Why were there footsteps in the hall at this hour? No one walked through this sector of the palace at night. The guards stayed at either end of the hall and only moved if they saw something suspicious. But the footsteps were too light to be the heavy clunking of palace guards. And a door closing?

Loki rolled over groggily and looked toward his own door. There should be no one moving around. No one but him in this part of the palace. Thor was gone, Odin was gone, Frigga was dead. All of the other rooms were empty.

Then it dawned on him that Frigga's room wasn't as empty as it usually was. Casey was in there. But she would have no need to open the door, everything she needed was in her chamber. Bathroom, food, water, books if she was bored. Yet someone had moved in the hallway and then he'd heard her door close.

He sat bolt upright and wondered if maybe Casey wasn't the one moving. It could have been an assassin! Someone who was not fond of Midgardians and certainly didn't like their king paying so much attention to one. Or maybe it was that man, Gilby whose ear he'd just about taken off. Gilby was stupid enough to try and harm someone that Loki directly told him not to harm.

Startled awake by this thought, he jumped out of bed, not bothering to put on a shirt or shoes, and sprinted to Casey's room. He briefly considered knocking, because if it wasn't anything major then she might be mad at him for bursting into her room, but if he knocked then he might also alert an intruder. So he barged in.

He was relieved to see a shape on the bed that was roughly Casey sized. However, he grew suspicious when the shape didn't stir or make any sounds. It didn't even breath. Creeping closer, he knew he was about to get a slap in the face if his guess was wrong, and he threw back the covers to reveal…

"Thank the Norns! It's pillows!" He chuckled, glad it wasn't the body of his girlfriend, "Wait."

If it was pillows then were was Casey? He looked around the room, but found nothing and no one. He peeked in the bathroom and found a note fastened to the mirror. He quickly grabbed it and read over it.

Loki, or whoever finds this note - hey, could you please give this note to Loki? Thanks.

Loki,

You've probably noticed by this point that I'm not in the room. Don't worry, I haven't been kidnapped or anything. And Acacia hasn't broken free and run away. I did. I mean, I ran away, not Acacia.

I'm hoping that when you read this it will be hours after I've gone so there is no chance of you catching up and changing my mind, but-

Loki stuffed the paper in his pocket, knowing she couldn't be too far away yet. He ran out into the hall, bellowing for the guards to find her and bring her back. The guards looked at each other in confusion and didn't move, not sure who the king was talking about.

Rushing out onto a balcony that housed a small flying craft, Loki jumped into the craft and started it up. He knew she would be headed for the Bifrost so there would be no need to search anywhere else for her. And with this ship there was no way she could make it there first. So, still in his pajamas, he flew the craft toward the Rainbow Bridge. Down below, he saw a figure in a purple tunic and black pants, sprinting across the multicolored structure, repeatedly glancing behind her back, but never thinking to look above her. Loki was impressed at how fast she was moving. Acacia must have had enhanced speed and endurance as well or else Casey would have still been back in the city, not yet on the bridge.

He wanted to land his ship right in front of her, but he feared she wouldn't be able to stop and either run into him or trip and fall off the bridge. So he waited until she was slowing down as she neared the Bifrost and then he landed behind her. She turned around at the sound of the ship landing and yelped through her panting.

"Loki…" Her eyes filled with hurt, "I guess you didn't see the note?"

"Oh I saw it," He wasn't able to keep the anger from his voice, though it was not the emotion he should have been showing, "You broke our deal, Casey."

"Yeah? Well you broke my heart, so we're even."

"Broke your heart?!" He snapped, "What ever could you mean? Have I not shown you every kindness since you arrived here? Have I not given you the freedom you so desperately crave?"

"You lied to me!" She snapped back, "You told me you'd let me leave after a week, but I could see the lie in your eyes, Loki, I can always see when you're trying to trick me!"

"I would have let you leave," He seethed, "You have no way of proving that I wouldn't have."

"You're lying right now!" She said, throwing her hands into the air, "You always look directly at my big, stupid nose whenever you lie to me!"

"It is late," He tried to make his voice more calm, "Can we not discuss this in the morning?"

"When you've locked my doors and windows? Placed guards everywhere? I don't think so! If I am ever going to leave Asgard I have to do it right now or you'll never let me go. And I'm not going to be a prisoner again."

"You would not be a prisoner!" He stepped closer to her, pleading, "I will not force you to stay with me, but please, let us discuss it in the morning."

"Stop lying," She begged, "Please, just stop for one minute so we can discuss this."

"Fine," He said, arms crossed, "What do you have to say?"

"You didn't read the note all the way through," She sighed, "I had so hoped you would."

Loki fished the note out of his pocket and picked up where he left off:

I'm hoping that when you read this it will be hours after I've gone so there is no chance of you catching up and changing my mind, but if you read this while there is still time to catch me: DON'T. Don't leave the palace, don't try and come find me, though I doubt it would be hard to do. Don't yell for the guards and give chase. You'll only regret it if you do.

You want to know why? This is a test. I'm leaving tonight and if you care about me you won't follow. After a week or two, if you have not followed me, then I will happily return to Asgard. If it weren't for the crazy nobility I'd love it here. I want to stay here. I hope to learn about all of the awesome universe stuff that we talked about. You're right about Earth, I don't really have a reason to go back. I want to stay in Asgard with you, but in order for that to happen I need to be sure that you aren't going to keep me locked up.

