I'm sorry for the wait, please don't kill me. This chapter is somewhat shorter than normal, because 1 I thought the ending was a good ending for this chapter and 2 I dind't want to make you guys wait longer. I apologize for possible mistakes (especially in the last part), I just finished this and while I read it over myself, it is possible I missed some mistakes.
Tillerton: You think that was cheesy? I can go way cheesier than that. Probably won't go there though 'cause it won't fit in the story, tempted now though...
Carl Solo: I see you pay attention to small details. No worries, it will be explained later. [devious grin]
Swainey6: Your wait is over!
borderlandsman: I'm not going to put thoughts into italics. It's not my style. Also not using italics is not wrong, I actually double checked this after your comment. If I would use it, it could end up confusing, because I am using italics for flashbacks. Another option would be using "", but this too would be confusing because talking is using that. So I'm going to stick with the no italic and using words and paragraphs to make thing clear when it is a thought or inner monologue. Hope you will still enjoy the story regardless of that. On topic of this, in my word document I actually use three spaces before "" instead of new paragraphs. FFN just deletes those spaces... I really wish I had more control over the formatting of my text, oh well.
General: I'm glad the flashback was well liked. I will do some more flashbacks in future chapters. Mainly Hiccup's though.
Chapter 18: The first step
Hiccup rolled to his back and stared at the ceiling. He wondered how long it had been since Astrid had left. It could have been a simple few minutes, but it could also be an hour or more. He hated how easily he lost sense of time when he was stuck in bed with nothing to do, but let his mind wander. Entering a sleeplike state at points only added to it. He moved his head a bit and found Toothless napping at the end of the bed. When Astrid left the dragon had been watching him, sitting beside the bed, making sure he indeed would keep his promise and not try to leave. Seeing his scaled friend asleep made him think it might have been a while since Astrid left. He closed his eyes with a sigh and decided to follow Toothless example. Just when that thought entered his mind his nausea peaked. Rapidly he rolled on his side and tried to reach out for the bucket.
"You're an idiot, you know that," Ruffnut hissed over her shoulder.
Fishlegs grinned uncomfortable and mumbled a sorry. His right hand placed on his left arm in an attempt to stop the bleeding. They were at Gothi's place and Ruffnut was going to tend his wound, but all herbs and ointments were in the room Hiccup was sleeping, so they were silently going there not to wake him.
Ruffnut opened the door and was met with a terrible terror that flew straight into her. As a reflex she caught it at it tried to free itself. She paid it no mind, her eyes were focused on the sight further ahead. Hiccup was bending over the side of the bed, throwing up. It seemed like he had tried to reach the bucket, but it was knocked over and rolled away from the bed. The floor near the bed was covered with puke. Toothless looked at a loss of what to do and gave Ruffnut a helpless look.
"I think I'll ask Gothi," behind her Fishleg started.
"Oh no you don't," Ruffnut stated and grabbed the boy by his collar with one hand whilst holding the squirming terror in her other.
She pulled Fishlegs inside and pushed him down on a stool. After handing him a piece of cloth to put on the wound instead of his hand she went searching for a rag to throw on the vomit on the floor. With rag in hand she walked up to the bed with Hiccup in it, picking up the bucket along the way, finally letting go of the struggling terrible terror which landed on the table beside the bed, watching how she dumped the rag on the floor and caught a next wave of vomit in the bucket. It made Hiccup look up, but only for a moment.
Leaving Hiccup throwing out the contents of his stomach and knowing she really couldn't do much to help him, she turned her attention back to Fishlegs who was turning green himself.
"You gonna throw up too?" she grinned at him.
He quickly shook his head and focused on looking at his arm. She rolled her eyes, not entirely believing him and kept an eye on him as she quickly got some dried mint and cloves which she threw in a cup.
"I'll be right back, need some hot water, watch him," Ruffnut told Fishlegs and before he could protest she was already gone.
With a jug of hot water she came back only minutes later and pored it in the cub in which she threw the mint and cloves. After giving Hiccup a quick glance, he was currently just gaging over the bucket still hanging over the side of the bed, she treated Fishlegs in a quick matter. As she wrapped a bandage around Fishleg's arm she saw Hiccup trying to sit up, but failing utterly.
