Darcy Lewis's Not-a-Bucket List for Asgard

x 1. Smash Cup in tavern and shout "Another!"

x 2. Eat something not on Earth

x 3. Wear a princess dress

x 4. Fall asleep in Beauty and the Beast library (if they have one)-

x 5. Get a sword lesson

6. Go on a quest

7. Fly: either hovercraft and/or animal

8. Touch something that could destroy a planet (Addendum: Heimdall's sword?)

9. Unicorns?

x 10. Kiss Asgardian

11. Find treasure (enchanted if possible)

Darcy did not come out of her room the following morning. Nor the afternoon. Early evening had then passed with nary a sign from her. Loki was unsure whom or what she was avoiding, for the list of possibilities was quite long. He had no doubt that he ranked rather highly on such a list. Odin was certainly up there. Perhaps the pressure of becoming the new housing of a most beloved wife and mother of the royal family of the Realm Eternal was becoming a bit to much for the girl. She had seemed to be handling it surprisingly well. Though, she had made it clear the previous night that she was not interested in his sudden need to hover over her as if she were some precious relic that could shatter with the lightest breeze.

The estranged prince had stationed and unseen projection at her door to watch for any threats. Perhaps it was a overzealous. She should have been perfectly safe in the depths of the palace. But then again, so should have Frigga. Thor and Jane had gone into her room in the early evening, bearing food and drink and company that he himself was not permitted to provide. Propriety that had been bred into him for centuries had kept his projection from venturing into her room throughout its vigil. But upon seeing his brother and his lover invited into her temporary Inner Sanctum, he saw little reason he could not keep watch while they were present.

The company of three crowded around the small table in front of the window overlooking the outer gardens. Thor and Jane fussed over getting Darcy to eat their makeshift picnic. The youngest of the trio ensconced herself in a sitting chair that had been moved up to the table. She was dressed in her Midgardian wardrobe of light tan shorts and a soft shirt that seemed to hug her form comfortably. Her expression was subdued. Calm. Lacking the typical animation he has observed from her thus far. Her long locks were swept up in an unkempt knot that managed to appear somewhat fetching. In a casual sort of way. But it was clear from her dress the girl had no intention of venturing into the palace. Loki placed his double, still invisible, far enough away to keep Thor's attuned awareness at ease as he observed the intimate gathering of the three companions.

"You look much better!" Jane said, shoving fruit in Darcy's direction. "Do you feel good? You look good. Do you feel good? Anyway. Volstagg and Fandral have been asking after you. We haven't really told them about the whole, you know. Queen possessing you. Thor said we should keep that under wraps for a bit. We just told them about you jumping off the bridge when you saw Loki back when it happened. Which they totally understood. Oh! They know Loki's alive. That was. . . Well. That happened. They took it surprisingly well. Sif put her sword through a table. Which was impressive, since I think the table was gold. But, gold is kind of a soft metal. So maybe it wasn't as hard as it looked. Maybe it was just a gilded table. But anyway. Cat's outta the bag. The Loki cat, not the Frigga cat."

Thor pushed a pastry towards his lover with as much subtlety as his brother could have ever displayed in what was clearly an attempt to quiet the nervous scientist. Darcy smiled at the woman as she finally broke her uncharacteristic silence.

"Are we still under house arrest?" she finally asked, bringing her legs closer to her body to hug for either warmth or comfort.

"My father still commands that we not leave the palace,"Thor said. "Though, he has calmed himself since last night. It has been a shock to all of us. He was no exception."

Darcy nodded, idly toying with the fruit Jane had pushed in her direction, but made no move to eat it. "Did he have any thoughts on what to do?"

"He sets his eyes on our allies in Vanaheim. My mother's people. They are far more versed in magic there than in Asgard."

"What about Alfheim?" Darcy asked. "Not that I know any different, but that's what your mom suggested, right? And Loki?"

Thor nodded. "Both are possibilities. It comes down to caution against speed. My father is more trusting of Vanaheim. Their magic is familiar to us, though, they are less knowledgeable with something of this nature. Alfheim magic is more volatile, but they have more experience in this sort of process. My mother -and Loki- favors Alfheim magic because it is the best chance of both your and my mother's chance of survival."

"Then why would Odin prefer to go to Vanaheim?"

"Because their magic would be steadier. Less likely to have unexpected outcomes. But the longer your body holds my mother's soul, the more likely you will diminish, and she will simply replace you." Loki pursed his lips, almost appreciatively. For all their years together, Thor rarely would spare two seconds to listen to anything he every had to say regarding magic. Or any topic that didn't involve bodily injury. To hear him now repeat their conversation from that morning with admirable accuracy and understanding was surprising, to say the least. It was becoming increasingly difficult to deny that his brother truly was changing.

