Darcy ran after Thor, yelling his name.

He paused, but was clearly in a hurry.

"Thor, we can't do this." She said. "Going to Vigrid is exactly what the prophecy says happens!"

"Yes, which is why we must." He said impatiently.

"If you go to Vigrid, you're just getting one step closer to the universe ending! If you do something else the future isn't so certain." Darcy said.

"You cannot escape fate. In general, prophecies cannot be avoided." He said.

"But what if it was just guidelines for what not to do. Especially one this explicit. I mean, without the prophecy Loki wouldn't have known what to do." Darcy said.

Thor winced and paused as though thinking of the right words. "My brother actually died on Svartalfheim?" He asked. There was a wariness in his eyes that suggested he did not know what answer to hope for.

Darcy nodded.

"Then what he said was true? His apology and…when he died…it was true?" He asked.

"Yes." She confirmed.

Thor blinked and looked away. "I called him a monster. I gave up on him. All this time he was simply protecting our mother."

"Then don't let that be in vain." Darcy said, knowing she was close to sounding like a bad film. "Don't let what he was forced to do under threat actually lead to the end of the universe. Stay here. Or…there was a place listed that survived. Ivadol or something. Go there. Don't do what it says."

"Stay here and let the rest of the universe be destroyed?" Thor asked. He shook his head. "I am sorry Darcy. I cannot allow that. We will go to Vigrid."

"Thor!" Darcy called after him as he walked away.

"I am sorry, Darcy." He said. "I must prepare for battle."

"Darcy!" A voice called. Jane.

Darcy turned and saw the astrophysicist running towards her.

Jane enveloped Darcy in a hug before Darcy even knew what was happening.

"Can't…breathe." She choked. In truth, she was pressing on her burns and the agony almost made her pass out.

"I don't care." Jane said. "I'm so sorry."

She let go. Darcy scowled at her. "Dude what on Earth are you sorry for?"

"I…well I'm sorry for what I said about Loki. And I'm sorry you had to keep Ragnarok a secret." Jane said.

Darcy shrugged. "I tried to stop it."

"When Loki did?" Jane asked.

Darcy nodded.

"Oh my God, Darce!" Jane pointed at Darcy's arm and she looked down to see blood seeping through the fabric.

"Shit." She swore, some of the blisters must have burst. No wonder it hurt so much.

Jane narrowed her eyes and grabbed Darcy's arm before Darcy could protest or resist. She yanked the sleeve up and gasped.

"Darcy what the hell?" She demanded. "How did this happen?"

"It doesn't matter." She mumbled.

"Come on we are going to the medical wing." Jane said, pulling her along, thankfully by her other arm.

"I'm fine!" Darcy protested.

"Those are second degree burns at the very least." Jane snapped.

"Yes, and Ragnarok is happening. I think we have bigger problems." Darcy argued back.

"Have you seen the med wing? They can fix it in two seconds. Now, tell me how the hell that happened." Jane said.

Darcy didn't answer, not wanting to confess what she'd done.

"Darcy the universe is kind of ending. And you've kept so much stuff secret, which is so unlike you. Come on. You can trust me." Jane said.

Darcy swallowed. This whole thing had pushed her away from Jane so much. She was off sciencing while Darcy was triggering an apocalypse. The urge to tell Jane everything was suddenly overwhelming. "Obviously, the attempt to stop Hel failed. Her punishment was her using my dad the same way she used Loki's mom, to make me help cause Ragnarok."

Jane said nothing, but squeezed Darcy's arm tighter. She didn't know if it was supposed to be supportive or to stop her getting away.

"This morning, we had to release a creature trapped within the Earth. Loki protected me from the heat, but his magic faltered a bit and…yeah. I was passed out in snow for a while, so it would probably be worse if it wasn't for that." Darcy said.

"Oh my God." Jane shook her head. "I'm so sorry you got involved in that. We never should have come to Asgard."

"Ragnarok would still be happening." Darcy pointed out. "At least this way we are on the side where we can help. Besides if we'd stayed without SHIELD we'd probably be running for our lives, best case scenario."

Jane nodded and they finally turned the corner into the medical wing.

Workers were running around, throwing things into bags.

"What's happening?" Jane asked.

"The apocalypse." One healer said like it was obvious. Which Darcy was glad about, at least they finally knew. "We expect a lot of wounded, and we doubt they will be able to come to us."

Then she looked up, and saw who it was.

"By the Nine…" She muttered.

The mortal love of the future king and the girl who foretold the apocalypse. Yeah, at this point Darcy didn't know which one of them made more of an appearance.

