I will save you

Chapter 24: Forever

Hiccup's POV

It had been a month since Sigurd and Dagur's invasion and both the village and its people were still in the process of recovering from it, though we all knew, it was finally over. All those years filled with battles, death, sickness and other horrible things were now over. We had gotten our biggest threat out of the way and as long as I strayed from making bad decisions, we would be at peace for a very, very long time.

I was sitting in my chair at the middle of the council table, allowing me a perfect view of the Great Hall, which was bustling with activity from all of the dragons and Vikings gathered there for another celebratory feast. Our first had been the day after we had defeated Sigurd and Dagur, which had been followed by another, then another and so on.

With the help of our dragons, Astrid and I had quickly disposed of our enemies by picking them up and dropping them onto the one ship that had been spared from the wrath of all our dragons. It had been a somber duty, but after the last Berserker that hadn't surrendered —or thrown himself into the ocean— fell, we began cleaning up the battle field, dumping our enemies on their last ship whilst we prepared funeral pyres for our own fallen.

After the twins and Gobber had left with the ship of our dead enemies, many different tasks were spread across the villagers. Astrid, who still wore the mask of General Hofferson, took up the duty of leading our prisoners to their temporary cells before we sent them to Outcast Island. My mother along with Spitelout and some of the other older Vikings, already set their focus on cleaning up and even starting on fixing and rebuilding the buildings that had been damaged. Fishlegs, some of the younger Vikings on the island and yours truly, helped Gothi out with the wounded.

It wasn't my first time helping stitch up wounded Vikings after battle, so the deep cuts and missing limbs didn't bother me half as much as they used to, especially seeing as I had suffered some of the same wounds as well. When the more complicated surgical procedures were needed, there wasn't much else I could do but remain with the downed Viking and hold their hand as I assured them everything would be fine.

We lost many good men and women that day, and we all took a moment to remember them all as our faces were bathed in the orange glow from their funeral pyres. The one thing I remembered particularly well that day was when Astrid slipped her hand into mine and gave it a tight squeeze. Every other battle we had fought, one of us had ended up severely wounded and even dead. This time it was different. This time we were both alive and healthy, the only real damage that had been done to us being the one in our minds and perhaps even that wound in my side.

We, as well as many other villagers from what we had heard, suffered from nightmares nearly every night. Each time one woke up panting heavily or screaming, the other would comfort them until we both fell asleep in each other's embrace. Gods, what would I have done if I never got her back?

A warm hand was suddenly placed atop mine. I followed the hand further up the arm and to that familiar face that made my heart beat faster every time I rested my eyes upon it.

A small smile pulled at the corners of Astrid's lips as she gave my hand a light squeeze. "Hiccup, are you doing alright?"

I blinked for a moment, trying my best to pull myself completely back to reality before nodding. "Yeah, I was just ... just thinking."

"About the battle?" Astrid asked, her voice dropping to a hushed tone as she attempted to keep our conversation away from the prying ears of the many people gathered around the table and the room.

I nodded as I let out a sigh. "Yeah. It's probably going to take some time for me to get this over with, huh?"

Astrid let out a chuckle as she rested her head on my shoulder. "It's going to take a lot of time, Hiccup, that I can tell you. But do you know what makes this time different from all the others?"