Storytime with Rachel F Hundred

Loki sits on a throne.

His hands hold the threads of All Time.

He’s everywhere.

He’s nowhere.

In his hands he has every variation of every tale. 

He’s the beginning, middle and end of every story written.

He is the God of Stories, the Master of Time.

o-O-o

Thanos loses.

That’s the only variation Loki allows to exist.

No timeline is Sacred in Loki’s hands, but there are fixed points, events that must happen, do happen time and again.

Loki breathes that rule into every thread woven.  (Only to break it in places because he is still Loki, God of Mischief and Chaos.  There is a story of Spiderman where the tragedy which teaches the lesson of great power and great responsibility is averted, and that universe doesn’t fall apart.)

So, there is always Ragnarök.

Loki decides it and his role is cemented in every myth that tells of the Fall of Asgard, because Asgard always falls.

In the story that Loki holds closest, the Loki-He-Almost-Was dies trying to save his brother.  It is a worthy sacrifice. 

Sylvie had once theorised that their purpose was losing; that losing was all any Loki was meant to do. 

Variations of Loki live and breathe in a thousand different timelines all spinning away in their own universe.  They know deep down that they have purpose.  It’s just never what they think it is and they oft go astray in pursuit of power and glory which really isn’t their purpose at all. 

Loki sees the truth across the variations.  Each story of Loki is a story of sacrifice in the end.  That is their glorious purpose.  To save others.  To ensure that what follows Ragnarök is rebirth.

At the heart of Yggdrasil, Loki watches as the story he lived continues without him; the same story Mobius showed him so long ago when Loki was first taken to the TVA.

Strange only sees one way the story plays out because Loki continues to shape it that way.

Thor struggles in the wake of killing Thanos too late to stop the snap of the Titan’s fingers, the shockwave rippling across the thread Loki holds.  Because for Thanos to lose, he must win first to ensure the solution to his losing is Time – the power Loki holds, the power he controls.

Loki learns too late that what devastates his brother is what devastates Loki: the terrible aching knowledge of losing everything; losing every loved one; of being the one left so terribly alone.

o-O-o

Loki tries to help Thor find his way.

In Thor’s dream, Loki sits beside his brother in the ruins of the stolen Ark.  The bodies of their people lie around them. 

Loki turns to Thor with the glowing blue Tesseract in hand.  The one he had so long ago (only a moment ago) stolen to escape.  “It’s time, brother.”

“I failed, Loki,” Thor replies, “I failed. What kind of King am I?”

The dreams ends.

But Thor will dream again.

Loki has nothing but Time now. 

He can wait.

o-O-o

Sylvie still has the Tempad she stole from He Who Remains.  She travels up and down the timeline in a random way which speaks to her need for freedom.

Loki knows she loved him.  He loved her. 

Maybe it was narcissistic falling in love with a variant of himself, but Sylvie isn’t him and he could never be her.

Variants are fundamentally different for all they are the same.  They came from different choices; they make different choices.

He knows Sylvie would never have stepped out in front of the Loom, never broken what He Who Remains had built to reshape Time into a vast tree of branches which are allowed to exist, because Sylvie has only ever been interested in killing the person who had stolen her life from her.

One night, Loki finds his way into Sylvie’s dream.

She’s back in Asgard in the palace, picnicking with Frigga in one of the many gardens.  It’s a memory.  Loki watches the scene from a distance.

He misses his mother.

Sylvie wanders over, morphing to her adult self as she joins him on the garden bench.  “Do you ever miss Asgard?”

“Every day,” Loki says.

“Why not save it?” asks Sylvie.  “You could.”

“Ragnarök is written,” Loki responds.  “And Asgard is where our people stand, wherever that may be.”

Odin had been right about that.

Sylvie hums.

“Speaking of which, I need you to do something,” Loki says.

“If you want something done,” Sylvie turns and looks directly at him.  “You should be here.”

“I’m where Time needs me to be,” Loki says.  “My brother, on the other hand…he needs help finding a ship.”

