Hybrid

A DreamWorks' How to Train Your Dragon fanfic series by Raberba girl

List of themes by AngieChild, Variation 1 for the 100ThemesChallenge group on DeviantArt

Dedicated to Nightquesttarja & Le'letha

Summary: When Valka is carried off by Cloudjumper, baby Hiccup is taken as well. He grows up in the alpha Bewilderbeast's icy Sanctuary, eventually returning to Berk as a teenager who's more dragon than human. This is a series of related ficlets that will NOT be posted in chronological order.

Introduction: I put up a poll on my FFN profile about common fanfic plots in the HTTYD fandom. After voting, Nightquest PMed me to reiterate his request for a "Cloudjumper takes baby Hiccup along with Valka" fic, though I didn't think I'd be able to actually write it at first. Soon after that was when I learned that even if Le'letha does ever write a fic I requested of her (an AU of her story Nightfall where Valka is able to bring hybrid Hiccup back to Berk when he's old enough), it definitely won't be soon. It occurred to me that I could try writing my own version of it, and it would combine nicely with Nightquest's request.

This fic ought to be a multi-chapter, but I do not currently have the lifestyle/time/energy/discipline to be able to write proper multi-chaptered fanfiction. The only way this story will get written and posted at all is if I do it in my dumb messy non-chronological bits-and-pieces way. :/

I've learned from past experience that theme challenges help give a little bit of structure to my disorganized writing. The Kingdom Hearts fandom has tons and tons of theme challenges, but I couldn't find any for HTTYD, so I turned again to the 100ThemesChallenge group on DeviantArt, which isn't bound to any one fandom. I already started working on their Variation 3, mostly for Kingdom Hearts stories, but I figured I could devote a different Variation list to this story, Hybrid. I chose Variation 1 because its themes seem the most suitable overall, though there are a few themes from the other Variations that I'll use as substitutes. I don't expect to ever actually finish the challenge (100 themes is A LOT *sweatdrop*, and I still haven't finished any of the theme challenges I started for Kingdom Hearts the past few years), but at least even just attempting it will still get me somewhere.

Since Le'letha already wrote the "Valka raising Hiccup in the Sanctuary" idea so well, Hybrid is heavily influenced by her story Nightfall, particularly the flashback chapter from Valka's perspective. I'm not going to attempt to re-do any of the stuff that she's already done perfectly. The main differences are Toothless's backstory/family, the fact that Valka's still around as Hiccup grows up, and that I'll be using my own headcanon for dragon culture and stuff. (And I'm not even going to attempt to write dragon language the way Letha does. XD It's brilliant, but I can't replicate it.)

Introduction (theme 1) [rough draft]

They found a sunny hilltop where they could rest for lunch. Valka settled comfortably beside Cloudjumper and worked on her map, as two-year-old Hiccup crouched over the piece of paper she had given him and scribbled on it with a charcoal pencil. She was fairly certain that the scribbles were landforms, because when he said "Mama!" to get her attention and held up his work, he pointed out at the distant mountain.

"Is that the mountain, Hiccup?" she said encouragingly. He babbled a sound that could have been 'mountain.' "What are these things here?" she asked, her fingers skimming above some other scribbles.

Hiccup pointed again, then fluttered his hands in a clumsy baby way and made a humming sound. "The trees? The mist?"

"Tree. Zzzzz."

She was about to ask, only half-playfully, if 'zzzzz + fluttering' was Dragonese for 'mist,' when Hiccup's attention abruptly shifted. He went stock-still, staring hard at the tree line, and then she realized that Cloudjumper on her other side was doing the same.

There were dragon eyes in the shadows. Valka immediately snatched up her child and started to scramble to her feet, but the hidden dragon gave a light growl of warning, and Cloudjumper nudged her. She slowly sank down again, holding Hiccup tightly.

"Let go," he complained, squirming. She didn't answer, fixated on the newcomer.

