Love you all for your lovely support! Thank you for staying with me so long, it means the world!
Darcy stepped into post-apocalyptic New York more gingerly than she had ever before in any of her dreams- she winced each time she put a foot down and crunched on a piece of rubble.
It was until the fourth or fifth step that Darcy looked down, only to see charred and blackened bones lying beneath her feet- the whole setting was a graveyard of bones, combined with the smoky remains of burning buildings.
The sky was a blood red, marred with ominous black clouds that crackled with stifled electricity and thunder.
Something crunched on a bone behind her, and without warning she felt herself begin running- just like in her dreams.
She was moving faster than humanly possible, her feet barely skimming the ground as she put distance between herself and the unknown.
Just as in her dreams, Darcy was stopped still by the horrifying tableau of senseless slaughter Thanos seemed to favor-
Thor was foremost in her sight, nearly rent into two this time, his own Mjolnir (mew mew, her mind protested) embedded in his skull. Near his feet lay Jane, more mangled than she had ever appeared in Darcy's mind- her friend was covered in more stab wounds than she could fathom, and gore obscured her beautiful face.
Prior to looking any further, Darcy shut her eyes tightly and steeled herself.
This is all Loki's mind- this is his twisted, infested, infected mind.
None of this is real.
NONE of this is real.
Something cracked behind her but Darcy refused to look and acknowledge it. She slowly opened her eyes, expecting to find a contorted, broken baby Lucy somewhere in her line of sight.
Disconcerted, Darcy whirled about, searching for the corpse she had been so wary to view-
And the crack behind her got louder, and a rusty chuckle grated against her ears.
"Looking for this?"
The voice was even worse than the laugh, because Darcy knew who it belonged to.
There stood her Loki, her beloved, malevolent prince-
But he was smaller than before, his back somehow hunched, his stature lessened by the presence destroying his sanity.
Darcy had been so struck by the alteration in Loki's appearance that she didn't see what dangled from his hand-
A dismembered arm, tiny, with purple bruises mottling the pale skin-
And a shred of pink onesie dangled from where the limb was once connected to the owner-
Her Lucy.
Loki's face was a stranger to her- his eyes strangely black- and wrinkles etched so deep about his mouth and eyes that Darcy thought he was literally cracking in places.
Flashes of the actual horror- Lucy all over her apartment ceiling- ran through her mind, and Darcy was oddly comforted by the realization that she had already seen the worst-
She had seen the extent of Loki's/Thanos' monstrosity, could see right through the theatricality to the desperate desire to incite terror and inspire fear.
Thus, Darcy showed nothing-
No fear, no terror, no interest whatsoever.
Instead, she did what she did best-
She talked.
"Loki, I have to ask- was it all fake? Every kiss, every rose? Did you ever feel a thing at all when we dated?"
Loki blinked, clearly taken aback by her conversational tone of voice as well as the topic.
He clearly decided that he needed to up the ante and drive home the point that he was now evil.
"I CAN KILL YOU! I CAN STRIKE YOU DOWN WITHOUT MOVING SO MUCH AS A FINGER- I CAN LAY WASTE TO YOUR LAND, DESTROY ALL YOU HOLD DEAR IN AN INSTANT" The effect was quite impressive, especially since Loki amplified his voice a thousand times.
Unfortunately for him, Darcy responded with a snorting guffaw that surprised even her.
"What the devil is so humorous, mortal?"
"Oh god! Where do I start?! God- reminds me of the good old days when you called me mortal- and honestly Loki what else can you do to me?"
Loki teleported dangerously close to her, so close that she could literally feel the heat emanating off his body- whatever Thanos was doing to Loki was burning his body up.
In the same low whisper he had once used to worship her body, Loki threatened her-
"Are you in any position to mock me, foolish bitch? You may have conquered the weakness within me once, but did you think Master would let some stupid Midgardian ruin the plans of the Universe Devourer? He who fears none, loves none, but for Mistress Death-"
Darcy angrily shoved away Loki and crossed her arms;
"It seems to me like widdle Loki has a man-crush on Thanos, and I get it, believe me. He's conquered and ravished and plundered bigger and badder than you could ever HOPE to, but jeez Loki, try to hide it a little?"
