Chapter Text
A spring breeze blew through the Isle of Berk, but the inhabitants remained fast asleep, all except for one. Hiccup stands by his window/escape hatch and watches the sea with a vacant expression on his freckled face as he waits for his dominant mate to come back. The Night Fury had to intervene in a fierce dispute between Nadders, who had destroyed several nests in the hatchery and nearly killed a few Zippleback hatchlings, sparking a massive brawl. Despite the warm spring weather, the Alpha’s mate rubs his arms as a chill comes over him.
"Toothless, please hurry." He whispers in a concerned hush as he bites his lip, feeling fearful, like a threat was coming for his beloved. His breathing is a bit erratic as he tries to slowly quell the rising panic within him while inhaling his mate's lingering scent from his PJs.
Suddenly, a black tail comes down from the roof and gently caresses Hiccup's face before Toothless reveals himself. "Thank you, Meatlug; you are dismissed." The Night Fury addresses the guarding gronkle.
The eating gronkle turns towards the Alpha’s dragon and bows. "Thank you, my Alpha, have a good night." She bows before walking towards her makeshift den that Fishlegs made, where her mate and growing hatchlings sleep.
Toothless turns to his lover with a gentle but firm gaze, "Mia amato. "You should be asleep; it's late." He gently scolds his lover as he leads his submissive partner to their nest.
"I can't sleep when you're not around." Hiccup sheepishly admits, lowering his eyes to the floorboard as he crawls onto the stone slab to wait for his dominant mate. His breathing evened out and became lighter due to the return of his beloved.
The graceful dragon purrs and climbs into the nest, curling around his lover. "How long has this been going on? Does this phenomenon happen often?"
The petite teen nods nervously, his forest green gaze looking at the stone slab. "I just feel very safe with you near, even if you're sound asleep. I feel complete, feel whole." He admits honestly.
The night fury purrs and nods in understanding. "Yes, I understand our bond draws us together, but I also feel safe having you close to me. It puts me at ease knowing that you are safe and that I can protect you. But now it is late, and you look exhausted."
Hiccup goes to protest, but a loud yawn escapes his mouth, and his eyes droop against his will. "I'm not tired." He slurs even as he gets comfortable and lays into Toothless's chest, grabbing a paw and draping it over his more petite frame. His eyes droop even more, and another yawn comes from his mouth as he breathes in his dominant's scent.
"Don't fight, sleep, my love. I'm here now, and everything is calm in our domain." Toothless assures his sleepy mate as he leans down and kisses Hiccup's temple, breathing in his mate's sweet scent.
Hiccup's eyes close, lured into the land of sleep, but underneath the surface, the troubling feeling persists as he squeezes Toothless's claw a little tighter.
The Alpha of Berk smiles while watching his fragile human sleep for a bit before deciding to turn in for the night himself, closing his eyes as sleep takes him away.
Meanwhile, at the outskirts of the village, Mildew slept soundly despite the disturbing noises made by the mating terrors on his rooftop. He grumbles and cracks open an eye as another noise comes from his roof, a nadder. "Damn beasts." He gripes with a bitter tone and a frown as he sits up, only to come face-to-face with a hooded figure. "AHHH! Who the devil are you?" He exclaims in an uneasy breath as his eyes widen in both fright and horror as he brings his blanket up to his chest and a hand over his heart, trying to calm his old heart.
The figure doesn't speak at first; instead, it reveals a blue flower in its palm.
"Bah, I have no interest in gardening. Now, who are you?" Mildew asks once again with a scowl and his eyes squint.
Instead, the figure forces Mildew out of his house with a spell. Then, its hand glows purple, and suddenly, Mildew's entire cabbage field is full of blue flowers. "These are poisonous to dragons. Just a sniff, and the dragons are rendered as good as dead within days." The figure speaks, sounding like a little girl, yet it's the same height as Astrid.
Mildew's eyes widened before a dark smirk appeared on his wrinkled face, and a dark chuckle came from his throat.
The figure then disappears and repeats the action to Dogsbreath, who tries to uncloak the being but is quickly tossed against the wall as the being disappears.
The next morning
Hiccup's POV: "Berk is a small island in the middle of nowhere. So when we get a taste of something new…"
A nadder and a Zippleback perched on a sea stack guard the entrance to Berk, noticing a medium-sized boat floating towards the mainland.
"An intruder." The purple and blue nadder whispers, eyes slit.
"We'll go inform the Alpha; can you keep it away from the nest?" The left head of the blue zippleback responded quietly.
The nadder nods as its partner silently flies towards the Alpha’s den, while the remaining guard crouches down and watches the boat with one human on board. The spiky-tailed dragon notices the human is thin, with a face full of fur and a strange object on its head. The patchwork skins the human wears are unlike those worn by other humans in the Berk nest or by the Queen. The guard nadder flies from one seastack to another, staying ahead of the vessel while ensuring it doesn't get seen by the human. Once he sees that the boat is close to the docks, the nadder decides to make his move. He swoops down and blocks the ship from moving ahead.
"Dear me!" Trader Johann exclaims in fright as he works to halt the movements of his boat. "Oh my, a dragon. Stay back, I warn you; I'm not afraid to use this." He shakily holds up a blade in front of him, his body trembling with nerves and his voice quivering, feeling entirely defensive.
The nadder sees such an instrument as a threat and proceeds to fill its maw with fire, ready to aim.
"STOP!" Hiccup's voice yells out, and the nadder quickly swallows its fire, but Johann keeps his weapon raised as Hiccup, Toothless, and the zippleback guard all come to the scene. "It's okay, Vividspike. He's a friend." Hiccup explains to the nadder in Dragonese.
"Master Hiccup, by the gods, what is going on? Why are there dragons around here, and by Thor's name, is that a night fury?" Johann gasps in shock and awe, his eyes wide as he takes in the sight of the dragon, but Toothless growls at him to silence him.
"Hiccup, who is this human?" Toothless asks, glancing back at his partner.
"It's Trader Johann, remember the one I told you about. He's one of the four traders who come to Berk with various goods to trade with." Hiccup explains.
"Yes, well, I need to examine his boat just to make sure there's nothing harmful on there to you or the dragons." The midnight colored dragon comments.
"Johann, Toothless needs to examine your boat before you come to the mainland."
"I beg your pardon, Master Hiccup, but, um, who is Toothless, and why does he need to check my ship?" Johann spluttered, completely baffled.
Hiccup gestures to the dragon he's riding. "Toothless, Johann. Johann, Toothless. He needs to ensure that there is nothing on your boat that could harm me or the dragons on Berk because Toothless is the Alpha and my dominant mate.
"There are more dragons on Berk?" Johann stutters in shock as fear overcasts his features. His eyes go as wide as a wheel at the thought of more dragons as Toothless lands with a thud and begins to sniff around the ship, and the trader tentatively takes a few steps back.
"Yep. A lot has changed on Berk since the last time you were here, Johann." Hiccup mentions with a plastered smile on his freckled face as he remains on Toothless's back as the dragon inspects every inch of the ship.
Toothless doesn't smell or see anything harmful in the herbs and spices, nor in the fruits or vegetables, or even the Icelandic cod. Finally, he smelled the furs and other clothing but detected nothing; however, he did notice a rather large jar containing squid ink, something Hiccup used quite often. "I didn't find anything harmful, ‘Elekede’, but I did find this." The raven colored dragon grabs the ink in his maw and passes it to his lover.
Hiccup's eyes light up with excitement while Johann whimpers and wrings his hands together nervously, not liking the unholy offspring of Lightning and Death on his ship. But he notices that while he can literally feel the aura of the dragon, it has yet to attack him or Hiccup, and he also sees the two dragons still circling above. The nervous trader, however, notices that none of the dragons has attacked him yet. What surprises him further is the sight of a saddle on the Night Fury and the protective stance it takes when Hiccup is examining the jar of ink. "Forgive Master Hiccup, but um, did you call this dragon your dominant mate, as in your lover?"
