InsaneJournal

Who: Derek and Loki
Where: Portal room
When: 25th November
What: A canon update
Rating/Warnings: Loki season 2 spoilers
Status: Finished in gdoc!!


Time was a strange thing. It was something you took for granted. It ticked on and on in its monotone and unrelenting pace. A looming war… a break up… or the betrayal of the sorts that left your world turned upside down… time ticked on. The night trickled in and whether or not you managed to sleep, eventually the sun would rise and duties awaited.

Duty was the only thing left now for him. Even without time to accompany it. Lives passed by, new branches were born out of diverging decisions. Free will in its most beautiful and most horrendous form. Everything happened in the distance now. Loki was the central part to everything and yet, he had no part in it at all. Curiosity was left. To watch life evolve around him. It was funny how your sense of the world changed when you took yourself out of the equation. Contentment was left. He was at peace with his decision. It had been the only option left. His freedom and chance of happiness traded off so that everyone else could keep theirs. A small price in the grand scheme of the cosmos. And then there was loneliness. What would from now on remain his only companion. It was a cruel stabbing wound. The fear of ending up alone had accompanied him throughout his life. He had blamed any feelings of isolation and alienation on anyone but himself until Mobius and Sylvie had forced him to take a long hard look into the mirror. It had been painful to see how selfish he had often been. How he had used his pain to justify passing it on to others.

Suddenly, there was a red flash. He could feel movement in his body where it hadn’t for quite a while - or so he thought. The flow of time set back in. He could feel it trickle and weave around him, pushing him forwards and forwards. He was back in a timeline. Hands and feet connected to a cold ground. He blinked against the light. His eyes so used to the darkness and the green of his magic that the room around him seemed alien.

“No, no, no,” he whispered. Or did he merely think that? His words had held no meaning in a while now. He lifted his horned head. The room looked oddly familiar but he couldn’t put his finger on it. A memory swept under an old rug. His gaze darted around. Eyes wide open in an attempt to find out what happened. Had he accidentally pulled himself into one of the timelines? Was that even possible? But mostly he was looking for a sign that this timeline was about to vanish. Long strings of reality pulled into the cosmos, the worlds and lives they represented soon forgotten.

A single blip shouldn't have been cause for concern. It barely caused the portal alarm to chirp, but just that small sound was enough to catch Derek's attention. He'd given quite a few of his security team a much needed break for Thanksgiving, which meant he was working with a skeleton crew. It also meant he was taking a shift solo while his backup guarded the lab a couple of floors up. Sure, it wasn't ideal, but running his team ragged wasn't an option. Not that Derek was thinking about his staffing issues at the moment.

The camera picked up on something on the floor that hadn't been there before. It seemed to pulse with light that didn't come from the overhead hangar lights. Derek frowned at it, and was already half-way out of his seat when the portal opened up in earnest.

And out popped the one face he never expected to see. Because that face was supposed to be in space. With Courtney.

Derek tore out of monitoring room in a blur of speed and practically exploded into the hangar before the portal had fully faded. "Loki!?"

Noise cut through his confused mind and then a voice followed speaking his name. For a moment, he stared at the man in front of him. There was another memory there. Buried under the past centuries. A member of the TVA? A mere soldier who he never quite cared to notice? He couldn’t quite make it out. It wasn’t his biggest issue.

“Who -” His voice was slightly raspy. Even without time, his body had grown accustomed to not speaking. He swallowed as he pushed himself into an upright position. “Who are you?” A conversation put in place so that he could do what he really intended to do. He reached out to the air. Green light engulfed his finger tips as he tapped into the time stream of this universe. It was still there. It felt healthy. This universe wasn’t about to fall apart. He let out a sigh of relief.

Between the look of sheer bewilderment and the energy swirling around Loki's fingers, Derek went right from shock into cold dread and powerless fury. "Derek Hale. You know me. You were just in space with my packmate, and now you're here." This was just fucking great. His teeth ground audibly "What's the last thing you remember?"

