New story! I hope you guys like it :)

It was official: science hated her.

"Jane, I think we've got a problem!" Darcy banged a fist on top of the scientific gadget that was currently screeching at her. "Is this thing supposed to be bursting my ear drums? I think it's malfunctioning."

"Did you smack it?" Jane called from across the lab, barely looking up from her laptop.

"Yep, didn't work." Darcy cringed and covered her ears as the stupid device continued to emit a high-pitched squealing noise. She could already feel a headache building behind her eyes.

"Try pulling out the program chip." Jane suggested.

"Where's that?" Darcy frowned, looking over the piece of homemade equipment. It kind of looked like a toaster oven and a paper shredder had a baby together...a very ugly baby that was mostly held together with duct tape.

"On the bottom corner, left side. Your other left, Darcy. Oh, just let me look at it." Jane walked over and pulled the chip out, making Darcy's nearly-bleeding ears very happy.

"Thank God," Darcy breathed a sigh of relief, "That thing was like a car alarm on steroids."

She glanced over at Jane to see the astrophysicist swaying on her feet.

"Uh, you okay?" Darcy asked her, "You're looking pretty pale. And unstable. Literally."

Jane frowned, her eyes looking glassy and unfocused, "Not feeling so hot." She mumbled.

"If you're gonna faint, try not to land on any of the pointy equipment, okay?" Darcy took Jane's arm and led her back to her desk where Jane collapsed heavily into her chair.

Jane had been working even more fanatically than usual over the last couple of months, so Darcy wasn't surprised to see that she had started to burn out. Though Darcy supposed that if Stark Industries were funding her own science project that she'd sunk her entire life's work into, she would be a little fanatic too.

The call from Stark himself had come shortly after Jane and Darcy returned to America after the whole London fiasco. Once he heard how Jane and Erik's gravity spikes basically saved the asses of everyone on the planet (first New Mexico, now London...Darcy was getting pretty damn tired of all this saving the world business), he instantly offered Jane a position complete with her own shiny new state-of-the-art lab.

It was good money and Darcy was swimming in student debt so she jumped at Stark's offer, opting to continue working alongside Jane. Besides, no one else could decipher Jane's chicken scratch handwriting and follow her sometimes erratic train of thought quite like Darcy could.

"You alright?" Darcy asked Jane again. She wasn't used to seeing Jane at any speed other than 100% super science mode, so Jane's current condition was kind of freaking her out. "Should I call someone? Do you want water?"

"Water. Please." Jane said quietly, closing her eyes and letting out a loud, tired exhale.

"'Kay. You stay right there. Just...stay." Darcy instructed, putting her palm up and backing away slowly as if she were instructing a puppy to sit.

She grabbed an empty plastic tumbler off her desk and rushed down the hall to the bathroom. After filling the cup with semi-cold tap water, Darcy jogged back down the hall to the lab, afraid to leave Jane alone for too long.

It was probably just the stomach flu, Darcy thought, though she had never seen any kind of flu come on so quickly like that. Not even the time she got food poisoning from that sketchy taco joint back in Puente Antiguo. Ah, good times.

She skidded through the door of the lab, her black Converse squeaking loudly on the tile floor. Much to Darcy's surprise, the chair where she had left Jane was now empty.

A cold feeling of dread settled deep in Darcy's stomach. "Jane?" She called out tentatively.

As she walked further into the room, Darcy caught sight of something out of the corner of her eye. A mess of chocolate brown hair was on the floor, the ends of the strands just barely sticking out from where they were hidden behind Jane's desk.

The plastic cup slipped from between Darcy's numb fingers, bouncing off the floor and drenching her shoes and pant legs with water.

"Oh my God, Jane? Jane!" Darcy ran to the desk, crouching down to touch Jane's shoulder and gently turning her over onto her back. The astrophysicist was pale, sweaty, and most definitely not conscious.

Pulling her phone from the back pocket of her jeans, Darcy dialled 9-1-1 as quickly as her shaky fingers would allow. After she babbled anxiously to the operator she plopped down onto the floor next to Jane, waiting for help to arrive.

