IM BACK! THANKS FOR PUTTING UP WITH ME! i have another chapter of this!

DISCLAIMER: I OWN NOTHING. THE CHARACTERS BELONG TO DREAMWORKS AND THE PLOT LINE/AU BELONGS TO SHESELLSSEAGULLS ON TUMBLR.


The way back to Berk was longer than I thought it would be. And awkward. So. Very. Awkward. I could have stabbed my own tail with my spear if it meant that I could pick a simple conversation topic. But what the heck do you say in a situation like this? What do you talk about after you just save someone's life? The whole thing was completely lost on me.

"So… uhm… where are we going again?" Jack asked beside me, finally breaking the silence.

"Back to my Hoard. Tribe. Clan. Whatever you want to call it, really." I said with a shrug.

"Ah." He said, nodding. "What about the whale?"

"He usually stays in his cave. It's safer for him there." I paused. "Also, could you-?"

"Keep quiet about your little friend back there because no one knows that you've trained a killer whale and practically keep it as a pet?" Jack says, finishing my sentence before I could even think of the exact words I was going to say. "Sure, no problem." He said, smiling.

"Thank you." I said, gratefully. "And he is not in my pet. He's my friend." I corrected, pouting a little. Toothless was so much smarter than any other creature that I've ever met; it was kind of an insult for me to consider him a pet.

"Not a lot of merfolk would consider killer whales their friends, huh?" Jack asked. "They're more like competition for food."

"Well, yeah, basically." I replied.

"It's not like we all go around and say 'I want to train a killer whale, something that can rip my face off!'" Jack mocked.

"Look, Toothless wouldn't 'rip my face off,' as you put it." I refuted, giving him a glare. Okay, okay, cut him some slack, he's confused, probably lost, and just trying to cope with all of this, right? It's not like he'll be a jerk like this forever.

"But it's not normal to go around training killer whales!"

"No, not usually." I agreed, taking a deep breath and trying to center myself. "Look, I know it's weird, and I know you're probably freaked out by it, but there's nothing you can do about it, so just let it go."

"Fine, fine… letting go." He said, putting his hands level with his shoulder and wiggling his fingers around. I stared at his pale, slender fingers in shock, because the water around them froze, sticking his fingers together bizarrely. "Oh, shit…" He muttered, trying his hardest to get them to unfreeze.

"Here, here…" I muttered, stopping right in front of him and using my hands to warm up his, melting the ice. The moment he could wiggling his fingers and break the rest of the ice off, I moved away. "Now what the hell was that all about?" I said, raising an eyebrow and pointing at his fingers.

"Nothing!" He immediately balked, hiding his hands behind his back.

"Liar!" I shouted. "Tell me!" He was such a hypocrite! Here he was, telling me off for having my best friend be one of the most deadly creatures in the see, and he's randomly freezing things! How did he even do that?!

"I don't know, okay?" He said defensively. "I'll… tell you later, probably. But not now! I'm hungry!" He added quickly, catching the argument I was trying to make in my head. I huffed, and nodded.

"Fine." I said, swimming again, and a second later, I heard him trying to catch up to me. "You say nothing about Toothless, and I'll say nothing about your ice issues."


Bringing a new person into Berk didn't work as well as I thought it would, especially since I knew nothing about him, and well, he was good-looking. Not that I thought he was good-looking, but apparently everyone else did, but mermaids were swarming around him the second I brought him into the Hall.

"What's your name?"

"Where are you from?"

"How do you know Hiccup?"

"I didn't know Hiccup had any friends around here!"

"You should stop by more often!"

"Uhm…" Jack said, a little uncomfortable with the attention. He gave me a worried glance, and somehow I took that as "help me!" instead of "who are they?"

"Hey, guys, sorry." I said, swimming in between the swarm of girls and Jack. "He just got back from a really long trip, and he's hungry and tired, so leave him be." I wasn't the best at talking to… well, just about anyone in Berk, but at least I knew how to blow them off.

"Fine. I'll talk to you later!" About a thousand different versions of the same line sounded as the mermaids swam away. I huffed, triumphant, and looked back at Jack.

"You have ice in your hair." I observed, eyeing his white hair, now completely stuck up at odd angles and held there by shards of ice.

"Dammit." He muttered, running his hands through his hair and breaking up the ice. "Thanks." He said, and somehow I knew he wasn't talking just about the hair thing.

