The wind blew through the tall trees, making the large pines wave softly. The island turned out to be a perfect place to camp. It was about the size of the village of Berk. It had one rocky side and a calmer side with a small beach, from there it was all trees, bushes and moss. They had already spotted a bit of wildlife and dragons, and they had decided that the island would be perfect to keep their camp on.

The broadest stack was surprisingly effective for a camp, it was impossible to reach without a dragon or good climbing gear, thus being perfectly defendable. It also provided good sight around the island, only the rocky part being covered by another stack. That wasn't a problem though, since ships wouldn't be able to dock there.

The twins had finally woken up, quickly deciding that it would be best to first find a proper place to continue to sleep. They had set up their tent quickly, which was a surprise that they even managed to share anything besides a dragon and their last name. Afterwards they had headed off, exploring the island.

Snotlout had also woken up, and was busily collecting twigs and large branches to make a shelter. He had indeed forgotten to take a tent, and Astrid's gentle gaze had diverted him from asking if he could sleep in theirs.

Fishlegs was now also out, picking certain leaves and gathering unknown herbs and bringing them to Hiccup, so he could make a detailed drawing of them. Fishlegs could also draw, but not as well as Hiccup could. Fishlegs would take a good time to make a shoddy but usable drawing of a plant, while Hiccup just recreated the entire plant on paper in a matter of minutes. It was an incredible skill that he had.

The camp had been fully set up, the four tents stood proudly, the wind gently blowing over them. They had already made a fire pit, and had gathered enough wood for a fire that would be able to cook their food and keep them warm for the night. The fire would be low enough that the light wouldn't be seen, and the black sky of the night would cover the smoke of the fire.

Hiccup sat quietly on a log by the fire pit. Watching as Ragnar was preparing tinder to light the fire when the food needed to be cooked. It was slow and tedious work, but also simple and easy. He slowly slid his knife down the piece of wood in front of him, cutting off a thin strip of wood every time he did so. The thin strips would burn quickly, producing the fire and heat that was necessary to make the larger pieces of wood catch fire.

"So what's the plan?" The assassin asked as he cut another slice of wood from his piece, putting it on the growing stack next to him. "We rest a day?"

"That's probably the best plan." Hiccup said as he calmly looked around the camp. It was extremely well hidden thanks to the thick foliage on the stack. "One day of rest would do everyone good."

"Well, they weren't exactly awake this morning." Ragnar said with a grin. "I must say that I was quite disappointed."

"Well, I can't say I expected something differently." Hiccup responded as he looked at the map in his notebook. "I didn't expect Heather to be sleeping though."

"She needs here sleep." Ragnar defended her. "She'll get grumpy."

They sat in silence, the subject of sleep was something the two rarely discussed, with a good reason. "How have you been sleeping?" Hiccup asked carefully. He knew that if Ragnar slept he'd sleep deep and long, but that was usually not the case.

"The same." Ragnar responded shortly. Eyes on the ground and laying his knife beside him on the bench. "Mostly."

"Mostly?" Hiccup asked curiously. "So there's improvement?"

"Yes." Ragnar said, but he almost said it like it was a question. "I think she helps me."

"You do?" Hiccup asked, looking at the empty fire pit. "Good."

"Yea, I don't know what it is." Ragnar said softly. "I just feel it."

"Any improvement is good improvement." Hiccup said with a smile, before his face turned grave. "And, how are the, you know?"

"Nightmares?" Ragnar asked, filling in Hiccup's careful question. "No change there."

"Alright." Hiccup said softly, dooming the two with the calm silence of the barren camp.

The silence was however quickly broken by the sounds of flapping wings, and the group of riders arrived from behind the treeline.

"What's the plan?" Heather asked as she slid of her dragon. The rest of the group following behind. "We got them back to discuss the next step."

"Smart." Ragnar said with a smile. "Hiccup, would you tell them."

"Sure." Hiccup took over from Ragnar. "We stay a day, rest up a bit."

The group looked relieved, they had feared another early leave, and they weren't looking forward to one. The twins high-fived, and Astrid and Heather shared a relieved look. Fishlegs was grabbing the carefully gathered leaves from Meatlug's satchel, and Snotlout was quickly bringing his last few sticks over to his improvised shelter.

The sun was just a little bit above the sea, and would soon dip underneath the waves. It was a beautiful sight, but they had other things to do. "We need food." Astrid stated calmly. "We haven't taken any supplies with us from Berk."

