![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
HTTYD Prompts
May. 3rd, 2025 10:14 pm🐉 Putting wings on Hiccup? 🐉
Bcs that's fun 🎶. Let's see… reasons he can get wings…
As for what might happen…
Bonus: whump during wing growths
------
🐉 Movie 2 canon divergence - runaway 🐉
“Berk needs me.
Berks needs me.
Berks needs me, and yet…
(Aren’t I just making things worse? )
What… Am I doing here?
I never belonged”
Hiccup struggle to cope after Toothless killed his dad. Rational and feelings are not the same, and even if he forgives toothlessness for the circumstance, he cannot help the flinch whenever his friend gets near. He cannot help his stomach to twist and turn everytime the dragon smell fills his nose (the plasma blast smell never seem to leave the dragon ). He wants to help Berk, honor his father's legacy, but… he is not his father. (does he have any right, after leading the village into danger? leading a whole people is not the same as a small group of friends ).
No matter how he looks at it, Astrid is much better fit for the job. Even Snotlout could do better.
Overwhelmed by grief and powerlessness, a few weeks after his father died, Hiccup take a decision.
He leaves.
(he take a boat alone, in the night, without warning anyone )
I’m letting you decide what happens next~
Features: angst as Hiccup fear Toothless, throw false smiles at the vikings which make nothing better, spiral down in grief and then run away :3. Eventually can add whump and frustration
-----
🐉 The dragons and riders are body switched 🐉
Full crack.
The reason can be a dragon's roar (but afterward the dragon refuse to roar again? ) / specific specie capability, it can be a curse from some witch, or/and smthg with an ultimatum….
Anything you can think of! Fact is, the dragon riders present that day body switched with their dragon and now it's chaos on Dragon's edge (and eventually on Berk when they go home, still body switched, to get help from Gothi )
-----
🐉 The europeans of the coast suck 🐉
A hiccup runaway au, or a dragon shapeshifter hiccup au, or just a canon event where hiccup has to (for diplomatic reason ) travel all the way to the european coast.
Europeans of that time (christians ) does not like magic. Much less uncontrollable magical creatures. If they are controllable, though… now that’s another story~
Ensue political games from european nobles (that goes over hiccup head ) to attempt to bribe, blackmail, sweeten and threaten this ’viking newcomer’ in order to obtain one of his ’tamed beasts’ (weapons ). Human greed rule the world~
Also some witch hunt bcs that stranger (hiccup ) is obviously either a nice little tool that will let itself be used or a witch.
Point is, this trip goes badly. (Hiccup may also lose his way back and have to wander in those dangerous european country for a bit, trying to get home )
Europeans dragons probably all got murdered already, but who knows maybe hiccup can meet a few surviving ones in the mountains, or sold as curiosity in a rich market place, or kept sickly in some rich noble basament. Maybe there is even one country with a ’royal knight rider’ guard! Where they treat the dragons well but the beasts have been genetically selected to be ’obedient’ (dumb ), and do not clash against chains, so it’s a bittersweet meeting. They lost their freedom and mind.
So Europeans of that time suck (sorry, I’m used to read story where Catholicism of that age is depicted in a *very* bad light xd. Bcs all the money went to the rich! They didn’t even respect christianity core values anymore anyway xd ). Some whump may happen between all the threats and blackmail and effort to get hiccup to manufacture some nice ’weapons’ for them (dragons or just firesword and the such ). Some adventure may happen while escaping said noble, and various type of culture and people be met.
-----
🐉 Dragon shapeshifting 🐉
For generations, some vikings have been dragons shapeshifters. Hiccup’s mother was from such a bloodline. Hiccup himself possess that power, but he always made sure to hide it— his father taught him too, nervous that all his son ’unvikingness’ would make him rejected (it still happened but well ). Dragon-shapeshifter are either hailed as heroes or hated as villains, dragons traitors and mad men. ’witches’. Most often they end up banished, rejected by viking society as unnatural beasts.
You can have fun with several one shots around this concept.
Idea 1: shapeshifting reveal - the riders learn about hiccup shapeshifting (see him by accident probably ). It’s not that he wanted to lie to them, it’s just he got so used to hide it, only transforming when the itch became unbearable, smoothing his longing for the sky by flying with toothless.
Idea 2: smthg else you think about, or one of the dragon!hiccup-based plots (like gladiator dragon!hiccup )
As for hiccup's mom -
Want her to stay? Hiccup mom did probably ran away bcs did not know her baby was shapeshifter. Maybe, back then, they believed him to not be shapeshifterIt might not show before a while. And being with dragons was her only chance to truly be able to freely shift.
