Okay, so this got seven reviews in one day, twelve in total - I feel so loved. Seriously, that's a record for me in one day, I'm so glad you guys like this. And, because I love you guys too, I am going to continue another few chapters. Whether this will become a romance, I do not yet know. My writing does sort of take on a life of its own. However, do not get your hopes up, because the pairing is... a bit odd for me to write.

So, here we are, another chapter. Enjoy!

A Visit to Asgard - Part Two

"You wish to visit Loki."

Darcy looked Odin straight in the eye (literally, the guy only had one eye) and nodded. "Yup. He didn't try to kill me or anything, and I feel bad that he's shunned by everyone, so... yeah. I know he's not supposed to have visitors, but please? He's lonely, I can tell."

Jane and Dr. Selvig (him in particular) were looking at Darcy as if she had two heads. Or maybe three. Thor - standing by his father's side - for some bizarre reason, looked pleased. Odin was looking very serious and king-like and ever so slightly intimidating. Darcy shuffled her feet and tried her best smile. "Please? I'll even have a guard or something in there with me? Besides, I have my taser."

Odin actually cracked a smile - Thor must have told him what happened in New Mexico. Well, that saved explanations. Darcy glanced sideways at Jane and Erik and smiled confidently. Jane shook her head wonderingly while Erik just stared. Darcy sighed. Some people just couldn't live and let go, could they. Well... maybe Loki was just a (sort of) nice person to her. He was a bit of a dick before all this.

"Very well," Odin said finally. "Since I have already had confirmation from Heimdall that he made no attempt to harm you in any way, and you agree to have supervision, you may visit my son."

"Awesome," Darcy grinned, then checked herself and did an awkward sort of bow. "I mean, thank you."

Odin smiled slightly and told them they could go. Jane gravitated straight toward Thor, while Dr. Selvig went to Darcy, a look of bemused shock on his face.

"Are you sure this is such a good idea?" he said, frowning. "This is the man who tried to take over Earth, for christ's sake! Are you telling me you actually trust him?"

"Of course not," Darcy said impatiently. "I like him, I never said I trust him. Although, if he can't lie, there's no reason not to, is there? Still, I'm not stupid. I do remember who he is and what he's done. But everyone deserved a third chance, don't they?"

"You mean second?"

"Yeah, sure," Darcy waved her hand non-committally, deciding not remind him of what happened in Asgard before the New York incident. "Look, just don't worry, okay? If I were you, I'd be more worried about Jane. I swear, if those two were any crazier over each other, they'd be stalking each other, and that's just creepy. But kinda cute, in a weird way. Oh my god, does this mean, if they get married or something, Jane will be a queen?"

Dr. Selvig sighed and walked away, muttering something about youth and stupidity. Darcy shrugged and set off to do some more exploring.

Loki was sat on the windowsill in his room, looking contemplatively out of the window when Darcy went in the next day, again bearing food. Odin had decided, since Loki wasn't violent toward Darcy, she could take food to him. Not that Darcy thought Loki would eat it either way, but she did it anyway. She wandered over to him, pulling out the book she'd borrowed yesterday. She put it on the desk along with the food tray.

"That made absolutely no sense to me at all, but I liked it anyway," she said by way of greeting. Loki raised an eyebrow and slid off the sill, giving the guard that stood at the door a sour look before greeting Darcy.

"Good afternoon to you too." He picked up the book and examined it, looking vaguely amused. "You could have picked one easier to read. And in some form of language you understood."

"What's the fun in that?" replied Darcy - seriously, because, in her opinion, books that made sense were no fun. She'd spent at least an hour the night before trying to figure out what the book was even about, let alone what it said, and it had been a good enough challenge to fall asleep doing. She gestured to the rest of the books in the room. "I'm betting there's a whole load of these that I wouldn't understand. Wouldn't stop me trying."

Loki quirked an eyebrow, looking quite confused but very amused as well. "Do you always read nonsense as well as speak it then?"

"Well yes - hey, that wasn't very nice," Darcy folded her arms, flopped down into a chair and scowled at him. Loki grinned at her before turning back to the book, looking thoughtful for a moment.

"I could probably find something you can actually read... wait a moment." He went over to one of the bookcases and ran his finger over several rows of books before pulling one out - a quite large and old-looking book. He went back to Darcy and held it out to her. "This is a much more accurate history of Asgard than that mortal book you have. I'm sure you'll find it quite interesting - I did."

Darcy's eyes lit up and she took the book eagerly. "Brilliant. Thanks!"

"Please be very careful with it," said Loki quickly as Darcy started flipping through the pages. "I tend to get a bit... annoyed if my books are damaged."

