The rough shelter they make their home isn't very large, but Loki conjures them the cover for a tent and poles to create an expansion off the side and soon they have a small addition as sleeping space. They cook over a fire, Loki cleans their clothing with magic, and the younger Loki teaches them how to prepare the meat of the odd bobble-headed creatures that run the landscape in small flocks. They keep their eyes on Alioth at all times, tracking when the beast consumes new realities, watching for the mysterious lightning to reappear to torment the huge creature.

Though days seem endless, they mark time with the TemPads and take shifts sleeping. They've been living in the Void for a few weeks without any other plan when the archivists begin to share parts of their personalities and histories with the others.

Tam begins to occasionally use the name Miriam and every day, their companions ask if they are Tam and still 'they' or if this is a day during which their friend is now Miriam and 'she.' Over time, they reveal small pieces of their life- Miriam had children. She sang whenever she could and she loved to cook and care for others. When people needed help, food, clothes, Miriam was there, giving of what she had, even if it meant she went without so she could assure her children were always fed and safe, and so were the neighbours. She sent her children on a journey out of the country when she saw it becoming too dangerous for them and then she joined a resistance that led to her imprisonment. And in the time Tam has been in the Void, they have found themself returning to that caregiving role, making sure everyone has blankets, food, and mending clothes that are damaged or worn through. Sometimes, they quietly sing.

Ayshi has decided they won't change their name and they are always going to be 'they.' They tell their companions their old life is dead and while they were once a schoolteacher and distributed literature condemning the occupation of their nation, their life here, resisting the end of their existence, is who they now are. Ayshi finds their niche in the Void- they go scavenging with the younger Loki, often putting together pieces of things they find in ways he didn't see, creating clever solutions to problems with their shelter. They learn much from the Lokis with years of experience in the Void, starting to pick up on elements of the alligator's language as they are with them more often. Ayshi becomes the only one of the former archivists able to translate piecemeal sections of alligator Loki's contributions to conversations, though he is usually quiet. Eventually, Ayshi is allowed to pick him up.

Iris tries their old name on for a few days and decides it just doesn't fit. They will always be Iris, a name they found beautiful when they discovered the flower in the story of a florist in the archive. They were a pianist in their old life and refused to play only the music approved by the oppressors who took over their city, earning a place at the prison camp. And while Iris is generally quiet so as not to attract the attention of Alioth, they are often overheard humming tunes they don't remember having heard before while they work, their fingers tracing patterns across their knees, remnants of muscle memory from somewhere deep in their consciousness. On rare occasions, the songs find lyrics and they sing softly to their friends as they take their shift with Tam keeping watch, their voice soothing as their friends fall asleep.

Cyd, on the other hand, keeps the new name and decides to reclaim being 'he.' He tells them pieces of what he discovered about his life. He was a dancer in Berlin at a cabaret, a bold and bright person who draped himself in vibrant colours and laughed whenever he found reason to. He acted on his interests and passions and embraced every day, full well knowing once the fascists rose to power that he would be a target for both his work and his loves. Moments of this creep into their daily life, playfulness in the little things drawing the others to laughter, even on the days when despair seems as though it will rule them. He draws it out most in the Loki he knew to be so serious at the TVA. They conjure wild stories together around the cooking fire, their hushed voices giddy with the thrill of building on one another's ideas, Loki's magic illustrating the stories when he finds the right illusions to bring them to life.

Hunter B-15 struggles with the idea of choosing a name. Tam explains to her that a name is a gift someone can give to themselves when they have had their identity stolen. Everyone is more than a number and Tam explains the scar on their arm, the same place that Judith had hers. Numbers are a way to dehumanize, to reduce someone to nothing, just another statistic. Hunter B-15 understands why names are something the archivists treasure, even though she doesn't know what to think of her own.

While she keeps watch with Mobius, she is often quiet, only taking part in conversation when it is clear her partner is tired and needs to talk to stay awake. Mobius sometimes asks her questions, but there are few answers she is willing to give.

Late one night, she sees Mobius nodding off, "Hey- you need to stay with me."

"Oh. Sorry. It's just too quiet here. Except when Alioth scares us all awake," he answers. "And speaking of, I'm going to go check on where he is. Maybe the walk will help."

When he returns, she asks, "So...did it?"

"A little." He pauses, "Have you thought any more about having a name?"

"Yeah."

"Anything coming to you?"

She shrugs, "A few. But I don't feel like I know enough names to pick one. I mean, I know the names of the Variants we've pruned, but...those aren't exactly happy memories."

