"Gift or Curse?": Let It Go
A/N: Okay, explanation time. This is actually a fan fiction of a fan fiction. Or a fan tribute, I suppose. It's for muggleborn. dragon .ryder's (take out spaces) "Gift or Curse?" which is a retelling of Disney's Frozen with the HTTYD characters with enough changes and twists to make it a unique and highly entertaining story. I highly recommend reading it! You can find it in my Favorites list.
Hiccup and HTTYD belongs to Cressida Cowell and DreamWorks SKG
"Let It Go" from Frozen © Disney
"Gift or Curse?" by muggleborn. dragon. ryder (again, take out the spaces)
The silence of the warm summer night was broken by a faint crackling sound. At almost the same instant, the air temperature began to descend rapidly, as if the gods had doused the earth in a bucket of ice water. Soon it was cold enough that snow began to fall from the heavens, drifting down onto a solitary island in the middle of the sea. Had the little outcropping of rock been inhabited, its occupants might have been bewildered and frightened by the sudden shift in weather. But there was no one.
At least not at the moment.
But that soon changed as the source of the faint crackling neared the island. A bridge of ice was rapidly approaching the shore, and the sound was the result of the rapid freezing of the water. And atop the bridge was a teenage boy wearing a green tunic and a brown fur vest. His brown hair flapped in the wind, and his emerald green eyes flickered about like those of a cornered animal. He was running as though being chased by an army, even though there was no one else around him. With each footstep, the ice bridge expanded before him, as though the ice was sprouting directly from him.
The bridge came to a sudden end as the boy reached the shore of the island, and Hiccup Haddock stumbled and fell upon the cold sand. He didn't rise immediately, choosing to remain in his prone position, panting and trying to catch his breath. At length he looked up and took in his surroundings. Snow was by now falling heavily on the little island, clinging to the trees and covering the central mountain in a layer of white. It would have been beautiful if it hadn't been so out of place. Snow had no place in summer.
Hiccup rose to his knees and looked down at his hands.
I did this.
He hadn't meant to. He had tried to conceal his mysterious power as his father had told him to. He'd tried so hard not to let it show.
All it had taken was one little slip. He'd seen his father approaching and the old fear had settled in. The fear he felt whenever he saw his father, especially when Stoick's face was set in an expression that promised pain. Once he felt that fear, there was no stopping his powers. The ice had burst from him without his consent, but he'd never be able to convince his father that he hadn't done it intentionally.
Nor was there any convincing the other villagers. He winced as he remembered their cries of, "Sorcerer!" "Monster!" and "Freak!" One of them had even called, "I always knew there was something wrong with you, boy!"
They were right, all of them. There was something wrong with him. He was a freak, a monster. But it wasn't his fault. He hadn't chosen this…this curse. He'd been born with these powers and he'd never learned how to control them properly. He knew he lost control more whenever he was in moments of high emotion, especially fear and stress. And the gods knew he spent most of his life in fear and stress, so he often lost control of his power.
And whenever he lost control, a beating was sure to follow.
Hiccup shuddered, but not from the cold. He stood up, gazing at the snow-covered mountain that lay before him. Without really considering it, he started walking toward it, and when he reached its base, he started to climb. The incline wasn't too steep, which made his journey a little easier. And as he climbed, he thought.
He wondered what everyone was doing back on Berk. Would they send out a search party for him? Would his father perhaps come looking for him? He sincerely hoped not.
But what if they did?
"I need a defense," he murmured. "Some way to protect myself in case they do come…"
About halfway up the mountain, he paused and looked around. All his life, he'd been told to hide his powers, to hide his true self. But looking around at the snow covering the island, he couldn't help but marvel over its beauty. He'd never known he was capable of creating something so lovely, so…pure.
He suddenly felt an overpowering urge to sing. He had often hummed or sang when he was depressed or confused. It was something his mother had done, and she said it always made her feel better. The melody played in his head, and the words flowed from his lips. He didn't know where he'd heard the song before or if he was simply making it up as he went, but he didn't care and just let it flow through him.
"The snow glows white on the mountain tonight
Not a footprint to be seen
An island of isolation
And it looks like I'm the king"
He paused for a moment to overlook his white, barren domain. A breeze ruffled his hair, though it wasn't the bitter cold that made him wrap his arms across his chest.
"The wind is howling like this swirling storm inside
Couldn't keep it in, Odin knows I tried"
He kept walking, keeping his eyes down as he recalled the words his father had so often roared at him, words that almost always preceded a beating.
"Don't let them in, don't let them see
Be the good boy you always have to be
Conceal, don't feel, don't let them know"
He paused again, looking down at his hands. As usual, they were covered by the extra-long sleeves of his tunic. His eyes hardened in defiance.
"Well now they know"
He pushed his sleeves back, took a deep breath, and finally released his power. He held out his right hand, palm-up, and a puff of glittering snow swirled upward into the air. Smiling, he repeated the motion with his left hand, creating an even bigger swirl. It was the single most beautiful thing he'd ever seen. He turned and created a little dragon made entirely out of snow, purely for his own amusement. He threw his hands skyward and shot his powers into the air, and glistening snow mingled with the stars above. And while he experimented with his special talent, his gift, he continued to sing.
