I'm sorry it's been so long since I updated. I'm not sure if it has but it feels like it. There's just been a lot going on. But I haven't forgotten!

Chapter 6

A week had passed since Hiccup had escorted Astrid back to Berk from the mountain cavern. And it was in her bed that she stayed. Hiccup stopped by the Hofferson house each day to see her but the results didn't vary. Astrid was either sleeping, which had become a tremulous affair, and fighting to wake herself from whatever nightmare, or she was barely awake and struggling to remain so. Hiccup didn't know what to do.

It was his preoccupation with Astrid that kept him from noticing the minor disturbances that were occurring throughout the village. Stoick, however, was not spared, as many of these disturbances were whispered to him hushed voices. No iron-wielding Viking wanted to publicly admit to being bothered by something they couldn't identify.

Hiccup was on his way to see Astrid after his minimal lunch when he spotted the first oddity; two Vikings whispering in soft voices beside the village well. Their faces were not the brave and determined Vikings they normally were, instead the looks shaken and anxious. When they spotted Hiccup they ceased their speech.

Hiccup dismissed this. Vikings didn't always have to make sense.

Ingrid was sitting at the table. The pallor of her skin was only rivaled by the trembling of her hands. She clutched a cup of mead between them.

"Ingrid?" Hiccup said as he took a step toward the table.

"Hm?" Ingrid blinked . She glanced over her shoulder at him.

"Is something wrong?" Hiccup asked. If Ingrid was down here that meant that Astrid was most likely asleep. She had been keeping a vigil on Astrid since Hiccup had brought her home.

"Oh, no. It's nothing." Ingrid shook her head.

But Hiccup knew that tone. It was steady but marred by a whispering uncertainty. It was the same as Astrid's when there was something troubling her. Hiccup pulled the second chair out from the table and sat down.

"Ingrid? Is it Astrid?" Hiccup asked.

"Oh, no, it's not. I think." Ingrid shrugged.

"What does that mean?" Hiccup asked.

Ingrid sighed. She closed her eyes and gently shook her head. She glanced toward the stairs before she began to speak, "I think this house is haunted."

"What?" Hiccup asked. He swallowed. He didn't like that word.

"I keep seeing things…shadows move in the corner of my eye but when I look there is nothing. I get this feeling that someone is standing behind me but I know that I'm alone. And I swear I can hear someone walking up and down the stairs. But when I look, Astrid is in bed." Ingrid shook her head. She took a long drink of the mead. "I don't know what to do. I don't want to blame her…but it's the only explanation."

Hiccup bit his lip. Could it be Astrid? Or was it whatever had happening in the other world? He turned his head to look around the room but he didn't see anything out of the ordinary; just the normal Berk chill. But something had clearly bothered Ingrid. She wasn't the person to get shaken up easily.

"I'm sorry, it's probably nothing." Ingrid shook her head. She gestured to the hearth. "I made soup but she wasn't awake. Take some up there. Maybe you can get her to eat. Poor girl is getting skinny."

Hiccup nodded. The pot of hearty soup was keeping warm over the fire. He ladled a portion into a bowl and headed up the stairs. He made note of the sound that each stair made. At the top he paused. How could they made sounds unless someone was walking up them?

Astrid sighed in her sleep and Hiccup shook those thoughts off. She was laying on her side and clutching the blanket in a tight fist. She was breathing hard, as if she'd been running. Hiccup set the soup down on the bedside table and reached down to gently shake her shoulder.

"Astrid?" Hiccup asked. When he had called to her before she had always came back to him. "Astrid, wake up."

Her hand twitched and her face scrunched up as she groaned. It was like she was trying to wake up but couldn't. He pulled the chair up to the bed and sat down.

"Come on, Astrid. I know you can do it." Hiccup said.

She started to make struggling sounds, whined under her breath, and rolled onto her back. She arched and several bones popped and cracked. The sound made Hiccup cringed. It took a few more attempts to coax her awake but finally he managed to pull her out of it. She blinked several times and rubbed her hands over her face and through her hair.