As far as Odin was concerned, Darcy's young, ephemeral life was not worth the risk of Alfheim magic, or potentially losing a chance to restore Frigga. A look of apathetic irritation from the young girl told him that the unspoken implication was not lost on her. She was expendable. While Loki couldn't deny Odin's reasoning -he himself would not trade Frigga's life for a mortal's- the God of Mischief did not see a reason to exchange one for the other if it could be avoided. If he was going to make a move, he would stack the proverbial deck as much as possible beforehand, and preserve both of them with little complication.

And whether he liked to admit it or not, he was beginning to prefer the universe with Darcy Lewis of Midgard in it.

Darcy stared forlornly down at her journal, disappointed as ever at the last five items she sincerely doubted she would get a chance to check off her list. The completionist in her was raging.

She looked out over the rows upon rows of glowing flowers. Jane had been right: the Lunar Gardens were incredible. Darcy might have been less interested in the taverns and more interested in perpetually moonlit walks in magical flora if she also had a tasty treat to walk her around everywhere whispering sweet sciences in her ear. But there was nothing like a good lock-in to force a girl to stop and smell the roses. Or whatever kind of flower that was she could smell.

Frigga told her to journal. Journaling and meditation would help her clear her mind and help keep their minds from intermingling. Darcy had spent the entire previous day buried in her room, absorbing everything Frigga was willing to teach her to survive their current predicament. She hadn't even realized how late it was until Thor and Jane had shown up with blessed food she had forgotten about. Which she never did.

Darcy paused her writing in the light of the small lantern she carried, adjusting her shoulder to calm the skin-crawly feeling she'd had for two days. She twirled her ankles at an uneven rhythm, trying to decide if she should address it.

Loki.

It was getting easier to tell that what were Frigga's thoughts and what were hers. It was the queen who sensed the Trickster. Little shifts in the air. Changes in pressure. Darcy knew for a fact if she were cruising solo, she never would have noticed. But Frigga could sniff out her son a mile away. Darcy smirked.

"If you're gonna do the mother hen routine, could you at least be a little less Edward Cullen about it? I really don't like the being-watched-from-the-shadows bit."

The eerie quiet continued to blanket the softly lit garden with the moonlight that shown out even in mid-morning, as it did then. After a few moments of her pencil scraping against the paper, quiet footsteps approached her from behind. She didn't look, but felt the lean solid frame of the God of Mischief take a seat on the ledge next to her. When she did glance over, she saw his long, dark clad legs crossed as they dangled next to hers.

"I don't know who Edward Cullen is, but I gather you find this more favorable? Here I was beginning to think you didn't like me." Darcy finally tossed a dry glance that finally met his eyes before finally wrapping up her last few notes. "What are you doing?" he asked.

"Confessing my undying love a for a stalker supervillain with way too much time on his hands." She lurched forward clumsily as the notebook she had been writing in suddenly disappeared from her lap. An ungraceful grumble escaped her lips as she turned to find Loki perusing her private notes as if it were his Odin-given right. "Do you mind? I was almost to the part about your eyes." She reached to grab her notebook back, but a large hand at her forehead easily kept her out of grasp as he verified the truth in her claims. She was very soon found out to be a liar.

"This says absolutely nothing about my eyes," Loki said, unimpressed. "I would expect at least three paragraphs."

"I told you I wasn't there yet. I still have to finish up about my mind saying 'no' but my heart saying 'yes'." She still struggled in vain to retrieve her property before an irritated sigh punctuated the end to her efforts. She leaned back on her hands, waiting for the Asgardian to finish invading her privacy. Not that there was much to invade. Loki didn't remove his hand from her forehead, even as she relaxed. She gingerly took hold of his wrist with two precise fingers and quietly flung them forward away from her. He allowed it as he flipped through the pages. Most were divided in half with one "Darcy" and one side "Frigga", along with descriptions of several objects around the palace: one with Frigga's knowledge and the other with Darcy's. It was unsurprising Frigga's column was significantly denser.

"Memory training?" Loki asked.

"Separation exercises. Or that's what the queen called them. She said learning to distinguish my thoughts from hers will help keep me. . . intact." Darcy shifted uncomfortably, fixing her eyes on the miniature forest of foliage stretch out before her. Speaking of her own potential demise had become far more common in the last several days than she would have preferred.

"You share thoughts?" he asked, genuine curiosity in her tone as he examined her notes.

"I guess? It's like looking at that statue over there. At first it's like 'Hey, cool statue.' But then it's like 'By the way, self, that's Bor son of Buri after the First Battle of Svartalfheim.' But obviously I don't know that. This is supposed to help me keep her separate. Otherwise, it might just be her left. Whether I make it our not, I doubt you guys want your mom trapped in a twenty-two year old human college graduate. Though it could be kind of funny, if not for the 'me dying' part. 'Thor! Loki! Go to your room! No more taking over planets, or your grounded!' Wouldn't you love hearing me say that for the rest of your life."

