Hiraeth

Arrival at the Archipelago

Authors Note: I don't own these movies. Just the original character and plot.

Also, if you don't like the idea of cussing, then I guess you should be warned. I don't do those really rude words, but there will be a few f-bombs here and there.

~*~*~*~*~

"I believe in everything until it's disproved.

So I believe in fairies, the myths, dragons.

It all exists, even if it's in your mind.

Who's to say that dreams and nightmares aren't

as real as the here and now?"

-         John Lennon

~*~*~*~*~

Growing up hearing the stories about the people on Berk, they wanted to avoid flying anywhere near the Archipelago.  Fate, flipping both rider and dragon the bird, teamed up with Mother Nature and led a thunderstorm right in their path. With wings too drenched to move and the rider cursing under her breath, they quickly made the descent into the forest below them.

"Fuck!"

Glad that no one else was around, the female hopped off the back of the dragon and started to pace while muttering under her breath. "Great Odin's goat, the gods must hate me." Glancing up, worried amethyst eyes met her blue ones and she gave a weary smile to her companion. "I'm fine." She chuckled before giving a slight shake of her head. "Come on. Let's go find a place to take shelter for the rest of the storm." As they started walking deeper into the trees, a large wing appeared over her head, blocking the small amounts of raindrops that managed to break through the tree line.

She gave her dragon a grateful smile, and continued on their quest to find shelter.

~*~*~*~*~

"Hiccup!"

The male in question sighed before giving an apologetic smile towards his best friend. "We'll go soon, bud. I promise." Turning away from the annoyed dragon, who gave a loud huff, he spotted the person responsible for calling out his name. Astrid.  "What is it? Toothless and I were just about go flying since the sky is finally clear." He motioned towards the Night Fury who had decided to leap back up onto his platform that lead into the Haddock home.

Astrid chuckled before gesturing towards the forests where Hiccup had befriended his dragon friend years ago. "Stormfly spotted something that went down towards Raven Point. I'm positive that it was a dragon. It was too dark to tell, but besides birds, what else flies up in the skies?"

Hiccup furrowed his eyebrows. "A dragon, huh? Do you want to go check it out and see what it was?" The blonde scoffed, crossing her arms across her chest. "Duh. That's why I decided to tell you before flying off." Rolling his eyes, the male rider turned around and called his dragon back to him. "Hey, bud. Wanna head out towards the woods before our daily routine?" Toothless crooned and rubbed his head against Hiccups side, which the male took as a confirmation.

Meanwhile, Astrid whistled and called out for her Nadder, who appeared by her side after barely a minute passed.

"Ready?" Hiccup asked, watching as the blonde nodded before they took off towards Raven Point.

~*~*~*~*~

"Are you sure you saw a dragon fly around here?"

"Yes! I saw it go this way."

            Ann sighed. An unknown female and male were arguing back and forth while trying to discover where they were. She then gestured to her companion to stay quiet while they tried to evade the voices that kept getting circling around where they were hiding.  It was too good to be true. Just as they were getting farther away, they were stopped by a black shadow dropping in their path. Night Fury! Ann swallowed as the unholy offspring of lightning and death itself gave out a warning growl, telling them to stop where they were.

            "Astrid, look! Toothless found the dragon and its rider?" The voice of the male caused her dragon to wrap itself around her protectively as she turned around. She then furrowed her eyebrows. Toothless? She heard a croon and a rumble that came from the direction of "Toothless". When she looked back towards the night fury, she noted that it was sitting on its haunches while giving the male a happier expression than the one she received.

A clearing of a throat caused the cornered rider to hesitantly turn back towards the other people. "Uh, hi. I'm Hiccup, and this is Astrid." Hiccup coughed out as he awkwardly gestured between him and the female. "Astrid told me that she thought she saw a dragon land over here during the storm and we thought that we would come investigate. I wasn't really expecting a rider though." His eyes then widened a second after landing on the defensive dragon. "W-what's a woolly howl doing all the way over in these parts? I thought that they liked to stay in places that are way colder than here?" Ann patted the head of her friend, giving the space where the ears should be a scratch before looking up at Hiccup. "I guess Willow has just gotten used to the slightly warmer climates." She muttered loud enough for the pair to hear.

"Not to be rude, but I thought that the stories said Berk kills dragons?" Ann's eyes flickered to the night fury who had trotted back towards Hiccup and the deadly nadder that was standing beside Astrid. Did I say something funny? She thought as the riders both chuckled. Hiccup then gave her a sheepish look and shook his head. "Yeah, but that was years ago. Now the dragons are our friends." He looked over towards the crooning dragon that was now rubbing his head against Hiccup's. Ann noticed as Astrid laid an affectionate hand over the nadder's snout.

"I promise that no harm will come to you or your dragon." The comment eased some of Ann's tension and she relaxed. Noticing that her rider wasn't tense anymore,Willow also hesitantly backed down before mirroring Toothless and sat in a less threatening position. This action caused Hiccups eyes to dart towards the woolly howl and he gave Ann a questioning look. "Is it, uh, is it okay if I...?" He lifted his hand a tiny bit, which Ann caught on to after a few seconds and she nodded. "She won't hurt you, now that she knows you won't do the same to us." The male rider looked relieved as he cautiously moved forward, lifting his hand higher in the air. Willow tilted her head curiously before dipping it low and butting it softly against his palm. After a few experimental scratches, Hiccup drew away his hand and stepped back towards where he was before.

"So, do you want to see how Berk changed from the stories?" piped up Astrid, finding her opportunity to finally speak up. This made Ann look over towards her and she nodded, giving them a small smile. "Yeah, I would love to." Her comment made the other riders grin as they hopped on their dragons, which she did after a few moments. Hiccup nodded his head to the side in the direction of where Berk was and his smile widened. "Well, let's go!"