This time Darcy was teleported with Loki, and she realized with a sinking in her stomach that she was again on the roof of a skyscraper with a crazy as fuck Loki-
And this time she was pregnant.
"Fuck this! Loki, either you kill me now or you let me go and I break my back again- we both know THIS IS NOT REAL!"
This seemed to take Loki aback, as he loosened his grip on her shoulder and glanced about him.
"That cannot be and you know it-"
"How do you know it?"
"I have done all he has asked and this is the result- all burns, not just this city but your world!"
"No Loki- the violence has so far been limited to several hundred murders, but Thanos hasn't quite hit total domination yet."
A battle was being waged in Loki's eyes, as he seemed to debate revealing his shock at the truth.
Darcy saw the doubt and she dove at it-
"I think this time, he has you completely locked in your mind. Thanos has complete control over your mind and body Loki, and he's probably using the Tesseract to do it!"
Loki's panicked look turned to fury as he clenched his fists and turned away from her, only to pivot once again and begin bellowing.
"You and your psychology, dammit! It's all a lie, a security blanket you humans wrap about yourselves as you blunder through life, attempting to comprehend the universe yet incapable of recognizing the utter insignificance of your very EXISTENCE!"
His chest was heaving and tears pooled in the corners of his eyes- something was even weirder about this crazy Loki than the previous- his eyes, obviously, weren't blue, and he wasn't flushed or sweaty with the heady power of the Tesseract-
He was falling to pieces, a shade of ashen white so close to gray that Darcy wanted to slap some color into his skin. With all the kindness and love she could muster into her voice, she asked,
"You're scared- Loki, why are you so scared?"
He mumbled something under his breath;
"Can you repeat that, Loki?"
…
"I did what he told me to."
"Thanos?"
"Clearly."
"What did he tell you to do?"
"Everything…"
"You can tell me… I am a psychologist, so I don't tend to judge."
"Don't you think I can see through the artifice in your words? You can pretend to have won this war of words, Darcy of Midgard, but you cannot force me to tell you anything that I do not want to."
She waited for him to continue- the pause grew interminably unbearable, but she wasn't going to say a word.
Darcy did the two things she had learned to do best-
Wait, and listen.
And eventually he spoke.
"He told me to kill- not the hundreds you speak of but thousands, everywhere. And also the fire- he urged me to set aflame all I saw, everywhere."
It was curious to Darcy that Thanos had chosen to conceal his true plans from Loki. It implied a lack of trust, which was understandable considering how badly Loki had botched his first attempt to commandeer Earth.
"Darcy?"
"Yes Loki?"
"I don't remember killing Thor though. I merely remember him flying before me- his damn hammer whipping dust into my eyes as usual… I don't remember doing what happened to him."
His voice was small like a boy's and Darcy began to feel a glimmer of sympathy, but then she realized that the lightning and thunder had suddenly faded away, and an ominous silence had taken their place.
"Loki… what's about to happen?"
She turned to glance at him, and was stopped still by the sight of his contorted face- eyes somehow bulging out, veins popping in his forehead, and worst of all his mouth- stretched into a smile so tight, it had torn his skin at the seams.
In a strange voice- not human, not Loki's- it replied,
"Everything…"
And it was right.
The sky cracked open and something flew from the ruckus towards them- it hurtled at them really, and crashed onto their rooftop so forcefully that the concrete beneath Darcy's feet rippled from the contact.
"What the fuck?!"
There was another doppelganger- a Loki look alike, but towering tall above both of them. Darcy braced herself for the worst, but the thing pushed her aside and lunged at Loki, topping them both off the edge of the rooftop- Darcy ran over to see the inevitable collision but they had disappeared-
Damn teleportation.
Suddenly Darcy felt something tugging inside her navel- a curious sensation- and then with a pop she felt herself vanishing and with a flash-
She was in a government building. Judging by the writing on the signs and the flags, she was in Russia-
And then it clicked in her head. She was awake again.
She glanced at her appearance to make sure, and there was the tell-tale hospital gown and the slightly protruding stomach she was so frightened for. Gritting her teeth, Darcy strode through the empty lobby, only stumbling once over the corpse of a young woman who had clearly been on her cell phone before her death. Darcy's stomach instantly swam with nausea but she held it in, refusing to be weak at that moment. She instead gritted her teeth, and began to undo the button of the girl's jeans.
