Ages-
Zephyr- 13
Nuffink- 10 (almost 11)
It gets a bit crappier the farther it goes so I apologize in advance
Enjoy this longer story!

"When do you think we can take a break?" Zephyr asks, shouldering her bag that contains maps and books and all sorts of supplies they might need on their adventure. She glances around, frowning at the scenery- endless trees, boulders, moss, grass, sticks littering the ground, and no sign of a village.

"I'unno," Comes Nuffink's reply from a few feet ahead of her, his accent showing through. He keeps his eyes focused on the map in his hands- a copy of the map of Old Berk. "Where are we even going? We're still in New Berk. Old Berk is across seas!"

Zephyr rolls her eyes, grunting as she trips over a log. "Nuffink, I told you already. I looked through Uncle Fishlegs' things and-"

"You snooped?" Nuffink turns around, walking backwards, and gapes.

"Yes, I snooped," Zephyr says. "Anyways, I found a book about Old Berk. According to the book- which I have in my bag- there's a secret underground passageway that should bring us to and from Old Berk."

Nuffink snorts, turning back around. "Secret passageway? Zeph, those don't exist. They're only mentioned in old myths!" He throws his hands up in the air for emphasis, almost dropping the map while doing so. "Besides, how can there be a tunnel underground... in the water!?"

"I don't know!" Zephyr snaps. "Hold on, Nuff, wait for a minute." She sits down on a nearby boulder, tugging a large book out of her bag, opening it toward the middle. "See right here, it says only about a mile from here there should be an opening to a tunnel."

"How long will it take to get there and back?" Nuffink asks, paying more attention to the pictures in the book than the actual words. "We can't be out too late."

"Should only be about an hour." Zephyr shuts the book and places it back in her bag. "Okay, let's keep going. If we want to be back before sundown, we should hurry along."

A couple hours passes before Nuffink promptly gasps.

"What!?" Zephyr almost shouts, taking her axe and pointing it at a non-existing threat.

"Put the axe away." Nuffink rolls his eyes. "I was just going to say we're almost there! I can feel it in the air!" He spread his arms and spun around. "We're close."

"Yeah, yeah," Zephyr snorts, whacking the back of his blonde head with the palm of her hand. "Just do your job before we get as lost as Dad's missing leg." They both laughed.

They walk for a few more minutes- Nuffink leading the way with the map while Zephyr stays behind him, taking in the beautiful scenery of the forest- before they both freeze in their tracks, a terrible cracking sound filling their ears.

It happens all so fast, the cracking sound intensifies then the ground breaks beneath them They scream as they plunged into the darkness, Zephyr passing out at the impact, Nuffink staring up, scared to move a muscle.

For a second, only dust swirls around, and Nuffink sneezes as some of the particles make its way up his nose. He scans the small space they'd fallen into- dark and small, barely big enough to fit more than two bodies. It's dark, he knows that, and roots stick out of the ground, poking and prodding his arms and legs.

Then he remembers his sister laying on the dirt covered ground, unconscious. Terrified, he turns around and starts shaking her shoulder. "Zephyr! Zephyr!" He's close to crying, he could feel the burning sensation of tears. "Zephyr, please, wake up!"

He shakes her shoulder for a bit longer until she groans and sits up, almost falling back over when Nuffink flings himself at her, hugging the life out of her. She sets a hand on his back, rubbing her hand up and down. "Nuff, it's alright."

"I thought you weren't going to wake up!" Nuffink exclaims as he pulls away.

"I'm okay, just a slight headache. I think I hit my head on the ground." Zephyr shrugs helplessly. "Anyway, how are we going to get out of here?" She glances up at the opening in which they fell through, squinting at the sunlight. "That's weird, it was cloudy."

Nuffink glances up and nods. "Huh. It doesn't seem too high, I could push you up then you could pull me out."

"That could work," Zephyr replies and stands, her eyes taking in their surroundings.

They both froze- for the second time that day- when they hear the loud thumps, the leathery gusts of wind from wings flapping, and eventually, a dragon's roar. The siblings share a look, eyes wide, and mouth gaping.

"How-?" Nuffink asks in a whisper, barely audible for Zephyr to hear but she makes it out and shrugs. "We need to get out of here."

Another roar sounds from above them and Zephyr nods. "Okay, cup your hands together. I'm going to step into them then you're going to hoist me up, got it?" Not waiting for an answer, she steps into his hands, he lifts her up, and she's pushed up out of the hole and onto solid ground. She looks to her left and gasps as a black dragon with catlike green eyes stares back at her from across the cove.

