Chapter 1-How to Train Your Dragon (Part 1)

"Human Speech"

'Human thinking'

[A/N, Time skips, flashbacks, etc.]

Beta: Ketsuoni

A disclaimer-I do not own anything in this story aside from my own take and ideas for it.

The cool air of the night brushed the skin of a tall and clad young man holding a spear pointed at a black wolf. Hiding behind the bushes, the young man stalks his prey ever so quietly as to not alert the wolf to his presence.

The clouds clear and the light from the moon illuminated the young lad's features. He had auburn hair, light skin tone, he wasn't bulky, but he was certainly well defined with a good six pack, and pectorals.

The Black wolf stops for a drink of water and the auburn haired teen knew this was his chance to take it down. Breathing in and out to slow down the excitement and slight nervousness he felt, the teen threw the spear hitting the wolf's spine.

The wolf howled in pain and the young teen took this opportunity to take out the beast. Using a downed log as a bridge for an elevated height on top of a tree branch, he plunged down to the hurt wolf and stabbed the back of its neck with a hidden blade, killing it in an instant.

He then took out a knife and started skinning the now dead animal. "That makes fifteen" the male teen muttered, storing the wolf skin in one knapsack and the meat in another "tonight was a good hunt" the teen said to no one in particular, just then an explosion could be heard from a distance. The teen sighed, bored, and quickly ran towards the direction of the explosion.

Just at the end of the forest, the teen could see a large village. 'Berk, its twelve days north of hopeless, and a few degrees south of freezing to death, located solidly on the meridian of misery. In a word, my village is sturdy, but I would say stubborn and in most cases, idiotic' he then stopped his train of thought to change into some clothes that he hid. The cloths were a bit baggy, enough to make him look scrawny and his boots made him look short, in contrast to how tall he really is 'the village, it's been here for the last seven generations, but every single building is new.

There's not much to do here, well, aside from fishing, hunting, or admiring the view from the cliffs. The only problem is the pests.

Most have mice or mosquitoes, not us. We have…' his thoughts were interrupted by a loud roar from a large red lizard that was on fire.

"Dragons" he said in a bored manner, making his way past several people. An explosion caused some to be knocked off their feet, but not the teen. He just shrugged it off like nothing happen and jogged away, fortunately no one saw this.

"Morning," a large man greeted before roaring past the teen and into a random dragon. The teen rolled his eyes and continued to jog in the direction he was headed in.

'Most people would leave, but not us. We're Vikings. We have what people called stubbornness issues, which was both good and bad…' The teen's thoughts were interrupted by another Viking picking him up.

This one was taller and bigger than the others and his presence commanded respect "Hiccup, what are you doing out? Get inside now," he said to the auburn haired teen now identified as Hiccup.

'Hiccup, great name, why do parents believe a hideous name will frighten off gnomes and trolls I'll never no, I sometimes wonder, why couldn't my dad, Stoic the vast, chief of the tribe, who is said to have popped a dragon head clean off with his shoulders,' Hiccup thought dryly, watching his father pick a cart up with one hand and throw it at a dragon, making it drop a goat.

While everyone was distracted, and his father was busy asking a Viking on what dragons they are dealing with, Hiccup calmly made his way to the forge or the blacksmiths. "Ah! Nice of you to join the party, thought you were carried off" another large man said.

"Whatever you say Gobber and besides, what in hell's name would they even think of doing with me," Hiccup said, putting on a leather apron and gathering the scattered, damage, weapons and placing them on a shelf "they need toothpicks don't they," Gobber said in a rhetorical and teasing manner to his long time apprentice and to the person he viewed as a son in all but blood.

Hiccup simply smiled as he began to use the forge to help fix some bent weapons, handing them back to some Vikings, Hiccup spotted a bunch of teens his age, eighteen, getting buckets of water to stop a fire that was spreading through the village.

'Fishlegs, Snotlout, the Twins Ruffnut and Tuffnut, and finally Astrid,' he mused. The teens all threw their water into the flames that were burning a house, but it didn't make a difference. As soon as Astrid threw her water, a dragon blew up the house, creating a small explosion that didn't seem to bother the blonde haired teen.

Fishlegs Ingerman is very big and chubby, he often spouts off information about dragons whenever he can, to whoever would listen, and easily frightened or nervous, but aside from his tendencies, Fishlegs was a nice guy.

