Danny looked up just in time to see Sam set her lunch down next to him, at which point he came to realize that his picking at his lunch had long ago turned into stabbing at it. The plastic spork snapped in his grip like a pencil, and he scowled.

"It's only been a week, you know." Sam snorted, pulling out her latest vegan monstrosity.

And with that week, the tension from that night had faded. Danny was very glad for that: Sam and Tucker had always been better about dropping subjects than Jazz was. She'd always try to psychology their way out of an argument, which was just too formal for Danny's taste.

Still, a faint head tilt from Danny followed Sam's statement as he glared daggers at his tray. "Doesn't feel like it."

She didn't understand.

Of course, Tucker's progress on the Boo-merang was a feat in itself. It was nearly complete, and Danny had his suspicions that it was because of a new sleep schedule – or, rather, lack of thereof – on his best friend's behalf. Listen, let he who is without sin cast the first stone and all, but Danny did not particularly like the fact that Tucker's under eye bags were beginning to rival his own.

That was his job.

Letting the spork drop with a squelch into the particularly runny batch of mashed potatoes in front of him, Danny buried his head in his hands.

He heard a crunch of lettuce as Sam stared at him, and resolved to avoid eye contact.

"Hey, cheer up. It's Friday!" she said in a very out-of-place statement for her.

"And tomorrow's Saturday. And the day after that's Sunday." Danny retorted, finally letting his hands drop back to the lunch table.

"Slow it down there, cowboy." Sam deadpanned, "it's not like it's the end of the world. The company's been nice."

Danny wanted to comment that the dragon riders weren't the company he was worried about, but Tucker chose to make his presence known then, lunch tray dropping with a clatter onto the table. He sat with a sigh and barely had time to exhale before he was shoveling the meal into his mouth.

Sam groaned in her typical display of disgust. "You look dead on your feet."

She side-glanced Danny. "No offense."

As Danny snorted, Tucker sent her a sarcastic grin with a mouthful of mashed potatoes. "You want to give a shot at assembling a high-tech ghost tracking device from scratch in a week?"

"No, thank you." Sam responded, taking another bite of her meal.

Shoving the rest of the meal into his mouth, Tucker managed to force out a "didn't think so," before shoving the tray to the side and setting his backpack on the table.

Danny and Sam shifted to give him more space as he pulled out a nearly-completed bundle of wires and metal. "The good news is, it should be done today."

"That is good news." Sam agreed, and then gave him a once-over, "so why do you look apprehensive?"

Tucker cringed. "Hiccup pointed it out to me last night." He admitted, unfolding the blueprints, he pointed at a section of it, "we're missing a piece."

From Danny's perspective, it looked pretty menial. Which was probably why it was overlooked. "Can you get it?"

Looking almost pained at the prospect, Tucker sighed, picking up a screwdriver. "I could…but I'd have to take apart my desktop."

"No," Sam sounded very stern, "You've been working on that for months. I can order one."

"Do we really have time for that?" Tucker retorted, causing her to press her lips together.

"I can rummage around my parent's lab." Danny offered, "Better for me if one more of their inventions 'doesn't work'." He air quoted.

Tucker didn't seem very opposed to it, but he still asked, "have your parents even left the lab since they got back?"

Grimacing, Danny stalled and looked back down to his excuse of a meal. "I mean…what happened at Axion has them on edge. If they weren't in a time crunch before…"

He didn't have to look back up to see their gazes. His parents were always on a time crunch.

"Okay. So…we'll need to get them out." Sam nodded slowly, taking a thoughtful bite of her meal.

"And then what?"

"We get the pieces, track down the Infimap, and get the dragon riders home."

Chuckling, Danny shook his head, "You make it sound so easy."

"Speaking of the Infimap," Tucker spoke around the screwdriver in his mouth, "any more visits from your stalker?"

Danny shook his head again. "No…" he managed to force out. Nor had there been any from Skulker. A suspicious lack of them, if he was honest, which didn't exactly help shining any light on the situation.

"And we still don't know that it's the thief." Danny glowered at his friends as they sent him twin looks of skepticism.

He caught Sam's gaze as a wave of concern was sent his way. "What?"

She shook her head slowly. "You can't seriously consider this a coincidence, can you?"

"Sam."

She threw up her hands with a shrug and an indignant swivel of her head. "Okay, fine, we'll do it your way – I'm all for innocent until proven guilty, all that jazz – but let's assume that this is the thief: they have every place at every time directly at their fingertips. Why here? Why now?"

Feeling an ache beginning in his jaw, Danny glanced over Sam's shoulder.

Valerie was walking with her lunch towards the courtyard.

Setting his eyebrows, he pushed off the table, much to Sam and Tucker's confusion. "I think I may know someone who can help us," he supplied, watching as Val paused to let someone through the door.

He grabbed his backpack as Sam and Tuck turned.

"What makes you think – Danny, why would Val have more information on a new ghost than us?" Tucker asked.

"If this ghost's priority is to not be seen by me, then someone else may have had a more tangible encounter with it." He spoke over his shoulder as he walked, mindful of his volume.

Besides. Maybe it would give her something else to do than encroach on his job.

Danny found Valerie sitting under a tree in the courtyard. It wasn't an unusual spot for her, but the wind was biting with the promise of Halloween and the sky overhead made the smell of rain feel ominous.

"Forget your water?" Danny asked, head tilted to the sky.

