In Order To Survive

Rated; M for Mature
Pairing; Hiccup X Vera[OC]
Disclaimer; I do not own How To Train Your Dragon, movies or books. Everything belongs to Dreamworks or Cressida Cowell

*Author's Note; Also making it known now, so I don't forget to do it. I do not own the OC characters, Brenden Oliversen, Kelda Oliversen, Katja Oliversen, Eira Solveig, Matthias Baardson, or Frieda Knight. Matthias and Frieda belong to my best friend, XCrimson . MelodyX. Katja, Brenden, Kelda, and Eira belong to ShadowSpirit020. But I own Frode Knight, Henrik Anderson, Ander and Colden Kongur, Vera Grimborn, Olivia Holgerson, Brynjar Holt, and Lightheart. I also own a bunch of other OC's that I made. I'll get them on my Author's Profile as soon as I can so everyone knows for future reference. Thank you! -Nightstar Fury.*

The World Beyond

=Hiccup's POV=
[Monday, 3/1/2010-12 am]
[Isle of Berk; Barbaric Archipelago]

"Midnight at last," I whispered. My dragon warbled next to me as we stood on together on a high point of the island and looked down upon the village below. "Sorry, Dad. I know you forbid me from leaving, but I going too anyway because no matter what you say or believe; I know there's more out there. Besides; my best friend is a dragon. And Vikings hate dragons…I can't live here with Toothless, so it's best if I leave before you kill him and then either cast me out or kill me," I stated as my dragon nudged my arm. "Let's go, bud," I threw my leg over Toothless's neck and held the rope there before sitting down slowly. Toothless gave a huff and nodded; then he launched into the sky as we headed Southwest. I glanced back quickly and then looked forward again. "Time to see what lies beyond the Isle of Berk, and the boundary of the Archipelago," I said. Not long after leaving; I was able to look back and no longer see the island on which I grew up.

My name is Hiccup Haddock; I'm 14 today. I have auburn hair and green eyes. My parents are Stoick and Valka Haddock. My mother was taken by a dragon when I was a baby, and my father is Chief of the Tribe; the Hairy Hooligans. Technically, I'm my father's Heir to the Tribe, which means that when he retires from being the Chief; I'm supposed to take over. We're Vikings, and we live on an island called Berk in the Barbaric Archipelago. The Hooligan Tribe is not the only one either; there are about fifteen others around the Archipelago on different islands. Those would be Berserker, Bog-Burglar, Lava-Lout, Shivering Shores, Quiet Lifes, Uglithug, Bashem, Peaceable, Hysteria, Murderous, Visithug, Waterlands, Dragon Hunter, Outcast, and Meathead. Most of the islands have Heir's like me, but some don't, and I guess that works out however it does.

We're all Vikings who suffer bad dragon raids and never leave the Archipelago. We receive means of survival such as some foods, metals, paper, and whatnot through the traders who sail in and out of the boundaries. Everything else, we fish, grow, or hunt. Back to dragon raids; we don't know why it happens. Its been an ongoing war since Vikings first sailed to these islands, which is why I know there has to be more outside of the Archipelago. Dragons fly in and raid us. Attacking homes, people, taking livestock and food. There's really no end to it, and we characterize them by classifications, seven of them; Stoker, Tidal, Sharp, Tracker, Boulder, Mystery, and Strike. Now…Strike Class dragons are the elite ones because of their speed and abilities. There are only five dragons in this group; Skrill, Triple Stryke, Threadtail, Wooly Howl, Snow Wraith, and finally, the Night Fury. My best friend happens to be a Night Fury, and why this is bad is because Night Furies, theoretically, are the unholy offspring of lightning and death itself.

Our Dragon Manual on Berk says nothing about them other than; Speed Unknown. Size Unknown. The unholy offspring of lightning and death itself. Never engage this dragon. Your only chance is to hide and pray it does not find you. Well, me being me ended up finding a wounded one. And I learned something very important that could change everything if I was only given a chance to show the Vikings, which I knew I wouldn't because they are ridiculously stubborn. I learned that everything we know about these dragons is wrong because they are being controlled by a much bigger dragon that lives on an island about an hour or two West of Berk. So I met Toothless, and it took a little time, but I gained his trust, and we bonded. When Toothless healed, we were sitting together on Raven Point, a location on Berk and sitting under it is The Cove.

