Chapter 21: Waking Up

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He was angry, I knew that. Anyone would be after what had occurred; after what I did.

Not that I was willing to admit what I had done was rash and ill thought-out. It was the only option left for me to choose from, and still it had not worked. The only thing my plan had succeeded in accomplishing was wasting time and possibly ruining whatever small amount of trust he had put in me.

My snide remark made in response to his ire did little to help either.

"I was doing what I thought was necessary. At least I was actually attempting to be productive."

The words came out automatically, coming from a mind that was well practiced in thinking itself always in the right, and for the first time in a long while I found myself surprised at what I had said. It was not that I necessarily disagreed with what I had said, but I knew it was the worse possible response to make given the circumstances.

I responded not with thought, but with emotion brought forth by a need to defend myself. Something I was not used to feeling.

Another round of yells spilled forth from him in which he once again pointed out how wrong what I did was. But there was something off about him. He was growing unsteady and his breathing becoming labored, and there was a look of physical pain on his face. I did not know humans all the well, but I was sure that whatever was happening to him could not have been because he was merely upset.

My gaze wandered downwards to the red skin he was wearing.

No, it was not red before… The earthy green of the skin was giving way to the growing stain of blood that was flowing from the deep wound I had inflicted. How deep did I go? I barely put any force into it, any normal dragon… A sickening realization came over me. He is human… not a dragon…

The color began draining from his features and his intense glare became unfocused.

A strange feeling had come over me at the sight. "Hadson, are you alright? You are turning pale..." With the vocalization of the feeling came the understanding of them. I was worried. And for once it was a worry that was not inherently linked to my own well-being, it was a genuine feeling of empathy.

He scoffed, beginning a retort, before stopping and clutching his chest; though not where the wound was. He tried to force out the rest of his thought before he suddenly collapsed onto the ground.

A moment passed, and he did not stir. He remained as still as stone, the hand on his chest no longer clutching but instead limp and stained with his own blood.

He must have fainted…

Another moment passed, enough time having then passed for me to realize he was no longer breathing.

"Hadson?" I called out to him and received no response.

I slowly padded closer to him, hesitantly lowering my head down towards his chest in hopes of hearing anything that would signal him being fine.

I listened, and heard nothing.

I pulled my head slowly away from his body while trying to keep myself looking at it. No thoughts entered my mind as I blankly stared, eyes wide, while waiting for him to get up. I was in denial, but I did not try and push the feeling out.

He can not be… dead…

I took in a sharp breath when the reality of it all hit me.

I killed him.

I backed away from the body in disgust; not at it but in myself. I had one simple task to do, and I had miserably failed at it. Countless lives were at stake, and I had jeopardized every last one of them because of decision to go with an idiotic plan made in impatience. But what was more surprising to me was that I felt overwhelming guilt. Hadson had reluctantly placed not only his trust, but his life in my clutches, and I treated it like an experiment; a game.

I slowly brought up my paw. Its claws were covered in his blood.

I dropped it back to the ground having grown too nauseas to continue looking at it as my gaze returned back to his lifeless form. His body had grown a sickly white. It would not be long before his essence left him completely and moved on to the worlds beyond.

The longer I stared the worse I felt. How could I have let this happen…

I felt unnaturally weak and exhausted; it was difficult to merely sit up straight. It was not a weariness brought on through emotional distress, though. No, I knew exactly what it was from. A creeping and all enveloping feeling of biting cold that grew from my core and spread throughout my being.

My guess about the consequences of our bond appeared to have been correct.

I am dying, but slower than I expected. I thought as I lowered myself down onto my stomach. A moment passed in which my breathing began to grow labored, all the while my eyes remained locked on his body. Why am I not angry? I am dying from a stupid mistake, I should be…

But I was not. The only feeling I felt was acceptance. It was of no one's fault but my own that he had died, and it was only fair for me to follow his fate because of it. At least it was a far better way to go out than what would soon fall upon the rest of the beings inhabiting the numerous islands within the Veil.

