𖣯 ✹ 🌷(makligr) ꏍ ！┈─❟
╰───►chapter twenty-four; yrsa
❝ dragon's grudge! ❞

    OUTCAST ISLAND was deserted. Yrsa didn't believe it when they got the word until she saw it herself━standing on charred rock and staring, dubious at the smoke that curled out of homes on the toughest island other than Berk. They took a sweep of the island━searched every crevice and corner, and she and Astrid came back to Hiccup and the others empty handed, shrugging and scratching their heads. 

    Hiccup frowned. "Weird," he muttered once they returned. He glanced around, eyeing the smoke, rubble and charred stone. "I don't see any arrows or spears."

    They were looking for any chance of a Dragon Hunter attack━and Yrsa wondered what they would even want from the Outcasts. But they were coming up short on that matter, too. She crossed her arms as she came into stand beside Hiccup, and the two of them shared a troubled glance.

    Fishlegs landed back down. He slipped off Meatlug's saddle and sighed to inform: "No boulders from catapults."

    Hiccup's frown deepened, "This really doesn't seem like a Dragon Hunter attack."

    "Well, who attacked, then?" asked Astrid, her hands on her hips. "Whoever did it━they meant business━" she gestured around, and she wasn't wrong. Outcast Island was nothing but ruin━it would take months to rebuild and a lot of Berk resources to help them do so. 

    "Yeah," agreed Yrsa in a murmur. "'Meant business' is a light-term━who could make the Outcasts desert their own home without arrows, catapults...?"

    It didn't make sense, that was for sure. But the Twins, they had a few of their own ideas. They poked their heads up in unison from where they were 'checking' behind fallen rubble in the arena but the rest of them knew they were merely just playing a quick game of Hrungnir, Bragi and Odin in order to see who would have to clean their dragon's talons next when they got back. But at Yrsa's question, their attention was piqued once again━they ran over and brandished fingers of thought:

    "Mutton famine?!" suggested Tuffnut with a breath of horror. 

    "Bed bugs?" offered his sister. At their estranged glances, she quickly explained: "Once those things show up, you can never get rid of 'em."

    But something had caught Hiccup's eye. He left Yrsa and wandered over to the far side of the arena. Her gaze widened to see the largest scorch mark they have seen here, yet. A jagged strip of charred stone━almost like Thor had struck this ground with lightning. 

    "I think this has something to do with it..." murmured the Chief's son.

    Snotlout frowned. He pointed at it, and then to the rest of them. "Okay━but how did any of us not see that until now?"

    "Maybe you're blind," Astrid replied in a moody tone.

    "You're blind," snapped Snotlout, defensive. 

    Yrsa rolled her eyes and marched up to Hiccup, frowning at the mark over his shoulder. It looked familiar━in a chilling, dreadful way. And by the look on Hiccup's face, she knew he recognised it, too. 

    He glanced at her. "These scorch marks..." he began in a murmur, knowing she was thinking similar. "Do these look familiar to you?"

    She nodded, troubled. "Yeah..." she was growing concerned. "But ... that doesn't make sense because━well━nothing could get out of the pounds of ice we dropped on that thing, right?"

    At least, they thought nothing would ... until now. 

    The group of Dragon Riders all rushed to their dragons, taking to the air and starting a speeding trip north. So north that the wind that was already chilly started to get freezing and ice chewed at the tips of their noses, turning them red. Yrsa didn't think they would ever need to return to this island━that the threat was long gone. 

    They took steps back to their past three years ago when they saw a small, glacier island appear through the low-hanging clouds and fog. Hiccup dived them all down towards it, anticipating with bated breaths on what they will find. 

    And it wasn't good. 

    Yrsa's dreadful fear and been proven true the moment she saw the splintered crack in the island's centre. A canyon that was once filled with ice━locking the creature inside━had now lodged itself open once again; and what was inside it, was long gone. 

    They left their dragons to crouch by its side and peer over, searching for the dragon in its depths━but they all knew what had happened. Yrsa subtly pushed Snotlout beside her a little further and he shrieked, scrambling onto the edge to stop himself from falling. 

    "Hey!" he cried. "That was not cool, Yrsa!"

    Yrsa ignored him and met Hiccup's gaze across the fissure where he knelt with Fishelgs. "The Skrill's gone."

    Tuffnut snapped his fingers at her from across Snotlout, grinning: "That's a good title for a song━" his gaze drifted off in thought. He tapped his chin. "I'm gonna work on that when we get home."

    "How did this happen?" then asked Fishlegs, bewildered. 

    Tuff shrugged, "Shoddy workmanship, I'd say."

    Ruffnut frowned at him as a thought occurred to her: "Aren't we the ones who sealed him in that big hole?"

    He cleared his throat and shot a subtle glance over his shoulder where Barf and Belch were watching on. 

    Hiccup clenched his jaw and stood up. "It doesn't matter how it got out. We've got to get it back before it hurts anybody else, or before Dagur gets a hold of it."

    "Well," Astrid followed, "the question is: where is it heading?"

    "Since the Skrill gravitates towards storms to channel it's lightning," said Fishlegs, "I would say it's following that storm headed due south from Outcast Island."

    They all eyed it with intrigue. A thought struck Yrsa and she sat back on her knees. "Wait ..." she began slowly, "isn't Berk due south...?" her eyes widened and her stomach dropped. "Oh, no━"

◞ ★ ꒱꒱◜

    BERK WAS already under attack when they arrived. The Auxiliary Team had taken to the sky, battling through the storm clouds to fight what lived within it. A terrifying dragon that consumed the power of Thor itself and delivered a blast far more damaging than any other dragon━a firepower that rivalled even the Night Fury. Thunder bellowed above and Yrsa winced as rain pelted down━but they pushed through, dashing through the stone warriors towards their home.

    Skrill's were Strike Class dragons. There weren't many left in this world━and perhaps this one might just be the very last of its kind. By being Strike Class, it meant they were incredibly smart, incredibly stealthy━and most important: incredibly dangerous. 

    Astrid seemed delighted that her team were taking the offensive. She sat up in her saddle despite the storm and grinned, "Hey! Look at that━The A-Team, already on the case!"

