"So, just to clarify, you dug a new well because the old one started smelling funny. And people who drank from it got sick?"

"That's the gist of it, Son." Stoick rested his hands on his hips. "So are you going to help?"

"I don't have a good reason to say no. It's not like I'm scared."

"Excellent! We'll get the ropes ready!"

It was only about a half an hour later that Hiccup found himself harnessed up and standing in front of the old well. His assembled friends had the rope, and were prepared to lower him into the hole.

Toothless looked on, unsure as well. He couldn't go down there. He couldn't protect his boy.

Hiccup gave him a thumbs up and a faked smile, clearly seeing that his dragon was upset. He climbed the wall of the well and sat on the edge.

"Ready?" Asked Snotlout, the first in line holding the rope.

Hiccup held out a torch for Toothless to ignite, and then nodded to Snotlout. He then began his descent into the darkness.

—

Astrid and Boat Hiccup disembarked on the next island. There were no rock walls waiting for them this time, but the fog persisted. The sky above the water was a midday overcast gray, but in this new island, it was dark and sinister, a muted purple with variegated streaks across it. Silhouettes of spiraling towers dotted the hazy landscape, and dead trees and shrubs covered the ground.

A raven cawed.

"I'm guessing this is fear," Astrid mused aloud. "Because, not going to lie, I'm kind of scared just looking at it."

"Want to hold my hand?"

She scoffed, but still did take his hand.

As they stepped on the black, fog hidden ground, the fog rolled away slightly to reveal a path of misshapen stones. Astrid took the lead, and urged them on.

It was hard to see, but soon they arrived at a small hill. The hill had a stone post and lintel entryway, where the stone path led too.

"Nope," Astrid stated as she began to back away from the mound.

As if her words triggered it, a specter of Hiccup appeared next to her. This was not an aspect of him like Boat Hiccup or the other emotions, but a literal ghost. Perhaps a memory? He was young. About 8 or 9 if she had to guess. He was transparent, and gave off a bluish glow.

A young Dagur was with him as well, about 12, but still much taller and beefier.

"So…I just have to go in, and bring back a skull?" Said little Hiccup.

"That's correct, brother! Once you give me a skull, I will know you are truly as brave as any other viking, and I will take care of Snotlout for you."

Young Hiccup squared his shoulders, and took a deep breath. "I am brave. I'm the bravest of them all!"

"You bet you are! Now, go get 'em!"

Astrid watched with dread as the ghost of her friend stomped towards the burial mound, before disappearing.

"Ah," said Boat Hiccup. "Now I remember this place."

"It's the burial site on the south side of the island," Astrid confirmed. "Always freaked me the hell out. But I never went inside."

"Well, Hiccup went in only once. I have a feeling it's going to look different from how it really is."

"I'm doing this for Hiccup," Astrid whispered as she went toward the door.

Once they were both inside, ghost Hiccup returned, creeping forward slowly. Suddenly, the stone door shifted and closed on him.

Hiccup ran through them, at the stone, screaming, "Dagur! Dagur don't! Please!"

All that responded was an echoing laugh, and then silence.

Hiccup pounded his tiny fists on the door, crying. "I'm so stupid. I never should have listened to him. Brotherhood…go to hell." And then he disappeared again, plunging Astrid and Boat Hiccup into pure darkness.

Astrid shook her head in rage. "How did I know that was going to happen?"

"Now what? Think we can bust through the door?"

"I don't think we need to. I think we just need to see where this leads. Hopefully, when I find and awaken Fear, he can lead us out."

"That's optimistic."

Astrid wished for a light source, and then reached into her dress pocket. She felt a metal ring and pulled, yanking out a lit lantern.

"This is such a handy trick. I wish it worked in the real world."

Boat Hiccup gave her a smile, now that he was illuminated.

Astrid turned to face the inside of the mound, and was greeted by the unpleasant sight of a single room crypt. There were two stone caskets on each side, and the walls had several nooks carved out with mummified remains resting on them.

"Yeah, this absolutely would have traumatized me as a child."

