Chapter Five: Rebirth

"You okay?" Astrid asked.

"J-just stay close," Hiccup shakily replied.

Hiccup had his arms fanned out on either side of his body, his weight poised on his good leg and his altered prosthetic hovering over the wood of his house. Astrid had her hands out to him, ready to catch him if he fell again. Another couple of days passed before Astrid strapped Hiccup's leg back to his body, encouraging him every couple of seconds.

Pale and nervous, he looked up to Astrid before he set his foot against the ground gently. He pushed his weight into it and winced.

"It feels weird," he said, glancing at the leather contraption Astrid added to constrict his leg to compress the swelling and stiffen the support.

Astrid blew a stray lock of hair out of face with her mouth, refusing to move her hands.

"You'll get used to it," she promised. "Just take a step."

Hiccup clenched his jaw and slowly sank his weight into his prosthetic. It hurt, gods it hurt, but it wasn't a sharp, stinging pain that sent him crumpling to the ground. It was a cramp, a pain he believed would go away. But he couldn't help but hesitate.

"This isn't the maypole dance," Astrid said. "It's just three steps."

She made it sound so easy. She made everything sound so easy. And he didn't want her to see him fall.

He put his weight on his leg and staggered forward, desperate to return to his good leg. And Astrid gleamed and smiled and gestured him to continue with her fingers. He took a deep breath, his arms still out, and stepped again. He grunted and scowled as his stump settled into the cup, the leather supporting his muscles so they wouldn't swell and bulge. He threw himself forward again, gingerly stepping onto his foot.

But he threw himself too hard, and fell forward. He gasped, But Astrid was there in an instant, scooping her arms under his armpits and following him to the ground. They both sank to their knees – gently, thanks to Astrid's quick reflexes – and Hiccup covered his face with a hand.

Astrid lifted her hand up to his shoulder, giving him a shake and a smile. "You did two steps that time!" she cried.

"Hurray," he groaned sardonically. "Two whole steps."

Astrid frowned and she lifted his chin. Her encouragement disappeared as she forced him to look at her.

"Are you feeling sorry for yourself?" she asked coldly. Hiccup pulled his face away from her hand and hung his head, sucking in a breath. "Hiccup, please. You can do this."

"And what if I can't?" he asked. He looked up at her. But she didn't give his pouting any attention. She leaned back and crossed her arms, unimpressed.

"I didn't spend two weeks living in your house off bread and hvönn roots with bloody fingertips for you to not walk."

Hiccup didn't say anything in return. He sighed angrily.

"I'm pathetic," he spat.

"You're the son of a chief," Astrid argued, as if that alone negated his reason.

"I'm the son of a chief that can't walk," he rasped.

Astrid stared at the top of his bowed head, wanting to slap some sense into him – or something else equally as effective – but she lingered on his words. The way he said it… the memory of him struggling to keep up, a time where people didn't respect him and would rather him get culled so Snotlout could take his place as heir. And she didn't like seeing him this way, not only for herself, but for him.

"Hiccup," she whispered. "Look at me."

He hesitated before he peered up, tears stinging his eyes. Astrid cupped the side of his face, throwing any caution of boundaries and stipulations around Hiccup's title. She squeezed his jaw.

"Look, I know what happened at Ostara is bothering you."

"Thanks for the understatement, it's like you've forgotten my dad is trying to stop a war because of it."

"But you've forgotten everything about Ostara, and what it means."

Hiccup sniffled and an angry tear fell down his face. He made a move to hide it from her, but she caught it with the back of her index finger. He tried to push her away, but she shook her head and held him firm.

"You don't have to be embarrassed in front of me," she said comfortingly. "I know you feel weak and useless, but you know what? It doesn't make you any less of a person. You can still be strong, even when you're upset."

Hiccup shrugged slightly, not quiet believing her, or in himself. The life of a chief was full of educational lessons on etiquette. How to keep himself from showing emotion in front of his people, even when his father disowned him and took his dragon, no tears rushed over his face. He had learned how to be stoic, though he was doing a bad job of it, now.

"Ostara is the time of rebirth," she reminded him. "The snow leaves the land and we can sow our fields. We forget the famine of winter buy eating all the food we can, and we move onto the summer as if it's the last we'll ever see."