Val glanced up from her sandwich in surprise, and then followed his gaze. She huffed. "Funny."

A smile pulled at his lips, and Danny closed the distance between them, sitting down amidst the orange leaves.

She scooted over so that he had part of the tree trunk to lean against. "So. What's the occasion?" She asked, a hint of suspicion on her tongue.

Danny chuckled, hugging his knees close to his chest. "What, can't a friend come say hi every once and a while?"

She quirked an eyebrow at him, and his stomach fluttered.

"Danny." She said in a tone that was almost resigned.

His smile dropped solemnly.

"Okay." he admitted. He sighed, picking at a blade of dying grass. "I…"

How did he even start this conversation? He didn't want her to think that he saw her only as an information source.

Would he even be here if he'd been able to find Skulker? If the hunter had stuck around for just a few seconds longer to explain why he was in the suburbs last week?

He realized he'd trailed off, and he stuttered to continue the sentence, "I – heard about the attack at Axion. I wanted to check up on you."

Val's eyes widened, and a spark of panic from her made his core jump, but it lasted only a second. It was instead replaced with a huff of laughter: slightly bittered, but it was still a welcome sound compared to the blaster he knew was hidden in her backpack.

"Well. My dad's okay." She scratched nervously at her ear, "other than that, just some repairs to the building…"

Against his better judgment, Danny said, "I heard something was stolen."

When she sent him a surprised look, he managed a shrug. "My parents are working with them."

Val nodded like she suddenly remembered that fact, but her nose wrinkled in anger. "Yeah."

He waited for her to answer, and when the silence began to solidify, he snapped it. "Do you know who did it?"

Her eyes darkened as her face twisted. Danny silently wondered if she'd tell him, knowing how he felt about ghosts. And yet, he stuttered out something to avoid it. "My parents' system picked up a new ghost. I'm wondering if there's a connection, that's all. If it's like, classified or whatever –"

"It wasn't a new ghost." Her voice was flat. Danny fell silent.

"You sound so sure," His chuckle sounded just a bit too fake so he avoided her eyes.

"I am." She spoke again, and Danny swallowed.

She seemed to realize her hostility, because she sighed. Her head thumped against the tree. "But my – I mean, my dad's systems did pick up a new ecto signature, so."

She made it sound like it was just another weekday with that. Danny studied her side profile as she stared at the darkening clouds.

"Did y – he get anything from it?"

Val contemplated and took a bite out of her sandwich. Eventually she shook her head. "It wasn't close enough to get any real readings. I'd apologize for the disappointment but it doesn't really matter, anyway. Phantom was the one that broke in. Again." There was a pregnant pause before she stuttered, "I mean, that's what my dad said."

Danny stayed silent. He got the feeling that wasn't the entire truth, but despite feeling like a bee just stung his core, he decided not to push it. He squeezed his arms. "I'm sorry." He muttered.

Still, the significance of his declaration didn't resonate when Val immediately shook her head and looked to him like he was the most innocent person alive. "Why are you apologizing?"

Because Phantom couldn't. Because he needed her to back off. Because –

Shrugging bashfully, Danny turned and was surprised when the next words that came out of his mouth were truthful. "For not checking up on you."

Their eye contact was broken only when a gust of wind blew and a leaf flittered between them.

Val reached out and plucked it from the air. Danny's cheeks flushed, he clapped a hand to his face to hide the off-kilter tint.

His mouth moved still. "I really do care about you, Val. You're my friend. I want to…" He hesitated, "I don't want us to drift apart."

His mind filled with swirling declarations that threatened to land on his tongue. Some held his identity.

What are you doing, you idiot? The words snapped him back into reality.

He shoved those thoughts back, swallowing forcefully.

"We've been busy." Val said, offering a gentle smile.

Danny returned it. "That we have."

A fat, chilling raindrop landed on her hand then, and she quickly shook it off with a shiver. "Well, I guess that's our cue."

Another two raindrops were the preamble to the downpour that began; and the cold breeze made Danny shrug off his jacket with hidden glee. He held it up over their heads as they ran for the school.

Once they were safely under the roof's outcropping, they turned to find puddles already forming in the street.

Danny suddenly realized how close they were, with his jacket still blanketing them.

Her breath smelled like grapefruit.

The sound of rain intensified, and suddenly Danny coughed.

He lowered the jacket, and they pulled away from each other.

Val looked down, and then back up, scuffing her shoe against the concrete. "...You know, I…I don't want us to drift apart either."

The words should have brought a wave of joy to him. It should have washed away all of his worries. He'd felt they would have. He wanted them to.

But it only reminded him of the blueprints in Tucker's backpack.

Danny opened his mouth but before he could say anything to her, the bell rang.

The next few hours passed relatively fast – in part due to a ghost bear rampaging down main street that took Danny most of his study hall to deal with. He didn't run into Val after lunch, though considering they didn't share any classes this semester, that wasn't surprising.

The trio (Jazz was, alas, tutoring a group of freshmen) entered Fentonworks after school to find Jack and Maddie Fenton hunched over the dinner table with phones plastered to their ears and perpetual scowls on their faces.

It was an odd sight – at least, on Jack's usually happy-go-lucky face it was – one of their latest inventions was discarded on the coffee table in the living room: an even odder sight. But it made the distraction part of the job just slightly easier.

"What kind of high-tech lab doesn't have ghost-proof security cameras?!" Maddie sounded irate and Danny almost flinched because of it.

