AN: To my best friend, Sara. Happy Birthday!

More Than a Dream

At the age of 9, Darcy Lewis would be proud to admit, that she hates school with a passion so great, that it would put worlds fictional and non-fictional enemies to shame. She would compare her feelings to those that her mother had for her ex husband. No, it was even worse. She hated the damn building and everyone in it more than Snape hated Harry Potter. And the rival families in Romeo and Juliet had a freakin' love fest going on, at least if she compared the relationship between Montagues and Capulets to how she despised school.

Long story short, Darcy didn't like school very much. And she had a good reason to feel so.

When she first took a step through those huge doors that lead to a big hall and then to the classrooms, she was quite excited. What could go wrong? They were just a bunch of little kids running around and laughing, having fun not knowing about the troubles of the world. But as the time went by, things changed. They weren't just kids anymore. They were kids, who were growing up and now had responsibilities like studying and doing their homework and becoming and independent person. Seeing that Darcy was the only one who liked that, she became distant from her classmates. She quickly and with no doubts switched her toys for books. She liked reading. There were millions of stories and secrets waiting for her.

To her peers, she was just plain weird.

Darcy became the person to pick on. She had been called names, she had been a target of small, stupid, idiotic and pointless pranks and she soon became a lonely island in the middle of the ocean. But at least she had her books.

On her 10th birthday Darcy decided to fight back. She was smart, she was brave and after reading about so many adventures she had plenty of imagination and countless tricks up her sleeve. After a month it was a known fact that if you did something bad to Darcy, something even worse was going to happen to you. And there would be no way to prove that it was her fault.

This was her way to feel better about herself, even though it didn't actually solve the problem. As kids turned into teenagers, words got more poisonous and pranks nastier than ever.

At the age of 13, Darcy wished she wouldn't feel alone anymore. Books weren't enough and the satisfaction of getting her payback was not as sweet as before.

The next day the class princess Lana came to school with blue hair. And though she had been on Darcy's waiting list, she was pretty sure she didn't sneak to her house the night before to sabotage her shampoo.

And it wasn't over yet. Yes, Darcy continued her routine, but there was someone else tricking everyone who dared to hurt the brown haired girl.

Darcy. Was. Furious. She could take care of herself! She didn't need anyone defending her. If she only knew who at her school was observant enough to know what was happening in her life, she would be marching straight to him (she was pretty sure he was a guy) and slap his face. Twice! But not knowing who he was, she decided to be better and faster than him. It became a competition between the two, in which Darcy put all her heart and soul, but still hardly managed to keep up with the Trickster genius, as she called him.

When Darcy was 15, her mother got a job in a hospital 3 hours from their town. So they packed their bags and moved.

It was like the could breathe for the first time. No one knew her, she could be anyone she wanted to be. She didn't have to look over her shoulder, she got a lot of new friends, she went out on weekends, she even had a crush on this blonde boy from her English class. For the first time she felt like she was normal. She was still full of jokes and didn't leave her mischievous ways completely, but there was no need for revenge on anyone now. So she forgot about her life before that, forgot about the prank war and started new.

Sometimes she wondered what is going on with her Trickster protector. She was still sure he was a guy. She imagined he looked good. Not that she knew anything about his appearances. But Darcy was a girl and she just had a feeling that he must be quite a sight to see.

Remember the blonde guy Darcy had a crush on? When she was 17, he asked her out after he crashed into her in the middle of the hall, causing her to drop a huge pile of books. Just like in the movies.

She was happy. She felt like she was flying, gliding through the air with nothing to worry about. Now she had someone who would hug her when she came to school and who would kiss her goodbye before letting her go home. Someone, who would secretly talk with her on the phone until she could already see the sunrise. Finally, everything was right with the world.

Yeah, right. Nothing is ever that simple.

Three months into their relationship, the world turned against them. Problems with cars, problems with the weather, weird schedules in school that constantly kept changing. And even if they managed to go on a proper date, something happened. They met friends at the place they were going to. They got stuck in traffic. There was a false fire alarm at the theater. Always something.

