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Hiccup woke up violently from a dead sleep.

The sounds of screaming, burning buildings, shouting Vikings, and the screeches of deadly dragons could be heard through the sturdy walls of his home. Jumping to his bare feet, Hiccup quickly got dressed and rushed to the front door, only to slam it closed as a fireball came soaring his way.

"Not again." Hiccup grumbled, pushing his hand through his busy auburn hair. Hiccup counted to ten before ripping open the door and rushing out into the burning village.

Brawly men wielding sharpened weapons seemed to pour out of small huts in impossible numbers. Some women and children were rushing to safe-houses, trying to live through this dragon attack. Some brave women and children joined the men in battle, somehow looking more frightening than the muscle-bulging men.

"What are you doing out?!" A crazed looking Viking shouted as he rounded on Hiccup, accidentally knocking the gangly sixteen year old onto his behind. The usual banter ensued: numerous of his father's shield brothers and sisters demanding to know why he's out during a battle. Then the appearance of his father, Chief Stoick, who grabbed him by his upper arm and dragged him off to the smithy.

Gobber, the massive black-smith who owns the smithy and makes all of the weapons in the village, greeted him with a pitying smile. Hiccup sighed, throwing himself against the window still, watching the destruction of his village.

'This sucks.' He thought, watching the grownups fighting and some of the teens his age dashing around. He watched Fishlegs and Snotlout begin to douse one of the burning huts while the rest of the teenagers fetched buckets of water.

'I wish I could have cool jobs like them.' Hiccup thought forlornly, watching Ruffnut and Tuffnut fight over a bucket. Astrid was ignoring the twin's annoying banter, using the blunt side of her battle axe to swat a small, annoying dragon out of her way.

'Even the new guys are contributing more than I am, and I'm the Chief's son!' Hiccup thought darkly, watching the four new teenagers from a Viking settlement from some island in the west. The four teenagers were all related, hailing from the Viking settlement in Ireland. They had recently returned after the death of one of one of their members.

The eldest of the new comers was a girl who was one year older than Hiccup, a girl named Sybil . Joining her was her younger sister, brother, and cousin. Sybil's sister, Lydia, and her cousin, Skadi, were the same age as him. Cynric, her brother, was two years younger, but was tall for a thirteen year old boy.

Hiccup's father told him that the teenager's family used to live in Berk, but Hiccup just couldn't remember the four teenagers. He could vaguely remember anything about the Telka Clan. Hiccup could remember a fuzzy memory of Olfar Telka often going into battle with his father, coming back and giving Hiccup little toys and candies. Olfar Telka and his sister Olga were born natives of Berk. When Hiccup's father had started a settlement in a place called Ireland, Stoick could think of no one better to keep order of the settlement than the Telka siblings.

Hiccup's father told him that while on the island, Olfar and Olga fell in love and married two of the natives. Olga had married a man named Patrick O'Aude, who was a brave Celtic warrior. Olfar had fallen in love and married a shepherd woman named Brigit McMack.

When both couples found out they were going to have children, they moved back to Berk for their children to be born. Olga and Patrick gave birth to Sybil, Lydia, and Cynric. Olfar and Brigit had given birth to a son named Perth and had waited eight years before having their daughter, Skadi. Olfar and Brigit decided to raise their family in Berk, and did so until Skadi was around eight years old. The winter was very harsh that year, and the job of a shepherdess is never done. Brigit would never leave her beloved sheep, even in a snowstorm.

Brigit was dead by the summer harvest. The healers said it was because of the cold. She had gotten too cold, her immune system had worn down and allowed her to contact something called phenomena. Broken hearted and unable to care for his children by himself, Olfar moved his family back to the Irish settlement.

In his heart, Hiccup felt horrible for Skadi. He knew how she felt. Sighing, Hiccup pushed the sad thoughts away and let his mind trail to other places. His emerald eyes became glassy and bland as he day dreamed, ignoring the sparking buildings and screaming villagers. He quickly became bored, returning his attention back to the teens his age.

And, if Hiccup was completely honest with himself, which he wasn't, he would realize that he was watching one of the teenagers more than the others.

