So this is the first time I'm going to actually publish something on this website. After being a creep for almost four years and admiring just how creative everyone is with doing alternate universes, I wanted to put my brain to a challenge and created well... this. Hopefully, everything flows perfectly and you enjoy the story!

Something of a habit of mine. I always write the falling action (not the ending) of stories I write. Don't ask me why. I don't personally know. Seems to add a bit of a unique sad touch of mine.

ENJOY

Marriage!?

The Backstory

He looked out towards the sea, these next couple of words could very well change this relationship that they have. He could hear Toothless and Astrid's Nadder playing with the trees, but there was something much more pending than watching dragons play with each other.

He sighed, "you got your wish, Astrid."

And thus, a catastrophe started.

...

...

In Berk, it was to kill or be killed.

As he started to get up early morning because of the dragon raid that was happening, he was one of those who many Vikings wished he was killed. His fellow teens didn't like him, the general village thought he was too weak and most importantly, his father was hoping for something different.

As he leaves his house to go help his friend, he gets tackled down by the crazy Viking. With such low lighting, the only source of light being the houses on fire all around by the debris of the dragons, he couldn't tell who it was. "Morning!" the Viking said to him as he got up and gave a war cry going towards a Gronckle. I guess he didn't know who he said Morning too.

He continued to run towards the forge, completely ignoring his whole surrounding of insults as he tries to find the safest path towards the forge. As he closes in on the main plaza, a big meaty hand grabs his shoulder and Hiccup instantly recognizes who it is and prepares himself for the scolding.

The chief lifts him up like he weighs nothing. "What is he doing out- What are you doing here? Get inside." He pushes him back towards the forge. And thus, the day starts beautifully for him as he quickly looks back towards the chief who looks at the Vikings defending Berk. He was the typical Viking, big, strong meaty arms that could lift a whole catapult and aim successfully at a flying dragon if he wanted to.

Like what he just did with that Nadder.

He finally made it to the forge and found his good friend Gobber the Belch, "Oh!" Gobber said as he sees him sprinting for his apron, cause safety first in this village where they fight dragons with almost no armour on. "Nice of you to join the party. I thought you'd be carried off." Gobber finished, his casual demeanour giving off as if a raid in the middle of the night was something that happened every Thor's day.

"Me? Of course not. You know how they don't want these muscles as their teeth can't handle all... this." Hiccup said gesturing to himself at the end of the sentence.

"Well, they do need tooth-"

"Don't finish that," he retorted towards the blacksmith as he smiled right at him. He opened the window to the shop and saw Vikings giving bent swords and spears to him. He picked up four - a new record, by the way. - weapons and saw one fall to the floor and he sighed mentally, 'I guess three is the good old record for the moment.' He sets them aside and fires up the bellows so that he could start repairing the weapons.

Gobber the Belch is the village's blacksmith and is a council in the Great Hall meetings. With a great long beard, a left interchangeable stump and a good old wooden leg on his right leg, he was the Viking everyone wanted to be, with limbs lost in battle and him still joining the fray if he wanted to as if he was a complete human being.

"So Hiccup," Gobber started, "how're the ladies?" He asked from across the forge with a smirk on his face. Of course, Hiccup couldn't see the smirk, but it was so obvious in the tone of how he said that phrase that he wouldn't be surprised if he has the biggest grin at the moment.

"You always ask me that question Gobber. At some point you will know that the answer is always the same, nothing grand is happening." He responded back as he bends the sword he's working with.

"At some point, that will change, eh, lad?" Gobber asked him and Hiccup was about to turn around to give back his answer when-

"Fire!" A Viking yelled out and Hiccup paused and looked out the window to see the other teens rushing past the window carrying a barrel full of water. They grabbed their own buckets and began to refill them and then sprinted towards the burning house, attempting to put out the fire. Hiccup was always confused about how slow that system was, but for now, his mind was on the teens that disliked him.

There's Fishlegs Ingerman, the husky boy with the dragon knowledge that rivals even the chief. He's basically the walking Dragon Book and unfortunately left him while they started their teen years in order not to be bullied to death. The reason why he's not being bullied is the fact that he looks strong, but actually from a long time ago back when they were friends, apparently most of it is fat and not muscle, but don't tell the teens that.

There are the twins Ruffnut Thorsten and Tuffnut Thorsten. No, not Ruffnut then Tuffnut. Ruffnut, and Tuffnut. If you only see one, be prepared to get Loki'd as that's what they love doing no matter what time of day it is. They have this knack for creating beautiful pranks, and sometimes evil schemes that Hiccup has become a test victim one too many times. They often love to be with Snotlout, as they think something could change in terms of position in the future.