If she was going to confront Thanos, or Loki, or whoever, she needed to cover her ass-
Literally.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
The heart of the building wasn't easy to reach- the halls of the Kremlin stretched long and twisted frequently, probably to confuse stupid Americans like herself. Darcy wasn't sure why she had been dropped off into the middle of Moscow's most high security building, but she was going to make the most of her impromptu visit.
Her confidence evaporated the moment she heard voices- speaking softly, but they grew louder as they came closer to Darcy's makeshift hiding spot of a statue.
Thankfully they turned a different direction than Darcy, so she was able to sneak ahead, following the hall from where they came.
It eventually led to a huge set of double doors, each adorned with handles shaped like lions and absolutely massive in size.
The muffled sound of talking was just evident, and Darcy decided that there was no point in being cautious or careful when it came to her planet's safety.
That was why she made an ass of herself attempting to open the ridiculous lion doorknobs. It was even worse when an expressionless Russian guard opened the door for her and ushered her in, not unlike a concierge at a five-star hotel.
Darcy's random thoughts evaporated when she her eyes fell upon the otherworldly creature at the front of the conference room.
He was Thanos- no doubt about it, considering the strange moon colored skin that had craters similar to the heavenly body, and a horrible helmet that just screamed supervillain- and Darcy had just interrupted his evil world domination meeting with all the elegance of a porcupine.
That was why she began to hurriedly apologize, before realizing that she was saying sorry to the fucker who had done horrible things to her world and her friends, and her lover most of all.
"Do not stop- it is amusing to see the one Midgardian somewhat capable of fathoming the great plans I have for this planet."
"When you say great plans, I assume you mean destruction?"
Thanos' silence was disconcerting to say the least, and Darcy realized that she had basically just signed her death warrant upon entering that room. Why the fuck did she have to auto-teleport here of all places?
Darcy didn't get an answer. Thanos simply turned to another guard, who seemed to have the same blue mind control eyes as Loki had once had. The surprisingly well hidden guards, all ten, exited the room, and Thanos then began to speak.
"You broke my link to the weak one once- you managed to achieve the impossible, with naught but sheer stupidity and luck."
Darcy didn't even try to protest.
"I was curious to see the mortal my vessel was so enamored with. His only thought during my reconnection with his mind was of you. I do not see anything that would heighten his regard for you above any of his own kind, but I care not. You do actually serve a purpose in my plans for Earth."
The monologue ended as abruptly as it began and Thanos shut his eyes for a moment. He opened them a second later- and suddenly there was Loki, barely clothed in tattered rags. He lay on the ground, feeble and wounded, and Darcy began to cry in spite of herself.
Loki looked up at the sound of her weeping, and Darcy's breath caught in her throat-
His eyes were green. Thanos had brought out her Loki- what the fuck was he about to do?
"Fear not mortal, all shall be apparent soon enough."
Soon didn't come soon enough, unfortunately- Thanos lifted up Loki with what had to be telekinesis, and meticulously, he began to inflict lacerations all over his scabbed and bleeding body.
"Please! Stop, please don't hurt him! Cut me! Cut me, but put him down!" Darcy was screaming by then, and Thanos merely replied,
"Await your turn patiently, mortal."
That shut Darcy up permanently, tears streaming down her face as she watched her beloved be silently endure what had to be the culmination of weeks of torture.
How long ago had Thanos wormed his way back into Loki's mind?
Before she could berate herself, Thanos dropped Loki, whose body crumpled like rag doll's when it hit the ground.
Unsure of what Thanos was going to do to her, Darcy stayed where she was- but Thanos didn't need her to move by herself.
She was lifted too, and she floated between Thanos and Loki like a puppet, helplessly.
Thanos did something with his mind, and Loki suddenly stood, chained to the ground, although he did not seem to have the strength to fight in any way.
"Vessel, observe." Loki's eyes were suddenly riveted on Thanos' form- Thanos then moved Darcy closer to him, and then he took hold of Darcy's hand. She grimaced and squeezed her eyes shut but it was too late-
He snapped her wrist the other way, and she shrieked, unable to contain her shock.
