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Disclaimer: I don't own anything from the How to Train Your Dragon franchise.
A/N: This story is an A.U. and does NOT always follow the canon events from the movies and t.v. series, so don't be surprised to see things happening differently from what you know. Also, my dragons are super smart and can talk telepathically, so don't have a fit when they start talking. :P
How To Light Up Your Night
Astrid and Hiccup were thrown together from the day she was born not even two weeks after he was. Is it any wonder that stories are still told to this day about their epic romance and how they changed the world for all Vikings?
Their story went something like this (with a few deviations for other important characters :P):
Motherless:
As shouts and dragon roars filled the air outside their home, Alga Hofferson cradled her one month old baby to her chest as she watched her husband of three years run around their bedroom while he tugged on armour and gathered up his weapons.
"Be careful out there, Hector," she said with a hint of worry in her voice. "The dragons are becoming more daring with every raid. I would hate to lose you."
Hector paused long enough to smile at his beautiful, slender, golden haired wife. He balanced her chin on his finger as he brushed a kiss over her mouth and then placed another on the white blonde fluff on top of Astrid's head. "I'll be fine, sweetheart. And just think, next time the dragons come, you get to have all the fun while I look after the little one."
Alga smiled in anticipation as she gave Hector a playful punch to his thick muscled arm. "Right. You know I'm holding you to that."
Hector laughed as he strode out of their room and towards the outer door. "I wouldn't dare do anything else, my fierce wife. I like my equipment in functioning order."
Alga smirked as she followed her brawny husband; a man handsome enough to make her sigh in happy bliss whenever he wasn't paying attention. (Couldn't ruin the tough girl image, you know.) "I like your equipment in working order, too, babe."
Hector turned back with a hand on the now open door, winking a sky blue eye at her. "We can give it another test run when I get back, sweetness."
Alga snorted and pushed him out the door. "Maybe if you take out a Deadly Nadder, I might be sufficiently impressed," she teased with a gleam of anticipation in her royal blue eyes.
"Then I'll be sure to do just that," he called over his shoulder as he plunked his helmet over his long, multi-braided, white blond hair.
Alga sighed softly as she watched his broad shouldered form meld into the dark night interspersed with dragon flames and flakes of snow.
Only moments later, another, even broader, figure emerged from the dark, running up to her house with a baby tucked under his arm like a ball and his battleaxe gripped in his other hand.
"Alga. Thank Thor," Stoick the Vast, Chieftain of their tribe said as he thrust the small baby at her. "Here. Take care of Hiccup for me, would you? I don't know how I let Valka talk me into watching the youngling when there's dragons to fight?!"
Alga snuggled the auburn haired male baby that was no bigger than her own girl against her chest as well, laughing to herself as the clearly agitated man stormed into the fray without even waiting to see if Alga was welcome to the idea of taking care of two drooling and cooing babies.
She looked down at the pair, who were now staring at each other in apparent fascination, and smiled lovingly at them. "At least you two get along."
With one last longing glance at the (literally) heated battle taking place in the village of Berk, Alga reluctantly closed the door.
The Viking woman known as Valka Haddock carried a sword and was armoured from head to toe, but actually fighting the dragons was never her intention.
Instead, while in the guise of defending her village, she was actually looking for evidence of her theory that the dragons didn't actually intend them harm, but were just looking of food. She winced as another hut went up in flames with the help of a two headed dragon called a Hideous Zippleback. That... wasn't helping.
"My sheep!"
Ears figuratively perking at the scream from nearby, Valka ran down the wooden platform masquerading as a street then climbed a ladder up to the next level of the village.
She skidded to a stop when she saw the massive brown Stormcutter dragon hovering over a flock of Hairy Handor's sheep. Despite her unwillingness to hurt such a magnificent dragon, she knew the sheep were important to the survival of the people of Berk, so she charged forward with her sword raised high and screamed out a Viking cry at the beast.
