𖣯 ✹ 🌷(makligr) ꏍ ！┈─❟
╰───►chapter seven; hiccup
❝ the thorston dynasty! ❞

     "IT BEGAN with one Fireworm, and as we were flying back, we kept seeing more and more."

    Hiccup had a grave feeling in the pit of his stomach at the multiple patches of fire below. Flying over the forest at the Edge with the team, he set his jaw, trying to push away the burning ache of his nose at the smoke. Fishlegs hugged Meatlug nervously, retelling his story of seeing the Fireworms on his census trip.

    "Do you think they're migrating?" wondered Astrid from Stormfly.

     "If they were migrating, the whole island would be on fire," grumbled Hiccup, scowling at another patch of flames at the base of some rocks to the left.

    "Not necessarily," said Fishlegs.

    Snotlout rolled his eyes, "Oh, here we go!"

    "When Fireworms migrate, they send out scouts to see if their migration route is safe. If this is a stop along that route━"

    "An entire flock of Fireworms could be coming through here," finished Yrsa, staggering in her flight as Helrose avoided a waft of smoke. Dragon scales are fireproof, but the Devilish Dervish did not wish for any stains.

     "Well, I say, bring 'em on!" cried Tuffnut defiantly out towards the distance. Hiccup arched a brow up at him. He sighed dreamily, leaning onto Belch's horns. "I love those little scorchers."

    "Are you still gonna love them when they all land here and burn our entire island to the ground?" countered Hiccup, tyring to keep his annoyance to a minimum.

     "Yes!" Tuffnut snapped back immediately. Then, he faltered, thinking over what Hiccup had said. "Wait━no. Wait," he frowned down at him, "is that a trick question? Because it's pretty tricky."

     Hiccup slumped in his saddle, already tired. How does Tuffnut just make him wish he had stayed in bed this morning already? It wasn't even midday! Toothless huffed, and Hiccup agreed with him whole-heartedly. He gazed down at the patches of fire; they were small now, but they were going to grow━they needed to start preparations as soon as they could.

    "Fishlegs?" Yrsa seemed to be thinking the same thing. She glanced back at the pudgy Viking. "How much time do we have?"

    "Uh ... it's hard to say," admitted Fishlegs. "If it's a full migration, the rest of them could be here as soon as next week."    

     "Ha!" Snotlout let out, sarcastic. "Good to know━" then, he pulled Hookfang back to a stop. He spun them around. "It's been nice knowing you, island. Snotlout is outlout!"

    Hiccup threw his gaze up to the heavens. "Snotlout!" he snapped and spun Toothless to go after him. With a swift dive, he pulled up in front of him, causing Hookfang to fling his wings out to stop barelling straight into them. "We're not abandoning the island."

    Snotlout peered at him, stubborn, "Uh, yeah, we are. Watch━"

     He tried to head upwards, but Toothless was quick. Hookfang screeched, startled when in seconds, they were in their way again. Snotlout whined, throwing his head back, "Hiccup."

     "Guys, we put too much hard work into this place to just leave," argued Hiccup, scowling at Snotlout with his best intimidating set of his jaw. He tried to copy his father━which must work, since he's managed to keep Snotlout in line as best as he could these past three years (Well ... sort of ...). "Snotlout is not 'outlout'. We're staying. Now let's get to work."

     Relucantly, with an angry grumble under his breath, Snotlout threw his arms up, "Fine!" he decided, furious. "But I still like my plan better."

     He set the others off into groups with jobs each. They needed to dig out trenches, fill troughs and find a place for the Night Terrors and other dragons to settle and wait the migration out. Hiccup opted to have Yrsa come with him, mainly because she found it hard to work with anyone else, considering Astrid was paired off with Fishlegs.

     Together, they started to clear away brush around the forest just over the cliff-side. Toothless and Helrose worked very well together━quite like Hiccup and Yrsa, they knew each other very well, and seemed to understand exactly the drill they've done on Berk many times before. All they needed were simple directions, and Hiccup and Yrsa could leave them to it while they continued to clear brush on foot.

     Hiccup had to be honest, he was thankful for these three years between them as just friends. Sure, he liked her━she had made a lasting impact ever since they found Toothless together in that forest. In fact, the moment he had stumbled on her and she had thrown up her axe with a cry, he started to look at her differently. Because the only way she had been there in the forest was because she had listen to him; she had remembered he said Raven Point while everyone else scoffed and shook their heads. Since then, Hiccup had slowly started to see Yrsa in a different light, mainly because she started to let him.

    But he wanted to know her. He had wanted to understand her, and mesmorise Yrsa back to front like she was his favourite book, or the palm of his hand. Hiccup wanted them to just ... understand each other. Or rather, he wanted her to be comfortable in herself before he could be comfortable with them.

     And the best way for that was to be friends. Hiccup wanted to be her friend, and he wanted her to shine to everyone else like she did to him. He didn't want to━well, he wasn't exactly sure how to explain it. He just knew, so far, three years as friends has been good━for the both of them.

     Yrsa arched a brow at him from where she held a mess of sticks, old, dry leaves and other vegetation; ready to take it somewhere else to burn away. "What?"

     Hiccup jumped. Had he'd been staring again? Gods dammit! "What?"

     She peered at him suspiciously. "Is there something on my face?"

     "N━no," he said quickly, internally smacking himself. "I just━sorry━I just got lost in my thoughts, is all. Um━" he hoped he wasn't blushing, because despite what he planned, and they decided they wanted and what would work out for now, Hiccup's heart still pounded and disagreed with his head. (Yrsa didn't help it either, not when she looked at him like that), "━we should get back. Uh━yeah━um━come on."

