Previously:
"No way, no way!" Loki exclaimed and ran up to them, snatching Yui away from them and hugged her close to his body. "I'm the only one she needs!"
"L-Loki-san?" Yui stuttered in surprise.
"Hey, you can't keep her to yourself!" Freyr shouted.
"That's right! I want my piece of her, too!" Freyja agreed and tried to grab Yui's hand but Loki moved to the side right before she could. He then picked Yui up again and started flying towards the door.
"Get back here, prankster!" Freyja shouted and flew after them out the door. "Give me back my little flower!"
The rest inside Yui's cottage could clearly hear Loki's laughter and Freyja's shouts as they were flying around with a nervous Yui stuck in the middle and couldn't help but laugh at the whole situation. "Oh well." Balder smiled. "Really can't do anything about him."
"Loki-Loki will never change!" Apollon laughed.
"As long as he can make her happy." Hades said, smiling.
"If he hurts her I'll kill him!" Takeru warned.
Now:
Two days later Yui seemed to be doing just fine, that was what Eir told her when she came to check on her. She scars had lost its red color and they were barely visible anymore. "You have healed very nicely." Eir commented, satisfied with what she saw.
"That's good to hear." Yui smiled. "I do feel great."
"Wonderful. Oh, before I forget." Eir said and reached for her cloth bag and took out two objects from it.
It was the star-shaped stone she got from Regin and the bottle with blood from the dragon Fafnir. "Those are-!" Yui exclaimed. She had almost forgotten about them.
"The stone is broken and hopefully you won't need the dragon's blood anymore but they still belong to you, so you should decide what you want to do with them."
"Thank you, Eir-san, I thought I lost them." Yui thanked her and took the stone in her hand. 'I said I would visit them.' She thought.
"We found them in your pocket."
"I see. I think I'll keep them, just in case."
"That's fine. Have a good day and take care of yourself now." Eir smiled as she prepared to leave.
"You, too, Eir-san."
1 week later:
Yui was taking a nice and slow walk through the big village that surrounded the castle. She was healed from head to toe and not a single trace of the curse could be seen on her body, she was back to normal again. She had been taking it easy up until now, except from those times when Loki had spent time with her, but since she was alright now she felt like she could continue from where she left before she got cursed. Her friends had returned to their own worlds on the day Eir had checked up on her but they didn't stay away for long since they all decided to return today. Yui couldn't understand why they would do this for her but it had been decided that she, together with her friends and a couple of other gods would have a feast in Odin's castle later today, to celebrate her recovery. Once she was done with her walk she would have to return home and prepare, Sif visited her yesterday and she had a pink dress with her she wanted Yui to wear on this day. It was a strapless dress that went all the way down to her toes.
Realising that time had passed quickly she turned around to walk back home again.
'It's not so bad actually.' Yui thought as she looked at herself in the mirror. 'I think I like it.'
The pink dress she got from Sif was on and the hairpin she got from Tsukito decorated her hair nicely. The only thing left to do was to wait until it was time to leave, so she went out of the bedroom and walked over to the couch with a book in her hand. What she didn't know was that a certain god had sneaked inside and was hiding behind the couch she was just about to sit down on.
"What's up, Kitten!" Loki laughed as he jumped up to reveal himself.
"Aaaahh!" Yui screamed and hit him on the side of the head with the book and Loki fell back down behind the couch. Yui blinked a few times and then realised what just had happened and hurried to jump up on the couch to see if Loki was alright. "Loki-san, I'm so sorry! Are you-!" She didn't get to finish before Loki's head popped up right in front of hers and kissed her quickly on the cheek. "Ah!" She exclaimed and touched the cheek with her hand.
"Someone's feisty today!" Loki grinned as he rubbed the side of his head where she had hit him.
Yui soon forgot to be embarrassed about the kiss. "I-I'll go get some ice for you!"
"Don't need it."
"But-"
"Relax, Kitten, it didn't really hurt. You're too weak to cause any damage." He joked.
