Little Miracles

Aftermath

Chapter Fourteen: Aftermath

For years to come, Hiccup and Astrid never could remember much about the flight back to their village. They barely paid attention when Trista was hauled off to a prison cell. Adrianna was immediately taken to a healer. She shrank back when they tried to come near her and so they were forced to wait outside the main room, relying only on what they could hear from the hallway. Hiccup sat down on a chair near the door and put his head in his hands. He was supposed to be there with his daughter... he was supposed to be holding her...

"It's not your fault."

A voice snapped him back to reality. He turned to his wife, who placed a hand on his knee.

"I should have come." Hiccup averted her gaze. "She doesn't understand why it took us so long to get to her. I made her a promise and I broke it."

Astrid took his hand. "She'll forgive you. You're her hero."

He shook his head and wrenched his hand out of her grasp. "Some hero..."

"You're still a hero, Hiccup." Astrid countered, taking his hand once more. "You worked tirelessly for two and a half days to get her back. You were incredible."

"It doesn't matter, Astrid!" he snapped. "It doesn't matter if she won't even look at me anymore!"

"Hiccup, listen to me." Astrid gently placed a hand on his cheek and turned his face so that he was looking into her eyes. "If not for you, Trista would still be torturing her. She could be dead by now. So even if she won't talk to you, you saved her life. That means something."

Hiccup furrowed his brow, his soul still burning with guilt at his failure. He shook his head and looked away, working his jaw. "Why us? Why did this have to happen to us? Why Addie?"

Astrid looked at him sadly and tried to look at his face again. "Hiccup, bad things happen to good people all the time. You wouldn't ever wish this on any other family and they wouldn't wish it on ours either. No one in their right mind would ever ask for this."

"She's only three years old! I'm nine times her age and I don't think I could have handled what happened to her any better than she did." Hiccup shouted, making Astrid wince. "Did you see her face? She was too scared to cry, Astrid! That's what that... that witch did to her!"

"Just give her time..."

"Two days! That's how long she was gone, two days! And now she might never trust us again!" Hiccup stood up and began to pace back and forth. "What am I supposed to do? I can't fix this... I can't even talk to her..."

Astrid slowly sat down in his vacated seat, watching him with her eyes for a few seconds. He failed to see the irony in his words; he was being just as stubborn as his daughter, never listening to anything anyone said. It was like he'd gotten an idea in his brain and it had started to fester, to take over and control him. She sighed deeply. Now it it felt like she was raising two Hiccups.

"You don't need to do anything. She'll come around on her own." she said, placing her face into her hands. "Please, just stop..."

"Stop what? Being a father?" Hiccup snapped, turning to face her.

"Stop beating yourself up! You did everything you could! Just let her come to you!" Astrid shouted, her head popping back up out of her hands.

"What if she doesn't..."

"Have you forgotten who we're talking about?" Astrid countered. "If I told you that you'd doubt her love for you three days ago, you'd have told me I was crazy! Because you have given her no reason to doubt you! And she'll see that!"