First, there was darkness, and then an irritating sound came in loud waves that rattled his ears. Almost immediately Hiccup's hand shot out and clicked the 'off' button on the alarm clock. He slowly opened his eyes, seeing the bright sunlight shining through the window. He roused from his bed and stretched. The realization hit him that it was yet another day of school, dread appeared upon his face. The past two years had consisted of bullying and embarrassment for him, all because he was fascinated with dragons. Humans and dragons have coexisted since recorded history so why should he get ridiculed for it? He didn't spend long pondering at the thought as he got out of bed and grabbed something to wear from his closet and exited his room. He walked down the hall and entered the restroom.

He showered, got dressed, and walked into the kitchen for breakfast. When he opened the cabinet to fill his hunger he noticed there was a note. It read: "Hiccup, I will be coming home from work around 12 o'clock tonight. Please be in bed before I come home. Love, Mom." Valka was Hiccup's mom and she worked at the local dragon clinic. Like her son, Valka enjoyed being around dragons. People often told her that she had a unique touch. She was able to calm any dragon she encountered, whether it be a tiny Terrible Terror and a massive Timberjack. Her ability to control a dragon's temper has earned her the nickname "The Dragon Tamer", but one thing she couldn't control was her work hours. Because of this, the clinic needed her on call 24/7. Most of the time she had to wake up before dawn and head to work and she would return late at night. Before her manager noticed the unique gift Valka had, she and Hiccup would spend every day outside watching and studying dragons. The city of Berk was crawling with all kind of dragons. Many of them learned to understand human tongue and would help their mammal companions with various jobs. Gronckles would assist construction workers with architecture while Shockjaw can help fisherman with catching fish.

After reading the note the redhead returned to finding something to eat. After finding nothing appetizing so he settled for a granola bar. He quickly ate it then he grabbed his sweatshirt and cell phone and walked out, shutting the door behind him.

The cool autumn air hitting his face gave a small stinging feeling, like tiny needles poking at his skin. Hiccup put his hood up, as he walked down his driveway and to the end of the street where the school bus would arrive. Once he was at the bus stop he took out his cell phone at looked to see what time it was. It read 6:54 A.M. "So that gives me six minutes to wait," he said out loud to himself. As he waited for the bus he was eager for the school day to be over with so he could retreat to his room and go out and explore. He would go in the woods with his notebook and looks for dragons. Occasionally he would find a curious Terror or a hatchling that would follow the teen for an hour or two before leaving and going about its day.

His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the bus's brakes as it stopped. The doors opened and Hiccup walked onto the bus. He took his usual seat, sitting right behind the bus driver, away from the people who tormented him daily. As the bus drove to school he once again thought about what kind of dragons he would encounter. I hope this time I can get a smaller dragon to sit on my arm, or maybe we can just talk. Yeah, that would be awesome, he thought to himself. Unannounced to his mother or anyone, Hiccup was trying to learn the dragon language so he could have conversations with them, although progress on it was moving at a slower pace than he'd imagine. Just because he spends hours being around them doesn't mean he earned their trust. They simply learned that he isn't a threat. Hiccup has yet to find a dragon who was interested enough to teach him their language.

The bus came to a stop and Hiccup, being lost in his own world, realized that he was at school. He got up from his seat, got off the bus, and began to walk into the school when he was stopped by two of his classmates. he looked at the two who were blocking his way.

"Look what we have here-" the teen on the left said. The one on the right then finished his sentence by saying, "It's the puny brat who talks about dragons 24/7." They both cracked their knuckles.

Hiccup sighed and said in a stoic voice, "Hello Tuff. Hello Ruff," as he looked from the left to the right. "I suppose you two are going to beat the crap out of me again for no reason." He was used to pain by now. After a couple of punches his body eventually got used to it. Then once it became an everyday thing he just stopped caring.

"Yes, that is correct. We are going to beat the crap out of you but, there is a reason," Tuffnut said.

"Really, what reason may that be?" Hiccup asked.

