Darcy woke feeling...odd. All her senses were on overload, as if making up for lost time

Her mouth tasted bitter and dry, which made her groan and open her eyes to sit up only to be assaulted by the blinding light that was the day. A clear, blue sky greeted her, and a green field, and a worried-looking Loki.

"You're awake!" he exclaimed, relieved.

"What happened?" She rubbed her eyes tiredly.

He looked like he was restraining himself from touching her. "You fainted."

Darcy frowned. Granted, her short-term memory was a little hazy, but... "I don't think so." She'd never fainted in her life.

"Keeled right over. It was rather impressive, actually."

She was about to argue further when her memory actually did catch up with her, and she bit her tongue. "Well, as long as I was impressive," she settled for. "Wait- so I'm-" she patted herself down, grinning. Everything felt about right. "I'm a person again! Oh my god!"

Loki grinned back at her, and it hit her with more force than she liked to admit to. "You look so...different," she said, entranced. The smile quickly fell from his face and she kicked herself for it. "Sorry. I guess I'm repeating myself here. Thank you though. For..." she trailed off, eyes widening and gesturing at herself, and at the sky, and the field, and... "- everything. Really. Thank you."

"Well it's kind of- ah. You're welcome."

She grinned at him dopily for a minute before he rubbed a hand on the back of his neck and looked away. "So how do you feel?"

She took a deep breath of the fresh, slightly flowery air, and giggled at the blades of grass tickling her feet. "Good. Really, really good."

"That's good. Good. Not too...ah. Not too hot?"

"Umm. No?"

"Right. Good. That's...good."

Darcy narrowed her eyes. "Okay, spill. What's going on."

"Nothing! Nothing, really. Just that...ah. You may be part Frost Giant now."

Darcy blinked. "Say what now?"

"Definitely," he muttered. "Definitely are. If we're being...you know... 'technically' accurate here."

Huh.

"Huh."

She held her arms up to her face, trying to distinguish anything Frost Giant-like about them, but it looked normal to her. She didn't feel like a Frost Giant.

"It probably won't affect you very much," Loki was saying quickly. "It was just a lot for your body to handle so suddenly, so-"

"Are you nervous?" Darcy asked with, okay, a little bit of delight at the idea. And then stifled a laugh at the deer-in-the-headlights look that that got her. "I've never seen you nervous before. It's so cute."

He seemed to need a few seconds to adjust to that. "I just want you to be...happy," he said quietly.

A piece of pollen must have gotten in Darcy's eye, because she was tearing up a little. She wiggled her toes a little deeper into the grass, loving the almost itchy tickle of it. "Hey. What am I wearing?"

"It's nothing." He dropped down across from her in the grass, and Darcy was grateful. She hadn't even realized it before, but now that she didn't have to crane her neck to look up at him, her neck was pretty stiff.

It wasn't nothing though. He'd just made jeans and a fitted, hunter green tunic that hung off of her perfectly. She didn't know what it was, but... "It's something."

She shot him a quick look but he was chewing on a long blade of grass and staring off across the field. "So back at the lake. You could have just made me clothes?"

He froze.

Huh. "Well, how are you at making shoes? We can't stay here forever. Or can you just do your magic thing again and poof us back home?"

He gave her his own shoes.

"Right," Darcy was saying as they walked over the crest of the field a few minutes later. "So how did my kids come to be in Asgard again?"

"I'm not really sure," Loki admitted. "I was a little...preoccupied at the time."

"Right," she repeated, drawing the word out slowly.

They walked silently for a while, Loki trying to figure out how to strike up a conversation but discarding each possibility. He wanted to know how it had been for her, in Hel, but didn't want to bring back bad memories. He wanted to know if she was angry with him for being responsible for altering her DNA, but didn't want to remind her of it unduly. He wanted to-

Well, he wanted to stop being so fates damned nervous. Now that he'd accepted the importance she had in his life, every word seemed vital. Every glance was dissected and analyzed. It made him fidgety, and annoyed at it. He was Loki, dammit! He didn't act like a little schoolboy.

"How do you do that?" Darcy was watching the ball of ice he'd been playing with. She blinked big eyes. "Can I do that, too?"

"Maybe," he admitted. "I can teach you, if you like. When we stop for the night."

