Unexpected

Somewhere Over the Rainbow Bridge

Loki nodded, giving me a pensive look before hooking his finger under my chin, leading my face towards his again for another kiss. The tenderness of his lips, their softness, and all the emotions and promises they were conveying by the simple gesture made my heart flutter. As he pulled away I looked up into his eyes. His brilliant green orbs answered every question that was running through my head. They showed me adoration and devotion and genuineness. They promised me support and assured me that he was just as much mine as I was his. They were so gentle in a way that I would never have believed they could be when I'd first met him a year ago, when I'd woken up terrified in that subterranean cell.

He was still the Loki I'd always known, the same master of mischief, the magician, the leader, the exiled prince. He was still powerful and other-worldly and clever, but there was something softer about him whenever he was around me. There seemed to be no tricks there, no bitterness, and no dissatisfaction. I loved the way he looked at me like that. I loved him, plain and simple.

"For so long I've asked for you to wait for me... but now..." Loki's voice trailed off, a quiet smirk played over his lips as he sunk slowly onto one knee again, holding my left hand in his, allowing my engagement ring to glitter, "Penelope, my beloved, my betrothed, will you come with me to my kingdom?"

"Yes." I nodded, unable to help the grin that spread on my lips at his grandiose gesture.

Loki brushed a kiss on my knuckles before standing up in a smooth motion, tucking my arm through his as he started leading me through the hallways. I noticed a slight flash of gold and green flicker over us. Loki'd made us invisible to the eye again. We couldn't let anyone see us leave. I had to seem as if I'd disappeared into thin air, leaving no trace.

We descended the stairs and slipped through the apartment building's front doors. There was a strange sense of finality in the air as Loki and I crossed the street, leaving the building behind us. Part of me wondered if I would ever return to this building again, if I'd ever set foot in my apartment again. I leaned on Loki's arm, my legs feeling weak and quivering under me as my emotions built up again, making my chest tighten and my eyes burn.

Arm in arm with Loki, I followed his lead as he took me into the park across the way. He'd mentioned before that this is where he'd touched down on earth before when he'd first returned after his escape from his imprisonment. I took in the light, fresh green of spring that was gracing the park's trees. New flower buds were sprouting among the trees' leaves and the grass looked soft under my black ballet flats. He led me over to a place in the park where there was a small clearing with no branches blocking the sky above us.

It surprised me to see a large circle was burnt into the soft grass in the center of this clearing, a mosaic of Celtic-like knots forming an intricate pattern. Already the new grass was springing back from whatever had caused the pattern, but it was still plain enough to see. My mind flew back to when Thor had returned to Jane shortly after the Convergence. I remembered the roar of the brilliant rainbow lights that had flashed down from the sky, seeming to deposit the Asgardian prince directly onto Jane's balcony. A scorched pattern very much like this one before me had been left behind from that incident as well.

Those lights... they had been the bifrost... the rainbow bridge leading between the realms of Yggdrasil. Apprehension bubbled in the pit of my stomach as Loki led me into the center of the circle. How did this work? How does one cross the bifrost?

Loki then turned to face me, light flashing over his figure, transforming him from the raven hared man that I knew into a shorter man with deep brown eyes and a beard. His black and green leather shifted into golden armor. A helm with curving, horn-like protrusions was placed on his head. I must admit it was strange seeing the man I loved shift appearances like that, but the man's expression was exactly that of Loki's from seconds ago, assuring me that he was definitely the same man.