Wait. A cove? They weren't in a cove a couple minutes ago, just a forest with no water and just trees. How'd they end up in a beautiful opening with big mossy rocks and clear water ponds where fish swam happily. The sun shines down onto the water, causing it to sparkle.

Zephyr snaps out of her thoughts when she catches a movement out of the corner of her eye- the Nightfury is taking slow steps toward her, eyes in slits, and teeth sticking out from its pink gums. She gasps and looks down into the whole where her brother is staring worriedly back up at her. "Nuffink, hand me our stuff."

"What's going on?" Nuffinks asks her, handing their weapons and bags up to her. She sets them beside her, glancing at the nightfury who keeps getting closer before turning back to Nuffink, sticking her hand into the hole. He grabs onto her, she pulls him up, and he falls beside her. "What the Thor," He mutters as he catches a glimpse of the dragon.

"I know," She replies in a hushed tone. "I don't think we're in New Berk anymore."

Nuffink looks around at their surroundings and nods in agreement. "Do you think-?"

"It's quite possible." Zephyr never takes her eyes off the Nightfury that stopped walking and was now staring at them, growling. "That sinkhole could have been the tunnel. But right now, we need to worry about the nightfury. We need to train it."

"Okay." Nuffink takes a deep breath. "Could you, uh, go first?"

Zephyr snorts. "Yes, Nuff. I'm not going to let you endanger yourself." She grabs her axe but the Nightfury growls louder and she sets it back down. "Maybe we should have left the weapons down there."

"That would've been best," Nuffink agrees as he watches the Nightfury take a couple steps forward. "Where d'ya reckon it came from? Dad said there's no more dragons out of the Hidden World. Why would there be one in Old Berk?"

"I don't know," Zephyr admits and stands up, brushing dirt off her skirt. She takes a slow step forward, remembering what her dad always taught her, slow and steady, and bends low so she appears nonthreatening. "Hey, buddy," She calls out softly.

The dragon's ears lower and it backs away slowly.

"Hey," She tries again, walking closer. "I'm not going to hurt you." Having some indication of what she said, the dragon's pupils widen and slowly retracts its teeth. "That's it."

Zephyr grins as the dragon takes a tentative step forward, hesitating as it takes another until it's standing a couple feet in front of her. Her breath hitches in her throat as she's so close she could see all the details of its scaly face.

Closing her eyes, she turns her head and sticks up her hand, waiting. Not only a second later, she feels warm scaly skin in the palm of her hand.

"Yeah!" Nuffink cheers from behind her and the dragon instantly pulls away, glaring at him.

"It's okay; he's my brother. That's Nuffink." She gestures for Nuffink to come forward and he does, slowly, just as she did. "Let him come to you," She repeats her dad's words from five years ago.

Nuffink smiled as the nightfury placed its head in the palm of his hand. "Zephyr, we trained a Nightfury by ourselves!" He exclaims as he pulls his hands away. "Do you think we can fly him? Do you know how proud Dad will be when he finds out!?"

"I think so but we have to get... him to trust us first." Zephyr smiles. "And how happy Dad will be when we tell him there's more Nightfuries!"

"This is so great!" Nuffink said, shaking his head in amazement.

"We'll have to take him back to the Hidden World. He's not safe here even if there's no people," Zephyr tells him. "But I don't see why we can't spend the day here." She scratched underneath the dragon's chin.

Nuffink pumps a fist in the air. "Yes! Why do you think he didn't fly away when he saw us?"

Zephyr frowns and glances behind the dragon's shoulder at his tail. She gasps quietly and points at the brown makeshift tail. "This- how's this possible? He's got a fake tail just like Toothless."

The dragon perked up at the name, jumping around with his tongue sticking out.

Twigs snapped behind them and they whipped around.

-------

The afternoon breeze is cool and refreshing instead of warm and frustrating like it's supposed to be in the summer. By the time he's halfway into the forest, his face is slick with a fresh layer of sweat. Why'd he choose to wear long sleeves and a vest? And why is he continuing to walk to the cove? Oh right, to fly Toothless which is forbidden.

Just a couple days prior he'd come closer than any viking ever had to killing the rarest, deadliest, and rarest dragon species they know of but instead... he freed it.