"Your impression of the Queen of Asgard is uncanny," Loki said, reaching the beginning of her notebook. "Darcy Lewis's Not-a-Bucket List for Asgard." He glanced at her.

"What? A girl's gotta have goals. Though I'm pretty sure my chances of finishing it are pretty toast, now." She watched as he mouthed her entries quietly to himself. A few subdued chuckles escaped him over an otherwise quiet minute. She decided that listening to him laugh, when it was genuine, was actually kind of nice.

"Heimdall's sword would qualify."

"I thought so, since he said the Bi-Frost could technically wreck another planet. Unfortunately, he was super not leaving that thing unguarded. I guess that makes sense. They don't call him the Unguardian of Worlds."

"Why do you just have 'unicorns' with a question mark?"

"I didn't really have a plan. I just felt like I should write it down."

"K-" he froze, looking back up at her. "Kiss an Asgardian?" She responded with a completely unapologetic look. "It's crossed off."

A wicked grin replaced her unrepentant stare. "Yes it is," she said with a slight tilt of her head, wholly pleased with herself.

"Dare I ask who the lucky fellow was you've managed to take as a lover in your week here?"

"Okay, first of all, I don't think a peck on the cheek qualifies as 'taking a lover,'" she said dramatically using fingers to indicate air quotes. "Unless that means something very different in Asgard than it does on Earth. You're skipping ahead about three bases. Second of all, who in the world do I hang with that would let me kiss him with no questions asked?"

A moment passed.

"Fandral?"

"Well I guess you get to keep your reigning title as the Brains of the Family. And Good god, even if I was going to 'take a lover,'" she said, again with sarcastic air quotes, "it wouldn't be Fandral. You will note, contracting space-crabs is not on the Not-a-Bucket List. That boy has been around the block more times than an ice cream truck."

A genuine cackle escaped the God of Mischief as he hopped down from the ledge they had occupied. It was a gorgeous and terrifying sound. Her notebook appeared back in her lap as he turned to look at her. The ledge was only about three feet off of the ground. He was still at eye level with her.

"What do you say we make a bit of a deal, Miss Lewis?"

"That sounds like the beginning of the worst decision I've ever made."

"I have found the ritual that I believe can help us," he continued, undeterred. "You accompany me to Alfheim to retrieve a form for the queen, restore her to life, and I shall help you complete your little 'Not-a-Bucket List.' Perhaps you can explain what in the world that even means. We would be starting with Number Six, obviously."

Darcy narrowed her eyes at him thoughtfully, uncomfortable with how tempting that actually was. That's how all terrible decisions sounded at the time. Sure. Let's just use the One Ring this one time. No one's looking right? What did being invisible ever hurt anyone? If her life was a movie, the audience would be shouting their heads off for her to run away screaming. She was telling herself to run away screaming.

"Odin said we weren't supposed to leave the palace."

Oh no. She was arguing. That meant she was leaving an opening to be convinced. No Darcy. Don't argue with the God of Mischief. You aren't going to win. He tilted his head to the side, the look on his face asked one, unspoken question.

Really?

"Okay, that sounded even dumber out loud than it did in my head," she said. "How would we even leave?"

"Fairly easily. I can disguise us as anyone or anything. We will be gone long before we are missed."

"So by doing that one, extremely specific thing your dad told you not to do; almost as if he knew you would go and do that one specific thing. Got it. What about Thor and Jane?"

"The last mission I was on with them ended with me almost dying. I would prefer not to repeat that trip. Nor do I anticipate a battle. Unlike Thor, I'm quite adept at avoiding combat. Would it not be satisfying to be the one regaling them with your tale of adventure when we return soon?"

"I really, really, really hate that I'm actually considering this."

Loki's smile was as frightening as it was hypnotic as he held out his hand to her. She felt like she was about to jump on the TARDIS, except her Dr. Who was a morally ambiguous Agent of Chaos that was going to get her in way more trouble than he was going to get her out of.

But he made it sound like it was going to be so…

So…

So fun.

She still felt a smile crawl across her lips, unbidden, as she took his offered hand. His long fingers were cold as they closed around her much smaller ones.

"Disguise me as anyone, you say?"

Dear Jane and Thor,

Off to do something really stupid.

Love,

Darcy and Loki XOXOXO

PS Loki says he does not send love or XOXOXOXO.

PPS He didn't kidnap me.

PPS Unless Odin asks. If Odin asks, he totally kidnapped me.