Warnings: OOCness, AUness (if you haven't noticed...), cursing, lack of spellcheck (ah, the pains of using Wordpad), etc.
Notes: Please read my notes at the end! Thank you.

The Mythical Detective Mayura

VIII: Truth

"So are you still dating the crazy girl?" Odin asked cheerfully at breakfast the next day.

Loki glared at him. "I'm working for her. I'm not dating her."

His elder brother gave him a skeptical look. "Right. Sure..."

"I'm not." Loki insisted, dumping his dirty plate in the sink. "Are you dating anyone now?"

"Suzuka turned out to be a killer." Odin pointed out. "I'm not eager to begin dating again..."

"Four girls, huh?" Loki asked, fully aware of his brother's dating habits.

The white-haired man grinned. "Oh yeah. Ever interested in having a sister-in-law...?"

"Sure, but knowing you, I'll never see one." The blonde replied, walking away.

Glancing at a photo on a nearby end table, Odin smiled slightly. "Do you miss them?"

Loki frowned, understanding what his brother meant. "Mom and Dad left a long time ago. Why should I miss them?"

"They went to study medicine in America. They think they're changing the world." Odin said, almost sadly. "I guess they forgot about us, hm?"

His younger brother shook his head. "It doesn't matter. You're an adult, even if you don't act like one, and I'm nearly eighteen. We can handle ourselves."

The elder smiled, changing the subject. "I actually met a girl I'm quite fond of. I think I'll ask her to be my girlfriend. Interested in meeting her?"

Loki shrugged and headed to his room. He never believed his brother's words about women, since they were rarely the truth.

X

Mayura sighed in her den, sipping tea as she considered the previous day's events.

She had not been able to purge Ares' sin. She had failed. Now her brother would continue coming after her until she was dead.

Though, in all honesty, this was hardly unusual. Ares and Athena were in constant argument and shared a hatred, because each desired the same things. Their father's favor, military supremacy for their favorite cities, and to be known as the strongest god or goddess.

Unfortunately for Ares, Athena usually won.

Mayura almost laughed. Ares had probably offered to kill her. Hades would not even need to ask!

The only question was...who else would come after her?

When gods or humans were voluntarily evil, she could name their sin and extract it. This was fairly easy--she just had to figure out the person in question's sin.

However, when possessed by someone (such as in Narugami's case), key words from the person's memories were the best way to destroy the spell.

What would she say for Artemis? Would Apollo come for her too? Aphrodite? Demeter? Poseidon?

Would Hades send giants? Nymphs? Would he send deceased heroes after her? Would Odysseus come to her with murder in mind?

He had better not after that trip she'd helped him with.

Maybe it would be intelligent to consider those "key words" now, instead of on the battlefield.

"Apollo will come next."

She nearly jumped at the familiar voice. She turned to its source and gasped slightly. "Artemis...what happened to you?"

The woman before her seemed to be a ghost, or a hologram of some sort. It was quite mysterious, Mayura noted.

The goddess of the hunt had flowing brown hair, deep eyes, and a beauty that caught most men's breath. Unfortunately for them, the so-called virgin goddess was far more interested in women.

"The ass killed me." Artemis said, glaring up at the sky. "Like, a month ago. But I've been hanging around Earth, looking at the pretty mortal girls..." She began to drool slightly before narrowing her eyes. "Why didn't you tell me how many mortal girls were hotties? I could've been hanging out here for centuries!"

Mayura sweat-dropped at her sister's lack of concern for her own death.

"Mou, Artemis, you're a ghost?"

Artemis ended her rant about women and blinked at her sister. "Yeah. I guess...kind of. Oh, yeah, I did come to say something! Apollo was possessed right after Hades killed me. He gave up, I guess. You know how creepy he is with that sister crap."

The pink-haired girl sighed. "How do I stop him? Apollo is sinless, mostly, except for being...eh..."

"A moron? Remember when you left?" Artemis asked, narrowing her eyes at the memory.

Mayura sweat-dropped. Hm, she hadn't exactly told Loki the whole truth...she wanted him to think that the gods were mighty, intelligent beings...

