Author's Note: Here we are, everyone, at the two-part arc which is probably the most emotional arc in Season 1. I plan on doing it justice plus a bit more intensity, so be ready.

Also, I have an announcement to make. As you know, Halloween is coming up soon. It's after this next weekend, so I figured, to commemorate the holiday, instead of doing my next batch of uploads next weekend, I'll upload them on Halloween.

The song featured here is a parody of "Carried Away" from Lyle, Lyle Crocodile. I've never seen the movie, but it was suggested to me, and after hearing it, I decided to work with it.

Enjoy the chapter. See you next Halloween. Any and all comments are welcome.

It started out as a normal day, but it eventually leads into one of the most important moments in the lives of Loki and the McGee family.

Loki was catching up on his reading while Molly was writing in her journal and Darryl, Pete, and Scratch were playing a game of Go Fish.

"Dad, do you have any fours?"

"Nope. Go fish, Darryl. Scratch, do you have any kings?"

"Yes." Scratch answered before taking his King card and putting it into his mouth. "Go fish." Pete quickly shoved his hand in Scratch's body and pulled the card out. "Hey, rude!"

"Though, technically, he did fish for it." Loki commented.

"Come on, Loki. Are you sure you don't want to play with us?" Pete asked. "It's not too late to deal you in."

"I'd rather not." Loki answered. "But I'll let you know when I do, which will be… The day after I die."

"Which time?" Darryl asked.

"Touche."

That's when Sharon joined everyone in the living room carrying a cardboard box. "Look what I found behind some counterfeit Renaissance paintings. We'll talk about those later, Darryl."

"Those are actually from the Romanticism period." Darryl said. "I mean, what?"

"Our very last moving box?!" Molly gasped happily.

"Yup." Sharon said setting the box down. "Once we unpack it, we'll be completely moved into our forever home."

"You mean, moved into MY forever home." Scratch said. "Not that I'm complaining… much."

"Technically, it was also my forever home too before the McGees showed up." Loki said.

"Yeah. For about five minutes." Scratch said.

"Really?" Molly asked intrigued. "You mean the day we moved here was also the same day you were revived?"

"Pretty much." Loki said. "Strange coincidence, huh?"

"Or… Maybe the fact that we showed up means that we're necessary for your brand new life!" Molly cheered.

"If it helps you sleep at night." Loki said, though he did make a smile at the thought.

"McGees, get ready to be nomads no more!" Molly declared right before the doorbell rang.

"Ooh! That could be my free Midwest Monthly subscriber swag bag. Start without me." Pete said before heading to the door.

Pete opened the door to find a blonde woman in black-rimmed glasses and a blue suit standing on the porch. Behind her was a massive man in an identical suit and a blue fedora.

"Hello there, Mr. McGee." The woman said. "My name is Amy Chance. Me and my assistant here are here to inform you of a problem that needs to be addressed immediately.

"What kind of problem?" Pete asked.

"Your gutters, of course." Amy answered.

Pete looked up at the edge of his rooftop to find his rain gutter overflowing with dead leaves, dirt, garbage, and other junk.

"Wow. That's really weird. I was outside just an hour ago, and it didn't look this bad." Pete said.

"You'd be surprised how quickly things can get worse." Amy said. "Why, just wait until the next storm and your house gets torn apart. Thankfully, we're here to help with all that. All we ask for in exchange is $300."

Pete broke out into a fit of laughter. "$300? Tell me you're kidding?"

"That's our price. It's non-negotiable."

"Well, we don't have that kind of extra cash." Pete said. "So I'll handle the gutters myself."

"Well, if you change your mind, give us a call." Amy pulled out a green card and passed it to Pete. As soon as he touched it, however, his eyes gave a feint flash of green.

"Thanks." Pete said before getting started on the gutters while Amy and her assistant left the premises.

Meanwhile, inside the house, Molly peeled off the tape and opened the box. Inside, she pulled out all sorts of random objects which rarely anyone could identify.

"I can see why you never unpacked this box." Scratch said.

"Scratch, drumroll please!" Molly said. Scratch went on to use his belly as a drum. "I present the very last tchotchke!" Molly pulled out a small statue of a golden tree.

