Hey everybody, sorry for being gone for so long. Finally the internet is working, but I dont know how long that will last. I decided to give you all a treat: an extra long chapter! woohoo! yay! anyway, I could seriously do with some reviews, and thanks to everyone who does review, you are fabulous. I would really like it if you guys give me some serious feedback on my story, or even ask questions about anything :) Send some love!
I hope you enjoy this next chapter, there is a little bit of love between Shadow and Hiccup near the end to prepare for the next chapter, which should be coming along soon. Hopefully, this new character, Phantom, should be introduced next! I hope you like it. Please leave a review. Love you all.
.
They flew from island to island, searching for one to call home, but each one was inhabited with dangerous dragons, or were completely inhabitable. They flew for hours on end between islands, finding nothing suitable. The riders were ready to give up before a large, lush green mass came into view on the horizon.
It had everything they needed: lots of fresh water, sandy beaches, lots of vegetation, game animals to hunt, and it was easily defendable from all sides. It was perfect. They all knew once they had flown around the island, that this was it. Their own home away from home.
When night fell, everyone was eating and getting ready for bed, but Shadow was restless. She paced around their clearing, clearly agitated. When given food, she devoured it in seconds, then went back to pacing. Hiccup was getting worried.
He had tried talking to her, but she sent him back with a low growl and a glare.
"I don't know what's gotten into her. She hasn't stopped growling and pacing for hours. Every little thing agitates her, I even had to send Tuffnut away before she attacked him." He said to Astrid.
His third in command hummed in thought. As she watched the shadowy girl, who was currently in her half-form, she tried thinking of anything that could be wrong. But all she could think of that was the cause of her restlessness was a common girl problem.
Then again, as far as she knew, the Black Moon girl didn't have that problem. After spending two years around her, Shadow had never shown any signs of it, which was quite strange.
But still, even with the evidence stacked against her, she voiced her thoughts to her leader, as a possible cause for her condition. She chuckled slightly as he blushed bright red and coughed awkwardly.
However, to him, it didn't seem like that was the issue, it had to be something else. Something that he couldn't put his finger on. Sighing, he went over to their cook fire and grabbed a piece of cooked meat for himself.
"Wow, whats gotten into Shadow?" asked Ruffnut, mostly to herself. "I honestly have no idea." He replied as he took a bite.
"If I had to guess, it's because it's her time of the month." Said Fishlegs offhandedly. "Astrid already suggested that, but apparently she doesn't get the 'woman's curse' like other girls do." Hiccup replied.
"Huh, what are you- oh. Oh…" Fishlegs said awkwardly. He looked away, embarrassed, and stammered over his words.
"That's not what I meant, not at all. I don't even want to think about that. I'm talking about the phase of the moon." He elaborated.
When Hiccup looked up in the sky, he could see no moon. It was the time of the Black Moon. He face palmed, thinking that he should have realised sooner.
She had all that pent up energy within her, but because she had lost the ability to transform during the moon phases, all that energy was left with nowhere to go. She was meant to be transforming tonight, but simply changing at will wasn't enough to get rid of that extra boost of energy.
"Thanks Fishlegs, I cant believe I didn't think of that sooner." He said.
At least now he more or less knew the problem. Fixing it was another matter entirely. And he had no idea how to do that.
.
When Tuffnut ran back to their camp the next morning, crying in terror at a mysterious dragon, or, quote: dragon – chicken – yak – giant dragon! The riders were sceptical. Shadow huffed at his stupidity, but otherwise remained removed from the conversation. But the male twin continuously cried out about a giant dragon, to the point where Hiccup just humoured him and went with him on their dragons to hunt the mysterious creature.
What they found after their long search, was a dragon unlike any other. It was huge, with a large white eye. But when they began fighting it, they realised that it wasn't one large dragon, but hundreds of smaller ones. They all flew together in a massive formation, taking the form of themselves but on a much larger scale.
Hiccup was ecstatic despite the danger, because now they had another dragon to learn about. After the teens managed to bring down the leader of the flock, a pure white 'Night Terror', he wanted to take a while to learn about it. Sadly, Shadow didn't let him. With a loud growl, she caught their attention towards the rest of the flock. Unable to hold their formation, they flew around uselessly, becoming prey for the hungry Changewings nearby.
Shadow only spoke in unintelligible roars, and walked around on all fours like an animal, communicating vaguely to them that they needed to get the Night Terror leader back to the flock.
Hiccup tried to reach out to her, but she snapped her jaws at him, her fangs missing him by centimetres. She growled deep in her throat, her claws flexing into the dirt and her eyes were narrow slits. Shadow wasn't in control anymore, even despite being in her half-form. The Black Moon was calling the shots.
Hiccup hadn't seen her this aggressive in quite a while, but now wasn't the time to think about it. Those little dragons would be the Changewings next meal if they didn't help them.