He pursed his lips as Astrid gave him a stiff grin.

"You ended winter with the Red Death. You brought her down and freed the dragons. You changed everything about Berk. Everything except yourself."

Hiccup wrinkled his brow as Astrid pulled him to his feet. She grabbed his arms and hooked them around her shoulders. She wrapped her own arms around his waist and lifted him slightly onto his toes. Before he understood what she was trying to accomplish, she continued.

"You have always felt that you don't belong. That you're weak and you don't deserve to be heir to Berk."

"You have a knack of summing things up," he told her, looking to the side.

She smirked and released some of his weight to his feet ever so slightly.

"But you forget that when you did those things on Dragon Island, you gained the respect of everyone. Well, everyone except Snotlout, but I already told you about how I dealt with that. And while everyone had moved into this new age of dragons and Vikings, a summer of prosperity… you've remained in the cold of winter. You understand?"

Hiccup processed her words, clearing his throat as Astrid swayed him back and forth.

"You are the only one left. And yes, you lost a leg. Yes, it sucks. But you are not the first to lose a limb, not by a long shot. Sigourney, Gobber, and Mulch," she listed immediately. "And dozens more. They all went through the same thing, and they all learned how to do things better than before. My mum was able to help you. Gobber found solace in the forge, Mulch has Bucket to worry about."

"And what about me?"

"You think losing your leg undoes anything you did before that? You got me on a dragon, you destroyed the nest. You stood up to your dad. You danced with me. You have Toothless. The two of you need each other," she mused. She turned their bodies, still swaying. "That, and can you imagine all the cool things you'd be able to do with your leg?"

Hiccup smiled slightly, reluctantly, as Astrid gave him a funny look, trying to replenish some humour back into his demeanour. He didn't want to admit it, but she did make him feel better. She invited him to Ostara, defended him there, and after he refused anyone's help, she stubbornly refused to leave his side, all while altering his leg for him so he wouldn't be in as much pain when he used it.

He was about to say something before he stopped himself, his eyes lingering within hers as the two of them swayed side to side. And both of them paled slightly as their gazes remained on the other. He felt heat rise in his cheeks and he watched the gentle flush of pink enter her cheeks. He pulled a hand back and brushed her bangs out of her face, his heart picking up in pace.

Time to be brave, he decided. No more cowering in the shadows. No more being a slave to the Red Death. Time to jump.

He swallowed and took in another deep breath as Astrid's lips parted gently, her eyes trailing between his as he placed his hand behind her ear. "I'm going to kiss you…" he whispered, almost as a thought.

"Is that a threat?" she asked coyly, half-believing he wouldn't, snorting a laugh to the side.

Hiccup closed the distance between them, resting his inexperienced lips upon hers, stopping time in his tracks. His eyes fluttered shut, as Astrid's remained wide open for a brief moment, before she let them fall. Their noses brushed against each other's delicately before Astrid tilted her head slightly, melting into the kiss as Hiccup pulled his lips away. The gentle sound of their lips separating just long enough for them to breathe the air between them made the hair on their skin rise to meet the warm air. She gasped a quiet gasp, fringed with the sound of her wavering voice.

He returned to her mouth, his hand pulling against the back of her head a little firmer, but gentle as if she were a baby bird vulnerable in the palm of his hand. And her arms tightened around his waist as she timidly pulled his frame against hers. He felt her in his hands, in his arms, her nervous shiver. For the first time, they had found something they were equally unfamiliar with. They were still learning, too hesitant, too scared of crushing the other person but wanting nothing more than to open their mouths a little wider, let their tongues trace the lower lip of the other.

Hiccup pulled away, taking in a breath. He opened his eyes slowly as they pressed their foreheads together. He watched Astrid's blonde eyelashes pull her eyelids open. He smelled her skin – the soft essence of hvönn tea paired with the conjured smell of the flowers of her flower crown – and her lips were pink and parted. She looked across at him, into his eyes, before she pulled her head back. The corners of her mouth twitched and she smiled, words failing her.

Hiccup looked up and over her head, and became confused. He looked around the room, noticing that somehow, they had managed to cross it. And when he returned his eyes to Astrid's, she had a sly, mischievous smirk over her mouth.

