Disclaimer: Dreamworks owns How To Train Your Dragon
To Be A Viking: Chapter One: The Old and New Axe
AN: So…obviously I got a little obsessed with HTTYD, which isn't really a good thing because I've got so many other fics I could be writing, but I couldn't help it! It has been theorized that Astrid already had budding feelings for Hiccup before he took her on the "Romantic Flight" so I'm kind of just expanding on that. This story follows Astrid as she goes through her journey from Dragon Killer Trainee to Dragon Rider. Some pieces of this chapter include two deleted scenes that never made it to the cut.
Astrid Hofferson was thirteen when her whole world came crashing down. She had sat completely still before Chief Stoick in his home, unable to comprehend what had been said.
"No," she'd whispered. "You're wrong! My mother and father were too-" The words faded, clogged in her throat. They were too good, too smart to be killed by dragons, it just wasn't possible.
Stoick's eyes held understanding. Astrid knew the story about his wife, Valka, who had been eaten by dragons much like her own parents. "I am terribly sorry, Astrid," he said in his low voice, mournful to her ears. "All we could recover was this."
Astrid hardly noticed as he placed her father's helmet and her mother's metal shoulder pads into her hands. They were cool to the touch and Astrid wished she could stop the tears that fell, peppering the metal. Vikings weren't supposed to cry! She wasn't supposed to cry! She was Astrid Hofferson! The pride of the Hofferson clan!
But Astrid couldn't force the tears back into her eyes or staunch the flow of them, no matter how strongly she willed it. She bowed her head over the helmet and pads.
"Is the-is the dragon dead?" she rasped, her heart beating painfully in her chest.
"Yes, Astrid, you don't need to worry about that," he said, reaching out, but she shied away.
"Their weapons…were they destroyed?" she asked.
"Gobber has the remnants…he could re-forge them if you like?"
But Astrid didn't answer.
"Astrid," the man said kindly, "we need to talk about you."
"Why?"
"Astrid, you're only thirteen-"
"I've reached majority age!" Astrid snapped out, suddenly full of fire. This was a conversation her parents had had with her countless times, and countless times she had shot them down. Marriage. It wasn't seen as out of the ordinary for girls her age to marry, in fact, it was quite common, but that didn't mean that Astrid liked it any. She wanted the freedom to choose, to do anything really. She didn't want to be tied down to some man as a trophy of beauty, she wanted to be her own person, to breathe and fight as a Viking regardless of her gender or marital status.
"I will not marry," she finished, "I don't need to."
Her father had been suggesting Snotlout Jorgenson, the nephew of Stoick, as a possible husband. Astrid had gagged. He was the ideal Viking; strong and excellent with weapons…and not very intelligent. But he wasn't Astrid's ideal at all.
Astrid had her eyes set on someone else entirely.
She stood suddenly, clamping her hands on the only things left from her parents that she would ever get. "Excuse me." And she strode away, opening the door and turning swiftly at the muffled complaint at the movement.
Blue eyes met green and Astrid found herself captivated. Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III's eyes had always seemed much brighter and much more expressive than his father, Stoick's. Hiccup's cheeks flushed with color that darkened the longer she stared at him and she quickly forced her eyes from him, her cheeks a faint pink, her fingers tightening on the items in her hands as she left.
Hiccup watched her go, a frown on his face. It was no secret that he had a massive crush on her, practically everyone on the island knew that, except, thankfully, her (or so he thought). She was fierce and strong and relentless and beautiful, how could someone not fall for her with all those traits?
For someone as tough as her, it was strange to see her so…downtrodden, but her parents had just been killed, so she had every right to be. He had never seen her cry before, and that was startling by itself. He only knew the loss of a single parent, granted he didn't even have any memories of his mother when she'd been killed, but the loss of both of them at the same time must have been even worse, especially considering that she'd known them for thirteen years.
His frown deepened as he stared after her. She had asked about her parents' weapons hadn't she? Maybe he could help with that, if nothing else. And so he made towards the forge hoping that Gobber hadn't done anything with the weapons.
Astrid wanted to kill something so bad by the time she got back to her empty house.
"Behold the Hoffersons," she told herself mockingly in a frigid voice, "one of the strongest clans that Berk has to offer, now scaled down to one survivor."