Toothless and I talked, more like I did and he just answered with his noises, facial expressions, or head nods. I knew he was going to leave, and I said I wished I could go too since I didn't fit in with my Tribe. I'm regarded as a troublesome runt and go figure, that's what my name means. I'm a Hiccup, which is the Viking name for the runt of the litter. I'm an only child, obviously, but I'm scrawny and apparently only get in everyone's way, or I don't do anything right. I'm picked on by the kids my age, the village never wants me around, and I'm my father's biggest disappointment. So, Toothless and I were sitting together and when I mentioned wanting to get away; he kind'a motioned for me to get on his back. I was nervous, but I did it. We flew for a bit, and I realized that with me riding him, we could leave. And that's where I'm at now, on Toothless with a few supplies and clothes in a bag on my back as we're leaving the Archipelago.

What choice did I have? I couldn't keep Toothless on Berk, and if anyone ever found out; he'd be killed, then I would either get cast out of the Tribe or killed for treason. I couldn't let Toothless get killed, and why should I stay where I'm not wanted? So the choice was to leave with Toothless and never look back. I didn't know where we'd go, but I knew there was more outside of the walls of the Archipelago, so I was going to explore and live my life with my best friend. I'm sure we could handle whatever came our way, who was gonna give me trouble when I had a Night Fury? Likely no one.

"Alright, Toothless…Let's see what this world has to offer!" I smiled. Toothless roared as he shot forward with a burst of speed.

. . .

*Author's Note; Okay, so nobody gets ridiculously confused on how I'm doing speech/dialogue. People in Denmark will have this; "Normal speech in the quotation marks." This is them speaking Danish, but written in English. Now, when Hiccup is around them until he learns Danish; he'll be speaking Old Norse/Icelandic, which I will display like this; "Bold font in quotations." But everything will be written in English. Make sense? I hope so because that's the best way I can explain it. -Nightstar.*

=Normal POV=
[7 am]
[Kingdom of Denmark; Copenhagen Military Base]

Hiccup didn't know where he was, but everything looked different from above. Hiccup couldn't make sense of the things he saw, and the weather wasn't helping any either. Looking down, Hiccup saw people walking around outside in matching clothes. "Let's keep going, Toothless. We need to find a place to set down, eat, and rest," Hiccup informed his Night Fury.

"Let's move, soldiers! We got work to do!" called a male voice. The weather was less than stellar; thunder, lightning, rain, and strong winds. For the Danish Military; this didn't matter. There was training to be done, so rain or shine; they would train. However, overhead; something in the air caught the attention of one member in the group.

"U-Um, sir?" the male rose his hand.

"What is it?" the commanding officer stated. The male pointed up at something black flying through the sky.

"What is that?" the man inquired. Those in the group looked up to see the same thing.

"Appears to be a dragon. It's nothing new, we see them from time to time. They just pass over and mind their own, as do we, some come on," the commanding officer remarked.

"Actually, Lieutenant Kongur…I think he was referring to what was on the dragon's back," another male stated while peering through his binoculars. "I could be wrong…But that looks like a person; a young boy to be exact," he added.

"Give me those," the commanding officer, Lieutenant Kongur, stated as the male handed over the binoculars and looked through them. A moment later, he lowered them. "By the Gods, you are right. I confess that I have never seen a dragon like that before, nor do I recall there being a record of humans able to ride dragons…" he informed, a bit surprised while looking again.

A flash of lightning in the dark skies above caused Toothless to stop fast and rear back. Hiccup slipped off and began falling. "Toothless!" the Night Fury roared and quickly dove down after his friend, as they neared the ground; Toothless wrapped his wings around Hiccup, and then hit the ground and rolled to a stop, laying still.

"What the hell was that Lieutenant Kongur!" another male hurried out with some others, and soon a large group of other training soldiers began to arrive.

"It was a dragon, Major General. One we've never seen before, and there was a young boy riding on it's back. Lightning struck, and the boy fell off; the dragon caught him, and both landed just there," Lieutenant Kongur relayed quickly.

"Have the trainees stay back…This doesn't happen, and we must approach the situation with the utmost care," the Major General informed.

"Aye, sir," a few replied as Toothless started coming to and growling a bit as it opened his green eyes and peered around.

"Let's step back a bit," Lieutenant Kongur suggested. After the people did so, Toothless relaxed a little and opened its wings revealing Hiccup to them. The people took in what they say; a young boy with auburn hair between the dragon's four legs. The boy was in his early teens, with freckles on his face wearing a long sleeve green shirt, brown pants, and boots. Toothless let Hiccup go, and stood up slowly, nudging him and licking his face a few times with a couple of whines.

Hiccup turned his head slowly, groaning. "Toothless…" the boy mumbled weakly. The dragon warbled and nudged boy again. The boy put a hand to his head and slowly sat up as the dragon nuzzled his face, purring a little. "It's okay, bud. Just a hard landing…" the boy said.

"I, uh, don't think he speaks our language…" one of the soldiers mentioned. Instantly, Hiccup tensed up and scrambled back against Toothless as he wrapped its tail around Hiccup's figure and began growling.

