Meeting at the Crossroads

Chapter 34

Hiccup and Toothless soared over the vast forest of the New World territory. He was supposed to be going straight to Burgess, like he promised his dad, but Hiccup wanted to see the land. He didn't get to see as much as he wanted the last time he was here.

Hiccup decided he better do what he came for. Stoick had gone out of his way to accompany him here. "OK, bud," he said, patting Toothless. "Let's go see Jack."

As they landed by Jack's house, Hiccup noticed that spring was on its way. There was no snow like before and the pond was fully abscent of ice. It was a pretty place to be this morning. It was almost perfect but something seemed off.

"It feels strange here, Toothless,' Hiccup frowned. "You feel it too?" Toothless rumbled and nodded his head.

Behind him, he heard the door of the house creak open. "Hiccup?"

He turned and saw Jenna holding a bucket of dirty dishwater. He ran over to give her a hug, but instead she tossed the water in her bucket onto the grass, nearly splashing him with it. Hiccup expected a more enthusiastic greeting from her. Before, Jenna had been so excited by the Viking and his dragon.

Like outside, something seemed to be missing from Jenna. She looked older, though she had been the same age the first time they met. She had been all smiles but now was staring at him with a sadness around her.

Hiccup tried to break the awkward silence. "I've come to see Jack. I promised I would visit him. The others want to knowhow he's doing."

Jenna went pale. "You better come in," she said shakily. She hurried inside without another word. Hiccup told Toothless to wait and he follwered Jenna inside where he saw their mother making tea.

Everything was the same as before. The table where they exchanged stories, the ladder leading to Jack's room. He expected Ms. Frost to call upstairs saying he was here to visit and Jack would come down, all excited. Jack had been out of contact with him and the others for nearly a month. He must have been going out of his mind.

But, his mother didn't call Jack. Jenna quickly explained why Hiccup was here and the woman looked at Hiccup pityingly. "Hello. You're one of the friends Jack made during the festival, right?"

Hiccup nodded eagerly, "Yes! Is he still asleep? I'll wait until he gets up."

The other two turned to each other and seemed to be having a silent conversation. To pass through the silence, Hiccup looked around the room and saw the drawings Rapunzel did of the Frost siblings with a candle flickering beneath them, the only thing differnt in the house.

When he turned back to his tea, the mother and daughter had come to a sort of agreement. The sat down at the table across from him. "Hiccup," Ms. Frost began gently. "I don't know how to tell you this, but Jack.....Well, he's gone."

Hiccup stared at her blankly. "Gone, like he went on a trip or something?"

Jenna shook her head and he saw tears forming in her eyes. "No, he's gone, gone." Hiccup looked at their faces and he realized why he had felt to strange when he arrived. The thing that had been missing outdoors. Jenna's behavior. The candle under the drawings, only under Jack's...

But, no, what he was thinking couldn't be true. Paranoia. Worst-case senario.

Ms. Frost swallowed hard. "Jack is dead."

The world seemed to fade away from Hiccup. All the colors, sounds, and movement. They continued to speak to him, but it was like speaking underwater. "Right after he came back....acciedent on the pond....thin ice...so sorry.."

"No!" he shouted and the world came back into focus. The Frosts jumped at his outburst. "That's not true! It can't be!"

"Hiccup-," Jenna began, but he ran past them and clambered up the ladder to Jack's room. He threw open the worn curtains, letting sunlight into the room. It looked how he remembered it. The trunk that held the extra blankets was still there. Jack's shoes were under the bed. A pair on ice skates sat in a corner. But...the bed was neatly made. And dust covered everything, even the curtains. As if the occupant and not slept here in a long, long time...

Hiccup felt tears pool into his eyes, as he shook his head stubbornly. "No..."

He went back down the ladder and into the kitchen. Ms. Frost and Jenna were sitting where he left them. "Hiccup, I'm so sorry you had to know this way-"

He ran outside before the poor woman could finish her sentence. He reached the edge of the pond as if waiting for Jack to appear. Toothless had been dozing in the sun but he ambled over the Hiccup and siffed his hand, as if asking what was wrong.

"Bud, I-" He couldn't get another word out before he buried his face into his dragon's neck and broke down. Jack was gone. And he died never knowing if he would ever see his friends again.

Hiccup ran out of tears and fell asleep out of a mixture od exhaustion and despair. He dreamed he was standing at the edge of the pond, but at night and the full moon shined softly down at him.

Just then, a figure appeared in a beam of moonlight on the surface of the pond. Hiccup gaped. He never expected to see this person again. "TsarLunar?"

The man gave a sad smile. "Yes, dear boy. In the flesh." He paused. "Well, not really. This is a dream vision afterall, made possible by Sand-."

"Why are you here?" Hiccup interrupted.

Lunar looked ashamed. "I've come to explain myself...and apoligize."

"For what?"

"For initiating this quest!" Lunar shouted. He seemed to regret his words and twisted his hands nervously. "I believe that its my fault that Jack met the fate he did."

"No way!" Hiccup exclaimed. "The accident happened after the quest!"

"Please let me explain, from the very beginning. My friend, Celest Solar and I are quite old beings. We are, in fact, the Moon and Sun."