My first crossover! I was talking to another author, UnderTheWillowTrees (do check out their stories by the way - they've written some really good HTTYD crossovers themselves), a couple of months ago and had the idea of writing this. I've gone back to my rule of actually finishing the story before posting so updates for this one should be fairly regular. Also, yes - the cover image is indeed one that I did myself. You can find the full version on my deviantART account if you would like to check that out.
I don't own Frozen or How to Train Your Dragon.
Prologue:
This chapter is seriously song heavy but there is quite a bit in here that will serve a fair amount of purpose to the plot later on. Also I've got this segment is to replace two songs I've had to cut because I've got absolutely no flipping clue how to edit them to fit with what I've got in mind...also I like these songs.
This is Berk, the island that boasts weather that will cause kids to have frostbite before they're even born. Home to Vikings and plagued by dragons, it's really no wonder that the people living here don't get that many visitors but as far as the village is concerned, that's the least of their worries.
"OW! Watch where you're goin', lad!" a burly Viking snapped at a tiny boy of five who was running in and out of carts through a busy village Plaza on a trip to who knows where. The boy sported messy auburn hair which framed a heavily freckled oval-shaped face which in turn was home to a mouth which housed some of the most crooked teeth anyone had ever seen and a pair of emerald-green eyes poking out under the boy's bangs.
"Sorry!" he cried out as he dodged past a Viking carrying a basket of fish. This was Hiccup. Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, son of Stoick the Vast and heir to the Hairy Hooligan Tribe of Berk, if you want a full introduction. Not that people saw him as a potential replacement for his giant of a father. Whereas Stoick the Vast, whose exploits were stuff of legends, boasted a large, muscular build, Hiccup was entirely the opposite: scrawny and with barely a muscle on his bones. Just by looking at the father and son side by side, you wouldn't be able to tell that they were related.
"Get back inside, why don't ya?" another Viking snapped at Hiccup as he ran past. The reason why the boy was in such a hurry was because, as usual, he'd found himself at the receiving end of taunts from the other kids in the village and so he was trying to find somewhere safe to hide. Not really easy when everyone knows almost every hiding spot in the village (Hiccup made a mental note to track some down in the forest). Hiccup normally did a fair job at hiding his hurt, but it didn't take a genius to tell if the boy was upset. The grownups just tended to ignore the boy.
Hiccup eventually made it out of the bustling crowd in the Plaza and he ducked behind a nearby house – with any luck, the others would give up chasing him...if Hiccup lacked what other Vikings had in strength, he made up for it in speed and he was half sure that he'd lost the other kids some time ago.
"I'm not a shrimp..." Hiccup mumbled to himself. For five years, pretty much since the day he was born, Hiccup had always felt like a disappointment to the village, mostly due to the fact that he was small and weak compared to others. Heck, three of the other kids his age had a similar skinny frame but were still able to lift an axe above their shoulders by the time they were three! It didn't help that Stoick barely did anything to make his son feel better. "I'm not weak..." Hiccup added with a childish insistence that even he knew was pathetic. His self-pitying moaning was interrupted by the sound of two grown Vikings talking nearby. Curiosity piqued, Hiccup ducked behind a couple of barrels to eavesdrop.
"...you can't help but feel sorry for the lad, though," one said with a sigh. Hiccup's ears pricked up – they had to be talking about him. Barely anyone referred to him by his name and, really, why would they? 'Hiccup' suggested a runt...a failure by Viking standards. Not for the first time in his short five years of life, Hiccup resented his parents for giving him such a name, even his mother who he had never seen.
"I know," the other Viking agreed. "The whole town's saying that Stoick should consider making the Hofferson girl next in line for chief..." Hiccup refrained for gasping. Astrid? She was one of the five other kids on Berk that was his age but unlike the others she didn't bully him. Rather, she tended to ignore him most of the time and, if he was being honest, Hiccup didn't mind. It almost made her kinder than the others and Hiccup couldn't help but admit he had a small crush on her. However, upon hearing that the village wanted her to become chief over him didn't exactly make him feel very good about himself. "Don't get me wrong, I'd worry about that boy leading the village and all but..."
"Alright, alright, I get it," the first Viking cut across. Hiccup's face fell. His self-esteem wasn't exactly that high to start with but this was a blow to the chest if anything. "Maybe it's for the best, though." Hiccup hated to admit it, but maybe they were right. Astrid, despite her tiny frame, was everything he wasn't. "And, if all else fails, he's still there if we need him, Thor forbid." Okay, that was pushing it too far! Hiccup bristled slightly as the two Vikings began walking away but not before Hiccup caught one more sentence of the conversation.
