Author's Note: This will be broken into three parts. This does have some humor but this is a lot more serious than How Darcy Saved the World.

A New Day Has Come:

By

Estelle Stafford

Summary: Loki met his soul-mate when he was a lonely child and she was declared 'his' pet and he demanded to keep her forever. And for awhile… he was not alone but then… she disappeared.

Soul-mates— it was a fanciful idea created by mortals, a pretty little dream. Not something that was ever supposed to be real, and was something that one who was like a God should see himself above. Loki perhaps would have thought such a thing had he not met 'her.' And now he would do anything to find her again, anything…even looking at the forbidden runes of krftruner(1).

Part I:

Meeting

When Loki was barely past the age of a toddler his mother would sing to him and his brother the songs of days of old, and one night his mother sung of love:

Oh how the war wages on,

Many great warriors fall in glory,

My dear,

But may you remain steady,

My love,

And when the mighty hammer's strike,

May all the will of my heart protect you,

Like a mighty shield,

Made out of the finest metal,

So you will remain as the part,

That makes whole,

And here as I long for thee,

And I will stay steady and strong as the Horses of Asgard,

In my faith in you,

So come back my love,

So we can we lay our vow,

Upon Yggdrasill for all the nine realms to know.

Thor looked up, "Mother, was that a battle hymn?"

"No it wasn't," Loki stated that he knew for sure, but he was not sure what it was, "What was it mother?"

Her smile was wide, "That was a song of lovers, soul-mates."

Thor whined, "Mother, I don't want to hear that silly stuff." She let out a delightful chuckle. Thor was always so open with his words. She watched as the way her younger son's head tilted in a contemplative manner.

"Oh, but my darlings love is such a wonderful thing. It can heal broken hearts, win wars," She leaned close to Thor and tickled him causing him to let out his joy in a giggle.

"Mo-ha-ther, stop it," She did as he had demanded and gazed over to the green eyes that watched them, "It can…" She came back to sit next to her younger son, Loki was always strange when it came to being touched. When he was a babe she cradled him like any other child but it seemed just as soon as he could talk he was adverse to being held for too long or smothered in kisses. It was not like she was completely unable to do so, as she was his mother he allowed such things, but he always showed an extreme dislike to strangers to touching him in familiar ways. He was always such a sensitive soul. "….change all things in the nine realms, it can find what is lost, but most all it will the most hopeless men in the world feel hope." She gently laid a quick kiss on Loki's head.

He just gazed up at her and simply replied, "Soul-mates do not exist. I never seen them…it sounds so mortal." He was so intelligent and yet there was something very childish in his logic. He often thought ideas that were silly belong to only mortals.

"No, Loki," She replied as she shook her head, "Love is the most immortal thing of all, it lasts beyond all time. Soul-mates, who is to say if they exist or not, that is each to decide on their own."

"Love, ugh," Thor spat out his tongue, it sounded gross to him if it was anything like his parents did-when he saw they eating each others face off. Loki was not sure what to make of such a concept.

"Well my dears," She laid a kiss on each of their foreheads, "perhaps, this is a conversation you will understand a little better when you are older." Frigga, really had meant little, because love was a concept she had never fully learned to comprehend, even less as her boys grew so differently, testing her in ways she never prepared for. She walked away down the halls of gold and the lights went out.

As he watched his mother disappeared Loki heard his brother murmur: "You always say that!" The younger one agreed with his brother, but also hoped his mother was right, because he did not understand it at all, he hated not understanding things. Really, when he was older, he surly would know everything then?

Now when he recalled that particular moment, he wondered if mother knew that life for him was going to be quite difficult.

Different-Loki was never bothered by being different. He knew early on, he was superior to those around him. Yet, he was, he was nothing his father had in mind or his mother could understand. He tried not to let it bother him, but perhaps it was not Loki's superiority but instead his need to appear so, that doomed him to his path.