Snotlout Jorgenson; he's more bronze than brain, often teasing Hiccup for his lack of being a Viking, even though he's Hiccup's cousin. Snotlout is a bit arrogant, often boasting about being the best, though Hiccup knows that Snotlout is merely hiding his insecurities and his confidence can easily be damaged, which is why Snotlout would often tease Hiccup, but more so Fishlegs to hide this. Though there are those rare, very, very rare, times that Snotlout would show a softer side to his personality.

Tuffnut and Ruffnut Thorsten; the twins can be described as destructive, often at odds with each other, they would often get into trouble… or make trouble, and would get into arguments with one another, but never truly against the other. It was always pondering on which was the dominant sibling between the two.

Last and certainly not least, Astrid Hofferson; she is very determined and dedicated to becoming a Viking warrior, a shield maiden, and one the most skilled fighters Hiccup knows in the isle of Berk. Though she's very prideful and bit of a perfectionist, possibly due the pressure of reputation and of past embarrassments her family clan suffered at the hands of the Flightmare.

"You know you could go out there and help them" Gobber said. He of course knew a well-kept secret that only a very, very few people knew about. You see most, if not everyone see's Hiccup as this little runt of a boy, which was why he was named Hiccup. But Hiccup was far from that. It was just a mask, a facade he put on.

He trained using the manual the trader brought. Hiccup read the manual and found several training methods that could increase his speed and strength, the manual also contained a specific fighting style that was focused on quick and decisive blows to take down an opponent quickly.

Hiccup secretly trained himself in the woods at the age of seven, conditioning his body under the night skies. It was at age nine that Gobber found him training and Hiccup begged the blacksmith not to tell his father. Gobber, after much deliberation, agreed to keep it a secret. "And what release all this raw Vikingness," Hiccup answered, which meant not yet, but soon.

Gobber sighed at Hiccup's stubbornness and turned to leave, but not before telling Hiccup one last thing "Hiccup, I know Stoic doesn't show it, but he does love you," Gobber said before leaving. Hiccup sighed at those words.

'If only I could believe that,' Hiccup thought sadly. His relationship with his dad was strenuous at best. Hiccup had originally trained so he could kill a dragon and be acknowledged by the villagers, and most importantly his father, but as the seasons changed, so did Hiccup's goal on the subject matter.

Stoic never wanted a son who was a… Hiccup. He wanted a strong and powerful Viking. So Hiccup decided that if his father couldn't accept him for who he was, then his father had no right to know the true Hiccup.

Everything else was backed up by the fact that most, if not all of the villagers' ridiculed him. They made him look like an outcast, and sometimes treated him like dirt.

Hiccup continued to train, despite this realization, not for acknowledgement, but for himself and to prove that he didn't need to be some overly buff, idiotic, stubborn Viking, just himself, simply as Hiccup.

So during the course of his training, Hiccup made a mask of a danger and accident prone Viking, basically what people of this village think about him…Hiccup the useless.

"Ah!" an alarming scream alerted Hiccup. He turned his head towards the direction of the scream and saw Astrid on her back and a Monstrous Nightmare was about to cook her alive. Hiccup acted quickly and grabbed a small knife.

Lining his sights, Hiccup threw the knife hitting the dragon on its side, the dragon roared in pain before removing the knife and flying off. Hiccup sighed in relief as he was just in time. He just hoped Astrid didn't see him throw the knife as it would put years of acting straight into the ground.

Sadly for Hiccup, Astrid followed the trajectory of the knife. When her sights landed on Hiccup, she knew there was no one else, as the others were too busy dealing with other problems to save her.

So many questions flooded Astrid's mind, like how was Hiccup able to throw that knife at such a distance. As far as she knew Hiccup was incapable of using a weapon, forging and fixing weapons, yes, but using a weapon, let alone throwing one with such accuracy.

She half doubted it. Yes, she HALF doubted it since Astrid had this sneaking suspicion that Hiccup was hiding something.

This wasn't the first time Hiccup had helped her out, the first time being when they were seven. Astrid accidentally set fire to one of the houses in Burk. The house belonged to an old man with a pet goat.

Astrid felt fear for the first time that day, fear that her parents would be disappointed in her and fear that she embarrassed her clan's name. The only person who knew about this was Hiccup, who just stumbled upon it by accident.

Hiccup saw the fear and worry in her eyes so he did what Astrid, till this day, still couldn't believe he did. Hiccup took the blame for her. Astrid of course didn't want anyone to take the blame for her mistake, but it was already too late and Hiccup took the punishment for her.

