It's Hard to Explain

by Sarah the What

Jack is a boy suffering from memory loss who would be willing to do anything to remember his past. Hiccup is his new friend who would be willing to do anything to forget his. During their many adventures involving dangerous bikes, cute girls, and protective parents, both boys learn through each other that they can't continue living their lives in the past.

15. I Remember Everything

Yeah, don't worry, this story's still a thing that's happening.

I'm not even gonna try and make excuses for why updates are so far apart now.

I've gone back and changed a couple things in the story, since user R-dude was kind enough to send me some really constructive criticism (thank you again so much for that, it was really appreciated). A lot of the change happened in chapter eleven, I believe. If you feel like rereading that real fast, see what I changed up, feel free to do so. I actually kinda encourage it.

So thank you all so much for the kind reviews and stuff! You guys are such great people and I love hearing from you all!

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As I mow lawns the next morning, my mind keeps wandering back to the nagging thought of Jack more than likely being grounded for life again. Though we had both known he wasn't allowed to leave his house - especially not with me - he did it anyways, and now he probably has to pay the price.

I shouldn't have gone over there in the first place, no matter how right it had felt at the time. I've probably just caused Jack's parents to take a large step backwards when it comes to trusting their son, which is the absolute last thing that poor kid needs right now.

After Fish drops me off at my house, having spent the entirety of the car ride trying to assure me that everything with Jack's going to be alright, I walk into my house to see Cami sprawled out on the couch, watching the television with Toothless resting beside her. She merely glances at me through her wild mane of blonde hair, framing her round face in a chaotic kind of way, and then turns her attention back to the screen.

"What are you doing here?" I ask, slipping off my shoes and kicking them to the side.

"Last minute babysitting," she tells me simply. "Hope you didn't have any plans today, 'cause they're now officially cancelled."

I make my way into the living room and slump down next to her, feeling a wave of relief come over at me as I finally relax my body for the first time today. Toothless, who greets me with a head nudge and a soft meow, crawls on to my lap and curls into a small, black ball. I lean my head that feels like a sack of rocks against the back of the couch as I run my fingers down his spine and let out a much needed sigh.

And then the phone rings.

Cami moves so fast that, by the time I've opened my eyes, she's already taken it upon herself to climb onto the kitchen counter where the phone jack is located and pick up the phone, saying into the receiver, "Yes, hello. This is the Haddock residence. What do you want?"

Toothless yowls along with me as I let out a groan. "Camiiiiiii, I swear to every god I know-"

"Hey, it's your girlfriend," the small girl informs me, attempting to whisper so only I can hear her, but failing miserably at it. "That Asturd girl."

Reaching out my hand, I signal for her to pass the phone to me. She says something about me having to fight her for it, but when I threaten her with Toothless' claws, to which he confirms with a hiss, she reluctantly hands it over.

"Did she really just call me Asturd?" is the first thing I hear Astrid say. "I don't think I've ever been called that before."

I laugh, telling Cami with my eyes to get her butt off the kitchen counter. "And I believe that. You'd probably kick their face in if someone were to ever call you that."

"And that is so true. You're beginning to known me too well, Haddock. It's concerning."

Cami shakes her head at my request for her to get down, so I pick up Toothless and throw him softly onto the kitchen counter beside her. Before he can even land all four paws onto the linoleum surface though, Cami's already sprung off the counter and retreated into my dad's bedroom, slamming the door shut behind her.

"So, what's up?" I ask, giving Toothless an approving grin, to which he sits and meows happily in response to.

"Oh, not much," Astrid tells me simply. "I was just wondering if you have anything planned for the afternoon. If not, I thought we could, I dunno, maybe go hang out with Jack and that Tooth girl. Speaking of which, where in world did she get a nickname like Tooth? Was that one of Jack's or-"

"Wait, wait, wait," I stop her at hearing Jack's name. "Jack… he… he's talked to you?"

"Well, yeah," Astrid says, making it sound like no big deal. "He called me a couple hours ago, asked if you and I would like to join him and Tooth and some kids they're babysitting on a hike or something."

"So wait. He's not grounded?"

"What? No. Why would be- oh gods, Hiccup. What did you two do?"

"No, no, no. We didn't do anything. I just… nevermind."

"Yeah, good, 'cause I don't even want to know. Anyways. Are you in or what? 'Cause if you don't join me, then I probably won't go. I'm not particularly close with either of 'em, and having to deal with three little kids doesn't sound that great if I don't have your moral support."

