Lies are one thing when they get you out of trouble. They are something entirely different when they cause problems for others.

This was an unavoidable and ugly truth, and Ember knew what had to be done. She didn't care much for the way things were, and sitting up in her temporary room, she decided one thing. It would be no time at all before everyone began to piece things together. Her problem, was how to tell them before they figured it out, AND how to fix the problems she had caused.

("I suppose the truth had to come out eventually.") Closing her eyes Ember's every thought was consumed by guilt and remorse. "I've put everyone in this village at risk by coming here. On the other hand, it WAS an incident of misfortune that I and the serpent crossed paths. It was unforeseeable that the serpent would hunt me down for vengeance. I REALLY don't want to be a snakes lunch, and I definitely don't want to get anyone (including myself) killed!" Telling the group what was going on was going to be hard, but keeping the secret would be even harder.

"Damn sea serpent! Such a vengeful, greedy creature!" In her anger, Ember kicked the leg of the bed. "Father…Mother…sister…OUCH!" Buckling over and falling onto the bed, she looked out the window.

The rest of the group (minus Alyssa), still stood talking and sorting things out on the beach. They had no idea what was truly happening, and all Ember could think was that she was to blame for most of it.

With a deep breath, she got to her feet on the bed, jumped to the window, and slid down the inclined roof. Finding herself once again on the streets of Berk, she made her ways down to the water. It was a slow walk for her, because as she walked ideas of how to approach them played in her mind.

Before too long she had reached the beach, where Frankie was having a rather unusual battle with Beryl.

"Stop that!" Frankie ran after the small Terror with arms wide spread. "You little monster! You bring that back right now!"

Running as fast as his small legs could carry him, Beryl sped across the sand holding a flat glass object in his mouth. It appeared to be nothing more than a shattered piece of broken glass, but upon looking closer it could be determined that there was indeed something carved in the glass.

The object in question was a glass slab containing the picture of hopper Frankie had drawn earlier. Seeing as Beryl didn't seem to care too much for his companions like of other dragons, he took it upon himself to steel it by whatever means necessary.

Having something she was so proud of be stolen bothered her to no end, and as she ran, Frankie also began to ponder one thing. "Where did you learn to blow glass?"

The entire sight seemed to amuse Toothless and the others, and it was hard for such amusement to be kept inside. Eyeing Beryl as he approached, Toothless crouched.

"Toothless." Hiccup looked over at his rowdy companion with a daring face. Knowing what would happen if he didn't intervene, he grabbed Toothless by the saddle and held him back. Though he knew his grip couldn't stop him, Hiccup was well aware of the fact that Toothless wouldn't jump if he held on, for fear of hurting his rider. It was a fact he didn't like to hold against him, but at the moment it seemed necessary.

Knowing he couldn't jump away, Toothless watched the scrawny dragon race toward him. It was too much to take, and Beryl presented such a great target. Knowing he would be close, Toothless concocted a sinister backup plan.

"Toothless, what are you…" Catching the hint of amusement sparking on the dragons face, Hiccup had no idea what to think. "B-Beryl…um…I don't think you should get so close."

Ignoring the warning, Beryl raced by, coming far too close to Toothless in the process. In a matter of seconds it was over.

With one mighty swat, Toothless slammed his tail fins directly on top of Beryl, smashing the minuscule Terror into the sand. A large grumbled chuckle echoed though his throat, and immediately sent his tail wagging, burying Beryl even deeper in the sand.

"BERYL!" Falling to her knees, Fran looked on as her dragon was pilfered into the ground. Her arm stood stretched out, and her hand wide open, as if to attempt to stop the small dragon from disappearing into the sand with some unseen force. "Why is no one helping him?"

Unable to control the impulse, Ember grabbed Toothless' tale and held it up. It was hard not to feel a slight tinge of pity for the strange, awkward Terror which stumbled away from the crater in the ground beneath the massive tale.

Watching him stumble off alone, Ember turned back to the crowed. "Um…I'm gone for five minutes and this happens?"

"Um…" Standing up and wiping her hand off, Frankie chuckled feeling embarrassed. "He's um…a hardy little fighter. He'll, um…he'll be ok I think."

("Why does she not sound sure at all?") Shaking her head and trying to clear her mind of the moments prior, Ember spoke holding her hands behind her back. "You should all know, I have something very important to tell you."

The group was quiet, not quite knowing what to do about what had just happened. It had been all fun and games until Beryl attempted to destroy the drawing of Hopper (another Terror). Now, with Ember standing at such attention, looking as if she had something truly important to say, no one had a clue what was going on.

Frankie raised her hand. "Can I call a five minute break for those of us who have trouble keeping up?"

"No."

"But."

"No buts. Just pay attention to what I have to say" Clearing her thought, Ember spoke up after a moment of silence had gone by. "What I need to tell you is hard for me to say…what you have to know is that I never meant to hurt anyone, and it is ALL my fault."

The group looked both puzzled and intrigued by the event which was now taking place. It was as quiet as it had ever been, and no one even noticed Beryl flying from rock to rock in the back ground.

Turning Fran caught sight of Beryl as he landed on a rock. ("Poor little guy. He's trying too hard to fly, but he just can't…maybe he'll do it someday. At least he's not hurt from earlier.") Turning back to Ember Fran stood waiting to hear what was about to be said.

"I'm the reason Marble's so sick." The slight gasp coming from both Hiccup and Astrid didn't surprise her, but she couldn't stop. It had to ALL be straightened out. "I shot him with a poison arrow, but I didn't see him. Long story short, I got word of a boy on an island of dragons. I brought him here on a merchant ship." Her arms started to wave around s if to illustrate the story. "The waves got so high that the ship was nearly turned over, but before it could capsize, we were attacked by a sea monster! At first we thought it was some kind of squid, but then it crawled on board and started to devour the entire crew. I managed to get Marble and myself to a boat, but before we were out of sight, it saw our boat." The waving of her arms intensified as the story went on. It crushed out boat into two pieces. I was only able to get rid of it by shooing it in the eye with a bow and arrow. The boat stayed on its end after that and he water still nearly drowned us…but by a miracle we landed here. I had no intention of lying to you about his sickness, but I-I saw how much this place loved dragons, and I feared being shunned for hurting one so badly! Please forgive me!" Feeling slightly winded, Ember fall over and now lay in the sand.

The entire group felt blown away, and all but one were left speechless.

Feeling slightly ticked, Astrid marched forward. "You mean you knew that thing was out there?" She pulled Ember in close with eyes blazing in anger. "You knew and you didn't tell us?"

"I didn't think it would follow me!" Ember winced feeling the rejection beginning. ("She's so going to kill me in front of all these witnesses.")

"Well serpents are vengeful creatures." Frankie was now deep in thought. "If you blinded it, that can only mean one thing…"

Ember knew what was coming next. She had figured it out far before anyone had even known about the serpent. "I know…"

"…It's after me."