    Hiccup made a face, wincing and hunching his shoulders━a little scared to object her thrill: "Uh━well━I mean, okay. But it might be little early in their Dragon Riding careers to━" 

    The thing about Skrills, was while they only had a limited shot limit, they had this insane ability to only just re-channel more power into their system by charging themselves up by the storm itself. And when they did that━

    The sky exploded into a crazed showcase of bright, pure lighting. It surged through the Skrill and projected out in every direction, targeting straight for the metal anywhere in sight: weapons, saddles, helmets━

    The A-Team that had been circling the Skrill stood no chance. They were knocked out of the air and off their saddles in one single strike: Silent (Not So Silent) Sven, Bucket and Mulch, Gothi, Gustav, and━

    "Dad!" cried out Snotlout the moment his father was flung off his Nadder's back. He dropped Hookfang into a deep dive after him. 

    Hiccup called a frantic: "Cover the downed Riders━!" over his shoulder to the rest of his team and they followed his lead, dipping into steep swoops to try and catch the riders before they'd hit the ground. 

    But when Yrsa realised Hiccup suddenly wasn't there anymore, she pulled Helrose to an abrupt stop. "Hiccup?!" she called out, turning her dragon around and gazing upwards. Her frown turned very concerned when she saw him and Toothless heading upwards into the storm clouds━towards the Skrill. "Hiccup...!" she called as a warning, not sure whether to follow or leave him. Hiccup was prone to doing stupid, dangerous things━but this was a bit too stupid, even for him. 

    When he didn't reply and seem to hold some struggle to his saddle━as if he had lost control in his flight with Toothless, Yrsa gritted her teeth and pulled out of formation completely. Helrose easily obliged, just as eager to make sure Hiccup and Toothless were okay. 

    The Skrill descended once again from the clouds━and his body surged with an electric charge that set Yrsa's hairs on end. His growl was like a low, booming thunder rolling across the sky. Toothless bared his teeth into a snarl and Hiccup frowned, "Uh ... Toothless━?" he let out, worried. "What are you doing━?!"

    Hiccup yelped and ducked them sideways, narrowly avoiding the jet stream of lightning from the Skrill's maw. 

    "Hiccup━!" Yrsa was close, now. But as soon as he noticed she and Helrose were nearby, he frantically shouted: "No! No━Yrsa, stay back━Oh, no━!" she winced and pulled back at his strangled yell, unable to stop Toothless from firing back. 

    The Skrill raged and didn't hold back━Yrsa covered her eyes and let Helrose launch backwards when the sky erupted into a shower of blue and purple as their fire met. They ricocheted off each other━creating a field of electric energy that knocked both dragons leagues from the other. Hiccup yelled, spiralling off his saddle and he and his dragon were separated.

    Yrsa gasped and grunted in effort as she tugged Helrose into a sharp turn━they dived after them. They closed into Hiccup pretty quickly, but he grappled for his flight suit, something that told Yrsa without words that he wanted them to go after Toothless who was closing in at a high speed to the ground. Hiccup wouldn't reach him in time, but she could.

    "Oh, for Thor's sake!" she cursed and urged Helrose to go faster. The Devilish Dervish folded her wings and Yrsa readied herself. Keeping a tight grip onto the saddle bars, she managed to balance herself to stand on the centre of her dragon's back. Then when they got close enough, she held her breath and jumped off. 

    Yrsa gritted her teeth and kept herself into the dive, reaching hands out for Toothless's saddle. He shrieked and her ears rang at the loud noise, but she pushed on and managed to wrap her palms around the tips of his saddle. She forced herself onto the Night Fury's back and locked her feet into the stirrups. 

    Just in time, she clicked his tail back and they yanked back upwards━the barrel of sand bags topped to the side at the sheer wind his wing blast sent downwards as they returned into the sky. 

    Yrsa managed to gently spin them back and land Toothless, safely, onto the ground near the Berk plaza. She huffed a breath once she did, leaning forward and lightly smacking the dragon on his neck. Not enough to hurt him, but enough to make him turn his head to her and let out a curious purr.

    "Don't do that!" she scolded the dragon as Helrose landed beside them. "Seriously! I mean it━you and Hiccup, you're gonna be the death of me, I swear!"

    When Stoick landed with Hiccup behind him on Skullcrusher's back, Yrsa huffed another angry breath and swung herself off Toothless's saddle. She stood aside in Helrose's shadow, letting her dragon lean down and place her chin on her shoulder━she waited for Hiccup to reunite with his dragon, giving him a swift hug of relief. Then, when he turned to her to say thank you, she punched him across the shoulder.

    "Ow!" he cried out.

    "That's for being an idiot!" Yrsa told him. 

    Hiccup rubbed his shoulder, but then in the silence that followed━he turned back to her, as if waiting. She frowned, "What?"

    He blinked. Then, he went a little red. "I━I mean━well━usually, there's always just━well━something after━ow!" she punched him again. "I━okay."

    "Interesting strategy," said Stoick the Vast as he marched his way over to join them, "going nose to nose with the Skrill."

    Hiccup scoffed lightly. He turned to Toothless and gave his dragon another tender scratch. "Yeah, that wasn't my strategy."

     From above, the rest of their team landed. They hopped off their dragons. Snotlout emerged from the side, carting his father through two homes in order to meet them in the centre of the plaza. Astrid saw Spitelout's state and made a face, as if not sure whether to be incredulous or worried. "Snotlout, is he okay?"

    Snotlout scoffed. "It's my dad!" he chuckled. He hefted his father up who stared off into the distance━he didn't look okay, at all. "He bludgeons his own head for sport, of course, he's fine!"

     Though when Spitelout tried to speak, no sound came out. Yrsa's brows bounced, surprised but admittedly pleased. "You're right!" she grinned. "He can't talk━that's fantastic!"

    Spitelout scowled at her. He tried to speak again, but all she heard were a series of incoherent, strangled babbling cries of gibberish. She couldn't stop herself, she giggled━finding the sight actually delightful until Hiccup lightly elbowed her. She didn't stop, knowing that deep down, he was finding this amusing, too. 

    "Like I said," said Snotlout as his father grappled at his throat and then up at the sky, "he's fine. Except for that blast of lightning he took to the head." He arched a brow at his father's sudden pound of fists to his chest. Then, Snotlout gushed. "Aw, thanks, Dad! I'm proud of you, too!"

    Astrid made a face. Then, she rolled her eyes. 

    They quickly moved on. Fishlegs shrugged and let out an awkward sigh, swinging his arms at his side. "Well!" he exclaimed. "All the huts seem to be in fairly good condition."

    Astrid pursed her lips. "Well..." she pointed over the shoulders. "All except for one."

    They followed her gaze up the slope towards the Great Hall. A little to the left, sat a single house under its shadow. The Chief's house, and unlike every other time they might glance upwards and see a home just a little bit more extravagant than their's, this time there was well━nothing. Nothing except a heap of charred wood, rubble and a shattered doorway. 

