AU. So here is chapter four! WARNING MINOR GORE AND NASTY DESCRIPTIONS OF WOUNDS. Sorry if the updates seem spasmodic, I live in Australia so the timing is quite different here. Also I'm thinking of starting a new story about the Big Four, thoughts? It would be a modern AU so yeah. Also I just noticed I've been calling the Authors Notes AU's instead of AN's. What a doofus. Oh my god that's kind of embarrassing. Just ignore the first three chapters AN's and yeah feel free to call me an idiot, cause I am. Sigh. Keep up the reviews and such, I really do love reading them, they make me feel all warm inside. I know I don't do shout outs and I probably won't but all those guys that review, I do read them and I really appreciate them so thank you so much, it means a lot to me to receive constructive feedback, and I absolutely love suggestions so if you have an idea or a prompt for a new story, feel free to let me know. But I'm a Hiccstrid shipper and I refuse to pair either with anyone else. Also I'm not big on Jackunzel either. ALRIGHTY, on with the show, enjoy chapter four :) (Also, I know this is a bit weird but if any of you have questions about the land down under, and by that I mean Australia, I would be happy to answer them, okay, I'll stop this insanely long AN and let you read the chapter…)
Astrid, Fishlegs and Snotlout all flew over to Hiccup's hut as quickly as they could, without making themselves look suspicious. If Hiccup was sick, he was certainly going to be striving to hide the truth by any means necessary, a fact which in equal parts frustrated and saddened Astrid to no end. As soon as Stormfly touched down, Hiccup stiffened upon his bed. He knew exactly who that was and he was not about to let her see his sorry excuse for a leg unwrapped, especially since it was now a festering, oozing mess. Toothless had visibly perked up when his ultra-sensitive ears had heard the flapping of several pairs of wings. Had Hiccup been in a normal state he would no doubt have noticed the change in posture, and quickly re dressed his leg. Unfortunately, he had been so taken up in the sight, smell and pain that was emanating from his leg to pay any attention to anything else, and had allowed himself to be, effectively ambushed. "Well this is great, just great. Perfect in fact. Just how I wanted my day to go.' He mumbled under his breath as he speedily changed the gauze on his leg. He hissed through clenched teeth when the fabric made contact with his feverish stump, causing Toothless to whir around in mounting concern. "It's okay bud.' Muffled voices sounded outside. They were getting closer, and this was a compromising condition to be caught in, to Hiccup anyway. "Do you think you could cause a distraction for me please bud?' he asked hurriedly. Toothless hissed affronted that Hiccup would even suggest he deter his friends from discovering the ugly truth. But the look in Hiccup's eyes was positively desperate and, even though Toothed knew this was against his better judgement, he complied, cooing softly to show he understood Hiccup's request. "Thanks bud, I owe you one for this.' He murmured, scratching his dragon absent mindedly behind the ear.
Toothless quickly bounded off and set himself in front of the door. Hopefully, when they pushed and found something blocking their way, they would leave it alone. Sure they would be frustrated, but upon finding an immovable object in their path they would lay matters to rest until they tried again later, right? That was the logic behind Toothless' stalling tactic. The only issue was whether or not it would work against Vikings almost as stubborn as Hiccup. As Toothless ran the plan through his head before acting, Hiccup was rapidly adjusting his prosthetic, trying to place it in a way that wouldn't subject to his leg protesting every time he took a step. So far he wasn't having much success. As soon as he managed to get it semi bearable though, he would signal Toothless and, hopefully, his bud would get the hint and collect him, before flying off to live out the rest of the day in peace. Well, as much peace as he would be able to muster all current things considered.
The footsteps and voices were getting much louder now as the three riders approached. Toothless readied himself against the door and waited for the knocking to begin. Sure enough, not even ten seconds later, a fist pounded on the wooden door. "Hey, Hiccup you in there?' Astrid yelled. When there was no response she knocked again, louder this time. "Open up Hiccup.' Hiccup remained silent, his teeth clenched to avoid making any noise that would alert them to his presence. There was a scuffle outside the door as an argument broke out,
"Oh move up Hofferson and let a real Viking handle this.' A satisfying thump and a loud OW made Hiccup grin, despite the situation. In all honesty though, he wasn't quite sure why he was hiding all this from people who obviously cared about him. He knew why of course, but why? They were only going to help him once they found out, making the search for a cure easier, but his pride simply didn't want to be damaged, and even though they had accepted him long ago, he still felt the need to prove himself, just to ensure his place among the others was cemented. Little did he know that the other teens felt the same way about him. They all wanted to prove to Hiccup that they have what it takes to be a rider in the academy, and to keep their place. But in his fevered mind all Hiccup thought was the fact that they were going to think him weak after discovering he was sick. But Hiccup, and his friends were sadly ignorant to the fact that whatever Hiccup had was only going to get worse. Much worse. He quickened his pace and attached the prosthetic, submitting himself to a simply torturous existence. He raised his gaze to Toothless, and upon seeing the dragon with his weight thrown against a violently shaking door, decided to take a hand before Astrid decided to break his door down.
