"Your Majesties," panted a servant, having run in from the hall, "there is a real living girl here. I swear to you, she's a real, living human, from Midgard."

Odin and Frigga exchanged a look, curiously asking him to bring the girl in. Laurel was led in by a group of guards, Frigga smiling and telling them to drop their weapons. "You came all of the way here…" She stepped forward, telling Laurel not to bother bowing, since they were nearly family, after all. Reaching out to touch her, she was surprised at how real the girl felt, how alive. "You came all of the way here to make sure he made it."

"Yes," Laurel nodded, letting Frigga hug her. Odin was less friendly, but still impressed that she had made the journey. "It took the better part of two years, but I found a way. I invented my own spells to get here, and… well, it took a long time to test them out. The last time I tried, I managed to be able to see into Valhalla, but not actually interact with anyone here."

"A living woman in Valhalla," Odin nodded, thinking it all over. "Well, it is good to finally meet you, my dear." He came to give her a hug, adding, "Loki has told us so much about you."

"He really does talk about you almost nonstop," Frigga beamed, looking her over. "He told us all about how the two of you met, how you've taught him so much about Midgard, how… I wish you could have seen him ask for our blessing to marry you. I do not think I have ever seen him that excited, that nervous, that… he loves you beyond measure."

Laurel, while tremendously glad that she was finally able to meet the in-laws that she had heard so much about, was still anxious to see Loki himself. "Is he here? In the palace, I mean? May I see him?"

"Of course." Frigga and Odin led her to the vast Valhallan libraries, where Loki was draped in an armchair reading. "Stay here for a moment," she whispered, stopping Laurel at the door. Laurel peered in, watching as they entered.

"Mother. Father," he acknowledged them as they walked in, looking between his parents and raising an eyebrow. They rarely came to find him together. "What's going on? You look like we have something to discuss."

"That we do," Odin said gruffly, crossing his arms. "You, my poor son, have had the misfortune of falling in love with a Midgardian woman who has since become a goddess. You have also had the misfortune of finding one of the most persevering, most stubborn women in all of the Nine Realms."

"What your father is trying to say, dear, is that we know it has not been easy for you, being trapped here without her. We did some thinking, and… well, we have a gift for you." Frigga smiled, Loki becoming even more sure that it was just another distraction, something meant to cheer him up for a few years before he settled back into the monotony that Valhalla had been so far. Not only did Laurel lose him, but he had also lost her. It pained him terribly, and he had been spending months lethargically reading and walking around the palace with no real direction in mind.

That was Laurel's cue. She took a deep breath, stepping out from behind the massive oak door. Loki dropped his book in his chair, springing to his feet and rushing over to her. He stopped short and stood a foot or so back, marveling at the fact that she was before him. "What did you do?" He turned back to his parents, wheeling around to ask, "What did you do? She's not real. She can't be real."

"I am," Laurel smiled, coming over to wrap her arms around him. He was a bit cold (what else could you expect from the dead?), but he still felt like Loki. Gingerly, he reached out and hugged her back. "I'm just as real as you are. Are you real?"

"Of course I'm real."

"Prove it," she dared, Loki not wanting to let go of her. "Prove it to me."

"You've got a birthmark on one of your ribs, right below -"

"Okay, I believe you," she laughed, Loki continuing to talk.

He buried his face in her hair, whispering, "You've also got a little scar just on the groove of your hip, where my mouth fits perfectly -"

"Not in front of your parents," Laurel giggled. It was laughable, really. He was over a thousand years old, and still... "Oh, it's so good to see you again. You don't know how much I missed you."

"Are you real?" he asked, standing back for a moment to stare at her. "Please tell me you're real. Please tell me you aren't some sort of hyper-realistic thing that my mother dreamed up." Laurel shook her head, leaning in to kiss him. "That felt pretty real."

"You've got terrible scars all up and down your back. You've got one in the crook of your elbow where they kept injecting you with things in the Asgardian dungeons. You're deathly handsome even when you're blue," she listed. "You stay up late at night reading, and when you think I'm asleep you'll read out loud to me too. You're rather fond of being referred to by your royal titles." She had to punctuate the last one with a smirk, a slow smile spreading over Loki's face.

"You are real," he determined, pulling her closer. As he held onto his fiancee, he looked to his parents, saying, "Thank you. Thank you for bringing her here."

"She brought herself here," Frigga told him, Odin nodding along. "You have taught quite the sorceress here."

Loki looked down at Laurel, who just shrugged. "You found a way to get to Valhalla from Midgard? That's… that's almost impossible, even for a goddess. How?"