"Good afternoon." Hiccup smiled. It was nice to see her blue eyes again.

"Afternoon?" Astrid asked. Her voice was dry and weak.

"I brought you some soup." Hiccup said.

Astrid nodded. He helped her to sit up and he did notice a subtle change. The color in her face was gone. Even in the week that she'd slept she looked thinner, sickly so. She took several grateful spoonfuls of the soup before she spoke again.

"Hiccup, I went back to the temple and I think-"

"Astrid, I told you not to." Hiccup interrupted. By Thor she was stubborn! He pushed the soup toward her.

"Hiccup, listen-" Astrid managed to say before she accepted another long drink.

"Astrid, you're killing yourself! You need to stop going back to that place." Hiccup said. He was putting his foot down this time.

"I can't help it." Astrid said in a voice that made his heart bleed. It was pitiful, helpless, and depressed. "It pulls me back, I wake up there. The robed man chases me there. I can't. I just…can't."

"Astrid," Hiccup said. He hadn't heard her sound so defeated. "It's…fine. Just tell me what you were going to say."

But Astrid was fighting with the words. Her eyes were fighting her to close and her movements were numbed. She tried to speak but her words were mumbled and muffled with her body's inability to stay awake.

"Astrid?" Hiccup reached out to keep her from falling out of the bed. She collapsed into his arm. Sighing, he laid her back onto the bed. She hadn't lasted but a minute or two.

The time she could keep her spirit in her body varied. It had been as long as an hour a few days ago but it could be as short a as a few seconds. At least this time she had eaten something. Hiccup kissed her head before leaving her to her fitful sleep. He felt guilty for leaving her but he knew there was little he could do.

He bid goodbye to Ingrid and she gave him a halfhearted wave in return. He brushed a hand through his hair as he made his way back to the heart of the village. He wasn't paying attention as he walked passed the well but a strange sound brought his feel to a halt.

A cry from within the well was echoing off the stone walls. A terrible surge of fear bloomed in his chest as the sound resonated. Something was clawing at the stone like it was trying to get out. Panicked, Hiccup rushed to the well's side.

The darkened water rippled as if something had just fallen in. When he was this close he could hear the sound better. It didn't sound…normal. The water began to rage and a hand burst through it.

"Hold on! I'll get you out!" Hiccup called down to them. But no sooner had he reached to the rope and bucket beside the well than the rest of the body came after it's hand.

It was a woman, skin frozen white and splotched with bruises, black eyes bulging, sockets deathly dark, mouth gapping open without a sound. Hiccup stood rooted to the spot, rope grasped tightly in his hands. Her sudden shout brought the sensation back into his legs. He stumbled backward and tripped over the rope. The sound vanished as he collided with the ground.

Hiccup was stunned for a moment but carefully picked himself up. He held his breath as he peered over the well's edge. He expected the same horror but the woman was gone from the dark depths.

The day passed and Hiccup tried not to think about that face. Wanting to get his mind on something else he thought this would be a good time to test out his flight suit prototype. He stopped by the smithy with Toothless, who was eager to get back into the sky. He sniffed the strange leather and eyed Hiccup with a strange and curious look.

"Oh, it'll be fine." Hiccup reassured him as he lowered the face mask over his mouth.

With a few good laps around Berk and no major problems with the suit he took Toothless higher and farther, testing the wind resistance and wind shield, and making sure that it didn't all fall apart once the wind picked up. As the afternoon turned into evening Hiccup was satisfied with his first real test result. He was thinking of all the modifications he could do as they landed outside the smithy. He unloaded his suit and before he forgot he scribbled his new ideas into his book.

The test had been an excellent idea. A flight always took his worries away and left him feeling liberated. But now that his feet were back on solid ground those worries were beginning to leak back in. He headed home and hoped there was still some dinner left. His small lunch was catching up to him, it felt like there was a tiny dragon in his stomach.

His elevated mood was deflated as he stepped into his house. The fire was blazing and the hour old smell of mutton waffled, but Stoick sat at the table with his concerned chief's stare squinted at the fire.