Mobius sighs, "Yeah, I feel you. I don't like to think about what we were doing before. It all seems so wrong now."

"And what were we doing it for, anyway? To keep one man from seeing another variant of himself arise? Loki says he thinks that the timelines that are reset are ones that would lead to the multiversal war again. So somehow, Judith and these people winning would have led to the rise of those other variants of He Who Remains exchanging ideas and fighting one another to destroy every world out there. Why didn't he just find ways to prune versions of himself and leave everyone else alone?" she asks.

"I don't know. None of it makes any sense anymore. And what do we do if we do get past Alioth? If we get to the Citadel, what do we do? Kill him again and hope what arises isn't bad? Or is there something else we can ask? How can we go back to where we were at this point? We'd just be rebels and they'd prune us and send us right here. But what if we just...don't want to go back, but don't want to live here like this, either?"

Hunter B-15 shakes her head, "I have no idea, Mobius. I just...want a place where we can all be happy."

He smiles and nudges her arm, "Hey, maybe we can find a place where we can have a couple of jet skis."

She chuckles, "What the hell, maybe we can."

A few nights later, it is Cyd and Loki's turn to keep vigil over everyone, watching as Tam tucks in the younger Loki and the alligator Loki before circulating to make sure everyone else has blankets. Loki conjures his own and lays down on his back with Cyd beside him. This is often how they keep watch, telling quiet stories until the others awaken.

Loki stares up at the grey sky long after everyone else is asleep, "I wish it got dark here. I so dearly miss seeing stars."

"I've never seen them," Cyd says. "We never left the TVA. I mean, I probably saw them in my old life, but I don't remember it."

Loki sighs, "I used to look up in Asgard and wonder what was out beyond them. How far could one go in space and see the bright speck of our planet glittering in the distance? I didn't even have to leave our city. We had rules about lights at night so everyone could still see the vastness of the universe above our heads. It always inspired wonder."

"It sounds amazing," Cyd says. "I wish I could remember it. But I didn't even see them in the reel of my life."

They fall quiet for a while until Loki asks, "So...you said you were a dancer. Do you remember any of that, or did you just see that on the reel?"

Cyd shakes his head, "I don't remember it. Sometimes I'll find myself moving in a way that feels like dance. It doesn't make any sense, but...there've been a few moments where I'm sure I'm doing something I used to know. And then there are the songs. I know I don't know one of Iris' songs from the other day, but at the same time...I know I knew it at one time. Everything about it was familiar. Even the lyrics. I felt like it was just a part of the fabric of me, somehow. And they came from somewhere in Iris, too. I don't think we can forget everything. I think it's all back there, waiting for us to figure out how to unlock it."

Loki nods, "Maybe. It seems like that might be why Iris and Tam can't name why they know the music they make."

Cyd sighs, "I just wish I did. I know that means I'd remember all the bad stuff, too- everything that happened to us in the death camps. The horrific things we saw. The people who were killed and the people we had to kill. But...maybe it would be worth it to know I had that kind of strength at one time. I don't feel like I have that in this life."

Loki turns his head toward him, "How do you not feel like you have it? Cyd, you laugh and bring joy to us all when we are living in the peril of certain death every day. It's beautiful, what you bring to this place. I don't know we'd all still be here without you."

Cyd smiles, "Awww, you do really like me."

Loki smiles in return, "Yes, you're a delight, Cyd." He pauses, "So tell me again how you got your name."

"There was a dancer I found while scrolling the archives. I don't know why I wanted to look for the greatest dance performances in human history, but I did. I found the file of a man who danced spectacularly and I got to see dance through his eyes. It was incredible. And then I saw her- a beautiful woman who just embodied strength and grace and I couldn't tear my eyes from her. Cyd Charrise. I couldn't help myself, I had to find her life and see these performances over her shoulder and everything about it was just stunning. I knew her name had to be the one I took." He shakes his head, "Look, I know it sounds crazy, but...I think my body remembers when I would dance. I found myself wanting to be like her. I felt like there was something innate in me that just knew dance was where I belonged. I know the dance I did in Berlin was nothing like the dance she did on the Hollywood lots, but..." His voice trails off.

"But it still meant something to you, didn't it?"

"I feel it in my soul, Loki. It's embedded in there, just a part of me I can't quite reach."

Loki nods, "I wish I could help you find it. I know it's not the same, but I do understand a little what it means to feel like a part of you is locked away."

"Oh?"