Feeling helpless and worried, Darcy chewed on her bottom lip until she tasted blood. She had never been much of a believer in premonition or omens, but right now she couldn't shake the feeling that whatever had happened to Jane was no simple case of exhaustion or illness.

It was only later in the hospital, as the doctors spoke to her in gentle hushed tones, that Darcy realized nothing could have prepared her for how bad it really was.

The door to Jane's hospital room swung open violently, hitting the wall with a bang and startling Darcy out of her half-asleep state.

Blinking wildly, she straightened from her slouched position in the chair at Jane's bedside, wiping a bit of drool off her chin.

Turning her stiff neck (she really should have asked the nurse for a pillow), Darcy saw Thor burst into the room. His eyes darted around frantically until they settled on Jane and Darcy. His posture relaxed slightly when he noticed them.

"Darcy, my friend." He crossed the room in two long strides and placed a warm, heavy hand on her shoulder, "It is good to see you, though I wish it were under better circumstances." He frowned, eyes drifting across to where Jane lay in her hospital bed, cocooned under sterile white sheets.

"Same here, big guy." Darcy patted the empty chair beside her and Thor dropped down into the seat, the cheap plastic material groaning under the weight of his heavy Asgardian armour. "How did you know where to find us?"

Thor shifted in his seat and Darcy saw his cheeks colour slightly with embarrassment, "Some time ago I asked Heimdall to start keeping watch over Jane. He informed me that she was unwell."

"Woah, he can do that? Awesome." Darcy said, suitably impressed. "And a little creepy. Sorry buddy, but now I'm totally gonna have to tell Jane about your little spy in the sky. Girl code and all that."

"It's no matter. How fares she?" Thor asked gravely. He reached forward and gently picked up Jane's limp hand, holding it in his. It looked so tiny and frail in comparison to Thor's that Darcy had to look away, her stomach twisting with a sudden, unexpected wave of emotion.

In reply to Thor's question, she shrugged her shoulders. "They won't tell me much since I'm not family, but..." she wet her lips, forcing out the words she didn't want to say, "something's wrong with her heart. Look," Darcy reached up and tapped her fingernail against the screen of the monitor recording Jane's vital signs, "this isn't good. The nurse said it's like her organs have aged. She looks fine on the outside but inside her heart is basically the equivalent of an eighty year old's."

"How is that possible?" Thor's voice was rough and laced with anger.

"Dunno." Darcy slouched in her chair, pulling off her glasses to rub at her eyes tiredly. "All I do know is that the doctors are saying it's untreatable." She shoved her glasses back on forcefully and met Thor's eyes, "They're doing nothing, Thor. They're just...they're letting her..." Her throat closed up and Darcy couldn't bring herself to speak that final word.

Die.

Jane was dying and no one was doing a damned thing about it.

It was unfair and just plain wrong. Darcy's eyes burned with unshed tears and she blinked them back furiously. When she looked at Thor again, she saw the same feeling of helpless anger reflected on his own face.

After a beat of silence, Thor spoke.

"Then we must save her. We will not let her perish, not without a fight." He stated, his voice growing stronger with each word as he seamlessly slipped into his role of leader and warrior. "I must bring her to Asgard. If something strange is at play in her body, our healers can fix it."

For the first time since Jane's collapse, a small seed of hope bloomed in Darcy's chest. "I'm all for that," she agreed, "just one small problem. How do we sneak her out of here without getting caught?"

Thor extended his arm and before long, Darcy heard the familiar sound of Myeuh-Myeuh racing towards him. He caught the hammer with ease before giving Darcy a small smile.

"Who said we have to be sneaky?"

On the list of things Darcy never expected to do within her lifetime, flying through a hospital window with a Norse god and a sick astrophysicist ranked pretty high up there.

Yet here she was, clinging to Thor's arm as they crashed through the glass window pane and flew away from Mount Sinai. The busy streets of New York grew smaller and smaller below them until the congested traffic looked like nothing but little ants to Darcy.

