Chapter Two: Research
Stoick and Gobber left for the Great Hall to see how things were going for Gothi and the other healers. Hiccup and the other Dragon Riders left for the Dragon Trainning Academy. They entered and began to tend to their dragons, a somewhat of a distraction from the news that they had just received.
Hiccup tossed Toothless another fish, but not with as much vigor as he usually did. The young viking's mind was on other things. The disease was spreading fast, and Hiccup hoped that it would take it's time before it infected anyone else. Hiccup sighed. He felt partially guilty about wanting adventure. Yes, he did want to go on a new adventure, escapade, or discover a new dragon species, but having an outbreak with a seemingly incurable illness? That wasn't what Hiccup had wanted.
While things had seemed to slow down, Hiccup knew that things wouldn't stay that way for long. They needed to do something to slow the spread and find a cure before any of them got infected or got out of control.
Toothless licked Hiccup cheek in an attempt to comfort him. Hiccup didn't groan like he usually did, and took comfort in the Night Fury's attempts to ease his nerves. Hiccup scratched Toothless' favorite spot, and the black dragon purred in bliss.
"We need to do something, you guys," said Hiccup. "I don't know if it's just me, but I feel partially responsible for all of this."
"It was a complete coincidence," said Fishlegs. "This probably would have happened even if we weren't complaining about how boring things were."
"I agree with Fishlegs," said Astrid as she removed Stormfly's saddle. The Nadder chirped her thanks and continued to eat her basket of fish. "Even though we were being a bit whiny, this totally could have happened on its own. But we do need to do something."
"What do you suggest we do?" asked Tuffnut.
"Yeah, we're not healers," said Ruffnut. "And we can't ask Gothi anything. She's busy attending to the patients."
"Well, first off, we make the other villagers aware," said Hiccup. "Like Astrid said, we need to be careful and not try and catch the disease."
"Can we come up with a better name than 'The Disease?'" asked Snotlout. "It probably has a name."
"Oh, I know what we can call it!" said Tuffnut with a smile. The Riders turned to the Thorston. "We can call it...Ruffitits."
"Ruffitis?" repeated Astrid incredulously. "Are you serious?"
"Are you serious?" asked Ruffnut with a frown. She turned to her brother. "While I am partially flattered that you're naming it after me, I have to ask, why are you naming it after me?"
"Because," said Tuffnut as if it were obvious. "The actual virus is probably just as gross as you."
Ruffnut and Tuffnut got into a brawl and the other Riders shook their heads.
"This isn't a time for jokes," said Hiccup seriously. "I would say we could go to the Great Hall or Gothi's and finds some books about diseases, but people are quarentining in there and the first patient went to Gothi's hut, so the germs are probably still there."
Ruffnut sneezed and everyone jumped away from her. She blinked in surprise.
"What?" asked Ruffnut casually.
"You sneezed!" shouted Snotlout. "Don't you know sneezes travel over ninety-five miles per hour?" He gasped. "Germs! GERMS! Somebody get me a mask!"
"Geez, Snotlout," said Ruffnut. "I have pepper in my pocket."
"Pepper?" repeated Fishlegs. "Why in the world do you have pepper in your pocket?"
"Because Belch likes it, and I use it when I want him to do something to Tuffnut," Ruffnut cackled.
"It's true," said Tuffnut. "The Zippleback has great taste."
Hiccup facepalmed. They weren't getting anywhere and time was ticking.
"Okay, everyone, gather up what you can find about illness and cures," said Hiccup. "Maybe there's something that can help us find a cure for...can we come up with a better name for it?"
"How about Deathbringer?" suggested Tuffnut.
"Coughitis?" said Ruffnut.
"You know what, we'll name it later," Hiccup said. He mounted Toothless and turned to the others. "We'll meet back here later."
The Dragon Riders nodded and went their seperate ways. Hiccup headed to his house and upstairs to his loft. He had collected multiple books over the years and while most of them were about inventing and dragons, Hiccup had a few books about illnesses and cures. Since he was a Dragon Rider, he had to know how to take care of himself—even though he sometimes didn't—and what herbs were safe to eat out in the woods, and how to treat wounds or breaks. Hiccup skimmed through the multiple books stems, his fingers brushing over the runes on the stems. He pulled out one book, set it on his desk, pulled out a charcoal and paper, then began to read.
Toothless sat beside him. While the Night Fury couldn't read, he was a great help at bringing new charcoals when Hiccup's broke, and was great company. Hiccup's charcoal pencil scribbled down on paper, and when the words on the pages began to blend, he stopped reading. He set the fifth book about cures on top of the four books about illnesses and sighed. None of the diseases he had found were realated to the one on Berk, and the cure combinations he had discovered would either kill a person with the type of illness that was rampaging through the village or make them feel ultimately worse.
"I guess we shouldbring these notes to the Academy and see what the others found, Bud," said Hiccup. Toothless perked up and nodded. The two walked out of the Haddock hut and flew back to the Academy where Astrid was practicing with her axe.
"Hey, milady," greeted Hiccup. "Are you the first one here?"
"Yep!" she replied. She threw her axe at another target and it hit the bullseye. "I found some information that might be helpful, but I doubt it'll work."
"Why?" asked Hiccup.
Astrid yanked her axe from the wooden barrel. "Because it's super old," said Astrid. "I don't think any of the herbs that were listed are even around anymore."
