Hey guys! Jessika here. I've recently been reading and watching a lot of HTTYD and decided that I might write a fanfic that spans the course of the first movie. Now, I understand that this has been done before, but I feel like there should be more options to choose from. Therefore, to see if anyone likes it, I give you the first possible chapter of my How To Train Your Dragon ReWrite! Make sure to read and review, following and favoriting if you enjoyed it.
Just a note: Hiccup is a bit OOC here, but the reason why is explained in this chapter. I'm sorry if it's not to your liking.
Disclaimer: I own nothing from this franchise. If I did, I would've written myself into the story already.
A How To Train Your Dragon Story
A Different Beginning: The Rise of Hiccup
Chapter 1: Everyone Has A Routine
On Berk, everything was done in routine. Everyone had a list of things they'd do that day, and the same thing would be repeated the next. For example, Hoark the Haggard worked down in the docks with Norjd Ingerman, the father of one of the teens on the island. He would wake in the morning, dine in the Mead Hall, and then go and work at the docks for the day before returning home. Phlegma the Fierce was a botanist, who would wake, dine, and then go out and gather herbs and plants (as well as some extra meat for the tribe), and would purify whatever water had been gathered that day. Even Mildew, the village nutcase, had a list of things he'd do. Although, considering that all he did was yell that people were stealing and messing with his cabbages, that didn't say much.
Everyone had a routine of things they'd do, which included one small toothpick of a Viking. His name was Hiccup. He was a fifteen year old lad and son of the Chief of the Hairy Hooligans. Every day he'd wake up and eat some bread quietly in his home before heading out to the forge, where he'd craft shields and weapons and the occasional saddle for when someone would get a horse to help tend to their farm crops.
One of the things that were added to his 'routine' was how he always seemed to botch something up. He was quite a clumsy boy and had a habit of messing things up, albeit accidentally. You see, Hiccup lacked the brawn that the other Viking teens his age had, and relied on his large intellect to try and gain the approval of his tribe. One time, he'd managed to anger a yak when he'd invented a machine that would make gathering yak milk easier. There were only two problems with his idea. One, it had given the yak a splinter and two, the yak hadn't been female.
The angry yak had rammed through the stables and had managed to bring it crashing to the ground. No one but the boy in question quite knew why it was angry, but they all figured it was because of the misfit for a Viking that Hiccup was.
Hiccup burned that invention idea in his fireplace later that day.
Despite the laughing and the teasing and being made fun of relentlessly, Hiccup never gave up. He always believed that he would be the greatest Viking ever, no matter what. In order to make up for his inability to hold the normal Viking weapons, like an axe or hammer, he had decided to forge his own weapons and train himself to use them. Before he could do that, he would need a few books on weapons and how to use them.
For that, he'd turned to one of the only teens who hadn't ignored and made fun of him, Fishlegs Ingerman. The heavyset teen loved books and enjoyed attaining knowledge. Hiccup struck a deal with the teen- in exchange for the books he would need (and his silence on the matter), Hiccup would provide him a seat near him at the Chief's Table in the Mead Hall at some point in the future.
Fishlegs, unlike his friends, wasn't naïve. He knew that Hiccup would likely become the chief of their tribe in the future, and he also knew that it would be wise to be on the teens good side. Therefore, he'd handed over the books for what seemed like nothing, and in return would be able to be at the future chief's right hand, as it were.
Hiccup understood what Fishlegs was after, and in all honesty if he ever became chief, Fishlegs likely would become his second in command. The teen, although not very respected at the moment by their peers, was very intelligent in his own right and would be a useful man to have at his side.
After attaining the books, Hiccup had poured over them, deciding what weapons he wanted to craft and what materials he would need. It was then that he'd finally made the firm decision not to tell his father about this. He knew that his father, while very harsh when Hiccup acted up, worried about him, and as much as he wanted to see his son kill one of their resident pests, he didn't believe he was capable of holding a weapon large enough to defeat one. If the elder Haddock knew what Hiccup was doing, he'd either call the lad insane and take away his rights to return to the forge, where he would repair and fix his weapons when he trained too hard, or he'd congratulate him and toss him out into a raid before Hiccup was ready.
So, he kept quiet.