As she raised the lantern to get more light, the room seemed to stretch, drawing out into a long corridor that continued on and on, further than the light could reach.

"I'm killing him. I'm going to kill Hiccup."

"Well, it'll be a nice way to go," said Boat Hiccup. "Depending how you do it."

"What?"

"How you kill us. Quick and easy? Slow and painful? He's never forgotten the time you stepped on his face."

"I never—was that back during dragon fighting? I did a lot of things back then that I'm not proud of."

"I didn't say he didn't like it."

Astrid paused and slowly turned to him. "Are you saying–no. I'm gonna stop you right there. I don't want to know."

Together, they journeyed down the crypt, the skulls of the ancients staring at them as they walked.

"They shouldn't be looking at us," Astrid commented. "If the bodies were interred here, the skulls should be facing up or laying sideways. They shouldn't be facing us."

Boat Hiccup nodded at the observation. "Well, it is a nightmare realm, it's going to be whatever Hiccup thinks is the scariest."

"I didn't think skulls bothered him."

"Not so much skulls as death. His, his family, his friends, the dragons, he fears losing them, or them suffering. And who could blame him?"

"I mean…I think that's a pretty universal fear. I'm afraid of losing my loved ones too."

"That's probably why I knew it," Boat Hiccup mused. "Since we haven't woken Fear up, I don't have memories of this emotion unless prompted."

"Like the specter at the front door?"

"Exactly."

"Your memories are asleep, like you, and the other emotions."

"Yeah. Kinda sucks."

"I'm working as fast as I can."

They walked for a little while in silence, the sense of dread and fear falling over them like the environment dictated. The lantern light didn't seem to be enough, and the air grew colder and colder.

Astrid tried and failed to suppress a shiver.

"Cold?" Asked Boat Hiccup.

"A little."

He wrapped an arm around her, though it didn't do much to ease her mind.

A snap sounded behind them, and Astrid whirled around, hanging the lantern out. "Who's there?"

No one but darkness and bones.

"Fear?! Is that you? It's me, Astrid!"

There was a very distinct sigh from the other end, but nothing else.

"I hate this place I hate this place I hate this place…" Astrid muttered as she turned back around and continued on.

Boat Hiccup was just quiet as they moved together.

Eventually, they reached the end of the crypt. It looked exactly as it had before it stretched. Just a wall, with several deep niches with skeletons laying inside of them.

"Great, so this is the end?"

Boat Hiccup shrugged. "I guess so. Bummer."

She scoffed. "Yeah bummer! What do we do now?!" Then she glanced down at the lantern and noticed the flame was dancing rapidly, more than it should be in stagnant air. She held her arm up to the wall and felt a draft.

"This is open…" she held the lantern close to the niche and tried to see to the other side but it was black. "He doesn't expect me to crawl through there, does he?"

"I don't know if we have any other options."

Astrid groaned and gave Boat Hiccup the lantern. "I'll go first." She shoved the skeleton off to the side, wiping her hands on her skirt after.

Boat Hiccup set the lantern on the floor, and then made a step for her with his interlocked hands.

"Thank you, sir," she mocked a curtsy before placing her foot in his hands and stepping up, face first and on her belly into the hole.

"How is it?" He asked.

"Narrow. Dark. Can you hold the light up?"

With the light, Astrid could see that the recess went on a few feet, but then it became dark again. She army crawled in, and just when her feet were able to touch, there was a cacophonous slam and it went pitch black.

"Hiccup?" She called back. "Hiccup!"

There was no answer.

Astrid slammed her fists into the rock. This schema sucked. She took a deep breath, doing her best to calm herself. "The sooner I find Fear, the sooner we can get out of here."

She continued to pull herself through the little crevasse, the ceiling occasionally bumping against her head or shoulders. Just when she thought she had reached the other side, it kept going. Another foot, and then another, and another. And it was getting narrower, as her shoulder blades scraped against the rough rock.

It was so silent. All she could hear was her labored breathing and the catching of her dress. And this was a darkness she'd never known. It was cold, unforgiving, but alive. It felt like it was there, watching her, waiting for something.

