She leaned against the railing, looking out across the dark water. The sun was just starting to rise—she had taken the 'early boat,' as it was called, before the sun rose or when most inhabitants of the island the airport was located were awake. It would be hours before they reached Berk. She breathed in deeply, taking in the refreshing sea air with a long, content sigh.
This trip would do her good, she reminded herself. Breakups were hard, no matter how long people were dating for. The fact that she and Jason had been dating for two years just showed how much she needed this trip. How much she needed to get away.
Astrid Hofferson was not the romantic sort—at least, she didn't consider herself to be. And when Jason had knelt down on one knee, and offered her the ring he had painstakingly picked out for her… she had felt noting but terror. Terror that this would be 'it'. She had, of course, refused him. They had fought about it, and broken up shortly afterwards.
He called her every day for a month after their breakup. It didn't make any difference. She had made up her mind.
So here she was, on a backpacking trip through Scandinavia—a little foolishly, as she was by herself—but she was enjoying the trip. Greenland and Iceland first, and now the Barbaric Archipelago. Later, she would arrive in Norway and then Sweden. Then she would fly home and start life over.
She sat down on a bench, shrugging off her hiker's backpack and placing it between her legs, holding it in place with her knees. Her face and body were somewhat damp from the sea foam spray, but she honestly couldn't care. Besides, she didn't feel like having pointless conversations right now, and every one inside was being far too chatty for this early in the morning. No, she would much rather stay out here and enjoy the sunrise.
She looked over her shoulder, at the dark water, and frowned when she saw something shift under the waves—a large form sliding through the water, and then away, into the depths. A whale, she thought. It must be a whale. What else was that large and lived in water? She grinned. It looked like this part of the trip was off to the right start.
She looked back, focusing her eyes on the sunrise, until the breaching sun became too much for her eyes, and she closed them, leaning against the railing, glad for her warm coat and letting herself be rocked by the waves.
By the time the boat reached the docks of Berk, three and a half more hours had passed, and Astrid was not only nauseous, but her legs were itching for land. For something solid beneath her feet. As her feet hit the dock with a shuddering feeling, her legs wobbled slightly, before she finally found her footing.
"There you go, Lassie," one of the steamship authority workers said, smiling kindly at her. "Welcome to Berk."
She nodded, giving him a tight smile, before heading out towards the terminal, where she would hopefully find a map to buy, as well as better information on hostels in the area she could stay at. The terminal was located at the top of a cliff, and she had to climb a great height of docks, winding up the cliff face, until she reached the top. She found both map and information on hostels at the terminal. Berk only had one hostel, it seemed, for they rarely got hitchhikers or backpackers. No worries. She was well adept at pitching a tent wherever was convenient.
She was just about to leave the terminal, a folded map in a pocket on her backpack, and a bag with a sandwich, chips, an apple, and a water bottle she bought from the concessions stand in her hand, when a man stepped in her path.
"Hello there, Miss," he said, grinning cheerily down at her.
Her hackles rose slightly, automatically in defense mode, before realizing that this man meant her no harm. Instead, he was holding a brochure. "Yes?" she asked, realizing that she wouldn't be able to get around him without at least humoring him for a short while.
"First time in Berk?" the man asked.
She nodded. Berk was a small town—there was no way this man didn't know that she was a first timer.
"Well!" the man said, brightening considerably, clapping his hands together. "Yer more than welcome to join us on Berks Amazing Tours. Best tours in the Archipelago." He motioned towards a bus—rickety and looking somewhat like it was put back together far too many times.
"Uh," she said, peering around him before looking back at his face. "I'm sorry," she said, "I'm not here for the… tourist… thing."
She walked around him, heading towards the sidewalk that led out of the steamship authority.
"And ye're not curious about them dragons?" the man called out after her.
She paused, turning to look at him with an incredulous expression. She had heard that the people of Berk—ages ago in the Viking time—had believed in dragons. Really believed in them. That the legends of Berk told that they even flew dragons. Ridiculous, but… her interest was piqued.
She paid her fair, and joined the other tourists on the bus.
"And over there you'll see last standing feeding trough of the dragons," the man, whom Astrid learned was called Fiddlestort by the villagers, and everyone else it seemed. The tourists oohed and ah-ed, clearly taken in, or willingly so, by the man's vibrant storytelling. Astrid rolled her eyes. Fictional or no, there was no need for grown men and women acting like giddy children every time Fiddlestort mentioned dragons, or something related to dragons.
"And there, a roost—you'll still see plenty of those around," Fiddlestort said, waving to the right. The bus swerved slightly, and Astrid grabbed the windowsill, gritting her teeth as the bus straightened out. She wouldn't be surprised if she died on this bus before she even got a chance to trek some of Berk's famous terrains.
"Uh, Sir?" a young boy asked, raising his hand. "What happened to the dragons?"
A few of the adults grinned at each other, and Astrid rolled her eyes at that as well.
"Well, laddie," Fiddlesnort said, looking at the boy in his rear view mirror, "Ye see, the dragons all went into the sea. Disappeared, one by one, slowly over the years, until they were all gone."
"Oh…" the little boy said, before looking out the window, at the ocean in the distance.