Its head swivelled around on its neck as the four massive wings flapped in the air, creating a current that made it hard for Valka to move forward against. She set her shoulders and pushed forward anyway, eyebrows rising in surprise when she swore the dragon rolled its eyes at her in a mocking fashion.
She'd almost made it to the admittedly sketchy looking fence holding the sheep in when her fearless husband leapt from a higher level of the mountainside village right onto the back of the dragon. The Stormcutter roared in fury, spewing flames from its wide mouth as Stoick raised his massive battleaxe to strike the dragon.
Valka froze and then dropped to the ground as the dragon spun and more flames shot over her head. She looked up in time to see Stoick go flying through the air and then land near the sheep in a graceful roll, startling the usually placid beasties into a chorus of 'baaaaaaas'. (Apparently a dragon flapping overhead wasn't worth their notice anymore.)
He jumped back onto his feet and charged at the dragon again with an impressive warcry.
She could only watch as man and dragon danced through the night, flames spewing everywhere and husband dodging, leaping, and rolling as he continued his determined attack on the dragon with his battleaxe flashing reflected firelight.
A loud crack behind her caught her attention. Valka turned just in time to see the house she'd been standing near crack again as dragon flames ate through the supporting beams in an alarmingly speedy fashion.
"Valka! MOVE!" rang through the air even as she was already running the first step away from death. She was a little too preoccupied with not dying to notice that Stoick's yell had a bit of an echo inside her mind.
A massive brown body suddenly appeared above her just as the house tumbled over in a cacophony of falling timber. Large claws wrapped around her shoulders and dug into her armour but didn't go past her layers of fur and tunics. Valka was carried up into the air, heart in her throat and breath frozen in fear.
"VALKA!" Stoick yelled from below.
She looked down and saw him running after her and her captor. "STOICK!" Valka called back, hand reaching for him beseechingly despite already being higher than he could possibly reach.
In a last ditch attempt to stop the dragon from stealing his wife, Stoick threw his battleaxe as hard as he could, aiming for a wing.
Valka heard the Stormcutter roar as the axe struck true before being dislodged with the next flap of its mighty wings. Its flight faltered in the air for a moment before it determinedly flew on, ignoring the tear in the skin of its wing.
Valka strained her neck around as best as she could for one last glimpse of her husband as he was forced to stop at the edge of a cliff. "VALKAAAAAAAA!" tore through the night sky one more time as he fell to his knees.
Tears fell from her eyes. "Stoick," she whimpered. "Hiccup. Take care of our baby," she implored the air, hoping her husband heard her heart's last wish as she was flown to what she assumed was her doom.
The Stormcutter bent its head down and looked at her curiously, no malice in its eyes anymore.
"Please. Take me back," she begged the dragon.
"No," came back a very clear deep male voice in her mind.
Valka stopped breathing in shock. "What did you say?" she managed to wheeze out of empty lungs after a minute.
"I said no," the dragon thought to her once more before he blinked once and looked up again at where he was going. He continued on his journey to some unknown location through the winter clouds, heedless of her cries to take her back or at least explain himself.
After an hour, she gave up and just processed the fact that dragons, or at least THIS dragon, had the ability to mind speak. Valka was flabbergasted to say the least. It raised so many questions and made the war with the dragons seem even more wrong to her. If dragons were intelligent beings and not just animals, then humans had no business slaughtering them hither and yon, defending their livestock or not.
Stoick lost the will to move for the better part of an hour, just staring off into the distance where the dragon and his beloved wife had disappeared into.
His heart felt like it had shattered into a million pieces and it hurt to breath as if those pieces were stabbing him from within.
By the time he worked up the energy to move, he was near frozen and covered in snow, but he hardly noticed, the cold in his soul so much greater than what his body was feeling. He trudged back into the village, barely noticing that the battle was over and people were putting out the last few sputters of flames.
