Previously:

"Look, it's probably nothing. Even if it isn't a cold she's still unwell, right? Perhaps she doesn't know what it is she's coming down with herself and just assumed it's a cold. I'm sure we'll find out what it is soon." Balder calmed his friends.

"You are probably right, Balder." Loki said. "I'm going to give her these books and let her rest."

"That's good, Loki-Loki." Apollon smiled. "You really do care after all." Balder pointed out. "Loki Laevatein is very thoughtful." Tsukito added.

"After I have had some fun with her!" Loki grinned and picked up the pace.

His three friends stopped in their tracks and stared after him with their mouths open.

"Loki-Loki!" Apollon called after him as they started running.

"I don't think that's what Yui-san needs right now!" Balder shouted.

"Loki Laevatein is not a thoughtful god." Tsukito stated.

Now:

Yui wasn't feeling good, she wasn't feeling good at all. She felt dizzy, weak and tired. The moment she sat down on the bed an uncomfortable feeling washed over her and she couldn't stand back up. She had been so motivated before she was able to continue on but now, it felt like all of her energy was leaving her body. 'Is it because I'm starting to lose hope?' She thought. She was just sitting quietly on the bed with her eyes closed and tried to focus on taking deep breaths.

"Having a hard time?"

Startled, Yui opened her eyes. She had almost forgotten she and Sisyphus were connected and could talk to her through telepathy. "Sisyphus." Was all she could get out.

"No luck in finding a cure I see, and you're running out of time."

"Go away."

"Now, now, don't be like that, sweetheart. You should be proud you were actually able to find people who were willing to help you."

Yui chose not to comment on that. There was something far more important she wanted to talk to him about. "... The boy, how is he?"

"He looks cold but other than that he's fine. For now. I'm getting tired of him so you better hurry."

"Please, can't you let him go? He's just a child."

"Not gonna happen, it's way too much fun watching you fight so desperately for him. Meeting with a dragon was a really bold move and almost got you killed after all."

"Listen to me, I know things didn't end up the way you wanted before when you were still human but why must you take your anger out on others?"

"..."

"Getting jealous of me for being allowed to live here is not an excuse for wanting to kill me."

"..."

"I know you were a king before and could basically do whatever you wanted but that's not how the world works. You can't just point at something and expect to get it without having to work for it. I wouldn't have been allowed to live here myself if I didn't deserve it."

"I'm getting tired of your voice, Yui. Trying to make me change my mind won't work. Enjoy the time you have left before it's too late."

Then the connection broke.

Good timing, because the front door just opened and Yui had to hurry and clear her thoughts. 'Loki-san must be back with the books.' She was getting a headache now too and felt like throwing up.

"Loki-Loki, don't do anything stupid!"

"Think about how Yui-san feels!"

"She needs to rest."

'Three voices… he brought company.' Yui thought.

A second later Loki ran into her bedroom with all of the books. "Hellooo Kitten! Your servant here has brought you- What the hell? You alright?"

Apollon, Balder and Tsukito hurried after him into the room.

Yui looked up at them from where she was sitting on the bed with tired eyes. "I'm alright."

"Oh no you're not alright." Balder frowned and walked up to her while Loki placed the books on the floor.

"Fairy, you look so pale." Apollon said, concerned.

"And tired." Tsukito added.

Balder caressed her hair gently and Loki moved to stand in front of her. Yui looked up at the god of fire, unsure of what to say.

"You look worse than you did before." Loki pointed out.

"I feel sick to my stomach." Yui admitted.

"I go get water." Tsukito offered and turned to leave. Apollon followed him. "And I go get a bucket in case you have to throw up."

Yui smiled at them as they left. "Thank you."

"Anything else you need?" Balder asked.

Yui thought for a moment. "Umm, if it's not too much trouble, a cup of tea would be nice."

"Of course." Balder smiled down at her. "I'll go make it right away."

Once Balder had left it was only Yui and Loki left in the room.

"Thanks for the books, Loki-san. Now I have something to do while I'm sick."

"No problem Kitten." Loki said and took her hand in his. "It feels like you're getting colder."

"..." Yui didn't know how to answer to that.

Then, Loki placed his other hand on her cheek. "Seems like your whole body is cold."

Yui started blushing, then she smiled and leaned against his hand as she closed her eyes. "But you're warm."

Loki's eyes widened a little but he didn't remove his hand.

"Am I interrupting?"

Yui opened her eyes and Loki looked to the side and saw Tsukito in the doorway with a glass of water and quickly let go of her.

"Of course not, why would you think that?" Loki asked sarcastically.

