Happy (very belated) Christmas and New Year and (slightly early) Valentine's Day, everyone! I guess this chapter is my gift to you?!
P.S. Loki's song right now is totally "Demons" by Imagine Dragons.
Before Darcy knew it, Halloween was long gone, Thanksgiving was over, and even Christmas had jingled all its bells. It was the afternoon of New Year's Eve in London, and on this celebratory winter's day, Darcy's thoughts were ironically rather glum.
It was the first New Year's Eve of her life during which instead of thinking bright, hopeful thoughts about the year to come, she found herself haunted by thoughts of the year that would soon reach its end. Not that it hadn't been a relatively good year for the planet as a whole. After three consecutive ones, it had been the first year without a single alien invasion, for example. But of course, S.H.I.E.L.D. had fallen, and HYDRA had reared its ugly head once more, but the head had been severed in a matter of days, and while the now-headless snake had indeed managed to crawl back into its hole, taking with it Loki's scepter and gods only knew what other alien weaponry, Thor and the other Avengers were certain that they would soon find and eradicate the snake nest for good.
There were more positives too: Asgard had been freed of Loki's unjust rule, and more importantly, Loki had then chosen to be banished to Earth. Now, a year ago Darcy would've never considered the latter to be a good thing, but there was simply no denying the fact that Loki had been nothing but extremely helpful since his arrival on the planet. He had warned Thor about Thanos, had helped Jane and Erik reconfigure and finish Project S.E.E.R., and had stated multiple times that he would fight alongside Earth and Asgard should a war with Thanos ever come to pass. And even if it never did, Darcy strongly doubted that he would wish to make a renewed enemy of the two realms that had shown him such unconditional mercy.
But what Darcy knew, what she had realized and what had put her in this entirely non-holiday-spirited funk, was that she had played no part in changing the world for the better this year. While Thor had had his Avenging and Jane, Loki, and Erik had had their science-slash-magic (depending on how one chose to look at it), Darcy had had coffee runs, transcribing Jane's notes and equations, and occasionally providing IT support when a computer would freeze or crash. But the truth was that Jane, Thor, Loki, and Erik could have accomplished everything that they had even without Darcy's involvement, which to Darcy said only one thing: She had been useless all year. And that was not okay.
The problem was that she had known since around age 12 that someday she wanted to change the world. And she had realized even at that young age that her best shot at doing so was to infiltrate the dark, sketchy, and often treacherous world of politics. And for the following nine years, she had worked relentlessly to help herself reach this goal. She had understood the importance of her education, so she had exceled in high school and had busted her ass all throughout college. But it had been a year now since she had graduated from her program, and in this year she had done absolutely nothing to further her goal. The logical next step was obviously to move back to the US and look for a job in her field, but the truth was that Darcy just didn't think she could bear to go at the world alone all over again. And so, here she was, forever forced to choose between either doing what was important to her or being with the people who were important to her.
And speaking of people who were important to her . . . there was still the issue of Loki. Darcy had long since sworn to herself that her happiness would never depend on any man, but Jesus damn it, would it ever help right now if Loki could just return her feelings for him. Ugh, "feelings". "Feelings" was probably an understatement of what she was truly experiencing for that sarcastic little shit. Hell, if it weren't for the knowledge that she could never, ever be with him, she would probably be fully in love with him by now. But she knew that he did not feel the same way. She knew because she knew that he knew exactly how she felt about him. She'd been a total dumbass to have given herself away as she had done, a complete idiot, but there was no taking back the fact that Loki had teased her with a kiss and she had utterly and completely fallen for it. But although that incident must've doubtlessly made him realize that she wanted him and wanted him badly, he had since then made no attempt to make a real and honest move on her, and so, Darcy had come to an unfortunate but realistic conclusion: He wasn't interested.
And it had hurt. A lot. But slowly, gradually, the raw pain of it had subsided until it had become just this dull, ever-present ache at the back of her chest. She could only hope that she would get used to it someday, because her attraction to Loki wasn't showing sign of going away any time soon . . . .
"You can still go," the god in question was currently saying from across the main living area. "I honestly will not hold it against you if you do."
He was stretched out on the small couch that stood by the bookshelf, a copy of George R. R. Martin's A Dance with Dragons held open in his hands, and when Darcy looked at him, she was forced to suppress a giggle. This had been a recurring phenomenon since the morning of Christmas Eve, when Darcy, Jane, Erik, and Thor had first convinced the god to put on what he was still wearing now: a fluffy midnight-blue sweater with snowflakes . . . and with an oversized print of Queen Elsa's face on the front.
"It is your first Jul on Midgard, Brother," Thor replied to Loki defensively, "and I already told you that I am not leaving you for it. Do you have any twos?"
"And I already said that I'm not going if Thor's not going," Jane added. "Go fish, Sweetheart."
