Chapter 1

"Moving On, Struggling Along"

The beaten ship rocked steadily on the calm waters. Its sails were torn, letting what little wind there was seep through. There were no sailors on the deck rowing the ship along, so the vessel sat atop the water underneath a clear blue sky. It was a peaceful day for sailing, but the people aboard weren't in the mood.

There were fifteen sailors below deck. They were the sole survivors of a horrible and unexpected battle. Among the fifteen were Snotlout, Fishlegs, the twins Ruffnut and Tuffnut, and Astrid. They all sat hushed, their backs resting against the walls of the ship.

A little girl sat huddled in the corner. Her eyes were wide and her body trembled. Astrid understood the small girl's terror; Astrid had been a witness to watching the girl watch as she lost her parents to Drago and his army of dragons. Astrid was helpless towards the little girl, unable to help save the girl's parents for her. Astrid didn't even know her name.

Astrid sat down next to the little girl. She didn't acknowledge Astrid, it seemed as if she was staring off into another world, and didn't like what she was looking at. Astrid put her hand on her shoulder awkwardly. She was a warrior, not a comforter.

"Hey, it's, uh... it' gonna be alright. You made it off of Berk alive, it shows that you're a strong warrior. You, me, everyone on this ship is strong enough to get through this." The little girl didn't seem to hear her. Astrid could understand, she didn't fully believe her words either. She sighed and put her arm fully around the girl. She stopped trembling after a moment and seemed to nestle in closer to Astrid. A small smile graced Astrid's lips.

She looked around at the other Vikings. The twins weren't bickering for once and were sitting close to each other. Fishlegs was flipping through one of his books that had been on him when he fled Berk, but his mind was in a different place. Snotlout still looked terrified, but he gripped his spiked club with the will to fight on. Gustav was sleeping on a couple sacks of flour while his mother watched him. Adding insult to injury, Mildew had managed to scurry his way onto the boat. He was grumbling to himself in another corner. Astrid didn't really know the others that were on the ship. She remembered their faces, just not their names.

Astrid also knew that Drago wasn't going to stop taking over colonies of vikings and people. She prayed that night that she would get another shot at killing the madman.

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Night came and went as it always had. Astrid knew things would be different from there on out. They would either die or survive and, Astrid being the warrior that she is, decided that the latter of the two was the one she would lead all the others to.

Astrid, Ruff, Tuff, Snotlout and Fishlegs forced themselves onto the ship's deck. They only had enough food for a few days, so they needed to find land.

"Alright, since I'm the strongest one here, I'll be in charge," Snotlout pronounced, puffing out his chest. Sleeping must have refueled his ego tank. The group shot him a look, but Snotlout was of course immune to it. He bounded up to the ship's steering wheel and gripped it tightly.

"Uh, I think Astrid should-"

"Follow me?" Snotlout said, "Yes, I agree with you, Fish." Astrid rolled her eyes and started studying her map. Fishlegs peered over her shoulder. He placed a finger on the map.

"We're here, west of Skull Rock," he said.

"So the closest island are the Berserker's," Astrid said.

"Uh, guys," Tuffnut piped up.

"Not now, Tuff."

"But, it's kinda important."

"I doubt that," Fishlegs said.

"But-"

All of a sudden the ship rocked violently and creaked loudly. They all lost their footing and tumbled across the deck until the ship steadied. The little girl from below deck crawled outside. "What was that!"

Tuffnut propped his head up. "SCOULDRON!" The vikings from below deck came out armed with whatever they were able to grab before fleeing their island at the mention of the sea dragon. Other than Astrid's axe and Snotlout's club, they only had kitchen knives as weapons. But, that was good enough for them.

"Where is the beast?" a viking with a black scruffy beard yelled. No one answered. Only Tuffnut had seen it.

"It-it was right-" Tuffnut twirled around. "It was right... there!" he pointed into the water. The scruffy bearded man walked over and looked over the edge. His eyes scanned the water, and aside from a bubble or two, couldn't see anything in the calm water.

"Bah! Your seeing thin-" was all he had time to say before a large, scaly green tail shot up from the water and wrapped around the viking, pinning his arms against his fat stomach. The viking let out a compressed grunt before the tail dragged him up and over the ship.