    Stoick's face dropped in horror. "My house!"

    Every one of them shared a grimace. Hiccup gaped, quite shocked by the sight. 

    The Twins shuffled, anxious on their feet. "Hey, Chief ..." began Ruffnut carefully, "... is━is the charred look in this year?"

    Tuffnut quickly caught on, snapping his fingers at his sister. "I━I actually happen to think it's très chic ..." he started to wince at the way Stoick the Vast breathed heavily with fury, "... Chief... I━I'm thinking of doing it to our hut back on the Edge ..."

    Their attempt to make him feel better went dry went his glower spun from his house onto them. The Twins hunched up and quickly hid behind Fishlegs. He hitched a squeal in the back of his throat. 

    "It's weird," murmured Astrid as she came to stand nearby Yrsa. She kept her voice down, eyeing Hiccup's scowl to Toothless's saddle warily, "that Stoick's house is the only one the Skrill attacked."

    But Yrsa didn't find it so strange. She crossed her arms and replied back in the same thoughtful tone. "The Skrill went to Outcast Island and then here ... that can't be a coincidence."

    Hiccup heard them anyway. "Yeah," he grumbled. He turned away from his burnt home. "It's not randomly attacking. It's looking for me and Toothless."

    "Outcast Island is the last place it saw you guys, before..."

     "Before we led it into the crevasse and sealed it inside."

    Snotlout snickered. Hiccup scowled at him. "He's mad," his cousin pointed at him, not at all fazed. "At you."

    He wanted to bite back with an insult of his own, but all Hiccup could do was sigh. He clenched his hands. "Snotlout's right. It is mad. And it's looking for revenge for trapping it back in that glacier."

    Astrid threw her hands up. "Well what choice did we have? It was either that or let Dagur have it!"

    Hiccup arched a brow. "Why don't you explain that to the Skrill?"

    Her face went blank. She did not appreciate his sarcasm.

    Toothless snarled towards the distant thunder that was slowly getting further and further away. Hiccup pursed his lips and quickly pressed a gentle hand on his dragon's snout. "Hey, relax, bud. We've dealt with the Skrill before, we'll deal with it again."

    Toothless wasn't the only one enraged. The sounds of strangled gasps and incoherent grunts to their right sent them all into estranged looks. Yrsa turned up her nose, not sure how she felt to see Snotlout's dad stumbling around with an axe in his head. He made wild swings over his head and up to the sky, as if threatening the heavens to a fist fight. 

    Tuffnut reared back. Even he was concerned. "Uh ... is it just me, or is Snotlout's dad acting a little more violent and deranged than usual?"

    Snotlout wasn't bothered. He just laughed, watching his father struggle as if this was the best day of his life. Yrsa realised it probably was. "Yeah! Looks like the Skrill isn't the only one out for revenge." He brandished his hands. "Fear not, dear Father!" he announced. "You will be avenged." He slammed a fist into his palm, giving them all a very evil look. "We Jorgensons will have our pound of Skrill flesh. I will make sure of it!"

    The silence that followed filled Yrsa with such secondhand embarrassment that she had to speak up. She leaned against the side of Toothless's saddle to lock Hiccup's gaze. "Clearly, the Skrill is coming back to Berk for you and Toothless, so we'll need to be ready."

    But he shook his head. He gently guided her away from the saddle with a small push of his fingers. She let him, confused and watched him mount his dragon's back. "We're not waiting for it, Yrsa," he told her, determined. 

    Then, he explained his wild and crazy plan. Yrsa knew they had really no choice but to follow it, even if she disagreed with half of what he planned to do. Mainly because they understood it was perhaps the only plan that might work. Gathering at the sea stack edge by the old training arena, Yrsa was still unsure. She didn't like the idea of Hiccup and Toothless going out to face the Skrill alone, nor did she think sealing it back in the ice would help, either. It already got out once, who's to say it won't do it again?

    Hiccup knew she was displeased. He wouldn't meet her gaze as he fixed his saddle. Yrsa wondered whether half of this plan was just him trying to get back at the Skrill himself━to prove whatever damaged pride seeing his house damaged must have given him. But he would never admit that. 

    Yrsa crossed her arms, ducking in beside him as he fiddled with the leather straps around Toothless's legs. "Are you sure this is the way you want to play this out?"

    "It's me and Toothless it wants," he said, stubborn. "It's me and Toothless it's gonna get."

    "But don't you think it would be better if we were there?" she tried to reason with him. She gestured to Helrose and her dragon huffed in her support. "It doesn't stand a chance against all of us."

    Hiccup shook his head. He turned to her and she knew there was no persuading him now. "And it knows that, which is why I don't think it'll show up unless it's just me and Toothless."

    Yrsa nodded. She pursed her lips and then shuffled her boots against the grass. All of the sudden anxious, she played with one of her braids. Shyly meeting his gaze again, she mumbled. "Okay, well ... just ... make sure you get there."

    Hiccup understood. The weight in her shoulders lifted when she realised that. Her heart fluttered its little, breathtaking beat to see him give her that sweet, soft smile. "I'll see you there."

    "Don't be late."

    That smile turned into her favourite crooked grin. "Am I ever?"

    Yrsa just arched a brow. "Do you really what me to answer that?"

    Hiccup chuckled. "Why, you think I'm wrong?"

    He swung his leg over the saddle and fixed his position on Toothless's back. He turned him towards the edge of the sea stack and Yrsa rolled her eyes. "Just go," she told him and doing very well to hide the smile on her face. 

    "No, come on, what were you going to say?"

    She spun on her heel. "Get out of here."

    "I won't leave without hearing it━"

    "━I hope you're late, now!"

✰彡

    RECREATING the fissure in the ice three years after they first sealed it was a journey Yrsa knew she never wanted to go through━again. She has come to learn that she has not given half of her friends enough credit these past years for how talented they were at being Dragon Riders. But in her defence, they made it hard. Today, they were making it even harder. First, Yrsa had to deal with Snotlout falling behind━and his father that he had decided to drag along with him. Spitelout, despite being almost completely incoherent in what he said except for his son, who somehow was able to translate (and even then, that was very unreliable when Snotlout took every chance to boost his own ego), thought he could try and order Yrsa's task away from her. She had to threaten both he and Snotlout that if either of them tried to object her words just for the sake of it, she would make sure that lightning did strike the same place twice to make them both shut up. 

