Summary: What if Hiccup and Eira had met at a different time in their lives? Suggested by a wonderful fan, Mariah who wanted an AU of my OC, Eira from Dust in the Skies and this is what I came up with and had in mind.
Chapter One: Ice
A cold wind was blowing in from the east and ice was slowly creeping its way out towards the sea. When the snow started to fall and a great sigh of relief was let out.
"Finally, a few weeks of peace."
Stoick the Vast stood on the steps of his house as he peered out over the ocean waters. It was a hard year and the welcoming of a harsh cold was a beautiful site to him. Harsh cold meant that the beasts were not going to attack, meaning he had some time to relax with his people and most importantly with his son. Thinking of his son, it came as no surprise to him when he heard a loud crash come from inside the hut. Another sigh was released, but this time it was of exasperation of having to deal what laid behind the door.
Before turning inside, he stopped. There, just before the horizon, almost where the freeze was settling in, was a faint glow. He squinted his tired green eyes hoping he could tell what the object was and half praying it wasn't the start of another dragon assault. When realizing what it was, he began to scramble down the steps of his home. He called to his fellow Vikings to prepare the ships and weapons, along with bringing the healer Gothi down from her hut. It all happened in a matter of minutes.
"And what would you like me to do Chief?" his old friend, Gobber asked.
Stoick stopped, but only for a moment, "Go back to my house and see what my son has gotten his sticky hands into this time." He went climbing aboard one of the ships not seeing his friend roll his eyes. "Oh," he shouted, "If he happened to get into the sweets jar again tell him he's grounded for a month."
With that said, the two Viking ships headed off in the direction of Stoick's orders, while Gobber trudged up the steps to go babysit a very wild and active child, who so happen to be in a jar he wasn't supposed to be in.
The waters were rougher than usual, but that was expected with the weather changing and with them being Vikings the rough waters were no match for them. The two ships came to a halt, however, when the object that Stoick saw on the shoreline was finally in a clearer view.
"Thor oh mighty," Stoick whisper under his breath. The site he was witnessing seemed to be a miracle in itself. Both crews parked the ships on either side of what seemed to be the remains of another ship. How this wooden "ship" was staying afloat, Stoick would never know. Not one piece of wood was clean. There were so many claw marks and burns, he was amazed that some of the chipped bark was still even aglow with the harsh gales coming in.
Many of the Vikings aboard wonder how a ship this badly in shape made it in these conditions. They soon received their answer. When two of the men somehow heard the rhythmic patterns of a groan. They both jumped aboard the wreckage and search. Within minutes they were calling out to their Chief.
When Stoick ran over to the side of his ship to see the commotion his green eyes widen in shock. Yet, he quickly jumped onto the deck of the ship when the man rasped,
"My family… Below… please."
Stoick and another one of his men went down below the deck as the few others helped bring the survivor on theirs. Immediately, Stoick was knee deep in frigid water. Slushing his way through he caught sight of the family he was looking for. Upon a few of the shelves out of the water was a small child and right beside them was a woman waist deep in the pool. When Stoick came closer to them he went straight to the kid and quickly check for a sign for life. A huge weight was lifted off his chest when he found that small, barely readable, pulse. As he turned to give the other Viking the news, the weight that was on his chest, sunk back when he saw the man shake his head slowly after he checked on the woman.
There wasn't any time for sorrow however and Stoick knew he had to get the small girl off the ship as soon as possible. He was about to move the youngster when he noticed his hand was wet and sticky. It took a few minutes to realize what it was and upon closer inspection, he was in shock. When the other man made a move to grab the little girl Stoick stopped him. He thought for a moment and then ordered, "Take the board off the wall. We'll carry her this way."
The other Viking was confused, but he didn't question his Chief. Carefully they pried the beam off the wall of the ship. Before they made their way back on the top deck the other man stopped.
"What about the mother?"
Stoick sighed, "Leave her. We'll burn the ship before we sail back to Berk."
On the docks of Berk Stoick watched as the orange glow on the horizon slowly start to dim and to himself, he wished the woman another farewell. With that, he and the other Vikings helped carry the father and the child back into town and up the stairs to his hut. While the group did this, two other raced up the mountain peak to grab their healer, Gothi.
It wasn't before long, that Stoick entered his home and at first a very excited little boy came running towards him, calling out to him. The boy stopped it immediately when he heard his father's stone harsh voice.
"Gobber take Hiccup out the back and to your shop. I don't want him to see this."
Hiccup not understanding what was going on was crying out apology after apology when Gobber came up behind him and started to drag him outside the house. It was only when Gobber closed the back door and sat the lad down did he get his answers.
"Is dad mad at me? I'm sorry I got the sweets. I promise I won't do it again." He said all of this through tears and snot.
The one arm man looked at him and exhale somberly. "Your father's not mad at you Hiccup. He's trying to help some people is all. And there are just some things a lad at your age shouldn't see. Do you understand?"
The boy nodded and shrugged a little. He really didn't know what Gobber was talking about, but he did understand that his dad wasn't angry with him, but that didn't help stop his silent tears to fall down his freckled cheeks.
"Besides," Gobber stood up and led Hiccup down the hill towards his shop and house, "we both know you'll be back trying to climb your way up on the shelves to get those sweets in two days."
Hiccup tried to hide the giggle that escaped him.
Inside the home, Stoick watched as Gothi did her best to help the little girl. In all his years, he never imagined an injury like the one she had sustained. It was a miracle that she was even alive with how deep the gashes were. As Gothi went to do her best to stitch the wounds close he was thanking the gods above that she was already unconscious. He turned to look away but covered it up by turning his attention over to the father, who was laying on the other side of the room.
He knelt down next to the man and carefully tried to wake him so they could speak. It was only in the good graces of the gods that he only gained minor injuries compared to his daughter. They were still severe to what he was used too, however. He was just more horrid that he had to witness another great chief in this type of state.
"Stoick," the man rasped looking at him.
"Illfuss, what happened?" Stoick took hold of his hand, hoping it will give him some comfort.
The man laying down squeezed Stoick's hand and asked, "M-my daughter?"
"She's fine old friend," he said softly. "Gothi is looking at her right now."
"M-Meriel?"
Stoick couldn't answer him and Illfuss knew exactly what that meant. The cry that he made was a mix of both his physical pain and now his emotional. It was a sound no one should ever hear in their life.
The Chief of Berk stayed with the other until he passed out from the pain. He felt a tap on his shoulder. Stoick turned to see Gothi and he walked over to where the little girl was. He tenderly brushed some of her brown bangs out of her face and gently patted a cold rag on her trying to clean some of the soot from the burning ship that clung to her. What concerned him was how shallow her breathing was. "How is she?"
Gothi scribbled something on the floor making Stoick sigh.
"Stay with her Gothi. He can't afford to lose them both."
The old woman nodded.
Stoick leaned down and whispered to her, "Stay strong little Eira. Your dad needs you more than you know." He stood up and headed out the door. He needed to see his son now after witnessing this. He also needed to explain why they would be staying with Gobber tonight and a couples days after.
Author's Note: So I hope you enjoyed this AU version story so far. I will probably change the rating further along, not sure. As a heads up, I will not be updating this story as frequently as I will be with Dust in the Skies: Hatchlings. But please enjoy it and review to let me know what you think of it so far.