The next day had every Viking on Berk rushing to get a good spot. They were eager to see Hiccup officially join their side. Once Hiccup spilled the Monstrous Nightmare's blood on the arena floor, it would undoubtedly mean that she chose to kill the dragons and abandon her dragon side.

The crowed chanted Hiccup's name until Stoick raised his hand for silence.

"Well," he said, "I can show my face in public again. If someone had told me that in a few short weeks, Hiccup would go from being….. well….. Hiccup, to placing first in Dragon Training, I would've tied him to a mast, and shipped him off, for fear he'd gone mad!"

The crowd cheered in agreement.

"However," continued Stoick, "here we are. No one's more surprised, or more proud than I am."

Hiccup stood at the entrance. She was nearly crying. Her father was only proud of her because she was no longer herself. The village obviously never accepted her. She was never enough. Now, she'd most likely be worse than ever before. What if her plan didn't work?

"Today," Stoick announced proudly, "my daughter becomes a Viking. Today, she becomes one of us!"

The crowed cheered even louder.

Hiccup felt a hand on her shoulder. It was Astro. "Be careful with that dragon."

Hiccup looked at Stoick who was taking his seat in his throne, "it's not the dragon I'm worried about."

"What are you gonna do?"

"Put a stop to this… I have to try."

Hiccup turned to Astro with doubt in her eyes, "Astro, if something… goes wrong…. just promise me they won't find Toothless."

"I promise. Just promise me it won't go wrong."

Hiccup opened her mouth to say yes. But Gobber stole her attention, "Its time, Hiccup. Knock him dead."

Hiccup walked into the arena. The crowd cheered at their loudest the moment they saw her. Gobber closed the gate behind the girl.

Her legs were shaking as she forced them to carry her to the weapon stand. She knew with every fibre of her being that the cheering crowd would soon become an angry horde. They would realise that she had been lying to them the whole time. They might never trust her with anything again. She knew that it was what could happen. But she kept hoping for the best.

She reached the weapon stand. She grabbed a shield and a small knife. She breathed a long, shaky breath, "I'm ready."

The Vikings unlocked the gate. Hiccup began panting, holding every breath dear, as they may prove to be her last.

There was silence.

The doors to the cage suddenly burst wide open. A large body covered in flames leapt out of the cage. The Monstrous Nightmare.

The Monstrous Nightmare crawled along the chains that enclosed the top of the arena. It was looking for a way out. It blew fire all over the place.

Hiccup stared at the dragon, wide-eyed. The Monstrous Nightmare realized that there was no escape, and looked down to Hiccup. It dropped to the floor, and began edging toward the girl dangerously.

"Go on, Hiccup!" shouted one of the spectating men, "Give it to 'em!"

Hiccup backed away slowly. She dropped her shield, then her knife.

Stoick was shocked. No Viking had ever willingly given up their weapons while fighting a dragon. "What's she doing?"

Hiccup kept her eye on the dragon. The Monstrous Nightmare growled warningly, "You shouldn't drop your weapons in a fight, human. That could lead to a disadvantage."

Hiccup pretended not to understand the dragon, suspecting that if she revealed that she did, the dragon would try to take her away.

"It's okay." she soothed, "Its okay."

The dragon growled again, "I don't believe you. You're making me lower my guard so that you can kill me. Once your body has been ripped apart, they'll know that dragons are the dominant creatures of this world."

Hiccup slowly removed her helmet from her head. She looked at Stoick. He was shocked. She looked back to the dragon, and threw the helmet away, saying, "I'm not one of them."

The dragon looked at her, and stopped staring at her like a predator, but more like a curious animal.

Astro looked at the crowd from behind the gate. Everyone was shocked at Hiccup's statement. A few Vikings were angry. One of them, was Stoick. The chief was on the edge of his throne, "Stop the fight."

"No!" said Hiccup, "I need you all to see this." She reached her hand toward the dragon's snout. "They're not what we think they are. We don't have to kill them."

The Vikings looked to Stoick, waiting for orders. Stoick rose from his throne, "I said stop the fight!" He slammed his hammer against one of the bars of the arena.

The Monstrous Nightmare looked to Hiccup with sudden fury in his eyes, "I knew it! You were distracting me so they could kill me!"

"No!" Hiccup protested, "I didn't want him to do that! I'm trying to help you!"

But the dragon wouldn't listen. The dragon swiped at Hiccup with his paw.

Hiccup sprinted away from the dragon. But immediately realized, there was nowhere to run. The heavy gate was down and there was no telling whether or not anyone strong enough to lift it would get to it in time. She dodged a beam of fire, screaming from the heat that burned her.

It was by some miracle that Toothless was awoken by Hiccup's scream.

Hiccup ran to the weapon stand to grab a shield. But the Monstrous Nightmare shot fire at it. The fire was so hot that it burned Hiccup's hands, and she was forced to drop it.

Desperate to help, Astro used an axe to pry the gate open. He grabbed a large hammer from the weapon stand and threw it at the dragon's head. The Monstrous Nightmare was enraged, and began chasing after Astro.

Stoick was the first to reach the gate. He threw it up and yelled at the teens to run to the exit.

Astro managed to get there. But the Monstrous Nightmare blocked Hiccup's path with fire. Since Hiccup didn't have a lot of scales, her skin wasn't fireproof. She had no choice but to turn around and run the other direction. She felt a paw pushing hard on her. She lost her balance and collapsed on the ground. She was pinned down by the Monstrous Nightmare's paw. The dragon stared at her, with similar looks in his eyes as Toothless had looked at her back in the woods.

