𖣯 ✹ 🌷(úlfheðnar) ꏍ ！┈─❟
╰───►chapter three; yrsa
❝ downed dragon! ❞

    SHE wasn't sure, at this point, whether Hiccup had lied or not.

    It was one thing to say he shot down a Night Fury, but whether she believed he actually did it? It was a little more far-fetched. It was also one thing for her to admit she was out here, searching for this downed dragon rather than have to deal with the jeers from the others that she actually listens to what Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III said.

    Yrsa Olofsdotter was many things, but to admit the truth about how she really felt about Hiccup was not one of those things. She wasn't going to admit she always checked by the forge to get her axe sharpened just so she could chuckle at Hiccup doing his best to heft the large weapon to the stone wheel. She wasn't going to admit she found him quite witty and intelligent. Nor was she ever going to admit her heartbeat rose whenever he was around. And of course, she wasn't going to admit the reason she was out here in the first place was that she actually listened and believed a word he said.

    Holy Hel, she grumbled to herself as she kicked a stray twig, stop thinking about a boy and realise why you're actually here.

    That would be to find this Night Fury, and take its head as her trophy.

    Yrsa Olofsdotter was a soldier; a warrior. A Hooligan Viking bred through and through. And much like every other ambitious girl her age, she wanted to be the best rising warrior there was. To do her family proud, to do the gods proud. If she returned with a Night Fury head as a trophy? Just imagine the way they'll be saying her name. Not one Viking would go away saying Night Fury without remembering Yrsa Olofsdotter; for not one Viking has ever slayed a Night Fury and lived.

    So ... was this a possible suicide mission? Very likely. But was it worth it? Oh, gods, Yrsa believed so. But it was more than that, too. To actually be the first one to see a Night Fury, even if she was going to kill it? She's read the Dragon Manual many times: there was no drawing of a Night Fury. No note of its size, or its speed, or its power. She could be the first to explain it. She would see what the dragon looked like. 

    She spun her axe in her grip, switching hands. Yrsa walked the length to Raven Point, searching each nook and cranny in the forest she could. She peered under fallen trees, hid amongst the shrubs to check the watering holes. If a dragon's first insinct wasn't to kill, it would be to survive.

    Yrsa wondered what she'll say when she returned with its head. Would she show the entire village? Or just her mother first? Or would she pray to the gods to send the message to her father, to tell him that his only child had finally given pride to his name.

    The mere thought of it pushed her onwards, more determined than ever.

    She came to a break in the trees. Yrsa checked the tree tops to look for any breakage. She inspected the ground for anything that could belong to a downed Night Fury. It was hard, because she didn't know their footprints, or whether this snapped branch could be from just a stray Terrible Terror.

    Yrsa sighed as she sat back on her legs. Glancing around the forest floor, she took a moment to breathe in the fresh air. She could smell the sea still from here to her left. Looking back over, she saw the tips of Gothi's cliff protuding out from the clouds. That old woman lived all the way up there. How she managed to get up and down when needed, Yrsa will never know.

    Snap!

    She was broken from her thoughts.

    Immediately, Yrsa got to her feet and grabbed her axe. Hauling it over her head, she yelled and went to attack, only to falter to see a familiar, scrawny boy cry and hold his hands up. "Ah!" he wailed. "Don't kill me!"

    She wanted to drop her axe in realisation of who it was, but she pushed past it and kept it up. "Hiccup?" she let out. "What are you doing here?"

    It was a stupid question, obviously. She knew that he would be out looking for the dragon, much like her. She had hoped to get there first. But it just kind of slipped out.

    Hiccup went rosy at the cheeks and quickly hid his journal behind his back. "Er━nothing...?" there was a silence, before he clicked his tongue and gestured awkwardly to the woods in front of them. "But you just━well━haven't seen a Night Fury anywhere, have you?"

    Yrsa ignored how her chest jolted at the blush to his cheeks and the way he scratched his nose. She did what she usually did, push it back and bite forward with an insult. "Oh, don't be an idiot, Haddock. I know you're out looking for the Night Fury. Why do you think I'm out here, too?"

    He frowned at her. "You were the one that asked."

    Yrsa swung her axe back and let it settle at her side. "It was a trick question. I was trying to get a reaction out of you so you'd tell me where it was. But I forgot you're nicknamed the Useless, so..."

    Her brain yelled at her, don't be so mean to him! She smacked herself to see his gaze falter slightly. But it returned back with a sharp, "And I forgot everyone calls you crazy, so."

    Yrsa's eyes flashed. She knew she probably deserved it for that comment, but it was a sore spot. They called her father crazy, and he had died, and now that's all her family name seems to preach these days.

    That was another reason why she was so desperate to find this Night Fury.