"What is that thing?" Loki asked. "It looks like one of those calming chia trees that human corporate bosses have in their offices, only if it was touched by Midas."

"Isn't that a Greek thing?" Darryl asked.

"The Greek gods are real too." Loki said before acting dismayed. "But believe it or not, they're even bigger jerks than the ones on Asgard."

"Well, this thing is from Grandma Nin's last visit to Thailand." Sharon said. "And I know the perfect place for it." She took the tree and placed it on the living room counter in front of the TV. "There. I now declare us officially moved into our forever home."

"How about celebrating me for letting you stay here?" Scratch asked. "I mean, you moved into my house after all."

"You're right, Scratch." Sharon said pulling Scratch into a group hug.

"Get in here too, Loki." Molly said.

"Oh, I don't think I should… Oh, my!" Loki was grabbed by his arm and pulled into the hug. He scowled at first, but then gently gave another warm smile.

And then… CRASH!

Everyone broke from the hug and ran outside. They found Pete underneath the gutters with a broken body.

"I don't think arms are supposed to bend like that." Darryl noted.

"What the Helheim happened?" Loki asked.

"Oh. It's nothing. I was just cleaning the gutters until I kinda… slipped." Pete said trying to hold back the pain until something snapped. "AGONY! I'M IN AGONY!"

"I'm calling an ambulance." Sharon said.

After returning from the hospital, Pete was gently placed on the living room couch with bandages wrapping around his forehead and a cast covering his left arm. He still groaned in pain just as Amy Chance's green card slipped out of his pocket. Sharon noticed it and picked it up, only to have her eyes flash green like her husband earlier.

"Pete, did someone already offer to clean our gutters, so you decided to do it yourself?" Sharon asked.

"They were charging $300 for it." Pete said. "I thought I could do it myself."

"Well, now, we're stuck with a hospital bill, which will probably be a lot more than $300." Loki said.

"We'll see." Sharon said. She opened up the letter from the hospital to look at the prices. Suddenly, she gasped in horror. "$700 for an ambulance ride to Mewline?! It's only 30 miles away! And $60 for gauze! Gauze should be like 70 cents, tops! How are we going to pay for all this?"

"Relax, honey. I have insurance." Pete said. "That should take care of most of it."

"THIS TOTAL IS AFTER INSURANCE?!" Sharon shouted showing Pete the bill.

Loki took the bill and looked over it. "Wait a minute. Your insurance can only cover 49 cents? What kind of deal do you have with your provider?"

"We can't pay all that!" Pete panicked.

"So we ditch." Darryl said already putting on a wig and red sunglasses and opening up a suitcase. "I've got plenty of wigs and dossiers with fully-fleshed out backstories. Loki, I don't have one for you because, well, you already have magic disguises."

"No, Darryl!" Molly yelled. "We can't give up on our forever home! We just need to raise more money."

"This feels just like the whole bandshell situation." Loki said.

"Yes, and like before, it'll work perfectly!" Molly declared. "I'll hold a bake sale with my secret-ingredient cupcakes."

"If the secret ingredient is love, I'm out of here." Loki said.

"I can sell my exotic plant collection." Darryl said. "Even the carnivorous ones."

"Carnivor… Never mind." Sharon said. "Between that, Dad's sick leave, and if I triple my GigPig workload, we can pay the bill."

"Well, don't forget, it's not just the hospital bills you need to pay." Loki said.

"Of course. There's also electric, cable, car, and all that. We can definitely cover all that."

"And since Pete's a literal broken man, I can take care of the house." Scratch volunteered.

"You're gonna take care of the house?" Molly asked.

"Yeah. What's the big deal? I pick up a sock here and there, fluff some pillows. Easy peasy, McGeesees."

"Oh, I like that." Molly commented proudly.

"Yeah. Been holding onto it for a couple months waiting for the right moment to bust it out."

"Nice." Molly said. "What about you, Loki? What will you be doing?"

"Me?" Loki asked. "Well, I don't have much experience with chores. That's usually the servants' jobs. But I suppose I could alternate with helping you all."