Loki was at first, much like most children he was lost in naivety, unaware how people stared at him and the whispers. He would understand them years later, and then secretly wished that he still had his childhood ignorance.

"He is such a strange child!"

"He doesn't smile like the other children, it is an odd smile."

"Poor boy, so small..."

"He will never rule…"

The whispers within the kingdom, linger so, but then, they were just such small specks of words that popped up everywhere, nobody knew exactly were the rumors came from or where they ended and perhaps they did not end.

So Loki was unaware of the way people saw him, despite the eyes that lingered on him when he and his brother went through the villages of Asgard. Then one day his brother and him, wandered away from father which would happen more and more as they got older.

Thor ran into a village boy and began to play with him, running around the square pretending to be great warriors of old. Loki had the clever idea of hiding near in the alley so he could catch one of the boys. When a large boy with thick curly hair passed by him, the trickster jumped on his back with glee, "Look brother, I had caught him." The curly-haired child threw him off his back with great force causing the lithe boy to hit the ground and bit back his emotions. Warriors do not cry, father had told him several times.

"You can't do that!" The boy shouted.

"Why not?" Wide-green eyes looked up.

"Wow, look at him!" One of the others pointed out, "He so small, no wonder why he cheated." It was one of the hundred but earliest times he could remember his brother's eyes looked at him like that-the shameful disappointment of having him as a brother-as he pulled him up.

"You can not fight like that," Thor stated, "That is not the warrior's way, attacking from behind is dishonorable."

"Why?" Loki inquired with curious greens.

"Because," said another child.

"That is the way of Asgard," Thor said with confidence.

"Why is it that the way of Asgard?"

"Your brother is really stupid!" one of the boys laughed at him.

"My brother is not stupid!" Thor shouted and pushed the boy down, and yes he did it facing the other forward.

Father been displeased to see Thor give so easily into his anger but pleased he had defended his younger brother so. Father had also explained to Loki why it was considered the honorable thing to fight facing your opponents. Even years later, Loki believed his father had as much clue as the other children for all his nonsense about the ways of the warrior, Odin himself had never been above such tactics, but one supposed it was different when you were king instead of a solider following orders.

It was moments like this that Loki recalled when he realized he was different. He was a master of the mind, and to Asgard strength and beauty—being able to display them—was the most important thing, Loki not having superior physical strength, and not fitting the image of beauty did not fit in.

As Loki grew more and more into his skin, the lines that had separated from others grew until it was like he was worlds apart on his own world.

Arrival-Many might believe that Dagna's arrival was his doom, the thing that drew him to his path. He never once saw her like that, even locked in a cage with just a glass between them was a better fate then being on a golden throne without her. She was the very thing that had saved him, he believed his fate was doomed to be worse, never knowing what it was like not to be alone.

"I can't believe it!" Darcy exclaimed. Jane twitched as she missed her mark with the screwdriver.

"Darcy," She scolded, "This equipment is very sensitive," She saw the coffee in the young girl's hand, "What did I say about coffee near this."

Darcy smiled kind kindheartedly and quickly dashed away with coffee, "Sorry boss lady, and I brought you a cup, too," She pulled it up to show Jane, "And oh, look what I drew on it," The astrophysics, squinted as she saw the image of Jane hearts Thor.

She shook her head, "Stop that, we are not in high school."

"Hard to believe with the way you been prancing around this place!" She said as she sipped her coffee, peering over Jane's shoulder.

"Darcy!" the dark headed girl bounced back.

"Whoa, what!" She had her hand on the taser ready for action.

"Coffee…" She pointed at it, "Machine," Then she indicated the thing that looked like nothing more than a metal cylinder with wires to Darcy. "Do not put together!"

"Sorry, sorry, I just," She almost did it again, but quickly put the coffee back at the other side of the room and slowly stepped back.

"I'm walking away," She declared and the older woman shook her head with a grin. "Stay! Stay!" She ordered to the foam cup and Jane laughed.

"What would I do without you?"

"I don't know you would be bored!"

