~ Chapter 1: Hiccup the Blacksmith ~

This is my 1st published fanfic, so cut me some slack on any grammar errors that you might find.

Disclaimer: I do NOT own anything from How to Train your Dragon. DreamWorks owns the right to it. This was made strictly for fun and NOT for profit.

(Hiccup POV)

This is Berk. It may seem like your average Nordic Kingdom, but it's more than that. It has monstrous sized mountains in the east that was said to be the home of giants. To the west, Oceans that were once home to sea monsters that would feast on armadas. And then there were the hills and valleys that were said to be created by Norse Demigods in the mist of battle.

What makes Berk different from other Nordic kingdoms you may ask? Well we may not have a variety seafood like Prince Erik & Princess Ariel or mountains of ice like Queen Elsa, but we have something far greater. We have dragons. You're probably thinking that dragons are fierce warriors that can destroy just about anything, how can having them be a good thing? Well, it's because the 1st King of Berk learned to tame them and unified the cities with the Kingdom.

Within the Kingdom of Berk, there was a small fishing and Port village just north of the Capitol city. This village is my home and is called Trygg Havn (1*). It's the 1st port to stop at as you're heading to the Capitol city. It has the small town charm that not many villages and towns still have.

You're probably wondering who I am. The name's Hiccup the Blacksmith. Before you're wondering, yes, I have no last name. My Mom died after she had me and wasn't able to give me a name, and since I was really small, they just decided to called me Hiccup. I know it's the worst name, but its Viking tradition to give children the worst name possible to ward off evil creatures & spirits, but everyone but the elders knew it was rubbish. As for the blacksmith part, I gained that title a few years ago after my mentor showed me how to work with metal & leather. Since then, I've gotten the hang of it and became the town's official blacksmith.

Anyway, I started my day like I would any other day. I'd stretch, splashed some water on my face, got dressed, and head down stairs to the kitchen to fix up some breakfast. Upon entering the kitchen, I see a familiar wrinkly face making a stew out of last night's dinner and a couple of terrible terrors perched on a nearby staff.

"Morning Gothi!" I said with my usual crooked smile.

"Good Morning Hiccup", she said in a quiet voice.

"What are you making?" I peered over the pot in the fire place.

"Chicken Stew with fresh bread"

"You know that you don't have to cook for me every morning. I know how to cook for myself."

"That may be true, but I promised your mother that I would look after you until you're settled."

"Settled? I know how to take care of myself, my mentor have shown me how to defend myself, I have a job, and my own house. What more do I need to be settled?"

She sighed as she did every time we had this conversation "I know you can take care of yourself Hiccup. Before your mother came to the village I had no one but my terrors to keep me company. Just want to make sure you are okay if somethings happens to me."

I knelt down at the small old woman that raised me since birth and looked at her with soft, caring green eyes. "Don't you worry Gothi. You know that I'll be fine and if I need help I will come looking for you."

"I know" she then smirked at me "But I'll still be checking on you whether you like it or not, until you find yourself a wife."

"Sure" I said with an exasperated sigh "What woman would want all this" I started flexing as though I had bulging muscles.

Gothi laughed at my dorkiness as we talked and ate breakfast. The rest of the day carried on like any other. I went to the forge near the center of town and did my usual routines: sharpens some weapons, trade with passing merchants & travelers, making a weapon or two, and tinkering on some side projects during my spare time. Since I grew up with Gothi in her healing hut, I knew a thing or two about healing. So I went to visit Gothi a couple of times and help her with some of the patients.

Later that day, I closed the forge, grabbed my sword & daggers, some other supplies, and went to find my training mentor. When I couldn't find him, I just started through the woods without him. Almost every afternoon, I would go and train in the woods. When I found a nice clearing in the woods, I started to set up my things. Then, I suddenly heard a rustle in the bushes and drew my sword. The stood in a ready fighting stance as I looked around and followed the rustling with my ears. All of a sudden a mass of black pounced on me and I could only feel something weighted on my chest & something wet on my face. I smiled as I looked up and saw the black scaled, toothless reptile smile down at me like a giant puppy dog. My dragon and best friend Toothless let me up and bounced around me. "Hey Bud! How ya been?" I said as I gave him a few scratches around his head before we started to train. Our training was pretty simple. We would have a friend tussle, a few spares between my sword and his claws, and lastly was target practice by throwing my knives, while Toothless lounged for a bit. Then, we would usually end the day with a flight along the coast until the sun starts to set. I was wrapping up my knife throwing when I saw a red knife with a blue tip had hit dead center on the tree that I was targeting out of the middle of nowhere. I looked in the direction that it came from and saw the tall build of a man crouched on a low hanging tree branch behind me. Jumping down from the tree and starting to approach me from out the shadows was my mentor Cleave Storm.

Cleave was a copper toned man around his 40s with golden eyes. We was well built, but not beefy and dressed mostly in gray. He was clean shaven and had a mane of wild red hair with gray streaks running through it. Cleave was an old friend of my Mom and sometime after I was born, he volunteered to help Gothi by babysit me when she was busy. This continued until I was around 5 yrs. old, and he started to let me tag along & help out with some of the jobs that he did around the village. He showed me how the fish, trap, hunt, attack enemies, defend myself, and showed me the qualities on what is means to be a man. He was a protector, my mentor, and the closest thing to a father I had ever had.

"You're getting a little rusty you know. You usually can throw a knife and disappear." I said as I turned to him fully.

"Well, you're getting a little rusty yourself, Smartass", he said with a friendly grin "You were supposed to throw a knife at whoever is behind you. And you didn't even raise one to possibly defend yourself when you turned around." He spoke in deep tones as he pet Toothless. "If you don't watch yourself, you would've had to deal with Bolo." He indicated his bronze-colored Terrible Terror, who was retrieving his large knife from the tree. "Also, sorry for being late. I was busy tracking a deer that got out of one of my traps. And I guess I just lost track of time."

"It's okay. I'm not sure if there was much that we could have done today anyway."

"You know, even if there wasn't much to improve on, you never know until you come out here and practice." Cleave glanced at the sky to see the time. "Well, better to start packing up if you want to get some flying in before dark. In fact, you go on ahead. I'll pack your stuff up for you and bring it to you house."

"You don't have to do that."

"No, I do. It'll make up for not being here on time."

And so, I fastened a light weight saddle to Toothless, climbed on board, and waved by to Cleave as we flew off. As we glided among the golden clouds, I couldn't help but think of our bond. Toothless and I had a bond like no other. My mom found him as an egg a few months before I was born and, according to Gothi, he hatched around a few months after I was born. We grew up as brothers of sorts and Gothi took care of both us until Toothless became too big to stay in the village without cause some trouble. Most of the village thought that Toothless ran off after he couldn't stay in town, but he simply lived in the nearby woods and only came out into the open when he sees Gothi, Cleave, or me.

I wasn't long until it was getting dark and I had to head home. We landed and I gave Toothless some Cod and as big of a hug as I could before he flew into the night and I started my track back to Trygg Havn. When I got to the village, I went straight to the Hall for some dinner and spend some time this some of the other villagers. With a full stomach and a leg of mutton for the road, I head home and collapsed on my bed up on the loft.

Little did I know that this was the last "normal" day that I would have in a long time.

AN: Wow! You know I always saw that a good fanfic had to at least 1000+ words. I almost thought that it wouldn't be long enough, but it's all good. Since, this is the first fanfic that I've written and published, please no flames, but constructive criticism on things like grammar is accepted.

1*) Trygg Havn = Norwegian for "safe haven"