A/N: I'm not lazy, I swear. I've just had absolutely zero free time.

Disclaimer: HTTYD, you are hereby disclaimed.

HICCUP'S POV

My fingers traced the edge of my dagger's handle cautiously. This girl was a head shorter than me, but any human had the potential to be dangerous. I wasn't sure why she looked so irritated, anyway. I'd done nothing to her.

"What are you talking about?" I questioned defensively. My mother told me this territory doesn't belong to any one group, so the fact that she was calling it her "turf" didn't make any sense.

Camicazi pointed an angry finger in my face, and I just barely resisted the urge to bare my teeth in warning. A dragon would've bitten off her hand by now. She didn't seem to have any concept of personal space. "Oh, please! I saw you eyeing the loot. That money is mine, so back off," she warned, still quietly enough to not be heard by the surrounding humans.

I took a second to process her words, glancing over my shoulder at the man I'd been observing before. He was still just as oblivious, his pouch of coins dangling temptingly on his hip. When I turned back to face her, my eyes were narrowed. "I wasn't going to steal anything," I protested.

"But you were thinking about it," she retorted, her finger still in my face. I side-stepped her, creating a bit of space from both her and the crowd.

"I don't need money," I shot back, and she finally dropped her hand, eyebrows furrowing in suspicion. "I do wish you'd leave me alone, though," I grumbled under my breath, but it was obvious that she'd heard me.

Camicazi relaxed her posture, grinning mischievously at me. "No need to get all mopey, kid. I was just defending my rightful property," she insisted with mock sincerity, placing a hand over her heart.

"Rightful property?" I snorted in disbelief, my hand leaving my dagger so I could cross my arms.

She shrugged, sidling up behind the man. With extreme deftness, she snatched the coin pouch off his belt, not making a sound. The man coughed, but otherwise remained engaged in the play. I couldn't stop a small smile from briefly lifting the corners of my mouth as she ambled towards me with a satisfied smirk.

"It's that easy, kid," she crowed, tossing the pouch lightly into the air a few times before stowing it in the satchel that was slung over her shoulder.

"I'm not a kid," I snapped, glancing around the girl. My mom was in the same place as before, unaware of the annoyance I was dealing with. Despite my discomfort, I didn't want to bother her. She appeared to be having fun.

Camicazi raised an unimpressed eyebrow. "Is that so? How old are you, then?" She challenged.

I looked away, my cheeks flushing red. "My age is irrelevant. Intelligence and maturity come from the mind, not the body," I argued, raising my chin to feign confidence.

She pressed her lips together, trying not to laugh, and nodded her head slowly. I didn't find any humor in the situation, especially when she began to circle me. This time I did bare my teeth, following her every move with my gaze, but she wasn't paying me any attention. "You sure talk smart. Where you from?" She wondered idly, kicking at the dirt as she walked.

I hesitated. My mom had told me that people just asked questions out of curiosity, but I certainly couldn't tell this random girl where I lived—not that our island had a name the humans would recognize. It wasn't on any maps.

When I didn't speak, she finally looked up, pausing in front of me. "Fine, don't tell me. Not like it matters, anyway," she rolled her eyes, waving me off. "You could at least tell me your name. Unless you want me to keep calling you kid..." She grinned, already predicting my answer.

"Ugh, fine! My name is Hiccup! Now, if you'll excuse me." I had nowhere to go, but I still turned away from her, considering going back to the forest. It wouldn't be fear driving me, though. It would be irritation.

I jumped in surprise when Camicazi slid in front of me, holding up a hand to halt my advance. She was quiet on her feet. My teeth ground together. What did she want?

"So you're the village hiccup, huh? No wonder you're grouchy," she joked. Her words caught my attention, and my aggressive stance transitioned to a confused frown.

"The village hiccup? What are you talking about?" I wondered. She said it like it held some special meaning. It was just my name.

She gave me a look like I was the dumbest person in the world. "You know, you're the smallest, the weakest, the most useless...the hiccup," she explained as if it were obvious. When I was silent, she continued quickly. "You shouldn't feel too bad about it, really. There's always at least one in every village. I mean, not mine, of course...but I'm sure the Meatheads have a couple, and definitely the Berserkers..." I stopped listening as she blathered on, suddenly feeling like a frog was stuck in my throat.

It wasn't just a name...It was a title. A title held apparently by "the smallest, the weakest, the most useless." Did my mom know about this? Did she really think of me that way when she named me?