"He can't go!" a new, squeaking little voice breaks into our conversation all of the sudden. "He's babysitting me today and can't go anywhere if I don't go with him! So there!"

"Oh my gods, Cami," I groan. "Are you using the phone in my dad's bedroom?"

"…no."

"Well," Astrid continues on, "if you wanna tag along, Cami, I don't see the harm in it."

"You're saying that now," I mumble.

I swear I hear Cami growl into the receiver before saying, "Shut up, Burp."

"And from what Jack told me," Astrid goes on, "there's gonna be some kids around your age with us, so you can hang out with them, keep yourself busy."

All of the sudden, a bush of blonde hair comes running out of my dad's room, bare feet slapping loudly against the wooden floor and a phone in hand. Cami hurls herself onto the couch beside me and begins jumping up and down with all her might, chanting into the receiver, "Can I go, Burp? Can I can I can I can I?"

"Cam, I'm right here," I tell her, reaching out and trying to grab her legs to stop her from jumping. "You don't have to talk into the phone anymore."

"CAN IIIIIII?"

"Fine! Yes! You can tag along."

She stops bouncing and throws her hands into the air in success, nearly letting the phone fly out of her grasp and into the wall. Jumping down from the cushion, placing the still connected phone on the coffee table, she then runs off into the foyer, yelling back at me, "I'll get my shoes and Dragon Book! Maybe we'll see a dragon while we're out there! That's be so cool!"

"It's gonna be a mistake allowing her to tag along, isn't it?" I hear Astrid ask once Cami's gone.

"You have no idea."

I hear her let out a warm laugh that reminds me of yesterday when we raced against each other for the first time, which make me smile. "Well," her voice goes on. "I guess I'll meet you two… how about at my place? I still gotta unload the dishwasher before going out, so that'll buy ya some time."

"Alright, yeah. Sounds good," I tell her. "I'll, uh… we'll see ya soon."

"Yeah. See ya, Hic."

Cami and I are out of the house in record time, mostly on Cami's account for being so over eager to go dragon hunting again. As I help her up onto the handlebars of my bike, planting one of my old, forgotten helmets firmly on her head, I remind her of our earlier dragon hunting expedition and how unsuccessful we were, but I don't think she hears me, considering she's so pumped.

Astrid's waiting on the seat of her bike as we roll up her street, her gear on and all ready to go. I'm about to yell out to her when, before I can, she starts pedaling towards me at a rather uncomfortable speed. Right before she hits me though, she swerves, only just missing my front tire by a good couple of inches, then starts pedaling off down the street the opposite way.

"I think she just threatened you," Cami tells me.

"Yeah, I think she did too."

"And what are you gonna do about it?"

"Hang on to something."

I don't win Astrid's and my little race around the block obviously, considering I have Cami sitting in front of me with no real way of hanging on. The small blonde does get a really big kick out of me breaking fifteen miles per hour though, the speed I usually go with her as a passenger.

After a while, Astrid sees that I'm really not trying that hard to beat her, because of my extra load, so she slows down and comes back to join us. She swerves towards me as she arrives again, catching me off guard and causing me to do the same, only away from her. I shoot her a look, trying to remind her that I have a ten-year-old with no seat belt riding with me, but she only laughs and playfully sticks her tongue out at me before rocketing off in front of us again.

"I think she just flirted with you, Burp," Cami tells me matter-of-factly.

"No," I tell her. "She was just… fooling around."

"I dunno. That seemed like a real girlfriend-like thing to do."

"She's not my girlfriend."

"If you say sooooo."

After Astrid leads us to the outskirts of town, we eventually run into Tooth, sitting on the side of the road with two little girls. I recognize the smallest one as Sophie, a pair of fairy wings strapped onto her back and what looks like a juice box straw stuck in between her lips. The other little girl though, who's a spitting image of Tooth, only younger, doesn't look familiar and quickly goes to hiding behind Tooth when she sees us coming. This make the older girl look over her bare shoulder to see us, which causes her to smile and wave, getting up from the ground to greet us as soon as we start dismounting our bikes. Before Tooth can even get a word out though, Sophie is bounding towards me, her wings flapping behind her as she chants, "Robot, robot! Beep boop beep!" Once the small girl who's only about a third of my height is standing in front of me, she bends down and starts poking my prosthetic leg, still making little robot sounds.