She and her parents were the last of a dying clan. Her grandfather had died years ago, her uncle Finn perished to a Zippleback when she was a child, and her aunt Greda had died out at sea attempting to pay tribute to Odin by sailing to the edge of the world.
She was alone.
Astrid beat her fists against the door until her knuckles throbbed and bled and it was only then that she let out a cry of frustration. It wasn't fair! Why did her parents of all people have to be the ones that died? They were good! They were strong! Astrid could only sink to the ground and sob like she never had before, feeling for once as though she was the thirteen year old girl that she was. She cried out of pain, out of sorrow, and out of exhaustion until the only this she could do was nod off against the door.
The next morning she would awaken to find her father's axe-blade re-forged onto a longer haft that suited her perfectly even if she would have to grow into using the weight of it.
And she smiled and one green-eyed boy was the only one to see it.
By age fourteen Astrid had quite adapted to using the axe, but it still needed to be sharpened before dragon training began, so she headed towards the forge with a spring in her step. And that was not because of one someone who had caught her eye.
Astrid didn't remember the first time she met Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, to her it had been as if he had suddenly popped into her life; green-eyed, covered in freckles, and completely horrible at dragon-slaying. He was everything she wasn't, and in a way it fascinated her. He was rather intelligent, of course, any of his inventions could attest to that, and rather cute (though she would never say that out loud), but he was so thin and lanky and without any Viking skill...So why was it that she couldn't resist glancing at him out of the corner of her eye? Why was it that her heart beat a little faster when she was around him? And she couldn't help but love the way his eyebrows scrunched together when he was concentrating, or the way he flopped his hands around when he spoke.
And when she'd glance at him, he'd already be looking and would blush pink and shift his eyes away quickly, and that was exhilarating.
Her parents would not have approved, she knew that well enough; he was too…un-Viking.
"Don't take it to heart, kid," Gobber said from within, making her pause before announcing her entrance. "It's his job to be tough on everyone!"
"I'm not everyone," Hiccup complained before sighing and muttering in a resigned voice. "But it doesn't matter." He exhaled lowly, picking up a pair of prongs. "The guy is impossible to please." He handed the prongs to Gobber who used them to pry a steaming sword from the stone it had been forged from, depositing it in water to cool.
"He just doesn't want to appear to be playing favorites," Gobber said wisely.
"He's covered in that department, believe me," Hiccup said dryly as Gobber lifted the sword to take it to the anvil to reshape it, and he rushed to assist. "If I didn't live in the same house with him, I wouldn't even know he was my father."
Astrid winced where she stood. It sounded like Hiccup and his father were still having a bunch of issues, then. And it hadn't really helped that Hiccup had supposedly cut down a Nightfury earlier in the previous night. Astrid said supposedly, because he'd said this several times before. Hiccup, sadly, took village idiot to a whole new level.
Gobber banged a hammer down on the blade. "Have you told him that?" he demanded.
"Of course not! We barely even make eye contact," Hiccup grumbled, flipping the blade. "And when we do, it's always this disappointed scowl like he's been cheated or like someone skimped on the meat in his sandwich." His eyebrows furrowed into one of his own scowls before doing a surprisingly good impersonation of his father's voice. "'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 fish bone!'"
Gobber chuckled at his apt impersonation of his father. "No, no, you're thinking about this all wrong," he told him, "it's not so much what you look like, its what's inside that he can't stand."
Astrid face-palmed. Wow, Gobber, wait to go with that blunt insult.
Hiccup's face was as wry as his voice. "Thank you, for summing that up for me."
"No," Gobber said in an off-hand sort of way, "I mean, there's the Viking way and then there's your way. And your way makes grown men uncomfortable."
"Speaking of uncomfortable, I'd like a new conversation please," Hiccup said in the same wry voice as before.
"Alright," Gobber conceded, his uni-brow waggling a bit, "how's it going with the ladies?"
"Oh, yeah, way to get the mood back on track," Hiccup said with heavy sarcasm.
"Ah, come on!" Gobber said grinning devilishly. "I've seen the way you look at Astrid."
Astrid took a step back, her cheeks flushing a bit, but she couldn't keep a smile from forming.
"Please. Astrid wouldn't come near me if she was on fire and I had the only bucket of water in the town," Hiccup said, crossing his arms uncomfortably.