Fates beyond, do not punish him for my failure.

My strength was dwindling, but I held onto life a bit longer anyways. There was something my subconscious was demanding of me to say, and seeing as my time was soon up, I allowed it to speak what I otherwise refused to.

"Hadson… I am—,"

I stopped before the whole message was said when the Veilstone in his wrist began to glow. It had been dormant since I had sealed it days prior, so to see it emanating any light was unexpected.

The first thought I had was that it was simply collapsing, but seeing as it was sealed it would have been impossible for it to have used up all it's stored Will. Even with Hadson dead, it should still remain intact until my seal naturally decayed.

My head was growing heavy, impossibly so, but I put whatever remaining life was left in me to keeping it up. I had to know what was happening.

The glow continued to grow brighter, and soon it began to strain my eyes. But I looked on anyways. Not like me going blind would matter much with my body dying. Its light reached its maximum as an audible sizzle began filling the air. Even through the glare I began to see a new light, a thin film of a darker purple hue that surrounded the stone.

It was the seal.

Not a moment later the secondary light flared before vanishing completely, and as it did I was overcome with the sudden powerful appearance of a force both physically and mentally. The seal had been broken, and the Veilstone's Will had been released.

My head collapsed, having only enough strength left to keep my eyes open. Why did it do that?

The glow of the stone had died down to a faint shimmer on its silver surface. Nothing happened for a few moments until the stone flared up again briefly which was simultaneously followed by Hadson's body convulsing. The deathly exhaustion weighing my body down suddenly lifted, and I was left feeling just as lively as I usually did.

After briefly scanning over myself, I looked back to his body with both a sense of confusion and hope. Like when he first collapsed, I hesitantly drew closer to him and brought my head towards his chest and listened.

It was faint, at first, but I heard it. His heart was beating again. Before I could even process the miracle that had transpired in front of me, Hadson gasped; his air deprived lungs seeming to greedily take in as much as they could.

I pulled my head back and looked to his face. I saw that his eyes were open, noting silently a strange iridescence about them that lasted barely a moment, and that he was staring upwards with a look of shock. The moment ended when he began heavily coughing; he sat up quickly while covering his mouth as he did so.

"Hadson?" I asked in disbelief, thinking that I might have been hallucinating while still dying.

He remained leaning forward, one of his hands on his head while the other supported him as he stared forward. "What… happened?" he managed to get out.

I hesitated to respond. I was not sure how to go about telling he had died other than being blunt. "You… died… for a moment there…"

"I… died? How?" He speech felt as distant as his stare.

Confusion momentarily pushed out my shock and worry. "Do you not remember what happened?"

He looked down, his face no longer visible as he did so, and took a few moments to respond. "I don't even remember waking up this morning…" he said worriedly as he took noticed of his stained skin.

I grimaced. Dying must have messed with his mind, but the full extent to which it had remained a mystery. I hoped it was simply a loss of time. Of course, him not remembering made my situation worse as I would have to tell him it was my fault which would no doubt set off another bout of rage from him.

I could lie, or alter the events slightly to lessen the severity of it…

As much as I hated the idea of going against my own morals, the thought refused to leave once I considered it.

"I'm sorry, by the way…" Hadson said during my prolonged silence. He was no longer staring blankly and was instead looking directly towards me. "I don't know if I already told you that or not, for how much of a pain I've been, but for some reason I don't feel like I mean it…" he trailed off, seeming to grow uncomfortable with his lack of recent memory.

My breathing had become ragged, and his sudden apology for something so trivial almost caused me to lose my composure. Fates beyond, he trusted you, he even cared enough to apologize! Am I honestly considering to go against that again? After what just happened? When did I become so… cold?

I already knew the answer to that, though. I had known for a long time. I simply never felt it necessary to worry about it; I was alone after all, there was no one to judge me and the behavior meant I had no reasons to care if anyone did. It formed as a defense mechanism, keeping old feelings locked away and prevented new ones from forming, and was what got me through seasons of isolation. To be indifferent to the world that was just as cold to me was better than facing past a future trauma brought on by others.

