Authors note: hey guys ^^ hope you're doing well! I'm really glad you seem to be enjoying the story so far so I won't keep you from it for long- I just wanted to say thanks for reading the story and say an especially big thanks to everyone who's reviewed (thanks so much guys) that's all for now^^ please leave a review and I hope you enjoy the update! See you all tommorow

By the time they'd reached their stop, Hiccup's fear had settled slightly, but the butterflies he seemed to have swallowed only became more agitated.

He was so jittery, his stutter became so pronounced every word sounded like he was shivering- to the point that he gave up talking altogether. He mentioned it to the spirit, but all he ever said was that there was nothing he could do about 'pre show nerves'. He really wished he could do something about it. It was horrible. He just felt so twitchy! He couldn't play the piano in this state! He'd hit a wrong note- and in a high callibre competition such as this, you might as well be signing your own death warrant. Mistakes weren't acceptable this late in the competition. The judges weren't even looking at separating the good from the great- they were looking at seperating the great from the phenomenal.

He just couldn't stop thinking about how he wasn't good enough for this- and sitting in a silent waiting room, with all the other competitors, wasn't making things any easier. They all looked so much more professional than he did! Their hair wasn't a half tamed mess- their ties were all perfectly straight. Some of them even had cuff links and fancy tails at the back of their jackets... and he could hear the music from the current performer on stage. He was brilliant- the piece he had created was a real work of creative artistry. He couldn't compete with that! He didn't even belong here! These people were on an entirely different level to him! If he hadn't just heard the spirit's song at the edge of the lake, he'd say it was the best music he'd ever heard live.

Speaking of the invisible ghost, he seemed to be the only one who wasn't impressed by the music. He was hovering by the other side of the room, muttering to himself.

"No meaning." He grumbled- dissatisfaction and disappointment written across his face. "No heart in it." But, to Hiccup, the music was flawless. A hundred times better than anything he could hope to create- let alone at the last minute...

He couldn't listen to this.

He got up. The other competitors barely even glancing as he walked off towards the bathroom- not one of them bothering to ask where he was going.

He pushed open the heavy, self closing door, and buried his face into his hands. What was he doing here? What was he even thinking?! He couldn't compete with the likes of these people! This was just ridiculous! He should go home now, before he makes a fool of himself. He didn't even know what he was going to play!

"You've already been to the bathroom." The spirit's steady voice pointed out behind him. It didn't surprise him in the slightest that he was there. A part of him had known the star like ghost would follow him... maybe that was the whole reason he'd come.

"I just... needed a minute." He muttered, dropping his hands down to let them hang helplessly by his sides.

"What am I even doing here?" He said, out loud. "I can't compete with this!" The ghosts eyes narrowed instantly, disappointed in him for even thinking that.

"Hiccup, anything you can play will be a thousand times better than this garbage I've heard tonight." He scowled, telling him off him for being so self depreciating. Hiccup felt a slight burn from shame at his scolding, but he still couldn't help it.

"But what am I gonna do?" He stressed. No matter how many times he seemed to ask the question he still felt lost. The spirit opened his mouth to remind them of their game plan.

"No, not the piece- its not just that- I just-..." He hesitated. He'd never admitted this to anyone before. He kept telling himself it was just him being weak- he just had to man up! But, still, he couldn't deny it. Eight years of performing and things still hadn't changed.

He was a heavy sufferer of stage fright.

"I never really liked playing in front of a huge audience." He confessed. "One of the first times I did it, I froze... Everybody was staring- trying to figure out what was going on. They started whispering and talking- it was horrible! I just started playing- anything to get them to stop- but I messed up the whole thing. My hands just kept shaking and pressing the wrong keys. They started laughing at me. They were laughing at me, and I started crying- onstage in front of everyone. I couldn't stand it. I just can't let it-... I can't let that happen again..." He wept, voice breaking up into restrained sobs as he dug up the horrible, dreaded repressed memory.

Their hideous taunting laughs echoing in his mind- the thousands of burning eyes scorching into his skin. The discordant ringing from the piano shouting to him about yet another big mistake.

