CHAPTER 18 - Home

I love you, Loki.

Sigyn's eyes were closing. He shook her shoulder, trying to rouse her, but there wasn't any response.

The wolf pup that Loki had brushed aside earlier squeezed back to Sigyn's side. It's small pink tongue lapped miserably against her cheek.

"What's happening?" Loki asked, as though the little one could answer, but the puppy merely whined in response. Loki reached forward to brush its fur when a shadow fell across his shoulder.

Loki spun around, instantly alert to danger. Anxious about Sigyn, he had almost forgotten the threat of the flames and the wolves. A knife was in his hands, ready to fling- but he stilled in shock at the sight that met his eyes.

The giant wolves were gone. Instead, the clearing was filled with men. Most of them were staring in disbelief at their toes and fingers. A few had hobbled unsteadily to their feet. Like Sigyn, their bodies were bare. Wolf pelts lay in the snow beside them. Loki understood, at once, that they had been transfigured by the witch as well.

One of the tallest men advanced toward Loki. Despite his nakedness, he exuded power and wisdom, and there was an unmistakable look of concern in his eyes when he gazed down at Sigyn's broken form.

"I don't understand! Why did she turn back before the others? Why isn't she moving?" Loki couldn't keep his questions inside.

"She's dying," the man answered plainly.

The words stabbed into Loki's heart like shards of broken glass. Dying!

Loki's first sensation was a wave of panic and hopelessness- but it was quickly replaced by fury.

He would not let this happen. He and Sigyn had come too far and overcome too much for their journey to end like this.

"No!" he said, defiantly. "I'll save her!"

"How?" the man asked.

"I'll take her to the healing room."

"In Asgard?" a look of wild hope transformed the stranger's face. "You know the way?"

"Yes," Loki answered with more confidence than he felt. Angrboda had once mentioned the location of the pathway. In light of her deceptions, it seemed futile to hope that she hadn't lied about this as well- but hope was all that remained. "At the mouth of the stream," Loki told the other man. "Will you come with me?"

"My men cannot travel far away from the fire without boots and clothing," the man answered, "But we will follow as far as we can- and do our best to keep the monsters at bay."

Loki gathered Sigyn's body into his arms and hurried to the stream. He was vaguely aware of the puppy following in his wake, but he couldn't spare the time to shoo it away.

The fire had continued to spread. It was so hot and voracious that it had jumped across the water to blaze on the opposite bank. It popped and hissed and crackled all around. Flaming branches teetered precariously overhead. Angrboda's monsters screeched and howled, but Loki did not slow his steps. He doggedly picked his way through the gauntlet of danger, ignoring everything except the path ahead.

It wasn't long before the trail grew steep and slippery. Although Sigyn weighed no more than a child, Loki's arms were growing tired. He almost lost his grip as he stumbled over a patch of ice. He struggled up a narrow gully and then scanned his surroundings in dismay. The mountainside was covered in a uniform blanket of snow.

He had lost the trail.

"NO!" Loki screamed in frustration. He paced back and forth, trying to figure out where he had gone wrong. He returned to the gully, finding the last icy rivulet of the stream and pushed all of the snow aside to see where he had gone wrong, but it wasn't any use. The source of the stream must be a spring at the top of the ditch- and there was no question that it was too small to go inside. The pathway to Asgard wasn't there.

Despair sapped the last of Loki's strength. He dropped to his knees. The wolfskin was still wrapped around Sigyn's body, but he covered her in his cloak as well for added warmth.

Somehow, the puppy had managed to keep up during the race through the woods. It nuzzled Sigyn and then looked up at Loki with sad green eyes.

"I'm sorry," Loki said, more to himself than the wolfling. "I'm so sorry..."

Sigyn's breathing had grown very slow and her skin was icy cold. Loki reached forward to readjust her coverings, but his hand stilled when he noticed the necklace that was still hung around Sigyn's neck.

A shard of the Azimuth, Loki thought as anger boiled up in his chest again, the shard that didn't fit into Angrboda's cursed crown. If not for this silly piece of glass, they never would have started on their doomed quest! His fingers tightened angrily around the crystal intending the jerk the pendant off of Sigyn's neck, but then he felt something very strange.

The shard became very warm in his hand and an image flashed inside his mind. There weren't any words- just a feeling, urging him to look at the puppy. Loki obeyed, watching the animal sniff at the ground. It dug at the base of a nearby tree. Then, with a quiet "yip" and a muffled thump, it disappeared.