"There are Berries around the island." Fishlegs said, opening his own notebook. "But I don't think all of them are edible."

"Can you be for certain?" Ragnar asked with a raised eyebrow, earning a shrug from Fishlegs. "Let's not do that."

"Other options?" Astrid asked with a sigh. "We got to find enough for eight."

"We could fish." Tuffnut said as he hung upside down from his dragon. "There seems to be quite some near the rocky parts."

"Yea, we can use Astrid's net!" Ruffnut added, earning an annoyed look from Astrid.

"You brought a net?" Hiccup asked curiously. "Why?"

"Fishing, hunting, that sort of stuff." Astrid calmly answered. "Never hurts to bring one with you."

"Astrid's trying to catch her something alright!" Tuffnut yelled from underneath his dragon as he pointed at Hiccup, causing Astrid to quickly turn and yank him down to the ground. The group was silent as they looked at Tuffnut, the only sound being Heather soft laughing.

"Anyways." Hiccup said, oblivious to the hint. "The twins can go fishing with the net, that way we'll have good food tonight."

"Awesome!" The twins yelled in unison as they grabbed the net from one satchel of Stormfly with incredible speed. They quickly flew off and headed to the rocky waters near the side of the island.

"Anything else that needs doing?" Fishlegs asked, watching the twins head off.

"Have you found any fresh water on the isle?" Astrid asked. Fresh water was vital to their survival. They had brought a small supply with them, but it was quickly running out.

"Yes I did." Fishlegs said as he started digging in his satchel for another notebook. "There is a pond of rainwater, fresh."

"Can you get some?" Astrid asked annoyed, Fishlegs probably wanted to show her the location and then talk for hours about the different plants that he had found, and she wasn't feeling like that.

"Snotlout, could you go watch the twins?" Astrid asked as she turned around. Snotlout looked up from his building, causing the entire shelter to collapse. Not that that was a difficult thing, the shelter only consisted of two branches against a rock, covered with twigs and moss. He would never have been able to fit under there.

"Yea, sure." Snotlout said in defeat, it looked like he had to accept Fishlegs' offer to share his tent. Which was horrible because Fishlegs rolled and kicked in his sleep.

Fishlegs and Snotlout headed off, each flying in a different direction. Snotlout headed down to the water, while Fishlegs headed towards the tallest stack on the island.

"Alright, what else?" Astrid asked as she turned around. Seeing that the rest had taken a seat on the logs while she was sending everyone around.

"A fire and preparing the fish." Hiccup answered. "Who does the fire, who prepares the fish."

Although it was common knowledge that Astrid was bad at cooking, she still liked it. "We'll prepare the"

"FIRE!" Heather quickly said, the two assassins being smart enough to keep their sighs of relief to themselves. "Let's make a fire."

"Okay." Astrid said with a raised eyebrow. "We'll take the fire."

The water splashed highly as it hit the rocks near the low cliffs. It flew a bit into the air, before softly landing back into the giant blue sea. Fish were slowly swimming around in the water. Seeking a nice place to hide from the rough seas in the gentler parts of water between the rocks. When they finally found it they gladly rested in the shallower waters.

Until a net caught them and dragged them above the surface.

The net was hung between the necks of the Zippleback. This way they could fly low and have it just hanging in the water while the dragon stayed dry. This was their third pass, and they had finally caught a good amount of big fish in the net.

Snotlout was standing on the cliffs, watching in awe as the twin successfully caught fish, not destroying anything or deciding to do something stupid. They landed next to him, the fish still writhing heavily.

They quickly grabbed the slippery fish, giving each of them a quick and hard beat against a nearby rock, killing them. It was cruel, but necessary for their survival. So was the food chain.

The dragons were mounted and the fish was laid back in the net, which allowed for easy transport. They flew back towards the stack, the sky now slowly turning dark. The fire had already been started by Astrid and Heather, and the foliage covered the light perfectly. Fishlegs had already returned with a few waterskins, filled to the brim with fresh water.

It didn't take long for Hiccup and Ragnar to prepare the fish. First they cut of the head, careful to where they throw it, since seven fighting dragons were not ideal on the stack. Afterwards they'd removed the intestines and it was pretty much good to go, you only needed to mount it on a sharpened stick and you could start frying it above the fire.

