It has been a long time since I updated; I'm sorry for the long wait!

I hope you will enjoy this chapter!

teamBLAZE: kinda like that, yes ^^

Disclaimer: Parts of this chapter are inspired from Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson instalments. I'm not Rick Riordan. You'll know when you get there.

The dish fell onto the wooden floor and shattered. Reine held her chest, gasping in pain, while using her other arm to support her against the sink.

"Reine!"

Reine could feel Gwen's cold hands against her sweating skin. "I'm… fine…" she managed to say. "Just…"

"Geez… you're not!" she chided. "Let's go to the bedroom."

Gwen helped her sister towards their room. Just as Reine sat down on the edge of the bed, someone knocked on their door impatiently. Reine gently let Gwen's hand off her shoulder. "Open the door, I… I'll be fine."

Gwen nodded and ran lightly towards the door. It was Rod, panting heavily.

"Is Reine there?"

"Yes, why?"

"Neil got into an accident!"

Reine stood still as she looked at Neil, unconscious on the clinic's bed with a missing arm and half of a leg. Everyone else was looking at her, worried about how she would take it, but Reine was a master in concealing her emotions herself. The pinkette looked up at Klaus. "So… when is he going to wake up?"

"Probably in a few hours," Klaus replied. "But, be mindful that he will be in a lot of pain."

She nodded thoughtfully. "An accident… how did that happen?"

Everyone's eyes were then directed at Hana. The elderly woman was at loss as to what she should say: Neil was trying to separate his Thread of Fate from Reine's? How could she say that when Reine was the one asking her? Why did he try to do that in the first place? Well, there was what her sisters was saying… the arm which stretched out to be her sword and the leg which stood tall to be her shield… he was trying to protect her… from what?

Even for Hana, there were too many unknowns.

"I… couldn't say," she finally said.

Reine didn't press for answers. There was no use of knowing why—or at least she thought so for the time being. She looked at Gwen. "Go home."

"You're going to stay here?" Gwen knew it was a dumb question. "You were in pain!"

"I'm fine," Reine insisted. "Go home."

Gwen gazed at her sister. Her face suggested nothing of her emotions, but that only made her worry even more. "Reine…"

Gwen went home accompanied by Rod with a lot rushing through her mind. Neil and Reine… she had honestly thought that it would be a mere fling; two lonely souls attracted to each other. However, she saw the look in her sister eyes when she saw Neil's current condition. It was not one of repulsion; it was the same kind of eyes that had watched over her when she was the one lying helplessly on a similar kind of bed. It was the gentleness Reine had managed to hide from most—the most vulnerable part of her sister that she might not even ready to admit it herself.

"How could it be…?" she murmured.

"I think the lady doth thinks too much," a voice snapped her out of her thoughts. Gwen looked up and she could see Allen's deep red hair glowed under the moonlight. His steel blue eyes looked even sharper in the night as well, and his pale skin seemed to blend well in the dark surrounding.

Allen jumped down and landed in front of Gwen and Rod. "Allen! Have you heard—"

"That stupid shit? Of course," Allen shrugged. "I'm still perplexed on how stupid he could be."

Rod pouted. He could understand why Allen could be this cynical, but Neil was still the one who saved his life. This was one tough position to be in.

The vampire's features relaxed. "That's why, I think he needs your companion more than this lady," he said understandingly. "Your instincts told you the same, I bet."

"But…"

He put a sassy hand on his hip and made a sweeping motion with his free hand. Normally, it would make a man looked like a sissy, but somehow with Allen that gesture could retain its sass without de-masculinizing him. "No one would dare to approach what a vampire guards… especially when the vampire is me," Allen smirked.

Rod relented. He muttered a quick goodbye to them and headed back to the clinic.

"What are you doing at this time?"

"Hunting."

Gwen grimaced when she imagined the gruesome scenery of Allen and his feast. "How often do you… eat?"

"Depends on what I managed to get the last time," Allen replied. "The bigger the game was, it would sustain me longer. Average would be two weeks."

"I see…"

"I'm touched by your interest in my lifestyle," Allen smirked playfully. "But we don't have to talk about things that make you feel uncomfortable, you know. It would be against my principle to distress a lady."

Gwen nodded absent-mindedly as Allen was amazed at her apparent disinterest, and lack of fear, in him.

They walked alongside the fading moon. Glancing at her side profile, Allen couldn't help but to think about her: the blazing flame he tried to seal away in his immortal, cold heart. With hindsight, everything happened during that one night, with a question she posed at him at a night just like this.

The moon is beautiful, isn't it?

Even now he could not fathom why she asked such a question during a fading moon. Similarly, he could not see how something so ephemeral, like a human, could be so beautiful that it hurts. Then again, he felt it, enough to know that it was real.

