Prologue: A Bedtime Story

The wooden door creaked open, the little boy behind the action wincing at the volume as he crept into the room. His father was out helping the village rebuild after the most recent raid, and he had been left with the blacksmith to help repair any weapons. What his father hadn't expected was the number of repairs was small, or for the blacksmith to send him home.

"Take th'day off." He told his apprentice, patting him on the shoulder with his prosthetic hand. "I can man the forge; you make sure that the twins don't break somethin' else."

Of course, the twins were their own storm of chaos, and the boy alone was certainly not enough to contain or restrain their actions, especially since he would wind up being the target of their misfortune. So, instead, he went back home, taking in the empty house with a sense of relief. Silence was better than the cajoling laughter that the twins were infamous for.

Still, the lack of the crackling flame of a log burning put him off, and he set to work, lugging a log over and stirring the hearth into action. Once that was done, he headed upstairs, intent on heading to his room and cleaning it up, taking stock of anything that had been caught in the crossfire.

But he paused, stopping at the top of the stairs. On his left was his room, covered in crude sketches of fantastical weapons, scribbles of various parts of the city, and a cartoon of his father fighting a Deadly Nadder. On his right was his father's room, only occupied in the very late hours when the boy was fast asleep, and almost always empty.

…His dad wasn't coming home anytime soon, probably wouldn't be back until dusk at the earliest. He would never know, right?

Which lead to now. His father's room was as barren as he expected it to be. Disturbed sheets, an axe held up on the wall, a singular window looking out over the town, to the right of the bed. There was a large chest nearby, more than likely containing his father's clothes. The six-year-old shrugged, a plain room with little personal belongings seemed to fit his father. He turned to leave the room, ready to grab his book and draw more.

The smoke clouds outside parted, if only briefly, and sunlight filtered in, glinting on something in the corner of the room. The boy stopped, his eyes landing on a much smaller chest, hidden under a dust-covered blanket, the lock poking out and caught in the sun's brief glimpse of the Earth. Curiosity piqued, the boy hurried over and lifted the blanket, opening the chest.

At the very top was the chest piece for a maiden. The boy brushed it to the side, not uncaringly, but because his interest was captivated by what was underneath. There was some more clothing—smaller than his father's but just as thick—but also piles upon piles of books. Excitement thrummed through his body, and he snagged the top book. Books, while not rare, were hard to come by as most of the village detested keeping a suitable library, and only treasured few, valuable tomes which were kept under lock and key. Besides, whenever he got anything resembling a book, the twins and Snotlout went above and beyond to steal them from him.

It was a small treasure chest, really, and the boy was overjoyed. Despite this, he understood the dangers of snooping in his father's room, so he closed the chest and placed the blanket over it, carefully tugging the corners and smoothing the fabric in order to look like it had never been disturbed. Running to his room, he jumped onto his bed, holding the book close to his chest in a hug. He opened it up to the first page and smiled, ready to learn.

His excitement crashed not soon after. Instead of familiar runes, a frantic scribbling covered the pages, some crisscrossing over prior lines. Each one was undefinable from the last, maybe a higher spike here, a dip there, but it was unintelligible. The boy frowned and turned the book this way and that, squinting and closing one eye, then the other, before finally admitting defeat, unable to see a hidden picture or message.

The front door slammed open, the heavy footsteps of the chief echoing through the house. He jumped and, frantic, the boy shoved the book under his pillow. Not a moment later, Stoick the Vast shoved through his door, a flash of concern buried under cold indifference once his eyes landed on the boy. "There you are. Once Gobber saw the twins rampaging, he got concerned over where you'd gone. C'mon Hiccup, we might as well put you in the forge, if only to calm him."

Hiccup nodded and followed a few paces behind. Before leaving, he looked back at his bed and frowned at his pillow. Only when his father shouted for him at the bottom of the stairs did he close the door and obediently follow behind him with his head down, mind filled with scribbles and confusion.

AN: I've wanted to do this story for a while and, while it may be left incomplete given my track record of things I've written (in which case, I am incredibly sorry), this is the one fandom I've been able to consistently return to and enjoy. Basically, even if I take a long break, I'll be certain to return here at one point or another and finish this thing off.

But yes! This is an AU of the first movie. What will it entail? Well, I'm not one for spoilers, but anyone who's curious enough to take a guess may leave a nice review and, maybe I'll give a straight answer. Probably in private, but if it does entail an important plot point that needs discussion/clarification/etc I'll include it in the opening of the next chapter. In every other case, author notes will be at the end of the story, so don't worry about the flow being interrupted.

As for frequency of updates... I guess weekly? Every two weeks sounds more plausible, since I'm dealing with a hell of a lot of work from school and my own personal problems (hahaha procrastination and holiday depression WHOOPS) and I have the first chapter already written up and slowly working through the second one. Plus, I can't write a whole lot out of my laptop as the script and movie are needed and my phone can't download the movie and allow me to read the script so it's slow work.

Anyways, RAMBLING OVER! Hope you enjoyed!