Hi guys and gals, this is my first fanfic attempt. I loved HTTYD and wanted to do something like fanfics, but never really had a place to put em up. So here is the first chapter of He who was There. The name may change depending on how the story develops. I apologize for this being a bit boring, but it'll pick up, I
promise.

I DON'T OWN ANYTHING, DREAMWORKS OWNS IT ALL

Hiccup woke up to a warm day on Berk, which was nice because warm days were scarce. The normal chill that gripped the island held tight for nine months a year, but for a few weeks, it became warm. This was usually the time when the majority of hunting was done, and also a time when people could really enjoy themselves. Even though, Thought Hiccup, Vikings usually enjoy themselves by killing something.

He had already gone through his normal morning routine, rolling to the side of his bed to put on his metal foot and discovering that Toothless had once again stolen it. The following tussle was in all reality not a tussle, as it was Hiccup demanding his foot back for ten minutes before Toothless had his fill of morning fun.

"Son! You awake?" Stoick yelled up the stairs.

"Yeah, coming dad," Hiccup answered. He was well aware that his dad wanted to have a...shall we say...father son catch up and update day. Since the battle a year ago when he lost his leg, Hiccup and his father had not had much time at all to gather their thoughts and organize themselves together. The Haddock household had not been on the same page for a full year, and after today it would be. Hiccup was excited to spend a day with his father, due to the fact that before a year ago, Hiccup was the village screw up. He was a clear disgrace to his father, the Chief, and everyone made sure that he knew it.

Whether it took the form of taunts, or of straight verbal assault, everyone in the village had taken a shot at him during his years of one clumsy disaster after another. Even the five young vikings that he now considered his closest friends were among the worst offenders.

"Hurry up son! We want to get out of town before the buffoons start trouble that I have to fix!" Stoick yelled again.

Hiccup quickly finished getting dressed and proceeded down the stairs to where his father was waiting. There stood Stoick the Vast, the Chief of Berk, and Hiccups father. The giant man stood there holding two seemingly puny...nothings. "Dad, what are we going to do?" Hiccup asked, slightly worried that his father had no tools or implements with him.

Stoick clapped his son on the shoulder, "Well son, I decided that I would catch our meal today, but lets go. Is Toothless coming?" He asked with a glance at the loft. Hiccups father and Toothless had a mutually tense relationship, neither one particularly fond of the other, and mainly keeping away from each others throats through mutual respect. Toothless knew that Stoick was the best dragon killer, before the final battle, and Stoick knew that Toothless was by far the deadliest dragon out there. So, in lieu of a homicidal battle, the two of them respected each other and enjoyed the one thing they could both love, which was of course, Hiccup.

"I don't think so dad. I asked him to stay here for today and wait for me to come back," Hiccup answered.

Leaving the house, Hiccup breathed the crispy morning air and let it out in a whoosh. Life was going well for him recently. The village had not gone through any secular disasters in quite some time, Hiccups friends were all doing well training dragon riders, and his secret relationship with one Astrid Hofferson was blooming. Even though she had publicly kissed him once he woke from his battle with the Dragon Queen, they had done nothing else to suggest a relationship. They didn't even speak to each other any differently than before and the village opinion that the aggressive, strong and beautiful Astrid wouldn't have anything to do with Hiccup helped out greatly. Even the other young viking boys had resumed attempts at wooing her, which had been met with either solid refusal or a solid thrashing.

Life if good. Hiccup thought, sighing again. It was light outside, but it was still early morning so most of the villagers weren't up yet. Hiccup and his father walked at as brisk a pace as possible, considering Hiccups prosthetic, towards the forest and the lake that they would spend their time at. The warmth had obviously spread to the woodland creatures, because the forest was alive with activity. Birds flew overhead in large flocks, elk ran joyfully through the trees, and even little animals such as squirrels were darting around.

Arriving at the lake, Hiccup and his father set up camp after Stoick pulled two logs over for them to sit on. Hiccup gathered firewood and set up a spit, ringing it with river stones from nearby. Hiccup had plenty of practice setting up fires, because while he was training Toothless after they met, Hiccup had been out in the woods nearly every day, and he had to cook for himself. Toothless still wasn't sure why Hiccup didn't like raw fish.

Soon, his father rumbled through the bushes, a dead elk slung over his shoulder like a child. Hiccup guffawed. His father still managed to surprise him even after all these years of living together. Stoick had brought no weapons with him on this trip, apart from a skinning knife, yet he had still managed to catch and kill an elk with his bare hands. Not bad for the man who took a dragons head off when he was a baby. "Is that fire ready yet?" his father called.