They easily had enough for everyone, and he kept a small portion of the fish carefully hidden away, so that the dragons wouldn't grab them. Astrid had already fed Sneaky to the point where he would no longer beg for food. Since the dragon proved to be very dangerous against food supplies on camping trips.

They passed the sticks around, everyone mounting their prepared fish on the sharp end of it, carefully hanging it above the fire. They sat on the four longs around the fire. Two people sitting on one log.

They were calmly chatting during the slow cooking of their fish. And slowly the stories arose. They consisted of the numerous adventures that they had against the Berserkers and generally around the archipelago. But also of the strange things that had happened at Berk.

"No, I swear, he had just finished the trap, rigging it to a tall pine." Ruffnut explained. "And then, BAM, he triggers it, getting pulling into the air."

"I may or may not have panicked." Tuffnut said. "So I grabbed the closest thing I could find."

"And that's why we had to rescue both of them from a tree." Astrid finished, it was one of the strangest properties of the twins, they were always extremely proud at the moments that they had done something wrong. "Any other questions?"

Ragnar looked at Hiccup, who was staring at his fish with utmost concentration. He slowly turned his stick, allowing the flames to lick every side of the fish. "No, I think we're good."

Astrid sat next to Hiccup, also watching how focussed he was with his food. His stick gently and slowly rolled through his hands, turning the fish to expose each side to the fire. The fire was reflected in his emerald eyes, the embers burning brighter and fiercer in the reflection than in real life. It was a beautiful sight.

He then adjusted his position, pulling the stick in and feeling at the crust that had formed around the fish. "I think mine is done." He said as he grabbed his knife, cleaning it on his pants before cutting his fish in two on his lap. He put it down on the thicker parts of his armour, since it was still very hot.

"Astrid, I'd say your fish is done too." Ragnar calmly said as he watched the black object at the end of the fire. Astrid quickly snapped out of her trance, looking at her fish.

"Done?" Ruffnut asked. "Done for you mean."

"Shit." Astrid cursed as her already burned food caught fire. She quickly pulled it towards her and used a stick to get it off the tip, tossing the burnt fish into the fire.

"Four times a charm." Heather said softly, turning her fish above the fire.

Astrid, because she was sitting next to Hiccup, had full access to the supply of food. And she quickly tried to grab a new fish. However, a hand grabbed her own. She followed the hand, which quickly turned into a leather gauntlet. As she followed the arm upwards. "Don't." Hiccup said calmly as he guided her hand away from the stack of fish.

Luckily for Astrid, the red glow of the fire masked her blush, because she would not have heard the end of it otherwise. Hiccup calmly cut his fish in two, giving one half of the properly cooked meal to Astrid. She gladly accepted, pulling a piece off it and putting it in her mouth, she was terribly hungry. Astrid said a quick thanks while ate some more fish, it was truly delicious. Although she was convinced that she could do the same, if only she had another try.

A bit from them, Ragnar and Heather were calmly watching the scene. Ragnar had a huge grin on his face. "It's truly amazing." He softly said so that only Heather heard him. "He's both extremely good at flirting and extremely bad."

Heather looked confused at Ragnar. "Explain." She softly demanded as she turned her fish.

"Look at him." Ragnar softly said as he pointed at the two eating the fish, Hiccup already having speared another one and Astrid watching the next part of the meal with anticipation, occasionally glancing at Hiccup. "He has totally got her, but he doesn't notice."

Heather looked, noticing that Hiccup was again oblivious to everything, not only the hints of others, but even his own flirting. "Wow." She softly said when she realised this. "He's an idiot."

"Tell me about it." Ragnar said as he pulled his stick back, inspecting his fish.

The night passed quickly, after a few fishes everyone was full, and the rests were given to the dragons. Although the large beasts had already eaten they gladly accepted the leftovers. The moon stood high on the sky, and it slowly started sinking.

Astrid stretched, forgetting that she didn't sleep alone in the tent anymore. Heather brushed the arm out of her face with an annoyed grumble, before turning around. Astrid sat up, blinking a few times to make sure she was fully awake. "Come on." She said to the still figure beside her. "Time to go out sleepy head."

"Just a bit longer." Heather mumbled as she turned away from Astrid, who sighed at this answer.

"Fine." The blonde said. "I'll get started on breakfast."

"Wait!" Heather said, suddenly wide awake. Astrid looked at her with surprise. "I'll help."

