There isn't enough young Hiccup and Astrid on here. I love reading about them as kids :)

From the moment he was born, through his battle with the Red Death and beyond...Hiccup was a Better Man than Berk was as a whole...and more than they deserved.

Despite the fact that he was the Chief's Son and Heir, no one ever contributed to his becoming a Viking, by helping train him or guide him to become what Stoick and Berk dictated a Son of Berk demanded he become.

A chance lost when his Mom died, Hiccup had to suffer neglect, disappointment, raging embarrassment, open disparagement, shunning and rejection...and that was at Home, with Stoick, his Dad...Something that was imprinted onto Berk overall, as it was SOP for their Chief to display...daily.

Astrid was the only and last opportunity for Hiccup to grow from a childhood of wonder to a path to 'worthy adulthood' in a Viking Village. The opportunity lost when Hiccup's inability to exist or function at the level of his peers was too great for him to overcome...

Left to his own devices, Hiccup relied on what he knew, what he could do and was kept under the watchful eye of Gobber, to keep the dysfunctional non-Viking from underfoot with all the other worthy Vikings...Only for him to exist as a blacksmith's apprentice, with some time to work in his inventions or gadgets that he only 'field-tested' at their unveiling...not a good choice for inventors...

Frustrated at his inability to toe-the-line of Viking indoctrination and dogma, Hiccup was relegated to a life of a shunned nothing...

Can't become a 'Viking' if you are neglected or ignored, and receive no instruction or training...to become a Viking...can you?

His only successful invention, though no one saw it in action or believed the results, led him to change the lives of many in Berk...in the aftermath of saving their lives in the process. Nearly sacrificing his life and losing a leg in the process, Berk's sudden 'discovery' of the prodigy in their midst always smacked of too little, too late, to me...

After violating every tenant of 'Viking-hubris' known to them, the Disowned-Traitor...of a hiccup, with an 'enemy' at his side, saved all who would have Blood-Eagled the Useless-Runt-hiccup to teach him a lesson for defying their dogma...'upon their return' from showing that Dragon what was what, from 'True Vikings'...

Now a Hero to Berk...and the Chief of Berk, for killing, up until that moment, the largest Dragon Berk had ever seen, Hiccup forgave all for 15 years of being crapped on by the very same people who never lifted a finger to help him become a 'Viking', and instead, relegated him to near-banishment while they amused themselves with his 'Useless Plight' as the Village Idiot...

Just because he was more intelligent than he was supposed to be...in a world where anything less than cold-brute strength was the only accepted way to be...a Viking.

Astrid's fade from his life was inevitable, from how she chose to live her life...and how Hiccup's was left to the winds. Astrid, after receiving years of training for the life of a warrior, while watching Hiccup's attempts to do so disastrously dissolve each time he tried to follow with a body that was never trained to be a warrior...drifted further and further away as life on Berk dictated such...to her.

Though he tried his best to become a Viking Warrior, with disappointing results...for those who expected glorious success like they were accustomed to, they neglected to notice an undersized child was failing to manipulate over-sized adult weapons in his 'failure to become a Viking'...

Despite all of that, Hiccup still rallied his acquaintances to help him save Berk from their own Viking-Hubris, recover his best friend and still come out alive...though a half-leg short in the process.

Again, now a Hero to Berk, those very same Vikings who crapped on the Useless-runt of Berk, had to step back and see what they had nearly crushed beneath their feet because of their Hubris as Vikings...which nearly led to the extinction of Berk. Still seeing them as not much more than a Mob than a Tribe, I can't help but wonder if their attention span regarding what the least of them, by Viking Standards, did to save them will only last beyond the Feast held in Honor for Hiccup having saved them from the Hallmark of Viking Hubris that was Stoick the Vast...and the Viking Way.

Realizing she unfairly distanced herself from Hiccup and shunned him because he wasn't practicing the 'Viking Way', Astrid is the first, besides Stoick trying to make up what he disgustedly walked away from these last 10 years, to try to make amends for neglecting a friendship over 'becoming a Viking Warrior' and repulsing all that didn't fit that mold.

She's honest with herself about what he means to her, what she finally saw in him that he didn't know was there-but was living it at the same time, what that first ride on Toothless meant for her and Hiccup, and that if there is more to explore about becoming more than friends, with Hiccup...

She's going to start by learning more about Hiccup, whether she could fall in love with him or not...Impress her, she thinks he has to do...eh? It's an open road ahead of him...and her, and I think she's going to be amazed at what she learns about him, while he's learning about it at the same time...

And, she's probably going to want to be a part of what Hiccup is, what he's going to become and where he will take all those who want to be there with him.

Eventually, she may be the 'Sunrise' in his life, every day after a big day, down the road.

CB73

This story was heartwarming, fun, and really amazing. You made each snippet feel like the movie, and created plausible reasons for why Astrid didn't treat him like the others did. This theme was brilliantly threaded through this story, interspersed with snapshots of Hiccup's struggle with being different, Stoick's disappointment, Gobber's fond exasperation, and growing up.

This story was well done. Thank you for writing this! It's definitely going in my bookmarks.

Also, just found out that you're the author of the "Guardian of Screwing Up" RotG series. I remember reading it a few years back, and then losing track of it. I really enjoyed that series, and I hope you're having luck getting published originally.

Thanks again!

I really loved and I mean LOVED this fanfic!It’s so amazing!I can’t even put it into words!

This is great! Very touching. Chap 7 is what got me the most. Especially the "And maybe, just maybe, he could stop waking up in the morning feeling disappointed that he woke up as himself." Hit too close to my heart. xD

This is the most freaking adorable thing I have read for a very long time. Wow.

Wow. Ju...just wow. Thank you for writing this. I teared up while reading this at work (slow day) and had to use camouflage actions to somehow cover up the fact that I was really wiping my eyes from the co-workers sitting near me (especially the one sitting directly across from me).

Bookmarking this for future revisits. DD

Oh my god. I read the sentence village Pariah and have to ask if you watched a video on youtube with 30 seconds to Mars This Is War playing.

THECASTORBEAN

THUMBS UP.

This story was very beautifully done. There were times when my chest ached and I was close to tears. Even though the characters are from a children's book/cartoon, you wrote them in such a believable and realistically human way. Very, very well done.

Braiding his hair. Just like in httyd 2 ·

Hiccup was caught master to the bating 0_o

Oh my goodness, man! This was amazing! Do you always make stories like this? If you do, then I'm sure I'll read your books if you ever become one of the great and famous authors. Actually, you're already an amazing author, all you need to do is be famous. :) Good luck, and thanks for the story! :D

You could tell between the start of this story and the end that your writing had improved over the time-span in which you wrote it. A very beautiful story, and you pretty much explained the dynamic between Hiccup and Astrid very well, making it palpable and logical and in the end more romantic considering the first movie. You get an insight on Hiccup's emotions and goals, and the way Astrid maybe felt about him, and how he was spurned, in the end, by her words. It's pretty much how I imagine their relationship before HTTYD1 - I believe even DW admitted that Astrid LIKED Hiccup before Toothless and all, just she saw feelings as a weakness when wanting to become a dragon-slaying Viking.

All in all, a wonderful story with a great ending. Fantastic work.

beautiful ending.
:'D
loved it!

Fantastic! I loved it! That was really well written! "Mental gymnastics" haha, just awesome! Well done!