The World Above

A/N: Sorry for abandoning this AU for so long, guys. The fairy tale retellings kind of took control of my life for a while (not to mention, you know, surgeries and general life getting in the way…). But now I'm back and hope to devote more attention to the Sea Trilogy.

This particular story takes place about five years before Out of the Sea. Hiccup hasn't met Toothless yet, and he and Astrid are both eleven years old. The song "The World Above" is from Disney's The Little Mermaid Broadway musical. Enjoy!

Prince Hiccup drifted uncertainly a few feet above the ocean floor, his bright green fins swishing to and fro, his head tilted back and his gaze directed skyward. He brushed a hand through his auburn hair, pushing it out of his sharp green eyes so that he could see the surface so far above him. The sun was shining, its light trickling down all the way to the seafloor, making his scales glisten and warming him down to his very soul.

He could do this. He could. Now was his chance, and he might not get another opportunity like this for a while.

The eleven-year-old merman looked around warily, but he was quite alone. He'd swam so far away from his father's kingdom that no one could possibly be nearby, and he'd doubled back three times just to make sure no one was following him. He couldn't risk being seen. If word got back to Stoick about this…

Hiccup looked back up at the surface and felt his heart miss a beat. It was so far away. What lay up there, he wondered. What dwelt above the surface of the ocean? What was so bad about that realm that his father, the king, forbade anyone from venturing up to it? What were these humans he kept hearing about over and over, these monsters that would surely kill him the moment they laid eyes on him?

He had to know. He just had to.

So, despite the pounding of his heart, despite the prickling fear that sent goosebumps up his arms and a chill down his spine, he took a deep breath and propelled himself upward, flipping his fins as fast as he could, hoping to break through the waves above before he could change his mind.

And then he took his first ever breath of air.

He gasped in awe and wonder, his fear melting away on the spot as he looked around at the sky and the clouds and the sun and the water lapping against his chest and…and…

…and it was all so wonderful, so amazing and wondrous and exciting and unique and beautiful and special…!

He closed his eyes and leaned back, feeling the sun's heat as its rays fell on his face. A light breeze toyed with his wet hair and kept him from getting too hot. Smells and sounds were louder, sharper, as if he'd spent his whole life with seaweed clogging his nose and ears. His skin felt somehow more sensitive when it was dry, and he found he enjoyed the sensation.

He knew it then, knew it as he'd known nothing before in his whole life, knew it as certainly as he knew his own name. He was going to live up here someday in this wonderful world above the waves. Somehow, sometime, he'd find a way to leave his home on the ocean floor and dwell here in this beauty and splendor. And he knew he'd never be happy until that day came.

He opened his eyes so that he could see everything, and his joy was so intense that he couldn't stop himself: he broke out into song.

"This is where I belong

Beneath the clear wide blue here

I feel completely new here in the world above

It's like my life was wrong

And somehow now at last I'm in

My own skin

Up here in the world above"

He closed his eyes again and leaned his head back, reveling in the sunlight that beamed down upon him. It was unlike anything he'd ever felt before, and he loved it. He continued singing:

"There's so much light here

Light and space

The sun's so bright here

Upon my face

It feels so right here

Warm as love

Life seems to be

Almost calling to me

From this strange new world above"

He ended his song and took a deep breath, inhaling the salty sea air. Somewhere above him, a Terrible Terror called out to its companions as they winged overhead. The water lapped at his head as he floated lazily, feeling his skin heat up under the sun's intense rays. Occasionally a cloud drifted in front of the hot orb, providing him a moment of cool relief before the warmth penetrated through to him again. He hummed quietly, thinking that maybe he'd just stay up here forever and never return to Hyacinth…

His eyes suddenly snapped open and he whirled around, tensing up. He'd sensed a small change in the ocean's movements, nothing major, but enough to set him on edge in this new, unfamiliar world.

He saw what had caused the disturbance at once: it was a ship. It was a short distance away, but far enough that he felt no fear that he'd been seen by the humans aboard…

Humans!

There were humans on that boat! There had to be! The creatures that had killed his mother, the creatures that his father ranted and raved against, the creatures that must surely be ugly and monstrous and hideous to behold…!

