Author's Note: Is it safe to come out now? *peeks down from a tree*

Right then! So some of you have been wondering why Hiccup and Jack were separated in the last chapter. The answer, I'm sorry to say, will be revealed in the next chapter, not this one. Still, there will be some interesting developments here (AKA the plot thickens...), so hopefully it'll tide you guys over until the next time I update. Feel free to speculate.

Disclaimer: I do not own Rise of the Guardians, How to Train Your Dragon or Portal/Portal 2.

Hypothesis

Chapter 9: Ghosting

Jack woke up alone.

Letting out a soft groan as his eyelids fluttered open, he found himself lying sprawled on his side on a dusty ground, his right forearm resting uncomfortably on top of his portal gun. There was a faint throbbing at the back of his head and he slowly reached up to rub at the pained spot, feeling a small bump underneath his hair. Did he hit his head or something? What happened –

Images of green eyes and orange flames flashed before his eyes, flooding his mind with memories of the last test chamber. Hiccup's screams for him echoed in his ear, growing unbearably louder and louder and causing his heart to pound wildly with panic. Everything rushed back all at once, hitting him like a punch to the gut and making him feel as if all the air had been sucked out of his lungs.

Jack jerked upright with a loud gasp, ignoring the ache spreading through his sore body as his head swiveled around frantically, wide eyes searching for a certain missing brunet. There was no one else in sight, and his chest began to tighten with dread.

"Hiccup?" he called out with a trembling voice, tendrils of fear creeping into his heart. Scrambling to his feet, he swayed unsteadily for a moment, taking a few seconds to regain his balance. He waited for a reply, hoping against hope that the other teen would pop out from behind a wall or something. Hiccup was probably hiding, thinking of playing a trick on him, and he would flash that cute little lopsided smile of his and tease Jack about worrying so much after scaring him for a while.

Nothing happened.

"Hic, come on! This isn't funny anymore!"

The silence was deafening.

"HICCUP! ANSWER ME, PLEASE!"

Panting breathlessly, Jack knew he was starting to sound desperate, but he refused to believe what his memories told him. It was impossible, there was no way Hiccup was d–

:: Where are you? ::

He jumped in fright, startled by the unexpected intrusion of the accursed voice. Curiously enough, it seemed as though it was far away, lacking its usual clarity and sounding more muffled than usual.

:: I know you're there. I can feel you here. ::

There? Here? Come to think of it, where was he anyway?

Jack spun around, finding himself in a dark hallway only dimly lit by a small bulb in the distance. Rusted pipes lined the dirty walls and there was the hiss of steam and hum of machinery echoing all around. The air felt uncomfortably damp and it was warm, but not unbearably so. Some light from above caught his attention and he tilted his head back, spotting a ragged hole somewhere up high near the ceiling. Across that hole was a mess of live wires sticking out from the opposite wall, and his eyes followed the trail of sparks down to where he noticed the crash site of a fallen panel, sporting ripped wires protruding out of its back.

Poor maintenance must have caused it to come loose and fall to the ground, but how could that be? Why was this place so run-down, so different from the clean and sterile test chambers? It was like he was behind the scenes or something, somewhere where the voice couldn't find him, but how did he get here? Was he even still in the same building?

There were too many questions and not enough answers, so Jack decided to search the wreckage to look for clues. Upon closer inspection of the shattered panel, he discovered that its front had once been a portal-conducting surface…

And suddenly all the pieces of the puzzle clicked in his mind.

:: Didn't we have some fun? We're all impressed at how much you won. The test is over. Come back. ::

"Fun? FUN?" Jack snarled, glaring aimlessly at the darkness and clenching his fists in anger. "You tried to kill us! You – YOU KILLED HICCUP!"

Hearing himself admit the truth that he had tried so hard to deny caused a torrent of emotions to slam into him, sending him to his knees as he choked out a sob, tears welling in his eyes. Rage and fury at the voice turned into grief and anguish knowing that he would never see or touch the brunet, never hear him laugh or watch him smile ever again. All the energy seemed to drain out of his body and his left arm felt cold, the absence of his sleeve a keen reminder of who he had lost. That idiot just had to go and play the self-sacrificing hero and save his life again, didn't he?

You promised me, Hic… Why did you have to go and break your promise?

Jack felt a wave of resentment building in his chest, directed not towards Hiccup – he could never hate the freckled teen – but towards the voice that had orchestrated the whole operation and forced them to choose between each other. It said he had won, which implied that they were never going to make it out alive together. One of them would be killed while the other…

Jack shuddered at the thought of whatever the voice had planned for the victor. The last test chamber had likely been designed to be inescapable as his disappearance had clearly thrown a wrench into its schemes. Yet despite finding a viable exit through a hole in the wall, Hiccup had chosen to save him, portaling him outside where he would be safe from whoever was controlling the facility instead of leaving his unconscious partner at the mercy of the voice.

And now it wanted Jack to come back?

Fine.

