Previously:
"We were looking for Sisyphus, we didn't know he was actually waiting for her in her home." Tyr said.
"I should have stayed with her. Damn it all!" Loki shouted. "What the hell do we do now? Didn't Sisyphus say that if we found out about this she would die?"
It was Zeus turn to speak. "The two are connected, as long as Kusanagi doesn't know that we know, Sisyphus won't find out about it. We still have time."
"But how can we help her without her finding out that we know the truth?" Balder asked.
"By starting with finding the one who told Sisyphus about Kusanagi." Thor spoke.
Everyone turned to look at him. "Do you have any idea who it might be?" Odin asked.
"I'm not sure." Thor answered. "But there is one goddess who has shown she doesn't like Kusanagi being here."
Silence ~
Zeus eyes widened a little when he realised, "Aphrodite."
Now:
"Dite-Dite?" Apollon asked.
"Of course!" Takeru exclaimed.
"How can we know it was her for sure?" Vidar asked.
"Only one way to find out." Dionysus said.
Hades stood up from his chair. "Then let's go and confront her."
"She's staying in one of the guest rooms right now. We'll look for her there first." Odin informed.
Everyone stood up from their chairs, ready to leave as soon as possible but when Balder turned to say something to Loki he was not beside him anymore. "Loki?"
"Soon after I said Aphrodite's name, he left." Zeus explained, not really surprised.
Loki was already outside Aphrodite's room, he was pissed and knocked aggressively on the door. He could hear two voices coming from inside.
The door opened. "Damn, calm down already!" Aphrodite hissed.
Loki was narrowing his eyes at her. "What have you done?"
"Excuse me?"
Before Loki could say anything else, a god appeared from behind Aphrodite and Zeus and the others could be seen walking towards them.
"Well, if it isn't Loki." The god smirked. "Couldn't resist our beautiful Aphrodite anymore?"
"I don't give a damn about her! I care about the things she has caused." Loki hissed.
"Ares, I see you're back early." Zeus pointed out once he and the others were close enough.
Ares was the Greek god of war, had short dark blue hair, ice blue eyes and was wearing a golden armor. He was also Aphrodite's lover. "Yes, it didn't take as long as I thought it would. I returned just a few hours ago but when they told me Aphrodite was here I came immediately. In fact, we were just about to have some "fun" when Loki interrupted us."
Loki looked like he wanted to kill Aphrodite so Balder and Apollon walked up to him and tried to calm him down.
Zeus ignored Ares and turned to his daughter. "Aphrodite, we have something we need to talk to you about."
Yui was sitting on the ground, leaning against a tree in the forest she had ended up in. She looked so tired and weak as she tried her best to breath normally. A tear ran down her right eye. "This is not how… I wanted… things to… end…"
She slowly reached for the red "candy" she got from Einar inside her pocket and held it close to her mouth. 'This will be… my last journey…'
"Why do you think I have something to do with that human's condition?" Aphrodite asked, offended. She was sitting on the bed in the guest room while the others were standing around her.
"Kusanagi is close to death, if you know anything you have to tell us." Hades said.
"Please, uncle." Aphrodite answered him sarcastically. "This has nothing to do with me."
"Where were you when we were searching for Sisyphus?" Dionysus asked.
"Home?"
"Liar." Tyr stated. "I heard you were here all the time."
"So what?"
"So, you claim you are innocent?" Odin asked.
Aphrodite sighed. "Of course I am."
"We are running out of time…" Balder pointed out in a low voice.
"I'm asking you again, are you absolutely sure you have nothing to do with this. If you're lying to me-" Zeus warned.
Loki's eyes traveled to the wardrobe.
"Why don't you believe me? Do you like the human more than me?" Aphrodite asked, clearly bored.
"Of course we do!" Takeru exclaimed. "But that's not the issue here!"
"Loki?" Balder asked when he spotted his friend by the now open wardrobe.
Aphrodite's eyes widened and she stood up from the bed. "Hey! What do you think you're doing? !"
Loki didn't answer, it looked like he was searching for something.
"Loki-Loki, what are you looking for?" Apollon asked.
And in the exact same moment Loki took out something black, the guard who was the first to inform Odin about Sisyphus knocked on the already open door. He was carrying a bottle of wine. "My lady, here is your-" Then he noticed all the gods inside her room. "-wine… Sorry, am I interrupting something?"
