If you're wondering what happened: I barely touched the story itself (I don't have time to edit it yet), but I did do a lot of re-labeling, and cleaned up the author's notes while I was at it.
It occurred to me that, while it's been super-helpful for ME to break the fic into manageable chunks while I'm working on the first draft, it's better for the readers if the story is less fragmented. So no more story arcs! Just smooth transitioning from one chapter to the next, and then the jumble that is the "Interim" WIP (which I will fix into proper chapters when I finish "Interim").
A/N: While re-watching the music video for P!nk's song "Try" recently, I realized that it fits HiccStrid in this AU really well. It's still one of the best music videos I've ever seen; I like that it actually tells a story and is relevant to the song it depicts.
Carried Off, a DreamWorks' How to Train Your Dragon fanfic by Raberba girl
Random snippet: Val's letter (rough draft)
Finn had every intention of giving his sister the letter Hiccup had written to her, but he wanted to make a copy of it first to keep for himself. He didn't like admitting it to himself, but every word from the enigmatic father he would never meet was precious.
He was also rather resentful about Hiccup's opening encouragement to his daughter.
"It's my letter," Finn grumbled as he laid out the parchment and ink, "he has no right to give her permission to steal it." Which was why Val would be getting the copy of her letter rather than the original.
"I love you, my princess," Finn wrote, firmly skipping over the first paragraph of the letter. "You have the best of your mother's spirit..."
He finished the paragraph, but then paused. Should he skip over all the dragon ravings, too...? He debated with himself for a moment, but then thought about how he would feel if someone gave him a copy of a letter from his father that had had things omitted. He sighed, dipped the quill into the ink, and transcribed the rest of the letter faithfully.
"...Your smile lights up the world."
Finn had to wait until an evening after he got off of work and could be sure of catching Val without either her friends or Astrid around. It ended up being after Valka had gone to bed, but she hadn't fallen asleep yet. She called out nervously when she heard the front door open. "It's just me, Val," he called back.
"Finnyyyy!" Valka rushed out of her room and flung her arms around her twin.
"Hey, sis. Good to see you."
"It's so late! What are you doing here?" she asked, eagerly tugging him over to a bench. She shoved him down to sit on it, then plopped next to him and snuggled into his side.
"I...came to give you something." It felt awkward trying to bring up the subject of their father out of the blue like this.
"Give me something?"
"Hmmm...well, you know how Gobber left the forge to me?"
"Yeah?"
"Well...I've been doing some cleaning and organizing, and...I found some papers that belonged to Dad."
Valka straightened and stared at him.
"And...one of the papers was a letter. To you." Finn held it out. "From Dad."
She gasped. "From Dad?! He wrote me a letter?!"
"A long time ago. He wrote us letters when we were babies, before he was exiled. He-"
Valka snatched the letter out of his hand and unfolded it eagerly.
"The original was water-damaged," Finn said quickly. "It was falling apart, so I had to copy it. That's why it's in my handwriting."
Valka didn't seem to be paying attention. She was reading aloud, slowly, looking simultaneously delighted and frustrated. After a couple of sentences, she thrust the letter back at her brother. "Read it to me!"
Finn obliged. Valka listened in complete silence except for a gasp here and there, looking riveted. "Oh," she said when he finished, "oh, oh, Finn, read it again! Read it again, Finn, read it again!"
"Okay, okay," he chuckled. He cleared his throat. "I love you, my princess..."
After he'd read it aloud a second time, Valka, who'd only interrupted to tell him to skip over the dragon part, took the letter out of his hands and read it to herself in a murmur. She sighed and leaned against her brother again. "Ohhhhhh. Finn."
"It feels weird, doesn't it," he said softly. "And nice. To hear from him."
Tears were starting to well up in her eyes. "I want to talk to him."
"Yeah. I do, too."
"I wish he was here, Finn...I wish Daddy was here."
"...Do you want me to sleep with you tonight?" Finn offered awkwardly. He really didn't want to, but their mother wouldn't be back home for at least another day or two, and he knew that Valka would have been lonely to begin with. After the letter, she'd definitely need company now.
"Please, Finn!"
"Okay. I'm going to get another blanket, though; give me a sec." After they'd settled down together, he heard her crying quietly, so he stroked her hair without saying anything.
He wondered how many of the other papers he should show her. He knew she'd have no interest in the mechanical designs. She would love the other drawings, but he would keep the ones he liked most secret, because she might try to take them and he wouldn't be able to stop her. As for the journals...
Well, Val probably wouldn't want to read them directly, though she would certainly want to hear them. He could read the safer entries to her out loud, and skip over the ones he thought their father would want to keep private. "There are some other things I can show you," he said. "But I've got work and stuff, so you'll have to come to my house after supper sometime. Oh, and there are some things in his will, and Gobber's, that they wanted you to have, so I'll give you those while we're at it."
"Okay."
"...I miss him, too, Val."
"I wish he wasn't crazy."
"Me, too."
They both sighed at the same time, and eventually drifted off to sleep.
Carried Off, a DreamWorks' How to Train Your Dragon fanfic by Raberba girl
Random snippet: Dragon Voice (rough draft)
A/N: This is soon after Eret came to the Sanctuary.
o.o.o
Hiccup awakened to the sound of a dragon dying horrifically. He sat up just in time to see Eret fling the Dragon Voice across the room, shove his hands in his pockets, and give Hiccup a panicked, apprehensive glance that made him look like a child who'd been caught with his hand in the treat jar.