Since then, he's felt more of a disappointment than ever. He is the son of Stoick the Vast! He should have been able to kill that beast- a magnificent beast- where it laid. But no. He had gone and made the mistake of looking into its bright green eyes only to find it was as frightened as he was so he let it go.

The young boy's shoulders sag. Why couldn't he just live up to his father's expectations- an extra large boy with beefy arms and glory on the side? He is all skin and bones- a literal fishbone with noodles for arms. Why did the gods hate him so much? They couldn't even bless him with muscles like Snotlout or warrior strength like Astrid. He's merely a coward in almost everything he did.

Hiccup the Useless.

So why is he out in the woods searching for something he's supposed to hate with a passion? He's about to take Toothless out on one of their private flights. Yesterday, him and Toothless had been busy trying to figure out his new tail. After many failures, they finally got the hang of it.

He finally makes his way to the cove but stops in his tracks as he comes to an unusual sight. The first thing he thinks is, uh-oh, he's screwed. But then he sees that the two kids, around his age, were talking with Toothless, not trying to hurt him.

Sighing a sigh of relief, Hiccup keeps walking, about to tell the kids (he doesn't recognize them) to go back to the village before they get caught. But just his luck, he steps on a twig, it breaks, and the kids spin around.

That's when he came face to face with one of the most beautiful girls he'd ever seen (one was Astrid). Her auburn hair was tied into two loose, long braids down her back. Her eyebrows, arched in a kind stance, are the same color, and half covered by her bangs. There's freckles splashed across her nose and cheeks, though unlike him, they compliment her features. She weirdly resembled Astrid.

He's also never seen her before but she wore the attire of a young girl at Berk- leggings, a spiked skirt, a colored tunic, shoulder pads, fur boots, and arm warmers. On the clips that keep her shoulder pads in place were carvings of a deadly nadder. Was she also fascinated by dragons or was she just a killer like everyone else? Though, she seemed a bit young to be out killing dragons.

She looks back and forth between him and Toothless, her ocean blue eyes calculating. Taking a step forward, she glares and points a finger at him. "Who are you? Why are you on Old Berk and what do you want with this dragon?"

Shocked, Hiccup manages to say, "What- what do you mean Old Berk? Last time I checked there was only one Berk and I live here."

The girl narrows her eyes. "Uh, no. There's two. You're trespassing. How many of you are there? No one should be on this island, not even this dragon."

"Trespassing!?" Hiccup can't believe his ears. "Yeah, sure, I'm totally the one who's trespassing. You two are definitely not the ones who don't live here." Just because the girl is intimidating didn't stop him from being sarcastic.

"You're right. We don't live here."

Hiccup takes his eyes off of the girl and sets his gaze on the boy beside her, and he finds himself looking into his own eyes, the same green and the same shape. The blonde boy stares at him, dressed in a simple yellow tunic and beige cotton trousers with wool boots, a tooth necklace (that looks like Tuffnut's) hands from his neck.

"Nuffink!" The girl scolds, whacking the boy in the chest. "I'll do the talking."

"Zephyr!" Nuffink mocks and turns back to Toothless who warbles joyfully.

"Are you a trapper?" The girls- Zephyr asks him, hatred dripping off every word.

"A trapper?" He widens his eyes. "Oh, my village? No, I swear, we're not dragon trappers. We fight and kill dragons but only because we have to. They raid our village."

Zephyr spats, "Nobody has to kill dragons. There hasn't been a dragon raid in almost twenty years!" She spreads her arms for emphasis.

Hiccup scoffs. "Maybe a couple days. I don't know about twenty years."

"And what's this village you speak of?" She asks, starting to walk around him and he suddenly feels like he's seriously being interrogated. "No one's lived here for fifteen years."

"What are you talking about? People have been living here for seven generations!"

She's quick to change the topic, he notices. "Who are you? What's your full name?"

"Uh," He hesitates. "Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third, why?"

"Hiccup is your name?" Zephyr asks him, setting her hands on her hips the mutters to herself, "This is absolutely ridiculous." She shakes her head slowly, biting on her lower lip.

Hiccup frowns. "Look, I know I've got a bad name but don't make fun of it! It's supposed to scare off trolls and gnomes. No one wants those things stealing their socks!"

She raises an eyebrow and grabs Nuffink's arm, and walks a few feet away, holding up her finger as if to say: one minute. While they talk, Hiccup walks over to Toothless and sets his hand on the dragon's scaly skin, smiling at the contact.

