wifty

(adj.) eccentric or eccentrically silly; dizzy

A weight being pushed against your chest caused you to wake up, you opened your eyes and were instantly met with Crystal's teal ones. She had placed her head onto you and was giving you the goofiest smile you've ever seen.

"Its hard to believe a sweetheart like you was going to hurt me yesterday." You said stroking her soft, scaly head and grinning. But stopped the moment she licked your cheeks, you whined and pushed her away playfully. Crystal got away and ran in circles in the hut while you wiped the remaining saliva from your face, she was clearly excited and so were you when you remembered the reason.

"Okay let me just leave a message and we'll be on our way." You said grinning at your dragon. You walked towards the desk and took a pen and paper, quickly writing to the gang where you were going on that they should expect something when you come back.

In a minute you went to the clubhouse, put the note where the gang could see it and exited, heading to the isle of Rocksmond. 

-----

Crystal was exceptionally faster this day, perhaps because she knew where you were headed. In a matter of hours you arrived on the island, you figured that by now somebody on the Edge must've woken and seen the message so there was nothing to worry about.

"Now all that's left to do is to find Erland." You murmured to yourself.

It was a big village and in addition to that, there were always many traders visiting this place so it will certainly be a lot more crowded. If luck was on your side, you might find Erland in an hour or two.

After landing, you instructed Crystal to stay hidden in the forest or in a cave, for her own safety. Crystal found a perfect opening and hid inside, you covered the entrance with branches and bushes, just in case someone was passing by.

Then your journey begun.

It took you a while to get out the forest and find the navel of the village, but the timing was nothing too worrisome. The plan was to firstly see if you can spot Erland in the crowd and if not, then you will pursue hunting him down by searching every inch of this island.

The village here was way different than Berk, the people looked more stiff and stern with their serious expressions and often you could hear screams and fighting. Now the most gruesome part was their way of entertainment which was none other than the execution of people. After they were beheaded, the vikings would go wild with their cheers as if they had won a battle. You'd think that after five years they stopped, but that was not the case. If anything, they seemed to enjoy it even more and that disturbed you a lot. Though in the rarest occasion it would be dead silence, that is, if the beheaded person was someone who played a high role in the society.

You shook your head trying to get rid of those unsettling thoughts. You stopped for a moment and studied the place before of you. It was the biggest building in the village, even if it was thrice smaller than the Great Hall on Berk. From your previous visits, you remembered that it was a place where men would go to get a drink, though it was more popular for being a brothel.

A grimace played on your face knowing that you have to go inside because Erland might be in there. The moment you walked in, you regretted ever making that decision. The place made you nauseous from the mixture of heavy perfumes and sweat, it was too loud for your liking and everything had stains of some sort.

You took a moment to look around. There was chatter coming from every direction, men slamming their cups on the wooden table and erupting a deep laughter. Most of the women who were here, wore dresses with vests showing a lot of cleavage. They were all joyously wrapped around men and laughing at whatever they had said. 

"Aye lass! Come're if yer looking for some good time!" Someone called from the right. You turned your head to find drunken men looking at you from top to bottom with dark glint in their eyes and sinister smirks on their faces, you shivered just by wondering what was crossing their mind.
You concentrated on ignored them while they continued calling you and trying to get your attention. 

Taking a last look at the room, you concluded that Erland was not here and left as fast as you came.

You breathed in the fresh air and exhaled, thankful for not spending even a moment more in that place.

The journey was not over so you kept strolling, but then a gasp escaped your lips and you slid next to the nearest wall. You had been so lost in thought that you forgot about what you did the last time you were here, and how the person you stole from was just a couple of feet away. He was talking to another gentleman and fortunately he wasn't looking in your direction. You decided that your best option would be to circle around from behind and evade ever making any contact with the elder man.

Just as you were about to turn right and go behind the house, someone appeared ahead and it made you take a step back in surprise. 

"(Y/N)?" The boy in front of you uttered loudly, though still kept a smile on his face. You threw yourself at Erland and embraced him tightly. 

"I've been looking everywhere for you!" You exclaimed excitedly while parting away from him, still holding his arms and taking every detail on his face. Erland only laughed and you heard him mutter 'Oh my Thor' midway.