"So what had you upset earlier?"

"Upset?" Darcy looked confused, and then she recalled what she wanted to tell Jane. She snapped her fingers, "Oh yeah, that was nothing, sorry…I just got a text from Sam, he blew me off."

"Oh? I'm sorry."

Darcy waved it off, "Don't be he was not that great in bed, couldn't find my special place if I told him and gave him a flashlight."

"Darcy!"

"What! You know it is the truth, so I was going to break it up with him, anyway, but you know it would be nice if I could find someone decent, not nice…nice isn't for me…you know…I just wish I could run over my soul-mate like you did..." the astrophysicist glared at her, "Well…something like that, you know just kind of fall into him."

"Huh," the older woman sighed, and Darcy braced herself for some advice. Jane was not an expert by any meanings, because she just did not understand the political science girl, their brains are wired differently, but she always meant well. "I think I get what you are saying, and scientifically speaking something like that is very rare, but as a 'love sick' fool," She laughed a little, "I believe you will have your day, okay."

"Yeah, yeah, that's great whatever you say, I guess in the meantime I'll have to deal with meaningless sex, Smiroffs, and trying to figure out what exactly you are…what is that." She reached for it, and Jane smacked her hand, "Don't touch it! It is a converter that will allow me to transfer energy to open up the warp hole."

"Oh okay?" Darcy kind of understood that…sort of… "What kind of energy?"

"Electric,"

"Oh, I'm actually understanding this."

"That's because I'm putting it in simpler terms," Jane admitted.

"Why couldn't you just let me stroke my ego? Huh?"

"Humility is good for character and it will look excellent on your reference letter when I say how very humble you are of your own ingenuity and creative."

"That does sound good!"

Jane smiled, "Now, will you give that wrench I got to fix that little bump you made."

"Okay," Darcy handed it to her. Then she sat back and drank her coffee, "So when is Erik going to be back?"

"Oh soon he has to help me with the configurations."

"Uh huh…you know I'm totally useless here right…the only reason I'm here is because S.H.I.E.L.D. needs me to keep quiet."

"Oh you're not useless…you um…"

"Oh it's okay, I'm just bored, but I suppose Coulson will give me some more freaking results to watch, again. I swear he just puts me in front of a screen saver, the screen hardly moves."

"Darcy," Coulson called. "I need you to…"

"Monitor for anomalies…" She hung her head low, "got to go, darn it." Jane gave her a sympathetic smile.

It was not that Darcy did not appreciate her job, it was nice. They paid decently enough, well for her anyway…she imagined for Jane and the superhero clan they could use a little more compensation than 15 dollars an hour and housing vouchers, and a few free meals. She imagined Tony Stark probably did not even bother to cash his check, just toss it away. It was chump change to him.

Anyway, it was just she felt utterly useless and bored, and bored was not her thing. She hated it. And bored for her, usual got Darcy into trouble, because she was prone to play a prank or two, like shaving cream in a chair, or glue on a desk. Sometimes she got more creative, one time she took Fury's eye-patch and put some ink that left a blue mark. Really, Nick had been utterly pissed but it was worth the week of deduction in pay, and having to write an apology letter and read it out loud.

Now however, Fury told her if she pulled anymore pranks she would end in a hole somewhere, where she could cause no more trouble, so she was stuck behaving. She took to reading books and sometimes she would play online games. Fury was not too happy about that, but they all pretend they did not see it, besides a couple of co-workers took to developing the habit as well.

The dullness kept going until Darcy noticed something strange about the screen there was a spike. A freaking spike, she quickly ran into the lab to tell Jane when she noticed something really weird, sparks coming from the place. Well…she never ever thought things through anyway, but normally she would run away, but if, "Jane," she yelled. She opened the door, hoping to find it was some random glowing light or something.

It wasn't…

When she awoke she found herself surrounded by shimmering golden metal. It was nothing she had seen, "You, what are you doing here?" It was a guy in some metal gladiator like getup, and judging by the fury on his face, Darcy was not ready to find out what he wanted. She ran as fast as she could accidentally running over to innocent kids.

