Here's another little one-shot, guys :)
I came up with it when I was listening to the first movie's soundtrack ("This is Berk", I think it way), and I thought to myself "What if Astrid and Hiccup were friends at one point, before the first movie?". Now, I don't think they were, but they could easily have been friends at a young age, before Hiccup wanted to become a dragon killer (and adding the fact that he was afraid of dragons as a kid).
Alright, I'm done my blabbering. Hope you like it :)
Sapphire Eyes
Hiccup was five years old when his young life changed.
It was nothing special, really. Quite frankly, the entire event that caused him to realize his entire life was fraud started was a normal day. And like any normal day, he was either ignored by the children or ignored by the adults.
But he remembered that day clearly. It burned in his young mind and carried with him for the rest of his life, like a torched metal symbol engraved on traitors. But not as painful. A willing pain, if he may add.
Fire was something he feared. He didn't know why, but every time he heard the roar of a dragon, he could feel the burning heat excavate around him, choking on him like hands around his small neck. Constantly breathing down his neck, following his every move.
And the fact that dragons could breathe fire... well, he was scared of dragons, too.
But the fire stayed within him.
He sat by the Great Hall, using a branch to sketch a replica of a home in the soft dirt. Drawing the angles for the roof, making sure that the sides of the house were parallel, and of course, adding a little window. For good measures, he added a big tall man, with three children and a woman. Perhaps a little dog for them. Yea, they would like a pet to play with.
No one bothered him. It wasn't that he particularly enjoyed the solitude, but he did like the empty space. Here, he could forget he was even drawing. He was part of the little family, with the five members and small dog. Yea... he liked the three children. He drew one with a vest, untidy hair and a smile. Yes, this was him. The bigger child would be a boy, tough and brave. He emphasized the hands and muscles on his arms. Hmm, for the small one... a girl. With long, beautiful hair and a small doll.
Yea, he liked this family.
OoOoO
"What are you drawing?"
Hiccup jumped. Who... someone was talking to him? To Hiccup, the runt.
If Hiccup was blind, he would have not believed it.
He glanced up slowly and his mouth dropped. And he didn't mean for it to happen. Gods, he lost count on how many times his father told him to not gawk at anyone. It just... happened.
But he had every reason to. This time, at least.
There was a girl, with blonde hair crafted in two braids, whom stood over him. Wearing a loose dress with cloth, and small brown furred boots. Looking down at his drawing. With curiosity. And she was interest - in what he was doing?
Hiccup gulped. "Uh... well... there's-"
"Oh! It's a little house!" she guessed. "And there are the brothers, the sister and the mom and dad, right?" She checked again. "And a little...rat?"
"A dog," Hiccup corrected, but he was impressed. No other Viking on Berk seemed interesting in drawing, or on what he was drawing. She figured out he was creating this family...
The girl sat on the step beside him and studied the drawing. "Whoa... it looks so real. I can see the wood on it!" She looked at him. "You're really good."
The boy, in comparison of the taller girl, was lost for words. It wasn't that he choked on the compliments she gave him, which helped his self-esteem, but he was fixated on the blue sapphires in front of him. Big blue irises that shamed jewels. And they were looking at him.
"T-thanks," he squeaked.
The girl giggled. "You don't talk much, do you?"
Hiccup shook his head. Truthfully, he never spoke to the other children, so he was not used to it. And since Stoick never talked to him much was one reason as well. So he was grateful that she caught onto that.
"I'm Astrid. Astrid Hofferson. But I know who you are. You're Hiccup, the Chief's son."
He didn't have to go through the embarrassing routine of introducing himself? Thank the Gods.
"...T-trid?" he repeated.
Astrid laughed. "No, Astrid. With an A."
Hiccup smiled. Astrid... it sounded pretty. And it was not like the other children's names, whom were cursed with ugly names like Dogsbreath or Snotlout or Tuffnut. Hers... was unique.
Wait...if she needed to introduce herself, how would she know him?
He could not remember her. He knew everyone on the island, from the oldest elder to the newest newborn, and the ones in between. The gift with being the son of a chief. So why was he just meeting her now?
Astrid seemed to read his mind. "I mostly learn from my mom and play with my brothers." She grinned. "I have two brothers: Anders and Erik. Do you have any brothers?"
Hiccup sighed and shook his head. If only….
Astrid pointed to the drawing. "So... who did you draw there?"
"No one, really," Hiccup muttered.
Astrid nodded. She stayed quiet for a little bit. "You... want this?" she asked.
"Well... either the brother or the dad," Hiccup admitted. He wished he had a brother, an older brother. Someone who could play with him and never leave him alone. And they could play fight for the whole day. And leave Berk for a few hours, because his brother would protect him and be in charge.
Or a sister. A sister would not be too bad.
"Do... you play house?" he asked. He knew most of the girls on Berk did, with their little baby dolls and demanding the boys to play the fathers. Of course, they only agreed if they could be the dragon killers.
Astrid scrunched her nose as if she ate something gross. "No. It's dumb. Why play with a doll when you can kill dragons?" To emphasize her point, she took the stick and pretended to hit something in the empty air. "Right in the gut!"
Hiccup backed away on instinct.
"What, are you scared?" Astrid asked.
Hiccup shook his head quickly. There was no way he was being weak near this girl! What would his father say if he displayed weakness?
"Oh... it's okay if you are," she insisted, and let the stick fall. "We don't have to play that."
Hiccup sighed in relief.
Astrid allowed silence to take over them. Then her eyes brightened. "I got it! We can play house!"
