Disclaimer: I wish I owned httyd but that is never gonna happen.

Author's Notes: Yoh… I'm not gonna say much so sit back, relax and enjoy the show…

"Where It All Began"

This is Berk.

It sucks.

You know why?

Because I was born here.

You might think that that's not a valid enough reason to think like that but I got a long list of reasons here that says otherwise.

I'll just list the worsts, ok?

Ok, here we go.

Number one, for the first ten years of my life, I've been beaten up, pushed around, looked down upon, and generally being ignored. Did I mention that my cousin is the main source of my beatings?

Number two, I am a scrawny, squeaky voiced, toothpick of a boy. I have no natural talents, flexibility, and/or strength. To make it worse, nobody would want to train me for the sake of being a Hiccup.

Oh, you shouldn't feel bad about me.

I'm already used to it. In the process of getting used to it, at least.

Oh, one last thing on the worst of my list, my father doesn't even care enough to ask me if I'm okay after a severe beating. I know how he looks at me when I'm looking away. He thinks I'm an embarrassment. I bet he would rather have a knuckleheaded, brawny Snotlout as a son than a scrawny, toothpick Hiccup.

There's really nothing I can do about that so I just try and accept it for what it is.

So? You ready to hear the story of my life and why it sucks?

Great!

In the village of Berk

"Ugh!" Hiccup grunted as he hit the ground, head first. He squeezed his eyes shut as pain shot through him. Blood was running through his nose, and his whole body was covered in bruises. He tried to propping himself up by the elbows but before he could raise himself, a hand grabbed the hem of his tunic and hoisted him up. As he opened his eyes, he was once again eye level with his bully, Snotlout.

"Woah there cousin! Don't you sleep yet, we're not done." Snotlout smiled as he slugged Hiccup on the stomach as the Thorston twins laughed at the beaten up boy.

Snotlout continued punching Hiccup all across his body when Tuffnut pushed Hiccup over to Snotlout and the larger teen held him in place.

"Hey Lout!" Tuffnut shouted gleefully, fist cocked back. "Let me have a turn!"

Snotlout laughed and pushed Hiccup towards the awaiting fist of the male twin.

Hiccup doubled over and coughed violently, when the punch impacted his stomach.

Snotlout sneered and spat at Hiccup's downed form. "That's for being born!" Snotlout reared his leg and kicked Hiccup on the head, making him fall down once again. "And that's for being my cousin and ruining my chance of becoming chief!" Snotlout snorted at Hiccup's downed form before walking off.

Hiccup's whole body ache from the abuse. He was not letting Snotlout get the better of him. He was not going to cry. He promised himself that he would stop being a pushover. He was going to change himself for the better. No more Hiccup the Useless. No more Hiccup the toothpick.

Tuffnut frowned when Hiccup didn't make any noise and was about to kick him when his twin punched him on the shoulder.

"Ouch! What was that for?!" He whined while nursing said bruised shoulder.

Ruffnut rolled her eyes. "Let's just leave him. I'm getting bored of watching him getting beaten up." and she walked away, following Snotlout.

"Hey wait!" Tuffnut ran after her.

Hiccup was alone now, beaten and bloodied, thinking that standing up wasn't an option. He once again propped himself up by the elbows, raising his body bit. He turned around and pushed his upper body and got to his knees. Slowly he pushed himself up until he was upright again.

He coughed violently in his hand, and felt something splattered all over it. When he looked down at his hand, he saw his blood.

Instead of crying, as always, he smiled. He laughed a little but the effort only made him cough again. "I-I did it." he stuttered. "I didn't cry this time." He winced in pain, clutched his stomach as pain shot through his body again. "I-I should probably get this healed before something else happens."

Hiccup wiped the bloody hand on his tunic and started walking towards the forest. In his mind, there was no way anyone was going to help him so he decided that he shouldn't trust anybody. Sure, he also thought that going into the forest without adult supervision but there was no one in the village, especially the chief, was going to waste their precious time watching Hiccup.

So far so good. Hiccup was actually glad that he hadn't run into anything yet because even if no one wants him round doesn't mean he wanted to die. He was trying to get strong, not becoming suicidal.

As he went deeper to the forest, his body was gradually getting less painful, he heard the sound of something hitting wood. He peered over a giant tree and that's when he saw her. Probably the only girl, viking or otherwise, in Berk that he did not detest looking at. In fact, one could say that he was infatuated with this girl.

Astrid Hofferson. Hiccup would take a beating for her, willingly of course.

Hiccup decided to watch Astrid as she attacked a tree with her wooden axe. He watched in awe at how elegant she made it look. How she made it look easy to throw those things so accurately.

Astrid was also very nice. Well, he couldn't really tell how nice she were since she never talked to him. She didn't tease him though, that had to count for something. Maybe he just wasn't good enough for her to care for.

He couldn't be further from the truth.

With Astrid

Astrid grunted as she once again stiked at the tree with all her might. Sure, she wasn't strong enough to cut it down, but at least she was able to stick the axe deep inside the tree after a few accurate swipes.

To anybody else, they would've thought that young Astrid was too concentrated in her training that she would ignore anyone who tried to talk to her. When in reality, her mind was in inner turmoil. Aside from being gifted with an extraordinary talent in fighting, she was also very good at hiding what she was feeling inside.

