Symphony of Shadows

35. Bullseye

A/N: Thank you again for checking out SoS, it means the world to me that you're reading it:)

The needle in her arm stung as she sewed the thread through her skin, and she hissed as she slowly repeated the process.

One of the Berserkers had given her a good slash that she'd tried to fix on her sail back to Berk, but her workmanship had been poor. This meant she had to take out the old stitches and start all over again, which was fairly agonizing. Astrid was in her room in the family hut, as her window let in the most sunlight. Her parents had already welcomed her home, and her mother had insisted on making her some yak chops. She knew it was her mother's way of caring for her, even if what she wanted the most was just a hug.

But she ate the yak chops anyways.

The entire tribe had gone mad for a few days, so she mostly kept to herself. They'd mostly calmed down by now, but the hunt for the dragon rider was on now more than ever. Her father nearly got into a brawl with Stoick after seeing her new wound and insisted she be given time off from her duties. Since she wasn't on any missions, her leg got to rest, and she was feeling better by the day. Except for her stupid arm.

She should've gone into a somersault to avoid the Berserker's sword, and she wouldn't have to be tending the wound in the first place. Astrid knew better, but she had been distracted fighting off the other three Berserkers, so her strategy had been a little off. Plus, her leg hadn't been in the best shape.

The Berserkers had gotten lucky that day.

As she finished off her stitches, her bracelet caught the sunlight, and she smiled as she remembered who had gifted it to her. That smile slowly faded as she realized they hadn't set up their next meeting in their haste to get back home. Time had passed very slowly for Astrid since she last saw him, and honestly, she was bored. As grateful as she was to Thor that everyone on Berk was safe, she missed the action.

She did the next best thing and chose to visit Ruff.

It wasn't a far walk to her friend's hut, but she was surprised at who greeted her when she knocked on the front door. A shirtless, muscular Viking with tattoos covering his arms and chest stood in the doorway. What had her friend gotten herself into this time?

"Uh, where's Ruffnut?"

Astrid tried to crane her neck past the doorway, but the man was blocking most of it.

"Boo Bear, there's someone at the door for you!"

He turned and yelled into the hut before sauntering off.

Boo...bear? Freya, help her.

Ruffnut dashed into view and gave the brawny Viking a quick kiss before tackling Astrid.

"Took you so long! You're a terrible best friend. I almost asked Tuff to have a gossip session with me and let me braid his hair the other day. I'm going crazy without you."

Astrid rolled them both over, but Ruff refused to let go of her braid and locked her legs around Astrid's boot, keeping her in place. She could kick her friend's scrawny ass in seconds but decided against it.

She didn't have very many friends after all. It'd be dumb of her to hurt her closest confidant.

"I'm the bad friend? I'm gone for a week, and you're all shacked up with Baldur over there! Who even is that?"

Ruffnut finally released her as she became distracted at the mention of her newest courtship and pulled Astrid up. It was like they were teenagers all over again, one of them boy crazy and the other mildly interested.

The only thing was that this time, she actually was into someone. But she couldn't tell her best friend anything about how she was feeling or how amazing her kiss with Hiccup was.