Authors note: more again! I hope you're enjoying it^^ anyways this is where it starts to pick up a little bit^^ let me know how you imagine the music- I'm really curious about what you'll think so please review and let me know what you thought of it, please enjoy it as always and I'll see you tommorow for the next chapter^^
He slumped down onto the ground- not caring that his trousers would probably get dirty from the damp grass- and buried his head in his hands.
Why did the world have to go and ruin the moment? He was perfectly happy forgetting about the stupid concert, and its stupid 'ten minute, self composed piece' requirement. But no, it just had to all come flooding back and make him throughly miserable again.
"What's wrong?" A slight, starlike glow shone through the gaps in his fingers, and he lowered them to see the spirit's head in front of his own- concern strangely clear in his see through, diamond eyes. He'd crouched in front of him to try and peer through his hands. The position seemed to ground him slightly, and somehow it almost felt like he was talking to a normal person... except that he hated talking to normal people (he hated other people even looking at him), but... he didn't hate this.
The ghost carried a strange lack of judgement about him. Like he really didn't care what he was seeing: the gangly limbs; the large, out of proportion nose; the crooked teeth and smile; and basically every other part of him that fulfilled the stereotype for lonely nerd (all he was short of was glasses). But this boy felt like he was really looking at him. Sure, people looked at him all the time, but they never felt like they were truly looking at him. Now, for the first time since his mother died, he felt like someone was finally seeing through the weak facade, and into creative genius he tried to be. Maybe he had only just met this person, but he already felt like this spirit understood him better than most people he'd grown up knowing. He certainly seemed to care a lot more than they did.
"It's this stupid concert." He began, past the point of caring that he was about to tell his life story to a near total stranger. "I'm meant to have created a ten minute piece for the finals- all the top talent scouts are going to be there- and I've got nothing. Every time I sit down at the piano, the keys just sound dead to me- nothing I play sounds any good- it's like... I've just lost the ability to create music." He muttered. That last part was a whisper. He finally admitted his deepest fear. What if he'd just lost his sense of music? What if he just couldn't play like he used to- ever? Without his mother, how could he ever find joy in the piano again? He managed to hold back his tears, he was too stubborn to let them fall, but their sorrowful shine had slipped into his eyes, he was sure.
He couldn't bring himself to meet the ghost's starlike eyes. He was just too ashamed, and embarrassed, to do anything more than stare at the ground, wishing for it to open up and swallow him, then it would bring an end to his misery.
"Nothing you play sounds any good..." The boy repeated, sullenly, mulling over the words. He almost sounded almost... empathetic? As though he understood exactly what he was feeling. But how could he? He wasn't a musician... Was he?
"Do you have a reason for you to play?" The ghost asked. Hiccup scowled, sightly. He'd just told him that!
"I told you- the concer-."
"No, not that." He interrupted. "A real reason. He said.
A real reason? Hiccup thought.
The question brought about some strangely deep thinking- forcing him to question what he did, and why he did it. He had to do some deep, interior digging. Why was he doing this? Why was he playing the piano? To prove he could do it? That was a proper reason. Because he enjoyed it? No, without his mother, that wasn't true anymore. So why was he doing it? Why... He searched himself for a long time... Why?... Why? Time passed, and, still, he came up with no answer.
That was it, wasn't it. He thought. He just didn't have a reason.
His playing had no real purpose- there wasn't any meaning behind it. No wonder everything he played turned out rubbish. He didn't really see the point in playing it. He had no reason- no motivation for it. He bowed his head, defeated.
"I don't know." He admitted, giving up. He really didn't know why he did it... So why should he even bother. Why waste his time? He might as well just give up the piano- throw the old instrument away, and make room for some other piece of furniture. He had no reason to play it, anymore. There wasn't any point in keeping it.
"Well, you need to find a new reason, then." The spirit's voice said, like the solution was simple (not easy, he noted: simple). "You just need a bit of inspiration." He told him, cheerfully, springing up.
Hiccup's eyes had followed him as he jumped up, only for them to fall down again. He was hoping for a solution. Not this answer. As much as he wanted it to help him, the advice was useless- it didn't help him in the slightest.
"Don't you think I haven't tried that?" He told him, hopelessly. "I've been looking for months now for any kind of inspiration." He said.
"Well that's where you're going wrong, then." Hiccup's head snapped up. Was he saying he knew where he was going wrong? Did he know how to fix it? He looked up at him- desperately seeking guidance. "You don't look for inspiration, you let it find you... You feel it." He said.
Hiccup noticed, then, the silvery, glowing instrument that had mysteriously appeared in his hand. It was one he recognised, easily.
A violin? He thought, looking up to meet those crystal white eyes. His cheerful smile had turned soft and warm, and suddenly he seemed every part the fantastical spirit that he was.
"Like this." He muttered, mesmerisingly. He closed his brilliant, shining eyes, and took a deep, gentle breath as he tilted his head to the heavens... and brought the bow up to rest quietly on the main part of instrument...
