A/N-Well, this chapter came out a bit sooner than I thought! But at least close to on time; fore warning, emotional rollercoaster of events incoming...
Chapter 28
Close Calls, Closer Cares
/
The most dangerous things are razor edges
The lines between good and bad
All too often we stride upon them
And all too easily to the wrong side we fall
Sometimes we do not have a choice
For others contain us there
The fight to balance and pull to the right
Taking all the strength we could give
Worse still however than a mere cutting edge
Is the edge that affects another
The one placed on our beloved's throat
When we are forced upon that line and fall
Someone else will take the blow
And when they do and we watch them laid low
We cry out for what we failed to circumvent
-0-
Our flight in return to Cair Paravel passed silent, somber, and gave way for too much time for me to think about our current predicament (even with the added distractions of several new passengers on my back that I needed to ensure stayed seated there and not sliding off). Judy sat almost right behind my head too, so I could not turn back easily to see her and how she was coping either. However, I didn't have much of a need to as it was; I could physically feel her anxiety and desperation practically vibrating out from her, and I'd already seen how far back her ears had stayed pinned, how barely held at bay the tears in her eyes were.
Anyone would have been able to deduce at that moment just how much Nick had come to mean to the poor rabbit, and subsequently how much the fear of losing him was starting to tear her apart. The worst part was that I had felt similar to how she was right then before, knew personally how much that sort of loss hurt, and I had no means to giving any sort of worthy reassurance.
After all, at the moment it was looking like our remaining chances for helping Nick himself were limited to my attempting a shot in the dark at healing him, and that had about as much risk carried in it that I might potentially permanently disable if not kill him as it did actually fixing the problem. It wasn't the first time I'd felt useless despite all I had the power to do, but when it came around that sensation was never any less potent with repetition.
We landed just as the sun was sweeping fully over the landscape and awakening the rest of the locals, and as I knelt down to let everyone off Judy slid down off my neck and landed with a choked sigh. She leaned against my scales instead of hopping up with her usual energy and looked absently over at Finnick as he disembarked. The fennec fox noticed, and slowly started ambling over, looking about as awkward as I expected for the kind of personality he usually carried; solace was not his area of expertise. Tentatively, he reached out when he was within distance of her and placed an uncertain paw on her shoulder.
"I, uh…look, Judy," he started in a stutter, "ya know Nick's a fighter. So, don't give up on him, understood? Ya remind me he still owes me a couple a drinks and he can't lose his mind before he makes good on that."
The roundabout attempt at bolstering her seemed to do its job though, at least a little. A light laugh was drawn out of Judy as she leaned forward and hugged the small fox, smiling sadly. Finnick's eyes bugged out at the contact and he let out a stifled groan, but after a moment he resigned to his fate and returned the embrace in a stilted fashion (though not without locking eyes with me and giving me a clear "not a word" look).
I simply smiled and winked back before demorphing and turning to Caspian and Reepicheep, waiting to see what else they might have to say about the situation.
"Fangmeyer, Wolfard, take these citizens and get them to the infirmary for a checkup so they can start recovering," the young king ordered, pointing lightly toward the castle. "Find out where they live so we can get them back home afterward as well. Tavaloss, Callaghan, start arranging preparations and plans for war; the Calormenes almost certainly won't take our intrusion this morning lightly, and neither will I theirs."
The mentioned individuals nodded firmly and marched off to fulfill their orders, leading off either the rescued mammals or the soldiers and officers who had traveled with us. Finnick also left Judy's hug and started tagging along with the tiger and wolf leading the other rescued individuals; more likely than not he had a scrape or two that needed looking at as well, though he'd never say it aloud amongst company. Then Caspian took proper notice of me staring at him and turned to face me, expectant but already looking like he knew what answer he was about to give.
"You're absolutely certain that there are no other stores of antidote present anywhere in Narnia then," I said sternly, a statement more than a question.
Caspian grimaced and nodded. "I'll not be making the mistake of keeping it all in one place again," he said ruefully, "but unfortunately so. Wildwood only naturally begins flowering in a few weeks yet here, and unlike what I'm guessing the Calormenes or your hunter rivals are doing, we've never wanted to speed things along in any way with those flowers, so we won't have any honey to source the serum from for at least another month and a half."
"So not a single person cultivates it, at all?" Astrid pressed, walking up to us. With her expression she was no happier about this news than Judy or I. "With the population here I would think at least someone's done so."
