"Thor!" she shouted, moving to lunge towards the bodies in the center of the circle. Darcy shot forward, catching her friend's arm and shaking her head. Jane wrenched her arm out of Darcy's grasp, running forward despite the other girl's warnings. Jane repeated his name over and over as she ran to meet him, drawing his attention with a too bright smile. Thor finally looked up once he heard her over the booming claps of thunder his anguish was undoubtedly causing. Jane barreled into him with a force that would've knocked any mortal person flat on their back. Thor caught her effortlessly and held her in his lap as she sobbed into his chest, half his focus on the woman he had missed more than he had missed his father when he thought him dead, the other half trained on the other writhing body beside them. He hushed Jane to the best of his ability, holding her as tight as he dared with his god-like strength in mind.
Darcy approached slowly, carefully, unwilling to break the moment but as her curiosity got the better of her, she couldn't help but move towards the three people.
"Who's that?" she asked blankly, pointing like a child at the curled up and shaking body, efficiently breaking the moment for Thor and Jane. Thor blinked, looking up at the obnoxiously familiar girl towering over their slouched forms.
"Lady Darcy," he greeted politely. Darcy fumbled over her feet to curtsy properly, internally defending herself with the reminder that it was one thirty in the morning. On a Saturday. She had a right to be more clumsy than usual.
"Thor," she replied respectfully. "Now… who's that?" she repeated awkwardly, pointing again.
"I am a god, you insolent mortal, and I will not…" the second man's overly dramatic rant was cut off with a groan of pain as he writhed on the ground again, his allowed moment of reprieve over before it started. Thor winced.
"Jane, Miss Darcy, this is my brother, Loki." He explained, gesturing sheepishly at the obviously in pain god to their right.
"I am not your brother!" Loki disagreed, howling in pain once again. Thor clapped a gentle hand over the dark haired man's mouth, stifling his outbursts in case they were discovered, an event that no one had the ability to deal with at that moment.
"Loki… As in… Loki Loki?" Darcy shrieked, jumping back.
"Yes," Thor confirmed, staring pointedly at the ground. "May we leave? I will explain everything, but my brother requires medical attention."
"No. No, no, no, no. No." Darcy denied furiously, shaking her head to punctuate each word.
"Darcy," Jane chided, leaning away from Thor's chest. "Even if he wanted to try enslaving the world and everyone in it again, he's practically dying in the dirt. I'm not his biggest fan either but…" Jane argued calmly.
"I refuse to be discussed about as though I am not present." Loki choked angrily. His oncoming threat fell flat when he flinched, collapsing backwards again with a muffled cry.
"Silence." Thor barked, glaring angrily. Jane reached up and rested her hand against Thor's cheek, staring him dead in the eye with a calm expression. Thor's tensed muscles relaxed under her gaze as he moved his hand to pull hers away.
"Loki can come back with us." Jane allowed. Darcy's head whipped around to glare at Jane.
"No. No he cannot. My house too. And I say no." She shrieked. One of Loki's hands came up shakily to cover his ear and he glared painfully at the girl with the ear piercing volume.
"I am sorry to have to go against your wishes, Lady Darcy, but I must get my brother somewhere safe. I will explain." He boomed apologetically as he picked Jane and himself up off the floor. Jane clung to his hand until he slid out of her grasp, reaching down for his brother.
"Do not touch me!" he shouted weakly, shrinking away from the blonde god's outstretched hand.
"Loki…" Thor sighed exhaustedly. Darcy groaned, stomping closer to the two gods.
"Look, just a suggestion but I think you should put up and shut up. Because from what I see, he saved you." She grumbled, narrowing her eyes menacingly.
"I listen to no mortal!" he replied angrily.
"And I chose today of all days to forget my taser." She pouted, turning away from the stubborn man. Loki's head fell back and his teeth gritted in pain, cutting off his biting reply to the irritating human girl.
"Do what you must." He allowed, squeezing his emerald green eyes closed. Thor slipped one abnormally muscled arm under Loki's knees and the other behind his back. The black haired god's eyes flashed open in a mixture of embarrassment, anger, and pain that had flared to an unbearable point at Thor's touch. But he stood his ground and kept silent, if only to retain whatever pride he had managed to hold onto.
Thor paused in front of the back of the van his face had become so acquainted with, staring expectantly at the girls.
"Oh. Oh!" Jane realized, lurching forward to pull open the back door. Thor gently laid Loki down on the floor of the van, wincing when the pain in his brother's eyes skyrocketed.
"For the love of-" he cried, throwing his head back in gut wrenching pain. The hidden plea for reprieve in his tone caused shivers to run through Jane and Darcy. Thor's countenance darkened as he reached around Jane to slam the back door shut, waving Jane around to the driver's seat.
Jane scrambled into the seat, turning the keys in the ignition. Darcy flung open the passenger seat but was immediately stopped with a glare from Jane. The glare intensified until Darcy backed away, making room for the god of thunder to steal her seat.
