In your ocean, I'm ankle deep
I feel the waves crashin' on my feet
It's like I know where I need to be
But I can't figure out, yeah I can't figure out
-Something beautiful
Stark tower
Jane sighed in happiness as she leaned back against Thor's chest. They were lounging in their apartment in Stark tower, or avengers tower as he called it now, and watched the sun set.
"Are you happy Jane?" She turned her face to the side and their noses met and she smiled.
"Of course I am, are you?" Thor nodded and turned his gaze towards the window again.
"I want you to see the sunsets in Asgard, the way the light hits the palace and makes the whole town and ocean glow gold." She wrapped her arms around him and cuddled up closer to him in the sofa.
"I would love that" he pressed a kiss to her forehead. "I talked to Darcy today by the way, speaking of Asgard"
"What did you talk about?" Thor prayed to the Norns that his brother had chosen to be quiet.
"She was ranting about how Loki wouldn't answer her questions and I told her that he was playing her" Jane looked at Thor who continued to look out the window. "He wants her to come to Asgard with him" that got Thor's attention and he looked down to meet her gaze.
"Thor do you know what Loki is planning?" Thor sighed, he told himself he had to lie to protect Darcy because if she knew the truth she would go after it, she was so bloody headstrong that girl, but it hurt to lie to Jane.
"My brother has always been hard to read Jane, his motive for including Darcy in this... I am not sure what he's going to do" at least that was true. The thunder God had been hesitant of what his brother would do now since he suddenly didn't answer Darcy's questions. What was sure was that he wanted her to go to Asgard, maybe so that mother could reverse it all. He assumed that Loki thought to persuade Darcy to go to Asgard by teasing her curiosity, which could work, if she wasn't persuaded that he was tricking her which Jane was adamant about making her think.
He could understand Jane's hatred towards his brother, it was justified, but it still made him sad that the woman he loved and the brother he loved would probably never be friendly with one another.
"I love you" Thor snapped out of his thoughts to look down at his woman who smiled up at him.
"And I love you" he leaned down and they kissed. He needed to speak to Odin about this, he could not imagine living the rest of his life without these lips to kiss every day, she would be a perfect queen. She was intelligent and kind and she could teach the scholars of Asgard a thing or two about their own mechanics, the kingdom would thrive from having her in it.
Jane giggled and rubbed his nose with hers. "What are you thinking about?"
"Of bringing you to Asgard" Jane's eyes widened and her jaw dropped.
"Really?" Thor hesitated.
"Do you not wish to go?" Jane suddenly jumped up and down in the couch and clapped her hands, almost like Darcy did when she turned on 'blacklist' or 'ripper street', or any of her other favorite shows.
"Of course I want to go!" Jane nearly shrieked "I can do data tests from Asgard and cross reference them to..." She paused and Thor looked amused. "And meet your parents, you want me to meet your parents?"
"Only if you wish to, but I would like them to know the amazing woman I fell in love with" Jane smiled shyly down at her lap and then glanced up at him.
"I would like to meet them too" she crawled onto his lap and straddled his lap and kissed him. He pulled back suddenly "But I don't have anything to wear for meeting a king and queen!" She immediately felt like calling Darcy so that they could get a dress that was swanky enough for that occasion but her thoughts faded as Thor laughed at her. She felt relieved when she heard it, it was so rare now and he always looked so concerned, this Loki problem seemed to be on his mind constantly.
"Darling, let that be a problem for another time" he put his hands on her hips and slowly moved them over her butt to pull her closer to him, making her shorts ride up. "For now we can focus on removing clothes instead" he smirked and Jane giggled.
"Very smooth"
"Spending time with a billionaire philanthropist playboy who flirts with everyone teaches you that sort of thing"
Asgard, years before.
"I believe they were testing our borders to search for weak points that could be exploited for a larger attack" Odin's deep steady voice carried out through the silent council room.
There weren't many in attendance to discuss the chitauri attack, the king and queen of course, they were seated next to each other in their elaborate chairs at the round table. Thor and Loki, the first sat next to their father and the second, who had his arm in a sling because of his still healing shoulder, sat next to their mother. Other than the royal family there were a few of the royal councilor, and also Tyr, the god of war and general of the Asgardian troops. He had brought his two generals who were his seconds in command, one of whom Loki took special interest in.
Eddard Nordstierna was a big man, even though he was not young anymore he still had plenty of muscles and a large presence. Loki remembered when he and Thor use to watch the soldiers fight in the yard and the second general had fought with them. Thor had turned to Loki with glee when Eddard knocked five soldiers of their feet and said "I want to learn how to fight like that, I want to look like him when I get older" and now Thor had possibly more muscle than the general.
