HI! Thanks for the reviews , Fall Angel, Abby, Susan and Urd-chan! Hope you like the next chapter!
Declaimer: I don't own them, ok?
Chapter 02
Hilda went inside the ball room, she was in a dizzy state, she didn't believe what she was going to do. She approached the table where her father and William were talking, both men stood up when she appeared.
"Sorry for interrupt you, but father, I'd like to talk to you in private" She said, William inclined her head to them and retreated. Hilda took a seat beside her father.
"Did you think about William's proposal?" Royce asked.
"Yes, although I think you should have told me about it... I think it's a good alliance for our country and family and... I accept it" Hilda answered. Her father laughed, very pleased and embraced her tightly, she let him kiss her cheek and both stood up. Royce signalled William to come, and the young man was there in a moment.
"I've got wonderful news! Hilda decided to become your wife!" He said cheerfully, William smiled very pleased. Then got close to Hilda and kissed her hand.
"You won't regret it, I swear" William told her, Hilda just nodded. Fler came running and hugged her sister.
"Oh, Hilda, I'm so happy for you, you're very lucky, Lord William seems to be a great man, he will make you happy... and I'll have little nephews too!" Fler said, Hilda blushed furiously.
In the altar, Odin's statue glowed strangely bright, and the seven sapphires that were in his crown mysteriously started to levitate. The seven stars, with Polaris, shinned brightly upon the blue little stones. Suddenly they flew to seven directions, and stopped exactly in the places were the God Warriors rested.
A very powerful voice, that only those with a pure heart could hear, call the seven names of the men who protected Hilda once.
"Honourable god warriors, listen to my order, raise from the dead and come back to the world of the living, your guarded one needs you again..."
When the voice finished speaking, seven rays of light materialized seven bodies. Each one of them opened their eyes all together.
"Where I am?" Asked one light browned haired and ice blue eyed young man, in other six more places the rest of them were asking the same question.
The ball had ended late in the night, everybody was exhausted, and king Royce told his servants retire for thenight, they gladly thanked him and disappeared, Fler was overjoyed, and Hilda had to almost kick her out of her room.
"Al last alone" Sighed the young maiden, she wasn't that happy, she knew that it would be very hard for her to fall in love with lord William, but she'd do her best. Hilda undressed and put her nightdress on, it was thick and warm, then slipped into her bed.
Half an hour passed, and the poor Hilda couldn't sleep, she tossed and turned in the bed till she couldn't bear it anymore, she got up and went down stairs to the large library.
When she got there, the first thing she did was light a fire in the fireplace, then sat down in the comfy armchair that was in front of the fire, like always, the night was cold, very freezing. Hilda stared at the figures the fire formed when licking the firewood, it soothed her soul and she was falling asleep, when she heard a strange noise, it was like someone was entering the castle, worse, he was approaching to the library. Hilda tried to calm herself, who the hell would be wandering in the castle at this late hour in the night?
The steps stopped as they began, without a noise, Hilda relaxed again and thought it must be a servant retrieving something he had forgotten. She closed her blue violet eyes again and thought about nothing. The moment she could sleep she dreamed about her warriors, especially about one of them, the closer one to her, his ice blue eyes were a little sad, Hilda wanted to get near him but the most she ran, the most he withdrew.
Hilda was restless, her head went from one side to the other, she whispered the name of Sigfried all the time. There were someone beside her, watching her restless sleep, his eyes were full of wonderment when he heard his name coming from his princess' soft lips. He caressed her face gently, trying to sooth her, she calmed down a little and opened her eyes.
"Sigfried? You came back, don't ever leave me again..." She said then fell asleep again, he smiled tenderly and picked her up in his arms, she was slimmer than the last time he had seen her, and paler too, he didn't like this sudden change at all.
"Don't worry, my beloved princess, I won't let you down ever again" He whispered in her ear, Hilda smiled while snuggling comfortable in his arms, Sigfried carried her to her room and laid her on the bed. He covered her with a thick blanket, and then sat down on the floor, at her side.
Hilda woke up early in the morning, she had had that dream again, she was getting tired of it, it was too depressing, she sat up and stretched the stiff muscles of her back and neck, she hadn't noticed the light brown haired man who was sleeping sat on the floor.
Hilda took out the blankets and when she was going to put her feet on the cold floor she saw Sigfried.
"Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!" The girl screamed at the top of her lungs, Sigfried jumped and was in fighting stance in a second, but relaxed when he saw the perplex and frightened look in Hilda's eyes.
"Are you ok, princess?" He said, getting on his knees, Hilda was speechless, her heart was beating wildly, it couldn't be possible, Sigfried was dead, it must be a dream.
Sigfried frown a little when he noticed the strange way Hilda was staring at him.
"You must be a dream or a hallucination, you're not real" Hilda said, trying to convinced herself, she laughed like a mad woman and let her body fall down against the soft mattress again.
