Sooooo... I've been MIA for a while now! Uh, I go to a school where they hand out homework like neighborhoods hand out candy on Halloween. I just hadn't had time to sit and write up a chapter.

But this weekend I did! I sat and wrote this apology chapter that will hopefully convince you to review or give ideas as to what you think will happen/what you want to happen/what shouldn't happen at all.

I do so dearly hope that this chapter appeases you and inspires you to continue reading. I will probably release a whole string of chapters in two weeks (my Thanksgiving break) so watch for that.

This chapter should be tying up a few loose ends and provide more questions than answer (sorry...) but ultimately worth the read.

Enjoy and don't forget to review! :)

Previously

It takes a moment for Isabella to manage the avalanche of memories into a more manageable state and register the question. Once she does, she opens her eyes, the gold flakes in them more pronounced and shining with her power as it floods the room and her voice.

"Like my Father said, it is time to go home."

Chapter 22

Loki leans in the doorway of one of the upstairs bathrooms, watching his fiancée brush and braid his little girl's hair. He can see the tenseness in her from worry, anger, and the arrival of a new and huge burden. He wanted nothing more than to take that burden away, but his little flower is habitually independent, and there is nothing he can do to change that.

For now at least.

"There you go, all done!" Isabella says, her forced cheerfulness shielded from the little girl, scooping her up and placing her on her hip, much to Narvi's delight. They both turn to Loki, to which he smiles and tells Narvi in Jotun, "You look beautiful princess."

Narvi smiles happily and lenas her head against Isabella's as they walk down the stairs to where Sigyn, Sleipnir and Jörmungandr are waiting by the door. Sigyn looks severely pissed off; Sleipnir and Jörmungandr, reflective.

Isabella hands Narvi to the siblings, saying coolly, "I hope to see you two under better circumstances next time."

They nod, Sleipnir even bowing slightly in respect before leaving, their mother following them. As soon as the door closes on them, Isabella's shoulders fall and she sways slightly, her still too-small frame starting to quake as the force of her newfound worries and stresses hits her like a truck.

Loki immediately pulls her to him, recognizing the signs of an eminent panic attack by now, moving them to the couch. He sits her next to him, though she crawls into his lap, her body shaking even more. Loki murmurs into her hair, "Tell me what's wrong. Let me help you, flower."

Isabella shakes her head, burrowing deeper in him, her trembling starting to get worse. Loki gets the hint and stays quiet, letting his mere presence sooth and possibly encourage Isabella to open up. She had been getting better after he came back and the S.H.E.I.L.D situation had been dealt with. It's understandable that she doesn't trust me after all I've done; I haven't given her a reason to. All I need to do is be patient and be her non-judgmental confidante. After all, if I was her world her once, I can be so again.

...

I can't believe I'm having a panic attack. I haven't had one in AGES and now I am! Over meeting my father! I've been dreaming of this ever since Kerwyn told me there was a reason I was different from my "family". This is just... I can't event think about what he's going to say when he meets me for the first time as his daughter, the princess and presumably heir apparent. And that's assuming that there isn't another heir to challenge me, or another copycat like Sigyn tried to do. All that trouble, schemes and such, yet, I don't want to be a princess, let alone a queen. I want to stay here with Bobby and Sam, Jessica, Dean Charlie and Loki as a happy family. Buy a house, have a couple of children, exemplify "the proper American family". A family that doesn't have to deal with any entity or world besides Earth. Is it so wrong to want that? To want my life to be uncomplicated and filled with normalcy?

Besides, why does my father want me after all these years? Why could I possibly do to help him in any way? Should I help him after his abandonment? What will I tell our Winchester clan? What does Loki want in all this? Where does he see himself? Besides me or away? Will we actually get married? Will this be when he figures out there's too much trouble attached to me and he leaves? What am I going to do to make him stay? To never leave me again, like he promised? Isabella thinks, getting increasingly more and more anxious, this anxiousness translating into her breathing until there is hardly any oxygen coming in to fill her lungs.

Faintly, she hears Loki call out her name in that worried, concerned voice of his whenever she goes too deep into her own head; especially after a particularly bad vision. She focuses on his voice; focuses on his life force, his soul, and latches on to it, letting it ground her.

"..ella. Oh, thank Odin." Isabella hears before she is swept into a tight hug, offset somewhat by the fact that she is already almost stuck together with him.

"Sorry Loki, I didn't mean to, I promise," Isa mumbles, her neck flushing in an embarrassed red. She squirms slightly, moving so she can look him in the eye, interlocking their hands.

"It's alright, I just got worried for a moment there. You know how I get when I see you shut off like that." Loki says with a weak smile, rubbing his thumb on the inside of her wrist.

