Summary: As the mission comes to a head, more questions are brought to light than answers.
I am officially on Summer Break and instead of writing at ALL, I have 85 hours of gameplay in Tears of the Kingdom. I am currently suffering from Zelink brain rot.
Anyways.
"A what-now lens?" Phantom spoke, but Astrid didn't bother to turn to him, yet alone answer his question.
She watched Hiccup reach with slender, shaking fingers to pick up the lens, holding it to the light in disbelief.
Her breath caught in her throat as he tilted it back and forth, and she looked back to find the others crowding around them.
"Where did you get this?" Hiccup breathed, turning to Frostbite, who, along with Jazz, was watching them with interest.
The ghost stared at the lens intently. "Ah, a traveler found it decades ago. They did not know what it was, so they brought it to us. Unfortunately, we could not unlock its purpose. It has remained in our vault for safekeeping ever since."
"How do you know what it is?" Phantom asked, floating up over Hiccup's shoulder with a bewildered look about him.
Astrid watched as Hiccup swallowed forcefully, pressing his lips together.
"It's a long story," She managed to say, trying her best to keep her gaze away from Toothless' saddle bag.
Phantom hummed in both disappointment and curiosity, but did not press for more information. The gaze that she held with him lasted just a second too long.
Frostbite seemed to be in deep thought, watching Hiccup as he traced the frame of the lens with nervous fingers.
"Can we take this?" he eventually muttered, looking up to Frostbite, shell-shocked.
A hefty sigh left the yeti, giving Astrid the impression that he wasn't all that sure about the idea. His gaze darted between Hiccup and Phantom for a few moments.
"...I suppose you have more knowledge about it than we do." he eventually ceded with a nod of his head. "We have no use for it here."
Shakily, Hiccup nodded a thanks, clutching the lens in one hand desperately.
"Ecto signature analysis complete." the Boo-merang announced then, causing Astrid to whip her head back to the center of the room, "Tracking: Infimap".
Suddenly that announcement seemed to fall flat.
The Boo-merang launched itself into the air, spinning like a windmill before Tucker snatched it up, turning to the rest of the group with wide eyes. "I guess that's our queue."
The walk back through the tunnel was considerably quieter. Astrid kept sneaking glances to Hiccup, who was staring at the ground, lost in thought. He would occasionally pull the dragon eye lens back out and stare at it, like he wasn't quite sure it was real, and Astrid found herself second-guessing her own vision too – it was a habit that she still had yet to drop since the lightning strike.
And yet, no matter how many times she blinked, or rubbed her eyes, the lens did not change shape or vanish. So her thoughts began to wander.
Of course, the most likely answer for how it got into the Ghost Zone was, well, the same answer as to how they got into it. A natural portal that managed to suck it in.
But that didn't settle her nerves any less. It was almost a month too late to believe in coincidences.
A shiver ran up her spine as they stepped back out into the ghostly snow, snapping her out of her thoughts. Stormfly squawked, nosing her in her back, and instinctively she reached up an arm to let her dragon nuzzle underneath it.
"I'm fine, girl." She muttered, watching the rest of the group make their way back to the main building. She swallowed, "Just fine."
Jazz turned to give her a concerned look, and Astrid quickly put on a neutral expression, hurrying to catch back up to them. The girl was apparently studying psychology, and she was not about to let her think that she was anything less than fine.
After all, they were going home. It would be like the dragon eye was never in the Ghost Zone in the first place.
The hardest part of leaving the Far Frozen was convincing the dragons to shift back into their more portable forms, but after a few bribes they were ready to set off again.
Astrid leaned against the wall of the Speeder as Tucker threw the Boo-merang, shutting the door and blocking out the cold immediately afterwards.
The Boo-merang did a few loops in the air before locking on one direction and speeding off. Phantom was hot on its tail, quickly becoming a black-and-white blur in the distance.
Throwing his hands in the air, Tucker silently celebrated, "it works!"
"And it'll all be for nothing if we lose it." Sam rolled her eyes, "Sit down."
The techie obliged quickly, and Astrid followed his lead, taking a seat next to Hiccup and Toothless on the bench.
The rest of the gang as they crowded around as well.
"So," Snotlout started from where he and the twins were sitting cross-legged on the floor in front of the bench, "anyone wanna take a guess as to how this thing is here?"
Humming, Fishlegs turned to Hiccup. "Did you drop one when we came through the portal?" He asked, causing the others to send him a strange look.
"Frostbite said that they've had it for decades." Astrid stated, "the timeline doesn't exactly match up."
Shrugging indignantly, Fishlegs said, "well, theoretically…we traveled a thousand years, right?"
Everyone nodded.
"Which means, logically, we would have had to pass through the time period that it was found in."
"Supposedly." Astrid said, finding it hard to believe. Stormfly squawked in agreement.
"So, let's just say," Fishlegs continued, "that in the half a second it took us to dive through that portal, the lens dropped and fell into its barrier, sometime between the two destinations."
"...you lost me." Snotlout said as Hookfang burrowed into his tunic. Fishlegs groaned.
"Hiccup?" He said, turning to their leader, who was still staring intently at the lens.
He snapped out of his stupor, blinking as he looked around the other dragon riders, who were now staring at him expectedly.
He spoke, but it was after an awkward pause. "No, no I didn't…lose one. I don't think..." He said, sending a wary look to the cockpit, where Sam, Tucker, and Jazz seemed to be minding their own business.
"You don't think?" Astrid repeated, urging him to continue, and he turned to look at her apprehensively.
"I haven't exactly checked," he admitted, "you know, between the whole…time traveling thing and, well." He gestured to Toothless' human-ness, where he unfortunately did not boast the saddle bag the Dragon Eye II was usually held in.
