Chapter 9
"Ah . . . Ah-choo!"
Seated at my bedside, Astrid smiled. Her callused fingers stroked my back with enough pressure that it felt like she was trying to press my spine flat. Unlike my current, miserable mood, she was in good spirits. Her body was relaxed, and a light smile graced her face. With the sunlight coming in through the window and making her hair glow, she was absolutely radiant. Had I been human, I would have told her that. Actually, even as a dragon, I probably would have tried to say that, too. But, like I said, I was currently in a miserable mood.
I sneezed. Astrid's smile grew brighter. As she had happily informed me earlier, my sneezes sounded like a baby having hiccups. She enjoyed it. I didn't. Firstly, because each sneeze inevitably shook my body, and secondly, I was sick!
"Shouldn't have taken that dive into the ocean," she said playfully. Yep, Toothless and I hadn't been spotted gliding over Berk, but we had been seen dripping on the docks. Everyone thought we had gone for a swim.
I glared at her. She adjusted the blanket, scooping part of it under my chin so that it acted like a pillow. Another strip was draped across my lower half, although I could tell that my tail was sticking out.
On the floor next to Astrid, Toothless rolled over onto his back. His tongue hung out of his mouth, flopping toward the ground.
I sniffled. It felt like there was a web inside me, doing its best to block my lungs. My nose didn't seem too clogged, but I couldn't smell things the way I should be able to, and there was a crust around my nostrils. Mostly though, I was tired. I wanted to go back to sleep and never wake up.
"Do you want some more stew?" Astrid asked. "It'll make you feel better."
I thought about it, and then said no.
"Alright." She stroked my back again. "Maybe later."
I complained loudly about my condition. Astrid just absently rubbed Toothless's belly. He chuffed, tail thumping against my bed.
"Toothless, I'm trying to sleep here," I said lazily. "Go be adorable somewhere else."
The bed rocked as Toothless rolled into it.
My door opened. Heavy footsteps, the heavy footsteps of a certain Viking Chief, traced a path to my bed. A wide, shaggy shadow fell over me.
"How are you?" Dad asked.
I stuck my tongue out. I hated being confined like this.
Dad looked at Astrid. She told him, "I think it's just a cold. Nothing serious."
"Are you sure it has nothing to do with . . . this." He gestured to all of me.
My ears perked up. That . . . that was a possibility I hadn't considered. I mean it felt like a normal cold. I think. Actually, I might have been feeling a little too drained for it to be just a regular illness . . . and now that I thought about it, maybe I did have a fever.
"I . . ." Astrid bit her lower lip. "I don't think so. Hiccup?"
I didn't know either. I think it was a cold, but what if it wasn't?
"Hiccup?"
I thought quickly. We couldn't tell. Who would know . . .?
Got it!
My claws drummed against the bed's wooden frame as I tried to deliver my suggestion. When they both stared at me, I traced an 'F' in the air.
"Oh!" Astrid snapped her fingers. "Fishlegs. He is our walking Dragon Manual."
I nodded.
Astrid left to fetch him, leaving me with Dad and Toothless.
"How are you really?" Dad asked.
I patted his hand, telling him I would be okay. Honestly, I almost smiled at Dad's question. I guess he didn't know, but if I wasn't actually feeling well, I was more likely to tell Astrid than him. Nothing worse than a fretting, bumbling father.
"I'm not just asking about your sickness," Dad said.
I shrugged. Yes, I know. I was a dragon. It was kind of hard to miss. But, there wasn't much I could do about it, so I was coping. Would have been better if I wasn't stuck in here, though.
"Do you need anything?" (I shook my head no) "Are you hungry?" (I shook my head NO)
"Well . . ." Dad leaned back on his heels. It was killing him to be helpless. He was a Viking Chief, used to running around and fixing everyone's problems, whether with an axe or a stern lecture. He hated being idle; that much, I had inherited from him.
Astrid returned with Fishlegs. I suddenly found myself the center of a rigorous physical examination. Odin only knew what Fishlegs was looking for when he yanked out my tongue or handled my wings.
His final verdict?
"I think it's just a cold."
A sigh rolled through the room. Dad grunted, "Well, if you're sure . . ."
Fishlegs said, "There is a teensy chance that it –"
I bit him, effectively silencing him.
As Fishlegs rubbed the bite with his shirt, screaming about how he was contaminated, Astrid said, "You know, Ruffnut's dragon was sick once. She told me that he seemed to feel better when they left him out in the sun."
I looked at Dad hopefully. Please say yes!
"They are reptiles," she pointed out.
"Alright. Just," he rubbed his forehead, "keep him out of sight. The village doesn't need to know he's sick on top of everything else."
"Sure thing, Chief." She wrapped me in a cocoon of blanket, and then stood. "We'll be behind the Great Hall."
