A/N: Okay... so first off, I'm terribly sorry (which probably doesn't cut it) that I've been away for quite awhile. Basically, the past nine months to almost a year has been very hectic, to put it nicely. With everything that's been going on, both worldwide and in my personal life, I've had very little time to write out this story.
But skipping to the important bit, while this story is somewhat complete (for the most part) there are still bits I'm stumped on and chapters that I'm not 100% satisfied with and me writing up other stories and getting ideas for new stories.
So basically, I was suggested to give this story a beta, or a sample if you will, which will be a few of these chapters to see how people like the story so far. Again, I'm terribly sorry but this will be temporary until the story is finished. Once this story will finished, this bit of the A/N will be deleted. So onto the actual A/N.
Okay, I'm back with yet another Fanfic. So I've had this thought for a long time, but never had the chance to write it. Basically, this is a different take on the "runaway fanfics" I wanted to try something new (hopefully) with this idea since there many different versions of the runaway fanfic; the traditional running away, taken by dragons, taken with Valka, etc.
So for the most part, I wanted to combine some of these ideas along with this new approach and hope for the best, and hope this scenario proves to be interesting. Also, this story will contain spoilers from RTTE, so if you haven't watched it, I'd strongly advise doing so.
I also don't own HttyD nor any images. Other than that off we go.
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It was another normal day on the Isle of Berk, the sunlight was barely piercing through the clouds offering little warmth to the cold. But to Berk's inhabitants, Vikings, it mattered little. Vikings were tough and sturdy people that had there fair share of hardships and could handle anything Mother Nature threw at them. The village itself has stood for several generations of Viking legacy, this was a testament to Viking's renowned stubbornness against their greatest enemy. The Dragons.
Many have considered that Vikings and Dragons have been fighting since the dawn of time, the battles would endlessly rage on in raids that left the village in ruins. Houses would take days to rebuild after a raid. This was an endless cycle of kill or be killed, and for whatever reasons Vikings relished in this bloodshed.
But yet there was one who many believed would never get this feeling, one who defies traditions and brings shame upon himself. Unfortunately, this person couldn't afford the shame due to his status. The chief's son, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, only seven years old and has already been deemed "the worst Viking Berk has ever seen" and somehow he's still standing.
Where most Vikings were very muscular, Hiccup doesn't even come close to their size. Children his age that are able to lift weapons over their heads, Hiccup was lucky if he could even lift a bludgeon off the ground. Many people gave up hope to the future the boy had and were prepared to leave Berk when he would be named chief.
His father and current chief, Stoick the Vast didn't approve of the heir's actions, so when he was only four years old he was made the apprentice to the village blacksmith. His longtime friend Gobber, was reluctant to the idea at first. Not only Hiccup is weak he's quite clumsy as well, and in a room filled with sharp, heavy, dangerous weapons as well as a hot forge well... the possibilities of what could go wrong were endless. But Stoick was stubborn and insisted this was the only way to get those ideas out of his head of pretending to fly and pursue trolls. Plus, he also figured pounding away at metal would give him at least some muscle. But three years later, no progress was made.
In fact, just a few months ago when the seeds of disaster started to take place. Apparently, Hiccup went behind his father's back. He had his own little spot in the back of the forge, where he started to draw crazy and outright stupid ideas unlike anything Vikings had seen. The first one he'd build was an automatic bow launcher which ended up puncturing holes in five houses and broke through barrels of their food supply, which made easy pickings for the dragons.
Everyone in the village was furious with him and some of the more salty ones pelted him with rocks and rotten fruit. Plus the angry glares, shouting, and slaps over the head hurt, but that didn't hold a candle to what he got from his father. Hiccup swore he never saw his father, the man he looked up to and admired greatly, so ashamed in his life.
Hiccup was watching the village from out his window. Ever since that incident, he had been strictly confined to his house and was forbidden to leave except for working in the forge with Gobber. This rule was strictly enforced during dragon raids. Stoick would just lock him inside the house and leave him alone, he even threatened him with severe punishment if he even took a step outside.
Not that Hiccup was thrilled about leaving in the beginning, the second he did he'd be shouted at, mocked, and taunted by the other kids his age. But now, looking at daily life in the village, he was starting to get bored.
