Hi Everyone! I haven't written for a while and I did delete my last attempt at a story but I'm pretty excited about this one non the less.
I'll tell you right off the bat, these updates are probably going to be slow. But will will update this one as often as my little school centred, honours attempting, distracted and constantly blocked life will allow me.
I hope you like this story.
It's modern AU BTW.
ENJOY!
~MONA
The sun had just gone down, leaving small stars freckled through the nighttime horizon.
Bats flew threw the air while gnats and other small flies gathered to mill around street lamps and porch lights. The birds had all gone to their nests and the night predators were all on the silent prowl.
Everything would have seemed tranquil if it wasn't for the loud thumping of heavy feet and the scraping of boats against gravel.
The sound of burly men's shouts filled the air.
Berk was a rather calm village, other than the unusual drunken scuffle or road rage argument, it was a pretty nice little secluded island. Though every so often, and more often than you would think, something would bring out the locals. Somethings, I guess you could say.
From behind the protection of a rickety window a boy sat at a counter. His hair was shaggy and auburn from the sun and his freckles continued all the way from his cheeks to his hands, which were delicately winding fishing line.
With all the excitement outside he sat in his wooden chair behind the store counter and waited until it was all over.
It wasn't that he didn't want to go out. That was definitely not it. In fact it was his ultimate dream to get out there and be with the other men of his town.
But he knew better.
He knew the consequences.
"There's a bunch of em' out tonight!" hollered a huge man as he bumped down the stairs "You got the lines for me?"
"Ya , I always do, how else am I going to spend my time?" the boy replied as he pushed the newly wound fishing rods across the counter. "One for you, one for dad and one for mister Spitelout" he announced.
"Perfect!" he cheered as he grabbed them all in one big hand and pushed through the front doors. "And remember what your Dad said!-"
The boy rolled his eyes and mumbled his reply, "Yeah yeah, I know Gobber. No leaving the shop during a hunt" he said with a tone of boredom that could only mean this was not the first time he had heard the rule.
The freckled boys slumped over as the door closed behind his father's closest companion, blocking him off from the action beyond.
With a deep sigh he pulled out an old fishhook from on of the drawers down below and began to continue the magnificent carving job of his name into the counter top.
It had already long since been engraved and yet he always found himself going over the letters again and again Tracing over the letters of his pitiful name.
H…. E…. N…. R…. Y
Henry Haddock the Second. Smallest in the family and although being fifteen, was most likely smallest in all of Berk as well.
The town it's self was lovely. Once you got past the outdated everything. The flora and fauna were truly something out of a nature show, not to mention their beaches. Sure the weather was a little iffy sometimes but that wasn't the problem. A little overcast wasn't the root to all his troubles.
The people were.
His dad and his disappointedness, his peers and their large and intimidating toughness and just in general his whole community's obsession with sharks.
Sharks.
Great white, Mako, Cookie cutter… You name it, Berks got it!
With an island surrounded by sharks and a town full of big, burly Viking-like citizens, it's not surprising that their national sport and most popular hobby was Shark hunting.
As long as you could walk and talk you could learn to swipe a white tip or set up a long line fishing trap.
Of course Henry was the grand exception.
The Hiccup, you could say.
Standing no taller that five foot four and ninety pounds, it was no surprise that he was often left out of the good events.
Instead he was dropped in the bate shop. Gobber's bate, for all your fishing needs.
Nobody would trust him with anything taller than he was, thus his being condemned to work in the back storage room. Where day in and day out he would sit there, fixing poles or packing fish and worms in boxes.
Even actually serving people was a far-fetched dream.
He was always at the sidelines. Always just below anything of any importance.
It was only ever on hunting day they he would really get any responsibility.
Once or twice a month when all the sharks came out and the water was dense with the big ones, everyone would go out with their heavy-duty poles and steel hooks to bring home a great white.
All Henry wanted to do was snag himself a great white. Or at least a hammer head.
But there he sat. In the bate shop with orders not to move.
His sole reason for not being in the back room was so that he could fix poles, bend back hooks and replace broken fishing line.