"Hey." Astrid stepped forward, balancing her axe over her shoulder, startling the pair of them, which made her smirk. "Can I get this sharpened?"
"Astrid!" His green eyes widened at the sight of her and then his cheeks pinked. "Hi, Astrid. Hello, there. Welcome. What can I do-"
She hoisted the axe off her shoulder and lodging it into wood.
"Hey…" Hiccup trailed off a bit nervously.
"My, uh, manly apprentice here will service all of your needs," Gobber said, shoving Hiccup forward and towards Astrid who could only raise an eyebrow, he didn't seem to notice Hiccup's glare. "I have to go…get…some…I'm just gonna go outside." And he quickly made himself scarce.
Hiccup chuckled nervously, meeting her eyes. "Gobber."
Astrid didn't comment, she only pulled her axe out of the wood and held it out to him, but the weight of it was greater than he recalled and he almost dropped it.
"Okay," he grunted under the weight, "Razor-sharp battle axe coming right up."
"Careful!" Astrid had to add as he accidentally dragged it along the floor, fighting the urge to go over and wrench it from him; it was one of her most prized possessions. "That's my father's."
"I know." Hiccup had spoken out of reflex, recognizing his own handwork easily and didn't even realize what he had said.
Astrid froze. He knew? How could he have known…unless…her heart beat a little quicker…had he been the one to forge it for her?
"So," Hiccup said, not noticing the internal thoughts plaguing her, "I-I saw you guys on fire patrol last night. Looked like a good time."
Astrid grinned. "Am I making you nervous?"
"What? No! No-no-no!" But his cheeks flooded with color. "Why would you ask that?"
"You're stuttering," Astrid said, crossing her arms, "you only do that when you're nervous."
Hiccup stared at her. How did she even know that?
Astrid coughed suddenly, realizing what she had said. "But it was alright, fire patrol, I mean, no burns, though."
"Oh…wait, you shouldn't-"
Astrid had pushed aside a small side door to reveal a number of sketches and diagrams covering a small table and the walls of the small room. "What is all of this?"
"Oh, um, those?" Hiccup said nervously, making to approach her. "Nothing. Just some stuff I'm working on. It's just…confidential, upper level development. I can't really talk about it…so…"
Confidential, upper level development? Astrid stifled her amusement to examine a few sketches with interest. "The Mutilator," she read aloud.
She could hear the sigh in his voice. "Yes, yes. Basically it uses twin-weighted counter-levers to launch crisscrossing blades in four different directions."
"Impressive," she mused to herself, not noticing the pleased grin that wormed its way onto Hiccup's face. "How do you hold it?" She wouldn't have minded a weapon like that; it sounded handy.
"Oh, you don't," Hiccup said quickly, eager to keep the conversation going. This was probably the longest she'd ever talked to him, probably to anyone in the past year. And she wasn't glaring at him like the way she did towards his cousin, Snotlout, whenever he tried to flirt with her or impress her. Hiccup's heart soared. "You shoot it."
"Oh," Astrid said with a bit disappointment, "that's too bad, I'm more of a hands-on kind of girl." She blushed once she realized what she had just said. "I-I mean I prefer using my axe, is all." She brushed a few blonde strands out of her eye. She sighed. "At least tomorrow will be better," she said more to herself than to Hiccup, but he caught the words all the same.
He scrunched his eyebrows together in confusion. "You're happy…to wave goodbye?" The ships would be leaving in the morning for the search for the dragon's home island, striking at the source, or so his father said. But none of them even knew where to start looking other than the general direction.
Astrid laughed and it rang in his ears. "No, stupid, they need replacements to defend the town; we start training in the morning, fighting dragons."
Hiccup gave a forlorn sigh as he finished the axe and handed it back to her. "Good luck."
He turned away and Astrid wondered if she had said something wrong. Maybe he was still down about what he had done during the attack the day previously.
"Hiccup…"
"Hm?"
Astrid contemplated her words. "You've got a brilliant mind…you just have to aim better, that's all."
Hiccup could only watch her go, the heat returning to his cheeks. Gobber should take a leaf out of Astrid's book on how to give a compliment and advice at the same time.
Astrid was awake when the sun rose, out in the forest throwing her new and improved axe. Whatever Hiccup had done…it was lighter and sharper; in short, she loved it.