"So we won't know until the next time they're able to transform." Snotlout droned, "Great. Good job, Hiccup!" He threw his hands in the air, leaning back sarcastically.
Hiccup sent his cousin an angry look, visibly clenching his jaw. He stuffed the lens back into his tunic.
Astrid then noticed the look that Toothless was sending his rider: it was both confused and incredulous, and he quickly tugged at Hiccup's sleeve, causing him to turn with a preoccupied hum.
The night fury promptly reached into the pocket of his hoodie and, after a few seconds of fumbling around, pulled the Dragon Eye II out of it.
Snotlout choked as Toothless held it out to Hiccup, who was now slightly gaping.
"I –" He dropped his voice suddenly, "have you been able to do that this whole time?" he said.
As an answer, Toothless reached back into his pocket and produced Hiccup's spare prosthetic, looking between the rest of the dragon riders like they were stupid.
Resisting the urge to facepalm, Astrid turned back to the cockpit again to make sure that its occupants weren't listening in on the conversation. Satisfied to see that they weren't, she turned back around to find that Hiccup had taken the Dragon Eye II from Toothless.
With practiced skill, he popped the device open and ran his finger along the lenses that were already inside, counting under his breath.
He shook his head after a moment. "No. They're all still here." His eyes raised to the rest of the group warily.
"Which means…" Astrid started as Hiccup inserted the lens into the spare slot.
"...this lens is brand new."
Leaning forward restlessly and turning away from the cockpit, Astrid asked, "What do you think is on it?"
Hiccup flipped the Dragon Eye II over in his hand, shaking his head in a silent answer.
Fishlegs hummed, stroking Meatlug on her back as she nestled into his lap, "We can start by narrowing down the information that the other lenses have." He said, "then we could cross reference that with what we have in the ones we know Krogan and Viggo have, and –"
"No offense, Fishface," Snotlout interrupted, "but I think this is the least of our worries right now."
"Snotlout's right," Hiccup said, which was a rare sentence. Shaking his head, he snapped the Dragon Eye II shut, "Let's just – focus on getting home first."
As Toothless took the device from him and shoved it back into his pocket, Astrid couldn't help but feel like Hiccup didn't quite agree with his own statement.
Wordlessly, she reached out and grabbed his hand. He squeezed it, and she returned it.
"How's it going back there?" Jazz asked, and Astrid whipped her head around perhaps just a bit too quickly. She tried her best to put that neutral expression back on her face.
"Just peachy!" She replied with what felt like a fake smile, "how's the Boo-merang doing?"
"Well, it hasn't stopped." Sam said, also turning to look at them, "So I'm choosing to take that as a good thing."
Astrid leaned forwards to look out of the cockpit's window, finding the steadily growing image of Phantom there.
"Uh, actually Sam, you might wanna hit the brakes." Tucker squeaked, causing her to send him a glare.
The techie jabbed his thumb out the window. "I mean, unless you want to kill Danny a second time."
Finally noticing the issue, Sam pressed the brakes hastily, and Astrid felt herself lurch forwards as they began to slow. "Eh, he could use some dodging practice, anyway…" Sam mumbled, leaning forwards in her seat, "What's he doing?"
Tucker hummed, pushing his glasses up on his nose. "...is that –"
" – Ghost Writer's library?" Sam shared an aghast look with Tucker.
"Who's Ghost Writer?" Astrid asked, squinting to find another floating island in the distance.
"I'm going to assume a writing ghost." Snotlout grumbled, standing up and making his way to the front of the Speeder.
Tucker turned with a grave-and-affirming look. "He does more than write, unfortunately."
"Why is the Boo-merang taking us there?" Hiccup asked, taking in the large building warily.
"Maybe our thief is a bookworm," Sam mused, pulling up alongside Phantom, who did not look particularly happy to be there.
"As a bookworm, I take offense to that." Jazz muttered.
Phantom was holding the Boo-merang in his hand, which was still struggling to go, indeed, towards the library's front doors. Once the Speeder came to a stop, he phased through its walls.
"Are we really going in there?" Tucker asked, giving the building a wary once over.
"I don't think we have much of a choice." Phantom groaned, crossing his arms over his chest.
"As long as he doesn't make us rhyme again, I don't particularly care what we have to do." Sam grit her teeth. "It makes sense, knowing his ego, he'd probably want to add the Infimap to his collection."
Phantom and Tucker sent her a wary glance, making Astrid wonder if they didn't quite believe that theory. It seemed pretty solid to her, but then again she'd only just heard of this Ghost Writer.
"Plus," Jazz said, turning with an encouraging smile towards the dragon riders, "we could do some research on this lens you guys found!"
Again, Astrid tried to keep any emotion from squeezing out. She offered a noncommittal hum to appease the silence.
"Ugh, fine." Phantom relented, sounding very much like a pouting child. His head tilted to the floor and bobbed dramatically, throwing his hands sarcastically in the air. "To the Library of the Dead it is…"
"Well don't sound so excited…" Sam snorted, shifting the Speeder back into drive.
Phantom remained very much not excited up until the point they entered the library – a large, open-planned room with a roof that stretched up at least three stories, hardwood bookshelves and windows stretching up just as far. They almost looked like they were leaning over Astrid, glowering at her, and she quickly turned back to the first floor, where the forest-green carpet and shorter, free standing shelves were much friendlier.
And then they were promptly greeted with an explosion.
With varying yelps, a neon green force shield popped into existence around the group, protecting them from a large portion of the debris.
An angry exclamation followed the explosion shortly afterwards, echoing from somewhere deeper in the library, and Phantom brought his fists up warily, floating in front of the group.
"Hello?" he called as the force shield blinked out of existence, "Uh…Ghost Writer?"