"Done throwing up?" she asked as she walked over to the boy in bed.
He gave her a dazed look, "I hope so."
She helped him move so he was laying fully in bed again and turned her attention to the nightstand where she found a cub with a bit of water which had a yellowish color. She grabbed it and smelled it.
"Willow bark…" she muttered thoughtful and then looked at Hiccup again, "did you have a fever?"
He gave a small nod, probably was too tired to really do much at that moment.
"Fishlegs, could you clean this up?" she asked the other boy in the room as pointed at the bucket of vomit and when she saw him wanting to protest she added, "unless you want to clean the floor?"
Fishlegs abruptly closed his mouth, picked up the bucket, keeping it far away from him and then left the room. Ruffnut placed an empty bucket next to the nightstand, just in case, and started cleaning the floor. She was rather quick with it, since she did it plenty of times before and was done when Fishlegs returned, looking rather green, making the girl wonder if he had thrown up.
Hiccup watched Ruffnut and Fishlegs while they went about cleaning up the mess he made. It felt like old times all over, he thought to himself.
"Here ya go," Ruffnut said as she stepped to his bedside with a cup.
He looked at it and turned his head away from her, "no thanks."
"Hey, I didn't make this for nothing, now drink it or I'll force it down your throat."
"I'm not drinking whatever you made! Last time I was sick for three days!" he shouted back at her and saw Fishlegs winch.
Ruffnut blinked, looked thoughtful but eventually seemed to remember the event.
"Right," she started mumbling, "you know a bit about potions and herbs?"
Hiccup rolled his eyes and nodded once whilst glaring at her, whatever she was going to say, nothing would make him drink that. He was surprised when she turned to look at Fishlegs and the command she gave him.
"Fishlegs, name the stuff I put in here, you saw me making this."
Overwhelmed by the sudden command Fishlegs stuttered the ingredients. Hearing them Hiccup concluded that this was indeed something that would settle his stomach, unless… Fishlegs was in this as well. Suspiciously he looked at the cup and then turned his back to them. He heard Ruffnut letting out a frustrated sigh followed by a knocked over stool.
"Let me go!"
"You can't force it down his throat!"
Hiccup rolled over and found Fishlegs holding Ruffnut away from him. It surprised him that the contents of the cup wasn't spilled on the floor.
"Watch me," Ruffnut growled into Fishlegs ear and then somehow quickly managed to free herself, placing the cup on the night stand before launching herself on the boy in bed.
Not something you would expect to do to a patient, but it was Ruffnut. Hiccup however had rolled away just in time. His escape was only temporarily for she grabbed hold of his arms and rammed her knees on his upper legs. Hiccup grunted a little as jolts of pain traveled through his body, but somehow managed to worm himself away from her, plant his right foot in her stomach and sent Ruffnut flying of the bed.
"Interesting how you fight her, but not Astrid," hummed his black scaled partner as he was now sitting up watching the entire scene.
"Shut up," he growled back panting.
"Why don't you just drink it, before you start throwing up again?" Toothless questions as the little terrible terror landed on his head.
Hiccup ignored the question completely.
"Should I go get Astrid after all?" the small dragon questioned looking worried.
"Oh no, let her have her rest as well. I'll handle this," Toothless smirked.
Hiccup, who had been focused on Ruffnut, who was helped to her feet by Fishlegs, jolted his head to the dragon, having heard their entire conversation. However, before he could even move out of the way, Toothless dropped his head on top of Hiccup's chest.
"Why you," Hiccup started and tried getting the dragon off of him to no avail.
Ruffnut smirked, snatched the cup from the night stand, opened Hiccup's mouth and held it still as she poured the liquid in. She quickly made sure he couldn't spit it out by cover up his mouth and then made him unable to breathe through his nose.
"Swallow," she stated with a glare.
Having been in a similar situation before, though much more violent, Hiccup panicked slightly and swallowed the liquid. The moment he did so, Ruffnut released him and he gasped for air. Toothless lifted his head and gave him an apologetic lick in the face. Hiccup however felt betrayed by his own best friend, even if it had been with good intentions.
