Fright

                                    

                                          
***
"Dad?" Hiccup attempted to bring his father out of his trance. The chief could no longer bear the thought of his children being in imminent danger and raced to find them. "Will you say something?"
"Oh, stop being so Stoic, Stoick!" Valka muttered as he approached her with the same vacant expression. "Go on. Scream, shout, say something!"
The chief brought his hand up to his wife's cheek and gently stroked with his thumb. She flinched at the contact until he spoke.
"You're as beautiful as the day I lost you."
Hiccup couldn't help but smile as he turned towards his sister, only to find that she had disappeared.
"Oak?!" he called, grasping everyone's attention, all except Astrid who was also missing suddenly. "Oh, not again."
***
"Don't even think about it!" Astrid scowled as she caught up to Oakley mounting her dragon by the edge of the island. 
"Yeah, I didn't think I was gonna get away with that." The brunette sighed.
"Oak, I can still read your mind." Astrid reminded. "You go after Drago, you'll get yourself killed."
"And if I don't, I'm putting all of you in danger instead," Oakley explained as she hopped off of StarGazer. 
"That's not your choice to make." Astrid scowled. 
"You just don't get it do you?!" Oakley snapped, spinning towards her girlfriend.
"Get what?!" Astrid responded. "Oak, what are you so afraid of?!"
"EVERYTHING!" She screamed. "Okay?! Is that what you wanted to hear?!"
"Oak..." Astrid finally calmed down, speaking softly. "What are you talking about?"
"I'm afraid of everything." She repeated. "I'm afraid of people. I'm afraid of being alone. I'm afraid of the dark. I'm afraid of being trapped. But most of all, I'm afraid of you."
"Me?!" Astrid gasped in disbelief. "You're afraid of me?"
"I'm afraid of hurting you. Or of losing you. Or..." Oakley hesitated, taking a deep breath. 
"Oak?"
"Or of loving you." She admitted. "Astrid, if something happened to you, I don't think I could handle that."
"Oak, I'm fine." She assured, taking a step closer. "Nothing's gonna happen to me."
"You don't know that. I almost lost you once and I jumped off a seastack." She backed away as tears formed in her eyes. "Astrid, I am scared all the time."
"Oak, it's okay to be afraid." The blonde reassured.
"Easy for you to say, you're not afraid of anything." She rolled her eyes with a huff.
"Actually, that's not true." Heather interrupted as Windshear landed close by.
"What are you talking about?" Oakley wondered as Astrid glanced down at a peculiar-looking rock on the ground, avoiding eye contact with anyone.
"Astrid..." Heather waited.
"I just-" She paused. "It frightens me how powerful you're getting."
"It frightens you?" Oakley thought. "I frighten you?"
"That's not what I meant."
"D-Don't you trust me?" Oak worried. She didn't exactly trust herself but knowing that Astrid did always kept her grounded.