Author's Notes:I fell in love with HTTYD after I watched it. Really. One of the greatest films ever and I'm quite picky with movies so that's saying something. Anyway, this idea has been playing on my mind after stumbling on a few gender bent fics in HTTYD fandom. What I noticed is that whenever Hiccup is a female, there will be too much romance or the story will just be a re-hash of the canon story line which is kind of "off putting" for me. No offence but I really believe that Hiccup's changed gender will have big repercussions to the story. So, here I am taking a chance in making a fic that hopefully won't end up as a terrible terror with a Mary Sue lead. Forgive me for the lame pun. So, enjoy reading and please put down your torches and pitchforks and axes.

Warning:This features a Fem!Hiccup. Not your cup of tea? Then please find another story that suits your taste and leave this one alone. The last thing I want are flames.

Disclaimer: I Do Not Own "How to Train Your Dragon" or any of its characters. I'll be mauled by Toothless if I claim otherwise.

To Find A Place

Chapter 1: This is Berk

"Under attack! Under attack! We're under attack!"

The sounds of flapping wings, explosions, and enraged warriors woke me up. Roars and screams filled the air of my tiny village. Dragons! I immediately wore my vest and boots and ran downstairs. From our windows, orange flames lit up the darkness. Our neighbour's house was caught on fire. Stumbling across the living room, I finally reached the door and opened it only to face a Monstrous Nightmare. I slammed the door shut just in time to avoid becoming a dragon's roasted breakfast. What a nice way to start the day. After a few seconds, the sounds of flapping wings went away. I bolted out of the house and into the chaos of fighting Vikings, flying Dragons, and running flocks of sheep. Yep, a great way to start the day. Another chance to prove myself as a true Viking!

This was one of the typical raids in our little village of Berk. It's a place where it rains for nine months of the year and hails the other three. It's twelve days north of hopeless and a few degrees south of freezing to death. It's located forlornly on the meridian of misery. It's not that bad a place to live in. The only problems are the pest. The big, vicious, fire-breathing, flying, reptilian pests.

I found myself out in the streets. People running here and there. A man suddenly fell in front of me, no doubt thrown off by whatever dragon from above. He picked himself up, grabbed his axe, and ran into battle again. A sudden explosion from behind me knocked me down. Come on, Hiccup! Get up! Move! my mind processed as I tried to get up. An old Viking passing by saw me and suddenly pulled me up. "Oof!" I think I pulled a muscle.

"Good morning!" he greeted merrily before screaming into battle. I never got the chance to say "Thanks". I never even got to tell him that his beard was on fire too.

Fighting and killing a dragon is everything in here. We are Vikings - brave and tenacious, although stubborn is more of a right term. My name is Hiccup, daughter of my tribe's chief - Stoick the Vast. I'm slightly smaller and thinner than the other girls not to mention that I'm light as a feather. I'm a bit of a klutz too but if you put me in the kitchen I won't mess up. I could sew perfect stitches and draw amazing pictures. But what's the good in that if I can't fight?

Warriors are the most renowned men and women in this place. They embody the true essence of Vikingness. My father is the strongest among all the Vikings while my mother was a respectable shield maiden. But the gods seem to have forgotten my fearsome heritage and made me into something like... this: small and thin as a toothpick. Everyone considers me as frail and fragile as a fishbone and so I was kept away from weapons of any kind much to my horror. I should be a warrior. It's my right. If they just give me a chance then I could prove to them that I could fight too.

"Hiccup! What are you doing here? Get back inside!" a woman yelled as I ran passed her. It alerted everyone of my presence and they started shouting warnings at me.

"What the? Get back inside lassie!"

"Get back inside, Hiccup!"

"Get out of here!"

"Hiccup!"

I ignored them and kept running. If only I could reach the catapults and operate it to hit something that isn't a house or a tree or a person then they will approve of me. I might finally be even permitted to battle training. And if I'm lucky enough to hit a dragon, they might even sign me up for Dragon training!

Fire blazed on the path that I was just about to walk on and someone forcefully pulled me back by the scruff of my neck. The person turned me around and I met his eyes reflecting incredulity, anger, and worry. Oh great.

"Hiccup! What are you doing here? What is she doing here?" my father asked around.