"The reason is that it makes our day better," he said, pointing to himself, and then to his sister Ruffnut, who was nodding in agreement.

"And how does that make your day better?"

The two then laughed. "Now that is none of your business," Ruffnut said and punched him in the gut as planned Hiccup leaned forward and Tuff took this opportunity to punch him in the leg, giving him a charlie horse. They also added a few more punches to his body before going into the school, leaving the scrawny teen on the ground. After a few seconds of being on the ground, Hiccup got up and shuffled into the school.

The only pain he felt was when he put pressure on his leg as he walked down the vanilla colored hallways. Looks like I won't be going out tonight he thought to himself. He saw groups of people gossiping about their lives and what future events they were going to attend. He saw a group of jocks some feet down the hall, walking in his direction. Hiccup tried to look tough as he approached the group. They only shoved him to the side, causing him to hit a locker, and calling him childish names like "dragon freak" and "nerd". He did nothing but watch as the group continued walking down the hall. He quickly pushed the whole ordeal to the back of his mind and made his way to his class, Dragons 101 which obviously taught kids about the various dragons and how they help humans during the day. He overheard his name in a conversation as he was entering the classroom. He could care less what they were saying about him. He walked to his seat in the far left corner of the room. As he examined the lime green walls he grew accustomed too for the past month and the checkered black and white tile floor a girl approached him.

"Hey, Hiccup," she said while twirling her finger in her hair. Hiccup didn't acknowledge her; he was too busy staring at the floor, pretending to be lost in his own thoughts.

"Hiccup," the girl said again, with some anger in her voice. The boy looked up. "Oh hey, Astrid," Hiccup said.

"Hey" she replied "I heard what Ruff and Tuff did to you. Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine its nothing." He gave a weak smile. Astrid smiled back. "That's good. Say would you want to come over to my place after school? I need help studying for the test next Friday and since you know a lot about dragons I was hoping you could help me?"

Hiccups faced turned slightly red. D-did she just ask for my help? He thought to himself. No its got to be a trick. No one would ask someone like me for help. I'm the school loser.

"Really, y-you want my help?"

Astrid nodded

"Well I would but I promised my mom I would help her at the clinic tonight, maybe some other time?

"Oh okay. Here's my number. Just text me when you're available." Her handed Hiccup a piece of folded paper with her number and a smiley face on it.

"T-thanks, Astrid."

"No problem. See you later" she told him.

Hiccup watched as she sat down in her seat in the front of the class.

Did that just happen? Is she really interested in me helping her or is it all a joke?

As Hiccup continued to think about what Astrid said the classroom door flew open. A tall man walked in. He had brown hair and brown eyes and a goatee that covered his upper lip and chin. He was wearing a black t-shirt and black pants. He had a stack of books in one hand and a wooden box in the other.

"Ok, okay everyone go to your seats. Class is about to begin." The man said. All the students stopped their gossiping and made their way to their seats.

"Good morning everyone," he said

"Good morning, Mr. Grimborn

"Yes, it is I, Viggo Grimborn, The dragon expert of Berk High School." Several students laughed. "So today we are going to talk about a dragon that is shrouded in mystery." Mr. Grimborn put the books and box both on the desk in front of him. "Now who can tell me anything about the Night Fury?"

Not a single hand went up. Hiccup looked around and hesitatingly raised his hand. Viggo pointed to him "Ah I see Hiccup knows something." He said

"Of course the dragon freak does." One of the students shouted. This made more kids laugh. Hiccup slowly lowered his hand.

"Snotlout, there's no need for name calling. Do I need to remind you that you failed the last two tests?"

Several classmates snickered as Viggo continued talking "Now if you studied you could have passed the test but instead you don't take this class seriously, unlike someone who has had the highest grade in the class since the start of the school year." He looked back to Hiccup. "Now Hiccup what do you know about the Night Fury?"

Hiccup cleared his throat "Well no one has ever seen one in person and there have never been any photos taken from satellite suggesting that this dragon lives underground in tunnels."