"Good night" Hilda whispered and rolled to the opposite side of Sigfried. He was a little shocked at first, but then he laughed softly and sat on the bed.
"I'm not an illusion, princess, so please, get up, you're late for breakfast" He said, touching gently her shoulder. And now Hilda really jumped from her bed two metres away and was pointing at Sigfried with an accusing finger.
"You are NOT Sigfried! You're someone who's trying to make fun of me, but you know, you'll be arrested for that!" She yelled, Sigfried sighed, his mistress hadn't changed that much.
"Alright, tell me how I can convince you I AM Sigfried, I was brought back to life last night by our God, Odin. So, please, I'm not here to make fun of you in any way, besides, I think the rest of the warriors must be with the king now" He quietly answered, she thought about it for a while and then looked straight at his eyes.
"If you are Sigfried, then you must know what my sister used to play with you and Hagen, when we were kids, if you really remember that, I'll believe you are who you say you are" She said, crossing her arms over her breasts. He smiled sweetly and stood up.
"Right, it's easy, princess Fler and Hagen liked playing the tale of dragons and knights, and you can imagined who was the villain... me of course" He answered, still smiling at the remembrance. Hilda was frozen in her place, but then smiled a really big smile and ran to Sigfried.
"Oh, Sigfried, it's really you, I can't believe it!" She said, running to embrace him with too much force, the poor guy did not expected it and fell down on the floor, trying to catch Hilda. She was so happy she couldn't bear it, her best friend and guardian was back.
Sigfried hold her softly too, he wasn't allowed to touch the princess in any way, it was the first time he could embrace Hilda, and he liked it. She let him go when she realised in the position they were, it wasn't 'decent', so she blushed furiously and tried to get up, Sigfried was a little flushed too, and in a second he was on his feet again, taking Hilda with him.
"S-sorry, I-I think I was a little overjoyed" Hilda apologised, Sigfried nodded and scratched his nape, it was a habit he had when he was nervous or uncomfortable.
"I-it's alright" He told her, Hilda smiled.
"Well, I guess I'll wait for you downstairs, I'd like to speak with the king" He said and left Hilda alone, she needed to change from her nightgown by the way, but her brain wasn't working really good now. Her maid Brigitte came that right moment and knocked the door. Hilda went to open it almost automatically, Brigitte came in really overexcited.
"Milady did you heard! The God Warriors are here and alive! Sigfried too!" The old maid said, almost jumping in one foot. Hilda smile and nodded.
"Yes, I know, Sigfried came here a while ago and almost scared the life out of me, you should have seen his face when I called him an impostor" Hilda told her, laughing. Brigitte laughed too, happy to see Hilda laughing again, Sigfried didn't know how happy he had made all of them.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ o ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sigfried went to the throne room and found the other six warriors already there, king Royce wasn't there yet.
"Sigfried! Where were you? We are in the castle since early in the morning" Asked Cid, greeting their leader. The rest of them were glad that Sigfried was back too.
"I was with princess Hilda, she almost fainted when she saw me this morning, but she's alright now" Sigfried answered, smiling.
"Well, it's good they don't think we're fake warriors, that really would worry me" Said Mime, walking to one of Sigfried's sides.
The rest of them just waited for the king to appear, and Royce didn't make them wait too much. He entered the room and was surprised to see all of them alive, but he was content too. Fler was shocked, but in a second was running to embraceHagen. The poor boy was blushing when Fler let him go, he didn't dare to hold her back because of the king staring at them.
"Fler! You shouldn't do that, it's not correct" Said the king, Fler pouted and went to sit at her father's side, in that moment, Hilda went into the room and smiled at the rest of her warriors, then took her sit at the opposite side.
"I'm glad you are all back, Asgard will be safe again with you guarding it" said the king, the warriors knelt down and Sigfried spoke in name of all of them.
"We're glad to be back too, if you give us permission, we'll resume our duties from today"
The king nodded, then some servants came to escort them to their rooms. But three of them, Sigfried, Hagen and Thor stayed. Thor got near the king again and asked him if he could return to his home village, he felt more at home in there, the king agreed and Thor left immediately.
"Hagen! Let's go for a walk, I want to collect some flowers!" Fler told him,Hagennodded and followed the blond girl, Sigfried laughed seeing the resignation inHagen's face, Hilda shook her head and smile too.
"Well, I guess I could eat some breakfast now, Do you want to join us, Sigfried?" Asked Royce, but Hilda spoke before Sigfried could answer.
"Sorry, father, but I need to go to pray, and I'd like Sigfried to accompany me" She said.
"Alright, go then, but don't be too late for lunch, your betrothed is coming to eat with us" The king said and retired. Sigfried was pinned to the floor, his eyes were large with surprise... Hilda... engaged!