Chapter 36: Dreams and Symbols Alive
Uncomfortable silence was almost as daunting, Darcy realized, as being inside the gaping maw of a lindwurm. She shifted and breathed deeply as she sat in the vehicle. Selvig had been called back to work, the appearance of Loki in Times Square having set off a whole new investigation and set of issues for the S.H.I.E.L.D. team, but had managed to find someone to see to her in the meantime. He had assured her that, while he had closer ties to Jane and her family that Darcy was as much his concern for the time being as she was. That didn't negate any duties he had to the organization and it had been most fortunate that the obscure relative that had popped up had been powerful enough to waive the rest of the superfluous testing at the medical unit, but still incredibly distant from the girl. She glanced at him every now and then, unsure of how to address him let alone what to say to him as they drove back toward his 'tower'. He glanced over at her and smirked.
"Well this isn't weird at all, is it?" he said sarcastically.
"I saw you at a lecture at Cal-Tech once," she offered. He looked hopeful at those words. She smiled. "It was about the benefits of using surgical grade silver in particle separators."
"Yeah, the one at Berkley got cancelled," he joked. She seemed to accept this with an even bigger smile and he congratulated himself for reaching her humorously for the time being. If a person could make anyone they were trying to familiarize themselves with laugh, then the chances of having a deep bond were set thoroughly. "I was going to talk about women's issues to graduate students, but then I realized it would just end up being one long apology to various staff members."
"You're sure that was at Berkley and not Brown?" Darcy replied. He smirked and shook his head. She was returning the jests, always a good sign. She folded her arms and looked out the window, adjusting her glasses for the hundredth time. It was strange to see such a big city up close after being on Sylvanheim for weeks and then in New Mexico for weeks before that. "So, what do you do with S.H.I.E.L.D.? I mean, other than the superhero thing?"
"That's kind of the whole central purpose of the gang, even the janitors have superpowers," he remarked as they made their way slowly into the drive leading up to the quieter portion of Manhattan. "It beats working with monsters, though."
"How do you know? Have you ever worked with one?" she said playfully. She had been traumatized, rescued, reunited with a friend of sorts, and was now in the presence of family of sorts . . . her only living relative. This was all good and depressing all at the same time and Darcy thought it best to remain focused on the good for the time being. He seemed to be positively lit up at this parrying back and forth so she intended to keep it up as long as it could go on.
"As a matter of fact, I don't think he'd appreciate being called that, but Doctor Banner tends to kind of have that persona every now and then. There are some things we just can't control about ourselves and his just happens to be a not-so-jolly green giant," Stark replied. He led the way into the building and Darcy could have sworn that he looked like a child bringing home a pet. As she reached for the handle on one of the doors a flash of static zapped her hand. She gasped and withdrew it, feeling an odd stinging through the symbol magically etched onto it. She frowned as it began to throb. It had never caused pain before and she wondered if electricity had some sort of negative effect on magic. Worse, what if it had some sort of positive effect on magic and this was some of Eldred's dark magic? Tony noted her worried expression and looked more fully into her eyes. "Darcy, are you okay?"
She shook herself. "Y-yeah, I'm fine," she muttered. "Just some static, that's all."
The two walked slowly into the large apartment at the top of the elevator. Darcy said nothing about being a little wary of heights especially now that she had fallen from a great distance out of a window and had to leap with her abductor from the mouth of a wingless dragon. Instead, she took in the sights of the dwelling, things and décor that she had only read about in articles and discussed with friends online when ranting about the economic gap. She wondered if Mr. Stark was aware of any of her views or had read any of the papers she had written and published through the university. She had been less than kind to anyone with a six-figure income in any piece and she was sure that he had at least twelve figures behind his tax-bracket. She decided against asking about that and trying to make it light; it would more than likely turn sour very quickly. The rest of the evening was just as strained and awkward with the occasional five minutes of smooth banter that included witty come-backs from both. Pepper arrived at the apartment only two hours after they had settled in, such as it was, and a peculiar happening had occurred when Darcy had reached out to take her hand.
