So, here I am again, with a new story. Welcome to the story called "Decisions". This is my first Httyd story and I appreciate critism as long as it's not insulting or anything. So, yeah, this is a "What if Cloudjumper took Hiccup" - story, for all those who haven't gathered that from the summary.

There are many versions of this plot out there and this is my try on it. With a small twist.

And I'll say this, like in my other stories, my native language is not english, so please go easy on any grammatical mistakes in my writing and please point them out to me so I can correct it and improve my english.

Well, that's it from me, I guess. Have fun! :)

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Chapter 1 - The Haddocks

Screeches of hundreds of dragons filled the halls of the icy sanctuary of the great Bewilderbeast as many different kinds lived and interacted peacefully with each other. A lone human stood on the edge of one of the higher cliffs, overlooking the liveliness of the nest, her loyal companion right behind her, as always.

Valka, as the woman was called, sported a frown on her face, as she looked at a small group of Scuttleclaw hatchlings play. Usually, such a sight would bring a smile to her face and lift her spirit when she felt down, but today was different. The vigilante, as dragon trappers have come to call her, was lost in memories of old times. Of her life on Berk, her friends, her husband. She often wondered how he was doing. Berk was probably still suffering from dragon raids. Valka knew there was a nest in Helheims Gate - even when she still lived on Berk Stoick would often leave to find the nest only to come empty handed and with less ships than before.

But her husband wasn't the only person who regularly crossed her mind. Her only son, Hiccup, was constantly in her thoughts. How was he doing. Hiccup was always such a wee baby. When he was born early, she feared he wouldn't make it past the winter. The healers, too, predicted that he wouldn't survive. But they wanted her to abandon her son, cast him off to the sea. Valka, of course, refused. She wanted to give him a chance. And in the end, he made it. He survived the winter.

Though, she wondered who he had taken after. Probably his father. Every time she thought about how he would look like by now, it was the image of a sturdy young boy, with muscled arms, holding the severed head of a dragon in one hand and a bloody sword in the other. She missed him dearly, though, and would love to go see him. But Valka knew that she couldn't go back to that place. Her own actions almost led to his death, how could she come back?

It didn't help that the last time she was on Berk was thirteen years ago, when Cloudjumper took her away from there. Hiccup would probably hate her for choosing to live with the dragons of the sanctuary instead of him. Also, Stoick probably remarried and gave Hiccup a mother figure. It still pained her greatly to stay away. Also, if she ever saw her son again, what would she say? Or do?

It would, undoubtly, be an awkward meeting.

But there were other reasons of why she stayed away. The threat of Drago Bludvist and his growing dragon army was too great to ignore. Valka managed to rescue many of the captured dragons, but she was still only one person against a whole army. And as long as that madman lived, leaving was out of question.

She sighed sadly as she trekked down the path to the cave she called home for thirteen years. It was getting late and she really needed some rest after a whole day of flying around and finding dragon after dragon in distress. It seemed that Drago was getting more active lately.

A questioning growl from behind pulled her out of her thoughts as her Stormcutter demanded for her attention. He must have noticed something was wrong with his rider because when she turned around, he butted her lightly in an effort to comfort her. Valka smiled sadly as she petted his head. She never bore any ill will against him for taking her.

"I'm alright. I just need some sleep and tomorrow we can fly around all day if you like."

Cloudjumper gave her an unimpressed look, but let it go and nudged her into the cave. He walked over to their usual sleeping spot and lay down. Valka joined him not long after. He felt her lean against him and breath out heavily.

"I apologize for making you worry. I just miss my boy, you know? He was, after all the smallest baby on the island."

The dragon made another questioning croon and looked out of the cave, gesturing to the outside. Valka petted his neck and shook her head.

"I can't go back. You know that. Oh, don't give me that look, you know it's true."

Her companion huffed and curled around her to comfort and protect her from the cold. His human was sad, after all, because she missed her hatchling. Maybe he should have taken it with them. If her mate hadn't shown up, he probably would have. But he was also confused. His rider refused to go back even though she could go and visit her hatchling and see her mate anytime.

Looking down at her, Couldjumper saw that she was asleep now, safely cuddled up against him.

