So, this story is a little sad and a little dark, which are my favorite stories.

I write cause its fun and won't write if I'm not enjoying it, so this story will be updated randomly. If an update is taking a little long and if you have questions on the next chapter, PM me and I'll try to clear some things up for you. Enjoy!

Chapter 1

"Moving On, Struggling Along"

The beaten ship rocked steadily on the calm waters. Its sails were torn, letting what little wind there was seep through. There were no sailors on the deck rowing the ship along, so the vessel sat atop the water underneath a clear blue sky. It was a peaceful day for sailing, but the people aboard weren't in the mood.

There were fifteen sailors below deck. They were the sole survivors of a horrible and unexpected battle. Among the fifteen were Snotlout, Fishlegs, the twins Ruffnut and Tuffnut, and Astrid. They all sat hushed, their backs resting against the walls of the ship.

A little girl sat huddled in the corner. Her eyes were wide and her body trembled. Astrid understood the small girl's terror; Astrid had been a witness to watching the girl watch as she lost her parents to Drago and his army of dragons. Astrid was helpless towards the little girl, unable to help save the girl's parents for her. Astrid didn't even know her name.

Astrid sat down next to the little girl. She didn't acknowledge Astrid, it seemed as if she was staring off into another world, and didn't like what she was looking at. Astrid put her hand on her shoulder awkwardly. She was a warrior, not a comforter.

"Hey, it's, uh... it' gonna be alright. You made it off of Berk alive, it shows that you're a strong warrior. You, me, everyone on this ship is strong enough to get through this." The little girl didn't seem to hear her. Astrid could understand, she didn't fully believe her words either. She sighed and put her arm fully around the girl. She stopped trembling after a moment and seemed to nestle in closer to Astrid. A small smile graced Astrid's lips.

She looked around at the other Vikings. The twins weren't bickering for once and were sitting close to each other. Fishlegs was flipping through one of his books that had been on him when he fled Berk, but his mind was in a different place. Snotlout still looked terrified, but he gripped his spiked club with the will to fight on. Gustav was sleeping on a couple sacks of flour while his mother watched him. Adding insult to injury, Mildew had managed to scurry his way onto the boat. He was grumbling to himself in another corner. Astrid didn't really know the others that were on the ship. She remembered their faces, just not their names.

Astrid also knew that Drago wasn't going to stop taking over colonies of vikings and people. She prayed that night that she would get another shot at killing the madman.

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Night came and went as it always had. Astrid knew things would be different from there on out. They would either die or survive and, Astrid being the warrior that she is, decided that the latter of the two was the one she would lead all the others to.

Astrid, Ruff, Tuff, Snotlout and Fishlegs forced themselves onto the ship's deck. They only had enough food for a few days, so they needed to find land.

"Alright, since I'm the strongest one here, I'll be in charge," Snotlout pronounced, puffing out his chest. Sleeping must have refueled his ego tank. The group shot him a look, but Snotlout was of course immune to it. He bounded up to the ship's steering wheel and gripped it tightly.

"Uh, I think Astrid should-"

"Follow me?" Snotlout said, "Yes, I agree with you, Fish." Astrid rolled her eyes and started studying her map. Fishlegs peered over her shoulder. He placed a finger on the map.

"We're here, west of Skull Rock," he said.

"So the closest island are the Berserker's," Astrid said.

"Uh, guys," Tuffnut piped up.

"Not now, Tuff."

"But, it's kinda important."

"I doubt that," Fishlegs said.

"But-"

All of a sudden the ship rocked violently and creaked loudly. They all lost their footing and tumbled across the deck until the ship steadied. The little girl from below deck crawled outside. "What was that!"

Tuffnut propped his head up. "SCOULDRON!" The vikings from below deck came out armed with whatever they were able to grab before fleeing their island at the mention of the sea dragon. Other than Astrid's axe and Snotlout's club, they only had kitchen knives as weapons. But, that was good enough for them.

"Where is the beast?" a viking with a black scruffy beard yelled. No one answered. Only Tuffnut had seen it.

"It-it was right-" Tuffnut twirled around. "It was right... there!" he pointed into the water. The scruffy bearded man walked over and looked over the edge. His eyes scanned the water, and aside from a bubble or two, couldn't see anything in the calm water.

