Summary: Hiccup investigates the New Dragon Eye Lens, Danny is mildly upset about his method of doing so.

Lets see, what's happened since I last updated this fic?

I got my tiddies chopped off
I graduated from college
A secret third thing?

Anyways


Hiccup sighed in some relief as he rounded the block to the unbearable neon sign in front of him. He hadn't known the exact address, but it didn't particularly matter anyways. If you've seen Fentonworks once, you'll be able to recognize it from miles away. Or, at least, that's what Sam and Tucker said. The fact that it towered over its neighboring buildings was a surprising blessing.

Not that Hiccup necessarily wanted to be here – he would much rather have had his experiments at the manor turn out successful.

But as it was, none of their dragons' fires reacted to the new dragon eye lens. He'd almost given up, which would have been completely understandable in any other situation, but Hiccup did not have a track record of throwing in the towel.

As he pulled up to the sidewalk, his hand clutched around the ice crystal in his pocket – the one from that night on the roof. He honestly didn't know why he felt the need to keep it, but he figured that its unmelting quality was some sign of the gods'. It was, ultimately, the thing that spurred him to Fentonworks in what the 21st century would call a "Hail Mary" move.

Hiccup just called it a longshot. Which, well, it was – his logic was, essentially: the new lens was found in the Ghost Zone, therefore it must need ectolight to activate it.

Probably the most baseless plan he's ever come up with, but it had significantly better odds than finding the specific (no longer existing) breed of dragon that would activate the lens.

At least, he'd like to hope.

So now Hiccup found himself standing on the icy porch of Fentonworks with the Dragon Eye II firmly in his pocket. He pressed his hand against it to make sure it was secure, before knocking on the door.

Was it dangerous to be showing his face around this place, especially with their stolen tech in his ear? Probably. But Jasmine Fenton was his best bet at the end of the day.

So it was to his shock when someone else opened the door.

Icy blue eyes stared at him in alarm, and Hiccup promptly took a step back.

"Um…" He looked the scrawny boy – Jazz's brother – up and down. "Hello?"

"Wh –" the teen began, and Hiccup would almost have called his tone shocked, but then he cut himself off rather abruptly. His gaze darted out over Hiccup's shoulder, like he was expecting someone else to be there. He then coughed into a closed fist, "Hello…?" He greeted a lot quieter, gaze plastering itself to the floor, "Can I help you?"

Hiccup took his waving off the translator to be a bit of a blessing. Still, he felt it was best to tread lightly. "I'm a friend of Jazz's?" He said, coughing into a fist, "is she home?"

"Uh…yeah," The boy answered rather flatly, and then seemed to cringe to himself. He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, "She's busy, though. Can I…take a message?"

Clamping down on his tongue (and ignoring the sudden chills up his spine), Hiccup pressed his hand back against the Dragon Eye II. "No, thanks." He dismissed, listening to the alarm bells ringing in his head. "It's kind of private…"

For some reason, Jazz's brother seemed offended – if only for a split second. He wiped it away almost immediately with an "Oh…" His strange gaze darted back up to Hiccup, and his nerves did not enjoy that, "Um, I guess I can go get her…"

"I'd appreciate that." Hiccup averted his gaze. (Was this kid a little creepy?)

Nodding to himself, the boy promptly closed the door in his face.

Hiccup blinked.

Well.

Well, waiting it is, then.

Thankfully, it didn't take long. Jazz ripped open the door, still in her sleep clothes and shoving a translator hastily into her ear. "Hiccup?" She asked in bewilderment, "What are you, uh, doing here?" She spoke with slightly widened eyes, a silent warning evident on her face.

"Are your parents home?" He lowered his voice, "Cuz I need to talk to you."

Her eyes shot to her hairline at that, "Oh, um…no, they aren't –" she briefly glanced behind her, probably to look for her brother, "Come in, before you freeze your ass off…"

A relieved smile graced his lips as she held the door open for him. He took his boot off at the entrance. Her brother was nowhere to be seen, and Hiccup couldn't help but sigh in relief.

Jazz crossed her arms over her chest as the cold air whisked in. "What's going on?" She said, and he noticed that there was a considerable amount of concern in her voice.

Oh. "It's not a – psychology thing," He admitted.

"Aw…" Jazz physically deflated at that, "I-I mean, not that I don't want to talk to you about other things, you know, but I'm just…kinda in the middle of studying."

"I promise it'll only take a few seconds," Hiccup assured, "I'm just having trouble with a…personal project." He lowered his voice pointedly, trying not to mumble.

Thankfully, Jazz's eyebrows set sternly with a nod, "Follow me."

She immediately headed towards the stairs, leaving Hiccup no choice but to follow. A small hallway and a couple of doors later, they entered what he could only assume to be her bedroom.

"Ignore the mess," She fretted, kicking some discarded articles of clothing out of the way, "Finals week, you know?"

