Thanks for the reviews guys, it means a lot to read them, and I'm always excited to see more!

A note - I wrote this chapter using "dingy" instead of "dinghy" (because apparently my works program doesn't believe that it's a word) and then I used the "replace" tool to replace each "dingy" with "dinghy". Sooo if "dingy" is used improperly, I apologize.

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Chapter 12: It's You

"Astrid."

His voice was far away. It was muffled by the fog and clouded by the darkness. Stirring, Astrid couldn't tell where she saw. Around her the spirit world was too dark, too hazy, and felt boxed in. It reminded her of when she was young and would hide underneath the bed.

"Astrid?"

Was someone talking? Who was that? Was there someone else here?

"Astrid, come on, wake up."

A hand shook her shoulder and brought her back to the real world. The humid hull of Johan's ship came into view. The exotic fabrics and rugs were shaded and their colored hues were darkened. Was it night?

"Hey, good morning." Hiccup's face was hovering over hers, a hand rested on her shoulder, and the other gently grazed her cheek. He left a short kiss on her forehead.

"Hmm," Astrid stretched the stiffness out. Her limbs were cold, even under the blanket, and her exhale came out in a white puff.

"We're here." Hiccup said. "Or so Johan says, it's as far as he'll go. We ran into some fog and he's been fretting since."

She sat up and what little warmth she'd kept underneath the blanket dispersed. Hiccup had a fur draped over his shoulders and thick wraps on his arms. He draped a similar fur around her shoulders and helped her stand.

"Why is it so cold?" Astrid asked, accepting thick arm wraps. The fur helped but not much.

"It must be the fog. It's not…normal fog. It's like ice." Hiccup said.

Astrid took the lead and jogged up the stairs to the upper deck. When Hiccup had said 'fog' she'd pictured the light wispy fog that sometimes hovered over Berk's rivers. This fog was thick, in a way like the clouds that she would sometimes fly through, but darker. It climbed upwards and blocked out the sunlight, casting the illusion of nighttime, with the thick slow swirls the color of dust. It settled on her skin as tiny ice crystals.

"I can't stay in this fog much longer. It's effecting the sail." Johan said, nervously fingering the edge of the sail, sliding his thumb along the slickening material. "I can offer you a dinghy to get close to the island."

"Thank you, Johan." Astrid nodded. "We couldn't have done this without you."

"It's been an honor." Johan said with a mouthful of uncertainty. He shuttered, "I can't believe you're going in there. I'd sooner let the ocean swallow the island."

"There are innocent people on that island." Astrid said. But she swallowed those words. "Or, there was, I don't know what we're about to find. Johan, you've been there before. Any words of advice?"

Johan looked out into the fog and brought his eyes to Astrid with a sigh. "The first time I came to this island, to offer my services as a trader, their welcome was less than friendly. They wanted to know how I found it and where I'd come from and if there were any more like me that were capable of following me. When I finally assured them that I was alone they were still cautious. They wouldn't let me off my ship and frowned each time I looked up into the village from the docks. They agreed to trade but I think they only did it so I wouldn't have a reason to betray their secrecy. They are strange about keeping their island a secret. They never would tell me why. And I suppose if they're the cause of all this … disruption then they had a very good reason to be."

Hiccup and Astrid climbed down onto the dinghy. Astrid expected a long-winded journey to the island. Hiccup couldn't sit still in a boat. He never could. So when he sat down and leisurely went limp against the bow with a sigh she eyed him.

"Hiccup?"

"What?" He cocked an eyebrow, tossing up is hands in question. He sat with his shoulders relaxed and still, his mouth just above a frown, one side turned slightly upward.

"Nothing." Astrid sat down as the dinghy was dispatched. It began to float freely and drifted away from Johan's ship. Hiccup was looking at her, no, he was looking through her. There was something unfriendly about the way he saw her. She turned her gaze from his and looking into the fog. She didn't want to think about it.

"It's going to take a while to get there." Hiccup sighed. Was that boredom she sensed? Irritation?

There wasn't hardly any movement in the water. They had drifted by force of momentum and Johan's ship was still within arm's reach.

"Yeah…" Astrid said as the thoughts flooded in. She leaned over to stare into the still water's depths. The dinghy rocked but Hiccup didn't seem bothered. If Dagur could do it…then couldn't she?

"What are you doing?" Hiccup asked, dryness in his tone.

"I'm trying…" Astrid answer absently. She relaxed and searched the water for spirits. Yes, they were there. But would they listen?

Can you hear me? If you can, please, we need your help.

Astrid tried her best to convey their plea, the importance of the need, the significance of this trip. She could hear Hiccup moving in the boat and feel him inching over the side to see what she was trying to see. He didn't flinch when the water stirred. Faces appeared just beneath the surface, paled and skeletal, flesh missing on some and patched on others, hair webbed in the rustling water. There were just a few at first but they were soon joined all around the dinghy, dozens, and then a dozen more.

Skeletal hands broke the glassy surface and reached for the dinghy's side. With a gentle push the boat began to glide across the water. Johan's boat drifted away and the fog consumed them completely.

"How did - what did you do?" Hiccup gapped at her.

Astrid was impressed with it herself and expected the same reaction from him but his face conveyed neither joy or appreciation. His brows were pushed together and his

mouth was titled sideways, open just enough to expose his mild buck teeth, his eyes

searching her face with something of disbelief, horror, and disgruntled admiration.

"What do you mean?" Astrid sat back on her heels, involuntarily tensing. The dead must have felt it too; there was a subtle shift in their glide.

Hiccup sighed and his face relaxed.

"I asked them for help." Astrid answered his previous question, tentatively.

"And they listened to you." Hiccup said, looking over and into the water where the dead worked as a sort of wheel, constantly pushing the boat along.