The universe hated them together. And after 8 months of being a couple she found out that he's been cheating on her with one of the stuck up cheerleaders since the third month of their relationship. The same time everything started going wrong. That was the day Darcy remembered her fellow prankster.

As she stumbled into her room that evening, she let her tears flow with her mixed up thoughts. How she hated him for cheating, how she hated the bitch he was sneaking around with, how everything was wrong with every single part of her life. And then she turned on her music, loud as she could, so no one would hear her scream.

»Go to hell! I thought you were on my side! Stupid Trickster!«

Throwing a tantrum was just as pointless as blaming her old competitor, but she had no one else to blame and putting it all on his shoulders made her feel a bit better.

She was asleep before the music stopped.

Darcy found herself standing on an endless beach. Her bare feet were sinking in the soft, golden sand which was still warm from the hot summer sun. The sea and the sky were glowing in the colors of the sunset. She could see all shades between yellow and red, with a bit of pink and purple. No one could paint a sight like that. It was beautiful. A soft wind was caught in her hair and her dress, the one she fell asleep in. Strange, how this was the day she chose to wear the light, strapless dark blue dress that clung to her like a second skin and then flowed around her knees, similar to the waves in front of her. Quite far from the sea she could see skyscrapers and city lights and cars that seemed like little steel ants, at least from her point of view. And around her was no soul. Finding herself in a unknown place, she would've freaked out, but she knew it was a dream, even if it didn't feel like one.

»I did not expect seeing you today, after you so loudly expressed your hope of me burning alive in the darkest corner of hell.«

She turned around, only to find a young man standing a few steps away from her. He was tall, he had the darkest hair she has ever seen and piercing green eyes that stared straight through her. He was wearing black, and it suited him well, making him look better than anyone she has ever seen.

»Excuse me?«

»That is more like you. You grew up to be such a well behaved lady and I find it strange that you have, like your mother would say, a sailor's mouth.«

»A well behaved lady? Do you know who you are talking to?«

This was one weird dream.

»I do. I have seen the best and the worst of you, Darcy Lewis.«

Darcy was now wide awake inside of her dream. Her heart was beating fast and her mind was all over the place, putting the facts together.

»You are ... It's your fault?!« She was half asking and half accusing him of his interference in her life.

»Oh, please. You know I was doing you a favor.«

»A what?«

He was amused at her reaction and a smile showed up on his face. Sure, he thought it was funny, messing with her life like he did.

»It is ... complicated.«

»Oh. Really? I didn't realize, 'cause it looks really simple to me! Who gave you the right to just mess with peoples lives? What good does that do? And why me? Why do all those weird stuff happen to me?«

She was everything he had expected her to be.

»Let's make a deal. You figure out who I am, and I will tell you everything you wish to know. Is that fair enough for you?«

Darcy stared at him for a while, her arms stubbornly wrapped around her.

»No lies, no tricks?«

He nodded and with that Darcy sat down on the sand and lied down with her hands under her head, to stare at the sky.

»You might as well get comfortable, because I have no idea. Are you even real?«

He sat down next to her.

»I am just as real as you are. Maybe even a little more.«

Darcy left out a short laugh.

»Maybe, but you are not from my world, are you?« she questioned him.

»I am a part of it.«

Darcy closed her eyes to think.

»Let me guess ... I actually know who you are, I just don't know it's ... you? Am I right? Because otherwise it would be pointless to do this.«

She looked at him, only to see him sending her one of those mischievous smiles that also appeared on her face after a prank gone well.

»You are on the right track, yes. You actually read about me quite a lot. But most of the things are completely wrong. You mortals always make things sound far worse than they are. And then you add your own ideas that rarely make any ...«

»Wait, mortals?«

Darcy shot up to a sitting position. Yes! He had given away a valuable part of information. She didn't know if he meant to, but she would take what she could get to figure him out and learn what she wanted.

»So calling me mortal would make you immortal. Mythology?«

Stories she read flooded her mind, but something was standing out. Tricks. Lies. Pranks.

