The water was like air as he paddled to the other side, as if it had no substance. It offered no resistance to the oars, but readily gave in to Loki's swipes.

The river was no small thing, yet in no time he had made it to the other side.

There were thick, lacy wisps of mist obscuring his vision but Loki was able to make out a dark castle far off in the distance and he made for that. Even breathing through his nose he could not escape the cold, clammy taste of the mist and soon his head was pounding with nausea.

Every so often there was a rustling sound, but the mist had grown too thick to see a source. He wasn't even entirely sure he'd kept going directly toward the castle, but he strode on regardless. If there was ever a time when magic would come in handy then it was now. Loki grumbled to himself, knowing what child's play it would be to dissipate the mist. Or just use a simple scrying spell.

But eventually the mist did begin to dissipate on it's own, and Loki stopped short at his first clear visual of his location. Nearly transparent beings surrounded him. There must be hundreds of them, on all sides. Looking behind him, he cringed to see that, yes, there were some behind him as well, right where he'd come from. Which meant he must have walked through some of them.

And not even noticed.

He watched them warily for a long moment, the hair on the back of his neck standing up. It was so unnatural. They made no movement. Even their faces did not change in expression.

His heart sank. How was he supposed to find Darcy!? There were so many of them...

Despair had gripped him with sudden ferocity when he was jerked back to the moment by a low growling behind him.

He tensed, turning quickly, and blinked at the sight of the largest wolf he had ever seen. It must have been the size of a bear- a steel gray, red-eyed, snarling bear. A breath huffed out of him as he automatically pulled for magic he didn't actually have anymore.

"What's this?" a curious, girlish voice materialized from out of the mist to stand by what could only be the great wolf Fenrir. The woman the voice belonged to was small- slender, and petite. Great swaths of silver-white hair fell in sheets down her shoulders and to her waist, and eyes of light gray stared at him with fascination.

She looked all of sixteen.

Unsure, and feeling very much at a disadvantage, Loki cleared his throat. "Hela," he said. He wasn't really sure whether he meant it as a greeting or simply confirmation- because really she was so unlike what he'd expected- but she tilted her head at him and said, "Who are you? How did you get here?"

Loki cleared his throat again, eyes darting to Fenrir, who had not stopped growling low and was now pacing slowly in a circle around Loki. Hela laughed, a tinkling, child-like sound that put Loki even less at ease. "He won't hurt you," she promised. "Not until I tell him to. I think you should answer my questions," she repeated, the lack of inflection somehow taking the statement from a suggestion to a threat.

"I'm looking for someone. My..." the word 'wife' was on the tip of his tongue, but he swallowed it back, finding himself not wanting to say it for the first time in front of this eery child. "Darcy, is her name," he said instead. "I came here from the Norns. They said that it was possible to bring her back. My name is Loki," he added belatedly.

Her face had grown more serene the longer he talked. "Loki," she said, rolling the name around. "Loki. I believe I've met your father, Loki. He didn't really like you, did he." Loki didn't bother replying. And he ignored the slight tightening in his gut at the thought of Odin's hatred. Really, after all this time, it shouldn't hurt anymore...

"Killing your own father," she was saying, pale eyes glowing even brighter with interest. "He talks about you often."

Killing his own father? Loki frowned.

Oh. Laufey. She must be talking about Laufey. Annoyingly, the tightness in his gut lessened.

Hela had been watching him carefully, and he wondered what she had read on his face. He got the feeling that she was toying with him.

"You want to take one of my souls away from me," she said. "All I have are my souls. They are my life; they are my duty; they are my pleasure- and you want to take one of them away from me."

"Well...yes." Loki winced, but she just smiled, amused.

"Whyever would I let you?"

"Because I am the reason that you have so many new...souls...to play with."

She lifted a brow. "Oh?"

"Before my war, how long had it been since you had a new soul?"

"Your war?" She was now looking at him with something close to fondness. "Hmm. There was one, but before that...many long years."

"Immortals do not die often," he said quietly.

"No, they do not," she pouted, clearly considering what he'd said. "I'm bored," she announced finally. "And you are interesting. You will stay here. With me."

Loki lifted an incredulous brow. Well. This was somewhat unexpected.

"For a year," she amended. "And I will...let you have this soul."

"A month," Loki countered, even as he felt a little crazy at the idea of staying here at all.

Her eyes narrowed. "Six."

"Two."

"Done," she grinned. "Fenrir," she called, eyes not leaving Loki's, "go fetch us the soul- you know the one. She's made quite the impression," she explained to Loki.

