DISCLAIMER: I do not own any part of the official How to Train Your Dragon franchise.

FLY TO LIVE

by Eretsonoferet

Preface by the author

Welcome to my "Hiccup-leaving" story! I know this concept has already been explored aplenty, but I wanted to write a rather different, more detailed, possibly grittier, and more realistic interpretation of it.

This will mainly be a coming-of-age story, with a particular focus on Hiccup and Toothless. The predominant themes will therefore be adventure and friendship, with some drama on the side. There will also be a tiny bit of romance (as well as healthy doses of bromance, of course).

Each chapter will have the point of view of a single character, announced between parentheses after the chapter's title.

The rating shall be T for some language, mild violence, and mild suggestive themes. If a chapter contains higher-rated content, there will be a warning.

Finally, here are the main adjustments that I made to the movie's canon, before this story takes off in its own direction:

1. In this alternate universe (AU), dragon raids occur only in the warmer months. Dragon training is thus provided during the winter.

2. With that in mind, Hiccup shot Toothless down during the very last raid of the year, in early October, about seven months before the beginning of this story.

3. At the beginning of this story, Hiccup and the other teens are all 13 years old, instead of 15.

4. In this AU, when Hiccup starts to show some skill towards the end of dragon training (using the tricks he learns), the other teens begin to warm up to him, but only with mild curiosity, instead of the outright friendliness that was portrayed in the movie.

5. In this AU, Hiccup's mother supposedly died when Hiccup was 6 years old.

Smaller canon divergences about past events may transpire as the story develops.

For more information on this story, I invite you to look at my profile page, where you will also find links to the related maps and sketches.

Please do consider leaving a comment or review to inform me of any mistakes or inconsistencies, or just to tell me what you think. I find both appreciation and criticism equally valuable.

Thanks for reading!

HIATUS NOTICE (May 2019): My apologies to all, but this story is currently on a temporary hiatus. As I said on my profile page, I don't plan to ever abandon this story. In fact, I do plan to resume publishing soon, but my current work is not allowing me the spare time and peace of mind that proper writing requires. If it's any consolation, I'm still occasionally working on the upcoming chapters, but not with the attention this story deserves. I do hope to be able to resume proper writing in the next couple of months.

Thank you for your patience.