Loki gestures to himself, "None of this was me not too long ago. I locked away the part of me that could feel. Everything hurt too much to keep it. So I told myself that sentiment was weakness and let myself hide behind arrogance and rage. And none of you have seen me as the race into which I was born, nor will you likely. I've locked that away so deeply I don't know how to change into that form."

Cyd reaches over to Loki and briefly squeezes his hand, "Hey, I'm proud of you, Loki. I watched your life reel, remember? I know what it all looked like up until you came to us. You went through a lot of hell and a lot of hurt. So to know you trust us? That's pretty amazing. And the Loki I've known is someone who learned to wear his heart on his sleeve."

Loki withdraws his hand from Cyd's, "Thank you."

"That's what friends are for, right? For helping us see something in ourselves when we can't understand it ourselves."

"Maybe. I don't suppose I've really thought about it that way. But until here, I didn't really make friends, so..." He fiddles with a piece of grass beside the blankets on which he's resting.

"Well you sure have us now," Cyd says, "And maybe you could even call us a family."

"Now that's something I haven't had in some time. I don't anticipate ever seeing them again. I mean...in my Sacred Timeline, I got them killed. All of them, in the end."

Cyd shifts to his side so he can face Loki, propping his head up on his palm, "You didn't know that would happen. You can't blame yourself for everything. Remember what I told you when I first brought you supper? You weren't the reason your mother died. She died because of a series of things that you didn't have anything to do with. And your dad...yeah, he died where he did because of you. But think about how old he was. He was going to die at some point. That it was then, and that you weren't ready...that's not really your fault is it?"

Loki sighs, "No. Not really. But still...it feels that way. And what of Thor?"

Cyd shrugs, "I don't know. Like I said then...I never watched through his file. But didn't you tell us the old Loki survived the blast? Maybe Thor did, too."

"Even if he did, I'll never see him again."

Cyd watches Loki's expressions shift and reaches for him, "Do you want a hug?"

"No, but thank you."

He wraps his sleeve around the heel of his hand and gently reaches out to wipe away the tears that sneak down Loki's cheek, "Hey, let me help. You don't have to hurt alone."

Loki takes Cyd's wrist and pushes his hand away from his face, "Please...no."

"Why not? You always refuse touch. I notice. You always move our hands from your arm, you only accept anything little once in a while and if it's alwasy brief. You're crying and you won't let me dry your tears. What's wrong?" Cyd asks.

Loki shakes his head, "I can't."

"But I want to make you feel better."

"I don't think that's possible."

Cyd pauses, "Would a kiss make a difference?"

Loki stares, studying Cyd's face, realizing the other man is entirely serious, "I...I...I don't... What I mean, I..."

Cyd gently rests his hand on Loki's shoulder, "Hey, it's OK to say no. I won't be offended."

Loki seems to deflate, "I'm sorry."

"Don't be. You can always say no. Never feel like you can't. Your body is your business, not mine. Anybody who's ever told you anything different should be punched in the face."

Loki laughs a little, "Thank you, Cyd." He lets the silence hang between them for a moment, "Do you...do you really feel that deeply about me?"

"Maybe. I'm not sure. I know when we all talked those first couple of times, we talked about how we couldn't feel like that for people, but I don't think that's true. Maybe it is for some of us. Tam says it's true for them and that it seems like something that was true even in their past life. The same goes for Ayshi and Iris. But I don't think it was for Judith, and I'm not sure it is for me. So...I thought maybe I'd ask and at least I could find out with a friend." He nods toward where his hand still sits on Loki's shoulder, "But I did notice you haven't shrugged me away."

Loki sighs, "Maybe I do need to be touched, but I just...the last person I let get that close kissed me, took my breath away, and then pushed me back to the TVA so she could finish her revenge mission without me in her way. I've never felt so hopeless as I did in that moment when I couldn't go back to her. I tried so hard to convince her to stop, breathe, and just...consider not killing He Who Remains. I just...I just wanted her to find peace, and I hoped maybe it could be together. I know I'd found some of mine with her."

Cyd draws back his hand and Loki catches it in his own, "Again, if anything I do is too much, even the little touches, just...tell me, OK? Even this," he says, squeezing Loki's hand, "If you're not ready, you're not ready. And that's fine."

"And if I never am?"

"That's fine, too. But you are still holding my hand. So there's that." Cyd smiles at him, "Are you alright with this?"

"For now."

"Hey! Progress!" Cyd says, gently encouraging him, "But don't feel like you have to say 'yes' at any point in the future. Being fine with something now doesn't mean you have to always be."