What bored him the most was looking at the kids playing in the village square, pretending to be dragon slayers. There were the Twins, Ruffnut and Tuffnut, who loved chaos and destruction, and Fishlegs, the timid dragon expert, pretending to be dragons. While Snotlout, Hiccup's cousin, and number-one bully, and Astrid, Hiccup's old friend as the slayers. Ruffnut and Tuffnut would use any excuse to break things and they were taking it too far. They were slamming into walls, taking rocks and throwing them onto houses, and tackling people while pretending to roar and breathe fire. Fishlegs was trying the same, but his roars came out as whimpers. Snotlout had no trouble pounding him into the ground, punching him in the face screaming the same curses any Viking would while laughing arrogantly as he did. Fishlegs kept telling Snotlout to stop and he was done playing, but Snotlout kept going, saying there's no mercy to dragons.
Astrid, on the other hand, was being more serious, she already pulled the Twins into submission. If Hiccup didn't know any better, he'd swear someone forgot to tell her this was only a game. Everyone just stayed out of their way, especially their families, who were just watching. They'd encouraged playing rough, laughing when the "dragons" cried out in misery. They were always saying this is the best way to prepare them for adulthood when they would take their place fighting dragons.
Even if he was going to get beat up, Hiccup wanted to play with them. It wasn't his favorite game, but he was willing to forego pleasure to have some company. He never knew why, but it always bothered him about Vikings killing dragons, even when his dad and Gobber told them it was a great milestone in a Viking's life and they were doing a favor by killing the beasts. More than anything, he wanted to play with Astrid, who has been lately giving him the cold shoulder and ignoring him for the longest time.
"Daddy, can I go play outside with the other kids?" Hiccup asked looking back at his father, who was over at the table reading over documents stating village damage and inventories. The man appeared to have a massive headache and an irritated look on his face plus the annoying gaze he had on his face. He had an ice block to his head, using it to soothe the pain. Drops of water were already falling down from his face from the heat.
"And make a bigger mess of things?" His father angrily growled. "You'll stay put right there until I say so and not a moment sooner, am I understood?" Hiccup's father, between his bigger size and his fiery red beard, had to be the most intimidating man in the world. Hiccup couldn't help but flinch at the tone his father used, his father always sounded... drained, now he'd just seemed completely annoyed.
"But I was only trying to help you guys." He said, sinking back into his chair.
"Help?" Stoick exclaimed, narrowing his eyes while just barely glancing. "You call what you did 'help'? Do you even know what your foolish antics have costed us, Hiccup?"
"I said I was sorry... like a million times to everyone." Hiccup whispered.
"'Sorry' doesn't fix those people's homes," Stoick shot back as he rosed from his seat and glared at the boy. "'Sorry' doesn't get back the stolen food you let those devils take. 'Sorry' doesn't make up for the fact that you made a mess of everything!" He shouted right into his face.
Hiccup was on the verge of crying, his father never yelled at him like that before. It only seems like his father hates him, but Hiccup couldn't understand over one mistake. Everyone makes them, even his father, and he's only a child, but whenever he messes up people would shout and scream at him. The man judged him so harshly, especially the reason he helped to make his father proud.
Hiccup tried to say something, but stopped the second he looked back into his father's cold eyes. He backed away slowly, wishing he could disappear. All he could do was look away and hope his father wouldn't see the little stray tears that were threatening to spill.
Stoick failed to notice his son's fear, he only scoffed and returned to work. "I have more important things to do than to clean up your messes. If you're ever going to be chief, you need to learn to take responsibility for your actions."
Hiccup frowned and turned away to look at the window again, his father's hypocritical statement struck in his mind. How is he supposed to take responsibility when he's locked up all the time? He wondered for a moment if his father kept him inside so he wouldn't have to deal with him as he was chiefing. He quickly shook that thought out of his head and reassured himself. Surely, his father wouldn't do that, right?
He felt like it was a bad idea, but he had to ask anyway. "Well, can I go out soon?" He said in a small whisper, trembling somewhat, afraid to anger his father even more. It seemed he was worried over nothing since his father ignored him and continued his work.
"Well, don't ya two look cozy?" Came a voice.
