Author's Note:

Hello everyone and here is the last chapter of 'Glacial Bloom'. Thank you everyone for your support as I've written this, I've quite enjoyed writing it and I hope you've all enjoyed reading it.

I own nothing.

Painted End

Hiccup felt exhausted and his memory was entirely unhelpful in telling him why. He dimly remembered an illness and being taken to the Great Hall and then something about Snotlout and a flower but he couldn't put the pieces together, everything was blurry and unfocused.

"Hiccup?"

A voice he dimly recognised pushed through his thoughts and his really sluggish mind finally told him it was Snotlout speaking but he couldn't work out why. He then realised that he should be able to open his eyes and with great effort he finally forced them to do so, light assaulted them and he screwed them shut again as Snotlout's voice sounded again.

"Hiccup!?"

His cousin sounded almost hopeful and Hiccup wondered what he was hopeful about, in an attempt to find out why he tried opening his eyes again slowly and when he did he saw a blurry shape above him. After another few moments the shape came into focus and revealed itself to be the face of his cousin, Snotlout grinned in what looked like relief and he exclaimed joyfully, "You've woken up!" the boy then looked over his shoulder and yelled excitedly, "UNCLE! HICCUP'S AWAKE!"

The was loud clattering like something being dropped and Hiccup barely had to time to wonder why him being awake was so exciting when the face of his father appeared next to Snotlout's. The man's face broke into a similar grin to his nephew's and he crouched down and clasped Hiccup's shoulder, "Thank Thor you made it!"

Hiccup was now thoroughly confused, what had he made and why was it so wonderful? He looked up at his father's joyful face in confusion, "What's so exciting about me being awake and what have I made?"

His cousin and father shared a look and then Snotlout smiled at him, "Just rest for a bit and we'll explain."

It took a while but thanks to the Glacial Bloom all the children of Berk began to wake up and begin the road to recovery, there was a tense, worrying period when the Glacial Bloom solution seemed to be having no effect on Gustav but he was eventually the last to wake up and Gothi refused to say just how close he'd been to being beyond saving.

Most of the kids' memories of having the illness were blurry and were confused by their parent's joyful reactions to them waking up the same way Hiccup had been and what had happened had to be explained several times. Despite its legendary reputation the Glacial Bloom was far from a quick cure and it was several days before any of the kids were strong enough to move about or do most things on their own so Stoick and the other adults were still very busy looking after them during that time.

Snotlout was the village hero and he spent one night telling the entire tale of his quest to the entire village as they gathered in the Great Hall to hear it, Even when he'd finished they still wanted him to retell bits of it and peppered him with questions about the Ice Wastes, the labyrinth and the hot springs beyond it. Fishlegs begged to hear more about Hunterbolt and in the end Snotlout got the Skrill to come into the hall and the older boy almost halved his recovery time in his eagerness to study the dragon. Astrid wanted to hear more about the fight with the wolves and the polar bear while Hiccup was more interested in the items Snotlout had been given by Culloden and the labyrinth and its creators' possible connections with dragons. The twins wanted every detail about the fight with the pirates, especially the bit where Hunterbolt obliterated the entire ship and they had to be told several times that the Skrill was not allowed to use his Storm Blast inside the Great Hall so they were not getting a demonstration.

Hookfang was just as popular and was showered with gifts of food from both Vikings and dragons, especially the Academy dragons. It seemed they were very much aware of what the Nightmare had done for their riders and they brought him so much fish that Snotlout was certain he'd be too fat to fly by the time he'd eaten it all. The Terrors received similar treatment and every Viking wanted to give them fuss and attention and the little dragons were almost convinced they'd died and gone to Terror Valhalla.

Eventually Stoick put a halt to the endless questions and requests for retellings declaring that Snotlout needed to rest and so did all the children and with a bit of disappointed grumbling the people of Berk agreed.

As days passed and Hiccup and the other children recovered Snotlout noticed Hunterbolt becoming restless and would often find the dragon staring up at the sky almost longingly. He was pretty sure what the Skrill wanted and he went to stand with the dragon one night as he stared up at the sky.

Hunterbolt looked at him and gave a small rumble and Snotlout petted his snout, "I think I know what you want, you want to head out on your own and explore don't you?"

The Skrill rumbled again and the teen smiled at him, "Then go for it. You don't have to hang around for my sake. I'll be fine here with Hookfang and all the others so if you want to explore then don't let us stop you."

The dragon growled mournfully and nuzzled him and Snotlout stepped forward and hugged him, "I'll miss you too Hunterbolt. Thank you for everything."

There was a different growl behind them and they both looked to see Hookfang, the Terrors and the Academy dragons standing there, Hookfang came over to Hunterbolt and the two friends briefly nuzzled each other. The Terrors came next and they chirped at the Skrill before flying up to give him a nuzzle each which the dragon returned. Finally Toothless stepped forward and rumbled at the Skrill who rumbled back.

With all the goodbyes complete Snotlout gave the dragon one last hug before stepping back, wiping tears from his eyes as he did so. Hunterbolt rumbled out one last farewell before giving a mighty roar and firing up into the clouds on a lightning bolt as Snotlout waved his friend off.

Snotlout hadn't realised that Stoick was also present and he'd seen the Skrill leave, he came up and put an arm around his nephew's shoulders, "You did the right thing Snotlout, I'm sure you'll see Hunterbolt again one day."

The boy smiled tearfully as he rested his head against his uncle's side, "Probably but I'll still miss him."

Stoick squeezed his shoulders, "I know lad, I know."

Eventually the kids were all well enough to be up and about again and although saddened by Hunterbolt going off on his own the Academy teens agreed that it was the right thing or as Fishlegs put it, "The Book of Dragons says that Skrills are usually solitary dragons so living on Berk with so many other dragons really wouldn't have suited him in the long run. I guess we'll just assume that we'll see him again one day when he wanders past in his travels."

With the children all now pretty much recovered Stoick decided that it was time for the village to celebrate the pirates defeat and Snotlout's successful retrieval of the Glacial Bloom that cured all the children. As the hero of both events Snotlout was given place of honour in the chief's chair at the celebrations and he found himself telling the tale of his quest all over again, it was already considered one of the great tales of Berk and Stoick had asked Bucket to paint a special portrait of Snotlout and all the dragons involved which was to be placed in Great Hall as a permanent reminder of their bravery. It was hung in the middle of the celebrations before the entire village on the wall dedicated to the deeds of some of Berk's greatest Vikings, right alongside one that had been painted to commemorate Hiccup ending the war with the dragons. Snotlout was continuously approached by Vikings all evening who wanted to pat him on the back, shake his hand, congratulate or thank him and he was given so much food that he had no idea what to do with it all, his uncle also had to step in at times to stop the Vikings from giving the teen mead because Hamish's underage drinking laws still applied even to heroes.

As the night wore on Snotlout grew more and more tired and eventually he found his eyes falling shut as he leaned back in the chief's chair, Stoick saw his nephew drifting off and he stole over and gently picked the boy up. Allowing the festivities to continue the chief carried his sleeping nephew out of the hall and back home to put him to bed.

In pride of place looking down on the partying Vikings was the Great Hall's newest addition. A full body painting of Snotlout flanked by Hookfang and Hunterbolt as the six Terrors flew around them, in Snotlout's upraised right hand was his walrus task dagger while the left held the very flower that had saved Berk's future.

The Glacial Bloom.

PS-All finished and I hope you all liked the ending. I'm still writing 'Family of Fire' but I've had an idea for another story in this verse so I may return to it soon. As such I'll say I'll see you later.