Sylvie raises an eyebrow.  “If I help them, will you come back?”

Loki simply looks at her.

Sylvie sighs.  “Fine.  What do you need me to do?”

He watches when she wakes and sends a coded message to the Racoon.  Thor will find his people, he’ll find Asgard by being with them.  Thor won’t be alone anymore.

Not like Sylvie.

Not like Loki.

Thor will heal.

o-O-o

Thor doesn’t heal.

In Thor’s dream, Loki watches as Asgard burns, as they face their sister together. 

Loki turns to Thor once more with the Tesseract in hand since it is the beginning of his story or the beginning of the end. “It’s time, brother.”

“I failed, Loki,” Thor replies once more, “I failed. What kind of King am I?”

He’s not wrong.  Thor is a terrible King.  He always has been.  Loki always knew he would be.  But that is not all Thor is. 

Thor will dream again and Loki will tell him so.

Loki has nothing but Time now. 

He can wait.

o-O-o

Loki watches as Mobius wanders the Earth, searching for a purpose.

Don continues living on the timeline, raising his sons in a world where their mother was blipped away by Thanos.  He’s an ordinary man who loves his family and is obsessed with the form and function of a Jet ski.  Loki is fond of Don and his even-tempered affectionate raising of his two boys.  He’s the father Odin never was. 

(Don lives out a full life.  His story is one of success and love.  He dies surrounded by his boys and his grandchildren, secure in a home with the yard that needs work no matter what Don says about it.)

Don isn’t who Mobius is anymore.  It’s not who he knows how to be anymore.    

His travels take him to places where his calm helps in the wake of the blip.  In any timeline, Mobius is a steady pair of hands.

Sometimes Loki will nudge him along to somewhere and Mobius is in Norway when the Asgardians arrive.  

Mobius volunteers.  He organises supplies and liaises with the charitable organisations which are supporting the small colony.  He looks on goggle-eyed with other volunteers as those who wield seidr raise up the town and build out the port.  Mobius thinks he sees Sylvie, but people who know her whisper that she’s called Amora.

He sits down in the newly formed tavern and orders pie.

Loki watches as Thor slides into the seat next to Mobius and orders a large drink.

“Bad day?” asks Mobius tentatively as an ominous sound of thunder rumbles overhead.

“I lost my temper,” Thor admits.

Loki’s half-surprised Thor is confiding in Mobius, but Mobius is the type who invites confidences.  It’s what made him such a good analyst.  It’s what made him such a good friend.

“Who argues about a dog?” asks Thor aggravated as he picks up his drink and downs it before ordering another.

“A friend once told me that we all lose it sometimes,” Mobius says sympathetically.

Thor pins Mobius with a speculative look.  “You seem like a gentle fellow, my friend.  What could make you lose it?”

Mobius grimaces.  “Someone called me a Nowhere Man.  I hit him.”

Thor picks up his second drink.  “I would have hit him.  What kind of feeble taunt is that?  My brother once called me a Yellow-Haired Buffoon with more muscles than brain cells.  That was an insult.”  He smiles sadly.  “I miss him.”  He downs another drink.

Mobius might have said something more but Valkyrie slides onto the stool on the other side of Thor.  He finishes his pie and leaves.

Somehow Mobius finds himself on the edge of a nearby cliff, looking out at the stars. 

Loki watches as Sylvie approaches, losing the illusion of Amora with each step she takes. 

“Have you watched enough time pass?” asks Sylvie.

“I think so,” Mobius says.  He looks back towards the town.  “I get why he lost it.”

“Yeah?” asks Sylvie, clearly disinterested in Thor’s issues in a way only a Loki can be, which means she’s entirely too interested really.

Mobius pursed his lips.  “He’s stuck here.”

“You’re not,” Sylvie says.  She opens a familiar orange portal.

Mobius smiles and steps through.

He’s not stuck.

Loki considers that he might be as stuck as his brother, but he can’t afford to lose it.  Instead, he watches himself throwing Tony Stark off a building again.  It makes him feel better.

o-O-o

Thor gets worse, sliding deeper into depression every day.