"You sure it's right to treat him as a spare like that, though?" the second Viking asked before their voices trailed out of Hiccup's earshot and he emerged from his hiding place.
"Spare?" he repeated uncertainly, walking back through Berk slowly as the crowds dispersed. No one paid any attention to the scrawny, scruffy little boy dawdling through the village as the sun began setting. "Am I...really just a spare?" he wondered out loud. Hiccup couldn't deny that he wasn't normal. Whereas most Vikings on Berk were strong and often acted before they thought about it, Hiccup was brainy and was always coming up with crazy ideas that, more often than not, ended up causing chaos. Of course people would want Astrid to be next in line rather than him...she was the better Viking. But at the same time, Hiccup wanted more than anything to prove that he was more than just the village klutz.
I'm not part of the town, not their first choice of chief.
Just someone whose hopelessly in between.
Astrid's the fighter and she shows it.
Me, I'm the screw-up...don't I know it?
But then, who could ever compare?
Of course they're gonna think I'm just the spare...
Well, I won't care!
Hiccup wandered into the blacksmiths and picked up a discarded belt which had a buckle that was close to coming off. Being the fidgety five-year old he was, Hiccup began fiddling with it.
So I'm the extra buckle for a belt
In case the other one comes loose?
But if I have to be a buckle
Why can't I be a buckle that's of use?
In his frustration, Hiccup yanked at the belt and accidentally pulled the aforementioned buckle off.
"Oops..." he mumbled, ditching the belt and running outside before his mentor and family friend, Gobber the Belch, caught him out. He spent a few minutes entertaining himself by balancing on some nearby fence posts but given his utter lack of balance, that failed shortly afterwards. In the end, Hiccup began wandering around the town.
I may lack strength and I may lack grace,
And once in a while I fall on my face,
But this little buckle deserves a place
In the sky!
This buckle wants to fly...
"Wait..." Hiccup cut himself off abruptly, smacking his forehead. "Buckles can't fly! That doesn't make any sense!" He headed over to the yak stables next where there were a few yak-shoes hanging around on nails hammered into the wall. Hiccup began seeing how long he would hold onto one before letting go – his record so far was ten seconds.
So I'm a rusty yak shoe hanging up
Over somebody's old barn door.
And I'll be hanging there forever
Just wishing the yak had one leg more...
"Ow!" Hiccup winced as he dropped from holding onto a yak shoe only to have it fall off the nail and hit him squarely on the head. Tired of this solitary game, he ran back outside towards his home.
And maybe I can't be the perfect son.
And maybe I air on the side of fun,
But yak shoes need a chance to run
Somewhere!
This yak shoe is more than just a spare!
Hiccup reached his house and began climbing up the sloping roof using a ladder his father had left there the day before. Once he was at the top, he ran to the end of the roof where a wooden carved dragon head overlooked the village as he admired the sunset.
Someday, I'll find my thing...
A thing that's all my own.
That thing that makes me part of something
Not just all alone.
If only all this feeling I have in my heart
Could mean something to someone...
How I want to play that part!
Hiccup slid down the roof and began running through the town again, wanting to get a few more minutes of fun before the day ended. Although it would be a lot better if he had someone to share it with.
So I'm just the scrawny son of Stoick
Who most of the town ignores?
Like a buckle, like a yak shoe...
Like a kid who's bad at metaphors!
Maybe I don't always play it rough,
And maybe I don't always go it tough,
But I know that I have much to share!
So I'm not their preferred heir?
But I'm more than just a spare!
"ARGH!" someone exclaimed in frustration as Hiccup, distracted, crashed straight into him, sending his cart of food flying. Hiccup stumbled a bit and winced, bringing his arms upwards fearfully.
"Sorry..." he mumbled, making a run for it before he could get his ears boxed, ignoring the angry shouts coming from the Viking whose cart he'd knocked over as he hid behind the nearest house he could find. Once he felt that he was out of sight, he burst into tears. Hiccup felt ashamed, not just for crying but because no matter what he did he could never do anything right. He might have only been five but being the son of a chief already put pressure on him and he wanted to prove everyone's doubts about him wrong...he could be a great leader...he wasn't just a screw-up.
"I'm not a weakling..." a voice muttered but it wasn't from Hiccup. Hiccup glanced over his shoulder to see a blonde girl his age...it was Astrid. "He's wrong..."
Hiccup stayed silent for a moment – Astrid still hadn't noticed him. He secretly knew what she was talking about – Astrid had one thing in common with Hiccup in that she was the next in line to head her family as the only child of the Hofferson clan, which also happened to be the second most powerful family on Berk next to the Haddock clan (her father was Stoick's Right Hand, a highly valued position in the village council). As such, she also had a lot of pressure placed on her to become the best family leader possible. For once in his life, Hiccup felt something that told him to talk to the girl, as much as he was shy and awkward around her. Slowly, he scooted over towards her and caught her attention.