She looked up as he peeked into the kitchen, and his face must have had a silent question on it. She took a moment to press the phone against her shoulder (Danny could pick up the man on the other end stammering something out about electrical currents, but he didn't quite care), "Hi, kids. How was school?"

"It was good, Dr. Fenton." Tucker returned her smile. "How's your day?"

Maddie sighed, "Oh, damage control. Axion doesn't follow advice," She rolled her eyes and then her voice dropped significantly as she brought the phone back up to her ear. "We'll talk after we're done here! I wanna hear about your day!"

Danny shared a look with Sam and Tucker as they turned away.

"I still think it's a bit sad that we're so used to stealing from your parents." Sam muttered under her breath.

"Technically," Danny shrugged, "it's the government's money, not theirs."

That seemed to make Sam feel just slightly better, if the smug smile that pulled at her lips was anything to say about it.

Tucker set down his backpack oh-so-conveniently between the half-assembled invention and the kitchen before kneeling next to the coffee table.

"Okay," He wavered, gingerly picking up a circuit board attached to what looked to be about fifty chords, "Yeah, this'll do."

"How long?" Danny asked, and as an answer, Tucker held up three fingers.

Nodding, Danny turned back to the kitchen with furrowed brows.

Sam set a hand on his shoulder, a silent question on her face. "You okay?"

Pressing his lips together, Danny felt his eyes flash green. "I'm gonna make sure that the target on my back didn't just get bigger." He mumbled, and then flickered out of sight.

He tapped a bit into his flight just to make sure that the floorboards wouldn't creak, slipping back into the kitchen gingerly.

"These problems wouldn't have happened if you hadn't used prototypes." His mom had a notebook in front of her that she furiously scribbled on.

Danny creeped forward, straining his ears until he could pick up a man's voice on the other end, "I can assure you, Dr. Fenton, this was no malfunction."

"Considering a ghost was able to enter your facility in the first place, I'd assume otherwise," Maddie rolled her eyes at Jack, who was furiously snacking on a piece of fudge as on-hold music blared from his phone.

"...We're still looking into that." the man on the other end sounded flat.

"Right," Maddie sighed, scribbling restlessly in her notebook, "Well, if we're going to keep working together I'd suggest getting these 'non-malfunctions' worked out. Dipping your hardware in a blood blossom extract is an easy, electricity-free trick if you have the right conditions; and I'd recommend an anti-ectoplasmic energy field as your primary defense."

"...yes, of course." the man on the other end said, and even Danny could hear that he was in over his head.

His mom pinched her brow. "...or we can come by with some Fenton systems." She turned a sly eye to Jack, who covered his hand over his mouth to hold back what would have definitely been a booming laugh.

"Yes. Yes, that sounds like a good idea", the phone reverberated a voice that sounded thoroughly embarrassed.

"Right." His mom nodded curtly, "so I estimate a hundred cameras, and two systems. And before you ask, Dr. Smith: one is a backup. Which you should have already had."

Danny's nerves settled as the call quickly turned into a business transaction. Still, he only turned away when the conversation seemed to be drawing to a close. He knew that Sam and Tucker were probably waiting for him by now, but he couldn't risk missing something.

And he didn't, but the target on his back wasn't the one that grew.

"Is there anything else you'd like to commission us for?" Maddie asked, mood thoroughly brightened at the pending paycheck on her notebook.

"Yes, actually, there is." Dr. Smith said, "about your Fenton Translators, I meant to inquire on their delivery."

Oh, no.

His mom sat up straighter in confusion. "Translators?" She repeated, trying not to sound confused, "I'm sorry, Dr. Smith. We have no such thing."

There was an awkward silence for a moment, and when Smith answered it was with slight aggravation, "Dr. Fenton, your associates dropped by the day of the attack. They said you were willing to sell."

The pencil in Maddie's hand stalled dangerously, eyes widening with Jack's as she spoke again. "Dr. Smith, we have no partners. Nor do we have Fenton Translators."

Smith stuttered on the other end , and his mom cut him off.

"Did these visitors have names?" Her voice was now shifting to a more-dangerous tone as she leaned forward in her seat. Jack's brows were pulled together dangerously.

"I..." Smith trailed off for a long time, and Danny could practically hear his gears churning, "they...never gave them."

Danny didn't wait any more. He ducked out of the kitchen hastily, and then to the hall, where Sam and Tuck were waiting by the front door.

He let his invisibility drop.

"We have a problem," he said, and he heard Maddie regale the same thing in the distance.

For the record, the dragon riders took the news of their newly acquired bounty with very little concern. That almost concerned Danny more than the actual bounty.

"The Boo-merang's finished, right?" Hiccup shrugged.

Tucker nodded with a noise that said 'more or less', and he took it in stride.

"Then I don't see a problem. We'll be back in the archipelago before they can catch us."

"Ah, the archipelago," Snotlout rolled his eyes, "where we'll get back to the bounties that actually affect us."

"You guys already have bounties?" Danny deadpanned, glancing between the vikings in concern. The twins, in particular, looked much too excited at that notion.

Hiccup, at least, seemed to realize that wasn't a good thing. He pinched his brow with two fingers, "Well, you can't exactly take down an army of dragon poachers without making them mad."

"Dragon poachers?" Sam's eyes widened considerably, "You guys are fighting dragon poachers?"

