A Little Change
Summary: Sometimes the biggest threats are because of who your family is rather than the person that you could grow to be. His mother is dead and his grandfather wouldn't trust Stoick with raising a flea so Hiccup is taken to a 'family friend'.
Mama was gone.
Mama was gone and Papa was crying which was just so wrong because he was Papa and Papa didn't cry because Papa was a Viking and Vikings don't cry. Small chin wobbling as fat tears splashed down his face Hiccup curled up against the tall tree he'd been resting under since he'd run after his Papa had told him Mama had to go away. He didn't want Mama to go away but when he'd said that Papa had just looked at him like he'd said something sa-cri-li-geous and he knew he hadn't so did that mean that Mama left because he was bad? Anguished brown eyes squeezed shut tightly as a keen slipped through his trembling lips and he curled himself tighter into a fetal position as he gripped tightly to the edges of his cloak. The soft sounds of footsteps moving through the dense forest had him stiffening before he relaxed as he felt a hand come to rest on his head.
"Child."
Green eyes shot open at the unknown voice as he jerked upright looking around wildly for the voice's owner before coming to rest on a slender man kneeling next to him. Shrinking back from the man his mind whirled in a mad tumble of thoughts because he didn't know this man and if he didn't know him then his Papa wouldn't have sent him. "Does Stoick know that you are out here?" Stoick? Stoick was Papa and if he knew Stoick was Papa, then that meant he knew Papa! As sudden as the twisted logic of his thoughts, came the sobering realization that if Papa had sent someone to go looking then that would mean he was in trouble, but if he was trouble did that mean Papa would leave too?
"Child it is cold and there is only so much even a God can do to keep you from becoming ill if you stay out here alone." Squeaking in surprise as he was hoisted from the ground into warm arms he stared at the man's oddly colored eyes that seemed to shift and twirl in a way that reminded him of a fire on a cold winter's night. Fingers twisting tightly around fur edged fabric as he was shifted around he watched with wide eyes as the man stood and began to pick a path through the forest leading away from the village. "There is much that your mother would have told you had she known how little time she had left but such things are controlled by the Gods and no mortal hand may change that."
Mama… He knew Mama! Twisting and squirming he turned an expectant gaze onto the man. "You know Mama? Do you know where she went?" Cheeks flushed as crystalline tears slid down them, he hid his face against the man's cloak clad shoulder his voice choked as he tried to force the words through the ball stuck in his throat. "Tell Mama I'm sorry! I'm sorry for whatever I did! I'm really, really sorry and I promise I won't do it ever again but she has to come back. Please! Please tell my Mama to come back."
Sniffling as he rubbed his face against the fine fabric of the cloak he was gripping onto tightly he missed the look of fury that lit the man's features. "Child. Little one, if there is blame to be found then it is not to be placed on your shoulders. Look at me and know that I speak only the truth." Whining softly at the gentle press of fingers pulling his face away from the comfortable shoulder it was resting against he looked up to meet the man's eyes that seemed to flicker through different shades of blue. "Were it your mother's choice she would never have left your side but fate is a fickle thing determined by the threads woven before birth. And just as surely as your mother met her fate you will one day meet yours but not yet if I have anything to say about it."
"Who are you?"
Eyes wide with innocence, and the beginnings of a vague suspicion gathered in a mind too young to understand, watched as the man smiled. But it wasn't like the smile his Mama would give him or even the smile from his Papa when he would do something to the man's liking. This smile was full of sharp and pointy things that meant lots of owwies and wrappings for anyone this man didn't like but just as swiftly as the smile appeared it was replaced by a look of fondness that reminded him quite a bit of the way Gobber would look at him. "What you do not know cannot be used to harm you so for now let us say that you may call me Lóður."
Adjusting his hold on the child in his arms he hid a frown at the realization that the child was far too thin to be healthy. Heimdall's thrice-damned suspicion had kept him from visiting the village and in turn it had been months since he had seen the only humans he knew of that shared his blood. He hated the human his daughter had chosen with a fervor normally reserved for the annoyance that called itself Heimdall. Disgusting as it was that he'd been forced to trust the man to take care of his blood kin, he dared not draw more of Heimdall's suspicions to the tiny region Berk was located in and so he'd been unable to ensure that the child would have a more than generous supply of food to last through the harsh winter.
Hmming absently to the child's nonstop talking (and where in Odin's name had he come into contact with trolls?) he paused for a moment to gather his bearings before he made a slight adjustment to the path they were taking through the forest. Listening to the child (his daughter's child) talk acted as a soothing balm to the ragged wounds that had been ripped open at the realization that his daughter had died as a mockery of justice. Justice from the other Aesir because he refused to fall in line like an obedient sheep following its herder. Valhallarama was his child! His daughter! She was his and she'd been taken from him and her son without a moment's pause in one of Frigg's (many and oftentimes laughable) attempts at changing the future.
Smiling grimly as he patted the child's head his grip on the small body tightened. Frigg had taken one of his children while the Norns threatened his others born well before the birth of the tiny daughter that had captured his heart from the moment her finger had wrapped ever so tightly around his own. It was cruel of him to have favorites among his children but he found himself unable to deny the fact that he adored the child in his arms partly because he was all he had left of his daughter. His daughter who had gifted him with this child whose very blood seemed to sing with his power as he danced through the mists that separated Gods and mortals with nary a thought as to whether or not it should be possible. They would kill him if given the chance or the knowledge of his existence. He would take the boy to Thor's creation and he would bind them both into hiding from eyes both mortal and immortal. The price he would pay for such an act would be immense in terms of power but he would have little use for such power once the consequences of his actions fell upon him. He would have his thirst for vengeance quenched with blood and Frigg's tears but first he would see the boy safe and his plots could come later.
