Summary: Misery loves company, and nowhere has only one misfit. It's a lot easier to be an outcast when there's someone with you. What would it have been like, if Hiccup had a friend before Toothless?

Disclaimer: I do not own How To Train Your Dragon, the Dreamworks franchise or any related spin-offs.

Chapter One

It is never nice to be the misfit, the useless one, the unwanted outsider, but it is much easier when you have company.

No one would ever say it when there was a chance of Enna Oakenhawk overhearing them and reaching for her spear, but only the fact that her daughter was easily overlooked, and could lift a sword without staggering, saved her from being the worst Viking on Berk, if not the entire Barbaric Archipelago.

Part of it was that she preferred to talk her way out of problems, rather than reach for a weapon or break things. Mentioned slightly less – certainly less in public – was the fact that Natalya Oakenhawk was not, strictly speaking, a Viking of Berk.

Trader Johan may have been a welcome visitor, bringing news and needed items, but his bastard offspring by Enna was not so much. He loved Enna, and their child, but his life and livelihood was on the sea, in Trade, and Enna's family had opposed the match, even after no other family would accept Enna as a wife for their sons.

As far as most of Berk was concerned, the one blessing in Natalya's existence was that it gave Trader Johan a reason to visit Berk more often than he otherwise would – and that Natalya hadn't inherited her father's chatty nature.

Her father's curiosity and level head in a crisis, her mother's determination and bold tongue – at least when she chose to use it – on the other hand, Natalya had managed to inherit in spades. Vikings appreciated bluntness, but since the child's opinions tended to be very un-Viking in nature, her bluntness was another thing that was not so appreciated.

The other Viking children appreciated it even less, and Natalya was nearly five before she made her first friend, Hiccup, Chief Stoick's son and great disappointment. Eager to please, witty, sarcastic and clever beyond comprehension or approval, Hiccup's total inability to stay under the radar and skill at inventing things meant that his mistakes tended to draw far more attention.

Being the Heir to the Tribe, and thus having all eyes on him anyway, might also have something to do with that, while Natalya was frequently overshadowed by her cousin, Astrid.

Enna was by no means weak, but fever did not care about prowess or physical strength, striking down all and any it chose.

All but orphaned at the age of seven, the same year that the search for Valhallarama was finally called off and a grieving Stoick apprenticed his son to Gobber, Natalya was more alone than ever.

Even years later, Natalya would never be able to truly say what it was that drew her to the dragons.

Perhaps it was the childlike wonder of the unknown, because for all the statistics and killing techniques, what did Vikings really know about dragons?

Perhaps it was her father's sense of adventure, the love of doing things that no-one else would dare or dream of.

Or perhaps it was just a feeling that there had to be something more than the constant fighting and killing between the two species. Natalya might not be a proper Viking, but at least she could help.

Getting the Book of Dragons away from Fishlegs was not easy, but she managed. She also decided that it would be best to make her own copy, rather than having to tackle the huge boy, bounce off and grab the book while he was too surprised to react every time she wanted to read it.

Stopping at the forge to talk to Hiccup was part of her daily routine, as was being chased away by Gobber when Hiccup got too excited talking about his latest idea and knocked something over. As it was, Hiccup was willing to let her borrow one of his journals when she promised to replace it the next time her father visited, and Natalya would have stayed longer, but she spotted Fishlegs looking for her.

The rock formations off of the South Coast of Berk were easy to reach at Low Tide, if you didn't mind a bit of climbing, and were an excellent place to be alone. Since there was nothing to smash and not enough room to train, the only Vikings who went there were the young show-offs who used the formations as an obstacle course for boat races, and people seeking solitude.

It was also a good fishing spot, but not good enough for those whose livelihood depended on the fish they caught and thus frequented only occasionally by those looking to earn a little on the side. Aware that she wouldn't be able to rely on her mother's family forever, Natalya had taken to staking out one of two small nets at low tide and swapping them the next day. She changed the nets, tying up the full one and placing it in the little coracle that had been a birthday gift from her father (though Natalya had enjoyed his tale of how he had obtained it from the wild Celts more than the gift itself) and making sure the replacement was securely tied.