"It's fine," Hiccup shook his head, "I did kind of drop by unannounced, so…"

"Yeah…if I'd have known I would have just let you in the first time." Jazz hesitated, jaw wavering like she was walking on particularly thin ice, "...so what did you, uh…think of him?"

"Your brother…?" Hiccup asked, and she gave him a strange look from over her shoulder. She nodded.

Sucking in a breath, he tried to think of…well. Something to say about him that didn't involve the goosebumps he caused. He scratched at his cheek absentmindedly. "He's helpful," he settled on, cringing at how shallow that sounded.

"Yeah…" Jazz sighed, "that's my brother for you."

Hiccup held his tongue, but it seemed to do little to fool her.

"I know he's a little…strange," she continued in some sort of defensiveness, "but he means well."

Humming, Hiccup nodded politely.

Jazz came to a sudden stop at her desk, spinning with a stiffness that made Hiccup stumble back. "The - the reason he's not around all that much is because, he, uh –"

"You really don't have to defend him to me," Hiccup let out a soft chuckle, and she paused momentarily.

Shrugging at her look, he continued, "Look, all that matters is that…you're helping us. You don't have to try and explain the rest of your family's stance on ghosts." Not that Hiccup had much of an opinion outside of Phantom to begin with.

Blinking, Jazz looked at the carpet. "Right…"

"Anyway," Hiccup gave her an out, "this is a good place to discuss?"

"For now," Jazz admitted, "My parents will be home in a few hours."

"Then we'll make it quick," He resolved, sighing preemptively as he straightened his posture, "I need to find Phantom."

There was a brief pause as Jazz crossed her arms over her chest almost-warily. The look she gave him was almost accusatory. "...Why did you come to me?"

Shrugging, Hiccup admitted, "Well, I dunno…you are the daughter of ghost hunters…figured you'd have some ghost-tracking in your blood."

Again, he was reminded of how much of a longshot this entire thing was, he scratched his cheek nervously.

"Oh," Jazz piped up like she'd completely forgotten her parents' career, her tone was suddenly a lot more chipper, "Right. Okay, well, can I ask why you need him?"

Clenching his teeth, Hiccup's hand fell back to his pocket, which didn't go unnoticed by her.

"It's a long story," he settled on. He knew that her curiosity was entirely innocent, but some part of him was still scared that one wrong word would cause the Dragon Eye II to fall into the wrong hands. He glanced behind him in fear before presenting the device, "I just need some ectolight…"

As expected, Jazz's eyes practically lit up at the sight of the artifact, a dramatic gasp leaving her, "Oh, is this about that lens we found?" She took a step forward, hands hovering excitedly above the Dragon Eye II, "What is it?"

"It's…" Hiccup paused upon realizing he didn't exactly know what to describe the Dragon Eye as. It was simply the Dragon Eye. It didn't need an explanation.

"An archive," he settled on. That was the closest explanation, "We call it the Dragon Eye. You shine light in one end and the contents of the lenses shine out the other."

"Incredible!" Jazz tapped her lips thoughtfully, "Ancients, a primitive projector…"

Hiccup took much offense to that adjective, eyelids falling in exasperation. He tried not to huff, "typically, one of our dragons' fires will reveal the message, but so far we've got nothing. I figured…if it was found in the Ghost Zone, maybe it needs ghost light. Hence Phantom."

"Wait, it reacts to different types of light?" Jazz completely bypassed Hiccup's point, completely laser-focused on the Dragon Eye, "I don't even think modern projectors do that – what materials are the lenses made of?"

"I…don't know," Hiccup responded, "Why does that matter?"

"Maybe it's more like a microscope, then," Jazz was now muttering to herself, "wait, dragons have different types of fire?"

"Well…yeah, Toothless' is primarily plasma. Stormfly's magnesium based and Hookfang actually–" He stopped very suddenly, blinking at the near-instinctive rant, "we're getting off-track!" he shook his head rapidly, huffing, "can you contact Phantom for me or not?"

Jazz's eyes fell again at mention of the ghost, she straightened back up. "Oh, right…yeah, I can send him your way."

A sigh of relief that Hiccup hadn't known he'd been holding left him, "Thanks," he said, shoving the Dragon Eye II back in his pocket, "Just tell him to meet me back at the um…the manor."

For some reason, a frown pulled at his lips at that idea of heading back so soon. Hiccup found himself looking at the carpet as if it would give him a reason to stay – away from the walls filled with homesick vikings and hidden dragons.

He knew he really shouldn't be complaining. Things could be a lot worse – a lot worse. But things could also be a lot better. Not that the discrepancies were the Manson's fault – or the Fenton's.

Despite his best efforts, it seemed that Jazz caught onto Hiccup's mood. Her head tilted to the side. "Hey," She interjected, and Hiccup glanced up at her after a moment. She smiled sympathetically, "You wanna stay for some coffee?"

"I thought you had to study," Hiccup inquired, and she shrugged.

"I can study in the kitchen," she admitted, and then apparently decided he needed some teasing, "Besides, you look like you need some socialization."

"I'm…not a big coffee drinker," he admitted, choosing to ignore that particular jab, as true as it may be.