"We could ask around, but I would not personally rely on that chance," Reepicheep replied with an apologetic shrug. "Maybe a farmer or two somewhere, since the flowers do attract bees by nature, but by the time we reached out to all of those across Narnia it would be far too late for Nick."
We fell silent, and that finality sunk a rock into my throat. "So, then that's that," I said softly around the imagined obstruction, slumping back on my feet and starting to look around at the other riders. "It's either take a risk that's as bad as having nothing or…or letting…Hiccup, Holly, Astrid…Judy, it's time to head back then, maybe try my last resort, and"-
"My parents."
The sudden exclamation from Judy had us all stuttering to a halt, turning to look down at her quizzically. "What?" I asked haltingly, not entirely sure I'd heard her correctly.
"My family," the rabbit reiterated immediately, her eyes suddenly widening as her ears stood up on end again. "They…they've always grown Wildwood in the hothouses so that they'd have petals to keep insects off the other plants. My dad always collected honey from the local beehives too; they might have what we need! My family might have what we need after all!" She bounced upward and twisted toward me in the same motion, yanking on my coat. "Hawken, we need to go, now! I can't believe I didn't think of this before; I can lead us there, it should only be a few minutes' flight; come on!"
"Okay, okay!" I said, holding my hands out in a placative manner. "I guess we have a different heading then. Caspian, Reepicheep, good luck and you'll probably hear from us again a lot sooner than this last interim. If the Hoppses do have the antidote, we'll try and get them to send some down too I think."
"Best you hurry then," Caspian replied, giving us a shooing manner with one hand. "Go, and give Wilde my regards when you bring him back around too."
"Understood."
I morphed again to Night Fury and knelt down, Judy not even waiting for me to finish getting into position before she was leaping up onto my neck and grabbing hold tightly. "Best you have something a little better to hold onto; we're not going slow," I announced, materializing the simple rope harness I had kept stored just in case, and Judy grabbed the handle tight. As soon as the other three riders in our group were also situated on their dragons, I took off with them trailing, and followed Judy's pointing finger toward the foothills to the east.
"I should have thought of this so much sooner," the lapine on my back muttered again halfway through our flight. Her words were nearly drowned by the wind out our breakneck speed, but I caught them anyway and glanced back to see her holding a horribly self-displeased expression. With a sigh, I rolled by eyes and tried to give her as much of a direct look as possible.
"Judy, no one's perfect," I said. "We all thought the store at the castle was going to be it, and then we'd be good and done. That that plan fell through was more than enough distraction for anyone to blank out on other possible options, especially since it seems this might still be only an if rather than a certainty that we'll get anything."
"But we're already running out of time," Judy insisted, gripping the rope tighter as she stared at me with urgency. "If what Viggo said is true then it could be at any moment that Nick passes the point of no return! We're already reaching almost a full day since he was shot, and"-
"Judy!"
She stopped babbling and looked me in the eyes again. I sighed. "Believe me when I say it's not going to do any good to think about the 'what if we're too late' side of things right now; it'll just make you freeze. Don't overanalyze what's going on or you will put yourself into a panic or even God forbid a heart attack, something Nick definitely doesn't need from you right now, okay? Just pray, just focus on the possibility things will work out. We'll find a way through this, alright?"
Even if I wasn't feeling a hundred percent confident myself (something I was never going to tell Judy, of course), at least my tone of voice projected otherwise. Judy took in a shuddering breath and closed her eyes, re-centering herself before letting the air out in a long sigh and nodding. Her eyes opened and she focused straight ahead, determined. "You're right," she admitted. "You're right. Miracles happen all the time, right?"
"Daily, around us," I agreed, before setting my gaze forward again as well. Silently though, I sent up another prayer that we would find what we needed, and that when we got back we wouldn't be missing any deadlines.
Within twenty minutes we'd crossed the western plain and its forests, reaching the foothills, and Judy nudged me downward. Just on the other side of the first line of hills was a broad valley, covered partly in trees but mostly open and laid out in broad swaths of cultivated farmland and sparse houses. My keen eyes immediately picked out the shapes of at least several dozen rabbits among rows of bushes and vegetables just starting to get into active growth for the summer season, as well as a smattering of other species: pikas, antelope, the occasional wolf or fox even, and a handful of mustelids to name a few.
"Your family anywhere near the size of the version in the movie?" I asked innocently, scanning the fields with the expectation of finding one particularly overflowing with bunnies.