Astrid had asked him why he took the blame for her, which he responded to by saying you've been through enough, losing a family member and all. It's not out of pity or anything. I just thought you and your family shouldn't go through more problems.

Those words honestly made her heart skip a beat and made her feel weird, but a good kind of weird.

The second time was when she got lost in the woods when she was eleven. She was training so intently that she didn't notice how the sun had set and it got dark real fast.

It was embarrassing, of course, as her family members were known to be expert trackers and navigators, she was about to call for help when, all of the sudden, Hiccup showed up with a bag full of berries. Hiccup asked her what was she doing out so late, she told him she was training and got a bit lost.

Astrid was surprised that Hiccup didn't laugh, chuckle, or snicker at such an embarrassment like that, instead he shrugged it off and lead her back towards the village and told her this day never happened.

She was really surprised, as most would either tease her about this or use it against her, but Hiccup was different, he helped her and told her to forget this happened, not one time did Hiccup make mention of what happened that day.

Hiccup had saved her from disgracing her family's name, from embarrassment, and now her life. If Astrid was to be honest with herself, she would have feelings for the Chief's son, which she already had.

Well to be clear Astrid's feelings weren't just simple feelings, more on the lines of her being in love with the auburn haired teen.

But her Viking attitude prevented her from admitting it, along with her status, added to the fact that she hasn't talked much to Hiccup as he was either busy or gone most of the time, which of course ignited her curiosity as to where Hiccup would vanish off to.

An explosion broke Astrid's train of thought. The blonde stood up and dusted herself off. She pushed those thoughts back for later, right now the village needed help with dealing with the fires and the dragons.

[Time skip: after the raid]

Hiccup gazed at the aftermath of the dragon raid, several houses were burned to the ground, some of the people were injured, but otherwise fine and alive with their limbs still intact, half of the livestock and food were gone though.

'If this cycle continues, then everyone will die. Something has to give, either us or this cycle,' Hiccup thought. The auburn haired teen knew there were more to dragons than just being a wild and murderous beast, his instinct and his mind told him so and he hoped he could prove it.

Hiccup saw all the adults were heading towards the Great hall. 'Probably discussing the nest. Fools; do they really think something like the nest of dragons doesn't have something worse than the dragon living here… oh yeah, Vikings,' Hiccup thought dryly and shook his head making his way back to the forest for one last hunt.

Inside the great hall, all the adult Vikings were gathered around and listening in to their Chief. "Either we finish them, or they finish us, it's the only way to rid ourselves of them," Stoick stated in a booming voice to his fellow Vikings, then turned his attention towards the map.

"If we destroy the nest, they'll leave. They'll find another home, one more search before the winter sets in," he said stabbing the map.

"Those ships never came back" one random villager pointed out, getting a worried look out of everyone. It was true, no ship or Viking has ever returned from one of these search parties.

Some speculated that they were eaten when they were close to the nest and the dragons killed them. Others say they left to find another village to live in, far away from the dragons. "We're Vikings, it's an occupational hazard" Stoick argued.

"Now who's with me" Stoick asked, waiting for an answer. The hall was filled with murmuring about whether or not they would accompany Stoick to search, and if they would come back empty handed after looking for the nest.

"Alright, those who stay will look after Hiccup." Stoick said seeing their indecisiveness, which got them all to agree.

"That's more like it."

One by one, all the Vikings began to leave and prepare for the search. "Right, I'll go pack my underwear," Gobber said, taking one last sip before getting up. "No, I need you to stay and train some new recruits" Stoick said quickly.

"Oh perfect… yeah, while I'm busy, Hiccup can look after the store, mold some steel, sharpen some blades, and time to himself. What could go wrong," Gobber said with a small sigh.

"What am I going to do about him Gobber" Stoick said, taking a seat next to Gobber.

Gobber wanted to tell his longtime friend that his son is more than capable of handling himself, but his promise to the teen prevented him.

Then it hit him, Hiccup could join training which would force the teen to show his true strength and would turn everyone's opinion on the young lad around. It's perfect and all Gobber had to do was convince Stoick. "Put him in training with the others" Gobber said nonchalantly.

"Gobber this is serious," Stoick said.

"So am I" Gobber retorted.

"He could get killed," Stoick argued stubbornly

Gobber inwardly frowned at that, truly his friend was not that observant "oh you don't know that" he said dismissingly, knowing Hiccup's secret.

"Oh, I do actually."