Jazz merely hummed, amused. "Well, lucky for you, my mom likes tea, too."

Hiccup swallowed as he contemplated, and quickly realized he didn't have the willpower to say no. With a sigh, he accepted the invitation. "I'd really like that," He admitted.

A few minutes later, Hiccup found himself warming his hands on a modest cup of lavender tea at the dining table, watching the steam rise and dissipate into the air.

Slipping into the chair across from him, Jazz sighed, clutching what looked to be enough coffee to induce a heart attack. She plopped a rather thick textbook on the table and flipped it open, producing a pencil from behind her ear and twirling it absentmindedly.

They lapsed into a content silence, the dull chatter of the radio was almost therapeutic in his mind – ironic that Hiccup had grown used to it enough to consider it therapeutic, huh? It seemed Jazz's brother was up in his room, and for some reason that allowed HIccup to relax the rest of the way. He grabbed the honey and began stirring it in.

The spoon clinked dully against the ceramic cup as Hiccup's thoughts drifted. Stoick used to make him tea like this, when he was a kid. Very rarely did Berk get shipments of honey in, but there was always enough in Hiccup's brew to meet his tastes. He'd only staved off from the near 1:1 ratio once he'd grown old enough to brew it on his own.

"Well, have some tea with your honey, would you?"

Hiccup blinked, realizing that he'd nearly emptied the entire honey jar, and promptly set it back down. "Oh, gods…sorry."

Jazz chuckled as she took a sip of her drink, "It's fine, we've got more."

Grumbling, Hiccup followed her lead, bringing the cup to his lips.

It tasted like home.

Letting the tea sit on his tongue for just a second more, Hiccup's shoulders relaxed. He looked up to find Jazz watching him with a wary eye instead of flipping through her book. He sent her a sly smile. "You still trying to read my mind?"

An indignant huff left her at that. "It's psychology. And it's not about reading peoples' minds."

"Oh, really?" Hiccup set his tea down, entirely unconvinced.

"Really," Jazz emphasized, "it's about understanding human behavior, how certain events affect the mind."

Hiccup didn't mean to scoff, but he did and she sent him a glower. "Sorry," He scratched his cheek, "It just sounds like reading people's minds."

A restless sigh left Jazz as she flipped a page. "Sometimes, I wish it was as easy as that. I wouldn't have to study so much."

Nodding wordlessly, Hiccup took another sip of tea. He was never exactly familiar with studying. He had his moments hunched over books, jotting down various things about dragons or, more recently, leading techniques he would never tell Stoick that he was taking seriously. But those were hardly what the 21st century considered 'higher education'. Back home, people had jobs that required skill, sure, but those were taught on the job.

Then again. The Barbaric Archipelago didn't have the luxury to prioritize education. Hiccup was lucky to be literate at all. He was sure, had he not been born noble, he wouldn't be.

Of course, he'd grown used to being functionally illiterate these last few months, anyway…

Hiccup leaned back into the booth, trying desperately to clear his mind of his wallowing. "So, what are you studying?" He asked, gesturing towards her textbook, "I mean, you know. Besides my friends."

"I'm not studying your friends," Jazz looked reminiscent of a deer in headlights as she brushed a strand of hair out of her face, "I'm just trying to help them…sort out their feelings. You know, as a friend."

"As friends?" Hiccup repeated skeptically, raising an eyebrow, and she shrugged indignantly.

"Well I'm not exactly a licensed therapist."

A smile still pulled at his lips still. "So we're friends now?"

Jazz returned it bashfully with another, smaller shrug. "Well, you know what they say about shared trauma." She joked.

Hiccup chuckled, breath rippling the surface of his tea as he brought it back to his lips. "Is it trauma, though?"

"Isn't it?"

Hiccup paused at that, because he was…entirely unsure, actually. "I guess it depends on what you define as trauma," he answered, cocking his head to the side in thought, "I mean…" He trailed off, not knowing how to voice his thoughts.

Thankfully, Jazz seemed to catch his drift. "Yeah, well. Neither of us are strangers to death. Isn't that trauma enough?"

"I suppose it is," Hiccup chuckled wryly, and then his expression suddenly dropped. "...it's weird, isn't it?" He asked, and she hummed a question.

Glancing back down to his tea, Hiccup elaborated, "I mean, our concepts of death…however different they are, we still don't see it as permanent, you know?"

"What about Ragnarök?" Jazz asked, "isn't that supposed to be an end?"

"For the gods, sure." Hiccup shrugged, somewhat thankful to be talking about something he understood, "but it's supposed to cleanse the earth so that humanity can triumph."

"Like a second chance?" She asked, and he nodded.

"Kinda like the ghosts here, huh?" He said, hearing a huff from her. He looked up to find her pressing her lips together, and it concerned him. "You disagree…?"

Jazz nodded her head from side to side. "I dunno. I mean, ghosts are formed because there was something in their life they didn't have. You can't have a second chance without having a first one to begin with. So it's more of an…extended first chance."

