Alright guys, here is the Epilogue. I wanted to wrap up a couple things and give you guys a little "aww" moment after all the craziness that has been this story so I hope you like it!.

InChains

UltimateOne

CindyOnMethadone

Thanks for being my last faves/follows, it's nice to end it on a high note!

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A Dream and A Revelation

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The past two months had passed in a haze. Riley had been there, at the last show down between Malekith and Thor and had felt all but useless. Her power was gone, spent on the battlefield after Loki's death. She was normal now, normal and miserable. She'd sat by, waiting for an order from Jane to push a button, one button, that was all she was good for now. But she'd gotten to see the bastard suffer and die, and that was something.

Since that day, she'd lived a relatively normal life. She'd been interrogated by some organization called S.H.I.E.L.D about her sudden appearance, which had been exhausting and infuriating. She'd had documents created that proved she existed. Driver's License, Social Security card, Passport, even an up to date school transcript had all magically appeared over night, along side a full life of stories, grades, first dates, first times and even a failed engagement to someone named Tom. It was like she'd always been here, except she hadn't.

It was something that she felt very keenly for the first couple of weeks, a sense of apartness, like she was a spectator at a very elaborate play but never a player. She watched people go about their lives, simply accepting what had happened, like aliens trying to destroy the universe was an every day occurrence, but none of it felt real to her. She knew she should feel grateful to Thor and Jane for pulling her away from that place, for allowing her the chance to live and heal, but she just couldn't. She wasn't living, she didn't have it in her to even try. Everything that had made her who she was, her attitude, her town, her smoking habit, it was all gone. All of it died with him on that barren wasteland.

She had made peace with the fact that she would never go home. She wasn't even sure at this point what home really was. She'd always imagined home as this place that was warm and safe, like a big down comforter that you could just wrap yourself in and forget the world outside. But it had never been that, not really, not for her. Even when her family had been alive, home had been a place where she was just existing, waiting for something to happen next. Well she had finally found what she was waiting for. Now home was cool skin, continuous verbal sparring and the touch of ice in her soul. Her home was gone and she was left deadened to the wonders of the world and to the comfort of the friends she had met since returning to Earth.

She did a good job of hiding it during the day. She participated in all the conversations, sat down to group meals, laughed at the jokes and stories they all shared. But everyone always seemed to shy away from the one subject she wanted to talk about. His name was never even mentioned. She thought she would have a kindred spirit in Jane for the first few days, Thor had returned to Asgard with the promise of being back on Earth "as soon as possible", but had yet to reappear. But no sooner had Darcy mentioned it than he was appearing on the terrace outside. The two had been inseparable since. It would've been adorable if it wasn't so painful to watch. Seeing them together reminded her of the last few days they'd spent in her world. It had been a mad rush to defeat an evil elf from space, but it had also been wonderful. They'd all sat down together, laughed and talked, ribbed each other about their separate romances, like a family.

This was how she lived, though existed would be a better word, stumbling through the days with little drive to do much of anything. She was paid generously by S.H.I.E.L.D to keep her mouth shut, not spill anything that could affect the way their dimension developed, so there was no need for a job, and she never seemed to feel up to simply going out and exploring. As such, her day to day activities consisted of going and getting various food stuffs of technological odds and ends for Jane and smoking on the terrace under a threadbare blanket Jane had given her as a means of comfort. It was apparently something that Jane had had since she was little, a gift from a relative that was now dead. Riley liked it because it was the same shade of green that she'd come to associate with Loki. It was like he was still there in some small way.

But one night, something changed.

She'd been having a nightmare, something that used to frighten her, but it was so commonplace now that she was able to sleep right through them. It was a replay of the events on Svartalfheim, but something was different. The scene was exactly how she remembered it with one major difference. The ice was gone. The ground was wet, and a body was missing. She felt herself moving through the dreamscape, her eyes taking in all the little differences. The earth had shifted, some of it blown away, other parts clumped together to form little hills. The bodies remained as they had been, with the exception of the body she most hated seeing. Loki's corpse wasn't were she'd left it. In its place was a completely dry patch. It was like he'd simply fazed out of existence.

As this thought passed through her mind, she felt a hand rest lightly on right shoulder. It felt so familiar, so heart-breakinly cold that she almost pulled herself from the dream entirely.

"If I turn around and you aren't there, I will go crazy. Just a warning." She took a deep breath, letting it out slowly as she turned her body, her eyes lighting on the face she'd been longing to see for almost two months. There were no thoughts in her head as she jumped into his arms, pressing her lips to his in a kiss that felt like the breath of life. He was solid and he was there, holding her and kissing her right back. Long before she was ready, he pulled away from the kiss, setting her back on her feet, a gentle smile on his face.

"Hello, my little witch. I am sorry to have been away for so long, but I've been rather busy taking control of my realm. But now, I have everything in place. You still have something of mine. Something I have been trying to get back but it would seem that you are too stubborn to let it go. As such, I see only on solution, and that is to have you close to me, at all times, which is something you can not do while stuck here on Midgard." He paced around her as he spoke, his eyes never leaving her body, trailing up and down her, memorizing every curve. His expression was outwardly cool, regal and detached, but Riley could see behind his mask to the barely contained need. He'd missed her as much as she'd missed him.