"Easy…Easy, Dragon. We're not going to hurt you," the Major General put his hands up showing he meant no harm.

"Who are you?" Hiccup asked.

"It's alright, son. We're not going to hurt you or your dragon…" the Major General asked slowly. Hiccup stared at the man who hesitantly stepped forward towards him. Hiccup gave a shrug and short nod that he kind of understood them. "Can you tell me your name?"

"I-I'm Hiccup," Hiccup replied.

"He barely understands us, and we can't understand him," Lieutenant Kongur sighed. Hiccup frowned a bit, so he couldn't communicate with them? Or maybe he could. Hiccup grabbed something out of his bag and wrote; I am Hiccup on a piece of paper.

"And he doesn't write our language either…" the Major General sighed looking at the words on the paper; they looked like symbols.

"Wait, wait!" a man broke through. Hiccup eyed him; he was middle-aged with brown hair and light brown eyes. "That is Elder Futhark; it's a runic alphabet, Vikings use it. I studied it in college…"

"Sergeant Anderson, are you suggesting this boy is a Viking? Like, swords, shields type of Viking?" Lieutenant Kongur inquired. Hiccup quickly nodded his head.

"See?" the man Hiccup saw as Sergeant Anderson motioned. "Remember that there are people out there who still live the old ways despite us being in the modern age. It's not the first time we've had outsiders in our midst over the years, but this is the first time we've seen someone riding a dragon…Just…Let me try talking to him…?"

"Your call, Major General," Lieutenant Kongur stated.

"We've nothing to lose by trying. Go ahead, Sergeant Anderson," Major General informed. The man nodded as he stepped closer to Hiccup.

"My name is Henrik Anderson. How much can you understand?" Henrik asked slower.

"When you talk like that, almost all," Hiccup said.

"Okay, he's speaking Old Norse, the language used by the Vikings," Henrik enlightened "Closest language to Old Norse was…Icelandic, so let me try it his way," Henrik took a breath. "Can you understand me better like this?"

"Yes! Perfectly!" Hiccup exclaimed.

"Great. Alright, so…My name is Henrik Anderson. What is yours?" Henrik inquired.

"I'm Hiccup Haddock, and this is Toothless," Hiccup responded.

"Can you tell me where you came from?" Henrik asked gently.

"Isle of Berk in the Archipelago," Hiccup answered.

"Could you show me on a map?" Henrik wondered now. Hiccup turned and dug something out of his satchel and unrolled it on the ground revealing it to be a map. Hiccup placed his finger on Berk and looked at Henrik, who was taking in the rest of the map.

"The top of his map reads as The Barbaric Archipelago, which now is known as the Faroe Islands," Henrik informed those around him. "Hiccup, are there others like you still living on these islands?"

"Yes. There are sixteen Viking-inhabited islands in total," Hiccup stated. "The Tribes don't leave their islands much, and never out of the Archipelago; they say there is no reason to change what works, so they stay put. I left because I know there's more beyond our borders…"

"You ran away from home?" Henrik blinked.

"With Toothless, yes. We've been flying all night, left when the moon was directly overhead," Hiccup told Henrik.

"What has he told you?" Lieutenant Kongur asked.

"His name is Hiccup Haddock, and the dragon he calls Toothless. Hiccup is from the Faroe Islands, on an island called Berk. He stated that there are 16 other tribes besides his own that inhabit 16 of the eighteen islands. Also, that he's been flying since midnight," Henrik reported. "Viking Tribes, like in the history books as Hiccup's map is titled Barbaric Archipelago," he added.

"Anything else?" the Major General questioned.

"The other tribes don't leave the Archipelago because they like the way things are, as I assume the Viking way or old-fashioned," Henrik stated. "He ran away from his home,"

"Why? The boy can't be more twelve or thirteen," Lieutenant Kongur remarked

Henrik looked back at Hiccup now. "Why did you run away from home? I'm sure your parents will be worried,"

Hiccup looked down a bit, shaking his head. "By the way, I'm 14-years-old for his information. And also, I ran away because I don't fit in with the Vikings, any of them, so I left,"

Henrik frowned. "What do you mean you don't fit in with them?" he asked, then realized he didn't say it in Icelandic for him.

Hiccup thought a moment. "I-I..am…different," he said, shocking Henrik. "My…mother…is dead. My father…cares more…about the Tribe than…me even though I'm his…Heir," he continued.

"Heir to what?" Henrik asked.

"My…father is Chief of the Tribe, and I would…take over when he retires or if he dies unexpectedly," Hiccup informed.

"He needs to go home," the Major General said. "This could cause many problems. The Vikings could start a war with us,"

Hiccup got scared, backing against Toothless again, which made the dragon start growing. "No. I-I can't…Go back…"

"Easy, lad…Easy…Why can't you go home?" Henrik said calmly.