It had been months since then and Hiccup had made his weapons and had settled into a new routine. When the moon reached its peak in the sky, he would go out to his forest hideaway and would train and would return two hours before sunrise. He'd wrap his weapons in a sealskin bag and stash them away in the cove before heading to the village, where he'd sneak back into bed and sleep for two hours. Then he'd wake up at dawn and continue his routine with a simple breakfast and heading to the forge. To everyone around him, nothing had changed. Hiccup continued to be the runt of the tribe who happened to be the son of the chief and good with metal.
The only difference was that he now knew how to use the carried a dagger under his bear skin vest, hidden from sight.
When Hiccup woke up the next morning, he stared at his bedroom ceiling. 'Berk. Two days north of hopeless and a few degrees south of freezing to death,' he thought when he realized that the room was significantly colder than the night before. His blankets did little to block out the cold, so he made a mental note to take his blankets from his spare bed in the forge. He sighed and stretched out in his bed before getting up, searching for his clothes. He pulled on the wool undershirt before finding and dressing in his usual clothes. When he'd tied the wrists of his tunic to make sure they wouldn't accidentally catch fire in the forge, he left his room, grabbing some bread as he passed the large living area, where the fire was already burning in the fireplace.
As his father would say, one of a chiefs many jobs is to be an icon for his people, and that required being up at the same time as the sun. The fire burning in the fireplace provided the smoke necessary that would show that the Haddock household was up and at 'em- and that others would soon be following.
Hiccup made his way outside, keeping his head down and quietly eating his bread as he avoided running into anything. He looked around while he walked, noticing that Bunthair the Broad was helping with the repairs on her house, which had a large hole in the side of it. Hiccup sighed. 'Located solidly on the meridian of misery.' He turned his gaze to the other houses. Berks' buildings were nothing if not sturdy, but compared to their pests, they were nothing. He just wished that the people would listen to him and consider building their houses out of something that was fireproof!
He made it to the forge not too many minutes later, ducking inside and relishing in the warmth it provided. He shucked his fur vest and swapped it out for his apron, which he tied on.
"There ye are, Hiccup. I was wonderin' when ye'd be gracin' me wi' yer presence." That was his master in blacksmithing, Gobber. The man was a meathead with attitude and interchangeable limbs, but Hiccup had a soft spot for him in his heart. After all, he'd been the mans apprentice ever since he was little. Or as the other Vikings would say, 'littler'.
Hiccup smiled lightly and picked up the man's forceps attachment, placing it on the wall with the other attachments. The blond had a tendency to just toss his attachments to the floor when he swapped them out, and Hiccup would always put them back so they could be found later. He didn't mind though. That was just who he was. "I had to bid farewell to the ladies that would miss me when I left," he said jokingly, placing the last of the man's prosthetics on the wall.
"Make sure to bring one by and I'll cook some nice Icelandic cod." Gobber chuckled lightly. He'd always enjoyed at how relaxed Hiccup was around him, letting him see the side that very few people got to see.
Hiccup smiled and shook his head, looking towards Gobber. "So what's on the to-do list today?"
"Well, yer father as'ed me to make him a new axe and shield, and the other teens dropped off their weapons t' be repaired. It seems they've been practicing." Gobber shot Hiccup a look, as if he was saying 'and you should be too'. Hiccup smiled at him lightly. If only he knew. "I need ye t' repair their weapons and get started on tha' shields Boss."
"You got it." Hiccup looked around and located the teens weapons with ease. He knew what weapon they each used. Snotlout Jorgenson, his cousin, favored a mace, which could deal damage from wherever he swung it. Ruffnut and Tuffnut Thorston, the twins, liked to use spears, if only in the hopes that it might cause some damage on the way to the enemy. Fishlegs wielded a hammer, which was good because he had a tendency to drop his weapon at times when he got too excited. At least he couldn't cut off his toes. And finally, Astrid Hofferson, the last of the teens, who wielded a deadly double headed axe. The blonde was a ferocious fighter, who would rather fight and ask questions later. Astrid and Fishlegs were the only two teens Hiccup respected, even if that was partly because neither of them made fun of him.
