Not questioning her cousin's order, Violet-Sky spun towards the stairs and jumped up them two stairs at a time. It was only after she had managed to get out the back door and load another arrow did she realize that those men looked familiar—and were wearing Asgardian armor. She almost stopped to smack herself because of her haste—she didn't want to tick Loki off—but she didn't. Still in her nightgown, she ran across the small stretch of land that led to the Quinjet, got in, and closed the hatch.

She sat down in the pilot's seat and stared at all the gears. "JARVIS? You on here?" she asked.

"Yes Miss Barton."

"Can you put this thing on Auto-Pilot and get me outta here?"

"Yes Miss Barton." There was a pause. "However, one of the exterior compartments is open, and I cannot fly with it that way. I also cannot close it from here. It requires manual operation."

Violet-Sky dropped her head into her hands. "But… JARVIS!" she complained. "I can't go back out there! If I do I'll get shipped off to Asgard!" She banged her head against the weird steering mechanism a few times before slumping against the backrest. "Fine!" Abruptly she stood up, leaving her bow—which she knew she was going to regret—and ran outside. There was the compartment that needed to be closed manually. Seething, she bolted for it.

A column of color smashed into her before she could reach it. Pulling her up yet pushing her down at the same time. It almost hurt. She muttered a sarcastic thanks to Heimdall before getting shot up into the sky. Once the Bifrost hit her she knew there was no way to escape it. She couldn't even run out of it. So she crossed her arms and felt her hair streaming out behind her.

When the Rainbow Bridge deposited her in its Asgardian chamber, she saw that standing on the control platform wasn't Heimdall at all. It was Loki. He pulled his king's staff out of the control mechanism and grinned at her. It wasn't even a mischievous or evil grin like she was expecting. It was genuine. "Hello my dear," he greeted kindly, flinging his arms out and striding down the few stairs to reach the same level she was on.

Honey, I'm home! Violet-Sky thought sarcastically as the demigod wrapped his thin but surprisingly powerful arms around her shoulders.

"I've wanted to hold your true form for so long now!" he exclaimed.

"It's been like three days," Violet-Sky pointed out.

"That's far too long to be separated from my beautiful bride. An eternity to be parted from my one true love!"

"Okay. Skip the chick flick movie speech," she snapped sarcastically. "You could have just come and got me nicely you know. You don't have to bind and gag my family and friends and attack me to coax me outside and effectively kidnap me. You could have given me some time to change. I'm in my nightgown!"

"You look lovely no matter what you wear."

"I seriously hate you right now." Her voice was soft enough that Loki didn't quite hear.

"Come, love. We shall find one of your dresses that you left behind." He kissed her hairline, looped her arm through his, and began walking back toward Asgard as if they were on a stroll through the park. Violet-Sky's eyebrows were knitted together.

This cannot be the real Loki, she thought decisively. He's too sweet!

But he was too solid to be an illusion. Shape-shifter maybe? She'd never encountered one, but her world had filled up with a ton of weird stuff in the past year. And maybe shape-shifting was possible.

She felt her agitation level creeping slowly higher, and so she tried counting slowly to ten. When that wasn't enough time, she kept going, thinking maybe fifteen or twenty would be enough to calm her down. It didn't quite cut it. She ended up counting to forty-five before her irritation sunk to a more manageable level. "You're very quiet, my dear," Loki remarked.

"I'm trying to not strangle you," she retorted.

"That would be tremendously ambitious of you," he commented.

"I figured that out for myself thanks," Violet-Sky snapped. "You know, seeing as you died in Thor's arms like a year ago and then suddenly showed up in my dreams trying to make me marry you." Sarcastic nonchalance bled so heavily into her tone she could almost see it come out of her mouth with her breath and words. But of course such an idea was ludicrous, so she didn't think much of it. Just that she got her point across.

Loki shrugged gracefully and kept strolling.

It took quite a while to reach the palace walking. The bridge was long.

"This is really uncomfortable. What's it made out of? Chicken wire?" Violet-Sky asked no one in particular as she pulled on a silvery dress. When it was up and laced—by a maidservant since the ties were in the back—she walked out of her room and right into Loki.

"Here, love," he said, pulling something out from behind his back. At first she thought it was going to be a knife for him to stab her with, but it wasn't. It was a circlet. Braided silver and gold wires, with the last strand being a string of gems, alternating white diamonds and violet amethysts. He set it gently on her head. It felt heavy, pressed against her forehead and nestled in her hair. She didn't like it. It was distracting and making the area it was touching sweat.

"Why are you giving me this?" she asked, fidgeting with her dress.

"Most of us on Asgard have headwear that signifies our rank, and as a mortal, you do not. But I thought you would prefer this to one of the warrior's helmets—which are quite heavy for a human neck to hold," he explained. One of Violet-Sky's eyebrows arched higher than the other. Her neck was stronger than he seemed to think. She was a former agent of SHIELD. She was strong.

But she decided it would be best to hold her tongue. She wasn't much one for doing so, but sometimes it was just better to make the choice that would make her not be dead.

End Note: I lied. One more after this. Then the quick succession of the day will be over.

Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it!

~Cass