They call me the Commander

Brown box

I, followed by the rest of the gang, rushed in to comfort her. As soon as she saw us, she wiped tears from her face and looked down.

"Are you ok? Are you in pain or something? I can go get Gothi!" I turned around.

"No! I'm not hurt, I, just, realized something I, should have*sniff* noticed earlier..." she sniffed.

"Can we help you with anything?" Fishlegs offered, trying to lighten the mood, even though he was sad himself.

"no, I, just, need some time to, clear my head, think." She wrung her hands.

No one moved.

"y'know, alone?" she said , her eyes conveying the message icily.

Oh, yeah, um, heh, righty ho! Where our responses as we quickly shuffled out of the room.

Astrid P.O.V

Finally, alone.

I lay down and thumped my head onto my pillow. Suddenly, something caught my eye. Something out of place. I liked to keep my room 100% tidy. I forced myself to stand and I walked to the little wooden box on my desk. Weird, I don't even own a box like this.

But it was beautiful. It was impeccably made and it was as smooth as a grindstone. It had a heavenly woodenly smell, and it's hinges where golden and shining. But my favorite part, was the large carving on the top, it was a beautiful picture of a nadder, head poised high in the air and wings tucked in. Dragons were nothing but Viking killing monsters, but this drawing made it look beautiful and graceful, it almost seemed to draw me in.

I undid the smooth latch and flipped the box open. I gasped.

There was a letter, addressed to me, in Hiccup's unmissable handwriting. I gingerly pulled the scroll out of the box, and again, gasped, there was another box, shiny and black under my letter. I reached for it, but stopped. Before she died, my mother taught me, cards before gifts. I pulled on the string binding the letter and began to read.

As I read, tears dripped from my eyes. I wasn't going to try and stop them, for I knew I was sad, horribly sad, and I could never beat the hot tears of sorrow.

I could just imagine him saying those words, in person. It made me want to...to... I don't know. I'd never considered how I'd feel if he was gone. And now he was.

I sat in silence for a minute. I had to compute this.

From age 2 to age 10, hiccup and I where the best friends you could get.

When we turned 10, I started to reject him and hang out with the other kids coz' he wasn't tough and Viking enough. When he was picked to kill I nightmare, I was furious, I never wanted to see his stupid face again. Then, with his kind heart, he couldn't kill a dragon. But a night fury and a fight gone wrong had gotten thrown into to bowl of sorrow. He was blasted by fire and probably killed, and dragged away by a night fury. Only then did I realize that I was wrong all the time and he was a great person, and I loved him. He left me a letter and a gift. He made me cry, but Hoffersons don't cry. I miss him to death.

With courage, I picked up the box and snapped it open. Inside was a beautiful leather pouch, to strap around my waist. I looked inside and I was dumbfounded. A handful of gold coins sat staring at me. My weekly pay was 10 silver, and Hiccup had given me 12 gold.

The other thing was a magnificent necklace. There was a stone, an aquamarine, my birthstone, ground and smooth, planted into a rim of silver, forged with his own hands. The chain was cool and beautiful and was light in my hands. This necklace, I will wear till my dying day.

-------------End flashback-------------

Commander P.O.V (remember?)

The sad thing was, I couldn't remember their faces or voices. I could remember their hair colour and height and clothes, but not their faces or what they sounded like.

I swore I would never go back to berk, but there are migrating changewings making berk their halfway point. I have to be there to keep them at bay. I am leaving tomorrow. I swear I heard of warriors my age travelling the archipelago. Probably the gang. That meant that they wouldn't be there at berk.

Let's just hope that all goes well.