A/N: Thanks to all the new followers and favorites! Welcome to the family, guys :D (Note: Nosside, all I have to say to your comment is :) )

K. Back to the story and some filler chapter/really important plot point stuff...

North.

It was all Loki could focus on, all he could hear in his head. And the further north he went, the stronger the compulsion grew. He didn't understand why Midgardians insisted on traveling by horseless carriage and not by something much faster, like the Bifrost. There was an enormously grand invention. And to think mortals believed a horseless carriage to be an achievement. He rolled his eyes.

"Where'd you say you were headed again?" asked the kindly older gentleman Loki had convinced to drive him north.

Loki smiled and materialized an apple to munch on. "I don't exactly know."

"Hey, now, that's a pretty nifty trick. Got another one in there somewhere?" The old man moved his gaze quickly between the road and the mischief-maker beside him.

It was only fair, Loki surmised. An apple in exchange for transportation. Even Odin would never be able to find anything wrong with that. He flicked his wrist as another perfectly red apple appeared in his hand. He set it up on the dashboard.

The man smiled, and it took years off his face. "I've not seen anything like that since I was real small."

"Oh, you've seen something of the sort?" Loki chuckled softly. He doubted the man had, but it couldn't hurt to make small talk. At least it distracted him from his missing bride.

The man nodded. "There was a man in the village where I grew up. He was a master at making things appear from nothing."

Loki chuckled again. "I doubt he used the same techniques as I."

"Oh, I don't know. I never thought to ask him how he did it. I was too enthralled with what he did."

Loki smiled wanly. He knew what that felt like. Even now, as he scoured worlds to find her, he realized he had never truly gotten to know Sigyn. He had been too enthralled with the idea of having her as his own. As shy and quiet as she was, he had not taken time to try to break down those walls. He had coped with whatever she did and made adjustments to accommodate strange behavior.

The old man bit off part of the apple and studied Loki as best as he could. "So... north, huh?"

Loki nodded and suddenly found the apple in his hand utterly fascinating.

"Why north? Seems most people nowadays only want to go south. Warmer weather, nicer beaches. That sort of stuff."

Loki shrugged. "I'm looking for someone," he answered simply. Not a lie, exactly, but not the whole truth either.

"This someone a woman?"

Loki looked out the window. "I requested transportation, not constant badgering."

The man laughed, a breathy sound that ended when he nearly choked. He coughed. "It always is."

Loki ignored the statement and watched the water droplets trickle sideways down the glass beside him. Another hit one that had made it halfway across the plane, shattering it into a million pieces. Like his heart.

He rolled his eyes. He hadn't meant to think like that. It had just come up. He didn't want to feel like his world had splintered around him and he couldn't find the fragments. But, he could not stop replaying the look of pure terror on Sigyn's face. The blood splashed across her golden slippers. The way that man looked at her possessively.

Something squawked, snapping Loki out of his daze.

"What was that?" he quickly demanded to know.

The man reached to a contraption atop the dash and fiddled with a switch. "It's a radio. Something about the local police. More like local ghostbusters if you ask me, always playing around with who-knows-what. SHIELD, I think they call themselves."

"SHIELD," Loki mulled. "An interesting name." He pried at another piece of apple and poised to pop it into his mouth. "What is their function?"

"Like I said, local cops. Only because we don't have any real police force around here. Honestly, they're more interested in UFOs and close encounters than keeping the peace. But, they get the job done amiably so no one complains."

"Interesting," Loki repeated himself.

They drove and drove until the sun had nearly set, and then the old man pulled to the side of the road.

"Why are we stopping?" Loki wanted to know.

"Just a quick cat nap."

Loki was unsure what a "cat nap" was, but he was sure he didn't have time for it.

North.

Something tugged him from the vehicle and he placed his feet on the solid road and started forward. Sigyn was north, so north he would go. He would keep going until he found her. He would never give up. Not for all the treasures in all the realms. Because Sigyn was worth every one of them.