Dragon Flower
One day, there was a large commotion in Berk. Apparently, Trader Johann had arrived, and everyone was excited to see him. Hiccup and the riders headed down to the docks to see what he had in stock this time.
"So, this is your trader?" Ethan asked.
"Yeah," Hiccup replied. "He's a bit…quirky, but he's got a good heart. He's also a little notorious for telling stories about his travels."
"Tell me about it," Snotlout said. "Whatever you do, don't let him rope you in. They're nothing special. Just your usual long, boring, probably not true sailor's story."
"Well, he still sounds more interesting than my old trader," Ethan said. "He was always so bland, straight to the point, no personality at all."
The riders got down to the docks just as Johann was pulling in. He greeted the eager Vikings warmly.
"Ah, Berk!" he exclaimed happily. "My favorite of all the islands I travel to."
Everyone rushed onto his boat, looking around for anything that interested them. Johann noticed Ethan and Amy looking around and approached them.
"Why, you must be the new rider I've heard so much about," he said.
"Yeah, that's me," Ethan replied. "I'm Ethan. And this is Amy."
Johann looked up at Amy and smiled.
"What a magnificent creature she is," he said. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Ethan. Is there anything here that sparks your interest?"
"Sorry, Johann," Ethan said. "I wish I could, but I don't really have anything to trade. I just got here."
Johann stood in thought for a moment.
"I don't feel it's right to leave this island without giving you something to welcome you to Berk," he said. "Let me see what I have."
He then turned away and headed below deck to look for something for Ethan. He came back up a few minutes later with something large rolled up under his arm. As he unrolled it, Ethan could see that it was a very large blanket, almost stretching over the side of the ship.
"I think this will do," Johann said.
"That looks a little too big for me, Johann," Ethan replied.
"Oh, it's for both of you," Johann insisted. "I'm not sure if you're aware of this, but it can get quite chilly here, and both rider and dragon should need to stay warm."
"Are you sure it'll be warm enough?" Ethan asked.
"This isn't just any ordinary blanket," Johann said. "Go on, feel it."
Ethan reached out and touched the blanket with his hand and was immediately surprised by how soft it was. Just touching it made his hand feel warmer.
"Where did you get this?" he asked.
"I got it from a man who had bought it from a land in the far, far east," Johann answered. "You know, it does remind me of the time when-"
"Uh, thank you, Johann," Ethan said quickly, remembering Snotlout's warning. "Is there anything I can do to pay you back?"
"Oh, no, it's my gift to you," Johann replied warmly as Ethan rolled up the blanket and walked away with Amy.
Johann then looked over at Hiccup who was eyeing up a bottle of ink. He walked over and the two bargained for a moment before settling on a trade, and then Hiccup noticed Stoick checking out a sword.
"Great, another sword," he said. "Just what we need."
"If you must know, it's not for me," Stoick replied. "I'm off to my yearly meeting with the chief of the Shivering Shores. Last man who showed up without a gift left without a head." He then turned to Johann. "Johann, what will you take in trade?"
"Stoick! It is but your good graces that I desire when my humble ship passes through Berk," Johann replied.
"You'll always be welcome on our shores," Stoick said. "I should be back in five days. What am I saying? I'll be back in two, with Thornado."
He got on his Thunderdrum, who roared in response.
"Oh, you finally named him," Hiccup said. "Thornado."
"That's right," Stoick replied. "Because he has the power of Thor and the ferocity of a tornado. Besides, it's the only thing he'll answer to. Turns out he can be quite stubborn."
"Can't imagine where he gets that from," Hiccup sarcastically said under his breath.
Stoick and Thornado took off, leaving Berk behind. Johann and the others watched him until Johann was called away by Mildew. Later that day, the riders met in the arena. Tuffnut was busy standing up a large statue that he had gotten from Johann.
"You got that just for the academy?" Hiccup asked.
"Yeah, we got it from Trader Johann," Tuff replied. "He had to give him our great-grandfather's skull, but we got to keep his clavicle."
"You know, it's about time you guys started taking some pride in this place," Hiccup said.
"Duck!" Tuff shouted as Barf and Belch blasted a fireball at the statue.
All the dragons then started taking shots at the statue, but when Toothless stepped up, he suddenly let out a sneeze, sending the plasma blast past the statue and into the wall instead. He rubbed his snout with his paw before sneezing again in Snotlout's direction. Snotlout quickly ducked as the plasma blast flew over his head.