"No you don't"

"I do, listen you know how he is. From the time he could crawl he's been…different," Stoick said while getting up. "He doesn't listen, he had the attention span of a sparrow" he continued with a small sigh.

"I take him fishing and he goes hunting for…for trolls."

"Trolls exist, they steal your socks, but only the left one though," Gobber defended the sock stealing trolls; he was the one that told Hiccup that they exist in the first place. Stoick sighed.

"When I was a boy, my father told me to bang my head up against a rock and I did it, I thought it was crazy but I didn't question it and you know what happened," Stoick stopped to hear Gobber's answer.

"You got a headache," he said in a deadpan manner.

"That rock split into two, it taught me what a Viking could do. He could…he could Crush Mountains, level forests, tame seas.

Even as a boy I knew what I was and what I would become. Hiccup is not that boy," Stoick said sitting down with his shoulders slumped.

"You can't stop him Stoick, you can only prepare. I know it seems hopeless, but the truth is you won't always be there to protect him. He's going to get out there again, he's probably out there now" Gobber said and knew from the look Stoick had that his friend had decided to let Hiccup join.

It was almost sunrise. Hiccup was going through the traps he had scattered around the forest to trap any wild animals and so far nothing. "The gods hate me" he said with a sigh, looking over his last trap he set and saw it was gone.

Well, rather the entire tree, where he placed a snare, was broken in half and whatever was caught, slid down hill, judging from the large dirt trail 'a bear maybe' Hiccup thought on what kind of animal could have slid down and made a large dirt trail.

Hiccup followed the trail till he reached a large open cove with a small lake and was shocked at what he found, it was a dragon. Not just any run of the mill dragon, but the dragon legend, said to only appear in times of great crisis and only showed itself to those who are worthy to see the majesty that was the Stardust Dragon, the dragon of Valhalla and the stars.

Hiccup took a closer look at the legendary dragon. It had silver scales, but certain parts were blue, such as its chest, with a wingspan almost as big as its body, and golden eyes which stared deeply into Hiccup's soul.

Hiccup took in some air to calm himself down and wondered what he was going to do now. On one hand, he could kill the dragon and be accepted by the villagers on the other, he could free the dragon, which never once attack the village, since a dragon like this would easily stand out.

His mind pondered on what the first option entitled, acceptance by not just his fellow villagers, but also his father for becoming a Viking by killing a legendary dragon. It seemed so tempting that Hiccup almost gave in to that thought, almost.

Hiccup knew he wasn't that kind of Viking or a normal Viking to be exact; he was different from most Vikings. He knew that, Hel; all the Villagers knew that as well.

Hiccup didn't see it as a curse, no he didn't. He saw it as a blessing. He's smarter than most average Viking who would charge in with swords raised in the air, rather than think of a better approach, he was an inventor, creating all sorts of amazing stuff.

He was a quick learner, able to figure out things that most Vikings would never be able to, and finally he knew if he killed this beautiful beast then all of them would only see and accept him as Viking Hiccup, not Hiccup. They would only accept what they wanted and not what he wanted.

So Hiccup's choice was clear. He cut the ropes and freed the dragon, which tackled Hiccup to the ground with those long arms and sharp claws. The Dragon stared directly into Hiccups eyes, as if the dragon was judging his very soul.

Hiccup felt nervous under such a gaze, but at the same time, he couldn't help but admire such fierce gold eyes

"If you're going to kill me, then go ahead. It's not like anyone is going to miss me, well maybe one person but that's it." Hiccup told the dragon with no fear of death. The dragon growled lowly and moved away from him.

The Dragon stood up on both feet and crossed its arms. 'Okay, that's weird' Hiccup thought, worried by the fact that a dragon just crossed its arms in a human way, but then again life wasn't exactly normal and Hiccup has seen his fair share of weird dragons such as that Flightmare.

But it seemed like it was deciding on or waiting for something. For what, Hiccup didn't know. All he knew was something inside him told him, no, demanded of him to extend his hand forward.

'Fuck it' Hiccup said in his mind and extended his arm and closed his eyes, not sure what in Odin's name he was doing.

Hiccup then felt something press up against his hand, it felt like smooth scales. Hiccup opened his eyes to see the dragon was on all fours, eyes closed, and Hiccup's hand on its pointy snout.

Hiccup felt something inside of him that he couldn't explain, but it felt profound and quite exuberating. It was as if he, he…found a lost part of him, and it was as if this dragon and he were making a bond of some sort, an unspoken bond with one another.