"Uh, you alright Dad?" Hiccup asked. Toothless however was unperturbed and headed to his basket of fish.

Stoick groaned. "Where do I start?"

Hiccup grabbed the left over mutton and sat down at the table.

"Vikings have been complaining about the strangest things." said Stoick. "Half of them are terrified and the other half think they're going mad."

Hiccup choked. "Wh-what? What kind of things?"

"I thought they were all going mad myself until I saw what they were talking about." Stoick shook his head. "I came home, put the mutton on the fire, and wasn't gone but five minutes. I came back at there was a woman I'd never seen before standing beside the fire. I was about to say something when I blinked, and she was gone."

"And…that is what other people are saying they're seeing?" Hiccup asked carefully.

"I've been hearing about all sorts of nonsense. Shadows moving about, people talking but there's no people that should be talking, footsteps in empty rooms, and the animals are all in a frenzy. I don't know what to do about it." Stoick shrugged. His glare shifted from the fire and landing purposefully on Hiccup.

"Yes?" Hiccup asked, trying not to sound guilty.

"Do you know why this is happening?" Stoick asked.

"Uh…well…not really." Hiccup shook his head. But his father's stare was persistent. He swallowed and told his father about Astrid's predicament. "I don't know what happened in the spirit world but I guess it's effecting everything."

"So something happened and now all these…dead people can wander around freely?" Stoick asked. "Is there nothing that lass can do about it?"

"Not like she is now." Hiccup shrugged. He was at a total loss. And he told his father so, to. "I don't know what to do. I can't go with her into the spirit world and she can't stay awake long enough to hold a conversation. I don't know how to help her or Berk right now."

"This is what I feared would happen." Stoick said darkly. "It all started with that woman. I never trusted her, and you shouldn't either. There are things we shouldn't mess with and the dead is one of them. One of the first ones, I'd think. Because nothing good comes from messing with the otherworld."

"I'm sorry, Dad." Hiccup said.

"It's fine, son. There's nothing to be done about it now." Stoick said. "But I warn you, Son, it won't be long and people will start to blame her for what's happening."

"I know." Hiccup sighed. Maybe they could figure this out before it came to that.

Astrid was beyond frustrated. She couldn't stay awake and when she was it was like being submersed into thick mud. Every movement took so much energy that she didn't have. She was back and forth between her room and the temple. How long had it been? Hours? A day? Maybe even two. She didn't know. There was no way to tell.

Hiccup came by and he would speak to her. She could hear his voice. It was because of him calling her that she was about to pull herself back, even if it was momentary. But she hadn't managed to tell him. She never had the time. When she thought about it, she would black out again and fall back into the shadows of the spirits' mess.

She was in its halls again when she heard Hiccup's call. She reached for it and tried to pull him closer to her. She fought to hold onto it with everything she had. At last the darkness weaned and the wooden ceiling of her bedroom came into focus. Hiccup was sitting there, dutifully, smiling a warm greeting. Seeing him was such a comfort that she couldn't even explain.

"Hey, I brought you some breakfast." said Hiccup. He was holding two plates and holding one out for her.

"It's morning?" Astrid asked. The smell was amazing. Her stomach rumbled viciously at the sight.

"Yeah." Hiccup nodded.

Astrid pushed herself up on her elbows to eat but her arms gave out. She fell back down to the bed and groaned in exasperation. Hiccup set the plates down and reached out to help her but she pushed his arms away.

"I can do it." Astrid spat. It wasn't aimed at him but she saw the defeat on his face. She couldn't push herself up to a sitting position. She was Astrid, her name was synonymous with strong and fearless. But she felt like a dead yak. She sounded like one too.

It took tremendous effort but she pushed herself up. Hiccup was on the edge of his seat and wanted to help her but knew that she'd only push him away again. She would have, too.

"Hungry?" Hiccup said, picking the plates up again.

"Yes." Astrid nodded. Food never tasted so good. She ate quickly and as much as she could. She was still exhausted but not as bad as she could have been. This time she might be able to stay awake for more than a few minutes.

