Chapter 28: True Lies

The streets of Asgard were quiet and anxious, waiting any further commands from the king or outbursts from either of their princes. Even without being present, Loki had managed to remain in the conversations and consciousness of the citizens reaching as far as Nornheim. He appeared far from Nornheim close to the palace, taking a deep breath of the night air and reveling in the cool, smooth feel of the atmosphere filling his lungs. He expelled it just as quickly, allowing a wealth of heat to escape as well and grinning as he remembered the heat he had left behind momentarily. He stifled the urge to bounce freely from every surface with the joy overwhelming him. Instead, he carefully made his way back to the westernmost region of the palace away from the great hall. It was here that he remembered watching his brother and the other warriors gather to discuss future exploits.

He slipped through the rim of guards that had been doubled since his disappearance. He cloaked himself with invisibility only for a moment before and after encountering the stalwart defenders of the palace, so brimming with confidence that he allowed a number of servants to see him as he leapt onto a nearby ledge and watched as the familiar sight of his brother and the four warriors, as well as one of the women he had seen on earth, met and began to speak quietly. How like them to gather and simply speak without any effectual planning for . . . One of the women from earth? Why in the nine realms was another human present? He gathered invisibility around himself as he softly dropped to the ground and moved closer to the five Asgardians and the woman.

"Why would she ask you alone to go after him?" Sif asked Volstagg in confusion. Thor shook his head and turned back to Jane, taking her hand gently and hoping to keep her as comforted as possible following the display from his father.

"I did make an oath to her as well as to the king," Volstagg reasoned. "Perhaps she has a different trust for me."

"I don't see why unless Loki happens to be wearing a rack of lamb," Fandral added. "Although she should be worried for his safety in that sense."

"Have some respect for the . . . " Volstagg began, but then caught a glimpse at both Thor and Hogun. He shook his head and turned back to Fandral. "Do you ever have an end to your insults?"

"No, not for you," Fandral replied casually. Volstagg glared at him and angrily gripped the hilt of his axe. "And certainly not for Loki."

"Have a care, Fandral, he is still my brother," Thor said firmly, squeezing Jane's hand affectionately.

"Where has that oracle gone, anyway? One minute she comes and tells us several quite important topics, but the next she's disappeared. If I didn't know any better I'd think that she was just as frazzled as he was," Fandral continued.

"Isn't there some kind of magic spell that you guys can use, like a mirror or a crystal ball to find her, him, both of them?" Jane asked.

Loki grinned brightly and leapt up onto a table not far away from them, standing as proudly and confidently as if he were preparing for his own coronation. He allowed the invisibility to fade from him quickly as he turned toward his brother and the rest of his crowd. "No need, I am quite found," he announced loudly. The group stared back at the haughty prince in astonishment. Loki briefly noted that Sif's hair had been cut entirely too short. He smirked at the anger crossing the features of the four warriors, the conflict growing in his brother's eyes, and the horror in the expression of the human woman. He felt a little confusion move through him as the woman rose to her feet and started toward him, infuriated. Whoever she was, his brother was likely using her as a substitute for Jane. Thor took hold of her by the shoulder and held her back. The display seemed to impress the other three men standing behind her as well as the trickster to some degree. Thor looked at his brother with restrained contempt as Sif took a step forward, gasping. The trickster turned to her, knowing that she recognized the look in his eyes and this confidence in his posture as stemming from only one source.

"I told you he would defile her!" Sif accused in an angry whisper. Thor turned back to her for a moment, shocked that not only would she accuse him of something, but that she could tell this just by looking at him. Sif glared back. "I remember that gaze, that conceit from torrid passion."

"And well you should, Lady Sif," Loki replied smoothly, leaping down and a few paces closer to the group. The warriors and their friend stayed put as he appraised them. He took in the sight of Sif more than any of them, readying to see the look in his brother's eyes after the revelation. "I do believe if I had it to do over again, I would do it over again publically. You seem to perform best in a crowd."

Sif snarled, angered not only by these words but at having mourned for the little fraud unnecessarily. Hogun stopped her and allowed Thor to take a few steps toward his brother instead. The elder looked back at the younger with renewed concern for both the trickster and his unfortunate captive. "Loki, what have you done?" Thor asked flatly.

"Your woman, Thor; your precious mortal woman," he replied with an evil grin. The group gasped, all turning their gaze to Jane except Thor who stared back at his brother in confusion. "And she did not once remember you throughout."