-----

Nuffink watches that boy- Hiccup- closely and suddenly feels lightheaded. It's all coming together now- the auburn hair, green eyes, freckles, and lanky frame. He matches it with the image of his dad- auburn hair, green eyes, freckles, lanky frame (though a bit buffer), and a short beard that tickled when planting kisses. The kid in front of him is... Dad.

No, no, no, maybe he's just dreaming... or it was all just one big coincidence. But, that didn't sound right either. Even the nasally voice and sarcastic tone matches his dad. Not to mention, he said that there was only one Berk, they have been living there for generations, and dragon raids were still happening.

His sister, who looks shocked, stomps over to Nuffink and grabs his arm, pulling him away from Hiccup and Toothless (this whole fiasco made the tale thing make sense), and says, "Nuff, don't freak out, but I think we time traveled to the past."

"Yeah, I got that," He tells her.

"Now, don't ask me how because I don't know."

"So, he's really..." Nuffink trails off, not being able to finish.

Zephyr nods and glances back at Hiccup (or their dad).

"That's not how I thought he'd look." Nuffink made a face over Zephyr's shoulder.

"Shush," Zephyr scolds. "What we're going to do is ask... Hiccup-"

"Wait, we're calling him Hiccup?" Nuffink scrunched his nose up.

Zephyr gives him an exasperated look. "Yes, Nuffink! What are we gonna call him? Dad?"

Nuffink mentally facepalms himself. No, dimwit, we can't call him dad! He'd get too suspicious and if they mess something up in the past, they also mess up the future. The less Hiccup knows, the better. "Okay, what are we doing?"

"You know, since we came here to explore Old Berk, I was thinking until we figure out how to get home, we ask Hiccup to bring us to Berk," Zephyr says. "But we have to get home before sundown tomorrow, you know how Mom and Dad get when they're worried."

"That's good." He whips around and calls for Hiccup who hums in response, busy scratching Toothless' head. "We were shipwrecked and were the only survivors. We just need a place to stay until we figure out how to get home."

Hiccup turns to them then, a concerned look on his face. "I, uh, could give you guys a tour of Berk and I'm sure my dad won't mind letting you guys stay for a couple days."

"Great!" Nuffink exclaims, clapping his hands together. "Should we go?"

"Yeah, I'll meet you guys up there. I just need to talk to Toothless," Hiccup informs them before turning back to his dragon.

The young Haddock kids nod and walk over to the sinkhole, grabbed their supplies, and made it up to the ledge where they duck under a shield that embedded itself in the rocks. Once they were blocked by Hiccup's view, Zephyr fist bumps him.

"That was brilliant! Oh I'm so excited!" Zephyr smiles. "What if we meet Mom?"

"It would be cool since she doesn't talk much about herself when she was younger." Nuffink purses his lips, thinking. "Come to think of it, she never talked about anything before they left for Dragons Edge."

Zephyr nods slowly. "You're right. Do you think she's embarrassed to?"

"I'unno." Nuffink shrugs.

They stand in silence for a few moments until Hiccup joins them, gesturing to follow him throughout the forest. It seems like they walked for hours, Nuffink was exhausted and hot. Sweat beads on his forehead and he wipes it away with the back of his hand.

Finally, they make it to the clearing and a village stands before them but not at all how their dad had explained it to them as kids. Nuffink looks around at all the buildings stacked with weapons, the Berkians walking around without dragons, and it's not how he imagined.

"This is Berk," Hiccup announces.

------

Zephyr can't believe her eyes. This was Old Berk? The old home of hundreds of vikings and thousands of dragons before it was destroyed in a fire? She imagined it being more homey and welcoming, not dark and cold. As they walk throughout the village, she can't help but feel intimidated.

"This is where we're trained to fight dragons," Hiccup says, breaking her out of her trance, gesturing to a large arena. "I'm actually in training but I don't harm the dragons."

She notices, as they began to walk again, that she'd zoned out for most of the tour, thinking of a way to get back home. She knows they need to get back before tomorrow afternoon, their parents would worry themselves sick.

Speaking of their parents, as they're passing the Meade Hall, and Hiccup is explaining everything that goes on in there, a young girl who looks an awful lot like Zephyr walks over to them, laughing mockingly, brushing the long bangs away from her ocean blue eyes.

"Hm," She hums, raising an eyebrow at Hiccup, and tossing her axe from hand to hand, her gaze wandering over to Zephyr and Nuffink. "So, you finally got some people who'd listen to you, huh, Hiccup?"

