A/N: Hello everyone! Apparently today is the 10 year anniversary of "How to Train Your Dragon," so I wanted to post a chapter in honor of that. I remember when I first saw the first movie, I had no idea what the movie even was, but I left the theatre having loved it!

This is an AU where Hiccup is arranged to be married to Astrid and where he didn't shoot down Toothless when he was 15. Flashbacks are in italics.

—

Hiccup and Zephyr: Part One

He watched, heart breaking, as a tear ran down the cheek of the little, auburn haired girl. A blonde boy reached out and pulled on one of her braids, mocking her further, as another child called her names. He knew if he walked over to help, to put a stop to the bullying, that he would only make things worse for her. He always made things worse.

Finally, as the girl covered her face with her hands in a failed attempt to hide, the group of children lost interest and wandered away. Immediately her little legs carried her, as fast as they could manage, barreling into her father. She clung to him, crying, then reached up in a desire to be held by a trusted parent.

Hiccup complied, bending down to gather his three-year-old daughter in his arms and hold her close. She instantly tucked her head under his chin.

"I'm so sorry, Zeph..." He apologized while rubbing her back. She had insisted on trying to make friends with a group of children and he had allowed her to venture over, by herself. He now regretted his choice even though he had been so hopeful before. He didn't want her to have a childhood like his. To grow up lonely and unwanted.

"What do I always tell you Zephyr?" Hiccup asked his daughter, tilting his head to try and look her in the eyes. She peered up at him with her wet, bright blue eyes. Her mother's eyes. She sniffled a few times, then looked down in thought.

"Remember?" Hiccup prompted.

"I'm loved... and valued." Zephyr recited shyly, growing a little more confident toward the end.

"Good girl." Hiccup praised, because if he was going to do anything right in his life, it would be being the parent he wished he'd had. His daughter wouldn't grow up thinking that her father was disappointed in or ashamed of her. If anything... maybe she should be ashamed to have him as her father. She would probably have friends if he wasn't around.

"Can we go walk in the woods?" Zephyr asked timidly, playing with the collar of Hiccup's shirt.

"Of course."

"And play in the leaves?"

"That sounds like the best way to spend an autumn day." He answered while spinning them around in the direction of Berk's woods, receiving a little giggle from her with the quick movement.

The walk through the trees to one of their favorite spots was a quick one, as it wasn't too far away from the village. If they had intended to make a day out of it, he would have taken her to the cove, but this was an impromptu little outing meant to try and lift his little girl's spirits.

As soon as they reached the grassy clearing, Zephyr was wiggling to get out of her father's arms. Chuckling, he let her loose and she ran to the nearest tree to start gathering fallen leaves.

Hiccup sat on a log and watched her throw the leaves up in the air and giggle, a content smile gracing his features. He loved seeing her so happy. Her happiness and well-being were his only purpose in life.

—

"You're 18, Hiccup. You can't be irresponsible your whole life!" Stoick, the chief of the tribe and Hiccup's father had sat Hiccup down for a talk. Hiccup knew this couldn't lead to anything good. "It's about time you grew up."

Hiccup just stared back at his father. There was a time when he would have argued back, a sarcastic remark ready on his tongue. But after years of trying so hard to make his father proud of him, to please the people of Berk, only to fail, he realized that his efforts were fruitless. He couldn't be what everyone wanted him to be, no matter how much he fought against who he was, no matter how much he hated himself. He would always be Hiccup, he would never be enough.

In the past couple years Hiccup had become a very quiet, almost timid person. The sarcasm he was so well known for slowly slipped away as he stopped trying to fight against what people said about him and started to accept it as the truth. He avoided people as much as he could get away with and when he was in the company of others, receded into himself. He worked in the forge, he did as he was told, he minded his own business, he escaped into Berk's forests, he went home, he slept. It still wasn't good enough.

Stoick made an impatient sound as his son refused to say anything. Hiccup still just sat there, waiting, a blank look on his face,

"Are you just going to sit there and stare at me?" Stoick asked. Hiccup immediately averted his gaze down, away from his father. Stoick sighed.