Sitting down on a flat rock, Natalya opened the Dragon Manual in front of her, balanced the journal on her lap, and started to copy.

Common-or-Garden: As the name suggests, this is the most common breed of dragon. Coloured Green, Yellow or Brown, they are armed with basic teeth and claws, and prickly spines. While bearing a strong similarity to the Terrible Terror, which are characterised by larger heads, the speed of the Common-or-Garden dragon is most noticeable when this dragon is in retreat.

Well, that explained why those dragons only hung around in raids long enough to grab a few fish and get the Hel out of there.

Gronckles: the plug-ugly of the dragon species. Gronckles are very thick-skinned, with strong jaws and hard skull for ramming its enemies. Lazy, to the point of often falling asleep in mid-flight…

By the time Natalya had finished most of the book and all of the ink her father had brought on his last trip, Low Tide had started to become High Tide, and she settled in to wait.

Technically, Natalya was part of the Hofferson Clan, her mother's sister being married to the Head of that family and Natalya's only living kin, but she stayed in the Oakenhawk Hall, now largely empty after the death of her mother and grandparents, often enough that no-one would worry if she wasn't home before dinner.

She leaned back and closed her eyes, enjoying the rare sunshine.

Loud squawking made her eyes snap open again, looking up to see a kind of aerial warfare going on between a flock of seagulls and a smaller flock of Terrible Terrors.

Natalya hastily dropped the stone she had picked up, hoping that they wouldn't notice her. Terrors might not be very large, but a flock could carry off an entire fishing boat. Even the small number in the air would be enough for a single human child. Maybe they would just finish fighting with the seagulls over the fish and leave…

…or not.

Both Seagulls and Terrors froze in place when one spotted her and shrieked a warning, and Natalya took the opportunity to scramble down the rock much faster than was probably safe. She reached the coracle, the tide high enough for her to paddle safely… only for the Terrors to descend on the little boat, Natalya's screaming lost in the beating of wings.

Berk had a hidden valley, uncharted thanks to being surrounded by a trench and sheer cliffs that made it accessable only by birds.

Or by dragons.

The Terrors definitely had a way to go as far as gentle landings were concerned, but coracles were sturdy things. Funnily enough, as soon as they had dropped the boat, the little dragons scattered over the valley.

Puzzled by the behaviour, Natalya extracted herself from the net and stood up, looking around. The valley was beautiful, filled with lush grass and a small lake, scattered with clumps of trees and rocks… from which small groups of baby dragons were emerging.

Natalya froze in petrified fear again as they crowded around her like chicks begging for food, spotting Nadders, Nightmares and everything in between. Praying that they weren't hungry for Viking, Natalya groped behind her and held out a fish. A baby Nadder all but sat up and begged.

Natalya tossed the fish to the baby Nadder, only to find all of the other dragons eyeing her with similar pleading expressions. Mentally sighing, she hauled out the entire net and emptied it on the grass, nearly getting knocked back into the coracle by the stampede of dragons. It was chaos for a while, but ended with several dragons gazing at her like she hung the moon, most of them tumbling around in a clumsy game of tag, and one purple-grey dragon cuddled up beside her as they basked in the afternoon sun.

But it couldn't last.

Natalya finally convinced the Terrors to take both her and the coracle back to the rock formations, hiding in the setting sun, and promised to be back the next day by pointing at the setting sun, and then straight up, indicating noon. Not wanting to be caught outside in the dark, she paddled back to Berk just in time to meet Hiccup as he all but staggered out of the Smithy, brightening when he saw her.

If all went well, perhaps she would tell Hiccup in a week or two.

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A/N: So, this is the first chapter of the re-written A Friend In Need. I have decided to leave the previous version up, just in case anyone likes that better, and post this as a separate story, as I will be making enough changes for it not to count as a double-post.

Comments and constructive criticism are most welcome.