"Hmm." She frowned, her brow crinkling adorably. "Just how far away are we? And where are we going? And when is-"

Loki smiled. "About three day's walk from the capitol. But we're not going there just yet-"

"Three day's walk? How big is Asgard? I got the feeling we were on the border or something."

He nodded. Hel and Asgard were separated by the caves of the Norns, which served as a border of sorts. "Asgard itself is not that large- the capitol is near the center of the country. But it's surrounded on three sides by great mountain ranges, and by an ocean on the other side. It's not the easiest of places to get into." Or out of. His ability to flash really had come in useful.

"Will-" Loki looked over at Darcy but she had bitten her lip. A lock of brown hair tickled her cheek, and she tucked it impatiently behind her ear and his heart ached just a little bit.

Stupid, he told himself. Stupid to feel this way.

"Will people be able to notice?" She finally asked. "That I'm...I don't know. Whatever I am now. I look the same, right?"

He tilted his head, trying to see her as a stranger might. Average height. Dark brown hair escaping from a loose braid that fell over her right shoulder, the ends brushing just below her impressive bust. Intelligent, wide brown eyes that took the world in with humor and optimism...

He didn't want to unsettle her more than she already was.

"Should you look differently?" he asked blandly, and she smiled, relieved.

"No."

It wasn't anything about the way she looked. She looked like Darcy. She was Darcy. But she was more than just Darcy now, too. Her humanity was gone, and in it's place was the immortality of his kind, which lent her a certain...solidity, for lack of better explanation. She would be able to see the difference between humans and gods soon enough, with her new perception. He didn't want to put too much on her right now. But people would definitely be able to tell now, at a glance, that she was not mortal.

He wondered if she had now become the goddess of anything, but it would likely be a long time before she was aware of it, even if she was. Could someone become keeper of a trait if they were not born keeper? As far as he'd heard Darcy's situation was one of a kind. It would be interesting to find out.

Loki rolled his eyes at Darcy a few hours later. "What?" She kept glancing over at him and each time she did, the furrow in her brow got a little more pronounced. It was frighteningly adorable.

"I just." She pursed her lips, and he made himself look away, clearing his throat. "You just look different. That's all."

"So you've said," he said dryly.

"You're angry."

Darcy gaped at him. "Ya think?" She couldn't even believe him. "I'm immortal, Loki. Like a fucking vampire or some shit. Which, in it's own right, is pretty terrifying- but...Jesus!" She had to breathe. She had to just focus on breathing. When did air get so fucking complicated!?

"You would rather be dead."

"You know, you are really pissing me off," she snarled, anger boiling violently beneath her skin. That prissy, sarcastic tone of voice though... It really made her hackles rise.

"I had not realized."

"Shut. The Fuck. Up," she growled, a new, dual tonality underlacing her words. And his jaw snapped shut with a click, his eyes widening in surprise. "I cannot deal with you right now."

She stalked past him, wishing their was a more effective way to storm off. But he had long legs, and knew how to use them.

In a way, she was grateful when he grabbed her arm, because she was so angry that she couldn't think coherently, but she still really wanted to vent.

"Don't touch me."

He raised his brows but said nothing, his nostrils flaring.

"I said don't touch me," she repeated, this time that dual tonality creeping into her voice. His hand fell from her arm immediately, and she frowned.

On one level, she knew something kind of significant had just happened- but her mind couldn't process what it was because it was focused on the fact that she was immortal. As in live-forever-unless-head-is-cut-off immortal. Would she even age anymore? She'd been so curious to see what her old-lady stage was going to be! She felt cheated.

"- even believe this," Loki burst out harshly, only to stop, mouth clicking closed briefly in surprise.

"What."

"You enchanted me," he said, eyes narrowed in accusation. "How did you do that?"

Darcy scowled. "What the fuck are you talking about?"

"Just now. You enchanted me. Twice!"

Darcy blinked. "Oh." She blinked again. "Oh," she repeated. Her eyes widened. "Oh." She sighed, scrubbing her hands over her face. "Well fuck my life, that's just great. Not just immortal but also magical now, too. Absolutely perfect. Why are you looking at me like I'm crazy!? I feel like this is a perfectly normal reaction! I am not being irrational here."

The dubious look on his face just pissed her off even more, and she turned her head away, storming off again. Her face felt carved out of stone.

