Hiccup's Point of View
The forest was still. Not in peace—but in dread. The kind of quiet that clung to the trees after something ugly crawled out of the dark.
Astrid stood across from us, her body stiff, eyes sharp, but her hands trembling. She swallowed once, and I knew the weight of whatever she was holding had finally reached its end.
"I never hated you," she said.
Luna's arm tightened around my shoulders. Her claws twitched.
I didn't say a word.
Astrid's breath hitched. "When we were kids... I wanted to be beside you. Not just as a warrior—but as your friend. Your partner. I admired you, Hiccup."
The name lingered like something sacred on her tongue.
I tilted my head, not blinking.
"But my father..." Her voice cracked. "He found out. He warned me. Said if I ever dared show affection for you again, he'd have me married off to Snotlout."
I raised an eyebrow at that. Of course. That slug would've thought it a victory.
Astrid shook her head. "I didn't believe him. Not at first. But then... one night, I heard him speaking to my mother."
She looked up.
Eyes haunted.
"He said if I disobeyed... he would kill you. He said he'd slit your throat right in front of me."
The silence that followed was complete.
Even the wind held its breath.
"I broke," she whispered. "Something inside me just... shattered. I wasn't strong enough back then. I didn't know how to fight him. So I became what he wanted."
Her voice hardened.
"But it wasn't real."
She took a step forward.
"I split."
Her hands curled into fists at her sides.
"One side of me—the one you saw—was the Valkyrie. Cold. Obedient. Hateful. But it was a mask."
She placed a hand on her chest.
"The other side... was my demon. My darker self. The part that remembered what you meant to me. That watched everything Berk did to you and wanted to burn for it."
She drew in a shaky breath.
"That side—she's the one who woke me up. Who reminded me what really mattered. And what I want."
Her eyes locked on mine.
"You."
My fingers curled slightly, but I said nothing.
"I want to give myself to you," she said, breathless. "Completely."
Luna stood slowly.
The air cracked.
"If you think this little sob story gives you the right to offer yourself to my beloved," she hissed, "then you're more foolish than I thought."
I could hear the poison rising in her voice. The shadows gathering beneath her tone.
"I'll kill you myself," Luna growled, "if you ever try to take my place."
Astrid didn't flinch.
But I reached up and pulled Luna closer to me—my arms tightening around her waist, holding her firm against my chest.
Not to calm her.
To anchor myself.
Because something was wrong.
I could feel it.
A boiling.
A storm.
A deep, rising fury building in my chest—not at Luna.
Not even at Astrid.
But at a memory.
At the image of a man threatening to gut me before his daughter just to teach her fear.
My vision darkened at the edges.
My breath slowed.
And Luna must've felt it, because her words faded.
Something was changing in me.
Not breaking.
Sharpening.
Then something Something shifted.
The air went still.
Luna stood from my lap without a word, eyes locked on mine. Her body was tense—not in anger. In alarm.
"Hiccup?" she said softly.
Her voice didn't reach me.
Because something inside me had broken.
Or maybe it had been breaking all along.
And now it was spilling out.
My bloodlust surged forward—unstoppable, venomous. It didn't creep. It erupted. The ground felt hot beneath my feet. The wind hissed through the trees like it wanted to run.
My claws clenched.
My breathing slowed.
And the world turned red again.
"All this time..." I whispered.
Luna stepped closer, but didn't speak.
"I was alone."
The words scraped against my throat like blades.
"Alone. Not by chance. Not by fate. But because they chose it for me."
My eyes burned. Not from tears.
From fire.
"I was the son of the chief. The heir to Berk. And still... a father told his child he would kill me in front of her if she dared love me."
I spat the word.
"Like I was something diseased. Worthless. Beneath them."
My rage twisted deeper.
"I didn't ask for their friendship. I didn't need their love. But I had a right to choose. And they took that away."
My claws cracked against the stone as I drove them into the bark of the nearest tree.
"And so I chose solitude. I trained alone. I plotted alone. I held my power back. I stayed small."
My voice turned dark, sharp as a dagger.
"All to fit... to wait... to plan..."
I stared past the trees, beyond the forest, beyond Berk.
"...and all that time, I could've had someone. An ally. A friend. A companion."
I turned to Astrid.
"And a lower life form... a man... denied me that."
My eyes sharpened, glowing with something deeper than fury.
"That is unforgivable."
My breath hitched.
And then—
It broke.
Not my rage. Not my will.
But the storm inside it.
And in the silence that followed, something shifted in my chest.
Because through the smoke of memory and hate—I saw her.
Luna.
The one who had chosen me.
Who didn't see a burden.
Who wanted the fire. The fury. The sharp edges that made me who I am.
I looked at her, eyes softening only for her.
"If I hadn't been denied... if I hadn't been forced to wait..."
My voice dropped to a whisper.
"...I wouldn't have found you."
Luna crossed the space between us without hesitation.
She wrapped her arms around me, claws dragging lightly across my back.
"You're not alone," she whispered into my ear. "Not anymore. You have me. You will always have me."
I closed my eyes and rested my forehead against hers.
"My partner," I breathed. "My beloved. My mate."
Her lips found mine—fierce, claiming, eternal.
And for a moment, the world was still.
But not everyone had moved on.
I heard the faintest breath from the side.
Astrid had taken half a step forward, one hand raised slightly—like she wanted to touch me. Hold me. Be near me.
But she didn't get the chance.
Luna turned her head, eyes sharp as obsidian.
One look was all it took.
Astrid froze.
Her hand fell back to her side.
And I?
I said nothing.
I had no room for sympathy.
Not tonight.