As Loki studied the older man he found that Darcy shared very little of his features, except the deep blue eyes and the way they seemed to take in every little detail in the room. He knew they had the same manners, Darcy had told him about her father's sarcasm, that she inherited. And he also noted that they had very similar facial expressions, although Darcy was far more expressive than her father.
The blue eyes that belonged to the man Loki studied suddenly snapped from Odin to Loki who sat across from him at the table. Loki did nothing but meet his gaze, it was disconcertingly empty, and the second general's eyes revealed nothing of what he was thinking.
Loki let his eyes drift to the window and tried to ignore the way his skin got goosebumps, the second general may have created one of the most beautiful creatures in the world but he was definitely a scary man.
"That is surprisingly organized for the chitauri" Tyr said "but whatever they were planning it cannot be executed now. Not when the prince banished them to the void"
The attention turned to Loki who removed his gaze from the window to glance around the room.
"The spell we found came from one of the oldest and darkest scriptures in the library, the creatures described in that book that were sent to the void have not returned, then why should the chitauri?" The queen said and a few councillors looked at each other, looking like they were feeling safer now that his mother had vouched for the spell, and for Loki himself to an extent.
He clenched his jaw in annoyance, wishing that the stupid meeting could be over now.
It continued for fifteen minutes more, during which time they had to decide what to tell the people. As soon as Odin stood up, demonstrating that the meeting was done Loki shot out of his chair and was only stopped from leaving the room by his mother's gentle hand on his healthy shoulder.
He met her gaze and she smiled gently. "How do you feel today?"
"It's healed now, I need this to avoid injury by moving it" he gestured at the leather sling with his other arm and his mother nodded.
"But how do you feel?" Loki shook his head.
"I'm fine mother" he squeezed her hand and then turned to walk away. Thor joined him on the way as they walked out the corridor. His brother was just about to say something when a voice down the hall got their attention.
"Your highness!" They both turned around and gave each other a quick look as to figure out which one of them the second general had called after. The big man walked over to them with long steps, his grey and black leather apparel contrasting their own more colorful ones. Based on how his eyes focused on Loki it was him he wanted to talk to. He stopped at a respectable distance and then gave a short bow to them. Although both Loki and Thor were taller than the second general they seemed much younger and inexperienced when meeting the older warriors gaze.
When he looked up his steely eyes met Loki's. "I will not pretend to know much about magic, but I do think that we could do well with more like you who wield it so skillfully"
Loki had to control his face to prevent himself gaping at the other man's words. It was highly unusual and almost taboo for men to use magic, and it was considered foul play to use it in battle, and yet here the second general of the Asgardian troops recognized it as something that was needed.
"Thank you, general" Eddard nodded "that means a lot coming from a man of your standard, I will see what I can do about it"
"You don't need to trouble yourself now your highness, according to my daughter, who's attention is on your wellbeing above all, you need rest. After that we can speak further of this" Loki suddenly felt his mouth dry up a little at the way that the other man said that he had spoken to Darcy. For the first time today the general's eyes did reveal his thoughts, and he clearly had some opinions on the prince getting close attention from his daughter, despite his very discrete words.
Loki swallowed and he nodded "your daughter is a very skilled healer, I would be a fool to go against her orders" he smiled a close lipped smile hoping to appease the general.
"Yes you would be" the hardness behind the statement could not be missed, even Thor reacted on it. The general turned to the both of them and bowed. "Thank you for your time, your highness" with those words he turned on his heels and left.
Thor chuckled a little as they turned around and continued to walk "The second general's daughter? I don't even know how she looks like, tell me brother, is she worth getting killed by the general?" Thor smirked and Loki gave him a droll stare. "Oh come brother you must tell me something of her!"
"Loki has a her? Who is the her?" Fandral jumped out from around a corner and started to walk next to Loki, who stared ahead in rising annoyance.
"It appears to be the second general Nordenstierna's daughter" Thor said, his voice dripping with amusement from teasing his brother.
"That sounds like a perfect way to start a war with Asgards own army" the blondes looked back at Volstagg, who walked behind them, and smiled in amusement.
"Yes, yes enough with your concerns. Who is she? Please tell me she's pretty, how does she look?" Fandral said and started to walk backwards in front of Loki.
"I swear I will teleport you to hel if you do not shut up" Loki grumbled and Fandral merely smiled.
"I would happily take on the challenge of charming the ruler of the underworld. I admit that the dead half of her body would be off putting but I would do my best to ignore it"
"I can't recall meeting the second general's daughter at court" Thor said with a frown and Fandral jumped back to walk next to him.
"Me neither. Loki tell us something about her, what's her best feature?"
Loki's mind immediately went to Darcy's smile and the way her eyes would twinkle when she laughed. But that was not the sort of feature that Fandral spoke of, but Loki couldn't think about her body right now or he would embarrass himself.
