I'm back~! Sorry about no update last week... or the week before... I was on vacation until yesterday and I just didn't have time to update this fic before I left last week. But I'm here now and I updated something like I told myself I would tonight (less than five minutes before it became tomorrow, yes! I made it!)
This chapter's a little short, but it was really hard for me to write this one out. I changed how Jack and Hiccup interact like three times to make it seem more realistic to everything going on right now.
So, thanks for the patience and all of the love this fic gets. It means a lot to me. :)
Hiccup's gaze was abruptly taken from Snotlout's smug expression to a strange yet familiar sight. He heard a voice that was foreign to him and saw its source leaning against the wall of the training academy. He was a boy close to Hiccup's age, sporting shockingly white hair and a style of clothes that he's never seen before. The Viking teen could tell that this guy was taller than him, even from that distance, and he was accompanied by a shepherd's crook that was taller still. He stared at the strange boy in awe. How come he'd never seen this person before? Why was he dressed so weirdly? And why didn't he introduce himself, or even say hello, when he wandered inside the academy?
"What are you looking at?" Fishlegs' question broke his gaze from the boy with white locks.
"Don't you see him?" Hiccup responded; his gaze gravitating back towards the stranger's piercing blue eyes.
His friends all looked in the direction of the boy. All seemed unfazed. Though, he might have seen Ruffnut or Tuffnut react to the sight. But he couldn't say for sure; Tuff and his sister never really expressed emotions besides anger and were otherwise blank faced, unless there was some kind of adrenaline-ridden action happening in the village. In which case, they would crack a smile and a diabolical laugh that almost reminded him of a certain Berserker chief at times.
"Hiccup," Ruffnut stared in confusion "is this a trick or something?"
"There's nothing there." Snotlout proclaimed.
"You're telling me you don't see him?" Hiccup glanced at all of his peers; each looking back at him in confusion and disbelief "How can you not notice someone who looks like that?" He gestured to the boy again and the looks he received only became weirder "He has white hair, for Thor's sake!" A long, cold silence fell over the group. Time trickled by slower than a dragon on some nip.
"Are you ok…?" Astrid finally asked "Did you sleep alright last night?"
"Yeah, I'm fine." Hiccup stated, sounding a little offended.
"You didn't try the yaknog last night did you?" Tuffnut chuckled "That stuff's always bound to mess you up."
"I made the yaknog this year." Astrid defensively affirmed.
Uncertainty crept onto Tuffnut's face as he bit his bottom lip.
Hiccup deadpanned "No, I didn't have any yaknog. And, before anyone asks, I did not have more mead than I can handle."
All Hiccup received in reply was blank stares. He wasn't hallucinating, was he? That boy was really standing there… staring right at him… right? He couldn't be dreaming; usually his dreams involved himself with dragons rather than people… except for that one dream about Astrid a few years ago… never mind, that's not important. Besides, this was way too vivid to be a dream. It was even too… realistic to be a fantasy made up by his mind. Why would he dream about some mystery boy that only he could see?
No. No, he had to be there. Hiccup just knew that he was really there. How could he put it? It was like… he could feel his presence in the room. It didn't feel like there were six of them in the space, but seven. He looked as real as anything else around the Viking. He took in a breath and had a sudden feeling of bravery that resulted in him taking intermittent, cautious steps towards the stranger. He needed to see him up close; to ensure himself that this kid really was there. Hiccup heard a few prods from his peers asking him if he was going crazy and to rejoin them for the meeting they were having before this unorthodox interruption. In this curiosity, their calls only became background music to what he was doing. His focus was on this strange teen and nothing else.