"Yeah dad! You can bring that elk over," Hiccup answered.

They spent the next hour or so laughing and telling stories of things happening in the village, how Gobber always needed new underpants, and how the dragons were affecting their lives. After the elk was done cooking, they tore into it, stuffing themselves with the warm meat.

"Well son, its time we got to the real reason that we're here," Stoick said, putting down the large flank steak he was chewing on. Hiccups eyes slanted as he listened. The real reason? What did I do now? He thought.

"Well dad, sorry for whatever it is I'm in trouble for," Hiccup said roughly, shooting a wry smile at his dad.

"You didn't do anything wrong Hiccup. We have to talk about your future. I had already married your mother before I was your age. You need to start thinking about female partnership before all the lovely ones get scooped up." Stoick said, very seriously. Hiccup was speechless. He knew that intimacy was a glaring matter, but he wasn't prepared for his dad to come right out and basically say 'pick a woman and marry her'. It wouldn't work that way for Hiccup. He earned the love of his girlfriend through very, very unorthodox methods. There had been no courting, no dates, no sharing of feelings for the most part. He had earned her through his actions, his staunch belief that breaking a seven generation tradition was the right thing to do. He risked everything to stop the homicidal lifestyle of the village, and he won.

That's what won him Astrid. Not being strong, not being beautiful, and not winning her with gifts. His character and mind were his strongest traits.

"Well dad, I understand that, but who on earth do you think would choose me? I'm not a lump of muscles, like Snotlout, nor am I a never ending flow of information, like Fishlegs. I don't know about Ruffnut and Tuffnut, but regardless! Who would pick Hiccup the Skinny, Weak, Clumsy and otherwise unappealing?" Hiccup wondered if his rant could fool his father, and he was lucky.

"Look Hiccup, I know that you're at a disadvantage and all that, but I don't see a reason why you can't get a nice wife. I mean, the Hofferson girl gave you that kiss and all...," Stoick's eyes twinkled for a second, "Wait...Hiccup, what about Astrid? Doesn't she fancy you?" he asked.

Crap, could he have found something to give me away? "I wonder which god would be kind enough to make Astrid fancy me," Hiccup groaned. He hoped that his pity routine would work once again, as it had many times for him before. Once again, he was lucky.

"Alright I suppose I was getting a little hopeful. Don't rush it Hiccup, just find yourself someone who will make you happy," Stoick mumbled.

The rest of that day progressed without incident and, upon reflection, Hiccup thought it was in fact a great success. He and his father had some great conversations about the state of the village, the state of inter-village affairs, and even exchanged some ideas about large barns to house the dragons. Hiccup was on his was to Meade Hall for some food when he was stopped by his mentor Gobber, "Hiccup! Hold on there!" he called, drawing Hiccups attention away from his thoughts.

"Hi Gobber." Hiccup said as the man hobbled closer. "Can you work late at the forge tonight? I have to do something...uh...personal." Gobber said, scratching his head a little.

"Yeah, that's fine Gobber. Actually, I'll head there right now." Hiccup said, welcoming the chance to be alone for a while.

Hiccup loved working his late nights at the forge, because it gave him time to think, and make up new gadgets and gizmo's to play with. Entering the smithy, he found it to be cold, a clear sign that Gobber had not been there for at least a few hours. Soon enough though, after firing up the furnaces, it was hot and sweltering inside, drawing Hiccup to remove his shirt. As he went to put his smith gloves on, he noticed both his arm and chest. Scars riddled his body, all over his chest and arms, stretching down to his hands. The one unfortunate thing about working in the hot conditions is that clothes become very uncomfortable. Once removed though, each spark, each slip of metal, even walking past tools could result in a gash, burn and ultimately anything could leave a scar that nobody knew of. Only Gobber and his father knew about Hiccups scars from the forge, because he were the only people Hiccup trusted enough to tell. As this thought flew through his head, a new worry began to creep up on him.

Astrid.

The girl hated beyond all words to see Hiccup hurt, but before that topic even began, the question of why he had never shown or even told her about them would arise. Why hadn't he told her? Hiccup decided long ago that he wanted Astrid to sleep at night, instead of worrying about him and his forge work. She was beautiful, she was strong-willed, but when she worried about something, she REALLY worried about it. Several times Hiccup had woken in the middle of the night to find Astrid throwing tiny pebbles at his window, wanting his comfort about something that was eating at her. Not minding this, Hiccup still believed that Astrid needed to sleep at night to maintain her energetic and active daily routine.

