Chapter 1

Exsanguinations

Five men walked slowly into the area. The place was littered with bodies and blood imbrued the courtyard that the bodies were laying in. Some were missing parts while some were still whole. The man in front, obviously the leader, narrowed his eyes at the word scrawled on the wall with the blood of his brethren, 'Chaos.' The Assassins Guild was no more than those five people now and the only clue as to the murderer was that word.

"How? How can this be possible?" said a woman, one of the five. "Who could have done this?"

"Spread out," said the leader, "check and see if there are any survivors."

"Aye, Loki, whatever ye say," said the tallest man, Mustafa. The five of them went around checking the whole bodies and seeing if anyone got away alive.

"Look! There's a girl over here. She doesn't look like one of us. Maybe it was she who did this." Said one of the five, with a large snake-like creature, his name was Ibraham. Taulin, the only woman in the group, rushed over with Hajata, the final of the five.

"She's still alive too." Taulin softly said.

Loki came over and looked at the girl. 'What if she is the one that killed everyone?' "Kill her." He said as he walked away.

"Wait, Loki, she's coming to." Hajata called after their leader.

Loki turned around and looked down at the girl who was just waking up. 'She'll answer my questions. If not, then she will die.' "Bring her into the meeting room and get her something to drink. We'll question her there. Ibraham, Mustafa, come help me burn our brethren." He turned on his heel and went to work at building a pile of bodies to burn. Hajata picked up the girl and took her into the meeting room. When she was fully conscious, Taulin handed her a goblet full of water. The girl drank just a couple sips and placed the cup down on the table next to her.

"W-whe… where am I?" she asked softly. "Who are you?"

"Hold your questions for now, girl. Wait until the Master returns," said Hajata.

Nysa's POV

The blurry images cleared once I was set down. I was handed a large goblet of water. I eyed it suspiciously for a split second before taking a couple of sips, enough to wet my parched throat. I looked up at the people in the room and asked, "W-whe… where am I? Who are you?

A tall skinny man answers me, "Hold your questions for now, girl. Wait until the Master returns."

'Wait for the Master? Master? Am I a slave or something? What the hell is going on here? All I want to know is where the hell I am and who the hell they are! Gah!' I screamed in my head as I took in the appearances of the two people in front of me. The one who handed me the water was obviously a woman. All you could see of her face was her eyes, though. It was the same with the man. They were both wearing long cloaks and scarves that covered the tops of their heads and from the nose down. I looked back at the woman in front of me and narrowed my eyes in confusion when I saw the sign on her head band that kept her scarf on her head. 'I know I've seen that symbol before. But where? Where have I seen it? Why cant I remember anything?' I shifted nervously under their stares and breathed in sharp when a pain shot up my side. My hand went to it instinctively to stop the pain. I looked down and watched as blood seeped through my fingers. That's when I noticed I wasn't wearing the clothes that I had worn to school that morning. What I was wearing now looked like a warriors outfit from a cartoon. It was a tight, clingy shirt that was worn off the shoulders and showed my stomach; and pants that rested on my hips loosely, were baggy from the waist down and ended in a tight cuff at the bottom of my knees. My shoes were different too. Instead of my old converse hi-tops they were soft, but sturdy, sandals that tied up the calf of my leg. I looked up as a large, burly man; a man with a snake and no face it seemed, an another man came in the door. I stared at the last man to come in, since I had not seen him before. The others I had seen surrounding me in my haziness earlier.

"What's your name, girl?" the last man asked me, stepping in front of me.

"Why should I tell you?" I spat back at him I just didn't like the looks of these people, I shouldn't tell them anything, even if they could kill me at any second with the swords hanging at their sides.

"You would do best to answer the Master or you will pay the consequences," said the burly man. He scared me and was very intimidating, especially when he stood right over you, glaring down at you with his sword gripped tightly in his hand slowly rising. I was about to retaliate when I looked back at 'the Master' and flinched. His stare was full of bridles anger, distrust and utter loathing. Of what, I didn't know for sure, but it could only be of me since he was looking directly at me.

"Tell me your name, girl." He commanded. His voice was completely calm and sent chills down my spine. I let my eyes fall to the floor and said quietly, "Nysa."

"How did you get in here?" he asked.

"I… I don't know. I don't even know where I am. All I remember is falling. I just want to go home." I replied quietly, allowing my head to drop.

"Where is your home?" the woman asked me.