The tall, frightening man took the throne and glared down at the formerly superior gods. "Bow." He ordered.

"I knew you would do this one day, damn it!" Zeus said, growling. "I won't bow."

Hera hissed at him and threw him to the ground. "Yes, you will! That's what you get for cheating, jerkoff. Can't I just kill him and help you take over?"

Slightly surprised by that act, but pleased, Hades considered it. "Why don't we just lock him up instead?"

Watching from afar, Artemis groaned. "Damn that old crone! She let us down. Athena, you should go to Earth for protection. One of us has to."

"Eh? Why don't you go?" Athena asked, confused.

"Because you're the only one with that purifying staff thing. Also, you know Earth customs from those bishonen-watching trips." Artemis was disgusted. "Plus, Earth smells awful. Too many men. You can go, we'd rather be here. He might not kill us right away, anyway."

Artemis' twin, Apollo, began to cry. "Let this one go too! Let this one go too!" He clung to Athena.

"No." Artemis said, crossing her arms. "Hades won't notice Athena missing for a while, but all three of us? We have to stay here and cover for her. Hades wants to take over everyone's minds, and he'll probably succeed. So at least with Athena, when we try to kill her she'll be able to get us back to normal."

"Why can't we all?" Athena asked, glancing between the two. "We can all run away or we could all fight him--"

"'Cause you have the staff!" Artemis said, exasperated. "Only you can use that thing, and without it, we don't have any mind blocks. We'll come after you to kill you eventually, but at least you'll have time to prepare this way."

Athena sighed. "But I can't cook or clean! How will I live alone?"

"Take the moron who's hiding over there." Artemis advised, pointing to the green-haired shape nearby.

Athena sweat-dropped. "Oh. Are you willing?"

The god nodded.

Apollo released Athena and began to cry. "Mine darling sister, the next time we meet, this one shall attempt to murder you. Please save me. Good luck." He went to cling to Artemis instead, who sighed in annoyance.

Mayura sighed. "Artemis, what words do I use to revive Apollo's memories?"

"Nothing will work on him. You can't use the twelve labors like you did on Herc. Apollo's way too dumb." Artemis said, crossing her arms. "He doesn't have any significant events. You could try things like 'sun' and 'sisters'."

"I need ten." Mayura said nervously. "They all have to invoke significant, individual memories. Words like 'sun' don't summon anything specific."

Artemis groaned, pacing now. "Crap." Then an idea dawned on her. "I know how to remove the spell Hades cast."

"How?" Mayura asked, curious as to what her sister had thought of.

"I need to go find something. I know it used to exist, but it may not anymore...I'll go look for it." The goddess of the hunt said. "I'll be back to help you. I promise I'll be back before Apollo kills you."

Mayura sweat-dropped. That wasn't reassuring.

"Good luck, sis." Artemis said, slightly distracted as she vanished.

The pink-haired detective sighed as the clock struck eleven. Was it that late already?

Apollo was going to attack tomorrow. No doubt about it. But how...?

A single white notecard floated to her through the open window. Written in black ink was the following:

"The ocean blinks often, does it not?

With the green grass beside.

Yet something is missing in between

I will steal what should reside.

On the 13th of the month I shall arrive at eleven,

-Kaitou Freyr"

Mayura blinked. A mystery thief? Her eyes lit up. Finally!

X X X X

Yep, ladies and gents, Freyr is Apollo in my fic! I hope this chapter didn't seem rushed, it wasn't meant to. I rather like this one, in fact. More filler is coming later... (:

As a side note, I haven't really been writing this fic lately. Since I completed All Out Assassin Attack, I've been a bit lazy. I'm 4-5 chapters ahead of you guys and I'm usually eight ahead. So I'm not too thrilled...I do intend to finish this, but you'll have to deal with short chapters and some late updates for now. Still, your support is my inspiration so please review! I will try to keep my updates to about once a week (as I have been doing).

Thanks!

Next chapter preview: Freyr tries to steal the mysterious gem, and Mayura intends to stop him! The only problem is...can she find it first?

Posted 8/14!