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The island of Berk was a weird place. Snowy, rainy, dreary, with people whose hobbies included watching large beasts tear apart larger beasts. And on this island, there was a boisterous man named Stoick the Vast. Bushy red hair and beard, armor polished with the blood of dragons, he was the man of the hour, the chief, the one who knew what was best for his people. Then, there was his son. Hiccup. A thin wisp of a boy, Hiccup was nothing like his beefy father. He was short and scrawny and Stoick feared his beard game would be weak. Where Stoick liked to be bashy-bashy, Hiccup liked to be thinky-thinky. Where Stoick looked at the dragons that attacked their home with disdain and bloodlust, Hiccup looked at them in curiosity. Stoick feared that his son would never be a leader, a fear that had been growing since the minute his son was in the world, already branded with a soulmark that would get him naught but scorn in their village.
Hiccup had been born with a dragon as his soulmark. An ice dragon, rare the boy would learn later, depicted on his back with tail pointing at the ground, arms and legs tucked, wing outstretched till they wrapped around his ribs, and the head at the base of his neck. Berk hated dragons, and here was their chief’s son destined to be with a lover of one. So Stoick worried, shoved him towards Gobber to get stronger or at least stay out of the way, and killed dragons with more anger than before.
But then, something unexpected happened. Hiccup brought dragons to Berk, purposely, and trained them and taught the villagers how to treat them, and had his own dragon. A Night Fury. Rare, dangerous, and trained by Stoick’s shrimp of a son. Next thing you know, everyone has a pet dragon, a dragon companion, even Gobber.
Life changed on Berk after that. More peace, less death, better insurance rates. And visitors. It appears Berk had become known as the island that ‘finally got with the times and stopped killing dragons’. Chieftains from other islands came on diplomatic terms, by boat or more often than not dragon, and conversations ensued. Peaceful, bloodfree ones. At each and every one, Stoick (and Hiccup of course) looked for an ice dragon. Stoick had so hoped, back in those times where dragons were being introduced, that Astrid was Hiccup’s soulbond. She was such a good warrior, and would produce a strong batch of warrior offspring to take over when Stoick died. But no, her dragon wasn’t like the one on Hiccup’s back, and she seemed to have no intention of loving a different one.
During springmelt, Stoick got the word that another chieftain was coming to visit in a few days. A chieftain and his retinue from an island even more north than Berk. When Stoick heard, his palms began to sweat but he laughed it off and ordered one of his men to prepare the barrels of mead. Hiccup was excited, but Stoick didn’t know if that was because there could be new dragons, or because he might see the dragon.
The day of arrival was a tumultuous turn of events, but Hiccup was excited, waiting at the top of a mountain for the first sign of arrival. When in the distance he noticed the flapping of dragon wings, he and Toothless swooped down to the shore, where batch of trusted people and his dad were, standing or leaning against their dragon or sitting on top.
The first outsider Hiccup noticed was a man a bit older than his father, with a white beard just as bushy and tattooed arms just as beefy. His dragon was large and beefy as well, but pure white with large red veins and red eyes and pointed ears. There were four people behind him, all looking like they came from different places. There was a man with tufts of grey hair and a face lined by frowns. His dragon was similar to Fishlegs’, roundish and goofy looking, but his dragon was grey and pink. Then there was another man, rounded with hair and clothes and a dragon that appeared to be made of gold. A woman was next, wearing a sparkling dress of blue and green, astride a dragon of similar colored scales and several smaller similar dragons by her, the size of a small crate. But, it was not these people that caught Hiccup’s eye. These people, though fascinating, were not riding the ice dragon branded on Hiccup’s back. It was the person to the first man’s right that caught his eye.
First, the dragon. A beauty she was, scales of sleek white and barely-there lilac. Crystal like ridges (in the same color scheme) ran down her back and sides and stomach and spiralled down her limbs. Two sets of crystal horns curved out. A tail also covered in crystal-like ridges, with a crystal spike at the end. Hiccup nearly lost his breath at that, at that dragon that was the same as the one on his back, even more beautiful in person and up close. And then, there was the rider. Young, maybe Hiccup’s age, with white hair and a blue tunic and cloth leggings, wooden staff in hand and bare feet. Hiccup felt his heart pound.
The visitors landed, and Hiccup and Gobber walked to stand next to Stoick. The three noticed the white haired boy’s gasp when he saw Toothless. Stoick stepped forward.