"Bah! Your seeing thin-" was all he had time to say before a large, scaly green tail shot up from the water and wrapped around the viking, pinning his arms against his fat stomach. The viking let out a compressed grunt before the tail dragged him up and over the ship.

The little girl screamed.

"Hoark!" a woman shouted. It was Gustav's mother. Astrid began shouting orders to her viking crew. When Fishlegs stopped working, Astrid snapped at him.

"What are you doing!" She yelled. Fishlegs dropped his pale and pointed behind her, his eyes wide. Astrid whipped around. There, coming out of the water, was the biggest dragon she had ever seen.

The Scouldron placed it's giant front fins on the side of the boat, tilting the whole vessel until it was almost vertical. Some of the vikings grabbed onto ropes, Astrid stood on the side of the ship's mast, and the little girl was propping herself in the doorway.

"MOM!" Gustav shouted. He was safe beside the little girl in the doorway, but his mother was dangling dangerously close to the Scouldron. Gustav tried moving out of the doorway to help his mother.

"Don't do it!" the little girl said, trying to keep him back. "You'll get yourself hurt!" but Gustav wasn't hearing her, his mind was already set on helping his mother. Gustav tried to shove his way past the girl, almost knocking her down and into the Scouldron's waiting mouth. The dragon roared fiercely.

"Gustav!" Astrid shouted. "Stay back! Or I'm going to-" Gustav accidently pushed the girl a little to hard and she fell. Astrid's breath caught as the little girl grabbed onto a loose rope with a scream. Astrid wanted to call to the girl, but didn't know her name.

Gustav began to try and reach the rope his mother was holding.

"Gustav! Don't!" his mother called. Luckily, the rope seemed to just be out of Gustav's reach.

Astrid knew they wouldn't be alive for much longer, especially when she noticed the Scouldron start to fill up it's cheeks with scalding hot water. She gripped her battle axe by the handle and held it over her shoulder, aiming it at the sea dragon's head. Without giving it a second thought, she threw her axe and watched as it lodged itself into the side of the Scouldron's head. The dragon roared in pain.

"Gustav!" the little girl yelled. The stupid kid jumped for the rope his mother was on. He missed. Astrid looked just in time to see him miss his mother's waiting hand. The poor kid slid down to the raging dragon. The Scouldron sunk back down into the ocean, his flipper scooping Gustav down with him.

The ship fell back down to it's natural position in the sea as the weight of the dragon disappeared. Gustav's mother ran over to the edge of the boat. "Gustav!"

Astrid sighed. Damn all those beast to hel. She walked her way over to the little girl lying on her back. She was breathing hard. Astrid helped her sit up. "You okay?"

After a few more deep breaths, the girl asked about Gustav. Astrid looked over at the kid's parent. She was weeping over the side of the boat. Fishlegs took it upon himself to help console the grieving woman.

"He's in Valhalla now," Astrid said. The little girl sniffed, trying not to cry.

"I tried to stop him," she said. Astrid nodded.

"I know." Astrid helped the girl stand up. The little girl quickly hugged Astrid's waist. Astrid let out a small gasp. She wasn't much of a hugger, but she guessed she could make an exception.

"Thanks," the little girl said.

"For what?"

"For being there. My mom was always there for me, now you are." Astrid had to smile at that. The girl was already making her soft. With her messy short black hair and teal blue eyes, it was almost impossible not to feel protective of her. Astrid wasn't sure why she would say what she would, but knew it was true. "And I always will." The little girl gave a true smile, Astrid's was a little sadder.

"What in blazes was that!" an old man yelled. Mildew came out onto the deck. "Can't an old man get his rest."

"Scouldron attack," Astrid said as she led the little girl by the hand.

"Lost two more Berkians," Snotlout said gloomily. Mildew glanced over at the grieving mother.

"Bah!" he said before returning back below the deck.

Astrid sat the little girl on the other side of the ship. "Why don't you stay up here? That way I can keep an eye on you." The little girl nodded.

"Sounds like a plan," she said. Astrid smiled and got up to leave.

"Wait, uh... Miss!" the girl shouted, standing up. Astrid turned back to her. The girl ran up to her. "I don't know your name."

Astrid laughed. "Astrid. My name's Astrid." the girl smiled.

"I like that name. Mines Taliyah," the girl said.

"Taliyah, nice to meet you." Astrid held out her hand. Taliyah giggled, but quickly put on a serious face to shake her new friend's hand.

