When Darcy came to, she was lying in the snow with the worst headache she'd ever had and the strong sensation that she had been burnt from the insides out.
She sat up, the world spinning around her and abruptly ran a few metres ahead to empty the contents of her stomach.
When she was heaving nothing, she began gasping at the cold air.
The entire left side of her body stung like hell. She was almost too scared to look, as images of what had happened flashed through her mind.
Biting her lip, she peeled back her sleeve. A gasp of surprise and pain escaped her lips, as she revealed the bright red, blistered skin beneath. That fabric must have been indestructible, but her skin unfortunately wasn't.
"Okay…okay, keep calm." She spoke out loud, not wanting to go into shock or anything, and believing herself capable of that at any moment.
She closed her eyes, trying to block out the pain and focus. Loki. Shit.
Her head whipped round, and she saw him lying a few metres from where she had been.
She ran over to him, all thoughts of her own pain suddenly gone from her mind in favour of her worry for him.
"Loki!" She shouted, hoping he would wake up and be fine. Or better yet start laughing and saying he was only pretending to see her reaction.
She knelt down beside him, hand reaching almost automatically for his face as she said his name repeatedly.
Nothing.
She brought her cheek to his lips, breath held. She almost cheered in happiness when she felt his breath against her. Even if it was ridiculously weak.
Next, her fingers fumbled for his neck, trying to feel his heart beating. She felt the soft thrum of it against her fingers. It was slow. Really slow. She didn't know if that was because he was a different species, or whether she should be worried because of it.
She fumbled with the latches on his leather. She knew she probably shouldn't be removing layers when he was lying in snow, but she had to check if he had been hurt by the heat. For all she knew, it was even worse for him because he was a Frost Giant. Hopefully that little detail would mean he wasn't in danger of pneumonia from lying in the snow.
Glancing up, she realised they were still by Loch Ness.
She assumed there would be hotels or something nearby given that it was a tourist place, but she had no money, and even if she did someone might recognise Loki and whichever way they looked at it, he'd killed thousands of people. No, the last thing they would do is help him.
It was probably a good thing she'd had sex with him so much, because she was now an expert at getting his ridiculously complex clothes off. There were no burns, so either he'd never had any or he'd healed. Either way, she quickly did his clothes back up again.
No burns, and he was out cold. Out cold for longer than she was, and she'd breathed that poison that even now made her feel like she was rotting on the inside. Was he really just exhausted from using magic? But he used magic all the time and relied on it for battles and stuff.
She rummaged in her backpack, pulling out the first aid kit, before realising there wasn't really anything in it for magic exhaustion. She needed pro-plus or some other caffeine pill.
She had food, but he wasn't really in any state to eat it.
No…there was only one thing she could try, but she didn't even know if it would work.
She leant over Loki, hugging him close and terrified it wouldn't work. But she couldn't leave him here, especially if he needed help. And he might not die but…well who knew what would happen now that thing was released. And if Darcy remembered correctly…that was the last thing they had to do.
No, it had to work. He couldn't…he had to be okay. The sight of him lying there was too much. Out loud she said: "You'd better fucking wake up if I do this, you bastard, because I can't believe you are making me resort to this." Inside, she simply prayed he would be okay.
"Hel!" She shouted, certain that the goddess was paying attention. After all, this was kind of her most important thing happening.
Nothing.
"Hel! I know you are watching this, get your ass down here!" Darcy screamed to the air. "Come on, we both did as you asked, now it's your turn to actually do something for this apocalypse you want so badly."
"Well there's no need to scream like a banshee." A voice said behind her.
Darcy's head whipped round so quickly her neck cricked.
Hel scowled. "You know, I may only have one ear but I can hear you perfectly well."
Darcy stood up. "Make him okay." She said.
Hel frowned in distaste at Loki. "He is perfectly fine. The fool has simply exhausted himself."
"Exhausted himself doing what you told him to." Darcy snapped, trying very hard to hide just how much she hated Hel.
