You Go, I Go

Chapter 2

No, this couldn't be right. There was only one TVA. Did Mobius not remember him? Surely this wasn't a result of the Sacred Timeline fracturing. How the tables had turned, as Loki stole a Tempad, and fled. It wasn't until he could get a proper look at the Tempad that he realised what had happened. Sylvie had sent him to a different TVA. The Mobius who didn't remember him never knew him in the first place. It wasn't his Mobius. So, he began going through all the TVAs. The only issue was... there was an infinite number of TVAs, and there was no guarantee that that's where Sylvie had gone anyway.

The good news was that he was in the top universe now. The bad news was that he was going to have to work his way down. Maybe he should just stay where he was? Monitor for nexus events perhaps. The issue with that was, with the branches, there was no way to tell what was just a branch and what was a nexus event. Then it struck him. Strange. He had to find the timeline that he came from, the timeline he was supposed to die at the hands of Thanos. But there was no way for him to know which one it was...

Lamentis. Loki put the coordinates in to lock onto the doomed planet, opened a door and walked through. He landed in front of the lake. The lake where they had desperately held hands, shared a look, thought for certain they were about to die. He took a seat on the rock. He had given himself a few days on Lamentis, a chance to relive some of the moments they had shared before they were captured again. Then he decided to take a page from Sylvie's book.

He stood, looked at the sky, and he screamed, his magic causing the ground to quake. Then he fell to the ground in a ball of sobs and shakes. He should have told her. He thought it just wasn't the right time. They were arguing, and he didn't want her to think he was just saying it to change her mind. And maybe he'd been too afraid. The reason he'd paused in the Timekeepers' Chambers, was the hesitation he felt. He truly hadn't felt this way for anyone before, and it was all so new, possibly refreshing, and incredibly terrifying. He didn't think he was capable of it.

Of all people he could have fallen in love with on any timeline, he was in love with the blonde woman who was a variation of himself. He hadn't said it out loud yet. He wanted the first time he said it out loud to be in front of, and to, the woman it was about. Fearing he may never see her again; he conjured an illusion of her. He held out his hand and led her to the rock, where they both took a seat. Staring out at the lake, Loki sighed. It felt stupid to do this. But if he never saw her again? He needed to say it, if only to an illusion of her.

"Sylvie," he started, and "she" looked at him like her real counterpart had looked at him before pushing him through the door. "I don't know if I'll ever see you again. I fear that I may not. So, if I don't, if all my feelings result in pain, then nothingness, I need to tell you this. I love you, Sylvie."

"I know," she replied.

"I wish you were real," he stated, choking on the words. "Why did you kiss me in the Citadel? To distract me, so you could push me through that damn door? Gods, what I wouldn't give to be back in any of those situations with you, and be able to hold you and tell you how much I love you. But no, I had to be a coward, and now I may never see you again."

"Would it help to release your frustrations on me?" Fake Sylvie asked.

"Maybe," he responded, preparing all his emotions. "Damnit, Sylvie! Why did I have to go and fall in love with you?! You're a bloody Loki, that's for sure! Push away and hurt everyone you love, because you're too selfish to want for anything more than glorious damn purpose! Are you out there somewhere regretting what you did?! Sylvie, you're my everything. I love you. If there ever was a more glorious purpose, it would be you. You bring me to my knees, to beg and to grovel. Older us asked me if I'd left my glorious purpose at the TVA when I was pruned, and I told him I did. You're my glorious purpose. I'm in love. I'm enchanted, and you didn't even have to use your magic."

"You're wrapped around my finger, aren't you?"

"I hang on to your every word, my goddess," he told her. "Your mouth speaks nothing but what I wish to worship. I only wish that it had been enough to save you from such a terrible decision."

With a wave of his hand, the illusion disappeared, leaving him alone in front of the lake once again. Then he heard a sound he hadn't expected. The sound of a yellow door appeared behind him. He wondered if he were to step through it, would it lead him to his TVA? Would it lead to anywhere he wanted to be at all? He conjured his dagger just in case and cautiously walked through the portal. As his eyes adjusted to the light, he noticed that the room he had entered from the portal looked just like that of the room Sylvie had pushed him into from the Citadel.

Which TVA branch was this? He continued cautiously out of the room and down the halls. If he was being honest, he would have thought that there would be someone waiting to capture him in that room. Surely the branching wasn't causing random time doors? This TVA was eerily empty. It was unsettling, to say the least. Where were all the agents? Surely, they would have been rushing around trying to prune all the branches.

"I must admit, I told Sylvie I'd see her again, but I wasn't expecting you so soon," he heard a familiar voice say from behind him, and he swiftly turned around, his dagger ready. "Put it down, Loki. I'm safe. I'm just Kang now. How I managed to retain my memories of everything and have them in this version of me, I'm not sure."

"What is this?" Loki demanded. "I was under the impression she killed you."

"She did," Kang responded simply. "I told you two this would happen. This branch of the TVA fell fairly quickly to one of my more aggressive Variants. But that doesn't matter right now. We need to find Sylvie, and we need to fix this."

"What do you mean?" the god questioned. "What do Sylvie and I have to do with any of this? I mean, you know, besides the obvious."

"You two..." Kang chuckled. "You two cannot be just one or the other. You two need to be together. I told you before, the person I needed to fill my place came in two. You two still need to fulfil that. There was only one way this could end. Sylvie just chose the longer route. Which, I mean, hey! A chance to grow as a person."

"Well, we're going to have a rough go of trying to find her," Loki stated. "I don't know which timeline, which branch, or even which place she is. I don't even know if she wants to see me." He hung his head.

"Uh, pity party for one!" Loki scoffed, irritated that this seemed to be a joke to Kang. "Hey, man, she kissed you."

"Surely just as a distraction," the trickster argued.

"You two," Kang laughed quietly. "You're one and the same. The one thing that you both truly desire, neither of you will admit to the other feeling the same. You're both Lokis, through and through. I guarantee she's out there looking for you right now, Loki."

"What makes you say that?"

"Because when you lost faith in that glorious purpose of yours, she became your glorious purpose. What do you think she felt after she killed me? Emptiness. Numbness. Because somewhere, sometime, she switched, too. Without you there with her, it doesn't matter what she accomplishes, because you're her glorious purpose now."