Hiccup felt his eyebrows raise just slightly at that. He hadn't exactly considered it that way, and for some reason it released some of the tension in his chest. "You know, I hope you're right," he admitted.

"Why?"

Taking a long sip of tea to compose his thoughts, Hiccup felt his eyebrows scrunch. "We…me and my gang, we had responsibilities back home. Not just responsibilities, we had friends, family, enemies…"

He clutched onto a mug, tried and failed to hold back a shuddering breath, "And then we were here."

Pausing, he squeezed the ceramic until his knuckles turned white. "I've been, um, you know…banking on the idea that the Infimap is getting us back home. That it'll be like nothing changed, that we didn't – didn't lose everything, and that they didn't lose us. At least, not really, because we'll be back before we were even missing, but –"

Restlessly, Hiccup placed a hand on his cheek, finding with horror that his anxieties weren't lessening, "the fact that we're even here – that means that it still happened, right? We lost. We vanished. Our clan was left scrambling, the dragons went missing, my Dad still lost his only –" his throat suddenly closed up, and his hand drifted to his mouth.

He didn't want to be thinking about that. He couldn't think about that. Stop thinking about that. Stop thinking about that.

"I…I need you to be right, about it being just an – extended first chance, because otherwise it's a second chance, and if it's a second chance that means that…the first one already happened, and that first chance ended with everyone we knew living and dying without us."

Stop thinking about that.

Jazz was nodding in a way that was either careful or concerned. "You know, I hope I'm right, too."

Hiccup brought his tea back to his lips. He took a long sip.

"So this Dragon Eye lens. Is that your extended first chance?" Jazz asked.

A shaky breath left him as he held the cup. "Gods, I hope so..."

Despite the heavy subject, his chest felt lighter, now that the words were out there. Maybe this psychology thing actually had something going for it, after all.

Hiccup chose to ignore the fact that Jazz had gotten that out of him – he wasn't on a couch, so it didn't count.

"Hey," a voice snapped his attention to the living room, and Hiccup found Jazz's brother standing at the bottom of the stairs. He seemed to want to avoid Hiccup's gaze, which he certainly wasn't going to protest. "Mom and Dad are like, five minutes out. So unless you want me to tell them that you had a boy over, I'd start wrapping this up."

A very strange staring contest followed that statement before Jazz turned back to Hiccup. Her face was pulled into an overcompensating type of sorrow. "I guess that's our cue…sorry."

"No, no, I should definitely be going." Hiccup chuckled nervously, pushing back from the table. He finished the rest of his cup of tea, pulling his coat back on. "See you later, Jazz."

"Be careful!" She chastised as she deposited their mugs in the sink, "The ice'll be slippery this time of day."

"I'll take that into consideration," Hiccup droned as he made his way back to the front door and pulled on his boot. He turned to leave, and just about jumped out of his skin at the sight of Jazz's brother, his hand on the door handle.

His piercing gaze felt like it was melting holes in Hiccup's head, and goosebumps from before came back with a mighty vengeance. He hadn't even heard Jazz's brother approach, which was quite a statement coming from someone whose best friend is a night fury.

"If you cut across the alley on Second Street, you'll get there in half the time." He supplied very suddenly, flashing a smile that was perhaps just a bit too sharp. Hiccup blinked.

For some gods-forsaken reason, he felt the need to try and be cordial. He cleared his throat as the front door opened. "Oh, okay, thanks, um…" He trailed off, suddenly realizing that, in all of the three months he'd known Jazz, not once had she mentioned her brother's name.

The boy seemed to catch onto that, because his eyes widened. "Oh, uh, Dan…iel." He stuttered and then cringed to himself again. He muttered something under his breath that Hiccup's translator didn't quite catch, and then straightened up. "Daniel," he repeated with an overcompensating smile.

"Right," Hiccup nodded politely, looking away from the obviously fake (still too-sharp) smile, "well…thanks for your hospitality."

The goosebumps practically vanished the moment the door closed behind him.

Hiccup didn't think to consider how Daniel knew his destination until he was already back at Manson Manor.


"So, what is this thing again?" Danny asked, hoisting the device into the air.

He tactfully avoided the gazes the rest of the dragon riders were giving him as he tilted the menial thing in his hands. It looked like his thermos – it was relatively the same size, but there were embellishments that his parents did not include in their designs. "I mean, you know, besides looking like this guy." he nodded at Toothless, sitting on the couch.

"It's the ah – Dragon Eye – careful, please?" Hiccup reached after it like he was scared Danny would drop it.

"Oh! A dragon eye!" Danny replied in a falsetto, "wow, I've always wanted one of these!"

"I could go without the sarcasm, you know…" Hiccup glowered, and Danny turned with a deadpan glare to him. He promptly sighed in defeat.

"Yeah, okay, not a good explanation, I guess I deserved that." He paused, rubbing his chin. Fishlegs opened his mouth, but a warning glance stopped whatever long-winded explanation he'd been planning.