They calmly crawled out of their tents, being greeted by the fresh morning air and Tuffnut, who was poking the last few embers of the fire with a stick.

"Good morning." Heather said as she yawned, earning no response from Tuffnut. She noticed that Ruffnut wasn't to be found, while the flaps of their tent were open and showed it was vacant. "Where's your sister?"

"Down." Tuffnut answered quickly, poking the fire again and softly talking to himself.

"Down where?" Astrid asked calmly as she secured the last straps of her armour.

"Down down." Tuffnut only answered as he looked at them with an annoyed expression.

"Right." Astrid said as she sat down on a log. She looked at Heather, who was looking at the tents.

One of the tents was empty, and the other one had the snoring of two Vikings. She knew that the last one was Snotlout and Fishlegs calmly sleeping away. But her focus lay with the dormant assassin tent.

"Where are Ragnar and Hiccup?" She asked Tuffnut, hoping that he had seen them.

Tuffnut sighed heavily, turning to them. He opened his mouth to speak, but Astrid cut him off.

"If you say down one more time." She threatened, lifting her axe off the ground a small bit.

Tuffnut swallowed. "They are, well, how do you?" He stuttered, slowly walking back and eventually shielding himself from her behind a tree. "Bottom."

Astrid raised her axe, slowly approaching the tree that Tuffnut had shielded himself behind. "Down! Bottom! Floor! Below!" The male twin cried out as he walked further backwards, eventually stumbling and crawling backwards. He however had to stop when he reached the end of the stack.

"Where are they?" Astrid asked again, this time even more hostile. Tuffnut merely replied by pointing downwards, at the lowest part of the island.

Heather watched it unfold. Seeing Astrid walk back towards Stormfly, having put her axe on her back. "Right." She slowly said as she followed her to her own dragon. Following her, well, down.

They landed on the ground softly, for some reason not willing to try make too much noise in the early morning. However, before they could walk too far they were quickly jumped by Ruffnut, who clamped a hand over both their mouths.

"Sshhhhhhh." The female twin said, removing her hand when she was satisfied with the silence. "You'll scare them away."

"Scare who away?" Astrid asked with a soft but annoyed tone.

"Who do you think?" Ruffnut said as she walked over to the bushed she had come from. Laying down and crawling underneath them. She stopped when she was a little bit in, motioning the others to follow.

Heather looked at Astrid, who rolled her eyes, before getting down on her knees and following the female twin through the bushes. They had to crawl quite a bit, but Ruffnut would immediately turn around and hiss at them if they only tried to stand up or made too much noise.

They crawled through the dry ground and damp grass. Astrid and Heather slowly growing curious to the major discovery that Ruffnut had made. They reached the last part of the bushed, and could hear the soft and heavy occasional thuds of wood on wood.

"Stop!" Ruffnut ordered. "We can't go further."

"What?" Astrid asked confused, trying to look in front of her, but the female twin was blocking her sight.

"Just look through the leaves, but don't get too close, they'll see you." Ruffnut said as she got in position between the other girls. "And get ready to drool."

"Ready to what?" Heather asked confused as she moved a few leaves out of the way, looking through the foliage. They were at the end of the island, near the beach. She looked through the leaves and saw Ragnar. Holding a large wooden training sword. But that wasn't what caught her attention, he was shirtless.

Astrid had the same focus, since Hiccup was standing in front of him, two smaller swords in his hands, but he was also not wearing a shirt. Her jaw dropped the ground harder than a dragon that forgot how to fly. They were training, going at each other with the wooden swords, one of them relentlessly attacking while the other kept dodging, parrying and blocking.

It was Ragnar's turn to attack. The two calmly walked in a circle around each other, Hiccup's back to the girls. Heather was trying to look past him, while Astrid was enjoying the view of the sweat that glistered in the early morning sun. Astrid knew that she should pay attention to something else, wanting to observe the assassins fighting style, but the way that the two young adults threw themselves at each other was just too mesmerising. She could clearly see all the hidden muscle working, putting power in the blocks and parries.

It was incredibly amazing how agile Hiccup was with his leg, even when his prosthetic would occasionally sink away in the sand he still managed to roll across Ragnar's back and to dodge his attacks without getting hit.

The fight ended when Hiccup successfully disarmed Ragnar, tossing his wooden blade away, making it stick out of the sand. Hiccup tossed his own blades next to it, giving Ragnar a hand to thank him for the good spar. Ragnar stretched sitting down with his back to the girls, Hiccup sitting down next to him.