"'Look at me, my name is Hiccup,'" she mocked, jerking her shoulders up and down, letting go of his waist to flap her hand about unnecessarily. "'I said I couldn't walk and then I did, look at me go.'"

She snickered and laughed as Hiccup shook his head slowly.

"I did that?" he asked. Then he stepped back, putting his weight on his leg. He felt the soreness of it, the stiffness of it, but…

Astrid had made him dance across the room. She had distracted him from the pain long enough for him to sway to the other side of the room. He was across the room.

His jaw dropped as he looked up at her again. "I-I-I did that?!"

"You didn't even notice!" she replied, still laughing.

Hiccup placed his weight down again, stepping up to her once more, but leading with his left leg. Yes, it hurt. And no, he couldn't continue using his leg like that for long periods of time. But all that mattered, in that single moment before he kissed her again, was that he had taken those steps, and she had been there to help him do it, and that she had shown him to be strong once more.

Five Years Later

The dragon riders landed their dragons by the Hangar and removed their saddles and bridles. The journey from the Edge had gone without a complication, and they mingled with the new arrivals of the other clan members. Astrid pulled her hood back, sucking in a deep breath as Sigourney ran up to her. Astrid laughed and scooped Sigourney into her arms, hoisting her mother's frail frame into the air. Her mother gasped and announced her protest, but Astrid set her down and kissed her mother's face.

"You've been gone all month," her mother scolded.

"Storms," Astrid replied simply with a shrug. "Besides, we were busy with a few things and we couldn't come back until they were done."

"Aye," her mother said tersely. "I knew as much when Stoick returned with a Rumblehorn and Gobber, who… well, we don't really know what happened there."

Astrid laughed. "Don't worry. I'll be staying here until the dragon races next week. I can't wait for you to see the war paint I'm going to do! Blue and yellow, I've been saving it for this for months!"

Sigourney smiled and pulled her forward with her hand. "My girl, how I have missed you so over the past weeks."

"How have you been doing?" Astrid asked, wondering about the nights.

"Fine," Sigourney replied simply, genuinely.

"You know, if you want me to stay –"

"The last thing I want is for you to remain here while your friends go on the adventures you were born to lead," Sigourney tittered. Astrid sighed and smiled.

"And Hiccup?"

The last time I saw him, he was pulling his clothes onto his naked body, winking at me as he snuck out my window while I begged him to get back into my bed.

Astrid's face flushed pink.

"What about him?" she asked, kicking herself for accidentally letting her voice hike up in pitch.

"I'm sure you're wondering where he is, considering he arrived yesterday," her mother quipped, keeping her eyes ahead, a stifled smile drawing her lips forward. "And you'll reply you have no interest in his whereabouts, and I'll say you're lying, and you'll say –"

"Oh my gods, mama."

"Precisely."

Astrid rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Fine, I'll bite. But only because you seem so adamant on it. Where is he?"

"That's for me to know and for you to find out. But for now, come with me. I know you're excited for the dragon racing next week, but I have a brand new maypole dress I had made for you for tonight's Ostara celebrations. Come!"

Astrid groaned and followed her mother to her house, her eyes lingering on the forge before trailing up to the sky.

When Astrid made it to her house, Borgný waddled out of the house, a wide smile over her fair face. Astrid smiled widely and immediately placed her hands on Borgný's protruding belly.

"You're so big!"

"Haven't popped yet," Borgný laughed. "When you get pregnant, pray to Eostre to have your baby on time."

"Hah-hah, babies, right," Astrid sighed, absolutely convinced that wasn't going to happen any time soon.

"Do you have it?" Sigourney asked. Borgný smiled, showing her teeth, and lifted a strip of fabric into the air. Astrid glared.

"What is that for?" she asked. Borgný placed it over Astrid's eyes, the two women laughing as Astrid groaned and scoffed.

She couldn't see them as they pulled off her clothes in the confinements of her childhood home, snickering like kids as they pulled her overdress onto her head.

"Mama, what are you scheming?"

"Oh, nothing you can't handle," Sigourney tittered happily.