The heir of Berk beamed and climbed back onto his dominant's back, his eyes twinkling with the purest love. "Yep, Toothless and I have been together for about a year now, and just, my dad gave us his blessing for us to get married."
Johann's jaw nearly dropped to the deck of his ship. He knew Hiccup was different from any Vikings he'd seen. Even more so than the deranged Berserker, but never in his wildest dreams would he believe that the little boy who was terrified of his own shadow would not only train but date the rarest of all dragons
Hiccup leans down and kisses his mate's head, breathing in the musky scent he loves. "Trust me, Joahnn, Berk is slowly changing for the better." He then lifts his hand and speaks a strange language that the trader had never heard before, and both dragons bow and fly away. He and Toothless then take off. "You can sail safely to the docks now." Hiccup yells as the mates fly back to Berk.
Trader Joahnn stands on his deck in shock, amazement, and even fear. As if on autopilot, his body moves to sail towards the docks of Berk even as he passes by the seastacks where the guard dragons watch him cautiously despite their Queen telling them he was harmless. Despite this, the startled trader can't shake the shiver that continually runs up his spine whenever he remembers those toxic green eyes watching his every move, especially when Hiccup was away from him.
Berk Docks, a few hours later
Fireclaw is flying over Berk with Hiccup and Toothless leading and Bucket holding onto the Nightmare's neck for dear life.
"Just loosen up, Bucket, let Fireclaw lead. It's like a little dance; he will lead, and you should follow while keeping an eye on his blind spots." Hiccup instructs. Over the last few weeks, Hiccup and the other riders had been slowly teaching other Vikings how to fly with their dragons so that more guards could be in the air and Hiccup and the leading riders wouldn't tire themselves or their dragons out.
Bucket looks over the side and yelps in fright, and his breathing accelerates as his hands grip Fireclaw's neck even tighter. His eyes clamped shut as he whimpered like a newborn lamb. His face has turned sickly green due to anxiety and height.
"I wish I could help him somehow." Fireclaw coos in a benevolent tone and looks back at his new rider with yellow eyes, round with worry, trying to comfort his struggling friend.
"It's okay, Fireclaw. First-time riders are always scared or sometimes too dumb to know how to be scared." Hookfang was encouraged as he showed the newly saddled Nightmares how to fly with a human on their backs. He would gently glide through the air and barely flap his large wings, despite his rider's bored expression.
"Ugh, oh my Thor, can we please be done with this exercise already? I'm starving!" Snotlout groans in an indignant demeanor with an eye roll as he throws his hands up, and an annoyed frown forms on his face.
Suddenly, the bucket-wearing helmet Viking looks down and sees a boat making port at the docks. "Trader Johann is here. Trader Johann!" He shouts excitedly, pointing downward at the docked boat before realizing he let go of Fireclaw's neck, and his eyes go from wide-eyed excitement to orbs of fear as his breathing becomes panicked once again.
"Alright, that's enough training for today. You're dismissed, Fireclaw and Hookfang," Toothless warbles to the nightmares.
"Thank you, Alpha." They both bow to Toothless and Hiccup before flying off in different directions. However, Fireclaw flies more slowly because Bucket is still terrified.
Once his ship docked right at the loading docks of Berk, Trader Johann lowered his lever for the eagerly waiting Vikings to come up and look. Ah, Berk, my favorite of all the islands I travel to." He greeted them enthusiastically, with his arms spread wide as the Vikings came in groups onto the ship.
Hookfang lands, and Snotlout immediately rushes up to the ship and claims everything on board, but it is quickly overcrowded by the Vikings.
"I've got food of all sorts, spices, exotic animals…" Trader Johann starts to elaborate, but Tuffnut, brandishing dead white wolf skins, interrupts him.
"Is that moving? Does that one move? Whoa!" The male Thronston exclaimed with awestruck wonder as his eyes grew as big as plates, bouncing around the ship like a kangaroo as he found more animal furs and held them up as if to examine them.
Johann rolls his eyes at Tuffnut's strange behavior as he becomes frightened when Belch's head suddenly sniffs at his person. "Oh, um, hi there." He stutters anxiously, his breathing uneasy as he tries to move away from the zippleback head, but Belch is very persistent and follows the sailor even as he begins to spark.
"Belch, no!" Tuffnut hollered as he cradled the zippleback head. "We can't destroy all this fur. "Oh, the fur." He rubs his face on the silk fur on his cheek and sighs. He closed his eyes as purring sounds came from his throat.
Belch merely rolls his eyes. "Can we trade riders for today? I'd rather not have the feeling of whatever animal that fur belonged to on my neck." He complained to his brother.
Barf looked down at Ruffnut, who was sorting through various spices and even sprinkling a few on herself. "Or we could just ditch them." He suggests it, but instead, the brothers pick up their humans with Tuffnut still clinging to the fur and fly off.
"Oh, wait, they didn't pay for that!" Johann hollered, but Barf and Belch continued flying away. He sighs, but quickly becomes skittish when a little pink terrible terror lands on his ship and comes up and nuzzles his leg. The far-traveling trader looks down and slowly calms down when he notices that the miniature dragon is not attacking him. Suddenly, he hears Fishlegs coming up behind him.
"Trader Johann, is this your only book on botany?" He asks, waving the book around, only for Johann to grab his wrist to look at the book in question.
"Yes, Mr. Fishlegs. It was given to me by the author himself. What do you have to offer in exchange for such rare and valuable information, such as what this book is? Johann asked.
Fishlegs rummages through his satchel until he finds a necklace made from the tiny teeth of baby dragons. "Would you take this necklace?" he asks. Actually, it's from Meatlug and Rocky's litter of hatchlings."
"My hatchlings are growing up so fast. I still don't understand what Fishlegs was so excited about by putting the hatchling's teeth on a string." Meatlug warbled with motherly pride to her mate, who was collecting rocks for them and their babies.
"Yes, and I would prefer if he didn't sell them, but then again, what would we do with them other than bury them?" Rocky countered.
Trader Johann grimaces at the sharp teeth of the dragon and glances down at the now-sleeping creature at his feet. He knows all too well what some people do to dragons—gruesome things. He has even had to kill a few to protect his ship and his wife when she accompanies him or when he returns home. Something about the sleeping terror brings a calming to Johann that he didn't even know existed, and he smiles at it. "Fair enough, Mr. Fishlegs." He accepts the necklace.
Astrid looks through everything on the ship and finds nothing of interest, but she notices Gobber humming and standing in front of some clothes. "You okay there, Gobber?" She asked as she came next to the Blacksmith.
"I'm better than okay; I'm in heaven!" He purrs in pure delight as he rubs a few pairs of undergarments over his cheek before doing it to a Second stack of undies. "They're so soft and warm, Johann; how about a sack of carrots in exchange for these beauties?"
"Consider it done, Gobber." The stocking-wearing human eagerly accepts as he quickly snatches the sack from the Blacksmith, happy to have some vegetables to cook with.
"Well, I didn't find anything this time, so I'm going to throw my axe at trees. Got to practice for Thawfest." Astrid declared as she called for Eragon and headed towards the forest once off the boat.
"Hehehe, she's just going to wait for me; we train together for Thawfest," Snotlout says to himself as he observes his reflection in a mirror, flexing his muscles.
Hiccup and Toothless finally arrive at the docks after they had finished helping Bucket off of Fireclaw, and the petite human had to help Gothi with the recently ill Vikings who had bouts of the flu. Hiccup notices that his dad is swinging a medium-sized sword around, and he sighs. "Wow. Another sword. Just what we need." He deadpans.
"If you must know, the gift is not for me." I'm heading off to my yearly meeting with the Chief of the Shivering Shores. The last man who arrived without a gift lost his head. I will also count the number of chiefs attending the Thawfest games this year.
"Are you going to tell them about the dragons?" Hiccup asked.