I did not mind it all that much, but for some reason it appalled me to feel that way near him. Hadson was not like the other humans who bore hatred for dragons, and he obviously was not a dragon either. He was someone who put their trust in me even when I showed clear dislike towards him, and even though he had grown as indifferent as I had, he still came every morning despite it all.

If anyone deserved an apology, it was him, even if it meant swallowing my pride, and even if it meant potentially driving him away completely.

"No. I am the one who is sorry, Hadson. It was my fault you almost died." I said quietly, having to force myself to maintain eye contact with him despite the urge to look away in shame.

He blinked a few times, confused, before the wave of recollection came over him. His eyes widened briefly before they relaxed, a look of numbness coming over him as he looked away. He remained quiet, almost seeming to refuse to speak until he slowly nodded his head and opened his mouth to respond, but closed it, opting to keep silent.

His silence was deafening. "I-I do not understand, why are you refusing to talk? Why are you not yelling; mad at least?" My worry had dissipated and was replaced with a confused fear. His lack of outward emotion had me thinking the damage to his mind was worse than I had thought, or that maybe in my attempt to scare him I had driven his mind off the edge of normalcy.

I was once again showing uncharacteristic high amounts of concern for his well-being, and I had begun to remember why I had opted to force such feelings for others out; it made thinking rationally difficult and even hurt in some degree.

"Because I don't know how to feel." he finally responded, his voice still numb. "All I know is that I don't believe a word you said." his gaze returned to me, brown-blue eyes boring in my own with a look that portrayed what he was really feeling. "You don't even believe it. How could someone as arrogant as you even consider their own fault in something? You probably blame me for being too weak to handle what you think was just a small scare, don't you?"

It was growing harder to meet his glare. There was something different about his eyes, a new force seemed present behind them that fueled his likely exhausted body and mind, but I did not have the time to put much thought in it.

His accusation hit hard because it was true, for the most part. A part of me did think he was weak to have succumbed to what I had did, but such thoughts gave out with retrospection. He had been stressed for days, it should have been of no surprise his heart gave out after a near-death experience; not to mention the physical damage I had inflicted in an attempt to play a part.

But the voice still said he was; not weak in the respect that he was a lesser being, but was physically and mentally weak from an overabundance of thoughts. Even thinking so still did not change the fact it was my fault, but he was right in saying I would have never admitted to that before.

Something had changed in me when he died, and I still did not know what exactly it was.

"No. You were burdened with stress, I see that now. I should never have put such strain on you by threatening your life. I should not have… gone as far as I had. I know you have no reasons to trust me anymore, but you have to believe me now when I say I am sorry."

The look behind his eyes softened somewhat and he looked away. After a moment he began to stand, struggling at first before his body seemed to fully wake up. The wound in his chest seemed to be causing no problems, strangely, as he turned his body; the only outward sigh of pain being a small grimace at something before looking to his wrist but said nothing aloud about it.

He took a breath in as he stood before returning his gaze to me. "I think that maybe, sometime in the future, I might be able believe that, but right now I'll be honest, I'm too scared of you to consider it." His voiced quivered slightly at his admission, and my own heart seemed to shake with it.

Despite trying to hold one back, a quiet whine escaped me. "Hadson I know—,"

"Have you ever been pinned down to the ground by something ten times bigger than you? Completely unable to move or even speak as claws slowly dig into your chest before burrowing into it? As the person you thought you could rely on belittles you one last time before going for the kill? Stared death right in the eyes before giving up completely?" he exclaimed with a sudden anger, but it was clear he felt afraid in doing so, as if thinking I would pounce on him again for even daring to speak against me. He had even begun backing away, putting distance between the two of us. "Unless you have don't even bother acting like you can understand."

Words failed me, and I could only look back in shame after hearing what I had done from his perspective. "What do I have to say for you to believe me when I say I regret it?" I asked, almost desperately.

