Chapter 1:

He heard the beep of a bus' horn and the sound of it pulling away before he was even fully awake.

Hiccup's eyes shot open in panic. He'd overslept. Again. He'd stayed up until early in the morning trying to finish his latest project: a remote controlled flying toy. However, like with nearly all of his other projects, he'd overlooked a slight issue: how to get it to stop. He ended up having to smash it with a book, and its parts were now scattered across his room. Hiccup groaned at the thought of all of his hard work in ruins, and rose slowly from his bed. There was no use hurrying now, he'd already missed the bus. He made his way across his room to the bathroom, stepping carefully over the ruins of his most recent creation, giving a sigh of remorse as he did so.

After pulling on his jacket over his green shirt, he made his way out of the house, rushing to find his bike in the hope of getting to school for second period. Although he disliked the idea of what awaited him at school, the prospect of listening to the "poor attendance" lecture Stoick would give him daunted him even more. Stoick Haddock: Mayor of the small town Berk and, ah yes, Hiccup's father in his spare time. It wasn't so much that Hiccup disliked his father, more the fact that they never seemed able to agree on anything. This often resulted in awkward conversations and avoiding each other's eyes. But there was one thing they could both agree on: the wolves had to go. The wolves, who'd brutally murdered his mother. The wolves were killing all the deer in the area, leaving a tiny population, far too small for the people of Berk to hunt for furs. The wolves were the sole thing Hiccup hated more than school. 13 years ago, Hiccup's mother went for a hike in the woods near their house, and was never seen again. Hiccup was left without a mother at just three years old, too young to remember the caring touch of her hand or her gentle voice. He just wished he could remember her, that he could've spent just a bit longer with her, that the wolves hadn't stolen her from him. Stoick had been devastated at the loss of his wife, and a home that was once full of laughter now rarely saw even a smile. Those wolves had ruined his life, Hiccup thought bitterly as he pedalled to school.

He made it just in time. He snuck into school as if he'd been there all morning, losing himself in a crowd of teens on the way to their next lesson. If anyone asked where he'd been he'd just say-

"- I wasn't feeling well so I was stuck in the toilets all of first period, but I'm better now!" Hiccup found himself lying to Fishlegs.

"It's not contagious is it?" Fishlegs asked, worry evident in his voice as he shuffled further away from Hiccup, failing miserably at his attempts of subtlety. Fishlegs was the only one who was willing to acknowledge Hiccup without making fun of him, and so Hiccup gladly ignored his friend's faults.

"No, I don't think so" chuckled Hiccup, before turning his attention back to the lesson. Economics. One of his least favourite subjects, particularly due to the seating arrangement which left him in front of Snotlout and Tuffnut, two of the schools worst bullies. They seemed to have made it their life's ambition to make Hiccup's time at school a living hell, and so far they were doing a very good job.

"Aw, was little Useless feeling a bit sicky-wicky?" Snotlout sang, using his favourite name for Hiccup and earning a large laugh from Tuffnut, who promptly gave Snotlout a high five.

"Just ignore them…" muttered Fishlegs, but Hiccup had already blocked them out, a trick which he'd become quite adept at over the years of constant taunts. He bit back the urge to make a smart remark, but knew it would be wasted on Snotlout who wouldn't understand, and then would just tease Hiccup even more. Instead, he turned his attention back to his notebook, in which he was doodling random images. You'd expect the teacher to tell him off, but she never did. Hiccup suspected that she just didn't notice him, much like the rest of his schoolmates. That's how it worked for Hiccup: he either was picked on or ignored, with Fishlegs being his only friend. Hiccup was used to it, but he secretly longed to be accepted, to have people actually care about what he had to say. Why can't I just be normal? He thought miserably.