"Watch it, or I'll hit you again." Yui joked back. "Wait, how did you get-" She asked as she turned towards the door she knew was locked and saw that the window frame beside it wasn't exactly on the wall anymore but on the floor, leaning against the door. "-inside…"
Loki just grinned and pretended he didn't know what she was talking about. "Huh? What do you mean, Kitten?"
"Loki-san!"
"Haha I'm sorry, I'm sorry, but the door was locked!"
"Have you ever heard of knocking? !"
"Whaaat? But there is no fun in that." Loki pouted.
"Of course... What was I thinking?" Yui sighed and jumped down from the couch and walked over to the bookshelf. "Can you please just put it back?" She asked as she put the book back on the shelf, she would never be able to read in peace if Loki was here.
"Alright, alright, I'll put it back." Loki snickered.
Once it was back where it belonged Yui sat down on the couch, closely followed by Loki. "You look good by the way." Loki said as he sat down beside her.
"Thank you…" Yui blushed and looked down. "We must leave soon, right?"
"Yeah, can't wait. I'm starving."
"I'm a little hungry, too. Anyway, was there anything you wanted?"
"Hah?"
"Why did you come? I figured there must be a reason you came here."
Loki grinned and put his arm around her naked shoulders and pulled her closer. "Do I need to have a reason to come visit you?"
Yui's face turned red as she looked up at him and quickly looked away. "No… I guess not…"
Loki's eyes suddenly became more serious and he used his other hand to grab her chin and made her look at him again. "Don't look away."
"W-Wha-?"
Loki's face came closer.
Yui's eyes widened a little. 'Is, is he going to-?' Loki's lips were so close to hers now she realised he wasn't going to play a prank on her, so she opened her mouth slightly and slowly closed her eyes. 'Am I dreaming?'
But sadly, their lips barely touched when someone suddenly knocked on the door, making them pull away from each other.
"C-Coming!" Yui stuttered and got up from the couch to open the door.
"Hello, Kusanagi."
"Thor-san? Hello, what brings you here?"
"Odin asked me to escort you."
"He did?"
"Because he couldn't find Loki, he asked me." Thor explained.
"He couldn't find me because I'm already here." Loki grinned as he walked up to the door and stood behind Yui.
"I figured you were."
"Then why did you come?"
Yui looked between the two gods, unsure of what to say.
"To make sure you wouldn't hold her back."
"Hold her back?"
"Make her late."
Loki pouted. "Don't you trust me, Thor?"
"No."
"Um, guys?" Yui said.
Loki ignored her, instead he hugged her from behind, rested his head on top of hers and smirked. "You came at a bad time."
"Oh?"
Yui's cheeks turned red, remembering what they were about to do before Thor came.
Thor stared at Loki for a few seconds before he spoke. "I was right after all." Then he turned around to leave. "Let's go."
Loki and Yui looked at each other and then back at Thor. "What?" Yui asked. "Hey, Thor, what do you mean?" Loki added, confused.
"Come on, Loki-san." Yui said and pulled him out of the cottage and closed the door behind them. "Wait for us, Thor-san!" She called as she and Loki hurried after the god of thunder.
"You have 3 seconds to tell us what you meant!" Loki warned.
"..."
When Thor didn't answer he was soon hit in the back of his head by a snowball.
Yui stopped walking. "Loki-san!"
"Hey, Thor! Tell me already!" Loki tried again but Thor just continued towards the castle. "If you don't tell me, then I- Ugh!" Yui had just thrown a snowball that had hit him in the shoulder and he turned around to look at her in surprise.
"Don't throw snowballs at him to make him talk!"
"But you just threw one at me!"
"To make you stop!"
Loki picked up some snow in his hand and made another ball out of it. "Watch it, Kitten, you'll regret you did that."
Yui blinked two times. "Oh no…"
Loki grinned and threw the ball at her and hit her in the stomach before she could dodge it. But she just let out a laugh and threw one back at him.
Meanwhile, Thor had stopped walking and was looking at the two as they had a snowball fight. He didn't want to interfere but since they just kept fighting and was getting further and further away he felt like he didn't have a choice. "Oh well…" He said to himself and raised his hand towards the sky.
