The second time Hiccup awoke that day, things were much different. The soft sound of birds had returned, and light was filtering through the canopy of trees. Toothless snored behind him, the gentle rumble soothing to the point that Hiccup was tempted to close his eyes and go back to sleep. It was going to be a long day, and there was no time to waste. Forcing himself to stand, Hiccup had to smile at the almost sweet sight of the other riders and dragons all sleeping. Tuffnut was incoherently mumbling beside his sister, who shifted and nearly knocked him over in the process. Fishlegs was cuddling with Meatlug, who was purring, and Astrid was moving a bit, likely waking up. Snotlout lay against Hookfang, who was curled around him protectively, and faced away from the rest of the group.

Taking a sip from his waterskin, Hiccup grabbed a small loaf of bread from his saddlebag and a hunk of dried mutton for Toothless. A simple meal, but the best one can get while on the road (without going hunting, that is). Knowing better than to let the others wake up on their own time, he called, "Ok, everybody, it's time to go! Let's eat something and get outta here!"

The twins groaned loudly in annoyance, obviously not wanting to be awake. Their twin dragon (dragons?) lumbered to their feet, dropping the two on the ground, leading to even more whining before they eventually sat up. Meanwhile, Astrid jolted awake, as if ready for battle, and wasted no time in getting breakfast for her and Stormfly, who took only a moment longer than her rider to get up. Meatlug lazily opened her eyes and grunted, rolling over heavily. This nearly crushed Fishlegs, who thankfully managed to move out of the way, now fully awake. Hookfang, ever the heavy sleeper, didn't stir, but Hiccup knew he'd get up when Snotlout stopped being stubborn and got moving. He always tried to go back to sleep when they had to get up. Hiccup would give him a bit before calling him again, knowing he'd listen if pushed, but wanting to give him time. He'd had a rough night, after all.

Checking the position of the sun, Hiccup determined that they must've gotten up later than he'd hoped. This wasn't surprising, based on how tired they had all been and the events of last night, but it was still enough to annoy him. It didn't help that the twins were arguing over something (he didn't care enough to pay close attention). Needless to say, the nice, soothing mood of the morning was being tarnished a bit. Either way, they'd have to get moving if they hoped to get a decent chunk of their trip done. Maybe they could set up camp and go to sleep earlier than last night, if they found a good enough island. He did feel bad at the idea of overworking his friends and their dragons, so he resolved to end the journey earlier than the day before. "Alright gang, ready to go?"

Everyone agreed (some more enthusiastically than others), except for, of course, Snotlout. Somehow, the loud fighting of the twins hadn't managed to wake him up, though Hookfang was stirring. He was just that intent on being stubborn, huh? Well, Hiccup couldn't blame him, but he wasn't in the mood for his cousin's attitude today. "Snotlout, it's time to head out, come on!"

When he didn't respond, Hiccup could feel his annoyance growing. This was not the time to be screwing around. They had limited daylight and everyone was already a little on edge from the lack of sleep. He called again, only to get the same response (or, rather, lack thereof). Walking towards the sleeping pair with a huff, he placed his hand on Snotlout's shoulder and shook him gently, then a bit rougher when he only shifted and grumbled. He just had to be the heaviest sleeper on Berk, didn't he? He finally opened his eyes with a start when Hookfang jumped to alertness at the movement, looking confused before his gaze settled on Hiccup. "About time you got up. Come on, we're leaving."

There was a stretch of silence as Snotlout just stared at him with a somewhat pained expression, seeming confused. "What? I can't…" he paused, face becoming more puzzled as he raised his already loud voice, "you can't expect me to hear you over these bugs, right?"

Now was Hiccup's turn to be confused. Bugs? What? Sure, he could hear them around, especially since it was time for the cicadas to come out, but they were nowhere near loud, much less overwhelming. If anything, the birds were louder than the insects in the area. "The bugs aren't making much noise, what are you talking about? And why are you yelling at me?"

Snotlout scowled, obviously displeased with this answer. "Hiccup, I just said I can't hear anything you're saying! I can't even hear what I'm saying! Where are those stupid bugs? There's gotta be hundreds for them to be this loud, and I can't see any!"

Nearly screaming from frustration (seriously, what was it with him and bugs today?), Hiccup continued to argue. "Snotlout, this is getting ridiculous, you're not making any sense! Where could I possibly be hiding hundreds of..."

His voice trailed off when he took a moment to think about what was going on. Hookfang nudged his rider, rumbling in concern, only to be met with a pat on the head as Snotlout laid back against him, seeming fatigued. His annoyance gave way to worry for his older cousin; he'd never acted like this before, and he'd never heard of anyone acting like this either. Hearing things wasn't entirely new, the twins had many stories of their insane family members, but he seemed to be in pain. He had slowly curled in on himself, eyes closed and massaging his head as though he had a migraine. While he was contemplating the situation, the other riders approached, Fishlegs concerned and the others seeming annoyed.

Astrid glared at the shorter viking, apparently not noticing the fact that he was in distress. "Is there a reason he won't get up? We're already running late is it is, and we don't need him holding us back with something stupid!"

"No, no, Astrid, wait. I think something's wrong," Hiccup said, holding out a hand in an attempt to calm the rage of the irate blonde. Astrid had never been one for patience, and she was even worse when tired. She had been known to throw axes when her temper was tested, and he didn't want to push her, but he had a feeling there was more going on than he thought. While his cousin was one for dramatics, he wasn't known to fake injury or illness. If it seemed something was wrong, something was wrong. "Fishlegs, could you come here?"

Said boy approached, confused. "What do you think is going on, Hiccup?"

"You know how it was hard for you guys to hear after you got attacked by the Thunderdrum on Melody Island?" Fishlegs nodded. "What was it like? How long did that last?"

"Um...well, it was kind of like being underwater. Everything was muffled, and there was a weird, high-pitched noise over everything. I can't speak for the others, but my hearing came back after an hour or two, and I had a headache after that lasted a few days."

"So after a while, you could hear again, right?"

"Yeah. Loud noises still hurt, but I was more or less back to normal."

He paused as he considered this information. "It's been at least 4 hours, hasn't it? We woke up long before daybreak, and that was when the Thunderdrum attacked. It's at least an hour after sunrise. How come he's not back to normal yet?"

Suddenly, Hookfang squawked, and Snotlout made a surprised, yet pained sound. Turning back to his older cousin, Hiccup's heart dropped to his feet. There was blood on his fingertips.