"Hiccup we're going to go visit a friend of your Mama's that she wanted you to stay with in case she couldn't be there to care for you. I need you to be brave for me when we meet him so that you don't scare him. Can you do that for me?"
He watched as fear and uncertainty warred across the boy's far too open face. He would need to see to it that the boy learned to hide such open emotion but he was still young and age would give him the veils needed to escape. "You're the one Mama told me about." The little face was somber as green eyes became flecked with amber as they traced his face in search of something the sorrow lining the young face absent as the boy struggled to remember something. "Mama said that if her Papa ever came to take me away that I needed to go and listen to what you told me."
"Your mother told you that I would come to take you away?" Raw surprise stole his breath away as he pushed the slightly breathy words out. "When did she you tell you this?"
The boy nodded, his head tilting to one side as he looked up at him with a puzzled expression. "Mama played with the bones and made me swear that I'd go with you 'cause you'd protect me for her and Papa."
"Your mother was right. I will protect you and while I will have to leave you behind for a long time I will make sure that you have someone to care for you." Pushing aside a branch blocking his path he knelt down to set the child on his feet his hands coming to rest atop slender shoulders. "I swear to you that you will always be safe even if you are not always happy. I will not lie to you and tell you that I am a good person because I'm not but I do protect those that are mine."
"Mama said you would say that too but that I was s'posed to ignore that because you were a good Papa."
His eyes widened in shock as the boy leaned forward to place a soft kiss along his cheek the sweet scent of the child wafting through the air. Eyes fluttering shut he tugged the child into his arms pressing his face into the silky strands of hair. "I need you to swear to me that you will live well and that you will do your best to make your mother proud. Never doubt her love for you because she loved you so much that to be taken from you was a source of many a nightmare for her." His voice was rough with emotion as he willed away the moisture gathered at the edges of his eyes before he pulled away from the child. Standing he held out a hand to the now sniffling child and gently guided him the last few feet that separated them from their destination. Squeezing the small hand reassuringly as he pushed aside the boulders that blocked the rocky cove he tugged the child behind him as fear-filled green eyes took in the black form sprawled along the rocks. Pushing the child forward he waited as amber eyes snapped open and took in his warning glare before focusing on the small child shivering in front of him.
"Hiccup this is your mother's friend."
"The birthing just took too long and she was so weak Elder Gothi thought that she would die from the blood loss alone." Tired brown eyes stared down at the worn tabletop steadfastly ignoring the slim red haired man sitting across from him. "The child never even drew its first breath and then she became so ill afterwards. We had to keep Hiccup out and only Gothi was allowed in there at the end when the fever took her mind and she forgot to keep her secrets unspoken."
"Is she to be trusted?"
"Yes." Rubbing at his eyes Stoick forced himself to focus on the God that chose to masquerade as a man. "She was the only one Valhallarama would allow in when she gave birth to Hiccup. She refused every other midwife except for Elder Gothi because she said the runes had shown her that the Elder could be trusted to hold our secrets safe."
"Frigg learned of the circumstances behind my daughter's birth and so she struck out at me the only way she could. She is the one that blesses a woman's birth and helps to ease it so that both mother and child remain safe and alive." The man leaned back in his chair one arm draped along its back as he sighed wearily. "You know the stories of Ragnarok as well as any man might so you know the part that me and mine will have to play. Frigg saw something that scared her into acting out against me and in doing so she has sealed her own fate."
"I won't let you use Hiccup in your mad schemes, Loki." Stoick growled as he lifted his head to glare at the God sitting across from him. "Leave the boy out of your plotting. He has nothing to do with it."
"Nothing to do with it, you say?" Smiling as one eyebrow rose in silent question Loki snapped his fingers watching with disinterest as the man jumped in surprise from the noise of the flames in the fire pit roaring to life. "Let us be plain as we speak so as to avoid any misunderstandings. I allowed you to live only because my daughter for some unknown reason actually loved you and the only reason you still live is so that my grandchild will not be made an orphan by the hand of his grandfather."
"You dare—."
"Sit down and know your place for once in your pathetic mortal life, Stoick!" Loki roared as the Viking stood, his chair behind him toppling as the man reached for his axe. "Do you think that this will all end simply because Valhallarama was taken from us? Is your mind honestly too simple to understand that the plots of Gods are far trickier than those conceived by mortal minds?"
"He is my son!"
"He is my heir and I have shown that child more care in the 3 hours I spent with him than you have shown him in his 5 summers of life. It astounds me that an idiot such as you could have become one of Thor's favorites." The God stood and began to pace with the fire pit still crackling merrily with flames flickering through shades of red and blue. "I swear by my mother's blood that if I could kill you I would do so but Hiccup's love for you stays my hand. The child told me that his mother made preparations for him in the event of her death. Am I to assume that you were informed of these preparations as well?"
"Yes." Stoick ground the words out through gritted teeth his eyes cold as he glared at the God pacing the length of his home. "The village has been told that Valhallarama's people have come to take Hiccup away so that he can be raised with them. She knew that she would pay for your misdeeds and so she prepared for that retribution."
"Ah so there is one thing we agree on which is altogether surprising considering that you are generally a most disagreeable person." The Gods slow smirk was feral as shadowed eyes reflected the fire's flames. "She did pay for my actions but I will see to it that this debt is paid in blood."
A/N: So the person responsible for this little bunny knows exactly who she is and if she doesn't then I'll be happy to remind her that she fed the bunny. Either way, this all started because of someone telling me how cute it would have been to have seen a 5-6 year old Hiccup instead of the older dork that we all know and love. My muses decided that there was room enough for a little Hiccup and hence this story was born.
Once again, Thank you all for reading and I hope you enjoyed it!
