Author's note: I don't see too many tasteful stories out there with Hilda in them, and I have yet to see one with her as the main character. I cannot accept this! Since she's so pivotal to the story, and since she really didn't get a whole lot of star time to herself, I decided to undergo the daunting task of writing out a theory of what her life might have been like, from birth to her appearance on Outlaw Star. Since she's a free outlaw, Hilda (and Outlaw Star) doesn't belong to me.

The Life and Times of Hot Ice Hilda

By Al Kristopher

This story is dedicated to Tabitha Jay Burton, who is like the big sister I never had.

Part One: Clotho

Chapter One: Birth Day

When a man and a woman join together in marriage, it is said that they become one flesh. This is true, but for some people, this meaning is more significant to them than others. For some people, the vows of "til death do us part" are very real and very serious, and to those people, the best of what life has to offer is given to them--along with the worst. Take one man who will remain anonymous. From this moment onward, his name will be Klaus, Klaus Fenril.

While attending a school for business, Klaus Fenril met a woman who will also be anonymous. Her name, from this point onward, will be Jill, Jill White. Klaus Fenril and Jill White met in a college that tutored business to its students, and they grew together in love, as many men and women do. They married after graduation day, and took the vows of "til death do us part" quite seriously. Klaus and Jill even shed blood over the pact, so dedicated were they to the wedding.

Five years passed for Klaus and Jill Fenril. In this span of time, they grew to love each other, and they grew to argue as all couples do. They made love on romantic starry nights, and had verbal battles over the bills and mortgages. They seduced each other and shunned each other, they went on exotic vacations and grew headaches from managing a difficult budget, and they stayed together until death parted them.

A night of lovemaking produced pregnancy in the Fenrils, and so for the usual gestation period of nine months, Klaus Fenril had to live inside of a home with an angel and a devil. Jill White Fenril the angel was a gorgeous woman, bright as the sun, and giddy over the prospect of becoming a mother; however, Jill White Fenril the devil was a raging tornado of mood swings, bizarre appetites, hormonal imbalances, and a weak self-esteem. It was nine months of Paradise for the fortunate Klaus, and nine months of Punishment for the unfortunate man. In short, it was just a normal pregnancy.

The nine months passed as all periods of time do, in a slow but ever-constant motion. The months then transformed into weeks, which like the contractions that Jill was having, were becoming longer and more fierce as time went on. The weeks turned to days, and on one particular cloudy afternoon, the days became dreadful, long hours.

Jill was ready--or, to be more precise, the baby was ready. Klaus, trying to keep his head above it all, took her to the most reliable hospital in their vicinity. Along the way, he sang comforting songs, and allowed his wife to scream to her heart's content. When they arrived, a team of good doctors took over the helm, and like a ballet, they swept Jill into a bed and began their duty.

Klaus, in the meantime, gave his whole heart and strength in support, and the ancient drugs used took off a little more pain. Jill, in the eyes of her husband, never looked more serene or lovely than she was now, even though her face was covered in perspiration and her mouth emitted out shrieks. She was both angel and devil in one, and despite her occasional cursing, Klaus loved her very much.

Many hours passed, but at long last, the very first junior Fenril came into the world, wailing as all babies did. Doctors took the infant in their arms, and Klaus performed the operation that all fathers do after pregnancy. The young one, a boy, was then washed and cleaned and delivered to Klaus. They did not give the boy to his mother, for she was still in labor.

A second child came into the world ten minutes later, the boy's twin. This child wailed as well as it was brought into the cold hospital room, and Klaus performed the operation again. He was now the father of a beautiful set of twins: the eldest, his son, he named Joshua Horace Fenril. The younger, his daughter, he named Hilda Maye Fenril.

Marriage vows took a grave turn that day. Even as two new lives entered into the world, one was taken from it. Because of such pain she experienced during childbirth, Jill White Fenril died, leaving her husband a widower and a new father all in the same day. The two babies, the twins Joshua and Hilda, never got the chance to know who their mother was: they never knew her favorite song, or her best cooking, or how she sounded, and what her touch felt like. They would never be able to see her smile, or yell at them for a mistake. Never would they know what sort of hopes and dreams she had for them, and what she had dreamed of doing in the future.

And so, on the fourteenth day of October, in a year unknown, Hilda was born.