Tooth starts apologizing instantly as Astrid just laugh at the sight, Cami asking from beside me, "What is she doing?".

"She's just greeting me in the proper robotic fashion," I say back, crouching down to the little girl's level. I poke her on her little, button nose, making a little "beep" sound as I do so, and that makes her start giggling like crazy. Before I can say anything else or even get up from kneeling, she up and skipping over to join the other little girl, who I notice is also wearing fairy wings on her back.

"Thank you two sooooo much for coming," Tooth tells us, giving both Astrid and me a pleasant smile that tells us she really means it. "Jack and I don't normally take them out while babysitting, but it's just such a beautiful day. We couldn't keep them locked way inside all day, you know."

"Tell me about it," Astrid says from beside me. "This one here was gonna waste today bein' inside, no doubt, so thank you for inviting us." She nudges me in the side, and I roll my eyes, lying and saying that that isn't true.

I'm about to change the subject and ask where Jack is, when - speak of the devil - the white haired weirdo walks out from between the trees with Jamie at his side, both of them carrying what look like a bunch of sticks in their arms.

"Hi, Robot! Hi, Robot's friends! We got walking sticks for everyone!" Jamie announces with a proud grin. The young boy marches up to us, making a point to jump on every rock in his path, and starts testing out which sticks would work best with Astrid's height.

"Can I have an extra tall one?" Cami asks as he passes her one that would suit her perfectly.

Jamie furrows his brow. "Why?"

"Wizards like Gandalf always have staffs that are extra tall, and I wanna feel like a wizard."

"You believe in wizards?" Jamie asks, and when she nods, he's beaming.

After everyone gets a walking stick and all shoelaces have been tied, Tooth and Astrid lead our little party into the woods, starting down a manmade path cutting in between all the trees and shrubs. I can overhear them talking about the kids, Tooth telling Astrid how Sophie and Baby Tooth - the little Tooth look-alike girl - have the tendency to disappear sometimes, so we'll need to keep an eye one both of them. The two said little girls are skipping close behind them, hand in hand and singing a song with words that only little kids must understand, their fairy wings flapping in unison. Behind them are Cami and Jamie, walking side by side as well and sounding like they're in a deep conversation about which wizard is better, Gandalf or Dumbledore. That leaves just Jack and me to take up the rear.

I point up at his oddly shaped walking stick, getting his attention. "I like your stick."

He looks up at it, like he's making sure it's still the same stick he had found earlier, and then looks down at me with a smile. "Thanks. It's kind of weird, but I thought it looked cool."

"Looks kinda like a shepherd's crook."

"What's that?"

"A shepherd's a sheep herder," I tell him. "They had these sticks they always walked around with and stuff. They were all hooked at the end, like yours there."

"Ah. Too bad I don't have any sheep to herd."

"Of course you do." I point towards the four children in front of us.

"Uh, last I checked, those were children, Hic, not sheep."

"Sheep. Children. They're practically the same thing."

He lets out a laugh at that. "If you say so."

I shove my hands into my pockets, watching Cami ahead of me reach to grab her Dragon Book from her backpack to show Jamie its contents, no doubt. From the looks of it, Astrid and Tooth are no longer talking about the kids, but rather about whatever teenage girls talk about, Sophie having migrated into Astrid's arms, and Baby Tooth's hand into Tooth's.

"So, some stuff happened last night," I hear Jack say from beside me.

"Oh?" I ask, feeling my entire body tense up.

"Yep."

"W-what happened?"

"Well, when I got home last night, my mother was really, really upset about how I'd snuck out."

"Hm."

"She said something about me making it to where she'd never be able to trust me again."

"Ah."

"And I think I overheard her talking with someone on the phone this morning about hiring someone to assassinate you or something."

"Wait, what?" I stop in my tacks, and when Jack looks back to see my horror stuck expression, his face cracks and he bursts out laughing. Getting what's going on, I send him a stink eye and hit him as hard as I can in the arm, which ends up not being all that hard, since he barely even flinches at the impact.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Jack says through his laughs, trying to catch his breath. "I saw the opportunity and I had to take it."

"Do you even know what assassinate means?" I ask, trying to ignore the hot redness now creeping on to my cheeks.

"Of course. It means-"

"Nuh-uh. No word-for-word Dictionary definitions."

"Ahhh, that's not fair."

"Yeah, well, life's not fair. So… yeah."

