Okay, so: Chapter 2. But first: Shout-outs:
Kaida: Thank you. IT definitely will be. Well, I wouldn't call their talk afterwards a confrontation but they will have a conversation about it.
Enjoy, everyone!
Chapter 2
[We pan up and glide across the ocean to see an island surrounded by fog. The moment the island is shown, a boy speaks.]
I flinched when I noticed I was inside the ocean. Instinctively I held my breath and didn't move while waiting for the waves to come and swallow me.
But surprisingly I wasn't even wet. The ground was flat and dry. Strange.
HICCUP (v.o.)
This is Berk. It's twelve days north of Hopeless, and a few degrees south of Freezing to Death. It's located solidly on the Meridian of Misery.
I almost had a heart attack. Hiccup was here? Why was his voice so loud, resounding from the dark corners around me? I was relieved to not be the only one at this mysterious place. But my surroundings were so dark I couldn't see where Hiccup was. Anyway, his description of Berk confused me again. HE was the chief und it wasn't hard to notice that he loved his home.
[As we pan in a circular motion, we see several structures, houses, and a sheep farm.]
The village seems somehow … different. It was smaller, the houses less decorated, a bit shabby and dark. And most importantly: There were no dragons anywhere nearby. I panicked. The tense silence, like the calm before the storm. Something was definitely wrong. I huddled into my defensive position.
HICCUP (v.o)
My village. In a word, sturdy. And it's been here for seven generations, but, every single building is new. We have fishing, hunting, and a charming view of the sunsets. The only problems are the pests. You see, most places have mice or mosquitoes. We have...
[We land on two sheep grazing in the grass. A dragon carries one sheep away. The other resumes grazing.)
I flinched. It was only a split moment, a milisecond of color, but I knew dragon claws from everywhere. Why would dragons be stealing sheep? Their main diet was fi-
Suddenly it hit me, as I began putting the signs together. It could be ...
[A dragon fires at the screen as a door slams shut, a boy cowering behind it]
HICCUP
-dragons.
I hushed in shock. This … was Hiccup. This … was my son. Not the confident, tall and brave man, not the great chief of Berk, just … such a small, lanky boy like the baby I held in my arms twenty years ago, he seemed … so fragile. But this confirmed it. This was the past, I didn't know when, but it was when the dragons still … were a threat for Berk.
This really got my interest.
(Hiccup runs outdoors, where all the houses are on fire and Vikings are tussling with dragons all around)
HICCUP (v.o)
Most people would leave. Not us. We're Vikings. We have, stubbornness issues.
And this stubbornness was causing a bit to many problems. Some of them really appalled me.
(Hiccup weaves his way through the village)
I wanted to hurry over to the picture and protect my son. He looked so vulnerable, seemed to be in the wrong place in this fight against dragons. MY son had the soul of a dragon. Clearly he couldn't enjoy this fight. My heart hurted when I saw the little smile on Hiccup's lips, as he ran over the battlefield. How much did I really know about my son? How much had I missed in the past twenty years.
HICCUP (v.o)
My name's Hiccup. Great name, I know. But, it's not the worst. Parents believe a hideous name will frighten off gnomes and trolls. Like our charming Viking demeanor wouldn't do that.
I wasn't even able to try stopping my head from lowering. Because it was me who gave him this name. All the pressure of having an heir, the long hours before birth, the frail baby that could shatter any minute – I don't think I had been in my right mind. I had needed someone to blame for all the pain, and this someone had been my only son. Hiccup. A disappointment by chance.
What a useless excuse of a mother I was!
[Hiccup is seen dodging several Vikings. He trips and a male Viking roars in his face.]
ACK
ARGGGHHHHH! Mornin'!
HOARK
What are you doing here?!
VIKING
Get inside!
VIKING
What are you doin' out?"
PHLEGMA
Get back inside!
More arrows of guilt stabbed my chest as Hiccup was being pushed around by those huge, strong vikings. Next the them he seemes even smaller and weaker, and the way they treated him? Ich could have hit and yelled at them for how they treated him but where had I been at the time?
[Stoick grabs Hiccup by the collar of his shirt]
STOICK
Hiccup?! What is he doing out aga-?! What are you doing out?! Get inside!
I held my breath. Stoick. HE was alive again, looking strong and heroic as ever. A bit younger with a clearly darker beard but still the great viking chief I knew.
But I couldn't help flinching because of how he lifted Hiccup like a ragged doll.
The flames light up his surly face and red beard. He puts Hiccup down and turns to the sky, searching.
HICCUP (v.o)
"That's Stoick the Vast. Chief of the tribe. They say that when he was a baby, he popped a dragon's head clean off of its shoulders. Do I believe it?"