He wondered what that meant as Fenrir gave him one last glare and then padded off into the mist. Silence stretched between them. Loki was very much aware that he was the object of her somewhat intense attention, but he felt no need to speak. He was so impatient for Fenrir to return; he had to stop himself a few times from tapping his feet.

"I believe this could be the very first time that a soul has returned to the world," Hela mused. "I am curious as to how that will go."

Loki grunted, not really paying attention. "You capitulated faster than I thought," he said finally. It had been bothering him.

Her eyes were wide and guileless. He narrowed his own at her. "Did I?" She smiled.

He frowned, but was distracted by Fenrir's return and a familiar voice that made his heart sing.

"- you bastard, the fuck? If you were my wolf, I can tell you right now- you'd certainly be in the doghou- Loki?"

An embarrassing hotness prickled behind Loki's eyes. The last time he had seen her, her body had been limp and lifeless. Now she stood before him, looking just as she always had, if perhaps a very little bit more translucent than she'd ever been.

He swallowed thickly. "Darcy." Had his voice cracked? He couldn't even bring himself to mind.

Happiness had chased the shock off of her face, and Darcy was throwing herself at him now, and he was so-

He made a sound of annoyance.

"Fuck," Darcy breathed angrily.

Hela was watching it all with an amusement that Loki did not appreciate. "How touching," she said, then laughed. "Or, rather...not."

Darcy scowled at her. "Hilarious."

Hela simply smiled serenely. "Unfortunately, your reunion will have to wait until you have a body again. There's not much to hold onto at the moment."

Darcy looked down at herself as if just noticing for the first time that her body was different.

"Darcy, this way," he said, nodding back at the mist.

"Wha?" She was still distracted by her translucency, a frown playing on her brow.

"I hope you're not forgetting our bargain," Hela said sharply. "Two months."

"Not until she has a body again," he snapped. "And not until she's safe."

Hela's lips tightened. "That was not part of the deal."

"Well it is now."

She considered him. "Very well," she said slowly. "But don't think I cannot reach you, wherever you go. I will not be deceived in this."

He nodded tightly, more concerned with Darcy, who was blinking slowly at them. She seemed...very sleepy.

"Darcy," he said again, gently. "This way."

She blinked at him as if confused, but said, "Okay," and followed him back into the mist.

Their journey back was longer than Loki's had been coming out, because he had to keep checking that Darcy was still behind him, and the mist made it difficult. She was very forgetful, and if there was too long of a silence between them, she sometimes forgot that they were going somewhere and would just stop. So he talked about nothing in particular as they walked, trying to ignore the anxiety in his belly . Being in this place had clearly affected her and he didn't know how long-term those affects would turn out to be.

But eventually they made it to the shore, and readied the boat. It was nice to be able to see again- the river was completely free of fog, and the way out was so clear to see, even through the darkness.

"I don't want to do that," Darcy said, frowning at the boat.

Loki froze. "What?"

Darcy stared at the boat, nose wrinkling. "I don't like that."

"That's okay. It's just for a few minutes. We'll be out on the other side soon and you won't ever have to go on a boat again in your life."

"No," she said. "I'm not going on that."

"Darcy-"

"I'm not," she snapped.

"Darcy." He didn't even try to keep the exasperation from his voice.

She glared at him and slumped down on the shore mulishly. Loki stared, unsure how to proceed. "Darcy," he tried again, more conciliatory. "There's not another way to get back. " He ran a hand through his hair.

"Why do I have to go anywhere," she pouted, leaning her head on her knees and blinking slowly.

Concern had Loki frowning. "Are you okay?"

"I feel funny," she said, then laughed a little. "I'm always funny though."

Loki smiled slightly even through his frown. "True enough. But you have to do this."

"I don't want to," she whined.

"Really. I thought you were a better mother than that." Loki tsked.

Darcy scowled furiously. "What the fuck is that supposed to mean?"

He shrugged. "Clearly you are eager to be rid of them."

Sparks were practically shooting out of her eyes as she jumped up and stalked to him, getting even more infuriated when her insubstantial hand couldn't shove him the way she wanted. "You can just fuck right off, thank you very much," she spat. "You don't know the first thing about me or my kids."

"I know that I'm offering you an opportunity to be with them again and you don't even want it."

"I-" Darcy fell silent, brows furrowing in confusion. "No, I...I do. I just don't- I can't- I...of course I do."

He let her have a few moments to puzzle it out for herself before saying gently, "It's this place, Darcy. It's getting to you. The longer you stay here the harder it will be to leave. To see your kids again. We have to go. And we have to go now."