Finally, finally, her hand reached out and didn't touch the rock. She slid over to turn around and get her feet out first, and then lowered herself down. First one foot down, as she searched for the floor with her toe. When she couldn't find it, she let down her other foot to try to reach further. Still nothing.

Dare she let go and hope for the best?

She scrambled her feet against the wall to try to find a foothold, and ended up dislodging a rock. It knocked against the stone as it fell, and then again…

Never

Reaching

The

Bottom.

"No…" Astrid whispered.

She tried to climb back onto the ledge, but couldn't get enough leverage with her feet. She started to panic. Up until now, she had been on edge and uncomfortable, but now she was truly starting to be afraid.

"Hiccup! Hiccup if you can hear me, please help! Please help me!" She cried out to the cave. This was Hiccup's soul, after all. Surely he was still in charge? "Fear! I know this is your schema! Wake up and help me!"

But nothing happened. Utter silence, utter darkness, nothing but the sheer helplessness drowning her.

Astrid felt her arms slide towards the edge, and her breath caught in a gasp. She didn't want to cry, but she did. This was her worst nightmare. She hated being helpless. That's why she always worked so hard to be strong and defend herself, so she wouldn't be helpless.

Her arms slipped again, and she desperately clawed her fingers into the rough stone.

What would happen if she died here? Would she just wake up? Or would she die in real life as well? The ritual would end, of course, and she'd have failed Hiccup.

And if she did die, he wouldn't even be sad about it.

The very thought made her outright sob.

A hand clamped onto her wrist. "Astrid!"

"Fear?!"

"No, your travel buddy is here!" She could hear the smile in his voice. He reached his other hand down and grabbed her belt and hoisted her back up onto the ledge with him. "The opening suddenly closed on me. Without you there, I felt very lost and confused. I couldn't even move. And then—I heard you crying, and all I had to do was reach out."

Astrid reached out for him again, finding that he was laying on his back. She didn't care about playing it cool or whatever. She just threw her arms around him, anyway she could, and cried into his chest.

"Astrid?"

"I thought I was going to die. I thought I was going to die, and my Hiccup wouldn't even care about it."

"Oh," said Boat Hiccup. "Then…I get it."

"Get what?" She sniffed.

"Why we were separated, and then I could suddenly find you. You felt fear. True, honest to gods fear."

"Like I said, I'm killing Hiccup when I get back."

Suddenly, from the vast unknown of the cavern, there was a sound. A low rumble.

"Where's the lantern?" Astrid asked, since there was still pitch darkness.

"Oh, I wasn't holding it."

"Fine. Let me see…" and she reached down to her pockets and begged for another light source.

Another ring slid into her palm, and she pulled out a lantern identical to the first. She could see Boat Hiccup's beautiful face…but he wasn't looking at her. He was looking in the cavern.

She turned, and there, not five feet away from them, was the gristly white maw of a dragon. Teeth the size of trees, and spines that were tipped in red.

The Screaming Death. The dragon that Hiccup couldn't tame.

Oh sure, they came to a peaceful resolution, but deciding to not eat them for the time being hadn't given Astrid very fuzzy feelings.

It was right there.

Watching them.

Those blood red eyes almost glowing in the lamp light.

"How long do you think it's been there?" Astrid whispered, sheer terror gripping her throat.

He pulled her closer with the arm wrapped around her waist. "My guess? The whole time."

"He isn't moving."

And that was almost scarier.

"It's not the real Screaming Death," Boat Hiccup reminded her. "It's just a representation."

"Of what?"

"Hiccup's worst nightmares."

It happened so quickly, Astrid couldn't even scream. One second, they were on the ledge, staring at the thing, and the next, it was darting at them, jaws open, snapping shut around them like a bolt of lightning.

Astrid had nightmares about being eaten by a dragon. She had almost been swallowed by the Red Death, and plenty of dragons after had taken snaps at her. It was a risk of the job.