"Obviously not here. It probably doesn't even exist here. For all I know I'm dreaming. Yeah that's got to be it. This is all just a terrible nightmare and I'm going to wake up as soon as I pinch myself." I said hopefully yet sarcastically, knowing that it wasn't a dream.

"I can assure you, this is no dream," the man with the snake said.

"Kill her. She trespassed on Guild territory. For that she dies." The leader said as he turned to the burly man.

"No, Loki, I think she might be very valuable to us later on. She might even know something about the word on the wall," the woman called after the leader, now identified to me as Loki. "Do you know anything about the word 'Chaos' that was on the wall outside?" the woman asked kindly.

"No. I'm sorry, I don't. It sounds familiar, kind of like a name I remember from a dream or something. Yeah, that's it… a name. I read it somewhere… something about a man named Chaos and some mystery man and a god named Balder…that's all I remember though, I'm sorry."

"Are you sure there isn't something that you aren't telling us?" the woman asked me.

"I don't think so. That's all I could remember. Honestly, I wouldn't lie to you. You've been kind to me and besides, we just met."

"She's telling the truth Master Loki," the burly man whispered turning towards Loki. He had a real knack at being able to tell if someone was lying or not.

"Fine then, we let her live. However, you are coming with me, girl." Loki said grabbing my arm and yanking me up from the chair I had been sitting in.

"Wait! I never learned your names!" I called out as Loki drug me away.

"I am Taulin. They are Ibraham, Hajata, and Mustafa," Taulin said as she pointed to the man with the snake thing, the skinny man, and the burly man.

"Bye Taulin! It was nice meeting you!" I yelled back over my shoulder.

"Take care of her Loki. She is very important. You know that. I can see it in your eyes." Taulin whispered to herself.

Taulin, Hajata, Mustafa, and Ibraham watched as Loki drug the young girl alongside him out into the desert. They were headed east, not knowing what was ahead of them, but continuing undaunted and one of the unwillingly.

"Would you let go of me already? I can walk on my own without you having to drag me across the desert! Do you think I'm going to try to run away in this?" Nysa yelled at Loki for the fifth time that hour. He finally tired of her complaining and let go of her. "Thank you!" she said as she pulled her arm back to herself and started rubbing her write. Loki had had a tight grip on her since they had left and it was hurting her.

"Girl, I―" he started out, but Nysa interrupted him.

"My name is Nysa. Ny-sa. Not girl. Got it?" she declared.

Loki turned around sharply and stood over Nysa glaring, making her shrink back a step. "Never again interrupt me." All she did was nod.

"As I was saying. I will help you find your way home as soon as you help me in my pursuit of Chaos," he said, turning back around.

"Th-thank you. I'm sorry I interrupted you. I will never forget you for helping me," she said sheepishly. The two companions continued their long journey through the hot desert. Nysa looked up at the sky to see where the sun was. It hung low in the western sky, signifying that night was drawing near. Loki and Nysa had been walking since the sun had been directly in front of them. Night was falling fast and Nysa's pace had been slowing gradually through their trip. The large wound in her side was not helping her either.

'She's probably planning on running off as soon as we hit the forest.' Loki thought when he noticed the ever growing distance between the two of them as they drew nearer the forest in front of them.

'Ahh, my side! I didn't think it was that bad, I guess I was wrong. No, I can't pass out. Not here, not now!' Nysa grabbed her side as it started to throb again. Blood started to seep through her fingers and she grew light headed. ;Not here… come one Nys! Stay awake! You can't give up now! Not after you've gotten this far!'

Loki watched out of the corner of his eye as Nysa fell to her hands and knees whimpering in pain. He topped walking and turned around eyes the strange girl. He became worried when he saw the blood dripping to the ground. 'How come I didn't notice that earlier?' he wondered as she fell to the ground after losing her battle with consciousness. Loki walked back to her prone body, lifted her up onto his shoulder and completed the trek to the forest. After reaching the forest, he found a suitable place for the night and places Nysa on the ground. Night had already fallen and the moon and stars were lighting up the night sky. Loki looked at the wound on Nysa's side and grimaces. It was pretty bad and most likely infected. He put his hand in his cloak and pulled out a dark vile. Uncapping it, he poured some of the substance on her injury and watches as it disappeared without a trace.

'That's all I can do for her,' he thought as he noticed her disheveled appearance. Her once white clothes were covered in blood and sand, and her hair had dried blood in it. He walked away from her and sat on the opposite side of their little clearing. Leaning back on his hands, Loki watched as the bright stars winked at him as if they knew all his secrets. He glanced down across the small meadow after he had caught some movement out of the corner of his eye. 'She's waking up.'

