Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It was a stormy night, with a dreadfully cold storm ravaging over Berk. Hiccup sat in his usual position, in the dining hall drawing alone. The young viking didn't mind being alone, he was used to it because of how the others tormented him for his lack of viking-nes.  

This week had been especially difficult for Hiccup due to the beginning of warrior camp. At least many of the other vikings and his dad weren’t around to see him get embarrassed by Astrid. Oh Astrid, she was too good of a warrior for Berks own good, the perfect human.

“No, focus.” Hiccup tried to tell himself, but the thought of Astrid was too distracting. His mind raced with every little moment they had together, even her teasing and glaring at Hiccup. For now he needed to forget, yet doing something like drawing her was something he couldn't resist, what was he doing. who could really blame the young teenager, she was perfect in every way and he was the failure of Berk. 

Just then thunder cracked through the dry halls, causing Hiccup to jump in his seat. “This damn island.”

“What was that?” A voice that caused Hiccup to jump again.

Hiccup spun around fast, his heartbeat stopping for a moment. Just there stood Astrid, wearing her usual armor but not carrying her axe. 

“No..nothing.” Hiccup stuttered.

“You’re on guard duty, try not to be so jumpy.” Astrid stated in a cold voice.

Of course it was Hiccup on guard duty, he was the scapegoat for almost everyone else on the island. Even his dad, Stoik the Vast, blamed Hiccup for nearly everything. 

Suddenly, Astrid snached the small book out of Hiccup's daydreaming hands. “What’s this?” She pointed at a drawing of her face.

Hiccup paused, after a while he managed to murmur “Practice?”

“Well, don’t.” Astrid scoffed, tearing the page out and ripping it into pieces. “Don’t fall asleep on the guard tower tonight, i’ll kill you myself.” Her words sliced through the air, her glare cold and resentful as she stormed off to bed. 

Hiccup grabbed his things and headed out to the watchtower by the sea. It was cold outside and Hiccup already knew that the night would be miserable. 

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Astrid awoke sluggishly, exhausted from training but prepared for the day ahead. She watched as the sun glistened in through the closed windows; the raging storm from last night was over. 

Her room was barren, cleared out for extra training space. Fighting dragons was all Astrid lived for, but even her parents were a little worried about this unhealthy way of living. 

It was still quite early as Astrid looked around her home, poking and looking around unnaturally. Since all the other Vikings were away, the island was much quieter and felt almost like a dream. Astrid grabbed a handful of wild berries her parents had collected before leaving, beginning on her long walk to the sea. 

She felt drawn to apologize to Hiccup for making him watch over the village during the storm. It must have been awful to be in that tower all night, given how bad the storm was. She wasn’t trying to be rude yesterday; she just wanted to toughen Hiccup up a little. 

‘Hiccup was probably asleep; this was also a good excuse to wake him up before training at the arena. He will be late if I don't.’   Astrid said this quietly, eyes fixed on the tower looming overhead.

As she trotted over to the lookout, she thought of how nice it was that she wasn't the one up there last night. Smiling and giggling a little she slipped, a wet rock caused her to lose balance and fall in front of the crooked Gobbers house. 

Once at the lookout, Astrid instantly realized that the stairs proved more difficult than usual; the slippery wood almost caused her to slip and fall again. Carefully, she made her way up, cursing Odin for that giant storm. Finally, at the top, she poked around and found… nothing?

“Uhhhhh… had Hiccup disappeared into thin air? Where had the scrawny boy gone?” Astrid was dumbfounded yet also a little angry. Had Hiccup been up this early? Astrid felt a touch defeated, “anyhow, it's time for training. don't want to be late like that idiot again.” 

“Why has Hiccup been acting like this recently? First with the stupid dragons on the training camp and now disappearing?” Astrid walked through the gravel streets, only stopping for a brief moment to grab her axe from her house before walking towards the arena.

As Astrid got closer, she slowed down, listening for anything. It was just a bit too early for Gobber to be there, so this could be where Hiccup was. 

The sharp bang of metal caused Astrid to freeze. Something loud made a clunk in the arena. It was almost time for the training, what was going on in there.

Fishlegs hobbled up the rocky path, ahead of the others and moving towards Astrid; It was quite a funny sight and it distracted Astrid from the arena. As Fishlegs approached, Astrid put a finger to her mouth, signaling to be quiet. 

“What's happening? I thought we were only supposed to be here later?” Fishlegs said, out of breath.

“No, I'm pretty sure everyone else is just late.” Astrid spoke, “did you hear that loud crash?”

“Might be part of our next test.” Snotlout chirped up, “I can fight any dragon and protect you, Astrid.”

Fishlegs walked to the entrance and saw Hiccup, who was sat in the middle of the floor trying to put back the weapons he had knocked over. “What are you doing?” Fishlegs yelled out.

“I’m… I’m done here; I've completed a lot of training. Got to go though, very busy today.” Hiccup stated awkwardly, trying to squeeze past them.

Everyone was confused. Why would he be leaving now, just as Gobber was arriving?

“Ye alright Hiccupe? Why are ye leaving now?” Gobbler questioned, “This lesson a good one. Do ye not like my teachings?” his face was sorrow-filled.

Astrid drew her axe and pointed it at Hiccup, letting the sharp edge rest on his chest. “I think he is up to something. What's so important that he disappears all day?”

“No.. Nothing really, just fighting the big dragons,” Hiccup replied, trying to move the axe from his chest. his arms involuntarily making motions with his shoulders, a sign of his lying.

