𖣯 ✹ 🌷(úlfheðnar) ꏍ ！┈─❟
╰───►chapter ten; yrsa
❝ see you tomorrow?! ❞

    'SEE you tomorrow' seemed to be all Hiccup would say for the following set of weeks. He showed up to Dragon Training, improvised as best he could, and before anyone else could question him, he was off to the forge or the Cove where he met up with Yrsa and they'd work out the best plan to get Toothless to fly. Yrsa was beyond amused to watch Hiccup trial and fail in getting Toothless in the sky (multiple times). They'd crashland in the pond, in the grass, in the pond again ...

    Yrsa spent her time spoiling Toothless and chatting his ear off. She learnt a lot about dragons this way━so much. She learnt dragons hate eels, much like Hiccup had said, and that they absolutely love scratches behind the ears and that Toothless was as wild, excited and playful as a dog. He loved to run away from them, jump out from behind (and giving Yrsa a terrible fright only to laugh at in the back of his throat), and he loved to run after the lights from Yrsa's axe blade that reflected off the afternoon and morning sun.

    She loved playing with him and talking to him. It brought out a side of her she wasn't used to, tackling and play wrestling in the grass, laughing at the top of her lungs and letting her hair free from their braids as she laid back against his scales while he ate. It especially made her day better when it came to Dragon Training.

    For when it came to Dragon Training, Hiccup seemed to forget about their deal.

    At first, it wasn't much. It was okay. Yrsa understood. The dragons were running at him and he acted. But soon, as crowds grew, attention followed him and the teens surrounded him with questions, claps on the backs and cheers, Hiccup started to look for it. He'd step out into the arena from his hiding spot and reach the dragons before anyone else could, giving them a small scratch under the chin in the specific spot that made them drop, or scratch a little Dragon Nip (as they had named) by their noses━they absolutely loved that stuff.

    It made her annoyed. And maybe it was more than breaking a deal, too, because when Astrid started to pay attention to him, that was when Yrsa really got fired up. It wasn't long before she was left alone at the tables, in the walks from the Dragon Arena, or just in her day-to-day activities. It wasn't positive attention, or maybe it was, but Astrid was far more curious about Hiccup than she had ever been. She'd started to ask where he's been, where Yrsa's been, and what they were doing. Sometimes, when Yrsa would sneak off to the Cove by herself, she saw her best friend practising in the woods, throwing her axe and she'd have to duck and cover quickly, running before she'd see her.

    She never was jealous of Astrid, ever until now. She had never been jealous of anyone. But, now, it seemed to be all she thought about. Astrid this and Hiccup that. Each time Astrid left her seat beside her to go grill Hiccup amongst the exited exclaims from the others, Yrsa would slam her drink onto the table. She almost fell off the walk by the rush of the others to reach Hiccup to ask questions how he took down the Gronckle last lesson. Her food was kicked right out of her way when Tuffnut scurried up and onto the table to reach Hiccup in time before he was swarmed by the people of Berk.

    It was wrong, she knew it was, but she Yrsa had found herself belonging somewhere, with someone. She had a new friend, someone who she didn't have to lie to everyday about where she was going, or who she was seeing, or about the Night Fury she befriended.

    So, as Hiccup's new found talent in Dragon Training grew, as did the crowds, and the attention, and the cheers, so did Yrsa's anger and frustration. She began to be the one throwing her axe in the woods, hitting the same target over and over again. She began to slip back into her old ways, scowling at Hiccup and avoiding him while everyone else swam to his side, but not because she was hiding anything. No, she was mad, and she wanted him to know that.

    Astrid━of course━was growing worried. She'd pull Yrsa aside some days and ask her: "What's going on?" and Yrsa didn't know what to say. The truth? And have herself scorned out of town, Toothless chained and Hiccup banished? No matter her anger, she would never let that happen, and that infuriated her more.

    After a while, she stopped heading to the Cove and instead practiced fighting home alone or with Astrid. She got back into Dragon Training, not to hurt the dragons, no, she was far from that now, but to show in Hiccup's face just how mad she was. She'd fight to get to the dragon before he did, knock him off his feet in cunning ways when he wasn't looking, and soon, Yrsa and Hiccup weren't friends, but instead, competitors in a game he didn't even know started━or how it started.