"It's like – well, Jazz called it a projector, I guess?" Hiccup shrugged. Jazz, indeed, hummed an affirmative from where she was standing.

A smile pulled at Danny's lips as he tilted the device. He had, admittedly, heard this conversation already. He hadn't meant to spy, per say, but when someone who his parents are intent on hunting to the ends of the earth appears on his front door, Danny forms some bit of solidarity. And with superhearing, well. Jazz should have known.

"And why do you need me to read it?" He asked anyway.

"It's – we need you to shine some of your ectolight in that end right there." he pointed to the small opening at the less-decorated end, "hopefully the words will project out the other side.

"Oh, cool, so it's like if Wikipedia was a kaleidoscope!" Danny countered, bringing his eye up to the opening. He didn't see anything beyond faint green refractions from his glow, so he twisted it in his hand.

There was a significant pause from Hiccup.

"...sure. Why not."

Danny finally turned his attention to the rest of the room. It had been quite a while since they were all together like this, and that wasn't really anybody's fault but his own. Between finals, scouring the Infinite Realms in his free time, and patrol, it was kind of expected. There was, admittedly, something in the air that reflected that. He wanted to ignore it, but apparently that was a habit he needed to break. Well, okay, a habit that he was still getting around to breaking…

He tried to brush off the feeling of ice on his back as he turned back to Hiccup. "Alright, then," Danny offered a smile as he landed on the floor. He summoned some ectoplasm on a single finger. "Let's give this a go?"

Nodding in relief, Hiccup took the Dragon Eye from him, slipping the elusive Infinite Realms Lense from his pocket and inserting it with practiced ease. He twisted it in his hands as if to confirm it was intact, before nodding to himself and setting it on the coffee table.

"Just give it an even burn," he directed, and Danny nodded. Rolling the ectoplasm down to his palm, he let it grow.

"Snotlout?" Hiccup asked, and suddenly the lounge was basked in darkness, leaving only the green glow of Danny's ectoplasm as a light source.

With a hum, he brought it close to the Dragon Eye, a green glow began emitting from the other side.

He watched as it basked the opposite wall in something resembling a spotlight, but that was it. Narrowing his eyes, Danny poured more power into the ectoplasm, not knowing exactly what he was going to be looking for, but assuming that it was not nothing.

He had not realized that the riders had leaned forwards in anticipation until they were leaning back in disappointment.

"Is that it?" Sam asked, stepping in front of the projection and tracing the empty wall with her hands.

"Unfortunately," Hiccup sighed, "It's okay, Phantom, you can stop now."

Danny let the ectoplasm dissipate, flexing his fingers afterwards, "I'm sorry," he admitted, feeling as though he'd let them down.

Hiccup promptly shook his head, picking up the Dragon Eye with disheartened hands, "Not your fault," he muttered, plucking the lens from the device again and studying it intensely, "I guess our theory was wrong."

"So what are you gonna do now?" Jazz asked.

Hiccup didn't answer right away. He sank onto the couch, next to Astrid, who had remained pretty quiet since the meeting had been called. Danny suspected she was still cooling down from last night's fiasco. He looked away just as she caught his gaze, focusing intensely on Hiccup as he started back on his train of thought.

"...we need to find a light source that this lens does react to." Hiccup muttered into his fists, hunched forwards and staring hauntedly at the coffee table.

"Okay," Danny said, "...why do you sound so apprehensive about that?"

A resounding, damning sigh left Hiccup. He, somehow, hunched even further.

"Hiccup…" Astrid finally spoke, apparently not needing a verbal confirmation. Danny could feel a sudden apprehension building in his gut, and he found himself floating back into the air.

"Because that means finding a dragon." Fishlegs stated rather solemnly.

Wordlessly, Hiccup agreed.

"Uh, no offense, guys," Sam interjected, "but aren't dragons, you know…" she made a slitting motion across her neck.

"Good visual, Sam." Tucker deadpanned.

She shrugged aggressively. "Well, it's true, isn't it? Look, I'm all for daring adventures, but doesn't this seem like grasping at straws?"

"Yeah," Danny agreed, admittedly letting the still-building apprehension seep into his tone. He turned back to Hiccup, "Why do you want to know what's on it so bad, anyway?"

"Well," Fishlegs started, and then quickly trailed off as though he hadn't even considered that fact. With newfound uncertainty, he turned. "...Hiccup?"

Hiccup finally sat up, brows pinched in conflict. "I don't know, I just…I have a feeling."

"A feeling." Snotlout repeated, about as satisfied with that answer as Danny was, "well, we all know how you and your feelings turn out."

"I'm serious." Hiccup cut him off with a stern side-eye. He rubbed the lens between his fingers thoughtfully, "and I know how it sounds, I just – I feel like this lens, the thief, the Infimap: it's all connected, somehow."

"It is a suspicious coincidence." Jazz agreed.

"We don't bank on coincidences." Astrid deadpanned.

Grumbling under his breath, Danny begrudgingly agreed, "Yeah. We don't, either." He gave Sam and Tucker his own glance over.