“Welcome to the Island of Berk. I’m the chief, Stoick the Vast. This is my souldbond, Gobber, and only son and heir, Hiccup.”
At there name’s being called, the two nodded, but Hiccup mostly looked at the white haired boy.
The large bearded man stepped forward at last. “I’m North, chief of the Island Burgess. These are my friends and advisors, Bunnymund, Sandy, and Tooth. And this is my son and only heir, Jack.”
The two chiefs did the whole arm grab thing, and then went to the main hall for a feast. Before Hiccup could make his way to his soulbond, Gobber intercepted him and pulled him away, and Jack was also intercepted by Bunnymund.
“Gobber, what are you doing, that’s him. That’s my soulbond,” whispered Hiccup.
“I know lad, but ‘s not wise. This has turned into a political matter. You two are both only son’s and heirs. I don’t know if North knows, but we must proceed with caution.”
Throughout the feast, neither Jack nor Hiccup could escape their friends and guardians to talk to each other. Every time, Gobber would have something cool to show Hiccup, or Tooth pulled Jack aside to chatter happily in his ear. North and Stoick seemed to get along, though, which was good. Which meant the outsiders would be staying longer, and might come visit again.
That night though, Hiccup and Jack were not pestered or watched. Gobber and Stoick thought Hiccup too tired to try anything, and North counted on the fact that Jack didn’t know his way around the island. They were wrong though. Hiccup was not, in fact, tired, and was instead filled with a steady thrum of energy. But, he wasn’t stupid. He knew the end results of him going to find Jack would be awkward and embarrassing and potentially alliance ruining. So, Hiccup got Toothless ready and instead decided to go for a midnight fly.
A few huts over, Jack was having similar thoughts. He wouldn’t even know how to find the other boy, and then what? What if Hiccup didn’t notice the were soulbonds or didn’t want to be with Jack? Or what if Stoick or that Gobber guy came by? What if Hiccup’s dragon tried to eat him and his dragon, Siv, fought back? It could end in disaster, and he couldn’t do that to North, not after all the older man’s done for him. So, he too decided to go for a midnight fly, maybe try to get accustomed to this place. After making sure he would be able to find his way back to his hut, Jack and Siv took off into the night sky.
It took a while, but eventually Hiccup and Jack noticed each other and flew down to an empty beach. For a few moments they just sat there, on their dragons, staring at each other in the moonlight.
“Hey, I’m Hiccup. But, you probably already know that. And you’re Jack, right?”
“Yeah, I’m Jack.”
There were a few moments of awkward silence before Jack tried to break the metaphorical ice.
“I, uh, I like your dragon. Night Fury, right? What’s his name?” asked Jack.
“Oh, yeah, this is Toothless. I like your dragon too. An ice type, yeah? What’s her name?”
“Oh this is Siv. I’ve had her for as long as I care to remember.”
Hiccup smiled, and Jack smiled. Jack slid down off Siv, landing with a soft thud on the sand, and dang how did Hiccup not noticed how attractive this guy was before? But before he could contemplate this any further, Toothless bucked Hiccup off, and the young viking landed in a tangle of limbs in the sand. Hiccup groaned, Jack trying to hold back a laugh as he moved to help him get up.
“Toothless,” Hiccup said, holding on to Jack briefly as the other helped him up.
“He do that a lot?”
“What, be annoying and rude? Yes. He does that a lot.”
Jack laughed, but as soon as Hiccup let go to stand on his own, his prosthetic leg sank through the sand.
“And this is why I don’t stand on sand, Toothless,” said Hiccup, wobbling on one foot as he tried to shake out the sand from his metal one. Jack, who hadn’t noticed the prosthetic, tried his best not to stare, but when he looked up Hiccup was flustered.
“The, uh, sand is bad for, you know, for the metal - metal parts, you know, gets all stuck and everything,” Hiccup stammered out. With a little help from Jack, he was once again atop Toothless.
“If you don’t mind me saying, that’s a really cool prosthetic. Did, uh, Gobber, Gobber’s his name right? Did Gobber make it? He’s the blacksmith around here, right?”
“Oh, yeah, he is our blacksmith. I’m sort of like his apprentice, I guess. He made the first one, the original, and I made it, well, better.”
“What happened? If you, you know, don’t mind.”
“Uh, well, me and my friends fought this giant dragon overlord thing and during the aftermath, I - lost my foot. Hiccup here saved me from more damage.”
