Chapter 3: New World, New Look

Author's Notes: In this, we learn a bit about the history of the Fractured Lands and meet a new character! He's kinda minor, but still important. Strut is one of Cog's few friends in this world. For now.

Reviews:

MMM (Mar. 4, Chapter 2) – Stoick, at this time, is waiting for Hiccup to come home. The storm also hit Berk, so he thinks that his son might be waiting it out somewhere. And if I told you what was happening on Berk at the time, it would count as spoilers. But I'll tell you this. Things are about to go downhill very quickly.

The Story Of Your Life (Mar. 4, Chapter 2) – Thanks! Yeah, Hiccup thinks Cog is a guy, mostly because of physical traits and how she talks. I explain (well, Cog explains) why that is in the next chapter. I already have about half of this story written up (at the time of my typing this), so be prepared for the rest soon! And it's nice to know I'm not the only one who does that. I just get really excited when I see that people are looking at my story, and then all I can think is "Why aren't they reviewing? Did something happen to them in the few seconds it takes to review?"

I'm sorry for talking so much.

Disclaimer: The only parts I own are my original content. The rest is DreamWorks and Cressida Cowell's stuff.

Key:

0*0 - scene change

Horizontal line – perspective change

Hiccup finally managed to get his brain working again and looked at Cog.

"Th-those islands are floating," he sputtered. The other guy nodded slowly, giving him a concerned look.

"Well, of course they are. Otherwise there wouldn't be a city on them. Haven't you ever seen a skycity?" the boy answered. The way he was acting suggested this was all perfectly normal to him. It made his head hurt just thinking about where that storm had thrown them.

"Where I come from, all settlements are on islands in the middle of the ocean, and there are definitely no flying islands," he replied as calmly as he could. Maybe this was all some fevered dream and he was really asleep on some island in the archipelago. Maybe he could just wake up and-

"OW!"

The feeling of being pinched shattered that hope and made Hiccup rub his arm gingerly. He glared at Cog, who had inflicted it upon him and was now watching him cautiously.

"What did I do this time?" he shouted painfully. The other guy shook his head.

"Hiccup, I won't judge you if you came from a grounded village, but an ocean? Everyone knows the oceans haven't existed for centuries, not since the Catastrophe," he stated reproachfully. Hiccup stared at Cog in disbelief. There was no ocean? How did they get enough fish to feed the tribe, then? How was he going to feed Toothless? How was he going to feed himself?

"What about fish?" Please tell me you have that, at least. That's what Toothless eats," he asked worriedly. Cog shrugged and glanced back in the direction of the building.

"I should have a dried fish left. I was going to save it for later this week, but Nuts can probably get us more, right?" he replied uncertainly, glancing at the dragon clinging to his shoulder with his tiny feet. He chirped again, nervously this time, and fluttered toward the city. He waved goodbye, then his eyes shot back to Hiccup.

"Come on. I think we have some talking to do." He spun around and began jogging back to the building, ignoring the bushes that caught at his skirt.

'What a strange guy,' he thought before following him.

I waited until Hiccup had caught up with me before pulling down the ladder to the walkway. Homes for lower and middle class citizens were built based on old designs that people had used before they could get to the floating islands, so there was a walkway around the middle of a tall cylinder capped with a pyramidal roof, and the doorway was somewhere along that ring of wood, with a ladder to get up and a curved ramp to get down to the ground on the inside. It kept most monsters and wild animals out, and usually people placed special screens behind the curtains, to be pulled shut at night. Of course, my dress made it necessary to have Hiccup go first.

"After you," I said, bowing slightly and indicating the ladder. He looked at me suspiciously, but since I hadn't given him any reason to fear me, the scrawny boy climbed up, and I followed. Once we reached the top, I showed Toothless, who had come around to join us, a place where he could climb up, since he showed no sign of flying up to us, and I led them inside.

"Hopefully Nuts will bring us some more fish, though I wouldn't get my hopes up. Fish is pretty valuable, because you have to go to the ground to get it, and the earth gods don't like trespassers without express permission. That's why you have to get a special permit from the priesthood before you can go down," I chattered, making sure I moved the more fragile things out of the way of Toothless as we went down the ramp. Hiccup looked around in surprise.

"Uh, I hope you don't mind me asking, but why's it so messy?" I rolled my eyes, righted a few anolite stands and some furniture, and sat on my cot. Hiccup sat against Toothless, his knees drawn up to his chest and his arms resting on top, on the opposite side of the room. It wasn't a big house – there was only a few feet between us – but there was enough space for both of us to feel comfortable.

"Well, it might have been because someone crashed into my house, 'cause normally it's a lot cleaner than this," I replied dryly. He blushed and looked at Toothless, who seemed just as flustered as him.