Astrid scanned the shelves with hitched breath as pieces of shredded paper settled to the floor, hands itching for her axe. Alas, dragons and flammable objects didn't mix, so Stormfly was still perched on her shoulder, saddle bag nowhere in sight.
The stillness was broken by the shelf closest to them toppling over, and the ground-shaking force behind it revealed itself to be a bespeckled ghost in a purple trench coat, cursing like a Berserker.
"Get back here, you little vandal!" He screeched, grasping at nothing as books flew in every direction.
With a gasp, Astrid swatted one away as Phantom darted forwards.
"Woah, woah, woah!" He called, pushing his way into the mess like he was separating two people, "let's calm down, alright?"
"Wha– you – oh, Phantom! Excellent." The Ghost Writer sounded…relieved? As he pushed his glasses back up onto the bridge of his nose, "astounding timing."
The ghost boy glanced from the librarian to the air across from him, then to the mess behind them (the shelf that had toppled over revealed the rest of the library to be in a very similar state of disarray), and then back to Ghost Writer again. "What is going on?"
"What's going on is that this scoundrel has no respect for literature!" Ghost Writer gestured wildly to absolutely nothing, and then there was a pregnant pause of more nothing.
"Is he…fighting the air?" Snotlout muttered out of the corner of his mouth.
Astrid began to nod, but was quickly cut off by Ruff. "Not that I'm typically a lady, Snotty, but it's pretty rude to ignore people."
Blinking rapidly, Astrid turned to Ruff. "Okay. I know I say this a lot, but what are you talking about?"
It was Ruff's turn to send a disbelieving look, which Tuffnut shared. "What are you talking about?" Tuff countered, gesturing towards the two ghosts, "This Ghost Writer guy's duking it out with a kid. Can't you see him?"
Astrid did a double-take back to the scene in front of them to find, still, only two ghosts.
"His name is Youngblood." Sam said then, drawing everyone's attention, "only children can see him."
She spared a split-second glance to the twins. "Or, you know. Manchildren."
"Excuse you," Ruff reprimanded, placing a sarcastically gentle hand on her chest, "I'm a womanchildren, thank you very much."
"Debatable," Snotlout snorted.
Astrid figured she had much more pressing matters at hand than to try and rationalize that, so she took Sam for her word, turning back to Phantom's predicament.
"Alright so let me get this straight –" The ghost boy was shaking his head rapidly, pointing with one finger to Ghost Writer, "So you're mad because he's blowing up your library."
" – yes!" the librarian exclaimed.
"And you –" he pointed to the air with his other finger – "are blowing up his library for…what, exactly?"
Again, the thin air refused to talk, and reluctantly Astrid leaned over to Ruffnut. "So…what is he saying?"
Ruffnut opened her mouth to answer, but Phantom's exclamation provided the context.
"Picture books." He said, slumping in disappointment. "You're exploding the library over picture books?"
Ghost Writer scoffed as Phantom reared back with widened eyes, throwing his hands in the air in surrender, "Okay, okay, lack of picture books! Calm down! Look, um…"
He awkwardly swiveled between the two ghosts, "Can you guys put this off for a few minutes? I've got some other business to take care of. Ghost Writer, did you…get any donations, recently? Or did a shady ghost pass through?"
"Perhaps." Ghost Writer crossed his arms and puffed his chest; an apathetic expression passive over his face. "I haven't had the privilege to check my research rooms yet." The librarian sent a glower to the air across from him and Phantom.
"Great," Phantom clapped his hands awkwardly, "then we'll just be –"
" – Here, doing your job!" Ghost Writer cut him off, "I don't see how your problem has to do with the state of my library!" The librarian shrieked in dismay, plastering his hands to his head as he stared at the smoking remains.
"My job has nothing to do with you two's squabble, okay?" Phantom deadpanned, eyes flashing, "now if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna just…"
Ghost Writer darted in the air then, putting himself between Phantom and the rest of the library with a rather pretentious sputter of words. "No solution," he hissed, and with a wave of his hands a keyboard appeared, which he typed on hastily. A second later, glowing bars appeared on the doorway in the back, effectively blocking it off, "No research rooms."
" – oh, come on, I –" Phantom cut himself off with a frustrated groan as Ghost Writer chuckled coldly.
"Believe you me, Phantom, I am not partial to this affair either." The ghost hissed, purple coat billowing, "So spare me a dime and I will grant you a dollar. Throw this little arson in the dungeons, and I will give you full access to my research rooms."
Astrid couldn't help but notice the twins, Sam, and Tucker cringe with Phantom then, and whatever Youngblood had said seemed to egg Ghost Writer on, because he began hollering back to the thin air.
Phantom shrunk, bringing his hands up to shield his ears annoyedly, nose wrinkling as he tried to break up another squabble. "Okay, no, let's – yeah, no – okay, shut up!" he yelled, throwing his hands out and knocking the Ghost Writer back a foot or so, "One at a time, please."
Picking at her lip, Astrid turned to Hiccup who, along with Fishlegs, Snotlout, and Toothless, also seemed to be pretty lost.
"You guys still can't see him?" Tucker asked, noticing their stares.
Astrid shook her head with the others, feeling like it was kind of a ridiculous question. The twins being childish, she could understand. But the rest of them? They were seasoned warriors. Astrid doubted she'd ever been given the luxury to think like a kid.
"Okay, first off: Dungeons?" Phantom sighed wearily, "I don't have dungeons, Ghost Writer!"
"Blasphemy!" The librarian hollered, "The ghost king's domain has had dungeons since the beginning of time! I have the original blueprints in the basement to prove it!"
Phantom's groan was irate as Ghost Writer continued, "It is your duty –"
"It is no one's duty!" Phantom hissed, glow flaring dangerously. The temperature dropped a few degrees, "there is no ghost king! If you want to have someone take care of this – mess, call Walker! I'm in a time crunch here."