Derek Hale. Not the TVA then. But Loki knew that name. Memories trickled in as he glanced to his back. A portal pulsed behind him. He knew that one too. Had he observed this timeline at one point? A portal - if it led to other dimensions - would certainly catch his interest. It was a potential danger to the timelines he watched over. Anything that could cross the boundaries between them had to be watched.

“Where does this lead?” he asked, tilting his head towards the portal and ignoring the man’s question. The weight and mere size of his helmet stinted the movement. It felt like a burden on his head now. One he was proud to carry. A manifestation of his current status. He hadn’t stopped analysing this timeline, fingers weaving their magic as he shifted through the information found. Sometimes it could take a few moments for a branch to become corrupted. But so far, there had been no change. This timeline remained intact.

Claws pricked at Derek's palms. He could smell the iron tang, even over the magic that burned his nose and set off all the instincts he had to Run. As angry as he was, the answers seemed to be pulled from him. Loki had changed, that much was undeniable. But it didn't tell him where Courtney could be. "Anywhere. Everywhere. Nowhere in particular, these days. Not for years now. It pulls people in, and then takes them away whenever it wants to—which now appears to include you."

Out on the periphery of his unwavering stare, Derek saw the glitter of red again, having mostly forgotten about it until now. The stone brought itself to the fore when it began shaking against the metal floor and pulsing brightly, almost angrily. He took a step toward Loki even as it began to rise, his hand coming up as he tried to call out a warning. "Watch ou—!"

Loki didn’t watch out. Loki’s thoughts were everywhere but with watching out. He was trying to connect what the man said to what had happened. He didn’t get very far with that either. A red flicker of light caught his attention, just before it was gone again. It had vanished into him. A familiar feeling settled in. Another thing he knew but couldn’t quite place. It was getting frustrating. He shook the feeling off.

“Okay, that was…” Then a thought struck him as he looked at the man again. He raised his fingers, mouth opening, closing and then he finally spoke. “Derek Hale. Werewolf. I remember that.” He glanced back at the portal. “I remember that too. I was - at the TVA. No, it was… the Statesman. Thanos, he…” He stopped mid sentence, eyes widening, mouth slightly agape as he noticed what was wrong with them. Both thoughts had come to him naturally. He was opening one drawer after another, and there they were. Only that they shouldn’t be there. They belonged to different timelines. He stared at the hand that was still connected to the timeline of this universe and then let his magic cease. “Oh, that’s not good.”

As soon as the stone vanished, the timber of the energy surrounding Loki seemed to change, to settle in a way that Derek had no words to describe. It was simply a feeling held deep inside. And if the Asgardian king wasn't going to remark on it, neither was he.

The TVA. He remembered the name from the man who had been around for a few months— Mobius. Something about a monster from the end of time. The details were a little fuzzy, and Derek had far more pressing priorities. He watched the familiarity settle into Loki's face, and it did nothing to assuage his concern. "What's not good? Where is Courtney? What happened out there?"

“Courtney? Who is Courtney?” The question was almost echoed immediately. It seemed to be Derek’s most pressing concern. He put his hands on the side of his hips as he thought about the name. It was hard to concentrate on it. The weight of his helmet didn’t let go. Memories of where he had just been - of where he should be - swirled in his head. He felt the urge to check the timeline again. Just to make sure… But thoughts of his death took over and then everything that followed… when nothing should follow anymore. Parallel lives that shouldn’t exist together. And maybe that was what was happening… there was a version of him in this room and one sitting on the throne, making sure this place could exist. That soothed some of his concerns. At least, for the moment. At least, while his mind was racing to think of everything that was happening. A thought struck him.

“Thor… my brother is here, isn’t he?” The thought sent a shiver down his spine. He had never believed to cross paths with his home again. All that had been left for him was to watch. Make sure that everyone’s stories had a chance to unfold while his own stayed the same. A mutter followed, something to help him adjust. “I haven’t seen him in centuries.”

The fraying threads of Derek's patience snapped after brutally long moments spent trying to catch their tattered ends and keep hold of them. His teeth dropped and his eyes glowed. "Courtney. Whitmore. You took her out to Vanaheim. You're here. She's not." His voice had been low and dangerous; it switched to a wall rattling roar on a dime. "Where is she!?"

