Clock's Ticking

Gold

Between the clouds is a large mansion, almost castle like building, but the sky around us is colorful and looks like nothing I have ever seen before. There are large stones flooding around the structure and it itself looks as though it is made if marble. As we walk up to the door, I can see large cracks of gold among the black that covers the walls. Once we are on the front porch Loki and I stop, but Sylvie takes another step forward, "aren't you gonna tell me not to kick the door in?"

"Would there be a point?" I look to to Loki.

Loki shrugs, "it never made a difference."

"Well," Sylvie moves back to Loki and I, keeping her focus on me, "if you think it's a bad idea, I prefer you to speak your mind."

I shake my head, "no, we've made it this far, we should keep going."

"What about you?" Sylvie looks up to Loki.

"No," Loki shakes his head, "nothing to say."

I chuckle a bit, "that'd be a first." Sylvie clears her throat and turns back to the door, but she doesn't move, "is everything okay?"

"Yeah," Sylvie sniffles, "just need a moment."

"Take your time. You have been waiting your entire life for this moment. Take a second and get your head in straight," I smile softly and take Sylvie's hand. As I take Sylvie's hand the doors open. I look back to Loki before we slowly start to walk inside.

Once we have cleared the doorframe the door closes. As we walk forward a bit I feel both Loki and Sylvie gently pull me back behind them, since they're both pulling on me, I just end up between them, but they are walking a step ahead of me. As we walk and look around there is a sudden burst of orange light, causing all of us to jump and draw our weapons. The light turns out to be Miss Minutes, "hey, y'all."

"You again," I sigh as I step forward, "did Renslayer send you?"

"Welcome to The Citadel at the End of Time."

Loki leans in close to my head and whispers, "come on."

"Congratulations," Miss Minutes follows us as we walk around her. Her eyes almost deranged, "y'all had an awfully long journey to get here. He's impressed."

"Who's impressed?" Sylvie glares at the orange clock, floating above the ground so that she is almost parallel with Sylvie and I.

"He Who Remains."

As she says this we stop, Loki lowers his head toward Miss Minutes, "and who is he?"

"He created all and he controls all. At the end, it is only He Who Remains. And he wants to offer you a deal. He's been making a few creative adjustments, and he's world it out so we can reinsert all three of y'all back into the Timeline in a way that won't disrupt things."

"Won't disrupt things?" Sylvie questions.

"Mmm-hmm. The TVA can keep doin' it's vital work and y'all can live the lives you've always wanted."

I look up to Loki, slightly worried he might take the deal. Loki looks to me and then back to Miss Minutes, "and what have we always wanted?"

"Now, don't play coy with me, mister. You know how you got into this mess."

"What?"

"The Battle of New York, silly. You verses those self-righteous Avengers. How would you like to win? But not just there. You can kill Thanos." As Miss Minutes speaks the expression on Loki's face softens, "you want the Infinity Gauntlet? Yours. Throne of Asgard? No problem. What about you, missy?" Miss Minutes gestures to Sylvie. "All those years on the run. Desperate, alone. How would you like to wake up tomorrow with just a lifetime of happy memories? Two Lokis in the same place. And Kamaria, you can have the family you always wanted."

"Really? Us," I look between Loki and Sylvie, "together on the Timeline?" I look up to Loki as he looks down to me.

"It's crazy, but he could make it work. All of it. Everything. Exactly the way you've always wanted. And you can have it all, together."

I shake my head as I feel a few tears growing in my eyes. I hear Sylvie take a deep breath, "it's fiction."

"We write our own destiny now," Loki looks back to Miss Minutes.

"Oh," Miss Minutes almost hides a chuckle, "sure you do. Good luck with that." With that she disappears.

Once she's gone, Loki reaches down and takes a tight grip on my hand, "come on."