Un-beta'd.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Loki awoke in a glassed-in cell with a start, blinking a few times and trying to remember where he was. Recognition at his surroundings crept at the edge of his mind, willing him to recall, but try as he might he could not bring himself to know this place. He studied his surroundings, and although the lights were dim he could make out a small bed in one corner upon which a figure lay. He peered at the unmoving figure and saw a familiar shock of brown hair against pale skin-

Suddenly Loki remembered everything.

"Darcy," he said, sitting on the edge of the bed and kissing her temple gently. She stirred slightly and he shook her gently, urging her to awaken faster.

"Darcy, you must awaken; we must speak, now," said he.

Her eyes fluttered open and snapped to him. She sat up immediately and threw her arms around him, burying her face into his chest. He returned the embrace and closed his eyes, allowing himself this brief moment of reprieve.

"Did she harm you? Are you comfortable wherever she has you locked up?"

Her brows knit together in confusion. "At least I know I'm free," she responded.

"Free?" he asked. "You're free?"

"I travel the world and the seven seas, Loki."

His eyes grew wide with panic. "You're traveling? Do not tell me that Thor took you with him on a journey to find me. Darcy, you cannot do that! You must stay at the castle, where it is safe!"

Darcy watched, confused, as Loki spoke gibberish and looked panicked. He registered her confusion and took a deep breath, attempting to calm himself.

"I know you don't understand anything I'm saying, but I need you to look," he said, and he pointed to his eyes and then waved a hand at the rest of the room. She followed his hands and took in their surroundings, squinting her eyes in an attempt to see through the dimness. She stood and walked in a circle around the small cell, peering out of the glass into the a stone, circular room. A small window across the room showed nothing but star-lit sky.

"The highest room in the tallest tower," whispered Darcy.

"Exactly," said Loki, "I also believe I'm being held prisoner in a tower of some kind. Tell my idiot brother where I am and have Sif take you back to the palace."

Darcy let out an exasperated sigh and Loki saw her suddenly freeze and look at something behind him. One of the stars that shone through the window was growing brighter with each passing second and Loki knew that their time together was coming to a close as the brightness increased.

"I love you, Darcy," said Loki, knowing that spending time begging her not to come rescue him would be futile. They embraced one another and each could not their eyes off of the previously pinprick-sized speck of light as it grew larger.

x

X

x

Loki awoke in his glassed-in cell with a start, the silence of the night laying over him like a thick, woolen blanket. He swallowed harshly, his throat parched, while he sat up on the uncomfortably small bed. A weak, faint light filtered into the room from a tiny window and a glint of brightness at a corner of his cell caught his eye – on the ground was a plate of food and a tall glass of water. Loki leapt from the bed and barely had the presence of mind to inspect it, but he did, briefly, before gulping down the liquid greedily. He did not touch any of the food, but sat back against the frame of the bed and got his first truly detailed, undisturbed view of the room that contained the cells. It was circular and stone from top to bottom with a table and a couple of chairs across the room from his cell, almost like it was supposed to be a reading room that was clumsily converted to hold two glass prison cells. Not much to work with. Loki sighed and did his best to peer around his cage, inspecting in particular the wall of the cell where the food and water had been sitting. There was a sliver of faded brightness where the walls met one another and Loki ran a fingernail down it – sure enough there was a door. He was not able to open it, but it was something to file away in the back of his mind.

He patted himself – his daggers and vial of poison were gone. He stood and paced the cell briefly before sitting back on his bed, attempting to play with his magic when he heard the sound of rattling at a trapdoor in the floor of the round room. The other cell in the room that had previously contained Thanos blocked his view of the trapdoor so he had been able to tell where the entrance to the room was until just now. He waited for one of his captors to present themselves and was unsurprised when Amora rounded the corner to face him.

"Feeling better?" she asked him in a sing-song voice.

"Much. You've certainly increased your knowledge of poisons, Enchantress. I commend you," said Loki as he studied his captor.