Nysa regained consciousness and sat up and started looking around for Loki. Finding him on the other side of a small clearing she yawned and stretched. Loki watched as she sat up, yawned, and stretched, arching her back and pushing her arms above her head. Sighing she placed her hands back on the ground and leaned forwards, making like she was going to get up, and get up she did. She walked into the middle of the clearing and looked up at the stars. Standing on her tiptoes she reached above her head as though she was plucking a star from the sky. Realizing that she was still dirty, she walked over to Loki and whispered to hi, not wanting to break the spell the moonlight had cast upon the forest, pointing to his left, "I'm going to the stream over there and taking a bath." All he did was nod at her and watch as she walked away.

'sigh I didn't think that we'd ever get here. He must have carried me the rest of the way. I wonder what he looks like under that mask. Probably really handsome. Wait! Why am I thinking of that? He's mean and brutal and probably ugly!' I continued walking to the bubbling sound in front of me. I had finally found the stream. It wasn't very big, but that didn't matter. All that did matter was that I could get clean! After wallowing in this filth all day a bath would be wonderful. I cleaned up as best as I could. My clothes would continue to have blood stains on them, but at least the rest of me was clean. While I stood on shore wringing out my hair, which had somehow grown down to my waist, a person came out of the woods in front of me. As they stepped out into the light I realized that it was an old lady with something white draped over one of her arms.

"What do you want old woman?" came a voice from behind me. Startled I turned around quickly and looked at Loki leaning against the tree directly behind me, as though he had been there the entire time. 'twitch how long has he been there?'

"I just came to give this young maiden a gift, kind sire," the old lady replied sweetly.

"Why would you want to give me something, no offense." I asked stepping closer to the stream.

"None taken, my dear. You are a daughter in need, and even an old woman like me knows what it is like to have to wear bloodied clothes for far too long, milady," she answered solemnly.

"O…kay…" I said eyeing her suspiciously. I stepped forward anyways. If she tried to do anything funny then I could always…well…do something. I didn't know what at that moment, but I'd do something. Just then, an arm shot out in front of me hindering my progress over to the other side of the stream. I looked up to the owner of the arm and saw Loki standing there glaring at the woman.

"You stay here. You, old woman, will hand me the gift." He said stepping forward with his hand outstretched.

"Alright, alright, lad. I can understand you wanting to protect your lady," the old woman laughed, handing over the gift. "It's a set of clothes. They never get dirty or wet. There's no need to clean them and they chance to whatever color milady wants it to be."

Loki handed me the clothes and stood beside me. "Thank you." I said to the old lady. "You are very kind."

"Oh, nonsense. Well, I'll be on my way now. Take care you two." With that the old lady left use standing on the edge of the stream.

"Well, I'm going to go change. No peeking!" I said as I walked back towards the clearing that we were in earlier. The clothes were beautifully made. They were almost exactly like my previous outfit. The only difference was that there were fingerless gloves and the shirt was a V-neck instead of a straight neck. There was a beautiful little trinket on a thin silver chain too. I put the clothes on and placed the necklace over my head and set the trinket on my chest right as Loki walked back into the clearing staring at something in his hand. 'He is very strange.' I thought as I went over to the tree that I had seen earlier and sat down at its base. Loki continued to look at the thing in his hand thinking back to when he was alone at the stream.

flashback

The old woman came back after Nysa disappeared into the brush and called to Loki. "Here, young man, I almost forgot to give this to you. If that girl ever gets lost or runs away then this will help you find her. The necklace will get brighter as you get closer to her. She has one exactly like it and no one else will be able to see the light except for you two, so you have nothing to worry about when it gets to be very bright," she said as she held her hand out with the other necklace dangling down. Loki stuck out his hand and the old woman dropped the trinket into his palm then turned around and disappeared once again. He looked at the necklace and headed back to the clearing figuring that he had given Nysa enough time to change. When he reached the clearing Nysa was sitting at the base of a tree watching him intently.

end flashback

I combed my damp hair with my fingers, untangling all the little knots that my fingers came to. When I was done combing my hair, I braided it to keep it out of my face. I noticed that Loki was still looking at his hand. His behavior intrigued me and I was itching with curiosity to know what he was looking so intently at. I got up and walked across the clearing over to his side and looked at his hand. In it was a small necklace with a little faerie shaped charm at the end; it looked exactly like mine.