A few people noticed Astrid and her bundle, but nobody said anything. I'm not sure if they knew it was me in there. Toothless and Stormfly had engaged in a game of Stalk and Pounce with each other, so for the moment being, it was just the two of us.
Excellent.
"Here we are." She unrolled my blanket and me on the grass. It was cloudy today, but there was a patch of light on the ground near me, so I moved into it.
Oh. Wow, that felt good. It was like sticking a burned hand into a mountain stream. Refreshing. I flexed my wings, wanting every inch of me to bask. Compared to the heat rippling along my back, the grass underneath was icy. It still carried a memory of the night's chill, of gusts tinged with frost. But the grass smelled alive. Even I with my diminished senses could tell that.
"Feeling better?" Astrid asked.
I rubbed my cheek against the ground, a purr rumbling through my body. It felt like the sickness was just evaporating from my body.
Her laughter reminded me of bells. "I'll take that as a yes."
I swung around. My intention had been, I don't know, to cuddle with her a bit or else peck her on the cheeks with my germy lips. Something a human would do. It was when my forehead whacked against her knee that I remembered I couldn't. Quite annoying.
"Hey, guys!" The twins scampered up to us.
Ruffnut crouched down. "How's my baby dragon?"
"Sick," Astrid said flatly. "I thought the sun might make him feel better."
"Sick? Gross." With that, Ruffnut suddenly didn't care about me. Needed to remember that for the future . . .
"Whatever," Tuffnut said. "Are we going now?"
"You guys go without me," Astrid said. "I'll catch up."
They didn't seem impressed. Tuffnut actually said, "I think this is more important than your sick boyfriend."
Astrid took a deep breath. "I'm sure you can find the merchants without me."
"Uh, yeah, of course we can," Tuffnut said, "but who's going to talk to them? Snotlout?"
"Hic –" Astrid paused. To herself, she muttered, "Right, that's my job now."
Just then, Snotlout and Fishlegs came barrelling around the Great Hall. Snotlout asked, "Hey, are we leaving now . . . ? What's with him?"
"Sick," Astrid said. She patted my head.
Snotlout rolled his eyes. "Uh, obviously. He's turned into a Night Fury."
"No, like actually sick! Right, Hiccup?"
I sneezed.
. . . Which had Ruffnut cooing all over again. She crouched down low, stuck a finger in my face, and said, "Aw, does our little Hiccup have a cold? Or does he just have the hiccups?"
I bristled. My nose itched. I tensed even further as I tried to keep the sneeze in . . .
"Come on! Coochie, coochie coo . . ."
That one finger tickled the skin between my nose. Every breath I took just made the itching worse.
Nope. Not happening. Not in front of her –
As my body grew stiffer, something in my chest seemed to rupture . . .
Screk-CHOO!
Silence. Then . . .
"PUT IT OUT! PUT IT OUT!" Fishlegs screamed.
Snotlout ripped off his Viking helmet, and beat the flames on the Great Hall with it. Although they hadn't been that colour when they left my mouth, they were yellow as they flickered over the charred spot. It wasn't that big, maybe about the size of Fishlegs's palm, and my flame hadn't even been strong enough to break anything.
Crack! With one last swing, Snotlout extinguished the last of the flames . . . while embedding one of the helmet;s horns into the wood. It left a bigger mark than I had. Took him three tries to get it out, too. I clapped slowly.
"There goes that problem!" Twirling his helmet by the horn, Snotlout plopped it back on. "Nobody told me that Hiccup could breathe fire."
"Nobody knew," Astrid said. Her mouth was still hanging open in shock.
Fishlegs went on his hands and knees to match my level, one eye closed as he peered at me. He hummed thoughtfully. One finger tapped his chin, before he made a motion to touch my face. "What's it like? Does it hurt afterwards?"
No, it didn't seem so. It was no different from spitting out a wad of spit. Except for the tiny fact that one of them was made of saliva, and the other exploded on impact and set things on fire.
"Can you do it again?" Tuffnut asked.
"No! He will not 'do it again'." Sensing danger in the immediate proximity, Astrid – my favourite person ever – scooped me up into her arms. "Someone could get hurt."
Tuffnut laughed shortly. "That did less damage than a Terror's flame. He's not going to hurt anyone."
"I don't know. . ." Fishlegs said.
Ruffnut shrugged. "I think it would be cool."
A pause.
"Once more can't hurt," Fishlegs said.
Astrid glared at him.
"Come on, Astrid. You heard the lady," Snotlout said. He reached for me, and Astrid swung me out of the way just in time.
"What part of no can't you understand?" I don't think she knew she was doing it, but she started petting me like a cat. I put an end to that.