"I have had much time to study the magic arts and the not-so-magical ones as well," she replied while she peered back at him through heavy lashes.

"It was tragic, Amora, what happened to Lorelei-"

"I do not wish to speak of how I lost her, Loki," Amora bit out as a brief, furious rage danced across her face. She took a calming breath and steadied herself, slipping an easy smile back onto her face as she had done so many times before.

"Oh no?" asked Loki. "Then what do you want to speak of Amora? It's clear that I have all day to hear it."

She looked at him silently for a moment and a bright flash of- he did not know what- excitement? Insanity? Flashed in her eyes.

"I wish to speak of how we can bring her back."

x

X

x
"He's in a tower somewhere," she explained as Thor, Sif, and the warriors-three listened. The band was eating breakfast the next morning and Darcy was excited to finally be able to share a dream with them.

"Were you able to see anything outside? Trees, oceans?" asked Thor. He popped a cherry-like fruit that Volstagg had foraged that morning into his mouth.

"No, we were locked in a cell," she said, "like a jail cell. Except it had all glass walls. For some reason I got the impression that Loki couldn't use his magic inside it."

"That sounds like Asgardian technology, and definitely something Amora would have developed to fit her needs," said Sif which earned nods of agreement from the men. They all rose to stretch from breakfast and continued talking.

"Well I guess some magic can get out if he can reach out and share a space-dream with me. He didn't seem injured, just weak," Darcy said.

"Then our suspicions are now confirmed. She fed him the tainted Everberry," Thor said, his face alight with realization.

Sif and Darcy exchanged looks. Neither of them had the heart to tell him that they had all known this since Loki first was captured. Instead Sif cleared her throat to stifle a laugh and continued with cleaning up their campsite.

The friends saddled up and set out for the morning. Only a few hours into the day's journey Thor pulled to the side of a winding dirt road that forked into two very different paths. One led down a gently sloping valley where the bright sun shone and flowers spring forth uninhibited in the meadows. The other path led up a curving, jagged blackened mountain which Darcy could only describe as "Mount Doom-esque."

"Let me guess," Darcy sighed, "we're going up Satan's Rage Mountain?"

"Yes. The Atall Laufsblad grows atop it. Keep out a wary eye; this mountain is filled with unsavory creatures," Thor warned.

Darcy groaned inwardly as they all followed Thor up the slope of the mountain. They rode in silence, each keeping a staunch eye out for whatever or whomever may be lurking in a blackened crevice or shrub-shrouded nook. After another few hours of riding Thor stopped at the suggestion of Sif who pointed out that they would need decent daylight in order to find suitable camp on the mountain. The last thing they wanted was to take cover in a cave that turned out to be infested with Kreplings.

Sif and Hogun began the fire for their evening meal while Darcy watched the sunset over the valley below. Although her surroundings were blackened and held their own wicked beauty, her eyes sought the bright colors of the rolling meadows and streams of the land. She watched for so long she almost did not notice that the sun had finally sunk below the horizon; rather, the shades of the sky melted into one another from a powder blue to angry pinks and oranges, finally settling on deep purples and navies. She snapped out of her trance when she felt a tap on her shoulder.

"Lady Darcy," said Volstagg, "Our dinner is prepared."

She smiled sadly from having just come out of a deep thought of Loki and joined them. They all ate quietly and stared into the fire. They all felt their muscles sing with relaxation, and by the time they were done eating they all looked nearly content. Fandral presented a wooden instrument the looked to Darcy like a panflute and began to play a soft melody. They stared into the fire and let themselves be lost and its sound.
"I feel like I'm gonna fall asleep but it is way too early for that. Does someone want to tell me a story?" Darcy asked. Her eyes were closed as she rested her head against a boulder.
"I have another tale for you about Loki, if you'd like to hear it," said Thor. Darcy's eyes snapped open and she sat up, smiling.
"Any dirt I can get," she said.

"Many centuries ago we were celebrating a holiday called Idora-"

"Ah, this one! This one was good," said Volstagg. Sif and Hogan grinned at their own memories of the story they knew that Thor was about to begin.