She had no idea where Mjolnir was taking them. They were moving so quickly that Darcy's eyes were watering from the wind and she had to squeeze them shut tightly. Well, that and the fact that they were a couple hundred feet off the ground and it was fucking terrifying.

She didn't open her eyes again until she felt her feet brush solid ground. Blinking rapidly, she let her eyes adjust to the bright afternoon sunlight and found that they were standing in a wide, empty field. Probably a farmer's field, Darcy guessed judging from the stink of manure in the air. Barf.

Thor cradled Jane protectively in his arms. The ride hadn't woken her at all and if it weren't for the steady rise and fall of her chest, Darcy wouldn't have even known that her friend was still alive.

"Thank you, Darcy." Thor nodded his head at her gratefully, "I will return Jane once she is well."

"Woah! Hold up, big guy." Darcy said quickly, grabbing a handful of his cape and tugging at it, "You're not going to Asgard without me, and you sure as hell aren't leaving me out here in the boonies."

Thor hesitated, his brows drawing together with worry, "My father will not be pleased that I have brought Jane. He would be even less pleased if I were to bring you along as well."

"Well too flippin' bad for your father." Darcy stated, crossing her arms. "I go where Jane goes. And besides, when she wakes up, I'm sure she'll want to see a familiar face." When she woke up and not if, Darcy sincerely hoped.

The corner of Thor's mouth turned up into a smile. "Jane is lucky to have such a fierce friend in you, Darcy."

"Is that a yes?" Darcy asked excitedly, bouncing on the soles of her feet.

"Aye." Thor confirmed, "Are you ready?" He held out his arm to her.

"Damn right I am!" Darcy wound both her arms tightly around his impressive bicep, trying to remember that now was really not the time to be eyeballing his muscles. Were all Asgardians this beefy? She was excited to find out.

"Don't let go." Thor reminded her before he tilted his head to look up at the sky, "HEIMDALL! WHEN YOU ARE READY!" He bellowed.

Darcy had seen Thor and his warrior buddies come and go from Earth enough times that she had a pretty good idea of what came next, but seeing it and actually experiencing it were two very different things.

A beam of blinding light exploded around them and everything went strangely quiet except for the hum of white noise in her ears.

The next thing Darcy knew, they were being catapulted into space. Or something. She didn't really know how it worked, that was more Jane's area.

All she knew was that it was bright and dizzying and totally fucking awesome. Colours danced around her in a trippy kaleidoscope of neon reds, yellows, and blues. She looked up at Thor, catching his eye and grinning wildly to show her approval.

Far too soon for her liking, they came to an abrupt stop. Darcy stumbled to the ground, catching herself on her hands and knees and just narrowly avoiding a face-plant.

"Wow..." she breathed, studying the shiny floor beneath her fingers.

She quickly scrambled up onto her feet, eyes eagerly taking in the strange, spherical room they were in. The walls reminded Darcy of the inside of a clock, comprised of hundreds of gears fitted together and turning smoothly. To her left, the wall gave way to a large round window that looked out over the dark, glittering expanse of the universe. It was the most amazing thing Darcy had ever seen.

"Quite a sight, isn't it?" A deep, unfamiliar voice startled Darcy out of her trance.

She jumped, turning to see a man standing beside her in full shining armour, gazing through the window just as she had been doing.

"Sure is." She agreed. "So I guess you're that gatekeeper guy. Heimdall, right?"

His unusual golden eyes focused on her and Darcy thought she saw a smile ghost across his face but she couldn't be certain. He looked very stoic and the giant, heavy looking helmet he wore obscured most of his features.

"Indeed I am." He answered politely, "Welcome to Asgard, Darcy Lewis."

"Thanks, dude. So how does that 'all-seeing' thing work anyway? Like, have you ever accidently looked at someone while they're on the toilet or picking their nose?" Darcy asked curiously.