Want her to be different? you can also go ’she left but took hiccup with her’ (then survived / died ), or ’she stayed but it wasn’t enough although it does mean hiccup had good confident’, or ’she stayed but a dragon hunter killed her while she had shifted’
------
🐉 Dragon!hiccup captured | gladiator 🐉
Hiccup is a dragon now, either shapeshifting or a past curse or whatever (like a sequel to the prompt ’You either die a hero or live long enough to become the villain’ that you'll find a bit further below )
Hiccup is captured under his dragon form (sold in the arena for dragons fights? ). Life as a captive dragon (whether you go the gladiator life or not ) is hard. It’s basically slavery. Hiccup can only take his human form back when no one is looking, (he probably manages to stealthily send a terrible terror to the edge. Whether his messenger arrive with its message or not, or is intercepted on the way is your choice~ ). Unlucky for him, some people that know ’Hiccup Haddock’ come to the arena overseeing the dragons (enter one of the movie / show villain :3 ), stopping his escape (he can only show his dragon form - which they do not recognise or only recognise as ’part of his dragon tamed group’ )
(Honestly for this au - bcs captured tropes are amazing - any justification as to why hiccup became a dragon is good. It can be a curse then he get captured and forced through gladiator road, still unused to the draconic body ☆.☆. Or, Idea 2 can also work as a follow up of ’You either die a hero or live long enough to become the villain’ )
----
🐉 Dragon!hiccup captured | gladiator v.2 🐉
Bcs captured tropes are amazing.
Consider, such a dragon!hiccup trapped in Viggo’s mindhames, in Drago’s army or — in Grimmel’s collection.
Would be very fun if in Grimmel collection.
Idea: Could he even meet toothless there? Transform for X reason before movie 1 happen - or after he hit toothless - except after releasing the dragon there is no one in the cove. There is no one because someone already took the injured night fury away (Grimmel ).
Hiccup goes home unaware of what he just missed. In the next few days, he begin to transform (due to meeting and shooting/saving a night fury ) - (and win against the red death, lose a leg while a dragon / right before fully becoming a dragon, yada yada, the one shot can begin after those event happen, they can just be summarized. )
Point is. Grimmel begins to hear about a night fury near Berk. Except the one near Berk is clearly already in his possession.
He goes back, find hiccup, kidnap him.
Hiccup in cage recognise the other night fury.
(And meet toothless, yay! )
-----
🐉 You either die a hero or live long enough to become the villain 🐉
A strange sickness strike Berk. It soon devolve into chaos.
idea: beginning of movie 3 / end of movie 2 setting-
Hiccup is the first who grows scales. He is worried, but hides them. They get worse. There is a pulsing in his back, unnatural color on his nails. A few days laters, worried people begin to come to Gothi, showing a growing itch developping in scales. Gothi cannot help, but suggest they find the ’source’ of this infection (the first patient ). The dragon riders are the most affected, but not only. The infected become feverish, aching, feeling sick. Hiccup feel his chief responsibility and hide his own growing sickness the best he can (the scales are black, like toothless’s. His amputated leg is covered by them now ). More and more, as Gothi stay without cure, people turn towards Hiccup, their Chief: him. “Will you save us?” they ask.
Hiccup can only hide his growing limp and smile ’sure.’
(How were dragons born? )
Soon enough, people guess that the sickest ones are the ones most in contact with dragons. They asked for the beasts to be driven away, heartbroken (panicked, a blind mob on the move ). Hiccup reluctantly agree to calm the villagers, betting it is only for a short time.
But the sickness doesn’t stop. It grows and grows until some people get half blind (their pupils are verical, yellow ), people coughing at every corner of the street, nails growing long, breath smelling like gaz. Berk is declared in quarantine, its contact cut off with the outside. Depending on how dark you want to go, some people may die (unable to finish the transformation. Dark is fun - a raged mob is very scary. It takes very little to create one. )
(How were dragons born? )
The dragon riders are all stuck in bed, feverish (so is Gothi, curled up, seeming to grow smaller as eqch day pass ). The other day, a horn grew on Atsrid’s head (ivory, like a Nadder ). Panicked people try to cut the abomination growing on their body - lynch away scales (leaving deep scars behind ), hide strange eyes, fervently cut claw like nails- sometimes removing what used to be the tip of a finger. The other day, someone woke up with a whole dragon leg / arm and amputated it (maybe the goat lover guy? ). No one listens to Gothi’s advice to wait and see, stay calm. Gothi cannot even stand up anymore anyway.
Isolated, anxious, panic is fast spreading. They become mad.
(How were dragons born? )
Gothi could not save them, they burn her house. Hiccup cannot save them - madness turns its gaze towards him. (He does not know about the fire, curled in his house in pain, wishing toothless was with him ).
The people ask questions. They remember Gothi said to find the first patient. A fast investigation show the true (people selling Hiccup for a seed of hope, a drop of safety ). Who cares if the witness lied. Hiccup, dozed by the fever raging through his body, the pain twisting his mind, hesitate in refuting (after all, that’s true - he found out himself he was likely first infected ). They come, with forks and fire, deaf to any explanation. He runs in the forest, the mob shout ringing in his ears (he land in the cove, ironically )
When he wake up, his hands are gone, and there are wings flapping on his back.
(How were dragons born? )
When it comes to dragon, people never ask - who came first? The egg or the chicken?
The humans have always been the chicken. But truth is, they were also made to become the egg.
