She felt the cold before her other senses kicked in.
Darcy was no longer in the laboratory, but rather standing on an icy ledge. Around her, snow-capped mountains rose to tower in the dark gray sky. She spun in place, heart racing as she heard the sounds of ice moaning under her weight.
"Loki? Loki!" she screamed. Had he sent her to Antarctica? Against her better judgment, she inched toward the edge of the ice shelf to glance down. She gasped and backpedaled a few steps, her head reeling as it processed how high she was. Glancing around, she couldn't see a way down- or even off of the ledge for that matter. The frosty air was biting at her skin, and her bare arms developed goose bumps in a futile attempt to warm her.
"Loki!" She screamed to the sky, not knowing if he could hear her. She should have listened. She shouldn't have lost control.
The sound of falling ice startled her, and she spun to find its source. To the right of the ledge, a massive blue figure was shifting from what had been a perfectly concealed alcove. Darcy shrank back, shivering just as much from the cold as from the figure's blood red eyes. It appeared to be a male, as it was clothed in just a loincloth.
"You speak of Loki," it's voice was a low rumble, like an avalanche.
"What are you?" she whimpered.
It smiled, revealing white teeth that were sharper than a human's, "I am Halgrund, of Jotunheim." His response failed to reassure the shaking girl before him.
"Where…what…what's going on?"
"I could ask you the same thing," he stepped from his perch to the ice ledge Darcy was cowering on.
"I…I'm Darcy. Darcy Lewis. From New Mexico."
"Darcy Darcy Lewis," he tilted his head. "And how have you come to be in Jotunheim?"
"I don't know. I was in a lab. And I sassed this guy named Loki and-"
"So you do know the prince."
"Prince?"
"Prince Loki, of Asgard."
"Prince Loki," she breathed, her eyes darting across the snow in front of her as she processed this new information.
"And he sent you here?" Halgrund took a step forward and Darcy cowered further into the snow. Rather than speak, she merely nodded. "You will be taken to the King," he announced.
"There's no way off of this ledge," she pointed out. Being taken to a kind didn't seem like a good thing at the moment.
Halgrund smirked, grabbed Darcy- he stood at more than twice her height- pulled her into his arms like a small child, and jumped from the ledge. They slid down the side of the mountain, Darcy screaming the whole way, and landed in a pile of packed snow. Halgrund set her down and strode forward, as if he expected her to follow.
I could run away, Darcy thought. But he's a lot bigger than me, and he can probably run faster. Plus I don't even know where I'm going. God…
She fell into stride-half walking, half running- behind the blue giant.
Loki smirked to himself. A few hours in Jotunheim would show her who was in charge. He slid into Darcy's office chair, spinning around a few times before stopping and glancing at her computer. His brow furrowed as his eyes scanned over the foreign device. Midgardians and their technology. He tapped a few keys on her keyboard, and flinched slightly when something popped up on the screen. He leaned forward a few inches and looked at it, reading the words. They didn't make much sense to him, so he leaned back once more, looking to the right to glance over her coffee mug, now cold, and a few file folders. One was labeled 'Bifrost Site', one 'Asgard', and one 'Thor'. He picked up the one designated for his brother and opened it.
Inside was a biography of all that Jane and Darcy knew of the god of thunder, accompanied by the picture Darcy had taken. Loki scoffed in disgust at a few of the 'notations' Darcy had added to the file, such as 'Sex on legs' and 'Abs of dear god YES'. Darcy served as a perfect reminder to why Loki should never lay with a Midgardian woman.
He was about to turn from the first page- a compilation of Thor's statistics, such as height, supposed weight, and the like- to the second when he heard the door open. Surely Jane hadn't returned. Nevertheless, he camouflaged himself and stood, waiting to see who was entering the lab. A few moments later, Erik Selvig strode in. He was carrying a few books and a leather briefcase, shoulders slumped. He had dark circles under his eyes and his movements were lethargic.
"Jane?" he called. No response. Loki momentarily considered taking Jane's form and playing with the older man, but decided he would rather return to Darcy's villa to continue reading.
He teleported to her kitchen, walked through it, and took a seat on the couch, reopening the file.
"Heroic," he read one of the side notes, most likely added by Darcy, "Hardly." He skimmed the second page, which began an account of Thor's arrival. He couldn't help but smile as he read about his older brother being hit not once but twice by a car. Finally some small form of justice. He flipped to the third page to read about Thor's 'peculiar speech and habits', such as smashing cups in diners. Darcy's notes no longer consumed the margins of the file, which Loki was thankful for. Her large, bubbly script gave him a headache.