Much to her disappointment Thor chose that moment to interrupt, saving Heimdall from having to provide her with an answer.

"Darcy, we must hurry." Thor urged, his face tight with worry as he continued to hold Jane close.

The sight of her friend's pale face immediately sobered Darcy as the harsh reality of their situation came rushing back to her like a quick slap in the face.

She followed Thor out of the Bifrost room towards a group of horses that waited to take them across the bridge and into Asgard's city.

At the doorway she hesitated, looking back over her shoulder. "Don't think I've forgotten," she spoke to Heimdall, "you still owe me an answer!"

Right away, Thor took Jane to the infirmary where she was laid down on a long slab of stone while a group of healers fussed around her.

Darcy stood in the corner, out of the way but watching with interest as the women used some kind of weird hologram floaty screen to examine Jane.

After about an hour, her interest started to wane. As more time passed, Darcy's feet started to hurt from standing in one place. She shifted from foot to foot, trying to get the blood pumping back into her legs. Not to mention, she was getting kinda bored. She pulled out her phone, hoping a check of her Facebook page would pass the time, but stuffed it back in her pocket with a groan after she saw that there was no service.

Finally, mercifully, the head healer, a severe looking woman named Fayne, pulled Thor aside and whispered something into his ear.

Thor shook his head and motioned towards Darcy. "Whatever you have to say, it can be said to us both. Darcy is a trustworthy ally."

Darcy straightened her spine, on full alert. "What did you find? Will Jane be okay?" She questioned the healer.

Fayne's lips tightened into a frown. "There is residual magic within her causing a great deal of strain on her heart. She is weakening quite steadily."

"Residual magic?" Darcy parroted, "When would Jane have ever been exposed to-"

"The Aether." Thor cut in softly.

"Oh." Darcy choked out, her heart seizing with worry.

"The mortal body was not made to hold such power as the Aether. It is..." Fayne cut a worried look to Thor before licking her lips and continuing, "it is quite honestly a miracle that she has survived this long."

"Surely there must be something you can do." Thor implored, his voice thick.

Fayne shook her head slowly. "We can try to regenerate her body but it requires a great deal of powerful magic. Far more than I or any of the other healers possess."

"Try." Thor instructed firmly, "Do everything you can for her."

Fayne bowed her head, "Yes, Your Highness." She returned to Jane's side and quickly started issuing orders to the other healers.

Leaving the healers to their job, Thor guided Darcy out of the infirmary. "I will show you to your room, Darcy. It is already growing late."

Now that Jane was in capable hands, it felt as if all the stress of the day caught up to Darcy at once and exhaustion slammed into her like a brick wall. Her head felt foggy and her limbs were heavy with fatigue.

"Wouldn't say no to a bed right now." She suppressed a yawn and followed Thor through the large and ornate hallways, gawking at the high ceilings and carved stone pillars.

Thor came to an abrupt stop so suddenly that Darcy accidently crashed into his back.

"Ow! Dude I almost broke my nose on your armour. What gives?" She rubbed her sore nose, grimacing slightly.

"Father." Thor spoke slowly and carefully, his usual jovial tone replaced with one that was far more wary.

Curious, Darcy peeked around Thor's wide back and was treated to her first real look at Odin.

He was like a super intimidating pirate Santa Claus, Darcy mused, taking in his metal eye patch and white beard. His face looked aged and weary, making her wonder just how old he actually was. If she had to guess she'd say old as balls.

"I hear that you have brought the Lady Foster to Asgard yet again." Odin said, his voice loud but neutral. "And another Midgardian as well?" His eye flicked to Thor's side where Darcy stood.

Darcy swallowed loudly, stepping out to stand in front of the Allfather. "Um, yeah. Darcy Lewis, assistant to Jane Foster and Earth-friend to Thor. Hiya." She forced a smile onto her face and gave an awkward little wave.

Odin's good eye studied her intensely and he was silent for a long, long time. Finally he looked to Thor, addressing his son, "Make sure they do not cause trouble."

"Yes, father." Thor nodded solemnly.