"Hey!" he shouted. "Could you have your dragon cover his mouth when he sneezes?"
"I'm sorry," Hiccup said, bewildered. "That's never happened before."
He looked over at Toothless, who didn't look well. He kept wrinkling his nose and rubbing at it with his paw before sneezing again. The riders soon left the arena, Toothless still not feeling well. He kept sneezing and had trouble flying straight.
That night, Ethan was grabbing fish for Amy's dinner when she brought up something that had long been on her mind.
"When are you going to tell them?" she asked.
"About what?" he asked back.
"About this," she said. "About you and me talking to each other. I'm starting to hate doing this. You know I don't like being secretive. Can we at least talk normally in our own house?"
Ethan sighed, knowing she had a point.
"Alright." He took a deep breath before continuing. "You're right. We should tell them. We've been here long enough, and they've shown that we can trust them numerous times. I guess I'm just still afraid."
"You don't have to be," Amy replied.
"I know," he said before taking a moment to stop and think. "Okay. I'll tell them by the end of the week. Just give me time to figure out how to say it."
"Alright," Amy replied, a bit more happily. "Now hurry up. I'm hungry."
Ethan laughed a little as he brought a large bucket of fish over to Amy and set it down in front her. He grabbed his plate of roast mutton and sat down next to her.
"You know," he said, "I really gotta get some furniture in here. It really feels empty without any. And besides, as much as I love sitting here and eating with you, sitting in a chair is much more comfortable."
"Why?" Amy asked. "It's still wood."
"I'm not sure," Ethan replied. "It just is."
Amy began to eat her fish but stopped after swallowing the first one. Something tasted a little off about it. She wasn't sure what, but she knew she didn't like it. She tried to keep eating, taking a few more fish, but she just couldn't continue, and her stomach started bothering her. Ethan noticed her hesitancy to eat, and he addressed it.
"Are you okay?" he asked. "You're barely eating. I thought you were hungry."
"I am, but…" she started, "I guess I don't feel much like trout."
"What are you talking about? You love trout."
"I think I'm just gonna go to bed early," she said, standing up and walking over to a corner before laying back down and closing her eyes. "I'll see you in the morning, Ethan."
Ethan stopped eating for a moment, feeling a little worried about Amy. He wasn't too concerned, however. She had gotten stomach aches in the past, and he was sure she would be fine in the morning. He finished his mutton before heading over and laying down next to her, despite it still being early evening.
The next morning when Amy woke up, she seemed fine again. But, although she put on a brave face for Ethan, inside, she wasn't feeling any better. In fact, overnight, her stomach had gotten worse. It was causing her a great amount of discomfort and a sharp, stinging pain had started to manifest in her abdomen. She didn't bother telling Ethan. She didn't want to worry him, and she was sure the pain would subside.
Ethan woke up not long after she did and got ready to saddle her up. He laid her saddle on her back and began to tighten the straps on it. But when he pulled on the strap around her abdomen, he noticed her clench it a little and saw her flinching.
"Is that too tight?" he asked.
"No," she replied, smiling at him, "it's fine."
Some part deep down in Ethan's gut told him not to believe her. He ran his fingers under the strap, and he had no trouble fitting three of his fingers under it. It was still a little loose. He had barely tightened it and yet she reacted like he had suddenly pulled it as tight as he could. Ethan began to grow suspicious but still got on her back, and they took off.
Amy and Ethan flew together for most of the day. Amy did her best to ignore the growing pain and discomfort in her stomach, but that was proving more and more difficult. She ate very little, which wasn't like her at all, and Ethan was quick to notice. Any time she did eat, it aggravated her stomach, making it hurt even worse.
As they landed in the plaza, they noticed that all the other dragons were now acting like Toothless had been the day before. They were wildly flying around and sneezing. It was chaos. Hiccup came running out of his house with Gobber.
"It's spreading to all the dragons," he said. "How do we stop this?"
"Gothi!" Gobber said. "She'll know what to do."
As Gobber left to get the village elder and healer, Hiccup turned to Ethan.
"How come Amy's not getting sick?" he asked. "I saw you two flying around this morning, and you were fine."
"I'm not so sure she is fine, Hiccup," Ethan replied quietly. "She hardly ate last night and hasn't eaten much today. When I tightened the straps on her saddle this morning, she flinched like they were really tight, but when I checked, they were loose. Something's going on with her and it seems to have to do with her stomach. I just don't know why she isn't reacting the same way as the others."
