They continued the game for some time, people mostly choosing dare, but occasionally truth instead. For those unfortunate people who choose truth, it seemed that everyone was determined to find out who everyone liked. Poor unfortunate Hiccup was asked this very question at one point and blushed beet red.

Everyone became curious at seeing his reaction, and watched as his gaze flickered between two girls: Astrid and Shadow.

Everyone but those three burst out laughing. Hiccup buried his face in his hands and Astrid blushed slightly. Shadow just looked at him curiously, but said nothing. Unbeknownst to them, Shadow had many people think the same thing about her, but she never did anything about it and didn't really care.

They continued the game until they eventually ran out of truthes and dares to ask each other. It was getting late at night, but everyone was still up, and they had moved to sit in more comfortable positions. Everyone was either leaning against a rock, or sitting up in their sleeping roles.

Out of nowhere, the twins came up with another game to play: spin the bottle. For some unknown reason, everyone agreed to it, mostly because the stuff they were drinking earlier with dinner was not water, but stolen ale.

Their fuzzy brains made it seem that it was an absolutely brilliant idea. Those who were slightly drunk readily agreed to the stupid game, and those who were more sober were forced into playing. Shadow couldn't remember how she had gotten into this situation.

The bottle was spun around in the group, occasionally pairing two of the guys together, which made everyone laugh. Occasionally someone would forfeit and had to abide by the rules of missing a turn, by removing a piece of clothing. Shadow was holding the record for the amounts of times she skipped a turn.

After an hour of playing, and many awkward blushes and lost clothing items later, everyone was sitting – with a few items of clothing missing each – watching as Shadow spun the bottle.

Shadow was incredibly nervous now, she had almost used up all her 'skip a turn' cards, and was clad in nothing but her leggings and undershirt. She had taken off her boots, gauntlets and armour to avoid the game as much as possible and was starting to regret it.

She thought to herself that she may be forced to play this round, because the next item of clothing she would lose would be her undershirt, the only thing underneath was a large amount of bandages.

As she spun the bottle she wondered, what she would rather do: kiss one of the teens in their stupid game and humiliate herself, not to mention ruin her reputation, or would she rather remove her shirt and expose the bandages and the scar tissue strewn over her body. She just hoped that the scales on her back would be concealed.

The bottle spun around for agonizingly long moments before slowing down, and finally stopping. The poor unfortunate soul was Hiccup. Shadow's widened eyes met his for a few awkward moments. The other teens watched in anticipation. They all wondered what Shadow was going to do.

Long moments passed without anyone moving. Not even the dragons stirred. Shadow released a low growl of annoyance and lent forward slightly. Hiccup's eyes widened and he froze involuntarily. Her clawed hands reached forward, and grabbed the hem of her undershirt and pulled it over her head.

Everyone's eyes widened at the sight of all the bandages over her toned body, and the amount of scar tissue. There were puncture marks visible on her hip from a volley of arrows, stab wound marks from swords slicing her skin on her stomach, a healed gash over her right shoulder from what must have been an axe stroke and many more unnatural scars littering her body. Teeth and claw marks stood out on her skin in their neat little rows, and everyone shuddered at the sight.

They had no idea she had so many scars on her flesh, even more than some of their most seasoned warriors. They were both awed, and terrified.

"What kind of crazy life have you had in order to get that many scars?" said Fishlegs. Shadow looked away from them in discomfort.

"Crazy doesn't even describe it. When you have lived the life I have, the more accurate question would be 'how have I managed to survive this long?'" she said.

Snotlout spoke up. "Well, how have you managed to survive all those wounds?" he asked.

She looked at him with a blank stare, as if she felt no emotion at all. Her tone of voice made her sound like a heartless killer. "You feel no remorse when killing, and place your own survival as more important than the lives of others." She said with a deadly tone.