Hiccup raised his eyebrow. "But.. you said-"
"You can cook and take care of the baby and I will protect you from the dragons!" Astrid boasted.
Wait... he was to cook and be the... mother?
"But, you know, I'm a girl and you're a boy," Astrid explained. She took his hand and pulled him up. "Come on, husband! I shall protect you from the Deadly Naddar!"
Before Hiccup could comprehend what was going on, Astrid ran with Hiccup and started to yell. She slashed the air in different directions while still holding Hiccup's hand.
Time slowed down for Hiccup, as he watched the girl act brave and attack the "dragons". The way her hair waved in the hair as she spun her head, he could not look away. Or how she protectively stood in front of him. And how her sapphire eyes gleamed in the afternoon sun. Gods, if this girl was not a Valkyrie, he didn't know what was.
He decided to play along. "Oh, my brave wife! Those dragons cannot hurt me now."
Astrid giggled, then released his hand. "Chief Hiccup, my husband, what is your order?"
"C-chief Hiccup?" the boy repeated.
"You're the Chief, remember?" Astrid asked, and tried to wink her right eye. She ended up squinting both eyes instead. "The Chief gives out the dragon orders."
Right. Stoick the Vast did this during dragon raids. "Right. Uh..." He scrunched his face up, like his father did when he was upset. "Set the traps! Chomp the devil's head!"
Astrid laughed. "You sounded like him."
"Really?" Hiccup asked.
Astrid nodded.
OoOoO
The two new friends played their little game, oblivious to time and their empty stomachs. It was just them in the world, with no worries and no other thoughts. It was just them. And that was all they needed.
After some time, they stopped to catch their breaths. Laying on the soft grass so they could rest and then continue to play some more.
Hiccup looked up into the sky. He always loved the look of the blue sky, how it was so big and filled with fluffy-looking clouds. How was it that it spanned so widely, and soon replaced by a dark sky filled with sparkling stars?
"I like the sky," Hiccup blurted.
Astrid nodded. "It's pretty."
"That one looks like a Viking fighting," Hiccup pointed out.
A gasp escaped from Astrid's mouth. "What? Where?"
Hiccup pointed his finger at the cloud in the sky. "That one." Astrid followed his finger's direction. "See? There's the head with the horns on it, and he's holding a stick in his hand."
Astrid looked at Hiccup with a confused look. "You're weird, you know."
Hiccup shrugged, not knowing what to say. He didn't expect Astrid to think he was regular or anything. Most of the Hairy Hooligans, if not all of them, thought he was weird. So why did it hurt when she said it?
She glanced back up and chuckled. "That one looks like a Snoggletog tree."
Hiccup laughed. "Yea, and that one looks like Gobber getting chased by a Terrible Terror!"
The children laughed in unison.
Hiccup took a deep breath. He could feel the air tickle at his nose. The breeze cooled his hot face from all the running from the past few hours. If only he could be up there, and have the wind hit his face. "Sometimes, I envy dragons."
The young girl sat herself up. "Why? They take our food."
"I know, but they get to fly." He sighed. "I want to see how it feels to fly."
Astrid looked back at her new friend. "Hic... people talk about you."
"Yea..." Hiccup trailed.
"They say you're..."
"What, useless?" He asked. He didn't mind being called useless. He was used to it.
It would be no difference if this girl called him that.
"But I don't."
Hiccup froze. "You don't?"
She shook her head. "I think you're smart. No one can draw like you," Astrid admitted. "And you use big words."
"Using big words does not make me smart," Hiccup frowned.
"But you read." She looked back at the drawing. "What do you like to read?"
Hiccup would admit that he was stumped. No one ever asked him that before. Since Stoick was always working, he had to teach himself. But he really did not have a preference on what he liked to read. He really liked anything he was reading.
"I read about how to build stuff. Like boats, levers, you know. Things that move."
Astrid hung on every word he said. Hiccup barely noticed; he was not used to the attention. But he could not but continue with his lecture. "And there's this one of a slingshot that can shoot huge boulders in the air! Like-POW!"
"That sounds so cool!" Astrid agreed.
Suddenly, their stomachs growled.
"Oops, I should go home," Astrid said.
Hiccup frowned. If only she did not have to go. But his stomach was growling as well, and he knew he had to go home before his dad did. It would be the only time in the day he would be able to see Stoick the Vast.
Somehow, he wanted to skip lunch with his father and just stay at Astrid's house. Where he could be surrounded by Astrid's brothers who fought dragons. Her father that brought in wood for the fire pit. Her mother who cooked supper and kissed scrapes.
A family that was always together.
He did not notice until the last moment that Astrid had hugged him.
And it was a nice hug. Strange, he would admit. He never really received hugs. Well, maybe the odd hug from his father, but even then it was uncomfortable. However, he liked this hug. It was warm and gentle, which was not really how Astrid was like. She was tough and proud. Not girly in the slightest. But this was a nice hug, coming from her.
He was sad when she pulled away.
She grinned slightly and started to walk away. Running down the hill and into the village. She looked back at Hiccup and waved. "Bye, Hic!"
Hiccup smiled. "Bye, Trid!"
The small five year old boy walked home that afternoon, not knowing how much of an impact a little girl had made on his young life. Not knowing that, in ten years, he would try to impress her by shooting down a dragon. Or that he would compete with her in dragon training. That he would, inadvertently, stop the dragon war and loose his fear of dragons. That he would become less of a useless Hiccup and more of a fearless warrior. Leading Berk in peace for all the years to come.
All because of a blonde girl with sapphire eyes.
The End.