Welcome to the first chapter of my first story here on Fanfiction! I'm hoping it will be enjoyable and in someway even unique, but feel free to let me know what needs improving if something stands out to you. Not much to say here, as even I don't know where this story will end. I'm hoping it will end a little after the first movie, but with that 5 year gap between films I have a lot of room to improvise further. Anyway, hope you enjoy my first attempt at a fanfiction story. Here goes nothing! (First chapter is more of a prologue, though you'll notice it's important as the story progresses)

Chapter One

The Fire Within the Heart

There were no normal days on Berk. There were days where not much happened, and there were days when it seemed that everything happened. Problem was, there was no consistency. There could be a day where all was calm and lazy, and then the next day your panicking over an alleged dragon sighting. Or you could be peacefully honing your fighting technique, and the next day the forge that you brought your weapon to explodes for one reason or another. So really, normal didn't even seem to be a possibility on this island. Every day was different, bringing fortunes that ranged from 'great' to 'all hope is lost'. Life here was never boring. Of course, when you confine a number of bull-headed vikings to a small island that constantly finds itself raided by giant fire-breathing lizards, how could it be?

This particular day on the island of Berk was lively, though only moderately as one would observe. The villagers still had a bit of a mess from a dragon raid two nights before, though it wasn't so bad. The vikings had become quite efficient at tidying up, with nearly three hundred years of it under their belts. It also helped that the dragons didn't normally do much damage. Sure, they would destroy a house or two on their quest to locate the sheep or yaks that the Berkians tried so desperately to hide, but that was usually it. What didn't help was that the villagers always tried a different hiding spot, which would lead the dragons to a different part of the village and consequently cause it to be damaged. Needless to say, every single part of the village had felt some fiery wrath at one point or another. The buildings were usually back up by the end of the next day though, and the following day after that just left some minor debris clean up that five villagers could tackle on their own. That was basically all that was happening today. Five villagers were cleaning up singed wood, and the rest were going about their daily business. The blacksmith was in the forge, banging away at bent swords in an attempt to salvage and save the blades. After a dragon raid, the forge was usually loaded with weapons that needed sharpening or repaired. Unfortunately, some were too far damaged to be salvaged, and therefore had to be replaced. With the amount of raids Berk experienced, the forge had essentially become the most important building on the island. Thankfully, the island had quite a talented blacksmith. His name is Gobber, and he is known in the village as an expert blacksmith, a heavy drinker of mead, and most notably as Chief Stoick's best friend and main source of advice. Why the mighty Chief of Berk took advice from this man is unknown, though some assume he's much wiser than he presents himself to be, even if this thought was mainly to reassure themselves. Nobody in Berk would ever dare to question Chief Stoick anyway, for fear of being turned inside out and thrown down a dragons throat.

Chief Stoick was the greatest Chief Berk had ever seen, and quite possibly the best it'll ever see again. This man was as big as a mountain, tougher than a boulder, stronger than a dragon, and generous as a person could be. Of course, Stoick's generosity was not presented with kind words or small deeds. It was presented in how he ran the village, and what he would do for it and the people who lived there. Stoick's time had always been taken up with either directly protecting the village in an attack, or planning out every detail in how his island was going to keep on surviving. He was a man with time for no one, but a man who helped every one. He would die for his village. For his people. And they knew this, and were grateful for it.