"Hiccup, how long has it been?" Astrid asked. She dreaded the answer but she could smell herself.

Hiccup hesitated. "About a week."

"What?" Astrid nearly dropped the plate. "A week?"

She had assumed maybe two days. But a whole week? No wonder she felt so…disgusting. She hadn't cleaned herself in a week. She pushed the plate back to him and drew her legs up to the edge of the bed. She knew her legs would not support her but she refused to admit it. She stood up and Hiccup was the only reason she did not collide with the floor.

"What do you need?" Hiccup said quickly.

"A bath. Let's go." Astrid said. She motioned him toward the stairs. "To the wash basin downstairs."

Hiccup swallowed but he did as he was told. He supported her down the stairs and into the backroom. Ingrid was out of the house so it wasn't as awkward as it could have been. Besides, it wasn't like he'd never seen her naked before.

While she undressed Hiccup went outside to fetch the water from the well. She pulled a fur over herself as the front door opened and closed. She dumped the water into the basin. She could see the distraction on his face but let it slide.

"Astrid, I don't feel comfortable leaving you in here." Hiccup said to the basin. "What if you fall asleep and drown?"

Astrid sighed. He was right. "Fine. Stand over there and face the wall."

"The water isn't warm at all." Hiccup said. He was stalling.

"That's fine. I'm on a timer." Astrid said. A cold bath didn't sound fun but it was all she had. She wasn't going to complain.

She waited until Hiccup was by the wall to drop the fur. She dipped a finger into the water. It was freezing. She jerked her head back to him.

"Are you looking?" She asked.

"No." Hiccup said quickly.

She kept an eye on Hiccup's back as she quickly washed. She felt immensely better but she could feel the dregs of sleep returning. When she was finished she was shivering. With a shaking hand she pulled the fur back around her.

"I'm done." Astrid said. Her voice was oddly intrusive on the quiet.

"Astrid, don't fall asleep. You need to get dressed." Hiccup said in a hasty and fearful tone.

He was right. She couldn't leave him in that awkward situation. But the sleep was edging closer and she didn't care if he was looking. She heard him shuffle and she let the fur fall and reached for her undergarments. It was only after she'd put on the basics that Hiccup came to help her. She noted the pink across his cheeks but didn't have the voice to poke him.

Hiccup helped her up the stairs. At the top she could see the bed. Underneath it lurked a cold white face. Blackened eyes watched her like a hungry dragon watched the open water. But she didn't have time for their scary nonsense. Right now she was more worried about making it to the bed before she went out completely.

She collapsed onto the bed and was out before Hiccup let go of her.

The next several days on Berk went by with tense nerves and shifting eyes. These strange occurrences had become the daily talk. Ingrid had found a small bloodied girl hiding in her cupboard. She was huddled right between the dried fish and eggs. Ingrid was so shaken up that it had taken several cups of mead to calm her down.

Gobber had taken all the complains with a grain of salt until he had his own. He had been accusing someone of lurking in the forge, shuffling his things, and coughing. But one night his lack of accusations had struck the table odd. He revealed that he had seen the perpetrator. When the other Vikings ask him who it had been he wouldn't say.

Sven believes himself to be going mad. His field is full of wandering shadows that do not vanish in the light. They moan and whine and keep him up at night. They are persistent and frighten the sheep. Bucket and Mulch are worried about the chickens. They are very upset, they say. The animals are all in a frenzy. They won't hardly come out of the barn. They huddle together and shake.

Snotlout projected himself above the stories until he received his own starting experience. He returned home to find a strange man in his home. When he thrust a sword at him the sword fell right through and stuck in the wall behind. Fishlegs had woken half the village one early morning with a terrified scream. He had seen a shadow man standing at his bedside.

But the most obvious of worries were the dragons. They were twitchy, nervous, and ready to attack. The Vikings are become attached to their dragons companions and when something was bothering them, it bothered the Vikings.