"What's that? I asked. My curiosity, finally reaching its limit, needed to be sated.

"Nothing of importance," he said sticking his hand inside his cloak, depositing the necklace in one of the many little hidden pockets.

I turned my head up to the sky and sighed. 'Does everyone think that I am really that stupid?' I chuckled at my stupid thought. 'Of course people would think I'm stupid if I continue to act like I am.' I looked down at Loki and he looked up at me with inquisitive eyes. I said nothing and walked back over to my side of the clearing. I turned around and noticed that Loki was still watching me. '…probably watching to see if I'm going to run away. sigh He's still wearing that mask too. Will I ever see the face behind it? No, I will. Someday I will see your face, Loki. I promise you that before I find my way home, I will see your face. What am I talking about he's mean, but he is going to help me get home…' I turned back to the tree in front of me and began to climb up it. It gave me a good vantage point and it was very comfortable. Too bad it had too narrow of branches or I would have slept up here. Instead, I decided on checking to see where we were. I climbed higher and higher wondering when I would reach the top. When I finally did, I gasped. It was beautiful. I couldn't believe it. The gazillions of stars that were so often blocked out by the city lights were now as clear as day surrounding me, dancing around my figure and winking at me. I let go of the tree and fell backwards, but never hit any branched. Just then, the wings of a large bird lifted me up towards the sky. With feathers cushioning my being, I soared into the heavens. But, sadly, that was just my imagination getting away from me once more.

I climbed back down the large tree slowly. When I had almost reached the bottom my footing slipped and I fell to the ground with an 'oomph.' Loki looked down at me from behind me while I looked upside down at him. I laughed nervously and turned around so my back was against the trunk of the tree. Saying goodnight I lay down on the ground, using my arm as a pillow, and fell asleep. It wasn't the most comfortable position in the world, but it was better than a concrete floor.

Loki's POV

I watched as the strange girl walked over to me and asked, "What's that?" I replied softly, "nothing of importance," as I tucked the strange trinket into my cloak, depositing it in one of the many hidden pockets. 'When she walked closer the necklace got brighter. Just like the old woman said.' It got so bright in fact, that it was almost blinding. I looked up at the creature above me. Her head was turned up towards the night sky and she was chuckling. She looked down at me and walked over to the other side of the clearing. She walked up to a tree and glanced back at me. Slightly shaking her head she turned back to the tree and began to climb. I watched as she climber higher and higher, until she was lost from my sight.

I stood up and walked over to the tree, but by the time I got over there she was already climbing down. As she got closer to the bottom I saw her footing slip and she fell, but I made no moved to catch her. She just sat there on the ground looking up at me, laughing nervously. Then she turned around, said goodnight, and lay down on her side falling asleep. I sat down next to her after I was sure she was asleep and turned my head back up to the stars. There was no point in staring at her all night long. But for some reason my gaze always landed on her sleeping figure lying beside me. At some point during the night she started to shiver. It was kind of cold out. Probably really cold for her, considering that she was hardly wearing reasonable clothing for the cold temperatures that we would come across in the mountainous region.

I sighed heavily, took off my cloak and draped it over her. 'She need sit more than I do. As soon as we get close to a village, though, I'm sending her in to get a cloak of her own.' I watched as she pulled the cloak closer to her body and snuggle into it. I was actually quite adorable, I couldn't stop a small smile from making its way onto my face. I could usually keep my emotions from showing by schooling my face into an emotionless mask, the same emotionless mask that I had been using for the last eighteen years. But for some reason, now that I was with her, I couldn't stop my emotions from showing, even just a little tiny bit. I stayed up all night keeping watching over the girl, no, Nysa at my side. Morning dawned cool and clear. We should have good traveling weather for the day. I fell asleep just before she woke up. I suppose that I was tired from the previous days events.

Normal POV

Sunlight broke through the branches of the trees and landed softly on Nysa's face, waking her from her slumber. Opening her eyes slowly and rubbing the sleep from them, she sat up and looked around for Loki. Looking to her side she was startled to find Loki sitting next to her with his head leaning against the tree trunk, asleep. Smiling softly she reached out her hand towards his face. 'He looks so peaceful when he's sleeping.' A hand shot up and grasped her wrist hen it got an inch away from his face. Gasping in surprise, Nysa tried to pull her hand back.

Loki looked up at her, glaring, then threw her wrist away from him saying, "Don't ever try that again."