Judy snorted. "No, thank God. I've got a couple dozen siblings, and now several dozen nieces and nephews that live in the same household, but I couldn't imagine us dealing with hundreds." She pointed down toward one edge of the valley, where a little (from above, at least) homestead jutted out from the side of the hills, surrounded by cultivated fields and a couple of makeshift hothouses built from what I could only assume as some sort of natural plastic alternative.
As the four dragons angled downward, I watched the denizens of the valley take notice of the large shadows descending toward them, several rabbits dropping what they were doing to either cautiously hide behind the nearest cover or running to their houses presumably to alert whoever was within of the intrusion. The rest though simply halted their activities to watch us come in and land on an open road near the homestead Judy had pointed out, flinching as our broad wings flared to touch down before our riders (or passengers) slid off and I demorphed and dematerialized the harness.
Judy didn't waste a second in heading for the door (an entrance that was only just large enough for someone like Hiccup to duck through), not even bothering to quell the concerns of the many locals staring at us, but she never reached it. The door swung open when she was halfway across the "lawn," and from it and the side entrances to the home somewhere in the ballpark of three dozen young rabbits came flooding out, beelining for her and surrounding her in a swarm of hugs and questions. Half of them shuffled in our direction as well after they'd hugged the taller lapine.
"Judy! You're back!"
"Where'd you go this time?"
"You brought friends! Can we pet the dragons? Can we?"
"No, can we ride them?!"
"Yeah, I want to ride a dragon!"
"Grandma Bonnie's gonna wanna see you!"
"Hey, where's Uncle Nick? He's always with you."
"Ooohh, did you kiss him yet?"
Were it not for the condition I knew the fox to be in at that moment, I would have found it nigh impossible to hold back the snort of laughter that welled up from those last couple of comments that I managed to catch out of the cacophony. Holly and Astrid were less successful, drawing a venomous stink-eye from Judy as she hurriedly tried to extract herself from the mob and get to the door.
"Guys, guys, I'm very glad to see you all too, but we're not here to play!" she admonished as she pulled a nephew off her waist. "Do you know where your grandma and grandpa are? I need to talk to them right away."
"Aww, can we at least ride the dragons while you talk?" one little female insisted pleadingly, folding her hands and looking up at Judy with huge eyes.
In response, Judy gave a tired sigh and glanced at us with apology. "Alright, everyone, these are my friends Hawken, Holly, Astrid, and Hiccup, and their dragons Toothless, Nara, and Thorn. Guys, meet the Kerfluffle; if you want to oblige them so that they're out of the way, it'd be appreciated, but no actual flying if so, okay?"
A chorus of disappointed "Awwww"s echoed following, but Judy wasn't budging on that one as she crossed her arms and looked at me. "And Hawken," she continued, "if you can manage to come along with me; Jeremy, do you know where Bonnie and Stu are?"
"In the south field, by the cabbages, I think," the young (but older than most of the swarm) buck in tan overalls she'd addressed answered, pointing to emphasize. "When you're done can you come play with us though? You haven't been around in forever."
"I wish I could, but not today," Judy replied sadly. "Nick's in a bit of trouble so we can't stay, but once I get back for another visit then certainly." With a little more effort she finally managed to squeeze past the last of the grabby paws as the Kerfluffle turned its full attention now on my sister and friends (or more pointedly, the poor dragons). I shot Holly a grin, which she returned with a tongue stuck out in earnest, before turning and following Judy and leaving them all to their fluffy fate.
Just as Jeremy had said, when we reached the southern field around the house we managed to locate amidst all the staring rabbits an older pair that had also already noticed us (or, at least Judy; despite me being taller and wearing odder clothes I was apparently easily enough overlooked in favor of their daughter) and were already heading our way as well. Judy raced ahead of me and met them both in an embrace. "Mom! Dad!" she exclaimed, hugging them tight.
"Hey-hey there Jude," Stu answered, stepping back to look Judy over head to toe. "Nice outfit, really snazzy; what brings you out to us so unexpectedly?"
"And with friends," Bonnie amended, glancing up at me as I raised a hand in greeting.
Judy stepped back and gestured toward me. "Well, this is Hawken, and he's one of the friends of the dragon riders Caspian's talked about from off to the east. We're here because, well…we need your help."
"You said dragon riders?" Stu piped up again, eyes widening as he glanced around a touch frantically (apparently, he'd missed our descent into the valley). "Wait, does that mean there are dragons nearby? Where are the kids?!"
"Probably running said dragons over at the moment," I interjected, "but that's beyond the point. Believe me when I say all the little ones are perfectly safe around them, but if we don't get your assistance soon someone else will not be."
