Author's Note: This is a cross over between How to Train Your Dragon book series and movie, under the premise that the Hiccup in the movie was actually the first Hiccup. It takes place after, How to Break a Dragon's Heart, and contains major spoilers for the books and movie. There will be small deviations from the book series to help make it fit better. Read and Review, please.

Disclaimer: I own nothing but a dream.

Hiccup didn't know how it had come to this. Riding atop Toothless in the dead of night above his island.

His burning island.

There didn't seem to be a place the flames hadn't touched. Even from this high up the heat was stifling. It was a conciliation that most everybody had made it off the island, currently off shore on a score of boats, heading toward the friendlier Viking islands to the east for refuge.

But Hiccup couldn't leave yet, not without knowing that he had gotten every one he could out of the inferno. He had already brought two others, both severely covered in burns, back to the fleeing boats. He was going back to look for the third time.

He rather doubted that there was anything left alive on the island.

But, sure enough, he saw someone squirming on one of the roofs. And with a gasp, he recognized it as Tuffnut.

A silent message passed between Rider and Dragon, and Toothless angled his wings towards the roof.

As they got closer Tuffnut finally noticed them and started shouting, but it wasn't until they were a hundred feet from him that they could hear him over the fire.

"TURN BACK! IT'S A TRAP!"

Too late.

A form shot out of the flames, sparks leaping off crimson feathers, riding it was a man clad in a strange garment. In his hand he held beautifully crafted bow, notched with a horribly twisted black arrow.

He let loose.

Hiccup couldn't even see it as it sailed through the air, but he felt it as surely as if it had struck his own body.

It struck Toothless perfectly in the chest. It pierced the Son of Lightning and Death's Heart. And in those final moments before the flames consumed him, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the First did not even care that he would die.

Because the arrow had as surely pierced his own heart as well.

----Three Hundred Years Later----

Thirteen year old Hiccup, prayed to whatever gods were listening that the past didn't repeat itself, as he made his way slowly but surely down the cave of Wild Dragon Cliffs, followed closely by the other Hooligan trainees. The last time he had been here had been a few years ago and it had ended….. rather badly. His calf ached in remembrance. The reasons for this trip into the cliffs were fairly similar to the last one, but with one crucial difference.

They were not going to the Dragon Nursery this time, but rather the Hatchery. If Hiccup had thought that the last trip had been insane he thought that this trip was, ABSOLUTELY BRAIN DEAD! But, then again, Vikings have never been known for their rapier wits, and he was going along with the whole thing as well, so maybe he was a bit loony himself.

There was, believe it or not, some sound reasoning for making this otherwise insane trip. The boys were after Riding Dragon eggs. You see, unlike Hunting Dragons who tended to be no bigger than a large dog, Riding Dragons were, on average, about the size of a horse. Add that to the usual fact that dragons never really did anything unless they saw that it was in their best interest to do so, made Riding Dragons usually very very hard to train, despite how loud you yelled at it. So, the solution, as the Vikings saw it, was to get them young, before they even hatch preferably, and break them then. It did sound like good logic, but there was one major draw back. And, as the boys stepped into the Hatchery, they could clearly see what it was.

Around them were hundreds of dragons wildly ranging in size and shape. The only common thing that they all shared was the fact that they were all wrapped around their own set of eggs, fast asleep.

As quietly as they could, the boys dispersed, each heading to retrieve their own egg. They had to be even more quite than they had been the first time, because, despite entering during the dragons' winter coma, mother dragons were less under than the hunting dragons had been. You see, a dragon's body got colder the deeper asleep it was, it could even be chillier than the air at this time of month. But dragon eggs would die if they got too cold, as such, while caring for eggs, a mother dragon never went too far asleep, and, as such, remain fairly warm, even during their sleep coma. The eggs weren't yet being incubated, only the heat of a fire could do that, but they were being kept warm.

Hiccup started moving towards the nest of a Windwalker, the species of dragon he had been training with, but failed to watch carefully where he was stepping.

To his credit, the heir to the Hooligan Tribe uttered not so much as a sound as he fell down the hidden shaft, however much he wanted to. Fortunately for Hiccup, the shaft was not that deep nor that steep, and he more slid than fell down it, sending loose rocks sounding off the stone floor.

Every boy, immediately, stood stark still.

Some of the closer dragon dames shifted a bit, but eventually settled back down. Apparently, the sound of falling rocks was not so uncommon to concern them.

Every boy took a deep sigh of relief and started back to the chore of choosing an egg.

All with the exception of Fishlegs, Hiccup's best friend, who had already grabbed the first egg nearest the exit, not really caring about what kind of dragon he got, so much as actually getting out of here. He, instead, headed toward the shaft that he had seen Hiccup fall down. Peering down into the blackness of it, he called out in his loudest whisper, "Hiccup! Are you okay!"

Hiccup was very much fine, maybe nothing more than a few bruises, of which he was used to. "Fine!" he cried back in a loud whisper of his own. He took a moment to find where the shaft was and proceeded to climb back up it.

At least, he was, until his hand accidentally brushed something small and too irregularly smooth to be a rock. At first, he thought he had inadvertently put his hand on a electrosquirm, a type of small dragon that can generate electricity, due to the current that seem to shoot up his arm. But, pulling his arm away instinctively, he could see this was not the case.

Because there, sitting amongst the rocks, was the unassuming shape of a black dragon egg.

Logically, he knew that he should not touch the thing that had shocked him. Logically, he knew that this egg could not still contain a living dragon, it was far too cold. Logically, he knew he should just continue up the shaft, grab an egg, and get out. But something stopped him.

It felt rather like the time he had somehow managed to find Toothless, his small hunting dragon, in complete darkness, just knowing he was there. It felt like he had meant to find this egg. So, despite not being the logical thing to do, he picked up the egg, and stashed it in his bag.

That done, he finished climbing up the shaft, just as the other boys were finishing grabbing their own eggs. Fishlegs helped him up the last little bit, and together they turned towards the exit along with the other boys.

Silently, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third thanked whichever god had been listening that this trip had ended up a lot better than the last one.

Then, Fishlegs sneezed. Four very Long, very Loud sneezes.

Apparently, said god was Loki.