▃▃▃▃▃▃▃

▃▃▃▃▃▃▃

Stoick looks up, eyeing the flag of his ship. It was red, a dragon with two swords piercing it adorning the front. He shakes his head with a grunt, turning around. "I can almost smell them, their close.." he mumbles, his voice low.

(F/N) appears next to the Chief, his hands behind his back, his posture straight. He glances to his Chief, nodding his head before turning to his crew, his voice strict with authority. "Steady now!" He yells, the crew nodding and rushing to their posts. "Take us in!"

"Hart to port!" Someone yells, "For Helheim's Gate," Stoick mumbles as he walks to the front of the ship, standing tall. "Hart to port!"
The ship was turned, slowly rowing into the wall of fog, disappearing with the other two.

It was quiet for a moment, a low rumbling sounding off. A flash of fire goes off, revealing a large silhouette of a dragon.

...

"You know, I just happened to notice the book had nothing on Night Furies!" Hiccup calls up to Gobber as (Y/N) keeps watch for the dragon stalking them.

"Is there, like, another book? Or a sequel? Maybe a Night Fury pamphlet-!" He yelps as he's pushed to the ground, (Y/N) crouching next to him. "Get your head in the game stick!"

"Focus Hiccup! You're not even trying!" Gobber yells, slamming his hands on the railing in annoyance. (Y/N) drags Hiccup by the arm, the Nadder hot on their heels.

"Today is all about attack!" The one legged man continues, watching the teens with wary eyes. "Nadders are quick and light on their feet, your job is to be quicker and lighter!"

Fishlegs yelps as he sees the Nadder eyeballing him, its tail spiking up before it shoots spikes at him. He screams, blocking them with his shield as he whimpers,

"I'm really beginning to question your teaching methods!" Gobber ignores him, "Look for its blindspot. Every dragon has one," he simply replies, picking at his teeth. "Find it, hide in it, and strike!"

The twins skid to a stop in front of the Nadder, freezing as it sniffs at them, unable to see them. Ruffnut groans as she smells her brother, "Do you ever bathe?" She questions, both moving as the dragon moves its head.

"If you don't like it, then just get your own blindspot," Tuffnut snaps back, shoving her away as he focuses on the Nadder. "How about I give you one?!" She growls back, butting heads with him before they both gasp as the dragon nears them.

She grabs her brother, quickly pulling him away as fire was spewed where they once were. "Blind spot, yes. Deaf spot? Not so much," Gobber cackles, casually leaning on his hand.

Hiccup pulls (Y/N) to a stop as he continues,
"H-hey, so, how would one sneak up on a Night Fury?" (Y/N) glares at him and lightly smacks him over the head, the boy wincing at the action.

Gobber sighs in frustration, "No one's ever met one and lived to tell the tale. Now get in there!" He shouts, making Hiccup flinch as he backs up.

"I know, I know, but hypothetically-" "Hiccup!" Astrid snaps, making him jump when he sees her and Snotlout crouched against the wall. "Get down!" (Y/N) looks around for a moment before sighing, deciding to continue her friends question, she clears her throat, making Gobber sigh. "Yes, (Y/N)?"

"So, I was just wondering, have you ever heard of a Woolly Howl and a Night Fury...together?" Gobber laughs, bringing a hand up to rub his head. "Those dragons are complete opposites!" He laughs, the girl frowning at his words.

"The minute either of them meet, they'd tear eachother to shreds!" He cackles, wiping a stray tear from his eye. (Y/N) sighs, shaking her head and continuing with her question.

"But has anyone ever seen a Howl..I dunno..with strange red markings?" Hiccup looks to his friend, tilting his head before looking up towards his teacher, curious for his answer.

Gobber sighs and shakes his head. "Only creature I've seen with "strange red markings" is you lass." The others snicker at his reply,
(Y/N) rolling her eyes with a huff, walking away just as the Nadder approached.

The (H/C) teen yelps as she's grabbed, she gasps, finding Astrid shoving her against a wall and shushing her. Her breathing quickens as the Nadder appears and rounds a corner, sighing in relief as it disappears.

"So..uh.." (Y/N) starts, her (ex?) friend looking to her with a raised brow. "Come here often?" She chuckles nervously, Astrid scoffing and pulling away

(Y/N) slumps in defeat, shaking her head as she follows after the Hofferson. She groans as she watches both Astrid and Snotlout roll past the Nadder, Hiccup trying the same but failing.

He slumps to the floor with a loud thump, catching the attention of the dragon. (Y/N) yanks him up and pushes him forward, the Nadder snapping at her heels.

The Nadder flies overhead, landing on a fence and landing in front of Astrid, Snotlout and the (E/C) girl. "Watch out, babes," the boy pushes through the two, making Astrid shout in protest and (Y/N) recoil from his touch.

"I'll take care of this." He throws his mace, missing and hitting the wall beside the dragon. The Nadder turns to him with a head tilt, seeming to mock him.

