You Go, I Go

Chapter 10

"Hey, Sylvie," Wanda said sheepishly as Sylvie and Loki walked into the kitchen. "I'm really sorry about earlier."

"It's alright," Sylvie smiled. "I should have been prepared for it. I knew you'd been learning from the Darkhold prior to my offer."

"Well, there's actually something I need to talk with everyone about..." Wanda trailed off.

"VISION?!" It was a cacophony of gasps as the white android entered the kitchen from outside.

"I kind of invited him to stay," Wanda told the group. "He came in after I woke up, and we discussed everything. Carol agreed it would be a good idea. We could use him in the war."

"I am happy to offer assistance," Vision stated. "Haywood programmed me to be a war android, and I see no better purpose than to end a multiversal war."

"Carol, did you not think it would be a good idea to consult with us first?" Bruce asked.

"Vision is of no threat to us," Sylvie spoke. "Believe me, I would tell you if he was. He appears to have removed anything linking him to S.W.O.R.D., so if you're concerned about the government sticking their noses in, don't be."

"That sounds safe enough to me," Sam stated. "But Sylvie, how are you surprised with Vision's arrival? I thought you pretty much knew the future."

"A fair amount of it," she responded. "Not all of it and only to certain extents for each person. I imagine due to the design of the management of time, Loki and I would need to take our places at the Citadel to access everything."

"It's basically just a jumbled mess to Sylvie right now," Kang added. "She probably knew Vision was coming back because she saw some of Wanda's future. She just didn't know when. It's like someone giving you a half-written book. Half of it's there, but it's not the first or second half, it's bits of each."

"Pretty much," Sylvie sighed. "That's why I wouldn't be able to tell you all if we win this or not. I can make assumptions based on futures I've seen, but I can't figure out the rest."

"So do you know what and who we need in order to win this war?" Peter asked.

"Not everything," she responded. "That would make it too easy for us. You and I both know He Who Remains wouldn't have made this easy for me, Kang."

"No, He would not have," the former timelord chuckled.

"So we're pretty much doing this as blinded as if you had never killed Him?" Bruce questioned.

Sylvie shrugged in response, starting on her meatloaf. That pretty much summed it all up. There wasn't much more they could do than what they already had in motion. Building an uprising from TVA agents across space and time. As if he'd been reading her mind, Mobius spoke up.

"Interesting fact about the TVA branches I learned from Kang today," he started, "is that they're located in different quantum realms. Each timeline has its own quantum realm. That's why time passes differently there."

"Wait, so the Pym particles were a waste of time?" Scott asked, shocked.

"Not necessarily," Kang replied. "The Pym particles do something TemPads can't. You can make yourself massive and shrink yourself down. Pym particles just have the added benefit of being able to allow you to enter the quantum realm. There's no guarantee you'd be able to get into the TVA branch inside it."

Scott let out a sigh of relief. Sylvie could admit it was ingenious to put the TVA in a place no average human could find. The system had seemed flawed to her while she was on the run, until she found out all of the workers at the TVA were Variants. The court system made sense. Not everyone was pruned, in fact quite a few had their memories wiped (not well enough though, clearly) and were recruited by the same fascists who had captured them.

Before she knew it, Sylvie was done with her dinner and the rest of the team were onto other topics of discussion. She figured she could probably get away with sneaking out of the kitchen given any wandering eyes were entranced by Vision and his upgrades. It wasn't until she felt eyes on her in the hallway leading to her sleeping quarters that she turned around to find Loki tailing her.

"You caught me," she chuckled, allowing both of them into her chambers. "I figured I might be able to sneak away."

"Sylvie, dear, we're on the same wavelength," he smiled back. "I know when I'm missing your presence, as much as I suspect you may know when you're missing mine. You could have just asked me if we could leave."

"You were having such a wonderful conversation with Thor," she mentioned, taking a spot on her bed, patting the empty side next to her. "I'd have felt terrible to interrupt it."

"Perhaps it was a wonderful conversation," he pondered, taking his place beside her. "However, it was always going to come to an end when my lady wished to leave."

"You are much too good for me, Loki Laufeyson," she sighed, leaning against him as he wrapped an arm around her.

"Now, I thought we'd had this conversation before dinner," he chortled.

"Maybe we did, but I don't really care," she grinned up at him.

"Cheeky," he smiled back.

He felt a nagging feeling, gnawing through his pocket, wherein laid an object of permanence. He knew it was too soon. After all, it had only been three weeks since they'd been reunited, and due to how time worked in the TVA, he had no idea how long it had been since they'd met. Of course, he'd heard of many couples being engaged after as short as six weeks. Plus, if it had been in any other circumstance, given where they hail from, it would have been odd for a prince not to propose in such a short period of time. But then again, Sylvie had never shown a traditional value since he'd met her. Did she even want marriage? She was always such an independent soul, not just because she had to be, but because she wanted to be.

"Loki?" Sylvie said, snapping him out of his thoughts. "If you think any harder, you'll burst a blood vessel."

Her laugh triggered something in him. "Sylvie, I've never been one for big speeches outside of world domination, so bear with me, please," he started, and she looked concerned as he got out of the bed and walked over to her side. He took a deep breath, he knew this was it. He kneeled beside her as she swung her legs to sit on the side of the bed. "Sylvie, you are... incredible? Amazing? Is there an adjective to describe you that I haven't already used? Never once has anyone made me doubt myself as much as you do. I feel butterflies in my stomach when I'm with you. Butterflies, Sylvie. You make me nervous and confident at the same time. I don't even know how that works, but I wouldn't care to find out anyhow, because I love that you make me feel that way. I guess what I'm trying to say is... I know we've not known each other terribly long. What I do know, though, is that I love you. I've never felt a deeper connection with anyone until I met you. Sylvie, would you... would you be my wife?"

Sylvie gasped, as Loki conjured the ring from his pocket. It was a gorgeous emerald stone set on a shining gold ring. She began to tear up. She never thought she'd ever meet someone who would want her to be theirs forever, and now here she was, being asked if she'd be someone's wife. It was almost unbelievable. Almost. With her hands over her gaping mouth, she nodded 'yes' as the tears began falling.

"I know it's really fast," Loki said shyly as he slipped the ring on her finger.

She shook her head. "There was a couple in 2022 who got engaged eight weeks after they met each other," she smiled. "They got married this past winter. I've seen their future and it's nothing but successful. I have the same hope for us."

Hope. It was a peculiar feeling for the woman who had never had a reason to have it since she was detained as a child.