Previously:

"Maybe we should contact Zeus and ask him to send Aphrodite back here? She knows where he lives and we have to get it out of her."

The one eyed god sighed. "Aphrodite is playing a game with us, she didn't get what she wanted so now she's making us pay for it. She won't tell us a thing, so bringing her here would be pointless."

"You're right, her pride would never allow it… But Yui can't take care of the child forever either."

"Indeed."

"Let's just hope those two are able to locate the parents." Frigg said and took a sip of her tea. "Anyway, if it's not the child you're concerned about, then what could it be? You should trust your instincts when you feel that something isn't right."

A second later, before Odin could answer his wife, someone knocked on the door to the throne room, causing him to snap out of his thoughts.

"Enter!" He called, loud enough for the person behind the door to hear.

The door opened, revealing a guard dressed in a armor. "I'm sorry to disturb you my king but I'm afraid I have some disturbing news."

Now:

"What is it?" Odin urged the guard, hoping he was holding the answer to what was causing him discomfort.

"My king, my queen." The guard began. "Sisyphus is back."

"Loki-san, I think he's getting cold." Yui smiled awkwardly. Only the boy's head was sticking up from the snow.

"Perhaps I overdid it." Loki admitted, he was still grinning though.

"I should take him inside now." Yui said as she sat down in the snow to dig him out. "I don't want him to catch a cold."

"He'll be fine, the kid loves the snow."

"It doesn't matter if he loves it or not, he can still catch a cold."

"Are all human children weak to cold? If he was immortal like me it would have taken a lot more than this to make him sick."

"Well, all humans get cold but children are more sensitive to it, yes. I thought it was very cold too when I first came here, remember?"

"Yeah, but now it doesn't look like you feel cold at all."

"That's only because I was granted immortality, I'm able to handle the cold better now."

"I wouldn't have minded you being cold, though."

"Huh? Why?"

"Because then I could use my body to warm you up my little kitten!" Loki laughed.

"... J-Just help me dig him out…" Yui blushed.

"Huh? You're not going to argue?"

"..."

Loki's eyes started shining. "You really do want me to warm you up don't you!"

"L-Loki-san!"

"Don't worry, I'll be all yours once the kid is gone!"

"Wha-! N-No Loki-san! I-I didn't mean-!"

Loki only laughed at her reaction.

"Please just help me get him out of the snow already!"

The boy was sitting on Yui's couch with a sippy cup in his hands and a blanket wrapped around his body and was smiling in satisfaction.

"He seems comfortable." Loki commented.

"Saved by the warm blanket." Yui added. "I'm going to make some tea, would you like some?"

Loki sat down next to the boy and smiled childishly. "Yes, please!"

Yui giggled at his behaviour and walked inside the kitchen to prepare tea for the two of them. 'It kind of feels like we're a family.' She thought with a smile as she waited for the water to heat up. But she knew it was only wishful thinking, a future with Loki just seemed too far away right now, even if they had made progress in their growing relationship. Sure, he was spending more time with her than he had in the beginning, but that could as well be because he was trying to make the others even more jealous than they already were.

Flashbacks:

"Let's have dinner together when you get back."

"There's no way I'm going to let you go to sleep cold tonight. You're staying with me."

"You're not going to send her away to some island alone, are you?"

"Wohoo Kitten! Undressing the moment you see me? I feel flattered!"

"I'm definitely not missing a single adventure with you, my dear Kitten."

"Balder can handle her, I'm more interested in hanging out with you."

"Only because I was lonely without you."

"But that's my Kitten you just tainted with those dirty lips of yours."

"Hey, hey, hands off! Don't touch her like that!"

"Don't worry, I'll be all yours once the kid is gone!"

End of flashbacks:

Yui sighed to herself, why did his words affect her so? She walked out of the kitchen with two cups in her hands but what she saw made a small gasp escape her lips. The boy was no longer sitting on the couch, instead he was in Loki's lap and his eyes were closed as he was leaning against his warm body. "That's something I didn't expect." Yui giggled and placed one of the cups on the table in front of the fire god.

