Unintentional Hero

Author: Nightstar Fury of Nightstar Productions

Rated: M for a variety of things that will happen

Pairing: Hiccup/Astrid

Disclaimer: I do not own HTTYD

Character Names:

Hayden Haddock- Hiccup

Camille Haddock- Camicazi

Dylan Lanvik- Dagur

Heather Lanvik- Heather

Seth Jorgenson- Snotlout

Ethan Ericksen- Eret

Avery Hofferson- Astrid

Rachel Thorston- Ruffnut

TJ Thorston- Tuffnut

Gerald Haddock- Stoick

Felix Ingerman- Fishlegs

Craig Borkson- Gobber

Theodore Holgerson- Thuggery

Samantha Svendson- Sylvi(OC)

Summer Holt- Stilsta(OC)

1; So It Begins

A green backpack rested on the floor leaning against the wall closest to the main door as a male with auburn hair and emerald green eyes sat on the couch in his father's house. His father: a large bulky man sat in the chair silently, and a girl with medium brown hair and forest green eyes sat trying not to cry in front of her brother. There were a few others in the room too, his friends from school who all had permission to miss today to say goodbye to their friend who signed up for the military without a word to anyone until the night before he had to leave for Basic-which was today. The backpack was only filled with things he might want, though he was sure he might not get the time with where he was going. The boy was 16 years old, and while a normal kid at this age should be in school, he was not. He was leaving and he didn't know for how long-he guessed until they said he could go home, but honestly he didn't care so much if he did or didn't. He wasn't doing it for them. Suddenly there was the loud sound outside of a bus coming up the road. Then it stopped and was put in park with a hiss. The boy stood up without a word to anyone in the room and grabbed his backpack, slinging it over his right shoulder and waiting for the inevitable sound to ring through the quiet house.

Knock. Knock Knock.

The boy opened the door and saw a man standing in uniform before him with a clipboard. "Hayden Haddock?" the male asked.

"Right here sir." the boy, Hayden, replied calmly in a respectful tone.

"Jay Cliveson, " He offered his hand to Hayden now, "I'm from the recruitment office. You're on my pick up list for transport to Fort Dreki for Basic. Correct?" Jay stated firmly.

"That's correct, sir," Hayden nodded once.

"Well you're my last pick up so grab your bag and let's move!" Jay stated, stepping aside to let Hayden exit the house. Finally the large male stood.

"This is ridiculous! He's 16! He can't just drop out and leave on his own!" Hayden's father argued quickly, following Hayden out.

"I assure you, Mr. Haddock, he can. As long as he's 16 then he can drop out and join the military. He doesn't need parental approval. Now I apologize if this upsets you but it is your son's choice to join," Jay remarked calmly.

"Hayden! Don't do this, please!" his twin sister, Camille, shouted in tears.

"Sorry sis. This is something I have to do. See ya when I see ya. Love you," Hayden told her as he prepared to get on the bus with the other recruits heading to Basic Training for the next ten weeks.

"I refuse to let you go! You're just 16, you're not proving anything by being a tough-ass and joining the military, Hayden! You'll never survive Basic. Now just come back and we can forget this whole thing..." His father tried harshly but when Hayden looked back at him he saw worry and fear resting in his father's eyes. As he was about to respond, Jay put his hand on Hayden's shoulder and offered a smile.

"On the bus, son. I'll take care of this," Jay said, Hayden nodded as he tossed his bag underneath one of the open hatches where other bags were and then he stepped on the bus, taking a seat on the left side and near a window to see his sister crying her eyes out on the front yard, trying to get to him but his friends Seth, TJ, and Felix were holding her back while the girls Rachel and Avery tried to calm her down. "I assure you that if the recruitment office didn't think he could do it, they wouldn't have let him sign up. He wasn't asked to join, he asked if he could. He passed his physicals to sign up with flying colors. Now I'm not sure the reason why you don't support him but we do. Your son is doing a good thing: don't scold him for wanting a better, safer future for himself and for all. You should be proud of him for making such a decision. You have delayed this departure long enough, Mr. Haddock. Good day to you."

With that said, Jay returned to the bus and got on as the doors shut tightly and it began to start up. Hayden looked back at all of them one last time before they were out of sight and heading down the road. Hayden could have sworn he heard his father and Camille yell out for him and he only closed his eyes to remember when this started, just a week ago.

/Flashback/

{Hayden's POV}

Since the time I was little, well...littler at least...I wanted to do something great with my life. I wanted to be remembered for things I've done, wanted to make my parents proud...but of course, life doesn't always play out the way you want it to. My name is Hayden 'Hiccup' Haddock, the supposed middle name comes from the fact when I was a baby I always had the hiccups and I guess it just stuck after my sister Camille began calling me Hiccup instead of Hayden. So yeah, there's some information for ya on my name. But back to the story of why life doesn't play out the way you want sometimes, mine went so far off my original plans. My mom died when my sister, Camille and I were eleven, and things definitely didn't go how I wanted them too. My mother was military, the rank of Major too. She loved it according to stories that Camille and I were told when we were young. Mom had been deployed only once when Camille and I were younger but then she had to go back when we were a little older and we never thought when she left that it'd be the last time we'd ever see her.