(The first dragons were humans. From the beginning.
And after so much killing, magic is in need of new blood. The humans who formed a bond with the dragons are the perfect bridge for it to spread once again. )
So i wrote this very coolly bcs i was inspired, but there is no need to follow line by line xd. The idea of this prompt is basically just ’people living with dragons will become dragons, influenced by the magic around them. The people of Berk (with Hiccup as chief ), after years of cohabiting, finally reached this point, and began to transform. It’s treated like a worrisome plague, people get panicked and begin witch hunts everywhere. Like any panicked mob, they turn against their leader (who couldn’t save them ) and blame the leader for everything (they need a ’sacrifice’. ) Hiccup pay the price of that (and also pay the price of the sickness = transform into a dragon )
----
🐉 Trapped Behind Enemies Lines 🐉
Divergence points
(Before meeting Viggo for the first time? )
Confronted by hunters with a sick Toothless, Hiccup has to pass himself off as a hunter who caught the ’mighty beast’. His bluff works. Wanting to find the hunters main hideout to dismantle them, he decide to play along a bit longer. It turns out to be the wrong choice as
1. Hiccup get separated from toothless, far away from Berk or any dragon rider. He begins to work as a hunter (while trying to sabotage them as much as he can ), as their network is the most likely to know where toothless is. He try to not catch dragons as much as he can, but he might not have a choice if he want enough influence to approach intel the ’Night Fury’. (I wonder if Grimmel is what stand at the end of this path... :3 if you want this divergence with Grimmel at the end, don’t hesitate to ask for more plot - i can give what could happen if faced with Grimmel too. Or you can make it up yourself as well :3 )
2. The hunter lead him to a guy named ’Viggo’, the center of their whole operation. Viggo is fast to guess who Hiccup truly is, but a dragon rider disguised as hunter may be useful for his means. He takes toothless hostage and begin a mind game with hiccup (trying to corner him into choosing his side ). As a hunter, Hiccup might succeed to destroy a few of Viggo’s plans, but overall Viggo also corner him a lot, using Hiccup for his own profit while toothless stay trapped. Their escape attempts are twarted even as most hunters are blind to it and consider him a comrade (only a few chosen by Viggo or clever ones are aware of hiccup’s true statut as puppet ).
3. Hiccup ends up in Drago’s ends, toothless trapped under the alpha command.
Plot point: face off between hunter!hiccup and the dragons riders. Hiccup identity might be protected by a helmet at first. From the dragon riders pov, he’s an enemy, then as time pass a dangerous one as he is the reason hunters now also ride dragons (earlier than they ended up doing in the show or movie timeline ). During an en-ieme confrontation later on, there is an identity reveal (hiccup helmet falls, or he get taken prisoner by dragon riders and they remove his helmet, or they get suspicions from the way hunters are suddenly dragon riding plus that enemy is never trying to injure them, or Hiccup reveal himself because he needs their help for something and he needs their trust even if it’s half broken )
In all cases, there will be sacrifice to be made (Hiccup won’t be able to find/save/protect toothless AND all the dragons, he will have to sacrifice one. )
Features: betrayal, cornelian choices, passing as the bad guy, an impressive amount of bluff and lies to survive without losing too much moral (but the more you advance, the more morals get loss until you reach the question ’who am I’? One setp onward, two steps backwards. Losing onself is the price to pay when accomplishing a single minded goal - and sacrificing *everything* for it, even as one struggle every bits of the way )
Plot twist - toothless did escape by himself at some point (he’s ressourceful after all ), but hiccup is unaware of it (when he learn, angst bcs ’everything he did - every sacrifice - was for *nothing*’ ). The grave was build by one’s own hands~
Meaning Hiccup might be resistant (feel too shameful ) to go back to Berk / to even ride a dragon again after everything, or approach toothless, even if the rest of the group assur ehim they forgive him.
(Toothless might be the one dragging him back, holding him by the neck and throwing him on his bacl, leaving his rider no choice XD )
Bonus: as Hiccup (obviously ) couldn’t ride Toothless, he does get a ’tamed’ dragon to ride (too afraid to disobey the lord of the place? ). He does bond with it, eventually (but it’s’love mixed with hate, birthed in frustration, and he can’t help but loath it at first. He might accidentally injure it because of that and feel guilty from this. )
----
🐉 Trapped Behind Enemies Lines v2 🐉
Similar to "Trapped Behind Enemies Lines."
Hiccup get trapped by Drago
- Maybe when Drago fully get control of Toothless in movie 2? Then Drago win this fight (unlike canon ) and Berk is forced to retreat. And a lot and lot of angst bcs Hiccup has high trauma and cannot approach mind controlled toothless (even during the rare time the dragon is not under mind control anymore ).
