[authors note]

HTTYD does not belong to me as much as I want it to, etc etc.

Time to try this again. I never finish these things, but I like to write them anyway. Maybe get some feed back. Maybe keep going, for once. So please, r&r :)

Thanks!

------ ( 01 ) this is berk? ------

Cold waters attacked the side of the ship, occasionally spraying up high enough to douse the passengers with a mist so delicate it was almost impossible to fathom that it came from the ferocious sea. Equally vicious winds slapped everyone on board – there was nowhere to hide from the elements on a Viking ship – and anyone caught trying to do so would forever be ridiculed as not a Viking at all. Vikings were devils sent to tame the earth – all parts of it. The rock, and the sea, and the sky. Yet, they were having a little trouble with that last part.

Word had travelled of Hiccup, a boy from the Viking island of Berk, who had ended their war between human and beast. None of the stories really detailed how, exactly, he had eradicated the dragon population. That was the only way to stop them, anyhow. And the only way to find out the truth was to stick a couple of Vikings on a boat and ship them off to the island settlement.

The Viking ship was small but sturdy, like the medicine woman who stood at the right side of the boat and watched the sea with a knowing gaze. To her right stood a massive specimen with bulging muscles and a wide stance, though a cocky and youthful grin sat where knowledge ought to on his face. Behind the wheel there was a navigator of the seas, a Viking who smelled permanently of sea salt and whose eyebrows were rather noticeable. Off to his side was a small girl, whose blonde hair was dark and washed with red and held together behind one ear. Her height was nothing to be proud of but her spine was straight with pride, brown eyes flecked with green and gold and always steady. She was armored similarly like the boy on the other side of the boat, and had the same amount of experience.

But at the helm of the ship stood the greatest: their leader. The horns on his helmet were spiral and thick, bloodstains hidden within the ridges of the bone. The fur of his vest was massive and rough, from the wildest boars and bears caught by his own hand. The metal of his armor was scarred and scratched yet it glittered with experience. He was rather young for the leader of a tribe of Vikings, yet his face was weathered by hardships and his voice betrayed his youth through a raspy growl.

"I can almost smell them…" His statement was curious, almost like it was something that ought not be there.

"Who exactly are you smellin', Klint? The dragons or the people of Berk?"

Immediately all eyes and giggles were directed toward the girl by herself. A small smirk had cracked her stone-cold façade and she looked over her shoulder to her leader.

The dark-haired man up front turned to face the younger warrior and shook his head. "I really appreciate your attempt at a joke now, Thyre, but I must remind you to be respectful. Hopefully, we'll be meeting a legend today."

The large boy standing beside the medicine woman turned to watch the face-off glare between leader and brat, but decided his comment was better off directed somewhere where he wouldn't get the butt end of their bad attitude. He bit down on his lip and then glanced sideways.

"Hey, Marni, who do you think is gonna be taller? Me, or Hiccup?" he whispered so as to not attract an unwanted and snarky response from Thyre.

"It's gonna be you, kid," came a gruff answer from the wheel of the ship when Marni didn't take her watchful eyes off the sea.

"Yeah, I thought so, Bushbrow," Bear laughed. Beside him, Marni leaned over and edged closer to the front of the ship.

They had made it through the cloud of mist surrounding Berk and were fast approaching its port. But there was something strange besides buildings reaching into the sky over Berk. The recognition appeared in Klint's eyes only a moment before everyone else's. A collection of forms buzzing in the sky, long tails, sharp spines, massive wings…

"Dragons!"

Then ensued the chaos. Thyre raced to the opposite end of the ship where she tossed Bear his studded hammer and yanked her axe off the wooden board where it was held. With a battle cry she yielded it over her head and as the dragon swept lower, she swung. Somewhere amidst the dragon's cry sounded like a human yell as it dove to the side and sped away from the boat. Bear inched closer to her side, snorting.

"Some war they ended. There's dragons everywhere!" He spat.

Thyre narrowed her eyes. She no longer felt the rush of fear in her heart when she fought a dragon, but up in the sky there flew a great number of different species, circling around the boat. Yet none of them came too close.

The ship slowed to a stop at the port. People began to gather as they realized they had company. Thyre swung her head, quickly meeting Bear's dark eyes with her hazel gaze. "I don't think they're attacking us yet. We have to jump on this opportunity to take them while they regroup." Her eyes flickered over to Klint to see what he thought but the moment she turned her head, there came a sound howling through the wind. A high-pitched screech like no other.

The cry rang from every member of the boat: "Night Fury!"