"I took an old book - the Book of Vishanti, it's an ancient magical relic form Midgard - and adapted the spells until I got one massive ritual that led me here," Laurel explained. She didn't want to see the joy die from his eyes, but she had to tell him the rest. "The spell makes the boundaries between the two worlds incredibly unstable. I can't stay for long without help."

"How do I help you?" Loki looked to his parents, asking, "How do we help her?"

Odin had thought this over for a while. There was a need for someone like her on Midgard, a need created by a goddess who had long since been killed in battle. "There is one way that she could be able to travel between the two worlds without creating problems. Midgard is in need of a Goddess of Death, after Hela. Not a goddess of blood or of war, but a benevolent goddess to assure people pass beyond that dimension without any problem. The scales were unbalanced and the system flooded after Thanos, and someone to make order from the chaos would help. It is the only way that she could travel between the two on a regular basis, the only way to do it sustainably and to protect both Midgard and Valhalla."

"It would be unfair for me to ask," Loki realized, letting go of Laurel and taking her hands. She could see the hope in his eyes, the silent pleading for her to stay, even though he knew that he couldn't voice it. "I couldn't ask that of you."

Laurel looked to Odin, not letting go of Loki's hands as she wondered, "How do I do it?"

Odin stretched out his hand, Laurel coming over to where he stood. Loki followed, not wanting to let her out of his grasp, let alone out of his sight. "Are you sure you want to do this?"

She had made up her mind the minute Odin had said there was a way. "Yes."

"Very well." Odin put his hand on the top of her head, Laurel closing her eyes. At first, it felt like she was being dipped in cold water. She felt all of the energy flow out of her, Loki putting an arm around her before she could fall.

"What are you doing?" he asked, supporting her as Odin muttered an incantation under his breath.

Frigga came to stand beside her son, explaining that, "He has to strip all of her power away before he can give her more powers. It is normally a draining process, but for a Midgardian… well, Midgardians, let alone living ones, are not supposed to be here. She is going to feel the magical pressure of this place for a bit as he does his work."

Laurel bit her lip, the bitter cold giving way to a feeling of emptiness, a strange sensation akin to floating in the middle of a pool. She felt everything and nothing at the same time. It would have been so easy to close her eyes and fall to the ground, under the crushing pressure of the strange dimension that she had managed to reach. But Loki held her up, Frigga taking her hand as Odin started to grant her powers befitting the Goddess of Death. She leaned into Loki a bit more, keeping her eyes closed as he whispered, "Everyone here has heard of you. They've told them, and word spread, and… they're going to love seeing you. Every warrior who's died since I was a child is excited to see the Prince of Asgard find someone like you, even if it's not their favorite prince. And everyone is excited about having a princess."

"When… when would I see them? Not like this?" Laurel asked, her voice faint as Odin kept working. "Surely not like this."

"You can stay for dinner," Frigga offered, holding onto her hand tightly. "Stay. We can organize something in your honor. And I am quite sure my son would like you to stay as well."

"Only if she would like to," Loki replied, helping to steady his fiancee. "She's already sacrificed so much for me."

Odin took a step back, bringing a chair over for Laurel to drop into. "Thank you. I'll stay, of course, but I don't think I can stand upright right now."

"It's fine." Loki knelt next to her chair, Laurel slowly opening her eyes and wincing. "How do you feel?"

"Better than the last time I became a goddess," she winced. "Or should I say 'like death'?" Looking to Odin, she thanked him again, promising that she would be fine by the time she had to address the thousands of Asgardian warriors in Valhalla who were waiting to hear more news about her. Odin and Frigga took their leave for the time being, saying that they would send someone to get them when it was time for dinner. Laurel shifted in her chair, making room for Loki to squeeze in next to her. As she lay her head on his shoulder, she confessed, "I was a wreck. I'm still a wreck. I'm glad you couldn't see me after…"

Loki kissed her on the forehead, saying, "My mother kept me somewhat updated. She refused to tell me the details, but I saw her crying a few times when she thought I was in the library. Both of them were in so much pain for you. She said that she was so proud… so proud of this Midgardian woman who had stood up to Thanos and then put on a whole Asgardian funeral, who had become a goddess to fight as well as she could… She would never let me look in on you, but she kept us all updated."

"Did she tell you I went all over the universe looking for help, looking for answers, and trying to find out more about the places you've been?" She looked up at him, not wanting to ever tear her eyes away.

"She did. She told me you started a new training program at the Sanctum, that you've become the new Sorcerer Supreme, that so much has changed, but that even after all of this time, you still went looking for me. She… I still can't believe you're here. I can't believe you did all of that for me."

"I love you." It was both an explanation and a statement.

"I love you too, my dear Goddess of Death. Sorcerer Supreme, Master of the Mystic Arts," he smiled. "And, most importantly, Princess of Asgard."