Cupcake made me laugh throughout the story's discussion, damn!

.

"Hey readers, It's me the beta reader. Enjoy or die" –Dragonbow117

.

Added (12/18/15)

Note: please keep in mind that I am either extremely subtle, or extremely obvious... being adequate is quite a challenge for me... so if you're new to the fandom just remember these key points for the story, otherwise you'll get confused...

1. This is a canon divergence...

2. The following events happen roughly a year after the first movie...

3. Hiccup did not succeed on shooting down Toothless and has been trying ever since...

4. Hiccup was 15 in the first movie, and now he's 16...

5. Berkians are narrow-minded jerks... but they are not stupid...

6. I change POVs constantly, like crazy...

7. From here will be somewhat kind of an introduction to the story... unless I say otherwise...

That will be it for now... if I reveal any more, there would be no need for flashbacks... this is just to keep you from thinking too hard about unnecessary subj points...

Chapter One

"Outlaw"

Exile…

A word spoken in spite or in sorrow, with everlasting grief laced with ridicule… it is a disgrace, a stain on a good name, dishonor… and freedom like no other…

If you think about it, it's actually not all that bad… unbound by rules of a single land, permitted to set foot anywhere but the place that exiled you, but even if you did... all you had to do was avoid being impaled, no biggie… I gaze up at the evening sky as the frigid temperature caused my breath to come out as huffs of mist in every exhale; I followed the clouds with my pair of emerald orbs as they proceeded to drift slowly across the horizon of azure, with tinctures of red and gold tracing the surface of the puffy vapors dropping snowflakes with every stroke…

One by one they landed on my face, closing my eyes as the coldness caressed my cheeks, snow melting away as they made contact with my alabaster complexioned frame with a contrasting warmth, I took in a deep breath as I reopened my eyelids and gazed forwards…

Ivory powder covered the ground, trees on every corner, and large rocks, giving a mystified sense of purity with layers upon layers, adding up and burying what was once alive and green, leaving only the form of cold frozen snow… just like what I'll soon be… I looked behind me, farther back, torches were held by people in small boats, sailing away with warm furry clothes resting on their backs, in the comforts of groups… where I once was, but will probably be never again…

Banishment; is what I am currently subjected to… I furrowed my brows and press my lips into a thin line, I expected this, I had a whole fifteen years to prepare, I thought the preparation was enough, but during the declaration I wasn't able to suppress a grimace as I felt that small emotional prick in my chest, but I can't say it was all for naught either. My show of distress was subtle, whereas any sane person would be wallowing in sorrow and enveloped by fear and everlasting shame, begging the chief to reconsider… I scrutinized the back of my right hand, there lay a mark, a scar burned into my skin which etched itself so deep, you'd doubt it'd ever fade in due time… it was a symbol of a spiraling nightmare impaled in the head by an arrow…

The brand of the traitor… the brand of the deceased…

I am dead to them… thus; they are the same to me… I gaze at the last of the boats to depart, it harbored the chief… Stoick the Vast; leader of the Tribe of the Hairy Hooligans… for a moment we seemed to have locked eyes as he froze under my stare…

My father… Scratch that, he's no father of mine… Just like the Hairy Hooligans is no Tribe of mine, never was, and never will be… I lay not a claim of membership to that awful godsforsaken place where I remembered nothing but torment from my early childhood to adolescence, with a consuming anger welling up I glared back at my erstwhile father… this is not the end… they won't be getting rid of me that easily…

"Veriði sæl, þangað til við hittumst aftur… minn forliðinn Ættbálkur…"

Farewell, until we meet again… my antecedent Tribe…

I will be back, and when I do… it would be to lay waste to that sorry excuse for a home…

This, I promise you…

five days prior...

I cracked open my eyes as I vigorously blinked out the harshness of the peeking beams through whatever gap so happened to lead the rogue ray to be directed at my visage, I rubbed my lids with the palm of my right hand and let out a yawn as I sat upright on my bed eyes half opened and slack jawed… I scanned my surroundings and took a minute to asses where I was, making a mental checklist along the way… wooden walls, wooden windows, wooden desk, wooden bed, wooden floorboards, wooden, wooden, wooden… all seems to be in order and accounted for…

So I'm still here…

I pushed off my covers as I shuffled off of the bed, fabric rustling as I did so, with a loud creak I transferred my full weight onto the rough ligneous floorboards…

Descending from my bedroom this morning seemed to be too big a chore for me today… I blinked away any last remnants of sleep that clung to me even as I stood, nearly making me fall back to bed… but as tempting as that was; I had to attend to my increasing appetite as to not cause it to bring me pain…

I painstakingly moved my legs in accordance, as fast as my sluggish body could muster… upon reaching and opening the cupboards however, I found most of them were occupied by nothing but empty air, I frowned…

"Weren't these full yesterday?"