The day Camille and I came home from school laughing, we saw our father sitting on the couch crying, we knew something was wrong right away. That was when he told us that our mother wouldn't be coming home because she'd been killed in action and that there was no body to recover-or bury. It was hard for us to get through but we managed by doing it together. Dad changed though: he was always pushing me to go to law school, become a top lawyer like him. I didn't want that: I was way too sarcastic to be a lawyer. I had been thinking police for a while, I really wanted to help people. My plans changed when I finally had enough of my father's controlling my life and whatever I did never being enough to make him happy. I'm sixteen, I got straight A's and was basically a model student but because of my figure, being a skinnier guy, I got teased and bullied a lot. I put up with it, I had friends and my sister too. Their names? Avery Hofferson, Rachel and TJ Thorston, Seth Jorgenson -who also happened to be my cousin, and Felix Ingerman. And my sister's name is Camille Haddock, we're twins like the Thorston friends I mentioned.

It had been a long day at school. Hard classes, stupid bullies, and I honestly didn't want to go home right away and have to deal with being my father's disappointment who he doesn't ever have time for. It was currently October, the beginning of. After school, I told Camille I'd meet her at home around four in the afternoon and if Dad asked, to tell him I was at a job interview or something. I knew she'd cover for me. I walked the streets of Berk, a small island in the Barbaric Archipelago. Besides our island there was also Outcast, Meathead, Murderous, Bog Burglar, Peaceable, Visithug, and Berserk. Berk was the smallest of them and most of the dragons liked it here too. Yes, dragons lived among humans and it was awesome too, but my father wasn't fond of them so Camille and I really weren't allowed near them and you had to have serious training to have a dragon. Mom had one: Cloud Jumper, a Stormcutter. It was a large, four-winged dragon that had an owl-like face. Both mom and her dragon were killed in action and now most dragons were only allowed to be owned by military personnel.

Walking on the sidewalk with my hands stuffed in my pockets, I sighed heavily. I heard voices, something sounding like a father and son. Curiosity won as I looked to see a young man, maybe about my age standing with his Dad as they just emerged from a building. The father was smiling ear to ear with his hands on his son's shoulders. "I'm so proud of you for doing this son." I felt a twinge of pain in my chest-my father was never proud of me.

"Thanks, Dad. I know it's the right thing to do," the son replied, smiling as well. The two continued to talk as they walked away and I stepped towards the place they'd come out of. Looking up at the sign I read; Berk Military Recruitment. That kid had joined the military and his father was proud of him for it. I glanced at the window, looking at all the fliers and what now: ones with promotional messages about joining, doing your hometown proud, doing the right thing, being all you can be. It made me wonder what I had to do to get my Dad to be proud of me. Of course I knew: become a lawyer-but I didn't want that. I could do so much more with my life than defend people. I froze for a moment looking at another paper on the window: Want to help people, stand up for what's right, defend those you love? Join the Barbaric Archipelago Army today and be a part of something great as you become all you can be and make your hometown proud. Maybe I could still defend people, just not the way my Dad wanted me to.

"Hello there, lad. Couldn't help but see ya from my desk in there and saw you staring. Military life interest you?" a voice asked. I looked to see a man with a shaved head wearing an army hat, and blue suit with some medals on it.

"Well I'd always wanted to be a policeman, help people, defend the public," I replied to him.

"Ah, well the military is just like that. Only bigger and defending a lot more than Berk. That sound like something you could see yourself doing?" the male asked me curiously. I looked at the paper again. It kind'a did sound like what I wanted...only military was on a level of defending much bigger than I'd anticipated for my life.

"I guess I could, falls in the same category," I shrugged.

"How old are ya son?"

"Sixteen, about to turn seventeen in five months," I replied to him.

"Why don't you step inside with me and we can talk more?" the man offered, so I nodded. After all, what harm would it do to research it more? I stepped in with him, sat before his desk and we just started talking about everything. I told him about my life, well, just parts of it including my mom being military too. He told me some of the things I could do in the army, and the more we talked the more I was interested. Forty-five minutes into talking, he told me that I could join now and head for Basic Training in a week. He handed me a sign up sheet, basic information to fill out like name, age, hair and eye color, weight and height, allergies, meds, and more. He told me to let him know but I ended up just saying that I had made my choice and filled it out then and there. "You're doing the right thing son," he reassured me.