Secretly, Hiccup was interested in Skadi. Sure, he still held a flame for the beautiful Astrid, but what was he supposed to do when she kept ignoring him. He knew that he wasn't an impressive Viking. He had hoped that Astrid would become interested in his personality, but that never happened.

"Hiccup, yer jus' gonna depress yerself watchin' 'em." Gobber pulled Hiccup out of his blatant staring. The green eyed boy shook his head, turning to face his teacher.

"I know, Gobber. I just wish..I was like them. That Dad didn't completely hate me." Hiccup sighed, turning back to the window. He heard Gobber sigh before he turned his attention back to his forge, sharpening weapons for the occurring battle.

While Lydia and Sybil had joined the teenage fire brigade, Skadi and Cynric had been given the job of couriers. They carried newly sharpened weapons, extra arrows, armor, and supplies to the warriors, acting like a life line between battle field and smithy. Hiccup thanked the Gods for this little speck of luck. Since he was the blacksmith's apprentice, he would be interacting with Skadi.

"COURIER, HURRY!" Gobber shouted, turning to the entrance of the smithy. Hiccup excitedly turned to the door, only to deflate when he saw that the courier was Cynric.

Cynric was the typical Viking, six foot tall, blonde haired, and blue eyed. Cynric was nice Hiccup supposed, but when the large, young teen had swaggered off the boat, Hiccup's father was cooing over him in awe. Hiccup had scowled and swallowed back the burn of jealousy when his father had accepted Cynric with a hug, eyeing him up and down before telling him "What a fine Vikin' ye' are!".

"New ar'rows fer tha ar'chers on tha' West wall." Gobber ordered, breaking Hiccup from another daydream while fastening two massive quivers stuffed with arrows onto Cynric's strapping shoulders.

"Hiccup, start sharpenin' those s'ords! Skadi will ar'ive shortly." Gobber said, making Hiccup jump up from his slouch against the wooden window pane. Hiccup was positive that he had never sharpened swords so quickly in his life.

"There ye a're! Hur'ry up then lassie! Ye can tell who's s'ord is who's by the c'rests on tha' blades." Gobbler's order had Hiccup jerking his head up, dunking a fire hot blade into a bucket of water. Skadi had come into the smithy, covered in soot and some light wounds, but otherwise mismatched eyes scanned the smithy before landing on Hiccup, who was packing the swords into a large leather sling for her to carry on her back.

Skadi cautiously and silently toed towards Hiccup, and he slowed his efforts so he wouldn't spook her. Skadi was very skittish, like a baby horse. Hiccup felt very connected with Skadi, even though they never spoke. While the typical Viking "dream girl" was tall, beefy, and blonde, Skadi was like him: different.

Skadi was shorter than the average citizen of Berk, about five foot three inches. Her body wasn't athletic like most girls, she was small and sleek-perfect for a quick Courier. She was slightly tan and her skin was delicate looking, only a few scars decorating the velvet looking flesh. Her hair was wavy, the light brown colored locks reaching the middle of her back, reminding Hiccup of fresh mead. What Hiccup liked most though, were her eyes. Skadi's eyes were beautifully mismatched; the right orb a deep glacial blue and the left orb a bright turquoise.

"H-how's the uh..fight going?" Hiccup asked, attempting to make conversation. Skadi pursed her lips in an uncomfortable way and shrugged her shoulders. Her eyes darted around the smithy, clearly uncomfortable with Hiccup's attempt at conversation. Skadi wasn't snooty, some girls refused to speak to him because of his "useless-ness", but this girl couldn't speak to anyone what wasn't family.

Hiccup internally groaned. 'One girl I like is a total jerk. The other is to afraid to look anyone in the eye, let alone speak.'

It was just his luck.

"That was a good battle!" Stoick the Vast praised his warriors, who pumped their fists and cheered. The red headed chief turned his attention to the teenagers of the village and bowed his head to them.

"All of ye did very well." Stoick praised with a smile, making the teen's eyes grow wide with pride. "Ye all must be tired, 'ead back to yer homes everyone." Stoick announced to the crowds, who slowly started to disperse.