"Oh, sorry," Stu apologized, though he didn't lose the worried look as he started wringing his paws together. "We, uh, don't exactly get a lot of, uh, dragons around here, so I don't know. Who else is gonna get hurt?"
"Nick was shot with Wildwood concentrate, enough that it might be lethal in a couple of days," Judy explained quickly. "And the antidote stock at Cair Paravel was destroyed by a Calormen raid a few days ago. We came up here because I know we've always grown some Wildwood in the hothouses for their petals, and we really hope you might have some honey sitting around. It's our only shot left."
"Oh sweet heavens, Nick was shot?" Bonnie exclaimed, putting a paw out to Judy's arm. "Judy, I'm so sorry." Suddenly her expression turned stern, and she twisted toward her husband. "No wasting time then; Stu, are the early honey stocks still going?"
"Oh sure, right this way!" the buck affirmed, spinning around and speed-walking toward one of the hothouses at the far end of the field. "Can't have ol' Nick leaving us; guy's pretty swell for a fox, and he's one of our most regular customers for the blueberries when they're in season!"
Reaching the greenhouse, the rabbit tossed the door open, releasing a scent that I was starting to get sickeningly familiar with at this point: floral with a practically chemical bite undertone. Sure enough, inside were several rows of large tree-like bushes covered in the purple-blue flowers, and the whole space hummed with the noise of several hundred bees.
"Got a colony going in here as soon as we heard about the craziness that happened in the capital," Stu explained as he grabbed a set of heavy woven gloves off a nearby shelf, along with a mesh "bunny mask." "Since it takes so long to get anything by foot or cart up from the coast, and I never trusted them with keeping all the antidote stuff down there in one place, I wanted my own stock. Gotta say, after what you said it's one time I hate being right!" He started walking toward the far end of the hothouse, before pausing and looking back at me as I followed him (Judy wisely stayed closer to the door, unprotected as portions of her were). "You, uh, you might want to stay back; we don't have any bee gear you size."
I laughed, and held up my hand as it scaled over. "Not a problem for me anyway," I explained, "they can't sting through scales."
"Oh; so you're that dragon man we heard tell of then, aren't ya?"
"More or less."
Stu stared at me for a second, before shaking his head and refocusing, letting out a disbelieving chuckle as he walked up to the first makeshift hive and pulled out a tray at the bottom. "Alright, here we go," he said, holding it up. In the tray lay a distinct layer of amber honey, but on top of it was floating a thinner, clear layer of far more fluid substance that I'd never seen with honey before. Most oddly though, off of it I could catch a strange scent, like that of citrus disinfectant but more flowery.
The buck walked with the tray over to a bench that held a series of bowls and jars, and carefully tilted the corner of the tray into one of the jars, pouring the clear liquid off into it before returning the tray to its place in the hive and grabbing the container, holding it up for us to see.
"This should be enough," he said, "just needs to be heated a bit to make sure it's safe and I can send ya off with it."
"No need for that then; you've got a guy who can bend fire here," I said, holding out my hand. "And time is of the essence right now; how warm does it need to get?"
"Well, uh, never measured it," Stu said as he carefully handed it over, "but I've always been told it shouldn't quite boil so that the water doesn't leave, and then it should be okay. Then it's just got to be put in a needle so you can inject it in a blood vessel somehow, and it'll take care of the rest."
I nodded and held up the jar, looking at the shallow layer of liquid inside before starting to heat up my hand to pasteurize it. Meanwhile as Stu returned to the front of the hothouse to start taking his gear off, Judy ran up to him and hugged him again.
"You have no idea how much this means," she said softly. "Thank you so much Dad."
"Well, I might," Stu replied with a chuckle as he hugged her back. Bonnie had apparently followed us, and as she stood in the doorway he looked up and shared a knowing look with her that I caught without problem. "Ya figured out why ya like hanging around that fox so much yet?"
Judy's ears suddenly stood straight up and flushed red as she froze, nose twitching. She glanced at me, caught the grin that was growing on my face as I turned back toward focusing on the fluid in the jar, and deflated, burrowing her forehead into her dad's shoulder. "Everyone else knew before I did, didn't they?"
Bonnie laughed softly and walked up to her daughter. "Sometimes it's obvious long before the involved are aware," she said, "though it sounds like you finally figured it out too."
"Only because it was pointed out so that I couldn't miss it anymore."
"Then perhaps your trip away with these new friends of yours did more good than we expected."