But to actually be eaten was a different sensation than she expected. Probably because this was a dreamscape and therefore not real, no matter how real it felt.

Hiccup was still beside her, arms around her. So they hadn't been separated again, thankfully. But the black unknown surrounded them on all sides. There seemed to be a cool stone floor below them, though.

"Little Fish, Little Fish, where are you hiding?"

Now that was a voice she hadn't heard in a long long time. It actually gave her a chill. "Is that…Mr. Ingulfson?"

"Yeah. Sounds like it," Boat Hiccup said, with not a hint of fondness in his voice.

Hosvir Ingulfson was a teacher. Not every Viking on Berk was literate, but Stoick had wanted the next generation to grow up with some knowledge. Hosvir was given the task to give Hiccup's generation some rudimentary lessons in reading, writing, and arithmetic. Astrid remembered him as rather boring, but severe with his punishments. He'd be more lenient the more physically capable you showed, or if you had a talent in a trade…basically if you were able to prove yourself useful.

And suddenly Astrid understood why she was hearing this man's voice here.

"H-I-C-C-U-P! What does that spell? That's right! It spells mistake!"

A thin line of light appeared then, in the form of a crack in a door. The room beyond was the Great Hall, as it appeared mid-day while everyone was busy. There was a fire in the hearth, but not much other light.

"Let's count! How many fingers does the little fish have? One…two…"

The man walked past the door, and he was uglier than she remembered, but she hadn't had very many bad experiences with him. She didn't really remember him all that much, anyway. He had black hair and extremely thick eyebrows. His nose was very narrow, but it stuck out from his face like a shark fin.

Hiccup remembered him with red eyes.

"Three…four…"

Astrid was then aware that she was sitting on the floor, and Boat Hiccup was still clamped onto her. She didn't dare let go. She didn't want to be separated again. He was breathing harshly, and seemed to be lost in this vision.

"Five…six…seven…"

The memory itself didn't seem all that scary. Mr. Ingulfson had been a strange man, before he was killed in a raid. Perhaps he was tough on Hiccup? Or perhaps the punishment was the same as on the others, and Hiccup only took it worse because he had been so small?

"Eight…nine…ten!" Mr. Ingulfson's figure stood just outside the door now, still looking around for Hiccup's hiding place. "Very good! How about this? How many fingers will the Little Fish have when I'm done with him?" The man's head slowly turned, a fiendish smile cracking his face. "Let's count, shall we?"

Boat Hiccup gasped.

"One."

The man lunged at them, flinging the door open and changing the scene in the process. It wasn't pitch black anymore. It was night, but she was in the middle of the village, where everything was lit with fire.

Belatedly, she realized the fire wasn't just in braziers, but homes were on fire. Men and women alike were screaming in anger and in fear.

It was a raid.

And she was in the middle of it all.

Astrid looked around, noticing with a start that Boat Hiccup was no longer with her. She was alone in this place. A memory? Or a hypothetical nightmare scenario?

A chill went down her spine as the draft hit her skin. She wasn't wearing her blue dress anymore. In fact, she was in Hiccup's body, and he was only in his underwear.

Caught in a dragon raid, in only his underwear. It would have been funny from an inexperienced mind. But Astrid knew it was a common nightmare of her people. Being caught in your underwear didn't just mean embarrassment. It meant you were unprotected, and so so vulnerable. That was compounded for Hiccup.

"Get back inside!" Her own mother yelled at him as she ran to him, hammer in hand. She scooped him up from the dirt and deposited him beside one of the intact buildings. "What are you doing out here?!"

"I was bathing! I can't find my dad!" He cried.

"Well go home! Don't make him worry about you!" And she ran off.

As with all these other memories where she was looking through his eyes, Astrid had no control as he scrambled to hide.

"Daddy! Daddy!" He yelled. Gods, he was so young! Just a little boy trapped in a hellscape!

"Little Fish!" Mr. Ingulfson yelled at him, running with a club in hand.

Unlike with her mother, Hiccup did not respond with relief. The very image took a red hue as the man ran at him.