The dragon began to slink into the light, turning its (his?) face away from the sun with a wince. He was smaller than Cloudjumper and his hide was completely black. His wings extended from his shoulders, unattached to his forelegs, and he walked an all fours and had broad tail fins. Valka didn't recognize the breed, but that was nothing new by now.

The dragon, circling around to approach in a way that kept the Stormcutter between himself and the humans, rumbled to Cloudjumper, though he was staring at Valka. He barely seemed to be able to take his eyes off her as he and Cloudjumper sniffed at each other and spoke quietly.

"Black! Touch him!"

"No, Hiccup, sshh," Valka said quickly. The boy squirmed and complained, each sound prompting the black dragon to uneasily twitch the ear-like plates on his head. "Don't scare the dragon, Hiccup."

"Scared?" Hiccup went still for a minute. Then he collapsed in his mother's arms, so suddenly that she lost her hold on him and he slithered to the ground. He lay sprawled on his back with his chin lifted so he could watch the dragon upside-down, and made a placating sort of whimper.

The dragon snorted and backed up a few steps, eyes wide as he stared at Hiccup.

Valka managed to scoop up the child again, but he fought her even more than before. "Let go, Mama!"

"What did you do?!"

"Tell him-!" Hiccup made the whimper again as if it was part of the same sentence.

The dragon whined and crouched low as he crept back into the trees.

"Scared," Hiccup said sadly.

"We're going home." Valka packed up quickly and strapped Hiccup back into his sling. "Come on, Cloudjumper."

"Alpha yes home dragons," Hiccup said, sounding happier, then made a dragonish purring sound which Cloudjumper responded to.

Valka was in too much of a hurry to ask what in the world he was talking about.

o.o.o.o.o

They returned home to the Sanctuary, where Valka bustled about the cavern she had turned into a house of sorts, getting everything settled after their trip. She hadn't finished before she noticed Hiccup excitedly hopping and chirping at one of the ledges outside.

"Hiccup! What have I told you about being so close to the edge?!" After he was safely in her arms, she looked up at what had so captured his attention, and was surprised to see the same black dragon from earlier. He appeared to be in conversation with the king, wings casually folded and eyes wide as he rumbled and barked.

There was a moment when both turned to look down at the two humans. "Black!" Hiccup greeted happily. Valka held him a little closer, staring back at the dragons.

The black dragon made a friendly sound back at Hiccup. He and the king resumed looking at each other, appeared to have a final exchange, then the black dragon dipped his head and flew away.

"Coming~"

"What do you mean, 'coming'? Who's coming?"

"Black, Black," then Hiccup continued in a series of purrs and chirps and growls that must have been dragon language.

"Use human words, Hiccup. Black is that dragon? Did he give a warning, is someone else coming?"

Hiccup frowned at her, then pointed to a little dragon family who had been nesting close to them since the female had laid her eggs. Valka couldn't make sense of whatever Hiccup was trying to tell her, or understand what their neighbors had to do with the black dragon.

Just when she decided to give up, Hiccup's face brightened. "Black!"

"Again?" She looked. Sure enough, there was the black dragon again, this time with a companion of the same breed. Hiccup toddled over to Cloudjumper and grabbed at him eagerly. The Stormcutter gave an indulgent squawk, then lowered himself in an invitation to mount. "Hold on, Hiccup, I'm coming." Valka scooped up her son and settled into place on Cloudjumper, who soared up to the ledge where the newcomers were.

Valka guessed that the second dragon was female - her head plates were a different shape, and as she lay full-length on the ground in an exhausted sprawl, two of her hatchlings peeped insistently at her and kept nudging at her mouth, probably demanding food.

Her mate sat nearby, leaning down to lick a third hatchling who was crying more loudly than its siblings. As soon as Valka approached, the hatchling shrieked and stumbled closer to its father. The dragon repositioned his forepaws protectively and gave Valka a serious look, as if acknowledging that she was probably not a threat but wanting to be careful anyway.

