So, you've come across Moira. You may have seen this on AO3 or Tumblr, but I have finally decided to start posting it here as well.

This is a Princess Diaries AU, but I have also created my own take on it as well.

Be sure to follow me on Tumblr (chiefhiccstrid) as well. :D My good friend Christine is my awesome collaborator on this story and we have lots of fun things planned for it. Also, shoutout to my friend Zeynep who drew the amazing art that I am using for my cover. It is a scene from a favorite chapter of mine so far.

P.S. For those who don't know, Moira (moi-ruh) is Greek and means a person's fate or destiny.

Enjoy!

Moira

Chapter 1 – How to be a Prince

"What are you doing here?" Hiccup Haddock asked the man sitting in the almost too small chair in his mother's tiny living room.

The man was Stoick Haddock. His father. He knew it was him because he had seen photos. He knew it was him because even though he was never actually a dad, he was still his father and they had the same green eyes.

"Hello, Henry," Stoick called him by his given name, not even knowing to call him by the nickname he had come to grow fond of. The large man stood up, and his eyes scanned him from his head to his toes. It made Hiccup uncomfortable and he crossed his arms, hoping it would help him hide from the piercing green eyes of his father, "You've really grown up."

"Yeah, considering the last time you saw me was twenty-one years ago," Hiccup replied.

"Henry..." his mom warned him.

"Why are you here?" Hiccup asked again.

"Honey, why don't you sit down," she gestured to the empty chair next to her father. Hiccup rolled his eyes, wanting to do anything but sit down next to the man who only sent him letters and presents he never wanted on his birthday for the last twenty-one years. So, he walked to the couch and sat down next to his mother instead.

"How is school?" Stoick asked and sat back down, ignoring the question that Hiccup kept asking.

"It's fine. I graduate in three weeks. What are you doing here?"

Stoick laughed and it rumbled throughout the quiet house, "I can see you have inherited your mother's stubbornness."

"Stoick, just tell him," Valka sighed.

Hiccup looked towards his mom and then back to his father.

"I've come here to take you to Berk," Stoick sat forward in his seat and looked his son in the eyes.

Berk was a country in Europe. It was a small country that sat in between France and Germany and also where his father was from and where he currently lived.

"And what makes you think I would agree to go back with you?"

"Because you, my son, are not just Henry Haddock. You are Henry Haddock, Prince of Berk, and the rightful heir to the throne," Stoick stated.

Hiccup's green eyes grew three sizes, "You're joking."

"Why would I joke about something like that?" Stoick asked.

"He's telling the truth," Valka spoke quietly.

Hiccup's head turned to face his mother, "Why didn't you tell me any of this?"

"Your father and I decided to keep it from you until you turned twenty-one. We wanted you to have as normal of a life as possible. And being a prince is far from that," she explained and reached her hand over to place on her son's cheek. He pushed her hand away and Valka sighed sadly.

"So, you all just expected me to drop everything I have here and move to a new country to start a life that I never knew anything about?" Hiccup asked.

"You don't have to agree to anything right now," Valka told him. Stoick glared at her.

"Yes, he does…" Stoick started but was cut off by the woman in the room.

"Stoick, he's right. You can't just expect him to leave everything behind. He can refuse to be the next king if he wants to."

"So, I don't have to do it? Good."

"Henry…" Valka started.

"No! You just said I can refuse. So, here I am, refusing. I am no prince. You can tell that by taking one look at me," Hiccup gestured to all of him. His baggy and wrinkled t-shirt, his messy auburn hair that hung down over his eyes, and the scruff on the edge of his jaw that he hadn't shaved yet. He was clumsy. He was awkward. He was not prince material.

And that is why he stood up from the couch and left the room. His mother called his name but that didn't stop him from walking out the back door and straight to the stables. To the one thing in his life that was always there when he needed it.

"Toothless!" Hiccup cried out and wrapped his arms around the horse's neck. "Let's go for a ride? What do you say, bud? I gotta get out of here."

