From bad to worse

Delvin was waiting for Hiccup with Astrid when the boy appeared looking pale and sick as he held his gaze upwards, towards the arena

"So" Delvin began, following hiccups gaze to the figure of stoick, who was giving a speech about how happy he was about his son's achievements and about how proud he was of him "end of the line huh?"

"Yeah" hiccup agreed, swallowing audibly and looking towards the cage that held the monstrous nightmare, the same dragon he was expected to kill today, in front of his entire village and father.

"What are you going to do?" Astrid asked, appearing at his side with a worried look, a far cry from the cold looks of resentment she had been sending the boy literally yesterday. Delvin was honestly surprised at her change of attitude when it came to Hiccup

"Put an end to all this" Hiccup answered, straightening his helmet, something that was supposedly made from his mother's own armor and gifted to him by Stoick "this all ends today, one way or the other"

It was good to see that the boy had sprouted a spine

"Alrighty then," Delvin said giving a nod and clapping his friend on the shoulder, causing him to stumble a little "personally i would just kill the dragon and then work to improve Dragon and human relations AFTER i was chief, but i have faith you'll do what you feel is right"

"Don't suppose you want to take my place?" hiccup said, giving a small hopeless chuckle

"And piss off stoick the vast?" Delvin replied, raising a brow and nodding to the man who was now sitting on his throne and looking towards his son with more pride than Delvin had thought possible for a man to feel for his son "no thanks… you can have that honor"

"No pressure" Hiccup gulped, turning towards the arena before sneaking a gaze toward Astrid

"Be careful out there" Astrid warned, somehow looking like she was both worried about hiccup and somehow had faith that he would survive "that dragon has been kept in that cage for weeks now, it's going to be pissed"

"It's not the dragon that I'm worried about" looking so nerve-racked that Delvin couldnt help but feel bad for the boy and decided to help him out a little in the form of tripping Astrid up with his halberd, causing her to stumble and wrap her arms around the boy, making the pair both flash completely red and for Stoick to yell from across the arena

"That's my boy haha!"

"Oops" Delvin shrugged as a red-faced Astrid charged up to him before grabbing him by the collar and out of the arena as she cursed him under her breath in embarrassment "good luck!" they both yelled to hiccup with a wave before leaving the boy alone and weaving into the onlooking crowd

From that point, things went from bad to worse

"I'm ready," Hiccup said, now holding a dagger and shield as he nodded to gobber who returned the nod and pulled a switch, releasing the locks on the cage door. He did not look ready.

The second the locks were released fire spewed from the cage as the monstrous nightmare, looking like a bat out of Helheim itself, came roaring out of the cage, clawing along the walls of the arena and spewing fire towards the onlookers who Delvin and a few other Vikings protected, blocking the fire with a small wall of shields before returning to watch the show like nothing had happened

This was hardly unprecedented behavior afterall

What was unprecedented however was that once hiccup found himself face to face with the angry dragon he dropped his weapons, taking off his helmet and approached the beast

"Stop the fight" Stoick ushered to gobber, his voice echoing even through the alarmed whispers of the crowd

"No!" hiccup ordered, causing all the present Vikings to pause, looking at the small boy, approaching the dragon with an open hand "i need you all to see this!" he yelled to the crowd as he approached closer to the confused monstrous nightmare, his hand drawing closer and closer to the dragon's snout

"These dragons are not our enemies" hiccup announced, causing the crowd to watch him in shock, as the boy drew his hand within an inch of the dragon's nose, somehow not losing it as many Vikings had before "their not what we think we are, we don't have to kill them"

"I SAID STOP THE FIGHT!!" Stoick Belowwed, Yelling towards the arena as he slammed his hammer against the bars of the cage bending the metal with his inhuman strength. Damn that man was strong

"Bad to worse" Delvin couldnt help but say aloud with a sigh as the giant dragon reacted harshly to the sound of Stoicks yelling and attack on the cage, snapping at hiccup and going feral. Hiccup was forced to run as the dragon attacked, chasing him around through the cage with a lethal blast of fire causing him to yell in alarm

"Hiccup!" Delvin turned his head to see Astrid gone from beside him and now entering the cage by wedging an ace under the metal gate. Stoick appeared to have the same idea as the giant man was running through the crowd towards one of the arenas side gates

"Oh for Odin's Sake" Delvin couldnt help but groan as he followed the giant man, getting tired of having to save Hiccup, and now it appeared his suicidal actions had spread to his cousin

Maybe he would add another dragon kill to his belt today after all

Seeing Astrid throw a hammer to the head of the monstrous nightmare, gaining its attention, Delvin slid through the gate the second it was opened by Stoick, running towards the dragon chasing his cousin, but not before looking at stoick with a quick quip of "family am I right?"

Hearing Stoick yell an echoing "Over here!" and seeing Delvin rush towards them, Hiccup and Astrid changed their course, running towards the chief even as Delvin bolted past them, sporting no halberd but charging at the dragon anyway

Seeing the fire glowing in the beast's throat as it staired at his cousin Delvin threw himself at the beast, landing a flying double kick to the side of the dragon's face and causing it to miss as its aim was thrown off

Delvin barely even had time to regain his breath, which had been knocked out of him before he was once again up and throwing himself at the dragon again with a warcry, jumping at it and wrapping himself around the long neck, grabbing a hammer and directing hits to the dragon's chest and back punctuating each hit with a yell

"Stay! The! Hell! Away! from! My! Family!"

Sadly however due to the dragon's own feral nature it ignored the pain Delvin was causing it, charging after hiccup anyway, even catching the boy with the end of its tail and causing him to fall on his back and the dragon caught him between the talons of its foot, preparing to spew fire onto the boy even as Delvin directed hammer hits to its throat and head

And that was when Delvin heard the cry of a Nightfury!