»Norse mythology. You are ... Loki. You shouldn't be real,« she seemed quite shocked, if only for a moment. »But if you really are, I must say you look far better in person than I would imagine.«

»Like I have never heard that one before,« he laughed. »But you are right.«

»Now you have to fulfill your part of the deal. Why did you get involved in my life?«

He liked that about her. She always got what she wanted, she was stubborn and it was almost impossible to make her lose her focus.

»Being 9 years old is not a lot, even for a mortal. And the things you were doing, the way you were thinking and approaching things in your life could hardly go unnoticed by someone like me.«

»Because you are a god of mischief. Makes sense. But why did you help me?«

»I needed a new hobby,« he joked, and Darcy rolled her eyes, but decided to move on to the next question.

»And then I moved and everything was fine. And now you're back. Why?«

He was silent for a moment, trying to find just the right words for her. There was no way she would accept anything but the truth.

»You were blind to what was happening around you. You needed someone to wake you up. I thought you would just give up and move on. Without the drama, without knowing too much.«

Darcy felt the words sinking in into her mind and her heart. She felt conflicted. It was right for her to know what was going on behind her back. But this was ... nice, in a way. For him to have her back.

»But this is my life. You of all people should know that I'm capable of taking care of myself. I'm not a little girl anymore. Hearts get broken every day and I doubt you go freaking out about every single one of them. Anyway ... why am I here? Why didn't you show up before?«

Looking at her with a newfound respect for her. She wasn't only a smart girl who knew how to use her knowledge, but also a responsible young woman. So his voice answered the next question.

»You could only see me if you really wanted to. And you really wanted to strangle me right before you fell asleep, so here we are. You just never wished enough to know before today.«

Darcy breathed in and closed her eyes. This was too much for her. It was just a dream, yet it felt so real. It must be just a way of her subconscious working out her problems, nothing more. But it was leading her away from her problems, not helping her solve them. Instead they were replaced by this illusion that made her life look like everything makes perfect sense. She needed to get out.

»I want to wake up. Get me out of this stupid dream, now.«

Darcy woke up, catching her breath.

The sunset was the same as it was the day before. She was surprised to find herself in the same dream. She never had the same dream twice.

»I see you are back,« said a known voice behind her. He lied on his back, staring at the sky.

»What do you want from me?« she asked, obviously annoyed. After all, it was his fault. Surely things would be different if it wasn't for him and his meddling.

»This is about what you want. It was your choice to come here.«

When she heard those words, she quietly collapsed beside him.

»You made quite a scene today at school. And you really have an exceptional temper.«

She should've known he was going to bring it up. After all, he always had his nose in her business.

»But as you probably wonder, yes, there is very good reason why I am fine with you not pulling out a bag of your best tricks.«

»Just tell me, Loki,« Darcy said, using his name for the first time, not counting the time she had to guess it. It felt strange, awkward and relaxing at the same time. It released some of the tension.

»One of my many names has something to do with having a way with words.«

»Silvertongue, I know.«

»Exactly. And today it was your choice of words that made the show. I did not expect you to tell the whole school about what he did, though. Now everyone knows that he is an egoistic bastard with a moon-sized ego. I think they are really starting to hate him. Poor guy,« he joked, and Darcy dared to smile at his last, sarcastic comment.

From that point on, they stayed quiet, just staring up, watching the stars. Darcy had no idea how she is supposed to feel. She was so confused she could barely tell the sky from the sea, wondering which one shows the reflection of the other. It was all a blur of thoughts and emotions and memories, hard to tell one from another. But maybe it was supposed to be like that. After all, it was probably just a dream and nothing more. A weird dream, but it gave her answers to her questions and put her at ease when it came to the subject of her past and the relationship that has just ended.

It wasn't much, but it was something.

The morning came and Darcy had to get up, no matter how every part of her body told her it would be much more comfortable to stay in bed for the day. Her dream was still fresh in her mind, occupying every empty spot of her brain. Again, the dream felt so real. She could still smell the ocean and feel the wind in her hair. It drove her crazy, as she found herself wondering if she would go back when she went to sleep again. She knew she would get the answer soon, but first, she had to survive another day of the nightmare that was high school.