"He looked cold… I guess." Loki explained, his cheeks a little red, and took the cup and brought it to his lips.

Yui sat down beside them. "That's right, you're able to warm him with your powers."

Loki placed the cup on the table again and threw her a grin. "I can warm you too if you want."

"Thanks, but I'm fine."

*Knock, knock, knock*

Their heads turned towards the door. "Come in!" Yui called.

The door opened.

Yui looked at the god who had just entered in surprise. "Vidar-san?"

"Yui-san, Loki." Vidar greeted. "Odin and Zeus are gathering everyone, you have to come with me."

"Again? Those two sure like to gather people nowadays." Loki commented.

"It's important." Vidar explained.

"We're coming." Yui told Vidar without hesitation and stood up from the couch. Of course she knew the two rulers wouldn't gather them all if it wasn't something serious.

On their way to Odin's castle they noticed that a lot of gods and goddesses, including ones from Greece and Japan, were heading the same way.

"Damn, it's going to be crowded in there." Loki complained. He was carrying the human kid with one arm, who by the way looked a little uneasy. He was already used to Loki but was still wary of other magical beings.

"If we are that many, then it must really be something important they have to say." Yui pointed out from between Loki and Vidar.

"Stay close Yui-san, we don't want to lose you in there." Vidar told her with his usual calm voice.

"Yes." She answered and turned to Loki. "And please don't lose him either, Loki-san."

"I'm carrying him, where could he possibly go?"

Once they were inside the throne room they managed to find all of their friends, standing in a circle, somewhere in the sea of gods. "Everyone!" Yui called as they made their way towards them.

"Fairy!" Apollon called back when he spotted her together with Loki and Vidar.

"You all came, too?" Loki asked, not sounding very surprised.

"Yes, it was important that we all came." Dionysus answered.

"We've been here since forever, what's taking them so long?" Takeru asked, obviously irritated.

"Totsuka Takeru, we just arrived a few minutes ago." Tsukito pointed out.

"Do any of you know what is going on?" Balder asked.

"We all had to stop what we were doing and come here immediately, that's all I know." Sif replied.

"And that's not always easy to do…" Freyr added.

"Indeed." Hades agreed.

Apollon decided to change the subject. "So, Fairy, how are things going with the child? How is it going?"

"Yes, I see he's still with you. No luck finding his parents?" Dionysus asked, looking at the boy Loki was carrying.

"Things are good but sadly, yes, we haven't found them yet. But I heard Hoenir-san and Tyr-san are looking for them right now." Yui explained.

"Speaking of those two, do you think the message has reached them?" Balder asked. "If not, they're going to miss what Odin and Zeus have to say."

"I will inform them if they won't make it." Vidar assured them.

A deep voice stopped anyone from uttering another word.

"Thank you all for being able to come here on such a short notice but I'm afraid something very serious has occurred." Zeus explained to the crowd.

"Just a little earlier I had a feeling something bad was about to happen and those feelings were confirmed when I was informed what was really happening, so I contacted Zeus and it turned out that he too had just found out about this important matter. We decided to gather you all immediately to inform you about the danger." Odin spoke.

No one dared to say anything, instead they waited patiently for an explanation.

Zeus closed his eyes. "Sisyphus is back."

More than half of the crowd gasped when they heard what Zeus just said. They hadn't heard that name for hundreds of years and yet, they recognized it immediately.

'Sisyphus?' Yui thought. She had no idea who that was and glanced at her friends to see their reactions.

Zeus spoke again. "For those who haven't heard of him, let me explain. A very long time ago Sisyphus was once the human king of Ephyra in Greece. He wasn't a very good king and had a reputation of killing his guests without reason, so we decided to punish him for his actions but he was sly and managed to escape from every punishment we gave him. He was able to trick us on a few occasions but luckily we were able to catch him again. So, as punishment for his trickery, king Sisyphus was made to endlessly roll a huge boulder up a steep hill and was told that if he managed to get the boulder to stay on top of the hill without it rolling back down again, he would be set free."