He dove down beneath the surface, hesitated, and then swam swiftly toward the oncoming vessel. He paused as he drew level with it, gazing up at the wooden keel above his head. He reached up to brush his hair out of his eyes again as he stared at it. Then, as he couldn't see any of the humans, he decided to take a closer look.

He ascended until he was a mere foot or two beneath the surface, peering intently yet cautiously up through the clear waters. He could see movement over the side of the ship, but no distinct shapes took form. He couldn't really make out what he was seeing…

…until she walked up to the rail and gazed out at the sea.

Hiccup inhaled sharply as he stared up at the girl. She couldn't have been much older than he was, and as far as he could tell, there were very few differences between them. Her hair was the color of sunlight and was tied in two strange protrusions that stuck out on either side of her head. She wore a blue…something over her torso, though for what purpose Hiccup couldn't even begin to fathom. Her arms were bare, though, and her face was alight with childlike excitement. She pointed toward something in the distance and turned her head to talk animatedly to someone else on board the boat.

She…she looked a lot like him.

Hiccup could only gape up at this creature. This was a human? She? This was the monster that the king said were nothing but savage beasts intent on killing everything that dwelled beneath the sea? This was the terrifying abomination that was said to be so horrible to lay eyes on? Where were the claws, the sharp teeth, the dark and soulless eyes?

No…she couldn't be a monster. How could she be? She was so young, so…so pretty…how could she possibly have a heart of stone as Stoick claimed all humans did? It just wasn't possible that someone like this girl could be that way. And besides…from the waist up she looked just like a mermaid…they were so alike that it was hard to imagine she could be bad…

The boat was moving away, and he flipped his fins in order to keep up with it, his eyes never leaving the girl. He wanted to know who she was, who she was with, where she was from, how she traveled on land…

And then she looked down into the sea…directly at him.

He gasped and dove down out of sight, allowing the darkness of the water to shield him from view. He glanced back up worriedly at her, but she didn't seem to be raising any alarm or pointing him out to anyone. She was just looking down in his general direction. Could she still see him? …No, no she couldn't possibly be able to make out his shape now. He was too deep.

Then she turned and walked away from the rail.

Hiccup breathed a sigh of relief, though it was mingled with a sense of disappointment as well as a growing weight of doubt. All his life his father had hammered his hatred of humans into his head, sternly ordered him to stay away from the surface and the evil monsters that dwelt there.

But now…now he had to wonder…

…what if his father was wrong?

…

Young Astrid Hofferson pointed excitedly in the direction of Berk. "Look!" she cried. "I can see it, Papa! I can see it! We're almost there!"

This wasn't quite accurate: Berk was still quite a ways off. It was visible, but as nothing more than a speck on the horizon. But her father, Chief Josef Hofferson, smiled and humored his eleven-year-old daughter. "Yes," he said, nodding. "We should be home by nightfall, dear. Your mother will be happy to see you again."

Astrid grinned happily and looked out across the wide expanse of ocean stretching out before her. She sighed happily as she thought of Berk: of her mother's warm hugs and excellent cooking, of Gobber's friendly chatter, of her dragon Stormfly and her love for chicken…

A flurry of motion drew her eyes downward into the sea. It was incredibly clear today, the water smooth and calm. She could see several feet into the depths below, and she swiftly looked at the fish that had caught her…

It wasn't a fish.

It was a boy.

At least, she thought it was. Though for the life of her, she couldn't understand why a boy would have the long green tail of a fish instead of legs like hers.

A moment later, she wasn't sure she had seen him at all: in the time it took her to blink her eyes, he'd disappeared into the depths without a trace, leaving not even a stream of bubbles behind.

She rubbed her eyes and looked again, but there was nothing there, boy, fish, or otherwise. She hesitated, thinking of telling her father of what she'd seen…or thought she'd seen.

In the end, though, she decided she'd simply imagined it and pushed the event from her mind. By the time she and her father reached Berk that night, she had completely forgotten about the young merman.

But the young merman had not forgotten her.

A/N: Just to clear things up, Astrid forgets this incident entirely within a day or two, chalking it up to her imagination. And Hiccup, when he sees her for the first time in Out of the Sea, does not recognize her as the girl he saw when he was a kid, since five years pass in between these events and her features have changed slightly. That's why there's no recognition on either of their parts in the original story.

Hope you enjoyed that! I hope to get back to work on Return to the Sea pretty soon.