Loki

Chapter 27

Once again, Thor and Loki arrived on Earth together; though it hadn't even been an hour, almost everything had changed since the last time. When the dust cleared, instead of finding themselves alone in the middle of a desert, Loki and Thor were immediately greeted by the sight of Jane, Erik, and Darcy.

For a moment, everyone was still and silent. Then, Jane breathed, "Thor…?"

"Jane," Thor said softly.

"Thor!" Jane exclaimed, her face lighting up in a way Loki had never seen. She ran to Thor and threw her arms around him. "Oh my god, Thor!"

"Jane," Thor said again, hugging her back. "I'm so glad to see you again."

"Oh my god," Jane whispered, hugging Thor tightly, almost tearful with joy. "I missed you so much, Thor…"

"And I you," Thor said.

Darcy shot Erik a nasty look. "I'm not sorry to say I told you so," she told him coldly. Then, she walked over to Loki.

"Darcy," Loki breathed, setting Odin's staff aside to stand on its own beside him and putting his arms around her.

"I knew you'd come back," Darcy said, returning his embrace.

"Erik doubted me, I take it?" Loki said.

Darcy chuckled. "Yeah," she said.

Loki took a deep breath. He was with Darcy again. Odin wasn't going to take her from him - never again would he lose everything he had to the All-Father's cruelty. For a moment, he was able to simply know that everything would be alright, and forget that his ordeal was still far from over.

Then Darcy pulled back slightly to look him in the eye and asked, "So, what happened, anyway? Why did you have to leave before we got here?"

Loki glanced at Thor and exhaled heavily. "My brother nobly relinquished Mjolnir so the All-Father could use it for himself, and I didn't realize it until after we got here," he told Darcy. "We…went back to retrieve it."

"So you two made up?" Darcy asked, smiling.

Loki smiled back in spite of himself. "We were never quarreling to begin with," he told her; "it was a misunderstanding, nothing more."

Jane seemed unwilling to so much as loosen her embrace on Thor, so Thor's nod was easily unnoticeable; realizing this, Thor said aloud, "Just so. Once Loki told me what was really happening, I…was unable to do anything but take his side."

"You were gone for a while, though," Jane said, still hugging Thor tightly; Loki didn't miss the fact that Thor was still hugging her back.

Loki took another breath. "Things…did not go as smoothly as they could have," he said hesitantly. "We were…unable…to leave before the battle was resolved."