Of course, convincing Loki that wearing ridiculous Christmas sweaters was a sacred Midgardian yuletide tradition had had its consequences, as was being made apparent by the current attire of everyone else in the apartment. Indeed, leading by example had been the only way that Darcy, Jane, Erik, and Ian had been able to convince Thor to don his first ugly Christmas sweater the year before, but it had worked so well that this year Thor had been at the forefront of swaying Loki to the jolly side, even going as far as to threaten to banish the mischief god from the planet for not abiding by its people's "holy and ancient rituals".
And now the thunder god was wearing a fluffy turquoise Princess Anna sweater with pink hearts, while his most logical and intellectual girlfriend, sitting across from him at the computer bar, wore a Kristoff-and-icepicks sweater that was such an outrageous shade of tangerine, it actually hurt Darcy's eyes a little.
"Darcy? Erik?" Loki continued. "If you wish to go, then go. Know that I am not holding you back in any way."
"Ah, but you forget that I'm not the party-going type, boy," Erik said from his seat at the kitchen table, which was currently stacked so high with exam papers, they had almost entirely obscured his fluffy purple Sven-and-carrots sweater. "I didn't go last year either. And besides, I have far too many midterms left to grade before the end of the holidays to be able to afford to do much of anything else at the moment. But if Darcy wants to go, and if she manages to catch a last-minute flight to New York . . . ."
The whole dilemma of the day had been caused by the fact that Darcy, Jane, Thor, and Erik had all been invited to Tony Stark's annual New Year's Eve Stark Tower bash, but Thor's refusal to leave Loki alone for the holiday had ultimately ended up meaning that no one was going to the party at all. And although Loki was trying to act as aloof and indifferent as ever, Darcy knew that such self-sacrifice on everyone's part had made him feel guilty.
"Ohhh, noooo, I'm not showing my face at a Stark party for another two years at least," the feisty research assistant lied now.
Loki actually put down his book and looked at her. "Why?"
Darcy feigned embarrassment. "Because when Thor, Jane, Ian, and I went last year, I got smashed, puked on the carpet, broke a timeless Mayan vase, tried making out with Clint Barton, and in the end, Ian had to carry me to our room."
This wasn't a lie, but it also wasn't the reason why Darcy didn't want to go to the party tonight. The truth was that she, like Thor, wanted to spend Loki's first New Year's Eve on Earth at his side. But there was no denying the fact that between the quiet reading, the boring exam-grading, and the dull Go Fish, tonight promised to be a very uneventful New Year's indeed.
"Sounds like a fun night to me," Loki said, smirking,
"You wouldn't be saying that had you been in my shoes the following morning," Darcy replied, glowering at the mischief god down the bridge of her nose.
The bespectacled brunette was on her laptop, sitting at the computer desk across from Loki's couch, and had just finished reading an online The Telegraph article on renewed political tensions in Sokovia. Sighing, she returned to the main page of The Telegraph's website and began scrolling through the other top stories.
"Holy shit, guys?" she said about five seconds later.
"Yes, Darce?" Jane said, turning around in her seat.
"There's like . . . fireworks tonight," Darcy said. "At the Ferris wheel."
"What, really?" Jane said, raising her eyebrows. "I didn't know that. Why don't we go then?"
"Well, that's what I was thinking," Darcy said, clicking on the article. "Says here they start right after Big Ben chimes midnight."
"Oh, wow, that should be amazing!" Jane said, now smiling excitedly. "What do you think, Sweetheart?" she said to Thor.
"Must you even ask, my love?" Thor answered, grinning. "Never in my life have I not loved fireworks."
"Loco," Darcy barked, turning to the God of Lies now. "You are coming tonight, and I don't wanna hear anything to the contrary."
Loki responded with a noncommittal grunt from the couch.
"Jazz Hands . . . ." Darcy said threateningly.
"Mmmh," Loki said.
Darcy crossed her arms and glared at him, but she could only look at his Elsa sweater for so long before it started burning her eyes with its ugliness and she had to look down. Which didn't help much, considering she now found herself staring at her own hideous Christmas sweater: a fluffy highlighter-yellow one with Olaf's grinning face on the front and pairs of black sunglasses printed all over the rest of it.
But then, Darcy had a rather sneaky idea.
It had of course been she who had initiated the wearing of the Christmas sweaters this year and the year before, making up the lie that it was a "sacred human tradition" in order to get Thor and Loki on the bandwagon, and that, she now realized, had had to have given her some authority on the subject of traditional holiday wear in general. With this and the knowledge of how much Loki hated wearing his Elsa sweater in mind, Darcy came up with a plan on how to hopefully get the stubborn mischief god to come to the fireworks tonight after all.
"Fine, don't go," she began by telling the god dismissively. "I guess you like wearing that Elsa sweater more than you let on."
"What does my sweater have to do with some fireworks?" Loki asked, though he didn't even lift his eyes from the book he was reading.
"Oh, only everything," Darcy said casually, pretending to continue browsing the Web on her laptop. "Or don't you know that you're supposed to dress nicely when going out for New Year's?" She was aware that Jane, Thor, and Erik were all listening to her closely.