"Nonsense." Hel sneered grotesquely with the one expressive half of her face. "He had more than enough magic to do what I asked of him. In truth, he is one of the strongest sorcerers in this universe, second only to Thanos in terms of magical power. Although that is a very different kind of power. No, he could have managed that. It would have made him weak, yes, but he would not have exhausted himself. He did that protecting you." She sneered the word.
"Because you made me go." Darcy snapped.
"He did not protect you because I made you go. He protected you because he cares for you. He could have just as easily let you die." Hel laughed. "I admit, of all the things I thought may deter the Frost Giant from my will, affection for a mortal was not one of them. His brother perhaps…"
Darcy rolled her eyes. "Hel, just because you're jealous of the love even Loki has, doesn't mean you can be a prick about it."
Hel laughed. "And what exactly do you mean by that?"
"Well, it must be pretty lonely being the only semi-living one surrounded by the dead." Hel's smile faltered momentarily, and Darcy knew she'd struck a nerve somehow. If this was the only thing she had against Hel then she'd milk it for all it was worth. "In the myths, you were rejected by the Asgardians and whether that happened or not the point is you want love."
"I would never desire something so-"
"Sorry, let me correct myself. You wanted love. You wanted someone to care for you. But I think you're past that now. That loneliness has fuelled whatever hate you now have. It's why you hate Loki, right? Because even someone who's done all that he has, he still has people who care about him."
"You dare-"
"Yes, I dare." Darcy said boldly because the world was ending so she may as well. "You know I think there might still be a part of you that hopes if everyone is dead, if they're all in Helheim there will be someone who would hold some affection for you. But if not then you'll control them all anyway. Because if you couldn't make them love you then you'd make them fear you. Any attention is better than none, right?" She felt a guilty twist in her stomach as she remembered that's what she used to think of Loki, after she'd discovered he was a frost giant and before she found out he'd been tortured into acting.
"I would kill you for your insolence, if I did not long to make you watch your loved ones burn and die." Hel hissed. Darcy pretty much considered that her point proven. "But when the world ends…when you are finally in my realm…" She laughed. "Well, let us say I look forward to it."
"Yeah, whatever." Darcy said because she was sick of being scared and she wasn't going to be frightened of this bitch for a moment later. "Although some advice, if you want people to like you then stop manipulating, stop trying to kill people and be nicer. It helps and awful lot." It did with Loki.
"If I wanted your advice, I would ask for it." Hel snapped. "I do not know where you have obtained these ideas nor why you feel you have a right to voice them."
Well Darcy was a high school dork: in depth character analysis was her thing. But sure, she could give the credit to her AP Psychology class.
"It's the last task, right?" Darcy asked, interrupting Hel in her rant.
She faltered, before nodding. "Yes, even now the fates align. I can sense it. The events have been set in motion." She grinned. "It begins."
Darcy rolled her eyes. "Dude, are you trying to be a pantomime character on purpose? Calm the melodrama. Anyway, you need Loki for the rest of it, right? Do you have the time to wait for him to recover."
"As a matter of fact, I need him now. He will be coming with me." Hel said.
No…No Loki couldn't go with Hel.
"Oh, don't worry you foolish mortal. You will see him again soon. He simply has to arrive at the battlefield on Naglfar with my army." Hel said.
Darcy's teeth grit. She couldn't prevent the apocalypse, but she could make Loki okay.
"Fine, then heal him." Darcy said.
Hel flicked her hand, and Loki gasped.
Darcy wanted to run to him but she maintained eye contact with Hel, tired of being that bitch's puppet.
"Darcy?" Loki asked. "Hel." He greeted, less happily. "What is going on?"
"Your toy was begging for me to heal you." Hel said.
"Bitch, the day I beg to you is the day Helheim freezes over." Darcy hissed.
Hel grinned. "I look forward to that challenge after Ragnarök." Then she turned to Loki. "You exhausted yourself for a mortal."
Loki glared at her "You know as well as I do that those temperatures would have killed her. Even before she inhaled the poison, she was in danger of dying."
Darcy's burns seemed to sear hotter. So Loki had got rid of most of the poison, and got them out of there? No wonder the guy had passed out, he'd looked like he was going to before that anyway.
