Darcy groaned as she woke, her back and neck stiff. She was on a couch and covered by a blanket that felt like it was made out of embroidered silk. "What the fuck happened to me?" She mumbled. She flinched back as she saw Loki standing over her.

"Ms Lewis, as your own people showed no concern for your safety I decided to take you with me, though that was decidedly not the plan. Now, we need to have a chat, if you don't mind."

"Darcy."

"Beg your pardon?"

"My name's Darcy." She groaned as she sat up and looked around. "Where are we?" She had no idea why he was being so polite but she thought she'd take what she could get. He was right, Fury had thrown her to the shark, and she was stuck with him now.

"We are at Anthony Stark's austentacious abode. In the city of New York."

She snorted, "That explains the Star Trek bar." She rose, thinking of hunting down some brandy or whatever Tony stocked but fell back, woozy. "What the fuck happened to me?" she asked again.

"You fractured your hand in a few places when you hit me. I healed them but my magic will have a small effect on you, the Midgaardian body isn't as robust as that of my people, but that feeling should leave you soon."

She gaped, opening and closing her fist carefully. "Sure. Magic. Well fuck me." The stain had changed to a distinctive snowflake-like mark, one that matched the purple one on his jaw line.

He chuckled darkly, his eyes drifting softly over her rumpled form, still mostly covered by the blanket. "Oh, I wish we had time, but alas."

She laughed at that, "Gotta at buy me a drink at the very least before you get anything out of me buddy." He strolled over to Tony's bar, strangely not looking out of place in his Space Prince clothes.

"What would you like to drink?"

She smiled slyly. "I bet he has some really old scotch up there."

He paused for a moment before reaching for a bottle. "He does, right here." He pulled the decanter from the shelf and unstopped it, sniffing the contents before pouring them both a generous amount. He flashed back to the couch and offered her one, sitting next to her comfortably, his legs spread wide. Darcy finally realised all of the stories about soul mates were true. He was a bonafide villain, and yet she totally felt calmer when he was close. A fact she resented, right at that moment. She took a sip of the scotch and groaned. Loki shifted in his seat. "Lady Darcy," She looked at him. He swallowed and continued. "I need you to know that I am about to do some pretty terrible things, and then lose a battle," His eyes grew distant as he looked over his shoulder to the massive windows. "And then I suppose I'll either get killed or arrested." He sighed.

She raised an eyebrow. "Your plan is to lose? Wait, you went on the helecarrier on purpose, didn't you?"

He nodded. "Precisely."

"I thought your idea was a stupid one. Who attacks New York? Totally impractical." His eyes glittered with mirth, his smile crooked but behind that he looked tired.

"Theatre, my darling. Believe me, the last thing I wish for is a throne." His thumb grazed the sleeve of her cardigan slowly, his brows pulled together. "Especially now." He pulled his hand away and instead straightened his jacket and pushed his hair back. "Alas, the Norns saw fit to give me a terrible task, and I must ensure it is completed.

"The fuck are the Norns?"

He huffed a laugh at her language. "You are delightful." He said sort of regretfully, and then took a breath. "The Norns, I believe you call them the Fates. They are immense beings of incredible power. They control the turn of events in the nine realms. some people refer to it as a tapestry, with so many threads, others see it as a tree. Some of us, myself foremost it seems, they meddle with more than others. I was taken, you see. When I fell from the bifrost. I fell – it felt like forever, through the void. Nothingness. I felt as if I was being unmade. Instead of letting me die, The Norns caught me in their vast hands and informed me in no uncertain terms that I would be taken, and that it was up to me to prevent the destruction of worlds." He swallowed some scotch, wincing before continuing. "They threw me in Gods know what direction and once more I was moving through the void. To their word, I was found by the most feared creature in all the tales on Asgard. I myself am a beast, but he is ... He courts death herself." He shuddered and Darcy found herself placing a hand on his forearm. He stared at it, not seeming to see as he continued his hastily told tale. "Thanos wanted information, about Asgard and the other realms. But first he had to break me. The torture was..." Another shudder and he knocked back his drink, summoning the decanter to his large hand and refilling both their glasses.

She bit her lip before contributing softly "My stain- it flickered. I think you were falling for a month. It flickered in and out, and then after a month it started to hurt."

His head snapped up and he took her hand in his, kissing the mark ever so softly. "I'm so sorry."

She shrugged, nibbling on her lip and trying not to think about how right it felt when he touched her, like the pieces of her heart started to move together and heal. She left her hand in his and carried on. "Sometimes I would have nightmares about what was happening to you."

Loki closed his eyes and drew her hand to his mouth again, kissing her palm twice. "Darcy I'm -."

"Come on, Loki, you were getting tortured, you don't need to apologise to me."

He looked at her wryly. "I am a lot less frail than you, pet." He sighed. "Thanos wanted the tesseract, a gem of great power. With it he would be granted access to the nine realms and obliterate all life. This cannot happen. But I have to be seen to lose, I must be punished and put in prison out of his reach or far a worse fate than any my fa- Odin could hand out will be delivered to me. They will make me dream of something as sweet as pain." His alien eyes must have seen something in the distance because he dropped her hand.

