Will it be forever?

Chapter 29: Love Of My Life

Hiccup's POV

The sound of Dagur's maniacal cackling rang through my ears, causing my head to snap in the direction of his voice, where my eyes landed upon the cackling Berserker, who was standing over something, or rather, someone.

I knocked out my adversary as Toothless ran up to me, panting heavily as smoke poured out of the corners of his mouth. I gave the dragon a pat on the head as my eyes remained glued to Dagur. "Let's see what's got him all giddy."

I hopped onto Toothless' back as the dragon leapt swiftly in to the air, being careful as to avoid arrows and axes being thrown our way before we landed not too many feet away from Dagur, who was still cackling. It wasn't before I slid off Toothless that I saw what the Berserker Chief was cackling about.

My heart momentarily stopped beating as I found myself frozen in place and all the sounds of battle around us seemed to fade. At Dagur's feet laid an eerily still Astrid, face down in the sand with a large axe sticking out of her back as the sand around her turned a deep shade of red.

I found it hard to breathe as my hand gripped the straps of Toothless' saddle for support. My eyes stung as I was unable to tear my gaze away from the scene in front of me. This was not happening.

Then all of a sudden, my lungs began to function properly again as the stinging in my eyes ceased. I narrowed my eyes as I let go of Toothless' saddle and clenched my fists, feeling like liquid fire was coursing through my veins as I lit up Inferno and charged at Dagur.

Dagur quickly dodged my attack as he gracefully stepped away from Astrid. I swung my sword over my head, but right as it was about to strike the Berserker Chief, he blocked it with the axe that had been strapped to his back. "Hiccup! I'm so happy you've finally decided to show up, but unfortunately, it is time for me to go as I have successfully gotten my revenge."

I growled at him as I charged at him, again and again, without even breaking a sweat. "You're not getting away that easy!"

I relentlessly swung my sword his way, noticing that the Berserker Chief was growing more and more tired with each blow. I thrusted my sword forward, leaving a nice burn on the side of Dagur's neck as he hissed and stumbled backwards before gritting his teeth. "Berserkers, our work is done!"

Dagur's voice rang through the battlefield, somehow managing to capture the attention of all his men, who quickly complied as they attempted to escape their opponents. An animalistic roar tore through me as I lunged at Dagur, attacking him ferociously as he desperately tried to make his way over to the closest ship.

"Had I been you, Hiccup," Dagur panted as he swung his axe, which I quickly parried with a vertical blow. " I wouldn't be focusing so much on me, but rather on your dying wife over there!"

Once again, I froze in place as I remembered why I was so angry in the first place. I turned to look at Astrid, who was still laying face down in the sand, and suddenly, I was no longer standing in the middle of a battlefield.

The sun was sinking beneath sea, leaving the sky a rusty orange with strokes of pink and yellow scattered across it as the world prepared for yet another day to end. I was sitting on the edge of a cliff, feet dangling off the edge as my wrinkled and frail hand grasped Astrid's. I gazed up at the woman beside me, ocean blue eyes shining brighter than ever as a warm and loving smile graced her wrinkly features. Her golden hair had faded long ago, but to me, she was still as beautiful as the first time I had laid my eyes upon her.

It was then that I realized that Dagur was meaningless, revenge was meaningless, all that mattered in that moment and every moment to follow was her, only her.