    She pointed her axe at Hiccup. "Don't follow me. I'm going to find this dragon and take its head."

    When she spun on her boot heel to trudge further into the woods, Hiccup followed. "Hey! I was the one that shot it down," he argued. "If anything, I'm going to find its dragon and take its head."

    "Oh, please," scoffed Yrsa, giving him a side glance. "You can't even swing an axe properly. How do you think you'll have the strength to take its head?"

    "I'll carve out its heart, then."

    "And cry like a baby because of the blood?"

     Hiccup shoved past her, taking the lead. Yrsa scowled after him. It was easier to be angry at him now after the comment he made, but it was also hard when he just brushed past her like that.

    She knew if she ever mentioned to anybody she liked Hiccup, they'd call her even more crazy. Snotlout and the Twins would laugh at her, and Astrid would shake her head, disapprovingly. The Hofferson girl was Yrsa's only friend, and she wanted her to step away from her father's legacy as much as she herself did. She would tell her she wasn't helping herself by falling for the runt of the litter; the least Viking out of them all.

    Yrsa stormed after him, hands clenched. She found herself following Hiccup through the woods after that, grumply, hitting branches and bushes away and not once did she stop taunting him.

    "Do you even know where your downed dragon is, Haddock?" she sliced through a mass of thick bushes, stepping through. Hiccup clenched his jaw. He was smaller than her, not by much, but it was still amusing and it made her heart flutter. "Or are you just trying to find some animal to cut out its heart and say it's a Night Fury."

    He snapped at her, giving her a harsh look with his green eyes. "Why are you here looking for it if you're so certain I lied?"

     Yrsa pursed her lips, and kind of liked it when he shot back at her with something that caught her into being silent. 

    "How about this," she offered, quircking a brow. "I take the head, you take the heart. Fair deal."

    "No, it's not. My dad won't believe me if I just have the 'heart'."

    "Well, for me, a head is more of a statement than a heart. I can hang it up in my home."

    "Gods, you really are crazy."

    She scowled again. "I'm not," she shot back weakly.

    Hiccup rolled his eyes, "Whatever━" he smacked a nearby branch in his frustration, only for it to hit him right back in the eye. "Ow!"

    Yrsa wanted to laugh, but it faded away when she saw it. The tree the branch he whacked belonged to was split almost entirely in half down the middle. Sharp, jagged splinters followed the trunk down its descent, like an animal had torn right through it. She gasped, and pushed past Hiccup to go on further. He stumbled after her. Yrsa's eyes were wide at the claw marks on the bark and the parting dirt leading up and over the slope in front of them. Her heart began to race with a thrill ... could it be? Had she finally found it?

    Skidding down the ditch in the slope, Yrsa thought over all the stories. Offspring of Lightning and Death itself, they called it. An invisible dragon no one has lived to see. No one knows its size, its shape, its true colour. It was nothing but dark night and wind, disappearing before anyone could get a look.

    She crawled up over the slope and peered over━

    In seeing the black mass, she gasped and ducked back down.

    She felt Hiccup hide beside her. She met his gaze, and the two of them crouched against the boulder. Forgetting their little quips back and forth, they shared a silent conversation instead of did you see that too?

    Mustering up enough courage, Hiccup peered back over and Yrsa followed. She settled her eyes on the beast; a mound of black scales━as dark as midnight━and wings that could at least spand out to forty feet. A Night Fury. Yrsa was more amazed than she was scared, or eager to kill it. This was really a Night Fury ... this was what they looked like ...

    The magnificent beast━one untouchable, now was helpless; wrapped up in a net of bolas. Unarmed, vulnerable ... it was strange, but seeing it didn't sit right in Yrsa's stomach at all.

    But that didn't stop her from seizing her axe and rushing over the slope. Hiccup followed her, scrambling out a small knife. Her back hit the stone of the next boulder, her heart rising up into her throat. Hiccup quickly darted in next to her, and she rolled her eyes at his fearful breaths. She wasn't going to tell him it'll be okay, obviously, even if she wanted to.

    She glanced at him, and nodded. You━heart. Me━head.

    He nodded back a reply. He was far too taken by the dragon to go back over the same fight of who got what again.

    They were only just paces away from the downed dragon.

    Yrsa could glance behind, and she could see it right there. Meeting Hiccup's gaze, she gave a short motion. She pointed for him to go around the other side while she slipped out from this side. He understood and together, they darted out from their hiding spot.

    However, her stance fell away when she realised the dragon wasn't moving. Hiccup dropped his arms down. "Oh, wow. I did it ..." he glanced at Yrsa. "Hey, look, I did it! This fixes everything! What was that did you say?" he pointed to his ear at her, gloating a little. "Did you say you didn't believe me? Because look at this!" he walked up to the dragon, no longer afraid. "I have brought down this mighty beast━gah!" he fell back as it moved. Even Yrsa jumped; it was so sudden, but the beast shuffled it's head away, moaning in annoyance.