Gothi came down from her hut with Gobber and started inspecting Toothless before drawing something in the dirt after she finished.
"She says they're reacting to something," Gobber translated. "Like they're allergic."
"Allergic?" Hiccup questioned. "To what?"
Gothi continued drawing.
"To a moose wearing boots," Gobber said, but was quickly hit in the head by Gothi's staff. "Didn't think that was right." He then looked at it again. "Ah. They're allergic to something new that's just come to the island," he clarified.
"Well, there are a lot of new things on the island," Astrid said. "Trader Johann was just here."
Gothi drew something else in the dirt and Gobber looked at it.
"She says to get rid of everything, immediately. Otherwise, it's just going to get worse. The dragons are going to get sicker."
Ethan then tried to get Gothi to check Amy out, but Amy insisted that she was fine before leaving.
Later that day, Hiccup gathered all the villagers to a large hole that he and the others had dug. He told the village about what Gothi had said and had convinced them to dump everything they had gotten from Johann into the pit. Everyone reluctantly obliged, including Ethan, although he wasn't exactly sure this was the answer that would help Amy.
That night, Amy didn't feel much like eating and Ethan began to grow more suspicious, to the point where he suddenly told her to stand up. He walked over as she obliged and he knelt down by her side, looking at her abdomen. He wanted to try something to see if he could get some answers. He gently placed his hands on her abdomen, moving them around and gently pressing on it.
"Ethan," she said, "what are you-"
She suddenly and instinctively gave out a sharp, pained intake of breath, clenching her abdomen and sucking it in as she did so. Ethan looked up at her, and she looked back at him with a guilty look on her face.
"Do you want to tell me what's been going on with you now?" he asked a bit sternly.
"Alright," she replied, laying down slowly. Ethan sat next to her. "I've been having stomach pains ever since this morning. I thought that they would just go away which is why I never told you. But they've only gotten worse."
Ethan looked at her with pity, putting his hand on her neck. They fell asleep together and Amy felt a little better knowing that she had Ethan to help her through this. She took it fairly easy the next day. She and Ethan didn't go on their usual morning flight. Instead, they just walked through the town together, checking up on all the dragons who didn't seem to be doing any better. Sometime around midday, Amy decided to head back to the house.
"Are you sure you're feeling alright?" Ethan asked.
"I'm fine," she replied. "I promise. I'm just tired."
"Okay," Ethan said, "I'll be there soon."
Amy turned and headed back up to the house as Ethan remained behind and continued talking to the other riders after rejoining them. He went back to check on Amy around ten minutes later. But when he opened the door, he saw her laying on her side, curled up into a ball, and covering her stomach. Her whole body was rigid, even her wings were stiff and contorted. She was also shaking slightly from the pain that she was obviously in.
"Amy!" Ethan shouted, running over and kneeling down next to her. "What happened?"
Amy didn't answer immediately, struggling to speak through her gritted teeth.
"I was hungry," she managed to say, sounding like she was on the verge of tears, "so…I tried to eat. But…I could only get one down. And then…my stomach…erupted in a wave of pain."
Ethan looked back at Amy, worry and panic filling his mind. He wished there was something he could do to take away her pain, but there wasn't. All he could do was sit and try his best to comfort her as she rode it out. He got into a more comfortable position and sat down next to her curled up form on the floor. Amy suddenly gave a loud cry of pain and curled up even tighter. Tears began pouring out of her eyes. The pain in her stomach was excruciating. It felt like she had eaten a bunch of knives that were now slowly shearing her apart from the inside. She felt Ethan sit down next to her and put a calming hand on her body. She immediately moved her head and pressed it into his lap.
Ethan looked down at Amy's head. She was in unbearable, agonizing pain, and it showed on her face. Her eyes were shut tight as tears slowly ran down her face, and her lips were pulled back showing her tightly clenched teeth. Ethan just sat there, holding her head comfortingly as she endured the agonizing pain in her stomach.
After almost an hour, it finally started to die down. By the time it did, Amy's eyes had gone dry, and her muscles were aching from the constant clenching. She started to relax a little and took very heavy deep breaths as Ethan continued to hold her head.
"Ethan, I'm scared," she said, the fear evident in her voice. "What's happening to me?"
"I don't know," he replied. "But I'm not going to let you go through it alone. And we're going to figure out what's wrong with you, and we're going to fix it."
