How To Mend A Broken Heart 2

Chapter 50

"I can't believe this." Snotlout grumbled, as he and Hookfang walked ahead of Stormfly and Astrid. "I would rather be paired up with Hiccup or one of the twins than Astrid." Hookfang had gave a snort, making Snotlout roll his eyes. "If you must know, I'm not the one with the special abilities. It's only [Name] and Hiccup that can understand you, so I have no idea what you're saying."

As Snotlout talked to Hookfang, Astrid had followed in deep thought. She had felt bad, for trying to make Snotlout feel guilty about what he had said. She never meant to actually make him go out and search for you just because he was full of guilt. 

She felt terrible. 

"Snotlout," She called.

"I'm busy, Astrid!" He replied, not turning to look at her. "Trying to find our friend here!"

"I know, and I wanted to say that I'm sorry." She apologized.

"Astrid, did you not hear what I just-- wait, what?" Snotlout turned around in surprise.

"I said that I'm sorry." She told him once more. "I really didn't mean what I had said. I was being mean about it and I wanted to apologize." She grimaced just slightly, not used to apologizing to people, especially to Snotlout.  

"Well...thank you." Snotlout nodded, stopping and waiting for Astrid to catch up. When she did catch up to him, they both had fell in step as they continued their path, their dragons following behind. "Could you possibly say that one more time? Just to know that you meant it?" He smirked.

"Don't make me regret apologizing to you, Snotbrain, I'm already starting to feel it." She rolled her eyes, the corner of her mouth twitching upwards, knowing now that they were on good terms.

"What? Hookfang, don't you want to hear Astrid too?" Snotlout asked, looking over his shoulder to see Hookfang giving him a glare. "Okay, okay. Just was asking, jeez."

~~~~~

Ruffnut was walking a few steps ahead of Eret, looking for clues as Eret followed, also looking for clues. 

His mind had drifted a bit as doing so. He was worried for you and Midnight. Out of all the riders, he had felt the closest to you, but he didn't harbor any romantic feelings towards you. Yes, you were a great person with a great personality (not to mention pretty too), but he didn't see you as anything more beyond a friend. And if he had, he knew that he would either have to face Hiccup or Toothless, which he really didn't want.  

His mind had flashed back to the time where you had told him about giving Ruffnut a chance, which he was currently having an inner battle with himself about that. He sighed in defeat, knowing that if you found out that he never gave Ruffnut the chance (especially at an opportunity like this), that you would punish him for it. 

"Have you seen anything yet?" Eret asked Ruffnut, patting Skull Crusher's side as he continued walking. "Any clues?"

"No, haven't seen anything yet." Ruffnut shook her head. "What about you?"

"Nothing yet." He replied with a sigh.

"Watch your step." Ruffnut warned, stepping over a branch. 

Eret had looked down to see a small deep hole. "Uh, thanks." He cleared his throat as he continued on.

"So, Eret. Why did you decide to become a fisherman?" Ruffnut asked in a curious tone, moving aside a low branch.

"Well, I needed to do something, and Berk needed a few more people to fill in as fishermen so..." Eret shrugged. 

Now that he thought about it, he never pegged himself to be a fisherman. He was a sailor and an ex dragon-trapper. He never thought of himself as a fisherman until this moment. He had huffed a quiet laugh, shaking his in amusement. My, how things have changed.

The small smile had vanished instantly as he heard Ruffnut's startled cry, just barely looking up to see her fall through a hole in the ground. He had ran forward and dropped to his knees, peering inside the dark hole. "Ruffnut!"

~~~~~

"Have you caught scent of anything yet?" Hiccup asked Toothless, who was snuffling at the ground. 

Toothless had snorted a no just as they both heard an ear piercing scream, causing Toothless' head to snap up instantly. 

"Someone is in trouble. Come on, Toothless!" Hiccup ran toward the source of the sound as Toothless ran beside him. Within minutes, Hiccup had came to a clearing where he saw Eret and the rest of the gang looking down into a hole. "What happened?" 

"We were talking and the ground gave out beneath her." Eret explained, still looking into the hole.

"Okay, does anyone have rope?" Hiccup asked, as the others shook their heads.

"I do!" Astrid replied, taking out her bundle of rope that was inside Stormfly's saddle, handing it over to Hiccup. 

"Okay, you guys will hold one end of the rope while I tie--"

"No." Eret cut Hiccup off. "Let me go down there. She's my partner."

Hiccup nodded. "Okay."

As Hiccup gave the rope over to Eret, Tuffnut had pushed Snotlout aside to peer down the hole. "Sis, are you okay?"

"I will be once someone gets me out of here!" Ruffnut yelled, as Eret finished tying off the rope around his waist. 

"Okay." Eret gave a nod. "Lower me down."

Everyone had grabbed a hold at the end of the rope as Eret lowered himself in the hole. Once Eret had touched the solid ground, Eret had tugged the rope once to signal the others that he was okay. 

"Ruff, can you walk?" Eret asked, hands hovering above her. 

"No." She groaned. "My legs, they hurt too much." She hissed as she gently rubbed her thighs.

"Okay, I'm going to scoop you up and I'm going to need you to hold on tight, okay?" Ruffnut nodded as Eret gently scooped her up into his arms. Eret had moved to the side, stepping onto the dirt wall to leverage himself as he tugged the rope twice. "Lift us up!"

As the riders began to pull back on the rope, the rope had slipped within their fingers. Luckily, Eret had stumbled to his feet. Eret grunted, knowing that carrying Ruffnut bridal style wasn't going to work.

"All right, lets try a different tacit." Eret shifted Ruffnut so that her legs locked around his waist and her arms were around his neck. He shifted towards the wall, grabbing a hold of large mounds of dirt that stuck out as leverage. "Okay, we're ready!"

As the others pulled the rope, Eret was able to scale up the dirt wall and out of the hole.

"Ruff! Are you okay?!" Tuffnut asked, rushing to her side instantly.

"I'm fine." She replied, reluctantly letting go of Eret. "It's just my legs that hurt."

"Okay, I got you." Tuffnut had scooped up Ruffnut into his arms before nodding at Eret. "Thank you."

"Anytime." Eret nodded.

"Can we go home now?" Ruffnut asked, as everyone seemed to silently agree with her.

"Yeah," Hiccup nodded with an exhale, "I think that would be best for now."