"Scouts honour, I won't harm a single page." Darcy held a hand over her heart and placed the book in a very exaggerated and careful way into her bag. When Loki looked blank, and she sighed. "Means 'I promise'. Yeesh, I think we have mutual communication problems here. I don't get stuff you guys say, you don't get what I say..."

"I don't 'get' a lot of things about you," replied Loki, frowning slightly. Darcy got the impression he was the kind of person who didn't like not knowing things.

"Weeeeeeeeellllll," she said slowly, thinking. "How 'bout this. I don't know much about you either. So, we ask questions about stuff we wanna know. Take it in turns, though, it'll get confusing otherwise."

Loki thought about it for a moment, then nodded. "It is a sound idea. Shall I go first?"

"What happened to ladies first?"

"The same thing that happened to the 'hello Loki' you forgot when you came in," replied Loki with a smirk. "Or is it not customary to actually greet those you visit on Earth?"

Darcy grinned. "Ooooh, alright then, picky. Hello Loki. Toss for it then."

"Excuse me?" Loki looked thoroughly confused, and Darcy sighed, resigning herself to having to explain another Earth-thing.

"Flip a coin. Heads or tails?"

Loki was silent for a long moment, frowning. Finally, and looking very annoyed about it, he said, "I don't understand."

Darcy rolled her eyes and dug around in her pockets for change. She pulled out a quarter and showed it to him, demonstrating as she explained. "You take a coin, flip it - no, don't take it, you can look at it later - then whatever side it lands on," she caught the coin and placed it flat on the back of her other hand, showing him the side face up "whoever guessed it right, wins. Okay?"

"O...kay." Loki nodded and thought for a moment. "Heads."

"Right, I'm tails then..." Darcy flipped the coin in the air and held out her hand, but she was not surprised at all when Loki caught it before she did; not only was he still standing, but he was faster than she was, and apparently dying to show off since he caught it literally milliseconds before she could. She pulled a face at him. "You're not supposed to do that. What side was it?" Loki showed her the coin - heads. "...damn it."

He smiled smugly, examining the coin carefully. He looked at both sides, frowning at the image of the American president. "So I'm first then."

"Don't look so smug, the coins hate me." She held out her hand and he passed the quarter back. "Okay then, ask away."

Loki thought for a moment. "How old are you?"

"No fair, I was gonna ask you that!"

"I'll tell you if you tell me first. It's the only free answer you will get for today."

"Fine," Darcy said after a moment. "I'm twenty."

"One thousand and sixty-nine Earth years approximately." Loki said matter of factly, shrugging when Darcy gaped at him. "What?"

"...woah. That's... that's old."

He raised an eyebrow. "Not for us. Asgard is the 'realm eternal', though the people of Asgard are not immortal by any means."

"How long can you guys live?" asked Darcy, awed. Loki only looked about twenty something by Earth standards. If that made him about one thousand years old... she couldn't even get her head around this new fact. Just like the rest of Asgard and its inhabitants, it was mind-boggling and slightly scary. Loki smiled and shook his head.

"It's my turn to ask questions, remember? Your turn is next time."

"Killjoy." Darcy pouted. Loki tried his best, she could tell, but he still had to ask what she meant. She shook her head, making a mental note to try to use words that he would understand from now on. "Never mind. Questions, go."

"Do you worship any gods?"

"I sense a loaded question here," Darcy said, folding her arms and raising her eyebrows at him. "I'm an atheist, which means no. Although, I suppose I'm proved wrong - you guys exist after all. Jeez, I'm having to re-think way too much since I came here." She paused. "I really hope you weren't expecting me to say 'yes Loki I worship you' because if you were, I will use my taser and have no regrets."

Loki stared at her, seemingly unsure of how to respond for once. After a moment he said, "I'm not allowed to lie. I wasn't expecting. Hoping maybe. Though it was meant as a joke, and I meant no disrespect."

Darcy realised he had taken her words too seriously, and, mentally hitting herself around the head, hastened to correct herself. "Hey, I was joking too. I wouldn't use my taser just because you're after an ego boost - well, it would depend on the person, but still. Same diff. Don't take things so seriously."

Loki smiled faintly, but he still looked miserable. Darcy sighed, shaking her head. "Dude, sit down, stop being so grumpy, and ask questions. I can tell you enjoy that, you actually look quite happy when you're asking stuff."

"'Dude'?" Loki tilted his head, pulling a chair from the desk and sitting. Darcy couldn't help noticing that he always sat the same way, with his legs spread open, and tried to keep a straight face.

"It's just something we say. In America, at least. And, by the way, do you always sit like that?"