"Idora is a festival with 10 glorious days of feast and song which includes exchanges of gifts and favors. It is not unlike the winter holidays celebrated on Midgard," Thor explained. "I had not thought too hard about what to get for Loki, but Idora was approaching quickly and I grew apprehensive. You see, Darcy, Loki is a very thoughtful gift giver and I wanted to present to him a gift that I knew would catch his eye. I set out to the forests of Asgard for the day to allow myself the clarity to think, and while I wandered along a stream a glint of something caught my eye. I waded into the waters and dove to the bottom to retrieve whatever it was. I almost drowned trying to get at it but eventually I caught firm hold of it and pulled it up to the surface. In my hand was a gemstone of deepest veridian and I knew that my search was over. I washed the muck off of it to discover that a millennia of water and sediment rolling over its surface had washed away its edges, revealing an oval stone better than any you could find in an elvish bazaar. I dried it, placed it in a pouch on my waist, and made my way home, quite proud of my accomplishment," he said, and Fandral stopped playing his instrument long enough to snicker.

"When I got home," he continued, "I wrapped it in a small gold-and-green box and forgot all about it until the first evening of Idora. The night of that first feast we sat beside our parents at the feasting table and exchanged gifts. He handed me a golden chest wherein lay an enchanted red cloak that was impervious to damage and where; I still wear it to this day," he smiled while he reminisced and unknowingly ran a finger down one hem of the soft cloth.

"And how did he like your present?" asked Darcy.

"He saw the box and gave me a look that clearly said 'Well at least you tried.' I grinned like a child while I watched an open it, and at first I thought he hated it when he saw it. He picked it up and ran it over his palms and looked over at me with what I think was the first impressed expression I've ever seen from him directed toward me. I felt rather proud of myself and we enjoy the rest of our meal. After the feast he fashioned the gemstone into a fine ring and wore it for the rest of the evening. The next day he still wore it at breakfast and even while he was out in the city, and that evening at one of the Idora celebrations Loki was approached by almost every woman there and even some men. He took it all in good stride and if I recall he ended up going up to his bedroom with one of the maidens-"

"Thor!" Sif said, "Darcy doesn't want to hear about that!"

But Darcy only laughed. "I really don't care. I mean before I met Loki I kind of fell out of the promiscuous tree and banged every guy on the way down."

Thor blinked and Fandral stopped playing his panflute momentarily. Sif cleared her throat and Darcy only grinned wider. Finally Thor gave a good-natured and smile and kept on with the story.

"Every night of the festival was like that second night, but peoples' frenzies in Loki's presence began to grow and by the sixth day of Idora Loki could hardly walk around the palace without servants throwing themselves at him. Why, he had more than one marriage proposal in the streets of the city during that time if I recall. It got to the point that Loki could hardly leave his rooms without being accosted by throngs of women and men." Thor said and the whole band was howling with laughter, "I must say, for as sure of himself as Loki can be sometimes I've never seen him more nervous in a crowd than in those few days.

"Finally mother went to visit him in his rooms and she asked what he had done to make it happen and he told her that he knew not. She studied him and spied the ring, asking him where he had obtained it. Of course he told her that I gave it to him and she took the stone from him, inspecting it with her keen eye. 'It is a Lover's Stone,' she told him, 'Something like a love potion' she said. She told him it worked better the more magic power one possessed, which is why it had worked so quickly for him. Of course she knew that he would think that I gave it to him knowing what it was and she explained to him that I had found it. I had told her of it in passing and she did not dwell on it, and mother asked Loki to forgive me since I did not know what it was. He forgave me, but for the next few weeks I kept finding serpents in my bedroom," Thor finished with a smile.

Darcy laughed, still imagining Loki trying to reject marriage proposals from people who are practically strangers. She settled and listened while the Asgardians swapped tales and songs about their youths and she felt a little less like an outsider looking in as the evening passed. She began to feel included.

x

X

x

"Amora, Lorelei has been dead for centuries."