"You just seemed rather comfortable with each other." Tsukito stated calmly.

Loki's face almost turned red from embarrassment. "I was just checking her temperature!" Apollon and Balder entered the room. "There's no way I would have touched her otherwise!"

The room got uncomfortably quiet.

"Umm, the tea is almost ready…" Balder informed awkwardly.

Apollon rubbed his head with his free hand. "And… here's the bucket…"

Tsukito walked up to Yui and held out the glass. "Here you go."

Yui tried her best to smile and took the glass from him. "Thank you, Tsukito-san…"

A minute passed before Balder broke the silence. "I go check on the tea!"

"Y-Yeah, you do that!" Apollon smiled uncomfortably.

Yui threw a look at Loki but noticed he was looking away from her and looked down at the floor. Tsukito noticed this and took out a hair pin with cherry blossoms from his kimono and placed it in her hair, making her look up at him in confusion. Apollon and Loki turned to look at them. "You look pretty, Kusanagi Yui." Tsukito said with a small smile.

This made Yui blush, he was trying to cheer her up. She touched the hair pin gently and smiled. "It's for me?"

"I took it with me because I thought it would look good on you."

"That's so sweet of you."

For some reason Loki didn't like what he saw and frowned at the two.

Balder then came back with the tea. "It's done no- ...Wow, you look so beautiful in that, Yui-san!" He exclaimed when he saw her.

"She does, she does!" Apollon agreed. "Tsuki-Tsuki gave it to her!"

The sweet moment didn't last longer than that because a familiar and very painful sensation washed over the human woman on the bed. She tried to stand up as elegantly as she could and looked at her friends. "Thank you so much for everything guys but… I really feel like I need to sleep now."

"Oh! Of course, Yui-san!" Balder exclaimed.

Apollon grabbed Tsukito's arm and pulled him towards the bedroom door. "Get well soon, Fairy!"

"I will, thanks again." She smiled at them.

Loki followed his friends as they left but looked a little sceptical. He could have sworn he saw fear in Yui's eyes for a second before she stood and asked them to leave. He also noticed she rose from the bed pretty carefully, as if it was painful to move or something.

Yui continued to smile and followed them to the front door and waved at them as they walked down the road. Then she closed the door, turned around and leaned against it for support. The ice was spreading, but thanks to the star-shaped stone Regin had made for her she was able to handle the pain better. She still had to force herself to stay focused, though. Once the ice stopped moving she could point out exactly where it was. The one on her stomach had passed right over her belly button and had continued down sideways a few inches towards the left side of her waist. The line that went under her armpit and continued towards her back had stopped right after it had passed her spine. The one on her left shoulder had continued down her shoulder blade and had become one with the line that was already there and then continued down a few inches. And the last line right below her throat was now, sadly, at a place where everyone could see it. It had traveled all the way up her throat, went a little sideways and stopped right below her left cheek. She would have to wear a scarf from now on if she didn't want the others to see but she knew it would be almost impossible to hide it once it had traveled up her cheek.

'Thank goodness they left before they saw it spread.' She thought and slowly walked towards her bedroom. 'First I'm going to read a little, then I'm going to sleep and then I'm leaving.'


The next day, when it was still pretty dark outside, Yui had left the village once again. She was wearing the same dress as yesterday but this time a black and pretty thin scarf was covering her neck and throat. And this time, she didn't forget the necklace Zeus had given her so she could teleport herself home. She was heading for the same forest she had met the elves and Otr, hoping she could find Einar again and ask for his help. With her, in the pocket of her dress, were two small bottles. One contained just a quarter of the dragon's blood she had brought home with her, in the other bottle was the rest.

Two things had caught her interest while she was reading yesterday. The Greek goddess she had read about before, the one with healing powers, didn't seem to have any connection with other gods. Her name was Iaso and she was the Greek goddess of recuperation from illness. Perhaps she could help her in some way? The other thing was the Centaur named Chiron. Centaurs had the upper body of a human and the lower body of a horse and were known to be wild and violent but the one named Chiron was kind and known for his knowledge and skill with medicine. At least that was what she had read about him. They were her only hope right now but to get to them she would need a portal that could take her to the Greek gods and Einar was just the right elf to do it. If he accepted her payment that is…

She looked pretty stiff as she walked, the ice around her body made sure of it. She wanted to find him as quickly as possible but sadly, she was unable to walk any faster and if she overworked herself she would start bleeding again.

When she finally made it to the forest the sun was up and she felt exhausted. Now she would have to enter and hope Einar was close by. 'Oh no, I'm getting dizzy…' Yui thought and tried to walk towards a tree so she could support herself but soon found herself falling backwards instead.