"What are you on about, Little Mortal?" Loki asked, finally taking the bait and looking up from his book.
Over at the kitchen table, Erik snickered loudly. Darcy threw him a warning look, and the graying scientist immediately masked his snicker with a cough and, smirking, returned to his grading.
"What I'm saying," Darcy continued matter-of-factly, "is that if you end up going out with us tonight, that sweater just won't cut it. You'll have to change into something nicer. And once you take off the sweater for New Year's, you won't have to put it back on again. But otherwise you're gonna be stuck wearing it until the end of the holidays."
For a moment Loki looked truly terrified by the prospect, but then his eyes narrowed suspiciously. "You did not simply make up this whole sweater business to ridicule myself and Thor, did you?" he asked Darcy distrustfully.
"Uhm," Darcy said, exchanging a worried look with Jane.
"How dare you, Brother?" Thor boomed suddenly. "How would you feel if Darcy questioned our traditions like that? This realm is our home now, so we must respect the laws and customs of its unique and wonderful people!"
Gods bless you, Thunder Wonder, Darcy thought to herself, then wondered how the mighty Thor was going to take it when he would inevitably find out that making up this whole sweater business to ridicule Loki and him was exactly what Darcy had done.
"Don't worry about the fireworks, boy," Erik added, addressing Loki. "If you don't want to go, then don't go. So you'll have to wear the sweater for another weekend, so what? I did it last year, and I survived, didn't I?"
"I'm going," Loki said quickly.
Around the room, Darcy, Jane, and Erik all exchanged knowing smirks.
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
It rained for most of the day, though by 10:00 p.m., when Darcy disappeared into her bedroom to change and get ready for the fireworks, the rain had subsided, leaving the air outside mild but the sky cloudy. Unlike the weather, however, Darcy had no idea of what to change into.
She was going through her closet for about the fifth time in a row, wondering just what kind of idea she'd put in Loki's head when she had said that they would have to "dress nicely" tonight. Was he expecting everyone to just wear nice casual clothes, or to go decked out in full-out formal wear? What did she even want to wear? Nothing in her closet was speaking to her, that was for sure, but what other options did she have?
And then she remembered it. The box that lay stowed away under her sofabed, untouched since she had placed it there back in August. She procured it now, carefully wiping off the dust that had settled on the lid, and placed it on the sofa. Holding her breath, she opened it.
The dress was every bit as beautiful as she had remembered it to be. The dark-purple silk of the bodice and skirt, the delicate lace sleeves, the detail of the minuscule glass beads, it all still took her breath away just as it had done when she had first laid her eyes on the garment.
Unfortunately, and as much as she had wanted to, she had had no occasion to wear the dress in all the months since she had bought it, but now, somehow, it seemed like the only choice that made sense. So now, giving herself no chance to change her mind, she quickly took the dress out of its box and proceeded to change into it.
She bit her lip as she examined herself in the mirror of her dresser. She wasn't sure if it was only in contrast to the Olaf sweater and the sweatpants that she was wearing just before, but damn, she looked good. Like she was going to an actual New Year's Eve party. Feeling marginally more enthused about the current state of her life, she decided that if she was going to go at all, she might as well go all out.
She proceeded to quickly brush her hair, which already fell naturally in smooth, elegant waves (and which saved her the trouble of doing much more to it than brushing to make it look presentable). Next came the makeup, and unlike the hair, this promised to be a grueling undertaking indeed. Nevertheless, opening the black leather-quilted makeup box that sat on top of her dresser, Darcy began to go through the numerous eyeshadows which she had borrowed (permanently) from Jane.
"Aha," she said several seconds later, pulling out glitter purple and glitter magenta from the box. Eyeshadow wasn't exactly her forte in the makeup department, but tonight she had a damn good idea for a look and she was determined to make it work. Getting out her makeup brushes, she opened up the glitter purple and proceeded to apply it to her eyelids only. Next, she applied the glitter magenta to just above her eyelids, so that it fanned out onto and gradually faded across her browbones. Finally, she blended the two colors at their meeting points in the creases of her lids, and then took a step back from the mirror to have a general look at the final product.
The colors turned out to have been an excellent choice, as they not only complemented Darcy's dress, but also brought out her dark-blue eyes. Feeling intensely satisfied with the result, she decided to finish off the look with black mascara and winged eyeliner.
The only thing left for her to apply now was her favorite magenta lipstick, and just a dab of glitter gloss. As for jewelry, she normally didn't wear any at all, but for the purposes of tonight she decided to go with a pair of sapphire stud earrings (fake sapphires of course, who was she kidding?) just to make her eyes pop that tiny little bit extra.
As for her bag and shoes, she had picked out both a long time ago. The purse was a black beaded clutch with a wrist strap, and the shoes were black glitter pumps with wedge heels. After putting her phone, wallet, bus pass, headphones, and lip gloss into the clutch, and having taken one final look at herself in the mirror, she put on her shoes and headed out of the room.
And then she stopped dead in her tracks.