"Yeah... Sorry about that. We were caught up in this storm and couldn't see where we were going," he explained, putting a hand to his bonded monster's head. I nodded and looked at him seriously.

"Maybe the sky gods wanted you to come here. You could help me with my problem," I told him quietly. He gave me a confused look, and my pulling out a mirror didn't help. It was a bit cracked, but that's how it had always been. Some rich people had thrown it out because it's bad luck to keep a mirror you broke, so I had taken it home. Not because I was vain, but because I like experimenting with hair dye and it helped me sense my own bond with Nuts. The crystal on the back of my hand was proof, but it was nice to be double sure my powers worked. Whenever I looked in the mirror, I got the tingles.

"I doubt these sky gods care about us. Toothless and I were just passing through on our way to... well, I'm not sure where we were going, but it was away from Berk," he replied bitterly. I cocked my head to the side, a habit I had picked up from Nuts, and raised an eyebrow.

"There you go again with Berk. I've told you already, I've never heard of a village, city, or region called that, and I've studied a lot of current maps. If there was a human settlement named Berk anywhere in the Fractured Lands or beyond, it would have been marked. We're few enough as it is." At this, Hiccup looked at me quickly, alarm in every feature.

"What do you mean? I knew I wasn't in the Barbaric Archipelago, but I've never heard of the Fractured Lands. And what do you mean by 'few enough as it is?'" he asked worriedly. I sighed and looked him in the eye.

"Are you telling me you've never heard the stories about the Catastrophe that burned the land, boiled the sea, and nearly wiped out humanity? The event that caused more monsters than ever before to be created from the ashes of the world? The destruction of the world that made islands fly and oceans disappear? Who are you, Hiccup, to not know these things?" I exclaimed incredulously. He sighed and buried his face in his arms.

"I don't even know anymore. First I betrayed my whole village by befriending their worst enemy, then I run away to save that enemy, and now I'm sitting in a weird house on a floating island talking to a complete stranger. What's happened to my life?" Hiccup groaned, his voice muffled by the cloth of his tunic. All I could do was remain silent. Clearly, Hiccup had a life as bad as mine, if not worse.

But thankfully, something happened that made our lives a little better.

Hiccup looked up from his brief meltdown when they heard a rapping against the side of the house. Cog seemed confused, so he set aside the broken mirror and went up the ramp cautiously, getting ready to pull out his dagger if necessary. He pulled aside one curtain and waited.

A man wearing a hat with three points peeked inside, saw the boy's weapon, and jumped back a bit in alarm. Cog laughed in relief and put the dagger down.

"Ha! It's just you, Kaupmaður Strut. What are you doing here?" he said cheerfully, letting the guy come inside and look around. He seemed a bit surprised to see Hiccup and Toothless among the mess, but he didn't say anything. From his clothes, he guessed the guy was some sort of trader, except for one thing. His shirt had no back to it, just pauldrons with string connecting the back to the front!

"I came to pick you up and take you to Faded Dreams. Nuts came by again and wouldn't stop pestering me until I did so," Strut replied, the dragon they were talking about peeping out over the leather pauldrons on the man and jumping over to his position on the boy's shoulder. Nuts squeaked proudly, making his partner cringe. It must have been right in his ear. Hiccup chuckled, and the guy looked down at him.

"Anyways, who's that? I've never seen a monster like that before, nor clothing like his," he asked Cog, pointing down at them. Hiccup frowned, but couldn't really say anything. Apparently Faded Dreams had never seen anyone from Berk before. Right when Hiccup was about to answer, Cog broke in for him.

"The human is Hiccup and the dragon is Toothless. They're from really far away, and they don't take kindly to calling a person's bond animal a monster," he introduced them quickly, skirting around the mention of Berk neatly. Strut took this in stride and waved in welcome.

"Nice to meet you, Hiccup. I see you've run into Cog Winterstorm, the town's dyer. I must ask, why are you hiding your bond marks? Aren't your people proud of them?" he asked, sitting on the edge of the ramp in front of the door. Hiccup chuckled nervously.

"Um, where I'm from, it's very cold," he explained vaguely. Bond marks? He didn't have any bond marks.

Did he?

The older man nodded in understanding, his dark eyes twinkling.

"I see. Well, you won't have to worry about that anymore. Faded Dreams is quite pleasant, now that spring is here. Tell you what. On the way into the city, I'll lend you some clothes that are more appropriate for the weather. I assume you're coming with us?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. Hiccup looked to Cog for guidance, who was silently begging him to say yes. He sighed inwardly and nodded.

"Yeah. Do you think you have room for both of us? Toothless is having trouble flying," he answered, and as if to prove his point, the Night Fury showed them the replacement fin on his tail. The leather was shredded and the wires were mangled, probably a result of the storm and the trees, so there was no way to fix it unless he could get to a forge.