    When they finally got back to the glacier after a flight that felt far longer than it actually was, Fishlegs wouldn't stop complaining and whimpering in fear of what Hiccup had gotten himself into━what they had all gotten themselves into. Like they were back in Dragon Training, Fishlegs kept muttering the Skrill's statistics from the Book of Dragons━and how none of this seemed like a good idea. It nearly drove Yrsa mad. She was already worried, she didn't need Fishlegs to feed her pessimistic nature as well. 

    But Astrid━as always━was on Yrsa's side. She snapped at Fishlegs this time, and tracked the Twins down when they got distracted and ran off somewhere when they needed them to blow the ice. She even punched Snotlout when he made a comment about Hiccup when Yrsa couldn't. 

    She landed Helrose down nearby the open fissure. Her dragon cooed a gentle, concerned tone, recognising the way her rider gripped her saddle. She tilted her long neck so she could stare upwards at Yrsa frowning out towards the way she knew Hiccup would arrive. Her dragon was worried about him, too. Still, Yrsa hasn't found a way to describe the warm feeling she held at the connection Helrose had with Hiccup━almost like the one she knew she had with Toothless. Whenever she saw him scratch her, or play with her, or wrestle her━latching around Helrose's neck like a tree animal and pretending as if this was some strong, vicious act that would take the Devilish Dervish down ... He joked that she was Toothless's favourite, but Yrsa knew he was Helrose's, and she found it fitting. 

    She found it a lot of things, she always has. The difference was that this time, Yrsa didn't want to mess it up. Things were good right now. They needed to stay good. She wanted them to stay good. 

    Helrose cooed once again, finally grabbing Yrsa's attention. She glanced down and quickly smiled to see her dragon's wide, sweet eyes. She scratched her underneath the chin. "I'm okay, girl," she promised. "It'll all be okay."

     "Okay!" both of them glanced over at the others at Fishlegs's voice. Yrsa quickly scanned the group, quick to catch up and check how they were going. Fishlegs pulled Meatlug away from the fissure, watching the ice melt deeper and lower than before. "This trench is definitely deeper than the last one. Hopefully, it will hold the Skrill this time."

    Spitelout made a few angry noises. Snotlout spoke for him, peaking around his board shoulders that sat in front of him on Hookfang's saddle. "Uh, you mean after the Jorgensons exact their revenge, right? We should at least be the ones to melt him into that hole!"

    Yrsa took a deep breath and forced herself to get back on board. "Snotlout," she grumbled as she pulled Helrose into a hovering flight off the icy ground, "we don't have time for that."

    His father hissed a few grumbling sounds. Yrsa propped her hands on her hips and leaned forward, testing a challenging brow at him. "If you have something to say," she taunted, "say it."

    Snotlout forced laughter from his chest. He then scowled. "Real funny, Yrsa." He then quickly reassured his father as she flew away: "She messes with me like that all the time. We're totally on the same page and she's in love with me."

    But Yrsa heard him. "Not in a million years, Snotlout!"

    "What about a million and one years?!"

    She was glad when Astrid spotted a figure nearing in the distance. She narrowed her eyes for a moment, but the shriek that echoed across the icy waters was unmistakeable. She lit up in her saddle. "Here he comes!"

    Yrsa glanced over, and the worry in her chest lifted. But that weight returned the moment the clouds above cracked with deafening thunder as the Skrill followed the Night Fury into his trap. 

    "Okay!" she announced to the others. "As soon as it's inside and Hiccup and Toothless are clear, we seal it up. Everyone got that?!"

    They nodded and gave her a show of thumbs. Satisfied, Yrsa led the group of them up towards the high peaks of the glacier. Landing on blankets of snow, they were hidden from view in the shadow of the mountain peak━but could see what was happening at a safe, but advantageous setting. 

    Yrsa leaned forward when she saw Hiccup and Toothless get closer. They were going so fast, that the Night Fury's shriek was delayed in time━all of them winced once it reached their ears, but the Chief's son and his dragon were already deep inside the tunnel. 

    But when the Skrill came close, they were surprised to see it rear back its wings and skid to a sudden halt. It did not follow Hiccup and Toothless deeper inside.

    The Dragon Riders watching on all shared uneasy glances. Fishlegs hunched up. "Uh oh."

    "What's going on?" Snotlout hung off his saddle sideways to see past his father. "Uh━Why did it stop?"

    "Call me crazy..." Fishlegs winced━they all knew that this plan was going to go down hill, and very quickly, "... but I think he knows it's a trap."

    Yrsa slumped forward, exasperated. "Ugh━I knew this wasn't going to work."

    Ruffnut was impressed. She chuckled. "That is one smart dragon," she said to her brother.  

    Tuffnut grumbled. "I hate smart dragons!" he said. Then he reached down and hugged Belch around the neck. "Which is why I love you..."

    "What's it doing?" Astrid was alert, eyeing the Skrill as it continued to hover at the entrance. It titled its head left and then right, as if examining something━then, its whole body charged up in a tornado of lightning. It channeled it straight through into a powerful shot at the ice right above the tunnel's entrance. 

    Yrsa's stomach dropped. She did something very stupid. She cried out: "NO━!" 

    As the ice and stone collapsed down, covering the entrance to the tunnel, Yrsa's frantic shout echoed down with it. The Skrill turned a steel gaze up onto the group of them hiding in the mountain peaks. 

    Realising what she had done, she hitched her breath. "Oh, no."

    "Wow!" Snotlout said in a very sarcastic, pleasant tone as the Skrill folded its wings and darted up towards them. "For once, 'Yrsa's mess-up' is about to get us all killed!"

    "Shut up, Snolout━!" the rest of her sentence turned into a strangled scream as they spiralled out of the Skrill's way at the very last minute. 

    They regrouped back up in the air, tugging their dragons back towards the island. Yrsa searched for the Skrill, only to find it spinning away from more collapsing ice, caving in Hiccup's only exit at the top. "It's trying to seal Hiccup and Toothless inside!" Helrose emitted a growl of her own. "Guys━come on, we have to stop it━!"

    She was cut off by Snotlout's terrified yell. Helrose pulled herself sideways as Hookfang barrelled past them. Snotlout was hanging on for dear life as his father tipped the Monstrous Nightmare into a dangerous nose-dive straight for the Skrill. Yrsa's hands flew up to her head. "NOT LIKE THAT━!" she screamed after them, but it was no use. 

    They narrowly missed the Skrill's lightning, but it sent them off balance. Yrsa cursed their names to the gods as they crashed, and Spitelout had left them completely undefended on the snowbank below.  

