My Guardian Angel

Ships: Hiccstrid

Rated: K+

Author's Note (21st August 2022):It seems that I come back to writing this story ever month. Truth be told I have a basic idea of what will happen in this story, I just need to write it. Life's making me forget about this story and turn my attention to more things, like my mid-term exams coming up in the early days of September. I'm going to try and actually get some work done on this story, I want to finish it and finally be satisfied with what I've written. Now enough of this, let's get started.

Chapter 5

Fresh layers of white snow lay upon the roads of Berk, a sign of another cold winter setting itself over the land. It was a reminder of another thing which was the impending celebrations for Snoggletog. Snoggletog was an age-old tradition dating back all the way to the Viking era. A celebration of giving gifts to each other and spending time with those you care about. Airports were cramped with people trying to return home to their families for Snoggletog and decorations going out-of-stock.

Night had surrounded the people of Berk, the only light being the full moon. Homes were lit up with festive lights and decorations for the following week's Snoggletog celebrations. Infront of one house were dazzling multi-coloured lights with a small snowman at the front of it. Inside was not the usual happy family but a group of agents sitting at the table playing cards, beer in hand and freshly lit cigarettes in their mouths. Upstairs in a room sat a girl with blonde hair and blue eyes. Her thoughts were not on the festivities on Snoggletog, but on a boy. His auburn hair and forest green eyes invading her every thought. Astrid the book she was trying to read in frustration.

Who could be trying to kill Hiccup? How do they know who he really is? How do I find him? Why would they try killing such a sweet person... God his hair and his eyes and his everything are just amazing. Wait what am I saying? My job is to protect him, not fall for him!

Astrid lay down on her bed and stared up at the ceiling. A concoction of emotions filled her heart. Confusion, frustration, determination and worry in her would turn into admiration, love and joy every time she thought of Hiccup. She slowly slipped into the deep slumber of dreams, filled with her and Hiccup...

******************************************

Hiccup could hear the shuffling of the guard's downstairs. He had just finished his homework and was now laying on his bed with his headphones on. He had found himself drowning in music ever since he came to Berk, maybe to deal with this chaos known as his life, or with the ocean of emotions inside of him. Sometimes at night he just wouldn't be able to sleep due to his thoughts. He began thinking again of his life, everything from his childhood days, his late mother, his father and now his new life on Berk. Ever since he had come to Berk it was like he had managed to find a part of himself he didn't even know was missing. He now had friends, proper friends. He was normal. The pressure of being 'The President's son' was no longer a burden he had to carry. He could finally do whatever he wanted to. Then there was Astrid. A sense of happiness and love washed over him when he pictures her in his mind. Her nice silky blonde hair, her ocean blue eyes and then the rest of her body. There was just something about her that drew him to her. Maybe it was her sense of humour or her hardened spirit. She was something he had never expected to find on Berk. Wild fantasies began to form in his mind as he too fell asleep...

He brushed his hair out of his face and faced his attention to the problem presented to him. His recent attempt of poisoning Hiccup's drink had failed. Questions started forming in his mind.

The poison plan should have worked but Astrid went and knocked his cup over. Was it by accident, or on prepose? Is she the 'Guardian Angel' Stoick has sent to protect Hiccup? There has to be another way I can finally complete this mission? If not poison, then how about a silent hit? Perhaps a sniper shot or another way to inject the poison into him...

These questions plagued the boy as he looked around his room, as if hoping the answer would be there. The room was plain. Cream coloured walls with no patterns on them, a bookshelf with his schoolbooks and some other books he had acquired. There was a desk with a study lamp on it with the recent homework laying open. He then looked at a big bulletin board covering the far wall. He stepped back to admire his work. There he saw pictures of his target and those who were related to him. Documents of recent secret transmissions sent between the government and those protecting Hiccup. Then there was Astrid. There wasn't much related to her. Medical records showed her mother dying during childbirth and then her father dying later to a car accident. After that there was surprisingly nothing on her, no foster family or anything else related to her. Maybe a receipt for bubble-gum here and there but apart from that there was really nothing after her father's death. The boy could only wonder.

Who is Astrid?

≧ ﹏ ≦

The festive joy that comes during the holidays had snaked itself into the hearts of all in Berk High. The school had announced that for the holidays the school was to be decorated with colourful banners and their very own Snoggletog tree was to be placed in the main hallway. All the classes were also to be decorated by the students with the supervision of the class teacher.