"Like what?" Loki glanced down at how he was sitting, frowning when Darcy started giggling. "I don't see the problem."

"Well, okay. But, uh, you guys seems to have a liking for, um, fairly tight leather pants, and... well, it's just a bit funny that you sit with your legs like that..." Darcy dissolved into giggles as Loki looked utterly confused. She put a hand over her mouth and waved at him. "Just carry on with the questions, don't mind me. Just immature."

"Do you find the way I am sitting inappropriate?"

"Well, I wouldn't say that, but it's..." Darcy coughed and smiled. "Interesting. Never mind."

Loki looked at her silently for a long moment. "I think that maybe understanding Midgardians is not a good idea. You seem to be entirely too strange."

"Oh, no, that's just me, probably." Darcy shrugged. "I'm weird. Ask Jane or Erik. Or even Thor. They'll tell you."

Loki shook his head. "I shall pass on that. Talking to either Thor or his... girlfriend, as you would say, is not an appealing idea, and talking to the elder man will most likely result in some form of injury on my part, and I would prefer to avoid that if it is possible. Which is exactly why I am glad that Clint Barton cannot get to Asgard on his own. I would probably be dead in a heartbeat, since I believe he expressed a desire to put an arrow through my eye socket."

Darcy thought about this for a moment, wondering exactly who Clint Barton was, guessing it must have been the Hawk guy Thor mentioned a few times. "But you talk to me just fine."

Loki shrugged. "Yes. I am not quite sure why. It is most likely because you are very intriguing for a human. And you do not seem to be scared of me." He paused and smiled humourlessly. "It is nice not to be feared by someone, which in itself is odd, since I wanted that for a long time. Hindsight, as they say, is twenty-twenty."

Darcy glared at him. "Seriously, Loki. If you keep being all moody, I will hit you."

Loki looked startled. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay. Any more questions? ...And judging by that look that was a stupid question right there, wasn't it?"

"Yes." Loki answered immediately, not even pausing to at least pretend it wasn't. Darcy poked her tongue out at him.

"Do you ever even try to be nice about the truth when you're telling it?"

Loki smirked broadly. "No. Do you ever stop talking?"

"Rarely. I will for a little while, but it's gonna take effort and it's not gonna last long, so ask your questions now or forever hold your peace."

The next hour or so was spent with Loki asking apparently any question he could think of; about Darcy, about Midgardian science, about humans in general, about what Darcy knew of other worlds. He even asked her favourite colour at one point ("Um, blue? Why?" "I could not think of a better question, but I have now.") and other inane questions, the only purpose seeming to be in fulfilling Loki's insatiable curiosity. After a while, Darcy finally asked why Loki refused to eat the food that was brought to him, protesting this wasn't a question that counted for her turn next time.

"I don't trust it," Loki answered after a few moments, glaring at the tray with artfully but not fully concealed hunger.

"But surely you must be really hungry," said Darcy in some concern. He already looked thin, and quite pale, although he might look like that anyway. Loki shrugged carelessly and Darcy frowned. "You don't really care do you?"

"Not particularly. I'll more than likely die fairly soon in any case. The Chitauri will not rest until that has happened. The drawback of entering into a bargain with a notoriously violent race. Besides," he said with a slight frown. "I wouldn't put it past any who live here to slip poison into my food."

Darcy was silent for a long moment. It seemed to her that Loki really had lost all respect for his life. Which was quite sad really. She quite liked him actually existing, trying to take over the Earth aside, and the idea of him not existing any more was quite saddening. Everyone deserves forgiveness, and going by what both Thor and Loki had told her about what had happened, he deserved it. So, Loki had found out that he was adopted and had been lied to his entire life, then he had tried to do good by Asgard but it went very wrong, and then he went a bit batshit crazy and tried to take over Earth after falling into a wormhole of his own making and being effectively tortured by the Chitauri into stealing the Tesserract. That's pretty bad shit for one person to go through, demi-god or not. She wondered briefly if he had been put through any painful punishment for his crimes when he got taken back to Asgard after New York, but decided it was best not to ask. If he wanted it known, he would have said.

"I'm pretty sure that you starving yourself isn't going to do the slightest good," Darcy said finally, and she leaned closer, lowering her voice. "Next time, I'm bringing food of my own - that is, I'll say it's for me, but it'll be for you. Then it won't be poisoned, and you can eat it fine. Okay? Okay. No arguing."

Loki stared at her oddly. "You are truly one of the oddest humans I have ever met, Darcy Lewis."

"Oh, wow, you're not arguing. You must be hungry."