"Well, I certainly would not have got in the way of her dying." Hel stated.
"Thanks hon, love you too." Darcy muttered.
Hel gasped before grinning, evil glee glinting in her eye. "The fates are ready. Frost Giant you will come with me. Mortal, you shall return to Asgard in time to watch it burn."
"Darcy," Loki said, looking at her intently in that way he only did when he desperately needed her to take him seriously. "Stay out of this, please. Don't go to the battle. Don't get yourself hurt. I don't…please, I lo-," He shook his head. "Just please stay safe."
Darcy just blinked at him in shock, his begging couldn't be anymore of a confession of affection and she was completely unprepared for it.
"Did you miss that part where the universe was being destroyed?" Hel asked scornfully. "Safe is not a part of that."
Hel flicked her hand, and Darcy was thrown backwards into that god forsaken darkness once again.
Unlike when Loki transported them, Hel's practically threw Darcy from the darkness sending her sprawling to the floor.
"Darcy!" A shocked Erika gasped. Great. Darcy was in her own room then. "Are you all right?"
She gripped Darcy's arm- thankfully the one that wasn't horrendously burnt- and helped her to her feet. "I'm fine." Darcy said as the room stopped spinning.
"Where have you been?" Erika asked. "Everyone's been looking for you."
Darcy shook her head, trying to focus on the real issue here and not Loki's absence. "It doesn't matter…I mean…it does. I need to talk to everyone now. Can you help get everyone?"
Erika looked uncertain.
"I swear it's really important. And I mean like, all Asgardians have to be there. Everyone." Darcy said, not blinking. She needed Erika's help, certain only the servants would be able to round everyone up quickly enough.
Erika hesitated before nodding. "Very well."
Darcy was hit by a sudden wave of appreciation for the handmaiden. It must have taken a lot of trust in her for Erika to be willing to do this.
"Thanks." Darcy said, swinging her arms around her neck.
Erika quickly hugged her back before leaving.
Darcy ran to Loki's room. She needed proof. They had to be ready for what was coming. Loki may have started Ragnarök. That didn't mean Ragnarök had to be successful. Right?
It took her a while to find the book she was looking for, because of how messed up his room was. At last she spotted the dark blue leather and grabbed at it, breathing a sigh of relief when she saw the gold lettering spelled out Prophecies of The Great.
She'd spent so long searching, that she was certain all the Asgardians would be assembled in the throne room and as she reached it she saw she was right.
The faces were not altogether supportive. Some glared at her in annoyance, others in disgust. Some looked curious and others were too focused on her chest to have any expression that didn't make her want to vomit.
But Loki was with Hel, so she couldn't feel too self-pitying.
"Darcy." Thor called striding up to her. He lowered his voice as he reached her. "Darcy what is the meaning of this?" He whispered. "The Aesir will not be happy to have been called here for no good reason."
"Loki's missing isn't he?" Darcy asked.
Thor frowned at her. "Darcy, tell me you did not aid him in his escape. Half here already believe that, and it is taking all of my influence as prince to stop them from arresting you." He looked at her so gravely she could hardly believe it was Thor. "Or worse."
Darcy shook her head. "No, I didn't help, but there's a good reason he's gone. And trust me, it's one everyone is going to want to hear."
Thor still looked doubtful.
"Trust me." She urged as forcefully as possible.
He nodded. Wow. A lot of people trusted her given that she'd been fucking a guy they all thought dead, while not telling anyone he was even alive let alone causing the apocalypse. She wondered how they'd react to knowing she had been roped into helping too.
She walked past Thor and up to the front, where an outraged Odin stood. Thor hurried to talk to his father.
Darcy figured she'd better get started before a riot ensued.
She stood a few steps up on the way to the throne so everyone could see her. Jane, Volstagg, Sif and Fandral stood in the front watching her in confusion. She almost wished she could tell them privately.
"Umm hi." She said. To her surprise they quickly went quiet. "Thanks for all coming here, I know you're really busy. This is just something you should all hear."