In her battle-rage fuelled frenzy, Shadow transformed back into her full dragon form, wings flexing, tail thrashing, agitatedly pacing, while the transformation took hold. With a ferocious battle-cry she launched herself into the air with a powerful thrust and flew right for the acid spitting dragons, completely ignoring her own safety, to ram right into the middle of them. Her huge form smashed a hole in their formation, and they roared in anger.
Green blobs of acid shot towards her, but she didn't care. She rammed at them again, keeping their focus on her and not the other riders, and took the acid shots front on with a screech of fury. The outer layer of scales burned and sizzled, but otherwise she ignored the injuries, and continued her barrage or fire attacks. She fought hard, and keep their attention completely on her, whilst taking massive amounts of damage from their acid. Her armoured body and toughened scales protected her mostly, but she was still getting hurt. Each new bout of pain was just added fuel to the fire of her rage.
Finally, the formation of Night Terrors reared above the Changewing horde, trapping them against the Black Moon dragon's form. The camouflaging dragons were cornered on both sides, and with gigantic roars, the two dark forms sent them reeling back to their nest in fear and terror.
.
As dawn broke over the island the next day, the dragon riders gathered to discuss their new base. Everyone had different opinions on the matter and claimed theirs to be the best. Fishlegs wanted to focus on relaxing and getting away from the tension filled life of a dragon rider. The twins wanted a boar pit for their own sadistic entertainment. Snotlout wanted the entire formation to look like a giant 'S' from the sky. Astrid wanted to fortify the entire island with traps and spikes. And Shadow wanted to leave the island unchanged, but instead, burrow deep within the mountain and have their headquarters underground so no enemy would ever suspect it was inhabited.
Hiccup wasn't doing anything to stop their arguing, in fact, he was sitting removed from the group working on his own little project while the others argued.
"Come on you guys, why can't you see that my design with all these traps and defenced is the best idea?" said Astrid.
"How would you ever be able to relax? You would constantly be tense and never be able to unwind. My design is better for relaxation." Said Fishlegs.
"Boar pit! Boar pit!" chanted the twins.
"Have you guys not seen any castles before? Using the natural terrain is what we should do. Use the mountain to our advantage, create tunnels and chambers underground to stay safe from attacks." Argued the Black Moon girl.
"Why hide underground in a lair when we can build a base that's in the shape of an 'S'?" said Snotlout.
"Alright, alright you guys that's enough. I've heard all of your ideas, and I can see that you don't want to let someone else have the better design, so I have made a compromise." Said Hiccup as he wandered over. Instantly everyone quietened.
Without a word, he unfurled a large piece of paper covered in drawings. "Here's my idea: we combine everyone's idea to make one large base for all of us. And we make a huge clubhouse as the centre of the base. That way we all get what we want, and it's all functional."
They looked over his design with smiling faces. Fishlegs' garden was down by the water with a wonderful view. Snotlout didn't have his 'S' but his hut was situated in one of the highest parts of the base, with a landing pad for Hookfang. Astrid was right in the middle and had the most heavily fortified cabin of them all which doubled as a turret. The twins' hut was right above a hole in the ground, their 'boar pit', while their area could be rigged with traps as a frontal defence from any attacks. Hiccup's cabin was near the central clubhouse, suspended in the air and riddled with all his contraptions, and entirely self-sufficient.
And Shadow had the entire mountain to rig with separate chambers, tunnels and a full underground lair to her desire. Not only that, but her lair was like a complete replica of the base, with a room for everyone connected to a central underground hub in case they ever needed to evacuate and take refuge. The above-ground base was even linked to her underground lair, with bridges connecting everyone's cabins to caves, leading right inside.
Everyone had what they wanted, and it all worked so well together. And the newly named 'Dragons Edge', and 'Dragons Lair', had begun construction.
Dragons were flying around, clearing trees and boulders, and moving construction materials all over the place. Quickly, the base was taking shape in accordance to their plans. Hiccup had to help out every now and again since not everyone was the best builder but for the most part, everyone stuck to themselves, while Hiccup supervised.
He had just finished checking on the twins, again, before deciding to go and see how Shadow was fairing. She had been tunnelling away inside the mountain for hours, the only sounds coming from her were fire and lightning blasts as she cleared away the rock.
Huge piles or sorted stones lay about the entrance to her lair, while the sounds of explosions echoed from inside. Hiccup cautiously wandered inside. He found the great black beast inside a massive chamber, bashing at stone with the blade of her tail, and effectively carving a wall inside the mountain.
He stood to admire her powerful form as it moved. Her muscular forearms smashing stone to smithereens, her tail whipping the rock and slicing through it like a hot knife through butter. But the more he looked, the more something seemed wrong.