"My master made me risk my hide for you!" the dragon hissed, "I think it's time he learned to take 'no' for an answer."

Every single Viking watched Hiccup with fear. Their hope of the future was about to die.

Suddenly, there was a screeching noise that grew louder. It grew so loud it was almost deafening. Everyone turned to the noise just in time to see a black blur blast through the bars and into the arena. The entire arena was filled with smoke. But it was blown into thin air by the flapping of large wings.

Two dragon's emerged from the smoke. Gobber knew the dragon. It wasn't any familiar one but the unseen one called the, "Night Fury!"

The Monstrous Nightmare had Toothless lying on his back. He tried to bite the Night Fury's belly, but Toothless kicked him off. He tried to charge past Toothless towards Hiccup. But Toothless kept blocking him. Eventually the Monstrous Nightmare gave up and ran away.

"Where is the girl?" questioned Kullgen, waiting for the right moment to act.

"She's in the arena where they kill dragons." replied a dragon.

"Perfect. It's time. I've deciphered how she thinks. Let's see how she handles mind control."

Hiccup ran toward Toothless. "Alright, Toothless, go! Go! Get out of here!"

"I am not leaving you!"

"Just go! If you don't leave, they'll kill you!"

"I'm not leaving!"

Hiccup tried to push Toothless toward the exit. She saw Stoick running towards the dragon.

Kullgen watched the events through Hiccup's eyes, waiting for the right moment. That moment had finally come, "The father. Perfect!"

"Dad! No!" Hiccup began, "He won't hurt-" suddenly, all her vision went dark. Her sense of hearing was nearly muted, and she only heard echoes. She could hear screaming, and her father's voice pleading. It almost sounded like he was scared and in pain.

Finally, she could see again, and she could hear things clearly. She realized that she was leaning on Stoick. One hand held him by his shirt. His face the chest were scarred. She could see blood on her claws and Stoick's tunic. She looked at her other hand. Her claws were damp with blood. She backed away. She looked around. A lot of Vikings were looking at her with fear. Whenever her field of vision passed over them, they back away. She looked at Toothless. A few Viking's had him pinned down.

"Toothless!" she screamed, trying to help him. But she was held back by Spitelout and Gobber. Each held one arm. "No! Don't!" she pleaded, "Please! Just don't hurt him! Please don't hurt him!"

Stoick looked at Toothless, "Put it with the others." Then he looked to Hiccup, "You're coming with me."

Stoick opened the doors to the Great Hall. He was carrying Hiccup by the scarf of the neck when he threw her in. She rubbed her neck as it throbbed with pain.

"I should've known." he said, "I should've seen the signs."

"Dad. Please." Hiccup stammered.

"We had a deal!"

"I know! But that was after I-oh it's all so messed up."

"So everything in the ring? A trick? A lie?"

"I screwed up. This is all my fault. Take this out on me. Be mad at me. But please, just don't hurt Toothless."

"The dragon? That's what you're worried about? Not the people you almost killed?"

"He was just protecting me! He's not dangerous!"

"They've killed hundreds of us!"

"And we've killed thousands of them! They defend themselves that's all!"

"You call attacking humans defending yourself?"

"I don't know what happened back there, but I promise you, that wasn't me!"

"Who was cutting me with her claws!"

"I don't know how that happened!"

"You attacked me!"

"No! I didn't!"

"What did they do to you? Is that what they wanted? For you to turn against your own people?"

"Dad! They were trying to take me away because their lives depended on it! If they don't succeed on the task they're given, they'll be killed. There's…. something on their island. It's a dragon-like-"

"Their island?" Stoick almost thought she was kidding when she said "their island". "So you've been to the nest?"

"Did I say nest?"

"How did you find it?"

"No! I didn't! Toothless did! He was somehow mind-controlled! Only a dragon that lives on the island can find it!"

Stoick stared into space. Hiccup didn't need him to say anything. She knew what he was thinking. "Oh no! No! Dad no! You don't know what you're up against! It's like nothing you've ever seen! It was a miracle that I got out alive."

Stoick pushed her aside as he headed for the exit. Before he left, he grabbed Hiccup by the wing and pulled her back to the arena.

He pushed Hiccup into one of the empty cells of the arena.

"Dad! Please!" Hiccup begged, "I promise you, you can't win this one!"

Stoick began to close the cell doors.

"No!" Hiccup pleaded again. She ran to Stoick and tried to hold the doors open, "For once in your life, will you please just listen to me?"

Stoick violently shoved Hiccup back into the cell, causing the girl to fall onto her back. He spoke for the first time after thirteen minutes of silently locking Hiccup away, "I should've killed you the minute I found out you were part dragon. You've wasted your loyalty on them. You're not a Viking. You're just a demon."

Hiccup froze.

Stoick slammed the cell doors. The echo was deafening in the dark cell. Hiccup could hear Stoick yelling orders, preparing the armada.

"Dad!" Hiccup screamed, banging on the doors with her fists, "Daddy! Stop please! Don't do this! I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!" Hiccup became desperate, she began kicking on the doors as well as slamming her fists on them, screaming, "Let me out! Don't leave me in here! Let me out! Please!"

Hiccup didn't know this. But as Stoick walked out of the arena, he struggled to hide the tears that began running down his cheeks. He was breaking his own heart by locking up his own daughter. Her pleading cries made him feel even worse.

Astrid hid behind some wooden barriers leaning against the wall. He was waiting for them to leave so he could let Hiccup out of the cage.