A/N: This is my first How to Train Your Dragon fanfic. So if you see anything wrong, from how I'm handling the characters to miss use of canon material please let me know. This story has some surprises for you. Hiccup and the gang are 19 and 18 so they are close to their second movie appearance. I don't think I have any plans to incorporate the wingsuit and Inferno into the story yet. Hope you enjoy.
Special Thanks to Darigash for the cover image.
Prologue
"No. No. No. It's position four then three." The auburn haired boy said from behind her. She followed his directions and pressed the pedal into the positions. Or she thought she had. Instead of making a slow ascent to the left, the dark creature they were riding made a steep dive to the right. The sea below was fast approaching. "Up! Up! Up, Astrid! Up!"
"You're not helping, Hiccup!" She called back to him. The Night Fury extended out his wings to slow down their descent but the position of the prosthetic tail wing kept forcing them down. Astrid was afraid if she made the wrong move she would force Toothless into the sea. But then she felt Hiccup's metal foot putting pressure on the back of the pedal and the dragon evened himself out.
"You've got to be more careful, Astrid." Hiccup told her letting out a breath of relief. "If I hadn't been here you would have gotten yourself killed." She turned around and shot him a glare.
"This is my first time flying Toothless." The blonde said in frustration. Lately Hiccup had been having less and less time to go out flying with Toothless. His father had been starting to trick him into helping out with Chieftain duties around the village and going to meetings. Usually the chief-to-be got himself out of it, but when he didn't, he was forced to accompany Stoick around the village, sometimes days at a time. When Hiccup returned home afterwards he was too tired to fly with Toothless. This only made the Night Fury restless. The dark dragon would make so much racket in and around the Chief's home that Hiccup had to find some way for Toothless to fly when he was away. This led Astrid to the situation she was in now.
"Don't you have any written directions I could use?" Astrid had been trying to follow everything Hiccup had been telling her to do, but at every turn she screwed up. She tried to turn right, she ended up going left. When she tried go down, she veered to right while going up. While trying to make a dive, she took a spin. She already had some close calls slamming into some sea stacks; which earned her a smack from one Toothless' head plates.
"Trust me," Hiccup said in a reassuring voice, "it's better to learn from instinct." That didn't make her feel any better. A squawk from her right got her attention. She turned to see Stormfly flying close by keeping a close eye on her. Her soaring friend had been keeping a close distance to make sure nothing happened to her rider. And at the moment she wasn't very happy. The blonde could see the look of frustration in the Deadly Nadder's eyes
"I'm okay, girl." She tried reassure her dragon with a smile. But Stormfly didn't look convinced. "Hey Hiccup, maybe we should take a break." Astrid looked back to see him staring at the Deadly Nadder who in turn seemed to be glaring back at him.
"Yeah. Maybe we should." He looked ahead searching for place to land. He found one and patted Toothless' side. "Okay boy lets land on that sea stack." Astrid saw the one he pointed out; it was large enough for them and both their dragons with room to move. Once they landed Stormfly was at her side.
"Hey, girl." The blonde cooed. "See, I'm fine" The Deadly Nadder nuzzled her chest. Apparently she really wanted to fly with her rider; Astrid could tell from the jealous stare that Stormfly sent towards Toothless. The Night Fury just shrugged it off and motioned his head towards Hiccup.
"Thanks for having my back bud." The Chief to be said sarcastically. Astrid snickered at the exchange before sitting down with her dragon. Hiccup and Toothless soon joined them, with the auburn haired boy sit right next to her. "I really appreciate this Astrid. Toothless has been driving me nuts lately."
"Yeah, you would be helpless without me." She said with the sweetest smile she could muster.
"C'mon!" He groaned, gesturing his hands. "I'm nowhere near that helpless."
"All yeah?" The blonde challenged, poking him in the chest. "What about that time you got your foot stuck while on top of a tree and I had to climb up to get you out while you were hanging upside down."
"Now that was just a-" Hiccup tried to say.
"Then there was that time when Toothless got his prosthetic torn and got you two stuck on one of the sea stacks." Astrid was starting to count off on you hand to irk her friend some more. "You were stuck there all day until I came looking for you."
"Yeah, but-" He tried again to defend himself, but Astrid had more ammo on him and she planned to use it.
"Oh and let's not forget the time when Snotlout-" she started to say recalling the event perfectly.
"Alright!" Hiccup threw his hands up in surrender. "You win, Milady. You are my champion and defender and I would be nothing without you."
"Oh, Hiccup." She said, placing her hand on her chest. "That's so sweet of you to say." She leaned over and gave him a kiss on his cheek.
"Well if I get a reward every time I say it, then maybe I should say it some more." He smiled at her. "But I really am grateful for this. I swear my dad is about ready to kick him outside if Toothless tears apart the house again."
"He'd probably just tear apart the village and restart the dragon war." She added. The dark dragon raised his head from where he laid and gave her a glare to show that he was offended. "Oh, you know you would do it if it got Hiccup's attention." Toothless laid back down with a pout.
"And you're welcome Hiccup," Astrid said. "I know these means a lot for you."
"Yeah. Even if it is taking you while to figure how to work the controls." He teased. Which Astrid promptly punched him in the arm for. "Ow!"
"First you complement me and then you insult me." She said in a pretend annoyed tone. "You're slipping, Hiccup."