A seconds silence...
...and then he drew the long length of the bow across the strings.
A light, smooth note sailed across the air. Crystal clear, with that captivating, sonorous quality only the violin could create. Hiccup was entranced. If he'd thought the spirit was breathtaking when he was skating, then his playing of the violin was nothing short of pure magic.
It wasn't just a sequence of notes- a random blend of repetitive sounds hoping to grab the attention of the listener. It was an emotive, captivated story that pulled him in without even trying to. The ghost was writing him a tale of beauty- using his bow as the pen with which he wrote it, and the voice with which he was telling it. He couldn't even begin to explain it- the music spoke to him. Though no words were spoken, he heard them clear as day in the breathtakingly beautiful melody. It was like he was feeling the words. The impressions of them- their meanings.
Light, it told him. Light and hope... Dreams.. Follow them- they can become true. Stars and petals. Don't give up. You are greater than you know. Shine. Shine bright. Mirrored lake. Dusted sky. The world is more than you know. Dancing petals and twirling wind. The velvet of night, and the stars, and the moon. See it now. See it new. Dance with the stars. Moonshine on the lake. Dance with the stars.
He was helplessly bewitched by the beyond beautiful music. It held him captive like a siren's song, and it wasn't even trying. It was a curious sensation. The tug into the embrace of the music seemed to pull him into an open freedom.
It was awe inspiring... and it wasn't just the music. What he was seeing in front of him was just as stunning as the music dazzling his ears.
The boy spirit in front of him was dancing again. This time on the ground, kicking up swirls of petals as he twirling round and round- lost within the power of his own music. Eyes closed, lost in a different world that he was trying to share with him through his music. A pure, content smile shining with pure joy that radiated from his face- the grin not slipping for a single moment. He seemed to dance with the wind, twirling like he was one of the blossom petals caught up in its gentle breezes.
An entirely new universe seemed to have opened up before him, colour and light flooding into the world like he was seeing it with high definition. Constellations of infinite stars shining down from rich, blue sky. The trees, the grass and the blossom petals all dancing with the playful wind in the quiet stillness of night. The velvet of night, and the stars, and the moon. He remembered. This is what he was showing him. This moment, in all its true splendour. He was seeing the park, that he'd seen hundreds of times before, in an entirely different light. Not as a meaningless portrait of only black and white, but a beautiful, flowing world, glowing with colour and light.
The flawless notes seemed to lift him from his deep and utter despair- reminding him of the light of childhood, and the meaning of hope.
He didn't ever want it to end... and yet... When it did, nothing seemed to change.
It was as if the spirit had simply reached out and plucked the music from the earth's song; and, now he'd opened his ears to it, he could hear the thrum of the ground and the singing of the wind, with or without the violin... It wasn't going away. His world had been transformed, from a monochrome, lifeless desert, into an exotic land of astonishing colour.
He watched as the spirit who'd taken his hand, and led him into the light, lowered his bow. He didn't know what to say... But it didn't matter, because, shortly after he finished, the spirit's brilliant, crystal eyes opened... and the look in them, as they stared straight into his being... It stole his breath away- just as he'd been recovering it from the awe inspiring music. If the music had finally reached and unlocked his heart, then those bright, shining eyes were seeing straight through to it.
A soft smile slowly dissipated the moment, breaking up the mysterious trance those diamond eyes'd had on him. Hiccup felt like he had to take a moment to come back from whatever universe the music had taken him to. He tried again and again to come up with a word for the experience, but in the end he gave up. Nothing came close to describing that world changing melody.
The symphony that touched his soul.
He realised the spirit was staring at him- silently, but eagerly, awaiting his response. Hiccup's brain still had a long way to go before it caught up to the present, so naturally his mouth vomitted up the first, random thing it could think of.
"You play violin." He pointed out, stupidly- but, somehow, the spirit's laughter that followed removed any embarrassment he would've felt at the statement.
"No, I play music- the violin just goes along with it." He smirked. That brought Hiccup back down to earth. Oh, he thought he was clever, did he? He thought he had a sly tongue? He hadn't seen anything yet- two can play at that game, the pianist thought.
"Oh, so I suppose it wouldn't matter if I just swapped that away for some other instrument, then." He said, sarcastically. That aught to take the wind out of his sails. The spirit pursed his lips, like he was considering how that would work.
"Mm... gimme a few weeks, and I could make it work." He decided. Wait, what? Hiccup thought, trying to read his face. Was he being serious? Hold on, was he just kidding? Or not? That teasing smirk was really giving him nothing to go on. Was he messing with him, or wasn't he?!
"But, never mind me." He pointed out. "You're the one with the concert." He remembered.
Hiccup's stomach dropped. Oh schist, schtick, stack and shoot- he totally forgotten about that! (His parents might've forbidden him from cursing, but that didn't stop him inventing his own, similar, words).