"At war with!" Ruffnut exclaimed like that was something to boast about, "you see, our undead companion and slightly-less-undead companions, it all started when Trader Johann washed up on our island with a map to –"

" – his completely normal goods stash! Thank you, Ruffnut." Hiccup glowered in her direction. She clicked her tongue with finger-guns and strutted off, unperturbed by his interruption.

Danny felt his brow pull together suspiciously as he watched her leave. "You guys seriously aren't worried about this?" He questioned, "this isn't like the archipelago, you know."

"Yeah, yeah, your cameras and all that jazz." Astrid rolled her eyes, shifting her weight. "Like Hiccup said, we know how to deal with these things. We'll stay low. Not a big issue."

It was definitely a big issue – Danny knew from experience. But he kept his mouth shut anyway.

He should have done the heist on his own regardless.

But the past was, unfortunately, in the past.

So that meant one thing.

"Okay," Danny turned, "Tucker?"

His best friend's head shot up with a hum.

"Get that thing done tonight. Tomorrow, we're heading back to the Infinite Realms."

Hiccup yawned as the kettle began wailing, and he let it do that for perhaps a bit too long so that he could rub at the bags under his eyes.

He poured the water into the mugs on the counter and waited until the tea leaves were ready, staring blankly out the window to the street as steam billowed and kissed his cheeks.

The view was surreal. Though, it was less because of the streetlamps and cars and more because it was almost three in the morning. That fact was something Hiccup chose not to dwell on with a forceful shake of his head.

Tucker and his newly-acquired eye bags were posted up in Hiccup's room with both Toothless and Fishlegs keeping him company. Despite the fact that there was a fully operational desk against the wall, he'd made camp on the floor between the two beds. It was an increasingly familiar sight and, with enough luck, it would be the last of that nature.

Hiccup handed the mugs out to both Tucker and Fishlegs as he settled next to Toothless on his bed, who stared at the tea for quite a long time.

"You want a sip?" Hiccup chuckled, holding it out to his dragon. Not that it would help keep him awake much. He was, technically, nocturnal.

Toothless leaned in and sniffed at the tea before rearing away with a dramatic shake of his head. Hiccup snorted, having not been expecting much else, and brought the mug to his lips. He was gonna miss that once they were back.

Tucker broke from his trance to sniff at the mug beside him as well. "I don't know why I expected Sam to have anything other than black tea."

"Well, it keeps us awake." Hiccup held up his steaming mug in a toast.

"Mmm," Tucker hummed, taking a sip. "I'm a coffee guy, myself."

Hiccup and Fishlegs hummed, sharing equally skeptical looks as they sipped their tea.

Tucker blasted through a few lines of code, fingers flying in a blur over the keyboard. The physical parts of the build were over with, and since Hiccup and Fishlegs did not, sadly, know Python, they were there mainly to keep Tucker from passing out. The now fully-assembled Boo-merang sat, lazily blinking, next to him.

It reminded Hiccup of a heartbeat, oddly enough.

"Alright," Tucker said a few minutes later, unplugging the Boo-merang from his laptop and shutting the compartment that the wires were spilling out of. He leaned back, uncrossing his legs and linking his fingers, stretching both out with a groan. "Let's see if this baby works."

His voice was twinged with a bit of nervousness as he stood.

"Great," Fishlegs said, looking around the room, "But Phantom isn't here."

It'd be hard to test a ghost-tracking device without a ghost.

Humming, Tucker brushed his chin, bending down to pick up his tea. He sipped at it while Hiccup, too, looked around the room.

"We may not have Phantom, but we do have these," he said, hooking a finger behind Toothless' amulet and pulling it from his chest.

Toothless stared down at the amulet.

He stared at the Boo-merang.

He turned to Hiccup with a look that was very upset.

"I'll catch you a barrel full of trout as payment," Hiccup smiled, pulling his dragon, whose eyes were now squinted suspiciously, to his feet, "but only if, you know. We can get home."

Enticed at his favorite meal, Toothless reluctantly agreed with a nod of his head and moved to the corner furthest from the Boo-merang.

Hiccup smiled as he turned to Tucker. "Try to not make his price go up?"

Chuckling, the techie switched the Boo-merang on. "No promises."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Hiccup felt his eyes widen.

"Don't worry about it." Tucker responded way too nonchalantly, "Find Prince Aragon's Amulet." he spoke into the Boo-merang's input, and then turned in the opposite direction of Toothless, winding up for a throw.

Hiccup did, in fact, have to worry about it, as the Boo-merang made a sharp arch right before it was going to hit the wall, and made a nose-dive right into Toothless' chest, knocking him off his feet with a pained wheeze.

Cringing, he hurried over to his dragon and helped him back to his feet. "Well, I think some adjustments are in order," he tried not to chuckle as Toothless rubbed his chest painfully, looking dazed as he glared at him. "...and another barrel of trout?"

Toothless stopped glaring daggers at him.

Tucker hummed as he took the Boo-merang back. "Oh, no, it's supposed to do that." He responded, causing Hiccup to slowly turn to him with his lips pulled inwards.

Tucker sucked in a mischievous breath through his teeth and hunched his shoulders. "Danny's had a few knots in his head because of this thing's predecessor," he waved the Boo-merang gingerly in the air, "So I'd say it's working exactly as it should be, actually."

"So I was gonna be out two barrels of trout anyway." Hiccup deadpanned and sighed, pinching his brow, "that's fine. That's– fine." He was already calculating the hours that would take.