"Darcy has some bad burns on her arm." Jane said before looking at Darcy sharply. "Wait, are they anywhere else?"

"Down the side of my leg." Darcy admitted quietly.

Jane looked like she might strangle Hel with her bare hands.

"Yes, yes, come sit." The healer said.

She grabbed a jar of some paste.

Darcy sat where she'd gestured.

"Come on, shirt off." The healer said.

Darcy tugged the shirt off, figuring the end of the world was no time for modesty.

Jane gasped.

Darcy glared at her, and the physicist blushed.

"I'll…I'll just wait over here." Jane said.

The healer quickly applied the paste to her arm and leg. It felt so good Darcy didn't want to move, but instead she pulled her clothes back on, thanked the healer and left with Jane on her arm.

"Shouldn't you rest and let it heal?" Jane asked.

"Apocalypse, Jane. Thor is going to Vigrid. I'm not letting Loki go there alone. Would you let Thor go without you?" Darcy asked.

Jane bit her lip and shook her head.

"So…Loki and you. Obviously, it's more than sex." She said.

"Yep it's apocalypse starting too apparently." Darcy said bitterly.

"Hey, don't blame yourself for that." Jane said.

"Why not? I did it." Darcy snapped. It was kind of nice to admit her guilt in a weird way. She'd kept it from Loki, because she knew it would make his own worse.

She'd barely admitted it to herself but yeah, irrational though she knew she was it was there.

"No, it was Hel." Jane said. "She made you."

"I had a choice." Darcy said. "I chose this."

"Do you blame Loki for choosing his mom?" Jane asked.

Darcy shook her head.

"Well then you don't get blamed for choosing your dad either." Jane said decidedly. "Now anyway, you know what I meant. You and Loki…is it like Thor and I?"

Darcy deigned not to answer that.

"Sif!" Darcy called, thankful for the warrior's appearance. Heaven only knew she needed a distraction from that conversation.

The warrior had been walking along a corridor that branched from the one Jane and she were on.

She turned. "Yes?" She asked.

Darcy sensed no hostility, which she hoped meant Sif was focusing more on the whole "the world is ending" side rather than the "oh and by the way Loki caused it" side.

"Where's everyone assembling to go to Vigrid?" She asked.

Sif frowned. "At the Bifröst. You are coming?"

"Yeah." Darcy said.

"Definitely." Jane agreed.

"Thor will not be pleased." Sif pointed out.

"Then he'll have to deal with it." Jane said. "It's my choice not his."

Sif nodded her approval. "Well, you cannot go like that. Go to the weapons vault and they will sort something out for you."

"Um okay." Darcy responded hesitantly, but Sif was too busy walking off, clearly with more important apocalypse related things to sort out.

"Weapons vault is next to the courtyard, right?" Darcy said.

"Yep." Jane said so they changed their direction and headed instead to the centre of the palace.

Many other people seemed to be heading that way too. Darcy wondered whether Asgard had prepared for it. In the myths, they all knew it would happen, and tried to be prepared. The general sense she had got was that the people here saw it as a myth.

But they'd all taken her pretty seriously when she'd announced it was happening. Maybe it was just one of those things you denied was true because to accept any alternative would be too terrifying.

There was a long queue when they arrived, but at the sight of them people moved aside. Well, given that Darcy probably knew the most about the apocalypse, she decided she couldn't really waste time queuing.

Jane looked awkward queue jumping, but Darcy quite enjoyed being important enough to allow for that, even if the reason for it wasn't the nicest.

The weapons vault was huge, easily bigger than the throne room and that had been perfectly able to accommodate the majority of the city. Maybe it was even twice as big. The walls and aisles in the room glittered with blades and weapons of every sort. If there was one thing that could be said about Asgard it was that they really loved their weapons.

There were about ten arms masters, all dressed in the same uniform who handed out weapons.

The first to be done hurried over to them.

"Preferred weapons?" He asked, not wasting time with formal greetings.

"Ummm taser?" Darcy suggested.

"Something easy to use." Jane said. "We aren't planning on getting in the middle of the war, because we don't have the training. We just need to be able to protect ourselves."

Well, they were going to die anyway. Darcy would go in the middle of the battle to get Loki away from Hel for whatever brief time period was left to them.

And if there was any way to stop it maybe he would know by now.

"Long range or close combat?" The armsmaster asked.

"Umm…" Jane faltered.