Loud crashes and splashes could be heard through the salty night air as the Berkians hauled in their kill.
This was definitely a rather big attack.
Henry still sat inside patiently just as he had been ordered to. Not to say that he was out of things to do.
The stream of people coming in and ordering this that and the other was not lacking.
The door burst open and Henry sat up a little straighter as five kids barged in.
The Berk teens.
Living on such a little and fundamentally remote island you wouldn't generally expect that they would have an abundance children being born. Though there were these five and all around the same age too, which was more that you'd truly expect for a detached island with under two thousand individuals.
Henry was there too obviously however most didn't generally think of him as an official teen. Age aside, his toothpick-esk stature and all-round twerpyness hindered from anybody really seeing him as a capable young adult.
"Hey Hiccup! We need some stuff!" Snotlout spat as he walked up to the counter.
Henry's eyes narrowed a bit, he really hated it when people called him that.
"Also make it snappy. This guy's got a shark to catch. I was so close last time. Did you see me Astrid?!" He jabbered on in his annoyingly pompous voice.
Astrid just rolled her eyes.
"Whatever… anyways Hiccup, Stuff, now!" He demanded rudly.
It wasn't that Snotlout was the singular case out of many others who was mean to him, though.
Ruff and Tuff, the twins, were just always excessively occupied with harassing one another. Fishlegs simply wasn't all that threatening and Astrid always tried to at least show a little decorum.
"Come on dude! If you could stop looking a deer in head lights and get us our stuff that would be great. I know for somebody like you getting some fishing line is a little difficult but we've actually got some real jobs to do."
But obviously not that much decorum.
Snotlout burst out in laughter. "Great one babe!" he choked out between horribly forced howls .
Astrid just put a hand on her hip and ran the other through her blonde bangs. "I'm surrounded by idiots" He mumbled under her breath.
Fishlegs looked somewhat offended. I suppose he was the smart one of the group.
Henry sighed, "Okay okay, I'm on it. What did you need? More fishing line for all of you and Astrid, it looks like you need a new pole? Oh and a new hook for you Ruff. That all?" he listed as he examined their equipment.
He might have hated his job but he wasn't bad at it.
"Um yeah, yeah that's it" Astrid looked a little surprised.
"how'd you know?! We didn't even say yet." Fishlegs cut in.
Henry rolled his eyes. "Some of us people have to use our heads for more than just bashing up against boats" He risked the come-back as he ran off to the back room.
Henry came back with his spindly arms full of their supplies. A new fishing pole and fishing line for each of them. The hook for Ruff was carelessly between his teeth.
"Here" He said as he dumped all their stuff onto the counter.
Astrid grabbed her pole they each took their line and Ruff gingerly picked up her new hook. "Ew guys, this has Henry germs all over it!" She moaned.
"Don't worry sis, the shark blood will take care of that"
The whole group burst out in laughter.
"Bye Yakass!" Snotlout hollered behind him as they headed to the exit. They all let out another attack of giggling loaded with praises and mumbles of 'great one bro'
They cleared out and Henry watched them go.
He wasn't generally bothered their teasing. He's gotten over it years back.
At the same time what did still trouble him was the fact that they felt that they were better than him in light of the fact that he had never killed a shark.
The worst part was that Henry was beginning to accept that maybe they were right.
He existed in shark-infested waters. It was his islands legacy. And yet his father had scarcely even let Henry set foot in the water.
He knew nothing about sharks!
But he knew he had to kill one.
He meandered over to the window and looked as people began returning to their homes, pulling long and limp sharks behind them. Some still slightly thrashing, some completely dead.
Before long his father would be home as well. With, at any rate a Nurse shark, undoubtedly.
At that point he would be off once more and Henry would be alone once again.
Though it wouldn't be too long until all the sharks were killed off or at least smart enough to flee. Then everyone would come home for good.
His father would burst through the shop door, high on adrenaline and tell Henry the exciting stories of what number of sharks he wrestled as they went back home.
Then, just like always, his father would crash along with everyone else in the town until at least three o'clock in the afternoon.
In which time Hiccup would take advantage of.
And this time he knew exactly what he was going to do.