"Hiccup? Hiccup!?" The alarmed cries of Valka echoed throughout the inner sanctuary, the mother herself was running all over the den, her motherly instincts on wide alert as she looked for her five year old son that had wandered off when she hadn't been looking.

The thoughts of Hiccup falling off one of the multiple steep cliffs, drowning in the rivers, or accidently stepped on by an unknowing Hobblegrunt, terrified her more than anything. The mighty beats of Cloudjumper's four wings were easily heard, the woman's greatest companion was searching the large nest for Valka's young hatchling, his nostrils flaring as he tried to find the boy by scent.

It took a few seconds to distinguish Hiccup's scent hiding amongst the scent of his nest-brothers and nest-sisters, but they were dragons, and the one he was looking for was human. It wasn't too hard to find after he had become so adjusted to his and Valka's scent.

Valka looked upwards as she saw Cloudjumper fly above her, one of his sharp claws lowered to her level. With practiced ease Valka used her staff to hook herself onto Cloudjumper's claws and allowed him to pull her into the air. She crawled up his dark wings in the matter of seconds and settled comfortably on her companion's back.

Cloudjumper leaned to the left, his four massive wings moving in unison as they banked across the cliffs, Valka herself leaning against him to reduce the wind resistance –and to avoid being blown off of Cloudjumper, though she knew he would catch her- and scanned through the thicket of ferns and flowers for her son.

And then, there he was. Hiccup had grown so much from that little babe that had appeared here with his mother five years ago, he was still small for his age but what he didn't have in size, Hiccup made it up with his brains and sense of adventure, which had honestly nearly given Valka several heart attacks since he had started to walk, which had quickly turned into running.

She wouldn't deny it that she loved how much of her was in Hiccup, he had her auburn hair, her green eyes, and was even growing like her. He was a mischievous, wisp of a child, but he was her child, and she loved him more than anything. And sure enough his mischievous had given him a certain type of play-friends that Valka couldn't help but laugh at the scene.

Hiccup was chasing after a duo of Terrible Terrors, another one was nestled on his head. The two he chased he fondly called Pip and Squeak while the one on his head was Tigg. The three Terrible Terrors were nest-mates, Pip and Squeak both sported the same vibrant green scales they were almost identical except Pip's back spikes were black and Squeak's back spikes were blue. Tigg was the only Terror whose scales was a light red with black back spikes.

The two hovered above Hiccup, who had yet to notice them in his gleeful chase. Pip and Squeak dashed around the small clearing they were in, whenever Hiccup came close to touching one of them, they would bolt in opposite directions which made Hiccup laugh even more as he continued to play with them. Pip and Squeak hissed in what could only be laughter whenever they dodged the young human boy.

The mighty wing beats of Cloudjumper made the young boy pause, nearly falling flat on his face as Pip and Squeak scattered again. The second Cloudjumper was close enough to the ground, Valka vaulted off of the Stormcutter's back and landed feet first on the ground, her hands on her hips and her eyes burning in motherly rage.

Cloudjumper guffawed out a guttural laugh when Hiccup seemed to deflate under the gaze of his mother, Tigg trying to hide his small form in the boy's shaggy, auburn locks while Pip and Squeak sank to the ground like chastised hatchlings, their eyes averted from the furious mother.

"Hiccup, what is the one rule we have here?" Valka demanded to her subdued son, her hands still placed on her hips.

"Don't feed Cloudjumper eel?"

As though to prove how disgusting eels were to dragons, Cloudjumper visibly shuddered at the experience. Valka glared at her son, knowing full well he knew the Rule. "No," she said dryly, though it was a smart idea to leave eel away from the Den as they had discovered a year ago which created what they now called 'The Great Eel Incident'.

Hiccup kicked at the ground with his fur boots, "Don't play on the King's head?" he asked innocently, though the King never seemed to mind when he and the other dragon hatchlings played on him as long as they were careful and didn't fall off.

Valka continued to stare at him, "Hiccup…" she said in a warning tone.

