Chapter 3

The next few hours were thankfully quiet. Fishlegs wasn't sure if his nerves could handle another fight with 'Captain Vali'. He just hoped when Hiccup awoke he didn't decide to take up where they had left the fight. Fishlegs's arms were still sore from having to hold him down.

Meatlug gave a growl indicating it was her rider's turn.

"Oh, sorry, Girl," Fishlegs said as he looked over the playing board. "Lost in thought...um...here we go." He moved one of his tiny carved wooden vikings two squares ahead. "There we go, let's see you beat that, Girl."

Meatlug's eyes narrowed as she looked over the game board. She gave a thoughtful nod as she shoved one of her carved wooden dragons to the left with her nose. It collided with one of Fishleg's vikings and knocked it over, causing the Gronkle to give a delightful growl.

"Huh, so three points for you," Fishlegs muttered as he wrote it down. "You're really becoming a master at this game."

Meatlug smugly wagged her tail. Fishlegs chuckled and folded his arms. "And Snotlout said my 'Dungeons and Dragons' game was stupid." He glanced over to Toothless who was still sitting in the same spot he had been all afternoon.

The Night Fury lay near Hiccup's bed, with his head resting on his front paws. He gave a worried growl as his gaze refused to leave Hiccup.

Fishlegs couldn't blame Toothless. Gods know he would be feeling the exact same way in his boots..er or was it dragon claws? He wasn't sure what the correct analogy was here.

"Hey, Toothless, want to join Meatlug and I in an exciting round of 'Dungeons and Dragons'?" Fishlegs asked as he held up an extra dragon piece to tempt him. "We could always use a third player."

Toothless growl and covered his face with his tail.

Fishlegs sighed in response. "Thought you would say that," he said as he set his piece down. "Can't blame me for trying-"

A moan came from the bed. Fishlegs sprung to his feet as Hiccup sat up grasping his head. Toothless sat up at full alert, staring at his rider with an anxious frown. Fishlegs didn't dare move as Hiccup glanced to the Night Fury and blinked in confusion.

"Fishlegs," he asked, "what's going on?"

Well, he's sounding more reasonable, Fishlegs thought. "You're sick," he explained calmly and picked up some of the soup he had made earlier. "Why don't you try eating?"

Hiccup looked at him, and then scowled. "Bah! I don't have time to eat! I got a village to run!"

Fishlegs blinked. "A village?"

Hiccup rose, not minding how shaky his legs were as he did so. "Where's Gobber?! He's supposed to have sharpened my axe by now!"

"Your axe?" Fishlegs asked as Toothless sniffed Hiccup's feet.

"Of course!" Hiccup continued as he placed his hands on his hips. "What kind of chief am I without my axe?!"

Uh, oh. "Chief?" Fishlegs asked.

"And where's that son of mine?" Hiccup exclaimed and looked to Toothless. "Go fetch him ya scaly beast. I need him to get those Terrible Terrors under control!"

Fishleg's jaw dropped. Oh, Gods, he's thinks he's Stoick. I'm not sure if this is worse or better than Captain Vali.

Hiccup grumbled as he started to stomp. "I need something hard and heavy to throw."

"Rrriigghhtt," Fishlegs said as he glanced back to Meatlug who was blinking in confusion. "That...uh, sounds like some very important stuff to do, Chief," he said as he turned around to block Hiccup's view of him pouring the medicine into the food. "But, I really think you should have something to eat first."

"I told you," Hiccup said as he started to exit the hut, "I got too much stuff-"

"Um...Gobber, said he was coming right here," Fishlegs stammered. "So, you might as well eat something while you wait." He gave a shaky smile. "Right?"

Hiccup raised an eyebrow that scarily reminded Fishlegs of Stoick. For a second, he was certain Hiccup was going to leave, and in his state of mind, Fishlegs really didn't want to fight him hand to hand. However, the not-so-vast viking gave a sigh.

"Fine, but after this I'm tracking down Hiccup," Hiccup grumbled. "That boy is always running off without telling me. I need to lecture him about that."