Loki panted with the effort of speech. His face was still clammy and a sheen of sweat highlighted his forehead and cheeks even in the dim grey light. Loki stared up at her through the glass cell wall and he saw her face fall at the memory.

"And I have felt every lonely minute without her. But there is indeed a way to make it happen," she answered.

Loki stood and crossed his arms, towering over her from behind his cell wall even in his still-weakened state. "Not until you tell me why you killed Thanos."

"And what care you for the fate of the Mad Titan? You thought him dead anyhow," Amora said. She took a few long, graceful steps across the room and picked up a thick book that Loki had not noticed before. He watched her caress its spine gently, lovingly, and filed away that glimmer of information for later.

"What care I for the fate of you and your dead sister? I have a feeling that you do not have Darcy in any dungeon or even in whatever realm we're in. You have no bargaining chips, Enchantress, and I am certainly not one of your many admirers," he sneered at her and she narrowed her eyes.

"Do not think that your magic can save you here, Loki Odinson. I can make you beg and scream just as Thanos did. And it would be in your best interest to at least listen; it might help you get back your lady love after she is done meeting with Karnilla," Amora said, and she smiled wickedly when she saw the color drain from his face. "Ah yes, the benevolent king and queen didn't tell you where I was banished? It matters little. For what it's worth Karnilla tried with me; she really did. But how well will she receive Lady Darcy when Karnilla finds out that she is betrothed to her most hated enemy?" Amora smirked and watched through narrowed eyes for his reaction.

But he did not give her the satisfaction. He kept a resolute poker face, his indifference rolling from him in waves. "It has been a long time since Karnilla and I had our little falling out. And the rest of Asgard calls for the queen of Nornheim to appease her ridiculous ego because of me. Besides, Darcy is with your object of affection, and Karnilla dare not hurt the almighty king of Asgard," Loki spat.

"Keep telling yourself that, darling."

"And what do you suppose could bring Lorelei back after all this time, Amora? Even if you could she would not be herself. She was barely a woman when she died," Loki reminded her. He sat back on his bed, leaning against the glass of the wall behind him. Even mild conversation was draining his energy; he could feel Amora's poison was still working itself from his system.

"True, but I have found a way around it. My sweet Skurge brought this to me from deep within the dark mountains of Svartalfsheim," she said and lovingly cradled the tome in her hands.

Loki peered at it more closely. It had a heavy leather cover and some scorched-on markings that he could not translate, but the depiction of the man in the center of the front cover gave it away at once.

"A book on inter-realm travel?" said Loki, and his hoarse laugh gave way to a shaky cough, "You've lost your touch, enchantress. There is a grand new invention called a Bifrost. You should look it up, I heard that even Midgard has one now."

"Not just one-way travel between realms, Loki. This book contains a spell that allows one to pick out a specific soul in Hel and recall it," she said, and her face appeared not unlike a rather pleased cat.

Loki uncrossed his arms and his eyes went blank for a moment.

"Impossible," Loki whispered.

"That's what I thought, too, at first," Amora replied. She opened the book and flipped nonchalantly through its pages, "but no, it's definitely possible. I simply don't have enough power on my own to bring her back, which is why I need you."

Loki arched an eyebrow and glared at her through the glass, the shadows under his eyes deeper than usual. "And you thought that poisoning me and dragging me out to where ever we are would convince me to help you? I don't buy it, Amora that is not your end game."

Amora smiled sheepishly at him while she thought over her response. "You were right, you know," she said. "I have always wanted Thor. And yes, you are convenient bait to lure him here to me. I need your power temporarily, Loki. But for what it's worth I had planned on letting you go this entire time. "

"Oh, like you let Thanos go?"

"Thanos fought me every step of the way. I told him why I needed his help and he not only insulted me but insulted my sweet deceased sister. I got a little angry," she admitted. "Besides, isn't temporary insanity a defense on your precious Midgard?"