"I think it will be self-explanatory, son, when I show up on Thornado." Stoick counters with a chuckle before turning to Johann, who is gently petting the pink terror, who has woken up and has crawled up the man's shoulder, "Johann! What will you take in trade?"
"Stoick! It is but your beneficial graces I desire when my humble ship passes through Berk." Trader Johann pleads with folded hands.
The Chief of Berk walks by and pats Johann on the shoulder. "You'll always be welcome on our shores." Once off the ship, he addresses his son. "I'll be back in five days. What am I saying? I'll be back in two, thanks to Thornado." He marvels as the thunderdrum roars.
"Is it alright if my mate takes over my responsibility while I'm gone, my Alpha and queen?" Thornado asks, looking at his Alpha and Queen.
"Yes, it is." Toothless nods.
"I'm sure she can handle them and run the hatchery as well." Hiccup comments as well.
Stoick walks off the ship and climbs onto the Thunderdrum's back, then commands, "Up, Thornado."
The blue oval dragon bucks a bit, pretending to try to dislodge the Chief of Berk.
"Oh ho, easy boy!" Stoick scolds lightly. "By the way, Hiccup, you're acting chief until I get back." He says, despite his son's nervous gulps.
"But I have the dragons to contend with." Hiccup argues weakly.
"Well, one of the things about being Chief is that you are required to take care of all of your people. Additionally, Gobber will be present to assist. Stoick points out as Thornado bucks again.
Thornado looks over and sees both Hiccup and Toothless looking at him in confusion. "Don't worry, my queen, I'm just playing. I would never harm your sire; he's tough and cares deeply about his people. Something I admire about that." He explains as he takes off.
"Yeah, if only he showed that care to his son when I was younger." Hiccup grumbled under his breath.
"My Thor Master Hiccup, do my eyes deceive me, or is Stoick the Vast riding a dragon?" Johann gasps in awestruck shock, his eyes bulging out of their sockets at the sight.
"Yep, I told you Johann Berk has changed and continues to change for the better. Dragons are a part of our everyday lives." The auburn heir smiles as he climbs into the saddle.
The brown bearded trader looks down and sees Toothless staring at him, and once again, he feels the aura coming off the Night Fury. He was no fool, as Johann had heard the stories and legends of night furies and the power they possessed, and the aura this night fury gave off sent shivers down Johann's neck.
Toothless, for his part, didn't sense any ill will with the trader and didn't sense any evil intentions towards his submissive, but he was still leery of Trader Johann because he was still a newcomer to the dragon. "Shall we go to the Academy, ma cherie?" He asks, looking back at his human.
"After we get you some fish, I promised to get you some nice salmon that the fishermen brought in this morning." Hiccup reminds the black dragon before looking at Johann, "Well, thank you again for coming, Johann, and hopefully next time the guard won't ambush you."
"Yes, yes, that would be quite nice, and if I may, I seem to have gained a traveling companion." He points over to the terrible terror.
"She's an adolescent, so she can go with you if you like." Hiccup nods as he and Toothless lift off into the air, and Johann waves and begins to raise his anchor and set sail with his new friend.
Inner Village
Grumbly, Mildew sits behind a stand, piled high with various fish, ready to sell to both humans and dragons. Salmon, cod, haddock, and even herring were all on the menu. "Bak, I have to sell fish because the storage houses are too full of catches, and it's frustrating for me." He grumbles with his arms folded and a toothy scowl on his wrinkled face as Fungus bahh's right beside him.
Suddenly, Hiccup and Toothless land nearby, and the Alpha’s submissive approaches the grumpy elder. "I'll take a barrel of salmon and throw in a few cod, please." Hiccup orders.
"Oh, you will now, and let me guess it's for the 'Alpha,' isn't it?" Mildew mocks with narrowed eyes, leaning over the stand and invading the teen's personal space, but backs off when he sees the night fury curl around the boy.
Toothless snarls, baring his canines before he sees the sheep, and smirks, an idea coming to mind.
"Well, yes, and um, I, I'm the acting chief, so you b-bett-er listen to me." Hiccup stuttered while his eyes darted back and forth, attempting to appear tough but failing to puff out his chest.
Mildew was about to remark when suddenly Fungus let out a loud "bahhhh" and ran away in fear, just as the smoke cleared from a small plasma blast. "FUNGUS!" The elderly Viking screeches in panic before he whips around and glares at Toothless, only to receive one back before hobbling after his sheep.
While the mates are distracted and Mildew is away from the stand, a being appears within the shadows and whispers a spell upon the fish, causing them to glow blue before returning to normal. The being then disappears with a childlike giggle.
Hiccup chuckles and grabs a barrel full of fish, but struggles to get it moving. "Um, Toothless, can you help?" He asks Toothless for help while attempting to move the barrel again.
The Night Fury chuckles and knocks over the basket of fish with ease, using his head, then begins to eat. "Doesn't matter where I eat it," he comments through the bond as he grabs a mouthful of salmon.
"Good point." Stoick's little runt shrugs as he picks up a nearby stick and decides to draw some new ideas in the dirt while his dominant eats. He suddenly hears the flapping of wings and sees Barf and Belch flying overhead with a giant totem statue. 'I don't even want to know,' he thinks as he continues to draw absentmindedly.
Soon Toothless is done eating and nudges his head gently against Hiccup's arm and purrs. "That was delicious, thank you, my love."
"Anything for you, my dominant." The pleased submissive stands up, and he and Toothless walk to the Academy, where they see the others. Astrid is practicing her tricks for the Thawfest. Snotlout had once again been pinned to the cold wall for making a sexist joke to Astrid and Stormfly, causing Stormfly to shoot spines to pin him to the wall. Fishlegs is geeking out over how big Meatlug and Rocky's hatchlings are getting, and the twins are nowhere to be seen despite them flying in the direction of the Academy. "Okay, guys, let's do some training." "Hiccup, announced as he walked up to the front.
"Pfft, are we supposed to learn how to braid our hair?" Snotlout sneers with an eye roll, only to yelp in fright when a plasma blast hits near his head as he feels the tips of his hairline burn a little.
"Snotlout, can you please stop pissing Toothless off?" The Queen of Berk's dragons complains with his hands on his hips and an eye roll.
"Fine. "Oh, Great Dragon Master, what are we going to learn today?" The Jorgenson child rephrases.
"That's not any better." Toothless growls in anger, baring his teeth as his slitted eyes peer at Snotlout, causing the teen to feel like he's staring at Death itself.
"Alpha. Alpha!" Rocky Jr. and Gussy chirp with childlike innocence as they run over to the Night Fury and surround both him and Hiccup.
"Hi, guys." The Alpha’s mate coos sweetly at the big-eyed hatchlings with a warm smile as he bends down and scratches under the baby's chin, causing them to purr.
"Ooo, aren't they the cutest ever!" Fishlegs squeals with his fists over his mouth, and his eyes are huge as wheels on a wheelbarrow as he comes over and gushes over the babies.
"They're getting so big." Rocky coos with fatherly pride as he and Meatlug nuzzle.
Hiccup stands up and moves to the front of the arena. "And to answer your question, Snotlout, no, today I thought we could work on formations, and then maybe someone could learn how to use Toothless's tail fin in case you need to ride him."
Astrid pauses Stormfly's flight and hops down. "Why do we need to learn how to work Toothless's tail fin? It's not like he's going to let us ride on his back anyway." She gives the Night Fury a side glance.
The young Blacksmith smiled and said, "Actually, Toothless and I have been discussing this, and he agrees that it would be helpful for you all to learn how to operate his tail fin. This knowledge is important for situations when I might need rescuing, and can't reach me on his own, right, my love?" He glanced over at the Night Fury.
"Correct, ‘ku ulei’." The Alpha of Berk nods slowly, though his voice sounds a bit raspy, and he sniffles a little.
"Um, excuse me, but a little help would be appreciated." Snotlout hollered, still pinned to the wall.