His interest only increased as he stepped closer and closer to the kid with white spikes and blue… shirt… thing… what even was that called? It looked too thin to be a coat by any standards; and no shirt he ever saw had a hood attached to it. His approach of the boy brought up another observation: he was really pale; a skin tone so light that Hiccup had never seen it before, or even deemed possible by nature. The growing chill on his freckled skin only added to his suspicion. Maybe he was a ghost or something? Like many people in his home, Hiccup believed in supernatural forces. After all, they believed the gods help their world function. It was foolish not to believe in them around here. But, unlike that same group, Hiccup's belief spanned from the gods to trolls, gnomes and even ghosts and the stranger part of the belief was that it was not out of fear or hollow superstition. Hiccup genuinely though that these things existed with humans in their world. There was no doubt in his mind that he could be a spirit. But that didn't fully explain how only he could see the apparition, if that were the case. He didn't know who this guy was… so why him?
The ghost boy's expression became as confused as Hiccup was sure his own was. His posture tensed as Hiccup approached.
"Who are you…?" Hiccup muttered to himself.
"… You can see me…?" The boy answered.
Now, if there was one thing Hiccup didn't expect, it was that this kid would hear him, much less actually answer him. He tried to keep up his courageous wall after that little falter. "I can. Why wouldn't I?" He paused to think over what his next question would his thoughts were interrupted by a low growl coming from Toothless, who had come to his side at a point unknown to his trainer. The dragon was poised to attack, his green eyes glowing with rage and his back arched to make himself seem bigger than he was. Hiccup was sort of surprised by this action when he noticed the dragon was growling at the phantom before him. Toothless could see him too! He looked from the dragon to the boy with a hint of wonder in his expression; he hadn't seen Toothless act this protective since that incident with the Monstrous Nightmare in the same arena they were presently occupying, at the end of the dragon training program.
"Who are-" Hiccup's question was cut short by another snarl from Toothless, which was enough to spook the target of it to grab his crook and… fly out of the arena…?
Now this was getting freaky. He stared at the doorway in shock for a minute before turning back to where his friends were; but all he found was more emptiness. He and Toothless were the only ones left inside the dragon academy. Great, Hiccup pondered how am I going to explain this now?
Jack wasted no time in fleeing the building when that black demon was getting ready to tear him limb from limb. He took so little time in escaping its sight that he didn't fully register when he had made it outside and into the sky. That thing was ready to attack him for sure. It must have been in the background the whole time but only cared that the winter spirit was there when that kid got close to him. The dragon was protecting him from Jack.
"The only person here who can see me is guarded by a giant, fire breathing reptile…" Jack muttered "Great. Just great."
Jack knew that he wasn't supposed to talk to people here, if they could see him. He knew very well what disrupting time could potentially cause. But Pitch's impact on this time, should he not be stopped, would be much more destructive than the Guardian of Fun doing what he does best. Speaking of the Nightmare King, Jack did acquire the information that he needed. Pitch was definitely messing around on this island. This was definitely the place; those kids were freaked out about something with yellow eyes in the dreams. I couldn't be anything else. Pitch was using the teens to gain strength. He had to be stopped before he becomes too strong to take down.
He darted to the entrance to the forests and found Bunny and tooth were already back as well. He landed with nothing in mind but to confirm that this was the place that they needed to watch.
"Jack," Tooth greeted "back already?"
"Find anythin' important?" Bunny asked.
"Oh, I did." The winter spirit claimed "This is definitely the place where Pitch is hiding."
"How are you so sure?" The Guardian of Hope quizzed.
"I was watching some teenagers and they were talking about having nightmares; ones that were bad enough to freak them out like never before." His two peers stared blankly until Jack continued "And there was one thing all of the dreams had. Each of them saw yellow eyes before the dream ended."
Bunny was the first to react with shock, but it didn't take Tooth too long to follow "Oh my gosh. But… why teenagers? The adults would make better targets, right?"
"He's probably testin' the waters or somethin'." Bunny reasoned "Or maybe he's not strong enough to scare the adults yet. Let's go find North n' Sandy and fill 'em in." The three Guardians rushed back into the village to find their last two members.
"Jack is right." North reasoned "Pitch must be there. Is only explanation." Sandy nodded in agreement.