He closed his eyes and continued stroking her head soothingly. The two of them sat there together for the rest of the day. Amy eventually sat up, and Ethan nestled himself between her front legs, leaning back against her shoulder. She suddenly wormed her head into the crook of his neck and let it rest there, closing her eyes.
"What's this for?" Ethan asked, reaching up and holding her head.
"I just want to thank you for staying with me during that," she said. "Having you there helped more than you can imagine."
"Of course I stayed with you," he replied. "I would never leave you to suffer through that alone."
The day after Amy had been forced to suffer through her excruciating bout of pain, Ethan was sitting with her head in his lap, calmly stroking the top of it when he felt something strange in his hand. He turned it over and opened it to see a couple of Amy's scales in his hand. They still looked perfectly healthy, which caught him off guard. If they looked this healthy, it should've been incredibly painful for them to come off, but she didn't even seem to notice. Ethan moved down to her neck, making a side note that her hide was strangely cold before finding a normal, healthy-looking scale. He ran his finger over the edge of it a couple of times, and it peeled right off and fell into his hand. He picked at it with his fingers, and it easily flaked apart into thin, brittle layers. Amy noticed that Ethan had stopped his calming petting.
"Ethan?" she asked. "What's wrong?"
"Your scales are falling off," he said, showing her the scales in his hand. "Amy, you need to eat. It's killing you."
"Ethan, I don't want to go through that again," she replied. "Just moving now puts me in extreme pain. I don't want to think about what it would be like if I ate something. You have no idea what it was like, enduring that for a whole hour, nothing to stop it or soothe it, being helpless and just having to wait for it to subside. It was worse than torture."
"And I don't want to lose you!" he shouted back. "You are my best friend, and it would tear me apart if you died and there was something I could've done to save you. I've already lost Jessica. I…I can't lose you too!" He sighed and got up. "I need some air," he said before walking out.
Ethan stood outside and sat on the steps to his house, holding his head in his hands. He let out another heavy sigh before hearing Hiccup's voice next to him.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
Ethan sighed again.
"Better than Amy."
"Why, how's she doing?"
"Not good," Ethan replied. "She's refusing to put anything in her stomach after what happened yesterday, and she's already starting to lose her scales."
"That's not good," Hiccup said.
"She's also started to get really cold."
"That's because she's losing her flame," Hiccup said. "She's stopped eating, so her body is shutting down and when that happens, the fire is usually the first thing to go. Dragons aren't like us. They're bigger and they need a lot of energy to power their flame, so they can't go long periods of time without food, and they start deteriorating fast if they stop eating. When's the last time she had a decent meal?"
"Not since before Johann was here," Ethan replied. "Since then, she's only eaten two, maybe three fish a day, but now she's stopped entirely."
"And Johann was here four days ago," Hiccup said. "I'd give her another four, maybe five days before she starves. We have to figure this out fast." Hiccup stood in contemplation for a moment. "Stay with her tonight, I'll try to figure out something by tomorrow. And keep trying to get her to eat, even a little bit. We need to buy as much time as we can get."
Ethan got up and started heading to the pit where they had buried everything that they had gotten from Johann. He dug up the blanket Johann had given him and after shaking it off, he rolled it up and went back to the house. He walked inside and went over to Amy, unrolling the blanket and laying it over her. It perfectly covered her body, and she started feeling warmer.
"Thank you, Ethan," she said, groaning from the harsh pain in her stomach.
Ethan said nothing. He just sat with her as she fell asleep. Amy slept all day the next day, so Ethan busied himself with other things. Unfortunately, Hiccup was still brainstorming, but had at least told the others about Amy's situation. Ethan returned to his house that evening to find Amy awake and still laying on the floor. However, he saw something purple laying on the ground. As he got a closer look, he realized that they were her scales. He lifted the blanket off her to find a bunch of scales laying on the floor and bare patches with pink, exposed skin all over her body.
"Oh my Thor," he said, pulling the blanket back over her. "Amy, this is getting really serious. You have to eat something."
"Ethan, I don't think I could even if I wanted to," Amy replied with a very weak voice. "It's not just the pain in my stomach anymore. I don't have any strength left. I don't know if I would even be able to lift my head."
"You have to do something, Amy, please," Ethan begged. "You're strong, you can fight this."