Odin continued for him. "But then, hundreds of years ago, something we never thought was possible happened." He then turned to Hades and everyone followed his gaze to the god of the underworld.

Hades nodded in Odin's direction and began to explain. "One day when I went to check on him, all I could see was the boulder on top of the hill and Sisyphus was gone."

'So he was actually able to do it?' Yui thought in disbelief as she looked at Hades.

"But the story doesn't end there." Zeus continued. "No one noticed when he was released from his punishment and didn't expect it either, so before he fled he stole an amulet. An amulet which turned him into an ice demon, not a god. He covered half of Mount Olympus in ice before he disappeared and was never seen again."

"And now he was spotted somewhere not far away from here." Odin finished. "We need you all to keep your eyes open and report to us immediately if you see him. He's very dangerous and needs to be captured."

The room was so quiet you could hear a needle fall. But that didn't last for very long before everyone in the room started discussing and argue with each other about this matter. Yui began to feel uneasy and as if on instinct she turned to Loki. "Loki-san." She whispered. Every god and goddess had powers to protect themselves with but she was human and would have to rely on her friends to protect her if she were to bump into this Sisyphus person-human-demon-thing. But it wasn't just her, she feared for the boy's safety as well.

Loki looked down at her as if he knew what was going on in her head.

"Do you know what he is after?" An unknown god asked.

"We do not I'm afraid but he might as well be back for revenge." Zeus answered him.

"Wait, I've got an idea!" Another god Yui didn't know spoke up.

"Speak." Odin ordered.

"Why not let our human talk to him?"

The room got very quiet as everyone stared at the god who had just suggested the crazy idea.

"Are you referring to Kusanagi?" Zeus asked, frowning at him.

Yui's eyes widened and her friends looked like they would attack the god for even suggesting such a thing. "No way in hell!" "Forget it!" "No way, no way!" Takeru, Loki and Apollon exclaimed.

"Calm yourselves." Odin spoke before he turned his attention back to the other god. "Why?"

"Sisyphus was once human, right? Kusanagi was the only one who was able to look after the human child the right way, she could do it because she knows humans better than anyone here. If she was able to calm the little boy down, then perhaps she can do the same with Sisyphus? That way we can avoid unnecessary conflicts with him."

"I will not allow it!" Loki shouted in the stupid god's direction and handed Yui the boy.

"Loki-san?" Yui whispered as she took the stressed child and held him close.

"I don't know how you came up with such a stupid idea but sending Yui to her death is out of the question!" Loki yelled as he took a few steps towards him.

"Why the hell not? It's worth a shot is it not? A small sacrifice."

His statement made most of the crowd see red, especially Yui's closest friends. "Sacrifice! ?" Freyr and Takeru exclaimed in both anger and shock.

But before her friends could say anything else, the gods and goddesses inside the crowd surprised them by uttering exactly what was on their minds. "She's not a sacrifice!" "Have you forgotten the human is one of us now?" "You don't sacrifice one of your own!" "Throw him out of here!" "She's a good human." "I like her, many of us do." "Where is your pride as a god? !" "Shame on you!" "Let's sacrifice you instead!"

The shouts continued to echo through the throne room. "Everyone…" Yui said quietly, feeling honored that so many stood up for her. Many of the ones who spoke she had only met a few times or only knew her by name and they still wanted to defend her.

"Enough!" Odin told the crowd in a loud voice.

"We will not send Kusanagi to meet Sisyphus, he's not going to listen to her just because she's human. If anything, he's going to try and kill her." Zeus explained.

Loki, who had been staring holes into the foolish god the entire time, turned around and walked back to Yui and placed an arm around her shoulders. His eyes traveled back to the unknown god. "If you want to use her you'll have to go through me first."

"And us." Apollon added and took a step towards them together with the rest of their friends.

Odin and Zeus watched them with interest when the door suddenly flew open and everyone almost jumped, preparing themselves to fight if it was Sisyphus who had made an entrance.

Thankfully it wasn't.

Odin immediately recognized who they were. "Hoenir, Tyr, you're back."

"We heard on our way back that Sisyphus has reappeared and came as fast as we could." Tyr informed them.