Even though her massive belly hindered her, Borgný's nimble fingers as a healer and a seamstress had Astrid sewed into her maypole dress faster than she could wriggle out of it. They cinched her waist in with a new cingulum. They threw a cloak over her shoulders so, when they removed the blindfold, she couldn't see her dress. She tried to peek at it under the cloak, but Sigourney slapped her fingers away and pushed her into a chair.

Borgný unbraided her hair and combed her fingers through it as Sigourney sat in front of her daughter, dabbing at her face with a hot rag. Astrid sputtered her lips to try to get her away, but Sigourney attacked her face while Borgný tied it up again. She braided it expertly, pulling the sides back into interwoven braids. But she didn't touch the lower half, letting it fall down her back in waves of gold and yellow. And over her head, the gentle rustle and scrape of a woven crown pushing over her forehead instead of the gentle wisp of her bangs and smooth leather circlet.

Sigourney stepped back and stared at her daughter, tears brimming in her eyes misshapen from her elated smile. And Astrid still had no idea what was going on, nor why the two women had just spent the better part of two hours preparing her, right down to the last stitch.

Borgný turned her around by the shoulders as Sigourney pulled forth a sheet of Gronckle Iron – the only mirror on Berk – and Sigourney unhooked Astrid's cloak. They stepped away so Astrid could see her reflection, tension high in the air.

Astrid's jaw almost fell from her body. Her cream underdress was tailored to her body, a far cry from the loose, frumpy sleeves of the dress from five years ago. But overtop, the red apron-skirt of brilliant crimson shocked her senses, her eyes blinking away any chance of hallucination. Her brooches were not of iron, but of gold, and her strand of beads consisted of Nadder teeth naturally lost. Her cingulum was a braid of scarlet and sapphire strands, and the necklace around her neck had the crest of Berk carved into it. She brushed her fingertips over it, lost for words as her eyes flicked up to her clean face, her loose and wavy hair, and her crown.

Her flower crown, woven beautifully with vines fresh with the emerald mark of rainwater; snowberries, and familiar mauve blåveis and pale yellow kusymre made her glare. And as it all came into a rush, she grabbed her apron skirt, snapping her head down, almost throwing her crown from her head.

"This – these are the Haddock colours!" she cried. "I-I can't wear this –"

"Stoick brought the fabric to me," Sigourney admitted gleefully. "All of this, he commissioned. For you."

Astrid fumbled with the necklace, the Berk crest blinding her. "B-but only members –"

"If you don't leave now, you'll miss the maypole dance," Borgný said quickly. She turned Astrid on her heel and pushed her out the door.

"Wait!" Astrid cried. But Sigourney grabbed her arm and pulled her up the pathway to the meadow, her smile staining and straining her face. "Mama!"

Sigourney said nothing as the pair of them ran up the hill, straggling behind the stragglers. And when Astrid stumbled into the meadow, everyone turned, cheering her arrival and toasting her. Borgný waddled in behind her, content with walking at her own pace, as the crowd parted. Her mother gave her an encouraging push down the path, and Astrid carefully walked down it, wary and self-conscious. And at the end of the path, Hiccup beamed at her, giving her a wink as she glared at him, helplessly smiling like a fool.

So much for keeping their relationship a secret.

The crowd kept cheering as Hiccup offered his hand to her, the maypole looming overhead. She timidly put her hand in his.

"What are you doing?" she asked, looking at the crowd surrounding them. "Hiccup –"

"She's here!" Stoick bellowed, laughing whole-heartedly. He bumbled up to the pair as men and women quietly took up the maypole ribbons in their hands, giggling and watching the chief in awe as he turned to address the whole crowd.

"Didn't I say she'd look great in the Haddock colours?"

Astrid blushed as Hiccup gave her hand a squeeze. More people clapped and cheered. And she become entirely focussed on the fact that the dragon riders were all standing in the front row, smiling like buffoons, and that Sigourney was standing next to Stoick as an equal.

"What are our parents doing?" Astrid whispered to Hiccup, who just laughed and shook his head.

"It's not them you need to worry about, my lady."