"My aim sucks." Darcy shrugged, knowing Jane's wasn't much better. They were much more effective in a lab. Well no, Darcy was more effective with words. Planned words. If she spoke without thinking , they were just a jumble. "I did some basic sword stuff with Sif."

The armsmaster looked at them for a few moments. "I will arm you with a few knives and daggers. Then go to the masters of magic. They will be busy, but given your…uh…relations to the royal family, they should be able to provide you with a more effective form of protection. First though, go to the armoury before the better armour is distributed."

They nodded, saying their thanks before he passed them wickedly sharp daggers. Darcy was certain these were their better weapons, and felt slightly guilty that someone who knew how to use them better wasn't getting them. He also threw in a sword for Darcy. She really hoped she didn't have to use it, because she wasn't particularly good at it.

Luckily the armoury was right next door, and the moment they walked in, they were snatched by servants who took their measurements quickly, and found appropriate armour.

"Here, my lady." One servant said as she passed Darcy a pile of battle clothes. It consisted mainly of a very thick dark purple top with an elaborate gold pattern. It was pulled tight in the middle by a thick belt to allow for movement, and a place to holster their weapons. Below, it was plated, as were the forearms.

In addition, she had something that resembled leggings, but were obviously a lot thicker and stronger, and would hopefully stop projectiles. It looked as though some form of metal was woven into the fabric. There were boots pretty similar to the ones she had, so she told the servant to give them to someone who needed them.

"Put on the attire." The servant said. "I must check they fit."

Darcy tried everything on, and affirmed they did fit, with a small alteration on the chest area.

"How are these standard armour?" Darcy asked as she looked down. These clothes were gorgeous for battle clothes. She was expecting breast plates or something. And what was better was that she felt protected, like these may actually stop arrows or something.

"They are not standard, my lady." The servant replied. "They are an old set of Lady Freya's. She told us to distribute them."

"Freya?" Darcy asked. "As in…?" The Goddess of Valhalla?

"No, my lady. Named after the great warrior. She has lived up to the name however. She was mentored by Lady Sif." The servant explained.

"Oh, okay." Darcy said. She wanted to ask more stuff, but figured they didn't really have time to.

She slipped her daggers into the holsters on the belt, and secret ones at her thigh and hips, feeling somewhat like the Black Widow. And she slung the sword over her back, pulling it out with ease over her shoulder, albeit slightly terrified about slicing her head off.

The servant left to go sort someone else out with armour.

"Wow." Darcy said at the sight of Jane. Her armour was pretty similar, but had more chainmail, was blue and bronze, and was more dress like though still practical.

"Don't." Jane winced. "They told me it was Frigga's when she was a teenager."

"Ah." Darcy said. "Well, you look hot. Come on, let's go get us some magical weapons."

She wondered if they had anything on killing certain goddesses of Helheim. Whether or not the universe actually ended- and it was looking a lot like it would- Darcy still wanted an opportunity to kill Hel first.

"Wow, this stuff is uncomfortable." Jane said.

"Only because you live in plaid shirts." Darcy pointed out.

"Says the girl who lives in knitwear." Jane replied. "Anyway, as I was saying before we went for extreme makeover Asgard edition, you know it's okay if you like Loki that way, right?"

"Jane, the universe is ending. I think at this point not many people would have a problem if I liked Sleipnír that way." Darcy retorted.

"Darcy." Jane whined.

"Look," Darcy turned on the physicist, suddenly annoyed. "I don't know how I feel about him, okay? I love him like how I love you and Thor and the others, but I don't know if…I mean we've been so distracted by this whole thing, that it's not like we've had time to sit and chat about how we feel any further than affirming that we care about each other, and don't want the other dead or their loved ones tortured by Hel. So drop it, okay? I'd rather not think about how things would have been if Ragnarok hadn't happened."

Jane nodded. "Sorry."

"Don't…don't apologise." Darcy sighed. "I'm sorry it's just…" She trailed off, not wanting to think about how much she wished she'd had a normal shot with Loki. One without all this drama.

Jane just nodded. "I get it." She said.

The sorcerers were confined to a small part of the palace, because there simply weren't many of them. Loki said he'd learnt from them for a bit when he was young, but their magic was used simply for war-related objects. He'd searched the realms, learning magic from anyone he could find until, like Hel had said, he'd amassed the best knowledge of all of them.

Eventually, they reached them, after climbing an excessive amount of stairs.

From them he heard shouts and arguments.

"We should be enchanting the warriors!"

"No, we should be enchanting the weapons!"

"What about creating alternatives to weapons, you fools?"