Ghost Writer muttered under his breath angrily, rearing away as Phantom tried to snatch his keyboard, at which point his voice quickly raised in volume to a curt exclamation, "no help, no research rooms, Phantom!"
"Oh, for the love of –! Fine!" The ghost boy threw his hands in the air, "Why, exactly, don't you have picture books?"
The librarian scoffed like that was a ridiculous question. "I have no use for them. They're juvenile and provide no intellectual value to my collection."
Phantom nodded sarcastically, turning to where Astrid presumed Youngblood floated. "And why do you need picture books? Isn't there anything else you'd like to read? Like Treasure Island?" He asked, "that's a pirate book, right?"
His face slowly twisted into shock at whatever Youngblood said. Jazz had gasped sadly, hand flying to her cheek in distress.
"Oh..." Phantom said.
He turned back to Ghost Writer, who was typing away at his keyboard again. "Did you know that?"
"Why would I have known that?" Ghost Writer scoffed, deleting a string of text.
"Um, because books are like, your whole thing?"
Ghost Writer rolled his eyes.
Phantom pinched the bridge of his nose. "Have you ever considered, oh, I don't know, that picture books may be more appealing to someone who can't read?"
"Illiteracy is an issue below me." Ghost Writer stated coldly.
"He's a kid." Phantom emphasized.
"And you are only half –"
"–This is a public library, right?" Phantom cut the librarian off hastily, setting his jaw.
"Of course."
"So you want people to actually read your books?"
Ghost Writer let out another sound that sounded vaguely like an agreement.
Phantom sighed wearily. "Have you ever considered that teaching people to read might bring more patrons to your library?"
This time, Ghost Writer made no noise. But his slow bobbing paused, and so did his typing. "...continue." he eventually urged.
"So…?" Phantom trailed off, reaching a hand out and then dragging it through the air like he was pushing Youngblood closer to Ghost Writer.
The librarian stared in disdain at the air between them with pursed lips.
Then, after a few seconds, he tsked. "If you clean up this mess, then I suppose I will begin procuring a lesson plan, Whelp." He spoke.
Almost immediately, the two ghosts' attention shot off to the shelf, which promptly began righting itself again. Phantom let out a sigh of relief, turning back to Ghost Writer as he observed the work.
"So. The research rooms?"
The librarian spared a glance. "I suppose you've completed your end of the bargain." he nodded, and with a few clicks of his keyboard the glowing locks vanished.
"Thanks, Ghost Writer…" Phantom rubbed the back of his neck bashfully, turning to the gang and nodding his head towards the door.
Stepping over a few discarded books, Astrid took their queue and began walking towards the back.
"I don't want a single document misplaced, Phantom!" Ghost Writer called as the door swung open to reveal a dimly lit hallway. "I don't care if you wear the crown or not, you hear me? Not a single one!"
"Yeah, yeah!" the ghost boy waved him off, holding the door open as everyone filed in.
Well. Almost everyone.
"Jazz? You coming?" Phantom called to the redhead as she stepped over a pile of books.
"You guys go ahead! I'm gonna do some browsing!" She waved them off.
The ghost boy groaned like that wasn't an unusual sight. He scanned the room as if for danger, and the door quickly shut.
"Well that sure was interesting," Astrid quipped sarcastically, turning to a very exasperated-looking Phantom, "of course, I only got half the context, so."
"Eh," Ruffnut picked at the end of her braid, "the whole thing wasn't all that better, anyways."
"Doesn't surprise me that you'd find a conversation about books to be boring." Snotlout rolled his eyes.
Ruffnut smiled elfishly. "I didn't get my rustic beauty by flipping through pages." She struck what was supposed to be an elegant pose, but Tuffnut took that time to kick her in the back of her leg, causing it to buckle.
"Guys, focus." Hiccup snapped as the two started bickering, "We're not gonna get a jump on this thief if you keep bickering."
"Hopefully we won't have to jump it at all," Phantom grumbled, pulling the Boo-merang from his belt and tossing it back into the air. It spun lazily and then began meandering forwards with chipper beep.
"We're close," Tucker observed as they passed a door to what looked like a private study.
Astrid caught Fishlegs stare just a bit too longingly at the piles of books. "Thinking about doing some research, Fish?" She cracked a sly smile at him.
"As intriguing of an idea as that is," Fishlegs sighed, "I'd rather be sleeping in my own bed tonight."
"Well, we've still got a message to deliver to Berk…" Hiccup cringed at the reminder. Gods. "Somehow, my dad's reaction to the news feels like watered down mead right about now."
"I can't imagine why," Astrid rolled her eyes.
"Can I ask what this message is about?" Phantom asked, glancing between the dragon riders in interest.
Hiccup groaned. "It's…one of many things that's gone wrong these last few months."
"Ah," Phantom nodded empathetically, "Well. I sure know a thing or two about that."
"Speaking of things you know," Snotlout turned a curious gaze towards Phantom, looking him up and down, "What was Ghost Writer saying back there about a crown, Acid Eyes?"
Astrid was also quite curious about that, thinking back on the conversation. She turned to the ghost boy for an explanation, but found that he was suddenly looking everywhere but them. His face had a tightness to it that she didn't like at all.
"How about we save that for a rainy day?" He chuckled nervously, darting forwards, "Oh – look."
The Boo-merang had taken that moment to stop at the two open doorways at the end of the hallway. One was brightly lit; the other one was not.
Thankfully, the Boo-merang turned to the left, entering the more inviting one. It cast a small shadow on the carpet as it disappeared behind the door frame.
Phantom darted off after it. "Let's hurry, before we lose it."
Holding back a hum, Astrid shared a curious look with Hiccup, and then snuck a glance to Sam and Tucker to see if they'd give away anything.
They did not, only followed after Phantom eagerly.