Snotlout Jorgenson. The proud heir to the throne, or well that's what he hopes happens. From when they were kids to now, Snotlout has always been proving the village how he's so much better than Hiccup and at this point, if things don't change drastically for Hiccup, Snotlout would be the one taking the throne. Even when they're both cousins, they both completely despise each other but since Snotlout is the strongest one, he usually bullies and sometimes beats Hiccup up at times where Hiccup doesn't expect it.

Then there's-

As the house explodes immediately after the teens tried to put it out, Hiccup snorted. It's not that he's mocking them, it's the fact that there has to be a better system of defending house fires.

He sees them running past the window and Hiccup acts a bit like he's doing something until he sees the back of the teens. As he tries to lean over the counter to see them, he gets pulled up by a hook and for the second time that day, night, early morning, whatever, he prepares himself for the scolding. But this time, he brings back his retort.

"Come on Gobber, let me out there. I need to make my mark and hopefully, sway the village that I'm a decent Viking."

Gobber let him down and chuckled, "oh, you've made your mark, all in the wrong places." he responded poking Hiccup in the chest with his hook.

"Two minutes Gobber. The plan is this, I'll kill a dragon and then bam," he spreads his arms out wide to represent an explosion, "my life will get infinitely better. I could even get a date with Astrid!" He said.

"So Astrid then huh?" Gobber said, leaning slightly against the racks and then deciding against that and grabbing one of the many weapons on the counter to repair them. "Mornin'," he said to one of the Vikings who's waiting for a weapon Hiccup assumes.

"That's not the point Gobber. If I go out there," he says, pointing towards the window as he watches Gobber go back towards his anvil to start repairing one of the many swords that were by the counter, "I have a chance of getting that opportunity with Astrid, finally be in the good books in the eyes of the village and maybe even have the teens following me for a while." He finished his sentence and his sword as he gives it to the Viking who's been waiting patiently Hiccup presumes.

Gobber sighed from across the room then stops hammering and looks at Hiccup. "You can't lift a hammer. You can't swing an axe. You can't even swing one of these!" He finished raising a pair of bolas.

"Excuse me," a Viking said and Hiccup turned around completely to see Hovard the Thrower. "I was wondering if I could use those as I wait for a weapon?" He asked politely. Hovard was always a polite Viking no matter where the Viking he was talking to was on the social ladder.

"Of course Hovard!" Gobber said. "Here," he said to him as he passes the bolas. He grabs them and passes them off to Hovard and sees why he was called Hovard the Thrower and not Hovard the Polite.

"Okay, you're right," He turned again and continued his conversation with Gobber as if what Hovard had done was something that happened every Thor's day, "but this invention will do it for me," he said as he walked towards the Mangler and softly touches the top of the invention in a way of petting it.

Only to see the darn machine malfunction and swing a bola right in between the eyes of a poor Viking. He winced as he looks at Gobber scold, "bullseye?" He hesitantly said.

"See!" Gobber lashed out, "this is exactly what I'm talking about!" He looked towards that counter and Hiccup saw a hand with a thumbs up, "I'm fine, It's alright," the Viking said as if this was something that happened every Thor's-

"It's a small mistake, don't-"

"See that's the thing with you Hiccup." Gobber interrupted him, "you only think and create these weird inventions that almost always amount to nothing." He winced, this isn't really a pep talk he would like at the moment, "if you want to get out there, you need to stop the inventing and finally get some brute strength."

Hiccup sighed exasperatedly, "see it's so easy when you say it but I never got training from my dad since he's super busy all the time. It's not one day and one night and bam," he flexes exaggeratedly, "I'm Fishlegs!"

"Actually Fishlegs is-"

"Yeah, not a great example, but you get what I'm trying to tell you."

"Then stop being all of this," Gobber said gesturing to him completely, and Hiccup sighed on the inside as he realizes that this is another pep talk from good old Gobber.

"Oh." He said, "great yeah, sure, easy." he said as he was about to give a comeback to this pep talk, "you, sir, are playing a danger-"

"Oi! Can you two get on with repairing the weapons already!?" A Viking said at the counter and both Gobber and Hiccup grabbed a weapon and started repairing them as quick as possible, their past conversation almost nonexistent for a while as they focused their task at hand.