The small boy sighed, his lower lip in a pout. He mumbled something under his breath that wasn't heard by his scary mother.

Valka leaned in closer, still not pleased. "What was that?" She pressed on.

"Never leave your sight." Hiccup mumbled out.

"Never leave my sight," Valka repeated the Rule as she crossed her arms. "I can't always keep an eye on you, my son." It was true, as Valka had deemed it her life goal to find out everything and anything about dragons, from secrets that even they did not know of, to secrets that dragons would only willingly share to the only humans that had befriended them instead of hating them, loving them instead of hurting them. She had found out so many things in the past five years she had been here with Hiccup, some of the things she now knew Hiccup had helped her discover (such as the time he had gone fishing and caught an eel, which had resulted in the Incident) and she knew that when her child was older, he would help her in her goal. Because she was so busy trying to learn so much and Hiccup was so eager to explore his home with his dragon friends, it made watching him even more harder.

"I'm sorry, Mama," Hiccup said with a guilty look on his childish features as he looked down to his feet ashamed of himself, knowing that he had most likely scared his mother when she had realized that her child had wandered off on his own.

Valka's frown turned into a soft smile as she looked at her son with Tigg burrowed in his auburn locks whilst Pip and Squeak were staring at the two humans with big eyes. The way Hiccup interacted with dragons always warmed her heart, to think that if he had stayed in Berk he would have been taught to hate and kill these creatures made her glad that she had been holding him when Cloudjumper had snatched them from Berk.

Hiccup might have the heart of a human, but he had the soul of a dragon.

That thought always made her wonder, if Hiccup was like his mother, would he too find a dragon whose soul and heart reflected his own? The bond shared between her and Cloudjumper couldn't be described in mere words, so strong was the bond that bound them, there was nothing about Cloudjumper that Valka didn't know about, just as there was nothing about Valka that Cloudjumper didn't know about. Their souls, once belonging to two different beings, had been forged into a single soul when they had first made eye contact on that fateful dragon raid on Berk.

Would Hiccup find a dragon companion like she had found Cloudjumper? She had to admit, her boy had a way with dragons that had always made her smile in pride, but his relationships with them, even the three Terrible Terrors he played with, were just friendly. Hiccup was friends with his dragon acquaintances, but he wasn't bonded to one.

Valka had to wonder, if her son did truly take after his mother and find that dragon whose soul reflected his own, when would such a thing would happen, as her meeting with Cloudjumper had been a mere stroke of luck that the two of them could find one another in such a large world, and who would be the one to bond with Hiccup? Valka was confident that Hiccup had met all the dragons in the Sanctuary, two hundred or so (1), than that meant that Hiccup's true dragon companion was still out there in the world and Valka would do everything she could for them to meet. The bond she shared with Cloudjumper was something she wouldn't give up for the world, and Valka wished for her only child to have such a bond as well.

Valka would do anything for her son; she would gladly search the seas, skies and lands for the dragon whose soul was bonded to her Hiccup.

Cloudjumper bumped his massive head against her softly, jerking the former resident of Berk from her thoughts as she realized that Hiccup was still staring at her questionably. She shook her head in amusement, before she glanced at her companion who glanced back at the same time. A conversation went between them, unspoken in words, but the two didn't need words to convey their thoughts when their bond was so strong.

"Hiccup," Valka squatted down so she was eye level with her only son, "How would you like to go flying with Cloudjumper and I?" She knew that any offer of flight would be taken instantly, Hiccup loved flying more than anything.

Hiccup's eyes widened in delight, it had been awhile since his mother had allowed him to ride with them, he missed it. He was so happy he practically skipped towards his mother, who gathered him in her arms as Cloudjumper lowered himself and plucked the two humans with one of his claws onto his back. Hiccup immediately sat in front while Valka sat behind him, one arm wrapped around his smaller form instinctively.

As he shifted into a comfortable position, Hiccup turn back to his mother. "So… I'm not in trouble?" Hiccup asked with a small grin.