"Hah!" She vaulted into the air, swinging with all her might, lodging it fast into the trunk of a pine that trembled dangerously as she removed it.
She grinned, twisting it in her hand. "I'm liking this."
The sun was a quarter of the way up on the horizon when she finally paused her training to strap the axe to her back and head back into town which was already looking quite vacant. The forge was empty, as was the Great Hall, and the Armory was missing a little over half of its weapons.
The ships seemed to be just about to set sail as she descended to the docks and the warriors seemed to be saying a few last goodbyes to their families, so Astrid kept a polite distance.
She didn't know why she came down to the docks every time the ships left. It wasn't as though she had anyone to say farewell to. Her parents were in Valhalla and they weren't coming back. She mostly came down to the dock out of habit, from doing it so many times as a child, but it always irritated her nowadays.
These Vikings had families, people to say goodbye to. Astrid didn't have anyone. She ground her teeth together as she watched Snotlout hug his father and Fishlegs embrace both of his parents. They were the lucky ones, really.
And then there was Hiccup standing awkwardly holding a one-sided axe that didn't suit him at all. He was standing several feet away from his father and determinedly avoiding his eye (Stoick the Vast was impressive on his own, but Astrid doubted that that was why he wouldn't meet his eye).
"I'll be back," she could hear the chief tell his son, "probably."
A real comfort to Hiccup, no doubt.
"And I'll be here…maybe," Hiccup said in return.
Astrid felt pity for the pair. They just looked so awkward together! She had to wonder if maybe Hiccup was too much like his mother and that was why Stoick reacted this way to his only heir. Gobber apparently shared her thinking because he came up to stand between them making a noise of exasperation as he looked back and forth as if waiting for one of them to make the first move, but they didn't.
"Hiccup would like to say that he'll miss you and he wishes that you'll find that Thor-forsaken dragon's nest," Gobber said for Hiccup though Astrid wasn't sure Hiccup would have actually said it if it had been up to him, "so you can stop taking out your frustrations on everyone, namely poor Gobber." Or namely poor Hiccup.
Gobber turned his attention back Hiccup who turned a little more away and he sighed. "Stoick wants to tell you that he'll be thinking of you the whole time, so train hard, don't throw a house party, and he'll do his best not to be eaten by a sea serpent or dragon. But if he does! Well, you know, that's that."
"We're Vikings. It's an occupational hazard," Stoick said before jumping into the ship and glowering at Gobber, "I want him back with all limbs intact. Set sail!"
Hiccup ducked his head lower, not even noticing as Astrid strode past him to sit on the edge of the dock as the ships pulled away and the families and children headed up the ramp to the main level of the isle to return to their houses, but Astrid stayed behind.
She stayed and watched as the sun rose in the sky and the sea turned a lighter blue. She stayed and watched as the ships got smaller and smaller until they could have been tiny parchment boats set out on the water by children, only to sink in a matter of seconds.
"Is it strange watching them go?"
Astrid looked up to meet Gobber's eyes as he flumped heavily down beside her. "What d'you mean?" she asked despite knowing what exactly it was that he was talking about.
"Is it strange to watch them go and knowing your mum and dad aren't going with them?" Gobber elaborated, twisting the hook on his stump for a hand.
Astrid frowned intensely at the man. "Yes," she said finally, "but I don't mind watching."
"Eh, we all watch in the end," Gobber said sagely, "don't worry. They'll turn around eventually, once Stoick realizes that he has no idea where they're going."
Astrid raised a light eyebrow. "Shouldn't you be telling this to Hiccup?" she queried.
"Y'think he actually wants to hear it? Nah." Gobber could only shake his head. "Stubborn as his father, that one."
"Is that meant to be a compliment or an insult?" Astrid asked dryly.
"A bit of both," Gobber said digging into his ear. "You ready for dragon training?"
"Absolutely," Astrid promised with a grin. She was always ready to kill some dragons.
"Best get some more training and sleep in, then," Gobber advised, "it's going to be a long few weeks."
But Astrid didn't mind; anything for some well deserved revenge.
AN: Let me know what you all think, this is my first attempt at Hiccstrid and this idea has been bouncing around in my head for a few days so I just had to write it out, or at least start it. Tell me if you think it's any good, because it's a little iffy to me right now.
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