In Thor’s dream, Loki pretends to die before he turns to Thor, Tesseract in hand; it’s always the Tesseract and never the sceptre. “It’s time, brother.”

“I failed, Loki,” Thor replies once more, “I failed. What kind of King am I?”

The dreams drifts away as Thor seeks a greater sense of comfort.

Loki aches with the inability to help his brother.

But Thor will dream again.

Loki has nothing but Time now. 

He can wait.

o-O-o

Hunter B-15 keeps the TVA on mission.

Kang variants may emerge, but the TVA is there to defeat them.  They won’t let Loki’s sacrifice be for nothing.  Sometimes the Avengers in whatever formation the timeline has created get to Kang first whenever the megalomaniac gets close to Earth.

There’s a close call, too close for Loki’s liking.

Victor Timely’s grandson is Kang reincarnated.  A variant with all of Victor’s brilliance and none of his heart.

B15 leads the team to remove the arrogant turd with prejudice before his Doctoral science experiment can rip a hole through the multiverse.  Her team is already through the portal on the other side of the room when she hears footsteps approaching.  She closes the portal abruptly and looks for a place to hide.

There is nowhere to hide.  Loki garbs her in a security uniform and B15 startles as she sees her clothes abruptly change.  She rallies as the Black Widow enters.

Natasha Romanov looks tired.  Her hair is pulled back into a tight bun and she wears her tactical black suit with its familiar widow bites.  She’s still far from the well-put together Agent of SHIELD who had once tricked the Trickster into giving away his plan.

Not that it had helped her much, Loki muses as he watches carefully.  Still, she’s not to be underestimated.

Romanov stares at B15 with suspicion.  “Who are you?”

“Campus Security,” B15 snaps out.  “What do you want here?”

Romanov is saved from answering by the arrival of Captain America.  The Man Out of Time.  Maybe Loki will fix that in the same way He Who Remains did.  Maybe he won’t.  He’s not sure he’s fond enough of the good Captain to care about his story.

“Anything?” Rogers asks.

“Nothing here,” Romanov says, her eyes still on B15.  “But this is the definitely the lab Stark pinpointed as the source of energy.”

Rogers’ constipated face says everything about the state of his friendship with Tony Stark. 

Romanov grimaces and turns back to B15.  “We were looking for the scientist who worked in this lab – a George Timely?”

“He was just evicted,” B15 says tersely. “And I’m going to have to ask you to leave.”

“Apologies, ma’am,” Rogers says, “but this is a…”

“This is none of your business,” B15 states.  “Let me escort you out.”

There’s a brief moment of tension where the two Avengers stare at the formidable form of B15 before they both cave in the face of her absolute authority.

Loki’s always admired that about Verity.

B15 walks behind the two costumed superheroes as they head back to the entrance. 

“Sorry this was a bust.  Thanks for coming with me,” Romanov says. 

Rogers darts a look at her.  “I know I stepped back from the team full time, but I am still here if you need me.”

“You’re the only one,” Romanov sighs.

“I take it Thor turned you down?” Rogers asks gently.

“Thor is…” Romanov frowns.  “He’s not dealing with everything well.”

“Who is?” asks Rogers lightly. 

“We can’t live in the past,” Romanov points out. 

His face gives away his own pain.  “Some of us…it’s hard for some of us to move on.”

Their words jar B15.  Verity still has a soft heart underneath her armour.  Loki sends comfort through the thread he holds.

They’re finally outside.

The sky is blue and the weather sunny.

Romanov nods an acknowledgement at B15 as they head to the quinjet on the lawn.  It speaks volumes that the college kids are supremely disinterested at the sight of it.  They go about their business without giving any attention to the Avengers as they depart.

B15 heads back inside.  A second later she’s back through the portal and in the safety of the TVA.

Mobius is waiting for her, his grin crooked.  “You got room for an old washed-up analyst?”

B15 is very much Verity when she hugs him and welcomes Mobius back to the TVA. 