"Very nice Hiccup, Yes no one has ever seen one so it's best to assume they live underground. But today everyone will get to see this rare dragon because I have one with me right now." He pulled a key from his pocket and unlocked the box he came in with. "So children feast your eyes on the elusive Night Fury" When he turned around he was holding a skull. It was shaped slightly oblong with two large eye sockets. He held it in front of him so everyone could get a good look at it. After a few seconds, he placed it on his desk. A couple of the students took out their cell phones to take pictures of it. Hiccup reached into an opening in his desk and pulled out a piece of paper and a pencil. While everyone else was taking pictures of the skull, Hiccup wanted to hand draw it. He listened to what Viggo was saying as he continued to draw.

"Now no one has seen one of these dragons in person but we were able to get a faint picture of one a few years ago." He opened one of the books, turned to a page and displayed on the whole page was a blurred photo of a black dragon near the entrance of a cave. Its head was the same shape as the skull and it looked like it had two large ears towards the top of its head, but because the quality of the picture was low it was hard to distinguish between the dragon and the cave entrance.

"This is the one picture we have of the Night Fury, but we do have reports of hikers getting lost in caves and never returning. I'm sure most of you remember the incident two summers ago of the boy Fishlegs who went into a cave, looking for a Whispering Death and came back with a bite mark on his leg? Although the bite was from a dragon no one has ever seen before. Unfortunately, it was so dark in the cave our survivor said he was unable to see the dragon that attacked him."

Mr. Grimborn put the book down and sat on top of his desk. "If you ask me," he said, "id say it was a Night Fury. so kids don't go into any caves, not unless you want to meet the unholy offspring of lightning and death itself."

When he returned home he headed straight for his room. When he entered his room he didn't even bother to take off his sweatshirt as he landed on his bed. Why does my life have to be a living hell? Why can't people just mind their own business? He thought to himself. He moved to a comfortable sleeping position on his side, only to go back to lying on his back. His sides were bruised from the punches he received at school from the twins. He reached into his pocket and turned off his cell phone. Sleep soon overtook him as he closed his eyes, listening to the chirping of Terrible Terrors outside.

The next day Hiccup woke up with his leg bruised but the pain didn't bother him. He wasn't sure if he should go to school or stay home. If he went to school he would only be harassed and come home with more bruises. He decided that it would be best to stay home.

"What's the worst that could happen?" he thought to himself. He got out of bed, put on some clothes, and made his way to the bathroom. He was about to close the door when his mom stopped him.

"Sweetie, unless you take a fast shower you'll be late to school."

He looked at her for a moment before saying, "I'm not going to go to school today. You don't have work today?"

"No. I got a day off today. Is there something wrong at school?"

"There is nothing wrong. I just feel like not going today. I want to go out and look at dragons"

"Have fun. You know I would go with you but I've been so busy at work that-"

"That's fine. You've earned a good nap.

"Don't come home too late and while you're out can you stop by the store and pick up a few things?"

"Sure" he replied

"Ok. Take a shower and I'll tell you what you need to do," Valka said, then walked back into the kitchen. After Hiccup was finished with his shower and got dressed he went to see what his mother needed him to get.

"Hiccup, I would like you to go down to the store and get me a few things," Valka said.

"Ok, Mom. I'll do that right after I do some exploring" Hiccup replied.

"Well don't spend too long out there."

"I won't," Hiccup said. Valka gave her son the list of food they needed. Hiccup then got his shoes on, grabbed a notebook than a pencil, and walked out of the house. He made his way down the driveway. The weather was the same as yesterday, cold and a little windy. He walked down the street, observing the trees with their many diverse leaves. Once he reached the bus stop he decided to rest. Even though the distance from his house to the bus stop was a short jog, He enjoyed taking breaks in between trips. He saw a group of workers and a Gronckle working on a damaged sidewalk. He saw men breaking apart a section of cement and giving it to the Gronckle to eat. After a few moments of relaxation, Hiccup continued walking but his need for food grew with each step he took. He decided to get something to eat first then he would go explore. On second thought I'll just buy what we need and have a dragon deliver the bags to the house. He thought

It only took him a few minutes to reach the grocery store. He entered and walked to the back where there was a Subway. He walked up to the cashier and asked for a cup coffee and a breakfast sandwich.