She walked to the boat slowly. Jerkily. It wasn't far. Maybe a few yards. But it took her a long time to get there- sweat breaking out on her forehead as she struggled to move towards what her body didn't want anything to do with.

Loki called out encouragement all the while, knowing that if she lost motivation now then all was lost.

"I know I can do it!" Darcy finally snapped at him as a bead of perspiration dripped down her cheek as she struggled forward, step by torturous step. "Of course I can do it. I have to do it."

"I know," Loki said simply. "I think you can do anything."

She shot him a look he couldn't read and he tried to redirect her attention by asking her questions about her kids. After asking their ages and talents he was completely at a loss- what did he know about kids?- but thankfully Darcy took the bait and latched onto the subject gratefully.

"-doesn't really... Doesn't really..." Darcy blinked at the dark water, losing her train of thought. It was so calm. So restful. She felt as if her very bones were made of lead. It was astonishing that she hadn't sunk right through the boat and down into that deep, dark water already. Except that, oh yeah, she didn't have bones at the moment. Which was just: !?

"Nathan doesn't really what?" Loki prompted, pausing his rowing to pull Darcy up straight on the bench gain. Huh. She must have leaned forward. She kept doing that.

"Um." It was so hard to focus her thoughts. There was the utter exhaustion and desire to sink below the water that she was supposed to fight, and now she couldn't seem to take her eyes off of Loki's arms as he went back to rowing. Had his muscles always been so large? She couldn't remember.

"Darcy?"

Right. Nathan. They'd been talking about Nathan. "He doesn't talk much," she said, picking the thread of her previous conversation back up. "He's very quiet. Not like Ell. She can talk a mile a minute and take you over some pretty varied conversational terrain by the end of it."

"Hmm."

"What are you smiling at?"

"Just wondering who she might have possibly got that from."

Darcy found herself smiling at that. "There's something different about you," she said, her eyes wandering over him as she tried to pinpoint just what it could be. He just shook his head and looked away. "Well now I'm really curious."

What was it?

"Do they like each other?" Loki asked suddenly. Darcy really wanted to pursue the subject further, especially because Loki was so clearly uncomfortable about it, but she backed off.

"Nate and Ellie?" He nodded. "Yeah. Of course."

"Of course," he repeated, something in his tone that had Darcy frowning.

"Well, I mean, I know there's a lot of sibling rivalry and whatnot in other families- Christ, you should see Jane's boys. They can really get into it. But no, Nate and Ellie have always been close. Lack of a father figure, maybe- Nate's always had this incredible sense of responsibility towards her. The 'man of the family' thing- you know?"

"Hmm."

"And of course Ellie just adores him." She smiled. "I've really lucked out." Loki made a noise. "What?"

"I just- I wouldn't exactly call this-" he gestured to their surroundings, "- as- Darcy!"

"Oops." The water was just so compelling. How was she supposed to stop herself from being drawn to it? "Don't you feel it?"

"I- yeah. It's hard to resist. But we're almost there. We're almost there, and then you'll be..."

"What will I be?" Darcy asked, suddenly realizing that she had no idea. "Am I-? Am I a ghost?" The theme from Ghostbusters started playing ridiculously in her mind and she had to stifle a chuckle.

Loki smiled, one brow raised in amusement. How could he look so puppy-ish sometimes? It was so annoyingly deceptive. She knew how controlling he could be. He'd practically held her captive for weeks, and then would have abducted her again. He was kind of he reason she'd died to begin with!

But he looked so...cute. What even!?

"You'll be as you were before."

"Hmm..." How was that even possible? It never stopped being hard to take in- all these reminders that what she had thought to be simple truths of the world, were, in fact, more the norm than simply the possible.

"Darcy."

"Oh. Right." Darcy jerked her hand out of the water again, shivering at how creepy it was that she kept losing control like this. But it had felt so good, just skimming her hand through the water. What if it was her whole body? "You know," she began.

"No."

"You don't even know what I was going to say!"

"Did it have something to do with the water?"

"Well I don't think it's as bad as you keep making it out to be," she pouted. "It feels so good!"

"No." Tiny brackets appeared at the sides of his mouth.

She couldn't even believe him. "You just don't want me to be happy," she snarled, suddenly furious, thinking back to before. How he could have helped her get home. How he had promised he would, and then how he hadn't even tried. "Well I don't need you. And I can do whatever I want." She started to stand up when the boat suddenly hit the shore. She lurched forward at the unexpected stop and ended up knocking Loki backwards. He hit the water with a splash and Darcy could only watch in shocked horror as he broke the surface only to be pulled back under by skeletal hands, seemingly insubstantial and pale, like her own, that had not been there moments before.

