Breathe in, breathe out. Breathe in, breathe out.

Hiccup ran the mantra over and over in his head, keeping himself calm as he and the other Riders, Dogsbreath included, flew towards the fleet of Flyers and Dragon Hunter ships. Still, his thoughts had managed to stray towards Dogsbreath. Memories of the sneers and loneliness, memories of using sarcasm as his spiked shield, and, when he'd stayed up at night long enough to start overthinking without any distractions, memories of feeling like he really was useless.

He'd long forgiven his friends, his Dad, and the rest of the tribe. Their apologies and actions over the years had more than made up for it, and he had his own apologies to make, too. All had felt orderly. Then, there was Dogsbreath. A jarring reminder of their past, like a slap to the face. Like a missing puzzle piece in an otherwise perfect picture. Why the Helheim did this one, stupid word manage to shake him up so much?

Breathe in, breathe out. Breathe in, breathe out.

Nope, not right now, brain. Feel bad later. There were bigger things to worry about at the moment.

"Alright, Fishlegs," Hiccup called out as they flew above, circling the fleet, too far above to be seen, "Anything to take note of?"

"There's just three Dragon Flyers, and about twelve to fifteen ships, all armed with bola launchers and arrows," Fishlegs reported, "None of the Flyers are Krogan, and Johann and Viggo are nowhere to be seen, so, that's good. All in all, it's a pretty small cohort, but they still aren't gonna be easy to deal with."

"Look," Astrid pointed out, flying lower, "They've got Dragon Root arrows!"

"Yikes!" Ruffnut winced, "Staying clear of that!"

"Why are they attacking us now, though?" Tuffnut questioned dully, "Like, this is some weirdly convenient timing."

"They must've been tracking our patrol schedule!" Hiccup realised. Frigg, that was clever.

He gazed downwards, assessing the situation, "Fishlegs, Dogsbreath, try and take out those ballistae!"

"Got it!" Fishlegs responded. Dogsbreath, however, was less inclined.

"Ah' didn't even ask to be here!" The man whined, "Ye' all dragged me here, and now ye' want me to risk Seaslug's hide?"

"Our island, our rules!" Astrid ordered, "Besides, Gronckles have immunity to Dragon Root. Now, get down there!"

"Or are you too chicken?" She grinned. Tuffnut let out an offended gasp on Chicken's behalf while Dogsbreath frowned angrily, before finally diving downwards with Fishlegs. Snotlout, Hiccup suddenly realised, had been quiet throughout the whole ordeal, which was.. concerning. Normally he'd be the first to make some sarcastic remark about something like this.

"Everyone else," Hiccup called, tucking the thought away for now, "Let's take out the Flyers!"

The group dipped downwards, fireballs and arrows flying left and right. The Twins, Barf, and Belch had managed to trap and disorient one of the Flyers with Barf's gas, before Stormfly shot him off the Singetail. Hiccup and Toothless weaved effortlessly around the second Singetail's fireballs, knocking the Flyer off with a plasma blasts.

Snotlout and Hookfang charged quickly towards the last Flyer, briefly intimidating him enough for him to pause. Snotlout smirked, this Flyer was clearly one of the more inexperienced ones. Lazily, Hookfang set himself alight, causing the Flyer the fall off the other dragon and into the sea. The two Gronckle-riders rejoined them, and the group soared downwards, ready to blast the Dragon Hunter ships into oblivion.

His smirk fell, however, when a Hunter's net wrapped itself over Hiccup and Toothless, causing the duo to fall.

"HICCUP!" The other Riders yelled, briefly distracted by the fall of their leader. The remaining Hunters took this to their advantage, sending out more and more boulders and nets.

"Oh, f-" Tuffnut almost swore, his sentence having been cut off as he was knocked from Belch's head by a flying boulder.

"TUFF!"

"Welp, I'm leavin'," Dogsbreath deadpanned nonchalantly, as if this was nothing more than a mild inconvenience, and steered Seaslug away.

"Excuse me, what?!" Shouted Snotlout, all of the sudden angry, "You're joking, right?"

"If ye' want to risk yer life for Useless and Crybaby, I'm takin' no part in it!"

"That's so cowardly!" Astrid bellowed with Earth-shaking fury, echoing the thoughts of the other Riders and their dragons alike, "I am going to SKIN YOU ALIVE!"

"All the more reason for me ta' leave," Dogsbreath yawned. Everyone else glared. Astrid paid his words no heed, instead immediately diving down with Stormfly to free the captured Riders, her axe in her hands and screaming bloody murder. For all intents and purposes, she looked like a demon in shield-maiden's armour. Ruffnut and Fishlegs followed suit, while Snotlout hanged back behind for just a moment to send Dogsbreath a deadly glare.

"What the Helheim, dude?!" Snotlout growled furiously, "Tuff's my friend, and Hiccup's my family! He's the future Chief of Berk!"

The blue-eyed Viking felt his anger stir as he glared at Dogsbreath, like an aggressive beast sitting in his belly. Asgard above, why didn't he see this before?! Since when did his supposed 'friend' become such a moron?! Nostalgia be damned, he was such a muttonhead.

"It's their fault, anyways! They're the ones who got shot down," Dogsbreath sneered, "Why should ah' care?!"

"You know what?!" Snotlout scowled, his decision was made. In that moment, any conflicting feelings were scrubbed away, "Go sit in yak vomit! I'm going to help them!"

He flipped Dogsbreath the bird, but turned around too quickly to see his reaction. Wordlessly, he and Hookfang sunk the remaining ships, while Astrid, Fishlegs, and Ruffnut cut Hiccup and Tuffnut loose.

"Snotlout, Snotlout, Oi, Oi, Oi!" He chanted his familiar warcry, landing on the ship where the rest of the gang were.

"Where's Dogsbreath?" Hiccup asked as Astrid helped him stand, checking Toothless' tail for any damage.

Snotlout scoffed, "Yeah, who cares, really?"

As the Riders regrouped and took off, Snotlout chanced a look at the sky. It was empty. Dogsbreath must've really had gone back to Dragon's Edge.

Oh, he was so getting kicked out.