The fog set in and so did the fear. Hiccup was now using the wheel on the upper deck, completely decked out in flight gear. He shifted and he could feel the flask in his jacket move around. At times, a little sip from the flask would calm him down completely. Other times, he would need to finish the whole thing before his heart slowed down by just a tad. The fog was thick and hard to see through and that made Hiccup all the more frightened. He felt around the wheel and found this little button he had installed. He pressed it and a satisfying click hit Hiccup's ears. Suddenly, light cut through the fog and Hiccup's range of vision was increased from the edge of the deck to over 50 meters away. It was a small comfort but a small one was better than nothing. He was on the look out for the floating mountains that plagued these skies. Mountain was a strong word, if anything, it was more of a chunk of dirt and stone and gravel. He didn't know how these chunks (or mountains, whatever you want to call them) floated but he did know that they were dangerous.

Inside the cabin, Astrid was looking at Hiccup's many sketches and she had to say, he certainly had a vivid imagination. An ironclad boat with swiveling… Cannons? What were those? She frowned and kept going through the numerous sketches, sifting through them without a second though. Although most of them consisted of his designs, she did see occasional drawing that didn't have to do with a machine. A bustling town filled with people, a man perched on the edge of a cliff with his hands outstretched, a setting sun and a somehow serene portrait of a man falling to the sea. His arms were reaching towards the sky. Then she found a sketch of a woman and a very beautiful woman at that. Her glossy, black hair flowed down her back; her eyes had a wonderful feline look to them, her green pupils staring back at Astrid. Her mouth was caught in a blissful smile. Astrid kept going through Hiccup's drawings and found more sketches of this same woman. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23 and 24. Astrid had found 24 drawings with this same woman. She raised an eyebrow, what was with Hiccup's obsession with this woman. She looked to be just 2 years older than her but so did Hiccup. On the last drawing, Astrid found a little bit of writing on the back, 'Love, Your Hiccup.' She bit her lower lip, and examined the drawing on the other side more closely. The woman sat on a boulder, her body facing a setting sun with her face turned towards Astrid. She was wearing a beautiful dark blue dress, a dress that seemed to be on the verge of slipping off the woman's body. Her mouth was caught in a seductively smile. The sun cast wonderful tinges over the woman's body. Her hair seemed to be on fire. Who ever this woman was, she must be important to Hiccup.

Hiccup took a deep breath, trying to steady his nerves. He had said it a million times before and he'll say it a million times again, he hated going through this fog. There was so much fear here. Somehow, he could hear screams coming from all directions. His eyes scanned the area around him, watching for the dark silhouettes of the floating slabs of rocks and dirt. He took a breath of deep air. He reached into his jacket and produced the flask. He unscrewed the cap, quickly and with nimble fingers and took a short swig. He secured the cap and pushed it back into his jacket pocket. He could still taste the alcohol on his tongue but it didn't bother him. He noticed something out of the corner of his eye and turned his head around to fully examine it. It was nothing. He hoped his eyes didn't lie to him. He would need them. For the next 5 minutes, he kept spotting dark spots of fog in the corner of his eye and he would always spin around to face them only to find that they were just phantasms of his mind. An overwhelming sense of dread dominated Hiccup's thoughts. Dread was even worse than fear. That ominous feeling in the pit of your stomach. Expecting to find something behind every corner. In the corner of his eye, he spotted a dark outline. His head turned swiftly and the outline came into view. It was one of the floating mountains. His hands let go of the wheel and reached for the lever that controlled the pitch of the airship. He slammed the lever forward, sending the airship into a steep dive.

Inside the Airship, Astrid squeaked as the airship pitched forward. Notes began to fly and pencils rolled or flew off of Hiccup's desk. She was thrown into the bed. She managed to gain control and gripped onto the sides of the bed tightly.

He looked up and was relieved to see that the very top of the balloon supporting the Airship had cleared the chunk of rock. He quickly pulled the Airship out of the dive and started to increase his altitude. He would try to fly above the fog.

Astrid sighed heavily as the Airship leveled out. She lay back on the bed. Then, she felt something underneath Hiccup's pillow. She reached underneath it and her hands found a small sheaf of paper. She pulled it out from under the pillow and her eyes grew in size. It was the same woman but this time, she was nude. Astrid took her in. The roundness of her plump breasts. The pale color of her skin. The curve of her ass. The woman was drawn with a lover's touch. Her smile was devilish and seductive. She was drawn as if she was walking towards the viewer, sauntering was a better word. There was some writing on the back as well. She read it slowly, 'Something to remember me by, come back for me Hiccup.' The plot thickened. She decided that she would ask Hiccup about it, despite how secretive he usually was.

Hiccup was relieved as he cleared the fog, and dread disappeared from his mind. He quickly peeked over the edge of the forward deck and saw one of the floating mountains serenely floating on by, passing the spot the Airship was in mere moments ago. Then he noticed the sun. Dawn was just rising and the sun shed a billion, brilliant, blazing, radiant shining tinges of orange and yellow. Hiccup smiled. Just over the horizon, he could see the crest of a solitary mountain. He increased the speed and soon, his island was in view. The solitary mountain rose out of the floating ground like a giant finger pointing at the sky. Lush vegetation surrounded the sides of the mountains. There was a forest, a beach and even a waterfall whose water cascaded from the sky into the sea. Home sweet home. Or at least, as close as it could get for Hiccup. He quickly clambered down the ladder and got into the cabin, deciding it would be better for him to pilot from the inside.

As Astrid heard Hiccup open the hatch and enter the cabin, still donning his flight gear, she approached him, picture in hand. She had chose one sketch out of random and it just so happened to feature the woman in nude. She held it behind her back and stopped him in his purposeful stride, "Hiccup?"

'What?" He said rather bluntly.

"I was going through your sketches… And well, who's this woman?" Astrid showed Hiccup the sketch and Hiccup stopped dead in his tracks. Something twanged in his heart and his mind screamed. Something in the back of his head started to claw it's way forward. He swiftly snatched it out of Astrid's hands and looked at it, deciding what to do. He took one long look at it, then gripped it by the corners and swiftly tore it in half. In that moment, Hiccup felt his heart shatter, rebuild and shatter all over again. He wanted to cry but he put on his best 'happy' face and said in a jovial tone, "She's ancient history. Come on, I can't wait to show you my island!" With that he strode in the control room. Astrid remained in the living quarters and sat down on his bed. She knew she had hit a delicate string. The face Hiccup had given her was just too happy. It wasn't like Hiccup at all.

Inside the control room, Hiccup gripped the wheel and, after making sure that Astrid wouldn't come in. He let go of the wheel and slumped down against the wall. His head fell into his hands and he began to sob silently. He silently cursed himself and for a second, cursed Astrid for finding those sketches. He kept crying for a few more minutes until he finally built up the will to stop crying. He wiped away his tears and stood up. He took off his flight mask and tossed it aside without a second thought. A singular tear rolled down his left cheek but this tear was different. It was a bright crimson. He wiped it away and stared at the bead of blood smeared on his gloves. He swallowed hard. This was new.