"That'd actually be pretty good." Molly said. "Thanks."

After a long day of baking cupcakes, Molly was ready to sell them to her classmates at school. Loki sat beside her helping her with her job.

"Yes, ladies and gents!" Molly announced. "That's right! I got vanilla! I got chocolate! I got rainbow sprinkles! And every cupcake is made with my secret ingredient!"

Sheela took a bite of her cupcake only to spit it out. "Salt!"

"Salt?" Loki asked before taking a bite of a cupcake. "Ugh! Molly, why is there salt in the cupcakes?"

"Oh, sweet baby corn! Why do I always get the salt and the sugar mixed up?"

"You probably should have taste-tested it then." Loki said before an all-too familiar student took a cupcake. Loki instantly turned his attention towards her. "Andrea!"

"Hey, Lukas." Andrea said. "I saw you and Molly doing a bake sale, and I thought, 'anything that guy sells must be good'."

"Not in this instance." Loki warned with a nervous chuckle. "Molly accidently put salt in the cupcakes instead of sugar."

"Oh." Andrea said putting the cupcake back down. "So… I've been meaning to ask. I notice you've been helping Molly a lot out lately. Are you and she… You know…"

Loki groaned. "Why does everyone always ask that? No. Don't get me wrong. She's a nice kid. But the problem is that she's too sweet for me. Seriously, I get a cavity every time I look at her. Trust me, there's no chance at anything between me and Molly."

"That's good." Andrea said with a blush. "I mean, it's kinda good that… Well… Never mind."

"Right." Loki sighed. "So, are we still up for that coffee thing? You know, in exchange for that penny thing?"

"Sorry, but I'm gonna have to put a rain check on that." Andrea said. "I got to check something out. But I promise, we'll get there. Believe me, there's nothing I want more than that."

"Okay then. Give me the details later."

"I'll do that. Byyyyeeee." Andrea waved before walking away.

After she left, Loki sighed out a smile which dropped after turning to Molly's smiling face. "Not again."

"What?" Molly asked acting innocent.

"Didn't I already tell you why it's a bad idea?" Loki asked.

"Yeah, but a girl can still ship you two, can't she?" Molly asked.

"Oh, shut up and keep selling your salt-cakes." Loki hissed.

After school, Andrea stayed on her phone during her walk until she stopped in the middle of town. She turned and entered Book Marks the Spot. Once she was inside, she was greeted by none other than Leah Stein-Torres.

"Oh. Hey, Andrea." Leah greeted. "Sorry, but Libby isn't back home from school yet."

"That's okay." Andrea asked. "Actually, I was wondering if you could help me out with something."

"Oh? With what?" Leah asked.

Andrea reached into her backpack and pulled something out. In her hand was a dagger with a green ribbon tied around its hilt. The blade was etched with runes. Leah took the dagger and examined it closely.

"Huh. This is really strange. Where did you get it?" Leah asked.

"That's, like, the weirdest thing." Andrea said. "You remember the day we presented the new marquee to the school, but it shorted out. Well, I found this thing underneath the broken marquee. I've been wondering about it for weeks. Then, I figured, maybe you can help. I mean, there are a lot of old books here, right."

"Let me see what I can do." Leah said.

For the next ten minutes, Andrea waited at the reading corner going on her phone while Mrs. Stein-Torres looked through her books. After that time, she returned to Andrea with a book labeled "Norse Myths and You".

"Okay. So the writing on the knife seems to be similar to Asgardian runes."

"Like Thor?" Andrea asked.

"Sort of," Leah said, "But if I'm reading this right, the runes actually relate to his brother, Loki."

"Loki?" Andrea asked. "Didn't he attack New York a few years back?"

"Oh, yeah." Leah said. "I wouldn't let that jerk anywhere near my beloved Libby. Oh, speaking of which…" Leah looked at her watch and stood up. "I need to go pick her up from her poetry reading."

"But what if I have more questions, because I definitely do." Andrea said.

"You know what? Here. You can take this." Leah said giving her book to Andrea. "I know your family's good for the pay. I gotta go. See ya."

After Leah left the bookstore, Andrea opened the book and found a chapter labeled "Loki".