"I'm...sure you will, Sir," Fishlegs said. He gave a relieved sigh as Hiccup took the soup and started to eat.

The next several minutes were spent with Fishlegs pretending to listening as Hiccup ranted how the food storage was still short, they needed to build another ship for their fleet, and Sven was complaining how the dragons' snoring was keeping his sheep up at night. Eventually, Hiccup began to yawn and within seconds the empty bowl dropped from his hands and he flopped back on the back.

"Thank, Thor," Fishlegs said as Meatlug picked up the bowl to play with. He glanced to Toothless. "Does Stoick yell this much at home too?"

Toothless merely shrugged, which didn't confirm or deny the question. Fishlegs sighed as he tucked Hiccup back into bed.

"I just hope he doesn't wake up thinking he's Mildew next," he said. "One's more than enough."

Toothless gave a snort as Meatlug licked her lips and decided to chew on the game board.

"Meatlug!" Fishlegs scolded as he walked over. "I told you that's for playing not eating! I knew making it out of stone was a bad idea!"

Toothless shook his head as he sat back on the floor.

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Astrid could not have heard what she thought she had heard. Sure, the twins could be ridiculous, and there were times she greatly questioned their sanity, but surely this time she had misheard them. Although, Toothless looked to the twins with the same awestruck look and was now directly growling at them. Alright, so maybe she wasn't losing her hearing.

"You want," Astrid said slowly as she folded her arms over her chest, "to whip Hiccup?"

"Just for a minute," Tuffnut said as he held out the makeshift whip made out of...something that she wasn't sure she wanted to know if the smell was any indication. "According to the Thornston family cures, if we whip his back for a minute with this whip it will knock the poison right out of him."

"We got science on our side this time!" Ruffnut declared as she lovingly held the other end of the whip. "It's foolproof."

Astrid buried her face into her hands. It was far too late to be dealing with this. "Guys, we've been over this, Hiccup doesn't need a cure since he should recover in a week."

"Yeah, but this could cure him faster," Ruffnut argued with a huff.

"Besides," Tuffnut replied with a smirk. "It would be really funny to watch."

"To you two maybe," Astrid said as she yanked the whip from their hands. "I'm confiscating this."

"Hey, that took like ..um…" Tuffnut counted on his fingers. "A few minutes at least to make."

"You're not whipping, Hiccup!" Astrid said with a snarl and was glad to hear Toothless back up. "Go. To. Bed!"

Ruffnut rolled her eyes, but seemed to take the hint.

"Alright, fine, but we're not giving up on the cures," she said as she tugged her brother along. "Come on, Bro. Later, we can try the spider cure on him."

"Oh! Good idea," Tuffnut said as they walked out. "And let's not forget the mudslide cure."

"I don't even want to know," she muttered as she shook her head and returned her gaze to the sleeping Hiccup.

She was glad that he hadn't woken up since Fishlegs' watch. His fever was dangerously high and he needed all the sleep he could get. However, that only meant he was bound to wake up again eventually and Gods only knew what state he would be in.

Astrid sighed as she gently took a wet cloth to wipe the sweat off of Hiccup's forehead. He was still so warm to the touch. "You are going to give me grey hairs before I'm even twenty," she grumbled as she brushed his brown bangs away from his eyes.

Suddenly, a whimper escaped Hiccup's lips. Astrid froze and watched him start to fidget in his sleep.

"No, no, leave him alone," Hiccup mumbled as his gripped the blanket tightly.

Toothless raised his head in alarm, but only stayed back when Astrid touched his nose.

"Hiccup's probably having a bad dream," she explained. "Let me wake me him up." It was hard to tell what dream was Hiccup, and there was a chance waking up to a dragon in his face would only make things worse.

"No, no," Hiccup spoke as his shifted to his side, taking deep breathes. "Don't hurt him-"

"Hiccup," Astrid said firmly as she shook his shoulder. "Wake up!"

Her leader awoke with a start and sprung upward. Hiccup kept a tight hold on the blankets as he panted. His face was coated in sweat, although Astrid was more disturbed by the tears that were building up in his tear ducts.