Before the older prince could parry the accusation fully, Jane reached down to her beloved's side and took hold of Mjolnir. He noticed this too late and she managed to slip it free from the leather binding at his side and take a step forward. The step was short lived as the hammer dove for the ground, taking Jane with it. She knelt, still clutching the handle and grunting in frustration. Loki took a step backward, unsure of what this display was for. Perhaps she was an obscure relative of some kind; he had seen her in the same location as Jane. She glared up at the trickster, pulling at Mjolnir as hard as she could manage. "As soon as I get this thing off the ground, it's going in your face!" she shouted directly at Loki who looked back skeptically. It bothered him to a small degree that she had been able to move the hammer at all. As the two brothers both repeated their question and answer in different words at least thrice, Jane continued struggling to raise Mjolnir. Thor finally stepped back and picked up the hammer, taking both her hands with him and prompting her to try and wrestle it free from him. She glared at him for the first time since they had met, though her anger was aimed at someone else explicitly. "Let me have it! Just for a minute, I'll leave some of him for the rest of you!"

"No one else can wield this," Thor explained quickly.

"And yet there is so much else that one can take from you . . . permanently," Loki said, enjoying this renewed chaos and conflict. He seemed positively giddy at the anger despite being the recipient of it. "She was meek and easily swayed, if that comforts you, brother. I'm sure Jane will be just as willing to take you if you will still have her."

"You lying piece of crazy! I never had sex with you!" Jane shouted furiously. Loki froze as the small voice of reason he usually kept silent took hold of the edge of his mind. A few memories popped into his head of the girl forgetting about Thor, forgetting to respond to her own name, asking if he meant to harm her. A look of panic crossed his face as he realized that he just made have been exposed as making the biggest blunder in his life. He took a step back and gripped his forehead as he tried to make sense of it. Jane's expression fell for a moment. "Oh my God . . . did you? Did you? You did, didn't you?"

Thor had to catch Jane once more, keeping her away from his brother and any harm that might come to either of them in the process. She fought with him for a few moments. "Not now, Jane, he still has her," he warned.

"I don't care! He's had it coming for weeks and now I'm gonna kill him!" she shouted, still trying to break free from her beau. Loki took another step back at remembering that the girl had said she wanted to tell him something important. Was this what she had meant? Had she . . . lied to him? Jane finally resigned herself to simply a verbal assault. "You creep! You miserable little creep! Where's Darcy? Where did you leave her?"

Loki's eyes darted back and forth for a moment. "Darcy . . ." he said softly. "That's her name."

"I warned you, I said he was capable," Sif said, shaking her head sadly.

Thor frowned and pulled Jane behind him, keeping her pinned at bay with all the strength he could muster that wouldn't harm her. He looked deeply into his brother's expression; he had intended to boast magnificently, but there was something else in his eyes as well. Preceding the betrayal that seemed to surge there at the moment, he had seemed genuinely happy the same gaze he had seen in his reflection after a night alone under the stars with Jane. His mind spun, but at the moment the desire to be diplomatic seemed more pragmatic a gesture than brute force. It hadn't worked on earth to get his brother to submit and it was less likely to work now that he had been more fully humiliated. Instead, he reached out a hand toward Loki and gave him a firm look. "Brother, whatever has happened, it can be settled once everyone is returned where they belong," Thor pleaded. Loki stared back at him, contemplating the gesture and going through with the request. Thor felt his heart race in anticipation. "Please come home."

The trickster felt all of the implications surrounding this disclosure starting to form a fever. He groaned inwardly and recoiled from his brother's gesture. He looked back at him, directing the resentment building for Darcy at him for the time being. Thor frowned, realizing that there was no hope of convincing him to return now. "I have no home," Loki hissed back and turned, disappearing in one swift movement. His mind went numb as the thoughts within skidded to a halt, allowing him the presence to summon the spell that would take him quickly back to Sylvanheim. A chill washed over him as he appeared back in the room with the young woman. He noted that she was still sleeping and a twinge of both guilt and grief suddenly pricked at his conscience. He leaned backward against the wall, fighting tears of rage, an outburst of anguish, and the innumerable questions he wanted answered. After a fleeting few seconds that passed as heavily as hours for him, Darcy stirred and yawned. She noticed instantly that he was not beside her and scanned the room for him. She seemed to relax a little at noticing him beside the door. She sat upright and pulled the covers around her as she smiled at him kindly. He frowned at her.

"Who are you?" he asked in a hoarse whisper. She frowned and looked away. Clearly he hadn't known who she was even with his power and now was just as bad a time as any to reveal it. She drew in a deep breath as he moved toward the edge of the bed, staring at the young mortal in cautious shock. "Tell me who you are."

"Loki," she said softly, trying to think of the best way to word this. "I'm not Jane."