HttYD: Behind Our Eyes

Behind Blue Eyes

   Astrid had calmed over the years, and if she was honest the time at Dragon's Edge dealing with the twins had really helped. These days it was not uncommon to see her walk through the village, axe at her back, Storm Fly by her side and a warm smile on her lips. After all the emergencies, the battles, the struggles, she'd learned to be happy when the chance presented itself. There was, however, one thing that could always cause her blood to boil in excitement, or anger. . . Or to run cold in fear when he was risking his life again on some crazy, if brilliant idea. . . She hardly spared Gobber a glance after she yelled at Hiccup and slammed the wooden door, storming through the shop. She stopped once at the door out of the forge, turned and nodded a goodbye to the old black smith, not missing the man's sigh of relief when she departed.

   She knew Hiccup, Thor knows she knew Hiccup and how he could fall into his projects. It was another of those times where they'd not seen him for a week, a week! It shouldn't bother her, it shouldn't drive her to her wits end. . . But since that night on Dragon's Edge she'd thought that maybe he'd at least make a point of letting her know he was alive! He'd promised the night they'd returned to Berk to accompany Astrid and the twins on a hunting trip. . . Which of course meant Astrid was headed out to hunt with the twins, alone. She felt her eyebrow twitch at the thought, but she should have seen it coming. She had no idea what he was working on but it was clear when she walked in that he was deep in his own world. If she didn't . . .

   But she did, she loved the intelligent, frustrating, hansom, awkward, heroic, . . . She took deep breaths as she walked, she needed to calm down before she met with the twins. She took one cleansing breath after another, focusing on positive things like the strangely good weather. A little girl ran up to her, offering her a small flower with a heart warming smile, and looking at her with green eyes only a shade lighter than a certain future chief's. Astrid accepted the flower, giving the sweet girl a hug in return before continuing her walk. Vikings were hard headed and slow to change, and no matter what he thought Hiccup was a Viking. She smiled to herself, thinking about his excitement whenever he had a new idea. The way his eyes would light up as he dorked out with Fishlegs, how his hair would be a bit ruffled as he'd pull her aside to show her his latest creation.

   Astrid knew Hiccup to his core now, had watched him grow from the awkward boy into a capable, if still eccentric, young man. She couldn't picture him growing a beard like most of the men of the village, and he may make incredible weapons but he'd probably never carry a traditional battle axe. No, her "heroic, unassuming, dragon rider" was a thinker first, using his intellect to solve what others would have just thrown an axe at. And he was kind to a fault, gentle with dragons and humans unless pushed to extremes. She could remember how gently he tipped her chin, how softly he'd kissed her only a dozen days ago. How his hand had ghosted. . .

   She shook the thought away, feeling a blush taint her cheeks as she continued to walk. Thinking about Hiccup's touch was not the way to calm down, though it certainly changed the manner in which her blood boiled. She smirked to herself as she made it to her home, setting the flower on the clothes press in her room as she did a final check of the gear she'd bring with her. She paused as she checked her weapons, realizing that over the last four years she no longer carried even a single weapon not forged by Hiccup himself. . . Even her twin daggers, and their sheaths on the small of her back, had been a Snoggletog gift from the future chief. She considered a blade, and the etchings Hiccup had taken the care to make in it. The etchings looked like a Deadly Nadder in flight, it's jaw open in a silent battle cry. Astrid could not resist smiling again as she safely tucked the blade into it's sheath. Even if Hiccup was not hunting with them, he was always with her in a sense.

   Astrid shouldered a few bags and her sleeping gear, and called a quick goodbye to her parents, before striding out back to where Storm Fly waited. She saddled and fed her trusty Nadder, cooing to the dragon and silently pondering that even her trusted mount was a result of Hiccup's hand in her life. The bond between the two having started with Hiccup's desperate attempt to catch up to and save their warriors and Toothless from the Red Death. She sighed even as a Zippleback landed near her, the twins calling an excited hello from atop it's necks.

   "He'll just have to make it up to us, wont he girl?" Astrid whispered to Storm Fly, giving the dragon a good chin scratch before mounting up. They were in the air and outbound to a nearby island moments later, the twins belting out some weird opera tune as they flew.