He squeezed his eyes shut, and tried to hide under his bangs. He didn't want the spirit to see him like this. His eyes so helplessly and pathetically red. He tensed up in an effort to hold back the tremors that tried to shake his body. But worse than that was how he was trying to keep his tears overflowing, and leaking out onto his face. Why did he have to be so useless? Why did he have to be so weak?... He was pathetic. His name even said so. 'Mistake' was what Hiccup meant... A mistake. That's all he was... Nothing but a stupid mistake.

He sensed, rather than felt, the spirit move to stand in front of him. Shamed, fragile eyes opened up to find himself looking at the world through a semitransparent blur. It took him a moment to figure out what was happening... But then he saw the soft glow of the spirit's arms disappear around his shoulder... and realised that he was stood in the spirit's embrace. His head laying in the middle of his moonlit chest, untouchable arms doing what they could to press comfortingly into his back. He couldn't really feel the ghost's touch in the embrace... But he could somehow feel the heavy drape of his caring presence surrounding him. He could almost feel the invisible weight of the starry arms holding him. Shielding him. Protecting him from the world, and all of its horrors... It was exactly what his mother used to do when he'd have a nightmare.

She'd hold him close, and make him feel safe. In her arms, nothing could touch him. She'd just sit there, with him, and whisper gentle comforts into his ear, until everything was all better again. Then she'd stay with him, for hours on end, until he dropped off again... and all the night terrors had gone. He felt like a lost little boy again. Trapped in the nightmare that was life- feeling all alone, like he had no one in the world to care about him.

He wasn't normally a touchy feely person. He didn't do hugs. His mother was that only person he let get close to him like this... But stood there, in the spirit's arms- his phantom embrace chasing away the terrors of reality... He just didn't want to pull away. He wanted to stay there, forever, and never have to face the world again. He was aware that he'd hit a new low: an emotional wreck leaning on the spirit of a dead boy for comfort... and he'd only just met the guy just over an hour ago. That was practically rock bottom. But at the same time, he really needed this moment. He just needed to be held, and just.. understood.

The starlight spirit didn't judge him in any way, shape or form. He didn't expect anything from him, and yet still found a way to push him towards his limits. He listened to him unlike anyone else did. He'd helped him more in sixty minutes than all the rest of his so called 'friends' had in years... and he was so, unbelievably, grateful for that. He was so grateful that he was here for him- just being here... he wouldn't have wanted anyone else stood by his side right now. His guardian angel. His spirit. Protecting him from the darkness of the world.

"You know what I think?" The spirit muttered, his voice soft and low- almost a gentle hush. "I think that you are amazing, Hiccup. And you've been left alone too long if you don't believe that." The presence of the arms holding him slipped away slightly, and looked up to see his silver hands on his shoulders- unwavering support and belief in his gleaming, crystal eyes.

"So here's what we're going to do." He told him. We? Hiccup thought, and his heart seemed to stumble in his chest. He said 'we' like he wasn't on his own anymore... Like 'we' like 'the two of them'. Like he wasn't going to leave his side. He was going to be there the whole time for him... 'We' like 'me and him'.

"We're going to go out onto that stage together, and were going to play the best piece of music they have ever heard. Together. Forget the rest of them- forget the judges, and the audience... It's just the two of us. That's all you have to worry about." He promised, breathtaking diamond eyes seeing straight through to every last broken part of him, and mending them all with their silvery light. "You don't have to be afraid, Hiccup. I'm going to be right there, next to you... Every. Last. Step." He finished.

Hiccup couldn't have spoken then if he'd tried. Those words had just taken his breath away... How had he done it? He'd somehow known exactly what to say- those words... they were everything he'd always wanted to hear, and more. He felt like a sea of emotion had flooded his heart- which was odd, because he could also feel it thumping hard against chest.

His voice far from being in any usable state, he just nodded in response. He found himself walking back into the waiting room in a daze, as he battled with his disbelief... Had that really just happened? He slipped a glance at the ghost beside him and saw nothing but wholehearted confidence in his eyes... He really did believe in him... without a shade of a doubt- the spirit genuinely believed he could do this.

He still had no idea if he could create a a masterpiece, but now, at least, he was confident he could get through it... With that incredible spirit at his side, he was no longer afraid of anything. He could do this!

"Mr Hiccup Haddock?"

The voice of the smartly dressed show organiser, searching for the next competitor, shot him down from the clouds.