Gobber yelled out at Hiccup, "lad, can you start sharpening that sword over there?" he said gesturing to a sword and Hiccup starts sharpening. He knows that he has to go out there tonight to at least try to get a dragon. He wasn't kidding when he told Gobber that his life with get infinitely better if he kills a dragon. With him being an heir and being, well, Hiccup, there's already some small talk with him actually losing the throne and thus losing his status almost becoming an Outcast inside Berk. Killing any of the basic dragons could get him at least noticed, and with that an opportunity for him to try to convince the village that he's better than Snotlout at killing dragons. At that point, at least his life will be stabilized.

But then there's always the second and riskier option.

"Ya finished Hiccup?!" Gobber yelled as he finishes bending his sword.

"Yup!" He responded as he gives a sword to a Viking and proceeds to the next weapon that's in need of sharpening. He hears a house explode in the distance and glances up to see that the dragons have finally found the sheep. 'Well, looks like the chief will need to do something about that.' He looks back and continues to repair his sword at the moment.

The riskier option? Well since almost all of the dragons were basic dragons that almost every adult here on Berk has killed, he would need to kill a dragon no adult has ever seen.

As he hears a high pitched noise and everyone closeby the shop freeze and starts looking around except for Gobber who's looking at Hiccup with a contemplated face as if he's concentrating on something completely different at the moment. The only dragon that Hiccup knows that makes a high pitched noise is

"Night Fury!" One Viking said.

"Get down!" Another one responded as Hiccup looked towards the plaza where everyone put a shield on top of their head as he saw a purple blast that completely destroyed a catapult in one shot.

Yup, that's the dragon that Hiccup is going to have to get to grab the attention and uphold it for a long while.

"Gobber!" A Viking said and both he and Gobber looked outside, "we need more men! Let Hiccup handle the shop for a while." He started to run as quickly as he said that and Gobber started to wobble back towards the rack of interchangeable hands.

"You heard the man Hiccup." He said as he put on his axe hand. He turned around swiftly as he finished adjusting it. "Remember Hiccup? What are you supposed to be doing?" Gobber asked almost in a sing-song way.

He sighed, "Man the fort," he replied monotonously.

"And what will you not be doing?"

"Leave the forge to try to kill a dragon."

"Perfect, off I go then!" Gobber said and immediately hopped over to a dragon that was in the plaza. Hiccup stared at Gobber for a bit and then looked at the Viking that was waiting.

"Here you go sir," he said as he gives him the sword he finished sharpening and immediately started to take out Mangler. The good news was that this was a new record of how long he lasted in the forge the moment Gobber left.

It was seven seconds.

As he completely darts away, hearing people mumble under their breaths that another 'disaster' is about to happen, and only shook their heads as if this was something that happened every Thor's Day. He continued running toward the hill that gave him a beautiful view of the starry night but better yet a view that gave him the best chance of getting that Night Fury.

It was dead silent.

Except it really wasn't as he could still hear screams coming from the Vikings and dragons roaring in the distance but he didn't let that deter him from his main task.

"Come on, come on," he mumbled softly looking towards the stars, hoping something would change, "give me something to shoot at, at least something where I can assume I shot it accurately."

As he sees stars disappear then reappear, he immediately saw the figure that could potentially change his entire life. He just has to see where he's going to aim next and try to find and estimate his trajectory. As he sees that the dragon is about to shoot a catapult nearby and immediately aims for when he's done shooting at it.

That's when he hears it.

A high pitched noise rings into his ears making him wince and for a moment closes his eyes. With his eyes closed, he hears the explosion and he immediately pulled the trigger. He opened his eyes to hear a dragon's cry and saw how he fell a long way from the village, but close enough that it would only take half an hour to get there.

But for the moment, all he could think about was how much this is going to change his life.

"Yes!" He shouted out! It wasn't like this was something that happened every Thor's Day. This thing only happened once in a lifetime and he just experienced it. "Did anybody see that?" He said to absolutely no one nearby. Actually, as he looks around, there's almost no soul nearby as they're all close to the sheep pens protecting the remaining sheep.

But that thought left his mind as he hears a deep breath behind him and past experiences made him roll and then put his arms out in order to protect his face from the flurries of punches that are about to occur. When nothing happened, he raised his arms to see a Monstrous Nightmare destroying his machine.

He sighed softly, "you really weren't my target audience, to be honest, Nightmare," he mumbled softly and the dragon growled as if he was offended by what Hiccup said. Hiccup saw that he was opening his mouth and immediately he bolted towards the forge hoping to find some shelter.

