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Astrid was thrown roughly into the cell, skidding on the ground.
She got to her feet as quickly as she could, rushing at the metal door.
With her injured leg, She was unable to get to it before the guards slammed it in her face.
She pressed against the cell door. The metal cold against her face.
“Cowards!!”
They backed away quickly, away from her outreached arms.
“Let me out of here! Right Now! Or Thor help me I will escape and make you personally regret it.”
The guards backed away quickly, whispering to each other, before leaving quietly.
“Yeah, you better run, spineless cowards!” She yelled after them, before leaning back against the cell wall, holding her leg.
She hissed in pain as she examined the wound, it hurt like hel, but it would be ok, provided she got out of here soon and treated it.
She looked around her new prison. It was a round room, with cells ringing the wall, each cell separated by the same iron bars.
She slid down against the stone wall, holding her legs against her chest.
As the rage faded, she was left with just frustration, fear, and sorrow.
She laid her head back against the cold stone.
Two years, two years since she’d last seen Hiccup,
She slammed her fist against the wall behind her.
This lead had felt like something, felt like this was one, that would find him.
She screwed her eyes shut tight. Trying to will away the tears.
Another dead end, another failure, another day without him.
She opened her eyes, scowling.
“Focus!” She whispered to herself, as she shook her head.
“You’re injured, and this is a dead end, but Stormfly is out still, and she’s definitely on your trail, so all you need to do is escape this cell and get to the deck.”
She pulled herself to her feet, stumbling slightly on her bad leg.
She limped to the cell door, squinting in the dim light.
“Not a lot to work with.” She mused to herself, before she grabbed the lock, yanking on it, testing its strength.
It did not yield.
She growled as she punched it. The metal clanging but not bending.
She looked around the cell, looking for anything she could use.
Her eyes fell on a man, laying unconscious in the cell next to her.
“Hey, hey!” She whispered to him.
He barely stirred, curled in on himself.
She tore a loose spike from her skirt, throwing it at him.
It bounced off his head, clattering on the wooden floor.
The man groaned as he rubbed his head.
“What in the-“ he started to say as he turned, leaning up to look at her. “What do you-?”
He froze as he saw her, and then suddenly scrambled up his long fingers gripping the bars hard enough to turn them stark white. and she saw something that made her freeze solid.
His left foot was gone.
“Astrid?” He asked hopefully.
Her eyes snapped up to his, shining emeralds in the dark.
“…Hiccup?”
There was a single, tense moment as they stared at each other, as Astrid slowly cupped his cheek, proving to herself he was real.
He leaned into her hand, bringing his own up to hers. His skin warm against hers.
The moment stretched, and then snapped,
They grabbed each other as best as they could through the bars, hands intertwined in each other’s hair, as they pressed their foreheads together.
“You’re alive!” Astrid choked out,
“You’re alive!” He yelled, voice cracking.
“I was so worried, I was scared I’d never see you again,” she whispered to him.
“Me too,” Hiccup whispered back. “And I’m sorry, I’m so so sorry.”
I-I just want to say I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, it’s my fault, it’s my fault you’ve been on your own.”
“Hey” she said, lifting his chin, her blue eyes soft.
“No no no, shh, it’s ok, what matters is y-you’re ok.” She said, rubbing her hand in his hair. “You’re ok, which means I’m ok.”
His fingers gripped hers as She kissed his forehead.
“What matters is we’re together again.”
“Where’s Toothless!? Is he ok?”
“Yeah he’s ok, He’s being held on the other end of the ship. But without my leg, I can’t fly toothless, so both of us have been stuck here, but your right leg is unhurt, you can fly him!”
She smirked “so you’ve got a way out?”
“I do now that you’re here,” he said, “Give me a boost?”
She knelt down, lacing her fingers together. Hiccup stepped on it with his one leg, and she lifted him up.
He reached up, and was barely able to reach the slot, clicking it open.
And the lock opened with a clunk.
He dropped down and hobbled to the door, pushing it open.
He gripped the door, and hopped with it, stumbling the last few feet to Astrid’s door.
She lifted him again, and he opened her door as well.
She quickly pushed the door open and nearly tackled him in a hug.
She pulled his face down into a kiss. Trying to fit in years of missing him into a single kiss.
He met her energy, as they held each other and kissed, hears of tension and fear leaving their bodies.
They broke apart, foreheads still pressed together.
“I love you.” He whispered to her.
“I love you too.”
They held there for a tad moment longer than they should’ve, before they pulled apart slightly.
“We’ve gotta go.”
They wrapped their arms around each other’s shoulders, their bad legs together. They stumbled down the hall, leaning on each other.
“He’s in here
She bashed her shoulder into the door, the wood splintering beneath her. She rammed it again, and again, before it finally broke open.
The two of them stumbled into the large room, where Toothless was chained up.
He looked up at them, and his eyes widened in joy when he saw Hiccup, as he shook with excitement best he could in his bonds
“Hey Bud,” he said as he rubbed Toothless’s head, “guess who came to save us,” he asked, nodding back behind himself.
Toothless eyes met hers, and she could see the relief in his eyes.
He cooed as she rubbed his chin.
“Missed you too.” She said softly.
Hiccup was already working on getting Toothless out of the chains.
Astrid rested her forehead against Toothless’s, rubbing behind his ears, his scales warm and solid.
“Really missed you too.”
The neck brace snapped open, and Toothless jumped on her, licking her laughing face.
“She’s gonna have to fly you, pal,” Hiccup said as he hopped around him, “The bastards broke my leg.:
“You ready?” Hiccup asked as he climbed onto Toothless’s back.
She jumped on his back, grimacing as her bad leg brushed against his scales.
“I think so, it’s been a while since I’ve flown Toothless.”
He put his hand on her shoulder. “You’ve got this, just trust yourself, and I’ll be right here.”
She nodded, only a tiny bit of uncertainty visible on her face. She leaned down to Toothless.
“Ready pal?” she asked.
Toothless looked back at her. His gaze serious and comforting.
She nodded, and slipped her good foot into the stirrup, outstretching the prosthetic tail.
She flexed it a couple of times, before leaning down. “Ready,”
Toothless opened his jaw, plasma forming in his throat, as Hiccup wrapped his arms around Astrid, both of them leaning forward.
The blast blew the side of the room apart, and Toothless ran forward, leaving forward out across the sea.
For a single terrible second, she thought she screwed it up, but then the tail caught, as they soared into the air.
Hiccup whooped in her ear, the joy of returning to flying clear in his voice.
She’d missed that sound.
She put two fingers in her mouth and whistled sharply, and she heard a loud chirping cry in response.
She turned to see Stormfly fly across the horizon.
“Girl! Look who I found!”
Stormfly crowed excitedly as she flew around them, Toothless roaring back at her in joy.
He chirped something at her, and she whirled around, blasting fire at the ship below, crippling the ship, before turning and following them.
Astrid spoke up. “We’ve got a small base set up on an island a few dozen miles north of here, we can meet up with the others there.”
Hiccup smiled in relief, and she quickly pressed a kiss to his lips, before focusing back on flying.
And as she felt the wind on her face, heard the howl of Toothless’s wings, Her love’s arms around her, she relaxed for the first time in years.
Everything was ok again.