"I say leave him. He's been waking me up before dawn to train for these "Thawfest" games. Hookfang grumbles as he closes his eyes and covers them with his tail fin.
Hiccup extends his hands and concentrates on the spikes and speaks a few spells. "Mann-broddr, slitna, réna." And the now freed Snotlout faceplants to the ground with an oof.
"I'm fearful for Astrid's safety with the tricks she's trying to pull off. I know Eargon, and I can stay perfectly still when need be, but to do those tricks in midair is a bit dangerous." Stormfly cawed as he felt Astrid leave his back.
Suddenly, Barf and Belch come flying into the arena with Tuffnut and Ruffnut on their necks, and the brothers are carrying the large totem statue that Hiccup saw earlier.
"Um, guys, what is that, and where or why did you get it?" Hiccup asked, pointing and eyeing the totem statue.
"We got it from Johann before he left the docks," Tuffnut explains as the zippleback lands and the male Thorston slides off the dragon's neck. The statue is placed right in the middle of the Academy.
"You got them just for the Academy?" Hiccup asked with narrow eyes, sounding skeptical.
"Yeah, and they're solid and fireproof." Ruffnut smiles with her hands on her hips.
The first dragon rider observes the statue's structure and admits he's impressed. "Wow! You know, it's about time you guys started taking some pride in this place." He tries to continue speaking, but Tuffnut suddenly yells, "DUCK!" and Hiccup is almost kissing the ground as the male twin pushes him to the ground.
"Barf. Belch." Ruffnut yells and points at the statue, and the Zippleback quickly fires off gas and sparks directly onto the brown statue. Once the smoke clears, the statue remains, completely unscathed.
"That was AWESOME! I want to take a shot! Fire!" Snotlout commands Hookfang to take a shot, but the flaming dragon accidentally shoots fire at his rider's buttocks instead. "AHH!" He yells as he runs around with wide eyes full of panic and terror to find water, but now needs it more as Gussy fires off a tiny blast of lava, and it hits Snotlout's already red butt.
"He didn't specify where to fire." The red and orange dragon laughs lightly.
Both Rocky and Meatlug, along with Stormfly, fire at the statue, but their efforts are futile.
"Go on, Alpha, show us how it's done." Belch encouraged, looking over at the Night Fury.
Toothless lowers to the ground and builds up a plasma blast, but suddenly, instead of aiming for the statue, he sneezes, and at the same time, he lets go of the explosion and nearly takes Snotlout's head.
AHH! Hey! "Could you ask your dragon to cover his mouth when he sneezes, or better yet, aim away from me? He nearly took my head off!" The Queen of the dragons' cousin accuses, pointing his finger angrily at Toothless.
"We can only get that lucky in Valhalla," Astrid whispers to Hiccup, but the auburn heir doesn't even acknowledge her, instead going over to his dominant.
"My love, are you alright?" He asks tentatively as he touches Toothless's head and notices that he feels warmer than usual. He leans his head down and listens to his mate's breathing and notices it's a little labored compared to normal.
"It's nothing, my submissive, just a little sniffle." The prideful Night Fury reassures his lover and then sneezes again, but thankfully, he presses Hiccup down with his paw before Hiccup can be hit by a plasma blast.
"Whoa, can dragons get sick? Can we get sick from them?" Tuffnut asks cautiously while putting space between himself and Belch, causing the right head to roll his eyes.
"I don't know; I would assume so. They're just like us mostly." Hiccup explains, cradling his mate's head to his chest.
"Only certain things can make us dragons sick." Hookfang added.
Hiccup nods at the information before Astrid pipes up, "Hiccup, we were going to help Mulch learn how to ride his dragon, remember?"
"Oh yeah," he says, looking down, thinking Toothless probably shouldn't fly if he has the sniffles. "Maybe you should go lie down, Toothless, and I'll come right home afterwards, I promise."
Toothless shakes his head. "I'm fine, Hiccup; it's just a few sneezes." He insists even as his eyes go cross-eyed and he sneezes once again.
"But Toothless, you look like you don't feel well. Please go lie down." Hiccup begs, hating that his dominant mate is sick.
"I'll watch over him, my Alpha, I promise." Stormfly is coming next to the Night Fury.
The sick night fury sneezes again, this time aiming it right at the statue and knocking it over.
"Bullseye!" Ruffnut cheered with both fists raised.
"Hmph, showoff." Snoulot pouts, crossing his arms over his chest and rolling his eyes.
"Very well, my love, I will rest for you. Please try not to get injured." Toothless relents as he lowers enough for Hiccup to climb onto his back.
"Thank you, 'neshama sheli'." Hiccup sighs in relief as the two head out of the arena, but notices that Stormfly, with Astrid on her back, follows.
"We'll follow so that you can hop onto Stormfly's back once you get Toothless situated," Astrid explains.
Hiccup solemnly nods at the realization that he will be riding another dragon in addition to Toothless. This thought deeply unsettles him, as the two dragons begin to fly slowly back to the Haddock residence. The Chief's son's eyes scan over the island, and he notices that the sky is unusually calm and also notices that no guard dragons are flying around.
As they fly over the grassy areas of the village, Astrid looks down and observes blue flowers that have sprouted up. "Hey, I never noticed those flowers here before. Have you, Hiccup?" She asks only to have to alter Stormfly's flight quickly as Toothless suddenly starts acting crazy mid-flight, and Hiccup struggles to control him while also trying to soothe the Night Fury.
"Toothless, my dominant, it's okay; please, let's just try to land." He pleads desperately with panicked breath as he tries to get some control of his mate's flight, but it's all for naught as Toothless bucks hard and sneezes plasma blasts left and right before he quickly loses consciousness and begins to plummet towards the ground. "TOOTHLESS!" Hiccup hollers in alarm, and before the spellcaster human can conjure a shield, the ground suddenly connects with the mates, and Hiccup's leg is dislodged from the holster. The teen is flung off his mate's back as Toothless's unconscious body bounces, kicking up dirt and grass before halting to a stop.
"Hiccup," Astrid calls out worriedly as she lands Stormfly, and both human and dragon rush over to check the acting Chief.
"Are you alright, Luna?" Stormfly asked as Astrid helped Hiccup up.
"I'm fine." The one-legged boy grunts as he pushes away from Astrid and hobbles over to his dominant. Once he gets to the dragon, he tries to wake the night fury, but all he receives are weak groans of pain or whimpers. "We need to get Gothi now!" He shouts desperately as a yellow, terrible terror suddenly flies over the teens. The only problem was that the terror's flight appeared erratic, resembling a drunken stagger, and it wheezed in pain before collapsing to the ground; however, Hiccup used a shield to prevent it from getting hurt. "Stormfly, can you carry Toothless?" Hiccup asked quickly, not taking his gaze off the downed terror.
"Of course, my Queen," The blue and yellow nadder assures her Queen as she goes about picking up the Night Fury in her talons, careful not to harm him as she takes him to the human healer. Hiccup immediately follows, with Astrid following behind.
The panicky submissive quickly rushes into his mentor's hut, panting heavily. "Gothi, Toothless needs your help."
The elder hears her student and slowly walks down, seeing Hiccup's frame completely shaken and his pupils dilating with worry. Knowing only one thing that could cause such a reaction in her apprentice, she writes in the dirt, telling the boy to take the night fury to his house, and she'll meet them there.
Hiccup shakily nods and motions for Stormfly to carry Toothless to the house. Once there, they see Gobber.
"Aye, Hiccup, just who I needed to talk to." He begins, but Hiccup stops him.
"No time, Gobber. Toothless needs help now." Hiccup's body is trembling like a flower in the dead of winter.
The one-armed Viking sees the unconscious dragon and nods, seeing that the situation is dire. He helps bring Toothless inside since Stormfly can't walk into the house, and Gobber, Hiccup, and Astrid lay him down. Then, Gobber proceeds to get a fire started in the center fireplace.