     Yrsa rolled her eyes good-naturedly at his stammering. She threw the brush into the large trough she had brought with them and pulled herself up onto her saddle. Hiccup hated how he was still watching her. "Well, come on, Horrendous, what are you waiting for?"

     They returned to the Club House, slipping around the open wing doors and into the centre of their Outpost built like a casual Viking Great Hall: travelling deeper into the caves they had found when they first arrived━towards back entrances, chairs, a central firepit and other hang-out places all the Riders worked together to create. Hiccup made a lot of the furniture himself.

     Waiting for the others, Hiccup sat back and tried to think of jobs to allocate while Yrsa leaned against the wall, checking her hair and her nails━dusting off any brush still left. But it wasn't long before the majority of the rest of the team returned and Hiccup could check things off.

     "Okay, Astrid, you and Fishlegs filled the watering troughs, right?"

     "Yep!" nodded the blonde, arms crossed and face determined. Meanwhile, Fishlegs was nervously tapping his fingers on his knees on the stool he sat on. Opposite, Snotlout was kicked back and relaxing, rolling his eyes and rocking his chair. Around them, Toothless played with Helrose, ducking and dashing after her tail that she moved last minute.

     "Ooh!" Fishlegs's face lit up momentarily, "I found a perfect cave for the Night Terrors. High enough and desolate enough so the flames won't get near them."

     "Perfect," Hiccup nodded, a little relieved. He swung his leg off the wood around the cold fire, leaning forward. "Good job, guys. Now!" he tugged his paper of jobs towards him to glance briefly at what he had written. "If the Twins would finally get back, we could find out what they've done."

     Yrsa scoffed lightly under her breath. She arched a brow at the look Hiccup sent her. He knew exactly what she was going to say. "Nothing. Come on, is that honestly a question?"

     He sighed, but held his tongue. Hiccup wouldn't say anything with the others around; he knew how that would embarrass her. But he seriously wished she'd be more ... respectful to Snotlout and the Twins━yeah, sure, they were hard to deal with ... constantly, but they were also capable, and have saved their (her) lives, plenty of times. It also frustrated him because Hiccup knew Yrsa was better than this, but she refused to show it to anyone but him and Astrid.

    "You forgot goose egg," Snotlout added to her, giving her a grin and she just rolled her eyes.

     "Oh, contrary, my fine fellow."

     At Tuffnut's voice, they all spun around, startled. He and his sister leant against the open doorway, smirking and looking very smug. "We have done quite a lot, actually."

    Hiccup fixed his hands on the edge of the wood, gazing at them. "Did you clear the brush on the West side?"

     "Uh ... no."

     "Build a fire break?"

     "Nope, not that."

     At Ruffnut's snicker from her answer, Yrsa pushed herself off the wall and glared at them blankly. "How about water?" she arched a brow. "Did you bring any back?"

     Tuffnut sighed, crossing his arms, "Couldn't," he stated, as if exhausted. "Too busy."

     "Busy with what?" asked Hiccup, not sure whether to be exasperated or confused.

     Ruff grinned, "Finding something awesome."

     "Is it a brain?" grumbled Yrsa.

     The older Twin shot her a scowl, "Very funny, Yrsa, but if you'd look past your snobby nose for a second, you might just see how awesome the splenderous thing we found is!"

      Hiccup quickly got to his feet before Yrsa would snap something worse and placed a hand on her shoulder. She huffed, peering at Ruffnut out of the corner of her eye. "Well, I suppose there's no harm━but after that, you guys need to get started on a fire break."

     The Twins beamed, happy.

◞ ★ ꒱꒱◜

    "BEHOLD!"

    Tuffnut threw his arms out to introduce them to what he and his sister had found ... a boulder. But they were very proud of themselves over it. Ruffnut nodded, hands on her hips and a grin on her face. She finished: "We call it the Namey Rock."

     Astrid tilted her head, incredulous. "And ... why is that?"

     Tuff mocked her gaze, "Duh, 'cause it has our name all over it!" He soon grinned, slamming a fist to his palm. "Cool, huh?"

    "Yeah!" nodded Snotlout, but Hiccup sighed at the sarcastic drop of his face to add, "I mean, no. Man, you two are completely ridiculous."

     "Ridiculous?" Ruff propped a hand on her hip. "Perhaps. But, answer me this: where is your namey rock?" she held the other to her ear, awaiting their responses.

    Snotlout just pinched the bridge of his nose. Yrsa glanced at Hiccup with a, why did you bring me into this?

     Satisfied with no answer, the Twins cackled and slammed their helmets against each other. Hiccup winced at the way they spun on their feet afterwards, dazed. Yet again, Yrsa rolled her eyes and turned away, eyeing Helrose━Hiccup wondered whether she was thinking about just hopping onto her back and leaving without another word.

    "Yrsa," he whispered, trying not to sound annoyed, but he couldn't help it.

     She spun back to face him, a dark brow arched. "What?" she replied, recognising his tone immediately. She narrowed her eyes and he scowled; they had a short staring contest to see who would come out on top this time until Fishlegs interrupted.

    "Uh, Hiccup, you might want to come take a closer look at this."

     Hiccup had to look away and Yrsa frowned in interest. The son of the chief walked up to Fishlegs standing by the boulder and only now did he notice the writing etched into it; it looked to at least be a few decades old. He stopped at his friend's side, peering down. "I think it's a claim stone," he said.

     "'I, Magmar Thorston'," Hiccup began to read aloud, '"hereby claim this island in my name and the name of all my family present and future, forever and ever.'"

