Disclaimer: I don't own How To Tame Your Dragon, and am making no money off of this. All credit to Cressida Cowell and Dreamworks.
Summary: Misery loves company, and nowhere has only one misfit. It's a lot easier to be an outcast when there's someone with you. What would it have been like, if Hiccup had a friend before Toothless?
CHAPTER ONE
It is never nice to be the misfit, the outcast, and the generally-considered-useless, but it is much easier when you have company.
At least, that was Natalya Oakenhawk personal opinion, which she reminded herself of on a several-times-daily basis. It wasn't easy being the second-worst Viking on Berk, if not the entire Barbaric Archipelago, especially when you only held that place because keen intelligence was not highly thought of on Berk, and Natalya could steer a ship, even if she disliked sea-based activities of any kind, and could lift an axe or sword without staggering.
Then again, it could also be because Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third was the Chief's son, and people therefore paid a lot more attention when he messed up.
Of course, Natalya's heritage didn't do her any favours, either. No one would ever say it to Natalya's face, or if there was even a slight possibility that her mother, Enna, was within hearing range, but it was no secret that everyone thought that it was Natalya Bog-Burglar heritage that made her so strange. A Viking as big and strong as Bjorn had been, content to be a scholar of early Icelandic poetry? Besides, Bog-Burglar Vikings were always women, but Natalya was only marginally better than Hiccup in a fight, and refused to fight dirty. Naturally something had to be wrong there.
It was only natural that Hiccup and Natalya gravitated toward each other as the years passed. Natalya was lonely, and her interactions with the other young Vikings usually consisted of being bullied when the adults weren't looking. As just punching Snotlout or Dogsbreath was out of the question, it was a very good thing that Snotlout rarely managed to work his way through some of the insulting gems Natalya picked up from her father's studies.
Hiccup was in the same situation, though he preferred sarcasm, which almost always flew over everyone's head. He was considered doubly strange, as he was the son of the chief, and both of his parents had been among the best Vikings in the history of Berk.
Being told to go away while the adults were discussing important things was annoying, especially when her three-years-younger cousin, only seven, was allowed to stay and participate. Then again, Little Miss Precocious Astrid always wanted to be included, and Natalya supposed that letting Astrid stay and be ignored was easier than suffering through a tantrum over being excluded.
Sulking, Natalya decided that a wander was a better use of her time than sitting in a corner. Maybe Aunt Agatha, her guardian since her parents' death the past winter, would actually notice her absence this time. Or maybe not; she was probably used to people disappearing for extended periods of time.
Grabbing the Dragon Manuel and the notebook she was using to make her own copy, she set off into the woods.
It is easy for a ten-year-old to get lost without directions, but Natalya could make her way back from a new destination, if she had a few landmarks. If she didn't have landmarks… well, Freya had received more than a few prayers along the lines of having someone find her before the night got too cold.
Today, she chose not to press her luck and made her way to the rock formations off of the south coast of Berk. It was easy to reach at low tide, if you didn't mind a bit of climbing, and it was a good place to be alone, as there was nothing to smash and not enough room to train, so the only Vikings who went near there were the younger show-off s who tried to use the area as an obstacle course for their boats.
Sitting down on a flat rock, Natalya spread the Dragon Manuel in front of her, pages weighed down with a few pebbles, holding her notebook on her lap.
Common-or-Garden: As the name suggests, this is the most common breed of dragon. Coloured Green, Yellow or Brown, they are armed with basic teeth and claws, and prickly spines. Their speed is most noticeable when this dragon is in retreat.
Gronckles: the plug-ugly of the dragon species. Gronckles are very thick-skinned, with strong jaws and hard skull for ramming its enemies. Lazy, to the point of often falling asleep in mid-flight…
Closing the two books and reminding to return the Manuel to Fishlegs, so that he could be the one to get in trouble with Gobber if it wasn't returned in time, Natalya leaned back to enjoy the rare lack of cloud-covered sunshine.
Loud squawking made her eyes snap open, reaching for a rock to throw at whatever hapless seagull had dared to interrupt her. It was a good thing that she opened her eyes first, because the commotion turned out to be aerial open warfare between a flock of seagulls and several terrible terrors.
Natalya hastily dropped the stone she had picked up. Terrible Terrors were only the size of a large cat, but a flock of them could carry off a small fishing boat. Even a few were more than capable of carrying off a small human child. Maybe they would just finish fighting with the seagulls over the fish and ignore her...
