The Dragon Queen of Berk
(rough draft)
A Dreamworks' How to Train Your Dragon fanfic by Raberba girl

Summary: "Every nest has its queen." HTTYD2 one-shot; SPOILERS for that movie.

A/N: Takes place during HTTYD2 even though I haven't seen the movie; it's not even out yet. XD

But I was watching HTTYD2 clips on Dreamworks' YouTube channel and saw something that gave me the idea for this fic. I might revise it once I actually do see the movie.

o.o.o

Almost as soon as Toothless landed in the village square and Hiccup slid down from his back, dragons seemed to appear from all directions. A Nadderhead immediately strolled up and nuzzled Hiccup affectionately, nearly knocking him over; a Gronckle sniffed at his clothes as if hoping he'd brought a snack for it; a whole swarm of Terrible Terrors clustered at his feet in excitement, one flapping up to perch on his shoulders and another on his arm.

"Hey, hey, hey, guys, it's good to see you too," Hiccup chuckled. "You mind giving me a little breathing room? My mom's- Uh, yeah, well, this is my mom, guys." They went on grunting and cheeping and nipping curiously at his clothes or preening his hair as if he hadn't spoken. "Right, well...glad you guys are acquainted now."

"Pleased to meet you all," Valka chuckled.

A Monstrous Nightmare slithered up in an agitated way and started barking at Toothless, who vocalized sternly in response and then turned to butt his head against Hiccup's arm.

"Ow! What's up, bud?"

Toothless vocalized again and then grunted.

"What, is something wrong?"

Toothless and the Nightmare exchanged a series of growls, and Hiccup, watching them, finally picked up on the Nightmare's Danger To Flock signal. Or maybe it was Someone Is Stealing My Food; the Nightmare was gesturing strangely and it was difficult to tell.

"Hey, man, what's up?" Hiccup asked, more concerned now. He absently shook the Terrors off onto the Gronckle's back and then mounted Toothless. "Come on, bud, let's go check it out."

An hour later, Hiccup and Toothless had rescued the sheep that had fallen into an abandoned well outside the village and gotten trapped. The duo herded the sheep back to the village and safely into an enclosure, the Monstrous Nightmare cruising along with them and now looking relaxed. Toothless helped himself to a snack as Hiccup fed the sheep and soothed them one last time. Then he turned to his partner and said, "Well, guess we'll call it a day, bud. What do you say we go up to the great hall and get ourselves some supper, huh?"

Toothless regarded him impassively, mouth smeared with a bit of stray fish guts. He burped.

"Nice," Hiccup remarked in mock disgust.

They made their way up to the great hall, where most of the villagers and many dragons seemed to be gathered, listening intently as Stoick spoke, their eyes fixed on Valka with awe and admiration.

"...so come, friends, we have much to celebrate!"

The Nightmare who had alerted Hiccup about the sheep finally parted ways, going to curl up with weary satisfaction near its partner on the other side of the hall. Hiccup tried to inconspicuously grab some food and find a place to sit, but it was impossible to sneak around in the crowded building when he had a Night Fury trailing after him, a Gronckle sleepily rousing itself to plod along after him as well, and another group of Terrible Terrors eagerly sailing over to him like a flock of adoring spiky butterflies. His cheeks flushing slightly pink, Hiccup smiled apologetically and waved a little at all the people glancing over to look at the source of the interruption.

Stoick merely smiled widely at his son and kept speaking. "...are full, my wife has returned, and life is GOOD!"

The end of his speech was met by a roar of approval, and then everyone started digging into their food in earnest. Hiccup relaxed back against Toothless's warm hide and took another bite of meat. He accidentally put more in his mouth than would comfortably fit, and a trickle of juice dribbled down his chin. He yelped in surprise when the Terror on his shoulder darted out a tongue to lick at it. "Hey!" Hiccup exclaimed, "Table manners, little guy, come on!" Since his words were muffled by the mouthful of food, it was quite likely that no one, least of all the little dragon, actually understood what he was saying, though it didn't stop Toothless from emitting a gurgling chuckle.

"Haha, very funny. How about I get some little kids to lick your face when you're trying to eat and see how you like it..."

A Hideous Zippleback snaked one of its heads over to Hiccup and croaked at him.

"You need something?" Hiccup asked.

The Zippleback's other head swerved over to join the first, making a pathetic wheezing sound and then twisting to give Hiccup sad, upside-down puppy eyes.