Astrid also looked out at the ocean. She wanted to hike by the beach, but she read one had to have a certain permit to pitch a tent on the beaches of Berk. No matter, it was free to walk along the shore, at least.
"Hey, Mr—Fiddlesnort, Sir?" she asked, raising a hand, "Mind if I get of here?"
The bus slowed to a halt, and Astrid and her large backpack squeezed by the other passengers until she got to the door. "Thanks," she said, without much luster, before heading down the steps to the pavement.
"Lassie," Fiddlesnort said, smiling at her, and wagged a finger in her direction. "Don't forget, love can find you in mysterious ways."
She opened her mouth to demand what he could possibly mean by that disturbing sentence, but the door closed and the bus took off, veering down the road without her. She stared after it, before heading up the path, and out of the village of Berk.
The island of Berk was just as beautiful as the pictures on the internet said. As she made her way up the long path, heading northward—she hoped—she took note that the path was quiet worn. It wasn't until three hours had passed, and she stopped to each lunch and drink some water, that she realized the grayness of the clouds, and the darkness of the sky. She swore, and finished her meal, getting to her feet.
She was not ignorant to the fact that most of Berks' weather was stormy and unforgiving—but she had been assured that this time of year, she would be given no trouble hiking. Clearly whoever said that had their sources wrong. Or perhaps, she assured herself, it was just a random storm… regardless, she turned back towards the village when the wind started picking up again. She would stay in the hostel tonight. No need to risk a sleeping outside in this weather.
She stopped short, when she realized the path that should have been leading downward, was leading upward, instead. Frowning, she took note of her surroundings, squinting in the wind. Something was wrong—she didn't recognize this place, though she surely had to have walked through it to get to where she had lunch. On that note, she couldn't see the village of Berk anymore. In fact, she had to admit that she seemed to have gotten…
"Lost," she whispered, her eyes wide. She swore again, grabbing the map from her pack's pocket, and opening it up. But the wind had other plans, ripping it from her hands. She watched in dismay as the map flittered into the air, before violently hurling itself off the cliff.
"Great," she muttered. No choice but to choose one direction and stick with it for now. She continued on, hurrying as quickly as she could, looking for some relief from the wind and rain.
Soon, she found it difficult to even see in the torrential downpour. She heard a flutter of wings—like a bat's, but far too loud, beating against the rain. She looked up, and screamed at the sight of what looked like a dinosaur before her, claws outstretched, reaching for her.
She scrambled away—too fast—and right to the edge of a cliff. Screaming again as her hiking boots slipped on slick grass, her pack fell from her shoulders and plummeted down out of her sight, and soon she followed.
She didn't fall far. Something caught her, knocking the air out of her and no doubt leaving some nasty bruises. "Let go!" she yelled, as the creature landed on the cliff. It let out a purring noise, rubbing its large head against her back. She fell over, spinning onto her back and staring up at what could only be described as some kind of… dinosaur? But how was that possible?
The creature was tall, very tall, with a spiked tail and a large, bird-like head, and wings. Blues and yellows were its dominant colors, but… it was too dark to see much except its gleaming eyes.
Her eyes widened in panic, and she scooted backwards, away from the monster, that looked down at her, no doubt excited at having a snack.
When she heard another beat of wings against the storm, she realized that this may just be her last moments, before she was eaten by some kind of Jurassic Park situation. She curled up into a ball, covering her head with her hands.
"Stormfly!" she heard a man's voice yell over the storm. "Hold on… shit…" then some words she could not hear, and something—a human hand, touched her shoulder. "It's alright, Miss," the man said. "Stormfly won't hurt you."
The thing had a name. That was odd. But a human was promising. A human meant shelter. A human meant safety. Astrid uncurled slightly, looking up at the man's face.
The man was handsome, in his early thirties at most, with medium length auburn hair, freckles, crooked teeth and nose. His eyes were a dark green, or perhaps it was just too dark to tell. He was tall, but crouched over her, that was hard to tell that as well. But his good looks were not what caused Astrid's breath to hitch in her throat.
It was the fact that the man stared at her, wide eyed, pale as if he had just seen a ghost. After a few moments, wherein the rain began to slow, and the storm subside, he asked, his voice shakings lightly, "Astrid?"
It was then that she realized that the man was wearing clothes similar to the Viking reenacters she saw in the previous island. But whatever this man was, he shouldn't have known her name. "Do we know each other?" she asked, as the wind began to die down.
She realized with a shock that the rain had stopped, which meant that the man before her no longer had a rain streaked face, but a tear streaked one. Why was he crying at the mere sight of her? And how did he know her name?
"Astrid…" he said, softly, unbelievingly, reaching for her. Her eyes widened in surprise when he touched her face, before pulling her into a tight embrace, ignoring her yelp of surprise. "You died," he whispered into her hair. "I saw you die with my own two eyes…"
Then he pulled away slightly, and kissed her.
Her heart still beating in her throat from the fall off the cliff, she soon found herself passing out in his arms.
To be continued…?
Hi! Thanks for reading the first chapter of this time traveling/reincarnation fic! For those of you who don't like modern au's, most of this story takes place in canon day Berk :) Astrid's the only main modern part of this story.
I'd love to know if you'd like to read more of this story! :)