That's when they tag-teamed her. Snotlout played the role of the distraction: grabbing for me, being loud and annoying. Fishlegs was the sneaky one. He crept around to her other side, hoping to snatch me. But Astrid was too smart for that. As Fishlegs moved around her, her body shifted minutely, reacting to his. And when he lunged, she smoothly slid out of the way.
"It's not happening, and that's my final decision," she said.
That . . . didn't go over so well. They all protested, but Snotlout was the loudest. He proclaimed, "Hey, you don't speak for all of us, and we all want to see Hiccup breathe fire, so that's like four to one. Hah! Majority rules."
The others cheered.
"Not for something as stupid as this," said Astrid. I think that's what she said, at least. I was a little distracted by a tickle in my nose.
Snotlout said, "Astrid, just chill, okay?" (I scrunched my nose up; the tickle was getting worse) "You're not the boss of me."
The tension suddenly thickened. It caught even me by surprise. Astrid had drawn herself up to her full height. They stared into each other's eyes, like two dragons about to fight. It was weird, to say the least. Sure, Snotlout was being his usual irritating self, but this? This was definitely beyond the usual.
I was distracted from my thoughts by the itch, which had grown to the point where it was nearly painful. I pawed my snout, trying to press my claws in deep enough that the force would pass through the skin and scratch the inside part. Meanwhile, Astrid and Snotlout were still staring each other down.
Naturally, Fishlegs saw the opportunity to reach –
"Oh, no you don't!" And the scuffle began anew. Somewhere along the way, my face was thrust into Snotlout' furred shoulders. The strands poked into my nostrils, making the itch so-much worse.
Yep. This was a battle I was going to lose.
Thank Odin for Astrid. Somehow, even though she was dealing with Snotlout and Fishlegs, she still felt me stiffen. With a cry, she pulled me back and pointed me away from Snotlout, back toward the Great Hall –
Screk-CHOO!
A small, purple ball flew out of my mouth, narrowly missing the Great Hall. Instead, it proceeded toward the village . . .
There was a distant, faint boom. Followed by a moment of peace.
"Well, that was fun," Snotlout announced. Feet already moving, he said, "Let's talk later!"
He and the other teens took that chance to run for it. But then, a dark figure stepped in their paths. The sun shone from behind him, making the black on his clothes and helmet all the more darker. Two curved horns rose from that helmet, reaching skyward. The man had his arms crossed, and his heavy jaw was set into a scowl.
Snotlout rubbed the back of his neck. "Hey, Dad . . ."
Spitelout asked, "What was that?"
As one, the teens – except Astrid – pointed at me.
Astrid sighed. "He has a cold. Apparently, he sneezes fire."
"Fire, huh?" Spitelout sounded decidedly amused. "Don't you think you should turn him back before he destroys something?"
I blinked. Astrid echoed my confusion. "Sorry?"
"He's nearly been a dragon for four days now," Spitelout said. "It's time for you to turn him back."
"We would," Astrid began, "but . . ."
Shrugging, armed with a grin, Ruffnut said, "We have no idea how."
Spitelout didn't say anything. Just looked at his son.
"I'm trying!" Snotlout complained. "But all this magic stuff is pretty crazy and –"
Spitelout cut over him. "We need him turned back by the end of the week. We're leaving for the Chief Gathering in two weeks' time, and he needs to polish Stoick's presentation before then."
"I'll figure it out, okay, Dad?"
Spitelout didn't even offer his son a nod. "Make sure you do."
No one spoke as Spitelout walked away. Finally, Snotlout broke the silence with, "Let's get going."
Fishlegs said, "What about -?"
"Let's go!" Snotlout said that, his scent spiking with the hot flavour of anger. The others quailed under that anger, all except Astrid whose scent spiked with its own brand of hotness.
"I'm staying," she said stubbornly.
Before Snotlout could say anything, she straightened up again. Now, I understood. They weren't two dragons about to fight, but two wolves trying to decide who was in charge. My absence, well, my metaphorical one, had opened up a hole in the group that no one was quite sure how to fill. Apparently, this was the result.
Well, it would only be for a few days. Soon enough, everything would be forgiven and forgotten.
Hopefully.
Maybe.
I had a bad feeling about this.
Review Responses:
Jazz: True, which is why I don't mind humanintelligence!dragons in AU fics where the power dynamic isn't tilted as much in the human direction as it is in canon.
Hey, Toothless was trying during lesson #1. it's just hard to demonstrate proper technique when you yourself can't fly :D
concrit: Yeah, it might be at some parts, might not be at others. At this point, I'm just going to give on giving their relationship a concrete label, since it seems to fluctuate so much.
Snowflake: And that's why they get along!
randomreader WITH a profile: And that's all that matters!
Guest: That IS on the table. Just give me a reminder later :)
a random person: Thanks!
Greath: No idea. I'm writing this story as I go along.