The little girl screamed.

"Hoark!" a woman shouted. It was Gustav's mother. Astrid began shouting orders to her viking crew. When Fishlegs stopped working, Astrid snapped at him.

"What are you doing!" She yelled. Fishlegs dropped his pale and pointed behind her, his eyes wide. Astrid whipped around. There, coming out of the water, was the biggest dragon she had ever seen.

The Scouldron placed it's giant front fins on the side of the boat, tilting the whole vessel until it was almost vertical. Some of the vikings grabbed onto ropes, Astrid stood on the side of the ship's mast, and the little girl was propping herself in the doorway.

"MOM!" Gustav shouted. He was safe beside the little girl in the doorway, but his mother was dangling dangerously close to the Scouldron. Gustav tried moving out of the doorway to help his mother.

"Don't do it!" the little girl said, trying to keep him back. "You'll get yourself hurt!" but Gustav wasn't hearing her, his mind was already set on helping his mother. Gustav tried to shove his way past the girl, almost knocking her down and into the Scouldron's waiting mouth. The dragon roared fiercely.

"Gustav!" Astrid shouted. "Stay back! Or I'm going to-" Gustav accidently pushed the girl a little to hard and she fell. Astrid's breath caught as the little girl grabbed onto a loose rope with a scream. Astrid wanted to call to the girl, but didn't know her name.

Gustav began to try and reach the rope his mother was holding.

"Gustav! Don't!" his mother called. Luckily, the rope seemed to just be out of Gustav's reach.

Astrid knew they wouldn't be alive for much longer, especially when she noticed the Scouldron start to fill up it's cheeks with scalding hot water. She gripped her battle axe by the handle and held it over her shoulder, aiming it at the sea dragon's head. Without giving it a second thought, she threw her axe and watched as it lodged itself into the side of the Scouldron's head. The dragon roared in pain.

"Gustav!" the little girl yelled. The stupid kid jumped for the rope his mother was on. He missed. Astrid looked just in time to see him miss his mother's waiting hand. The poor kid slid down to the raging dragon. The Scouldron sunk back down into the ocean, his flipper scooping Gustav down with him.

The ship fell back down to it's natural position in the sea as the weight of the dragon disappeared. Gustav's mother ran over to the edge of the boat. "Gustav!"

Astrid sighed. Damn all those beast to hel. She walked her way over to the little girl lying on her back. She was breathing hard. Astrid helped her sit up. "You okay?"

After a few more deep breaths, the girl asked about Gustav. Astrid looked over at the kid's parent. She was weeping over the side of the boat. Fishlegs took it upon himself to help console the grieving woman.

"He's in Valhalla now," Astrid said. The little girl sniffed, trying not to cry.

"I tried to stop him," she said. Astrid nodded.

"I know." Astrid helped the girl stand up. The little girl quickly hugged Astrid's waist. Astrid let out a small gasp. She wasn't much of a hugger, but she guessed she could make an exception.

"Thanks," the little girl said.

"For what?"

"For being there. My mom was always there for me, now you are." Astrid had to smile at that. The girl was already making her soft. With her messy short black hair and teal blue eyes, it was almost impossible not to feel protective of her. Astrid wasn't sure why she would say what she would, but knew it was true. "And I always will." The little girl gave a true smile, Astrid's was a little sadder.

"What in blazes was that!" an old man yelled. Mildew came out onto the deck. "Can't an old man get his rest."

"Scouldron attack," Astrid said as she led the little girl by the hand.

"Lost two more Berkians," Snotlout said gloomily. Mildew glanced over at the grieving mother.

"Bah!" he said before returning back below the deck.

Astrid sat the little girl on the other side of the ship. "Why don't you stay up here? That way I can keep an eye on you." The little girl nodded.

"Sounds like a plan," she said. Astrid smiled and got up to leave.

"Wait, uh... Miss!" the girl shouted, standing up. Astrid turned back to her. The girl ran up to her. "I don't know your name."

Astrid laughed. "Astrid. My name's Astrid." the girl smiled.

"I like that name. Mines Taliyah," the girl said.

