Author's Note: Hey guys! I am so excited to release my first FanFiction. I know I'm really bad at summaries but I had a word limit and I'm not so great with those either. Anyway, i really hope you like my story and, just to clarify, this is a Runaway fic, one of the ones where Hiccup runs away. If you've read my profile you'll probably be able to tell where this is going. So, enjoy my story, don't forget to favourite it, and remember to leave a comment (i love helpful criticism, just incase you need an idea). and apparently you need things called disclaimers on every chapter so people know you don't own the movie, so,
Disclaimer: I do not own HTTYD or any of the characters mentioned in this story. All rights of ownership go to Dreamworks Animation and Cressida Cowell (apparently there's a book that is nothing like the movies! Did you guys know that!) If I did own HTTYD there would be a lot more fluff and cuteness, and Hiccup would be Toothless' adopted son.
Enjoy!
This, is Berk. It's twelve days North of hopeless, and a few degrees South of freezing to death. It's located solidly on the meridian of misery.
Berk stood high above the waves that violently crashed against the jagged rocks of its shores and many cliff faces. The large, waning moon above casting the land in an eerie glow that illuminated the small village that stood high above the shore. The village itself was near a large, spiralling mountain, the houses situated on a hilly area of land a fair ways from the cliff face that led down to the docks. Sheep grazed lazily on the fields near the village, but when a clawed paw snatched one from its eating place, the others barely noticed, one immediately going over to eat the grass the previous one was eating.
My village. In a word, sturdy. And it's been here for seven generations, but every single building is new.
I woke up with a loud gasp to the familiar sight of my cluttered room. The schematics of many of my inventions lying everywhere, along with tools, models, and the occasional article of clothing. I heard the echoes of Viking war-cries outside and a flickering red glow from what seemed like flames coming from below the window. I jumped out of my bed and clumsily pulled on a pair of pants, threw on a shirt, and put on my bear-fur vest before heading out my bedroom door and down the short flight of stairs.
We have fishing, hunting, and a charming view of the sunsets. The only problems are the pests. You see, most places have mice or mosquitos. We have...
I reached the front door and opened it, prepared to charge out of my house and straight to the forge before a dragon landed right in front of me. The gigantic form of a red Monstrous Nightmare reared up in front of me, it's front lip curling up in a threading snarl to reveal sharp, pointed, yellow teeth, each one the size of my hand. As it took in a large breath I quickly slammed the door shut, just as it was coated in flames.
"...Dragons" I breathed out, almost silently. I waited until the heat from behind the door had stopped and I was certain the Nightmare had left before reopening the door. The village was crawling with dragons as the beasts set our homes on fire and took off with our livestock. I ran through the village past the fighting Vikings and flaming dragons straight toward the forge.
Most people would leave. Not us. We're Vikings. We have stubbornness issues. My name's Hiccup. Great name, I know. But it's not the worst. Parents believe a hideous name will frighten off gnomes and trolls. Like our charming Viking demeanour wouldn't do that.
A dragon shot a blast at a Viking to my left, only just missing him. The following blast sent all the Vikings around it, including me, to go flying. A Viking landed right above me and looked at me angrily before smilingly manically and yelling "Mornin'!" I quickly stumble back to my feet and continue running. As I dodge out of the way of Vikings, I heard the same message repeatedly, first it was Hoark the Haggard "What are you doing out!?"
Then Burnthair the Broad "Get inside!"
Next it was Phlegma the Fierce "Get back inside!" The same yells followed me all the way, until a rough hand grabbed me by the scruff of my vest and lifted me out of the path of a long strip of dragon fire. "Hiccup!" The man yelled at me before turning to the crowd "What is he doing-!" He quickly turned he attention back toward me "What are you doing out! Get inside!" He roughly threw me toward the direction of the forge before turning his attention back to the battle.
That's Stoick the Vast. Chief of the tribe. They say that when he was a baby he popped a dragon's head clean off of its shoulders. Do I believe it?
Stoick picked up a wooden cart with one hand and, heaving, threw it straight at a dragon and knocked it out of the sky.
Yes. Yes I do.
An explosion sent flaming debris and Vikings ducking everywhere, Stoick just stood there, surveying the battlefield and brushing a piece of debris off his shoulder "What have we got!" Stoic barked at his men.