"Don't throw it, are you crazy?!" Hiccup rushed over to his prize creation, lifted it tenderly, and inspected it for damage. He was relieved to find that the dying-dragon sound had been made by Eret manipulating one of the controls improperly rather than something he'd have to fix. The device had a new small dent in it, but nothing that would affect its function. "Be careful with this, Eret. It took me a long time to make it."
"I- I didn't- You know, I was only-"
Hiccup stared at him, at the way Eret was trying so hard to appear casual and failing miserably, and realized that Eret was afraid of being in trouble. Hiccup made sure to keep his voice gentle when he said, "You could have asked to borrow it any time, you know. You didn't have to wait until I was sleeping to take a look."
Eret's face flushed. "I just...I don't know, I see you talking to the beasts with that crazy thing, I...don't..."
"Would you like me to make you one?"
Eret's eyes widened.
"I'd be happy to. It's a lot easier now that I have a blueprint and some experience."
"I...guess...it'd...come in handy..." Despite Eret's hesitant tone, his eyes were bright with curiosity.
"Come here, let me show you how this works." Hiccup beckoned until Eret drifted close, and then he started indicating each point of interest on the device, explaining how it made its dragonlike noises. "When you pull this out, it releases a cascade of tiny gravel bits and makes that rattling sound. You can turn it over to let the bits fall the other way. This here puts pressure on a strip of metal inside to make that wailing sound...wind this and it will squawk, it runs a tongue across a series of plates..."
o.o.o
Author's Notes: A reviewer reminded me that I ought to specifically mention the Dragon Voice, instead of just assuming that everyone has read all of my fanfiction and figured that Hiccup would make and use it in this universe as well. XD Sorry that I still did a lousy job of describing it...! (I don't actually know what it looks like, myself, so... ^^; )
Carried Off, a DreamWorks' How to Train Your Dragon fanfic by Raberba girl
Random snippet: Hound & Reign (rough draft)
The only warning Hiccup had was that all the dragons in his troop abruptly went alert, their eyes fixed on a point somewhere behind him. Before he could turn around, something crashed into him.
The next few moments were a disorienting whirl of dragon cries, Eret's shouting, and a buffeting that made Hiccup think that he'd been attacked by a dragon. But then the squirming weight on top of him started bathing his face with a huge tongue, and he realized he was being greeted with an overabundance of enthusiasm instead.
"Okay...okay, glad to see you, too, whoever you are..."
"Friend Friend Friend Friend Friend Friend Friiiiieeeennndddd!" the dragon was purring. "Friend-Human!"
Hiccup felt like there was a second dragon trying less successfully to get at him, too, but then human hands grasped his arms and the crushing weight started to ease, and then Eret was pulling him to his feet as Toothless shoved the dragon aside.
Hiccup blinked, gasping, trying to get his bearings. Then his eyes widened in surprise. "Oh, wow - it's been a long time since I've seen those breeds-"
Then he specifically recognized the excited Gronckle and Nadder. "HOUND! Reign, it's you! You found me!"
Hound was still preoccupied with Toothless, but Reign bounced at the sound of her human name, ducked around Cloudjumper, and dove at Hiccup (which spooked Eret into dashing back to Skullcrusher for safety). The Nadder nuzzled Hiccup hard, and he caressed her in excitement as Valka flapped around him, asking in a mix of Norse and Dragonese, "Who?! Who?! [These new people love Mama, I am excited~!]"
Everyone eventually calmed down enough for Hiccup to introduce them all to each other, and then Hound had an introduction of her own to make. She called eagerly to a Gronckle fledgling who was huddled behind a rock, peeking out fearfully at the two humans.
"Ohhh," Hiccup breathed, and knelt to make himself smaller. "You found your baby, Hound! One of them, at least? You found him, oh, look at him..."
Hound had to go over and forcibly shove her yelping offspring toward Hiccup, but at last, Hiccup was stroking thick Gronckle hide and the fledgling was wriggling with pleasure, lifting his chin for Hiccup to reach the more sensitive skin there. "He's beautiful, Hound, look at him...oh, poor thing..." He stroked his fingertips over an old scar in the young dragon's flesh.
Valka was jealous. "Me too, Mama!" Then, trying out the sound-name her mother had been trying to teach his hatchlings, "Dad! [Pet me!]"
Hiccup had only just started to oblige, one hand for each young dragon, when Finn tromped up and laid himself right across Hiccup's lap, shoving aside both his sister and the young Gronckle as he did so. "Me first. I am more important."
"Seriously, Finn?"
Later, when the alpha returned home, Hound and Reign immediately pledged themselves to him, wanting to be part of his flock. The Bewilderbeast was delighted to find that they had known and loved his little Hiccup from before, though he was distressed at the circumstances. "These human cages... He rescued you, sacrificed himself to set you free- No. His babies, his precious things. They took them away from him-" He was thinking out loud through the alpha/flockling link, so the two new dragons made the connection along with him.
"This good good good kind king-hearted person, threw away his precious things to save us, lost his things he loves most so we would be safe...!"
To be continued...