Loki was waiting for her just outside her bedroom door. Jane and Thor were there too, wearing jeans and light jackets and currently engrossed in lively conversation with each other, but Darcy had eyes only for her God of Mischief. It appeared that he had indeed taken "nice" to mean "formal", because he had dressed himself in a black blazer and a pair of slim-fitting black dress pants, shined black dress shoes that Darcy had not even known he possessed, an ice-blue silk dress shirt, and a textured black skinny tie. And unsurprisingly, he looked amazing. Darcy wasn't sure if it was because she was seeing him out of his Elsa sweater for the first time in a week, but she had seriously never been more attracted to him. She couldn't even fucking breathe.
Oddly enough, as he looked at her, Loki didn't appear to be breathing either.
"Oh, there you are, Darce," Jane said, blinking at her research assistant, clearly only just now having noticed her standing there.
The sound of her voice was like a bucketful of cold water spilling onto Darcy's head. Both she and Loki exhaled sharply, and Darcy felt as though she'd just been woken from a trance.
"Holy crap, you too?" Jane continued, now goggling at Darcy's outfit incredulously. "Have you and Loki been invited to a secret ball that Thor and I don't know about? Because I thought we were just going to see the fireworks."
"Um," Darcy said.
"Don't answer that," Jane said. "Hey, where's Erik?"
Darcy nodded at the kitchen table, where the top of Erik's blond-gray head was just visible over the veritable mountainful of papers now piled there.
"Oh," Jane said, looking confused. "Erik, are you just about ready to leave?" she called out to the professor.
Erik peeked his head around the giant pile of papers, rubbing his eyes tiredly. "I'm afraid I can't go anywhere tonight, my dear," he said to Jane apologetically. "Not if I want to finish grading these before Monday."
There was a general outcry of disappointment from Darcy, Jane, and Thor, but Erik remained unwavering in his decision to stay behind and continue grading.
"I don't want to hear it!" he said eventually, waving them away. "Go, or you won't find a nice spot from which to watch the fireworks!"
"Is everyone else ready to go?" Jane asked, though she continued casting plaintive glances at Erik.
"Yes," Darcy and Loki said together.
"Of course, my love," Thor said comfortingly.
"All right, let's head out then," Jane said. She made a movement as if to turn toward the apartment door, but then froze, staring at Darcy's feet in horror. "Dear Lord, Darce, what are you wearing?" she demanded.
"Uh . . . shoes?" Darcy said, utterly befuddled.
"Yes, but they're high heels, and we're walking," Jane elaborated. "Your feet are gonna be dead by the end of the night."
Darcy rolled her eyes. "They're wedges, Jane. Wedges don't hurt your feet. I'll be fine, so let's go."
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
Darcy's feet were killing her. She, Loki, Jane, and Thor had been en route to the fireworks viewing area along Victoria Embankment, which ran down the north bank of the River Thames and would place them exactly across the water from the London Eye and the fireworks display, for about twenty minutes now, but had only just reached Trafalgar Square, which on a regular night would've taken them a maximum of ten minutes. The reason for the abysmal slowness of their progress was the fact that the streets in their entire neighborhood were positively packed with people. Roads had actually been closed to traffic in their area, so pedestrians had full reign of everything south of the A40, and yet so many of the people milling about seemed to be so fucking pissed off about something, Darcy had to wonder just what exactly on New Year's Eve of all days could've possibly set them off. And she was seriously tired of these moody-ass fucking passersby nearly knocking her off her feet every time they'd unceremoniously shove past her.
Halfway across the roundabout on the southern side of the square, an Eminem-wannabe-looking punk ran into Darcy's shoulder so hard, she very nearly rolled an ankle as she went stumbling backward again. And this time around, she decided that she's had quite enough,
"Seriously?" she bellowed after the kid. "What is wrong with you people? You'd think New Year's got canceled or something!"
To her surprise, the kid actually stopped and turned around at her outburst. "Might as well be though, mightn't it?" he said bitterly, shrugging.
Darcy stared at him blankly. "What?" she said.
"Oh, I assume you lot have tickets," the punk said tersely.
"Tickets to what?" Darcy snapped, her confusion beginning to turn into annoyance.
"The bloody fireworks of course," the Eminem wannabe supplied impatiently. "Or haven't you noticed the fucking barricades everywhere?"
Darcy, Loki, Jane, and Thor looked around the roundabout, and Darcy's heart sank. Access to the street that they had been planning to take down to Victoria Embankment, Northumberland Avenue, had indeed been entirely blocked off by temporary fencing. Whitehall meanwhile had been blocked off but for a single gate, currently closed, with several security guards milling about it, answering pedestrians' questions and directing them away.
"We need . . . tickets . . . to be able to see the fireworks?" Jane ground out several seconds later. She looked quite white.
The kid laughed out loud, looking oddly gruntled by Jane's question. "Bloody hell, you lot didn't know either! No, you cannot watch the fireworks without tickets. Not from anywhere that'd be worth it at least."