That ripped Loki out of his thoughts. For a second, his intuition kicked in. Respond to anger with anger. Not the hot passionate anger the other man displayed… no, Loki’s anger often took a colder turn. He bridled his anger. His snapping was often quieter with rare flashes breaking out in between. When everything got a little too much… but that wasn't the case now. While the stress of the current situation provided the ideal nurturing ground to let go, he didn't.

Loki held up his hand. He was trying to diffuse the situation both in front of him and the one in his own head. The latter seemed much more complicated. “Courtney, okay… uhm, Vanaheim…” Pictures of blonde hair and horses flashed in front of his eyes. It had been a sunny day. He could feel the breeze. Feel laughter and contentment. Feelings of fondness towards the bubbly girl. It seemed like a lifetime since he had felt that free. “I think I remember her… if she is on Vanaheim she is safe. It's a wonderful realm. They are allies.” He took a deep breath. “I think I remember her. We will get her back.”

It was difficult to remember all the details of the trip as they'd been laid out to him when he and Courtney discussed her going—mostly because he was currently still furious and clouded with instinct. His fingers pressed tighter into his palms, and Derek's jaw worked itself furiously. "She wouldn't be on Vanaheim. She's probably still in transit back." He took a step toward Loki, but stopped himself before he could get a grip on the collar of Loki's cloak/tunic combo. In a distant kind of way, he realized it wasn't something he'd ever seen the other wear. For one, it didn't have the same ostentatious presentation. Not that he was focused on the Asgardian's sartorial choices just then. "How are we getting her back if she's still in space?"

When the other man stepped towards him, Loki straightened his stance. His hand was held besides him, not quite reaching out for the magic inside. But he could already feel its prickle. There was something else there too. Something more fundamental. Something bigger. He shook off the feeling. Later. One thing after another. Diffuse the situation. Find out what was happening to his timelines. Everything else.

For a moment, he dived back into his memories. They were hazy. Wavering strands corrupted by time. They had loaded up animals. If he could go back to that point, he could fix the issue.

“Okay, this will look a little strange. But it's nothing to worry about. I've got it under control,” he explained. And then he concentrated on the flashes of Courtney. How gentle she had been with the horses. A moment later, he could feel the timeslip wash over him. The pain settling in as his body and spirit was about to escape this moment in reality.

Only it didn't.

There was a shimmer of red and then he stabilized exactly where he had been before. He could feel the hum of the energy inside of him and suddenly he recognised what it was.

“It's the reality stone,” he groaned.

None of whatever just happened made a lick of sense to Derek, and he honestly couldn't summon a single fuck to give, not with Courtney's fate in the balance. "I don't care about the damned stone, except the part where you rewrite reality for her to be here, now, safe," he ground out. "Unless that's a real possibility with zero consequences, I'm going to need you to focus on the matter at hand, and figure out how you're going to bring back my baby sister!"

Was it reasonable? Probably not. Reason wasn't a thing he had in spades at the moment.

The man’s anger and his own agitation once again let his emotions flare up. They had been bottled up for a while now. If there was even a point in using concepts linked to him. It felt rawer when it had back at the TVA. He had learned to control his anger, had learned not to let it creep under his skin so quickly. But the person most connected to the timelines had also become the least connected. It was hard to feel like a person when you couldn't take part in any life.

“What. Do you think. I am doing?” The words were quiet and their calm cost him some restraint. He went to tilt his head but the weight of his helmet turned an unconscious gesture into something noticeable. “It's been centuries for me. And currently it might not just be Courtney's life that is at stake…” He sighed, then shook his head. This was the loom all over again. Was there even a point in explaining any of this?

“Will you let me think without all of…” He gestured towards Derek's—“... that?” While the man's display went against his pride and patience, he didn't feel in danger. The distance between them was large enough that Loki believed he could fling him to the opposite end of the room if he needed to.

