Okay, Jack could get through the occasional nightmare, vision, what have you. But this, this wasn't a nightmare or a vision, no, this? This was an acid trip and half.

Colors and lights swirled around in his vision, all of them too bright and way too vibrant, that is, until someone finally decided to turn down the saturation in his brain.

There was also this constant shifting sound in the background that Jack couldn't quite place.

He knew he was having a different dream before whatever cursed REM sleep TV commercial break decided to hijack it, but he couldn't remember what it was. He didn't think it mattered all that much anyway.

What was even weirder however was the times his vision would randomly cut back to the previous dream. Like when the two radio stations in your car start fighting for dominance over the speakers.

Even more like a radio, the clashing of both dreams made Jack's head foggy, like static.

Then suddenly, like the snap of a finger, everything became clear.

When he woke up in the morning his first thought was, What. The. Fuck?

Other than that he couldn't remember a thing about whatever his messed up traumatized brain had come up with in the middle of the night. All he knew was that it was weird, and it was about–

"Sandy!" he shouted, shooting up to a sitting position and simultaneously waking Artemis who made a half concerned, half startled noise. He winced, hoping he hadn't woken Valka as well.

He stood immediately gunning for his desk drawer. He didn't really remember anything from the dream but what he did remember was that it was about Sandy, and one word.

"Grimora"

He didn't know what that meant exactly but he wrote it down anyway because god dammit he was getting desperate and the whole theme built around the Guardians was belief anyway right?

He groaned, fighting the urge to rip hair out. It was the afternoon of the next day and he still hadn't found anything. He did what he normally did, flew around for hours, eventually had to do chores, training, but even Skathi was starting to notice Jack had been particularly distracted.

He'd even Terrored Dagur about it.

He heard a loud squawk to his right, speaking of Dagur.

He lifted his arm offering a safe landing point to Zephyr, his own personal Terrible Terror, one that he had nursed back to health from a broken wing as one of his first proper lessons on dragons. Valka had been there every step of the way.

He took the note from Zephyr, and had to tilt his head as she nuzzled into his cheek, trying to drag some attention out of him.

Jack placed her in his lap and started absent-mindedly scratching her sky blue scales.

As always, it caused Zephyr practically collapse onto her back to get belly rubs and start purring louder than a car engine, eyes closed and smiling in pure bliss.

When she first did this Jack practically squealed with how excruciatingly adorable the display was.

He smiled and shook his head, unfolding the letter. He was right it was from Dagur, but the letter made him frown.

V.J.,

I'm sorry but I don't have any information as to what "Grimora," could mean. I will try to get information as best I can, but as you know, I'm currently hiding from our friends, and learning about our relatives so don't expect much. What I can give you is a place that I think could have the information you're looking for.

It's called the Northern Markets, everyone goes there, and I mean everyone. If there's one place you could find info, it's the Northern Markets. I've drawn a map at the bottom of this letter, but it's purely drawn from memory and not very detailed, or helpful. I'm sorry, I wish I could help more but this is all I could give you.

I hope you find what you're looking for.

- D.D.

Jack sighed in defeat, slumping into his chair, it was afternoon by now and Valka was going to go on a supply run soon.

His eyes widened in realization. A supply run, to the Northern Markets.

"Hey Val!"

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One survivor, if they could be called that, and while Hiccup wasn't there, nor could he see them, he knew they were long dead.

A shift and a groan to his right, left? He hadn't stopped moving since Stormfly had practically broken into his hut that morning, "Hiccup, will you stop pacing?"

He took a quick glance over at Astrid, she was pale and weak, anyone could tell that, but you'd catch him dead before you'd hear him say that out loud, especially to her face.

He was pretty sure she could still deck someone with all the fury of a Screaming Death, or at least she'd try.

Fishlegs entered, looking frantic, "what is it?" He asked, hoping it actually wasn't what he was thinking and he was overreacting, and that this, whatever it was- because it could not be that, -would pass.

"You saw that scratch right?"

He did, but–

"She said it's nothing," he insisted, "you know Astrid. It's not nothing. All the signs are there," Fishlegs argued, and Hiccup supposed that, for Astrid's sake as well as his own, it was better to be safe rather than sorry.

"All right, let's assume for a second that you're right. What's the cure?" He asked.

There was a long pause that Hiccup just absolutely hated. Just despised.

"I'm not sure,"

Don't lose it… he couldn't lose it yet, his team needed him, Astrid needed him.

"The only thing I know is that the scourge moves swiftly, overtaking its victims in less than three moons," three, that's it? That can't be it, it can't be, Astrid can't–

"Snotlout is on his way back from Berk with Gothi's notes. Hopefully, they'll tell us something more," Fishlegs said, probably seeing Hiccup's discomfort, hold on Astrid.

