Forgiveness; the re-write

Chapter 19 - Dragon's Edge is burning down

You walked down towards the docks of Dragon's edge, listening to the not-so-quiet noises of Snotlout grumbling as he walked next to you. You glanced down at Johann's ship, where Hiccup and Astrid were stood conversing with him and looking over the various items that he had stashed all over the deck.

Snotlout's grumbling finally got to you, so you turned to him quickly and clicked your fingers in front of his face, snapping him out of it. "Don't tell me you're still on about Hiccup and Astrid." You said to him, holding in a snort as his face scrunched up into a scowl similar to your own before shaking his head. "You wouldn't get it, Y/N! You're betrothed and all lovey-dovey just like they are! In fact, I'd say that you're even worse than they are!"

You stopped walking and placed your hands on your hips, glaring at him in offence. "What does that mean?! You guys already knew I was going to stay on Berserker Island for a while after Dagur proposed, how does that make me the same as team Hiccstrid over there??" You asked, the name Hiccstrid annoyingly enough being derived from what you'd heard Snotlout call your brother and Astrid's relationship earlier.

Snotlout just scoffed and continued walking. You caught up to him and folded your arms as you rounded the bend at the bottom of the ramp next to Johann's ship. "Jealousy is not a good look on you." You commented, rolling your eyes as you heard Snotlout try to clap back at you. Ignoring him, You jumped onto the trading vessel and greeted Trader Johann.

"What 'cha got there?" You asked Hiccup, peering over his shoulder as you usually did as Fishlegs also leaned in to get a look. "Just a map that shows where an Island is that has something I need for a project." Your brother replied a little nervously. You squinted your eyes at him, and he blinked in panic under your speculative gaze before turning to Snotlout who immediately commented, "Let me guess! The power couple is going on Vacation." He quipped, earning a harsh glare from Astrid and an eyeroll from you and Hiccup.

"Well, bon-voyage Muttonheads!"

"Snotlout for the love of-"

During your night-time patrol of the island, you got to thinking about the current situation.

You had to admit, you did notice 'shifting priorities' as Tuffnut put it, with Hiccup and Astrid. Obviously because they were a couple, they were spending loads more time together anyway and you could understand that with your being with Dagur. But you did have the feeling that it was lowering the team morale.

I mean, if your leader and arguably strongest team-mate just kept vanishing and going off together on missions and missing important tasks like the Dragon Census, could you have a lot of faith in them keeping the team together?

Though, you realised, you did effectively vanish for like a month. But in all fairness, it wasn't exactly like the team couldn't handle things with your absence for a while. And considering you were going to be marrying Dagur in the future, you'd wanted to be on Berserker Island as much as possible to familiarise yourself with their customs.

But the thought of that also adding to some sort of barrier forming in the Dragon Riders because of relationships forming made you feel a little queasy. You'd always known that Hiccup and Astrid would get together, it was evident from when they first actually became friends all those years ago. You just never thought it would drive a wedge between them and the others.

You sighed quietly to yourself, landing Shocker at the stables just as dawn was approaching and yawning as you began walking away to get some shut eye. Only then did you notice approaching figures in the distance, just above cloud cover. The one thing that gave away their position were the shadows they cast over the clouds. You squinted, wondering if it was maybe your father and Gobber, or even Heather and Dagur. But the body shapes weren't right at all.