“Siv has saved me a lot as well. I , uh, I’d like to talk to you face to face rather than dragon to dragon, so is there someplace we can go?”
Jack launched himself onto Siv’s back and tried to hide his blush.
“Well, if you follow me - er, if Siv follows Toothless - I can bring you to my favorite spot on Berk.”
Jack grinned. “Sounds great.”
Minutes later, the two dragons and two riders were atop a mountain.
“Welcome to the highest point on Berk. Also known as my thinking spot,” said Hiccup, sliding off his dragon.
“Wow,” breathed out Jack as he dismounted. “You can see all of Berk from here.”
“Yeah, which isn’t that much, but still. You should see it at sunrise and sunset. To describe it would be to use too many words that are considered ‘unvikingly’.”
They sat next to each other on a stone ledge, closer together than most strangers sat.
“I gotta ask. Why Toothless? That doesn’t seem very ‘viking’ to me.”
Hiccup snorted, and called Toothless over. The dragon opened his mouth to reveal a toothless mouth, but before Jack could say anything, two rows of sharp teeth appeared.
“Ha! That’s so cool!”
“Yeah, I guess it is. How about Siv. How did that name come about?”
Jack’s smile fell a little. “Well, years ago, Siv saved me. I was skating on a pond deep in the woods that I shouldn’t’ve been skating on, when it began to crack. I fell in and would have drowned if not for her. She brought me to North, and stayed as I recovered. Apparently, while I was delirious and near death, I would whisper Siv in my sleep. They thought that I was trying to say save or saved or savior or something. When I woke up and heard that, I decided to name her Siv. And...Siv was my little sister’s nickname. Short for Elisavet. She died two years before I nearly died. Anyway, that’s how I got Siv and how I named her.”
“Wow...now I feel like a doof for naming him Toothless,” said Hiccup, earning a playful shove and a laugh.
In the background, Toothless and Siv had assessed one another before curling up around each other.
“So, being as I am knew to this wonderful Island of Berk, I got a lotta questions,” said Jack.
“Well, being as you’re new to this snowy Island of Berk, I got a lotta questions as well,” said Hiccup. Both boys laughed.
“So, that Gobber fellow, he’s your dad’s soulbond? How did you, you know, occur?”
“Are you trying to ask me if I have a mother? Well, I do. Er, did. My dad’s chief, right? He needed to produce an heir, and it had to be with some strong viking woman. Since Gobber is a dude, they couldn’t originally be soulbonds. Then, when I was a baby, there was a particular bad dragon attack that killed my mother and de-limbed Gobber. After waiting the expected amount of mourning time, and then some, my dad and Gobber officially became soulbonds. They would’ve become soulbonds sooner, but the Council urged my dad to marry another woman and produce another heir because I wasn’t...they didn’t think I was good enough. Didn’t think I’d make a good chief. But my dad refused, and Gobber moved in. He’s pretty much a dad to me, especially during the times when my dad is particularly hot-headed. So, that’s how the future chief of Berk has two dads, and no mom.”
“Wow. That’s a lot. Gobber seems like a really cool guy though.”
Hiccup snorted. “You could say that. Now, my turn. If your North’s son, why do you call him North?”
“Heh. That. Well, he adopted me. When I was young, my sister Siv died, like I said. Some illness, the doctors said. We couldn’t afford help. The grief killed my father, and my mom died in a bar fight with a bottle of grog down her throat. Next thing I know, I’m seven years old and skating on a pond in the woods me and my family used to skate on together. Like I said before, she brought me to North, who had the best people come and help me. When I regained consciousness, and he learned I had no family to go back to, he offered to adopt me. I wasn’t a fool, so I said yes.” Jack made a sound somewhere between a sorrowful sigh and a laugh. “He makes a pretty good dad. Taught me everything I know, every thing I’d needed to know. He didn’t have a family of his own, so it worked out well. He got a son and heir, and I got a dad to care for me.”
“He seems to love you a lot.”
“He does. My turn. So, you made your prosthetic leg, which looks amazing, and what else did you make here?”
“Oh, jeez. A lot. I’ve updated a lot of buildings and ships, built Toothless’s prosthetic over there and lemme tell you, it was not easy. Later on I have to show you my workshop and my, er Gobber and my’s, forge.”
Jack turned to look at Toothless, and in the light of the moon he noticed for the first time the attachment.
“I didn’t even notice it before. Looks nice.”
“I’m glad you think so. That was the first thing like that I ever made. Alright, my turn again. How are you barefoot right now? It’s snowing!”
