Chapter Text
Hiccup was jerked out of his dream by the sudden crashing outside. He sat up abruptly, glancing around for the source of the sound. “What what what!?” he shouted, half expecting to see Snotlout or the twins booby trapping his hut.
Astrid’s Nadder suddenly came barreling into his hut, prancing around impatiently.
“Stormfly?” Hiccup asked, wondering why the Nadder was so upset.
Stormfly quickly turned around and ran back out the door, squawking incessantly. Hiccup immediately realized something was wrong, and jumped on Toothless, urging him after Stormfly. The two chased her around the Edge as she raced toward her rider’s hut. They landed on the deck, Hiccup jumping off his dragon and rushing into the building.
His eyes widened in horror at the sight of Astrid hunched weakly on the side of her bed, her head propped up by her palm. “Astrid,” he whispered, now understanding why Stormfly had come to get him.
Astrid looked up slowly, her eyes tired. “Hiccup? What are you doing here?” she asked.
“Uh, Stormfly seemed a little worried, so I, uh…” he approached her quickly after giving her dragon a quick pat.
Astrid lapsed into a coughing fit, and Hiccup noticed a strange scratch mark on her arm. She quickly covered it up, as if she didn’t want him to see it.
The pieces immediately fit together in Hiccup’s mind. Astrid must not have gotten off that fishing ship fast enough. She said there was one survivor. And one survivor was all it took.
“Astrid,” he began, kneeling down beside her and rubbing her back to ease her coughing, “Exactly what happened on that ship?”
Astrid glanced over at him, dark circles under her eyes. “Stormfly and I, we landed on the deck to get a closer look. We heard a noise from below. So we went to look. On my way out, one of them grabbed me. His nails got my arm. I ran away but I-” She was cut off by another coughing fit.
Hiccup sat helplessly, watching her gasp. He gently pulled her into a hug, using his body as a shock absorber. She finally caught her breath and leaned into him, taking in a slow breath to steady herself.
“I washed it as soon as I got home,” she went on softly. “I tried to make sure I got it clean because I didn’t want-”
Coughing gripped her again, and she tried to pull away from him. He refused to let her go, placing a hand on her back and started to rub her again. It only took a few minutes for him to realize how hot her body was. He felt her forehead, sighing heavily.
“You’re feverish,” he muttered.
“I’m fine,” she insisted, forcefully pulling out of his arms and walking across the room. “It’s just a cold. I’ll be bright eyed and bushy-tailed by morning.” She offered a half-hearted smile, one that told him he was supposed to leave. Hiccup didn’t move. “Go back to bed,” she urged. “I’m fine. Don’t worry.” She barely got the words out before coughing overtook her again. She leaned against the wall for support. “Go,” she gasped.
“Alright, I’ll go,” he agreed finally, shaking his head. “But at least let me help you back to bed first.”
Astrid was coughing too hard to object, and Hiccup quickly crossed the room and scooped her up easily. He set her gently down on her bed, grabbed a blanket off the back of her chair, and wrapped it around her. Lying down seemed to help her cough, and she was finally able to catch a breath.
“Send Stormfly if you need me,” he told her, gently squeezing her shoulder. She gave a weak smile, and nodded, her eyes telling him to just leave already. He returned the smile, and began to walk out. Astrid began to cough again as he left, but he shut the door and climbed on Toothless anyway. His dragon gazed back at the hut and warbled, glancing back at Hiccup.
“I know bud,” he sighed. “She doesn’t want me there. I have to respect that even if she really does need-” He stopped short; Astrid’s horrible, harsh, racking cough was louder now. She sounded like she was trying to cough up a lung.
Toothless warbled again, his ears lifting to hear her more clearly. Her cough was so labored it sounded painful. Hiccup clenched his jaw and hopped off his dragon. He opened the door just enough to see her.
The coughing had Astrid nearly double, and she was very obviously in pain. One hand was over her mouth, the other around her stomach. She drew in a few slow, raspy, halted breaths as she slowly removed her hand from her mouth. She stared at it for a moment, horror written across her face.
The cough returned, this time harsher, but her eyes never left her hand. She let out a small, anguished cry of pain between gasps, falling back on her bed, exhausted.
Hiccup swallowed and pursed his lips. Why didn’t she send Stormfly to get him? Astrid needed help. Her coughing ebbed the tiniest amount. Her dragon nuzzled her anxiously.
“Hiccup…” she whispered, so quietly even Stormfly might have had trouble hearing her. Hiccup stepped back into her hut, before the dragon even had a chance to get him.
In the midst of a painful fit, she noticed him standing just inside the door. Relief flooded her eyes. He sat down on the floor beside her bed, waiting for the coughing to subside. The harsh spasm finally slowed, and she closed her eyes, thankful for the brief moments of stillness. “You came back,” she whispered hoarsely, a weak but glad smile flashing across her face.