Gobber looked dead at Hiccup; the kind blacksmith was gone. With his one arm, he grabbed Hiccup by the collar and calmly stated, “Hiccup, what have you done?”

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“I'm not accusing him of anything, maybe just a weird coincidence?” Gobber tried to explain, but Sticks wouldn’t listen. 

“In The Name Of Odin, Just Tell Me What Happened!” Stoick was furious, as any father would be if their son were enclosed in a metal cage, dangling dreadfully over the village.

“Dad, you’ve got to listen to me.” Everyone within earshot disregarded Hiccup's obsessive pleas.

“He was up there… and they weren’t.” Gobber tried to soften the truth, but it didn't work. 

Stoik let out a bellowing Norse scream, followed by smashing his fist into the nearest wall, leaving a new window in some poor family's hut. “Stupid child, I never should have left him alone!”

As Stoik and Gobber slowly saunter off, Astrid peels around the corner, looking to poke at the newest prisoner of Berk. 

“You freed the dragon that I was supposed to kill. Was it worth your life?” A slight grin arose on her face, something not quite impressed bled through for a brief moment.

“Not you too… it wasn’t me.” Hopelessness and desperation plastered on Hiccup. “Free me or something, please… please.”

“This has happened to other villages recently, maybe you are telling the truth?” Oh, how much she enjoyed teasing him; it was almost all that she lived for.

Astrid took her axe and used it to spin Hiccup’s cage around. She giggled as he spun round and round, face turning green. 

“Please stop, I’m going to be sick!” The cage came to a stop, swinging and creaking slowly with the wind now.

“See you tomorrow.” Astrid strode away without a care in the world. Her only kind of competitor was now locked up in a cage, and she would for sure become the top dragon hunter on berk. 

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Fire had spread throughout Berk, and the inhabitants were caught up in battle. At the head of the resistance was Stoik, flying through the air single-handedly, stopping a deadly nadder from destroying another building.

As the Vikings advanced, the dragons pushed back even harder. Something was different about the dragons tonight; they were precise.

A shriek cut through the battle, the call of the nightfury caused Stoik to freeze, and a wild tail to collide with him. Stoik smashed into a building but wasn't injured. He hobbled to his feet with the help of Gobber and looked over to see… the dragons retreating? 

“They don’t usually do that, do they?” Astrid questioned, pointing her axe at the dragons fleeing without any of Berks' livestock.

“No, but what was that screech? Was it really a nightfury? Scared me half to death.” Snotlout wanted to be included in the discussion of the dragons.

“Well, everyone, gather round.” Stoik's loud voice captured the other Vikings, causing them all to come together to listen. “Like always, we need to rebuild, tend to the wounded, and put out the fires first. We will rebuild, well done today.”

With a cheer from the others, Stoik walked away with his head held high. The autumn winds shook him, though, a feeling of sorrow nipped at his behind; he had forgotten something again that day.

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Stoik was the first to see the cage where Hiccup was held, or at least what was left of it, and him. The cage had a giant hole blasted through part of the side and bottom, and on the floor sat part of a burnt Hiccup boot. The wall behind had also caught fire while nobody was looking, and a couple of black scales could be found on the ground. 

Three days later, after the village was rebuilt and a search operation failed, Hiccup was pronounced dead, and a funeral was held. 

That day was a clear one, warm and sunny, when Hiccup finally returned. He just needed to grab his things before heading out, everything that couldn't be purchased at least.

His house was cold and damp, it felt quiet in berk as for once in his life, Hiccup walked the streets in no rush. Because he was related to Stoik, all of the village was gathered at the shore. 

“Alright, bud, it's time to take off. I have everything we need for a while.” Hiccup mounted Toothless and directed him to fly low and stealthily.

And with that, it was over for a while. The two found an empty island, one with giant mountains, and set up a small home. The small island was everything that they needed, and if they needed more, the people of berk wouldn't mind losing something every now and then. 

It was on one of the early “supply runs” where Hiccup made his first real blunder. Taking a dragon into a village trying to exterminate every dragon is difficult enough, but doing it in the day is just crazy. Hiccup learned, though, that maybe there were better ways of doing these things. Bigger villages with ports could be easier to sneak around, and maybe hiding a giant dragon isn’t easy if it isn't in a cave or on top of a mountain. They both adapted, and Hiccup learned to hide who he really was, for everyone's sake.

For the next couple of years, Hiccup’s schedule consisted of waking up, collecting scales, fishing, flying, and buying necessities at the shops on the southern, densely Viking-inhabited islands. Whenever Hiccup would see dragon trappers, he would always do his best to save them and add the dragon to the ever-increasing number on the small island he called home. The thrill of riding Toothless was great, but every now and then, Hiccup would start feeling very lonely. When this happened, he would go back to Berk. The giant mountains were perfect for just watching the town, but Hiccup always felt like he was being watched. 

Today was a Berk day, and Hiccup felt a saudade building inside him and needed to return home immediately. It was sunny, and Hiccup felt lucky with the good weather. If he went from the north behind the mountain, he could land on a grassy plain way up in the mountains and just stare at the Village for a while. It was like the whole world stopped, the small grassy ledge away from it all. Toothless loved putting his head on Hiccup's lap as Hiccup scratched his head and watched the village.

“I wonder… I wonder what the others are doing.” Toothless shifted his head and licked Hiccup. “Oh Buddy, we really don't belong here.”