My strange and sudden change in demeaner towards him must have registered in his mind as a look of confusion came over him. He shook his head lightly as he looked away, taking time to consider his response.

"The truth would be a good start." he replied levelly, no longer angered but still apprehensive. He noticed my own confusion at his rather vague demand and clarified. "I know you might think I am, but I'm not an idiot. You haven't been helping me out of the goodness of your heart, I've known that since the beginning of this whole mess. There's some other motive for helping me; a selfish one I bet. Not to mention the only reason you'd do something you yourself admit was stupid means you were being pressured to do so. I want to know why."

It was more than a fair demand. In fact, I thought it was too little of one, but I was not about to complain. If he wanted to give the easy way to start with, I would take it.

Not like it matters all the much, I was going to tell him eventually.

"There are two reasons, actually. And one of them is selfish." I replied slowly, no longer content with letting myself act so miserably. "I suppose I should start off with the selfish reason first, it is only fair. Do you know what happened after you collapsed?"

"Well, I was kinda dead, so no." he quipped, seemingly happy with making me sound dumb instead of the other way around.

I'll allow it, for now. Just because I was having a change of opinion about him did not mean I was ready to let him walk over me.

"I began to die." I finished bluntly which had both the pleasant and heart-wrenching effect of removing the small grin on his face. "I told you before we were both bonded to the Veilstone, but what I did not tell you was all of what that meant. To put it simply, if you die, so does the stone. And while I only had a hunch of it before, I thought I too would perish if you did." I let my words sink in for him, no longer as motivated as I used to be in explaining every detail to him as if he couldn't understand.

"So… you decided to help me because you thought it would save your own life…" he said quietly more to himself than to me.

What was strange was that he did not seem upset by it. "That does not anger you? That I acted out of self-preservation?"

He sighed. "You still tried helping, so it doesn't really matter all that much I guess. Plus, I'm still waiting for the other reason."

I let out my own sigh. "Yes, the other reason. That one is a harder to explain." I took a moment to try and gather my thoughts, all the while Hadson kept his level stare, his arms crossed in expectation. "I suppose the simplest way to put it is that the Veil, the one that has existed for countless seasons, is finally failing. It will not be long before it collapses; destroying everything within it."

His eyes widened in shock but soon turned doubtful. "The Veil is collapsing? And what proof do you have of that?"

I groaned. "That is what I meant by it would be hard to explain."

"Well you can either try or I can just leave like I've been wanting to." he responded, his tone portraying both his impatience and discomfort.

"If the Veil was failing, there would be early signs of it. Odd phenomenon ranging from sudden and severe weather, like the tempest that appear days ago, to animals behaving differently, to natural disasters at magnitudes never previously seen. But it also effects the Will flowing through all things because of its immense size and power which can be sensed."

"So, you're saying you can feel it?"

A small sense of annoyance came over me. "That is one of the reasons, but yes. I can't really explain it though, you would have to have experienced it yourself."

He still seemed unconvinced before a strange look came over him. "You said it would change how animals behave… how so?" By the tone of his voice it was clear it was an abrupt thought, one born suddenly from some unknown experience.

"It would depend on the animal I suppose; some may become more aggressive while others become more docile. Why?" I could not stop the small hint of hope in my words at him potentially believing me.

He seemed like he was going to respond but stopped. The genuine look of interest that had come over him faded away, replaced with the level stare so uncharacteristic of him.

"You do not believe me…" It was hard to keep the disappointment out of my voice.

His eyes wandered upward briefly as he sighed. "No, it's not that. I don't want to believe a word you say, but I know you aren't lying. I just don't understand what any of it has to do with me." he replied reluctantly at first before letting the slightly fed-up tone return to his voice. "The only connection I see between me and any of what you said is—," he stopped, a realization coming over him, "Jesus, you're not actually expecting me to remove the thing are you?"

I started. "Of course not! Such a decision is not ours to make!" To undo the Veil, the barrier that had been created to protect the islands from an ever-growing hostile world, was something only the High Mages of human kind and the Willful of dragon kind could decide.