Hiccup fell on his rear, hands up in defense.

Ingulfson had the nerve to raise his club up to strike Hiccup. Hiccup! Not any of the dragons that were causing damage, but a scared little boy!

"This will teach you, boy. This will get you out of the way!"

If Astrid believed that this couldn't get any worse, she was wrong. After all, this was a dragon raid, and the dragons were looking for food.

A Monstrous Nightmare, extinguished, but not any less deadly, crept over and down the side of the building they were beside.

This was the largest Monstrous Nightmare she'd ever seen. But, perhaps because Hiccup was so small, it was just normal sized.

Ingulfson let out a grunt as he heaved the club to try to hit Hiccup. But Hiccup didn't flinch or look away. He was too frozen in terror by the Nightmare.

The dragon struck, snapping its jaws around the man, not quite swallowing him whole, but clamping around his torso, leaving his screaming head exposed. The Nightmare shook violently, snapping Ingulfson's spine like a toothpick. Blood spurted out from the body, falling onto the traumatized Hiccup, before the head snapped off and landed on Hiccup's lap.

Then the Nightmare flew off with the rest of the body, presumably to feed it to the Red Death.

Little Hiccup screamed, screamed his absolute lungs out as his gaze landed back on the gory remains of his tormentor.

"DADDY! DADDY!" Hiccup cried, no emotion but terror in his voice.

Other villagers started gathering around to see what the ruckus was, but no one was helping him. No one dared to touch him.

"Hiccup!" Stoick's panicked voice called over the crowd.

"DADDY!" Hiccup cried back.

"Oh gods…" The chief slowed his run, then very respectfully removed Ingulfson's head from Hiccup's lap. "Are you hurt?"

Hiccup didn't answer. He just kept screaming and crying. He clutched at his father's shirt.

"What a hero," said someone, "To die protecting the son of the chief."

"Hosvir will be remembered for his bravery."

The memory soon faded then, and Astrid was left with a nauseous feeling. That memory went beyond things that were scary for Hiccup and went right into trauma. Hell, she might be traumatized herself. A part of her wondered, given all that she knew about dragons now, if that Nightmare saw what was happening and saved Hiccup.

It was hard to tell if the memory was slightly skewed from time.

Slowly, a new image appeared. Not a memory, and probably not an illusion. Hiccup, as she saw in modern day. Boat Hiccup was beside her, so this was a new version. He wore all black, and his face was blank and gray.

"Fear?" She asked, hope filling her chest.

The emotion blinked at her several times as color came back to his skin. He didn't look relieved to see her. Quite the opposite, he started to back away.

"No no, it's okay!" Astrid clarified. "We're here to help you!"

"Oh yeah, sure," said Fear, heavily dripping with sarcasm. "It's not like all those fears and memories were put there for a reason. Oh no no, of course not! Just a coincidence is all!" As he spoke, he continued to back away, blending into the shadows.

Astrid pursued quickly. "I get that they were here for defense, but I needed to find you! I have to wake up all of Hiccup's emotions, and you're too important!"

"If you mean I'm the only thing stopping Hiccup from getting killed, then yeah, I'm just a tiny bit important."

"Exactly! He's so creative and passionate he has to have a little hesitation or he'll do something stupid! Please Fear, just calm down and talk to me!"

"No way! Talking feelings with you? That's the scariest of them all!"

"What?" Astrid breathed. "Hiccup's…scared of me?"

Fear flung out his hand and then disappeared into the dark.

"You know, I should have seen this coming." Her own voice echoed behind her. Astrid whirled around to come face to face with a copy of her. Probably the way Hiccup saw her. Her hair was perfect, her skin flawless, eyes enchanting, and a figure she wished she had. "With the way you look at me, and the way the other villagers gossip…but I never thought anyone was serious. I mean, come on. You and me? We're great friends and all…"

Astrid felt a great blush of embarrassment and indignation rush across her face at the words.

"But you're not my type. You have to know that, right? You're so thin…and the leg…it's pretty gross."

