komorebi

(n.) sunlight filtering through trees

Ever since you left Dragon's Edge everything seemed different...you seemed different. After two days of contemplating you still couldn't believe that all of this happened and the worst part of it is that nobody came looking for you.

You'd think after being friends for so long they'd choose to trust you, but you were wrong, oh so wrong. After everything you've done for them, after everything all of you went through together it only saddened you even more that they still neglected believing you instead of Mariah.

A grunt escaped your lips and you shook your head wildly trying to forget about the events, but even after so many attempts to do so you just couldn't get them out of your mind. You promised yourself to forget about everything but that proved easier said than done, how can you just suddenly stop thinking about something like it never existed before, it is never that simple.

The night was quiet and peaceful on Cherry Blossom Island, except for the cricked sounds echoing around. Your gaze was fixed on the starry sky above, with the stars flickering ever so slightly and the moon shining bright rays.

The relaxing scenery calmed you a bit, just enough to take your mind off Dragon's edge for some minutes. But all of the sudden Crystal's head bolted up, she nearly hit you because your dragon was laying on your lap.

Crystal grabbed you by the collar of your shirt and swung you up in the air. You let out a loud shriek as you were flying down into the sea bellow, but thankfully Crystal flew under you and you landed on her saddle.

"Crystal what was that for?!" You exclaimed, not particularly angry just surprised. This action was not usual so you were taken aback by it, why would your dragon randomly decide to throw you was all you wondered.

Crystal let out a series of whimpers and for once you wanted to know what she was saying. What you didn't fail to notice was how incredibly fast your dragon was flying, and also that she was flying in the direction of the Edge.

"No! We're not going back!" You snapped and tried to change the direction by moving her saddle to the right, but Crystal was just too strong and determined to go there that you just gave up.

To your surprise Crystal managed to arrive on Dragon's Edge in just a couple of minutes which was remarkably impressive to say the least.
For some reason she chose to go from the back side of the island, even though it was weird you did not question it.

But once she crept behind the bushes you saw what caused her to do that. In front of you were fleets of ships and not just any troupe, it was Alvin's Outcasts.

"I knew she was a spy." You muttered quietly, guilty for feeling so proud that Alvin attacked. But that made you worry even more, where was the gang and Mariah and were they okay was what you were fretting about.

But after you heard Alvin's hideous laugh you knew exactly where to look.

The dome.

You got off from Crystal and both of you carefully made your way down to where voices were coming, the path from the forest led directly to them and in a matter of minutes both of you arrived there. But once you arrived there you felt your stomach knot inside and heart drop, the gang were sat in a half circle with their hands tied up along with the dragons who were muzzled as well.

Next to you Crystal growled at the sight, but you shushed her. If you made a sudden appearance the many guards around could chain Crystal in a second and the mission would fall apart, then again, you still didn't have any plans on what to do.  

Frustrated, you chomped on your lip and cursed yourself for not being more like Hiccup. It still marveled you how he can come up with strategies on spot and it was your deepest wish to be like that someday.

"Okay, so, this is the plan." You breathed in and whispered into Crystal's ear. The plan involved Crystal shooting her spine shots into the guard's crossbows and while everyone is distracted you will run up to the dragons and cut their muzzles. 

Everything went smoothly after that, the Outcasts were disarmed and you ended up freeing all of the dragons except Toothless but after Mariah called out your name, you regretted not untying Toothless first. 

When you turned around your blood went cold at the sight in front of you, Hiccup was held by Alvin with a knife against his neck and even if Hiccup struggled to get free, Alvin was just too strong and held him tightly. The other dragons flew away and before you had the chance to untie Toothless, two of the guards surrounding him got their crossbows again and aimed them at you.

"Dumb move, (Y/N)." Mariah spat, but you didn't even heard what she said, you were focused more on where Crystal is and quickly scanned around to find her but she was nowhere to be found. Your gaze then landed on Hiccup and in a second everything around you seemed to blur while both of you watched each other, even if three days had passed for you it still seemed like an eternity since you last saw him. 

