The Viking and Princess (A Httyd Fanfiction)

Chapter 11: Confronting the past

A/N: And we're back! Thank you all so much for your patience, my laptops operating system took a dump on itself and I had to get it into Geek Squad and have them fix it, and now we're back in business! As far as this story is concerned, on the eve of Hiccup's wedding, he encounters the Riders of Berk and will be shocked that they're riding dragons. After a brief engagement with those who bullied and belittled him, Hiccup tells them to arrange a meeting between him and Stoick, I'll get into deeper details as the chapter progresses. With that said, let's get to it.

(Normal pov— Kingdom of Corona)

As expected, the Kingdom of Corona and its citizens celebrated the return of their lost princess as well as showering the young bounty hunter who had found and returned her with praise and gratitude. A celebration was thrown in honor of Princess Rapunzel, welcoming her home, and it was a celebration the likes of which that Corona's citizens had never seen before; for an entire week, free food was distributed, festivities were on display for all to enjoy, and the people were ecstatic that Hiccup Haddock was not only named as Frederic's successor but also that he had been baptized in the Christian faith and renouncing the Viking way of life. Of course, some of Corona's nobles didn't approve of Frederic's choice of successor to the throne, however, whatever opinions they had, they kept them to themselves.

Currently, Hiccup, now Prince Hiccup of Corona, was back at his house, preparing wedding gifts for his betrothed, Rapunzel, while she had been spending quality time with her family and being reacquainted after all these years. Of course, he had been offered a room within Corona Castle, however, Hiccup preferred to be in his own home, built by his own hands. Not that he was ungrateful to his soon-to-be-in-laws, he was, it's just that Hiccup was used to living off the lay of the land. He had moved only essential effects and items to his room within Corona Castle: his wealth that he accumulated over his five years as a bounty hunter and mercenary, maps, and charts of the world that he himself had made, and his journals as well as sketchbooks.

The prince has been working in his makeshift forge, finishing Rapunzel's wedding gift. It was a golden ring that bore runes along it. Hiccup had taught her how to speak Norse, so when he presented her with his gift, she would know what the runes meant. His second gift was a necklace that harbored a piece of a rare, yet extremely valuable stone he had earned as payment from an earlier job in China. This stone was called the Golden Star, and Hiccup had chipped a small piece of it and formed it into a perfect sphere, adding the piece of stone as a pendant for his soon-to-be wife's necklace.

Eventually, Hiccup got these two projects done, and he was delighted with the results. Smiling to himself, he pocketed the ring he would give to Rapunzel and then placed the necklace in a pouch. After taking a drink of water and extinguishing the flames in his forge, Hiccup recalled the days he would work away in Gobber's smithy back on Berk. Despite being "useless" in the eyes of his tribesman, Hiccup knew that had it not been for his efforts, Berk and its Vikings wouldn't be armed.

Scoffing softly, Hiccup rarely thought about Berk and those who were supposed to be there for him, the way he had suffered and endured by their hands, they were nothing more than an afterthought in his mind. The only two people he thought of often were Gobber and Astrid, but even they were beginning to become irrelevant to think back on. Hiccup had wondered what had become of the two people he loved the most on Berk, but as the years had gone by, he realized that they weren't worth thinking back on, they were the past, and Hiccup's eyes were firmly fixed on the future.

"Hiccup? Are you here?"

Stepping out of his forge, the prince laid eyes on King Frederic and a dozen of his household guards by his side. When the king laid eyes on the young man, he smiled, dismounted from his horse, and approached. "Ah, there you are," he then took in Hiccup's house and hummed softly. "I was unaware that you had built yourself a home. But Rapunzel told my wife and I that this is where you brought her when you rescued her from Gothel's tower."