"Look, Hiccup..." Stoick tried to press on, but his son's behavior had him thrown. He was used to the arguing, the fighting, the relentless sarcasm. The quiet, resignation was a little unnerving and not very Hiccup-like. But he hadn't really been his Hiccup for a couple years now. Stoick decided to continue, but more gently. He was suddenly afraid of breaking his son. "You're 18... and you're my only heir."

This got Hiccup's attention and he looked up again, a little bit of curiosity in his eyes. What was this about? Was this the moment that Stoick told him he would never be good enough to be chief? That he was claiming another heir? Hiccup thought that maybe, finally hearing these words from his father would be a relief. He would be free to mind his own business. He could spend all his time in nature, walking through the trees, drawing wildlife, keeping to himself. Maybe without all the pressure of being the chief's son, it would allow him to at least be content, if not happy. He couldn't remember the last time he had felt happiness.

"You are the last in the Haddock bloodline. If anything were to happen to either of us, Berk's future would be uncertain." Stoick decided it would be best to say what he needed to, as quickly as possible. "To insure Berk's future... and the Haddock, royal bloodline. You need to have an heir of your own. Which means you need to be married."

—

"Daddy! Jump! Jump!" Zephyr cried out in joy as she ran through the pile. Hiccup shook himself from his thoughts and stood up to play with his daughter. He ran through the pile, then bent down to throw a handful of it in the air. Zephyr laughed, arms stretching as she tried to catch the falling leaves.

They spent the next couple hours gathering all the leaves they could find to make the biggest pile that they could. Playing and laughing together. Finding solace in each other's company. They may not have friends, but the father and daughter had a strong bond.

"I think it's about time we headed home, sweetie." Hiccup said, noticing as the sky grew darker earlier then it used to.

"Already?" Zephyr pouted.

"That look isn't going to work on me this time." He playfully scolded. "We need to get home so that we can have dinner with mommy. Don't you want to see mommy?"

"Yes!" Zephyr's eyes lit up again as she bounced back from her disappointment of ending their playtime. She ran over to Hiccup and reached up again, wanting to be carried.

"What happened to all that energy? Now I have to carry you aaaaall the way back home?" Hiccup bent down, over-exaggerating the difficulty of picking her up. Zephyr burst into a fit of giggles as he hefted her up into his arms. "When did you get so heavy?"

"I'm growing."

"Oh, that's for sure." Hiccup responded, again pretending that it was difficult to hold her up. "I don't know if I'll make it all the way back!"

"Silly daddy." Zephyr laughed some more, Hiccup joining in as he started the walk back to the village.

—

Astrid sat across from him at the table in his home, as her parents and Stoick discussed their marriage contract. He assumed that she would be angry and upset at being forced to marry the village screw up. Surprisingly, she appeared calm, almost accepting. He averted his eyes as she looked over at him, intrigue on her face.

"Remember back when they were children?" Stoick was saying, "They were inseparable."

"Yes, I remember that. Astrid used to tell me that she would marry that boy someday." Astrid's mother, Sigrid, laughed as she reminisced.

"Whatever happened to that?" Astrid's father, Arne, turned to the two betrothed.

Hiccup and Astrid glanced at each other as all eyes turned on them. Hiccup shrugged and turned away shyly.

"I, uh, think our interests sort of... took us in different directions." Astrid scraped together a response. She wasn't entirely wrong. Hiccup started his apprenticeship in the forge and wasn't allowed to start weapons training. Astrid, on the other hand, threw herself into training with little thought for anything else.

"That makes sense." Stoick responded, accepting the explanation easily. "Now here we are, years later, and you will get to marry him."

"I think this will work out well for the both of you." Sigrid said kindly, "It will take some adjusting, but if you put the work in and make an effort, I think you'll find happiness with one another."

"On to business..." Stoick brought up the contract that they were trying to work out, "Astrid will be expected to provide an heir, as soon as possible."

"My daughter is healthy and strong, that shouldn't be a problem." Arne responded, neither of the parents paying any mind to the blushing faces of their children.

