Previously:
"For now, there are people over there waiting for you." Zeus informed her.
Indeed, all of her friends were standing further away from the crowd, looking very relieved. Some of them even had tears in their eyes.
Yui slowly began to move away from the big crowd and towards her waiting friends. She was tired and her body was sore but she had waited long enough to finally be able to let her friends back in. She was smiling the whole time as she made her way over to them.
When she was close enough she stopped.
"Everyone, I don't know what to say more than that I'm sorry for the pain I've caused you and how happy I am to have all of you by my side. I really did want to tell you everything and I'm sorry that I couldn't. I hope that you can forgive me… Being forced to leave you behind, that has to be the most terrifying feeling I've ever felt!" Tears were now running down from her good eye as she closed it. "Forgive me…! Forgive me!"
More she didn't get to say because just a second later, her friends had trapped her in the middle of a big group hug. "Welcome back to us, Fairy!" "Don't you dare leave us again, Weed!" "Stupid Kitten!"
Yui's eye widened, she was even able to open her left eye just a little before she closed them both again and let more tears of happiness fall. She leaned against the chest of the one in front of her, knowing exactly who it was. 'Loki-san…'
Now:
Yui was back on the table in the room she had woken up in but this time she was awake and sitting instead of lying. Earlier when she had woken up she had felt confused, the last thing she remembered was Yuki-onna touching her forehead, then she lost consciousness. She thought for sure it was over for her but all of a sudden she was able to open both of her eyes and was met by the smiling face of the little boy she was afraid she had killed along with herself. Now she was sitting on the table, her friends were there with her as well, as Eir was taking a look at the red scars on her body. "Can you raise your right arm for me?"
It was the arm the ice had spread to and she found it a little hard to move it normally.
"There we go, good. It still hurts doesn't it?"
"Yes, a little."
"Just give it some time and rest your body and you'll be back to normal before you know it, don't worry."
"Thank you, Eir-san. Umm, the scars-?"
"They will disappear soon as well, let me take a look at your eye."
Yui raised her head so Eir could take a proper look.
"Can you open it?"
Yui managed to open it about halfway but that was it.
"Can you see with it?"
"Yes, it was a little blurry when I first tried but now it's more clear." Yui explained.
Eir then inspected the scar over her eye. "It's a good thing the ice didn't damage your eye, when the scar disappears you should be able to open it the whole way."
"So she's going to be fine, right? Right?" Apollon asked.
Eir giggled. "Yes, soon she will be as good as new. She just needs to take it easy for awhile."
"Oh, thank goodness!" Balder, Sif and Freyja sighed in relief.
"I think we are done now, I will visit you in 3 days to see how you're doing, alright?" Eir said.
"Alright, thanks again." Yui smiled at her and carefully jumped down from the table but her feet didn't even touch the floor because in a heartbeat Loki and Apollon were by her side, helping her down. "Thanks guys."
"Just call for me if you need anything." Eir said to Yui as she was being escorted out of the room.
"I will, bye Eir-san!"
The gods insisted on walking Yui home, leaving her out of their sight was not an option, especially since they still had to deal with Aphrodite. Once they were outside her cottage Yui went to open her door together with the boy and when she turned around to thank them she saw some of them were looking down at the ground and the rest weren't looking at her. They all had sad expressions on their faces.
"What's wrong?" Yui asked, worried.
"We're sorry, Yui-san…" Balder spoke.
"We let you down." Dionysus added.
"Huh?" Yui exclaimed in confusion. "Why are you saying that?"
Takeru kicked away some snow. "You needed us, yet we couldn't do anything."
"Sorry… that we didn't notice." Hades apologized.
Yui stopped them before they could say anything more. "Everyone, no, don't blame yourselves. That was the last thing I wanted. There was nothing you could have done and besides, I would most likely have died instantly if you had found out about it."
Her friends didn't respond so she continued.
"By the way, now that I think about it, how did you find out the truth?"
"Odin's two birds saw you when that centaur was treating you, so he showed us what you had been going through." Loki explained.
"... I see. I heard from Eir-san that you found Sisyphus and fought him to free the boy and me. You guys have no idea how grateful and happy I am for that. Thank you."
Her friends looked a little more relaxed, they were even smiling a little, even though it was a sad smile.
Realising there was one more thing she had to tell them to cheer them up she worked up the courage, smiled at them and said, "Can you all please raise your heads and look at me?"
The gods, unable to deny her, slowly raised or turned their heads to look her in the eye.
"I love you. You know that right?"
Silence ~
They were staring at her with wide eyes and mouths open. They hadn't expected her to say that and many of their heads turned bright red.