"Hey!" Loki cried out. Abandoning Sigyn for just a moment, he scrambled to his feet and went to investigate. He arrived just as the puppy dragged himself out of a large hole that he had exposed beneath the roots of the tree.

Loki paid heed to the puppy for only a second before his attention was distracted by a pale pink mist drifting out of the pit.

Relief surged through Loki's body and a jolt of adrenaline renewed his strength as he scooped up Sigyn's lifeless body and jumped into the void with the puppy close on his heels.

Loki took a few steps in total darkness, save the mist at their feet. He had no idea how long the trail would stretch on, but felt a flare of hope when he noticed flickering torchlight. As they grew closer, he began to notice that they were not inside a cave but, instead, in an arched hallway with smooth, shiny walls made of solid gold. The hallway ended at a silver door. Loki pushed it open and then blinked as he stepped into the light.

It took only a second for Loki to get his bearings. He was in the royal palace- in one of the unused courtyards where he and Thor had played hide and seek as boys. The silver door was behind a row of high hedges, completely hidden from view. He doubted that anyone had noticed it before. Loki didn't take the time to ponder the mystery of the door. He hurried out of the garden. It didn't take long to find the hallway- and a pair of Royal Guards.

"Help me!" Loki commanded.

The men turned and blinked at him in shock. To their credit, however, they didn't hesitate to obey his command.

"To the healing room!" Loki said as he reluctantly surrendered his burden. He prayed that it wasn't too late.

Sigyn awoke very slowly, keeping her eyes closed as she uncurled her arms and stretched her back. It still felt novel to inhabit a human body- so she was disturbed to discover that she couldn't move her legs.

Her eyes snapped open in alarm, but her expression quickly morphed into an exasperated smile.

"Fenris!" Sigyn sighed when she discovered that the wolf was laying lengthwise across the bed, pinning her legs in place.

He wagged his tail in reply and squirmed his way up the bed. Sigyn squealed and struggled to push him away when he started to lick her face. Although it was only a few weeks since their return from Jotunheim, the puppy had easily quadrupled in size. He weighed as much as Sigyn now and his growth didn't show any signs of stopping soon! She wouldn't be allowed to keep him in the palace much longer. For the time being, however, she was grateful for his company.

Sigyn had been near death for almost a week. When she first awoke, she had far more company than she could handle. Njord came to express his concern. Sigyn's sisters fluttered in to inform her of the gossip spreading about Sigyn and the Prince. The King and Queen came to pay their respects. Grevis and his warriors visited to offer their thanks- even Freyja lingered by Sigyn's bedside for a few days to play at motherly concern!

Very soon, however, the visits tapered off and life in the healing rooms became painfully boring. Sigyn read more books than she could count and managed to needlepoint almost an entire new tapestry. Still, she was in no hurry to return home. After she went back to Noatun, she would miss the best part of her day!

Sigyn nibbled at her breakfast and crawled out of bed to don a new nightgown and brush out her hair. A wary looking valet took Fenris for a walk. Sigyn worked at her sewing until lunch time, ate her midday meal and then amused herself by making sketches of some of the sights that she and Loki had seen on their trip. Every few moments, however, her gaze would slip to the clock on the wall. She couldn't help counting down the hours- and then the minutes- until trumpets sounded outside her window, signaling that Court was concluded for the day. After that, she gave up any pretense of industry and simply kept her eyes on the door until Loki appeared.

He visited every evening after his father dismissed him- and tonight was no exception.

"Have you missed me?" Loki asked as he slipped inside the chamber. The arrogant smile on his lips implied the answer.

"No," Sigyn teased, well-aware that the glow on her face would betray the lie. She made room on the bed for Loki to perch on the mattress beside her and then cast a curious glance at the parcel tucked under his arm. "What is that?" she prodded. "Did you bring me a present?"

"What have you done to deserve a present?" Loki demanded.

Sigyn met his challenge. "Well...I showed you the paths between worlds, I helped you win a bet against an odious dwarf, I saved you from an evil witch, I-"

"Very well," Loki said, interrupting the recitation. "Perhaps I did pick up something." He laid the bundle in Sigyn's lap.

Sigyn's eyes sparkled as she tugged at a ribbon that held the package closed. She peeled away the silk wrapping and then gasped in delighted surprise as she discovered a regal cloak.