The flame still burned in his heart.

Neil woke up to a burning pain in his injured arm and leg. His body felt unbelievably warm, too. He groaned in pain.

He heard a rustling sound coming from his side and then there was something soft and cold pressed against his forehead lightly. It didn't make his pain go away, but at least more bearable. Neil opened his eyes carefully and saw Reine looking over him.

"W…What are you…?"

"Save your breath," she cut him off. "I want to be here."

Neil remembered Mark's warning: every time your hearts are open to each other… your power will reach you back…

"Don't," he warned. "Don't…"

He grabbed Reine's hand and glared at her. "Leave."

"Why?"

It was a dumb question, she knew. It was not the first time; Gwen shooed her away after her head was shaved bald a few years ago. She did that, too, when she learned that she had lost her left eye. It was normal, she had learned, for people to just shut everyone else while they fell to their lowest point. She should have known better than to hurt him even further. But still, It was then the pain assaulted her again. Reine gripped her chest and gasped for air. Neil held his breath.

Dammit!

Neil tried to reach out to catch her, forgetting his own condition. In the end, he fell down from the bed and tangled himself in the IV line connected to his remaining arm.

He remembered what one of those hags told him:

The arm which stretched out to be her sword and the leg which stood tall to be her shield… we shall take them away.

Right, he thought bitterly as he looked at his maimed arm and leg. Now I'm no more than a burden.

He glanced at her; it was faint, but he could hear her breathing. She still had some time left, although he had no way knowing how long.

"Dammit…"

Suddenly, he felt another presence in the room. He looked up and saw a woman, dressed in a sleek magenta dress with golden clasps on her shoulders. Her long hair was light colored, while her eyes were soft green. She was carrying a folded fan in her hands. She smiled at him. "Who are you?" he asked.

"Oh, dear, you called for me yet you don't know me?"

"I didn't call for anyone."

"You did," she chuckled. "When you felt helpless while wanting to save her… out of your love."

Neil narrowed his eyes as the lady walked slowly towards him. "I am Aphrodite, the goddess of love," she declared. "Your heart reached out to me."

"I don't exactly subscribe to Greek beliefs."

Aphrodite made an audible 'tsk tsk' sound while unfolding her fan and fanned it lightly for a short while before folding it again, all done in one smooth motion. "You say that when you approached Hana's house to tamper with your threads."

"That's…"

"It's okay, it's not a treason, so to speak… many ways to Rome, they say these days."

"What are you doing here?"

She laughed. There was something in her voice—either the lightness, the melody, or whatever—that almost made him fell for her, like I'll-do-anything-for-you kind of fall. Almost.

"First thing first," she pointed her folded fan at him. Slowly, Neil was lifted on from the ground back to his bed, untangled from the IV line. After that, Aphrodite moved Reine to a nearby chair and positioned her in a sitting position. "Okay, this is much better."

When it came to Greek deities, Neil's mind immediately went to Hana. Did Hana call for Aphrodite or something? Is this the real Aphrodite—well, she didn't seem to look like her statues.

"Do you know the saying… beauty is in the eyes of the beholder?" Aphrodite asked, as if reading his mind. "Likewise, my appearance is based on what you deem to be beautiful."

Oh…

"Anyways, let's get to business, shall we?" the goddess walked towards his side. "I can't return your limbs because they're taken by the Fates, but I can do something about your lover."

Neil studied her carefully. She seemed to be sincere, but there was something else in her eyes that caught him. Was it sadness? A look of longing?

"I'll sustain her," Aphrodite offered. "Until she reached the average mortality age for humans these days."

"That's… very generous of you," Neil replied. "What do I have to do in return?"

Aphrodite smiled. There was a mix of melancholy and mischief in her smile; it sounded impossible, but she pulled it off. "Be with me."

"What?!"

"I'll keep her alive if you agree to spend your existence with me," Aphrodite repeated. "Of course I will let you wander to mortal realm, but nowhere inside the Mist that protected this town… and her, of course."

"Am I supposed to keep this deal a secret from her?"

"That's your choice," the goddess replied. "I will give you some time to recuperate and be with her… but I need your answer now."

Neil closed his eyes and took a deep breath. It didn't take him long to get his answer. If this was what it took to keep her alive…

Besides, he knew that someone else would surely keep her safe.

"Alright."

Rod held his breath. He had heard all of the exchange quietly behind the door. The werewolf was aware that Neil probably picked up on his presence. The fact that Neil didn't bust him out meant that he must have wanted him to know about it. He swore he could hear Neil's voice even if only in his head:

Take care of Reine.

Stay tuned for the next chapter!

Thanks for reading! Please rate and review ^^