Loki tightens his grasp on Cyd's hand and then gently withdraws his, "Thank you. But I can't tell you when I'll be alright with this again."

"Like I said, you don't have to commit to anything right now. Or ever. I'm offering. You don't have to accept every time or any time."

"Again, thank you."

"Any time, Loki. And while I know I'm the only one of us who's going to talk to you about this kind of thing...I know I'm not the only person here for you to talk to or go to when you're hurting. Like I said...we're building a family, all of us. Even the alligator."

Loki laughs and wipes his eyes, "I never thought I'd have an alligator in the family."

"Me neither. But I didn't think I'd be living in a place outside of time, either, but here we are."

"Or trying to keep from being killed by an angry cloud monster."

"That too. Life sure is weird these days."

"That it is."

"So...anything on your mind you'd like to talk about? It doesn't have to be serious."

Loki thinks for a moment and then sighs, "Well, since we're being so open with one another...yes, there is something."

"Oh?"

"I've been thinking a lot about my brother," Loki says. "I miss him immensely. Knowing I'll never see him again hurts in a way I didn't know I could hurt. Thor has always been there, searching for me, even when I didn't want to be found. And now...now I'm where he'll never find me, even if he did survive the blast. And sometimes I wonder...given who I'm becoming, could I ever be worthy to lift his hammer?"

"You're going to have to fill me in on the hammer thing," Cyd says, "I didn't study up on my Asgardian weapons."

Loki nods, "Well, it's magical. It can only be lifted by those who are worthy to wield it. I never have been. My father could lift it. My brother could lift it. I'd have thought my mother could, though I never knew her to try. It was a weapon to be used in defence of others, and in wisdom. But it wasn't meant for me. Not even before everything happened to tear me from Asgard. Trickster Loki couldn't be trusted with such a thing, apparently."

Cyd shakes his head, "That seems pretty shitty, to judge somebody on...what, some magical hammer's determination of a person's value? Like, what does it even gauge that on? Does it, like...measure you on a wisdom-o-meter or something?"

"I have no idea," Loki answers, amused, "But I just know I never measured up."

"Well I think you'd be worthy," Cyd says, "What would make someone more worthy to wield a magical wisdom weapon than the someone who tried to stop a friend from creating a multiverse, putting himself in danger of getting killed? Or who decided to put himself in danger to save his friends like here? Or who would grow this much in such a short amount of time?" Cyd taps Loki's chest, "You've got a big heart for other people, Loki. Putting yourself on the line to defend other people seems like the thing that might register pretty high on a wisdom-o-meter."

"Well," Loki says, "I suppose I won't ever know, will I? So there's not really any sense in me worrying about it, is there?"

"Eh, I guess I think it's fine to worry and wonder a little, so long as it doesn't eat you."

"No, the eating of me is going to be Alioth's job."

"That turned dark fast," Cyd says, smirking.

"Speaking of Alioth, I have to wonder about the lightning that seems to be plaguing it."

Cyd nods, "It's weird. And I should go check to see where that bastard is." He stands and stretches and walks to where he can see across to where Alioth tends to stay. When he returns, he shrugs, "Nothing new. Looks like a reality is about to drop, though, so he's going to get loud again soon."

"Oh. Everyone will wake up early again."

Cyd lays down on his back beside Loki, "Yeah, probably. Except for maybe Ayshi. They seem to sleep pretty heavily."

Loki stares up at the sky again, "I wish I could take you all to Asgard and show you the stars that were my friends when I was a different person."

Cyd looks up, sliding just a little closer so his shoulder lightly brushes Loki's, "Since you can't, how about you tell me some of the stories you had about them. How did they get there? What patterns in the sky did your ancestors draw to share their myths with each other?"

Loki smiles, "Oh, those stories are so deeply beloved. I'm happy to share." And he begins talking, both of them laying on their backs, shoulders touching ever so lightly when they shift or when Loki raises his hands to the sky to paint little pictures in magic above them. The constellations dance above them in a tiny light show as he quietly tells stories to Cyd.

When Alioth roars and the others awaken, Loki sweeps the stars away with a small flourish of his wrists. They think they are the only ones who see the night sky painted with magic. But Mobius, sleeping nearby, catches a glimpse of the sparkling lights just before they disappear. He smiles as he sees Cyd gently take Loki's hand for a moment before he lets it drop. Mobius sits up and turns his back to them, hoping that the closeness of this friendship he's been watching form more deeply in their time in the Void will last and won't just hurt Loki once again.