Maybe... maybe he still had the chance to make her happy. He would just go back to the human nest and get her hatchling for her. Yes, that was a good idea! He would go and get her young and then his human would be happy again!

Cloudjumper, satisfied with his plan, carefully uncurled himself from his rider and silently crawled out of the cave, as not to wake her. He went to the edge of the nearest cliff and took off, out of the nest and set course to the human nest.

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Meanwhile on Berk, chief Stoick the Vast watched as his son worked on a new project in the forge with concern. Ever since Hiccup could crawl, he's been different. He wasn't strong like the other children in the village and disaster seemed to strike every time his son set one foot outside.

Hiccup was smarter, though, than all the others and would sit hours on end in his little workspace in the forge and tinker on some new project that would bring more destruction than good to the village. While Stoick loved his boy more than anything, he couldn't go easy on him just because he was his son and heir to the throne of Berk. Some villagers, mostly Spitelout, have been trying to persuade him to give Snotlout the title. It was understandable.

To the village, Hiccup didn't seem to have what a chief needs. He was nothing more than a nuisance to the villagers. And even if he would be chief someday, nobody would respect him and take orders from him. Stoick clung to the belief of his son growing into the Viking the village needed him to be. No more weird inventions and no more... well... Hiccup.

But as the time flew by and Hiccup grew, the hope dwindled and grew smaller.

By now he couldn't stop the disappointment that crept into his eyes every time he saw the boy. On some nights he even caught himself wishing he wasn't Hiccups father - those thoughts disturbed him greatly. He knew that, if Hiccup didn't show some more vikingness in the future, he would be forced to deny his son his birthright. The village needed to be strong. There was no place for the weak. It pained Stoick, not just because he would practically disown his only child, but because it would also feel like betraying Valka.

That boy just looked too much like her. Even acted like her sometimes. It was clear who Hiccup took after more.

This only added another problem on the chiefs already over loaded plate. Behavior such as this led to his wife being taken and most likely eaten by those beasts. He feared that Hiccup would share the same fate. Which is why he allowed him to learn blacksmithing under Gobber, in hopes of getting him to toughen up. Blacksmithing was, after all, not easy. His hopes, however, were quickly shot down. Hiccup remained the same, coming up with even crazier ideas which were much more destructive than before.

Also, the looks his son gave him sometimes made it somewhat hard to properly talk with him. The way Hiccup always looked at him with those expressive eyes, Valka's eyes. Always filled with hope and something he couldn't quite describe... it drove him mad to look into those eyes for too long.

By now, Hiccup had finished working in the forge. Stoick watched him put out the fire and lock the door, before making his way over to their house, no doubt to get some sleep. He had to be up very early in the morning, after all. There hadn't been a dragon raid for some time now and those devils were expected to show up any time now, so the weapons had to be fixed or sharpened and new ones had to be finished by the time the attack came.

Only a few people knew who exactly made most of their weapons. Most just assumed Gobber made them all but he was just one man - and he possessed only one hand, too - and he wasn't able to keep up with all the work by himself. His friend often pointed out that it was a shame that Hiccup would be chief someday, something Gobber was convinced would be the case, because he would make a fine blacksmith. The boy had a vast knowledge of this craft and nobody could say anything bad about the things he forged since they almost never broke.

The chief sighed and walked after his son. He didn't even notice the sky turning dark in his musings. As he stood in front of his home, he steeled his expression and banished the thoughts from his mind. He would protect Hiccup and make a proper viking out of him and nothing would change his mind.

As he entered, the hearth was lit and a pot filled with a tasty smelling soup hung over it. At least he could always count on the boy to make dinner for him after a long day. Maybe he should thank him later on.

Stoick ate in silence and, after finishing some left over chores, went upstairs to get some sleep. He was about to pass his son's room when he noticed the door was ajar. He peeked inside to see Hiccup at his desk, sleeping. His head rested on his crossed arms in what must have been an uncomfortable position. He must have fallen asleep while working on another crazy invention or something.

Silently, the man went over to his sleeping son and put the fur from his bed over the narrow shoulders. It wasn't recommendable to sleep without any protection against the cold, even though the people of Berk were used to it.

He gently brushed some hair out of Hiccup's face and left the room, intending to get some rest for the night.