"Well. You weren't the one nailed in the chest." Fishlegs chuckled.

Hiccup sighed wearily, clapping a hand on a very distraught Toothless' shoulder as his dragon continued rubbing his chest.

"So it works, then?" Fishlegs asked, standing as Tucker fiddled with the Boo-merang a bit more.

"Well, I think we need to run a few more tests to make sure," the techie caught Hiccup's widened eyes and quickly added, "but we'll leave that to Phantom!"

Deflating, Hiccup sighed, which quickly turned into a yawn that made its way through the other members of the room.

"Ancients, what time is it?" Tucker muttered, checking his watch, "3:45?" He groaned, "At least it's a weekend."

"You're not walking home, are you?" Hiccup inquired. That wasn't a short hike.

Rubbing his eye, Tucker set the Boo-merang carefully on the desk, "nah, I'll just crash with Sam."

Hiccup nodded, feeling slightly better. "Alright. Then I guess we'll see each other tomorrow morning."

Flashing a hopeful smile, Tucker slung his bag over his shoulder, "and hopefully, you'll see your home tomorrow. Or, you know. A thousand years ago."

Pursing his lips, Hiccup chose to ignore that last part with a polite nod, and walked Fishlegs and Tucker out of the room. He stacked the empty mugs next to the Boo-merang on the desk, and then his head hit the pillow as soon as the lamp turned off.

His dreams were filled with images of home. Of Berk, of Dragon's Edge, of the Academy. But they were bathed in green light and maybe there were just a bit too many light switches instead of lanterns.

He woke much too soon to a shake on his shoulder, and a groan filtered out of his mouth before his eyes fluttered open.

He heard Astrid snort as he rolled over, pulling a pillow over his head. "I take it you finished the Boo-merang?"

Hiccup didn't answer right away, but did eventually manage to lift the pillow to glance at the clock. "Four hours. I got four hours of sleep." He grumbled.

"Oh, like that's not normal for you," he could imagine Astrid rolling her eyes as she grabbed onto his wrist, "come on, dragon whisperer, it's breakfast time. We've got a field trip to get to."

"We?" Hiccup repeated, letting her drag him into an upright position. He rubbed his eyes and yawned.

Astrid sat next to him to fix his apparently-loosened braid, "I may have bribed the twins into convincing Phantom to let us go with him today."

Hiccup let his hand drop to give her a strange look, and her smile was very mischievous. She was wearing her usual outfit, save for her pauldrons, today. "Why would you want to do that?"

"Listen, this is a high-stakes mission," Astrid rolled her eyes, "I'm not leaving this to a group of 16 year olds who are only two-thirds alive."

"Fair point," Hiccup scratched his head and turned to find Toothless sitting up as well, "so, what's on the menu?"

"Leftovers, if you don't get yourself into gear." Astrid chuckled, standing and leaving the room with a small click of the door.

It seemed most of the gang had their sights set on the same idea – most of the clothing Sam had bought for them were now discarded for their typical outfits, which was a sight for sore eyes.

Hiccup adjusted his wrist guards as he entered the kitchen, finding what remained of a fruit bowl on the table, and picked up a few blueberries. Toothless sat down unceremoniously, forehead falling to the table with a dull thud.

Rolling his eyes, Hiccup looked over his dragon's head to find Astrid with Stormfly perched on her shoulder by the window he'd been looking out of last night, nursing at a cup of something hot.

Leaning against the other side of the window sill, Hiccup smiled as she greeted him. "Nice to see you join us." She quipped.

"It seems I'm not the last one, at least," he replied, noting both Sam and Tucker's absence.

"Well, I think they've deserved a few extra minutes, don't you?" Astrid responded, taking a sip of her drink.

"Yeah." Hiccup said, popping another blueberry in his mouth. It was a slightly bitter one, but that wasn't why his expression soured. "I don't know how we're going to repay them."

Astrid's own lips pursed at that, and her eyes were suddenly glued to the sidewalk outside of Sam's place. She didn't have to say anything. Berk's financial situation was still rather grim.

Suddenly finding the sunlight streaming through the windows to be out of place, Hiccup sighed, twisting so that he could place both elbows on the windowsill.

"Somehow I feel like anything we could give them would pale in comparison." Astrid admitted, stroking Stormfly on her neck.

That was also true.

Hiccup situated himself with a bagel and was about halfway through it when Jazz's car pulled up to the Manson Manor. She parked with ease, but didn't get out. It took a few seconds for Hiccup to realize that there was someone in the passenger seat – a boy with raven hair and a baggy white-and-red shirt.

"Who's that?" Astrid questioned, voice falling as her eyebrows furrowed.

"Jazz's brother," Hiccup supplied, remembering the painting on the Fenton's wall.

Astrid hummed in interest as Jazz and her brother continued to talk. From the looks of it, it wasn't a simple topic. "I didn't know she had one."

"I think his ideologies about ghosts align with their parents," Hiccup theorized, watching the boy sigh wearily.

"Oh," Astrid said with a nod, that was all the explanation she needed. The gaze she was sending the boy in the passenger's seat was now a bit more judgemental.

Hiccup wondered if his face looked the same, and he quickly let it relax. Jazz didn't seem to be all that distant from her brother. And there was a chance that the dragon riders were biased. Phantom was much more familiar to them than most of the 21st century was.

Now that he thought about it, how did Phantom and Jazz become friends?