Darcy glanced at Jane before both of them walked in.

Darcy didn't know what she'd been expecting. Maybe tall pointy hats and blue robes speckled with stars?

They looked just like any other standard Asgardian.

There were seven: five girls and two guys.

Apparently magic was seen as a feminine thing on Asgard, and it was one of the reasons people had looked down on Loki.

"Hi," Jane said. "The armsmasters sent us. He said we-"

"You're the one who made everyone see the truth about Loki?" One of the women interrupted Jane, looking directly at Darcy.

"Um, yes." Darcy said, unsure if that would help them or not.

"What do you need?" Another woman asked.

"We aren't very good fighters." Darcy said. "But we have to go with them."

"I'll see what we can do." One of the guys said.

"We taught that boy, you know." The first woman said. "Even when he was lost to us we knew he would find his way back."

"Always a little troubled." The other woman said.

"It's bad enough learning magic when you are male." The other guy said. "I can only imagine how bad it would be with the pressures that come from being part of the royal family."

"And finding out his true heritage…I admit it came as a shock but…well he always thought he was second best anyway. I don't imagine that helped." Another woman chimed in.

One of the guys threw a handful of powder at them that turned into sparks as it touched their skin.

One woman closed her eyes and started chanting.

Darcy was glad Loki had moved beyond this showy magician magic.

"Your weapon…the black box…hand it here." A woman said.

Darcy turned to her in shock.

"I can sense a favoured weapon, though I don't fully understand this one." She said.

Darcy handed over her taser, and watched as the woman performed some odd magic on it. "I have increased its power. It was severely limited. It is battle ready now, it should not fail you."

Darcy got one charge from her taser usually. Did battle ready mean she could use it more, because that was awesome.

The woman turned to Jane before frowning. "My apologies, I do not see how I could enchant a weapon so big."

"A…weapon?" Jane asked. Darcy imagined her telescope or something.

"Yes," The woman said, still confused. "It is large with four wheels."

Darcy snorted at the fact Jane's favoured weapon, was apparently her car. Then again, she had managed to hit Thor with it twice. Though, it was her taser that put him in the hospital, Darcy remembered smugly.

Jane blushed. "That's uh…don't worry about that."

"The protection charms are done." A woman said.

"Good luck." A guy said.

"Right, um, thank you." Darcy said but they had turned back to hurriedly getting things ready for the war.

"They were…" Jane said as they left. "Enthusiastic?"

"Yeah." Darcy agreed. "But Loki said they're never really thanked or anything so I guess it's nice knowing they're needed."

"Everyone's needed now." Jane shook her head. "Just…God the apocalypse? Like it's just not clicking, it's too big."

Darcy nodded, knowing the feeling well.

"So…if Loki hadn't been forced to do that stuff…would Ragnarok have still happened?" Jane asked.

"I really don't know, I'm not an expert on prophecies. Maybe Loki would have chosen to, or accidentally done it himself one day, or maybe it was referring to someone else altogether. I guess at the moment it's only happening because someone chose to make it happen, so it's more instructions for how the apocalypse will play out, than what will inevitably happen." Darcy said.

"And Loki what? Revealed to you that this was happening?" Jane asked.

"No…I uh…read this book of prophecies, and things clicked. Then I overheard a conversation between him and Hel. I confronted him, and he showed me everything." Darcy said.

"Showed?" Jane asked.

"Yeah, he did magic to show me what happened, like I was in his memories or something.

"Wow I wonder how he did it like was it just projecting an image into your head or-" Jane cut off at Darcy's 'You're sciencing again' look.

"Do you think they'll be there yet?" Darcy asked to distract Jane.

"There was quite a queue for weapons. I don't think they plan on it being an organised war, anyway." Jane said.

"It's going to be a bloodbath," Darcy snapped.

"It's an apocalypse, isn't that the point?" Jane asked.

"You don't think there's a way to stop it?" Darcy asked, surprised.

"I don't know, is there?" Jane replied.

"There must be." Darcy said adamantly. "This can't all be set in stone. Hel made us come to this point and now we have to stop her."

"But it's not just her." Jane pointed out. "She's just the one benefitting from it. Even if you stop her it won't stop all those monsters and the other races of the universe."

"But there has to be some way to stop it." Darcy insisted. "Or make it end differently."

Jane nodded. "True, this destiny nonsense they are all obsessed with is ridiculous. Prophecies seem like the Asgardian equivalent of horoscopes."

Darcy couldn't put it any better herself.