Out of habit, his feet walked to his home at the top of the village, every step feeling just as arduous as the last. He walked into the living area and stopped, staring at the hearth that had a cauldron of fragrant smelling stew bubbling away in it. His appetite for dinner was long gone so he swept his eyes elsewhere.
They landed on the cradle in the corner beside the couch and he suddenly straightened.
Hiccup!
His son!
He still had his son!
Suddenly rejuvenated, Stoick spun on his heel and he speedwalked back down the pathways towards the Hofferson house. About halfway there, his best friend, Gobber, caught up to him, holding Stoick's battleaxe.
"Stoick! There you are! Some of us were starting to worry, since Sven found this near his house and not a sign of you to be found."
Stoick took his battleaxe almost reluctantly, feeling rather like a failure at the moment, but as the Chief of the tribe, he forced himself to push that aside for now. He had to keep up appearances for the sake of his people, no matter what. "Thanks, Gobber. I thought I'd lost it when I threw it at a Stormcutter."
"Hmmmmph," Gobber said, not quite convinced. He could see that Stoick wasn't quite himself, having been friends since they were children. He followed his leader to the Hofferson house and watched him bang on the door, still waiting for whatever was wrong to make itself known.
Stoick was relieved when the door finally opened and Alga smiled at him as she handed over Hiccup. "He was an angel, the little darling. Feel free to bring him over anytime. Astrid actually likes him, unlike that time Helga brought Snotlout over; she wailed the whole time the little Jorgenson was sharing her crib."
Stoick dropped his battleaxe as he cradled his son against his chest, a stronger, nearly overwhelming love for his son growing as he treasured the last piece of his wife he'd ever see. "Thank you, Alga," he said solemnly. "I might have to do that more than you expected, though. He's going to need a nursemaid."
"What?!" erupted from the voices of Alga, Gobber, and Hector, who'd come up behind his wife, cradling a sleeping Astrid in his arm.
Stoick kept his gaze firmly on the reddish brown fuzz on his son's head that was the exact same shade as Valka's beautiful hair while he very reluctantly said, "A Stormcutter carried her off. Valka is gone."
"Oh, Stoick," Alga said softly, putting a gentle hand on his arm for a moment. "I'm so sorry. We will miss her, too. But don't worry about Hiccup. I and the other women will make sure he gets all the milk he needs."
Stoick nodded once. "Thank you." Head bowed over his son, he turned and walked back up to his home.
Gobber sighed after his friend as he bent down and retrieved the battleaxe once again. "Poor Stoick. You know he's taking it hard when he forgets his favourite weapon."
Hector and Alga nodded in agreement as they watched their Chief and friend walk away like the weight of the world had settled on his broad shoulders. They shared a look, so grateful that the same fate hadn't happened to them.
That was the first and last time a dragon stole a human from the village, but the war against the dragons intensified tenfold as Stoick's hate for dragons increased as well. They built better weapons to hit the dragons with such as catapults and trebuchets and they increased their sentries to have a better warning of a dragon attack.
Stoick believed the reason no other humans were ever taken was because of the increased defences and the stepped up warfare training he put his people through.
In reality, the true reason the dragons weren't interested in the humans was much simpler; none of the other humans were sympathetic to the dragons and they could sense it, being highly empathic and telepathic creatures.
After what felt like the entire night, but was actually three and a half hours of being held in the talons of a flying beast who danced and jumped the clouds like it was a game, Valka was taken to an intimidating looking island of ice. The Stormcutter flew into a cave, agilely navigating through the winding tunnel.
After half a minute, it suddenly dropped her.
Valka hit the ice floor hard, but immediately bounced back onto her feet. She ignored how her arms tingled with returning circulation and kept an eye on the dragon that landed in front of her.
They eyed each other for a minute before the brown dragon turned his back to her and walked further into the tunnel.
"Why did you bring me here?" Valka called after him, carefully following.
The dragon glanced back over his shoulder for half a moment and then walked on.
Valka frowned at its back, but followed nonetheless. It's not like she had a better option; swimming home over the vast ocean would be impossible. "I know you can talk, so why don't you demonstrate the ability again?" she called after it.