She was lost in thoughts of anger and frustration for a long time. Loki was silent beside her, in a mood of his own that she didn't have the interest or attention to try and divine.

It started getting dark though, and eventually Loki said they should just stop for the night.

Darcy found herself shrugging acquiescence, and then getting annoyed at herself for acknowledging him at all because she'd meant to just give him the cold shoulder. Then she got annoyed at herself for being so petty because she was an adult, dammit, she didn't have to resort to childishness.

"I'm sorry," Loki said suddenly, thickly. And the words sounded strange coming from him, like they always did. You could just tell sometimes, the things that a person isn't used to saying.

Darcy breathed a long sigh, sitting on the grass and hugging her knees. Facing away from him; her cheek pressed against the bone uncomfortably, but that was the kind of mood she was in.

"I'm sorry, too," she said, the words forced out somewhat reluctantly. "I'm not really angry with you, per se. I'm just angry. It's lot to take in."

A cricket chirped somewhere.

"You were dead," he said quietly. "And I just..."

"I know." Her voice was quiet, too. "And I am grateful. I am. But." And suddenly she was crying, fat tears tracking annoyingly down her cheeks and her nose was stuffy. She wiped at her eyes tiredly, snuffling. "I have kids, Loki."

He chuckled shortly. "I'm aware of that, actually."

She raised her head from her knees to look over at him, astounded by how dense he was. His face instantly became repentant at the sight of her tears, and she almost had to laugh at how quickly awkwardness flooded his features. But it was going to be a long time before there was anything really worth laughing for. Maybe never.

"I have kids, Loki. I'm going to live forever, apparently. But they're not." Her voice broke at that, and she turned her face back to her knee, unable to stand the sudden comprehension of his features.

"Oh," he said. Just that. But it was like a boulder; this acknowledgment of the pain that she would have to face one day.

Darcy turned to her other side. And then back. Jesus but it was hard to get comfortable on grass. She could have sworn there was a rock under her spine, despite checking and finding none. She looked longingly over at Loki, laying a few feet away. She was so tired. It had to have been at least two hours that she'd lain their, trying to get comfortable. Meanwhile he'd laid down and had fallen asleep instantly. He hadn't rolled over once, the bastard.

She'd thought he would insist she sleep closer to him, to protect her better against pirates or lions or whatnot, but he hadn't said anything. Not even when she'd decreed that she was sleeping here, and he needed to be at least over there, if not further. She'd been looking forward to him disagreeing, eager to argue and work off some of this anger that surged through her. His jaw had clenched, which had gotten her thinking that maybe she'd get her fight after all- but then he'd just nodded acceptance and laid down the closest distance away that she'd specified, making her huff in annoyance.

As she tried to fall asleep, her mind refused to stop dwelling on him. He'd looked so relieved when he'd found her. So hopeful. And like an idiot, she'd thought maybe he loves me too, then. Now she snorted at the idea. As if. She didn't know why he'd brought her back, but it definitely wasn't because he loved her. She had a feeling that she'd become something of a security blanket to him. Which was a great feeling. Super great. Whatever he'd gone through before she'd met him had clearly fucked with him big time- but over the course of the time she'd spent with him he'd become almost a different person. Gone were the rages and tangible madness that had clung to him like a second skin, and in their place was a little boy. Unsure and anxious and desperate to please.

She sighed. And desperately unhappy about it.

Darcy got the feeling that she made him feel things he'd really rather not, and she had no doubt that he resented her for it. Hell, he probably even resented her dying and leaving him without his precious safety net.

Because what he valued most was himself. Being in control of himself. And what she valued most was family. Her children.

Her heart ached like a bitch from missing them. And her spine ached like a bitch from these fucking rocks, god in heaven but why were rocks even invented in the first place...

Now she eyed Loki thoughtfully, trying to tell herself that it would only be practical to make use of him. Since he was there and all. And she wouldn't be giving anything up. She wouldn't be giving up her anger- she would just be using him. Besides, he would never have to know. He was out like a light, and she was used to getting up early. She'd just wake up before he did and go back to her spot and he'd never find out.

Decided, she crept over to where he lay, the moonlight caressing his features like a lover. He was so stupidly handsome. It was annoying as all hell.