"It's not my precious Midgard. That my love hails from it means little at all to me," Loki lied. "And you would do well to mind your tongue in front of Thor about Midgard. It's his pet realm, didn't you know?"

Her face darkened. She knew.

She knew why as well.

"Either way," she shrugged, "Think on it, Odinson. The faster you do the sooner you can get out of here, and maybe even reach little Darcy in time to save her from Karnilla's wrath. You do recall how wrathful she can be, don't you?"

He did.

x

X

x

The following morning Darcy awoke slowly and comfortably. She slipped off her socks and allowed the chill of morning air in the shadow of the towering black mountain to touch her feet, wriggling her toes in a decadent stretch. She looked around to find everyone but one member of the party sleeping. Hogun was sitting on a boulder, staring silently upon the valley below where the rising sun already touched the rolling hills. His hair was down around his shoulders blowing lightly in the breeze. In the bleak shadow of the west side of the mountain, Hogun looked almost to be a stone statue, guarding over all.

Darcy arose and wrapped her blanket around herself, padding over to Hogun and plopping down next to him.

"Mornin'" she said. He gave her a nod of greeting.

"So what's your story?" she asked, "You're always so quiet."

Hogun smiled and continued to look out onto the bright green valley. "One can learn much by simply listening."

"Gotcha. The strong and silent type, that's rad. How long have you been awake?"

"For four hours now. Volstagg, Fandral, Sif, and I watched the camp in shifts."

"Thanks, that was really nice of you. Sif said that there are some scary creatures on this mountain but I haven't seen anything at all. I feel like I'm walking on pins and needles waiting for something to jump out at me but nothing has yet," Darcy said as she rearranged her blanket around herself.

"We had a few wolves so far, but nothing we cannot handle. No, the more ferocious of the beasts live toward the middle and top of this peak. Many of them are venomous, so we must all maintain constant vigilance," he told her.

"Okay Mad-Eye," she smiled, and he gave her a sideways look of incomprehension. "Hey, Sif's not up yet. You want to spar with me so I can get my practice out of the way?"

His answer came in the form of him knocking her backwards off of the boulder, catching her completely off guard. She let out a small squeak of surprise but caught herself after she flipped backwards once, not caring that her thin night clothes were letting in chilly morning air. She got to her feet immediately and moved backwards toward her sword, adrenaline pumping, but Hogun was already on his feet and advancing. Soon he had his own sword out and as Darcy reached down to get her sword off of her small pile of personal things he slashed at her hand, missing but causing it to automatically pull back towards herself. Hogun smiled as he slid the tip of his sword under the hilt of Darcy's sword and with a flick of his wrist, freed it from its sheath. Darcy's sword sailed in a high arc towards her. She was able to grab the hilt of the sword before it touched the ground.

"You should have your sword in hand whenever you issue a challenge, Lady Darcy," he said, advancing again. This time she was ready.

Darcy stepped lightly over the obstacles laying around the camp haphazardly. She made her way away from the camp so that their sparring would not awaken anyone. She dodged thrusts and was able to come back a couple of times with her own slashes. She found that her fighting style had changed from what she was used to without any of her armor. She had to think more about how she moved her sword since it could leave her vulnerable, but she also had a greater range of motion and was lighter on her feet.

Back and forth they went and Darcy knew that Hogun was going easy on her. He was a skilled warrior, practiced over the course of centuries, but he was also a good teacher and seemed to know exactly how to push her to discover and work upon her own weaknesses. After an hour they were done, shaking hands and heading back to the campsite where the others had all awakened and were dressed.

After a breakfast of fowl that Fandral had caught and fruits that Volstagg gathered, they were off, headed again up the mountain. They made excellent time in the deeply chilled shade of the mountain, but as the sun crawled higher in the sky Darcy mentioned to Sif that their horses had begun to sweat in an almost froth-like way around their necks.

"They need to rest," said Sif.

"Aye. We've ridden them for days with naught but the night to sleep," Thor agreed, "But we're very nearly to the upper-middle of the mountain. They can stand a few more hours. These beasts are strong Asgardian steeds."