His mind wandered to the previous night's project. Maybe if I adjusted the calibration… Hiccup mused, determined to fix the plane. He hated it when his ideas went wrong, which they usually did. Just another thing that makes me useless, he thought bitterly, nothing I do is ever right. Gods knew Snotlout reminded him of it often enough. He sighed, wishing that for once something could go right in his life, a prospect which seemed as radical as the stories most children were told when they were little. But not Hiccup. No, Hiccup had to read them himself, what with his dad being so busy. He remembered when he read the one about the trolls and was so scared he couldn't sleep, and when six year old Hiccup went to his father for reassurances, he was told to "stop being such a baby and man up". Needless to say, Hiccup never again went to his father with his problems, instead attempting to solve them himself, which led to his interest in creating things. He wanted to be able to create a way out of his problems, to get away from a life where he was useless. But most of all, he just wanted his dad to say "well done" or "you did great", instead of the constant awkwardness between them. The only proper conversations he'd had with Stoick were when things had gone wrong, or when Hiccup embarrassed him in front of the whole town. He just wished one day he could wake up and have a normal relationship with his dad, but doubted that could ever happen. Welcome to my life, he thought cynically.

Hiccup had made it through the day with no major incidences and, as he expected, no one had really noticed him not being in the first lesson. He put up with several more taunts from Snotlout and Tuffnut, just keeping his head down and getting on with his work. At lunch, Hiccup and Fishlegs sat at their usual table in the corner at the back of the room, away from the table where Hiccup's aggravators sat.

"What's wrong?" Fishlegs asked, after noticing Hiccup put his straw in the juice carton angrily.

"Just dad as usual…" Hiccup sighed, and Fishlegs prepared himself for one of Hiccup's ranting sessions. As Fishlegs was the only person other than Gobber that the teen could speak openly to, he was subjected to quite a few of these.

"What did he do this time?" Fishlegs asked wearily.

"It's not what he does, its just how he always has this disappointed scowl on his face, like someone's skimped on the meat on his sandwich" Hiccup took a deep breath before imitating Stoick's strong Scottish accent, waving his juice carton in the air as he did so. "Excuse me, barmaid? I'm afraid you've brought me the wrong offspring. I ordered an extra large boy with beefy arms, extra guts and glory on the side. This here, this is a talking Fishbone!" he exclaimed.

"You know, I actually think its not so much what you look like but what's inside that he cant stand" Fishlegs stated, thinking he was being helpful, but only making things worse.

"Thank you, Fishlegs, for summing that up." Hiccup said dryly. "I just wish he'd listen to me without looking so disappointed…"

"You need to stop trying so hard to be something you're not," Fishlegs pointed out.

"I just want him to accept me" came the reply, before Hiccup picked up his tray. "See you next lesson," he said, walking away to wallow in his misery. Fishlegs sighed, concerned, as he watched his friend leave.

When the final bell rang, Hiccup waited around in the library for half an hour to avoid the crush of students trying to cram through the school gates to freedom, a crush which would be lethal to someone as small as himself. This had become routine to Hiccup, knowing that an attempt to leave earlier would probably lead to several injuries. Again, he wished he could be normal, that he didn't have to worry about silly things like that. Gobber kept promising that he'd get his growth spurt soon, but Hiccup wasn't so sure. Maybe I'm just destined to be a scrawny runt for the rest of my life, he thought. No one ever realised he was the son of the chief, and when they did it was for all the wrong reasons. Hiccup had the same auburn hair as his father, but that was where the similarities ended. Where his father was really wide, Hiccup was in contrast skinny. Hiccup had piercing green eyes whilst Stoick had pale green eyes. Even their personalities were completely different; Stoick radiated confidence whilst Hiccup was an awkward and shy teen. After leafing through some random books for a while, he deemed it safe enough to leave school. He grabbed his bike and slowly pedalled home. When Hiccup got there, he trudged his way upstairs, and collapsed on his bed, determined to catch up on his lost sleep. He'd probably be alone all night again, as his father always got home late and left early, going to the town hall and often doing work on his campaign for another wolf culling. So far, it seemed most of Berk would vote in his favour, with the vote planned to take place in two days time, and then the culling itself two days later, if everything went to plan. The thought comforted Hiccup, who was looking forward to there being less of his mother's murderers in the area. He also hoped it would get him noticed. Killing a wolf might even get him a girlfriend! It was this thought that shook all ideas of sleep out of Hiccup's mind, as he got started on a new project.

