to tell him and how would it ever make a difference? It's not like he'd ever get it….and if he did she'd be dead so it wouldn't change anything….
"I mean really. It's not like if I never come back that he would patrol the beaches, just hoping to find some silly little love letter from me…"
Astrid froze.
Why was she adding Hiccup to the letter anyway? She hadn't mentioned Snoutlout and no one would question it! Why was Hiccup any different?
She knew why.
The stubborn part of her just wouldn't except it. She was a warrior.
She didn't fall in love!
She didn't get caught up in her emotions, until that scrawny little Viking was all she could think about! Until he came along she didn't even known she was capable of such feelings. She'd been taught to fight, to kill, to protect she'd never been taught how to love. …and yet…
She did love him.
An unexpected and uncharacteristic sob broke from her throat. Fatigue and hunger bearing down on her and mixing with long simmering feelings.
She loved Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the third!
More than she loved her family, more than she cared for Stormfly-and let's face it she cared deeply for her dragon- more than she cared for her own life!
She was in love with Hiccup.
Another sob rocked through her as she fell upon her folded arms on the parchment. Ink covered her hands and the side of her face but she didn't care.
This was a doomed mission. She knew it now. This wasn't going to work. It was a suicide mission. They all knew it.
"…and what was the problem with that?" She asked of the night air.
"I've been trained to die for my tribe. Why would it suddenly make a difference now?"
Collapsing once more upon the mangled pages she felt the startling sting of tears as they began to fall unchecked down her ink covered cheeks.
"It matters," she began, her heart breaking and healing all at the same time in this moment of admitting what was really, truly, the truth.
"…because he matters to me!"
Astrid indulged in a moment of pity, of misery and heartache. She knew Viking warriors didn't cry, but she couldn't' help it and after all who would ever know? She was alone out in the middle of the sea. Why couldn't she cry? Why couldn't she love Hiccup? Why was she raised to be so numb? Why couldn't she feel? She was human, she was a girl.
She was more than a weapon on a battlefield.
For the first time she broke over the truth. She was a child. Barely 14, she was allowed to be confused, to cry….
It was a temporary state, of course.
When the tears began to subside she began to feel more like herself again. She got up, leant over the side and with the sleeve of her outfit she washed away the ink smudges and tears.
Staring down into the black waves they somehow reminded her of Toothless. Perhaps it was the glossy black colour…still, her mind was captured by the memory of when Hiccup had taken her flying on Toothless for the very first time. The magical moment when he'd changed everything for her and for all of Berk. Okay, so the rest of Berk took longer to convince, but for her, he'd changed everything in a heartbeat. She'd seen him differently from that moment on.
The warrior in her scoffed at the change, but the more softer side of her smiled at the memory.
She'd kissed him.
She recalled as she ran her fingertips through the smooth cold water.
Okay, so it was just a peck on the cheek, but somehow it was…
It had changed everything.
Now she really was a heartless warrior….
A warrior who had lost her heart to a boy.
END – Part Two
HINT: It's a good idea to listen to the song "Message In A Bottle by the Police – and no not The Police, the Police they were an oldies band. It's a great song, and it inspired Astrid's Confession, so I'd highly recommend it.
Eliana Robinson
22/7/18
CREATION DATE – 2/6/15
PUBLISH DATE – 18/8/18
Astrid's Confession: A Message In A Bottle Disclaimer
ASTRID'S CONFESSION: A MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE (PART TWO) - is a Fanfiction of HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON I do not own the characters or original plotline.
PLOTLINE: Astrid's Got a plan to get back the book of dragons. But this adventure reveal more than she'd planned.
This story is NOT for official publication or profit.
ASTRID'S CONFESSION: A MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE (PART TWO) is a HTTYD Fanfiction series and is purely meant as entertainment.
CREATION DATE – 2/6/15
PUBLISH DATE – 18/8/18
PART THREE WILL ARRIVE WHEN IT ARRIVES.