Though she wasn't sure how or why, Darcy could have sworn that she heard Pepper say aloud, "Thank God she doesn't look as moody or out there as he does. One Tony Stark is enough and the world isn't ready for a version with a different anatomy." Darcy knew that Pepper had not said this aloud because at the very same time she was taking Darcy's hand and the girl had heard this, she was simultaneously saying aloud that she was pleased to finally meet her, that there had been a long and difficult search for her, and that she was in the process of contacting the university to make sure she could return in a few weeks with the credits from the internship with Jane added to her repertoire. The whole instance had made Darcy feel faint for a few seconds, and she thought about mentioning what she had heard to both of them. She then remembered that everyone would likely be waiting for an excuse, any excuse to put her through deprogramming. She was in no mood to be held captive again even if it was in an environment meant to help her. Instead, she shrugged it away as being intuition coupled with head trauma and sleep deprivation. That could make people hallucinate hearing someone else in their head, couldn't it?
"So in the meantime, if you feel okay about it, you can stay right here with me," Tony offered. Darcy suddenly realized that he had been talking for a few moments now and she had only heard the last sentence. She shuddered and then turned to him, nodding quickly. "Yes? Good, alright." He clapped once and turned back to Pepper, nodding to her which Darcy could only assume was a signal for 'go make preparations'. Darcy suddenly noticed that one of the walls and enormous set of glass windows had temporary boarding, flimsy plastic, and reflective tape on it. She wrinkled her brow in confusion at it, straightening her glasses yet again. She knew that Tony Stark had a reputation for wild behavior, but she had never heard of him damaging property much less his own penthouse. He sighed and moved to stand beside her. With one hand he gestured toward the mish-mash. "Courtesy of Loki, God of Mischief. Thor might be able to get him to behave every now and then, but I got to get up close and personal with him on a very special occasion. Luckily I don't die as easily as other mortals."
"He must've been having a fit; when he throws a tantrum it can be devastating to all sorts of glass. I saw him break a huge mirror just because some woman rejected him long distance," she replied.
"The window wasn't the real problem," he continued. She looked more deeply at him, raising one brow inquisitively. "I was what he used to break it."
"He just hurled you through it?" she exclaimed. "Wow; whatever you said it must've really made him go ape."
"Yeah, I tend to have that effect on ne'er do wells," he said with another proud smirk. The grin faded as he turned and stared with genuine concern at her. "You know, if anything really bad happened while you were there, you don't have to keep it to yourself. That's where cancer comes from, you know, holding stuff in."
She smiled and shook her head, putting a hand on his shoulder. "I'll remember that, Mister Stark," she said.
"Formal talk, I feel completely under-dressed," he quipped back. For the first time since arriving back on earth, Darcy laughed. It felt liberating to be this amused and this comfortable again even if it was in a particularly odd locale with very peculiar circumstances. "You don't have to worry about formalities or familial titles or what not. Call me what feels right and won't sound offensive to small children, anything; except 'Captain' that one's taken and I don't want to usurp anyone else's hard earned honor."
"Right," Darcy said, biting her lip and looking back out the window with a sigh. "So, what are they going to do? He's probably going to lie low until Brenhin gets better. Man, I wish I hadn't left him; Brenhin, I mean. He's a good friend and now I'm really worried about him."
"Well, they've got a bigger, badder crew out looking for him so he won't be able to stay low for long. As for the other guy, no charges are currently filed against him so you'll have to act as a consultant in what to do for him," Stark replied.
Darcy nodded and sighed. The two once again stood in total silence for several minutes. He shifted at the very same moments that she did, but both made their own unique and tense movements. Finally he reached out and placed a hand comfortingly on her forearm. He knew that she was a human and therefore needed some form of comforting after this ordeal; he also knew that she was female and required much more comforting on a more intimate level than even he as estranged family could provide. He hoped to have that remedied within a few days and finally have someone to call family, someone living. She had given a brief statement about her captivity but had refused to give full details, asserting that she was neither raped nor tortured while captive. Tony had his doubts about what had really transpired, but felt it best to keep that unsaid for the time being.