The winding path up the mountain became increasingly narrow. By the time they reached the mouth of a cave they were all riding single-file, so they ended the day's ride right then and there and took shelter for the night in the large cave. Volstagg, Fandral, Hogun, and Thor went inside to clear it of possible threats while Sif and Darcy stayed with the horses to ensure that nothing attacked the exhausted animals.

Thor returned after quite some time to give Darcy and Sif the all-clear and they led the steeds into the cave for their safety so that they could truly rest peacefully.

"That took longer than I expected," Sif said while she, Darcy, and Thor traversed the cave.

"It was just as we expected," answered Thor, "The place was crawling with Kreplings."

"Is it safe to assume that they're all taken care of?" Sif asked. They reached the other half of their party and got her answer simultaneously. Hogun, Volstagg, and Fandral were setting up sleeping areas and in one nook of the cave was a pile of small, twitching bodies. One of the largest ones lay atop of the pile and Darcy was able to get a good look at it in the dim light- they appeared to be winged snakes with horns, only their teeth were about three times as large as any snake's Darcy had ever seen.

It was still early in the evening so the band settled toward the front of the cave for better light. They roasted a larger dinner than usual to break up the monotony that dinner was slowly becoming and they all ate their fill. After their meal Fandral broke out a skein of Asgardian Ale and a dice game, which Darcy eyed with a wary delight. Fandral offered to teach her to play and she accepted, so they all passed around the skein while they played a few rounds of a game called 'Horses and Heathens' before dousing the fire and calling it a night.

Darcy was pleased the next morning when Thor mentioned that it was their last day on the mountain, if all went well. They set out early after a light breakfast and the horses were refreshed and responsive. The winding pathways up the peak became even narrower and dramatically steeper, and soon they all continued their journey on foot after securing the horses in a safe, open area.

Up, up, up they climbed and Darcy ran into Thor's back when he stopped suddenly. They had come across a cluster of boulders and there, atop of largest one in the middle, was a bright red flower that seemed to be made of flames. Thor turned to Darcy slowly and placed a finger to his lips and then pointed down into the crevices of the boulders. Darcy saw something that looked like grey-blue skin on the ground instead of the dirt that should have been there and suddenly she felt the ground shift beneath her. Sif pulled her back to steady land as Thor jumped from boulder to boulder toward the prize at the middle and Darcy realized that the cluster of rocks were not rocks at all; rather, rock-like armor atop a gargantuan monster.

A monster that they had just awakened.

Hogun, Fandral, Volstagg, Sif, and Darcy all drew their swords in unison and watched while the creature rose from its slumber. It had four meaty legs, stony armor up and down its gigantic body, and a tiny head with beady black eyes that seemed almost to disappear in its face. It looked by all accounts like an enormous blueish stegosaurus.

Until you got to its teeth.

It whole mouth seemed to be made almost entirely out of rows upon rows of teeth. It salivated everywhere and its jaw was almost sickeningly unhinged, so full was it of needle-sharp fangs. It roared with annoyance as Thor jumped across its back and he had to grab hold of a boulder to keep himself from being thrown off. The monster reared its head at the company and they slashed at it, each able to draw thick black blood from its feet and ankles, causing it to limp. It stomped toward them and Thor finally had Mjolnir out, using it to fly to the flower. He secured it and rushed to the ground below to assist his friends who were busy trying to avoid becoming the giant's lunch. Thor landed and launched Mjolnir at its mass, knocking it backwards into the wall of the highest peak of the mountain and stunning the creature.

Darcy's sword was still drawn and she was prepared for more battle when she felt two hands dragging her backwards.

"Hey!" she shouted. Now that she was in the action she fought the hands off to stay in the fight. She glanced behind her and saw that Volstagg and Hogun were the culprits.

"The others will finish off the Jotuntonn, Lady Darcy," said Volstagg, "They can take a hit or bite from it. You can't!"

