A New World, Complicated

Chapter 10: Heather Report, Pt. 1 (Hiccup)

"So... pretty big day coming up soon, huh?" She scoffed and rolled her eyes, but she was terrible at fighting back a smile.

"You're so cheesy."

"I seem to recall you saying that to me not too long ago."

"If I'm saying it more than once, it must be true." She shook her head as she laughed at her own joke. "But yeah, it's a pretty important day."

"Don't worry, I've got some fun stuff planned." She looked at me and genuinely smiled.

"I'll be looking forward to it." We followed Snotlout down onto the shore of a beach, where he jumped off Hookfang and led us over to the wreck of a ship.

"Heh. A wrecked boat on Berk? There's something new," Tuffnut mocked.

"Just remember I saw it first, so it's mine." He crouched down and slipped his head under the boat, checking on whatever was hidden there before motioning for us to look. The rest of us crouched down, and I squinted against the darkness, until the shadows revealed themselves to be a girl, lying motionless in the sand, face down.

"Whoa. Now I like the boat."

"Remember, I get to keep her."

"Snotlout, it's a person," Reign grunted.

"Right? How lucky is that?" I shook my head. He wasn't getting what Reign was trying to say.

Curious, I crawled further in and gently shook her stick-like arm, trying to wake her... or make sure she was even alive.

"Uh, hey. Hey, there." I backed away slightly in alarm as she slowly moved her arms and pushed herself up. As soon as she looked at us, she gasped and backed further against the back of the boat. "It's okay. We're friends," I assured her. I was able to take in her scared expression, and something about it seemed so... familiar.

The girl coughed into her hand before managing to croak out a sentence.

"D-Do you have any water?" Snotlout, Fishlegs, and Tuffnut shoved the rest of us out of the way to offer her their water.

"Allow me." Snotlout pushed away his friends and handed her his water for her to drink.

"Thank you." She took a large gulp from the jug before handing it back to its owner. "Where am I?"

"This is Berk." I was suddenly shoved away by my eager Night Fury, who began sniffing the new girl furiously. "Oh, d-don't be afraid. He won't hurt you." I moved Toothless out of the way so that she could get out. "Come out. It's okay." She stared at me for a few moments before feeling brave enough to slowly crawl her way out. "Easy, bud."

"How did you do that?" She seemed amazed at how I had been able to get Toothless to back off like that.

"That? That's nothing," Snotlout huffed. "Watch this. Hookfang, get your butt over here!" His Monstrous Nightmare looked up at him for a moment, before turning around and flying away, likely going back home so he didn't have to deal with Snotlout, unlike the rest of us. "Heh heh heh. He'll be back. Jokester." Reign shook her head. "Oh! Just so you know, I'm the one who rescued you." I quickly moved closer to Heather to introduce myself.

"And I would be Hiccup."

"Heather," she answered in a small voice.

"So, Heather." The girl diverted her attention to Reign and Astrid. "What happened to you?"

"My family and I were on our way home to our island, but our boat was attacked by pirates."

"I wanna be a pirate," Tuff interjected. Everyone turned to stare at him. "Or a fish cleaner. I'm still on the fence." Reign cleared her throat to draw attentions back to Heather.