I couldn't help but snort in amusement at that. "Oh you know," I drawled, catching their attention, "you get thrown in with a bunch of nuts like us and you're bound to learn some new things about yourself. Now, it's just a matter of getting them to admit it to each other properly after we fix this mess."
"Wait," Stu exclaimed, stepping back from Judy and looking at her in shock, "you mean they haven't even told each other yet? You're usually such a go-getter."
Judy was turning even redder than Nick now. "Nope," she huffed in admittance, "we kind of had Nick get shot before I had the"-
My com suddenly beeped with an urgent call on the long-distance channel, cutting her off. Bonnie and Stu both turned to look at me again with perplexion, but Judy turned abruptly to stare my way with dread rising up in her eyes, ears falling back. I grimaced and materialized the set, turning on the channel before asking cautiously, "Is there news?"
"Have you got the antidote yet?" Zipeau's voice came through in restrained panic. "Nick's entering a hyper-stress reaction; the doctors say something's causing complications and he could hit toxic shock at any moment."
I had played the channel out loud, and suddenly I wished I hadn't when I saw the reactions of the three rabbits. Judy fell to the verge of tears as Bonnie and Stu clasped their paws together fearfully. I swallowed, before replying quickly, "Just did, actually. We'll be at the hospital in a few minutes tops; meet us there if you can."
"Copy."
I shut off and dematerialized the com again before rushing to the hothouse door. "Come on Judy, we're out of time."
"Wait, how are we going to make it back in only a few minutes?" Judy asked frantically as she scrambled out after me after quickly hugging her dumbfounded parents one last time. "It took hours still just to get here even by lightning!"
"Same shortcut I used to beat you guys to Berk despite having been half the planet away," I said, rounding the edge of the field and marching up past the house. Vaguely I was aware of Judy's parents following us, along with the attention of undoubtedly the rest of the family members of the field, but my concerns were elsewhere.
Just as predicted, when I came around the front of the homestead all three dragons were loaded down with little rabbits, Nara and Thorn looking amused while Toothless simply stood there in resigned tolerance. All eyes snapped to us as we approached though, and I carefully placed the jar, lid on securely, into a coat pocket before clapping my hands together.
"Alright, playtime's over, sorry," I announced, echoed by yet another chorus of disappointment from the little fuzzballs all around. "Disappointing, I know, but we have to leave. Hiccup, Holly, etc., Nick's apparently having a really bad reaction to his condition right now, so we can't wait."
"You heard the man," Stu called out behind me, walking up to address his kin, "everybody off, chop chop!"
As the rabbit kits reluctantly clambered off, I turned and spread my hands, opening the air in front of me to form the shortcut portal. Then I nodded to Judy. "I can open the portal back to my house from wherever I need to, so there's no need for flying back to Berk," I explained. "We'll be at the hospital in minutes as promised."
Judy let out a choking, relieved laugh and hugged me while I counted off the others running to pass through the rift, before she also turned to dash through. Before I followed last, I looked to the rabbits present and gave a soft smile. "Your daughter and Nick are among true friends," I said to the adults, "and we'll be sure to take care of them. I am certain we'll all be back sometime soon, with both of them in good health. So until then, Bonnie, Stu, I bid you adieu." With a parting bow, I turned to the portal myself and stepped through, leaving the lagomorphs waving behind me.
As soon as the portal reset itself I knelt down and morphed, permitting Judy to climb on and grab the materializing harness again before we were once more in the air, rocketing northward across the city toward the hospital. We barely slowed as we landed outside the front doors, riders and passengers climbing off and Nara shrinking to a more manageable indoor size (Toothless and Thorn opted to remain outside until further notice to reduce the crowd) as we rushed inside and straight to the reception desk.
"Nick Wilde, has he been moved?" I asked frantically, both hands landing firmly on the counter.
"I'm sorry?" the young brunette woman sitting behind the desk blurted, blinking owlishly.
"Nicholas Wilde, anthropomorphic red fox we brought in about a day ago," I reiterated. "Has he been moved to a different room since he arrived or is he still in the same location?"
"Uhh, let me check," she replied hesitantly, turning to her computer and typing away. A second later she looked back up and shook her head. "No, he's apparently in the same room. A fox, you said? Really?"
"Thank you!" Judy shouted, causing the woman to look over the edge of the desk to find the source of the voice before we all started speed-walking down the hall in the direction of Nick's room, leaving the receptionist staring on in straight confusion.
"So how's the cure supposed to be administrated?" Holly asked as we moved.