"Vikings…hate dragons. We're at war with them, have been since Vikings first sailed to the Archipelago…" Hiccup started. "A couple of weeks ago…I found Toothless wounded in the woods. I earned his trust, and we became friends…If my Tribe, any of the Vikings found out…They would…kill Toothless, and then I or I'd get cast out on my own anyway…"

"Hang on; your own Tribe, your father…Would throw you off the island or kill you for being around a dragon?" Henrik asked. Hiccup nodded to him.

"It's treason, siding with the enemy…Dragons aren't bad; they are just…Misunderstood, like me…I'm different from everyone else back home. I don't have friends, and everyone just pretends like I don't exist unless my dad is yelling at me for something. My dad hates dragons because my mom was carried off by one when I was a baby. Dad said that my mom wouldn't kill a dragon, so it took and killed her; that was 14 years ago. Please? I-I can't go back…" Hiccup pleaded.

"What's he saying?" the Major General questioned.

"Vikings are at war with dragons; Hiccup left because he's not like other Vikings, and he committed treason by befriending a dragon. The Vikings would cast him from his island, or kill him for such a crime," Henrik explained. "Hiccup can't return to them,"

"The Vikings won't wage war with you; they're too afraid to leave their islands to see this world," Hiccup informed.

"Hiccup says the Vikings never leave the Archipelago out of fear, so they won't wage war with us," Henrik translated.

"We live in the same world, how can they fear it?" the Major General inquired.

"Because of change. We know there is more beyond our borders of the Archipelago, and we've heard tales from others who travel to these places about how different things are. The other Chieftains don't like what they hear, so we keep things the way they are. The tribes don't wear things as you do; we all wear what I do. We don't have these kinds of things,"Hiccup motioned to the buildings around them, the lights, vehicles, even the guns on the military officer's belts.

"I think what Hiccup is saying, is that the Vikings live as Vikings did in the Viking Age. They live in their time, not the modern one like we do. They stay…Primitive," Henrik explained. "What Hiccup means is that his people back home know nothing of what lies beyond their islands and past the borders of the Archipelago," Hiccup nodded, confirming that Henrik was correct.

"Alright, so we have a teenager on the run from his home with his dragon, which he can't return to because of their laws…What do we do?" Lieutenant Kongur looked at the Major General now. The higher ranking man rubbed his face and sighed.

"We cannot simply let him go, and it clear we can't send him home either. I understand the Vikings have their ways and laws, but he is just a young boy…" the Major General muttered. "We need to know more about this; I thought any descendants of Vikings had more than integrated into this period, but now I'm learning that we have actual Vikings, still living their ways among us…And this war with the dragons…It cannot be left alone,"

Hiccup got the idea of what he was saying. Hiccup tapped Henrik to get his attention now as the man looked at him. "I can help. I know all the islands, the Chieftains, and Heirs…Tribe names….I can help them learn more about the Vikings and Dragons too…Just don't send me back there, please? I'll do anything…"

"Hiccup says that he can provide information about the dragons and Vikings, just don't send him back there…" Henrik looked at the Major General. "He's got nowhere else to go, Major General Olsen…He could stay here,"

"He's not a resident of Denmark, Sergeant Anderson; there is likely no record of him anywhere if this is as primitive as I'm being led to believe," Major General Olsen stated.

"Technically, he is. The Kingdom of Denmark reaches to both Greenland and the Faroe Islands, sir. Sure, there may not be a record of him…But we can explain the situation, get him legal…Can't we?" Lieutenant Kongur suggested.

"He'd have to have an address…This is going to be complicated, but it can be done I suppose," Major General Olsen sighed. "For the time being; he will remain here on the base until we get things sorted out. And nobody breathes a word of this to anyone else. We don't want to cause a panic or raise questions until we ourselves have answers to them. Sergeant Anderson, as you understand and speak his language; I'm placing you in charge of him,"

"Sir, yes sir," Henrik saluted. "Come, Hiccup. We'll get you checked out, something to eat, a shower, clean clothes, and perhaps a bed to rest in as you've been up all night flying. We can talk later," Henrik offered his hand to Hiccup, which Hiccup took and Henrik pulled him up.

"Can…Toothless stay too?" Hiccup asked.

"Well, he can't be in the buildings because he's a bit large, but he'll be close enough outside for you to see him, okay?" Henrik replied. Hiccup nodded as Henrik led him towards a building and Toothless followed faithfully. Hiccup wasn't sure what would happen next, but as it stood now; he could stay in this place and had been right. There was a whole other world beyond the boundaries, and Hiccup was determined to learn everything he was able to about it.