One of the oldest teenagers, seventeen year old Sybil, turned to her two younger siblings and younger cousin. The red headed girl sighed, rubbing her eyes and smearing her light purple war paint. Her tanned skin was covered in soot and light burns, her turquoise eyes decorated in stripes of purple war paint. Sybil towered over her family members, even the tall Cynric, at a massive six foot four. Sybil eyed the damage to their new village while trying to pat soot out of her dark green and dark blue clothes.

"Let's go, guys." Sybil ordered, jerking her head down the road. Lydia, Cynric, and Skadi all agreed, following the eldest girl's lead down the packed down dirt road to their huts.

"That was awesome!" Lydia cheered, bouncing on the balls of her feet as they walked. Lydia was about five foot seven, with honey brown eyes, strawberry blonde hair, pale, and covered with freckles. Like her older sister, Lydia was covered in soot and burns, but her golden orange war paint, one stripe on each cheeks and one on her chin, still shone brightly through the dirt and soot.

"I didn't know there would be that many dragons." Cynric admitted, ruffling his soot covered blonde head.

"What did you expect during a dragon attack?" Lydia laughed, playfully prodding at her younger brother. Cynric laughed, elbowing his sister lightly in the ribs.

"That smithy was damn hot though, I wasn't expecting that." Cynric said, swiping at his brow.

"Cyn, it's a stall for heating, modeling, and liquefying metals. Why wouldn't it be hot?" Skadi laughed good naturedly as Cynric blushed. Sybil and Lydia burst out laughing, patting their younger brother on the back.

"Other than that, I think we did good." Skadi commented softly, her small chest puffing with pride.

"Yes, you and Cynric did exceptionally well." Sybil said, a proud smile on her gorgeous tanned face. "I was a little nervous when that tower went down, I thought I spied you two close by."

"You did!" Cynric bellowed, laughing loudly. "Skadi saw it starting to crumble, and she snatched me up fast enough for us to get away."

"Cynric you really need to observe your surroundings. Skadi, great job, I'm sure your Papa will be proud of you, Perth too." Sybil smiled, throwing her long arm over her cousin's feeble shoulders.

"Thanks Syb." Skadi said softly, a touch of a smile crossing her small face. Sybil smiled at Skadi's rare moment of outgoing personality, thankful that the smaller girl was in a talkative mood. After a few minutes of casual conversation, the teenagers came upon their homes. At the East of the village, Skadi and her father Olfar lived in a small hut across the street from Sybil, Lydia, Cynric, and their mother Olga.

"Have a good rest of the night you guys." Skadi smiled as the quartet parted ways to their own homes.

"You too Skadi, remember to wash that paint off." Sybil reminded Skadi in a motherly tone, wetting her thumb and swiping at the green line of war paint that was striped underneath Skadi's eyes and over the bridge of her nose.

"Gothca, Syb." Skadi said, walking into her own hut, where her father sat at the kitchen table with her older brother, both nursing a jug of mead.

Olfar the Force was a large man with brown hair and glacial blue eyes, and his daughter was the light of his world. Perth the Sincere was a large Viking as well, with dark brown hair and light turquoise eyes. Being many years older than Skadi, he was often out pillaging with his father, but still loved his only sister.

"You two did great today." Skadi smiled, heading for the kitchen to grab herself something to eat. Her father hummed proudly, his mouth full of mead.

"Yew did good too. I saw yew runnin' 'round, fasta' than wind." Perth laughed, resting his elbows against the worn wooden table. Skadi flourished under her older brother's preening, it meant more to her than words of praise from her older cousin.

"I saw you fighting those gronckle, very good." Skadi said, settling down next to her brother with a plate of roast chicken and boiled vegetables. The food here wasn't too different than the food in Ireland, she was used to the minimal spread of palate.

"I'm really glad yer fittin' in 'ere, Skadi. Yer M'uter is p'roud a' ya." Olfar said, smiling at his youngest child. Skadi smiled, shifting awkwardly in her chair for a moment. Her mother, or "m'uter" as her father pronounced, really would be proud of her.

Skadi wanted to be just like her mother: brave, kind, excitable, and easy to talk to. Sighing, Skadi pushed her half eaten plate away before excusing herself up to the attic loft, which she had claimed as her room.

She suddenly wasn't feeling hungry anymore.