- Or maybe a bit earlier in the timeline than that (perhaps while Hiccup is on his way to meet his mother - meaning he never meet her )
Bonus: Hiccup can hear the Alpha (when the Alpha chose to communicate with him, or just accidentally end up slowly perceiving more and more of their words the longer he stay in vinicity of the Bewilderbeast? ) or at least understand the Alpha, even if he isn't susceptible to their orders like dragons. Idk the Alpha gender and i've seen both going around, so you choose. Mental dialogue (the Alpha words ) can be written in italics :3
Plot: Toothless ends up as Drago's mount. Hiccup is kept for his dragon 'taming' knowledge, and as an hostage to keep Berk riders at bay. He manage to bargain to be here for dragon trapping and participate to various camp activities, thinking then he would be able to save a few of them. It backfire when he stay powerless to help the dragons (he is being watched too closely ), but also make things worse because bonding with those dragons means they'll be mroe obedient to Drago and will suffer more. Before he knows it, he is unwittingly 'helping the enemy' (he just wanted to help the dragon captives ).
Drago make full use of this. Hiccup is a tool for him to use, just like the Night Fury and the Bewilderbeast are. The dragon riders are certain, at first, that Hiccup is on their side. But they attack, and Hiccup chase them away (forced by Drago ). The dragon riders trust Hiccup nevertheless, they guess he must have been forced (but the seeds of doubt have been planted ). Next confrontation, they arrive as Hiccup advise Drago on where to hunt (trying to orient his hunts away from the most vital island ). they only overhear the bad part, never get to hear Drago mocking Hiccup that he's aware of what teh younger man is attempting. The dragon riders doubt grow. Next time, Hiccup is helping the trappers (from their pov - reality is, it's all a misunderstanding ). The dragon riders doubt grow more. Did Hiccup change? It's been so long now. (they don't hear about the escape attemps, don't notice the injuries Hiccup hide as he was punished for successfully letting a dragon go. One, out of the thousands Drago trapped ).
Later, the dragon rider of Berk succeed in a raid in recapturing the Night Fury (feral, barely coherent ). Yet even when the riders manage to free Toothless... Hiccup choose to go back with Drago / stay behind (there are *so many* dragons to save yet. The young alpha among them. )
Doubt was seed and has grown. Now, the certainty has shifted: Hiccup betrayed them (they only wished they knew *why* ). Now, Hiccup have to be taken account as the 'enemy' (although they still want him back ).
(Toothless disappear in the night - knowing Hiccup is in danger, and thus running back even as he has to put himself back under the Bewilderbeast and Drago's influence again. Or perhaps... perhaps he simply heard the Bewilderbeast call, still too dozed to remember Hiccup ).
Feature:
- Toothless recognising Hiccup less and less
- thousands of dragon suffering and Hiccup powerless to help them
- casual soldiers working for Drago with various personalities (not caring, feeling sorry but needing to feed their family, being glad the 'damn murderous beast' are finally under control, appreciating the power trip of being part of an army, etc )
- eventual domestic scenes with these soldiers where conversations may occur (dice games, meals, washing clothes, feeding dragons and trapping them, etc ), late night talk with the Bewilderbeast which has been thoroughly brainwashed by Drago and may speak casually horrible 'childhood memories' (how do humans 'tame' animals? I advise you to look into wild horses taming ) because it's normal for them. Nothing Hiccup can say can shake off the admiration, respect, love and fear the Bewilderbeast feel for Drago (for their 'father' ) )
- flinching whenever toothless aproach (mind controlled or not. The night fury take the habit of going to see his rider at night, when Hiccup is deep asleep, and curl next to him to share warmth. His rider is very diminushed lastly. Those nights are the only moment Toothless can pretend they are back on Berk, and happy. Perhaps, Hiccup does wake up sometimes from the sudden dragon-warm at his back. Perhaps, he says nothing, because he want to pretend just a bit, too ).
After the first few days, Hiccup wears no chain because Drago knows he is tied by much more powerful ones (how could he ever think to *leave*, to abandon this place without saving anyone? )
The old Bewilderbeast probably die mid-fic or near the end (the old Bewilderbeast death and Hiccup perceived 'help' for this murder only ciment Berk's dragon riders certainty that Hiccup switched camp. )
As for the end... The new Bewilderbeast either die as well, or leave after Drago's death.
Perhaps... Perhaps after so many chat with Hiccup, the Bewilderbeast makes a choice. They grab Drago mid fight and takk him away (they decide to make their own decision. They can't kill Drago - they love him - but they finally understand they don't want him to do more damage. They're more powerful than him, they can learn to make a nest far far away from here in the future, where their 'father' won't be as tempted by greed and hate, away from other humans 'bad' influence. )
Hiccup is accepted back to Berk once the misunderstanding of his 'betrayal' has lifted (but the seeds of doubt are never that easy to remove ). He may not want to stay though - too much has changed since he was captured by Drago - and chose to give away his place as chief, in order to travel instead.
Bcs that's fun 🎶. Let's see… reasons he can get wings…
- Curse
- Too much proximity with dragons (this gave me an amazing dragon transformation au idea, you should find it in another prompt “You either die a hero or live long enough to become the villain” )
- Magical artifact?