He gave a man cry by the way

Actually, it may have been a high pitched sound but those are details that are unimportant at the moment.

He finally makes it to the plaza and hides behind one of the pillars, like if that would be enough but at the moment all Hiccup wanted to do was hide and this was the best place. As he hears the dragon roar again and breath fire did he realize that maybe this wasn't the best place to hide as he tries to cover his face. As the pole slowly starts getting warmer and warmer to the point that it was unbearable, he twisted his body to the right and all he could see was the tail of the dragon until the chief bolted right past him into the head of the dragon. They both stood up strong and with pride as if this was going to be a good fight until the Monstrous Nightmare tried to fire the chief but nothing came out.

The chief realized what that meant as he mumbled something Hiccup couldn't hear. All he could do was stare in awe as he stood up straighter and saw how the chief punched then kicked the dragon until the dragon flew away. As he sees the chief and saw how he turned around slowly did Hiccup realize one thing and one thing only.

The pole gave out after being burned...

As the pole falls down towards the dock, the torch rolling down like burning debris that he would no doubt be getting more than a casual scold. He saw how it rampaged downhill with almost no ways of stopping and realized that this isn't going to end well and just hoped that Thor could strike him right now. As the sound faded away he said something at last to the chief, "sorry, dad."

And just waited for the scold like it was something that happened every Thor's Day.

...

...

As she was walking back, hearing again on how 'awesome' Snotlout was on this raid even though he slipped more times than Fishlegs and that's saying something, she saw some commotion in the middle of the plaza and all of the teens started heading there.

As they neared it, she could see Hiccup getting dragged across from his dad, "no, this time I did hear a dragon shout dad, I saw it fly down towards Raven's Point. If we could get a search party then we could find the-"

"Silence!" The chief finally snapped as he dropped Hiccup and turned around to stare right at his son, "every single time you step outside, disaster follows. Can't you see that I have a whole village to feed and what do you do?! You let the dragons take most of the sheep!"

As she stared at yet another scolding of Hiccup did she sigh. She never really understood why Hiccup was so... well Hiccup. Nothing of the chief like everyone expected, big, strong, and the head of the leader. She was undeterred by it though, if Hiccup can't lead Berk, then someone else would have to lead it.

Which is why this has become a slight predicament for her.

Since Hiccup can't lead much, it seems like every single time he leaves disaster does follow him like lighting follows Thor's hammer, someone else would have to take the position as heir. The only grand problem is if Hiccup can't do it, then Snotlout would be the one in perfect condition to take the reins and therefore take the chiefdom. The problem with Snotlout taking chiefdom is the fact that he's someone who boasts and is never considering others and the fact that he has a huge crush on her. This would mean that if Snotlout becomes the heir, he gets first to pick for a bride and well, that's the end of the road for her as she would rather face a Nightmare weaponless than marry Snotlout. Thus she needs Hiccup to step it up as soon as possible.

She sighed again, she didn't really know that she would get caught up in all of this just because Hiccup was... well you get the point.

"Well, dad. The village could do with a little less feeding don't you think?" Hiccup joked as he shrugged his shoulders. Astrid winced on the inside as everyone knows that no one talks back to the chief.

"This isn't a joke Hiccup! Why can't you follow the simplest orders sometimes?" The chief yelled.

"Boy," She twisted her head to see Ruffnut staring ahead, looking at the argument, "Hiccup really doesn't want to live now does he?"

She was about to comment when Snotlout beat her to it, "if he doesn't like to live, I can arrange something for him so that everyone wins."

"Careful Snotlout," she finally replied, "a threat against the chief or the heir is something heavy you do not want to mess with."

"Of course not babe," he said as he smiled an awful grin and she barely stopped herself from pounding him, "I would never do something like that."

"Snotlout." She gritted her teeth as she turned her body to see Snotlout, "I'm giving you a fair warning. Don't call me babe."

"Alright, alright," Snotlout said raising his hands in surrender. "Geez, it was just a pet name."

"I'll make you look like a pet if you continue." She spat right back.

"Guys!" Fishlegs finally intervened and she stopped glaring daggers to look at Fishlegs, "look."

She turned around to see Hiccup coming towards them with Gobber in tow, and could not help but notice just how defeated he looked. But there was something in his eyes, something bright like he knew something no one knew. Of course, she always knows that Hiccup would never want to damage the village on purpose, he just does it so beautifully sometimes.