Loki wishes he could hug them both, but he can only watch over them and let their story unfold.     

o-O-o

Valkyrie dumps Thor in a horse trough.  Loki smiles at the sight of Thor spluttering and dripping with water.

In Thor’s dream, Loki is the one humiliated, lying in the crater where the Hulk had put him.  It’s the scene of his defeat and the sight of it stings anew.  Still, Loki can set aside old hurts to help his brother.

“It’s time, brother.”

“I failed, Loki,” Thor’s reply never changes, “I failed. What kind of King am I?”

Thor disappears, waking to a reality where winning was as much a defeat as losing.

Loki stays for a moment in the dream without him. 

Loki has nothing but Time now. 

He can wait.

o-O-o

A part of Loki always tracks Sylvie, even now she’s settled in New Asgard, finding a place among their people in her Amora guise.

She’s made friends with Valkyrie.  She loves the Pegasus.  She’s settling in a way Loki thinks Sylvie has never thought possible.  He’s slightly envious of her.

If he had chosen differently, could he have returned to his brother and New Asgard?  Would it have been him walking with the Pegasus on the clifftops with Valkyrie?

Maybe not.

There’s a figure flying towards them and Loki watches as Captain Marvel hovers in the air above the two women before dropping down to land lightly on the grass.

“Captain!” Valkyrie smiles broadly.  “It’s good to see you! What brings you to Earth?  Did you come to visit Thor?”

“Is he up for visitors?” asks Danvers bluntly.  “Romanov said he wasn’t interested in re-joining the team.”

“He’s not interested in much these days,” Valkyrie sighs.  “He’s been sulking since I dunked him in water and that was months ago.  Anyway,” she shakes her head, “if you didn’t come to visit with Thor…”

“Personal business,” Danvers darts a questioning glance towards Sylvie.

“I’m Amora,” Sylvie introduces herself.

“She leads our seidr coven,” Valkyrie explains.  “She helped me find a way to bring this beauty into the world.”  She pats the winged horse.

“Magic,” murmurs Danvers.  Her intent gaze pins Sylvie.  “Would it be able to cure cancer?”

Sylvie shakes her head.  “Perhaps momentarily we can drive it back, but it will always return.  We cannot change the mind of the God of Time when he decides to cut a thread.”

Loki smiles at the mention of him.

In contrast, Danvers’ jaw tightens and she nods tersely.

Valkyrie looks at Danvers with a sharp gaze.  She turns back to Sylvie.  “Could you excuse us, Amora?  It’s been a while since I last saw my friend.”

Sylvie nods.  “Would you like me to take Wings back to the stable?”

“You called your Pegasus Wings?” asks Danvers, looking startled into amusement.

“No, I did not,” Valkyrie retorts, “and you cannot say anything about names when your cat is called Goose.”  She turns to Sylvie.  “I’ll continue walking her.”

Sylvie simply steps away, leaving the two other women alone with the Pegasus.  She wanders back along the cliff to where she’d helped Mobius enter the portal back to the TVA.

Loki knows that wherever Sylvie will wander, it will never be to the TVA as a final destination.  Even under new management, Sylvie will always blame the TVA for the horror of her life.

Thor staggers across her path, his bloated belly and face red with the effort of walking.  “Did you hear something?  I thought I heard something.”

Sylvie points along the cliff to where Valkyrie and Danvers are talking, petting the Pegasus.

“Ah,” Thor says.  He grimaces and pulls at his dirty stained shirt. “I was never here.”

He turns to leave.

Sylvie watches him go.  “He’s a terrible King,” she says out loud.  “It’s pathetic.  I hope you’re going to do something about that.” 

Loki smiles and the whisper of it reaches Sylvie who smiles sadly back.

She heads back towards town.  She has a life to get back to living.

o-O-o

Thor dreams of the BiFrost, of Heimdell who now dwells in Valhalla.

Loki stands beside him, nostalgia for what was once their home, his home, feeling him with fondness even as he turns to him.  “It’s time, brother.”

