Thump thump.

Thump thump

Thump thump.

Consciousness slowly came to the sleeping girl. The sound of her heartbeat echoed inside her head, the only sound she could hear. She couldn't move: everything felt stiff and sore. She wanted nothing more than to let her mind slip away back into dream land and go back to the dream of flight.

But her mind refused to quiet. Very slowly, her eyes fluttered open. Her face was buried in a pillow, and her body laid out on a very comfy mattress, but she felt constricted by the blanket over her body.

She lifted her head and moved her arms under her body. Why was she laying on her belly? Her body felt heavier than it should. Shadow kept trying to push herself up onto her forearms, but the blanket made her feel like she was being squished.

Since when did blankets feel like they weighed fifty pounds? She wondered. Eventually, she managed to sit up. She didn't know how to explain it, but she felt weird.

Shadow rubbed her eyes and moved to sit on the side of the bed, and pulled off the heavy blanket. As she inspected her body, she noticed a heavy bandage over her chest, bloodied rags held underneath to stem the blood flow from her chest. The stab wound had been directed at the left side of her chest, and if her foggy memory was correct, she had been stabbed pretty deep with a sword.

It should have pierced her heart and killed her. Thank the devil that within her species, the heart was located on the right side of the chest. Lucky. Sometimes, she thought, you just got to love anatomy.

The bandages covered her chest entirely, and she was wearing a pair of leggings. She sighed and attempted to stand up, but immediately she fell backwards from something. Her back was too heavy. Why would it be heavy? Why did it feel like she was lugging a huge back pack? She looked over her shoulders, and gasped loudly.

Two huge dragon wings were attached to her back, as well as a tail, covered in black scales. She stifled a scream and launched herself off the bed. Her tail dragged across the floor, threatening to trip her, and the weight of her wings made her feel like she was falling over backwards.

Her breathing became ragged as she checked her body. She still had her claws, but they were longer than she remembered, and her fangs were larger. Not only that, but her skin seemed slightly ashen, and the scales on her back covered more skin than she remembered.

She walked over to the full length mirror in the room and saw herself. She had horns coming out of her skull, three sets of two, with the largest being roughly twelve inches long. Her silver eyes didn't have round pupils, but slits like a cat. Her tail was roughly four feet long with a sinister blade on the end.

But her wings, god her wings, they were absolutely massive! In their rest position, the wrist joints and thumb claw stretched over her head, and the claws on the end of the finger bones in her wings grazed the floor. She tried stretching them out to their full length and estimated that her wingspan was around twenty feet.

She looked beautiful, but hideous at the same time. A gorgeous combination of human and dragon genetics, but a freak of nature. She was unnatural. A mistake.

A hybrid.

Neither one, nor the other, she didn't fit in anywhere. She would never be accepted by dragons, and she couldn't possibly hide herself to assimilate into human society. She would be hunted, pursued for life for what she is, possibly sold as a freak of nature or killed and mounted on someone's wall as a hunting trophy. She did not want that life. Her life was practically gone.

She started to hyperventilate. Her lungs burned from the lack of oxygen and she started to panic. Who had seen her? How had she gotten here? How many people knew? What were they planning on doing with her?

All of these questions flashed through her mind, considering the worst possible outcomes. Suddenly, she heard voices from down below from the kitchen, it sounded like Stoick and Hiccup.

Shadow backed up against the furthest wall, not wanting them to see her hideous half form. Then she heard something that made her already cold blood run like ice through her veins, the sound of scraping steel from a scabbard.

They were going to kill her. That was the only thought going through her head. She didn't know why they kept her alive this long, but now they must have grown tired of having an abomination living on this earth. She didn't want to die. She didn't want to let them take her life which she so desperately clung to. She had to get out of there.

Her mind screamed at her to make an escape plan, just as she heard heavy footsteps coming up the stairs.

The window! It was large enough for her to fit through, but once she got out, where would she go? Shadow had no time to think that far ahead as the door slowly opened. With her heart beating in her throat, faster than it had ever beaten before, she ran and launched herself out of the window the same moment that Stoick saw her.

Shadow hit the ground hard thanks to the weight of her wings and tail, and stopped herself from falling on her face by throwing her clawed hands out on front of her. For a split second, she looked back. Stoick was looking out of the window, directly at her. The sound of her name in his scream echoed around everywhere as she ran without a second thought.

Shadow had no idea where she was going, the only thing she thought was to get away. Her life was on the line, and she was sure that everyone would kill her on sight if they caught her.