"You guys - guy? - ran out of dipping sauce, or what?"

Toothless tittered at the Zippleback. Its upside-down head righted itself and both heads chittered back at the Night Fury. Toothless flopped his head down on Hiccup's lap, making him grunt; the Zippleback lay down heavily and rested its heads on Hiccup's leg. Hiccup looked over toward where both sets of eyes were gazing, and saw a young woman laughing at the beefy young man flirting with her, as a scrawnier young man sulked nearby.

Toothless made a dismissive sound.

"Sooo," Hiccup said slowly, "one of your riders is getting friendlier than you'd like with someone who's not your other rider?"

One of the Zippleback's heads snorted angrily, as the other continued to gaze with listless unhappiness at the three humans.

"Aw, come on, guys," Hiccup said soothingly, scratching the nearest head. The other head, without looking away, shifted closer, and he was obliged to set down his mug so he could scratch both heads. Toothless made a jealous noise and shoved his own head under Hiccup's arm. "Ow, Toothless; really?"

Toothless huffed in a possessive way.

"Of course I'm your human, duh. But as for you guys, or guy or whatever, hey. It'll be fine, you know? You're important enough to them that they won't break their dragon partnership, no matter how their little romance drama or whatever that is goes down. Okay?"

The Zippleback closed all four of its eyes and relaxed. Toothless grumbled and shoved closer into Hiccup. Since he was already half on top of him, this wasn't exactly comfortable for the young human.

"Seriously, Toothless!"

As the evening wore on, people continued to eat and talk and laugh, and tell stories and eat and play games and eat and brag and eat some more.

Valka finally managed to extract herself from the latest group of Vikings warmly welcoming her back home. She picked her way over to her son and took a seat beside him. Toothless, drowsing now in Hiccup's lap, twitched a wing and sighed in contentment.

"Hey, Mom," Hiccup said, his voice hesitant but his face shining.

"Hello, Hiccup," she said warmly. "I'm sorry I haven't had a chance to speak to you all evening..."

"Heh, it's fine. I mean, you're back, of course everyone'd want to talk to you."

She set her arm around his shoulders and drew him close, and he relaxed into her embrace.

"This is such an incredible sight to see," she said softly. "The great hall of Berk, filled peacefully with dragons..."

Hiccup chuckled. "Sometimes I can't believe it myself, even after five years. There's still some scorch marks on the foundations of the great hall, from some of the times this place burned down."

"It's all thanks to you," she remarked, "that this sort of gathering happens every day now."

"Ehh, yeah, well..." He fidgeted, still uncomfortable with such praise but not really having anything to refute it with.

Toothless shifted and then half rolled over in an attempt to get comfortable again, accidentally smacking Hiccup with a wing.

"Ow! Come on, man; sometimes I think you forget that you're, like, three times bigger than me."

A couple of Terrible Terrors scuttled over. One of them sniffed inquiringly at Hiccup's boot, the other one started to climb onto his knee. Toothless snapped his eyes open and vocalized warningly at the Terror, which ignored him and skittered up to Hiccup's stomach.

"Ah! Watch it, heh, that tickles, little guy..." Hiccup gently picked the Terror's feet up from his belly and set them down again higher on his abdomen, which was more comfortable. The Terror curled up and nudged him with increasing force until he started petting it.

"Oh, Hiccup," Valka said softly, her voice tinged with amused affection, "they do have a queen."

"Huh?" Hiccup glanced at her in puzzlement, recalling their earlier conversation about how Berk's dragons were apparently the only known queenless flock.

She leaned to pick up the other Terror, which curled up in her hands and purred in contentment. "Think about it. Their queen died, didn't she?"

"Uh...yeah." It seemed a little strange to think of that monster, of the years of war and the fierce battle and the danger to everything Hiccup loved and the loss of his leg, in such simple terms as 'she died.'

"So of course they would have gathered around a new leader. Someone who would have quickly taken charge, preferably someone who understands them and loves them, who wants the best for them and has the strength to rally them and fight for them. After suffering for so long, they would have been naturally drawn to the strongest creature around who treated them like that."

"So they got, like, a replacement queen or something?" Hiccup frowned, running all of Berk's dragons through his mind and trying to think of one who behaved the way his mother was saying, one who seemed to be a leader. None of them stood out except Toothless, and even that was simply because Toothless was the only Night Fury, and of course Hiccup's own partner. "So is Toothless their new leader or something, and I was just too dumb to notice all this time? Or does their queen have to be female?"

