THE TRANSLATOR, httyd.

the translator, twenty-two.

hiccup laughed as elina made a truly terrible impression of him.

"okay. first of all, i don't sound like that. what is this character? and second... what is that thing you're doing with my shoulders?"

elina shrugged. "a truly flattering impersonation. anyways he goes: you're the pride of berk, son, and i couldn't be prouder..."

"aw, thanks, dad. i'm pretty happy with myself too."

"okay, okay. when have i ever done that with my hands?" hiccup laughed as elina nudged him playfully.

"you literally just did." 

"okay, just hold still... it's very serious." elina raised her eyebrows at hiccup.

"you're all grown up, and since no chief could ask for a better successor, i've decided —"

"to make you chief!" elina finished his sentence and looked at hiccup in shock. she cleared her throat to mask her surprise, and quickly transitioned to a more nervous tone. "are you okay with the decision?"

hiccup looked at elina. "yeah..." he grimaced. "so that's what i'm still working out. dad wouldn't take no for an answer. or more specifically, he left before he could listen to me." elina looked as hiccup's face flashed with confusion, helplessness and weariness. hiccup turned to look at elina.

"i don't know, elina. i don't know who i want to be... i don't even know if i'm fit to be a chief. because making speeches, fighting, planning, running the village... that's his thing. not mine, and it probably never will be."

hiccup watched as elina's eyes softened, and she sat down next to him. their feet dangled off the edge of the cliff as elina let hiccup lay his head on her lap. hiccup closed his eyes as he felt elina's fingers run though his messy hair, hiccup sighing in satisfaction as she massaged her scalp. hiccup could picture the smile on elina's face.

"you're not your dad, hiccup. and i mean this with all due respect, but even though both of you share the same blood, it doesn't mean you're going to be him. i mean, you are the one who bonded with toothless and showed berk that dragons could live in peace with vikings, weren't you? 

"don't change yourself. in fact, i think being yourself is the best way to be chief. all you need is in here, hiccup," hiccup felt elina's hands leave from his hair to his heart, making hiccup break into a soft smile, "even if you don't see it yet."

hiccup opened his eyes and saw elina's brown eyes meeting his, and he sat up straight as toothless nudged elina, growling something to her. he caught something in his peripheral vision, and as he turned his head to look at it, the revelation astounded him.

"elina..." elina looked at him, and hiccup grabbed her chin and gently pulled her to look in his direction. there was a large cloud of smoke hovering above the land, making elina immediately stand up. chameleon woke up from her nap as she sensed uneasiness coming from elina.

as if they knew what exactly what the other person was thinking, they both hopped onto their dragons and flew forward to investigate the smoke. hiccup looked at the burnt forest, wondering what kind of thing could've done such damage, until they reached the ocean and saw a large, piercing structure of ice.

hiccup's jaw dropped at the magnificent sight. icicles protruded from the structure, sharp and pointy, and hiccup could even see his own reflection in the ice. elina jumped off chameleon and cautiously walked towards the ice, whispering something under her breath.

hiccup followed elina as well, his voice betraying the curiosity he was experiencing. "elina, do you know..."

elina shook her head, confused. "no... i'm sure i've seen this somewhere before... i just don't remember when, exactly..." 

hiccup walked closer to elina. "what do you mean?"

"i'm... it's like trying to remember something that never even existed in the first place." elina whispered. hiccup pulled elina from the icy ground, and kissed her knuckles.

"you don't have to remember it if you don't want to. there's still plenty of time before nightfall. we can explore the grounds, maybe try to remember the thing you were, you know, trying to remember."

they flew around the ice, looking at the ruins and signs that people were once here. boats, ships, and the remains of a wooden fort, scattered around the pieces of ice. others were frozen in the ice itself, and elina breathed sharply.

suddenly, toothless made a sound of alarm. 

"easy, bud," hiccup reached out to touch the night fury, while elina yelled, "hiccup! duck!"

"elina, look out!" a net blasted towards the direction of toothless, but elina had thrown hiccup out of the way and she fell onto the ice. hiccup briefly saw the scars on her lower back and looked at it in concern, but it was the least of elina's priorities right now.

without elina, chameleon frantically looked around, but the net had caught chameleon already. roaring in fear and anger, chameleon ripped off the net and shot a stream of fire at the attackers. 

"watch the fire! tie her leg and mouths up!" the man yelled. hiccup and toothless landed as hiccup quickly helped elina up, and elina groaned as she checked her back. a bruise was already forming. hiccup brushed his fingers against all the other scars, and wondered where they were from. elina shrugged it off, instead, shooting a glare at the attacker.

"soil my britches... that is a night fury!"

"nooo, of course it isn't," elina muttered sarcastically.

"thought they were all gone for good. looks like our luck had a turn for the better, lads! don't think drago has one of them in his dragon army." 

"dragon army?" elina couldn't stop the protests coming out from her mouth. as the time she worked alone, helping dragons in her sanctuary, she heard rumors of a man assembling an army out of his anger. he would enslave dragons and teach them to be as cruel as he was, making him an indestructible force that would leave destruction in his wake. "the tale of the man from the mountains?"

"aye, 'least the pretty lass knows something 'bout it," the man said. 

hiccup bit his tongue at his obvious flirting. elina simply just scoffed and turned her head sideways. 

"look," hiccup said warningly, "we don't want any trouble."

"ha! you should have thought about it before you stole all our dragons and blasted our fort to bits!"

"yeah!" another guy piped up. "look at it!"

"wait..." hiccup furrowed his brows in confusion. "we didn't do this."

"what are you even talking about?" elina asked, following-up his original statement. "you think we did this?"

"dragon trapping is hard enough work as it is, without do-gooder dragon riders sneaking in to rescue them." the man crossed his arms over his chest, glaring at the two of them. elina rolled her eyes, and if glares could kill people, hiccup was sure that the man would be 6 feet underground.

"what do-gooder — there are other dragon riders?" hiccup asked, puzzled but also excited at the prospect of other dragon riders, similar to him and toothless.

the man looked at him like he was insane. "you mean, other than your thieving friend from last night? you tell me. you may have an ice-spitting dragon on your side, but we still have a quota to fill. how do you suppose we explain this mess to drago bludvist?"

hiccup blinked. "drago what-fist?" but there was no answer from elina. elina simply stared at the man as if he was a ghost, fear in her eyes.