"Loki, huh? Wonder what I can learn about him. And why was his dagger at the marquee opening?"

Over the next many days, the dynamic of the McGee household got very chaotic. Sharon was exhausted from all her restless GigPig jobs, Pete kept making requests like a baby, and Sharon, Darryl, and Loki rushed through everything to help. Scratch, however, had it the worst.

Between taking care of Pete and cleaning the house, Scratch worked hard on keeping the house tidy and making everyone happy at the expense of his own happiness. And to him, it seemed like no one cared no matter how hard he worked. It kept on going on day after day after day after day after…

"I CAN'T TAKE IT!" Scratch snapped for everyone to hear. He cried out in tears louder than ever. "IT'S NOT EASY PEASY, MCGEESEES!"

Scratch continued to sob on the floor until Sharon walked in with a groan. She walked right into the kitchen with a jar full of cash. She fell, but she still smiled holding the jar up.

"We did it." Sharon said proudly for everyone to hear. "We made enough money to pay the hospital bill in full."

"We paid the bill?" Molly asked.

"Sweet baby corn. Taking care of you McGees was a lot harder than I thought." Scratch said in relief. "Never gonna do it again."

"We couldn't have done it without you, Scratch." Sharon said. "And Loki, thanks for doing your part to help."

Loki gave a small smile. "Well, I guess I did do all right. Glad to be part of this fa…" He stopped himself.

"Uh, uh, uh. You have to say it." Molly insisted.

"No, I don't." Loki returned.

"Say it. Say it. Say it. Say it. Say…"

"Okay! Fine!" Loki shouted before taking in a deep breath. "Glad to be part of this family… I guess."

"We all are." Sharon said.

Sharon placed the paid bill in the McGee mailbox with everyone beside her. After turning the metal flag up, she joined her family.

"Well, another day, another averted crisis. We did it, McGees."

"Easy peasy, McGeesees." Scratch said.

Loki smiled once again. For once in his life, he felt happier to be part of something heartwarming. To him, it was like nothing could go wrong again.

Until…

KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!"

The McGee family turned their heads to the sound of the hard knock. They found a sign planted on their front yard by a woman in a blue suit. The sign read "For Sale. Candace Green Realtor."

"Uh, what are you doing in our yard?" Sharon asked.

"There must be a mistake." Pete said. "We're not looking to sell."

The woman named Candace laughed. "Oh, no mistake. You didn't pay the mortgage and the house was repossessed by the bank."

"What?!" Loki asked in a sudden burst of shock.

"I was so focused on the hospital bill, we completely forgot about the mortgage." Sharon realized.

"How?" Loki asked. "I thought you had everything covered!"

"I did too!" Sharon said. "I don't know how I could have forgotten something as important as the mortgage! It's like it was somehow blocked from my mind!"

Inside the house, the card left by Amy Chance remained motionless on the living room table. It flashed a wave of green over it.

Loki and Scratch watched as the McGees loaded all of their packed belongings into a moving truck. Everyone lowered their heads in dismay.

"Don't worry." Scratch said. "No one's gonna buy this house on my watch. Not happening. Easy peasy, McGeesees. Watch. You're gonna be back in no time. I'm not even turning the heat off, gonna keep the house nice and warm for you."

"Thanks, Scratch." Molly said forcing a smile under her tearful eyes. She gave Scratch and Loki one last hug. "Love you two."

"Love you too, Moll." Scratch returned with a sniffle.

"Me too." Loki said glumly. He and Scratch watched as the McGees returned to their car and drove away from the house. It was now theirs alone again.

Loki and Scratch returned inside the house and looked around. All the rooms were nearly empty save for a few counters. Feeling the lack of McGee energy, the two of them lowered their heads even deeper down.

"Scratch, I… I think I'll spend some time in the guest bedroom." Loki said. "Don't bother me for a while, okay?"

"Okay." Scratch said as he floated up to the attic where Molly's room once was.

Loki was thankful that there was still a bed in the room where he slept. He sat down on it and held out his hand conjuring the manmade helmet replica that Molly made for him during his time at the Lemmings softball season. He smiled at it, but it quickly lowered.

