For All Time. Always!

15 - The One Where Loki's Theory Works

   "I think it's worth a shot."

  Loki's smile only grows as he takes me into a tight hug, much like the one from earlier, but this time less needy and more excited. I hesitate a bit before returning it.

  "You won't regret it!," he says, pulling away to get a better look at me. I look at Mobius, who's giving me a suggestive look. I roll my eyes, ignoring him.

  "So, you wanna go to an apocalypse? I think I know a place," Mobius says as we get up.

Pompeii, Italy

79 AD

  The volcano grumbles, which only makes Loki more excited. Mobius was nervous that his theory would be wrong, and I was a little bit of both. If this doesn't work, we could be in serious trouble.

  But if this works, then we're even closer to finding the variant.

  "Here we go," Loki whispers excitedly.

  Mobius shushes him. "Any minute now..."

  "Until this entire town is wiped off the face of this planet," I mumble.

  "Imagine. All of that volcanic ash..." Loki says, looking to the volcano like it was some sort of god.

  "I know. We don't want to get too giddy," Mobius assures him.

  "Oh, come on! It's cool!" Loki says, definitely too giddy. It was a little cool, though.

  "No, it is cool, it's just not in good taste because-"

  "They're all gonna die anyways," I say. Loki smirks mischievously at my comment. Mobius just rolls his eyes.

  "I know. Now listen, I'm gonna watch the tempad for any variance energy."

  "Okay," Loki and I say at the same time.

  "Okay, because we gotta be careful," Mobius informs us. "If you're wrong, and there's a good chance you are, anything we do can create a huge branch."

  "Oh, Mobius! You make even the end of the world sound boring," Loki sighs.

  "Listen! We're not even meant to be here. Okay?"

  "Okay," Loki sighs.

  "Anything we do can impact the course of history. Do you get that?"

  "Yes."

  "Yes," I sigh.

  "Okay, so we're gonna start with very small disturbances."

  "Very small," Loki repeats.

  "Can either of you make bird noises?"

  Loki furrows his brows. "Bird noises?"

  "Yeah. Bird noises. Like some, like, whooshing noises." Mobius starts cooing, making Loki even more confused before he groans and runs off.

  "Loki! Loki!," Mobius yells after him.

  Loki goes to a wagon with goats in it, opening and freeing the animals. "Go!," he yells out, beckoning them to leave the wagon. Of course, they do, flooding out.

  "Be free, my horned friends, be free!," he continues. Mobius beside me continues looking at the tempad for any branching while Loki looks at me, signaling me to join him. I walk over to the man, taking his hand and stepping onto the wagon with him. I sit on top of one of the sides, making me around eye level of him.

  He begins speaking in Latin once I'm up with him. "My name is Loki, and this is Y/N. We are agents of the Time Variance Authority." He takes a stick, pointing it at the crowd. "I bring you all dark tidings. All of you! You're all about to die." He points to the volcano behind us. "That volcano is about to erupt!" He takes a moment, feeling proud of himself. "We would know, because we're from the future."

  "We are from the future, right?," he asks me. "What is the TVA? I mean, it's from the future. It sounds from the future. It's pretty future-y."

  I'm about to answer before the volcano erupts, making the small crowd begin to panic and scurry around. "Right on cue!," Loki laughs. He jumps down, grabbing me by the waist and hoisting me down as well. It startles me a bit, and I can feel a small blush forming on my cheeks, but I laugh along with him as he grabs my hand and pulls me over to some barrels.

  He starts throwing around some of the food from the baskets and barrels. "Enjoy your last meal while you can! Nothing matters! Nothing has any consequence! Dance while you still can!" At that, he takes my hand once again, this time twirling me around. "Whoo-hoo!"

  The volcano is only getting louder as its lava gets closer and closer to the small village. "How'd we do?," I ask Mobius.

  He looks up at us. "I don't believe it. Zero variance energy. No branching in the timeline!"

  "The TVA would never even know we were here. If it were me, this is where I would hide," Loki responds as the smoke gets closer and closer. Loki grabs my hand once more, this time dragging me to the door Mobius spawned as our getaway back to the TVA.

  Someone is getting used to holding my hand.

Hey everyone 😅

Sorry I didn't get any chapters out last night or earlier today, I had some family stuff. I am going to write as many as possible tonight, though! I'm realllllly excited about the upcoming one too (spoiler: mobius ships)

See you in a little bit loves 💚