Chapter 26: Home
Astrid's POV
A wave of doubt washed over me as I stared into the ceiling, wondering if Hiccup had received my letter or not. What if he hadn't gotten it? What if he didn't wish to help me after I left him? What if he had forgotten all about me because he was so busy with his new family? My stomach twisted uncomfortably as I buried my face in my hands.
Suddenly, the door to my cell swung open, revealing the cheery Hilda and a younger woman, who seemed a little timid and shy. "Today's the day!"
I groaned as I turned away from the pair at my bedside who held a long, white dress in their hands. To be honest, I didn't quite get Hilda. Not many days before had she told me of how she had been forced into a marriage by her parents and now she was waltzing into my room, acting like she hadn't told me her story and like she didn't know I was being married against my will.
"It's time to get out of bed, missy, you've got a big day ahead of you!" Hilda chirped as she and her helper dragged me to my feet before putting me into the dress they had brought. The dress itself wasn't bad at all, Hilda was an excellent seamstress, I just hated what the dress stood for. I let my fingers run across the lining of the off-the-shoulder dress as I performed a spin, both for my own enjoyment and to please Hilda and her helper.
Hilda gasped, her hand flying to her collarbone as a smile spread across her face. "Wow, don't you just look stunning?"
I twirled around once again, watching the skirts of the dress flow around my ankles. I hated to admit it, but my Thor, was it a gorgeous gown.
Hilda's helper took a step forward, clearing her throat as she avoided making eye contact with me before speaking in a soft voice: "I'm here to do your hair, Miss."
"Oh." I blinked as I took a step back and sat sideways down on the bed, making some room for her to sit down behind me. It didn't take long before the helper finished brushing and braiding my hair, and by the time she had done that, two guards had walked in the door, ready to escort me to wherever I was going next.
A shiver shot up my spine as I was let out of my cell for the first time since I had arrived on the island. I was escorted down a couple of long, cold hallways with walls and floors of stone, which certainly did not make the fortress I assumed I was in any cozier.
The guards led me down a long flight of stairs before we arrived at a large pair of what looked to be heavy doors. The guards opened the doors, revealing a large room filled with a surprising amount of people and decorated with a bunch of flowers. After letting my eyes take in the surprising beauty of the room, they eventually landed on Fennir, who was standing at the altar with a satisfactory grin smeared on his face and his hands behind his back. I couldn't help but let a snarl escape at the sight of him.
But before I even had the chance to turn around and get out of the fortress, the guards from earlier came up behind me, grabbed both my arms and forced me up the aisle where Fennir waited patiently for me.
"You look divine." Fennir whispered as he bit his lip, looking me over like a starved man looked at a feast. I shifted uncomfortably as I inched away from him. Good Odin, I did not want to marry that man.
The officiator, a raisin of a man whose posture was similar to that of an arch and whose voice was shaking like a leaf, began babbling on about love and the holy bonds of matrimony as I racked my brain for possible escape routes, seeing as help was clearly not on the way.
"Do you, Fennir Isleson take this young woman to have and to hold through the many trials and hardships of life?" The officiator asked Fennir carefully after having babbled on about marriage and love for an unspecified amount of time. I perked up as my brain went into panic mode. I still had no plan.
Fennir gripped my hands, squeezing them so tight my blood circulation stopped for a moment. His stare nearly burned through my skull as he looked like he was challenging me to escape, just so he could show me the consequences. "I do."
The overgrown raisin turned his attention to me, repeating the same words he had said to Fennir to me until he reached the end. "Now, do you—"
The heavy doors to the room swung open, startling the guest, the officiator and Fennir. Fennir's grip loosened around my hands, allowing the blood to flow freely through my veins once again, before I let a sigh of relief escape me. They hadn't forgotten me after all.
Determination radiated from the group that stood in the doorway. By their feet laid a group of guards, several of whom were singed from their apparent encounter with the dragons. A smile spread across my face as I laid my eyes upon my friends, their dragons and of course the auxiliary team, all of whom had come to rescue me.
But my smile quickly faded as soon as I realized who was missing. I knitted my brows together, feeling my heart sink in my chest as doubt and regret filled my mind.
But in the moment I was about to give up and just go home with my friends and rescuers, the group split in the middle, revealing none other than Stormfly, Toothless and ... Hiccup, who looked like he was going to incinerate every person in the room.
I felt my heart soar in my chest as I noticed Fennir stiffening up beside me.
My heart soared in my chest at the sight of my beloved dragon and my husband, but none of them were even looking in my direction, their gazes were fixed on the man that had frozen right beside me. A dark shadow seemed to cast over Hiccup's face as he took a surprisingly calm step towards the altar, before growling at Fennir. "So you're the man that is trying to steal my wife?"
Small beads of sweat slowly rolled down the sides of Fennir's face as he took a shaky step backwards. "M-me? I have have no idea where you got that idea from!"
Toothless' nostrils flared a bright blue as he let out a guttural growl, which made Fennir jump a little. I glanced between the deeply terrified Fennir and the murderous Hiccup and knew that if I didn't step in, Hiccup was going to do something I knew he would regret.
I furrowed my brows as I clenched my fist, channeling all the hatred I felt for Fennir into one jaw-cracking blow to his face, which sent him crumbling to the floor as I calmly walked away from the scene with a slightly stiff hand over to Hiccup, who was standing in the middle of the aisle.
Time seemed to slow as the world around us and all the people and dragons in it faded, leaving only the two of us. I met Hiccup's eyes, my heart thundering in my chest as I wondered whether the rescue was just an act of kindness or an act of love. A bright emerald shone back at me, the fire behind them having died down a little as I moved closer to him. But though his eyes revealed some of his secrets, I still couldn't quite get through the cold mask he kept up on the outside, which made me even more unsure than before.
"You came." I breathed, having failed to notice that I had been keeping my breath for a short period of time.
His eyes searched mine for a minute, not revealing a single thing about what he was thinking as I grew more and more uncertain of what his response was going to be. But luckily for me, his cold outside melted, revealing a genuine Hiccup-smile, one that I hadn't seen in a long time. "Of course I did, it's not like I could just let you run off and marry someone else before we at least attempted to fix what we have."
A smile spread across my face yet again, growing wider by the second as I felt my eyes sting slightly and my throat tighten. "You have no idea how happy I am to see you."
"You have no idea how happy I am to see you." Hiccup's eyes glistened as his arms wrapped around me and he pulled me closer than we had been in months. Delighted that he felt the same as I did, I let my arms snake around his waist as I buried my nose in the crook of his neck, clinging on to him in fear of losing him if I ever let go.
"I'm so sorry, for everything." I whispered softly into his ear as my eyes grew damp.
Hiccup ran his hand over my hair as he leaned his head closer to me. "So am I."
"But they're so cute!" Fishlegs' exclamation burst our little bubble, causing us to slowly pull apart, but keeping our eyes locked on one another.
"Now look what you did, Fish-face! You ruined their moment!" Tuffnut scolded Fishlegs as he gestured towards the two of us, who had completely tuned them out. We gazed into each other's eyes for a minute, silently agreeing on what we were going to do next.
We turned towards the rescue team, fingers laced as smiles lit up our faces. "Let's go home."
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