Hiccup looked around the room of busy people. He was surprised to see that the twins were actually doing something, they were making a banner that was to be hung up in the class. Fishlegs was reading a book, as always. Snotlout was helping out with the heavy lifting. Hiccup remembered the previous day's chats in the group chat where Snotlout said he would help out with the heavy lifting to flex his 'muscles' to the ladies. Hiccup chuckled at the memory and continued to look around the class. He finally rested his eyes on Astrid, who was trying to put up some lights in the class.

"I've seen how you look at her, don't try denying it." Toby said to a now startled Hiccup, "I can see love in your eyes." He said playfully.

"Shut up Toothless, I'm not in love with her." Hiccup explained still staring at Astrid.

"Oh please, I know love when I see it, trust me, if you don't act now, you may lose your chance."

"I mean, I don't know what to do. I really like her bud but I'm not sure what I should do next."

"How about instead of staring at her like this, go ask her out?" Toothless said as Hiccup suddenly was flooded with fear.

"But what if she says no? What if she doesn't like me back?" Hiccup sat down in his chair, a knot forming in his stomach.

"If you stay scared the rest of your life, how will you every find love?" Toothless handed him his water bottle, "Take a good swig of this and go get em'." Hiccup grabbed the bottle with shaking hands, taking a couple of sips. He got up and slowly approached Astrid.

Astrid, after great difficulty, managed to get a part of the lights up on the wall. She wiped some sweat off of her brow and took a step back to look at her efforts. As she took a step back, she felt something behind her. She quickly turned around and grabbed whoever it was by their collar, something she had mastered during her training.

"Oh, it's just you!" Astrid exclaimed in relief as she let go, a blush quickly forming on her face.

"It's alright, I've gotten used to it now." Hiccup said also admiring Astrid's work.

"So, um Astrid, I w-wanted to ask you something." Astrid faced Hiccup, still blushing, "So I was t-thinking, we've been friends f-for a while now and I've found t-that I r-really like you." Astrid's heart skipped a beat.

This can't really be happening; I must be dreaming or something. She thought as she stared into his deep, forest green eyes.

"Umm I also need to tell you something," Astrid could feel her cheeks burning red now.

All of the world's most painful training, all the drills, all the long hours. How come I feel this vulnerable? I just need to spit it out.

" So, I've also been liking you for a while now as well..." Hiccup could feel his legs about to give way, his cheeks red hot and butterflies in his stomach.

Wait, did she just say she likes me too? What?

No reply came from Hiccup as he just stared right back at her. Astrid could only help but laugh a little bit, snapping Hiccup back out of his trance.

"So, you wanted to ask me something?" Astrid continued.

"Oh yeah, I wanted to ask. Astrid, would you like to go on a date with me?" Hiccup was on the verge of collapsing.

"Yeah! You got a place in mind?" Astrid managed to bring out as much confidence she could to be able to continue functioning properly.

"Y-Yeah, I'll pick you up at 7:30?"

"Umm sure! I'm gonna go get some more decorations, I'll be back in a bit." She said with a smile and rushed out the room with a massive smile on her face. Hiccup turned around and stumbled back to Toothless.

"So, how'd it go?" He said with a little bit of worry on his face as Hiccup collapsed into his seat.

"Looks like I got a date tonight." He said with a smile as he told Toothless his plan...

( $ _ $ )

There was a buzz of excitement that filled Astrid for the rest of the day. Her dream was finally coming true. Once she came home, she managed to speak to the agents in the house and the ones in Hiccup's house to make sure that they were all okay with the date. The agents had managed to make all arrangements so that there would be no compromise in safety. Astrid opened her cupboard and started pulling clothes out and laying them down on the bed. After a couple minutes she looked over the colourful mess of clothes she had made. Finally, she decided on a nice magenta shirt and a pair of dark blue jeans to match it with. She looked over at the clock on her nightstand,

Just another 2 more hours of waiting. She thought to herself as she decided to take a shower and get her hair ready for her first date...

Hiccup opened the door of the black Audi R8. For his safety he had told the agents in his house what the plan would be for his date. They had made some calls to the restaurant and made some reservations. Hiccup was delighted that he would finally be able to be with Astrid, but the agents weren't so happy, in fact they were worried. They all knew who Astrid really was and had several questions in mind but for the sake of Astrid's cover story they kept quiet. Hiccup sat inside of the car and put on his seat belt as another agent who was acting as chauffeur started the engine as they made their way through the quiet streets of Berk towards Astrid's house.

Hiccup's heart stopped as they rolled up to Astrid's house. She was standing there in the clothes that she had picked out, her hair neatly done and a small bag with some money, her phone, and in the secret compartment a gun. Hiccup stepped out of the car, his black jeans going well with his white shirt and black blazer. He had tried to fix his scruffy hair and succeeded only by a partial margin; his hair was still scruffy yet somehow acceptable.