"Fine if you want to be like that I guess I'll go off and study her myself" he heard the smirk in Fandral's voice and he felt a pulse of fire go through his body at the thought of Fandral going near her.
Loki surprised all of them, including himself, when he turned around and grabbed Fandral by the lapels of his jacket and turned to shove him against the pillar, or better yet throw him down the stairs leading out to the small garden that they had just stopped in front of. But he suddenly stopped all movement when a pair of wide ocean blue eyes met his.
He dropped Fandral to the floor and he landed with an undignified grunt, that had to do for the moment. "Ladies" Loki greeted and Darcy and a blond woman he vaguely remembered seeing in the healing ward curtsied.
Loki took in the sight of Darcy in the white summer dress with gold embroidery she wore, it was simple but on her it looked fantastic. It highlighted her figure perfectly, and he couldn't stop himself from glancing briefly at her breasts, they were just to bloody good to be true. Her dark hair thankfully covered them a little since she wore it loose instead of wearing it in a braid, making it hang in thick curls down her shoulders. He really wanted to reach out and touch it, when seeing it he instantly remembered how soft it was.
"Your highness" the blond woman said and curtsied both at him and his brother, meanwhile Darcy glanced down at Fandral who was trying to get up and then up at Loki who met her gaze steadily. She had obviously seen him attack the ridiculous blond man.
"I confess that I am at a disadvantage here, I don't believe I know your names to properly greet you" Thor said as he walked closer to them and Loki could see the blond girl blush at his brothers flirtatious smile, here we go again. He didn't dare to look at Darcy to see what her reaction was.
Darcy raised an eyebrow and smirked just a little at the prince, but then looked at Loki who had turned very still all of the sudden. He noticed her gaze and glanced at her and she gave what she hoped to be an encouraging smile.
Loki cleared his throat and his brother looked at him in surprise "brother this is Darcy Nordenstierna" Thor's eyes widened just a bit at hearing her name. No wondered Loki had taken an interest in her, she was gorgeous.
"And this is Essa Gunvaldsdottir" Darcy added, knowing that Loki didn't know her name. Fandral suddenly decided to stand up and placed himself in front of Darcy and lifted her hand just as he gave a small bow.
"I am Fandral, and it is a pleasure, my lady" he kissed her hand and Darcy had to resist laughing at the act, she had hoped to meet Loki's eyes over the now bowing Fandral but saw him stare down at the back of Fandral's head, looking like he wished to hit it. Darcy felt strangely pleased by that, maybe he was jealous? That would mean he liked her!
Fandral straightened himself and Darcy didn't miss the way his eyes lingered at eye level with her breasts. Her casual dress didn't cover them as much as her work robes did.
"I don't recall seeing you at court my lady" Fandral said and Darcy contemplated taking a step back, he was very close.
"Court can be amusing at times but I think I enjoy my work more."
"And what do you do?" Fandral asked with a smile and leaned his head forward a little.
"I'm a healer. We both are" Darcy said and nodded towards Essa who smiled back at her. The big man with red beard walked closer to join the conversation.
"That's very impressive for young women your age, I am told studying the healing arts take several years" there was nothing malicious in his voice at all, he actually did seem impressed. Darcy immediately decided that she liked him.
"We started young" Essa said and the big man nodded.
"That would explain your absence at court" he said and Darcy nodded.
"What does your fathers think of your choice of profession?" Fandral asked and Loki smirked in the background where he had ended up.
Darcy turned to Fandral and raised an eyebrow at him "we save lives. What possible negative opinion could they have about that?" Her tone was hard, she had had this conversation too many times to be gentle about it. The only one who didn't question her was her father, despite people's insistence that he had to have opinions about what she did.
Loki saw whatever interest Fandral had for Darcy shrivel up a little at her hard tone, strong willed females must scare him.
"Of course." Was Fandral's reply and Loki smirked. Thor took pity on his friend and stepped in to try to salvage the situation.
"We are heading to the yard to train, would you like to accompany us?" He held out his arm to Essa and the blond woman smiled and took it. She glanced at Darcy with glee and the brunette smiled.
When Fandral held out his arm to Darcy she held up a hand and shook her head.
"No thank you, I'm off to the library actually. But I'll see if I can find you later" Fandral opened his mouth to say something but Darcy swept past him and started to walk the other way.
Volstagg and Fandral joined Thor and Essa in walking to the yard. But Loki started to walk after Darcy in the opposite direction. He didn't make himself known to her until she entered the library and for some reason turned around and saw him.
"Loki" she suddenly felt like a fool, both at her overexcited tone when saying his name, and the fact that she had barely spoken with him before she fled from Fandral's attentions. She started to fiddle with her nails as he stepped closer to her.