"Would you like anything else?" The cashier asked.

"No thank you," he replied.

After he paid and finished his food, he looked at the list his mother gave him. The list consisted of only a few things, which were: milk, eggs, bread, cereal, and juice. It did not take him long to get all the items his mother requested. After he paid and requested for everything to be delivered to his home he exited the store and saw a Deadly Nadder and a store employee. The dragon had a wooden basket with a door attached to its back. He walked up to them. He noticed the nametag on his shirt.

"Hello, Allen," Hiccup said

"Good morning sir" Allen replied

"So I've never done this before. How does it work?

"It's simple just let the dragon here smell you and she'll be able to track your sent back to your house," Allen explained

"Wow, that is pretty neat." Hiccup handed the bags to the employee and he put them safely in the basket. Once everything was secured, the Nadder took off in the direction of Hiccups home. He watched it fly away until it was no longer in sight. He turned to Allen, thanked him again and made his way to the woods. As he walked he admired the drawing of the Night Fury skull he drew yesterday, unaware he was being watched from the tree line.

The only noise that could be heard was the chirping of the birds who occupied the many trees surrounding the endless forest. A cool breeze passed through the air, sending scattered leaves swirling in the air; seconds later they returned to the ground and remained ideal, waiting for the next guest of air to repeat the cycle. Hiccup raised his cuffed hands to his face and blew into them; warm air filled the empty space like running water filling a glass. The only difference was the air didn't stay. Seconds later the slight warmth Hiccup left was gone and he had to repeat the process again. Alongside the chirping of birds, the young man could hear a Changewing in the distance. Perhaps I can get close to this one? Hiccup thought to himself. He walked towards to where he thought the dragon was. Since this type of dragon could use camouflage to blend into any surrounding it will be hard for him to accurately find him.

A tree branch moved suddenly and Hiccup stopped dead in his tracks not moving a muscle, scanning the area in front of him. His breathing and heartbeat didn't elevate. He knew in a situation like this fear isn't an option. A normal person's heart could be heard a mile away but Hiccup learned when a dragon sees you but you can't see him, the best thing you can do is remain calm and don't make any sudden moves. Slowly the redhead lowered his eyes to the ground, then his body. He slowly got himself low enough where he could sit on the ground. His hands were on his knees, palms out. Still looking at the brown earth beneath him he could hear the loud crunching of leaves and twigs fill the air as the Changwing jump down from the tree. The dragon approached him with caution. His body was arched, ready to pounce if it sensed any threat.

Seconds felt like minutes but eventually the dragon was in front of Hiccup. He could see the dragon's foot. Its dry red scales blended in with the various colors of the leaves on the ground. The warm air exiting from his nose hit the boy's face. It smelt of rotten meat and fish but Hiccup didn't gag. He stayed completely calm. Quietly almost in a whisper Hiccup said "Hello" but the Changewing didn't notice. Hiccup slowly exhaled and tried again. "Hello" he said in a louder tone. This time the dragon did notice. It let out a curious hum, he moved his nose closer to Hiccup and sniffed his hair. Once he considered this human wasn't a threat he back up a few steps and laid down. Hiccup cleared his throat. "Is it alright if I look up?" he asked. The dragon made a noise that Hiccup figured meant "yes". He slowly raised his head, making sure not to spook his new companion. Once he was eye level with the Change wing the teen couldn't help but smile. Wow. He thought. I- I did it. I'm sitting next to a Changewing.


I hope you guys liked this first chapter. I know i've been away from this site for a long time and i'm sorry but i can say 100% that I'm not going to abandon this story. Yes the updates will be a bit long but I just got a job and i don't know what my hours are yet. Hopefully nothing to crazy. Also i was debating if i should make Hiccup the kid who gets bullied or is a popular kid. I know a lot of stories have him as the victim and wasn't sure if i should stay on the bandwagon or not. Let me know what you guys think.