Astrid stretched her body, actually just mostly her arms. After a three hour rest, she had woken up from a loud noise that sounded mostly like an explosion. For a brief moment she had thought there was a raid going on, however it turned out that Tuffnut had been up to no good. His cover; he was trying out some fire power to fight dragons. The chief didn't appreciate it though and now the teen had to clean the mess he made of an small shed he had used to experiment in.
After her rude awakening Astrid got out of bed and helped her mother out before having a work out with her new axe. She was starting to get better at using it now.
When the evening came, she made her way to Gothi's hut. Meeting Ruffnut along the way. She was surprised to hear Hiccup had refused to drink a medicine to help him stop throwing up. In the end he drank it, but only because he was forced to. When she arrived in the room Hiccup was staying at, he looked up and then turned his back to her. He remained in a grumpy state that entire evening. Refusing to work along, drink any medicine or even eat. The only thing she managed to get inside him was a bit of water. He was barely talking, only gave her a short reply or just a nod or shake with his head whenever she asked him something. It was like she was completely at square one with him again. Not even the story of Stoick being dragged through town by the ear by Old Wrinkly seemed to cheer him up.
Astrid feared he was going to remain this way and end up running away, luckily she was mistaken. What remained however was his refusal to eat. For three days straight. His fever was gone, most his wounds were healed, just the one on his leg worried her, he hadn't thrown up since Ruffnut forced him to drink some medicine. Yet, he still refused to eat.
Currently Hiccup was sitting with folded arms leaning in the pillows against the back of the bed, whilst throwing her a glare.
"You need to eat Hiccup," Astrid urged him and held a piece of apple in front of him.
She had peeled it, cut it into small pieces and had tried to make him eat it for at least ten minutes now.
"What I need is getting out of this cramped room," he spat at her.
She gave him a stern look. Although she could understand he was absolutely bored by being locked up in this room, before she could let him outside he first had to start eating.
"Your body will be fine while staying in this room, it won't be fine without food," she retorted.
Hiccup rolled his eyes and slid down the pillow he had been sitting against. He was clearly not happy with the reply she had given, but also seemed to understand that he needed food more than getting out of the room. If he would just eat, then she would happily allow him outside. Though hoping he wouldn't run away, mostly because he wouldn't get far with that leg of his right now.
"I don't want to eat," he mumbled out of the blue, "I might throw up again."
She caught a hint of fear in the last part and was surprised he was actually afraid of something as simple as throwing up. Sure vomiting wasn't exactly something she liked to do herself, but she wasn't outright afraid of it. Hiccup however seemed to be afraid enough to completely stop eating, which made her wonder why.
After watching him for a moment she let out a sigh and grabbed one of the apple pieces.
"I'll talk to Gothi about letting you leave this room, but first you need to eat. I'm not saying you have to eat a lot. Eat a piece of apple and just wait for an hour or so to see what happens, but I promise you won't start throwing up again."
He looked thoughtful, now fully laying down on the bed again, just not under the sheets. After a long while, he gave an hesitant nod.
Astrid held the piece of apple she had been holding in front of his mouth and said, "alright, open up."
He looked a tad startled he was being fed, but opened his mouth nonetheless. Astrid watched him slowly start chewing and noticed he realized he was in fact rather hungry. Soon the small piece of food was swallowed. He tried to look indifferent, but she could see his eyes travel to the remaining pieces of apple on the plate on the night stand.
"Want another piece?" she asked.
Hiccup appeared to be at battle with himself and when she held another piece in front of his mouth it seemed his hunger had won over. After a second piece she tried to coax him into eating another one, but now his fear won and he shook his head. Not willing to force him like Ruffnut had done, she placed the piece back on the plate.
"Alright, I'll leave them here. Just take it whenever you want."
Hiccup gave a nod, glanced over to the apple and then turned his back towards it. Astrid looked puzzled. It was clear to her that he was hungry and she was sure he knew this too, yet he still refused to eat. Was it really because of he was afraid of throwing up? Or was there more going on.
She bid him goodnight and went to talk to Gothi.
Hiccup swallowed the last piece of apple under the look of Gothi. Apparently the only way to convince her to let him out of the sickbed was if he showed her he was eating. An entire apple in fact. All he could do now was hope it wasn't going to come back up.