...Loki had it out for her, Natalya was sure of it.
Not only did the winged combatants spot her, the Terrors took the opportunity to dive-bomb the seagulls, causing them to drop the fish. Natalya barely managed to move the Dragon Manuel (she would be in all kinds of trouble if she brought it back smelling of salmon) before a large cod dropped in her lap.
It was almost funny to see a pair of Terrors swoop down after the fish, spot Natalya, and crash into each other while attempting to pull out of the dive.
As the two picked themselves up, growling at each other, a third approached far more slowly, looking at her with wide, imploring eyes. It seemed that size was not the only thing that Terrible Terrors had in common with cats, as Natalya carefully held out one of the fish, barely holding back a loud 'Awww!'
The Terrible Terror carefully snatched the fish and gulped it down. Natalya watched in cautions fascination, then tried not to shriek and bolt as it snuggled up to her side. Slowly and very carefully, she petted the vivid-yellow reptile, as she would a kitten, a likeness that increased when the Terror let out a rumbling purr.
Natalya was still too small to haul in a proper catch, but she still had her parent's small fishing boat and nets, which she tended faithfully, as Aunt Agatha wasn't much of a cooker, and purchased bread got very old very quickly. Trading a few fish for some smoked meat or other food made life much easier.
Now, she brought the Terrors down to her fishing spot, where a good catch was waiting for her. Deciding that the catch was large enough to spare some, Natalya separated the catch into several large baskets for easier transportation, and offered two of them to the Terrors. Two Terrors grabbed the baskets, while the other four grabbed Natalya, taking off in a shot.
Berk had a small, hidden valley, probably uncharted by the virtue of being impossible to reach without the ability to fly, thanks to the twenty meter sheer drop between it and the almost impossible mountain on the other side. Natalya found it when the flock of Terrible Terrors decided to take her home for the day.
Unfortunately, while Terrible Terrors could easily carry something, if there were enough of them, they found a gentle landing to be somewhat more difficult. Luckily, Natalya had enough practice with falling to land on her feet, and nearly fell over again when she stood up and looked around.
The valley was beautiful, scattered with all kinds of dragons, from glow-worms to Wind-walkers to Monstrous Nightmares. A few of them looked up at her loud gasp, but quickly went back to chasing rabbits or sunbathing or whatever else they had been doing, as Natalya struggled to get her head around this new discovery.
It was an incredible feeling, almost beyond description, as though she had finally found something that she never knew she had been searching for, her entire life. Natalya's first thought was to run and tell Hiccup, but she stopped short. Hiccup wanted nothing more than to fit in with the other Vikings, even if it meant getting maimed while killing dragons. Best/only friend or not, she couldn't tell him about this.
Fish were a lot less tasty after being spilled all over the ground thanks to a rough landing, so after a few days of Natalya bringing in fish, several of the larger dragons had taken over from the Terrible Terrors in ferrying the fish that Natalya managed to catch. She still had to rely of the Terrors to get her into the valley, though, which never made for a pleasant trip.
Still, it was a small price to pay for spending a peaceful afternoon among the dragons. As the sun descended toward the horizon, and the Dragons started to settle for the night, Natalya stood and stretched, bracing herself for another rough flight. She started when a Stealth Dragon (judging by the flattened grass and very faint outline) scattered the flock and knelt before her.
Slowly, carefully, Natalya climbed onto the Stealth-Dragon's back. The dragon spread her wings, raised the side flaps to hide Natalya from outside view, and took off.
It was indescribable. The wind rushed past them, whipping at her hair and clothes as they soared and dove through the air. Natalya couldn't stop herself from laughing with joy. After a lifetime of searching, she had finally found a place to belong; here, flying through the skies on dragonback, was where she was meant to be.
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A/N: Right, first chapter up. Natalya won't be a Mary-Sue, but the story will be mostly from her Point Of View. One Person will be heralded with the discovery of something, but that doesn't mean other people haven't tried or looked into it before that. People who invented Hot Air Balloons or other forms of transportation, or even bows and various firearms, must have had to take gravity, motion and reaction into account (hot air rises, guns and cannons recoil, etc). Isaac Newton just took it further and wrote the Law of Gravity.
On that note, did anyone else who read the books have the initial reaction that they should have changed the names and used it as a prelude to the books, with the Movie Hiccup being Hiccup III's ancestor, who was responsible for originally taming the dragons? Just a thought.