As they entered the room, two things became glaringly obvious.
One, whoever was using this study room was still in the middle of using it. Books were stacked at random intervals across the desk and floor, and more than a few were still open.
Two: those books weren't the only things that were open.
Phantom sighed tiredly at the swirling green gate taking up the center of the room, he reached a hand up to catch the Boo-merang as it beeped and then shut off.
Turning to them with a wary look in his eye, he said, "it seems our thief heard us coming."
"Oh, great." Snotlout threw his hands up in defeat, "so we came all this way for nothing."
"Not quite," Sam countered, taking two clunking steps forward. She placed her hands on her hips as she stood in front of the portal. "We just won't let them get too far this time."
"You're not seriously suggesting we go through it, are you?" Fishlegs asked.
"Not to be a stick in the mud," Hiccup said, turning anxiously to Toothless as he placed a hand on his shoulder, "but the last time we ran head first into a strange portal, it didn't exactly go well."
"Yeah," Phantom commented, holding a hand out to the swirling mass, "I don't like jumping in blind, either. Let's see if we can…"
The ghost boy's hand lit up with ectoplasm and, like he was wiping condensation from a mirror, he dragged it to the side. The portal shifted then, its greens shrinking like mistful vines into its border, turning into a wavering mimicry of a porthole.
"There," He smiled, dusting his hands off as he floated backwards, revealing…
"Is that us?" Snotlout squawked.
Through the portal revealed green carpeting sandwiched by two mahogany doorways. And no more than twenty feet further, was a second portal. And looking into that second portal was…
Astrid raised her hand slowly, and the distant figure that looked like her reflection did the same. She waved it with much the same result, and her heart suddenly dropped.
"It's watching us again!" Phantom growled, whipping around.
"Again?" Astrid heard Hiccup's voice mix with hers.
Phantom did not seem to be up for answering their questions. He, instead, fired an expertly aimed shot at the room across from the hall. The green glow not only penetrated the darkness, but caused it to quite literally peel back in a matter of moments.
Goosebumps raked their way up Astrid's arms as the shadows shrunk, revealing another portal behind them.
The darkness condensed, forming into a shadow figure next to it. In what looked to be its hands was clutched a green, glowing scroll.
"So it was you," Phantom scowled, "getting a little sloppy, are we?"
The figure did not speak. Astrid could not see eyes, but she could feel them. Stormfly squawked angrily, and she was beginning to feel a lot heavier on her shoulder.
Taking a wary step back, Astrid placed a soothing hand on her dragon while trying to get it to stop shaking at the same time.
This thing had been watching them? For how long? Wouldn't she have noticed? How many shadows should she have checked more carefully? Why did Phantom act like he knew it, and why didn't he tell them about it?
The temperature in the room dropped significantly enough for Astrid to shudder, Hiccup placed a hand on her free shoulder and squeezed. His eyes did not leave their company.
"Would I be too optimistic to ask you to hand that back over?" Phantom's fangs suddenly seemed a lot sharper.
No answer. Only a taunting thwip of paper as the map was unrolled.
Mist rolled out of Phantom's mouth as his lips curled back. "Fine. We'll do this the hard way."
With an artifact that could teleport it to any point in history, Astrid had to guess that the only reason Phantom was able to land a hit on it was because it was caught off guard. The ghost went flying into the wall behind it, sending the foundation trembling as it cracked.
Phantom pelted after it, but the thief rolled out of the way just in time, and the ghost boy's hands gripped nothing but splintered drywall and wood.
The chase continued in the confines of the room – strange that they didn't phase out of it, but Astrid could hear some explanation of Tucker's in the back of her mind.
Humans were ghosts in the Ghost Zone. Ghosts were human.
Which meant that the thief had cornered itself in that room.
And that meant that it wouldn't be very long before it opened an escape route.
Astrid's attention fell to the portal that Phantom and the thief were skirting around in their tussle.
She could see herself through that one, too.
She turned to the one that was still behind them. She just barely caught herself do the same in her peripheral.
"What are you doing?" She faintly heard Hiccup say to her, and her mouth twitched into a feverish smirk.
"Probably something stupid," she muttered as the thief darted in front of its side of the portal.
She lunged forwards, plunging her hand into the shadow figure and finding with surprise that her hand clutched around fabric.
The force sent both her and Stormfly falling through the portal, but it also sent the thief tumbling to the floor.
Breath knocked out of her, Astrid twisted her fist into the material, finding it loose and flowing, like a cape.
Perfect, she reminisced, and then yanked harshfully. A choking noise came from the shadow figure as it was pulled backwards, and Astrid quickly rolled to place a foot underneath her.
She heard Hiccup yell her name, and no sooner than a second later, Phantom was landing with a thud next to her, toxic eyes wide and blazing.
"What are you doing?" He exclaimed as Stormfly squawked in distress over his shoulder.
Astrid opened her mouth to bite something back, but was yanked to the side instead as the shadow figure made a lurching spin, trying to knock her off.
That only resulted in her wrist popping painfully, and she bit back a shriek as she swung a leg forwards to dig into the carpet.
The shadow figure shot out a shadowy hand and latched onto her forearm, trying to wrench her off its cape and blatantly failing. Digging her nails into the material, Astrid leapt at the ghost, aiming for its other hand, and somehow her fingertips clipped and then latched onto the Infimap.
The shadow figure wrenched backwards, letting go of her forearm to keep both hands on the map and raising it above its head.
Gritting her teeth hard enough that they ached, Astrid pulled down on the cape, gripping onto a higher part of it. She leaned back and yanked down hard, trying to flip it over her shoulder.
Keeling forwards at the force, the shadow figure flailed in the air.
And then there was no floor beneath Astrid, and they started tumbling.
