Author's Note: Alright guys, this is the final chapter to this fan fiction. It's much shorter than what I've gotten you used to I'm sure, and it also doesn't really tie up many loose ends. This is just a sort of bridge/epilogue to end one arc before I start the next.
I really hope you've enjoyed this fic though, and I want to give a HUUUUUUUUUUGE thanks to every single person that made it this far and to all the awesome, wonderful folks who left me comments. I love each of you for the support and help, and this thing was definitely ALL you; never would have happened without you guys :)
Also, sorry if it seems a little rushed there toward the end. I was kind of eager to get this out ASAP so I could start on the next piece.
A month passed. It passed in a blur of meetings and debriefings, interrogations and gratuitous testing. Suddenly Darcy was the hot thing on SHIELD's radar, and who could blame them, right? She could quite literally do anything they could ever want with the exception of one thing and one thing alone: getting Loki. On that matter she refused. It wasn't that she didn't think he was a threat—although he'd all but disappeared for the last month she knew he had dangerous plans he'd never shared with her—but she flat out refused to make any moves against him that might turn her into his enemy. That was the last thing she wanted, and even if it eventually happened well then, it sure as hell wouldn't be her fault. So, she lied and told them she couldn't find him because he held the other half of the Stone, but she knew exactly where he was already without even needing to sense him. She knew him practically inside and out. He was on Asgard.
And so every day she was kept busy with reparations on behalf of SHIELD and the Avengers, and every night she was haunted by a version of Loki that still lived on inside her head. He was wild and angry and took her over and over again on the floor of his father's throne room even while they blurred together into one being. It kept her chained to him, or at least it felt that way. Memory after memory plagued her until she would wake up sometimes wondering who she really was and why she wasn't home on Asgard herself. She would go to the bathroom mirror and examine her reflection, sure that she would see Loki's face staring back at her. It never did, but she still couldn't shake the feeling that he was there somehow, inside her head and heart and soul. It was both a bitter comfort and a growing fear, and between her restless nights and all the work that SHIELD or the Avengers team was having her do, Darcy was beginning to feel like she was running on empty.
Then of course, there were the stares. Oh sure, everyone was grateful that she could capture any terrorist or threat to humanity with a simple wish, that she could repair all the damage Andros and other villains had wrought on the world and more, but she could also see the underlying fear and distrust in their eyes; in everyone's eyes. Everyone stared when she wasn't looking, all of them probably wondering if and when she'd snap and turn into the next super villain herself. Everyone whispered when she walked by or tried not to meet her gaze for too long as if she were balancing on some tightrope between being a good person and going crazy with power. Everyone treated her like she was a potential threat. Everyone, that was, except for Thor. He seemed to be the only one who trusted her implicitly and he was the only one—probably on the entire damn planet—that didn't fret over the fact that she wouldn't go after his brother, but he was also the last person she wanted to lean on. Loki's choking, embittered memories made it hard to even stay friendly some days even though she knew it wasn't her past or her memories.
So once again, a long month after Loki had vanished from her life, Darcy found herself sitting alone in Stark Tower, an entire floor to herself. The Avengers wanted her help, but aside from Loki's brother, none of them seemed to have any other interests in her outside of that, and making sure she wasn't a threat to humanity. Rogers was nice enough between the sidelong glances, and Barton seemed torn on whether he thought they'd had a shared experience of having a god in their head or if she'd accepted more than that, but Natasha and Fury, well they never seemed to stop considering her a danger. She wasn't a damn threat though, and short of manipulating them all in a very non-heroic way to forget all about her, there was no way she could prove it to them save for not destroying the world each day. She sighed and changed the channel away from the news, the same old reports still crowding every station, each one related to her in some manner.
Her face had been blasted all over the television in the second to last confrontation with Andros, and it hadn't taken the world long to discover who she was after that. It didn't help that she'd brought back millions of people with smartphones all at one time—England did not appreciate the sudden influx of unprepared tourism, just FYI—and after bringing back the entire physical city of New York, as well as rebuilding all the other cities that Andros had destroyed, she went about returning every person back to where they'd come from. Little Darcy B. Lewis was just about the most famous name and face on the planet—which Stark wasn't too pleased about—and for weeks now she'd been blasted all over the news for not doing more. She couldn't help but feel sour about the situation and wondered again if she should try erasing every memory on the planet.
As she hid away in Stark Tower, a hoard of people waited outside the building, hoping and praying and almost rioting to get inside. They were all people who were either vying for a quick peek at their favorite super heroes, or were those who wanted her help for something or another in their life. Cancer cures, new homes, sporting event victories, regrown amputations, lottery wins; she got all the requests in the world, all the prayers meant for a god they didn't seem to believe in anymore now that she was within reach. That didn't even include the new church that had sprouted up in her honor. They were gracious enough to collect in house requests that they sent to her every other day. The letter bags were filling up the basement far too fast as members wrote to her in droves.