The dragon snorted loudly and looked back at her over his shoulder again. "I will talk when I wish to and not when a stupid human demands it of me."
The words rang through her head in an exasperated tone, making Valka smirk as she walked behind the dragon. "Ha. I just got you to talk, so who's the smarter one now?"
The dragon froze for half a step before a rumble emerged from his chest that sounded suspiciously like laughter. "Very good, human known as Valka. Very good."
Valka smiled to herself as she noticed that the air was getting warmer with every step even as the tunnel narrowed until it was just big enough for the Stormcutter to walk through with his four wings tucked tight to its body.
They turned a corner and suddenly the world opened up before her as the dragon moved off to the side so she could see as she came to a stop beside him.
Valka gasped as she saw the water and ice paradise filled with dragons of all shapes and sizes. "It's beautiful," she whispered in awe.
Staring out over the steaming pools of water with baby dragons playing within, slides of ice with dragons zipping down, and countless ledges and nooks with adults napping on them, Valka felt her heart fill with an emotion that could only be described as 'home'.
Despite loving Stoick, she'd always felt different from the others of her tribe. She'd hated the war with the dragons. Hated the needless killing. Hated how it was accepted as just the way things were.
And her husband had never understood her desire for change.
Valka released a quiet sigh as the peaceful scene settled in her soul. "Thank you for showing me this," she said to the dragon standing motionless beside her. "I don't suppose you're going to eat me now, are you?"
The dragon turned his head and stared at her, reading her emotions or whatever he was doing. And then he grinned, opening his mouth and showing lots of sharp teeth. "Humans don't taste very good, so, no, I'm not going to eat you."
Valka snorted, smiling. "That's what I thought." She studied him for a minute, noting the intelligence and curiosity in his big yellow eyes. "Why did you save me? Why did you take me?"
He sighed and looked away for a moment, studying the other dragons that were slowly but surely noticing that there was a human in their midst. "Because you are different from the other humans and you didn't belong with them."
"You're right about that," Valka admitted. "Thank you, I suppose." He looked at her again and nodded once in acknowledgment. Shaking her head at herself, and scrunching up one side of her face, she nevertheless reached out a hand towards his blunt muzzle.
She watched with half an eye, ready to snatch her hand back in an instant if the soft look in the dragon's eyes changed, and waited to see what the dragon would do.
Stretching out his neck, the Stormcutter sniffed her fingers, then licked her hand, and then put its muzzle under it, initiating contact.
Valka shivered at feeling living dragon scales under her fingers for the first time. It was a truly thrilling experience she would never forget. Blue human eyes met dragon yellow and stayed locked as she gently stroked its nose.
"Do you have a name?" she murmured. "You know mine, so it's only fair that I know the name of the dragon that is going to be my companion for the foreseeable future."
The dragon's eyes widened for a moment before a contented look came over him. "Cloudjumper," he rumbled in her mind. "My name is Cloudjumper." And with that, he bumped her hand with his nose and then lunged towards her.
Valka 'eeped' unintentionally at the sudden movement but forced her muscles to stay still. She was rewarded by having the back of her tunic grabbed gently in his teeth as Cloudjumper picked her up and placed her on his back where the neck met the shoulders.
She grabbed a spine on the back of his head as he leapt up into the air and rumbled out a happy roar as he flew over the dragon sanctuary.
Valka laughed exultantly as the dragon she now thought of as hers told all of the other curious dragons about his new human pet.
With the wind whipping through her braided hair and a smile plastered to her face, Valka rode her very first dragon as it joyfully circled the massive cave. Hundreds of dragons joined them in a colourful array of species, swooping together just for the joy of it.
The feeling of 'home' increased in Valka and she knew in that moment that she could never go back to Berk; not as long as hunting and killing dragons was the norm.
She had just one regret that would haunt her for years:
She would be leaving her husband without a wife and her son without a mother.