"This is far worse than I imagined," said Fishlegs as he raced inside the Clubhouse, countless books and loose pages trapped in his embrace.
The sun was rising by the time Fishlegs had finally come up with something. Astrid had been impatient for answers, pacing restlessly while her mind raced with speculations, wondering and worrying about what to do and how to fix this. She hadn't been able to get a wink of sleep, too anxious and insecure to allow herself to rest. At least most of her teammates had made use of the rest of the night to get some shut-eye. Of course, shifts were taken to keep an eye on their leader.
Part of her felt terrible for treating Hiccup like a foe, or at least, whatever version of Hiccup this was. It wasn't like during training when they became temporary rivals in order to sharpen their skills, both in close-combat and air-combat. It wasn't like when he was behind the catapults shooting nets and dulled-tipped arrows to practice their maneuvers and Astrid had to consider him the enemy to get her head in the game. It was all pretend back then. But now... Astrid wasn't sure how she was feeling. As much as Astrid knew she had made the right decision and taken the right course of action to change her point of view on Hiccup after his desire to harm them, part of her still hated herself for reacting so fast. Did part of her always suspect something like this would happen? She knew Hiccup. She knew he'd never hurt the people he cared about... So why had she been so quick to reposition his role in this game? She was fully aware this wasn't Hiccup they were dealing with. She had seen that sharpness in his eyes, that toxic violet glow that sent shivers down her spine as if a demon had taken possession of his body and cast his soul aside, like a curse in disguise. She knew this wasn't him. It was the substance in his brain like Fishlegs had explained. It was clouding his mind like he was hypnotized or something. She had to keep reminding herself that. However, Astrid wasn't too sure Snotlout, the twins, and even Heather were on the same page... and she feared they would never trust Hiccup again when this would all be over. If it ever ended, that is...
Fishlegs dropped his notes and research on the round table and quickly scattered the papers.
"Fishlegs, you got something?" asked Astrid, walking to his side, hopeful.
Heather came up to his other side, narrowing her eyes on the pages and opened books. The discolored skin stood out on her neck where Hiccup's thumb, index, and major had applied most pressure. Everyone was still shocked that their leader had been capable of such brutality. Not only for his personality but also because of his size and built. No one had ever believed his scrawny form had that much strength in it. Yet, they had the scars to prove it.
"I've been looking through all of my notes on medicine about poisoning but nothing seemed to match Hiccup's symptoms," said Fishlegs, his index tracing the many lines of scribbles and runes. "I wasn't so certain at first but I also didn't want to shut any doors before checking what was behind them."
He grabbed the Book of Dragons, splitting it apart to reveal the many pages on all the different species of dragons. The pages were filled to the brink. Astrid wondered how many hours Fishlegs and Hiccup had spent filling up that book.
"I looked up all the venomous dragons registered in the Book of Dragons and I found a few," he continued, flipping the pages. He stopped at the targeted page and put the book down for everyone's eyes to see. "This is the only species' venom to fit the profile enough to reasonably explain what could be going on. Not only that, I pulled out my Dragon Eye notes and—"
"Oh my Thor!" exclaimed Snotlout, throwing his arms in the air, obviously impatient. "Just get to the point! You're reminding me of Traitor Johann…"
Fishlegs' passionate expression quickly shifted to one of vexation, but he lifted up the Book of Dragons nonetheless to show the sketch of the specific dragon and all the scribbled information that came with it.
"Deathgripper dragon," he said, tapping the page with his index.
"Cool name," said Tuffnut, eyes widening as he brought his face closer to the drawing, rubbing his chin while he admired the dragon's sketch. "What does it do? Does it actually grip death?"
"I don't even know if that's possible," said Ruffnut, arms crossed over her chest.
"Well aren't you an optimistic, sister?" said Tuffnut, eyeing her in disgust to express his disappointment in her.
"What about this dragon, Fishlegs?" asked Astrid, placing a hand on his shoulder for him to explain, putting aside the twins' nonsense.
"According to Bork's notes, this particular species has the ability to spray acid as well as being venomous," said Fishlegs, putting the book back down on the table while he explained, reading the pages quickly again for probably the tenth time by then.
"Oh, keep talking," said Tuffnut, eyes rolling to the back of his head. "This is too good."
"Deathgrippers typically use their stingers on their prey three times," explained Fishlegs, looking at Astrid and Heather each in turn. "The first jab paralyzes the victim, the second kills it, and the third saturates the corpse with poison, paralyzing anyone or anything that touches it."
"That thing sounds like a killing machine," said Snotlout, taking a closer look over Astrid's shoulder, looking very skeptical. "Are you sure it's even real? I mean, you did fall for that whole 'fog monster' story before."
"These dragons have all these abilities because they're dragon-killers – cannibals," said Fishlegs, his uneasiness readable on his face.
"Urgh," said Tuffnut, disgusted. "Thanks for killing my buzz. Still. 'Deathgripper' sounds so much cooler than 'Zippleback'." Barf and Belch snorted in protest, heads popping inside the building out of nowhere.