Hiccup sighed. "Oh well."
Astrid laid a hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry, we'll figure this out. We always do."
Ruffnut and Tuffnut came running in. "We found something! We found something!"
Hiccup and Astrid turned to the two, looks of anticipation written across their faces. "What? What did you find?" they asked in unison.
"Our old Thorston cure book!" Tuffnut said happily. He held out the book. "It has every cure known to viking."
"You mean every cure known to Thorstons?" said Astrid with a raised eyebrow.
"Exactly what I said," said Tuffnut. "Anyway, we found one cure that cures any illness in existance."
"It's super secret," whispered Ruffnut.
Hiccup and Astrid were unconvinced. The Twins often had the most insane ideas and weren't in the mood for any of their jokes.
"If it's 'eat something bad and then throw it back up and you're cured' the cure, then we don't want to hear it," Astrid said as she crossed her arms.
Ruffnut and Tuffnut's mouths dropped open.
"H-how…" whispered Ruffnut.
"She's a witch," said Tuffnut. "Witch!"
Snotlout and Fishlegs walked in afterward.
"Did you two find anything?" asked Hiccup.
"I didn't find anything," said Snotlout. "But Fishface probably did."
"As a matter of fact, I did find something," said Fishlegs. Placed the book he was holding on the table and opened up to a page. "It doesn't specefiy exactly, but I think this is the disease that is going around right now."
"Does it have a name?" asked Astrid.
"No," said Fishlegs. "At least, not that I know of. The page didn't give a name but all of the symptoms are there."
"And is there a cure?" asked Hiccup.
Fishlegs skimmed through the worn page and shook his head sadly. "It...it doesn't say."
"You have got to be kidding me," griped Snotlout. He crossed his arms and leaned against the wall. "So we know the illness that does not have a name, but there is nothing of a cure?"
"You've just about summed it up," said Fishlegs.
The Dragon Riders groaned. Even the dragons seemed disappointed. Toothless crooned and nudged Hiccup's hand. He placed it on the dragon's dry, scaly head.
"There has to be a cure," said Hiccup. He tapped his chin in thought.
"Welp, Hiccup's planning something insane again," said Snotlout.
"How do you know?" asked Fishlegs.
"Because he always looks like that before he says something totally crazy and then we all end up going on some crazy mission that we may not make out alive," said Snotlout.
"I think he's right," Ruffnut said.
"I got an idea," announced Hiccup. The Dragon Riders gave their leader their attention. "Every book we've looked at is from Berk, but what about out there? Maybe there's some information, or maybe even the cure on another island or viking village somewhere."
"But Hiccup," said Fishlegs. "We'd risk spreading the illness."
"I know, which is why we're going to keep out distance," said Hiccup. "We'll focus on finding the cure since we already know what the disease is. Bring notes and we'll leave the early the next morning."
"Finding the cure is going to be impossible," said Snotlout. "We have little info to go off of!"
Hiccup smirked. "You do realize that impossible is 'I'm possible,' right?"
"Oh Thor…" Astrid said. "That was horrible, but he's right." Astrid stood up on a crate and looked down at the Riders. "So what if there's a disease spreading through Berk? We're the Dragon Riders. We've been through a lot worse. We're gonna find that cure and stop this epidemic. Now who's with me?"
Everyone nodded and Astrid smiled, satisfied. "Okay, then. Get ready. We leave at dawn."
Fishlegs, Ruffnut, Tuffnut, and Snotlout left the Academy but Hiccup and Astrid lingered. Hiccup turned to his girlfriend, an impressed look on his face.
"You're really good at being inspirational," said Hiccup. "And all I can do is break a word into two."
Astrid laughed lightly and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Eh, it wasn't so bad." She looked toward the direction of the Great Hall. "Any news from your father, yet?"
Hiccup shook his head. "Nothing. I saw a few more vikings head to the Great Hall on my way here, though."
"How many?"
"Seven," replied Hiccup glumly. "Twenty-two Berkians are being treated in the Great Hall."
"They won't be there for long," said Astrid. "We're going to find the cure and get everyone back up on their feet."
Hiccup nodded. "I'll let my Dad know that we're leaving tomorrow once he gets back."
Astrid gave him a peck on the cheek. "Sleep well. And don't do that thing where you stay up all night worrying."
"I won't," said Hiccup with a smile. The two parted ways, Hiccup heading to his house and Astrid heading to hers. Hiccup spent the rest of the evening packing what he and Toothless would need for the trip and placed the necessities in a saddlebag and leaned it against the foot of his bed. He turned to Toothless who's forest green eyes were staring at him.
"Don't worry, Bud, I'm fine," said Hiccup. "I'm not worried at all."
Toothless stared at him with a raised brow.
"Okay, maybe I'm a little worried," Hiccup admitted. He unstrapped his prosthetic and sat down on his bed. "But we'll find the cure and save everyone. The only thing I'm worried about is if we end up getting sick."
Toothless warbled comfortingly and Hiccup smiled. "I guess you're right. We should be getting to bed."
Hiccup climbed under his covers and Toothless shot a hot stream of fire around his stone and laid down. Hiccup mumbled a quick goodnight to which Toothless responded with a small croon and the two fell asleep. Hiccup hoped that he would be ready for what laid ahead because if there was one thing Hiccup knew, it was that finding the cure would be difficult.
