Beyond the Apocalypse

#1 Welcome to the TVA

All the Hargreeves siblings, along with Lila, stood in a circle, waiting for the inevitable end. The slime, which had formed as an apocalyptic fusion of Ben and Jennifer, was approaching them like lava. It was already at their feet, starting to wrap around them relentlessly.

"Uh... Five?" Luther asked uncertainly.

"Don't fight it. Let it take you. Just let it go."

"Whoo! It stings," Klaus remarked as the slime touched him too.

"Yeah. I know. Right, buddy?" Luther patted his brother on the shoulder. "Hold on, okay? It's almost over," he reassured him.

Lila looked at Five. A tear rolled down her face. She wanted to tell him so much, but it wasn't the right time or place anymore. Just as she didn't want to hurt Diego, she didn't want to hurt him either. She wished so much that they could go back to their greenhouse with strawberries for just a moment and forget all of this.

She reached out her hand to him, and after a moment, Five took it. He ran his thumb over her fingers, and that small gesture calmed Lila, if only a little. Even though all of this felt like a bad dream, she was at least grateful to be by his side. If only things could have turned out differently...

And then, the slime stopped, as if frozen. Just a few meters away, yellow glowing doors appeared, and from them emerged a blonde woman, a machete at her belt, a crown with horns on her head—one of which was broken—and a strange bracelet on her arm, which she evidently used to control the doors.

"That's enough, it's time to go!"

Everyone stared at her in confusion. "And who the hell are you?" Five asked.

"There'll be time for questions later! Come with me now if you want to fix this chaos without a mass sacrifice!" She waved her hand, and the slime around their feet released them. "Now!"

None of them knew what was happening, but in the end, they all followed the woman who had appeared in their final moment.

--

"Welcome to the TVA," the unknown woman said as they found themselves in a large room with no windows. "Let's say it's as crazy an organization as the Commission in your world."

"What's this all about?" Five inquired.

"You're exactly who I was looking for," the woman approached him. "The founder of the Commission."

"I didn't found the Commission, it was one of my—"

"Yeah, Variants. I get it. Either way, I don't care which of you is involved. You'll have the knowledge."
"But knowledge about what?"

"About timelines, branching time, the multiverse!"

"The multiverse?"

"Yes. In your world, you wanted to sacrifice yourselves to erase all timelines and Variants. In mine, someone close to me had to sacrifice themselves to prevent this from happening. Pretty strange, don't you think?"

Five was clearly intrigued, and the woman continued.

"I'm Sylvie," she introduced herself. "Your universe wasn't ready for magic and powers, and it resisted by causing apocalypses. But in mine, it's pretty common. I fought to stop the TVA from destroying undesirable timelines, so everyone could live their story. And over time, I realized that there are much more distant universes that work completely differently. Where there are many Variants that don't exist in other worlds, and similar things happen there."

"We just didn't want to be the cause of endless apocalypses," Five said. "There was no other way but to stop being the cause of it all!"

"But there are other ways. And if you help me, I'll help you. You'll be able to start over without fear of this happening again, and at the same time, save your universe from eternal destruction."

"But help with what exactly?"

"I need to figure out how the branching of time worked in your universe. Your whole system of time travel, the subway, and the Commission. If I find the answer to how it could work here, I'll save someone I owe it to."

--

Lila wasn't sure how long they had been in the TVA. But she found out that Five wasn't the only one Sylvie had brought to help her. She had found others from different universes, as she called them, who had experience with time travel. She created a group of people who had been working for the past few days to solve everything.

Each family member was given a temporary room until they could move elsewhere. Although no one really knew where, or how it would all work out. Still, the idea of a fresh start appealed to everyone more than disappearing from existence.

And since Lila hated sitting idly by, she eventually offered Sylvie her help because she wanted to learn more about all this.

"Will you tell me more about who you're doing all this for?" Lila asked.

"You're incredibly curious! You should focus on your own matters," Sylvie remarked.

"I am curious, but you're the one who knows everything about everyone!"

"Well, I have my methods. And it's sometimes useful to know who you're working with. Actually, it's always useful."

"No doubt. But you're a big mystery to everyone."

Sylvie was silent for a moment, searching for another suitable timeline to visit. "Fine... his name is Loki."

"And you two are...?"

"Let's say it's complicated!"

"Like me, Five, and Diego?"

"Maybe even more so. Loki and I... we're Variants. Of each other."

"Wow!"

"Thanks to him, the multiverse works, timelines aren't dying, and worlds aren't collapsing. But because of that, he's trapped as the source of it all."

"And he did that for you?"

"What makes you think that?"

"You said you owe him..."

"Yeah... you could put it that way, but there were more reasons..."

"But you were the main one?"

"Are you guessing?"

"Maybe, it sounds like a pretty interesting story."

"Kind of like how Five is helping with all this because of you."

"He's doing it for his family."

"And mostly for you."

"Are you guessing too?"

"No, he told me."

"What?"

"You've been here quite a while, even though time works differently here, which I probably don't need to explain to you. So I've had several chances to talk to him."

"And what did he say?"

Sylvie shrugged, "Lots of things..."

"Such as?"

"You should ask him yourself."

Lila sighed. Ever since they had escaped all that chaos, Lila had been avoiding conversations with both Five and Diego.

"If you get the chance to start over, you should think about what that beginning will look like and with whom it'll be..."

"And when you finish what you have planned and Loki is back, do you know what your new beginning will be?"

"Maybe... for starters, I'll settle a few things with him that were left unsaid... I recommend you do the same... because you have all the people you need to talk to much closer than I do..."

Lila knew she was right. She had to finally face it.