I hated this rumour. It was disgusting. And I hated it even more because it sounded exactly like something Stoick would do.
Stoick grabs a wooden cart and hurls it at a hovering dragon, which falls from the sky after the hit.
The poor dragon. I could hear it screaming in pain. It hadn't been a light hit and I knew that it had gotten a few broken bones from it.
HICCUP (v.o)
"Yes, I do."
Hiccup was awed by this? Fear overcame me. Please, please, PLEASE don't show me Hiccup killing a dragon. The image of the current dragon-loving Hiccup was so convincing in my head, that all this in front me seemed wrong.
An explosion forces the vikings to duck. Stoick stands while brushing flames off his shoulder.
STOICK
"What have we got?"
STARKARD
"Gronckles, Nadders, Zipplebacks. Oh, and Hoark saw a Monstrous Nightmare."
STOICK
„Any Night Furies?"
STARKARD
„None so far."
STOICK
„Good."
Ironically I would have jumped with joy if I ever saw another Night Fury, while my good old village seriously hated them. Crazy Dragon Lady absolutely.
VIKING
„Hoist the torches!"
Massive burning braziers are lifted on poles and illuminate the sky … and reveil soaring dragons of all kind. Below that runs Hiccup over the plaza and ducks into an open building with a big chimney.
He crosses behind the counter where a peg-legged, one-armed hulk of a blacksmith bends blades back into shape with a hammer and tongs.
GOBBER
„Ah! Nice of you to join the party! I thought you'd been carried off!"
Gobber didn't seems to have changed the slightest.
Hiccup puts on an leather apron and starts putting away Gobber's scattered supplies.
HICCUP
„What, who me? Nah, come on! I'm waaaay too muscular for their taste. They wouldn't know what to do with all … this."
Hiccup imitates a body-builder pose-
I smiled at his boasting. I realized growing fond of the younger Hiccup. To be honest, he was really cute.
GOBBER
„Well, they need toothpicks, don't they?"
This was probably one of Gobber's jokes, but I felt slightly hurt. Toothpick?
Hiccup starts working by carrying bended and broken weapons to the hearth while more and more vikings waited at the counter for their replacements.
HICCUP (v.o)
„The meat-head with attitude and interchangeable hands is Gobber. I've been his apprentice ever since I was little. Well... littler."
So, Hiccup had been Gobber's apprentice? IT was a bit weird to know him learning smithery. But then there are all his creations! Gobber must have teached him well.
STOICK
„We move to the lower defenses. We'll counter-attack with the catapults."
Armed men rushed past, in their center being more, carrying sheep to safety.
Stoick runs behind them, while above them a dragon sets another roof on fire.
HICCUP (v.o)
„See? Old village, lots and lots of new houses."
Haha, very funny, lad.
VIKING
„FIRE!"
The reaction comes immediately: five teens, the fire brigade, carrying buckets filled with water. One of them is a sweet, energetic viking girl.
Those five teens, I knew them from somewhere. Oh yeah, right! The other dragon riders! Hiccup's friends I think.
Hiccup leans out of the window, watching them.
HICCUP (v.o)
„Oh, and that's Fishlegs, Snotlout, the Twins, Ruffnut and Tuffnut, and... (dreamily) Astrid.
Gods, the look in my son's face was priceless. I had always noticed Stoick having the exact same expression when we were teens. Like father like son, exactly the same.
A slow-motion explosion erupts behind her, framing her in a fireball. The others join her, looking great and heroic.
HICCUP (v.o)
„Oh, their job is so much cooler."
Hiccup tries to join them as they pass but is hold back by Gobber.
HICCUP
„Oh, come on. Let me out, please? I need to make my mark!"
GOBBER
„Oh, you've made plenty of marks. All in the wrong places!"
Why did that sentence sound so familiar?
HICCUP
„Please, two minutes. I'll kill a dragon. My life will get infinitely better. I might even get a date."
How on earth had Hiccup managed to befriend a dragon? His brain was set like everyone else. Had it been a trick?
GOBBER
„You can't lift a hammer, you can't swing an axe, ..."
Gobber lifts a bola.
„... you can't even throw one of these!"
A viking rushes past, grabbing the bola and hurling it at a nosediving dragon. The bola wraps its legs, consulting in a heavy crash-landing.
I closed my eyes. I didn't want to watch any more of this madness.
HICCUP
„Okay, fine, but this will throw it for me."
He darts into a back corner and shows a bizarre, wheel-barrow-like contraption. Hiccup opens the lid and a arm carrying twin-crossbows shoots up. The bows prematurely shoot a bola, that narrowly misses Gobber and knocks down a viking at the counter.