By this point, Toothless stirs, and his vision is blurry as he looks around, as everything hurts, and his body feels like he's being burned alive. He feels like he's going to throw up, and he can barely lift his head, as it feels like it weighs more than Stoick, Gobber, and Mulch all on his back. "Hiccup?" He coos weakly, barely a whisper, as he looks around for his special one.
Gothi goes about checking the night fury by examining his eyes, mouth, nose, and even ears, quickly realizing that Toothless is as hot as a fire pit. She points to Gobber and writes in the dirt that she needs cooling cloths.
The elder Blacksmith nods and goes about collecting any cloths he can find in the house as Gothi checks Toothless's maw while Hiccup whimpers and holds his mate's front paw in both of his hands. Gobber returns and quickly puts the wet cloths on the Night Fury's head, back, lower back, and tail.
Toothless's pupils, which are dilated, continue to scan their surroundings despite his eyelids appearing to be mostly shut. Still, he can't even catch a scent of Hiccup, and despite his illness, the thought of not knowing where his submissive is terrifies the Night Fury. "Mera pyaar." He tries again, a tiny bit louder; his entire body feels like it's on fire with weighted chains wrapped around every single inch of him, constricting him.
Gothi finishes her exam as Astrid places her hand on Hiccup's shoulder, right on the mating mark, only for the young healer to growl and pull his shoulder away, confusing the shield maiden. The elder healer writes her diagnosis in the dirt as Hiccup reads it.
"He's reacting to something new on the island."
Suddenly, Fishlegs came frantically running into the house; his pupils were huge with terror. "Hiccup, you have to see this!" He yells frantically as he drags the one-legged boy out the door, despite Hiccup's rising panic at being touched and being separated from his dominant. The teenagers and two adults run out to a grave site, where all the dragons are either collapsing to the ground or appearing weak and near Death. Meatlug and Rocky are staggering and sneezing, while their babies look exhausted and feverish. "I can't move; it hurts." The Gronkle parents complain as they collapse.
Hookfang can be seen flying erratically over the village, with Snotlout hanging on for dear life. The Nightmare crashes into rooftops and even destroys a fire tower before it falls from the sky, landing directly in the Chief's yard and throwing Snotlout off in the process and into a cart of apples.
Astrid looks over and sees Stormfly acting erratically, sneezing and shooting spikes everywhere. "This is insane. What on the island is causing them to react like this?" The shieldmaiden wonders as her sky blue eyes widen in horror, looking all around, and gasps when she sees Stormfly and Eragon's hatchlings reacting in the same manner.
"I don't know." Hiccup says as he looks at all his subjects, hearing their moans of pain and sickness, with the smell of illness and Death strongly lingering in the air.
"Maybe there's something in my bounty book or the book of dragons. I'll go look." Fishlegs announces his intention to search for information as he rushes off towards his house, having just looked at Meatlug and Rocky while whimpering.
Toothless wakes up more, but his vision is even blurrier, as his senses are still out of sorts due to illness. However, he can definitely tell Hiccup isn't around him anymore. "Hiccup? Hiccup?" He calls out as he tries to stand up on very shaky legs, but as soon as he takes a few tentative steps, he collapses and pants heavily. "Amore Mio." He whines, thinking his love is in danger. He suddenly feels familiar hands on his scales and hears the soothing voice of Hiccup.
"Toothless, what are you doing? You shouldn't be moving around." The freckled-faced teen scolds.
The sickly night fury purrs weakly, and his head practically collapses into Hiccup's lap. "I didn't know where you were. The last thing I remember was flying with Stormfly and Astrid and then waking up here. What happened?"
"You and the other dragons are currently reacting to something on the island, but don't worry, you're all going to be fine. We'll find out what's going on, and you and the other dragons will be okay." Hiccup smiles, but a lone tear falls from Hiccup's eye onto Toothless's snout.
Toothless feels his mate's sadness from the bond and looks up at his petite lover and weakly nuzzles his chest. "I believe in you, my love; I'm not going anywhere."
Later that Day, Hiccup tries his best to ease the pain of the many villagers who came to express their concerns about their dragons. He uses his healing abilities and works with Gohti to make a liquid antidote, but nothing works. As he observed each dragon, he noticed they all had the same symptoms as Toothless: labored breathing, lethargy, sneezing, coughing, and loss of appetite. As acting Chief, Hiccup told villagers to go and check on his dominant mate while he was working with Gothi, but while everyone was concerned about their own dragons, no one seemed too upset that the Night Fury was sick. Some even believed that Toothless was infected and made it spread to the other dragons. That angered Hiccup so much that he accidentally broke a bench in the Great Hall with a spell and decided to make himself some dinner at home. He slowly cooked the fish over the fire, but his attention was drawn to his mate, who was sleeping despite the raspy breathing and moans of pain. After ensuring the fish was done, he cut it into pieces and placed them on bread, taking two pieces at a time. He ate about three bites before deciding he wasn't very hungry, leaving the rest on the table. He then summons up his healing power and tries to heal his mate, or at the very least ease his suffering. "Az én dominánsom, are you awake?" He asks even as his green eyes begin to fill with tears.
The night fury coughs roughly and weakly opens his eyes, which are dull and filled with sleep and pain. "I am now. Are you alright, my love?" He purrs, lifting his head to nuzzle Hiccup's stomach.
The young healer bites his lip before he starts crying, his body trembling with his tears as his hands continue to glow blue. "No, I don't want you to die." He admits it as he cries harder and his tears fall to the floorboard.
Using as much strength as he can muster, Toothless sits up and brings his submissive to his chest. "I don't want to die either, my Hiccup. It scares me too, but we have to believe there's hope."
The glow fades as Hiccup clings to his mate's chest and sobs even louder, despite the dragon's abnormal body temperature. The two eventually fall asleep together, although Hiccup is unaware that his nose has begun to run and he's more worn out than ever.
Throughout the village, Berkians are trying to help their winged friends; even Melody and Sif bathe Olgy in an attempt to soothe the terror, but it does little to no good. Even Sid offers to help a little by delivering liquid medicine, surprising some Vikings.
The next morning, Hiccup's eyes barely open, only to close again as a groan leaves his lips. His body feels like he's been trampled by Dogsbreath and a pack of wild nadders. "Ugh!" He groans, his voice sounding a bit hoarse, and he has dark circles under his eyelids. He shakily stands up and attempts to walk to the kitchen, but his head spins, forcing him to brace himself against the chair; he realizes that simply standing leaves him a bit short of breath."Toothless." He calls out weakly as he looks at his dominant and sees the night fury still asleep, and his breathing sounds worse than yesterday. As it now sounds wet and shuddering. He also noticed some vomit on the floor and scorch marks on the wall.
Suddenly, the front door opens up, and Gobber walks in, only to see his godson looking like he just wrangled a pack of horses. He takes in the dark circles under Hiccup's drooping eyes and his stuffed-up nose, looking like a slight breeze could easily knock him over. "Odin's ghost, Hiccup, what's wrong with you?"
"Probably just seasonal allergies." The sniffling teen shrugs as he moves over and hugs his mate's head as he notices the night fury has fallen asleep once again. "Toothless." He whispers through the bond as he covers a sneeze.
Toothless doesn't immediately respond, and Hiccup becomes worried, trying again, a little louder. After a few minutes of trying, Toothless finally comes around. "Taku Kairangi, what is wrong?" He asks, sounding very weak.
Gobber comes over and feels his godson's head, noticing that Hiccup has the beginning stage of a fever. "Aye, lad, I think this is more than allergies."
Toothless would usually perk his ears up hearing that his lover was sick, but he can barely keep his eyes open as sleep calls to him. "You're sick, my love?" He asks as he looks up at his submissive.
"Just allergies and a headache." Hiccup nods but groans a little as the action makes his headache worsen.
Gobber gently takes Hiccup by the shoulder and begins to lead him to the door, but Toothless whines and tries to follow, but his body is too sick to move, and Hiccup tries to reach back and go back to his dominant mate. Gobber stops and turns back to the distressed Night Fury. "I'll take good care of him, I promise." As he leads his godson out the door and gently shuts it, enveloping the sick dragon in darkness.