I questioned to no one in particular, I shifted my gaze to the door… my frown blooming into an outright scowl of contempt and indignation… I was never one to enter the town during normal days like these… I mostly spent my time within the confines of home or the forge; sometimes I wander the forests of Berk safe from prying eyes and glowering glares of hatred and hostility…

I walked towards the back door in search of the small satchel where I keep my supplies for hunting, as a form, I actually meant setting up traps for any unfortunate small animal who comes traipsing around unaware of the danger that might befall it… I scan the corners in hopes to catch a glimpse of the leather container, but nay, it seemed to have been hidden away, out of my reach, must be my father's doing… and I suppose he's also responsible for robbing the cupboards of their fare…

I let out an exasperated sigh as I turned back to the main entrance… eyeing the door with newfound emotions stirring within me, causing an unwelcomed feeling of disdain to surface… I began to take steps towards the front door but halted halfway across the room as my facials relaxed into an empathic expression, a thought crossing my mind…

I'd rather starve…

With that, I made my way towards my room with nothing more than the protests of wooden floorboards at my wake…

.

Worried…

To say Stoick the Vast was worried, would be an understatement… he wasn't just worried, he was distressed, knowing that your own child was alone in the house, probably starving made his insides twist in knots, knowing that it was because of him probably didn't help either…

But he did it for him, he did it for Hiccup; the child of sixteen winters meant a lot to him, even if he screwed up, Stoick cared, he felt for the boy that was his son… Stoick buried his head in his massive calloused hands and let out a sigh, what changed?

It seemed only yesterday the child used to gaze at him with a curiosity that made any grown man cry, with emeralds for tools that see the world in non-existent colors, and miniature fingers that could feel the roughness in about any smooth texture… the feel of ruffling the child's russet hair brought about a joy within a father such as Stoick like no other, but alas, the child grew up, and his accomplishments seemed to have dwindled… superiority left behind in his younger years…

When young, you are praised for having an intellect of an adult, but that would no longer matter as growing up in a dragon-infested place uses brawn as a deciding factor for status and worth… the teenagers within the Tribe began to sprout out incredible combat prowess at an early age, praised for being the generation of prodigies yet to be bested…

He expected his son to be one of them… Stoick expected Hiccup to be an inheritor of his genes and skills fit for a chief, every expectation he had for Hiccup, was crushed… even as he grew Hiccup never lost the ever-growing intelligence he had, nor the frailty he possessed at birth, in fact, he seemed more fragile now than he was at early infancy…

Stoick began unconsciously drumming at the tabletop with his index finger as he awaited the appearance of his only son and heir… he had time on his hands, and he had the new renovations to Berk to thank for, now his Chiefing duties were reduced to small tasks and overseeing some construction from time to time… Stoick stops his drumming and glares intensely at the door; making some of the villagers flinch every time they walk past his line of sight… he waited…

It has been a few months since his son decided to stay cooped up in their homestead, ever concealing, even within the boundaries of their house, he barely even caught an espy of the boy. Stoick constantly mulls over this notion; when did the child start acting like this? To that, he had little to no answers… all he knew was; it was unhealthy, so he took the liberty to empty their food supply and even go as far as to hide Hiccup's hunting necessities so that the boy would leave their home and join the rest of Berk for a meal or two, it was sure to work… but as more and more time passed, people began finishing their meals and leaving the great hall's enclosure, the sun had even reached its highest peak, it was noon… with a sigh, Stoick got up and gathered an ensemble of cheeses and meat, the child, as skinny as he already was, didn't need to go even skinnier…

Stoick was making his way towards the door when it was suddenly flung open, making the wind wail, gushing through the opening, making flames on candles dance on tabletops farthest from the door, causing some of the closest to extinguish into nothing but smoke, nothing but melted wax and burned to black strings on each of their ends… expecting a snowstorm in a week, he'll damned if the news his brother is about to tell him now were to be connected to the livestock… that is, if his brother's expression is anything to go by, he'd say it's probably bad news…

"Spitelout, brother, to what do I owe the pleasure?"

"I believe the question would be 'to whom'."

"What did he do this time?"