It was too much, and so she tried to ignore it, tried to continuously remind herself that the reason she didn't cure all the cancer or stop world hunger was because the world needed balance, and she wasn't their damn god. She had the wisdom of a demi-god-alien in her head, but even without that she had some notion of what cosmic equilibrium was. Death was a part of life, but nobody else aside from her and a select handful of others could seem to understand that. She'd done as much as she could in the first week, and that alone had wreaked havoc on the economy, but the world didn't think it was enough.
It wasn't until she'd cured Banner of his Hulk however—and seriously, she really couldn't have denied him after he pulled her aside to beg for the release—that Thor sat down with her at last and gave her a talk that he said his father had given him, a talk about the balance of things, a talk she already knew through Loki's eyes and ears. "You cannot save them all." He'd said in an attempt to comfort her, and he was right of course, at least in a way. She could save them all, but the fact of the matter was that she shouldn't. She didn't have the heart to tell him he was preaching to the choir though, so she nodded and smiled, said thanks and started hiding herself away from the world, and away from the one friend she couldn't yet stomach.
She turned off the TV at last and sighed. "Being a super hero sucks ass."
"Is there anything I can get for you Miss Lewis?" Jarvis asked from the hidden speakers in the room. Darcy still wasn't sure how to feel about the almost-living AI, but it was definitely cool having somebody pseudo-care about her needs.
She snorted. "Yeah sure, what does Stark do to get rid of his tension these days? I'm feeling like Midgard's version of a stress ball, or maybe some crap shoot magic-8 ball instead."
"I'm afraid that information has been made confidential." The computer's voice was apologetic, and Darcy couldn't help but smile because of it. Leave it to Tony to have MA-rated pastimes. "Might I suggest a massage parlor perhaps? Ms. Potts has one on speed-dial that offers private, in home sessions. I could schedule an appointment for you if you'd like."
"Nah, don't bother; thanks anyway. If I want my shoulders to feel good I can just wish for it, can't I?" She pushed herself off of the couch and went to one of the windows. "I'll let you know if I need anything."
"As you like, Miss Lewis."
Nobody from the ground could see her from so high up, but she was still able to see the huge swath of hopefuls standing outside the building; a dark swarm of ants, waiting to lick her boot for the chance of a favor. There was a huge banner held over top some heads to the left, and after squinting to get a better look at it Darcy shook her head. 'Stop World Hunger,' it pleaded, 'Bring World Peace.' She felt like a different brand of monster for ignoring it, but there was an order to things that she didn't want to risk messing with. Couldn't all those damn mortals—Midgardians—people, dammit!—couldn't they understand? She leaned her forehead against the glass.
"You know, just for once, I wish I could see what I'm supposed to do, instead of what everyone just wants me to do. Life would be so much easier then."
It had to be said that Darcy was getting better at being careful what she wished for. She nearly never used the word wish anymore, but every so often it still slipped inside either her speech or thoughts, an unbidden trace of her former life. It was a word she'd used all the time before, such a shallow, meaningless term, and it was hard to remember all the time that even simple words could have far from simple consequences. Even as she stared down at the crowd, Darcy was aware of something else now prying its way into her line of sight. She leaned back and frowned.
"Now what the crap is this?" She stared down at her chest, puzzled, as a long string of gossamer light stretched from between her breasts, out through the window and up into the sky. It was a burning shade of swirling gold that glinted in the sun's rays; it reminded her of the Reality Stone, stretched into a fine line and filled with sunlight.
Darcy stepped back from the window and ran her hand across the light. Whatever it was, her hand did nothing to stop it, the thin beam going straight through her skin and bones as if it weren't there to begin with. She did an experimental twirl, but no matter which direction she turned or where she walked in the room, the small line of light stretched from her chest and out the window, up to the sky and beyond the clouds. She wondered just how far it went and what it meant exactly.
"Alright. I'm freaking out a little here. Jarvis, you seeing this buddy?" She glanced up at the ceiling, unsure of where the cameras were in this place.
"If you could be more specific Miss Lewis…"
"More specific—" she scoffed, shaking her head before pointing both thumbs to the spot on her chest where the light was coming form. "This. Right here. Weird light poking out of me like some Disney-fied version of Donnie Darko. Do you see it?"
"I'm afraid I'm not picking up any visuals from your person, ma'am. Shall I run a biometric scan on you?"
"Ugh, no, don't bother. Just—never mind—no wait, call Thor. Is he in the building?"
"He's on floor ninety with Mr. Stark and Mr. Rogers."
"The rec room or S&T?"
"They're in the Strategy and Tactics chamber, but I've been instructed to deny access to any and all visitors."