"Coming from you that…," Hiccup started to trail off, "means…"
"That means what?" She asked wondering why he stopped. She saw that his eyes were staring out over the sea. "Hiccup? What 's wrong?" Her eyes scanned the horizon to see five dots in the distance on the ocean. "Are any of our ships out?"
"No." He said while getting up; keeping his eyes on the approaching ships. "We should get back to the village."
Upon seeing that four of the ships were keeping their distance from the island and only one was approaching their docks, Hiccup thought it was best that he and Astrid land Toothless and Stormfly on the cliff overlooking the docks. He didn't want to spook the new comers. However his father didn't seem to have the same idea. Stoick, Gobber and Spitelout were already at the docks with Skullcrusher lying behind them waiting for their uninvited guests to arrive.
"Dad!" He and Astrid had made it down to the dock in time to see the ship pull into their little harbor. "Who is it?" His father turned to him and Hiccup could tell by the scowl on his face that he wasn't happy with the arrival of the small fleet.
"I don't know." Stoick looked back at the ship approaching the dock they were standing on. "I don't recognize the crest." Hiccup took a look at the sail baring the symbol of those on board. It was a circle. At its center was a feminine face tilting down and her long hair weaved around her. The entire crest was colored blue. The ship itself was of Viking design. However many of the people on board were not.
The first man to step off the ship wore Viking clothing but that was only comparison that Hiccup could make. His light brown hair wasn't to out of the ordinary, but he was cleanly shaven; something many Vikings didn't do with their beards. He was quite lean when compared to the muscular tone of Hiccup's fellow tribesmen. The sword that hanged from the stranger's side was not of Viking origin. The width of the blade was a bit slender then a typical Viking sword and it had a curve to it. The Chief to be didn't know of any Viking blacksmith that made a sword like that.
The next two men that came off of the ship were definitely Vikings. They had blue eyes and blond hair. Everything else about them said Viking from their build to their stance. On closer expectation Hiccup could see that they were twins. The only way to tell them apart was that one wore black fur vest and the other wore brown vest. No one else got off the ship as the three men approached the Chief. The two Vikings seem to be nervously griping their swords as their eyes drifted over the large green dragon behind Stoick. However the stranger didn't even bat an eyelash at the presence of Skullcrusher.
"Hello." The stranger said to Hiccup's father. "Are you the Chief of this island?"
"Ay, I am." Stoick said sternly. "And who might you be? And what makes you think you can come to my island unannounced?"
"My apologizes. My name is Llyr." The brown haired man said. He then motioned to the twins. "This is Finn." He pointed to the one wearing the black vest. Then he motioned to the other twin. "And this is Olvir. We are part of an expedition that travels the sea locating islands and making detailed maps of them."
Hiccup perked up at the mention of expedition. The idea of traveling around finding new land and mysteries sounded very intriguing to him. He wondered what he would be able to see flying on Toothless. The detailed maps that he would be able to make would be great.
"We were running low on supplies when we saw you island in the distance." Llyr continued. "We were hoping to conduct trade with your people and with you permission, do some hunting and surveying." Hiccup looked at his father to see that the he was considering the man's request. Honestly he didn't see the harm in letting these people in. So far their leader had shown respect to his father and as long as they didn't go crazy, hunting shouldn't be that much of a problem.
"Very well. You can bring your ships into the docks over there." Stoick pointed to the docks to the far right of the port; which were reserved for allied ships that need to make a stop during long voyages. "You may conduct trade, however only a fifth of your men from each ship maybe allowed on the island at a time. All weapons remain on your ships. As for hunting and surveying I will have to speak with the others before allowing it."
"Thank you, Chief." Llyr bowed. He then detached his sword from is hip, as did Olvir, although he seemed reluctant as his eyes went back to Skullcrusher. They both handed their weapons to the other twin. "Finn, send word to the fleet of what the Chief has granted us." The man nodded and got back on the ship and started yelling orders to prepare the vessel to set sail back to the others. "I'm sorry Chief, but I don't belief I got your name."
"I am Stoick the Vast." Hiccup's father said sternly. He then introduced the others. "This is Spitelout, my bother and second-in-command. This is Gobber, my close friend and blacksmith of our people." Llyr nodded to each of them before putting his attention on Hiccup and Astrid.
"And who might these two young people be." He asked. Hiccup was about to responded but his father beat him to it. Stoick pulled him forward to present him to the man.
"This is my son, Hiccup. A hero among our people." His father said proudly. "And his… close friend, Astrid." Hiccup swore he saw a quick smirk on Llyr's face at how his father presented Astrid. Hiccup turn to see how she responded to how the Chief presented her. But he saw that the blonde's blue eyes seemed to be locked on the crest of the ships sail, which was just leaving the dock. He was about to ask her what was wrong but his attention got drawn back to the conversation at hand.
"It's nice to meet you all." Llyr said extending his hand, which his father took. "May this be the beginning of a wonderful friendship."
A/N: I hope you enjoyed. I was planning to make this longer but I felt this was a good place to stop for the prologue, even though it does seem to be a bland start. The beginning of the chapter was inspired by a moment in the second movie which I recall Astrid saying that she was have to start flying Toothless more if Hiccup became Chief. If you see any mistakes writing and/or story wise, let me know. Feedback is appreciated.