Hiccup:
Hello there, Miss Viking.
You're a firstborn just like me.
I know that some guys think
It's a pretty cool thing to be.
But you've found out that everyone
Expects a lot from you.
They say that there are things
A firstborn should and shouldn't do...
Astrid glanced at the boy, clearly ashamed at being seen like this.
"Leave me alone, Hic," she snapped before she shot to her feet and left. Astrid had never been able to full pronounce Hiccup's full name as of yet and instead tended to call him 'Hic' for short. Hiccup stared after her...well, at least he'd tried which is more than he could say normally.
But you and me...
We...we know better.
/\
Eleven years passed since that first official meeting between Hiccup and Astrid and many things changed in that time. At fifteen, Hiccup had downed and trained a Night Fury whom he had subsequently named Toothless on account of the lizard's retractable teeth and had taught the village of Berk to live with the dragons rather than fight them. Astrid had become his right hand woman in this quest and backed him up on every opportunity and the two had gone from rarely looking at each other to boyfriend and girlfriend. Now sixteen, the pair of them were rarely seen without the other and could often be seen around the village working on new dragon training techniques with Toothless and Stormfly, Astrid's Deadly Nadder; rehearsing a new trick Hiccup had been developing with Toothless which gave the illusion that he was shooting fire from his hands or had sprouted wings; or simply practising a new handshake and messing about around town.
Astrid:
One, two, three together,
Clap together, snap together,
Hiccup:
You and me together,
Train together, flame together,
Both:
Up or down together,
Both firstborn together,
Always be together
You and me!
One, two, three together,
Clap together, snap together,
You and me together,
Train together, flame together,
Up or down together,
Both firstborn together,
Always be together,
You and me!
Hiccup:
They say that an heir is full of charm and grace.
They say we always know our place.
Astrid:
They say that an heir wears all of the best clothes.
They say we never laugh and snort mead out our nose!
Hiccup:
They say we're calm.
Astrid:
They say we're kind.
They say we never speak our mind...
Hiccup:
Or have Toothless flame Gobber's behind!
Hiccup gave Toothless a small nudge as he saw his mentor walk past. True, Gobber was still a friend of the family and had made Hiccup's prosthetic left leg for him but that didn't mean he was exempt from the boy's pranks. A small blast of blue fire hit Gobber squarely on the backside and the man leapt about ten feet into the air when it made contact, letting out a large shriek as he did as the two teens and their dragons snickered and ran for cover.
Astrid:
But you and me...
Both:
We...we know better!
"Hiccup!" Gobber bellowed as he jumped into the nearest water trough and spotted the snickering teens run past. "You are in so much trouble when I tell your father...!" His shouts went unnoticed as Hiccup and Astrid split their sides laughing behind the stables. Astrid eventually calmed down enough to talk.
"How come you can get Toothless to do that with just a nudge and I can't?" she asked, slightly jealous of Hiccup's superior bond with his dragon. Hiccup shrugged and scratched Toothless behind the ear.
"I dunno," he replied. "You're getting there, though."
Astrid:
They that an heir is super-duper tough.
Hiccup:
We win our fights without a sweat...
Both:
But when we eat we don't go rough!
Astrid burped rather loudly as she downed a mug of drink over dinner, causing Hiccup to snort into his mead, choking slightly as he tried to clear his throat from laughing.
Astrid:
They say that heirs have a schedule like a list.
Hiccup:
They say we wouldn't have our dragon flame the fish!
With another nudge, Hiccup mentioned for Toothless to send another fireball at a nearby barrel of fish – the blast wasn't enough to set anything on fire but it still sent an explosion of fish flying everywhere, much to Hiccup and Astrid's amusement. They ran away from the scene of the crime again and taking off on their dragons as the sun began setting. It was their favourite time of the day to fly and they both loved watching the sun sink below the horizon on their favourite outcrop a short distance from Berk.
Astrid:
They say we're poised...
Hiccup:
They say we're fair...
Both:
We never mention...UNDERWEAR!
Hiccup:
Or long to see the world out there!
Astrid:
But you and me...
Both:
We...
Have big ideas of our own!
For the distant someday when we're grown...
Hiccup:
When I'm chief...
Astrid:
And I'm your Right Hand,
Hiccup:
We'll get to travel...
Both:
To distant lands!
Astrid:
I'll tell all about you
And the amazing things you have done!
Hiccup:
We'll take care of the people
And unite the islands...
Both:
...as one!
No one will tell us what a firstborn should be!
As long as we're together,
You and me!
