Searching For You

Chapter 4: Doubt and Determination

Upon seeing the scale laid out in the man's hand Astrid felt overwhelmed by everything she had heard in the past few minutes.

She quickly turned around and started pushing back through the crowd of Vikings who were talking amongst themselves about how this story may not be a lie. But she ignored them trying desperately to get out of the crowd and to her dragon before she passed out.

Heather and Ruffnut were trying to call out to her, knowing she may not be taking this new information very well. When they finally made it through the mass of smelly Vikings she hopped onto Stormfly and, without any hesitation, took to the sky.

Ruffnut climbed on Windshear with Heather and they followed her. Stormfly wasn't moving that fast sensing her rider's distress.

For a few minutes, they flew in silence before Astrid spoke up.

"Stormfly. Land." She commanded, pointing to a sea stack.

The two dragons landed gently on a sea stack that was just big enough for them to land. Astrid slid off of her faithful Nadder, avoiding the gaze of her worried friends who landed just a few yards behind her. Both were already coming to her side to offer support.

Astrid choked out a sob. But she wasn't sure what it meant. Of course, she had a tinge of sadness but at the time she felt a spark of joy in her heart.

She turned around looking at the two other women. "Do you really think it's him?" She asked quietly.

The two looked at each other before looking back at her.

"Do you think it's him?" She asked again. This time with more authority.

Heather sighed before giving Astrid an answer. "Astrid, I don't know what I think. Yes, it could be Hiccup but at the same time it could not be."

Astrid let out another sob feeling as if her heart was being ripped in two. Like Heather, part of Astrid believed that the Hybrid Crazy Carl encountered was indeed Hiccup. But the other part only believed that this was another one of Crazy Carl's myths. Nothing more than a lie.

None of his other stories proved to be true so why should this one? At the same time though, there was actual evidence that pointed to it being true. Astrid wasn't sure what to believe at the moment. Maybe she too was losing her mind. Maybe in a couple of years, she would end up in the same position.

Telling tales one could only describe as legends, stories made to entertain young children. Would she too end up just like him, everyone yelling at her that she had lost her mind while she begged for them to believe her? For a minute she truly considered this as her future.

But she shook away these dark thoughts and listened to what her heart was telling her.

Hiccup was still out there. Living and breathing.

She didn't care how many people told her she lost her mind, she knew it had to be true. She wasn't sure what she would do if it wasn't.

"Well I don't care what you think, I know it was him." She snapped catching them off guard.

"Astrid I know you're a little overwhelmed, but let's think about this logically. We have seen zero evidence that Hiccup is out there and alive. Why would he show up now, seemingly out of nowhere? You think that at least one sailor would've seen him before not just Crazy Carl." Ruffnut explained.

"No Ruff, don't you see! Can't you see the evidence we have that it was him, or at least a Hybrid? The bite was too small to have been a dragon, especially not one that could rock Carl's boat. And what about the scale? I don't think it was Toothless's scale either. Toothless's scales are a little bigger than that and he isn't the type of dragon to attack someone just because one arrow was shot at him. And again the bite is too small to be his."