~Hiccup~

Blue, blue, blue. Never in my life had I seen eyes so magnificently blue, so blue the skies couldn't compare, so blue the seas didn't even stand a chance against the sheer beauty of those two irises. It couldn't have lasted for more than a second, but to me, it felt like I had been looking into those brilliantly blue eyes for a lifetime.

The mere thought of her had my heart pounding, the girl with hair like woven gold, the girl in the spiked skirt and blue top with an axe in her hands. The girl with a certain fire in her I had never seen in anyone I'd ever met. The girl with eyes so mesmerizing I think I would've passed out hadn't I been holding on to Toothless. I simply couldn't get her out of my head.

"Hello, earth to Hiccup!" The sound of snapping fingers brought me out of my daze as Snotlout flew up beside me on his monstrous nightmare, Hookfang.
"What the hell was that? We didn't even get to do some major damage on the place!"

"Yeah!" Tuffnut agreed as he and his twin sister flew up on the other side of me on their shared dragon, Barf and Belch. "We were told we would get to make the biggest explosion in the history of the entire Nut-family and now we're flying away!"

"Yeah, Barf's been saving up gas for over a week now in preparation for this! Why would you do such a thing to us, Hiccup?" Ruffnut complained, her raspy voice tearing through my eardrums, but not being able to shift my focus away from the woman on the balcony.

"I have to side with the twins on this one, Hiccup," Fishlegs began as he and Meatlug took the twins' spot on my right flank, to which the twins surprisingly enough didn't protest. "You were quite determined to blow Dagur's fortress to bits earlier today, but instead we ended up leaving before we even had the chance to do any serious damage."

A huff escaped Snotlout as he puffed up his chest and stuck his nose in the air. "Oh, just you wait until Stoick hears about this! He's going to disown you on the spot and I, Snotlout Gary Jorgenson will become the next in line to the Berkian throne!"

I rolled my eyes at Snotlout's comment, choosing to ignore him, which seemed to have become a part of my routine at this point.

"Hiccup." In an uncharacteristically stern tone, Fishlegs raised a brow at me as he patiently awaited my answer to his earlier question.

"He wasn't there, Dagur wasn't there, alright? There's no point in attacking if he isn't even there." I lied, knowing full well I had seen that fiery red mane of his at the very entrance of the fortress, commanding his archers to shoot for the skies.

"And here I thought that Tuffnut was the dumb one!" Disappointment weighed heavy on Ruffnut's face as she shook her head, earning not only a glare, but also a firm — and rather painful-looking — punch to the shoulder, issued by none other than her dear brother. "Hey! Don't touch me with your greasy fingers!"

"Ew, don't touch me with your greasy fingers!" Tuffnut spoke in a high-pitched voice in an unconvincing attempt to imitate his sister, whilst wiggling his fingers in face as their poor dragon struggled to keep the both of them afloat with all of their movement.

"Enlighten me, Ruffnut, how is Hiccup dumb again?" With an arched brow pointed at the twins, Fishlegs crossed his arms as he awaited an answer.

Ruffnut momentarily stopped what had developed into a full-blown fight with her brother, pausing their brawl by pressing her palm against his face, effectively holding him off as she raised a questioning brow at Fishlegs. "Uh duh, Dagur was literally standing right at the gates! How was I the only one to see that?"

I could feel Snotlout and Fishlegs intense stares, but I refused to acknowledge them, instead keeping my eyes on the horizon. With what I assumed to be a triumphant smirk, Snotlout crossed his arms and spoke: "Well, well, well. First you retreat from a fight against Dagur and now you lie to us about why? Oh, Stoick is going to kick your ass all the way back to Berserker island after hearing how much of a disappointment you've been."

At this point, that didn't sound half bad. At least then I would get to see the girl that had put up permanent residence in my mind again.

"Oh shut it, Snotlout!" Fishlegs scolded the Jorgenson, who surprisingly enough complied — in the best way he could. "Hiccup, I don't understand, why did you lie to us? What's the actual reason for our retreat?"

My gaze dropped to my saddle, as I found everyone — even Toothless — turned to look at me, curious to why I had made us give up on our mission. "I-I ... I saw a girl."