"Alright, but if it were this kind of dragon that poisoned Hiccup," said Astrid, shifting her weight and crossing her arms over her chest, uneasy to say it. "Wouldn't he already be… you know?"
"That's where my Dragon Eye notes coming in," said Fishlegs, all too enthusiastic to share his discoveries. He pulled out the sheets from underneath the piles, spreading them to be visible to all. "According to the Strike Class lenses we found, it says here that the venom from this particular species can actually also boast a potent hypnotic effect that expert Dragon Hunters made use of to control their intended quarry."
"Awesome," cheered Tuffnut, punching his fist in his palm, a mile-wide smile stretching on his face. His excitement quickly shifted to confusion. "But how does it work?"
Fishlegs turned back to his notes, narrowing his eyes while his index trailed on the paper to read the exact words. "Through an injection apparatus to the neck or head, the Deathgripper's venom can wrap the minds of the infected into helpless obedience," he finished, turning to the others, his concern unmasked. Silence settled quickly in the room while everyone took in the information, trying to analyze it and make sense of what this meant.
"Okay…" said Astrid, the word barely coming out as a whisper. She leaned against the table's edge, taking a moment to take in all this new information. She felt overwhelmed and swallowed thickly before meeting Fishlegs' eyes once again. "So he's hypnotized?"
"Mmh, 'drugged' is the word I would prefer to use," said Ruffnut, looking quite proud of her suggestion.
"The notes don't actually say anything about the venom being used on humans," said Fishlegs, peaking one last time through his papers before returning to Astrid and the other Riders. "But yes, that is my conclusion."
"Is there some way we can snap him out of it?" asked Astrid, a flash of despair in her sky-blue irises that Fishlegs and Heather noticed right away. "A cure? Anything?"
"It doesn't say," said Fishlegs slowly. "All we can do is wait for the effects to wear off."
"Hold up," interrupted Snotlout, holding his hand up to shush Fishlegs. "Back up a little there, Fishface. You said that Dragon Hunters made use of this venom on other dragons, right?"
"Well, yes," replied Fishlegs. "They used to, a long time ago. It's not much in practice anymore, though."
"Are you all muttonheads?" said Snotlout, poker-faced. He turned to the rest of the group. "Hiccup needs to have been injected by someone to end up trying to kill us all. That night, at the lagoon, that's when he turned on me!"
"So he was fine that night when you followed him?" asked Fishlegs, an edge of worry in his voice.
"Yes," confirmed Snotlout.
"Then what happened?" pressed Astrid, taking a step forward.
"I think I passed out," said Snotlout, reaching a hand to his chin thoughtfully while he recalled the events. "I'm not sure. But I do remember that he punched me!"
Astrid sighed, eyes searching the floorboards at her feet. "Humans and dragons' systems are not so different, which means the method Dragon Hunters used back then could still have the same effects on a person. Someone did this to Hiccup, someone who's an expert in dragon hunting..." she said, the person she was referring to obvious to everyone.
"But how?" wondered Fishlegs, reorganizing his research. "We had patrols around the clock."
"Not exactly," said Astrid, feeling the burden drop on her shoulders. "Snotlout was on the ground when it happened."
She gave Snotlout a quick glare, letting him know she blamed him and that he was partly responsible for this. If he'd stayed up in the air and patrolled Dragon's Edge like he was supposed to, maybe the enemy would not have had a window and gotten past their scouts. But Snotlout had been at the wrong place at the wrong time and now here they were.
"Still, it's been days," continued Fishlegs, shaking his head sideways. "The effects can only last up to a day or so. He'd need to have at least another injection since then to still be like this."
"Uh, call me crazy for suggesting this but," said Heather, casting a look at Fishlegs for his confirmation. "What if whoever injected him in the first place, and I'm guessing Johann and his friends, actually instructed him to do it himself after that? I mean, it is hypnotic."
"Nonsense!" shouted Tuffnut, startling everyone in the room. "Heather! How could you possibly say such an irrational thing? This shall be unforgiven!"
"Actually, Heather might be onto something," said Fishlegs, nodding his agreement.
"You're forgiven," said Tuffnut, all bewilderment vanishing like dew in the morning.
"The notes did say the venom has a hypnotic effect, meaning that whatever instruction given to the victim can be followed through without question," said Fishlegs. "Much like a Changewing can hypnotize a potential threat to jump off a cliff."
"That could be…" started Heather, shaking her head sideways.
"Catastrophic," finished Astrid, meeting her friend's toxic green gaze.
"And if that's the case," continued Heather, hesitating at the idea. "What else was Hiccup told to do?"
MOUAHAHA! Tremble! I'm kidding, or am I? I don't know... I haven't re-read this story since I wrote it down in April so I kinda don't remember exactly what happens next so it's exciting for me to read this as well ( ͡• ͜ʖ ͡• ) you know, the ✨ anticipation ✨
BTW! I currently am not writing anything, though I have some WIPs, and I wanted to know if you guys had suggestions. I'm not promising I'll write them but if you have asks it might inspire me for other stories. No crossovers, though.
Thanks again for your support, as always!
- Rain