    Tuffnut appeared at his shoulder, smug, "And?" Hiccup quirked a brow. "What else?"

     Hiccup set his jaw, and grumbled the last of the claim, "'And ever', apparently."

     "Ha!" Tuff turned to his sister, grasping her shoulders and giving them an excited shake. "Long-lost great uncle Magmar!" his hands flew to his helmet. "Oh, my Thor! Wasn't he the one who could pass an entire cod through one nostril?"

     Ruff nodded, "And debone it at the same time?" she nodded, glancing out wistfully to the distance. "It's really a lost art."

    Her brother slumped, suddenly solemn, "People just don't appreciate the craftsmanship."

     Snotlout rolled his eyes, "Oh, come on!" he said. "That stone is a fake. It's so obvious that these two made it up."

     Fishlegs pursed his lips. "I don't think so," he muttered. "I mean━for one thing," he nodded to the stone, "everything is spelled correctly."

     Both Yrsa and Snotlout's eyes widened and their jaws dropped a little in shock. There was a small silence before Snotlout narrowed his eyes and grumbled, "Okay, you may have a point."

     Astrid's brows shot up as she slowly started to understand what this all meant. Even Hiccup was slumping, already exhausted from what he might just have to deal with. "Let me get this straight━" she pointed to the Twins, "━these two own this island?"

    Fishlegs tapped his fingers, chuckling apprehensively. "It would appear that way." 

    The Twins cheered. "Yeah━!", "━In your face!"

     "We are so in charge of this place!"

     "Oh! Preach, sister!"

     "Well!" Ruffnut straightened her back and stuck her nose to the air. "According to this stone━"

    Tuff went deadpan, "That was a rhetorical preach," he told her. He noticed Snotlout spinning on his heel and marching to Hookfang. "Hey! Where are you going, subject?"

     "Ha!" Snotlout pulled himself up onto his saddle, sneering. "You may be in charge of this island, but you're not in charge of me."

     "Ah━ah━ah━!" Tuffnut cried out as Hookfang rose his neck to leave. He pointed to his helmet. "Respect the crown. Don't make us get ugly."

     "That ship sailed a long time ago."

     Ruffnut laughed at this, punching her brother, "Ugly!"

     Tuff narrowed his eyes at the both of them. "Clearly," he mumbled, "we'll need a dungeon." He clenched his fists and stepped forward to fight. Hiccup yelped and ran in front of him, pushing him back at the shoulders.

    "Okay!" he called, extending his other hand out to Snotlout who poked his tongue out at Tuffnut. "Let's all just take a breath and calm down. The first thing we need to do is get this claim stone authenticated. All right?"

     Tuffnut sent Snotlout a final glower before stepping back. He puffed out his chest and put on his best regal stance; he and his sister both looked like poorly carved Dreadfall pumpkins. Despite Hiccup's demands, they marched back to Barf and Belch, already muttering how they'll handle their new 'kingdom' and what they shall call it.

     But they set off one at a time. Hiccup headed towards Toothless, for he'll have to send a Terrible Terror back to Berk for his father and Gobber. He glanced back, expecting Yrsa to come over and say something before they'll return to the main hub of the Edge together, but she was silent; in a mood as she reached Helrose and took off without him.

     Hiccup sighed, shaking his head. He couldn't deal with her moods right now. Not when she put him into one, too.

     Yeah, there were reasons why his head was smart enough to decide to wait.

     Toothless purred at him, curious.

     "Yeah, I'm fine, bud," he said, throwing his leg over the saddle. "Just can't understand people, sometimes. That's why you're my best friend," he gave his beloved dragon a hug before they finally turned back towards his hut.

◞ ★ ꒱꒱◜

     IT WASN'T until the next day that Gobber and Stoick the Vast arrived from the Dragon Taxi Service, as Gobber was without a dragon himself and the chief said goodbye to his three years ago; where Thornado had to stay behind to look after three adolescent Thunderdrums. And so here they all were back at the Namey Rock, watching Gobber crouch over the words with a spy-glass and a hum or two of interest.

     "Well, Gobber?" promped Hiccup's father.

     The Blacksmith rolled his eyes, "Give me a minute━" with his mallet, he knocked off a piece from the tip and threw it into his mouth. He chewed for a few seconds before nodding and standing back up. "Very interesting ..." he mused before declaring: "Tastes right to me, Stoick. This claim stone is one hundred per cent authentic."

    The Twins━as expected━were estatic.

     They jumped into the air, throwing their arms up to the heavens with delighted cries of: "Aw, yeah━!" and "━Authentic! One hundred per cent! No more per cents to be had, folks!"

     At this, Yrsa was livid. "No!" she exclaimed, slamming her foot to the grass. The others joined her in their disappointment, as if this was the end of the world. And with the Twins━there might just be a chance it was. Even Hiccup was pale, shoulders falling as he realised what he was going to have to deal with━not just the Twins, but everyone else, too.

     Wincing at all of their loud complaints, Stoick pinched the bridge of his nose and snapped, "All right, that's enough!"

     Everyone fell silent immediately. Yrsa grumbled and crossed her arms, glowering at Ruff and Tuff. Hiccup sighed.

    His father continued, "It looks like this island officially belongs to the Twins."

     "Haha!" Tuffnut swung his sister around in a dance. They began to sing a jumble of words━out of tune and jarring to the ears. "It's our island━" "━Our island━!" "━and you can't have it━!", "The island is ours━!", "━We don't have to do anything or take showers!"