"He's setting up another one of his freaky inventions, but I think you'd need to see for yourself before you listen to anything from anyone…"

"Why not, I was on my way outside anyway…"

Stoick was about to take a step outside the hall when his brother decided to stop him, his current concern were grand entrances, and as his brother and second-in-command, Spitelout was not about to let his Chief come upon the scene carrying a tray of comestibles looking like some servant with rations for just anyone…

"What's wrong?"

Stoick questions his brother's behavior as Spitelout abruptly thrust a finger and points at the tray of cheeses and meat in his hands…

"We can't be leaving with you carrying that…"

Spitelout explains, Stoick stares at the entrée he held and back to his brother, with a nod, he called for a nearby villager. He instructs them to bring the food to his house and leave it on top of the table… it took no little amount of time walking as they weren't in a rush towards the scene, their pacing worried the chief a little, he wanted to get this over and done with, but he didn't share his internal distress with his brother that was walking beside him… it probably wasn't that big a deal, seeing as the affair didn't need immediate attention, but it must've been something big considering the fact that it needed the chief to be called upon it…

Stoick guessed; by the direction they were headed, the issue probably occurred in the woods, or near the woods… though thanks to a few slightly more dominant concerns in the village, by the time they were close to their destination; it was almost sundown when they heard it… they heard a that dreadful screech of the night fury, but before they even had time to duck and cover, the screech was replaced by a shriek of fright…

Stoick looked ahead in disbelief, something fell out of the sky and into the village, he shifted his gaze to his right and find his brother in almost the same state of disbelief he was formerly in, with a nod on both sides, a clear message of comprehension, the two of them stormed towards the direction where the figure was theorized to have crashed down into… the village square…

After passing the final hurdle, they reached their destination as a jaw dropping display unfolded before their very eyes… a creature of reptilian beauty, with jet black scales glistening under the light of the sun that has already begun its dip into the sea's surface, it casted shadows in all the right places, it absorbed the light and stubbornly kept hanging onto the darkness the scales held, it had a smooth lithe body of fair curves and edges, talons sharpened to a point, spikes protruding from its back down to its tail that fanned out like fins, the creature overall gave a dangerous but alluring vibe… Berkians may be tough, but they had an eye for beauty, and this type of beauty, is just about enviable when it is mounted on their wall…

But there was something that made it more alluring… it lay there entangled in a bola, so injured, so weak, so… helpless…

The Villagers started approaching this strange creature of black, it must've felt the change for when people became too close, it snapped open its acidic pair of emerald orbs that looked a rough mixture of yellow and green and started growling and thrashing around, revealing a pair of tied up wings covered in obsidian scales, and a smaller set just below it as a consequence of the struggle, and if without the restraints, heads would probably be flying right about now…

"Stay back, everyone stay back!"

Stoick called out to his people to keep them from coming too close to the creature, the dragon, Stoick scrutinized the dragon, one more time, it was a bit smaller than the rest of the dragons he's seen so far, and yet it gave him a lingering feeling of dread as he gazes at the creature… normally a dragon in the vicinity would immediately be beheaded, but humans are curious creatures by nature, and seemed to find themselves frozen in wonder…

Stoick was the first to snap himself out of his reverie and gripped his trusty axe, silence filled the square, and just when he was about to pull his axe out of its holster, bantering resounded not far off from where he stood, Stoick took his eyes off of the beast and turned to look at the source of the noise…

"I probably would've done a better job… I mean, why couldn't I? If Hiccup could do it, I could do better."

The voice resounded off not far from where Stoick stood, and it was very obvious that the voice belonged to Snotlout, Spitelout's son, you can tell by the smugness the boy's voice contained…

"Anyone could do better than Hiccup…" Answered a scratchy female voice, with a hint of a smirk…

"Yeah, except the building part though… Dude how did you manage to make something like that anyway…" someone questions with a deep gravelly voice of a male, but it seemed half of the sentence was not directed at the two former speakers…

"I want one." the one with the scratchy female voice pipes in with resolution in her tone…

"No I wanted one first!"

"I said it before you, dimwit!"

"Well I suggested it before you, trollface!"