He opened his mouth to answer, then closed it again, pulling a face. "A little."

"Twisting the truth, but not lying. Clever, but not clever enough." Darcy leaned back and smiled triumphantly. "That's settled then. But, speaking of hungry, I am. Um, that and I've been in here for a good couple of hours, and the guard at the door - and FYI, I have noticed the evil looks going back and forth from, both of you, so don't think I haven't - seems to be getting kinda antsy, so I suppose I'd better go. Just for a bit though, I'll try to come back later. Okay?"

Loki, who had been glaring at the guard at the door again, nodded. "Very well."

"See ya later, Loki," Darcy smiled and got up, giving him a friendly pat on the arm as she walked by. She just about caught a murmured goodbye before the guard ushered her out of the door, seeming very relieved to be out of the room. She gave him a scathing look. "Nice way to treat people. Jeez." She walked off without another word, leaving the guard looking quite perplexed.

Darcy didn't manage to get back to Loki when she said she would, since Thor decided to introduce them to his friends, 'Lady Sif and The Warriors Three', as they had said the first time they saw them. Darcy still thought that sounded like a corny medieval film. Still, they seemed nice enough. Fandral flirted a lot, but Sif informed her that he did that to every maiden he came across, so not to get too worried by it. She was then invited to watch them fight, which seemed to be the most popular form of entertainment around Asgard. Luckily, Darcy managed to get Thor to pass on a message to Loki to apologise for not being able to come back, and the God of Thunder returned with a reply of 'I will see you tomorrow then'.

However, when Darcy did go to see Loki the next day, she was earlier than usual, deciding to try and spend a little more time so she could ask more questions of him. What she saw when she went in made her freeze. Loki was asleep, which was surprising enough. So she was greeted by the sight of a topless Loki - with an obscene amount of scars all over his torso. Darcy blinked rapidly before turning to the guard who had followed her in and hissing for him to get the hell out of there before she used her taser on him. The guard looked shocked, but did as she asked. Feeling a little shaky, Darcy turned back and moved across the room quietly, placing the tray of specially picked (tried and tested) food on the desk, as usual. She hovered for a moment, debating whether to leave, or to wake him up. She had a feeling he'd be angry that she'd seen his scars.

"Um... Loki?" Darcy said quietly, stepping toward the bed cautiously. She'd not paid it much notice the last time she'd been here, but now she did, she couldn't help thinking that she wanted a bed like that back home. She stepped closer again. "Loki?"

"You are lucky I am fond of you, Darcy, or you would more than likely be out of this room through the wall." Loki turned his head to face her, very much awake. Darcy blushed, and he half smiled, eyes bitter. "I do wish you had knocked first. It would have made things less awkward."

"Sorry about that..." Darcy tried not to look, but she really couldn't help it. "Um... am I allowed to ask? Or would you rather not talk about it?"

Loki sighed and sat up, rubbing his face wearily. "You can ask, but at least let me wake and dress properly."

"Righto then. Um. I brought food. Not poisoned, I checked."

He paused in the act of going to the wardrobe in the corner of the room and looked at her appraisingly. "...Thank you."

Darcy smiled and leant on the desk, deciding to avert her eyes while he dressed. Mind you, she'd seen Thor topless. Both him and Loki were pretty nice to see half dressed... To distract herself, Darcy thought about the possible reasons for Loki's injuries. They seemed far too recent to be from before his attack on Earth, which meant they were either from the Chitauri guys, or possibly even from Asgard. What she didn't understand was how he was still alive. The sheer amount of injuries looked way too much for anyone to endure. And Loki had said himself, he wasn't immortal. No wonder he was so angry at everyone here, she thought sadly, if he's been treated like a knife sharpener.

"You've wandered in your mind, Darcy."

She jolted back to reality to find Loki, now fully dressed standing in front of her, arms folded and looking highly amused. She poked her tongue out at him. "I was thinking, okay? I tend to space out when I do that."

"Yet another thing to add to your growing list of oddities," Loki mused, picking up the tray of food and carrying it to his bed. He sat cross-legged, balancing the tray on his knees. "Would you mind if I ate?"

"Not at all." Darcy sat herself down on a chair and considered him for a moment. "So, um... how are you?"

"Fine," Loki replied, somehow managing to eat really fast and neither make a mess or choke. "Yourself?"

"I'm good. Yesterday was... interesting. Sorry about that, by the way. But Thor was very insistent."

"Yes, I know." Loki glanced up and quirked an eyebrow. "At least you got the less violent form of persuasion."

Darcy smiled a bit. "Not so subtle topic change - but I'm guessing that's in reference to him sewing your mouth shut at some point? Which I find not only gross but horrible."