"Oh, you are." Valka stated immediately as Cloudjumper jumped off of the cliff and flew through the air, his four massive wings beating in unison. "But I can punish you later, we have some flying to do!"

Hiccup looked upset at the fact he would most likely be grounded, which usually meant he couldn't fly with his mother, but the thought of flying now was too grand for him to ignore. He laughed as Cloudjumper suddenly dived, glee etched on his face as he continued to whoop as the Stormcutter dodged multiple monstrous stalactites easily.

Valka laughed as Cloudjumper, egged on by Hiccup's shouts and whoops of glee, became more daring and showed off his superior agility by suddenly diving into a tunnel and barrel rolling through it, miraculously dodging obstacles such as stalactites, stalagmites, and other obstacles with ease. It still amazed her that such a large creature could fly through such small tunnels and dodge everything with the same ease as breathing, Cloudjumper was a magnificent flyer and it showed.

Still laughing, Valka rubbed the side of Cloudjumper's neck, her fingers easily finding the spot where Cloudjumper loved to be scratched, he crooned at her touch as he glanced up at her, amber eyes as warm as the fire that burned within him. Valka shook her head, "Show off." Cloudjumper gave a guttural purr at that, and as though to answer, he beat his mighty wings and ascended high into the air, Hiccup laughing as the Stormcutter did so.

"YEAH!"

"Sing me a song, Mama… the one you always sing," Hiccup said as he gave a huge yawn, rubbing his eyes with his hand while the other was holding onto his mother's hand as she carried him to their home where they lived with the dragons. The small boy was exhausted from the day he had spent with his mother and Cloudjumper, but the huge smile on his face made Valka know it was worth it.

Valka stroked her son's hair lovingly, enjoying his presence more than anything. She was thankful that she had been given the chance to raise her son instead of never seeing him again and leaving him with Stoick, nothing could compare to a mother's love to her child.

"It's rather late, sweet child." Valka said softly, knowing that if he wished for it she would sing that song to him till Ragnarök, even if the song brought memories of her life from before.

Hiccup looked up at her with those wide green eyes, her green eyes and not Stoick's brown, and a pout on his lips that showed off the thin scar that marred his pale skin caused by Cloudjumper's claw and Valka knew that he wanted to hear the song she had sung to him since he had been a wee babe in her arms.

Valka laid her son on their bed, which was basically a large burnt hole in the rock floor, reminiscent of a dragon's nest, filled with moss and random pelts of fur from hunts to keep them warm, as they couldn't exactly do what dragons did and set it on fire and sleep on it. Though seeing as Cloudjumper was usually curled around the two of them, the pelts and moss were hardly ever used when they had a dragon to keep them warm.

She sat down on their bed, or rather nest, and as she did so Hiccup shifted around until he was lying comfortably on his mother's lap, his head leaning against her chest as she held her small son in her arms. She fiddled with her son's hair, softly combing away at the knots that had formed in his many adventures as he yawned again, eyes threating to close only to be opened with a sudden blink or two.

Valka chortled when she saw Hiccup's vain attempts to stay awake, "If you want to sleep, Hiccup, you can." She said with a teasing smile as Hiccup bristled at the insinuation that he was tired, he was a big kid, he didn't need to go to bed yet!

"I wanna hear the song," Hiccup whined as he looked up at his mother with pleading eyes, lip slightly quivering as he tried to use his cuteness to his full advantage. "Please, Mama."

"I never could say no to you," Valka said warmly as she tightened her hold around her precious child, a small bit wondering what would have happened had Hiccup lived at Berk with his father. He wouldn't be like this, she thought to herself. He wouldn't be who he truly is, who he is meant to be.

Valka closed her eyes for a moment, before she began to sing the lullaby that had once been something more to her in her old life, before Hiccup, before Cloudjumper, before everything.

"I'll swim and sail on savage seas with ne'er fear of drowning and gladly ride the waves of life… if you will marry me," Valka's voice was soft, almost a mere whisper as she sang."No scorching sun nor freezing cold will stop me on my journey. If you will promise me your heart and love me for eternity." A tear formed in one of her eyes as she remembered singing this song with Stoick when they had been young and in love, when Stoick had been himself and Valka so, so naïve of the world she had lived in.

