A/N: I recently watched HTTYD for the first time, and was completely hooked! After exhausting all additional content I could find on the internet, I looked to the fanfics and after reading a few, I decided to try to write one myself! Constructive criticism always welcome, flaming not so much. I'll try to write more of this as soon as possible, but I have an exam week starting tomorrow, so it might take a while. But I promise, I'll continue this as soon as possible.

Disclaimer: I own nothing from this chapter.

It was a completely ordinary summer morning in Berk. Hiccup was lying on his bed as the dawn's first rays of light shined through the window. He yawned as he saw the light, then counted, "Three, two, one." And on cue, a loud thump came from the roof, causing sawdust to fall from the rafters. He smiled as he got up and mumbled towards the roof, "Coming, Bud."

He made his way downstairs and outside through the door, all the while being careful not to wake Stoick. He'd had to stay up late last night solving some strange problem involving a sheep, a boot and a barrel of fish, and needed some rest.

He closed the door behind him and turned to look at the rising sun. He filled his lungs full with air and exhaled, "A perfect weather for a morning flight, eh Bud?" He looked at Toothless who dangled his head over him and smiled his gummy smile.

Suddenly Stormfly's head popped up next to Toothless'.

"Stormfly?" Hiccup said surprised. "What are you doing here?"

She jumped down from the roof with Astrid on her back. "Thought we could fly together this morning." Astrid smiled.

"The morning flight is usually a quality time between just me and Toothless, but I don't think he'd mind having some company, would you Bud?" He said as Toothless jumped down next to him and pressed his nose against his hand. Hiccup scratched him behind his ear and raised his head to look at Astrid. "I'll race you to that island over there." She pointed at one of the islands that surrounded Berk. Hiccup followed the direction of her hand and once he saw where she was pointing, turned back towards her and nodded, "Game on." Astrid's smile turned to a competitive smirk as she and Stormfly took to the air in a steep ascend.

Hiccup jumped on top of Toothless and they took off, trying to catch up on Astrid's short head start.

And sure enough, they started to get closer to her. "Going somewhere?" Hiccup gloated as they passed Astrid. He knew he'd hear about that later today when she shot him a 'What did you just say?' glare.

"Come on girl." Astrid pressed herself closer to her dragon. "I'll give you some extra chicken if we win!"

This made the Nadder take up some extra speed, now going as fast as Toothless. Hiccup looked back and smiled a crooked smile. "Let's show the girls what your new tail can do." He patted Toothless' head and adjusted the tail. It didn't move much, just into a few degrees smaller angle, but that was enough to change the wind resistance just a little bit to make them move faster.

Astrid wasn't about to give up, however. She dug a drumstick of chicken from her pack and let Stormfly smell it. "Smell that delicious chicken? There's gonna be more in it for you if we win!" She let the dragon snatch the meat from her hand. "Now let's go!"

It didn't take long for them to reach the island. Hiccup and Toothless were there just a little bit earlier than Astrid and Stormfly. "Good job, Bud." Hiccup said and scratched Toothless behind the ear.

"You got lucky!" Astrid yelled at him over the loud wind.

"That's what you always say!" Hiccup replied. He couldn't stop the small grin from creeping up to his lips.

"Wait, what's that?" Astrid yelled and pointed down. Hiccup looked down where Astrid was pointing. It seemed to be a shipwreck. The last night's storm must have thrown it off course and right into the sharp rocks around this small island.

"Let's check it out." Hiccup said and descended next to the capsized ship, Astrid right behind him.

The ship wasn't big, just a small fishing vessel, made of ash wood by the looks of it. The mast had cracked and fallen down, and the white and red striped sail was ripped and uselessly hanging from the figurehead, covering half of it.

"It's a very small ship, maybe manageable by two people." Astrid noted.

"Stay here, bud." Hiccup said as he dismounted Toothless who growled warningly. "Let's make sure it's empty." He said to Astrid as he stepped through a gaping hole in the ship's keel. The hold was small, only meant to hold fish and fishing equipment. It was barely big enough for him to stand up straight. Sand had packed on the bottom of the hold and he saw two old fishing nets half covered by it.

"Hiccup." Astrid said a few feet away from him. "Take a look at this." She was holding an old, tattered leather bag. A small tooth of a terrible terror was used as a buckle to keep it closed. "Do you think Stormfly would like this as a new saddlebag?" She asked playfully.

"Doubt it." Hiccup smiled. "What's inside?"

Astrid opened the buckle and and looked inside. She overturned the bag on the floor. Clothes, some bread and a notebook dropped down from inside. The clothes were nothing fancy, basic gray wool tunics and leggings, and most of them were full of holes, eaten by insects or rodents. "Nothing of interest, it would seem." Astrid declared.

Hiccup stepped forward and picked up the notebook. He paged through it quickly, studying the contents. There were written song lyrics and notes, as well as a few drawings, depicting people and dragons as well as visualizations of gods. They were very nice, drawn with a confident and sure hand.

Astrid gave the bag one more good shake, and some kind of sleek wooden cylinders fell from a side pocket, clanking as they hit the floor.

"Now what might these be?" She asked and picked up the cylinders. They had small holes running along their shafts and were covered with ornate engravings. Both had a metal ring on both ends. The metal rings were silver, though their glint had faded many years ago. She pressed the two cylinders together and the metal ring slipped inside the other, turning the two cylinders into one.

"I think it's a flute." Hiccup said as he watched Astrid turn it around on her hands.

"Thank you for you input, Chief Obvious." Astrid deadpanned. "Any idea who it might belong to? Or more precisely, who might have been sailing this boat?"

Hiccup shook his head. "Let's check the deck." Astrid nodded and separated the cylinders again, then stuffed them back into the bag. She held it open for Hiccup to put the notebook inside, then closed it and flung the string of the bag around her shoulder.

They climbed the stairs from the hold to the deck. There was absolutely nothing interesting on it. A few broken oars and the ripped sail. "We should probably leave, there's nothing more here." Astrid said, looking around the empty deck.

"In a minute." Hiccup replied as he made his way to the sail. It had an odd bulge to it. "Come check this out." He said to Astrid without looking back at her. He grabbed the edge of the sail and lifted it to find a young man, about the same age as they were, lying on his stomach unconscious. "That must be the one who's bag you found." He stated with realization in his voice.

Astrid kneeled next to him and sat her hand in front of his face. She waited a couple of seconds and stood up. "He's alive," she declared "but we need to get him to Gothi soon. Who knows how hard he has hit his head."

"You're right." Hiccup said. "Help me get him up. We'll lift him on top of Toothless and bring him to the healer."

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And that's how I ended up in Berk.