Will it be forever?

Chapter 17: Suspicions

Astrid's POV
I glanced out the window, outside, the sun was setting over the glittering sea that seemed to stretch for miles upon miles. The sound of dragons squawking filled my ears as I felt my heart ache to see my beautiful dragon once again.

But not even the beauty of the sunset, or the wonderful sounds of dragons could distract me from the stinging in my eyes and the feeling of my heart constricting painfully in my chest.

He wasn't coming.

Though I had told myself the same thing many times before, it didn't hurt any less as I dug my spoon into the wall and engraved it with yet another mark, the 365th one to be exact. I had spent an entire year in captivity on Berserker Island, and I hadn't even seen a glimpse of my husband in all of that time.

I began to doubt his feelings for me as a mixture of sadness and anger started brewing up inside of me. Didn't he love me anymore? Wasn't I good enough for him? Why hadn't he come for me?

WHY wasn't he coming for me?

I let out a growl as I clenched my already bruised fist and slammed it into the wall, sending a ripple of pain up my arm as I quickly retracted my pulsating hand and brought it to my chest.

I glanced down at my bruised knuckles as I furrowed my brows. It was at that moment that the many other injuries that covered my body began screaming out for attention. The heavy stinging from the whipping marks on my back each time I took a breath, my eye, throbbing after a solid punch to the face, the feeling of being stabbed from within, which was caused by my broken ribs, the bruising on my stomach, the deep lacerations on my arms and the many, many bruises all over the rest of my body.

I took a deep breath as I relived all of the moments from where I had gotten my injuries. It had been a rough year for me, and I had suffered through even more at the hands of the brutal Berserkers, a split stomach was one of them. But for some strange reason, they just would not let me die from my injuries, they always hauled me to the nearest healer so they could fix the worst of the injuries, preparing me for another beating the next day. I had absolutely no clue how I had managed to survive some of the injuries I had gotten, I suppose the healers really were miracle workers.

I flopped down on my bed, my back stinging painfully as I desperately tried to get my focus off the pain. I let my teeth sink into my bottom lip. Words couldn't describe how much I wanted death in that moment, how much I regretted not staying with my parents in Valhalla each time those bastards dragged me out of my cell just to beat me to a bloody pulp.

Why did Dagur keep me alive for so long? Surely, even he must've realized that Hiccup had absolutely no intentions of coming to get me, so why couldn't that vile man just let me die? Why did he continue torturing me like that?

I had no clue how much more I could take of it, I had no clue how long I was going to remain sane, because at that point I had already been at the brink of madness too many times to count, and I feared all I needed was a small breeze to send me toppling over the edge of sanity and straight into the depths of madness.

"Prisoner!" The deep voice of the guard that usually stood outside my room called from the hallway as he slammed his fist into the wall.  "I have just received new orders from my supervisor. Seeing as your husband hasn't come for you yet, Dagur has called for your execution, three days from now."

My heart skipped a beat at the sound of his words. Execution. Odin had heard my prayers, I was finally going to rejoin my parents in the halls of Valhalla! After 365 days of torture and pain, I was finally going to be set free.

Ruffnut's POV

"You're adorable, babe." Hiccup grinned at Astrid as he wrapped his arms tighter around her.

"No, you are!" Astrid pressed a kiss to Hiccup's lips as we all retched in disgust at the couple.

Snotlout scrunched up his nose. "Dear Thor, are you two repulsive!"

"Yeah! What happened to you two? You guys were actually tolerable a year ago, but now? Get a room!" Tuffnut pointed out, and I couldn't help but nod in agreement.

The two of them had been that disgusting and overly mushy with each other ever since Astrid returned from having disappeared for three days the year prior. In the beginning, the guys and I thought it to be relatively normal, they were just happy to be together again, right? WRONG! One year later, and they were just as disgusting as they were before, and it was intolerable.

Fortunately for us, we weren't the only ones who were growing tired of the overly loving Chief and Chieftess, the other residents of Berk could also often be found complaining about the two and how they could never take their hands off each other, no matter the time nor the occasion.

But the strangest part of the whole ordeal was that Astrid's dragon, Stormfly, had completely disappeared, which was highly unusual of a dragon that was so loyal to her rider as Stormfly was.

We searched for Stormfly for weeks, but no could find her. The search was eventually called off as we realized that we wouldn't be able to find her and that Astrid didn't seem to care about her dragon anymore, which was also highly unusual of her.

"We haven't become intolerable! You guys are just delusional." Hiccup chuckled as he snaked his arm around Astrid's waist. "Anyway, we've got to get going now, see you later!"

I narrowed my eyes after the couple. Something was really off about them, and had been for a long time.

I turned to the guys. "You guys can't honestly tell me that Astrid hasn't been acting strange for the longest time?"

Snotlout held his chin as he seemed to be in deep thought. "You're right, Ruff, Astrid hasn't been her usual, violent self for a very long time now, and she never used to be so lovey-dovey with Hiccup before her disappearance ..."

"Come on, you guys, do you even realize what you're saying? People change, and maybe something happened to her during her disappearance that made her realize that maybe she wanted to be more affectionate with her husband!" Fishlegs attempted to explain to us, but it seemed that even he was doubting his words.

"My dear, Fishlegs, how does that add up with Stormfly having been gone for the past year, the loss of her violent demeanor and the lack of her axe throwing?" Tuffnut questioned Fishlegs as he stroked his chin in a thoughtful manner.

"I ... I don't know." Fishlegs admitted with a heavy sigh as he slumped over.

"Now who else haven't we seen for a while?" Tuffnut asked us, as if he knew the answer to it already, which judging by his tone, he probably did.

"Uh .... oh yeah, that hot chick Rebekah!" Snotlout blurted out, but quickly regained his composure as he turned to me with a cocky smirk and a wink. "But she could never live up to your standards, my princess."

"First of all, gross, second ... do you think she has something to do with Astrid acting so strange?" I raised a brow at my brother as he nodded in response and placed his hands behind his back, nose held high as if he were some master detective.

"Even if Rebekah had something to do with Astrid's unusual behavior, how are we supposed to prove that? It's not like we have any evidence!" Fishlegs exclaimed, looking like he was only mere seconds away from ripping out his own hair.

"Isn't it obvious? We follow her around!" Tuffnut pointed out as the rest of us watched him in surprise. Did Tuffnut Thorston just have a good idea?

"That's ... not actually the worst plan I've heard, great going, Tuff!" Snotlout praised him, to everyone's great surprise once again. It almost made me wonder what surprise would come next.

"What are we waiting for?" I asked the guys. "Let's go spy on our friends!"