"Well I would love to fix that for you, your highness, but I can't fly and even if I could, I certainly can't breathe in space. So unless you have a space car I can borrow, I think we have a problem." She grinned, trying to match his business like manner and failing miserably.

"Do you have such little faith in my abilities Riley? Truly I am stung. I believe I already stated that all the arrangements had been made. Now all that is left for you to do, is wake up, and come find me." He stopped circling, drawing her close as he spoke, his hand finding hers and squeezing it tightly. But then he was gone, the weight of his hand still pressing on hers until she realized something was in it.

She looked down to see a rune stone, glowing bright blue and very cold against her skin. She gripped it with a whoop of laughter, closing her eyes tightly as a smile stretched her face, willing herself to wake up.

Loki felt his face pull up into the first true smile he'd felt in months. He thought he would be able to survive without his little mortal, simply knowing she was alive and well had seemed like more than a prize when he'd enacted his place. But the throne had seemed so pointless afterward. He found himself spending more and more time alone in the library or his chambers, researching things that, at first, made no sense. It wasn't until the dreams started that he truly began to understand what his heart had been trying to tell him.

It was always the same. He was standing on the battlefield, watching from a distance as his doppleganger battled the horde of elves, Riley was moving as quickly as she could toward Malekith, that same stubborn look on her face that she'd worn so many times when facing off against him. He knew she was no match for him, powered as he was with the Aether, but there was no way to stop her. Only one thing would prove a sufficient distraction from her goal of protection, and that was the death of the thing she was trying to protect. So he'd decided to simply stick to his original plan. He would feign death, disappear, and she would live on without him, a normal mortal life, something she deserved after everything he had laid at her door.

But it hadn't gone as planned. She was supposed to mourn him and then return to Midgard, retaining his power as well as the link that bound them together. He should have known better than to think it would be that simple, nothing with Riley ever was. But he was so consumed with the idea that he was right, that his plan would work, that when Riley fell to her knees, he almost fell victim to the frozen hell she'd unleashed. For a moment he was proud, for her to accomplish something like that and still be breathing was no mean feat, but as he reached down to access their link, he found it had been severed. Riley had expended too much power, ripped the tether that held them together. It was a blow he had not been prepared to deal with. But he'd already put his plan into motion, so it was, with a heavy heart, he assumed his place in Odin's guise.

But now he could put that nightmare to rest. He'd found a way to have his mortal and his throne. He would have her by his side again if he had to burn all of Asgard to get her. As luck would have it, that would not be necessary.

Riley dressed quickly and quietly, sliding on leggings and boots and an oversized green sweater to protect her from the night's chill and scrawling a small not to Jane. She felt it was a little silly, telling the woman not to worry when she might well never be coming back, but she owed her at least that much after all she'd done. She moved around the kitchen and livingroom, gathering up her purse, keys, incase this whole thing was just a fever dream brought on by bad beer, and all the packs of cigarettes she could find. She shoved them all into a larger bag that also contained a small camping blanket and some food and water and was out the door like a shadow.

She turned around at the bottom of the stairs, looking around at the midnight scene around her. It was dead quiet, nothing seemed to be moving, no wind blew, the stars stilled their twinkling, even the sounds of traffic further in the city were muted. It was like the universe was rooting for her, holding its breath until she reached her goal. But where was he. He'd said come find him, but where was she supposed to look?

A spark of light caught her eye. A green light amidst a sea of red ones. She felt her heart start pounding, reaching down into her legs and taking control. Logically she knew it was probably just a malfunction in the light, but why just that one? She shook her head, she was taking orders from a dream version of her not quite boyfriend the God of Mischief who was, in point of fact, dead, and there fore should not be giving orders to anyone. She could hardly indulge in logic now. She followed the street to the light, crossing the deserted road and heading down the cross street until another light "malfunctioned", leading her further away from the center of town.

She continued like this for a while, following the lights, expecting him around every corner, until she ran out of lights. She stood still at a road. The one she had been following dead ended onto the one she was currently staring at. It had a left and a right, but no through, and no more lights to tell her which way to turn. But there had to be a clue. He wouldn't have led her here if there wasn't something that would eventually reach him. She studied the signs, each bearing a town name and an arrow. Neither was particularly special, neither sign had any kind of distinguishing feature that would denote it as special. Was it a word clue? Maybe one of them was an anagram for something. She stared at them for so long that her eyes began to water, at least, that was what she was telling herself. In reality, she was crying simply because she'd fooled herself into thinking that this was real. She'd been out here for hours, the sun as on its way up and she would have to explain to Jane and Darcy where she'd been, which would, no doubt, lead to a "girl's day" to help her feel better, which would of course only accomplish making her feel cranky and tired. She sighed, resigning herself to the truth as she turned back the way she'd come. She stared down at the road as she began to walk, only to run smack dab into a solid chest, cool and familiar.

"Found me."

Welp, there ya go! I wanted to end it in kind of a cheeky way because it seemed to fit. I hope you guys enjoyed it!