"Stu said injection," I replied. "It's already ready, and we should have more than enough at least so that either I can look into synthesizing it or get Loki to make up more in copy. Probably both."
We practically skidded around the last corner, and immediately spotted Ember, Amethyst, Zipeau, and John waiting anxiously outside the door to the room. John jolted upright upon seeing us, running over with a pleadingly hopeful look. "Oh thank goodness!" he exclaimed. "The doctors told everyone to stay out and he started spasming and"-
"Okay, okay, deep breaths, don't hyperventilate," I instructed, holding out a calming hand toward him. "Look, we've got the antidote finally, so I'm going to go in and we'll get everything fixed. Nick will be okay."
"But Hawken," John argued out of his panic, "if he's reacting like this already, we…if he survives we might have still lost him."
It was the same worry that was eating away at me, but I didn't dare voice it. Instead, I held to the hope that the description Zipeau had relayed to me meant something else was going wrong, not directly the effects of the serum alone. I offered a soft, reassuring smile and placed a hand on John's shoulder. "You stand among many of God's miracles right now, John," I said quietly. "I'm sure we can have one more before the day's over. Have faith."
He wanted to say more, but then Judy took his hand and looked at him with a similar reassurance, one born out of being in a similar situation as he, so John slowly nodded and allowed himself to be led back to a seat. After all, if the rabbit that was glued to Nick's side half the time could manage to take a step back, then surely so could he.
"Make sure everyone out here stays calm and out of the room," I quietly told Hiccup, before I turned and pushed open the door into Nick's room.
Several attendants immediately looked up to stop me from coming in. "I'm sorry, but no one's allowed to be in here right now," the nearest nurse said, holding up his hands.
"I can and I will," I snapped back, pulling the antidote jar out of my coat pocket as I looked over toward Nick. He was strapped down and muzzled, and even clearly sedated, but despite all that he was twitching and letting out involuntary yips and growls through the haze he was in, and his body was spasming separate from his addled mind. The sight made me want to punch something, but I swallowed back my emotions and held the jar out.
"He was poisoned with an extract from a plant called Wildwood, and this is an antitoxin sourced by the people who live where it grows," I said tersely. "It needs to be administered via injection, and it needs to happen now. Am I clear? And as one of the leaders of the Riders responsible for his safety I will be present to watch in one way or another while it's done because if that doesn't work I have the only other possible resort for keeping him alive."
I was certain my eyes were flashing a myriad of colors in that instant, and it definitely helped cement my ultimatum. Never mind the fact that I had a cure now present, once people figured out who it was they were talking to as well it was a rare thing that they tried to argue with me further. After all, it's just about impossible to keep a shape-shifter locked out.
"Right away sir," the nurse who had spoken a moment before assured, taking the jar and turning to prepare a needle with it, before stopping and looking at me again uncertainly. "Umm…we need to know the proper amount to administer, and if it's been sterilized. I won't inject contaminated anything into a patient."
"I sterilized it myself, and the amount doesn't matter beyond being enough," I said curtly, before rummaging through my pockets again. Not finding what I needed, I sighed and focused carefully, drawing out energy to make a replica of the dart Viggo was using for the serum out of thin air. "He was shot with a full one of these, highly concentrated serum. I would assume an equal doze of anti-toxin is needed to counter the effects, but more won't be harmful; it's a honey extract and almost purely antitoxin enzyme."
The nurse nodded, and started to move again. "Okay; Richards, grab me that syringe there," he ordered. "We're gonna need probably 80 cc's drawn out and ready. Michaelson, get a patch shaved on the patient's arm and locate a vein, and to be safe, cut off the sedatives; if that's what he's reacting to right now we don't want anything more compounding it when this goes in."
The room came to life as I stepped back into a corner to be out of the way, but still watching and at hand as I'd said as the instructions were carried out. I fought down the urge to start nervously tapping on things or fiddle with my hands, focusing myself to remain calm even as my eyes remained locked on the fox lying across the hospital bed. We should have had more time than this; Hiccup had said Viggo claimed 48 hours for effects to start becoming permanent, 72 for possibly death, not just over a single day. The doctors had said there was something complicating the problem, and I feared allergies to the sedative or even the serum itself, but I wasn't sure. Perhaps Viggo had only been extrapolating based on what he knew of the effects on dragons, and a smaller animal would be hit faster, and harder.
