I will save you

Chapter 4: Little Hiccup

Hiccup's POV

It had been a day since I had arrived to the past, a day where I had yet to find the person my heart ached to see. I had the opportunity to spend some time with my father the day before, which had surprisingly helped me quite a bit. He had spent the remainder of the day telling me about the arena and his many dragon killing achievements, which quite frankly made me cringe ever so slightly, considering the love he would end up having for dragons in just a few short months from that moment.

After having spent the night in one of the guest huts that Berk offered, I made the decision to be a little creepy and follow my mini-me around, hoping that perhaps I could offer him some advice for the future.

The sun was high in the sky as I saw my younger self sprint out of his house and in the direction of the woods. I knew exactly what he was doing and who he was going to see, so I followed right after him. But as I was keeping a safe distance between me and my younger self, I suddenly crashed into someone, which sent me stumbling backwards as the other person fell straight to the ground.

"Hey! Watch where you're going!" An incredibly familiar voice snarled as she stood up from the ground and began dusting off her studded shirt. Long, blonde hair had been braided into a thick braid that hung down her back, and her left eye was covered by her long bangs. My heart skipped a beat as I struggled to not let the tears flow. It was her.

"Uh... sorry!" I croaked as she pushed past me, pretending like I had never even existed. Still, I couldn't help but keep my gaze on her, the way she walked, head held high and a sharp axe in her hand. My gods, she had been beautiful since day one.

As Astrid eventually disappeared from my view, I went back to my original plan, which was to follow my younger self. I easily guided myself through the woods, all the way to the cove where lo and behold, the younger Hiccup was busy bonding with what I presumed to be a younger Toothless.

Toothless. Oh no, I had lost him during the storm, leaving him helpless and without any possibility of flying to safety. It seemed my plan of discussing with my younger self had to be sped up, so that the two of us could go and rescue my Toothless.

But as I was about to make my way down into the cove, a familiar coo came from behind me. I whipped my head around and found Toothless smiling his wonderful that wonderful smile of his, gums bared for all to see. I let out a sigh of relief as I ran up to the dragon and wrapped my arms around him. "You really had me scared there for a moment, bud."

The night fury cooed yet again as he nuzzled his head against me, giving my hair a little lick before we both took a step back. I glanced down at his prosthetic tail fin, which had been reduced to singed metal rods. "We got to get to the forge and get you fixed up, bud."

The dragon nodded in agreement, right as a yelp could be heard from the cove. Toothless slowly crept to the edge, where he growled at the the boy and his dragon below, before tilting his head and cooing in recognition.

"Yeah, I saw it too, bud. Were we ever that young?" I chuckled as I earned a light swat from Toothless tail.

"What is it, Toothless?" A squeaky voice came from underneath as loud growling followed. Great, baby Toothless had detected us. "Is there anyone there?"

I exchanged a look with my Toothless, and we silently agreed that maybe it was for the best that we introduced ourselves. I climbed atop Toothless, who gracefully jumped down to the cove, landing right in front of the younger versions of the two of us.

A wide eyed Hiccup stared at the two of us as the young Toothless seemed to have calmed down. "H-Henry? You have a night fury as well?"

I nodded as I patted Toothless' head, earning a soft coo from him. "Nope, Toothless is the only one."

Hiccup and Toothless exchanged a confused look before young Hiccup raised a brow at me. "What?"

"You see, Hiccup, this may be hard for you to believe, but I am a future version of you and this is my Toothless, who is a future version of your Toothless." I patted the night fury on the head as he flashed another gummy smile. "Do you understand?"

Hiccup swallowed before slowly nodding, seemingly in the middle of processing what he had just been told. "Uh, Henry? I-I mean Hiccup, can I ask you one thing?"

A shot him a smile. "Sure."

"Astrid doesn't marry Snotlout, does she?" Hiccup asked, face flushed with a red so deep one could mistake him for a skinny tomato.

I chuckled as I shook my head slowly, remembering how bad I was crushing on Astrid at that age. "No, she definitely does not marry Snotlout."

"Oh. Then who does she marry? If she does marry of course ..." Hiccup asked, shuffling his feet as he averted my gaze. I felt my heart constrict once again as I took a step towards the younger version of myself and placed a firm hand on his shoulder.

"You." I grinned at him. Hiccup blinked before staring wide-eyed up at me.

"Wait, really?"

I nodded as a smile played across my lips and I crossed my arms. "Yes. You see, if all goes according to plan she will fall for you in just a day or two, and you will eventually end up marrying her."

"Wow..." Hiccup seemed to get lost inside his own head as I imagined him imagining his life with Astrid. I watched the boy—who was fantasizing about the woman he would one day marry—deciding that I would spare him from the many trials he would meet on the road.

"Do you think you can keep our entire conversation a secret, Hiccup?" I asked him, speaking in the most serious and firm voice I possibly could. Hiccup nodded vigorously as he assured me he would not tell a soul.

"Great!" I exclaimed. "Now if you could be so kind, how about the two of us take a quick trip to the forge to make my Toothless a new tail?"

"Of course! You don't think you can tell me what happened to the leg on the way?" Hiccup tilted his head to the side as we began making our way out of the cove.

I patted Hiccup on the shoulder as I let out a sigh. "That's a long story, buddy."