His head snapped up as he sensed a Frost Giant. He had left a small channel open to monitor Darcy- it simply wouldn't do to have her fall off a mountain and die. And now he could sense her distress and caught flashes of a Frost Giant. It didn't seem to harbor any obvious ill will, so Loki decided to let things play out for a while. If Darcy was indeed in danger, he could simply bring her back.
He watched through her eyes as the giant- Halgrund- led her to the castle. As they walked in, curious red eyes appeared as giants seemed to come straight out of the ice to watch. Halgrund led Darcy past the outer walls, revealing a new sight to the god on Earth. Every time Loki had been to Jotunheim, the furthest he'd ever been in the capital had been the outer walls, and he had never found himself interested enough to try to see more. As Darcy walked through, however, Loki found himself surprised at the architecture. Ice and rock had been carved to form high catwalks and various buildings of differing heights and construction. He could also see the female Frost Giants, who appeared surprisingly less savage than their male counterparts. The women had long, dark hair and swirling markings along their arms, legs and abdomens. While observing the sights, Loki could feel Darcy's heart race. She was undoubtedly frightened.
"My King, Thorland," Halgrund knelt, bowing his head as an exceptionally tall Frost Giant turned to face him. This one, Thorland, wore a simple crown of steel and sapphire, with a pair of rubies resting just above his temples. Thorland glanced from Halgrund to Darcy, surprise evident on his face when he saw the human.
"What is this?"
"I found a Midgardian on the Southern shelf." Thorland crouched to be closer to Darcy's eye level.
"And what do they call you, Midgardian?"
"Uh…Darcy. Darcy Lewis."
"Darcy Darcy Lewis. I am Thorland Laufeyson." Loki's breath hitched and his eyes narrowed.
"Listen, I'm sorry for being here. I didn't mean to be here. I was in my friend Jane's lab back on Earth, and I…I sassed this guy and I think he sent me here as some sort of punishment." Darcy's heart was racing.
"Who sent you?" Thorland tilted his head.
Darcy gulped, glancing from Halgrund to Thorland, "Loki."
The Frost Giant recoiled, as if the name was poison, "Prince Loki, of Asgard?"
"Yeah," Darcy squeaked. Thorland's eyes narrowed.
"And what was his intention of sending you here?"
"I was…I was being 'insolent'." Darcy crossed her arms across her chest, both trying to warm herself and pouting.
Thorland glanced to a Frost Giant female to his right and nodded at Darcy. The woman seemed confused, to which the king sighed lightly, "Humans cannot tolerate our temperatures." She nodded in understanding and walked into a nearby building, returning shortly with a blanket. Darcy accepted it and wrapped it around herself, eyes closing and a small smile spreading across her lips. Loki snarled at the apparent politeness. How could Frost Giants act so accommodating? They were monsters, nothing more.
"Now," Thorland began, "I need you to tell me everything you know of Loki."
"Well first off, he's a jerk. The first time I ever met him, he invaded my apartment and attacked me. Then the second time he showed up at my work and forced me to let him live with me."
"Exactly when did you meet him?"
This wasn't good. Loki could see the scheming glint in Thorland's eyes- he had seen it in his own reflections too many times to mistake it. If Darcy remained Jotunheim, she could ruin everything. With a simple thought, Loki snatched her from Frost Giant city and pulled her back to Midgard.
She now stood before him, still wrapped in the ridiculously large Frost Giant blanket, flakes of snow in her brown curls. When her eyes focused on him, she fell backward.
"How did you do that?"
"I've told you more than once, Darcy-"
"How many times-"
"-I am a god. And I will certainly not tolerate you attempting to weasel your way out of a punishment."
"Excuse me?"
"Oh you heard me quite clearly."
"You sent me to some godforsaken Iceland, and some strange thing rescued me and you think that's my fault? God you're unbalanced!"
"Keep up the insolence," Loki advanced toward Darcy, "Maybe this time I'll send you to a volcano. That should thaw some sense into you."
Darcy recoiled, biting her tongue. She knew he would deliver on a promise like that. Seeing that she accepted his demands, Loki relaxed.
"Now tell me," he returned to the couch, "Where has Doctor Selvig been all this time?"
AN: Hope you guys liked it! As always, read and review.