Fire and the Thud [Hiccup x Reader]

Crying Lightning

quick note: this is my first posted fanfic and first reader fic ever so i hope you'll enjoy it!! there will be some httyd2 plot spoilers much later in the story so if you have not seen the movie yet, i highly suggest you do so :-)

also, if you have a quotev account you can go check me out over there under the same username ((seapetals)) to read this entire fic completed!! ill be uploading one of the remaining chapters every few days for those of you who prefer wattpad but if ur like me and tend to read fics in one go, i suggest headin over there!!

onwards to the story my pals B)

---

It was a general rule in my life that if you woke up to a beautiful morning and everything seemed too perfect to be true, chances are it was, in fact, moments away from crashing down around you.

The rule didn't fail today, which just so happened to be my birthday. Eighteenth, to be precise, though nobody seemed to care about precision any more than they did the number of times I've pointed out my age the past couple days. Birthdays where I lived were viewed as a 'good job on not dying' rather than a 'congratulations on living' sort of event. I assumed this was a worldwide thing, because if not, I was seriously drawing the short stick on it all. Despite this, I managed to pull myself out of bed and step outside. The first thing I noticed was that I could barely see anything with my eyes squinted as much as they were, which lead me to my next realization that it was absolutely too sunny. I counted three sad excuses for clouds in the sky before turning with a grimace and heading right back into my house. I was not yet prepared to venture out into pure unforgiving sunlight.

I headed over to the kitchen area of the home and noticed that the table held a bowl with a cloth covering the top of it, and a small piece of paper set aside. A little confused that I missed it earlier, I grabbed the note and recognized my mother's handwriting in the form of my name. There wasn't anything else written on it, so I assumed this bowl held breakfast.

To no one's surprise, it did have food, and it was warm enough that I figured I had woken up not long after my mom had left. I ate slowly, still a bit groggy and not wanting to go back outside. It wasn't that I didn't enjoy sunny days like this, it was more that we didn't really have this kind of weather on our island. When you're used to strolling about the village under endless grey clouds, clear days were quite the shock.

Eventually I ran out of food and actual excuses to stay inside, so I pulled on my shoes and headed through the front door. There were villagers bustling around, each indulged in their own little world. I caught a few 'happy birthday's from them and shouted back my gratitude. Those were the closest things to conversation I had had until I found my mother a while later. She looked a bit distressed, so naturally I tried to avoid any talk about whatever could possibly be making her look at me like that.

"It's my birthday," I pointed out as we walked next to one another. She nodded, and I felt a bit silly.

"Thanks for breakfast," I tried. She didn't even respond that time, only muttered incoherently under her breath and I stopped walking. She did as well a couple seconds later, looking at me.

"Alright, what is it, mom?" I sighed. She widened her eyes but shrugged as if she hadn't totally ignored me the past couple minutes.

"Bad news? Is someone dead? Did you shrink another one of my socks?" I added lightheartedly. I was starting to grow concerned, because she looked really distraught about whatever was on her mind and it couldn't have been good.

"No, nobody's dead, it's just.." she drifted off with a sigh, zoning out again.

"Mom," I said, "Is it my sock? I really don't mind, at least they match again, I mean-"

"We're going back to Berk," she interrupted me, and all of a sudden I felt lightheaded. I couldn't even remember what I was saying beforehand.

Back to Berk? After five years of being torn down whenever I asked about it, after I'd finally gotten it through my head that this was our new home and there would be no 'moving back'?

"You.." I couldn't even finish the word let alone a thought process. She only looked away, as if she was the one who should feel bad for deciding that now, after everything, we were going back.

I should have been thrilled, and I'm sure deep down I was, but honestly this was the very last thing I wanted to hear.

"I know," was all she said and I shook my head, slowly at first, then quickly. Quick enough so that it might shake away all the thoughts that had suddenly plagued my mind, maybe enough to change hers and take it all back.

"No, no you don't, you don't know. Five years, mom, its been five..." I insisted, the words catching in my throat. I didn't really notice when she'd stepped forward but one moment she was stood there and the next she was holding her arms around my shoulders, murmuring, "I know," a few times into my hair.

I wasn't sure why I was getting so emotional over it all but I was, and it didn't change the fact that we were apparently heading back to my first village, my first home.

"When do we leave?" I said quietly.

"Tomorrow morning," she whispered back. I inhaled deeply before she pulled away, giving me a soft look before gesturing towards our house.

"Come. We have a birthday to celebrate." she said with a smile, and I couldn't help but smile back, though I'm sure it looked as struggled as I was feeling. I followed behind her, still contemplating everything that had happened.

--

After an impromptu party with a whopping number of 2 guests (aka my mother and I), I was sat at the dining table with my mother across from me.

"You never explained why," I said, and she looked up from her now-empty plate of dessert to glance my way.

"Explained what?" she asked, but I could tell she knew exactly what I was referring to.

"Why we're going back," I said, holding her gaze.

"Your aunt isn't doing well, and I thought we could go and stay with her," she replied. I froze, narrowing my eyes.

"She's ill? How do you know this?" I asked accusingly and I could have sworn the life drained from her face for a moment.

"Oh, well, you know-"

"No, I don't know, mother. How do you?" I repeated. She looked uncomfortable and I felt bad for getting worked up but there was something she was not telling me, and it was important by the looks of her reaction.

"I may have visited a while ago," she said, barely audible, but I felt every syllable as if she had shouted it.

"You went back to Berk?" I said slowly. She started to protest, standing up and waving her hands about but I ignored her, staring intently at the table.

"You told me you weren't going back, that we were not going back," I argued, but she shook her head the whole time.

"Technically I said we weren't supposed to be moving back to Berk," she muttered, making a face but I groaned.

"Mom! I do not care about your technicalities right now!" I shouted halfheartedly. She only shook her head again.

"No, no, I get it, but right now you're getting a bit pissed off and I would just like to put it out there that I only said we weren't moving back because I don't like being shouted at," she insisted. Even though we were arguing at this point, it felt a lot less heavy than our conversation earlier. I just sighed, burying my face in my hands.

"Mom, honestly, listen to yourself. You sound like a four year-old," I murmured through my fingers. She paused for a moment and I heard her laugh before the scraping of the chair being dragged. I felt her presence next to me, and let my hands fall to my lap.

"This is really hard to take in," I admitted a couple seconds later. She leaned close, pushing my hair back off my left shoulder.

"I know, flower," she hummed, playing with a loose strand.

It was at that moment that I realized the sun had tried to warn me this morning, and I had chosen the worst time to ignore it.