The dragon opened its eyes and slowly moved away from Hiccup, albeit reluctantly, to the edge of the small lake and laid down on the soft grown, using its arms as pillows. Hiccup didn't know what happened, but what he did know was everything had changed, especially his perspective on dragons and the kind of creatures they are.

Making his way back to his home, Hiccup was still somewhat unsure of what just happened moments ago. He just met the dragon of legends, Stardust Dragon, and freed said dragon, then somehow made a pact or bond with the dragon.

Many questions were floating inside Hiccup's mind. First off, why him, second why in Thor's name did a dragon like that appear in Berk in the first place, and third, just what the Hel is going to happen to him now.

'I've got calm down, I can't think clearly like this,' he told himself and exhaled slowly calming himself. 'I've got the lie down and rest. Yeah, that's what I need, rest. I'll figure this out later' Hiccup thought and realized he was already in front of his house.

Slowly pushing the door open, Hiccup spotted his dad working his axe. Hiccup closed the door quietly so as to not alert his presence to his father and crept towards the stairs and up to his room. Sadly, it was not meant to be. "Son" his dad called out.

Hiccup inwardly cursed and sighed, he could creep past wolves, bears, and other animals. But he couldn't get past Stoic the Vast. Hiccup was half way up the stairs and, with a small sigh, he turned towards his father "yes, dad." Hiccup said, albeit with a small strain on the last part.

"I need to talk to you, son" Stoick stated and gestured at Hiccup to take a seat.

"I'll stand thanks. Listen dad, do we really have to do this now I'm tired and I-"

"I think it's time for you to learn how to fight dragons," Stoick interrupted.

Hiccup was slightly shocked, but he had half-expected it. If it were a different him, Hiccup would jump on the opportunity to prove he was a Viking, but after earlier Hiccup wasn't set on killing dragons.

"Oh? What's with the sudden confidence in me, or rather when did this sudden confidence in me start dad." Hiccup said with slightly narrowed eyes.

Why, now of all times, does his dad choose to have some confidence in him? It wasn't as if Hiccup wasn't happy that his father had some confidence in him, it just seems strange for his father to show a degree of confidence.

"You'll need this" Stoick said, ignoring Hiccup's question and dropping a large axe into Hiccup's arms, which Hiccup held easily.

Stoick was a surprised, but quickly brushed it off from all the heavy lifting his son had done during his time in the forge. "Yet again, he doesn't listen." Hiccup muttered under his breath.

"Dad, I don't think that's such a good idea. I mean I don't want fight dragons," Hiccup said, acting out his mask persona.

Stoick laughed a bit. "Oh yes you do" he said, turning around to do some last second packing.

"Dad, I can't kill a dragon!"

"Of course you can."

"Let me rephrase that, I can't-"

"Hiccup it's time," Stoick said, interrupting Hiccup again, making the teen sigh tiredly.

"Clearly it's not time for you to listen," Hiccup snapped and gripped the handle of the axe tightly.

"This is serious, son" his father said and was surprised at how strong his son's grip was, but with a bit more strength Stoick took the axe away from his son.

'There's a bit of Viking in him after all, maybe this training will bring that out' Stoick thought.

"When you carry this axe, you carry all of us. Which means you walk like us, talk like us, and think like us" Stoick said, tossing the axe back into his son's arms "no more of…" he gestured to all of Hiccup, "this."

"You just gestured to all of me" Hiccup grumbled and set the axe off to the side before crossing his arms. "And you haven't answered my question" he added, though Stoick ignored it again.

"Deal" he said and Hiccup stayed silent much to Stoick's frustration "deal" he repeated, narrowing his eyes.

Hiccup sighed heavily and nodded. "Good," Stoick said and slung his traveling sack over his shoulder. "Train hard. I'll be back, probably" he said, grabbing his helmet while heading for the door.

"And I'll be here…maybe" Hiccup said before the door shut.

Hiccup collapsed on his bed side and sighed tiredly, his dad just couldn't listen for one minute. 'Maybe it's time to drop the mask' Hiccup thought, thinking it was time to let the people of Berk and his dad know his true self.

-END-

Author-Not much change since this is just a re-upload. I've also decided to make this into a Harem, only limiting to two. One you know the other you'll probably guessed since she has a connection to the story in the near future. Only two I won't go further as three...maybe, plus unlike before I have a different set plan. Only chapter 1 and 2 will remain the same since well its done.

Well that's it, Favorite, Follow, and Review would you kindly?