Two strong arms caught her from behind and she groaned out of pain as she felt pressure on the ice.

"You don't look well." The one who had caught her said.

Yui smiled weakly when she realised who it was. "Einar-...san…" She whispered, trying her best to keep her eyes open.

Einar picked her up in his arms carefully so he wouldn't harm her any further. "Forgive me, let me take you inside."


Yui was sitting on a wooden chair inside a cottage in the middle of the summer part of the forest. She didn't remember how they got there because she was half unconscious the whole way, she only regained consciousness once Einar brought her inside his home. It wasn't a big cottage, it was definitely smaller than hers but it still seemed cozy.

"Here you go." Einar said and gave her a glass of water.

"Thank you." Yui smiled and brought the glass to her lips.

Einar took another chair and placed it in front of her before he sat down on it. "Since you're back already I figured you've gotten worse."

"Yes… It started spreading not long after I returned home yesterday. I was lucky none of my friends saw it."

"I see. I'm surprised you were able to come all the way back here, you didn't look well at all."

Yui removed the scarf from her throat. "If it goes any higher I won't be able to hide it…"

Einar reached out his hand and pushed away some of her hair so he could have a better look. "Is it hard to breath?"

"Yes, the ice is restraining me, too."

"I don't wish to scare you but, it doesn't look like you have much time left."

"I know, I can feel my body giving up."

"Are you giving up?"

"No, if I was I wouldn't be here right now." She answered and took out one of the bottles from her pocket. "If this is enough, I would like another portal, to the world of the Greek gods."

Einar stared at her for a moment. "It's not good for you to travel in this state. What are you hoping to find?"

"The Greek goddess Iaso and the centaur named Chiron."

"Can they help you?"

"I only know that they're good with medicine and healing. If I can find them, I can ask."

Einar thought for awhile, then he took the bottle from her and stood up. "The goddess Iaso lives in the forest, like us elves, the portal I make will take you to her house."

Yui looked surprised but happy he was willing to help her again. "Thank you so much, Einar-san."

As Einar prepared a portal Yui struggled to get up from the chair.

"Be careful." Einar said as the human woman slowly made her way towards the portal.

"I will." She replied and was just about to step through the portal when the elf stopped her. "Wait."

Yui turned to look at him.

Einar walked over to his bookshelf, pushed a book out of the way and grabbed something behind it. Then he turned around and walked back to Yui, who was looking at him in confusion "Take this."

"What is it?" Yui asked as she took it from him. It looked like a red piece of candy.

"You will be able to teleport yourself anywhere you want with that. Just think of the place where you want to go and swallow it."

"Einar-san… you're really giving me this?"

"If going to the world of the Greek gods doesn't work out for you you can at least go to one more place."

Yui's eyes began to tear up. "Thank you…"

"Don't mention it, just go."

Yui threw one last smile at him before she turned around and stepped through the portal, leaving Einar alone in the cottage.


It was a beautiful forest Yui had ended up in and a warm feeling washed over her as she looked around. The environment reminded her of earth and it made her calm. When she turned around she came face to face with a house of stone, in fact, she was just about 4 yards from the front door. She had barely studied it for a few seconds when the door opened, revealing who Yui thought was the goddess she was looking for.

The goddess was staring at her in surprise and with her mouth slightly open.

Yui took a good look at the woman as well, she was wearing a white dress and had shoulder-length dark brown hair. She could imagine why the goddess was surprised to see her standing there right in front of her house.

"Who are you?" The goddess asked before Yui had time to introduce herself.

"Umm, I'm sorry, my name is Yui. I'm a human who lives with the Norse gods."

"Alright… and why are you here? Just when I was looking out the window I saw you appear through a portal."

"It's a long story but I came here to seek your help, Iaso-san."

Iaso's eyes traveled down a little and noticed the ice on Yui's throat. Yui had forgotten to wrap the scarf around her neck when she left Einar's cottage, instead it was hanging around her shoulders. "That thing on your throat…"

"I know, that's why I've come to see you."

"Come inside." Iaso told her and walked back into the house, leaving the door open for Yui to follow.

Yui followed the goddess inside and closed the door behind her. When she looked to her right she found Iaso on a chair in the kitchen. "Thank you for having me, Iaso-san." Yui thanked her as she made her way over to her.

"You look like you're about to collapse any moment now, are you alright?" Iaso asked and motioned her to a chair.

Yui sat down carefully before she answered her. "I don't have much time left I'm afraid. I've been cursed."

