Hiccup stared out at the muggy swamp as he fiddled with his fingers. After the news of his possible death if he were to free Hadrian, his mind reacted before his body. He remembers bolting out of the underground library, through the front door, and his father finding him huddled under a huckleberry bush.
They brought him back and settled him down. But they words of kindness never breached. They were only muted by Hiccup thundering thoughts to never let Hadrian out. To never even let him come close to thinking he's free. He'd rather lose his sanity than his family.
Hiccup now stands out on Grandmamma's balcony, staring out at the swamp, alone. His keeps fiddling with his fingers, debating on how he should approach this. Crickets' music echoed through the night along with the comforting pale green glow of fireflies. His left hand soon glowed and he clenched his fist tight until the light was sealed in his hand.
"Go. Away." He growls, and after a soft laugh from the swamp, it went quiet.
But it was too quiet. Even the crickets had stopped. The hissing of an alligator was heard, and Hiccup cringed as he heard the cry of a bird cry out. There was the sound of splashing water, the hissing, the flapping of desperate wings and the cries. Then quiet. The crickets resumed, and Hiccup can't help but feel he'd just heard what his own fight with Hadrian will be like.
And how it could possibly end.
Hiccup opens his palm and sees nothing but the remains of his nails digging into his palm. Red crescents curve around the heel of his hand. He startles when he feels a hand on his shoulder. He turns to find Astrid.
"Um, Heather's grandmother found something, and I think you'll like it." She says with a soft smile.
She extends a hand to Hiccup. He takes it, and she leads him inside back down to the cellar which was brighter with the addition of a few more fresh torches. He comes down to find more books, but no they're piled in massive stacks surrounding a small circle at the back of the library. He follows Astrid to find his father, Heather, and everyone else looking through different books.
"What's going on?" Hiccup asks.
"We're trying to find a spell that could possibly help you with Hadrian." Fishlegs says as he rolls back up a scroll.
"A spell?" Hiccup questions.
"Yes." He hears Grandmamma say. "Those markings on your body, those are the cryptic signs for the Doppelganger. They especially made for someone who wants to create another being."
"So, Hadrian marked me with a spell, instead of a curse?" Hiccup asked with a hopeful tone.
"Well, for you, it's more like both." She said. "The markings were originally created to suspend evil spirits from one's body. Much like an exorcism."
"Oh well, that's comforting." Hiccup replies as he walks over to a chair.
Suddenly his head began to hurt, and he braced it between his hands. Suddenly, it was like a flashback to the arena, where Hiccup's eyes glowed that eerie blue, the world shuddered, and his hair levitated and swayed.
Suddenly, three circles appeared on Hiccup's forehead. Inside, strange cryptic, but they matched the ones all over his body. Hiccup's eyes returned to normal and the marks vanished, but the one on his forehead.
"But for your case, we're going to have to find a way to eliminate him from the inside." Grandmamma said.
"What is that?" Fishlegs asked.
"It just looks like three circles." Gobber said.
"Oh this is bad." Grandmamma stated. "Three marks is the making of the trinity. And so this makes it demonic in nature."
"Demonic? As in demon?" Fishlegs said as his body began to quiver.
"Strangely that's not too surprising." Gobber interjected.
"So what do we do?" Stoick asks.
"We must find a way to morph the spell and use the markings against Hadrian. To do this, we must consult every aspect of the witchcraft world."
"Then tell us what to do, we want to help Hiccup." Heather pleaded.
"To reverse this curse, we're going to need more than just a few simple spells." Grandmamma stated. "It won't be easy, but it can be done."
She snaps her fingers, and in a flash of bright light, the number of books had doubled. And with a wave of her hand, large handfuls began to levitate and swirl around everyone. Fishlegs hid behind Hiccup as they swirled around and around, opening to specific pages on their own, then closing and another opening in its place.
"These are the ones that should be useful to us. More than six thousand pages of spells, charms and incantations." She said.
"That's a lot of reading." Hiccup said, but he smiled, and this made everyone's mood feel lighter.
"These are just the basics. Now for more powerful magic, we must turn to these pages." Grandmamma said.