"Replaced." She coughed under her breath, tossing a heated stare over her shoulder. "So I have to sit with Liar-Liar-Green-and-Gold-cape-on-fire back there?" she whined, jerking her thumb over her shoulder.
"Darcy." Jane sighed in exasperation.
"Ok, ok." Darcy huffed in compliance.
Throughout the ten minute ride, which could arguably be considered the longest ten minutes of Darcy's life, she had attempted to join Jane and Thor's conversation multiple times by scooting up in her seat and poking her head between the two. One look from Jane sent Darcy slinking back into her corner beside the writhing god.
The silence that had fallen over the car was only punctured by the soft murmurs of the two forbidden lovebirds in the front, and the agonized god in the back. Each time Jane drove over something that caused the car to lurch, Loki's cries became more and more audible.
"The skills with which you steer this vehicle are absolutely appalling, you incompetent mortal." Loki panted contemptuously. Darcy rolled her eyes and Jane's grip on the steering wheel tightened.
"Loki." Thor warned loudly. Loki hissed through his gritted teeth, sounding like something akin to a snake.
"We're here." Jane interrupted. This time it was Darcy who flew out of the car without hesitation. "Get him inside." She murmured, biting her lip as she stared at her completely exhausted looking boyfriend. Thor nodded once, his outgrown blonde hair spilling down in front of his face as he climbed out of the car.
"Try to keep your cries to a minimum volume, brother; I will be as gentle as I can." Thor sighed tiredly. Loki's eyes flashed.
"I received beatings at the hand of Calder! I was tortured by Haldane under the orders of my own father! I fell from the Bifrost and you believe-!" he ranted angrily, breathing heavily with the increasing weight weighing down on his chest.
"I remember, Loki! How could you think I would not? Can you conjure up any other intention for my betraying father?" Thor spat angrily, glaring menacingly at his brother. Loki remained silent. "Brace yourself." The blonde muttered warningly as he slid Loki out of the van. Loki bit his tongue in a desperate attempt to keep quiet as every movement pulled at every broken bone, every abused limb and ligament. But as Thor suddenly stumbled under the suddenly dead weight of his brother, dropping Loki to the ground, the dark haired god collapsed into a shaking ball of tormented agony. Darcy and Jane shot forward, Jane to Thor and Darcy to the reluctantly weeping liar.
Jane crouched below Thor's doubled form, shadowed by his wide heaving chest. Her hands locked around his neck and her thumbs caressed his cheeks, compelling him to meet her gaze. His apologetic eyes followed his own hand as he brought it to his right shoulder. Jane moved to replace his pressure with hers, only to jerk her hand away, covered in blood. She gasped, standing to help him into an upright position.
Darcy had lowered to her knees, wary of the damage the red dirt would do to her new white sweatpants. Her hands hovered uselessly over Loki's body as he groaned weakly, unsure of what she should or could do.
"Don't touch me." He growled, turning his head away from Darcy to hide what she had already seen; beautiful green eyes, watering in response to the peaking pain.
"You should probably put some pressure on that…" she nodded towards the deep gash in his shoulder. "Wouldn't want you bleeding out." She muttered uselessly.
"I cannot die, you petulant child." He snarled.
"Jeez dude. Take a chill." She chastised, raising her hands in surrender.
"I am not familiar with that phrase." He wheezed, realizing that the annoying girl was proving as a sufficient distraction.
"It means calm down." She explained.
"Darcy!" she heard Jane shout in panic. The bespectacled girl's head whipped around to find her friend leading curled over Thor to the house. "Take care of Loki." The request was more a warning order, a dare for Darcy to disobey than anything else. Loki scowled. Darcy reached for the god of lies with an exasperated sigh.
He caught her hand in a bone crushing grip, breathing labored again since he had shifted his position.
"Not yet." He nearly begged, staring up at her with moon lit jade eyes. Darcy hesitated until she saw the fear lurking behind his façade. He was tired and afraid of the excruciating pain and Darcy couldn't help the sympathy that filled her as she nodded. He closed his eyes and let his raised arm fall weakly, screeching in pain when it landed on his broken ribcage. His cries echoed softly in his throat even after Darcy had gripped his wrist gently from where he was still clasping her hand, and moved it off of his chest.
"Hey," she murmured. "Hey, it's ok." She didn't allow herself to consider how he would react to being comforted by a mortal. Didn't allow herself to wonder why she was comforting a murderer in the first place. Didn't really even think as she reached out to brush his jet black bangs out of his eyes. But she didn't regret it as he quieted, eyes closing. The only indication of his discomfort now being his heavy breathing. She wondered briefly how his skin could be so warm to the touch despite his frozen blood but ignored it in the end, settling back in the dirt with her hand tracking through the god's hair, a singled question repeating itself in her head.
Why was she doing this?
THANK YOU SO MUCH TO THOSE WHO REVIEWED THE LAST CHAPTER. YOU GUYS ARE AWESOME. SO OBVIOUSLY I DECIDED TO CONTINUE. AND I WILL AS LONG AS Y'ALL ARE STILL INTERESTED.
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