"Yeah, Hiccup, I've asked them before." Astrid said, picking her words carefully. What was this that she felt? Uneasiness? Apprehension?

"Right," Hiccup said quickly. "It's still just kind of…weird to see in action. You know?"

"I guess." Astrid nodded. She sat at the opposite end of the dinghy.

"Are you okay?" Hiccup asked abruptly.

"Hmm?" Astrid shook her head but with the motion she felt the drift immediately, the pulling of her soul away from this world and into the next. It had happened so suddenly, like a fist thrusting into her chest, that she wondered if this was what it was like to die. But before that thought was met by another she was gone.

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The spirit world was drenched in thick darkness. It held her down and stole her breath. She fought against it but could not gain ground. She tried to reached for her body, to Hiccup, to listen for his voice, but she was held fast. The spirit world was closed off by walls of cold clouds.

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Astrid snapped back into herself with a hard pulse. She had felt it in her bones, her muscles, down to her toes. It had pushed out a yelp out of her but before she had time to assess it, arms closed around her. She was lying into Hiccup's chest and his arms enclosed around her shoulder and waist.

"Alright, there?" Hiccup asked.

Astrid nodded, feeling the rough material of his shirt against her cheek, the warmth of his chest underneath was slight despite the cold. He raised his hand from her shoulder and cupped her cheek, sliding his finger along her cheekbone, this thumb along the smooth skin underneath her eye.

He's been so touchy lately. While Astrid wasn't about to complain, she enjoyed this rarer side of Hiccup, but it struck her as odd. Among other things.

It wad hard to stretch out in the dinghy and there were several muscles that she'd like to rip out of her body. She'd love to take a long run around Berk, exhaust herself to the extreme, and collapse into a hot bath and sleep without a horrid dream.

"That must be it." Hiccup said.

Astrid pulled herself from him to stare into the fog. There was something in the fog. She could see a darkened blurred shape. As their dinghy glided along that shape loomed closer. She could feel an intense gloom surging from it, like a thousand miserable spirits, their suffering and pain ringing out into the fog, becoming the fog itself.

"Hiccup, you could still go back." Astrid said.

"What? No." Hiccup shook his head.

"I'm serious, I have no idea what I'm walking into. It could be horrible, odds are that it will be, full of mad and confused spirits. I should go alone." Astrid didn't want to beg him to go back. She wanted him with her but she didn't at the same time.

"No." Hiccup said with a glimpse of that determination that she admired so much. "Astrid, we're a team. We're sticking together. Forever."

Forever. Why did that word leave her with such a shivering sensation?

The fog was nothing like sailing into the island's docks. Their dinghy thudded against it and Hiccup tied it off with deft hands. Astrid climbed onto the creaky docks but it was like walking into a nightmare. The fog continued onto the island and the buildings were lumps of dark cloudy coal.

Astrid took careful steps toward the village. It was eerily silent. No birds, no bugs, no life, and it made her heartbeat into thunder. The streets were deserted. Each footstep rapped on the graveled ground. Hiccup's uneven footsteps followed closely behind.

"There's no one here." Astrid whispered.

They looked into homes and buildings that they passed. They were all empty. Their possessions were scattered around, thrown haphazardly, like they had all left in a hurry with little notice. There were faint lingering spirits, but few of them, here and there, and Astrid gave them little mind.

She glanced over her shoulder at Hiccup. He looked at the houses with interest, preoccupied thoughts, and walked with a slight limp. It was like how he used to when his leg's absence was still fresh. She was thinking about his leg when a wandering spirit drifted out from a house two doors down and Astrid abruptly halted, throwing her arm out to stop Hiccup, but he had already paused his steps.

"Hm?" Hiccup eyed her.

"A spirit." Astrid said. She looked at her outstretched arm and let it fall back to her side. "I didn't want to give it a reason to see us as a threat."

Hiccup eyed her then nodded.

They continued to walk further into the village in silence. Astrid peered behind her and could no longer see the ocean. It was all clouded streets. It was cold and she was glad for the fur. If they made it back to Berk she would have to repay Johan. If they made it back.

Astrid inhaled, filling her lungs to the max, and held it. What was she talking about? Of course they going to make it back. And Stoick would be thrilled to see his son. He would be thrilled to welcome them back and ever more thrilled with the prospect of a great Viking wedding. A wedding would lightening the entire wood of Berk.

They'd marry when they got back to Berk. That idea sounded amazing. It helped to ease the knot in her chest but not entirely. That would settle when they fixed the spirit veil.

It felt as though they'd been walking for hours. Everything looked the same. While covered in fog all the houses were identical, the streets were the same, the alleys were thick in shadows. She turned down one street, then another, and felt as though she was zigzagging back and forth around the same house.

Astrid came to a sudden halt, stomping, and throwing her arms into the air. "Where is this temple?"

"Do you think we're going in circles?" Hiccup asked. "You did say that you knew where the temple was."

"I know how to get around once I'm inside. The spirit world version of this place wasn't this big on the outside." Astrid fumed.

"We could keep walking until we find a nice spirit and ask for directions?" Hiccup asked with a cocked brow.

"Or you could turn around."

Astrid and Hiccup both spun on their heels. Her grayed dark hair waved around her dark face and swayed with each of her graceful steps. Hiccup took a step back as Astrid took one forward.

"It's you!" Astrid couldn't hide the smile that stretched across her lips. She turned to share this joyous moment of renewed hope with Hiccup. His face was blank but he returned her smile with a curt nod.

It was the same mysterious woman who had made everything possible, who have given Hiccup the chance to bring Astrid back from the dead, and to renew her life on this earth. Astrid was about to speak when the woman held up a hand.

"No, not here. Come with me." she said. "There is a haven from this malice nearby."

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