It had all been for me.

I would have to face my worst fears, yes, but I would learn of the prophecy, and destroy the source of the pollutants tainting Alfheim.

That didn't stop me from shoving him abruptly, as soon as I remembered myself, and could force myself to pull away.

"What, a kiss is just supposed to make everything better?"

"Well it always did in the Midgardian fairytales. I thought it fitting. A kiss to break the wicked spell." He smiled a little bit shyly, as though he was really hoping that he had gotten it right. Gods, why did he have to be so sweet? At the moment, all I really wanted to do was celebrate my victory, but the logical part of me was livid.

"You betrayed me. You conspired with my family against me. The spell might have been broken by a kiss, but it's going to take a hell of a lot more than that to fix everything else."

"Was that an invitation?" I could tell he was teasing me, and cursed myself when I felt my grin break out.

"No, it was an ultimatum. No more lies. Please," I asked. I wanted him to choose me over trickery, to keep both of us safe and together from now on.

"All right. At least for a while longer. As long as you can promise the same."

"I never told you anything but the truth," I protested.

"And that's why you packed all of your things for this journey? You certainly told me that you were going to leave after you learned the prophecy."

"Well, I never exactly told you otherwise, did I?"

"I suppose not."

"Ahem." The eleventh elder was standing to the side, listening to us bicker, slightly amused. His hood was up once again.

"You have just finished a revolution, if you'd care to return to the real world."

"Ugh, but the real world is so mundane. Are you sure we must return?"

"Yes, Lady Caster. I'm afraid we must."

"All right. Then lead the way."

The corridors were dark, and we followed the eleventh elder who carried a torch that shone with witchlight.

"Eve, what is the true verse of the prophecy?"

Loki asked, a few minutes later.

"There is no prophecy. It was a lure to bring me home."

But there's something else, I reminded myself. The gift of the Norns.

Whatever the heck that was.

"Surely there was something. Think," he prompted.

"Nothing but, you know, being tortured and mind controlled. Chained up. Sorry if I wasn't taking notes," I accused, moving closer to the center of the passage as to avoid some of the limbs on the walls that were reaching out.

"She's right," the remaining elder rasped, authoritatively. "The prophecy was a ruse. They wanted to punish Caster for her treachery."

"And you couldn't just tell me that because...?"

"I did not know the truth until I heard it. I have been made an elder since the prophecy was supposedly uncovered, and they reused to tell the full verse without reason."

I would have to find out from the elder what the gift of the Norns was. But not now. Loki's betrayal had only made me more sure of the fact that I would have to go by myself if it involved a quest. Which it sounded like it would.

Another day another quest.

And I knew that he would not take being ditched well.

Too bad.

He kept glancing back at me almost to check if I was all right. When he caught me looking, he gave a wisp of a smile, in reassurance. I smiled in return, but didn't feel any warmth behind it.

Sure, he'd let me face my own demons, but what if something had gone wrong? What if I wasn't ready? If I needed help? He'd left me alone in the moment when I had needed him most. And sure, by erasing himself from my memories he'd kept us (or more just himself) safe, but in doing so, he'd revealed to me just how much I had come to rely on him. I

t was a dangerous flaw, my blind spot and Achilles heel all in one. If anything *actually happened to him, I'd be left lost and vulnerable.

Just what I needed.

When I got back to the surface, nearly the whole world was waiting for me. My family was in the great hall, all looking anxious and slightly worn, as it seemed that they had fought their own battle at the surface.

They had spoken of rebellion, but I hadn't quite realized how central they had become in the whole ordeal.

The goal was that the crown family would eliminate the elders from power, as they fed like parasites on the monarchy and the people, forcing taxes and tributes to be raised, passing laws that benefited only themselves, and even raising their own army that was preparing to move against the crown. It was a strong belief among nearly the whole planet that if Alfheim wanted to be truly successful, that power would have to be taken out of the elders' hands.

And so it had been.

Peace had been hard won, as the elders' army was highly trained and had many resources, but the key battle won for the capital crushed them nearly completely.

Now the government was rebuilding, and doing it well. More Glorious Revolution, less French Revolution, fortunately. Gods, I love mortal history.

My brothers were war heroes; my parents hailed as genius.

I was praised the most highly though, and if I had been famous before, then now, I was Harry Potter.

They wanted me to have a place in the legislature, or perhaps in the courts, but I declined. I don't think I could've sat through one of those meetings, let alone a lifetime of them without falling asleep.

I hung around home for a while afterwards, and managed to forgive everyone for almost killing me. Forgave, but didn't forget.

I spent many of my days out riding through the countryside, most often with Loki (who was still in disguise), or reading quietly in the library. Secretly, though, I was still gathering information about the Norns, preparing for a possible quest.

And then the dreams started.

There was a swan in all of them; a creature of blinding white light, always gliding through the air, always following the same path.

It would call for me to follow it, to be careful as I ran to keep up.

The elegant bird led through aberrant and perilous landscapes unlike anything that I had seen before. The skies were strange cauldrons swirling in upheaval and violence. Sometimes, there wasn't a sky at all, just a darkness above so pure that no light could penetrate, the swan looking particularly spirit-like then.

Other creatures would occasionally appear, always keeping to the path before me as they traveled on, always careful to not step one toe out of line.

Eventually, I saw why. I watched as a squirrel type creature once dropped an acorn or something similar, and it rolled away from it, onto the grim and dusty looking desert alongside.

Immediately, the squirrel ran off the path, chasing the food without thought.

I watched in amazement as the creature paused its chase no less than a foot away, turning back to the path almost in horror. It began frantically to run back, but even as I watched, it started to burn away, leaving nothing but dust and sand blowing in the wind. In half a minute, nothing was left but a skeleton, bleached as white as the swan ahead of me, and a small acorn sitting in the sand beside the path.

Now you see why you must not go astray. To do so would be to call upon death.

The swan was beautiful in a tragic way. While it appeared, living, you couldn't help but think of all the ways that its beauty could be tainted, of all the ways it could be killed or harmed.

Always, I woke from my dreams to a pad and pencil, to write the night's instructions down, to keep careful note of any new information, or tips to finding and keeping to the path.

This notebook quickly became my constant companion, and I spent more time with it than with nearly any other person.

Loki did not know about these dreams.

Once the elders were defeated and I had become a national hero, we'd changed rooms since we were no longer posing as a couple, and had ceased pretending to be in a relationship publicly, as I was something of a hero. And not the type of hero who conspired with those of other planets.

He'd even left a few times to check on affairs in Asgard, or something, always to return within the week.

Over time, I gathered information about my quest.

There was still the titan Thanos to be thinking about, and I really needed to get a jump on finding out what my power was before he tried to make another move on me, as any cover I may have had had been blown to smithereens.

It was the next time that Loki planned to leave that I intended to begin my quest.

XXXXXXX

And thus ends the marathon posting. Oh well. It was fun while it lasted. Anyway, this puts an end to where I know what's going to happen next as far as this story goes, so I'm going to have to spend some time figuring out what to write. Good fun. Anyway, thanks for reading and reviewing so far! If you have any questions or concerns or the like, feel free to review with them, and I'll be happy to answer! xx