Bear, Marni and Bushbrow flinched, but Klint and Thyre stood tall and watched as the offspring of lightning and death itself raced toward the ship, spread its massive winds and-- came to an abrupt halt.

A second of motionless silence was enough for Thyre to see she needed to take the lead. With a war cry twice her size she sped forward, swinging her axe behind her shoulder blades and narrowing her eyes on her newest victim.

She had taken no more than two steps when in front of her dropped a lanky boy with a scowl who held out his hands and waved them directly in her face, shouting: "Woah, woah, hey now. None of this, with the axe-wielding. Not allowed here."

Thyre slammed her feet into the ground to stop herself and met his green eyes for only a second before she wrinkled her nose and pushed him out of the way, staring at the dragon. To her surprise he stared back, and eventually lowered himself to the boat. Could anything else be more off with this situation? Klint wasn't even reacting – she couldn't hear a noise behind her at all to prove that he was. No one else on the ship panicked. More dragons approached now, and Thyre finally realized every single one of them had a human on their back. She spun around to find Klint – he would know what to make of this situation – but he and Marni were gone and she was met only with Bear and Bushbrow, slack-jawed with awe.

Spinning back around, she squinted at the brown-haired boy before her. His hopeful and friendly smile disgusted her for whatever reason.

"And who the hell are you, runt?" Thyre spat.

Instantly his smile disappeared. He looked at her with a tired expression and said sarcastically, "Hiccup. Nice to meet you."

She couldn't help but laugh for a second. "No," Thyre started with a giggle, but stopped when she realized no one else was laughing with her. This talking fishbone couldn't possibly be Berk's savior. He wore some strange kind of clothing – made only of leather and it looked almost like a harness. Where was his armor, then, if he was some kind of dragon killing warrior? Her eyes trailed downward as she continued to scrutinize and she felt a drop in her stomach. He had lost his left foot. It was a scary but honorable thing to lose something in battle. Could this really be Hiccup?

"Drop your weapon, Thyre. It's different than what we expected, but does it really warrant that expression?"

There appeared Klint at the dock, walking beside a strong man who was even bigger than Bear. The rugged fur he wore on his back told her his status and she nodded her head respectfully before turning a glare on her own leader. She said nothing, only tensed her hand around her axe further and pretended she didn't feel the eyes of an entire Viking tribe on her face. She met Klint's eyes for a moment but when his watchful gaze didn't break in its serious cover, she looked away and settled on Hiccup. There came that hopeful smile again, and Thyre realized she couldn't look at that face either. Focusing on a ragged cliff in front of her face she listened to Klint yak on about how they ride dragons and this was a new and difficult method to solving the dragon issue but he was willing to give it a try. Her sigh was heavy enough to move her shoulders. Of course, Klint would go with such an insane idea. It wasn't until her name was spoken that she lifted her head again.

"Thyre, Bear, you will accompany Hiccup up to the heart of Berk. Enjoy the view – plenty of dragon species to goggle at. And try and control yourself, girl," instructed their leader. He went on to direct Bushbrow and Marni but Thyre had stopped listening and instead grit her teeth, stomping off the ship and on to the walk. The assembly of people which had gathered during their time parted because of her glare, Bear's size, or possibly just to let them through.

Klint's voice rang from the ship Thyre was quick to leave: "Don't forget I said accompany Hiccup."

She huffed and stopped, not turning to see where the supposedly boy of legend was. She waited for him to walk past – somewhat slow on his lost foot but stronger than she would have expected – before following him up the wooden-plank path that wound up the cliffs. The Night Fury swooped through the sky and disappeared over the land. Thyre could only shudder to imagine she was on her way to willingly meet up with such a dragon.

The crowd slowly dispersed. Stoic let them fall out of earshot before turning to his partner in leadership.

"That's quite the sizeable prodigy you have. I remember there was a time I would have wanted a dragon hunter like that for myself. Does he ah, like to fight dragons?"

Klint raised his dark eyebrows. "Bear? He's fought them but he won't be stubborn on old tradition. You will have no problem with Bear. May not be the most agile creature nor the fastest learner, but he is creative and quick-minded in battle and he will listen to the authority. On the other hand, Thyre…"

Like a dog to its name, the girl off turned her cheek in their direction despite that she was now several meters above them on a winding path up. The very corner of her narrowed eye was visible but Stoic could not help but focus on the deep and pink scar laying over it.

"Not a big fan of dragons," finished Klint with a grimace.

Both leaders turned to watch Hiccup, Bear and Thyre disappear from their sight and couldn't help but sigh.

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please r&r!