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"Hey Astrid, how are you feeling?" Snotlout asked, she felt tired, disgusting, and weak, but she couldn't say that, she was a warrior, strong, made of stone.

Fearless Finn Hofferson.

And,

Fearless Astrid Hofferson.

She couldn't back down lest she become the next village disgrace.

"I feel fine. I just wish everyone would stop worrying," she lied, cause she was fine, she had to be fine.

"Fishlegs, look! In Gothi's notes there's a cure for the Scourge of Odin. A green solution made from the saliva of a Buffalord dragon," Hiccup exclaimed from beside her.

If only that excitement could last, she thought to herself, she found that she kind of liked seeing Hiccup excited, though she'd never say so out loud.

"What? What is it?" He asked in response to the tense silence that followed, "well it's just…" Fishlegs trailed off, losing his nerve.

She'd never lose her nerve she couldn't, she'd crush that excitement in a second if she had to.

Maybe that was the problem.

"There aren't any Buffalord anymore. They were all hunted to extinction during the Scourge's last outbreak," she said, and couldn't even look at him as his expression fell.

"We don't know if they're gone for sure. We need to get out there and find one," he said, already jumping on Toothless, "But we don't even know where to start looking," Fishlegs started, looking ready to practically grab Hiccup if he had too.

"But I do," he told them, "the Northern Markets, someone has to have information," that was too risky, and all for her? She wanted to say so but she was so tired, "but it'll be nearly night by the time you get there–

"I know, but we don't have a choice, while I'm visiting the Markets, you guys hold up the Edge," Then he flew off without giving anyone time to protest.

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"You're sure you don't know anything?" Jack asked for what felt like the thousandth time that evening.

He'd already got all the supplies on the list for Valka and now he was just doing one final sweep of the place.

It still made him smile, the fact that the only curfew Jack had at the moment was, "don't let me wake up in the morning only to find that you're still gone,".

This gave him plenty of time to find, guess what?

Absolutely nothing, that's what.

To be honest he was really close to just going home and leaving, it was getting dark and he was tired.

He could ask the few Dragon Hunters that were out and about but most of them were drunk and, well, Dragon Hunters.

"Look I don't know if the word 'grimora' is even Norse so ya can either buy somethin' or go away and leave me alone!" The shopkeeper waved a hand at Jack's hooded figure.

Pretty long version of "go fuck yourself".

Jack sighed and turned to the mostly vacant street; there weren't a lot of people out, mostly Dragon Hunters and the remaining shopkeepers.

He could hear them laughing and drinking, never actually just doing their jobs for once.

Then the shouting became louder and more aggressive, it was coming from behind him.

"Toothless! Now would be–"

Then whoever it was slammed right into him.

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Hiccup had arrived hours ago and still nothing about the Scourge. All he got were complaints and sounds of surprise or fear.

If this didn't work, then Hiccup didn't really know what he'd do. The Northern Markets were the one place Hiccup knew he could go to find information on things, after all, this was where he'd learnt the most about Vorder.

Okay, so maybe it wasn't the most reliable source of information, but it was information nonetheless.

At this point he'd been there so long that he felt the need to send Sharpshot to the Edge telling them he'd be gone longer than he thought.

Toothless had run off into the shadows at some point and Hiccup let him, mostly because there were so many Dragon Hunters around and Hiccup could tell the dragon was bored out of his mind.

Well this was a waste of time, he thought to himself as he looked around for quite literally anyone he hadn't already questioned.

Someone bumped into him and he almost fell forward onto his face, that would have been embarrassing.

He looked up to see who it was and, surprise, surprise, that happened to be a big mistake.

"Hey… wait a minute… I know ye from somewhere," the Hunter said, narrowing his drunken eyes.

You have got to be kidding me.

"Ya idiot, that's the Night Fury rider!" His friend shouted at the quite literal top. Of. His. Lungs.

Because of course he did.

For a tense moment Hiccup just stared at them, not really knowing what to do in his state of panic, then he was running, as fast as he could.

He heard multiple things behind him, curses, shouts, complaints. But what he was more focused on was getting away with his life.

That and finding his for some ungodly reason unresponsive dragon.

"Toothless!" He shouted, and received nothing in return, "Oh come on! You can't be that distracted," he complained out loud.

A Hunter's arrow cut him off from his path, coming dangerously close to his face and he almost fell over backwards. He pivoted to the right, running in between stalls.

"Toothless! Now would be–

Of course that's when he ran straight into someone, and when he said 'ran' he meant more like crashed and burned.

They both fell over and landed practically on top of each other.

Then in a daze of movement and yanking, he was pulled and quite literally thrown against a wall under an overpass.

He went into fight mode thinking that a Hunter got ahold of him, what with the amount of force they had used, and tried to punch them.

Then there was a hand pressed to his mouth and a stranger holding his fist in place, of course this just made him struggle more.