“Hiccup, meet a gift from the Moon, as North calls it. Ever since the, uh, event all those years ago, I’ve been unaffected by extreme cold, to a degree. I haven’t needed to wear shoes since then, except for when I must do to needing to look nice or to be able to walk easier on rocky paths. North thinks it has something to do with near death experiences, a rare ice dragon, and all the magic they used to heal me. My turn. What happened to Toothless for him to need a prosthetic?”
Hiccup blushed and rubbed the back of his neck, while Toothless snorted behind them.
“As you, uh, know or prob’ly figured out, Berk and dragons used to not get along. And as I’ve said, I wasn’t exactly the son my father wanted or the future chief the village expected I’d be. So, I built a catapulty weapon like thing, saw a Night Fury, and shot. I thought that for sure this would make my father proud. The next day I went out with my dagger to find him and...end him. When I got to him though, I couldn’t do it. I befriended him, and wanted to help him. He’s the reason why Berk has dragons. I didn’t want him to get hurt.”
Hiccup looked away, staring out at the vast expanse of ocean. He nearly jumped out of his skin when he felt Jack’s hand atop his.
“I think what you did was brave. It takes a lotta guts to go against everything you know like that.”
“Heh. Wasn’t so brave when I shot him down.”
“You didn’t know any better. Plus, it doesn’t seem like Toothless minds anymore, considering how he saved you and hasn’t yet killed you.”
“S’pose you’re right. So, what’s up with your staff? What’s it for?”
“Say hello to another gift from the moon - my staff. It was found on me when Siv saved me. It - uh - you know,” he said. He spun it around in his hands a few times before tapping it’s base on the ground. Ice fractals spiraled out, and Hiccup’s eyes practically bugged out of his head. Jack looked sheepish, tucking his staff back towards his side.
“How - how - how is that scientifically possible? Can that work by fire or in warmer climates? Oh gosh Jack I have so many questions.”
“I can see that. I don’t know much about about what it can do. I live north, so ice powers aren’t needed too much. North thinks that Siv’s powers leached into me while I was dying, trying to make me more like herself to battle the cold or something. But, it is my turn to ask a question. Why did your village want your dad to remarry so much? Why did they not want you to lead before you could even talk?”
Hiccup sighed. “The Council is privy to all births of a chief’s offspring. So, when I popped out I already had a soulmark, and they didn’t like what they saw.”
Despite the cold, Hiccup turned his back towards Jack and hiked up his shirt, revealing the ice dragon, revealing Siv. Hiccup heard a sharp intake of breath, and felt fingers ghosting across his back.
“Siv,” said Jack. “A dragon. That’s why they didn’t want you to lead, because your soulbond was a dragon lover.”
Hiccup turned back towards Jack. “Yeah. That’s why. That’s why the Council didn’t want me and why my dad didn’t know how to be around me and why Snotlout, my cousin, was so sure he’d be chief one day.”
“Well, you showed me your mark. It’s only fair I showed you mine.”
Hiccup turned towards Jack, about to say the other boy didn’t have to, but was distracted by the sight of Toothless, of his dragon, tattooed onto Jack’s side.
“Soulbonds, huh. I - I don’t mind that,” said Hiccup. He held onto Jack’s hand, and tried not to be a blushing mess.
“I don’t mind that either. Might have to figure out a few things, but I don’t mind.”
Hiccup swung his head to look back at Jack, and was surprised to see how close their faces had gotten. And how their faces kept getting closer until suddenly...until suddenly Hiccup was kissing his soulbond, and couldn’t be happier.
Some miles away on Berk, North and Stoick were having amiable discussions, until Gobber and Bunnymund rushed into the room. Stoick looked up, and grew concerned at the uneasy look on his soulbond’s face.
“Gobber, what is it?” he asked, sitting straighter in his chair.
“Ah, well, y’see Stoick - it appears Hiccup and Toothless went on a fly. They’re gone.”
Stoick groaned, tugging at his beard.
“And Bunnymund?” asked North. “What is it you wish to say?”
“Well, the little brat - I mean dear Jack - and Siv are also gone.”
“We couldn’t keep them apart forever. I guess there’ll be some conversations in the morning,” said North.
“Yes,” agreed Stoick. “Too many conversations that could been avoided if my son listened to me, but what has he done that?”
“Never,” said Gobber. “You know that. Let’s all hit the hay now. Tomorrow will be a long day indeed.”