"Let him go!" You snapped, breathing heavily. Your heart was thrumming against your chest with such incredible speed that it was the loudest thing you were hearing. Even though your voice held nothing but anger, deep inside you were shaking with fear. The thought of them hurting Hiccup made you grit your teeth and find a solution fast.

In response Alvin laughed loudly and Mariah joined him soon. You didn't hide your scowl and just glared them intensely. Fortunately for you, they were looking at each other and talking something that you couldn't quite hear, in that time you took out the dagger from your thigh and threw it towards Astrid.

Just as it landed behind her arms, both Alvin and Mariah looked at your direction, your eyes were still burning into their soul but they seemed more pleased than fearful.

Mariah walked towards Hiccup with a smirk on her lips. Once she stopped in front of him, she eyed him for a couple a second then she turned to face the others. "You know, you guys are so dumb for not believing your dear friend." She let out a thunderous laugh. "Who knows, maybe you could've evaded l this!"

Everyone looked at you with guilt plastered on their face but instead of smiling at them, you looked away. You were not going to forget their mistake that easily, you weren't going to soften that quick.

Suddenly you heard rustling from the left side, from the corner of your eye there was a blue shadow behind the bush and you knew it was Crystal. Without looking that way, with your hand you motioned her to stay there.

"Hey, Mariah." You called out and she turned around with one eyebrow arched up. "I challenge you to a fight. If I win you let go of Hiccup and the others."

Mariah's smirk grew even more."And what if I win?" You knew that there wasn't any chance that Mariah might beat you so you casually suggested that they can take you as a prisoner too.

While Mariah went to take her weapon you scanned the area once again, the other guards have taken their weapons and were now suspiciously glaring at the gang. You instantly noticed how Astrid's wrists were untied and she was now looking at you with a serious face.

She moved her head at the guards and you knew exactly what she was saying, she wanted to attack them but you shook your head. All you wanted to know was where the rest of the dragons are, why haven't they came back yet.

So much for loyalty.

Your gaze fixed on Mariah who was coming your way, she had a mace in one hand that rested on her shoulder while the other hand was placed on her side. Her way of walking screamed confidence, but you knew she was just exaggerating, there was no way that she was skilled enough like you.

But your assumptions were proven wrong, because once both of you started the fight you saw how many times she actually struck you and how many times you barely evaded her attacks. There was so much anger and fury in her attack pattern, none like you've seen, not even in the strongest viking you've fought.

While dodging Mariah you ended up near the gang and in one quick motion you threw the other dagger towards Snotlout. Thankfully none of the guards saw anything but unfortunately you didn't saw Mariah coming from your right and the next thing you know, a piercing pain exploded in your stomach.

It felt like all of the air from your lungs suddenly disappeared, in a second you were laying on the ground and clutching your stomach as the pain grew more and more intense.

"(Y/N)! Look out!" Fishlegs shouted from the left side, for a second you were puzzled to why but once you looked up, you layed in horror when you saw Mariah holding her mace above her head, ready to strike.

"You have no idea how much I've been waiting for this." She spoke bitterly with a wicked grin stretching on her face. As if something was pulling you down, you were unable to move nor speak. Like you were paralysed in spot.

The last thing you saw was Mariah taking a swing and you tightly closed your eyes, expecting to be crushed to death but the attack never came. Instead a loud ear-piercing scream from above, you pried open your eyes only to find that Mariah has been stabbed in the shoulder and sides. By the looks of it, the blades looked like they belong to Crystal and sure enough when you turned around you saw your dragon out of the bush, completely unguarded.

Suddenly dragons of all sorts flew around and attack the Outcasts ships, you smiled when the gang's dragons appeared and they attacked the guards in the dome. Your assumptions that they fled away in fear were wrong because now you knew they went to get reinforcement.