"Dad, I-"

He cut off my answer as he deemed it unnecessary to find an explanation about my attendance in the raid. There are still people to command, dragons to slay, sheeps to save! He hastily pushed me towards his best friend's smith shop. "Gobber, let her in there!" The crippled blacksmith took me inside the shop and before my father went away, he gave me a look that translates into "STAY IN THERE! !" in bold and capital letters with two exclamation points. Dut duh duh. Once again, I'm stuck in a shelter without regards about my opinion. Hurray.

"Hey there lassie, come to join the party?" Gobber greeted as he led me inside the shop. It was hot inside. I started to feel uncomfortable in my thick clothes with the sudden change of temperature. The sight and smell of coal and burning wood assaulted my senses.

"Me? I'm way too feisty to just sit and watch the fight." I quipped as I found a seat near the windows. If there was anyone who at least appreciates my aspirations to become a great viking warrior, it's Gobber. The blacksmith humored me with an "Glad that you're here then!" laugh as he accepted broken weapons from disgruntled Vikings. He had to repair those in double time because of the attack. It was such a pity that he had no apprentices, he really needed help. Help… An idea came into my mind. I inched closer to the furnace. I eyed the hammer lying harmlessly on the table.

"Hey Gobber, maybe I could-"

"Oh no no no no, Hiccup." He saw me reaching out the hammer and he immediately put it away. "Just let me do my job while you just stay put there and uh…" he trailed.

"Do nothing?" I added flatly.

"Yes. Nothing." He agreed.

"But I have to do something! Come on, let me help!"

"Sorry Hiccup but the last time you tried helping here the whole village thought there was a dragon raid with the explosion that you caused." he said before going back into fixing Uncle Spitelout's sword.

"It was an accident! It won't happen again."

"No is a no, lassie." he accentuated each word with a loud clang of the hammer to the sword.

I sighed in defeat. No use in arguing when he's busy like that. Had this been any other situation, Gobber would have listened to my reasons although him yielding to it will be a different matter all together.

My eyes wandered to the chaos outside the shop. A nearby house was burning. Many of the villagers tried to doused the flames. Then the Viking trainees came to the rescue with a cart full of water. Fishlegs and Snotlout, my cousin, were the first to threw water into the fire. The twins, Tuffnut and Ruffnut, were too busy arguing to be able to do anything else at the moment. The house suddenly exploded as another dragon thought it will be funny set it on fire again. Screams and yells ensued but a midst all of that, Astrid calmly threw water into the fire and walked away as if she was just walking into the meadows. Their job is so much cooler.

I sighed in envy. All of those teenagers are of the same age as I am. Astrid and Ruffnut are girls yet all of them are accepted and encouraged to become warriors and dragon slayers by everyone. Why am I the only exception? Of course the people are happy that I'm good at managing the household and the farms but being a warrior is so so much more!

I glanced at Gobber who was still busy repairing weapons. This is my chance. Maybe if I just help them put out the fire then they could accept me. It may be a small deed but all great accomplishments start that way. I would just have to prove that I'm not useless during this times first. As quietly as possible and started to climb out of the window. I was almost out when-

"Oh, no you don't." Gobber hooked my collar and effortlessly dragged me like a hanging fish inside the shop again.

"Oh come on, Gobber. I need to make my mark!"

"You already did that with the destruction of my old shop."

"That doesn't count and I already said I'm sorry and it was an accident! Please Gobber, you have to let me fight."

"You can't wield a sword, you can't carry an axe, you can't even throw one of these." He said as he dangled a bola in front of me.

I couldn't say anything against that because as much as it hurts it's the truth. I can't carry heavy weapons thus eliminating almost all the weapons available in the village. I could wield a knife proficiently but what's the use of that? I averted my eyes from Gobber. It hurts when people, friend or not, remind me and insist to me my uselessness in this kind of situations. I already know. There's no need to rub it in my face. I hate that I can't do anything. My gaze then landed on an unusual contraption inside the room. I lit up at the sight and stood beside it.

"But I could use this!" I proudly said.

The contraption was something I suggested to the blacksmith a long time ago: a mini-catapult. I thought that having large catapults in permanent stations are useful against human invasions but they're disadvantageous against dragons. The mini-catapults should be more easy to mobilize to keep up with the extremely agile reptiles. Since it's movable, we could also easily prevent them from getting destroyed by the fire. Wasted resources for towers and giant catapult building and restoration will be minimized.