"As Hiccup's wife, she'll have to take on the responsibilities of chieftess some day..." Stoick continued describing the expectations for Astrid.

Hiccup was pretty sure he knew what this was really about. No one thought that he could be a good chief, but Astrid was the most promising of his generation. She was looked up to and admired. As much as people were probably sympathizing with her for being stuck with him, they were probably just as happy to have her as a future chieftess. Maybe that was why she seemed okay with this arrangement. She was a loyal warrior of Berk, she would want what was best for her people. Even if that meant marrying him in order to give Berk the leader it deserved.

—

"There you are!" Astrid exclaimed as Hiccup walked through the door of their home with Zephyr still in his arms. "I was beginning to worry."

"Mommy!" Zephyr called out in excitement, struggling in Hiccup's arms.

"Patience you little wiggle worm." Hiccup said as he walked over to Astrid to hand over their little girl. As she reached out for her mom and was transferred into her arms, Astrid leaned forward and placed a light kiss to Hiccup's lips. Hiccup quickly ducked his head shyly, surprised by the sudden show of affection. It wasn't unwanted, but it sometimes caught Hiccup off guard. It was as if some days she was very outwardly affectionate, but other days she didn't want anyone to know that she might actually care for him.

Astrid paused at his reaction, suddenly feeling a little self-conscious of her actions, but quickly brushed it off. She would show affection more often, if she knew for sure that he would accept it and not reject her. "I thought we could all go up to the Great Hall for dinner. We've both been out all day and I don't want to cook."

"I could-"

"I'm also too hungry to wait for a meal to be prepared." She cut him off with a reassuring smile, knowing that Hiccup would immediately offer to cook for her. "There's always prepared food in the Hall."

"Yeah... okay." He agreed, but didn't look too enthusiastic about the idea. He wanted to stay in his home, where he felt comfortable, with the only two people in his life that he felt like he could relax around, and even be himself. He would even rather be home alone, than go to the crowded Hall, but he didn't want to ditch his family for dinner.

The little family exited their home and made their way up to the Great Hall. It wasn't that far of a walk, but it was uphill. Their house had been built next to the chief's house, as they were to be the next chief and chieftess of Berk.

—

The first month of marriage had been a bit awkward and quite the adjustment, as they had been forced into intimacy before getting the chance to become reacquainted with one another. Stoick and his council had all agreed that with the dragon raids persisting, Berk's future needed to be secure. Producing an heir became priority for the new couple.

Hiccup was willing to do his duty as the chief's son, and Astrid seemed to share the sentiment. He figured that she was just doing her duty as well, nothing more, no feelings attached. Once they completed the task, then that was it. Astrid would be set to be chieftess, Berk would have an heir, and Hiccup would have outlived his brief usefulness.

Both he and Astrid had been shadowing his father to learn how to be chief, but he always felt self-conscious while doing so. Surely the people disapproved of him trying to be something he would never be, but he wasn't sure if he was ready to be Astrid's glorified 'housewife' when she inevitably took over as chieftess. He didn't think anyone would want the screw up of Berk raising the next heir. He wasn't sure if he would have much motivation to go on, living a loveless life, surrounded by people who looked down on him.

His whole outlook on life changed the moment he first set eyes on the little bundle of joy in Astrid's arms. They had a daughter. She had his hair and her mother's eyes and she was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. When he took her into his arms for the first time his breath was stolen away. He had never felt so much love in his heart for anything, anyone. All thoughts of giving up on life were swept away as he gave himself a new purpose. He would make sure this little child would have the best and happiest life possible. She would have everything he never did, she would be loved and she would know it.

—

Once they entered the hall Astrid chose a table and Hiccup went to get them some plates of food. Over the years he had learned what she liked. They had built a routine, they worked well together, even if they had some underlying issues.

Upon returning to the table Astrid had picked out, he was disappointed to see that some of her friends had decided to join her. Tuffnut, Snotlout, and Fishlegs sat opposite her at the table in kind, while Ruffnut sat next to Astrid, talking in a baby voice to Zephyr, who sat in her mother's lap. Zephyr was eating up the attention. Hiccup placed the food in front of himself and his family, then took the empty seat next to Astrid.

