Ok. This needs to be said here since it was a Guest that left all those wonderful comments/reviews. I wouldn't normally do this, but I feel like I need to since this Guest is practically leaving a review for several chapters.

First off: This is fanfiction. There are going to be discrepancies between what I write and the original story. I experience HTTYD differently from other people as they experience it differently from me. So when I write fanfiction a lot of what I write is based off of my own interpretation of events.

I'll start with your first review shall I?

"You do realize, I hope, that there is NO evidence that Hiccup was ever SERIOUSLY bullied, tortured or abused prior to the events of HTTYD1 while there is actually CONSIDERABLE evidence to the contrary to be found in the first movie. In short, this story is based on one of the great LIES of HTTYD fandom-that Hiccup is somehow the animation poster child for abuse. He is not."

As I said before, this is fanfiction. For this story to work I decided to goes towards a slightly darker setting of HTTYD. A great deal of future character development is dependent on the abuse Hiccup (In this fanfiction) has gone through. There are fanfictions out there that actually portray that abuse to be much worse and I've actually tried to avoid pointing it out too much. Just enough to show that there could be abuse while not actually talking about it too much.

Personally? I believe Hiccup was abused. Abuse can take many forms and not just physical. Neglect is a form of abuse as is a bunch of peers calling you useless and pointing out your flaws. As a victim of abuse I identify with Hiccup as an abuse survivor. Rarely was I actually hit, but it took me years to acknowledge that I was emotionally and mentally abused. And I still try to deny it most days.

HTTYD is a children's story, so abuse would not be expressed heavily. It's up to the viewers, readers, and fans to interpret what they see.

"No Hiccstrid. No story. That simple. As Hiccup, himself, states in the most recent season of RTTE, "There will ALWAYS be a Hiccup and an Astrid." ALWAYS. And for the record, NEVER a Hiccup and anyone else or an Astrid and anyone else."

I think I mentioned this was a fanfiction? I did right? Yeah.

That being said. I am a Hiccstrid fan for the canon HTTYD. This does not mean I solely support it in fan works. I'm rather fond of Hiccup x Camicaze (which is the accepted canon for the books). I also like Hiccup x Dagur, Hiccup x Drago, Hiccup x Eret, Hiccup x OC, etc. It's fanfiction.

I honestly don't think I'm even going to pair Hiccup up with anyone in this fanfiction though. I'm pretty sure I've expressed that in the past. In my head Hiccup is still in his early teens and romance for anyone younger than 15 is just icky in my head. Normally I love writing romance, but for this story I wanted to focus on character development and how a character learns to work with a disability they received through trauma.

Will I make this a Hiccstrid fanfiction? Maybe. I don't know. I honestly hadn't even considered it. I probably won't. Maybe I'll mention something in an epilogue, but for the story I've already mapped out Hiccup doesn't get into a relationship with anyone (not including the platonic stuff because FRIENDSHIP IS MAGIC).

"First off-KNOW your subject matter. Astrid NEVER hated Hiccup in the first movie. Yes, she became jealous of him because he suddenly appeared to be better at something Astrid has spent her life training for and he had not. If she truly hated him she would not have saved his life from Stormfly in the arena or tried to protect him from Toothless in the cove-she after all had no idea that Toothless was a "friendly" dragon at the time. As for Astrid "sudden" change of heart-it's called a paradigm shift. Paradigm shifts occur when enough retroactive inhibitions build up to cause a person or community to change their current outlook on a given matter/subject often radically. It is important to note that paradigm shifts CANNOT occur unless the individual or community are already "open" to that possibility in some way. HTTYD is all about paradigm shifts. Arguably the quickest shift is Hiccup's when he goes to the cove to kill the Night Fury, cut out its heart and show it to his father in order to improve his personal standing in the tribe or to win a girlfriend (not one of Hiccup's nobler moments, I might add), but instead decides, in a moment, to release Toothless instead. Astrid's shift occurs over the course of an evening where she is shown things that it took Hiccup days to be exposed to such as the fact that dragons don't always behave the way she has EXPERIENCED them behaving or been taught to believe they will behave. Couple this with her flight on Toothless (NO ONE can tell me that a flight on a dragon isn't going change your life and your outlook on it substantially) and the revelation from their trip to the nest that dragons have to behave the way they are in regards to the raids then there so many MORE reasons/retroactive inhibitions for Astrid's change of heart than there was for Hiccup when he first meets Toothless-yet Astrid's the one's whose conversion is "too quick" or "unbelievable"?"