"Okay, but even if this lens does happen to have the answers to all our questions – why dragons? I'm sure we can find some sort of substitute, right? We've got the technology." Jazz threw her hands out nervously, like she was urging someone to agree with her.

"Yeah," Danny desperately latched onto that idea, "we can, like, sneak you into the school's chemistry lab!"

"That requires that we know the chemical composition of every type of dragon fire, though." Fishlegs countered, "and we just don't have that kind of technology back in our time. Not to mention that…well. The book of dragons isn't complete."

A bit of agitation sparked in Danny's chest, and he tensed his shoulders. "Well, I mean, It's fire, right? It can't be that hard to replicate…"

"It's also dragon saliva…." Hiccup grumbled.

"Or gel." Snotlout interjected.

"Or gas." Ruffnut rasped.

Sighing, Hiccup waved vaguely towards them. "Yeah, and – and those things, too."

"Okay, so you need the real deal." Tucker resigned, sounding entirely too nonchalant for Danny's liking, "so, what, are you just planning to throw a dart at a map and pray for the best?"

"Not if I can help it," Hiccup said, glancing at Danny apprehensively. He sucked in a sharp breath, like he was about to crack open a forbidden door, "We've just gotta go to where they were last seen."

There was, indeed, a chilling silence that flooded the room. Danny grunted, and tried not to clutch at his core.

"Hiccup…" Astrid was void of breath – almost astounded, even. The dragon whisperer refused to look at her for very long.

"H-hold on, you can't seriously be considering leaving Amity, can you?" Danny chuckled nervously, "I mean – even if you manage to find the dragon you need –" He trailed off as a bombardment of worst-case-scenarios began bouncing around in his skull, and his core flared as if to say see? See? They're gonna get themselves killed, do something, do something NOW –

He grunted, and couldn't stop himself this time – twisting the logo on his chest with a scowl as he forced the words back.

"Danny?"

Snapping his head up, he turned to find Sam quirking her eyebrows.

"You kinda…trailed off there."

Blinking rapidly, Danny looked around the room once again. Heat rushed to his cheeks as he caught Astrid's challenging gaze, and he quickly cleared his throat.

"I-I mean…" he tried to remember what he'd been saying, but it was lost on him, "I mean – it's kind of an odd time to go on a road trip, don't you think?"

"It'll be a bit cold, but Toothless and I can manage." Hiccup countered.

"Wait, Toothless?" Danny interrupted.

"I'm not taking one of those flying metal deathtraps." Hiccup promptly deadpanned.

"They're called airplanes…" Tucker mumbled, "and they're actually really safe."

"No disrespect to the Wright Brothers," Sam countered, "but you kinda do need some valid ID to even get past security anymore. Not to mention passports for international travel. Also, dragons are, you know. Alive."

"And I'd like them to stay that way, please?" The easing panic in Danny's chest bubbled back up again, causing the statement to come out a bit harsher than usual. "Hiccup, things aren't like they were in the 11th century. You guys can't just 'manage' things out here! We've got airspaces, radars – not to mention the distance – wouldn't you agree that it's a little…risky?"

"I know," Hiccup said, "I know, it's risky all around. Which is why this is going to be a solo mission."

A resounding "what?!" raked through the other dragon riders at that, and Hiccup's shoulders tensed like he'd been expecting it. At least someone was on Danny's side now.

"This isn't up for debate," Hiccup said, "I want you all here in case the Boo-merang goes off."

"And, what, we're just supposed to leave you hanging?" Snotlout scoffed.

"I'm asking you to trust me on this," Hiccup snapped.

Sputtering in utter disbelief, Snotlout snapped his attention to Astrid. "Are you gonna knock some sense into your betrothed or not?"

Danny turned just in time to see her snap her head away. Her thumbs were dancing around each other in an irate pattern as an uncharacteristic silence billowed from her.

Hiccup turned towards her expectedly, which must have spurred her to speak.

"I think it makes sense." she spoke evenly, slowly, "finding the dragons. Cracking this lens." She nodded stutteringly towards Hiccup, fingers still twisting around themselves in preoccupancy. "There are secrets here that are going over our heads." She glanced at Danny, "The sooner we figure them out, the better it'll be for all of us."

She then, carefully, raised her gaze to Hiccup. Her voice switched to a more sincere tone, "But I also don't want you going alone. You're gonna need backup in case you run into trouble."

Hiccup nodded in response, still watching her in preparation for her next sentence, but nothing came. After a few vital seconds Astrid, instead, turned her gaze back to the center of the room, effectively drawing her speech to a close.

"Yeah…okay. Maybe you're right…" Hiccup started, attention lingering on her for a split second, "maybe I do need someone to go with Toothless and I…" He turned to the rest of the dragon riders, leaving the suggestion open.

No one volunteered. Instead, eyes began flittering uncertainly around the room.

"I'm surprised you aren't volunteering," Astrid suddenly jabbed at Danny, and he turned with widened eyes.