"Loki?" She called, fear skittering through her. She was contemplating doing something rash like jumping in after him when he broke the surface again, gasping and fighting against the hands that clawed at him.

"Take my hand!" she shouted, leaning as far down as she could. He was still several feet away from the boat and was having a hard time making progress when suddenly he was standing upright, the water only coming to his belly, and everything got a little easier.

Darcy rescinded her hand, feeling a little ridiculous and useless, but mostly relieved when he crawled, finally, onto shore.

As soon as he was out of the water the skeletal hands had disappeared, back below the inky depths they'd come from, and Darcy was out of the boat and kneeling at Loki's side, uselessly trying to brush his hair back from his face and check him over me but her freaking hands just went through him and- argh!

"Are you okay?" Guilt really was one of her least favorite emotions. "I'm so sorry- I had no idea- well obviously I had no idea, but I really never meant-"

"Stop poking at me," he groaned, eyes shut. He looked completely drained; his skin pale, his body limp. "It feels creepy"

Darcy stopped, a little bit stung. "I just wanted to help."

He raised a brow, eyes still closed. "Well I could do without your 'help'."

And again, that stung. She wanted to argue the point. but considering what she'd just done- accident though it was she managed to keep it back.

"Fair enough," she said instead, somewhat coolly. They remained like that for a few long moments before Darcy couldn't resist anymore. "Are we not going to talk about that? Because that was some Sinbad type stuff there-"

"No. We're not going to talk about that. We're going to forget it ever happened. And we're going to start right now."

"You know," Darcy said conversationally, "I'm not sure you have the healthiest way of dealing with this kind of thing. Maybe we should-"

"'This kind of thing'? There's not exactly precedent for this, Darcy."

"Well, you know what I mean-"

"Clearly I don't."

She narrowed her eyes. "If you would let me finish, then you would." She paused meaningfully, but he remained silent. "Thank you. And trauma, I was saying. I don't think you have a healthy way of dealing with trauma."

"Trauma?" Loki choked, finally opening his eyes to stare at her rather more incredulously than Darcy thought the situation necessitated.

"Yeah. Trauma."

"What just happened? That was in no way traumatic."

"Excuse you?" Darcy raised her own brows in exactly the amount of incredulousity that that statement deserved. "You just nearly drowned by way of freaky skeleton hands! How is that not traumatic? Do you nearly die on a regular basis? And on top of that, in insane situations? Forgetting about it is impossible!"

"Yes. Somewhat. No." Darcy glared at him until he elaborated. "Yes to the first question, sometimes to the second, and no, it is absolutely possible to forget."

Darcy stared at him for a long moment. "I do not understand you," she mused.

"Likewise," he grumbled, groaning as he slowly sat up and rolled his neck to the side. It cracked painfully and Darcy winced.

"Well...alright then."

She pursed her lips as she watched him stand shakily and try to brush the sand off his clothes. The wet fabric was not very relenting. She averted her eyes from how tightly it clung to his torso.

"Are we underground?" She asked, frowning. They seemed to be in a cave. She couldn't see a ceiling, because it got pitch black before one appeared, but their were sides all around them. It was so strange. Had the whole hell-dimension thing just been in the back of a cave!?

This place was so weird.

"A bit. Come on- this way." She followed as he limped forward, leading the way down into the darkness.

She was just wondering how they were ever going to find their way in the darkness when the tunnel opened up quite suddenly into a much larger tunnel that was easy to see, though she could see no reason why it would be.

She worried her lip as she watched him continue limping the whole way, not liking that he wasn't shaking this off. He'd never seemed really harmable somehow. It was messing with the whole inhumanly-perfect thing that she'd built up for him.

Busy with these thoughts a she was, she didn't try to start a conversation. Neither did he. They went on like this for what felt like a long time when they started hearing a loud, unsettling clanging coming from the direction they were heading for.

She looked to Loki, unsure, but he seemed unperturbed by it so she let herself relax a little.

It grew steadily louder and louder until it became clear that it was the sound of...chewing. Which, okay, weird. As they rounded the corner, they suddenly found themselves in an enormous cavern, with what seemed to be huge roots that connected to a tree that went straight up into the ceiling until it was obscured by the blackness. But Darcy couldn't even focus on that because she was so distracted by the freaking dragon that was munching away at it's base. It was a pale white-green color, and it's tail twitched back and forth like an angry cat's, but it's attention never wavered from it's meal, ripping huge mouthfuls out at a time. The flash of great silvery-green teeth making Darcy step a little closer to Loki.