"Oh, you have GOT to be kidding me!" Snotlout exclaimed as he dramatically threw his hands up in the air.

"What?" A bewildered Tuffnut scratched his head. "You didn't retreat because you lost another leg?"

Ruffnut hit her brother over the head, scolding him for being a 'dumbass' as Snotlout's irritated mumbling suddenly became audible. "A girl? We retreated because of a girl? Gods, Hiccup, have a little self-control!"

"I think our little Hiccy is in love," Tuffnut pointed out. "And luckily for him, the love doctor is on duty!"

I didn't hear the rest of Tuffnut's monologue about his part-time job as a love doctor for all vikings, simply because I couldn't be bothered to, but also because of the sudden surge of heat to my cheeks as it for some reason became unbearably hot up there in the skies. "What? I'm not ... in love."

"Oh, look at him, he's blushing! Gods, you're totally in love!" Ruffnut pointed out, which only made my cheeks heat even further, this time from embarrassment.

Rather indiscreetly, Tuffnut leaned over to Fishlegs and half-whispered: "I haven't seen him like this since Heather washed up on our shore!"

It was like someone had lit a torch inside the dark cave that was the mind of Snotlout Jorgenson and suddenly, that irritated frown grew into a wide grin as he was filled with what I assumed to be excitement and burst into a chant: "Hiccy's got a girlfriend! Hiccy's got a girlfriend!"

"Oh would you give it a rest!" I lost my cool and lashed out, tired of having my friends pick on me for something they knew nothing about.

"Hiccup, what's going on, really?" Fishlegs asked, completely ignoring the still-chanting Snotlout in the background — as usual.

With a sigh, I shook my head, receiving a sympathetic coo from Toothless as the dragon turned to give me a look of encouragement. "Toothless and I were flying around and attacking the towers and as we reached the mountain tower, I spotted something on one of the balconies. At first, I thought it was an archer, so we did our best to stay out of sight, but when we flew up to surprise the archer, I realized it wasn't an archer at all, but a girl, who looked to be around our age. There was just something ... something deep inside me that told me she wasn't one of them. I couldn't bring myself to harm her, so at the last minute I pulled Toothless away and decided that it was time for us to retreat."

Had I neglected to mention the brief moment I had shared with the girl? Yes. Did my friends need to know about that? Absolutely not.

Ruffnut tilted her head backwards, a loud groan escaping her before she spoke: "Ugh, please don't tell me your savior complex kicked in?"

"Sorry, my what?" I raised a questioning brow at Ruffnut as she shared a knowing look with her twin brother.

"Oh, it's definitely kicked in. Full force." Tuffnut replied, slowly shaking his head as he broke the news to his sister.

"Ugh!" Snotlout moaned as he leaned forwards on Hookfang. "Why is it that you have such a desperate desire to save people Hiccup? Can't you just leave them to fend for themselves so that we can spend at least one weekend unbothered?"

"Savior complex? What the hell are you guys going on about? Also, when have I ever spent one of our weekends to go save someone? You're all delusional." I shook my head, wondering how they could even think such a thing about me.

"That one time we helped out on Outcast Island." Fishlegs pointed out.

"Yes, but that's not —"

"Oh and that time with the Defenders of the Wing!" Tuffnut added.

"Again, that's not —"

"Or that time with the sinking islands!" Ruffnut chimed in.

"And don't forget that one Snoggletog!" Snotlout joined and I quickly found that they had all made their point quite clear.

"Fine, fine, maybe I do have a savior complex of some sort, but come on guys, we can't just let that poor girl rot on Berserker island!" I came to my own defense, but it didn't take me long before I noticed the way my friends and their dragons were all ignoring my pleading gaze.

Finally, Fishlegs cleared his throat, twiddling his thumbs as he spoke: "You know, Hiccup, she's probably there for a reason, I don't really think we should interfere in anymore Berserker business. Dagur hates us enough as is."

Agreeing murmurs filled the air as I realized I was all alone in this. For the first time in years, none of my friends wanted to back me up. Fortunately for me, I had a best friend who wouldn't even hesitate to follow me into the very depths of Helheim. "Come on, Toothless, we've got business elsewhere."