"Oh Geez, I'm sorry," She pulled herself off of a rather large, but young looking blonde boy, "I'm kind of lost here. My friend was playing with one of her machines and..."

"You are mortal," a tiny but known it all voice spoke. She looked over to see a small boy dressed in green and gold. He was the most adorable thing, and Darcy never understood the necessary of pinches cheeks until now. She refrained however because the kid…seriously looked at her like when Jane was just about to pounce on her for messing up her equipment. In that case, it was not cute, it was fucking scary shit.

"Yeah," She replied, but annoyed at herself for acting so silly. The kid was really small, what did she have to fear? She rolled her eyes, "and what are you? A freaking horse?"

"I am Prince of Asgard!" He snarled. So the kid was a brat, suddenly her fingers were not itching to pinch some color into those cute little cheeks, anymore.

"Brother?" The blond boy questioned just as the big hefty guard came barreling toward them. Darcy was sure she had lost him, putting a pink bow on Fury's head had trained her in the evading department.

"Thor," Loki's voice was eerily calm as he watched the warrior grab the woman, "We have an intruder."

"Thor?" Darcy asked and she looked at the large boy again, "No way! Thor of Asgard? Hey!" She pushed against the large hefty guy and tried to squirm away, the guy's gear probably would make a good back scratch-er. Seriously! She was sure she already had a couple of cuts. She could not get away.

"How do you know his name?" Loki stepped in front of his big brother, who quickly grabbed him and put him back behind him. Tiny arms crossed out of annoyance and he huffed. It was absolutely cute, the itch was back.

"Let me go, buster, or I'll taser you!" It was a normal defense, she reached for her trusty gadget, it was always on her person. Her aunt Jewel taught her to always be prepare after all. She pulled it behind her and down the guy went. "I warned you!"

Green eyes watched her tensely and blue ones came back defiant as Thor was ready for a throw-down and it was Thor-but small. She could see it in his eyes, the color of his hair, he was nowhere near to becoming the large sexy guy she remembered, but it was there. She was confused as to how she came to here, but she figured she was somehow in Thor's past, because it was him.

"I can't believe this!" She exclaimed, "It's really you! Thor…well…I guess you wouldn't know who I am…um…you are so adorable." She poked at him. The blonde prince frowned and Loki was completely amused. "This is so freaking cool! Where am I at? Is this really Asgard?" She asked the blond, than the dark-haired prince pouted because this new stranger was obviously fascinated by his brother. Why did everyone like him better?

"What shall we do brother?" Thor inquired as he looked over to the small boy, "She took down one of father's personal guards. Do we throw her to the wolves?"

"What! Why would you do such a crazy thing like that! I'm sorry okay, he just freaked me out."

Loki scrunched his nose, "Those creatures are so disgusting and…" He gazed at her, and watched as she seemed to have only eyes for him, now. Darcy could not help it, out of the two, the boy with black hair was cuter, even though…he was scarier too. She could tell he was actually thinking it through, while Thor was already grabbing her hand and dragging her away. "She is too pretty…I like her…I shall keep her." He grabbed her other hand and stared directly at his brother with defiant, "And you tell father…I shall…well Sif has wanted a new pet, perhaps I shall gift her with a golden frog to match her hair."

"Brother? What are you saying?" Blue eyes were about ready to land on the floor.

"You tell father about my new pet and I shall turn you into a frog!"

"You will not!" Thor dived for his brother and wrapped an arm around him. "You will not be able to!" He began to try to wrestle his brother to the ground. It was just brothers playfully fighting, but Darcy could not help herself. Loki was so small and though, she could tell he was quick on his feet. Thor was twice his size.

"Hey!" Darcy exclaimed and she instinctively grabbed the small hand. She pulled him away from Thor and ran.

"He would not have hurt me," Loki somehow read her distress, "We Asgardians are not as weak as you Migardians and my brother would dare not harm me."

