Scott was called back to help carry plunder from the Castilian Galleon that they'd fought over to the Grace, by the time he went back to check on Hiccup, he was awake.
Scott rounded a bulkhead and heard "but I killed him, Astrid, I killed him…"
"Oh boy" Scott mumbled, and rounded the corner to find Hiccup laying dispirited in his Bunk while Astrid rubbed his hand that was laying slack as a windless sail.
"Master Hiccup, how's ya doin?" asked Scott
Astrid looked at him and shook her head, Hiccup didn't respond.
"Master Hiccup, uh…" for once Scott could think of nothing to say, how do you tell a devout pacifist that his first kill shouldn't traumatize him?
"Uh… I'm sorry that ye feel so lousy, I'd not expect ye to feel all jolly at this, but…uh, maybe I'll send father Campeche over, e' can talk to ye about it in a more spiritural (pronounced; spirit-ur-al) context." said Scott
Suddenly a small crate fell off of another, larger, crate, seemingly out of nowhere, capturing the attention of the riders.
"Wonder why that fell?" asked Astrid idly
"Eh, probably ol' Jack" said Scott, with a dismissive wave of his hand
"But I didn't see anyone tip it over" said Hiccup, his brain subconsciously latching onto anything to take his mind off the death he caused.
"Yeah, Jack's our friendly shipboard ghost…" Scott said, trailing off at the end because of the rider's reaction.
The two riders with them nearly jumped out of their pants "Ghost!" they yelled in sync.
"Yeah, he's the spirit of some sailor, died on this ere' ship before we stole, er… acquired it. He's harmless though, sometimes brings me rum at night!" said Scott
"Wait, how do you know it's a ghost?" said Hiccup, now thinking it through
"Well, seein a floatin bottle o' rum commin towards ye is a pretty good sign." Said Scott, as though it were quite obvious.
"You sure you hadn't drank too much that night?" asked Astrid
"Are ye callin yer captain a drunkard, lass?" asked Scott fixing a stern stare on the pair
"Uh, no… just wonder-" said Astrid quickly, only to be cut off by a laugh from Captain Scott.
"Ah, I'm just a' pullin yer leg, no I was completely sober that there night." said Scott
With all the commotion about the ghost, Hiccup forgot to be in a funk about his first killing and soon he was being led by Astrid to the deck.
"Hey Hiccup" said Ruff as Hiccup and Astrid came over to the other riders.
"You look better" observed Fishlegs
"Yeah" said Snotlout, who quickly added "um, as if I cared!"
Hiccup smiled, then said "Yeah… you know, Captain Scott says there's a ghost on this ship, me and Astrid might have seen it!"
Fishlegs began laughing "Hiccup, Hiccup, Hiccup! You gullible soul! You know there's no such thing as…"
Hiccup tapped Fishlegs on the shoulder, and pointed behind him. Fishlegs turned around to see a rum bottle floating in mid-air, cork pointed towards him, as though an invisible someone were offering him a drink.
Fishlegs emitted a high-pitched shriek so loud that several of the sailors looked up, then seeing it to only be Jack, went back to work.
Fishlegs eyes began to roll back into is skull, but a hand came over and slapped the back of his head, knocking his senses back into him.
Everyone turned around to see Adrian scowling at the rum bottle "Jack! I've told you a dozen times! Stop terrifying the new sailors that way!"
The bottle bobs as though the spirit was shaking his non-shoulders, then the cork was ripped out of the bottle, discarded and the bottle turned upside down, the drink vanishing into thin air, when the bottle was empty it floated over to a crate where it was gently put down, then obnoxiously loud footsteps were heard walking away, as though someone were walking by slapping their non-feet on the deck on-purpose.
Adrian turned away cursing to himself as the riders began to wonder again what they'd gotten themselves into.
Suddenly, Phil, who was atop the Crow's nest, shouted "Storm ho!", and a collective groan passed over the ship.
Angelina, who was the commanding officer on deck that day, looked over to the Dragon Riders and yelled "Go get the Captain and Earl, maybe they can chart a course around it!"
Hiccup nodded and dragged Astrid with him as they ran below deck, looking for Scott and Earl.
Scott was quickly found checking on the status of the cannons, when told of the storm approaching he bolted up toward the deck, Earl took a little longer to find, though he was finally cornered in his cabin, when told of the storm he performed similarly to Scott.
When Astrid and Hiccup made it back on deck the place was alive with commotion, shouts made any communication further than a meter or two impossible, Hiccup and Astrid had to yell to each other to even get heard at that distance.
After a minute the pair found their way to Scott and Earl, on the poop deck with a bunch of charts, as they arrived they heard Earl sigh and say "There's no way around er' Captain, we'll take a direct hit."
"Damn" said Scott, then ran over to the railing and stairs to the lower deck and he belted out "BE QUIET!"
The ship silenced itself, then, with all eyes on him, Scott yelled "We're going to take a direct hit from that storm, everyone, storm protocol.
"Fasten down the hatches" was heard from one direction,
"Reef them sails" came from another,
"Get the bilge pumps a-workin'" came from a third direction, as the Riders were separated and found themselves scrambling with different jobs to prepare for the coming storm
Hiccup was tying down cargo; Snotlout was on the bilge pump crew alongside Ruff and Tuff; Astrid was helping reef the sails, even with her fear of heights; Fishlegs was fastening the cannons to the gun-ports so they wouldn't roll around; and Heather was at work helping secure the sickbay.
As the storm approached the ship became more storm-ready, till about ten minutes before it hit, and a light drizzle was already coming down, Scott ordered everyone below deck, and the Dragon Riders to keep the Dragons as calm as possible.
So, they all rode out the night in harrowing style, every creak of the timbers made them think that something might just give way. This, naturally, made sleep barely possible, though they managed it.
When Scott came down in the morning, the storm was still raging mind you, he found Astrid asleep next to Stormfly, Hiccup enveloped by Toothless, Meatlug curled up near Fishlegs, Snotlout being kept warm by Hookfang, Windshear's paw over Heather… and twins hanging from a beam directly over Barf & Belch's heads.
Scott shook his head with a bemused smile and closed the door, willing to let them sleep a little longer as the ship was holding up remarkably well, and the crew was mostly idle…
Three days, the storm lasted three days. Finally, it ended and on the morning of the fifth day everyone emerged from below deck and cheered as the sun rose unobscured by clouds, though now they had a pressing question…where were they?