"But-"

Darcy's words were caught in her throat as she saw Thor's in the air above her. He was staring at something and the look on his face made her heart stop - it held heartbreaking anguish and her eyes immediately shot to the monster.

It was chewing on something.

Volstagg and Hogun noticed that Darcy stopped fighting them and they followed her gaze to what had caught her attention and they both froze in unison. They let her go and ran at the monster and to Darcy everything seemed to be in slow motion while her brain processed what she was seeing. She took a head count- Volstagg, Hogun, Fandral, Thor...

Sif.

Sif was missing.

The warriors let out furious battle cries and united in their affront on the beast, who had finally swallowed. Each warrior unleashed all they had and within a scant minute the creature was slain. The warriors looked around at one another as though they were baffled, unsure if it had really happened and unsure of what to do now.

Fat, hot tears poured down Darcy's face as she trudged numbly to the remaining warriors. Their heads were bowed in sorrow and out of the corner of Darcy's eye she saw the beast twitch.

"Guys," Darcy sniffed. They looked to her and she pointed. It twitched again.

Their weapons were drawn again, heavy as they were in their hands, the weight of a hundred battles and fallen comrades-in-arms making itself apparent in the weary Asgardians. They all approached the beast's fallen body when suddenly a glittering silver sword burst out of it, through its center, slicing a clean line down its middle.

Sif tumbled out of the belly of the monster and she sucked in a greedy gulp of clean air. The party cheered and Sif grinned as she tried to wipe off sticky grey slime from her body.

"You thought I wouldn't make it out?" she asked, rolling her eyes.

Thor wiped away tears and dropped Mjolnir, embracing her in a crushing hug. "It did have a lot of teeth."

"I noticed," she said and she glanced toward her left ankle. A hideous puncture had torn the flesh but did not seem to have hit any bone. Sif sat on the ground and Fandral handed her a clean handkerchief for her wound.

After Sif was finished tending to her wound Darcy approached her and hugged her hard before Sif had a chance to avoid the show of affection. After the briefest of pauses Sif hugged her back and the party helped one another back down the mountain toward the horses.

"Wait, wait, I have a question," said Darcy as they made their way down the steep, rocky path, "Why the hell didn't Thor just fly up to the top of the stupid mountain and get the stupid flower to begin with?"

Thor grinned. "I've never actually had to retrieve one before. None of us knew what to expect when we reached it and I did not know if I could handle whatever it might be by myself."

"Thankfully we had Sif around to distract the Jotuntonn long enough to get a few good hits in," said Fandral with a grin. Sif let a small smile play at her lips.

They reached the horses and began to ride immediately back down the mountain. The trip going down was much faster than it had been going up and the group was in such high spirits that they did not even mind riding straight through lunch. At the bottom of the peak that evening, though, the adrenaline had worn off. The band ate and rested, exhausted from the day's events. Sif applied some ointment to her wound, which had already begun to heal, and turned in early.

The next morning the party set out early again. Not one of them was anxious to spend any more time on the blackened mountain and there seemed to be a collective sigh of relief when they made it to the base in a couple of short hours.

When they reached the beautiful green valley they slowed their pace for Sif's wounded leg, and when they reached a crystal clear stream they all stopped to eat lunch and bathe. Darcy helped Sif lower herself into a crystal hot spring they had found and Darcy washed both of their clothes while they had access to clean water.

"The last thing we need is for that to get all infected and icky," said Darcy as she gingerly pulled off Sif's boot for her. Sif winced with the feeling of the dirty cloth boot being pulled off of raw, barely-healed flesh but was glad for the assistance.

After they were done washing Darcy helped Sif get back to the horses, Thor, and the warriors-three, who had also just freshly bathed. They took up the saddle again and headed over the rollings hills of the valley, ending their day finally at the beginning of a thick, heavy forest. It took a full day to get through the forest and another to cross an enormous span of fields, but when they reached the and of that span they found themselves at the top of a peak that looked down into Nornheim itself.