And while she was distracted, staring at Hiccup's father and her mother whispering to one another, Hiccup knelt at her feet, clasping her hand. The entire crowd gasped, most unaware and uninformed. Astrid turned and gasped loudly when she saw Hiccup on his knee, his crooked half-grin sending fire into her veins. She moved to cover her mouth, unsure of what to do or say, the feeling in her gut taking over her body.

Only this time, it wasn't a bad omen.

"Astrid Sigourney Hofferson," Hiccup started, causing another stir among the crowd. "I have loved you all my life, and I have hidden it from the world. You have been by my side through the change of Berk. Through the Edge, through the altercations with Dagur, and with Alvin. You showed me that no matter what, no matter how I feel, there is nothing I can't do with you by my side."

He clasped her hands with both of his, throwing all his effort into keep his voice strong.

"When I lost my leg, you helped me back up. You refused to leave me to my own destruction; you showed me how to stand tall once more. And ever since, I have vowed to myself to never, ever, stop trying, and I will continue to until the day the Valkyries welcome me."

Astrid smiled a tearful laugh, sniffing back her tears. Hiccup smiled up at her, worshipped her, loved her in front of the clans, their secrecy tossed into the wind like a rogue flag.

Hiccup shakily continued, staying with her for strength. "My father offers you the Haddock colours. Your mother offers me the Hofferson's. And I offer you my life, my love, and I hope… that once I stand up," he said in a suddenly worried tone that made the crowd laugh as he peered down at his updated prosthetic before looking back up, "that you will dance with me like you did all those years ago. A-and I understand that this may be too much, but I'm willing to wait. But… this Ostara, I knew I had to ask you, for it was you that told me it was a time for rebirth and new beginnings. New stories. And I had to be brave."

Astrid sucked in a breath as Stoick wrapped an arm around Sigourney's shoulders proudly.

"Astrid… will you marry me?"

The question had been said, heard by all the gods above and beyond; the villagers young and old; the dragon riders, the clan members, the dragons in the Hangar; Toothless and Stormfly upon the platform, holding their breaths.

And Astrid repeated it over and over again in her head, her lungs begging her to breath but her heart making her forget entirely. She stared into Hiccup's forest-green eyes, her heart flipping over inside her.

"Do you know where you are?" she asked herself, as if the back of her mind knew she was frozen in time and space.

"What do you see?"

Hiccup. All she could see was Hiccup, looking up at her lovingly, desperately, shamelessly. His unkempt hair, the two braids she braided in to her hair the last time they made love just a few days ago in the secrecy of her house on the Edge.

"What do you feel?"

…Love. And nothing but. And a longing to jump, jump into the unknown, into his arms, into the air.

"Yes," he whispered, her voice silent. She nodded, smiling and hiccupping a sob. Gods, from a girl that could kill a man with her bare hands, she didn't expect to be so overcome with emotions as she was now. "Yes!"

The crowd exploded as Astrid pulled Hiccup to his feet so she could embrace him. She buried her face in his chest so no one could see or hear her cry, and Hiccup held her, rocking her. Stoick and Sigourney rushed them, holding them, two broken families joining as one. And the rest of the dragon riders joined in, surrounding everyone is arms and chests and faces as the musicians started their dance.

And as Astrid seized the maypole ribbon, the red of her overdress a symbol of unity and love, she and Hiccup danced around each other, locking their ribbons together into the turning cage. And though they had to dance around others, they refused to look away from each other, ready to start the rest of their lives, weaving the ribbons around the maypole. And when the last dance began, they stood under the interwoven ribbons as Hiccup readjusted the crown he had made for her, kissing her forehead.

Astrid pulled a breath into her breathless body. "You can never have a normal Ostara, can you?" she asked, laughing as the cage of ribbons twisted above them, celebrating them.

"At least I didn't abandon you this time."

"Pff, no, you just did this instead."

Hiccup pulled her close to him, touching the tip of her nose with hers.

"I'm going to kiss you," he announced proudly. "In front of everyone."

"Is that a threat?" she snickered.

Hiccup chuckled and smiled.

"Come here, you."

And he placed his lips over hers for all of Berk to see, changing the face of Ostara for the couple for the second time under the cage of ribbons that tied them to their home, symbolizing the next phase of their lives in a web of colours.

-FIN-