Title: All Thanks To A Frost Beast

Fandom: Marvel MCU

Disclaimer: I owns nothing because Stan Lee is GOD!

Chapters: 2/15

Ship: Darcy Lewis/Loki

Rating: T for some swearing

Summary: "So it was about a week after the whole 'Evil Elrond trying to destroy all the things' incident. We had yet to pack up and head back to good ole US of A. Jane was busy shacking up with Thor, they were having some serious Hammer Time. Hell even I was blushing, yeah… a lot like how you are right now!"

It had all happened so quick that Darcy had had no time to really react, and she was utterly flabberghasted by the entire thing. She had thought it was just going to be another regular day. Though the fact really was that her life hadn't been normal since the incident in New Mexico, and there was no way in hell she'd ever change that. Sure it came with it's positives and negatives, but it was better than the boring existence Darcy used to have. Nothing like needing a different scenery to make a girl move to another state, then another country.

The morning before she had had a serious fight with Ian, and that was the end of it. There was only so long that she could put up with the puppy dog personality. Too much sweetness made Darcy feel utterly nauseous. That heroic moment where he'd saved her had been a one time thing. All Ian ever did was ask stupid questions and follow after her like some sort of stray. She needed some adventure and independence. She needed someone that could make her laugh, and feel as if her feet were floating off the ground. Ian didn't do that, and so he found himself out on his ass before he could even compute what was happening.

Darcy had found him to be so disturbingly bland, the realization that the only reason she'd kissed him was due to the adrenaline rush had seriously killed the romance. That was the key point behind her evacuating the apartment that morning. Hearing all the lovey-dovey noises coming from Jane's room had been like a repeating stab to the sensitive part of her heart. She'd had to wave a white flag of surrender and flee the premises for sanity. Which was how Darcy had found herself in the safety of the cafe she'd fallen in love with. Her savior came in the form of a paperback copy of The Portrait of Dorian Gray, a favorite novel she'd had since middle school.

It was a childhood dream to travel the world and go to all sorts of exotic and historic places. Being in England was quite literally a dream come true for her. There was no way in hell that she'd just sit around in the apartment while Jane was having fun acrobatic sex with a Norse god. Ugh… she was only slightly jealous. The slightly was because Thor was more of a big brother figure to her than anything else. Sure he was damn hot, and had an ass that made straight men question their sexuality… but she had seriously friend-zoned the big guy. Now if he had a best friend that was as fabulous maybe she'd consider it.

"A girl is allowed to daydream! So sue me for wanting a guy that isn't a flimsy wet noodle. Besides, how much you wanna bet that Thor has fantastic stamina? Hm? Dude should your face being turning that shade of purple? Probably bad for your health. Where was I… oh right."

So there Darcy was, enjoying the crisp London morning as she sat there with a dark chocolate latte. The patio of the cafe was relatively abandoned, though there were still pedestrians milling about without any real direction. It brought a small bitter smile to her lips, that was something had annoyed him. He'd never understood the idea of not having a purpose behind each deliberate action. The sheer fact that humans could be so fleeting in their desires had been absurdly frustrating to the dork. Course she'd never call him that to his face… no wait, yeah… she actually had.

That had tore a shocked laugh from her lips, and also earned her an irritated look from several passersby. Whatever, they could go fuck themselves. She wasn't in the mood to appease their stupid sensibilities. Darcy just returned their angry looks, and it got the strangers to shove off real quick. Just as her gaze shifted back to her book, there was a very loud sound that caught her attention. Well actually it was so loud it caught everyone's attention, and the sound alone made her think that Godzilla was invading. Which wasn't all that far off of a thought really.

The beast had come crashing onto the main thoroughfare, and sent crowds screaming in all directions. All she could find herself doing, was stare in utter shock. Once that faded her first thought was, 'Shit! We forgot about that'! How the hell could they have forgotten about a creature the width and height of three fucking double deck buses? Oh shit! The thing was charging her way, and all the other patio occupants went scrambling, knocking tables over. Fact was that there was no way in hell they could fucking outrun that thing! She wasn't even going to bother, not when it was more likely to paint one big target on her back.

As Fluffy the monster beast from North Pole came barreling down towards her, sending cars flying into the front windows of businesses. All Darcy thought was how she hoped they had insurance that covered alien damage. It all passed in the quickness of blur, and her brain barely had enough time to fathom all the events around sounds of terror were shrill and the cacophony of noises drowned out even her own thoughts. The creature swatted a car that had been in its way, sending the thing flying in her direction. Darcy screamed, she closed her eyes hoping it'd be quick. Then someone grabbed her from behind around the waist, and… everything went silent.