"I don't know if I can, Ethan," she replied, starting to tear up. "I'm in agonizing pain all day. Nothing helps, it doesn't even calm down anymore, it just keeps getting worse. I want it to stop. I just want it all to be over already."
"Amy, look at me," Ethan said, looking her in the eyes. "I am not going to let you die like this, you hear me?"
Amy didn't respond. She just closed her eyes tightly and tried to rest as best she could. The next day, the riders gathered in the plaza to try to figure out what to do with the dragons.
"I don't understand," Fishlegs said. "We got rid of everything from Trader Johann, but our dragons still aren't getting better. They're getting worse."
"Let's make a list," Hiccup said. "Maybe there's someone who bought something from Trader Johann and hasn't thrown it into the pit."
"Yeah, there must've been somebody who didn't want to give up what they bought," Astrid said.
"If I find out who's been holding back, I'm going to be so mad," Snotlout said. "Hookfang was so sick, I was up all night scraping dragon barf off our walls!"
"Yeah?" Tuff said. "Well ours is dead."
Everyone gasped, but Tuff blew them off.
"Just kidding, but he's not really that fun anymore."
"He just sits there," Ruff agreed. "He won't blow anything up."
"How's Amy doing?" Hiccup asked, turning to Ethan.
"She's dying, Hiccup," Ethan replied emotionally, his eyes watering. "Her stomach is causing her so much pain, she can't even move. She sounds so weak, her scales are all falling off, and she can hardly stay awake." He sighed. "I'm gonna go check on her," he said before turning and heading back to the house.
When he got to the door, he stopped for a moment when he heard harsh coughing inside. He quickly opened the door and rushed in to find Amy coughing violently and a small puddle of blood on the floor. He ran over and kneeled down next to her, feeling her body violently convulsing with each cough. She eventually stopped and slumped over onto her side.
"Amy, what happened?" Ethan asked. "Did you try to eat something?"
"No," she replied hoarsely.
She tried to keep speaking but was too tired to continue. She then rolled back onto her stomach as she was hit by another wave of coughing, and with it, came more blood. Ethan sat next to her, stroking her neck as she kept coughing up blood. Ethan thought she was finally done when she suddenly started dry heaving and gagging as if she were about to throw up. Her mouth hung open for a moment before blood slowly started to ooze out of it and she stopped. Her head then slumped down onto the floor, and she closed her eyes in exhaustion.
"That's it," Ethan said firmly. "I'm not going to sit here and watch you die. I'm going to get answers."
He stood up and walked out the door. To his surprise, Hiccup and the others were outside his house with Stoick.
"Ethan," Hiccup said, "we were just coming to get you. My dad just got back and now his dragon is already sick. So we're figuring this out tonight."
"Amy's started throwing up blood," Ethan said. "So we need to hurry."
They followed Stoick over to where he had landed Thornado, not far from his house.
"This is where I landed," he said.
"Okay, look around for anything unusual," Hiccup told the others.
"Does that count?" Fishlegs asked, pointing at Ruff and Tuff who were ramming their heads into each other.
"Nothing unusual here," Astrid remarked, but then noticed the look on Hiccup's face as he gazed in the direction of the twins. "What is it?"
He walked over to a large patch of blue flowers near where Ruff and Tuff were messing around. He slowly reached down and picked one out of the ground.
"Uh, does anyone remember seeing these flowers before?" he asked.
"They were here when I got back," Stoick replied.
"They look an awful lot like the Blue Oleander," Fishlegs said, taking the flower from Hiccup. "I recognize it from my botany book, chapter eight."
"Is there anything specific you can remember?" Hiccup asked.
"They're very beautiful, very soft, perennial," Fishlegs said, before the look on his face turned to one of dread. "And poisonous to reptiles."
"Which means, poisonous to dragons," Hiccup exclaimed. "This is serious. Did your book say anything about a cure?"
"I don't know," Fishlegs replied, "because somebody made me throw it in a pit."
"Well then, go back and dig it up!" Hiccup said, and Fishlegs quickly rushed off toward the pit.
"I don't understand," Astrid said. "Where did these flowers even come from?"
"Mildew," Tuff answered. "I saw him plant them the night Johann was here."
"And you didn't think that was strange?" Astrid asked.
"No," Tuff replied. "Well, maybe. I don't know. Quit pressuring me."
"Let's go pay the old man a visit," Stoick said.
"You go," Ethan said a little darkly, an angered look on his face. "There's something I need to do first."
