.Can't sleep. Have a wee ones prompt I got. Set 10 years pre Fright Of Passage.
That makes them about 5. So if you consider it OOC, well, tough. Write your own wee ones.
-HTTYD-
Astrid watched out of her window, awestruck as her uncle Finn took on a mean-looking Gronckle all by himself. The dragon ran out of lava and had to retreat, leaving without any of the fish it came to steal.
"Fearless Finn does it again!"
Fearless Finn Hofferson. Astrid hoped to be Fearless Astrid Hofferson some day... even if she still sometimes got a little afraid of things like burning buildings and that weird noise a boar made... and Magnus the Merciless. He scared Astrid a lot.
Uncle Finn came back and regaled an enraptured Astrid with his stories as he shared yak jerky with his brother, Astrid's dad. Only five and just about strong enough to wield her mothers axe, Astrid marvelled at how her uncle had actually punched the dragon in the face. His long blond beard quivered as he laughed at Astrid's timid question.
"Weren't you scared?"
"They don't call me Fearless Finn for nothing wee lass. You'll see one day, and do this family proud."
Astrid nodded, setting her little jaw in determination before getting sent up to bed. The adults continued to celebrate fighting off dragons into the early hours, and downstairs smelled like mead when Astrid went down, yawning and rubbing her eyes in search of breakfast. Yak milk and a stodgy oatmeal filled her belly, and then it was time to go off farming.
All the children were expected to help. Even Hiccup. Unlike Fearless Finn or Stoick the Vast, Hiccup's nickname was as unimpressive as the rest of him. Undersized, so skinny he practically fell over from a stiff breeze - how was he the son of such a big chief?
"What's Hiccup the Useless doing here?"
"Shouldn't it be Hiccup the Hopeless?"
He might be the chiefs son, but even that didn't spare Hiccup from the other kids bullying him. Snotlout bullied everyone though. Except Astrid. Cus she fought back. Hiccup stumbled and fell in the dirt, and nobody helped him up but all the other children laughed. Except Fishlegs, but he was too busy looking at a plant.
"Astrid, a word?"
Uncle Finn looked super serious. Astrid put down her bucket of weeds she'd pulled, scampered across the damp earth to where he was.
"What's up?"
"You're a Hofferson, aren't you?"
Astrid nodded eagerly.
"Of course uncle Finn!"
"Well we Hoffersons don't ridicule people for being different. Leave the bullying to the Jorgensons."
She watched Finn cross the soil, lifting Hiccup where he had simply gave in and stayed down, brushing him off and checking Hiccup was alright. The future chieftain nodded, green eyes lit up as Finn spoke to him. Astrid couldn't hear what was said.
Despite her uncles words, Astrid still joined in with the others when they picked on Hiccup. Only when her uncle was away on dragon raids though. She didn't want to disappoint uncle Finn, but Astrid also didn't want to be singled out and become the next target. It didn't do to stand alone in Berk, a place solidly founded on community. Hiccup would be fine. He was the chiefs son. They were just toughening him up.
Over the next couple of weeks, Vikings worked even harder at the farms, stored more and more of the eggs and kept the yaks fed up to produce milk. It took pestering several adults before Astrid got an answer, something about Arvendales Fire and a strange dragon that only turned up every ten years.
'Arvendales Fire' was pretty. The sky turned more colours than Astrid had ever seen in her short life, but nobody was stopping to enjoy it.
"All Berkians to the safety of your homes!"
Someone shouted, and Astrid looked around to see everyone staring up at the sky again.
"It's too late! The Flightmare is here! The Flightmare is here!"
Something glowing even brighter than the sky, so bright she couldn't really look at it, came swooping down and Astrid gripped her axe, but uncle Finn grabbed her and lifted her toward the nearest hut.
"Oh no you don't Astrid. This is not a battle for you. Not yet anyway."
"But-"
Uncle Finn hushed her, gave her his best smile, touched her cheek to reassure her.
"Your uncle Finn is just going to make sure this nasty dragon doesn't destroy Berk again."
She knew everything would be ok, because uncle Finn was fearless and he would stop the dragon. He raised his weapon, charging right at the Flightmare.
"Here I am ungodly beast! Fearless Finn Hofferson! I've been waiting ten years for this moment, come and get me if you dare!"
Astrid peered around the hut he hid her behind, anxious to see how he went about taking out the dragon. The Flightmare swooped, and uncle Finn raised his arm...
And then he froze.
Astrid tried to look away, but it was too late to stop her seeing her uncle Finn being...
"He just froze!"
"Don't say that, the little one will hear."
Angry as could be, Astrid gripped her axe tighter, preparing to go avenge her uncle right now. Gobber stopped her before she could, and the Flightmare zipped off in a trail of destruction, houses splintering and a torch collapsing.
"It's going to take a lot more than that wee axe Astrid."
Her mother grabbed Astrid and took her home, and the mourning of Fearless Finn Hofferson was a private affair. It had to be.
Because everyone else was turning on them, mocking, joking. Fearless Finn became 'Frozen Finn', and already some were saying that in ten years time when Arvendales Fire came back, the Hoffersons would freeze in front of the Flightmare again. Astrid forced herself not to cry where anyone could see, axe a reassuring weight in her hand.
She would wait ten years and prove them all wrong.
Astrid ignored the jeers, pretending that everyone bringing up the shame of her family didn't affect her one little bit. Even when she punched Snotlout and left so nobody saw her eyes were wet. Hel, she was so busy thinking about how to kill the Flightmare that she didn't even notice Hiccup approach her.
"A-Astrid?"
She jumped, surprised. Nobody had addressed her directly unless they had the surname 'Hofferson' in days.
"Come to mock me too?"
The little boy recoiled, hair at an awkward sticky-out phase where it hung past his ears but looked like he had been dragged backwards over Thor's hammer.
"What? No. I... I wanted to tell you that I looked up to Finn. He was always nice to me, and talk about brave!"
Astrid searched the other childs voice for sarcasm, but found none.
"Yeah?"
Hiccup nodded.
"Yeah. And I don't think he really froze out of fear, and one day I am gonna hunt down a Flightmare and prove it!"
Still cutting a few teeth, Hiccup's lopsided grin didn't make him look particularly impressive. However, he seemed to really believe in his own words. Astrid managed not to laugh in his face at the idea of Hiccup Haddock ever besting a dragon. Shuffling closer, checking nobody was looking, Astrid threw her non-axe arm around Hiccup and hugged him for a second
"Thanks" Astrid quickly punched his arm "this doesn't make us friends though."
Leaving him standing there rubbing his arm and frowning, Astrid stalked off. She didn't need friends... she needed to think about avenging her uncle.
-HTTYD-
This is what happens when I write at 3 in the morning. Sleep deprived ramblings!