THE TRANSLATOR, httyd.

the translators, twenty-five.

"enough!" stoick commanded everyone. everyone — gobber, snotlout, astrid, tuffnut, ruffnut, the dragon hunters, heck, even hiccup himself froze. the exception was elina, who was choking eret in the air. 

in the silence, elina threw eret to the ground in a chokehold, pinning his neck as everyone stared at elina overpower a man that was two times taller than her. eret winced.

in an attempt to seem strong, eret proclaimed on the ground, "i am eret, son of —" at stoick's annoyed expression, elina put her hand over his mouth to stop him from talking and shoved him to the ground again, making him groan.

"get her — off me," eret muttered. elina didn't even bat an eye.

stoick walked towards hiccup, and in a low voice, told him, "you. saddle up. go home."

hiccup protested, "no." 

"of all the irresponsible —"

"i'm trying to protect our dragons and stop a war! how is that irresponsible?"

"because war is what he wants, son," stoick shouted in response, his forehead wrinkling in frustration. hiccup sighed and his shoulders sagged as he watched his father's face contort into helplessness.

"years ago, there was a great gathering of chieftans to discuss the dragon scourge we all faced. into our midst came a stranger in a strange land, covered in scars and draped in a cloak of dragon skin. with him came a girl no older than 4, her back littered with bruises.

"he walked in and spoke softly, saying that he, drago bludvist, was a man of the people, devoted to freeing mankind from the tyranny of dragons. he claimed that he and his daughter alone could control the dragons, and that he alone could keep us safe, if we chose to bow down and follow him."

snotlout, fishlegs and the twins burst out into laughter, slapping their knee. "haha, good one," ruffnut commented. astrid stared intently at stoick, listening to his story while elina's face formed into a defensive scowl.

"aye, we laughed, too... until he wrapped himself and the girl in his cloak and cried out, 'then see how well you do without us!' the rooftop suddenly burst into flames —"

"armored dragons descended from the skies," elina whispered. everyone turned to look at her in surprise, even stoick, but elina ignored everyone's gazes. "the hall burnt to the ground," elina finished. 

"i... was the only one to escape." stoick admitted. there was a shift in the air when stoick and elina concluded the story, and the somber air made even the twins keep their mouth shut as they watched in sympathy. 

hiccup's gaze briefly darted towards elina, whose eyebrows were furrowed, then he returned his gaze back to his father. he understood why his father was so apprehensive now, but he couldn't find the words to continue speaking.

"men who kill without reason cannot be reasoned with." stoick warned hiccup. but hiccup shook his head, remembering how the vikings of berk had used to kill dragons with no reason, but now...

hiccup took a deep breath and looked at his father. "maybe."

"hiccup!" stoick's voice rose in alarm as eret peeled his gaze from elina to look up towards hiccup's direction. 

"i'm still going to try. this is what i'm good at," hiccup said, getting on toothless's back. he continued earnestly, "and — and if i could change your mind, i can change his, too."

stoick shook his head disapprovingly as toothless took off into the skies. hiccup watched from up above as his father talked to a protesting elina, but after his father shouted at elina, elina turned her head to look away from hiccup.

toothless flew into the clouds. angrily, hiccup shouted in anger, making toothless make a curious grunt at hiccup's yelling. hiccup flopped onto toothless's back. 

he heard a small laugh coming from his side, and hiccup turned his face to look at elina, who grinned at his shouting. "hey, haddock, babe," she smirked, "scream louder. "

hiccup rolled his eyes at her. "elina, what are you doing here?"

"i left astrid in charge of the dragon riders so i could accompany you. i hope we can come with an explanation before stoick comes back. besides, you left inferno back on the ship." chameleon grunted in response as the changewing flew closer. elina tossed inferno towards his grasp.

toothless snorted, but his teeth was still bared cautiously. 

"don't worry bud," hiccup promised, "i'm not gonna let anything happen to you. i promise."

his wind blew at the high altitude, and he watched elina's hair whip across her face. elina groaned as her hair slapped her face, spitting out some strands of her hair. hiccup sniggered.

"oh, shut up, haddock," she grinned. all of a sudden, chameleon growled in alarm. elina turned to look to the side as a terrified look occupied her face. hiccup turned sideways and immediately sat straight. 

a person dressed in light blue and bronze armor turned to look at them. in their right hand was a long hook. their helmet had six sharp edges to it, and their cape billowed in the wind. the person looked like they had just rose from the clouds.

"what the —" elina started, but the person melted back in the clouds again. hiccup felt elina's gaze burn into his back as hiccup whispered, "okay."

toothless growled. elina told something to toothless, making him look at her, slightly less hostile. hiccup leaned forward, trying to spot the person again. was this drago bludvist?

with no prior warning, a dragon burst out from the clouds. toothless and chameleon reeled back in alarm, the dragon flying above them as the person stood on top, cane on the dragon's back. hiccup looked at them in fear as elina pulled out her sword and shield, ready to attack.

the person's dragon blocked their escape, toothless flying in shock as chameleon darted around the other dragon, sniffing it. the person looked at him again with such intensity that hiccup shifted uncomfortably.

suddenly, a dragon came out from nowhere and grabbed hiccup on the shoulders. toothless, without the help of hiccup, started falling, and elina immediately dove towards the night fury, managing to break his fall before he fell into the snow.

then, the dragon lifted him away so he couldn't see toothless, elina or chameleon anymore.

he was all alone.