Then again, they have mostly all disappeared. It might very well be that there is no one to decide that fate for us…

"Then what are you saying?" he demanded. "You wouldn't bring up the fact we might all die being a motive unless you had some sort of plan of preventing it."

I was about to say I could not explain it, that it would require more knowledge of Will to understand, but if he had proved anything during the argument it was that he was more perceptive than I initially believed. Even so, though, I did not know how to go about explaining it. I had to simply try and keep it simple and hope he did not ask too many clarifying questions; else we would be there all day, which I knew he did not want.

"We cannot remove the Veil, but we might be able to at least fix it." I responded hesitantly. "The Veil is kept in place by a talisman; an unimaginably powerful one if I had to assume. The talisman acts as a source of Will that feeds the Veil and keeps it from collapsing. It is now failing because it's reservoir of Will is running out."

Fortunately for me, the barebone explanation seemed to have been enough for him. "So you need me to… recharge it or something?"

"To do so would require not only a large amount of Will, but also one skilled in using it to perform the spell required. The Veilstone is likely the only object available capable of providing enough Will to do so, not to mention it would probably fair best with interacting with the Veil's talisman being of the same nature." I explained, noting the narrowing of his eyes as I did so. "And since the Veilstone is currently… bonded to you…"

"I have to be the one who does it." he finished for me, shaking his head. "Which is why you wanted to train me, I'm guessing."

I nodded.

"And seeing as you believe the end-of-days isn't far away, you were in a rush to get me ready. Which is why you did something as stupid as pretending to kill me and almost succeeding."

A slight grimace before I nodded again.

A pensive look came over him as he brought up his wrist, the one where the Veilstone laid embedded, before seeming to come to a conclusion in his mind. He returned his gaze to me, it only slightly as cold as it had been, and merely stared at me silently for a few moments.

"A selfish reason and a selfless reason. Only one of them really matches you." he said finally in what could have passed as a joke, but still held accusatory subtexts.

My eyes lowered, no longer wanting to meet his stare. "Not all that selfless, really. Fixing the Veil is still only a means to ensure I do not die, not mentioning the fact I was merely told to help you by the Fates."

He snorted, a sound that shocked me to hear being as happy a noise it was. "Honesty, though, doesn't quite match you."

My eyes shot back up to his, the sudden move startling him slightly. "I never lie." I responded defensively.

After the slight panic wore off he rolled his eyes slightly. "There's a difference between not lying and being honest."

I felt my eyes widen slightly before I adverted my gaze again. "I suppose there is."

He shook his head before he looked down at the skin he was wearing. There was a flash of worry that came over him as he peered under it but for whatever reason calmed down and let out an annoyed sigh. "This is going to be a pain in the ass to explain." he muttered.

Another wave of guilt and worry came over me as I looked back to him. "I-If you need help treating it I can—,"

His gaze shot back to me; the glare being hard enough to shut me up. "I think you've done enough. I can take care of it." he replied coldly as he let go of the skin and continued his staring.

I again averted my gaze downward.

A few moments passed in which neither of us spoke. Even the surrounding forest grew quiet; creating a silence that threatened to crush my chest from the tension it created.

I was not thinking much at the time. I merely resolved myself to wait for him to say something else, preferably that he believed me and would not refuse to continue training, but I knew both were unlikely. I could not see his face, but I could fell his apprehension growing.

In fact, I could sense a lot more about him than usual, almost akin to when we had first met.

Fates beyond, the stone! I thought, suddenly remembering what had happened right before Hadson was resurrected. The seal is gone! But… he seems perfectly fine… There was no doubt the Veilstone had broken its seal, and I was also certain it had flooded his body with Will in a successful attempt to revive him.

But if he had survived it doing so, that could have meant only one thing.

My head, which I failed to have notice had slumped down, shot up to him, "Hadson, how—," I stopped when I saw he was walking away. I stuttered with my words in surprise as I called out to him, "Wait! Where are you going?"