"Hey, Hiccup. I haven't talked to you in a while." Fishlegs, who was seated across from Hiccup, tried at some friendly conversation. Hiccup looked up at him, but said nothing. He had learned a while back that people didn't care what he had to say, they found him annoying. This was part of why he hated interacting with others now, they were full of contradictions. Why initiate conversation if it wasn't sincere, if they didn't actually care? Why pretend to be nice?

Fishlegs squirmed under the intelligent and intense gaze that Hiccup had started to become well known for. He showed no emotion and it was a little unnerving.

"I'm going to go get some food. Be right back!" Fishlegs jumped to his feet and bolted after giving his excuse to leave. Not actually interested in him, Hiccup thought.

"And just when I thought you couldn't get any weirder." Snotlout muttered, giving Hiccup a withering look. The two did not have a good history. Hiccup just ignored him as he slowly picked at his food. Astrid shot Snotlout a warning look. She knew how closed off Hiccup was around others. If only they could see him when he started to open up at home.

—

Hiccup found it strange how many people were offering him their congratulations. All of Berk seemed pretty happy with the birth of their new heir and celebrations lasted for almost a week. As Astrid was busy at home with their newborn, Hiccup was expected to make an appearance at the feasts and events, to represent his new family.

The kind words of encouragement, the friendly advice, and the all around sentiment that Hiccup and his family would lead Berk into a bright future, threw him. The positive attention had him baffled, and he didn't know how to react.

The people of Berk thought that things were finally looking up for their futures. Sure, there were still dragon raids, but their heir had finally matured and grew into his role. He had been acting differently for quite some time now, but that was a good thing, right? He was quieter than he used to be, but he wasn't lashing out with quick remarks and sarcasm anymore. He kept to himself most of the time, but he wasn't out there getting in people's way and causing trouble. A genuine smile had always been a rare occurrence from him, but now they were reserved only for his daughter. But that was just because he had become more serious. He most certainly wasn't the Hiccup they all remembered and he grew into someone they hadn't expected, but wasn't that what they had wanted? Nothing was wrong, his behavior wasn't because of them. It was a good thing. At least, that was what they told themselves.

As Hiccup walked to the forge one day he was intercepted by Snotlout and the twins. They stood in each other's paths awkwardly for a brief moment.

"Uh... How's Astrid?" Ruffnut finally spoke up. She had been close to Astrid at one point and had decided that she would make an effort to get along with Hiccup.

"She's fine. Healthy." Hiccup answered quietly, barely making an effort at eye contact.

"Good. That's good." Ruffnut responded with a couple nods of her head. After another awkward moment she spoke up again, "That baby of yours is the cutest baby I've ever seen. And I've seen a lot of ugly babies."

"Um... thank you?" Hiccup had no idea what to make of that.

"I guess now I'm destined to be an old maid." Tuffnut spoke up in mock despair, "Astrid was my only hope."

"So you're saying there was never any hope?" Snotlout mocked.

"You're not hopeless. You just have to wait for the younger generations to be old enough to get married or marry someone older than you. Or, you know, leave Berk." Ruffnut informed, "I personally vote for you to leave."

"I second that." Snotlout agreed. Then the three looked to where Hiccup had been standing and noticed he was gone. Turning their heads to look around, they noticed him walking down the path to the Village Square.

"Hey!" Snotlout called after him, suddenly annoyed at being dismissed by the likes of Hiccup. Hiccup stopped and glanced back, a questioning look on his face. Snotlout wasn't sure what exactly came over him, but he was getting really frustrated with Hiccup.

"That's really rude you know. Walking away from people who are having a conversation with you."

"Relax Snot, it wasn't exactly the epitome of conversations." Ruffnut tried to pacify Snotlout, but there was no getting through to him at this point.

"What's 'epitome?'" Tuffnut asked, but he went ignored.

"Here we are, making an effort to be friendly with you and you just walk away. What exactly is wrong with you, huh? What happened to the whiny kid who was always getting into trouble?" Ruff and Tuff shared a worried look as Snotlout continued, "I think everyone preferred that Hiccup to the weirdo you turned into. Do you even know how to talk anymore?"