A rough shove to my shoulder brought me back to the present, and Camicazi was now glaring at me. "Hello! I'm talking to you! You're kinda rude, you know that?" She muttered.

"I'm not used to...I mean...I don't usually talk to hu—people," I corrected, rubbing the back of my neck in embarrassment. I was supposed to be blending in so I could learn more about humans without drawing attention to myself. I clearly wasn't doing a very good job.

An understanding expression flashed across her face. "Ah, okay, so you don't have friends," she assumed with a nonchalant shrug.

"What? I have friends!" I protested. They were dragons, but they were still my friends!

Camicazi raised her hands in surrender. "Hey, I'm not judging. I don't really have many friends myself..." She bit her lip as if she hadn't meant to say that out loud. I felt a pang of sympathy. She might be annoying, but everyone needs a friend.

She cleared her throat and quickly changed the subject, which I was grateful for—the awkward silence was starting to make me squirm. "Hey, you wanna help me with something?" She asked, the wicked grin returning.

My eyebrows furrowed in suspicion. "What kind of something?" I asked hesitantly.

"Come with me," she reached for my hand, but I quickly withdrew it, curling my fingers into a tight fist.

"I-I don't even know you!" I spluttered, glancing around. All the humans were still smiling and laughing and talking without a care in the world, which reminded me I shouldn't be so afraid. I slowly uncurled my fingers again.

"All friends start as strangers," she pointed out.

I studied her for a moment, trying to find anything threatening. Her posture was a bit slouched but friendly. She hadn't once made a move for the sword on her hip. She was almost a foot shorter than me, so I could probably take her if it came to a fight. Honestly, I couldn't sense any danger from her. Maybe having a human friend would be beneficial. I didn't really want to spend my entire time here with my mom. This was an opportunity to show some independence.

"Okay," I finally agreed, relaxing a bit now that I'd made a decision. "I have to tell my mom, though," I added, gesturing behind me.

Camicazi giggled, then quickly faked a cough to try and hide it. It was an unsuccessful attempt. "Yeah, you do that," she said, the corner of her mouth twitching upward.

Without thinking, I turned to ask Toothless why this girl was so strange, then deflated when I remembered he was somewhere far away on the other side of the island. The ache in my chest tore through me like claws, and I struggled to subdue the pain. Hopefully he was doing okay without me. At least Cloudjumper was there to keep him company.

I left Camicazi to wait for me, then walked to the edge of the crowd, biting my lip. I still had no desire to put myself in the middle of the tightly-packed gathering of humans. I could yell—she wasn't too far ahead—but that would undoubtedly annoy everyone in my vicinity. Only one option, then.

*Mom!* I shouted through thought-speak. She turned instantly to search for me, then raised a questioning eyebrow when she saw me waving to her. I shifted to the side and pointed at Camicazi, whose face was twisted with confusion. *I'm going with that girl! I'll check in with you later, okay?* My mom's eyes widened in shock at first (some of the humans around her turned to see what she was looking at, but quickly lost interest and focused back on the play), then she gave me a wide, encouraging smile and two thumbs up.

'Be careful,' she mouthed.

I nodded, then ran back over to Camicazi, who was wearing the same bewildered expression. "Is your mom a mind reader or something?" She joked, a wary edge to her voice.

I froze. "What?"

"You didn't even say anything and she turned around," Camicazi clarified.

My thoughts raced to find a decent explanation. "Oh, uh...just a coincidence. Anyway, she knows, so let's go," I pressed, changing the subject.

Luckily it worked, and Camicazi shrugged and gestured for me to follow her. We ambled at a leisurely pace in the direction I'd come from, keeping about an arm's length between us. Whatever she wanted my help with must not be urgent.

"So...where do you live?" I wondered, my gaze wandering around at the humans walking past us.

Camicazi puffed out her chest, all too happy to answer. "I'm a Bog-Burglar, of course! Only the best tribe in the Archipelago! I'm the heir. My mom is the leader, Big-Boobied Bertha," she said proudly. My face scrunched at the funny name, but I decided not to mention it. I just needed to accept the oddity of vikings at this point.

"What's it like on your island?" I asked, genuinely curious.

"It's great! No offense, but I like not having any men around. We get to keep all the glory for ourselves. And the money," she replied lightly.

"There aren't any men on your island?" I exclaimed, unsure how that would even work.