Jane didn't reply, which Darcy knew was a testament to how pissed off the Boss Lady was feeling. Darcy hadn't realized how invested Jane had become in watching the fireworks, and now felt all kinds of awful.
"And do you know where we might be able to purchase said tickets?" Thor asked discount Eminem politely. At least the God of Thunder hadn't lost all hope.
"Yeah," the kid said. "Nowhere. They're all sold out. Spoke to one of the guards at the gate, and he said, and I quote, 'If you don't got a ticket, you might as well go home, mate.' So I don't know about you four, but I'm gonna go home, roll myself a spliff, and watch some Mr. Bean. Happy fucking New Year." And with that, the kid turned on his heel and continued on his way across the roundabout.
Looking furious, Jane rounded on Darcy. "Ticketed fireworks, Darce? Really? Did you just skip over that part in the article you were reading?"
"I didn't read the whole thing . . . ." Darcy answered truthfully.
"Why am I not surprised?" Jane rambled on, throwing her arms up in the air exasperatedly. "It's like you haven't been fully here these past few days. Where is your head, Darce? Where is—"
"How do we know the tickets have truly been all sold out?" Loki interjected, cutting off Jane's rant. "Surely we aren't taking that hooded delinquent at his word?"
"Excellent thought, Brother!" Thor exclaimed, clearly still refusing to give up hope. "Is there not a way to find out, Darcy?"
"On it," Darcy said. She whipped her iPhone out of her clutch, but a quick Internet search yielded even worse news than that with which the punk had provided them. "Oh, no . . . ." she muttered.
Thor's face fell. "What is it?"
"The tickets are sold out," Darcy said miserably. "Been so for a while now. But what's worse, even if Jazz Hands could take something and make it look like tickets, they wouldn't let us through to the viewing area anyway, because access to the restricted areas even for ticket-holders was cut off about an hour ago."
Jane crossed her arms and glowered at her research assistant, but refrained from any more angry outbursts. Loki looked like someone who would very much like to help, but who was out of ideas and was therefore very sorry.
"Then I shall force my way through the barricades!" Thor declared passionately. "No fence can hold back the son of Odin!"
"No, but the half-dozen guards who will undoubtedly try to stop you might," Loki deadpanned.
Thor appeared to contemplate this for a moment, then said, "Then you will use your magic to render me invisible, Brother! The guards will not see me then!"
"No, they will not," Loki conceded. "But they will still hear you destroying their fence, which I am sure will be far less suspicious," he added sarcastically.
"Then we can climb over the fence," Thor attempted again, a note of desperation in his voice now. "Soundlessly."
"Sorry, Thunder Wonder, but I'm not climbing over any fences in this dress," Darcy said miserably. "But maybe we can go somewhere else? There have to be places from which we could watch the fireworks for free, there just have to be."
"It's eleven thirty, Darce," Jane snapped irritably, looking at her watch. "Even if we leave now, the chances of us finding a location in time are close to nil."
"Well, excuse me for trying!" Darcy snapped back, growing tired of Jane's attitude. "I'm sorry if I can't plan things as perfectly as you can, but at least Loki, Thor, and I are trying to think of a solution!"
"Oh, just face it already!" Jane retorted hotly. "Unless we can, I don't know, climb onto the rooftop of some building or something, we're not watching any damned fireworks tonight!"
Darcy's mouth fell open. "Holy shit, Jane, that's genius!" she said, scanning the buildings surrounding them. "So kinda like that one?" she asked, pointing at a highrise a short distance away behind them and to the right. Even though it was by no means a skyscraper, it was still the tallest building Darcy could see in their immediate vicinity.
"Dear Lord, Darcy, I wasn't being serious," Jane said, looking at Darcy as if the bespectacled brunette had just suggested they go streaking across Trafalgar Square.
Utterly befuddled, Darcy exchanged a look with Loki and Thor. To her relief, they looked just as confused as she felt.
"Um . . . why not, my love?" Thor inquired carefully.
Jane looked as if her brain cells had just suffered massive casualties. "Because that would be breaking and entering, and that's illegal?" she hissed. "Because that could get us arrested, which, considering who we are, would be very, very bad?"
"Not if we don't get caught." Loki said smugly.
Jane rolled her eyes. "And what if we do?"
"We won't," Darcy said. "I mean, think about who you're with, Jane. Wreck-It Ralph,"—she indicated Thor—"Houdini,"—she nodded at Loki—"and moi, who's been breaking into places since motherfucking college."
"Right," Jane answered sarcastically. "And if I recall correctly, it all ended with you getting arrested."
"That is not the point," Darcy said quickly. "The point is fireworks, Jane. Grand, beautiful fireworks spewing out of the London Eye as Big Ben chimes midnight, all seen from the best viewing spot in all of London. Are you really going to pass that up?"
Jane glared at Darcy for several long seconds, then sighed loudly. "All right, let's go. But if we get arrested, I'm killing you all."
"See, I knew you had it in you, you little rebel," Darcy said, grinning at her Boss Lady wickedly, which actually managed to coax a small smile out of Jane in return.
