Hiccup was not a strong young man, but he was smart. As the chief's son he was expected to be the strongest warrior and a natural born hunter. However, he took more interest in learning and building rather than fighting.

As stated before, Hiccup was mot very strong so building his ideas came with a challenge. Hiccup enjoyed the challenge though. The thought of making something from his mind and bringing it into the real world excited him.

He stared at his latest project in front of him. A simple drawing of armor for his dragon.

Toothless was not only a magnificent dragon, he was Hiccup's best friend. A bond between a dragon and viking  was unbreakable. Not long ago vikings and dragons lived as enemies but Toothless and Hiccup had joined forces and established peace and friendship between the two species. They were now apart of each other's daily lives.

"Does Toothless really need an armor?" Astrid asked looking over his shoulder. She could see the hesitation marks in his drawings, along with the crumpled pieces of paper that surrounded the rest of his work station. She always knew Hiccup was overworked, he would skip lunch and usually a few hours later ask Astrid to take a look at something that he was not quite sure what to do with. 

"I don't know, it could come in handy?" Hiccup tried to reason, "Okay honestly I just need something to do, I feel like I'm running out of ideas lately," 

Astrid smiled, "Well maybe it's time for a break, go take a walk or something, that usually clears your head," 

As always she was right, walking through the forest did always bring him new ideas. Everyone thought the woods had been some kind of hideout for mythical creatures long ago. 

"You can feel the energy! As if there is a current of  something unworldly,"  his father's voice rang through his head. 

"I think you have the right idea, but I really think this armor is good, it's just...it's missing something," he said putting his charcoal down. 

"I know, you're brilliant Hiccup, you just need a bit of a break," 

He sighed and stood up from  his chair. He could hear the tumbleweeds of discarded paper crunch beneath his feet as he walked toward the stairs. He heard Astrid following behind trying to avoid the paper. The living room felt warm, but empty as Gobber had left the fire going for him. He missed running into his father in the living room cooking something horrid. He was not the greatest cook but he did try. It had been years since his father died, but the house kept his memory preserved. 

Hiccup went out his front door with Astrid, the sun was getting low in the sky. "Do you want to come with?" 

Astrid shook her head, "I would, but if I don't wash Stormfly, I think my neighbors will burn my house," 

Hiccup grinned, "They wouldn't dare,"

"Have a good walk, I'll see you tomorrow," she said, 

Hiccup went ahead passing the old smith, wondering if he should say hi to Gobber. He was probably busy and Hiccup had to get his mind off of working. The familiar smell of iron and coal did comfort him. Eventually he came to the crossing of the paths, one went to the pier, the other to the woods. Hiccup's usual route was straight to the clearing and back, but he felt like going on an adventure tonight, it had been ages since he went exploring with Toothless or Astrid. Having to take over as chief was not a burden, but it did feel like his youthful days were done, he was a man with responsibilities. Astrid could take care of things if anything were to happen to him, he was sure of that, but he could not force that responsibility onto her unless necessary. 

Hiccup could feel the sky turning a deep pink as night drew nearer, he should be heading back soon he had already made it past the clearing where he had first met Toothless, but he could  not help it. He did not want to return home, he wanted to keep going, keep moving. 

The end of the clearing began to slope down hill into a small cliff, not even 7 feet tall, he could see there was another clearing below that he had never explored before. He got on his hands and knees and carefully placed his hand on the edge making sure it was able to hold his weight. He shifted his legs against the mossy top letting his legs slide past the edge. He dangled for a bit and looked down to see  how far from the bottom he was. He was 6 feet so it was about a foot drop. He let go and safely made it to the ground. He continued walking into the field. There was nothing but bluebell flowers, a whole field of them. They made the field look like a lake with their clear blue coloring. Hiccup walked through trying not to crush any of them as he walked, he noticed a giant break in the middle of the field. Only plain grass was there, the formation was angled and rigid. 

'It looks like an outline to a house,' Hiccup thought, 

"Hiccup!" he heard a yell from above. He looked up to see in a sky full of stars the shadow of Stormfly, Astrid's dragon. 

Stormfly landed in the flowers slightly crushing some. Astrid was on her back looking relieved but annoyed. 

"Hiccup we thought something happened to you, you've been gone for hours," 

"I'm sorry Astrid, I didn't realize the time, I just wanted to explore, you know like we used to," 

Astrid sighed, "Hiccup, you can't just go off into the night for hours on end anymore, you're the chief now, if something happens to you-" 

"Well if you had come with me, no one would be worried," 

"I'm sorry, I had responsibilities I needed to take care of before I go gallivanting off into the forest, I told you to clear your head not run away," 

"I wasn't running away! I just needed some time to myself, I don't know why we are arguing about this. I get it. I'll take Toothless with me next time, or I'll just chain myself to the village to central hall so everyone knows where I am every day," Hiccup said, 

"I'm sorry, we're just worried about you. You don't have to do this alone, we can help you with chief duties, it just seems like you get overwhelmed a lot and then disappear," 

"Well I'm sorry but I wasn't expecting to be chief this early in my life," he said solemnly. 

Astrid always knew when it was time to quit, this was not helping the situation. "Come on I'll take you home," 

"I'll walk, I think I can handle getting home if you'll let me," 

"Okay, be safe out there, put on your flame sword if you need to," she said and flew off. 

He knew she would probably be flying slow in order to keep track of him. He sighed looking at the patch of grass again, maybe he could get away tomorrow and just lie in this field and forget that he was the chief for once. 

Author's note: Hope you liked this first Hiccup chapter, the majority will be Merida at least until Hiccup and her meet, but I thought it was important to establish Hiccup's backstory for this particular fanfic. Please vote and comment I like hearing constructive feedback as well! 

-Firegirl