Odin seemed content with Thor's response as he turned and continued down the hall, his long cape sweeping behind him.

Once he was gone, Darcy let out the breath she didn't realize she'd been holding. "I thought you said he'd be mad." She whispered not-so-quietly to Thor.

"I...I thought he would be," Thor looked a bit bewildered, "he was quite upset when Jane was last here. In fact, he likened her to a goat."

"Fucking weird." Darcy commented.

They continued down the hall in silence, Darcy nearly smashing into his back again when Thor stopped in front of a large set of carved wooden doors.

He turned to Darcy, looking a bit lost as he spoke, "Mother always tended to our guest rooms...towels, linens and such. I'm afraid this is the only suitable bed I can offer you at the moment. Apologies, Darcy."

"No sweat, big guy." Darcy shrugged a shoulder. She was so dead tired that a pile of rocks would have made a good bed in her exhausted state of mind.

Despite her reassurance, Thor still looked uncomfortable, "This is, er, was my brother's room." He awkwardly admitted, "I could not bring myself to clear it out after his death."

"Oh." Darcy responded dumbly, not sure what to say on the subject of Loki. Sorry but not sorry your psycho brother who made Erik go loony and almost took over Earth finally got what was coming to him? Yeah, she didn't think so.

"It's all cool, Thor. Really." Darcy told him. He had enough to worry about with Jane. A bedroom, in comparison, was small potatoes. And besides, it was only a room. Loki himself was long gone.

Thor looked immensely relieved. He bid Darcy good night and then excused himself to go check on Jane's condition.

Alone, Darcy stared at the doors in front of her, slowly reaching out to grasp the handle. Just a room, she reminded herself, nothing but four walls.

Holding her breath, she yanked on the handle, the heavy door opening with a dull creak.

Inside the bedroom was not at all what Darcy had expected. Not that she'd ever really had expectations about what Loki's room would look like, but she would have assumed it to be dark and cave-like. A proper villain's lair. Instead, it was organized and clean and nicely decorated with rich green fabrics.

Immediately, she made a beeline for the large four-poster canopy bed, throwing herself down onto the mattress and sighing contently as she sunk into the cushy softness. She would just close her eyes for a minute then she would go back to the infirmary to see Jane.

One minute turned into ten, ten turned into an hour, and by the time Darcy's eyes finally opened, it was well into the middle of the night.

"Dammit," she groaned and rolled off of the bed, fumbling in the dark for some kind of light. She never thought to ask Thor about Asgard's whole electricity situation.

Her fingertips brushed against something smooth and round on the bedside table, causing a quick burst of light to break through the darkness.

Curious, Darcy picked up the object. As she did, the light returned and stayed on this time, a steady ray shining out of the circular object, like a flashlight. She dropped the orb on the mattress and the light dimmed again.

"Sweet," she picked it up again and watched the light flicker to life, "touch-activated space flashlight! I am so keeping this."

Straightening her sleep-rumpled shirt, Darcy clutched the sphere and lit herself a path to the door, closing it behind her as quietly as she could.

"Okay," she spoke under her breath, "infirmary...infirmary...this way?" She hadn't exactly been paying attention when Thor had led her to her room and now everything looked unfamiliar.

She set off to her left, padding down the long hallway until she reached a crossroads where she had the option of continuing straight or going up a set of stone steps. "Aw, fuck." Darcy muttered deciding to try the stairs, "The only way this place could be any more confusing would be if these stairs started moving Hogwarts-style." She looked down at her feet, narrowing her eyes threateningly at the step she stood on, "Don't you even dare."

At the top of the staircase, she continued wandering hallways until she realized that she was well and truly lost.

"Jackpot!" There was a door to her right with pale golden light shining out the gap between the floor and the bottom of the door. Darcy headed for the door, pocketing her little light orb. The room's occupant might be pissed that she was out wandering the castle this late at night, but at least she could ask for directions.

Darcy knocked twice before pushing the door open.

She immediately regretted that decision.