"Can't you tell them? Loki you were tortured! You don't need to do this!"

"Darling, Darcy, Listen. Thanos will find a way to come here if I don't do this properly. Midgard needs to fight this battle, and rout the enemy. But I have set things up the best way I knew how with the knowledge I had at the time. If there was another way- Stark is coming. Midgard will prevail; I will make sure of it." He rose and leaned over her, taking her face in his giant hands, his eyes drinking her in. "If only I could keep you." He whispered before he kissed her softly. A warmth she had never dreamed of bubbled up from her belly and surrounded her heart as he tilted her face for better access. She opened her mouth and he groaned as she played her tongue against his. Too soon he pulled away, his hands shaking as he released her from his grip. "I'm sorry you were matched with a monster." He said softly as she spied Stark flying in.

Loki backed away from her and his whole persona changed as the owner of the home they were camped out in landed; his famous suit peeling off of him piece by piece. "Please tell me you're going to appeal to my humanity." Loki said softly.

Tony Stark huffed and moved to his bar, looking over at Darcy. Loki stepped between them, blocking his view. "Uh actually I'm planning to threaten you."

Darcy enjoyed a nice, snarky back and forth as the next overly sarcastic millennial, but her stomach dropped as Stark turned it into a dire warning about what was to come. She knew next to nothing about the Hulk but the way everyone treated Dr Banner and the way they spoke of the Hulk made her scared for her soul mate. She still wasn't sure about exactly how good a person he was, but she believed what he said about that dude Thanos. And could she be blamed if she didn't want him to die? She saw him get distracted by the spear not working. Saw him wearing the same expression that Jane got when there was a science! question to solve, and then shake it off because he was supposed to be a villain. She was pretty impressed when he picked Stark up by the neck and bodily threw him across the room, but Screamed when then threw out the window and again whimpered when his suit flew out after him. She shrieked once again when Iron Man reappeared in the window and shot Loki in the chest. His face snapped to the side where she was standing like the clueless civilian she was and yelled 'Run!' as the portal opened up outside.

Thoughts of Jane and how much of a science boner she'd get right now passed though her mind as she felt Loki push her towards the lift. "NOW Darcy. Find shelter."

Distractedly Stark told someone called Jarvis to lead her to the safe room and lights lit up on the floor, leading her away from Loki, who had already turned back to his battle. She knew the tears that ran down her face were out of shock but she exited the room and followed the lights, scrubbing her face. When she reached the safe room she curled up in a ball on the comfortable chair, regretting not wearing sensible clothes after all. "If only I could see what is happening." She said out loud idly.

And jumped a little when a voice spoke out of nowhere. "Ms Lewis I can patch you into what I can." She scolded herself for being so jumpy when shit got real but shook it off.

"That would be amazing...Jarvis?"

"Yes Madame."

"Nice to meet you, and thank you."

"Not a problem Madame." She gave a wet smile at the label and found she didn't mind. The smile dropped as she saw several views of different parts of the city thrown up on the walls. Natasha kicked some serious ass, and Darcy cheered on silently. She raised an eyebrow at a few of the things Cap said but got distracted when she saw Banner turn into the Hulk. She swallowed. So that was what they got so scared about. Damn.

As time passed and she saw more and more civilians in danger she demanded to be let out. "Apologies Ms Lewis I am instructed to keep you safe until all danger has passed."

"It's not right Jarvis I can't just sit here- there are children out there!" She hammered on the door, her pulse racing and anger making her see spots.

"As distressing as the situation is my programming prevents me from letting you out."

She paused. "Can- can I programme you differently?"

"As high as your IQ is Madame this is a safe room that Sir built for his soul mate Ms Potts. It is not hackable or able to be opened in any other way except through a command by Sir or a manual key that Sir has on his person. I am sorry."

"Damn right you'll be sorry when I am the only uninjured person in this whole fucking city!" She said but JARVIS didn't respond. She slid to the ground with her back to the door and watched on the wall as the city was torn to shreds by armoured aliens and their massive flying space whales. True to Cap's prediction the fight was mostly centered around the Avengers and Darcy was thankful, though there was far too much collateral damage and she grew dizzy and nauseous as she watched.

It felt like days when she finally watched Hulk bash her soul mate into the concrete floor of Stark's lounge room, just meters from the site of their first kiss. She tiredly wondered if it would be their last as she watched Loki groan in a fucking crater in the concrete. She knew he was badass but that looked pretty fucking awful. She rose as he surrendered and the door finally opened.

She raced out and jumped her soul mate before anyone could stop her. "You fucking lied! People died Loki! So many people are dead! I had to watch them die!" He caught her hands and pulled her further onto him as she melted into sobs, traumatised by everything she'd just witnessed. "Children. I just watched children die because of the fucking Norns and their stupid fucking plans." She choked into this armour and he stroked her hair with shaky hands and apologising quietly over and over into her ear.