We reach a stream at this point, and go ahead to help Astrid and Tooth get the kids across without them getting too wet. Jamie and Baby Tooth are corporative with the task, following Jack's footsteps across the boulders dotting the water. Sophie doesn't even get close to getting wet since Astrid decides to just carry her across. It's Cami though - of course - who "accidently" missteps and gets her sneakers drenched, just to be the little problem she is.

After everyone's safe across the stream, we continue on our way down the path, me being the one who has to carry Cami's soaked shoes as she goes on barefoot, much against Tooth's wishes. As we start walking uphill, making our walking sticks very handy, Jack decides to continue our previous conversation by asking, "Did you really think my mother would go as far as to get you assassinated?"

"Man, I dunno," I admit with a shrug. "She seems willing to do anything to keep you safe. What makes you think she wouldn't go that far?

"Oh, I don't know, maybe the fact that she's okay with us being friends now?"

I'm not even aware that I've stopped walking until Jack's a good couple yards ahead of me. He stops as well when he notices that I'm not longer beside him, and turns to send me a look that asks me what's wrong.

I narrow my eyes at him. "How can I trust that what you're sayin' is true? After what you pulled on me earlier?"

He seems confused at first, but when he catches on, a wide grin appears on his face as he chuckles and shakes his head. "Those are some serious trust issues you've got there, Hic."

"Yeah, and I wonder why."

"I just took my own advice," he tells me, going back to the main subject at hand, all joking aside. "I told you that you needed to talk to your father about the whole future thing, so I decided to talk to my mother about the whole you-being-my-friend thing."

"And it worked?"

He nods. "And it worked."

"Wow."

"I know, right? I was a little shocked too when she said she'd like to meet you."

With hearing those words, I feel like I've suddenly been hit with a pound of bricks, and if this makes any sense, it's in the best kind of way. For the last month, all I've been trying to do is find a way to get Jack's mom to not see me as a bad guy, and now here we are. Since Jack's here, and if what he's telling me is true, then that means that she knows we're out together right now, and I don't know how he feels about that, but me - well, that's kind of really, really awesome.

"What about you?" Jack asks me, breaking my train of thought. "I went and actually talked to my mother. Did you talk to your father?"

I shrug. "Kinda."

"Explain."

"It… ugh. It wasn't about the whole future thing, if that's what you're thinking. And not much talking actually happened either."

"I don't see where you're going with this."

"It was… after I had left - y'know, from helping him clean out the garage - he… he found something that he thought I'd want to have. And, well… he gave it to me. And though we didn't really talk about it afterwards, it kinda meant a lot to me."

"What was it, if you don't mind me asking."

"It was this little dragon plush I had back when I was a kid. All beaten up and warn out, stitches everywhere. I had completely forgotten I had the thing."

"Okay, but what does that-"

"My mom made it for me."

He doesn't say anything, and though I don't look over to see his face, I can tell he doesn't plan on saying anything, so I go on. "She had made it for me when I was, like, a baby or something. It used to be my favorite toy and, after she left, I just… didn't want it anymore. Reminded me too much of her, I guess. But I haven't seen it since and… I dunno. My dad just said, 'I found this today and I thought you might want it' and I said thanks and yeah. That was about it."

"So, you guys didn't really talk?" Jack asks, sounding a little disappointed; I can see why he would be though. He had made so much progress with his mom last night, while, in his eyes, I had barely made any.

"No," I tell him simply, "but sometime, there isn't really anything that needs to be said."

He doesn't say anything to that, but by the way he looks down at the ground and nods his head, like he's letting my words sink it, I can see he sort of understands what I mean.

Eventually we find a little clearing where we can all take a breather. It's at another little stream cutting its way through the woods, only this time it's wider than the one from before and not quite as deep, so we can all wade through it if we take off our shoes and roll up our pants. There's several large boulders sprouting up from the cool water, so Tooth takes her perch on one with little Sophie in her lap, making sure her backpack won't fall in without her noticing before sitting down.

Though Tooth had advised that none of us get too wet, it's pretty much inevitable that a water-splashing war breaks out. Cami starts it by trying to splash Jamie when his back is turned, but her aim is off and she instead sends a face full of water Astrid's way. Astrid, being the competitive girl she is, takes it as a threat, jumps down from her boulder, and starts sending huge waves of water Cami's way. That gets Jamie going, which causes Jack to forget that he's the eldest of all of us, so he starts splashing everyone as well. Tooth tries to get them to all calm down and stop, but once Baby Tooth starts throwing the water from her water bottle around, the poor girl gives up.