The complaints were becoming concerns and Vikings were not afraid to voice them. They wanted answers and they wants these strange things to end. Stoick was at his wits end. He was not equip to handle such unnatural problems.

What could he say to them? That the girl who spoke to dead people had nothing to do about the dead people wandering the village? They weren't buying that anymore.

Vikings were finding any excuse to leave the village. The dragons could use the exercise. The fish supply was getting low. It wouldn't hurt to have a few more scouts out. The excuses went on. But one afternoon, Stoick received news that pushed the wandering dead from his mind.

Astrid woke to the unfocused ceiling. She blinked several times and tried to will her body to move. She rolled onto her side and was surprised to see Hiccup sitting there.

"Hiccup?" Astrid asked.

"Huh?" Hiccup jumped. He looked up at her and smiled, straightened his back and sighed.

"Are you okay?" Astrid asked.

"Oh, yeah. I'm good." Hiccup nodded. But he was lying. She kept her eyes on his, willing him to speak, and he finally gave in and blurted it out. "The village is being terrorized by dead people and people are starting to blame you. I don't know what to do and people are losing sleep and getting cranky."

"Hiccup, I think I know how to fix it." Astrid said. "And where."

"How?" Hiccup asked. He looked exhausted.

"I kept going back to that temple, and there is this cave underneath it where whatever broke the spirit world happened. There are these girls there, doing some kind of ritual, and I've seen their faces, Hiccup. Esol is one of them. Wherever she and what's-his-name went is where the rift started." Astrid told him. She had been meaning to tell him but she had never had the time.

"What?" Hiccup asked. "But…are you sure?"

"Yes." Astrid nodded. "I'm positive. We need to find them, Hiccup. As soon as possible. We have to go there."

Hiccup didn't look to enthused. He rubbed his face and sighed. "I'm sorry, Astrid. It'll have to wait."

"What?" Astrid asked. "Why? I thought Berk was in trouble."

"It is, but there's a second part to my, uh, list of troubles." Hiccup said.

"What is it?" Astrid said. "The village is being haunted. What is more important than that right now? If don't want a Viking mod to come knocking on my door."

"I know, I know, Astrid. Do you not think I've thought about that?" Hiccup asked in a hollow tone. He groaned and put his head in his hands. "Look, something else has come up. One of the scouts came back this morning and said they saw Berserker ships. Three days out, maybe. We have to prepare for battle."

"But…it's just Dagur. I mean…we've faced him before." Astrid said. Why was he so worried about Dagur?

"Yeah, but they said he's got an armada ten times the size. Apparently he's been busy while he was away." Hiccup said lowly. "Right now, there is nothing we can do about the ghosts. We have to focus on defending Berk from the living threats first."

Astrid started to get up. Her entire body felt like mud. But before she could get out of bed Hiccup put a firm hand on her shoulder.

"Come on, Hiccup. I have to help." Astrid said. She tried to push his hand off but he wasn't letting up.

"I know, Astrid. But you can't. Not like this." Hiccup said. He gently pushed her shoulder back down to the bed. She wanted to argue but knew it was useless. His eyes were determined and focused.

And he was right about her. Like this, she would be useless in a fight. She'd get herself killed. Useless. That word rang like poison in her mind. She hated it, especially when it was her. It made her feel so…worthless.

Hiccup cupped her cheeks and rubbed a thumb underneath her eye. His face softened, like he wanted to say something, but he couldn't put it into words. He leaned down and kissed her.

"I'm sorry, Astrid." he whispered. "Stay here. Dad and I will deal with Dagur and then we'll deal with the ghost problem together. I promise."

He leaned back and kissed her head. She could feel the sleep pulling her back. She fought against it but eventually lost. Hiccup stayed where he was. The last thing she saw was of him sitting beside her. His worried face blurred into the shadows of the other side.

Ah, Hiccstrid fluff. I love it! I didn't do my extra proofread over the second half so I'm sorry if there's typos or grammar problems. I know I should, but I'm exhausted and I set today as my deadline. It's technically past midnight so I kind of failed…kind of. Thanks for reading! Leave a review if you'd like.