Then she turned around to hide her own blushing face and opened the door for the boy. "Alright, let's go inside. I'm just going to get your own clothes and then I can take you home." She told him. The little kid walked inside in excitement but Yui had to show her red face to her friends one more time before she could close the door. "Umm, alright then, thanks for everything. I will return as soon as I can, so don't worry. Bye!" Then she closed the door, leaving her red-looking friends outside.
"D-Did you hear that, brother?" Takeru asked Tsukito.
"She was very clear." Tsukito answered him.
"Oh my goodness, my face feels so hot right now!" Freyja exclaimed.
"S-She actually said it. She said it." Apollon said in disbelief.
"Y-Yeah…" Hades agreed.
Balder was so shocked he actually lost his balance while standing completely still and landed on his back in the snow. "Thor, Loki, I think I'm dreaming…"
"Loki isn't here." Thor answered simply.
"What? Where did he go?"
"... I don't know."
He obviously knew.
Inside the cottage Yui was sitting on her knees, helping the kid change his clothes in her bedroom. Due to her weakened body it went a little slow but the boy didn't seem to mind. Every time she moved her right arm she couldn't help but look at the long, red scar and think that she was extremely lucky. She didn't realise she had stopped moving as she was looking at the scar with a sad expression on her face, not until a small and gentle hand touched the scar over her closed eye. Surprised, she looked at the boy in front of her. He seemed concerned. "Oh," She said and smiled at him. "don't worry. It will disappear soon."
Then, he did something unexpected. He leaned forward and kissed the scar over her cheek.
Yui was a little too surprised to move and stared at the kid with a wide eye as he looked down at the floor with teary eyes. Yui quickly shook her head to get back to reality and raised her hand towards his face and caught one tear on her finger before it fell. "Come on, it's alright now. Both you and I are safe." She told him calmly. "And I'm so relieved you didn't get hurt."
The boy looked up from the floor.
"I'm awake thanks to you. If you hadn't hit me with the amulet then perhaps I wouldn't be here right now." She smiled and placed a hand on his cheek. "Thanks kid, I'll never forget you."
The little boy then threw himself into her arms and she held him for several seconds before she got the feeling that someone was watching them, so she turned her head to the side and saw Loki standing in the doorway to the bedroom. "Loki-san?" She said in surprise and stood up.
"Surprise." Loki said, half smiling. For once it didn't look like he was up to something. "I sneaked inside."
"I, I can see that."
"Hope you didn't mind."
"Well, I'm getting used to it so…"
It got quiet after that and the boy looked back and forth between the two in confusion.
"Look." Loki uttered.
"Yes?"
"Remember when I touched your cheek and told Tsukito I was just checking your temperature?
"... Yes."
"I didn't mean what I said after that, alright. So-"
"Loki-san. You don't have to worry about that, I understand how you feel. So don't think about that anymore." Yui told him. She was glad he cleared things up but she still didn't want to be reminded of how he would never see her as more than a friend he could tease. She had figured it out now after all. That what she felt for Loki actually went deeper than friendship. The moment her friends had her in the middle of the group hug she had realised how she really felt and now she didn't know what to do. While she was cursed she hadn't dared to think about the future since she knew deep down that she wouldn't be able to make it, but now, she could live again and feared that her good relationship with Loki would end if he knew the truth.
Loki only stared down at the floor for a few seconds. Then he walked over to where they were standing and picked the boy up. "Come on, I'll go with you."
Loki, now in human form, and Yui were standing not far away from the house where the boy lived, not wanting to be seen they stood hidden among the trees. The kid had been away from his parents for days and if anyone saw them together with him they would most likely think they had something to do with his disappearance. "This is it." Yui said and turned to the boy in Loki's arms and smiled at him. "You know this is where you live, right? Just go over there and your parents will see you. Loki-san and I will stay here until they do."
Loki put the boy down. "Go on, kid."
The boy looked a little confused at first so Yui sat down on her knees in front of him and gave him a hug. "Be safe and don't wander away from your parents again. Goodbye, my sweet little boy."
She let him go and watched as he threw her a smile before he turned around and wobbled away towards the house. Halfway there he lost his balance and landed on his butt but managed to get up again and continued towards his destination. "It's like watching a smaller version of Balder." Loki snickered and Yui giggled as well.
The boy was almost there when a woman looked out the window. They could see she looked shocked and just a second later she disappeared and the front door opened. The woman ran towards the child with tears running down her face. "Hiroto!" She cried out right before she dropped to her knees and threw her arms around him.
Both Yui and Loki were smiling as they watched the sweet reunion.
"Hiroto… He is back where he belongs now." Yui said and wiped a tear away.
"Yeah."
"I guess we should go before someone sees us."
"Alright." Loki answered and grabbed her hand and started walking away.
'Huh? Are we not going to teleport?' Yui thought, confused, but she didn't question him and just went along.