Keeping the highrise in sight as a visual guide, they set off back across the roundabout and then onto Cockspur Street. Darcy had forgotten how badly her feet were hurting her, but putting them back into action certainly served to remind her of that.
"So what are you psychopaths thinking?" Jane asked as the building loomed ever closer. "How are we gonna get up onto that rooftop?"
"I'm thinking the same way the Dark Elves got onto the rooftop of our building," Darcy answered.
"A fire escape?" Loki said skeptically. "I do not think this building has one, Little Mortal."
"Not every building has an emergency staircase on the outside, Jazz Hands," Darcy said, "but there should be one."
What to Darcy's throbbing feet felt like an eternity later (even though she knew that in reality it was just a few minutes), they arrived at the highrise. It looked even taller now, about twenty stories high, Darcy had to say. A sign above the main entrance on the eastern side of the building read "NEW ZEALAND HOUSE".
"'New Zealand House'?" Jane read out loud. "What does that even mean? What is this place?"
"No idea," Darcy said, "but I do know that if we're gonna break in, we're not gonna do so through the main entrance. Come on, there's gotta be a back door here somewhere."
They continued along the southern side of the building, and just as Darcy began thinking that her feet might literally fall off, they reached a driveway leading up to the building and culminating in a closed garage door.
"Aha!" Darcy said triumphantly, bringing the group to a stop.
"Uh, Darce?" Jane asked uncertainly. "Doesn't that just lead to an underground parking garage?"
"The driveway?" Darcy said. "Sure. But what about that double door beside it? I dunno about you, but to me it looks like it'd make the perfect exit for an emergency staircase."
Out of nowhere, a strange and refreshing chill descended upon Darcy's body, enveloping every inch of her in a pleasant, mist-like coolness, and simultaneously, she felt that tingling sensation that she normally felt whenever Thor or Loki used magic around her.
"I have just rendered us invisible to any outside eyes," Loki informed the group casually. "Be sure to speak softly now, for I cannot simultaneously bend light and redirect sound."
"Damn, Jazz," Darcy said, grinning. "Can you always be this on the ball? I was just about to point out the two security cameras."
"Those devices are no longer of any concern to us," Loki said smugly.
"Then let's go," Darcy said, undeniably excited.
Smirking amusedly, Loki stepped aside to allow her to take the lead. Confidently, the vivacious brunette took one limping step forward, but then, suddenly, it hit her: the horrible realization that they were about to climb about twenty flights of stairs. In one go. Her legs nearly gave out at the mere thought of it.
"Uh, say, Jazz Hands," she said, coming to a stop and turning to the mischief god again, "why are we even breaking and entering? I mean, can't you just . . . poof us onto the rooftop or something?"
"You mean space-shift?" Loki asked, looking at her oddly. "I am afraid it does not work like that, Little Mortal."
"And why not?" Darcy demanded immediately. "I thought the rule is that objects can't be teleported in parts?"
"That is one of the rules, yes," Loki answered, nodding.
"One of the rules?" Darcy inquired skeptically. "You know, Jazz Hands, sometimes I wonder if you make these rules up as you go along, just because you're too lazy to do magic . . . ."
Loki actually chuckled at that. "I am not making this up, Little Mortal. And you are perfectly correct in stating that in magic, at least in the Asgardian magic that I learned from my mother, objects may only be space-shifted as wholes. But that is only one of the three fundamental laws of teleportation. The second is that one may not teleport living things. Not a single bacterium. Which makes what you are asking me to do . . . a bit problematic. And the third is that the mass of the object or objects that one is teleporting must be smaller than one's own mass. So even if I were to go ahead and kill the three of you first, I would only be able to teleport the bodies of yourself and Jane, not Thor. Unless of course I were to first cleave Thor's body in half by means other than teleportation—"
"Oookaaay," Darcy said, cutting Loki off. "Way to be disappointing and morbid, Jazz Hands."
"And you can't teleport Mjølnir," Jane said out of nowhere, looking at Loki peculiarly.
"No, I cannot," Loki admitted, looking back at Jane testily. "And it isn't for lack of trying," he added under his breath.
Jane smirked triumphantly, and on that note, the group took another step forward . . . only for Darcy to come to another cringing stop.
"Okay, but what about telekinesis then?" she said, turning on Loki once again.
"What about it?" Loki asked patiently.
"Well, can't you use it to just fly us up to the rooftop?" Darcy said. "Or are there stupid laws that prevent you from doing that too?
Loki rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Only that I wouldn't be able to lift myself. Otherwise, my telekinesis is as strong as I am physically."
"And physically, you are strong enough to lift me, Jane, and Thor, aren't you?" Darcy asked hopefully.
"Yes, of course," Loki said, looking a little taken aback by the question. "But with magic it is not only a question of strength, but also a question of concentration, as in how much concentration would it take for me to lift an object as heavy as a body to a height as considerable as the height of this building."
"And? How much concentration would that be?"