Loki winced. "It was."

"You know what? I don't think I even need to ask you about... 'cos I think I know. That's part of your punishment that you chose not to tell me, isn't it?"

"Well, torture isn't exactly a good conversation starter..."

"Well, depends on the person, but generally, yeah." Darcy paused. "It wasn't Thor again, was it?"

"No. Some of it wasn't even part of the punishment, that was Banner." Loki placed the tray to one side, having finished eating, and rubbed his forehead. "But the majority was either the Chitauri, Odin or the men Odin ordered to do it. Please, do not keep asking me. It isn't a topic either of us want to discuss, and I believe it is your turn to ask me questions today."

Darcy stared at him a moment, noticing how, despite his attempts to hide it, Loki looked completely devastated. She immediately felt guilty about pushing the topic, and cast around for something else to talk about. "Um... so, what kinds of magic can you do?"

"Many kinds," Loki replied, a faint, but genuine smile on his lips. "I can shape shift, as you know - and if you bring up Sleipnir again, I will have to throw you out - and I can create illusions of myself. As many as I like. You have no idea how many times Thor has fallen for that trick." He laughed briefly, and Darcy smiled. "It could take a while to list all the kinds of magic I can do."

"I've got a while," Darcy replied with a shrug. "Thor's taken Jane off to god knows where and I managed to sneak away from Fandral this morning, so I've got all day."

Loki snickered. "Fandral has been trying to court you?"

"Flirting like mad, yes."

"My condolences."

"Ta very much. Right, so, magic. Go on."

About two hours later, Darcy felt like her head was going to explode. She had stupidly asked Loki to explain to her every kind of magic he could do and how he did it. He had seemed very happy to do so, but it had been so complicated that Darcy had hardly kept up. She settled, when he finally finished, for just saying "Wow."

Loki leaned back on his bed and smirked. "How much of that did you even faintly understand?"

"About one millionth of it," Darcy replied with a sheepish smile. "It was still really cool to hear about though. And your enthusiasm is quite amusing. Do you realise that you smile a lot when you talk about magic? Like, a lot. I don't think you stopped unless you were trying to figure out how to explain something really difficult."

"Well, I do happen to love magic," he said cheerfully. "And I also enjoy your company. That gives me enough reason to smile where normally I have none."

Darcy grinned and got up, moving to the bed and sitting down facing him. She held her arms out. "C'mere, I wanna give you a hug, cos that's the nicest thing you've said to me all day."

Loki looked a bit confused, but accepted the hug nonetheless, actually hugging her back, which made her happy. Darcy noticed immediately that he was cold, and worried for a moment before Loki laughed and said, "Frost giant."

Darcy mock-glared at him. "You can read my mind, I swear."

"I cannot. If I could, that would more than likely scare me, if anything."

"Hey!" Darcy shoved him and he grinned, lying back on his bed again, looking more relaxed that she'd ever seen him. She ran her hand across the sheet, liking how nice it felt and the cool green colour of it. "I love your bed." Loki raised his eyebrows at her and she blushed. "Not like that, idiot! I mean it's really nice and fancy. We don't get beds like this on Earth."

"That's a good thing about Asgard. Almost everything here is 'really nice and fancy'. By the way, would you like to take one of the books back with you when you go?"

Darcy looked at him, stunned. "Uh, what? Really?"

"Yes, really." Loki paused for a moment. "It gives you a reason to, possibly, come back, does it not?"

Darcy blinked, then grinned widely. "Aww, you're adorable, you know that?"

Loki sat up, looking affronted. "I am not."

"Are."

"Not."

"Are."

"I am not, and I am not going to get into one of those endless arguments with you, because I have a feeling you'll annoy me into agreeing just to shut you up."

"You know me well," Darcy laughed, and Loki smiled.

"Yes, I think I do."

NOTE: Loki's age is a guess - I'm going by the date at the start of Thor with all the Vikings and the Great War - it said 937 AD, right? So, I reasoned Loki was born around about that time, so that would make him 1069 years old by Earth time. Also, I have no idea how old Darcy is supposed to be. I guessed that too, since Wikipedia didn't tell me. If anyone knows the actual ages for either of these two, please let me know :D

Oh, and I just had to have Darcy comment on Loki's habit of sitting like a total whore. THOMAS WILLIAM HIDDLESTON, WHY! *ahem* of course, before I get yelled at like I did on YouTube, I mean this in the affectionate way of all the Hiddleston fans, and not in a horrible way. We do love you, Tom, strange sitting habits included.

There will be another chapter, obviously, but it will more than likely be the last one.