Darcy could sense that there was some other form of concern that wouldn't be assuaged easily in him, something that was already trying to act filial even without just cause to be so. Still, it was nice to have someone else that reflected that kind of affection. She turned and placed her other hand over his, smiling. Her eyes widened as she heard his voice inside her head as well. This was either a powerful hallucination and she needed to sleep at once, or she had gained some kind of superpower unaware of it. Had she set off some kind of tracking device in the symbol, something that either Loki or Eldred might have used to find her? She couldn't quite make out the first two sentences Stark was thinking, too consumed in her own thoughts, but then heard quite clearly as she concentrated on his voice and shoved her own concerns away. "Oh, thank you, God, I know I don't do it enough with as many times as you're up there saving my butt day in and day out, but thank you. I might not die alone after all," he said with earnest gratitude and relief. Darcy gasped a little and felt a wave of sadness wash over her that normally would have prompted tears. The notion that he wasn't aware she had just heard his thoughts came to her, inhibiting the display even if it was a hallucination.
Tony frowned and looked her over once more. "Hey, Darcy, are you sure you're okay?" he asked.
Without a word she threw her arms around him. She momentarily thought that this was a mistake, they weren't that familiar with each other and he might start to suspect something if she got too emotional and silent at the same time. To her relief, he was overwhelmed with her affection for the moment and simply attributed this to a mood swing accompanying the stresses of the traumas she had faced. She sighed and squeezed his shoulders tightly, pressing her forehead against his shoulder. The reactor over his chest glowed and Darcy felt its pulsing. She grinned; for the first time in two years, she was holding onto a relative after a really awful week . . . or, weeks. No matter where this led in the future, she was glad to be a boon to his life for now and she was overjoyed to have someone else to lean on.
The evening that followed was more pleasant than Darcy had experienced in years. Even with parties and excursions with groups at the university, among which she consistently remained 'that geeky girl' but continued to remain with them regardless, she had yet to experience someone enjoying her company for its singular virtues. Loki had come close, but the time spent with him was also a fatal dance of cat and bigger cat trying to discern what didn't make him angry, but what also made him confused and entertained. Stark had not felt so at home or genuinely appreciated in the impersonal apartment before. Even with Pepper's company, he hadn't felt this connected to another individual and yet distant; this made for a type of social engineering exercise that was as satisfying to engage in as it was to analyze. He barely had memories of his father and mother and any semblance of family life. Now was an opportunity to make something more meaningful for someone else who had been equally deprived of parental involvement.
As Darcy slipped under the covers of the bed she had been given, literally, she thought about her first night in Sylvanheim and how bizarrely similar the anxiety she was experiencing now was. She set her glasses on the bedside table, sighing and lying back against the pillows as she resolved that the anxiety now was a more positive and temporary emotion than what she had felt after being kidnapped. Her mind drifted back to concerned questions about the trickster and the servant every few minutes. She fought away a few tears that made their way from her eyes as she assured herself that no matter where they were they were safe. If the trickster had any reason to be panicked, she was sure that he would have found her to use as leverage . . . or at least she hoped he would. She scolded herself inwardly for thinking about him and about entertaining the very idea of putting herself in such a situation. After about two hours of struggling with thoughts, tears, and memories she became too exhausted to struggle any longer and slipped gratefully into sleep. Even in her dreams, she was back on the forested realm, darting happily behind trees as she and the trickster chased one another in turn and even dodged a plum-coloured lindwurm every few moments. Brenhin was close by and, with the satisfaction she was feeling in Stark Tower, she was absolutely in heaven in dreams.