“I failed, Loki,” Thor’s answer is weary, “I failed. What kind of King am I?”

Thor is no longer the young brash warrior of their youth.  He walks away, disappearing into the distance where Asgard should be but where there is only the fog of nothingness.

Loki watches him go. 

It’s almost Time.

Loki can wait.

o-O-o

Ouroboros talks to Loki a lot of the time, rambling stories and anecdotes of what he’s been up to that day. 

Loki appreciates the chatter.

It’s company as he holds reality together and tuts over the way the branches get tangled together occasionally.

He has a job for Ouroboros.

A nudge of his magic sets the frozen rat and message down on the counter of the repair room when Ouroboros’ back is turned away, his attention on fixing a broken TemPad.

“Hello?” Ouroboros turns back sharply.  His eyes widen behind his glasses at the sight of the rat and the card.  But he reaches out and reads the message.

Casey enters carrying two takeout boxes of lunch from the Automat.  He immediately notices Ouroboros’ disquiet.   “O.B?”

“It’s a message from Loki,” Ouroboros confirms breathily.

“Our Loki?” Casey places the lunch down and reaches for his communication device.  “We should call Mobius.”

It doesn’t take long for Mobius to arrive, B15 on his heels. 

They all read the card.

“What’s so important about this rat?” asks Casey, poking at its frozen body.

“This rat will help the Avengers defeat Thanos,” Mobius says.

“Didn’t the rat already defeat Thanos?” Casey is visibly confused.

Ouroboros snaps his fingers excitedly.  “It’s a temporal loop!”

“A what?” asks B15 sharply.

“A loop,” explains Ouroboros enthusiastically.  “An event in the future which impacts the past in order to ensure the future exists.”  He beams.  “It’s very clever.”  He points at the rat.  “Loki already knows that a rat must be at a certain point in time to retrieve Scott Lang from the adjacent quantum realm in the timeline and show that time operates differently there.  This event will lead the Avengers and Thanos to travel in time as they are meant to do.”

“As the old TVA we pruned the branches they created,” B15 says in disgust.

“The question has always been how did the rat get into the right place to make it happen?” Ouroboros points at it.  “Now we know.”

“We do?” asks Casey bemused.

“Yes, we do,” Mobius agrees.  “We travel to the right point in time and put the rat in place.”

“Exactly,” Ouroboros beams at Mobius.  “Loki knows the story is already written.  We will decide to do this mission because we already did it before.”

B15 sighs.  “Let’s…just get it done.”

Loki watches as Mobius and B15 head out.

“Let’s eat in the old control room,” Ouroboros suggests.  “I’d like to look at the view.”

Casey shrugs.  “So, is Tony Stark’s time travel invention really just a different version of a TemPad?”

“Excellent question…”

Loki tunes out Ouroboros’ reply. 

He has an endgame to watch over.

o-O-o

Thor is no longer King.

But he still dreams.

Loki stands with Thor outside the hall where his brother will be lauded as a future King of Asgard.  The Asgardians are already loud with cheer.

Loki turns to him.  “It’s…”

“Time,” Thor takes the image of the Tesseract from him and Loki dismisses it with a single thought.  “Are you alive?”

It’s a question Loki knows he cannot answer, not in the way that Thor wants so desperately. 

They are both so alone.

Instead, Loki weaves words that leave Thor with no clarity, but with some hope.  It seems it’s enough for Thor.

“Loki…” Thor says, roughly.  “I love you, brother.”

“You always were a sentimental fool,” Loki replies, even as he revels in his brother’s love. 

Thor laughs.  He gestures to the hall. “A sentimental fool,” he nods. “you always knew, did you not, that I should not be a King.” He laughs again.  “Got your wish; I am not King.”

Loki reaches out for his brother, his magic turns his touch real and solid despite the dreamscape.

“No,” Loki agrees because he won’t lie to his brother on this; has never lied to his brother about his fitness to be King, “but you are a good man.” His green eyes meet Thor’s.  “That is who you truly are, Thor Odinson.”

