Chapter Three
Hiccup sat up. He was in a grave yard near the Great Hall. There was a very tall man dressed in black standing by a head stone. He was singing a sad, wordless song that haunted the air.
Hiccup looked around him. He was lying on a plot of a grave with a covered head stone. He fit exactly on the plot with a bit of head room and some space to spread his arms.
"Who's there?" He asked, looking at the strange man. "Dad?"
The man sang his mournful song without words, never paying attention to the boy.
"What do you want from me?" Hiccup was trying not to be terrified about this but it was becoming exceedingly difficult.
The song continued, hitting an all-time high note. Hiccup winced and crouched down to protect his ears.
"STOP," he yelled, "STOP SINGING!"
The voice stopped and an even more unsettling silence floated through the land.
"What are you trying to say to me?" he whispered. The person looked at him harshly.
"You're the Ghost... Ghost of Snoggletog Future... Aren't you?"
The person nodded. Hiccup's stomach turned within.
"Who are you, really? Tuffnut? Snotlout? Gobber? Who are you?"
The creature floated over like his feet weren't touching the ground. He stood before Hiccup, towering over him, with a blank blackness for a face.
"Ye enter here Stooge," he said slowly in a haunting, empty voice. "With no hope. Look yonder at the stone at the foot of the grave under the sycamore tree."
Hiccup crept to the grave that was newly dug. There was a name on it. "Magnus Crackit."
"Mini Magnus? She died?"
"Her bad leg had a disease infecting it, and yes, she did die. Her family is left in mourning for today is the anniversary of their beloved daughter's death."
Hiccup saw Snotlout and Heather floating towards him. They were dressed in black and they looked downhearted.
The two knelt, seemingly oblivious to Hiccup's presence right next to the grave.
"Spirit," Hiccup said, "what can I do to change these things?"
"Much. Look at the second grave, the one just finished."
Hiccup looked over at it. The light from street lamps dimly shone on the stone. "Ever-Sneezer Stooge" was written in deep, capital letters across the hard stone.
"No. No, I cannot be dead!" Hiccup wailed, shocked. He fell to his knees by the footstone. "Wait." He said suddenly. "I'm not Stooge, I'm Hiccup!"
"You are Stooge and you have died." The tall man announced.
"No! No! Spirit!" Hiccup called. "I can't be dead, let me do it all again, please! I can change! Spirit! Spirit!"
But as his words came vainly from his mouth he fell backwards into the grave, faces swimming before him. He swung his hands madly, trying to catch the wrist of one person to hold him up. As he felt himself black out, he thought he heard voices coming from the tall man… strange, argumentative voices…
"Hiccup! Hiccup, wake up!"
Hiccup felt himself being shaken awake. He blinked and the world slowly came into focus. His father was sitting next to him, a strange expression on his face.
"Augh! Dad, I just had the worst dream!"
"I guessed." Stoick replied. Then as Hiccup's eyes cleared he saw the rest of his friends standing around him.
"Yeah. It was horrible. And you were there," he said, looking at Gobber, "and you were there," he looked over at Snotlout, "and you," he smiled at Astrid, remembering the conversation at the party room, "and," suddenly the fullness of the situation came to Hiccup. The setting became clear. "Wait a minute, why am I in the Great Hall?!"
His friends began to laugh at his confusion as he lay there, mouth agape.
"Wait a minute! This was all a joke?" he snapped, suddenly feeling very indignant.
Snotlout thumped him on the back. ""Did you learn something from your 'dream'?"
"Yeah, you all are crazy!" Hiccup shouted. "What in the world got into all of you? Why would you do something like that?"
"It was my idea." Astrid piped up. "And I couldn't think of any other way to get you in the Snoggletog spirit!"
Hiccup stared at her for a second. He had never been so livid with his friend in his entire life. "What the Hel kind of joke was that? You know what? I don't care! Clearly nobody cared enough to just leave me alone."
"Hiccup, what are you…?"
"I need some air. Don't anyone follow me!" Hiccup shouted, getting to his feet.
He immediately mounted Toothless, who he found staring at him with wide eyes in the corner (obviously having returned from the dragons' yearly outing). The dragon made an odd cooing noise before taking off.
The others stared at the boy and dragon's retreating forms. The sun was beginning to come over the horizon, beginning what was probably going to be a very beautiful day but no one noticed.
"What's gotten into him?" Snotlout asked, frowning and crossing his arms.
"I don't know." said Astrid, her brows furrowed in determination. "But I'm going to find out."
I'm so sorry for the extremely short chapter. Next one will be longer and be posted on Christmas!
~KateMarie999