    The Twins were given a short, official ceremony━kneeling before their chief as he tapped his sword onto their shoulders with a regal, "As chief of Berk, I hereby declare that under Viking law, the living heirs to Magmar Thorston are indeed entitled to full onwership of this island with all the benefits that comes with it."

    Finished, the Twins shared a glance.

     "Now what?" asked Tuffnut.

     Stoick shrugged, sheathing his sword. "Don't ask me. It's your island."

    He went to leave for the dragons he and Gobber had hired for the trip, the blacksmith snickering at the looks on all the Riders' faces as the Twins went back to dancing and singing. Hiccup winced and quickly rushed after his father, skidding in front of him to ask in a urgent mutter, "Now, Dad, Dad, Dad━no━you can't be serious. Y━you're not leaving me with this?"

     He gestured back to the Twins horrendous dancing.

     His father smirked, amused. Hiccup scowled━he didn't find any of this amusing. "Uh━" he took his shoulders, "━yes, I am. Welcome to my world." He chuckled, reaching the Gronckle. "Only now, it's your world."

     Hiccup watched them leave, wondering what was worse: this, or the Fireworm problem.

     As the Twins continued their horrible song, the others circled Hiccup, awaiting an answer for how to handle this. Hiccup did have a plan, but he wasn't particularly sure whether any of them would like it.

    "Great!" grumbled Fishlegs. "What do we do now? Any ideas?"

     "Oh, we could always━" Snotlout brought his finger across his neck. The rest blanched at the suggestion. "You know."

     "We're not killing the Twins, Snotlout!" said Hiccup.

     He looked very disappointed by this.

     Astrid crossed her arms, "Please tell me we're not giving them the island."

     Here it comes. "Actually ..." Hiccup glanced back at Ruff and Tuff, who had taken to shoving each other; fighting over their claim stone, "we are. We are giving them the island."

    Snotlout broke out into laughter, not believing him at first. Then, he realised, and his entire face dropped. "What?!"

     Yrsa was in a similar boat. Her brows shot up, and her eyes widened in horrified shock. "Wait━you're serious?!"

     "First of all," said Hiccup, throwing his arms out in many gestures as he spoke. Astrid stepped away to avoid getting hit by one, scowling, "we don't really have a choice. And second━" he crossed his arms, a little smug by his brilliant idea, "━one they find out being in charge isn't everything it's cracked up to be, and they have to deal with the Fireworm problem on their own, they will beg us to take the island back."

     "And if they don't?" rebutted Yrsa.

     Hiccup and his team watched the Twins slam their helmets together. With a dazed spin, they hit the ground. Hiccup winced ... answer is: he really hoped they will.

     They had time to wait out this day to see how things go without worrying about the Fireworms. But Hiccup was nervous. From the open doors of the Club House, he could see the skyline above the slope light up in a glowing orange and yellow; more fires were already starting to sprout.

     In the end, Toothless grew tired of his pacing and slumped onto the wood, covering his eyes and ears to try and get some sleep. Hiccup decided after a while he needed to distract himself, and so he grabbed the Book of Dragons to double check up on his notes for the new pages in the Stoker and Mystery Class. He lied on Toothless's back and his Night Fury let out a huff, slumping even further━this wasn't what he had had in mind.

     Hiccup smirked, amused━pay back, he thought to himself, for picking Yrsa's side last dinner.

     But his reading was interrupted very quickly by the sound of scuffling and mutters outside. He recognised the Twins' voices almost immediately and pulled the book away. He glanced over, confused.

    "Little to the right."

     There was the fluttering of leather wings.

     "Ugh! Would you come on, already?! My entire body is going numb ... feels kinda cool."

     Hiccup slipped off Toothless's back, deciding to go and see what they were on about. He set the Book onto the table around the firepit and walked outside, Toothless following closely behind.

     "Hey! Let's ask Hiccup!"

     He hid his sigh and spun on his feet, staring up at a ... peculiar sight. The Twins stood on each Zippleback head; used to this, Barf and Belch held no strain. They just watched a set of birds flying away in the distance, as casual as they were on a day-to-day basis. Their Riders, however, were struggling to put up a poorly painted wooden sign over the main entrance to the Club House. "Let's ask Hiccup what?"

     "Our new Thorstonton sign," grinned Tuff, pushing the wood up. "Does it need to be a little higher?"

     Hiccup arched a brow, watching Ruffnut grit her teeth at the strain of the sign on her shoulders. "Thorstonton?"

     "Yeah," she winked, "the name of our island."

     "It came to us in a dream." Tuffnut dropped the sign to spin on his feet and point at Hiccup. Ruff gasped, clinging onto the sign and simoultaneously trying not to fall off Barf's head. "That's right! Same dream━it's a twin thing." He paid no attention to his sisters struggles. "You wouldn't understand. Anyway! Thoughts on the sign?"

     Ruffnut dropped it and it broke. Tuff faltered before sending her a glare. Then, he shrugged. "You know what? Never mind. We got more important things on the agenda today."

     Barf and Belch wandered past, the Twins still skillfully standing ontop of their heads. Hiccup peered up at them, his neck craning at the height. "I agree!" he said, happy they were taking things seriously. "We need to keep fireproofing the island━"

     "No, no, no, that's not it," Tuff shook his head. Hiccup's smile dropped. "We need to give out job assignments."

     Hiccup had a feeling he wouldn't like where this was going. "Job assignments ...?"

     "Oh, we got some good ones. Come along, lad. Don't be late."

     And they rose into the sky. Hiccup sighed and called Toothless back over who had been rubbing loose scales on the walls to follow.

