The Variant's Shadow - LokixOC - ONGOING

* The TVA *

Her life. 

He’d said that as if it was the most obvious thing, and then he’d walked to the piles of boxes behind her without another word. Not for her, at least. He was talking to himself, sometimes in awe of how neatly everything had been organized, while Ophelia had been left there to watch and wonder what was going on. That wasn’t why she’d come here, and she was only wasting time. 

He Who Remains turned a box over, let out a joyful ‘Ah’, and looked back at Ophelia with a smile. “See ?” he said, pointing at the carboard box at his feet. “No one compares to your sense of organization.”

Ophelia wanted to tell him that she’d never done any of this and that it was the very first time she’d ever seen these boxes, but her eyes landed on what was written on the one he was now holding. What was written didn’t really matter to her. What struck her was the handwriting. Her handwriting. Her hand had written something there, and she couldn’t remember it. 

She kept watching him, standing on the same spot she’d arrived to after leaving her time, as he was happily getting his box back to the desk. 

Something was wrong. Many things were wrong, but his attitude was making Ophelia uncomfortable. She’d met that man only once before, and he’d refused to talk to her. He’d sent her away to be with his computer slave. Now, he was acting as if they knew each other. Worse, as if they were friends. 

While he was searching through the stuff in that box, Ophelia focused on the words in the back. ‘Start here’. Why would they have to start with that box ? Why would she have ever prepared something to start with ? Why was he the one looking inside that box when it was so clearly Ophelia’s ? He had no right to do it. 

“You even left a note,” he said, wiggling a piece of paper in front of him for Ophelia to see. She’d never left any note for him. He’d lost his mind. He briefly looked through it, winced, and sat back down. “You should sit, too,” he added, pointing at the only chair on the other side of the desk. “It’s going to take us a while. Apple ?”

“What ?”

“Do you want an-”

“No.” Ophelia left him to his fruit and sat down, glancing at the boxes left behind. All of them had something written there. She’d written on every single one of these boxes. 

When she turned back to him, He Who Remains was staring at her. “I have to say, this is all pretty exciting to me,” he told her. “I’ll be the one to tell you things for once.”

“I don’t understand,” Ophelia sighed. 

“Of course you don’t. When do you… Oh, wait.” He took back his little note and nodded. “Perfect. The TVA’s been saved. Hurrah.” He let go of the note and leaned forward. “Can you tell me how ?”

“What ?”

He rolled his eyes at her. “I know you’re confused, but I’m gonna need you to at least pretend that you still have neuronal connections up there, okay ?” He waited for a reaction from her, but nothing came. Ophelia had her own questions, and now he wanted to know about the TVA. “So,” he started again, “what happened ?”

“You don’t know ?”

“I know what you’ve told me,” he replied. “Which, one, isn’t much. And two, we don’t have a relationship based on trust.”

“We don’t have a relationship, period.”

“Yet. I know Sylvie’s going to kill me and I can’t see past that. You know, because it’s going to send the Loom into-”

“Overloading.”

“Exactly. It’s still unclear to me how I’ll manage to get back from the dead. These things are usually pretty final for people like us.”