He shivered with fear under her cold stare. She looked away and down at her scars. She felt as if they didn't fully understand the kinds of situations she had been in where her own life was on the line. She lifted a clawed hand and traced a scar around her neck.

"You see this scar. I got this one when I was about to be executed for thievery. All I did was steal a loaf of bread because I hadn't eaten in days, but I was to be sentenced to death for it. That was one of the longest few moments of my life. The executioner had pushed me off the platform with a noose around my neck, and I only just managed to grab him and pull him down with me and steal his knife before snapping his neck before he could react." Those actions had ended up saving her life, but she killed a man because of it.

Everyone shuddered and some of the teens held a hand to their own throat.

"My life was more important than his, and I felt no remorse for killing him. Had I felt anything like regret or sorrow at that point, I wouldn't have felt life in my body a few moments later."

She saw all the blood in Fishlegs face drain away. His eyes were widened as he looked at the seasoned killer.

Shadow traced another scar, one that appeared to be a slash wound on her side above her kidney. "The man who gave me this scar, I killed in self-defence. Once again, it was my life on the line and he deserved to die. The man had ideas about making me his concubine, he gave me the option of submitting to him and his desires or being killed… I made my own third option."

Everyone's eyes were wide.

Next she pointed out a massive stab wound on her stomach. It had been one of the first scars that they noticed and wondered about, and it was by far one of the worst looking ones.

"Before I had gotten this scar, I been taken prisoner in Romania. Undoubtedly you have noticed my behaviour which is similar to a dragon." Everyone nodded. "Well this particular man thought I would make a nice pet because of it. He placed an iron collar around my neck attached to a thick chain, and would pull me around on this leash for entertainment. One day after I realised where the keys were for the collar, I had to get close enough to him in order to grab them.

Long story short, I went on a rampage attacking everyone and pulling him around, he unsheathed his sword with intentions to fight and kill me. He pulled the chain so hard and fast that I was almost yanked off my feet, and I had been impaled on his sword, which went right through me. I didn't even care. I stole the keys and slashed my claws across his throat."

Fishlegs, Tuffnut and now Snotlout looked like they wanted to throw up in horror. Ruffnut, Astrid and Hiccup were pale and shivering in fear.

Shadow was mentally reminded of the pain that she felt after the adrenaline wore off. At the time it was a miracle she survived at all, after being impaled and suffering from internal bleeding. She smirked to herself, despite all the problems and issues with the Black Moon dragon, it did have its perks.

Mainly the self-healing capabilities.

But as she thought to herself she had a notion, these teens thought of her as someone who didn't like being around people, who only looked out for herself and would discard others without a second thought. In the past, this was exactly her. The survival of the Black Moon species was paramount. But the kindness shown to her by these people made her think that there was more to her own life than her survival.

For many many years, she believed that her life didn't matter as long as she made it to maturity to carry out her duty, but being around Hiccup and the gang made her realise that there was a beautiful and adventurous life to be had, if only she learnt to trust people finally.

"Throughout my entire life, I have had to make many tough decisions. And I have done things that I am not proud of. A lot of the things I have done were completely selfish, and often, someone got hurt or worse. But I would still do it all again because those choices meant that I would live this long. I have an important destiny to fore-fill and there is nothing I wouldn't do to ensure that I succeed. I might sound like the most heartless person you have ever met, but I don't let that sort of thing get to me. I know who I am, what I am. And that is what I am like.

"Yes, I am a cold blooded killer, and yes, I am a selfish bastard. I am also an evil, manipulative and sadistic sonofabitch, and I don't give a crap at all about that. But I am also loyal, supportive and a friendly person sometimes, and I care about those who are worthy to be called friends. And I would fight to the death for the right reason, or for the right person."

Yay, 21 chapters! awesome. it seems that Shadow is starting to think differently about her life and those people in it. I wonder what she is going to do. her mentality is changing and it is affecting what she does and how she perceives others. Review how you think Shadow will act and what her behavior will be like in future. thanks :)