The crude map that was now placed on the wall of the cave began to serve as North's battle strategy former. It may not have been to scale, but it was good enough for the plan forming stage.
"And we know he is targeting the younger residents right now. We must start making rounds tomorrow on the island and find Pitch before he is too powerful to stop. We'll split to cover more of the island faster."
"But what about tonight?" Jack interrupted "What if one of them has a nightmare tonight?"
"We're not prepared for what Pitch might have in store for us." Tooth explained "He may be weaker now, but he still could have tricks waiting for us. We have to get ready for everything we can think of tonight. Then, we can take him down."
Though jack didn't like the idea of one more nightmare going without prevention, he had to agree with the female Guardian's logic. If they weren't ready for Pitch's unpredictability, what good would they be against him? It would only make the operation easier for Pitch, with his only apprehenders subdued before he could be stopped. It was best to prepare. But after tonight, Jack would not stand for one more bad dream to plague this village.
Oh, what a glorious week this had been so far for the Boogeyman. A Viking fear smorgasbord all laid out on a silver platter for him. Only drawing blind eyes, it was only easier to hide in the shadows after he had first been cast there by the Guardians centuries ago. In a time when belief was scarce, Pitch thrived day and night as he plucked another target from his entrée dish of teenage warriors one by one. Two remained on the plate, just two. He had chosen carefully before preparing another nightmare that evening. One was very brawny, self-confident and seemed to show no real fear. That one was going to be quite interesting to crack open. And the other… seemed like more of a disappointment than his first victim. He was nothing but bone and logic. But the feature he had in common with his more promising friend was that he too expressed little to no fear from the recent occurrences. Pitch weighed the pros and cons of each nightmare in his devilish mind before he decided, trying to pick just the right sample to take before the main course came into his grasp.
He chose promise over surprise this round. So, the obnoxious boy with the big nose was the lucky receiver of Pitch's presence when night blanketed the sky on the lonely little island. Slipping inside and into his bedroom was a no-brainer, almost too easy. This was a time when locks and other stupid obstacles of the modern day didn't exist. There wasn't even a guard dog… or guard dragon, in this time. He hadn't seen more than one dragon the whole time he had been there so far. The Boogeyman had almost forgotten how great an easy entry was, it had been so long.
He crept in to the familiar yet still distasteful sound of snoring filling his ears. Great, it was one of these kids… he should have guessed.
"Now then..." Pitch spoke to deaf ears "What does the Sandman have in store for you tonight, my friend?" He wove his hand above the boy's head "Come on, come on…" Nightmare sand sprinkled onto the boy's head, creating an image of the same child stepping proudly off of a long ship with a mighty sword in his hand. "Well, aren't we the big dreamer? What can we do with you?"
He touched the sand and it grew darker, corrupting the dream on a deeper level. The Viking boy's smirk turned to a grimace as the dark blacks of the sand overpowered the deep purples; the only yellow grains present were shown in a hooded individual's eyes. This character of sand began to imitate Pitch's motions and expressions to the last detail, as he pretended to swing a sword himself and tip an invisible hat off to the dreamer's avatar. The crowd of shadows that were around the Viking all rushed to Pitch's avatar and left the once accomplished soul broken and without purpose. His paled yellow eyes grew brighter in the night as the boy began to toss and whimper in his slumber. A horribly evil laugh resonated from both the man controlling the nightmare and his miniature persona inside of it. Once all of the sand, excluding his piercing golden eyes, were stained as black as the night shadows, Pitch ceased control and held out a hand for the grains to slip back up his sleeve. He took in a breath of relief as he absorbed the power from within the horror he had just created.
"Who would have thought that someone like you would hate when people steal your spotlight…" Pitch smirked knowingly "I just might come back for another round from you, my friend." Then, he vanished into the shadows and left his aftermath to stir within the mind of the boy. This would be one nightmare that he would not soon forget.