"Lady Darcy" she swore that his voice was the most sexy thing imaginable, except from his body because good gods he was gorgeous. "What brings you here?" He stood next to her and looked down, she saw his eyes flicker only briefly to her breasts and then lock onto her eyes. She knew she looked good in this dress, and judging by the look he had given her earlier, his eyes going all over her, he thought so too. And even though she didn't dress up for men's approval, she was stupidly pleased that he liked it.
She started to walk and he joined her, she smiled as she noticed how he took smaller steps in order to keep her tempo. Would she be too forward if she took his arm?
"I'm here to search for books on anatomy, we are studying one of the chitauri bodies in order to learn more of their species" he nodded and smiled a close lipped smile. She suddenly felt a palm at the small of her back and she jumped a little in surprise.
"That would be over here" Loki said and she felt his hand push her over to a couple of bookshelves to the left. When his hand dropped from her back she immediately noticed how the pleasant heat disappeared from its place.
"Thank you" she smiled up at him and then frowned. "Speaking of anatomy, don't think I didn't see you wave that arm around. You must keep it still so that the muscle doesn't rupture!"
He just smirked. "I am in your constant care am I not? Then I'll be perfectly safe"
Darcy scoffed and walked to the other side of the big oak table between the shelves. Whoever had been there before them had not placed back all the books and parchments, there were a few of them scattered over the table. The fine layer of dust being illuminated by the midday light from the big window.
"Sometimes I think you overestimate my abilities as a healer, I'm not even as experienced as half of the others" she picked up one of the books with a big illustration of a bilgesnipe and walked over to sit by the window.
"Don't insult me by thinking that I made a mistake in choosing you" Darcy's eyes widened at his surprisingly hard tone. He seemed to notice and frowned, looking as if he thought about what to say next. He started to walk forward to her, his healthy arm touching the high backed chairs as he walked closer.
"I mean only that I knew what I got when I choose you to be responsible for my care. I did not choose you for your experience, I chose you for your obvious skill at your work" his words were careful, he damned his mind for loosing all sort of sensible thought just because she was around.
He looked at her and she smiled down at the book in her hands, she bit her lip and then looked at him.
"It's no mystery they call you silver tongue, the way you compliment could make me do anything" She said with a joking smile but Loki's eyes turned mischievous and he stepped closer to where she leaned.
"Oh really?" Darcy's breath caught in her throat at how close he was and she could feel herself blush.
"Yes, almost like Myrra did" Loki's reaction was immediate, he backed just a little and his mouth was open in surprise.
"Oh" Loki wanted to hit himself for the inarticulate answer. "You know her?" He saw how Darcy's eyes studied him for a moment, and he hoped that she didn't find anything particular.
Darcy shook her head "No, but I know of her. Essa told me after you came to the healing ward a couple of years ago, when we were both apprentices. Word is that she's married now to a farmer living close to the mountains."
There was silence for a while until Loki spoke again "I didn't know that would happen. She drank that potion on her own" he remembered how obsessed she had become with him, the casual flirting they had shared turned into blind obsession and the detoxing process had been painful for her, and her reputation had also suffered from it.
To his surprise Darcy nodded "I believe you" but it didn't change the fact that she could turn out like Myrra if this continued. She wouldn't need a potion. She would eventually truly fall for him, she would hurt from it, her and his reputation would suffer from it.
She put the book back on the table and walked next to the shelves, she pulled out a random book that looked scientific enough and turned back to Loki who stood by the window and watched her.
"Now this should be fine, I should head back to Eir. Have a good day my prince" she curtsied and started to walk away but came to a slow stop and then turned back to look at him.
"Before I go, I'm very grateful that you wanted to be in my care, and that you trust in my abilities. It means a lot to me that you chose me" Loki just nodded and she then left.
The prince teleported to his room. He was very still for a while before sitting down on his bed. He didn't understand whatever had passed between Darcy and him moments earlier, but he knew she was running away from him. If it was because of the Myrra catastrophe, despite her knowing of it for so long and never seemed to be troubled by it before, or because of something else he did not know.
But he did know that the book on botany she picked from the shelve would not help her in studying a chitauri corpse.
I am completely basing Eddard Nordenstierna on Eddard Stark (Sean Bean), I'm still devastated that he was killed off in game of thrones so I'm putting him in my story to keep him safe...
In Asgard Loki and Darcy's budding romance is about to take a turn, and there will be a change in the game down on earth as well that will bring Darcy back into closer proximity of Loki, to many's dismay.
Please let me know what you think, I'm always so happy to see some new reviews and I'm overjoyed to see that so many follow the story, hopefully this will keep you in interested enough to stay :)