"Black, black, black~!" Hiccup cried, straining eagerly toward the hatchling. Perhaps he meant it as a description for their breed rather than an actual name. They were, after all, the first solid black dragons he and Valka had seen.

"Be careful, Hiccup. He's frightened."

"Scared. Sssshhh." Hiccup went quiet, though he still stared intently at the hatchling. As soon as Valka let him go, he curled into a little ball. The two babies watched each other. Hiccup finally started crawling toward the other almost flat on his belly, taking no heed of the adult dragon who leaned down to sniff him from head to foot as he passed.

The hatchling gave a wary peep. Hiccup chirped back. The little dragon suddenly pounced, forepaws landing square on Hiccup's back-

Valka's mouth was open to cry out, but she was surprised when the father dragon snarled at his own son. The hatchling cowered back, whimpering. Hiccup craned over his shoulder to look at his own back, then peeped encouragingly at the hatchling. After a moment, the hatchling slunk toward him on its belly, very similarly to how Hiccup had first approached it.

The two babies sniffed at each other for a minute. Hiccup soon wrinkled his nose and complained, "No smell?" with a frustrated look, but the hatchling continued to investigate him eagerly. As Hiccup submitted to this, he looked over at his mother to ask, "Mama, no smell?"

"I don't know what he smells like, Hiccup. You're closer to him than I am."

Hiccup sighed and looked back at the hatchling, who finished its examination and came back to lie down partially on top of him. Hiccup seemed perfectly amenable to this arrangement.

"Is he heavy, Hiccup?"

Hiccup chirred at her in an unconcerned way.

"Say yes or no, Hiccup. Is he too heavy? Yes or no?"

Hiccup gave her an annoyed look, but finally said, "No."

The black dragon gave the two children one last look, then rumbled at Valka and, to her surprise, walked away. He stopped by the other two hatchlings and regurgitated some fish for them, which they eagerly pounced on, and nudged at his mate. She opened her eyes and gave a low growl, but otherwise didn't move. He licked her face and moved on to a shadowed patch of mossy rock, which he scorched with an alarmingly white-hot blaze of fire.

'If that's what he uses to prepare a bed, what does it look like when he's fighting?!' Valka wondered in alarm as she watched.

The dragon returned to his mate and nudged her until she dragged herself to her feet. She trudged over to the bed and collapsed on it, quickly followed by her two sated hatchlings, who snuggled up against her.

The father dragon then came for his remaining child. With one eye on Valka, he reached for his third hatchling and picked it up, ignoring its sleepy complaints. Valka nodded to him as she leaned down to reclaim her own sleepy child. "Mama," Hiccup whined, and made a purring sound as if it was a word rather than an indication of mood. "Mama!" he insisted when she didn't answer.

"Did you make a new friend?"

Hiccup reached in the hatchling's direction insistently.

"You can play with him again later, Hiccup, but right now you need a nap."

Hiccup made the purr again, then resorted to, "Black! Little Black!" when she didn't respond.

"Later, Hiccup. Later."

o.o.o

Author's Notes: I cannot promise quick or regular updates for this! I have other, much more important stories to be working on; I'll probably only pick at this series when I have enough inspiration and time to work on it.

Btw, feel free to make requests for ficlets set in this universe. I can't promise I'll write them, but it may help me with any themes I get stuck on, or to flesh out blank segments I don't have ideas for.

I'd kind of wanted to stick these ficlets into an already existing series like "Proper Appreciation (and other stories)," but my readers unanimously voted for me to post this series as a separate story instead. XD

I know that HiccStrid fans often ask if there will be HiccStrid in fics like this. At the moment, I can't say anything for certain except that romance is not the purpose of this fic. If Hiccup & Astrid end up together (I have no idea yet whether they will or not), romance is not going to get much screentime. There will be lots and lots of platonic HiccTooth, but if you've read any of my other HTTYD fanfiction, you already knew that. XD

Complete: 1/100