"I even went there!" You pointed at the building behind that you were previously in. A look of shock crossed Erland's face and his eyes widened instantly.

"Why in Thor's name did you think I would be there?!" He laughed incredulously, everything about his expression screamed 'I'm-done-with-this-world' and you chuckled while he shook his head in disbelief.

"In my defence, its been five years!" You rose your hands in front of your chest and waved them dismissively. "And you're older so...I don't know, maybe you're into that stuff now?" 

You shrugged repeatedly as Erland visibly grimaced when he understood what you meant.

"Did you really just say that?" He sighed and you grinned wildly. Erland began walking towards the busy mob on the road and you followed right away, while he was explaining how everything is the same as before, you were unaware of the observing eyes on you.

"It's her! That's the thief!" Someone shouted and you immediately recognized the voice, taking a quick glance at the side you saw two large men running in your way with great speed. You squeaked and grabbed Erland's arm.

"Run!" With that, both of you stormed away to whichever direction was not crowded. Erland was still confused of to why you were running away in the first place and he was a little behind so you had to pull him while running.

"No time to explain!" You yelled and hurried your pace. The men that were chasing you were screaming and cursing, the other people who were watching had disapproval written all over their face. You had started a large commotion and no way were you coming back here any soon. 

Erland kept on asking what's going on, though he was breathless and paused between words. When the men were closing in, you thought you were a goner but then up in front there was another crowd and that was something you could use in your advantage. 

You pushed through the people and gripped Erland's wrist with more force so the two of you wouldn't get separated. Unlike the other buff vikings, Erland and you were both quite thin and moved through the crowd fairly swift. Thanks to your clever perceiving, you spotted an opening between two houses and guided Erland towards it. 

Both of you went to the far edge and from there you saw the two men pass the house without taking a single glance to the side. A sigh of relief escaped your lips and you slammed yourself on the wall.

By now you were drenched in sweat and still breathing rapidly. Erland called out your name but you held out a hand telling him to pause, he nodded and exhaled loudly. After a minute of catching your breath, you began explaining what you did the previous time and the reason the men were chasing you.

Erland pursed his lips and gave you a sad look. "I thought you got over stealing."

"Hmph." You rolled your eyes. "I needed them and plus I bet you're still stealing too."

"I stopped. The consequences of robbing the wrong person are regretful." There was something in his voice that you couldn't explain, Erland was looking away and didn't want to catch your gaze. The only time he did this was when he was feeling guilty.

You were about to ask him to elaborate further but then heard the yells from the men that were chasing you. It would be too risky to stay in the place and talk so that's why you suggested to leave straight away, Erland nodded absent-mindledly and both of you headed towards the forest. 

You explained the place Crystal was at and asked if he knew where that was, luckily Erland knew. He changed course and went the opposite way. Erland didn't seem as positive as just some minutes ago, he was oddly quiet.

After some minutes of slightly awkward silence, you reached the cave... only to find that it was empty.

In a flash different nerve-racking assumptions clouded your mind. 

Where was Crystal?

Did a dragon find her?

Did a person find her?

You didn't realize that you were rambling to yourself and frantically searching around until you felt someone grab your hands and stop you. 

"Calm down, we'll find her." Erland's soothing voice brought you back from the panic state, you closed your eyes and sighed. You uttered your thoughts about what could've happened to her but Erland dismissed every single one and reassured you with more rational responses. 

"I've got it." Erland concluded suddenly and snapped his fingers. "I know where Crystal is."

He began walking in a random path and you were doubting his certainty, maybe in the end Crystal still wouldn't be in the place Erland think she is. You to decided rather than overthinking you were going focus on trusting Erland's instincts. 

Roughly two hours later both of you were still walking but then Erland stopped suddenly. You had been walking a little bit behind and weren't really aware of the surroundings. You looked up with a perplexed look on your face asking him what's wrong but from the looks of it nothing was wrong because he had big grin on his face.

"Look around." He replied 

And when you did, you couldn't stop the tears prickling your eyes.