She, of all people, woke up as soon as the first shred of sunlight hit the water around Berk. She, of all people, was the one who had been training in the arena for five hours before anyone else even stirred. So, if she didn't sleep, then she was in a bad mood. When she was in a bad mood, the general populace ended up with bruises.

Astrid's temper was legendary, and people mostly avoided her when her temper flared, making calming her down a herculean task for him. Toothless always helped though, playfully kidnapping her in the middle of nowhere and taking her for a flight and, even when taken against her will, flying had grown to be one of Astrid's passions, and it soothed her fire quickly.

Tapping away at swords, shields, axes and other sorts of things Gobber had lined up for him, Hiccup's thoughts swirled about in his head, occupying his time nicely. His work on these various projects soon extended well into the night and early morning, the constant hammering forming a beat that Hiccup managed to time his strikes with. Soon though, his tired eyes began to catch up with him, so he stoked down the furnace and retired to his little office in the back. The cot there didn't have as many furs as his bed at home, but the low burning furnace gave more than enough heat for the forge to be comfortable.

Astrid Hofferson's day began early. She hated the thought of wasting her time sleeping when she could be doing something useful. Rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, she quickly threw her clothes on, topped off by her token armored skirt and shoulder pads. After briefly stuffing herself with some cold mutton, she began her morning run. The run usually took her into the forest past the cove where she met Toothless, and to a coastline further down the island. She loved the forest in the morning, the crisp air, the quiet tranquility before the animals stirred for the day, the soft calls of early birds. It all reminded her how peaceful the village was right now. She slowed to a walk, enjoying the morning and picking different flowers to take home to her mother.

Reaching the near coastline, she walked along the beach, feeling the spray of the ocean on her face when a roar brought her head to the sky, and she spotted her Deadly Nadder, Azure, flying overhead. Laughing, Astrid ran towards the dragon as she landed, stroking her chin and crest spikes. Azure, being A Nadder, was vain to a fault, and cared more about her appearance than even a princess would. Her daily preening would consume hours.

Ever since Hiccup had shown Berk that dragons could be friends instead of prey, things were much easier, and life changed. Hunting could now be done from the back of a dragon, which made it much faster, even if the dragon ate half the kill before you could get to it. Building became easier, travel became easier and everything just got simpler.

That's funny. I haven't seen Hiccup since before yesterday. She thought. She hadn't seen him at dinner, and nor had she seen Gobber, which meant that Hiccup's night was probably spent at the forge. Which also meant that he was sleeping there.

Alone.

Smiling at the thought of them being together alone, Astrid got on Azure and they took of back towards the town. While on the way though, Astrid spied a massive, black cloud bank on the horizon. It looked like the run of good weather on Berk would come to an end in a windy fashion. Shaking off the thought, she hurried back to the village, hoping not too many people were up yet. To avoid unnecessary attention, she left Azure on the edges of town and walked in. Her dragon being outside the forge would sell her relationship with Hiccup out faster than a viking could yell "Fire!"

Pleased that only a couple people were out and about, and none who would be too interested in what she's doing, Astrid quickened her pace to the doors of the smithy. Quickly, she opened the door and slipped inside, elated to see that nothing was awake inside, and the furnace was burning low to warm the place. That was only done when Hiccup was sleeping there.

Padding quietly to his little back office, Astrid prepared herself to surprise him. Whipping back the curtain and grinning wildly, Astrid found...nothing. He wasn't in his cot, which was a surreal disappointment for her. Where did he go? If the furnace is lit, someone should be here, and I can't smell Gobber, so it must be Hiccup. She thought.

"Astrid?" Came the voice that she so loved to hear, "Hiccup! I knew you were here!"

She flung her arms around his neck and dragged him in for a kiss. After a few moments they broke the kiss but remained embraced in each others arms, "I missed you yesterday," Astrid said, her eyes twinkling.

"I missed you too. Sorry I wasn't at dinner, Gobber wanted me to work late," He answered, tussling her hair, a thing he gleefully enjoyed doing, and a thing that she wished he wouldn't do as much.