The sounds of arguing turned into sounds similar to that of a physical brawl, there were occasional grunts that grew in volume as they neared the village square…

Stoick expected the group of teens, but he didn't expect the group of teens with Hiccup in it, he was surprised to see his son, nonchalantly making his way while dragging another weird contraption and the other teens hot on his heels, Snotlout bragging, the Twins bickering, Fishlegs skulking, and Astrid uncaring… Stoick quirked his brow as Hiccup coldly went past him without even so much as a 'hi' or a single nod, while the other teens followed, not forgetting to greet their chief… Stoick felt a stinging in his chest as his son reacted like he wasn't there, he supposed he deserved it, after all he was the reason his son missed both morning and noon meals…

With a sigh, Stoick approached his son that was nearing the creature of black so that he could protect him if a crisis were to show itself…

"Hiccup…"

Stoick called out to him when he came too close to the creature; much less than Stoick liked, but still kept walking… he was approximately three to five strides away when Stoick decided to stop the teen by grabbing his arm and halting his steps, and even then Hiccup still refused to look him in the eye and settled for locking sights with the creature… they both gazed at each other, unflinchingly, even as the dragon growled, Hiccup remained unfazed and kept staring…

"Dad, let go…"

"Hiccup…"

Stoick voices out in a pleading way, the dragon may be small, but a dragon's a dragon, and will definitely go for the kill when it gets a chance… he wouldn't be able to live with himself if something were to happen to his son, even after all those years of ignoring him for being what he wasn't, he finally realized the brilliance of what his son was… and his brilliance included the creations of weapons in all of Berk… even his axe was unsafe from his son's talented hands… if only he saw it sooner… maybe Hiccup wouldn't have had to resort to such foolhardy attempts to be accepted…

He wouldn't have to think of having the need to earn something that was supposed to be his from the start… something that he didn't have to earn…

Stoick stared at his son, Hiccup turned his mop of auburn and finally faced his father; Emerald orbs met emeralds as he gazed up at the bigger man and quirked his brow, treating the chief like he was a ridiculous child…

"It's tied up, how do you expect it to hurt me?"

With the sound logic, Stoick found himself loosening his grip, but still didn't let go… he hesitated as the pair of orbs that were much like his, was filled with that expectant look he knew so much… he didn't want Hiccup to get hurt, and at the same time he didn't want the village think he was overprotective of his son… and once again, his reputation won against his concerns for Hiccup as he reluctantly let go of his son's arm… with a single thought in mind…

Please don't let this be something I regret…

.

I stared at my arm where the feeling of my father's iron grip lingered… it hurt, but I wasn't about to whine and cry to the tribe that did everything in their power to make me miserable, and besides it didn't hurt that much, if he meant to hurt me, it would probably make me scream even with the efforts of suppressing it… probably, I'm not really sure, he's never actually done anything like that… not that he was never tempted…

I have grown so used to not being able to hold conversations with anyone, I simply learned their body language and was able to clearly gauge the emotions their eyes suggested, however little it may be, if I will it, I'd be able to read even 'Stoick the Vast' like an open book…

I turned to the Dragon and crouched to achieve eye-level, as much as I like looking down on things, I also understood the pains of having to look up… and the dragon just looked so pitiful I couldn't help it… we stared at one another, one scrutinizing the other, I reached into my vest and pulled out my seax with nary a tremble to behold and unsheathed the blade… but as soon as I did, I heard shouts of protests and condemnation directed at me…

"Wha' are ye doin'!?"

"Wha right do ye ave ta kill it?"

"A half-pint like ye dos no' deserve da honor!"

I scowled at the crowd, thinking they can just say whatever they please, what were they doing here anyway? Do they think they have the right to judge? Do they even realize who was able to accomplish the feat of shooting down this night fury? I so don't have time for their useless accusations, the next thing you know, they'll probably start proclaiming my prey for their own and no one will believe me if I say otherwise…

I caught it so I should be the one to kill it…

"Hiccup caught it so he should be the one to kill it."

Almost immediately my head snapped towards the owner of the voice…

I was alarmed at how much that sentence mirrored my thoughts… could it be that someone has finally understood me? With all my desperate attempts, I was led to believe the thing that I have longed for has come true… so much that… the possibility of it being within the boundaries of mere 'Viking mentality' escaped me, no one has ever stood up for me before, so when I turned and caught sight of the speaker, I was left dumbfounded as my mind struggled to comprehend the possibility… the possibility of Astrid speaking on my behalf…

She caught me looking at her and nodded, I wasn't sure what to do, so I simply returned the gesture with a bit of reluctance on my part and turned back to the creature… the crowd still didn't let up with their gossip though, the noises seemed to have doubled as some of the villagers cried with outrage at the revelation…

They were in disbelief, not that I blame them, my capabilities aren't exactly what you'd consider… dependable, especially when it comes to fighting dragons… but I didn't fight the beast, I captured it, which really didn't use much effort with the help of my invention… I returned the stare the dragon so fixedly pointed at me, it never left my frame from the moment we first locked eyes… I could hear my father's voice over the incoherent mess of the villagers voices mashed into blabber…

He seemed to have asked me a question… but all I saw or heard was the night fury that was in front of me, ready to meet his demise…

"This is the end, Night Fury… I win…"

At that… the whole village was brought into an unsettling silence as they seemed to have lost their voice at my one proclamation…

.