    For when a fifteen-year-old girl like Yrsa was jealous and angry━over ways she didn't want to admit, oh, did she get angry. And as she grows up, of course, she matures, much like every Viking girl did. But now? Gods, no.

    They revisted the Gronckle, and Deadly Nadder multiple times to perfect their training. Yrsa was able to take the Gronckle out with a quick sniff of Dragon Nip like Hiccup had done before. When the dragon fell to her feet, she searched for Hiccup's gaze in the arena with a bounce of her brows to say: two can play at that game. The Deadly Nadder was scratched to bliss unconsciousness by Hiccup, leaving both Astrid and Yrsa dry before they could even raise a finger.

    The Hideous Zippleback was put forward a few more times, too, where Yrsa raced to get back into the cage, but when Hiccup managed to do it before her, she let out a cry of, "Are you kidding me?!" and slammed her axe multiple times on the stone ground. When the Devilish Dervish resurfaced, Yrsa full on knocked Hiccup aside to try and reach the dragon, but even then, he had managed to scratch the dragon under the chin, and she was furious.

    Then, they were placed up against the Terrible Terror. A tiny dragon, but with a fierce bite and fire that made it belong in the Stoker Class. The teens all stood in a line in front of the cage doors as Gobber pulled up the log to unlock it. Out of the smallest door at the bottom, scurried the green creature and Tuffnut laughed out a dubious scoff.

    "Ha! It's like the size of my━"

    The dragon launched straight for his face, and he fell back to the ground. The others split up, yelling in alarm and leaving him alone to fend of the small creature who just chewed at the tip of his nose. "Get it off!" he cried, tugging. "Get it off!"

    Hiccup positioned himself by the sunlight and drew the Terrible Terror back towards the door with the reflection. Something Yrsa had showed him! It chased after it, and Tuffnut rolled away in pain. "Oh, I'm hurt! I am very much hurt!"

    The chief's son led the dragon back into its cage and closed the small door with the sole of his boot, smiling back at them. Yrsa scowled.

    "Wow," Tuffnut told her and Astrid. "He's better than you two ever were."

    Yrsa snapped her glare to him and smacked her shield across his already wounded nose.

    "OWWW!"

    Hiccup understood she was upset. Over what, he wasn't sure, of course. How could he be? She never told him. She just stopped meeting up with him in the forge or at the Cove. She stopped sending him little amused smiles at the others misfortune or bounced her brows at the comments he'd make before anyone would notice. But he never said anything about it.

    The problem was: Yrsa wanted him to say something about it. She wanted his attention. She wanted him to walk up to her, scowl and demand, "What is your problem?!" and she'd be relieved to snap at him exactly what that was. But he never did, and why should he? It wasn't as if they were close. Perhaps Yrsa had imagined it all because she had wanted there to be something, and now the realisation hit, and she wasn't handling it well.

    The best thing about all of this, however, was that Astrid was great to vent to because she was also not Hiccup's favourite at the moment. He was ruining her chance at getting to kill the Monstrous Nightmare, and to her (without knowing the truth, of course), he was also ruining her best friend's chance to show herself as a proper shieldmaiden like her mother, and not 'crazed' like her father.

    During these weeks, Yrsa was slowly starting to realise that her hopeful plan of getting Hiccup to talk to her was not working. She was going to have to approach him herself, and while the thought of it wounded her pride completely, she couldn't wait for the moment she got to yell at him for what he did. Or maybe she could go the disappointment route, she didn't know.

    All she knew was that she was hurt, over many things━a lot of which she wasn't going to admit to, because that meant admitting to how she felt about him, and she was way too prideful for that. How could she explain half of her problems? I'm jealous because Astrid's now paying attention to you (even if its in anger) because I know you like her and I like you━no. I got angry over you being surrounded by everyone because you were one of the first people I actually opened up to and now I'm insecure and I don't know how to act about it because I really like you━gods, no. Hiccup, we had a deal━

    No. None of them were going to work.

    And the thing was, she really, really missed their chats in the Cove with Toothless, or in the forge as she watched him make his tail, suit and saddle. Yrsa missed swinging her legs and secretly enjoying the way he worked, or drew. He even drew her once, and she had to do her best not to blush as she crossed her arms and acted like she didn't want to pose. Yrsa missed that. She missed being ... well, she missed being herself━trusting someone enough to be herself.