"Well, it freaked me out okay! I don't like it when family fights, we only get one and…" She lowered herself down, "You guys aren't freaky vases, you are irreplaceable." Loki looked at her wide-eyed.

"You do not know the ways of Asgard," He stated as he grabbed her hand again before she had time to respond, "Hurry father will be on his way! Brother never keeps his mouth closed for long, even when he promises to do so. He cannot lie to father like I can."

"Well, that's probably a good thing," Darcy said off-handily, "Hey watch your hands buddy, you are not old enough to touch me there!" She scolded as he pushed on her behind to get her to move.

"You will not move fast enough and it as far as I can reach." She glanced over at the tiny puffy cheeks.

"Oh fine whatever, where are we going?"

"My room," He replied.

"Ah well, you know most guys take a girl to dinner first." She face palmed. Darcy really did not know how to talk to kids.

"I will feed you. Now that you are my pet!"

"I'm not your pet, I'm a human being!"

"And I'm a prince of the most powerful of all nine realms, I have declared you my pet!"

"You can't declare me your pet! I'm a human!" She looked at the pout on his face and gave in, "But I can be your friend."

Loki went to open his mouth as he heard his mother, "Loki, what on the holy tree of Yggdrasillis going on?" Her eyes wide when she saw Darcy.

"Mother, this is a mortal, I wish to keep her!"

"Loki, humans are not pets, and how on Asgard did you get here?" She gazed at Darcy with a warm smile.

"Um I'm not sure…there was a light…"

"Some kind of magic?" Loki suggested.

"Well…no…just uh…an experiment gone wrong or something. I'm not sure how to explain it."

Frigga smiled, "You must be frighten by us, we will go meet with my husband and see about returning you to Midgard."
_*_

Darcy was more than delighted at the idea of going home. When she did she was going to grab a tub chocolate and chug a whole liter of soda, because the intensity and craziness of this situation called for some serious stress relief time, but then she saw the Loki's face, for some reason she felt a little guilty.

She felt like she was on the yellow brick road and briefly wonder where the munchkins were until she saw the large old man on a golden Throne. Then she was practically begging for munchkins, because this guy gave her like 'I could squish you like an insignificant bug' vibe. He was overwhelming powerful and she was sure he was the king.

"What sort of mischief have you caused Loki?" He said in an almost dull tone, as if he was used to this all the time but his voice was still booming.

"Father…" the green-eyed boy seem intimidating, not that she could blame him but this was his father. Why did he look almost...afraid. "I found her wondering the halls and thought she might be…"

"What have I told you about lying Loki," His father sent shivers down him and without thinking he found himself hiding behind Darcy's legs. Frigga was wide-eyed, the affection that her normally shy boy was showing brought joy to her heart.

Darcy wondered if the guy could read minds or he just knew his son so well, because the kid had not even finished speaking when..."Loki said he was going to turn me into a frog!" Thor exclaimed suddenly.

"Weird," Darcy spoke without even thinking, "I never would have pegged Thor for a tat-tell." Frigga was surprised at the woman's curt statement.

"One would think a stranger in a new land would be more careful at what she says." Odin stated firmly.

"You sound like a fortunate cookie."

"Odin, my king," Frigga spoke once more afraid of what might happen to the woman if she continued to speak. Though, secretly she found the comments enjoyable herself, she would hate for someone Loki was already attached to, to end up in the dungeon her first night. "I think the young lady needs to rest for the night , I believe she has suffer much coming here. The children are also shock. I think I shall put them to bed early. " She watched Loki study her and Thor was staring at his father.

"Father, will you send her back," Loki boldly asked, he had to know, he did not want her to go, "Do you not think it unwise to send her back? Are we not to protect the mortals?"

"Do not call me unwise, child,"

"Father, I'm just merely concern that the mortal has not come in normal ways that maybe…she can not be sent without harm."

