Don't leave me

Chapter 24: Who are you?

Hiccup's POV

"Thanks for helping me out last night, mom" I shot my mother a halfhearted smile as thoughts of Astrid danced around my mind.

"It was really no problem at all, son, and don't you worry, Gothi said Astrid will be just fine in due time" My mother smiled as she wrapped her arms around me and pulled me into a hug.

I furrowed my brows as I hugged her back. "I still don't get what happened, you said that you saw it, right?"

My mother pulled away, keeping her hands on my shoulders. "Indeed I did. I was about to go to sleep when I heard the flapping of wings. I took a look outside and found Astrid flying around on Stormfly. It was truly marvelous to watch that duo perform different tricks as they soared through the sky, which is why I couldn't quite keep my gaze off them and that's when it happened. Astrid failed to secure herself accurately to her saddle and as they performed a spin, she fell off"

I felt my heart sink even further down in my chest. "I should've been there, mom"

"There was nothing you could've done, son, but what you can do now is go check up on her" My mother gave me a pat on the shoulder.

I gave her a genuine smile. "You're right, thanks mom"

"Anything for you, son" My mother said warmly as she stepped outside.

I took a deep breath before walking up the stairs, but it was when I entered the room that I was met with a surprise. Sitting up straight in the bed was Astrid, who looked as if she had just woken up on a normal morning, only with a small cut on the side of her forehead.

It felt like a heavy weight had been lifted off my shoulders. I ran over to the bed and wrapped my arms around her, making sure she knew how happy I was that she was still alive.

"Can't.Breathe!" She croaked, and I immediately let her go. I gazed into her gorgeous, ocean blue eyes, overjoyed to see that familiar twinkle in them.

My smile turned into a grin as I leaned forwards to kiss her, only to be met by a hand.

"Excuse me, who are you and why are you trying to kiss me?" Her brows drew together as she inched further away from me.

"Ha ha, very funny, now please stop with the jokes" I leaned closer to her but she continued backing away from me, causing me to furrow my brows at her.

"I'm sorry, sir, but I'm not kidding" The look on her face indicated that she was serious. I didn't know what was worse, the fact that she had forgotten everything or that she called me sir. I felt my heart drop to the bottom of my stomach.

"Why her? Why Astrid?" I mumbled as I stood up from the bed and began pacing around the room, trying to make sense of it all.

"Excuse me, can you please tell me who you are?" She asked, gaze locked on me as she held her fur blanket protectively over herself, as if she was trying to protect herself from me. Gods, just the thought of Astrid thinking that I would harm her in any way made me sick.

I stopped for a second just to look at her, the love of my life, who couldn't remember who I was. I let out a sigh. "My name is Hiccup Haddock, I'm the Chief of Berk and your fiancé. We live in this house with our two dragons"

"Hold up, did you just say dragons?" She asked, her eyes widening as she wrapped the fur blanket even tighter around herself.

I let out a sigh as I pinched the bridge of my nose. "Yes. But if you could excuse me for a minute, I need to take a breather"

I stepped out the front door and filled my lungs with the fresh air.

"Gods, please tell me this is a nightmare" I whispered to myself as I took deep breaths.

I slumped down on the stone stairs and put my head in my hands, trying my best to hold back the tears that were threatening to spill.

"Are you alright, Chief?" A familiar voice asked.

"Rebekah? What are you doing here?" I looked up at the young woman in front of me. She gave me a small smile as she sat down beside me.

"I noticed that you seemed a little upset, so I thought that maybe you needed someone to talk to" The young Viking smiled as she placed a hand on my shoulder. I gave her a halfhearted smile in return.

"Thank you, Rebekah, that's very thoughtful of you" I stood up from the stone steps. "But isn't it time for you to go to class?"

"Oh, yes! Thank you for the reminder Chief, see you later!" The young woman smiled as she ran off towards the academy.

I let out a sigh as I took a look around me. I had been slacking off on my Chief duties a lot during the past few days, which meant that there would be a lot for me to do. Perhaps it was time to stop sulking and go do something, something that would hopefully distract me.

Toothless and I went for a quick flight around Berk, before turning back to our separate duties as Alpha and Chief. During that day I did things such as helping the twins clean up after their latest prank, help Sven keep track of his sheep, go through some letters I had missed and help Gobber out with saddle production.

When I came home that evening, I found Toothless sleeping outside the house, probably having been to exhausted to go inside. I went inside and cooked a few yak chops for dinner before going upstairs and offering some to Astrid.

"Hey" I shot her a smile. "I don't know if you've been eating anything, but here's some food if you're feeling hungry"

She watched me silently as I carefully neared her, yak chops in hand. She accepted the plate and began eating. I shot her another smile as I was about to head back downstairs.

"Wait!" Astrid exclaimed as I was about to leave. "Thanks for the dinner"

I felt my heart constrict in my chest as I put on another fake smile. "No problem"

Seeing as Astrid probably wasn't comfortable with me in her bed, I decided to go sleep in my mother's old room, where I drifted off to sleep dreaming about our many adventures together.