Or, he'd simply lied, hoping that even if we had found the antidote he'd ordered destroyed we would move slow enough to lose Nick anyway, which now was a worrying possibility. It would be the exact sort of move that the hunter would make, to ensure our morale crashed completely, and right then and there I feared what the outcome of the next few minutes would be.
Five minutes later and the doctors and nurses present were ready, having drawn out the estimated needed amount of antitoxin into a needle, and the lead practitioner in the room (a Dr. Kardell) held the syringe at the ready above the newly bare patch in the crook of Nick's left arm.
"Have defibrillators and respirators on standby," he ordered. "Watch the monitors. Here we go."
The needle lowered, found the vein, and sank in. A moment later the plunger slowly descended, and I held my breath.
Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.
Silence, but for that constant rhythm of the heart monitor. For several long moments it remained the only sound in the room, as we all stood as still as stone, watching, waiting. Nick's twitching and yipping died off, and his breathing seemed to level out as well. Two minutes passed, and then the medics began to relax, stepping back and letting out sighs of relief.
"I guess we just have to wait until he starts to come around to see if he's back to…well, however he was before he was poisoned," Kardell said, looking up at me. "I can't give an estimate for time however, without knowing specifics on this antitoxin. It could be anywhere from a couple hours, to"-
BEEP! BEEPBEEP! BEEPBEEPBEEEPBEEEPBEEPBEEP!
The heart monitor suddenly accelerated, Nick's pulse skyrocketing as he began to twitch and convulse on the bed. Kardell whipped around and stood over Nick, scrutinizing him as closely as he dared, before yelling out, "He's going into shock! Get the muzzle off now, oxygen mask on! Respirators fire up now!"
The room exploded again a whirlwind of motion, and suddenly I felt very small, standing in the corner as my own heartrate accelerated to match Nick's, and I watched something I desperately wished to but could not help with, not without risking the todd's life.
Two nurses unlatched Nick's muzzle and held his jaws closed as they fitted on the mask (brought in from a vet hospital to fit Nick's canine snout) before the rush of mechanized oxygen release sounded. Kardell placed two fingers on Nick's throat as they did so, and then reached up and lifted up one of the fox's eyelids, before yelling, "Saline drip with electrolytes! His system's unbalanced!
"Kardell, please tell me there's something I can do!" I begged, feeling a panic set in and unable to not at least ask.
"Unless you can magically reverse the toxic effects now, then no," Kardell snapped, not caring who he was talking to. "I need that saline drip now!"
The drip was brought in and the doctor inserted the IV, flooding Nick's system with ions to try and reset his spiraling functions as the toxin reacted with the antidote throughout his body. For just a moment, he seemed to start to still, to relax, his breathing evening out again.
Then I saw his chest stop moving altogether, and my throat closed.
BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEPPPP!
"He's flatlining! Defibrillators charge now; we need to get his heart moving!" Kardell ordered.
"What voltage?" one of the nurses yelled back, looking at the very much not-human patient they had with uncertainty.
The question stalled Kardell for a moment as well, long enough to where I was about to snap and jump in to act as the defibrillator myself, before he snapped his fingers and ordered, "Lowest setting first, just to be safe. Charge!"
"Charging!"
The whine of the defibrillators filled the room and the other attendants holding Nick down stepped back as the nurse brought the pads up, hovering over Nick. "Clear!" he yelled, about to bring them down.
BEEP!
"WAIT!" I screamed, eyes locking on the heart monitor screen as both of my hands stretched out. The outburst brought everyone to a screeching halt, and they turned to follow my gaze as well. For a moment, the flatline noise returned, but then…
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP BEEP BEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!
Nick's heartbeat returned abruptly, accelerating again to a panic-inducing level as he spasmed once again, before leveling out, alongside the steadying rise and fall of his chest, on its own. No one dared move for fear it would simply spike again, but then the moment turned into a minute with no change.
"He's…he's stabilizing," the nurse holding the defibrillator paddles said with a cautious sigh of relief, backing away. "Heartbeat's back and steady; power down the defib."
They did so, replacing the pads where they hung before, but for a little while we all were still on edge, expecting the monitor to skyrocket a third time or flatline once more even now. But as a minute, then two, and then five more passed without further incident, the tension released from the room and everyone relaxed.
"He's back," Kardell said softly, looking around before locking eyes with me again and nodding. "Janice, keep the IV running for now, same with the oxygen, until we're certain we're in the clear. Have the muzzle ready for that point since we don't know what state of mind he'll come out of this with. Let's clear out everyone that's not absolutely needed in here too, okay?"