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Hiccup wiped away the sweat from his forehead and cast a last critical look at his new invention. It was an ax thrower. It just needed to be calibrated and it should do its job right. This little thing was going to help him changing everyones opinion of him. He wasn't useless. And if he managed to kill a dragon, his father would finally be proud of him and not, like always nowadays, wear this disappointed scowl on his face whenever he looked at him.

Satisfied with his work, the boy put out the fire in the forge and locked the door, before heading home to have some dinner.

As usual, his father wasn't home, so he put some firewood in the hearth and made a small fire. While the fire grew, he cut up some vegetables and herbs and out them into a pot filled with broth, which was attached to a rod over the hearth.

Hiccup watched it cook for a bit and let his thoughts wander. He thought about his inventions and how he could improve them, how he would be accepted and loved by everyone and how they would love to have him here, alive and absolutely not useless... Then his mind turned to the darker things.

Having Snotlout and every other person his age and younger laugh at him, bullying him and treating him like dirt under their boots didn't help in making his self-confidence grow. His father never took the time to ask where all the bruises came from, not that he ever noticed them in the first place, and the rest of the village usually pretended he was air. Sometimes he wondered why he was still allowed to be here. It was obvious that the villagers wanted him gone. There were times that Hiccup thought that his father agreed with them.

Every time Stoick shouted at him in front of the village, he could hear the whispers and he would notice the accusing looks.

He was pretty good at ignoring them by now, having grown used to them over the time. But that didn't mean they weren't hurtful. Only Gobber seemed to genuinely like him. They would sometimes joke around in the forge when the workload wasn't too large and the big man would always watch over him when Stoick was gone for another nest hunt.

The next one would take place in the coming weeks. Gobber was expected to go with them, leaving Hiccup alone a month. Together with the other teens. Oh joy...

He remembered all the times his cousin and the twins would dump him somewhere, most likely tied up, telling him to go and die, and leave him there for Gobber to find. It wasn't always like this, though. He had a friend when he was younger. It was Fishlegs. But as they grew older and it showed that he would probably always be a walking fishbone, he left Hiccup to hang out with the others in fear they would make him their target instead. And any attempts to make new friends backfired horribly because the parents would always tell their children to stay away from him.

Some even told them he was cursed by the gods. He scoffed at that. And with no one to turn to (except Gobber) he stayed by himself most of the time, thinking up thing that would make life less miserable for him.

A stinging pain in his hand brought him back to reality. The soup was boiling over and some of it splashed on his hand so Hiccup hurriedly took the pot and put it down, before getting himself a bowl and taking some of the food. After finishing, he hung the pot back over the now smaller fire to keep it warm for his father and went upstairs to his room where he sat down at his desk with a charcoal pen in his hand, intend on doing something productive.

But his mind had other plans as Hiccup once again got lost in it.

Today was alright, he supposed. The bullying was kept low because most of the teens were off practicing or, in Snotlout's and the Twins' cases, making a ruckus somewhere and later blaming everything on Hiccup.

"Someday," he muttered to himself. "I'll show them. I'll prove them wrong and make them see me for who I am."

By now, his eyelids felt heavy and every time he closed his eyes, it was getting harder and harder to open them again. In the end, he rested his head on his now crossed arms and the next time his eyes closed, they didn't open again. With a goal in mind, Hiccup drifted off to sleep...

Only to be startled awake the very next moment - which could have been hours later - by a mighty roar just outside the house, followed by screams and the war horn. It didn't take very long for him to figure out what was going on.

The dragons were attacking. A raid has started.

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So, what do you think? I tried to give some insight into the life and the situation of each of the Haddocks. But we already knew that from the movies, didn't we?

Also, don't expect regular updates because I write when I'm inspired and in the mood for it. I don't want to ruin anything my not having fun with my writing and in the end write something I really don't like, which results in me having no intention on continuing before the "mistake" is fixed, which could take very long.

Sorry, I think I'm kinda ranting here so never mind, though. One last thing. The current rating may change during later chapters. Also, for everyone who is reading my other stories, the next chapter of "Survive" (Bleach) should be finished in the coming week. :3

I hope you enjoyed the chapter and don't forget to review on your way out.

Omeiku signing out!