Careful not to wake him, she lay down next to him. His breaths came evenly, in and out. Slowly, she inched closer to his body until finally, ten minutes later, she was snuggled up to his side, her head resting comfortably on his chest.

Some people used wave machines to fall sleep, but for Darcy it was Loki's steady breaths, in, and out, and again, that had her drifting off into a sleep so deep that she didn't even notice when he lay an arm around her, pulling her to him as he sighed contentedly into her hair.

Mmm. Something smelled delicious. Like peppermint, and man...

Wait. What?

Darcy woke up with a start, careful not to jostle Loki. She did not want him waking up while she was still lying in his arms. Probably would take it as a bit of a mixed signal.

Stealthily extricating herself from his side- he'd wrapped an arm around her at some point during the night- she got up. Dawn was just arriving, casting the sky in a wash of dusty purple.

Darcy walked down to the stream that cut through the valley, dividing it evenly on both sides. Low rising mountains lay behind them, back the way they'd come, and ahead the ground flattened out in fields of green as far as she could see. Small violet flowers dotted the grass, and the air was sweet, and fresh. It felt like late spring. It was beautiful.

Her foot still ached a bit, but nothing like the consistent lance of pain that had shot through her with every step the day before. If she'd been born less stubborn she would have demanded he stop hours before she had. But she had wanted to punish him, and somehow she'd known that hurting herself would hurt him too.

She sighed now as she rolled her pants up around her calves and walked into the water a little bit. It seemed so childish in hindsight.

What was it about him that made her lose her head? Men had never affected her like he did. His calm, disdainfully cool exterior made her want to incite him to show her what was going on inside his head. To show her how he felt, as he was so good at hiding it.

The water was cold, and goosebumps rose on her legs, making the hair stand up. When was the last time she'd shaved? She thought inanely.

"El oh el,"she said with a straight face, "As if I'll be finding a razor around here."

Her foot felt a lot better though. The cold had been good for it.

When she went back to their 'campsite', Loki was awake, rolling his neck to work out the night's kinks. He looked tired, but then he always looked tired. Darcy had often wondered what he dreamed of, but if he had nightmares, he suffered them in silence and gave no sign of it.

Ignoring the usual pang that accompanied such thoughts, Darcy gave him a cool nod.

"I don't suppose you have any food," she said. She hadn't eaten for...a while, and she was feeling it. Her belly was hollow, and her dreams had been of making big breakfasts for Ellie and Nathan with waffles, and strawberries, and eggs, and muffins, and...

Her belly growled unhappily, and she patted it comfortingly. There there, my precious. Soon.

"There are probably fish in the river," he said. "But apart from that, not for a ways yet."

Fish. Ew. Not exactly her favorite. Not that it seemed like she could really afford to be picky, but...

"You can't just magic some food up?" She asked, giving him her best puppy eyes.

Not that he noticed. He just shook his head and said, "It doesn't work like that."

"Can I magic some fish up?"

He gave her a look. "It doesn't work like that."

Resigning herself to fish, she said, "Well, okay. Fish it is. Although- not raw, right?" That would hit a little too close to home from her precious statement.

"Of course not." Had he hesitated? Darcy frowned, but he was already heading down to the water.

Darcy pursed her lips. Stay here on the grass and do nothing, or follow Loki back to the river. What to do, what to do.

Heaving a sigh, she headed back down to watch a god try and catch fish without a rod.

Food. Of course, dammit. Why hadn't he thought of this? He hated that he was so unprepared.

He had waded out to calve-deep in the water, thankful that it was clear and didn't have much flow to it.

Footsteps sounded behind him and he stiffened slightly, embarrassed for Darcy to see him like this- so undignified and belittling.

"So what, are you just going bare-handed, then? Apparently they're fast little fuckers- oh snap!"

He held up a dripping, squirming fish, feeling pretty damn smug as he threw it to the bank and she shrieked and flinched away as it sailed a few feet next to her. "You were saying?"

"Wait a minute," she said, looking at the fish with sympathy as it flopped on the ground. She nibbled her lip.

"It's just a fish, Darcy. It's fine."