- No one knows, it’s just crack all around (although an absurd beginning can be used to create angst, thus producing delicious crack-angst )
- The classical ’soulmate through wings’ or just ’everyone in this universe has wings’ au
As for what might happen…
- If before movie 1, run away
- If during show / movies, lot of crack bcs sudden wings are encumbering and need maintaining (yes, even bat like ones )
- Might try to hide them at first by sheer instinct / habit bcs it would make everyone else needlessly worried (If it doesn’t happen to everyone )
- First flight
- Whump-torture using wings (you got many villains to choose from even if for some reason Viggo is my fav. Probably bcs the show is what i watched the most xd )
- Any typical canon adventure (like ’imagine a new episode for the show ) except some / all characters got wings now
Bonus: whump during wing growths
------
🐉 Movie 2 canon divergence - runaway 🐉
“Berk needs me.
Berks needs me.
Berks needs me, and yet…
(Aren’t I just making things worse? )
What… Am I doing here?
I never belonged”
Hiccup struggle to cope after Toothless killed his dad. Rational and feelings are not the same, and even if he forgives toothlessness for the circumstance, he cannot help the flinch whenever his friend gets near. He cannot help his stomach to twist and turn everytime the dragon smell fills his nose (the plasma blast smell never seem to leave the dragon ). He wants to help Berk, honor his father's legacy, but… he is not his father. (does he have any right, after leading the village into danger? leading a whole people is not the same as a small group of friends ).
No matter how he looks at it, Astrid is much better fit for the job. Even Snotlout could do better.
Overwhelmed by grief and powerlessness, a few weeks after his father died, Hiccup take a decision.
He leaves.
(he take a boat alone, in the night, without warning anyone )
I’m letting you decide what happens next~
Features: angst as Hiccup fear Toothless, throw false smiles at the vikings which make nothing better, spiral down in grief and then run away :3. Eventually can add whump and frustration
-----
🐉 The dragons and riders are body switched 🐉
Full crack.
The reason can be a dragon's roar (but afterward the dragon refuse to roar again? ) / specific specie capability, it can be a curse from some witch, or/and smthg with an ultimatum….
Anything you can think of! Fact is, the dragon riders present that day body switched with their dragon and now it's chaos on Dragon's edge (and eventually on Berk when they go home, still body switched, to get help from Gothi )
-----
🐉 The europeans of the coast suck 🐉
A hiccup runaway au, or a dragon shapeshifter hiccup au, or just a canon event where hiccup has to (for diplomatic reason ) travel all the way to the european coast.
Europeans of that time (christians ) does not like magic. Much less uncontrollable magical creatures. If they are controllable, though… now that’s another story~
Ensue political games from european nobles (that goes over hiccup head ) to attempt to bribe, blackmail, sweeten and threaten this ’viking newcomer’ in order to obtain one of his ’tamed beasts’ (weapons ). Human greed rule the world~
Also some witch hunt bcs that stranger (hiccup ) is obviously either a nice little tool that will let itself be used or a witch.
Point is, this trip goes badly. (Hiccup may also lose his way back and have to wander in those dangerous european country for a bit, trying to get home )
Europeans dragons probably all got murdered already, but who knows maybe hiccup can meet a few surviving ones in the mountains, or sold as curiosity in a rich market place, or kept sickly in some rich noble basament. Maybe there is even one country with a ’royal knight rider’ guard! Where they treat the dragons well but the beasts have been genetically selected to be ’obedient’ (dumb ), and do not clash against chains, so it’s a bittersweet meeting. They lost their freedom and mind.
So Europeans of that time suck (sorry, I’m used to read story where Catholicism of that age is depicted in a *very* bad light xd. Bcs all the money went to the rich! They didn’t even respect christianity core values anymore anyway xd ). Some whump may happen between all the threats and blackmail and effort to get hiccup to manufacture some nice ’weapons’ for them (dragons or just firesword and the such ). Some adventure may happen while escaping said noble, and various type of culture and people be met.
-----
🐉 Dragon shapeshifting 🐉
For generations, some vikings have been dragons shapeshifters. Hiccup’s mother was from such a bloodline. Hiccup himself possess that power, but he always made sure to hide it— his father taught him too, nervous that all his son ’unvikingness’ would make him rejected (it still happened but well ). Dragon-shapeshifter are either hailed as heroes or hated as villains, dragons traitors and mad men. ’witches’. Most often they end up banished, rejected by viking society as unnatural beasts.
You can have fun with several one shots around this concept.
Idea 1: shapeshifting reveal - the riders learn about hiccup shapeshifting (see him by accident probably ). It’s not that he wanted to lie to them, it’s just he got so used to hide it, only transforming when the itch became unbearable, smoothing his longing for the sky by flying with toothless.
Idea 2: smthg else you think about, or one of the dragon!hiccup-based plots (like gladiator dragon!hiccup )
As for hiccup's mom -
Want her to stay? Hiccup mom did probably ran away bcs did not know her baby was shapeshifter. Maybe, back then, they believed him to not be shapeshifterIt might not show before a while. And being with dragons was her only chance to truly be able to freely shift.