"My dearest one, my darling dear, your mighty words astound me, but I've no need of mighty deeds when I feel your arms around me." Valka crooned as Hiccup slowly hummed along with the familiar tune of the song, like his father had done before him.

"But I would bring you rings of gold; I'd even sing you poetry and I would keep you from all harm if you would stay beside me." Hiccup giggled at the poetry part as Valka continued to sing the song.

"I have no use for rings of gold, I care not for your poetry, I only want your hand to hold. I only want you near me." Hiccup's hand had slowly crept up to hold onto his mother's; his small hand was easily covered by his mother's larger hand. Valka could tell that he was beginning to fall to sleep, if the slowed down humming was anything to go by.

"To love, to kiss, to sweetly hold, for the dancing and the dreaming. Though all life's toils and delights, I'll keep your love beside me. I'll swim and sail on savage seas with ne'er a fear of drowning and gladly ride the waves of life… if you will marry me." When the last part was sung, Valka slowly glanced down at Hiccup, who had fallen asleep to the song, a small smile playing at his lips as he dreamed. With a saddened smile Valka lovingly stroked her son's hair, combing through his rugged auburn locks with tender love, before gently kissing his temple before she gently laid him in their nest and bundled him with odd bits of furred pelts. "Good night, Hiccup." Valka said as she brushed away the bangs that covered his eyes.

She left Hiccup to his dreams, slowly standing to her feet she grabbed the staff she had crafted a year ago, though it had been Hiccup who had tried to help paint it. As she left the small cave where she, Hiccup and Cloudjumper occupied, she couldn't help but ponder on the matters of the world occurring outside the icy walls of her home.

Cloudjumper was waiting for her, patiently waiting from his alcove that overlooked the Den, his amber eyes mesmerizing as he looked down upon her. He held out on of his large claws and Valka hooked the staff to him and felt herself being pulled towards her dragon companion. As she settled on his back Valka couldn't help but look towards the cave where her son rested peacefully, unaware of the dangers of the outside world.

How could Valka tell her son that the dragons were in danger? That those he had befriended were being hunted down? When she had been out flying with Cloudjumper Valka had discovered something that had turned nearly frozen her in shock and fear. They had found a dragon, a Hobblegrunt, snared in a grotesque trap made of metal that stabbed into the dragon's side, but the fact that the trap had blinded the poor creature and left there had torn at her heart. There was only one way this could have happened.

Dragon trappers.

Valka had never heard of such men. The Vikings from Berk had always rejected any ideas of killing dragons that didn't involve a sword, battle axe or mace as they deemed it cowardly, even though such ideas of creating weapons such as large bolas or catapults with nets would have greatly helped them. In some ways their arrogance became ignorance when it came to the killing of dragons. Tradition always overtaking common sense. They were too stuck in their ways for there to be change, Valka knew that first hand when Stoick had attacked Cloudjumper that night nearly six years ago. The traps they had found was too advanced for the Berkians, much too advanced for any of the surrounding Viking villages.

But that only created more questions, if none of the Vikings, both from Berk and the other villages, were trapping dragons, than who was?\

(1) The populace of dragons living in Valka's Sanctuary is much smaller than in the second movie due to the fact that the story currently is around fifteen years before the movie and Valka hasn't begun to rescue any dragons from Drago's trappers, well at least until now.

Hello, sorry for the long update but I've been trying to plan this story out, and I have a good idea of where to go from here. I'm still trying to get in tune with the characters and how they act, so if they some a little out of character than I apologize as this is my first How to Train Your Dragon fanfic so I've never used these characters before. This chapter is one of the several that will feature Hiccup's childhood as I have several ideas for him when he is a kid, which will be revealed in the next chapter hopefully.

Tell me what you think, if you love it or hate it, reviews are the lifeblood of this story!