(*)
Loki hesitated outside the girl's window, watching Darcy with longing and trepidation. He had managed to escape any explanations to a very unsettled Captain Rogers after the unusual afternoon and had made sure that Brenhin was both finished lecturing and still recovering nicely when he left to feel for Darcy's presence. He had followed the draw of her natural energy to the tower and had cursed inwardly at recognizing the building. He would simply have to be silent and alert for any movements that Stark made should the issue arise. As he watched, she lay peacefully asleep on the bed, looking as mild and at rest as when he had seen her after healing the frozen hand she had suffered. He crept off the ledge and waved a hand, using a surge of power to move the thin glass aside. His powers seemed to increase the more he thought of new ways to use them, but it also exhausted him. He took a few moments to breathe quietly just inside the door, not wanting even an elevated pulse to disturb her as he moved silently into the room. After he was sure he was collected enough, he moved forward and cautiously sat down on the edge of the bed, gazing down at her with unfaltering desire. He reached down and gently touched the side of her face along her jaw. She remained unmoving as he took in the warmth he had first enjoyed when taking her hand. There was something sensual and revealing about just the feel of a mortal's skin and he had come to understand throughout years of observing and casual interludes that this was the most profound means of communicating for them.
The skin of a human was a host of languages and long-written poetry. Each region of flesh spoke and interpreted sundry dialects. Each stroke of his fingers against her mortal coil spoke with an accent thick with comfort and curiosity. If nothing else, there lay hidden a trove of innate knowledge that could be mined and brought sparkling to the surface by his tenderness. Mischief for its own sake aside, she was a wondrous well of riddles and there would be a great deal of satisfaction in solving each one. He leaned down, pulling a few strands of dark hair away from her face. Darcy breathed softly and silently, making the trickster wonder for a few moments if she was truly asleep. He reached down and cradled her face in one hand, making sure that he didn't wake her in the process, but that she did recognize his presence involuntarily. She shifted ever so slightly, aware of him on a subliminal level. Once he was sure she had adjusted to being back to her previous state of sleep in his presence he leaned more forward and tenderly kissed the top of her head, clutching a handful of hair at the base of her skull in one hand as he deepened the tenderness.
"Darcy," he whispered, "I know you'll hear me like this. I cannot undo the past and I cannot change all that I am, but I will do whatever you ask, whatever you desire to keep this splendor that you have granted me. You must speak to me; you must tell me what troubles you."
(*)
In her dream, Darcy stood before him, grasping his hands tightly as he asked her to tell him what troubled her. She furrowed her brow and looked away. "I-I just can't help thinking that you didn't want me when you found out who I was," she replied. In her dream, the trickster gave her a look of confusion. "I fall in love with you after the weirdest trauma I've ever been through, you sent a fire-breathing robot to wipe out the town for goodness sake, and then when I give you everything I have to give anyone, you let me fall asleep and just leave to go and tell your friends then come back angry at me for not being the right victim." She felt a wave of relief move through her at saying this fully to him even if it was in sleep. They moved closer to one another and she felt him reach down to her face, cradling her head gently at its base as they moved in more intimately toward one another. To her surprise he didn't lean forward and try to take another loving kiss from her. Darcy's heart raced and she felt a ray of pulsing heat stream down her entire body as he pressed his lips softly against the top of her head. "I'm not sure why this happened, or even how this happened with all the strange stuff that's been pulling me in every direction, but I can't stand being away from you." She felt him tighten his grip on her head and she felt another smaller ray of warmth radiate from his palm throughout the rest of them. She closed her eyes, sure that if she looked now that they would both be glowing like a set of flares.
(*)
The trickster felt a sudden, sharp increase in her pulse and breath. He froze, trying to discern what it was that had prompted this. She was set apart from the majority of most humans, much like the other younger mortals he had encountered, in that he couldn't easily search her mind for thoughts or feelings. Selvig had been easy enough to sway primarily because of his fear; fear for Jane's safety after being introduced to Thor, fear for earth after an attack by Loki himself, and fear of S.H.I.E.L.D. and their secretive intentions. Fear was a weakening agent used by sorcerers since time immemorial and it had proven most useful in collecting the tesseract with information from Selvig. Now, when he wanted more than anything to gently encourage Darcy to forgive and turn toward a new future without reminders of the past incidents on Sylvanheim, he was essentially powerless. Even in trying to learn what kind of thoughts and expressions whirled in her unconscious existence, she seemed to well protected, too alert to allow him entrance. This troubled him. Humans were usually most malleable asleep or deprived of it and neither seemed a factor for halting Darcy's strength.