In the event that he should die, or that he should retire as Chief, one would think Stoick had shaped a strong young heir to take his place. Well, one would be right for thinking it, though they'd be wrong for believing it. Up in the highest, biggest house in the village sat a young fourteen year old boy. He was a scrawny boy, being a little bigger than the portion size of dinner for a regular viking. He had auburn colored hair, and the most amazing green eyes that nobody ever noticed. The boy's name is Hiccup, and that is just what he was. It's viking tradition to call the runt of the litter a 'Hiccup', and Hiccup was the runtiest of them all. Hiccup was constantly getting in the way of the other vikings, usually with some new invention that would never work properly. Though, one of them might if he had a chance to fix the issue before an angry viking destroyed his hard work out of frustration. As a matter of fact, Hiccup was at his desk in his room, drawing up new plans for an invention he called the 'bola shot'. It was odd for a viking in Berk to hope for a dragon raid, but Hiccup did. Not for the death and destruction that a raid would bring, but because he thought it was the only way to prove to the village that he was worth something. That he too, the runt of the village, the screw up, could be a viking. Hiccup had believed there was a fire within his heart that was ready to burst free, and he would show his worth by killing a dragon. Though after fourteen years of being shunned by everyone, fourteen years of failure to prove his worth, Hiccup was starting to think that fire was just the searing pain of feeling misplaced where he should belong. Sometimes he wonders how a man as amazing as Stoick, could have a son as useless as him. Their relationship consisted of Stoick yelling at Hiccup after an accident caused by the latter, and rare nights together at their house where neither would say more than two words to each other. The only way Hiccup had any interaction with people was through Gobber the blacksmith, to whom Hiccup was an apprentice. Gobber was the closest thing to a friend that Hiccup had in his life, mainly just because Gobber would talk to him. Sometimes when he was at the forge, he almost felt...normal. Like for once, something was going well for him. But all that would dissipate again once he made another mistake, nearly blowing up the forge or ruining a weapon and creating more work. Hiccup always wondered about his mother, having never met her. She was carried off by a dragon when he was a baby and was never seen again. He sometimes wonders if she would have accepted him, but he tries not to. There's an equal chance she'd just be another viking wishing he'd turned out different. Plus, thinking that the only person who might have showed love for him was carried off before he knew them wasn't the most uplifting thought he could conjure up.

The island of Berk had other teens that were Hiccup's age, though they weren't his friends. Still, he knew them all. He would observe them sometimes, and even imagine that he was a part of them. It wasn't anything like having real friends, but he felt it was as close as he would ever get. He knew Fishlegs, the largest of the other teens, but yet the most timid. He seemed to have more intelligence than your average viking, always spitting out facts about everything he could. He knew the twins, Ruffnut and Tuffnut. They were always arguing with each other and seemed to jump at the opportunity to partake in something that could very well kill them. He knew Snotlout all too well. His cousin who would constantly bully him about his size and lack of any skills that were of use to the village. And finally, he knew Astrid. He didn't know her very well, but it was enough to see that she was the perfect viking. She was a walking example of what a viking should be, with her bravery, toughness, and undeniable stubbornness. Add that to the fact that she somehow was blessed by the gods with astounding beauty, and you have a viking girl that every guy on Berk wants. Hiccup has had a crush on her since the first time he saw her many years ago, though he knew he had as much of a chance with her as he did of becoming great like his father.

Hiccup's life had been this way for fourteen years. Lonely, depressing, and utterly disappointing. He wished every night that things would somehow change. That he would wake up and either the village or himself would be different, and he would be accepted with open arms. He wouldn't even need an apology from anyone, he just needed to feel wanted by someone. Even if it was just one person. But Hiccup was losing hope. It hadn't happened yet, so why would it happen today? Or tomorrow? Or...ever? When Hiccup crawled in to his bed that night, he sent no prayer to the Gods. He just shut his eyes, and closed himself off from the rest of the world. His hope would never die, but his determination was diminishing by the day. Before he fell asleep, he thought of his latest invention. He thought of what could go wrong, and what probably would go wrong. But not once, did Hiccup think that this could be the invention that changed his whole world.

So, first chapter done. More or less a little prologue for the story, as it introduces the characters (even though you already pretty much know them). I wanted to sort of emphasize how lost and close to hopeless that Hiccup is. He's worse off in this story than he is in the movie, and I wanted to display that here, so that I don't need to keep mentioning that his life blows. It explains his current life now, so that later on you already know how he feels, so you sort of feel what he goes through rather than just reading about it. We'll see how that works out I guess.

Please review if you have anything you'd like to say. It ended up being different from how I wanted, but it's going to be a darker story, so I decided the writing should be a little 'upbeat' to keep the feel of the story balanced. But, I'm not an experienced writer by any means, so any tips or anything would be appreciated. If there was something you liked then feel free to let me know as well, I'm sure I'll like reading that :) It is just the beginning of a bigger, greater story though, so it will pick up and have it's fair share of twists and memorable moments, just you wait!