Hiccup stood completely still, forcing himself to take long and deep breaths as he tried to remain calm. Snotlout slowly walked toward him as he spoke. At this point some of the other villagers had stopped to watch with wide eyes.

"Astrid deserved better. The only good thing to come out of your marriage to her is the fact that she'll make a good chieftess."

Hiccup narrowed his eyes, he already knew all this, he didn't need to be told. But Zephyr had come out of their marriage and if Snotlout insulted his daughter, then Hiccup wouldn't stand for that.

"I wouldn't have believed that any girl would ever let you near them. If not for the fact that your daughter looks like you, I wouldn't think she was yours. Hopefully looks are the only thing she inherited from you. We don't need another dud as an heir-"

Whack!

Hiccup snapped, having been standing there seething during Snotlout's little rant. He didn't like the disrespectful way in which he spoke of Astrid and once Zephyr had been brought up, he punched Snotlout in the face as hard as he could.

All the people gathered around gasped in shock— not that Snotlout didn't deserve it, or that violence really bothered them— but no one expected such an act from Hiccup.

"Whoa." Ruffnut said in awe.

"Who knew he had that in him?" Tuffnut asked, equally in awe.

Hiccup's eyes widened as he realized what he had just done. Snotlout lay on the ground, groaning as he held his nose, blood oozing down his face.

"That was incredible." Ruffnut stated. The crowd around them started to mumble and gossip about what had just happened.

Hiccup started to feel claustrophobic, he needed some space, he needed to breathe. Suddenly panicking, Hiccup turned and ran to the forge. He didn't stop until he was inside and past the curtain that closed off his workspace from the rest of the forge. He sat and leaned on his desk, head resting on his arms, trying to calm himself down. He stayed that way, even when he heard movement on the other side of his curtain.

"Hiccup?" He heard Gobber call out, but he didn't respond.

"I thought I saw him run this way." Stoick said. For some reason they didn't bother to look in the back room.

"Maybe it's for the best. Gives him some time to cool down." Gobber suggested, a hint of worry in his voice.

"I don't know Gobber... He isn't-" Stoick stopped, trying to figure out how to explain what he was trying to say."Hiccup hasn't been, well, Hiccup, for quite some time now."

"I know what you mean. He used to come into the forge everyday and talk my ear off. He'd tell me about all sorts of things. There were times I wanted to cover his mouth with my good hand and tell him to just stay still and be quiet for five minutes!" Gobber reminisced, "Now I'd give anything to get him to say more than a couple words to me when he comes in to work."

"Snotlout was out of line, but I never thought Hiccup was one to resort to violence. He used to try, but he's always been too gentle."

"That's true. But even I want to knock Snotlout around a bit after he said those things."

"Do you... do you think Hiccup believes what he said?" Stoick asked hesitantly, almost afraid of the answer.

"I hope not. It's hard to imagine what he thinks though, he's hard to read. He used to wear his heart on his sleeve."

"I don't know what to do, Gobber. I never really knew how to parent him to begin with," Stoick confided. "But ever since he changed... I've been completely lost as to what to do. I miss... I wish he was still the Hiccup from before."

Suddenly the curtain was pulled aside and Hiccup emerged from the back. His face was set in an intense, deadly gaze. Never had the two Vikings seen Hiccup look so angry.

"You can't have it both ways." He said in an unnervingly steady, yet firm voice. However, tears started to run down his cheeks as he spoke, "You told me to stop being me. Everyone told me to change. Now that I have?"

Without warning Hiccup swept his arm across a table, sending tools flying everywhere in his sudden rage. Stoick and Gobber remained still, shocked by Hiccup's behavior.

"You're telling me you prefer the the screw up of Berk over this?! I'm still not good enough." He pushed past the shocked men toward the entrance, then turned for one final word before leaving. "Make up your damn minds! I don't know how much more of this I can take..."

Hiccup headed home, ignoring all the stares and words of the people he passed by. All he wanted was to hold his daughter in his arms for a while.