You stood up just as all the gang ran up to their dragons, you guesses that Snotlout and Astrid cut their ropes as well. Below you, Mariah was whining in pain which made your smile grow bigger, even though it was bad to laugh at people when they're in pain you just couldn't help yourself.

When you looked back up you saw Toothless being freed too, but after looking around the dome entirely you began to worry when you didn't catvh a sight from Hiccup nor Alvin.
Your breathing accelerated as you took another look around now even searching to the shores to see if maybe they're in a ship. Even though you were relieved to find them all half-sinking and burning, you couldn't help but fret that maybe Hiccup was in there too.

You frantically ran back to the dome and saw the collision happening there, Tuffnut, Astrid and Snotlout  were fighting against the Outcasts along with their dragons while Fishlegs and Ruffnut were tying up those who surrendered.

Your eyes fell on Toothless who was running around the dome as if searching for something. And you knew exactly what he was looking for. Crystal landed next to you and that took you by surprise, but nonetheless you dashed towards Toothless with your dragon running behind you too.

After you patted Toothless he jerked around but softened when he saw it was you. "Come on, lets find Hiccup."
You uttered and climbed on his saddle, in a second you were in the air with Crystal flying alongside.

"If only we had Skullcrusher here, he could've tracked Hiccup's scent." You muttered to yourself, you rose a brow when the sound of sniffing came from below. In a moment Toothless took a harsh landing, he seemed unfazed because he continued sniffing the ground. Only then did you see the noticeable tracks on it.

You got off Toothless and followed the tracks quickly. After a couple of minutes they seemed never-ending but suddenly you heard voices and it didn't take you any time to realize that they belonged to Hiccup and Alvin.

After quickening your pace you came in view to see Alvin dragging Hiccup behind him. Hiccup's green eyes widened when he saw you anr you rose your index finger to your lips telling him to be quiet.
Quickly, but carefully you took out your sword without making a sound and approached the boys, Toothless and Crystal stood behind to cover you if needed.

You got extremely close to them and looked down at Hiccup who was watching you with a worried expression, it took everything in you to calm down your rapid breathing but thankfully Alvin didn't notice.

Without a second doubt you pierced your sword in Alvin's spine and instantly his thunderous yell echoed around. He fell on the ground and Hiccup quickly moved away, Toothless came out and went straight to him, cutting the rope with his sharp teeth.

He retracted them instantly and was pulled in a hug by Hiccup, the sight made you feel warmer inside but then you heard Alvin's bellows and furrowed your eyebrows when you looked down.

You didn't know why put something deep inside made you stab him once again, the force was stronger and it won the battle between the rational side of your brain that was fighting not to slash Alvin because he had enough.

Maybe it was the anger that provoked your actions, maybe it was the revenge hiding deep inside, but whatever it was, it made you feel a lot better.

"(Y/N)..." Hiccup's voice sounded extremely pained and once you looked around you saw that his voice matched his face. You saw a few tears teiclle down his cheek and took a step back.

Is he crying?

You blinked rapidly, thinking that you were seeing things but you weren't. "H-H-Hiccup?" You internally cursed yourself for stuttering, but that train of thought stopped when Hiccup didn't say anything just got up.

He walked towards you and you did as well. When there was a foot of distance between you both, you saw his face clearer. His cheeks were slightly red and eyes bloodshot, you had never seen Hiccup cry, never. And this only made you stunned in place.

"I'm sorry." Hiccup spoke with a calm tone, but you saw him shut his eyes tightly and bite his lips, he then bursted into sobs. You parted your lips in disbelief as you watched him cry because of you.

You felt guilty for thinking that he deserves this but in reality he was the main reason that you left. Even if the others were on Mariah's side you only cared about Hiccup's choice and when he chose to believe Mariah it simply broke you.

Even if you were mad at him, you couldn't look at him crying and do nothing so after taking a deep breath you wrapped your arms around Hiccup. He chocked out another sob and repeatedly told you how sorry he was, you wanted him to stop but then again...