    Gritting her teeth, she went to follow in order to help them, but the Skrill was too fast. Yrsa gasped, her fear rising up in her throat as the dragon directed its attention onto her. She squealed and pulled Helrose out of the way, diving to gain some more speed before spiralling upwards━she felt her hairs stand on end, the Skrill's blast was that close. She had no choice but to make her way back to the others, and it turned into a frantic bout of chaos as they did their best to veer out of their way. 

    Yrsa glanced back over her shoulder, eyeing how close the dragon was. She gulped at its sneer. A Skrill was one of the most deadly dragons from the book, and even after they updated the manual now that killing dragons weren't their main priority━the warning for this dragons stayed the same: run and hide. 

    She set her jaw and pushed Helrose downwards, wondering if she could direct this dragon to the water. But it knew what she was doing. Helrose caught its action before Yrsa did and she gasped, scrambling to keep her grip on the saddle as her Devilish Dervish tunnelled out of the way as the Skrill dived in to cut them off. 

    Yrsa pushed herself low against the saddle to help with speed. Of course, this dragon would choose her to follow (just her luck, as always).

    But there was someone from the ground ready to help her. 

    "HEY!" Snotlout shouted, crazy and wild up at the Skrill. It pulled itself back, confused at the sudden noise. It glanced down to the Jorgensen waving his hands up into the sky. "YOU WANNA PIECE OF ME━?!" his father elbowed him sideways and started screaming, swinging his axes. "GAH! WILL YOU LET ME HANDLE THIS━US! I MEAN US!"

    Shockingly, it worked. The Skrill's attention shifted away from Yrsa's and directed straight onto Snotlout below. She watched him snatch on of his father's axes and fling it up. "BRING IT ON, SPARKY!"

    The dragon didn't like the nickname. It folded its wings and dived. 

    But it never made it there. 

    There was an explosion from within the glacier. A burst of bright blue and purple rocked the entire island and ice burst forth in a shower of crystal and stone. From within, shot out the sleek figure of a velvet Night Fury, shrieking a cry so loud that even Yrsa winced in her saddle. Following it, was a blast so mighty, it spiralled the Skrill right off its path. 

    Yrsa breathed a relieved grin as she watched Hiccup swoop past the Skrill━nothing more than a furious blur. "That's for trapping us in an ice tunnel!"

    Snotlout slouched. He dropped his axe. "Hey!" he cried up, upset. "How come he gets revenge?"

    Hiccup twisted Toothless higher up in the sky. The Skrill followed. He made sure to sweep past Yrsa with a quick command: "Head back to the Edge! I'll handle this and meet up with you there!"

    She had no chance to reply for in seconds, he was gone━the Skrill close on his tail. 

✰彡

    HICCUP DIDN'T return until evening. Yrsa had been standing out at the stables, waiting the entire time. Even when Astrid offered for them to swap, and she'll keep an eye out so she could get some rest, Yrsa disagreed. Instead, she had asked: "Do you think we should go out and look for him?" It was the last thing Hiccup would want them to do, but what if he was in danger? What if he was hurt, or stranded, or something happened, and he needed their help━her help━and all she was doing was just standing here? But with a lot of persuasion on Astrid's part, Yrsa stayed. She paced and she grumbled and she kept glancing out the skyline, worried sick, but she stayed. 

    The others joined her again as evening came closer. All of them starting to get just as worried as to what was taking Hiccup so long. Yrsa was getting more and more restless, pondering back and forth on what the right thing to do was. Until they noticed a black dot in the distance. Slowly, it grew closer and closer━larger and larger until the figure of a Night Fury was easily distinguishable.

   "There he is!" breathed Yrsa, even though it was obvious that it couldn't have been anybody else. 

    Astrid was at her side, frowning up at Hiccup and Toothless━only now did they started to recognise how jagged his flight was. "What is going on...?"

    They had to rush out of the way as Hiccup arrived. Toothless almost dropped completely to the deck, struggling to stay in flight. He hefted a loud sigh, moaning in discontent on the ground. Hiccup stumbled off his saddle and Yrsa rushed forward, dropping to the Night Fury's side to check whether he was all right. It was then that she noticed the ripped make-shift tail instead of the bright red one he always wore. 

    Toothless warbled at her and Yrsa quickly hugged him around the neck. Helrose made her way over and nudged Hiccup, grateful that he was back. He scratched her jaw, but there was no enthusiasm━no smile of greeting; and Yrsa was immediately worried. 

    She stood up and asked as the others rushed forward. "Hey━" Yrsa rested her hand on Hiccup's arm, noticing the downtrodden look in his eye. "What happened? Are you all right?"

    "Where have you been?" Fishlegs added. 

    "It's━" Hiccup winced as he rolled back his shoulder, stiff from the flight, "━it's a long story. I━I'm fine," he added at the look on Yrsa's face. "I'm fine, I━"

    "Or━" Tuffnut cut him off. He and his sister had made their way to the back of Toothless. Having found the makeshift tail Hiccup made, Tuff held it out for them all to see, "━is it a very short story?" He unfolded it and there, was the blood-rest fist of the Dragon Hunters. "Looks to me like someone has changed his allegiance."

    Yrsa made a face. "What? That doesn't mean that..."

    Tuffnut dropped Toothless's tail and brandished an accusing finger under Hiccup's nose. "I knew this day would come. Seize him!"

    As soon as Yrsa stepped away, ready to knock some sense into Tuffnut, his sister Ruff sprung out of nowhere. She tackled Hiccup to the ground.

    "━Argh━!" he cried out, very confused. He struggled underneath her hold, glowering. She pressed her elbow against his back, keeping him down. "What the━Would you━?"

    "Got you, traitor!" she laughed. 

    "Hey! Get off him━" Yrsa tried to grab Ruffnut, but Fishlegs had other ideas. She gasped and Helrose quickly pulled her out of the way when he launched himself on top of both of them. 

    "Fishelgs is in on it, too━!" announced Tuffnut in horror.

    With a war cry, he joined the fight. Soon, he, Ruffnut, Fishlegs and Hiccup were all a mess of limbs, strangled cries and struggling hands. Tuffnut smacked his fists against Fishlegs's thick leather vest. It wasn't doing much damage.

    "Seriously?" Yrsa cried out, more incredulous than angry. Astrid just crossed her arms, watching it unfold with a mischievous grin.

    "Okay, okay━" Hiccup slammed his fist down onto the deck, unable to move anything else as he was flattened at the bottom of the pile. "Everybody━stop jumping on everybody!"