"Taliyah, nice to meet you." Astrid held out her hand. Taliyah giggled, but quickly put on a serious face to shake her new friend's hand.

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"So, any idea on how to get this pile of wood moving?" Ruffnut said to any open ear. Fishlegs looked up at the torn sail.

"We'll have to patch that up," he said.

"I saw some blankets below deck. Couldn't we use those?" Taliyah said. Fishlegs looked at her.

"Those'd be perfect." Taliyah smiled

"I'll go get them," she said, and then ran off.

Fixing up the ship went slowly. The crew was working slow, with the exception of Astrid and Taliyah. It had just been a day since the events that took place at Berk and the memory was weighing them down.

Gustav's mother, Sheril, retreated below the deck to grieve. Another viking followed her to give her some moral support.

It wasn't until night began to come that the ship was in proper sailing condition. The repairs, however, did take up some of their supplies. Snotlout walked up to the ships wheel, in which Astrid was using.

"Hey, I just did a check on our food supplies. We only have enough for another day, if we're lucky," Snotlout said, worry etched onto his brow. Astrid sighed. Berserker island was a week away, and that's hoping the weather was on their side.

"We'll figure something out," Astrid said. "We're the last Berkians, the tribe lives or dies with us."

"That's a lot of weight to carry," Snotlout grumbled. Astrid nodded.

"A lot more than I would prefer," Astrid agreed. It was a rare sight to see both the Hofferson and the Jorgenson kid getting along. Most of their conversations are heated arguments about most anything. Snotlout's pride and ego would eventually get to Astrid and the two would get thrown into another argument. But, they couldn't waist their energy on petty arguments anymore.

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"Astrid?"

Astrid rolled in her sleep, but didn't wake. Taliyah shoved her shoulder a little harder. "Astrid." still, she didn't wake. Taliyah grabbed her face to look at her, pinching her cheeks together.

"Astrid!" Taliyah said a bit louder. Groggily, Astrid opened her eyes. Taliyah gave her some room.

"What?" Astrid whispered, sounding not at all pleased with being woken up. "Is it my turn-"

"Mildew's gone," Taliyah said. Astrid sat up.

"What?" she said, a sharpness in her tone. Ruffnut stirred in her sleep beside them. Taliyah held a finger up to her lips. "Sh."

Astrid rolled her eyes. "Where's Mildew?"

"I don't know. I woke up to go potty and he wasn't where he was sleeping," Taliyah said. Astrid stood up.

"Stay here," she said. "I'm going to look for him. He's probably just getting some fresh air." With that, Astrid went up to the deck. It was almost pitch black outside. The crescent moon's little light being blocked out by the thin layer of clouds.

"Mildew!" Astrid call. Nothing. She walked around the deck finding no sign of the old man. But, she did find a sleeping Tuffnut leaning against the mast, hugging a bucket to his chest. Astrid grunted in annoyance and the kicked the sleeping viking. Tuffnut woke with a jerk.

"Eh, who gos there?" he said, slurring his words together.

"You're suppose to be watching for danger!" Astrid growled. Tuffnut clumsily stood up.

"I am," he said, straightening his back. Astrid gave him a death stare. Tuff gulped.

"M'kay, so I stopped for a little rest. What's the prob-"

"Mildew's gone."

"Gone?"

"I can't find him anywhere."

"He couldn't have gotten anywhere. We're on a boat." Astrid rolled her eyes.

"Well aren't you a genius," she grumbled.

"Really? Huh, I always thought of myself as average intelligence," Tuffnut said, looking proud. Astrid scoffed and dragged him by the collar of his shirt.

"Come on," she said. It didn't take long for the two to search the boat. And after their searching, they did make one discovery that could answer Mildew's disappearance. A life boat was missing from the side of the boat.

"So Mildew took a life boat? So what, it's just one less mouth to feed," Tuffnut said. Astrid sighed.

"You're right, Tuff," she said. Tuffnut smiled.

"Maybe your right, Astrid. I might be a genius after all."

Astrid didn't let on and went back below deck to check on their supplies. Taliyah got up to greet her.

"You find him?" she asked, but Astrid just walked past her. Taliyah noticed the worry on Astrid's face and decided not to press her. She watched as Astrid lifted a little trap door to where they kept their food. Taliyah looked over her shoulder.