“Yeah,” he replied. “Toothless wouldn’t let me leave.”
She gave another weak smile and covered her hand, which was now balled into a fist, with the blanket. Hiccup immediately noticed what she had done, and knew that she was keeping something important from him. A plan formed in his mind.
He felt her forehead again. “Stick your tongue out.” She raised an eyebrow, but obeyed. He pretended to examine it, then reached for her hand under the blanket.
“What are you doing?” she demanded quietly, pulling her hand further under the covers.
“Taking your pulse,” he replied smoothly, reaching for it again. She reluctantly let him take it, but kept her fist clenched tightly. “Relax your hand,” he chided with a chuckle. She nervously relaxed her hand, but still kept it in a closed fist.
Hiccup chuckled again, sliding his fingers across the bottom of her wrist to open her fingers. He was able to feel something warm and sticky before she jerked her hand away. He glanced at his fingers, realizing they were stained red. His throat tightened.
“Astrid, where did this come from?” he asked her, showing her the blood on his fingers.
“I…I don’t know,” she whispered back, her eyes darting around to avoid his.
“Yes, you do.” He tilted her chin up to look at him. He knew eye contact always made Astrid break. She hated lying to him.
“I…coughed it up,” she finally told him, glancing away again. “I’m fine, though. It’s probably just-”
“Astrid, you are not fine!” Hiccup nearly shouted. “Coughing up blood is not ‘fine!’ You need to see a healer.”
Astrid sighed, then gave a solitary cough. “Hiccup, remember when Snotlout accidently hit me with that board yesterday? I got a nose bleed. Some of it must have gotten into my stomach. I’m fine.” The last few words were said with such determination that it sent her into another fit.
Her eyes slowly closed as the paroxysm ended. Hiccup placed a hand on her shoulder, and her eyes flickered back open. “Astrid, please. You and I both know something is wrong. Let me help you.”
Astrid gave in, opening her hand so he could see. He was somewhat relieved to find it was very little blood, but on the other hand, it was still blood. If this was the Scourge of Odin, he needed to get it cleaned up before anyone else could get infected. Particularly him, since he had her blood on his fingers.
He filled a bucket with water and told Toothless to warm it while he got a cloth. Soon he had thoroughly cleaned his own hand and was gently working Astrid’s, trying not to let the ever lightening paleness of her skin worry him. A shiver started to work throughout her, and it wasn’t long before she was complaining of chills.
Stormfly squawked softly, nudging her rider with concern. “I’m fine, girl. I promise.” Astrid smiled and gave her dragon a quick pat. Hiccup smiled as well, but a cold, ruthless hand of fear seized his stomach as he saw how weak and shaky her hand was. An ugly green color had already started to take over the tips of her fingers.
He glanced out the door, glad to see that the sky was grey and getting lighter. The minute the sun was up, he was getting Fishlegs. An idea suddenly hit him.
“I’ll be right back,” he promised Astrid and raced to Snotlout’s hut.
Snotlout was snoring away, and Hookfang with him. Hiccup pulled his covers back and frantically shook him awake. “Snotlout! Wake up!”
“Go ‘way…” Snotlout half snored.
“No, get up. I need your help. Wake up!”
Snotlout finally sat up, rubbing his eyes. “Okay! Okay! I’m up. What do you want?”
“I need you to go back to Berk and-”
“Berk?!”
“Yes, Berk. I need you to get Gothi’s notes on the Scourge of Odin.”
“Why?”
“Just…because. We might need them at some point.”
“Why?”
Hiccup groaned. It was easy to see that Snotlout wasn’t going anywhere until he knew the truth. “Okay, I’ll tell you. But you have to keep quiet about this.”
“Okay, okay. Just tell me.”
“Astrid’s sick-”
“What?! Is it the Scourge?”
“I- I don’t know. I can’t tell yet, but I don’t think it is. I just want you to get the notes in case it is- which it most likely isn’t.”
Snotlout jumped on his dragon and flew toward Berk, shouting something along the lines of “I’ll be back soon.”
Hiccup spotted Fishlegs and Meatlug coming out of their hut sleepily. He called to his friend, running over.
“Fishlegs, I need you to look at Astrid,” he said breathlessly.
“Why?” Fishlegs asked, stifling a yawn.
“She’s got some kind of flu I think. I just want you to make sure she’s okay.”
“Flu?”
“Yeah. Coughing, fever; a flu.” He decided not to mention the blood she’d coughed up. Fishlegs hated blood, especially when it was coming from some place other than an external wound.
Fishlegs gave him a strange look, followed him to Astrid’s hut anyway.
Hiccup breathed a sigh of relief. This was going to work out fine. Astrid would be normal in a day or two, and they could forget this ever happened.
Or at least he hoped so.