"Wow," Darcy breathed as she looked down into the valley between the crags. If the journey so far had been dotted with colorful scenery it was nothing compared to the valleys and mountains of Nornheim. The mountains themselves were a deep purple hue with a dusting of white-purple snow at the tops of the highest peaks. The sinking sun hit the valley at an angle, setting the mountains alight with bright pinks and fiery reds that made it seem as though the rocks themselves held the colors naturally.

But the valley of Nornheim itself was a sight to behold.

Lavender-colored flowers overtook the bottom portions of the mountain and one could hardly see the black path that led from the steep crags to the fields below for the bright flowers that grew over every available surface. The lavenders melted into luxurious fields of blue-green grass that then faded into fields of pastel yellow grass, and just beyond those grasses was a tiny hamlet hamlet nestled within the loving arms of the valley. A silent, shallow lake lay just beyond the hamlet and from what could be seen it looked as though the bottom of the lake was filled with millions of tiny rocks of every color. The setting sun added the final touch on the backdrop of the breathtaking scene while bright blue puffy clouds made the perfect pockets for the sun's rays to shine through.

"It is something," Thor said as if to himself, but Darcy heard it and caught his eye.

"I've never seen anything like this," she said, her eyes alight with awe. Her fingers instinctively touched the ring on her left hand and her smile fell; she felt the hole in her heart widen a little.

Thor gave her a sad smile. "You and your love will be together again soon, Lady Darcy."

Darcy looked back at the rest of the group while they set up camp and she motioned for Thor to follow her away from the camp so that they could speak privately.

"I never thought I would be this person," she blurted out.

Thor gave her a quizzical look. "What person?"

"You know, the person who feels like they're not whole without their boyfriend or husband or whatever," she said. Thor watched her face as she wrestled with what it meant to her.

"It is one thing to hear about great love, Darcy. We grow up hearing tales about it, and we can even see it every single day between two people. But we still never fully understand what it truly means until we feel it for ourselves. Between you and me, there is a reason why some people refer to their partner as their 'other half'. It is because we do not feel whole without them any longer after their lives have brushed against our own. After you have shared a bond, a connection, like yours and Loki's or mine and Jane's, even a bond that seems to make no sense to those on the outside looking in, you will never be the same again. We all think that we're fine on our own, that we are whole, until we meet the person who shows us how truly wrong we were," Thor said and he put an arm around her shoulder.

"I know," she whispered, "I know you're right. It's just that... I've never felt so alone. Even though I'm right here with all of you, I feel like I'm... I don't know... missing something."

"And you will feel that way until you are together once more. I have not seen Jane for two years, now, and when Heimdall told me Jane and the other warriors were coming to Asgard just before we left on our journey, it shattered my heart to pieces when I realized we had to leave before they arrived."

"Wait, wait, wait- what? Jane's in Asgard now?" Darcy asked, her tone no longer broken but rather strong.

"Well yes. It was only a matter of time before Jane had Midgard's Bifrost repaired."

"And you knew she was coming?"

"Indeed."

"You jerk!" she said and placed her hands on her hips, "You know if Loki did that to me I would freakin' throttle him? Do you have any idea how long she worked on that? How hard she worked to get here? And how much she missed you? And you knew she was coming and you left on a rescue mission just before she arrived? Oh my god, Thor, what the hell?"

"Darcy, I-"

"She is going to kill you when you get home!"

"Darcy, I know. I couldn't bear to see her after so long and then have to immediately leave her," said Thor and he hung his head.

She opened her mouth to retort but she did not allow another sound to pass her lips. She couldn't berate him any more about it; he was like a sad little puppy. She sighed and looked up to the sky as if to ask for some divine assistance before she threw her arms around Thor.

"There, there, big guy. We'll be home soon."

"Thank you, Darcy. And soon we will find my brother and we shall all journey home together."

"Yeah, what you said," she responded and smiled her first truly happy smile that day.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Thanks for reading! Please favorite, follow, and review if you are so inclined.

I am also on Tumblr and I post updates on all my fanfiction. My username is JessiokaFroka.