    And if it was even possible, all that sadness over it just made her madder and madder and madder... maybe to a point where she really was crazy. (Oh, how ironic would that be?).

    But in the end, here Yrsa was, making her way to the forge at night, knowing that Hiccup would most likely be inside. It took a lot of talking to herself to get to this point. A lot of ways to bring up conversation, or perhaps slide in an apology in hopes for a mutual ground. She walked up the slope, fiddling with her axe nervously. She was still thinking over what to say. Sorry I pushed you over in training the other day? Oh, and by the way, it's because of this━

    No, stupid, Yrsa.

    The clang within the shop brought her attention. Eyes snapping up, she rushed forwards, her curiosity overgrowing the nerves in her stomach. There wasn't a sound afterwards, and it made Yrsa tilt her head and call through the closed door, uncertain, "Hiccup? Are you in there? Look, I know you're probably really really mad at me, but I think we need to talk━"

    Her sentence was cut off by Hiccup flinging his body out through the trading doors, slamming them behind him.

    "Yrsa! Hey!" Hiccup let out, grinning, then realised it was her, and the grin fell away. "What are you doing here?"

    Yrsa flushed. She went back to fiddling with her axe. "Look, I know ... I've been really mean recently, but━but I wanted to tell you why and I think that━"

    Hiccup grunted. She stopped, startled, seeing him be tugged backwards. Yrsa arched a brow, a little incredulous. "Uh ... okay. But, look, I don't apologise often━or at all really, but I've been meaning━what I want to say is━well, the thing is━" as she stumbled over her words, Hiccup was tugged and tugged further to the trading doors. She stopped completely to see him rise up into the air before disappearing back into the forge.

    Yrsa's eyes widened and she rushed to the doors. Flinging them open, she saw nobody at all. She sighed, stepping back. Great, she thought to herself sarcastically, so much for apologising. Good job, Yrsa.

    She had no choice but to see him tomorrow.

     But she didn't see him tomorrow. As morning came, arrived the boats of Vikings that finally came back━one of the only ships that have gone in search of the Dragon Nest to return. The ship itself was mauled, damaged and broken. It must have only barely made the trip back. It looked as though they threw off a lot of their supplies to keep the weight as light as they could.

    Yrsa expected to see Hiccup meet his father much like the rest of the teens were awaiting their parents. But he was nowhere to be seen. She didn't focus much on it, of course, her eyes were trained in search of one person she held dear to her heart. And when she saw her, Yrsa breathed out a small cry of relief. In that second, being strong and rough didn't matter━all that mattered was that her mother was alive.

    "Mum!" she shouted and ran towards her. She threw herself at her mother, wrapping her arms tight around her neck. Yrsa smiled when her mother kissed her forehead. She seemed okay, maybe a burn here or there, but she was alive.

    "Oh, how has my mighty warrior been?" she asked, holding Yrsa close with her arm slung over her shoulders. Together, they made their way back home up the dock walkways. "How's Dragon Training going?"

    Yrsa faltered. She had dreaded this moment; what to say when her mother asked her. She felt that guilt wash up over her, like the waters from the ocean had risen. She had no choice but to lie, scared of what her mother would think.

    "It's been going good," she said stifly. "I━I made it to the end for Gothi to choose, alongside Astrid and ... Hiccup."

    "Hiccup?" her mother's brows arched. She didn't sound as shocked as she thought she'd be. Instead, rather amused. "Oh, how Stoick will react hearing that. But no matter that," she gave her a tight side-hug, "you'll take the win, I'm sure of it. And your father and I will be so proud."

    Hearing that stung at Yrsa's heart. She chuckled nervously, nodding. She played with her wrist wraps. She didn't know what she'd do if she got the chance to kill the Monstrous Nightmare━she had been planning to completely flunk it, get herself knocked out straight away. Or perhaps not just show up. In her determination to show up Hiccup, she had done exactly what the both of them agreed not to do, and now she felt like a hypocrite.

    "Yeah," she murmured bleakly, absent-mindedly searching for the auburn-haired boy amongst the docks.

     But he was nowhere. In fact, Hiccup was far away from here.

𖣯 ✹ 🌷(úlfheðnar) ꏍ ！┈─❟

     a/n: *stresses in attempts to make conflict but instead made it rushed but is going with it anyway*