Isabella nods, remembering the times when Loki found her in a few particularly bad visions where she ended up passing out after crying herself sick... Yeah, his concern isn't unwarranted. "Sorry, I know. I'm just..." Isabella takes a deep, shaky breath, "really worried and there are so many different situations that could happen when we go and-"

"We?" asks Loki, looking at her, his green eyes a bit surprised and happy.

"Yes, I-I had assumed you would be going with me. Was that incorrect?" Isa says hesitantly, withdrawing back from him, not looking at him.

"No, I just cemented the idea that we are almost a married couple now in my head." Loki says, pulling her back into his arms. "And as such, you belong to me and I belong to you, muling quim."

Isabella snorts and feels the ball of anxiety in her chest ease slightly knowing she has Loki's support in this, saying softly, worriedly. "What are we going to do? What's going to happen when we go see my father? Will he be disappointed or upset that I'm not everything he said I was? How do I know what's going to happen and plan accordingly?"

"You don't know." Loki says simply, "All you can do is keep being the amazing quim you are and the rest will fall into place. No matter what happens, I will be there to help in any way that I can, alright?"

"Alright," Isabella smiles, still anxious, but less so than she was prior to her panic attack. "Thank you."

"No problem Isabella. That's why I'm here." Loki says, patting her back before putting her next to him. "You are going to eat some food. Don't think I didn't notice that you ate less at lunch than you're promised."

Isabella smiles as this old argument arises and into the playful banter begins only achieved through time, responding in turn and accepting the plate of leftovers, snorting when she sees that he got one that was just as large as hers.

"What, all this girl talk makes me hungry. I need to act like a man before I start growing lady parts." Loki huffs, shoving food into his mouth and moaning in happiness in response to her cooking.

Isa just laughs and slowly makes her way through her own plate, arguing playfully with her fiancé over what they should watch. Shadow joins them and contributes to their conversation, effectively freaking out Loki when she seems to agree and object like a normal human.

Yeah, things are going to be okay, Isabella says, laughing as Loki gets more and more agitated by Shadow's human behavior.

Everything will be just fine.


Alfheim, Great Hall

The sound of arguing is increasingly getting louder as the regents go back and forth over the rapidly approaching deadline for his final daughter's return to her birthplace. He doesn't even need to be here; it's not like he was the ruler after the last steward was placed after his previous child's death. He was only here as a formality... And to know what will become of his daughter if she doesn't come in time for the deadline.

After the death of his queen before tales were written about his and his brother and sister's lives, he didn't know how to cope. He was childless, wifeless, and his family was power hungry. Despite the individual kingdoms they each had, each looked at the others and wanted it. So, he made all of them sign with their blood and magick to not attack each other. They did, though grudgingly, and the six oldest beside himself claimed one of the six singularities: Mind, Soul, Power, Space, Time and Reality.

The six brothers and sisters fostered animosity in their children, encouraging them to plunder and conquer; spreading rumors to justify their animosity toward each other. Frigga, ruler of Midgard, was forced to flee when Malekith the Accursed was freed from Hel and killed his own Dwarfen brother Brokker, ruler of Svartálfaheimr. Luckily, she found a husband willing to protect her; Odin was his name.

When Freyr heard of his sister's fate, he convinced me to close off my world and help him close Midgard from the increasingly powerful siblings of ours. I did as he asked, but not before I had gone to Midgard myself and conceived a child. He was named Byggvir and was the first of his sons to die while retrieving one of the six singularities. As it is, all of his children have tried and died in retrieving these stones.

He and Freyr managed to get the stones and lock them away in Yggdrasil, never to be released until the natural weakening of the barrier between the worlds and the ones formed by their owners happened; the Convergence. After his duty had been done, he left the throne, setting a steward in his place so he could travel and grieve properly for his wife and children as he had not had the chance to.

During his travels, he met a Vanir who told him that he would once more have a child, his last, and her arrival to Alfheim would be a sign of the Convergence. Only when that time was approaching were the whole of those connected to Yggdrasil to be reunited. After this reunion, the worlds were refreshed, renewed, and barriers could be formed stronger than ever.

Now that time for her to claim her birthright had come, his remaining brothers and sisters would all be eager for his help in conquering each other and Midgard. The deadline was set only a few months before the arrival of war on all their worlds. He does not have much time left. His fathering clock has expired and this child, Arnbjörg, is his last and she will assume his throne. She will be swift as an eagle and save them all.

If only she would come home soon.

This is NOT the last we will see of Loki's children and ex-wife. Or the Winchester clan (I think).

Now, we are leaving Midgard and going into the worlds connecting by Yggdrasil. More explanation will happen as to why Kerwyn was the one who raised Isabella when Gylfi could have just as well raised her himself, and much much more :)

Anyone looking forward to that explanation?

*raises hand* Anyone?

*overwhelming sound of crickets*

Okay, just me... *tear*

See you all in no more than two weeks from today! Possibly sooner *crosses finger*

Don't forget to review!