"Anytime." I mused, rolling my eyes. "C'mon." I said, swimming towards the kitchen-of-sorts in the Hall. When we got there, I looked over to see Jack's shocked expression.

"There's… so much food…" He said, awed.

"Take what you want. We have too much, in my opinion." I said shrugging. I took a pouch from one of the counters and threw it at him. He caught it effortlessly, but it was like he was still in a daze. "Do you want those crazy girls to come back?" I asked, loud enough to snap him out of his funk.

"Right, right." He said, swimming around the excess amount of food and picking what he wanted carefully. He filled his pouch to the point of bursting with little sardines, some clams, and a couple leaves of seaweed, before closing it up and looking back at me. "Don't stare at me like that." He said, glaring a little.

"I'm not staring at you." I denied, even though I kind of was. It wasn't like I meant to stare at him, but… okay, it was kind of upsetting, how much food he got. When, exactly, was the last time he ate? If he wants all that, he must be starving. I mean, it explains how thin he is, but… what happened to him?

Not that, you know, I was worried about a stranger or anything. But maybe he wasn't exactly a stranger anymore.

"Liar." He deadpanned. "See? You're staring again!"

"No, I'm not." I insisted, squinting my eyes at him in something that would have been a teasing glare. It was half-hearted, though, and I knew it. "Come on, let's just get going so you can eat."

"We aren't eating here?" Jack asked, following me out of the kitchen. "And wait, why didn't you get something to eat?"

"Not hungry." I said shortly. "And I think it's best to keep you out of everyone's sights for now." I said, looking back at him. I wasn't worried, I was… concerned. For what? No idea, but I don't think having him be surrounded with practically everyone in the Hoard was the best thing to do right about now.

"Am I a secret?" Jack asked jokingly, appearing at my side with a cheeky grin. I took one look at his grin before rolling my eyes.

"No, its just that… whatever. Never mind. Just come on." I said, swimming ahead once again and heading for a shelf of rock a little bit away from the rest of the Hoard.

"Well, this is a neat little set-up you have here." Jack noted, sitting at the edge and opening his pouch. He cracked open a clam and started eating, setting the shell down next to his sapphire tail. I sat down next to him, and ultimately decided to lay down instead, looking up at the surface and the shimmering of the sun on the water.

"Thanks. I come here a lot." I admitted, folding my arms behind my head and flicking my tail a little. I was about to say something else, when I looked at him from the corner of my eye and saw him scarfing down a sardine or two. I sighed, resolving to give him a couple minutes to eat his fill before talking.

My mind bugged me more than I thought it would. Ice. He made ice. It stuck his fingers together and spiked up his hair. It didn't seem like he had a lot of control over the thing, whatever it was. Something about it didn't seem right, either. What kind of mermaid is able to freeze things? Wouldn't that be considered magic? So how is he able to do all this, and why is he the only one I know that can do this, considering that it is actually magic?

"So…" Jack drawled, sprawling out next to me and mimicking my posture. "Whales." He said bluntly, a contented smile across his face.

"So… ice." I said, copying his tone.

"I asked you first."

"I asked you second."

"Yeah, but you saved my life, which kinda means I owe you."

"And so this is how you're paying me back? By letting me talk first?"

"Yup!" Jack said cheerily, grinning from ear to ear.

"Fine." I sighed, before telling him a very, very paraphrased version of the story of how I met, befriended, and ultimately trained Toothless. He listened raptly, something I didn't expect from him, and he almost seemed amazed at the whole thing. Which was a little bit odd, because he was acting like it was SUCH a big deal earlier.

"Wow." He said bluntly, blinking a few times. "That just made so much sense."

"Yeah." I said. "Now it's your turn. What's with the ice thing?" I said, turning slightly so I could get a better look at him as he told his story.

Instead of launching into this elaborate story like I thought he would, he sat up and ran his hands through his hair again. He stayed hunched over like that for a moment. Something about it made me uneasy, and I found myself sitting up next to him and looking at him worriedly.

"Look, you don't need to tell me if it brings up bad memories or something-"

"Have you heard anything about that one mermaid that got snatched from the surface?" Jack muttered suddenly, looking up, but not at me. I blinked a couple times, confused out of my mind. Why would he bring that up, of all things? Everyone knew of that stupid… myth…? Everything fell into place, and I refused to believe that it all fit together that well.