"You look amazing." Hiccup said in awe as Astrid blushed.

"You too, I like the blazer." She said admiring it.

"So, are you ready?" Hiccup asked as both of them went hand-in-hand to the car. Hiccup opened the door for Astrid as she sat down inside the car.

"So where exactly are we going?" Astrid asked as Hiccup sat next to her, "All you told me was not to eat dinner... Wait a minute!" Hiccup laughed.

"It took you that long to figure it out?"

"Umm, yeah." Astrid had to learn to lie during her training, she already knew that Hiccup would be taking her to a restaurant but to keep up her cover she had to lie. A part of her felt bad for lying to Hiccup. She had grown increasingly worried about the consequences of Hiccup finding out her real identity. She didn't want to leave Hiccup, she wanted to be with him forever, but she knew deep down that one day the mission would be complete, and the department would shift her away from Hiccup. Suddenly, all of those worries washed away from her mind as Hiccup's hand slipped into hers.

"Something on your mind?" He asked as Astrid smiled.

"Nothing, how far away is the place?"

"We're almost there!" The car became silent again, but it was a comfortable silence as the car made its way to the restaurant. There was a little bit of hustle on the streets as some people walked down the same alleyways the car was going to get to the place. Finally, a couple minutes the car stopped Infront of a restaurant...

^^;

It was not too posh but at the same time not too rural. It had some lanterns hanging outside the door as a man in a suit stood there. The roof was like all the other roofs in Berk, stone slabs tilted to form a triangular roof. A chimney was spewing out black smoke from the ovens inside. Hiccup and Astrid walked over to the man in the suit.

"Welcome to the Cove! Do you have a reservation for your special night?"

"Yes, is there a table under the name Hunter H.?" The man shuffled through the logbook, flipping pages back and forth.

"Ahh yes, Hunter H. this way please." The man gestured inside as he opened the door, a warm gush of wind came from inside as they stepped into the warmth. Astrid was amazed by what was inside. It was a low-lit place, candles on every table. Some tables were big while others were out of the way, most likely for couples to come, eat and enjoy some privacy.

The waiter went up a set of stairs as both of them followed. They were in an area not normally accessible to the public and Astrid knew it. Sure, she didn't want to ruin her first date, but she would break a couple necks if she needed to. The waiter continued down a dimly lit corridor, Astrid now felt uneasy. Her senses started spiking up. The low light, the lack of information, perfect for an ambush. The waiter finally stopped and looked at them.

"Enjoy your dinner." He opened a door as moonlight flooded through. Astrid lost her breath as she stepped through the door. It was a big brick balcony. Infront of them stretching for miles was the open aired Berk countryside. Astrid remembered the research she'd done on the place. It was old and all the land she was now seeing was actually owned by the restaurant to protect the wildlife and flora there. The balcony she stood was relatively big with flowerpots equidistant from each other. There at the centre was a small table with 2 chairs. A couple of candles stood blossoming with fire at the table with 2 plates and 2 menus, perfect for their night. Astrid couldn't believe a place like this could exist. She'd seen places like Venice and Japan, but never could she have imagined a place like this.

Hiccup pulled her chair back as she sat down, earning him a smile as he too sat down. Astrid peered into the menu and decided on some Spaghetti Bolognaise. Hiccup had decided on some food as well as they both sat in silence for a moment.

"Are you liking the place?" Hiccup asked dragging Astrid out of her thoughts.

"Oh, I love this place, it's beautiful." She said as the waiter came and took their orders. Astrid decided to start a deep conversation while they waited for their food.

"So, tell me about yourself, we've never really got a chance to talk out of school." Astrid decided to go with that as Hiccup smiled a bit.

"Well, there's a lot that happened in my life to start with."

"We have a lot of time now." Astrid said reassuringly as Hiccup straightened up a bit. Astrid's hand suddenly felt warm as she realized Hiccup had slid his hand in hers.

"Well for that we need to go back to the start, I was born in Alaska, but my mom died when I was young, so I don't remember much about her, it's just been me and my dad ever since. We lived in Alaska for a while but then recently shifted to Berk." Astrid was confused for a second but then remembered this was his cover story, her heart still broke though. She tried imagining living a life without a mother. Suddenly food appeared. She could smell her dinner as it was set onto her plate. Hiccup had got a nice steak with some fries. Suddenly a thought popped into Astrid's mind. Hiccup had been talking for at least 20-30 minutes and time had just flown right by. Both of them started digging into their food.