There was something odd about his mother's grin, something he wasn't getting. "Well, all the dragon leaders we've known about up until now have been female. Except for the alphas, of course."

"The king," Hiccup confirmed, "Mr. Ice Breath." He smiled, remembering the incredible feeling of looking into that great dragon's vast eyes, of the combined gentleness and power of its breath, of the feel of delicate ice flaking away under his palms as he'd tidied his hair again, the breathless emotion of knowing he was liked by such an awesome, mighty creature.

"Yes. But it seems that only two dragon flocks are known to have male leaders, just as only two flocks are known to have at least one human member."

"What, so...your dragon sanctuary and...Berk?" Hiccup said hesitantly.

"Yes."

"So...I don't get it. So Berk's flock does have a, a male queen, or something? You're saying it's Toothless?"

"No, Hiccup." Why was she still grinning like that? "Your dragons certainly respect Toothless and acknowledge his strength, but they don't follow and adore him the way they do their true leader."

"But who is their true leader? I mean, unless they have some super secret paying-their-respects-to-the-big-shot behavior that I haven't picked up on, I can't think of any dragon who acts anything like a queen or an alpha or whatever."

"That's because he's not a dragon."

"Huh?"

"Hiccup. The one they love and follow. The human they always come to for help, the human they trust the most, the human who speaks to their souls and sees what none of the other humans could."

He was staring at her in disbelief, his mouth hanging open a little.

"Their queen. You, Hiccup."

"Me?!"

She smiled.

"What the- You're saying I'm some kind of-?! Great Odin's- Mom, I'm not a dragon queen! That's crazy."

Toothless snorted.

"I mean," Hiccup continued, "if anything, you'd be a dragon queen, it's unbelievable how much you know that I had no clue about, I-"

A Gronckle came up and plopped itself down in front of Hiccup, gazing at him adoringly.

"Mom, I'm not a..."

"My flock already had a leader long before I came to it, Hiccup. Yours, however, was orphaned after the death of their tyrant master. The one who filled that empty place for them was you."

A Monstrous Nightmare was crawling purposefully toward them. Hiccup was startled when a Zippleback's heads suddenly swung out over him and hissed at the Nightmare; the Nightmare stopped and snarled back. Toothless raised his head and barked at both dragons in irritation; the Zippleback retreated sulkily, and the Nightmare lay down by Hiccup's feet and gave him a soulful look. The Gronckle wriggled like an excited dog and scooted closer.

"...Okay," Hiccup finally said. "But...but then you'd call me a dragon king, right? Because I'm a guy."

"Queen, son," Valka said, affectionate and just a touch mischievous. "Remember, dragon society works differently than ours. It's the roles that are important, and the ones who fill them are the ones who can most successfully perform the job. True, the workings of nature cause most dragon queens to be female dragons, but your flock's unusual circumstances caused them to end up with a male human queen."

"Well...then, yay, I'm a dragon queen~" Hiccup sighed. "So, what, do I have a king, then?"

"Usually, a dragon queen's consort would be her mate, her partner and second-in-command, and her co-parent as the occasion arises."

"So...Astrid...?" Hiccup suggested, very warily.

Valka chuckled. "Astrid makes a very fine Viking warrior, and she is kind to Stormfly. Those two do love and trust each other, as human/dragon partners should. From what I've heard, you and Astrid also seem like you would be very happy together if you do one day choose to marry."

Hiccup smiled a little.

"But as far as her being your 'king' - no, Hiccup. Within the social structure of your flock, your 'consort' is the partner you are most closely bound to. The bond is so deep that you seem to know each other's thoughts; you do not hesitate to trust each other with your lives. You two protect your flock in unison, you maintain order and guard and support and love your flock as two halves of a whole."

"Toothless," Hiccup said softly, his hand stroking over glimmering black scales. Toothless exhaled in a 'Press Harder' huff, and Hiccup smiled a little as he obliged. "So I'm their queen, and he's the king..." He shook his head. "'Co-parent,' huh? I hope they're not expecting little baby 'dragmans' or something, because thaaaaaat's definitely not happening."

Valka laughed. "Of course he's not your procreational mate, but he is your partner, your right-hand man. They come to him when they can't reach you; he translates when either or both of you do not understand each other."

"Translates," Hiccup murmured thoughtfully, now recalling several past incidents in a new light.