"I can see that. Who cursed you, Yui-san?"

"I think you might have heard of him, his name is Sisyphus."

Iaso looked shocked. "Sisyphus? Sisyphus is the one who cursed you? Are you sure?"

"Positive."

Iaso moved her chair closer to Yui and took her hand in hers and was just about to say something when she noticed how cold she was. "You are really cold."

"And you're warm, it feels good." Yui answered with a small smile as she looked down at her hands.

"Please, tell me your story."


Yui stood in front of Iaso, naked, as the goddess studied her ice-covered body. After she had told her everything that had happened Iaso had asked her if she could have a look at her, to see if there was anything she could do and Yui had to remove her dress so she could have a proper look. "I'm sorry, Yui-san, you're already so cold and now you're forced to stand here like this."

"Don't… worry about it." Yui smiled awkwardly. At the moment she was more embarrassed about the fact that she was standing in front of a stranger, completely exposed.

Iaso walked around Yui as she looked at her body, seeing just how much the ice had spread over her skin. At first she only looked but then she started touching the skin close to the ice and Yui fidgeted away from her, knowing her skin would crack if she continued touching it like that. "Did I hurt you?"

Yui looked down at the floor. "My skin cracks easily…"

"Alright, I won't touch you like that again. I don't know if there's anything I can do but I have some medicine we can try if you're up for it?"

Yui didn't have to think for long. "Alright."

"You sure? Some of it can cause pain and seeing you're already suffering I don't know if it's a good idea."

"I'm willing to try anything. Please, this is my decision so you don't have to take responsibility for it. It's just that-..." Tears began to form in Yui's eyes when she remembered the people she cared so much about. "I don't want to leave my friends!" The tears started falling and she tried to wipe them away the best she could. "I don't want to leave them behind and I want to bring the little boy home to his parents!"

Iaso looked at Yui who was having a breakdown with concern. She moved to grab a thin blanket and held it out to the crying girl. "Here, I'll go prepare the medicine."

Yui took the blanket and wrapped it carefully around her freezing body. "Thank you…"

Yui waited on the couch for about 20 minutes before Iaso came back with 8 bottles, all containing some kind of salve in different colors.

"We'll try this one first." Iaso said, holding the green one in her hand.

Yui's eyes were still red from the crying but she managed to force herself to smile and let the blanket fall from her shoulders. "Do you want me to sit or stand?"

"You just sit down and try to take deep breaths. I need to put this over the core of the ice, so we have to remove that star-shaped stone you got from the dwarves."

Yui seemed hesitant, it was made so she wouldn't have to feel the same amount of pain she would have felt without it. It was already taking away some of the pain and she didn't want to know how it felt now when the ice had spread so much. "I guess it can't be helped." She sighed and slowly grabbed the stone with two fingers.

"Do you need help?"

"No, I think I've got it."

Yui pulled at it and when it came off she placed it on the couch beside her. The pain didn't come immediately but after a few seconds it hit her, hard, and Yui thought she was going to die. The pain was more intense than she had thought it would be and it was really hard to stay focused.

"Is it that bad?" Iaso asked.

"It feels like… my body is breaking." Even if the ice wasn't spreading right now she still had to feel the damage the ice had caused on her body. Apparently, the stone had freed her from more pain than she thought it had.

"You still want to do it?"

"Y-Yes…"

Iaso opened the bottle and put some of the green salve on two of her fingers, then she moved them towards the snowflake over Yui's heart. Once she made contact Yui fidgeted and she had to cover her mouth with her hand so she wouldn't scream out of pain.

Iaso continued to put on salve until the snowflake was covered. The salve then slowly sank into the ice and disappeared. "Now we wait."

Yui stayed with Iaso for several hours, trying all of the 8 salves but none of them seemed to work on the ice. After each salve they had waited 30 minutes before they tried the next one. Honestly, it had caused more damage than good. Yui was leaning against the couch, feeling very sick and exhausted and her skin was pale. Her eyes seemed cloudy as well.

"We shouldn't try anything else, you're only getting worse, Yui-san." Iaso informed and put the bottles away. "None of the salves worked."

"I have to… keep trying… or else I-" Yui got quiet after that.

"Rest for now, alright? You need all the energy you can get and it would be too dangerous for you to move around right now."

Iaso didn't even get to finish the sentence before Yui had fallen asleep out of exhaustion, this was too much for her and her body had finally given up. The goddess just hoped Yui was strong enough to wake up again, or this would be the last time she closed her eyes.

A/N: Will Yui wake up again? You'll find out in about 3 days or so! ^_^