     Everyone met up in the arena━no one happy to be there. The Twins still stood above them; backs straight and gazing down the tip of their noses on their dragon's heads. Tuffnut held a long roll of parchment.

     "All right, Fishlegs," he began. He turned the paper sideways. Yrsa face-palmed from the back, leaning against the stone. "Says here you are now the Official Poet Laureate of Thorstonton."

     Fishlegs frowned at them, "Do you even know what that means?"

     Ruff perched her boot onto the tip of Barf's horn on his snout, "We were hoping you would! It's your job, after all."

     He was a little perplexed. Hiccup didn't blame him.

     Tuffnut turned to the next person on his lip. "Yrsa! Our mean, but dear necessary evil Yrsa━" she glowered at the insult, taking it to heart. Hiccup pursed his lips, "━you are the Official Royal Brush-Clearer!"

     This didn't make things better. Yrsa gaped, and then her eyes went dark with fury. "What?!" she snapped.

     Ruffnut smirked, very satisfied by her displeasure. The two didn't always get along really well. Tuffnut continued, ignorant to Yrsa's fuming figure. "We don't want Thorstonton burning down, after all."

     Ruff then chuckled. She turned to her brother, "Or do we?"

     He thought about this. Then he pointed at her with an approving hum.

      Yrsa exploded, "I'm not clearing brush for you two!" she shouted angrily. "I'm not clearing anything for you two! You can go ahead and suck my d━"

     Hiccup quickly took her by the shoulders and pulled her back slightly. She calmed down, but might as well be a Stoker Class dragon lit on fire. "Come on, Yrs..." he murmured, and the Twins glanced at each other, content with her reaction. She glowered at Hiccup, taking deep breaths. "It'll just be for two days at the most, I'd say..."

     Tuffnut waggled a finger down at her. And Yrsa's anger returned. Hiccup sighed, wanting to smack the Twins. They were a living trigger for Yrsa's anger, mainly because they absolutely loved it when she exploded. He knew it was their way of getting payback for the words she said about them. "Oh, you'll do it. And you'll like it, little missy."

     Yrsa gounded her teeth. "Oh, you want to see what I like? I'll show you what I like━"

     Hiccup grabbed her arm gently, and she stopped yet again. She turned to him a little, hurt. Sometimes, he didn't know what to tell her. And so, Hiccup just squeezed her arm and kept quiet as the Twins moved on.

     "Astrid the Fearless Hofferson!" the blond scowled at the mention of her name. Tuffnut turned the page completely upside down at this point. "Be excited! You are now the Official Water-er-er Gatherer ... er!"

     She looked just as furious about this as Yrsa. But unlike the girl beside Hiccup, she gritted her teeth, clenched her fists and most definitely was thinking a way to get them back after all of this was over━a violent way, most likely.

     Snotlout laughed at her misery before it was his turn and he snapped his mouth shut, back to his sarcastic, I don't really care attitude. "Snotlout! You, my friend, have an excellent job. You, sir, are our new Sergeant at Arms."

     He straighted up at this, arms crossing as he thought this over. Snotlout arched a brow, "Huh ..." he decided. "I liek the sound of that━'arms'."

     Tuff snapped a finger at him, "Knew you would! All right━Hiccup!" finally, it was his turn. "Oh, Hiccup!" there was a snicker between the Twins. Oh, gods ... "You are our new Stable Boy!"

     Hiccup didn't know what he expected━but it wasn't that.

     He jumped back, hands flying to his sides as he cried out a horrified, "Stable Boy?!"

     Astrid broke out into laughter, doubling over at his reaction. He sent her a scowl and it only made her hysterics worse. Even Yrsa's anger diminished to elbow him and say slyly, "Come on, Hiccup." He slumped, realising this might just be his karma. Toothless was just as unhappy━so unhappy that he growled and stormed off. He sat down under Helrose's wing, turning his nose away from the Twins. Helrose moved away her wing and set her chin on his head instead. As if making fun of him just as Yrsa had to Hiccup. He smacked his tail at her and she jumped away with a yelp.

     Hiccup crossed his arms and Yrsa gave him a small pat on the shoulder, trying to hide her laughter.

     Snotlout then stepped forward, "So, uh, here's a question. What's a Sergeant at Arms do, anyway?"

     "You enforce the rules," explained Tuffnut, Belch's head leering down slightly. "If someone doesn't follow them, you make sure they do. And if things get really nasty, you show them to the fancy new dungeon! And give them some yak dung tea. Got it?"

     Snotlout looked estatic at this. Hiccup grumbled a, "Oh, gods..."

     "Dungeon!" smirked his cousin. "I like it. Better than 'stable boy'," he snickered in passing. Hiccup rolled his eyes. Astrid cackled into her hand for a little bit longer.

    "Okay!" Tuff threw the scroll away. "And speaking of new rules━" he pulled out another from under his arm, "━without further adieu━"

     Ruff snatched it from his fingers and let it drop with a jerk of her wrist. "Yeah, no more further adieus. Anyway, rule number one: everyone must bow to your rulers when they enter the room." Hiccup shared an incredulous glance with Yrsa. She just glowered, still annoyed over this whole ordeal.

     "Rule number two━" Tuffnut swiped back the parchment. "Everyone must also bow to your rulers when they exit the room."

     "Everyone must bow to your rulers when they are in the room."

     "So basically we just bow all the time?" grumbled Hiccup.

     Tuff sent him a thumbs up despite his sarcastic tone. "Ooh! Stable boy, coming in for the big win! That deserves a bow ... from you. I'm not doing any bowing."

     Hiccup's pride hated him for this━it really did. But he set his jaw and jerked his head down. Astrid found this hilarious and she was back to stifling her chuckles.