The scream died into a stifled squeak, and when she managed to scrape the courage to open her eyes… Darcy discovered that she was no longer at the cafe. What the hell? Before she even bothered to turn around and see who it was, a familiar voice tickled her ear. Her emotions surged so dramatically that it took several long moments for Darcy to even begin to fathom how she felt.

"You really do get yourself into terrible situations don't you?" A gasp of surprise tore from her lips as she pushed away to put distance between herself and him. Darcy stared up at the trickster in utter disbelief. What she couldn't understand was the wave of relief at the discovery that he was actually alive. Wait…. Her eyes narrowed and she gave him a light smack to the chest with her book.

"Not cool! Why haven't you told Thor that you're alive! Dude he is pretty sad about you, keeps beating himself up about it." Darcy gave him a look of utter suspicion, "Which better not be the reason you haven't told him." His gaze held steady with her own, though there was an emotion in his eyes that she could not read. Even so, Darcy could already tell what he would say… because it had practically been his catch phrase whenever they discussed anything serious.

"It's complicated." She threw her hands in air out of exasperation, before crossing her arms to ignore the chill that warned of incoming rain. Why was it that whenever she was in a damned warehouse it always had to fucking rain? Darcy was getting really tired of having to explain to the authorities why she was at a restricted area. British cops were way more irritating than American ones, even if they were more polite at times. Still that didn't change anything. Her frustration hadn't simply faded away.

"Yeah, well clearly I have all the time in the world. So why don't you explain it to me." The look he shot her was not exactly the nicest. If it was possible to throttle him for being such a stubborn ass, she would have. Even when in dream world he'd been a tough nut to crack, but Darcy liked to believe that she'd made some progress with him. A sigh of defeat proved that maybe she wasn't so wrong about it after all.

"Our relationship, my brother and I… it has always been- tense at best. He deserves to be happy, and that means not having the burden of the throne." His words were carefully thought out, though there was still a lingering hesitance to confess any of this to her of all people. Hell, she couldn't even believe that of all people to become friends with… she found the God of Tricks. When they'd first met it had been so very awkward. Well… slapping a complete stranger could do that. Course he had laughed after overcoming the stunned shock.

"Yes I know it was stupid! But I was pissed off! Jane and I had heard rumors that he'd killed you Agent C. Even with our differences, I will say that you're a good guy. I'm not okay with anyone hurting people I care about."

"Oh stop you're going to make me blush!"

Darcy watched him with curious eyes, and could sense Lokis unease even with his cocky stance. Every so often those green gems would glance at any of the windows or doors… almost as if anticipating an interruption. Or maybe fearing one? She didn't let that train of thought to continue, instead shaking her head which attracted his attention once more. The royal family seriously needed to sit down and have a deep therapy session. Oh, that reminded her. Almost unconsciously she reached out to gently touch his arm.

"I never got the chance… to say that I'm sorry for what happened to your mother." She knew how it felt to lose someone you loved. Her Grandfather had been the most important person in her life, until he passed from a heart attack when she'd been only nineteen. Even so, Darcy's Gramps had raised her since he'd gotten legally custody from her parents. He'd been her savior from a life that would have been the death of her. So she could understand to a degree, the pain of loss. She added,

"Jane told me that she was a wonderful woman. I wish I could have met her." The last thing she'd anticipated was the small smile that he gave her. There was such heartache held within that one simple gesture and it made Darcy want nothing more than to erase that pain. He'd endured so much, and deserved a break from the torment that was his life. He deserved to have someone show that it was possible to be the purpose behind ones meaning to living. Woah… okay that was way too deep! She'd shut down that train of thought before it left the station.

He didn't have to say a word for her to read the silent thank you that was all over his facial features. Just as quickly as it had been there, the emotion was gone. Shoved behind a wall of cunning and cold planning. Something in her hurt to see those walls return once more. Darcy had thought that they'd gotten past this point… apparently not. He paced as if trying to release the energy that was all built up within him. It made her feel so anxious for some odd reason, something that she did not like.

"You must not tell my brother that you saw me. You must not tell him I am alive." That took her off guard and Darcy was flabberghasted by his request… okay more like a demand. Still. She stared before quickly recovering and rubbing a hand against her temple that was now throbbing with the early signs of a migraine. This was like a bad episode of Doctor Phil, at least no one was pregnant… yet. Ugh.

"That's a hell of a secret to ask me to keep. Is there a particular reason behind it, or this just some vindictive act to punish Thor again?" Oh that struck a nerve alright, maybe something really had changed between those two. Loki took a step towards her, and once upon a time she'd have backed away. But after a year of his attempted intimidation Darcy had learned that not backing down was a great way to earn his respect. He wanted people to back away because it proved some dark belief that he was the monster that he hated.