Want her to be different? you can also go ’she left but took hiccup with her’ (then survived / died ), or ’she stayed but it wasn’t enough although it does mean hiccup had good confident’, or ’she stayed but a dragon hunter killed her while she had shifted’
------
🐉 Dragon!hiccup captured | gladiator 🐉
Hiccup is a dragon now, either shapeshifting or a past curse or whatever (like a sequel to the prompt ’You either die a hero or live long enough to become the villain’ that you'll find a bit further below )
Hiccup is captured under his dragon form (sold in the arena for dragons fights? ). Life as a captive dragon (whether you go the gladiator life or not ) is hard. It’s basically slavery. Hiccup can only take his human form back when no one is looking, (he probably manages to stealthily send a terrible terror to the edge. Whether his messenger arrive with its message or not, or is intercepted on the way is your choice~ ). Unlucky for him, some people that know ’Hiccup Haddock’ come to the arena overseeing the dragons (enter one of the movie / show villain :3 ), stopping his escape (he can only show his dragon form - which they do not recognise or only recognise as ’part of his dragon tamed group’ )
(Honestly for this au - bcs captured tropes are amazing - any justification as to why hiccup became a dragon is good. It can be a curse then he get captured and forced through gladiator road, still unused to the draconic body ☆.☆. Or, Idea 2 can also work as a follow up of ’You either die a hero or live long enough to become the villain’ )
----
🐉 Dragon!hiccup captured | gladiator v.2 🐉
Bcs captured tropes are amazing.
Consider, such a dragon!hiccup trapped in Viggo’s mindhames, in Drago’s army or — in Grimmel’s collection.
Would be very fun if in Grimmel collection.
Idea: Could he even meet toothless there? Transform for X reason before movie 1 happen - or after he hit toothless - except after releasing the dragon there is no one in the cove. There is no one because someone already took the injured night fury away (Grimmel ).
Hiccup goes home unaware of what he just missed. In the next few days, he begin to transform (due to meeting and shooting/saving a night fury ) - (and win against the red death, lose a leg while a dragon / right before fully becoming a dragon, yada yada, the one shot can begin after those event happen, they can just be summarized. )
Point is. Grimmel begins to hear about a night fury near Berk. Except the one near Berk is clearly already in his possession.
He goes back, find hiccup, kidnap him.
Hiccup in cage recognise the other night fury.
(And meet toothless, yay! )
-----
🐉 You either die a hero or live long enough to become the villain 🐉
A strange sickness strike Berk. It soon devolve into chaos.
idea: beginning of movie 3 / end of movie 2 setting-
Hiccup is the first who grows scales. He is worried, but hides them. They get worse. There is a pulsing in his back, unnatural color on his nails. A few days laters, worried people begin to come to Gothi, showing a growing itch developping in scales. Gothi cannot help, but suggest they find the ’source’ of this infection (the first patient ). The dragon riders are the most affected, but not only. The infected become feverish, aching, feeling sick. Hiccup feel his chief responsibility and hide his own growing sickness the best he can (the scales are black, like toothless’s. His amputated leg is covered by them now ). More and more, as Gothi stay without cure, people turn towards Hiccup, their Chief: him. “Will you save us?” they ask.
Hiccup can only hide his growing limp and smile ’sure.’
(How were dragons born? )
Soon enough, people guess that the sickest ones are the ones most in contact with dragons. They asked for the beasts to be driven away, heartbroken (panicked, a blind mob on the move ). Hiccup reluctantly agree to calm the villagers, betting it is only for a short time.
But the sickness doesn’t stop. It grows and grows until some people get half blind (their pupils are verical, yellow ), people coughing at every corner of the street, nails growing long, breath smelling like gaz. Berk is declared in quarantine, its contact cut off with the outside. Depending on how dark you want to go, some people may die (unable to finish the transformation. Dark is fun - a raged mob is very scary. It takes very little to create one. )
(How were dragons born? )
The dragon riders are all stuck in bed, feverish (so is Gothi, curled up, seeming to grow smaller as eqch day pass ). The other day, a horn grew on Atsrid’s head (ivory, like a Nadder ). Panicked people try to cut the abomination growing on their body - lynch away scales (leaving deep scars behind ), hide strange eyes, fervently cut claw like nails- sometimes removing what used to be the tip of a finger. The other day, someone woke up with a whole dragon leg / arm and amputated it (maybe the goat lover guy? ). No one listens to Gothi’s advice to wait and see, stay calm. Gothi cannot even stand up anymore anyway.
Isolated, anxious, panic is fast spreading. They become mad.
(How were dragons born? )
Gothi could not save them, they burn her house. Hiccup cannot save them - madness turns its gaze towards him. (He does not know about the fire, curled in his house in pain, wishing toothless was with him ).
The people ask questions. They remember Gothi said to find the first patient. A fast investigation show the true (people selling Hiccup for a seed of hope, a drop of safety ). Who cares if the witness lied. Hiccup, dozed by the fever raging through his body, the pain twisting his mind, hesitate in refuting (after all, that’s true - he found out himself he was likely first infected ). They come, with forks and fire, deaf to any explanation. He runs in the forest, the mob shout ringing in his ears (he land in the cove, ironically )
When he wake up, his hands are gone, and there are wings flapping on his back.