Her claws were bloody, her tail laying limp as she pushed the stone around, and her head was dripping crimson from head injuries, previously from ramming head on into the walls. Not only that, but some of her scales were corroded and partially melted from acid burns, and other parts were covered in ash and scorch marks.
They all looked painful, and he watched her move with some difficulty, but to his shock and horror, she kept battering away at her body while she shaped the earth as if it was but a tool, without any care for it at all.
"Shadow stop!" he cried. She froze, then slowly swung her head towards him. She looked like she had been in war, with herself.
"What are you doing? You're hurt."
She huffed and turned back to her work. "I have suffered worse." She growled in the dragons tongue. "What's brought this on? You have been intentionally hurting yourself, and letting yourself get hurt. Why?"
Shadow looked at him deep into his eyes and soul. She didn't say anything for a long time.
"The dragon side of me is trying to take over… It is because of the moon. The energy it takes for me to transform from human to dragon form has been building up for some time, and I need an outlet. I can use up some of that energy to heal by getting myself hurt. These injuries will only take a few hours to heal, but if I didn't do this then I would have all this power with nothing to do with it. It's better that I do this to myself, because if I didn't, I'm afraid that it would bounce back onto you."
Now she turned around and stood directly in front of him, her silver eyes roaming over his body.
"The mark on your shoulder… seeing it makes me see you differently. I shouldn't have given it to you." She murmured.
Her eyes locked with his for a moment, before they locked again on the spot where the mark was. Her eyes darkened, and she slowly started to transform into her hybrid body.
"Two years ago, when I marked you the first time, that was a contract. You belonged to me and I could use you as I pleased. It was a fang mark of servitude. That mark you have now, is a fang mark of binding. When I marked you in front of Dagur, the taste of your blood affected me, and I held on too long."
She now stood before him, clad in her trademark leggings and undershirt, with her black cloak on top that seemed to magically reappear every time she changed.
"That mark means that you are my intended." She said huskily. She tried to raise her arm to touch him, but she grit her teeth in pain. Looking down they saw that she was covered in bruises, scrapes, burns and acid damaged skin.
"If I don't hurt myself and redirect my power to healing, that power could compel me to do something to you."
Hiccup's breath hitched in his throat. "Like what?" he stammered. Shadow leant forward so her fanged maw was right next to his ear, with one arm on his other side, and pinning him to the wall.
"What do you think a dragon does to her intended mate?"
One hand dropped to his hip and pushed him up against the wall, while her other hand raised to his neck. She pinned him there and exposed the fang mark on his collarbone, while she pressed her body flush with his. Growling, she grabbed his chin and pushed, exposing his throat to her.
Her eyes flashed in the gloom as the Black Moon dragon took over her mind again. Shadow was no longer in control. The dragon looked at the man trapped beneath her claws, willingly exposing himself to her and her whims. In her weakened state, he could escape if he tried, but he willingly stood there at her mercy. Oh, how powerful that made her feel.
She smirked against the skin of his neck and opened her fanged mouth, her forked tongue darted out and licked the mark left there from her bite. He moaned as she did as she pleased to his exposed form.
How ironic, that he could bend almost any dragon to his will, tame them and train it to do his bidding, but in the hands of Shadow, it was he that was bent to her will. If he was known as the Dragon Prince over the archipelago, then she was his queen.
The Black Moon dragon growled against his neck, running its teeth across the sensitive skin. Gently, it pressed its fangs against his skin, sinking its teeth into his sweet flesh. He hissed from the pain, but delighted in her doing as she pleased. As blood flowed out of the new bite, Shadow licked it away, savouring the sweet taste of his blood, and kept him pinned between the wall and her.
Groaning, Hiccup dropped his head on her shoulder. Her body pressed up against his was driving him mad, and the friction between them want helping. Instinctively, he fought back, and grabbed her hips with his hands, holding her to him. He gasped and bit down on her neck while she dominated him. She froze when feeling his teeth against her flesh.
"Don't just do it half way…" She groaned huskily is dragon-speak. Encouraged, he bit into her skin and drew blood. It tasted metallic on his tongue and burned slightly. To him it must have been what he imagined liquid fire and molten steel to taste like.
Panting, the two separated. A few drops of blood pooled on Hiccup's lip which he touched with his finger and examined in the dark. Her blood looked almost black, like a deep, dark red.
He looked back at her, specifically the spot in which he left a mark on her. It was faint and would most likely not leave any mark, but he was proud. He might not be one of her kind, but he still felt connected to the Black Moons.
"You might regret making that mark, but I don't regret you doing it. I know I'm not a male Black Moon, but I will fight as one while I have you here and if I'm claimed as yours, then I will defend that title and do everything in my power to give you what you want. I'll fly with my own wings if I have to, if only to show you that marking me wasn't a mistake."