'Why?!' She shouted in her mind at the same time she threw the axe at the tree with all her might.

'Why do I keep doing this to myself?!' She stomped her way to the tree where the axe laid embedded. 'I just stood there and did nothing while they beat him up, again!' Hiccup might not have noticed since his attention was towards Snotlout, but Astrid was there. She was standing behind a house, debating whether to intervene or not.

Astrid grabbed the axe and pulled with all her might. The axe was too deep in the tree that when she was able to pull it out, wood splintered everywhere, and she had to squint her eyes shut to avoid getting wood in her eyes.

'I could've done something. I mean, Snotface absorbs every word I say like a sponge. I could've have told him to back off but I didn't!'

She swung her axe on another tree. At mid swing, she was already picturing the smug face of the Jorgenson brat, and it only fueled her anger more. She swung the axe so hard that she actually snapped the wooden axe in half, the top half embedded in the tree.

She was so exhausted that she decided to lie down on the ground. You could probably imagine her surprise when she looked up and saw the one person she least expected to see that day. Or any other day actually.

Her eyes widened, mouth wide open. What was he doing here? More importantly, how did he get up there without her knowing?

She bolted upwards and pointed an accusing finger at Hiccup. "What are you doing here?!" she demanded.

Hiccup, startled by her sudden outburst, fell from the tree, flailing his arms, and landed on his back with a grunt. He blinked his eyes, vision dotted black as he tried to gather his bearings.

"Ouch, that hurt." He hissed in pain as Astrid stomped towards him. When she was in front of him, her eyes narrowed, arms crossed.

"I'm not going to ask again." She muttered darkly that made Hiccup's skin crawl.

Hiccup gulped "Uh you see.. I-uh was uhmm looking for some herbs t-to try and heal these wounds I-uh got from the beatings." He explained sheepishly, his eyes darting everywhere but her.

Astrid's eyes widened again and finally took in Hiccup's current condition. She mentally berated herself for letting her anger get the best of her. She then eyed him carefully.

Other than the bruises all over his body, he looked relatively fine. Leaning down and taking a closer look, she could finally see that there were some cuts on his face, and his left eye was blackened and was starting to swell. There were also bruises all over his body that made her wince. How could he be so calm about this?

While Astrid was looking all over him, Hiccup was busy looking at her face. The look of concentration on her face took him by surprise. How could she look so innocent and yet so dangerous, at the same time? Hiccup could only conclude that it was part of her charm.

Astrid was debating whether to help Hiccup or not. If she helped Hiccup then maybe some of her uneasiness would disappear, but that would mean that she would stop her training.

Finally, after an intense minute of silence, Astrid groaned and offered her hand to Hiccup. "Come on, I'll help you find those herbs." She said dejectedly.

Hiccup blinked. "Really? Why?" he squeaked as he took her hand and she pulled him up easily. Seriously, how light was this boy?

"I don't want to be responsible when you die out here." She said coldly but, strangely enough, was still holding his hand. Without waiting for his response, Astrid starting pulling Hiccup to a direction where she thought the herbs were located at.

Since she had her back to him, she didn't get to see him nod. Silence enveloped the both of them, probably because both were preoccupied by their own thoughts. The silence was only broken when Astrid told Hiccup that they've finally found the herbs. Hiccup picked some of the herbs and offered them to Astrid to help him apply it to his body. Astrid accepted the herbs and started rubbing them to Hiccup's body. He was once again surprised at how gentle she was, he initially thought that she was going to be rough on her.

While Astrid was busy rubbing the herbs, this gave Hiccup the time to think. Ever since she saw Astrid training, it clicked inside him in what he must do.

"Astrid?" Astrid looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "If it's okay with you... can I watch you train again?"

A confused look adorned her face as she regarded the boy in front of her. "Why?" She was more confused than annoyed at his request.

He shrugged, feeling a little better. "Before you punch me, I just wanted to tell you that you are a really talented fighter. I've seen the adults fight but compared to them, you make it look easy." When she nodded for him to continue, she was actually touched at his compliment so she didn't want to disturb him. "So after watching you fight earlier, I got this idea that maybe I can copy some of your moves to help me."

Astrid furrowed her brows and thought about it. The more she thought over it, the more she agreed to his statement. Sure, he was a bit on the scrawny side but that didn't mean that he wasn't going to build any muscles when he started training. It also didn't hurt that maybe, just maybe, he would finally be able to defend himself from Snotlout and the twins. The question now was, was he ready?

As if reading her mind, Hiccup looked at her in determination. "Please, I promise I won't be a hindrance to you. I'm sick and tired being the punching bag."

Astrid sighed and blew on her bangs in frustration. "Fine but don't tell anyone about this!"

Hiccup nodded and extended his hand to her. Astrid looked at it for a second before she took it and shook it.

Author's Note: Well… That's it for now… I'm gonna update soon… Depending if there are gonna be views for this fic.

Additional AN: Yoh... If you are rereading this story then you'll also probably notice that the first chapter is 'different', as to say. I updated it! Like you, I also reread the story and let me tell you how shocked I was. This chapter was horrible! So many grammar mistakes! Missing punctuations! The horror!