"Back to the village." he responded evenly as he continued towards the tree line.

I could not stop the small bit of annoyance that sparked inside me at his abrupt decision. "You are going to leave, just like that?"

He stopped but did not turn around. "You gonna to stop me?"

I started. "N-No, of course not. I just… are you going to come back?" I asked quietly, afraid of his response.

He stole a glance at me over his sholder, allowing me enough time to see the conflict in his eyes that contrasted to his neutral face. "I need time to think. I don't know." he replied simply before turning away.

He disappeared into the forest not long after, leaving me alone with my thoughts.

I lowered myself down onto the ground exhausted, not having realized how stone stiff I had been during the talk. I could not place the feeling that was twisting inside me that left me nauseous, but I was sure I had felt it once before. The closest thing I could describe it as was a deep sense of disappointment in myself, and all I wanted in that moment was for the feeling to go away.

There is still a chance he will come back, I have not failed completely.

My reassurance went unbelieved.

I groaned, curling up and blocking the world out with my wings. Life is easier without these feelings.

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Haddock Home, 12:42am

After the morning I'd had, I wasn't all too surprised when I found myself wideawake late into the night. My mind, even over twelve hours later, was still a storm of thoughts; mostly revolving around one specific dragon.

Lehaun.

A small pain flared in my chest where her claws had dug their way in. I tried to quell my fear, but the mere thought of her managed to instill dread in me. All throughout the day I had been haunted by those violet orbs, filled with the desire to kill and staring straight into my very soul, and the accompanying image of a mouth full of fire ready to be unleashed. Even the memory of her voice, so cold and unempathetic, managed to illicit a physical response.

I moaned, leaning over while rubbing my face before resting my hands in my lap and staring blankly ahead through the darkness of the room. Some part of me reasoned that the more I thought about it, the quicker it would be habituated into my psyche, but the other side was equally as adamant in sealing the thought away somewhere in my subconscious. Unfortunately for the ladder side not only was it near impossible not to think about it, but I had slowly been realizing that repressing trauma did little good for me in the long run.

That didn't mean, though, that I didn't want to get my mind of it all, and luckily—or unluckily depending on how one thought about it, I did happen to have other thoughts to dwell on.

I carefully placed my left hand over the Talisman in my right wrist, wincing at the pain that radiated from the area with contact. I had noticed it when confronting Lehaun, and had plenty of time afterwards to examine it, that the area surrounding the Talisman had been burned. Not severely enough to blister, but enough to leave a noticeable red burn that created a strange pattern of swirling tendrils around the area. I hadn't told anyone about it, fearing how I'd go about explaining it, which meant it hadn't gotten any better throughout the day. I didn't know what had caused the burn, but I had a hunch.

Whatever 'seal' had been placed over the Talisman had been broken.

I could feel the difference it made. I hadn't noticed too much of it while I was distracted dealing with Lehaun, but once I had left and entered the quiet forest, it was obvious. My perception was better; everything looked crisper and the color of everything seemed more vibrant and distinct, my soreness that had built up over days was all but gone, and I felt completely rejuvenated. And most obvious was the fact the should-be deep wounds in my chest were reduced to mere scars.

Dying, as far as I knew, did not cause those side effects.

There was also a new sensation I did not know how to place. An almost buzzing like sensation that would fill my mind every now and then with no discernable reason. One thing I did know, however, was that whenever I thought about the Talisman, the feeling would come and was more defined; a soft whirl instead of a jarring buzz.

All of these factors pointed to the seal being gone, but that left more questions than it answered.

A yawn brought me out of my remembrance. My eyes felt heavy, and my mind had begun to slow; finally exhausted with all it had gone through in one day. I settled into the cot, mind entirely focused on sleeping, and let the dark stillness of the house embrace me.

-0-0-0-0-0-

How long I had been staring at it, I didn't know. Minutes, hours, days, years; time was meaningless in the void the two of us inhabited.