"Don't worry about it too much," I tell her, taking a seat beside her and Sophie, who's bouncing up and down in Tooth's lap at all the excitement. "Put a bunch of kids in a stream and they're bound to get wet. Especially if someone like Jack's around."

Tooth laughs at this, seeming to relax some. "Especially if Jack's around."

The three of us sit there, watching the others chase and splash each other. Sophie crawls out from Tooth's lap and perches on the edge of the rock, but doesn't make any advances towards the action, which I can tell relieves Tooth.

"Why don't you go join them?" she asks me, cocking her head in their direction, making her stubby ponytail bob a little. "I think the little ones would absolutely love it if this were to become older kids verses younger kids."

"As, uh… appealing as that sounds," I reply, cringing a little at the sight of Cami jumping onto Astrid's back unexpectedly, causing her knees to buckle and both of the girls to crash into the water, "I'm gonna have to pass. Water was never really my thing."

"Oh yeah? Why's that?"

"I don't like the rusting."

"The rust…?" It takes her a moment, but I can tell she eventually gets what I'm referring to by the way her pink eyes flicker down to my prosthetic leg. "Ooooh. Oh. I'm… I'm sorry. I didn't mean to-"

"Nah, don't worry about it," I assure her with a smile. "When you lose a leg, you lose a couple other things along with it, y'know Besides. I'm not much for water fights anyways. Lost too many of them as a kid to really be able to enjoy them now."

"I can relate to that," Tooth tells me. "I'm not much into water either, so I guess that means we have each other to keep each other company."

"And me, and me!" Sophie chirps, turning briefly towards us, and then going back to watching the others.

Tooth and I both laugh at this, then join Sophie in watching everyone else battle each other with water. Jack and Jamie seem to have their own little competition going on now, both of them trying to see who can hold their breath the longest, Jamie winning each time and Jack demanding a rematch whenever he comes up for air too early. The girls, however, are still in the middle of a fierce water battle, Baby Tooth and Cami having joined forces against Astrid. Both girls are armed with water bottles, refilling and attacking at the same time, as Astrid's only defense is her cupped hands and her speed. They have a hard time keeping up with her as she dances from rock to rock, a glowing smile on her face. Despite the fact that her hair is damp and about to fall out of its braid, she still looks as great as ever; it all reminds me of the night we all star tripped together by Caliban Cave and I watched her spin in circles under the night sky, laughing to herself for everyone to hear. She's living in the moment, allowing her walls to go down for once and just have fun, something I love to see her do.

"She was talking about you earlier," I hear Tooth speak up from beside me. I give her a confused look, despite the fact that I know who she's talking about, since I was just staring at her for a good minute now. Tooth merely laughs, since she can probably see right through me. "Astrid," she goes on. "We were talking about you earlier, while we were hiking here."

I raise an eyebrow, though I'm beginning to be able to hhear my heartbeat in my ears. "Oh yeah? Only bad things, I'm sure."

Tooth laughs again. "Noooo. She was actually really sweet, to tell the truth. Said she was happy she's been able to spend all this time with you lately."

I can feel the beating in my chest quicken and I try my hardest to make it to where Tooth can't tell, but it's difficult. "R-really?"

"Mhm," - oh man, she can totally tell I'm silently freaking out here - "She also said she's really nervous about some race you've got coming up too. She doesn't want to see you get hurt again."

At hearing this, I can't help but look down at my missing leg, the day I had lost it coming into my memory for the first time since Jack asked me about it. I can recall everything before it, even some stuff during it, but after? It's all a blur, like it had been a dream and didn't even happen. I remember hearing someone yell my name from somewhere in the distance as I lost consciousness though - a girl's voice - but I had assumed I had been hearing things. Maybe I hadn't.

"Hiccup? Are you okay?"

I turn back towards Tooth, having totally forgotten she was there beside me. "Yeah," I assure her maybe a little too quickly. "I'm just… just thinking."

"Are you nervous about this race too?" she asks.

"A… a little."

"Jack is too."

"Huh?"

"Jack." Tooth looks down at her feet for a moment, like she's trying to remember exactly what he had said to her. "He told me about it the other day, how you're racing someone that might be hard for you to beat. He said you said you're not really scared about it, but he told me that he is."

"He… he said that?"

"You mean a lot to him, you know. He looks up to you, values your opinion on things. Cares about you. I hope you know that."