(How were dragons born? )
When it comes to dragon, people never ask - who came first? The egg or the chicken?
The humans have always been the chicken. But truth is, they were also made to become the egg.
(The first dragons were humans. From the beginning.
And after so much killing, magic is in need of new blood. The humans who formed a bond with the dragons are the perfect bridge for it to spread once again. )
So i wrote this very coolly bcs i was inspired, but there is no need to follow line by line xd. The idea of this prompt is basically just ’people living with dragons will become dragons, influenced by the magic around them. The people of Berk (with Hiccup as chief ), after years of cohabiting, finally reached this point, and began to transform. It’s treated like a worrisome plague, people get panicked and begin witch hunts everywhere. Like any panicked mob, they turn against their leader (who couldn’t save them ) and blame the leader for everything (they need a ’sacrifice’. ) Hiccup pay the price of that (and also pay the price of the sickness = transform into a dragon )
----
🐉 Trapped Behind Enemies Lines 🐉
Divergence points
(Before meeting Viggo for the first time? )
Confronted by hunters with a sick Toothless, Hiccup has to pass himself off as a hunter who caught the ’mighty beast’. His bluff works. Wanting to find the hunters main hideout to dismantle them, he decide to play along a bit longer. It turns out to be the wrong choice as
1. Hiccup get separated from toothless, far away from Berk or any dragon rider. He begins to work as a hunter (while trying to sabotage them as much as he can ), as their network is the most likely to know where toothless is. He try to not catch dragons as much as he can, but he might not have a choice if he want enough influence to approach intel the ’Night Fury’. (I wonder if Grimmel is what stand at the end of this path... :3 if you want this divergence with Grimmel at the end, don’t hesitate to ask for more plot - i can give what could happen if faced with Grimmel too. Or you can make it up yourself as well :3 )
2. The hunter lead him to a guy named ’Viggo’, the center of their whole operation. Viggo is fast to guess who Hiccup truly is, but a dragon rider disguised as hunter may be useful for his means. He takes toothless hostage and begin a mind game with hiccup (trying to corner him into choosing his side ). As a hunter, Hiccup might succeed to destroy a few of Viggo’s plans, but overall Viggo also corner him a lot, using Hiccup for his own profit while toothless stay trapped. Their escape attempts are twarted even as most hunters are blind to it and consider him a comrade (only a few chosen by Viggo or clever ones are aware of hiccup’s true statut as puppet ).
3. Hiccup ends up in Drago’s ends, toothless trapped under the alpha command.
Plot point: face off between hunter!hiccup and the dragons riders. Hiccup identity might be protected by a helmet at first. From the dragon riders pov, he’s an enemy, then as time pass a dangerous one as he is the reason hunters now also ride dragons (earlier than they ended up doing in the show or movie timeline ). During an en-ieme confrontation later on, there is an identity reveal (hiccup helmet falls, or he get taken prisoner by dragon riders and they remove his helmet, or they get suspicions from the way hunters are suddenly dragon riding plus that enemy is never trying to injure them, or Hiccup reveal himself because he needs their help for something and he needs their trust even if it’s half broken )
In all cases, there will be sacrifice to be made (Hiccup won’t be able to find/save/protect toothless AND all the dragons, he will have to sacrifice one. )
Features: betrayal, cornelian choices, passing as the bad guy, an impressive amount of bluff and lies to survive without losing too much moral (but the more you advance, the more morals get loss until you reach the question ’who am I’? One setp onward, two steps backwards. Losing onself is the price to pay when accomplishing a single minded goal - and sacrificing *everything* for it, even as one struggle every bits of the way )
Plot twist - toothless did escape by himself at some point (he’s ressourceful after all ), but hiccup is unaware of it (when he learn, angst bcs ’everything he did - every sacrifice - was for *nothing*’ ). The grave was build by one’s own hands~
Meaning Hiccup might be resistant (feel too shameful ) to go back to Berk / to even ride a dragon again after everything, or approach toothless, even if the rest of the group assur ehim they forgive him.
(Toothless might be the one dragging him back, holding him by the neck and throwing him on his bacl, leaving his rider no choice XD )
Bonus: as Hiccup (obviously ) couldn’t ride Toothless, he does get a ’tamed’ dragon to ride (too afraid to disobey the lord of the place? ). He does bond with it, eventually (but it’s’love mixed with hate, birthed in frustration, and he can’t help but loath it at first. He might accidentally injure it because of that and feel guilty from this. )
----
🐉 Trapped Behind Enemies Lines v2 🐉
Similar to "Trapped Behind Enemies Lines."
Hiccup get trapped by Drago
- Maybe when Drago fully get control of Toothless in movie 2? Then Drago win this fight (unlike canon ) and Berk is forced to retreat. And a lot and lot of angst bcs Hiccup has high trauma and cannot approach mind controlled toothless (even during the rare time the dragon is not under mind control anymore ).