After that and for the next week, I had to go back to do dental, medical, and physical check-outs-they had to make sure I was fit for army life in general and Basic Training in particular and it turned out I was. My health was in top condition: physical, mental, emotional. I passed all my tests and then I was told that Basic started in two days at Fort Dreki, where I'd be for ten weeks before being assigned to a platoon, and location somewhere in the Archipelago unless I was sent straight to active duty. I was told a bus would be coming to my house to pick me up by eleven in the morning on Monday. I grabbed the paper he gave me to attach to my bag of things I'd be taking and I left. This was it, no turning back. I went home to pack what I wanted to take-the recruiter said just things I wouldn't want to go without for a while. When I got home, my father and sister were waiting for me for dinner since it was almost 5:30pm.

"Hayden, there you are!" my father, Gerald Haddock, boomed.

"Sorry, got held up doing something..." I mumbled to him.

"Well sit down and eat. I got big news to tell you!" Dad said proudly. Oh great, I had got news too, Dad. I joined the military and will be leaving on Monday for ten weeks in basic training. I sat down and began to eat in silence. How did I tell them I was leaving? Dad would flip and Camille was sure to freak out in a fit of tears. But I wasn't backing out: I had to do this. This was for me, no one else. After dinner ended, we cleaned up and were all sitting around the dining room table. "Hayden, you'll be pleased to know that I got you a job today!"

"What?..." I asked.

"Yep, working in my office with me. Organizing, taking calls, appointments. Ya start on Monday, coming right to the office after school," Gerald stated smiling. I hadn't wanted to tell them yet, I honestly just wanted to leave them with a note and take off. Obviously that wasn't going to happen. I took a deep breath and faced him.

"I already have a job..." I informed him flatly and both of them looked at me now.

"What...do you mean, son?" Gerald asked.

"Just today...I got...hired and...I start Monday." I replied cautiously.

"Well that's...great, Hayden! I knew you'd find something, what will your job be? Is it close?" Camille asks gently. I took a deep breath: here goes nothing...

"I won't be close and...I...also won't be coming home for...ten weeks," I admitted now. Instantly, it was silent.

"Hold on just a Thor strikin' minute! What job could you possibly have gotten that involves you being away from home for ten..." Gerald paused now as his eyes widened and he went almost as white as a ghost when he realized it. "You didn't...tell me you didn't do what I hope to Odin you didn't!"

"I did." I answered firmly.

"I don't...understand...what's going on, Daddy?" Camille asked, confused. I turned my head to her slowly, before sighing.

"I joined the military," I told her. She gasped as tears instantly formed in her eyes.

"Hayden Haddock, I swear to Thor you better be joking, and if ya are...I'm not amused!" Gerald stood now.

"I'm not joking, Dad. I did exactly what you're hoping I didn't and there is no going back. I have joined the Barbaric Archipelago Army and I leave for Basic on Monday. Get over it, this was my choice and there isn't anything you can do about it. I am not going to live the rest of my life being a lawyer alongside you!" I fired back before leaving the table to go to my room. Honestly, right now I couldn't wait for Monday to come. But there was still Saturday and Sunday to survive at home with my now tear-stricken sister, and angry father. Great.

As I expected the entire weekend was hell. Camille went and told all our friends what I'd done, and when I was leaving. They somehow managed to all get Monday off to say goodbye to me, wish me well and to see me soon. And today was Monday, they were all there sitting around the room. My father and I had argued all weekend but I still didn't change my mind and just this morning he actually begged me not to do it. So did Camille. I knew why they didn't want me joining...because it meant the risk of being deployed straight away with how the war was right now and with how our mother had died in war. Dad lost mom to war and now they were afraid to lose me. But I wasn't stopping: I had made this choice, this commitment...and I was seeing it through.

{End Hayden's POV}

/End Flashback/

Hayden woke up to someone shaking him, and he groggily opened his eyes to see a young man about his age sitting beside him with a smile. "Hey, we're about to arrive at the camp. Thought I'd wake you." the man offered.

"Thanks..." Hayden replied sitting up and cracking his neck then rubbing his eyes, once opened he saw a hand out to him.

"Theodore Holgerson. Theo for short," he introduced himself. Hayden shook his hand.

"Hayden 'Hiccup' Haddock, and for the love of Odin don't ask about the middle name..." Hayden smiled back at him. The bus jolted to a halt and the engine turned off then everyone on the bus got up and prepared to get off...but a man in uniform got on first.

"Alright, you maggots! You are to file off this bus, grab your bag and report to the main building directly ahead of you. There is to be no talking! Now move out! Hustle, Hustle, Hustle!" the man ordered as he stepped back and sure enough they all filed off, grabbed their bags and hustled as fast as they could to the main building. Hayden took notice of the sign on above the door; Fort Dreki: Where Boys Become Men.

'And so it begins...' Hayden thought, stepping inside the building and standing with the other men he'd be with for the next ten weeks of basic training.