"Hiccup? You okay?" Astrid asked, but Hiccup barely seemed to have heard her. He looked lost and unsure where he was. She reached out and touched his shoulder causing Hiccup to jump. He looked frightened until he blinked and seem to calm slightly as he looked to her.

"Astrid?" he asked.

"Yeah, it's me," she said in a calm voice. "Do you want some water-"

"Don't let them hurt Toothless!" he begged and took her by the shoulders.

Astrid stared befuddled as Toothless growled in confusion. Hiccup sounded so scared. "Them?"

"Please, don't let them hurt him," Hiccup begged, tears starting to roll down his cheek. "Don't let them! Please!"

Then it dawned on her. Hiccup's nightmare had been about Toothless, and people hurting him or worse. Was it possible he had dreamed of the day in the killing ring? If the Berkians hadn't just captured the Night Fury?

Astrid swallowed, keeping her face emotionless in order to keep Hiccup calm. Whatever the nightmare was, Hiccup hadn't realized he woken up from it in his fevered state. It would be hard to get him to believe nothing was going to happen to his beloved dragon. The better route would be getting him to back to sleep.

Gently, Astrid wrapped her arms around Hiccup's neck and hugged him tightly. "No one is going to hurt Toothless on my watch," she stated.

Hiccup seemed to relax and leaned into her touch. "Y-you promise?" Hiccup asked, his voice shaking and belonged to that of a scared little boy then her brave friend who met with danger on a daily basis.

"I promise," she said as she broke away and brushed the bangs from his eyes. "How about you eat and drink something?"

Hiccup blinked unsure, but then as Toothless nudged his hand he seemed more at ease.

"Um..yeah, okay," he said in an puzzled tone as if he was slowly piecing together Toothless wasn't in immediate danger.

Astrid gave a soft smile as she gave Hiccup the soup Fishlegs had left Hiccup when he awoke. Hiccup still looked slightly disoriented as he ate, but to Astrid's relief he ate the whole bowl without incident. Astrid was afraid Hiccup would be hesitant to drink the medicine, but with a couple of encouraging nudges from Toothless, Hiccup swallowed it in one gulp.

His face winced as he wiped his lips. "That's really bitter," he commented and yawned, his eyes starting to close. "What's..in it?"

"Various things to help you sleep," Astrid said as she coaxed him to lay down and pulled the blanket over him. "Why don't you get some rest?"

Hiccup blinked, struggling to stay awake. "You'll...protect Toothless?" he said with his voice thick with sleep.

"Promise," Astrid said as she held his hand. "No one will hurt him as long as I'm around."

Hiccup gave a half smile. "Thanks...Astrid," he muttered before giving in and shut his eyes.

Astrid remained still as she studied Hiccup's chest steadily rising up and down until she was certain he was in dreamland. Her shoulders relaxed and she let her head drop back, but was startled as she felt Toothless nudged her hand.

Astrid glanced down into Toothless's pair of concerned eyes. They looked so wide and innocent as Hiccup's eyes had been moments before. These two really were brothers even if they weren't even the same species.

She gave him a half smile and stroked Toothless's head. "He'll be okay, Toothless," she whispered. "Same promise to you, nothing will happen to him as long as I'm around."

Toothless cracked an eye open and gave an appreciative growl, which Astrid always took as a sign of friendship. They always had an unspoken promise between them to always watch Hiccup's back, especially when the idiot wouldn't always watch it for himself. In a strange way, if Hiccup wasn't Toothless's partner, she had a feeling she would have been Toothless's second choice.

Astrid yawned as she stole a glance at the sleeping Hiccup. "You mind taking over 'Hiccup Watch' while I get a little shut eye?" she asked.

Toothless nodded and then set himself comfortable sitting on the floor near the end of Hiccup's bed. He curled up like a cat, wrapped his tail around himself, but both of his eyes were wide open and full alert.

"Thanks" Astrid replied as she sat and sank into the chair. "And when this is over, we're so keeping him away from that stupid dragon glider agreed?"

Toothless growled, and Astrid didn't need to speak dragon to knew it meant Had already planned on it.