Camicazi glanced sideways at me with a frown. "Everyone in the Archipelago knows that...Either you live under a rock, or you traveled a long way to be here," she noted, shaking her head.

Oops...I probably should've learned about all the tribes before I came here. I'm standing out way too much just from my lack of knowledge. Camicazi wasn't interrogating me, though, which I was grateful for—she seemed to understand that I wasn't willing to divulge too much information about myself. Humans are quite perceptive. We walked in silence for a few minutes while I built up the courage to ask my next question.

"Do you...fight dragons?" I gulped, avoiding her gaze. Could she see how much I dreaded her answer?

"Well...I would..." The hint of embarrassment in her tone made me look up. Her cheeks were slightly red. "It's just, well...they never come around!" She complained. "Berk gets most of the action. It's completely unfair! The Bog-Burglars are brave, okay? We could handle a few stupid dragons!" She crossed her arms and pouted. I was torn between scolding her for calling dragons stupid and cheering with relief that the dragons apparently avoided her island. It did make me wonder, though. What is it about Berk that makes the dragons attack, besides the bloodthirsty vikings?

"Have you ever been to Berk?" I asked, trying to picture the island in my mind. My mom never went into details, so I imagined a dark place full of death and fire and blood.

Camicazi nodded. "A few times, for the treaty signings. Nice place, I guess. I like Chief Stoick. He's got a no-nonsense attitude," she declared. My breath caught at the mention of my father, and I had to remind myself to keep walking. "Oh, we're here!" She announced suddenly, lowering her voice and stopping in the middle of the path. I hesitated at her side, still confused about what we were doing. "Okay, see the weapons tent?" She pointed, and I followed her gaze. There was a large man sitting in a chair with his hands folded in his lap, his eyes lazily scanning the humans that walked nearby. "I need an axe, but I'm kinda short on money right now, and the coins I got earlier are going towards my savings—very important—so we're gonna have to steal it," she explained bluntly, patting my shoulder while I was stuck processing what she'd told me.

"W-What? I can't do that! Look how big he is! He'll kill us!" I whispered harshly.

"Don't worry! I'll distract him, and you can sneak in and grab an axe—your choice, I'm not picky—and he won't even realize what happened! It's a foolproof plan," she insisted.

I glared at her. "Is that so?" I retorted sarcastically.

"You gotta learn to trust a little, kid," she commented, walking towards the tent without another word.

"It's Hiccup," I muttered irritably, then made a wide arc to come up from the side where I wouldn't be seen by the man. As much as I tried to deny it, I couldn't help a thrill of excitement from running through me. It wasn't the normal type of anxiety I felt when faced with a dangerous situation. It was more like the adrenaline I got when performing tricks in the air with Toothless. I waited patiently next to the tent, waiting for my cue, whatever it may be. I was behind a large bush, and there was another tent on my other side, so no one could see me.

Camicazi's loud, panicked voice filled my ears, and I stifled my laughter. "Help me, please, sir! I can't find my mommy! I'm so scared, I don't know what to do! This place is so big and I can't find her anywhere..." As she continued to ramble on with fake terror, I crept forward to peek around the edge of the tent. The man had stood up and walked over to her with an annoyed expression, trying to shoo her away.

"Not my problem. Move it along," he was saying, even as she continued to blubber.

Wasting no time, I ducked down and rushed into the tent, immediately noticing an axe resting on one of the tables. I hastily reached for it, wanting to get out of there as fast as possible. Unfortunately, I didn't take its weight into account, and as soon as I picked it up, I stumbled forward as it dragged me down. I landed on the ground with a thud, and tensed in preparation for an angry man to bear down on me. Instead, I heard Camicazi wail at an ear-piercing level. I turned my head to the side, and saw she had wrapped her arms around the man, distracting him from the noise I'd made. He was pulling at her wrists, trying to dislodge her, completely forgetting about any sound he might have heard. I quickly snatched up the axe, this time prepared for the heavy load, and dashed back outside. I went around the back of the tent where there weren't any people and ran for the nearest tree, hiding behind the wide trunk. As soon as I was in the clear, Camicazi's cries stopped, and I heard her thank the man for his assistance. Just a few seconds later, she skipped up beside me, a satisfied smirk on her face.

"See? Foolproof!" She stated, doubling over with laughter.

I couldn't help but join in, forgetting for once that I was on a mission.