First off - don't assume I don't know my subject matter. As stated above this is fanfiction. People interpret what they see/hear/view/etc differently from others. In the first movie when I first saw Hiccup and Astrid interact I believed Astrid had a great dislike for Hiccup because Hiccup did not fit into the correct "Viking" persona. He was a mistake that made life difficult for the rest of the village (including her family). Does Astrid actually hate him? I don't think so. I think she just has a healthy dislike for him, but she respects him because he at least tries. Does Hiccup know she doesn't hate him the beginning? No he doesn't. All he knows is she glared at him and avoided him. When you're on the receiving end of glares and negative behavior it's difficult not to think that you aren't hated.

Why did Astrid save him/protect him? It's my opinion she did that because she was raised (in viking tradition) to protect the members of her tribe/village (no matter how weak). ESPECIALLY the child of the current chief. It was believed that to abandon someone from the tribe and to let them die then the person that could have saved them would be denied the chance to go to Valhala (especially if that person was the weakest member of the village). Vikings may have not liked those that were weak, but they didn't abandon them. They also believed math was witchcraft and that only women were allowed to handle finances.

Would Astrid have changed that much in real life? Maybe. Paradigm shifts happen, but in movies and tv shows they happen MUCH faster. PERSONALLY I don't think Astrid would have changed her mind that fast. It took Hiccup LITERALLY kidnapping her for Astrid to start to see his point of view. In the books it takes a GREAT DEAL MORE TIME for these shifts in opinion and belief to happen. In fact Hiccup gets kicked out of the tribe, but that's a whole other plot point.

"Again, no Hiccstrid. No story. Any other pairing, for either of them is just WRONG."

See above. I haven't even decided if I want a romantic pairing in this fanfiction. But this is FANFICTION. If I decided to Pair Hiccup up with a magical cod fish that has horns and can talk in 7 different languages then that's my choice. If you don't like that then just go and read another fanfiction. Don't bother commenting "no hiccstrid, no story". That's not constructive and not helpful for the writing process AT ALL. If you love that pairing so much then please, be my guest and write it to your heart's content. I leave guest commenting on because I don't like to silence anyone, and I always hope people will be respectful when using guest commenting. It's ridiculous and unhelpful comments like this that make me really reconsider my acceptance on guest reviews.

"Question, this story practically screams Hiccstrid, so why are you adamantly against it?"

I'm not? Where did I express I was adamantly against it?

Ok. I looked back at ALL my comments and I said "There will be a pairing. Just not Hiccstrid", "with flow like this Hiccstrid really doesn't work", "Sorry it's not a Hiccstrid fic", but I also said "I haven't decided who Hiccup's romantic interest will be in this story. I'll figure it out as the story progresses, but I'd be happy to take suggestions".

Stories change as they are written. Maybe I'll give Hiccup a love interest later on, but honestly? I don't feel like my story needs one. Maybe as I write I'll find a way to make this a Hiccstrid fic? I don't know.

I think, before I even started this, I was going to make this into a Toothcup story. But as it progressed I changed my mind and wanted them to have a different kind of relationship. More like...platonic soulmates. There's a greek word for it, but I forgot. Literally it's two people that were destined to be together, that can't live without each other, but they aren't romantic.

Please people. I leave guest review available for a reason. It's there for the people that are too shy to leave a review attached to their accounts. All I ask is that you are respectful with your comments. If this story is not to your liking then just stop reading. Unless your review is there to ask for a clarification of something, or to point out a flaw in the story, or to give constructive criticism, please don't just rant or talk about how much you hate the story.

I'm writing this for free, during my free time, for fun.

If you really, REALLY feel like you need to leave a negative comment then do it on my tumblr (ethrildragon) so I don't have to take up story chapters in order to reply.

Oh! And I've been thinking about live streaming my writing sessions. I'd be able to do live question/answer sessions and brainstorming. And you'd get to see what I'm writing so there is that. I'll keep that idea updated on my tumblr.

That's it for now my lovelies! Thank you so much for all the support! I'm sorry for having to write up this extended author's notes, but I knew that if I didn't I would have abandoned Hiccup in Darkness.