"Well look who joined the party!" Snotlout's sing-song drew both Hiccup and Astrid's attention. They turned to find Sam and Tucker shuffling through the door with twin yawns. The latter was squinting without his glasses, but he still found Snotlout with a playful grimace.

Hiccup let out a silent laugh, and when he turned back to the window, Jazz was already walking up the sidewalk.

Her brother was nowhere in sight.

If Hiccup ignored the green sky, the Far Frozen nearly looked like home. It certainly felt like it, stepping into about a foot of snow (that was, thankfully, white) made him all the more glad he was wearing his normal clothes.

He was, admittedly, even more glad to not be wearing the hazmat suits. That was due, thankfully, to an 'anti-ecto-radiation' band strapped to each of their wrists. According to Phantom, they were less effective than the suits, needing to be replaced around every hour or so, but they were in higher supply because of that. So there was enough to go around.

Phantom let go of Hiccup's hand to turn to Ruffnut, who was behind him, aligning her wavelengths to the ground beneath them. "Ah," She breathed in the nipping air, "Feels like a dead version of home."

"I don't think that should be a comforting sentence." Astrid deadpanned, pushing back a smile as she walked back to Hiccup.

"You guys aren't cold?" Tucker exclaimed from where he was cowering in the cockpit of the Speeder. His gaze was absolutely horrified as Hiccup shrugged.

"They don't say Berk is on the Meridian of Misery for nothing." He smirked as Stormfly took off from Astrid's shoulder with a squawk. In a blink of an eye, a Deadly Nadder was romping in the snow, followed quickly by Toothless, and soon laughter was bubbling from Hiccup's mouth.

Phantom chuckled as well at the sight. "C'mon, Tucker, don't you wanna join them?" He teased as the techie wrapped a thick jacket around himself.

"No." He deadpanned. Sam mimicked his sentiment by crossing her arms over her chest. Jazz, who had chosen to come with them for a mission as important as this, rolled her eyes fondly.

Not that Tucker had much of a choice either way. He was the one who knew the ins and outs of the Boo-merang the best. His glasses fogged up as soon as he stepped out of the speeder, and he flailed just a bit too dramatically as Phantom latched onto him and pulled him to the snow.

"Come on, you big baby." the ghost boy rolled his eyes, "it's not that bad."

"Said the guy with an ice core," Tucker squinted at their floating companion as he wiped his glasses on the hem of his shirt.

Phantom took no offense to this, not that Hiccup knew if there was anything to be offended of. He assumed, whatever a core was, that it had something to do with the ice powers.

Toothless scampered back up to the group, tongue lolling out of his mouth excitedly. His wings stretched to shield Tucker, Sam and Jazz, who both had joined them very quickly afterwards, from the biting wind.

The trio gave thankful looks to him, and Jazz patted Toothless' head gingerly. The night fury warbled.

Spinning in the direction of a large cliff in the distance, Phantom placed his hands on his hips. "Come on. The sooner we hone in on the Infimap's ectosignature, the sooner you're back in the sweet air conditioning." He sing-songed.

"You don't need to tell me twice," Tucker shivered and began trudging through the snow, "Frostbite better have something to warm us up…"

Sharing an amused glance with Astrid, Hiccup soon followed in their footsteps.

"So this Frostbite guy," Snotlout said from his perch on Hookfang, "Does he normally go around giving out free stuff?"

"Only for Danny." Sam rolled her eyes, blinking some snowflakes out of them. "Yetis sure know how to throw their feasts."

Snotlout's hum was, perhaps, a little excited. That was, until Tucker responded with, "too bad humans can't eat any of it…"

"Even if you could, we wouldn't be able to stick around." Phantom berated, spinning in the air. "Hopefully we can be in and out in an hour."

"Only an hour, oh Great One?" came a booming voice, and suddenly the snow swarmed, manifesting a thing out of the flurries. Hiccup yelped as Phantom was promptly yanked out of the air, whipping Inferno from his belt and igniting it. Toothless roared and unsheathed his teeth.

"Phantom!" Astrid yelled, but was cut off by an echoed laugh from the ghost boy as the hulking, furry beast that grabbed him stopped its spinning attack.

"Nice to see you too, Frostbite!" The ghost boy returned what Hiccup could now register as a hug from the monster.

He vaguely felt Inferno fall in disbelief as the two ghosts parted.

Setting two clawed paw-things (one was entirely made of ice, with bone clearly visible below the surface) on Phantom's shoulders, the beast smiled with teeth that rivaled a dragon's, glow pulsing erratically, "what brings you to our land, Great One? I do not sense the Infimap on your person…"

"That's actually why we're back," Phantom responded, his own glow flittered in a similar pattern to the other ghost's.

Gesturing to Tucker, who was clutching the Boo-merang gingerly, he continued, "we're gonna try and track its ectosignature."

The hulking beast leaned down as Tucker held the Boo-merang to him, "Ah, Master Tucker's technology is always welcome here. Fair Jasmine – And Mighty Sam!" He chuckled, pulling all three into an equally bone-crushing hug. "Braving our fair weather this time, I see!"

Sam, Jazz, and Tucker all wheezed out greetings to the ghost, who then turned to the rest of their company. Its furry brow pulled together in a way that Hiccup didn't particularly like, and he pulled Inferno back up.

"And who are these?" The beast turned to Phantom, who had his hands clasped nervously behind his back.