When they were out of sight Loki stopped walking, let go of her hand and turned around to face her. "We're out of sight now."
"Um, yes, we are but… Aren't we heading back home?"
Loki didn't answer, instead he grabbed her left arm and pulled her towards him.
Yui, surprised and confused, felt Loki's arms coming around her body, one on her back and the other around her shoulders. After a moment, her expression softened and she slowly sneaked her arms around him as well. "Loki-san, are you alright?" She whispered softly as they just stood there, hugging each other.
"I don't know…" He answered and hugged her even tighter.
"Want to talk about it?" She was not used to see Loki acting like this, he was usually so carefree and mischievous.
"When we saw what Sisyphus did to you and what you had to endure I couldn't believe what I was seeing. And then I found you buried in the snow… I really thought I was going to lose you, damn it!"
"Loki-san…"
"We let him hurt you…"
"Don't you dare, Loki-san, this is not your fault." Yui said and pushed herself away from him. "I knew it, I knew you would blame yourselves for it. I'm alive, I'm standing here in front of you and I'm going to be alright. So stop looking at me with those sad eyes and start calling me "Kitten" and tease me about all sorts of things!" She didn't realise a tear was running down her cheek.
Loki looked at her with wide eyes.
"I really thought I wasn't going to make it... And not ever seeing you all again scared me the most…" More tears fell. "So cheer me up, Loki-san."
Loki, for once, didn't seem to know what to do and looked down to the side as he reached for something in his pocket. When he found it he took it out and held it in front of her. It was a lollipop, wrapped in purple paper with cat heads printed on it. "I like you better when you're smiling, Kitten."
Yui looked at the lollipop, smiled and wiped the tears away. "Then I will smile." She said and took it from him. "Thank you, Loki-san."
When the two were back in the cottage Yui felt like a huge burden had been lifted from her shoulders and hunger and exhaustion washed over her. "You alright?" Loki asked when he noticed how tired she looked.
"Yes, I'm just so tired… and hungry. Thanks to the curse I didn't get enough sleep and I have barely eaten anything. The pain kind of distracted me from feeling hunger and the ice tore on my skin when I was trying to sleep so… I think I'm just going to eat something and then head to bed. Thanks for staying with me, Loki-san, you can go home and rest now if you want. You must be tired, too, right?"
"You stay in here and rest, I'll go make you a sandwich." Loki answered.
"Huh? No, you don't have to do that, Loki-san-"
"I'm not tired, so I'll stay with you a little longer."
"Loki-san… Well, if… if that's what you want."
"It is, now go to bed." Loki commanded and pushed her towards the bed.
Later, when Yui was done eating, they had both somehow ended up sitting beside each other on the bed with their backs against the wall. They had spent at least half an hour talking about the past since it cheered them up to talk about something other than Yui's near death experience. It wasn't that late so Yui forced herself to stay awake. She wanted to spend more time with Loki.
"You're forcing yourself to stay awake." Loki pointed out with a grin.
"N-No I'm not!"
"You are, you are very easy to read."
"Don't say that…" Yui sighed. "How can I keep things to myself if you always see right through me?"
Loki let out a laugh. "Then don't keep things to yourself."
"All people have secrets, Loki-san. Things they don't want to tell others about."
"You don't have to tell others, just tell me."
"... Huh?"
"Don't keep secrets from me, Kitten."
Yui's cheeks turned red. "I- I'm not keeping anything from you."
"You sure about that?" Loki smirked as he leaned over her.
"I- I, um…!"
Loki burst out laughing. "I'm just teasing you!"
"... Oh…"
"You wanted me to tease you, right? Since you begged me to do it I just have to obey."
"T-That's right!" Yui exclaimed, playing along. "You sure know how to cheer me up, Loki-san."
"Right? !" Loki grinned.
"Thanks, Loki-san, I think I'm going to sleep now."
"Of course my sweet little Kitten." Loki got up from the bed and walked around it to Yui's side, he then touched the scar over her closed eye with a finger and said, "You better heal fast."
Yui smiled up at him from the bed. "I will."
Loki leaned down and kissed the scar over her cheek just like the little boy had done, making Yui's whole face turn red and she almost jumped back in surprise. "So, who do you prefer? Me or the kid?" Loki asked and grinned down at her.
Yui was too shocked to respond at first but then her expression changed and she turned her head away from him. "Well, the boy is much more sweet and innocent."
"Hah? !" Loki exclaimed. "Don't tell me you like the kid more than me, Kitten!"
Yui started giggling. 'Two can play this game, Loki-san.' She thought and stood up on the bed so that she was a little taller than Loki and leaned down, placed her hands on his shoulders and kissed him on the cheek as well. "Who do you think I prefer?" She asked him with an innocent smile.
A/N: Next chapter in about 3 days, guys! ^_^
