Here we go it's getting closer, the build up to the fight you've been waiting for

Let's go ...

Chapter 20-

The day after the Shadow vs Dagur fight, and Dagur had not been seen since then nor any of his village, many believe he left licking his wounds. Little did they know of the plan he was involved in. It was the day of the Victory Ball and to her surprise Shadow had not asked Astrid to the ball, as a matter of fact she had not see. Shadow since last night, all of the other riders were busy scouting the village to talk and Stinger was to busy planning the party. She couldn't talk to the others from Berk as they would either tease her or just not care enough to talk about it, what was she to do?

Meanwhile in the centre of the island at the summit of the extinct volcano wasHiccup and Toothless, Hiccup was laid against the side of Toothless who was napping and Hiccup had his eyes closed and listened to the sounds around him, Hiccup almost drifted off until he heard a sudden squawk, he looked over the edge of the volcano and looked down only to see a familiar Nadder at the bottom looking around, "Stormfly" he whispered, he squinted his eyes and saw Stormfly was not alone, she had a rider. The only rider that Stomrfly had was "Astrid" He panicked because if she found Toothless then he would be found out and he did not want her to find out this way. "Bud we need to get out of here!" He said waking up Toothless who groaned unhappily, "She's here bud" he explained, the made Toothless perk up and instantly get ready for take off. Hiccup got on to the saddle and they took off in the opposite direction of Astrid.

"Did you here that girl, that sounded like a dragon" She said to Stormfly, "Stormfly get us up there" she said to which Stormfly took off m, heading to the summit of the volcano. Stormfly landed and Astrid got off and looked around, and found a book on the ground, she picked it up and started to flick the pages and saw designs for inventions in the pages, then as she got further into the book she saw another drawing but this time of a dragon. It was a black dragon that was missing one tail fin "Toothless!" Astrid said excitingly, She then saw the date, it was dated two days ago. Astrid flipped to the front page and it read one name that made her heart skip a beat 'Hiccup' "He's here, somewhere they were lying to me, Shadow lied to me!" Astrid began to get angry and upset, she got onto Stormfly and took off book in hand, she needed to find Shadow and demand answers.

After an hour of flying around Astrid couldn't find Shadow, but she knew she would see him at the Victory Ball later so she will get him then, until that time she needed to get ready so she headed back to the village to prepare.

Unbeknownst to her Shadow was high up in the clouds right above her, "Hmm perhaps I should have fixed that bag eh bud" He commented fiddling with the bag that the book feel out of, noticing the hole at the bottom. Toothless simply snorted just wanting Hiccup to show his face to Astrid so it would be over.

Later that night...

The guests arrived in numbers to the great hall ready for the ball. They were all dressed in their finest attires, the great hall was beautifully decorated and now had a dance floor in the middle. One particular guest walked through dressed in a sparkling blue dress, wearing a tiara instead of her traditional headband. Astrid ignored all eyes that were gawked at her and started to look for Shadow.

After a few minutes searching she then thought about where he would be for something like this, knowing he wasn't one for parties, he would rather watch from a vantage point up high. That's when it clicked the ledge at the back of the room, she looked up and sure enough sitting on the ledge was Shadow looking directly at her. Shadow knew he could either face her or just walk away, staying on the ledge was not an option, this was Astrid she would find a way up. He saw her gesture for him to come to her, that's when his heart kicked in and took over his actions, he slid off the ledge and landed a few feet away from her.

Shadow was dressed in fine black leather boots and black trousers, he wore a white tunic and a sleeveless black jacket and obviously his mask. He walked over to Astrid "Hi" was all he could say, "So tell me, no more lies where is Hiccup?!" She demanded, "Uhh ok... Hiccup is..." He started to explain, " Ladies and Gentlemen, attention please it is now time for the two finalists to take to the floor with their dance partners" Stinger announced, "Dance partners?" Shadow asked raising an eyebrow, Snotlout began walking to Astrid, she knew she couldn't turn him down in front of everyone as it will make Berk look bad, "Shadow dance with me" She said urgently, "Yeah ok... Wait what?!" He was confused, first she demanded answers now she wants to dance?! "Now!" She said pulling him to the middle of the dance floor, she proceeded to hold his hand up and place her other arm around his neck, he then placed his hand on her thin waist and they began to dance. They were perfectly in sync and did not take their eyes off each other, Snotlout on the other hand had some trouble with his partner, he and Ruffnut were confused about how to start or even how to hold each other and they began to argue, which ended with Ruffnut kicking Snotlout in the gut and then walk off. Snotlout glared at Shadow and Astrid with jealousy and resentment. The two partners were enjoying the dance and even smiled at each other, the music ended and Shadow finished by leaning Astrid back over his knee supporting her back with his hands, they were face to face and began to lean in, they were centimetres apart then "I can't I'm sorry, your heart belongs to Hiccup not to Shadow." He said as he stood her up, turned around and walked away leaving Astrid speechless.

The party was beginning to end, many guests have already left, Astrid leaned against a pillar in the great hall alone with her thoughts, until a voice distracted her "Hey babe, listen I just want to say you were great out there and I was wondering..." Shadow watched from a distance hidden in the shadows, he was watching Snotlout again fail to flirt with Astrid, then suddenly his eyes widened and something made him snap. Snotlout had hold of Astrid's head and was kissing her passionately, and what he saw was Astrid holding him to her that did it, he stepped out of the shadows and stalked the two.

"Snotlout get off!" She demanded but is mumbled as he kissed her, she was fighting him but couldn't get him off. Until a hand was placed onto Snotlouts shoulder and Astrid's eyes widened to who it was, Snotlout was yanked from Astrid and was now face to face with his opponent in the final fight. Snotlout looked Shadow in the eye and saw nothing but rage this made Snotlout tremble, Shadow threw Snotlout to the floor as a crowd began to gather which included Stoick and Stinger plus the riders, Fishlegs and the twins, "As heir of the hosting village I get to announce the type of fight we will have and I decide...WAR WITHIN HELHEIM!" He shouted, "SHADOW NO!" Stinger pleaded but Shadow ignored her and began to walk away, he felt a hand grab his arm, he turned and it was Astrid, "Shadow please..." She began to say, before Shadow forcefully pulled his arm away, not even looking at her "Save it!" He said with venom in his voice and with that he left the great hall. Astrid fell to her knees tears forming in her eyes, "Its not too late, he can still be saved from the darkness" Clash said to her in way the attempted to be comforting, "I'm not sure if he wants to be saved" Astrid replied now fearing Shadow has been lost.

Oooh , next chapter is the fight between Shadow and Snotlout

War Within Helheim - will be explained in next chapter but sounds brutal doesn't it

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peace out guys