What We Did Wrong

Letters

October 5, Berk

It's been nine years. Nine whole years. I can't believe we drifted apart so much. She used to be so bright, so excitable, so; different. Her eyes, they haunt me still. Her hair, brightest blonde; like fresh snow. Snow, it makes me chuckle now. Astrid will see me smile to myself whenever it snows, the way it sparkles, twinkles, just like her eyes, the snow she made, the flakes she crafted; just like they used to be. Snow. Funny how something so beautiful could cut me so deep now.

Why? Why did you go? What did I do wrong? How can I get you back? Can I get you back? Why?

Hiccup Haddock; 20 years old, sighed worriedly and closed his journal. He leaned back in the chair at his desk. Staring out his window, he looked down on the Vikings walking around the village. Looked up to the dragons, peppering the sky, filling the air with their calls and echoes. He sighed. "Another day." he whispered to himself. Pulling himself out of the chair he stretched his body out.

"So," a voice called from the stairs. "He's finally up." The young, broad viking turned to see his friend with a long blonde braid and piercing blue eyes smiling at him. Blue eyes, like her eyes, but then, not like her eyes. Hiccup shook himself out of it and smiled warmly but meekly at her.

"Morning, Astrid," he hummed. She chuckled and lightly punched his arm.

"I thought you'd stay in your room sulking all day!"

"Sulking?" the boy asked scoffing at the thought. "I never sulk!" Astrid looked up with a raised eyebrow. Hiccup crumbled under her gaze. He scratched the back of his neck nervously and cleared his throat. "Okay, so, maybe I do, sometimes." Astrid laughed and lightly flicked the stubborn boys nose. "Yeah, 'sometimes'." She disputed, emphasizing 'sometimes' with air-quotes. Hiccup laughed to himself, he had to. Astrid Hofferson was his best friend in the village. Since Hiccup trained Toothless, and showed his people dragons weren't a threat, Astrid was like a sister to him. Providing all the love and support he needed to keep himself sane. Since she left, anyway.

"Thinking about her?" The confident blonde asked, breaking the silence, as girl, dragon and boy exited his cottage. Hiccup chuckled. "Thinking about who?" He asked, semi innocently. Astrid scoffed and ran up fast to walk in front of her best friend. "Hiccup, c'mon, you know you can't lie to me." She slowed to walk beside him. "I know you've been writing to her, or, trying to write to her. There's no shame in that you know, Hiccup."

Hiccup sighed and stopped in his tracks. The sun was already high above the icy rock known as Berk, and he'd locked himself in his room all morning, and Astrid was right. He was writing to her.

Since they parted ways, Hiccup has been writing letters to his beloved friend. Or rather, writing what his thoughts are, and what he would say, if he could see her. If not for her parents.

Nine years ago, without reason or warning, Hiccup's father sat him down, and told him they would not be visiting the neighboring kingdom of Arendelle anymore. Why? Hiccup couldn't understand it. Just why? His father explained that the princesses parents have chosen to shut them off from the rest of the world, and that his dear friend was to be locked away in her room, forever. Hiccup found himself doing something that night he hadn't done before. He cried. Then, he got angry. He threw things around his room, he screamed and yelled, until he had no more air. He slept softly and light that night, all he could see was her. Whenever he closed his eyes.

"For these past years, all I've been wondering is why. Why it happened? What could I have done to make it happen? And will I ever see her again?" Hiccup sighed. No one else on the island knew he wrote these things, Astrid was the only one he told about it. "Since then, she's all I think about. I just find myself reminiscing on, just our old times, you know?" Hiccup smiled to himself, remembering something he never thought would come back to his mind again. The sound of the laughter, and smiling face of his dear friend, he'd lost so long ago.