"It's gone. All of it," Astrid said quietly. And Taliyah new what she meant. All the food and clean drinking water was gone.

A/N: Excuse any errors, I was in a hurry to post this. Enjoy!

WARNING: MAY BE A LITTLE DISTURBING TO SOME VIEWRS.
You've been warned.

Chapter 2

“Storms Rage, Hearts Break”

Thunder crackled and lightning shot across the sky. The waves were relentless in their efforts to splinter the wood that made up the boat.

“Get below deck!” Astrid shouted to her Berkian friends.

Snotlout shouted back, “But, the ship-”

“It's to dangerous! There's nothing we can do! Now GET BELOW DECK!” Snotlout growled and did as he was told.

“We're gonna die!” Fishlegs shouted to himself as he ducked under the doorway. Ruffnut and Tuffnut scrambled in at the same time, ending up getting wedged in the doorway.

“Move! I wanna live!” Ruffnut shouted to her twin.

“Get out of my way, Ratface!” Tuffnut shouted back. Astrid shoved them both in and then closed the door behind her.

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Days At Sea: 3

“Astrid, I'm hungry.”

“I know, Taliyah, we're all hungry.”

The storm had raged on for two days, how the ship was still floating was a miracle. But, now they faced another problem; they were starving. Since the storm didn't sink their ship, they were actually able to gain a few days worth of drinking water. It was Fishlegs' idea.

“You can thank that runt of a viking Hiccup for that,” Snotlout spat in an answer to Taliyah's question. Fishlegs rolled his eyes.

“How do you figure that?” he asked.

“If we didn't find his ship blueprints we would have never thought of adding a life boat. Hence, Mildew couldn't have taken it to escape with our food.” Snotlout glared at Fishlegs, as if his question was dumb.

“This ship was designed by Hiccup?” Astrid said. Snotlout rolled his eyes, but nodded.

“Chief found my cousin's books. They're filled with a bunch of nerd drawings and stuff,” he said.

“Huh.” Astrid hadn't known Hiccup drew blueprints. But, then again, what else could he had been drawing all those years ago.

“Who's Hiccup?” Taliyah asked. Astrid looked down at the girl, snuggled warmly against her side. It was odd, really. Astrid was against any type of touching that didn't involve trying to physically injure another. But, even when Astrid had told her not too, Taliyah managed to snuggle up close to her. She knew that no matter how mad or steely eyed Astrid got, she'd never hurt her.

“He was the late chiefs son, but he died a long time ago,” Astrid said.

“That's it? He just died? How'd he die?” Taliyah pressed on. Astrid groaned and rolled her eyes.

“What's with all the questions?”

“I've only asked two.”

“Yeah, well...” - Astrid took a deep breath. She was very upset with her current position in life. - “Sorry. About five years ago, Hiccup went missing on the day he was suppose to kill the Monstrous Nightmare in dragon training. The search parties said he was killed by a dragon.” Taliyah let loose a shaky breath.

“Were you guys in training with him, too?” Taliyah asked. Astrid nodded.

“Yes. Fish, Snotlout, Ruff and Tuff and I. We all trained together.”

“He must have been a really good dragon fighter if he beat all you guys.” Astrid straightened out a little.

Fishlegs nodded in agreement. “Hiccup must have trained really hard, cause all of a sudden he was the best in the class.”

“My cousin was a dork... but, I've never seen someone handle dragons like he did,” Snotlout said.

The twins agreed.

“The little fella could get dragon's to collapse without using a weapon,” Ruffnut said.

“It was awesome!” her male counterpart said.

“ENOUGH!” Astrid shouted. “Hiccup was a cheater! How else would you explain him getting devoured by a dragon in the wild? He had no real skill.” Astrid rested her back against the ship with her arms crossed, agitated.

“Oh,” Taliyah said quietly.

Silence. When Astrid was angry, it had a tendency to keep others quite, unless you were looking for a new battle scar.

After awhile, Fishlegs finally spoke up. “The storm seemed to have passed, I'm gonna go see what I can see.” with that, he went up to the deck, Tuffnut and Ruffnut behind him. Astrid groaned and got up to follow, motioning for Snotlout to do the same.