I can't get myself to respond, since there's too big of a knot caught in my throat to, so I just nod.

I hear Tooth sigh beside me. "Just… don't get hurt, okay? Not only for your sake, but also for his. It'd crush him."

"I-I know," I stammer out, turning back towards her. "I won't. I pro-"

Before I can finish though, a piercing scream rips through the air around us.

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Jamie starts sprinting in the opposite direction from me, his arms pumping at his sides as his bare feet grip the slippery rocks underneath him. I can tell his eyes aren't concentrating on the ground, not watching what he's doing or if where he' stepping is safe. His laugh fills the air, completely caught up in the moment as he focuses on getting as far away from me as possible.

It all makes me nervous.

"Jamie!" I shout after him. "Slow down! You might slip!"

"Don't worry, Jack!" he yells back, not even twisting around to face me. "I'm really good with running on slippery surfaces! You should see me when I'm in the snow! I'm like a pro!"

"T-that's great, but still. Slow down, please!" I try taking a couple cautious steps towards him, keeping him in my sight. Astrid's too busy fighting off Baby Tooth and Cami, and Tooth and Hiccup seem too focused on whatever subject they're talking about to take any notice on what's going on with us anymore. That leaves only me to care for Jamie now.

He's spins towards me to make sure I'm not gaining on him, walking backwards a little too quick for my taste. I'm about to yell at him again to watch his step when, in only a second, his left foot misses his intended target and he's falling towards the water. Everything seems to happen in slow motion after that is seems. My whole stomach is caught in my throat as his arms flail around, trying to catch onto something, anything, to support him. I'm about yell, to get the other's attention, maybe even to somehow stop him from falling, but by the time the words get to my lips, he's already hit the ground.

And is fine.

There's a pause as we both take in what had just happened. Our eyes meet, and I can see in his that he understands that what just happened could've ended in a very different way.

A skittish smile forms on his lips. "That hurt."

I let out a laugh, relieved to see that he's alright. "I bet it did."

Jamie gets up from the rocks, rubbing his bottom, which I can tell by his expression must hurt from the impact of the fall. As he glimpses up towards me, sending a look that's supposed to reassure me that he's alright, a strange feeling overcomes me; a feeling I haven't felt in the longest time.

The last thing I see is Jamie's wide eyes, filled with horror, and then darkness.

I'm falling through nothing and it feels like knives are penetrating the back of my skull. I scream as the pain hits me all at once. I want to call out for help, but all I can do is scream, scream at the pain engulfing me. The more I scream, the more the pain hurts. I scream until it doesn't even feel like I'm screaming anymore.

And then it all stops.

I'm standing in the middle of a forest, no sound except for the shifting of the leaves above and my steady breathing. I feel like me, but at the same time, I don't. It all looks familiar, these trees and rocks and roots, but I can't pinpoint where I've seen them before.

"Chris!"

My head automatically turns to see Emma, wearing a loose brown dress I've never seen before, standing in between two thin branches sprouting up from the ground. Her smile widens as our eyes meet, and before I can get a word out - ask her where we are, what we're doing here, what's going on - she's running in the opposite direction, her thin legs carrying her surprisingly fast for someone so small.

"Where are you going?" I hear myself say, though I hadn't even thought of saying it. I try to get my feet to stop following her, knowing that this is a trap, just like all the other nightmares I've fallen victim to, but I can't. It's like I'm preprogrammed, only doing what I had been instructed to do.

"We're almost there!" Emma yells back at me, her brown hair flying around her face as she turns to gesture me forward. "Just follow me!"

"Where are we going?" I hear myself ask again, though I think I already know.

We run through the woods, my legs moving me forwards when all I really want is to go back. I can only see glimpses of Emma's hair trailing behind her, jerking from left to right, and every time it disappears, even for a second, a sudden pain hits the back of head that forces me to move faster.

I finally catch up to her when I arrive at a stream, a stream I remember from one of the first nightmares I had. Everything about it looks the same - the towering trees, the trickling water, the rocks and the cloudless horizon. I search for the dark figure, ready for it to make its entrance any moment now and for the pain to consume me again, but it's nowhere to be seen. The only person with me is Emma, little Emma, standing in the center of it all, picking up rocks and studying them like they're the most fascinating thing in the world. When she looks up and notices me standing there, a smile spreads across her face, I feel a pain in my heart, and I realize just how much I've missed her.