"Shut up you bitch!" Astrid spat.

"And you and I both know that this whole dragon training popularity is so temporary. You're the best now because you're the first. But it won't be long before there's better than you. I'm pretty close, myself. You know, if Toothless hadn't been a Nightfury, you'd be irrelevant already. I know it hurts, but someone had to tell you, right? And now that I know how you really feel, I'm not really interested in continuing our friendship."

"I said, SHUT UP!" Astrid furiously threw a fist towards the illusion, turning it into mist.

Boat Hiccup stood nearby, panting as he caught up with her.

"We should leave," Astrid said bitterly. "He doesn't want us here, and I woke him up. We're done here."

Boat Hiccup shook his head. "No…I think we need to stay."

"What!? What more could we possibly have to see here?"

"I don't know, but it's something important."

Astrid pouted, but ultimately sighed. "Fine, if you say so." So she started to run in the direction she saw Fear disappear in.

Without warning, Toothless dropped in front of her, pinning her to the ground under his great paw. She'd been on the receiving end of this look once before, but never with this much vitriol. Toothless narrowed his eyes and bared his teeth. Then he reared up, inhaling with a whistle. He let out this bone rattling roar, right into her face. She swore she felt the heat of fire that was being held back. Then he darted away from her, leaving her flattened on the ground.

Boat Hiccup pulled her up. "It's just another memory. We have to push through if we want to get to Fear."

She nodded slowly, blinking the shock away. "If only I had…" the thought came to her suddenly, and she reached into her pocket. Out she pulled her beloved axe, and now she was ready.

Together they charged into the never ending dark, cutting through every illusion that popped up. There were memories from long ago, and fresh. Viggo and Ryker appeared, but Astrid cut them down before they spoke. Encounters with hostile dragons that turned friendly in the end were pushed through. And while the gory image of deceased Astrid made her stumble, she still continued on.

Soon, they had caught up to Fear, who was rather hard to read. He didn't look afraid.

"Oh yeah, just run through everything. That's fine too, you know! It's not like Hiccup's sensitive about these things or anything…"

Then Astrid noticed what she hadn't before. His mouth wasn't moving.

"Are you wearing a mask?" She asked.

He scoffed. "Yeah, I'm wearing a mask. You know, because I have so many people visiting me at one time?"

Astrid had enough of the bullshit and grabbed the front of his tunic. Then she grabbed his face and dug her fingers into what felt like wet clay.

It took little effort to pry the mask away, and what remained was a very young Hiccup. Younger than Sadness. He was shaking and crying.

"Please don't hurt me…" he begged.

Astrid set the costume off to the side. "I'm not going to hurt you, Fear. I'm sorry."

He started weeping. "You scared me! You kept chasing me!"

Astrid felt awful as she pulled him into a hug. "I'm sorry. I just wanted to talk to you, to understand you."

"You're here because of that witch, aren't you?" He squeaked.

Astrid nodded. "She tried to take you, but I came to fix everything."

"He was alone," Fear stated, clawing at her dress. "Toothless didn't know where we were, and we were all alone and so defenseless. Toothless makes everything easy for me. We're so strong with him…but without him…"

Astrid just hugged him tighter. "I get it. I promise, I'll do whatever I can to make sure Hiccup never feels defenseless again."

Boat Hiccup just watched this exchange from afar. He knew there was more to Fear than what they had seen, but now that he was close, he got a distinct feeling that interacting with him would be dangerous. Just an echo of a memory.

–

Hiccup returned from the bottom of the well, wet and with a set of deer antlers in hand. Once he cleared the opening, he puked over the side of the well. "Well, I can certainly still feel nauseous." He said, still sick.

"So what did you find?" Stoick asked eagerly.

"Deer carcass." Hiccup handed him the antlers. "Half rotten. That's what smelled funny."

"How did a deer end up in the well?" Asked Fishlegs.

"Probably fell in and couldn't find its way out." Hiccup said nonchalantly, as he wrung out his tunic. "Good thing you guys have another well, because this one is going to be bad for a long time."