“Can I come, too?” Taliyah asked, looking up at Astrid.

“Do what you want,” Astrid said coldly, then she left. Snotlout shrugged in her direction.

“Don't mind her,” he said. “She get's cranky real easy.”

“Oh, okay,” Taliyah said quietly. Snotlout patted her on the shoulder, then followed the others to the deck. Taliyah decided it would be best if she just rested where she was.

The storm had definitely cleared up, leaving just a handful of clouds floating in the blue sky. The waters were calm, everything was peaceful. But, there was one problem...

“Ah well, we didn't really need that anyway,” Snotlout grumbled, gesturing to the mast, or what was left of it. The storm had all but completely tore the main mast off of the ship, taking the only sail with it.

Astrid cursed. “Now what?” she looked at Fishlegs, expecting the smartest one of the group to have some brilliant answer, he just shrugged. Astrid sighed.

“Where's a spyglass, maybe we were pushed closer to land,” Astrid said. Fish handed her one from his pouch.

Astrid walked up to the front of the ship and looked through the spyglass, scanning the across the vast ocean. She pointed off to the right.

“It looks like there's some land in that direction,” she said, turning back to the group.

“Oh, well that's great. So I guess we'll just push the ship there?” Tuffnut said sarcastically. Astrid shot him a glare, Tuff just rolled his eyes.

“He's got a point, Astrid. How are we suppose to get there?” this was Fishlegs, stepping toward the blond viking.

“We got oars?” Astrid asked.

“This really isn't the type of boat you use oars with.”

“But do we have them?”

Fishlegs sighed, defeated. “Yes. We got about four.”

“There,” Astrid said, faking excitement. “Lets go get off this giant bucket.”

They went in shifts of four for four hours at a time. They carved some holes in the ship below deck so their oars could reach the water.

They had been at it for ten hours and were hardly moving. But, they were moving. At the oars were Tuffnut, Snotlout, a viking named Urt and another named Sven. Taliyah was sitting above deck watching Fishlegs and Astrid work, and Gustav's mother leaned against the ships railing, looking out at the ocean.

The sea was still calm, which made rowing a little bit easier. Just a little.


Days At Sea: 5

Fishlegs laid on the deck of the ship, the sun heating up his skin to an almost dangerous level. No one on the ship had eaten anything for almost a week. The food rations were completely scrapped. There was nothing.

Urt even got so desperate as to even try to eat his own boot. He was laying below deck, sick and getting sicker.

Fishlegs didn't know if he could go on. He was the fattest one on the ship, but that didn't mean he had extra food stored away in his belly. No, you could clearly see the effects of starvation start to take its tole on the man.

He was easily down fifteen pounds, and that's being generous.

They had given up rowing, all of the strength had completely left them. And, to add insult to injury, the island was now in sight, though miles away.

Fishlegs thought he'd never set foot ashore alive again. It was a popular thought on the boat.

Tuffnut and Ruffnut never get along. They argued about anything they could think of. But now, they leaned against the others back. They were skinny before, but now it was almost like their skin was just draped over the bones, barely clinging on.

Astrid and Snotlout were below the deck, helping a dying viking through her last moments. Taliyah spying on them from the corner of the room.

Silva, mother to late Gustav, was lying on her death bed. She was just to hungry, the will to fight on had left her after her son disappeared. And as she lie there, there was only one thought on her mind.

Astrid held her hand, Snotlout sat on the other side of the woman, his arms crossed against his chest, his face contorted in sadness.

“It's going to be okay,” Astrid said quietly, though she knew that there was no hope for the woman. Snotlout looked away.

Silva forced a smile. “I know.”

“You're going to see you son again.”

A tear welled up in Silva's eye. She sniffled. “Do you... do you think if we searched, we would've found him? It seemed like he just fell in the water.”

Astrid looked her in the eyes, the sadness in them made her turn away.

“Dragons don't let people live... Gustav was gone when he hit the water,” Astrid said, her voice slipping into a whisper. Silva closed her eyes, the tear falling down her cheek. When she opened them, she saw Taliyah, peeking over her knees.