The horse, who was as black as night, began prancing in excitement. Hiccup strapped on his saddle, hopped on his back, and the two were off into the large and open green field just moments later.

The feeling of the warm air against Hiccup's face, the view of the mountains in the distant, and the sound of Toothless' hooves pounding in the ground below them was just what Hiccup needed to clear his head from the craziness that was inside the house far behind him.

The two rode to the edge of the ranch where a stream trickled into the forest. This was the spot the two always took a break. Toothless would drink water from the creek and Hiccup would sit by it with his eyes closed and enjoy the silence.

But today Hiccup was sitting by the edge of it and angrily trying to skip a rock and failing each time.

"You know what bothers me the most is that they just assumed I would jump at the opportunity to leave and move to Berk to rule a country I know nothing about," Hiccup threw another rock.

Toothless looked up from the water and turned to his rider.

"And who does my father think he is anyway?" Hiccup looked towards his horse and back to the creek. "Yeah, I know he's a king but what made him think I would just pack up and follow him to Europe? I don't owe him anything."

Toothless nudged the bag lying on the ground. Hiccup absentmindedly pulled out a peach and fed it to the horse who rolled it around in his mouth until it was soft enough to eat with the few teeth he had.

"And who waits twenty-one years to tell someone this? Isn't this something you spring on a teenager at their sixteenth birthday party," Hiccup puts on his best impression of his mother, "Oh, by the way, honey, instead of a car for your birthday you get a crown because guess what? You're a prince!" Hiccup threw another rock with such force it missed the water and landed on the other side of the creek.

Toothless brought his head down and licked his rider on the side of his head. Hiccup's hair was now sticking up on one side thanks to all the spit from the horse's attempt at being comforting.

"Thanks for listening, bud," Hiccup smiled at the horse, but his smile didn't reach his eyes.

"That's it. Berk will cease to exist," Stoick stated after he watched his son storm out of the living room and slam the back door.

"What do you mean 'Berk will cease to exist?'" Valka asked her ex-husband.

"He's the only heir, Valka. I never remarried. I never had another child," Stoick looked at her, and Valka tried to read the emotions between his eyes, but he looked away again before she got the chance.

"Won't they just choose whatever family is next in line?"

"Yes, and that's what I'm afraid of," Stoick placed his fingers on the bridge of his nose.

"So, what you're saying is that Berk's fate is in the hands of our twenty-one-year-old son," Valka laughed, but it wasn't an amused laugh. There was a lot of uncertainty behind it.

"There has to be a way we could convince him."

"We? Stoick, this is all you. There is no we here and there hasn't been for twenty years," she reminded him.

The hurt behind Stoick's green eyes reminded her so much of her son's that she scooted closer to the chair and grabbed the hand resting on the armrest, "Give him some time to think about it. Let him finish school. Spend time with him. Get to know your son and let him get to know you." Valka removed her hand.

"You think that will work?" he asked her.

She shrugged but gave him a gentle smile.

"Berk's Independence Day Ball is in a month and Parliament wants him to make the announcement then. He has to make a decision by then," Stoick explained.

"Then I guess you better get started," her head gestured to the boy standing in the doorway. Stoick stood up.

"So, you're giving me a month to give you an answer?" Hiccup asked, making his way back into the living room but never sitting down.

"That's right. What do you think?" his father asked, his strong voice had a hint of nervousness behind it.

Hiccup was prepared to say no again and have that be the end of it, but then he looked at his father. His large and obviously strong father who was also the king of an entire country was looking at him like he was his only hope, and Hiccup had never been looked at in that way before, which was the reason for his answer.

"Fine. One month," Hiccup agreed.

Stoick gave one firm nod, "And in the meantime I want you to come to my place a couple of times a week. You have a lot to learn in such a short time."

"Learn what?"

"How to be a prince," Stoick stated like it was the most obvious thing in the world.