Found again (HTTYD FF)

☆Prologue☆

A little five-year-old Hiccup was lying in bed wrapped in blankets. He was shivering with cold, sweating from a fever that had lasted for days. His parents were worried about him. He was, after all... hiccup. He was born too early and was prone to illness. They hoped it would get better with time, that he would grow up and get stronger.

But the harsh winter had other plans. While playing in the snow for a long time, he caught a cold and developed a fever like no child before him - at least according to Gothi, the village healer. Her youth was long behind her, so she knew what she was talking about when she called it a special case.

Hiccup's mother sat on the edge of his small bed, stroking her half-sleeping son's cheek.
Hiccup didn't remember her name, he was too young to remember it. From under his closed eyelids he watched her worried face and every movement of her body. How her breathing was ragged, how she looked off into the distance, lost in worry, how her long hair, braided into intricate pigtails, moved down her back with every movement of her head. A tear escaped from her left eye, but she quickly wiped it away with the hem of her sleeve.

Hiccup was confused. Why was she sad? After all, she was with him, his father was due back from his chieftaincy duties any minute, after all, he couldn't stay out as late into the night in the winter as he would otherwise. Everyone on the Berk was used to the icy cold, but it was not a good idea to stay out too long in six feet of snow, even the fittest Vikings could catch a cold. Let alone Hiccup. Hiccup knew the risk very well, yet he went out and played in the snow until his dad found him and took him back home.

A twinge of pain ran through him. He didn't care why his mother was sad anymore. Now he just wanted to get rid of the horrible pain. So cruel that he wanted to start screaming and crying like children do, only when he opened his mouth, not a sound came out.

His mother probably thought he was thirsty or wanted something else, so she left for a moment to get him some water.

When she left, Little Hiccup closed his eyes. There was no point in looking at the world when it was all blurry from the tears in his eyes anyway. He was cold and shivering, but at the same time he felt like he was baking inside. Like hot magma flowed through his veins instead of blood.
The moment his mom was gone was enough to send him into the all-encompassing darkness of sweet sleep.

~~~

He woke up late in the evening of the next day. The fever must have broken because he felt full of energy. He jumped out of bed and then noticed his dad sitting in a chair. His head resting on his palm in restless sleep, his helmet resting on the table.

Hiccup slipped past him. He was hungry and thirsty and had too much excess energy that he needed to expend or he probably wouldn't fall asleep again. He felt like he was going to explode as he brimmed with that energy. If he woke his dad, he definitely wouldn't get a chance to discharge that energy, so he quietly slipped past him. He had been sick the day before, but he felt healthy. That only reassured him that he would probably be fine if he looked outside. He wanted to see if there was still that much snow out there. He wanted to see the night sky.

He went into the kitchen first. He pulled a heavy chair up to the counter where he found a bag of water to drink from. He didn't bother to pour the water into a cup - his special cup, for an ordinary one wouldn't hold up. At first glance he found nothing to eat, so he decided to eat later.

He was about to run out when he realized he was wearing only his nightgown. He ran back to his room and started to change. As quietly as possible so as not to wake his dad. It took him a while, he mostly changed with someone helping him, but he finally made it. He was proud of himself.

In his boots with fur on both the inside and outside, he went outside to explore. He had barely taken two steps out the front door when he heard a voice. A sweet, inviting voice...yet so haunting, so frightening.

Food. Bring food! Now! NOW! FOOD!

Hiccup got scared. He didn't know what to do. He wanted so badly to obey. To do whatever the voice wanted. Anything. Just to satisfy it. To please it. But with that came fear, spreading into every cell of his body. Fear of what would happen if he disobeyed. There was a clear threat in the message. Bring food or become food. Hiccup was completely overwhelmed. He should have brought food. Where to? What food?

That's when the alarm horn sounded, signaling a dragon attack. Hiccup became even more frightened, his previous thoughts lost in the confusion of his mind. Should he obey the voice, or hide in the house, as he did with every dragon attack? His whole body ached. It had happened several times during his fever, and it convinced him that he'd better disappear into the house and stay under the blankets until the dragon threat passed.

He ran upstairs and quickly jumped into bed. He didn't see his dad there, they probably hadn't even noticed each other in their haste. He wrapped himself under the covers and waited.

Boom!

The dragons had already arrived in the village and began firing fiery missiles at their opponents. Hiccup pressed his eyelids tightly together and pretended not to hear any of what was going on outside. He was trembling with fear. With each successive attack, he grew more and more afraid of the dragons.

EAT! FOOD! FOOD, FOOD, FOOD!...

The voice began to grow louder and Hiccup tried with all his might to displace it. The longer he listened to it, the more afraid he became. The voice was not at all pleasant or attractive. It was full of fear. It planted fear deep in Hiccup's heart, where it wouldn't just go away.

Despite the repetitive words, Hiccup could barely hear the thump in the wall of his room. Another wave of pain shot through him. What's happening? He asked himself, growing more and more confused.

A dragon burst in through the hole in the wall. Black as coal with beautiful green eyes, reminiscent of a forest.

Hiccup pulled the blankets off of himself and stared into the creature's eyes in horror. This is the end of him. The end of his short life.

They looked at each other for a moment. The dragon's eyes showed recognition, shadowed by great wonder. The dragon tilted his head, listening to something in the distance, when suddenly he grabbed Hiccup by the shoulders and shot into the sky. "Oh no! Let go of me! Help!" Hiccup shouted. But it was as if no one heard him. He got no answer. The struggling village hadn't noticed yet.

"It's for your safety."

Hiccup paused in his screaming when he heard the words. He didn't know where they came from, but in his naivety he believed them. He let himself be carried into the cold darkness of the night, away from the rest of the dragons. Away from Berk, his home. Away from his family. Towards the twinkling stars in the distance.

~~~

The only thing in the dragon's mind were two repeating sentences. Protect him. Protect one of us.