Family is for all time, always [1]

He's Gone

~~~Catherine's pov~~~

I felt Linda sobbing into my shoulder as the guards led us through the portal. I held her close to me as I silently cried. I wasn't about to show weakness in front of these people.

He can't be gone. He can't. After everything we've been through, he can't just be gone.

"Mom, what happened to him? Where did he go? Where?" Linda asked me as the guards brought us to what looked like a receptionist's desk. Where are we?

Linda's a smart girl. She knows what happened. But after everything she's been through, it's not surprising that it would be hard for her to accept this.

"I... I don't know, baby." I hugged her closer. I was devastated. I had lost my husband, but she had lost her father.

A man walked over to us and asked the main guard to sign something. "Is the kid supposed to go to evidence?"

I shook my head as Linda tightened her grip around my neck. "My daughter isn't going anywhere. She stays with me. I don't care what you say. She is staying with me." I said firmly, glaring the man down. There's no way in hell I'm letting her out of my sight. I'm not about to lose any more of my family.

He looked at the guard, and she nodded, letting him know it was okay.

The next thing I knew, Linda and I were shoved into a small room. The only thing in it being a freaky-looking robot.

The robot's arms motioned to a pile of brown jumpsuits, and I grabbed two that looked like they would fit us.

I had just finished helping Linda put her jumpsuit on when the floor opened up, and we fell through.

I looked around the room and saw a man push two stacks of paper toward us. "Please sign to verify that this is everything you've ever said."

"Are you kidding?" As soon as I spoke, a printer turned on, and he added the new paper to the larger pile.

"This as well."

I decided it was best not to argue and sign the papers, but not before looking through some of them.

"It's, uh, really hard to balance a tray of hot coffee in a New York City street crowd."

"How about we talk about what you have planned? Dad, seriously? Another party? For fighting a battle that took all of ten minutes?"

"Of course! It's hard enough to find someone who will just sit and listen, let alone someone who has pulled me out of multiple panic attacks and that I trust. I don't trust easy, Loki. Anyone can tell you the same thing about me. I'm glad I found you."

I felt myself tear up as I read them, remembering when and where I said them. Especially the last one.

I just can't believe he's gone...

I helped Linda sign her name to her stack of papers which was significantly smaller than mine. Well, she was only five, so it wasn't particularly unusual.

We fell through the floor again, and this time we ended up in a room with what looked like a metal detector.

"Please confirm to your knowledge you are not a fully robotic being, were born an organic creature, and do in fact possess what many cultures call a soul." A man with a clipboard said to us.

Linda walked through the metal detector without a problem, but I was a bit more hesitant.

"Hold up. Do a lot of people not know if they're robots?"

"Thank you for confirming. Please step through."

I rolled my eyes and stepped through.

This is going to be a long day.

~

We exited the metal detector room and were escorted through various hallways to get to who knows where.

"Mom, is Dad really gone? He's going to come save us, right? Like he always does." My daughter looked up at me with hopeful eyes.

It broke my heart, but I needed to tell her at some point if she was going to get past it.

"Honey, your dad-" I was interrupted when we entered what looked like a courtroom.

We walked up to the stand, Linda's small hand in mine.

"Stark. Variant C0810, AKA Catherine Stark. Lokidottir. Variant L0811, AKA Linda Lokidottir. You are both charged with sequence violation 9-18-22. How do you plead?" A woman, who looked like a judge, asked us.

It was strange hearing our last names so differently. Technically speaking, if we're going by Asgardian tradition, when I married Loki, my last name should have stayed the same. And when Linda was born, her name should've been Linda Lokidottir. But we decided to avoid confusion and change the last names like normal.

"Not guilty, your honor? I don't even know what's going on or what we're doing here. What did we do?"

"In your timeline, Linda wasn't supposed to survive. However, you and your husband prevented her from that fate." The woman sighed.

"Hold on a second. I'm being arrested because I didn't want my daughter to die? How does that even make any sense? The next thing you'll tell me is that Linda's here because she's alive!"

No response.

"Are you kidding me? You arrested a five-year-old for not dying?"

This is ridiculous!

"It went against your timeline."

Now I was angry. "Hold up. If that is the case, then why..." I stopped, swallowing my tears. "Then why isn't Loki here with us? He's the reason she's alive. He saved her. Why did you..." I didn't finish my sentence, for Linda's sake.

"Why did we kill him? We killed him because he was getting in the way. He was making the job more difficult-"

I cut her off. "You killed the man I loved because he was making your job difficult!? Do you realize how sick that is!?" I yelled, furious.

They killed him for nothing, only because he was inconveniencing them.

"Okay, take her away." She dismissed me.

"What? No. What about Linda?" I asked, holding her behind me.

"That's not important. Take her away."

I tried to fight off the guards that were trying to take me away, but they got out the glowing batons.

"Mom!" I turned to see Linda crying in the corner. "Please listen to them! I don't want to lose you too." I was surprised by her maturity in the situation, but she was right. I didn't want her to lose both of her parents today.

"I love you, Linda. Your dad... He did too. So much. Remember, whatever happens, we will always be with you, and we will always love you. Always." I said, tears pouring down my face. I don't know why, but this seems like... It seems like goodbye.