"But it's not fine! Look at it- it's dying," she moaned. "Sorry if I'm not a cold-blooded killer like you, but I can't- nope." She scooped the fish up and quickly released it back into the water, where it swam away as fast as it's fins could carry it. "You can get out now," she said anxiously. "Let's hit the road, yeah? How about if I call you Jack, and we just...hit..that...road..." She smiled tightly.

Loki stared at her in confusion, but left the stream behind. He had the distinct impression that she was trying to protect the fish.

She smiled encouragingly at him when he rejoined her on the shore. "There ya go. Good job. Just say no to peer pressure, and all that."

"Do people on Midgard not fish, then?" It seemed a strange thing to get upset by.

"Well, no. I mean, yeah they fish, but I don't ever see it. I'm not used to actually watching things die, and I don't like it." She sighed and scrunched up her nose. "At all."

Her belly rumbled again, and he felt a pang of guilt assail him at it. If she would not eat fish, then he simply couldn't do anything to help. At least she didn't need food, now that she was immortal. But the body was used to getting it, and old habits died hard.

So they set out, both caught up in their own thoughts and un-talkative. Loki felt awkward with her, and was having a hard time dealing with such an unusual feeling. He wasn't used to having warm feelings for someone, let alone trying to express those to them, and he was at a loss.

It had been so much simpler before! When they were first together, he hadn't cared what she thought about him, and he could just be himself. Now he felt as though he had to examine every word carefully before allowing it to slip by his mouth, making him feel unsure and clumsy. He so badly didn't want to ruin this.

"So where exactly are we?" Darcy broke the silence. Finally. She was not by nature a quiet person, but she'd been reluctant to talk to him. "How long until we reach civilization?"

They'd been walking along rolling fields for the past few hours, with nothing much more than a few rabbits and birds to show that anything lived around.

"I'm not...exactly sure," he admitted unhappily. "I am not familiar with these lands. But I believe that we are not much more than a day from our destination."

"And what exactly is our destination?" Darcy asked suspiciously. "And speaking of other things I don't get, how are you going to know when that war is over if we're nowhere near it? You got a crystal ball or something?"

"I'll know," he said. Hela would find him, he was sure.

He shivered, disgusted when he remembered the look of hunger on her face. The knowledge that he'd surrendered himself to her for two months made him want to break out in a sweat. He doubted she would truly be like Agda, but the idea of being powerless to someone else's mercy...only two months.

It sounded like a lifetime.

"Riiight," Darcy drawled, and he looked back at her like a lifeline.

For her. He could do it for her.

Gradually his panic eased as they went on. Darcy peppered him with questions about where they were going and when she'd get her kids back, and on and on in a stream of Darcy-talk that soothed his nerves. It was far from unpleasant. In fact, despite the fact that he refused to answer most of them, he would say the whole thing was quite pleasant indeed.

Loki had thought maybe he'd get a few more days with Darcy before the shoe dropped. After all, surely war such as he'd left behind him would take time to come to a close. But no.

Just three days after leaving Hel, it's keeper found him.

"I always forget how...bright it is here."

Loki stiffened, crushing the ball of ice he'd been idling with.

When he turned he had to blink several times to get used to the glare coming off of Hela's silver hair. In Hel the locks had shone like a star in the night, but up here it was dangerously blinding.

"I can't go yet." He had pushed down the edgy anxiety that had leapt to life at the sound of her voice; the terrible fear of loss of control, loss of self.

She didn't seem to have heard him. A slight frown marred her childish features. Her toes spread out in the grass, clenching and unclenching the blades and Loki was struck by the stray thought that she had not been away from Hel for a very, very long time.

A butterfly flitted lazily by on white wings and Loki watched it impatiently. "When I am sure of Darcy's safety I will honor our agreement."

He'd given the matter of where Darcy should be while he was off being a prisoner in Hel quite a bit of thought. He'd been alive for hundreds of years, and yet it was amazing how few people he truly trusted. No one, really. The idea of leaving Darcy to the mercies of people he considered, if not exactly his enemies then certainly not his friends, made him break out in a cold sweat. There was only one person he felt decently about leaving her with.

Hela held out a hand, grinning as the butterfly swooped in a slow arc to the left, to the right, and then back to it's original course, alighting onto her forefinger. Only to drop instantly to the grass at the first touch.