     "Next!" went on Ruffnut. "There will be a small fee for landing your dragons on the island."

     Her brother nodded. "And another small fee for taking off."

    "There will be a fee for sleeping."

     "A fee for waking up."

     "A fee for eating!"

     "And a small fee for drinking."

     "How about breathing?" Yrsa growled.

     Tuffnut just grinned at her. "Good idea! Mark that down."

     Ruffnut snickered, scribbling a quil she had snagged from her saddle bag across the parchemnt. "Way ahead of you."

     "And finally! The letter 'S' has been officially removed from the alphabet! So, you're gonna want to avoid words like sword━"

     "━Severed leg━"

    "━Severed head━"

     "━Cyclone!"

     "That's actually a 'C'," muttered Fishlegs.

     Tuff gasped, horrified. "Ah━ah━ah!" he pointed to him harshly. Fishlegs jumped, startled. "Noutlout! Quiet him!"

     Snotlout's face contorted, "Noutlout?" he echoed. "Who's Noutlout?"

     Yrsa's glare was so harsh, Hiccup was afraid it might actually burn away at the Twins where they stood. "You two do realise that there is in 'S' in the name of your island? And your last name? And practically all our names?"

     Tuffnut waved the finger at her, "Ilence, ubject! How dare you ay such thing?"

     Astrid raised a finger to say something at the contradiction, but decided better of it. Hiccup sighed, "Any other rules?" he asked.

     He wished he didn't.

     Tuffnut pulled out another scroll from ... yeah, Hiccup won't go there. But before the Twins could announce whatever they had come up with, something small and fiery jetted through the marchment, burning a charred hole right through the centre of it.

     They all jumped at the Fireworm as it scuttled along the stone floor, leaving a trail of fire behind it. The Twins peered, eyes wide through the hole of their parchment scroll.

     "Table boy!" then ordered Tuffnut. "Clean that up!"

     Hiccup snatched up a stick from the grass above, "Okay," he agreed, "but while I'm doing this, you guys need to stay on top of this Fireworm thing━" he chucked the Fireworm along. Toothless helped with a swift smack of his tail. "It's starting to get pretty real."

     He pointed along the slopes to the forest where trails of smoke and burnt orange glows filled the blue sky around it in a cloud of deadly, burning smoke.

◞ ★ ꒱꒱◜

     IT ONLY GOT worse the next day. The amount of Fireworms grew drastically overnight, and the Twins did nothing about it. Hiccup was stuck cleaning Barf and Belch, and dusting the stables until his bad leg ached with perfect view of the growing fires and Fireworm flocks like flaming clouds. By the evening, more than half of the team and their dragons had been sent to the dungeons under the Thorston Dynasty with Snotlout more than happy to oblige, laughing in their faces as he pulled open the stable pen door and ushering them inside.

     As Snotlout left, marching happily towards the sunset with Hookfang at his side, Hiccup walked up towards the makeshift cell. He caught Yrsa's fuming, cross-armed figure in the corner and smirked at her. He couldn't help it━it was the perfect opportunity.

     He propped an elbow onto the wooden bars and quipped, "Well, well, well, what are you in for?"

     The Twins were right it came to this━Yrsa had the best reactions when you teased her. And Hiccup liked teasing her almost as much as he liked flying. Especially when she went red at the cheeks, flustered and furious at the same time.

     She clenched her fists and stormed up to him. Hiccup couldn't hold in his grin even if he tried. For someone so locked-off, and intimidating and snobbish, she grew flustered at the littlest of things. "You're so funny," she snarled.

     Hiccup just propped up his other elbow to peek his head inside, "What? I thought Bog-Burglars can't be kept under lock and key?"

    "You finished yet stable boy?" she leaned in, brow arched which would have been menacing if she wasn't blushing like a ripe peach.

     No, Hiccup was never finished. He could tease her all day if he wanted, especially when she was in the position where she couldn't smack him for it afterwards.

     Behind them, Astrid rolled her eyes with a, "Ugh! They aren't even subtle," she added to Fishlegs in a murmur. He nodded in agreement. Hiccup sent them a scowl. Astrid just replied with a knowing smirk.

     Yrsa crossed her arms, pretending she didn't hear. "How long are you going to let this go on?" she changed the subject. "Have you seen all those Fireworms?"

     "Yeah," agreed Fishlegs, "Hiccup━the migration is picking up steam."

     Beside him, Meatlug let loose.

     They all groaned in digust at the smell that followed.

     Fishlegs hunched up, "Ho━she does not deal well with prison food."

     Yrsa clung onto the bars, "Get me out of here, stable boy, I beg you," she gasped dramatically, and Hiccup managed a slight amused smile. With just them, she was already more open.

     "All right, all right," said Hiccup, poking her head backwards into the stall by his finger onto her forehead. She turned up her nose, brushing her bangs back into place, "I'll talk to them. I'm sure I can get this all straightened out."

     So he and Toothless left the jailbirds and took off into the evening air on the search for the Twins.

    He caught up with them as darkness swept over the edge; but it didn't feel like it was night. Not with the fires lighting up the sky like it was still day. But Hiccup was pleasantly surprised, and he swooped in beside them as they drifted over the fire-patched forest. "So! You guys surveying the damage?"

     But his hope was diminished at the shake of Tuffnut's head. "No, we're looking for a place to build our summer palace."

     Ruff's eyes lit up and she pointed down to a certain area completely lit in flames. "Ooh! That might be a nice area once the fires burn the vegetation away."