"Well, I've answered, what about you, what's your story?" Hiccup said wiping a bit of ketchup off his mouth. Astrid took a deep breath; she hadn't prepared for this.

"Well," Astrid started after having a fork-full of spaghetti, " I was born and raised on Berk. It's basically been me and my dad all the time, not much of my mom. My dad told me she died in a car crash a year or two after I was born. I never knew her well." Astrid decided not to continue that topic anymore. Surprisingly, most of what she says was true. Withholding a part of that truth about her mom and dad wasn't technically lying. There was a comfortable silence as they ate their food. Astrid had always loved spaghetti bolognaise, it reminded her of her mother, or the good parts of her. Time just seemingly went by as they both ate talked and had their food. Before she knew it, they had both finished their food and Hiccup had payed the bill. They both got up and made their way back out of the place and into the car.

"Home?" The driver asked as Hiccup replied with a yes. The drive home was silent. Astrid gazed out of the window was the flashing lights of stores and homes went by. Suddenly, she felt something warm on her hand, she quickly turned to find that Hiccup had placed his hand over hers. She felt her cheeks become warm brushing her hair behind her left ear and looking back out of the window. Nobody had ever made her feel like this. Normally she was tough, calculated and smart, but there's no way to calculate emotions. All her plans she made as a just in case all drifted away as she sat there at the mercy of her own mind. All she could do was smile and gaze out the window. She thought of her whole life, every single failure, every victory, every tear shed, and every ounce of sweat given by her. All of it she knew what she had to do, knew what she had to be, but with Hiccup? The destination was in the mist and the road kept on winding further and further. What would she do when the war was over, and Hiccup wouldn't need her protection anymore? She couldn't bring herself to leave him. The thought of it had been plaguing her mind for a good amount of time. She gripped Hiccup's hand a little harder. Hiccup turned around and looked straight into her eyes...

( $ _ $ )

Hiccup had slipped his hand over Astrid's as they sat in the car. The edges of his lips curled into a smile as he saw her brush her hair behind her ear and look out of the window. He went back to looking out of the window, getting lost in his thought. He felt the warmth from her hand and suddenly his hear was filled with a dreaded thought. After all this was over, he would eventually have to return to his real home, go back to being the 'President's son'. The press, the media, all of it. He could hardly remember what that was like after spending this time on Berk. And then losing Astrid. He wasn't sure if he could take that. He'd grown to love her so much and then all of a sudden losing her? The thought filled him with fear. As if on cue he felt Astrid's hand tighten around his. He turned to see her and looked straight into her eyes; something was off. She seemed afraid, just like he was.

"Everything alright?" He asked shuffling a bit closer.

"Yeah, I'm just taking it all in, I just went on my first date after all" She replied shuffling closer. Hiccup was very confused at this point. In almost a blink of an eye he went from being at the opposite side of Astrid to having her cuddling next to him. He wasn't gonna complain anytime soon. A nice comfortable silence swept over the car as they both just sat there, embracing each other.

The car slowly stopped Infront of the driveway of a house. Hiccup quickly got out and opened the door for Astrid as she got out, a shy smile creeping out from the corners of her mouth.

"Well, this was nice wasn't?" Hiccup asked as they both slowly walked down the path to the front door.

"I loved tonight." Astrid stopped to look right in his eyes, Hiccup felt his heart skip a bit. As if by instinct he slowly moved closer to her, and she too accepted his request and moved closer. Again, this moment confused Hiccup. The night had gone from the smell of cold air to fresh strawberries as his lips felt warm. Astrid's shampoo wafted itself into his nose as he cupped her cheek, he didn't want this moment to end, ever. It felt as if time had just stopped, and it was just him and her standing there kissing. Almost what felt like a blissful eternity later Astrid broke off.

"Goodnight Hunter." She smiled before going back into her house. Hiccup just slowly turned with a foolish grin etched all over his face and got back into the car. Now that was something he could tell Toothless the next day in school.

The car left the driveway on its way to Hiccup's house. Little did anyone realize the shadow watching from afar, their lives were about to get turned completely upside down...

~o0o~

Author's Note (7th January 2023): Okay so. This took almost 4 whole months to get done. Now I have been extremely busy with exams and just life in general. Being a student is not easy. I'm sorry this took so long so to make it up to you guys I made this chapter extra-long. My long-term aim is to make sure that all my chapters in my stories have nice long content, but it doesn't take so long. I hope you all can forgive me for the massive time gap in writing this story. I'm not gonna make any promises for the next chapter coming out fast, it just honestly depends on my time schedule but don't worry, next chapter is gonna be a banger!

~Peace