InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "sea-monkeys stole my money"

Directly after their trip to the TVA, Loki and Sylvie were left standing in the observatory of the Bifrost tower, hand in hand. A plan had occurred to him and he paused, considering, before looking over at her.

"We should make sure He remains dead. As many times as it takes," Loki suggested, since Sylvie had that godlike time device. It may save this universe from being toyed with, and others, if he was removed. Certainly, what's done was done, and the multiverse had already been freed by Sylvie. There were other versions of that madman already out there, wreaking havoc. But if he returned, if he was reincarnated, this universe could be tinkered with at his whim, and they would fall back into submission or a set path. Which might cause them all to be pruned again, anyway.

The bad part of Loki's plan was by saying 'we' he actually meant 'me.' He was selectively leaving that out.

He knew that Sylvie had the tempad-timetwister device. It didn't mean that He Who Remains wouldn't show up with a device of his own. He would need to travel through his own loop of time to bring him back to the moment after his death. If Loki could get his hands on Sylvie's, then he could travel back through to the Citadel, where he would kill him. As many times as it took, and then Sylvie and everyone else live a slightly more peaceful life. Only slightly more perhaps, since there would always be problems arising. They might not be as big as waking up and finding their surroundings were different.

"We should fetch your device," Loki said, trying to convince her to trust him, even if he was going to break that trust for a good cause. If he could magically get it out of her hand, he could teleport elsewhere and use it. Now, to convince her. "If we travel back to the citadel, if we kill him a few times? He may grow tired of the game and leave us alone."

Sylvie stood there looking at Loki, with the same thought in her head: Murder. It would be a way to help keep the peace again. For a little bit. Maybe. She hoped.

It was hard to tell and she really did not know how it would work. Perhaps they'd get somewhere this time. It meant going back to the citadel. It meant doing this all over again. But she could do it. She knew she could. But how did she keep Loki away from it?

She wasn't sure as she inclined her head to him in agreement. "We'll need to go where I hid it. I haven't perfected the pocket space, so it's here. We might be able to do something, I hope. It might be worth it. Buy us time?"

"Sure," Loki said, entirely set on a double-cross if it would spare her the burden again. She deserved a reprieve after all she had been through. He nodded to her, eyes bright with the prospects, a smile on his lips. "It could buy us all some time. Lead on."

It would break her trust in him, but perhaps she would understand his reasoning. As he did when she put him through that timedoor. It wasn't only out of a need for a ruse and revenge, since that first kiss had been very convincing. She took it upon herself to do so, and keeping him far away kept him safe. The same thing he was thinking right now.

Sylvie smiled softly as she led him back to her room. She paused after stepping inside, trying to figure out how best to not let him lay his hand on the device. She was going to go, no reason for him to bear the same burden as she did. What was one more layer? She didn't think it was too much.

She moved towards where she'd stashed it, hidden behind multiple objects and weak spells she'd looked up since being around, enough to make it harder to find for servants to accidentally touch it. She looked back over her shoulder as she slapped it onto her hand, binding it on, and ran.

Loki lost a couple seconds gawking before bolting after. The benefit of having long legs meant he easily caught up enough to reach out and catch her by the back of her collar. She wasn't getting away this time, not if he could help it, and she really wasn't getting away with that device.

"Sylvie, stop!"

She'd set the device as she ran, and hit it to open the timedoor to the Citadel as his fingers caught the back of her collar. She cradled the device to her chest as he pulled at her.

"No! I won't let you bear that burden! It would break my heart to know you suffered like that!" She struggled, trying to free herself and dive through the timedoor.

Loki held fast, trying to turn them so he could throw himself through it before it closed if he was able to. She clearly had the same idea he did and they were staggering in what looked like a demented dance as they vied to be the first through the portal.

"It breaks my heart to make you suffer more," he snapped back. "Not this time, not you!" It stung a bit that they were right to only trust one another only so far...but not entirely.

It hurt her to know they only trusted the other so far, too. But she knew trust was one of those things they still had to work on.

"I can handle this! I don't need you hurting," she snapped back as she spun and made a break for it. He was still attached so they both tumbled through, crashing together in a pile onto the floor of the Citadel.

They landed in a painful jumble at first before they separated, and Loki went skidding across the stone floor where he landed facedown with a groan. One clenched fist bounced off the floor with frustration as he rose up, flicking his hair back out of his face.

"Brilliant," he deadpanned. "Great job. You couldn't let me do this and know I would return to you?"

She rolled to a stop against a bookcase, groaning as she knocked a book off onto her head. She pulled herself up, wobbling for a moment.