      Tuffnut hummed, considering all of this very poshly. He turned to Hiccup. "Any thoughts, table boy?"

      Hiccup resisted the urge to tell him there was an 's' in thoughts and instead said, "Yeah, just one. Have you considered the fact that if you throw everyone in jail, there's no one left to actually build your summer palace?"

      The Twins froze. They glanced at each other, and pursed their lips simoultaneously. Then, at the exact same time, they tilted their heads and peered at Hiccup. "We're listening," said Tuffnut. 

      Thank the gods. 

     "And what about the Fireworm migration━?" Hiccup held up his Gronckle Iron shield as one came flying past. It struck the metal and bounced off back into flight. "Don't you think it might be a good idea to have everyone working so that we can stop Thorstonton from burning down?"

      The Twins shared another exchange. "I see your point," decided Tuff after a moment of reflection, "but I also see something else."

     Ruff arched a brow as she realised whatever it was, too. "Oh, yeah!"

     Hiccup frowned. "What? What's that?"

     "Toothless is flying as fast as Barf and Belch!"

      Tuff nodded at his sisters words, "And by Thorstonton law━"

      "That is illegal!"

◞ ★ ꒱꒱◜

      "WELL, well, well, what are you in for?"

      Hiccup gave Yrsa a dead-panned stare from behind the wooden bars of the makeshift dungeon in the stables. She smirked, rubbing all this into his face with a smug grain of salt. "Yrsa, please," he grumbled.

      "What?" she leaned in, taunting. "Just trying to be funny, table boy."

      He was thinking of something smart to say━probably another quip about her Bog-Burglar heritage on her mother's side, but the sound of strangled grunting diverted his attention. Into the stables, with his Monstrous Nightmare sulking behind him, Snotlout was dragging himself by the scruff of his neck towards the stall. 

      "Snotlout?" Hiccup let out━he's seen some pretty strange things, but this was one of the strangest. 

      He opened up the door and threw himself inside. Snotlout face-planted onto the floor boards. Hookfang shoved himself in, sitting down next to Helrose and giving her a menacing sneer. She growled but moved anyway so he could fold his wings comfortably. 

     Snotlout got up and slammed the door in on them. Not meeting their gazes, he muttered, miserable, "I was framed."

     "All right," Yrsa pushed past them all, "that's it. We're breaking out of here." 

     Snotlout clapped his hands together. "Great! Then we can go back to my plan━" he jetted his finger across his throat and Hiccup's scowl grew, annoyed. 

      He stepped forward, lowering Snotlout's hand. "Guys, guys," he said, "there's nothing to worry about." Astrid stared at him like he had grown an extra head. "I mean, the Twins can't be that oblivious?"

     Yrsa arched a brow to say, you sure about that? 

     Just as she gave him that look, there was a hiss outside. 

     And then, the sky lit up with a blast of bright orange fire. 

     Hiccup's stomach dropped. He ran to the door and poked his head out to look. His eyes widened to see an entire flock of Fireworms, far larger than the groups they had sent before descend over Dragon's Edge━a firestorm of miniature dragons that just by landing and scurrying along the wood, set aflame the new home they had spent months working to━and worse, the forests around it. 

      He waited━prayed━for the Twins to come, but as the seconds passed by into minutes, and the smoke grew, Hiccup was afraid that Ruffnut and Tuffnut were going to prove everything the others said about them. That they were not coming, at all. 

     Astrid gripped the wood, eyes flashed with worry, "That smoke's getting close. And where there's smoke━"

    "There's Fireworms," whimpered Fishlegs amongst their nervous dragons. 

     Hiccup sighed. He clenched his hands before deciding, "All right, you know what? Experiment over." He spun on his feet to his dragon. "We are getting out there and stopping them before there's nothing left of this island."

     "Finally," grumbled Yrsa as she and Astrid stepped away from the stall door. 

     Hiccup pointed to the wood, "Toothless," he ordered, "plasma blast."

     But just before Toothless could let loose a blast that would shatter their way out of here, Tuffnut and Ruffnut scrambled into the stables. The youngest Twin grasped the wooden bars and Toothless coughed back his fire; a very uncomfortable thing to do for a dragon. He deflated a little, smacking his gums that were hissing smoke. He sent Tuffnut a look. "Hey, guys!"

     Snotlout stood straighter. "Now's our chance!" he cried. "Hookfang, destroy!"

     Hiccup skidded in front of the Monstrous Nightmare before he could do anything, plastering a fake smile onto his face, "Oh, hey, rulers!" Hookfang growled, as if offended Hiccup stopped him. "How's stuff in the old kingdom?"

     Astrid crossed her arms, "Having lots of fun with all the smoke and fire?" she taunted. 

     "Yes!" defended Tuff. Then, he frowned. "No━okay, fine! As it turns out ... we can't save Thorstonton by ourselves. So, we talked about it, and we hereby decree that you can all come and help us put out the fires."

      Hiccup sighed dramatically. He shrugged, wanting to play this a little longer while they still had the time; just to make sure this wouldn't happen again. "Ah ... that's a shame," he leant against Toothless, "'cause from where I sit, you guys are on your own. I━I mean, rules are rules, right?"

     Toothless warbled in agreement. Hiccup smirked.

     Ruff tugged the door, "You have to help us save our island! It's all we've got!"

     Hiccup picked at the dust on his fingers. He let out another long, exhausted sigh. "I don't know ... Guys?"

     The others shrugged helpfully. Yrsa pursed her lips and added, "I think you've got to stick to your guns━you make a rule, you follow it through. As is the Viking way. Otherwise it's━you know."

     "Anarchy!" gasped Fishlegs. "I'm with them."