"Come on bud, let's get out of here.' he called softly. Toothless nodded, his muscles bunching in preparation to spring away from the door, and collect Hiccup before whipping out the window and into the forest beyond. He was waiting for the Vikings outside to move away from the door so Astrid or Snotlout could raise and axe or get one of their dragons to destroy the door. His ears were perked up and his every ounce of advanced hearing was straining for the tell-tale 'stand back' that would precede a broken door. And… there it was!
"Stand back guys, I've had enough of that stubborn yak brain.' That was Astrid, frustrated and raring to destroy something. Toothless leaped gracefully over to Hiccup, waited for him to vault himself into the saddle, and pounced out the door, landing softly on the grassy mound below his side window. Above there was a loud crack as Astrid practically demolished his door, followed by a screeched 'NO!' as she realised he wasn't there. Hiccup smirked despite the situation, which was rapidly followed by a washing of guilt at running from friends, who were only trying to help him out of their best interests. Toothless seemed to notice his change in mood and warbled concernedly.
"I'm fine bud.' Followed by a small gasp of pain as the pain in his everywhere flared suddenly. "Let's… let's just get somewhere secluded so I can…think about… whatever this is.' He whispered, patting Toothless' neck reassuringly. Toothless shot away like an arrow from a bow without a second thought. If Hiccup needed to go somewhere to think then Toothless would take him there, but just as a precaution, he left some easy to follow tracks. Scratches on the ground, disturbed trees, broken branches, anything to make the search for the sickly teen easier. Because if Hiccup was going to refuse help for something far out of his control, then Toothless was going to take the other side. He was going to betray his best friend, for Hiccup's sake of course. But that didn't make the thought any less guilt flavoured. The further they got from the Dragon's Edge base, the worse Hiccup got. Ironically. His breathing became laboured and he kept gasping and groaning from the sudden bursts of pain that kept sprinting up his leg, through his head and around his stomach.
Finally, though not soon enough for Hiccup, Toothless had reached a tranquil cliff edge that would serve Hiccup's purpose adequately. Hiccup dismounted Toothless gratefully, cursing the fact that they'd had to run instead of fly over as his leg was too sporadic and painful to use effectively, which could have resulted in a crash if they'd flown. He ambled over to the edge, sat and looked out over the ocean, a strange feeling weighing down his insides like lead. He sighed heavily and rubbed his leg, hoping to alleviate some of the pain that was coursing like poison through his appendage. It was clear that that was not going to work however, and Hiccup began to resent leaving his room. He should've just let them find him. No, he thought, I can't deal with pity. And I definitely don't feel like dealing with a smothering Astrid, panicked Fishers, pretending Snotlout and ignorant twins. He blushed in shame at the thoughts a second later. It wasn't their fault that the way they acted when someone was hurt was annoying to him. It was just their way of dealing with a potentially tragic situation. It was him who was being awful. He was acting like a selfish brat, running away like he did. By trying to avoid worrying his friends he was only making it worse for them, avoiding them was probably the worst thing he could have possibly done. Now their curiosity was peaked and their concern metres would be cranked to supersonic. They'd be able to instantly gauge how bad he felt because he had provided all the clues. Idiot. He thought sourly. He sighed again. The fresh air was doing wonders for his head, clearing it enough to provoke a sensible train of thought. And that thought train was carrying a butt load of guilt in its carriages.
He needed to go back and apologise for acting like a twat and explain why he did what he did, and simply ask them not to make too much of a fuss over him. But as he went to stand up to walk back over to Toothless, he realised something was really wrong. His leg was worse than ever, and when he looked down, his vision blurring, he saw something trickling through the makeshift covering he had placed over it. It was red. A deep red river, running down his leg and onto his prosthetic, crusting around the joint and trailing thickly to the ground. He cried out when he tried to place pressure on it and fell backwards, landing on his butt and placing a hand behind him to catch himself from tipping back over the cliff. Toothless yelped in concern as he ran towards his best friend, worry lacing his forest green gaze. Hiccup was sitting looking dazed, he looked back down at his leg and his mouth dropped open in horror, the blood was so thick, so gluttonous, gushing freely, mingling with the awful yellow pus that had changed to a putrid, sickly greenish yellow. He studied the mangled version of his leg with horrified fascination, leaning forward to inspect it closer. Upon leaning forward he began to feel woozy and dizzy, his vision shifting in and out of focus making his nausea mount to greater heights. He fell back and breathed deeply and feverishly, gasping as his lungs fought to get air. His forehead was now dripping sweat and his skin had taken on an awful red flush. He raised a hand and pressed it to his forehead, feeling the burning heat that lay beneath the surface. He was scared now. Really scared. "To-toothless…' he gasped, twisting so he was on his stomach, his legs laying limply behind him. He reached out to his dragon, eyes glazed with fever and face grimacing as the pain and nausea peaked, making his breathing quicken dramatically.