I shuddered. The thing Hiccup built … If it worked … It could help him capture a fully grown dragon. I hoped it would miss, as it just did.
VIKING
„Arggh!"
GOBBER
„See, now this right here is what I'm talking about!"
HICCUP
„Mild calibration issue-"
GOBBER
„Don't you- no- Hiccup. If you ever want to get out there to fight dragons, you need to stop all..."
Gobber gestures in Hiccup's general direction.
GOBBER
„... this."
HICCUP
„But, you just pointed to all of me!"
GOBBER
„Yes! That's it! Stop being all of you!"
That's not what you should tells a stubborn and proud Haddock. Hiccup may be … this. But still, I don't think, Gobber's encouragement would change his mind.
HICCUP
„Ohhhh..."
GOBBER
„Ohhhh, yes."
HICCUP
„You sir, are playing a dangerous game. Keeping this much, raw... Viking-ness... contained?"
It's better to not have this vikingness.
HICCUP
„THERE WILL BE CONSEQUENCES!"
Gobber tosses him a sword.
„I'll take my chances. Sword. Sharpen. Now."
Hiccup reluctantly takes the sword and lift it atop the grinding wheel. The starts to grind … fantasizing.
HICCUP (v.o)
„One day, I'll get out there. Because, killing a dragon is everything around here."
I didn't want to watch this any longer. Hiccup wasn't at all like I thought he was. I wouldn't be able to endure watching him … watching him … kill …
Nadders assemble like seagulls around a seemingly empty house.
HICCUP (v.o)
„A Nadder head is sure to get me at least noticed."
No. Nadders are proud and beautiful creatures. And their head weren't meant for people to show off.
The Nadders climb the building and take it apart. Sheep pour out and scatter.
Somewhere else hippo-like Gronckles lift the cleaning bars including the fish off the ground and fly off.
HICCUP (v.o)
„Gronckles are tough. Taking down one of those would definitely get me a girlfriend."
Wrong again. Gronckle were the gentlest dragon I knew.
A serpent-like dragon head slyly looks over a roof and spews gas into the chimney.
„A Zippleback? Exotic. Two heads, twice the status."
A second head bumps through the door and lights the gas. KABOOM! The two head fly through the explosion, revealing a single body. It passes Stoick, standing atop a catapult tower.
CATAPULT OPERATOR
„They found the sheep!"
STOICK
„Concentrate fire over the lower bank!"
Oh no, I thought. Hurry to get away from there!
CATAPULT OPERATOR
„Fire!"
Boulders are catapulted at the Nadders … just as a giant red dragon passes, spraying the catapult's base iwth sticky fire.
HICCUP (v.o)
„And then, there's the Monstrous Nightmare. Only the best Vikings go after those. They have this nasty habit of setting themselves on fire."
And that's exactly what makes it so fascinating. They use their own saliva to coat themselves in flames. Isn't that an intelligent idea?
The Nightmare appears from the flames, grinning a crooked smile while climbing the catapult.
STOICK
„Reload! I'll take care of this."
Stoick takes on the Nightmare, dragon against hammer.
Not that again. In my head raged a battle, fearing for Stoick and the dragon at the same time.
Suddenly a loud, ballistic moan is heard from above. The team on the catapult ducks.
I was cheered up immediately. This … this couldn't be …
Inside the forge Hiccup reacts to the same noise and looks up.
HICCUP (v.o)
„But the ultimate prize is the dragon no one has ever seen. We call it the-"
VIKING
„NIGHT FURY! GET DOWN!"
Everywhere vikings take cover. The moaning sound gets louder.
I stared in awe and fascination at the blue-purple fire. A Night Fury!
The Monstrous Nightmare suddenly stops fighting and flies away. Stoick looks at the sky.
STOICK
„JUMP!"
KABOOM! The catapult explodes as if it had been hit by an artillery projectile and forces Stoick and the crew to jump to safety.
I screamed. Oh, please, let everything be alright.
HICCUP (v.o.)
„This thing never steals food, never shows itself, and..."
The noise retreats and leaves the burning wreckage of the catapult behind.
Look at its grace and speed while flying! Its a view you only see once in your life. But why was Hiccup talking more specifically about this dragon compared to the others?
HICCUP (v.o)
„... never misses."
Something in his determined face alarmed me. Then an awful thought flashed upon me. No. He wasn't- He couldn't- It was impossible-
„No one has ever killed a Night Fury. That's why I'm going to be the first."
This is for sure the longest chapter in the whole story and I am not going to do something like this again. It actually took me about 5 hours to translate it.
Anyway, thank you in advance for your reviews.