"If I'm not mistaken, an amount so great that even the smallest distraction would undoubtedly cause a lapse that would send whoever it is I am lifting plummeting to his or her death," Loki said matter-of-factly. "So if any of you do decide to go through with this, you best pray to the Cosmic Entities that I do not have to sneeze," he added with a smirk.
"Oh, ha-ha," Darcy said sarcastically. "Could've spared yourself the tongue-flapping and started with 'Sorry, Darce, but there's no way you're not climbing all those stairs tonight.' Anyway, let's go."
Choosing to ignore the pain that every footstep caused her, she stomped down the driveway and toward the double door beside the entrance to the parking garage. Loki, Jane, and Thor followed.
"Padlock," Darcy said a couple of seconds later, coming to a stop and pointing at the single lock hanging from the doors. "But"—she checked the doorframe carefully—"doesn't look as if there's a motion sensor or any kind of other security elaboration installed."
"Excellent," Thor said, then proceeded to rip the padlock from the doors and toss it onto the ground.
"Graceful as always, Brother," Loki remarked.
"Thank you," Thor answered, pushing open the doors.
One by one, the group passed inside and found themselves standing on a grimy, dimly lit staircase landing. The doors shut behind them with a soft click.
"Well, Darce, I'll be damned." Jane murmured, looking around the place with no small amount of surprise on her face, "because that"—she pointed at a set of steps heading downstairs—"must lead down to the basement, and that"—she motioned at the steps heading upstairs—"has got to take us where we wanna go."
"Aw, I'm so glad you never lost faith in me, Jane," Darcy said with mock sweetness, looking around the landing herself. She had indeed been right about the double door being the emergency exit, as a large glowing red "EXIT" sign hung over the doorway. A control panel of some kind hung on the wall beside the doors, which Darcy could only assume was used during the day to program the doors to open exclusively from the inside, thus simultaneously allowing people an exit if needed and keeping the building secure from outsiders.
"And that must be the entrance to the building itself, right?" Jane said, nodding at the only other door leading from the landing, this one clearly requiring a keycard to access and more than likely wired into an alarm system.
"Yup, but there's no way we're passing through there unnoticed, so I hope you weren't secretly hoping we'd be able to get to an elevator or something," Darcy said, kicking off her shoes. "Because I know I sure was."
"Darcy, what are you doing?" Jane asked, looking at Darcy's bare feet judgmentally.
"Saving myself from becoming a cripple by the time we reach the top of this staircase," Darcy said, wiggling her toes against the icy concrete. After the world of pain she had been enduring, it felt amazing.
"Oh, my God," Jane said, her eyes widening. "Your feet hurt, don't they? I warned you, Darce. I totally told you so! And you didn't listen, and now this is the result, isn't it?"
"Okay, Mom," Darcy intoned, rolling her eyes and picking up her pumps off the floor. "Don't get your panties in a twist. I think I'll be fine climbing some stairs without my shoes on. Might get a cold considering how cold this floor is, but it's not like that'd be the end of the world or something."
"I'm not so much worried about you catching a cold as I'm worried about you catching tetanus!" Jane cried out shrilly. "I mean, have you seen how dirty it is here? Take one step and you'll probably step on an old nail or broken glass! And"—she lowered her voice suddenly, pointing at the ascending flight of steps cautiously—"I swear I heard something scurry up there."
Darcy was about to tell Jane just how ridiculous she was being, but her train of thought was completely interrupted by Loki, who was doing something altogether weird. He had walked over and positioned himself in front of her, his back to her, and had now spread his legs to shoulder width and bent forward slightly. He showed no intention of moving out of this position.
"Uh, Jazz Hands?" Darcy said uncertainly, surveying this new development with one raised eyebrow. "If this is an Asgardian mating ritual, I'm not digging it," she lied.
"Get on," Loki said simply.
Darcy gaped as understanding washed over her. "My gods, Jazz Hands, are you offering me a piggyback ride?"
"If that's what you people call it," Loki said, shifting on the spot impatiently. "Get on, before I change my mind."
Grinning madly, and still holding on to her shoes, Darcy placed her hands on Loki's shoulders and then hoisted herself onto his back. He caught her legs just behind the knee and straightened up, adjusting her position on top of him as he did so.
"My love!" Thor exclaimed excitedly, rushing to get into the "boarding" position in front of Jane. "Get on!"
Jane smiled at him awkwardly. "That's kind, Sweetheart, really, but I'm sure I can manage to climb these stairs without your help . . . ."
"Please, my love!" Thor begged. "Do it for me?"
"Do it, Jane," Darcy called out. "Doooooo eeeeeet. You know you want to."
Jane sighed, looking frustrated, and Darcy knew that she was about to cave. She was therefore completely unsurprised when just several seconds later, "Oh, all right," Jane said, and then proceeded to hop onto Thor's back.
"Darcy!" Thor cried out suddenly, spinning around so as to face Loki and his passenger. "I have just had the most marvelous idea!"
"It's for the four of us to have a race, right?" Darcy asked, having just had this idea herself.
