Hiccup and Shadow had a very peaceful walk back to the village, and as soon as the blacksmith shop was in sight, Shadow could practically sense the excitement from him. They quickly made their way over and found a place to put all the scales they had collected.

Shadow was quite surprised when he suggested the idea to her; using the shed scales of dragons to create fire proof armour. After all, it wasn't a bad idea, dragon scales were incredibly tough, nearly impenetrable, and indeed fireproof. She was more shocked at the fact that he wanted to give her the first ever set of armour infused with dragon scales.

She suspected it was to get her to open up to him and like him more. And frankly, it was kind of working. No one had ever shown her so much kindness, yet alone offered to help make her own set of armour. She just couldn't help but feel happy around Hiccup. He was very nice to her – despite how cold and closed off she had been when they first found her.

Hiccup came out of the back room in the forge, his arms laden with large pieces of leather, paper, charcoal, iron pieces and all sorts of tools. He plopped down all the bits and pieces down on the table and got to work designing the armour for her.

Shadow helped with imputing her ideas, and helping change what he was designing to better suit her needs, until eventually they had their final design.

They were both excited to get started on making the armour. While they worked, they casually spoke to one another. Hiccup was starting to think she was really opening up. He realised that if he got her talking about something that she really liked, she would speak of grand adventures that she had been on.

She spoke to him of grand and wondrous places south of the barbaric archipelago which no one ever knew about. She told him about all the languages she learned to speak on her travels, of all the different and diverse cultures, and of the different kinds of people she had met face to face.

Hiccup had to admit, she told better stories than trader Johan. He absorbed all the stories and information she told him, staring in awe at her glowing silver eyes, filled with wonder. They didn't even realise how long they had been working until Astrid came and found them the next morning.

"Hiccup? Are you in here? My god Hiccup, did you pull another all-nighter trying to finish another project?" She said.

Hiccup's yawn and goofy lopsided smile confirmed what she said. She sighed at his antics but was intrigued either way. She went inside the forge to see what he was working on. Astrid was surprised when she saw Shadow inside as well, working away at the finishing touches on a new set of armour.

"Wow, Hiccup. That looks amazing. What exactly did you make it out of to get that kind of look to it?" she asked when she saw the armour.

Hiccup smiled and laughed quietly to himself. "Shadow and I were working on it all last night. We made it out of the shed scales of the Black Moon dragon that we collected from the cove." He said. Astrid picked up one of the pieces to get a better look at it.

She held up the chest plate and saw that it was covered in the sharp, black scales. All woven and interlocking beautifully over top of the leather, looking almost like the skin of a dragon. It had a low V neck at the front, and medium length sleaves with scaled shoulder guards. Astrid looked at the other piece left on the table. It was a two piece layered skirt, designed similarly to hers. One part was covered in black scales, high on the right hip, but low on the left, and the other side was mirrored, but covered in silver scales.

it was overall a beautiful, dark set of armour. She looked over at Shadow who was hiding back in the shadows. "You helped make this?" asked Astrid. Shadow nodded shyly.

"Wow, this is awesome." She said with a smile. "Go on then, put it on. I want to see what it looks like on you." She said excitedly. Shadow looked surprised for a second, but then smiled and took the armour into the back room to try it on.

When she had left, Astrid turned to Hiccup.

"It looks like she's really opening up to you." She said. Hiccup smiled back at her. "Yea, she really just needed someone to connect to. She's become a lot more comfortable about talking. Granted, there are some things in which she is still closed off about. But I do believe she's learning to trust me more. I don't know if she will react the same way with the other teens, but I doubt it will be the same as it is with me. If I'm honest, I have to admit that she acts a lot like a dragon. The way she thinks and acts, it's a lot like Toothless did when I first got him to trust me back in the cove."

Astrid nodded in understanding. She too wanted answers about the Black Moon dragon. It was a new species, allegedly more powerful than a Night Fury, and Shadow was their only connection to it. But she agreed with Hiccup's method. As much as she was anxious to learn more, she would let Shadow open up to them first before trying to get to know about the Black Moon.

They spoke for a few more minutes, until Shadow walked out with her new Black Moon scaled armour. Hiccup smiled at her, happy that the armour was a success and suit her well, and Astrid's jaw dropped.

"Hiccup, you have to make me some armour like that. It's amazing! It looks great on you Shadow."

Shadow looked away shyly. But she too was smiling. Astrid's smile turned into a smirk. "Now that you got some really good armour, how about we test it. Do you want to come down to the academy and do some sparing?" she asked. Shadow's eyes widened, but she smiled and nodded in confirmation.

Swiftly, the three of them made their way to the arena. Fishlegs, Snotlout, Ruffnut and Tuffnut were soon to arrive after them.

They were impressed with Shadow's new armour, and Hiccup's idea to make dragon scale armour, and they all made mental notes to collect their dragon's scales when they shed. But the conversations were cut short when Astrid announced that they were to be sparing with the shadowy girl.