    At last, they crawled off of him. Immediately, Fishlegs turned to Tuffnut. "How could you ever think that?!" he cried. "Hiccup? A Dragon Hunter? Are you insane?!"

    Tuffnut blinked. "Do you really want me to answer that━?"

    "━Just the idea that he would even have anything to do with them!"

    Pushing himself up onto his knees, Hiccup winced. He didn't meet them in the eye, hanging his head low as he admitted in a soft tone: "A━Actually ... Fishlegs, let's not go quite that far..."

    All of their faces dropped, not too sure what he meant. Hiccup explained to them inside the stables. The last of their group arrived after a quick dinner: Snotlout and Spitelout stood together with the rest of them, listening to Hiccup go over his story with looks much like the others. None of them were sure how they were supposed to react━they almost didn't believe what Hiccup said. And that disbelief led them into a shocked silence that Hiccup flushed and couldn't handle. He crossed his arms and looked away once he finished, ashamed. 

    In the end, Yrsa realised that someone should say something━she realised it probably should be her. Leaving the group, she wandered up to Hiccup and asked him in a gentle tone she didn't usually have: "So ... you let the Dragon Hunters capture the Skrill?"

    Hiccup sighed. He shook his head and turned to her. "That wasn't the plan. They━they were supposed to take it down and then we would swoop in and grab it away. But..."

    "They got to it first," understood Fishlegs. 

    Hiccup nodded. He fiddled with his fingers and turned away again. Yrsa went to say something else, her hand lifting━she had the urge to rest it on his shoulder, to pull him towards her ... but she held back. She pursed her lips and let her hand fall, not sure what to say. 

    "So, Dagur has the Skrill again?" Snotlout was exclaiming, frustrated with how this turned out. "Oh━oh, that's great! Now he's just gonna chain that thing up like a puppet and take him on a Thor's Greatest Hits attack run of the Archipelago!"

    His father scraped some crazed sounds in agreement. Snotlout nodded. "I agree, Dad, I'm very disappointed in Hiccup, too."

    The thing was, Yrsa didn't know what to say because while he could have said it in a better way, Snotlout was right. Hiccup had handed the Skrill right into Dagur's hand. His plan was risky, and it didn't pay off━and now, their problems had only doubled. How was she supposed to make Hiccup feel better when all she could say was the truth? He messed up. What were they going to do now?

    "They had some sort of new net-shooting catapult," Hiccup explained, growing upset. 

    Ruffnut scratched her head. "Net-shooting catapult?" she echoed, curious. "You know, no one ever plans for the intangibles." 

    Fishlegs pursed his lips. "But, Hiccup, it's just━"

    "Confusing," Tuffnut cut him off with a thoughtful hum. "Yes ... I know that I, for one, am confused."

     "Yet, intrigued..."

    "Ah, yes," he nodded to his sister. "Moral ambiguity. Something else you can never see coming ... Yep, catapult nets and moral ambiguity."

    (Yrsa supposed it was helpful that those words were, in their own way, the Twins telling Hiccup that they did not blame him for what had happened). 

    But Hiccup only just sighed into his hands for a moment before saying: "Look, guys, there's really no moral ambiguity here. I messed up. I really messed up. A━and I'm not sure how to fix it."

    The Twins made an audible gasp. They clutched their faces, horrified by this news. 

    Hiccup scowled at them. "What?"

    Tuffnut hesitated. Then, he murmured. "Well━we've just never heard you say that before."

    Ruffnut shuffled away, as if scared Hiccup would transform into some monster. "You always know how to fix it."

    He rolled his eyes. "Yeah, well, guess what━?" he threw his hands up, sarcastic. "I'm not perfect!"

    They gasped once again, louder this time. "What? No━what?!" exclaimed Tuffnut, miserable by this. "W━Whose painting am I going to have above my bed?!"

    They all stared at him, horrified. Yrsa shook her head, forcing that image out of her mind. She held a hand out to Tuffnut and stated. "Okay, gross. Never say that again."

    Then, with a sigh, she turned to Hiccup. She called his name softly and he met her gaze━and every lack of thought she had on what to say to him lifted when she saw the tears he held back. Yrsa's shoulders relaxed and her frown lifted into a gentle, caring smile that made his own brows untangle. 

    "It's okay," she told him softly.

    Hiccup shook his head. "It's not okay━"

    "No," Yrsa took his hand before she'd stop herself, and the movement cut him off into silence━and he just stared at her, taken aback. "No, it is okay. You're not perfect, but no one's perfect. Nothing is ever perfect..." Yrsa squeezed his palm. "But that's okay, because we just work with what we've got. What you did, you did to protect that dragon━to protect all of us━" she gestured to their friends. "You did to protect Berk," she added after a moment. Hiccup pursed his lips, but he was listening. 

    She reached out her other hand to hold his with both of them. Her body hid the way she gently brushed her thumb along his wrist━but it calmed him down. Yrsa started to blush when she noticed the way the heaviness in his eyes lifted and all he did was just gaze at her━tender, grateful, sweet and caring ... in awe in the same way he'd stare at a new island or a new dragon, and yet different. Different and special. He made Yrsa feel special.

    "We're gonna get through this," she promised him. "We're gonna fix it━like we always do. Together. In the craziest, most insane way━" her heart swelled when she managed to get a chuckle out of him, "━but that's us, yeah?"

    The corner of Hiccup's lips lifted up to give her a little smile. He then nodded. "Yeah," he agreed in a whisper. "Always."

    Yrsa smirked, proud of him. "Good," she let go and fixed her hands on her hips. "So, now we just have to figure out a way to find the Hunters."

    She glanced at the others, and smiled when they were quick to shuffle their way in. They hovered around Hiccup, and his eyes brightened to realise that they were on his side, too━always. 

    "Hiccup," Fishlegs spoke up, "which way was that storm heading?"

    "East."

    He nodded. "Then━" he gestured out to the horizon, "━they will be going west. That way, the Skrill can't harness the lightning and attack them."

    Hiccup chuckled, impressed━but also relieved. "That's━I━Good thinking, Fishlegs!" His eyes grew distant and Yrsa bit back a smile, knowing that a plan had sparked inside his mind. He always had that look when he had figured out the way they will win whatever battle they were facing. She was always proud of that look. "There's a group of islands just west of where we were. Lots of secluded beaches and coves to hide in. I bet you that's where they are."

    Yrsa nodded. "Then, that's where we'll go."