Eventually the person ended up shoving him into the deepest darkest corner of the said overpass, holding him down with a knee to his abdomen, and a hand holding his shoulders down.

"Would you shut up? Oh my God!" The stranger hissed and Hiccup just, froze. That… didn't sound like a Dragon Hunter, no, that sounded like someone his age.

Hold on–

The kid was looking back at where they just were, not really paying attention to Hiccup.

He has white hair… Hiccup realized and his confusion was just, through the roof at that point. Gone. Never coming back.

Mostly because Hiccup thinks he has white hair. But is it actually brown? He can't tell if it's the moonlight making it look white and it's actually brown or if it's actually white. He's losing it isn't he?

This person was clearly not from the Archipelago, they had white maybe brown hair, and Sapphire eyes, amber eyes? Is that the moonlight too Hiccup can't tell, and his face…

Hiccup found himself tracing the details of his cheekbones and jawline.

Sure maybe a little creepy but come on, you try seeing someone with looks only found in the myths and legends of your childhood and not just shamelessly stare.

There was another thing that shouted, "I am a foreigner", somehow this person was even smaller than Hiccup was. Which was saying a lot.

Yet, he's still able to hold you down…

The heavy footsteps of burly Dragon Hunters snapped him back to reality.

In response, the kid grabbed Hiccup and started running through the wilderness, jumping over branches and tree roots with the grace of a levitating ghost, meanwhile Hiccup stumbled and would've fell if the guy wasn't holding him up by the arm.

"Okay they're gone," the stranger said, once they stopped. Hiccup on the other hand was just trying to catch his breath, how was this guy so fast?

"You okay?" The stranger asked, "y-yeah," Hiccup muttered, finally recovering a bit, "do you always punch people who try to help you?" The stranger asked him like he hadn't scared the living Hel out of Hiccup.

"You shoved me against a wall," He protested, still slightly out of breath. Where was Toothless?!

"Those guys back there would've done way worse to you than shove you against a wall," the stranger huffed.

"How was I supposed to know you weren't one of them!?" Hiccup asked, exasperated, "Who even are you anyway because you clearly aren't from around here," He waved a hand at the air to make his point.

"Rude, it's Jack by the way nice to meet you," he said, and Hiccup just stared at him.

...

"You gonna tell me yours or...?" He said, dragging out the 'or'.

"It's Hiccup-

"Weird name,"

"I- well it's not like I can choose my name huh?" He muttered and Jack shrugged. "What are you doing out here at night anyway?" Hiccup asked next.

"Well it's not like you can judge, Mr. I Piss Off Dragon Hunters," he paused, "why were they chasing you?" He asked suddenly looking serious.

He was about to answer when it occured to him.

"Wait," Hiccup was suddenly confused again, he knew that him and his team weren't necessarily the biggest piece of news in the Archipelago, but surely this guy would've heard about the whole, "someone trained a Night Fury and was riding it," right?

"How long have you been in the Archipelago exactly?" He asked, Jack looked back at him and shrugged, "about almost a year and a half," he asnwered.

"And yet you don't know about Viggo, or the 'Night Fury Rider' or any of the rumors going around?" He asked, and noticed that Jack looked... suspicious? Confused?

"No, I don't usually... I don't usually come this far out," he said.

"Then... where do you live?" He asked, "well definitely not here as you helpfully pointed out," was all he got and Hiccup realized that he didn't really know how to react correctly to this guy. He'd never met someone who could match him toe to toe like this.

His friends had their moments sure, but not to the point where it might actually irritate him like this, then Hiccup suddenly remembered, "Wait actually! I need to ask you about something," he noticed Jack kind of startled at his sudden outburst but Hiccup didn't really care.

"Do you know anything about Buffalord Dragons?"

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Oh shit…

Jack had been distributing the cure for the Scourge of Odin for about a few months now, and soon it became routine to find and cure Scourge victims, as Vorder sure, but never as Jack, that and nor did he imagine the person he was meant to cure would ever be Hiccup of all people.

"Who's sick?" He asked, because clearly, and hopefully, it wasn't this guy.

"My friend, her name is Astrid," he told him, "she's already been sick two days, and apparently the disease will kill her on the third, I've been looking forever, and right now you are the last and only person I haven't asked yet."

Jack could tell that Dragon Slaver or not, he couldn't even be sure of that anymore, Hiccup cared about his friends, not like how Dragon Hunters were just co-workers, this guy actually cared whether they lived or died.

Okay, so maybe Hiccup was also pulling puppy dog eyes but come on. Jack wasn't even sure if he knew he was doing it, which of course only made it ten thousand times worse.

He sighed in defeat, "Fine, but I have one condition, no asking questions," he said, and Hiccup just grew more confused.

Then utter and complete shock overcame his features, as Jack held up a vial of green solution.

The cure to the Scourge of Odin.