It's body, while human in form, lacked any features that would otherwise tell of its true nature; being solely composed of a white light that seemed to pure to be real. It merely stood, as I did, staring at me. There was an odd sense of familiarity about it, but I couldn't place it.

For whatever reason, the first conscious thought entered my head. I've seen this thing before.

'You have.'

I started, not expecting the thing to respond to my inner thoughts, let alone it responding at all. It can read my mind?

'I can.' It replied again, it's voice void of any emotion as if it were a computer text-to-speech program.

"What are you, and where am I?" I asked aloud for no other reason than it felt more natural to converse that way.

'I don't know.'

"What do you mean? Are you not real?" Maybe it was merely a figment of my imagination, something made up by my mind in its distress, but if it were I would have expected it to be more interesting.

'I am real.' it said, an almost imperceivable smidge of emotion gracing its voice, sounding almost as if it had been offended by what I had said. 'I don't remember. That is all. Need more time.'

Even though I was feeling conscious, I was certain my thoughts were still stunted. It felt as if I could only think in the most basic of terms, there was no room for rationale. Because of this altered state of mind, instead of inquiring further as to what it meant by 'needing more time', my mind jumped off the topic and to the next.

"What do you remember, then?"

It stayed silent for a few seconds, and I could imagine its eyes wandering about as it thought, before it began walking toward me.

'I had purpose. I tried warning. I was sealed.' it began explaining, its underdeveloped sentences flowing quickly from its invisible mouth as it came closer. 'The seal broke. I still have purpose. Must prepare. Must prevent. You must help.' It came to a stop right in front of me. I felt the urge to back away and created some space, but I found my body paralyzed.

'Who am I?' it abruptly asked after a brief silence, its voice conveying a true want to know.

After what it had said, I had a feeling I did know its identity, but it made no sense if I were right. The Talisman was just an object after all, not a living thing. But it was too coincidental for it to have said it was 'sealed' and 'unsealed'.

I was about to respond when a thought rang out in the void around us.

He must be dreaming.

The thing in front of me, even though lacking a face, seemed as confused as I was.

I'm… dreaming? I thought, my logical mind finally waking up. Oh, that explains a lot, actually.

'Someone pesters you. Needed more time.' it said, almost in disappointment. 'What am I?' it asked urgently.

I shrugged. "A boring figment of my imagination, I guess."

My eyes drearily opened, and I was met with the sight of the main room, barely illuminated by the sun that had likely not even risen yet.

What a weird dream. I thought briefly as my gaze panned right.

Eyes. Ones that in my groggy state of mind were indistinguishable from another set that still terrified me.

I lunched up, ready to defend myself, before the quick realization set in that it was not her looming over my bedside, just the other annoying dragon.

"Jesus Christ, I am not in the mood for this crap you overgrown cat!" I half-yelled, still having half the mind to stay quiet.

The dragon grumbled, seemingly unamused by my annoyance.

"You're never in the mood."

The quippy remark from the dragon's owner didn't do much for my mood. "Never in the mood." I mimicked in tired annoyance, "Not in the mood for you either, Hiccup." I responded while rubbing my face.

A few seconds passed in which silence ruled the room, which I found odd seeing as Hiccup wasn't the type to quip back and forth.

"That was an accident, right? You repeating me?"

I stopped in my rubbing as clarity came to my mind. The voice that had spoken twice now had sounded like Hiccup, but it definitely wasn't his. It was deeper, for one, and also lacked the typical sound a physical voice had. The voice sounded like it was in my head, and there was only one other voice that sounded like that.

Oh, for the love of God, please don't tell me he's talking!

I stole a look at the dragon near me who was staring back with wide-eyes. "You… didn't speak just then, right? I'm just tired?"

His eyes somehow went wider. "Y-You can hear me?"

I felt my own eyes go wide. I could hear his projected thoughts, just like hers, and the reality of it hit me like cold water. How and why I could I didn't know nor care. All I knew in the moment was that things were continuing to grow complicated for me.

I let out a tired sigh. "Shit."

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