"I could definitely use this Gobber." I said with determination. "I could use this without messing up."

"No." he said. "Hiccup, just please stay in here and wait until the raid is over."

"But I'm the one who thought of this! It's not that heavy- all right its heavy but it has wheels! I can move this and all I have to do is cut the ropes and-"

"Be that as it may, I still can't let you go out there. It's too dangerous for you." he explained.

"But-"

"No buts, Hiccup. This is for your own good." He insisted. "I know you want to help but you can't do anything in here without posing a threat to yourself or to others."

I didn't gave him any answer. I hate this.

Gobber sighed and grabbed my shoulders, forcing me to face him. "Just think about it this way. If you do nothing and stay here, your father would not be worried and the people will not be burdened with keeping you safe. You're much of a greater help this way." He gave me a crooked smile.

I don't like this. I hate not doing anything. But if he put it that way. "Fine." I replied.

The blacksmith gave me a pat in the head "Good." And with that he went back to work.

I may have acknowledged my uselessness and shortcomings as a warrior. Yes, I'm weak but that doesn't mean I'll accept it. I'll become better and someday, I'm sure, I would become the greatest Viking they will ever see.

Author's Notes: And here it is! I hope you enjoyed reading. I know I've made a big change here but I believe its for the best. Like I said earlier, Hiccup being a girl has repercussions in the story.

I've researched about Viking women. The credibility of the information I'm not too sure. It's from the internet so who knows if the people who wrote it could be trusted but that's beside the point. Anyway, women in Viking culture have a lot more privileges and opportunities in contrast to women of all cultures around Europe at that time. Women are in charge of the household and farms when their husbands are away. They could also be warriors. Some of them even accompany their spouses during battle. If a woman feels that she isn't treated right by her husband, she can divorce him without any problems. The only problem for women at that time was arranged marriages. They can't have a say on who they can marry. But for the most part, men and women in a Viking society are equals.

Now, how does that explain my take on a female Hiccup? Well, in canon Hiccup is a male. As a male Viking, you will be expected to be capable of fighting. If you can't, too bad. You won't have much respect. Hiccup can't fight, you know: his hands and axes and swords and everything that goes with battle don't go well together when he's outside the forge (that's my headcanon). Hence he's pretty much unimpressive towards his peers. Add to the fact that since he and his father are the only one left in their household, the job of managing farms and housekeeping will more likely fall on him. Today, that won't be so bad. Modern women appreciates a man who can help her clean and cook every once in a while. But in an old Viking society, it will be embarrassing since those are women's jobs. Of course, Hiccup may be a blacksmith's apprentice but the damage on his reputation was already done. He can't fight = Failure as a man + He does women's work = FAIL = USELESS.

Now, if Hiccup is female, the fighting will not be mandatory. It will be an option. Her responsibilities will automatically fall on household and farm management. Hiccup is smart hence his female counterpart will be smart too. Brains is essential to managing not brawn. So she'll be fine.

As I mentioned earlier, even in canon Hiccup will most likely be the one cleaning and cooking in the Haddock household. It's a responsibility that stabs in his masculinity. Now, if he was a female, there will be nothing wrong with that since it's already her duty. She's expected to do that so it's normal.

Fem!Hiccup fulfills her duties as a woman perfectly hence the people won't be hard on her as they are with male Hiccup. She won't be branded as useless. But of course Hiccup is Hiccup no matter what gender, s/he will still try hard to become a warrior. She still brings trouble.

As for her not being Gobber's apprentice, here are the reasons:

1. She will be too busy handling the household and farms. She doesn't have much time to spare as male Hiccup do.

2. She is a fish bone. Both Hiccup and fem Hiccup have thin bodies. We know Hiccup could work around it but his female counterpart? I don't think so. I hate to admit it but when it comes to physical prowess, men will always be biologically better than women.

3. I think we can all agree that Stoick is an overprotective father. Now as an overprotective father, will you leave your one and only daughter with another man for the entire duration of the day without any guards or companion of some sorts. I don't think so. Granted, Gobber and Stoick are best of friends but as I said: Overprotective.

Sorry for the long note but hope that clears out a lot of things in the story. Hopefully, you could understand my logic. Thank you for reading!