The atmosphere was dark, and they both stared the other down as if determined to win some silent argument. How long it lasted, she had no idea… but in the end Loki looked away. Holy crap! She'd never actually gotten him to back down! A small part of her did an ecstatic happy dance, the rest was worried beyond belief. Something had to be wrong. Very very wrong. Sure enough his next words confirmed it.

"All I will say… is that I believe that other things may have passed through the portals into this realm. Dark creatures that will cause more harm than good." His voice was serious and cut through any jokes that she would have possibly made. Darcy didn't like the sound of 'Dark Creatures'. Hadn't they just dealt with enough of that shit? Evil Elrond was shut down and the one ring was destroyed metaphorically speaking! Couldn't they get a break just for one damned minute!?

"I can already tell that you are gonna harass me about not contacting SHIELD with this information immediately. And all I can do is ask that you listen to the whole story. Everything makes sense in a very very weird way by the end of it."

"Oh don't give me that look, didn't your mother tell you that an ugly face like that can stick? I'm so very scared, like Agent C would let you lay a hand on me. Right?... C?... Okkaayy, and on that note… back to story time."

Darcy watched him with a worried expression, brows drawn together and nibbling nervously on her lower lip. She was fidgeting with a stray lock of her hair, and a chill in the air caused a shiver to run through her. There was a moment when she thought that Loki was going to warm her up, but all it was was a twitch of his fingers.

"Are we safe? Do I need to worry about evil aliens trying to kidnap Jane again? Or is this more of the butt-probing kind of thing?" The look he gave her was positively disturbed, and it quickly melted into 'not wanting to know'. It almost made Darcy want to giggle, nothing was more fun than freaking him out with modern things. Her amusement passed as his eyes went dark, it almost felt as if he was staring out at something in the distance.

"I do not know. I am learning more but whatever it is, is very illusive. Able to keep just outside my reach. So for now I ask that you be vigilant and cautious, not run into anything head first like you are prone to do." That earned him a small glare, but it hardly had any heat to it. Especially when Loki of all people had just asked that she keep herself safe. It was times like this that she refused to believe that there wasn't such a thing as redemption for wayward souls. He had so much potential for good, all Loki needed was a push in the right direction was all.

"I can't make any promises. But all I try my very hardest… so long as you don't fall off the grid again." He gave her a bewildered look of utter confusement. To which she sighed in exasperation before rewording,

"Let me visit you in my dreams. As weird as it sounds to say it aloud. So you can keep me updated with what's going on. So long as nothing gets too dangerous, I won't say anything to Hammer Time. Deal?" She held out her hand in a gesture of mutual agreement. Loki hesitated and eyed her with a sort of wonder in those Emerald gems. Almost as if he couldn't fathom her very existence. It was an expression that she was rather used to seeing on him. After a long dragged out moment, he let his hand grip hers in a firm yet comforting hold.

"Deal." With that he lifted her hand so that his lips could press against the back of it. Her cheeks turned a bright shade of pink, and she couldn't help but look away in girlish embarrassment. Why did he create such a reaction from her? Had it really been that long since she had actually slept with a guy? Was that it? Wait… there'd been Ian, but he had sucked in bed. So maybe that didn't count. Oh crap, she really hoped that he couldn't read minds or anything like that because that would be utterly mortifying.

She ran a hand through her in a nervous manner, watching him through her lashes. Obviously it wasn't all that subtle, and he found it incredibly amusing. The fact that he was still alive filled her with an overwhelming sensation of joy as well as relief. Though his comment earlier led to some question about who was running Asgard. If Loki was being a ruler again, then where was the shitty-father-of-the-year Odin? Hopefully the trickster didn't do anything stupid, last thing she wanted was to be visiting him only through her dreams again. Wait, what? Before she could even begin to run on that train of thought he chuckled and spoke up yet again.

"I shall see you tonight." With that he gave her an amused smile… one that made Darcy feel extremely suspicious. That look always predicted him causing some sort of trouble. Sure enough the bastard vanished, leaving her standing along in the abandoned warehouse. She cursed in three different languages, and Jane would have been pretty impressed. Speaking of which, Darcy pulled out her phone and dialed the older woman. It took a few rings until the astrophysicist managed to answer.

"Woah, I'm fine Jane. What? Really? No I wasn't there. Decided to take a walk instead. Uh huh. Actually… I got myself pretty lost and I don't know where I am. Think you could pick me up? Aw, thanks you're an absolute pal! See you soon." After hanging up she watched as the tracking device was activated on her phone. It was something that she'd demanded that they all get just to be safe while in another country. She sat down on an old filing cabinet, and rested her head back against the concrete wall. Yet another fine mess she'd gotten herself into… fucking shit. She didn't even know how to begin dealing with crap of this extreme proportion…. Not. .