Good day, friends! It has been long since I last updated, please forgive me. I sort of hit a block with the story but I am back now with ideas. Thank you for the reviews, faves, and follows, I am glad! Please enjoy!

Daylight had started to break across the city sky. There was a peek of pink here, a smattering of purple there, all fading from deep blues to light yellows. At the Detective Agency, on the upper level, in the office, sat a young couple cuddled together sleeping on the couch. The young man had his arm wrapped around his female counterpart, their heads resting against the other, both in a deep sleep.

Sunlight was starting to creep across the horizon, stirring the city sleepers. The bubble gum pink haired girl who slept and cuddled with her began to gently open her eyes. Silently, her two red eyes scanned the room, searching for what awoke her. It was unlike Mayura to wake so early. Embracing her curious nature, she quietly and delicately removed herself from Loki's snuggle, laying him on the couch so as not to wake him. She tiptoed across the room and noted the time on the wall clock. Five in the morning, not even Yamino would be awake at this time.

Mayura walked out the study room and down the hall, taking care to make sure the sound of her footsteps wouldn't carry through the house. She decided to go get some fresh air and walked out of the front door of the house. Stretching, she felt a soft wind ripple against her, it was cool and refreshing. Mayura smiled to herself and hummed. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed a crow land on an electrical post near her. She looked up at it, the crow looked down onto her.

"Good morning, Mr. Crow!" She called up to it, smiling.

"Good morning, Mayura!" The crow called back. Mayura's smile fell.

"Ehhhh? What?! You… you talked!" Mayura's eyes widened as she stared at the crow. The crow didn't respond further and simply flapped away. Mayura's curiosity got the better of her and she dashed after the crow while squealing 'Fushigi Mysteryyyyyyy!'. The commotion and noise woke the inhabitants of the detective agency.

"Mayura?" Loki called out sleepily, grabbing out into the air for her warmth. He's alone? Where could she have gone? He jumped up the moment he realized she was missing. It was odd for Mayura to not only have woken so early but to also have left without waking anyone else. Loki sat there for a moment then proceeded to get up and dress himself all the while thinking of where she could have gone. Maybe she was downstairs making breakfast! He smiled to himself and absentmindedly looked out the study room window.

"Ah, the storm seems to have subsided." He whispered to himself. What a storm that was. Loki began to frown. The storm… That was Odin's doing and if that was a sign from Odin then maybe? He scrambled out of the study room just the same moment Yamino was walking out of his bedroom dressed for the day. Loki nearly bolted into Yamino but with quick reflexes narrowly avoided him and ran down the stairs.

"Ah, Loki-sama…!" Yamino tried to call after him. It wasn't good for him to be so frantic so early in the morning, after all.

"Not now, Yamino! Mayura might be in trouble!" Loki called as he swung out the front door. Loki raced through the front lawn, his heart pounding against his chest, his breath coming in sharp intakes, air ripping through his throat and lungs. He wasn't sure where to run, which direction to go and thus skidded to an abrupt stop.

Concentrate! He yelled at himself, stop acting like afrightened animal and concentrate on Mayura, on Sigyn's magic essence, something! He took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and meditated on the spot, opening himself to the world around him and searching for the spirit of his beloved. There, 30 metres north by north east. He ran in that direction after Mayura, hoping he wasn't too late.

Mayura happily bounced after the crow, who seemed to be knowingly leading her to the park. She slowed her pace to a walk, trying to catch her breath, looking around at where she was. The crow settled itself on a tree branch several feet away from her. The sky was mostly purple now fading into soft pinks, which lit the park in a soft warm glow. Mayura walked over to the trees and looked up at the crow.

"Are you going to talk to me now, Mr. Crow?" She called up to the bird, a rather big smile forming across her face. She waved erratically towards the bird, flailing her arms, trying to get a reaction from the bird. It was no use, the bird was silent and still, simply staring at her. Mayura sighed and then looked back at the bird.

"What's your name, Mr. Crow?" She tried to strike a conversation with the bird again. She was certain the crow spoke to her before; she could never imagine such a big mystery on her own!

"Odin." The bird replied to her, its voice faltering between high pitched and deep. Mayura gasped and let out another squeal. Odin, though, that name sounded familiar, but at the current moment, due to her excitement, she couldn't quite remember why.

"How did you know my name, Odin-!" She smiled up the tree at the bird but was cut short by a loud shout.

"MAYURA!" She turned to see Loki running towards her with the most worried look on his face.

"Ne, Loki-kun… How did you know I was here?" She asked him incredulously.

"Never mind that, what are you doing here?" He stopped in front of her, panting and staring at her. Mayura smiled her mischievous smile.

"I followed a mystery here!" and pointed towards the crow. "See! Nothing wrong with that! It's a talking crow, its name is…"

"Mayura, you need to get away from that bird. Now." Loki recognized the bird, it was as he thought. It was a good thing he came here in time before Odin could do something and he tried to urge Mayura away from the tree.

"Oh, Loki-kun, there is no reason to be afraid! It's just a crow, see?" She beamed at him and turned around, only in the place of the crow was now an older man sitting in the tree. She gasped and stepped back, away from the tree and away from Loki. "Wh…what?" She spoke in a hushed voice, the color draining from her face.

