not the family reunion they were expecting

Chapter 3

The group of Void-dwellers are all sitting together in a small shelter far from Alioth's reach. It's not a very nice place, but it could be worse. It's a decent place to regroup, at least; to think of a plan — and they will think of a plan, even if Classic Loki, Kid Loki, and Alligator Loki seem to think that's redundant.

"Well?" Thor asks, looking around at his new friends' faces. "What do we do now?"

"The only thing we can do," Classic Loki says. "Survive."

"Or," Sylvie says, "we could do something productive for once."

"There is no productivity in the Void," Classic Loki says.

"You can't be productive where time itself is at its end," Kid Loki adds.

Thor clasps his hands in his lap and looks over at her, ignoring the other two. "What do you propose we do?"

"I think the person we're after is at the end of time," she begins. "And Alioth —"

"Wait, who are we after?" Thor interrupts.

"Oh, I'm so glad I'm not the only one who didn't know," Loki mutters. Shoutout to Thor for asking the questions he never would have.

"The one in charge!" she says like it's obvious. "Behind the Time Keepers; behind the TVA!"

"Ah, right, of course," Loki says as if he knew that already. (What? It's not his fault she didn't explain everything he missed after he got pruned).

Thor gestures for her to continue. "So he's at the end of time..."

"And Alioth is the guard dog keeping us out," Sylvie finishes. "So if we want to get to the one in charge, we need to get past Alioth first."

Loki scoffs. "You just made fun of me for suggesting we kill Alioth!" The hypocrisy here is unmatched. Absolutely ridiculous.

"I'm not going to kill him," Sylvie says. "I'm going to enchant him."

"You're going to what?" Loki bursts out laughing. "That's insane!"

"Uh, yes, hi." Thor raises his hand awkwardly. "What does that mean?"

"What, enchantment?" she asks.

Thor nods.

"It's, like..." She gestures vaguely, trying to find the words. "It's... Here, I'll show you."

Sylvie stands up, and, when she gestures for Thor to do the same, he does. She stands in front of him and slowly lifts her hands to his neck. Thor doesn't even flinch. If he's uncomfortable or nervous at all, he's doing a good job not showing it.

Loki glances over at Mobius, curious how he feels about it, but Mobius is watching them intently. In fact, it seems everyone here is. It occurs to him that he's probably the only one here who's seen this before; it's all very new to everyone else.

He turns his attention back to the spectacle in front of him. He doesn't expect much to happen. If she couldn't enchant him, he doubts she can enchant Thor. But, after a very long few moments, Thor's eyes begin to glow.

Loki expects something to happen now. She's enchanted him; something has to happen next. But, once again, his expectations are wrong. Thor's eyes close, as do Sylvie's, and they just stand there.

For a very.

Long.

Time.

Eventually, Classic Loki speaks, just to ask, "What is happening right now?"