THE TRANSLATOR, httyd.

the translator, thirty-five.

hiccup propped his face on his hand. turning to the side, he reached out for elina's hand, then felt like his gut got punched once no one was there. he sighed, lowering his head; not even the jubilant music and growling could bring a smile to hiccup's face.

toothless circled the hall, sniffing for food. chameleon buried her head in her tail, sleeping in a more quiet side of the crowded room. he looked at chameleon, worried for her health; ever since elina had sacrificed herself for him and his father, she mostly stuck to herself and barely ate.

"what'cha thinking about?" snotlout walked over and sat next to him, downing a mug of astrid's concoction. he spat it out on the ground within seconds of drinking, leaving hiccup to look at him in amusement.

"nothing," hiccup said, but snotlout just rolled his eyes, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

snotlout threw the rest of the drink away when astrid wasn't looking. "look, i know what you're thinking of. it's elina again, isn't it?" 

hiccup ignored the way his heart skipped a beat at her name. "so, if you knew i was thinking about her, then why did you ask?" he watched snotlout struggle to find a retort. after a moment of silence, snotlout yelled, banging his fist on the table, "how am i supposed to reply to that?"

hiccup shrugged, but he could feel his heart clench tightly when snotlout said her name. he didn't really know what to think of the girl; she had broken his heart but repaired it at the same time. nausea wormed in his stomach.

"... hiccup? hiccup!" snotlout shouted in his ear, making hiccup nearly fall off the bench onto some baby dragons that glared at him. hiccup irritably shot a harsh glare at snotlout, his mood spiking up.

toothless, seeing hiccup, bounded towards him carrying a few fish in his mouth, baring his teeth at the other dragons. they all ran away, and toothless dropped a fish for hiccup and swallowed the rest.

"yeah?" hiccup said absent-mindedly, toothless heating the fish up.

"why do you think elina saved you when — you know — she betrayed us?" snotlout was asking the question that hiccup had been wondering for weeks. hiccup nearly dropped the fish, making toothless make a disgruntled grunt as he looked at the two of them.

"well," hiccup moved further away on the bench, eager to get away from snotlout's invasive questions, "that's the million dollar question." but his father had already come over, marching towards the two of them. hiccup had been declared the new chief once the battle had been over.

his father had appointed him the chief, congratulating him on his victory and courage to win them the war. despite him being the chief, his father still carried the commanding aura around him that made everyone instinctively feel the need to respect him.

stoick clapped a hand on hiccup's shoulder. "son," his tone was urgent. "i need to speak to you about something." hiccup looked around; nothing looked out of the ordinary. stoick's tone made hiccup rise to his feet, snotlout looking at him in concern and giving him a thumbs up as he mouthed, good luck.

good luck? hiccup thought to himself. whatever this was, it didn't seem like good luck.

toothless followed him obediently, darting through the crowds of dragons. they were increasing by the day; the vikings had to take it to the skies to give the dragons enough space. toothless roared commandingly for everyone to make way for the alpha dragon, and all the other dragons parted the way for the three of them.

"what is it, dad?" hiccup inquired, walking quicker to catch up with his dad. "uh... is it important, or important-important?"

they reached to the edge of berk, his father ignoring hiccup's questions. hiccup's eyebrows furrowed as the sea lapped at his shoes. valka walked over to them, and hiccup realized the intensity of the situation.

suddenly, toothless stood up on his hind legs and sniffed the air. his green eyes lit up in recognition, and hiccup scratched toothless's side. "what are you onto, bud?" toothless growled again, but his eyes were alight with joy as he bounded around hiccup, purring and stamping his paws on the sand. valka laughed.

"so, what's up?" hiccup asked. he dropped his hand from toothless's chin, causing him to sit up, alert.

valka turned to look at hiccup, seriousness in her gaze. "you must promise me that you won't panic," valka made hiccup promise. hiccup wanted to roll his eyes; what could possibly be so shocking that could compare to 2 mind-controlling dragons fight for dominance?

"yes, mom," hiccup barely managed a smile, and stoick cleared his throat. and out from the rock, a shadow emerged. 

they were wearing armor. a helmet covered their eyes and face so hiccup couldn't identify who they were. a sword hung onto the belt of their armor, along with a few daggers. their arms were bare; hiccup could see fresh scars and bruises on them. hiccup's mind flashed to elina's body, buried under icicles with blood pooling out of her open wounds. 

hiccup's throat thickened. he eyed the person again.

hiccup narrowed his eyes. something about them just seemed familiar, like he'd known them before or saw them, but he just couldn't exactly pinpoint who they were. he took one step closer, but stoick had a firm grip on his shoulder.

"take off your helmet," valka whispered gently. the person seemed to hesitate for a few seconds, making hiccup wonder, who were they? why were they so scared of revealing their identity to him?

stoick gave the person an encouraging nod, and finally, their fingers reached out to unclasp the mechanism that held the helmet onto their armor. hiccup's heart skipped a beat.

frozen to the ground, his muscles constricted. he was barely able to comprehend what his father and mother was telling him, time seeming to slow down as spring green met autumn brown. 

hiccup barely had time to scream in anguish before she had received the blast. her body fell against the cold ice, making her body limp like a ragdoll. 

the world was slowly starting to crumble apart. 

her chest laid still, no sign of breathing or reaction. 

ginger hair whipped the side of her frostbitten face as a cold wind blew across the four people on the rocks. her brown eyes were dull and hollow, and her lips were chapped and broken. the scars on her face weren't even registered to hiccup, because amongst her freckles was sharp wounds that stood out like a flower in a meadow field.

the impact of her body made hiccup let out a cry of pain, synchronising with the way the battlefield hushed into a stunned silence.

everything hit him like a ton of bricks. 

a silence greeted him, causing hiccup to bend over the girl, cold tears running down his face, falling down onto the girl's unmoving body.

hot tears streamed down his face. he squeezed his eyes shut, praying for them to stop. he stood there, unmoving, his head spinning.

the blood sunk into the white snow, flowing out of her bloody scars.

he had lost his grip on the line between daydreams and reality.