Stoick lifted his head and Hiccup turned around for both of them saw a man almost as large as Stoick standing in the doorway. He had a dirty blonde mustache, soot covering his clothes, and a stone tooth. He was also missing an arm and leg, both of them lost to dragons during his youth. His leg was nothing more than a wooden peg and his arm was a slightly rusted, but sturdy hammer. Even though he was disabled it didn't make him any less of a fighter or any less of a cheerful man.
"Hi, Gobber!" Hiccup said with as much happiness as he could muster. Stoick only grunted to acknowledge his presence.
"Don't get too excited, it's just yer favorite blacksmith," Gobber mumbled while rolling his eyes. He went over to see Hiccup who was getting out of his seat and slowly jogging over to him. "And how's me favorite apprentice?"
"I'm fine Gobber," Hiccup said sadly. Usually, a parent would pick up on these emotions, but in this case, Stoick just continued to read in silence. Gobber, however, was more sensitive. He had to admit, Hiccup had a sharp mind and keen attention to detail for someone his age; he still had a long way to go before he could carry a weapon, but the swords he polished come out sharper than ever with a nice shine as well.
"All right, what's wrong?" Gobber asked, raising an eyebrow.
Hiccup's smile vanished and he looked down at the ground with downcast eyes. "Dad says I can't go outside. He doesn't want me to cause trouble for anyone."
Gobber's face instantly turned serious when he turned to look at Stoick; he just continued to sit there as if he was the only person in the house, just reading the papers with more focus than possible, even tracing the strokes of the charcoal used for writing. Gobber just stood there waiting for a response but was met with silence. Gobber even cleared his throat for a response, but Stoick just grunted again.
"Typical Viking conversation." Gobber thought.
"All right 'Iccup how about ya jest head over to ta forge and sweep ta place. Let me talk ta Chief Bossypants over 'ere." Gobber said scooting Hiccup through the door with a light push.
"But..." Hiccup turned back to complain.
"Ta only butt ya should be worried 'bout is yer own if ya don't do yer job. Trust me, I can handle this stubborn muttonhead." Gobber said with a wink.
Hiccup's smile returned. "Okay, Gobber. I'll make the place super clean by the time you get there." And with that Hiccup rushed off to the forge as fast as his little legs could carry him.
"It better be, else you'll be in some deep yak dung by ta time I get there!" Gobber called back cheerfully. He watched Hiccup go down the small steps that led up to the chief's house and down into the village square. As soon as he was gone Gobber turned back to Stoick with an irritated look, while Stoick was still busy reading papers.
"All right, 'e's gone. Ya can turn on yer ears again." Gobber said deadpanned. Stoick finally looked up from his papers with a surprised expression, but quickly turned confused. Apparently, he'd forgotten about the whole 'shouting at Hiccup' thing. Gobber continued to give him an unimpressed look.
"What!?" Stoick finally replied.
"Oh, nottin'." Gobber said nonchalantly, folding his arms. "I'm jest wondering if ya already got a shelf picked out for ta boy, or maybe a cage. I hear cages are in season 'bout this time."
"What are you talking about?" Stoick tiredly asked.
"I'm jest talking 'bout 'ow you're apparently making 'Iccup a prisoner in his own house," Gobber said.
"Don't give me that attitude. You saw what that damned contraption did, we were lucky we managed to even hold on to one winter's worth of food!" Stoick growled, getting up. "And Gods know what else he might've ruined if I didn't smash it." Stoick still remembered how he crushed the thing until there was nothing left. Since Hiccup was too young and inexperienced, he overlooked a calibration issue with the lever controlling the firing rate. Hiccup's antics had allowed the dragons to get away with their food and a number of livestock; some believed that he was deliberately doing damage.
"Right, well it's gone now," Gobber said with a huff. He remembered Hiccup's face when it met with Stoick's hammer. He was so disappointed to see all his hard work destroyed, especially when he was counting on so much, despite the problems it caused. "Now 'ow long till you and every other whiny baby 'round 'ere will let it go?"
"It was an act of recklessness, complete disregard for his people, and utter lunacy in general!" Stoick growled again. "Someone could've been hurt or killed!"
Gobber just gave him a dull look while his limbs were hanging by his side. "Really? You're worried 'bout somethin' like that when we fight dragons for a livin'? Wot happened to 'we're Vikings, it's an occupational hazard?'" He said giving his best impression of Stoick.