Derek's jaw snapped shut. It hit him then: Loki had been updated, for lack of a better term. Much like many concepts they blithely named around here—portalled, boomerang—the name was innocuous, but the experience was anything but. He felt fortunate that he'd never experienced it for himself. Stiles and Lydia had told him enough. Not that he was thinking about any of that in more than a glancing way. And, really, he didn't much care about whatever Loki was going through. Loki was neither his king, nor his god, and they'd never been particularly friendly.

He crossed his arms and glowered. "Then. Think."

And that was exactly what Loki did. Thankfully, the other man's less than amicable presence did not bother him. He was used to thinking under pressure. He tried to timeslip again. Just to check that it wasn't just a glitch. To check that it wasn't something he could bypass if he knew how.

It wasn't a glitch. There was the pain. Then the protest of the stone settling in. This time it felt more forceful. One issue to go on the ‘later’ pile. For the last few centuries, he had the luxury of time. Plan A didn't work, go back in time and repeat. Even if his success was the most urgent of things. The universe had fallen apart in front of his eyes again and again. But with his abilities hindered, there might not be a second chance.

He dived back into his memories. Sorted through the things that were currently useful and those that were not. At first, it felt like he was peeking into someone else's life. He was an expert at it by now. Watching lives evolve and people morph. But the longer he waded through his memories, the more moments and people he uncovered, the more that life because his.

“She's on the Volstagg. She… we were not too far away from Vanaheim. Other vessels from our fleet should be able to locate it if they get close enough. So… uh… that's what we will do.” His thoughts had wavered and drifted off. He was not comfortable being here. He shouldn't be here. The urge to check this timeline overcame him once again. He gave in. A quick tap. Orpheus glancing back just to ensure Eurydice was still behind him. This timeline was fine and if his memories served him well, it was close enough to the sacred timeline that it told him that it had to be one of his timelines. However…

“Kang? Do you know the name Kang?”

Just when Derek thought Loki might pull his head out of whatever cloud it was very clearly stuck in, the Asgardian got derailed yet again. He had to remind himself over and over that he was head of security, and grabbing the spacey "god" so he could shove him against a wall and demand he focus would do very little good. At this point, it might have been a little satisfying, but he was pretty sure Stark would relieve him of his post.

"No," he snapped. "I don't know Kang. Just like we don't know if you've got any ships within range. Just like we don't know if Courtney is okay. Or if she's alone and scared, and I know you don't have any control over whatever you just went through, and I know you wouldn't have just left her—but the facts are still there that you did leave and she is alone and she should be here!"

Loki ignored Derek’s tone. The brief thought of what the presence of the portal could mean for Kang had disarmed his pride. The man might be able to detect its presence and use it to cross over to this world. If anyone could, it was him.

“Yes, yes… it’s a terrible tragedy.” He noticed how dismissive his own fear made him sound. He hadn’t intended that. He didn’t want the friendly girl to drift through space. He held up his hands and took a deep breath. “Look, I’m going to get Courtney. I promise. But if a variant of Kang appears here…” He cast a quick illusion of the man. “That’s what he looks like. If he gets here, you need to inform me immediately. No one in this realm or any other will be safe if he ever makes it to this universe.”

Derek almost—almost—would have very literally taken Loki's head off right then and there had the other man not immediately course corrected. As it was, he barely flicked his gaze toward the image. "FRIDAY, please make a note."

"Yes, Derek. Image saved. I'll set an alert just in case."

"Thanks, FRIDAY." Derek's eyes were back on Loki and boring a hole through him. "It's done. Now get to work."

“Good.” Once again, he ignored the tone. There was nothing but urgency in it. For a moment, he looked around, trying to reorient himself in this universe. It wasn’t easy but he hoped that seeing more of this world would help his memories resurface. He took a deep breath and then stepped towards the exit to the portal room. Green light swirled around him as he clothes slowly transformed into a black and green Asgardian attire. A few less layers and no helmet was left. No outfit for a throne but suitable for a rescue mission.

“She will be back in no time,” he said to Derek with a nod. Then he exited the room.