"Loki, I can't let you hurt as much as I do." She was crying as she looked up at him. "Please. I can't bear the thought."

He lobbed a wounded look back at Sylvie, fully realizing how emotionally raw being in the TVA had left her. Slowly he got up onto his feet, drawing closer, the toe of a boot bumping the fallen book as he reached out to put his hands on her shoulders.

"I can't let you do this again. Didn't you hear Mobius? What you did was right. You're bearing this all on your own without letting it out. If only you'd let me...." He looked down, doing a double-take at the book.

"...let me...take a look at this," he murmured as if distracted. His hands fell away and he bent to pick up the open book and read the pages, his brows knit together.

Sylvie flinched at the hurt in his eyes, feeling torn and shredded inside. She watched him as he put his hands on her shoulders, eyes were wet with tears and pain etched on her face.

"I am. What was I supposed to do? Say something and make you feel bad? Or what? I did what I had to. I will do this again. We deserve peace!"

She looked down at the book, then looked up to see where they were and what the situation was.

The Citadel was dimly lit now, corners and edges of the room cast in shadows. Straining to see, Loki turned one page and then another, quickly skim reading the writing within.

"This is," he said softly, "these are notes about...."

"Those are notes about my diversions," another voice said from across the room.

He Who Remains was sitting behind the righted desk, chin in his hands, watching them both. The circular window behind him cast the majority of the light into the room, illuminated by infinite white threads of universes being born and splintering off. As their eyes adjusted, it was easy to see a wide smile on his face and the circular tempad device on his hand. Recreated after he reincarnated, no doubt. And no doubt loaded up with all sorts of precautionary maneuvers.

Hearing that voice, Loki cautiously looked over at Sylvie. He didn't turn around completely, only enough to peek at the man was now running more than one show.

"It gets boring here," He Who Remains cheerfully told them, sitting back and patting both hands down on the arms of the chair. "Sometimes I make self-contained universes to answer some 'what if's. Then I destroy them. Yours though? Wow! Everything I throw in there, and it still keeps going."

Sylvie looked up at Loki and then over at He Who Remains, her eyes bright with anger. Fingers curled into her palms, then she bent down slowly to try and pull a dagger from her boot. She didn't have her sword, though.

She swallowed hard, looking at the man behind the desk.

"What is wrong with you?" She furrowed her brows as she looked over at Loki again.

Loki eyed her trying to grab the hidden dagger and very faintly cleared his throat to stop her. He drew Laeveteinn out of his pocket space, shielding it with his body so only she could see. He gave her a barely perceptible nod, to let her know she should take it. The book was still in his other hand, and that he had the sense to tuck away with a sleight of hand, replacing it with the illusion of a book which he placed back on that shelf. He hoped when she reached for the sword, the motion of his other hand might distract their foe.

"Like I said, I got bored," He Who Remains answered Sylvie, scooting the chair away to kick back and putting his feet up on the desk. "You two are smart. It's scientific method. Trial and error. Same thing I used when I first set up the TVA, not that any of them remember it. It's not all bad? For the other universes, it is. They didn't last long. Endings were instantaneous. This one, your universe? It went past being an experiment and became...entertainment."

Sylvie carefully took Laeveteinn as she hid it, using Loki's body as a partial shield. She moved with care, trying to keep the blade hidden while she got closer. She was not in a good place mentally.

"What happens if I kill you again?" she asked as she walked closer. She was livid. Her life was still under the control of this fucker. She hated him. Hated everything his boredom caused. She looked over at Loki. A glance said how ready she was to act, but this time she wouldn't push him away.

Loki met her gaze as he turned to follow, keeping his hands empty on purpose. If he needed to call his daggers to him, he could easily do so. For right now, it was best to keep up the ruse. The desk looked as though it had never been moved, as did the two chairs which were back in place with a small table in between. The overall vibe was like they were expected guests.

"I return. Again, and again, and again," was the answer and He Who Remains smiled at her, unperturbed. "Only now, there's more of me out there. Going back and forth through time. Knowing everything that happens, and the one that makes it here? He...or I, as it stands...gets to read up on everything and wait for one of you, or both of you, to come stop me. Sometimes that doesn't work."

He who Remains twitched his head toward one side of the room, into the shadows, where a limp Sylvie was slumped against a bookshelf. A large jagged shard of black and gold stone went through her chest. It looked like the stone had been ripped out of the very rock the citadel was built on, but the entire room was still intact.

"Time's a funny thing." He held up his hand, showing Sylvie and Loki the device. "The multiverse opening up made more variants. This one interrupted me while I was getting up to speed. So a little twist of this? And I brought that back from when I was creating the citadel. Want some coffee?"