✰彡

    TOGETHER, The Dragon Riders closed in on the group of islands Hiccup had mentioned. Together, as they were always best. Alone, they were all very different, but they were a good team. It took Yrsa a long time to recognise that, but know, she knew better than anyone how they had each other's backs. They have always had each other's backs, ever since they rallied together to help Hiccup in the Dragon Academy to fight against the Red Death. They had gone into war for him on the back of dragons, and they do it again and again without fail. And tonight, they will do it again. 

    Fishlegs went down first to scan the area. The rest of them waited for him and Meatlug to return under the cover of the clouds that obscured them from the moonlight. As they did, Hiccup broke formation to drift in close to Yrsa. Soon, Toothless hovered right at Helrose's side. 

    She glanced over. "Hey."

    "Hey," Hiccup smiled. "I just ... I just wanted to thank you for what you said back there."

    Yrsa shrugged. She was glad the cover of the night hid her blush, but she had a feeling Hiccup knew. She smiled back at him. "You know me, I'm only ever gonna tell you the truth."

    She saw his smile brighten, and it became daylight for a moment. Then, Yrsa straightened her back in her saddle and added: "Someone has to keep you in line."

    Hiccup burst out a short laugh. "You're keeping me in check? More like sending me off into danger━"

    Yrsa threw her head up to the heavens as she already knew where this was going. "Oh, my gods━Don't even start━"

    "━When you told me where to find those trolls━"

    "━I already said━"

    "━But you just sent me into a dragon nest━"

    "━I didn't know it was a━" 

    "━I had scratches for a week afterwards━"

    "━dragons nest and in my defence━" Yrsa pointed a finger at him, "━you don't need me to throw you into danger. You do it perfectly well by yourself."

    Seeing him just smile at her, she scoffed━she had done exactly what he had wanted her to do. "You already know what I'm gonna say to you."

    Affectionate, Hiccup rolled his eyes and said: "You're impossible, too."

     She scoffed again, but the smile on her face told more truth than any words ever could. And right now, that's all it ever could do━but that was more than enough. 

    When Fishlegs returned, their conversations fell silent. As soon as Meatlug drew close by, her rider said: "Hiccup! I━I think I found them. There's a campfire and a lot of singing in really deep voices━" his own dropped very low, "━around the other side of the island."

    They quickly followed Fishlegs back down towards the island. It wrapped around the ocean━as if something had fallen from the sky and fell right into the middle, lodging the centre of the island right back into the sea. Most of it was thick with forest, but the shrubs at the edge of the shore gave them perfect cover away from the campfires. Hidden in the shadows of the trees, the group of Dragon Riders crouched shoulder-to-shoulder, eyeing the beach that was filled with Hunters and dragon cages. The Hunters Fishlegs was talking about sat at the nearest fire, laughing and telling each other stories.

    Hiccup pursed his lips as he thought of a plan. Soon, he turned back to his team. "Okay," he began in a whisper, "we'll quietly make our way along the tree line over to those cages. That must be where they're holding the Skrill."

    Spitelout spat out some incoherent noises. Snotlout translated: "My dad says that's a terrible plan and that we should just attack━" he back-tracked, "━Wait, what?"

    They were too slow to stop him. All they could do was watch in frustration, exasperation and horror as Spitelout charged right into the light, screaming bloody murder.

    (There goes their first option).

    Hiccup sighed. "Okay," he smacked a hand to his forehead, "change of plans. We'll use Spitelout as a distraction. Snotlout, you and your dad keep the Hunters busy while the rest of us go get the Skrill."

    As Snotlout and Spitelout caused a father-son Viking havoc amongst the Hunter's camps, the rest of the Dragon Riders snuck through. No one heard or saw them in the yells and blurs of Monstrous Nightmare wings and fire━and they managed to duck into the shadows of the maze of cages without any Hunter giving them or their dragons a second glance. 

    They checked each of the cages, but so far, the Skrill was nowhere to be seen. Yrsa glanced over her shoulder briefly━they had to find this dragon quickly, for soon enough, despite the distraction, someone will end up noticing.

    The group of them wandered into the second aisle of cages, narrowing their eyes into the crevices to try and depict the Deadly Nadders, Nightmares and Gronckles in the dark. But then, Hiccup noticed something.

    He stopped halfway, his eyes fixed on a lonesome cage at the ocean's edge. He held his hand up, stopping the others. Yrsa gently guided Helrose closer, confused. "What?" she whispered.

    Hiccup just gestured for them to follow. She pursed her lips but did as he said. The group of them travelled down the sandy slope towards the single cage━and Yrsa started to understand. There was only one cage half-submerged in the water, and there was only one dragon that's only weakness was the ocean. 

    As they grew closer, Toothless began to growl. Hiccup leaned forward and rubbed his scales to try and keep him quiet. Then, he unhooked his leg and dismounted onto the sand. "This has gotta be the right cage," he said as he did. "It's the only one submerged in the water."

    He glanced back at them. "Cover me."

    Yrsa nodded. She dismounted, too. As the others followed, Hiccup marched up to the cage and grabbed the canvas. With a single heave, he pulled it off and there, he revealed the Skrill. The mighty creature, now cornered and caged, hunched up in the corner of its prison and snarled loudly at Hiccup. He held his hands up, holding his breath. 

    "I know, I know━" he murmured quickly, trying to calm the dragon down. "I know ... you can't fire while you're in the water. But don't worry. We're here to help."

    He inched forwards. Yrsa whispered his name, wary as he stretched out his palm through the gaps in the cage. He ignored her━only to flinch back when the Skrill tried to snatch his hand into its jaw. Toothless bounded forward and flared his wings but Hiccup quickly held him back. "No, no, Toothless! I'm okay, bud."

    Hiccup tried once again. He didn't even get an inch closer before the Skrill growled. "O━okay. All right, pal━let's just keep it down, okay? Or they'll hear us..."

    "Oh, it's too late for that."

    Yrsa and the others spun round. Her heart rose into her throat to see the shaft of an arrow pointed straight at her. Ryker chuckled, amused and taunting as he stood between his Hunters. One, two, three, four━more leapt down from above, throwing nets over their dragons. They struggled, they shouted their names━but it was no use. They were surrounded. They had been caught.

    She gritted her teeth as Hunters herded she and her friends together by the sharp points of their swords. Yrsa held her hands up, glowering. Behind her, she noticed Snotlout and Spitelout being led over with spears and axes at their backs. 