This was the place you almost forgot existed. Even though it wasn't the most prettiest thing in the world, it was still nostalgic enough to make the memories rush back almost instantly.

The two of you were currently in a secluded part of the forest, it was simply a small cave being surrounded by many trees. You wouldn't be able to just stumble here by chance, you'd have to know your way to get here. And luckily Erland did, if it weren't because of him you would be lost considering you took too many turns to count.

You walked straightforward in the cave and saw Crystal sleeping on a pile of leaves. Her ears perked up when she heard both of you approaching, but after she saw who it was, she didn't pay you two much attention, only went back to sleep.

"Its still untouched..." A silent tear rolled down your cheek. 

You pressed a finger against the wooden table and slid it to the edge, watching how it showed a clean line and afterwards brushed the dust. 

"How did you know she would be here?" Your voice cracked in the end as you looked briefly in every direction. Your gaze landed on your dragon who was sleeping peacefully in her old bed.

"I just assumed." Erland replied with a shrug.

You rolled your eyes at that. "I expected something like 'I felt it in my heart that she was here,' or 'I sensed her presence was here.'" 

"Does having a gut feeling counts?" A cheeky smile played on Erland's lips and you shook your head in disbelief. A moment of silence roamed, you took the opportunity to recollect your thoughts.

"Gods...I still can't believe I'm here again." You murmured wistfully. From the corner of your eye you saw Erland nod in agreement. The next hour passed by resting and catching up even more, whenever Erland asked anything about your life you would tell him that he had to wait until later. He got impatient with each passing moment and before he had the chance to burst from frustration, you told him he had to come with you and see for himself.

And thus the ride back home began.   

-----

"Can you please tell me where we're headed?" Erland asked for what it seemed like the tenth time. And like every time, you sighed and told him to wait but that only resulted into him pouting like a baby. Though, when Dragon's Edge finally came into view Erland stopped speaking immediately.

"Whoa..." He trailed off and without looking behind you knew that he was examining every inch of the island he could see. 

You smiled. "I was like that too, the first time I saw the island." 

Crystal landed fairly gently this time, unlike her usual bumpy landings where you almost fall each time if you aren't holding onto something. But it was an exception this time, considering there was another person aboard.

"Wait so you're saying you didn't build all of this?" 

"What? No!" You chuckled, but you didn't realize how bad the following words sounded. "I didn't build anything here." 

"No?!" Erland exclaimed with a fearful tone. "Then where are we? Gods, (Y/N), what have you been doing?"

Bubbly laughter spilled past your lips that instant and you just took his hand, guiding him to the clubhouse where the gang might be. 

"This is my home." You said spreading your arms slowly and conveyed him the small details of the island. Erland looked like he was taking in every part of the scenery surrounding him, he almost reminded you of yourself when you first came here. 

Your thoughts were abruptly cut off when you heard someone calling your name from behind, you spun around straight away and grinned when Hiccup's figure came into view. Even from the distant you saw the perplexed look on his face.

He reached the two of you in no time and then there was a staring contest between Hiccup and Erland, they both looked at each other top to bottom trying to assess who the person in front of them is. 

When Hiccup and you locked eyes, you grinned brightly. "Erland, this is Hiccup, my-"

However you weren't able to finish your sentence because Erland suddenly burst into laughter.

"Hiccup? As in-" Erland then feigned a hiccup and doubled over laughing even more. You bit your lip knowing that the only thing Hiccup hates is when people make fun of his name. When you glanced at Hiccup again, his expression showed oddly composed features, but when you looked deeply into his eyes, you saw the burning hatred already forming.

"At least I'm not unfortunate enough to be called a foreigner, or the more correct word would be an outsider." Hiccup finished his sentence with a straight face. Erland's laugh stopped almost instantly and his lips fell into a thin line, the two boys were now intensely glaring at each other and there was a thick tension building up.

You knew that Erland isn't fond of his name as well so there was no doubt that he was furious too. Some people didn't knew the actual meaning of his name and just shrugged it off as if it was nothing, but most knew exactly what it meant and knew how much a person had to be hated in order to get that name. It was quite rude of Erland to begin the conversation like that and you didn't tolerate it at all. 

