You Go, I Go

Chapter 11

Sylvie had no idea why she felt the need to hide her hand every time she was approached by someone or engaged in conversation with them. Maybe because she felt there may be judgement for how fast the relationship seemed to be moving. It was a nagging feeling, and she knew she shouldn't care (she didn't know these people all that well yet, after all), but she did. She'd had half a mind to put it on a necklace around her neck and hide it underneath her clothes. But, for the same reason she'd never go back to wearing capes, she knew it would give enemies in battle a way to stop or even choke her mid-fight. So, she didn't.

But she would fold her right hand over her left, shove her left hand in her pocket and sometimes even place the ring in her void whenever she was approached by someone. It wasn't just the worry that they would be judged for how soon they'd gotten engaged. She wanted to sit in the secret with Loki for a little while, to enjoy each other as fiancés in the privacy of their bedchambers. Oh, yes, they had also requested to be moved into a room together. Sylvie's anxiety surrounding their engagement prompted her to worry that the team's smirks had meant that they knew Loki and Sylvie's secret. It was quickly replaced by the logical thought that they were probably just making an innuendo.

The innuendo had basis, of course. Loki and Sylvie were two lonely souls who had finally found their forever people, and they enjoyed celebrating that with what only came naturally. Whether or not people could hear their celebrations was a different answer depending on the person. That being said, there wasn't a single person in the compound who wasn't happy for the couple, as weird as the concept of their relationship was. Of course, someone had to find out about the engagement before Sylvie was ready (Loki had always been ready). It happened during a conversation with Peter, the little blabbermouth he was. She was explaining her enchantment process to him while the other team members mingled on a sunny weekend, and he spotted it.

"Whoa!" he exclaimed, gaining the attention of everyone else, who immediately rushed over. "That's a really pretty ring!"

Sylvie gasped, looking down and realising that she'd accidentally outed the news. "Shit!" she cussed at herself. "Well, I guess the secret's out."

Loki came up and hugged her from behind. "The bubble appears to have popped, my dear," he smiled, kissing her cheek.

"Yep," she groaned. "The jig is up, I suppose. Everyone, we got engaged last month."

"Brother!" Thor boomed. "She said yes!"

"She did," Loki smiled, nodding his head. "I wanted to wait until she was ready to announce it. But I suppose she got a bit slippery when it came to hiding it."

"Wait, you told Thor you were going to propose?" Sylvie asked, turning to face him.

"He knew I had the ring," he replied. "I didn't even know I was going to propose until I did."

"Awe," Carol said, "that is so sweet!"

"So, when's the wedding?" Bruce asked.

"We haven't really put much thought into it, actually," Sylvie admitted. "Probably not for a while yet. We have a war to fight. I fail to believe we'd have any time between battles to get married. We don't even have time to think too deeply about having a family."

"No one mentioned a family," Wanda smirked. "Has Sylvie Laufeydottir been thinking about having kids?"

"It was Peter's fault!" Sylvie pouted, before immediately regretting bringing Peter up.

"What did I do?" Peter asked, almost hurt.

"When I saw you on the timeline," Sylvie sighed, "you were all alone after the Dr Strange/Spiderman debacle. I felt this tugging in my heart for you. I was all alone, too, once. I felt some weird motherly instinct toward you. That's how I realised I might want kids."

"And how were you planning to do that even once this is all over?" Kang asked.

"We had been meaning to speak with you since we had the conversation last month," Loki shrugged, shuffling his feet a little. "We both agreed that raising children in the Citadel wouldn't be ideal. We were thinking that maybe we'd be able to run the multiverse away from the Citadel. Maybe from New Asgard."

"Valkyrie and I would be more than happy to help you build a house in the village," Thor piped up.

"I suppose even I didn't have to run it from the Citadel, either," Kang pondered. "The only reason I did was because I needed Alioth to prevent anything from surviving the Void."

"So does that mean we don't have to prune anyone else once they're in charge?" Mobuis asked.

Kang shrugged. "It'll be up to them," he told the agent.

Sylvie let out a frustrated chuckle. "Norns, I hate you," she spat. "If you had just told us that, we wouldn't be here right now."

"Now I don't think you believe that's true, Sylvie," Kang laughed. "You couldn't even trust Loki, and you love him. There was no way you were going to hear me out whether I told you the truth or not. You did hate me."

Sylvie wanted to kick herself. She knew he was right. If she hadn't trusted Loki, there was not a chance in Hel that she was about to trust a man who had taken her life from her. She let out a disappointed grunt and let it go.

"So how would a baby from two Variants work?" Mobius asked.

"Loki's theory seems to be that it would be akin to cloning," Thor informed him.

"You told Thor about us wanting kids?" Sylvie blushed, looking at Loki.

"In my defence," Loki started, "if you had a sister, you'd probably talk about these things with her as well."

Sylvie couldn't dispute that. It made her ache for a sister, though, so she decided to leave the conversation there. "None of this particularly matters at the moment," she stated. "We have an infinite amount of Kangs out there actively destroying our timelines. Weddings and babies should be the least of our concerns right now."

"She's right," Vison chimed in. "Mr. Mobius, how are we coming along with the recruitment of TVAs?"

"We've got a fairly large and strong army," Mobius replied. "Four hundred and counting."

"Four hundred doesn't seem like much put up against an infinity symbol," Peter said timidly.

"Well, it's three hundred and ninety-nine more than we originally had," Sylvie assured him. "Plus, there are thousands of agents in every single TVA. Believe me when I tell you, there are a lot of those suckers."

"So, this will probably be a long-term war, won't it?" Wanda asked.

"With so many timelines, there's just as much magic," Kang responded. "Our main concern will be the infinite amount of infinity stones out there. We all know what one soul stone can do. Imagine more."

"So, Monday we officially start this war?" Sylvie asked, but no one needed to hear the answer.

Their training was complete, their plan was in motion and things were about to get both dangerous and ridiculously weird.