Pride…

Astrid felt pride…

Not only will Hiccup finally be able to kill a dragon and stop the other Tribes from looking down on them, he might also just be able to change the future that seemed so grim by proving he was capable of being chief…

He'll be one of them, and even though Astrid wasn't able to render the growing feeling of jealousy in her chest immobile, she was happy for him, speaking up was the least she could do for the years of ignoring him… which he made so painfully clear was wrong at some point… people from Berk weren't exactly known for their morals, but when pointed out, the knife of guilt just seemed to pass through their chests, that was what made Hiccups words so painful… it's because they rang true… and Astrid plans to make it up to him, never mind the beating he got when she retaliated with bodily harm…

Though her edict proved not to be the one to bring the noises to a halt… although the chief certainly did…

"Silence!"

She heard the Chief demand, some stopped their gossips, but there were still others who didn't as they settled in for whispering instead… the Chief turned his gaze to his son, sizing up the child… Astrid inaudibly gulped at the intensity of the Chief's stare as Hiccup remained oblivious, much more interested in the dragon, than the Chief…

"Hiccup, son, is this true?"

The chief questions Hiccup, but he remained still, eyes trained on the Night Fury, knife in hand idling about… just then, in barely above a whisper, Hiccup uttered a few words as his gaze hardened with a deadly glint…

"This is the end, Night Fury… I win…"

That brought everything to a halt, as the surroundings seemed to have frozen almost immediately…

At first their reactions confused the young lass as she furrowed her brows at their response… but then, the realization hit Astrid like a rock… they didn't know… they weren't there when the teens found Hiccup setting up another weird contraption close to the forest, they weren't there when he aimed it at the screeching figure, and they definitely weren't there when Hiccup ensnared the dragon in a single dislodge of a bola, sending it into the village square…

They simply didn't know…

Astrid turned to look at the pair of boy and dragon, she looked into youth's eyes and saw a range of emotion; hope, pride, and fear… She smiled; fear, yes, it is normal to feel such a thing when you are about to take another life for the first time… but people grow used to it as time passes and experience doubles. Hiccup raises his seax high, this time no one stopped him… but just when he was just about to bring it down, the range of emotions spiraling within him changed, in his eyes, all Astrid saw, was sympathy…

This… Astrid thought… This is not right… Why now? When he was just about ready, why hesitate? A single stab could seal his fate, gain the village's approval, make his future brighter… so why hesitate?

She shifted her gaze towards the dragon and found it in a state of acceptance… in defeat, could it be? She turned back to Hiccup and saw a different type of emotion in the boy… regret…

This piqued Astrid's interest… somehow the dragon actually had something in it that Vikings thought impossible, and what's more it seemed Hiccup saw the same thing she saw, so she must not have gone crazy after all. Astrid wanted to know more, she very much wanted to see more of what the creature was capable of… for a while the air grew heavy as seconds were robbed from them…

After a while, Hiccup lost all the tension in his shoulders he needed to end the Night Fury's life… and Astrid found herself almost sighing in relief… almost, it all still baffled her… what is he going to do? Is he about to throw away a bright future? Destroy his chance at a better life?

"What is he doing?"

She heard Snotlout say behind her in almost a whisper, Astrid moved her eyes to look at him but decided it wasn't worth the effort, so she instead just kept her eyes fixated at the front, taking in the scene before her…

Probably something stupid…

She answered him mentally, and no amount of bragging would be enough to tell her how right she was at that very moment…

A/n:

I wanted to use Morgunverður for breakfast and Hádegisverður for lunch, but Cupcake said it seemed unnecessary, and I actually agree with him… I wanted it to look fancy and shit like that… what? Oh c'mon, it's not like you guys never say shit at all…

There'd be plenty of chapters to apply it anyway, it's not like It'll be lost... what? no, not the 'Shit' part, I meant Morgunverður and Hádegisverður…

I feel like a one-man comedy skit... but remember, I'm no man, I'm a WOMAN... hehehe...