The world suddenly felt distant, and I fell back against the wall, legs weak and threatening to buckle under me. The adrenaline that had been keeping me going for the past nearly two days straight disappeared with the emergency seeming to now be falling behind us, and the sigh that escaped me came with a choke at which point I realized I'd been crying. Kardell noticed, and walked up to me slowly, eyes glancing between me and the door beyond which everyone else was waiting.
"We're…we're touch and go at the moment still, you know," he said cautiously, "but I think we can say he'll at least pull out alive now. So…do you want me to tell them while you take a moment?"
As it was it took a second for me to process what he'd said, before I managed to shake my head. "No," I declined shakily. "No, I…I'll tell them. It'd be better for some of them that way anyway. Plus I've been in here long enough."
"Alright then," he said. "We'll let you all know of progress in his condition, and when we think it's safe to actually allow non-medical personnel into the room." At this he hit me with a stink-eye (which I fully ignored) before giving another short nod and walking to the other side of the room to deal with some of the medical equipment.
I took several deep breaths and couldn't help but look over at Nick again (now lying back and looking, if one ignored the restraints and oxygen mask, as if he were peacefully sleeping) one last time. Then I built up courage and straightened myself, turning and opening the door to step into the hall.
Judy and John were both already on their feet, pacing back and forth as they'd undoubtedly heard at least half of what had transpired beyond the glass, and they both immediately stuttered to a halt and whipped to face me with wide eyes and folded back ears when I emerged. The others present shortly gathered around them as well, waiting to hear the news. After a moment, I granted them a small smile.
"Well, we…we're pretty sure he'll live at least," I said. "But…there's unfortunately no way of knowing what his state of mind will be until he wakes up. It was too close a call, and I don't know what he was reacting to."
"W-when will that be?" Judy asked quietly, a terrible mix of relief and heightened anxiety clashing amidst her words.
"They're not sure," I admitted. "Between the high level of toxin, whatever reaction he was having before we got here, and whatever it was that he just went through with the neutralization along with the sedatives they've been using to keep him from hurting himself, it could be anywhere from a few hours to a couple days or so. All we can do is wait and see."
The rabbit nodded in understanding, ears staying flat against the back of her head however. "So…do we have to leave?" she asked. "Anything we have to do at the village? I…I don't want to be gone when he wakes up."
I shook my head and kneeled down to be more at her eye level. "No, none of us really have to go anywhere right now," I assured. "We can wait here."
A second later the weight of the other side of that statement hit us all, and I sat down fully, letting out a shuddering breath and shaking my head. "Viggo's onto every place we've been, we found no evidence of Tsefan anywhere anyone's gone, and…"
"And unless you're present, now we know that any of us who run into Viggo again, or even any one of his closer associates, is at risk of being shot through our barriers," Hiccup muttered darkly, finishing my thoughts as he leaned against Astrid. "We can't go out again even, not yet, not without anything solid to go on."
"Then I can't believe I'm going to say this," Ember sighed, "but maybe were going to have to rely on the chance that Dagur was telling the truth. He's the only one Viggo won't take out on sight now."
We all sat in silence, taking a moment to process that, before every one of us let out a simultaneous sigh.
"The world's gone completely haywire, hasn't it?" Holly quipped, rubbing Nara's head. I looked up at her, and her expression matched her tone; harsh, but obvious that she was trying not to let her frustrations out in anger or tears. "Nick's outcome a mystery, a slimy manipulator holding us all on a rope, and our last chance at fixing it all resting on a nutcase none of us really trust." With a pained expression she looked toward Amethyst, who had curled up on the floor and was doing her best not to have some sort of outburst as well. It was her son, after all, at the heart of this.
"Then we'll pray," Zipeau suggested. "It's all we can do anyway; pray."
He was right too. I felt trapped, and undoubtedly we all did; our last chance sat in the worst place we could think of, and I felt then like Viggo was truly starting to win this war. I looked upward, closing my eyes, and tried to ignore the tears leaking out again as I prayed for a miracle.
It was going to take one to pull us out of this mess.
A/N-Yes, most likely Nick will live. But as it stands, still no knowing of in what state he'll live. And the emotional fortune wheel isn't going to stop spinning in this chapter I'm afraid; we've got quite a few unbalanced events on the way.
As always, let me know what you think in your reviews! And I continue to recommend, if you haven't yet, look for this penname in DeviantArt, where you can find both the chapters of the stories as well as artwork to go with, or additional works more distantly related to the tales I've written.
Until next time, HawkTooth out!
