You Go, I Go

Chapter 9

Loki couldn't focus, so Thor was absolutely thrashing him in training. "You're not making this much of a challenge, brother!" Thor laughed.

"I apologise, brother," Loki responded. "I'm a bit distracted."

"That much is clear," his brother jabbed. "Is this about Lady Sylvie?"

"Yeah," the younger man responded. "She is just so amazing, isn't she?"

"Of course!" Thor boomed. "Though I am still getting used to her being you, but if you were a woman. But, indeed, what a woman she is!"

"The question is, is she too much woman for me?" Loki pondered. "Am I enough of a man to treat her how she deserves? Like a queen!"

"Brother, she is taken with you," the blonde brother said. "That much is clear. I don't think I've ever seen you doubt yourself for any woman before."

"Because Sylvie isn't just any woman, Thor," Loki sighed. "She's me with a bleach-blonde mini-bun. At one point, I was sure I was the superior Loki, but she's since proven me very wrong. She's so strong and resilient. She spent the better part of her teen years and adulthood running from the agency that claimed to govern time. She was quite successful at that, too, I might add."

"So, what is your concern?" Thor asked.

"What if I'm not enough for her?" Loki hadn't yet said that out loud. This wasn't a case of feeling emasculated by her superiority in magic, or insecure about other people that could be out there for her.

"You have to be," his brother told him, which earned Thor a look of confusion. "Well, the way I see it, brother, there is no one else out there like you. Even your Variants have their own personalities, strengths and weaknesses. What you have on them, though, is that you had a chance to redeem yourself and seek more than glorious purpose. And look what you found. You found her."

"But what does that have to do with her potentially getting bored of me?" Loki inquired.

"Both of you have developed as people," his brother responded. "You'll continue to develop because everyone has to adapt to life changes once they've matured enough to be able to. She can't get bored of you because you're growing together."

"I suppose so," the dark-haired Jotun grumbled.

"If you won't take my word for it, take the time-man's word," Thor continued. "You and Sylvie were never meant to fall in love. But you both need each other to succeed in this war. That means you are bound to each other for eternity. I'd say by those odds, you have a great chance of spending the rest of your life with this woman."

Loki was shocked at how enlightening that conversation with Thor had been. "She wants kids," he told his brother.

"How would that work?" asked Thor.

"I'm not sure," Loki admitted. "I suppose she'd get pregnant the old-fashioned way. Regarding genealogy? I have no idea what that would look like. It may be akin to cloning, that a girl would be a carbon copy of Sylvie and a boy would be a carbon copy of me. It is strange to think about."

The brothers decided to put a pin in that particular section of the conversation to continue sparring. Sylvie gave Loki a push and a purpose to try harder in battle than he'd ever tried before. He'd never had a reason to fight before, other than his more selfish motivations. He'd never had a reason to live, and he'd never had a reason to die. He'd decided that if it were to come down to him or Sylvie, he would give his life for hers. If this war went downhill, he would be the first to lay down his life for her. He laughed at the thought, knowing she'd hate this all or nothing thinking, and how stupid she would find it to make a "noble" sacrifice for the sake of someone else.

He was once as nihilistic as her, too, and maybe even she wasn't as nihilistic herself anymore. They'd changed more in each other than they cared to admit, but they were willing to bask in the happiness it brought them, even if it could potentially come to an end at any moment. Happiness was a rarity for them, after everything they'd been through, so they should take advantage of it while they had it. Soon all the different teams returned to the compound, Sylvie and Wanda coming back last. Loki noticed they both looked exhausted and was the first to catch Sylvie as she collapsed to the ground. Wanda wasn't too far behind, as Stephen caught the witch in his arms.

The two men gave each other a nod and took the women to their rooms. Stephen had Carol sit in with Wanda while Loki sat next to Sylvie on her bed. As Sylvie stirred, Loki smiled. He passed her a glass of water when she woke up, which she practically inhaled. She took a few moments to wake up properly before she kissed him softly on the lips.

"Hi," he said in surprise.

"Hi," she breathed, resting her forehead against his. "It was... intense, and I'd much rather not go into detail, so please don't ask me about it."

"Okay," he stated, wrapping his arms around her. "We can just sit if you'd prefer. Though dinner does sound nice."

"Dinner?!" Sylvie shot up. "How long was I out for?"

"Just a few hours," Loki explained. "You were exhausted, my love. You collapsed the second you got back from training."

"How did it go with Thor?" she asked, sitting back down.

"Good," he responded. "We haven't spoken like that our entire lives."

"Spoken?" the blonde raised an eyebrow. "You were supposed to be training."

"We were," Loki laughed, putting his hands up in defence. "He noticed I was preoccupied with other thoughts. He asked and I told him."

"And what were those thoughts?" she smiled mischievously.

"Wondering if I'm good enough for you," he replied, feeling shame. "And also how us procreating would work, but that wasn't the priority thought."

"Okay, putting a pin in that second thing," she frowned. "But why in the multiverse would you question if you're good enough for me? Norns, Loki, you might even be too good for me."

"No, Sylvie, you're perfect," he told her. "I'm... me. That's why I questioned it. You're an amazing person, and I'm both in love and awe of you."

"Loki, I pushed you through a time-door after I kissed you," she responded. "I wouldn't describe that as 'amazing'. In fact, I'd class that as pretty shitty and undeserving of your love and awe."

"You were in pain and confused," he countered. "I would have done the same thing. In fact, I betrayed Mobius a couple of times before you and I met as a result of my feelings."

Sylvie sighed. She knew she wasn't winning this one, and perhaps she didn't want to. He was right. It didn't excuse what she did, but he probably would have done the same thing. She wasn't used to forgiving anyone, especially not herself.