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"So, any idea on how to get this pile of wood moving?" Ruffnut said to any open ear. Fishlegs looked up at the torn sail.

"We'll have to patch that up," he said.

"I saw some blankets below deck. Couldn't we use those?" Taliyah said. Fishlegs looked at her.

"Those'd be perfect." Taliyah smiled

"I'll go get them," she said, and then ran off.

Fixing up the ship went slowly. The crew was working slow, with the exception of Astrid and Taliyah. It had just been a day since the events that took place at Berk and the memory was weighing them down.

Gustav's mother, Sheril, retreated below the deck to grieve. Another viking followed her to give her some moral support.

It wasn't until night began to come that the ship was in proper sailing condition. The repairs, however, did take up some of their supplies. Snotlout walked up to the ships wheel, in which Astrid was using.

"Hey, I just did a check on our food supplies. We only have enough for another day, if we're lucky," Snotlout said, worry etched onto his brow. Astrid sighed. Berserker island was a week away, and that's hoping the weather was on their side.

"We'll figure something out," Astrid said. "We're the last Berkians, the tribe lives or dies with us."

"That's a lot of weight to carry," Snotlout grumbled. Astrid nodded.

"A lot more than I would prefer," Astrid agreed. It was a rare sight to see both the Hofferson and the Jorgenson kid getting along. Most of their conversations are heated arguments about most anything. Snotlout's pride and ego would eventually get to Astrid and the two would get thrown into another argument. But, they couldn't waist their energy on petty arguments anymore.

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"Astrid?"

Astrid rolled in her sleep, but didn't wake. Taliyah shoved her shoulder a little harder. "Astrid." still, she didn't wake. Taliyah grabbed her face to look at her, pinching her cheeks together.

"Astrid!" Taliyah said a bit louder. Groggily, Astrid opened her eyes. Taliyah gave her some room.

"What?" Astrid whispered, sounding not at all pleased with being woken up. "Is it my turn-"

"Mildew's gone," Taliyah said. Astrid sat up.

"What?" she said, a sharpness in her tone. Ruffnut stirred in her sleep beside them. Taliyah held a finger up to her lips. "Sh."

Astrid rolled her eyes. "Where's Mildew?"

"I don't know. I woke up to go potty and he wasn't where he was sleeping," Taliyah said. Astrid stood up.

"Stay here," she said. "I'm going to look for him. He's probably just getting some fresh air." With that, Astrid went up to the deck. It was almost pitch black outside. The crescent moon's little light being blocked out by the thin layer of clouds.

"Mildew!" Astrid call. Nothing. She walked around the deck finding no sign of the old man. But, she did find a sleeping Tuffnut leaning against the mast, hugging a bucket to his chest. Astrid grunted in annoyance and the kicked the sleeping viking. Tuffnut woke with a jerk.

"Eh, who gos there?" he said, slurring his words together.

"You're suppose to be watching for danger!" Astrid growled. Tuffnut clumsily stood up.

"I am," he said, straightening his back. Astrid gave him a death stare. Tuff gulped.

"M'kay, so I stopped for a little rest. What's the prob-"

"Mildew's gone."

"Gone?"

"I can't find him anywhere."

"He couldn't have gotten anywhere. We're on a boat." Astrid rolled her eyes.

"Well aren't you a genius," she grumbled.

"Really? Huh, I always thought of myself as average intelligence," Tuffnut said, looking proud. Astrid scoffed and dragged him by the collar of his shirt.

"Come on," she said. It didn't take long for the two to search the boat. And after their searching, they did make one discovery that could answer Mildew's disappearance. A life boat was missing from the side of the boat.

"So Mildew took a life boat? So what, it's just one less mouth to feed," Tuffnut said. Astrid sighed.

"You're right, Tuff," she said. Tuffnut smiled.

"Maybe your right, Astrid. I might be a genius after all."

Astrid didn't let on and went back below deck to check on their supplies. Taliyah got up to greet her.

"You find him?" she asked, but Astrid just walked past her. Taliyah noticed the worry on Astrid's face and decided not to press her. She watched as Astrid lifted a little trap door to where they kept their food. Taliyah looked over her shoulder.

"It's gone. All of it," Astrid said quietly. And Taliyah new what she meant. All the food and clean drinking water was gone.

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