Silva smiled. “You got a little girl to protect, Astrid. She sees you as family now.”

Astrid looked over her shoulder, giving the little girl a small smile. “I don't know how I'm gonna get her out of this. I won't be able to get myself out of this.” Astrid said to Silva.

“You're a smart girl, you'll figure something out.” with some effort, Silva managed to clasp Astrid's hand with hers. Giving one last smile, her eyes slowly drifted close. She was gone.

Astrid bowed her head. A sniffle could be heard from behind her. Looking at Snotlout, she said, “Help me get her up to the deck.”

Snotlout knew what she would want to do next; throw her into the ocean. But, a different thought entered Snotlout's mind.

“Can I talk to you for a second? Alone?” he asked. Astrid looked at him funny, but agreed. They went up to the ship's steering wheel.

Snotlout looked nervous, his arms crossed, pacing back and forth. Astrid raised an eyebrow.

“What?” she said.

Snotlout looked at her and bit one of his finger nails, seemingly forcing himself to speak. “My uncle told me a story one time when I was little. He... They...” Snotlout took a shaky breath, forcing himself to continue on. “My uncle was in love with sailing. Every chance he got, he got his crew together and went out onto the water. They usually tried to catch fish, or they just sailed... I don't know. But, one day, when they were out at sea, they got attacked by pirates. They won, but, afterwards, a storm hit. They got pushed far off course; they had no clue where they ended up.

Before they knew it, their food was gone. Water wasn't a problem yet... probably cause of the storm... anyway, they were all starving. After two of the men died of starvation, my uncle proposed a plan, a last resort kind of thing. And, fearing death, the other sailors agreed to... to eat the two that had died...”

Astrid looked at him with a mix disgust and disbelief. Snotlout had a similar look.

“No.” Astrid said firmly. “I'm not -”

“If you could, would you save everyone here?” Snotlout asked. “Or let them die, even though you knew you could save them.”

Astrid looked away, tears gathering in her eyes. “You can't eat a dead person.”

“The body's fresh enough,” Snotlout argued. “Come on, Astrid. It's our only – our last chance.”

“How do you know the others will eat?”

Snotlout sighed. “It'll be their choice. At the least, you could trick Taliyah into taking some. You, her and I would at least live.”

Astrid still looked unsure, she could barely hold back the tears.

“If we don't, the last Berkians die on this ship,” Snotlout finished, waiting for her answer. A tear slipped down Astrid's cheek.

“Help me bring the body up to the deck, then make sure everyone is below deck,” Astrid said, her voice shaky. “Especially Taliyah.” Snotlout nodded

It took a little bit of arguing, but Astrid and Snotlout were able to get everyone below. The body of Silva lied on a large blanket on the deck. Astrid and Snotlout were on their knees, looking down on her body. Snotlout clutched a dagger, his fist shaking with anger. He was furious with what he had to do.

He placed the dagger at Silva's inner thigh. Before he went any farther, he looked at Astrid. “You don't have to be here,” he said.

Astrid shook her head. “I agreed to do this, I'm not letting you do it alone.” Snotlout didn't smile, he didn't show any emotion, he just looked back down at the lifeless body, and made the first cut.

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Lying about it was almost as hard as doing the deed. After they 'disposed' of the body, they found a hidden compartment filled with meat. Snotlout telling them that it must have been one of Hiccup's ideas helped make them believe. And the sight of actual food was all but impossible to resist.

Cooking it on the boat was difficult. They had to go back up to the deck and carefully make a, very controlled, fire. The deck was clean, the blood having been washed away by Snotlout and Astrid.

There wasn't to much food, but, for the night, everyone was full.

Astrid sat alone on the deck after the meal, watching the other vikings talk, for the first time in a week, with merriment. Taliyah walked up and sat beside her.

“I knew you could do it,” she said happily.

Astrid looked at her, trying her best not to look sad. “Do what?”

“Save us,” she said simply. Snotlout walked over.

“Night's almost here. We'll row to that land tomorrow,” he said, then he went below deck.

“I knew we would make it,” Taliyah said. The little girl got up and skipped away.

That night, when everyone was in a deep sleep, Astrid went up to the deck. She collapsed. And wept.