A Siren's Song - A Hiccup Love Story (HTTYD/RTTE)

22

Hiccup hadn't considered this before. But as always, he stayed optimistic. "Well, like you said," he began, "you're not going yet." He walked to stand infront of Aldru and looked down at her face with a smile. "I'll take whatever time with you I can get, even if it's not forever."

Hope fluttered in Aldru's heart as she smiled back weakly. "I guess we'll just...roll with what happens then?" She questioned.

"Sounds like a plan to me," Hiccup replied, then pulled Aldru into a firm hug. "But no matter what," he added, his breath tickling her neck, "me, and all the other riders, will always stay with you."

• • •

It was Berk's four hundredth anniversary on this day, and all of the riders were getting ready to attend the party. Even Aldru was planning on going, packing a small bag of necessities.

"Are you sure you want to come?" Fishlegs asked, "your dragons.."

Aldru smiled. "They may be my dragons, but they're much stronger than me; they can handle things while I'm gone," she reminded, "I left my mother dragon in charge." As if qued by her words, the giant monstrous nightmare flew over head and landed behind Aldru.

Aldru changed into her dragon form and nuzzled her snout with the nightmare's. She then sang a song of comfort to all of the dragons on the island, and left with the others.

When the island came into view, Aldru broke away from the group with Hiccup. They landed somewhere more secluded so that Aldru could change back to her human form without being seen.

Snotlout watched them fly away together with a sneer. "I get that she doesn't want people to freak out about her," he stated, "but why does he have to go with her?"

Astrid rolled her eyes. "Because she's never been here before; we don't want her getting lost."

Then Heather spoke, amusement in her voice, "are you jealous?"

"What?!" Snotlout shouted. Astrid and Heather both laughed as he crossed his arms and pouted, "I am not jealous."

• • •

"There we go," Aldru sighed as she brushed through her hair with her fingers.

"What are you doing?" Hiccup asked as Aldru examined her clothes to make sure everything was in place.

With a nervous grin, she replied, "I've never been around so many people at once."

Hiccup took both of her hands to stop her from fidgeting. She looked up and met his smiling face. "Don't worry so much about how you look," he assured her sweetly, "you look great." Aldru blushed and smiled, and Hiccup began to lead her toward the village. "It's the Vikings you really have to worry about," Hiccup joked.

When they made it to the village, all of the riders were waiting. "Ah! Hiccup!" A tall, large man grabbed him up in a deathly tight hug.

"Hi..dad," Hiccup gasped, "..air."

Finally, the man, Stoick, released Hiccup, "sorry son; it's good to see you." His eyes then rested on Aldru and his eyebrows raised.

"Dad, this is Aldru," Hiccup introduced her with a smile. Slightly intimidated by the huge man, Aldru only smiled shyly.

Stoick gave her a wide grin and spoke, "Well, Aldru, welcome to Berk."

"Thank you," Aldru responded respectfully.

With that, the celebration began. A parade went through the village as Gobber told Berk's greatest stories. After some getting used to the people, Aldru was beginning to really enjoy herself. She stayed by Stoick as the riders began their show. Stoick, who kept stealing glances at the beautiful girl as if he wanted to say something, but didn't have the courage.

Finally, the show ended, and things began to die down. Although many people stayed out to enjoy the night, the commotion and noise certainly faded.

Aldru, Heather, and Astrid all sat together with Gobber, a young girl insisting on braiding Aldru's hair. Hiccup watched this from a bit of a distance with a satisfied smile.

A heavy hand then fell on his shoulder and he turned his head to see Stoick. The chief also stared at the group, his eyes squinting slightly.

"Is she Emelia's daughter?" Stoick asked out of the blue.

Hiccup furrowed his eyebrows and questioned, "what?"

Stoick met his son's eyes and rephrased his question, "is she a song wing?"

The shock was apparent on Hiccup's face. "..Dad, how did you know that?"

Stoick looked back at the girl with a small, sad chuckle, "she looks exactly like her mother."

"You knew Aldru's mother?" Hiccup questioned in disbelief, "but, how?"

The chief hesitated a moment, then responded, "perhaps the girl should join us for this conversation."

After calling Aldru over, the three walked into the empty Great Hall to talk. "What is this about?" Aldru asked.

Stoick gave her an amused grin and assured, "don't look so frightened; you're not in any trouble." He then sat at the end of a long table and gestured for the two to sit across from him.

"When I was a much younger man, I met a woman named Emelia," he began. Aldru gasped at the mention of her mother's name; it was the only thing she ever knew about her. "She couldn't have been older than you are now, son," he explained. "I'd found her on a scouting mission, when I was just newly named chief. All alone on an island."

He sighed in shame when he continued, "when I saw what she was, I tried to kill her. I hunted her, for days. And in the end, she saved my life...Although she was a dragon, she was also a human, so I agreed to leave her be."

Stoick stopped there, but it was obvious that he had more to say. "What happened?" Hiccup asked.

The man chuckled sadly, "well, we became friends. She had this undying energy and positivity; I never understood it much." His smile faded as he went on, "the year after you were born, Hiccup, she wrote me saying she'd been to her nesting grounds..and laid her egg. I was happy for her."

He made a fist for a moment, then relaxed. "I hadn't seen or heard from her in years when I and all of the other chiefs held a meeting to discuss the dragon attacks," he told them, "but we were ambushed by a man with armored dragons..Emelia flew in out of nowhere...I didn't even know she was on the island. She tried to save us, but these dragons were ruthless.."