A/N: Sorry for the wait! I was down with a cold, but I'm back in action, and chapters are being completed! It's almost done!

I couldn't breathe. I was frozen, my heart pounding quickly.

"Well? Nothing to say to your old pal?" The cyborg taunted. "I'd think you'd be glad to see me, what with how much you missed me. Nothing? Okay. I just have to finish what I started, just a moment here..."

In a flash of metal and red, the cyborg was on the ground, struggling under Inferno's strong claws. Everyone else rushed into the clearing, coming to my rescue. The cyborg had recovered from his shock and was screeching bloody murder as Inferno casually flipped him over and held down his right side while Stormfly took his left. Fish moved in and began to work. I slowly began to get up, my throbbing head beginning to calm.

"Let me go, you stupid bunch of humans!" The cyborg was screeching. "Let me GOOO! I'll rip you to ribbons, you sad sacks of meat and bones! I'll- I'll... errrrrrrr." He went limp.

Fish brushed his hands together. "Easy enough."

"Good grief, this guy has issues." Astrid sniffed.

"No kidding." I agreed, standing all the way and moving to the limp cyborg. "Okay, Fish, go to work. We gotta get Hiccup out of there. Bring him back to normal."

"Well, I can't do it right here, we should get him to my lab. Then I can get cracking." Fish said excitedly.

"Uh... Richard?" Ruff spoke up. "You might wanna come over here."

"What is it?" I asked, moving to their end of the cyborg. Ruff pointed. I pulled.

I stared in disbelief. Ruff had tried to pull off Hiccup's left cyborg flight implant... thing, only to find it was attached really good. Tuff had pulled the two sides apart a little. I did the rest, only to see a perfectly good limb inside.

He had his left foot.

What did that even mean?

We tied cyborg Hiccup onto Stormfly and turned back for Berk. My mind was racing more and more every second. If Hiccup had his leg, that meant one of two things. Either whoever had built him gave him his leg back, or it wasn't Hiccup. But it had to be, I was sure of it.

We were greeted by a very, very cross Chief and a RCCB worker when we returned to Berk. I felt my skin burn with anger and shame as I saw his disappointed gaze.

With visible effort to stay calm, the Chief walked forward and stared from one to another. "And just who's bright idea was this?"

Hesitating for only a second, I stepped forward. "Mine. I formulated the plan, and I asked them to help me enact it. Don't punish them."

The Chief looked about to speak when Astrid stepped forward.

"Liar. We volunteered." She punched me in the arm. "I suggested we check the RCCB."

Fish also came forward, pushing up his glasses. "I came up with half of it. I guided us to the point we went to. I shut down the cyborg."

Ruff and Tuff, looking very unusually determined, stepped beside us. "We followed blindly, as usual, sir." Tuff stated.

"You punish all of us, sir." Astrid grinned. "We're all guilty of bringing back Hiccup."

The Chief started. "What?"

As if on cue, Stormfly moved forward and kneeled so Stoick could see Hiccup on her back. He gasped in shock and lifted him off, flipping him over and looking at his face. Stoick's anger melted in an instant. He realized what he was staring at.

His son.

Tears began to flow off his face as he pulled off the implants on Hiccup's face, revealing his regular face. He pulled off implant after implant, fueled by love. He pulled off the chestplate, revealing something attached to the chest, some sort of pulsing blue heart with blue wires twined all over Hiccup's body. Before he could pull it off, Fish shouted out.

"Wait! Waait!" He ran up and stopped the Chief. "We don't know what that is or what it does. Let's get this back to my lab and scan it. Don't remove it. Please."

The Chief paused and nodded after a moment. "Alright. Everyone, let's get this to Matthew's lab."

Even though we were all very curious what was happening in the lab, not all of us could fit in the small space. It was only a small room off of Fish's bedroom, filled with gadgets and gizmos of all kinds and a bed, which Hiccup was lying on, sans outer cyborg parts. He looked spooky with the blue heart on him, his skin pale and his body limp. I had seen Hiccup incapacitated many times before, more than was good. But this was creepy. He looked like a dead body. Fish was looking at the blue heart very closely, then he put his ear to it.

"Mm."

I was standing next to the door, with the Chief next to me. We were squeezed together, trying not to be in the way, yet eager to watch. Chief was looking nervous and excited, not daring to speak. Word was already getting out that Hiccup was, indeed alive. Maybe. People from all over Berk were crowding around Fish's house, asking eager questions of anyone who might or might not know what was happening. Tuff cleared his throat loudly and asked for attention. He then gestured to Astrid who waited for silence, then spoke up.

"Hiccup is here." She raised a hand for silence as soon as a clamour began to form. "But, we don't know what condition he is in. We will keep you informed."

One large woman spoke up. "Is it true he's a cyborg now?"

Astrid wasn't sure what to say, she didn't want people to panic. She didn't get the chance, as someone else spoke up.

"Is he going to be chief?"

"What shape is he in?"

"What's going to happen to him?"

Astrid raised her hand for silence. "I'll answer all your questions, just please calm down!"

Inside, things were much quieter. But a little more tense, as the lab was dimly lit, and the blue glow from Hiccup was eerie, and lit everything strangely. Fish had poked the heart, scanned it, and even spoke to it with his gadgets. Finally, he found a small hatch on it and began to open it. I leaned forward with the chief, nervous about what would happen, but curious. Fish opened it and peered inside, and let out a small gasp.

"Well?" Stoick asked. "What is it?"

Fish looked amazed. "I've never seen anything like this. Here, come look."