Zephyr watches as Hiccup rubs the back of his neck anxiously. "Hey- hi, Astrid."

Her stare snaps back to Hiccup, turning into a glare. "Just because I stood up for you yesterday doesn't make us buddies, got that? So don't get any ideas." She punches his shoulder then walks away.

Nuffink slowly turned to face Zephyr and whispered, "That's Mom?"

Zephyr nods her head slowly. "I can see why she doesn't talk about her past much."

"Me too," Nuffink replies as they continue to follow Hiccup around.

-----

Night was falling and Nuffink felt his stomach grumble. Sheepishly, he asks Hiccup if they could go get something to eat and his past father agrees, muttering how hungry he also is. Sighing, Nuffink follows Hiccup and his sister into the Meade Hall where they grab a plate of food and sit down at an empty table.

Nuffink's confused. Why didn't Hiccup sit with all his friends? Surely had some, being the heroic teenager he was- is. But as he glances over at the table containing everyone he recognizes from New Berk, he finds them all laughing together, not even inviting Hiccup to sit with them.

"Uh, Hiccup," Nuffink speaks up, gaining Hiccup's attention. "Why aren't you sitting with them?" He points at the table where Uncle Fishlegs, Uncle Snotlout, Uncle Tuff, Aunt Ruff, and Mom are  sitting. "They seem about your age."

Hiccup shrugs and bites into his chicken leg. "They... don't really like me but it's not a big deal. I'm used to being alone, my dad isn't even home half the time but he should be tonight."

Nuffink shares a look with Zephyr. Maybe their dad's life growing up wasn't as great as they thought.

------

Hiccup's a bit nervous to talk to his dad about letting two strangers spend the night. But they're kids, younger than him, what could possibly go wrong? He steps onto the front steps, Nuffink and Zephyr waiting patiently behind him, and pushes open the door calling out, "Dad?"

"In here, Son," His dad's gruff voice called from the kitchen. Hiccup follows the voice into the kitchen and finds his dad eating at the dinner table. He glances up. "Aye, 'Iccup, did ya get a bite to eat or do I need to heat ya some chicken?"

"I got dinner in the Meade Hall, thanks." He offers a shy smile. "I actually have something to talk to you about." He gestures behind him and his dad raises an eyebrow at the two figures. "They were shipwrecked and need a place to stay for a couple days."

Zephyr pipes in, "Maybe just a night, actually."

His dad nods, stroking his long beard. "Fine with me. Make yerselves at home."

"Thank you, sir," Nuffink replies with a small bow of his head.

"'Iccup will get you settled in," His dad tells them before heading upstairs into his own bedroom.

-----

Before falling asleep, Zephyr shook her brother's shoulder. "How do you suppose we get home? We have to travel forward, what? Eleven years?"

"Maybe we could repeat our footsteps and fall back into the hole? Ya think that'll get us back to our world?" Nuffink asks and Zephyr could tell he was worried.

Zephyr frowned. "Nuff, what's wrong?"

"What if- what if we never can get back and we're stuck in this time period. We'll never see Mom and Dad again, we would've left them worried sick! Dad will be out searching for us until the day he dies and Mom... who knows what she'll do!" Nuffink cries softly.

Zephyr crawls out of her blanket and wraps her brother in a hug. "We'll find a way, Nuffink, I promise. Maybe we'll have to tell everyone what's going on before we go back home, maybe they can help us."

"Wait!" Nuffink gasps. "Gothi's still alive in this time period! She'll know how to bring us back!"

"That's great, Nuff!" Zephyr exclaims. "We'll go there tomorrow morning. We'll have to pretend one of us is sick. You can read her writing, right?" Nuffink nods. "Good, I'll pretend to be sick then."

Nuffink bit his lower lip. "I guess I'm just a bit homesick," He admits. "I may be ten but I still have Mom tuck me in and kiss me goodnight, you know."

"You've got me," Zephyr said. "That's enough for right now, isn't it?"

"Yeah but you're not Mom." He smirks. "You don't have that loving maternal stuff she's got."

Zephyr scoffs and pushes him away. "Rude." She lays back down and pulls the blanket higher around her. "Night, Nuff. Love you."

"I love you too, Zeph," He mumbles, snuggling into his big sister's side for comfort and soon he was asleep, without his Momma's kisses.

-----

"Where do you suppose the healer is?" Nuffink asks Zephyr as they wander around the unfamiliar village, looking for Gothi's hut.