"Alright, alright." You sighed in exasperation and stepped between them. "This was a bumpy introduction so lets start again. Hiccup this is Erland and Erland this is Hiccup. Truce?"

"Truce..." They murmured simultaneously and shook hands. You nodded with confidence. 

"Now lets go to the clubhouse." You said and without waiting for a response, headed towards the building. Hiccup and Erland both walked by your side without uttering a single word.

Soon enough you reached the desired destination you opened the doors. That made everyone present in the room to stop what they were doing and look at whoever entered the clubhouse, the twins who you were assuming were chasing each other, now stopped dead in their tracks. Fishlegs looked up from the Dragon book and Astrid stopped polishing her axe. Snotlout on the other hand, was nowhere to be seen.

"Hey guys! Meet Erland!" You announced with a cheerful tone and side-hugged the boy next to you. Erland uttered a content 'hello' and waved at the gang, though they didn't have the upbeat reactions as you imagined.

"When you said 'we should expect something' I didn't think you would bring a person." Astrid half-joked and went back to waxing the axe, it seemed that her comment brought everybody back to reality because they all greeted Erland, though you weren't sure if it was full heartedly.

"A hot person." You didn't notice Ruffnut come near both of you and when you looked in her direction, she was too busy apprising Erland's muscles. You snorted when she prod them and her eyes widened. Erland just laughed awkwardly, not knowing what to do in this situation. But thankfully Ruffnut straightened up and moved away, but not before winking.

"Let me introduce you to my friends! This is Astrid!" Upon hearing her name, Astrid shifted her gaze to you but then looked Erland up and down, he noticeably tensed because of her deadly stare. 

"The twins over there, Ruffnut-" You pointed at her, Ruffnut sent him a kiss and wiggled her eyebrows. You quickly averted the focus on Tuffnut in order for Erland not to get even more uncomfortable.

"Fishlegs." You said and Erland followed your gaze to the boy sitting in front of you both. Fishlegs simply waved and offered him a warm smile. You then explained that there is a boy called Snotlout, but you were unsure where he is.

Hiccup storming pass without saying anything made everyone watch him with a risen eyebrow. It caught Astrid's attention because she lowered her axe to see what was going on and Fishlegs was looking back and forth between you and him.

You nodded your head at the table and walked towards it with Erland. The twins also decided to take a seat and Ruff moved closer and closer to Erland to the point where there was barely space between them.

Hiccup, on the other hand, was looking away in the distance with his arms crossed. You smiled shyly at that.

"And you've already met my lovely boyfriend." You bubbled unexpectedly as you pointed still keeping your gaze on him. Hiccup's face softened completely upon hearing your words but it went entirely blank when Erland choked on his spit.

"Wait, he's your boyfriend?" Erland said between laughs, but you didn't find anything funny at all. You only observed him quietly as his laughter died down into a sheepish one when he became aware of everyone's stares.

"Listen Erland," You started strictly, "You're my friend and all, but don't even think for a second that you can come here and act like you own the place. I know we rejoined recently, but I can't tolerate someone who disrespects my friends." You finished with a threatening look and watched how Erland shifted in his seat.

"I was only joking, jeez." His voice was now quiet as a murmur. 

"Well you know what? You're a half-witted idiot." Everybody's head snapped in Hiccup's direction when he said that, but he only stared at Erland who parted his lips and was about to reply but then Hiccup spoke again, this time with a clever grin. "Just kidding." 

Tuffnut then began to loudly sniff, "I smell drama." 

The room burst into laughter then, except Hiccup and Erland who were too busy glaring at each other, again.

You sighed knowing that the chances of them finding a common ground are extremely slim.

"I thought you didn't had friends before you met us, (Y/N)." Astrid pointed out and the gang shifted their gaze onto you now, under the pressure you chomped on your lips. 

You saw Erland's expression turn into a heart broken one, but he had every right to feel so. You would be pretty bumped too if you found out that Erland has never mentioned you to his friends, at all.

"I had just one friend and I believe I owe you guys a story of my life, a part that I didn't tell you about in the previous time."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I hope you guys liked the chapter! Vote and comment if you did! ❤️