"I never should have trusted her, I hate myself for not believing you from the beginning. If I did, nothing would've happened and...and..." Hiccup rambled on and on, you hugged him even tighter and shushed him. He finally stopped crying but it was worse now because he was accusing himself now and it made you feel bad.

"Hiccup, listen to me." You cupped his cheeks and made him catch your gaze, for a moment you were lost in his limpid emerald eyes but shook your head after, "It passed alright? Don't worry about it. Things are going to get back to normal now."

"One thing is not going to." His statement left you bewildered.

"And what's that?"

"Us..."

After he said that your hands fell to your sides, you didn't know what to think or say because you weren't quite sure yourself. He was right but maybe you could give him another chance and try to forget about his actions.

Without uttering a single word you walked away towards the way you came, a few seconds Hiccup's footsteps were heard but seemed distant, and internally in your mind there was a debate whether to feel sad or okay about him not making effort to talk. As the dome came in view there were no screaming or shouting like some minutes ago but you saw Astrid commanding the Outcasts who surrendered, she looked so fierce and confident it amazed you the most.

Your gaze met Snotlout and he suddenly exclaimed your name with shock, everyone's head turned in an instant and they hurriedly rushed over, you were washed over with apologizes and assertions that they realized their mistake. One part of you was burning with satisfaction, saying that they deserve this but there was the opposite one, that wanted them to stop what they were doing because it wasn't right.

Even after you told them it was okay, they still continued talking a bit about the subject before you shut them once again. As you were talking everyone's eyes fixed on something behind of you, the curiosity arouse and you grew impatient because even after a few seconds they still hadn't looked away. Though, you knew Hiccup was the one standing behind you so without sparing him a single glance, you walked forward towards the Outcasts.

Once you came close enough all of their murmuring stopped and they glared at you intensely, it made your confidence flee away slowly and you wondered how Astrid did this, it seemed so easy but in reality you were sweating. After clearing your throat, you captured everyone's attention and began speaking.

"If we were someone else we would've dispose of you right away, but we aren't." You spoke loud and clear, so that it reaches everyone's ears. After a quick pause of carefully thinking out your words, you continued again. "Instead, we are giving you a last chance so you will go back to Outcasts and never return. If you do, you will experience hell like you've never did before."

After you finished the little speech, behind you the ruffling noise of wings fluttering was heard coming closer and closer. Then a loud thud followed and you turned around in the same time Crystal landed, in front of her, Alvin's motionless body laid still on the ground.

"Hmph, you can take him if you'd like." You spoke with a bored tone and waved your hand at Alvin so casually like motioning to pick up an object.

Everyone got on their legs and you briefly explained the plan of their leaving. There was one ship that wasn't destroyed so all of them were going to get on it, before they entered their ship, Snotlout cut their rope on the wrists and if anyone dared to attack or something similar like that, all of the dragons surrounding the ship will burn them in a second.

Suddenly your eyes fixed on Mariah who was near the end of the line, a smirk tugged on your lips as you approached her. Once her eyes met yours, they widened slightly and she visibly blanched at the sight of you coming her way.

"Mind if we take a stroll around the island?" A fake grin plastered on your lips and you watched as she shook her head violently, obviously boosted because of the fear. As you walked further away, you watched the gang staring at you with a befogged expression. You smiled at them, reassuring that you would't be doing anything malicious.

After walking far away from anyone's sight you stopped and so did Mariah who was standing side by side.

"I'm still surprised you came to the level to turn my friends against me." You admitted with a chuckle, still unable to comprehend your statement. Next to you, Mariah just shrugged with a smirk. She didn't particularly say anything, almost as if her proud look was telling it all.

"You were so close to ending us all, but alas..." There was a long silence after that, only staring at each other. But Mariah broke it with the sentence you did not expect to hear.

"Oh, but your parent's would've been so proud of me!" She then burst in a laughter, but you stayed still, replaying her words over and over.