"Now you're going to get it!" Loki laughed as he ran towards Yui with a huge snowball over his head.
He didn't get to throw it, though. A lightning suddenly came from the sky and hit the ground right in front of him, making him drop the snowball as he fell backwards and landed on his butt. Yui was standing a little further away but still jumped in surprise when the lightning struck. The two slowly turned their heads towards Thor.
"It's time." Was all Thor said as he turned around and continued walking towards the castle.
"C-Coming!" Yui called and ran after him.
"Hey! Wait for me!" Loki exclaimed.
"There you are!" Apollon laughed when he spotted the three coming their way. He and the others had already gathered in the dining hall and the only ones missing were Loki, Yui and Thor. In the middle of the room stood a huge round table decorated with candles and scattered around the room were the gods who would attend the dinner, all of Yui's friends, Odin, Frigg, Zeus, Bragi, Vidar, Tyr and Hoenir.
"I knew you would look good in that!" Sif smiled at Yui.
"Thank you for the dress, Sif-san, I really like it." Yui smiled back.
"It's good to see you've recovered, Yui." Frigg said. "You're a real fighter."
"Kusanagi Yui looks beautiful." Tsukito commented.
"Y-Yeah, she does." Takeru agreed.
"Indeed." Hades added.
"Thank you." A smiling and blushing Yui replied.
"Oh, you've got some snow in your hair, Yui-san." Balder pointed out and walked up to her to brush it away.
"Thank you, Balder-san." Yui smiled awkwardly.
"Kusanagi Yui, did you fall on your way here?" Tsukito asked.
"Ah, um, no, not exactly…"
"Then why-?" Takeru was about to ask when Thor spoke up.
"Snowball fight."
"Hehe, yeah, it was fun!" Loki grinned.
"You dragged her into a snowball fight?" Hades asked.
"Not my fault this time, she threw one at me first."
Yui quickly turned around to face him. "Only because you threw one at Thor-san!"
"Because he didn't tell us what he meant!"
"You can't use violence all the time!"
"You used violence as well!"
"Loki-san!"
"What did Thor-Thor say exactly?" Apollon asked, confused.
"He said that he was right after all." Loki explained.
"And what did you mean by that, Thor?" Balder asked.
With the same stone face he always wore, Thor answered, "Loki is falling for her whether he likes it or not."
Silence ~
And all eyes turned to Loki.
But before Loki could speak, Odin walked up to them. "Even if I enjoy the show it is time to take your seats."
When everyone was seated Yui was sitting between Loki and Apollon. When she glanced over at Loki she noticed that he for once didn't concentrate on teasing her or brag about himself, instead he had a serious look on his face and was looking straight forward. He seemed to be thinking about something and Yui wondered if it had something to do with what Thor had said just a few minutes ago. 'But why would that bother him?' She thought and turned her head away from him. Just seconds later 7 servants entered the room with the food and placed it on the table. Yui's eyes soon found a familiar face and she had to stare at her for a moment to make sure it actually was who she thought it was. There was no mistaking it, this was definitely the servant goddess with the pink hair who had told her about the elves. When the goddess noticed Yui was looking at her she stopped what she was doing and smiled widely.
"Helga-san?" Yui said, a little surprised seeing her there.
"Yui-sama!" Helga exclaimed and hurried around the table to greet her.
The gods around the table followed her movements with confused looks on their faces and the other servants looked at their colleague in either surprise or panic. They had only been told to serve the food, not to interact with the ones they would serve.
Yui stood up from her seat as Helga got closer.
"Yui-sama, thank goodness you're alright!" Helga cried out as she grabbed both of Yui's hands.
"Who is she?" Takeru asked.
"Isn't she the one we saw in one of the flashbacks? When we found out about the curse?" Dionysus pointed out.
Helga acted like she didn't hear them and only focused on Yui. "I knew we had to serve food for a special occasion but I had no idea you would be here, master!"
"Master?" The gods said in unison.
"I'm sorry, Helga-san, I should have visited you sooner but-" Yui began.