So, if you've read this all the way through then you know what to do. Sit down and wait for me to yell at Heimdall to take me back. If you didn't read this note then I guess it's really a test, isn't it? Here's hoping you pass!

-Casey

Loki looked up in horror and saw that she had tears in her eyes. She wiped the water away with the heel of her hand and turned back toward the Bifrost, where Heimdall stood in the entrance waiting for her. The Gatekeeper glared at Loki defiantly.

"Goodbye," Casey sniffled.

"No."

"I'm sorry," She gave him one last look, "I wish you'd have read all of the note. I wish you'd had some trust in me."

"No," Loki clenched his fists and he was no longer in his pajamas, but in his armor and leather instead, "This was a test, hmm?"

"What-"

"You put me to the test and I failed you," He snarled, more angry at himself than her, "And now you are ready to give up on us entirely? Well I'm not."

"Loki," Heimdall warned, "Let her go."

"Stay out of it, Gatekeeper, this is no business of yours," Loki grabbed Casey's wrist, and even though she struggled valiantly, he refused to release her this time, "I am sorry I did not pass, but as you said, I am not willing to let you go."

"You can't keep me here!"

"You can either stay as my guest or as a prisoner, Casey, best choose now."

"You're crazy!" She tried again to get free, "Do you think if you keep me as your prisoner for a few years then I'll eventually let up and want to stay here forever? Think again, pal!"

"You already said you wanted to stay," He pointed out, "I don't think you will need much persuading."

He had not felt so desperate since he'd been rejected by Odin after he tried to kill the Frost Giants. And when he felt this desperate he tended to do slightly insane things, like fall off of bridges… or force the one person who he loved to stay with him forever because he didn't think he could handle losing her again.

"I do not wish to fight my king," Heimdall said, "But if you do not release Ms. Elrod then I will."

"You and I have butted heads before," Loki sneered, "How well did it go for you then? Do you still feel the frostbite?"

"You do not have the advantage of the Casket this round," Heimdall was drawing his sword, "I like my odds."

"No!" Casey exclaimed, "Don't fight! Please don't fight!"

"You don't seem to be leaving us much choice," Loki said, "He wishes to aid you in leaving and ripping out my heart and I wish you to stay."

"Ripping out your heart?" She winced, "Loki…"

"Casey, you know how it feels to be abandoned," He decided to try a different tactic. Maybe the pity card would fair better than the intimidation game, "Your parents cast you out as mine did. My brother loathes me, my kingdom is falling to pieces, and now you claim you will leave and never return."

"I can't stay… not like this. Let me go. Let me have some time to think about it, please?" She smiled through her tears, "Never is a strong word. I could come back, but you have to let me think about it."

"And while you think the Avengers will find you again. They will further taint your opinion of me," He said, "And Heimdall, did you not say there is a war brewing on Midgard? A terror that could destroy Casey? I would not have you trampled."

"There is danger on Midgard as we speak. I do not know if Thor and his friends will be able to stop it," Heimdall admitted, "But they have beaten worse when fighting together."

"Casey," Loki took both of her hands, more gently, and stared into her eyes, "Please."

"I," She glanced at Heimdall, "I will stay. For now. For the remainder of the week."

Loki thought he might fall to his knees with relief, but he settled on pulling her closer to him and resting his chin on the top of her head. She hugged him back and then looked up at him. He gave her a weary grin.

"Thank you," He murmured, "You will not regret it. I will honor our bargain, at the end of the week you may go if you wish."

Even he wasn't sure if he was telling the truth or not. He hoped that he wouldn't have to find out. Why couldn't she just stay?

"I love you," He whispered to her, "I know that I have wronged you time and again, but I love you."

"For some reason," She moved closer, "I love you too."

Then her lips were on his and he could think of nothing else. Not Heimdall watching them or the black sheep nobles he planned on booting out. Nothing else mattered. It was a dangerous mind set to be in because he became oblivious to the things happening around him.

It wasn't until she broke away from him that he realized that the whirring sound he'd heard was the Bifrost getting ready. And it wasn't until she was ten feet away that he caught on.

"Casey? Casey no!" He made to snatch her up again, but Heimdall stood in his path and held him back.

"I really do love you, doofus," She called over the Bifrost sounds, "But I can't be your prisoner."

"No!" He screamed after her as she stepped into the glowing portal and disappeared from Asgard.

A/N: Alrighty, I have an announcement to make, but first I want to thank everyone for reading and reviewing and favoriting and following and being awesome and supportive people. You're awesome! Sorry for making you wait so long for an update.

So, my announcement is this: I have decided not to do a third "book". As much as I think I would like to right now, I also know that I've got a ton of story ideas that I'd like to work on instead. So right now, I'm going to try and give a satisfactory ending to this story and then work on my other projects. In the future, if I still feel like it and I can make a plausible plot line, then I might write a third one. Maybe. We'll see how it goes. If I ever do that then I will be sure to post another author's note here so that if you aren't following me, but you are following the story then you can get an alert for when I publish it if I do.

I also wanted to say that I have been working on this story for a long time. Almost four years. Yikes. It's been really interesting to see how my writing style and skill has changed over that time, and it definitely has changed. I think part of why I haven't updated so much lately is because I've been trying to write less... melodramatically. And let's be honest, this story can get a bit melodramatic at times. However, I'm going to embrace that from here on out and just write however I feel like writing, which could mean the actions of the characters could get a little convoluted. But it's fanfiction, right? I can do whatever I want in fanfiction!

But anywho, thank you for reading this far! I really appreciate it! You are awesome! :)