Disclaimer: I don't own W.I.T.C.H, Elizabetta Gnone and Disney do. The life stream belongs to Final Fantasy who is owned by someone else.

AN: This is set in the comicverse, shortly after Caleb was rescued from Nerissa. All pairings are canon.

Detective Tom Lair looked up at the building in front of him. Of all the duties his job entailed, this was the worse. He didn't have to do this, he could have let another officer go, but he had known this girl personally and he felt he owed it to her to tell her parents personally. With a sigh, he rang the bell.

There was a distinct grumbling sound as the door was unlocked. A tired young woman looked at him for a moment, before her eyes flashed with recognition.

"Mr Lair, I know that our daughters are friends, but three in the morning isn't a good time of day to be calling on anyone" she paused when she saw the sombre look in his eyes. Taking advantage of her brief silence, Tom decided to tell her what he had come to say.

"Mrs Lin, I'm here to inform you of the death of your daughter, Hay Lin." Joan's face fell and she appeared to be unable to speak for a moment. Then she composed herself.

"B-B-But how? Why?" she stammered out.

"Mrs Lin, can you please get your husband. I don't want to have to say this more than once. Please?"

With seemingly great difficulty, Joan nodded and got her husband. She invited him in and pulled up a chair at one of the tables in the Silver Dragon. When she returned with her husband, he saw that Chen had an angry expression on his face. When he told him the news, his face grew even angrier.

"Mr Lair" he began "Are you certain it's Hay Lin?"

"We were able to identify her from her dental records." Tom hesitated. He was more than a little unsure about how to continue. "Hay Lin was found burnt to death in an alleyway. I'm sorry"

As he said this he saw Joan's composure crack completely and she began crying. The worse part of it was that he had a good idea as to how they felt. He'd liked the bubbly, artistic girl who had befriended his own daughter Irma. But for now he had to focus on the task at hand.

"Mr and Mrs Lin, I'm afraid that I have to ask you a few questions. Did Hay Lin have any enemies at all? Anyone who might wish her harm at all?" he asked in a gentle voice.

"N-N-No, no-one." Sobbed out Joan. Meanwhile back at the station, four girls who we all know so well were also being asked the same question. And they too gave the same answer. But unlike Joan and Chen Lin, they did know of someone who would wish her harm. But that would involve the revealing of secrets that shouldn't be revealed. Revealing that they were magical beings called guardians was not a good idea.

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After several hours grilling, the girl's parents were called. Will's mum was the first to arrive. She hugged her daughter as she began to cry once more. The other girl's parents were the same. Even the normally controlled Cornelia broke down into tears. But it was Irma who felt the pain of Hay Lin's death more than any of the others. Fortunately her stepmother understood that better than anyone and she whispered to Irma

"I'm so sorry sweetie, I know she meant the world to you."

And at that moment, despite the fact that she had lost her best friend, Irma was tremendously grateful for having a stepmother like Anna

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Hay Lin stood up. What was she doing lying down in an alleyway? Running her hand over her head and body to see if she had any bumps or bruises, she received her first clue that there was something wrong. Her hand was a luminescent white. With some trepidation, she looked down at the rest of her and let out a slight scream. Her whole body was luminescent white. There's only one group of people who can help me she thought to herself. Good thing we've got a sleepover at Cornelia's place tonight.

But when she reached Cornelia's house, things weren't that simple. She rushed past the doorman and rushed up the stairs as fast as she could. If she had been less preoccupied, she may have noticed that the doorman didn't notice her. Taking a deep breath, she rang the doorbell. Or rather she tried. Instead of making contact with the doorbell, she passed through it. At the back of her mind, she began to realise what was going on but she couldn't bring herself to admit it. Passing through the door, she saw Cornelia's parents talking.

"She's finally asleep." Her mother said in a tired voice. Neither of them seemed to notice Hay Lin standing in the corner. Quietly sneaking her way around the room to Cornelia's bedroom, Hay Lin walked in.

She didn't like to wake someone who looked as peaceful in sleep as Cornelia did, but this was an emergency. But nothing seemed to work. Shouting at her did nothing and Hay couldn't shake her. Not that she hadn't tried, it was just that every time she tried to shake Cornelia, her hand passed through her arm.

"She can't hear you, you know." Said a voice to her right. Turning to face the voice, Hay Lin saw a skeleton in black robes standing there. "Nor can she see you. No-one can."

"You can." Hay Lin pointed out. The skeleton sighed and Hay Lin had the impression that if he had eyeballs, he would have rolled them.

"I can see you because I am death himself. Which brings us to the deal I'm going to offer you, little air guardian. You were not meant to die for a very long time. In the tower of lifelines, someone has stolen their own in an attempt to gain immortality. That is why Nerissa killed you now, instead of dying an old lady in your sleep. I need someone who can travel the afterlife quickly and effectively. In return, I will return you to life immediately after you died."

Hay Lin hesitated for a moment. "I'm not going to have to kill anyone am I?" she asked.

"No" Death replied. "Besides their already dead, how could you kill them?"

"Ok then tell me what I need to do" Hay Lin asked. It wasn't that death scared her, when you were a guardian that was a risk of the job. But this person had caused Hay Lins death and that was personal.

"I will explain as we go to the first part of the afterlife. I'm afraid I don't know what happens in the next part, but understand this. No one has ever returned. Whether it's heaven or reincarnation or anything else I don't know. I do know that if you go there you cannot return to your old life. And don't touch the green life stream whatever you do. Anyway this is what I need you to do….

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Hay Lin flew over the land searching for the thief. Trust me, she thought to herself he is gonna regret this. It troubled her that she couldn't remember dying, but death had told her that was a side effect of a traumatic death and that in time she would remember. In the meantime she focused on the task at hand. The one thing she felt was missing was the other four guardians. She was sure that they would have been glad to help if they could.

AN: This ones been sitting in my head for a while now. I'm not saying anything about the nature of death etc it is just a story ok? I don't want the bible brigade sending me flames ok. As always read and review