Darcy grinned and winked at the ceiling, hoping Stark was watching the security footage. "Well deny all you'd like JarJar, but go ahead and tell them I'm coming up anyway."
She blinked, and less than a second later she was standing by the front door of the infamous S&T room. It was where the Avengers had decided to hold all their important meetings, or at least where they called her to anyway when they had a task for her. There weren't many tactics going on anymore now that all they had to do was make a wish on I Dream of Darcy. All three men were staring at her when she smiled, and it wasn't until she took a seat that anybody responded, although their expressions spoke volumes enough.
"One, this is a private meeting." Stark began, leaning back in his chair, "And two, seriously, don't call Jarvis, JarJar; it's insulting on way too many levels. What can we do for you sugar, cause if you're still looking for something recreational I don't think Pepper's gonna be up for that any time soon."
"Pipe down Stark." Darcy said with a smirk, rolling her eyes at his commentary. "If I wanted to do a three-way with your lady, A I wouldn't have to ask exactly, what with being all powerful and crap, and B, you totally wouldn't be invited anyway."
Tony put a hand to his chest. "That hurts me."
"I'm sure." She shook her head then looked over to the man she'd come to see in the first place. "Thor, I need to talk to you pronto."
"Is something amiss?" The demi-god frowned, his shoulders tensing almost immediately.
"Is it Loki?" Rogers asked, and bless his heart for always having his head in the game when it counted.
"Yes." Darcy answered to Thor, then darted her eyes over to Steve and added a quick. "And no. Okay, well, I guess I can just ask here—whatever—so tell me big guy, can you see anything uh, new about me? On me?"
Thor's frown deepened, and suddenly all three men in the room were scrutinizing her. After a few seconds the demi-god shook his head however, his expression puzzled. "I'm sorry Darcy, I see nothing out of the ordinary. Is there anything wrong?"
She sighed, not at all comforted before she pointed a finger to the point in her chest that the light escaped from. "I see this kind of beam coming out of me right now, from right here."
Darcy's eyebrows pinched together as she noticed for the first time a soft light emanating from Thor as well. It wasn't quite as vibrant as hers, but it was still the same thin glowing string escaping from his chest and stretching out to somewhere far beyond the building. She wasn't sure of course, but Darcy got the distinct feeling that if she followed the beam outside it would go up into the sky as well, disappearing somewhere off world and maybe even touching hers at some point.
"I see it coming from you too." She added a second later, her eyebrow raising a little as his light grew just a bit brighter."
"A light?" The Asgardian asked, his eyes falling to his chest.
"From all of us?" Steve asked this time, his eyes narrowing to try and see what she did.
Darcy shook her head. "No, not from you two, just Thor and me."
"What does this light look like, Darcy? When did it begin?"
She shrugged, "I don't know, I mean, it's a light. It's thin and glows and both of ours are shooting out to somewhere outside the building, up toward the sky. It started when—" Darcy laughed, realizing how accurate her comparison to Donnie Darko might have actually been. "—when I wished that I could see what I was supposed to do."
Thor's eyes widened. "Darcy, have you any familiarity with the Norns?"
As soon as he said the word a rush of memories from Loki's life flooded to the forefront of her mind, things her—no, his—mother had taught him. Myths and legends, facts and magic; the Norns; everything seemed to fall in place and she grinned, too excited by the revelation to even try and pretend like she didn't know what Thor was talking about. Nobody knew that Loki's life was still inside her mind, but for all they knew she could have pulled the information from anything, even just wished for the knowledge; they didn't know how it worked so who cared.
"The Threads of Fate." She answered, keeping her gaze locked to Thor's.
He nodded. "Yes. I believe so."
"Somebody want to fill me in on what the hell you two are talking about, and why Capsicle and me don't have this light thing?" Tony was eyeing them both with a frown. He really didn't seem to like being left out of the loop, but Darcy kind of enjoyed making him squirm a little. It was one of the few, innocent joys she had left in the world.
"We're talking about destiny Stark, and apparently Thor's is tied to mine somehow since my wish only involved knowing what me-myself was supposed to do, but I bet I can do better."
"Darcy, wait—" Thor started, leaning forward, but her excitement wasn't having it, and she spoke before he could get another word out.
"I wish I could see what everyone was supposed to do."
The world around her exploded with light.
Author's Note: So yeah... that's it for A Dose of Reality. I plan to start on the next arc straight away, so keep your eye out for it: The Fate of Reality
It will continue from exactly where this one left off, and I'll probably start it off with a chapter from Loki's POV, and some of the characters that didn't get a chance to show up in this fic will probably make an appearance in the next. I'm thinking that this will be a series of three fics if I can pull it off, but I don't want to make any promises just yet.
Thanks again for reading and I sincerely hope you enjoyed it. Hopefully I can post the first chapter for this next one soon enough, and I've got my fingers crossed that you'll like that one as well.