"What...What did you say?" You walked closer to her, there was just a foot distance between the two of you. She looked you up and down, after that she straightened her position, almost as if she wanted to look tall while she spoke.

"You think this whole plan was Alvin's?" She spoke incredulously and snorted. Truth be told you assumed it wasn't him but now you knew you were right, Alvin is too dumb to create this master plan. "We were all sat together, suggesting ideas and all. Then out of nowhere, your dad got up and told us this marvelous plot!" She giggled loudly while you watched her in disbelief.

Your heart rate accelerated and your breath came out as panting, but no. Mariah didn't stop. "And you know what? Your mother fully agreed with him! And of course they sent me to do the job, because I was perfect. I'm the daughter they wished they had."

The last statement crossed the line and it was enough to make you rise your fist and smack Mariah's face with the such a force, you heard something pop. Probably a bone. Mariah landed on the ground, but what you didn't expect was her to continue laughing like a mad man.

"It's sad really! Your own parents wanting you to die!"

"Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!" You shrieked and kicked her in the stomach, your action made Mariah roll on her back but even that wasn't enough, because after a few coughs she talked again.

"I'm surprised you haven't recognized me yet! I mean you how could you forget the person that made your pathetic life even worse?" Mariah giggled mockingly, suddenly everything stopped moving and the memories of the day you got banished flashed before your eyes. How could you forget? Mariah was part of the group that hated your guts, you grew up with her in the same island. And now she's was here, ruining your life once again.

"Gods, we had so much fun making fun of you! And when we saw you with that dumb dragon, we couldn't resist not snitching!" Your years-long assumptions were proven right, someone did in fact saw you before, so the random visit in the forest by the Outcasts wasn't so random, it was planned.

After Mariah ended her talk, everything flipped and you didn't have any control over the next few things that happened. Your vision was fogged and you caught glimpses of what was happening just for some seconds, then everything went back to being blurry.

You remembered seeing Mariah's bloody face underneath you, screams of agony escaping her mouth as she tried to escape but she was unable because of you constantly throwing punches and not showing any signs of stopping. But thankfully for her, you felt someone pull you away from her. Someone carrying her bridal style was the last thing you saw before the darkness consumed you.

-----

You awoke like usual and for a moment you feared everything was just a bad dream, you tried to recall what happened but everything was so distant and vague. Pushing the blankets away, you got up and saw Crystal sleeping on her bed in the corner, next to her the window was wide open and the cold air was flowing inside.

You rubbed your arms as the chilly wind passed through, before you closed the window. you scanned the landscape in front of you. The hut had a clear view of the dome below and the vast blue sea, but everything was empty and the thing that surprised you the most was that the moon was shining brightly instead of the sun.

If the things actually happened, then you've been out cold for a lot of hours. Without a second doubt you went out and headed straight to a certain hut, being the impatient person you are, you jogged and knocked wildly when you arrived.

A few seconds the door opened revealing the auburn haired Hiccup, his hair was tousled and there were noticeable dark circles under his dull green eyes. But when he processed it was you standing outside, Hiccup's eyes lit right away.

"(Y/N)." He breathed out and instantly you were wrapped in a tight hug, part of you wanted to pull away because of the thing he did before but the bigger, stronger part of chose to ignore all of that and focus on the hug that you were yearning for. A second later you hugged back, you missed this feeling, how you could forget about things just for a moment and it amazed you how Hiccup had the whole power.

"What happened?" You muttered, none of you showed any signs of wanting to pull away so you stayed in that position.

"We heard screaming and when we arrived we saw you beating Mariah." His response made you wince and before you asked if she was dead or not, Hiccup reassured you she was fine, but had some broken bones on her face. Without any warning, a image of Mariah with a hideously distorted face flashed before your eyes and your lips curved in a wicked smile that was thankfully unseen by anyone.