He focused his energy cautiously and pressed his cheek against her head, reaching down and taking her hand in his. Had he the foresight to remember which hand had been marked by the Norn Queen's Eye, an issue that he had foolishly overlooked, ignoring its implications in the name of her mortal frailties, he might have taken her shoulder or indeed her other hand in his own. But as fate knew that the issue was pressing on both the two as well as their respective realms (Loki now having at least three to his heritage), and the trickster mindlessly grasped the marked hand in his own, wrapping his pale fingers around hers and clasping it tightly. Light flashed around him and he felt a strange sensation move through every cell that formed him. He realized in an instant that, while he was still on the bed with Darcy, the bed appeared to be in the middle of the forest on Sylvanheim. Not only had the location changed, Darcy was sitting upright, fully dressed, and looking around in similar confusion. She had seen the flash as well and simply attributed this to being another more peculiar part of the dream.
The trickster heard clearly the sounds of several birds and other creatures in the forest as a breeze moved past them. Their eyes met and they stared at one another fearfully for a few moments. Loki suddenly realized that the strange sensation filling him was stemming from his hand, the hand he had used to grasp hers in return. Without a word he looked down, taking her hand by the wrist in his other hand and turning it over firmly. Darcy breathed sharply as he stared down at the symbol still left by Norn magic. His eyes widened as he noticed that the symbol's edges were warping and surging somehow, a rainbow of odd colours contorting within the etching as if the cloud he had fallen into was somehow sealed in the mark. He couldn't explain how, but there was living magic now pulsing through her hand. It occurred to him as well that they had managed to appear in Sylvanheim and that this was no vision at all. He reached forward and took hold of her by both shoulders, hoping that he had the strength to transport everything back to Midgard. He closed his eyes as Darcy stammered anxiously, trying to think of something to say, albeit at a bad time. As they began to move back into the cosmos, Loki recognized a figure in the forest watching them. He shuddered; it was Eldred. He knew that the trio had left, but hopefully he hadn't just seen that Darcy had taken the Norn magic in hand. As they materialized in the mortal world, Darcy finally found the voice to speak, but couldn't make full sentences. Lights came on in the rest of the dwelling, prompting the trickster to finalize anything that would transpire between himself and his companion. He groaned and took her by the shoulders once more.
"Darcy, listen to me," he said firmly. "Whatever you do, do not touch anything with living energy . . . with, blast what do your people call it . . . electricity, with this hand." He quickly took her hand at the wrist and held it up, allowing her to see the symbol still glowing. She frowned and looked at him in concern. "I will ask a few questions and we will solve this quickly, but in the meantime do not take hold of . . ."
"Is everything okay? Darcy?" Stark said from a few feet outside the door. He had heard the bed make a loud thump as it reappeared in the room several inches above the floor and he had seen a strange light from under the door as well.
Darcy turned back to the trickster, still trying to form a meaningful phrase. Loki growled in frustration and pulled her to him, quickly and deeply kissing her as the handle on the door turned. She reached out to his shoulder and squeezed it tightly, grasping his tunic in a plea for him to stay a moment longer. The request was instantly denied as the door opened and the trickster vanished. Darcy let out a small cry and felt another wave of tears forming. Had it all been a dream or only part of it and if so, which part? She looked down at her hand as her cousin inquired repeatedly about what had happened, looking around the room and out the window hurriedly. Darcy quietly replied that it had been a dream, also finding it difficult to explain how she had managed to get fully dressed so quickly as she still sat on the bed. After assuaging his concerns, Darcy felt the world go back to a quiet, calm night. She breathed deeply and looked out the window, hoping that she could easily fall back asleep and summon him back to her. Maybe, she thought, this symbol has all the same powers he does. That means I can go looking for him . . . in the morning.