Chapter Summary: Hiccup and Astrid used to live with dragon killers. They don't anymore.

Disclaimer: I don't own How to Train Your Dragon

"Long ago, in a land far away, there lived a village called Berk. It's twelve days north of hopeless, and a few degrees south of freezing to death. It's located solidly on the meridian of misery.

Now this village had a problem. They were constantly raided by dragons. And so, to protect their village, the Vikings grew up learning how to kill these dragons, and soon their whole culture was dedicated to this cruel practice.

Children from a young age were taught to fear and hate the beasts, as they were called, and when the grew older they were taught the most efficient ways of killing them. It became a sport and a competition. The person who did the best in Dragon Training had the honour of killing one of the most ferocious dragons, the Monstrous Nightmare.

Now, there was a boy among this village, who was the smallest of them all. He was weak, and scared, but wanted to prove that he could kill dragons just as easily as the others could.

One day, during a raid, the boy took one of his many dragon killing inventions up to a mountain and took down the most mysterious dragon known to Vikings; the Night Fury.

The next day he went and searched for the dragon, and found it tied up in ropes. The boy realised he now had his chance, he could kill this Night Fury and prove to the village once and for all that he was just as good a Viking as any of them.

However, just as he was about to stab a knife right into the dragons heart, he looked into it's eyes and saw… he saw himself in the dragon. Scared, alone. And so, he took his knife and cut the ropes open instead, setting the dragons free.

A few days later he went back into the forest to look for the dragon and found it stuck in a cove. You see, when he had shot the dragon down, it had lost half of it's tailfin, and so couldn't fly. The boy, overcome with guilt, decided to build the dragon a tailfin so it could fly again.

The tailfin worked, but it could only work with the boy's help. And so, the boy and the dragon learned to fly as one, and slowly became the best of friends.

One day, a young girl from the village followed the boy to where the dragon was kept hidden. Terrified, she turned to tell the village of the boy's deceit, but he took her for a flight and changed her mind. She too now saw dragons as beautiful creatures, and not mindless beasts.

The two of them, unable to live in a world where dragons were hated and killed, flew away from the island. They ran away so that they could live peacefully with their dragons. And to this day, they remained with them."

The little girl and boy in front of Hiccup looked at him with fascination. "Wow, Dad! That's such a great story!" The boy, a couple years younger than the girl, exclaimed. "That's the story of you and Toothless isn't it? Wow." Toothless crooned in response, sitting right by the bed the two children sat on.

"Are there really places like Berk that exist?" The girl questioned, curiosity and fear in her eyes. "That kill dragons?"

Hiccup nodded. "Yes, darling, there are. Your mother and I ran away from Berk so we could live with Toothless and Stormfly, and later so that we could keep you two safe." He poked their stomachs, which caused them to giggle. "But, don't worry Zephyr. You are perfectly safe here. Your mother and I won't let anything happen to you, and neither will Toothless or Stormfly." The blue dragon grumbled quietly, nuzzling Zephyr.

"Thanks, Dad." She said, yawning.

The older man chuckled. "I think it's time for you two to get some sleep." He took his son, Nuffink, in his arms and carried him to the other side of the room where his own bed was. Once he was sure the two were settled in bed, he blew the candle on the table out, and exited the room, the two dragons following him out.

Zephyr sat up straight in bed just as her father had left the room. "Hey, Nuffie?"

"Yes?" He answered.

"One day," she said with a smug smile on her face. "I'm going to go to Berk and change their minds about dragons!"

Nuffink scrunched up his nose. "No way, you're not cool enough for that.

"Kids! Go to sleep!"

The fell back onto their beds without another word.

Astrid and Hiccup, when they discovered they were going to have a baby, quickly decided that it was time for them to stop travelling the world, and to find a permanent home where the baby would be safe. They found an island to themselves and built a home.

It was small and humble. Two bedrooms and a large room with a kitchen and table. It was all they really needed to live comfortably.

The couple sat now at their table, talking out of earshot of their children, their dragons wrestling playfully outside the house.

"Hiccup, do you think it was a good idea to tell them that story?" Astrid questioned, taking her husbands hands into her own.

He sighed, breaking free of his wife's grip to run his hand through his hair. "I know we have to keep them safe Astrid, but I think they should know that there are people out there who don't think the same as we do."

He stood up and walked over to the door of their house, looking out to the sea below. Astrid followed. "I'm just worried Hiccup. We left to forget about Berk and dragon killing. I don't want my children to feel that pain. To know that there are people out there who take joy in killing dragons."

"Sometimes I wish…" Hiccup started, looking out into the night sky. "Sometimes I wonder, you know, what might have happened had we never left. Do you think I could've changed their minds?" He turned to Astrid, regret in his eyes.

Astrid hummed. "I think that there's no use in wondering the if's or maybe's of what we've done. We have a good life Hiccup." She gestured around the house. "We have two wonderful children and two wonderful dragons. What more could we want?"

Hiccup nodded.

...

Miles away on the island of Berk, Stoick the Vast, chief of the tribe, sat at his table with his head in his hands. "Oh Hiccup," he whispered. "I'm so sorry."

Hiccup and Astrid left when they were 15.
Married at 17.
Had Zephyr at 18.
Had Nuffink at 20.

I like to keep the ages of the characters in my head at all times, and what age they were when they did certain things. I find it helpful in understanding the timeline. I thought I might give these ages to you so you can also understand what's happened before the story began.
Hope you enjoy this story, it's something that's been in my head for a really long time now. I decided to use the names of Hiccup and Astrid's actual children from "How to Train Your Dragon: Hidden World".
If you have any constructive criticism, please leave a comment. No hate though, thank you.