Hiccup did a once over on the weapons and decided to work on the spears first. Despite those being the most damaged, they were still spears. It wouldn't take too long to repair those. He quickly looked them over before getting to work. Noticing that the metal portion of the staff had names engraved, he saved those and scrapped the wood, which was splintered and gouged out in several places. They were years old and could snap like twigs in a real battle at this point. He then found two pieced of wood that had been reinforced with metal and lacquered down until they were smooth. He attached them to the metal handles and buffed and sharpened the blades before attaching them. After doing a few test throws to make sure they worked, he set them aside.
Twins weapons- finished.
He did the same for Fishleg's hammer. Swapping out the wooden handle for a better piece and filing down the stone until it was perfectly ready for use. The filing would take a while if Fishlegs had done it himself, but the perks of being in a forge was the equipment Hiccup was able to use, which was likely why the large teen had brought the weapon to him. He checked the weapon before setting it to the side.
Hiccup then got to work on the last two weapons. As he looked over Snotlout's weapon, he sighed. The metal was dented on several parts of the blade and the wood handle was had been completely neglected of care, which was obvious from how the end of the wooden handle had been broken off. He thought over his options before scrapping the entire weapon, save the grip, and went to the back, finding an identical mace. After swapping out the grips, he sharpened the weapon and tossed it aside.
Now it was time to work on the weapon he'd been waiting for. While he always did his best to repair weapons to the best of his ability (most of the time), he made sure to pay extra special attention to Astrid's. Despite the fact that he knew he had very little chance of getting noticed by the shield maiden, he continued to try, hoping that his extra special care of her weapon would gain her attention. It didn't work, but he continued to try.
He carefully examined her axe and smiled lightly. She obviously cared for her axe. There were only a few chips in the blades of the double sided axe, and the handle had been recently polished. He checked to see if the weapon was blunt and made a note to sharpen it before he got to work. Later, after doing a few test throws, he set it aside.
Hiccup took a deep breath and wiped at his forehead. As much as he preferred the heat of the forge to the frigid air outside, it would often bring him to sweating. At least the teens weapons were finished. He contemplated whether or not to take a break before starting on the boss of his father's new shield before deciding against it. His father wouldn't approve of him taking a break, especially when they hadn't experienced a raid in a while. The man had likely ordered these in preparation.
Instead, Hiccup shucked off his apron and tunic and wool undershirt. He'd been doing this for so long that he didn't need the apron, but continued to wear it out of habit. He took a quick drink and popped some leaves in his mouth to chew on before getting to work on the Boss. The boss was the metal circle in the center of their shields that helped take the brunt of attacks. It helped reinforce the shield and protect the person behind it. Some shields had bosses and other didn't, although most did. He heated the metal necessary and got to work, swinging his hammer. The almost constant bang drowned out all other noise and allowed him to think.
He'd started to time the raids. They happened at least once a week, sometimes twice, and always on a full moon. They would last between twenty minutes to two hours and always happened after midnight. Considering that he was one of the only Vikings awake at that time (and the brightest, mind you), he was likely the only one who'd noticed. He made a mental note to bring the topic up to his father after the next raid, which Hiccup felt would be soon.
Hiccup was pulled out of his thoughts when he realized Gobber was screaming at him. "HICCUP!" The teen looked over at the blacksmith and noticed that the other teens were gathered outside the stall. "You gotta pay attention t' ye customers, lad." Hiccup gave Gobber a light smile and turned to grab a piece of clothe to wipe the sweat from his face when the side of his forearm brushed the hot metal of the boss. He let out a frustrated cry of pain and began hopping around, holding his arm. He dunked it inside a barrel of water.
Gobber paid him no mind. Hiccup had burned himself in the forge plenty of times, so this was a normal occurrence. He returned to the axe he was making for Hiccup's father.
'That smarts,' Hiccup thought as he removed his arm, looking over the injury before sighing. It would scar. He glanced over at the teens who were still watching him and quickly found the clothe, drying off his arm and patting around the injured area before wiping the sweat from his face. He then grabbed their weapons and walked to the front, setting them down with a grunt. "Sorry for the wait," he said with a smile, separating their weapons. "Here's your weapons."
The twins took their weapons without delay, proceeding to whack each other with the wooden portion of the handle. Hiccup hid his smile as he watched the others retrieve their weapons.