The weak and sick Night Fury continues to whine and whimper, his instincts driving him to follow his troubled submissive, but his body won't listen even as Gobber takes an equally distressed Hiccup out the door. "Hiccup. Hiccup." Toothless roars weakly until the desire for sleep becomes too much and the night fury succumbs to it. "Hiccup." He whimpers, "Don't die, my love." He adds as his eyes close and he enters the world of nightmares, as he fears for his submissive.
Hiccup feels a sense of déjà vu from when he was six and his dad wanted his memories sealed away. He's dragged away from Toothless, frantically trying to break free from his official uncle's grasp. However, his current condition only makes him more tired as a cough escapes from his mouth.
"Hiccup, I understand you don't want to separate from Toothless, but we need to get you checked out by Gothi, and she can't carry her medical potions to your house." Gobber points out that even as Berk's heir weakly tries to get back to his house, he is thwarted.
"Hiccup, there you are. Whoa, you look horrible." Fishlegs gasps, seeing his friend.
"I've felt better, but what did you need?" Hiccup wheezed out.
"Remember, Gothi said that something new to the island was making the dragons ill. Well, Trader Johann was just here, and a lot of Vikings got a lot of new things."
"Okay, and?" Hiccup shrugs, not really in the right frame of mind to deal with a geeking Fishlegs and wanting to get back to his lover.
"Well, the other riders and I have been working all night, and we dug a large pit where we're going to have the villagers throw their new belongings in and then burn them like a sacrifice to the gods to heal our dragons," The gronkle rider explains.
"Eh, Fishlegs, you’d probably have a better chance of getting the twins to do chores than having stubborn Vikings throw their valuables in a hole." Gobber countered.
"But it might work. Show me where you dug this hole." Hiccup piped up.
"Nope. The only place you're going is to Gothi and then bed." The peg-legged Blacksmith warned.
"Actually, Gobber, Gothi is out. Apparently, Silent Sven burnt himself when he was trying to boil water to give to Ying and Yang to help them get better." Fishlegs points out.
Gobber rolls his eyes as he follows Hiccup and Fishlegs to Thor's beach, where they see Astrid, Snotlout, and the twins.
"Oh, Belch. Oh, Belch, why!" Tuffnut wails on his knees as he holds Belch's head in his hands.
"Oh no." Hiccup whispers as his eyes widen in horror. "Tuffnut is Belch." He couldn't finish the thought.
"Oh no, he's not dead, but neither one of them has moved since this morning."
"We are barely able to move our tails, Luna." Barf coos weakly.
"Okay, but can we please hurry? Hookfang was up all night puking. Did you know it's not easy to get dragon vomit off the walls of your house? Besides, my dad and I were going to destroy those blue flowers around the island." Snotlout mentions there's a slight undertone of worry in his voice, though.
"Wait. Did you say "blue flower"? Fishlegs asks quickly.
"Um, duh, of course I did. My dad says Berk is the home of some of the bravest warriors and doesn't need a bunch of girlie blue flowers making it look like a garden, especially before Thawfest."
Fishlegs quickly brings out the book he received from Johann and turns the pages until he is in the middle. "Oh no, no, those flowers are blue oleanders. Deadly poisonous to reptiles."
"Which means that in order to get the dragons back to normal, we have to destroy all the flowers." Hiccup wheezes as he sways on his feet.
"Hiccup, maybe we should handle this. You look like you're about to collapse." Astrid encourages.
"No, I'm the queen of dragons, and Toothless is my mate. I need to help." The stubborn heir grunts even as his vision goes blurry for a few seconds. "Ruff, Tuff, as acting Chief, I give you permission to cause some destruction to anywhere you see blue flowers."
"YAY!" Both twins holler with excitement, their eyes wide as they rush off to begin their plans, setting fires to any lawn or landscape that features a blue flower.
Meanwhile, Hiccup checks the hatchery and notices that Seraphina and even the babies have been affected. "Oh gods, no, please don't let any of these babies die." He looks all around and sees dragon parents lying lifeless either in their nests or outside of the dens, the smell of sickness and Death's strong in the air. Deciding he can't take any more, he walks out of the hatchery only to run into Dogsbreath.
"Oh, what's wrong, runt? Are you a night fury all sicky poo?" Dogsbreath mocks.
"I don't have time to deal with you, Dogsbreath. Now move." Hiccup weakly tries to push the bully away, but instead, Dogsbreath lets him pass, only to trip Hiccup up as he walks by, causing the teen to kiss the ground.
"Ha, so much for the 'Queen of Dragons.' The blonde-haired young man leans down, picks him up by the collar of his tunic, and touches the scaled necklace. "And once your night fury is dead, I will show you your true place here on Berk." Dogsbreath then drops Hiccup onto the ground and leaves.
The downed heir struggles to get up as his body feels like it weighs thousands of pounds, and the nausea that is slowly building inside his stomach isn't helping.
"Hiccup." Toothless's voice echoes through the bond, though it sounds very frail.
"My Alpha." Hiccup replies, sounding very raspy as he gathers the strength to make it to his feet and begins to walk towards his house, only to be stopped by a wailing Melody.
"Ugly! Please, cousin Hiccup, don't let Ogly die!" The seven-year-old girl wailed with big, fat tears running down her small, round face as she clung to her unconscious, terrible terror.
Hiccup blinked slowly as his vision became more blurry, and his cheeks were now a beet red, indicating that his sickness was worsening. "Toothless." He calls out both with his mouth and the bond before collapsing onto the ground, falling unconscious.
"COUSIN HICCUP!" Melody hollered with a high pitch as she knelt and tried frantically to wake her older cousin.
"Here, let's get him to Gohti. You go get Gobber." Sid orders as he gently picks Hiccup up and carries him bridal style to Gothi's hut.
Melody sniffles before rushing off to find Gobber.
Sid kicks the door in and hollers for Gothi, drawing the attention of other villagers who come to see what's going on. Gothi, who had just come back from Sven's gap, ushers the young man deeper into her hut and motions for him to lay Hiccup down on the bed. She quickly gets to work and shoos Sid out.
Realizing he's not needed, Sid nods and backs out of the hut only to run into Gobber. "What happened? What did you do?" He demanded as he grabbed the young man with his hook and glared hard at Sid.
"Nothing, sir, I swear I found him passed out on the ground, honestly." The young youth stuttered with a quavering voice, his blue eyes trembling with fear.
Just then, the other riders arrive, but the twins are covered in soot and a few burns from setting fire to all the blue orlanders around the island. "Melody came up to me crying that Hiccup had passed out," Snoutlout says, sounding a bit uneasy.
At that moment, Gothi comes out and writes in the dirt that Hiccup has a fever and is extremely pale, exhibiting the same symptoms as the dragons.
"How is that even possible? Flowers can't make people sick, unless you're allergic." Astrid points out.
"Which Hiccup isn't; the only thing he's allergic to is watermelon," Gobber explains.
"Well, maybe if we keep destroying the flowers, the dragons will be healed and Hiccup will be too." Fishlegs declared.
"Alright, we got plenty of zippleback gas-filled mini bombs." Tuffnut grins as he and his sister run off to continue their work.
The other riders follow only to see other Vikings pitching in and destroying the flowers as well. "They're helping destroy the blue orlanders." Astrid gasps, seeing her parents taking their axes and cutting the wretched flowers to pieces, and her grandfather using his walking sticks as matches to set the crumpled-up flowers ablaze.
Snotlout sees his brother using their family sword to dig deep into the ground and uproot the flowers that sprouted in their yard. "Odis." He gasps in a wondering demeanor.
Fishlegs looks back and sees his mother pouring steaming hot water over the flowers in front of their house, which makes the boy smile as he sees his family helping out.