"About time," a croaky voice said, dragging Darcy's attention from the dragon to three...women? Darcy blinked. Yes, women. Just...very much...afflicted. "We were starting to think you'd given up."

"You're the fates," Loki said flatly. "Has anyone ever told you that it's annoying when you pretend you didn't know what would happen."

"We don't get as many visitors as you might imagine," she sniffed. "Come closer girl," she commanded. "Let's get a look at you then."

Darcy looked to Loki, but he shrugged. She inched forward, maybe a foot or two. There was still quite a few feet between them. She kind of got the feeling that it wouldn't be a great idea to get that close.

"Describe her to me," the woman said, elbowing a taller, thin woman to her right. The thin woman shrieked in outrage and rubbed her rib but her eyes settled on Darcy with disturbing intensity. "Mmm. She's so pretty." The words were a sigh that had the hair on the back of Darcy's neck raising. She glanced back at Loki but he was watching impassively. "Dead but not. She glows like the sun, but the night has already nearly devoured her. And she smells like-"

"Yes," the first woman said eagerly. "Yes she does rather, doesn't she."

"Yes."

What? What the hell did she smell like?

"My magic," Loki prompted suddenly. "If you'd be so kind." The words had an ironic edge to them, but the women seemed not to mind.

His magic?

"Yes, yes. Of course." The first woman flicked her wrist. "What I would pay to see this happen in real time," she whined, tapping the side of her head with her forefinger. "It's just not the same in here." Darcy frowned. Was she blind? "Did you figure it out then?"

Had it been a secret? Darcy jumped slightly, suddenly afraid that they'd read her mind somehow.

"Yes," Loki said, his voice clipped, and Darcy relaxed a bit. Thank god.

"Well then, let's see it."

"Darcy," she turned slightly to look at him, making sure neither the women or the dragon were at her back. "I can make you as you were again," he was saying, and Darcy's heart sped up. "Are you ready for that?"

"Oh my god, yes. This whole being a ghost thing is super annoying."

A small smile played at the edge of his lips and Darcy stared at it intently. Since when was he smiling all the time?

"I would imagine. Come a little closer." She did. "Now, this shouldn't hurt but it might feel very strange."

"Bring it." She was soready.

He nodded, seeming pleased, and his palms began to glow an icy blue that was mesmerizing. It had always been fun- though a little freaky- to watch him do magic, and right now was no exception.

There was a slight tingling, and a glance down saw that her whole body was now glowing icy-blue like his hands. Her lips parted in wonder as she raised a hand to her face for closer inspection. This close it was almost as if her skin was made of blue crystals or something. Fascinating. She thought she might have murmured something about Jane having a field day with this, and there was cackling, but it was far away. Suddenly Loki was right there, and he was putting his hands on her shoulders- or where her shoulders would be- and there was a huge jolt and then she could feel his hands on her shoulders. A huge well of energy was poured into her, and it ran all up and down her body; this incredible zing of cool, refreshing vitality. She was laughing, and Loki was grinning at her and hugging her tightly, and she could feel it- god how he'd missed feeling things- and then it was uncomfortable. The coolness had subsided, leaving the energy inside her just a little too hot for comfort, and she was pushing Loki away because it was just too much, it was too hot, it was...

Loki dropped to his knees, catching Darcy's upper half before it could fall; before she could hurt her head.

"Darcy?" he croaked, brushing her hair out of her face as he held her in his lap. She looked like she'd passed out, her skin hot to the touch. Did she have a fever? What was going on? Had it not worked after all? Panic was setting in, making his heart race again and his adrenalin-traumatized body. The magic had drained him.

"- told you he wouldn't realize," the blind one was saying.

"I already knew that!" The mad one snapped, outraged.

"I know you already knew that, but I'm the one who told you-"

"What's going on?" Loki broke in. "What did you do to her?"

"Us?" The mad one shrieked indignantly.

"Oh for crying out loud...you just brought the girl back from the dead. Kind of. Celebrate!"

"Celebrate?" Loki echoed. "She's..." He gestured helplessly to Darcy, still out.

"So she's a little hot. Bring her back to the mainland. She'll be fine. What do you expect? She's part Frost Giant now. It's gonna take her a little while to get used to the new blood in her veins. Temperature shock."

Frost Giant? Loki looked at Darcy in shock. She looked just as she had.

"I was under the impression that you were a little faster than this," the blind one grumbled. "But I do love explaining things, so I suppose some light thanks are in order. Let me lay it out for you: you brought her back from death. In doing so, you imbued her new body with your own essence. Since you are part Frost Giant, ipso facto..."