A/N: Sorry about the lateness of this update, guys! I'm in the middle of mid-semester exams, so I'm gonna have to slow down on my updates a little for now. For those of you reading Kindred I'm hoping to have another update for that one done soon. Thanks for reading!

Hiccup returns to the village in the late afternoon, when the sun is just beginning to sink on the horizon. Toothless lands them in the village square, which stands mostly empty at this hour of the day. Gobber hobbles out of his shop as Hiccup dismounts and the teen looses a long sigh. Gobber is carrying a fish, and the offering is enough to sufficiently distract Toothless. The blacksmith stands silently for a moment, gently scratching behind one of the Nightfury's ears, his expression uncharacteristically somber. Hiccup waits for the inevitable, making a show of checking Toothless' saddle.

~HiccupHiccupHiccup.~ It's a constant whisper in the back of his mind, now, and Hiccup is slowly learning to ignore it.

"Heard you're having a rough day," Gobber finally offers into the awkward silence, and though it is not phrased as a question, Hiccup treats it as such.
"I guess you could put it that way." He responds dryly, scratching at a tiny speck of dirt on the saddle with his thumbnail. "You gonna call me crazy, too?" He asks abruptly, pegging his mentor with an almost challenging gaze. Gobber laughs and reaches out to grip Hiccup's shoulder with his good hand, giving it a firm squeeze.
"We already knew you were crazy, lad." He responds with a nod at the saddle on Toothless' back. Toothless huffs, and gives Gobber a gentle shove in the leg, apparently taking offense to the comment. Hiccup lightly slaps the Nightfury's shoulder and Toothless settles immediately.
"Different kinda crazy, Gobber." Hiccup shrugs his narrow shoulders, shifting slightly on his feet. "That was...I don't know, my choice. It was my crazy. This is...something else. And no one believes me." Hiccup growls, frustrated at his inability to communicate what he's feeling. Toothless presses his nose into Hiccup's hand, demanding attention and offering comfort simultaneously.

Gobber nods thoughtfully, tugging lightly at one side of his ridiculous moustache.
"Right, because hearing voices is a regular kind of crazy." He states bluntly, though Hiccup knows from the softness in the Viking's eyes that he doesn't mean it the way it sounds. "Particularly after that same boy has just recovered from something no one else ever has." Gobber adds, pinning Hiccup with a mildly disapproving look, as though he's a misbehaving child.
"Thank you, for summing that up." Hiccup quips immediately, folding his arms across his chest and leaning against Toothless, who is more than willing to hold his human up. "And that's exactly what I mean! I'm recovered, not recovering. Is it really so hard to believe that something…weird is going on?" He adds, frowning up at Gobber, who looks discomfited by the question.
"Oh, aye, it's no trouble at all to believe something weird is going on but -" Gobber trails off when Hiccup's gaze abruptly turns inward, sensing he has lost the young Viking's attention.

There is a throbbing pain building behind Hiccup's eyes. It starts out small and irritating and then starts to feel like hot knives stabbing at his brain. His vision wavers and he thinks he stumbles; feels the press of Toothless against his back, holding him up. He sees Gobber stepping closer, mouth open and speaking, but there's a ringing in his ears and Hiccup can't hear him. Then Gobber is gone and -

Ocean, stretched out far in front of him. Flash. A lonely boat, unmarked sails drifting aimlessly. Flash. The roar of a Dragon thundering through the air. Flash. A massive Nightmare lifts off from the boat, flames erupting across it's body. Flash. The shriek of another Dragon's war cry. Flash. Talons clash, he sees the flash of teeth and the glow of yellow eyes. Flash. Hears a Dragon's cry of pain and -

"Hiccup!" He abruptly slams back into reality to find Gobber shaking him. Toothless is butting insistently at his side and beyond Gobber he can see half the village is gathered. They wear varying looks of concern and fear and Stoick stands among them, heavy brows lowered into a deep frown. Hiccup places a shaking hand over Gobber's, patting it until the larger Viking steps back. His legs feel useless and he leans back against Toothless once more.
"I...Sorry. What happened?" He mumbles, casting an uneasy glance at the gathered spectators.
"You started screamin'." Stoick is the one who answers, shoving past stunned villagers to stand shoulder to shoulder with Gobber.
"What? No, I was…" Hiccup trails off as no excuse jumps to mind. Toothless croons softly and rubs his nose against Hiccup's arm, comforting in the only way he can.