Strut smirked and gave him a thumbs-up. Cog sighed in relief and smiled at him. Nuts chirped happily and clapped his wings together. Toothless growled uncertainly and brushed his tail over his head. And Hiccup? He was just glad they would be going somewhere with food and a place to repair Toothless' flight gear.

We left once I had grabbed a few things, including my mirror, and Strut had prepared the Cloud Jumper. The trader disappeared into his cabin just before take off and came back out with a bundle of cloth.

"Here you are, my boy. Put these on and no one will bother you in town," he said kindly. Hiccup took the clothes and went behind a few crates of spyder silk to get changed. A few minutes later, he came out, and I couldn't help but notice Strut had good taste.

The young man now wore a green shirt with some darker green embroidered leaves on the collar and the hem, a pair of brown leggings, and his boots. He looked a bit uncomfortable as he tied the braided leather cord that served as a belt around his waist, letting the ends dangle down freely.

"This feels weird," he muttered. I grinned and looked at Strut.

"Where did you get clothes in the right size?" I asked curiously. He smirked and put a finger to his nose.

"Just between us, I don't always trade for money. Some people pay me with clothing or goods. I just looked at him and guessed," he replied knowingly. We turned back to look at the awkward boy as Toothless sniffed him and gave him a funny look. Hiccup scowled and looked at us.

"Why are they so light? I feel naked," he grumbled, lifting up part of his shirt. I walked over and gave him a once over. He was only a bit wider than I was, and he looked like a twig. Other than that, he looked like a native of the city. Too bad he didn't seem to understand basic Faded Dreams etiquette. I put a hand on his shoulder and looked at Strut.

"Will you excuse us for a bit? Hiccup and I need to talk for a bit," I said politely. He grinned widely and allowed us into his cabin. It wasn't very big (the Cloud Jumper was, from stem to stern, only thirty feet, and the cabin took up a third of that length), but it would do. I found the captain's looking glass and sat Hiccup down in front of it, taking this chance to see his bond marks. There was a brown crystal shape on the upper half of his narrow back, the long part pointing toward a small black diamond with two smaller diamonds to the right and left of it, and below those was a solid black crystal, the long part pointing up to the diamond. I stared at them longingly. If only I had bond marks like those. All I had was a white crystal in the same place as Hiccup's brown, and that had been there since I was born. I didn't have my major bond just yet. But with his help, I would soon. I could feel it.

"Uh, Cog, what are you looking at?" Hiccup said worriedly. I looked up and saw his concerned face in the mirror, so I did what I could. I smiled.

"Oh, just your bond marks. They're very nice," I replied, poking the center diamond with one finger. He jerked forward, away from that touch, and whipped his head around.

"What bond marks? I don't have any," he shot back, clearly upset. I furrowed my brow.

"Yes, you do. Let me show you," I said matter-of-factly. With one hand, I turned his head back to the mirror, and with the other, I pulled my mirror out of the bag. I held it so that he could see his marks in the mirror before him, and I grinned at his wide open mouth.

"When did those get there?" he asked quietly. I shrugged and put the mirror back.

"Well, have you ever felt a stinging sensation on your back after bonding with Toothless?" I queried. That was a sign of the bonding process. He shook his head.

"No, all I felt was scared and amazed and... wait. When we were caught in the storm, there was this sort of stinging on my back. It was just before we crashed into your island. I thought it was just rain," he informed me, his voice hushed with wonder. I nodded sagely.

"There you go. You know, you're pretty lucky. I've never bonded with anything larger than Nuts," I told him sadly. The little dragon chirped in melancholy agreement on my shoulder and nuzzled my cheek. My hand went up to him while I sighed.

"Why not?" Hiccup asked, instantly curious. I scowled and placed my other hand on his head.

"Never you mind. Now, then. A quick lesson on how to act in Faded Dreams. Clearly, you need to know these things." With that, I began telling him what to do, what not to do, and how he should act. It seemed to take forever, but by the end of the lecture, there was the characteristic tremor of docking, and Strut came in to tell us we had arrived.

I was back in Faded Dreams, but this time, I had a friend.

Author's Notes: Okay, so it's kinda filler, but also important stuff. You guys need to know a bit of what happened to make this world the way it is. I have much planned for the Catastrophe, where it began, and what caused it, but you won't find out what until the next episode. Yes, I am a terrible, terrible person for making you wait that long. But I plan on this story only being ten chapters (I have the summaries already written out), so it's gonna be a short fic. Of course, right now I have eighteen episodes planned, so that's about 180 chapters, if I do ten per story.

Wow, I'm writing really choppily in that paragraph. Better work on that *makes note of it*

Anyways, please review! I love hearing from you guys! It makes me happy to see feedback.

Wild Cat 214, out!