Tangled Vows

Chapter 43

Walking up the path toward Hiccup's home, Astrid felt a stir of conflicting emotions brewing in her chest. She listened to the crunch of the stones beneath her feet, knowing that it might be her last time hearing them, and smelt the salty air of the sea racing up the hill towards them.

It had always been peaceful there, at Hiccup's home.

However, now that Eret was there too, Astrid wasn't sure how peaceful it was about to be. Before opening the door, and releasing the beast, Astrid stopped and turned back towards her fiance.

"You should probably wait out here," Astrid warned him hesitantly, unsure how Eret felt about leaving her alone with another man. Especially a man that she was mistakenly married to.

Eret furrowed his brow, clearly confused by her request. However, it wasn't long before a reluctant but defeated sigh escaped his mouth in a stiff breath of air. He folded his arms across his chest defiantly, and his gaze hardened as he looked over Astrid waiting at the door.

"Alright, I'll wait. I know that there are some things the two of you need to discuss. I don't want to get in the way of that." Eret explained simply, letting Astrid take the wheel on this and giving her control. "Just know that I'll be outside if you need me."

Astrid found that fact to be of little comfort as she gave him the weakest smile before turning around and walking through the door. It was unlocked, due to Hiccup having returned home earlier that evening, and Astrid didn't need a key if Hiccup was already home.

When she walked inside, closing the door behind her to give them some privacy, Astrid noticed a familiar-looking bag at the bottom of the stairs. It looked full and haphazardly packed before being abandoned at the bottom of the stairs.

It was her bag. The one that she had brought with her when she came to Berk. She didn't remember leaving it downstairs, it was always left in her room, in the closet with the clothes taken out and hung up inside.

Stepping further inside, Astrid finally made her way to the threshold between the kitchen and the foyer. Looking inside, she saw Hiccup sitting almost motionless at the kitchen table, staring blankly towards the table where a piece of paper occupied the space in front of him.

"Hiccup?" Astrid asked hesitantly, stepping into the kitchen carefully as though she were stalking a deer.

"You were never going to stay, were you?" Hiccup shook his head, the air in the room growing thick with anxious tension and a thousand words that wanted to be said, but never could be.

Astrid didn't know what to do. She stepped closer, and further into the kitchen, yet she wasn't sure what she was going to do when she got to him. There was no amount of physical affection that could undo what was to be done.

It was over, and they both knew that. Yet, neither of them was willing to admit it.

"Hiccup..." Astrid breathed his name once again, unable to string any other words together into a sentence as she watched him slip away from her.

"Can't believe I was naive enough to think that I could stop you..." Hiccup smiled to himself, shaking his head sadly as he continued to stare down at the paper. "I mean," - He shrugged - "Now that he's here, there's no reason for me to keep you here. There's no reason that I shouldn't sign it anymore."

Finally, Hiccup looked up from the table and met Astrid's eye. She couldn't tell what he was doing, what game he was trying to play, what answers he was looking for. Whatever it was, she couldn't give it to him.

As she looked at the table, she saw the crumbled creases of the annulment paper she had given Hiccup the first day that she had arrived. It had been safely stored in her room, with Hiccup wanting nothing to do with it.