Gothi opened his mouth and checked under his tongue to see if there was any hidden food left before she gave a nod of approval. He gave the woman a somewhat half lopsided smile, glad he was allowing her out of this cramped place. Astrid threw him his own clothes at him, well part thereof, just his leggings and long sleeved tunic. She followed the woman out of the room telling him she would wait for him outside.
With a sigh Hiccup stood up from the stool he had been sitting on and got rid of the sweaty leggings he had been wearing as well as the sleeveless tunic.
"We are so out of this place, bud," he told his dragon companion in dragonese as he put the clean tunic on.
"Out of where? What do you mean precisely?" Toothless asked him skeptical as Hiccup sat back down to put the clean leggings on.
Standing on just his left leg was a no go, he just found out when taking the other pair of.
"Berk of course, what else would I mean," he grumbled as he experienced some difficulty with the leggings.
"And deceive Astrid?"
Hiccup stopped his struggle and looked over to Toothless.
"Deceive Astrid…," he repeated in a mumble, "why would you care about that? Why should I care about that?"
"For one, you gave her a love confession, even if it was in French," Toothless snapped back at him along with a look of annoyance.
Hiccup rolled his eyes, stood up to pull up his leggings completely and sat back down. Toothless sat down in front of him, giving him a concerned look, which he avoided by looking around for his boots.
"Hiccup," the night fury started, but Hiccup cut him off.
"I don't want to stay on Berk. I'm well enough to get away and fully heal somewhere else."
He leaned over to grab his boots as he started forming his plan of escape. His stuff along with Toothless tailfin was hidden somewhere. Toothless could easily sniff them out. All he had to do was keep up an act until everyone was asleep to make his escape. He couldn't formulate any more details of his plan until he knew where he was staying, but he would think of something by then.
With his boots on he wanted to get up, but a black head suddenly pressed against his chest stopped him from doing so.
"Toothless," he sighed and tried to push the dragon away.
"Listen to me for a moment, then we can leave this room."
Hiccup pondered over it for only a short moment. Since he could understand Toothless, he might as well hear him out. He had always guess what his dragon companion had meant and most of the time had been correct in his guessing, but this was different. So he mumbled a yes and Toothless stepped back a bit so the two were looking at each other.
"I have heard you complain about Berk since the day I met you. Perhaps not so much with words at first, but even I wondered why a human would rather come and play with me than be with his own kind. When you told me, even though you probably expected me to not understand, I did understand. The way your father and everyone for that matter has been treating you was terrible and it hurt to just listen to it. The only people you talked about in a positive matter were Gobber and Gothi. Then there is Astrid and whenever you talked about her I wasn't sure of what to think. You liked her and at the same time you didn't it seemed."
Hiccup now avoided the pair of green eyes looking at him as he wondered where Toothless was going with this.
"That very girl was the one who caught you. Got you out of the queen's control and has been right by your side ever since, defending you. I slowly started to understand why you liked… no like her."
Hiccup frowned. So what if he still did? It wasn't like he had ever had a chance with her. Not even now. He felt the scaly face of his best friend rub against his cheek.
"Hiccup, it will be different this time. You have her on your side and even though you might not believe me, she is lost. Lost at what to do, perhaps conflicted even. However, whatever it is she does, she does so in order to protect you and be your friend. And you might also not believe this, but she really cares about you. A lot more then she herself realizes herself right now."
The boy placed his head against the warm scales.
"I know you want to leave, but you can't. You won't be able to fly with that wounded leg and I don't want us to plummet out of the sky. Take your time to heal. Heal more than just that wound on your leg. Let Astrid help you."
Toothless gave Hiccup a lick in the face, knowing fully well that none of these words were what his friend wanted to hear, but very much what he needed to hear. The young night fury had been by his side for years. He had seen him suffer. It had always been reflected in his eyes.
Hiccup rubbed his face clean with his arm and looked at his scaled friend.
"Okay," he mumbled, "no running away."
Toothless pressed his head against Hiccup in delight and let out a soft purr, glad that his friend had agreed to the first step of healing.