"Ah, these are the dragon riders: Hiccup, Astrid, Snotlout, Fishlegs, Ruffnut, Tuffnut, and their dragons."

The ghost boy seemed to notice the various states of battle-readiness the gang was in then. "Guys, this is Frostbite, leader of the Far Frozen."

"That's Frostbite?!" Snotlout exclaimed, gripping onto Hookfang's horns with white knuckles.

Tucker turned with an incredulous look. "Do you guys not know what yetis are?"

"No," Hiccup swallowed with wide eyes, "No, we did not."

"Oh. Well. Now you do." was all Tucker said to that, which nearly made Hiccup facepalm.

Frostbite seemed infatuated with their dragons for a few seconds before turning back to Phantom. "And why have you brought these guests with you today?"

"Are they not welcome?" Phantom suddenly sounded nervous, side-glancing the dragon riders.

"Any friends of the Great One are friends of the Far Frozen," Frostbite waved his worries off, "I am simply curious. If your mission involves Infimap then I'd like to know what role they play."

"We need it to get home," Hiccup responded, voice tense, "We're…a few years off course."

Sympathy crossed over Frostbite's face at that. "Ah. Nordic." He spoke, tongue switching languages instantly. Hiccup's translator quieted down as the yeti studied the dragons. "I apologize. Being displaced is not an easy situation."

Swallowing, Hiccup nodded sparingly. "Hopefully it won't be for much longer."

"Right," the yeti nodded curtly. "Follow me, then, Great One and friends. I sensed your presence. My people are preparing a feast as we speak!"

The smirk Sam sent the dragon riders was a very blatant "told you so".

Frostbite was not an exception to his people. As the group entered the rock-and-ice building that was, thankfully, more than big enough to fit their dragons, they were surrounded by albino monsters of unruly height. Considering their appearance and habitat, their friendly demeanors were not taken for granted.

Jazz had started a long-winded rundown as to what yetis were – her voice was pleasant, and he was sure the topic was interesting, but Hiccup admittedly wasn't paying much attention.

He swallowed as the doors closed with a whistle behind them, cutting off the wind. The torches on the walls flared back to life with blue flames.

Tucker audibly shivered, "I'm not looking forward to stepping back out into that." He said to Frostbite, who only tilted his head backwards and laughed in the echoing hallway.

"Oh, Master Tucker, a man of humor as always."

"Don't inflate his ego." Sam and Phantom groaned at the exact same time.

Frostbite humored them, but he still had an amused smile on his lips. "As you wish, Great One. Now tell me about this device of yours."

The group took a few twists and turns as Tucker gave Frostbite the rundown, leading to a set of double doors to what looked like a mess hall. The sound of laughter and the scent of food filled the air, and as they passed through, they were greeted by yetis celebrating. They raised mugs to the group as they passed, calling boisterously to Phantom, who seemed rather bashful at that.

He rubbed his shoulder nervously, nodding an acknowledgement before one clapped a rough hand on his back. He yelped as he lurched forwards, and Frostbite chuckled fondly.

More yetis were flocking to them now, and Toothless let out a wary growl, inching towards Hiccup protectively.

The dragon whisperer found his shoulders hunching as well, and Phantom turned to them suddenly with worried eyes.

"Um," he said, and Frostbite stopped to turn back.

"Alright, alright, give the Great One and his friends some space, you lot!" the yeti called, prompting disappointed groans out of his people. Still, they respected his wishes and soon Hiccup felt like he could breathe again.

As they exited out the other side of the mess hall, Astrid came up alongside Hiccup. "Well, they sure know how to throw a party."

"Oddly enough, still reminds me of home," Hiccup groaned, glancing behind them as the doors swung shut, muffling the party.

Astrid hummed in agreement.

They exited the building once more for a small trudge. The pathway was clear of snow and the cliff in front of them blocked most of the wind, so the walk was a bit more pleasant.

There were two more yetis stationed at the bottom of the cliff, spears of black ice in hand. They were guarding a large, circular metal door with a locking mechanism as the centerpiece. The guards did not speak – nor did they move – until Frostbite raised a hand, stepping in unison to the side.

The door appeared to not have been opened in a while; ice was nestled in the cracks and crevices, thick enough to have rendered any of its mechanisms useless to begin with. But with a simple wave of a hand from Frostbite, the ice cracked and fell to the ground below in a powdery, sparkling dust.

With a low groan, the door twisted and then opened, revealing an icy tunnel that glowed with teal light from somewhere inside.

"Come," Frostbite said.

With a nervous glance towards Astrid, Hiccup complied.

The tunnel led deep into the ground, winding like whispering death tunnels, but just a bit too shallow to require stairs.

"I apologize for the mess," Frostbite said as the tunnel began widening out and chips of both ice and rock began littering the pathway. The sound of chiseling bounced around the walls, "We've already begun making changes to our security, guards have been posted on both ends of the tunnel, and we are working on a secondary door to the main vault."

The end of the tunnel appeared after another turn, widening into a circular work area that was littered with tools and such. A small group of workers greeted them only briefly before returning to their jobs.

Hiccup's attention was drawn to a table with something that looked decidedly not-locking-mechanism like.

"We are also working on a frequency scrambler," the yeti continued, nodding towards the table, "that way, neither dead or living beings can enter the vault through other means.

With a glance to Tucker, Frostbite smiled, "we took inspiration from you, Master Tucker."