"We've got Gronkles, Nadders, Zipplebacks's. Oh, and Hoark saw a Monstrous Nightmare!" A random Viking answered from the crowd.
"Any Night Furies!"
"None so far!"
"Good".
I continued to run to the forge. Upon finally arriving a large Viking with a prosthetic arm and foot turned to face me. "Ah, ya finally got 'ere! I thought y'd got carried off" Gobber yelled straight into my face, spittle flying everywhere and landing on my face. Eew I thought as I brushed the saliva off my face. As I flicked my wrist to get the remaining saliva off I smiled up at Gobber.
"No way! They wouldn't know what to do with all this muscle!" I said, flexing my twigs for arms in what I hoped was a convincing way. Of course I never expected it to worked so wasn't the least surprised when Gobber replied with,
"Well, they need toothpicks don't they?" With a huff I turned and put on the worn leather apron that hung loose down my body like a baggy gown. I immediately grabbed one of the weapons on the bench, a double-sided axe, and started to sharpen at the dulled edges. I looked down in concentration at the blade, until I noticed a trail of wet blood still on the blade. I almost threw up at that and quickly looked out the window to get my mind off it. I am a Viking! I reminded myself firmly, I should love the smell and the feel of dragons blood! Not cower from it like a disgusted child!
I looked out the window at the raging battle scene, my hands doing all the work of sharpening the axe on muscle memory alone. As I looked at all the fire and the glinting of steel and… blood I couldn't help but feel something was wrong. Like all of this just didn't feel right. I quickly stuffed those thoughts down deeply inside of me. It was because of those thoughts that I wasn't a Viking like the rest of them, that I was a Hiccup. If only I could just-.
"FIRE!" Someone yelled, interrupting my train of thought. I watched in awe as a group of teens immediately rushed towards it with buckets of water. They threw their buckets of water on the fire at the same time and, in synchronised perfection, turned around just as the building behind them exploded with dragon fire. The five teens, Ruffnut, Tuffnut, Snotlout, Fishlegs, and …Astrid (I looked at her in complete awe, she was the definition of a Viking) were briefly illuminated in a blazing light, looking like warriors fresh out of Asgard. Their job was soooo much cooler!
"No ya don't!" Goober yelled as he hooked the scruff of my jacket and pulled me back and away from the window. I hated, no loathed, when he held me like this, it made me feel so venerable and weak, but ever since he figured out he could carry me like that he hadn't ever carried me in a different way.
"C'mon Gobber! Just let me make my mark!" I said (said! I definitely did not whine!) gesturing outside toward the fight.
"Oh! You've made plenty of marks! All in the wrong places!" I cringed as I thought about that. Sure, I never meant to do anything wrong, like accidentally letting 5 of the sheep be taken when I tried to use them as bait for a trap (I didn't really think the dragons would just carry the trap away!), or collapsing a house when I miss-fired a sharp projectile (in my defence, the house was already on fire and falling down anyway), and I certainly did not mean to blow up the store shed when I was trying to use one of my inventions to put out a fire (but really, who knew flour was that explosive!)! I don't think anyone really cared it was an accident though.
"Please! Two minutes! I'll kill a-"
"You can't lift a hammer! You can't swing an axe!" Gobber huffed irritably as he grabbed a bola from the bench "You can't even through one of these!" A Viking immediately ripped the bola out of Gobbers hand and threw it at a dragon, I flinched as I saw the dragon hit the ground. I quickly brightened up though, this was the perfect time to show Gobber my new invention, The Mangler!
"Yeah, but this will throw it for me!" I said as I brought out my invention and leaned on it. Obviously, the Gods thought this was the perfect time to make a joke of me, again, and it fired. The bola that was shot from The Mangler flew threw the air at a speed no one could replicate by hand, and flew straight into someones face, knocking them out could with a nothing but a OOF and a clang of the Vikings metal helmet. "Mild calibration issue" I muttered with a cringe.
"See! This is what I'm talking about!" Gobber said gesturing angrily at my invention. "If you really want to get out there stop being all of… this!" He said waving his arms at me. Ever feel like someone just kicked you in the gut even though you're certain no one even touched you, that's how I felt right now, but like, who wouldn't!
"But you just gestured to all of me!"