She didn't know if it was proper for her to be happy. She was back. Same place, same time, the same sunset and the same company changed.

»You are making this a routine, my lady.«

She shot him a glare, before crossing her arms on her chest.

»Call me your lady once again, and you will not live to see another day.«

He laughed. She should've known better than to threaten a god.

»When will you let it go and just face the truth that I really exist?«

»Shut it, Trickster.«

As she said that, he stood up.

»I think you should be nice to me, dear Darcy. You never know what I could do if you ...«

He found himself unable to continue, as she put her hand over his mouth. She took him by surprise and decided to make the best of the situation.

»I have no reason to be nice to you. You are doing no good in my life. Messing with me, making me look like an even bigger freak than I am. Just stop it. I don't want any more of this, I want this to end, and I want it to end NOW. Understood?«

She had her temper under control to make her sound ice cold, but dangerously flammable. It was the most dangerous combination you could get from her. It could go two different ways – she could ignore you and forget about it, or explode.

He grabbed her wrist and moved her hand from his mouth, his hold of her tight.

»And who are you to judge?«

Standing straight, looking down at her, he was intimidating. But she was never the one to back down, so she bravely continued to stare into his green eyes.

»I am Darcy Lewis, a mortal girl who will kick your ass to the end of the universe, if this is the way of getting some damn privacy and freedom in my life.«

»Well, I am a god,« he hissed at her.

»Not a very good one,« she spat thorough her teeth and pulled her wrist out of his grip, but letting the staring contest continue. »And if I have a bruise on my wrist tomorrow, I'll come back and kill you.«

With that, she was gone and in the next moment awake in her bed.

Weeks of dreamless sleep had passed. Darcy was happy about that at first, but later it made her think. It was nothing specific, she just thought a lot about ... him. The general stuff, that is. Was he messing with anyone else? What was his family like? Which myths were true? What was he doing when he wasn't haunting her?

Reminding herself that it was just a dream didn't work anymore. And as she fell asleep the night after her last day of exams, she found herself in a familiar environment she didn't think she would return to.

She stumbled, as her bare feet touched the sand. Coming back here was not something she had expected.

»Welcome back, Darcy.«

She looked at Loki as he was approaching her, her words stuck somewhere in her throat.

»Hi,« she mumbled.

»So ... why are we here again?« he asked her.

Darcy's head shot up in surprise.

»Isn't it you who is making this happen all over again and again?«

»We went through this already,« he reminded her. »It always works the same way it did the first time. If you wish enough to see me, you will find me.«

Darcy breathed in as deeply as she could, taking in the sight of the sunset.

»Well ... damn.«

Now she was fine with it. She would live her life, avoid stupid jerks that could break her heart and every night, when she would go to sleep, she would find him invading her dreams. The location was always the same, just like the time and the weather. Nothing changed, only them. Sure, they still had a lot of those mean little fights, but slowly they grew quite fond of each other. She wouldn't admit it, but she liked his company. The worse that could happen was him lying to her, or pulling a prank.

It was obvious that he puts just as much trust in her as she does in him. They let themselves get into those complicated, deep debates on thousands of different subjects, and when time for them to part would come too soon, Darcy would hardly wait to sink back into the covers of her bed, hoping sleep would take her away to the sea and the stars.

It would go on and on, for years. She wouldn't see him every day, but there was never more than a day between their encounters. Darcy graduated, moved to college and got her first job, and he was there to see it all, to annoy her about every new friend she made and every boy she dated. He was like an annoying older brother.

Darcy also told him a lot about Jane Foster and Erik Selvig, the two people she was now the closest to. They worked together, and she enjoyed the time she spent with them. Jane was like a sister to her, she trusted her with her very soul. But she never told her about the world she enters in her dreams.

As she grew more and more comfortable in her own skin, she saw a shadow appear over Loki. At first it was just a bad day every now and then, when he would be quiet and he would seem to be lost in his thoughts. She confronted him about it once, but he laughed her accusations off like it was just a false observation. So she never mentioned it again, knowing nothing good would come out of it. And he would tell her if he wanted her to know, anyway. It was not like she could make him tell her.