"You don't mean…" I sputtered, the words not coming to my lips as fast as I wanted them to.

"That was me." Jack admitted, his head hanging and his voice saturated with something that sounded like regret.

For some reason, I was the one that couldn't breathe right. My hand came up to cover my mouth and it felt like someone split me open and was tying my intestines in a knot. All of that was true. One hundred percent true. Jack was proof, and he was right in front of me. I was beating myself up for something so stupid, because I should have believed the story, should have been nicer, should have done… something.

"I was playing with my sister, and we got a little too close to the surface. I guess we didn't notice that something was above us, because a net dropped down and I got tangled up and…" Jack relayed, sounding like he was on the verge of tears. I wanted to reach out and touch his shoulder or something, but I just let him keep talking. "This guy took me to… I don't even know what it was. It was filled with tanks, and there were fish and other whales and animals all over. He stuck me in a tank and pricked me with needles. He took my blood and there was something in the water and…

"I found out his name was Pitch, and that I was the first merman he ever got his hands on. There were… so many tests, and he took so much blood that I blacked out." He paused, and bit his lip, almost afraid to go on. I couldn't wipe off the horrified look on my face if I tried.

"Have you heard of the Guardians?" He asked me suddenly, facing me for the first time since he started his story.

"Y-Yeah." I said, my voice shaking a little. I cleared my throat, and tried to start again. "Yeah, aren't they specially chosen by the Moon Spirit to protect the seas and everything living in it?" (Listening to children's tales taught me that much, I've never heard about them anywhere else.) Jack nodded.

"When I was blacked out, I saw this really bright light, and then it transformed into the Moon. I heard a voice, but I'm not so sure what it said anymore. But all I remember is that it got really, really cold, and I woke up and I looked like this." He said, gesturing to all of him to punctuate the last word. I gave him an once-over, and suddenly the spectacularly pale skin, sapphire tail, blue eyes, and white hair made sense.

"You're a Guardian." I breathed, and he glanced at me, slightly shocked but proud at the same time.

"Yeah. Pitch thought that I was getting sick, so he threw away all the stuff he got from me, like my blood and test results and stuff. He said he would kill me in the morning, because I was useless to him." Jack said with a huff. "So I waited until it was dark, and I unlatched the top of my tank and got out. Then I just… froze the ground enough to slide across it and get into a stream. Then I followed that into the ocean and… now I'm here." Jack finished, cracking an ironic smile.

"I-I… I'm sorry…" I said, unsure what to say. "That must have been awful, I'm so sorry."

"What are you sorry for? You had nothing to do with it." He said bluntly, giving me an uncomprehending look.

"Uh…"

"It's fine, honestly." He said, huffing a little. "I didn't tell you all that to bum you out or pity me. And the only thing I'm sorry about is leaving my sister alone."

There was a moment of silence where the cogs in my head were turning and Jack's unnaturally blue eyes were swimming with unease. He's been through so much as it is, and by the sound of it, all he wants to do is go back to his sister.

"Let's go, then." I said, getting up and swimming in front of him. I extended my hand to him, determination lining my face.

"What are you talking about?" He asked, giving me the most comically confused look I've seen in a while. I almost laughed.

"Let's go find your sister." I clarified, giving him a little smile. He lit up, his eyes glinting and his smile wider than I've ever seen it before. In a second, he was up, knocking my hand aside and hugging me instead.

"Yeah!" He yelled right in my ear, a laugh bubbling out of him. "Yeah, yeah, yeah! Let's go!" He said, breaking the hug and swimming a little ways away before stopping. "Do you even know where you're going?" He asked me, looking over his shoulder

"No, but I have some maps that might help us." I said, swimming up next to him. "Plus, Toothless has a great sense of direction. He can probably find the place after a little while." I added, and Jack just nodded.

"We should get some supplies first." Jack suggested. "We are heading into colder waters, after all. Well, colder for you, anyways." He said, grinning cheekily.

"Ha, ha, I'll be fine." I said, rolling my eyes at him, before leading him back into Berk.


This was fun XD THANK YOU FOR READING! Please leave a review!

I LOVE YOU ALL, STAY SAFE, AND I AM HERE FOR YOU!

-HB