:: A party associate will arrive shortly to collect you for your party. Make no further attempt to leave the testing area. ::

As much as Jack wished it wasn't true, deep down inside he knew Hiccup was gone. If he got himself killed or captured, Hiccup's death would have been in vain, which was why he didn't intend to let that happen.

Furiously wiping away his tears before they could fall, Jack picked himself up, his right hand grabbing his portal gun in a white knuckled grip as he stood up in determination. From the corner of his eye, he spotted a flight of rusty stairs in the distance, leading up towards an open doorway.

He started to run.

:: What are you doing? You haven't escaped, you know. You're not even going the right way. ::

I'm not planning on escaping, he thought darkly, pausing only slightly in his steps to turn a sharp corner on the left. I'm going to hunt you down and when I find you, I'm going to destroy you.

Jack pushed away the thought of saving himself while he still could, suppressing the instinct to get as far away from the voice as possible. Revenge wouldn't bring Hiccup back, but it would sure as hell make him feel better.

:: Uh oh. Somebody cut the cake. I told them to wait for you, but they did it anyway. There is still some left, though, if you hurry back. ::

Screw the cake, there probably wasn't even one to begin with.

Portaling to the catwalk on the other side of the next room, Jack twisted open the door at the end and found himself in an abandoned office, complete with rolling chairs and computer monitors. There was even an unfinished slide show presentation in the small room connected to it (something to do with someone called Green Mesa?), and a quick peek through the glass windows showed the view of an empty test chamber.

What is this, an observation deck? And where is everybody?

Interestingly, as Jack continued on his seemingly random path towards what he hoped was the control room of the facility, he started to notice little signs hinting that he wasn't alone behind the scenes, signs like handprints and stick figures, arrows and the words OVER HERE on the dirty walls. The paint was dried and crusty, indicating that whoever used them had long gone.

He was skeptical at first, but seeing as he had no idea if he was even going in the right direction, he decided to take a leap of faith and follow the clues whenever he came across them. His mysterious helper hadn't failed him so far, leading him deeper and deeper into the heart of the facility, and Jack soon found himself keeping an eye out for the writing on the walls, at least to assure himself that he was on the right track.

Then he stumbled upon a hidden den.

:: You really shouldn't be here. This isn't safe for you. It's not too late for you to turn back. ::

The hideout was sparse, containing a few empty bottles and some old crates. Splashed across the floor were papers with illegible handwriting along with several plastic markers and other writing materials. A familiar semi-circular radio sat on top of a crate, but what caught Jack's attention was what had once been a blank wall.

THE CAKE IS A LIE
THE CAKE IS A LIE
THE CAKE IS A LIE
THE CAKE IS A LIE

TRUST ME
NEVER

HELP

WHY WHY WHY
WHY WHY WHY
WHY WHY WHY

STOP WATCHING

I WAS WRONG

Messy scrawling littered the walls and pictures were taped onto them, words were underlined and circled, and a picture of a cake was violently crossed out in red. There were sketches of security cameras and turrets, more handprints and what seemed like a small shrine dedicated to a Companion Cube, featuring no few drawings of the white object and small hearts doodled next to them.

Someone's obsessed, Jack thought absently, marveling at the sight around him. He deduced that the hideout was a place where his helper had taken shelter while he lived under the radar. The person seemed to have spent years in hiding, evading capture and leaving notes and clues for anyone who managed to escape. Jack guessed that the voice had sealed up the test chambers tightly to prevent test subjects from discovering the scrawls in the dens.

Is he still alive, living undetected somewhere in the bowels of the facility? Or am I chasing a ghost here?

More hideouts were discovered as he continued on his journey. Diligently studying the scribbles on the walls, Jack slowly pieced together a mental profile of his mysterious helper and gathered information about the facility. His initial assessment of the person was that he was insane, looking at his repetitive writing and tracing his kaleidoscopic trail of thoughts. Being alone for so long had probably messed with his mind, and Jack couldn't blame him for it. He still seemed relatively coherent enough though, understanding what he had been scribbling about in his notes despite sounding as if he was talking to himself. One scrawl in particular finally revealed the identity of the voice:

MIM - MANAGERIAL INTERFACE MODULE

SHE'S WATCHING YOU

MIM, huh? Well whoever you are, I'm coming for you.

:: This is your last chance. ::

And if Jack thought the test chambers were dangerous, they were nothing compared to the maze of hazards he had to navigate through. Stumbling across wire cages containing deactivated turrets should have alerted him that things were going to get uglier, and sure enough, he found himself portaling over rooms flooded with poison, dodging mini armies of turrets, jumping into a tube which ferried storage cubes, and even avoiding getting crushed by giant metallic pumps.

None of the dangers deterred him though. If anything, it made him even more determined to get to wherever MIM was, dead set on ending it once and for all.

:: I'm going to kill you, and all the cake is gone. ::

Author's Note: Surprise surprise – MIM (what it stands for sounds stupid, I know) is playing the role of GLaDOS! Was anyone expecting that? ;)