Sigyn slipped out of bed to drape the garment around her shoulders and to admire herself in the looking glass. The gift was easily the most elegant article of clothing that she had ever owned. It was fashioned of snowy velvet, lined in silk and embroidered with silver thread. The collar was trimmed with pure white fur. She tilted her cheek into the soft pile and then blinked in surprise as a sudden sense of familiarity overtook her.

"It this-?"

"Yes," Loki laughed, reaching over to stroke his own hand against the same pelt that he had once wrapped around Sigyn's naked body. "A reminder."

"As if I could possibly forget!"

Loki shrugged, "We're going to live a very long time." He fastened the silver clasp around Sigyn's neck and stood behind her as they gazed in the mirror. "Do you like it?"

"I love it!" Sigyn assured him.

"Good," Loki said. "Perhaps you'd like to try it out? We could take a walk?"

"I think I learned my lesson about taking walks with you, Loki Odinsson."

He offered his arm, confident that she would not refuse him despite her words. "No caves this time- I promise!"

Sigyn didn't play at arguing any further. They walked outside of the healing rooms into a terrace garden that overlooked the sea.

The healing rooms were in the upper floors of the palace. Looking down, it seemed as if all of Asgard was spread below. Sigyn and Loki gazed down in silence for a while, watching the ant-like figures of men and horses negotiating the streets beneath them.

"The healers tell me that you are almost well," Loki said.

Sigyn nodded her head. "Yes...I have only a few more days in their care before I go back to Noatun." She looked up, studying Loki's face, trying to find a sign that he found this prospect as disappointing as she did, but his expression was unreadable.

"Have you enjoyed your time here?" he asked.

"Yes- very much! I'm very grateful for what you've done..."

Loki shrugged the compliment aside. "My father-" he began, but Sigyn interrupted.

"I mean...I never thanked you for saving my life...and..." Sigyn blushed, "For giving me my adventure." Sigyn looked down at her hands, unable to face him as she asked her next question. "Did your father punish you? It was only two weeks in Asgard time that we were gone, but still- !"

Sigyn fell silent as Loki laid his finger across her lips. "It was fine," he assured her. "I sealed the passage to Jotunheim from Asgard's side so that none of the monsters can break through. No one knows that it is there save you and I- and I told father all of the weaknesses that I revealed to Angrboda so that they could be shored up."

"So, he wasn't angry?"

Loki smirked, "You wouldn't believe how mild this is compared to some of the things that my brother has done."

"So all is well."

"Yes. Except..."

Sigyn heard the hesitation in Loki's voice and cast him a curious look.

"What's that?"

Loki answered with a wicked smile. He slipped his finger underneath Sigyn's chin and tilted her face toward his. "I believe I was interrupted the last time I tried this..." he whispered.

Any reply Sigyn might have intended was smothered beneath a heavy kiss.

THE END

A/N: Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed my story. I *DID* outline the whole thing back in June...but the story I ultimately wrote was nothing like my original plan. I never would have finished without all of your kind words and clever ideas.

I know that this story ended up more on the "adventure" side than the "romance" one, but who knows what the future holds...I might write some one-shots, or even an epilogue if I get inspired (right now my muse is alarmingly distracted by Agent Coulson) or if someone has an appealing request. If there is something that you would like to see or still have questions about, let me know in a comment...it might inspire me to write something new :D

Okay, not to be a review-whore, but I will make one final plea: If you enjoyed the story, please drop a tiny note (pretty please?). My goal was 200 reviews and, alas, it looks like I am going to fall a smidgen short :(

I want to give special thanks to the following:

First, Lillianclaire. She did a TON of drawings for the story (lillianclaire . deviantart . com ) and helped me brainstorm the last half of the story. Without her, you guys never would have gotten to the end!

Cridelamouette wrote some of the longest, most detailed and most useful critiques that I have ever received.

byebye-baybeh reviewed every chapter (and is also writing a very imaginative Loki/Sigyn of her own- check it out!)

Screamsonscreen, Omnikat, Korilian, cloudgirl9, imperial dragon, firechildslytherin5 (go Slytherin, btw!) and sleepyheather, PhoenixFawkes310, sheilove13 (whose name I kept butchering), Shadowlark71, KuroitsukiNoMai , Yugrivodka, eby, Lexicon, Sinfulseraph, wickedthunder02, anubislover, howlynmad, thrufirewithoutaburn, Ikuni Hattori and Tea were also very diligent reviewers, which I think deserve a special thank you...if I didn't list your name here, I still treasured your review and leaving you out was inadvertent!