Clock's Ticking

The End of a Thousand Worlds

We walk to a place outside the city, far away from the cries for help and of pain. I don't know about Loki, but I'd like to find Sylvie before we're blown up or crushed, whatever happens to you when a planet crashes into a moon. Soon we find her, sitting on a pile of rubble in a ravine just watching the distant sky. Loki and I sit across from Sylvie, myself sitting closest to her and Loki to my right. I take a deep and shaky breath looking over the horizon, "I have killed hundreds of people and Variants. I've nearly been killed a thousand times, but... I'm not ready to die.

Loki places a hand on my forearm, "I'm sorry."

I think for a moment and realize if there is only one timeline, how was Sylvie born at all, "how is it that you two are so different?" 

"I don't know," Sylvie shrugs.

"You know, I've been at the TVA so long, I don't think I can even remember my childhood. In fact, I barely remember my life before."

"I remember Asgard." Sylvie looks over to me, "not much, but I remember. My home, my people, my life. The universe wants to break free, so it manifests chaos. Like me being born the Goddess of Mischief. And as soon as that created a big enough detour from the Sacred Timeline, the TVA showed up, erased my reality, and took me prisoner. I was just a child. I escaped, stole a TemPad and I ran for a long, long time, which really sucked. Everywhere and every-when I went, it caused a nexus event. Sent up a smoke flare. Because I'm not supposed to exist. Until eventually, I figured out where to hide. So that's where I grew up, the ends of a thousand worlds. Now... that's where I'll die." As we watch the horizon the bits and pieces of the planet move closer and closer to the surface of the moon as more and more meteors hit.

"Not long now..."

"Do you think that what makes a Loki a Loki is the fact that we're destined to lose?"

"No, we may lose." Loki shakes his head, "sometimes painfully. But we don't die. We survive."

"You did," I gesture to Sylvie, "you were just a child when the TVA took you, but you nearly took down the organization that claims to govern the order of time. You did it all on your own. You ran rings around us. You're amazing!" I pause when I realize what I'm saying, before leaning forward and taking Sylvie's hands. She looks down to my hands before the two of us hug one another. Soon when we hear rumbling we separate and hold the others hand. I turn to Loki and he wraps an arm around me, placing his head against mine.

We sit and watch the end approach us, before we hear a very familiar sound. The sound of temporal doors opening behind us. When they do, we stand and face them, ready for whoever or whatever comes through.