"Oh," Hela said quietly, grin falling from her face as fast as the butterfly had from her finger. "I always forget." And just like that whatever spell she'd been under was broken; her serene authority was back in place. She turned those pale, almost colorless eyes on Loki.

"Does Frigga live?" he asked. Unaccountably, he found his fingers shaking slightly. He frowned at them and put them behind his back.

Hel gave him a knowing look. "It's a bit of a downgrade, from queen to babysitter." He said nothing. "Yes, she lives."

She looked at him a long moment, and he made sure not to react in any way. He was filled with more relief than he would like to admit to by her words though. He couldn't stop thinking about earlier, when they'd been on the battlefield and she'd fought at his back- the rightness of it. And how she'd turned to him once and her face had been filled with a curious mix of disappointment and regret. And why should she look at him like that? She hated him- she had made that abundantly clear all through his childhood; he was filled with so much confusion...

"I will see that Darcy is safely with her before I go with you." And then Hel...

Keep your eyes on the endgame, he reminded himself when he felt the panic beginning to rise. Two months was not forever. And then nothing would be keeping him from Darcy, and he could finish making things right between them. He was so close. He could tell. She was softening to him.

Hela was amused, which pissed him off. She was practically laughing at him. Curiously, she asked, "What is so special about this girl?"

Everything.

But he said nothing, and she rolled her eyes. "Well I am not waiting another week for you to get there. Get your little dog and I'll take her there."

Loki stiffened, his eyes narrowing dangerously. "You will not talk about her like that," he said simply, and she gave him a hard look before shrugging. "And you will take both of us. I must speak to Frigga."

She sighed but agreed, her excitement palpable though she tried to repress it.

"Not curious to know who won?" She asked, her eyes running over him hotly.

Loki looked at her indifferently, his eyes cold. He said nothing.

She pouted and was silent.

"Oh god," Darcy groaned when she saw the young bombshell talking to Loki. Somehow back in the underworld or whatever, the way Hela looked hadn't really made an impact on her.

My how times had changed.

"I'm so old."

"Ah. There she is," Hela cooed. "Finally."

Darcy frowned. "I was gone for like five seconds. Jesus. Glad you didn't send out the search party just yet. Also...hi. I guess."

"Darcy..."

Well that was the weirdest tone she'd ever heard someone say her name with. She couldn't even begin to know what it meant.

"Yo dawg," she nodded at Loki, trying to act casual in the face of his incredible sexiness. In the face of his incredible face of sexiness. Sexy. Very much with the-

She cleared her throat. "Um. Right. So I'm guessing there's a bit of a change of plan? Because we've suddenly become a tricycle and all." Loki and Hela shared a look of confusion that Darcy did not appreciate. They should not be sharing anything, first of all. In fact, Hela was just a little bit too close to Loki for Darcy's liking. There was a whole field and she had to stand right there!? Like...ten feet away from him? "Because you're a third wheel," she snapped at Hela, storming between them to snatch up her coat, mumbling under her breath as she did. "...which is completely impractical given this terrain. Clearly you're not a Vulcan, or-"

"Does she talk like this all the time?"

"Yes."Darcy jerked her head over her shoulder to glare at Loki because she did not appreciate him fraternizing with the enemy, she really did not, but stopped short at the utter fondness on his face. Instead, she turned her glare to Hela before stalking off again. "Come on then. Might as well get this over with."

"She's walking. Why is she walking away? I have to have physical contact to transport you."

"Ah. Darcy..." Loki called, and Darcy stopped, closing her eyes and breathing deeply.

"F my L," she whispered to herself. Of course they'd be piggybacking with the Child Whore. Well, alright, that was a bit unkind maybe... WHOA. TOTALLY NOT UNKIND AT ALL. "God in heaven," she spat. "How old are you!?"

Hela lifted a brow. "Quite a bit more than the both of you, darling." She tapped her fingers along Loki's hip, where her hand rested quite familiarly thank you very much, smirking all the while because she knew exactly how Darcy felt about that.

"Hmph. Would've thought you'd learned some manners by now then," she grumbled, stalking back and feeling ridiculous. "Maybe about personal space."

"Brace yourself," Loki said, holding her hand as Hela's other hand slid to Darcy's waist.

She glared at him, still pissed at the whole situation. "This is not my first rodeo," she sniffed. Still, she tightened her grip on his hand.

