It's 2019. No covid. No "Driver's License." No Loki series.
The series that IS being filmed is "High School Musical: The Musical: The Series." A showmance has been going on between co-stars Joshua Bassett and Olivia Rodrigo. It's not just for the cameras. Off-set, they're going out for milkshakes, texting each other heartfelt messages, and hanging out together just about every spare second they get. It was like this for months.
Then 2020 came along (that's true for all of us isn't it).
After months of dating and being BFFs and basically boyfriend-girlfriend, Joshua thought the relationship wasn't really going anywhere, which is a mature thought for someone his age. He told Olivia what he was thinking.
Olivia was CRUSHED, dude. She LOVED Joshua. Even though it wasn't a total bomb on her, it was still extremely upsetting. Mentally destroyed, she turned to songwriting, which she had done a bit of in the last few years, but nothing major.
Then, in June 2020, Joshua started going out with Sabrina Carpenter. Olivia had all but gotten over it, but still, seeing Joshua with another girl made her unhealthily jealous. What she wanted, though, was for Joshua to be happy, so she didn't do anything and slowly moved on with her life, writing songs in her spare time.
In September, while writing a song called "Driver's License", Olivia was interrupted by a text from JOSHUA. She hadn't gotten a text from him in months. Somewhat hopeful, but accepting if it wasn't what she wanted, she opened the message. It had two simple words in it:
call me
So, she called him.
"Hey… 'Livia…" Joshua says shyly.
"Hey, Josh," Olivia says confidently. "Whatcha need?"
"Well…" Joshua says, his voice drawn-out, "Sabrina and I wasn't really working out."
"I'm sorry to hear that," Olivia says honestly. She really is sorry.
"Yeah, it's 'cause…" Joshua says, working up the guts to say what he wants to say, "well, we decided we weren't right for each other right now, and I realized that WE'RE kind of right for each other."
"You really think so?" Olivia asks hopefully.
On a computer monitor in an office at the TVA, a small portion of the Sacred Timeline animation starts blinking. The man behind the computer grabs a phone and makes a call.
"Judge Renslayer," Renslayer says, picking up the phone on the other end. "What can I do for you?"
"Hey, Judge," the man says, "September 13, 2020, Los Angeles, California. It looks like a Nexus event might be about to occur."
"I'll get C-20 on that," Renslayer says, hanging up the phone then picking it up again to make an overhead announcement. "Unit 41-B," Renslayer announces, "be ready for departure."
"Yeah, Olivia," Joshua chuckles. "I really think so."
"What is it about me," Olivia asks, "that works, but doesn't work with Sabrina?"
"I kinda got the vibe you wanted me for love," Joshua says. "It felt like Sabrina wanted me *to have*, you know?"
"Yeah…" Olivia says quietly, not knowing how else to respond.
"Do you wanna take me back?" Joshua asks.
"Uh… yeah. I do," Olivia says, smiling. "Can we meet up somewhere?"
"That place where we always get milkshakes?" Joshua asks.
"I'll be there in ten," Olivia says eagerly.
"I'll be there in five," Joshua replies, hanging up on an excited Olivia.
A window appears in space five feet in front of Olivia. Out of it comes three people, all dressed in all-black armor, with orange here and there.
"Appears to be a standard sequence violation," one of them, a woman comments, looking around. She looks down at her Tempad. "Branch is growing at a stable rate and slope." She looks up at Olivia. "Variant identified."
"'Variant'?" Olivia repeats in confusion. "Who are you guys?!"
"Olivia Rodrigo," the previous speaker, wio the code C-20 painted on her helmet, declares, "on behalf of the Time Variance Authority, I hereby arrest you for crimes against the Sacred Timeline."
"HELP! Police!" Olivia calls, dialing 911 as she slowly backs away.
Hunter C-20 advances on Olivia, putting a metal collar on her and grabbing her wrist, pulling her through the window in space as Olivia fights back. C-20 isn't too strong, so another TVA agent grabs Olivia's other arm as they pull her through the window.
"C-13?" C-20 asks the one other agent. "Reset the timeline."
C-13 puts a reset charge on the ground and activates, dissolving the timeline and dumping all its contents into the Void.
Within minutes, after Miss Minutes explains the TVA to her, Olivia is placed in a courtroom. Inside the courtroom, at the head, Judge Renslayer sits proudly in her seat and not looking up at the new arrival, rather looking at some papers, stapled together and sitting neatly on her desk. Olivia is put at the podium in front of Renslayer's desk.
"Rodrigo," Renslayer proclaims, "Variant R14208, AKA Olivia Rodrigo, is charged with sequence violation 7-01-91." She looks up from the papers and asks, "How do you plead?"
"What kind of magic is this?" Olivia asks. "What am I supposed to plead against? Look, I know the TVA KeEpS ThE BaLaNcE Of TiMe or whatever, but I mean, really? What's really going on here?"
"You agreed to date Joshua Bassett again," Renslayer explains. "By doing that, you don't stay heartbroken and you don't write the song 'Driver's License', which goes on to be a big hit in 2021."
"...How would you know?" Olivia asks, psyched at the idea of writing a popular song.
"I've seen everything across the Sacred Timeline," Renslayer answers. "I would know. Did you or did you not get back together with Bassett?"
"I did," Olivia answers, "but—"
"There's the answer," Renslayer interrupts. "Prune her."
A pruning stick is activated and touches Olivia's back, dissolving her as she shrieks in surprise.
A few minutes later, Olivia wakes up in the Void. "Is this heaven?" She asks herself. "Or hell?"
"Hello there," a British voice greets her. She looks up and sees Kid Loki standing by her. "What's your name?"
"Olivia," Olivia answers honestly. "Who are YOU?"
"I'm Loki," Kid Loki says, "but you're not, so you won't survive out here. Lokis survive. No one else does." He looks down at the alligator by his feet. "Isn't that right?"
The gator growls contently.
"Oh, well," Kid Loki shrugs, picking up the gator and walking away. "Have fun with the last few minutes of your life."
A loud creature growls loudly.
"Or seconds, I suppose!" Kid Loki exclaims, running away laughing.
Olivia turns around and sees Alioth charging at her.
You can probably guess what happens next.
Yeah. Alioth eats her. The end.