No matter how bad it sounded, all you wanted Mariah to feel was pain, constant pain. For her to experience how you felt all those years.

Hiccup was the first one to part the hug and you quickly concealed your smile. Both of you watched each other in complete silence, the only sound was the beating of your heart beats thrumming against your chest's.

"Listen, (Y/N), I wish I could go back in time and slap myself for believing Mariah instead of you." Hiccup's words made you burst out in giggles and he did as well, but somehow managed to calm himself down. "I'm serious, I would give anything just to fix my mistake."

"Pretty bad mistake." You commented with a wide grin stretching on your lips. Now the internal debate began and even if you thought it would last for a couple of minutes, it only lasted a second. You were thinking whether to give Hiccup another or not, but being without Hiccup was like having a part of you missing and Hiccup was the love of your life, there was no denying that. So you chose to stop thinking about the past events and focus on the future without Mariah.

"Well..." You trailed off, "There's nothing a little kiss can't fix."

Hiccup stood stunned, his eyes wide and lips slightly parted. And before he could do anything you threw yourself onto him, your lips crashing against his. You cherished this blissful moment, it seemed like an eternity has passed since you felt like Hiccup was stolen away from you forever, but he wasn't. He was here right in your arms.

You leaned forward, deepening the kiss like a hungry predator. The action made you both stumble around but thankfully not enough to loose balance and fall. Feeling the shortage of breath you pulled away and inhaled loudly and repeatedly.

"I love you." Hiccup said panting very slightly. Your lips curved in a small smile, those words were coming from Hiccup's voice were heaven to your ears and it made you happy to finally be hearing them once again.

"I love you too." You replied and kissed him. Though, parted in a millisecond when you heard someone whistling from outside, when you turned around you felt the colour drain from your face. The door, which you previously forgot to close, was left wide open for everyone to see inside and in this case it was the gang.

They all had the same smug expressions on their face, in addition to that Ruffnut was wiggling her eyebrows. You resisted the urge to roll your eyes because it would be mean, instead you walked to them with Hiccup following behind.

"So you guys are together again?" Astrid asked with a wide grin, for a second you forgot that you even broke up with Hiccup and you parted your mouth to question but closed it once you remembered. A simple nod was enough to make her grin form into a satisfied smile.

"I mean, Astrid and I knew that you two were secretly dating way back before all of this happened." Ruffnut beamed and put an arm over Astrid, who surprisingly didn't even flinch. You on the other hand chuckled sheepishly as a reply.

"Why were you two hiding it in the first place? Its not like we were going to judge you guys or anything." Fishlegs spoke and it made regret form inside of you. For a long period you were readying yourself for how this whole confessing will go out, but even after countless hours of preparing you were still loss of words. Thankfully Snotlout asked another question which was not better than the last one.

"And when did you two start dating?" He asked impatiently, eagerness glimmering in his eyes.

"A little bit after I moved in here." You replied and Snotlout chocked on air, a giggle escaped your lips while you watched him.

"That long?!" He gasped and then turned to the boys around him, "We're seriously blind guys. I mean how did we not notice anything?" Tuffnut and Fishlegs agreed and they began talking how they should stop being so oblivious.

"Yeah we're that good at hiding." Hiccup joked and you burst into laughter along with the others. It felt so good to finally be free from that constant fear of getting caught, thinking that each time someone might bust in and catch you both but now since everyone knows, everything is different and for the better.

A minute later you began to explain how you feared that they would've kicked you out of the group if they found out, though you realized how foolish you were because you didn't see how much they cared about you.

"And since we're on the confessing part, I might as well tell you my life before any of you met me." With that sentence you told them everything about yourself, the first time you befriended a dragon, the banishing from the island, the reason for your immense hatred towards Alvin. It looked like everything got clearer for them, they can finally understand what you've been through and why you're this way.

All in all, today for you was the most stress-relieving day because all of the weight on your shoulder was finally taken away, you finally came clean about everything and that was a major plus in your friendship.

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