Chapter Six

A/N: Yay! An actual scene that was written out in my outline! Progress! XD (Short chapter, sorry)

It takes a lot of energy for Hiccup to drag himself out of bed the next morning. After his disturbing nightmare, he'd been unable to coax himself back to sleep. Now, after only having gotten about three hours of sleep the whole night, he feels dead on his feet as he staggers down the steps, Toothless not far behind him.

Hiccup feels torn as his hand absently reaches up to grab the pendant Aragwen gave to him, only to find it gone. A small part of his mind is still telling him to keep it...while the rest of him is telling him to burn the wretched thing once and for all! Somehow, that little bit of his brain is nagging him. He can smell the locket's intoxicating aroma from all the way downstairs, even though his father doesn't seem to notice it.

Hiccup keeps imagining it, locked away in his nightstand drawer. The further he walks down the steps, the harder it is to push the image away. It's like the thing is calling out for him, begging him to wear it. He shivers at that thought.

Like something out of one of Gobber's ghost stories... He thinks, gloomily as he lowers his hand again. I need to find Astrid and apologize for yesterday...she might have an idea of what I can do to fix this...

But, clearly, Toothless has other ideas. He nudges his Rider and coos, flapping his wings a little. Time to go flying!

But Hiccup only frowns at him. "Not right now, bud." He mutters. "My head hurts too bad to go flying today..."

Toothless whimpers at him, nudging him again. Please...?

"No, Toothless." He snaps, irritably. Then, as if catching himself in his bad mood, he sighs and pets the dragon's head. "Maybe later, okay?"

The Night Fury coos and follows him down to the front door, sniffing the air curiously. It smells strongly of the same herbs in Hiccup's weird necklace. The dragon lowers his ears, almost cringing at the smell. He really hates it.

Evidently, so does Hiccup. As he reaches out to pull open the front door, he uses the other hand to pinch the bridge of his nose, hoping to muffle the pain in his head. It doesn't work. He fumbles for the door handle, smacking his knuckles on the wood instead. He squints, his vision going double...

"Hiccup...!"

It's the pendant again... He shakes his head and reaches for the door, only to miss a second time.

"Hiccup...!"

He groans, giving up on the door and clutching his throbbing head as the room starts to spin. "Oooohhh..." He moans as he leans against the wall, closing his eyes. Stop... He pushes back against the voice in his head, begging it to leave him alone.

"Don't fight, Hiccup...you're so close now." The voice persists. "Just a little while longer..."

Hearing that, he moans again and sinks to the floor.

"Hiccup?"

He gasps, his eyes shooting open. The dizziness is gone, the voice is silenced. He's just sitting on the floor, his back to the wall. Toothless is staring at him with big, confused eyes. Stoick stands over him, a hand on the boy's shoulder.

"Are you alright, son?" He asks, earning a disturbed look from Hiccup. That's good enough for him. "Alright, get up." He grabs the teen's forearm, tugging him to his feet. "What's wrong, Hiccup? You've been acting strange lately..."

Hiccup sighs, both relieved and worried at the same time. Relieved because the voice is leaving him alone for now and he doesn't feel like he's going to die anymore. Worried...because of everything else. There's no point in hiding it, he decides. How else is this ever going to end if I do? "Dad...you're going to think I'm crazy but...I think that pendant Aragwen gave me is...cursed or something."

"Cursed?" Stoick doesn't sound as disbelieving as Hiccup may have thought he would. He only sounds concerned. "What makes you think that?"

"It's just that...ever since I got it, I've been having really weird dreams...I get sick to the stomach and headaches everyday...there's a..." He hesitates at this, not wanting to sound like he's lost his mind. "Voice..."

Stoick frowns at the ground, his brow furrowed in thought. "Then why don't you just get rid of it?"

Hiccup nods, tightly. "I want to...but there's something that isn't letting me..."

"Then I'll do it." Stoick volunteers.

And then, something snaps inside of Hiccup. "NO!" He shouts, fury exploding in his chest. Except, he's sure he isn't the one who said it. Once the word has escaped his mouth, he's left with the worst headache he's ever had. One enough to buckle his knees and send him crumpling to the floor like a rag doll...

"Son!" Stoick gasps as his son simply collapses to the floor in front of him. He reaches down to wake him, only to jerk his hand away at the feeling of Hiccup's skin. It's cold. As if his veins are made of ice and his heart is pumping snow through him instead of blood.

After about five seconds, Hiccup's eyes slide open again. He continues to lay on the floor, staring at the ceiling for a moment... Then, he just sits up. Blinking a few times, he turns to his dad with a confused look on his face.

"What just happened?" He wonders. "And...why am I on the floor?"

Stoick gapes at his son. "I have no idea." He admits. "You're on the floor because you fell a moment ago."

"I did...?" Hiccup bites his lip in thought, trying to remember. "That's...weird. I don't even remember waking up this morning..."

Hearing that, Stoick sits back and stares at Hiccup in bewilderment. "Hiccup, I think you were right before." He mutters, causing the teen to look up, expectantly. "About the locket being cursed."

Hiccup arcs an eyebrow. "Locket? You mean this one?" He fishes under his tunic before pulling out the very pendant which, moments ago, was supposed to be locked away in his nightstand. The boy snorts in amusement and stands up, seeming steady and perfectly fine. "Cursed? Dad, I didn't think you were the superstitious type." He chuckles and flashes a crooked smile at his father. "But don't worry, Dad. People fall all the time. I probably just got a dizzy spell and hit my head or something." With that, he opens the door and steps outside. "Come on, Toothless. You ready to go flying?"

A/N: Are you worried yet...? XD