How To Train Your Pirate
It was a cold day of the island of Berk, not that that was unusual. The entire village was gathered at the harbor eagerly awaiting the return of the warriors. Twelve year old Hiccup, as small and stringy as ever, was struggling to push his way to the front. When that failed to produce any results, he ducked down and crawled through the ocean of massive Vikings.
When he reached the front line everyone erupted into cheers and shouts. Hiccup looked out at the water to see two large Viking ships coming from over the horizon. He joined the cheers when he saw his father standing at the helm of one of the ships. They were obviously victorious.
When the ships neared, ropes were thrown from over the side of the boats and grabbed by women standing on the docks, who then pulled the ships in and tied them down.
As Vikings began climbing of the vessels Hiccup rushed forward and leapt into his father's arms. "Dad!"
"Hello, son!" Stoick hugged his son tightly before placing him on the ground. "I have a surprise for you."
A shrill shriek that sounded like the voice of rage itself rose up from the ship. Hiccup careened his head around his father's large form to get a look at the source of the noise, but was only able to catch a flash of red before other Vikings moved into his line of sight, trying to help retrain whatever it was.
Stoick moved to the side as a group of Vikings drug the thing from the boat and onto the dock to stand before the father and son. As Hiccup felt his father place his hand on his back the Vikings parted and Hiccup saw something he never expected. A young girl, around his age, was being retrained as she thrashed around desperately, spewing in a strange language what he assumed were curses. Her flaming red hair fell in loose curls around her face and her striking blue eyes were wild with rage.
"Surprise!" Gobber popped up on Hiccup's other side.
"…what?" Hiccup looked up at his father with a 'have you lost your marbles' look.
"This is the daughter of the pirate captain, though we can't get her to calm down enough to tell us her name. A fierce one she is. Been fighting us tooth and nail… and you're going to train her to be a Viking." Stoick explained like he was telling his son to train a puppy.
"…what?"
"It'll be good for you. Maybe toughen you up a bit." Stoick turned to the Vikings desperately trying to restrain her. "Take her to my house and put her in Hiccups room." Stoick commanded them and they immediately began dragging her up to the hut, kicking and screaming.
Hiccup watched as they drug the girl away, his face completely drained of all color. "She's going to kill me."
"Probably." Hiccup scowled and shifted his gaze over to the source of the oh so encouraging word. Gobber. Astrid, Snotlout, and the rest of the pre-teens walked past them, snickering at his misfortune.
A large hand clasped itself to the small boy's shoulder. "Come on son. The sooner you start working with her the less Vikings that'll end up in the hospital." Hiccup slumped his shoulders and followed his father up the docks and back to their house.
The voices of the other kids laughing and mocking him echoed in his head the entire way there. He even overheard some of the adults betting on how long he would last with the red headed viper.
~ Hiccup's House ~
Hiccup dove to the ground as a lamp came flying at his head with deadly accuracy, shattering against the wall behind him. The young pirate, who had been set loose in his room, grabbed anything she could get her hands on and chucked it at the small Viking, screaming in her strange language at him.
"Hey! Hey! I'm not going to hurt you!" Hiccup held up his hands in surrender, slightly cowering from the terrifying girl. Only slightly.
Once again she spoke in a language he couldn't understand with an angry tone, but nonetheless paused in her assault.
Hiccup tried to think of something else to say or do. The first thing he noticed was her strange clothes. "Do you want some different clothes?"
She stared blankly at him. Hiccup tugged at his shirt. "Clothes."
He saw realization dawn on her and she looked down at her clothes. They were old, worn, and torn up from the battle.
She looked back up at Hiccup and pulled at her own ripped up shirt. "C-Close."
Hiccup looked at her, startled, then smiled softly and very carefully walked over to his dresser so as not to set her off and started rummaging through it to find something for her to wear. Luckily, at 9 years old, her and Hiccup weren't very different in body shape, though she looked quite a bit thinner, more than she should have actually. But living on the sea practically 24/7 probably didn't offer the best nutrition.
After a few minutes, Hiccup pulled back from his dresser with a long sleeved green tunic and belt in one hand and a pair of pants and furry boots in the other. She gave him a long, hard stare before slowly edging over to him and grabbing the stuff. The red headed pre-teen looked at Hiccup expectantly, which took him a few moments to understand.
"Oh! Right! Uhh…I'll close my eyes and turn around." Hiccup demonstrated by making a show of squeezing his eyes shut, clamping his hand over them, and turning his back to her. Hiccup was unable to see the shocked expression on the pirate's face that he actually trusted her enough to leave himself vulnerable like that.
Her lightning blue eyes were instantly drawn to the small dagger resting at Hiccup's hip.
Hiccup heard footsteps approach him from behind, but stayed true to his word and kept his eyes closed. He felt the girl's hand on his shoulder which then spun him around to face her. He took this as an indication to open his eyes and thus did so.
The red haired girl stood before him, her hands hidden behind her back and a large, mischievous smile on her face. She was wearing the tunic with the leather belt strapped high up on her waist giving it a more feminine, dress look. She was also wearing the leggings, which were a bit loose but still fit, and the boots. Another item, one Hiccup had not given her, gleamed from its place tucked into her belt. Hiccup's hand automatically went to were his dagger was strapped to his side only to find it was indeed gone.
"How did you do that?!" He looked back up at the girl who now wore a large, prideful grin on her face and was twirling the small blade in her hand. While she couldn't understand the words he spoke, she knew fully well what he was saying.
Hiccup placed a hand on his hip and held out the other one. "Alright. Give it back."
Her blue eyes stared intensely into Hiccup's own brown ones, her face now dangerously somber and her hand tightly gripping the hilt of the dagger, and Hiccup realized exactly how serious the situation was. The pirate had two choices. She could hand over the dagger and thus ally herself with the Vikings or she could kill him now and avenge her tribe's death at the hands of the Vikings.
Hiccup let the hand on his hip fall limp at his side and bravely stood tall despite the impending fear of death, keeping the other outstretched. She made up her mind. She thrust the dagger forward... and dropped it into Hiccup's hand. He stared at the piece of metal laying in his palm in wonder, and then looked at her with equal shock.
The girl was terribly saddened over the death of her parents and her tribe, but she was a pirate and had been raised a pirate her whole life so it did not hit her as hard as it would have another child. The boy standing before her was unlike anyone else she head even met. He wasn't exactly tough, but he was kind and brave, so she decided to give him a chance and let him show her his world.
She smiled at him and placed her hand over her chest. "Svala."
Hiccup returned both the smile and the gesture, dropping the dagger onto the floor. "Hiccup."