Things didn't get any better, though. Yes, he would still joke with her and act like the whole world turned around him, but he was not the same. There was something he was hoping to hide from her. And it was killing her to see him like that.

And then Thor came. Not in a dream, but for real.

It made her believe more than ever before. But she kept quiet. She felt like she had to. She hadn't said anything to them. Her meetings with Loki were quite rare now anyway, though she would still see him at least twice a week.

Everything turned out to be a huge mess and she pulled through with her mouth shut, no matter how much it was bothering her. She would find a way to deal with it, when the time was right.

She remembered the last time she saw him clearly. Like a hurricane, he pulled her to their usual place.

It was different. She was pretty sure she fainted to get into the dream this time. A sick feeling in her stomach confirmed, that the way she came was rather violent.

»I will not be able to come back, Darcy. There is no way to explain this and I ... I do not want you to look for answers.«

He was dead serious about it. She heard it in his voice.

»What? This doesn't make any sense! Everything's been fine for years. You got tired of me, huh?«

She felt stupid as she said that. She would know if that had been the case. He couldn't lie to her, god of lies or not.

»I wish I had more time.«

She moved towards him and pulled him into a hug, tears forming in her eyes.

»Don't forget me,« she said.

»Only if you promise to remember me.«

And after that, he let go.

Darcy awoke to Jane holding a wet towel on her forehead.

She missed him. But she lived, moved on, keeping the memories, never telling anyone a single word about her secret.

A year has passed, when she heard what was happening in New York. People were talking about it on the streets and as soon as she heard of some kind of a disaster coming down upon their lives, she got this sick, twisting feeling in her stomach. She needed to know what was going on. Good thing there was a thing called the internet.

Darcy ran through the streets, damaged from the battle that happened only a day ago. Her legs were already killing her, she didn't know for how long she'll be able to run, but she pushed the discomfort aside. She needed get to Central Park. In time.

And she did it. She saw them. The Avengers. All of them. And him. It seemed like a goodbye. A goodbye that she was planning to interrupt.

»Wait!« she yelled, before Loki and Thor could disappear back to their own world.

»Darcy? What are you doing here?«

She couldn't answer Thor's question. She only focused on Loki. The steel was keeping his mouth shut, but she saw in his eyes that he recognized her.

»I have a question to ask.«

The Avengers were glancing between the trio, but kept questions to themselves, trying to figure out what was going on.

»Yes?«

»Not you, Thor.«

The moment of shock took over the group. A mortal seemed to know the one who tried to enslave them all. It couldn't get any stranger, could it?

»Was it all real?« she asked, staring at Loki. He knew very well what she was talking about. He knew too well. So he nodded.

»Good. At least now I know I'm not insane. Which I can't say for you. I mean, what in the world were you thinking? You know what, I don't want to know. It seems that I always miss on the important stuff with you. I mean, you disappear in this dramatic way and a year later you are here, destroying MY home. This is the planet I live on, remember? Damn, pissing off the Avengers is the least of your worries right now. Remember the girl with the temper? She still has it! And I can't believe I came here. I'm going to be in so much trouble with those guys over there I can't even imagine.«

He was avoiding her eyes, while she was talking. Her words were fast and filled with her emotions. Anger, worry, sadness, a pinch of happiness ...

Turning on her heel, she walked to the Avengers.

»You were right when you said you are going to be in trouble. Big trouble,« said Tony Stark, more known as Iron Man. But he seemed amused by her performance. She knew how to make a impression.

»Yes, I know. And I'm willing to cooperate and answer your questions. I have a room at this hotel,« she handed him a piece of paper with information written on it. »You can find me there. But right now ... I feel like falling in a coma. I've been awake for more than two days straight ... I need my sleep, to get at least some of my thoughts put together.«

With her last, meaningful glance at Loki she walked away, knowing she will get her answers and maybe, just maybe, everything will be right with the world again.

AN: Thank you for your time ... could you take some more and leave me a review? ;)