"So what brings you to the musty, nasty smelling forge?" Hiccup asked, moving towards the furnace to stoke it for the days work. "Well, I was just thinking about you and the dragons and all that, and I got lonely," she answered with mischievous glint in her eye, "When can we go to the forest and spend some time together?" She finished.

Hiccup thought for a moment, "Well, I'd say after that storm hits. The weather will be nasty for a few days, so I don't think it would be a good idea to head anywhere far from the village till its over."

Astrid wasn't pleased with that news, but it made sense to her. Getting caught in a storm while in the forest would be very unpleasant, for both them and those who came to fetch them. Oh well.

Hiccup sat in the forge with Gobber, the twins, Fishlegs and Snotlout two days later. The storm had crashed upon Berk with a vengeance, the winds and driving rain causing heavy damages all over. The first night, there was a calm, in which it was decided that most of the teens would assemble in one place to act as a type of emergency crew if something bad happened. "Well this is damn boring," Snotlout complained loudly.

"Well stop sitting there and actually do something useful," Gobber yelled at him as the viking rushed out to the outhouse.

"Yeah Snotty, stop being like my sister,"

"Shut up, idiot! I'm doing more than you are here!" Ruffnut retorted.

"Are not!"

"Are too!"

"Are not!"

"Are too!"

With the final words, Tuffnut dropped the basket he was holding and dove after his sister. They rolled around, grabbing, ripping and punching as they usually do. Hiccup sighed, watching them. He'd wanted Astrid to be here with them, but she had opted to stay home with her mother and little brother tonight. His father had most of the village go to Meade Hall to avoid the storm, but many decided to stay at home.

"I must say, ladies and gentleman, that this is one of the strongest storms I've ever seen," Gobber said as he trundled in from the outhouse.

"Its like idiot here pissed off the gods, as usual," Ruffnut scoffed, and the fight began anew.

Three days later, the storm broke. Mostly. It was still dreary and a bit rainy, but there weren't trees flying anymore. Some of the houses in the village had been completely blown away, leaving much work to be done, but Hiccup figured that he was not cut out for much physical work, so he managed to slip away into the forest. It had been "arranged" that Astrid would be on a hunting trip with Azure, so they were guaranteed to meet in the woods.

Walking along a path that he had memory upon memory with, Hiccup reflected what his father had said to him a few days earlier. Before all the lovely ones get scooped up. Could that really happen? Would Astrid leave him if he didn't act to keep her forever? It had been eating at him constantly.

He wanted to believe that Astrid would never, ever leave him, no matter the circumstances, but the possibility was there. As he had said to his father, he wasn't physically attractive at all. If it came down to physical attraction, Hiccup might as well marry a rock.

He continued on down the path, kicking a little rock back and forth, trying to keep it as straight as possible. His attention was so focused on the rock that he walked straight into a smiling Astrid, "Whoa! Oh-uh..hi Astrid." Hiccup stuttered. The past year had given Hiccup a height advantage over Astrid, which she was none too pleased about, but it did help that Hiccup wasn't staring at her chest the whole time when they spoke.

"Hey there," Astrid said.

"Hey there beautiful," Hiccup said, smiling at her with his goofy smile. Grabbing her hand, they set off down the path.

"Some storm huh? five days of wind and rain, you'd think Thor was having a bad week," Astrid chirped.

"Yeah, the damage is heavy, but I'm glad nobody got seriously hurt or anything." Hiccup answered, trying to sound well-informed, but only succeeding in sounding like a goof.

Nevertheless, Astrid giggled at him and gave him his favorite look of all time. She would partially tilt her head to the left, her bangs revealing half of her left eye. While doing this, her head then tilts up, the sunlight making her skin glow. Hey eyes would get large, their ice blue depths pulling him in, just begging him for a kiss.

She always got one.

Soon after, Hiccup and Astrid strolled down a far beach, holding hands and giggling about good times over the last year. Further down the beach was a small cave which led to a smaller beach that was rarely visited, which made it Hiccup and Astrid's favorite spot to be on warm days. However, today's visit would definitely not go as planned.

As they walked through the cave, Hiccup spotted an interesting looking rock which was reflecting the sunlight a bit, and stopped to take a closer look while Astrid continued on through to the next beach. Hiccup was deep in thought when a loud scream interrupted him.

It was Astrid's scream, for sure.

Well, that's the first chapter, please read and review and pull no punches on those. Lemme know if its a bit long, or there should be more dialogue, etc. As I said, I'm new at this. PLEASE R&R!