"A ghost creating anti-ghost equipment," the techie stated, "I never thought I'd see the day."

The yeti hummed gravely. "I will not have any more artifacts stolen. I only regret that it has taken me this long to take preventative action."

They passed through the construction and under the forming doorway into a larger room, where artifacts were placed like precious gemstones upon a variety of icy shelves. At the centerpiece was a circular pedestal, shining in a yellow spotlight that revealed flecks of dust (or maybe ice) dancing in the air.

Nothing was upon that pedestal.

"Woah," Hiccup heard Snotlout say as he dismounted Hookfang, "You had all of this and you're only now upping security measures?"

Phantom sent him a dangerous glare as Frostbite sighed.

"Not helping, Snotlout." Astrid deadpanned.

"Moving on!" Hiccup cut the conversation short, sending his cousin a warning glare.

"Right," Phantom nodded, "Tucker?"

The techie nodded curtly, nearing the empty pedestal as he switched the Boo-merang on. "Alright," he said, "let's get this show on the road."

There was a small hum as he placed the Boo-merang gently onto the pedestal, and soon the device began to blink steadily. A message on the small screen Tucker added appeared, and a robotic voice rang out: "Searching for desired Ecto Signature. Ten minutes remaining."

"Incredible as always, Master Tucker!" Frostbite complimented, leaning over to inspect the Boo-merang, "I have no doubt that the Infimap will be back in the Far Frozen's possession with this invention."

Tucker smiled warmly at the compliment, "Thanks, Frostbite."

Hiccup tuned out the following conversation, attention instead falling to Jazz, who had darted over to a particular shelf and was browsing its contents. Hiccup could feel his own curiosity getting the better of him, and he found himself nearing the closest shelf, where a seemingly inconspicuous leather-bound book was laying. He traced the cover with a delicate touch.

The leather was a bit staticy, like it wasn't quite tangible. Hiccup tilted his head to the side as he hummed.

"That is an interesting read," came a voice from behind him, and Hiccup snapped his head around with a gasp to find Frostbite looking down on him. Heat rushed to his cheeks.

"S-sorry," He stuttered, "I shouldn't have –"

The yeti held up a hand, causing him to trail off. "The pursuit of knowledge is something my people hold to the utmost priority. It is that which prevents us from repeating history." He smiled, and Hiccup took a step back as he picked up the book, flipping it open expertly.

Hiccup could think to do nothing but nod, and Frostbite looked at him out of the corner of his eye before holding the book out to him.

Shocked, Hiccup's gaze darted over the yeti's shoulder to Jazz, who was watching the interaction not-so-subtly. She urged him forwards with a small nod of her head.

After a moment's hesitation, Hiccup accepted the artifact, laying a feather-light hand on equally static pages. He was afraid to flip them– they felt like they'd disintegrate into nothing in his hands. It was written with the latin alphabet, so he couldn't understand it, and he felt his heart sink.

"What does it say?" He asked carefully, looking up to Frostbite as the yeti clasped his hands behind his back.

The ghost hummed deeply. "It is an account of our history – the diary of one of Pariah Dark's generals."

"Pariah Dark?" Hiccup tested the name on his tongue and found that it conjured dread in his gut.

Frostbite scowled with a shake of his head, "a dark part of the Infinite Realm's history." He muttered, "he wreaked havoc trying to spread his empire. It was eventually his downfall."

The yeti's head swiveled to Phantom with a swell of visible pride, "but he is no more."

Hiccup also looked at Phantom, who was conversing with Tucker over the empty pedestal. He seemed to feel both of their gazes, because he paused briefly to catch them.

He nodded his head with a small smile. Hiccup returned it.

"He is our future," Frostbite revered, "and it is a bright one."

What does that mean, Hiccup wanted to ask, but the yeti was quickly distracted by Jazz, who had a similar question about a not-so-similar artifact.

As he flipped through the pages, Hiccup found himself holding his breath, still terribly afraid that the ink would leak off the pages with the moisture. The handwriting was long and flowing, and the ink changed colors quite a few times as what he thought to be dates progressed at the tops of the pages.

But then there came a page where the entries stopped. What remained instead was a dried splatter of something green, and it left a sour taste in his mouth. Somehow, Hiccup didn't need to know latin text to understand that.

He was quickly distracted by Toothless' growl.

Turning, he found his dragon pacing along a particular shelf, staring intently at him. He whined again when they made eye contact.

"What'd you find, Bud?" He asked, setting the book back where it belonged and almost feeling relieved when it left his touch.

It seemed he wasn't walking fast enough because Toothless scampered to meet him halfway and grabbed his sleeve between his teeth, dragging him back to the shelf with vigor. As Hiccup stumbled to keep up, he caught Astrid sending him an amused look, and he chuckled at her.

"Alright, alright," he said, yanking his sleeve out of his dragon's mouth, "slow down before we knock something over," he said, patting Toothless' head fondly.

His hand paused when he glanced at the shelf, and for a second so did his heart.

"Hiccup?" Astrid said, noticing his sudden change in mood. Her echoing footsteps were suddenly very distant in his ears, "what's –"

She cut off as she placed a hand on his shoulder, stiffening in surprise. It took a few seconds for her to speak again, but it felt like an eternity to him.

"Is that –" She started, but Hiccup was already nodding his head.

"A dragon eye lens?" He wavered, staring at the small circular object with impossibly wide eyes, "Yeah. Yeah, it is."