     Tuffnut pouted, jumping up and down on his toes, "Come on, you guys," he begged, "please? Is there anything we can do? Name it! We'll do anything."

     Hiccup kept his satisfaction to a low. "Well, now that you mention it, I suppose we could consider one possibility..."

     Outside the stable entrance, the Fireworms were gaining over the trees; an entire storm of yellow dragons as hot as a thousand suns. They started to land in through the door and onto the wooden floor. At this, the Twins shrieked: "Anything!"

     "I'll make you assitant ruler!" offered Tuffnut, desperate.

     Hiccup just kept picking at his fingers.

     "Rulers best pal? Second string ruler?!"

     "No," Hiccup dropped his hand and stormed up to the door, done with this game, "I have a better idea, actually. We divide the island up amongst all of us. We all own it. There's no ruler, no sister of the ruler━" Ruffnut gasped at this, horrified, "━we're all rulers."

     "What?!" exclaimed Tuffnut, jumping back. "That's blasphemous! You can't do that to the ruler!"

     (Tuffnut had a very different answer once his backside caught fire from a stray Fireworm). 

◞ ★ ꒱꒱◜

     DRAGON'S EDGE was saved just in the nick of time. 

      With the help of the Night Terrors flocking together in the form of the Fireworm Queen, they were able to lead the entire migration flock of dragons towards the next island in the chain; a perfect island full of rocks and caves, and far away from their own. (And Fishlegs said the Book of Dragons was finished! Please...)

      And as the firey glow of the morning started to disappear; leaving many banks of burnt vegetation and trees, they were just glad they and the dragons had all survived. 

      Hiccup watched, feeling slight sympathy for the Twins as the sun rose to the late morning peak. They stood before their Claim Stone, heads bowed, helmets in their hands, as if mourning their short-lived dynasty. The others stood with him, but most were not as kind as he was. They were relieved, amused, and if not a bit mean━mainly Snotlout, of course. But even Astrid and Yrsa were thankful this 'nightmare' was over. 

     "Ruff, Tuff," Hiccup walked up to the Twins gently, "you guys did the right thing." He placed a kind hand on a shoulder each. "I just hope you learned something in all this."

     "Yeah," grumbled Tuffnut, "we sure did. Leading blow━" he put his helmet back on, then realised. "Oh! We don't have to do the 's' thing anymore. Leading blows," he corrected. 

     "Seriously blows," agreed Ruffnut glumly. 

     "You know what, though?" said Tuff, walking up to the lonesome stone on the cliff. "At least we have our cool Claim Stone to remember our glorious reign!"

     Meatlug had other ideas. Hungry from the whole ordeal, she decided to gobble up the Claim Stone without further thought, spewing it back out as lava at Tuffnut's boots. He slumped, annoyed. He scowled at her as she waved her clubbed tail happily. 

     "No respect," he crossed his arms. Ruff propped her hands, disapproving, onto her hips. 

     "No respect at all."

     Snotlout couldn't help but laugh. "Ha!" he threw his hands up to cheer. "It's everyone's island!" 

     He started to dance, just like the Twins had days ago when they first found out. Hiccup chuckled, shaking his head━but even he found himself joining in. The group of Dragon Riders, friends━perhaps even family, if one was to be brave━joined each other in a laughing, light-hearted celebration. Singing and dancing to this strange song, just relieved that their island got to see another, bright and sunny day. 

      "This is our island! 
      This is our island! It is not yours!

       We can do what we want,

       Go where we want

       and not take any showers!"

      All except Yrsa. But to the delight of them all, she had a smile on her face, trying very hard not to laugh. Then she actually did━Yrsa laughed, and it was a beautiful sound. And then she cried out a horrified: "No! No! Wait━please bathe━I swear to the Gods please bathe━!"

      And what followed it was laughter from the rest of them. And in that moment, there was no divide in the group of them; at all. 

◞ ★ ꒱꒱◜

      a/n: i'm on an updating spree for this book ahahah. but it's strategic, okay ;). i want to get as far as i can into this before i finish valkyrie so there's a gap between val's story at the edge and yrsa's. and it also gives us an insight to yrsa and hiccup's relationship as we read how they are now in the main book. 

      the edge has huge development for them, and i love writing this, and then writing them in httyd ii where they've reach the point where they respect each other fully, and love each other, and understand each other to be comfortable in themselves enough to want to spend the rest of their lives together. 

      right now, that's not there. they respect each other, that's a given. but there's a difference between respecting someone as your friend, even if you do have feelings for them, and then respecting them as an equal; a companion. yrsa and hiccup both have development in rtte where instead of hiccup wanting to help yrsa be better in a way that might be a little controlling, he learns to step back and it's then that yrsa really starts to thrive. she wants to be better not for him, but for herself, and hiccup helps her, he does, but it's supposed to be a mutual thing (in my opinion). and right now, it's not mutual. they don't help each other by helping themselves together. hiccup expects yrsa to grow before he wants to step into a relationship, and yrsa is annoyed and confused after waiting three years despite the obvious feelings there. 

      it's a situation that has growth until they're both ready. 

     (did that make sense? it probably didn't. but it makes sense to me ahahaha). 

     basically, hiccup and yrsa end up coming together in a mutal agreement and comfortability. they help each other be better, grow, and mature as equals, but they also do it by themselves, as well.

     (i bet that didn't simplify anything lol ahaha).

     on a completely different note, astrid and hiccup are such siblings lol. and ruffnut definitely does not take yrsa's shit, at all, because she's an underrated queen. 

     (sorry for the long relationship rant).