Echoes in Time

Final Countdown....

Stepping into the time-room, the force from the line hit them like a hurricane. Taking them both off their feet, it slammed them into the closed door, knocking the wind out of them both. After a moment, Elli struggled onto her knees and began to crawl, Sygn still seemingly unable to move. It was like crawling through molasses. Every movement, she felt like she was lifting a thousand tons. After what seemed like hours, she'd only gone twenty feet. She collapsed onto the floor and lay panting as the time line hissed and twisted and raged above her.

"Sygn... come on.... I need you..." she called back. Sygn looked at her, smiling. She wasn't going to move, was she? Why should she help this Midgardian. If the timeline collapsed, she wouldn't die. She was too powerful.

"Sygn PLEASE...." Elli called to her. "For LOKI if not for me. He will DIE." Elli hoped by dragging Loki into this, she would be forced to act.

"But he won't" she stood and with relative ease - she wasn't encumbered by any special clothing after all - she drew level with the kneeling woman. "He is a GOD just like ME and WE don't die." she crowed. "If YOU die, then who will miss you? Not me. Not Loki." she patted Elli's cheek, shouting over the increasing roar. Another branch was forming. Another explosion imminent.

Elli's head drooped. She was losing strength. "But Sygn that's only true if you're not part of the timeline. If you're somewhere...." she suddenly realised Sygn's plan. "If you're in Asgard." She summoned all her strength and stood, hanging onto her arm. "But you're not. Either of you. You WILL be killed. Please... You have to get me to the timeline, you can't let the universe be destroyed. Please Sygn. Please, at least let me try. Then... you can have him. If we survive... I give up. I can see now what he needs. I can see he needs someone with determination and strength. A true queen." she paused and now, instead of a shout, a whisper. A tear stained whisper. "He's yours."

"He is?" Sygn was dumbfounded. The desire for self preservation outweighed all this Midgardian's so-called love for Loki? It seemed she was just like the rest. She smiled, Elli was right, she'd miscalculated. There wouldn't be time to get to Asgard if this went wrong. "Come on, let's go."

She grabbed Elli by the arm and thrust her towards the timeline. A branch swooped and twisted, making them fall to the ground and cover their heads. "That was close, we have to hurry..." Sygn hauled them both to their feet.

Elli set her jaw determinedly and pressed on. Slowly, foot by foot, they made progress. The force was building, the hurricane threatening to carry them away at any moment but they kept going. Finally, they reached the timeline. The noise and the light was incredible.

Elli was terrified, her legs almost giving way. Sygn caught her and pulled her up to stand. Torn between hatred for the woman who had stolen Loki from her, and admiration for the selfless act she was about to carry out, she paused.

"You are... brave Elli Amundsen. You just were brave for the wrong person. " Even now, at the moment she was about to win, her hubris won. She couldn't resist a final taunt.

"I didn't do this for you Sygn, I did it for Loki so he could be happy." Elli said, a sudden hush falling as a branch twisted away taking the energy of the line with it.

"Ah you see little Midgardian, that was always going to happen. Loki and I? Well, we were always destined to be together. Our time together before we came back? Only cemented it. You see, he still loves me." she smiled in triumph. "I would say ask him, but you can't can you. So let me tell you something. He was - and still is - a fabulous lover. Still as skilled, still as...." she stroked Elli's cheek with her nail. "Still as satisfying. Even in the orchard he made me feel...." she closed her eyes and licked her lips.

"NO!" Elli shouted, the energy of the line returning with the branch now ready to explode. With a sickening dread she knew this was it, the final chance. If the branch exploded uncontrolled here, the timeline would be destroyed. She had to act and act now. "YOU are the liar." she couldn't believe it. Not now. Not here.

"Am I? Am I really? Well, let me tell you this my little Midgardian...." she leant down and whispered into Elli's ear a detail so intimate, so telling that only a lover would know.

Blind rage engulfed Elli and she screamed at Sygn, hauling her close as the timeline surged towards them. "If I can't have him, neither can you... you scheming WHORE" she yelled grabbing Sygn's wrist as the blinding light of the line roared towards them.

It was at that moment that Sygn realised what true love would do. Make you do what's right, not what was easy. As the branch hurtled towards them she tried to escape Elli's grasp. She looked at her wrist. It seemed that Mobius had handed out a little insurance policy to Elli and now? Now she was wearing it, attached to Elli by the wrist, her magic gone. All she could do was stand, screaming as the world exploded around them.

OB watched from the room as the timeline and the branch merged into one, exploding in a galaxy of stars, a burst of light so bright he had to cover his eyes. The windows on the room shattered and he dived for cover. As he huddled under the desk, he heard the noise of a million years of history being shattered and re-glued.

Silence. Darkness. Both enveloped him as he came out from under the desk, shaking bits of broken glass from his hair and clothing. The overhead lights flickered back on one by one, revealing a scene of... tranquillity. The timeline hummed and glowed, bigger now. A different colour now. Where before it had been searing white, now it was an organic and soothing green. Branches rose and fell like whales breaching the sea but, like those whales, they were absorbed easily back into it's depths.

He walked to the door out to the time room, his feet crunching over the broken glass. As he stood, he scanned the darkened depths in front of him. Looking, hoping for a sign. He sighed, nothing. They were gone. Both of them.

His heart burst to think of the sacrifice Elli had made. His joy at repairing the timeline - and the lives of a billion souls - outweighed by the pain. He sighed and turned away. How to tell them? Would he tell Mobius and get HIM to tell Loki? Yes, that was a good idea. He really didn't fancy being on the business end of one of Loki's daggers.

He picked up his Tempad, the screen broken by the blast but still functional. He dialled in the co-ordinates and waited for the expected orange glow. Nothing. He frowned, puzzled. He knew how to use one, hell, he'd BUILT the things. He tried again, still nothing.

Sitting on the desk, he sighed. Was this his punishment for effectively killing not only Elli but Sygn too? He put it down and took off his glasses, rubbing his eyes. As he did so, there was a noise to his left and he looked up. With his glasses off, he was literally as blind as a bat. All he knew was someone was there. That someone spoke.....

"I'm glad to see you waited for me..."