"What is this Loki? The Norns sent you?" Thor rumbled incredulously.

Loki groaned and laid his head back down, breathing carefully with the pain. "Thanos sent me. He would have sent someone worse. I had to do an inside job. Make sure we got the tesseract back to Asgard." He coughed and Darcy reached up and stroked his cheek.

"Are you OK?"

He smiled softly. "Nothing that cannot heal, love."

"What?" Came from the bar. "Are you telling me it was a set up? I just almost died! I just flew a weapon of mass destruction into fucking space for – for a farce?"

Loki sat up, pulling Darcy with him. She snuggled into his chest, looking guiltily at the others. Cap was leaning against the bar looking decidedly not too surprised while the others all seemed to be putting the pieces together pretty quickly. Natasha was looking at Loki calculatingly.

"I was not the one to send this weapon, Anthony- that was your own kind." He turned to Thor and said pointedly, "I told you, they tear one another to shreds. If you are to protect this realm you need to do a better job." Turning back to Tony he gently laid it out. "Imagine your worst nightmares coming true. Your lover killed, your cities laid to waste, taken by the Chitauri and any number of sadists and madmen at Thatnos' disposal. Or maybe one of his daughters? Women he stole from the families he murdered and conditioned to obey his every whim; their bodies mutilated and crafted into unbreakable weapons." He looked at Tony and huffed at the excited look he was getting. "Yes, it is possible but it isn't something you want to play with, trust me. Do not tell Fury of this possibility or I will come back and hurt you." He shuddered. "Thanos wishes to destroy the nine realms. To take every life as a sacrifice to his lover- Lady Death. I fought seventeen different beings for the right to take Midgard by force. That was after what felt like aeons of torture. I had to get here and make the task seem impossible. That weapon you speak of will have worked better than even what I came up with, actually." He kissed Darcy on the temple softly and said. "I am utterly sorry for the lives of innocents that were taken. They will weigh on my soul for the rest of my life, but it would have been far more had I not pulled off this ruse."

Everyone was silent, not knowing how to respond. "This is quite a turnaround, brother." Thor said, clearly not knowing what to think.

Loki sighed. "It is amazing what some time away from home will do for your perspective." He said softly.

Steve smiled at Loki who gave him a wry grin in return. Nat shot Darcy a knowing smile when she said "Tony you got somewhere we can lock our con up?"

Tony sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Yeeeah, they can stay in the spare bedroom tonight. Anyone else hungry? JARVIS what's still open?"

"There is a shwarma establishment one block east of here, Sir. It is your most favoured of that cuisine I believe."

"Excellent. You two-" He pointed right at them with narrowed eyes. "No glove no love." Darcy snorted and pulled a finger at him as everyone but Cap, Loki and Thor laughed. The three of them just looked confused. Darcy sighed and turned in Loki's arms as the others filed out.

"I'm glad you didn't die." She said, feeling slightly shy now that they were alone.

He smiled softly. "As am I." She leaned up to kiss him softly on the lips. She felt his body relax slightly and he pulled her to him to kiss her again, sighing into her mouth. When they separated again he opened his eyes to look at her in puzzlement. "Why do we need to wear gloves?"

Darcy burst out laughing and she leaned into his chest as she let it out. Eventually she calmed down enough to say. "It's a euphemism for one of the forms of contraception we have." She blushed a little as Loki's eyes darkened.

"He assumed I would bed you tonight?"

She kissed his jaw where her mark was he moaned quietly. Pleased, she did it again, then worried the skin a little bit with her teeth. "I don't know if I will ever see you again. Won't you give me one night, lover?"

Loki stared at her for what seemed like forever before pulling her into a fierce kiss. "Darcy. If you want me I am yours."

She shuddered at the sheer pleasure to be found in her lover saying her name. "Jarvis, where is the spare bedroom?"

Loki stood carefully, swearing profusely as he gingerly removed them both from the hole in the floor they had been in this whole time. He then tenderly carried her into the impossibly luxurious room they had been given. It was pretty generous of Tony, she thought as Loki laid her carefully on the bed. "Loki." She tsked and rose. She led him into the massive bathroom and told him to get out if his armour while she hunted for a first aid kit. She found one and filled the brass sink up with warm water, adding a splash of antiseptic fluid. When his torso was bare she traced his sides lightly and leaned up for a kiss which he gladly gave her. Eventually she got him to sit on the bench that was against the wall, stacked with towels. She started on his wounds then, cleaning each one and shushing his protests and declarations of advanced healing and super awesome magical powers. Once done she smiled down at him and he simply waited to see what she wanted next. She pulled her cardigan off and stepped between his knees. Seated like this his face was almost level with her own and she took advantage of this fact by gripping his hair hard and pulling his mouth to her own. Her toes curled at the sounds he made.

memo: next chapter NSFW!