Earlier that day- it was now the afternoon- Hiccup had left them to go to dragon training, telling them to do whatever they wanted. They decided this was the perfect time to fake being ill and getting some answers.

"Um." Zephyr looks around the village and spots a small hut near the end of the island. Villagers are lined out the door, waiting to be checked on. "Follow me." She pulls Nuffink along and by the time they get to Gothi's the line is practically gone.

They wait patiently until the last person leaves to enter.

"Hello, you're the healer, yes?" Nuffink asks, leading his 'sick' sister inside. The old woman nods and gestures for him to set Zephyr down in a chair. He does as he's told.

Gothi writes something in the sand.

"Oh, no, she's not actually sick," Nuffink tells her. "We need help."

Gothi writes something else in the sand with her staff.

Zephyr speaks up, "We somehow time traveled from the future into the past. We need to go forward eleven ears before tomorrow morning."

Picking up her staff, she writes more symbols in the sand.

"She says she can make a potion that will bring us back. All we need to do is drink it right before we go back to where we time traveled," Nuffink summarizes for his sister.

"The sinkhole," Zephyr says in understanding. "So all we have to do is drink the potion and fall back into the sinkhole? Will we reappear in that same sinkhole but from where we came from?"

Gothi shakes her head and moves the end of her staff in the sand.

Nuffink reads, "You will appear where you want to appear. Just focus really hard on where that place is." He looks up at Zephyr and shrugs. "Shouldn't be too hard."

"When can we get the potion?" Zephyr asks the old woman.

Gothi writes more symbols in the sand.

"Tomorrow evening!?" Nuffink reads, shocked. "Can't you get it any sooner?" The woman shakes her head. "Okay, so our parents are going to be really worried. We'd have been gone for almost three days."

Zephyr hops off her stool. "Thanks, Gothi. We'll be back tomorrow evening."

They stride out of Gothi's hut and venture around the village of Old Berk, taking in the place their father and mother lived when they were younger.

"Zephyr?" She hums in response. "How do we know we haven't been missing for longer than a day?" Nuffink asks and stops walking, facing his sister. "I read in one of Dad's old books that in different dimensions, time periods, and places , time is different. Like in one world, one day could just be one day while in others, it could be one week."

"Nuffink, let's really hope that's not the case," Zephyr says sternly and they're about to turn around and walk back to Hiccup's house when they bump into a slim figure.

------

Astrid's just minding her own business, walking down the streets of Berk after dragon training, when two muttonheads decide to bump into her. She turns around, ready to chop their heads off with her axe, but she softens her stance when she sees the kids Hiccup was showing around yesterday.

Oh, Hiccup, that annoying, skinny, little viking! She wants to hate him like all her friends do but no matter how hard she tries, she just can't. He's just so... small and adorable, she can't hate that dorky little face, no matter how much he annoys her.

Coming back to reality, Astrid puts her guard back up. "Why don't you guys watch where you're going? That way you want to run into anyone, alright?"

The girl, who's maybe a couple years younger than her nods. "Okay."

Astrid takes a closer look at the girl- auburn hair, a round face (much like her own), freckles, and ocean blue eyes. She looks a lot like her except for the hair and freckles and suddenly she has this odd feeling that she's gotta protect this girl no matter what, weird. She shakes her head and says, "I haven't seen you two around here. Where are you guys from?"

"Uh... we were shipwrecked," The boy, maybe around ten with blonde hair (like her own) and emerald green eyes, muttered shyly. Was she really that scary? Maybe she should pull the axe away from their faces. "Yeah shipwrecked."

"That doesn't answer my question." She raises her eyebrows and shoulders her axe.

The boy wrapped his arms around himself and looked away, biting his lip. She has the feeling to hug him and tell him it's gonna be alright. Astrid shook herself out of the feeling, she was not an emotional girl.

"We're from... New Island," The girl says, placing a hand on her brother's shoulder and squeezing slightly.

Astrid frowns. "New Island? Never heard of it."

"It's small." The girl laughs nervously. "I would be surprised if you did know about it."

"Huh," Astrid says. "What are your names?"

"I'm Zephyr," The girl says then points to her brother. "And this is my brother, Nuffink."

The corners of Astrid's mouth tugs upwards. "I like those names. They're different."

"Thanks." Zephyr smiles. "You know, when I saw you yesterday, you didn't come across as... what I'm trying to say is, you're not all that bad, and you're really pretty."

