THE TRANSLATOR, httyd.

the translator, eight.

ever since elina had visited berk, hiccup was eager to show elina his house. the two would often spend late nights improving toothless's tail designs, mechanisms for the dragon sanctuary and she would give him tips with toothless. 

elina sat at the stands, disguised as a viking as she watched hiccup fight the terrible terror. she sat in the front row so hiccup could hear her, and since hiccup was the only one in the corner, the two were able to communicate.

"meet the terrible terror!" gobber yelled, and released the terrible terror. hiccup saw realization dawn on elina's face, and made a mental note to ask her about it later.

"ha, that's like the size of my —"

"dick," elina said.

hiccup gulped (trying to contain his smirk at her quip). and that was when hiccup realized elina was mad, because oh, her eyes would always turn into burning, flaming fury, and hiccup paid his respects towards tuffnut and hoped he was going to sleep with one eye open that night.

the terrible terror leapt towards tuffnut's face. tuffnut ran away, screaming, "oh, i am hurt, i am very much hurt!"

hiccup quickly directed the dragon back towards his cage by chasing the light directed by his shield, and exited the arena when he saw elina storming off in a rage. 

"ellie! wait!" hiccup rushed towards the girl, whose eyes were narrowed dangerously.

"where's the terrible terror enclosure?" hiccup swallowed as he heard elina's demand. 

"uh... here. i'll bring you over." hiccup broke into a light sprint as he showed elina the enclosure, and elina's eyes were glazed over with misery as she saw the terrible terror covered with scars and bruises.

elina suddenly turned to him. "hiccup, don't freak out." then, she started to make a growling sound from the back of her throat, making hiccup tilt his head to the side in confusion. then, the dragon responded with a similar growl (but sadder), and elina growled again. 

hiccup's jaw dropped.

don't freak out, hiccup, don't freak out.

hiccup had to put a hand over his mouth to stop himself from freaking out. because his friend could talk to dragons! that's why the dragons seemed to like her immediately! that's why she was so close to chameleon and toothless! 

wow, hiccup was really fucked. his only friend could literally talk to dragons. he wasn't going to meet a pretty sight when his father realized the situation. 

just then, the cell cage fell apart, and the terrible terror bounded in happiness as it followed elina to his path of freedom. hiccup looked in shock; how did they even get the terror out? but hiccup quickly followed the two, his throat tightening as she walked towards the direction of the forest.

"where are you going?" 

"just follow me."

hiccup awkwardly climbed and nearly fell over the branches. the forest started clearing; the trees were thinning and hiccup was yet again, surprised, the second time today when he saw an enormous cavern ahead of him.

he felt something grasp onto his hand, and hiccup looked down to see elina thread her fingers between his. with a small smile (hiccup was relieved that she finally smiled), elina gently pulled hiccup towards the darkness of the cavern.

"uh... are you going to kill me now?" hiccup asked, genuinely curious and a little bit afraid.

"no, but you might die of shock."

when elina flipped a torch on the side of the wall, the rocks (which had once been a dead end) was rolled open, and hiccup did feel like he was going to die of shock. tens of hundreds of dragons flew around in the sanctuary. some of them were napping calmly, others were playfully wrestling and the rest were eagerly bounding towards elina.

hiccup heard growling. elina responded (in dragon language), then translated it to hiccup. "they asked if i healed yet. i told them i was." but hiccup didn't respond. his jaw went slack against his will (oh gods, he looked like a muttonhead in front of elina!) and his mind stopped working.

the sanctuary was... beautiful. not in the way that a person was beautiful, like elina (okay, did he hit his head or something? what was his brain thinking?), but in the way where is was perfectly natural.

there was a clear waterfall running down from the marble rocks, foam at the end of the waterfall gathering in the pool where dragons were splashing water around or taking a nice bath. there were trees of different kinds: birch, acacia, willow... food lay around in another area, like fruits, berries, and a huge variety of fish. there was a large, flat sort of area for dragon's to sleep on, and the smaller ones had hammocks they could swing on. and at the top of the cavern, there was a hole where sunlight peeked through, giving a healthy glow to the environment.

elina snorted at hiccup's face, when she stepped out of the way. hiccup furrowed his eyebrows, confused towards why, when hiccup was suddenly knocked over by toothless. hiccup laughed (the two had bonded over the course of the past few days) and scratched toothless, making him purr. elina smiled at the two of them.

"toothless!" hiccup cried out as toothless finally released him from his hold. "how did you even get the little guy here?"

it was quite ironic, actually, hiccup thought to himself, since he was the little guy. not toothless.

elina smiled. "i'm a dragon rider, hiccup. toothless missed his friends, anyways. he says he wants to show them to you." 

hiccup looked at her with wide eyes, and elina pushed him towards toothless's direction. elina carried the red terrible terror in her arms and brought him to his species, who started sniffing him. hiccup looked at the carefree expression of elina and smiled, because she looked nothing like the cold girl he had met weeks ago; she looked happy, and something about her smile just made hiccup want to be happy as well.

hiccup stared at elina until toothless knocked his thoughts out, snorting. hiccup immediately shook his head to get rid of the thoughts in his head, and followed toothless to meet other dragon species.

for the rest of the week, hiccup didn't know if his reason to visit the sanctuary was to learn about the dragons or to spend time with elina anymore. 

maybe it was a combination of both.