Eventually, all the flowers are destroyed, especially those surrounding Mildew's house and Dogsbreath, despite their protests of vandalism and trespassing. As nightfall falls on Berk, the dragons begin to stir and regain some life.
"Hookfang!" Snotlout hollers in an animated tone as he rushes over to his now awake dragon, and the Nightmare purrs as the other riders follow his example.
"Guys, the Alpha? Is he awake?" Eragon coos weakly, remembering that Toothless was the first one sick, as all the dragons look towards the Chief's house and begin to make their way towards it.
"Um, where are they going?" Sid wonders.
"Toothless, they're going to check on their Alpha," Fishlegs announces with awestruck wonder at the dragon's dedication.
All of the riders rush to the Haddock residence and open the door, but instead of seeing Toothless actively searching for his mate, they see him still lying lifeless near the firepit. "Um, why is Toothless not waking up?" Ruffnut wonders.
"Hiccup!" Stoick's voice booms just outside the door as he walks in and sees all the riders in his house and a lifeless Toothless lying on the ground. "What in Thor's name is going on? There are puffs of smoke all around the village, the dragons look like they just woke up from a thousand-year slumber, and what is wrong with Toothless, and where is my son?"
Everyone looks at one another before pushing Fishlegs to the front, and he cowers before the Chief as his eyes dart towards the floorboard. "Um, well, sir, there were these flowers planted all over Berk, and they were deadly poisonous to dragons. We went all over and destroyed them all, and all the dragons are slowly recovering."
"So why isn't Toothless awake, and again, where is Hiccup?" The bulky Chief presses again, becoming aggravated by the lack of answers.
"Hiccup is at Gothi's. He's apparently showing the same symptoms as the dragons for some reason. As for why Toothless isn't waking up, we don't know why, sir." Fishlegs says.
Stoick doesn't waste any time and rushes out the door and barges into Gothi's hut, where he sees Gobber watching over Hiccup. "My son." He whimpers with deep uneasiness as he removes his helmet.
Gobber looks at his friend with sadness glistening in his eyes. "He's only woken up a few times, each time asking for Toothless before passing out again."
At that moment, Gothi comes down and sees the Chief. She looks at Hiccup and begins to write down something in the dirt.
"She says that there's a bond between Hiccup and his dominant mate. The mark on Hiccup's shoulder created it. As told to me by the dragon gods, when something happens to the dominant mate, such as a sickness, the same will happen to the submissive. Since Toothless is sick, it has been transferred to Hiccup as well."
"But we destroyed all the flowers, so shouldn't Toothless be waking up and getting better?" Astrid wonders.
"Wait! In my book, it said that blue oleanders can be eaten, so maybe that's why Toothless isn't getting better, because the ones on the outside aren't making him sick, but the one inside him is." Fishlegs declared.
"But Toothless wouldn’t eat flowers, would he?" Astrid asked.
"It must have been hidden in something he ate, but who would've given him the food?" The plump gronkle rider wonders as he thinks of quite a few Berkians who don't want the Night Fury to live.
"So is there a cure?" Stoick asks, his green eyes brimming with hope.
"There is, but I don't know how we'll get it. It's scaldruen venom." Fishlegs points out as all the riders grimace.
Stoick looks at Hiccup and gently picks up his son, carrying him to his brother's house. "Snotlout, I need you to stay and look after Hiccup. Spit-out, Hiccup is staying here while I'm gone."
"Aye, Stoick, where are you going?" Spit out wonders.
"To find a scaldren." The Chief gruffs as he climbs onto Thornado's back, who had just come back from checking on his own mate.
At that moment, all the riders' dragons appear, ready to go.
"You guys should be resting." Fishlegs scolds as he pets Meatlug and Rocky.
"Does he really think we're just going to sit around and not help the Alpha and Queen?" Belch comments.
"Apparently they do." Hookfang deadpans.
All the dragons, minus Hookfang, grab their riders and fling them onto their backs and take off towards the sea. Hookfang goes around and does a headcount of all of the dragons, but once he makes his way to the hatchery, he's met with shocking news.
The riders fly over open waters, Stoick leading the way, with buckets tied to their saddles and one goal in mind: to find a scaldren and extract its venom.
"A scaldren prefers deeper waters and eats fish and the dragon known as a seashocker," Fishlegs explains.
"Well, I don't think there's any seashockers in Berk's waters." Stoick answers.
"I smell something big ahead of us." Stormfly squawks as she moves faster, and the other dragons catch the scent and do the same.
"They must have caught a scaldren scent." Fishlegs gasps as Rocky tries harder to fly faster.
"Well then, go introduce ourselves." Stoick ¹declares as he leads the group out further.
Berk
Toothless lies on the stone slab that is on the lower level of the house. The only sound in the home is the night fury's labored, sickly breathing. "Hiccup. Hiccup." The midnight colored dragon calls out weakly, barely a whisper through the bond, feeling the sickness and worry from his submissive, and the bond pulls him to his lover.
The now revived dragons stand anxiously outside the Alpha's human den as the terrible terrors fly in through Hiccup's window and fly around the house, gathering towels, wetting them, and laying them on their Alpha. In contrast, a pair of terrors use a towel to try to coax Toothless to drink, but all the night fury does is moan in pain.
"Hiccup." He moans.
At Snotlout's house, Helen makes a bowl of mashed potato soup and places it on a flat shield. "Snoulot, take this into Hiccup and get him to eat a little bit."
Snotlout groans from where he was polishing his helmet. "He doesn't want to eat. I can't make him, and you know how stubborn he is."
Helen goes up to her younger son and pulls him by the ear, ignoring his protests until she drags him all the way into the little den they have nearest the door, but they see no Hiccup, who was originally in the bed, tossing and turning. "Where did he go? He's in no condition to be up and about." Helen panicked.
The Chief's nephew looks out the window and sees something in the distance. He then walks out the door and sees Hiccup crawling on his hands and knees towards his house. "Um, Hiccup, you do know that you're fifteen, right?"
"Toothless." The crawling teen grunts as he drags his body on the ground, determined to get to his dominant mate.
"Come on, Hiccup, this is ridiculous even for someone like you. Let's get you back into bed and wait for the others." Snotlout tries to pick Hiccup up and carry him bridal style, but Hiccup wants none of that as he flops himself out of Snotlout's embrace and lands on the dirt and begins to once again crawl back to his house. The obnoxious Jorgenson groans loudly and picks his sickly cousin up once again, and proceeds to carry him back to the Jorgenson house.
"Toothless. minn ríkjandi." Hiccup moans weakly, looking back at his house, where Toothless is all alone. His dominant mate lay sick and was calling out for him. His Alpha, who was close to Death's door, said, "I need my dominant, my Alpha." He pleads.
Snotlout looks down and sees his cousin's tear-stained face, which stands out against his chalk-white face, caked with sweat and tears. The younger Jorgenson grits his teeth and then changes direction, heading to Hiccup's house. He opens the door and takes the crying heir in to lay him near Toothless's form.
Hiccup lifts his head weakly and feels familiar scales under his hand. "Toothless?" He questions through the bond as he leans into his mate's paws, which, to Snotlout's surprise, Toothless moves so that Hiccup is lying in his embrace.
"Don't leave me, my Hiccup." The rare dragon wheezes; his usual strong, authoritative tone is now a shell of its former self and has been reduced to a wisp of a wheeze.
"Never my Alpha. I'd rather go with you than live in a world where you don't exist." Hiccup replies almost as weakly as he closes his eyes and sleeps.
Helen comes running in, panting a little. "Oh, you found him, come on, let's take him back to our house."
Snotlout shakes his head. "If it's okay, Mom, can Hiccup stay here? I'll watch over him."
At that moment, Spitlout comes into the house and scoffs, "Bawk, just grab the boy and take him back to our house, the beast can stay here."
Helen looks down at Hiccup and sees that, despite his weakened state, he clings to the Night Fury like a lifeline. "No, Snotlout, you stay here and watch Hiccup." She glares at her husband, "And as for you, either you get your ass back to the house now or you will be sleeping with the animals in the barn until the freeze thaws over." She threatens.