Thor’s eyes shine.  He sniffs and shakes his head.  “And you?  What are you, brother?”

“Not a good man,” Loki says, but he holds his brother’s gaze.  “But I found my purpose nonetheless to save those I love.”

It eases the burden of holding the threads, allowing the stories to be written – and he knows his brother’s story is not yet over.

“What will become of me?” Thor asks. 

“You’ll find Love,” Loki says.  “You will not be alone.”

“And you, brother?” asks Thor with that clear-eyed perception he sometimes had which always surprised Loki.  “Will you be alone?”

“Perhaps,” Loki allows. “Perhaps not.  There is always hope that something may be destroyed and replaced by something better.”  He smiles sadly at Thor.  “Goodbye, brother.”

“Farewell, Loki,” Thor replies. 

They grasp arms tightly in the way of Asgard.

And then they let go.

Loki will not join his brother in dreams again.

o-O-o

Since his return to the TVA, Mobius sometimes stands at the window in the old control room and looks out at the vast emptiness where the temporal loom used to be.  He dreams sometimes that beyond the dark horizon, there is a glowing green tree with sturdy branches held by his friend.

There is the sound of a portal behind him.

Mobius doesn’t react.

He knows who it is.

Sylvie draws level with him and stares out into the darkness.

They are silent for a beat.

“The yard could do with some work,” Sylvie comments dryly.

“Best on the block,” Mobius says back.

Sylvie smiles but sobers swiftly.  “Thanos has been defeated.  Those who were blipped away are back.”  She shakes her head and suddenly turns to face him.  “Why did you allow it play out the same way?”

“The story was already written according to Loki,” Mobius says evenly.  “O.B. agreed.  If we hadn’t set events in motion with the rat…”

“The Avengers don’t travel to the past and Loki doesn’t make his escape,” Sylvie says, folding her arms over her chest.  “He doesn’t get recruited to help the TVA bring me down and the whole timeline collapses in on itself because he isn’t here to give us a chance when the Loom resets the Sacred Timeline and destroys the TVA because I killed He Who Remains.”

Mobius doesn’t say anything, because she’s right.  Without things playing out the way they had, they’d have ended up back under He Who Remains.

“Do you think He Who Remains originally planned things that way to enable Loki’s escape so he had a way to deal with me?” asks Sylvie.

“You tell me,” Mobius says.  “I never met the guy.”  He looks at her.  “For what it’s worth, I don’t think he anticipated Loki sacrificing himself.”    

Sylvie huffs a breath and turns back to the expanse of darkness.  “I think I could have loved him.  Well, as much as any Loki could love another…even another Loki.”

Mobius thinks she did love him, but he knows Loki well enough to know she’ll never admit it.

“I should get back,” Sylvie says.  “There’s a lot to do.”

Mobius nods.

Sylvie activates her TemPad and the portal opens up behind them.  “You know he gave you a chance to live your life.”

“This is my life,” Mobius says simply.  She’s right; Loki has given them a chance, and the TVA will help him keep the promise of that.  It’s a good purpose.

Sylvie steps through and disappears.  He wonders if he’ll ever see her again.

B15 steps into the room barely a moment after Sylvie departs.  “You know that Kang variant 616 took care of?”  She hands him a file.  “It looks like he had a fail-safe plan.”

“Where have we heard that before?” Mobius takes the file and falls into step with her.  He pauses in the doorway and glances back at the window.  “See you later, Loki,” he says softly, “I’ll bring pie.”

o-O-o

Loki smiles as the whisper reaches him.

He’s alone, yes.  But he’s not without the comfort of being loved nor the comfort of knowing his loved ones continue to live free of Kang’s tyranny.

It’s Loki’s glorious purpose.

His burden to bear.

And yet, there’s a branch growing. 

One with a new chance for him.

One with the hope of something different and better to take the place of a God holding onto the branches of all timelines, creating a wondrous multiverse.

Still, Loki has nothing but Time now.

He can wait.

The End.  Or the Beginning.  Maybe the Middle.

fin.