"On your way back…" Frigg repeated his words. "Does that mean…?"

"Yes." Hoenir answered. "We have located the parents."

It suddenly felt like a fog had lifted.

Yui let out a sigh of relief and when she looked up again she saw that Hoenir was heading her way. When he stopped in front of her he handed her a note. "The address, Yui-sama."

Yui took a look at the note and then smiled down at the boy who she was now holding with one arm. "Hear that, little guy? You can go home now."

The boy looked up at her and seemed to understand what she had meant and threw her a big smile. "I'm going to miss you though." She smiled sadly.

"My king!" A guard screamed as he ran inside the room together with a female guard. "Sisyphus has been spotted!"

"What? Where? !"

"Near the mountains about 5 miles from here!"

"You who can fight, follow us!" Zeus shouted as he and Odin hurried to follow the two guards out the door. Warrior gods immediately followed but so did many others who had experience in fighting, even those who hadn't wanted to prove their worth.

It didn't take long before most of the gods had left. "I'm going, too." Hades said and prepared to leave. If they managed to catch Sisyphus then he needed to be there and take him back to the underworld with him. "We're going with you, Hades-san!" Dionysus called and together with Takeru, Tsukito, Freyr, Sif and Thor he followed after his uncle. Only Loki, Balder, Apollon and Freyja seemed a little reluctant to go. None of them were looking Yui in the eye but she knew exactly what was going on. "You should go as well." She told them. "I'll be fine."

"But Yui-san…" Balder began.

"I'll go to Japan right away. Now when we know where the boy's family is I can take him there. And besides, I'll probably be more safe in the human world, right? So you don't have to worry about me."

"Are you sure, sweetheart?" Freyja asked, still feeling quite unsure.

"Go." Yui smiled at them. "I'll be alright."

"Alright Fairy, be careful and we'll see you later." Apollon smiled back at her.

"Let's go." Freyja urged and headed for the door with Apollon and Balder close behind.

Loki didn't move.

"Loki-san?"

He didn't look at her, instead he placed a hand on top of her head. "I'll be back."

Yui started blushing but she still smiled sweetly at him. "Be careful."

"...Yeah."

Then he was gone and Yui was left alone in the throne room with the kid.

Yui was letting the kid walk on his own, taking their time as they headed for her cottage. She knew she had to part with him eventually, he didn't belong here, he belonged with his family on earth. She let out a small sigh, cursing herself for really starting to like the boy.

He was walking a little bit ahead of her, stopping a little now and then to pick up some snow into his tiny hands. Yui smiled down at him, also stopping whenever he did. The streets were empty, most of the gods had went with Odin and Zeus to go look for the ice demon and those who hadn't were inside their homes. That was something she had to do as well, go inside. "Come on kid, let's get you home." She told him as she picked him up, she couldn't waste any more time.

The road she was following wasn't covered in snow anymore so it was much easier to walk on, everything else around it was still covered in a thick layer of snow though.

Once they were inside her warm cottage she put the kid down and sat down on her knees to help him remove his jacket, he needed to change into the clothes he was wearing the day Aphrodite found him, but before she could, she noticed he was staring at something. "What is it?" She asked and looked to the side to see what he was looking at.

Her eyes traveled to a tall figure by the doorway to her bedroom.

Her eyes widened. There stood a man, no, a demon with white and almost shiny skin, he was dressed in only a black loincloth and in his hand he was holding a staff of some kind and it looked like it was made of ice. The top of the staff looked uncomfortably sharp, just like his white claws. His hair not only looked like ice taps but it was literally made of ice as well, his green eyes were the only things that looked human.

Yui slowly stood back up and moved so that she was blocking the boy from the demon's eyes. She didn't dare to utter a word though, she knew exactly who it was who was in front of her.

After a short moment of silence she finally spoke. "Sisyphus… right?"

The ice demon stared at her for a few seconds before his mouth turned into a grin and when he opened it to speak she could clearly see that he had fangs instead of normal teeth. "Yui… right?"

A/N: And so it begins ;) 3 days until next chapter!