Loki stared over at that scene and paled, footsteps faltering. Words failed him.

Sylvie took in everything he said, her anger growing with each moment. Her eyes narrowing as he kept talking. Her head shook.

"I made such a mistake, didn't I?" she said softly to Loki. Her head snapped up to see herself, or a variant of herself, impaled. She paled too, all of the color draining from her face. Her eyes were wide as she looked at the broken body. That could be her.

She moved closer to Loki, trying to get her bearings. She nodded to the chairs, asking silently if they should sit. Even seeing that she still wanted to kill him and every reincarnation of him.

Seeing this firsthand, Loki knew the plan to kill him was no longer viable. He drew in a breath as he moved to sit down, looking at Sylvie in warning like that could be them if they weren't careful. It was more a time for diplomacy, since brute force would not avail Sylvie a second time.

He Who Remains watched them both, getting up to pour coffee into the same little cups as he had before.

"For you, Loki, and...this one's for Sylvie," He Who Remains daid, setting each cup on the table between them. "You've definitely earned your own name now. There. Let's chat!" He moved back around the desk, even turning his back to Sylvie like he was unafraid.

Knowing that was bait, Loki give her a look of warning and a firm shake of his head. They shouldn't take a chance. The entire citadel might be full of traps for all they knew.

Sylvie carefully sat down, resting on the edge of her seat, wary. She kept the sword at her side, in reach but out of sight. Blue eyes were glittering with anger, but with a hint of terror in them. She didn't want to end up broken like that.

"Uh. Thank you," for calling her Sylvie. Her fingers touched the cup lightly. She was cautious though, as she didn't pick up the cup. The urge to jump up and stab him was there, but Loki's look stayed her this time. She would not betray him again. But she was breathing heavy, trying to calm herself down. "Chat. Yes."

"Great!" He Who Remains sat down and folded his arms on the desk, looking at them back and forth. "I didn't poison the coffee. I'm not that low, and you two have to get back to your universe soon. I hope you're enjoying it. Hero's journey means a reward at the end, doesn't it?"

"It's not exactly a reward if you're using us as test subjects," Loki pointed out, blue eyes as hard as ice as he stared back at the genial madman.

"C'mooooon! I knew you'd like it," replied He Who Remains. "I picked Asgardia up from another timeline and put it in there. Just like I did the new Avengers Tower. It's bigger, better! Capable of fighting bigger and better opponents!"

"For your entertainment," a very unamused Loki pointed out. "Born out of your boredom and curiosity. Despite the variants you've inserted into it, our universe contains living beings. Men, women, and children. They're not playthings for an idle mind."

"I know. But sometimes bad things happen to people for no good reason. Am I right?" Their host looked at Sylvie. "You know that. You lived it. Apocalypse to apocalypse. Aren't you tired of it? Your job's done now. You can rest."

Sylvie's eyes were as hard as Loki's, her lips set in a firm line, hard and angry. Her fingers clenched in her lap.

"Being test subjects isn't much better," she said coldly. "I don't want people to be toyed with like I was. I'm tired of that too. Lives don't need to be tinkered with so carelessly!" Her voice cracked, flinching in anger as he reminded her of where she'd come from. "I hate you."

"Everyone hates the guy at the top," He Who Remains replied with a shrug. It was like he was used to hearing that. "Only now there's more of me out there to hate. You broke the sacred timeline. All those lives you took to get those reset charges? Everyone that's going to be lost in a senseless Multiverse war? It's on you too, Sylvie! You're still a murderer and a hypocrite!"

"No, this is on you," Loki said, sitting up more, shoulders squared with tension. "This is what you've done. You were leading us up a path to that moment, and likely to this moment as well. You're the killer here. Not her."

He Who Remains puffed out an exhale, waving one hand dismissively. "You can't stop it now. See the timelines outside? They're innumerable. That was a choice. And I have a choice to contain it or let it ride. I'm going to sit back for now, and let it ride. Because I'm old, I'm tired, and I've got reincarnation on my side. No pruning. No rails. Entertainment only. And you?" He pointed at Sylvie with a smile. "Everyone gets to thank you for this."

Sylvie flinched away as he pointed at her and started to rise from her seat.

"I'm not a hypocrite!" she yelled. She didn't move, fingers curled in the armrests hard enough to gouge wood out of them. Her brows furrowed sharply. "This isn't all my fault!"

She growled as she forced herself to sit back down, breathing heavily, trying to focus.

"It's not. It's not your fault," Loki tried to reassure her, looking from her to He Who Remains, his voice as hard as his glare was. "Enough. This is what you led her to do. You offered an impossible choice. You wanted that, knowing she would never choose to lead what destroyed her life."

