Always watching the sacred timeline.

Chapter 20

Y/n's pov

"Give me your TemPad." Sylive says, looking down at Ravonna as she's on the ground, and she quickly scavengers through her pockets, then finds it, giving it to her. "Who's really behind the TVA?"

"I'm as in the dark as you are." Ravonna says, and Sylive puts her foot on her stomach, making her grunt.

"Poor Judge Renslayer. Your whole reality's been destroyed." I said, scoffing.

Sylive nods her head "Tell me, how does it feel to be on the other side of it?" She adds, kicking her, then taking her foot off of her "This is it, isn't it? This is where you dragged me after you stole my life. A fitting place, then, to take yours."

"And what if I said Loki wasn't dead?" Ravonna said, and I furrow my brows. "Not yet anyway."

"I'd say you were lying." Sylive says.

"Maybe. Or maybe we want the same thing." Ravonna says, off of the floor now.

"How is he still alive?" I ask.

"And how will saving him get us closer to who's really behind the TVA?" Sylive adds.

"It's complicated." Ravonna shakes her head, and Sylive points her sword closer to her. "I'm telling you this willingly." She said, backing away a couple steps.

"Why?" I ask.

"Because I wanna know who's at the top of this. I want to know who lied to me. When we prune a branched reality it's impossible to destroy all of its matter. So we move it to a place on the Timeline where it won't continue growing. Basically, the branch timeline isn't reset. It's transferred."

"To where?" Sylive asks.

"A void at the end of time." Ravonna shrugs. "Where every instance of existence collides at the same point and simply.... stops.."

"Why?" I ask.

She shrugs "I don't know." She paused for a moment "The dogma states that the end of time is still being written, that the Time-Keepers are transforming into utopia."

I and Sylive scoffed "That's nice. Super believable." Sylive says.

"Whatever the real reason.... Nothing ever comes back from there."

I and Sylive start to tear up. I'll never get to see Loki or Mobius ever again! I never even said goodbye. Or I love you to Loki...

"I can help you if you trust me." Ravonna took me out of my own thoughts, and I shook my head.

We paused for a moment, then Sylive slowly gives her back her TemPad.

Loki's pov

I sigh, getting up from being pruned.

Where the hell am I?

I see three men coming after me, as I get up, and see this gigantic purple cloud coming straight after us. Everything else is just trees, plants that were overgrown, and abandoned sculptures.

"What is this place? Where are we? Who are you?"

"This is the Void, that's Alioth. And we're his lunch, come on." One of the men says impatiently, tapping my shoulder, then running off.

I'm guessing he wants me to follow them?

I sigh, running after them.

"I suggest we take a breather, so I can ask several thousand questions." After what felt like hours of running I finally say as I follow the three other people, plus an alligator. One is a child, one is a grown man, and one kinda looks like Thor start running from who knows what, going who knows where.

"Gotta keep moving so we don't die." The older man says.

"Okay, but what's your plan?"

"Don't die!"

"Okay, but beyond that?"

"Don't die!" He repeats.

"Don't die isn't a plan, it's a general demand of living. If you're Loki's, you should always have a plan." I stop moving, but they ignore me. I sigh, running after them.

"Will someone please explain to me what the hell is going on?!" I yell, as they look back to me. "Look, it's been a very, very, very trying past few days. Months? I don't even know how long it's been since New York. All I know is, I got pruned and I woke up here, and now I'm surrounded by Variants of myself, plus an alligator, which I'm heartbroken to report I didn't even find all that strange!" I say, pointing to the alligator who even has my golden horns on. "And now we're running from God knows what to God knows where. When what I need to be doing, is trying to find a way back to the TVA." I wail, then the little boy look alike me points a dagger to my throat, and I fall backwards, on the grass.

"Stop wailing or you will signal Allioth." He says, and I furrow my brows.

"You mean the monster in the sky?" I whisper, seeing lots of clouds around us.

He shakes his head, making the dagger disappear, giving me his hand, helping me up. "Thank you." I sigh.

"This is the place where the TVA dumps its rubbish, everything they prune. And Alioth, he ensures none of it ever returns." The little boy Loki says.

"It's a living tempest that consumes matter and energy. They send entire branches realities here that are devoured instant-" The man who looks like Thor went before he was cut off by the grown man "We're in a shark tank. Alioth is the shark."

The alligator made a noise "Oh, there's no such thing as an alligator tank. Besides, it's a better metaphor. He's overly sensitive like the rest of us." The older man said.

"Hang on.. You're telling me that things a Loki too?" I sigh.

"Oh yes!" The older man stated as if it's obvious, and the alligator looks straight at me. "Okay, fine. Willing to accept that. Why are there so many of you?"

"Because Loki's survive. That's just what we do." The older man said.

"Great. So how do we escape?"

"We don't. All of us were arrested by the TVA and pruned, just like you. And just like you, we all stood around making bad plans that went nowhere."

"But we could use a TemPad!" I said.

"Oh, the one thing that could get us out of here, yes. They're all over the place, right guys?" The guy who looks like Thor said sarcastically.

They all start laughing, and the alligator just keeps staring at me, like he'll bit me at any time.

"Fine. What about causing a nexus event?" I ask.

"The TVA doesn't care what happens here." The man who looks like Thor said.

"Surely there's something to do!" I said.

"There is. Survive. That's all there is. All there ever was." The older Loki says.

"We're done talking. Let's go." The kid Loki says. "Just do what you want I guess." He adds, shrugging, as they leave.

I look around, sighing, thinking of what to do. All I hear is thundering from that purple thing they call 'Alioth' and all I see is the clouds, and grass. "Okay, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait." I say, catching up to them.

"Why do you wear the horns? You let a child command you?" I ask.

"You'll do well to respect the boy." Older Loki says. "This is his kingdom." He adds.

"Right.." I say, stopping and putting my hands on my hips. "What was your nexus event, Your Majesty?"

He sighs, walking back to me "I killed Thor." Turning back around, he starts walking again.