Quickly, efficiently, Thanos then snapped a finger backwards, then forwards, leaving to hang limply at its joint. Darcy was beginning to see spots from the pain, but she focused on Loki to gauge his response.
Shockingly enough, there was no response- his face was smooth and impassive, and that terrified Darcy.
Thanos grew bored with fingers, and made a knife appear out of thin air. With it, he began to tool symbols into Darcy's arms, and that made Darcy scream even more.
The blood was warm on her skin, and the sensation was so surreal that she could feel herself floating into unconsciousness-
And suddenly she was wrapped in arms so familiar she began to shake.
"Darcy! Oh my love, oh my Darcy, are you alright? I cannot save you, I cannot, I am so sorry, I am so sorry!"
Darcy couldn't believe it- Loki had initiated the mental connection! Which meant Thanos still didn't comprehend the extent of Darcy's ability to see what he was doing, which gave her an inkling of hope before she remembered that she was about to be tortured to death.
"Oh god… Loki, love… Loki… I know you couldn't fight him off… you're so strong but he is stronger than everyone- everyone-"
Loki darkly scowled and shook his head- "No! Not even the Devourer can escape certain aspects of fate- he knows not the depths of the mind he delved into- but I cannot stop him in this trap! I am defenseless as he uses my brain and my body and my powers as he wishes- the mineral ore in this damnable country only strengthens his abilities with the Tesseract- it is buried, deep beneath this very building!"
"Fucking Russians."
"Indeed."
"Loki, you didn't show anything when he was hurting me- is that really you?"
He ran his hands through his hair and sighed, reluctant to respond.
"Darcy, if you could have seen me while he was doing that… I am actually glad you did not see me. I was weeping like a woman."
She couldn't suppress a watery giggle, but a sudden sharp pain in her stomach bloomed, and fear spiked.
"FUCK! Ow- oh no. Loki… Oh fuck, how…"
"Darcy! What is it?!"
"I think he's… oh god, the baby…"
"Wh-what?! Darcy! DARCY!"
She couldn't hear Loki's shouts where she was, but she could see herself floating before Thanos somehow, and there was Loki in his chains, but he was fighting them wildly and shouting-
Thanos sent Loki flying across the room and summoned a huge carving knife from some corner of the universe-
Darcy was suddenly in her body again, and she couldn't do anything to save her baby, her poor little child who had done absolutely nothing but make the mistake of being the child of Darcy and Loki, the biggest fuckups in the nine realms.
Loki was up again but restrained by some invisible force, and Darcy is so relieved that the blank look has left his face, despite the tragedy which was about to occur.
Thanos clearly had other things to attend to, as he announced, "I tire of this. We end it now. Watch, vessel."
Loki knelt before Thanos and silenced, petrified by the powers of the World Eater. Darcy held her breath for an instant, trying to summon all her love so she could send it to Loki, to her baby, to Jane- Thanos lifted the ceremonial knife, which glinted wickedly through the blur of tears in Darcy's eyes-
He brought it down to slice through Darcy's belly.
She expected blackness to envelope her at the moment of death but she felt nothing-
But then a rush of feelings swept over her, pain from her wrist and fingers and the cuts all over her throbbed and she had peed at some point and she could smell it and she was gloriously alive…
And the knife was shattered beneath her.
Loki had managed to stand during Thanos' slip of control in his shock-
"How?! HOW DID YOU DO THIS?! VESSEL?"
But Loki grinned in that stupidly attractive way and laughed.
"Mine is a child of Asgard and Jotunheim- and Midgard. This child is not to be touched- not by magic nor by blade."
Thanos dropped Darcy unceremoniously and made to throttle Loki, but an explosion broke through the stupid lion doors-
And Darcy began to sob in joy as she saw her heroes-
A roaring green beast, pounding his fists to the wall in rage-
The master archer who had already aimed another exploding arrow at Thanos' head-
The super soldier, shield in hand-
The former Russian, crouched to attack with two pistols ready-
A knight in shining iron armor and a hand-phaser-
And last, her other Asgardian gripping Mjolnir tightly, and in his other hand-
Thanos gasped, if that was possible, and bellowed-
"THE TESSERACT!"
The shock of the moment was so much- too much…
So Darcy decided to let herself rest for just a minute…
I AM ALMOST DONE OH NO.
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