"Yes! That's it! Stop being all of you!" Wow, that actually hurt a lot more than I thought would. So before I could actually let the pain sink in, I shrugged it of with my usually irritating, sarcastic humour.
"Oh, you sir are playing a very dangerous game! Keeping all this raw… Vikingness" I flinched at my choice of words but quickly continued, "contained! There will be consequences!" Gobber just gave me a deadpan stare and handed me another blood stained axe.
"I'll take my chances. Sharpen. Now." I huffed and turned back to the grindstone with the axe, quickly starting to sharpen it. If I could just kill a dragon my life would get so much better. If I killed a Gronckle, I'd be noticed, if I put a Nadders head on a spear people might even be proud. A Hideous Zippleback has two heads, so I'd get twice the fame, and then there's the Monstrous Nightmare, if I killed one of those I'd pretty much be a celebrity!
A nerve racking ghost-like shriek filled the air. It continued to build in ferocity and became louder and louder. "Night Fury!" A man yelled somewhere to my left. I quickly looked out the window to see if I could get a glimpse of it, of course it was useless though. It was the unholy offspring of lightning and death itself, no one had ever seen it and lived to tell the tale. It never steals, never shows itself, and- "Get down!" A woman yelled just as a tower exploded into flames. -Never misses. The black creature was briefly illuminated as it sped past the explosion at a breakneck pace and something inside of me screamed as I watched it disappear back into the night. I knew what my heart was screaming about. No one had ever killed a Night Fury, so I was going to be the first.
"Ok kid, hold the forge, they need me out there!" Gobber said as he quickly changed his hand from a hammer to an axe. "Do you understand" Gobber persisted as he turned to me "Stay. Here." I huffed an okay and he was gone. Almost immediately after I was gone too, pushing the Mangler up to the perfect vantage point I saw before. I ignored the constant cries of Get back inside! and within moments I was up on the hill. With a few flicks of the levers keeping the Mangler locked up, it sprung into shape. I wasted no time in hooking a bola into the mechanism and watching the sky intently, waiting for the familiar ghostly shriek and the explosion that would briefly illuminate the Night Fury, giving me a perfect shot.
The night was almost quiet, the noises of the battle below sounding distant and in the background, it was almost serene. It felt like my whole life was building up to this moment, the moment when I would shoot down the Night Fury and become a Viking. The moment I wouldn't be so disgusted at spilling dragons blood. The moment I'd finally give my father something to be proud of for once! So it was a little irritating when the Night Fury continued to not show itself, a small part off me stressing that it might of already left!
"C'mon, c'mon, give me something to shoot at!" I muttered under my breath as I continued to survey the skies. I knew the Night Fury would strike here next, it was the only tower left. An eerie shriek filled the air and my body filled with excitement, which I quickly stuffed down to stay focused. The blue blast shot out of the night and straight into the tower. Time seemed to slow as I saw the silhouette of the dragon. Everything moved super slow as I aimed it perfectly in line with where the dragon was about to fly, I briefly saw the creature slowly flap its wings down to gain more speed, making the flames curl around it as it did. I held my breath and pulled the trigger.
Time speed up to the speed it was before at I was unceremoniously thrown to the ground by the recoil. I watched as the bola flew threw the air, heard a dull thud of it hitting something, heard the pained screech of the dragon and watched with my breath held as it pummelled to the ground, straight into the forest, right off ravens point.
I did it. I hit the Night Fury.
"O MY GODS!" I yelled as I threw my hands up in victory, I had never been so happy, things were finally going my way. "Did anyone see that!" I yelled in happiness, and my heart wasn't screaming anymore, it was silent, almost in… regret? I couldn't understand it, but didn't get to question it as my eyes fell on the extremely angry Monstrous Nightmare behind me. My happiness immediately fled, leaving me with nothing but fear as my arms fell down uselessly to my sides. "Other than you." The Nightmare roared and charged at me, and I narrowly missed its crashing foot as it landed on the Mangler, shattering it into pieces. A small part of my moaned in disappointment, but was quickly overpowered by the other part that screaming at me to RUNRUNRUNRUNRUN!
So I did the very Viking thing, and ran down the hill. Screaming at the top of my lungs like a 5 year old child.