He almost wanted to say the same thing, but he held back. Instead, he rubbed his neck. "You know, in any other circumstance I would, but –" He bit his tongue as his core began angrily flaring. He didn't want to explain himself. It felt redundant considering the ghostly voice in his mind was already justifying itself.

"I – I'm needed here, you know?" He settled on with a nervous chuckle, "It's not like I can call in vacation hours…"

It's not like Skulker's involvement in all of this was just gonna make itself clear. And, you know, besides, Hiccup and Toothless weren't helpless –

"I'll go."

Grunting, Danny clutched at his core again, thankful that the attention had turned to Fishlegs.

His eyebrows were set determinedly as he stared at Hiccup, "If you're going back to Berk, I'm going with you."

Hiccup's face twisted into something like concern, like he still wasn't all that on-board with someone else going with him. "Okay...but just so we're clear on this, Fishlegs, it's –"

" – Been an entire millenia? Yeah, I'm well aware. But I'm not about to let you go through that alone. Not even if it was a low-stakes mission."

Danny tried desperately to get his nose to unwrinkle. He couldn't help but feel like his invisibility was flaring up by how little his warnings were being acknowledged. He could just imagine them getting shot down, dragged to GIW headquarters, strapped to tables –

With a resounding shudder, Danny tried to shake his head clear of those thoughts.

"Okay. It's settled, then." Hiccup nodded once, "Fishlegs and I are going back to Berk."

"Oh, great," Snotlout snarked, rolling his eyes, "Look out, Barbaric Archipelago, the Nerds are back."

If they ever make it there, something that sounded a lot like his core echoed in Danny's head.

Thankfully, Jazz waited until the meeting was adjourned to say anything about that.

"You're taking this awfully well," She commented as the temperature in her car plummeted.

Danny let his invisibility drop just as the light turned green. His transformation rings washed over him a second later, and he fell into the seat with a soft plunk.

"I don't know what you're talking about," He commented, reaching for his seatbelt. Kind of counterintuitive since they were barely a block from home, but he'd rather not have their parents find him without one on.

"That's supposed to be a compliment," Jazz insisted as she cranked up the air conditioning, chasing off his lingering chill, "That was very mature of you. I'm proud."

"Why would you need to be proud?" Danny pursed his lips, pulling out his phone to check the time, "This has nothing to do with my obsession. This is just a perfectly normal conversation about a perfectly reasonable line of action," he forced out.

"Right," Jazz nodded curtly, "I'm glad you agree. The dragon riders need an outlet right about now."

"Yup." Danny deadpanned, popping the 'P'. He pocketed his phone again and looked out the window.

In the silence that followed as they pulled into the driveway, Danny's thoughts festered.

It was only when Jazz unlocked the doors and began walking towards the house, seemingly okay with the entire thing, that he opened his mouth again.

"B-but I mean –" he scoffed, nearly slipping on the ice that his dad must have missed earlier that morning, "don't you think there's, oh, I dunno, a slightly less drastic outlet they could choose? Like bowling! Sam's got an entire alley in her basement, you know. Ten lanes and all!"

The look Jazz sent him as she opened the front door was not a surprised one. Danny doubled down if only to preserve his dignity.

"Don't look at me like that – doesn't a nice, predictable game of bowling sound like a better coping mechanism than a road trip halfway across the world?"

They entered their home, and Jazz started unlacing her boots. "This isn't about coping, Danny." She reprimanded.

Scoffing, Danny simply turned his feet intangible, slipping out of his boots with ease.

"I'm serious," Jazz emphasised, leaving her own boots against the wall, "This is about…passing the torch."

"Oh, great, another one of your metaphors." Danny groaned.

"I'm serious, Danny," Jazz's tone hardened, "You may have had your cryptic excursions into the Ghost Zone to keep you busy this last month, but we haven't. We're tired of sitting around."

"You're not sitting around! You're waiting for the Boo-merang to go off." He said, debating whether to hole up in his room or drop onto the couch

"Yeah, but…Danny, have you ever considered the fact that they may just be sick of waiting for that?"

"We're all sick of waiting for that." Danny snapped back, choosing the couch. "What else are we supposed to do?"

"Nothing." Jazz answered simply, settling down next to him, "Danny, you've done all you can."

"I'm not looking to do anything more, I'm looking to keep them from getting themselves killed." Danny glared. "I mean –" He scoffed, throwing his hands out in front of him, "this whole Dragon Eye business is –"

" – important to them." Jazz cut him off before he could say something crass.

"Important enough for them to risk everything we've done so far?" He countered, getting to his feet in a bout of restlessness "You know, maybe I just don't have the right core type for that thing to light up! Yeah, that's gotta be it! I'll go get Dora and have her test it out –"

"Even if it is, Danny — they need this! It's not just about the lens. You can't stop them from going."

That made him pause. Whatever pacing he'd been building up to completely tapering out.

"You can't stop them from going." Jazz repeated, as if the words would somehow sway him to her side.