"It's alright." Odin told the guard.
"I can come back la-... Huh?" The guard's gaze found the black cloth Loki was holding. "That black cloak…!"
Everyone turned to look at it.
"What about it?" Zeus asked.
"That looks like the same cloak that woman who told me about Sisyphus was wearing!"
Aphrodite started running towards the open door, trying to escape.
"Stop her!" Tyr ordered the guard but Aphrodite threw a pink ball of energy at him and was able to run past him.
"After her! Before she teleports!" Zeus called to the others who immediately took off after her.
Aphrodite ran down the hallway but didn't get very far because suddenly Ares stood in front of her.
"A-Ares! ?" She exclaimed. "Out of my way!"
Ares grabbed her arm so she couldn't escape and smirked down at her. "Just what have you been up to, you careless woman?"
"I am very disappointed in you, Aphrodite. To think that you would go that far…" Zeus told her.
"..."
"Now, how did you know where to find Sisyphus?"
"..."
"Talk already!" Loki shouted. "We don't have much time left!"
Aphrodite looked down at the floor, giving up. "I heard rumors. When I was visiting a lover in a small village near Mount Olympus I heard that someone had traveled far away and found a frozen waterfall but everything else around it was green and it was hot outside. I thought it was strange and figured that maybe, just maybe, it was the dangerous Sisyphus's hideout the traveler had found. So I went to investigate, since I needed someone who could get rid of Yui for me and make her suffer. I found the frozen waterfall and behind it, I discovered a big ice castle inside."
"And then?" Hades asked.
"Then I met him. Sisyphus. And told him about Yui to make him jealous of her, I didn't even have to ask him to kill her, he was already very eager to meet her."
"You damn bitch!" Takeru hissed.
"You sent Yui-san to her death!" Balder added.
"Unforgivable…" Tsukito said in almost a whisper.
Zeus put a hand on Aphrodite's shoulder. "Where is this waterfall?"
Yui was walking around aimlessly in the snowy mountains in the realm of the Japanese gods. 'It's cold… so cold.' It wasn't snowing but the hard wind showed her no mercy. "Aahh…!" She cried out quietly. The ice on her body didn't show any mercy either. She could tell she was bleeding on both of her shoulders and on her stomach. Her left cheek felt like it would crack any moment now, too.
It was really hard moving around in the deep snow and thanks to the ice over her left eye her sight was limited as well. How was she supposed to find the one named Yuki-onna in a place like this?
Yui stopped walking. "It's over soon… right?"
In his ice castle Sisyphus was sitting on his throne, watching everything from Yui's eyes, or only her right eye to be exact. "Should I make the ice spread one more time?" He smirked. "I guess this is it, Yui. You tried your best but I'm afraid your time is up."
But before he could do anything his eyes widened when he sensed something dangerous and quickly stood up and jumped out of the way as a ball of fire came flying towards him and destroyed the throne he had been sitting on. He hadn't been prepared for this. Just a little further away from him stood the god of fire, Loki, and he didn't look very happy. Right behind him stood Zeus, Odin, Hades, Apollon, Dionysus, Balder, Thor, Takeru and Tsukito. The rest had stayed behind to watch Aphrodite.
Once Sisyphus understood what was happening he started smirking. "Oh? Did the goddess of love reveal my location?"
"Finally, Sisyphus, we've found you." Zeus said and narrowed his eyes.
"It's time to go back to where you belong." Hades added, referring to the underworld.
"Not going to happen, I was set free from my punishment, you can't take me back."
"You stole an amulet that belonged to us and you have caused great damage, you are definitely going back." Zeus told him.
"Make me!" Sisyphus laughed as he pointed his staff at them and fired a wave of blue ice in their direction.
The gods flew out of the way just in time.
"You know, I was wondering." Sisyphus said calmly. "Out of curiosity, how is your human friend doing?"
Yui was in trouble now. Her body had become so cold it had almost stopped working and she was now down on her knees, struggling to stay in control. But it was no use, this was the end of the line for her. She couldn't keep on going any longer. 'At least I didn't give up… until the very end.' She thought and was just about to close her one eye when a figure revealed itself in the distance.
Her eye traveled to something that looked like a woman. 'Wait, could it be?'
The woman was slowly making her way towards her and as she got closer Yui could see that the woman was literally floating across the snow in her white kimono. She had long black hair, blue lips and dark blue eyes and she had so pale skin she almost looked transparent.