3 days later…

Stoick had won the vote, the culling would happen tomorrow. Traps were being set, and guns were being distributed and now there was just one thing left for Hiccup to do.

"Dad, I need to speak to you about something."

Stoick looked up, surprised. It was rare for them to share a meal together, let alone speak over it. He pushed this thought aside quickly though.

"What is it?" he asked warily.

Hiccup took a deep breath. "I want to come on the hunt tomorrow. Now, I know what you're gonna say…" he said quickly when his dad looked ready to interrupt, " that I'm too small, that I'll get hurt and so on, but I think it will be really good for me. You know, I just see a wolf, and I have to kill it. It's who I am dad…" he finished flatly.

Stoick sighed. "You're many things Hiccup, but a wolf hunter isn't one of them."

"Please dad," Hiccup pleaded, "I need to do this. For mum."

Stoick's face softened slightly. That was the very same reason he did what he did. In that sense, he could relate with his son. It's funny, he thought, even though Val wasn't there, she still managed to bring the two together. Oh Val…

"Ok, I'll give you a chance. One chance mind, so see that you don't mess up." The joy that was spreading on Hiccup's face faded a bit at that last stinging remark, reminding him that even his dad thought that he was a failure. But he was determined to do something about that.

Before either of them had the chance to say anything else, there was a knock at the door.

"That'll be Gobber," Stoick said, as he rose to open the door. A few minutes later he reappeared with Gobber in tow.

Hiccup grinned. Gobber was like an uncle, or the father Hiccup wished he had, always cheering him up. No doubt he'd come to help Stoick with the final bits of organising for the cull.

"Hey Hiccup, how ya doing?" Gobber asked warmly.

"Good thanks, been working on a new project, want to see it?" He asked, relishing the chance to share his creation with someone.

"Sure, lead on," Gobber said, then following Hiccup up the stairs.

"I call it 'The Mangler'," Hiccup revealed proudly, gesturing to the strange contraption on the worktop when they reached his room.

"Ah…it's great, it's, it's… what is it?" Gobber asked cautiously, looking at it carefully. It had large jaws full of sharp teeth, and some sort of spring action.

"It's a wolf trap," Hiccup stated, as if it was entirely obvious, "for the hunt tomorrow."

"So what, you gonna give it to your dad? I'm not sure he'd be able to set it up…"

"No, I'm going to be there; I'll set it up."

"What? You can't come on the hunt!"Gobber exclaimed.

"Why not? Dad said I can!"Hiccup replied sharply.

"You can't use a gun, you can't throw a weighted net; how exactly will you bring down a 60kg wolf?" Gobber felt he had won this argument. After all, he was only trying to protect the boy. Surely he could see that?

"That may be," Hiccup agreed grudgingly, as a flash of triumph appeared on Gobber's face, so he quickly added " but this will bring one down for me. The steel jaws will clamp around it's leg so it can't move, then I just have to finish it off. It's quite a well known design for a trap actually."

Gobber sighed. He had well and truly lost this one, despite his earlier assumptions. "Just try not to get hurt, ok?" he questioned, searching the boy's green eyes.

"I wont, nothing will happen to me." Hiccup said reassuringly. With a nod, Gobber took off down the stairs, to start going over things with Stoick.

"I can't believe you're letting him come on the hunt tomorrow…" Gobber started.

"It'll be good for him. He needs to get out of his room and start making something of himself. Don't think I haven't noticed that he has barely any friends. Maybe this'll get him some," grumbled Stoick.

"But the question is: will he be safe?"

Stoick sighed, "Gods, I hope so, I really do…"

Gobber left it at that, knowing not to press Stoick anymore about it.

"Right, so about the traps…"