"You should have listened to him, Mayura." The man gathered himself and began to stand on the branch. He was tall, with a grey beard and grey hair. "I am Odin, the god of gallows, the god who oversees all the other gods." He called down to her in a dry voice. "And now, I am here to collect on Loki's debt and ensure the safety of the realms." Mayura noticed he was holding a stick, a staff maybe; it was old, gnarled wood, simple in design.

"Loki-kun?" Mayura turned to Loki, her eyes wide with fear. Tears forming, glazing her eyes, her whole body shaking. Before Loki knew what was happening, she had turned to run away from Odin.

"Mayura!" He called after her, watching her small body take off down the field. The next moments were a whirl, seemingly taking place out of time, the events happening to Loki as if they were in a stop animation. There was a sound as if Odin had just let out a loud spell chant, there was a bolt of lightning that soared across the grass, and then there was Mayura hit in the back, flying across the field.

Her pale figure was flung carelessly across the yard. She thudded to the ground, bounced lightly, and crumpled like a ragdoll. He ran over to see blood pooling from her broken skull and dripping onto the grass. Her eyes permanently fixed into a fearful expression.

"She lived like a human, bleeds like a human, fitting she should die like a human." His grin bared teeth that seemed to slice the words out of his flesh, cutting into him one syllable at a time. "I waited until I made sure you were here with her, so you could witness this. Pity, I was hoping to play with her more." Loki stared down onto her lifeless form; she looked so fragile and broken, splayed out in unflattering and illogical ways. An arm twisted here, a leg twisted there both in ways that shouldn't be.

She was still beautiful, even in her most mortal hour. Poetic that she would die when the sky was as pink as her hair. He collapsed to her side, unable to bring himself to touch her lifeless form. Memories flashed through his mind of all the times that Mayura was in danger because of him, of all the times he had to save her. But this was it. This was the last one and he couldn't save her.

He grabbed at the grass out of frustration, out of pain. The pain was so tremendous it hurt him physically to think that she was really gone. Mayura, Sigyn, was once again taken from him. Thoughtlessly he began ripping the grass out of the ground in chunks, just for the chance to hurt something as much as he was hurting at the moment. His throat began to feel constricted, his voice unable to escape his mouth, he sat there, speechless and unable to answer Odin's laughter. In fact, the laughter seemed to go through one ear and out of the other. The sounds hardly registered in his mind, his entire being consumed with the grief of losing the one he loved for the second time.

Tenderly, he put his arms under her corpse and lifted her to his chest. He gently carried her back to the detective agency as if she were still alive only sleeping.

"It'd be bad if people saw you like this, so early, Mayura…" He mumbled to himself and her still face. Odin sat there for a moment longer, watching him walk off, ignoring him completely. He grinned to himself.

"Success, Loki. Success."

Loki stumbled through the front door of the detective agency, still holding Mayura in his arms. He was unaware of the happenings around him, the sounds being made, it all felt like a life he wasn't living. He was vaguely aware of Yamino bursting in onto the scene, a cheerful expression quickly replaced by horror as he saw the blood covering Loki's hands and shirt, the origin of the blood. Fenrir standing quietly at the doorway by Yamino's feet looking up mournfully at his father.

Her body was placed lightly onto the couch. Mayura's face gently rolled to the side, her arm hanging off the side of the couch, neither stirring. Loki closed her eyes and then fell into a chair beside her, silent as she was. He continued to stare at her body, continually unable to recognize what was happening around him until finally he was left alone with his dead beloved.

Mayura rolled over and looked up. This isn't the park where she was a moment ago. She looked around her and saw a large stone hall reaching out in all directions from where she was. Now and again, she would see faces or people out of the corner of her eye hiding behind the pillars, looking at her, but whenever she turned to face them directly, nothing was there. She began to shiver, it was cold here. So cold and damp.

"Hello." A voice called out to her. It was soft, low, and monotonous. Mayura looked up in excitement and fear, she wasn't alone, that was good, but she was afraid of who it might be. But it was only someone she recognized. The voice belonged to a young girl with wavy pink hair, like hers.

"I know you!" Mayura was shocked to see such a familiar face but smiled despite herself.

"I am Hel, I am… the keeper of the dead. You know my father, Loki." Hel walked closer and Mayura gasped. Half of her face was rotted away while the other half was that of a normal lovely young woman.

"The dead? I am dead?" Mayura mouthed the words, staring off into and through Hel, as these thoughts were processed in her mind. "LOKI. Is Loki okay?"

"I assume so, he isn't here." Hel gestured to the halls around them. Mayura looked about. Just her.

"Can I go back?" Mayura whispered to herself, grasping at some faint light of hope she may have.

"I could help you, however. Provided you really are Sigyn and not just another human." Hel looked away. "There will be a test. A test to prove you are who you say you are."

Mayura faltered. A TEST? Oh, please no, not that. Mayura wasn't exactly the best at tests, let her just tell you. She looked up at Hel's face, half living, half dead and knew, though, that although she hated tests, this was the most important one she'd ever have to do.

"Okay. I'll do it!" Mayura shouted determinedly.