"He's going mad." Stoick spins on his heel at the whisper from the crowd, his eyes combing over the villagers.
"Who said that?" He growls, and Hiccup is not sure if it's worse because Stoick is defending him.
"Hearing whispers." Someone else adds, and it's not long before the entire crowd is murmuring amongst themselves. Stoick cannot possibly call them all out, and Hiccup feels his face flaming with shame. He is not mad. Or going mad. Things are quickly spiralling out of control, the voices getting louder and more frightened.
"Better get on out of here, lad. We'll sort this lot out." Gobber mumbles, and Hiccup doesn't need to be told twice. Toothless practically shoves him into the saddle, and takes off at a run before Hiccup has his prosthetic hooked in. As soon as the tail fin flicks open, the Nightfury arrows upwards, angling towards the Academy.

~x~

The Academy is a welcome escape away from the eyes of the villagers. Toothless navigates the opening easily, to land them in the middle of the arena. The rest of the Academy is there; Fishlegs is leaning against Meatlug, reading the Book of Dragons (seriously, how many times has he read that?). The twins are asleep atop their respective Zippleback heads and Barf and Belch are joining them in slumber. Snotlout is admiring himself in the reflection of a water trough, and really why is Hiccup surprised?
"Hiccup! You're back!" Fishlegs smiles and closes his book, placing it carefully aside before he walks over. His shout wakes the twins up and distracts Snotlout from his admiring.
"Have you guys been here all day?" Hiccup responds, sliding down from the saddle, and pointedly ignoring the yak in the room, so to speak. The last thing he wants to talk about is his voice-problem. Toothless goes to drink some of the water that had previously acted as Snotlout's mirror.

"Some of us." Tuffnut responds with a pointed glance at Fishlegs and then thumps his chest. "We went out flying." He adds, looking rather proud of himself. Hiccup takes this to mean they blew some things up and he's probably going to hear about it later.

"Where's Astrid?" Hiccup asks with a frown, looking around the arena as though the girl might simply appear out of thin air. He gets a few shrugs and uncomfortable looks, and then it is Fishlegs who answers.
"She went out looking for you, and she hasn't come back yet." Fishlegs gestures awkwardly at the entrance to the Academy and shrugs his wide shoulders. "That was hours ago." He adds unnecessarily.
"But she left the cove before I did. She should have been back hours ago!" Hiccup rubs the skin behind his neck and paces back and forth, the clink of his prosthetic punctuating each step.
"We saw her!" Ruffnut says abruptly, clearly smug to be the only one with an answer. Her smile fades when she suddenly finds herself the centre of the Academy's attention.
"Yeah, she was uh, flying Stormfly." She mumbles, dropping her gaze to the ground.
"And fighting this huge Nightmare!" Tuff adds, spreading his arms wide in an attempt to indicate the Dragon's size.
"And you didn't think that was strange?" Hiccup says, and his voice drops so low it is almost a growl. Tuff takes the question seriously and looks thoughtful.
"Nah, Astrid likes fighting! She was probably just practicing...fighting stuff. She does that, right?" Tuff looks at his twin for help and Ruff shrugs at him.
"Uh, not really." She mumbles, and Tuff looks thoughtful once more.
"Yeah, you're probably right. That was a little strange." He concedes, and both of the twins turn their gaze back to Hiccup.

Hiccup who stands perfectly still, his eyes narrowed in a surprisingly fierce glare.
"Uh, Hiccup? Are you...Okay? You're turning purple…" Fishlegs nervously shuffles a step away from their leader. A dark flush of anger starts somewhere below Hiccup's collarbone and spreads up to his face, and in the darkened lighting of the Academy he does indeed look a little purple.
"I'm fine," Hiccup grits out. "They won't be." He adds, and the twins have the grace to look a little nervous. Toothless ambles over from the water trough and stands at Hiccup's side, knowing what comes next.

"Everyone, get your Dragons! I want Astrid found now."

A/N: Next up on Snare - What did happen with Astrid and that Nightmare? And where is our femme fatale now?