Spitlout gaps before he scowls, and instead of arguing with his wife, he grumbles and leaves his brother's house.
"You holler if anything happens." Helen winks to her son before she leaves, leaving her youngest son alone with both Hiccup and Toothless.
The nightmare rider turns to his cousin, "You breathe a word of this to anyone and I…" He doesn't finish his sentence as he feels hot breath on his back and turns to see Hookfang's head outside the door. "What, I have a reputation to protect."
Stoick and the other riders fly to deeper waters, scanning the vast ocean for any sign of a scaldren. "Do you guys smell anything?" Stormfly squawked at her friends.
"Maybe they're sleeping?" Barf coos back.
"I don't see anything. Fishlegs, are you sure these beasts dwell in deeper waters?" The Chief of Berk hollers back.
"It's in the Book of Dragons." Fishlegs mentions weakly.
Suddenly, Meatlug growls as do the other dragons before firing off blasts of both fire and wind.
"Whoa, easy boy, there's nothing there." Stoick pats Thornado's head, thinking that his dragon got spooked.
Suddenly, a turquoise dragon with a neck as long as a giraffe's pops out of the water and roars at the group.
"Quick, everyone aim for its eyes but keep it alive." Stoick orders as he slaps his hand on Thornado's head, telling the dragon to attack, which he does.
The scaldren dodges the attack by ducking underwater, then springs back up, spraying water directly at Stoick and Thornado, but the two manage to dodge it just barely.
"That mist is what we need for the cure," Astrid announced as she too dodged a boiling spray from the water dragon.
"But Scaldren's are almost impossible to capture," Stormfly tells her team of dragons.
"You come into my home. You attack me and my pod." The Scaldren roars angrily as he fires off another spray, almost hitting Belch's neck.
"Oh no, you did not just shoot at Belch?" Tuffnut growls as he clenches his fist before raising the mace he stole from Johann's ship and leads a charge towards the Scaldren, only for Ruffnut to pull out at the last Second and barely manage to get blasted herself.
"Hey, don't drag me into your revenge battle." She gripes as the two begin to bicker before both Barf and Belch collide with them to make them quiet.
"Focus!" Stoick commands as Thornado fires off another wind blast, which hits Scaldren's head from behind.
"You dare attack me from behind Thunderdrum." The Scaldren growls with slitted eyes as he spits burning water, and it catches Thornado's tail tip, causing the oval-shaped dragon to roar in agony.
"We're just here to get some venom for our friends." Astrid hollers as Stormfly barrels roll, causing Astrid to hold onto the saddle until the nadder rights herself out after the blast subsides.
"You, a human, dare speak to me. You steal all of the fish I need for food, and you dare come ask me for help?" The Scaldren growls, baring his huge teeth.
"We came because our Alpha and Queen need the cure for the blue orlendars." Barf growls.
"Blue Orlanders? That's one of my choices in foods, but all dragons know how deadly they can be. So clearly, you're 'Alpha isn't so tough after all." The Scaldren taunts.
All the dragons growl at the insult as their riders look on in confusion. "Um, what do you think they're saying?" Tuffnut asked his sister.
"No idea. Hiccup is our go-between human and dragon." Ruffnut counters.
"Tell me what your Alpha's name is?" The water spitting dragon taunted once more before it swallowed enough water to take out all of the riders.
"His name is Alpha Toothless, but his birth name was Hakken." Stormfly addresses.
Suddenly, the Scaldren's eyes widened in shock as he released the water back into the sea. "So he became an Alpha." The sea dragon said to himself.
"Wait? How do you know him?" Belch asked.
"Vikings killed my parents, and I became an orphan. I swam up to the island where the massive Red Death lived, and I came across a hatchling Night Fury. He saw how terrified I was, and he offered me something to eat. After a few days, the Red Death found me and wanted me to join her nest, despite me being only a few years old." Hakken distracted the guards, allowing me to escape the dragon-infested nest. Ever since then, I've been looking for that night fury."
The humans wonder what the dragons are speaking about as their dragons continue to warble and coo with the water dragon.
"He's our Alpha on Berk. He defeated the Red Death along with our Queen, who is also the Alpha’s mate." Rocky continues.
"And you said that he ingested a blue oleander?" Scaldren asked as the dragons nodded. "Very well then. This way I can repay my debt, and also because he was a good individual and he gave me a second chance, so it's only fitting I do the same."
Berk Early Morning
The Sun is still a few hours away from rising, but Snotlout has been awake all night, keeping Hiccup and Toothless comfortable in what could be their final hours. "Come on, Hiccup, just take a bite."
Hiccup doesn't even respond, or does Toothless, as the illness is attacking all their organs and causing massive amounts of damage.
"Come on, Hiccup, you can’t go out like this. Think about Melody and Sif, or Aunt Ame, or my mom. Consider your dad; we’ve both heard how difficult it was for him when Aunt Valka was taken. He can’t lose you, too," Snotlout pleaded.
The thin human's eyes barely crack open as he looks at his still dominant. "Toothless." He whispers before passing out again.
The black haired Jorgenson checks his cousin's pulse and sighs in relief that there's a pulse, even if it's faint.
Suddenly, Stoick comes in with Gothi on his heels and Gobber bringing up the rear. "Here, Gothi made this along with the other ingredients; it's the antidote." He announces as he opens Toothless's maw and gives the medicine to the dragon. Nothing happens after five minutes, and Stoick gets impatient, "Why isn't it working?" He fumes.
Gothi writes in the dirt, "It takes a bit for the medicine to work, Chief," much to the Chief's frustration.
"So does this mean that you found a Scadlren?" Hookfang asks his fellow guard dragons.
"We did. He wasn't going to help us at first and tried to kill us, but when we mentioned the Alpha's birth name, he quickly changed and agreed to help. Something about the Alpha helped him in the past." Rocky warbled.
"Unfortunately, I have some bad news. "Hookfang hangs his head when suddenly roars of agony could be heard from the hatchery as all of the humans wondered what was going on.
A few days later
Hiccup feels something licking his mating mark, and he moans a little. "It's time to wake up my love." He hears Toothless' voice, no longer raspy or weak. He wakes up and smiles, "Toothless." He whispers as he pulls his mate's head in for a kiss.
Toothless eagerly returns the kiss. The fear of losing his mate that had lingered over them for the past few days has vanished. Eventually, he breaks the kiss and comments, "You look and smell much healthier, Hiccup."
"I was so scared that you were going to die." The Alpha’s submissive whimpers as he hugs his mate's head once again.
The Alpha of Berk nods, "I know I thought the same about you, but our guard came through and saved us. And their riders saved them in return." Both mates stay like this, simply basking in the love they both have for one another and the relief that they're both still alive.
Early evening
The Sun was beginning to set over Berk, but almost all of its inhabitants were at the beach with the dragons. At the front of the large crowd was Hiccup, dressed in his funeral attire which consisted of a black robe with a flower crown of roses on his head, as about twenty dragons stepped forward and stood behind him as he stood in front of small boats containing the ashes of the fallen hatchlings and dragons the Blue orlanders claimed. Toothless stood next to his mate with the auto tail on.
The dressed-up dragon rider kneeled on the sand and with eyes closed he began his prayer, "May your flames be our guides. May your spirits now be free from your earthly vessels as you enter the realms of peace and favor. May your wings beat strong so that when we feel the wind, we know that it's from you. Forever we will remember you, and forever we will be our strength." He concluded as the humans lowered their heads in silence.
Some cried in grief as Stoick ordered all the humans to remove their helmets, which they did without a word of complaint.
Both humans and dragons pushed the small boats out to sea, as Toothless had the dragons fly out and fire off small blasts to create small fires on top of the ships.
No words were spoken except for Hiccup's continuing prayer for safe travels of the souls as the bond between human and dragons became stronger.