The Ghost and His Shadow

Disclaimer: I do not own How to Train Your Dragon, only my OC's.

Summary: Hiccup is tormented by his peers and ostracized from his village until they do something he cannot forgive. How will Gobber and Stoick deal with a selectively mute Hiccup, and his dragon, who wants to burn them all for treating a hatchling so horribly? Is there anything left for Hiccup in Berk?

NOTE: I messed with the timeline a bit, so Hiccup is sixteen when he meets Toothless.

Gobber knew that Hiccup was physically capable of talking. He remembered when the small boy had stumbled after Stoick everywhere he went. The men chuckled and the women – warriors though they were – cooed at his shaggy mop of auburn hair and his big green eyes. Gobber remembered how the four-year-old babbled enthusiastic questions about anything that caught his interest with fond exasperation and longing for a better time.

He was affectionately known as Small One, or Green Eyes, or Little Chief.

There were few children Hiccup's age, only Astrid, Snotlout, Fishlegs, and the twins – Ruffnut and Tuffnut. They were dubbed the Pack, and they quickly began developing the broad shoulders, large muscles, and towering height characteristic to Vikings. They sprouted like weeds and fought like wolf pups to lead the Pack. On top was Astrid, who didn't care for anything but training to become a shield maiden. After her rose Snotlout, and then the twins, and Fishlegs.

Hiccup was the smallest at six years old, and Snotlout gleefully led the Pack in their quest to make him as miserable as possible. At first, they just tripped him, or chased him up a tree, or dumped him in a lake – innocent pranks, the villagers thought. When Hiccup learned to just roll his eyes and walk away, they began to get crueler. When he was eight, he fell down a steep hill, he burned his forearms in the firepit, he tripped into the well. It was always said to be an accident, or because Hiccup had two left feet.

It wasn't long after that he became known as Hiccup the Clumsy.

Not long after he turned nine, Hiccup realized that while he may not win in a competition of strength, they couldn't hope to compete with his intelligence. He responded to their punches with sarcastic comments and games that always ended with their dignity lost or them befuddled for hours until they figured out that what he had said was an insult.

In retaliation, the Pack would break something and all of them would blame the mess on Hiccup. As the messes grew larger and more time-consuming to fix especially as the dragon raid became more frequent, the resentment and cruelty of the children began to pass on to some of the adults as well. Hiccup claimed that he had nothing to do with the trouble, but it was four against one, and only Gobber believed his word.

Snotlout coined his next nickname: Hiccup the Useless.

Gobber despaired as the once happy and curious child developed a standoffish stance and a cruel, snappish cunning. He brought the harassment to Stoick's attention, but the chief blew off his concerns as childish spats – Vikings were aggressive by nature; how else would they match dragons? Gobber knew that it was because Stoick couldn't look Hiccup in the eye without seeing the boy's mother – Valka. The best he could do for the boy was take him as his apprentice.

The "childish spats" devolved into all-out war between Hiccup and the Pack as Snotlout was jealous of the attention and training Hiccup received from Gobber. The Pack was stronger with every passing year, but Hiccup grew smarter.

When the Pack approached Hiccup to torment him, he would take one look at them and pelt in the other direction. He was the fastest of them all – the only one who could hope to compete with his speed was Astrid, and she hadn't bothered to acknowledge the boy since they were both toddlers and now, they were thirteen.

Their rivalry came to a head when the kids were almost fourteen, and the Pack split up to hunt for Hiccup in the forest. It was Tuffnut who found him, and it was Tuffnut who ran screaming to the rest of the Pack with two shallow knife wounds scored across his chest and a snarled message from Hiccup to leave him alone. The Pack schemed and went to Stoick, telling him that they had been teasing Hiccup like they always did, and he attacked Tuffnut without warning.

When Hiccup returned to the village for his lessons with Gobber, he thought that the village was too empty, but shrugged it off. He walked into the forge with a polite greeting for Gobber only to find the hearth cold and for a Viking to grab him harshly by his wrists. He protested but cried out in pain as the grip only tightened and he was dragged to the Great Hall, which was packed with what seemed like the entire village. The Pack was there, smirking at him from their place behind the Chief.

Stoick's voice thundered over the murmurs of the crowd, pointing to Tuffnut's lightly bandaged chest, "DID YOU DO THIS?!"

Hiccup stared at his father defiantly and boldly said, "Yes, because –"

"I DIDN'T ASK YOU WHY YOU DID IT BOY, I ASKED IF YOU DID IT," Stoick roared, mistaking his bold admittance for disrespect.

"I did," he said, "Because they –"

Stoick snapped, "SILENCE! I can't believe you would attack one of the other kids like this, Hiccup."

"If you've already decided I'm guilty, speak my punishment, oh great chief," Hiccup spat venomously, putting as much sarcasm in the title as possible.

"Twenty-five lashes in the village square," Stoick snarled back.

"So be it," Hiccup hissed, turning, and stalking out of the Great Hall with his head held high.

That was the last time anyone ever heard Hiccup speak.