Blushing, Nysa looked down at the ground softly replying with a "yes sir." 'Why am I blushing? I never blush!' Her hands were groping at the ground for some sort of support or distraction from her embarrassment. Finding some kind of material underneath her hand she turned around. It was Loki's cloak. That's when she realized that he had put it over he had put it over her sometimes during the night. 'Why's he being so nice to me?' Grabbing his cloak she shoved it at him. "Thank you for allowing me to use this." She turned around, blushing again, and mumbled something about getting them some food.

Nysa walked into the woods a ways and reached to her side. There was a small dagger hanging there that she had found in the clothes when she had been changing. Seems the old woman knew she would need one. It was beautifully made. It had a black handle with ivy carved into it, and the metal was blue tempered steel with a wave in it that softly reflected the morning sun. Walking slowly and quietly through the thicket she spotted a hare. Sneaking up behind it she let the blade drop fast. 'I hope I don't hurt it badly.' She thought as the blade ripped through the rabbit's fur and into its neck. It was dead on the first strike, thankfully for Nysa. She didn't like killing anything. Well except for some bugs, like spiders.

She picked up the hare by its hind feet and walked back to the camp proudly. 'It should be enough for now. Loki should have some dried meat in one of his pockets. Oh and I should probably try to find some berries of some sort.' Looking around, she noticed that there were several berry bushes surrounding her already. Setting the hare down on the ground, she went about picking a bunch of berried and putting them in her old shirt, she just happened to have handy. When she was finished picking a sufficient amount of berried she picked up the hare and walked briskly back to the campsite.

Loki looked up at her when she walked in proudly holding a hare in her left hand and her old shirt in her right. She stepped over to him and set the hare down on the ground, along with the shirt. The shirt fell open when she set it down on the ground, allowing Loki to see what it was full of berries. 'Smart girl to have picked the right berries. We can take some with us for later.' He thought, grabbing the hare and pulling out a dagger of his own. Nysa walked back out into the surrounding woods leaving him to the dirty work of cleaning the hare. When she came back he had an armload of sticks and something greenish-brown in either one of her hands.

"What are those?" Loki asked pointing to the things in her hands.

"Oh! They're wild onions. I figured that I could chop them up and stick them inside the hare while it was cooking." Setting the wood down on the ground and placing the wild onions on her old shirt, she began her job of making a fire. After a few failed attempts she finally succeeded in sparking the dried grass that she had used for tinder. Loki had just finished cleaning the hare and had laid it down on her old shirt, which would most likely be discarded after this. Nysa came over, took out her dagger and chopped up the onions. Placing the little green pieces inside of the hare, she picked it up and placed it in the embers of the fire.

"There we go. That should cook nicely now," she said sitting down near Loki. They both watched the hare cooking in the fire, making sure that it didn't burn. When it was done cooking Nysa took it out of the fire using her fingers, which was a stupid move on her part because she burnt her fingers doing that.

"Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow!" she said putting the hare on her old shirt and waving her hand in front of her, trying to cool them off. Loki watched as she unsuccessfully cooled her hand down. "I'm such an idiot! Why didn't I―" Loki took her burnt fingers in his hand and slowly put them in his mouth, licking them one by one.

"Uhh…" was the only thing that Nysa could say as she watched Loki stick her fingers under the bottom part of his mask and into his mouth. When he was finished, her fingers didn't hurt anymore and it looked as though they were never burnt.

"How―"

Loki held up a small green leaf, "These are a healing herb. They help with burns. It takes a natural acid found in saliva to activate them though. So I chewed them up." He looked up at Nysa's face and smiled behind his mask when he realized that she was blushing madly.

"What's wrong with your face?" he jested.

She brought her hands up to her cheeks quickly and started blushing even more. Loki was having a field day with this. She turned towards the fire until she got her blush under control. She took out her dagger and cut up the hare into portions. Handing Loki his, she got up and walked around to the other side of the fire, taking her portion with her. 'I didn't think she'd react like that. Of course I didn't exactly think before doing that. She looks cute when she's blushing, I need to get her to do it more,' He thought to himself, watching her every move.

After they both finished eating Loki decided that they should get some rest before leaving. The two of them traveled and traveled. East; west; north; south. Three months of searching and there was still no sign of 'Chaos.' They had battled demons, sand worms, assassins, mercenaries, and robbers in their search for 'Chaos', but it was all to no avail; he was nowhere to be found. The days were spent walking and fighting; the nights spent sleeping and hunting. Nysa's clothes never got dirty, just like the old lady said, and the necklaces still worked as good as they did when they first received them. Nysa and Loki became closer to each other with every trial that they had to go through; their relationship was of the best of friends, if not something a little bit more that they just didn't see at that moment.

