Night Fury's Venom

Part 47: Understanding

Yesterday was the last day Hiccup was allowed to be conscious. It was strange to think about that, wasn't it? To not be allowed to wake up? Despite my feelings on the matter, Hiccup was forced into a deep slumber until further notice thanks to his insanity. The last time he was awake, he gravely injured a Flame-Skin, and we had to team up on him to hold him down. And I meant it when I said 'team up,' we were struggling to hold him still to knock him out with Dragonweed. Imagine our surprise when we learned Hiccup could Blaze.

From what I was told, when a Soulburner 'Blazes,' they become a stronger version of themselves, they literally radiate intense heat from their bodies, seemingly ignore pain, and restore a big chunk of their magic reserves, and just become stronger overall. However, Blazing was like a last resort, it didn't last forever, and it couldn't be done too often without risking death. Apparently, it was commonly used as a means of going berserk, yet without the loss of rational thought.

Hiccup nearly murdered a Flame-Skin who was minding its own business, so now the nest considered Hiccup a 'threat' and wanted him 'removed.' Or, in other words, executed. There was already paranoia about a Soulburner in our midst, but Hiccup's actions only caused the paranoia to turn into fear.

Obviously, as Hiccup's mate, I wasn't going to let that happen. There have been two attempts at taking his life so far; the first was thwarted with a well-aimed tail to the head from my mother, knocking the intruder out cold. The second attempt was prevented just in time, I made a rash decision and tore out a Spine-Tail's throat with my jaws—merely a couple seconds before he would've killed Hiccup. Since then, Mom and the Dark One kept their distance from me.

For many hours now, I'd stayed curled partially around Hiccup, refusing to leave for even a moment. Once, I was surprised—and relieved—when Hiccup had woken up without his insanity present. The entire time we were together before he lost it again were the best minutes I'd had in a long time.

At first, I couldn't look Hiccup in the eye, worried that if he saw me near him again, that he would yell at me. I almost didn't believe it when the first words he said were an apology. Then, he surprised me further when he asked me if I would be his mate again, almost as if he thought I would reject him. Obviously, I didn't hesitate to call him an 'idiot' for thinking I wouldn't take him back, then instantly accepted without a second thought. After many rounds of asking if I was sure, he jumped into apologizing for everything again. He refused to admit I was also at fault for lying to him, saying that he 'overreacted and needed to fix his temper,' so I 'forgave him' for his peace of mind.

Afterward, Hiccup told me everything that he did after he left, including his near-attempted suicide, and the knowledge that he saved me when I was still in my egg from a watery grave. I couldn't fathom that Hiccup was the Auroon, the dragon my mother told me stories about when I was a hatchling. For my whole life, I felt I'd owed Auroon a debt for saving me, but knew he was long dead. Yet, here he was, definitely alive and kicking, and to top it all off, he was my mate!

That also answered my question of where the Hel Hiccup got so many scars in so little time. Hiccup had returned to his old body—Auroon's body—, and it matched the description my mother had given me entirely. Although, he had a fresh wound that he refused to explain and refused treatment for. Naturally, when he had returned to his Dragonweed-induced sleep, I administered treatment with my saliva.

The wound itself was inflamed and extensive, it traveled from the base of Hiccup's skull all the way down to his base-fins, narrowly avoiding them by luck alone. The wound branched off in multiple places like branches on a tree, even overlapping old scars in some areas. I shuddered at the missing tail-fin, he'd apparently had it healed for a time before he sacrificed it to heal me. Despite everyone's reassurances, I only felt guilty whenever I looked at it.

The sound of pawsteps on stone jolted me from my thinking, eliciting a low growl for what was likely the next assassin. The walking stopped for a moment, followed by a familiar warble that echoed through the cave. I squinted to see past the light of Hiccup's scales—damn things were ruining my night vision—, seeing a faint outline of a Scaleless and Dark One.

"Stormfly?" Toothless warbled hesitantly as he stepped further inside, letting me relax somewhat. I doubted Toothless was here to kill Hiccup, anyway. He stepped further into the dim light of Hiccup's scales. "Why does it smell like-" His eyes widened as he leaped away from something to his right with a screech, almost stepping on Astrid in the process. "What is-?! A-Are you a cannibal or something?!"

Lazily, I looked at the dead Spine-Tail he was gesturing wildly to. I guess we never got rid of it... huh.

"No," I replied calmly with a shrug. "It attempted to kill Hiccup, so I reciprocated the gesture."

He glanced at me warily. "I-I'm not going to do..." He hesitated. "...that."

I rolled my eyes. "Of course not, you wouldn't do that to family."

He stiffened. "Uh... y-yeah..." He mumbled.

I frowned, wondering why he sounded so uncertain. "Auroon was your brother, right?"

"He was..." Toothless said quietly, then shook his head. "I don't wanna talk about it."

I was going to say more, but my attention swapped to Astrid, seeing she was at the tail-end of Hiccup, and inspecting his missing fin carefully. Maybe she was going to fix his tail again? She didn't seem to be carrying any of the usual stuff, but that didn't affect the shred of hope I had. I still hated the idea of Scaleless stuff strapped to Hiccup, especially the fact that Astrid had to sit on him, but restoring Hiccup's flight made it tolerable. I warbled wordlessly at Toothless.

He shrugged half-heartedly. "I don't know," he said, "I found her in the forest carrying the flight stuff." He flicked an ear at the familiar Scaleless things draped over his back. "It looks a bit beaten up, though... Uh, what about Hiccup? Is he... you know...?"

"He is," I muttered, "he's lost it again, so we drugged him with Dragonweed, so he doesn't try to kill all of us."

Toothless narrowed his eyes. "Dragonweed isn't-"

"I know it isn't allowed in the nest," I groaned exasperatedly, "but this is necessary, trust me."

"Fine," Toothless relented. "I, uh... heard your mother was back?"

I sighed uncomfortably. "Yeah, she's back. It's a little... tense, but we just need time." I quickly changed the subject. "You're mother's here too, you know."

Toothless flinched before looking to the side. "Yeah..."

"She said she missed both of you," I continued softly, "she went out to look for you recently." Toothless nodded silently. "Are you okay? You haven't tried to tease me once yet, even though this is the perfect opportunity."

He shrugged again. "I just have a lot on my mind, I guess," he mumbled, "my family is back and all, but I don't know what to do about it..."

"I get it," I crooned, "but don't dwell on it for too long, it'll only hurt more in the end."

"Right..." I stared at him for a moment before slowly lying my head down to rest. I was nearly asleep when Toothless spoke up. "Uh... thanks..."

"You're welcome," I replied as sleep slowly consumed me.