Even with the weight of her wings and tail, she ran faster than anyone could, and those who had seen her and attempted to catch her couldn't keep up with her speed. She ran past many villagers who screamed in terror at the sight of her misshapen body. Some grabbed weapons while others ran away in horror. Every time Shadow almost ran into one person, she would turn and run in another direction, making her patterns completely random. She had no idea were she was going, she just hopped she could get away.

"Shadow!"

She froze at the voice, frozen in her tracts. Fearfully, she turned around, and there he was. Hiccup, fear stricken at the mere sight of her, aboard his Night Fury. She didn't know what to do, should she run, could she outrun an Night Fury even in her current half-form? Should she surrender and accept her fate?

No, she was done.

Shadow turned back and ran, faster than she ever did before. Suddenly the weight of her wings and tail didn't hinder her anymore. As her draonic mind took over, the feeling of the new appendages became familiar to her and with it, made it easier to run. With a massive stride, she launched herself at the round and continued to run, this time on all fours like an animal. It was much easier like this, with the extra thrust her front legs added, and her spine seemed like it was meant to move this way to better help her run. Her tail became a rudder to help her turn faster.

Hiccup and Toothless pursued her from the air. He could help but marvel at how her human and dragon sides worked together. The way she moved, the way she looked, the combination of the two forms. It was truly beautiful in his eyes.

He watched as she ran in random directions, either staying away from villagers or throwing him off he had no idea. But he had to catch her. He wouldn't let her get away, not now.

One by one, the other dragon riders flew in to help the chase. They had been called as soon as he ran out of the house after Shadow, and now with a few hand signals and words, he directed them around to try and corner her.

As a team, they cornered and lured her inside the arena, but Hiccup felt saddened. He couldn't stand the look of terror on her face, as if they were out for her blood. The dragons and they riders flew in through the gate, fanning out to try and keep Shadow in the one spot and to keep her from escaping.

The look of raw and undiluted terror on her face broke his heart. While her face looked like a child in the face of its greatest fear, the rest of her body was poised to fight to the death. Her back was arched and wings slightly extended in a defence mechanism, her claws were extended and ready to tear through anything that got too close, and at the same time her legs were tense and ready to run.

"Stay away from me!" she screeched at them. Her voice was a mixture between Norse and Dragoneese, as if her brain could understand what side of her was in command. Hiccup put his hands up to calm her and carefully directed Toothless to walk forward in a nonthreatening gesture.

She instantly tensed. "We just want to talk alright. We wont hurt you." He pleaded.

"NO! That what they all said before they tortured me! I am not falling for it again! I don't care what you say, I am not going to be caught AGAIN!" She screamed.

Hiccup's heart shattered. He still didn't know everything that happened in her past, but it must have been horrific for the mental and physical scars to remain this strong. He had no idea what kind of emotional trauma she must have suffered, but he didn't want her to think that he would ever do that to her.

"Shadow please. I mean it, we don't want to hurt you." He pleaded again.

Words she had heard a thousand times before, filled with empty promises and hints of betrayal. She was done being cornered like this, she was done with it!

With a snarl of defiance, she felt her fire lungs fill up and burn within her chest. Her mouth glowed a blindingly bright midnight blue, before fire blasted out of her mouth in front of all hew dragons, halting their advancements. She surrounded herself with a ring of fire, which made them all rear back from the heat of the flames.

But the fire would soon dwindle, and they were blocking the only escape. She had to get out now!

This time, Shadow sparked the glands at the back of her throat, creating a lightning strike that she would use. Her mouth cracked and cackled with electricity as it built up.

She saw the look on Hiccup's face, an expression of hurt, sadness, broken trust, sorrow and regret. Even though he was blocking her exit, she couldn't, just couldn't strike him down. She may have done it many times before to others, to other people she once trusted, but she just couldn't kill Hiccup.

Instead, at the last moment, she redirected the shot of lightning and blasted away the chains over her head. The net was obliterated in an explosion of sparks, and before anyone could stop her, she extended her wings to their fullest extent, and flapped. It took longer than she hoped, but eventually, her massive wings picked her up off the ground.

Slowly, but surely, she flew out of the top of the arena. But Hiccup wasn't going to let her get away from him that easily, and he and Toothless ran right through the fire to chase after her.

hehehe, I bet you all thought Shadow died. well, sorry, I dont kill off my characters, not yet at least. Bwahahaha! anyway, sorry for the long wait, I have been busy on ideas and a storyline for a sequel, which is coming along nicely. Oh, let me know if there is anything you want to see happen with Shadow and her new half-form. Bet you didnt see that coming, did ya! lol. So, what do you think of this Hybrid form? and what will Shadow do next? you tell me...

favourite and review! reviews make me write faster. until next time :)