Wind whistled in her ears, and she vaguely heard herself yell out Stormfly's name, but then she was plunging into water, and it was all she could do but keep from gasping lest she inhale it.
Her head was spinning at the whiplash. Her skin stung from the impact, and her vision blurred from it, too. Not that it would have helped much with the bubbles, but she flailed until she could follow them to the surface.
She emerged with a gasp and a sputter, shaking the water from her hair. The salt burned at her eyes as she craned her neck upwards.
"Stormfly!" She cried, but as she blinked the water from her eyes, her stomach dropped. The sky was empty above her.
She cursed hoarsely under her breath, spitting out ocean water as she spun back around.
The impact had knocked the Infimap out of her grip. Her hand clutched at nothing but water, and dread filled her gut as she realized she was alone.
Her next curse was much louder. A lot angrier. She slammed a closed fist into the waves, and freezing droplets hit her cheeks.
She was stranded. And she didn't even know when.
With ragged breaths, she twisted in the waves again. They made it increasingly hard for her to catch a glimpse of the horizon, and what was even worse, dark clouds were billowing in the distance.
Astrid clenched her jaw to prevent it from chattering, and desperation quickly overtook the anger in her chest. She turned away from the storm and tried to focus on breathing.
"Okay," she whispered to herself, trying not to panic when all she saw was blue behind her. "Okay."
She wanted to keep saying something, but she didn't know what. Nothing exactly sounded encouraging right then, and with a silent prayer she looked up to where the portal should have been.
Swallowing down despair, she turned back to the horizon as a wave pulled her with its swell.
And for a moment she caught something in the distance: something breaking through the waves, rippling, and bobbing.
And green, and scaled, and heading right towards her.
The unmistakable headfin of a Scauldron.
A hysterical, shocked laugh left Astrid as she tried to stop shivering.
So the portal had been hers. She wasn't quite sure how it worked, but if she was right, she was somewhere south of the Straits of Baldur.
She was home. And about to die. Astrid didn't know whether to laugh or cry at the irony. Not that she would have had time to do either.
Instead she paddled out of the scauldron's way.
She felt the need to hold her breath as the water around her suddenly thrummed with energy. The fin grew closer, and she tucked her knees into her chest as she tried and failed to catch sight of the rest of the tidal class.
Lightning flashed, bouncing off what could have been scales, and a shiver raked its way up Astrid's spine as the Scauldron made a wide berth. The waves seemed to be no match for the beast as it turned back to her in an almost-lazy manner.
And then Astrid heard water break to her right, and with a gasp she whipped towards it.
There was a second one. Of course there was. Scauldrons traveled in pods. She'd have been lucky if there were only two.
"Okay." She muttered again, trying to not let her voice shake, "Okay. It's fine. Ruff trained one of these before. No biggie, right?"
Right?
(Ruff had only kind of trained one before)
The ocean suddenly felt very claustrophobic to her.
As if the scauldrons had felt her realization, there was a muffled thwump below her, like the sound of a pocket of air collapsing, and a rip current manifested a moment later.
Astrid didn't even have time to suck in a breath before the water seemed to wrap hands around her ankles, and she was pulled down with it.
Submaripper. Of course.
But instead of teeth, her head cracked against the ground. It would have been hard enough for a rebound, but the water rushing down on her kept her pinned. Astrid saw white, and for a moment she wondered if that storm had been closer than it seemed.
But then the torrent ended, and through the water clogging her ears, she heard a distant voice.
She struggled to sit up, fingers brushing something like grass below her and clutching it for dear life as she tried to get her vision to stop spinning.
Someone was rushing to her, skidding to their knees, grabbing her under her arms to keep her upright.
" – strid!" She could make out that word, she heaved, leaning away from the voice as she coughed up water.
She finally, finally sucked in some air, and it rushed out of her with a gasp as she pushed her bangs out of her face. One of her ears cleared of water enough for her to hear the sound of an explosion.
She gasped, ducking and covering her ears as a blast rocketed by her, followed promptly by a second one. She felt Hiccup shield her as her lungs seized and she coughed up more water onto the…yes, it was grass.
Gray, decrepit, Ghost Zone grass.
"The Infimap," she coughed again, gripping onto Hiccup's sleeve. She managed to lift her spinning head to his, "where's the Infimap?"
She still couldn't quite see him, but Hiccup shook his head vigorously. Toothless was over his shoulder, trailing the battle with slit eyes and a purple glow in his throat. His wings were unfolded to provide them cover.
"Phantom's handling it – keep still!" He said, cupping her neck as she craned it.
Her other ear cleared of water, and she could hear the sounds of battle resume in full. She spotted a red blur that she hoped was Snotlout race by. She shook her head, water splashing as she yanked a stiff leg out from under her.
She tried to get to her feet, but she stumbled. "Stormfly!" She called, but her knees couldn't quite hold her weight, and Hiccup caught her as she keeled over.
"Astrid –"
"Hiccup, let go!" She demanded, elbowing him away, "I have to –"
"Astrid, you're –dazed!" he distressed, "you can't –" His grasp moved to her shoulder as she wrenched, finally standing up.
Stormfly squawked, landing in front of her and nuzzling worriedly into her stomach.
Astrid soothed her only for a moment, fingers running over her scales as she grabbed her axe. It was much heavier than it was a few minutes ago.
Phantom and the shadow figure crashed to the ground, sending chunks of grass flying. The two ghosts were attached at the palms, each with such an unrelenting grip on the Infimap that she feared it would tear. Portals fizzed and popped in and out of existence around them like crackling fire as they wrenched.
Astrid felt her face twist as she zoned in on the thief, and she just barely heard Hiccup's warning as she raised her axe and swung.
It came down between the two ghosts, cleaving them quite literally. Both of their bodies dissipated into a mist-like substance, and Astrid gasped when there was nothing left to counter her swing. She pitched forward dangerously, and her head pounded at the effort.
