CHAPTER 1: Apprentices and a Promise

"Gobber," whined a seven year old girl. "We can help!"

"Aye, lass," said Gobber the Belch, staring into the violet eyes of Marianne Merida Haddock, the second, unexpected child of the chief. "And then yer father would gut me, right hook man or not."

"Come on, Gobber," said the girl's twin, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third. "Dad'll be glad we're coming to the forge!"

"And how do you figure that, lad?" questioned the village blacksmith, moving to find his hammer arm to beat the sword into shape.

Hiccup smiled slyly. "We would just tell him that it's to help us build our muscles," he said.

"What muscles?" He grumbled, and the twins glanced at each other, knowing they had won the argument. "Dawn," snapped Gobber, limping off to, presumably, tell their father.

The twins left the forge, smirking to each other. This act had two advantages - one, that the other kids in the village would finally stop calling them 'useless', and two, yes, that they might finally develop some strength.

If not, well, they had plenty of scrap metal - they'd figure something out.

Three years later, not much had changed. The other kids in Berk still called them 'Useless', and they were still pretty much skin and bones, and even their father seemed to have given them up as a lost cause. Still, they worked with Gobber, trying to change his mind about 'No, you can't build your ideas, you'll destroy the village'. No luck so far.

They trudged back to their house, hoping they beat their father back home. Hiccup glanced at his sister. "The Meatheads will be coming tomorrow," he said.

Marianne sighed. "I know. Father will expect us to help him out this year. And, of course,"

Hiccup smiled wryly. "Their heir will be there as well. Yay us."

They walked into the house, and saw their father sharpening his axe, his back turned against them. The twins tried to sneak up to their room without letting their father know that they had returned home, but no such luck. "Hiccup. Marianne." He said solemnly.

The twins froze, and turned around, resigned. Their father looked at them with unfathomable eyes. "The Meatheads will be coming tomorrow," he said without preamble. "Hiccup, you'll be with the chief and I. Marianne will give the boy a tour. Bring him to the great hall for the signing."

The twins exchanged a glance. "Father," began Marianne hesitantly. "Wouldn't it be better if the heirs of the tribe-"

"Presented a united front?" Finished Hiccup.

The chief scowled. "Alright," he said. "But don't do that - finish each others' sentences. It'll disturb the guests, and we need this treaty signed."

The twins sighed. "Yes, father."

The chief nodded, and returned to his axe. The two ten year olds took the opportunity, and went to their room.

Upstairs, the twins sat on the elder boy's cot, slightly upset at the new development. "You do realise we can't put this off forever," said Marianne, scowling. "It will happen, unless we prove that I have a place here."

Hiccup nodded, equally unhappy. "How, though?" he asked, mildly vexed. "The villagers tend to pay more attention to the failures of our experiments, than our successes, never mind that we are the ones who do most, if not all, the weapons maintenance, not Gobber."

"And I doubt we will be able to find anyone who would be willing to teach us to fight."

Hiccup snorted. "Vikings aren't exactly teachers," he said, hitting the nail right on the head.

"I doubt they could teach us anyway - we're not exactly built for the 'bash repeatedly' kind of fight." She paused. "The only option I see," she said, "is for us to teach ourselves."

"Perfect," he said sarcastically. "I don't see this going wrong in any way at all."

Marianne grinned. "Brother mine," she began, ignoring the sarcasm,"You should know by now - Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong."

He grinned back. "But we'll go through with it anyway."

"That's a promise."

A/N:

Chapter 1, folks! Good, bad, in between? Let me know!