Snotlout volunteered to go first, and opted to use his sword. Shadow was given a spare sword as well and the two stepped into the center of the arena. As they circled each other, Shadow's stance shifted. She moved from attack, to defence positions, not letting her opponent figure out what she was going to do.

Snotlout charged at her, swinging his sword at her head. She deflected with her blade and stepped out of his path, tripping him with her foot. He crashed into the dirt with a muffled cry, but stood up quickly. Snotlout kept trying to charge and hack at Shadow with his sword, but she continued to deflect and dodge with grace. She was incredibly light footed and could move swiftly. Eventually, Snotlout gave up.

Ruffnut and Tuffnut volunteered to go next. Shadow had to keep her eyes on both of them and their spears. They stayed on opposite sides of her vision, making her have to look back and forth between them. They jabbed and swung at her, but she expertly ducked and dodged. Her movements were lithe and athletic. They kept at it for a while before she tripped them and used their weapons against them.

Fishlegs was forced to fight against her next, but after watching her expertly twirl the sword in a dangerous display of professionalism and dominance, he surrendered.

But once it was Astrid's turn to fight against her, Shadow's demeanour changed. She recognised Astrid as a worthy competitor, and a fierce warrior. This was a fight she wanted to compete in, not those dances with the other fools. The others weren't worthy of her time, but she was. Something was stirring inside of her mind, and her blood raced.

Astrid was a challenger, and her blood demanded she face the challenge with the ferocity of a dragon. She felt like the great beast was clawing its way to the surface. There was a glint in her eyes that made her seem wild. She twirled the sword in her hands and held it in a ready position. Astrid did the same with her axe. She could see the glint in her eyes, and knew that Shadow meant business. Astrid could see that she was a fighter.

The signal was given for them to start, and they circled each other. Shadow was the first to react, stepping forward and striking with her sword. The action caused Astrid to react, and swing her axe at her. Shadow sidestepped and stepped into her space, slinking around her with exceptional speed. The flat side of her sword tapped Astrid on her side, signalling that she had struck, and won the fight. One point for Shadow, none for Astrid.

They went back to circling each other, Astrid keeping her eyes trained on Shadow's every movement. Shadow's breathing was deep and calm, trying to keep her raging adrenaline under control. Her nostrils flared and her lips curled back in a challenging snarl, baring her sharpened teeth.

Hiccup watched from the sidelines, absorbing every available piece of information, movements, actions and behaviour. He couldn't help but imagine how similar Shadow was to a dragon. Her behaviour was so similar, it was uncanny. She had the grace and light-footedness of a Nadder, and the ferocious glint in her eyes that resembled that of a Monstrous Nightmare.

Her attacks were swift and sharp as she darted forwards, and her blocks were strong as she deflected Astrid's axe strokes. Astrid's blood was racing, and she was getting angry at the fact that she hadn't landed a solid hit yet. She charged forward with a flurry of blows, aiming to hit her at least once.

Hiccup saw Shadow's demeanour change again. Something in her mind had snapped. Her movements became desperate as she dodged and avoided the gleaming axe, as if the deepest part of her mind had taken over and her instincts screamed at her to fight for her very survival.

Shadow's mind went into fight or flight mode, and in retaliation to the deadly attacks, she lunged at Astrid and knocked her to the ground. Inside her mind, the great black beast took control, and she pinned the shield maiden to the stone ground and twisted her arms so she couldn't move, and exposed her throat.

Astrid looked up in fear as Shadow – out of control and fighting like an animal for survival – bared her teeth and snarled at her. Those teeth, so sharp and elongated, looked like they belonged inside a dragon's maw, were poised ready to clamp down on her exposed throat.

The deadly gleam in Shadow's eyes made her fear for her life. Her silver irises practically glowed like moonlight. She didn't recognise Shadow in those eyes, no, she could only see a monster.

"Stop!"

Shadow's head snapped up to look at Hiccup who stood with his hand out towards her. She seemed to snap back to reality and realise just what she was doing – what she was about to do. Her frightened gaze dropped back to Astrid, and she leapt off her in horror.

"I- I- I'm so sorry! I d-don't know what came over me!" she stammered. She backed herself up against the wall of the arena. "I- I don't n-normally lose control at this time." She said. Her eyes went even wider, as if she had revealed a secret.

Al the teens looked at her in shock. Hiccup tried walking slowly towards her, his arm outstretched. Just like he did with Toothless all those months ago. He kept her focus on him and tried to calm her down, but she just slunk way from him.

"I'm sorry."

She bolted towards the gate.

hey everybody! hope you enjoyed this chapter. looks like Shadow is loosing control of herself, uh-oh. what's going to happen next I wonder. hehehe. Seems like there is quite the connection between her and the Black Moon dragon, a connection that Hiccup doesn't fully know of yet. what will he learn about her next? When will they find out about her? Only I know! bwahahahaha. lol.

keep your eyes open for the next update, and tell me what you think of this chapter in a review. :)