    A manic laugh echoed into the night. Dagur the Deranged ducked in underneath Ryker's outstretched sword arm and approached the group of Dragon Riders. "Ha! Told you he'd come back for my Skrill. How could you, Hiccup?" he brushed past the Chief's son, feigning a breath of hurt. "We've barely had time to get reacquainted." Chuckling, Dagur skipped over towards the Skrill. Its snarl did not bother him as he just leaned closer with a crazed smile. "It's all right, baby," he told the creature. "This is all still so new."

    Ryker clenched his jaw. "Never mind that, Dagur━" he gestured his sword to their dragons tangled in nets. "Just look at all the new dragons your friend has brought us." Dagur snickered and shoved Hiccup towards the rest of them. He stumbled into line beside Yrsa. "Cage 'em up. And muzzle the Night Fury."

    Yrsa made an angry shove away from the Hunter holding her the moment she heard Toothless's whine at the feeling of the leather forced around his snout. He shook and threw his head, but couldn't throw the muzzle off. "You leave him alone━!" she snapped at Ryker. 

    He just sent her a look━pitiful, patronising and it made her blood boil. "Perhaps we should muzzle you, too, eh?"

    Yrsa clenched her hands into fists and tried to charge forward but Hiccup just grabbed her arm, pulling her back. As the Hunters laughed, he kept his grip on her elbow and said to her: "Hang on a minute."

    "What? Why?" she titled her head towards him subtly. "What are you thinking?"

    She noticed the flicker of a triumphant smirk on his face in the corner of her eye. "That the enemy of my enemy━"

    Yrsa followed his gaze back to the Skrill slamming its head against the side of the cage. "━Might kill us all?"

    "Uh ... well, yes," admitted Hiccup. "But he also might help us."

    And then, just like that, Hiccup bolted forwards. He charged straight for Toothless━as one Hunter ran to meet him, he dropped down on his knee and skidded low underneath his sword's wide overhead arc. Hiccup leapt back up onto his feet and launched himself at the two Hunters forcing Toothless into a cage. They didn't see him coming. All three of them tumbled down the slope in a mess of limbs. Hiccup scuffled with them for a moment before he shouted: "TOOTHLESS! THE CAGE━!" He gestured wildly over to the Skrill. 

    Toothless forced his way forward. He shoved through the remaining Hunters and dashed into the shallow water. Wading his way to the back of the cage, he reared up and slammed the side of his body against the iron. The cage tilted dangerously forward━but it wasn't enough. It fell back into the water with a splash.

    The Night Fury didn't give up. He growled and stepped back. With a leaping start, he forced his entire body against it━this time, the cage lifted and rolled over onto the shore. He leaped away back towards Hiccup. Seconds later, thunder rolled across the night sky. Yrsa watched, stunned when━as though the dragon commanded it━storm clouds formed together and from their centre, shot down an electrifying blue bolt of lightning. It surged through the cage and into the dragon's scales. It was so bright that they all had to cover their eyes. 

    When they glanced back over, the Skrill was free from its restraints. It stood on top of its cage━it spread its wings, and Thor struck his power downwards; Yrsa lost her breath, staring in shock as the dragon became lightning itself━thousands of bolts ran down its wings and around its body, as if Thor had come down from the heavens and shown himself in the form of this dragon━and held no mercy. 

    The lightning ricocheted onto the shore. Hunters screamed and dived out of the way as it struck, bursting the ground into pitfalls of fire. Yrsa and her friends ducked for cover as well, unable to do anything but stare in shock and awe.

    The Skrill spread its wings and tried to lift into the clouds━but something stopped it. Its tail was still stuck in the cracks of the cage. It screeched with fury. Out of the corner of Yrsa's eye, she saw Ryker reach for a dragon root arrow and bow. She gasped, but before she could do anything, Hiccup realised. He yelled out and dived forward as Ryker let the arrow go. It soared through the air, and Hiccup leapt right into its path.

    Yrsa's stomach dropped. "HICCUP━!"

    The arrow struck something else. Toothless hit the ground in a heap, groaning with an aching pain as the arrow bounced off the side of the leather muzzle━it landed on the sand, and he lied beside it. Hiccup went pale with horror. "Toothless━!" he gasped and dropped to his knees at his dragon's side. 

    Yrsa forced herself up onto her feet and sprinted forward, too. She was at Toothless's other side in seconds, her hands resting on his maw as he whined━pained, but alive. 

    She met Hiccup's gaze, and couldn't find any words on the edge of her tongue other than a sigh of relief━for the both of them. 

    Above, the Skrill took to the sky. They watched it rise higher and higher━thunder cracked and its scales lit up in a surge of lightning. The hairs on Yrsa's arms stood on end the moment its eyes narrowed down onto them. 

    It folded its wings and dived. 

    Hiccup threw himself over her━he dragged her close to Toothless's scales, covering the both of them under his arms and chest. Yrsa felt him hide his head into her shoulder, clenching his eyes shut and gripping the back of her tunic. 

    Nothing came.

    Yrsa peaked her eyes open and glimpsed the Skrill's body swoop low over them through the gap under Hiccup's arms. Its shadow loomed overhead, but it did not touch. Instead, the ground exploded at Ryker and Dagur's feet━they were thrown backwards in the smoke. 

    Hiccup lifted his head. He kept a tight grip on Yrsa as they both watched the Skrill attack the Hunter's camp. Soon, the cages and the stakeouts were empty and ashen. Their friends were free and they ran to their dragons, cutting them free as the Hunter's fled for their lives. 

    When all of the sudden, a stray dragon root arrow darted upwards into the sky. It struck a landing in the Skrill's side and it dropped to the sand, its reign of terror coming to a swift end. 

    They all glanced over to find Spitelout shouting in victory. 

    Snotlout slumped and face-palmed. 

    Yrsa didn't care. She for once didn't care at all━the only thing that mattered to her, as she forced herself to sit up onto her knees was the fact that Hiccup was okay. 

    She tugged his head into her arms, hugging him tight to her chest with a breathless chuckle. Yrsa closed her eyes and rested her cheek on top of his head. She sighed out once again, welcoming his arms, gentle around her waist. 

    "You're an idiot," she said to Hiccup with a little laugh. 

✰彡

    a/n: finally got this out!

    I didn't cross-check my descriptions with my renegades chapters with this episode so I'm sorry if any descriptions are the same/seem similar. I just wanted to get it out. 

    I'm not too sure how I feel about it, but the hiccup and yrsa moments are - as always - adorable. their relationship is starting to kick off again and I'm excited because they're just so in love but like have started to sort out their problems and are coming back together much more mature than they were at the start of this book already.

    sorry if the chapter's bad but I hope you liked it nonetheless <333