A/N:I'm backkk! This is a sequel to my story Insidious but you really don't have to read that one for this one to make sense. We're gonna be a little slower with jumping into the juicy chunks of the plot, since this one needs a little more lead up. I hope you all enjoy!

The day starts out normal, something Hiccup had begun to forget the feeling of. It has been three weeks since Hiccup contracted and recovered from the deadly Firevein. In Hiccup's mind, this should have been the end of the matter. Unfortunately, his friends and family had not quite agreed and so his last three weeks had been trying. Toothless insists on sniffing him from head to foot every morning, Stoick won't leave the house until Hiccup has gotten up for the day and Astrid is always putting her hand on his forehead.

Hiccup wakes up somewhere in between so cold he's numb and cold enough that everything hurts. His left leg throbs something fierce, a regular occurrence in Berk's endless winter and putting his prosthetic on seems a special form of torture. Toothless waits patiently beside his bed and provides a convenient crutch when Hiccup takes his first wobbly steps of the morning. The house is quiet and the fire in the main room burns low.
"I guess Dad left early," Hiccup surmises, a gentle smile warming his features as Toothless relights the fire without being asked. Breakfast is leftover stew from the night before; it's tough, tasteless and barely warm, but these days Hiccup is rarely a fussy eater. In fact, he is almost constantly hungry, and even Stoick has commented on the sheer amount of food Hiccup is putting away.

Toothless curls around Hiccup's chair as he eats, resting his broad head in the boy's lap. Hiccup pauses every now and then to rub the Nightfury's nose and is rewarded each time by gentle purring.

~Hiccup.~

The voice comes from nowhere and yet everywhere at the same time. It is a sudden, jarring intrusion upon Hiccup's peace. He yelps and the bowl falls from suddenly nerveless fingers. Toothless huffs as fish stew spills all over his head, scrambling into a sitting position. His annoyance is quickly replaced with delight, however, when he realises it is food dripping down his muzzle. Hiccup doesn't notice the loss of his breakfast, too busy sticking his head out the front door for whoever called.

But no one is there.

"Weird. You heard that right, bud?" Hiccup shuts the door behind him and proceeds to check the rest of the room. It wouldn't be unusual for Snotlout or the twins to try and play a joke on him. The voice had sounded female and since he doubted Astrid would be responsible, that left Ruffnut. Toothless paused in the middle of licking his cheek, his tongue hanging sideways from his mouth, to cast an inquisitive look at his boy. Hiccup can't speak Dragon, but he gathers from the funny look he is being given that Toothless had not heard it. A search of the house turns up nothing and Hiccup finally stands with arms folded in the main room. Toothless has cleaned up every drop of spilled stew and leans comfortably against Hiccup's leg, silently begging for a scratch.
"What do you think, buddy? I imagined it?" Hiccup shrugs uncomfortably, briefly scratching Toothless behind an ear sensor. The voice had sounded so real, but unless Toothless is both a girl and suddenly capable of speech, there is no one around to have spoken. It doesn't sit right with him, but Hiccup finally decides he had clearly still been half asleep and dismisses the phantom voice.

By lunch time Hiccup is settled into the routine his life has recently become and the incident is forgotten. He takes a morning flight around the island with his best friend, spends some time in the forge with Gobber working on an upgrade for Toothless' tail and more time than he'd like trying to explain the day's lesson to the Twins. He is just starting to lose patience with Ruff and Tuff and a steady throb is beginning to build behind his eyes.

~Hiccup.~

The voice is no more welcome than it was the first time, and Hiccup's reaction is no less dramatic. He is staring directly at the twins when he hears it and their mouths don't move, but someone definitely speaks. Ruff and Tuff stare blankly as their esteemed leader spins on his good leg, looks wildly around the arena and scratches his head.
"Who said that?" Hiccup demands, his gaze passing over his friends before lifting to the walls surrounding the arena. Toothless nudges up against Hiccup's side, crooning plaintively when the boy pays him no attention.

"Hiccup?" Astrid finally questions when he shows no signs of returning to the conversation.
"Who said that?" Hiccup repeats, sending a dark frown Snotlout's way. He smoothes his hand over Toothless' nose, comforting even though his attention never wavers from the bigger Viking.
"Said what? I didn't say anything!" Snotlout defends immediately, crossing his arms over his chest.
"Who else would be doing it?" Hiccup snaps, beginning to walk towards Snotlout. Toothless checks the movement with a wing wrapped around his boy, tugging Hiccup in against the Nightfury's side.
"Hiccup, no one said anything…" Fishlegs moves between the two boys, his expression wavering somewhere between concerned and frightened. Hiccup blinks and a tiny frown tugs at his brow; he looks to Astrid and she nods, her expression a mirror of Fishlegs'.
"Someone did! Someone said my name, I-I heard it." Hiccup's voice drops away until he is almost whispering. Toothless presses his nose into Hiccup's hands and the boy is grateful for the comfort his Dragon offers, because his friends are looking at him as though he is going mad.

~Hiccup!~ Hiccup is looking at all of his friends now and he clearly sees that none of them speak. It is as though the wind has up and decided to speak to him and for a moment, privately, he is terrified. What if this is some permanent side effect from Firevein? What is he is doomed to hear voices until Ragnarok - or death, whichever comes first.
"Maybe you should go lie down? You've been...You know, working pretty hard this week. You're still getting better, Hiccup." Astrid shoves past Fishlegs, reaching out to take Hiccup's hands in both of hers. She squeezes them gently, and normally Hiccup's thinking gets a little skewed when she's this close, but for some reason his mind is crystal clear and his first thought…

His first thought is that he's looking at her forehead, because Hiccup is finally taller than Astrid.

And then her words sink in and his shoulders droop and he takes his hands from hers.
"Yeah, thanks." He mutters, and is almost angry with her. Astrid has supported him in almost everything since the night they first flew on Toothless together. She has encouraged his crazy ideas and helped him build the academy into something his father is proud of.

And she doesn't believe him. None of them do, Hiccup can see in their faces; they avoid his gaze, even the Twins who are notorious for not paying attention. Toothless nudges more insistently, exhaling warm air into Hiccup's hands, reminding him of the Dragon's presence.
"I'm just gonna…" Hiccup trails off, gesturing in the general direction of the village. He doesn't wait for the others to respond, swinging easily into the saddle. He has no sooner clicked his prosthetic into the pedal when Toothless takes off, somehow sensing his rider's need to be away.

It takes mere moments for them to be a distant speck in the sky, the arena forgotten below them and Hiccup releases a long sigh.
"Let's take the long way home, bud." He pats the side of Toothless' neck and the Dragon responds eagerly, swooping away from the island and out over the ocean. It is almost easy to pretend this is any other day and that whole scene at the Academy was simply a bad dream. Almost, because as they swoop low over the ocean and the salt water strikes at Hiccup's cheeks, his ears ring with the constant chant of his name.

~HiccupHiccupHiccupHiccup…~

A/N: Next on Snare, Astrid goes for a flight to clear her mind and think on her sort of-boyfriend.