Astrid rolls her eyes with a scoff, (Y/N) doing the same as they both turn and run, Snotlout looking to them in offense, "The sun was in my eyes, guys!" He calls, neither of the two paying attention to him.

"What do you want me to do? Block out the sun? I could do that but I don't have time-!" he races a different way as the Nadder chases after the two girls.

Astrid slides, grabbing a wall and using it to quickly turn a different way as the Nadder runs past her, chasing (Y/N). Astrid grunts, chasing after the Nadder with a glare. "Why me?!" The (H/C) girl yells, ducking under the dragons tail and yelping as it nips at her.

Hiccup jumps as (Y/N) screams, nearly tripping as she turns a corner. The Nadder slams into the wall as it pursues her, making the rest of the maze start to collapse.

He quickly looks around, the others shoving past him as Gobber raises a brow at him, looking up before gasping. "Hiccup!" The boy looks up in question, yelping as Astrid lands on top of him.

Both teens grunt, Hiccup stammering an apology while the Hofferson shoves him away, trying to untangle their shields. "Ooh, love on the battle field," Tuffnut mocks as they watch the two.

(Y/N) chuckles at the two, gasping as she sees the Nadder quickly face towards the fumbling teens. "Okay, how about we just, move your arm like this--" Hiccup grunts as he tugs on his shield, both him and Astrid yelping in pain as their arms were pulled.

The Nadder bursts from the rubble, making the blonde gasp and struggle to yank her arm free as Hiccup does the same, sitting up and pulling as the Nadder charges at them.

The two gasp as the Nadder roars, a few feet infront of them. (Y/N) races forward, Astrid's axe in her hands. She turns the weapon over, hitting the blunt end against the dragons face, causing it to yelp and double over in pain.

The Nadder growls, limping away with its head down. Hiccup and Astrid stare at her in both awe and shock, heat rising to their faces as she stares down at them.

"Well done (Y/N)!" Gobber praises, his arm raised into a fist as he cheers for the girl. She pants slightly, bending down and staring at her two friends in concern.

"You guys okay?" She asks, her voice coming out in short breaths. Sweat rolled down her forehead and onto her chin, slowly falling to the floor. Hiccup stares at her, a raging blush on his cheeks.

As for Astrid, she didn't exactly know how she felt. Her eyes scanned over the friend she held so close to her heart. The soft look (Y/N) sent their way, the delicate smile that adorned her face.

But the thing that hit her, the only thing that she could focus on..was that (Y/N) didn't only look at Hiccup with concern, nor did she only look at Hiccup like he was her main focus.

It was the fact that (Y/N) looked at Astrid and Hiccup with the same amount of concern, the same amount of care..

And the same amount of love.

Astrid shook her head harshly, ridding herself of the thoughts and getting up. She knew that the (H/C) girl loved her, she knew that she cared for her...she just didn't care for her the same way she cared for the Haddock boy.

It was as clear as day, (Y/N) was in love with Hiccup, and he loved her. Astrid hated it, she hated feeling like she had to compete for the girls attention, she hated feeling that (Y/N) would never love her..

Because she knew it was true..(Y/N) loved Astrid, just not the way Astrid wanted, it was love, just not the same one the blonde held for the (E/C) girl. But she needed to get over it, she had to get over it.

She couldn't push away the only person that made her feel as if she was more than just "Astrid Hofferson." The person who made her feel that she was important, that she was just Astrid.

Getting up, the blonde nodded her head to the (E/C) girl in thanks before turning and glaring down at the Haddock boy, Hiccup flinching under her harsh stare. "Is this some kind of a joke to you?!" She demands, her hands clenched into fists.

"Our parents war, her mom's war, is about to become ours!" She continues, pointing to
(Y/N) at the mention of her mother. The girl flinches slightly, sighing and shaking her head, allowing the hothead to continue. "Figure out which side you're on.."

With that, Astrid turned to leave, but not before taking one last look to her old friend. She sighs, bidding (Y/N) one last goodbye and leaving with a huff.

(Y/N) watches her leave, a deep frown etched onto her face, she sighs, turning away and looking towards Hiccup. The boy looks down to the ground in shame, sniffing slightly and rubbing his eyes. "Hey.." the girl calls, crouching down and cupping his cheek.

Hiccup sniffs, turning to look at his best friend, watching as a gentle smiles grows onto her face, she brings a thumb up, gently wiping his tears away with a chuckle.

"Wanna go get something to eat?" Hiccup nods, wiping his eyes and standing up, (Y/N) reaches forward and grabs his hand, bringing it to her lips and placing a gently kiss to his knuckles.

Hiccup smiles bashfully, nodding to her in thanks. The two turn away and walk out of the arena, ignoring the stares of the rest of the teens. The boy glances towards his friend, tracing the red spots on her cheek with a loving stare.

He was so, so very grateful to have her in his life.

——