"Oh don't think about that now, Yui-sama! Your body, is it healed? Are you really alright? When I heard about the curse I got really worried."
Yui smiled at her. "Yes, I'm alright now. You helped me find the information I needed back then, thank you."
"Don't mention it, Yui-sama, as your personal servant I have to do whatever I can to please you."
"Personal-?" The gods said in unison once again.
"Kusanagi." Odin said and Yui turned her head towards him. "I did not know you had chosen a personal servant, if I had known that you wanted one I could have provided you with one much sooner."
"Ah, no, that's not-" Yui stuttered.
"Forgive me for speaking so freely my king but Yui-sama didn't choose me, I chose her." Helga explained. "And I know she only agreed because it was what I wanted."
Frigg turned to Yui. "Is this true?"
"Yes, it is." Yui answered her.
"Then I guess we can forgive Helga for her actions." Odin said and leaned back in the chair. "You may continue."
Helga let go of Yui's hands. "Thank you, my king. Yui-sama, come to me anytime you want."
"I'll keep that in mind." Yui answered her and sat down again.
"Now then, let's eat." Zeus said and the servants immediately started moving again, including Helga.
When the food was served and the servants had left the room everyone started talking about various things with each other as they ate and Yui would soon be able to ask the question she had been meaning to ask.
As everyone was waiting for the dessert Yui turned to Odin. "Odin-san, may I ask you something?"
This caught the gods' attention and they stopped talking and started listening to what Yui had to say.
"Of course you may." Odin answered her.
"Um, it's about what we talked about a few days ago."
Flashback:
"Welcome, Kusanagi, what was it you wanted to talk with me about?" Odin asked.
"Thank you, Odin-san. I was just wondering, would it be possible for me to visit the ones who tried to help me with the curse? I said I would visit them if I survived and they really helped me out alot."
"I see. Well, it's only natural you want to thank them for their help. I don't mind if you do but I'm going to ask you to wait a few days, just until you've healed completely. Even if you do look better you do seem like you need to rest more."
End of flashback:
"I am completely healed now and all of my strength has returned to me." Yui continued. "So, I would really like to visit them."
"Them? Who are you talking about, Yui-chan?" Freyja asked.
"She is talking about the outcasts who helped her when she was under Sisyphus's curse." Odin explained before Yui could. "She wants to thank them for their help."
"Now I remember." Apollon said. "You're talking about the ones we saw in the flashbacks, right?"
"Yes." Yui confirmed. "They did what they could to make it easier for me."
"Well then." Odin said and turned his head to a servant who stood by the door and nodded at him. The servant bowed before he opened the door and left.
"What is going on?" Balder asked, confused.
"We have a surprise for you, Kusanagi." Zeus said.
A minute later the door opened again and everyone turned to look. The servant entered the room again, close followed by 8 creatures. 4 dwarves, 1 elf, 2 centaurs and 1 goddess.
Yui's eyes widened at what she saw. All the people she wanted to see were there and she slowly stood up from the chair, never taking her eyes off them.
"We thought it would be better to invite them all here and surprise you." Odin smiled.
"Everyone…" Yui said quietly. "you're here…"
"Hello, Kusanagi-san. It's good to see you again." Regin greeted. The rest didn't say anything but they were looking at her with smiling faces.
A tear fell from Yui's eye and she slowly wiped it away before she stepped away from the table and started walking towards them. Regin met her halfway and hugged her. The two brothers Fjalar and Galar were right behind him, waiting for their turn. "Regin-san… thank you so much for everything." Yui whispered.
"I'm so glad you're alright, we all are." Regin smiled and let go of her. He then moved to the side so the other two could greet her as well.
"You look much better now, Kusanagi." Galar pointed out.
"You do." Fjalar agreed.
"Thank you Galar-san, Fjalar-san." Yui smiled down at them. "You were very kind to me back then." Her eyes then found Otr, in his dwarf form, a little further away. "Otr-san."
"Hello, Yui-san… You look well."
Yui walked up to him but before she could say anything he took her hand in his and kissed it.
A/N: Next chapter in about 4 days guys! :)