Astrid smiles fully now, never receiving a compliment like that. "I like you. We could be good friends I think. Don't have many girl- friends, Ruff isn't exactly tolerable at times." Zephyr laughs. "Wanna walk?"

"Sure. Come on, Nuff." Zephyr grabs Nuffink's hand and tries to pull him forward but he shakes his head, looking like he's about to cry.

A hand squeezes over her heart and Astrid has to tell her body to shut up. Something about these kids just make her feel differently, like they affect her in some way, but she doesn't even know them. How could they be a big part of her life? She clears her head and asks, "Kid, what's wrong?"

He shakes his head again and pulls Zephyr away. She flashes Astrid a one minutes getsure with her finger. Astrid shrugs and leans back against the building behind her, giving the siblings some privacy.

------

"Nuffink, what's going on?" Zephyr asks once she made sure Astrid wouldn't hear anything.

"I wanna go home." He sniffled. "Zeph, can we go home?"

"Nuff, you know we can't until tomorrow." Zephyr frowns. "What's got you so uptight?"

"I just want to go home," He replies.

Zephyr furrowed her eyebrows. "But we will, tomorrow night. We'll be home by tomorrow."

"But what if we won't?" Nuffink gave her a look. "There's no guarantee that Gothi's potion is going to work, Zeph. You realize we could be stuck here forever? We may never get to New Berk, never see Dad or Mom again-"

"Nuffink!" Zephyr exclaimed, setting her hands on his shoulders and shaking him. "We had this conversation last night. We are going to get home. We are going to see Dad and Mom." She paused and brushed the blonde bangs away from his face. "Is this what this is about? Mom?"

He nods sheepishly. "I miss her, Zeph. Not that I don't miss Dad, it's just... "

"I know." Zephyr smiles. "You're a little momma's bear. You'll see her tomorrow, alright? But for now, how about we go hang out with our past mom? Will that make you feel a bit better?"

"Maybe." Nuffink shrugs and grabs her hand. "Let's go."

------

"So," Zephyr starts, her hand still tightly clasped in Nuffink's as they walked through Berk, Astrid- their past mom- beside them. "What's it like here on Berk?"

"Dangerous, especially at night," Astrid answers, keeping her eyes focused in front of her. "Dragon's attack our village at least four times a week. Luckily, they didn't last night while you two are here, and hopefully not tonight either."

"Do you guys enjoy fighting dragons?" Zephyr asks and she feels Nuffink tighten his grip on her hand. "And killing?"

Astrid laughs quietly. "No one enjoys fighting anything. I just want to kill a dragon to prove myself. Prove that I'm not a little girl anymore. They all treat me like a baby unless I'm in the arena, I swear."

"I have a question," Nuffink speaks up.

"And what would that be?" Astrid raises an eyebrow at him.

He squeezes Zephyr's hand before asking, "Why are you mean to Hiccup? Don't you like him?"

Astrid's gaze hardens. "I'm not as mean as the others. Sure, I beat him up, but I don't usually say anything hurtful. And, uh, no, I don't like him."

"Not even as a friend?" Zephyr asks.

"No," Astrid admits, tightening her grip on her axe. "He can do nothing right. He's never where he's supposed to be, always putting himself in danger."

Zephyr purses her lips. "Okay."

"Changing the subject," Astrid mutters. "It's time for dinner."

------

They entered the Meade Hall, loud voices instantly filling their ears, and Zephyr turned to Nuffink. "Do you want to sit with Astrid? Maybe it will help with missing Mom." He nods. "Okay, Astrid?" She looks over her shoulder at the two of them. "Can Nuffink sit with you?"

"Definitely. Come on, kid," She says and waits for Nuffink to catch up to her before walking away.

Zephyr waits until he sits down to grab her own food and to find Hiccup. It wasn't too difficult, she found him sitting in the same place as last night. She sits in front of him and smiles when he looks up. "Hey."

"Where's Nuffink?" Is his reply.

"With Astrid." She jerks her head in the direction of the table. "She, um, looks a lot like our mother. It helps with his homesickness."

Hiccup studies her for a while. "That's why you look so much like Astrid."

Zephyr nearly chokes on her chicken. Yeah, she does look an awful lot like her mother and she knows her dad is smart, she can't let him figure it out. "Yeah, it's the round face."

"Right." Hiccup went back to his food.

Zephyr sighs in relief.

------

"Goodnight, guys," Hiccup says, blowing out the candle and heading upstairs.

