𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐘𝐁𝐎𝐃𝐘 𝐖𝐀𝐍𝐓𝐒 𝐓𝐎 𝐑𝐔𝐋𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐋𝐃 ━ loki laufeyson

12│I WOULD HAVE FOLLOWED YOU TO HELL AND BACK

▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅

❛ ᴇᴡᴛʀᴛᴡ. ❜ ° . ༄
- ͙۪۪˚   ▎❛ 𝐓𝐖𝐄𝐋𝐕𝐄 ❜   ▎˚ ͙۪۪̥◌
»»————- ꒰ ɪ ᴡᴏᴜʟᴅ ʜᴀᴠᴇ
ғᴏʟʟᴏᴡᴇᴅ ʏᴏᴜ ᴛᴏ ʜᴇʟʟ & ʙᴀᴄᴋ ꒱　


❝ YOUR BRAVERY RIVALS
THE VALKYRIES OF ASGARD ❞

▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅

Apparently, Doomsday was harder to stop than Loki had originally thought. He tried countless variations of being able to save the day but each time, the Throughput Multiplier— or something else— caused them to fail. When O.B. said that they'd taken too long, he took more risks, even going so far as to burst into Renslayer's kidnapping of Timely. Still, that wasn't enough— he always needed more time.

So, he got it: he went back centuries to give himself enough time to learn everything he needed to know about engineering to do it himself. When he returned, his knowledge seemed to work for a short time, but it was still in vain. Even when Timely successfully inserted the Throughput Multiplier, it couldn't handle the overload of so many Timelines. Sylvie's murmured words of disbelief sparked a new idea: "it's almost as if as soon as the Timelines started branching, this was doomed to happen."

He thought about when they had started to overwhelm the universe: back when the goddess had killed He Who Remains. He Time Slipped to that moment, appearing right between Sylvie and He Who Remains. He tossed his blade to the ground as hers came to rest on his shoulder. "Sylvie, stop. Stop. I've been where you are. I've felt what you feel. You don't want this."

Jimin remained in her seat as she had the first time he'd been through this— as she would for all the times he repeated this loop. No matter what he said, Sylvie's response was the same: "if you want me to stop, you'll have to kill me."

No matter when he landed during the fight, she remained consistent. Even if he changed the outcome and got the upper hand, Sylvie ducked under his arm and killed He Who Remains anyway.

"If you want to stop me. . ."

Exhausted from the infinite number of redoes, he grunted, "I have to kill you, I get it." Frustrated, he turned to the other man. "Why do you never try to stop her? Fight back? Do something."

He reached for the circular device that acted as a more powerful TemPad. Swiping it forward, Sylvie— and Jimin, but she was already sitting as still as a statue— froze mid-swing. "So, how many times have you been at this?"

Examining both women with alarm, the Asgardian demanded, "what did you do to them?"

"Oh, come on. You're not telling me you haven't learned how to pause. . . time. . . yet. I figured you'd be way past that." the man chuckled mockingly.

Loki came over to stand by his desk, though his gaze remained on Jimin's unmoving form. He tentatively reached out to brush a finger against her skin and was relieved that it still felt warm to the touch. He Who Remains continued: "don't worry, lover boy. She's okay. They both are." He nodded to Sylvie. "But she is in the eye line a little bit. So why don't we just. . ."

With a swipe of his TemPad, both women disappeared. "So, this, this isn't the first time we've had this conversation, is it?"

The god met the other man's gaze evenly. "How did you know?"

"I know about the slipping. And who do you think paved that road? Any guesses? Survey says. . ."

Loki closed his eyes in exasperation. "He Who Remains."

"Bingo!" he exclaimed. "Here you were, slipping through time. Thinking you were, you were sticking it to the system. Gonna beat the man. And then. . ." He spread his arms wide in triumph. "Whoop! Here he is." He sat forward as the Asgardian closed his eyes again, tired of the other man's arrogance. "Kiddo, did you really think I was just gonna sit back and let her kill me? And that'd be it? Zip? Nada? RIP HWR?"