She fell to her knee, but still managed to spin to face the two ghosts again. She planted her foot back under her and hoisted her axe up, ready for a second attack.
"Stop!" Phantom snarled, and he took a very stupid moment and darted forward, letting one hand leave the Infimap to grab her axe by the blade. It brought it to a dead halt, just barely splitting the material in his palms.
"St-stop?" She croaked, stumbling back at her axe's weight. He wasn't talking to her, was he?
The way his eyes flashed seemed to confirm that yes, yes he was.
"This isn't your job." Phantom almost hissed, fangs glinting in the light, "Back. Off."
The thief yanked at the Infimap before Astrid could slap him.
"He's –" her axe dropped to her side with a heavy thunk, "He's – he's insane." She stuttered as Hiccup rushed to her side, grabbing her axe from her.
"You're injured." Hiccup emphasized, placing a hand on her shoulders and pushing down, like he wanted her to sit.
Phantom gritted out a curse as he kicked, just narrowly avoiding the shadow figure's leg.
Astrid blinked slowly, locking her knees, and scanned their surroundings.
Sam and Tucker were standing a few yards away, respective weapons in their hands, but fidgeting them in frustration. They were calling out to Phantom, but she must have lost her translator in the ocean, because she couldn't understand them. The rest of the gang were circling with their dragons, weapons in hand and fire blazing in their mouths, but they weren't attacking. Why weren't any of them attacking?
"What's – going on?" She managed, brain sloshing as she turned to Hiccup, who was watching Phantom and the thief fight again.
Hiccup's jaw was clenched painfully. "He won't give us a clear shot." He grumbled, resting a steadying hand on Toothless, whose throat was still glowing a faint purple. Stormfly was pacing around them now, wings splayed protectively and tail spikes ready for strike.
Astrid blinked rapidly, "he can't seriously expect to win this on his own?"
"I don't know what he expects." Hiccup retorted, hoisting her axe in his hands and resting it on the shoulder farthest away from her.
Astrid scowled, lunging for it again, but he held her steady, "Astrid, you're the last one of us that needs to be helping right now!"
A frustrated growl rattled her teeth, and she blinked harshly again, trying to rid her sight of spots. "If you're not going to do something, then I will!"
"Will what?" Hiccup bit back, yelping as Phantom and the thief dove to the side, nearly barreling into them.
She opened her mouth, sure that…something would come to her in that split second, but found that…nothing was there.
Her knees buckled, and she pitched forward. Hiccup gasped, dropping her battle axe to catch her, and fury blossomed in her gut as she watched Phantom and the shadow figure.
She hated feeling so powerless. She was a shield maiden! She didn't want to just watch the battle. She didn't want to have to rely on a kid who, frankly, had already died to keep her alive.
The ghosts pulled out of a barrel roll that ended when the thief dug a heel into the ground. It used the force to spin Phantom around with typhoon-like strength, and with a yell, the ghost boy lost his grip on the Infimap.
Phantom rolled a few times on the ground before skidding to a stop, clutching his shoulder with a grimace.
The thief stood up straight, cape billowing almost like wings as it picked up the other end of the Infimap. A portal snapped into existence behind it.
Toothless roared, firing a blast that the shadow figure dodged only barely, and Astrid stumbled forwards with a similar sentiment. But she only made it a few steps before her knees buckled again.
The shadow figure turned a faceless head to her, but it only lasted a second.
"No!" Phantom cried, slamming a fist to the ground and jumping back up, "wait-!"
The ghost turned tail at his voice, rolling up the Infimap.
"Stormfly!" She called, "Spine sh –!"
"STOP."
The command sent shudders through Astrid's chest, and she fell to the ground, words knocked loose from her mouth.
Hiccup stumbled to her, resting a hand on her back, but she only registered it faintly.
She was too busy watching as, bizarrely, irrationally, stupidly, the thief… stopped.
It was as stiff as a board, mere inches from the portal. Its flickering, void-like outline stagnated into something that almost seemed solid.
"Turn around." the voice spoke again. And again it obeyed, spinning without shifting so much as a muscle. Astrid's head did much the same.
Phantom had always had a glow. It was soft, twinkling at times, like stars in the night sky. This was not that. Now it was almost too bright, flaring dangerously.
His eyes were pupil-less: an endless, blinding, angry green gaze that Astrid was incredibly thankful wasn't turned towards her. His fangs had sharpened. Their glinting reminded her of the ones she saw during the raids of her youth. His hair was flaring like a cold, sluggish fire. There was a glowing halo framing his head – made of a blue-ish mist that seemed to want to solidify into something.
Phantom held out his hand. His fingertips were sharper, now. That same strange glowing mist was wrapping around one finger.
"Give me the map." Phantom hissed.
The ghost boy had grown a reputation of being a helper in the last month. If there was something that needed to be done, he was the first volunteer. It had been a somewhat refreshing turn of pace, to have someone beyond Hiccup and Fishlegs like that.
This was not that same boy. He did not move towards the thief as it listened. He did not even meet it halfway. Instead he commanded the ghost to cross the menial distance, and like a puppet it did. With nary a protest.
Phantom's glow pulsed effervescently as it came to a stop at his feet.
It held the map to him like it was presenting a sword. Its head was tilted to the ground.
Phantom only stared at it.
"Why are you here?" He demanded again with that impossibly loud and echoing voice. Where had that come from?
It seemed to be in slow motion, the way that the thief's head lifted to meet Phantom.
There was a silence as Astrid strained to listen to it speak.
And then the ringing in her ears grew to a roar, and Phantom was hit in the back with an explosion loud enough to send her and Hiccup ducking for cover.
