The Guardians and Me

Chapter 6: The Backstory

I stared at the book on the floor in front of me.

Her.
Who was her?
Could it have been Camicazi? A character in the How To Train Your Dragon books?
Or someone else?
Like Astrid?
From the movie?

"He won't even tell me about it."
I was distracted from my thoughts by a voice behind me. I twisted around in my cross-legged position to find Elsa smiling sympathetically at me.
"Why won't he tell you? I mean, you are both together, aren't you?"
Elsa tried to hide the blush invading her pale cheeks.
"We're- we're not-" she heaved a deep sigh. "He just won't tell me. I have no clue why."
"How long ago was it?"
She down down at the edge of my bed, near the end.
"No idea. Before I was a guardian. Or at least, before I was a candidate."
"Wait, you're not a guardian? I thought you were!"
"Manny hasn't- I mean, not yet. But that's a story for another time."
I sat turned myself towards her and propped my head on my hands "I'm all ears."
All of a sudden I heard yelling in the hallway outside my bedroom.
"How the hell should I know? He's your friend!"
"Honestly Eugene, I'm not even the same sex. How am I supposed to know what made Jack sad?"
Rapunzel and Flynn burst into our room.
"Hey would you happen to know-"
Rapunzel started before Elsa cut her off.
"Actually we were hoping you could tell us."
Rapunzel and Flynn both exchanged looks before looking at us quizzically. I reached for the book lying next to me, How to Train Your Dragon, and showed to Rapunzel. Flynn heaved a great sigh, and said: "Oh boy."

"You have to understand, Amelia, we didn't have some of the capabilities we have now." Rapunzel started to explain.
She and Flynn both sat down on the edge of my bed, facing Elsa and I.
"Yeah we didn't have a teenage girl who would supposedly 'shield is from darkness.'" Flynn interrupted. Elsa and I shot him glares while Rapunzel rolled her eyes. She continued:
"At first it was just Hiccup. His people had mostly died off by the time he was made a guardian. Except for one woman. Astrid." Elsa and I shared a glance. "Hiccup couldn't bear to lose her. Once he was made a guardian, he asked Jack if he would freeze her in a block of ice. Jack ultimately refused, but he saw the sorrow in Hiccup's eyes and knew that he wouldn't take no for an answer. He begrudgingly froze her and stowed her in a cave in the North Pole. She became a woman frozen in time." Elsa and I were staring, enraptured as Rapunzel continued with her head hung low.
"Eventually, North found out, and ordered them to unfreeze her. Hiccup refused, knowing that if he did, she would die. He had spent hundreds of years, staring at her body encased in the ice."
"Like suspended animation?"
"Yes, Amelia. Like suspended animation. However something that Hiccup didn't know, was that as the years grew on, the magic of the North Pole had taken off many years. After North convinced him that it would be cruel to keep her like that any longer, they took her to North's workshop where they slowly melted all the ice. After it all melted away, it became clear that Astrid was the same age Hiccup had been when he had become a guardian."
"When did hiccup become a guardian?"
Flynn swiftly shushed me before ushering Rapunzel to go on.
"It was after one of the final dragon battles of the Great War. He and Toothless died as heroes.  May I continue?"
I could see the sadness welling up in her, threatening to take over. I gently nodded my head before she went on:
"Hiccup and Astrid were ecstatic. Finally, they were together again. He wanted to take her everywhere, introduce her to everything. He took her to Iceland, and showed her the technology that was available. I believe it was the 1920's at the time. He showed her the telephones, and all the new marvels of the decade." She swallowed and took a deep breath before continuing. "Then toothless started freaking out. Hiccup was in the midst of going through records shops when Toothless starting crying out and flying around in circles. Hiccup ordered Astrid to stay inside while he went out to check on Toothless. Little did he know that Pitch was hiding under the records shop. That shop was smack dap on top of one of his largest lairs."
Elsa and I gasped. Rapunzel looked as if she were about to burst into tears.

"When Hiccup went outside to check on Toothless, Pitch's nightmares snatched Astrid out of the records shop. S-Some of them held Hiccup and toothless b-back and made them watch as P-Pitch fired an arrow of b-black sand s-straight int-to h-her heart." Rapunzel started weeping into Flynn's arms.
I felt a single tear roll down my cheek. I glanced at Elsa, her face lined with tears, and behind her, outside my window, I saw a blue figure take off, ice trailing in his wake.