The woman stopped right in front of Yui, looking down at her with, what could be described as, dead eyes. She didn't seem interested at all.
"You are… Yuki-onna… right?" Yui asked quietly.
The gods knew Sisyphus was either trying to make them admit they knew about Yui's curse or he was trying to make them realise it himself.
"Why would you ask that?" Balder asked. "Yui-san is doing just fine."
"Yeah." Thor agreed.
"Are you sure about that?" Sisyphus smirked as he dodged every single one of their attacks.
"Leave her out of this!" Loki shouted as he threw himself at the ice demon with his whole body on fire. "I'll melt that freaking ice of yours!"
"That won't work, god of fire." Sisyphus grinned and used the staff to make a barrier around his body.
It didn't matter how much they used their powers on it, the barrier wouldn't budge.
"What do we do now! ?" Apollon called.
"Nothing works!" Takeru shouted.
Then suddenly, the barrier disappeared, revealing Sisyphus holding the scared human boy with one arm. "Remember him?"
Without realising it, some of their eyes widened at the sight as they remembered one of the reasons Yui couldn't tell them about the curse. At least the kid seemed to be alright, cold but unharmed.
"Let him go, Sisyphus." Odin ordered. "Using a child as a shield is hardly fair."
Sisyphus smirked. "I know you all know this boy, Aphrodite told me all about it and how Yui's been looking after him. Wasn't she supposed to return him home? Did she lie to you? Or did something happen?"
"We have no idea what you're talking about." Dionysus said.
"Don't play dumb!" Sisyphus exclaimed. "Of course you have realised something was wrong. I have seen everything through her eyes because we are connected!"
Everyone's eyes widened. Sisyphus was revealing everything!
"I cursed her, threatened her, made her suffer and laughed at her pain. I listened to her cries and watched as her life slowly was being taken away from her!"
"Stop!" Loki, Apollon, Takeru and Balder exclaimed.
"And where were you? Her friends? When she needed you the most?" Sisyphus finished.
"Yuki-onna… my name is… Kusanagi Yui… and I have come here… to ask you for help."
The goddess just stared down at her.
"I'm dying… I know that you have… no reason to… care… about that but… I'm begging you. There's a child… who will die with me if I-" Tears started falling again.
The woman still didn't look interested.
"P-Please…"
Everyone narrowed their eyes at him, trying to hide their shame.
"Now that you know the truth for sure, it will be my pleasure to end your friend's life." Sisyphus grinned and slammed the end of his staff against the floor. "Say goodbye to your little human!"
"NO!" All of Yui's friends cried out. But it was too late.
Yui gasped when she felt the ice spreading over her body one last time. The ice over her eye moved up quickly towards the top of her head and she could feel her body being squeezed. All air escaped her lungs and she was unable to inhale again. Suffocating and covered in ice her soul prepared to leave her body.
But then…
Yuki-onna held out her arm towards Yui and when her finger made contact with her forehead, a flash of light struck her and her lifeless body fell down into the snow.
"BASTARD!" Loki screamed and flew towards the demon and the child.
Takeru joined him. "What the hell did you do! ?"
"And as I told her." Sisyphus began. "The child will die along with her." Then he threw the screaming kid up in the air and was just about to use his staff on him when Thor suddenly came flying and caught the boy, saving him from the impact just in time.
"Good job, Thor!" Balder exclaimed in relief.
"Don't hold back everyone! Give him all you've got!" Zeus shouted.
Loki and Takeru fired at him at the same time. Since Sisyphus was distracted by Thor's action it hit him and he was sent flying into the cold wall behind him.
He quickly tried to get up. "You will not defeat me!"
"Now! All at once!" Odin ordered.
Sisyphus screamed in pain as the gods combined their powers to bring him down. "NO! This can't be the end! My plan! My victory!"
"Keep going everyone!" Hades shouted.
"GAAAAAAAHHHHHH! ! !" Sisyphus cried out.
Then, a big boom was heard right before the attacks stopped and everything around them turned white and no one was able to see a thing anymore. It was like a heavy fog was surrounding them.
Everyone was quiet until they were able to see again.
"Did we do it?" Apollon asked.
Zeus saw something small and blue in the corner of his eye and went to pick it up. It was the amulet.