Heather was shocked, she watched Ragnar's back with a mix of interest and horror. Hiccup had a few scars on his back, and they had seen that he had a longer one across his chest. However, Ragnar's back was completely covered in scars, ranging from large ones to small cuts. Astrid knew her battle scars, and could see that the wounds would not have been from a battle. They had a different origin, a darker one.

Heather knew her fair share of healing, she knew that the wounds weren't extremely old, a few years tops. They covered his back like cracks in dry soils, or shattered ice. Her father once told her that every scar told a tale, that it was a medal, a sigh that you have survived. Some of them were lessons, if you cut yourself, or did something stupid. Others were tales of valor. She felt that these scars told a dark story, something that went deeper than damage on the skin and surface.

She now realised that she had almost never touched his back, he'd guide her hands to his hair, or his hips, sides, arms, hands, anything but his back. Like he protected her from the truth, from the past that he had lived through, a darker part of his life that he had closed.

She began to wonder if that part of his life had been fully closed. She remembers mornings when he'd be startles when she greets him, or when his eyes were blood red. She would blame it on the stressful choice of work, or a night without much sleep. But now she thought they might be something else.

She feared it might be something else.

Although a part of her knew that she should stay away from it, and that she didn't want to know the story behind the many scars that covered his back. However, a part of her grew curious, hungry for the tale of her boyfriend. She didn't often ask about his past, but this seemed like a subject that she'd want to know.

She looked at Astrid, who nodded in response. They had seen enough of the show, and after a little bit of non-verbal convincing, Ruffnut joined them as well.

"Tomorrow we'll head out again." Hiccup said calmly as he turned his pole, making sure his fish was properly baked again. "We won't leave as early as a few days back, so don't worry."

"We'll most likely leave in the middle of the day." Ragnar continued. "So that we arrive under the cover of darkness."

"Why is that necessary?" Tuffnut asked calmly. "Think we might run into baddies?"

"We aren't sure." Hiccup admitted, guiding Astrid's hand away from the stack of fish again. She had already burned two again. "But we can't rule out the possibility."

"Sounds good." Snotlout muttered as he watched his fish.

Astrid tried to grab a fish again, she didn't even have a stick to fry it with but she still tried it. She also tried to convince herself that she tried it to prove that she could successfully cook one, but every time Hiccup's warm hand grabber hers to guide her away she was only more motivated to try it again.

"Anything else we need to know?" Heather asked as she glanced at Astrid, the fire was low enough to reveal the light blush, but only for someone who paid attention to it.

The evening passed even quicker, and everyone sat quietly around the fire. Each of the party deep in thought. The twins were thinking of the strange things they'd discover at the new location. Maybe there was a secret thing they could discover, or a strange item they could play with.

Fishlegs was wondering what kind of thing he'd discover on the next island. Maybe new plants, maybe some new herbs or something along those lines. He was definitely excited.

Snotlout was still thinking of a way to convince Heather that he was a better choice than Ragnar, but the way she was currently leaning against him and resting her head on his shoulder suggested that he still had a long way to go.

Astrid was wondering if Hiccup had felt the same strange spark when he grabbed her hand away from the fish, and if not, she could spend the night trying to get him to feel it.

Hiccup was wondering how much of his food he'd have to sacrifice. Sure, he didn't mind at all, he'd gladly share something if it meant that Astrid sat beside him. And her grabbing the fish gave him an excuse to make contact with her, even if it was something as small as that.

Ragnar was wondering what they would find at the next island. Maybe another temple with a new lens, maybe a clue to what was going on in the archipelago. Maybe something else.

Heather was in the most thought of all of them. Her mind was as covered with thoughts about Ragnar's back. There were a million ways that he could have gotten those scars. He could have fallen on rocky ground, or he could have been attacked by some kind of animal or something. But she feared that it was far darker than one of those options.

AN:

So, that's another one down. A bit shorter, but a week earlier than I would usually plan.

I did a huge revamp on my profile page, adding more previews and some other stuff. If anyone feels like helping me write some of these stories then do tell! I am working with a couple of people for some stories and would love to see more people do this. It part of the amazing community of this site.

Also, don't forget to vote on the poll that is on my profile, it's about the next story that I'll write.

Anyway, thanks for the reviews and the follows and the amazing support!

Take Care!

R4y