Everyone then spent the night reading and hoping that they would find something that would help. It was actually quite enjoyable since everyone seems to have a sense of humor. They've only been through an eighth of the books and already Snotlout started complaining. Thankfully the rather, motivational words from Gobber made him go back to searching.
As Hiccup was going through an old brown book, made of parchment and leather, Astrid comes up with another stack, then amusingly peeking out from behind. It made Hiccup chuckle as they continued the search. Hours must've passed, possibly days; it was a long night, and still nothing. And yet somehow, no one felt fatigue.
They kept going, they kept searching, and kept reading. Grandmamma would serve meals and water, and frankly Hadrian seemed pretty quiet. He must know they're doing something he must know Hiccup stands a chance, and he should be quiet. Because with theses spells and incantations, he won't stand a chance.
As Hiccup closed another book and placed it on top of the pile his height, he sighed. He leaned back into a shelf and hugged his knees, leaning his head against the shelf. He stared up at the torches and listened as people sniffed through more books and quietly conversed back and forth. Hiccup ruffles his hair and sighs.
"Tired?" a soft voice asks. Hiccup looks up and sees Heather with her hands coated in dust.
"More like curious." He replied. She gave him a questioning looks as she sat down next to him, crossing her legs. "Hadrian's been quiet lately."
"Guess even evil spirits need to sleep." She jokes.
"No, I mean. He hasn't made the marks glow, and I haven't heard his voice all night." Hiccup says.
"Are you saying that's a bad thing?" Heather asks while opening one of the books Hiccup already checked.
"I'm saying maybe he knows what we're doing. And, I think I want to talk to him."
He heard the sound of a book clapping to the floor. He looks to Heather and she's gone to serious and fear. Her green eyes ask if he's serious.
Hiccup only nods in return.
Candles in groups of three surrounded the circle of open spellbooks. Hiccup walks up and takes a deep breath and Grandmamma traces what looks like sparkling salt into a giant circle around the books.
"You sure you want to do this?" Fishlegs asks.
Hiccup only nods.
"Look Hiccup, you don't have to do this." Astrid says, placing a gentle hand on his arm.
"Yes, I do." Hiccup says.
He steps into the circle and sits at the epicenter, just as Grandmamma instructed. "Now, concentrate. Find your center, and take deep breaths." She instructed.
Hiccup took a deep breath, and closed his eyes.
"Palms up." he heard her whisper.
Hiccup stayed like this, breathing deeply. For a while nothing really happened. Then the marks trailed up his body and the trinity on his forehead beaconed over the entire place. Hiccup took a deep breath.
He spoke within his head, I know you're there. Hiding. What's wrong? Afraid I won't give in?
"You can, and you will." He replied.
If I can't stop you, they will, Hiccup stated.
"You know better than to fill your head with senseless ideas." He stated.
Hiccup's eyes opened, and he found the shack and his friends gone. In its place, the skeletal black forest he now so easily recognized. In his chest, his heart began to pound, rushing blood to his ears and adrenaline through his system. He could feel the presence in the room. It was like a tiny vibration humming in the air.
"I am always with you, Hiccup. You're a part of me, as I am to you. Forever."
Get. Out. Hiccup ordered.
The world of ash and charcoal whipped and tossed.
"You can't stop me Hiccup. No one can. And these spells may buy you time, but you're only delaying the inevitable."
The tangled boughs of the twig-trees scrambled back and forth, clawing wildly at one another. The ash swirled in wild cyclones and blustered in sandstorm clouds. Still, no sound of the chaos reached him.
Or maybe you're just setting yourself up for destruction, Hiccup snapped back.
In an instant, a blaze of white fire crashed into his chest. Hiccup felt every rib in his body crash into his lungs. The blaze of fire singing his clothes and hair. He expected blood to flood into his lungs as he crashed to ground, ash clinging to his clothes, binding him to the ground. Hiccup coughed, but only disturbed more ash, no blood.
"It's not your place to decide what to do." Hadrian stated. "In case you didn't know, I am the one with all the power. I am the one who decides. You don't have a choice. In fact, you're more like my lackey."
"I will not give you my body." Hiccup declared.
"You don't really have a choice. I'm taking it."