I narrowly dodged a stream of flame that flew past my head and landed in front of me. I bolted to my right as another stream of boiling hot fire launched at me. I quickly jumped behind one of the poles of the spotlights as it was coated in flames, the almost liquid fire coating the opposite side in unbearable heat as I sunk down to the ground, drawing my knees in close. The flames stopped and it went almost quiet, I watched, horrified, as the Nightmares head came around the pole to growl menacingly at me. The jaws of the beast opened in front of me and I quickly shut my eyes, unable to continue looking down the red, pulsating throat that just screamed you're dead!
I heard a loud thud and the Nightmare roar in pain, then the crash of its feet as it stumbled away in a daze. I opened my eyes to see Stoick standing there, face scrunched up in rage as he held his Warhammer so tight his knuckles went white. The Nightmare, obviously realising who it was about to fight against, quickly turned away and flapped weakly to get airborne, retreating back to its home with all the other dragons. As Stoick turned towards me I quickly stood up, and acted like nothing happen. I heard the wood behind me started to creak in strain and then heard it snapping. I quickly moved out of the way as the whole light fell down, the top of it rolling down the hill until it ended in a loud crash. I faintly heard screaming and saw as a bunch of Nadders quickly flew away, sheep in their claws. I cringed and turned back to Stoick.
Oh yeah, Stoick's also my dad.
"What are you'd doing out!" He started to all but roar into my face, "You were supposed to stay in the forge and then this happens! Hic-!" I quickly interrupted to stop him from getting too mad before I told him what I had accomplished.
"Yeah, I know, but I shot the Night Fury down. Like, I actually did this time!" I cringed as I thought of the mean prank the twins and Snotlout played on my a few months back, but shrugged it off. "It went down just off Raven's Point! If we get a search team out there we can still-!"
"-ENOUGH!" Stoick bellowed with enough force to make a dragon shut up. "Every time you step outside, disaster strikes! You-ah" he huffed in frustration and turned to Gobber, "take him home, I have his mess to clean up". Although I knew he was talking to Gobber, it felt like the words were directed at me, so it hurt that much more when I heard the venomous tone behind it. I turned around before Gobber could get to me and started the trek up the hill to my home, with him following close behind.
"Good job useless!" Snotlout yelled from where he was standing a little ways ahead of me to my right.
"Yeah, like, I have never seen anyone stuff up as bad as you!" Tuffnut joined in, snickering at me with Snotlout. I just walked past them, shrugging them off with a sarcastic remark.
"Yeah, I was trying so, um, thanks" I said. Not my best comeback ever but I really didn't care right now, I just felt so deflated. The thing inside me that should've been screaming with excitement that I shot down the Night Fury had gone painfully silent and it started to ache.
"Hiccup" Gobber started. He was probably going to try say something comforting, but since he was a Viking he really sucked at that so I didn't really want to hear what he had to say, so I turned an interrupted him before he could continue.
"No! I'm tired of how he always talks to me! Like someone skimped the meat on his sandwich!" I puffed up my chest and put my hands on my hips, and making my voice go as deep as it could I did my impersonating of dad. "Excuse me barmaid! I'm afraid you brought me the wrong offspring! I ordered a extra large boy with beefy arms! Extra guts and glory on the side! This here, this is a talking Fishbone!" I couldn't stop how my voice cracked on the last word, but I was able to stop the tears that were starting to sting my eyes.
"No no, you're looking at this all wrong" Gobber started, and I really didn't have the strength to interrupt him this time, "its not what's on the outside he can't stand" I could almost see where this was going but was still shock when the next words left his mouth. "Its what's on the inside he can't stand!" I almost cried at that, not only did no one like me because I was small (because, honestly, they made it extremely obvious every day), but now I was being told no one liked me because of what was on the inside too, because of who I was! I couldn't stop the sarcastic remark as it left my mouth.
"Wow. Thanks for summing that up" I sighed and crossed my arms. Goober sighed and put his head in his hand before continuing.
"Look. Just. Stop trying to be something you're not" Gobber said.
"I just want to be one of you guys" I said, unable to stop the emotion the laced my voice. Goober looked at me with that sad expression on his face and I couldn't handle it, I couldn't handle the pity, so I turned and went inside closing the door behind me before Gobber could say anything else. And immediately went out the back door and into the forest. Heading straight towards Ravens point. I was going to kill that Night Fury, maybe then dad would like what was on the inside.