A groaning sound that echoed through the castle caught their attention. "Where did it come from?" Dionysus asked as he and the others looked around, trying to locate the owner of the voice.
"Over there." Tsukito said, pointing at something a bit further away from them.
There, among the broken pieces of ice, the human version of Sisyphus lay.
"It seems that when we attacked, the amulet came off and he was turned back into a human again." Zeus pointed out.
"We'll take him back with us." Odin said and started walking towards the unconscious human man.
"But what about Fairy?" Apollon asked with worry.
"What if it's too late?" Hades asked.
"Sisyphus used his staff to make the ice spread a final time, be prepared for what you might find." Zeus told them.
"Are you saying she might be lying dead somewhere?" Loki hissed through his teeth.
"Where do we even start looking for her? Last time we saw her she disappeared to the human world." Balder explained.
"The centaur told her about Yuki-onna, perhaps she went to find her." Tsukito pointed out.
"I know where she resides, I'm going there." Takeru said.
"Find her, Take-Take. Find Fairy." Apollon told him with a sad tone in his voice.
"And bring her home." Dionysus added.
But just as Takeru prepared to teleport, Loki attached himself to him by placing a hand on his shoulder, connecting them before they both disappeared.
"I saw that coming…" Odin sighed.
"Let's go back." Zeus said and teleported himself away.
The others followed close behind.
When they returned they were met by a happy crowd of both Norse, Japanese and Greek gods. They were standing outside Odin's castle and Sisyphus, who was now awake, was bound to the ground. His arms were tied behind his back in short chains so that he couldn't stand up. It was obvious the crowd was angry with him, he had caused them nothing but trouble after all and now he would surely get the ultimate punishment. Sisyphus had been quiet since they returned, obviously not happy about being turned back into a weak human, but when he opened his mouth to speak, the angry crowd became silent. "I guess you must be pretty happy with yourselves, right? You were finally able to capture me. Took you long enough! For years you weren't able to locate me, haha, what a joke! You stupid and weak gods couldn't even find a former human in their own realm!"
While the angry gods and goddesses started shouting at him for his outburst, Yui's friends were standing further away from the crowd. They were more worried about Yui to care about Sisyphus and what punishment he should receive for his actions. When Sif, Freyja, Freyr, Vidar and Tyr had found them they had told them everything that had happened in the ice castle and how Sisyphus had used his staff to kill Yui. Sif had started crying and Thor had to give the human boy to Balder so he could help comfort her and Freyja had started shouting out things about how she was going to kill the fellow goddess of love for being responsible for Yui's death.
"Try to calm down, Freyja, we don't know if Yui-san is gone for sure." Balder said calmly but it was pretty obvious he was worried out of his mind.
The rest of the friends didn't look so cheerful either. Freyr was sitting on the ground with his head in his hands, Dionysus and Hades were leaning against the wall of the castle with their eyes closed, Apollon was looking down at the ground and Tsukito was looking up at the sky. Vidar and Tyr were standing just a little further away from the rest, they too had lowered their heads, praying that Takeru and Loki would return with Yui soon. A very much alive Yui.
Loki and Takeru were flying over the snowy and cold mountains that belonged to the Japanese gods. They had been searching for a while now but they still couldn't find Yui anywhere. "Come on Weed… Where are you?" Takeru whispered. Loki had been quiet the whole time, which was unusual for him but Takeru had decided not to ask about it, figuring now was not a good time. They had to find their friend, and fast!
Loki's eyes scanned the snow down below. So far, nothing…
But then, a figure appeared and Loki came to a stop, making Takeru stop as well and the two gods looked down at the black haired goddess who seemed to be staring up at them. "That's… Yuki-onna!" Takeru exclaimed and he and Loki quickly flew down and landed in the snow about 10 yards away from her.
"Where is she! ?" Loki shouted at her.
The goddess just continued to stare at them for a moment before her gaze turned a little to the side behind the two gods. Takeru and Loki followed her gaze and turned around to see what she was looking at.
And there, about 15 yards away, something was sticking up from the snow.
The two gods' eyes widened. "Yui!" "Weed!" They exclaimed and hurried over to where she was lying.
When they got to her her body was half buried in the snow and they had to dig her out. "Stay with us Weed!" Takeru cried out.
"We're taking you home." Loki whispered.
A/N: That's it for now, hope you liked it! See you again in 4-5 days!