"Really?" One man called, sparking outraged cries from the more disgruntled of the Asgardians.
Thor joined her. "Quiet!" He yelled, immediately silencing the crowd. "What Lady Darcy has to say is important. You shall give her the respect she deserves."
She was fairly certain if anyone other than Thor had said that she would have been met with a stupendous roar of "Respect? For a mortal?!"
Instead silence rang through the huge room as no one dared speak lest they be seen as going against Thor's commands.
"Ragnarok," Darcy said, the word echoing through the silence. She could tell it was a powerful word to those assembled from the way they tensed. "Has started."
She expected outcries and yelling. Instead, only shocked and scared silence met her, the quiet suddenly seeming a thousand times deeper.
Thor turned to her, the fear on his face only muted because he refused to believe it. "Darcy, is this true?" He asked.
She nodded solemnly, needing them to believe her.
"For those of you who do not know, this is what the prophecy is, or an abbreviated form of it at any rate." She said and commenced to read it.
"She's lying!" A voice yelled as she finished. "Those events haven't occurred yet!"
Urgh, she was tired of ignorant voices.
She saw Thor move but was already talking. "Deny it all you want but the universe is ending. As a Jotun raised in Asgard, Loki was the one prophesised to cause it."
Cries of outrage greeted her but Thor held a hand up to silence them. "He did die on Svartalfheim protecting the universe from the threat of the Dark Elves. Only, Hel wanted Ragnarok to happen, after all if everyone died that was more power for her. Loki refused to do it-"
"The Frost Giant refuse? Ha! I doubt that!"
Darcy sent the speaker a withering look. "Don't speak out loud. You lower the intelligence of the entire room." Okay so she could paraphrase Sherlock right? It wasn't like anyone in Asgard had ever seen it. "Anyway Loki refused to do it but as the Goddess of Helheim she was able to threaten his dead mother and blackmail him into acting. Say what you want about Loki- actually wait a second don't, you're all dickheads about him- but he loved Frigga.
"He returned the casket to the Jotuns to start the three year winter, although that's a loose translation. He released Fenrir, the creature who is prophesised to kill the Allfather." Darcy politely nodded to Odin. "The sun and moon were consumed in an eclipse. He tried to stop Hel, but his attempt failed, and she instead increased his torment. Earlier today, the sea-serpent whose destiny is to kill Thor was released. Ragnarok is starting and you have to be ready!" She finished.
She really hoped they believed her.
And indeed a few faces looked like they did, but more began to shout that she was lying.
Everyone silenced however when a pillar of smoke erupted behind her, she caught the light in the corner of her eye and turned to see a woman appear.
Her hair was red, as were the wings that spread out behind her, the scarlet plumage spreading most of the width of the hall. Her eye sockets too and the dress she wore, even the fire she had appeared in and the glow that surrounded her were all the same shade of bright red.
"I am Gullinkambi." She spoke, her voice ethereal: deep and raspy. Her pure red eyes made it seem like she was possessed as she addressed the assembled Aesir.
"Ragnarok is nigh. The fall of the Gods. The destruction of the universe. The reversal off creation. It begins."
She finished, and another column of fire engulfed her.
Darcy opened her mouth to speak, but the hall erupted in conversation and Odin bustled up.
"I do not know what damage my son has been forced to perform." He said and Darcy felt her heart flutter at the sentence. The world must be ending if Odin was admitting Loki was his son, and accepting that he had been forced to do this. "But we must try to prevent any worse from occurring."
Odin turned to the assembled Aesir. "We must go to Vigrid and defeat the armies that would destroy us. Only then can the fall of the gods be prevented. It shall be perilous, but the universe itself is at stake. We must stand together as Aesir and stop this apocalypse."
In the distance, Heimdall's battle horn sounded.
Chapter title from This House Is A Circus by Arctic Monkeys. Once again I feel there should be a "dun dun duuuuh" sound effect at the end. I shall try to update regularly but it is exam season once again so please forgive me if it takes me a while. Thanks for all the reviews and stuff, you lot are forever the best.
Please review.
