Hey guys! I can't believe I actually got this done already! It's like three am! I'm exhausted! Anyways, don't expect me to upload this quickly, usually I update once a week, I just felt like writing... anyhow, onwards with chapter 3!
Hiccup was jolted awake all of a sudden at around five am the next morning, there was an unbearable pain in his stomach and down his shoulders arms and back. He held back a scream and through the blanket, his belly was covered in large and small black scales, so where his arms, back, shoulders and some on his legs. Hickory jumped up from his bed, put a shirt on, before he ran out of his house.
"What's happening to me?" He whimpered as he ran down the street.
Suddenly he found himself falling, his stupid prosthetic had given out on him again. He laid down face first on the side of the road, he tried to get up, but ended up falling back down again. Hiccup sat up and pulled his knees against his chest and cried until he felt a hand rest against his shoulder.
Astrid was standing above him, she pulled her ear-buds out of her ears and pulled him into a hug. Hickory completely forgot about Astrid's early morning runs.
"You okay?" He heard Astrid whisper. "What are you doing up so early? Why are you out here, what's wrong? Does your leg hurt?"
"Astrid," He whimpered "somethings happening to me. Everything hurts real b-bad, Strid..."
"Wait what? What do you mean by everything?"
Hiccup suddenly pulled himself from her embrace and pulled his shirt off, and exposed his scaly skin. Astrid's eyes widened, she grabbed his arm and pressed her hand against the scales.
"What happened?" She whispered and scooped him up into her arms. "We need to get you to the hospital.."
"NO!" Hickory cried. "No, Astrid! I'm mutating! What if they do experiments on me? We've got to hide!"
Astrid sighed then picked him up and headed towards the woods.
"Where should we go?" She whispered.
"The cove! Let's go to the cove!" He said and pointed in the direction of the secret cove in the middle of the dense forest that only he and Astrid knew about.
They arrived at the cove about a half hour later and Astrid squeezed the both of them through the secret entrance through a cave hidden in the rocks and trees that lead to the bottom.
They looked around the cove for a moment to find a good sized cave for the both of them. Astrid laid Hiccup down on the soft dirt floor of the cave they had found at the other end of the cove about 50 feet from the lac in the center. Once Hiccup was situated Astrid ran home and quietly gathered lots of food, water, a few blankets, some pain medication, her wallet and her credit-card. She then snuck into the Haddock household and took Hiccup's sketch book, extra prosthetic and his thick fluffy blanket. Astrid also grabbed changes of cloths for the both of them.
Astrid returned to the cove soon afterwards and set up some makeshift beds and then she checked on Hiccup, it had been about two hours since she had so she wanted to make sure he was okay.
As soon as she saw him she knew he was far from alright.
His skin was completely cover in scales now, and the whites of his eyes were now lime green, not to mention that his iris and pupil had joined together and where completely black. When he opened his mouth to speak she noticed his teeth were sharp and pointed and his tongue was thin, bright pink and forked.
"It hurts." He croaked.
"Shh," Astrid comforted, and grabbed the pain medication from her bag and a bottle. "Take this bud, it'll make you feel better, even just a little."
He gladly took the medicine and rested his head on Astrid's shoulder and crawled into her lap. Astrid pulled his shirt off and checked his back, which had small lumps down his spine and two larger ones right next to them.
She carried him to his makeshift bed, rolled him onto his back and gently massaged his scaly back in attempt to numb the pain. He moaned quietly and drifted off to sleep. Astrid covered him with his thick blanket then crawled under the blankets with him and wrapped her arms around his torso.
About two hours later he woke up again and Hickory's condition had worsened. Hiccup's hair was slowly disappearing and was being replaced by four strange horn like things, and two others on each cheek.
"Hiccup, how are you feeling?" Astrid whispered and placed her hand on his cheek and kissed his nose. "Are you hungry?"
He squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head. "No, no I'm not hungry."
"Bud, have you eaten ye today?" She muttered and stroked the scales on his cheek.
Hiccup shook his head, and Astrid sighed then grabbed her bag. She pulled a loaf of bread and a jar of peanut butter from the bag, then made two sandwiches. Astrid ripped one in half and handed it to her friend.
"I want you to eat at least one half, okay? If you want the other half after you can have it, but if you don't I will. Just please eat one half."
Hickory shook his head and pushed it away. "N-no, Strid my belly hurts, it burns."
"Come on Hickory, you love peanut butter sandwiches! Please? You might feel a pit better if you eat." Astrid pulled him into her lap and tore a small piece of his half of the sandwich, and gently rested it against his scaly lips.
She was right, he was hungry, but his stomach hurt so bad.
Hiccup opened his mouth just enough to lick some of the peanut butter off of the piece, then ate the small fragment of the sandwich from Astrid's hand.
Astrid grinned, then sat him up against the cave wall, and Astrid got up to leave.
"Where are you going?" Hiccup whispered and grabbed her wrist.
"I just have to go to the bathroom. I'll be back in a few minutes, maybe you could try to finish your half whilst I'm gone, okay?" She whispered and disappeared into the forest just inside of the cove.
Whilst she was go Hickory nibbled on his sandwich, but set his half on his lap for he felt a sneeze coming on. But when he did, he'd wished he hadn't. His throat burned when he sneezed, the pain was unbearable. There was no wonder why it did though...
A small blast of plasma shot from his lips and shot across the cove, then thankfully into the lac.
Hiccup grabbed a bottle of water and drank down every last ounce of it to stop the burning in his throat. He looked just outside of his cave and saw a vary concerned Astrid.
"Astrid?" He whimpered and buried his face into her neck. "Astrid, make it stop! Please!"
Astrid sighed and wrapped her arms tightly around him and set her chin on his head. "I can't bud, I-I wish I could, but I can't."
Hickory whimpered quietly and continued to slowly eat away at his sandwich, and Astrid ate her sandwich as well. They sat in silence for what felt like hours until Astrid spoke up again.
"Hickory, do you want me to rub your back again or clean you up a bit?" She whispered, especially when she saw the beads of sweat pouring down his forehead.
When he nodded Astrid grabbed a cloth and a large extra blanket, then lead Hiccup over to the spring fed lac.
Hiccup changed into shorts and Astrid helped him into the lac and cleaned his sweaty, scaly skin. Whilst Astrid rinsed him off she noticed the lumps on his spine looked more like spikes and the larger one looked like tiny wings.
Once he had been cooled off at lest a bit Astrid dried him off, then massaged his neck and back.
A few hours later Hiccup began to sprout a tail on his lower back and his fingers turned into long sharp claws. He had become extremely clingy, he rarely let Astrid leave his sight, but she didn't blame him, he was terrified. It even took Astrid about an hour to put him to sleep that night.
Astrid had to join their makeshift beds together, because Hiccup seemed to be calmer when she was holding him.
He tossed and turned next to her, so she pulled him closer and kissed his nose.
"Hiccup, go to sleep." Astrid mumbled tiredly, and gently rubbed his shoulders again.
"But, Astrid, everything hurts."
"I know bud, but if you sleep you will mutate in your sleep, and maybe it won't hurt for much longer, okay?"
"O-okay, I'll try." He whispered and nuzzled closely into Astrid's neck, he was in no shape to fight, and after about fifteen minutes he finally fell asleep in her arms. And moments later she fell asleep as well.