- Or maybe a bit earlier in the timeline than that (perhaps while Hiccup is on his way to meet his mother - meaning he never meet her )
Bonus: Hiccup can hear the Alpha (when the Alpha chose to communicate with him, or just accidentally end up slowly perceiving more and more of their words the longer he stay in vinicity of the Bewilderbeast? ) or at least understand the Alpha, even if he isn't susceptible to their orders like dragons. Idk the Alpha gender and i've seen both going around, so you choose. Mental dialogue (the Alpha words ) can be written in italics :3
Plot: Toothless ends up as Drago's mount. Hiccup is kept for his dragon 'taming' knowledge, and as an hostage to keep Berk riders at bay. He manage to bargain to be here for dragon trapping and participate to various camp activities, thinking then he would be able to save a few of them. It backfire when he stay powerless to help the dragons (he is being watched too closely ), but also make things worse because bonding with those dragons means they'll be mroe obedient to Drago and will suffer more. Before he knows it, he is unwittingly 'helping the enemy' (he just wanted to help the dragon captives ).
Drago make full use of this. Hiccup is a tool for him to use, just like the Night Fury and the Bewilderbeast are. The dragon riders are certain, at first, that Hiccup is on their side. But they attack, and Hiccup chase them away (forced by Drago ). The dragon riders trust Hiccup nevertheless, they guess he must have been forced (but the seeds of doubt have been planted ). Next confrontation, they arrive as Hiccup advise Drago on where to hunt (trying to orient his hunts away from the most vital island ). they only overhear the bad part, never get to hear Drago mocking Hiccup that he's aware of what teh younger man is attempting. The dragon riders doubt grow. Next time, Hiccup is helping the trappers (from their pov - reality is, it's all a misunderstanding ). The dragon riders doubt grow more. Did Hiccup change? It's been so long now. (they don't hear about the escape attemps, don't notice the injuries Hiccup hide as he was punished for successfully letting a dragon go. One, out of the thousands Drago trapped ).
Later, the dragon rider of Berk succeed in a raid in recapturing the Night Fury (feral, barely coherent ). Yet even when the riders manage to free Toothless... Hiccup choose to go back with Drago / stay behind (there are *so many* dragons to save yet. The young alpha among them. )
Doubt was seed and has grown. Now, the certainty has shifted: Hiccup betrayed them (they only wished they knew *why* ). Now, Hiccup have to be taken account as the 'enemy' (although they still want him back ).
(Toothless disappear in the night - knowing Hiccup is in danger, and thus running back even as he has to put himself back under the Bewilderbeast and Drago's influence again. Or perhaps... perhaps he simply heard the Bewilderbeast call, still too dozed to remember Hiccup ).
Feature:
- Toothless recognising Hiccup less and less
- thousands of dragon suffering and Hiccup powerless to help them
- casual soldiers working for Drago with various personalities (not caring, feeling sorry but needing to feed their family, being glad the 'damn murderous beast' are finally under control, appreciating the power trip of being part of an army, etc )
- eventual domestic scenes with these soldiers where conversations may occur (dice games, meals, washing clothes, feeding dragons and trapping them, etc ), late night talk with the Bewilderbeast which has been thoroughly brainwashed by Drago and may speak casually horrible 'childhood memories' (how do humans 'tame' animals? I advise you to look into wild horses taming ) because it's normal for them. Nothing Hiccup can say can shake off the admiration, respect, love and fear the Bewilderbeast feel for Drago (for their 'father' ) )
- flinching whenever toothless aproach (mind controlled or not. The night fury take the habit of going to see his rider at night, when Hiccup is deep asleep, and curl next to him to share warmth. His rider is very diminushed lastly. Those nights are the only moment Toothless can pretend they are back on Berk, and happy. Perhaps, Hiccup does wake up sometimes from the sudden dragon-warm at his back. Perhaps, he says nothing, because he want to pretend just a bit, too ).
After the first few days, Hiccup wears no chain because Drago knows he is tied by much more powerful ones (how could he ever think to *leave*, to abandon this place without saving anyone? )
The old Bewilderbeast probably die mid-fic or near the end (the old Bewilderbeast death and Hiccup perceived 'help' for this murder only ciment Berk's dragon riders certainty that Hiccup switched camp. )
As for the end... The new Bewilderbeast either die as well, or leave after Drago's death.
Perhaps... Perhaps after so many chat with Hiccup, the Bewilderbeast makes a choice. They grab Drago mid fight and takk him away (they decide to make their own decision. They can't kill Drago - they love him - but they finally understand they don't want him to do more damage. They're more powerful than him, they can learn to make a nest far far away from here in the future, where their 'father' won't be as tempted by greed and hate, away from other humans 'bad' influence. )
Hiccup is accepted back to Berk once the misunderstanding of his 'betrayal' has lifted (but the seeds of doubt are never that easy to remove ). He may not want to stay though - too much has changed since he was captured by Drago - and chose to give away his place as chief, in order to travel instead.