Suddenly, Hiccup rose from the ash and fisted his hands. Balls of what could only be described as lightning sparked and flickered in his hands. They were the size of a Monstrous Nightmare's eyeball. Hiccup raised them over his head and blasted a lone stream of light toward Hadrian, but he merely blocked it with his hand. Not even flinching.
The beam disappeared into his hands, as if he were absorbing it. "I see you picked up a few things from Heather's elder." He stated.
"I have a good memory." Hiccup said. He fisted his hands again and the balls reappeared.
"Ha! You think you're strong enough to beat me?" Hadrian mocked. "This, is real power."
Hadrian's whole body suddenly had an ominous red glow around him. His eyes were the deadliest color of red, and his clothes and hair, along with pebbles and rocks floated around him. Hadrian hovered one hand over the other, and a small red fireball ignited and grew in the middle. And as he raised it above his head like Hiccup, it grew larger by the second.
As big as a full-grown Gronckle. It glowed and blanketed the entre land and Hiccup in red. It glowed so bright, Hiccup had to cover his eyes, but that was the mistake. Hadrian slammed it to the ground and the entire thing shattered. Hiccup went flying back, skipping across the dirt like a stone on water.
Once he looked up, Hadrian was still standing with two more balls ready on each hand. He walked over to Hiccup, standing over him. Towering like an impending shadow.
"I always was the better fighter, Hiccup."
Hiccup stared him down as Hadrian took raised on hand blasted Hiccup.
Outside, everyone stood on edge as Hiccup had fallen into a deep trance. Eyes closed, marks glowing, he didn't say one word.
"Hadrian's contacted him." Astrid said. "We have to help!"
She was about to step into the circle, when Grandmamma's vicious arm lashed out like a viper. "NO! You mustn't. If you disturb the meditation, it could be fatal."
Back in Hiccup's mind, he and Hadrian stood, facing each other. Hiccup had pushed himself up, not willing to lose just yet.
"You're friends can't stop me, and neither can you. How many times do I have to tell you?" Hadrian said. "How can you bare to watch them suffer?"
"How are they suffering?" Hiccup asked.
"Can't you see the pain in their eyes when they look and see you talking to nothing? They fear for you, Hiccup."
"It's because they care. Unlike you. Why do you even want to be free? No one care about you at all!" Hiccup railed.
"Trust is for the weak. Fear is the only way to make them do what you want. Even you fear me." Hadrian said. "I don't need any friends. I'm simply looking out for number one. That's the way it's always been."
"Sounds pretty lonely." Hiccup said.
"I don't need your sympathy, in fact I just don't want it." He said, and he blasted Hiccup again for emphasis.
Hiccup plowed into a rock side and slid down to the ground in time to watch Hadrian stalk closer. "I don't understand. What did I ever do to make you hate me?" Hiccup asked.
"You were born."
Then with another blast, Hiccup gets blinded by the light and feels a huge wave of power devour him. Thunder rumbled around him and in a flash, he felt himself thrown back. He felt himself travel through worlds until he crashed into his own skin. In a crack of lightning, and a pound of thunder, his eyes flew open.
He gasped and was soon caught in a mixture of coughing and wheezing as his father and friends stared at him in relief and fear. He looked at his hands, his arms, legs, and the marks were gone. He quickly scrambled up and out of the circle. He crashed into his father, and thankfully Stoick gripped him, preventing him from falling.
"Are ya' all right son?" he asked.
"Yeah, yeah." Hiccup said between breaths.
"Did you see Hadrian?" Fishlegs asked.
"Seen him. Heard him. Felt him." Hiccup stated. "We need to keep looking."
"Very well." Grandmamma said. "Our best chance is to find that mark." She pointed to a rough sketch of the symbol on Hiccup's forehead.
He darted to the back of the library. He heard someone call after him, but he didn't listen. He sped-walk all the way to the back and continued to search through mounds of books. He heard no one come and join him, but he didn't mind.
Hadrian's power had grown, and while they won't exist in the real world, as long as Hadrian inhabited his mind, there's no telling what he's capable of. Hiccup had had enough. He'd search through every page in every book in the room.
He was done.