The Variant's Shadow - LokixOC - ONGOING

* No Answer, But More Questions *

Ophelia stared at herself, scared and confused, for a moment. It had to have happened now, right when she’d decided to make things differently. To prove to everyone that she still had free will. 

Instead, the TVA had found a way to remind her that it could never branch, forcing her to do things the way they were supposed to happen. 

Her past self turned around. Her eyes widened when she noticed the Ophelia standing behind her wasn’t the one that had been there only seconds ago. Ophelia almost laughed, remembering how confused she’d been when it had happened to her. It was happening to her. 

“Hi,” she said. 

“What-”

“Shhh.” 

She didn’t want to do it, but the TVA was right. No matter how little time separated these two versions of Ophelia and how different from each other they were, they weren’t variants from the same person. They were the same person, and if Ophelia didn’t help herself now, the girl standing there would never get back to Loki. Time slipping would kill her. Ophelia would die. That was the choice she had, her first taste of free will. Dying, or keeping things as they were. 

“Okay,” she sighed. “Follow me, you need to get to Casey.”

She almost took the elevator leading to R&A. But that wasn’t where Casey was. That girl would jump a couple more times before finding him. As she was leading herself down the stairs, trying to remember where Casey had been when she’d found Loki, the other one stopped her. 

“That’s not where Casey’s desk is,” she said. 

Ophelia didn’t stop. “He’s not at his desk.” The words sounded familiar. Was she saying the exact same things she’d heard when she’d been the one following a very angry version of herself ? “I can’t believe I’m doing this.” She slowed down and waited for herself to keep up. “You were in the past. You’re in the future now,” she very briefly explained. “I'm getting you back to Loki, but you have to follow me.” She kept a door open for her. “You’ll have to hold onto him.” Two hunters stopped their conversation and stared at the two Ophelias with wide eyes. “Don’t ask, I’m not in the mood,” she warned them. 

Before walking away, she rushed and grabbed a pruning wand from one of them. She thought about Brad’s words. She’d always somehow scared them. Now, they were having proof that she would have indeed been able to be in two places at once. 

“What happened to you ?” the other asked, running behind Ophelia. “Were you- Was I in a fight ? Were we ? How ?”

“You’ll see. Bad couple of days.” And it was only getting worse, but Ophelia decided to keep that part for herself. 

More parts of the TVA were losing power. Everything seemed familiar around them. Not only because she’d walked these halls forever, but also because the places where she’d time slipped were engraved in her mind. She’d never forget the pain and where it had happened. 

“It’s about to happen again,” she muttered. She took the other Ophelia’s hands, forcing her to listen. “You have to hold onto him, ok ? Move with Loki. You can’t handle this, but he can.”

The other one looked behind, more confused than ever. “The stairs… What was that ?”

“Nothing fun,” Ophelia sighed. She considered telling her, but they needed OB. They needed to get him to have a look because Mobius had decided to, not because Ophelia asked him. He’d never listen to her. She had no choice. She didn’t want to risk her life on whether or not Mobius would listen to her. Free will would have to wait a little longer. “You have to get to ChronoBay 3,” she quickly explained. “But whatever you do, hold-”