"Your father was right, Hiccup. You were born to lead and to protect your people, and you certainly have the strength of character to do so well." Her smile turned slightly sad. "I think he simply doesn't understand yet that your strength and leadership may have taken a different form than what he always hoped and imagined for you."

Hiccup smiled weakly. "Hey, Dad, so here's why I can't be chief after all: it turns out I'm already a dragon queen...yeah, he's really gonna LOVE that."

"He'll come around," Valka said kindly. "He always does."

"You sound so confident..." Hiccup sighed and hugged Toothless, who flicked one of his head spines inquiringly. "I dunno, just...he never- Mom, he never listens to me. It always takes so much time and some sort of crisis before he finally does, and..."

"He loves you, Hiccup," she said softly.

"I know." Hiccup gripped Toothless's head and playfully snapped his tiny omnivore teeth close to Toothless's tough scaled hide; the dragon responded with a lick to the face that made Hiccup exclaim in a mixture of disgust and amusement. "Uuuuggghhh, Toothless...!" Toothless gave him a smug look and Hiccup hugged him again, then straightened up with his expression more thoughtful. "I'm technically an adult now...but he still treats me like a kid most of the time. I guess I am still a weakling, especially compared to Astrid or Snotlout, but I don't feel like one anymore, and I just wish..."

He was stroking Toothless again, fingernails digging into the sweet spots around the dragon's head so that Toothless gave a happy sigh. "...It's like I turn into a weakling kid again whenever I talk to him," Hiccup said slowly. "Every time we disagree, every time he blocks me out... Sometimes I hear myself, and it doesn't matter that I'm the first Viking - except you - to ever ride a dragon or that I helped end a war or that I figured out how to train dragons or that my best friend is a Night Fury; I still sound like a whiny little kid. Like I'm so used to it that it doesn't even occur to me to...to talk to him like...like a man."

Valka was silent, watching him. Hiccup blinked and then raised his head. "Dad," he said quietly, "I know who I am now. I'm sorry that I couldn't fulfill your expectations of me, but I'm proud of who I am and what I can do. If you need an heir, Astrid's your woman. She'll be a better chief than I ever could be, and then I can be the leader I was meant to be. You don't have to make a decision now, you don't have to agree with me; but I've made my own decision, and there are people who are depending on me to do what I need to do."

There was a pause. Toothless raised his head and looked at his partner, his nose twitching. Hiccup smiled at him.

"That sounds good, Hiccup," Valka said. "Stoick is right over there, talking to Gobber. There's no reason to wait to tell him what you just said."

Hiccup started to sigh, but then steeled his expression and stood up, his shoulders straight and his head held high. "You're right." As soon as he took a step, Toothless rose to his own feet and pressed close. Hiccup smiled and laid a hand on the dragon's head. "Come on, partner." Together, they began to cross the hall in order to speak to the chief.

o.o.o

Author's Notes: I used the word "awesome" with its older meaning, "someone/something that inspires awe."

So - How to Train Your Dragon is my favorite movie of all time. X3 Although the sequel doesn't look like it'll be as good as the first one, I'm still REALLY looking forward to seeing it, and I've been watching the trailers and clips that Dreamworks has been uploading to YouTube. One of them, the extended "Dragon Sanctuary" clip, has a line in it where Valka says, "Every nest has its queen." That made me think of the dragon nest closest to Berk with the evil queen that they defeated in the first movie, and, like: "If that queen's gone now, who's the new one?" Of course it'd be fantastic if it turned out to be Hiccup and he had no idea. XD XD XD (It would also be an explanation for why, even after the war, he still seems to have the closest bond with dragons than anyone in Berk.) I love playing with gender roles. I have a feeling that the filmmakers are not going to take the concept (if they even use it at all) as far as they could, because of younger kids watching the movie, but I wanted to experiment with it because yay fanfiction. XD

I haven't been able to see more than a few episodes of the HTTYD TV series, either; so sorry if there's anything I got wrong due to not having seen the show. And if I spelled any of the dragons' names wrong, let me know; I didn't double-check them yet. ^^;

This ended up being my very first HTTYD fanfic. XD I've been wanting to write one for a long time, but I never had a solid idea before now.

Lol, Hiccup & Toothless are the only characters with totally different names whom I keep getting mixed up when I type too fast. ^^; Way too often I find myself typing "Toothless" when I meant to type "Hiccup," and vice-versa.