"I found some really cool rocks!" she tells me, holding them proudly above her head. "Come over here! You're not gonna get any cool rocks from standing over there, silly!"

My feet move me forward and onto the first rock, the tip of my right shoe getting wet as step. Emma smiles as she sees me coming towards her, crouching down to continue her rock searching. As I reach her, I take another look around, ready for the dark figure to lurk out from between the narrow trees, to this this seemingly perfect dream into another horrible nightmare.

"What are you looking for?" I hear Emma ask.

I turn my gaze down to her, and she's looking curiously up at me, her mouth slightly left agape in wonder. "Nothing," I hear myself say, which makes me feel so aggravated, since "nothing" is not what I was looking for. As my body bends down and starts shuffling through the rocks littering the river bed, I try with all my might to tell Emma that I don't feel safe here, that something bad is going on, but my lips won't seem to open, no matter how hard I force them to.

"I'm gonna go look over there, 'kay?" Emma tells me suddenly, hearing her straighten up next to me and start off down the stream. I feel myself nod my head, though she doesn't see, since she's already started skipping away, her soaked sneakers scrapping the wet surfaces of the rocks.

"Be careful," I hear myself warn her.

"Don't worry. I wi-"

I somehow manage to look up fast enough to see her shoe losing contact with the rock she's standing on. Her hand releasing all of the stones she had earlier collected, causing them to fly through the air in all directions as she lets out a piercing scream that sends chills down my spine.

For the first time in this dream, my body does what I want it to do. The rocks in my hands are dropped with hesitation as I dart forward, nearly losing my balance as I extend my arms out to catch her. I feel the cloth of her dress against my fingertips as her body collapses neatly into mine, knocking all the wind out of my lungs and sending me plummeting backwards onto the rocky stream below.

All I hear is a sharp crack, like someone's hit the back of my head with a baseball bat, and then I'm underwater. The water around me turns from a clear blue to a stained red and I forget how to breathe.

I'm not under for long though. Small hands break through the water's surface and pull me out and back into the air, shaking as they move from my hair up to my cheeks. Emma's brown eyes stare down at me, tears lining their rims as she stumbles out words like "Chris" and "sorry" and "help".

I say her name, my vision suddenly becoming blurred, almost to the point where I can't make her out anymore. Her hands move up to her mouth when she sees me attempting to talk, and she lets out a harsh sob, and I want to reach out for her, to tell her to stop crying, that I'm right here, that it's all going to be okay, but I can't feel my arm. She jumps up all of the sudden, disappearing from me view completely, and I feel panic growing with the pain in my head. I try to say her name again, but my throat is too dry, and when I try to speak, it feels like I'm bleeding from the inside.

"Jack?"

The last thing I see is the cloudless sky before I give in and close my eyes.

"Jaaack!"

There's not fighting the pain growing in the back of my head now.

"Wake up! Jack! You need to wake up!"

I'm too tired to fight it now. Too tired for fighting.

"Please, Jack!"

I just want to sleep.

"You can't die on me, you idiot! Not now!"

But Hiccup.

All of the sudden, air enters my lungs at an alarming speed and I gasp for it, filling me up and making me feel alive again. My eyes fly open to see six faces, all overcast and staring down at me, both in terror and in relief, a bright clouded backdrop behind them.

"Jack!" I hear one of the faces say as unexpected arms tighten around my limp body, engulfing me in their embrace. "Oh thank God! Thank God you're awake! Are you alright? Are you hurt?"

"Give the guy some space," I hear another girl's face tell everyone. "He just had, like, a seizure or somethin'. Don't crowd around him. You heard me! Move it!" Some of the smaller faces disappear then, the sound of the voice continuing to ward them off.

One of the faces that remain is Tooth's, I can see it now. Her pink eyes suddenly come into focus, and they're full of tears, though she's also smiling down at me. I can feel her body shaking slightly, my head resting in her lap as she runs her hand soothingly through my wet hair.

And the other face is Hiccup. He's staring down at me with wide, green eyes, apparent shock, yet also pure awe, filing them.

"What in the name of Odin just happened, Jack?" he asks me, sounding upset for some reason.

"Shh, don't talk," Tooth stops me before I can say a word. Her head snaps up towards Hiccup, looking furious at him. "He just had a seizure. He shouldn't be-"

"I remember," I whisper, stopping both of them from talking instantly.

"What?" Hiccup whispers back, moving in closer, his auburn hair falling around his face.

"I remember," I say again. "I remember… everything."