"This is what I get for getting my hopes up." Loki said just as the sun had set and night took over Brighton.

Loki:

It used to be so simple

Just looking out for me, myself, and I

Then I found a group of mortals who somehow affected me

But, like all moments, they just went by

Reality just returned

It was good while it lasted, but all days have to end

Left without a single friend

For the first time in a millennium

I actually liked where I ended up

I only had a family and a house

And I thought it was enough

But now, here I am again

Standing with no one else

So I guess I was just fooling myself

It looks like I was just fooling myself

I was fooling myseeeeeeeeeelf

Fooling myseeeeeeeeelf

Just fooling myseeeeeeeeeelf

Fooling myself

I did things I never thought I'd do

Played games and built little things

If my past saw me, he'd scoff, but I wouldn't care

If only he'd seen the things I've seen

Reality just returned

And it shook really hard to get me out of this pretend

Left without a single friend

For the first time in a millennium

I actually liked where I ended up

I only had a family and a house

And I thought it was enough

But now, here I am again

Standing with no one else

So I guess I was just fooling myself

I was fooling myseeeeeeeeeelf

Fooling myseeeeeeeeeelf

Just fooling myseeeeeeeeelf

Fooling myself

FOOLING MYSEEEEEEEEEEEEELF (I WAS A HAPPY MAN)

FOOLING MYSEEEEEEEELF (BUT NOW, I'M RIGHT HERE AT BACK THEN)

FOOLING MYSEEEEEEEEEEEEELF

FOOLING MYSELF

Reality just returned

But now, I'm right back here again

Finding out I was just fooling myself

I wish I was not fooling… myself

Once he finished his lament, Loki laid back on the bad without covering himself with the blanket. He let out a deep breath closing his eyes. It was left a quiet night until…

"Now!"

Before Loki had time to react, he felt a massive hand covering his face. He muffled loudly as he quickly lost consciousness.

When Loki regained consciousness, he found himself in a dark room with his hands tied behind the chair he was bound too. He looked around nervously.

"What's going on?!" Loki shouted. "Who's doing this?! Do you have any idea who you're dealing with?!"

"Oh, believe me, Loki, we know very well indeed."

Loki followed the woman's voice and recognized two figures that emerged from the shadows. His face fell full of fear.

"Amora? Skurge?" Loki asked. "But how…"

"It wasn't easy, especially with your magic shield protecting your house" the Enchantress said, "But now, that your mortal puppets have moved out, the barrier has fallen. Now, all my patience is going to pay off. Once I turn you over to Odin, I'll be welcome back to Asgard—and Thor—with open arms."

Loki scowled. "So that's it? You're going to bring me to Asgard?"

"In time. But first…" The Enchantress gave the Trickster a killer look before holding up her hand which began to glow green. "I'd like to settle a few scores personally."

Back in her room, Andrea was going through the book that Mrs. Stein-Torres gave her. She flipped through the pages going through the Loki book nearly bored. She kept herself awake by reading it aloud.

"'Being the trickster god, Loki was known for his love of mischief which affected everyone on Asgard. There was no trick he couldn't pull thanks to his mastery of illusion magic which greatly affected his appearance. He could look like anyone else, a woman, or even a child…'"

Andrea's eyes widened looking at an illustration in the book. It was an image of Loki as a child just as described. Andrea focused on it noticing something strange.

"That's odd. He looks kinda like Lukas. But that can't be, right? I mean…"

Andrea kept on reading noting all of the features of Loki's magic while remembering her experiences with him.

"Enchanting games."

"The Lemmings softball game. All kinds of weird stuff did happen when he was there."

"Control over surroundings."

"The time he messed with the movie studio."

"Female transformation."

"Lucy?"

"Duplication illusions."

"If he did do that at the talent show, then… No, Wait. Listen to yourself, Andrea. You're overthinking it. It's not possible… Right? And come to think of it, he was there when this dagger blew up the marquee."

Andrea fell back on her bed with a haunting realization filling her head. She didn't think it'd be possible, but the more she thought about it, the more things made sense.

"Is it possible… that Lukas is… Loki?"