Astrid felt like she was going to hurl as the dizziness returned ferociously, and the ground felt like a feisty dragon she tried to get it to level out beneath her.
It did. She slammed a fist into the grass and churned the blades into her grip just in time for her to see the thief, the Infimap, a new-yet-oddly-familiar flaming metal ghost, and the portal disappear in quick succession.
She didn't know how long she stared at that empty space afterwards. Only that it was long enough for her to realize that it was, indeed, empty.
A blinding flash made Astrid's attention jump back to Phantom.
A ring of pure light had manifested around his waist as he slumped in the grass, and then it began to move –
"Danny!" Jazz yelped and darted between Phantom and everyone else, bending and patting him on the cheek.
Phantom started, head shooting up, and the ring of light disappeared immediately as he struggled to get to his feet. He shrugged Jazz away, and a low, guttural noise came from him as he pulled a piece of shrapnel from his shoulder, wiping off ectoplasm to study it.
His face twisted into fury at whatever he saw, he slung it to the ground, and it stuck into the grass with a sickening thunk.
"Skulker!" He screamed in fury. Ice cracked across the grass like spiderwebs, frosting over Astrid's boots.
She scrambled back with a gasp. Her breath came out in a puff of fog.
"Skulker?" Fishlegs repeated in astonishment, keeping a wary distance from the angry ghost boy, "You mean that-ghost-we-fought-a-few-weeks-ago Skulker?"
Astrid could suddenly recall Hiccup's sketchbook.
Either Phantom didn't hear the question or he actively ignored it. He had a furious scowl and thousand yard stare that was somehow boring holes directly into the air in front of him.
Astrid's eyes felt just as wide.
Her attention refused to waver from Phantom. Her spine was shivering. Her nerves were screaming at her in the way they hadn't since they'd first met.
He's not human. He's not human. He's not human.
She'd almost forgotten.
Jazz reached a tentative hand out to him and brushed his shoulder. Her touch seemed to snap him out of it.
With a gasp, his ghostliness retreated. His eyes stopped burning, the weird mist disappeared in a flash. His fangs retracted.
Astrid did not let herself be fooled by that this time.
Phantom immediately spun, frantically counting the amount of people there.
There was a fear in his posture that quickly deteriorated once everyone was accounted for. He sucked in a composing breath and closed his eyes. He almost looked like he was shivering.
"Danny–"
"I'm fine, Jazz." He croaked, pushing her off and gasping in pain as he reached for his back, "I'm –" He stopped his sentence suddenly, taking in the defeat.
Hiccup took a step towards Phantom, concern was laced on his features. Astrid shot her hand out and latched on to him, squeezing until he stopped the pursuit.
"What was that?" Snotlout exclaimed, and for the first time in a while Astrid found that she wasn't annoyed with his bluntness.
"An accident," Phantom cracked, fists clenched at his sides. He refused to turn to Sam and Tucker as they hurried over to him.
"An accident?" Sam repeated, "You wouldn't let us get a single hit in! And you nearly –!" She cut herself off, but it didn't seem to matter anyway.
Phantom ignored her. Instead his toxic gaze turned to Astrid. And it softened.
"Are you okay?" He asked wearily. Ectoplasm was dropping with fizzing splats onto the grass below him.
Astrid didn't think she knew the answer. All of a sudden, even if she did, she didn't think she'd tell him. Her vision was still filled with spots that the strange glowing ring left in its wake.
She averted her gaze after a few seconds to find Hiccup staring with similar concern. She sucked in a shaking breath that quickly cut off into a coughing fit.
Hiccup knelt next to her as she heaved, placing a hand on her back. Her lungs still felt like they were half-full of water, and no matter how much air she inhaled, it never felt like enough. She gasped in disdain, forcing herself to hold her breath until the coughing fit diminished.
She shook her head in a mixture of anger and embarrassment. "I had it." She croaked, nails digging into the dirt, "I had it, and then it –"
Her gaze fell to her hands. Betrayal sparked in her gut.
Hiccup hesitated as a hand dropped to rest on top of hers. She could feel him trying to come up with words to comfort her, and that was honestly the last thing she wanted to deal with right now.
"Why was this Skulker here?" She asked, brows furrowing as she turned to Phantom.
His lips pulled into an angry snarl at the name, and he turned away from Astrid. "Believe me, I want to know just as much as you."
"So that's it, then?" Snotlout exclaimed. Hookfang landed clumsily back onto the ground, "this Skulker dude barges in with a sneak attack, and now the one mission we couldn't afford to screw up is in shambles?"
It was not often that Astrid heard such pure despair in Snotlout's voice. It made the ache in her stomach worsen.
No one confirmed his statement. No one needed to.
Her hands were empty. Phantom's were, too.
But his eyes were full with something that looked suspiciously like guilt.
And that, somehow, was worse than anything else.
I hope the scene with Youngblood comes off well. Actually I just hope the Ghost Zone comes across well considering I'm writing it from an outsider's pov. I feel like Walker would be more of a gray character than the villain he is in the show. And Ghost Writer is my absolutely favorite ghost sooo...
As for Danny's Voice Command, I took some inspiration from a few other fanfics (namely "Bitter" by ao3 user thatgirl_youknowtheone 10/10 banger fic) in which Danny gains this "Command" power that's exclusive to the Ghost King after he defeats Pariah. So. Idk.
Aaaand it's finally time for Danny to deal with the consequences of his actions. I'm very tired lol.
Next chapter is the last one for Act I! that's insane to me. It's also the one that I had the most trouble writing. I had like three different friends beta it, and went through like...5 different drafts before landing on the original product.
"Someone just got upset with me for smoking at the World Trade Center memorial. I dont know, like I think worse things have happened here. Move on." user "toridipaolo" on tiktok.
until next time, my lovelies
~Local Dragon Haunt