"Do you usually work shirtless?" Hiccup looked at Fishlegs, confused. Then he realized that he'd removed himself of his tunic earlier. His cheeks slowly grew brighter and brighter red as he looked down. His entire torso was visible to the other teens.
"That explained the breeze," he mumbled before he looked up, rubbing the back of his neck from embarrassment. "Sorry. It gets hot working around all the metal." He glanced at Astrid, noticing that she was being silent. She was gazing at him, eyes narrowed. He looked himself up and down. Nothing seemed different. "Is-Is something wrong," he asked.
"I'll say. Since when are you, the toothpick, ripped?" Hiccup jumped in surprise when Snotlout suddenly spoke and looked down. He didn't consider himself ripped. If anything, he was just… physically healthy. His training had done him good in the ways of his physique, but no one knew about his training.
"W-Well, I…"
Hiccup stopped when he heard the familiar 'thump-clunk!' of his oldest friend's footsteps drawing close. An arm was slung over his shoulder and he grunted lightly. "It helps t' work in a forge and work with metal laddie," the Belch answered. "Now, off wit' ye. Hiccup has work t' do."
Hiccup took a deep breath as the teens did as they were ordered. Astrid let her gaze linger on him for a moment before she turned, spinning her axe and testing its weight in her hand as she joined the other teens. "Thanks for that, Gobber. I forgotten I'd taken off my tunic."
"Not t' worry, lad. Anyone wit' have a brain coulda seen tha' you were uncomfortable," Gobber said with a chuckled, pushing the boy back towards his work. "Although, tha' Astrid seemed t' be mighty interested in yer ches' there."
Hiccup blushed brightly and shook his head, placing the plate back on the hot coals to heat it back up. "You don't know what you're talking about." He removed the leaves from his mouth and got fresh ones. The leaves helped to sate his hunger until he could take a proper break. Gobber chewed them all the time, although considering that he was missing a tooth, that probably wasn't a good thing. He still insisted that he'd lost it in a raid when he'd been smacked in the face by the edge of his shield.
"Lad, how much olda' than ye am I?" At Hiccups silence, the man nodded. "Though' so. Listen Hiccup. If ye ever wan' a girlfrien', ye gotta be yerself aroun' more than jus' me."
"That's easy for you to say. Me being me is a clumsy toothpick for a Viking that can cause more trouble standing still than one of those monsters could on a rampage."
"While tha's true, you're not gettin' my point. Stop tryin' so hard t' be somethin' you're not. I saw the real Hiccup in fron' of those teens, and I know tha' if ye just decided t' be the real Hiccup, they'd like ye." Gobber paused as he switched out his hand attatchments. "I've noticed ye're changin' lad." Hiccup looked up with wide eyes. "Somethin' abou' ye is differen'. Has been fer a while now. Yer more serious now and don' ge' nervous as of'en. Ye're still tha' goofy lad though. And naht all of tha' came from the forge," the man added, gesturing to Hiccup's torso.
Hiccup looked away, pursing his lips. He didn't think anyone would notice, but considering how much he was forced to work shirtless, he shouldn't have been surprised. He sighed before looking up, knowing Gobber would keep pushing until he spilled the grains. "You have to promise not to tell my dad." Gobber took in Hiccup's serious expression and nodded. "I… I've been training. With my own weapons."
Gobber smiled brightly. "Tha's great Hiccup! Why wouldn' you wan' to tell Stoick abou' it? I'm sure he'd be proud of ye fer finally gettin' inta the family business!"
Hiccup scoffed. "You're joking, right? Have you ever met my father? He'd sooner take away my weapons than let me fight with them, or he'd throw me into a raid before I'm ready. And at this point, I don't feel like I am." Hiccup ended the conversation right there by picking up the boss with tongs and getting to work on shaping it, a frown firmly on his face.
Gobber sighed softly. As much as he hated to admit it, Hiccup had a point. As much as Stoick wanted his son to kill a dragon and stop living up to his reputation of being a, well, a hiccup, he could be very overprotective at times. He gazed at Hiccup and seeing the firm annoyance in his expression, decided to let the topic drop.
They had work to do.
If you guys liked it, please let me know! I'm already working on the next few chapters, just in case you guys decide that, hey, you want more!
Until next time! Jessika.