The others went up to talk to Mildew while Ethan stormed back into his house. Amy mustered all of her strength to look up at him.
"Ethan?" she weakly whispered. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing," he said, rummaging through the barrel where he kept her fish.
He searched through it for a minute or two before he found what he was looking for. He grabbed a few fish before walking over to Amy. She subtly moved away from the fish in his hand.
"I've already told you, I'm not eating, Ethan," she said.
"Trust me," he said, "you are not eating this."
"What do you mean?"
"Just save your energy and rest," he said, placing a gentle hand on her head. "I promise, you will get better."
With that, he planted a soft kiss on the top of her head before he walked out the door and headed down to Gobber's blacksmith shop where he saw the others waiting. He marched up to a table they were standing near and threw the fish down on it.
"Okay, and what's that supposed to be?" Snotlout asked.
"It's the fish from Amy's barrel," Ethan replied.
"Yeah, and?" Snotlout said, but Hiccup stopped him.
"Wait a second."
Hiccup went up to one of the fish and opened its mouth. He put a couple fingers inside before pulling something out. It was a Blue Oleander.
"They were in her fish?" he asked.
"That filthy old bag of bones poisoned my dragon," Ethan said angrily. "That's why she's been reacting so much worse than the others. She ate them. All of this started with her the night Johann came and Mildew planted the flowers. He must've snuck into my house while we were at the academy and stuffed her fish with them."
"But why would he only poison Amy?" Astrid asked.
"Are you kidding?" Ethan replied. "Mildew hates us. He's never seen anything like Amy before and he's always been harder on her because of it. But this time, he's gone too far."
"I agree," Hiccup replied, "but we can't worry about Mildew right now. Right now we have to find an antidote and get it to Amy."
Ethan reached back into the fish and began emptying them out, leaving almost twenty flowers laying on the table when he was finished.
"She only ate two or three fish that night," he said. "She must've eaten maybe two more the next day and then had another the day after. If there were this many in two, she could've eaten up to sixty of those flowers. No wonder her stomach's been killing her."
At that moment, Fishlegs came running back with his book.
"Fishlegs," Hiccup said, "you found your botany book."
"What does it say?" Astrid asked.
"My botany book says that Blue Oleanders are poisonous to reptiles," Fishlegs replied frantically. "And dragons are reptiles."
"We know that," Hiccup said. "Is there anything else?"
"Does it say anything about if a dragon eats the flowers?" Ethan asked.
"Why?" Fishlegs replied.
"Amy's fish was stuffed with the flowers, now what does it say?" Ethan shouted.
Fishlegs looked back at his book.
"It says that dragons are unable to digest the flower, so it will just sit in their stomach continuing to release toxins until it kills them. If a dragon eats the flower, it will cause debilitating stomach pain and an inability to eat, followed by coughing and vomiting of blood. Death usually occurs a week after the flower is eaten," Fishlegs read.
Ethan put his hands on the table and leaned on it, taking a deep breath.
"Johann was here six days ago," he said. "We have to figure something out fast, or Amy will be dead by morning." He turned to Fishlegs. "Is there anything about a cure or an antidote?"
"Not in here," Fishlegs replied, taking the Book of Dragons from under his arm, "but I remember the Book of Dragons talked about a dragon that feeds on the Blue Oleander. It's called the Scauldron. In a perfect world, maybe its venom could be used as an antidote like with snakes and spiders. But alas, we do not live in a perfect world." He flipped the book around and showed everyone a picture of the Scauldron. "See, the Scauldron has no venom," he said.
"The book is wrong!" Gobber shouted. "I've dealt with a Scauldron before. They're sixty feet long with razor sharp teeth and shoot boiling water that can melt the flesh from your bones. The Scauldron has no fear, no conscience. But what a Scauldron does have is venom. And lots of it."
"Alright," Hiccup said, "you guys stay here and take care of the dragons."
"What are you going to do?" Fishlegs asked.
"Dad, Gobber," Hiccup said, "let's go find ourselves a Scauldron."
"No way," Ethan objected. "I'm coming with you. And I know someone else we can drag along, too."
"This is an outrage!" Mildew exclaimed. "I dug up all the flowers, I did my part."
"We're all out here because of you, Mildew!" Stoick shouted. "If we have to put our lives at risk, then so do you."
"You have no proof," Mildew argued. "You can't blame me every time something goes amiss with your precious dragons."