"I fear that our son may speak the truth. We do not understand all the ways of the mortals, until we are aware the effects." Frigga agreed.

"You can't be serious! I'm going to be stuck here…in this freaking place…I bet you don't even have pizza or coffee or…" Damn those eyes, he was about to cry. "Uh…what am I going to do here? Anyway,"

"Loki is need of a maid," Frigga said simply. "and has seem to taken to her."

"What!? I can't clean and cook for somebody else, I barely know how to work my microwave. Seriously I burn water!"

Frigga laughed, "We have the best cooks in all the nine realms we have no need for you." If the woman was not so nice, Darcy would be insulted, "And you'll be much too busy with my dear little mischievous son too worry about such frivolous things."

"What? What the heck you want me to do then?"

"Watch him, be his companion until we can figure when we can send you back." She was a queen with her words chosen carefully and her smile.

"I'm not a pet!" She glared at Loki as she saw him grinning. Why did she get the feeling the Loki somehow orchestrated this? He was just a child, right? There was no way he could have manipulate all this, was there?

"Lona," Frigga called a woman-dressed in much more simple outfit, a plain white dress-come in, "Please have Gerda ready a room for our guest near the children's quarters."

"Yes ma'am," She bowed politely before she disappeared. Darcy was surprised, she never seen anyone so polite in her life. Then she frowned as she realized that she would be expected to behave in a similar fashion. There was no way she could survive here; she chanced a glance at the king who seemed to hold a permanent frown. Nope, there was no way.

"Do not look so forlorn child. We will send you home soon enough, I promise. You must understand it has been our duty to protect the mortals when they cannot protect themselves. To send one in such potential harm is against our code."

"Oh come on, how do you know that keeping me here will cause…uh," Darcy needed to keep her mouth shut as that permanent frown seem to turn into a glare. "Never mind," She waved a hand, "I didn't say that."

"Rest assured if you are anyway harmful to the nine realms than we will do what we must," Frigga smiled, "but I hardly think one mortal, even with a tongue such as yours will do us harm."

"Don't be so sure," She muttered. Lona returned.

"The room is ready, my lady," She bent down sweetly again.

"Mother," Loki called, "May I show her the way?"

"Yes that would be wise, I'm afraid that I must discuss much with my King," Frigga smiled.

"Why do I get the feeling you planned all this?" Darcy said once they were out of the throne room. Lona kept her opinion to herself but her eyes were a bit wider.

Loki just grinned, "I wish to keep you…forever." Darcy blinked, then again, then she stared at him.

"That's not going to happen," Then his face fell. "Don't do that!"

"I want you to stay! You will stay I demand it so!"

"No, I can't okay, I got a family and…why I am arguing with you…you are what five…and I'm twenty-two. I win!"

"No, you have to, you have to and I am ten," He was on the verge of tears. For the first time, Loki could not comprehend, but he did not feel alone.

"Not fair! You can't use tears!" Loki pouted even more, but a grin was sneaking up as well, "Hey, now you were totally cheating. Chill, chill-lax, kid, no more tears!"

"Chill? What is that?"

"It is a phrase?"

"A phrase? I never heard of such words."

"Well, it is words I speak where I from."

"Do you always say strange things?" He inquired, she could tell immediately he was a very curious child.

"You'll probably figured that out for yourself in a day or two,"

"Oh so you are staying,"

"For awhile," It was not a lie, because she got a feeling it would weeks before Jane brought her back. She wondered how much the world would change? It could be a lot with all the baddies that keep showing up from time to time.

Author's Commentary: I had intense desire to write something like this, and somehow I thought it would be easier then it was. The thing is Loki/Darcy really are a good couple for humor, but writing this is going to be a challenge because it has a lot more serious tone. This explains how Loki turns bad, and guess in the long run will probably be a redemption fic. I don't at this point know how AUCD, Alternate Universe Canon Divergence it is going to be, still working out details of the last part. 1This was something I found on Wikipedia, it was part of this rune that prophecy destruction.