"I'll have you know that counts as insulting your chief, I can have you thrown into the dungeon for that," Stoick said unimpressed with arms crossed.
"Oh, well, wouldn't want that," Gobber said in a false-worried tone, holding up his hand and hammer in mock fear and rolling his eyes. "Plenty of winters since those cells got a good scrubbin'..."
"Will you get to the point!?" Stoick asked exasperatedly. "I've got more important things to do then my son's little.... 'hiccups!'" The words came out as he described the matter, which summed up in his mind.
"That there, that's ma point," Gobber said pointing his hammer at Stoick. "That was months ago! Ta fishin' crews already filled up the stores again and the circle o' life continues over at ta pens. Exactly 'ow long are ya gonna ta keep 'em 'ere, under lock and key?" Gobber asked.
"Till he starts acting like a Viking!" Stoick shouted, slamming his fists on the table.
"And 'ow is he supposed ta do that if ya don't let him learn from his mistakes?" Gobber pointed out.
"Because when that boy makes mistakes, EVERYONE suffers from it!" Stoick said pacing around the table and past the fireplace until he was in front of Gobber. "I give him room to do so and he'll end up burning the village before those devils can. You think I haven't seen that little room in the back of his forge? I'm perfectly aware this is only the beginning!"
"Now, hold on-"
"No, Gobber. I put him in that forge so he could bulk up and get past this... awkward stage of his. I'm counting on you." He jabbed his finger straight into Gobber's chest, he barely moved an inch despite Stoick's strength. "Make sure of it. I mean it. No. More. Mistakes." Stoick said pushing his finger with every word while fixing his gaze on Gobber.
The room was silent for a moment, save for the fire crackling and the wind blowing outside. The two Vikings kept their gaze on each other with narrowed eyes and tempers flared. The two always had a bumpy road in terms of their friendship, and as Vikings, they resolved it with everything from verbal arguments to brutal spars in the Kill Ring. It was always in good nature though and in the end, the two always found peace, either to a mutual understanding or just dropping the subject.
But in the years following Stoick's ascension to chief, they've gotten better at avoiding arguments altogether, thanks to Stoick's improved diplomacy and tact. Hiccup however, was an ongoing issue that the two could find very little common ground on, and were always at odds on. They both wanted what's best for the boy; at least that's what it seemed on the surface.
But Gobber even wondered if Stoick was trying to avoid the boy. It didn't help that he was born the runt of the litter and was given the traditional name for it. Maybe Stoick once envisioned the boy to grow up to be the greatest of all Vikings and was trying to escape his shattered hopes and dreams for the future.
"No more mistakes..." Gobber echoed back to Stoick. "Doncha think that's a little much ta asked of a seven-year-old boy?"
"You're saying as a chief I judge him harshly?" Stoick asked with a slightly raised eyebrow. Gobber could see the veins throbbing with every second. He was getting sick of the conversation. Good, Gobber was tired of playing this game just to bide his time for Stoick to catch up on the rules.
"As a chief, maybe not. As a father..." Gobber emphasized the word with much volume as he could afterwards, he gave a simple shrug. Gobber could swear most of the time Stoick flat out forgot he was Hiccup's father and Hiccup was his son. The fatherly side of him barely saw the day, he figured. "But fine, I'll see wot I can do." With that, he turned away from Stoick and hobbled slowly to the door. Just before he made it out, he turned to slightly look back at Stoick.
"Jest a bit o' advice, old friend." Gobber began, catching Stoick's attention as he was about to sit back down. "If ya expect perfection, then there's little doubt you'll end up disappointed." And he left, shutting the door and leaving Stoick alone with his thoughts and Gobber's words.
Stoick just angrily growled and shut the window before returning to his seat, setting the ice block down that had already melted down to two-thirds to its original size back on his head. He grabbed the papers and continued to read.
"Expect perfection... what I expect is a worthwhile son." He muttered.
He would never have guessed that the son in question was just underneath the now-closed window, having heard him word through word.
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A/N: Okay, so with that done, I've decided that the beta will be five parts long. I could make it longer, but I'd rather not review too much of the story and leave you guys with a cliffhanger.
And for those wondering, I'm not 100% sure when the full story will be released. Hopefully, if life doesn't slap me around too much, then perhaps before the end of this year.
Original date pulished: October 1, 2020
Date revised: ?????