Slipping out of his blanket, Nuffink  grabs it, and crawls over to where Zephyr is trying to sleep. She smiles sleepily up at him and allows him to lay next to her, knowing he needed the comfort. "I promise, Nuff, I promise we'll be home by tomorrow."

Nuffink nods and tries to sleep but finds himself thinking instead.

Were their mom and dad worried about them? Were they out looking for them? How long had they been gone? Hopefully no longer than a couple days. More than four and their mom is sure to go crazy, not sleeping or eating until she finds them.

All this thinking tires his brain out and soon he's fast asleep beside Zephyr.

------

Changes to past tense

The next day, the two time travelers spent most the day indoors in Hiccup and Stoick's hut, discussing where they wanted to reappear in New Berk. Zephyr had thought about the forest but agreed with Nuffink, their front door would be perfect.

Soon enough, it's evening and they're ready to get back home.

After telling Hiccup they found a way home, they said their goodbyes and ran up to Gothi's hut where they collected the potion (found out that everyone on old Berk would forget everything that happened the past two days) and went back to the Cove.

Toothless warbled unhappily when he saw them packing up their belongings. Zephyr smiled sadly, told him they'd see him again someday, then shouldered her bag. She stood next to Nuffink, making eye contact with him. Nodding, they drank the potion, walked, and fell into the hole, both of them unconcious.

When they woke up, they weren't exactly where they planned on being. They appeared right inside the forest behind their house so it wasn't too far of a walk. Zephyr sighed in relief when she saw nothing was out of the ordinary. They hadn't messed anything up.

The only confusing thing was that it was late at night, not evening like it was back in Old Berk. The streets were deserted which meant everyone was asleep. Were they gone longer than they thought or did it just take that long to come back to the future? Zephyr didn't know but she was willing to find out.

Grabbing her anxious brother's hand, they walked together around their house and up the front steps. Thankfully, the door was unlocked so Zephyr just pushed it open, calling out, "Mom!? Dad!?"

It was quiet with no response.

Zephyr tried again, "Mom! Dad!"

There was a thump that sounded from upstairs then the sound of feet running down the steps, followed by the familiar step, click, step, click. Their mother, Astrid, stopped in her tracks at the bottom of the stairs, clad in one of their dad's long sleeved, light brown tunics that cut off at her mid thigh, leaving most of her pale legs exposed. Her honey blonde hair was out of its  usual braid, falling down her back in soft waves. Her eyes were bloodshot and she looked tired.

Behind her, was their father, Hiccup, who looked just as tired as she was, clad in brown trousers and a brown tunic. His hair was a mess and he stood in a way that told both Zephyr and Nuffink that his leg was bothering him.

No one moved for a few minutes. They all stood there, staring at each other.

Then their mom sighed and rushed forward, falling onto her knees in front of them, and pulling Zephyr and Nuffink into a bone crushing hug. They hugged back, not liking the way her back heaved under their hands with every sob that escaped her lips.

Their dad walked over and wrapped them all in a hug, his tears also soaking into their shirts. Although he loved them just as much as their mom loved them, his reaction wasn't as emotional but they could see it in his eyes: he had been worried sick.

Sniffling, their mother pulled away and wiped her eyes before glaring, but because of how red her eyes were and the way she was acting, the glare didn't faze either of them. "Do you two realize how long you were gone!?"

"How long?" Zephyr asked, scared for the answer.

"Two weeks!" Their mom practically shouted. "The last thing I knew was you two saying you were going for a hike. There's plenty of cliffs and ponds and animals, I thought you guys were killed!"

Nuffink bit his lips and wrapped his arms around his angry mother. "We're sorry, Momma. We got a bit... lost." He ran his hand soothingly over her blonde hair. "We're sorry."

Their mom pulled away, a small smile tugging at her lips, and pressed kisses all over his face- his forehead, his cheeks, his nose, ranging all over the place. Nuffink laughed, untangling himself from her arms. He then went over and hugged his dad who just got done hugging Zephyr.

"Mom," Zephyr whispered.

"Yeah?" Her mom reached forward, setting her hand on her cheek.

"We're really sorry," She said and hugged her mom who hugged back just as tightly.

"It's okay." She pulled away and kissed Zephyr's cheek before standing up. "Now that that's all taken care of, care to tell us where you two ran off to?"

Zephyr and Nuffink shared a look, laughing nervously.

"You guys might want to sit down for this," Zephyr told them, leading them into the living room.

Nuffink nodded in agreement. "It's a long and complicating story."