I crept forward, nervous. We peered into the device as well. Inside was something I literally couldn't describe to you if I tried. I didn't have any idea what it was. Stoick apparently had no clue either.

"Well, what do you think it is, Matthew?" He asked.

"It appears to be some sort of crystalline technology. It's arranged PERFECTLY. I don't know how this is possible, to be honest. It seems to be... keeping him alive."

I felt my stomach clench. I was still staring into the heart, mesmerized by it's pulsing. The perfectly etched lines in the crystal, overlapping like some alien circuit board. It glowed bright blue from an unknown source, and made some sort of very creepy noise from deep inside it, like some sort of distorted heartbeat mixed with breathing. (okay maybe I found words to describe it, but to be honest, it felt like the words weren't even mine) If I listened really closely, there was this haunting whispering coming from it, a thousand voices overlapping in languages I had never heard. (at the end of this chapter is what one of the voices was repeating, over and over)

Then, suddenly, Hiccup's eyes snapped open, startling all of us so bad Stoick nearly died early. I must have wet myself. He turned oh so slowly to stare at us, the eye that had been covered by the implant looking REALLY disturbing in how faded it was. He stared right at me, his face expressionless. Something about this was eerily familiar. But from when, I was at a loss.

"Cybooorg. Freeeak. See? I told you. I kneeew." He laughed at us. "I knew all along. Leg. Project T. CAE. Everything is connected in a perfect chain of events."

My mind snapped to when he had woken after being stabbed by Drago. He had spoken much like this. Except... Everything he had said. It was this. He had said he would be a machine without even realizing it. He had told us his future. Chills travelled through my spine.

What. The. Living. Heck. WAS GOING ON?

"You're confused? That's fine. Just fine. I bet you're remembering that day as I am." He hissed, staring into my soul. "Quite a few years ago, after I woke up from a coma. I muttered a bunch of nonsensical things, didn't I? Mmhmm. Connect the dots. See what I see." He began to laugh raspily. "Ah Richard... time really is just a weird thing, isn't it. Not as fixed as we might think. My past is my future is my present."

I finally managed to speak. "Hiccup? Is that you? What's going on? What are you talking about?"

"It's me." He answered. "But yet, it's not, isn't that strange? I'm only a reflection. The mirror is this." He pointed to the heart. "There are many, many reflections, my friend. Within a house of mirrors. You must find the original. And to do that, you must smash every mirror. Just be careful, some are more expensive. Watch the merchandise." Hiccup laughed again. He was enjoying speaking in riddles. "Let me clarify. I'm not who you think I am. I'm not who you are looking so earnestly for. Hiccup is in the hands of your worst enemy. And you must find him."

"Hiccup, can you not be mysterious, please?" I begged. "Be straightforward, please. Please."

"No." He broke into a laughing fit. "You can't handle my straightforwardness! You might explode!"

Fish had been pondering. "Wait! That explains it! Richard, he's a clone! I don't understand the whole time thing, but he's a clone! And someone created him, someone who has the original! Someone who has Hiccup! And this," He gestured to the heart. "Is creating and controlling the clones!"

"Brilliant! Always the smart one besides me, Fish! Great!" Hiccup's clone praised. "Oh, and I must thank you for removing all that bulky machinery, it felt so terrible. Now I can think, for gosh's sake!"

"Uh... you're welcome?" Fish said.

"Can someone help me up?" Clone asked, holding up his arms. "I seem to be... incapacitated."

I sighed and helped him to sit up on the bed. He used a finger to close his heart compartment and then relaxed, sitting quite contentedly on the bed. It was hard to believe he had tried to murder me hours before.

"Any questions? But none of the future, no cheating." He asked us.

"The future?" Fish asked. "You can see the future?"

"Yes, but only what happens to me, see. My future is my past is my present." Clone stated. "But I'd be happy to answer anything BUT that."

"What happened to you?" I asked eagerly.

"I was taken by Viggo grimborn and his men. Or should I say my original was. There he was cloned by the genius Grimborn. Using this device." He pointed to the heart.

"But what is it?" I asked. Fish had been about to ask the same thing.

"I said I'd answer questions. But I didn't say I'd answer that one. We don't want spoilers, do we?" He asked innocently.

Before I could ask the clone about what the 'spoilers' were, Stoick moved forward, staring Clone in the eyes. "So are you Hiccup?"

"Yes and no." Clone said simply.

"But do you remember me? And everything else?" Stoick pressed.

"Yes." Clone stated sourly. We were surprised at his tone. "I do. I do indeed. And you're unlucky in that all of us clones are very bitter indeed at our pasts. Not to say that I hate you, but I'm not happy. NOT HAPPY." He closed his hands together. "All of you played a part in our past. Richard, you beat us up. Stoick, you abandoned us. Fish, you ignored us." He looked bitter.

Richard felt nervous.

"Except," Clone inquired softly, calming. "I just never could stay mad at my family and friends, could I?" He sighed softly. "Oh, who am I anymore? Just a reflection. I'll try to help you, I really will..."

With that, he trailed off and seemed to shut down, closing his eyes and falling over, back onto the bed. "Past, present and future. A never-ending line... But not so fixed in place."

And with that he went silent.

This is what the voice was saying, over and over.

"Metal... machine... rusty... flute... Toothless... death. Help... help... Leg. Book. Flute. Chip. Flight. Plans. Machines. Family. Alo- lone. Android. Android. Freak. Freeeeaaaak. Metal. All metal. So much... lonely..."