They started walking to the Bifröst, half running, in their haste to get there.

"At least with the Dark Elves, we could do something, you know? Like they were manipulating the laws of physics. And we could fight that. But this? Isn't it just a list of who kills who, and what monster destroys what? How do we stop that?" Jane said.

"Hel." Darcy replied.

"Look, I know she made you do this, but don't you think you might be focusing a little too much on revenge on her, rather than how to stop this?" Jane asked.
God, Darcy had really missed being able to talk to Jane about her problems. It was only now that Darcy realised just how heavily she normally relied on Jane's input.

"I think the only way to stop it, is to go against what the prophecy says. You know, like if we hadn't done that stuff, this wouldn't be happening now, so maybe if the Asgardians don't go to war, then they won't die, and the universe won't be destroyed." Darcy said.

"But they would never do that, not while all these other creatures and the Frost Giants are destroying the other realms. Thor definitely wouldn't be able to live with himself if he didn't at least try to stop it." Jane pointed out.

"Exactly." Darcy said. "And if they're not going to do that, then odds are we will all die. And if that happens, we all go to Helheim, so we have to stop Hel from having those souls go to her realm and adding to her power. We have to stop Hel to stop that eventuality, because let me tell you, Hel would not be pleasant."

And maybe she was a bit self interested, but she was fairly certain she wasn't the only one on Hel's hitlist. Loki, for instance. Would Hel punish him further for his bringing her into this? And Thor for fighting against her? Where would she stop?

"Can't they try for peace or something rather than war?" Jane asked.

"The Frost Giants have been after Aesir blood since they stole the Casket from them in the first place. The others are mindless monsters and Hel's army of the undead." Darcy said.

"And there's nothing?" Jane asked.

"Well, there's this plot of land that remains safe. In Earth mythology, some people go there and survive and repopulate the universe and stuff. But like you said, Thor would never just go there while everything else was destroyed." Darcy said.

"Okay, but how could the universe be destroyed anyway? Like there are things you can't destroy, like energy, it would be reborn and-"

"Jane, the prophecy was really not that specific. Point is everyone dies." Darcy said. Did Jane not get that she'd been thinking of loopholes to the prophecy from the moment she found out a prophecy was a thing that even existed?

"Jane!" Thor called uncertainly as they neared him on the bridge. "What are you…? You look stunning but surely you will have no need of the armour."

"I'm coming with you." Jane said.

Thor's smile at seeing her fell. "It's too dangerous."

"It's an apocalypse, Thor. Everywhere is going to be dangerous. If the world really is ending I'd rather die by your side trying to save it than die somewhere else without you." Jane said.

Darcy would have started gagging if her words hadn't reminded her of Loki. And that was really, really scary, because those were sappy words, and either she'd become so accustomed to Loki's company that the thought of being without it was unbearable, or…

Just…oh God, she needed to see him. To check he was okay.

Thor smiled, puppy eyes fixed on Jane. "In which case, have you weapons?"

Jane nodded. "And enchantments. Protection and stuff."

"Good." Thor said, pulling Jane into an embrace that quickly turned into them making out.

Oh God, Darcy didn't even have the heart to tell them to get a room. The world really must be ending. And she felt so lonely at that moment. The world was ending, at least they had each other.

No, she told herself firmly. She wouldn't think like that. She would take it as a she had to stop the world ending, so she could see her loved ones again.

She really hoped her mom would be okay for a while. Until she had a chance to fix it. But she'd released a sea monster that caused tsunamis, and her mom lived in California. She blinked back tears, telling herself it was another reason for her to stop Hel.

She needed the afterlife in better hands, because if they couldn't stop Ragnarok they were going to need it.

"Darcy." Thor said.

Darcy turned to him. Apparently, they had stopped making out.

"Are you coming too?" He asked.

Darcy nodded. "But I'm finding Loki the moment we get there. I have to make sure Hel hasn't hurt him."

Thor nodded, and she saw something she couldn't quite identify in his eyes.

"Thank you. For caring for him when I…"

"I would have done the same thing in your position." Darcy said. The last thing they needed was an emotional Thor.

Thor nodded. "I hope to see him, in order to apologise to him. If I do not…then tell him I am sorry, and that I am…proud of my brother."

Darcy smiled. "Of course."

"The first wave is ready." Heimdall announced.

"This is us." Thor said. "We hope to secure the battlefield."

He'd barely finished speaking before they were sucked into the Bifröst.


Chapter title from Ignorance by Paramore. This chapter was necessary because Darcy and Jane were the original science bros.

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