    It was still alive.

    Hiccup regained his grip on his dagger. Yrsa swung her axe. She stepped forward to the Night Fury, and while she hid it, her breath was hitched. No one has survived seeing a Night Fury. And yet here she was, standing over it, ready to take its life.

    Some part of it ... felt wrong, to take away a beast's life who has escaped death for so long. It didn't seem right, for it to die this way, unable to defend itself.

    Yrsa stared at the beast that huffed, blowing out hot air through its nose. Hiccup shuffled in next to her, his hands shaking as he held his dagger out towards the dragon.

    Its eyes opened.

    Yrsa's gasp got stuck in the back of her throat.  

    The Night Fury stared at them as they stood over it. Its breathing quickened, eyeing the weapons the two Vikings held. Yrsa met its gaze briefly, and found herself having to look away. A blink of guilt bubbled in her stomach. It looked so afraid...

    (Just kill it! She scolded herself).

    Hiccup took a deep, shuddering breath through his nose. He seemed to feel the hesitation, as well. "I━I'm going to kill you, dragon," he told it, trying to sound as brave as he could. He fixed up his grip, holding it right over the beast's heart. "I'm gonna ... I'm gonna cut out your heart and take it to my father." An odd thought made its way to Yrsa━he makes a dialogue out of everything, doesn't he? "I'm a Viking. I am a Viking!" he shouted at the dragon.

    "Just take its heart!" snapped Yrsa, finding her own grip shaking as she stood over the beast's head. It had a steady view of her. This terrible beast━the most dangerous dragon Berk had to offer. One that hid in the night, never missed, always made it's kill without a blink ... looked so, so scared. It made Yrsa's own fear grow, and she clenched her jaw. She was right there. All she had to do was swing ... why was it so hard?!

    The Night Fury moaned. Closing its eyes, its head fell down. Yrsa realised with a hit to her heart that it had accepted defeat ... accepted its death. Her shoulders slumped. Hiccup held up the knife, ready to strike ... only to falter. He saw the fear, too; the acceptance of death ... he tried to ignore it, tried to push past it ... but like Yrsa, he couldn't. He wouldn't do it.

    Her arms dropped, and so did her weapon.

    She felt like a failure.

    Yrsa had just refused to kill a dragon.

    Hiccup stepped back and glanced at her. "I━I did this ..." he murmured and went to leave. But Yrsa didn't move.

    Instead, she stood there, transfixed. She couldn't leave the dragon like this ... she didn't know why, but she just couldn't. Or rather, she wouldn't. It made her furious. How could she be so weak? She was a warrior! A Viking; a soldier! A born and bred dragon killer, and what was she doing? She wanted to let a dragon go.

    She dropped her axe down and instead reached to her belt for her knife. Hiccup watched her, startled. "We have to set it free," she mumbled, ashamed of herself.

    But when Hiccup agreed, "Okay━" she didn't feel so ashamed; maybe because she wasn't alone with this feeling.

    She nodded and took a deep breath. Nearing the dragon again━without even thinking what it might do to them━she reached out, slipped the blade under one of the ropes, and started to cut it free.

    Its eyes snapped open in surprise, but the two Vikings paid little attention. They were fixed on cutting the ropes before someone else passed and saw them do something that no Viking of Berk should be doing. It was almost treachery to save the life of a beast who has caused so much terror to their town. But they did it anyway.

    One rope, two ropes━soon, the Night Fury could move its legs, and in seconds, it jumped into action. Whacking Yrsa aside, she shouted in alarm as she rolled aong the grass. Trying to get back up, she screamed, "Hiccup━!" as the beast launched itself at him. Hiccup gasped, having no time to defend himself before he was pinned to the ground.

    The creature stood over him, and Yrsa was frozen. She knew she had to do something, but she watched the Night Fury just stand there, glaring over Hiccup who scrunched his eyes shut━its claws tightened around their grip on his shoulders and neck.

     But the dragon still didn't do anything.

    Instead, it reared its head, and when Yrsa thought it was going to fire down on him, it opened its jaw and roared━a mighty roar; one of declaration, maybe authority, Yrsa didn't know. All she knew was that when it was done, it left, and she had to duck to avoid being whacked in the face by its tail. It ran away, dashing through the trees, leaving Yrsa and Hiccup there ... alive.

𖣯 ✹ 🌷(úlfheðnar) ꏍ ！┈─❟

     a/n: i rewatched httyd i again last night and my nephew saw astrid and immediately pointed and said: that's you!

     it was amazing. he kept asking why we had the same hair ahaha and i'm like bitch we look nothing alike but thank you i love you sweetheart.