No matter how many times he traveled this way there was always the initial shock of suddenly new terrain. Hela had taken them to the front doors of the palace. It had been a while since he'd been here last.

Fates, but it had been a long time.

The palace itself was relatively unscathed from battle, but the city around it and the surroundings as far as the eye could see were in shambles.

Darcy mumbled something under her breath that Loki couldn't catch. It was strange. This visual of what he had accomplished. He felt so detached from it.

Hela was striding through the palace doors, clearly making the most of her day out as she smiled regally at the group of people who watched them. They had clearly paused their work because some held pails of water, some carried large pieces of wood between them. Renovations.

Darcy was following Hela, and Loki followed Darcy.

It became apparent very quickly that the throne room was now being used as a make-shift infirmary. Raised pallets were all over the room, and nearly every bed was full.

It had been an astoundingly large battle. Loki was not surprised that there were so many wounded.

Asgard had never had much need of hospitals, and so had never officially had one built. Asgardians were immortal, and had never suffered from disease or the like. If someone injured themselves, there was a healer in most villages who could set broken arms and the like. But something as massive as this? There was no precedent. He did feel a certain pride in that.

People bustled back and forth, not paying much mind to them, seeing as they hadn't just witnessed them apparating in front of their eyes.

"Whoa," Darcy said, staring around with soft, huge eyes. "Oh god- these poor people. Jesus. Are they going to be okay?"

It was so jarring- Darcy's reactions to the world around her. Loki would never have wondered it himself. Would never have thought to worry over these strangers. Either they would get better, or they would die. Why worry about it? He was no healer.

"They'll be fine," he assured her, scanning the room for- "Frigga," he called, and she spun around at the sound of his voice. She stared at him for a long moment before walking up to him and his jaw burned as she slapped his cheek, hard. Darcy let out a squawk of surprise but then Frigga was hugging him, tightly, and his mind was a molten mix of confusion, shame, longing, and comfort.

It was several moments before Frigga drew away, and Loki was glad when she did. He felt exposed. It was unpleasant.

Frigga's eyes swept over the rest of the group and held Hela's eyes for a long, tense moment before Hela looked away, smile still curving her lips.

Frigga turned to Darcy, and Loki saw her surprise at her rather unusual attire. Darcy favored jeans and a t-shirt, and Asgardian women were heavy proponents of elaborate dresses. Under Frigga's scrutiny, Darcy looked down at her clothes and bit her lip before shrugging it off.

"This is Darcy," Loki said, proudly. He moved so that he was closer to her, a little in front of her. "She's mine."

Darcy coughed, elbowing out from behind him to stand at his side. She glared at him. "No," she ground out, "I'm not. I'm mine." She turned a fiercely pleasant smile to Frigga, who was studying her indifferently. Darcy opened her mouth, but-

"Yes, yes," Hel said impatiently. "She's a very independent girl, isn't she? But Loki," she purred his name and he stiffened, "and I have a date back home. And we're very anxious to drop off the..." she licked her lips, pleased. "Dead weight, so to speak."

Darcy spluttered, "I beg your pardon?" as Loki gave Hela a chilling look, but said nothing and just looked at Frigga. Honestly, he wasn't really sure that she would help. He didn't know what he would do if she wouldn't...

"You want me to...watch...this girl," Frigga said slowly, looking Darcy up and down.

"Hello," Darcy said in a small voice. "Nice to...meet...you..."

But Frigga took no notice of that and talked over her. "After you disappeared for months only to come back and bring with you anger, and a war that took the life not only of my husband but of countless men and women that I have pledged my life to protecting. And you ask now for a favor." She frowned at him, and he felt sure she could see inside of him. And what do you see? he wanted to ask. Is there a beast within me? Or is it just another delusion? "What do you expect me to say?"

He said nothing for a moment, the impact of what she had said finally hitting him. His rage had been unparallelled, it was true. Losing Darcy...he could not help darting a quick glance to her to reassure himself that she was there, and then cursed himself that Frigga had noticed it.

And what did he expect her to say? "No."

Something that might have been pain flashed across her face. "Then you are a fool," she said briskly. "And I am, as well."

Relief pierced Loki so strongly that it was difficult not to give in and sag with it. He was free then, to let himself be imprisoned.