"Sure, sure. But I knew what you wanted, too," replied He Who Remains, picking up his little cup of coffee and sipping it dainty-like. "Ambitious, self-absorbed, needy, craving everyone's praise. Trying to be bigger than what you were actually meant to be. Of course, you'd want to run the TVA! And absolute power would've corrupted you absolutely. You would've turned into me, but flaunting it a lot more. Thing is? It was easy to get you fighting. All I had to do was pose some simple questions. Avert a war or start one? Free will or a reigned in peace? Can you trust him? The rest of those blanks...you filled them in, yourselves."

Sylvie pulled in on herself, feeling miserable hearing all this again. Her fingers digging into armrests, trying to resist the urge to kill him again. Slowly this time.

"Jokes on you, I trust him," she said, looking first at He Who Remains and then at Loki. The trust might not be perfect, but it was there. She did trust him.

Loki was looking back at her, his expression hopeful. He hoped that he wasn't quite the same as he had been before. He didn't want to think that he might turn into what He Who Remains became. That things weren't ever really as simple as they were made out to be. And even if he had won out and protected the sacred timeline, it all could have been handled a lot less cruelly than it was before.

He Who Remains seemed amused. He put his cup down while looking between them, smiling as giddy as could be.

"You've got to be one of the weirder pairs out there," he told them both. "I was always rooting for you two. And you found each other again." He clapped slowly and stopped abruptly with one last loud clap of his hands. He leaned forward, growing more serious. "You need to go back to your universe now. Wait for whatever happens next. Somewhere, out there, I can lift all sorts of stuff, and BOOM." He made a motion with one hand, like he was dropping a toy onto the desk. "Plop it in there with you. I was nice this time! Remember, I gave you all an upgrade. Next time, if you show up and try to kill me again? I might start pulling rugs out from under some feet."

He pointed between Sylvie and Loki, like following the ball at a tennis match. Back and forth. Over and over again.

"Rugs, like maybe some people that are supposed to be dead," he told the pair, "they go back to being dead. Maybe someone that forgot you in another timeline, forgets everything a second time. Or I drop hints to reveal some dirty little secrets, just to see what happens. Thanos could show up again. Could have a bigger army and a deadlier weapon, maybe a helicopter. He's not dead in there, where you are. Could happen! Or a space giant starts eating planets. I got notes about that guy. The possibilities are endless."

She did trust him more and she was pained at hearing everything that could happen. She hoped Loki understood she trusted him. Her lips pulled into a frown, then she suddenly looked up.

"No," she said softly. She didn't want to lose him and he had told her that his older self died before. She couldn't lose Loki if He Who Remained pulled him away from her. The idea nearly broke her right then and there. She felt utterly shattered as she looked at Loki, trying to figure out what they needed to do. Go. Go seemed like the best option. She swallowed hard, fingers trembling.

Loki was looking at her like he had no intention of being torn away from her again, either. This plan to kill him was a mistake, pure and simple. He was still pale and swore he could almost feel that Sylvie who was pinned nearby like a broken butterfly in the shadows. This made him wonder if it was the original her, a different offshoot from the Multiverse splitting entirely, or some earlier or later version of the Sylvie sitting beside him now.

There was no way of telling and he also didn't want to find out.

"I think," Loki said slowly, cautiously watching at the man behind the desk, "we will take your generous offer to depart."

"Good choice," He Who Remains replied. "You can keep that time device anytime you need to come back and see me, Sylvie. Maybe you won't end up like that other Sylvie. Maybe you will. I don't know. You're persistent." He laughed while looking at her. "I loaded a lot into my device! I barely even have to lift a finger now. But I also keep having to dump bodies off this rock, and we've got better things to do. Don't we?"

He Who Remains began to shoo them off. It was exaggerated, as if trying to bat away at flies as he spoke, "Run back to Asgardia now. Enjoy the peace and quiet while you got it."

Sylvie nodded, getting to her feet to open the door back to Asgardia, making sure she got everything right before she looked down at He Who Remains.

"You're crueler than I originally thought. Loki, let's go. Please." She hated this. Hated that he'd made note of her being persistent. She didn't want to end up like that broken self in the corner. Was it an earlier her? A later her? The image kept haunting her as she held her hand out to Loki, his blade tucked against her hip.

Loki stood up with her, casting a scathing look at He Who Remains, who knowingly grinned back at them. He reached out for Sylvie's hand, holding it tight as they went through the door to go home together.

Or, at least, the only home they were given. For as long as it lasted.