Ethan stood near the mast of the boat while everyone stood up front looking for the Scauldron. Mildew walked by when Ethan suddenly turned and shoved him up against the mast, holding his arm against Mildew's neck.
"I know what you did to Amy," Ethan said darkly. "I know you put those flowers in her fish. Now you listen to me, and you listen very closely. You can do whatever you want to me. You can talk about me behind my back, you can start rumors about me, you can accuse me of anything you want. Don't you ever lay a hand on my dragon again. Or I swear, I will send you to Helheim myself. Got that? She is off limits."
Mildew said nothing, but Ethan could tell from the look on his face that he understood. He took his arm off Mildew's neck and went to the front of the ship to join the others.
"Hiccup," Stoick said, handing Hiccup a bucket with a piece of fabric stretched over it, "when Gobber and I secure the Scauldron's head, Ethan will wedge its jaw open. We need you to-"
"Drain the venom into this bucket," Hiccup finished. "Got it. Let's get started."
He picked up a bag of Blue Oleanders and started dumping them into the water to attract a Scauldron. After a few minutes, everything remained still, and nothing was happening.
"This is not working!" Mildew exclaimed. "It was a stupid idea to begin with."
Hiccup turned toward Mildew, but Stoick stopped him.
"Easy, son," he said. "That's not why we're here."
"But that is," Gobber said, looking into the water.
Everyone looked over the side and saw a massive, dark shape gliding underneath the surface of the water. Hiccup grabbed another bag of flowers and began dumping them out on the ship.
"We need to lure the Scauldron up on deck," he said.
"Oh great," Mildew replied sarcastically. "Get it on the ship where it can have at us all!"
Everyone got into their positions, but the ocean was silent again. Suddenly, there was a rumbling sound as the Scauldron burst out of the water and leaned on the boat. Gobber and Stoick threw a couple of ropes around its head and neck and tried to keep it above the water. Ethan grabbed a large barrel and got ready to throw it into the Scauldron's mouth.
"I've got the bucket!" Hiccup shouted.
"Careful, son," Stoick said, "you don't want to get that venom in you."
"Yes, I know, Dad. I'll be dead in twenty-four hours," Hiccup replied.
Ethan saw his chance and threw the barrel into the Scauldron's open mouth. For a moment, it worked, keeping the jaw propped open, but the dragon quickly crushed the barrel between its teeth. Ethan noticed the Scauldron's tail swinging toward him and quickly ducked. Stoick then noticed the tail rising behind Hiccup and pushed his son out of the way. He managed to grab the Scauldron's tail and hold it to the top of the mast.
"Hiccup, Ethan, grab Stoick's line!" Gobber shouted.
The two of them reached over and took hold of the rope Stoick had been holding and managed to help Gobber keep the dragon from going back into the ocean.
"Pull him in!" Stoick shouted. "Use the mast to wedge his jaw open."
Gobber, Hiccup, and Ethan pulled on the ropes, but the dragon fought back hard. Ethan and Hiccup were slowly failing to reel the dragon in, and their feet slowly slid along the wooden deck. It was then that one singular thought filled Ethan's mind. If he didn't get this venom, then Amy would die. And that was something he couldn't bear. A sudden wave of strength came over Ethan and as he pulled on the rope, his love for Amy and the current adrenaline in his blood driving him, the Scauldron slowly came back out of the water, and they eventually pulled it onto the deck of the ship. They managed to pry its mouth open with the mast, which Mildew was hiding behind.
"Mildew, grab the bucket!" Stoick shouted.
"Now hold on," Mildew objected. "It's one thing for me to-"
"Grab the bucket or I'll throw you overboard myself!"
Ethan looked at Mildew and glared menacingly at him as he simultaneously struggled to help keep the Scauldron in place. He was not about to let Amy die just because this old bag of bones was scared.
"Mildew! Suck it up and grab the bucket!"
Mildew slowly reached down and picked up the bucket that was on the ground next to him before nervously turning to face the large, open mouth behind him. All of a sudden, mist started spraying out of the Scauldron's mouth and everyone took what cover they could find. Gobber, Hiccup, and Ethan let go of the ropes and hid behind a couple of shields while Mildew hid behind a large box.
The Scauldron blasted a wave of boiling water out of its mouth that broke the mast and sent it toppling into the water. The dragon reared its head up and Mildew ran scared across the boat. The Scauldron spotted a single flower stuck in the back of Mildew's belt and reached down to grab it, biting Mildew in the process before diving back into the water.