"Yes!" cried out Thor.
"No," said Loki and Jane simultaneously.
They ended up racing the final five flights of stairs, with Loki and Darcy winning by a literal fraction of a second. Just like all the previous landings, the uppermost one upon which they now found themselves contained a single keycard-accessible door leading presumably to the building beyond, but this landing also housed a metal ladder attached to a padlocked trapdoor built into the ceiling.
"You cheated, Brother!" Thor huffed indignantly, letting Jane slide from his back. "You used magic to cheat, did you not?"
"I know not of what you speak," Loki growled, as Darcy disembarked. "I think you're just being a sore loser, Brother." He looked up at the trapdoor, waved his hand, and the padlock vanished from view.
"Less arguing, more climbing, you two," Darcy said, putting her shoes back on. "Come on."
She proceeded to climb the metal ladder, followed closely by Jane, then Loki, and with Thor bringing up the rear. The trapdoor took some fighting with to unjam from its frame, but eventually it opened up to reveal the cloudy night sky.
"This is it," Darcy called down to her companions breathlessly. "We made it."
She lifted herself onto the rooftop, then got out of the way of her friends. Miraculously, the fireworks did not appear to have started yet.
"Ho . . . ly . . . shit . . . ." Jane mumbled, spinning on the spot as she took in the view in every direction. "This is amazing."
And Darcy knew that Jane was right, for the view truly was spectacular, but she didn't feel any of the same awe that Jane appeared to be experiencing. Instead, seeing the city from this vantage point only made her feel small and insignificant. Or rather, even more so.
"You did it, Little Mortal," Loki said, flashing her a genuine smile.
"Yeah," Darcy said, forcing a smile back.
"Oh, my God, the countdown's started!" Jane squealed suddenly, rushing across the rooftop to the southeastern edge of the building.
"My love!" Thor exclaimed, chasing after her.
Loki threw Darcy a look of amusement, and the two of them followed.
The great London Eye, virtually unobstructed and much closer than Darcy had expected it to be, was staring at them from across low rooftops, and Darcy realized that none of them could've asked for a better view of the fireworks tonight. Both the Eye and the huge-ass building behind it and slightly to its left were lit in blue, and there was indeed a countdown happening. Giant white digits were being projected onto the blue-lit building, counting down the seconds until midnight. There was less than a minute to go.
"Darcy, this is unreal," Jane said, turning to her friend with a look of euphoria on her face.
Darcy nodded, but she felt less than euphoric herself. The truth was that the blue lights were making her feel cold, and every second closer to midnight was like a brand-new cruel reminder of her utter insignificance this dying year . . . .
At 26 seconds to, Big Ben began to chime the Westminster Quarters, which to Darcy sounded lonely, distant, and forlorn. Beside her, Jane was bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet, pure joy etched into her face.
"Sweetheart, it's about to start!" she said to Thor breathlessly.
And indeed, in no time at all, it was 10 seconds to midnight. Then nine. Then eight. Seven . . . . Six . . . . Five . . . . Four . . . . Three . . . . Two . . . . One . . . .
Solemnly, Big Ben began to toll midnight, and with every strike of the great bell, big bursts of white fireworks exploded over the London Eye. Jane screamed and cheered. Thor laughed. Even Loki was smiling. Meanwhile, Darcy wondered why the fireworks seemed to warm everything but her heart.
At the sixth stroke of the clock, Jane turned to Thor, her eyes shining. "You know, Sweetheart," Darcy heard her say, "on New Year's Eve, it's Midgardian tradition to kiss your beloved at the twelfth stroke of midnight . . . ."
"I fall in love with this Realm more and more every single day," Thor answered.
Soon enough, the chiming came to an end, and after the smallest pause, the fireworks started for real. Out of the corner of her eye, Darcy watched Thor sweep Jane into his arms and the two lovebirds commence quite the passionate makeout session. Making a face, she turned to Loki instead.
"Looks like we'll be the only two losers in all of London who won't get a kiss tonight, eh, Jazz Hands?" she asked him sarcastically.
Loki appeared to consider something, then took a step toward her, took her hand in his, and, bending low, pressed his lips, surprisingly warm, to her knuckles.
"Not exactly what I had in mind . . . ." Darcy said quietly, and was surprised to feel her eyes prickle in a way that was entirely disconcerting. It was then that she noticed the look that Loki was giving her. It was apologetic, anguished even. But no, Loki had no reason to feel that way, so Darcy turned away from him and resumed watching the fireworks.
But something strange was happening. Loki had not yet let go of her hand, but continued squeezing her fingers tightly, comfortingly. She looked back up at him in question, but he had already looked away, back at the fireworks. She could've let go of his hand at that moment, but instead, she took a step even closer toward him and leaned her head against his shoulder. A shuddering breath escaped her, and Loki squeezed her fingers even more tightly.
Out in the distance, the fireworks continued their airborne dance, indifferent in their short, joyful bursts of life, and it was beautiful, and heartbreaking, and Darcy cried.