His core did not take kindly to those words. Suddenly, Danny wanted nothing more than to take Hiccup and Fishlegs and tuck them into the safest corner of the Infinite Realms. He needed to keep an eye on them. He needed to keep them safe, he needed to protect –

Stop.

Danny shook his head with a small whine, causing a wave of concern to manifest from Jazz. He kept his gaze plastered to the carpet as he sucked in a few resounding breaths.

Any words he tried to conjure didn't compare to what he wanted to say.

Instead, what came out of him was a very garbled, almost whimper, "I don't want them to get hurt."

"Well, Ancients, none of us do." Jazz let out a lighthearted chuckle, "but those are nonissues, Danny. You're trying to protect them from something that doesn't exist yet."

"The Guys in White absolutely exist." Danny felt his eyes flash green as he snarled.

"Yeah, but whatever issue you think they have with the Dragon Riders doesn't."

"Not yet." He corrected. That was a very important distinction.

A resounding sigh left Jazz at that. She hunched forwards on the couch, plastering her head into her hands.

Feeling his own frustration begin to bubble back to the surface, Danny turned away from her, crossing his arms over his chest. He studied their reflections through the black screen of the television.

After what felt like a few minutes, he reached for the remote. As his thumb hovered over the power button, he paused.

"Okay," Jazz sighed in defeat, "so you don't want them to go, and you can't go for some reason. So what are you trying to do, here?"

"Protect them," Danny practically hissed.

"And how are you going to do that?"

Grinding his teeth together, Danny lowered the remote. "I – I don't know, okay? Just protect them!" He exclaimed, whirling around but looking at everything but Jazz.

Okay, so maybe he wasn't doing the best job at convincing her that this wasn't about his obsession.

"Okay, then let's compromise," Jazz offered, choosing not to mention that for once, "if you can't stop them from going, and you can't accompany them on the trip, then help them plan it out! Minimize the risk."

Blinking, Danny finally mustered up the courage to glance at her. There was a sincerity in her eyes that he would take any day over her typical analytical lilt. And…

"That's not an…awful idea," he mumbled, rubbing his arm.

A relieved smile broke out across Jazz's face, and she stood from the couch. "See? That's it!"

"But even if I – we – did that," Danny backpedaled, "they'll still be going without a guide."

"Which brings me to my next point," Jazz wandered around the coffee table so that she was next to him, working anxiously at a knot in her hair, "look, I've been scoping out some colleges abroad. I was planning on bringing it up to Mom and Dad as a "Summer Vacation" thing, but if it'll settle your nerves…"

"You're kidding, right?" Danny almost laughed. But alas, his sister looked dead serious, and he doubled down. "Please tell me you're kidding."

There was a change in Jazz's tone, reminding Danny of her damning Debate Team Captain title. "Look, Danny, Amity College's winter break lasts way longer than Casper High's does, anyway! And let's face it, you can't afford to skip any more school than you already do."

"Jazz, there's a difference between booking a plane ticket and riding on dragonback."

"I know! Isn't it exciting?" Jazz completely ignored the meaning behind that sentiment. Danny glowered at her, which she also ignored, "It's completely environmentally friendly and free!"

"And dangerous. And cold."

"Okay, we're going in circles here." Jazz pinched the bridge of her nose. Danny came to realize how much his hackles had raised, and he forced them to fall. Rubbing the back of his neck, he looked at the ground, "sorry."

"It's okay," Jazz instantly responded, "I know you can't help – I mean, I know this is hard for you."

Danny scowled. He pushed away his screaming core. It was hard for him. He couldn't deny that, as much as he wanted to. But he also didn't want to be seen as some mindless ghost. He wasn't one – he couldn't afford to be one, because then he'd be just like Him.

Restlessly, Danny rested his hand on his chest and paused. There, after quite a few seconds, was a telltale thump, and he sighed.

"Would you prefer if Elle went instead?" Jazz inquired.

"I would rather not explain the concept of cloning to the Dragon Riders, thank you very much." Danny could feel his anxiety levels rising just at the mere idea.

"Fair enough," Jazz snorted, and there was a single, muffled step as she neared him. "...so?"

She set a hand on his shoulder, and Danny instinctively turned to look at it. Ivory hands with perpetually chipped teal nail polish squeezed reassuringly. The same way they'd done when they were little, crossing the street. On his first day of kindergarten. Sitting on the steps of Casper High after the CATs, a ten year-old letter clutched in his other hand that she'd only written that morning.

"...Okay." He croaked, but it wasn't quite as audible as he'd meant it to be, so he repeated it, "Okay. Then I guess we're gonna need to talk to Mom and Dad."


And thus, what I have dubbed the Nerd Road Tip Arc is set into motion.

"The only reason that men say 'women and children first' in tragedies - like when a ship sinks - is so that they can hang back and kiss each other. Wake up. WAKE UP, LIBERALS." - user "coriinthehaus69" on tiktok

Yeah I don't have a lot of notes this time around.

until next time, my lovelies
~Local Dragon Haunt