Toothless roared and bound forward, nudging his friend frantically, but carefully, wary of his condition. Hiccup's face contorted suddenly as his gag reflex acted. Toothless almost backed up, but Hiccup had managed to grasp his saddle half pulling himself up so he was resting on his knees. He leaned forward and panted, waiting for the vomit to rise and burst forth from his mouth. The burning in his stomach moved steadily up his throat and he thickly swallowed. Toothless made a gentle crooning, trying to calm his rider down. Hiccup whined through his nose, and suddenly lurched forward as the mix of food and stomach acid made their appearance. He wretched violently, his spine rolling forward with each hurl, his hands planted firmly in front of him so he was positioned on his hands and knees, a steadily growing pool of vomit splashing before him. After his third upchuck he just remained there, breathing heavily as a string of vomit and spit dangled from his mouth, more tendrils joining it as it gathered, trying to flush out the awful flavour. Hiccup spat and before he knew it he was crying. Fat, glossy tears rolling down pasty and flushed cheeks, as he sobbed. He was suddenly reduced to a person. Not Hiccup, not the elusive Dragon Conqueror, not Berk's favourite Dragon trainer. Just a normal person who was in a tremendous amount of pain. Who was upset, agonized and ashamed. He had just thrown up all over the grass, his head was aching as though it was going to burst, and his stomach was still roiling violently threatening to turn itself inside out once more, and probably a few more times after that. He was pretty sure his leg was rotting and to top it all off, he had a fever and couldn't see a foot in front of his face due to his blurred vision and continuing tears.
Toothless whined sadly at the sound of his rider's distress, and at the noises he kept making. Toothless knew something was badly wrong, and he could only hope the other riders had found the trail he had left them. But for the moment there was really nothing he could do. He couldn't leave Hiccup, and he couldn't fly or run back, for fear of making Hiccup's fragile condition worse. He could only act as a comforting presence as Hiccup puked his guts up and cried. Wow did he feel useless. For the moment Hiccup was spent. He was shaking with fatigue, his spine wracking and quaking violently as he shivered, and his stump continued to bleed out, the pus and blood making a scarily large puddle on the grass, and the smell was still there. Luckily there was a breeze blowing in from the sea which was dissipating the smell effectively. Hiccup made a noise between a moan and a whine as another wave of nausea washed through his stomach. His stomach clenched and sure enough, his body jerked sharply and his spine arched as the vomit spewed from his mouth in a nasty waterfall. Sadly most of the vomit was comprised of water, as his stomach was out of food to expel. This wasn't good. He was dehydrated as it was with his constant feverish sweating and crying. Vomiting water was most definitely not a positive sign. And the sight if it made Toothless' stomach curl up and shrivel with worry and fear. Fear for his friend's life. He nudged Hiccup's head in a comforting way and crooned in a way that said it'll be okay little one. But Hiccup wasn't aware of his dragon's efforts, for the ground beneath him was tilting sharply to the right and his vision was blackening at the edges. His body went limp as he pitched forward with an exhausted and pained moan. Luckily Toothless was paying attention and was able to catch his little rider with his head before he face planted in his own mess. Toothless gently pushed his rider to the side and away from the extensive lake of vile smelling vomit, and the very scary puddle of crimson blood. He managed to get his rider lying on his side, just in case he threw up again, so the vomit wouldn't fall back into his airways and choke him. Toothless manipulated his body so he could wrap a wing underneath Hiccup's body and hold him in his small, sturdy legs, much like he had in the aftermath of the battle against the Red Death. He noticed that his boy was shivering violently, moaning every so often as the cold wracked his body, stabbing at him like tiny icy needles. He was in an extreme amount of pain and discomfort already, so Toothless held him close to his infinitely warm body and wrapped his other wing around his friend. That should keep him warm and safe until his other friends arrived. As soon as Toothless had the thought, he let out an ear piercing roar to help them locate himself and his precious burden. He could only hope they arrived soon, because if Hiccup had deteriorated so quickly in only a couple of hours, then he hated to think how bad he would be if they were out here all night.