There was once, very long ago, in a land far away, a tower standing in the woods, in that tower was the king's child, trapped there by a dangerous wizard no one had ever seen or heard. It was said that the child was beautiful, with soft brown hair and green eyes that sparkled.

Many rumours spread throughout the kingdom. One said that she who was trapped was terribly rude to the wizard, who had, in turn, locked her away that no one would have to suffer her mannerisms. Another was whispered that the king decreed that whoever saved the maiden would be blessed with her hand. Some say that the princess and wizard fell in love and the king, being horribly prejudiced against magic creatures, locked away his daughter so as to keep her away from her love.

Only one account proved to be accurate in the slightest.

Knights and warriors who heard tell of the second tale rushed to free and wed the beautiful princess. They were sorely disappointed when they found the tower.

For in the stone belfry abode a boy. A scrawny, dorky, sarcastic prince who laughed at the knights for falling for such a clichéd tale. It was thusly his own fault that he remained trapped, and would stay this way for a very long time.

XxX

A prince called Hiccup was not alone, but that didn't mean he wasn't lonely. Every week his father would bring him baskets of food and things to tinker with, place them on the boy's invented pulley system, and, after awkwardly making an attempt at conversation, leave.

The boy had a vast imagination to keep him busy, so he could often escape his reality, but more often than not a brave knight would come along to 'rescue' him. In those instances, he would pick himself up from the floor he was likely laying on, sketching his next invention, and taunt the man until he on the ground was red in the face, shouting insults to the boy.

"You'll never escape! The rest of us are better off without you!"; "No wonder you're locked away, stay there forever!"; "I hope you rot!"

Prince Hiccup would merely roll his eyes and return to his blueprints, but the droplets that fell on the page were not, as he would later convince himself, a leak in the roof.

And then, once upon a time, there was a girl. The warrioress who heard tales of a poor princess in a tower who needed rescuing. The girl did not believe in damsels in distress, but she did believe in search and rescue missions, which was what she made this out to be. And she certainly believed in rewards.

Determined to relieve the alleged trapped princess of her captivity, a girl named Astrid set out into the woods, an axe strapped across her back. She travelled through the thick forest and into the night, setting up camp as she needed.

After two days and a night's travel, her only map being landmarks passingly mentioned in fairy tales, the warrior came upon a clearing. In the midst of the clearing loomed a spire, stretching intimidatingly to the sky.

Uncertainly approaching the moss and ivy covered tower, Astrid swallowed her fear, "Princess?"

She heard a frustrated grunt come from above and a face appeared in the window at the very top of the fortress. "For the last time! I'm not-" but Hiccup's words died in his throat as he stared open-mouthed at his new attempted hero. She retrieved her axe from it's place on her back. ""Where is the princess?" she demanded. "Are you the wizard, her captor?"

Then he noticed she was the same as everyone else. "Come to save the princess?" He scoffed. "Sorry, miss, you've been misinformed. All that's trapped here is me. Even if you save me, I won't marry you, if that's what you're after." He watched amusedly as her brow furrowed further, thinking her cute for a moment before shaking away the thought.

"Do you think these make a difference to me?"

What?

"You actually honestly want to save me?" the prince was bewildered. That's a new one. He wondered how long it would be before she gave up. They all did. Rewards weren't worth trying to break into a tower while being taunted to that which you're trying to rescue.

The girl below him began to circle the tower. Hiccup ran to the window on the opposite end of his imprisonment.

"There's a door." the girl said flatly and gave him a blank stare. She stands before an iron door on the back of the tower.

"The metal's been melded together." He rests his chin in his palm. "It's rusted shut," he mused, "there's a force pushing from the other side. Take your pick, it won't open."

The girl tossed him a glare. "It'll open." she assured him. Hiccup found the whole ordeal pointless, and told her so.

"This whole ordeal is pointless." he sighed, frustrated. "No one will want to be around me when I'm free. What does it matter?"

The warrior ignored him. "Do you have knifes? Really sharp ones?"

"Uh..." Hiccup nodded, utterly unused to this treatment. Wordlessly he went to grab a box of weapons. He attached the box to a string and let it down to her.

Astrid opened the box and carefully selected knives one by one, holding as many as her clenched fists could grasp. She dropped them at the base of Hiccup's tower, just below the back window. Hiccup opened his mouth to ask her what she was doing just before he heard a loud 'chk' and looked down to see her digging a second knife between his tower's bricks.

He marvels at how sure-footed she was as she climbs up the tower, digging knives into the tower higher and higher. The process was taking a while, as she had to descend her knife staircase each time she dug a new step, to retrieve a new knife. So Hiccup began to talk to her.

After ten minutes of silence, the boy, frustrated, reapproached his window to watch her progress. "Hello," he finally said.

"Hello." she replied, grunting as she stabbed his tower once again. He went silent once more. Then,

"Why are you trying to save me?" He wandered away from his window and took a seat backwards on a chair.

"Honestly? Money. I also didn't like the idea of someone stuck in tower by themselves."

"Do you regret it?" Being on the ground once more, she had the time and ability to cast him a concerned, somewhat stern stare. "Most people give up trying to 'rescue' me once they figure out I'm just a sarcastic, wimpy boy."

"They must not care about your well-being." she responded airily, shrugging as best she could as she climbed.

"Thanks," Hiccup tossed back dryly, then froze. "Do you care?"

He was met with silence. After another good five minutes, he heard her call up, "So what's your name, Prince?"

"Hiccup. What's yours?" he slowly reapproached the window when he saw a grinning blonde head pop up. He couldn't tear his eyes away from her electrifying blue ones.

"I'm Astrid, and, Prince-y, I've rescued you."

Dahdah I hope you enjoyed Chapter One. There should be a couple chapters after this one uvu

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