Tuffnut finally said his first words and they were directed at Hiccup, "quite the performance,"

"I've never seen anyone mess up that badly. That helped!" Snotlout continued moving his arms towards the debris she assumed Hiccup did. She didn't even know how to respond as she recalls the many times he slipped up and fell with a bucket full of water.

"Thank you, thank you. You know that I always have to live up to my expectations." Hiccup responded as he continues on with Gobber behind him.

"Oh, of course, Hiccup. We all know your name. Hiccup the Useless." Snotlout replied, stressing the word useless and before Hiccup could get back a reply did she finally step in.

"Come on guys, let's go somewhere." She said as she turned around completely knowing that the teens would follow her. "Ow!" She heard Snotlout say as she turned around to find him on the ground and looked at Fishlegs for some information, "Gobber just put him in his place for the time being."

She smiled, her first smile of the day. At least the adults could still have fun with Snotlout. As they all walked away from another scolding did she finally say something, "well that was fun? I guess I'll be going on then."

"Where will you be going missy?" Tuffnut asked and everyone looked at him. "What?" he asked cluelessly.

"Home," everyone responded to him and he shrugged, "hey, I don't know. You could have gone to the forest."

Her patience finally boiled over, "why would I go to the forest in the early hours of morning?!" she yelled at him and was tightening the grip on her axe. She would need to go to the forest if Tuff continues like this for reasons of murder.

"I don't know," Tuffnut replied and she was this close to punching him until "it's just that Hiccup is doing exactly that." and everyone looked toward the chief's house to see a figure running towards the forest.

"So what?" Snotlout replied as he walks away, "I'm going now cause I need to get my beauty sleep."

She rolled her eyes as she heard Ruffnut say "even if you do get beautiful no one wants you anyways Snotface."

She walked away, ignoring Snotlout's response as she headed back to her house to sleep for a while. As far as she was concerned, the best way is to prove the whole village that she's the best warrior in her age group by winning dragon training. It sounds easy, and it really seems easy, but everyone has a hidden talent somewhere. Snotlout can easily grab two heavy weapons with both his hands. Ruff and Tuff can play trickster and coordinate perfectly to deliver a killing blow. Fishlegs, well, he can receive orders and can become the backbone of the whole operation.

Hiccup? Well, he has a disaster right behind him if he looks close enough.

But enough of that, as she sees her sweet house, sleep calls and another day will come where she hopes her dreams could come true.

To be a shield maiden for Berk.

...

...

Soooo…. What the heck happened to "Marriage(!)?"? Well after I sent out the last chapter. (Chapter six,) Chapter seven and eight were already done and ready to be sent. Except they weren't. There was a review that really made me think that "are these characters really being in characters and are they really acting the way they would act if it was canon?" I swallowed my pride and ego and swallowed the bitter pill that the reviewer was correct by the fact that they were out of character, even if slightly or extremely. And then I started to rewrite and rewrite and rewrite Ch. 7 to the point that I think there are a bit too many minutes on that document, something I'm not willing to admit it myself. All because of the review that kept plauging me while I was trying to perfect the chapter. Also, the school was taking a toll and I purposely missed the deadline for the universities so that I could take a year off and really think about what I wanted to do with my life. So don't look now but Marriage will have just one chapter. (The Backstory). I want to apologize to everyone who did follow and favourite Marriage!? For the fact that I was irresponsible and did not write out the plan. As a stubborn person, the plotline was all in the head and when school was taking a hit and deciding what to do with my life, well then the plot slowly but surely disappeared from my brain as it was focused on school. So right now, Marriage!? Is in the notepad for me as I'm writing down the scenes that are supposed to happen and the plotline of the story. There shouldn't be much change from the new chapters to these old previous chapters but I want to be more realistic than what it was, something I owe my thanks to the Guest Reviewer out there who wrote a whole paragraph. So if that guest reviewer is willing to give his time to make me a better author, then I am willing to give time to Marriage!? Once I find the time. For the moment though, life is just busy and I'm hoping from country to country this month to view the premiere of HTTYD3 and so there should be progress with the note writing but not the story writing. Don't be surprised not having updates on Marriage!? (I'm so sorry, really please do forgive me) for the next couple of months with me rewriting the story Marriage!? Alongside another story called Secretive which will be updated on the author's page.

TL;DR: A reviewer made me rewrite the whole story Marriage!? For it to be more realistic and I want to change the story so that it can have a deeper impact while adding a bit more humour to the thing (especially Hiccup's side).