The times had changed, the seasons grew old and died as a new one gave birth and began to grow. Autumn was upon them in a haste which the summertime could not recover from. Sporadic rains pelted the duo as they continued to search throughout the country. The searching areas in Midgard were starting to get smaller and smaller with every day that passed by. The temperatures had dropped substantially; it was almost 40 degrees with a chilling wind blowing through the country side. 'At least we aren't in the mountains at this point in the year. shivers its already so cold out' Nysa thought as she wrapped her cloak tighter around her.

"L-l-lok-k-k-ki. D-d-do yo-ou t-th-thin-k-k-k we c-c-could s-s-stop-p f-f-or t-the ni-i-gh-t-t, p-p-please?" Nysa chattered out her broken words as the wind whisked the breath out of her greedy lungs. Loki just nodded his head as he looked around the field that they were walking through.

"I thought I saw a grotto back that way. Let's head over there, then we'll stop for today," he replied as he started his diagonal ascent of the small hill to the left of the pair. They walked in silence for five minutes before they reached the area that Loki had spotted. It was a small place, just big enough for the two of them to lay down with a fire in between them, and was shielded from the wind by a group of trees. The wind began to howl through the countryside, sounding like a moaning ghost looking for its prey; the rain began to fall again too, washing the earth with the sky's tears.

Nysa left the grotto to find some wood for a fire; she knew they'd need it for warmth tonight. When she came back Loki was sitting on the ground leaning against a tree trunk, one leg bent the other outstretched, seemingly asleep against the tree. Nysa dropped her pile of wood onto the ground, gathering her tinder together, and began her task of making their crackling warmth. Once she got the fire started, Nysa walked over to Loki and kneeled in front of him. She reached her hand out, gently, towards his face, reaching for his mask. She got her fingers on the tip of the mask when Loki's eyes shot open and his hand darted up, wrapping itself around her hand.

"What the hell do you think you're doing!" he practically yelled at her. She flinched and backed away from him with a scared look on her face. Afraid that he was going to do something more and afraid of embarrassing herself even more Nysa got up and ran out of the grotto and into the forest that was behind them. She didn't know where she was going but she felt the need to get away from him at that time. He's probably chase right after her anyways. He would never let her run away like this, so he just had to come and get her. '…or not. I'm probably more of a burden to him than anything, what with the way he has to save me practically every time that we fight.' Nysa ran as fast as she could, dodging trees and bushes. It started to rain harder making it difficult to run on the now flooded ground. The evening sun was gone from sight and dark clouds covered the entire sky making the woods very dark. The wind picked up and blew the stinging rain against Nysa's already freezing body. 'I thought he would follow me. I guess I am a burden after all.' Looking behind her again to see if Loki had even bothered to chase her, she missed seeing the tree roots in front of her and tripped. Nysa hit her head on the tree and landed sprawled on the forest floor.

Back at the grotto Loki decided to go after her now. Taking out his necklace he headed in the direction that Nysa had run off in. Making sure that the necklace was getting brighter, he began to walk faster. The light got very bright and he looked up ahead. There she was, lying in the mud at the base of a tree, soaking wet and unconscious. But, Loki didn't step forward to grab her fast enough. From the sky came two crows. When they landed they turned into two women.

"What do you think, Huginn? Is it her?" said the shortest one.

"It looks like her. We'll just have to take her to Freya so that she can deal with her," said the taller woman, identified as Huginn. Loki stepped forward to grab Nysa before the two women could touch her, but Huginn noticed and chuckled. "Oh dear, look Muninn, he thinks he can take the girl from us." Muninn laughed also and stepped in front of Loki.

"Uh-uh. Tisk, tisk, tisk. You can't have her, my dear, Loki. And now that you've lost her you will never get her back," said Muninn. Narrowing his eyes, Loki pulled out his sword and slid into an attacking position.

"Give her back."

Huginn had begun chanting in the background while Muninn just smile ruefully at Loki and said, "Aww, the poor little man wants his lover back. Well, you're too late! She's ours now!" Laughing maniacally Huginn and Muninn disappeared taking Nysa along with them.

Lowering his sword to the ground, Loki looked disbelievingly at the spot where Nysa had lain. 'They took her. She's gone. Now I'll never find her. NoI have to find her. I heard what Taulin said, she is supposed to be important. But to who or what? Is she supposed to be important to Midgard…or to…me?'