"Let it go, let it go
Can't hold it back anymore
Let it go, let it go
Turn away and slam the door
I don't care
What they're going to say
Let the storm rage on
The cold never bothered me anyway"
He found he was sweating despite the temperature and slid the fur vest from his body. He released it and it flew away in the wind. He wasn't sorry to see it go. It was a reminder of the life he'd left behind, and he wanted nothing more to do with it.
Hiccup resumed walking up the mountain, continuing to sing as he glanced back over his shoulder in the general direction of Berk.
"It's funny how some distance
Makes everything seem small
And the fears that once controlled me
Can't get to me at all"
He faced forward and took off at a jog, a broad grin spreading across his face. He paused when he suddenly faced a gap in the snow: there was a chasm that dropped into complete darkness. There was no telling how far down it went, but Hiccup's smile didn't falter. He raised his hand and sent a burst of white snow out from his palms. The snow and ice formed to create a rather misshapen staircase. It didn't look stable, but Hiccup wasn't perturbed. It wasn't bad for his first try, after all. And he could still improve it.
"It's time to see what I can do
To test the limits and break through
No right, no wrong, no rules for me
I'm free"
He stepped forward and cautiously put a foot down on the bottommost step. The moment his boot touched the snow, it solidified and crystallized, becoming a smooth, sturdy step, complete with a little swirling snowflake pattern imbedded in the ice. Hiccup's grin widened and he launched himself up the stairs, throwing his hands out to the sides to help finish the staircase's construction, the ice and snow forming in front of him, responding to his every move and obeying his every command.
"Let it go, let it go
I am one with the wind and sky
Let it go, let it go
You'll never see me cry"
He reached the other side of the chasm, and the staircase ended, bringing him back to solid ground. Yes, he thought as he looked around. This would be a great place for him to build his protection. Let them try to come after him once he was done. He stomped his left foot into the snow, and at once the ground turned to ice, shooting and spreading outward in a giant snowflake crystal.
"Here I stand
And here I'll stay
Let the storm rage on"
Hiccup stopped singing for a moment, focusing entirely on the construction of his castle. He brought his hands up, and in response the ice he stood on began to rise as well. Great frozen pillars shot up from the ground, sprouting walls and decorative arches. He spun around on the spot, focusing on every minute detail. He created a sweeping grand staircase that sprouted up to the other levels. He made turrets and balconies, Soon he discovered that he could add hints of color to the ice and spread varying hues of purple, blue, and white all around so that his new home didn't have to be so monochrome. The castle stretched upward to the sky, its central tower reaching almost as high as the mountain itself. The front doors were tall and imposing, as if daring anyone to come close enough to penetrate their defenses. The structure was both beautiful and rather intimidating, and Hiccup couldn't be happier with it.
With one last flick of his hands, he added the final touch: a massive ice chandelier, grander than anything anyone on Berk had ever seen, burst from the ceiling, bathing the entire room with ethereal blue light.
He continued his song as he worked:
"My power flurries through the air into the ground
My soul is spiraling in frozen fractals all around
And one thought crystallizes like an icy blast"
He paused, looking down at his left hand. There was a ring on his third finger, a ring his father had given him. The Berk crest was stamped into the black stone, a reminder of who he was and where he came from. His smile slipped and a scowl darkened his features. He tugged the ring off his finger and hurled it away from him. It soared out the open balcony doors and dropped immediately from sight.
"I'm never going back
The past is in the past"
As his song neared its climax, Hiccup ran a hand through his hair, making it even more untidy than it already was, and considered his clothes. Like the vest and ring he'd discarded, they were unpleasant reminders of his former home. His smile returned. He knew a way to both rid himself of them and provide himself with another layer of protection. Pointing his hands at his feet and them bringing them sharply upward, his palms always facing his body, he created a suit of ice armor, covering his tunic and leggings as if they had never been there. His boots became solid yet light enough for him to lift. His clothes, made from thinly-spun ice, fitted comfortably. He created shoulder pads, reminiscent of those he had seen his old friend Astrid wear, and topped the whole thing off with a long cloak that trailed the ground behind him.
"Let it go, let it go
And I'll rise like the break of dawn
Let it go, let it go
That frightened boy is gone"
Satisfied, Hiccup walked over to the balcony and overlooked his new home. The castle was finished, glistening beautifully in the light of the sunrise. This was his kingdom, his domain, and no one could take it away from him. A building sense of joy and freedom built in his chest and he released it all in the final chords of his song:
"Here I stand
In the light of day
Let the storm rage on
The cold never bothered me anyway"
His song finished, his castle complete, and his armor satisfactory, Hiccup nodded once and turned back into his new home, slamming the doors shut behind him, effectively locking out the rest of the world.
Let them come if they dared. He'd be ready for them.