"He's gone," Hiccup said.
"And you can bet the last place he's coming back to is this ship," Gobber agreed.
"We didn't get the venom," Stoick said.
Suddenly, they heard Mildew screaming behind them. Ethan looked at him and smiled.
"Oh, yes we did," he said.
They sailed back to Berk and Gobber got to work extracting the Scauldron venom from Mildew while the other riders stood outside, listening to Mildew screaming.
"Can you believe we're all just standing around waiting for something to come out of Mildew's butt?" Tuff asked excitedly.
"It's the least he deserves for what he did to Amy," Ethan replied.
Mildew suddenly screamed again, and Astrid smiled.
"That's the sound of our dragons getting better," she said.
Gobber came out a few moments later with a couple bottles of antidote.
"I've seen a Nadder's spines slice through a man's eyeball like a grape," he said. "I watched my own arm get devoured by a Monstrous Nightmare. But never, never have I seen anything so disturbing as that old man's bare behind. Take this to your dragons. I'm going into the forest to scream."
"Way to take one for the team, Gobber," Hiccup said. He then looked at the bottles in confusion. "Hold on. He accidentally made seven instead of six."
"No, it's right," Ethan said. "I need two for Amy."
"Why?"
"Because, once she takes the antidote, it's probably going to make her throw up all the flowers and none of it will actually make it into her system to get rid of the toxin," Ethan explained. "So I need to give her another one after that to make sure she gets rid of the toxin in her body."
He took two of the bottles and quickly headed up to his house as Gobber's screams echoed in the night. When Ethan got inside, he saw Amy still laying on the floor with the blanket draped over her. She looked so weak. Ethan kneeled down in front of her and took the lid off one of the bottles.
"Amy," he said, "wake up."
Amy slowly opened her eyes and looked up at him.
"Ethan," she said weakly.
"Shh," he said. "Just drink this."
Amy didn't respond and kept her mouth closed.
"Amy," Ethan pressed. "You have to drink this. You were poisoned by a very deadly flower, and this is the only thing that can save your life, now for the love of Thor, drink it!"
Amy slowly opened her mouth and Ethan poured the entirety of the first bottle into it. She closed her mouth and grimaced as she struggled to swallow the antidote. Ethan scooted up to her head and held it in his lap while, as expected, her stomach began to erupt with pain. However, it didn't last long, and Amy started dry heaving until she vomited out five slimy, half-digested flowers. She only got a moment's rest until her body started convulsing again and she vomited out a few more flowers.
For the rest of the night, Amy suffered through a nonstop onslaught of vomiting up the countless flowers in her stomach until eventually, a blue paste started to ooze out of her mouth instead of whole flowers and she finally could rest. Sitting on the floor in front of Ethan, was a large wet pile of over fifty half-digested Blue Oleanders. Amy took a couple of deep breaths as she lay utterly exhausted on the floor.
"Amy?" Ethan asked. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah," she tiredly replied. "Sorry about the floor."
"It's okay," Ethan said. "My only concern is you right now. How's the pain?"
She managed a pleased smile.
"Much better."
"Good," Ethan said, "cause you need to take another dose to get rid of the toxin in your body."
Amy lifted her head up slightly to let Ethan give her the second bottle of antidote before laying back down and falling asleep. Hiccup came in a few minutes later and stopped when he saw the slimy pile of flowers on the floor.
"Whoa," he said. "Is she okay?"
"She is now," Ethan replied. "She's sleeping. I'll make sure wake her up in a bit to have her eat something. How are the other dragons?"
"They're fine," Hiccup said. "They all came around a while ago. I just came by to make sure Amy was alright."
"Thanks for helping her," Ethan said. "I have no idea what I would've done if I had lost her."
"I get it," Hiccup replied. "I'll leave you two to rest."
Hiccup walked out the door and Ethan gently reached down and picked up Amy's sleeping head, setting it in his lap and running his hand over the top of it. A small smile formed on Amy's face as she slept. Ethan eventually leaned back, cradled in between her shoulder and her neck, and fell asleep himself. It was the first peaceful sleep the two had had in a long time.
(AN: As always, hope you enjoy, and feel free to make fanart of the characters and any favorite scenes. Just let me know where I can see it because I would love to. And if you need any reference image for the dragons, I can always DM you the images that inspired their designs. Also don't forget to leave reviews. Would love to hear you thoughts.)
